Autor: tdewille

It was so much fun hiking around Jelenia Gora yesterday. I only came by car at around 10a.m so I didn’t have as much time as I’d expected but I still managed to do a decent 28km until 6p.m.

This time I didn’t get lost a single time, which is probably a first for me. I remembered most of the route so I didn’t have to stare at the map all the time. I had less stuff in the backpack so it was much better than the last time.
Unfortunately, my Dolomites shoes failed me once again because they are too hard on my feet. My little toes are terribly sore even after 28km. I don’t have much more time to test new shoes so I think I’m going to take my Adidas Terrex Rain for my big trip… Unless it rains big time, in which case I’ll take 2 pairs of shoes.
Other things:
– sweatbands: i need to have them next time
– tshirts with front pockets. I went to my local tailor and asked her to sew a superlarge front zipped pocket on 3 tshirts. I can’t be bothered to put empty plastic bottles in my backpack every 45 minutes.
– i need to eat more. If I forget this for 2 hours, my level of energy drops too much. I’m going to take some chocolate shakes with me too next time.
– i need to start taking ibuprofen earlier
– i need to put some hydrogel plasters on my feet + use sudocrem before the start of the trip.

There’s very little time now to do anything, because I need 3-4 days of rest before the trip on 20.09. So here’s my plan:

1. Tomorrow i’m going to do 30-40 kilometers in the hills surrounding Jelenia Góra, this being my last fitness checkpoint. Last trip was a major fail because of the weather but tomorrow looks quite good in the forecasts.
   I’m going to do the first part of Przejscie Kotliny, starting from Łysa Góra (PT3), through Okole (PK6), Chrośnica, Góra Szybowcowa, Jeżów Sudecki (PK7), Perła Zachodu (PK8) and even further if all goes well. I’m toying with the idea of taking trekking poles. I’ve never used them before… I’ll make the decision in the morning.

This time I’m only taking my new Simond 32 liter backpack. I’m getting really good at packing. After 25 years of hiking 😀 It’s going to be fairly wet so i’m only taking my Dolomites. Let’s see how my feet handle 40km in those really hard shoes…

Inside the backpack I have:

• 2 pairs of socks
• 2 tshirts
• beanie, middle-eastern style scarf, mittens (!)
• trousers
• Sudocrem, Ibuprofen, hydrogel plasters, wet wipes, emergency blanket
• zipped hoodie, superlight jacket
• food (chocolate bars), vitamin water
  I’m going to put on long (but very thin) trousers, a long-sleeved tshirt and my favourite multi-pocket fishing vest, which makes me look super old. Why do fishing vests have this effect?
  
  Tomorrow i’m setting off early in the morning, probably around 6a.m, it’s a 2h drive to the starting point so I’ll start around 8a.m. The plan is to finish at 7-9p.m. I’m going to wake up my son at 5:30a.m and i’ll ask if he wants to come along. If he does, I’ll probably do a shorter version of the trip, because he’s 8years old and 25km is his limit at the moment.
  
  2) After the trip I’m just going to go for long leisurely walks + my regular stamina and strength training until the 15.09 and then it’s recovery + walks only. I need to be well rested for the trip.

3) I need to now pay close attention to what i’m eating (better late than never) and I need to be extra careful about things like air conditioning, alcohol etc. No risky behavior in the last 2 weeks 🙂

All in all, I’m in pretty good shape, i’m still training regularly, adding a bit more every week. I’ve even upgraded my garage gym 🙂 It’s still a bit messy but it’s starting to look good. I’ve added the mats because dropping a 150kg bar on this floor could have catastrophic consequences.

I purchased a leg press (below) this week to add a bit of variety to my garage training routine.

…and some grip strength trainers, too. The reason is that I could easily deadlift a bit more than 140kg but my hands/fingers are too weak.

I bought a 45kg and a 68kg version. I’ve never used them so no idea which one’s better for me now.

Lastly, I think i’m going to buy the 50kg weights. Amazing, i didn’t realize they make those. They must be massive! With this I could put much more on the hex bar without running out of space. I could probably put (50+20+15 ) x 2 = 170kg+weight of the hex bar.

