We’ve been continuing with the workout plan with not much particularly exciting to share, hence the lack of a real update lately. We’re carryin’ on carryin’ on! Thursday night training with Morgan continues to be hard, but our recovery from it and our ability to actually do everything Morgan asks of us are getting better. That has allowed us to add the weight training back into our rotation, so the weekly schedule looks something like this:
Monday – weights chest, shoulders, tri’s, abs
Tuesday – weights back, light bi’s, abs
Wednesday – legs, abs
Thursday – Morgan night, consisting of overall body workouts with tendency to focus on two or so areas (shoulders, abs, glutes/legs, core, etc)
Friday – bi’s/abs
Saturday or Sunday – pack run
Morgan has changed our weights workouts a bit, at least for me. Corey has always gone with (relative) lighter weight than I have, but higher reps. In actuality, Corey’s a bit stronger than I am with a stockier build, so the weight he was using for his higher reps was actually the same weight I was using for the lower reps. Now, we both do full sets of 15 reps each with most of our lifts.
Several weeks back, Morgan did a body composition test on us with a cool toy he’s got that sends electrical signals through the body to determine bone density, muscle mass and body fat in each body part. I was pretty psyched to have the thing tell me that I have the body of a 25 year old. Overall the stats came out very good for us both. Our bone density is higher than normal, almost certainly from the pack work over the past 2 years. Our muscle mass is very evenly distributed (right/left), which is very good. Body fat is relatively low, well in the “healthy” category (not much of a surprise really).
My body weight is down a lot from last year…if you kept up with my postings from then you may remember that I started in what I considered at the time to be in “good shape”, weighing in at 170 lbs. I guess I didn’t realize at the time just how bad my shape was =) I weighed in this morning at 149 lbs., and I have FAR more muscle mass upper and lower body than I had then. I haven’t looked like I do now since early 1992 and I’m quite pleased. All in all, over the past two years I must have lost around 30 lbs. of fat…and that’s if I’ve only put on about 10 lbs. of muscle. Somehow that doesn’t seem right though, because I seem to have put on quite a bit more muscle mass than that, plus the bone density increase shown on Morgan’s test. To guess, it would seem more like I’ve put on 20 lbs. of muscle overall, but that would mean around 40 lbs. of fat loss, which doesn’t seem right either because I don’t think I was carrying THAT much extra weight. At least now with Morgan's toy from here on out we'll know what's changed instead of having to guess.
In any event, I have been hovering right at around 150 lbs. for the past two months now and believe that that represents my “natural healthy” weight. We’ll see if it changes much/any in the next couple of months as I ramp up the distance in the pack runs.
The only other thing to really share from the past weeks is that I started to second guess myself on the FiveFingers, but I’m back on track with swearing by them. I got to thinking about the 20 mile hike that Corey and I did several months back, and how much foot pain I had on that hike in the Fingers. Then I got to thinking that I haven’t done a pack run anywhere near the 18 miles where my feet started hurting on that hike. That led me to reason that I should probably prepare myself for what would happen if my feet have the same problem in the FiveFingers for when I do get to that distance with the pack runs. I should be able to swap over to normal shoes if I get to that kind of pain level in the Fingers.
So Saturday a week ago, I donned the 40 lbs. pack and went out for a modest 8 mile run with my high-speed Brooks running shoes that I bought last year. I’m here to tell you that it was an extremely painful experience. My feet did fine…but by about mile 6 the shock on the legs was adding up to an excruciating experience. It started about mid calf and got worse higher up in the legs. The focus though was on the knees. I almost didn’t finish the run, and it took me a full three days before my knees felt normal again.
The following Wednesday, I did the exact same run with the Fingers as the only difference. As it turns out, my thinking back in the spring around the benefits of training my legs to the Fingers in order to reduce the shock on the legs was right on. I sailed past the six mile mark with no pain. At the seven I started considering extending the run. I did stop at eight, but only because I really wanted to be able to get a solid judgment on recovery time afterward from doing the exact same run in the Fingers. I definitely felt that I could have done far more, and was considering going for 12 miles.
Not only did I have no pain during the run itself, I woke up the next day with no soreness or stiffness. The legs did feel like I’d worked them just like normal…but nothing more. So, no more doubts on the Fingers other than that I’m still left with wondering if I’m going to have that long distance pain in the feet again at around the 18+ mile mark.
Not sure yet what I’m going to do there. I will probably bring the hiking shoes that I used on last year’s Bataan with me, just in case. That way, if I get to that level of pain I can swap out of the Fingers and walk the rest of the way if I have to.
So in summary, everything is very positive, and I’m still on track. I may not hit my 6 hour finish time goal this year but I’m still happy that I’ve decided to push for Bataan again in 2011 instead of waiting to be completely ready in 2012. It’s still a great experience and well worth doing, and provided I don’t have a medical disqualification for whatever reason during the event, I should crush last year’s time by a fair margin which will feel really good.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Welcome, New Followers!
Blogger started tracking stats back in May about those who visit the blogs here at the Blogger site, including web page referrals (who sent you here). The majority of referrals come from Google, Fark, and Facebook.
I just wanted to drop a quick post to welcome all the new followers, especially the large number of hits from those in Iraq! Welcome, have a great Thanksgiving, and please be as safe as you can. Your welfare is important to us, and thank you on behalf of a grateful nation!
So y'all in Slovenia, Croatia, Japan and the UAE, you guys gonna come join us at White Sands this year?
I just wanted to drop a quick post to welcome all the new followers, especially the large number of hits from those in Iraq! Welcome, have a great Thanksgiving, and please be as safe as you can. Your welfare is important to us, and thank you on behalf of a grateful nation!
So y'all in Slovenia, Croatia, Japan and the UAE, you guys gonna come join us at White Sands this year?
Friday, November 19, 2010
My Gear
I think I finally have the perfect gear set-up, especially for pack runs. If you’re a gear-geek, read on. If not, you might wanna pass on this post =)
If you’ve followed the blog for a while, you’ll know that gear has been a constant factor in what we’re doing. From the early days we stressed about packs being too large, packs being too small, what fits right in the pack to add weight, the proper footwear (shoes and socks), shorts rubbing in the wrong places, rain-gear, head-gear, gloves, etc., etc. We’ve been through many iterations of the overall gear set-up.
I was thinking about this yesterday, and realized that my current gear set-up is about three generations beyond what it was on day one, and that I haven’t talked much about gear in the past year or so. So, here it is…the rundown on my current gear, and I think it’s just about perfect.
Shoes: I’m running with Vibram Five-Fingers KSO Treks. These are perfect for what I’m doing. Despite what you may read, the soles have plenty of flexibility for running, my feet do not feel constrained in free movement at all. Plus, the Treks provide plenty of protection from rocks and whatnot while trail running and transition quite well to the road for limited distances. These, of course, are exactly the conditions to be found at White Sands. WARNING: You cannot throw Fivers on on day one and go run your normal distance. I spent six months specifically retraining my feet and lower legs to the Fivers, and even so ended up with two minor running injuries in the process. You MUST ease into the use of these. On the upside, I have had zero pain in the feet and lower legs since fully acclimating to them, and this lower extremity pain was a very significant problem for me through the first year or so of training, almost causing me to quit multiple times early on.
Socks: Injinji Performance Mini Crew Toesocks. Warm, comfortable, and required extra padding for long distance (15+ miles) hikes and runs while wearing Fivers. Love the socks.
Lower Body: Underarmor Compression Briefs and standard high durability hiking shorts. I got away from running shorts early on, mostly due to where packs tend to sit on the hips causing problems around the waist. Moving to the hiking shorts through caused some issues with too much free-space in the crotch area resulting in rubbing issues. Hence enter the compression briefs. I like them so much I wear them almost all the time now even in street clothes. They’re comfy, and best of all keep everything in the right place so no rubbing. Just as important, the underarmors specifically are the right fabric to create some free movement between the fabric of the briefs and the fabric of the shorts, resulting in no “bunching” of material. Doesn’t sound like a big deal. Is a big deal. After 20 miles, a “roll” of material trapped between layers of clothes with external weight pushing the roll into your skin becomes an agonizing experience right up there with 5 minutes in the gas chamber of Parris Island.
Upper Body, Underarmor HeatGear (ColdGear in winter) Longsleeves. Alternately, Champion Brand Wicking Longsleeves (while lower durability, they’re less expensive and do the same thing). Yes, you have your moisture wicking which is incredibly important…but you also have the sheer material which allows non-friction between the shorts and the shirt around the waist and critically between the pack and your back (upper and lower). I literally wore bloody holes in my shoulder blades learning this lesson. Do not run with a pack in a standard cotton T-shirt. As much as I love wearing my Trappe Fire and Ambulance Company and my 2010 Bataan Memorial Death March T-shirts when I run, doing so is the equivalent of saying “I’d like to carry an extra liter of water with me to make up for the blood loss.”
