Training review - 62 days to go

It's been a while since posts, but don't let idleness in blogging reflect an idleness in training. In fact, it's all been very busy. The last week or so has been pretty constant, consistent training with lots of lunchtime sessions with most of the team at work and some good long runs in the hills.

However, I've also had to do some reviewing of my training because of how busy it's been... My busiest day last week was Wednesday: Cycling to work, running at lunchtime, evening circuit/boxing, and then riding home. And on top of that I was supposed to do the TM workout from the website...

Which has led me to decide to cut that TM workout from my schedule. In the end, trying to fit that in 3 mornings a week was setting myself up for failure and the subsequent feelings of guilt and uselessness that creates. Mornings just aren't good for me and I've always found training then difficult - and combine that with the sessions being either 12 hours after a similar strength workout, or 12 hours before (and in one instance both!) I decided it was just asking too much of myself and running the risk of overtraining or simply wasting effort.

However, to make myself feel a bit better for it I'll consider doing a double-TM workout on the weekend which should hopefully be easier to fit in, but will also give me a better workout - as I was a bit unsure about how much 1-minute per exercise could achieve as it was.

And to help me track all this and get a bit more motivation I've also started using the Fitocracy website - It's an interesting concept - Taking elements of online gaming and 'level-ups' to encourage exercise. I don't know how long I'll fiddle with it, as some elements are a bit cumbersome, but for now it's amusing me during the period when I can't train :)

The equipment distraction

In the midst of training and the need for just simple hard work over the next 70 days, I can see myself constantly trying to hide from training or create 'shortcuts' by turning my thoughts to 'stuff' that I think will help me. Nutritional plans, heart rate monitors, gps devices, compression shorts, or as was the case last night, new shoes!

My old shoes are getting a bit tired, and given that they weren't off-road specific I decided to go and buy a set of dedicated trail-running shoes. Surprisingly hard to find in Melbourne, but after a little searching last night we came upon a great find - A heavily discounted pair of Asics Gel Trabuco's. Awesome :)

Looking forward to trying these puppies out this weekend and seeing what difference a dedicated offroad shoe makes.

This reminds me of when I was cycling a lot and in preparation for a race you'd go out and buy new wheels or pedals, in some misguided, hopeful belief that it would make you faster - Knowing full well that the only way to get there is through ugly, uncomfortable, simple hard work. 

Still, at least new gear makes that hard work a bit more interesting for a while!

Another Tough Mudder training program

Well, now our personal trainer's had a crack and added in his own program for us to follow in preparation. When we received it this morning I think we all took a big gulp:

PART 1: RUNNING PROGRAM

SESSION ONE

Choose and oval that is between 400-500 metres in distance.

Run 1 Lap - walk half

Run 2 laps - walk half

Run 3 laps -Walk half

Run 4 laps – Walk half

Run 3 laps -Walk Half

Run 2 laps - Walk Half

Run 1 lap - Walk recovery to finish.

BASED ON 400 metre oval

TOTAL DISTANCE covered: 7.8kms

TOTAL DISTANCE RUNNING: 6.4kms

- Walk must be recovery, take it nice and slow to lower heart rate.

- The ‘run’ part must be done at about 75% of maximum speed.

RECORD TIMES!!

SESSION TWO

4 x 800mtres

1:1 RATIO (rest as long as it takes to complete the previous one)

Do at 80 – 100% of maximum speed.

RECORD TIMES.

SESSION THREE

Choose a mixed terrain course which you know is about 8- 10 kms in length.

For the duration of the course, change between a jog a sprint and a walk.

Record times.

PART 2:BODY WEIGHT PROGRAM

(Should be completed on same day or alternate days to running program. Aim to complete 2- 3 times per week)

Choose a park or a play ground which has a chin up bar or monkey bar.

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING EXERCISES AS FAST AS YOU CAN.

100 x SQUATS

50 x Push Ups

50 x Walking lunges

Bridge walk 10 mtrs x 20

2 SETS with 5 Minutes recovery between sets.

45 Degree arm hang. 3 Minutes continuously.

Record how many times you fall to the ground

2 SETS!

Yikes. That in itself looks pretty tough, and then I'm combining it with the TM workout three mornings a week, plus one night of circuit training and one night of boxing, AND cycling to work. I'm up for the challenge, but the word 'overtraining' is starting to haunt me. Guess I'll just watch myself carefully and see how it goes.

Tough Mudder on Sunrise

A friend messaged me this morning letting me know that Sunrise (a local morning news show) had a piece on Tough Mudder....

Of course, almost all of the article was lifting straight from youtube videos, so very little 'journalism' had to be done there! And I was quite disappointed (although not surprised) at the half-informed information provided.

What was more amusing was the 'Tough Mudders' in the background doing exercises... hmm... Don't know if you can call them that if they've never done one (It would have made much more sense to have talked with some of the Australians who'd done it in the US), and it makes it sound like it's some fitness trend you can join up to like any old boot camp or aerobics class. In fact, the reference to TM as a 'craze' is what I found the most laughable.

As my M said when she saw it: "How come everything has to be a 'craze'? Can't it just be people wanting to do something??"

Still, it's impressive to hear it's already got 6000 registrants for Melbourne. No wonder booking accommodation was so tough!

