QuirkyDM deploys against the Kaiju

[Xena]

So awesome! LOVE that you made it fun to run around carrying logs with your kids. Quite the awesome epic trail run. Keep it up!

[The Swedish Ninja]

Damn girl, that´s impressive!

What an end for a solid first week. So many great things: Husband, kids, trails, running, the list could go on.

Keep the momentum going and this challenge will be utterly crushed!

[Chris56Ryan]

Wow now that's what I call a great weekend and a great start to the challenge

Sent from my nokia 3210

[QuirkyDM]

Thanks for all the supportive feedback, guys! It was a fantastic weekend and felt great.

 

Um....

 

Apparently, I need to step up my training.

 

Also, love that you were able to get the kids involved.  Mine mostly think I'm nuts.  They aren't really wrong...

 

Nice work, man!

Mine think I'm nuts, too. What we've been telling them since they've been little is that insanity is hereditary- there's no point in fighting it. They're just as crazy as we are.

 

Love that you are getting your kids cooking!  When I was little, even before high school, my parents would have my sisters and me cook dinner on days when they came home later from work.  For the first while they ate a lot of macaroni, beans, and hot dogs, but eventually we got in to cooking other things like spaghetti and meat sauce (home made) or roast beef and potatoes.  

 

Definitely helps with life later down the line.  

 

Also great job on your exercise over the weekend.  

Yeah, we were the same- started with spaghetti, meatloaf and chili and we went from there. My mom said her goal was to make sure I'd make a good husband someday.

 

Awesome weekend

Yes, yes it was.

 

man I suck at running

I think you used the wrong emoticon there. It should be some sort of sarcasm smiley instead.

Dude, you are one of those non-stop guys I go to to see how far away limits are and how much I'm NOT doing. Keep up what your doing- I need that motivation!

 

EPIC! That's all I can say EPIC!  and that is So Awesome that you get your kids involved.  I'm trying to do that with my daughter (well as much as I can with a 4 yr old).  Your kids look like they really enjoy it too.  I'm in awe!

Yeah, they do enjoy it. My daughter is a long distance runner and she's waiting for the day she can do the adult courses. And my son- well, he's a typical little boy. Mud, run and climbing are built into his system.

 

what an awesome sounding weekend.  What's your secret to getting the kids to go out with you.....I took mine out on Saturday too, but in order to get them out of the house I had to bribe them with the fact that we would be going past the playground, then I had to put up with the "are we at the playground yet" for the entire 1.3km that I managed to get them to do....Hopefully in a couple of years time they'll get there..

 

And man that run - wow.  I'd love to try a short version of that - looks like a great train, but no way am I ready for 3 hours of running - especially uphills.

They're 9 and 11, so that helps. I think they get out because it's fun to do stuff with dad. Plus, this is practically like going on a extended playground play trip. What's to complain about?

One lap of that trail is only about an hour. It's only us wackos that go out longer than that.

 

So awesome! LOVE that you made it fun to run around carrying logs with your kids. Quite the awesome epic trail run. Keep it up!

Yeah, we might make it a Saturday ritual. By the time they're 14, they're going to tear those Spartan races apart.

 

Damn girl, that´s impressive!

What an end for a solid first week. So many great things: Husband, kids, trails, running, the list could go on.

Keep the momentum going and this challenge will be utterly crushed!

I don't know if "Damn girl" is just an expression or not, but I'm a guy. No insult there of course, because I've had my butt kicked by so many women in karate over the years that any adolescent gender issues were beat out of me a long time ago.

 

Wow now that's what I call a great weekend and a great start to the challenge

Yeah- I'm not sure how to follow that up over the next 6 weeks. But I have some ideas ...

 

Epic fitness weekend, FTW! i hope you've got some good recovery planned after that.

Well, I did postpone my gym day until Tuesday. But I'm not sure that was enough ...

 

Wednesday Report

So to recover from the epic hill run, I pushed my planned gym workout on Monday morning to Tuesday and just played beach volleyball at lunch. What I feel good about is that even though my leg muscles are tired, there's no stiff muscles and no aching joints. Last year, I was foam rolling after a 2 hour run just so I could walk the rest of the day. My body must be getting used to it. Or giving up even trying to let me know when to stop.

On the other hand, squats on Tuesday was still a little too soon after the bug run. I had to bail on the last rep of my 4th set. So combined with the hill run and going to failure on squats, now my legs are definitely tired. Not too tired to get PLP and burpees done, but tired enough. Today is just a recovery run. Because I have more bad news for my legs this weekend and they need to get ready.

