67alecto - Warrior Dash!

[Loren Wade]

You know, I don't really remember. Hard to conceive of it not, what with the mud getting everywhere else. My priorities were to get them off and then hop in the shower after a three-hour drive, so. Being observant didn't really occur to me.

Hahaha. Okay. Sorry alecto, not trying to derail your thread here! Just was curious if I am doing my Tough Mudder in VFFs or Adidas LOL.

[67alecto]

With 6 weeks to go, I'm not looking to revamp my running style. Sports I do for fun aren't conducive to a barefoot style (tennis, basketball, cycling), so it will be shoes all the way for me. My running shoes are K-Swiss Tubes, and I have a pair of Skechers sports shoes (basically a cross-trainer style), a pair of Skechers trail shoes (which are the best ever...and they aren't making any more, so I'm definitely not doing it in them), a pair of heavy-duty hiking boots for rock trails, and a lighter pair of boots for the soft trails.

If I had to do it tomorrow, I'd use the cross trainers. We'll see.

Anyway, tonight was running. My schedule is going to be to incrementally add distance so I can I get used to the pace and build my lungs back up. I've been using different muscles for bike riding, so I need to work back into the running groove.

My tentative schedule will be:

Week 1 - 1 mile runs

Week 2 - 1.2, 1.3, 1.5

Week 3 - 1.5, 1.7, 1.9

Week 4 - 2, 2.5, 3

Week 5 - 3.1, 3.3, 3.5

Week 6 - 3.1, X, Warrior Dash!

I will also be working in runs on trails as I have several options for off-road paths. My secret weapon will be the playgrounds around my house. There are 3 schools, and 1 park that range from .7 to 1.2 miles from my house. I will run to them, climb all over the jungle gyms, and then run back.

My run tonight was 1.0 miles and I did it in 9:42. So that's my baseline.

For comparison, this Spring, my fastest non-treadmill time was a 10:55/mile pace over 2.4 miles, and I ran two 5ks at an 11:41 and 11:43 pace (the 2nd one was an actual race that had 3 big hills that had me walking for a bit).

So I'm definitely more fit than I was 5 months ago.

[catspaw]

That seems like a great schedule, 67alecto!

I'm not sure if you're planning to try to speed up your mile splits (you mentioned time a few times, which is why I bring it up) but in my experience you should aim to increase distance or speed, not both. If you want both, split it up into different sessions (for example, speed drills once a week instead of distance-increasing runs) or different weeks. But just increasing distance and letting your speed be your speed would be my highest recommendation.

[67alecto]

That seems like a great schedule, 67alecto!

I'm not sure if you're planning to try to speed up your mile splits (you mentioned time a few times, which is why I bring it up) but in my experience you should aim to increase distance or speed, not both. If you want both, split it up into different sessions (for example, speed drills once a week instead of distance-increasing runs) or different weeks. But just increasing distance and letting your speed be your speed would be my highest recommendation.

That's a great point.

Overall, my goal is to maintain a pace that will let me finish a regular 5k in <30 minutes. For that, I need a <9:40 pace. So my goals is to work up the distance while maintaining that pace. When I was running in the Spring, my times were all over the place. I'd finish the first mile in 10:27, and the 2nd in 11:30, for example.

I know the Warrior Dash will take much longer than a 5k on a paved course, plus will have obstacles. I want to have the energy to keep running and still be able to climb cargo nets, scale walls with a rope, climb over junked cars, run through tires, and leap over flames (while muddy).

[signalguy]

Any mud get into the shoe? Just curious.

Mud got into everywhere when I ran it. But it rained all week prior to my run so the course was 6-8" deep everywhere. I just washed my sneakers and everything was fine.

[signalguy]

You'll also want to throw in some hill sprints in there. I'm sure you'll be climbing a few decent hills during the dash. Based on my experience, you'll likely be on the course roughly 2x as long as your 5k time.

[67alecto]

You'll also want to throw in some hill sprints in there. I'm sure you'll be climbing a few decent hills during the dash. Based on my experience, you'll likely be on the course roughly 2x as long as your 5k time.