Hey

Recently I’ve felt like i’m getting into a rut so i’ve decided to make my training a bit more difficult: I’ve moved from 20kg to 25kg for weight pullovers and added some kilograms to the bar as well.

Now the bar has 2x10kg, 1x5kg, 1×1.25kg and 1×0.5kg, in total it’s a 13kg bar + 2x(26.75)=66.5kg

Therefore, my new stamina training is:
3×26 stomach crunches

3x22xbench press reps of 66kg

3×20 pullovers with the new 25kg

3×20 dumbbell row reps(18kg)

There are only 17 days to go so not much time left unfortunately. Let’s see how it goes. I need to be a bit more careful now because any injury so close to the event and it’s game over.

Hey

Long time no see. I had some unexpected setbacks (work, life) but I’ve been trying to train nonetheless, although the progress is far from what I expected a month ago. The only major difference is I took up deadlift a few weeks ago and I even went up to a solid 145kg x 1.

This is what I still manage to do:
Part 1

85kgx6x6 on Mondays, 90kgx5x7 on Tuesdays, 95kgx4x8 on Thursdays , 100kgx3x10 on Fridays
With deadlift I’m still kind of careful because I want to avoid an injury so i just do 10x50kg, 10x60kg, 10x70kg + a few lifts of 100kg and over. I will increase this slowly over time to also do 10x80kg and 10x90kg sets over next week.

Part 2
I also do a stamina training several times per week where I do 2 sets of:
24 x stomach crunch
21x 65kg benchpress
24x 20kg weight pullovers

I also went hiking last week for a short recon of the route but the weather changed so suddenly around 2p.m that I only managed to do 20km. I have some major lessons learnt, though: I will not be taking my chest bag after all because it’s too much hassle and the straps are not flexible enough so it gets irritating after a while. The chest bag also changes my balance in a way that’s a bit dangerous on slippery slopes.

The shoes were also a problem because it turns out my lovely Columbia Trailstorms size 46 become too small after walking even 15km. I’ve bought Adidas Terrex rain rdy size 46 2/3 and I’ll go hiking again this Saturday to try them out. New shoes always make me happy 😀

The new lightweight backpack Simond Sprint 33L is great though. The lower weight really makes a difference.

This was a really tough week at work (and I knew this on Monday already) so no miracles this time, I’m afraid.

15 miles of running in total and only because I finished the week with a 6-mile jog yesterday. I made a small improvement this week: if I can’t do a full run because of the leg pain, I go to the garage instead and do a weight training. This means that if I go at 5:30a.m and come back at 6, I still have about 90minutes for my weight training, which is more than enough.
It’s a good sign that I feel really well after the 6mile run yesterday. In fact, I wasn’t even tired after that run and the weather was rather inclement. Next Saturday or Sunday I’ll try to do 12-16km. We’ll see how that goes.
Other than that I’m trying to do a bit more in the garage, i keep adding weight to the deadlift and there’s no spine pain (or muscle pain) yet.

And here’s some photos to show how crazy this week was for me.

It was most definitely NOT an ordinary week. I even went to work in the office on Tuesday. Yay…

The time is really flying. 9 weeks to go and I have very mixed feelings. On the one hand, i’m making some good progress with running and weight lifting, on the other hand the increased dosage of creatine is not making weight loss any easier for me. But first things first.

1) Running: 14 miles in total so in line with my goal for this week. My runs are still plagued (occasionally) by injuries but even this is getting better now. Funnily enough, now my spine hurts when jogging, especially after I do a weightlift activity and proceed immediately to the run.

2) Daily stamina training.
Some steady progress here, too. I’m doing 28 reps for crunches, weight pullovers (20kg) and bench presses (64kg) now. This means that by end of next week I should be done to 33-35.

3) Weightlifting
I’ve ordered some more weights, which allowed me to add deadlift to my list. I’m stuck at the 6x6x92-7x5x97-8x4x102-10x3x107 kg series because it’s the plateau now and I think i won’t be able to go over that in the foreseeable future. So I will be repeating this for the next few weeks unless something changes. I’m starting the deadlift with 10x33kg and will be increasing this slowly (adding 2.5kg every time) over the course of the next few weeks but I don’t want to go higher than 80kg until I lose some belly fat. As it is, I can’t crouch low enough to lift the weight properly, and the spine is overwhelmed. A few months ago I did too much and my back still hurts. So this time I’m taking things slow.