Call in the professionals

Just returned from our team's first session with the personal trainer... We'll be getting his help to keep us heading on the right track and building up our weaknesses between now and the TM. 

With that goal, he spent today 'testing us'. Urgh. Those words just fill me with loathing and as we walked out to the oval at lunchtime all I could see were two sets of cones, WAY too far away from each other...!!! This didn't look good...

So this was the punishment: 10 push-ups (all the way to the ground), 10 sit-ups, 10 burpees, run 600 metres. Repeat for 10 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes.

Then repeat the whole routine 2 more times.

Despite how much it sucked, it was actually a very logical setup, reflecting the TM experience. A hard session of upper body and core strength work, followed by running, leading straight into more strength work. The depressing part being that by the end of it as we were panting and glad it was over, the reality was we'd been active for only 30 minutes and 3.6kms.... I think our trainer really wanted to impress upon us the work ahead of us and it certainly worked!

Tough Mudder Phillip Island accommodation - book now!

M (my bride of 14 years) and I are planning to make the most of the trip down to Phillip Island and stay a couple of nights in some local accommodation. Partially because it's a week after our anniversary so we might as well make it our 'anniversary weekend' (hmm...pain, dirt, discomfort, exhaustion... Sounds an appropriate way to celebrate a marriage!!), and secondly because M may be running on the Saturday with her gym, and we're both planning to volunteer on the day we're not running...

However, when we went to book last night we got quite a shock. Caravan parks were all either full-up or had 3 night minimum bookings (due to school holidays), and other accommodation wasn't easy to get either, especially affordable stuff. After much searching we managed to find a rather nice little cottage in Cowes, but I'd hate to be trying to book in a month or two.

So, if you're planning to stay (and especially if you want to avoid tenting, which doesn't appeal to me all that much if I'm wanting to be well rested/recovered for the Mudder) be encouraged to get onto it asap.

Stayz worked pretty well for us and it's how we found our place.

A watery weekend of training

This weekend's been a pretty intense little exercise in pushing the boundaries of training.

I originally had a 32km bike ride planned with a friend, but with that cancelled at the last minute we instead headed off to a nearby aquatic centre - primarily for the sake of the kids. But amidst turns on the water-slide, plays in the wave pool and general shenanigans both myself and the Mrs. fitted in a few laps of the pool...

...May I say, I'm glad the swim legs aren't that long!! At this stage I reckon I can manage the 40m expected of me but that's about it! After one short lap of the pool (just over 40m) the heart was pounding and the head spinning and the lungs screaming for air. I'd forgotten just how strenuous swimming is - Which encourages me to find some more time to do as much as I can - both for the swim legs and just for general fitness. So we'll be trying to head back to the pool every fortnight or so and fit in a bit more between now and then.

Then on Sunday I got up at dawn for the first group training session. The wind was blowing and the rain was pretty heavy as I drove down there, so I wasn't totally surprised on arrival to find I was the only one who'd shown up!! So after waiting a while I decided I might as well make the most of it, and headed off regardless. The first part had me worried - A steady downhill followed by a long, trudging uphill through the rain right to the highest point of the park had me feeling lethargic and useless... No way I can do this!! Despondently I headed off along the ridge track and managed to stumble myself into a slow jog... But then something strange happened. The track continued, gently meandering through the forest for many kms - And amazingly, so did I! Still jogging!! It was almost an out-of-body experience as I continued jogging along for several kms, still feeling ok and wondering how I was doing this. I can only assume that the training is paying off....

When I eventually stopped and looked back I felt remarkably proud of myself - Something which does not happen much! So with that pride I then took some detours from my planned route to pick up some geocaches in the park, making the trip a bit more worthwhile and finishing up with a 12km total. I also discovered my planned route got me a bit lost so I'll be revisiting the track route before our next outing here (which hopefully will be in greater numbers!) The rainy morning also gave me the experience of running in mud and soggy shoes, which is something I better get used to.

And then this morning was my first morning of the TM workout/cycle to work combination. Worked pretty well actually, although managing to stomach food at that hour and amidst that exercise is going to be my greatest challenge I think.

Tough Mudder training runs - Melbourne GPS files.

As our team has just commenced some training runs for the upcoming Melbourne Tough Mudder, I've created some GPX files for GPS devices which I'll be using to make sure we don't get lost and track distance, etc.

So I might as well post them up online for others to use if they so wish. 

They'll be available via the links to the right. Let me know if there's any problems with them as they come up. These files can usually be opened in Google Earth or something similar.

Training through the silly season

Back from the Christmas/NY  hiatus - And despite the lack of blogging this hasn't been reflected in a lack of training, thankfully!

I was actually immensely pleased - The down time was put to good work in finding some more time for training. So, while continuing the official workouts every two days, I also commenced the Freeway to 10k podcast series for jogging, which has gone surprisingly well - I even managed a jog on Christmas morning! 

All was going along very smoothly until an uninvited guest turned up for the holidays - gastro. He swept through the entire family, taking me out as well and putting training on a bit of a hold... So for the past few days I haven't done much at all and it has me fretting.

But, work's recommenced and so has training. Tonight's a jog, tomorrow morning it will be back with the workouts and on the weekend there will probably be a long ride and then our team is heading off to Lysterfield park for an 11km trail run, which will be our first activity as a group. Looking forward to it, and seeing how we all operate together.