Changing It Up Again

Well folks, running has officially moved down on my list of major goals. I still have pretty specific goals, like get 5 more marathons in the next six months, but it's the mentality I will be taking towards my training that is changing the most. You see, after a while I get bored with the monotony of training for one type of goal. Running has brought me great joy, and has positively effected me in more ways then I thought was imaginable. But there is more out there that I want to try out.

This summer my training will be focused about 85% on speed and power. The other 15% will be endurance. As always, stability, flexibility and strength will be worked throughout as they should be staples in any workout no matter what the goal.

Also, I'm pursuing some new athletic endevours besides endurance running:
Jujitsu - I've been practicing this pretty regularly for about two months now and have fallen in love. The focus on body control and leverage attracted me and I have found it to be quite a learning experience to have someone half my size move me around so easily. I strongly suggest anyone who thinks they are tough, go roll for a couple minutes and you'll be humbled on the spot.
Biking - I've always been into biking, but know the idea of triathlon is appealing and I am slowly getting into taking it a bit more seriously.
Swimming - This is tough for me. I can run 50 miles, rep out 20 pull ups and deadlift 400+, but I can barely make two laps without stopping for a rest. It'll be a great learning experience getting into this.
Climbing - I've never actually done this seriously, more of just, going out to Great Falls and stupidly risking life and limb by bouldering the toughest rocks I can find. Now it's about time I get my own gear and take this up for real.

I'll be talking about all those things in future posts, so for now, let's just focus on the training schedule and the lifting.

Thanks to a friend I have learned some great rules of squats, cleans, jerks and high pulls. Soon enough I'll be working on perfecting the snatch, and deadlift. I will be lifting three days a week, focusing on building up in weight and speed through the Olympic lifts (cleans, jerks and snatches), and weight on the power lifts (deadlifts, squats). I also will be focusing on some body control moves like handstands, pull ups, pistol squats, push ups and the planche. I also will be focusing almost all my running on speed work; intervals and sprints. Weekends will be set aside for a nice, good run, I can't just stop doing that. Jujitsu will be practiced at least three times a week while biking and swimming will be scheduled in whenever I can fit. Eventually I will probably incorporate the biking and swimming a little more structured, but for now, the lifting and sprint work are key to me. As ,y clients and friends know about me, it's all about goal setting, so, here are mine for the summer:

Body Control -
5 full handstand push ups with feet on wall
8+ second still handstand
1 one-arm pull up
10 one-arm push ups
L-seat to handstand
Muscle up with no jump

Running -
Sub 6 minute mile
5 more marathons (already 2 scheduled for Oct.)
1 more ultra (already scheduled 50k in Sept.)

Lifting -
425 lbs deadlift
400 lbs squat
225 lbs clean and jerk
185 lbs snatch

Speed/Power -
30+ inch vertical leap
Dunk a basketball
4.8 second 40 yard dash

So, for now, that's what I got. I have a few other goals that I'm putting together and working on and I will let everyone know about those as I get into them. I will also post up progress reports as I go, but from here on out, I'll be posting more posts on ideas and such that I hope can raise some discussion out there.

So, until next time - Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage