Spartan Sprint Training - Week 4/11

Ok now it's Wednesday and I just caught up on 2 weeks of forgotten blogs. 🙈 I think this is a result of not having that single block of time during a day where I complete my workout. It's done sporadically through the day so I don't feel like I'm "done yet" oh and also, who has the time for that!?  Annnnnyway, trying to get back on track...

Monday

Did: 4 days make-up of Ryan Fischer workouts.

This was a lot. But I'm determined to do this whole program! 

Tough but not bad.

Didn't have a teammate, so did 20 rounds by myself.
12:28

Air Squats get surprisingly hard after a lot of reps.

Did these on my knees because omg. 
8:27 time

Four. I did four workouts.
Also, Valentine's leggings. 
💕

Tuesday

Did: Track Tuesday + RF Day 22

Got in just under 7 miles total with the track Tuesday crew in the early morning. The track was suuuuper puddle-y so it made speed a little difficult (bobbing and weaving around the puddles in the dark). Did 800s with kind of lackluster effort, but eh, that's what you get some days. 

Completed Day 22 at home right before lunch. This one wasn't too bad but arms were definitely noodle-y. (wow, two made-up words in one post? awesome.)

2x [50 elevated-heel air squats, 50 door towel pull-ups, 50 knees to chest, 50 glute bridges, 50 wide-arm pushups (yep those were on the knees), 50 tricep dips (THESE HURT WOW)]

Wednesday

Did: 60 min Soul Sculpt w/ Katie + 3.6 mi run

Knowing tomorrow would be a washout weather-wise, I decided to add in a run with hill sprints after Sculpt today. Tough but nice out in the cool breezy sunshine!

Thursday

Did: 60 min Power Flow w/ Marsha + RF Day 23 & 24

Cold rainy outdoors but hot & heart-pumping indoors!

Got a power flow class with Marsha done followed by 2 days of Ryan Fischer workouts. Thought about doing 3 but was totally dead after 2. Just 3 more days to finish the program, then I'm starting it over!

Whew.

Friday

Did: RF Day 25 & 26

Got in 2 more days of the Ryan Fischer plan. Not too bad today!

12:47 to complete the rounds that took 15 mins the first time. Whee!

Chair Dips are hard.

Saturday

Did: 9.2 mi trail run + 15 mi bike ride

What a day! Started off the morning in the woods with a group of friends old and new. We headed out from Asbury Hills conference center to Raven Cliff Falls via the Naturaland Trust trail, then crossed the suspension bridge over the top of the falls and returned down Dismal trail. I'd hiked this trail with Robin over the summer but it was a new experience trying to "run" it... using that term lightly because there were significant portions during which there was absolutely no running. Regardless, we had an amazing few hours on the trails, spectacular views of the falls, and a gloriously chilly and sunny winter morning. The end got a little stressful when we returned to the cars and found one runner was missing (he'd turned back about 2.5 miles in and should have been at the car long before we got back). Another couple of hours to find him, but all turned out ok! Lessons learned: always have a plan to regroup and make sure that plan does not depend on having a phone signal. 

Icicles covering this rock wall

Beautiful view of the falls! 😍

When I got back to town, I had to catch the group that was biking with Super D on the Swamp Rabbit Trail - he'd decided he wanted to do a group ride from TR down to the Swamp Rabbit Grocery and back, and they'd left right at noon. I knew I'd be late due to the lost runner, so I rode down to catch them and got to the Grocery right as they were finishing up. Averaged 13 mph on the way down, and 8mph on the way back with the group. A fun day but man, exhausting!

Car full of biking and hiking and running gear.

Sunday

Did: 2.5 mi hike, RF day 27

Met up with another family for a short hike in the morning (after the temps were comfortably above freezing) and it became clear early into the hike that we would not make it to the top of the mountain that we'd planned... but it was fine, because the kiddos enjoyed things like throwing rocks in creeks, racing each other from one tree to the next, whacking trees with sticks, and fighting "zombies" along the trail. 

Asleep in the car, with sandwich crusts still in hand.

Got back and completed the 27th and final day of the Ryan Fischer program. Excited for round 2 to start tomorrow and see what I can improve vs. just 4 weeks ago!

Spartan Sprint Training - Week 3/11

Totally missed blogging last week. Sooooo let's see what I can remember! 😖

Monday

Did: 60 min Power Flow w/ Hyejin

Just yoga today. Needed a rest from the Sunday Funday super workout. 

Tuesday

Did: Track Tuesday + Trailside Trotters = 10.4 miles for the day

Yippee skippee two-a-days make for lots of miles and I am here. for. it.

Started out with early crew on track Tuesday, did Upward ladder (400/800/1200/1600) + 800 to finish. 

Then in the evening, did the Trailside Trotters 5k run club with friends and enjoyed a nice casual pace with oddly warm temperatures!

