Becoming an "Adult"

As I sit here on my 34th birthday and look back at the years that have passed I am trying to figure out when do I start feeling like an "Adult".  At some point in my life I should have transitioned into what in my mind is an adult.  I don't feel that I have done that.  This isn't the first milestone jump that I feel I have missed.  I can remember being in elementary school and seeing the middle school kids and thinking look how much bigger and older they act.  I can't wait to be in middle school and be like these kids.  Well before I knew it fifth grade graduation was happening and I was moving up to middle school.  When the school year started I didn't see myself as bigger or older.  In 6th grade there were still 7th and 8th graders to look up to.  I thought maybe when I'm an 8th grader I'll notice it.  Fast forward to 8th grade and I didn't feel like the big deal I thought 8th graders should be.  At this time I could see the high school kids and thought how much older and cooler they are.  Well I graduated 8th grade waited the summer out and started freshman year.  Of course as a freshman you're going to feel small as the youngest of such a huge school.  Sophomore year came and went without feeling older or cooler.  Then junior year came and I figured this should be the year I am almost a Senior and I have been playing football, I'm one of the older, cooler kids of high school.  However nothing felt different.  On to Senior year we are the big kids on campus.  We are the real deal.  But wait who is that off in the distance seeming smarter and deserving my attention.  Those are the college kids.  I want to be a college kid, go to parties, have my freedom.  Well high school graduation passed, my college classes started, I was still playing football, and yet I still felt small insignificant in my mind.  Needless to say I graduated college, got a real job and have kids but at no time has my mind said your an adult, you made it, your life has started.

     I referenced school because it is the easiest to show the separation in ages and privileges.  The truth is the end all game plan is to be an adult.  Be free and run your life.  All the while going through school there are many adults in your life.  Parents, Aunts, Uncles, Teachers, Coaches, Etc.  You look up to these people and strive to be like them.  Your mind creates this image of what it's like to be one and how it's suppose to feel.  Then your mind plays a trick on you and never lets you fully feel that way.  I became a parent at a young age.  My first child was born when I was 19.  I stayed in college and I worked to support my family the best I could.  I had a great support group to help me along the way that made this possible. When my son was born I didn't feel like an adult.  My mind didn't create me in it's image as I had held my parents in my mind.  Over the years my friends have had kids and I see them growing as people but my mind still pictures us riding around on a Friday night or just hanging out. We are still kids in my eyes.

     I am free and running my life.  I have matured and become the father my dad taught me to be.  I know that I am doing everything that needs to be done by an adult and I am successful at it.  My mind just doesn't realize that I am there because there's always someone I look up to and guides me to a new point in life.  Which keeps my mind looking upward.  Once I get to where my mind is directing me it opens the next chapter and shows me what needs to come next.  In the end "Adult" is just a dirty word that society labels us.  Don't stop learning, improving, and climbing the ladder of life.  Keep your Health, live life to the fullest, Be happy with what you are doing.  You might not realize it but there is someone out there looking up to you as the "Adult" and striving to reach that goal.  Give them something great to achieve.

Welcome Back!

     So I realized today that I haven't written anything since January.  I am not sure if there is even anyone out there that actually noticed.  The house is almost done, the wedding plans are coming together, and the honeymoon will be here before I know it. 

     Since the last post I have started and completely bombed on a few workout gimmicks.  The deck of cards workout was going good but I got sick and fell off the routine and never got back to it.  I created a progressive calendar to build up my strength and get the workout routine going again but that fell flat.  I realized I'm pushing to much to fast. I jump into these workouts full steam but my body can't take them yet.  This discourages me and I tend to fade out from doing them.  I have started something recently that I have been keeping up with right up until a week ago when work and kids games got in the way.  The difference this time around though is I have jumped back into it with no hesitation.  The main reason being is it is easy.  Easy doesn't give the results I'm looking for but it's better than nothing and as it becomes second nature I can increase the intensity.

