colintimberlake.comTell her it wasn’t you…

TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
SVEN THORSEN

I beat the treadmill. I took the best it had to offer and it could not break me. I am now ready for whatever comes next. More on that later…

To the right today, an inadequately celeberated bodybuilding and powerlifting champion from the Schwarzenegger era, who ultimately received some of the recognition he deserved in Hollywood. In the 1970s, most of the fanfare in the bodybuilding community was reserved for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu and Lou Ferrigno. However, Iceland’s Sven Thorsen was also a factor in both bodybuilding and strength contests.

Like Columbu, Thorsen became fast friends with Schwarzenegger and followed his competitive career with a lengthy string of Hollywood roles that has seen him killed by Schwarzenegger in far more films than any other actor, among them: Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, and Predator. He managed to survive until the end of The Running Man by walking away from a fight with Arnold.

He also made a noteworthy appearance in Gladiator as the legendary pit fighter brought out of retirement to face Russell Crowe in what was supposed to be a fatal mismatch. Anyway, Sven Thorsen has enjoyed his lengthy career, one that continues to this day, largely due to his training ethic.

Okay, well, today followed a few straight days of more running than I am used to. I had introduced some 10K runs, and at a minimum, I had been doing two 5K runs per day. I actually considered taking today off. And then I changed my mind…

TODAY’S PERFORMANCE

5K Run Time: 18:46

iPod songs during training run (custom):
1. 2Pac – Numero 10
2. 2Pac – When We Ride on Our Enemies

TRAINING NOTE

This should not have been possible. My legs were sore and tired before I even started running. But we managed to pull this one off today, and now the sky is the limit. The treadmill can’t throw anything more at me than it did today. That was 10 mph the whole way from start to finish of the 5K, as fast as the belt can go.

I’m willing to bet that I can’t do it again on the next run, but I’ll be close, and sooner rather than later I will be able to do this every time out.

It took a lot of mind work to get this one done today. I went the first 2 miles without music, continually telling myself just one more minute until I had done 12 of them. At that point, I needed 2Pac to come in and give me some help, and that was it. Two songs and I had done 3.13 miles.

And I didn’t have a lot left at the end…but I have felt worse after a 5K. I could have done just a little bit longer if I had to. I think the 10K runs were a factor here. My mind had gotten used to expecting more punishment after the 5K mark so in a way, I was just motivating myself to get through the “first half” of the run. And then when I reached the “halfway mark” I was actually at the end.

Well, my goal when I started training exactly 2 weeks ago was to be able to go 10 mph the whole way for the 5K run. Today I accomplished that and also broke the 19-minute mark for the first time. I have to say that I got there a little bit faster than I expected, but I certainly won’t complain about that. I am going to give some thought to how I can keep improving.

INSPIRATIONAL CLIP

The following video is just a brief montage of some collected Sven Thorsen clips from his Hollywood roles that was put together when he released his autobiography a few years ago. And no, I’m not saying that two dudes fighting in their underwear in the snow is inspiring. I’m saying that Sven and Arnold are stone cold movie killers.

HOLD UP…ROUND 2

Well, I decided to reward myself for the personal best earlier today by only making myself run another 5K at 8.5 mph. Gotta let the legs know they have to be ready to go when duty calls. Anyway, 8.5 mph has kind of become the speed I use to keep the legs active or do a second run of the day.

5K Run Time: 22:28

iPod songs during training run (custom):
1. 2Pac – All Out
2. 2Pac – Ghetto Gospel
3. 2Pac – I Don’t Give a F***
4. 2Pac – Pain
5. 2Pac – Killuminati

HOLD UP…ROUND 3

Well, as punishment for only going 8.5 mph on the last 5K run today, I decided to do another one at 9.0 mph. Why? Because there is no way that my first 5K run on race day will ever feel as bad as my third 5K run today.

5K Run Time: 20:52

iPod songs during training run (custom):
1. 2Pac – R U Still Down
2. 2Pac – Last Ones Left
3. 2Pac – Let Em Have It (Remix)
4. 2Pac – When We Ride on Our Enemies
5. 2Pac – Numero 10

BACK TO Index of Inspirational Role Models for Training