Yep, I've already laid the course map over a topographical map and there is a good-sized elevation range (I want to say 400ft, but I need to look again...might be 200 down and 200 back up). It will start out flat, go pretty sharply downhill, then curve around and come back up hill.

Hill running is on the agenda too - the local Nature Center has a 3 mile system and the trail head is at the top of a ridge and all trails have to come up the ridge to get back. The reverse is true for the closest Greenways trail to my house. It starts out in a hollow, and immediately goes into a winding s-curve uphill stretch, levels off, drops down a bit, and then goes straight up (or at least that's how it feels).

[67alecto]

Trail running/hike today. I did a loop at Busiek State forest that should be similar in topography to the Warrior Dash. The difference is the ground - where I was the ground ranged from powdery dirt in small sections, to a more common broken rock/dirt, and all the way to long stretches of football-sized rocks (usually on the steep hills). There was also a good-sized stretch of exposed and water-worn limestone. It looked like a lava field the way it jutted and was pocked with holes and channels.

Total distance was approximately 3.5 miles. I jogged approximately 2 miles of it, starting with a stretch of .7 miles, and ending with a .5 mile stretch. Interspersed with that, I would jog when the terrain was conducive to it and my companion* allowed me to. I had no cell coverage, so I couldn't trace the route with my phone.

*My companion was a stray dog...well, it obviously had belonged to someone at some point. He was clean, if a bit skinny, and extremely friendly. He was whining either for food or affection. He was either abandoned there (there are a dozen camp sites in the area, and a lot of people hike, bike, or ride horses through there every day), or he had otherwise been separated from his owner.

I made the mistake, as I would learn, of petting him when he came running up after I parked. He followed me the entire route. On the wide sections, he would trot along side me, eventually moving in front and stopping. Constantly.

Once the trail got into the woods and on the ridges, it was a very narrow path, and he was running behind me and kept trying to kill me by stepping on or bumping into my feet and legs.

Besides the dog, it was a good workout. I didn't have my watch, but according to my phone, I left the trail head at 10:10, and got back to it at 11:21 for a total of 71 minutes for the 3.5 miles.

[Cat-Burglar]

I ran the Warrior Dash in Colorado a few weeks ago. So much fun. You're gonna love it!

[Kishi]

So, what happened to the dog?

[67alecto]

So, what happened to the dog?

As soon as I got back to the parking lot, he went and laid down next to the same car he was near when I arrived. Now, that could be "his" car, or it may simply been because it was in the shade.

When I left, he was harassing someone who had just parked.

[67alecto]

Figures, I wander away from the board, and then when I want to log stuff, it is down.

So, strength training last night.

Today was running - the last 1 mile run for this week. My son has expressed an interest in running, and had wanted to do a running club last year but we weren't able to because of of our schedules.

This year, the cross country "season" will be the next 6 weeks. It's on the most inconvenient day it could possibly be, but we're going to make it work with the help of my mom. So, I convinced him to come on a 1 mile run with me. I told him we'd do it now, and then again after his season was over (which culminates in a race, the week after I do the Warrior Dash).

So, he had run with me before - in the spring, we ran on a trail and he kept having to stop to catch his breath. So, as he would run for PE and recess (to start recess in 4th grade, everyone first had to do a lap on the track, so faster lap = more play time), I would tell him the key was to breath deeply right from the start.

He told me last week that he was able to run a lap around the track at school (somewhere between .25 ad .4 miles I believe). He also said he was the fastest in the class in the race to the fence which borders the school.

So, with all that being said, I convinced him to come on a run. We were running a trail that was about 1/3 paved and 2/3rds wood chips over dirt that runs parallel to Wilson's Creek. I told him his goal was to not have to stop - run as fast as he felt he could maintain.

So, we started, and he (being a 9-year old boy), immediately darted in front of me so he could be in the lead.

He has obviously gotten a lot more fit and better at controlling his breathing from all of the swimming team prep he was doing earlier this year. He maintained an easy jog and finished 3 seconds ahead of me. I *probably* could have kicked past him, but I had checked the time at the half-mile point and saw I was well ahead of pace.