Head: Marine Corps Boonie Hat in the summer. Just cuz. There actually is a practical reason, that being the sun protection for the face and back of the neck in desert conditions. That said I usually wear it with the sides strapped up anyway simply because it looks better. I’m vain, sue me. In the winter I just wear a standard close-fitting knit cap.
Pack: Modified Osprey Raptor 14. Very modified. The pack is probably the single thing that has changed the most over the past couple of years. We’ve done everything from 65 liter packs to 14s, and most of the in-between. I’m currently in love with *my* Raptor 14. Its compartment is the perfect size for three 10 lbs. dumbbells (with plastic coating on the dumbbells and their shape and size they fit snuggly into the pack and nearly fill the whole pack which evenly distributes the weight and provides for zero movement of the weight inside the pack) and a 5 lbs. plate sitting on top. The pack “wears” in the center of the back, between the shoulder blades, allowing the shoulder blades to help stabilize the side to side movement of the weight when you run…which is very important. The hydration system is brand new this year, and provides awesome rigidity to the whole pack which adds to the stabilization of the weight for almost *zero* pack movement while you run.
My modifications: I added plastic strap holders to the shoulder straps down below the armpits. A constant problem with carrying weight in a pack, especially running, is the constant need to adjust the shoulder straps due to slippage. Doing that three times a mile for anything more than a third of a mile gets extremely annoying. No more. It does make it a bit of an issue to adjust the fit the first time, but once its right it stays right. Since I don’t use my pack for anything else (right now), I don’t need it to fit any differently than it does while running with 40 lbs.
I also added memory foam seat-belt pads to the shoulder straps. This was an ingenious idea offered up by a workmate, in response to my one complaint about running with a Raptor 14 with 40 lbs. in it. The shoulder straps are designed as any lightweight 14 liter pack should be designed…to carry next to no weight. My training is the opposite, I’m purposely trying to put 40 lbs. in a package that’s as small and tight as possible to minimize (no, to completely destroy) any and all bounce and side to side movement of the pack. No one out there makes a pack that’s that small and can carry that much weight. By design, the shoulderstraps on the Raptor 14 are lightweight and narrow, and with forty pounds in the pack while running they dig right into your shoulders with a vengeance and don’t let go. After about 5 miles the pain of this is intense, and after about 8 miles you tend to lose the feeling in your arms right down to your fingertips. I learned the hard way (several different times now) that when things go numb, bad things are happening to your body. Numbness is to be avoided at all costs. So, my Raptor 14 now sports custom shoulderpads which are wide enough to distribute the weight evenly across a broader surface of the shoulder.
And the last pack modification…carabiners, because carabiners look cool and everyone needs carabiners. The more carabiners you have, the more you look like you know what you’re doing.
If you’ve followed the blog for a while, you’ll know that gear has been a constant factor in what we’re doing. From the early days we stressed about packs being too large, packs being too small, what fits right in the pack to add weight, the proper footwear (shoes and socks), shorts rubbing in the wrong places, rain-gear, head-gear, gloves, etc., etc. We’ve been through many iterations of the overall gear set-up.
I was thinking about this yesterday, and realized that my current gear set-up is about three generations beyond what it was on day one, and that I haven’t talked much about gear in the past year or so. So, here it is…the rundown on my current gear, and I think it’s just about perfect.
Shoes: I’m running with Vibram Five-Fingers KSO Treks. These are perfect for what I’m doing. Despite what you may read, the soles have plenty of flexibility for running, my feet do not feel constrained in free movement at all. Plus, the Treks provide plenty of protection from rocks and whatnot while trail running and transition quite well to the road for limited distances. These, of course, are exactly the conditions to be found at White Sands. WARNING: You cannot throw Fivers on on day one and go run your normal distance. I spent six months specifically retraining my feet and lower legs to the Fivers, and even so ended up with two minor running injuries in the process. You MUST ease into the use of these. On the upside, I have had zero pain in the feet and lower legs since fully acclimating to them, and this lower extremity pain was a very significant problem for me through the first year or so of training, almost causing me to quit multiple times early on.
Socks: Injinji Performance Mini Crew Toesocks. Warm, comfortable, and required extra padding for long distance (15+ miles) hikes and runs while wearing Fivers. Love the socks.
Lower Body: Underarmor Compression Briefs and standard high durability hiking shorts. I got away from running shorts early on, mostly due to where packs tend to sit on the hips causing problems around the waist. Moving to the hiking shorts through caused some issues with too much free-space in the crotch area resulting in rubbing issues. Hence enter the compression briefs. I like them so much I wear them almost all the time now even in street clothes. They’re comfy, and best of all keep everything in the right place so no rubbing. Just as important, the underarmors specifically are the right fabric to create some free movement between the fabric of the briefs and the fabric of the shorts, resulting in no “bunching” of material. Doesn’t sound like a big deal. Is a big deal. After 20 miles, a “roll” of material trapped between layers of clothes with external weight pushing the roll into your skin becomes an agonizing experience right up there with 5 minutes in the gas chamber of Parris Island.
Upper Body, Underarmor HeatGear (ColdGear in winter) Longsleeves. Alternately, Champion Brand Wicking Longsleeves (while lower durability, they’re less expensive and do the same thing). Yes, you have your moisture wicking which is incredibly important…but you also have the sheer material which allows non-friction between the shorts and the shirt around the waist and critically between the pack and your back (upper and lower). I literally wore bloody holes in my shoulder blades learning this lesson. Do not run with a pack in a standard cotton T-shirt. As much as I love wearing my Trappe Fire and Ambulance Company and my 2010 Bataan Memorial Death March T-shirts when I run, doing so is the equivalent of saying “I’d like to carry an extra liter of water with me to make up for the blood loss.”
Head: Marine Corps Boonie Hat in the summer. Just cuz. There actually is a practical reason, that being the sun protection for the face and back of the neck in desert conditions. That said I usually wear it with the sides strapped up anyway simply because it looks better. I’m vain, sue me. In the winter I just wear a standard close-fitting knit cap.
Pack: Modified Osprey Raptor 14. Very modified. The pack is probably the single thing that has changed the most over the past couple of years. We’ve done everything from 65 liter packs to 14s, and most of the in-between. I’m currently in love with *my* Raptor 14. Its compartment is the perfect size for three 10 lbs. dumbbells (with plastic coating on the dumbbells and their shape and size they fit snuggly into the pack and nearly fill the whole pack which evenly distributes the weight and provides for zero movement of the weight inside the pack) and a 5 lbs. plate sitting on top. The pack “wears” in the center of the back, between the shoulder blades, allowing the shoulder blades to help stabilize the side to side movement of the weight when you run…which is very important. The hydration system is brand new this year, and provides awesome rigidity to the whole pack which adds to the stabilization of the weight for almost *zero* pack movement while you run.
My modifications: I added plastic strap holders to the shoulder straps down below the armpits. A constant problem with carrying weight in a pack, especially running, is the constant need to adjust the shoulder straps due to slippage. Doing that three times a mile for anything more than a third of a mile gets extremely annoying. No more. It does make it a bit of an issue to adjust the fit the first time, but once its right it stays right. Since I don’t use my pack for anything else (right now), I don’t need it to fit any differently than it does while running with 40 lbs.
I also added memory foam seat-belt pads to the shoulder straps. This was an ingenious idea offered up by a workmate, in response to my one complaint about running with a Raptor 14 with 40 lbs. in it. The shoulder straps are designed as any lightweight 14 liter pack should be designed…to carry next to no weight. My training is the opposite, I’m purposely trying to put 40 lbs. in a package that’s as small and tight as possible to minimize (no, to completely destroy) any and all bounce and side to side movement of the pack. No one out there makes a pack that’s that small and can carry that much weight. By design, the shoulderstraps on the Raptor 14 are lightweight and narrow, and with forty pounds in the pack while running they dig right into your shoulders with a vengeance and don’t let go. After about 5 miles the pain of this is intense, and after about 8 miles you tend to lose the feeling in your arms right down to your fingertips. I learned the hard way (several different times now) that when things go numb, bad things are happening to your body. Numbness is to be avoided at all costs. So, my Raptor 14 now sports custom shoulderpads which are wide enough to distribute the weight evenly across a broader surface of the shoulder.
And the last pack modification…carabiners, because carabiners look cool and everyone needs carabiners. The more carabiners you have, the more you look like you know what you’re doing.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Quick Update: 2011 Bataan Memorial Death March!
Just a quick update to note that provided everything goes well, I will be doing the event again this coming March in 2011. I asked for and received permission from the Trappe Fire and Ambulance Company, Station 77/324 to use the company name in a fundraising campaign for the event. Provided all of the legal paperwork turns out okay, I’ll be looking for people to sponsor my run, with the donations going to the coffers of 77/324 for much needed equipment to support my local community.
