Mike Brewer's 2008 Challenge-Update

[Hardball]

So how is everybody doing? I'm behind my desired pace, but I find it easy to knock out a 1,000 crunches with my trusty ab roller. I just have to up the frequency of when i do them. My cumulative numbers are in my signiture line. So how is everybody else doing? The year is 1/4 over or 25% over for you math heads. LOL

Side note: I upped my cardio game and bought a pair of saucony running shoes. I've been jogging for about a month now and I also bought a brand new 24 speed trek bicycle. At age 50, I had to get more into cardio and not just the weights and martial arts.

[Mike Brewer]

This was my entry on another site as of Monday:
UPDATE: 3/25

Numbers as of today are - 23,800 repetitions for both push-ups and sit-ups (after building almost a one-week cushion, I screwed it all up visiting home last week and I'm now very close to par) and 256 miles of road work. That's a bit short, too, but it's not a big deficit. I'll be back to good by next week on the run.

Doing this during my fast was hard-hard-hard. Still, it got me prepared for my long fast in August so it was a good experience.

As far as my body is concerned, I am seeing a major increase in arm and shoulder strength. My forearms (oddly) have grown noticeably and my upper arms are getting more solid. My abs are hidden well behind a layer of carefully constructed and dutifully maintained padding, surgically modified to look like body fat ( ), but they feel stronger. My back hurts a lot less often. Lung capacity is also good, as I proved by sprinting clear across the mammoth hallway of Denver Airport's B Concourse carrying two bags full of books and computer stuff. Made the run at a dead sprint and maintained the pace for a good minute (literally one end to the other - gate 55 all the way down to gate 15!) and felt pretty good when I got there. Between the fast and the work, I've lost about 12 pounds. Not great, and certainly not as much as I could have expected 10 years ago, but hey...I'll take it.

[Tom Yum]

No cumulative numbers, guys.

But I can give you a snapshot of where I'm at:

I'm running 4-6 miles per day, atleast 4 with ruck. 1-2 miles are sometimes ran at a quick pace, the rest of the time its a moderate jog (8:30 - 9:30 pace?)

From time to time, there's another run on days that would bring me to 10+ miles for the day, maybe 2 times per week.

I work on pushups, pull ups, dips, situps and squats through pyramid workouts or sometimes through circuit training. Same body parts aren't worked on consecutive days - I work other parts on the days after.

Pushups: 250-500 per workout
Dips: 50 -100 " "
Pullups: No more than 150 " "
Ab Excrecises: No more than 500 " "
Squats: No more than 1,000 " "

I believe I could be a better runner still. I'm just trying to figure out the best way of improving my running with the 4-6 miles of required runs during the work day.

Got any advice, Mike? Hardball?

[Hardball]

My only advice is to swim laps if possible, the cross training will help build up your lungs.

[Mike Brewer]

Hardball, I'm willing to bet he's getting a lot of swim time!

[Hardball]

Yea, he is in the Navy.

[Mike Brewer]

Tom, wind sprints are one of the best ways to improve your distance running, believe it or not. In fact, when Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile for the first time in history, he trained exclusively with sprints. He never ran a full mile in training to break that world record.

Sprints make your heart and lungs work hard, and they give you the anaerobic benefits that distance running won't. Give it a try. If nothing else, just add one session a week of what I call 100 meter suicides. Goes like this:

On a football field or similar:
10 meter quick takeoff sprint, then jog back to the start
30 meter sprint, then jog back to start
50 meter sprint, then jog back to start
70 meter sprint, then jog back to start
100 meter sprint, then jog back to start

On the jog, make it at least a double quick-time pace. On the sprint, push with every step to go faster and faster.

3 sets won't take very long at all, but it'll help. Do it for a month, working up to 4 or 5 sets (whatever you have time for) and I'll bet your time on the 2 mile drops by 30 seconds to a minute, no joke.

[Tom Yum]

Thanks guys.

Hardball, I'm getting plenty of time in the trainin' tank...I mean water

Mike, I'll employ your routine this week and the next and let you guys know. I've followed some great routines from several mentors from both DEP and the SEALpt program to get me where I'm at now. (which has been a great journey itself).

I have yet to get injured, while alot of those around me are starting to fall to run-related injuries - but I don't want to jinx myself.

I'm running a 5k race for charity this weekend, so I can see where I'm at and support a good cause. Why I would do this even though I run more than most human beings all week seems crazy, but all the proceeds go to kids with autism.

[Tom Yum]

I did okay, but could certainly use improvement.

It was my first time to run the 3.2 mile trail, so the slight slopes and hills were a suprise, especially the last few hundred yards that were an uphill drive to the finish line.

I averaged 7:29 per mile - slightly on the slow side.

I placed 13th out of 55 runners in my division.

Categories excluded, I think I might have placed in the mid to low top 1/3 of all competitors? Fastest runner kept under a 5:20 pace - he was probably a quarter mile a head when I saw him hit the finish line.

Stayed for the awards ceremony and the raffel drawings. Didn't hear how much money was raised for the event, but I'm sure it was a success.

There were some good lookin' ladies there as well.

[Mike Brewer]

Tom, those sprints are seriously a help. See if you can get a buddy to do them with you - I always manage to push harder when I'm competing instead of just running.

And definitely, let me know if it helped. I've never seen anyone post results from just a two-week cycle, so I'll be very interested to see if any noticable improvements are made in that amount of time.

[Tom Yum]

It'll be a 4-6 week cycle come to think of it.

I've done suicide sprints before with some success, but I plateaued. I'll reincorporate them since I haven't done them in a while.

[Mike Brewer]

If they fail or you start to plateau, let me know. I have some good variations for you.

I still think that given 5 weeks or so, if you can manage to work them in at a hard work rate (think getting ready for a fight), then you'll shave a good 30 - 60 seconds off your run. That's a big bite for a run time, but when I did it at AIT, I went from a 15:20 two mile (never been a fast runner) to a 14:10 in about a month's time. A month later, it was down to 13:30. I was always an endurance runner, and when I went to training, I was used to long hilly routes that were 15 miles or so. My pace had to change drastically, and it was difficult. The sprints were what got me through that wall. If you're built for running, it'll do even better for you.