Daily Update – Aug 23, 2024

I am going to be renaming the updates to Training Updates. The original intention was to provide a daily update, but realistically that isn’t always going to happen. While I will still strive to journal activity daily, putting it on the blog may be in bulk form. The sporadic nature of my running workouts during this hot summer combined with the repetitive nature of strength workouts makes for very boring and potentially less meaningful daily updates.

The goal was always to have a record of the significant parts of training that I can look back on as well as provide others with the ability to see what I am up to. I think that goal can be achieved well enough in bulkier updates.

Strength Training

My workouts have remained the same. Currently 3×15 reps incline pushups, 2x45sec step ups each leg, 2x8reps single leg squats to chair each leg, 2x15reps standing oblique crunches each side.

I am still finding my way around squats. I want to make sure I am not risking injury to my knees, so I am going to be changing the strategy based on a progression strategy that I have come across. The single leg squats are just too hard on my knees at the moment and that is a ligament/tendon/joint strength issue that I need to build up. So I will be following the advice of this trainer:

I am also going to be incorporating another one of his videos into my workout. I want to work an abs, but I cannot actually do a sit up and crunches are difficult. His progression for sit ups looks to be something I can tackle.

Making these changes should give me a better base to build on for further training. It will takes weeks/months, but I have no doubt I will be better for it.

Running Workouts

Having been seriously depressed about my inability to get out for runs consistently has led me to do something I wanted to avoid, but there really isn’t a better option with a 5k race coming up at the end of Sept. If I have any chance of doing a sub-30 minute 5k for that race, I need to get more run time in.

As much as I dislike treadmill running, that is what I will be doing. Yesterday (Aug 22) was my first session. It was a difficult one and also short. The dang fan on the treadmill I was using didn’t work and it was humid in the gym so I was dripping sweat and out of gas by mile 2. It felt good though to be running, even with the awkwardness of running in place on a conveyor belt. I suppose over time I will get more used to running on a treadmill, at least I hope so. I am setting a treadmill workout to target mostly my fat burning HR zone, lasting 1 hour. Occasionally I will bump up the pace to give myself a higher aerobic workout for endurance. The plan will be 4 days a week, however if I see a window to do running outdoors I will take that over going to the gym. Outdoor workouts, when I can, will be based on the training schedule I had already set up and will not follow what I am doing on the treadmill.

Here is my session from last night: