Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Eats: Der Chili

Last winter, Jon brought home some ground deer meat. What does one do with a meat they have no idea what to do with? Easy. They make chili. I found a really easy, basic recipe and embellished it. I know everyone has their own version of chili. Well, here's mine. Perfect for a cold, freezing rain type of day like today. Quick and easy enough for a workday.

 Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. Deer Meat cooked and drained (I cook the night before for easy morning assembly)
  • 1 Green Pepper diced (do the night before)
  • 1/2 Onion diced (again, do the night before)
  • 2 Cans Diced tomatoes
  • 1 8oz can of tomato sauce
  • 1 Can Chili Beans 
  • 1 Packet of Top secret ingredient, Taco Seasoning
  • 4 oz Chicken broth or more to thin it out some (freeze any leftover broths in little Tupperwares for future use) 
  • Frozen Corn (eyeball it)

Directions:

 Put it all in a crock pot. Pull a Bob Marley and "Stir it up". Cook on low for 8 hours. Devour.

Bon Apetit!

TOD:
Arm Circuit - 3 rounds, 45s on, 15s off

Kettle Bell Snatch 1 (25lbs)
x
Kettle Bell Snatch 2 (25lbs)
x
Tri Row 1 (25lbs)
x
Tri Row 2 (25lbs)
x
Rows with band around basement support pole
x
Mountain climber with Push up
x
Deadlifts (20lb dumb bells)
x
Squat Cleans (20lbs)
x
Curls (20lbs)
x
Plank Walk up with dumb bell drag (25lbs)
 
 

Friday, October 26, 2012

Tough Mudder Recap - James's Updated Version

Below is James's updated and more detailed version:

After the ICE



Hi, my name is James and I'm an electrician, which is why I was so excited about the Tough Mudder Challenge. I was having a pretty good time right about 0.4 miles in where I was introduced to ICE. Who in the hell wants to actually pay to jump in freezing water when it is already 15 degrees away from freezing outside. At mile 7 is where a lot of cramping took over my legs and I did not want to keep on going. My body is telling me F*ck Tough Mudder and quit, and on the other hand 3 things were telling me to keep going. 1: It was 7 miles to turn around. 2: Electroshock Therapy was at the finish line, and didn't want to be that guy that just ran into it for the hell of it. 3: I paid way to much money to participate and train for it. I've done more squats and lunges in the past 5 months then I've done my entire life. I've come to acknowledge that every hill I climbed had made me wished that I drank more water and brought a potassium IV with me for cramping because bananas weren't cutting it. Nevertheless I am very proud that I finished the course and I helped my fellow mudder, and put teamwork before my course time, and last but not least I did not whine, (on the course) kids whine. Also I do appreciate Tough Mudder for a hard, challenging course. I will now keep all OCR courses under a strict 9 mile length only because I already paid for the Indiana Spartan which may change my mind when that time comes too. Big thanks to Nicki and NickiFit for the inspiration to cause me to become a Mudder, just don't know if I want to hug you or kill you.
 
The electrician at work

Big thanks to James for being such a great friend throughout the years. Its been so much fun this summer doing all (MS Muckruckus, Mudathlon, MudStash) of the OCR's with you. We're going to have a blast next spring at the Spartan Sprint and again at the Super :) (Yes, more than 9 miles). I am so proud of you!!!



Thursday, October 25, 2012

Tough Mudder Recap

I asked James if he wanted to write the race recap. His response/recap:

Hi, I'm James.
F*ck Tough Mudder.
The End.

Short, sweet, succinct. A true expression of how he was feeling the Monday (2 days) after the race. My recap is going to be a bit longer, but with just the highlights. It took us between 4-5 hours to conquer all 12 miles. Obviously, that would be a really long post if I covered all 5 hours. So here's the important stuff.

The Who Dey Crew: Brendan, Me, James, Taylor, TJ, Dave
I went in with very low expectations. I have heard the horror stories of TM, their parking debacles, their poor safety standards, etc. I was proven wrong. We did have to park off site and take a shuttle to the course, but there was no shortage of shuttles. They were constantly running and we didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes before or after the race. When the bus came to pick us up after the race, the driver had the heat cranked. Super, duper bonus points to that driver. As far as before the race, packet pick up and bag check was a breeze. Everything was well marked. To pick up your bib, we just had to find the area of the tent where we fit alphabetically. There must have been 25 sections, so no long line to wait in. Once through the packet pick up, there were volunteers ready to mark our foreheads and arms with our bib numbers. Once we bibbed up, the boys dropped their bags at bag check. Again, very organized. They were divided by bib number. They gave you a "bracelet" that you stuck on your bag that had your bib number on it. You simply found your bib area and gave the volunteers your bag. And it was included in the registration.

