Friday

Wanted to do a quick workout before going to work.

2min max reps push ups (81)
Rest 5min
2min max reps sit ups (103)
Rest 5min
2min max reps squats (93)

Thursday

Didn't feel all that great but still needed to get to the gym.  Forgot to eat my pre-gym banana and forgot to bring my gymnastics rings, so I knew it was going to be a rough day.  Had to make up a wod on the spot.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
5 Rounds, for total reps:
Max pull ups
Max dips

There is a wod similar to this, but I got the numbers mixed up.  I went with 5 rounds, the real one goes 7 rounds.  Ah well.  Still pretty tough.  Started out with 30 pull ups and 22 dips, then 13 pull ups and 12 dips, then 10 and 10, then another round of 10 and 10, then finally 8 and 8.  Finished with a total of 71 pull ups and 62 dips.

Second:
Abs.  Did Tabata intervals for hanging knees to chest, rested 1min, then Tabata intervals for scissors, rested another 1min, then Tabata seated V-ups.

Third:
Shoulders.  Started with seated dumbbell shoulder press with 50, 55, 60, then 45lbs.  Then did a recovery set of balance and agility drills.  Then standing shoulder shrugs with 115, 135, 160, then back down to 115lbs.  Another set of balance and agility drills.  And finally the lightweight shoulder range of motion wod with 10lbs dumbbells.

Fourth:
Wanted to run several quick 800s.  But I think because I wasn't feeling all that awesome and I hadn't eaten anything pre-workout, I just felt crappy.  Ended up running 2 x 800m at 5:46/mi pace with a 3:00 rest in between.

Wednesday

Worked the night before, got home, slept for 4 hours, then woke up and ate breakfast.  Wanted to still do a workout even though the gym was closed.  Headed to the Dam instead.

SealFit 130905
Run 4mi for time
*On every odd minute, do 5 squat jumps
*On every even minute, do 5 push ups

First time.  Guesstimated that it would take 5-10 seconds for every set of exercises, giving me about 50 seconds to run.  If I ran slow, that meant I would have to do more sets of exercises, so it would benefit me to push hard during the run and get it over with quicker.  Took off.  Had my watch set to beep at me every minute.  Got a few strange looks because even sprinting I would still only get maybe 200m before I had to stop again to do exercises.  Kept a running clock.  Finished in 30:35.  Kinda fun thinking that even though I stopped every minute (30 stops total), I still averaged 7:37/mi

Saturday

Got up at 0600 and met the trail running group at the Forest at 0700.  Pretty big group this morning, probably 20 or so people.

I decided to try sticking with the fast group as long as I could.  Went pretty well.  We all got held up around the 1/3 point by a big tree that had fallen across the trail.  Took a couple minutes to weave our way around the branches.  Stuck with the group until the halfway point when the two faster guys just took off.  The rest of us got strung out and I was basically running by myself for the rest of it.  Legs were still sore so the hills did not feel awesome.  Wasn't sure how well I'd do.  I forgot to eat anything before the run, and I forgot to bring my hydration belt.  Not exactly optimal preparation there.  But even with the 2min delay, which I kept my watch going, I still did a 1:10 flat.  Probably top 3 fastest time for me on that route.  Very happy with it.

Friday

Legs were still sore from Tuesday.  Tried to pick a wod that wouldn't involved them much.  As I worked the night before, this was one of those "4 hour of sleep" days.  Not a whole lot of fun.  Got to the gym around 2:45.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.  Foam rolling my legs hurt so bad it actually took my breath away.

First:
SealFit 130212
3 Rounds, for time:
Run 800m
50 x 4ct Flutter kicks
50 Supermans
50 Pull ups

First time.  No leg involvement thankfully.  Kept the runs at 6:42/mi pace.  Did every round of flutter kicks and supermans unbroken.  Supermans weren't all that hard, they are just a lower back exercise.  The three rounds of 50 pull ups sucked though.  First round I broke it into 25/10/5/5/5, then 15/10/5/5/5/5/5.  And when I got up to the bar to start the third and final round, a bunch of older guys were blocking it doing the usual bicep curl/tricep extension routine.  Ugh.  Probably delayed me a couple minutes before I broke the pull ups into 20/10/5/5/5/5.  Finished in 34:43.

Second:
Short on time so I just did one round of the runner's core wod, doing 1min per exercise.

Third:
Incline dumbbell bench press.  Started with 70, then 80, then 90.

Fourth:
Sally Up wod with push ups.  Not fun right after incline dumbbell bench.

Wednesday

Quick workout today since I was heading to work at 7.  Also didn't want to do anything too hard as my legs were killing me from yesterday's SealFit wod.  150 weighted squat jumps is rough.

Met up with Padawan Jody at the Lake Murray Dam parking lot.  He was just hoping to do a short run.  He hasn't run much in the last 6 months so he wants to slowly get back into it.  Since a short run isn't all that tough, I did a practice Army PFT with him.  Max reps of push ups in 2min, recovered for 2min, max reps of anchored sit ups in 2min, recovered for 5min, then started the run.  I stayed pace with him so we weren't moving all that quick.  Got to the turn around point for 1mi in somewhere around 9:00 I think but he asked to stop.  Said he was having pain in his back and chest.  So we recovered there for 5min or so then headed back.  He got probably 9/10 of the way back before he stopped to walk.  I encouraged him and he started back up and finished.

Tuesday

Woke up at noon and got to the gym about 2:45.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
SealFit 130204
For time, wearing a 20lbs vest:
Run 1mi
50 Chest to bar pull ups
100 Push ups
150 Squat jumps
Run 1mi

First time trying this.  Its another wod requiring me to wear my 20lbs weight vest.  Started by running an 8:00/mi.  Then did the pull ups, breaking them into 15/10/5/4/4/3/5/4.  Push ups weren't that bad.  Started with 20 then did 10/10/10/9/9/9/5/5/5/7.  Squat jumps were awful.  Broke them into sets of 20.  Legs were destroyed.  Stumbled up the stairs and ran an 8:30/mi.  Finished in 43:57.

Second:
Random abs.  Side bends, flutter kicks, scissors, seated V-ups, leg levers, and reverse crunches.

Third:
Padawan Jody showed up so we did shoulders together.  Started with standing military barbell press with 80, 90, 100, then 80.  Then over to shoulder shrugs with 115, 135, and 160.  Then the shoulder range of motion wod with 10lbs.

Fourth:
Wanted to do a little more running so he and I ran 4 x 400m on the treadmill.  I put my 20lbs vest back on for the intervals.  Ran the first at 8:00/mi pace, then 7:30/mi, then 7:05/mi, and finally 6:42/mi.  Quads were destroyed.

Monday

Didn't sleep very well but still got up at 0700 so that I could take the CPD "physical agility test" at 0900.  They had it on the top of the municipal parking garage that's next door to HQ.  Went pretty well.  Minimum finish time is 2:06 and I did a 1:24.  Its basically just a short obstacle course with a little bit of running, jumping some hurdles, climbing steps, climbing over a wall and through a window, and dragging a 150lbs sled.  Not hard.

Went home, had breakfast, then headed to the gym around 2.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching.

First:
SealFit 121211
For time:
Run 800m

10 Rounds:
20 Mountain climbers
10 Dips
10 Leg Levers

Run 800m

First time.  Went pretty well.  Ran both of the 800m intervals at 6:42/mi pace.  Did every round and set of mountain climbers, dips, and leg levers unbroken.  Took maybe 5sec rest in between each round but otherwise didn't rest.  Finished in 22:28.

Second:
Runner's core wod.  But I changed it a little.  Normally I do 45sec per exercise for 2 rounds.  This time I did 1min per exercise for the first round, then 45sec per exercise for the second round.

Third:
Flat dumbbell bench press.  Started with 80, then 90, then 100, then back down to 80.

Fourth:
Did the "Sally Up" wod for squats.

Sunday

Got off work at 0700, in bed by 0730.  Unfortunately had to wake up at 1200 to make sure I could eat breakfast and still get to the gym before they closed.  Wanted to do a relatively easy workout since I was scheduled to take the Columbia PD "physical agility test" the following morning.

Got to the gym around 2.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching.

First:
Run first, yay.  Ran 8 x 400m on the treadmill.  Started out with 2 intervals at 5:17/mi pace.  Then 4 intervals at 5:04/mi pace.  Then finished up with 2 intervals at 4:52/mi pace.  Felt great.  No weird pains or anything.  I recovered for 1:30 between intervals.

Second:
Pretty self explanatory workout I made up.

2min max rep push ups (82)
Rest 2min
2min max rep sit ups (92)
Rest 2min
2min max rep pull ups (33)
Rest 2min
2min max rep 2ct flutter kicks (117)
Rest 2min
2min max rep dips (40)

Thursday

Got up at 1200, left the house around 1420, got to the gym about 1430.

Started with a 5:00 warm up on the rower with 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching.

First:
SealFit 131203
6 Rounds, for time:
Run 400m
30 x 4ct Mountain climbers
20 Dips

First time.  Arms and chest were still really sore.  Made the dips pretty awful from start to finish.  Ran each 400m at 6:42/mi pace.  I did the first round of mountain climbers unbroken, but then had to split the rest of the rounds in half.  Same with the dips, first round unbroken but then split the rest in half.  Finished in 32:33.

Second:
Abs.  Did a set of 100 leg levers, 100 scissors, and 100 side bends.

Third:
Shoulders, which I knew would be fun with very sore arms and chest.  Started with dumbbell shoulder press with 50, 55, 60, then back down to 50.  Then did a recovery set of agility and balance drills.  Then dumbbell shrugs with 75, 85, 95, and then 75.  Another set recovery set of agility and balance drills.  And finally my shoulder range of motion wod with 10lbs.

Fourth:
Upstairs to the treadmill to run 2 x 400m.  Ran the first at 5:04/mi pace. Recovered for 1:30.  Then ran the second at 4:52/mi pace.  Then headed downstairs and did a max rep set of muscle ups.