I finished in 9:13, which is nearly 30 seconds faster than I ran earlier this week.

[Kain]

I haz completed the dash! Updates tomorrow

[67alecto]

I haz completed the dash! Updates tomorrow

awesome, can't wait to read it

[67alecto]

Been thinking about it...I'm amending my no-shaving pledge to be an interesting trim right before the dash.

[bildungsroman]

That looks so awesome, I wish I could do one. Good luck! Get a friend to take some video!

[Sandwich]

Been thinking about it...I'm amending my no-shaving pledge to be an interesting trim right before the dash.

MUTTON CHOPS!!!

You know you want the manliest beard ever!

[67alecto]

MUTTON CHOPS!!!

You know you want the manliest beard ever!

Close - I'm probably going Sabretooth...

[Serpymatt]

Good luck on the Dash man! I attempted yesterday and could not finish - way under prepared for the amount of hills and cardio on the Oregon course. Time to lose more weight, kick up the training, and destroy it next year

[67alecto]

Week 1:

Ran 3x - Done

Strength Training 2x - Done

Don't shave - Done

Week 1 Beard Check:

[Sandwich]

He has some form of modified Mutton chop. Awesome. You are gonna look like a BAMF!

I am going to do the Dash here in AZ in April. I was thinking about doing the Tough Mudder in January, but I do not think I will be ready.

[dracopervicax]

Figures, I wander away from the board, and then when I want to log stuff, it is down.

So, strength training last night.

Today was running - the last 1 mile run for this week. My son has expressed an interest in running, and had wanted to do a running club last year but we weren't able to because of of our schedules.

This year, the cross country "season" will be the next 6 weeks. It's on the most inconvenient day it could possibly be, but we're going to make it work with the help of my mom. So, I convinced him to come on a 1 mile run with me. I told him we'd do it now, and then again after his season was over (which culminates in a race, the week after I do the Warrior Dash).

So, he had run with me before - in the spring, we ran on a trail and he kept having to stop to catch his breath. So, as he would run for PE and recess (to start recess in 4th grade, everyone first had to do a lap on the track, so faster lap = more play time), I would tell him the key was to breath deeply right from the start.

He told me last week that he was able to run a lap around the track at school (somewhere between .25 ad .4 miles I believe). He also said he was the fastest in the class in the race to the fence which borders the school.

So, with all that being said, I convinced him to come on a run. We were running a trail that was about 1/3 paved and 2/3rds wood chips over dirt that runs parallel to Wilson's Creek. I told him his goal was to not have to stop - run as fast as he felt he could maintain.

So, we started, and he (being a 9-year old boy), immediately darted in front of me so he could be in the lead.

He has obviously gotten a lot more fit and better at controlling his breathing from all of the swimming team prep he was doing earlier this year. He maintained an easy jog and finished 3 seconds ahead of me. I *probably* could have kicked past him, but I had checked the time at the half-mile point and saw I was well ahead of pace.

I finished in 9:13, which is nearly 30 seconds faster than I ran earlier this week.

Nothing like a young whipper snapper to help you keep pace. Congrats on the time! Those young folks sure do have a way of motivating you.

[67alecto]

Starting week 2. Did a 1.2 mile route in 11:25, which works out to a 9:31 pace. So far, so good.

[67alecto]

Did the trail run again this week. Did in 60:03 (I remembered to wear my watch this time). That is compared to the ~71 it took last time. I definitely ran more of the trails this time, partly because I felt like I could, and mostly because that dog wasn't there trying to kill me or continually coming to a stop right in front of me.

It's around a 3.5 mile loop, and as I described before, it basically runs along a stream for awhile, before it proceeds to climb a ridge, go down the other side, up another ridge, and then down and around the next.

It rained a bit yesterday, but not enough to fill the streams, and it wasn't really mud. Damp dirt would be a better description.

Most of Missouri is limestone, so on a lot of the ridges, the "trails" actually look like this:

[catspaw]

Looks beautiful. Watch your footing, though!

(I broke my ankle last winter running in central park. I had to run on anti-gravity treadmills for months to keep training while recovering.)