I trained to run a marathon back in 1993 and set a goal of completing 26.2 miles in less than 4 hours. I missed the mark by 20 minutes, so decided to run another one on a flatter course two weeks later. I missed the mark by 40 minutes in that race because I was still beat up from the first one. Being stubborn, I decided to run another marathon six weeks later when I thought I would be adequately rested. I maintained my goal pace in that race until just after the 20 mile mark and then began to slow down and ultimately finished 20 minutes late. I concluded in the last miles of that race that I wasn’t fast, but I was tough. I decided to run a marathon race every month for a year to prove I was tough and that is exactly what I did in 1994. I had a lot of fun traveling to 12 different marathons and amazingly enough, completed number 2 in the series in 3 hours and 57 minutes in my hometown of Pensacola, Florida at the Blue Angels Marathon.

Tough has never been my problem, but speed and strength have always been issues. I’m not concerned about speed now at 54 years of age, but would like to make significant gains in strength, so I am dedicating myself to picking up as much heavy iron as I can over the next 4 to 8 weeks. Following the guidance of Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel, I am planning to repeat the same workout every weekday and rest on the weekends. Apparently the trick to training every day is keeping the reps low, so I am limiting my reps to 10 with everything except kettlebell swings where I will do one 4-minute/Tabata set.

Warmup:

Face-the-wall squats – 2 x 10
Shoulder rolls – 2 x 10
Good mornings – 2 x 15
High elbow jabs – 1 x 30 L/R
Crossed elbow jabs – 1 x 30
Pushups – 1 x 10
Get-ups – 1, 2, 3 L/R – 8 kg kettlebell – 12 reps, 216 pounds

Workout:

Clean and press – 7 x 1 L/R – 20 kg kettlebell – 14 reps, 616 pounds
Clean and press – 1 x 3 L/R – 16 kg kettlebell – 6 reps, 210 pounds
Two-handed swings – Tabata x 1 – 24 kg kettlebell – 88 reps, 4664 pounds
Goblet squat – 2, 3, 5 – 36 kg – 10 reps, 700 pounds
Deadhang chinups/pullups – 5 x 2 – 10 reps
Carries – 10 x 50 yards – 500 yards, 878 pounds
Farmer – L/R – 32/24 kg
Rack – 16/16 kg
Farmer – 16/16 kg
Farmer – L/R – 24/20 kg
Rack – 16/16 kg
Farmer – 16/16 kg
Farmer – L/R – 20/16 kg

Time: 60 minutes
Weight: 7284 pounds

I failed to complete the 8th rep with my left arm on the clean and press with the 20 kg bell, so dropped down to the 16 kg bell and completed 1 set of 3 reps with each arm to complete 10 reps.

I might be able to move up from the 24 to the 36 kg bell for two-handed swings, but will wait to see how I feel on Friday after swinging five days in a row. If I’m doing okay, I will start with the 36 kg bell on Monday.

The 36 kg bell is the heaviest I own currently. I may need something heavier to make 10 goblet squats challenging, but will try slowing my pace – squatting and rising slowly – to see if that helps.

I did chinup/pullup sets between sets of farmer and rack carries.

I am using different weights for many of the carries because I only have one 24 and one 36 kg bell and because the lack of balance adds challenge. I’ve been doing some farmer carries over the past few months, but the weight and reps I am doing now is significantly higher. My massage therapist observed that my back was tighter than usual today and I’m guessing that is thanks to the carries. I wonder what she will find next week after I have completed a lot more carries.