Wowza. Wound up getting the day off work, which isn't exactly good - don't work, don't get paid - but isn't exactly bad, as I've been getting some college app stuff organized, deadlines on the calendar, etc.
Of course, it also means I've been on the interwebs, and my mind had gotten to wandering, and... I'm looking at two early 2012 ultras. What on earth is wrong with me??? OK, nothing - I'm a runner, we DO this - but what happened to the Winter of Strength I've been thinking about? Didn't happen last year; is it destined not to happen this year as well? Why is it so darned easy for me to keep putting that stuff off in favor of new races? Is this just a stage of my life?
Seriously. I had the rest of the year - frankly, pretty much the ENTIRE time between post October 2 race and my hoped/anticipated start of grad school planned as successive strength rotations - a second pass through NROL/Abs followed by Maximum Strength. I kid you not. It all fits perfectly, with enough extra room for some needed recovery and the possibility of an interruption here or there.
I guess I should look at this as a happy dilemma; I am healthy and injury free (if happily anticipating taking a week off after this next race) and have the luxury of choosing exactly what I want to do. Working in a PT office perhaps helps me appreciate this all the more. The problem, as always, is that I want to do everything. I know that trying to fit as much in the schedule as I do probably compromises the quality of any one thing - i.e., I would be stronger if I focused on lifting, faster if I focused on running, more bad-ass (or whatever) if I just did martial arts - but I enjoy them all, so that doesn't seem to be an option. And, so far, the balance seems to be working for me... I'm just abjectly curious about what would happen if I ran this strength experiment, and to do it I need to seriously cut back the running.
Except some really insistent part of my brain doesn't want to do that just now. Especially now, with the weather turning more favorable for running. Bugger.
Oh well. Enough thinking on this today. I can't stop the mind from bubbling away, but no decisions until post race!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Howdy
Been a while. I'd love to say there's a reason I haven't been updating besides that I haven't felt like updating, but there isn't. I was planning to post a race report after the 12 hour race, but decided to wait until I got my finisher stuff, which they said would be mailed to us, to do the post. Well, I'm still waiting...
Long story short, it was a bit of a rough day, both in terms of the course and the weather, which was warm and humid. I had hoped to do 50 miles and settled for 40. Many people I spoke to on the course also revised down their goals. I wound up finishing fourth in my age group (woo hoo!) which I take to mean I'm one of the few women my age stupid enough to have stayed out there long enough to do 40 miles. But so be it.
I'm now tapering for what might be my last race of the year, a 50K out in the same area as the other races I've been doing, meaning in the hill country. This is supposed to be quite the challenging course and there is a time limit on it; for a change, my goal for this race will be to finish within the time limit, which is, one would think, a generous 7.5 hours. If this were a flat country road race, it would be no problem (weather issues not withstanding) but it's not; reportedly there's over 7,000 feet in elevation gain. Plus, I'm still making plenty of rookie mistakes out there (which is fair, I guess, this being my first full year of trail racing). If I do my best and make no serious errors AND the weather is as currently predicted (a GLORIOUS forecast high of only 60 degrees F), I should make it. If not - eh, learning experience.
However, also, if not - well, I know myself, and I don't like ending things on a bad note, so a fail here would leave me wanting to redeem the season somehow. I'm not sure what that would look like, and hopefully I won't have to find out!
Long story short, it was a bit of a rough day, both in terms of the course and the weather, which was warm and humid. I had hoped to do 50 miles and settled for 40. Many people I spoke to on the course also revised down their goals. I wound up finishing fourth in my age group (woo hoo!) which I take to mean I'm one of the few women my age stupid enough to have stayed out there long enough to do 40 miles. But so be it.
