Burpees & Lunges

When I woke up my legs were tight and didn't feel like they had fully recovered from Saturday's 10+ mile mountain run. Still, the back of my knee felt fine and it was just stiffness so I went out after it. No problems.

I feel like I have hit a wall with burpees and my 10 per minute routine. I am taking steps back and today just focused on doing 100 burpees. I accomplished that in 12:57 which is a terrible time. I guess that sometimes one just needs to take a step back. I did 100 burpees. Don't fault me. 

100 meters lunges since today should be a light lunge day and I hit my glutes, hams, etc. regularly.

• Run Distance: 2.3 miles / Goal for Week: 14 miles
• Run Time: 21:13
• Pace: 9:20

• 100 burpees in 12:57 / 7.77 seconds per burpee

• 100 meters lunges - pyramided sets from 10 to 17

Muscle Ups & 1 Arm Push Ups

This morning was a grind it out day although I felt better at the end than I did at the beginning. Running to and from the park was out since my legs were still aching and I am learning to take full advantage of rest opportunities.

My push ups have plateaued at 3 reps per set. The new plan is to review my total volume for the week and increase that. Even if that means 1 or 2 reps for more sets and on more days.

Warm Up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks
• 40 Body Weight Squats
• 30 Sit Ups
• 20 Push Ups
• 10 Burpees

Muscle Ups: 

• 3 Chins, 3 Hands in Line, 3 Hands in Line, 3 Pull Ups, 3 Chins **at the end dead hang for as long as possible
• Straight Bar Dips: 5, 5, 4, 5, 5 ** may also try to mix this up in the future - tried side to side which is not working

1 Arm Push Ups:

• 10 push ups, 10 side to side, 5 1 arm on low bar x3
• Rows: 10, 10 side to side x3

Saturday Mountain Trail Run - BLACK BEAR!

Getting my head screwed on straight and remembering what I did to be successful last year. One of those things was getting in my endurance run once a week. High frequency, short duration runs will help me become a better runner, but can't substitute for a long trail run up and down hills. I need to do this more or at least go on a long run in Weehawken/Hoboken once a week.

Also, I need to start wearing my weight belt again. Not sure how much that helps but I didi it last year an dit worked so I will do it again. 

Extending the endurance run thinking into my overall training plan, in the winter my rucks have to be for time. 2 - 3 hours carrying heavy weight. Its the only way to do it. 

Okay, so when I was running and about 85% done, I encountered a black bear on the trails. I turned a corner and about 15 yards ahead of me there he was. I stopped and froze. He/she looked me up and down and after about 30 seconds continued on its way. I am sure that black bears in this area are used to people and are not actively hunting them down but it is still scary that I could have done the wrong thing, or the bear could have been in the wrong mood and that would have been the end of me. 

• Run Distance: 10.63 miles / Total for Week: 13.7 miles / Goal for Week: 13 miles
• Run Time: 2:16:56 - I went all out for a good amount of time - I don't need to get to 3 hours if I am pushing hard up and down mountains for 10+ miles
• Pace: 12:53 - A good goal would be to break this pace to under 12

BattleFrog 8K - June 19

It was an obstacle race and not really challenging. At a distance of 5 miles and flat I wanted to run but didn't since I went with a friend. Looking at my schedule for next year, I am limiting myself to more challenging races that I will run by myself. I don't mind running a Tough Mudder with others.

I am glad to know that my sport specific training is working. I ran this race with a guy who has completed an Iron Man Triatholon, did a 4+ mile swim the previous week and has 2 marathons on his schedule. I can do none of this. But, at this race, he had a bit more trouble than I did. What it tells me is that you have to train for obstacle course races and just being in extremely good shape doesn't cut it if you want to do it well. I am glad that I do what I do.

I really have to work on my upper body and grip strength. I was worried about my overall strength since I haven't been using barbells and just doing body weight exercises. but I have been doing a ton of pull ups so I was hoping to see better results. Also, I may have stayed behind and worked on the rig that I missed but since I was with a friend I continued after 3 misses.

This course map isn't true but it provides a good overview.

So that I am not 100% negative, it was well put on. There were some good obstacles but just not enough and the distance was too short. I liked the Dirty Name (log jump stair thing) followed by the Platinum Rig. The 12 foot rope wall was good but there was only one compared to two last year. I wish that I had the grip on my feet to make it up this year. I did it twice last year with the two walls. Finally, the Rope Traverse across the water is the best in the business. I made it about 80% across that. Proud that I was able to do what I did there but I am not where I want to be just yet.  

