Taper continued

/

The weekend was dedicated to rest.  I did almost nothing physical and took a few naps.

I dont feel as good as if I had worked out hard all weekend but I am hoping that it will pay off.


This morning:

2 min pushups- 75 moved slow and deliberate intentionally

2 min situps- 71 moved about as fast as I could, but that is a long way from the 82 I hit last week.  Not sure why that happened today, but I still feel confident in the ability to hit 65 any time

1 mile hill ruck with 60 lbs- 9:44 felt good.  The hill is steep so I was not able to run the whole thing, but did finish pretty quickly.

21-15-9

Burpee

KB Swing @53 lbs

I bowed out of this one and stretched instead.  Trevor finished this in 3:21.  Pretty strong!

12 minute visualization on Selection


Good day

McCallie Baylor

/

We have one of the biggest rivalries in High School sports in my hometown.  McCallie, the school I went to, and Baylor the rival have been bitter rivals for 100 years (I don't really know how long but a long time).

McCallie is an all boys school, 6-12, that is an outstanding school.  Baylor, also an outstanding school, is a former all boys school that went Co-Ed about the time I graduated.  I think that the Co-ed change may have actually made the rivalry more intense because instead of splitting the all girls school also in the area, they kind of became a sister school to McCallie.  Now it is really, McCallie/GPS vs Baylor.

To make things more intense this year, both schools have exceptional teams.  In fact, McCallie just defeated 4 time State Champs, Ensworth (Nashville) 62-34 last weekend to become the number 1 ranked team in Tennessee.  Baylor, also on a roll is number 2.  This is the first time in history that McCallie/Baylor is a 1 v 2 matchup.

Things go crazy this week...literally.  Signs are hanging all over, vandalism of said signs and even campuses also exists, pranks, and more, but the underlying theme of all of this is that there is tremendous school spirit and both sides are proud to be a part of this history. 

Almost every boy with a pickup truck makes a giant flag from a bed sheet and puts it on the trailer hitch of the truck.  Baylor does it too, but not like McCallie.  Sometimes, the kids make the flag with a giant M from a black bedsheet with a giant blue M.  This year, a highly concerned resident posted on facebook that she saw a truck with a flag like this and thought is was a splinter cell of ISIS.  Now that is funny. 

The rivalry extends to every workplace, talk radio, golf courses, bowling alleys, bars, restaurants and yes...even to the garage.

In our group we have a number of Baylor alumni and parents but maybe a slightly higher number of McCallie alumni and parents.  Today, I put together a workout to polish for Selection and also have some fun. 

With a front from Canada to Mexico on top of us, we experienced heavy rain this morning which was kind of fun.  The workout was:

Run 400 m

55 Pushups

Run 400 m

65 situps

x 3 rounds for time

I felt great!  No ruck, no boots, no pants.  I flew through the runs and made sure my nose was to the floor on the pushups and that my situps were solid.  We took the top 3 times for each team and decided a winner. 

This time it was McCallie by a landslide!  Lets hope that the game will have the same outcome. 

Oh, by the way, this thing goes in long streaks of winning or losing.  McCallie had a 10 year run before Baylor beat us and then continued their streak for the last 7 years.  This year, the game returns to McCallie for the first time in 25 years or so...needless to say, it is a big, big deal around here. 

Good luck to both teams and I hope that no one is injured.  With such an emotional game, it could go either way.

 

Taper

/

I can not believe that this day has come.  We are a week out from Goruck Selection and I am happy to say that I am as ready as I can get physically.  My recent fitness test showed these results:

2 min pushups- 82

2 min situps- 80

5 mile run- 37:22

12 mile ruck with 45 lbs- 2:31:00

The minimum requirements are:

pushups-55

situps-65

run-40:00

ruck:3:30:00

This last fitness test was a confidence builder.  I have improved on everything with situps being the most improvement.

Mentally, I am still preparing.  I personally feel like being nervous about this thing is a very good thing.  If that is the case, then I am in a really good place...I am pretty damn nervous.

Packing is still an issue and I am packing and repacking over and over again; each time getting rid of several items making the rig smaller and more compact.

I will keep writing on the blog until the event and certainly give a report on how it went

Friday

/

Yesterday I hit a 1 hour PT session with the 45 pound ruck.  I did a deck of cards with all black cards as pushups and all red ones, squats.  Then, i stripped the ruck and did another deck of cards with black as situps and red as flutter kicks.  Jokers on the first deck were 4 bear crawls witht the ruck and on the second deck, a 5 minute plank.

this took 52 minutes.  i finished up with some stretching. 

 

today we got off the water kind of late after catching a White Marlin, a Yellowfin Tuna and hooking a Blue Marlin...great day!  I finished this great day with 3x1.5 mile runs

10:08

10:02

10:19

the weather has improved so hopefully we will have a great day tomorrow! 

Travel

/

This was not the best week to have to shoot the Into the Blue show.  The weather is tough, wind blowing a solid 20-25.  We have gotten out and filmed 4-5 shows, but it has been tough.  Tuna, red snapper, cobia, tripletail, and king mackerel so far.  Hopefully it will get better.

My training has been ok though.  I did the 12 miler on Sat, the pushup/situp prog and 1.5 mile intervals on Sun, the 150 step ups x2 on Mon, and 2x2 mile ruck on Tues.

Today, I found time to do the 3x3 mile with 45 lbs.  it felt really light and I felt like I was moving pretty fast.   

36:12

32:14

35:00

This is the last ruck interval on the training plan...it is almost here! 

I will get in the other run interval workout while here, but i am going to replace the other ones with a solid 1 hour pt session with the ruck.   

