Darkfoxx 18: This Is A Busy Damn Race Season

[darkfoxx]

This cycle's challenges are based off of the feats from the mini challenge exercise for this cycle. More info here. 

 

Feats

 

Endurance: Complete: Spartan Sprint + Oakley 10k + Savage Race + Rugged Maniac - DONE WEEK 1

Strength: Improve throughout this season's OCRs + Perform A Single Damn Pull Up

Speed: Work on furthering my yoga pose skill set (I'm starting with holding crow for longer + headstands)

Combat: Complete the Spartan bodyweight program + continue to work yoga in where I can - Edited to include working with the pull-up bar every week day this week on top of my yoga workouts 

Healing: Foam rolling + Duo Lingo to learn more French + Metrics + knitting/creative pursuits

[Balthazar]

Love that you have taken the feats for your challenge

[darkfoxx]

I'm loving that I a: actually looked at the mini challenge this cycle, and b: it was structured in a way I could easily swipe it to form my challenge goals.  

 

I was completely not prepared to start even thinking about my new thread today. 

 

Slapdash FTW! 

[Fonzico]

I can't believe the new subforums are up already! Whoohoo! *runs off to check out this whole mini challenge situation*

[darkfoxx]

Ehrm. Since this is a planned 'take it a little easy so you don't die at the Spartan' week + not *technically* a challenge week, I'm being a slackass and not posting like I should. 

 

Update:

 

Monday - Walked a bunch, ate too much Indian but not terribly out of metrics. Knitted. 

 

Tuesday - Stretched a fair amount, made crazy delicious paleo teriyaki flank steak with shishito peppers for dinner, and probably ate too many snacks at book club (themed to the book we read - mini vegan cheese balls that looked like Mars + cantaloupe dusted in chili powder & ghost pepper + chili dusted tortillas + wine). Knitted. Duolingoed. 

[Fonzico]

Ooh, I missed that you've been using Duolingo! What are you learning? I was using it to learn Spanish a while back, but I fell off.

[darkfoxx]

French for the Montreal trip; Ukrainian after that before visiting Kiev this fall. 

[thekatisalie]

Dulingo and Neila Rey TWINSIES!!!

[darkfoxx]

Wednesday: A workout didn't happen - I foam rolled a bit - a very little bit - and called it a day. 

 

Food was decent, though this dairy-free coconut ice cream needs to be finished and out the house soon. 

 

I knitted a tiny bit, and earned my points in Duolingo. 

 

And in looking at the calendar, I think I may need to switch focus on my workout goal. 

 

This challenge I have:

 

Spartan Sprint (pre-challenge, technically)

2 weeks later: Oakley 10k

2 weeks later: Savage Race

2 weeks later: Rugged Maniac

End of challenge: Vacation

 

If I keep up with my normal training/recovery schedule, that is going to leave me little time to actually get anything accomplished, strength goal wise. 

 

So, I think I need to adjust my thinking from 'Spartan program with a little extra yoga kicked in' to 'yoga-heavy with a few bodyweight routines thrown in'. 

 

Ooh. Maybe I'll do one of those daily yoga pose challenges from Instagram for the month of June. And some non legs-intensive Neila Reys (not that 180 jump business, that's for sure). 

[thekatisalie]

Daily yoga pose challenges?!

[darkfoxx]

This chick posts them. And it looks like June's is already up. Most of June's is not bloody happening for me - but she always shows variations, and it might be good to try and work toward some of these challenging poses. 

[Fonzico]

So much yoga FTW!

And yeah, try not to kill yourself. Didn't we already talk about NOT doing all the things?!

[darkfoxx]

*whine* We diiiiiiiiiid ...

 

which is why I think I need to shift my focus from ALL THE THINGS! PULL-UPS! VALEDICTORIAN OF YOGA POSES! SQUIRREL!!!!! to:

 

Just chill and yoga a bunch. Settle your ass down on the distance PRs, pull-ups, feeling like you should also be body weighting your ass off, and trying to make that left hip flexor actually pack up and leave your body. 

 

I think small yoga (probably not Jillian Michaels) + the occasional bodyweight routine is a mostly reasonable way to keep myself on track and moving forward without death or the need for robot legs. And, if I have the mat out anyways, I might as well practice those daily Insta poses. 

 

Now let's see if I can keep myself on track, or if yoga every day turns into 'I'm never changing out of my pajamas, screw this I'm not going down to the gym either' + napping every day with periodic twice-for-flinching bursts of punishment. 

[Fonzico]

I think it's a good plan, if you can stick to it. Just enjoy your crazy race season, and revisit some of the other stuff on your list *cough -pull ups - cough* when it's cold out and you have no races to worry about.

And Jillian Michaels yoga is actually hard core body weight workouts in disguise, so - while a killer workout- probably not what you need now. Find some runners yoga routines maybe?

[darkfoxx]

Lol. I still want to do a damn pull-up this summer. Maybe it'll magically happen through the power of OCRs? 

 

I need to look around harder for kinder, gentler yoga (boo - totally not as fun). I think the yoga guy that posts routines on HasFit has a few more up, and I suppose I won't *actually* die if I do one of the classes from one of the hippie quaalude chicks online ... 

 

Or I could work harder (at all) to find more yoga classes in the wide world ... which it totally not happening, but it's a thought at least. 

 

I think I can bust out a 30 minute class in my buildings' dance room - the wifi is finally active, and maybe the iPad screen is large enough. Or, I could bring my laptop down. I think that will give me a higher success rate than yogaing in my kitchen. I seem to do better when I have to put pants on and am not 1 foot away from the dinner i'd rather be prepping. 

