Hey everyone! Just signed up and would like some advice and suggestions on what I'm currently doing and if I'm on the right track.
I'm looking to train for a track & field competition this summer, specifically the 200 and 400 meters, at the age of 30. I ran these in high school (not college) and earned about a 23" and 53" respectively for PBs. Unfortunately, now I'm at around 200 lbs (? body fat, guessing 15% or slightly more) at 5'10", and even though I can still move pretty quick, with rapid turnover in the legs, 200 lbs is a lot to lug around for the 200 meters. The 400 more so. I was down to about 195 before the holidays, and well, I abandoned any discipline then, but am slowly coming back down. Other than falling off the nutritional wagon every now and again, I work out regularly, with a mix of high intensity and steady-state routines. I'm fit enough to do HIIT.
My goal is 175 lbs, 7-8% body fat, running those same times (or close) by June. I'm looking to strike a balance of weight/fat loss without sacrificing sprint speed/power.
One major problem specific to the event is I have no access to a track during winter. My local alma-mater has a new indoor track facility, but they only allow current students to use, no alumni. Otherwise, my options for winter cardio are limited. Once spring hits, I will be hitting the outdoor tracks ASAP.
CURRENT WORKOUTS: I've been doing most of my workouts this winter on my rower. I bought one last year and up until recently have mostly been doing steady state, hour-long low-to-medium intensity rows (avg 750-850 calories burned according to the readout, with damper at 5). The past few weeks though I've been incorporating more HIIT. One workout is 3 sets of 10 x fifteen seconds hard, fifteen seconds easy with two minutes rest between sets. Another is a pyramid routine of 4 minute warmup, 1 minute hard as possible, 1 min easy, 2 hard, 2 easy, 3 hard, 3 easy, 2 hard, 2 e, 1 h, 1 e, 2 h, 2 e, 3 h, cooldown. If I'm pressed for time, I try to squeeze in a tabata-style row with the damper on 10, then 20 seconds on, 10 off, for a four minute bout. Finally, there's the 5 reps of 1 minute as hard as I possibly can row with 5 min rest in between, damper at 7 (trying to simulate something with a similar length of time as the 400 run itself).
Another caveat is that I don't have a gym membership. That will change within a month, and I plan on incorporating mostly squats, deadlifts, power-cleans, bench, pull-ups, and some ab work at that time. Until then, everything has been mostly body weight. I either do 3 sets of 50 pushups with 1 min rest between before a rower workout, or a squat circuit of 20 air squats, 20 standing lunges (10 ea/), 20 side lunges (10 ea/), 5 squat jumps, rest, 20 air squats, 12 walking lunges, 20 air squats, rest, 16 bulgarian split squats (8 ea/), rest, 16 bulgarian split squats (8 ea/). At the end of either of those two, I finish off with 90+ second plank, and 45 second side planks each side.
Typical workout schedule below. Off days are usually days I donate plasma for some $$:
Sun: Pushup circuit, 5x1 min hard row, 5 min rest between each.
Mon: Off.
Tues: Lower body circuit, 3x10x15 sec row intervals
Wed: Pushup circuit, Pyramid interval
Thur: Off
Fri: Lower body circuit, tabata row
Sat: 1 hour easy row
As I mentioned, I will be getting a gym membership soon, and one thing I'm considering for cardio during winter is the treadmill with 2 mile runs at 7:30/mile pace several days a week to get my weight down. Not sure if I should be emphasizing those kinds of workouts more, or the HIIT…I've lurked on quite a few threads arguing the merits of both.
Planned Spring Workouts, weights before track:
Sun: No weights. Track: Special-endurance workout (two 40 second runs at near maximum to max speed, 20 minute rest between each for quality runs. Aim for 8th hurdle mark, 290 meters).
Mon: Off
Tues: Bench + pull-ups + abs. Track: Tempo workout (3x10x15 second at 75% max effort, 15 second rest between reps, 2 min between sets)
Wed: Squats + cleans. Track: Speed-endurance workouts (30, 60, 80, 100, 120 meters at near max speed, 5-7 min rest between each for quality runs)
Thur: Off
Fri: Squats + bench + abs. Speed workouts (30 meter starts at full speed, full rest between each for quality runs)
Sat: No weights. Track: Tempo workout (3x10x15 second at 75% max effort, 15 second rest between reps, 2 min between sets)
CURRENT NUTRITION: Below is my recent diet, which I've been trying to balance to keep on the low-cost threshold. I can't speak to the logic of the timing, I just kind of figured the times when I'm hungry. Also, I take late lunches, but can adjust.