Wednesday

Day off so that means gym time.  Figured out a better schedule for going to the gym on my days off.  Wake up at 1200, leave the house at 1345, get to the gym around 1400, work out until 1700 or so.  It does mean that first day sucks though, since I only get 4 hours of sleep.  Ah well.  Sleep is for the weak haha.

5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
SF 130313
AMRAP in 20min:
10 Pull ups
10 Burpees
10 Jump lunges per leg

First time.  Pull ups went well, did every set unbroken.  Took it a little easy on the burpees.  Still did every set unbroken but I wasn't cooking through them either.  And the jump lunges were tough but doable.  Finished with 8 full rounds completed plus 10 pull ups.

Second:
Runner's core wod.

Third:
Haven't done incline dumbbell bench press in a long time.  Unfortunately yesterday's wod pretty well destroyed my chest and arms, and the 80 burpees from earlier didn't help much either.  Did not go well in other words.  Started with 75, then 65, then 55, then 75.

Fourth:
Onto the treadmill. Ran 4 x 800m with a 3:00 recovery in between.  Ran the first half of each 800m at 6:00/mi pace, then bumped it to 5:30/mi pace for the second half.  The last interval I ran the first half at 6:00/mi pace then bumped it to 5:17/mi pace.

Tuesday

Worked the night before, and scheduled to work that night, so I wanted to get in a quick workout I could do at my house.

Stew Smith 130501:
10 Rounds, for time:
10 Push ups
10 Crunches
10 Wide push ups
10 Sit ups
10 Diamond push ups
20 x 2ct Flutter kicks

I've done this one a bunch, although not anytime recent.  It's from a special operations prep guide I got a year or two ago.  Pretty good variety.  Obviously very chest, tricep, and ab intensive.  Started to slow down at round 7 since I was having issues with the diamond push ups.  Finished in 17:11.

Then decided I'd start up a new quick wod, max reps of squats in 2 minutes.  Got 83.

Friday

I knew this was going to be a tough day.  Worked all night from 7pm to 7am.  Got home, changed into my rucking gear.  Headed to the forest.  Rucked the 6mi loop with my 50lbs pack and carrying my 10lbs "dummy rifle" in my hands.  Could definitely tell that being awake for 24+ hours at that point was slowing me down. Still finished strong in 1:37.

Wednesday

Since I work tonight I wanted to get something quick in that could be done at my house.  I haven't done a whole lot of ab stuff lately so I chose an ab WOD from a special operations fitness guide I got a while back.  Its pretty rough.

4 Rounds:
50 Sit ups
25 Left Crunches
25 Right Crunches
50 Flutter kicks
50 Leg Levers
20 Side Bends
30 Supermans

After each round I took a 2min recovery.  Sit ups, side crunches, flutter kicks, side bends, and supermans were all good.  Had to break the leg levers up though.  Did either 30/20 or 20/30, except for the last round when I did 30/5/6/9.

Finished with a set of 25 plyo push ups.

Tuesday

Another day I screwed up the timing on when to leave for the gym.  Need to work on this.

5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching.

First:
SealFit Pisa
6 Rounds, for time:
50m Bear crawl
20 Dips
20 Pull ups
20 Squat Jumps
Run 800m

First time.  Did the bear crawls in the large group fitness room upstairs.  Did the runs on the treadmill at 7:30/mi pace.  Got through 1 full round, and was into the second round when I moved to the pull up bar to find it completely blocked.  One bar was blocked by two old guys doing a million bicep curls on a cable machine.  The other pull up bar was blocked by a guy doing a million chest flies, bicep curls, and tricep extensions on the other cable machine.  I paced behind them for 5 minutes before the older guys finally moved off.  I don't mind getting delayed for a few seconds, but 5 minutes?  Nope.  Pressed the stop button on my timer, no point in keeping track of this anymore.  Finished the second round, then finished the third round and realized I wouldn't have time to do anything else if I continued.

Second:
Shoulders! Started with standing barbell military press with 80, 90, 100, then back down to 70.  Then did a recovery set of agility and lower leg drills.  Then randomly, a set of weighted sit ups with a 25lbs plate.  Then dumbbell shoulder shrugs with 70, 80, and 90lbs.  Then another recovery set of agility and lower leg drills.  And finally the shoulder range of motion wod.

Monday

Kinda screwed up the timing on this workout and got to the gym too late.

Because I was going to do a wod with rowing in it, I warmed up for 5:00 on an elliptical then did 10:00 of stretching.

First:

Crossfit 090805:

3 Rounds, for time:

Row 500m

21 Burpees

Run 400m

First time.  Burpees and rows were going to be rough.  Wanted to keep my rows under 2:00.  First was 1:50, second and third were around 1:55.  Split the burpees into 12/9, then 10/6/5, then 7/7/4/3.  Kept all of the runs at 6:42/mi pace.  Finished in 19:38.

Second:

Runner's core wod, and since I was running out of time, I did the usual 2 rounds of 45sec at each exercise, but without any rest.

Sunday

!Outdoor hard surface run report!

I know, probably not that big a deal to some people, but I've been nursing messed up shins for a long time now, so its a big deal to me.

Only had time for a quick workout so I decided I'd try out running on hard surfaces and headed out to the Lake Murray Dam.  It was 6pm, so already really dark outside.  Started on the Lexington side, which meant I had a headwind and constant blinding headlights for the first half.  Made sure to focus on the right form.  Short steps, landing lightly on my mid or forefoot.  First and second miles went well, I slowed slightly for the third mile, and then took off on the fourth.  Ran a faster 2nd half than the first half.  Finished in 27:08.   Not a PR for me or anything, although certainly quicker than most people.  No pain though so fingers crossed, we'll see how my shins do.

Friday

Wanted to do a quick wod before going in to work today.

First:
Crossfit 131128
AMRAP in 15min:
20 Push ups
50 Squats

First time.  Took maybe 5sec rest inbetween rounds.  Push ups were easy, did every set unbroken.  Squats were tough.  Started with 50, then it was 25/25, then 25/15/10/, then 20/15/15, and so on.  Finished with 7 full rounds completed plus 20 push ups and 26 squats from the eighth round.

Thursday

My trail running group suggested doing a trail run on Thanksgiving morning.  It was a night off for me, but I still try to keep at least a semi-night shift sleep cycle, so I stayed up to 0230 then fell asleep.  Got up at 0600 and got to the forest by 0700.

Smaller group, maybe 8 or so of us.  And it was freakin cold.  I think it was 25 when I left the house, and it was probably colder out in the woods.

We decided to run a little different route than the usual outer loop.  4 of us included the hardest section in the forest, which adds on about 3/4 mi.  Felt pretty good.  Finished maybe a couple minutes behind the three really fast guys, but in front of the rest of the group.  And considering I caught up and passed the rest of the group to finish in front of them, I was happy.  Totaled about 9mi and I did it in 1:13.

Wednesday

Day off, but with my friends in town I knew they would want to hang out in the evening.  Got up after 4 hours of sleep, did my usual breakfast routine then started getting my stuff ready for the gym.  Got to the gym early afternoon.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching.

First:

SealFit 292

For time:

Run 1mi

50 Pull ups

Run 1mi

100 Burpees

Run 1mi

150 Squats

Run 1mi

200 Sit ups

First time trying this.  This would be another of those "grinder" style wods, where there really isn't any strategy, and it just sucks from start to finish.  Started with a 7:00 mi, then broke the pull ups into 25/10/5/5/5.  Back up to the treadmill to run a 7:30 mi, then the awfulness started.  No easy way to do 100 burpees.  Tried keeping it to sets of 10 with maybe 20-30sec of rest inbetween.  It was pretty ugly.  Had to use the handrail to climb the stairs back to the treadmill.  Not a good mile, had to walk to start, I think it totaled something like 11:00, but I did make it progressively faster each eighth of a mile.  Squats next weren't bad.  Broke them into 50/50/25/25.  Usually the transition to running after squats is tough but it wasn't bad this time.  Ran an 8:30 mi but again, I got progressively faster each eighth of a mile.  Then sit ups, which I broke into 50/50/25/25/25/25.  Finished in 1:12:19.

Wanted to do more but I realized it was late and I wanted to get cleaned up to see my friends.

Saturday - Hairy Bison 30k

Hairy Bison 30k "race" report.

Got up early to do a 30km club run/race that was put on by my trail running group.  30km comes out to about 18mi.  Really all it would be is two laps of the regular 9mi trail that we run every Saturday.  The first lap would be in the regular direction, the second lap would be in the reverse direction.  The second lap was optional. but for each lap you did, you received a buffalo nickle at the halfway point.  After the race, there would be a drawing and how many tickets you got depended on how many laps you completed.  I don't normally (ever) run 18mi but what the hell, its free, and I would double my chances to get free crap in the drawing.

Probably 50-60 people showed up.  A lot of my Saturday morning trail group, a few guys from the road racing club, a few ladies from the Sunday trail group, among others.

I started out towards the front.  The super fast girl Anna was there, along with Hunter and Kyle, so I knew I wouldn't be anywhere near the fastest person there.  Wanted to take it conservative on the first lap, and then just struggle through the second.  Whelp.  Not so much.

First lap went great.  Paced along behind 3 of the road racers.  Got to the turn around point in 1:11.  Felt awesome.  The last couple miles I actually took it easy because I knew I'd have another lap to go.  I probably could have gone well under 1:10 if I had pushed it.  Made the turn and started back slowly.  Felt tough but doable.  Got maybe 2 miles into it and the body said "no more thank you."  Started with both calves seizing up, then both hamstrings, then hip flexors, then groin, and finally because why not, my arms seized.  Pretty much total body failure.  Had to jog/walk the remaining 7 miles.  Towards the end I could only run for maybe 10 seconds before having to walk for several minutes.  Second half ended up taking 1:52.  Ugh.

Afterwards, I won a nice bpa-free bottle and a second Conquest pint glass in the raffle drawing.  So I guess there's that.

