It's really starting to bug me that I'm missing the group runs. I have been running on my own, but it's a bit harder to motivate. I've done a couple 7 milers in hills which were good. This week I'm on vacation in Florida, and am finding the wet, heavy air to be a challenge. I guess it's a matter of getting used to it, but my this have been disappointing distance wise, only 4 miles before I feel pretty wiped out.
Climate makes a big difference too. Back when I was in the Marines in SoCal, there would be days when I'd go for my lunchtime run and just suck. I'd be slow and weak and wiped out. Then I'd get in and remember it was a...I don't think I ever ran on a "red flag" day but it would be on a day when outdoor training was restricted due to hot weather.
So I completed the mudder, and it was both awesome and really hard. There were four climbs of about 800-1,000 feet, three of them coming in the final four miles. The total course length was about 11.5 miles. The obstacles were all pretty easy, but the hills just completely killed. People were dropping like flies on those hills, because it was very hot (mid-90s) and they were very steep (mostly black diamond ski slopes). Anyway, here's me after the race, and then I'll make two more posts, with some other pictures.
This first set is pictures from our Saturday trainings. We had 12 people do the Mudder together, and most of us (along with a few others) got together weekly to run and otherwise work out on trails in the Blue Hills nature preserve just south of Boston. The terrain was quite rocky, and at first also challenged us with snow and ice. We never got any hot weather, so none of the training quite prepared us for the heat, but it did give us a lot of climbing work.
Here's one before race picture, along with a bunch from afterward. I'll do one more post with some pictures ripped off from the official photographer site, showing us in action.
This--and a marathon--is on my To Do list. It is pretty low on the list. But it is on there. Looks comparable--but more fun--to the endurance course at The Basic School. IIRC, that was a 5 mile loop that we ran twice. Mostly terrain with some obstacles. If you remember the beginning of "Silence of the Lambs," the ropes Jody Foster is climbing up embankments are on that course (TBS is right next to the FBI Academy). The difference is Jody Foster's character was running it in sweats. 2nd Lts run it in a combat uniform with helmet and flack, carrying a rifle and a gallon worth of water in canteens. Of course I'm not 28 any more. That kind of exercise would probably kill me. Hell, the 20 mile hike (with full gear and packs) nearly killed me then.
I don't often get to analyze improvement over time. I can measure weight changes, but there are too many positive and negative explanations available for any change. Did I lose weight because I've lost body fat? Or did I lose muscle mass? Likewise, is weight gain a sign of muscle or fat? I've railed many times against BMI because it doesn't acknowledge the difference between these two elements of body composition. As for other metrics, I can observe that I've upped the amount of weight I lift over time, but much of my other work-outs are so varied, that there is no one to one comparison. Back in February, we tried to set some base line measures in a class I'm taking, we did five exercises, for 7 minutes each, and counted reps. Burpees, pull-ups, squat jumps, kettle bell dead lifts, and sit-ups, as many that we could do in each of the 7 minute sessions. I kind of forgot about this, but we returned to it today. I manged to increase my aggregate total reps by 25%. Gotta say, the 35 minutes was a real hump, but I feel very good about the progress, especially because we didn't necessarily target any of these in the way one of those 30 day programs might. Improvement came from improvements to general fitness, not from practicing these exercises several times a week.
Gul's Independence Day WOD! Run up a ski slope Do 1,2,3 --> 10,20,30 of Spiderman burpees, weighted squats, and tuck jumps Run 3 miles through the woods Run up the ski slope again