Other obstacles were watered down and I was frustrated that I couldn't go all out since I was running with a friend. I don't plan to do this race again next year but I should not discourage the right people from doing it.

My shoes did me no help on this course. Reebok trail and obstacles shoes are great for mountains but terrible on flat courses. In a perfect world I will have trail shoes with less cleat and more surface area coverage for flat races and spikier shoes for mountains. Going forward I am going to stick with just running mountains.

Here is a write up on the event. I don't care much for his, or anyone's, opinion on the festival area or the MCs but I agree with his disappointment in the event, again obstacle based and I am not into lengthening out the course by running multiple laps.

http://www.mudrunguide.com/2015/06/race-recap-battlefrog-tri-state/

This is not my best write up of an event but I think that demonstrates my disappointment.

Wreck Bag Carry over dry motorcycle hills. Last year was more challenging with Jerry Can carry over the same muddy hills. 

Dry crawl through the Normandy Jacks instead of a muddy crawl. The one thing that I think that they got right was to just use wire instead of barbed wire. I am not a fan of barbed wire. Also, they had this more toward the beginning of the course which is surprising. Usually it is at the end.

Jerry Can carry was through woods and mud. Not difficult. Walk in the park.

Rope Traverse over the river. Best obstacle on the course. I made it about 75% - 80% before I lost my grip. I did learn how to shimmy or walk my legs across the rope.

Handstand Push Ups & Back Bridges

The back of my left leg is bothering me again so I drove to the park instead of running. When I did my 40 body weight squats as part of my warm up, the back of my knee tightened up and twinged. I need to listen to my body and let myself recover before the PA Super in 2 weeks. Also, erased from the workout plan today was Pistol Squats. I will be okay as long as I pace myself. 

Tomorrow is supposed to rain in the morning so that will force me to rest my legs again. Weather is helping me since tomorrow is supposed to be run/burpees/lunges. All taxing on the legs. With another day of leg rest I hope to be able to tackle a long hill/trail run on Saturday morning. I hope that plan works out.

Warm Up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks
• 40 Body Weight Squats
• 30 Sit Ups
• 20 Push Ups
• 10 Burpees

• Hand Stands: 5 sets. Working on balancing. Making progress
• Pike Push Ups: 10 feet on ground, 4 low bar, 5 medium bar, 4 high bar, 4 high bar

• Hanging Knee Raises: 19, 14, 17, 18, 17 **working on grip strength here and doing the bottom end of a pull up on each rep
• Back Bridge: 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 20 seconds

Lunges & Burpees - Dead Legs

Today the focus was on Lunges and this time I made sure that I started at the 200 meter start line. I started at 10 lunges and progressed each set by 1 until I made it to 20, then down to 17 by the time I hit 200 meters. I am ready for 300 meters.

After hitting a peak of 120 burpees in less than 12 minutes I had taken a step back to 70 in 7. This time I did 80 in 8. 

To make reasonable progressions I am going to need to do 90 burpees in 9 minutes and cut back lunges to 100 meters. Then do 300 meters of lunges followed by the 90 burpees in 9 minutes. That is the game plan.

For the second day in a row my legs gave out on me when I was running home. Yoga tomorrow, run & body weight strength on Thursday, run/burpees/lunges on Friday, yoga Saturday, big hill run Sunday. Hopefully I will be ready for it.

• Run Distance: 1.36 miles Total for week: 3.1 miles Goal for Week: 13 miles
• Run Time: 12:16
• Pace: 9:02

• 200 meters lunges

• 80 burpees in 7:44
• 5.8 seconds per burpee

Pistol Squats, 1 Arm Push Ups, Muscle Ups

Didn't have it running today. My lef hamstring is bothering me again so I was only able to make it 1/2 way home running. 

My back and shoulders are aching and it seems to be catching up to me on the pull ups as I am not progressing. The plan is to keep on keeping on and my body will catch up so that I can move forward.