After thinking about it, I probably didn't eat enough beforehand.  I only had my usual half a banana, which is fine for 9mi, not so much for 18.  Should have had a full banana and added peanut butter.

Friday

Normal gym day today.  Got there about 1350.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching.

First:
CrossFit Dobogai
7 rounds, for time:
8 Muscle ups
22yd Farmers carry holding 2 x 50lbs dumbbells

First time on this.  Obviously the muscle ups were going to be tough.  This is the most I've ever done in a single wod.  Did the first round unbroken, then 4/4, 4/4, 4/3/1, 4/3/1, 3/3/2, and 4/4.  The farmers carry was easy, but I think the point of it was to burn up your grip strength.  Started noticing both of my hands were hurting somewhere around round 4 and by the time the last round of muscle ups, I looked down and saw that a blood blister had opened up and I had bled all over the bar.  Crap, told the kid that was going back and forth with me to hold off on using it until I cleaned it, then finished the last round of farmers carry.  Finished in 17:25.

I've had my hands bleed before at the gym so I keep a roll of athletic tape in my bag.  I ghetto-bandaged them up before I went back out.

Second:
Runners core wod.  Plus hanging knees to chest and seated v-ups.

Third:
Shoulders, since I haven't done them in a couple weeks.  Started with standing military press with 80lbs, 90, 100, then back down to 70.  Then a round of agility and balance drills.  Then shoulder shrugs with 115lbs, 135lbs, 160lbs, and back down to 115lbs.  Another round of agility and balance drills.  Then finally the shoulder range of motion wod.

Fourth:
Wanted to get some fast sprints in.  Got on the treadmill and ran 2 x 400m at 5:17/mi pace.  Then 2 x 400m at 5:04/mi pace.  Then finally 2 x 400m at 4:52/mi pace.  And I rested for 1:30 between each interval.

Fifth:
Cleaned off the treadmill and headed downstairs to the pull up bar.  Did 5 strict pull ups, 5 pull ups with one hand switched to face me, then another 5 pull ups with the hands flip-flopped.

Wednesday

Day two of the 0500-1300 shift at work.  Got to the gym at 1415.

5:00 warm up on the rower at 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching.  No foam rolling today.

Padawan Josh met me at the gym so I did everything today with him.

First:
SealFit 131105
For time:
100 Strict pull ups holding 20lbs
*Every time you drop from the bar, run 400m

First time.  Pretty tough workout.  I wedged a 20lbs dumbbell between my feet for each set and then kicked it to the side, ran upstairs, ran a 400m, then came back down and repeated.  Wanted to average more than 10 per round, since I knew I didn't want to run ton of 400m repeats.  Kept the treadmill on a slower pace (8:00/mi pace) because I knew I needed the recovery time for my arms and shoulders.  Finished in 9 sets with a time of 30:22.

Second:
Abs, yay.  Padawan Josh randomly challenged the head female trainer to a front plank until you drop competition.  I didn't time it but I think I lasted 2 or more minutes, and by the way, I was doing it the hard way keeping my hands and arms apart.  Padawan Josh and the trainer started with their hands together, making it easier.  The trainer outlasted PJ by a little bit.  She said she usually does a 5:00 plank every day.  Ugh.  After that we did 2min max reps with scissors, reverse crunches, side bends, and leg levers.

Third:
Flat dumbbell bench press.  Started with 80lbs for 12 reps, then 80 again for 10, then again for 8.  Bumped up to 90lbs for 6, then again for 4.

Fourth:
Introduced PJ to the "bring sally up" workout with squats.  I got all the way through just doing body squats.  He started to fail about half way.

Fifth:
For reasons unknown, PJ wanted to do some push ups.  So we did two sets of 25, then a max rep set of hand release push ups.

Tuesday

Another screwy week since I'm in job training again from Monday through Thursday.  Thankfully the schedule called for Tuesday and Wednesday to be 0500 to 1300, so I had the afternoons off.  Took advantage and got to the gym a little later than usual around 1500.

Usual 5:00 warm up on the rower on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
SealFit 131115
AMRAP in 30min (As many rounds as possible in 30min)
Run 400m
30m Bear crawl
20 Sit ups
10 Dips

First time trying this.  I estimated a 15m stretch of floor for the down-and-back bear crawl.  Kept the treadmill at a constant 6:30/mi pace.  Did every round unbroken although the dips at the end started to get unpleasant.  Finished with 6 full rounds completed plus the 400m run and 30m bear crawl of the 7th round.

Second:
Some random ab stuff.  Flutter kicks, scissors, reverse crunches, crunches, leg levers.

Third:
Realized it was getting late and I'd have to get up early again so I headed upstairs to do one last 400m run (to make it an even 8x400 for the day).  Did it at 4:52/mi pace.  Then headed downstairs and did a max rep set of muscle ups.

Saturday

It was going to be tough but I wanted to get up early for my weekly group train run.  Woke up at 0600 and headed out to the forest.  Weird weather though.  All week it was very cold in the morning, usually mid 30s.  I wore shorts and a long sleeve and brought my hat.  Got out there at it was low 50s plus humidity.  I would have been fine in shorts and a tshirt.  Ah well.

Ran the regular outer loop, coming out to about 9mi.  Pretty big group, and we had the addition of 4 guys from the road running club.  They come out to the forest once in a while.

I started off in front with a couple of the older guys, but we were going really slow.  Maybe 5min into it, the 4 road runners pass us on a downhill and I decide that I'll try to stick with them as long as possible.  Stuck behind them for 10 minutes before 3 of the guys left me and another dude.  Then a few minutes after that, the other guy stopped to stretch and I kept on going.  Ran basically the latter 2/3 of the course by myself.  It was tough, but I finished in 1:11.

Recovered for a few minutes, then got my 20lbs vest and 50lbs pack on and did 2 rounds of 20 walking lunge steps followed by 20 calf raises.  Legs did not like.

Tuesday through Friday

I was in training from 0630 to 5 from Tuesday through Friday, so I didn't have any chance to get to the gym.  Instead, I'd get home, change, and do a quick workout in my garage or living room.  Just little stuff like push ups, plyo push ups, squats, calf raises, dips, ring dips, pull ups, ring pull ups, and various ab stuff.  A couple of the days I did everything wearing either my 10lbs plate carrier or my 20lbs vest.

Monday

Little bit of a screwy week coming up.  I have orientation/training for this new temporary job starting on Tuesday.  Its 0830 to 4 or so, so I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to get gyming in this week.  Decided that since today is Veterans Day, I should do the Murph wod wearing my 20lbs vest.

Got the gym around 1:45 or so.

The freaking rower was broken, and someone was on the elliptical I like, so I just ran an 800m to warm up, then stretched and foam rolled for 10:00.

First:
Crossfit Murph
For time:
Run 1mi
Then, in an order or partition:
100 Pull ups
200 Push ups
300 Squats
Then,
Run 1mi

I've done this one...many...many times.  This was the first Crossfit wod I learned.  Its by far the hardest because it involves running with a ton of exercises.  And oh by the way, its made more fun wearing a 20lbs vest.  Decided I had to use to gym, rather than an outdoor track, just to save driving time.  Strapped on the vest, got on the treadmill, and started the timer.  Started with an 8:00 mile then headed downstairs to the pull up bar.  As I always do, I broke the exercises into 20 rounds of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 15 squats.  Each set of exercises takes roughly 40-45 seconds.  I knew that it helps in the long run to take a short break after each set of exercises, so I would rest for 10-15 seconds and then press the lap timer.  I'd do a couple rounds totaling 60sec, then do one round with a little longer break, totaling 65-70sec.  Got through 15 rounds and then just sucked it up and did 50-60sec per round for the remaining 5 rounds.  Scooted back upstairs to the treadmill, started it at a slow pace, but I saw my timer was at 30:00 and I wanted to finish under 40:00.  Kept increasing the speed every few hundred meters until I was running about a 7:00/mi pace for the last 400m.  Finished in 39:25 which was a huge improvement over my former PR of 47:59.

Second:
Haha not a chance.  I changed and went home.

Saturday

Got up early to do my weekly long trail run.  Quads were a little sore from yesterday's thrusters.  Otherwise everything felt alright.

Got up at 0605, left the house at 0640 and got to the forest at 0650.  It was mid 30s.  I decided to wear both sets of calf sleeves, shorts, a tshirt, a long sleeve tshirt, gloves, hat, my hydration belt and my Peregrines (obviously).

This is a pretty busy race weekend so I wasn't expecting many other people out there.  The Savannah Marathon is today, Governor's Cup half-marathon was downtown, and a few people were still recovering from hard races the previous weekend.  Ended up being three soccer moms, a few of the older guys, and myself.  In other words, not going to be a record setting lap time more than likely.

Stayed at the front of the group with a couple of the older guys up until the halfway point when the series of 3 big hills starts.  Then they slowed down and I decided I'd try to run a faster second half than the first half.  Took off.  Ran the first half in roughly 41min, ran the second half in roughly 35.5min.  Not too bad.  Finished in 1:16:32.  Not a great time, pretty average actually.  But it was good to do a negative split.

Then a couple minutes after finishing, I put on my 20lbs weighted vest and my 50lbs pack and did 2 sets 20 walking lunge steps and 2 sets of 20 calf raises.  Legs are done for the day.  I'll probably do some push ups, pull ups, and dips through out the rest of the afternoon.

Friday

Shoulders were a little sore from yesterday, otherwise felt alright.

Got to the gym a bit late.  The temporary job I'm about to start needed me to come in again to sign more paperwork.  Ended up getting to the gym at 230.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching.  No foam rolling.

First:
Crossfit Unknown 001
20 x 95lbs Thruster
5 Muscle Ups
15 x 95lbs Thruster
4 Muscle Ups
10 x 95lbs Thruster
3 Muscle Ups
5 x 95lbs Thruster
2 Muscle Ups

First time trying this.  Padawan Jody was there so he did the thrusters with me, but left out the muscle ups.  This is a very tough combo.  Broke the thrusters into 15/5, then 7/6/2, then 5/5, then 5.  I did the first set of muscle ups unbroken, then had to split the next group into 4/1, but I think that was just because I was losing my grip.  I did the next two rounds unbroken.  Finished in 7:20.

