lol sample size, but I ran a 14km hilly road race close to 20 years back when I was still running. Jeff Fenech was at the start line with me. (Fenech was 3x world boxing champ in the 90s and had been retired 5 years by this point)

I was in good running shape...about 2 months later I ran a 1.28 half marathon and I completed the course in 58 mins. Fenech finished in 53mins

as an aside (and a serious question) ..apart from epeening, is there any benefit to testing your VO2 and also your Lactate and Anaerobic Thresholds for those of us interested in being good at various cardio pursuits?

like..is it something we do 1x to measure our potential or something we do on the semi regular to see if our training is working etc etc?

Fenech cheated by being light though.

he did.

Definitely not at his fighting weight and substantially over. He’s not tall but he was chunky

Unless you want to have a Vo2max off vs me, I would say no. And a good chunck of VO2max is genetic, you certainly could be gifted and have good potential.

Lactate threshold comes in handy for the nerds who train by percentage of lactate threshold heart rate. I havent seen a rowing program based on it but Fitzgeralds 80/20 running programs are all based on lactate threshold heart rate.

If you want to have an idea, it's pretty easy to nail it. Take your 5k time trial avg heart rate and work from that. If it's 170, then lactate threshold going to be in the 160s and anaerobic power above 170.

And yeah you can shift your lactate threshold heart rate by improving fitness but in general it's just a few heart beats. You can take this to the bank, in running lactate threshold is always around 90% of your max heart rate. That's the heart rate avg I can hold for about an hour if I had a gun to my head. It's actually lower for cycling and I would think somewhere in between for rowers. I would find it interesting to see what it actually is for rowers, maybe one of those guys can research the subject. I am going to go with 88% . I believe the montecore can hold a 172avg for about an hour. And the Arjun a little closer to 180. I am only about 161 but alas I am Old with normal max heart rate.

thanks.

I am not a scientific trainer at all and don’t even measure my heart rate given my Fitbit is really trash at this. I basically work through UT1 or 2 plus the others based on how I feel.

Prob something I’ll take more seriously once the easy gains shrink and I decide I still want to push hard enough to improve

Anybody have any experience with pec tears and what to expect? Completely randomly on the 3rd rep of a warmup at 205 yesterday, I felt what was most decidedly a tear, felt like ripping a seam and threads popping. Was actually able to rack the bar, obviously stopped there and kinda in a daze I quickly tested my range of motion (this may have been dumb) and was able to do everything with my arm. Obviously my chest started getting massively sore and stiff afterward.

Spent the rest of yesterday icing and keeping my arm in a neutral position, today it feels much the same but I don't have any huge bruising or malformation in my chest or anything. Yes I know I need to see a doc and maybe get a scan but until I can get an appt, can I assume based on the above that it's just a partial tear? If so can I not do any more damage with daily activities? Obviously I'm not gonna lift or do stupid **** like move furniture, but it'd be good to know that I can reach over my head without being nervous, etc.

Thanks for the input, guys. Got the Pfizer yesterday. Main factor was getting it 2 days early without having to skip out of work, plus being able to make my 2nd appointment at the same time (CVS). Was also pretty impressed with the Israel study’s high efficacy especially since there was majority London variant at that point.

As far as Fauci’s choice, I have a theory it had a lot to do with Moderna being part of the government “Operation Warp Speed” program whereas Pfizer was not, and that Moderna was the 2nd vaccine available (while shortages were a big issue) so “let’s generate some positive pr so people don’t shy away from it.” Plus I can’t exactly trust him after that asinine “don’t wear a mask it’s bad for you” advice early in the pandemic. Why on earth they didn’t think it would *also* protect front line medical workers if way fewer people caught the virus in the first place is beyond me. But at least anti-maskers believed it forever.

One of the reasons I decided to lose weight was BMI > 30 being a high risk factor at my old age, and that I was no longer made of muscle. All else equal, loco’s definitely lower-risk than me. I was delighted no CFB players died, given that nearly half of them are linemen on a strict program of forced feeding junk food, one step above being geese on a foie gras farm. I doubt many of them could run a mile at all, even if you attached a helium balloon leaving them effectively weighing 90 lbs. They are, however, 18-22 years old. Which is nice.

You're in luck. I think Rich Muny is the pec tear guy. I think he had at least one of them.

thoughts and prayers man. hope it's minor

+1

You don't see a lot of major pec tears on natural athletes with submax weights. Hopefully that mean's its likely minor. I think if you have ROM without worsening pain then there's probably little downside and many potential upsides to moving through that ROM with very low resistance and building up. GL

Mysterious stranger,

I think Soulman posts occasionally (actually rarely is probably more accurate) at new politardia, I'll attempt to contact him there for you.

Yeah, Pfizer is good too. The only situation I'd pick Moderna is if I showed up and they asked me to choose. Melk vaccine power rankings:

T-1. Moderna
T-1. Pfizer
3. JnJ

There are a couple of reasons I like Moderna better than Pfizer, besides the Fauci thing, but they're nearly as questionable if not more so. The first is that Moderna is spaced out more and there is some evidence that your ultimate immunity is enhanced if you delay your second dose (obviously you have to balance this with the fact that before you get the second dose, you have less immuity). Moderna's default schedule is 4 wks, but I see a lot of people offering second dose of Pfizer at 3-4 wks (default was 3), which makes it a more of a wash.

