This seems like it's getting so close that I can almost touch it. I'm starting to look at my training and say that what I've done now is close to the shape that I'm doing to be in on race day. To some extent, that's true, but really 8 weeks is a good amount of time to get myself used to the impressively long training days.
The major news of this week is that I was on "vacation" so I had some extra time. With that extra time, I ran a huge PR (personal record) for my half marathon time. I am excited. It means that I'm in the best endurance shape that I've ever been in. I'm just so excited that despite the comments from my friends and observers that say that I'm crazy and I can't be doing good things to my body, my body is standing up with flying colours and saying: "Oh, you think I can't do this? Well, let me show that I can do it better than you ever imagined just to spite you!"
So what happened this week, specifically:
Monday: Taekwondo Practice (1:20)
Tuesday AM: Core Craziness Type 2 without leg lifts (10 pushups/50 ab reps) x 6 sets
Tuesday PM: 1:29:46 half marathon (6:50min/mile pace) + 1:30 olympic lifting/core
Wednesday Midday: Core Craziness Type 2 without leg lifts (10/50)x6
Wednesday PM: Taekwondo (1:20)
Thursday Midday: 43 min trail run at a slowish pace (circa 8:00min/mile)
Thursday PM: Core Craziness Type 2 without leg lifts (10/50)x6
Friday: 1:38 minute run (7:10-20 min/mile) in 90 F degree weather
Saturday: Progression TKD (light for 2 hours) + Core Craziness Type 2 with leg lifts (10/50)x12
Sunday: Progression TKD (warm up + 4 full matches) + Biking (2:08)
Weight: Median 167, low 165.0
Wow... that's a lot so far: why are you doing this to yourself?
The main thing that you may notice is that I did A LOT of core this week. That was a combination of having the time to do extra working out but also not wanting to tax my legs even more. Looking at the obstacles, I've begun worrying if I'm getting too concerned about the running part and need to be thinking about working on my upper body so that I don't die on them. Consequentially, I'm now doing core routines that take a huge amount of time. When I do 6 sets of those core circuits, as above, that's at least 30 minutes of constant crunches/pushups. Observers tend to look at me and think or say, "Okay, he's doing some core." Then they come back 20 minutes later and say, "Wait, weren't you doing that 20 minutes ago?" To which I respond, "Yea, I'm not done yet." The most common response I get is: "Wow."
I think when you talk about training for WTM, the correct response is just, "Wow." What I'm doing to my body is just so outside the norm that there's just no established response.
But, I digress. WTM is entirely different from an ultramarathon, as I've said before. Besides the cold, there are lots of obstacles. Obstacles are very different from running. There's a reason why Pak-man only ran 56-ish miles. That's a pittance if you're just running an ultra. The difference between a pittance and WTM2011 are those obstacles. In order to be fully ready, you need to have the core and the strength to push through them as well. That means I will have a lot more core and pull-ups in my future. Be prepared to see 90 minute core circuits... which will definitely be done with television assistance.
Also remember that one of the reasons why I do so much Taekwondo, other than it being my primary sport these days, is because it trains me for the obstacles. I get good anaerobic bursts for prolonged periods of time. This basically matches the obstacle-style work that I'll be doing for WTM and the fact that everything is done on my feet also gives me a little relief from doing raw leg-miles.
Speaking of raw leg-miles, I also did a reasonable amount more actual running than you may have predicted from last week. Specifically, you would have expected maybe 13 miles on Tuesday and Friday with maybe 4 miles on another day. Instead, you see a half marathon (13.1) with a 1:38 run (almost 14 miles), plus a 43 min trail run. That's a small, but significant step up. That's all because I'm worrying that I'm not doing enough pure running and my body is telling me, from the pace that I'm taking, that it's ready. It's pushing my pace because the distance is totally manageable now. That means that it's time to step up the miles. Even though my basic concept is high intensity so that I don't need to do as much time/mileage, running anything under a 7 minute mile is just entirely different from what I'll be doing for WTM, so I need to boost up that distance ticker faster. In that vein, who knows how high I'm going to get before I need to start tapering...
All I can say now is: "15 miles before a 2 hour workout? That sounds reasonable."
Oh... and don't forget... that half marathon time is a full 7 minutes faster than my best ever. That's about 30 seconds per mile faster. That's a lot. I'm proud of myself... especially because I blew away my PR then went on to complete even more workout after that.
