Category Archives: training

20 mile hustle

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As I near the end of my marathon training cycle for the 2016 Mount Desert Island Marathon (I’m two weeks from taper y’all! WOAH!), I am also dealing with some serious distance during my Saturday morning long runs. Since I’m an avid Crossfitter, my coach designed a marathon training program for me that’s a little different from what a strict runner might use. As I’ve previously mentioned, I only run once a week; my long; and the rest of the week I spend doing work to strengthen the muscles that my legs need for dealing with the marathon distance. The theory behind this is that my body is making the most of rest periods in order to recover from the damage that a long run can do. It’s a great program for me because it keeps me from getting bored. While I love to run, doing it four or five days a week for LONG periods of time can get a little repetitive. My training program keeps me on my toes and, while there is a pattern to it, it also makes sure that I’m mentally engaged in the training rather than piling on a constant barrage of “junk miles” that do nothing but needlessly tire my overworked muscles.

This weekend, I tackled my last 20-miler of the training cycle. It was my second time at the distance, and while I can’t call running 20 miles “easy,” it definitely went down a bit smoother than my last 20-miler. I tend to hit the wall right around mile 8, get a second wind, and push through. What I hadn’t counted on was re-hitting the wall (mile 18 for those who were curious). I hit it hard on my last 20, but this time it was less of a slam and more of a tap. I was able to push through much better thanks to some adjustments my coach and I made in my hydration routine, also thanks to the weather being a little less brutal.

Post 20; first you feel like this....

Post 20; first you feel like this….

All that said, it was really hard to get myself going at 5:30 AM this week. Since it’s been so oppressively hot, I’ve had to roll back my wakeup time to get some mileage in before the sun beats down. This has been surprisingly uncomplicated; it means going to bed at around 7:30 the night before so I give my brain plenty of time to shut down and then get the requisite 8+ hours. Unfortunately, it also means I don’t get the best sleep in the “early” phases of the night (before midnight or so). This week, I was asleep by 8, but inexplicably awake from 9:30 – 11:00 and suffering from some mild GI distress which wouldn’t go away no matter what I tried.

When the alarm went off, I was under slept. I was also cranky, and still thinking about the scarier bits of the “Supernatural” episode my honey and I had watched the night before. Since I’m a wicked chicken, this was pretty disturbing to me in the pre-dawn hours when it was still pitch black outside and I was all alone in a shadowy house trying not to make noise while I got ready for my run. Much to my dismay, that whole “it’s autumn and thereby daylight happens later” thing is also kicking in. I’m used to pre-dawn light starting right around 5:30, when I leave, so I don’t actually run in darkness. This weekend, it was bumped back by about 15 minutes (due to cloud cover and also the natural rhythm of dawn being later in the fall). As a result, my run started in the dark.

So I was scared, it was dark, and when I stepped out the door it was both hot and humid. This did not make for ideal long run conditions. I tried to bargain with myself; just run the first half outside and then you can come back and finish the last 10 on the treadmill in the air conditioning if it’s really that terrible. Just keep going until you feel like you should stop and then you can come in, get cool in the air conditioning, and maybe finish up on the treadmill. Thankfully, and counter to all intuition, it actually got cooler after the sun came up and turned into a nicely temperate overcast day. By mile 8 it was obvious that while I was going to suffer a little bit, I would be fine to finish the run outdoors.

Recently there’s been an article circulating my Facebook feed about how telling yourself you can do something (out loud, and in the definitive positive voice) gets you pumped up better than anything else. I tried to riff off of that and tell myself that not only can I do this, but I would feel SO AWESOME when I was done. Long runs do that; there’s something about running an unreasonable number of miles before most people are even awake on a Saturday that makes you feel like you can do pretty much anything.

Sure enough, while I was completely pooped afterwards, I felt awesome. My wonderful honey even treated us to lunch from Noodles & Company because I was craving pasta (gee, I wonder why?). This was our first time trying their food and we both gave it a rousing thumbs up. One great thing about that place is they have detailed nutrition information about all their dishes available on the website. Since I’m constantly managing my nutrition, this is key for me. I really wish all places would do this; calorie counts are useful, but not as useful as macronutrient breakdowns.