Now the fun stuff. I don't remember the order of the obstacles, nor am I going to go through them one by one. This is simply the highlights and what I remember. I included the course map here if you're curious. First, to get to the start line, you had to go up and over an 8 foot wall. Gotta love a race that makes you work to even start. Once we were all up and over, off we went on our adventure. Jon was able to watch the first few obstacles, hence the pictures. We crawled under some barbed wire. Then had to march through mud, which was more like clay so our feet didn't sink.



Catching my breath

Shortly after was the Arctic Enema. Keep in mind, the weather hovered around 45 degrees the whole time we were out there. This obstacle consisted of a tub filled with ice cubes with a wall in the middle you had to go under. You had to go under because they put barbed wire above the wall. When it was my turn, I noticed there were quite a few people waiting on the other side of the wall to get out, including my teammate Brendan. So I waited till a few people actually clamored out. While I waited I got yelled at by the volunteers and I also told people behind me they were more than welcome to go around, but I was waiting until it cleared out some. There is strategy in OCR. The whole smarter, not harder mentality comes in play. Either way I was waiting. The question was, was I standing in ice or not. Nobody went by me. Finally, I hopped in and made it to the wall. Hesitation. Again, the volunteers were yelling at me to go under and I shook my head no. The wall went down to my knees. I tried to think of every possible way to avoid this, but the race directors apparently thought this one through. Eventually, I mustered up the courage and went under. Feet first, grabbing the bottom of the wall and pulling myself through. Brendan said my face once up was priceless. I'm sure it was. Pretty sure, the breath was knocked out of me. I now have a new found sympathy for all of those aboard the Titanic. An Alaskan cruise is out for the foreseeable future.

This was the last time we'd see Jon for a while. I can remember bits and parts. The terrain was tough or awesome depending on who you ask. It was hilly and steep. Any course that is on an Off Road facility is going to be hilly. Also, courses on Ski Resorts will be mountainous. Courses on Farms are flat. Race directors will use the terrain to their advantage or your disadvantage. You've been informed. Train accordingly. So I was happy. We went through woods and up and down hills. Perfect Saturday for me. Early on, we did the Dirty Ballerina which was jumping over trenches filled with water. I learned a sweet Super Hero pose from a fellow racer. Taylor fell, a lot. In fact Taylor fell the entire course. It was his thing. There were more walls to go up and over. These were higher, so we had to help each other over. We had to go over a hay pyramid. This again required team help to pull each other up. There was a Lincoln Log looking obstacles where we had to go over and under logs. That was fun.

The biggest mental obstacle was one the directors did not map out. We did the fire obstacle, which was smokey and wet. It ended with a jump over fire into a 10 foot deep muddy water pit. I did a sweet Can Opener with a Tarzan holler or something remotely like that. All was good and gravy. Then we had to stand in line. For what? We had no idea. But we waited, and waited, and waited. We were wet and cold. There was nothing we could do, but wait. There were people in front of us and behind us. We speculated what the next obstacle could be since the line was so long. This is where the brain gets tested. Do you whine and bitch, or do you suck it up and embrace the suck? Well, we all embraced it. With our hands tucked under our arm pits, we waited. Our estimate was about 30 minutes of this. The obstacle? Just a really steep hill where people descended at a worm's pace trying to not break their tail bones. The course was slippery and wet. People did not have the best shoes for this terrain. And it was dangerous. So we inched down until finally at the bottom. This was only one of many of these steep hills descents. This one just sticks out in my mind since there was such a long line to get down it. There were lots of ripped pants from them (including mine, just a couple of holes) and I saw a lot of crack.

And we were cold. Rest stops became shorter because standing around allowed the cold to set in. We also started to get more distance between each other. Cramps were running rampant amongst our team and well, all racers. Each aid station had mylar blankets so when at the top of the hill, all you saw were flecks of silver across the course. Not all the rest stops had bananas. At one particular rest stop, one of the boys said, "I could really use a banana." (or something along those lines). Sure enough, a guy dressed in a banana costume turns around "I'm right here." Classic. Timing/Irony was impeccable.