• Run Distance: 1.7 miles Goal for week: 13 miles
• Run Time: 15:52
• Pace: 9:16

• Pistol Squats: 20 body weight squats, 5x5 1 leg squats on a bench. Good ROM

• 1 Arm Push Ups: 10 regular, 10 side to side, 5x5 1 Arm with opposing arm on low bar
• Rows: 10 regular, 5x10 side to side

• Chin Ups: 3 chin ups, 4 hands in line, 3 hands in line, 3 pull ups, 2 chin ups
• Dips: 5, 5, 5, 5, 4

Back Bridges & Toes 2 Bar - Importance of Running

Read an article by Brandon Kraker on OCR and dispelling the myth of "runner's courses."

http://www.mudrunguide.com/2015/06/mythbusters-ocr-edition-runners/

Bottom line is that success in OCR depends on running and being able to do strength exercises when aerobically taxed. He also highlighted the importance of endurance runs of 10 - 14 miles and times of 1.5 - 3 hours. Basically, its great that my running is improving through frequency but I also need to get back to hill/trail running after the PA Super to prepare myself for Killington.

As far as my workout, I was dragging this morning and since this is my 3rd day in a row of working out and I am supposed to be tapering for Saturday's BattleFrog, I only got in back Bridges and Hanging Knee Raises and Toes 2 Bar. I wanted to finish the workout with Pistol Squats and 1 Arm Push Ups but that was not to be. 

• Run Distance: 2.31 miles Total For Week: 7.2 Goal for Week: 12 **I'll get this through the 5 on Saturday's BattleFrog
• Run Time: 21:23
• Pace: 9:15 - dragging

• Hanging Knee Raises: 16, 14 (grip strength gave out), Toes2Bar: 5, 7, 5
• Back Bridge: 10 Seconds, 1 rep (tried for reps but that didn't work), 20 seconds, 24 seconds. 15 seconds

Burpees & Lunges

I really seem to be hitting a wall with burpees over the past several weeks. That's okay. I will just establish a new, albeit lower, baseline and improve from there. 

• Run Distance: 2.55 miles Total for Week: 4.9 miles Goal for Week: 12 miles
• Run Time: 21:11
• Pace: 8:19

• 70 burpees. 7 sets of 10 per minute. I stopped because I was gassed and really couldn't start an 8th set.

• 100 meters lunges.

1 Arm Push Ups / Muscle Ups / Handstand Push Ups

Okay, so I am not close to any of the exercises listed in the headline but I am progressing. Of the 3, 1 Arm Push Ups is the most realistic for me to reach in the somewhat near term. 

I was supposed to work out yesterday but it was raining and I was exhausted so I made it a rest day. Now, I am trying to figure out how to get my workouts in so that I taper for Saturday's BattleFrog and build running volume to hit 12 miles for the week. Right now the game plan is to get the workouts in, from Tuesday (today) through Thursday, rest Friday and BattleFrog on Saturday. That will get me to 12 for the week. 

• Run Distance: 2.3 miles. Goal for Week: 12 miles
• Run Time: 20:30
• Pace: 8:45 ** crushing the <9 minute mile pace with consistency

• 1 Arm Push Ups: 10 fingertip push ups, 10 side to side push ups, 3x3 1 Arm with opposing arm on bar
• Bar Body Weight Rows: 10 regular, 4x10 alternating side to side rows

• Pull Ups: 2 chin ups, 4 hands in line x2, 3 pull ups, 3 chin ups
• Straight Bar Dips: 5, 4, 4, 4, 5 *also trying to get up to muscle up on lower bar but no luck
  
• Pike Push Ups: 9 feet flat, 5 low bar, 3 medium bar
• Hand Stands: x3 - getting there and working on balance by getting further away from fence. 

Handstand Push Ups, Pistol Squats, Back Bridges

Getting better at handstands. Need to learn to do them further away from the fence and depend on it less. 

• Run Distance: 2.33 miles. 11.6 miles for the week. Goal Accomplished. 
• Run Time: 20:06
• Pace: 8:37

• Handstand Push Ups: 5 sets. 
• Pike Push Ups: 10 on ground, 5 on low bar, 3, 3, 5 on medium bar

• Pistol Squats: 20 body weight squats, 5 bench for full extension, 3-4 pistols with partial ROM, 2 sets of 5 on bench with full ROM

• Back Bridges: 3 sets of holds for 15 seconds each
• Toes to Bar: 5x5

Lunges & Burpees

Did a good lunge day. Since it was my priority, I put it ahead of burpees so that I could get the most out of that part of the workout. 