Since Saturday was long run day, Sunday has been mobility, stretch, and rest day. The

...then you feel like this

…then you feel like this

arches of my feet have been tweaking lately and I’m hyper paranoid about plantar fasciitis. There are some really tender spots right now, so I’m subbing in a nice long walk for my recovery run in order to reduce impact and give my muscles a chance to recover from whatever inflammation is going on down there. I also made sure to do a nice long stretch and foam roll session, and I’ll get one more in before bed.

What are your favorite recovery regimes?

Things the Marathon Training has Changed

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Marathon training is a huge commitment and, as I’ve found out during this (my first) marathon cycle, can change a lot in your life. Some of these changes I thoroughly anticipated and expected; while others were a little more sneaky. Here’s a run-down of how my life has changed since I started marathon training.

I’m a…. morning person?

Because I’m training during the summer months, I have to wake up early (….and I mean EARLY) to get those long runs in before the heat bakes me out. I’ve always thought of myself as someone who hated mornings, but apparently that’s not true. Apparently I only strongly dislike mornings when I haven’t regulated my sleep schedule enough to get in the requisite eight hours. Turns out if you go to bed at 7:30 PM on Friday night, a 4:30 AM wakeup call on Saturday isn’t the worst thing in the world. Who

And Sunday morning recovery runs are a thing. Forget sleeping in on weekends!

And Sunday morning recovery runs are a thing. Forget sleeping in on weekends!

knew?

I can eat a lot

 I guess I always kind of knew this, but usually there was so much guilt affiliated with the massive consumption of food that I just sort of swept it under the carpet and tried to forget about it. When you’re fueling your body for marathon training, food guilt is pretty much out the window. On long run day, I sometimes eat five full means (two of which are mostly carbs) just to get in the requisite calories with the proper nutrition balance to fuel my training. NOM!

Massages are no longer a luxury… and actually hurt more than they relax

 With the things I am putting my body through, I need to take very good care of it. One important way to do so is to make sure I keep up with my mobility: my lacrosse ball has become my best friend. I keep one under my desk at home so I can roll out my feet on a regular basis. Sometimes, the self-care regime just isn’t enough and I have to seek professional intervention. Before you go all “poor you, have to get massaged all the time,” think about this: I’m getting rubbed down because there is some muscle group (probably in my lower body) that won’t stop hurting. Fixing this problem is very painful. Massages are no longer a relaxing device, they are a feel better device… that is, after they are a torture device.

Weekends are no longer your own 

The first half of the weekend (Friday night and Saturday morning) are now sacrificed at the altar of the Marathon. I can’t tell you how many plans I’ve had to sorrowfully turn down with people I would really like to see because bedtime on Friday is so egregiously early and wakeup on Saturday means 3-5 hours of running. Saturday day might also be gone too depending on how long the Saturday morning run is. 16 miles or less andIMG_3761 I’m generally good to go after an hour or two and some serious feeding. More than that and I start to push into areas where my body just doesn’t want to do ANYTHING for several hours. I can’t blame it; it’s not like running 20 miles is easy or anything.

Post-run brain is a thing

After a long run, my IQ drops by at least 50 points. I stop being observant, I can no longer make higher-level brain connections, and forget intense conversations. My vocabulary is basically reduced to that of a five year old. This really just means that I have to plan to be out of commission. I set up my snack at the front of the refrigerator to avoid unnecessary fridge diving. I make the grocery list Friday afternoon so that I don’t have to think about it. I spend my run planning what mind-numbing television show will best help me recuperate after the ordeal of running, so that’s planned out too. Post-run brain is all about the proper planning so that you have your luxuries in place before you really need to think about them.

Alright, your turn. What are some that I have missed?