Happy Girl
Aside from the hills, my favorite obstacle was the log carry. You had the choice of a long log that you and a buddy carried or a round cross section of a trunk. I searched for the biggest cross section I could find. They were all pretty light, nothing compared to Log who resides at Mt. Airy. We carried our logs along a 1/2 mile motor cross course. So up and down little hills. I was happy. If I wasn't so stiff and cold, I would have skipped. I breezed right through switching my log from one arm to the other. This is in contrast to the IN Spartan when I searched for the smallest log for the first 2 carries and my dad had saved me a small one for the final carry. I was only 3 weeks into training then. Now, I'm a weirdo who loves carrying logs. I mean, seriously. Invite me over for your next bonfire. I've got a headlamp. I'll fetch logs all night. :)

Post Log Carry is where we started to really split up. We had been out there for hours. Did I mention it was cold? It was Brendan, Dave, and I for a while. We hit the Electric Eel. I skipped it, but planned on skipping it anyways. Long story short, I do not believe getting tazed proves your tough. Being electrocuted simply means you are an electrician, in trouble with the law, or a top secret agent being tortured for information. I am none of those things. Or am I? Hee Hee. So I watched Brendan and Dave belly slide through that thing and did not regret skipping it. Judging from their expressions and twitching bodies, it hurt like hell.

Onward and upward we went. Until, I saw the most wonderful vision ever. My husband!!! Pretty sure there may have been light radiating from him as I climbed the hill and saw him along the sidelines. He had my gloves!! He had Gu's, Salt Tabs, and Nuun for the boys and their cramps. We refueled. I got kissies. And then we were off again. This happened maybe around mile 7 or 8. It was right by the 10 foot Berlin Walls. Poor Brendan. As if he wasn't already beaten and bruised. He got knocked in the jewels a couple of times helping folks over the walls. Again, another obstacle the directors had not planned.

At this point Taylor had caught back up with us. We came upon the Boa Constrictor. Seriously, the worst obstacle in the history of OCR. You had to go down a black tube into water. Above the water was boards and barbed wire, so there was only enough room to stick your head out of the water. Already, this is suffocating. Then to get out of the water, you had to go back up a black tube. The scary part? You were forced to go under water to get out of the tube. In other words, the bottom part of the tube was completely submerged. Freaky. Some hesitation, again. Taylor literally shoved my butt up the tube. Then it was only a matter of crawling out and hoping your shoes had enough traction to get you out of the tube. It was intense to say the least. Oh, and Taylor is claustrophobic. Go Taylor! He did it!

James an I post race
After this, we really became segmented. The cold was bad. We finally grabbed mylar blankets. I eventually broke from group and ran the rest of the course skipping obstacles along the way. Every obstacle had water, and I was done with the water. Since I skipped obstacles, I told myself I had to run the rest. So I did. And it was great. I was never so happy to just be running and keeping my body temp up. I repeated the triple D's in my head to keep my mind occupied. Discipline, Determination, Drive. I passed people and kept on trucking until I was eventually at the end. Then I searched for Jon and my warm clothes for about 15 minutes. A shower was out of the question. Water was the enemy. We headed over to the Port-a-Potties. Jon unpinned my bib since I couldn't feel my hands. And I changed. In a Port-a-Potty. Took me forever. My tights are really tight around my ankles so with my numb hands it took about 10 minutes just to get those off. It was a slow process, but eventually I was in dry, warm clothes.

After 4-5 hours, we reconnected, hopped on the bus, walked to our cars, they passed around a bottle of Jack, and we went to McDonald's. Mmmmm....cheeseburgers. Yes, plural.

Overall, it was a great course. Although, too much water for me in the cold weather. It was 12 miles, and I think this fact escaped some people who signed up. Jon said the medics were pulling people of the course left and right. Its not easy. In fact, it lives up to its name. It was tough. TM definitely makes it a point to test racers mentally and reinforces the team aspect of its courses. I needed my team at several points during the course. I was scared/fearful when in the Boa Constrictor and Arctic Enema. I'm happy to be able to say I've done a TM, but I really don't think I will do another one. The price was steep and I'm not down with torture.

Now, time to prepare for the Super Spartan....








Monday, October 22, 2012

No Rest for the Weary

The Tough Mudder has come and gone, which completed part 1 of 3 of my week of pain. Still to come is my Spartan Hurricane Heat on Friday night and the Super Spartan on Saturday.