[darkfoxx]

Thursday: Yoga class was great this week. It was just me and 1 other girl (who happens to be at about the same level I am) and the instructor practiced along with us, so we had a great and challenging class. We did a bunch of forward folds, I worked through some sticky spots, a few binds, and worked into crow a whole other way than the ways I've tried. I got into it for split seconds only, but at least it was there. I've got to figure out how to keep my knees from slipping off my arms. 

 

Food was good with no snacks - had my usual breakfast, a semi-inspired lunch of coleslaw mix/roast chicken/grapes/cherry tomatoes/sunflower seeds/balsamic vinegar, and dinner was a springy symphony with meatballs. 

 

In Other Shit news, I kicked one of the storage cubes I had in one of my bookcases out to make way for some books and such I had to relocate from the shelf above the bed (because half of the shelf decided it would really rather not be bolted into the wall). Good thing I'd already gotten rid of a bunch of bookshelf crap! 

 

I also knitted a bit. 

 

And I really need to work on putting the rest of the pictures I had digitized away. 

[Fonzico]

Nice, practically a personal yoga lesson. Sounds great!

[darkfoxx]

It was pretty fantastic and I'll totally take it  

[Fonzico]

 

Yeah, SPARTAN SPRINT!!!

[darkfoxx]

Lol. 

 

I did it and it didn't kill me. 

 

I didn't do as well as I wanted to - not by far - but I finished. I felt at times in way over my head - both with some of the obstacles (some were good, some were challenging but good, and some were ridiculous and obviously aimed at elites only) and the terrain - walking (who am I kidding? there was no running) up and down a mountain multiple times really kicked my ass. But ... I did what I could, worked harder than I wanted to, and kept going to the end. I made my DH and the other person we ran with go ahead of me (though I did make his ass wait for me to cross the finish line), and I walked the course mostly in my head (which was actually good, because we had to remember a phrase with numbers and if I would have missed it and had to do the burpee penalty I would have cried). 

 

Next time I need to bring fuel with me on the course and possibly a camelback. I ran out of calories about 2 miles (of the 4.7 miles total) in and it made for a crappy added obstacle. 

 

I still *may* want to shoot for a trifecta next year, but I'm not 100% sure my body can handle it. If so, I think i need to ramp my muscle building the fuck up this off season, and cut down on the number of total races I'm doing next year. And pick courses that aren't all on a freaking mountain. That was just bananas. I also need to bring sunscreen on course if I'm going longer. 

 

I will post pics if any aren't horrible - so far, they're all terrible and I look fat. 

 

Adding to that, I'm up 2 lbs. over my 'chill the F out and re-focus' weight today -- mostly due to overcompensation for starvation on Saturday + eating crap yesterday. 

 

I need to button up this week, because I'm thinking I won't be getting any workouts in until at least Wednesday. Today is definitely not happening. 

[darkfoxx]

Lols. My terrible pictures are up here. I seriously need to work on my 'race face'. 

[Fonzico]

Moan all you like, you're still a bad ass for finishing!

[darkfoxx]

Thx. I totally needed that. 

 

Race day -2 has had me in the doldrums, questioning whether I really want to go for the Trifecta next year, and trying to find patience with my husband who doesn't mean to be condescending but still manages to hit that button (I know he is proud of me and he really wants to support me, but his tone occasionally sets my hackles on end - we've spoken about it and it's something I'm working on continuing to try and not let it piss me off/wear down my faith in myself and ocrs. He's also agreed to police his tone a bit). 

 

I have the serious pouts today. 

 

And I can't really afford long pout bouts - I have a 10k in 2 weeks. 

[Fonzico]

Boo to all of that.

Can I ask a question? Are you gunning for this OCR business because you truly want to, or because it's what your DH is in to?

I know on some level it's probably a bit of both, but if you're at least mostly doing this for yourself, then suck it up, go train, and make yourself proud. Condescension has no place there, though, that's not ok.

If it's leaning toward the other side of the spectrum, I would highly recommend you take half a step back and remember that your fitness goals are just a valid as his. If that means no trifecta, That. Is. O.K.

Ok?

[darkfoxx]

It is actually the opposite. I'm the one who loves OCRs; he's decided to try them because I like them and he wants a new challenge (he's a marathoner). 

 

And yeah - I most definitely need to train harder this off season. I *know* I didn't push myself as hard as I needed to, and it's catching up with me. Whining about it and letting it have me questioning whether I belong on the course is ridiculous. I put in work, but I didn't put in *enough* work. 

 

(also, as the DH pointed out - Spartan races are geared more toward individuals, whereas Mudders are geared toward teams. While there is always someone there to help you out in a Spartan, as there is everywhere in the community, the obstacles aren't geared in a way that (at least the elites) can't get through them alone. 

 

As for the Trifecta, he is fairly certain his motivation is a completionist one - and agrees with my assessment that it is also a lot about testosterone and proving his beta male self is just as manly as an alpha. For me, it's a combo of completion, proving to myself that I can damn do it, and of course not being left behind. If he wants to go for it, there is no damn way I'm sitting it out. I can't allow myself to weenie out like that (and hells to the no I can't "lose" - though there is zero chance I'll be as fast as him or as good at the obstacles). 

 

We shall see where this season leaves me on the Trifecta front. The next two OCRs I have are going to be more "fun" (Rugged Maniac and Savage Race) - the DH is doing them with me - let's see if these restore my faith in my abilities. And I'm doing Tough Mudder. I thought at one point there was no way I should even try it during the race, but I'm sucking it right up and doing it - I've paid for it, it's not until November, and I won't die. Horribly out of shape people finish and don't die. I don't have to attempt to be valedictorian of the damn course to have a valid experience.