Second:
Runner's core wod.  Padawan Jody did not like the planks.

Third:
Incline dumbbell bench press.  Started with 75, felt good, then 85, felt good, then tried 95 and couldn't get it off my chest haha.  Dropped to 90, couldn't get it off my chest either.  Dropped to 75 and finished.

Fourth:
Wanted to do an interval workout.  Got onto the treadmill and ran 3x400m at 5:17/mi pace, then 2x400m at 5:04/mi pace, then decided to see if the machine went higher.  Planned on running 400m, started at 4:46/mi for the first 200m, then bumped it up to 4:30/mi for the last 200m.  Not sure if the machine goes any higher.  Have to try that out another day.

Thursday

Everything felt pretty normal after yesterday's ruck march.  I thought the blister on my left foot might be making a come back but it was fine.

Got to the gym at 1:45ish.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:

SealFit 131030

50-40-30-20-10 reps of:

Burpees

4ct Mountain climbers

Sit ups

*Run 400m after each triplet

First time.  Knew this was going to be tough with that many burpees straight into 4ct mountain climbers.  Bleh.  Burpees hurt a lot, which made the mountain climbers bad.  I think I broke the burpees up into 20/10/5/5/5/5, 15/8/10/8, 10/8/7/5, 8/7/5, and then 5/5.  4ct Mountain climbers I broke into sets of 20 after doing a max rep set to start, so they went something like 60/20/20, 20/20/20/20, 20/20/20, 20/20, 20.  Sit ups I split in half, so there were 25/25, 20/20, 15/15, 20, and 10.  Kept a good pace for each of the five 400m runs.  I kept it on 6:42/mi pace for all five reps, felt pretty decent.  No pain in the legs, and at that pace I was able to catch my breathe from the burpees and mountain climbers.  Finished in 43:52.

Second:

Did some minor ab stuff.  Tried a substitute for "glute-ham developer" sit ups.  My gym doesn't have a GHD machine, so I tried doing a similar motion with the back hyperextension machine.  Don't think its really the same.  Also did some scissors and reverse crunches.

Third:

Shoulder stuff.  Started with standing barbell military press with 80lbs, then 90, 100, 110, then back down to 70.  It gives me a chance to practice power cleaning a barbell from the ground to shoulder.  I think I'm doing it right...maybe?  Next up I did a recovery set of balance and agility drills.  Then shoulder shrugs with 115lbs, 135, 160, then back down to 115lbs.  Started to feel like crap though.  Not sure if it was still the SealFit wod from earlier, or if maybe the flu shot was doing something, but I decided to just say screw it and head out.  I had debated doing a couple more 400s but decided 5 was good for one day.

Wednesday

Everything felt pretty decent this morning.  Thought my legs would have been sore from the 300 squats but they were good.

Got my flu shot finally.  It pretty well wrecked me last year, so I was expecting more of the same this time around.  Went back to my house, changed into my rucking gear, and headed out to the forest.

Ruck marched the 6mi loop in reverse carrying my pack and my faux-rifle.  It was tough, but I don't think it had anything to do with the flu shot.  Finished in 1:37.

When I got back to my house, I weighed myself with my pack and faux-rifle to see what they were.  Pack is 48.2 lbs, and my faux-rifle is 10.2 lbs.  That 10.2 lbs doesn't sound all that heavy, but after holding onto it for a friggin hour and a half, it gets so annoying.

Tuesday

Lower legs were still feeling a little sore this morning, so it will be another day of not-running.

Got to the gym around 1.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
Unknown 042
3 Rounds, for time:
100 Squats
20 Ring push ups
12 Pull ups

First time.  Brought my gymnastics rings and hung them up on the Smith Machine bar, then extended the straps so that the bottom of the rings were a couple inches off the floor.  I knew doing 300 squats in sets of 100 would be the tough part.  Started off breaking it into 60/20/10/10, then 30/25/20/10/10/5, then 25/25/15/15/15/5.  The ring push ups were interesting.  I haven't ever done ring push ups before.  I could do all 20 unbroken, but I could definitely tell they were harder than regular push ups.  A lot more core and stability in them.  And the pull ups were easy.  I did all of them strict and unbroken.  Only delay I had was in the third set after the push ups, the pull up bars were blocked so I had to wait 10-15 seconds.  Finished in 13:16.

Second:
Runner's core wod.

Third:
Weighted pull up and dip ladder.  Wanted to find my 2 rep max.  Started with pull ups and 10lbs.  Then 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and finally got 90.  Grip was starting to give out.  I probably would have been able to do more but I was using dumbbells and pinching them between my feet.  Then got the weight belt out and started on dips.  Same thing, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and finally 90.  Not sure if I could have done more, my triceps and shoulders were torched.

Fourth:
20min on the Stairmaster, level 8.  Not all that difficult but it got my heard going anyways.

Monday

Calves and shins were still pretty sore from Saturday.  Quads and butt were fine.  The small blister on the ball of my left foot that I got from rucking marching last week, which then got bigger from the race, is going away.

Padawan Josh asked me to work out with him today, but said that he would need to finish by 2pm.  I moved my schedule forward so we could get workouts in together.  Got to the gym about 1230.

Wanted to do my rowing warm up but there was someone on it, so I had to do 5:00 on the elliptical, then followed it up with 10:00 of stretching.  Didn't get a chance to foam roll.

First:

SealFit 120522

For time:

100 x 4ct Mountain climbers

100 Pull ups

100 Squats

100 x 4ct Flutter kicks

100 Push ups

First time.  This is what they call a "grinder" wod.  You go in order completing all the reps in each exercise before going to the next.  There isn't really any strategy.  It takes a while.  And you feel awful by the end of each.  Mountain climbers were tough, I think I did 60/40/20/20 then lots of sets of 10.  Pull ups were more like 20/15/10/10 then lots of sets of 5.  Squats I broke into sets of 20. For flutter kicks I did 50/40/20/20/20/20 then sets of 10.  Push ups were awful, started with 35/15/10/10 then finished with sets of 5.  Finished in 24:06.

Second:

Did some light ab stuff.  Max rounds of 5 scissors and 5 reverse crunches, recovered, then max rounds of 5 leg levers and 5 seated V-ups.  Then did a max rep set of anchored sit ups.

Third:

Padawan Josh wanted to do some flat bench press with a barbell so we headed over there.  Started with about 80% of our max (185lbs) for a couple sets, then dropped down to 135lbs.

Fourth:

Headed upstairs to the rower.  Padawan Josh did a semi cool down 500m, picking it up in the last 100m to finish around 2:06.  I did a 500m sprint.  First 250m were good but then the wheels came off.  Finished in 1:37.

Fifth:

Padawan Josh headed out.  I changed into my swimsuit and got into the pool.  Stretched, then got in the hot tub for 5:00, got out, did a max rep set of push ups, got back in the hot tub for another 5:00, got back out, another set of max rep push ups.  Dried off, and left.

Saturday - Paris Mountain 16k trail race

Ran the Paris Mountain 16k trail race Saturday morning.  16km comes out to a little under 10mi.  But I knew in advance that it would not be comparable to the Army 10Miler I did a couple weeks ago.  This is a very difficult series of trails at a park just outside of Greenville, SC.  I've run it before, back in 2011.  It was my first ever trail race, and oh man it did not go well.  I was still very new to trail running and unfamiliar with the difficulty of the trails I would be facing.  Not so much this year.  I knew what I was getting into, and I've run on trails at least once nearly every week for 2-3 years.

This time around, I added in some Stairmaster workouts, a lot of plyometric exercises (box jumps, jump squats, and jump lunges), and intervals of running hills combined with other exercises.  Everything felt good.  I saw how easy the Army 10Miler was a couple weeks prior so I knew I had the endurance.  But endurance on the road is different from endurance on trails climbing a mountain.

Got over to the park at 0730.  Got my packet, warmed up, got my gear and apparel all set then made my way down to the starting area.  It was low 50s with a fair bit of humidity, but with the promise of a sunny day, so I opted for less clothing rather than more.  Wore both sets of calf sleeves, thin socks, my Peregrines, shorts, a singlet, a hat, and my hydration belt with a single bottle of watered down Powerade Zero.

The start of the race is in a small parking lot towards from the front of the park.

Mile 1 - Starting in the parking lot, it goes 600m down the paved park road before turning off onto the trails, where you stay until the finish.  At the start line, I got to the front and stayed with the front pack down the road before turning onto the trails.  Once onto the trails, its single file.

Mile 2 - Started to get strung out here.  The lead group took off so it was just two guys directly in front of me, and who knows what behind me.  The downside to trail running is you can't turn around to see who is behind you because you will almost definitely face plant.  The two guys in front of me looked like they were friends.  Both in pretty decent shape.  The guy directly in front had the Ironman logo tattooed on his leg so I was determined to not let him leave me.  There was a small section of maybe 20m where the trail widened and a few people passed us but I wasn't worried about that.

Mile 3 - Oh yes, the worst part of the course.  Nearly impossible to run.  The trail follows a stream. Unfortunately you are going up stream.  Lots of sections of slick boulders and logs that you have to climb up, sometimes using nearby trees or branches for help.  Lots of steps.  Like, a lot of steps.  My mile time plummeted.  We would run up to a climb, get up it, run 5m to the next climb, get up that, repeat, for a mile.  Couple people passed here and there, but for the most part it was very single track.  Towards the end of the climb, the Ironman tattoo guy stepped aside for me to pass.  His buddy took off.  Another guy passed me, but then couldn't hold the pace and I was on his backside before he stepped out of the way.  The trail weaves away from the stream, widens, and then does a few switchbacks going up the mountain.  A taller guy (with a headband) who looked in good shape passed me but not all that quickly, so I decided I'd try to stick with him.  I couldn't hear anyone else, and since the trail was wide and open, I took a peak behind and didn't see anyone for a little ways.

