Stephen Koch

My coach, Rob Shaul of Mountain Athlete (mtnathlete.com), asked me:

are you recovering faster after these efforts (compared to my first 2 hour workout last Thursday)? Were you as hungry this time (as the last) after the session?

To review the workout, check out Rob’s website (mtnathlete.com).

My response follows:

Rob,

Thanks for a great 2 hour workout! I was stoked to participate with all the other fired up athletes!

I am not nearly as tired as I was after the first 2 hour workout last Thursday. So to answer your question, yes, I believe I recovered faster than after last time. In short, I think I was less tired overall but am experiencing much more specific and delayed (24-36 hours post workout) muscle soreness.

My middle back and lat muscles are sore and the front of my shoulders are very sore (from the pushups and other shoulder/chest exercises), but some of that might be from my having one pectoral major and my shoulders doing the bulk of the work. On a number of occasions over the past (nearly) two years of working out with you at MA I have been unusually sore in my shoulders, especially in my right, to sickness in one instance (I believe I poisoned myself with lactic acid buildup and could not workout for nearly 2 weeks and couldn’t even at lift my 22 lb. son over my head for several days. His look told me to not work out in such a way that will jeopardize our fun together in the future. For the most part, I have obliged.

I feel my hamstrings and triceps. My middle back muscles are sore, which is a bit unusual. This might be due to my doing the swings differently. I consciously tried to have a straighter back / better posture during the exercise. Any thoughts on your end about this?

I ate well (more than after last 2 hour session) yesterday and was not overly hungry, as I had been last Thursday. Before the workout I ate a small portion (only reason it was a small portion was because it was left over from day before and I didn’t want to make a new batch at 4:45 a.m.) of 7 grain hot cereal with raisins (1/2 hour pre workout), coffee and a GU energy gel just prior to the workout. During the workout I ate 4 GU energy gels with about 1.5 liters of water. I find it best during a hard workout to down the GU with a wet mouth to let it slide down sans residue in the mouth. When not breathing hard I don’t notice the residue. During heavy breathing I do, hence the prior way of ingesting it. Rocktane (formerly known as Hardrock) tends to leave more of a residue but has more of the goods too, so weigh the pros/cons or simply eat if with a wet mouth prior to eating it and a rinse after and then you don’t have to worry about it. Soon after the workout I had a shake with Egg White Protein Powder/OJ/Water/Flax Seed Oil/L-Glutamine powder, a fried egg on toast and a good size piece of veggie lasagna. For lunch I ate a tuna fish sandwich, bowl of carrot/ginger soup, ½ bag of Garden of Eaten sesame blues chips and ½ an apple. For a snack I ate a thick slice of sharp Tillamook cheddar cheese, an apple and the other ½ bag of chips. For dinner I ate a big spinach salad with walnuts, cranberries, onions and cucumbers and bowl of lentil soup.

I think at this point that one 2 hour workout a week is enough. As I gain strength and stamina then two will probably be good. I look forward to getting on the wall tomorrow to stretch out my lats and work my forearms.

Thanks again!