Monte's Log, Featuring a Debate About Dotard Genetic Potential with an Ant
Brief Background
Long time lurker who recently registered. I'm 31 years old, 6'4", and 220 pounds. When I graduated college 10 years ago, I was the same height, but weighed 165 pounds. After college, I found the gym and packed on a lot of muscle over the subsequent 2 year period of working out, but did the typical broish bench/curl-centric exercise routine while rarely squatting or deadlifting (i.e. I maxed out at 330 benching and 235 squatting). Since then, I've periodically gotten back in the gym for six months or a year at a time, but never consistently.
Recent Workouts
Recently I've been doing 3 sets of 40 pushups and a total of ~25 pullups 4-5 times a week, and also playing squash a few times a week. Since beginning squash (which is very high impact), I've been having periodic weakness/pain in my right knee, but other than that no issues except chronically tight hamstrings.
My Plan
This is yet another starting SS log; I'll be doing the version with pullups/chinups and without PCs (at least to start), but I will be deadlifting for the first two weeks or so until my gains start to level off. I've read the book and the wiki, and I'll be starting on Monday. I've purchased the appropriate lifting shoes and chalk, and I'll be doing foam rolling on my problem areas post-workout. I also plan to purchase Assess and Correct or something similar shortly in order to work on my flexibility issues.
My diet is pretty decent, with a lot of skim milk/oatmeal/protein bars/lean meats/veggies on my good days (at work), with the occasional pizza and beer meal thrown in (usually weekend). I haven't been doing daily tracking, but I plugged in an average day and I'm around 2800-3000 calories with around 150 grams of protein a day.
My Goals
This log is mostly for motivation. I'm not entirely sure but I would guess my body fat percentage is somewhere between 20 and 25%, so I guess I'm shooting for recomposition. I don't have many specific goals in mind. My main goal is to get stronger, especially in my lower body (maybe get my combined deadlift+squat+bench to 1000 lbs). I'd also like to tighten up my midsection and lose the 15 or so pounds of extra weight I'd guess I'm carrying around my gut.
Questions
-I'm assuming I should up my protein intake? I'm not really sure what my LBM is exactly, but if I use the 1.5 g/lb LBM I should up the protein to between 225 and 250 g/day, correct? I can throw a scoop or two of protein powder into my morning and evening skim milk if necessary.
-I'll be lifting at lunch with a coworker; this is the first time I haven't worked out in late afternoon. I am used to having a post workout recovery shake (e.g. Endurox) and then eating my largest meal of the day 1-1.5 hours post-workout. Should that still be the case if I'm working out at lunch -- that is, should my lunch be dinner sized, and should my dinner portion be smaller?
-Any tips or suggestions from other tall guys, or people who've trained with tall guys, about pitfalls or things to avoid involving squatting would be welcome. I suspect the answer is "shut up and lift weight" but just thought I'd ask.
Thanks in advance!
Nice run given whatever fractional amount of lungs you were working with given your illness.
Based on nothing other than my knowledge of your WIM, I think you're a lock to go sub 3:25. I'm even feeling good about sub 3:20.
Congrats on the half and hope you feel better soon.
Re marathon times, somewhere in my memory I had that the translation from half to full is to double it and then add 10%. So 90 min half = 198 min full.
Idk if accurate?
Thanks man. There are a lot of marathon calculators out there, plus the Garmin keeps a running graph of how it predicts I'm going to do. The VDOT running calculator seems to think that a 1:36:00 half is roughly equivalent to a 3:20:00 full, but who knows; I still think targeting something like 1:43:00 or so in the first half and not killing myself in the first 20 miles will produce a more enjoyable experience, but I still have to actually execute that strategy.
It was 61F 8:30am and 68F 11am.
Not too bad but still will affect 1:40 half tall runners. Maybe 5%. Add the other stuff and that mostly explains it all.
One thing for sure, there was nothing left in tank here. But I still think it was run better than the marathon from earlier this year.
I haven't really covered myself in glory for either of them, that's for sure.
Nice run given whatever fractional amount of lungs you were working with given your illness.
Based on nothing other than my knowledge of your WIM, I think you're a lock to go sub 3:25. I'm even feeling good about sub 3:20.
