QuirkyDM takes his action

[darkfoxx]

I second the popcorn snack jerky. That was teh awesomeness. 

[Phayze]

0_o ... Whoa.

This story reminds me of an acrobat I saw once who described his as the only profession that looks at a problem and tries to make it harder (walking a slack rope, in swim fins, while juggling knives). I cat-called from the audience "you've clearly never been in public works!", but now I see that even that field has nothing on a crazy-seeking Spartan.

[AverageJoe]

Dude!? I mean... Come on... Really... Seriously?  <checks calender..Nope not april 1st> 

 

OK it's official..

[sylph]

Dude... you're crazy.

 

 

[The Swedish Ninja]

Best. Run. Ever.

Nuff said.

[Spark]

Holy crap, man, what all those other people are saying. @.@

 

/noms jerky

[Elastigirl]

Wow, your forest run sounds like fun, or  terrifyingly hard , or both.  

[Xena]

Wow! I normally don't like to chime in when so many other people have pretty much said the same thing.

 

But...wow!

[QuirkyDM]

Dude... you're crazy.

 

 

I believe that is becoming the consensus between my family and friends. I mean, I've always told them that, but now they're finally starting to believe me. It's good to have vindication. I think.

 

I'm glad I got that epic run in because the rest of the week, and this challenge, is looking less than inspiring. I've decided to really focus on my ab recovery right now.  Burpees stopped and running has gone way down. I take normal runs, but I'm avoiding sprints and not doing any more running than I feel is necessary to keep most of my fitness. No gym trips, but I still have PLP and bodyweight training going. Squats and upper body work don't affect my abs so I can keep that up. Trick training has stopped because except for the crow, pretty much everything needs some good ab work.

 

This weekend is more camping and I don't know if I'll get much of a long run in, or any at all. I have thoughts of running and swimming along the shore of the lake. (in my workout clothes) We'll see what happens. After that, I'll have just under 2 weeks of real training left, so I'll need to try and see what I can do in that last interval before the Beast. I have an idea of doing a deck of cards idea for my last long run training to keep it random and work on that mental training more. I'll try to flesh that out this weekend on the camping trip and take it from there.

 

And based on Steve's article a few weeks ago, I started reading The Talent Code. It's a pretty good read so far. It's making me seriously consider changing the way I learn new skills and how I teach them to others as well. I'll have to finish it before I can say for sure it's da bomb, but so far I recommend it.

[Phytomancer]

You have come back, and you brought awesome adventure with you!! 

[The Swedish Ninja]

And based on Steve's article a few weeks ago, I started reading The Talent Code. It's a pretty good read so far. It's making me seriously consider changing the way I learn new skills and how I teach them to others as well. I'll have to finish it before I can say for sure it's da bomb, but so far I recommend it.

 

Thanks for the tip!

Da bomb (Sorry, just had to )

[Xena]

I just re-read the post of your epic run. It really doesn't get old :-)

[AgentsSka]

Haha.  That long run, screw with your training plan was pretty awesome.

 

 

You are correct about the VT Beast most likely being harder than your previous Beast.  It is their World Championship Race and the course designer that they employ for that race is a sadistic bastard.  Same designer just had the Super in Virginia this past weekend.  By all accounts, it was a freaking brutal Super.

 

Last year took me 7 hours to complete, as well.  I don't train for that kind of time our there.  I train for the distance and get ready to embrace the suck.

 

It's going to be awesome.

[Anamal]

Meet Norm Koch, he will be responsible for every obstacle you encounter in September. He is the beast behind the beast.

http://www.mudandadventure.com/norm-koch-spartan-race-director-qa-the-beast-behind-the-beast/

 

Know thy enemy

[AgentsSka]

Ooooh - thank you for that link... which I will be reading later.

[QuirkyDM]

Thanks for the tip!

Da bomb (Sorry, just had to )

lol! OK, no more da bomb. But I grew up in the 80s and never let go. I don't retire anything until about 35 years after it's popular.

 

I just re-read the post of your epic run. It really doesn't get old :-)

Yeah. I figure some year I'll need a boost and want to look back at what happened in the past. At which point, I'll read this and think either "What the hell was I thinking?" or "Man, I really did some boring, easy stuff back then."

 

Last year took me 7 hours to complete, as well.  I don't train for that kind of time our there.  I train for the distance and get ready to embrace the suck.

 

It's going to be awesome.

That's how I feel about it, too. Maybe "embrace the suck" should be the new Spartan logo.

 

Meet Norm Koch, he will be responsible for every obstacle you encounter in September. He is the beast behind the beast.

http://www.mudandadventure.com/norm-koch-spartan-race-director-qa-the-beast-behind-the-beast/

 

Know thy enemy

Good link, thanks! It sounds like we need to blame those cocky elites for the upgrade in race difficulty.

 

 

I went camping this weekend, took my running clothes, but I left my water bottle and running food at home. And we were at an area with absolutely no hills, and the longest hiking trail was only 2.7km. So I decided to run laps at the track instead. I get up at a little after 6 and do PLP for the day.

 

And then proceed to do laps on the track.

