Friday, November 4, 2016

3,000-Pushup Challenge and Possible 2017 Schedule

Inspired by fellow ultrarunner Andy Wooten, who is also an Aspen-based life coach, I embarked in October on an interesting challenge that was very much out of my wheelhouse: to complete 3,000 pushups in a single month. Andy completed this challenge in September. Intrigued, I decided to give it a whirl in October.

Unfortunately, I didn't get started with the challenge until October 3, meaning I went into it with a two-day deficit to make up. No worries! I love a challenge. I was able to quickly make up for the lost days and, in the end, finished the month with 3,110 pushups. My best day was 170 and my worst day--because of a sore shoulder that required rest--was 25. The average day saw 110-120 pushups over 4-5 sets.

I definitely got stronger as the challenge progressed and I put on some muscle, which might explain the three extra pounds I gained in October. By the midway point of the challenge, I found myself able to bang out 30 or 35 pushups with no effort. Here's how it all unfolded:


For November, why stop the challenges? So I'm kicking around the idea of 1,000 pushups and 2,000 crunches and have already started. I figure a thousand pushups should maintain the strength I gained in October. As for the 2,000 crunches, well, it would be interesting to see what that brings. Then, in December, I may do 1,000 weighted air squats, 1,000 pushups and 1,000 crunches. Life is about variety!

***

I have begun to kick around what races I may do in 2017. Earlier in the fall, I went through this phase where I actually considered signing up for the Tahoe 200-miler. I also looked at the Bigfoot 200, which looks insanely hard with over 100,000 feet of elevation change. While I am quite certain that at some point I will lace 'em up for 200 miles (my maximum mileage in one clip is 131 miles--what's 69 more?), I don't think 2017 is the year to do that. But when that time comes, I am thinking Tahoe will be the ticket unless some other intriguing 200-miler surfaces.

Anyway, as far as 2017, I am entering the Western States lottery as I desperately want back into "the Big Dance." I absolutely know I can improve on my 2016 time by 3+ hours--starting with going into the race fresh and not cooked from overdoing it at a race three weeks prior. But with one ticket in the lottery (had to start over after my finish in 2016), I have a snowball's chance in hell of being selected. If by some miracle I am drawn, then the spring and summer would be built around Western States.

If I am not drawn in the WS lotto, then I will hope I'm drawn in the Leadville 100 lottery, which would mean that I'm committing to the 1,000-mile buckle. Which also means I'm committing to 500 more miles on that course....

That would mean 2017 might look something like:
  • Colfax Marathon in May or some other spring marathon 
  • Leadville Trail Marathon in June
  • Leadville 100-Mile in August
The summer of 2017 is looking fun!

2 comments:

  1. Lets Rock This New Challenge!!


    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love challenges like this. And I'm now contemplating jumping in for November even though I missed almost a week.

    A few years ago, when I was lifting and not running, I embarked on this 60 day challenge:

    https://www.t-nation.com/training/plp-the-60-day-challenge

    It was hard, but also totally worth it. Now that my focus is solely on running, though, I'm not sure it is the best challenge. Of course, if there was a time to do it, winter would probably be it.

    In the meantime, I might get started on those pushups. Thanks for the idea, and good luck on that 2017 calendar. I really enjoy following your training and racing.

    ReplyDelete