Lesson learned is that if I want to do 200 meters of lunges, do not start at the 100m start line and continue through it. There is no marker for 200 meters. Next time I must start at the 200 meter or 300 meter start line. I ended up doing more than 200 meters of lunges since I did a pyramid of reps starting at 10 and progressing to 20 and then back down to 10. I hit 100m at 18 on the way up. 

Run Distance: 2.36 miles. Total for week: 9.2 miles. Goal for week: 11 miles
Run Time: 20:11
Pace: 8:34 ** Run Keeper mistakenly tracked my run from my house so these numbers are skewed. 

+200 Meters of lunges. Pyramid of reps from 10 - 20 and  back to 10. Passed 100m at 18 on the way up.

23 burpees in +2 minutes. Just didn't have it today after the lunges

Killer Upper Body Day: Back Bridge, 1 Arm, Muscle Ups

Took longer than I thought that it would. Got a late start and then took my time I guess. I got home and into work late. 

Since the 3rd exercise of the day is always the double or extra exercise, I am deciding to have fun with it and try different variations. Today for chin ups and dips I did L Seat Pull Ups. Still trying to get to 5 for a set or 10 straight chins. I have a lot of work to do.

• Run Distance: 2.27 miles. Distance for week: 6.9 miles. Goal for week: 11 miles. 
• Run Time: 20:44
• Pace: 9:08

• Back Bridges: 5 Sets. Only got up 3 times. Held for 10 seconds, 15 seconds and 10 seconds
• Toes to Bar: 5 sets of 5 but didn't get there each time. Working on it

• 1 Arm Push Ups: 10 regular push ups. 10 side to side, 3, 5, 5 1 arm with opposing arm on bar
• Rows: I am getting 5 sets of 10 alternating from 1 arm to the other. Great progress on this super set.

• Chin Ups: Tough. 5 sets of 2 or 3. Last 4 sets were L-Sit pull ups mostly 3 reps each. 
• Dips: 5 sets of 5. Really killed it here and if I continue to have success will have to find harder variations

Burpees & Lunges with Celebrity Sighting

Celebrity sighting! The guy that won the 2014 NJ Super ran past me going the other way when I was running home from the park. Cool.

My pace was not what I wanted it to be for my burpees. I knew it early and decided to do the 130 in the best time that I could instead of giving up when I lost the pace. 

Run Distance: 2.36 miles / Distance for week: 4.61
Run Time: 21:41
Pace: 9:10

130 burpees in 14:20.
6.62 seconds per burpee

100 meters lunges

Pull Up/Dips, Handstand Push Ups, Pistol Squats

Getting closer to handstand push ups. My balance is improving as I move my feet off teh fence when I do handstands and I have even started to dip a bit. More practice will mean more control. I am also going to higher bars for my feet on pike push ups and got to 5 reps on the 5th set. I see this as my next accomplishment.

For pistol squats, the first set was 20 body weight squats with hands behind my head, then I used the parallel bars to help me get to full ROM on pistols, then alternated to partial ROM without help. This is a progression that will take time. 

Run: 2.25 miles
Time: 20:48
Pace: 9:13

Pull Ups: 3, 3, 3, 2, 2
Dips: 5, 5, 4, 4, 5

5 Sets handstands trying to go for time and do without help from wall
5 Sets pike push ups: ground x7, bar 1 x6, bar 2 x4, 4, 5 - keeping elbows in

Pistol Squats: alternating between full ROM with assistance & partial ROM unassisted

Saturday Run - Weekly Volume

My emphasis is now on weekly volume. When I got back into running for this spring and summer season, i added a mile to and from the park every day along with my 
long runs. Turns out that my body caught up to me and my leg was hurting. I rested and recovered and developed a new plan to improve. 

The new plan is to track total weekly volume instead of distance on my long run to track improvement. Since my average mileage per week was in the +9.5 mile range, I set my first goal at 10. This week worked out to 1 mile warm up on Tuesday, 3 miles in conditioning on Wednesday, 1 mile warm up on Friday. This leaves me with 5 miles to go for Saturday. Next week I will stretch out total weekly mileage to 11. 

• Total Distance: 5.62 miles
• Time; 51:29
• Pace: 9:10

Strength Day on Vacation - 1st Back Bridge!

Used the Disney hotel gym again and did what I could do although I forgot about Pike Push Ups and only did 1 Arm Push Ups. Nevertheless, I nailed my biggest body weight accomplishment to date and that is a successful Back Bridge. On the third set I got up onto my neck, pushed and surprised myself when I was able to extend my arms.

