Stryka’s BodyBlog

Well the race has run and won (certainly not by me, but give me time) and in the wash up I am a little disappointed. The weather was absolutely perfect with a warm 21 degrees and only a slight breeze keeping the ocean flat. My new wetsuit certainly helped me through as it inbuilt (but still legal) buoyancy meant I didn’t have to worry about sinking at all.

We started off and I kept to my race plan hanging back to let the pack fight it out at the first buoy. But that was about the only part of the swim that did go to plan. Everything I practiced in the pool went out of the window and I just couldn’t get any rhythym going. I fought my way through with a mix of freestyle and breastroke and despite having to rest two thirds of the way there I eventually did get there and came out of the water with two others. Not dead last!

Transition to the bike went smoothly and off on the bike leaving the two other poor swimmers in my wake. Again 12kms doesn’t sound like much but I couldn’t quite get the pace I wanted. My goal was to get a top 15 split for the bike leg but I think I was just outside that. I wanted to average mid 30kph but couldn’t break an average 0f 29.5kph. Definitely room for improvement there but it was only the second time on my bike for quite a while. I passed a few people on this leg which was encouraging and stayed on the same lap as the leaders.

Hoping off my bike my legs felt like jelly. I had never considered the effects of 25mins of peddalling would have on my run. But it was only 3kms to run and after about 500metres I got some rhythym going and whilst I don’t know the time yet it felt like a sub 12min run which was the goal. I think I achieved my top 15 split for this leg but will let you know the official splits as soon as they are posted on tues/wed.

Definitely room for improvement. Next weekend is a longer race (750/20/5) which I am going to do the run leg as part of a team. The next super sprint is March 1 so I have a couple of weeks to get the swimming under control. If I could get through without resorting to breastroke I think I couple shave 2 mins which will have me on the bike with the main field. I think I could have a minute or so on the bike as well which would give me a very competitive race. I enjoyed myself which is the main thing and it has given me new motivation to train hard so that I can smash the swim next time.

I do need to keep in mind that this is just for fun and whilst my competitiveness instinct wants to go harder my main goals are still to build muscle and get stronger in the gym (it goes through my mind the whole event - sure these guys can swim fast but they can’t squat what I can ) a 45 minute race fits perfectly into that for cardio purposes and being a race makes it so much more fun than running on a treadmill for 45minutes. Incidently I also added 5kg to my bench today.

Going back to my 2009 goals I have achieved my first 5km run under 20 minutes ticking that off way ahead of schedule. I will do an attempt on the bench next sunday for 115kg x 5 (115kg for 2 and 117.5kg for 1 today) which is my feb 15 goal. I will also make sure that I get my 10 reps for squats at 150kg on wednesday and 5 reps with 160kg on deadlift with a perfect form (will try and film that so you guys can be the judge). 

The only goal that I am behind on is my weight goal to get back above 80kg. I have been fluctuating between 78-79kg. I think I could get to 80 but not sure that I could do it without putting on more fat than muscle. 

Thankyou for your encouragement in getting me through the race today. I really appreciate it from you all!

Tomorrow I do my first super sprint triathlon. For all the support and encouragement that you guys have given me I am very grateful. But as a virtual non swimmer I am still very nervous.

But you know what? That is one of the reasons why I am going to do it. I want to jump in to the deep end. I want to prove the doubts wrong. And yes I do have doubts just like you do.

But I refuse to give in to my minds limitations, for I know that my body is stronger than I sometimes give it credit for.

I remember how nervous I was the first time I tried a barbell squat. It was weird and uncomfortable. I felt off balance and probably managed a grand total of 20kg. THe other day I squatted 400pds and whilst I was still nervous… I still did it.

I am nervous everytime I bench. But I still do it. Jeff has challenged me to catch his bench. His bench is impressive and a long way away. The thought of that much weight over my chest scares the bejesus out of me. But 2.5kg a week I am going to get there.

I was very nervous for my half marathon. I had never run that far before let alone run that sort of distance up a mountain. But I knew I could do it. And I did.

So whilst I have never before swam 300metres. I know I can do it because I know that whilst my mind tries to hold me back with limitations it also holds a resolve that never gives up. It is capable of pushing through unthinkable things no matter how uncomfortable they get.

It hasn’t let me down yet and it isn’t going to tomorrow because failure is even more uncomfortable.

Because to be uncomfortable is the only way forward.

I want you all to do two uncomfortable things: The first is to come up with something that will take you out of your comfort zone this week. Something that will be an achievement.

The second is to list it as a comment and be held accountable by the rest of us.

How many times have you heard someone say they were going to do this but such as such happened or they used to train hard but then they got injured or they couldn’t get to the gym easily or came up with some other obstacle to progress?

Quite a bit hey!

I want you to imagine that you are the general of an army responsible for an important battle. The best laid plans are going to make this fight very easy for you….. until the enemy shoots back, until you don’t advance as quickly as anticipated and the fight starts to get hard. At this point you have some choices to make.

a) capitulate completely leaving your army to die

b) get them to run away as fast as possible and pretend nothing ever happened

c) adapt with what you have. Improvise if necessary. regroup and go back on the offensive from a different angle.

