The Torch

After posting about Kjetil Borch's 7 x 390 lb deadlifts, I began my weight lifting journey by doing a few of my own.  started at 325 lbs and moved up finally maxing out at 395. I really didn't think I could get even close to that because last winter I was barely doing 305. As we progressed up the weight, we kept finding a little bit extra within ourselves( Peter and I) to get the bar off the ground. It highlighted to me how you can sometimes find an extra gear that you may have thought did not even exist . Yesterday   Peter and I were just trying to one up each other and it really escalated. We have a history of doing this. Last year when he was in California, I did a 20k erg, sent him a picture of my score, and a few hours later he sent a picture back of his slightly faster score. We went back and forth a few times. All in good fun though, right?

We had just done 375 lbs and I was content with that. It was a PR by 60 lbs.  Peter continued to put 20 more lbs on to take it to 395 but I was just going to spectate this one. Peter got it off the ground but I wouldn't say it was a clean lift, his grip failed. He egged me on to try but I resisted in an effort to keep my back in one piece.  Then Lynn Jennings walked in. " Ohhhhh you have to do it now, John!" Oh boy. Really?  I was SURE that I could not lift the weight that was on the bar. POSITIVE. This was a time to just laugh it off, tuck my tail, and get out uninjured.  But when she sat down to watch, smiling with anticipation , there was no longer a choice. I was suddenly willing to do anything to get that weight off the ground or get injured trying. The last thing I wanted was for her to see me walk away from the challenge. I took in all of the energy of the moment, sucked it all in, bent the bar, then fired the legs, and opened the back. Slowly but surely, I completed the lift. Deadlifting does not directly correlate to on water speed, but I think being able to summon something extra when it counts, sure does. 

  I am not close to being able to do 7 reps, but that's got to be the goal. Look forward to pursuing it throughout the fall and winter. 

It was a beautiful fall foliage evening, so I took to the trails for some light running. The trails are soft, the leaves are orange, the air very crisp. There are many great places to run in the world, this is certainly one of them. I ran easy for about 65 min. I'm hoping these easy runs eventually this fall will help get my aerobic base back after a few months of low volume and racing. 

Sunday we race down at the Green Mtn Head in Putney, VT. It's a really fun race that I am excited to take part in again. I feel a little bad that I won't be at my best but, no problem, it's all good. Happy to just race it up. If I lose to some masters guys, so be it, those guys are really fast! At this point, my goal is to be breathing a little deeper and moving a little smoother by the time the Charles comes along in a few weeks.