Now, forget the progressions and I will super set back bridges for time with hanging leg raises and progressing toward windshield wipers.

• Warm Up: Run 1 mile at 10 min pace on treadmill
• Pistol Squats / RDL: 5x5
• Back Bridge / Leg Raises: BB for time (about 10 seconds) x5, 10 LR x5
• 1 Arm Push Ups: 5 x 3 - 4  

Conditioning Day On Vacation

Doing the best that I can do with what is available to me. I think that its coming along okay.

• Run 1 mile @10 minute pace

• Tabata:
• Forward & Reverse Lunges
• Squats

• Run 1 mile @ 10 minute pace

• Tabata:
• 1 Leg Glute Bridge
• V-Ups

• Run 1 mile @ 10 minute pace

• Tabata:
• Dumbbell Press
• Push Ups

Strength Day on Vacation

Okay, so the body weight routine is supposed to work anywhere and here I am on vacation at a hotel gym and am already running into a less than ideal situation. The hotel gym ceilings are very low so I can't do burpees or even jumping jacks and there are no bars or areas for pull ups or dips. Not cool. So, I improvised.

• Warm Up: Run 1 mile at 10 min per mine pace

• 1 Arm Push Up Progressions: 5x5
• Pike Push Ups Progressions: 5x5

• Hanging Leg Raise (on chair): 5x10
• Back Bridge Progressions: 5x5

• Pistol Squat Progressions: 5x5

Spartan Sprint at Tuxedo Ridge, May 30, 2015

Usually I do an obstacle by obstacle breakdown of an event but not this time. Nothing terribly new here so I will leave it to general comments. 

The biggest take away is that although I have done Beasts and Supers, Spartan does a good job creating a challenging course even for the Sprint. I am glad that I did it and as I write this the next morning I am aching. I failed 4 obstacles so I am frustrated with myself and have plenty to work on.

I ran with Scott and Chris which definitely took me out of my game and I will not say that this was my best race. There are no excuses but I never got into my zone like I would if I was running by myself. I never tapped into that "inner beast".

Total Time: 2 hours, 51 minutes
Overall: 2741/5729 48%
Men: 1952/?
40 - 44: 239/434 55%

We did it as a team.

Here is the list of obstacles with limited notes:

• Over Walls
• Hay Wall
• A-Frame
• Hurdles
• Plate Drag
• Rope Swing - Fun. Got my feet up and did it. Maybe the highlight of the day
• Hercules Hoist - Did it standing up. No problem whatsoever.
• Barb Wire Crawl 1
• Spartan Rig - Sideways pole going up to ropes to sideways pole. I was very disappointed in myself that I didn't get up and past the first pole. I don't know where my upper body strength was **30 Burpees
• 8 Foot Wall - almost, I mean almost made it up and over by myself. 2nd attempt I used the hook on the side. I truly believe that if you can make it over with a boost, then the side hooks are fair game.

• Sandbag Carry - Short & easy. Much of the downhill I balanced it on my back and used my arms for balance down the trail.

• Stairway To Sparta - I have only seen this at the Tuxedo Sprint last year and i'm glad that it is back. Fun.
• Barb wire crawl 2
• Z-Walls - I did the Traverse Wall in Vermont and was convinced that I had this conquered going forward. I barely got started before falling off. Same happened at NJ Beast. Don't know how I am going to solve this problem. **30 burpees
• Inverted Wall
• Spear Throw - Missed it. Wasn't a bad throw,  I just never practice. **30 burpees

• Bucket Brigade - Short and not too difficult. I was worried about this since I have been doing all body weight exercises and I think that this would be the first thing impacted. I probably have to work with carrying heavy weights between now and VT.
• Vertical Cargo
• Rope Climb - Didn't really get started and can't get my feet positioning. Need to practice or learn technique or I will never complete this obstacle. **30 burpees.
• Memory Test - Romeo 213-1089
• Slip Wall

• Fire Jump

So, there you have it. I missed the Spartan Rig (upper body), Spear Throw (technique), Z-Wall (??), and Rope Climb (upper/technique).  Nothing to brag about with new obstacles overcome but I had fun with friends and just may continue doing the Tuxedo Sprint instead of the Hurricane Heat gong forward.