A Day training in the life of a PT

So today I have a few bits and pieces going on.
Had a great seaside based boot camp this morning, another client at 12 then a further 2 later on finishing with another boot camp.....all great stuff and fantastic to be helping people reach their goals.

In terms of my own goals, well, I have taken the decision not to run the Seaford half marathon this coming Sunday. I have not taken this lightly but with my cold still lingering and a sub par performance last weekend it would be foolish to push the limits when not fully over it. In addition the course is a hilly off road circuit so the chances of a PB are minimal...........I have bigger fish to fry, another 10k on 17th June and that will be my next goal........to improve on 43 min 15.

Training wise well, its a low intensity high mileage week for me.

Yesterday was my longest run to date, 18.5 miles off road over 3 hours. Easy pace, tired legs at the end.

Today's Training:-
6 Mile off road easy run, heart rate 120 - 130BPM working on flowing freely, running softly and getting some o2 into the legs.

4 hours later and a spot of resistance work as follows:-

Super Set 1
Barbell Front Squat 40 - 50kg for 5 sets of 10 reps
Bulgarian Bag Spins 17 - 20kg for 5 sets of 10 reps each way.
Rest 60 seconds between pairings

Super Set 2
Gymnastic Ring Push Ups 12 to 15 reps
Wide Grip Chin Ups 5 - 8 reps
Rest 60 seconds between pairings

Finisher
Bulgarian Bag Spins 17kg * 5 sets of 10 each way with 30 seconds rest between each.

Drawn out Death.......Push Ups on the Bulgarian Bag - 
Perform 10 reps
Rest locked out for 15 seconds
Perform 8 reps
Rest locked out for 15 seconds
Perform 6 reps
15 seconds
4 reps
15 seconds
2 reps

Done.

I will finish off later with a few sets of kettlebells with my boot campers, swings, cleans, presses, windmills, turkish get ups are the order of the day.

Looks a lot of training but in actuality the intensity for all of this is fairly low.

12 miles off road planned for tomorrow before a rest day on Friday.

Short Running Specific Kettlebell Workout

Ive been sat on the lap top all day writing pages for my upcoming Kettlebell Workshop for Runners and Cyclists. I kept telling myself "just 30 minutes more" and before I know it the day has nearly gone.

Still, the work is done and so I thought I would squeeze in a quick kettlebell session.

I am in the middle of a high mileage (50) running week this week so really need to watch my supplementary training and make sure it's not eating too far into recovery.

Here's how it went:-

Warm Up
12kg Bulgarian Bag - Various mobility drills

Then Bulgarian Bag Spins 12kg
25 spins right/25 left/25 right/25 left - no rest just to get the pulse a bit higher.

Kettlebell Swings
16kg * 60 seconds/60 sec rest
20kg * 60 sec/60 rest
24kg * 60 sec/60 rest
28kg * 60 sec/60 rest
28kg * 45sec/60 rest
28kg * 30 sec/DONE.

2 minutes rest.

Double Kettlebell Squat to Strict Press
16kg * 2 * 10 reps /60sec rest
16kg * 2 * 10 reps /60sec rest
16kg * 2 * 10 reps /60sec rest
16kg * 2 * 10 reps /60sec rest

2 minutes rest

Kettlebell Snatch Tabata
16kg * 20 seconds work/10 seconds rest * 8 rounds (4 minutes)

I hit 9 reps each work period to total 72 reps.

That was it for now as I am filming some kettlebell exercises later too followed by a very easy 5 mile recovery run to do later.

Then I think it will be time for a rest!

2K Row - Learning about the Mind

So today I decided to have a good training session with a mate of mine.

A few weeks back we had a training session together and both attempted a 2000m row for time which was my first attempt at the distance and finished in a time of 7min 31.

We both ear marked today as the day we were going to hit the 2k row again with a view to getting under the magical 7 min mark.

I hadn't done any rowing since the last attempt over a month ago and I was hard pushed to say I was looking forward to the challenge.

Anyway, I set the damper to 8, plugged in some suitable tunes (Lamb of God - Walk with me in hell and Slipknot - People = Shit) and got on with the task in hand.

The first 500m passed with an average time of 1:43 and 750m rapidly loomed. By now the legs were burning and thoughts of "shit this is hard" were starting to creep in.

Casting them aside and listening to the music in my ears with more intent eased the pain and the 1000m barrier was broken. "Shit only half way" and feelings of REALLY wanting to stop were almost over whelming.

Focus on the music Matt and keep going just 100 more strokes to go was what I told myself.
Before I knew it there was 500m left and that's when I realised my error. I failed to set the display to show projected time with strokes per min being displayed. School boy error!

Trying not to panic while seeking to being the time down to sub 1:45 again for 500m seemed impossible.
The last 200m were an all out sprint, it was hurting, my quads, hamstrings and glutes were on fire, couldn't breathe and all I could do was watch the seconds tick away.

7min 02 and a world of pain and lactic acid was the result - I wanted to lie down, I wanted to walk round, I wanted it to stop..........and as a good friend of mine reminded me only yesterday "Everything passes".

15 minutes later we decided the best cure was some deadlifting and other fun and games and as it was Friday, why the hell not?!

Deadlifts/Double 16kg Kettlebell jerks
60 * 10/ Jerks * 10
80 * 10/ Jerks *10
90 * 10/Jerks * 20
100 * 10/Jerks * 20
110kg * 10/Jerks * 30

Single Arm Kettlebell Snatch Tabata (20sec work/10 sec rest - alternate hands)
9/9
9/9
10/10
10/10reos each work period.

Job done.

It just goes to show, you can learn a hell of a lot about yourself through exercise, especially when it's really pushing the limits.

I will attempt the 2k row again next week, strike while the irons hot, while the memory of the internal dialogue is fresh and while my awareness of my shortcomings remains in the forefront of my mind.

I will not be beaten next time........