You may also notice that the bike wasn't up to full time. That was because I fought hard during TKD, so I went until my legs were burning the entire way back during the biking loop. I could have squeezed out an hour or two more, but I'm looking forward to the schedule I've got next week and decided to take it a little easier. When I checked weight, I found that I totally was right. I did enough work... I had lost 2.4 lbs that day.
Speaking of weight, you may notice that I had trouble keeping my 2 lbs per week pace. I've been getting hungry, so I've been eating more. I'm not snacking on nothingness. I'm eating protein and making sure to replenish my body and my mind. I think this week my muscles were crying out for resources. Even though it messed up my schedule, I think they deserved it. If I don't listen to my muscles, then I'm just over-training and that's never going to help.
The Aches and Pains of a Mudder
This week was full of rough times. I am very much getting the mental exercise that I'll need to keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' on race day. Besides getting hurt a little during TKD, my destroyed ankle is starting to bother me, as expected. I don't think I can do anything about it at this point... so just stand tall and carry on.
To start with, it was excessively hot during my trail run. I was wearing my neoprene socks, so half the time it felt like my feet were burning up from heat. My legs ached a little on the hills up, but I kept reminding myself: "easy day, easy day... take it easy."
Then... came Friday.
I had an unexpected meeting in the morning, so I got out to running later than expected. By the time I got my stuff on, it was 12:30pm. Remember... I live in Southern California. Even though I'm close to the beach, I'm still basically in the desert. It was around 90 F outside and I didn't bring water or gels, because I never do. The first 10 miles were totally fine. I was cruising at 7:00-7:10 min/mile pace. Then I hit the beach and my shirt and shorts looked like I took a swim in the water. Those last four miles were brutal. My body just felt spent. I kept on pushing those legs to keep up the pace and they kept on yelling at me back: "No, just stop at this light, no just take it a little slower. Take a little breather." I shook my head and told them, "Just 4 more miles... just 3 more miles... see that landmark... you know it's not much left." They didn't care, they just kept on screaming. The 12th and 13th mile slowed down a bit (8:10 pace) and I felt like I wasn't going to be able to keep going, then I hit my stride. That last mile sailed through. My legs felt the pavement and the downslope that leads towards home. They fell into rhythm and pumped out a sub-7 minute mile for the last mile, including an ending kick.
When I got into my apartment, I basically flopped onto the ground and told my legs and lungs, "Okay, that was hard, but I know you've got more in you. No complaining next time." We'll see how well they listen tomorrow for the 15-miler.
During the TKD sparring, my left arm got wailed on pretty hard. I fight with left arm forward, so I block with that arm more than my right. I have pads on my forearm, but not on my tricep. The guy I was fighting kept kicking a little higher than my forearm, so it kept impacting the same place on my tricep. He's around middle-weight right now (i.e. 20 lbs more than me), so they were impressive kicks. After around 3 of them, I was in real pain. After the fourth, I had to call the match. I didn't want to risk a real injury from a practice fight. I hate calling the match for that sort of thing, but right now I have to grunt through every pushup I do. It's just a muscle bruise, but it's swollen, black/blue and painful. It'll take a few days, but it'll get better. As I say frequently: "Just a flesh wound."
The ankle is another issue. It hasn't been hurting me during runs or work-outs, but between workouts when I'm walking around, the destroyed ankle has been pinching and aching like it used to. I think the cartilidge has become inflamed a little and it's starting to feel all the miles that I've been piling on. At this point, I need to pile on even more miles, so the ankle is likely going to hurt even more. There isn't a lot I can do about it other than keep calm and carry on. The pain isn't bad and it's the type of thing that I know doesn't portend that I'm doing permanent damage that I haven't already done. Let's just hope it stays that way... I am planning a double marathon week in just 2 weeks.
Equipment
I've started getting the equipment in the mail. It's very exciting. The wetsuit feels a lot better than I thought it would. I tried on a cheap one and then a more expensive one. It's TOTALLY worth it to get the more expensive one. Running feels so much more natural. If you pay the money, there isn't really resistance. That said, I was wearing 3mm suits. We'll see how the 6mm feels.
Something that I've found is that it's again very important to practice in your equipment, even if you don't need to. I've been getting blisters in different places when I'm wearing the neoprene socks. I need to run in them even when it's hot out so that I build up those callouses. I also am wearing the lycra underlayer more to make sure that it doesn't cause rashing and so my body doesn't get itchy. I haven't had a problem with it yet, but I can totally feel how if I just sprung this all on game day, competing would be a lot harder.