 

In this case, the track was the swimming area of the beach. The water at its deepest (inside the buoys) was just barely chest level. I ran 20 laps around the perimeter of the swimming area, churning through seaweed and purposely dunking myself at the top corner every time I passed it. I was really hoping the water would be cold and I could practice running while I was freezing, but no luck. It was gorgeous- the perfect temperature for a swim, or a run as the case may be. Still, I went almost 1.5 hours without any food and water and no noticeable issues and I hadn't had anything to eat before that in over 12 hours, so I took it for good training anyway.

[Xena]

That's very (ancient) Spartan of you :-)

 

 "I was really hoping the water would be cold and I could practice running while I was freezing, but no luck. It was gorgeous"

[Anamal]

That water run looks like some really quality resistance training!

 

It's also cool when you discover that you can do hard workouts without much food/water. The human body is not a precious little flower, it can withstand quite a lot.

 

When does your taper start?

[QuirkyDM]

 

That's very (ancient) Spartan of you :-)

 

 "I was really hoping the water would be cold and I could practice running while I was freezing, but no luck. It was gorgeous"

 

Thanks. And curse you warm water. Curse you!!!! I'll have to settle for my cold showers in the morning to get me prepared.

 

 

That water run looks like some really quality resistance training!

 

It's also cool when you discover that you can do hard workouts without much food/water. The human body is not a precious little flower, it can withstand quite a lot.

 

When does your taper start?

Officially, the taper starts next Sunday. (September 7) Unofficially, I feel like I've been tapering this whole challenge. I've really been trying to get my ab strain under control. It doesn't stop me from performing, but every time I push it, it comes back worse than before. If I don't get it under control, it will become an issue.

 

Even trying to take it easy, it gets pushed anyway. I've given up all ab work, burpees and sprint work because those seem to trigger it the most. Running is down to 2x a week and it does work my abs, but I figure I need to do that or I'll show up to the Beast as a puddle. On the other hand, I am working the upper body without any rests, so I should be able to handle that part of the course.

 

The end result is that I'm trying not to lose too much fitness by keeping the running going. I should be in great shape for obstacles, but the hills are going to kill me.

 

This weekend won't let me off too easy, either, because I WILL do a big hill run this weekend and I promised (or rather, forced my family to agree) to do some spartan training with me this weekend. A bonus is that the forecast is calling for lots of rain this weekend. Excellent ...

[The Swedish Ninja]

Hope the ab strain gets better. 

 

I knew you will turn out doing something epic for the weekend, and lots of rain will only make it more epic

[QuirkyDM]

Yesterday's workout. (sorry if this is sideways)

 

It was "mess with your head" workout day and also my last long workout before Vermont. I went to my local running hill which had a steep side and a longer side. I made a list of activities based on a deck of cards, similar to FitDeck, but they focused on my spartan skills.

Clubs: longer side- make the run more difficult

Diamonds: steep side- make the run more difficult

Spades: longer side- do an activity before going up

Hearts: steep side- do an activity before going up

 

Making the run more difficult is: crab walks, bear crawl, stomach crawl, sandbag carry, bucket carry, broad jump, walking lunges, etc.

Activities before going is: monkey bars, 8' wall, balance beam, atlas carry, spear throw, burpees, etc.

 

The crowning touch is that I included the Pandemic/Forbidden Island mechanic of repeating obstacles. When I drew a joker, I shuffled all the cards I've done so far and put them on the top of the pile. So a joker meant I got to pound on the muscles that had already been worked.

 

It was as brutal and suck filled as I was ...hoping? Hoping is maybe a bit of strong word. Let's say planned. There were multiple cards where I said "Of course it's <burpees, monkey bars, crab walk>". After 4 hours, I drew an Ace of Diamonds and said "That's it. We're finished here today." My stomach was already scratched up from an earlier stomach crawl and the grass was causing a lot of redness and itchiness. (stupid allergies) I didn't want to put myself out of commission, so I stopped and was happy with the effort I put in. 4 hours is almost as long as my last Beast, so I consider that pretty good for a training session.

 

Things I learnt:

- I can wear a camelbak without a shirt, but I need to slather myself with bodyglide first.

- That being said, my allergies don't like grass scratching on my stomach. I'll be wearing shirts in all my races from now on.

- Bug spray is a necessity, not an option.

- I need a headband to keep sweat out of my eyes.

- When doing stomach crawl and wearing a camelbak, undo the stomach strap and reconnect it behind my back.

- My new mantra is "baby steps". How macho and kick ass is that? But when I'm coming down on my 5th lap of crab walks, that's how I keep myself going step after step and not stopping.

 

My upper body is pretty stiff today, (thank you crab walks!) but my abs are feeling just fine which is promising.

 

And thus goes another crazy workout weekend where I tested my mental resilience again.

 

One week to challenge end and three weeks to the Beast.

[darkfoxx]

That workout mechanic looks awesomely geeky and like a fantastic way to hit what you need to hit without running the risk of boredom. Way to go, and I'm totally stealing that mechanic some day! 

[sylph]

That looks like a very special type of torture. Yikes.

 

I am totally never doing anything like that and am in awe that you CHOSE to. heh.

[Xena]

Awesome! I'm really psyched for you that your abs held up ok. Also sounds like you made some good discoveries.

[Anamal]

TAPER!

 

It starts today!!!! I believe you said...

 

Hey, when does your wave start Saturday?