Quest for the One Arm/Hand Chin-up

It’s that time of year again – time for the Arnold Pump and Run. The Arnold Pump and Run is just one of many events at the annual Arnold Sports Festival, held right here in Columbus, Ohio. The pump and run is a combination of running and lifting weights. Competitors first take part in a bench press. Weight, gender and age determine how much weight each participant will have to bench press. For each repetition on the bench press, 30 seconds are subtracted from the ensuing 5k time. Competitors are limited to a maximum of 30 repetitions on the bench press so a maximum of 15 minutes can be subtracted from the 5k time. Runners looking for a challenge beyond running often sign up for the pump and run.

Training for the pump and run has always been a challenge for me as there is not a lot of readily available information on how to bench press your body weight for up to 30 reps or more. You can find plenty of information on how to increase your one rep max for the bench press. To a certain extent, increasing your one rep max is helpful in achieving more repetitions of a weight at or near your body weight. For example, if your Arnold bench press weight is 135 pounds and your current one rep max on the bench press is 200 pounds then your Arnold weight is 68% of your maximum bench press. If you can increase your one rep max to 270 pounds then your Arnold weight becomes a mere 50% of your one rep max; therefore, the Arnold weight becomes easier to perform physically and psychologically. In essence, you gain endurance through your gain in strength; however, I believe that your training should match what you will do in competition and training strictly for a one rep max increase ultimately will not suffice to achieve a maximum number of reps at a much lower rate. Similarly, training for a 100 meter dash is not going to significantly lower your 5k time.
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Here’s a list of tips I offered a family member on how to prepare for and run your first road race.

Training

1 – Taper off your training during the last 7-10 days before your race so that you are doing shorter runs at an easier pace and getting plenty of rest. Your performance will be dictated by the hard work you put in during the weeks and months leading up to the race. A last minute cram session will only lead to a poor performance on race day and perhaps an injury.

2 – Your last long run should occur more than two weeks before race day. Give yourself plenty of time to recover so that you feel fresh on race day.

3 – Give yourself two days of rest before the race. Two days without running won’t result in a decrease in your fitness level.

Hydration

4 – Start each morning from now until race day with a big glass of water (16-20 ounces). If that becomes manageable then add another big glass of water an hour before dinner. Do this in addition to your regular water intake.

5 – The pee test – if your pee is bright yellow then you are dehydrated. Your pee should be almost colorless if you are well hydrated.

6 – Avoid alcohol and cut back on coffee during the week leading up to your race.

7 – Cut back on foods with high salt content during the week before your race.

Logistics

8 – Check the race website to determine any last minute information from race organizer.

9 – Review course map before race.

10 – Pick up your race number/packet prior to race day. If you do, you will have one less thing to deal with on race day and you can pin your race number to your shirt.

11 – Determine transportation to race and parking in advance.

12 – Recruit support personnel to help you deal with your gear.

What to wear

13 – Determine the clothing you will wear while racing in advance by consulting weather forecast. Dress for the race as if it were 15-20 degrees warmer than it really is at race time. Your body will heat up (or feel like it will heat up) that much. If it is cold and windy, go by the wind chill and not the actual temperature.

14 – Wear sweats/warm ups (over your racing attire) when you are not racing (both before and after race).

15 – Your race attire should be something you have previously run in and know you won’t have problems wearing. It should be light, breathable, capable of drying quickly, and comfortable while running.

16 – Determine if there is a chance of rain and bring rain gear. A hat with a bill is the big thing. It will keep rain out of your eyes/glasses. You may want to get a lightweight, breathable rain jacket for running (tie it around your waist if rain stops during race). You really can’t protect your shoes beyond avoiding puddles. Running 10 miles in soaked shoes is a nightmare so avoid drenching them in puddles or standing water.

Sleep

17 – Try to get appropriate rest during the week leading up to the race. The night of the race, you may be nervous and not sleep much at all. If you’ve caught up on your rest throughout the week then a lousy night of sleep right before the race won’t really matter.

Morning of the race

18 – Start off with your big glass of water. Do a five to ten minute warm up at home, first thing. This will get your body up and going right away. The other benefit is if, for some reason, you arrive with little time to spare before the race then you will have already warmed up some.

19 – Have some coffee and something to eat. I like to have a couple bananas because they are easy to digest and they calm the stomach. If you have 2-3 hours before the race then have something else light to eat. You can also try some of the energy gels out there. I believe one is called “goo” and is supposed to be high in calories and easy to digest.

20 – Take advantage of your bathroom at home as you will soon be faced with the abysmal prospect of a bunch of porta-potties.