Wednesday

Did: 45 min Soul Sculpt

I was late to start this class due to work stuff. It's all I had time for but of course, something is better than nothing, always!

Thursday

Did: 5.7 mi Altamont run

4 weeks going strong, loving this run. Another PR to the top, cut about 20 seconds off my time once again! This week felt so much better compared to last week. Strange how the perceived exertion can change so much from week to week and it doesn't always match with your time or effort. Loving this for building my hill-climbing, though!

Friday

Did: RF Day 15 + 16, 60 min Power Flow w/ Jessica

Doubled up on the RF workouts (since I'd skipped ALL of them this week, ugh) and did some yoga at noon. I will say, these little 15-20 minute workouts are just right to squeeze in between meetings and such. It's a shift from the "ok this is my hour to workout" mentality but I'm learning how to incorporate them into the day. 

Saturday

Did: 60 min Soul Sculpt w/ Katie + 60 min Vinyasa w/ Hyejin

Doubled up on the virtual Soul classes today and felt great. I was tempted to go out and run in the cold rain but ultimately decided indoor workouts were going to be the plan for the day. Just couldn't muster the motivation to go out in it.

Sunday

Did: 9.98 mi @ 8:59/mi avg

Found my motivation to run in the rain today. More like... needed to go get some miles. And so I did. And it was good.

Wow, just 3 running days this week and I stayed above 25 mpw! Pretty pleased with that mileage + all the strength training. 😁

Spartan Sprint Training - Week 2/11

I really just need to go to a playground multiple times per week and dead hang.

Monday

Planned: RF Day 8

Did: 1.16 mi @ 9:03/mi avg + RF Day 8

This was intended to be an easy day, and was just that. I felt like running a little bit, so did a mile loop through the neighborhood before completing the RF workout for the day. 

Tuesday

Planned: Track Tuesday + RF Day 9

Did: 6.97 mi @ 8:17/mi avg + RF Day 9

Back at the track for an early Tuesday with the crew. Did 6x600 + 3x200 because I felt like doing something fast today. 

600s: 2:33, 2:46, 2:36, 2:38, 2:37, 2:39 

200s: 0:43, 0:42, 0:46 

Also I'm absolutely sure my watch did not accurately measure my heartrate because it said I topped out around 153 and I definitely felt puke-y at the end of a few intervals, which typically means I'm hitting 190-ish. I think it was too cold for my watch to detect HR accurately? idk but it says I burned 250 calories running 7 miles and that just ain't right. 😝

Got home and did the RF workout for the day which was a cumulative 10-minute plank hold, but every time you had to take a break, do 10 pistol squats + 15 pushups. That was tough! I think I ended up taking 5 or 6 breaks total. Max. single hold was 2 minutes long. 

Wednesday

Planned: RF Day 10 + ?

Did: RF Day 10 

Says "should take 15 minutes"

That was tough. Time was 15:04

Thursday

Planned: Altamont + yoga

Did: 5.75 mi Altamont run + 60 min Power Flow w/ Marsha

Third week in a row doing the Thursday morning Altamont run in the dark. I'm really liking this new routine! 22:08 for the climb today, which Strava says is a PR and for once I agree with it! I manually hit the lap button on my watch each time I do the climb, which tracks quite differently than whatever Strava thinks I'm doing. Past 2 weeks' efforts were 22:53 and 22:26. I was surprised because I felt like I was struggling really hard to keep going, but turns out that's just how it feels to go faster. 😜

Mid-morning yoga with Marsha was excellent today. 

Opted to skip Ryan Fischer workout today (3 workouts just seemed like too much). 

Friday

Planned: Sculpt

Did: 60 min Soul Sculpt w/ Katie + RF Day 11

Got both workouts done today - man, doubling up is tough but feels so strong to get them done, too!

Bicycle crunches... plus I love this outfit. 😍

Saturday

Planned: run?

Did: 6.2 mi trail run

Got a last-minute invitation to join a few peeps on the trails for a run at dawn, which sounded exactly like what I needed! Met before sunrise and, after a few false-starts (the gate was locked to the trails we wanted to run, so had to regroup and find a new location) headed out on some trails off of Persimmon Ridge. I'd never been there before, and they aren't inside any park system but are close to the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area / Caesar's Head / Jones Gap area. Really pretty and sooooo nice to be there at sunrise! 

It was challenging too because of the ~1,400 ft of climbing we did... didn't realize it at the time but man that was tough!

Elevationnnnn

Sunday

Planned: strength training

Did: RF day 12, 60 min Soul Sculpt w/ Candler, RF Day 13

Oh yeah, this was tough. Had to make up for a few skipped Ryan Fischer days and decided to sandwich a Sculpt class in between. Felt like a wet noodle after all this but whew, good to get that done!

