mcooperiii
New member
Background
I’ve been competing in powerlifting for over 17 years; I started lifting when I was 13. With the pandemic and gyms being temporarily shut down, I took up running a year and a half ago to stay active. It began when a local Facebook beer group had a handful of members posting their Strava runs and the beer they would drink after. I reached out asking if I could join them. Honestly, I hated running and needed the accountability to get me to stick with it. I had done a half marathon when I was in my early 20’s, but that was the extent of my running experience.
I had no idea how much I could fall in love with endurance running. So when the gyms reopened, I began working towards my goal of becoming a dual-athlete.
My end goal was to compete in a powerlifting meet and complete a half marathon, in under 2 hours, a week later.
Training
I train for powerlifting under Trevor Jaffe 4-5x/week. He takes no consideration of my running as I don’t report it/the runs I do, to him. I run 2-3x/week anywhere from 3 to 6 miles. The shorter runs I try to push my average pace. The longer runs I do shorter intervals of 80% effort and pulling it back to about 65-70% effort. Once in a while I just zone out for the longer runs and do what feels comfortable. Every other week I run a horrific hill trail. I’d run 3-4 of the hills, but always the 0.3 mile 20% grade hill. In Strava, it literally has the nickname “Heart Attack Hill”.
Trevor peaked me for the USPA Drug Tested October 9th meet in Vancouver Washington. My goal was to break the 56kg bench record. I would then take an easy run or two, and go run 13.1 miles with either a friend from the beer running club, or alone.
Results
Squats - 3/3
Squat 1: 95kg
Squat 2: 100kg
Squat 3: 105kg
Bench - 2/3
Bench 1: 85kg (tie state record)
Bench 2: 90kg (new state record)
Bench 3: 92.5kg (miss)
Deadlift - 3/3
Deadlift 1: 132.5kg
Deadlift 2: 140kg
Deadlift 3: 145kg
Time: 1:54:30
Fastest mile: mile 10 @ 8:26 min/mi
Slowest mile: mile 2 @ 9:00 min/mi
Mild aches in joints by mile 9.
Sharp pain in left knee by mile 12.
Lifting videos and screenshots of my Strava data:
Lessons/Final Thoughts
I have mixed feelings about this week. I had been “processing” a heartbreak. The guy I was seeing completely pulled back hours after my meet and into the next morning. It completely overshadowed my victory at the powerlifting meet. And by “processing”, I mean I spent the Sunday through Thursday after the meet, in bed crying, drinking beer, eating leftover pizza, and binge watching The Mindy Project. So the epitome of self care /s. I finally took my first shower Thursday morning since the powerlifting meet, cleaned my home and hosted a bottle share Friday, and then spent most Saturday hungover and depressed. By Saturday night I had recovered and made a decision: I was going to run Sunday morning and try to go for 10 miles at whatever speed I wanted. So I fueled up that night and went to bed early.
I’m still not over the sad and lonely feelings. But I’m proud for keeping my promise to give it my best effort, and then achieving the things I set out to do.
I’ve been competing in powerlifting for over 17 years; I started lifting when I was 13. With the pandemic and gyms being temporarily shut down, I took up running a year and a half ago to stay active. It began when a local Facebook beer group had a handful of members posting their Strava runs and the beer they would drink after. I reached out asking if I could join them. Honestly, I hated running and needed the accountability to get me to stick with it. I had done a half marathon when I was in my early 20’s, but that was the extent of my running experience.
I had no idea how much I could fall in love with endurance running. So when the gyms reopened, I began working towards my goal of becoming a dual-athlete.
My end goal was to compete in a powerlifting meet and complete a half marathon, in under 2 hours, a week later.
Training
I train for powerlifting under Trevor Jaffe 4-5x/week. He takes no consideration of my running as I don’t report it/the runs I do, to him. I run 2-3x/week anywhere from 3 to 6 miles. The shorter runs I try to push my average pace. The longer runs I do shorter intervals of 80% effort and pulling it back to about 65-70% effort. Once in a while I just zone out for the longer runs and do what feels comfortable. Every other week I run a horrific hill trail. I’d run 3-4 of the hills, but always the 0.3 mile 20% grade hill. In Strava, it literally has the nickname “Heart Attack Hill”.
Trevor peaked me for the USPA Drug Tested October 9th meet in Vancouver Washington. My goal was to break the 56kg bench record. I would then take an easy run or two, and go run 13.1 miles with either a friend from the beer running club, or alone.
Results
- Powerlifting Meet -
Squats - 3/3
Squat 1: 95kg
Squat 2: 100kg
Squat 3: 105kg
Bench - 2/3
Bench 1: 85kg (tie state record)
Bench 2: 90kg (new state record)
Bench 3: 92.5kg (miss)
Deadlift - 3/3
Deadlift 1: 132.5kg
Deadlift 2: 140kg
Deadlift 3: 145kg
- Half Marathon -
Time: 1:54:30
Fastest mile: mile 10 @ 8:26 min/mi
Slowest mile: mile 2 @ 9:00 min/mi
Mild aches in joints by mile 9.
Sharp pain in left knee by mile 12.
Lifting videos and screenshots of my Strava data:
Lessons/Final Thoughts
I have mixed feelings about this week. I had been “processing” a heartbreak. The guy I was seeing completely pulled back hours after my meet and into the next morning. It completely overshadowed my victory at the powerlifting meet. And by “processing”, I mean I spent the Sunday through Thursday after the meet, in bed crying, drinking beer, eating leftover pizza, and binge watching The Mindy Project. So the epitome of self care /s. I finally took my first shower Thursday morning since the powerlifting meet, cleaned my home and hosted a bottle share Friday, and then spent most Saturday hungover and depressed. By Saturday night I had recovered and made a decision: I was going to run Sunday morning and try to go for 10 miles at whatever speed I wanted. So I fueled up that night and went to bed early.
I’m still not over the sad and lonely feelings. But I’m proud for keeping my promise to give it my best effort, and then achieving the things I set out to do.
