Miw-Sher's Tough Mudder Survival Journey

[Miw_Sher]

Wednesday: 22/03/2017

 

Morning:

Warm-Up

Half-Marathon Day 25 (Short Recovery Run)
Pull-Up Challenge - Day 10
30 Days of Gravity - Day 10

Stretch

 

Everything got bunched up today as well,but for a different reason - I had an appointment to donate plasma this afternoon so working out after that was a no-go. I also had no idea how it would affect me. It turns out, the procedure is more uncomfortable than donating blood but the post-donation effects less severe.

 

 

[Miw_Sher]

Thursday: 23/03/2017

 

Morning:

Rest, I did some easy mobility work

 

Evening:
EricMN's WOW#4

 

Swapped instead of the gravity workout.

See, I can be sensible!

 

[Miw_Sher]

Huh? I did not post yesterday? Ah I guess because it was a rest day. Still...

 

Morning:

Warm-Up
Half-Marathon Training: Day 21

Time: 40 Min Run (I messed this one up, it was supposed to be 45 mins... ah well...)

Total Distance: 6 km (+ 0.25 km from last Saturday)

5 K Time: I sadly missed this one, but I think it may have been a new PR at 33' or even 32' because I was averaging 6'30"/km

ITB Rehab Routine - 1 Set, scaled down to 20 reps per exercise

Stretch

Evening:
Warm-Up

Balance and Coordination Practice
Pull-Up Challenge - Day 13  4 - 2 - 1 (bodyweight rows - inverted knees)
30 Days of Gravity - Day 13

Stretch

 

I also have to say, Darebee's Pull-Up chalenge is MUCH better scaled than their push-up challenge. I am having no trouble at all keeping up with it, here's to hoping that I can move to inverted rows completely once finished.

[Miw_Sher]

Heeeeeey!!!

Today was leg day! Hike day! Cycle day!!

 

Aka a 60km trip that became a 100km trip.

 

So I guess I just cycled my first every century, albeit at a measly 16km/h. ^^

 

It was fun, surprisingly it's my butt that hurts way more than my thighs.

[Charlie_Quinn]

You are KILLING IT, Miw! Well done on the century cycle, that is amazing. 

[Miw_Sher]

9 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

You are KILLING IT, Miw! Well done on the century cycle, that is amazing. 

 

Thank you!!!

I think I discovered the secret to fitness, weightloss, and happiness, join a crazy cycling + hiking group. participate regularly.

[Miw_Sher]

Mon 27/03

 

Morning:

Rest

 

Evening:

Warm-Up

Balance Drills: Crow Pose
Pull-Up Challenge - Day 15  4 - 2 - 2 (bodyweight rows - bent knees)
30 Days of Gravity - Day 15  Push Ups to Failure: 6 - 2 - 2 (Last: 5 - 1 - 1)

Stretch

 

A few thoughts on that century ride - I did not comment yesterday because I was in this weird exhausted, euphoric state. Now i have gathered my thoughts though.

The human body is pretty damn amazing, especially when it comes to how much it can endure and adapt. I mean, three months ago I could barely walk without knee pain, now after a month of regular rehab training, I can run 30 minutes with barely a thought, do jump lunges and squats with relative ease. It also really goes and shows how important a strong muscular system is because 100% those knee issues were solved through strengthening the surrounding muscles.

However, the most impressive moments for me are those hikes and cycling trips I go on - the very first hike I went to destroyed me. I got home safely, but I was getting proper scared towards the end that my knees and legs would give away; Whereas the second hike, same distance, no problem. The improvement in recovery time was also very obvious - from nearly a week to a few days. The cycling trip? It was hard and at the end my butt was really, REALLY hurting, but I am pretty much okay today due to a combination of stretching, a hot shower.