PLP is at 23 today. I switched to reverse lunges yesterday and they're much better. They isolate the legs more and it's harder to put bad pressure on your knees. Pull ups are still at 4 sets. (did 7,6,5,4 yesterday)

[Anamal]

Wow! I'm so jealous of where you live! It looks so pretty! And I think it's totally cool that you're getting the kids involved. My parents were always active with me, and I think that's a huge part of why I'm still active today. Plus, it's way better bonding time than chilling in front of the TV.

 

Back to what you said a while ago re: burpees. I totally agree, I find that if you can make the movements as seamless and fluid as possible its much easier, however, that gets harder the more tired I get.

[QuirkyDM]

Wow! I'm so jealous of where you live! It looks so pretty! And I think it's totally cool that you're getting the kids involved. My parents were always active with me, and I think that's a huge part of why I'm still active today. Plus, it's way better bonding time than chilling in front of the TV.

 

Back to what you said a while ago re: burpees. I totally agree, I find that if you can make the movements as seamless and fluid as possible its much easier, however, that gets harder the more tired I get.

I agree. And usually by the end of 30 burpees, I'm breathing pretty heavy. I don't remember when exactly the heavy breathing starts, but somewhere around 20, things get hazy and all I can focus on is the count. The real interesting thing about this is that for a good 5 minutes afterward, it's impossible for me to sit down or rest. I don't know if it's because my lungs are pumping in the oxygen or what. I have to think that's a good response so that after any burpees I might have to do at the Spartan, I'll be feeling like sprinting out of there to the next obstacle.

 

In other news, I totally suck at recovery runs. I start off at a nice comfortable pace, but then I get into the trails and I'm hopping over logs and taking corners and getting lost and the next thing you know, I'm running 10K and hitting a 5 min/km pace on my last 4K. But everything feels great, so I'm taking that as a sign of recovery completed from the weekend.

[Maledictus]

 

I think you used the wrong emoticon there. It should be some sort of sarcasm smiley instead.

Dude, you are one of those non-stop guys I go to to see how far away limits are and how much I'm NOT doing. Keep up what your doing- I need that motivation!

 

 

Anyone who prompts Ska to say he needs to increase his training doesn't get to use me as motivation

[Xena]

Today is just a recovery run. Because I have more bad news for my legs this weekend and they need to get ready.

 

heh heh heh. It is kind of fun planning this torture.

[The Swedish Ninja]

I don't know if "Damn girl" is just an expression or not, but I'm a guy.   No insult there of course, because I've had my butt kicked by so many women in karate over the years that any adolescent gender issues were beat out of me a long time ago. 

 

Haha, my "bad". I looked at your picture and thought, a picture of your husband and kids. Didn't realise it was your brother. Even more ashamed that I immediately drew the conclusion that seeing only the picture, husband and kids, means you're a girl. Ohh, the shame….

 

Oh well, I guess seeing that you have a problem is my first step to recovery

[QuirkyDM]

Haha, my "bad". I looked at your picture and thought, a picture of your husband and kids. Didn't realise it was your brother. Even more ashamed that I immediately drew the conclusion that seeing only the picture, husband and kids, means you're a girl. Ohh, the shame….

 

Oh well, I guess seeing that you have a problem is my first step to recovery

Haha- this is getting funnier and funnier. That is a picture of me with my kids. Yep, that's what I look like- you can be epicly disappointed now.

[AgentsSka]

Haha- this is getting funnier and funnier. That is a picture of me with my kids. Yep, that's what I look like- you can be epicly disappointed now.

Hahahaha

Is the Swedish Ninja related to the Swedish Chef?

Bork! Bork! Bork!

[Elder]

 

In other news, I totally suck at recovery runs. I start off at a nice comfortable pace, but then I get into the trails and I'm hopping over logs and taking corners and getting lost and the next thing you know, I'm running 10K and hitting a 5 min/km pace on my last 4K. But everything feels great, so I'm taking that as a sign of recovery completed from the weekend.

 

You are crazy pants.

[The Swedish Ninja]

Haha- this is getting funnier and funnier. That is a picture of me with my kids. Yep, that's what I look like- you can be epicly disappointed now. 

 

OK, it´s official, I´m an Idiot (previously it was unofficial)

 

Hahahaha

Is the Swedish Ninja related to the Swedish Chef?

Bork! Bork! Bork!

Yes, he happens to be my father. You have a problem with that??

[Xena]

I'm glad it's all straightened out!

[Phytomancer]

Great pic! (I'm a slowpoke, I know.) 

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

It is an awesome and inspiring pic.  Gotta have fun like that on the weekends.  And ... great kids - look at what they are carrying!!

[redpuma]

Hey! I feel so behind, catching up on everyone's posts from the past week! I just want to say that your kids ARE AWESOME! I figure that it's never too late to throw some props to dad for having the kewlest kids!

see below

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Weekend Report

 

Saturday my wife was out for most of the day, so I took the kids to do obstacle course training with me. First, we ran to the nearby woods and found an appropriate weight to carry.