21 – Pack your supply bag – toilet paper, hand sanitizer, rain gear, extra socks, first aid kit (most likely for blisters), water bottle, extra shirt, snack, energy gel, trash bag (or other waterproof bag in case it rains).

22 – Get to the starting line area an hour in advance. Give yourself plenty of time for travel and parking. With 30,000 others running, arriving late is not an option.

23 – Find an out of the way porta-pottie that not many others are using.

24 – Determine where your support crew will be at various stages during the race as well as where they will be at the finish line.

25 – About 30 minutes before the race, warm up for five or so minutes and stretch some.

26 – If it is cold, keep your sweats on as long as you can before the race. If you have to discard them earlier then that, run in place and keep moving prior to the start.

The actual race

27 – With that many people running, watch out for people pushing and shoving at the start. You don’t want to fall down.

28 – Make sure your shoes are double knotted and ready to go.

29 – Adrenalin will be surging at the start. Don’t let it sweep you away. Start out slow and deliberate so that your pace feels too easy. Maintain this for the first 2-3 miles. Times will often be read out loud or there may be a digital display at each mile. Know your pace in advance so you will know where you stand relative to that pace at each mile marker.

30 – After 2-3 miles, you will have settled in and you can make an assessment of your pace. Determine at this point whether to pick it up.

31 – Have a plan on how to handle water stations. They will probably be every mile. Take water at least every 3 miles. If you have to stop for a second and drink it that may be preferable to trying to drink on the run. If it is really hot then take a little water at every station.

32 – Use downhill grades to your advantage. Many people slow down when they run downhill. Lengthen your stride and take advantage of gravity. You can move faster without expending extra energy. I believe you work harder when you slow your pace going downhill.

33 – If you end up running against a stiff breeze or wind, consider falling in behind another runner and letting them block the wind for awhile.

34 – As you get further into the race, you may find someone who is at a similar pace. Don’t be afraid to work together with them.

35 – If you feel like hell, then take a break and walk for a minute or so. The goal is to finish and not to win.

36 – The final 3-4 miles will be the toughest. You may have to play some mind games to get through it. One of my favorites is the old “pass some runner whose 50 or so yards ahead and I can quit” game.

Pick a runner that’s 50 or so yards ahead of you and tell yourself, “If I pass that next guy then I can quit.” You won’t end up quitting and it gives your mind something else to focus on besides the pain. Once you get passed that runner, pick another and continue the mind game. Keep doing this until you finish.

Post race

37 – Avoid the desire to sit down and never get up. Instead, put your sweats on and sit down for a short while. Make sure you get back up and walk/jog for at least five minutes and then stretch to avoid tightening up. Drink plenty of water and get something to eat. Avoid sitting for extended lengths of time. Keep getting up to walk some and stretch. You’ll have plenty of time to sit on the trip back home.

38 – Congratulations! Reward yourself for a job well done! Perhaps with a hot shower and a long nap once you get home.

2011 Arnold Pump and Run Results

The Arnold Pump and Run is less than a month away and, if you haven’t taken your training seriously, you may be here right now reading this post. I don’t have anything to tell you that will save your pump and run training but I might be able to add a rep or two.

Huge gains are rarely going to be made in the running portion of the event. Unless you’ve done very little running up to this point, your time in the 5k is probably already set. In other words, what you could run today will be what you will probably run on race day. However, you can do something that might make a bit of a difference in the bench press portion of the competition. One or two extra reps does count for 30-60 seconds off your final time. If you haven’t established your max reps with your target weight then you should do that now so we have some sort of a touchstone for later.

For years, I have focused on training for endurance for the pump portion of the pump and run. I achieved decent results but have never maxed out with 30 reps. My endurance training is outlined in previous posts and it basically consisted of high reps and many sets of my target weight. One workout that I vividly recall was the 8 x 8 x 8 at target weight. It was 8 sets of 8 reps at the target weight in 8 minutes. That’s 8 minutes total for the entire workout. It sounds impressive but improvements weren’t that dramatic.

This year, I’ve scrapped most of the endurance stuff and have been focusing on strength gains. A typical bench workout for me is

8 x 205
6 x 225
4 x 245
3 x 265
2 x 275
1 x 285
4 x 245

Here’s a chart containing this type of pyramid workout. The idea here is to build strength and increase one rep max. I still do some endurance workouts but building strength does wonders for building endurance.