Thoughts/Reflections going into this week:
  • I felt pretty good overall on Saturday. I crushed all the hills with no problem. Let me tell you, there was no shortage of them. And they were big. Yay, for weight vest hill sprints, walking lunges, and having a strange love for going up and down hills.
  • I had zero cramping, which the rest of my team suffered from. Thus, my Gu's and Nuun worked. With a slight allergy to bananas and peanuts, I had to bring my own nutrition on the course. Glad I did. I carried them in a little wrist pouch I had bought a while ago at TJ Maxx for about $5. Worked like a charm. I was never really thirsty, so I was properly hydrated prior to the start. But I made sure to drink water at all of the water stations.
  • I am not built like a walrus or any other Arctic creature. I froze the entire time. My teeth were chattering before, during, and after the race. I joked with Brendan that my shoulders would be sore from shaking. Well, they are. I ended up leaving the team somewhere around mile 8 and ran the rest. There was no stopping at that point cause I probably wouldn't have been able to restart. 
  • Gloves are necessary when cold, even if I don't need them for the obstacles. I made the decision at the start line to ditch them. I was flexing my hands the entire time to try to keep them warm. Luckily Jon showed up on the sidelines around mile 7 maybe, and I got my gloves. I simply took them off and tossed them to the side on water obstacles. 
  • My shoes are the shit. No problemos on the slippery slopes we had to climb. Once again, not too heavy. To anyone seriously looking to getting into OCR, buy and train with Minimalist Trail shoes. Be sure to train with them though. Your feet, ankles, and shins need the time to adjust.
  • My tights retained water. This weekend I'm wearing Capri's. Also, less layers on top. I had my Spartan Chick tank, UA Cold Gear Mock Turtle neck, and our 'Team' shirt, a UA Heat Gear Long sleeve shirt. Independently, they are all great and wick well. Together, not so much. I'm restrategizing.
  • I am that annoying girl that is all giggles and cracking jokes that she thinks are funny the entire course. Even when the going gets tough and my lips are blue, I am still smiling, laughing, and having a great time. I love OCR. It is a sport that I see myself doing for as long as I am capable. Some people run road races, ride bike races, compete in Tri's, knit, bake, swim, etc. I am an OCRer. I enjoy the full body workout. I love running on the trails and through the woods. I love the always changing challenges from race to race. I love the training. I love the camaraderie between perfect strangers on an OCR course. I love the community and support of my fellow Spartan Chicks. Its my hobby. Its the reason I get out of bed every morning (literally). My brother signing us up for the IN Spartan has changed my life. And I will forever be grateful for that cold, wet day in April where I found the joy in pushing myself beyond my comfort level and rediscovering the basic human in me.
Post race: The top of my right foot is sore. I've been through this before. This week's focus will be on getting it back to normal. Gym shoes are out. I've been barefoot or in sandals (this includes at work). Applying RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). If I don't feel comfortable on it, I will be skipping the Hurricane Heat Friday night. My sights are set on a Trifecta, so I cannot jeopardize Saturday morning's race.

Sunday morning I woke up and decided to get a work out in. This is when I discovered that gym shoes were out. So I altered The Murph (a workout I found on Seal Fit).

Original Murph:
1 mile run
100 Pull ups
200 Push ups
300 Squats
1 Mile Run

Nicki's Murph:

5 minute jump rope with faux rope
Done 5 times with short rest between sets:
  10 Pull ups - No assistance bands since no gym shoes, so sub 4x10sec negatives (hang on at top)
  20 Push ups - Became girly push ups



 
  30 squats
5 minute faux rope
Came with my pull up bar

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Eats: Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Glaze

This weekend James and I will be doing the Tough Mudder, so my training has not been crazy. Sunday and Monday I took it easy. Tuesday, I did Will Power at the soccer field followed by 1.5 circuits of Men's Health Skinny to Spartacus work out. I tweaked something in my left forearm so I cut that W/O short. Since, I've been icing and compressing it to get it healed for the next 2 weekends. This morning I did half of my trail loop (about 2 miles). Tomorrow I'm doing a pilates video and Friday I'll just walk. I am also spending extra time stretching and foam rolling. Additionally I wanted to focus on eating clean all week which means cooking dinner every night this week. This also means sitting down and planning it out so when push comes to shove I'm not throwing in the towel and we're going out to eat.

