Yesterday morning I set out for Mt. Airy Forest for a nice, long 8+ mile trail run including the climb up the 200 Stone Steps. I was really looking forward to climbing those stairs. I love hills and steps. I printed the course from the Dirt Trail Series. I also printed the trail map from the City's park website. I highlighted the Dirt Trail course since the City's map was easier to read. I parked my car at the big oval, and into the woods I went. Mt. Airy is a great place for trail running. I will admit, I was a little nervous to run alone since its not on the best section of Colerain Ave. However, there were a ton of people on the trails. I saw hikers, dog walkers, and other trail runners. On the way in, I saw what looked like a men's running camp. So fear not Cincinnatians, Mt. Airy seems pretty safe on a Saturday morning. The city's trail map, not so great. Yes, it laid out all of the trails, but the map does not mark them. There were many forks in the trails that were marked with letters and arrows but my map did not mark the trails in the same manner. Needless to say there was a ton of back tracking. I definitely did not follow the course I had laid out. This was apparent when I reached the Stone Steps, but at the wrong end. I was at the top. Four Letter word expletive. Then I look down. Ahh...I believe a Spartan had been here before. There, next to the trail marker, was a log. A guaranteed obstacle in a Spartan Race is to carry something, whether its a log or a Spartan Pancake, up and down a gigantic hill. Here I was at the top of really steep stairs staring at a log. I knew what to do.
The rock was a little too heavy to carry, so the Log it was
View from the top. Notice that the stairs magically disappear.
I started marching down the stairs. Not the best constructed stairs and no handrails, so this was actually a little scary. I told myself this is great balance training, now don't fall down. If you do, all of your appendages will be bent in right angles in the wrong direction. Oh, and you won't be found for days. As I was going down, two ladies were going up. I stepped aside so they could pass. As they did, the second lady asked, "Why are you carrying that?" "Cause I'm a beast," is what I thought. "I'm training for a Spartan Race and they make you do this," is what I really said. How dare her question my training? Yeah, I'm carrying a log down steep stairs. Why not? I want to be strong, not skinny and dainty. In real life I'm more likely to have to carry something of awkward shape up a hill or up stairs, than have to lift a perfectly balanced metal bar using only my arms. Its called functional fitness. Whatever lady. Don't hate, cause you ain't.
Once at the bottom, I paused for a short photo shoot. This was my second balance work out of the day. Trying to pick up the log while holding my iTouch and getting it up on my shoulder. The result is below. Not pretty, but as I said before, if you look good, then you're not doing it right.
You can see the stairs in the background to give it some perspective.
The view from the bottom.
I marched up. It hurt so good. My legs burned the entire way up. Awesome. When I struggle or it hurts, I always remind myself that its pain now, but it will pay off on the Spartan course. One step at a time. As I approached the top, two young, strong trail runners ran by. The one saw me and tapped his buddy. I think they were shocked to see me climbing these stairs with a log. I wish I could better describe this moment. The one guy gave me a "Good work." Wow. That was a sign of respect and that felt good. In fact that made the rest of the run so much better.
I continued my run, checking my map, and back tracking from time to time. The top of my right foot started to hurt. Trail running causes more stress on your feet and ankles since you're running over roots and rocks. You are constantly maneuvering around obstacles on the trail. I tightened my shoes. That helped some. Then it started hurting more. Tightened my shoe again. And it started again. I laid off and did more walking. I made my way out of the woods and back to the oval. At my car, I chugged water and ate a Cliff bar. After evaluating the situation, I decided to end my run. I still had another 3 miles to go, but I didn't want to push my foot. Once on the road, I called my sister-in-law, Becky, who is the best physical therapist in the world. I told her about my foot. I made the right decision to stop. We figured its only a strain, however continued work on it can lead to a stress fracture. Basically, rest a little now or rest a whole lot later if it becomes a stress fracture. Once home, I iced it and took some ibuprofen for the inflammation.