 

But also, here is the thing. That cycling trip was the first of the season for everyone, and while the others appeared at least on the surface in better shape than me, it is still not nothing to go from zero to a hundred with little practice; but everyone managed till the end relatively easily. Even more impressive - there was a woman with us, middle age, overweight. She kept falling behind because during the first half especially the three of us were being pretty stupid and just racing ahead because it was such a nice day and two of us in particular were just happy to be outside, and also she was probably quite out of shape. But she still kept on till the end, and managed till the end.

 

And here is the thing, because we travel light as possible, we always do these on minimal fuel - a couple of sandwich, maybe some energy bars... I mean, I am pretty sure I eat less on those hikes than on some regular days. Yet I have never, ever felt empty or depleted.
 

Seriously our bodies are capable of way more than we give them credit for.

[Miw_Sher]

Tue 28/03

 

Woke up late, so did everything in the evening again. Post coming tomorrow since I turned off my computer before remembering to post here.

 

Update:

 

Evening Workout:

 

Part 1: Run
Warm-Up

Running: 35 Min Run. 5,32 km total.

I also confirmed that my 5k time is now 32' something.

 

Part 2: Bodyweight

Pull-Up Challenge - Day 16 (sit-ups)
30 Days of Gravity - Day 16 (I can't figure out if I am progressing on the splits, but ok)

Stretch

I then had some time left so I decided to shut down everything and do a 30 Min Yoga Session as my daily self-care action.

 

 

 

 

[Miw_Sher]

Wed 29/03

 

Missed my alarm. Just... missed it. Ugh. this is the first year daylight saving time happens after I develop a very regular sleeping schedule, and I am totally feeling it. Ugh ugh ugh. Luckily, today was a recovery run, so I could happily place it after lunch.

Midday Workout:

Warm-Up

35 Min Recovery Run (fun fact, my recovery speed is now faster than the speed of my first runs)

ITB Rehab Routine - 1 Set, scaled down to 20 reps per exercise

Stretch

 

Evening Workout:

 

Warm-Up

Starmaster (Balance Drills)

Pull-Up Challenge - Day 5 - 3 - 1 (bodyweight rows - bent knees)
30 Days of Gravity - Day 17 (failed at 2 min plank - held it for 1min, then had to take a break and held it for another 30s. Sad.)

Stretch

I have to say, one of the best parts about getting better at running is once you reach a pace that allows you to have decent recovery runs. It's like a nice walk, but you break a sweat and get the mood lift without the fatigue. I really enjoyed it. <3

 

Tomorro is WOW#whatever... I'm already dreading it.

 

[Miw_Sher]

 

Posting early because I somehow found the motivation to roll out of bed at 6am and do@EricMN's workout.

 

 

Cross-post ingredients from the obstacle -racing thread:

 

 

 

I completed WOW#5 this morning. I was surprised by how much easier those bear crawls felt compared to the very first ones I did in WOW#1. Core muscles, yay!

 

 

 

Thus was also my first time trying deadlifts. I think I'd like to include them more, but keeping proper form when using a laundry basket is not easy.

 

 

 

In other news, I also had to take it slow because I woke up with the weirdest knee pain. It doesnt feel like the joint, because putting pressure on it does not hurt. Instead, it is painful when doing movements such as lunges or burpees. Interestingly, it did not hurt when doing box jumps. (I was doing them on my bed, so soft landing. I figured I'd switch to step-ups if it hurt too much but nope.)

 

 

 

Just another case of my mysterious overnight injuries I guess.

 

 

 

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So yeah... tomorrow is a rest day so I'll see how the knee pain evolves. Hopefully it'll be gone by Saturday.

 

More annoyingly - my right hip abductor keeps getting inflamed when running. I will do fine throughout but it hurts like a mf when I stop. I don't know if it's form or sth else but I need to find a solution to this.

[Jarric]

23 hours ago, Miw_Sher said:

More annoyingly - my right hip abductor keeps getting inflamed when running. I will do fine throughout but it hurts like a mf when I stop. I don't know if it's form or sth else but I need to find a solution to this.