Mile 4-5 - Stuck with the Headband Guy to the top of the mountain and then for the very fun and very fast downhill.  2 miles of long swooping downhill switchbacks.  Headband Guy and I were cooking.  I let him stay maybe 5-10m in front of me in case he fell so I didn't just plow him over.  We got to the bottom where it curves around this big reservoir.  Started to hear footsteps and heavy breathing behind me and then bam, this tall lanky old guy passes Headband Guy and I like we're stopped.  He gets maybe 20-30m in front of us and then stays there.  Whatever, we keep chugging along.

Mile 6-7 - Knew this was coming, the second series of steep inclines.  For the next two miles, it was basically steep .5mi climb, then it would fool you with what appeared to be the "top of the mountain," you make a turn, and then have another .5mi climb.  I think I counted four .5mi climbs.  The trail was a little wider than single track.  We would randomly pass people going in the other direction.  Headband Guy and I stuck together and actually chatted a bit.

Mile 8 - Got to the top of that series of climbs and then headed back down.  Not as long a decline as before but still quick.  Headed through a water stop where the lanky old guy was standing there drinking.  Headband Guy and I kept going (we both had hydration belts) and I figured we'd never see the lanky guy again.  Nope.  There was a short incline after the water stop, and then a series of steep decline switchbacks.  We were cooking, and almost to the bottom when lanky guy passes us again.  What the hell.

Mile 9 - I'm starting to be annoyed by tall lanky old guy.  I don't like playing leapfrog during a race.  Headband Guy and I keep within 50m or so of lanky guy on a series of small incline and declines. I can tell that Headband Guy is starting to fade though while I'm starting to pick it up.

Last .9mi - I decide I've had enough of lanky guy.  I tell Headbang Guy I'm going to catch up to the lanky guy, he steps out of the way and I'm off like a rocket.  Within a few minutes, I catch up to lanky guy.  Wait a few seconds for a good section then pass him like he passed us earlier.  Immediately pass another guy.  And then I put the hammer down.  I have strong legs, the end of a race is where I like to show them off.  I leave the lanky guy and start catching up and passing other people.  Trail starts to look familiar and I can hear cheering.  Sprint to the finish line and cross in 1:26:59.

Its about 1min slower than my first try at this race, but the race is also 1km longer.  I think I did much better.  My first try I had to walk a lot during the steps/boulders section, and then I tripped and fell during the series of .5mi inclines and had to walk for a few minutes.  This second try, I only walked a little bit during the steps/boulders section.  And I didn't walk for the rest of the race.  Very happy with the result.  And very happy that I could catch up and pass so many people in the last 1.5mi of a tough race.  Have to love strong legs.

Friday

Wanted to get in a quick workout since I would be driving to Greenville in preparation for the Paris Mountain 16k trail race on Saturday.  Got up early and did the Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC) "Short Card" WOD.

Its a timed workout. 4 rounds as quick as you can.  Each round starts with push ups, then a leg exercise, a core exercise, then burpees, then a stretch to catch your breath.

30 Push ups

30 Squats

30 Crunches

10 Burpees

10 Windmills

30 Push ups

30 2ct Mountain climbers

30 2ct Flutter kicks

10 Burpees

10 4ct Cherry pickers

30 Push ups

30 Squat jumps

30 Supermans

10 Burpees

10 Chain breakers

30 Push ups

30 Walking lunge steps

30 Scissors

10 Burpees

10 Trunk Twists

Then 3 sets of max rep strict pull ups.

Finished in a PR time of 14:14.

Thursday

Upper body was definitely sore from yesterday's ruck march.  Also, I have a small blister on the ball of my left foot, and a small abrasion on top of a toe on my right foot.  Hopefully those will be gone by Saturday.

Got to the gym around 1:45.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
Unknown 063
2 Rounds:
2min max rep push ups
2min max rep sit ups
2min max rep 2ct flutterkicks
2min max rep squats

First time trying this one.  Thought it would be a little easier on my legs, since I want them to be fresh for Saturday's race.  Pretty simple.  Just went max effort for 2min.  I did 85/70 for push ups, 96/75 for sit ups, 110/104 for flutterkicks, and 76/76 for squats.

Second:
Did a few sets of random ab stuff.  Reverse crunches, leg levers, side bends, and scissors.

Third:
Weighted exercises.  Pull ups first. Did 5 rounds of 5 reps holding a 50lbs dumbbell between my ankles.  Then went to the dip bar, same thing, 5 rounds of 5 reps with 50lbs of plates hanging from my waist.

Fourth:
I did one round of the runner's core workout.

Fifth:
Still wanted a little run, preferably with some speed.  So I headed upstairs to the treadmill.  Ran 2x400m averaging 5:17/mi pace, then another 2x400m averaging 5:04/mi pace.  Rested for 1:30 between intervals.

Wednesday

Upper body was pretty sore waking up this morning.  Shoulders and back were definitely worked yesterday.

Ran a few errands in the morning.  Turned in two job applications to law enforcement agencies.  We'll see if anything comes from those.

Decided I still wanted to get a work out in, and since I haven't done one in a while, I decided on rucking marching.  Headed out to the forest around 2pm.

Did around 6mi on trails with a 45lbs pack and while carrying my 10lbs "faux rifle."  Finished it in 1:36:13.

Everything felt fine, buuut, around mile 4 I noticed I was feeling the formation of a blister on the ball of my left foot, and the abrasion on top of my right toes.  Got home.  Bottom of the left foot looks ok, hopefully it was just sore and it will be fine in a day or so.  The top of one of my toes on the right foot was a little abraded, I think it will be ok.  Fingers crossed everything is good by Saturday morning.

Tuesday

Quads and upper body was a little sore from the previous day.  Specifically, lower back.  I don't think it enjoyed those last couple reps of 135lbs thrusters.

Got to the gym at the usual time, somewhere around 1:45ish.

Because I would be rowing for a workout today, I warmed up with 5:00 on the elliptical before 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
CrossFit 131023
AMRAP in 15min:
Row 250 (10/10 resistance)
25 Push ups

First time trying this, although I've done one with the same exercises but as many rounds in 20min instead of 15.  Still pretty tough.  One of those rowing wods where I nearly fall off the machine at the end.  I don't know if this screwed me, but I tried to set a PR for 250m in the first round.  I think it made the rest of the rows uncomfortable.  Averaged 50-55 seconds for each row, not sure how much for each set of push ups.  I did the first 4 sets of push ups unbroken, but then had to start breaking them into 12/6/4/3.  Finished with 7 full rounds completed, and I had finished the 250m row and I was 13 push ups into the 8th round.

Second:
Runner's core wod.  Core muscles were still feeling it from yesterday and the rowing earlier, so this was not as fun.

Third:
Shoulders.  Started with standing barbell military press, then a recovery set of agility and balance drills, then a max rep set of crunches and seated V-ups.  Then back to shoulders with shrugs, followed by another recovery set of agility and balance drills, and a max rep set of flutter kicks and scissors with a 45lbs plate on my chest.  Then finished up with the shoulder range of motion wod.

Fourth:
Changed into my VFF and headed out to the soccer fields.  Ran 4 barefoot laps around the field at about 6:45/mi pace, totaling about 1.5mi.  Then did my form drills back and forth across a 30m field.

Virginia Trip Pt 2 - GoRuck Nasty Obstacle Course

Here's my AAR for the GoRuck Nasty 001 obstacle course race on 21 Sept 2013.

Nasty is a 5-6mi race with 20-25 obstacles along the way.  It was held at the Massanutten ski resort in the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia.  The obstacles are based on designs from the Special Forces Obstacle Course at Ft Bragg and the BUDS Obstacle Course at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado.  The course was planned, organized, run, and monitored by former and active duty military special operations soldiers.  Most from Army Special Forces but a few others from Marine Force Recon/MARSOC and one or two from the Naval Special Warfare community.  Roughly 3000 people registered.  They were broken into starting waves that began at 0700 and went until 2pm, every 10min or so.  My brother and I were in the 1020 wave.

My dad drove us to the race.  It was definitely in the mountains, my ears popped several times just in the car.  Parked, checked in and picked up our packets.  Like I said, the course is on a ski resort.  Its designed so that the staging area was the large open area at the base of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd slopes.  The 4th and 5th slope and the chair lift slope were a short walk away.

For apparel, I wore a black synthetic running shirt, compression undershorts, a pair of old soccer shorts, thin toe-socks, a pair of thin calf socks over those, both my red and black pairs of calf sleeves, and my new Peregrine trail shoes.  When we check in, they told us that gloves are highly recommended.  Thanks for the heads up GoRuck!

I should also say, the map above is a little distorted.  First, its upside-down, North is down in the map.  Second, the obstacles aren't in order.  Third, there are obstacles on there that don't exist.

Here is more accurate map using Google Pedometer.  The green dot in the upper right is the start, the red dot in the middle is the finish.  The numbers are mile markers.  The yellow dots are actual obstacles.  I didn't add yellow dots for the obstacles that were just climbing a hill.

Kirt and I got in line and started a little early with the 1000 wave, oops.  There were maybe 15-20 other people ranging from younger to older, men and women.  We had a group of 10 or so guys wearing the same t-shirt and pants who we found out were from a local SWAT team.

Started up the first slope.  First obstacle was a 10-15m low crawl underneath a grid of boards.  Jogged a short distance and got in line for a 15ft cargo net climb.  Waited maybe a couple min before we could get on it.  I had a little trouble getting a good grip to roll over the top but other than that it wasn't a big deal.  After another short distance were a couple 8ft walls you had to climb over.  They had a small ledge in it for people to use but it was quicker for Kirt and I to just muscle-up over them.  At the top of the slope was a rope swing.  You had to jump up and grab onto the rope, swing across a 10ft space, and land on a waist high ledge on your feet.  Pretty easy as long as you grabbed high up the rope.  Jogged halfway down the slope and another wall, this time maybe chest high.  Pretty easy to jump and push up and over it.

