Curtis P's

First, let me say that Brisbane's Riverfire last night was AMAZING! We had the boys from work (and Lia) over for dinner and had the most perfect view of the fireworks, both from a barge on the river and the Story Bridge. Anyone who thinks that Sydney's NYE fireworks is unrivalled needs to see Riverfire.

Annabel and I had a very lazy day today, and by 4pm we both needed to stretch our legs, so decided to hit the gym. I follow a blog called No Meat Athlete. Now whilst I'm far from vegan, I really like some of the stuff (and recipes) that this blog has. I also like the way that he writes and thinks about running. Last week I was intrigued by a post he put up that mentioned strength training for runners. He referenced a workout called "Curtis P's", originally from a website called Mountain Athlete. It's basically just another barbell "complex" (similar to the Bear Complex I did a few weeks ago). The workout is as follows:

100 reps @ 55% (I used 40kg) of bodyweight of: Hang squat clean, left leg lunge, right leg lunge, push press. No dropping the bar between each movement.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get the full 100 out, especially after my first set only managed 7 reps! Needless to say, I did it, all in sets of 5 (and two sets of 7). This was a seriously tough workout - each movement smashes you in a different way. I actually found it hurt my wrists to do the push presses as I had "racked" the bar on my shoulders for the lunges.

I was really happy with my power in the cleans, and with how deep I was getting on the front squat. If I'm honest, I didn't hit my knee to the floor on every single lunge, but all in all I think my form was pretty good given the number of reps.

By 50 reps I was hurting a lot. Annabel didn't think I'd finish, but I got there in the end. The last 2 reps were very satisfying!!!!

I did a few hundred skips as a warmup, practised my kipping pullups, and did 3 sets of 10 toes-to-bar at the end. Long workout, but a goody.

My plan for the week is:
- Monday - easy morning run and massage in the evening
- Tuesday - upper body bodyweight gym sesh (i.e. pullups/pushups/dips)
- Wednesday - tempo run
- Thursday - rest
- Friday - short, easy run
- Saturday - race!