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.