Earlier this week I ordered a CamelBak LUXE, which is a hydration backpack. They are great when covering longer distances. I had hoped that it would arrive on Friday in time for my trail run, but it of course came Saturday afternoon as I was icing my foot. I bought it since my runs are getting longer and many of the racers recommend them for the longer Spartans. It has a low profile so I don't have to worry about it getting in the way. Plus, it has pockets for Goo's and Cliff Bars or whatever else I may need on the course. And, its Brown! Mud is brown, CamelBak is brown. Not too worried about discoloration. I got it from Rock Creek for $55. Its an older model so it was relatively cheap. This year's models run about $100, so I got a great deal.
Chest and waist straps so stays in place when running.
Its compact with a low profile. Bonus: Pretty sure that's Ryan Lochte on TV!
Its pretty with lots of pockets. The blue tube is the nozzle.
The hydration pack. Its a long bag, so its not bulky.
Today's post is short and sweet. Just sharing my WOD (workout of the day). Its from memory because I can't find my note with my list of exercises on it. Pretty sure it may have disintegrated from all of my sweat. So the list may not be in the exact order actually performed.I did my 3.5 mile route with a pit stop at the park (1 mile point) for 2 bouts of the following.
Inverted Pull ups (20)
Sprint to top of the hill
Crunches (50)
Mountain Climbers (50)
Tri-dips between picnic tables (25)
Leg Lifts (25)
Burpees (30)
Push Ups (10)
Spider Planks (20)
Walking Lunges (50)
One legged wall jumps (15 each leg)
Run along border of playground and slip 2 times (for balance)
Wednesday morning I woke with a plan to do the Spartan Race WOD from Tuesday which was designed by Hobie Call. I had everything set up and ready to go. I started, and I really just was not feeling it. Ugghh... Instead, I decided to refocus my efforts on my Big Girl Push ups. I went upstairs, pushed the coffee table out of the way, and grabbed a pen and note pad. Pyramid push ups it was. With rests at the dashes it looks like this:
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
I made it through the back nine. Jon, my husband and apparently my technique coach, pointed out to me that I was positioning my palms too wide. I told him that I knew my palms should be aligned with my shoulders but if I did that I would land on my face. So, of course, I told him to do some so I could watch the pro. Ah ha, moment. Your elbows go out to the sides, not back behind you next to your body. No wonder I thought I was going to fall on my face. With my form corrected I proceeded through my pyramid, well the back nine. These are extremely hard, and I was feeling very discouraged. I mean, come on. I was struggling with stinking push ups. How the hell was going to complete 13-14 miles Spartan Insanity in December. What did I get myself into? I may really die in TX. On my gravestone have them etch:
Nicki Green
Aug 28, 1982 - Dec 8, 2012
Bit of more than she could chew
Feeling discouraged, I went downstairs to my pull up bar. It only makes sense, that if I'm sucking at one thing to move on to the other thing I suck at. I proceeded to practice my pull ups with my chair. Feeling even more crappy about myself. No way am I going to make it over walls or up ropes if I can't do a pull up or a push up. Am I really up for it? Some of the girls in my Spartan Chick group do Crossfit, Insanity, P90X, work with trainers, etc. They have their pics of them with super buff arms and doing the Crossfit games, and posting how they only ran 8 miles that day. Am I good enough for this? Here I am, doing it by myself. Making stuff up as I go. Doing the Spartan Race WOD's they put out. Making my own equipment. Slowly collecting new stuff as I go. I have those thoughts often, but yesterday morning was different. It wasn't a passing thought, it stuck with me all day. It affected my whole day. I have put everything I have in my training over the past few months, and thinking all of this is leading up to a huge failure, really put a damper on my day.
On the way home from work, I did some serious thinking about that morning's work out. Maybe it was seeing the sun (my office is windowless), that brightened my thoughts. I did the math and added up the total number of push ups I did that morning: 60. And that made me feel pretty damn good. 60 push ups. That's a lot. Good job Nicki. Maybe you can do this after all. Then I double checked my math and added it up again: 64. Even better. You actually did 64 push ups. Way to cheat yourself, you accountant major, you. Yeah, I took breaks, and broke them up into a more manageable reps, but I did sixty-freakin-four push ups. And, boy do my arm pits hurt today.