It will be a few weeks yet before I can solidly determine what kind of completion time I should expect, but my overall goal is still sub 6 hours. As of right now it looks like I’ll be doing run/walk splits, either 4 miles running then 2 walking, or 6 miles running then 2 walking. I’m planning on doing 18 miles next Tuesday (right before Thanksgiving) with a 4/2 interval to see how it goes.
Of course, this will be in the heavy division (35+ lbs. pack) for the full (GREEN) route, 26.2 miles.
We’re on! Hah, I’m so excited.
It will be a few weeks yet before I can solidly determine what kind of completion time I should expect, but my overall goal is still sub 6 hours. As of right now it looks like I’ll be doing run/walk splits, either 4 miles running then 2 walking, or 6 miles running then 2 walking. I’m planning on doing 18 miles next Tuesday (right before Thanksgiving) with a 4/2 interval to see how it goes.
Of course, this will be in the heavy division (35+ lbs. pack) for the full (GREEN) route, 26.2 miles.
We’re on! Hah, I’m so excited.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Minor Injuries and 40 lbs. Packs
Ingrid reminded me this morning that I haven’t done a blog post in a while and that there’s plenty to talk about…so here’s an update.
We’ve continued with the pack runs, recently increasing the weight significantly (to 40 lbs.) with the thought in the back of our minds about potentially moving our goal up some and running Bataan again in 2011 instead of focusing on 2012. We’ve been feeling great with huge benefits from the personal training with Morgan and have been of a mind to push ourselves.
Rundown of what we’ve done since the last post (if I remember it all correctly!):
-9 mile pack run w/ 25lbs.
-10 mile pack run w/ 25lbs.
-double 7’s pack runs w/25lbs. (7 miles on Saturday, 7 miles on Sunday)
-12 mile pack run w/ 29lbs.
-7 mile pack run w/ 40lbs.
-10 ½ mile pack run w/ 40lbs.
Plus we’ve mostly gotten in our training sessions on Thursday nights, although we did miss two weeks. We’re back at that this coming Thursday night though, and looking forward to it.
We’re still not sure about moving the run of Bataan up to 2011. If we start now (which we have) and continue to progress (which is now questionable) with the 40 lbs. packs we should have enough time to train up to completion of the 26.2 miles running most of the distance before March rolls around. The questionable part is that as we found out last week the jump from where we have been to the 40lbs. pack is a significant one. We originally targeted 8 miles for the first 40 lbs. run, shooting in the dark as to how far we should expect to be able to go. Unfortunately, about 5 ½ miles in Corey had knee issues (the left knee, where a formally alive but now dead guy’s tendon was implanted 3 years ago after Corey blew his knee out playing soccer). I managed 7 miles, but scrapped the last mile due to extreme burn in the hamstrings, quads and calves. Probably could have done the last mile (with lots of pain) but I was happy with the 7 and didn’t want to risk an injury just for one more mile.
Then yesterday (14 Nov.) we hit the trail again, shooting for 10 miles w/ 40lbs pack. Corey coming off the injury last week decided to go “light” with 25 lbs., but had almost immediate issues with the knee again and in disgust dropped the weight back off at the car. He’s got an acupuncture appointment on Tuesday for the planar fasciitis he’s been dealing with and is going to ask them if they can help with the knee as well.
So we’re kind of in limbo right now. We’re going to wait a few weeks and see what Corey’s knee does and if he can use it adequately on Thursday night training sessions with Morgan. So far that’s been pretty good, as it didn’t impact the Morgan workout last week. We don’t know yet if we’ve reached some kind of technical limit where his beat up knee just can’t do more or if this is just a temporary “Dude, knock it off” warning. We’ll play it by ear and see what happens. Either way he’s not particularly phased, he just wants to get back to the point quickly where he’s not missing workouts at all.
We’ve continued with the pack runs, recently increasing the weight significantly (to 40 lbs.) with the thought in the back of our minds about potentially moving our goal up some and running Bataan again in 2011 instead of focusing on 2012. We’ve been feeling great with huge benefits from the personal training with Morgan and have been of a mind to push ourselves.
Rundown of what we’ve done since the last post (if I remember it all correctly!):
-9 mile pack run w/ 25lbs.
-10 mile pack run w/ 25lbs.
-double 7’s pack runs w/25lbs. (7 miles on Saturday, 7 miles on Sunday)
-12 mile pack run w/ 29lbs.
-7 mile pack run w/ 40lbs.
-10 ½ mile pack run w/ 40lbs.
Plus we’ve mostly gotten in our training sessions on Thursday nights, although we did miss two weeks. We’re back at that this coming Thursday night though, and looking forward to it.
We’re still not sure about moving the run of Bataan up to 2011. If we start now (which we have) and continue to progress (which is now questionable) with the 40 lbs. packs we should have enough time to train up to completion of the 26.2 miles running most of the distance before March rolls around. The questionable part is that as we found out last week the jump from where we have been to the 40lbs. pack is a significant one. We originally targeted 8 miles for the first 40 lbs. run, shooting in the dark as to how far we should expect to be able to go. Unfortunately, about 5 ½ miles in Corey had knee issues (the left knee, where a formally alive but now dead guy’s tendon was implanted 3 years ago after Corey blew his knee out playing soccer). I managed 7 miles, but scrapped the last mile due to extreme burn in the hamstrings, quads and calves. Probably could have done the last mile (with lots of pain) but I was happy with the 7 and didn’t want to risk an injury just for one more mile.
Then yesterday (14 Nov.) we hit the trail again, shooting for 10 miles w/ 40lbs pack. Corey coming off the injury last week decided to go “light” with 25 lbs., but had almost immediate issues with the knee again and in disgust dropped the weight back off at the car. He’s got an acupuncture appointment on Tuesday for the planar fasciitis he’s been dealing with and is going to ask them if they can help with the knee as well.
So we’re kind of in limbo right now. We’re going to wait a few weeks and see what Corey’s knee does and if he can use it adequately on Thursday night training sessions with Morgan. So far that’s been pretty good, as it didn’t impact the Morgan workout last week. We don’t know yet if we’ve reached some kind of technical limit where his beat up knee just can’t do more or if this is just a temporary “Dude, knock it off” warning. We’ll play it by ear and see what happens. Either way he’s not particularly phased, he just wants to get back to the point quickly where he’s not missing workouts at all.
Monday, October 4, 2010
"We can do four and a half miles in our sleep!"
Short post this time, not a whole lot to tell. Last week was a light week overall, with only two major training sessions due to time constraints plus ridiculous rain all week (everyone on the east coast knows firsthand about all the rain last week, and everyone else probably heard about it).
We had our second personal training session with Morgan on Thursday night, with much better results than the first week. Well, let me modify that…Corey and I kinda switched our performance so my results were much better while his concerned him just a touch. We did more strength to weight ratio exercises instead of focusing on leg strength exercises like the week before, and with the lighter build I did quite a bit better energy wise. Corey experienced what I had experienced the week before to a lighter degree with the blood sugar drop. He didn’t need a break, but he did get very light headed about 45 minutes into the session. It was a great workout with lots of core and upper body, and some legs tossed in as well. My hamstrings in particular were a bit irritated with me.
On Sunday (the 3rd) we started at 8am on the Perk Trail with 30 lbs. packs, going north. We hit Hell Hill and found the trail closed, washed out from the deluge last week. We had to turn around and head back south, getting back to the cars after having done 9 miles. We had our sights set on 20 miles for the day, so had to pass the cars to continue. That was hard, as normally the whole second half of a hike when you start hurting is towards the cars…the way this one worked out, every step we took carried us farther away from the cars, which got to us mentally. We did end up making it the whole 20 miles but I’m comfortable saying that it was one of the least pleasant overall workouts that I’ve done in the past couple of years, excepting of course for the infamous Hypothermia Hike. We even miscalculated a little and misplaced the turn around mile marker, needing to hit the 2 ½ mile marker down in Oaks as our turn around point. For some reason, we were thinking that that marker was near Arcola road…and when we got there found that that was the 3 mile marker, so had to go another half a mile which meant a mile farther than we thought it was going to be. Of course it wasn’t really…we were looking for 20 to begin with and that’s what we ended up with, it just *felt* like an extra mile.
At the 15 ½ mile mark, we stopped for a break to let our feet stop pounding and grab some calories. That’s when Corey said “Man, we got this…we can do four and a half miles in our sleep.” We both got a chuckle because while normally true, after 15 ½ miles it wasn’t exactly accurate. We later passed the 16 mile marker and I said “Man, we can do four miles in our sleep” and we both got a smile out of it. At the 16 ½ mile marker Corey said “Man, we *grr* can do three and a *gasp* half miles in our sleep” and I grunted at him. At the 17 mile marker I said “Man, we can do three miles in our sleep” and Corey said “Yah know, that was kinda funny a couple of miles back…not so much anymore.”
Sometimes, you just have to grunt through it and remember that the hard work is worth it in the end.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Face Crunches!
