Too Many Singles

I hoped to get out for an early run, but it was raining. At around 11:15 it brightened up, birds started to chirp, and radar showed a window in the weather, so I hit the pavement.

Year of the Engine – Endurance

24:00 Run

I mapped out a loop that ended up being 2.55 miles and took me 24:30. My focus for the run was on my stride rate, which was a lot more consistent than usual (often drops to 155-160 with an average in the low 160s) and must have helped with my pace. I’ll have to concentrate on my stride more often and would like to get it up to 180.

I rested and took my time setting everything up, so it was just over 30 minutes after the run when I got started on the workout.

Conditioning

• 30 Strict HSPU
• 40 Box Jumps (24″)
• 30 Bench Press (135#)
• 40 Goblet Lunges (53#)
• 20 Strict HSPU
• 30 Box Jumps (24″)
• 20 Bench Press (135#)
• 30 Goblet Lunges (53#)

I went in to this workout planning to do 40-30 on every movement with the option for a third round of 20. That quickly changed when I went 5-5-3-singles and took five minutes to do 30 strict handstand push-ups! The next time around I did 2-2-2-singles, taking four minutes to knock out 20 reps. I recently felt good doing two rounds of 5×5 strict in a partner workout, so I never expected to drag behind the struggle bus like this. Either my shoulders are wiped out from yesterday or using plates and an AbMat is a lot harder than the big gymnastics mat at the gym. Box jumps were fine and mostly a rest before pressing again. I felt weak on the bench as well and did all sets of fives. I split the 40 lunges in half because I felt like I was fatiguing my triceps by holding the kettlebell and did the 30 unbroken. Finished in 21:42 with 9:00 spent on HSPU.

Test

100 Hand Release Push-ups

For some reason at 6:30pm I got the bright idea to test some push-ups after all of the pressing I’ve done in the last two days. I haven’t been able to beat my 5:04 PR on this from 2013, though I did 5:18 and 5:08 in 2017.

Some quick math told me five reps every 15 seconds would get sub five minutes, so that was my plan of attack. I did 5 reps and rested until the my 15 seconds was up. Rinse and repeat. It felt great through 50 reps. I could feel the fatigue kicking in as I got through 60 and by 70 I was barely making it in time. After that I knew I couldn’t keep up the fives any longer, so I resorted to whatever I could manage until it was singles. Finished in 5:14, so with all of the reps done yesterday and today I’m confident I can break that barrier soon.