Dies Quinque

 I was back at the coal face at 6AM today, I decided to do a fast paced march without a weighted rucksack or vest, my neck and head were not sore this morning however I didn't want to push it. My second march again, was a fast paced march. My march in the evening was slightly slower but was there to get the miles in, I finished today with 10 miles in total. 

I did some labouring today which was clearing of brush wood and saplings. Any saplings I could remove fully I would plant further away to create a sort of 'living' fence. Using an axe was quite hard on my forearms and they haven't fully recovered since Dies Mercurii. I should note that I am planning on making an Imugr account to take photos of marching paths, food, labouring activities as well as equipment. 

My workout today consisted of 50 pull ups in sets of 10 with 15 band pull aparts inbetween. I know Romans definitely would not of had elastic bands to train with, and possibly didn't do pull ups, at least as often.  I do this simply to supplement the amount of pushing & hacking I would do if I was doing manual labour all day. If I was able to go about this truly, living each day like a Legionnaire I wouldn't do these movements. I followed this by 100 body armour pushups. I found these work my shoulders and triceps well, again, to supplement the lack of manual labour. I then performed 100 stabs and 100 scutum 'movements'. I rotated every 10 pushes between a punch/shove with the dumbell (scutum) followed by a stab as one movement and another where I would push and lift the scutum above my head and then stab. I found with the heavier weight this was tough on my arms and shoulders. I tried to roughly do sets of 10-20 with a short rest inbetween (60 seconds maximum). After this I did 100 burpees (non weighted) with pushups. 

Nutrition wise it was the end of my stew and less pieces of meat than before. I also had to have less bread than normal as it was the end of my loaf, normally it would be 300 grams with lunch but as I halved my ration yesterday, I finished it off today. 

Mentally I felt a lot better than I did yesterday, I think the morning marches have improved my mood as well as spending more time outside. I feel the increase in carbohydrates has not only improved my mental state but kept my energy up. 

Reflection

Weight

My current weight is 156.4lbs (70.9kg) as opposed to my starting weight of 157.8 (71.5kg). I was quite impressed with this, especially as my calories have been around the 3000 mark all week, and that is with spending a good few hours working in my office. It has also only been 5 days, so it will be interesting weighing myself next week. 

Calories

 I currently use a Versa 2 fitbit which can sometimes be generous with the calories burnt, however, my calories were as follows : 

Mon - 3,502

Tues-3,997

Wed-3,937

Thurs-3,334

Fri- 3654

Even with a reduction of 10% for the overestimate of calories, it still puts my usage over 3000 calories, which makes sense with the amount I am eating. Maybe the Versa 2 has been more accurate than predicted. I will admit that my starting weight may of had an extra half lb of water weight as I did enjoy some pizza and beer before starting this month long project. 

Miles

Mon- 10.22

Tues - 11.2

Wed- 11.47

Thurs- 7.55

Fri  -  9.89

I've managed to stick to my 10-12 miles a day pretty well throughout this week, even if some of the marches have been without weight. I have done this purely for longevity sake as if I pushed with weighted marches it could end the project sooner rather than later. 

Thoughts 

I am quite happy with how the week has gone, obviously I bit off more than I could chew with jumping straight into loaded marches etc. This has impacted me but I'm sure it will get smoothed out soon. Eating has gone well and I am excited to try some proper Roman recipes in the future such as Larduim and possibly Posca. Manual labour has been good, I always knew that would be the easiest part of the project as it's something I have always done and enjoyed. The training has been challenging, it's not the normal sort of exercisise I would do, as I would normally do a strength/, hypertrophy style workout. Especially the repeated muscles groups being used everyday and slightly overused compared to others i.e pectorals are barely used compared to my lats as I do way more chopping motions than I will do with a chest pushing motion. I am also looking forward to using the imitation gladuis and scutum in my workouts from now on.

Plans

 Over the weekend I will be trying to get my miles in, as well as workout. I am helping a friend with some construction over the weekend which will serve as my manual labour. I will also be going paddle boarding on Sunday, and as the Romans were fond of making their Legionnaire's swim I will be doing just that ! For the rest of the week I plan on doing marches, however I wills start with either just my body armour or a weighted rucksack of only 5kg, then I will progress upwards. I will also look at making a sarcina stick and trying that out. Training will stay the same with more emphasis on gladuis and scutum  training as well as burpess and other sorts of circuit training. Manual labour will go on as planned. Nutrition wise I will try and and make stew with porks instead of beef as Romans were fond of pork. Next Thursday I will be going camping for three days with my girlfriend and dog so will be unable to make daily blogs, while I am away I will be doing a lot of swimming, paddle boarding and hiking, I will try and stick to the plan as much possible. I think I will post my weekly recap on Thursday. Overall I think the second week will give the 'getting into the swing of things' feeling and will also see a better effect of diet and training.

Roma Invicta !