Definition: FACE CRUNCH
[feys] [kruhnch]
-idiom
1. To exert oneself to such a degree that one’s face contorts into unrecognizable forms.
Word Origin and History
2010, from face (1250-1300) and crunch (craunch – 1795-1800), certainly of compound origin. The phrase was created by Jerry and shared with Corey immediately after their first engagement with the legendary personal trainer Morgan Arthur.
Imaginary Etymology Dictionary, ©2010 Jerry Zepp
Long post this time, but there’s a lot to talk about =)
Let there be no doubt that Corey and I now recognize that training with Morgan is going to take our training to a whole new level. I knew that working with him was going to be a good idea, and now I have a bit of a better understanding of why…it’s not that we’ve been doing the wrong things, it’s that there are things we should have been doing that we haven’t. Morgan’s going to help with that.
But first let’s discuss our triumphs of the past few weeks. Each week, we have done at least two pack runs, taking it up from the last entry (when we were at 6 miles and feeling it) to our current 9 miles with 25 lbs. last Tuesday evening. 8 miles hurt, but 9 miles ragged us out completely. There is a feeling you get when you complete a really hard workout that pushes your limits…a really good feeling. It’s kind of a mix between exhaustion and excitement, with a touch of “I’m a badass” thrown in. We’ve been rather enjoying the experience lately.
We’ve been in the gym less, still vague on exactly what we should be doing there. I’ve been comfortable with my level of shoulder strength, and we’re both averse to putting on weight considering what our goals are. Knowing that we were going in for personal training, we’ve been content to let the gym workouts go to the wayside and see what he has in store for us.
So last night was the first and long awaited workout at the Okinawan Karate and Conditioning Center http://www.okinawankarateandconditioningcenter.com/index.html. I’ve known Morgan and Terri for about 6 years now, as my girls have trained under them since they were wee gremlins. Both of the girls are now Green Belts in Okinawan Seidokan, and karate has been a weekly thing continuously for years. This is the one thing that both girls have consistently wanted to do, and the one thing that Ingrid and I as parents have been extremely happy about their interest in. Sensei Morgan and Sensei Terri have a way with kids, and their influence on our daughters over the years has been welcome. As parents, you can teach your kids about respect, honor, and commitment and they’ll get it…but there is something about hearing and more importantly seeing those qualities in someone outside of the family whom they respect that solidifies it in them.
I have no doubt that Morgan had our hour training session scripted out. He was ready for us. He did a bunch of research into what we’re doing, touched base with contacts from his past who might have valuable input, read this blog to see what we’ve done up until now and basically did his homework. He came up with a conceptual plan and affirmed through his contacts that it was a good one. My understanding thus far is that the work we’re doing on primary muscles is good and necessary, but we need work (I can attest to that now!) on support and secondary muscle structure. The basic concept is two-fold. First, secondary muscle structure works as a force multiplier. When the primary muscles fatigue, the secondary muscles step in and take up the slack allowing the primaries to recover enough to continue performing. Second, injury avoidance is a big deal for what we’re doing. To quote Morgan, “When you’re out there with that pack on your back, if you twist an ankle and that ankle doesn’t have rock solid structural support, you’re done.” Apparently there are a bunch of other benefits to focusing on these muscles as well…they’re smaller than the primaries, so you get more bang for the buck when you strengthen them because they support the strength of the primaries but are themselves lighter. More strength + lighter weight = directly supportive of our goals. Plus (I can attest to this one too!) the process of strengthening those secondary muscles is very intense, burns a lot of calories, and hence leads to trimming the body as a whole…cutting further into weight. His intent is for us to come out of the back end of our training with him with much more dense muscle mass, and as trim as possible. The idea is to go for super strength in the lightest package possible that can support the full 25lbs. pack weight for 30 miles a day for four days.
As mentioned before, my current intent after Nijmegen is to transition directly to training for the 2012 Bataan march, heavy division, running the whole 26.2 miles. I’d really like to do that event in under 6 hours. I shudder to think what training with Morgan will be like with that goal…heavier weight (35-40lbs.) but “only” 26.2 miles in one day as opposed to the four day thing.
On to the actual workout. Corey and I knew we were in trouble in the first 3 minutes. Morgan jumped right into tearing down our ability to use our primary muscles so that we could focus on the secondaries. It worked. I spent the next 57 minutes doing face crunches, almost consistently except for the 5 min break I had to take because I was about to pass out from low blood sugar. Like I said, Morgan was ready for us, but he knows what we’re trying to do, he knows what we’ve done up until now, and he knows what we need to work on and the amount of effort we’re willing to put into reaching our goals. We wanted that tailored training, and he’s going to give it to us.
I have to admit that Corey did better with it than I did. I think that his lifetime of playing soccer means that his secondary leg muscles are stronger than mine. On many of the exercises we did, whatever body part we were working was literally shaking, whereas Corey was pretty steady. Not that it was easy for him, he was face crunching too…just that he’s got a bit more strength in these muscles than I. I’m good with that though, we all have our relative strengths and weaknesses and this one can be his.
I also had a bit of a surprise as I mentioned…my blood sugar dropped. Once that happened, I quickly ran into individual muscles just outright failing here and there. Morgan would say “up an inch” (referring to one leg or the other while we balanced on the other leg on a half moon ball while juggling 4 lbs. medicine balls), I would pass that “up an inch” instruction on to my leg, and nothing would happen. He’d say “up another inch” and I would (mentally because I was mid-face crunch and couldn't do anything but grunt) comment that the leg didn't do anything the first time he said that, and he wants me to do it again?
I have a plan to deal with that though. Ingrid and I chatted a bit and she’s planning on making up a big batch of (whole wheat because it burns more slowly in the body than non-) lasagna and putting it in the freezer. I’ll take that in for lunch on Thursdays (Morgan Day), drop a Gu on the way to the Dojo, and make sure I have an extra with me for halfway through, just in case.
So we’re optimistic. It’s gonna continue to be hard, but we knew that going into it. I have been putting a lot of effort into all this over the past year and a half and very much enjoy the results. It makes sense to take it up a notch. I like being able to do things that would have been impossible for me a few years ago, things I haven’t been able to do since my time in the Corps.
Oh, last thing…Morgan and Terri are excited about moving their personal training work to a bigger facility in the near future. This is going to allow them to expand and better tailor their services. I’ll be the first to recommend that if you’re in the northwest of Philadelphia area and looking for actual “personalized” personal training, weight loss management, sports conditioning, that sort of thing then you’ll want to talk with them. And if you are even thinking about karate for your kids, I strongly recommend looking them up. Check out their web page, send them an email, or give them a call.
[feys] [kruhnch]
-idiom
1. To exert oneself to such a degree that one’s face contorts into unrecognizable forms.
Word Origin and History
2010, from face (1250-1300) and crunch (craunch – 1795-1800), certainly of compound origin. The phrase was created by Jerry and shared with Corey immediately after their first engagement with the legendary personal trainer Morgan Arthur.
Imaginary Etymology Dictionary, ©2010 Jerry Zepp
Long post this time, but there’s a lot to talk about =)
Let there be no doubt that Corey and I now recognize that training with Morgan is going to take our training to a whole new level. I knew that working with him was going to be a good idea, and now I have a bit of a better understanding of why…it’s not that we’ve been doing the wrong things, it’s that there are things we should have been doing that we haven’t. Morgan’s going to help with that.
But first let’s discuss our triumphs of the past few weeks. Each week, we have done at least two pack runs, taking it up from the last entry (when we were at 6 miles and feeling it) to our current 9 miles with 25 lbs. last Tuesday evening. 8 miles hurt, but 9 miles ragged us out completely. There is a feeling you get when you complete a really hard workout that pushes your limits…a really good feeling. It’s kind of a mix between exhaustion and excitement, with a touch of “I’m a badass” thrown in. We’ve been rather enjoying the experience lately.
We’ve been in the gym less, still vague on exactly what we should be doing there. I’ve been comfortable with my level of shoulder strength, and we’re both averse to putting on weight considering what our goals are. Knowing that we were going in for personal training, we’ve been content to let the gym workouts go to the wayside and see what he has in store for us.
So last night was the first and long awaited workout at the Okinawan Karate and Conditioning Center http://www.okinawankarateandconditioningcenter.com/index.html. I’ve known Morgan and Terri for about 6 years now, as my girls have trained under them since they were wee gremlins. Both of the girls are now Green Belts in Okinawan Seidokan, and karate has been a weekly thing continuously for years. This is the one thing that both girls have consistently wanted to do, and the one thing that Ingrid and I as parents have been extremely happy about their interest in. Sensei Morgan and Sensei Terri have a way with kids, and their influence on our daughters over the years has been welcome. As parents, you can teach your kids about respect, honor, and commitment and they’ll get it…but there is something about hearing and more importantly seeing those qualities in someone outside of the family whom they respect that solidifies it in them.