Not convinced? Check out this article on Weight Training for Fat Loss and scroll down to Conditioning Work Is Not Strength Work. The author gives a great example of two guys competing to see how many times they can squat 400 pounds. One guy maxes at 600 pounds and never does more than three reps (heavy weights and low reps). The other guy maxes out with 450 pounds but trains with lighter weights and many reps. The second guy has done 15 reps of 400 before. The first guy (who maxes at 600 pounds) has greater potential to do more reps at 400 pounds because he has a much higher one rep max. He may initially not have the endurance but endurance is easy to gain if you already have the strength foundation.

“The lighter any given resistance (compared to your maximum ability), the easier it will be to improve your endurance with that resistance.”

What does this mean for you pump and runners? Train for strength gains! If your target weight is 160 lbs. and your max bench is 220, then your target weight is 72% of your max. This means you’re going to have a hard time getting many reps of that target weight. Boost your max bench to 320 and now your target weight is 50% of your max (I suspect that when you can get your target weight to 50% of your max that you will approach the 30 rep mark). Now it’s starting to sound more likely that you can get many reps of your target weight as it is only half of your one rep max.

I know that you’re not going to significantly raise your one rep max in a few weeks but you may be able to raise it 10-20 pounds. Doing so may get you that extra rep or two of your target weight that means 30-60 seconds off your net time.

Stay tuned for more pump and run training tips!

Then on August 29:

mile 1 – 5:59 (avg. heart rate – 148)
recovery – 4:01 (125)
mile 2 – 6:01 (155)
recovery – 3:58 (133)
mile 3 – 6:05 (156)

September 5:

mile 1 – 5:58 (avg. heart rate – 151)
recovery – 4:02 (124)
mile 2 – 5:59 (152)
recovery – 4:00 (126)
mile 3 – 6:02 (152)
recovery – 3:57 (130)
mile 4 – 6:03 (153)

As you can see, I attempted a more even paced workout on the 29th. Notice how starting out with a 5:59 mile (instead of a 5:39) mile lowered my average heart rate throughout the entire workout. The only exception being my 133 average heart rate (vs. 125) on my recovery after the second mile repeat. I guess I can attribute that to a shorter recovery on the second workout and a faster second mile as well (6:01 vs. 6:17).

You can see the benefits of even-paced running and can easily imagine how an excessively fast start in a race would affect your overall result. Workout 1 resulted in a net +19 over 6 minute pace with 33 seconds of additional recovery. Workout 2 resulted in a net +5 over 6 minute pace.

Goal is to average a 6 minute pace throughout; lower recovery to 3 minutes between repeats; and add a fourth mile repeat at the end. A good way to work up to the fourth mile repeat would be to add a half mile repeat to the next workout and then perhaps a 3/4 mile repeat to the following workout.

Update Sept. 5 – Well as you can see I added the fourth mile repeat. The temperature was below 70 and that probably helped the workout quite a bit. How about that 126 on the second recovery (compare with 133 avg hr on workout 2)? Or the 130 average heart rate on the 3rd recovery. And then holding on for a final 6:03 fourth mile at average heart rate of 153? Oh yeah!

I’d like to mix things up with some 1000 meter intervals next time. Maybe 6 x 1000 at a little quicker pace. Or maybe 6 x 800.

I found this much more useful especially in races. If I want to run the first mile of a 5k race in 6:10, I will know exactly where I stand after the first half mile, and I’ll have another half mile to correct any deviations in pace. If I want to maintain that 6:10 pace throughout the race, I’ll have half mile updates of where I stand throughout the race.

For example, at a recent 5k I ran these half miles splits:

3:00
3:07
3:09
3:14
3:20
3:08

As you can see my fourth and fifth half miles splits were where I really lost pace. Despite this data, I wasn’t able to correct the fourth half mile during the fifth half mile of the race; however, the data gives me a pretty good idea of where I slow down in races and where I need to improve my pacing. I could also use this information in workouts and push harder during the 1.5 – 2.5 segment of the workout.

I may try setting the Auto-Lap feature to catch every quarter mile segment of a 5k race. Breaking the pacing down into quarters gives me more time to react to changes in pace and may give me a better chance of maintaining a goal pace.

One of the coolest tricks about the Garmin Forerunner is how it is able to display your current pace at any point during a run. It usually is a second or two behind where you really are in the run. For example, I might look down to see my pace and the Garmin tells me that I’m running a 7:06 per mile pace; however, in reality, I was running a 7:06 pace a few seconds ago and my current pace might have changed since then. So the Garmin is always a little behind in its readings.