I'm now tapering for what might be my last race of the year, a 50K out in the same area as the other races I've been doing, meaning in the hill country. This is supposed to be quite the challenging course and there is a time limit on it; for a change, my goal for this race will be to finish within the time limit, which is, one would think, a generous 7.5 hours. If this were a flat country road race, it would be no problem (weather issues not withstanding) but it's not; reportedly there's over 7,000 feet in elevation gain. Plus, I'm still making plenty of rookie mistakes out there (which is fair, I guess, this being my first full year of trail racing). If I do my best and make no serious errors AND the weather is as currently predicted (a GLORIOUS forecast high of only 60 degrees F), I should make it. If not - eh, learning experience.
However, also, if not - well, I know myself, and I don't like ending things on a bad note, so a fail here would leave me wanting to redeem the season somehow. I'm not sure what that would look like, and hopefully I won't have to find out!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Super quick update
Yeah. So, the last time I was here looks to have been - at least two weeks ago. Since it's almost end of the month, I've updated my workouts (why not? I'll be erasing August in a few days - lol). Just haven't felt much like writing lately; no particular reason. End of summer blues, I'd say, except I'm not feeling particularly blue - I'd just rather spend free daylight time reading than writing, I guess. So, the news, in a few words:
- Have been tapering for the 12 hour run. Don't know how much I like it, really. I suddenly feel very tired and undertrained. This, after fighting through a 6 hour, 31+ mile slog in a major rain storm. Well, I've been sore/achey in odd places (allegedly normal in a taper), not enough to knock me off my game physically but mentally? I'm wondering why these shorter runs feel like so much effort after doing much longer runs. It's probably not worth dwelling on, but sometimes it IS hard to believe my training is in the bank, as every source I read about training for distance runs suggests. We'll see, won't we?
- Have gone back to a Dos Remedios program, as planned, total fitness option. In deference to where I am in the scheme of things, I'm doing one less set than recommended (3 vs. 4) for most exercises. I can pick up later, if need be. What is interesting to me is going back to exercises I haven't done in a while, and seeing that my strength has increased. Makes me smile!
- Survived the earthquake, which I actually found interesting. It's the second one I've been through here. Took a moment for me to realize what was happening, then I just watched stuff move around. I suppose I should have run for a door frame or something, but it didn't occur to me.
- Survived Irene, with power. All in all, not as bad around here as advertised, although if one was paying attention to raw weather data, it was pretty obvious that it wouldn't be. The worst part was the tornado warnings, which were going off with regularity on Saturday night. That was a bit unnerving. Mostly we got a lot of rain on top of a lot of rain, causing some impressive flooding, and enough wind to knock over enough trees to keep road and power crews busy. Although a few friends are still without power, for the vast majority of folks, it was business as usual on Monday.
- The biggest news, though, is that I'm now working at the PT office where I was volunteering! I'm working as an aide, which means I help people go through their routines. I suppose objectively, it's an incredible step backwards (from cleaning up superfund sites, to fetching heat and ice packs - woo!) but it IS a step in the direction of physical therapist proper, which is where I want to go. Makes me a very happy camper.
- Have been tapering for the 12 hour run. Don't know how much I like it, really. I suddenly feel very tired and undertrained. This, after fighting through a 6 hour, 31+ mile slog in a major rain storm. Well, I've been sore/achey in odd places (allegedly normal in a taper), not enough to knock me off my game physically but mentally? I'm wondering why these shorter runs feel like so much effort after doing much longer runs. It's probably not worth dwelling on, but sometimes it IS hard to believe my training is in the bank, as every source I read about training for distance runs suggests. We'll see, won't we?
- Have gone back to a Dos Remedios program, as planned, total fitness option. In deference to where I am in the scheme of things, I'm doing one less set than recommended (3 vs. 4) for most exercises. I can pick up later, if need be. What is interesting to me is going back to exercises I haven't done in a while, and seeing that my strength has increased. Makes me smile!
- Survived the earthquake, which I actually found interesting. It's the second one I've been through here. Took a moment for me to realize what was happening, then I just watched stuff move around. I suppose I should have run for a door frame or something, but it didn't occur to me.