 

     This routine consists of walking.  It started out as a simple mile course I mapped out by my work.  The best part about the course is that I am able to add, or subtract, and repeat when necessary to get the desired distance.  I have been able to knock off time from my walks and increase distance.  I am at the point that I just take off for an hour and see how far I get.  I have also incorporated walks after dinner. Again I was able to map out an area that can be increased or decreased depending on my time limits.  As I increase distance I can start thinking about jogging.  I call it jogging because realistically I don't run, I'm not fast, it's more of a glorified speed walk.  Although I have been told that I am still slower than speed walkers when I try to run.  When I do jog I have only been doing a half mile.  My goal is to do a half mile in 4 minutes. Once I have accomplished that I will increase to a mile and work on getting that to 8 minutes. Once that is accomplished maybe I will run longer distances I haven't planned that far ahead yet.  I don't see myself running anymore races that don't involve obstacles so long distance running doesn't seem important.  In the beginning I knew I wasn't a runner but I gave it a try.  My experience with the road races weren't pleasant, they weren't awful or by any means extremely torturous.  They just weren't lets go again fun, I mean even during the torture of going up Killington and back down through the woods and the 10 hour duration there was an amazing feeling of adrenalin and accomplishment.  I didn't get that same feeling at the road races.  I do plan on getting back to Obstacle races once everything is complete with the wedding and I need to be ready for that.  That is why I will go on walks and jogs, I also plan on getting some circuit type training going as soon as I purchase the equipment.  A fellow Spartan friend informed me of how cheap it is to duplicate the sand carry, bucket brigade as well as utilizing a few cinderblocks to get a full workout in.  I am hoping to start that next week if I can get the supplies this weekend.  I will document the making of the equipment and submit any thoughts and ideas of the training as I go.  If I start off simple and work my way up I will be able to commit to it.  Leave me some love in the comments, or suggestions on things you would like to see written about or tested.

Welcome to 2015

WELCOME 2015!  After a great 2014 that included racing, working, getting engaged, and starting a blog 2015 comes in with a lot of waiting.  Waiting for the house to be built, waiting for the big wedding day, the honeymoon and waiting to get back into Spartan races.

     The house search ended with finding a great little development project in the historic town of Ayer.  This came after months of looking at houses that had one thing or another that we didn't like.  We had been looking in Ayer and liked the area.  It is about half way between both our jobs and is affordable.  When we first looked in the development project we noticed it had exactly what we wanted.  Close to highways and our jobs, an yard for my kids to play in, and a house built the way we liked it.  It wasn't until a friends wedding that we decided the search was over we are moving into this neighborhood.  At our table was a couple that we had gone to school with.  As we got to talking and told them about where we were looking to move to they said "That's where we live!"  This was great we found out so much about the community and the houses.  The next morning we started looking at the website and had our real estate agent (who has been very patient with us and our very specific requirements for our house) contact the developer and started the process of having a house built.  We were very fortunate to get picked for this batch of houses and the lot we received is perfect. 

     The initial look at the lot make the decision get the pre-approval and put 5% down was like a 2 week time frame.  We were very nervous about the pre-approval but the mortgage company that we are working with did quick work and was able to get it done in time for the deadline.  This was the sprint portion, which includes the picking of the upgrades but we had a few extra weeks to think about them.  Now the endurance piece is here and we just wait for the house to be finished and it's time to move in.

     With the house portion of our new lives together figured out it is time to focus on the wedding.  We have the venue, and the DJ booked.  The Bridal party has been picked and everyone is on board.  The Guest list drawn up with the save the dates on their way to us.  Next stop putting them in envelopes and mailing them to the guests.  Then there is the decision of what to serve at the wedding, what songs we want to be played and which ones we don't.  I am sure there are a lot of other steps I am missing but the Bride will remind me as they need to be done. 

     After the wedding will be the much anticipated honeymoon.  We have decided to take a cruise to the Hawaiian Islands.  We are biased to Carnival cruise line since that is where I proposed to her.  The cruise doesn't leave for a couple weeks after the wedding so we will have to go back to work with the vision of an amazing vacation looming in the distance.   It will be 15 days visit 5 of the main islands and have a lot of days at sea.  The islands are going to be gorgeous and we will have 12-14 hours on each one.  As the wedding planning dies down we will start to look at excursions and plan out what we want to do on each island. 

Once all that is done we can put our focus on getting back to Spartan glory.  This doesn't mean we aren't going to work out until then it just means we won't be signing up for any races.  I am going to do the Deck of Cards workout that I wrote about the other day.  I will be modifying it as the weeks pass to keep it from getting to stale.  I will also be looking to get into some other kind of workouts on my non work days.