Doesn’t take much thought about which way to go does it? If you want to achieve you own objectives then you need to take on this mentality in your own life.

So you slept in and forgot your lunch. Doesn’t mean you need to go to a takeaway and order the greasiest nastiest meal there. What is stopping you from going to the salad bar instead?

So you ran out of protein? a ready to drink might have more sugars in it then wpi and water but at least it is protein. adapt and overcome.

So your training partner wimps out on leg day. The squat rack should have safety rails right. No excuses.

So you have an injury. Rest up and let it heal, regroup for another assault. But don’t let your diet suffer as a result and if you have hurt your wrist for example why would that stop you running?

Last excuse is finding the time. One thing I learnt on my promotional courses in the army, when they first give you sleep deprivation then completly overload you with tasks to achieve not because they need to be achieved but because they want to see you under pressure, was to prioritise. What absolutely needs to be done right now and what can wait untill tomorrow. My training absolutely has to be done. I plan my days and my weeks around it. If I know that i have to miss a day then that will be my scheduled rest day. Sure it might not be ideal to train legs then back the next day. But if that is what is needed then that is done.

Life happens and life will always try and get in the way of your objectives. Deal with it. Improvise, regroup for an another offensive until the battle is won. 

How many times have you heard someone say they were going to do this but such as such happened or they used to train hard but then they got injured or they couldn’t get to the gym easily or came up with some other obstacle to progress?

Quite a bit hey!

I want you to imagine that you are the general of an army responsible for an important battle. The best laid plans are going to make this fight very easy for you….. until the enemy shoots back, until you don’t advance as quickly as anticipated and the fight starts to get hard. At this point you have some choices to make.

a) capitulate completely leaving your army to die

b) get them to run away as fast as possible and pretend nothing ever happened

c) adapt with what you have. Improvise if necessary. regroup and go back on the offensive from a different angle.

Doesn’t take much thought about which way to go does it? If you want to achieve you own objectives then you need to take on this mentality in your own life.

So you slept in and forgot your lunch. Doesn’t mean you need to go to a takeaway and order the greasiest nastiest meal there. What is stopping you from going to the salad bar instead?

So you ran out of protein? a ready to drink might have more sugars in it then wpi and water but at least it is protein. adapt and overcome.

So your training partner wimps out on leg day. The squat rack should have safety rails right. No excuses.

So you have an injury. Rest up and let it heal, regroup for another assault. But don’t let your diet suffer as a result and if you have hurt your wrist for example why would that stop you running?

Last excuse is finding the time. One thing I learnt on my promotional courses in the army, when they first give you sleep deprivation then completly overload you with tasks to achieve not because they need to be achieved but because they want to see you under pressure, was to prioritise. What absolutely needs to be done right now and what can wait untill tomorrow. My training absolutely has to be done. I plan my days and my weeks around it. If I know that i have to miss a day then that will be my scheduled rest day. Sure it might not be ideal to train legs then back the next day. But if that is what is needed then that is done.

Life happens and life will always try and get in the way of your objectives. Deal with it. Improvise, regroup for an another offensive until the battle is won. 

Well it is official, despite having the swimming abilities of a large rock I have decided to do some super sprint triathlons. I went into the bike shop the other day and by coincidence the girl in the shop happens to be a triathlon coach.

She takes a swimming session twice a week and very kindly invited me along. I must say I felt like a bit of a tool when I found out afterwards that she is a professional athlete and has finished at the pointy end of numerous Ironman and Multisport events and there was me completely ignorant of anything involved in running a triathlon.

So anyways she gave me some good advice and I have since ordered a wetsuit (it apparently has inbuilt extra buoyancy which I will definitely be in need of). I got the bike out today for the first time in ages. THe first half of my 21km ride felt good and was at a speed that won’t embarress me next weekend but when I turned around I discovered I had the advantage of a good tailwind but was now riding directly into it. Needless to say my return pace wasn’t real flash.

Next week is a super sprint which involves 300m swim/10km ride/3km run. If I can get through the swim somewhere near the main group and not 1/2 hour behind then I think I could be competitive.

Looking at the last races times the average was between 40-50 minutes which is great because it means that this wont distract me from the weights or my main goal of working towards a possible competition later on in 2009

Regulars to this blog might know that one of my goals for the year was to get a 5k run under 20 minutes (previous recent best was 21:16). I can’t ever remember cracking the 20 minute mark but I knew that it must have been possible.

On Sunday morning I ran the run leg of a triathlon as part of a team. Conditions were absolutely perfect for the race at about 18 degrees celcius. There was no breaze and the course was dead flat. I pushed hard right from the start at a pace that I thought was sustainable. Out for the first lap as I approached the first turn around point I could count the people ahead of me. There was some seriously fit athletes in the group so it was good to pace myself against some quick runners.

By the end of the lap I had past the only other team racers that were ahead of us at exactly the point where our team mates were cheering from. His team weren’t pleased in the slightest (sucks to be them).

