CAN you PICK up a 5L water above your head
- Active Living Active Living
- Sep 3, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Sep 29, 2024
A New Week, Hi Everyone!!
After the high of last week's Triathlon,
I now have a couple of weeks until I do the trail half marathon.
Last week saw the start of the new meso cycle so we are well on our way to that next race and goal.
This race is a B race in my calendar thus - I will be focussing a bit more on taper the week before
But first lets get to some of the nitty gritty and this weeks TOPIC.
I have a few Questions for you...
CAN YOU PICK UP 5 LITER WATER CANNISTER, BOX OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT WEIGHS 5KG ABOVE YOUR HEAD?
CAN YOU REPEAT THAT 20 TIMES? Those of you with little kids....can you do that 20 times and repeatedly over the course of the day?
DO YOU STRUGGLE TO LIFT YOUR 7KG (OK overweight 10KG) HAND LUGGAGE INTO THE OVER HEAD COMPARTMENT?
CAN YOU DO THAT REPEATEDLY WHEN YOU CHANGE FLIGHTS?
Ok, so you don't Haul boxes, water, kids and don't travel.
BUT you do GROCERY SHOPPING, and HAVE TO CARRY IT UP SOME STAIRs...AND YOU STRUGGLE...
The answers to these questions bring me to the topic of this week....
WHY DO WE NEED TO DO RESISTANCE OR STRENGTH TRAINING?
Firstly...Why did I type these questions/Statements in CAPITALS...
because these things are all things that are important functions daily. The sad reality is that most adults over the age of 21 these days cannot do these things.
IF you are one of the 5% of the world population that Does PHYSICAL LABOUR JOBS, you are probably laughing at me, BUT if you are part of the other 95% changes are you are sitting behind a screen for 5-16 hours a day and your movement and physical activity is limited to the steps you take to the kitchen and bathroom and the bits around the house and maybe your 30 minutes at the gym where you stick to your cardio non impact routine, because lifting one of those weights in front of a mirror to you is out of your comfort zone and you think un necessary.
You are also the person that complain about constant back ache, struggle to get out of your car, walk up the stairs, get up out of a low chair and cannot bend over to pick anything up because you put out your back. Lifting your groceries out the trolley into your car is the job of the car guard because the bag that has the potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes in for the week is too heavy to get from there into the boot.
Well, Honestly, If you know me, you know Would be very BLUNT in the DELIVERY of the MESSAGE...
YOU NEED TO START LIFTING... 2-5 times a week.... HEAVY... BUILD SOME MUSCLE, TEACH YOUR BODY TO MOVE. Give your body the ability to do what it needs to do.
I can assure you, your back ache will be gone, moving groceries will be like a walk in the park, Stairs not a problem and those questions I posed in the beginning, will not be a problem.
TO all my cardio junkies....
Did you know that your joints and muscles in your legs and back take 4 x your weight when running and when you walk 2 x your body weight. SO WHY don't we strengthen those muscles to be able to take the impact.
ALSO - doing a 12 week program - and then stopping is also not sufficient. YOU need to do this consistently over and over, the more you do before the age of 30's the better your body will look after you in your 40's and beyond.
A well balanced full body program. Not just a poorly planned couple of core exercises, and lifts with weights that is so light - it is less than a can of beans.
We expect our bodies to keep functioning when we don't sufficiently lift heavy stuff to prime our muscles to function as it should, and keep up with the demands of our life.
Think about it?
WHY WOULD YOU NOT GET INTO THE HABIT OF STRENGTH TRAINING? IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO START!
One of the things we do is provide Strength Programs that help you prime your body to stay strong into your old age.
Drop us a mail activeliving4all@gmail.com and we can get you started. We cater for all levels, beginner to advanced.
What did I get up to this week
Run 3
Cycle 1
Swim 1
Strength 3
Mobility 3
MONDAY - Never skip a Monday! That is a motto I live by - it sets the tone for your week and gets those endorphin juices going. The hard part about today was I had a full day of work commitments so I had to get up early to do that.
The Weather has been a challenge to put it mildly this winter and today was no different.
Thus it was a treadmill session with 90 second intervals at lactate intensity both in an incline and sprint speed.
I do Full body sessions, For ME personally I recover better, because I don't batter one part of my body to a pulp in a session.
The other reason is I am what they call these days a "hybrid" athlete - I put emphasis on both strength and cardio, thus I need to make sure I can function.
I also track my workouts so I can see where I need to improve or like here, what I improved on.
SO another goal I have this year, is getting that all important PULL UP. Moving along here!!! hee haa.
The format for today was 8-10 reps for 2-3 sets.
TUESDAY - Another cold day and like normal its a strength day. Normally I would be doing some cardio in zone 2, before my strength set, but the gym I use had some planned maintenance on the cardio equipment so I swopped out the workout, for a mobility and plyometric workout.