Once home, I separated the laundry and tossed in a load. On the way out of the laundry room I heard my pull up bar beckoning me. I stood underneath it, put my hands on the 2 parallel bars on the side and heaved. Up I went. No jump, just pure strength pulling my badonkadonk off the floor and all the way up. Simultaneous clap and "Bam", "In your face pull up bar", "You can suck it", karate kick. Smiles ear to ear. Did it. Then did it again. Smaller, less dramatic victory dance. Then did 1/2 of one. Alright. Nicki can do 2.5 parallel pull ups. Oh, and I made over that dreaded emotional hump. Back to feeling confident and good about my self.
And that's where Cake stops being applicable. I guess technically I am all alone when I train, but I have Jon and others offering their full support.
Anyways, I did go the distance on Friday. I set a personal record of 8.4 miles. I started my run Friday morning with the intentions of going on my 5.5 mile route. However, I was feeling pretty good. There was a lady at a bus stop, and I asked her for the time. It was only 7:50. I had time to kill, so I made like Forrest and kept running. I did have to walk some, but I basically covered the distance of a Super Spartan. Woo hoo. Now I just need to be able to scale walls, climb ropes, pull cement buckets, drag concrete blocks, crawl under barbed wire, etc, for those 8 + miles. At one point during my run, there was a couple of tires sitting next to a curb. I had to resist the urge to pick them up one by one and hurl them as far as possible. The problem with being an OCR addict is that everything around you becomes an obstacle, like junk tires.
Going into the weekend I had great intentions. We were supposed to go to our lake house Friday night so we could wake up early. I planned to swim and then bike a few times around the lake. Sunday, I planned to do Hobie Call's rock intervals. Well, none of this happened. We got to the lake on Saturday morning. Jon's nipple got bit by a Blue Gill while chillakin' in a cove. And it was really just a long, lazy weekend. Lots of junk food and sheer laziness. Well, this carried over to Monday and no exercising then either. I think all of the crappy food I ate and the alcohol gave me a bit of a food hangover.
Tuesday, I woke with a vengeance. Unfortunately, so did Mother Nature. I had planned on doing Hobie Call's rock work out with my hot pink brick, but it was storming outside. Drizzle, no problemo. Thunder and lightning and I'm staying indoors. Can't OCR if I'm dead. I also had limited time. So into the basement I went. I did one round of intervals based on the rock work but modified for the indoors. Also, my medicine ball is only 10 lbs. and my pink brick is 20, so less weight.
Chest throws against the wall (10 lbs medicine ball) - 2 minutes.
10 Push ups
(Break through: Decided to ban little girl push ups and put on my big girl panties. To summarize: Quantity decreased drastically and quality increased.)
Kettle Bell swings (25 lbs) - 2 minutes
10 Burpees
Slams with medicine ball (my fav anger management exercise) - 2 minutes
10 Push ups (Why did I ban little girl push ups..Arggghhh)
Tuesday evening I went to my brother's house to pick up my weighted vest. He works at a sporting goods store and got one for me over the weekend. Now I'm going to cry sexism. I have looked everywhere, and the women's vests are only available in 20 lbs. I call bull shit. The men's come in 40 lbs. To 'weight' the vest, you stuff 1 lb sand bags in pockets sewn all over the vest, so I can have a 30 lb vest. The issue is, I'm not a barrel chested man with broad shoulders. So I have a vest that is too wide and I have difficulty lifting my arms since the shoulders are so broad. But since product designers think women are weak, I'll have to deal with it and they can suck it.
With my vest in tow, I went over to White Oak Middle School. This is where every kid in the area goes on a snow day. Why? Because its a big, steep, fast hill. Why did I go? Because its a big, steep hill and I want to be fast. If you want to get faster, run up a hill. If you want to get faster running up a hill, add a weighted vest. I donned my vest, and ran up the hill 10 times. I got lots of stares from people walking on the school grounds, but I'm pretty sure they were thinking, "Wish I could do that." I then ran 10-15 times (lost count) without the vest. Then finished up with 3 sets of 12 Tri-dips on a wall and bench. Once home, I did some very assisted pull ups. On the link above there is also a weighted vest work out that maybe you'll read about next week.
