Jornal de johncip

Got the 5k time down to 36:35 yesterday. Almost but not quite a 12 minute pace. Next goal is to be below 36 minutes…

Training went well today! I was finally able to shave more time off of my 5k, and I hit some kind of runner's high (or maybe the ibuprofen kicked in) and I went an extra mile and a half.

It's been slow going partly due to my decision to spruce up the garage / home gym, but I'm glad that I started.

I found a good deal on rubber horse stall mats & replaced my old foam puzzle piece mats. They're 90 lbs each! I also finally put up some track shelving so that I can organize my tools.

I also rotated my power rack, because the floor wasn't as level the way I had it before. And I picked up room to keep the rower unfolded. Next I will mount my speakers, my fan, and a set of hooks for bands and belts and whatnot. And the shelves need edge banding...

Been eating pretty badly while I’ve been on the east coast following my brother’s wedding. Both of my parents have pretty serious snack troves.

But I did my 5k training again today and was once again able to do the full distance (plus a little more) without slowing. I didn’t significantly improve, but the last couple times I had to slow down, so a slightly improved PR today was better than I’d anticipated.

Once I get back west, I’ll have a little less than month to train before the race. I should be able to do it with a clearer head, now that I don’t have a best man speech to worry about (the speech went well by all accounts).

So I've been doing a couch to 5k program, and on Monday I started trying to jog the entire 3.1 mile length (instead of the time-based jog the app prescribes) based on talks with friends who run seriously.

I was so tired I had to stop at one point, and also I took walking breaks, so the total time to finish was around 51 minutes.

Then two days ago, I did it with a few walking breaks, and it took around 46 minutes.

But today was the first time that I just picked a pace and did the whole thing without slowing (I even sped up a bit at the end). That was despite being tired from yesterday's powerlifting training. Time was 41 minutes and change.

Given that I'm basically cross-training, and in a calorie deficit, I'm amazed at how quickly things are improving all on their own. People have told me that the gains come rapidly in the beginning, but seeing it in action is really cool.

My first ever race is in 5 weeks. The closer I am to 30:00 on race day, the happier I'll be -- after today it feels much more within reach.

I just saw a video from a creator I like, which presents a lot of good advice succinctly:



Wanhee: "Mistakes everyone makes when they start lifting"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_1ZOf3nugQ

Summary of the mistakes:

1. prioritizing machines over compound movements
2. training until exhaustion
3. not sticking to fundamentals
4. cardio immediately before/after lifting
5. going to failure & not tracking workouts

It overlaps with something I've been thinking about lately that I see friends and family miss out on...I believe strongly that one can increase fitness faster (and without extra effort) with a "training for sport" as opposed to "working out" mentality. This is how I distinguish them:

Training involves measurable medium-term goals, like being able to do squat X lbs, or run Y miles. Sessions are planned based on progressing towards it at some rate, and each one is a link in a chain.

Working out has short-term goals, like burning calories that day, or just getting exercise in, so the measure of success is: did I get sweaty / did I get sore / did I get a pump? None of these things are actually a sign that the person is getting fitter, and chasing them can be counterproductive. ("Losing weight" is a long-term goal, but notice that there's no direct connection between that and a specific exercise, or even exercising at all.)

The training mindset guides the selection of movement, too. I've had much better results just focusing on powerlifting than what I'd done previously (and I wasn't even doing that many more lifts before), even where physique is concerned, even though my goals are only strength-related. And since want to get those few lifts up, I avoid doing things that will rob me of energy for them. Contrast that with the recent spate of IG influencer fitness program apps where every day is a different and widely-varied set of movements.

Now that I've also been doing a couch to 5k program, I'm seeing the same themes there too. If I'd said, "let me do some cardio," I wouldn't have progressed as quickly towards being able to run a road race, because it'd have been more of a mix of things. But having the road race as a goal is important because it keeps me coming back to train! By the end of the year, I hope to be able to run 10 miles/wk comfortably, and that's going to burn a lot of calories -- but getting there will have required that I worry about running for its own sake.