Then I did a what I call a moderate weight workout, lifting a weight that I can lift for 12-15 reps at a time.
Added was some cross over core movements that is one of my weak spots and muscles at the moment. Thus putting in some extra care to get that sorted.
WEDNESDAY - Early run again for me Today -so another treadmill session. Long threshold intervals and a good stretch post run. Very tight and stiff, the cold is not helping!
Doing Threshold intervals is something people don't particularly like, its an uncomfortable spot to run at, your body wants more oxygen to give to your muscles, but it hasn't got and your muscles are BURNING.
What it does is, it helps the body become more oxygen efficient, at that speed and you then can keep that for longer periods when you race.
I saw the benefits of it this weekend at the Triathlon. I have been focussing on threshold work during the week and then zone 2 easy work over the weekends. Subsequently I was able to "REDLINE" aka Work in my Maximum Heart rate zone for and hour, yes I was tired but I had the endurance to do that.
The benefits of training that Lactate Zone
Run faster for longer.
Increase your lactate threshold.
Reduce fatigue at slower paces.
Improved performance when racing.
Easier running during training.
Body becomes more efficient.
All of the above happened across all three disciplines. In simple terms... YOU BECOME STRONGER FAST!!!
THURSDAY - Strength training day!! Sun is out and we are feeling so much better. Amazing what a bit of Vit D can do to your mood!
HENCE getting outside is so important, get some fresh air. I am currently sitting inside but in the baking sun writing this! Typical for winter here in South Africa - if you can deal with sun on the other side of the window its WINTER, haha
Today's workout is a bit of a mixture - A bit of everything, Bit of CORE, MOBILITY and then BIG Muscle action lifting.
My body Could feel it was Thursday, but I am happy with what happened, and how the lifts felt.
FRIDAY - First spin class post injury and it was amazing! Did keep my FTP a bit lower than I would say optimal, because I had a bit left in the tank after the class.
BUT... Since I am planning a long run tomorrow, I did decide to take it slightly easier today.
Swim active recovery session followed - 30min in in the water EASY EASY and slow
I had a small gap between spinning and swimming so I manged a 20min Sauna Session. My First this week.
.
LONG RUN SATURDAY - it was an amazing day out. ABOUT 15 degrees warmer than we had the last couple of weeks and running was just all round pleasant. BUT...yes there is a but... A few rookie errors occurred and just goes to show, that no matter how experienced you are at doing something, YOU CAN STILL MAKE MISTAKES...
The plan was 20-22km at a long run pace GOAL pace keep it under 7:50 - not faster than 7:30 average - Heart rate I knew was not going to play ball, as my sleep was not what it should've been and there is not much you can do about it.
I was VERY comfortable at my aimed pace - in fact I honestly could have done it faster but that wasn't the goal.
I carried my standard water supply ( FOR WINTER) with me which is about 1 litre (500ml per hour) for the 2 - 2.5 hours it's normally will be sufficient, In winter I also take less extra carbs with me on the runs
...the only thing was...IT WAS SUMMER TEMPS! Thus I needed to carry my SUMMER supply which is 1 litre per hour, plus some extra food/Carbohydrates in the form of maybe gummies or a bar, thus I actually needed about 2-2.5 litres of water, plus food...which I DID not have...
Subsequently ran out of water at 12km, and by that time my body was screaming for some carbohydrates . I then had to run dry till I got back to a place where I could buy, which was at 17km. 5km Might not seem a lot...but at the pace I was doing it was nearly 45min and that was enough to break my speed, body and mind. I struggled to maintain pace and I kept on having to stop and start. VERY frustrating if you had such a nice start.
I Got some water at a coffee shop/Kiosk and bless the girl at the coffee shop's soul -
I got a cookie/Biscuit with the 750ml of water. I filled up my flask and downed the other 250ml and in haled the biscuit.
I then decided to cut my losses when I got back to my car - which I knew was at 19km.
So the lesson to learn from this. Make sure you know what fuel to take with. CHECK the WEATHER....and have spare.
Standard procedure would be to train on the nutrition you would take for a race.
I didn't and paid the price.
SUNDAY - REST DAY - Due to my fuel blunder of yesterday, I knew I had to take it easy to day and it ended up being a rest day. The initial plan as a 30-45min walk....I did a 20min stretch and that's it. HAD a beautiful afternoon nap - something that I rarely do.
What is important here is to recognize when your body says take it slow - even if your program says otherwise.
Talk to your coach, make sure you get their input and get the correct adaption to the program. RECOVERY is just as important as the training it self.
Taking one day slower in the big scheme of things is less damaging to the program than carrying on and then having to take a week off due to you not being able to catch up on the recovery.
Thats it for this week! Next week I will be talking a bit more about Nutrition and Macro Break downs. Thank you for reading !
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