- Survived Irene, with power. All in all, not as bad around here as advertised, although if one was paying attention to raw weather data, it was pretty obvious that it wouldn't be. The worst part was the tornado warnings, which were going off with regularity on Saturday night. That was a bit unnerving. Mostly we got a lot of rain on top of a lot of rain, causing some impressive flooding, and enough wind to knock over enough trees to keep road and power crews busy. Although a few friends are still without power, for the vast majority of folks, it was business as usual on Monday.
- The biggest news, though, is that I'm now working at the PT office where I was volunteering! I'm working as an aide, which means I help people go through their routines. I suppose objectively, it's an incredible step backwards (from cleaning up superfund sites, to fetching heat and ice packs - woo!) but it IS a step in the direction of physical therapist proper, which is where I want to go. Makes me a very happy camper.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Dodging lightening bolts
Hard to believe, but the hard part of training for the 12 hour race is done.
And because it seems all training plans are required by fiat to go out on some kind of weird note - this one sure as hell did. The forecast was for showers and thunders showers, which isn't necessarily all bad, depending on the temperatures, and when I got up and looked at the radar, it looked as if there was a little line of heavy stuff passing through and then things would settle down. So I delayed my start time by a little bit - actually I'd gotten up earlier than usual so I just kicked back to normal start time - thinking things would improve; they didn't, so I just headed out.
As I may have mentioned in an earlier post - or not, since I haven't been posting all that much this summer - the way I set up for these long runs is to turn my car into an aide station. I put a cooler with drinks and snacks, along with a towel, visor, sunglasses, body glide, or whatever else seems appropriate given the day in the car and I pop by there after running a 6 - 10 mile loop for a short break and refreshment. This is in lieu of carrying around one of those redonkulous "fuel belts," which would allow for longer loops between refills but annoy the everloving shit out of me every step of the way.
Anyway - I set out on my first loop, which was about 8 miles, in a moderate rain with rumbly thunder, thinking it would pass by the time I got done the first loop and I'd probably be in the dry for the rest of the day. Instead it got harder as I got along, to the point of a biblical deluge! In a couple of places the roads were flooded with water that came to my shins. The lightening also got a little closer, but it wasn't all that frequent, so I didn't feel too concerned. Which was optimistic of me. When I was about 1/2 mile from home, I swear a bolt hit where I'd been not a minute before. There was a HUGE flash, an instant crack, and I smelled the ozone. Needless to say, I got my ass home, and went inside until this little bit of nasty had move along a bit.
That was the end of the excitement, but it wasn't the end of the rain. It. Just. Kept. Coming. Sometimes harder, sometimes moderate/steady; sometimes it would look as if it were going to clear and then there would be more rumbles of thunder (nothing close, I figure it was cloud to cloud lightening) and the rain would heavy up again. When wall was said and done, I did a bit over 31 miles in around 6 hours - exactly what I wanted to do - and it rained 2 1/2 inches during that time. The Phils game, which I'd been looking forward to watching while recovering, was rained out, and Philly set a record for rainfall on the day, with over 4 1/2 inches. My local reporting station said 4.69". At least the rain/clouds kept everything cool; the temperatures during my run never made it out of the 60's, and I can't believe how much of a difference that made in performance. I ran 6 miles less last week and HAD to stop at the end because I was just at the end of my rope. The additional miles yesterday were hard but no where near as hard as the last few miles of the week before, and I definitely didn't have to stop at the end, although I was perfectly happy to do so.
Now I have three weeks of taper. Ahhhh...
And because it seems all training plans are required by fiat to go out on some kind of weird note - this one sure as hell did. The forecast was for showers and thunders showers, which isn't necessarily all bad, depending on the temperatures, and when I got up and looked at the radar, it looked as if there was a little line of heavy stuff passing through and then things would settle down. So I delayed my start time by a little bit - actually I'd gotten up earlier than usual so I just kicked back to normal start time - thinking things would improve; they didn't, so I just headed out.