Last night, Jon and I tried rock climbing. I bought a deal from Amazon Local for $25 at Blue Ash Climb Time. It included the Belaying lesson, shoes, harness, and all the climbing we wanted. I've been looking forward to it since its good for grip and upper body strength. For those who have never done this, basically the person on the ground works the belay. You have to keep pulling the rope through the device so there is no slack. For me this was the work out. My right bicep was burning. Once to the top, the climber makes sure the belayer is ready, and just lets go. This was the scariest part. I hesitated before letting go. Yet, after a couple of times, this became my favorite part. What can I say? I enjoy falling. Explains my love of roller coasters and sky diving. This is also a great trust test. Don't go with your worst enemy, unless of course you plan on being their belayer. We tried different walls, including the ones that are slanted. At one point I ran over to the guide and asked if he had scissors. My middle finger nails were long and getting in my way. Pretty sure this earned me some street cred. Turns out this is a common problem, and he had some nail clippers handy. Jon is a natural. I think in a former life he may have been a monkey. He thinks he's good because of his survival instinct. Meaning, "Don't let go." This is definitely something we will be doing again. I hope to do it pretty regularly (maybe every couple of weeks) as part of my training.
Jon bouldering - climbing without the rope
This morning I took out my old buddy, Kingsford. He is a 20lb charcoal bag wrapped in 2 contractor bags taped up with hot pink duck tape. Then stuffed in a military laundry bag purchased from the military surplus store in Northside for $1.99. He's tied up with rope I bought from Lowes for $10. I have no idea how I tied it up. I just conjured up my Christmas wrapping skills and made it so it had a handle. Jon was actually pretty impressed with it. He even asked where I learned how to do that. Shoot, I got mad skillz. The finishing touch is my spray painted, hot pink Spartan helmet. I made a stencil out of cardboard by printing it on paper, cutting it out, tracing it on said cardboard, and then cutting out the stencil with a box cutter. My stencil scares Jon. Its stored in the basement and he's worried about what else will be Spartanized.
I left the house with Kingsford on my shoulder, iTouch on my right arm, and my GymBoss on my left. Its a mile walk to the park. I jogged from time to time and always jog up the hills. I also switched Kingsford between shoulders and different holds. Once to the park I did my interval training. Not only was my usual maintenance man there, but also 3 other city workers. All of them watching me as I tossed Kingsford over my head, planked, ran around picnic tables, burpeed, etc. I mean, literally watching me like you would watch a TV or the Reds game. After three bouts of 8 count intervals, I made the mile march back home.
Below are my intervals. 60 seconds on, 15 second rest. I unintentionally focused on my shoulders. Yesterday, I caught the Insanity Work Out infomercial on TV, so I watched Shaun T a bit. Mostly because I wanted to see what kind of exercises he was doing. I mean, if Shaun T is doing it, then Nicki G should be doing it. I added Mountain Climbers and side step push ups to my intervals this morning. Wow. Mountain climbers are a doozy. Perhaps I was still a little sore from rock climbing but those will definitely find their way into my rotation.
Squat to Shoulder press with Kingsford
x
Push Up side steps (both directions)
x
Chest Press with Kingsford
x
Mountain Climbers
x
Burpees
x
High Knees
x
Rows with Kingsford
x
Plank
100 Crunches, 25 Leg Lifts, 25 Bicycles
Lap around the picnic tables
(The picnic tables are set so that they make a nice round lap around the bottom of the park. I run to each, jump up on the bench, run across, and go to the next)
Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.
-George Edward Woodberry
I find this quote to be fitting for this post. On August 28th, I turn the big 3-0. When I started training back at the beginning of April, I immediately noticed pull-ups were a big part of the Spartan WOD's. Almost all WOD's include pull-ups. They are the ultimate body weight excerise. If you can do a pull-up, then you are in shape. You are a Beastly Haus! One day I randomly decided that I will do 5 unassisted pull-ups by my 30th birthday. Wow. That was ambitious. Haus Status at 30. Sure, I can do that. Plus I posted it on Facebook, so I have to put my money where my mouth is.