 

Bench/Pullup/SBGU

/

"The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don't like to do. They don't like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose. They have a burning yes that makes it possible to say no to other things.
An independent will power to do things when you don't want to do them"

Warm up:
4 Rounds
3x Pull ups
5x Bench Press (95, 115, 135, 165)

10x Situps
Instep Stretch Lat + Pec Stretch

Training:
(1) 5 Rounds - Every 90 Seconds
40% of Max Bodyweight Bench Press, then Max Bodyweight Bench Press in 60 Seconds

(2) Perform the following weighted pull ups (25#) 100% max reps Pull-ups Rest 2:30 sec

80% max Reps Pull-ups Rest 2 min.
60% max Reps Pull-ups Rest 1:30 sec.

40% max Reps Pull-ups Rest 60 sec.
40% max Reps Pull-ups Rest 30 sec.

20% max Reps Pull-ups

(3) 8 Rounds - Every 90 seconds, 10% of max reps SBGU (round up) + 1 rep

 

Magic 20 miler

/

Since I will be traveling next week, I had to get in the 20 miler early.  I packed 68 pounds with water.  63 without.

For some reason, I was having a pretty hard time around mile 12.5-16.  Something happened and I was able to rally and get a second wind.  My time was very bad though and I am concerned.  In order to hit sub 15 min miles, I have to run...alot.  I did not do that today and came in at 5:22:27.  My splits just kept getting slower through the whole ruck.  The weight felt really heavy and I just felt slow.  I only stopped to pee 2 times and to refill my water once.  Other than that, I was moving the entire time.

 

 

Run/Ruck

/

1. Pushup Progression

5 rounds at 35% of 2 Min Max plus 1 final set

 

2. Situp Progression

5 rounds at 35% of 2 Min Max plus 1 final set

 

3. 3 x 1.5 mile run

 

4. (PM) 3 x 3 mile ruck at 45 pounds

 

I did the pushups at 30 for all 6 rounds, situps at 26.  I was not able to complete all 6 rounds at 26.  One round I only got 12. 

Runs went well today despite the 18 mile ruck yesterday.  10:31, 10:37, 11:14

I will ruck either at lunch or tonight.  20 miler tomorrow.

18 miles/60 pounds

/

18 mile ruck at 60 pounds dry.

 

I carried 6 liters of water with me and started around 65 pounds.  I finished at 59...cant let that happen again!

 

This one took me 4:29:00 and I realized I was going to miss the cutoff with 1 mile left.  I ran the last mile and barely made it.  It was a tough distance, but made easier by our fall-like weather.  73 degrees is a LONG way from 93 degrees.  I have not had to pee during a ruck in the last 10 weeks, but today, I had to pee 5 times!  The cooler weather was nice and I was not sweating that much. 

I hope that this time is decent...I really have no way of knowing. 

Full Fitness Test-Goruck Selection

/

2 min pushups

2 min situps

5 mile run

12 mile ruck with 45 lbs dry

 

This was good for me.  I learned alot.

Pushups: 85

Situps: 75

5 mile run: Actually 5.48 miles in 39:32 so easily under the time standard

12 mile ruck: 2:57:59

I felt fine before and during.  No nutritional issues on empty.  I had a hot spot on my right toe that was a little concerning, but no big deal.  After, I was tired...very tired this afternoon.

600 again

/

600 step ups with 40 pounds to 16 inch box

 

or

 

Front Squat 5-5-3-3-1-1-1

then

15 Hang Power Clean @ 135

15 burpees

x 3 rounds

 

or, be like Mike Drew and go under 20 minutes on the step ups (new record) and then hit the power clean/burpee workout

Great job Mike!

 

My time was 25:52 on the step ups. 
The first time I tried this workout I did it in 25:26, last time, 26:15. 

Consistent but not really improving.  I felt really good, but just old and slow I guess.

16 mile sweat fest

/
Sweat-fest 2014.  I drank all this, plus another 2 liters during the 16+ miler, crazy amount of sweat!

Sweat-fest 2014.  I drank all this, plus another 2 liters during the 16+ miler, crazy amount of sweat!

Traveling...

did a 16 mile ruck with 70 pounds in the Florida Keys heat and humidity.  I know I have been saying this alot lately, but I seriously do not think that I have ever sweated this much!  I filled my 3 Liter bladder 2 x, had a liter before leaving, then had another liter after.  I really felt like it was coming out of me faster than it was going in.

This was challenging.  I started late afternoon because I thought I might actually die in the 94 degree heat.  Probably pretty smart on my part.  The whole workout took me around 3:45:00.  I say around 3:45 because my phone died and I dont know the exact time, but I feel good that it was under 4:00:00.  I ran alot, although my running pace with a 70 pound ruck is slow it is still faster than my walking pace. 

The Florida Keys are lined with power poles so it was real easy to run one, walk one.  I did that through the majority of the run.  However, around mile 14, it got real and got very difficult to run.  I was ready to put the pack down, but I pressed on and through and made it back to the room to drink some more water.  I was actually a little concerned about Hyponatremia since I did not have my Hammer Endurolytes.  That is scary stuff and several young football players have died recently.  I just kept drinking small sips.  It was pouring out of me faster than I was putting it in.  I felt fine throughout, but did feel cold when I got back and took a shower.  That was kind of weird, but it passed.

This was good training because I watched the sun go down, then the mosquitos came out...and when they came out...they really came out.  Good training!

I have to get in 5 x 2 miles at some point over the next couple of days to complete this week fully.  It will be quite a challenge with my work schedule, but I will do everything I can to get it in.