As I may have mentioned in an earlier post - or not, since I haven't been posting all that much this summer - the way I set up for these long runs is to turn my car into an aide station. I put a cooler with drinks and snacks, along with a towel, visor, sunglasses, body glide, or whatever else seems appropriate given the day in the car and I pop by there after running a 6 - 10 mile loop for a short break and refreshment. This is in lieu of carrying around one of those redonkulous "fuel belts," which would allow for longer loops between refills but annoy the everloving shit out of me every step of the way.
Anyway - I set out on my first loop, which was about 8 miles, in a moderate rain with rumbly thunder, thinking it would pass by the time I got done the first loop and I'd probably be in the dry for the rest of the day. Instead it got harder as I got along, to the point of a biblical deluge! In a couple of places the roads were flooded with water that came to my shins. The lightening also got a little closer, but it wasn't all that frequent, so I didn't feel too concerned. Which was optimistic of me. When I was about 1/2 mile from home, I swear a bolt hit where I'd been not a minute before. There was a HUGE flash, an instant crack, and I smelled the ozone. Needless to say, I got my ass home, and went inside until this little bit of nasty had move along a bit.
That was the end of the excitement, but it wasn't the end of the rain. It. Just. Kept. Coming. Sometimes harder, sometimes moderate/steady; sometimes it would look as if it were going to clear and then there would be more rumbles of thunder (nothing close, I figure it was cloud to cloud lightening) and the rain would heavy up again. When wall was said and done, I did a bit over 31 miles in around 6 hours - exactly what I wanted to do - and it rained 2 1/2 inches during that time. The Phils game, which I'd been looking forward to watching while recovering, was rained out, and Philly set a record for rainfall on the day, with over 4 1/2 inches. My local reporting station said 4.69". At least the rain/clouds kept everything cool; the temperatures during my run never made it out of the 60's, and I can't believe how much of a difference that made in performance. I ran 6 miles less last week and HAD to stop at the end because I was just at the end of my rope. The additional miles yesterday were hard but no where near as hard as the last few miles of the week before, and I definitely didn't have to stop at the end, although I was perfectly happy to do so.
Now I have three weeks of taper. Ahhhh...
Monday, August 1, 2011
File this under "Weird Dreams"
You'd think (well, I'D think, anyway) the night after one did a really long run, a person would sleep like a frickin' log. Well, naturally, I never do. I have my scientific wild-assed guesses as to why this is so, the foremost being that my core temperature probably remains elevated for a looooong time after such a run, particularly since it's summer, and that always interferes with my sleeping, but whether that or any other SWAG is correct is irrelevant, since I suspect there's not much (aside from an ice bath - yikes!) I can do about it, and it resolves after a day, anyway.
See? Lack of sleep, amazing run-on sentence. So why am I blogging? Because I had a pretty wacky dream last night, and wanted to write it down somewhere, and I don't keep a dream log (as I don't think dreams "mean" anything other than that your brain is playing with shit that's lying around in there) and writing this down on some random scrap of paper means I'll have another random scrap of paper lying around somewhere.
The dream: I'm taking some kind of college course. It's a big class, maybe 50 people, and it's in a bit of an unconventional room. Not everyone has a regular desk; some people are using a cafeteria-style table. The teacher is lecturing about something or other, and I'm following along in my text book and taking notes. I can't really see the book (now or at any other point in the dream) or my notes. There's a group of four guys, some older, some younger, in the back, not paying particular attention. This is getting on my nerves, as I can't hear the lecture. Yet somehow I am also friends with these guys, and am semi-included in the joking, even if I am ignoring them. We take some kind of quiz, essay style, with these guys chatting all along.