The last thing is to do the fanny pack/swim cap/jacket and get serious about the eating part of this... much planning and thinking needs to go on.
The major news of this week is that I was on "vacation" so I had some extra time. With that extra time, I ran a huge PR (personal record) for my half marathon time. I am excited. It means that I'm in the best endurance shape that I've ever been in. I'm just so excited that despite the comments from my friends and observers that say that I'm crazy and I can't be doing good things to my body, my body is standing up with flying colours and saying: "Oh, you think I can't do this? Well, let me show that I can do it better than you ever imagined just to spite you!"
So what happened this week, specifically:
Monday: Taekwondo Practice (1:20)
Tuesday AM: Core Craziness Type 2 without leg lifts (10 pushups/50 ab reps) x 6 sets
Tuesday PM: 1:29:46 half marathon (6:50min/mile pace) + 1:30 olympic lifting/core
Wednesday Midday: Core Craziness Type 2 without leg lifts (10/50)x6
Wednesday PM: Taekwondo (1:20)
Thursday Midday: 43 min trail run at a slowish pace (circa 8:00min/mile)
Thursday PM: Core Craziness Type 2 without leg lifts (10/50)x6
Friday: 1:38 minute run (7:10-20 min/mile) in 90 F degree weather
Saturday: Progression TKD (light for 2 hours) + Core Craziness Type 2 with leg lifts (10/50)x12
Sunday: Progression TKD (warm up + 4 full matches) + Biking (2:08)
Weight: Median 167, low 165.0
Wow... that's a lot so far: why are you doing this to yourself?
The main thing that you may notice is that I did A LOT of core this week. That was a combination of having the time to do extra working out but also not wanting to tax my legs even more. Looking at the obstacles, I've begun worrying if I'm getting too concerned about the running part and need to be thinking about working on my upper body so that I don't die on them. Consequentially, I'm now doing core routines that take a huge amount of time. When I do 6 sets of those core circuits, as above, that's at least 30 minutes of constant crunches/pushups. Observers tend to look at me and think or say, "Okay, he's doing some core." Then they come back 20 minutes later and say, "Wait, weren't you doing that 20 minutes ago?" To which I respond, "Yea, I'm not done yet." The most common response I get is: "Wow."
I think when you talk about training for WTM, the correct response is just, "Wow." What I'm doing to my body is just so outside the norm that there's just no established response.
But, I digress. WTM is entirely different from an ultramarathon, as I've said before. Besides the cold, there are lots of obstacles. Obstacles are very different from running. There's a reason why Pak-man only ran 56-ish miles. That's a pittance if you're just running an ultra. The difference between a pittance and WTM2011 are those obstacles. In order to be fully ready, you need to have the core and the strength to push through them as well. That means I will have a lot more core and pull-ups in my future. Be prepared to see 90 minute core circuits... which will definitely be done with television assistance.
Also remember that one of the reasons why I do so much Taekwondo, other than it being my primary sport these days, is because it trains me for the obstacles. I get good anaerobic bursts for prolonged periods of time. This basically matches the obstacle-style work that I'll be doing for WTM and the fact that everything is done on my feet also gives me a little relief from doing raw leg-miles.
Speaking of raw leg-miles, I also did a reasonable amount more actual running than you may have predicted from last week. Specifically, you would have expected maybe 13 miles on Tuesday and Friday with maybe 4 miles on another day. Instead, you see a half marathon (13.1) with a 1:38 run (almost 14 miles), plus a 43 min trail run. That's a small, but significant step up. That's all because I'm worrying that I'm not doing enough pure running and my body is telling me, from the pace that I'm taking, that it's ready. It's pushing my pace because the distance is totally manageable now. That means that it's time to step up the miles. Even though my basic concept is high intensity so that I don't need to do as much time/mileage, running anything under a 7 minute mile is just entirely different from what I'll be doing for WTM, so I need to boost up that distance ticker faster. In that vein, who knows how high I'm going to get before I need to start tapering...
All I can say now is: "15 miles before a 2 hour workout? That sounds reasonable."
Oh... and don't forget... that half marathon time is a full 7 minutes faster than my best ever. That's about 30 seconds per mile faster. That's a lot. I'm proud of myself... especially because I blew away my PR then went on to complete even more workout after that.
You may also notice that the bike wasn't up to full time. That was because I fought hard during TKD, so I went until my legs were burning the entire way back during the biking loop. I could have squeezed out an hour or two more, but I'm looking forward to the schedule I've got next week and decided to take it a little easier. When I checked weight, I found that I totally was right. I did enough work... I had lost 2.4 lbs that day.