Jon found a doorway pull-up bar on clearance at TJ Maxx, and bought it for me. He likes his ladies with rippling muscles. :) He got it out of the box, and we decided we were going to put it up on our second bedroom door frame. Its right next to the bathroom, so the strategy was to attempt a pull-up every time we head to the bathroom. Well, apparently our Sear's catalog home did not come with standard door frames. It fit nowhere. So, the pull up bar did not go up that night. Jon is amazing at rigging stuff. He can fix, rig, assemble, and build anything. After a trip to Lowes, he hung the pull up bar last night. Ironically, its on the way to our bathroom downstairs.
I've been doing Tricep training in lieu of not having a pull up bar. I also hung one of my bands over an I-beam and have been pulling on those. All of this in the hopes of doing at least one pull once the bar got installed. Fail. That bar put me in my place: on the ground with both feet planted. I wasn't going down withouth a fight though. I pulled up a chair. I hung a band to put my knee on for assistance. I climbed back up there. Ouch. The band was hurting my shin. Yelled upstairs to Jon to toss me down a kitchen towel. Alright, now I can do a pull up. Still hard, even with my right knee in the sling and my left foot on the chair. Jon came downstairs to check on me. "Let's see it." I showed him my greatly assisted pull up. "Well, you're doing the hardest one. Why don't you start with the side ones. You have to learn to crawl before you walk." My husband is a genius. So I switched to the bars that stick out to the sides, and that was definitely easier. Not easy enough to do unassisted, but easier. I hung out downstairs and kept at it. I vow to do this at least once a day. I had to tell myself, it will get easier, just like everything else. Just like the stupid planks. Chances are I won't be doing 5 unassisted pull ups by August 28th, but at least I will have tried and that counts for something. Just ask my rippling muscles when they're 30.
Frenemy
Oh, and if you noticed I added my Spartan Badges to the right. Instantly upped my Blog's BA factor.
Its official. I am signed up to race the Spartan Beast in Glen Rose, TX on December 8th at 12:30pm. Scared? Hell, yes. I get nervous just thinking about it. But it will complete my Trifecta (if I manage to complete the Super in Chicago), so I'll crawl across the damn finish line if I have to or if they make me due to an obstacle. As I've said before, I'm part of a FB group of Spartan Chicks. I've managed to figure out that two of them will be lining up with me at 12:30. Even though I will be racing as an individual and so will they, we'll be able to offer some mental support and reassurance at the start.
As far as my work out this morning, it went well with only 1 major mishap. Can you spot it?
3.3 mile Trail run
100 body weight squats
30 push ups
43 walking lunges
Step in dog poop
1 minute plank
100 crunches
3.3 mile Trail run
Today was a long work out. I definitely ran out of gas my second time around the trail. My current morning routine is to make coffee, assemble my lunch for the day, and then work out. So, the only thing in my tummy is coffee. For short sessions, this works. However, I am definitely going to need to add some sort of breakfast for the longer hauls. I'm thinking of trying a rice cake with almond butter (I can't eat peanut butter). Today also reaffirmed my need to invest in a CamelBak sooner than later. I planned on getting one anyways for the Super and the Beast, but now is the time. Not only will I have water with me, but I will also be able to stash goo, wipes, or anything else I may need. Finally, I'm a sweaty mess. I believe if you look good when working out, then you're not doing it right. After my work out, I took off my shirt and I was able to wring sweat out of it. Our laundry hamper hates Spartan Chicks. I have to bring an old towel to put on my driver's seat so I don't soak it. Learned that lesson not that long ago when I sat at work with a wet hiney. Nasty. My socks were an issue today. They are thick and padded which is nice, but by the end, they were just squishy with sweat. Everytime I stepped, it felt like I was running on a gym mat. I need to get better socks that wick moisture. Blisters and/or soggy feet are no good.
