Tue, Nov 29:
5.0 in 40:28, 8:06 ave, 7:47 effort on 2 degree treadmill at the hotel. Slightly warm at 68 degrees, but ok. Hard to get out of bed for the early morning pre-work run, since I needed to catch up on sleep, but afterwards, I felt great, wishing I would do this every day. Counted down 0.01 mi increments in the last 1+ mi. This week ended up being an unintentional taper for the ATL Super, since my dad's visit threw off my usual weekend workout schedule. The timing of my last interval session and strength session the previous week was perfect, too. The run felt harder than it should've, for marathon pace, but hopefully, I'm making progress on getting speed back.
Wed, Nov 30:
90 min biking, covering 25 mi. With 1.8 mi rucking. This was my last workout before the race.
Pre-Race:
After a long work week, with traveling to a different city, having to wake up at 1:30am early Saturday morning to drive 3.75 mi down to Atlanta wasn't ideal for racing, but it's what OCRers will do to do what they love. It was low 40's, and I thought that I'd end up racing in long-sleeve gear, but I ended up going with my Plan B of my wetsuit that I wore in Tahoe. It may get a bit warm, but it was the last race of the season, I was mostly doing it to finally get a double Trifecta, and I was more concerned about not being too cold than optimizing speed. The wetsuit ended up working pretty well, and I was only too warm for maybe 20-30 minutes of the race during the first half. However, because the wetsuit was my back-up plan, I didn't pack of the accessories that I'd usually wear with the wet suit, like calf sleeves. I also opted to not use gloves, since I hadn't brought a waist pack to stash them in on obstacles that needed flesh for gripping.
The Race:
With the temps and the month, it's a smaller race than other ATL Spartan races, attendance-wise. I guess all the hard-core ones come. Had a 7:45 start time. Hurdles were a bit more of a struggle than usual, maybe due to the wet suit, or maybe I'm out of obstacle/strength shape, but I did them. 2 hay bales, over-under-through walls, 7' wall was also more of a struggle than usual, since I had difficulties getting my right foot hooked over the wall. Made the monkey bars for the first time, using the technique that a Spartan facebook friend posted a video of on... a fellow short girl ;) By lecheing to build up momentum, it was easier to get a good grip on the uphill bars. I was so excited to make it, and even kicked the bell at the end because that seemed easier than risking another transition to a bar and letting go with one hand.
Rope climb - did it for the second time ever at a Spartan race - I was able to use the foot technique that I had finally practiced and nailed down at Crossfit Mecklenburg a couple of months ago. What a difference that technique can make. It was still not easy, with the rope coated in a thin layer of wet mud, but I made it. Failed Tyrollean Traverse about 40% of the way through. On the Slip Wall, it wasn't as pretty as usual, haha, but got it done, as you can tell from this sequence of shots.
Could've maybe made it a bit further if I had pushed, but I didn't have calf sleeves, and it was pretty hard... not sure I could've made it without the gloves and calf sleeves, even if I had pushed 100%. That ended up being the only obstacle where I felt like I didn't give it a full go. This race, since it wasn't about going super speedy and was more about just finishing, was about doing the obstacles well, and not mentally giving up like I had at the Carolina Beast in several obstacles. This race felt like more of a willpower game more than a physical one, and I feel like I did redeem myself. At the spear throw, I probably did my best yet at it, scraping the bale, but at a totally bad angle. Still haven't made it yet, but maybe I'll tweak the angles next time... one day.... I'll yell so loud when I finally do get it. Sandbag carry through trail and a creek that was deep, where I face-planted with the extra help of the sandbag on my upper back at one point.
One thing I really liked about the previous Conyers race was the back half where we went through some tunnels with water, and where we ran over giant boulders. I had done several races at the Horse Park before, but this was our first time going there, and it was special. This year, we did that again, but I was expecting a similar short out-and-back and saw people coming down in the opposite direction, but we ended up continuing on the boulder part for a long time (I call it "Stone Mountain"), and we crossed the road into a different part of the park where we did a wide loop, so it was an interesting and unexpected twist. We didn't end up coming back to the "back" part of the out-and-back for a long time, and as I saw people going out as I was coming back in, I thought to myself, "you guys are in for a surprise if you think it'll be like last time!". At the z-wall, it was about patience, again... that and avoiding 2 daddy long leg spiders that were right at belly level. 8" wall also harder than usual for me, like all the other walls on this day, but I stuck with it and eventually made it. Was it the wetsuit? Or did I lose strength?/ Plate drag, multi-rig failed again transitioning from the pipe to the ring, although this time, I was more patient trying to build up momentum before the transition, but still no luck this time. A-frame cargo, barbed wire army crawl uphill, and a fireless finish, due to the fire ban.
- ATL Sprint & Hurricane Heat in March - my last time not making the tall walls or hurdles
- Asheville Super in August - finally made hurdles and walls, and haven't looked back since
- HH12HR in Fort Campbell in August - proud to have made it
- Fort Bragg Sprint in September - showed that Asheville wasn't a fluke, made the rig
- Tahoe Ultrabeast - not something I'd typically do, but wanted to get my Endurance Trifecta - lucky to have finished, in October, also locked the 1x TRIFECTA
- Carolina Beast in October - some mental giving up on obstacles
- GORUCK Tough in Columbia, SC in November - I think I like the variation in activities of HH12HRs more, but still interesting to experience
- ATL Super in December - obstacle redemption, willpower event, 2x TRIFECTA earned
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