4) Other activities: farmer’s walk, stationary bike training etc. I do these once a week now as I’m running short on time. Work is giving me hell and kids have their summer holidays so things are not as relaxed as I planned them to be.

5) Weight loss: this is a disaster. I’ve put on weight instead of losing it. I need to reverse the trend quickly by running more and with less bpm. In the past running 25 miles per week was enough to lose some weight so in 3-4 weeks I should see results. Naturally all the training makes me look leaner but numbers don’t lie. I’m at 148kg now (and I was already at 141kg two months ago)

Overall feeling: I feel like I’ve never been fitter although I know it’s not true because I have my Garmin Connect times from 2021 so I know I’m much slower. The feeling is nice though. I’m drinking hot milk with Mesir Macunu every day and I have no idea if this is doing anything. But I like the taste and I feel like a tiger. ( a very fat tiger, or maybe a tiger that has just eaten 5 other tigers)

Plan for next week:

18-20 miles of running + business as usual for other activities. As a bonus, I want to always run the last mile with less than 145bpm so that I burn off more fat (aerobic vs anaerobic).

A dear friend of mine recently told me that my sentences are like: noun, verb, end. So today I’m going to commit a petit tribute to my friend and her picturesque travel blog „Ania on the edge of the world”. Here’s my ‚middle ages’ take on my morning run today 😀

If anyone ventured outside this morning, they would witness a bizarre scene: a stocky figure was trotting uphill through the sunny streets of Strehlen, a small yet cozy town in the hills of Niederschlesien. But there was nobody there this morning , only a curious red squirrel on a tree branch lingered a moment in astonishment, for it had never seen a human that big move so fast. The man was visibly struggling, beads of sweat trickling down his pudgy face; it was the dog days already and the sun was mercilessly flexing its muscles over the town.
The man increased the pace as he finally reached the hill overlooking the nearby lands. It was a beautiful sight, with little thatched houses scattered across the hills. With most of the local citizens sleeping off the drunken feast that had taken place the night outside the city wall, the man was the only creature to break the silence of the Sunday morning. Beautiful though the scenery was, he did not pause to admire it. Quite the opposite, he seemed utterly unaware of his surroundings, now zigzagging carefully along the field towards the forests of Strehlen. He did not hesitate to enter the forest, much to the dismay of the rabbit family that strayed into the stranger’s path, for he knew every tree there. He had run this track every morning for the last 15 years. Sometimes he even thought that this forest was part of him, that he belonged in this forest more than he did inside the town walls, where he felt distracted by the din and bustle of the rather smelly crowd of Strehlen. It was eerie how the trees here seemed to have moved every time he was here. It was an absurd thought, yet this was no ordinary forest. Those were trees that had their roots in the beginnings of time, and all sorts of magical creatures sought refuge here from the ever growing civilisation of man.
Suddenly he startled. In the distance he could hear the faint sound of the church bells. It was unexpected this early in the morning. He caught himself thinking „long live the king” and this kneejerk reaction startled him even more. It annoyed him, even. Was he becoming a docile, tamed citizen now? He’d never felt any connection with any particular country, especially since Strehlen was often a subject (or rather a victim) of a bitter feud between Czechs, Poles and Germans. People here spoke a variety of languages and their allegiance changed according to whoever was ruling at that particular moment. He decided not to dwell on the unspoken questions for now (has the king died? Was an enemy army sighted from the townwalls?) and focused on his pulse instead. It was steady, yet a bit high, as the alcohol drunk in the last night’s festivities was still coursing through his veins. That’s not very good, he thought, I’m getting soft. To slow down the pulse he tried visualising something calm, a constant ebb and flow of the ocean that he had seen once in his youth. Finally, his mind started to drift away and his legs regained at least some of the strength he once had.
He ran…

1. 8x4x102kg benchpress. This turned out to be quite a lot of weight. I did 6 sets x 4 repetitions and then failed to the 7th set because I only did 3 reps in this set. I had a pause and proceeded to do the full 7th set. Unfortunately I was in a hurry so in the 8th set I also did 3 reps only. I feel like I’m approaching my limit here for the time being. That said, I’m totally fine with this plateau for now. I should be able to go higher once I go back to the gym and I get some more professional help from my trainer. My max is 1x125kg for now and this is more than enough for hiking. Tomorrow it’s 10x3x107kg; I can’t wait 😛
2. Stamina training: 1 set with 23 crunches, 23 dumbbell pullovers (20kg), 23 benchpresses x 63kg. I will go up to 25 reps for each activity and then i’ll add a shorter second set.
3. A short jog (3km). I’ll try a longer run tomorrow.

