Weekend Activities

Weight lifting on Friday:

Squat: 3x5x260
Bench: 3x5x195
Pull-ups: 10, 8

Failed on the third set of squats for the third straight workout, so time for a deload. Got all 5 reps on the first bench set, then 3 on the 2nd and 3rd sets. Very pleased with my overall progress since going on creatine, it has made a noticeable difference. I wanted to do more pull-ups but ran out of time.

Biked 11 miles at the battlefield trail on Saturday morning, just over 15mph average. There are some nice hills where I topped out at 27+ too. Hands were really sore the whole ride, and noticed afterwards that the handlebars are too far forward and need adjusting. I also need to sit down and trim the front derailleur so it doesn't grind in high gear. Only slightly saddle-sore, which is a good sign.

Ran a half-marathon on Sunday in horrible heat/humidity. Had a large blister on my big toe afterwards, probably from the extra cycling I've been doing lately. Then I took a look at my left shoe:

Three new holes: on the heel, on the middle-right, and on the second toe. I'll repair it with some shoe glue, but I might need to rotate my other Vibrams back in. Hopefully that will get me through until next month, and I'll buy some new ones. My first pair of Vibrams lasted 8 months before I replaced them, and these have lasted about 6, which makes sense since the overall mileage is about the same. We went to a wine festival on Saturday afternoon, and during Sunday's run I could tell that I was dehydrated. Made it through the run just fine, but was crazy thirsty afterwards, to the point where I didn't feel like I could quench it. 

After an hour for breakfast we went to the pool, and I jumped in for a 950m swim, alternating between 50-free and 50-breast with no rest. It's 950m instead of my planned 1000m because at the end I kicked a little too hard (overextending my toes) and got a horrible cramp in my calf, which stopped me dead in the water. I've heard that leg cramps can be dangerous when it happens in open water, but experiencing it really drove the point home: if I hadn't been in the shallow end I probably wouldn't have been able to keep myself above water just treading water. My calf is still sore a day later, but it's only sore when I sit for a while: when I get up and walk around the pain goes away after about 30 seconds. I'm wondering if it had to do with my dehydration yesterday, or if it's more of a calf strain. 

I'll be cutting back squats/deadlifts on my lifting days, probably only doing them once a week. With my cycling mileage ramping up, and me already struggling to get past my squatting plateau at 260 lbs, it's probably a good idea to do this now instead of waiting to get overloaded. The pool is closed Thursday for a swim meet, so I'm really hoping my calf doesn't keep me from swimming tomorrow.