Thanks! And maybe, but missing three high volume weeks of training is going to be difficult to recover from, plus I'm going to have to figure out how to squeeze in a 20 mile run while I'm in Arizona on vacation in a week or so. 3:20:00 is now a stretch goal for sure, but I'd need to feel incredibly good to feel confident in running a 1:41:00 first half and not bonking in the last few miles like I did in Chattanooga.
10/7
AM
VO2 Max Intervals
4.0 mi - 26:21.9/8:32 pace/146 HR
600m_1 - 2:24.6/6:28 pace/173 HR
600m_2 - 2:18.4/6:11 pace/176 HR
600m_3 - 2:20.5/6:17 pace/173 HR
600m_4 - 2:19.5/6:15 pace/175 HR
600m_5 - 2:23.7/6:25 pace/176 HR
1.45 mi - 12:39.9/8:43 pace/158 HR
My HR is still a bit elevated, but I definitely felt closer to normal than I have for quite a while; even given that, I walked all of the recoveries after the first one (1:45) to make sure I got through it all. It's nice to feel like I'm not breathing through a blanket; hopefully I'll be mostly all the way back by this weekend.
10/8
AM
Medium Long Run
11.0 mi - 1:32:44/8:26 pace/147 HR
Probably about 80-90% of the way back illness-wise; this is as good as I've felt in quite a while. It being 45 degrees (7 degrees to those of you that don't use freedom units) most certainly helped as well.
10/9
AM
A
Single Leg Press: +90 x8x3
B
Incline Bench: wu, 145 x6x3
Seated Calf: 3x13
Back Extensions: +5 x8x3
Facepulls: 4x15
C
Abductor Machine: 2x15
Adductor Machine: 2x15
D
Seated DB OHP : 45s x8x3
DB Incline Row: 65s x8x3
E
Hip Thrust Machine: +45 x8x3
Dips (paused): +0 x8x3
F
Bayesian Curl: x8x3
Lateral Cable Raise: x10x3
Finally back in the gym after the illness; felt kind of ok but lost a bit of stamina towards the end. I intentionally kept things light, so hopefully the DOMS will be minimal.
I weighed 184.5 this morning; not really sure how they happened apart from reduced eating and activity.
Thanks!
Indeed.
10/10
AM
General Aerobic Run
7.5 mi - 1:06:49/8:54 pace/147 HR
A bit DOMSy in the glutes from lifting yesterday; probably going to ditch the lower body stuff until after the marathon. HR was also a bit elevated, which is likely still just residual fatigue from getting back to a normal training load peri-/post-viral. A bit over four weeks until the marathon, so hopefully enough time to wring this out.
10/11
AM
A
NG Pullups: +25 x6, x5, x4
Seated Calf: 3x13
B
Bench: wu, 175 x6, x5, x4
Facepulls: 4x15
DB Pullovers: 65 x10x3
C
Incline Bench: 65s x8, x7
DB Hammer Curl: 20s x10x3
D
Overhead Rope Tri Ext: x11, x9, x8
Recovery + Strides
3.0 mi - 29:18/9:46 pace/132 HR
I pulled all the lower body work except calves because I'm (sadly) still pretty DOMSy from Wednesday and I don't want to deal with recovery from even the EV GoodLife pre-marathon. I'll add it back in afterwards.
I added six 0:20 strides between 5:30/mi and 6:00/mi pace with 0:45 recoveries, then did an extra 1:30 cooldown to satisfy my autism and end at 4 miles exactly. I've got 20 miles to get in tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.
10/12
AM
Long Run
20.0 mi - 2:49:35/8:29 pace/154 HR
The boys have a soccer game an hour north at 10 am today, so I woke up at 3:45 to get this in (I was able to fall asleep before 8:30 pm, luckily). This was faster than my last 20 mile run in September, albeit at a higher average HR (154 today vs 146 then). For not being fully recovered from that illness, I'll definitely take it.
Love the dedication to wake up at 3:45!
3:45 is awesome. All it takes is a strong enough why and you can do anything.
The real challenge for me is to actually have a long enduring 'challenge' that can
make me wake up at 5am day after day.
10/14
AM
Recovery + Strides
6.0 mi - 57:23.6/9:34 pace/132 HR
Six sets of 20 second strides added onto the end for 7 total miles.