 

 

Thanks for all the Fish

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As an athlete, I like to think of myself as a perpetual student. My form can always be better; I will always have more to learn about nutrition; a fresh set of eyes will always see something different in my lifts. I’ve also spent a lifetime as a teacher of movement arts: a fight director, ballroom dance instructor, and (way back in the day) swim instructor. I’ve been on both sides of this table.

As a teacher, I make frequent corrections. My students are with me to learn; what I have to show them is something they aren’t experts in. I know more than they do and I see what their bodies are doing with an outside eye. As a result, I’m in a position to note when something they are doing isn’t quite right. The more I correct their form, the more they can grow in whatever movement they are learning from me.

My coach definitely had things to say about my elbows in this front squat

My coach definitely had things to say about my elbows in this front squat

I’ve noticed a knee-jerk reaction in my students to immediately apologize for whatever they are doing wrong. “Hey, the lead on that is coming a bit too soon. You’ll want to wait until the next beat to execute it.” “Oh! Sorry!”

It breaks my heart when students do this. Mistakes are a crucial part of the learning process. When you’re doing something new, or doing something you hope to become better at, you’re inevitably going to do it wrong many many times before you finally get it right. That’s why we practice; that’s why we drill. Being a student is all about making mistakes. It’s a matter of how we react to these mistakes that determines what type of student we are, and how quickly we will excel in the given movement form.

As a result, I never apologize to my coaches when they give me notes on my form. My knees coming together in a squat or my back arching a bit too much in a deadlift are not things to be sorry for. These are elements of the learning process; inevitable foibles that are required to move forward.

So I say “thank you.” I don’t try to explain what’s going on (unless what my coach is telling me contradicts something I thought was correct); I don’t apologize for the mistake; I don’t make excuses. I simply thank my coach and try to do it better next time.

Saying “thank you” also communicates to my coach that I am listening, paying attention, and respecting their expertise. It expresses the truth: that I am grateful for the help and for their expert eye, as well as their devotion to helping me get better at whatever it is I’m doing.

Don’t get me wrong; there are some mistakes that warrant an apology. Any mistake in which you are actually at fault for something will want to be accompanied by “I’m sorry.” Being late to class, stepping on someone’s toe, or accidentally grabbing someone else’s jump rope from the equipment stack (for example) are all moments where an apology is more than appropriate. The inevitable by-products of the learning process in a physical discipline? Not one of these moments.

So try it; see what happens. Don’t apologize for mistakes that only effect you. Learn from them, grow from them, and see what they can spring-board you into.

Fueling Up

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Here’s something I’ve heard out on the road: “What are you doing?”
Me: “Fueling!”
Person: “But you’re only running [a half marathon; 10 miles; w/e]!”

Okay, so first of all, let’s get rid of the word “only” when describing distance. Sure, there are people in the world who run crazy ultra-marathons (a hundred or more miles over the course of a day or two). Sure, there are people in the world who do triathlons and other endurance events that are way harder than a 6, 10, 13, or even 20 mile run. But using the word “only” implies that in order to be a “real” athlete, I have to measure up to these people. You know what? The only person I have to measure up to is myself. I work every day to be stronger than the previous day; who are you to tell me that the person I am today is “only” anything?

Alright, that little mini-rant out of the way, onto the next one: fueling is about time on your feet and calories burned, not distance. If I’m running for over an hour, I fuel. That’s just the way it is. Personally, I find myself most comfortable when I take in about 100 calories after the first hour and then on the hour after that. If I’m going very long, I will try to do 50 calories on the half hour rather than 100 calories on the hour because it keeps my blood sugar/insulin from spiking and then (subsequently) crashing.

I use a variety of fuels when I run. I started with just Gu but gradually I have moved to prefer cliff shots. I love the gummy candy texture, and the fact that they come in easily dispensed blocks allows me to control my intake a bit better. With a Gu packet, I pretty much have to take the whole thing or none at all (I have yet to master the “take half of your Gu now half later” trick that I know some runners use). Pro tip: tearing the Gu packet open with your teeth will keep you from getting sticky fingers when you’re trying to fuel yourself.