Despite the small lag time, the Forerunner’s ability to calculate your running pace offers quite a bit of insight into how most of us run and what affects are pace throughout a run. First off, we rarely keep a steady, exact pace during a run. We might go through the first mile in 6:59 but we rarely ever maintain a 6:59 pace throughout the entire mile. This is probably true even on the flattest of courses. We are more likely to run at varied paces throughout that mile. We may start off at a 7:38 clip; gradually speed up to a 6:40 clip; and then settle in at a 6:54 pace. The end result averages to a 6:59 pace.

Things really get interesting when the course becomes less flat and less straight. A small incline can significantly affect your pace by 40-60 seconds per mile. A large hill can drastically alter it by two minutes per mile or more.

A small decline can have a similar or greater effect on your tempo. Speeding up by 40-60 seconds per mile on a slight decline is really not that difficult. Put in a little more effort and you can easily change your tempo by a minute and a half per mile.

These observations bring into question how many of us were taught to run hills during a race – to either maintain or increase our pace going up hills. Doing so meant that we would often recover and slow our pace on the corresponding downhill. Based upon my limited Forerunner data and relative effort level, it seems that the opposite may be a better way to approach hill running, i.e., don’t work as hard on the uphill section but take advantage of gravity on the downhill section. You are more likely to have a net speed increase and expend less energy in the process.

Other observations are that turns kill our pace. Even a slight change in direction to avoid an obstacle can seriously affect your momentum. 90 degree turns are deadly. 180 degree turns are pace killers. What’s surprising is that you will still find plenty of races with 180 degree turns. I can easily remember a few – a couple of which were fairly recent occurrences. As runners, we need to be aware of these turns in a race and soften them as much as we can without adding too much extra distance.

If you are looking to improve your PR or race faster, try some hill running and take on some curves with a Garmin in tow and determine for yourself how such obstacles affect your tempo.

I’ve been running with a Garmin Forerunner 305 for the past two months and thought I would share some of my findings. In general, it is a great training aid. At any time during a run, I can look at the watch and see exactly how far I’ve run and my current pace in minutes per mile. It keeps track of all my runs and workouts, and it’s bundled with “Garmin Training Center” software.

I ran some intervals the other night and uploaded the data to my computer from my watch. I was looking at the Garmin Training Center software and came across some interesting graphs. Here’s a graph showing one of my 400 meter intervals.

400 meter interval speed graph – Click on graph for larger picture

For non-sprinter types like myself, I have always viewed a 400 meter “dash” as a consistent all out effort. Seeing my actual speed plotted on the graph was a real eye-opener. I’ve added two points at 24 seconds and 44 seconds into the run. Somewhere along the back straight-away and the turn, my speed slowed from 14.4 mph to 13.9 mph. I lost 0.5 mph over 20 seconds, and it occurred on the back straight-away! If anything, I would have thought that speed would be lost on the turns. I was probably gathering myself for the final sprint over the last 100 meters.

Notice also that it took me 24 seconds to reach an initial top speed of 14.4 mph. My final top speed was 15.3 mph.

Heart rate graph – Click on graph for larger picture

Here’s a graph of my heart rate. Notice for the same period that my heart rate continued on an upward climb at the same time my pace was slackening. For the last 22 seconds of the run, my heart rate was pretty much maxed out.

So if I’m trying to improve my 400 time what can I learn from Garmin Forerunner data?

1 – If I can reach an initial top speed faster, I can lower my time. For example, if I can reach 14.4 mph after 12 seconds (instead of 24), then I’ve cut that part of the run in half. And for the first 24 seconds, I’m probably averaging 1 mph faster which means I’ve covered 10.72 meters more in that same amount of time. I’ve just hit the finish line 10.72 meters ahead of time which equals about 1.6 seconds. I’ve just run 1.6 seconds faster without running any faster. In other words, I’ve run a faster 400 without increasing my top speed.

2 – From 24 seconds to 44 seconds, I averaged 14.15 mph. If I could maintain 14.4 mph for this 20 second period instead of losing speed, I’ve just gained 0.25 mph for 20 seconds. This means that I’ve gained another 2.23 meters or about 0.33 seconds. Not much, but every little bit counts.

3 – I can see the importance of stamina in the 400. If I can improve my stamina, maybe my heart rate won’t max out so early – leaving me a little more in the tank.

The Garmin Forerunner data permitted me to see how my speed varied throughout the 400. With a couple changes, I now see where I can cut about 2.2 seconds off my time and potentially go from a 66 to a 63 and change without increasing top speed. Not bad, huh?

2010 Arnold men pump-n-run results

Another great pump and run was held this year and the weather cooperated wonderfully.

Here’s some more Arnold Pump and Run inspiration. Watch Bernard Lagat become the President of the Boards.