Suddenly the teacher is gone, and I am at the front of the room, teaching the class, although I'm still a student, not the professor. There is a panel of judges off to the side. The four guys continue to try to make trouble, and I'm getting pretty fed up. The rest of the class is perfectly attentive. In an impulsive move, I excuse the four from class. They will not get to take the second half of the quiz, which I am to administer. Everyone else claps. I wonder how the hell I thought I was within my rights to do that, but nonetheless, nobody on the judging panel stops me. I ask one of them, who looks like Susie Fogelson from the Food Network, what is on the second half of the quiz, and she says something along the lines of, "I don't know, you tell me." So I make something up. After class I meet up with a friend I haven't seen in ages; he's moving to Pittsburgh so I start taking to him about the city.
And then I wake up. The only thing I remember about the class I was teaching is the phrase "Daedalus effect," an actual term that still tells me nothing about the subject matter, other than to suggest there was some science aspect.
I suppose if I were looking for deep meaning or a sign in that dream, I would take it as telling me I should become a teacher. In fact, I think it all had much more to do with the fact that I met with sensei yesterday and discussed the dojo schedule, and as the conversation evolved, came up with the idea of a student teacher program, which we brainstormed at some length. Also, the Phils just finished a series with Pittsburgh yesterday. Still, it was a fun dream to remember.
Now if I could just figure out the genesis of the one where my sister had a third baby, this one improbably named Leander. (Sis has thus far stuck with major Biblical names.)
See? Lack of sleep, amazing run-on sentence. So why am I blogging? Because I had a pretty wacky dream last night, and wanted to write it down somewhere, and I don't keep a dream log (as I don't think dreams "mean" anything other than that your brain is playing with shit that's lying around in there) and writing this down on some random scrap of paper means I'll have another random scrap of paper lying around somewhere.
The dream: I'm taking some kind of college course. It's a big class, maybe 50 people, and it's in a bit of an unconventional room. Not everyone has a regular desk; some people are using a cafeteria-style table. The teacher is lecturing about something or other, and I'm following along in my text book and taking notes. I can't really see the book (now or at any other point in the dream) or my notes. There's a group of four guys, some older, some younger, in the back, not paying particular attention. This is getting on my nerves, as I can't hear the lecture. Yet somehow I am also friends with these guys, and am semi-included in the joking, even if I am ignoring them. We take some kind of quiz, essay style, with these guys chatting all along.
Suddenly the teacher is gone, and I am at the front of the room, teaching the class, although I'm still a student, not the professor. There is a panel of judges off to the side. The four guys continue to try to make trouble, and I'm getting pretty fed up. The rest of the class is perfectly attentive. In an impulsive move, I excuse the four from class. They will not get to take the second half of the quiz, which I am to administer. Everyone else claps. I wonder how the hell I thought I was within my rights to do that, but nonetheless, nobody on the judging panel stops me. I ask one of them, who looks like Susie Fogelson from the Food Network, what is on the second half of the quiz, and she says something along the lines of, "I don't know, you tell me." So I make something up. After class I meet up with a friend I haven't seen in ages; he's moving to Pittsburgh so I start taking to him about the city.
And then I wake up. The only thing I remember about the class I was teaching is the phrase "Daedalus effect," an actual term that still tells me nothing about the subject matter, other than to suggest there was some science aspect.
I suppose if I were looking for deep meaning or a sign in that dream, I would take it as telling me I should become a teacher. In fact, I think it all had much more to do with the fact that I met with sensei yesterday and discussed the dojo schedule, and as the conversation evolved, came up with the idea of a student teacher program, which we brainstormed at some length. Also, the Phils just finished a series with Pittsburgh yesterday. Still, it was a fun dream to remember.
Now if I could just figure out the genesis of the one where my sister had a third baby, this one improbably named Leander. (Sis has thus far stuck with major Biblical names.)
Friday, July 29, 2011
At long last
I finished New Rules of Lifting for Abs today! The last phase took for-freaking-ever due to my decision to go the longer route (8 times for the A & B workouts instead of 6) and the need to drop from three workouts a week to two, due to the running workload.
On the whole, I really liked the program, and there's no doubt in my mind I'll do it again. There are sufficient progressions and variations built into the program or discussed in the book that I'm sure it could feel entirely different going through a second time, particularly if I stick to the 6 trips through A & B plan. Next time through I'll add the "Extra Strength" section to Phase 2, as well. I'm thinking I may do this as soon as October, although I'm getting ahead of myself as usual with the planning.