These days, I’ve taken it a step even further. When I can, I try to fuel with (gasp!) “real” food. I have to put “real” in quotation marks because there’s not much really real about the food I tend to use. I favor Rx Bars (pretty processed despite their wholesome ingredients) and Pop Tarts (come on, seriously? I can’t call this real food). Half an Rx bar has about what I need for an hour’s worth of going and it packs up pretty conveniently. These puppies kept me on my feet for my Spartan Beast which took me an unexpectedly long eight hours of trudging. Rx bars have a good protein/carb/fat balance so that you’re not just getting carbs, but I will say they are pretty chewy. They’re approximately the consistency of a tootsie roll, so I find I can’t really run through my Rx bar snack break; I have to stop and walk it off.

Pop tarts are a whole other beast entirely. I’ve had mixed reactions from people when I tell them I use pop tarts as fuel. Some say “Oh my god, Pop tarts! I love those things! They’re so good and they’re not terrible for you!” Others reel in horror at the disgustingness I’m putting into my body. Let me set the record straight: Pop tarts are terrible for you. One pastry is 200 calories of pure carbs/sugar. To make matters worse, they are packaged two pastries to a packet. This means that either you have to come up with some method of keeping your extra pop tart clean and uncrumbled, or be forced to eat two servings of this already terrible snack in one go. Not okay, sneaky food industry. Not okay.

Suffice to say the Pop tart conundrum is pretty annoying. I, personally, grab a Ziploc and stick the whole shebang in my camelback. Over the course of a long run, I’ll go through two pop tarts so it’s not a big deal. That being said, I now understand why my mom was so adamantly against feeding these abominations to us when we were kids. They are, however, great quick carbs for when your body is burning fuel so fast that it’s hard to stay on top of things. As a result: runners, crossfitters, weight lifters… pop tarts are awesome for us. I’ll eat a quarter of a pop tart every half hour and find myself doing great for the run. As an added bonus, if you’re running when it’s hot out the heat will give you a nice melty pop tart center just like a toaster oven. Yum? Or gross? I choose yum.

Anyway, fueling is one of those things that’s different for everyone. You’ll have to experiment for the best results. The only real hard and fast rule is that you probably shouldn’t criticize another runner’s fueling techniques mid-race…. Especially if the other runner is a complete stranger who just happens to be running next to you for a while.

Rules of the Road: Runner/Driver Edition

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I do a lot of road running. I like it; it lets me get out and explore my neighborhood (or close by neighborhoods), it lets me run in places where I feel like I can get support (i.e. water, bathrooms, call for help) if I need it, and it provides an interesting urban environment to take in as I go. I find all kinds of new and cool things while I’m running; museums, shops, coffee stops. I really enjoy getting to know the places around me as a runner, and it removes obstacles between meand my run because I can just walk outside my door and go if I want to.

However, there is one thing about road running that can sometimes put me on edge: the drivers. I admit that I live in Massachusetts; a state notorious for its lack of etiquette behind IMG_3562the wheel. That said, there’s just a few pretty logical little rules that I truly wish drivers would keep in mind when they encounter runners on the road.

Distance

 I get it. Sometimes, the shoulder is narrow. Sometimes, you’re driving on a really cramped two-lane street. I, too, am a driver and have experienced these things. But for heaven’s sake, if you spot a runner coming towards you, do your best to give them a wide breadth (obviously not at the sake of safety or obeying the rules of the road). There is no reason to try and get as close to the runner as possible while you zip by. Such behavior is pretty much guaranteed to scare the pants off of the poor runner. I try to be as courteous as I can be when I’m running on a busy road (and, honestly, I try not to run on busy roads); but there’s only so much I can do when a driver decides that they absolutely must be skimming the curb even when they have plenty of space on the other side. Try to stay aware of this while driving. If you can give the runner space without endangering yourself or others; give the runner space! Trust me, we don’t want to be in your way, we will try our best not to be.

