Training Log Archive: possum

Nice to get back to kickboxing after being off for four days. Only really hard thing today was the Russian twists with a medicine ball.

Even though I took yesterday off, I spent almost four hours tying up blackberry vines, and it was pretty physical.

I made really stupid mistakes today. Need to keep focus. The map was printed with the course in black, instead of purple, and instead of 1, 2, 3, etc., the points had the control numbers.

Going from 4 to 5, I started out really well, then saw control 1 on the map on the way (but not designated as 1), got confused and it took a while to straighten my brain and go on to 5.

On control 6, I went too far east, realized I was too far from the lake and walked west to it.

The big mistake of the day, however, was leaving 7 to go to 8, but I went to 9 instead. Then I went to 8, and finally noticed that I needed to go back to 9. The only thing that saved my ego on this one was that Paul had made the same mistake.

I need to step things up for next weekend. Focus.

Field checking at Hodge Park. I gave it a three because I did a lot of stream beds with scrambling up banks, avoiding strainers and dodging thorn bushes. I have a lot of work to do here before every thing leafs out.

I woke up several times last night with almost my entire body sore, so it's good I am taking a few days of 9Round while they are closed. ElRay was badly in need of some exercise, so we went to Watkins Mill for our typical 4-mile walk around the lake. The temp is in the low 50's with a brisk south wind, and it's supposed to rain later in the day. We had the park to ourselves so I let ElRay off leash and worked on "stay close" which she did quite well. I grabbed her lead while passing the parking lots on the west side, and one jogger took off from there. We took a short side trip to trash the poop bag, and by that time he was out of sight, so we went back off lease for the rest of the walk. This gave ElRay a chance to stop and sniff and also get the zoomies in the open areas. When I sprinted, she raced me and also won. A really good day, and where were all the wimpy people?

Since 9Round will be closed the next two days, we had a brutal one today. Countdown burpees. I hate burpees. Round 1 was 20 rope jumps, 9 burpees, continue for 3 minutes. Each station had something, then finished with burpees. It was a relief to get to 5 and only have to do five burpees. Major sweat, and I still see Jared this afternoon.

Workout with Jared. No ropes or sleds, but I could feel it. Lots of dexterity and foot placement stuff, and then we really focused on upper body. I keep moving heavier on the weights, and I'm thinking my obliques will be sore tomorrow.

This was "tighten your tush" Tuesday. Not quite as intense as some days, but still a good workout.

Today was "whiitle your middle" Monday, and we lots of various types of planks and lunges. We also had the extra "Sally up, Sally down" round, only today it was with crunches--up, then halfway down and hold. I felt thoroughly worked out after taking a rest day yesterday.

New park, new map, at Crowder State Park. Nice woods and lots of climb, the perfect practice for Southern Indiana at the Flying Pig in two weeks. I was happy with my navigation except for 2-3. For some unknown reason, my head went into lalaland, and I totally lost focus. When I came back to reality, I had the map upside down, and had to figure out where I was. Cost me 15-20 minutes. After that, I was ok. On control 10, I walked about 20 feet too far up the reentrant, knew I'd passed it, turned around, starting walking back, and there was the control in back of a rock. Then I started back down the trail, decided it would be better to go direct, since it wasn't much of a hill to climb, and went up and over, getting in a little more navigation practice, right into the control.

The casualty of the race was my pants. The control was about 50 m downhill from a road intersection, and about 10 m in, something grabbed ahold of my left shoelace, and I hit the ground. First fall in a while, thanks to all those balance exercises. When I got up, the right leg of my pants was split all the way down. The under layer I wore kept me from being x-rated, but I got a lot of scratches from having a mostly bare leg. I have an inch-and-a-half long gash on the inside knee of my right leg, so I must have caught some obstruction on the way to the ground.

Today we had 10 rounds again. When they play a "Sally" song, with up Sally, down Sally, we do squat position. Then, of course, there was also an extra 30-seconds in between the rounds. I've gotten so that I start sweating early on, like I used to in my mid-40's when I ran almost every day.

Took the ElRay with me to Hodge Park. I had hoped to do some field checking, but field-checking and dog-walking do not appear to be simultaneous activities. I did put in a ruin and some gardens, and changed a few vegetation boundaries, and ElRay got nose to nose with a deer in the former bison pen. I had also wanted to check my Forerunner because I couldn't get it to work correctly at Weston Bend.

Not a super hard day, but I still raised a good sweat. Lots of burpees on the last three stations.

Took ElRay to Jesse James Park after my workout. Except for the kids playing soccer, the park was almost empty, so I let her run and sniff offleash on the SE side, and I kept up with my racewalking.