Speaking of weight, you may notice that I had trouble keeping my 2 lbs per week pace. I've been getting hungry, so I've been eating more. I'm not snacking on nothingness. I'm eating protein and making sure to replenish my body and my mind. I think this week my muscles were crying out for resources. Even though it messed up my schedule, I think they deserved it. If I don't listen to my muscles, then I'm just over-training and that's never going to help.
The Aches and Pains of a Mudder
This week was full of rough times. I am very much getting the mental exercise that I'll need to keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' on race day. Besides getting hurt a little during TKD, my destroyed ankle is starting to bother me, as expected. I don't think I can do anything about it at this point... so just stand tall and carry on.
To start with, it was excessively hot during my trail run. I was wearing my neoprene socks, so half the time it felt like my feet were burning up from heat. My legs ached a little on the hills up, but I kept reminding myself: "easy day, easy day... take it easy."
Then... came Friday.
I had an unexpected meeting in the morning, so I got out to running later than expected. By the time I got my stuff on, it was 12:30pm. Remember... I live in Southern California. Even though I'm close to the beach, I'm still basically in the desert. It was around 90 F outside and I didn't bring water or gels, because I never do. The first 10 miles were totally fine. I was cruising at 7:00-7:10 min/mile pace. Then I hit the beach and my shirt and shorts looked like I took a swim in the water. Those last four miles were brutal. My body just felt spent. I kept on pushing those legs to keep up the pace and they kept on yelling at me back: "No, just stop at this light, no just take it a little slower. Take a little breather." I shook my head and told them, "Just 4 more miles... just 3 more miles... see that landmark... you know it's not much left." They didn't care, they just kept on screaming. The 12th and 13th mile slowed down a bit (8:10 pace) and I felt like I wasn't going to be able to keep going, then I hit my stride. That last mile sailed through. My legs felt the pavement and the downslope that leads towards home. They fell into rhythm and pumped out a sub-7 minute mile for the last mile, including an ending kick.
When I got into my apartment, I basically flopped onto the ground and told my legs and lungs, "Okay, that was hard, but I know you've got more in you. No complaining next time." We'll see how well they listen tomorrow for the 15-miler.
During the TKD sparring, my left arm got wailed on pretty hard. I fight with left arm forward, so I block with that arm more than my right. I have pads on my forearm, but not on my tricep. The guy I was fighting kept kicking a little higher than my forearm, so it kept impacting the same place on my tricep. He's around middle-weight right now (i.e. 20 lbs more than me), so they were impressive kicks. After around 3 of them, I was in real pain. After the fourth, I had to call the match. I didn't want to risk a real injury from a practice fight. I hate calling the match for that sort of thing, but right now I have to grunt through every pushup I do. It's just a muscle bruise, but it's swollen, black/blue and painful. It'll take a few days, but it'll get better. As I say frequently: "Just a flesh wound."
The ankle is another issue. It hasn't been hurting me during runs or work-outs, but between workouts when I'm walking around, the destroyed ankle has been pinching and aching like it used to. I think the cartilidge has become inflamed a little and it's starting to feel all the miles that I've been piling on. At this point, I need to pile on even more miles, so the ankle is likely going to hurt even more. There isn't a lot I can do about it other than keep calm and carry on. The pain isn't bad and it's the type of thing that I know doesn't portend that I'm doing permanent damage that I haven't already done. Let's just hope it stays that way... I am planning a double marathon week in just 2 weeks.
Equipment
I've started getting the equipment in the mail. It's very exciting. The wetsuit feels a lot better than I thought it would. I tried on a cheap one and then a more expensive one. It's TOTALLY worth it to get the more expensive one. Running feels so much more natural. If you pay the money, there isn't really resistance. That said, I was wearing 3mm suits. We'll see how the 6mm feels.
Something that I've found is that it's again very important to practice in your equipment, even if you don't need to. I've been getting blisters in different places when I'm wearing the neoprene socks. I need to run in them even when it's hot out so that I build up those callouses. I also am wearing the lycra underlayer more to make sure that it doesn't cause rashing and so my body doesn't get itchy. I haven't had a problem with it yet, but I can totally feel how if I just sprung this all on game day, competing would be a lot harder.
The last thing is to do the fanny pack/swim cap/jacket and get serious about the eating part of this... much planning and thinking needs to go on.
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