Chasing Trails

euan · Wed, March 10th, 2010, 02:37 AM

Hello there JSF! Been lurking (stalking you all

) for the past few months but I miss the accountability my old journal gave me. If anything, I hope this gives me the kick I need to really clean up my diet.

I'm about 15lbs heavier than I was this time last year and the more of that I can get rid of the better. I know I can do it, I've done it before, I just need to get my head down and work at it. Easier said than done, when you've got no-one to hold you to that.

Despite the weight gain, I'm the fittest I've ever been in my life. Took up mountain biking last summer and it's a blast. Also started trail running, since I guess I can't get enough of that wonderful mud...

Other than obvious reasons, my motivations for losing this extra weight are for the adventures that lay ahead of me this year. I've got a couple of long distance hiking trips pencilled in (95 and 212 miles respectively) and I'd like to go further afield on my bike, and it's much easier to ride uphill when you're carrying less weight

Also spending 2 weeks in North Cyprus this summer, right on the doorstep of the mountains there, so no doubt that'll involve something interesting and adventurous.

So yeah, let's do this! Not lifting this morning so I'll probably go for a run. Need to get cardio in any form this week since my bike only has one wheel at the moment

Have a fantastic day and thanks for reading!

dejavued · Wed, March 10th, 2010, 11:39 AM

Foley · Wed, March 10th, 2010, 11:51 AM

Wondered where you'd got to on JSF. Good luck with the new adventure.

PlainGreyT · Wed, March 10th, 2010, 01:02 PM

Best of luck dude

euan · Wed, March 10th, 2010, 01:18 PM

Hi, and thanks all

Ended up lifting this morning after all; cleans, front squats, db bench, db row. Gives me tomorrow as a day off I suppose

Nutrition has been good so far as well today. Tuna to eat, then uni assignments to do... d'oh!

euan · Fri, March 12th, 2010, 02:41 AM

Good day yesterday; nutrition was fine. Still got DOMS in my traps from those power-cleans on Wednesday. Deadlifting this morning, so traps are going to hate me even more. Hope my new bike wheel comes today so I can get everything sorted and get a couple of rides in at the weekend.

Have a good Friday, everyone - weekend's almost here

Chopaholic · Fri, March 12th, 2010, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by euan

I've got a couple of long distance hiking trips pencilled in (95 and 212 miles respectively) and I'd like to go further afield on my bike, and it's much easier to ride uphill when you're carrying less weight

Also spending 2 weeks in North Cyprus this summer, right on the doorstep of the mountains there, so no doubt that'll involve something interesting and adventurous.

Sounds fantastic Euan.

euan · Fri, March 12th, 2010, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chopaholic

Sounds fantastic Euan.

Yeah, hopefully it all goes to plan

Lifting went well this morning. Was deadlifting in the low rep ranges working up to 160kg. Might test my 1RM next month at one point. I'll probably be pulling a PR regardless since my work sets are more or less my 1RM when I last measured it last year. Not entirely sure how I've maintained / gained strength when I've not really been lifting seriously for several months.

My wisdom teeth have been coming in for a year or so now, but now they're really beginning to poke through and it's pretty sore. Can't chew very well so I'm having to rely on milk, peanut butter, porridge and protein shakes for most of my meals, since chewing is such an effort.

euan · Mon, March 15th, 2010, 02:02 PM

Hi there, hope y'all had a good weekend!

Nutrition has been solid these past few days, lifting's going strong, and right now I'm tucking into some awesome steak and mushrooms. Mmmmm

So I was front squatting in the gym this morning, feeling pretty good about myself having easily nailed one at 100kg, when someone comes up and taps me on the shoulder as I'm unloading the bar. Imagine my bewilderment when he asks me "You realise you're doing it wrong? The bar is supposed to be behind your neck."

Dude, seriously?! Might do some zercher squats or overhead squats if he's in on Wednesday, just to totally fuck with his mind

Foley · Mon, March 15th, 2010, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by euan

Hi there, hope y'all had a good weekend!

Nutrition has been solid these past few days, lifting's going strong, and right now I'm tucking into some awesome steak and mushrooms. Mmmmm

So I was front squatting in the gym this morning, feeling pretty good about myself having easily nailed one at 100kg, when someone comes up and taps me on the shoulder as I'm unloading the bar. Imagine my bewilderment when he asks me "You realise you're doing it wrong? The bar is supposed to be behind your neck."

Dude, seriously?! Might do some zercher squats or overhead squats if he's in on Wednesday, just to totally fuck with his mind

What an uneducated fool?!!!

euan · Wed, March 17th, 2010, 03:32 AM

Deadlifting this morning, but I don't know if my legs have it in them today. The plan is to pull 140kgx1x5 but I'll see how my warmups go. I wonder how long I'll have to wait for people to stop doing upright rows or some shit like that on the platform.

Long day ahead of me; gym at 9, uni till 5, and an assignment to burn through for tomorrow. Guess I better get breakfast finished and get started

Richie11 · Wed, March 17th, 2010, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by euan

Deadlifting this morning, but I don't know if my legs have it in them today. The plan is to pull 140kgx1x5 but I'll see how my warmups go. I wonder how long I'll have to wait for people to stop doing upright rows or some shit like that on the platform.