My goal for this rotation was to strengthen my core all around and to improve my strength overall, and I have to say, mission accomplished. Although there is a weight loss/leaning out element to the book, I don't need to lose weight. If anything, I MAY have gained a pound for the second rotation in a row, and I am starting to suspect it really is muscle. My body fat %, as I measure it, hasn't changed, and I can SEE the changes under the skin and in the mirror. However I claim this with what I hope is not false optimism; for all I know it's just the usual carry-more-water-in-summer thing and it'll vanish by the second week in September. On the other hand, I've been working damned hard, I've been eating in a way I hope maximizes the physiological responses to exercise, and while I've always considered myself a hard gainer, even hard gainers do, well, gain. So, here's to a rotation well done, and hopefully more lean body mass!
Which leaves me with a bit of a strength training programming gap. Next week will be a big time unload week, so I have some time to think a bit. Assuming all goes reasonably well at the 12 hour race, I will in all likelihood do a second ultra distance race (a 50K) in early October; that will be it for the high mileage stuff for the year. If that happens, it won't be until early/mid October that I start another serious strength training program - which may be that second go through NROL/A, to be followed (finally) by Maximum Strength. So that leaves me with the August - September time frame to work out.
Which I will, but not today!
On the whole, I really liked the program, and there's no doubt in my mind I'll do it again. There are sufficient progressions and variations built into the program or discussed in the book that I'm sure it could feel entirely different going through a second time, particularly if I stick to the 6 trips through A & B plan. Next time through I'll add the "Extra Strength" section to Phase 2, as well. I'm thinking I may do this as soon as October, although I'm getting ahead of myself as usual with the planning.
My goal for this rotation was to strengthen my core all around and to improve my strength overall, and I have to say, mission accomplished. Although there is a weight loss/leaning out element to the book, I don't need to lose weight. If anything, I MAY have gained a pound for the second rotation in a row, and I am starting to suspect it really is muscle. My body fat %, as I measure it, hasn't changed, and I can SEE the changes under the skin and in the mirror. However I claim this with what I hope is not false optimism; for all I know it's just the usual carry-more-water-in-summer thing and it'll vanish by the second week in September. On the other hand, I've been working damned hard, I've been eating in a way I hope maximizes the physiological responses to exercise, and while I've always considered myself a hard gainer, even hard gainers do, well, gain. So, here's to a rotation well done, and hopefully more lean body mass!
Which leaves me with a bit of a strength training programming gap. Next week will be a big time unload week, so I have some time to think a bit. Assuming all goes reasonably well at the 12 hour race, I will in all likelihood do a second ultra distance race (a 50K) in early October; that will be it for the high mileage stuff for the year. If that happens, it won't be until early/mid October that I start another serious strength training program - which may be that second go through NROL/A, to be followed (finally) by Maximum Strength. So that leaves me with the August - September time frame to work out.
Which I will, but not today!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Down & Dirty Mud Run
Although I have a few trail runs under my belt, some of which have involved more than a little mud, this was my first official Mud Run. Mud Runs seem to be exploding these days; they're one part run, one part obstacle course, and one part - spa treament? What made this one fun and different for me is that I actually did it with friends. This was a nice change of pace from going off alone, running alone, and coming home alone - not that I really mind any of that, but it was great to have someone to chat and laugh with after all was said and done.
I headed out with my karate sensei, his wife, and another student from the dojo (A) at 5:30 am. Our scheduled race time was 7 am, and some of us still needed to pick up our race packages. A and I had gone the day before, and both that pick up area and the one on race day were quick and well organized. I am actually the only one of the group who has been putting in any real miles lately, and while everyone encouraged me to just go ahead and run at whatever pace I wanted, what I actually wanted was to run WITH people, so we agreed to start together and to run more or less together through the race. As it happened, it was actually A's first race ever! She's an experienced soccer player so it's not like she's a stranger to competition, but picking a 10K mud run as your first race is, IMO, pretty cool.