Side note, I'm finishing this blog on 2/17 (like 2 weeks after the fact... oops). Life. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Spartan Sprint Training - Week 1/11

Finally put together some kind of "plan" for training for this Spartan race. The event is 5k distance, 20 obstacles. Details here, but highlights include cargo net climb, hoisting 70lb weight with a pulley, traversing a rock wall horizontally, trekking through mud pits, and monkey bars. My biggest concern is grip strength to get through all of those. Is it too late to take up rock climbing?? 😜

I did get a few programs focused on pull-ups since that seems to be a solid combo upper body and grip training. Starting with a week of this one to see where it gets me.

Monday

Did: 45 min workout (strength + bodyweight)

A fellow spartan teammate sent me a few training plans he's used in the past, and I picked the one that requires zero equipment (because all I have is 8lb dumbbells and some resistance bands?). Ryan Fischer is he trainer, and his program hits all the things cardio & strength, and seems like it will be a good supplement to the running & yoga I'll do otherwise. It's a 4 week program and I plan to do it through 2x. 

I can't do a handstand, so I replaced the hold with handstand kick switches. That was plenty tough by the 50th repeat. Time for 50x = 18:52

Followed this with some sculpt-like workouts (plyo sessions with some dumbbell arms, core, and plenty of squats with the resistance band).

Tuesday

Planned: Ryan Fischer Day 2 + Shape Pull-up training, 10k run

Did: as planned, with the 6.22 mi stroller run @ 8:49/mi avg

Sad to miss out on my track Tuesdays crew but the storms were just a bit too hefty to go out in at 5:30 a.m. today. However, it opened the opportunity to try something else that I've been wanting to do for a while - Trailside Trotters run club! Includes a free beer at the end! 

First I hit up my strength workouts in the late afternoon - pull-up training with towels in the door (boy does that work your grip strength!!) plus the Ryan Fischer Day 2 workout. This one again looked easy on paper but quickly whipped me into submission.

Coach Harley kept me in line

So basically do 2x of N pushups and N jump squats, then rest the remainder of your 3 minutes.
Next round, do 2x N+2, then N+4, etc. 

The whole "rest the remainder of the 3 minutes" seemed simple and unnecessary until I got to 20 reps and it took the entire 3 minutes to get through them all. That's when I called it. My arms were jello, even doing the push-ups on my knees! 

After Scott got home, we headed to The Commons for the Trailside Trotters meetup. There were probably about 50 people but pretty spread out and obvi outdoors. We ran a couple miles before the 5k and I finished out my #10kTuesday after the group was done. One free beer afterwards, and enjoyed some yummy tacos. It was nice to be out and social!

Wednesday

Planned: Ryan Fischer Day 3 + Shape Pull-up training, 60 min Power Flow

Did: RF Day 3, 60 min Power Flow w/ Hyejin 

Skipped the pull-ups because every muscle in my entire body hurts right now. Did the Ryan Fischer workout just before yoga class today.

AMRAP

In each 3 minutes, I did 3 rounds (so basically 1 round per minute). So 15x total through that routine makes 120 reps of each move. Whoa.

At least yoga was fairly gentle. 

Thursday 🥳

Planned: Ryan Fischer Day 4 + Birthday hike

Did: 5.7 mi Altamont run + 5.75 mi hike

Skipped the RF workout today in favor of a run up Altamont in the early morning hours. Somehow managed to beat last week's time by 4.5 minutes?? No way... checked Garmin where I manually hit the lap button for the climb and was 22:26 last week but 22:56 this week.

Go home, Strava, you're drunk.

Anyway, still a great way to start the morning!

Then took a few hours in the middle of the day to enjoy a hike with Robin, where we explored Asbury Trail to Moonshine Falls & Confusion Falls. It exceeded expectations in many ways! Challenging enough terrain to keep it interesting, super fun cable bridge crossing, and really beautiful falls at the end. 

Cable bridge!

Moonshine barrels behind the falls

Behind Moonshine Falls

Yay, nature!

Confusion Falls

Friday

Planned: RF Days 4 & 5

Did: RF Days 4 & 5

Made up for missing my Ryan Fischer workout yesterday and did 2 of them back-to-back today. Wasn't too bad, each is about 20-25 mins in duration so together they made a solid workout!

Saturday

Planned: long run

Did: 10.1 mi @ 8:11/mi avg

YES what a great run! Went downtown early for the Best Ten Backwards route. Felt like a solid pace but didn't realize just how fast it was. I was pooped afterwards, though, and napped on the couch before lunch. Love getting that run done early. 

Post-run reward. 

Sunday

Planned: ?

Did: Soul Sculpt w/ Candler + RF Day 6

Wasn't sure what to do today, but the yucky rain made it an indoor workout day for all of us. Scott joined me for a Sculpt class, then I finished up the first week of Ryan Fischer afterwards. It was ALL ABS. 

But I got my new Ellie outfit in and felt soooooo fancy  

So the good thing for the week: I'm finally not sore after every single workout. I guess that's progress? I've not kept up with my pull-ups, though, and that's gonna be a problem.