Tuesday, Jul 9:
11s and Penalty Holds Ruck Workout from TEAM SPEARHEAD...
About a year ago, this was the first ruck workout I ever tried for PATHFINDER. It kicked my butt last time, so I was eager to see how I'd fare this time around, now that I had a year of more serious ruck training under my belt.
It was still rough, but not quite as bad. I did it indoors, instead of outdoors in the summer heat, which helped, I'm sure. But the penalty holds were a little better... maybe using a Rucker with a sturdy frame vs. a GR1 helped... but hopefully, it's also that I'm a little stronger now. Even now, my form was a bit questionable sometimes on the pushups, burpees, and high planks... but you do what you gotta do. There's always the option to scale, but I was using challenge weight (20# dry), and I need to be able to handle hard workouts as best as I can with challenge weight, because I won't have a choice to scale during an event.
3 miles of rucking afterwards in 55:27, 18:29 ave.
Wednesday, Jul 10:
5 mile progressive run, as a baseline before I get into Heavy Drop Training. It went surprising well, given it's been a while since my last run, and because it was a day after 11s and Penalty Holds.
5.0 in 36:27, 7:18 ave. Splits> 7:57, 7:32, 7:16, 7:01, 6:39. 2 degrees of incline.
Friday, Jul 12:
38 min of a Core workout, after a bit of yoga.
Saturday, Jul 13:
Even though I had already finished my challenge requirements for PATHFINDER, I had an opportunity to jump into another 20 miler. I was feeling good enough and recovered enough from the CLT 50 and everything else. This would be my third ever 20 mile training ruck (outside of events... the first was a year ago, and the second was in January for the ruckingchallenges.com 20.19 mile challenge.
I met up with 2 buddies at 4 mile greenway, and we rucked out through the 6 miles of boardwalks and dirt, through some roads to a gas station, and back. It was a good route, since the gravel path was soft and traffic-free. One of the ruckers was a vet, so she had spidey senses that detected animals the whole time. She could name the species of frogs, recognize spiders from the reflective lights bouncing back from our headlamps, and spot mammals in the forest.
Monday, July 15:
Started with some more baseline exercises:
- 2 min of Pushups (40)
- 2 min of Situps (60)
- 5 min of Burpees (60)
- plus some pullups for fun
Then a 40 min core workout... one that got me really sore last time. This time, didn't really get sore afterwards... progress.
Then 3 miles of rucking in 53 min, 17:36 ave.
Thursday, Jul 18:
Another core workout... one that takes a while, but is a good level of intensity to sustain for 95 min.
Plus a mile of rucking afterwards in 19 min.
Friday, Jul 19:
A double-yoga day, because work has been kind of crazy with some early and long hours, and because my tibialis anterior all the way down to my foot has been tingly and a little numb for a few days. But, I finished my second PATHFINDER class.
Saturday, Jul 20:
A 1.1 mile swim, to get in some cardio despite my foot.
- 6 x 150m Free (3:09, 3:25, 3:28, 3:30, 3:31, 3:31)
- 5 x 150m Breast (3:38, 3:47, 3:57, 3:53, 4:08)
- 1 x 150m Fly (4:44)
I had originally planned on going to Asheville to hike or go on a trail run, but since my foot wasn't 100%, I stayed in town.
That night, I shadowed a GORUCK event for the first time. It was an interesting and eye-opening experience.
First, I met up with some of the participants for a pre-event dinner, which included comraderie as well as some mental preparation.
Afterwards, we rushed to the start, and got gear ready before the 10pm start.
Since we were in a park and I had to be in Asheville by 7:30am the next morning, I moved my car a mile away and ran back to the start, to miss as little action as possible. That run left me coated in a layer of sweat in the humid night... and I did wonder a little bit if I'd be the first Shadow to ever puke at an event, since the effort was not insignificant after a big meal.
A small class size meant lots of individual attention, more of a need for teamwork. Warm conditions were mitigated by many dunks in Freedom Park's pond.
The welcome party did its thing and resulted in a couple of drops from the PT. It's tough to get dropped (or choose to leave for various reasons). Most of us have been there before. But you learn from it, work on what you need to, and come back stronger the next time.
Afterwards, the remaining group started the movements. Not a ton in terms of coupons, but those water jugs are heavy, and I've personally avoided having to carry any full ones so far... maybe one day I'll be brave enough to try carrying one of the full ones.
There was a walk along a greenway that I recognized from the Grinch Light. Then we went to a fountain that I've been in at another event. They had to do a bunch of laps around the fountain to form a whirlpool.
When they finished up in there, it was about 1:30am, and I decided to head back to my car and head to Asheville. I didn't want to be too tired, or leave no wiggle room for naps if needed. I got to sleep for a couple of hours at a rest stop before my build shift.
Saturday...
Asheville's Black Mountain is one my favorite Spartan venues. The rock quarry is something you don't get to run through or see every day, and the mountains are so green and pretty. There are often storm clouds nearby, which adds to the effect of everything.
We had a good crew of volunteers and staff who made it fun. It was warm, and it's always tough work, but it's fun to do something different... manual work instead of office work. I did strain my right elbow a tiny bit... I always seem to end up straining something a little bit, but it's never serious, and it's something that can get better on its own in about a week. So, some risk involved, but it is what it is. That's why functional fitness is important. In real life, weights, forces, people, angles, and objects are not so predictable.