The start was very well done. The sent groups of runners off in three minute intervals, presumably to avoid "bunching" at the obstacles. That worked very well over the course of the run; I don't think I waited more than half a minute anywhere to do an obstacle, and generally didn't have to wait at all. We started fairly well back and probably weren't off much before 7:30.
The first obstacle was netting, set about 2 feet over the ground - you had to crawl under the netting. Good warm up, and a hint of things to come! The second obstacle was a ladder-style climb - the thing looked like a saw horse on steroids with extra slats. Again, somewhat of a warm-up obstacle. Then it was off into the woods on a pretty nice, wide trail. Even though the hour was early and the weather was, relatively speaking, pretty comfortable for July - the current heat wave hadn't started yet - it was nice to be in shade! In the woods it was up and over a four foot wall, then back on the trail.
At this point, the trail was pretty open, compared to what I've been running on in actual trail runs. There was all kinds of room to move and groove, and it was even split for a while, as you used a small section of the trail as in out and back fashion. After a pretty good climb, there were that they described as "Marine hurdles." These were three connected, very large saw horse style things with no slats, just a series of three crossbars. I think you were supposed to cross over the bars; however, as they were all well over my head, I crossed at the connection, as did many other people. In fact, at first I thought that was how you were supposed to do them; half way over, I realized it wasn't. Oh well; there were no points for style, so it was what it was. Up until this point, which was nearly halfway through the course, I had been running with sensei; here we switched off, and he ran with the Mrs. and I ran with A.
The race continued on more traditional single track trail, with the types of "obstacles" you generally can expect to encounter on a normal trail race; some downed trees, and a couple of creek crossings. Next obstacle was a pile of straw bales; we had been warned that this was a particularly tricky obstacle, but as an old farm girl, I didn't find them so, and it didn't seem that many others did, either. Then came what was easily the dullest part of the course - a straight flat stretch out maybe half a mile to a set of crawl-through tunnels (which I hated! I kept finding the wires with my bony knees - not fun) then back in along side the out trail. Dull, dull, dull - but A and I were having a great chat, which totally saved it. From there it was back into the woods and over a cargo net set over an a-frame, which, naturally, brought to mind Ninja Warrior.
And then we got muddy, part 1. This was a crawl through a mud pit, under ropes set about two feet over the mud. It was fairly short but you came out covered; fortunately there was a water stop right afterward so you could splash off any really bad bits (mud in the mouth, for example). Then it was back on the trail, and headed for home, where there were four quick obstacles before the finish. First was a 10' rock climbing wall. I've never done one, other than a little kiddie one at the playground (and only then mostly to act as a safety net for one of my nephews), so that was interesting, but not really a problem. From there it was on to mud pit #1 - this one was a waist-deep muddy water crossing that actually served to knock off some of the mud you still carried with you from the first mud crawl. A and I paused at this point to wait for sensei and Mrs., who were a couple of minutes behind us, so we could all cross the finish line together. Group intact, we headed for the next to last obstacle, a slippery wall set at a low (maybe 30 degree) angle. The idea was to use ropes to pull yourself up and over; you probably could have walked it, but there were volunteers (in military garb!) there yelling at you to go over it, belly down, so you did.
Last obstacle was, of course, the long mud pit! Here the ropes were set only six inches or so above the muck, and as you will see in the picture, we basically complied and got the thorough mud treatment:
All in all, it was a great day. Between the obstacles breaking things up and the camaraderie on the course, the time flew by (although we were most definitely not going fast!). It was a nice change of pace from more serious racing. Adding a couple of these things to the calendar each year definitely seems like it could keep things fun and interesting.
