Training Update: Maximum Strength Week 3

The Maximum Strength program is setup so that the volume of exercise changes every week. Week 1 is high, week 2 is medium, week 3 is very high, and week 4 is low. So, I've just completed the very high week.

Lifting: I am killing in the gym. Killing. On week 1, I maxed at 215lbs for one rep on the box squat. In week 3, I hit 235lbs for 3 reps. That's an incredible 3 week improvement. I was pretty sore all week, but it was a manageable level of fatigue. I could feel myself getting right to that point of overreaching, but cutting back next week will prevent overtraining and also allow me to make some impressive growth before week 5.

As an aside, I used to lift all the time about 3 years ago, but then I took a hiatus from it as I fell in love with cycling. After having trained for a half-ironman, having ridden thousands of miles, swum thousands of kilometers, run like I've never run before, and trained over 20 hours in a single week, lifting seems easier. Although it's always hard to move hundreds of pounds, it's easier now that I have the rigors of ironman training to compare it to.

Cycling: Killed a 55 mile powercrank ride on Sunday. I am getting good on these! I hit the wall about mile 50, however. Having watched a ton of Tour de France dvd's recently, I could hear Phil Ligget in my head as I tired... "He is all over the machine, searching for every ounce of power his body can generate! He looks more like a crab than a professional cyclist!"

Running: I did some sprints up Linton bridge as a HIIT session. Otherwise, all running was easy, and was a warmup or cooldown from a lifting session.

Swimming: I am still absent from the pool. I did flop around in the ocean a little bit on Friday.