At the base of the hill, we made the turn and started up the second slope.  The first obstacle was just a large mound of dirt to run up and over.  Then it was supposed to be one of the harder obstacles called The Dirty Name.  Its three horizontal logs, one at knee height, the next at head height, and the last above finger tip height.  There is maybe 2-3 feet separating each.  You're supposed to jump from one to the next.  Minutes before we got to it, someone had fallen off the highest log, landed on his wrist, bone popped out, and then he was knocked unconscious after hitting his head on a sandbag.  They closed the obstacle for the rest of the day.  Ran around it and then had another couple walls that were 8ft tall to climb over.  I think there was another obstacle after that before we turned around at the top of the hill but I can't remember it.  Then running back down the hill, there was a 25m stretch of mud to run through, with one of the instructors spraying everyone with a cold fire hose.  Made the turn at the bottom of the hill and started the third slope.

The third slope started with a smaller version of the Dirty Name.  Thankfully there wasn't a line for this one.  It only had two logs, one at waist height and one a little above head height.  Seemed a bit safer and more manageable so I gave it a try.  Stood on the lower log and jumped to the higher, but landed too high on my chest, so even with my arms grabbing on top, there wouldn't have been any way to pull myself up.  Didn't help that both logs were slick from water and mud.  Dropped off onto my feet.  Tried again but with a bigger jump trying to land more on my stomach.  Ow.  Landed on my stomach with my arms over the log.  Had to kip a little before I could get on top and then roll over and drop off the other side.  Did not feel awesome landing on a log on my midsection twice.  Ran a short distance up the hill to get into a big line for a 50m underground tunnel crawl.  It was looking like a 30-45min wait, so we opted to bear crawl 50m instead of waiting.  Another short run, then we immediately started another tunnel crawl, but in a tunnel big enough to bear crawl through.  Much longer though, probably more than 75m long.  A little weird being in total darkness but you just keep moving and eventually you crawl out of it.  Another short run, then back in line for the monkey bars obstacle.  Waited maybe 20min before we got to try it.  It was a 15m stretch of monkey bars with a foot or two of water underneath.  You had to jump 3-4ft across the water to get to the first bar, so people were having issues with that.  Kirt and I made it look easy though.  All the way across with no problems, and pretty quickly too.

Short jog around the first water station and then the start of the fourth hill.  Maybe 200m up the hill we got into a huge line, long enough where we couldn't really see what the obstacle was.  Waited probably 50min before we got to the front.  It was two pyramids of logs, each maybe 6ft high, and maybe 15m from each other.  There was a thick rope tied around the top of each log.  The idea being that you climb up the pyramid, climb onto the rope, pull yourself across the rope to the other pyramid, climb onto the pyramid and jump off.  Except that in practice, they were letting 4 or 5 people on the same rope, and there wasn't enough tension in it, so you would get to the middle and literally be crawling on the ground.  Kirt got all the way across but when he transitioned off the rope and onto the log, the rope shook and I dropped off 6in onto the ground.  So basically a 50min wait to fall off a rope after 30 seconds.  Back to tackling the slope.  No running up this one, very long and pretty steep.  Calves started to feel it.  Finally got to the top, quick water station and then an obstacle.  Quick line, maybe 1 or 2min.  The obstacle was a series of five letter "X's" made of 4x4 beams.  You had to get over them by jumping and pulling yourself up.  A little awkward but not all that hard.  It was at the top of the hill, so we made the turn and jogged down the next slope.

Jogging down a very steep slope is very hard by the way.  Very taxing on your quads and because it wasn't designed to be run on bare, there were lots of rocks and holes, so we were constantly bouncing.  Really think my trail running background helped here as I didn't have any issues.  Made it down the slope, then turned left through a treeline and yay, another gigantic hill to climb.  This one nearly as long and just as steep as the previous.  Got to the top of it and found another obstacle.  This one had the biggest line yet though.  The obstacle started with a 15-20ft rope climb, you then had to transition from the rope to the horizontal log that the rope was tied to, from there you had to scoot onto and down another log that was attached perpendicular and running at a slight down angle, from there you then had to climb onto a horizontal metal ladder running at a slight down angle, and then jump down maybe 10 feet onto a padded mat.  Couple things.  They only had two safety mats, one near the ropes at the beginning, and the other at the end.  Neither of which would really help any if you fell from the highest and most dangerous points on the obstacle.  I got in line and Kirt walked to the front to check it out up close.  When he came back, he said we were looking at a 1.5 to 2 hour wait.  The guys just getting to the obstacle had started in the 0830 wave.  Nope, not going to wait 2 hours.  We heard randomly from someone that it was a 50 burpee penalty to skip it, fine, I'll do 50 burpees for not waiting 2 hours.  Also noticed Dad was there, he had taken a couple ski lifts up and saw us.  We did the burpees, said hey to Dad then made the turn and headed back down the slope.

We jogged down the slope, and got maybe 3/4 of the way down before we got to another obstacle.  This would be awful.  Probably 100m of low crawling underneath barbed wire, on gravel/dirt, on a steep downhill.  It was agonizing.  I was mainly using legs, so my legs were torched.  Kirt mainly used arms, so his upper body was smoked.  He tore his shirt, I nearly tore my race bib off my shorts.  Arms and legs scraped up.  We were slowed down when a girl in front of us got her hair caught in the wire.  Luckily one of her friends we nearby, crawled over and helped get it untangled.  Did not look fun.  I had a couple barbs poke into my head and back but otherwise I was fine.  Crawled out, jogged maybe 50m down the hill and around the corner to the base of the final slope, which followed underneath a chair lift.

At the base of this last hill, there was an instructor standing there in front of 2 large peg-boards with a bunch of small American flags sticking out.  He called a big group of us together and gave us a speech about how this next hill was the "Memorial Climb" and how we were supposed to each carry one of the flags from the bottom to the top and think about the men and women who have been KIA in OEF/OIF.  He brought up that only a few weeks before, a Green Beret that several of the GoRuck instructors knew had been killed in Afghanistan.  So we all grabbed a flag and headed up.  It was the steepest hill of the course.  Even though it was maybe only 800m long, it felt much longer.  Kirt and I set a good pace, we'd pause for a quick breather every 50m or so.  The incline was steep enough that if I stopped moving, I would start to slide back down the hill (this is with new aggressive trail running shoes on, which don't ever slide).  We got maybe 3/4 of the way up when we got to a cluster of people.  Going around them we noticed they were grouped around a guy who was probably over 60 years old and a good 100lbs overweight, sitting down looking like he was about to have a heart attack.  Got to the top of the hill, placed the flags we were carrying into another peg-board, then had another instructor call us together.  He said the next "obstacle" was the "Mogadishu Mile."  We were supposed to stick together as a team and head down the gravel road.  The name comes from the last part of the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in Oct 1993.  Two Blackhawk helicopters were shot down during an operation to extract several high ranking Somali warlords.  A group of Rangers and Delta operators that went to secure one of the crash sites then had to run a mile through Mogadishu carrying their wounded and dead teammates all while being engaged by the thousands of militia in the city.  GoRuck's version of this was for us to walk down a gravel road for a mile.  Yep.  That was it.

Got to the bottom of the gravel road, which wound its way down the mountain, and found another obstacle.  This was a balance beam obstacle.  It had maybe a 30min line which didn't seem so bad after seeing a close to 2hr line earlier.  While waiting in line, one of the GoRuck instructors was walking up and down the line and mentioned to us that obstacles in Nasty were harder than what he had to do in the Nasty Nick course at Ft Bragg.  Hm, good to know.  So we get up to the front.  The obstacle is getting across 3 telephone pole logs.  Each log has a slight up-angle, so you get progressively higher off the ground.  You start maybe a foot off the ground and finish 6 feet off the ground.  Not high, but if you have crappy balance this will screw with you.  The logs were not secured in place, so there was a system of people wedging the logs in place so they wouldn't rock while someone walked across them.  Kirt and I got across then jogged 200m to the next obstacle.

Next obstacle was a couple of high walls that you had to climb over.  These were at an angle coming at you, so it made it tough for some people.  But Kirt and I didn't have any issue just doing a muscle up over them.  Maybe a 100m jog to the next obstacle.

Next obstacle was The Weaver.  This was a series of horizontal 4x4 posts creating a pyramid, starting waist height and going up to probably 20ft off the ground.  The object is to go over the first post, then under the next, then over, under, and so on.  I got up the pyramid, got to the top, then realized I had no earthly idea how you safely do over/under doing down the slope.  I decided I did not want to learn on the fly and possibly drop 20ft onto dirt so I just scooted down the top on my butt and jumped off.  Another 100m job to the next obstacle.

This was the Confidence Climb.  Probably 30-40 feet straight up a wooden ladder, go over the top, then come back down.  Oh by the way, it had been raining for the last hour, so everything was wet.   And it had a 15-20min line.  Kirt and I decided to skip this one.

Then the last obstacle.  This had probably a 45min-1hr line.  You started by climbing a 15ft rope.  Then transition to a platform.  Then walk across horizontal 4x4 beams spaced 2ft apart (with no safety net underneath, just a long drop).  After 10m of that, you climb a wooden ladder another 15ft, climb over the top, then climb onto a cargo net and descend to the bottom.  Kirt and I skipped this one too.  And then you had maybe a 600-800m run to the finish line.  The End.

Problems I had with the race:
-The massive lines.
-They made their obstacles harder than the original obstacles they were based on.
-The order of the obstacles was terrible.  Lets have 3 of the hardest obstacles all in a row at the very end! Great idea!
-Little to no considerations for safety.

Monday

Woke up feeling pretty decent this morning.

