Monday, October 28, 2013

Mookie Blaylock rocked it:

Saw MB last night at 1st Mariner in Baltimore last night.  Awesome show.  No opener.  Started at 8:20 and ended at 11:10.

Set List
Pendulum
Hard to Imagine
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town
Lightning Bolt
Lukin
Corduroy
Mind Your Manners
Given to Fly
MFC
Sirens
Habit
Daughter -(Walk on the Wild Side tag)
Wishlist
Present Tense
Spin the Black Circle
Let the Records Play
Setting Forth -(Eddie Vedder song)
Unthought Known
Rearviewmirror

Encore 1:
Yellow Moon
Man of the Hour
Nothingman
I'm Waiting for the Man -(The Velvet Underground cover)
Better Man -(Save it for Later tag)
Do the Evolution
Blood
Porch

Encore 2:
Once
Love, Reign O'er Me -(The Who cover)
Black
Alive
Rockin' in the Free World

Lots of old, some of the new.  Damn solid.

Friday, October 25, 2013

The Big 180 is done.

I've officially logged 180 activities in Garmin or in  2 or 3 cases out this year so far.  Well garmin has 177 but will have 179 after I upload so I only missed garmin recording 1 event.  Pretty geeky.  Just shy of 2500 miles.

Cycling is will hit 2300 miles in 133 activities, that leaves almost 200 miles of running. 

My end goal this year? 220 Events 3K miles.  To hit that mark I've gotta get back into regularly bike commuting with a few rides post work I think.  I REALLY need to pull out the Winter gear.  Next week warms up a bit but then after that we are solidly in the 50-30 daily range.  Ugh.

Last nights WF TNR was a damn good ride for a group of around 12 people.  We kept rolling well and only stopped to regroup a few times.  We did shrink the pack on lap 2 with a few people bailing to change at the parking lot before I re-hit the bowl.

Trails are a mess with stream work and getting around WF over the next few weeks is going to get REALLY shitty with bridge's being removed on CCT sections, etc. 

Rumor has it we may be doing something uh...interesting for the halloween ride.

If it doesn't uh...nevermind.  Positive weather re-enforcement in place now. 

And strangely enough I plan to keep running.  In fact I actually want to try running a bit more and shoot for a possible half marathon of stupid.  Who knows?

Pearl Jam Sunday.  FCK yah!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Ouchie. Ouchie. Ouchie.

Getting out of bed was never so trying as this morning since maybe my last bad crash or maybe the day I hauled 100 tons of lumber into Fountainhead by hand.  I did take some advil yesterday but am avoiding it today in an attempt to expedite muscle recovery/repair. 

It's also joint and other soreness, not just muscles.  Some new bruises visible. 

But still I'm thinking Spartan Race next year. 

Update - Whoops never posted this yesterday.  Muscles feel better today by a good  bit but my left knee was a @#$@! last night and I slept like crap due to lack of advil taking/supply!  Stooopid.

Special News Bulletin 1 - Sucky pre-winter weather has arrived with high temps in the 50's and low's in the 30's.  @#!!

Special Special News Bulletin 2 - I like running.  There.  I said it.  FML.  Especially trail running.

I need a drink.

Photo's of me are up from Tough Mudder on MarathonFoto site.  I'm gonna chump out and buy a bunch once I've found em all.   

Sunday, October 20, 2013

It was one Tough Mudder for sure - Tough Mudder - Mid-atlantic 2013 - Saturday.

It was a good day, to die hard.

Whoops wrong movie. 

The Gods WERE crazy!

@#$@$ there I go again. 

It was a cold and overcast Saturday morning as Team WolfPack rallied at the DKL Residence for the trip out to West Virginia to face the Tough Mudder Mid-Atlantic 2012 Event.  It's not a race.  Except against your friends and yourself. 

http://www.strava.com/activities/90113789

11 Miles of trail.  1800 Ft of climbing.  22 Obsticles.  Mud and Water and Cramps and Pain.   That was what awaited us.  We left Vienna around 9 at hit the parking field a bit before 11.  At registration at 11:25 running a tad late.  Our official wave was 12:15 but we were dropping our bags and making final preps when it was called.  So we went out with the last wave of the day 12:30.

Last wave at 12:30?  I could've sworn they had waves running till 2 or later on reg.  Maybe they rescheduled them or something.  Regardless we queued up in the waiting zone, then we made it to the starting line wait after scaling over 5 or 7 foot Berlin walls. 

Prerace prep was cool and as the last group they didn't just play the National Anthem, we sung that mofo like the bad-asses we are.  And we were off at a slow conservitive pace.  1st REAL obsticles were a ways away not counting small mud holes/creeks/etc.  The first obsticle in some ways was the worst.  I got the dirtiest on it for sure it was a crawl under barbed wire and on the 2nd half they kept spraying us from a water truck with VERY cold water.  My bib was 2/3rd's torn off.  And I looked like a mud man.  I went thru one of the muddiest lanes I think.    And we were off.  Lots of hills and small mud sections till we eventually hit the Burn Zone.  No fire this year, just exercise.  20 pushups, run up and down a steep hill, 20 lunges, another steep hill up and down, 20 more pushups, another 2 hills.  Then it was time.