Honking

I really don’t know what people are thinking when they do this but here’s the deal: it is not cool to honk at a runner for no reason as you drive past. Is this some form of cat-calling? Is this some kind of weird show of support or solidarity? Or is this the driver’s way of ridiculing and playing a practical joke on the runner? I have no idea. All I can tell you is that it annoys me, it startles me, and it breaks my focus. It’s a safety hazard because it makes me think there’s something I haven’t noticed that I need to notice coming up fast (after all, why else would the car make such an alarming and sudden sound?). Please, for the love of runners, don’t do this. Say a semi-silent cheer of awesomeness if you must, or give a thumbs up as you drive past. That’s enough support. Trust me.

Crosswalks 

In Massachusetts, pedestrians have the right of way at marked crosswalks. That means that if a pedestrian is waiting to cross (and certainly if they are in the middle of the road!), it is your legal obligation to allow them to do so. Now I’m not going to lie and say that I have always done this every single time I’ve been a driver passing an intersection, but it’s definitely something to stay aware of. You definitely do not want to speed up in an attempt to “make it” before the runner, or cause the runner to try and dodge out of your way as you go by (true story; I wish I could say this was an isolated incident). Be courteous to the runners out there; they want to live through their run.

IMG_3571Almost as bad is trying to “let” runners pass against a light at a traffic-controlled intersection. Most of the time, intersections that have walk/don’t walk signs are intersections that need them. Complicated traffic patterns mean that even though you are going to let the runner go doesn’t mean the runner isn’t at risk from another vehicle who doesn’t know that you are vagrantly disobeying local traffic laws. Honestly? I never walk against the light when I’m out running even when a driver waves me by. The last thing I need is a traffic incident to land me in the hospital for however long. I’ve got races to run, people. I don’t have time to be injured because I couldn’t wait the extra sixty seconds for the light to be favorable to me.

On behalf of runners everywhere, I personally thank you considerate drivers for your dutiful attention to these noteworthy items. Small acts of consideration can definitely go a long way towards making my run more pleasurable.

Marathon FAQ

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My experience so far in marathon training has been very engrossing. I hate to use a cliché, but I really do eat, breathe, and sleep the marathon. I eat to fuel, I sleep to run, and I huff and puff my way through every single workout. As a result, those who have attempted to make small talk with me in the past few months (and those who will between now and October) have noticed a trend: I can’t really keep it to myself that I’m training to do this GIANT THING THAT FEELS SO BIG AND IMPORTANT! I mean, it’s bad you guys. “Hey, how are you?” “Oh man, I’m good, but my hamstrings are so tight from my training run!”; “Nice to meet you! What do you do for a living?” “Well I’m just TRAINING FOR A MARATHON, HOW ABOUT YOU!?”

Anyway, since it comes up a lot, I get a lot of questions about it. Here is my attempt at an F.A.Q. for those who might encounter a marathoner in the wild.

Q: A Marathon, huh? And how long is your Marathon?

A: Uhm… 26.2 miles. Like all marathons. Actually a “marathon” refers to the distance, not the event. If I were running less than that, I might have said “Half Marathon,” “10K,” or “5K.” But nope. I’m running a marathon. Funny story (well, more of a legend really the origins of which are questionable at best but it’s still a good anecdote): the “Marathon” derives its name from the Greek city “Marathon.” This was the destination of the messenger Philippides when in about 490 B.C.E. he was tasked to run from Marathon to Athens (a distance of, you guessed it, about 26.2 miles) to announce Athenian victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. In the nineteenth century, the Olympic games were formed and since they were built to glorify ancient Greece, this story inspired the athletic event. So there you go. Marathon = 26.2 in case you were wondering what all those car stickers with numbers were about.

Q: Oh my gosh; isn’t that hard!?

A: Yes. And painful. Actually, I’m probably sore right now. Do you have a foam roller or lacrosse ball handy? Or maybe a personal masseuse? Since my marathon happens in the fall, I have to train in the summer which means I’m running outside in the heat for long periods of time. That, in turn, means I’m also probably a bit dehydrated…. Can I have a glass of water?

