This is an example of my recovery evening meal the day after a 10 mile training run on the trails in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah County. I ran a connector of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail near the power towers on the bench below Mount Timpanogos yesterday. Today I had mostly protein shakes during the day, and a massage to work out my IT Band issues, and tonight I’m having steamed chicken breast strips with steamed broccoli and steamed cauliflower.
Steamed Chicken Broccoli and Cauliflower – Bodybuilding Diet Staples
This is actually quite similar to the types of meals bodybuilders eat to rebuild muscle after their intense training. Though if they’re large enough, they’d have it 3 or 4 times a day, and usually with whole breasts, rather than “tenders”. I normally don’t eat very much meat, and when I do, it’s generally chicken or shrimp or salmon. The non-mammalian meats. That’s just me. My body just kind of tells me when it’s time, based on various recovery and health issues, so I have something as clean as I can normally (unless I just got back from a week-long or longer expedition – then I’ll be a bit more liberal in my choices) to help rebuild my body.
Drove to the Stevens Gulch road, then up to the Grizzly Gulch junction and parked. Hiked about 2 miles to the trailhead, then about a mile up the trail. I was wearing old hiking boots I haven’t worn in two years, but my feet seemed to have changed shape in the meanwhile (probably from all the running) and they were cutting into my tendons above my toes. I ended up removing the insole to allow for more room, which helped a bit, but let me slide around some. I was planning on doing both summits (Grays and Torreys) but decided to just call it a good training hike and return to the car. I am training for the Aspen Backountry Marathon, and can’t afford to take a week off while my tendons heal.
On the way back to the car it started snowing, in spite of the beautiful sky just minutes before (see pics) and I-70 was really messy. Over the divide into Dillon it was still snowing. Sometimes you get get weather on one side of the Divide or the other. On my hike I’d gone from 10,300′ to 11,900′ in 1:09, so not bad overall – maintained about 3.0 mph average.
Great sale at City Market on fresh raspberries, so I got a couple packs for my protein yogurt snack. Poured them on top after rinsing, then ate without stirring. Yummy
This video shows me doing one of the most common calf training exercises, the seated calf raise. I normally do sets of 25 at 85 pounds on the arm. I’ve never checked the amount of leverage, but the weights are at the end of the arm, with your knees about the middle of the arm, so if you just do the math that way, it’s about a 5/8 mechanical disadvantage, but the weights swing about a pivot point that your butt sits around, so not sure if that helps or hurts? I’d have to use some type of scale to measure.
Ice Climbing takes strong flexible calf muscles
Anyway, physics aside, I like to push fast on the way up, and slow it on the way down. In the video you can see the muscles of my right calf, in spite of the Zensah Compression Leg Sleeves.
A good idea, especially for beginners, is to get some sensory feedback going by lightly tapping your calf muscles with a few fingertips to make sure they’re good and flexed. It’s best if you let your heels go as far down as possible to get a good stretch since your calf muscles are typically pretty tight – you generally use them all day every day just walking around.
httpv://youtu.be/66TD2reFhoI
You could also experiment with a few little pulses or bounces at the top and bottom, but please be gentle so you don’t tear anything. A Seated Calf Machine could be pretty expensive (I got mine on clearance as a floor model at a local fitness store) for a decent model, but if you belong to a club, most have some version of it that you could figure out in a heartbeat.
Strong calf muscles help with ice climbing, rock climbing, hiking, and general scrambling on rocks. If you’re going to run for training, your calf can help stabilize your ankles and prevent injury, especially shin splints.
WordPress announced that they’d like for all their blogging users and members to do a 5k run/walk/swim/bike by April 29.
WHAT IT IS: A 5k run/walk (approximately 3.1 miles). You can run, walk, or skip. It’s up to you. There’s no time limit and there’s just one requirement: that you participate! You can do it inside or outside, on a treadmill or on a track, or even do a swim or a bike ride instead of running/walking – just get moving! — WordPress wwwp5k
Aspen Backcountry Marathon Finish
Last year I ran in the inaugural Aspen Backcountry Marathon, in Aspen Colorado, and it was a blast. Afterward I promised myself I would never run again. Alas, that wasn’t really true. Nearly four months ago I fell down the stairs and cracked two ribs, then a few weeks after that fell skating and pulled a groin muscle and sprained my ankle. I’ve just started running slowly again, and today I did my 5k run for WordPress. Here are my stats from ifitlive:
Stats for my 5K this morning
I challenge everyone reading this to seriously consider doing your own 5k. Run/walk/bike/crawl/skate – whatever your thing is, get out and move.
Your Glutes are a big powerful muscle group, and are essential for a great many training movements, including squats and deadlifts. For mountaineering they come into play stepping up and hiking up. Kicking steps, pushing up in ice climbing or rock climbing, and even trail running all utilize the glutes. For other sports, like skating and gymnastics, the jumping and sprinting sports too, strong glutes are important.
Many who participate in these sports have obvious glute development. The Glute Kick is one way to work your glutes, but since your motion is so large, and the weight is being moved from your ankle, way out with very little leverage advantage, you’ll be using pretty light weights. In this case I’m using a pair of Harbinger Leather 3-Inch Double Ring Ankle Cuff Attachment with hardware-store quicklinks, and Champion Sports Stretch Resistance Band – Light* as the resistance.
Leather Velcro Double-D Ankle Cuffs w/quicklink
I clip the quicklink to the Double-D rings, then to the fitness band, which is looped around the lat tower on my power rack. You could use just about anything, and some fitness bands come with little straps you slam in a door.
Pull the velcro through the D-rings and fasten
I like this ankle cuff a lot because it’s pretty sturdy, and has sheepskin lining for padding, and helps it slide without leaving chafing or blistering.
Clip in the second D-ring and the stretch band
After fastening the velcro ankle band, clipping into the D-rings and the stretch band with the quicklinks, step back away from the support for your band (in this case the power rack lat tower) and stand steadily on the non-working foot. Trying to keep your legs kind of straight, and your back kind of straight as well, just kick back with as little rotation and as much height as your own mobility or flexibility will allow.
Band extended showing how the D-Rings and quicklink are connected
In the video I am braced against a bar set high in the rack, but you would get more core activation if you just stabilize on the standing foot. This is one of those exercises that I personally recommend as a warmup or finisher, either just before or just after Good Mornings, or some variation of Deadlift, Straight Leg Deadlifts being one of my favorites.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb6NPekbrpI
You could do anywhere from 10 to 25 reps with each leg if you’re doing a warmup, or if you’re doing it as a finisher, maybe 4 sets of 10 to 25 reps with each leg. As usual, don’t hurt yourself, do what feels right or natural, and beware of any feelings of pain or discomfort that might indicate a flexibility or mobility issue. YMMV of course…
Making it tougher: stand on your heel or toe, stand on a wobble disk or cushion, add a weighted ankle cuff, add bands, use the low pulley on a lat tower with weight, close your eyes.
* – I’m actually using a light-medium from another company in the video, but there’s no link to that I could handily display here.
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with hardware-store quicklinks, and 
* as the resistance.