I have no doubt that Morgan had our hour training session scripted out. He was ready for us. He did a bunch of research into what we’re doing, touched base with contacts from his past who might have valuable input, read this blog to see what we’ve done up until now and basically did his homework. He came up with a conceptual plan and affirmed through his contacts that it was a good one. My understanding thus far is that the work we’re doing on primary muscles is good and necessary, but we need work (I can attest to that now!) on support and secondary muscle structure. The basic concept is two-fold. First, secondary muscle structure works as a force multiplier. When the primary muscles fatigue, the secondary muscles step in and take up the slack allowing the primaries to recover enough to continue performing. Second, injury avoidance is a big deal for what we’re doing. To quote Morgan, “When you’re out there with that pack on your back, if you twist an ankle and that ankle doesn’t have rock solid structural support, you’re done.” Apparently there are a bunch of other benefits to focusing on these muscles as well…they’re smaller than the primaries, so you get more bang for the buck when you strengthen them because they support the strength of the primaries but are themselves lighter. More strength + lighter weight = directly supportive of our goals. Plus (I can attest to this one too!) the process of strengthening those secondary muscles is very intense, burns a lot of calories, and hence leads to trimming the body as a whole…cutting further into weight. His intent is for us to come out of the back end of our training with him with much more dense muscle mass, and as trim as possible. The idea is to go for super strength in the lightest package possible that can support the full 25lbs. pack weight for 30 miles a day for four days.
As mentioned before, my current intent after Nijmegen is to transition directly to training for the 2012 Bataan march, heavy division, running the whole 26.2 miles. I’d really like to do that event in under 6 hours. I shudder to think what training with Morgan will be like with that goal…heavier weight (35-40lbs.) but “only” 26.2 miles in one day as opposed to the four day thing.
On to the actual workout. Corey and I knew we were in trouble in the first 3 minutes. Morgan jumped right into tearing down our ability to use our primary muscles so that we could focus on the secondaries. It worked. I spent the next 57 minutes doing face crunches, almost consistently except for the 5 min break I had to take because I was about to pass out from low blood sugar. Like I said, Morgan was ready for us, but he knows what we’re trying to do, he knows what we’ve done up until now, and he knows what we need to work on and the amount of effort we’re willing to put into reaching our goals. We wanted that tailored training, and he’s going to give it to us.
I have to admit that Corey did better with it than I did. I think that his lifetime of playing soccer means that his secondary leg muscles are stronger than mine. On many of the exercises we did, whatever body part we were working was literally shaking, whereas Corey was pretty steady. Not that it was easy for him, he was face crunching too…just that he’s got a bit more strength in these muscles than I. I’m good with that though, we all have our relative strengths and weaknesses and this one can be his.
I also had a bit of a surprise as I mentioned…my blood sugar dropped. Once that happened, I quickly ran into individual muscles just outright failing here and there. Morgan would say “up an inch” (referring to one leg or the other while we balanced on the other leg on a half moon ball while juggling 4 lbs. medicine balls), I would pass that “up an inch” instruction on to my leg, and nothing would happen. He’d say “up another inch” and I would (mentally because I was mid-face crunch and couldn't do anything but grunt) comment that the leg didn't do anything the first time he said that, and he wants me to do it again?
I have a plan to deal with that though. Ingrid and I chatted a bit and she’s planning on making up a big batch of (whole wheat because it burns more slowly in the body than non-) lasagna and putting it in the freezer. I’ll take that in for lunch on Thursdays (Morgan Day), drop a Gu on the way to the Dojo, and make sure I have an extra with me for halfway through, just in case.
So we’re optimistic. It’s gonna continue to be hard, but we knew that going into it. I have been putting a lot of effort into all this over the past year and a half and very much enjoy the results. It makes sense to take it up a notch. I like being able to do things that would have been impossible for me a few years ago, things I haven’t been able to do since my time in the Corps.
Oh, last thing…Morgan and Terri are excited about moving their personal training work to a bigger facility in the near future. This is going to allow them to expand and better tailor their services. I’ll be the first to recommend that if you’re in the northwest of Philadelphia area and looking for actual “personalized” personal training, weight loss management, sports conditioning, that sort of thing then you’ll want to talk with them. And if you are even thinking about karate for your kids, I strongly recommend looking them up. Check out their web page, send them an email, or give them a call.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Pack Runs!
It’s been a tough month for workouts, pushing hard into new territory. This past week saw the longest 25 lbs.+ pack run that I’ve done to date, with 7 miles on the trail last night. I’ll get to that in a few minutes though.
After our first 2 mile pack run, Corey and I have pushed hard for distance increase over the past three weeks. We’ve done probably about 10 pack runs altogether and a few non-pack runs as well. I figure we’ve logged about 45 miles with packs. We’ve also done a couple more hikes, but with the tail end of summer in full swing it’s still hard to commit to entire days on the weekends. We’ll visit those a bit more earnestly in the coming months.
On days that we’re not running, we’re in the gym with our standard weight training, with a day off here and there for breaks…usually about one a week. Labor Day weekend was great though because the family went down to the Chesapeake Bay for a visit with friends and I did *nothing* all weekend. I felt spoiled the first two days, but found myself desperately missing my daily workouts by the third day. New lifestyle I guess.
I’m still running in the KSO Treks, and still loving them. They are so comfortable, and my lower leg and foot strength has caught up to what’s required to use them. I used to think my feet were ugly before from the Bataan training…I didn’t know what ugly was. I have big gnarly veins sticking out all across the tops of my feet now. It’s worth it though. I’m convinced that the Treks have solved the lower leg pain I dealt with over the past year or so. What I’m not sure about is if that’s a result of the forced improvement in lower leg strength, or the lessened shock impact due to using more foot muscle to strike on the ball of the foot when running as opposed to heel striking. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter though; I’m pain free and very much enjoying it.
Another positive thing is that Corey and I are working through scheduling for some personal training with my daughters’ Sensei of the past 5 years. He’s one of those guys who has forgotten more about fitness than I’ve ever known (despite 8 years in the Corps), and has agreed to help us with some personal training including training plans to make sure we reach our long term goals. We’ve been chatting back and forth about the probability that we may be focusing too much in areas that we don’t necessarily need and perhaps not focusing enough on some areas that we do. This should help either fix that, or put our minds at ease about the concern.
Now onto the 7 miler last night. I’m pretty stoked about this run. We’ve aggressively increased distance over the past three weeks as I’ve already mentioned. I believe that we have “caught up” to a peak point, where we’re not going to be able to increase distance further at the same fast pace. We had done six miles before, and that went well, but left us a little bit wanting for more. Seven was a bit of the same, except that while cardio wise we probably could have handled more, body conditioning wise we’re probably right at the limit at what we can do without injury. We’re both nursing specific areas (Corey his right knee and left calf, me my right foot and where the quads attach to the hips) that feel very stressed and at their limit. This is a great stage for me, because progression from here is going to require specific steps in strengthening our weak points…giving us solid short term goals with measurable success. I like this stage =)
General body shape wise, I’m still trimming down quite a bit. Weigh in this morning was at 152 lbs, probably due to the heightened running schedules, and I can easily see increased muscle build in upper body, core and legs over the past three weeks. That will probably settle down some as we move further into this new workout routine as body makeup finishes adjusting to what is needed of it. I am pretty close to minimum fat levels, not much left of that to lose. That’s a mixed blessing though. I already have a propensity for cold injuries, and as we move into winter training I’m probably going to pay for the lower body fat and hence lower ability to maintain heat. We’ll see. Corey I believe has impressed himself over the past month, and has said multiple times that he’s very happy with the physical results so far.
So overall, a very positive several weeks. Thanks again, Ingrid, for adjusting schedules to make room for the often ridiculous time commitments required for all of this!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
New Training Partner and Multiple Trips to REI! – August 19th
Okay, it’s good to be back in the swing of things. As mentioned I had kept up with the workouts but was lacking real focus. Now I’m focused again, with a goal in mind, and it feels good. It’s been a solid week of variable workouts with some fun thrown in.
I need to take a minute to introduce Corey, who has bravely (stupidly?) signed up to train with me over the coming year. Corey started back up with the “getting back into shape” thing last year, joining the crew for weight workouts at first, then transitioning into the heavy trail cycling for the past quarter or so. We’ve done some great stuff over the past months on the bikes, including a whopper 58 mile ride that consisted of 12 miles of fairly technical mountain bike trail in the middle. So, he’s got the guts for it. He’s not committed to actually doing the Nijmegen hike next year, but he wants to see the training all the way through.