Monday: Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Glaze and Mashed potatoes
Tuesday: Pork chops, Cinnamon Apples, and left over potatoes with cranberry
Wednesday: Stuffed Peppers
Thursday: Lasagna (my healthified version)
Friday: Steaks, sweet potatoes, and asparagus (nothing heavy the night before for me)

I've made the turkey meatballs for football parties and they are always a hit. They're like Thanksgiving dinner all rolled up into meaty goodness. Use real bread and not store bought breadcrumbs. Trust me on this one, especially if you favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is the stuffing. This recipe is adopted from Simply Recipes. (My favorite online recipe source/blog). I altered Elise's recipe to how I personally prepared it. Her actual recipe is linked above.

Ingredients:

 Cranberry Glaze:

  • 1 12oz bag of fresh cranberries
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 tsp. orange zest
  • 1 scant tsp. ginger
  • 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Turkey Meatballs:

  • 2 slices of bread (I used the heels from our loaf since we don't eat them)
  • 2 Tbsp milk
  • 1.25 lbs. ground turkey (I used 93-7%)
  • 1/4 cup ricotta
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1.5 tsp Tarragon (did not have Thyme on hand)
  • 1 tsp. fennel seeds
  • Canola Oil

Directions:

  1. Put on apron!!! Cranberries are messy and sticky. Expect to wipe down your stove, floor, and counter tops. Or maybe its just me. Who knows?
  2. Mix all ingredients for glaze in a small saucepan. Simmer on stove until cranberries have mostly burst. About 15 minutes. I keep mine on Med heat, but you may have to play with it.
  3. While cranberries simmer, prepare the meatballs.
    1. Soak bread in milk in a small bowl. Using hands, tear bread.
    2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg and ricotta.
    3. Add bread, and all other ingredients to the ricotta mixture. Hand mix. Roll into 1 inch balls. Place on cookie sheet or large platter.
  4. Heat oil in saute pan on Med-low heat. Working in batches, saute meatballs until cooked through. Jon cooked the meatballs while I worked the cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. He cooked them low and slow with a lid until they were cooked through.
  5. To finish the cranberries, strain cranberries through a fine sieve into a bowl using a spatula to press mush against the sides. This is where it gets messy. (Pictures from Simply Recipes)                    cranberry-glaze-3.jpgcranberry-glaze-4.jpg

  6. Return to stove for a few minutes to allow sauce to thicken.
  7. I serve the sauce separately from the meatballs, since I freeze the extras for a quick week night dinner. We also used it on our mashed potatoes. Elise's recipe actually has the glaze thickened in the pan while the meatballs finish so the two are fused together.
Bon Apetit!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

My First Half Mary

My first Half Mary was not started with a gun shot. It was not lined with volunteers cheering me on. It was not supported with water stations. It was not rocked out by a live band. It was not ended with a grandiose finish line. It was not crowded with other racers. It was not awarded with a shiny new medal. It was not met with hugs as I finished. No, it was none of those things. It was simply, one woman waking up with a goal to cross the half marathon distance threshold. It was me, the dirt, and the music on my iPod putting one foot in front of the other for 13.6 miles. It was me and my frozen toes and hands for the first mile or so. It was me looking at my watch and thinking, "I've been running for one and a half hours. That's crazy." It was me taking off my head phones on my final stretch so I could hear my foot steps, the creek, and the birds around me so I could enjoy the moment. It was me choking back the tears as my watch ticked off 13.1 miles because I never imagined accomplishing a half marathon distance. It was me covered in goosebumps, overcome with emotion and pride. It was me amazed by the person I have become.

It was me who walked in the door and needed bacon, Stat. "I want all the bacon that you have."




Total Distance: 13.6 miles
Total Time: 2:48:52

 
 


Quick Recap

I have slacking on my posts, so I'm going to recap super fast starting with last Saturday.