Also Pfizer has to be stored at a lot lower temperature, so there is a slightly greater chance that it's gets messed up somewhere in transport or storage. But that's paranoia more than anything.

But these are really minor considerations, both seem to be highly effective.

I haven't read a lot about JnJ, but the only reason I've got it at 3 is that we have millions of doses more experience with the other two. It's probably good as well.

Thanks. Dr. Google told me much the same, although I did a quick informal consult with one of the docs at the urgent care my wife manages, she pretty much confirmed that if it were a complete tear I'd be a ****ing mess, and said just to come in to get a scan if pain doesn't improve over the next several days. I did have a big fun technicolor bruise on my bicep near my armpit this morning, but otherwise don't feel any worse. The actual tearing sensation was the weirdest feeling and sure as hell felt like it was extensive, but I get that it's a huge muscle and what the hell do I know, maybe that's just what it feels like to tear a couple of inches of the muscle belly somewhere.

I'll probably relatively baby it through the weekend, then if gradual improvement continues, I'll start careful stretching and then light band work. Just gonna assume minimum 6 weeks before I'm back in the gym, and if I can get back in to do lower-body stuff and bench an empty bar before then, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

this reads like you're not gonna get a scan? if true...idk man, I'd be getting one done asap. not sure pec tears are to be trifled with at all and it might be wise to know exactly what you're dealing with before you do any rehab

By light resistance I meant benching the bar (if you're able) or doing stuff like pec deck with the lowest weight. I think it would be a mistake to baby it too much.

Sorry to hear. Bad beat there for sure.

I had complete tears in both pecs five years apart. Both required surgery. Your tear sounds like a partial tear that I suspect will heal just fine on its own. If it were major, you'd never have racked the bar and you'd be quite bruised now. I couldn't even shift my car into reverse when I tore my right pec and drove myself to the emergency room (where they didn't know much of anything about pec tears, aside from diagnosing it correctly). But, as you felt a sensation like threads popping, it sounds more significant than a run of the mill partial tear, so be sure to get it checked. I've had partial tears but only felt the thread popping sensation during the two complete ruptures.

Yes, stay off it for now for sure. Don't move furniture, carry heavy boxes, or anything like that. You'll either feel pain or, more likely, just weakness if you try anything that challenges the area.

Good luck.

Yeah...you want to see an orthopedic surgeon. Nonspecialists don't really know enough about this. This doc is probably right that it's a partial tear, but the sensation you had combined with the fact that you had actual bruising means you should see someone for it.

Six weeks could be babying it too much, or it could be too much work (though just the bar after six weeks is probably doable even with a surgically repaired complete tear). He will really need to have it evaluated IMO.

I’ve partially torn or tweaked my pecs a few times, usually on bench or floor press but also grappling. The best rehab for them I found was a bunch of iastm/Graston scrapping with a metal tool, and wrapping it with voodoo bands (around the shoulder and armpit) for 10 minutes at a time. Rolling it out with a lacrosse ball helps too.

I did the primary, ortho, and PT route for the first tear and found it mostly useless (except to sleep better at night) without out the soft tissue massage.

Also, when I would do any horizontal pressing I would use a slingshot a lot and slowly use it less and less, as my chest felt less sketchy.

Anyone have any experience with sore achilles while running?

I've been a moderate runner the last 3-4 years (34m 6'4'' 190), running maybe 10mi~ a week, and maybe once every 2-3 months my achilles gets super sore mid run and that area ends up being stiff for a few days.

I am definitely guilty of not having much of pre-running warm-up/stretching routine. I guess this should be mandatory now? (Foam-rolling legs, stertching, etc)?

10 miles a week is not a moderate runner. That's an occassional runner, maybe equivalent to lifting once or twice a week. For health purposes, closer to 25 per week is correct.

So part of the problem is this weak mileage at what I am guessing is "moderate" speed. And thus your problem is similar to the guy who lifts weights once a week and gets too sore from his workout.

Slow down your running and work up the mileage. Could also try shoes with more padding, such as Hokas. And if you are actually running in minimalist shoes, then that's the problem. Those have to slowly be weened in.

Minimalist zero drop shoes tend to hit below the knee hard and will jack up your achilles. While large heel to toe drop shoes tend to hit your hips hard. I will gravitate more to the opposite shoe if something starts bothering me.

This is only true if you're a lol-heal-striker.

No it's not, run on the balls of your feet. Your achilles gets hammered hard. You have to slowly ween in minimalist shoes. Forefoot striking increases peak stress and impulse on the achilles.

And nothing wrong with heel striking, injury rate no different. But obviously it's mostly done with shoes with a big heel to toe drop.

Sure champion runners mostly all forefoot strike but they also light of feather and running at beyond normal human speeds.

Didace is great every year to make a donk running post. Check for 2021.