The JJW Blog

-Praying to Jesus as I grind out a last rep after 2 full months of Mtn. Athlete completed today.

I am considerably stronger than when I started.  When I started I could only do 4.9 pull ups in a row, I barely missed the last one.  Now I can do heavy dead lifts, push-presses, tons of push-ups, 60 pounds sandbag get ups and 14.9 pull ups in a row, probably more as I the only time I tested was at the end of a very tough workout where I had done lots of weighted pull ups and lots of heavy lifting.   That is a 3x increase in 2months.  I have developed overall musculature and flexibility.  It is weird to walk around and feel muscles all over my body.  I have been relatively lean and in shape from running and biking for the last 3 years, but I have never really known to this degree what it is like to be functionally fit.

I am confident that this base of fitness, which I will continue to hone and maintain, will go a long way to keeping me fit and healthy in all my mountain adventures, the first of which is a 26.2 mile trail run (and hike, at least for me) through the Collegiate Peaks this Saturday, with Rachel, Naz, Ralph and Scott.  I have not trained at all for marathon distance, but on top of Mtn. Athlete I have been running very solidly, following a Jack Daniels running program of around 45-50 miles per week, with quality tempo runs and lots of recent trail runs, all under 90 minutes.  I am interested to see how this combination of shorter running fitness and functional fitness holds up (I don’t expect to be competitive) over the race course.