The Arctic Enema.  I jumped in and compressed too much and went under I shoulda gone under the board then, instead I had to pop up, breath and swim under.  More ICE at the far end then the front.  Getting out was hard and starting to run sucked but at least I was mostly clean!  And after a few minutes I was pretty warm and dry.  Nike's Pro Combat Dryfit T-shirt saved me.  Next time I wear long sleeves for crawling stunts.    And we were off but group was suffering major fragmentation 12 dudes staying together is hard.  One guy's ankles were already a mess.  We chose to split in 2 groups.  At first I was gonna stay with the slow guys but I wanted to push a bit faster due to the upcoming course clear at the halfway mark at 2:30.  I made it to that at 2:05.  I'm shocked the 2nd group must have made it with minutes to spare I think.  I pushed on with several different groups of people till I caught up to the main group after some giant mud pits.  I needed to empty/clean out shoes but honestly couldn't undue the laces.  Too mucked up.  I hung on.  We continued to push on thru stuff like the beard, Wheelbarrow, Log Carry, Log Hopping.  But my elbow went whack and me and my new partner Jimmy skipped the BIG Berlin Walls.  12 foot of suckiness.   Crazy zig-zag Gorrilla Killer Hills then pushups for Wounded Warriors.  I only could manage 10 at that point.  My arms were shot.  Then we pushed on throu 2 balance exercises.  Skipped the electric eel due to cramps starting in legs  a few nasty crawl things in pipes and in water were tough but fun.   Near the end I had to skip Everest also as my elbow could take the pulling/etc and I was already banged up.  Tried to climb up to walk the plank but legs cramped up again a bit over halfway up.  The other electric stunt wasn't bad at all with carefull-ness got hit 1x.  Pushed on and we were basically DONE. 

Finished in 3 hours.

Our team with out shirts got lots of support and people could tell we were a team, anytime I was lagging or me and Jimmy were we heard our team was just ahead.  Cutting of the sleeves and shit really helped me not be bound up in the shirt.  Garmin watch kicked ass, it kept me on pace and let me know I needed to keep pushing. 

Gear Good -
Trail Shoes - Worked well and way better tracktion then sneakers, only slipped once and that was cause I under committed on dry/loose.  No problems with wet/mud other than crap getting into them. 
Nike Pro Combat Dri-fit compression - Awesome, just use long sleeve next time to protect elbows a bit. 
Socks - Wool - Okay, kept feet warm even after being wet. 
Shorts - Reebok Crossfit Boardshorts - Nice, zippered pocket worked well.
Garmin GPS - Worked pretty well though did loose 600-800 ft of elevation depending on site.

Bad Gear -
Shirt - Go long sleeve. 
Legs - Knee pads or 3/4 lengths tights with knee padding. 
Socks.  Maybe layer up with a compression long sock to protect shins from scrapes.
Socks Part 2 - Find someway to keep shit out of shoes. 
Shoes - See Socks Part 2.
Bring Sharpie of decent size to mark up arms/legs/head's with #.
Bring real shoes for after - not flip-flops.  Half mile in/out was a beast.  

Training Notes -
Requires SERIOUS upper body training.  I estimate a fit competitor needs to be able to do 15-20 pull ups. Plank for several minutes and have some leg strength training also.  My legs were mostly okay.  I would raise my base target to 8 or 9 miles with more hill work.

Friday, October 18, 2013

It's time to start running!

It's time to start running!


As he says at the start of the video.  Tough Mudder for me is tomorrow Oct 19.  Distance wise I'm not super worried, I've done up to 7 miles and with a 3-4 hour eta for finish with obstacles and such I'm confident I have the leg power to finish with some longer rides in the bag.  The elevation may be a biatch but I will survive. 

The obsticles are another thing.  Arctic Enema, Berlin Walls and a few others do scare me a bit.  I am debating skipping the 2 electric ones due to my old school occasional heart beat issues.  Temp should be low 60's at start.  Debating tech layer  Might go pick up a dryfit long sleeve tonight.  Also must err pad the man nips. I know what happens to them when I run a long time and I don't want to repeat the last time.  Tech compression underwear for sure.  Wool socks.  Wolf Pack t-shirt.  May also look at some compression/tech running tights.

Gotta trim my nails for sure tonight, some are fricking claws I realized.

I'm nervous but excited. 

Full report Sunday or Monday for sure. 

Monday, October 07, 2013

Rainy after all

Seriously raining here today in DC.  Ma nature is getting brassed off the gov't is still shutdown me thinks.

Went into DC yesterday for some cycling around the monuments with Pete from Freshbikes Mosiac.  Good group and good times.  Crazy to see all the empty roads blocked off by barriers and monuments also.  You could have a pretty cool crit down there on the weekend safely right now instead of say Haines Pt.  It was a nice but somewhat ridiculous 40 mile ride.

Now that fall is coming in last week was my first longer MTB ride since the summer.  Going to start pushing harder on the rides and getting in good pre-rides.  13 Last week this week I'll push for a few more.  Though honestly I did stop not too long after 8.  With another 25 minutes I could have pushed out another 2 or more miles. 

Tough Mudder training continues.  Did a 4 on Satuday at lunch and felt like crap.  I need to feel WAY better on next weeks Saturday so maybe Thursday will be a lighter mtb day.  Ugh.

Also still have to figure out gear for the race.  I'm thinking I'm going to wear gloves. And right now I'm planning on a longsleeve tech woolie shirt for base layer. Legs I'm not sure about.  Might get a set of tech  tights.  Not sure.  Weather still isn't clear.  We are running above average so far.