Coming back to the turnaround point I start to plan to pick up the pace, only I cant, I have nothing, not one extra inch. I dig deep and fight as hard as I could all the way to the line. I could barely breath. I was also disappointed because whilst I gave it everything I felt the time was slow, I didn’t time it but I thought it would be closer to 22 minutes than 20.

The official results came up on to the internet today. By now you should have worked out that I wouldn’t have titled this one goal already down if I had only run 22 minutes.

The time 19:33.

My only problem now is that I want to do a race on my own. Problems with that are that it won’t help me build muscle, it will cost me lots to go a get a wetsuit plus I would want to get cleats and bikes shoes (I currently only have straps) and (probably most importantly) I can’t swim very well.

Will think about it.

The only thing you can control is right here and right now. Your next set, your next rep, your next meal, your next rest. That is all that matters right now.

The past has already happened. You can’t change it. I don’t wanna hear that you used to be able to lift heavy or that you used to be able to run fast. Why on earth did you stop? I don’t have time for your excuses, nor do I care.

Same thing applies to your past mistakes, whether it be the unplanned cheat meal that you ate yesterday or a lifetime of poor diet and exercise or some other mistake completely unrelated to bodybuilder. Neither you nor I can change what happened but we can learn from it.

We can learn from and apply it to today with a steely determination like never before. Use it to train harder and live better. Focus on now, the six inches in front of your face.

For it is the next six inches, the next six minutes, hours, days that will shape the future.

Long term goals are great and everyone should have them. I certainly do, for what I am going to make my body into and what I will teach it to be able to do. I also have them in my career. The long term for the future are vital.

But without action right now, the future will also just be the future and the long term will always be a long way away.

So that leaves us with 3 types of people. The has been who lives on past glories that probably never happened. The gunner because they are always "gunner" do something next week or next month or next year and never does.

Or are you the one who takes control with both hands by taking that next step forwards right now. The one who achieves anything that they set their minds too. The ordinary person doing extraordinary things that other people just shake their heads at in amazement of what you can do.

Like it or not you are deciding right now who you are going to be either by your actions or inactions.

Who are you?

I was talking to SusanBeth the other night and she sent me some great thoughts which in turn came from Angel Stank.

One of them really got me thinking…….

Think about the things that you haven’t done over the last two years that would have meant that you would be further along than you are now.

These could be more cardio, six meals a day or whatever else applies to you.

Now think about where you will be in six weeks time. Are you going to waste more of your life by not implementing that change or are you going to get off your butt and do something that will see improvements in your life.

This really hit home to me because as I thought over my life most of the things I regret were not mistakes I made but rather things I simply didn’t do.

For example I always wanted to try out for Special Forces when I was in the Army but I never got around to it.

I moved into my new house I got built back in May last year, but still haven’t gotten around to fixing the garden.

It took me 18 months of training to work out that if did more any cardio, I would be leaner. I just think of where I could be if I had kept running and cycling the whole time. And I was begining to think that single digit bf was impossible for me.

Do you get the idea? What changes are you going to make? Post them in a comment and we will help hold you accountable!

BTW 175kg squat tonight for 2 reps tonight. Just thought I’d brag about a 10kg improvement :)  

One of my favorites movies is Any given sunday. I especially love the speach the Al Pacino gives before the big game because it is so true. It is on my profile if you want to take a look.

To succeed we need to fight for every inch because the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the sum of all those inches and I for one don’t want to be the average particulary when that average seems to get fatter every day.

This is all it takes:

1 extra rep

1 extra pound on the bar

1 extra chicken breast

1 less cheat meal

1 extra sprint on your intervals

1 extra inch on your running stride 

1 extra minute of cardio

Keep adding that extra inch and you keep moving forwards. I love the Ali quote that scouter has on her page:

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. -Muhammad Ali”

When ever you feel like quitting early focus on adding the extra inch, fight for that inch, take it, own it. The other night after my work sets of squats I dropped the weight back to 90kg to do a 20 rep set. By rep 12 it hurt, rep 15 my mind was telling me "stop, 15 is a good round number" reps 16-17 and 18 "It is allright, you already did so much with the heavier weights" Rep 20 was a battle.

Then I did one more just to prove a point.

Put your left foot in front of your right foot then repeat. no matter whether they are baby steps or leaps and bounds you will get to your destination. It is inevitable. Just a question of when.

6 clean meals a day and you will lose bodyfat. It is impossible not to.

Keep adding weight to the bar as soon as you get strong enough to lift the previous weight whether it be 1 pound or 45 plate, guess what?

You will get stronger, not exactly rocket science.

You keep refueling and giving your muscles adequate rest you will add muscle.

Sure there are different methods of training whether it be high intensity, volume or something else, there are different methods of dieting whether it be 50/30/20 or any other breakdown of the macros but who cares?

Find what works for you, focus on the simple things and your goals become inevitable.

And as one of my friends says "Keep moving forwards and Enjoy your journey".