 

Thanks sucks. I'm prone to hip pain when I run too, the only solution I found is rest and regular stretching. I've found this stretch in particular is quite good:

 

 

Ok, that was the best I could find. Basically that, but I usually lean against a wall or counter so I can get a deeper stretch without falling over. Also, I'm definitely not smiling like that!

[Charlie_Quinn]

Do you warm up your hip abductors before running? Leg swings (back-&-forward and side-to-side) might help. If it's an imbalance, you could try doing some of these to help strengthen the muscles

 

[Miw_Sher]

I'll give a better reply come Monday, but thanks both! I actually stopped doing side-by-side swings and that light be it... hmm...

 

Long run today, hit the 50 min mark. More on that on l Monday as well.

 

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[Miw_Sher]

On 31/03/2017 at 11:08 AM, Jarric said:

Ok, that was the best I could find. Basically that, but I usually lean against a wall or counter so I can get a deeper stretch without falling over. Also, I'm definitely not smiling like that!

I had not even thought of that before you mentioned it. Now I'm picturing you smiling like that, which doesn't really make sense because I don't actually know what you look like aside from what I see on your avatar.
 

On 31/03/2017 at 3:34 PM, Charlie_Quinn said:

Do you warm up your hip abductors before running? Leg swings (back-&-forward and side-to-side) might help. If it's an imbalance, you could try doing some of these to help strengthen the muscles

 

I do those when I do the strength routine from strength running, but maybe I can make those a daily thing or a post-run thing...

[Miw_Sher]

Ok so where am I at... oh yea...

Morning Workout:

*rest day*

 

Evening Workout:

Warm-Up

Starmaster (Balance Drills) ooops, I keep forgetting to do these.

Pull-Up Challenge - Day
30 Days of Gravity - Day 25 (I don't have legs anymore but it wasn't nearly as tough as expected)

Stretch

I'm just on track with my workout too - my calendar tells me next week is the week to start with the 12-Week TM training programme, and this will I end with gravity. Yay me for buffer weeks!

[Miw_Sher]

Note to self - include a foam rolling goal next challenge.

That makes three:
Foam rolling
Check into your NF challenge thread every day
Kick sugar.

cool.

 

[Miw_Sher]

Morning Workout:

*rest day*

 

Evening Workout:

Warm-Up

Starmaster (Balance Drills) forgot again... Ugh

Pull-Up Challenge - Day
30 Days of Gravity - Day 26 (Push-Ups: 3-3-1 ... down a LOT. Holy cr*p I really need to stop sabotaging myself with those down weeks...)

Stretch

Ugh. I've been stripping my workouts to a minimum because I can just barely cram them in... it's a question of priority, I am ok with it and I know I need to learn to just keep going even when things are stressful, but I really, really miss carving out an hour/hour and a half for myself. I just feel better overall when I am moving, a lot, preferably outside.

[Jarric]

On ‎13‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 8:00 PM, Miw_Sher said:

I had not even thought of that before you mentioned it. Now I'm picturing you smiling like that, which doesn't really make sense because I don't actually know what you look like aside from what I see on your avatar.

 

Well if you want to know what I look like: https://www.instagram.com/jarric42/

 

On ‎14‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 9:47 PM, Miw_Sher said:

Ugh. I've been stripping my workouts to a minimum because I can just barely cram them in... it's a question of priority, I am ok with it and I know I need to learn to just keep going even when things are stressful, but I really, really miss carving out an hour/hour and a half for myself. I just feel better overall when I am moving, a lot, preferably outside.

 

I really feel you on this - I hate a rushed workout! I'd much rather be moving all day if I could.

[Miw_Sher]

please see this: post

Things are not going too well, to put it simply.

[Miw_Sher]

Right -

so I am not following a proper training plan right now as much as winging it, but I did go for a 45 min run and I did not die, get cramps, and my pace was decent. So that's good news.