Then we ran with it, crawled, did PLP, monkey bars, traverse wall, log hop, spear throw, rope climb and finished it all off with 30 burpees. My kids are awesome.

 

[Elastigirl]

So cool that your kids love to play obstacles with you! And cooking that is awesome. My son loved to cook for me when he was little, then when he was in highschool he hated it and plus he was super busy, so it didn't happen much. But living with his college roommates, he tells me about all the nom food he makes, so he must have become a decent chef.

[Phytomancer]

So cool that your kids love to play obstacles with you! And cooking that is awesome. My son loved to cook for me when he was little, then when he was in highschool he hated it and plus he was super busy, so it didn't happen much. But living with his college roommates, he tells me about all the nom food he makes, so he must have become a decent chef.

 

I remember making papaya salad for my brother. It was so horrible it made him sick for several days. The next papaya salad he ate after mine was 20 years later. 

 

Don't underestimate the power of children's cooking- Ha!

[QuirkyDM]

Week 2 wrap up:

Thursday, my head was in a total fog. I wasn't tired, my body felt fine and I had a productive work day.But my brain felt all fuzzy. I've also been losing weight with all the extra exercise, which isn't the plan- I'm going for maintenance. So I carbed up a little over the next few days and I upped my calories to 2400 to try and even out. I've been feeling great ever since.

 

Saturday afternoon, my son and I went on a run/bike- he biked, I ran. And then I had to slow down for him because he couldn't keep up. Yes, he's only 8, but it still felt good to know I was outrunning a biker. Tomorrow I'm challenging that cocky 7 year old down the street to an arm wrestle.

We hit the park after 3K and I did PLP and then we got a few games of tag in for some "speed" bursts". Then another 2K home. Not a hard run, but I got in some miles.

 

Sunday was long run day.I felt great about my run last week, but after checking out last year's Spartan Beast, I realized there was an issue- the hills weren't steep enough. I climbed 800m last weekend over 23km. The beast is 23km, but 1300m of climb. So I needed some steeper hills. Luckily there's a hill nearby everyone uses for hill training.

 

Still ... not steep enough. But if you go around to the side of the hill:

That's better. Only a 5m climb, but at a nice angle. And for a bonus, I get to practice fence hopping at the top:

 

So my route was up the steep side, hop the fence and then down the "gentler" slope on the front face. Plus, I had to practice all my skills in the run, too. (except weighted carry- I did farmer walks earlier in the week) It really worked my hill form and I'm happy to say I stayed on the balls of my feet on all the uphils and gave the calves a workout, saving my upper legs completely. The workout went like this:

Run 15 minutes to hill.

Do day 27 PLP.

5 laps

Crawl up the hill, run down.

5 laps

30 burpees

5 laps

Do 8 laps with 10-15 squats at top and bottom of hill (needed 200 squats for ranger mini challenge)

2 laps normal

Climb a soccer net, ie. 8' wall

5 laps

30 burpees

5 laps

monkey bars and traverse wall

5 laps

log hop and balance beam. Wait, there's no balance beams here- not even wood around the sandbox - oh wait. I see one there. And it's got a slant on it and a little jump for some extra challenge.

5 laps

And then another 5 laps so I had an even 50.

 

There was a group selling lemonade at the bottom of the hill after, so I pulled out my emergency $5 (after bonking a few times, I don't go running without emergency cash now) and drank a few glasses. The lady running it was raising money for her 100K run in October. It was fun to chat running with her for a while.

Then run home and get my last skills in:

rope climb

spear throw (boom- nailed 3 throws in a row)

Atlas carry- that was heavy at the end of the workout. I am sooooo glad I learnt how to deadlift. Otherwise, I'm not sure I would have got the block off the ground.

 

 

The rest of the day was doing yard work, which I had done 5 days already that week. (die, ants, die!!!) No missed days of PLP and no missed days of burpees. Boo-yah!

 

Spartan Sprint is this weekend. Arooo!

 

 

[tenaciousglee]

Nicely done!  That's a heck of a wrap-up.  The pictures are a nice touch, too.

[The Swedish Ninja]

Awesome work ma'am

So  many good things to comment, but you sure are right, you can ALWAYS find something to balance on!

[AverageJoe]

Man your runs always seem epic. I was waiting for "and then I defeated a hoard of angry Vikings using a ballpoint pen and a strip of duct tape, No big"

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[Chris56Ryan]

Ha fantastic stuff in the wrap up. Keep eating plenty if you're maintaining you'll feel much better for it

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[Chris-Tien Jinn]

You are going to CRUSH it!!