We made part of Helix (a new obstacle this year), overwall, and slip wall.
Monday, Jul 22:
Another baseline... 6 mile strict ruck, which works the hip flexors. It went faster than I expected, in 1:28:55, 14:47 average. Pretty good for no shuffling.
Afterwards, I did the Killer 1,000, another TEAM SPEARHEAD ruck workout, in 76 min. It was a long and intense one... lots of pushup movements. I thought about scaling it and stopping after 7,000 or so, but I wanted to put my money where my mouth was and Choose The Harder Thing, so I got through the rest of it.
Wednesday...
I tried writing my first formal workout. I've done my own body weight strength routine for many, many years... no fixed routine, but a typical series of exercises, and I do as many reps as I can until form starts to break down. Most exercises are the same from workout to workout, but there are a few that I'll swap in and out sometimes.
This workout was a ruck workout. I'm not super experienced in ruck workouts, but I think I understand certain principles of workouts in general. I didn't research suggestions on how to write workouts, but this was the approach that I took...
- Understand the goals (level of difficulty, duration, muscle groups to target)
- Pick the exercises that you want to target (the right mix of arms, legs, core... push and pull, where applicable)
- Think of a theme or shtick to make it fun or memorable, to form the workout around. This will also influence the name of the workout.
- Figure out a good number of reps, and a good sequence for the movements.
- Test and tweak, until you get the reps and sequence right.
It was fun to try it... I even had a beta tester help me review it, which prompted a tweak. We'll see what everyone else thinks, in a few weeks!
SPARTAN SUPER
I run the open heat these days, now that volunteer codes only cover that. If I felt really confident, I might pay for an upgrade to the age group heat for a shot at a podium spot. But for more competitive races, open is just fine.
Asheville is special to me for more reasons than just the pretty venue. It was where I had my breakthrough in Spartan, and I finally conquered obstacles that I had never been able to get past before... the 8 foot wall, and hurdles. For someone with my height, technique can mean the difference between making it and not making it, so I finally figured out the technique. I might be a little stronger, too, but I think technique played the larger role.
They did offer a Trail race option this weekend, too. It's new, and meant to get people to dip their toes into Spartan events, without having to immediately deal with the scariness of obstacles. It's just as muddy and technical, though, from what I hear. I opted for the Super and Sprint, so that I can get my double trifecta this year. I'm not going for the triple this time... I tell myself that I'm going to retire each year, but I still end up signing up for nearly as many. The shirts are so nice this year, though... so soft and smooth... worth doing more events for. I wore that shirt for my DC Star Course 50, and it was perfect. The fit is good, and it might be the most comfortable shirt that I own. I think it's made by Craft.
So... the race went well. The weather was good this year. And as an open heat racer, it's late enough in the morning that dew and frost probably won't be as much of an issue. The only obstacle that I missed was the spear throw, which I missed to the left, and tilted up. I gutted through herc hoist and olympus. Bucket brigade with closed tops continues to feel really easy compared to what it used to feel like... maybe more strength from carrying coupons at GORUCK events... maybe they changed the standards.
I volunteered for Course Sweep afterwards. I had considered signing up for the Hurricane Heat, but I didn't plan to get a hotel, so I didn't want to be too dirty at night, and I needed another volunteer code for later in the year. It meant repeating the course again, stream and mud crossings and all. Sometimes, course sweep manages to avoid the worst of that, but it was unavoidable here. At least we didn't have to go through the dunk wall and rolling mud, but there was still a decent amount of mud and swimming.
One neat thing... we saw a momma black bear and two tiny cubs in the distance. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, since I had given it to staff to keep it safe during river crossings.
I had gotten a blister during the Super, and I managed through it during the last few miles of the Super.
9.0 for the race in 2:33:03, 17:00 average, and pretty good placement, though it's open heat, and it wouldn't have been enough to podium in age group anyways. It is nice not having too much pressure to perform... my main goal was to go fast, but complete as many obstacles as I could. Course Sweep was another 9.0 miles of walking and some running.
SPRINT
I woke up feeling stiff all over, as one does the day after an event. But once you get moving, it's not so bad. I re-wore the shoes that I had worn during Course Sweep, since I didn't want my race shoes exacerbating the blister. Thanks to Tough Mudder, I have a lifetime supply of waterproof band-aids, so I raided my bug-out bag for those. The bug-out bag has been nice... I've grabbed knives, headlamps, bandaids, clothes from there since setting it up.
The sprint was 4.0 miles. It was another good race... again, missed the spear, but got everything else.
4.0 in 1:23:49, 20:57 ave.
The blister started feeling really bad during my festival breakdown volunteer shift afterwards. I was limping, and taking small steps. A long shift, and tougher than the race because of how the blister was feeling.
The blister was tiny, but I rarely get blisters (only in OCRs sometimes). When I do, it makes me hurt a ton. And this one was worse than any other I've had... smaller than the others, but a ton of pain.
It might've been more than just the blister that was causing the pain. It could've also been a recurrence of an overuse issue from the Myrtle Beach Marathon + ATL 26.2 Star Course double. We'll see how it fares...