Q: Woah, you’re running in this weather!? That’s crazy! IMG_3497

A: Yes. It really is.

Q: How do you even DO that!?

A: You get up really early. Like…. Stupidly early. You cross your fingers and hope that it’s going to be not terrible out, and you just run until you’re done.

Q: Do you take water with you!?

 A: Yes, I have a special device that’s basically a bladder of water inside a backpack. It’s got a nifty straw the hangs out at my shoulder so I can sip on it when I want to. Incidentally, I also carry salt pills because in heat like this you need electrolytes to retain that water; running fuel because you can’t just run for four hours and expect your body not to need food of some kind; and generally a host of other gear designed to make it a tiny big more comfortable for me to be out there under extremely uncomfortable conditions. It all helps, but the task is still not exactly a walk in the park.

Q: You must be losing so much weight with all that running! 

A: Actually, no. I’m kind of gaining weight. It’s a phenomenon that most endurance athletes deal with; finding the right calorie balance and meal timing when you’re working out this hard and this often is extremely difficult. Additionally, my body just needs more calories because I burn so many of them. Once it gets them, it’s not really willing to let them go so quickly. Also I’m putting on muscle which, as we all know, will make the scale go up.

Q: Were do you even run that far!?

 A: I have a bunch of routes that I use; I try to find places that are very shady (it makes a huge difference in these kinds of temperatures), away from lots of traffic, but not entirely deserted so that in the off chance I need help I can find it. I also need to find places that have convenient bathroom stops/places to refill my water because… well… four plus hours is a very long time to go without relieving yourself. There are some very useful tools on the internet for route planning (one of my favorites being MapMyRun); and believe me the last thing you want to be thinking about at mile 14 of 17 is “do I turn Left or Right to get in my mileage and get home?”

IMG_3493Q: Cool! We should be friends! Do you wanna get together on Friday night?

 A: Do I want to? Probably. Can I? Absolutely not. I have to be in bed by 7 or 8 to make sure I get enough sleep to support my running habit. Saturday is also not really an option because I have to get up before the crack of dawn, run an obscene amount of miles, then come home and drool on my couch for a few hours before I feel sentient again. Sorry!

Alright; I should probably get back to running… or stretching… or foam rolling…. Or something….

Can’t or Won’t?

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This weekend, we in Massachusetts experienced a much-needed break from the intense heat. That little ten-degree difference made ALL the difference to me on my long run this weekend. Rather than feeling like I was going to die and everything was terrible, I actually felt like I was running again (and felt like I felt good about running again!). It made for a very IMG_3498happy runner and a very pleasant run. It also made recovery a lot more manageable (though that might have been a direct result of me getting the correct mid-run electrolyte balance for once).

A lot of times, people marvel at this whole marathon training thing. If you bring up in casual conversation that you spend the weekends running double-digit distances, you’re bound to get a few gasps of awe. In my experience, you also get a fair share of “oh, I could never do that!”

Let me be the first to tell you: WRONG. You are WRONG. You can absolutely do that.

People who run aren’t special or super human, they’ve just worked very hard for a very long time to get good at something. If you’re reading this, you know by now that I’m not a fast runner; I’m just a persistent runner. It took me ages to build up the strength and stamina necessary to run for any period of time. I am nothing if not determined; the fact that I was having trouble doing something (and that I was tempted to say that I “couldn’t” do it) just made me want to do it more. As a result, I run. A lot.

Becoming an endurance athlete is not about some natural-given ability, or really anything you might be born with. Becoming an elite endurance athlete might have something to do with genetics, but that’s a whole separate ballgame. You don’t have to be going to the Olympics to consider yourself a runner. Becoming an endurance athlete is about discipline, will, persistence, and grit.