Saturday:

Spartan Obstacle?
Since Mt. Airy is mostly closed for deer hunting I've been researching new parks. I bought "60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Cincinnati" not too long ago. The author outlined a 8.1 mile hike at the Mounds State Park in Brookville, IN with decent elevation changes. So I drove the hour out there. I got lost a couple of times and had to dig the book out of my CamelBak. Her suggestion is a lollipop and I did the loop on it twice to gain more mileage. The trails are very well marked and well kept. The downsides are the travel and the $7 admission per car load. I highly recommend venturing out there and picking up the book.
The Indian Mound

Total Distance: 12.6 miles
Total Time: 2:34:17

Turtle Crossing

Perfect Spot to enjoy a Gu

Sunday: Rest day (but let's face it, I had too much wine the night before)

Monday: 1 arm circuit

Tuesday:

16 hill sprints with 30 lb vest
1 loop around usual trail with 3 pit stops for 30 burpees each time

Total Distance: 5.24 miles
Total Time: 1:22:47

Wednesday: 2 circuits of arms

Swing by Play it Again Sports after work to upgrade Dumb Bells to 20 lbs. Get mad at lady for offering to carry them not once, but two times. Come on lady.  I'm buying them, I better be able to carry them. Ironically, she looks a lot like the lady at Bob Ronkers I don't like.

Thursday:

10 Sprints up, jog back at Soccer field

Partial Barn Workout
30 Burpees
30 Burpees/Pull ups (Not great at them but they are really fun)
30 Pull ups
30 Box jumps (on stairs)
30 Med Ball Squat Throws
100 Jumping Jacks
300 Crunches
30 Body Weight Squats
30 Side Kicks (each leg)
30 Walking lunges

Friday:
Skinny to Spartacus Men's Health work out 3 rounds, 45s on, 15s off

That's it in a nut shell. Its my final big week before the TM and then the Super the following weekend. At this point I can just hope that I have trained hard enough, long enough, strong enough for the next 2 weekends. October is going to hurt.

Now, I literally have to go run.





Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Mush, Mush!

Official Spartan Sleds
While looking at pictures from the Spartan Beast in Vermont, I noticed one of the obstacles was pulling a crate on a set of ski's with some sort of weight in it. Hmmm, I can do that. I have a very old set of K2's, rope, and a cinder block. I just needed a crate. When I was leaving my massage on Friday night, I walked by The Container Store. Through the glass windows, colorful milk crates were beckoning me. Eureka! The final piece of my Spartan Sled. I ended up not buying the milk crate, but instead bought a heavy duty basket for $16.99. Jon assembled it for me Tuesday night. Let me tell you, this thing is awesome!
My DIY Spartan Sled - With convenient carrying handles :)
With my car loaded, I drove up to the park this morning. Once there I packed all of my gear into my sled and pulled it up to the soccer field. I've been reading Margaret Schlacter's Blog from the beginning, Dirt In Your Skirt. She is a professional OCR and also a former Lacrosse coach. One of her favorite training exercises is called Will Power. Basically, its a sprint/jog pyramid around the field based on the four sides of the rectangle.

TOD:

Will Power
 4 Jog Warm up
 1 Sprint/3 Jog
 2 Sprint/2 Jog
 3 Sprint/1 Jog
 4 Sprint
 3 Sprint/1 Jog - This is where you have to conjour up some Will Power
 2 Sprint/2 Jog
 1 Sprint/3 Jog

Then:
Sled Sprint (50 lb Cinder Block) Up and back
Cindy Carry - Up and back
Walking lunges - Up
10 Bear Crawls and Push ups (3 p/u's if big girl, 5 if baby) - Back
Sled Sprint - Up and Back
Cindy Carry - Up and back

Due to knee soreness, I had to skip my last round of Will Power. Still sore from Saturday's Road Run. Have I mentioned I hate Road Running?

Total Distance: 1.9 miles
Total Time: 39:38



The Old Incinerator at the base
This evening I headed over to Devou Park to test out their Mountain Bike Trails, but on foot. I packed everything into my car before work so I could head south right after work. Once I parked I braided my hair, started up my Nike+ Sportwatch, changed into shorts, switched socks, looked for my trail shoes. Expletive, Expletive, Expletive. Forgot to bring my freakin' trail shoes. They're sitting in my living room. I even made a mental note to myself to not forget them. Had to talk myself into running in my old running shoes with crap for padding and zero traction. I had come this far. Glad I did. My run was slow. Couldn't attack the trails as fast. I definitely slipped around, and I really didn't want to roll an ankle by stepping on something funny. Plus, those shoes are horrible for running in general and I could feel it in my knees. But the trails were awesome. The first 1.07 mile is a climb up the big ol' hill. I'm a weirdo. I love hills and I love to climb. Once at the top, you make a big loop and then head back down the hill. If you're a single lady, I highly recommend getting into mountain biking. Apparently its a male dominant sport. Saw about 5 of them and almost got ran over by one of them. I will say the guy that almost ran me over gave me adequate warning, I'm just not good at getting out of the way. Pretty sure I heard him laugh at me when he went by. But I digress. I've been practicing my down hill running. I know what your thinking, "Uh, you just run but down hill." Not really. I recently read an article that struck a chord with me. It basically said sit back and let gravity do the work. Keep your hips back and make sure you just keep putting your feet out striking fore foot. I am really enjoying running down hill, and I'm getting pretty fast. I will definitely be going back real soon, but with my trail shoes.