With different training goals comes different equipment…which we kinda learned the hard way on Sunday when we did a 14 mile hike using our Camelback (non-internal frame) 25L packs that we’ve gotten much mileage out of over the past months on our bikes. I didn’t want to have to deal with the bigger pack I used for Bataan with so much less weight to worry about. The hard way meant that we finished in much pain. I kind of blew off the hike, coming off of Bataan, figuring it for an easy stroll with only 25lbs. instead of my accustomed 40lbs. pack and greater mileage. The big difference was the lack of the internal frame and weight distribution (or lack there-of). All 25 lbs. sat directly on our shoulders for the entire hike, and it ended up being pretty excruciating. That plus the fact that I did the hike in my running shoes because my trail runners were still dripping from the Marine Corps Run Amuck the day before…I ended up with sore feet and dead shoulders. On the plus side, my son and eldest daughter joined us for the hike (sans packs) and did awesome with it, it was fun having them along.
So Tuesday Corey and I hit good ole’ REI. We each got the REI Brand 30L pack w/ internal frame (the REI Venturi 30 Pack), I picked up some Vibram Five Fingers KSO Treks, and we both grabbed other odds and ends. As boys with new toys will do, we hit the trail with our new gear that night for a very modest two mile pack run. Corey took my advice and went straight for the bags of rice, having heard first hand last year how happy I was with the malleable form of the weight. The first mile, we both complained about how something with the pack was rubbing on our shoulder blades. The second mile, mine stopped hurting so much. Corey’s suggestion was “Yeah, it’s numb now.” Turns out his diagnosis was accurate…it’s not that it had stopped rubbing, it’s that I’d stopped feeling it. When I got home, my youngest daughter’s question was a little concerning…”Daddy, what’s that big splotch of red on your back?” Queue Nurse Ingrid, to the rescue.
Wednesday, we were right back to REI to return the packs. As it turns out, the stitching where the shoulder straps attach to the pack at the top falls in a bad place…right on the shoulder blade. As there is no vertical adjustment on the straps, there’s no way to change the location of where it falls. I imagine that for normal hiking this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but when running there is no way to keep the weight from bouncing just a little bit, and rubbing a hole in your back in the process.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love REI for that…they don’t squabble with you when you return something. If it doesn’t work for you, they will happily return your money and help you find something that does. In return for them being cool about it and not bitching at me for doing something with their gear that it’s not really intended to do, I’m continuing to trust them with my business and have ordered a new pack from them online as they didn’t have one in stock. Having loved the Deuter 60+10L pack that they introduced me to last year, I ordered the Deuter ACT Trail 32 pack which arrives next Monday. This pack has outstanding reviews and looks to be perfect for what I need. Better yet, I already know that it has all of the little things that I learned last year I need…the stronger tabs on the zippers, the water resistant closures, the non C-clamp fasteners on the sternum straps (the C-clamps pop right off/break), the belt strap zippered pockets, etc. Deuter doesn’t skimp on the little stuff, and it’s the little stuff that vexed me so much last year with all the packs I went through.
Quick note also on the new Five Fingers. Simply put I love them. I had been running on and off in the regular KSOs, and these are my first pair of Treks. I had been told in the past that the extra tread for trail running on the Treks really inhibits the flexibility of the shoe, but now that I’ve worn them running I have to disagree. In fact they feel very similar to the regular KSOs except that they are far more comfortable on rocks. At one point I stepped on a larger rock that I hadn’t noticed, and instead of hurting my foot pretty much shaped around it and the separate toes let me “grab onto it” and use the rock for leverage, pushing off on it. I didn’t realize what had happened until after it did, and it made me feel smug. I like Five Fingers, and I love the Treks.
Summary of the past week(ish): The four mile Run Amuck, a 14 mile/25 lbs. hike, two runs, back/bi’s/abs weights and a well deserved day off. Currently at 155 lbs. (as of this morning) but being the same weight as last post is deceiving because I bounced up to 160 lbs. early in the week last week then settled back down to 155 lbs. slowly over the week…probably water weight settling itself back out as I upped my intake to handle the resurgence in heavier workouts.
I need to take a minute to introduce Corey, who has bravely (stupidly?) signed up to train with me over the coming year. Corey started back up with the “getting back into shape” thing last year, joining the crew for weight workouts at first, then transitioning into the heavy trail cycling for the past quarter or so. We’ve done some great stuff over the past months on the bikes, including a whopper 58 mile ride that consisted of 12 miles of fairly technical mountain bike trail in the middle. So, he’s got the guts for it. He’s not committed to actually doing the Nijmegen hike next year, but he wants to see the training all the way through.
With different training goals comes different equipment…which we kinda learned the hard way on Sunday when we did a 14 mile hike using our Camelback (non-internal frame) 25L packs that we’ve gotten much mileage out of over the past months on our bikes. I didn’t want to have to deal with the bigger pack I used for Bataan with so much less weight to worry about. The hard way meant that we finished in much pain. I kind of blew off the hike, coming off of Bataan, figuring it for an easy stroll with only 25lbs. instead of my accustomed 40lbs. pack and greater mileage. The big difference was the lack of the internal frame and weight distribution (or lack there-of). All 25 lbs. sat directly on our shoulders for the entire hike, and it ended up being pretty excruciating. That plus the fact that I did the hike in my running shoes because my trail runners were still dripping from the Marine Corps Run Amuck the day before…I ended up with sore feet and dead shoulders. On the plus side, my son and eldest daughter joined us for the hike (sans packs) and did awesome with it, it was fun having them along.
So Tuesday Corey and I hit good ole’ REI. We each got the REI Brand 30L pack w/ internal frame (the REI Venturi 30 Pack), I picked up some Vibram Five Fingers KSO Treks, and we both grabbed other odds and ends. As boys with new toys will do, we hit the trail with our new gear that night for a very modest two mile pack run. Corey took my advice and went straight for the bags of rice, having heard first hand last year how happy I was with the malleable form of the weight. The first mile, we both complained about how something with the pack was rubbing on our shoulder blades. The second mile, mine stopped hurting so much. Corey’s suggestion was “Yeah, it’s numb now.” Turns out his diagnosis was accurate…it’s not that it had stopped rubbing, it’s that I’d stopped feeling it. When I got home, my youngest daughter’s question was a little concerning…”Daddy, what’s that big splotch of red on your back?” Queue Nurse Ingrid, to the rescue.
Wednesday, we were right back to REI to return the packs. As it turns out, the stitching where the shoulder straps attach to the pack at the top falls in a bad place…right on the shoulder blade. As there is no vertical adjustment on the straps, there’s no way to change the location of where it falls. I imagine that for normal hiking this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but when running there is no way to keep the weight from bouncing just a little bit, and rubbing a hole in your back in the process.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love REI for that…they don’t squabble with you when you return something. If it doesn’t work for you, they will happily return your money and help you find something that does. In return for them being cool about it and not bitching at me for doing something with their gear that it’s not really intended to do, I’m continuing to trust them with my business and have ordered a new pack from them online as they didn’t have one in stock. Having loved the Deuter 60+10L pack that they introduced me to last year, I ordered the Deuter ACT Trail 32 pack which arrives next Monday. This pack has outstanding reviews and looks to be perfect for what I need. Better yet, I already know that it has all of the little things that I learned last year I need…the stronger tabs on the zippers, the water resistant closures, the non C-clamp fasteners on the sternum straps (the C-clamps pop right off/break), the belt strap zippered pockets, etc. Deuter doesn’t skimp on the little stuff, and it’s the little stuff that vexed me so much last year with all the packs I went through.
Quick note also on the new Five Fingers. Simply put I love them. I had been running on and off in the regular KSOs, and these are my first pair of Treks. I had been told in the past that the extra tread for trail running on the Treks really inhibits the flexibility of the shoe, but now that I’ve worn them running I have to disagree. In fact they feel very similar to the regular KSOs except that they are far more comfortable on rocks. At one point I stepped on a larger rock that I hadn’t noticed, and instead of hurting my foot pretty much shaped around it and the separate toes let me “grab onto it” and use the rock for leverage, pushing off on it. I didn’t realize what had happened until after it did, and it made me feel smug. I like Five Fingers, and I love the Treks.
Summary of the past week(ish): The four mile Run Amuck, a 14 mile/25 lbs. hike, two runs, back/bi’s/abs weights and a well deserved day off. Currently at 155 lbs. (as of this morning) but being the same weight as last post is deceiving because I bounced up to 160 lbs. early in the week last week then settled back down to 155 lbs. slowly over the week…probably water weight settling itself back out as I upped my intake to handle the resurgence in heavier workouts.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Marine Corps Run Amuck - August 14th
The family took a break from the day-in-day-out to travel down to Marine Corps Base Quantico in VA for the 2010 Run Amuck this weekend. A great time was had by all...as you can tell from the picture =)
All three of the latest Zepp generation acquitted themselves quite well! I think that Brenna's warcry scared some of the Marines out there on the course, and one guy mentioned something along the lines of "Man...she's gonna kill 'em in 4th Bn. in a coupla years, isn't she?"
All three of the latest Zepp generation acquitted themselves quite well! I think that Brenna's warcry scared some of the Marines out there on the course, and one guy mentioned something along the lines of "Man...she's gonna kill 'em in 4th Bn. in a coupla years, isn't she?"