I get asked pretty regularly how it is that I fit these long runs in to my busy schedule; IMG_3495especially when it’s so hot out. The answer? Get up before the sun, go run, don’t stop until you’re done. But this has direct effects on the rest of my life; to get up before the sun, I have to go to bed before most reasonable human beings. I run on Saturdays, so I sacrifice my Friday nights to this. I need at minimum eight hours of sleep to maintain my level of activity, and when I’m forcing an early night I need to pad out an extra hour to make sure I have ample time to “shut down” before I can sleep. This basically means that at 7 or 8 PM on Fridays, I’m in bed. But that’s the trade-off; if you want to get up earlier, you have to go to bed earlier. No magic can fix or change that. There is no miracle cure for needing to sleep eight hours; you just figure out how to make it happen.

If you expect to see change in yourself, you have to be willing to change. In terms of training, if you expect to get better, stronger, or faster you need to be willing to adjust your habits to make that possible.

The moral of this story is: before you say “I can’t,” think. Really think. Is it that you “can’t,” or that you “won’t?” And if it’s the second, why not? Isn’t taking on the challenge really what life’s about?

Sandbagging Myself

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This post is a cautionary tale. A tale whose moral is simple: always look carefully at your equipment BEFORE you hit the trails.

As I’ve previously mentioned, my coach has me doing sandbag hill repeats on Thursdays. I’m supposed to grab a 35 lb sandbag, throw it over my shoulders, and run up and down a nearby trail that basically consists of a mondo uphill for about 45 minutes. Honestly, this is one of my favorite workouts of the week. It gets me outside, the trail is really pretty and

As you can tell by this picture (taken post workout), I was none too pleased about the whole sandbag thing....

As you can tell by this picture (taken post workout), I was none too pleased about the whole sandbag thing….

has a lot of nature (chipmunks! Squirrels! Even the occasional snake!), and the duration of the workout is just about perfect. 45 minutes is long enough to feel like I’m going to die without feeling like it’s going to be interminable. It probably helps that this workout spikes my heart rate like (seriously) nothing else; so I burn a WHOLE BUNCH of calories which means I get to eat everything that’s not nailed down when I get home. It’s pretty much a win for all involved.

So I’ve been at my current box for about a year now. Some equipment, like the barbells, we use pretty much daily. Other stuff, like the sandbags, we almost never touch. As a result, there’s still plenty to learn about this equipment. Like, as I learned yesterday (the hard way), the sandbags come in DIFFERENT WEIGHTS! They all look exactly the same, but we have 35, 45, and even 50 pound sand bags that live in the same pile and are nearly identical.

On Thursdays, I swing by the gym to pick up my sandbag, throw it in my trunk, then drive out to my trail. Yesterday, I was having a hard time getting the sandbag off the ground (you’re supposed to clean it and throw it over your head so it lands on your shoulders). I was thinking that I was just having an off morning. You know how some mornings the bar just feels heavy because you’re tired/caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet/you’re sore from yesterday/whatever? I mean, as far as I knew there was no reason for this to be any more difficult than usual. So I sucked it up and told myself I was being silly. It was just a sandbag. Like any other sandbag. Like any other sandbag that I always trained with on Thursdays.

Threw the thing in my car, got to my trail, set up all my music and sunscreen and hydration belt, and went to pick up the sandbag to head out to the trail. That’s when I saw it. The label; sticking out of the side of the bag. Taunting me because I had been too stupid not to check it before I left the box. The darn thing was 50 pounds! Not 35 pounds; 50! No wonder it had been so difficult to clean!

IMG_3451I momentarily thought about swinging back to the box to get a bag of the correct weight, but the morning was already dragging on, it was hot (and not getting any cooler), and I had appointments scheduled for the afternoon. I really had to get my workout started. So I sucked it up. I sucked it up, picked it up, and the gods be damned if I didn’t kill that workout (slowly and with fewer repeats than usual because 15 pounds is apparently ridiculously heavy if you’re doing hill repeats).

I guess you can say I had my “Spartan up” moment for the week. I definitely felt like a total badass when I was done. I can’t say that it was a pleasant experience, or one that I will voluntarily repeat, but as my coach said when I reported back to him what had happened “well now you know you can do the workout with a 50 pound bag….”. Yup. I totally can. But I will definitely be back to my 35 pounder next week.

Any fun plans for the weekend?