A
OHP: wu, 95 x8, x7, x6
NG Pullups: x10, x8, x6
Seated Calf: 3x13
Facepulls: 4x15
Every cable station and adjustable bench was taken after I finished this superset, so I got salty and called it. I'm still not feeling healthy, but the stats from my Garmin suggest I'm starting to slowly improve. Hopefully I'll be 100% by the race.
10/14
AM
Recovery + Strides
6.0 mi - 57:23.6/9:34 pace/132 HR
Six sets of 20 second strides added onto the end for 7 total miles.
A
OHP: wu, 95 x8, x7, x6
NG Pullups: x10, x8, x6
Seated Calf: 3x13
Facepulls: 4x15
Every cable station and adjustable bench was taken after I finished this superset, so I got salty and called it. I'm still not feeling healthy, but the stats from my Garmin suggest I'm starting to slowly improve. Hopefully I'll be 100% by the race.
how long til the race? Guessing soon-ish before it gets too cold?
feels like it's very definitely Marathon season - Melbourne was this weekend here and my brother ran Chicago on the weekend too.
Looks like the marathon is off - I've got 12 days to go, but I ran 8 miles on Saturday afternoon and got through 3 today before my heart rate spiked. I don't think there's any point to pushing it; my legs aren't there and I'm still wheezing 24/7. Seems likely this is post viral syndrome of some sort, but I never tested for Covid back when I first got sick so who knows what kind of flu it is.
I'll just take a few more weeks off of running anything but quite easy/recovery stuff and get back to lifting 3x/wk and start training in earnest for a spring marathon. We move on, unfortunately.
Sad to see 2p2s best runner at the moment be down and out from pneumonia or a lung clot.
RPE and heart rate always match. So with the elevated heart rate there is always increased breathing and just harder rpe. If that's the case there is something wrong, some type of sickness.
If HR and RPE don't match then it's most likely hrm error such as cadence lock in cold weather.
Looks like the marathon is off - I've got 12 days to go, but I ran 8 miles on Saturday afternoon and got through 3 today before my heart rate spiked. I don't think there's any point to pushing it; my legs aren't there and I'm still wheezing 24/7. Seems likely this is post viral syndrome of some sort, but I never tested for Covid back when I first got sick so who knows what kind of flu it is.
I'll just take a few more weeks off of running anything but quite easy/recovery stuff and get back to li
That’s really frustrating, but definitely the right decision by the sound of it
Still alive, just working my way back to where I was before and don't really think that's worth logging. I did up getting a coach, and programming (I think) will start on Monday; I've been dealing with a slight hamstring strain for the last 10 days, but considering how low my volume has been it hasn't been that hard to work around, and it's feeling at about 90% now. Considering I'm soft-targeting a mid-April marathon, my guess is I'll be continuing to base-(re)build for a while, but we shall see.
I've also lifted three times in the last week, so I'm going to try to keep that up until training gets a bit more intense.
You got a running coach? Wat. You trying to run 3:20 bro not 2:20.
And the training was all spot on. No need for coach even for sub3, which you were on pace to hit in late 2025.
Well hopefully he is some super coach like Chris bird. A lot of donk coaches out there.
You got a running coach? Wat. You trying to run 3:20 bro not 2:20.
And the training was all spot on. No need for coach even for sub3, which you were on pace to hit in late 2025.
Well hopefully he is some super coach like Chris bird. A lot of donk coaches out there.
Just a random YouTube nerd (Will O'Connor) - I'll try it out and pull the ripcord after a few months if it isn't useful.
As an aside, I felt really great this morning for the first time in literally months; wild that I used to feel this way all the time.
He seems fine, goofy tall white nerd. Birds of a feather..........
I'm annoyed that he has hair, but we move on.
imho your rowing coach ruined your rowing, so I hope this running guy can behave himself
Five more running sessions this week for 35 miles plus one lifting session; not bad for a week with two ten hour drives and much holiday merriment.
Five running sessions this week for 32 miles; the middle three sessions were when I was in Belgium, so considering this week encompassed 40+ hours of international travel with the associated jet lag and poor sleep, I'll take it as a win.