Monday, August 9, 2010
Year Two, The Next Big Thing(tm)
Friends and Family (and anyone else), welcome back! I’ve recently set my sights on a new big challenge, and a quick discussion with Ingrid resulted in confirmation that enough people got enough enjoyment out of following my adventures this past year in training for 2010’s Bataan Memorial Death March that I should continue on with the training blog as I get ready for the Next Big Thing™. I have waffled back and forth with doing Bataan again, but have waffled recently more towards the idea of doing something different this year. I’m fairly certain I’ll do Bataan again…it was just that good…but I don’t want to get into a rut with doing the same thing year after year. I’d like some new, some different. That something new and different presented itself this past weekend.
At a recent family reunion in upstate NY (hello Hydes, Travises, Heggoys, Berggreens, Richards and Zepps!) a contingent of Ingrid’s cousins from Norway were there and spent time conspiring about how to get the Zepp family to Norway next summer. The Evil Plotters brought up the Vierdaagse, otherwise known as The International Four Day Marches in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. I heard “four day march”, diligently fired up the iPad and was hooked in minutes. The idea as proposed by the Evil Plotters was for the family to fly to Norway and spend a few weeks experiencing and learning about their Norse heritage, while Jerry flies off to The Netherlands for a week of pain and then back to Norway for the rest of the “vacation”.
According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Four_Days_Marches_Nijmegen), the Vierdaagse began in 1909 and has run every year since with the exception of 2006 and the years of WWII. It moved to being based out of Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1916 and has been headquartered there every year since. Attendance has gotten larger and larger over the years, and the event is now recognized as the world’s largest marching event, drawing just short of 50,000 participants these past several years. Once upon a time, this was almost solely a military event, but these days it is mostly civilian…although militaries from around the world do send units every year.
There are multiple options for walking the event, including civilian categories in the 30km/day, 40km/day and 50km/day, as well as a military category at 40km/day with a 10kg pack. Each day takes you to a new city, starting with Nijmegen to Elst on Tuesday, Elst to Wijchen on Wednesday, Wijchen to Greosbeek on Thursday and Greosbeek to the Via Gladiola in Cuijk on Friday. Being who I am, there is no question that I will be doing this thing in the 50km/day category…with the 10kg pack. Just ‘cuz.
I will be making a few changes to what I cover and when in the blog this year, having learned a few things about blog maintenance last year. This year, I will not commit to making an update every week, mostly because there just isn’t something interesting to say every single week. I will still break down a weekly coverage of events, particularly body weight, distances covered, workout overviews and that kind of thing…just don’t expect them to be posted each week.
As far as training goals; I haven’t quite figured that one out yet. I need to do more reading on what to expect. I’m formulating a plan as to the highlights of what I need to do, and I’m starting off with a much better general physical fitness state this year. I think in general I’m going to need to extend endurance and work on multi-day body wear and tear. I’m looking at back to back 30 milers for four days in a row. That’s going to take some doing. Fortunately, the pack will be lighter than Bataan, and the strength work I’ve done over the past year I believe will carry me through…I’m just going to have to maintain it.
My current thinking on this is that I need to acclimate my body to heavy stress workouts repeated over multiple days. In the interest of time management (simply because it takes a damn long time to walk 30 miles) I may be concentrating quite a bit on pack runs, relying on the extra weight to stress out the legs in lieu of the longer mileage. Again, I need to think about that some more.
There are going to be some interesting logistical problems to work out as well, such as where to sleep (I think I’m going to be packing a tent), what to eat, how to communicate, whether or not I will be able to blog during the course of the event (that was an unexpected big hit with Bataan, lots of people followed on the “day of”), whether or not Apple makes an iPhone charger that plugs into those funky European wall sockets, whether or not I’ll be able to find any funky European wall sockets, that kind of thing. Should be interesting, and I’m bound to learn a lot.
The Stats: My current body weight is 154 lbs. I’ve dropped about 6 lbs. since the beginning of April, having kept up a fairly heavy workout regimen. I cut back on weight lifting to about twice per week just for maintenance after Bataan and greatly decreased my running (had an interesting bout with several different –itis’s in the right ankle) but greatly increased time on the mountain bike for the past several months, with multiple weeks in the 120+ mile/week range.
That’s it for now. I’ve got 11 months and counting to train in as the event starts on the 3rd Tuesday of July each year. I think it’s doable.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Very Cool Update
GeoTagged, [N31.79827, E106.39071]
One of the Bataan Death March Survivors, Oscar L. Leonard, is waiting for the same plane that we are. He was gracious enough to sign my certificate!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
We're done!!!
GeoTagged, [N32.37721, E106.49729]
Everyone made it! Unofficial time was 9:42. At the finish, Jeff's pack weighed in at 47lbs, while Rich's, Brian's and my own all weighed in at 45lbs. We walked over the finish in style, four abreast.
We are tired, dirty, and in pain but we're all extremely proud of ourselves.
Mile 21
GeoTagged, [N32.43191, E106.47034]
Just got treated at a med station for a nasty blister. They did a great job, fast and efficient. We're moving again, and feeling good and strong.
A little more than eight
GeoTagged, [N32.44240, E106.46947]
Signal has been touch and go so updates may be a bit sporadic. We're doing well. Bri got a hotspot so we all took the oppurtunity to change socks. Left ankle is hurting a bit, but it'll be fine.
At the Staging Area
GeoTagged, [N32.37708, E106.49718]
Old Glory is always awe inspiring. It's just after 6am, and we're at the staging area waiting for the opening ceremony.
The Big Day
There are very few days in ones life during which you can say "This is one of the hardest things I've ever done."
Today is one of those days.
Today is one of those days.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Pack weigh in
GeoTagged, [N32.79410, E106.23945]
At the community center on Saturday morning. Lots of people showed up last night...my pack weighs in at 37 lbs., without water, food, or clothing that will surely migrate to it during the day tomorrow. So, I'm good, let's do this thing.
Fat Guys Next to Fat Man
GeoTagged, [N32.38547, E106.47812]
This is the crew, next to the prototype of the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki Japan on August 9th, 1945. The original nuclear test explosion, Trinity, was conducted here on White Sands Missile Range.
US Missile Museum
GeoTagged, [N32.38618, E106.47838]
This is an Honest John short range unguided artillery rocket, which could be armed with a nuclear warhead. My Dad commanded a unit of these in Germany a couple thousand years ago.
Saturday Rise and Shine
GeoTagged, [N32.37676, E106.49101]
Whelp, the weather continues to conspire against us...it's an absolutely gorgeous morning as you can see from the pic, but it's about 25 degrees here in the desert, and the sleeping bag I brought is rated for 30! So yeah, a little cold =). We're off in search of some hot showers.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Arrival
GeoTagged, [N32.37692, E106.49241]
We're here! Initial observation...I really really hope the winds on Sunday are nothing like this...they're gusting at about 40 or 45 mph.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Geo-Locational tags, and "Off we go!"
Whelp, this is it...Jeff and I are driving down to Baltimore to meet the rest of the guys and hang out for the evening, then we're on a flight to El Paso tomorrow morning.
I'll likely be spamming the blog here with random Geo-loc tagged pictures over the next couple of days, assuming that I've got enough signal in NM to support that. I do still plan to also post pictures with Geo-loc tags from the hike itself, mostly so my home based fan club can follow along on the fun. The iPhone is all set up, and I just tested functionality again...it works, at least from my library =)
I figured I'd take a minute or two to explain how the Geo-loc thing works and how you can use it if you're interested. When a post is made with a Geo-loc picture embedded, you'll see a link down at the bottom of the picture that shows the coordinates. Click on that link, and it launches Googlemaps with a pin dropped on the location. That's it, simple as that.
On Sunday during the March, you can compare that Googlemap with the course map of the hike to see where I'm at. That course map can be found here:
http://www.bataanmarch.com/r09/racemap.htm
From the racemap web page, you can download a copy in .pdf format, which is a bit easier to manipulate (zoom in and whatnot).
We'll be out there all day Sunday, so check in occasionally to see how it's going!
I'll likely be spamming the blog here with random Geo-loc tagged pictures over the next couple of days, assuming that I've got enough signal in NM to support that. I do still plan to also post pictures with Geo-loc tags from the hike itself, mostly so my home based fan club can follow along on the fun. The iPhone is all set up, and I just tested functionality again...it works, at least from my library =)
I figured I'd take a minute or two to explain how the Geo-loc thing works and how you can use it if you're interested. When a post is made with a Geo-loc picture embedded, you'll see a link down at the bottom of the picture that shows the coordinates. Click on that link, and it launches Googlemaps with a pin dropped on the location. That's it, simple as that.
On Sunday during the March, you can compare that Googlemap with the course map of the hike to see where I'm at. That course map can be found here:
http://www.bataanmarch.com/r09/racemap.htm
From the racemap web page, you can download a copy in .pdf format, which is a bit easier to manipulate (zoom in and whatnot).