Left the house a little early so that I could swing by a bank and have a notary public sign off on some forms for job applications.  Had to wait a little bit but got everything signed.  Got to the gym about 1:15.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
CrossFit 130415
15-12-9 reps:
135lbs Thruster
45lbs Weighted Pull Up

First time on this.  It was very difficult.  Crossfit normally does thrusters with 45-95lbs, so jumping to 135lbs was not a whole lot of fun.  Started with 5/4/3/2/1 on the thrusters, did 5/4/4/2 on the pull ups.  Second set was a disaster.  4/3/2/2/1 on the thrusters, 4/4/2/2 on the pull ups.  Last round was tough but doable.  3/3/2/1 on thrusters, 3/2/2/2 on the pull ups.  Finished in 13:16.

Second:
Lots of abs.  Turned my interval timer on my phone for 10 rounds of exercising for 20 seconds and resting for 10 seconds.  Did each interval rotating through crunches, left crunches, right crunches, reverse crunches, leg levers, scissors, flutter kicks, side bends, seated V-ups, and supermans.  Did the whole 10 round interval program twice.

Third:
Incline dumbbell bench press.  Haven't done it in a couple weeks.  Started with 70bs, felt good, bumped to 80, then 90, then 95lbs, then dropped back down to 70 to burn out.

Fourth:
Wanted to do a hill workout.
Started with 5min on the Stairmaster
Then ran 800m on the Treadmill with 5.0 incline averaging 8:34/mi pace
Then 25 box jumps
Then another 800m run with the same incline and speed
Another 5min on the Stairmaster
Another 800m run
Another 25 box jumps
And finally one last 800m run.

Saturday

Got up early (0615) for my weekly group trail run.  This would probably be my last long run before my 16km mountain trail race next weekend, so I wanted to make it a tough run.

Met out with the guys at 0700.  We're starting the normal lap at 0715 to account for it staying dark later every day.  The early group was late coming back so we didn't get started until between 0720 and 0725.  I don't know for sure when we started, because I was an idiot and forgot my Garmin GPS watch at home.  It was really cold, so I was worried about dressing appropriately and completely forgot my watch.  Ah well.

Started....sometime...I guess.  It was a staggered start.  Some guys left, then a couple minutes later, a few more left, then a few minutes later I left with Rick and a woman I didn't know.  We chugged along while Rick and the lady chatted, then Rick mentioned he wanted to start reeling people in, so we reeled in the next group.  Chatted with them for a bit, then reeled in the next group.  Stayed with them up through the halfway point.

I had been debating what to do to make this a more difficult run, and decided that I would run all of the major hills twice.  Seemed like a good idea since next week's race is 10 miles of going up a mountain.  So at the top of the first hill, I turned around, jogged back down to the bottom, turned back around and ran back up to the top.  Along the way I caught up to a lady who normally runs with us but had started late.  So we ran and chatted until we got to the top of the second hill, where I turned around, ran back down, then turned around and ran back up.  She was long gone by that point, so I ran up the next hill, turned around, back to the bottom, then back up.  That was 3 hills, one more to go.  Little bit farther away but legs felt good, so I picked up the pace to get to it.  Up, turned around, down, turned around, back up, then turned it up again and finished strong.  Thinking I finished maybe around 1:30?  I have no idea.

Legs felt great.  The first hill was probably .2mi, the second and third were maybe .3mi, and the fourth was probably .2mi.

Now that its several hours later, yea, can definitely feel it in my quads and butt.

Friday

Legs were sore from yesterday but otherwise everything felt alright.

Another screwy schedule.  Had to go back to the security company for one last form, then went to the doctor's office so he could sign off on a medical release for me.  Which he only did after giving me a 2min sports physical.  Ugh dumb.  Finally got to the gym around 2:50.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
SealFit 130301
AMRAP in 30min:
50m Bear crawl
5 Burpee pull ups
50m Walking lunge steps
5 Burpee pull ups

First time trying this one.  I wanted to do a wod that had bear crawls in it, since I haven't done them in a little while.  I used the basketball court that the gym has, since it was empty (thankfully) and its located right next to the pull up bars.  I asked the gym staff how long it was and they didn't know, but said it was "3/4" of the size of a normal basketball court.  Sounded close enough to me.  So I would bear crawl from one end to the other and back, then do the burpee pull ups, back inside the basketball court for the walking lunges across and back, and then finishing up with the last set of burpee pull ups.  Bear crawls went very well.  Really only the last round or two where I started to struggle, but I still managed every round unbroken.  Same with the burpee pull ups and walking lunges.  I used my walking lunges as an estimate for distance.  On a football field, they are usually about 1 yard per lunge, which puts it close enough to 1m for my needs.  Counted the lunges across and it came out to 21-22 pretty consistently.  Checking now what 3/4 the length of a full size court is, and its 21m, so I was spot-on.  Finished with 6 full rounds, then I finished the 50m bear crawl, the 5 burpee pull ups, and I was 15m into the walking lunges when the timer sounded.

Second:
Another time strapped day.  So I combined abs with flat dumbbell bench press.  Started with 80lbs, then did a max rep set of flutter kicks.  Then moved up to 85lbs and did a max rep set of seated V-ups.  Then moved up to 90lbs and did a max rep set of scissors.  Then dropped back down to 85lbs for a final set.

Third:
Wanted to get in a sprint workout.  Headed up to the treadmill.  Ran 4x400m at 5:17/mi pace, then another 2x400m at 5:04/mi pace.  And I did 1:30 recovery between each rep.  Legs could definitely feel the lunges and burpees.

Thursday

Woke up feeling pretty decent, which makes sense since I haven't done anything since Tuesday haha.

Little bit of a screwy schedule today. Went to the DMV to get a driving history for a couple applications I'm going to turn in next week.  Then swung by the security company that is trying to hire me to sign some more crap.  Got to the gym around 2:50.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up and 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
SealFit 130820
3 Rounds, for time:
Run 800m
5 Rounds:
5 Pull ups
10 Push ups
15 Squats

First time on this workout.  Felt pretty good.  I can bust out quite a lot of these 5-10-15 rounds.  Kept a good pace on the runs, somewhere around 6:42/mi pace.  And did all 15 rounds of the exercises unbroken.  Got a little delayed (maybe 20sec) before starting the exercises in the 2nd round because a guy was finishing up on the pull up bar.  Finished in 23:46.

Second:
Knew I was going to be strapped for time so I combined abs in with shoulders.  Started with seated dumbbell shoulder press, a recovery set of balance drills, then as many rounds as possible of 5 reverse crunches and 5 leg levers.  I think I did 6 or 7.  Then did standing shoulder shrugs, another recovery set of balance drills, then as many rounds as possible of 10 side bends and 10 scissors.  I did 5 or 6.  Then finished up with the lightweight shoulder range of motion wod.

Third:
It was close to when I wanted to leave so I jumped upstairs and did a single 800m run on the treadmill at 5:46/mi pace.  Then immediately went downstairs and did a max rep set of strict pull ups (19).

Army 10Miler

Headed up to Virginia to run the Army 10Miler race with my brother.  Its one of the largest 10 mile races in the world with 35k registrants.  Of course, it being a race, only ~27k actually showed up, but whatever.

I stayed the night before at my brother's house since he lives closer to downtown than my parents.  Worked out pretty well.  Got up at 0600, out the door at 0630, drove 10min over to the nearest Metro stop, maybe a 15min Metro ride to the starting area, then about 45min to warm up and stretch.

It was pretty cold, somewhere in the high 40s, and wouldn't be getting above the mid 50s during the race, so I dressed appropriately.  Both sets of calf sleeves, Injiniji toe socks, my Puma flats, running shorts, a long sleeve running shirt, a hat, and my hydration belt with one bottle of watered down Powerade Zero.  In the other cup holder I carried my brother's phone, my ID, some money, and my bag of Sport Beans.

We got stuck in the last corral so we didn't start until 0820.  Kirt wanted to average somewhere around 8:00/mi.  Race started and we took off.  And for the next 10 miles, we did a fartlek run.  We would sprint for 10m to pass people, then slow down and get stuck behind someone, then pass and sprint another 10m, then slow down.  On and on, for 10 miles.

Course was pretty easy.  Only a few random small hills, which we passed even more people on.  I know its supposed to be scenic because it weaves its way around Arlington and DC, but I don't remember anything other than the Watergate Hotel.  Had to focus on not running anyone over or tripping anyone up.

The post race was a bit disappointing.  There was water bottles everywhere, so that wasn't a big deal.  But if you wanted any sort of food (bananas, bagels, whatever), you had to wait in a huge line.  No thanks.  We walked the mile or so back to the Metro and went home.

All in all a fun race but I wouldn't ever run it and try to PR.  That would be dumb.  Unless you are literally in the front elite group, you will be stuck behind people the whole way.  But overall, a fun way to spend a Sunday morning.

Thursday

Wanted to get in a last workout before I flew back home to Virginia.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:

SealFit 131010

5 Rounds, for time:

20 Pull ups

30 Dips

40 Sit ups

50 Squats

Run 600m

First time.  I knew the dips would be tough, and they were very very tough.  Easily the most time spent there.  I did all 5 rounds of pull ups and sit ups unbroken, pretty happy about that.  The squats were a little tough but not bad.  And I kept the run at a good ~6:30/mi pace.  Finished in 45:29.

Second:

Abs.  Erm, I don't exactly remember what it was though.

Third:

Crossfit Test 3

Tabata Squats

After the last 10sec rest, max reps of muscle up in 4min

Final score is the lowest number of squats performed in one round multiplied by the max number of muscle ups performed.

First time on this one.  Squats went very well.  Averaged 19 or 20 each round.  Muscle ups did not go well.  No pop, and had trouble kipping.  Only managed 15.  Final score comes out to 285 (19x15).

Fourth:

Headed up to the treadmill for a short sprint workout.  Ran 4x400m with 1:30 rest in between. Kept it on 5:17/mi pace for all four reps.  Then because I wanted an even number of miles for the day, I ran 1x200m at 5:04/mi pace.

Tuesday

Legs were sore still.  Kinda figured that would happen after yesterday's workouts.