Overall quite a good day, especially taking into account that Monday is the most difficult day for me at work, so I never make any big plans for this day. I feel pleased with the fact that I can stick to my plan.

Finally, for the whole last week (Monday-Sunday) Strava says I did 10.5 miles of running so I should aim for roughly 14 miles this week.

This is my selection of (some of the )best shoes I own. And I own many, many shoes 🙂

1) Columbia Trailstorm waterproof.

Extremely comfortable hiking shoes. I’ve owned 2 pairs already and these shoes are simply awesome, although I wouldn’t treat the ‚waterproof’ property too seriously. I can get thoroughly wet even after 20 minutes of walking on a wet grass. Other than that, awesome. I don’t even use gel inserts for these.

2) Salomon XA Ortholite Goretex.

Perfect for running. Really light. These are really wornout so i’ll probably replace them with a slightly bigger pair, because my feet tend to get bigger even after 15km of running. As a result, a half-maraton is the best i can do in these shoes. Salomon shoes are always a bit smaller so make sure you buy a bigger size than usual.

3) Hoka kaha 2

I bought these recently. Very comfortable for everyday use in winter and early spring. Later they get too warm. They are a bit too narrow for me so I still need to see how they fit with inserts, because if I walk for too long I get blisters which match the insole contour.

4) Underarmour Charged Engage

I bought them really cheap, like 30EUR and they don’t cease to amaze me. I put gel inserts in them and use them as hiking shoes. Extremely comfortable and durable, too (unlike Merrells lol 😛 )

5) Dolomites

These are the equivalent of the T-42 tank but for shoes. Absolutely waterproof, you can cross a small river in them and your feet won’t get wet.
The downside is that they are very hard inside. I put on two pairs of socks (1 cotton, 1 merino) and it’s not enough. Perfect for a 20-25km hike in winter or early spring but you need to make sure your toes are properly protected. Extremely expensive, too. I only bought them because they were heavily discounted at TK Maxx and at the time I had no idea about this brand.

Obviously (:D ) these are not the only hiking shoes I have but these are probably the best. I also own a pair of Merrells that I need go glue together every 2nd week because they would have just desintegrated a long time ago. I like them because they’re superlight but their quality control is disastrous.

What will I wear for the big hike? Probably the trailstorms + some light replacements (a good opportunity to kill off the Merrells maybe). But it all depends on the weather.

My chest muscles still hurt a bit after my farmer’s walk the other day so I didn’t want to do too much but then I had some free time in the evening and ended up doing 2 trainings one almost immediately after the other.
1) I did half of my usual stamina training: today it was 22 crunches, 22×63 benchpresses, 22xdumbbell pullovers (one 20kg weight) and 15kg floor presses.
The 20kg pullover is a bit too easy so I need to replace the weight with a 25kg one soon. The 15 kg floor press is also way too easy, 3kg more should do the trick.

2) a 3.5 mile jog at a very easy pace of 13:20 per mile. After the first mile my leg again refused to cooperate so I thought i’d need to end the training but this time I was able to run it off. Last time it was 3.1 miles, so today i added 0.4. Let’s see if I can run a bit faster next time.

3) 7x5x97kg benchpress. Nothing too smart to say here; it was a bit hard this time because i was still a bit sore but then tomorrow is my day off training so I can rest. I was close to throwing up during the last set which usually means that it was a good training and it’ll pay off 😀

It was also my first day with Mesir Macunu. I added a large spoonful to large cup of hot milk. Absolutely delicious. I’m not sure if i’ll be able to tell any difference because of all the vitamins and other supplements that I take anyway, but it won’t hurt I guess.

Tomorrow: hiking shoes.