We'll be out there all day Sunday, so check in occasionally to see how it's going!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun Clockwise, Tues-Thurs-Sat Counter-clockwise
Just sneaking in a quick update here. There’s lots to tell but there hasn’t been time enough to tell it. Work has been insane these past six weeks, including a trip to Dublin and lots of after-hours work…so there just hasn’t been much time to post.
I ended up doing two hikes indoors at the Y, per my last post. The first one was somewhere around 20 miles, but I’m not sure because there was absolutely no way that I was going to count laps for 8 hours. Especially when it takes 13 of those laps to equal one mile. The only real downside was that walking in circles for 8 hours tends to be a bit tough (for me) on the outside of whichever foot is on the “inside” of the track. I ended up with blisters from the heel til about halfway up my right foot. Deep ones, too. Two days later I did it again, but only managed about 6 and a half hours because I started getting blisters on my blisters, as the travel direction around the track was the same direction that I had done two days before. I could have planned that a little better had I paid attention to the signs clearly posted: “Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun Clockwise, Tues-Thurs-Sat Counterclockwise”. Done with that, I was very happy that I went through the effort because we’d just not gotten enough mileage in to be comfortable with the looming deadline.
This past Sunday, Jeff and I struck out on the trail for an all day “how much can we hurt ourselves” session. We did 24 miles in around 9 hours, which told us much about what’s to come. First and most importantly, if we can do 24 miles without the morale benefits and the logistical support of a big event, then we can do 26 miles with it all other things being equal. Granted, all other things won’t be equal, but we’ll just let that one go for now.
We also learned that we’re going to be a bit slower than we’d been thinking we’d be. In our minds, it was easy to think that if we average three miles an hour for 20 miles, then we’d also average three miles an hour for 26. Oh, how untrue that is for our current conditioning. It took us a full hour to get from mile 22 to the finish at 24. Somewhere in the low 20s, things just got extremely painful. Breaks got a bit longer, which was good and bad because the longer they are, the stiffer the muscles get…and once they’re stiff it compromises your stride pretty significantly. On the other hand, at that point our feet were in significant pain and we felt that we just really needed to give them a break. It was one of those catch-22 situations.
Finishing the 24 miler felt very good. It was both an accomplishment and a concern settler. We now know that we’re ready for this thing.
Over the next two weeks, I plan to do nothing but pool work, with about 4 or 5 one hour sessions planned just doing laps. The idea is to keep myself lose and the muscles working without any risk of injury.
I ended up doing two hikes indoors at the Y, per my last post. The first one was somewhere around 20 miles, but I’m not sure because there was absolutely no way that I was going to count laps for 8 hours. Especially when it takes 13 of those laps to equal one mile. The only real downside was that walking in circles for 8 hours tends to be a bit tough (for me) on the outside of whichever foot is on the “inside” of the track. I ended up with blisters from the heel til about halfway up my right foot. Deep ones, too. Two days later I did it again, but only managed about 6 and a half hours because I started getting blisters on my blisters, as the travel direction around the track was the same direction that I had done two days before. I could have planned that a little better had I paid attention to the signs clearly posted: “Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun Clockwise, Tues-Thurs-Sat Counterclockwise”. Done with that, I was very happy that I went through the effort because we’d just not gotten enough mileage in to be comfortable with the looming deadline.
This past Sunday, Jeff and I struck out on the trail for an all day “how much can we hurt ourselves” session. We did 24 miles in around 9 hours, which told us much about what’s to come. First and most importantly, if we can do 24 miles without the morale benefits and the logistical support of a big event, then we can do 26 miles with it all other things being equal. Granted, all other things won’t be equal, but we’ll just let that one go for now.
We also learned that we’re going to be a bit slower than we’d been thinking we’d be. In our minds, it was easy to think that if we average three miles an hour for 20 miles, then we’d also average three miles an hour for 26. Oh, how untrue that is for our current conditioning. It took us a full hour to get from mile 22 to the finish at 24. Somewhere in the low 20s, things just got extremely painful. Breaks got a bit longer, which was good and bad because the longer they are, the stiffer the muscles get…and once they’re stiff it compromises your stride pretty significantly. On the other hand, at that point our feet were in significant pain and we felt that we just really needed to give them a break. It was one of those catch-22 situations.
Finishing the 24 miler felt very good. It was both an accomplishment and a concern settler. We now know that we’re ready for this thing.
Over the next two weeks, I plan to do nothing but pool work, with about 4 or 5 one hour sessions planned just doing laps. The idea is to keep myself lose and the muscles working without any risk of injury.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Week 30 and Catch Up (from lack of posting!)
Okay, I’m back. My apologies for the lack of posts…I don’t have much in the way of blog experience, so when I ran out of novel things to say and was left with “Current Weight” and the typical Monday-Sunday list of what I did that week it started to seem slightly pointless until we got closer to the event.
Well, we’re closer to the event now, so it’s time to catch back up with what we’ve done and set the stage to see this thing through!
We have a bit more than two weeks of active training left, and it looks like we’re going to need to move to a “Plan B” in the training plan. The blizzards have pretty much crushed our training recently. For the past 3 weeks, I’ve put a lot of time in the gym but precious little else. The Perkiomen Trail is simply not usable for what we need right now. We did do a snow hike after the December blizzard, and while very hard it simply didn’t replicate what we needed to be doing. Too slow, too much loss of footing, and too much short term energy expenditure.
For those of you reading who are not in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast: We have had a succession of blizzards this past month that has left us with ridiculous amounts of snow on the ground. We really didn’t factor this into our training plan, and have missed several of our lead up distance hikes due to it. We should be doing 24 miles with 42 lbs. right now…instead the longest we’ve gone was 20.
So Plan B looks like this: Y-M-C-A.
260 laps around the indoor track here at our local Y is 20 miles. On the upside, it’s pretty warm in there so we may get some acclimatization out of it, which is something we’ve been worried about. On the downside…well, 260 laps? Egad. We’ll see how that goes.
Otherwise on the catch-up front: We have been training over the past 15 weeks, some of it more intense than the rest, but overall lots of improvement and we feel that we’re just about ready. We’ve had lots of time in the gym and lots of runs, but less raw distance than we had originally planned.
Before I close up for this post, I want to touch on my brush with hypothermia. Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I hate being cold - that’s a left over mostly from a two week field exercise I did at one point in the Corps that had us outside doing ops in the middle of winter, 42 degrees and rain for almost the entire two weeks. I hated that op more than anything I did my entire 8 years in the Corps. I’ll admit though, I always hated being cold, even as a kid.
In any event, in mid January, Jeff and I put our sights on a twenty miler, the first we’d done together. I had done one solo before, as had he. We psyched ourselves up for it for the whole week, but as we got closer to the weekend the weather started looking worse and worse. What we ended up with was a forecast of 36 degrees and heavy rain. Sunday rolled around and we decided we were up for it anyway. This was the hike that would finally get us up to
Green Lane
Green Lane
I’ll admit I was pretty dumb about the way I handled this hike. When we started, it was right at the forecasted 36 degrees, but hadn’t started raining yet. I was in my standard winter gear, plus a lightweight rain jacket. We started out fine, but by the four mile mark I was very warm and decided to shed the rain jacket.
By about mile 6, the rain set in. It was coming down in sheets by mile 8. I figured I would put the rain jacket back on at our next rest stop, but at mile 8 we were feeling really good and decided to extend to about the 10 mile mark for our break. By the time we hit the break, I was completely soaked through, to the point where the rain had run down my pants legs, transferred to my socks from the top down, and soaked down to my toes.
I was very cold when I put the rain jacket back on, and remember saying something to Jeff about paying attention to hypothermia. I was already shivering, but figured that I’d warm back up coming off the break by getting out there and moving again. That didn’t happen. I never did warm back up.
By mile 14, I had stopped shivering. I couldn’t close my hands all the way because my fingers weren’t responding the way they were supposed to. I was very groggy, and wanted nothing more than to sit down and take a nap, right there on the trail. I was stumbling and not thinking clearly by mile 15, and at that point Jeff asked if I should call my wife to come get me. Unfortunately, that’s what I ended up needing to do.
Jeff did go on to finish the 20 that day. I felt bad leaving him to self motivate his way to the end, but I figured that it was better overall to not risk needing a trip to the hospital. When I got home, (after a warm up soak in a very hot bath) I looked up “hypothermia symptoms” on Wikipedia and learned that I was beyond mild hypothermia and well into moderate as far as symptoms go…so it ended up being a good call.
Jeff next to the "Welcome to Green Lane Park" sign...we finally made it!
Lesson learned, and I plan to take this to New Mexico
Oh, the stats! Current Weight: 168.
And in closing, I’m still planning on having my iPhone with me and doing small GPS posts throughout the hike. Hopefully there will be connectivity out in the desert.
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