6:00 am (breakfast): Either 1 bowl (3/4-ish cup) instant oatmeal w/ flax seed/cinammon, topped w/ blue berries OR 2 fried organic eggs over-easy on 1 slice sprouted grain bread (Ezekiel Food for Life Low Sodium). Both meals with 1 glass unsweetened almond milk.
8:15 am: 1/4 cup raw unsalted almonds, handful of celery stalks.
9:30 am: 1 medium organic fuji apple + 1/4 cup raw unsalted almonds.
11:00 am: More celery stalks.
1:00 pm (lunch): Usually a PB sandwich, Smuckers Organic Natural Creamy on two slices of the sprouted grain bread, + 15-ish baby carrots.
3:15 pm: Typical workout time. Post workout is usually another fuji apple or a navel orange.
6:00 pm (dinner): 2 3-4 oz. grilled boneless skinless chicken breast, peppered, w/ spinach.
Saturday evenings (cheat): Usually a frozen pepperoni pizza. Quick, easy, cheap, good.
Definitely open to nutrition suggestions. I am bored to tears with this.
Jesus. Apologies for the length, I just want to be thorough. Again, I want to stress a balance between weight loss to get down to 175 with a low body fat percentage, but still maintain my current sprint power.
Running the 200 and 400 meters this summer. My goal is 175 lbs, 7-8% body fat, 23-24" 200 and 53-56" 400 by June. I'm looking to strike a balance of weight/fat loss without sacrificing sprint speed/power.
Current workouts utilizing Concept 2 rower:
Sun: Pushup circuit, 5x1 min hard row, 5 min rest between each.
Mon: Off.
Tues: Lower body circuit, 3x10x15 sec row intervals
Wed: Pushup circuit, pyramid interval (4 warmup, 1 hard, 1 easy, 2h, 2e, 3h, 3e, 2h, 2e, 1h, 1e, 2h, 2e, 3h, cooldown)
Thur: Off
Fri: Lower body circuit, tabata row
Sat: 1 hour easy row
Spring workouts:
Sun: No weights. Track: Two 40 second runs at near maximum to max speed, 20 minute rest between each for quality runs. Aim for 8th hurdle mark, 290 meters.
Mon: Off
Tues: Bench + pull-ups + abs. Track: 3x10x15 second at 75% max effort, 15 second rest between reps, 2 min between sets
Wed: Squats + cleans. Track: 30, 60, 80, 100, 120 meters at near max speed, 5-7 min rest between each for quality runs.
Thur: Off
Fri: Squats + bench + abs. Track: 30 meter starts at full speed, full rest between each for quality runs. Focusing on acceleration.
Sat: No weights. Track: 3x10x15 second at 75% max effort, 15 second rest between reps, 2 min between sets.
Nutrition:
6:00 am (breakfast): Either 1 bowl (3/4-ish cup) instant oatmeal w/ flax seed/cinammon, topped w/ blue berries OR 2 fried organic eggs over-easy on 1 slice sprouted grain bread (Ezekiel Food for Life Low Sodium). Both meals with 1 glass unsweetened almond milk.
8:15 am: 1/4 cup raw unsalted almonds, handful of celery stalks.
9:30 am: 1 medium organic fuji apple + 1/4 cup raw unsalted almonds.
11:00 am: More celery stalks.
1:00 pm (lunch): Usually a PB sandwich, Smuckers Organic Natural Creamy on two slices of the sprouted grain bread, + 15-ish baby carrots.
3:15 pm: Typical workout time. Post workout is usually another fuji apple or a navel orange.
6:00 pm (dinner): 2 3-4 oz. grilled boneless skinless chicken breast, peppered, w/ spinach.
Saturday evenings (cheat): Usually a frozen pepperoni pizza. Quick, easy, cheap, good.
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