Workout with Jared today with no one else there, so I got to do the sled and the ropes and lots of other exhausting kinds of stuff.

After working out with Jared, I stopped at 9Round, and today was a killer for someone already half dead. The challenge today was pushups on a medicine ball. I did 84 and totally surprised myself. Lots of upper body stuff and burpees, my not-favorites.

Today was Brian and lots of squats.

Spent the day with my 10-year old grandson, Patrick. We played mini-golf in the cold, and tried the more difficult of the two courses. After we finished, we went back to Lawrence and Patrick helped me field-check Spike's old map of South Park.

C • South Park 2

OK had a meet today at Clinton Overlook. I ran the middle course which was mostly orange. As I was putting on my thumb compass, the magnifier broke off, which caused a little problem with seeing fine detail.

Lots of topography, but the woods were in pretty good shape, and it was only muddy in a few place. Went too far east going to control 3 and had to turn around and go back. Also didn't follow my bearing very well going to 9, and aimed off too much on 6, although when I hit the rock wall, I did go in the right direction. Very cold and windy when running across the open fields. Good course, had fun.

Today we actually went ten rounds. Brian decided that everyone would do squats for three minutes, then go back to the circuit. Lots of planks, pushups and burpees today.

A little later than usual, and I forget to use my inhaler, but I got through it anyway.

Today several of the stations were really hard. I was sweating so hard sunscreen got in my eyes, so it was the sweat, I wasn't really crying. The jumping, the Bosu with overhead press and squat, one-legged, and the last but not least on an exercise ball really took it out one me. The good part is that today was the last day of the sit-up and punch challenge, and I did 89 in three minutes. I was a machine.

Round 6 was a killer today. Lots of plank stuff with additions. Beat me up.

Weekly workout with Jared. My legs are like of jelly-like with lots of Firewalkers, but mostly we did a lot of upper body stuff.

Today I managed 86 situps wih double punch in three minutes. Way to go! I'm trying to talk my self into this month's challenge--how many pushups in three minutes. I'd hate to embarrass myself by only doing ten or so.

Intervals in the driveway. Run down, walk back x21. Haven't done this all winter--lots of heavy breathing.

Did a little wheezing at the start today, but otherwise ok. The challenge this morning was to sit up, double punch the back and repeat, keeping count. I felt very good about doing 70 in 3 minutes. Hope to beat that tomorrow.

Beautiful day. Took ElRay to Watkins Mill for a trek around the lake. She is getting much better at walking with me. We kept up a fast walk pace, and only had a few stop-and-sniffs.

Today was the meet at Weston Bend. After being meet director and course setter, it was good to sit and be registrar. Today was cold and windy, unlike yesterday. The cold and wind through the night helped dry the place up quite a bit, but it was still muddy and slick on the trails. I had changed start and finish because the original place I had in mind for registration was covered in water yesterday. The other crisis was that the electric that two park personnel had assured me was on, wasn't. Paul brought the battery, and we changed out to AC later on.

Fairly good turnout, considering that it was kind of far for the Johnson County people, an the weather reports had called for light rain/snow, which it didn't do.

After listening to comments and considering the good and bad of course planning:

Bad: old map with some vegetation and trail issues. Needs to be updated. Too far from my house--usually I spend a lot more time in place when course setting, but with an hour each way and bad weather, I didn't get to spend enough time there, checking details.

Good: Knew the terrain was tough, so I chose mostly large features, near linear objects, which in general required Orange navigation. Good mix of short and long legs, easy and more difficult navigation. Got lots of good comments from the adventure racers.

Next time I need to stay closer to home, unfortunately because Weston Bend is a great venue, and the park manager was great to work with.

C • Too far from home 1

Setting controls at Weston Bend. Really nice weather today which made for huge amounts of slick mud on some steep trails. Really slowed me down. Lots of elevation change at Weston Bend. I've been dreaming about setting controls for two weeks. Now is the time to get to sleep.

Lots of planks. I was really dehydrated when I was finished.

We had a new training toy today at Round 1. His name is Earl, he weighs 60 lb, and we carried (or drug) him the length of the gym and back, then did 10 mountain climbers, and repeated the sequence for 3 minutes.

Lots of arm work tonight, including the ropes. Managed to heavy up sme more.

Today was leg day--lots of leg work at all the stations but the last. That one was a challenge to stay in plank position for three minutes while touching the wall with alternating hands. I managed 120 touches.

Not as bad as yesterday, but still challenging. Today the toughies were side plank leg lifts and doing 100 reps of pulses.