Gravel Road leading to the base
Yep, that's the climb in the background
Devou Park Trails
450 Deverill St.
Covington, KY 41011
To access the trail, park in the gravel lot at the bottom of Sleepy Hollow road by the baseball field. From there you will see a small trail that take you a gravel road. Take the gravel road up and veer left towards the fence. Walk around the fence and the trail head is right by the kiosk which has a map of the completed and proposed trails. Then...Enjoy!

Total Distance: 4.1 miles
Total Time: 57:24

Stupid Deer

I'll try to make this post quick. I have a lot of training to cram in since I haven't posted since Thursday. Sometimes life just gets in the way posting or quite frankly I just don't feel like sitting in front of the computer and typing after doing the same thing at work all day. But I do love to TRAIN!

Friday:
8 Hill sprints with 30 lb. vest; half of loop trail run
  Total Distance: 1.8 miles
 Total Time: 30:56

Friday evening, I cashed in a gift card and got a massage. It was amazing and very much needed. In the past I've gotten massages strictly for relaxation. This time it was to knead out the knots in my back, neck, and legs. Also, the masseuse, Chloe, was awesome. We got to talking and it turns out she's considering trail running. She had just made the commitment to herself to start running and was interested in trying the trails. I encouraged her to do so. I left my blog site and words of encouragement. Chloe, if you happen to read this, thanks for the massage, and by all means attack the trails. I promise you'll fall in love with the sport. The hardest part is having the courage to take the first steps.

Saturday:

I set out for Mt. Airy a little after 12pm on Saturday. My goal was to do a half marathon, 13.1 miles. Just as I was getting into my groove (.7 miles), I came across a sign. Apparently, they're deer hunting, so I had to get off the trails. Expletive, Expletive, Expletive. Dodging bullets and arrows is not a Spartan Obstacle. Turns out they will be hunting until February in 2 zones. Grrrr..... Just as I was getting used to Mt. Airy. Yet, there is some hope. The Greater Cincinnati Trail Runners are working on getting some time reserved so people can run without risk of being killed. Also, you can run after dark with a headlamp. I hope to join the group on an evening run so I can learn more and become comfortable with running at night with my headlamp.


Spartan Flying Pig!
Plan B sucked. It sucked because it involved road running. I didn't have my hiking book in my car, and I couldn't find anything really when I stopped at my parent's house to research options on the Internet. So I resolved to road running. I figured if I was going to road run, better to do it somewhere a bit more interesting. I stopped home, switched to my road shoes, added 8 lbs. of sand bags to my CamelBak and headed downtown. I parked at Sawyer Point and hit the pavement. I went up and down the Serpentine Wall. As I coming up one time, a guy asked me if I had just swam across the Ohio. That's how crazy I looked. I had my "Train or Die" BondiBand on my head, my blue and white sunglasses (think LMFAO'esque), and my pack. I looked like a loon. I proceeded across the Roebling Bridge to Covington and then over to Newport. Once to Newport, I decided I would run up and down the levy. Every time I came across a post I would sprint up and down. Mid-way through the levy, I had to take a detour through the Newport Oktoberfest. More strange stares....  Then across the Purple People Bridge back into Cincy. I hooked a right and continued up the sidewalk past the Boathouse. Wasn't feeling all too great. Decided to head back and drop of my CamelBak and do one more loop without it. On my way back, I got mean-mugged by two lady joggers. Second lap still sucked. I just ran it. My knees started hurting (gotta love the pavement for this) and I decided to cut my run short.

Total Distance: 9.7 miles

View from Roebling Bridge
Total Time: 2:19:16

Crazy Spartan Chick

Sunday:
Mental Health day (Cleaned my house so I could think straight)

Monday:
Mental Health Day Part II (Grocery Store, Laundry, more cleaning)

Tuesday:
Morning: 1 round of my arm circuit
Evening: One loop of my usual trail run and conquered Deer Fear!
  Total Distance: 3.2 miles
  Total Time: 38:36