Challenge Day

The day of the big challenge has come and gone. I'll tell you how it went, if you really want to know. The challenge, just to remind you, was to max out in the squat, run a mile for time, and run and 10K all in one day. It went like this:

I did not get up early, but I did get to Plate City by a little before 8:00 a.m. I am going to reveal my weights. If you have read this blog, you know that I have never revealed the weights on anything involving the legs. The reason for that is I am ashamed. I am and always have been very weak in the legs. No, running long distances and riding a bicycle have not rectified that.

It's a genetic thing with me. I am a small man and inherited very thin legs. I did not walk until I was thirteen months old. To exacerbate the problem, over the years I have shied away from leg work for several reasons. One reason is squatting is it is not fun. Another is it conflicts with running which is fun. A third reason is I sometimes ride bicycles with my buddies. Very often I would leave the leg work off because I was planning to ride with the guys the next day. To do a bunch of squats today, meant getting dropped on Money Road tomorrow.

Over the past year, however, I have made a commitment to leg work. That has meant some uncomfortable runs. It has also meant that I got dropped several times this summer. I decided that the long term goal was worth the short term embarrassment. So yes, I got dropped several times this past summer due to my legs being blown out from the gym the day before. With that background, I will reveal what I squatted Friday morning.

   6 X 45

   3 X 75

   1 X 95

   1 X 115

   1 X 125

   1 X 130

   1 X 137.5

   1 X 140

   1 X 145

That was it. My PR at the first of the year was 120. I know, an average man with no training can beat that by a lot. So what? Somewhere along the way, I upped that to 135. And now it is at 145. Still pretty light, but Friday morning, I was not peaked. In fact, I had just come off a case of COVID. Thursday doing bench presses my strength was way higher than the week before indicating that I was still recovering from the disease. So I am proud of my 145. It marks progress, real progress. If you are wondering how I came up the the 137.5, I have two 1.25 pound one inch plates that I tied a string to and hung on the Olympic bar.

By 8:42, part one of challenge day was done. I went inside, ate my second breakfast, studied for Sunday and for school, and rested. The plan was to run the mile just before noon.

At around 11:00, I left the Hideout shuffling to the Yazoo River Trail. The plan was not to run in the woods, but on the paved part of the trail. This would keep me out of traffic, was just far enough from the Hideout to warm me up on the jog over, and it had trees I could duck into if necessary. I had drunk coffee all morning.

My goal was to break 10:00 minutes. I know, but I am 64-years old, overweight, and still coming back from two years of injuries and a deadly disease. Secretly I had hoped to break 9:50. I would have been thrilled with a 9:49. The quarter miles went like this:

   1 - 8:53 (these numbers are the per mile average)

   2 - 9:06

   3 - 9:37

   4 - 8:54

The total mile was in 9:11 so I exceeded expectations by a lot. To say that I was pleased is an understatement. I shuffled home, ate lunch, and began the process of resting. I wanted as much time as possible between the mile effort and the 10K. No, I was not going for a time in the last run, just to complete it. 

Around 12:00 noon, I received a text. It was from the man who bought my boat motor a couple of months back. "Do you still have that truck?" he asked. 

"Yes," I replied.

"Will you take ____ for it?"

"I will if you put the battery in it." The truck had been sitting for a year (Penny and I figured last night that it was actually a little over two years). It needed a battery. If he would supply the battery, I would accept his offer. He asked if they (he and his wife) could come today. I said sure. I needed to sell this truck.

They were coming from Vicksburg and were supposed to be there by 2:00. I'll still have time, I thought, this won't take but thirty minutes. If it takes an hour, I'll have time.

It took all afternoon. I'll spare you the details, and I am not complaining. This needed to happen and is part of our moving process. So I did not get to run the 10K. I will, however, do this challenge again in the future. I will wait until I know I am stronger. I should also be more fit by then. This gives me something to work towards and the squat record and the mile time give me some bench marks to gauge my fitness by.

Lessons? I think there are a couple. One is that if the squatting interfered with the mile, I could not tell it. Unfortunately, I did not get to run the 10K so I don't know if there would have been noticeable fatigue then. My guess is a bit, but I felt like I could have done it.

So it was real. It was fun. It was even real fun. Even without doing all three, I am pleased with the day. Thank you, Jesus.