Long day ahead of me; gym at 9, uni till 5, and an assignment to burn through for tomorrow. Guess I better get breakfast finished and get started

love deadlifts, good luck and i know what you mean about upright rows on olympic bars

euan · Wed, March 17th, 2010, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richie11

love deadlifts, good luck and i know what you mean about upright rows on olympic bars

I wouldn't mind it if they were lifting a considerable amount of weight, but it bugs me when they just use the bar for upright rows, curls, that sort of thing. There's only 3 oly bars in the gym, but about 15 minibars which cover those lower ranges of weights. Wish they'd use those instead

--

Anyway, nailed the deadlifts, and probably still had a couple of reps at 140kg left in the tank. Missed one of my power cleans and the bar skinned my shins on the way down. Lesson learned - jump backwards when the bar's falling.

euan · Fri, March 19th, 2010, 02:38 PM

Went in to the gym today with the intention of front squatting, but since the squat rack had been occupied by people benching (

) I ended up working in with someone else doing deadlifts. I always feel pretty stronger when I'm working in with someone, maybe just nervous energy or whatever knowing I'm being watched. Anyway, my top set I pulled 150kg x 5 which is a new 5 rep max for me, so I'm pretty damn happy with that - especially after pulling heavy on Wednesday too.

Getting slowly better at chinups too - always been a challenge for me, along with my overhead press. Oh well, just gotta stick at it I suppose.

Have a great weekend everyone, thanks for dropping by!

euan · Sun, March 21st, 2010, 05:44 PM

Not been a particularly good weekend, nutritionally. A little bit angry at myself for cheating now - and I've got no excuses. Whatever. Right back on track.

Continuing what I said last time about chinups and OH press; they've always been my weakness and I plan to attack them head on this year. I've been working on chins all year - the first thing I do when I go into the gym is knock out 3 sets. I've tried a few things to try improve my overhead press over the past year; low reps, high reps, push presses, db presses, even handstand pushups, thinking they might help me in some way or other. Going to try 'greasing the groove' now - for a couple of days now I've kept a bar loaded in my room so that I can do a quick set whenever I leave the room. Silly, maybe, but worth a try.

euan · Mon, March 22nd, 2010, 06:09 PM

Gym was nice and quiet this morning - probably because it was raining outside. Sad, really. Good for me though; it meant the squat rack was empty! Chinups, front squats, db rows, for sets of 5.

New bike stuff came today, so for the first time in a month it's back in one piece and in a ridable state. I'm so excited about the opportunity to get out and ride tomorrow! I finish uni at 12 so plenty of time to get a ride in in the afternoon

The new wheel is a fair bit lighter than the old one, so will be able to accelerate even faster when I open up a can of whupass

Methinks some hill repeats are in order

Thanks for dropping by, have a great day

euan · Tue, March 23rd, 2010, 03:35 PM

First time back in the saddle after a month, and I end up riding into 20-25mph winds.

Difficult as hell, that's for sure! Sure is great exercise though, having to maintain that increased demand for power made by such strong winds. So yeah, absolutely exhausted after what was a relatively short ride.

Deadlifts tomorrow. Bring it on!

euan · Thu, March 25th, 2010, 09:53 AM

Had a pretty good week so far, with regards to nutrition. I'd say my nutrition has improved since I started this journal again. That's what I was missing, that accountability. Even if no-one reads this, just writing that "I've eaten clean for X days" seems to be helping me.

Some of my friends and family members have recently started trying to live more healthfully, and I find myself answering their questions and wanting to help, but always hold back a little bit because I fear that I'll come across as too "preachy" or put them off it or whatever. Any advice on how to handle these situations?

I'm away out to ride my bike in the rain. A relatively flat route with ample opportunity to just go flat out. Thanks for stopping by!

euan · Sat, March 27th, 2010, 05:27 AM

Today's weight: 196 lbs

About the same as the start of the month. Not all bad news though, because tape measurements would suggest I've been losing fat and gained a bit of lean mass. Traps and shoulders also look better in the mirror, but that's maybe just me seeing what I want to see. My biggest interest is to drop fat to make cycling easier, though, so I think I'll drop my last (and smallest) meal of the day and see what difference that makes. I am losing fat, just not at a rate I know I could be.

Yesterday's workout was pretty solid. Pleased with my power cleans. I think my form is developing quite nicely. If there's one thing I need to work on, it's whipping my elbows up under the bar a bit quicker. My top set yesterday was 75kg x 3. That's about as high as I get before my form breaks down a little.

I've just finished breakfast and I'm about to head out on my bike. It has rained pretty hard for the past few days so the trails are going to be very messy, but at least the sun is out at the moment. The weather forecast calls for gusts of wind of up to 40 mph today! :| Not what I want to hear when I'm heading out on the open moors, but oh well, what can you do?

Have a nice weekend, JSF!

Edit: 15mph winds with 30mph gusts. That was tough! Because of all the rain lately, the trails were swamp-like. That combined with the wind made it mega-difficult to maintain any speed. Legs are exhausted. Now to go get food in me!

euan · Sun, April 4th, 2010, 03:04 PM

Past week has been pretty quiet. An awesome night out and a sugar binge has killed the perfect week of nutrition, but that's no big deal. No lifting this week. Got in a couple of bike rides, although the weather has been absolutely horrendous. 30-50mph winds at times, snow, and plenty of rain. Trails are an absolute mess so biking has been... difficult

Hill walking today - a nice day out, although we experienced all 4 seasons. Some pics from today posted below.

Click pic for bigger version