Dropped off my medical records from my broken leg (which happened 23 years ago) at the Army recruiting office.  Lord only knows why they would care about that.  I decided to be snarky and included a picture of all of my race bibs (34 and counting) to help push the point home that my leg is fine.  The recruiter got a kick out of it, and I think she's going to send it along to the doctor's office.  While she was on the phone, another recruiter sitting at the next desk turned around and looked me up and down, then said "Hm, looks like you probably want to go Special Forces."  I laughed and asked him how he knew that.  He said that I "had the build for it."  Nice.

Headed to the gym after that, getting there about 1:45.  Padawan Josh is on fall break from school so he worked out with me the whole day.

5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:

SealFit 121019

Tabata Jump Lunges

Rest 1min

Tabata Dips

Rest 1min

Tabata Bear Crawl

Rest 1min

Tabata Sit ups

First time on this one.  Tabata is a type of interval workout where you do 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest.  The first few rounds are usually easy, the last several are not.  Because there isn't really a goal or anything to shoot for, I think this is more of an effort based workout, than a numbers based.  The jump lunges were tough, I went unbroken for them up to the last couple rounds where I had to take a break around 15sec before getting the last few reps.  Dips were hard after the first round.  Bear crawls were hard after the second round.  That's a lot of shoulder, arm and back immediately after doing dips.  And then sit ups were easy at the end.

Second:

Runner's core workout.  This was the first time Padawan Josh had done this.  He complained of the same issues I did the first couple times I did it.  I think that just shows that it is a good workout and it challenges the muscles that runners often ignore.

Third:

CrossFit Test 1

Find your 1 rep max (1RM) on flat bench press.

Within 30sec of finding 1RM, do max reps pull ups.

First time trying this.  Its from a series of "tests" that CF put out a while ago to judge someone's overall fitness.  You score it by multiplying the total weight from your 1RM by the number of pull ups you do.  They have a chart for figuring out how you did.  Padawan Josh worked up to benching 225 and did 23 pull ups, I worked up to benching 235 and did 30 pull ups.  I'm sure both of us could lift more if we were rested.  Our shoulders and arms were still pretty burnt from the dips and bear crawls.

Fourth:

Padawan Josh wanted to do some more stuff.  So he did sets of 45lbs weighted pull ups while I did my switch grip pull up workout counting from 5-4-3-2-1.  Then moved to the dip bars and we both did weighted dips with 45lbs.  I did 15, 10, then 8.

Fifth:

Padawan Josh said he wanted to run with me so we changed and headed over to the soccer fields.  Ran the usual 4 laps totaling 1.49mi at a decent pace.  Then did the back and forth form drills.

Monday

Had to get up a little early to take a 4hr training class for a new temporary job I'm getting.  Didn't know if I would have time for the gym, but turned out I would.  Got to the gym a little later than I normally do, around 2:00.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
CrossFit 130929
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps:
Walking Lunge Steps
95lbs Thruster
Pull ups
Knees to Elbows

First time trying this one.  It started out rough but thankfully because of the decreasing number of reps per round, it get better, sortof.  The second round was awful, 18 reps of 95lbs thruster just wouldn't end.  Lunges were easy start to finish.  Had the most issues with thrusters straight into pull ups straight into hanging knees to elbows.  My grip and shoulders were just torched.  Finished in 24:51.

Second:
Abs.  Just did some random stuff.  Lots of leg levers, lots of these new crunch things that I don't know the name of, then a bunch of flutter kicks, leg levers, and scissors with a 45lbs plate resting on my chest.  Nothing makes ab exercises more fun like having restricted breathing.

Third:
Incline dumbbell bench press.  Started with 65lbs, felt really good, bumped to 75lbs, felt really good, bumped to 85lbs, ehhh not so good.  Then just to see if it was possible, tried 90lbs and got a few reps.  Then dropped back down to 60lbs and maxed out.

Fourth:
Hill repeat day.  Got onto the treadmill and did 4 rounds of the following:
Run 400m on incline 6.0 (1.0 higher than previous) and speed 7.0
10 Squat jumps
20 Calf raises
10 Squat jumps

Pretty tough.  Legs were definitely feeling all of the thrusters and lunges from before.  I was thinking its probably good to mix up the length of hill repeats between steep but short 400s and less steep but longer 800s.

Saturday

Legs felt a bit sore from all the burpees and squat jumps yesterday.  Should make a long trail run much more enjoyable.

I had a concealed weapons permit class starting at 0900 so I knew I wouldn't be able to start my run at the normal time and have enough time to eat, get cleaned up, and get to the class early.  Asked the group and Kyle said he would be willing to meet with me early for a long headlamp lap.  That mean getting up at 0430 so I could meet Kyle at 0520.  Started our run about 0530.  It was dark enough that we had to use our headlamps the entire run.  Had a few sketchy moments where we slightly veered off the trail, but otherwise it went fine.  I wanted to make it longer than a normal outer loop, which Kyle was good with, so we took two turns onto bike paths which added difficulty and length, and then took a separate trail called the Bluffs to add some more.  Totaled around 10mi and we finished it in 1:35.

Because I was in the class the rest of the day, I couldn't do any other exercises.  I did dominate the written and shooting tests at the end.  98/100 on the written test and 100/100 on the shooting with a pretty damned good keyhole group in the bulls eye.

Friday

Woke up feeling alright.  Nothing overly sore.

Got to the gym a little earlier at 1:30 and met up with Padawan Josh.

5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
SealFit Oreo
AMRAP in 30min:
5 Pull ups
10 Burpees
15 Squat Jumps

First time trying this.  Pretty difficult just because of how long it is.  And when you consider that every burpee has a squat jump in it, that means you're doing 25 squat jumps per round.  Obviously that would be where we had the most issues.  Got through 7 or 8 rounds before I started having to break the squat jumps up into 10/5.  Took until 10 or 11 rounds before I had to break up the burpees into 6/4.  And I did every round of pull ups unbroken.  Finished with 16 total rounds.  Which totaled 80 pull ups, 160 burpees, and 240 squat jumps.

Second:
Abs.  Padawan Josh opted to do Tabata over just sets, so we did Tabata flutterkicks first, recovered for a few minutes, then did Tabata reverse crunches.

Third:
Padawan Josh needed to head to work soon so I rearranged the schedule to have us running next.  Headed up to the treadmills.  He hadn't run sprint intervals in a long time, so to test we ran 400m on speed 10.  It was easy for me, and he probably should have stayed on 10, but said he could bump it up faster.  So we ended up running 6 more 400s.  He stayed on 11 for the rest.  I did 11 for the first two, then 11.5 for the next 2, then 12 for the final 2 reps.

Fourth:
He took off for work.  I got the weight belt from the front desk and hung a 45lbs plate from it.  Then did 5 rounds of max rep dead hang pull ups followed by max rep dips.

Thursday

Back and arms were a little sore this morning, otherwise everything felt alright.  Left elbow is still improving.  Left shin still bothers me from time to time.

Got to the gym around 1:45.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
Another weird day.  Wanted this to be the sort of stuff I normally do on Wednesdays.  Started with 20:00 of hard effort on the Stairmaster, starting on level 8 and bumping to level 9 at the halfway point.

The plan was to finish and then immediately get on the rower and row 1km.  But, naturally, with only a few minutes left to go on the Stairmaster, an older guy gets onto the rower and sits on it for 30min.  This meant that after I finished my 20:00, I stood around looking impatient for a while before he finished and I could get on it.

Second:
Rowed 1km on 10/10 resistance.  Pretty tough, as my legs were already gassed.  First 500m was somewhere around 1:45, but then I slowed down quite a bit.  Finished in 3:38, which isn't terrible, but not really near my PR of low 3:30s.

Third:
Back onto the Stairmaster for another 20:00.  Again, started on level 8 and bumped to level 9 at the halfway point.

Fourth:
Changed into my VFF and headed over to the soccer fields.  Ran 4 laps around the big field, which totaled about 1.48mi.  Good pace too, something like 6:04/mi.  Recovered for a few minutes, then did my form drills back and forth across a soccer field.  In case I haven't mentioned what my form drills are, they are just drills that help reinforce good running form or work muscles that help with good running form.  Its stuff that most people have either done when they were kids before soccer/football/basketball games, or seen college or pro athletes do before games.  Butt kicks, high knees, jogging backwards, lateral bounding to each side, and forward bounding.

Wednesday

Normally this is a "do other things kind of day," but since I was busy all day yesterday I decided to switch around the schedule a bit.

Woke up feeling decent.  Left elbow felt good.  Left shin still bothers me a little.

Got to the gym a little late after talking with my neighbors.  Think I got there at 2:30ish.

Usual 5:00 rowing warm up on 10/10 resistance followed by 10:00 of stretching and foam rolling.

First:
Unknown 007 (Running Angie)
4 Rounds, for time:
Run 400m
25 Pull ups
25 Push ups
25 Sit ups
25 Squats

First time trying this one.  Its basically just the Crossfit wod "Angie" separated into 4 parts with a 400m run before each.  Kept a good quick pace for each of the 400s.  I think it was around 6:34/mile pace.  Did the first 2 sets of pull ups unbroken, but had to break up the last 2.  Did the first 3 sets of push ups unbroken, broke up the fourth.  And did all four sets of sit ups and squats unbroken.  Decently tough wod.  Finished in 22:09.

Second:
The running core WOD.  Felt really easy today.  I think I may bump it to 1min per exercise for 2 rounds.

Third:
Flat dumbbell bench press.  Started a little higher than usual with 85lbs, then 90, then 95, then back down to 80 for a burn out.  Felt good.

Fourth:
Did this pull up wod that I thought up.  I would do 5 regular grip pull ups, then switch to one hand being regular and the other being reverse for 5 pull ups, then flip flop them for 5 pull ups, then have both of them be reverse for 5 pull ups.  Then repeated but doing 4 with each grip, then 3, 2, and 1. Had to hang onto the bar the whole time, so it burns your grip.  I followed up each set with 15 hand release push ups and 30 calf raises.

Fifth:
And just because why not, max rep bar muscle ups.  Which wasn't very many because my arms and shoulders were dead.