I headed out with my karate sensei, his wife, and another student from the dojo (A) at 5:30 am. Our scheduled race time was 7 am, and some of us still needed to pick up our race packages. A and I had gone the day before, and both that pick up area and the one on race day were quick and well organized. I am actually the only one of the group who has been putting in any real miles lately, and while everyone encouraged me to just go ahead and run at whatever pace I wanted, what I actually wanted was to run WITH people, so we agreed to start together and to run more or less together through the race. As it happened, it was actually A's first race ever! She's an experienced soccer player so it's not like she's a stranger to competition, but picking a 10K mud run as your first race is, IMO, pretty cool.
The start was very well done. The sent groups of runners off in three minute intervals, presumably to avoid "bunching" at the obstacles. That worked very well over the course of the run; I don't think I waited more than half a minute anywhere to do an obstacle, and generally didn't have to wait at all. We started fairly well back and probably weren't off much before 7:30.
The first obstacle was netting, set about 2 feet over the ground - you had to crawl under the netting. Good warm up, and a hint of things to come! The second obstacle was a ladder-style climb - the thing looked like a saw horse on steroids with extra slats. Again, somewhat of a warm-up obstacle. Then it was off into the woods on a pretty nice, wide trail. Even though the hour was early and the weather was, relatively speaking, pretty comfortable for July - the current heat wave hadn't started yet - it was nice to be in shade! In the woods it was up and over a four foot wall, then back on the trail.
At this point, the trail was pretty open, compared to what I've been running on in actual trail runs. There was all kinds of room to move and groove, and it was even split for a while, as you used a small section of the trail as in out and back fashion. After a pretty good climb, there were that they described as "Marine hurdles." These were three connected, very large saw horse style things with no slats, just a series of three crossbars. I think you were supposed to cross over the bars; however, as they were all well over my head, I crossed at the connection, as did many other people. In fact, at first I thought that was how you were supposed to do them; half way over, I realized it wasn't. Oh well; there were no points for style, so it was what it was. Up until this point, which was nearly halfway through the course, I had been running with sensei; here we switched off, and he ran with the Mrs. and I ran with A.
The race continued on more traditional single track trail, with the types of "obstacles" you generally can expect to encounter on a normal trail race; some downed trees, and a couple of creek crossings. Next obstacle was a pile of straw bales; we had been warned that this was a particularly tricky obstacle, but as an old farm girl, I didn't find them so, and it didn't seem that many others did, either. Then came what was easily the dullest part of the course - a straight flat stretch out maybe half a mile to a set of crawl-through tunnels (which I hated! I kept finding the wires with my bony knees - not fun) then back in along side the out trail. Dull, dull, dull - but A and I were having a great chat, which totally saved it. From there it was back into the woods and over a cargo net set over an a-frame, which, naturally, brought to mind Ninja Warrior.
And then we got muddy, part 1. This was a crawl through a mud pit, under ropes set about two feet over the mud. It was fairly short but you came out covered; fortunately there was a water stop right afterward so you could splash off any really bad bits (mud in the mouth, for example). Then it was back on the trail, and headed for home, where there were four quick obstacles before the finish. First was a 10' rock climbing wall. I've never done one, other than a little kiddie one at the playground (and only then mostly to act as a safety net for one of my nephews), so that was interesting, but not really a problem. From there it was on to mud pit #1 - this one was a waist-deep muddy water crossing that actually served to knock off some of the mud you still carried with you from the first mud crawl. A and I paused at this point to wait for sensei and Mrs., who were a couple of minutes behind us, so we could all cross the finish line together. Group intact, we headed for the next to last obstacle, a slippery wall set at a low (maybe 30 degree) angle. The idea was to use ropes to pull yourself up and over; you probably could have walked it, but there were volunteers (in military garb!) there yelling at you to go over it, belly down, so you did.
Last obstacle was, of course, the long mud pit! Here the ropes were set only six inches or so above the muck, and as you will see in the picture, we basically complied and got the thorough mud treatment:
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| Us, in our post race glory. I'm second from the right. |
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| Race shirt and finisher medal. |
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