Workout for the Office dweller.

     I work for a small town fire department.  My official title is Administrative Assistant/Firefighter/EMT.  I also hold a few other titles within the department but I'm writing a blog not a novel.  As the Admin Assistant I spend quite a lot of time behind a computer.  Since starting this position I find my self snacking a lot and not moving around enough.  I go on the occasional run, take Krav classes, and do Obstacle races but I still noticed that I wasn't maintaining any kind of strength from these events.  I realized that yes outside of work I try to remain active but during work hours most days I am pretty stagnate.  I spend a total of 50+ hours a week at my job and can honestly say that at least half the time I am planted in front of a computer.  With the new year approaching I decided to try to find a way to workout at my desk.

     During my search of the internet for things to do I came across a workout called the "Deck of Death".  The workout in the post involved a deck of cards and dumbbells.  I read into the workout and noticed that this could be used to cater to a multitude of fitness levels, as well as being simple enough to modify to use either equipment around the office or nothing at all.  The basic rules of this workout are as follows:
    1. Shuffle a deck of cards
    2. Assign 4 different exercises to each suit.
    3. Assign a value to the numbers and face cards
    4. Pick a card
    5. Execute the exercise that was picked.
As you will see you can design these in anyway to make it fit your needs.

     Keeping those basic rules in mind I have turned my 8 hour shift into the perfect opportunity to get a decent work out in.  I am using the Ace as a 1, valuing the Jack, Queen, and King as 11,12,13 respectively.  I am also multiplying these values by 5 to add a little difficulty to it.  I am going to admit that I think starting with 5 is a little much but if it isn't challenging it isn't helping, with the disclaimer to know your limits if it challenges you to much and you get hurt it will have a negative affect.  First thing in the morning I grab a card and complete that exercise.  Then on every hour grab a card and complete the corresponding exercise.  This gets me off my chair for a few minutes every hour and gets the blood flowing.

    I am currently using 2 different exercise cycles running them Monday Wednesday, and Tuesday Thursday with Friday being a Hybrid cycle.

         Cycle 1                            Cycle 2                          Hybrid
 Hearts= Burpees          /    Jump Rope            /   Planks

Spades= Push Ups       /     Lunges                  /   Burpees

Clubs=  Sit Ups           /     Squats                   /    Push Ups

Diamonds= Jumping   /     Planks                   /    Squats / Lunges
Jacks

Jump Rope and Planks will use seconds instead of reps.  Some examples a 10 of hearts on Monday is 50 burpees,  a 5 of diamonds on Tuesday is 25 sec. of planks, etc. 

   Another way I am going to try is plotting out a half mile run.  Grab a card do the exercise that corresponds and then run/jog the course.  Repeat this action as many times as you like.  Each time try to get an extra half mile in.  So if the first time you run 3 miles that means you also grabbed 6 cards, the next time try 3.5 miles while grabbing 7 cards.  This can be done as a group or by yourself.  In the group every person can do the same card or everyone draws a card and goes at their own pace. 

   As you can see this is a great flexible way to get a workout in no matter where you are or what you have for equipment.  Remember you don't have to run marathons or lift massive amount of weights to be healthy or fit, all you have to do is get out of that seat and go at your own pace.

Going for the Trifect

     Having completed the beast, on the World championship course, we thought we would be content having missed the super.  I mean we knew we could do it and the closest one in New Jersey we already missed.  This lasted about three days.  Following the Beast I was scheduled to work Monday morning until Wednesday night.  I had some time on my hands at work so I looked up all the remaining supers and started checking out costs for hotels near the closest 2 supers.  It was a choice from Ohio, and South Carolina.  With Airplane tickets being a little to expensive I started thinking about driving which made South Carolina the clear winner being a closer drive.  I text my fiancé with this insane plan figuring she would be the voice of reason and talk me out of it.  Of course there is a reason we are together and it wasn't because she was my voice of reason.  She informed me that the team while at Krav class was already discussing this same possibility. 

     So the next week we started plotting our trip to South Carolina.  There was a total of four of us going and it was about a 14 hour ride.  Which currently holds the spot for longest trip to a Spartan Race.  I had found a Motel about 30 minutes for the course and it was dirt cheap.  There is a reason it was dirt cheap the room wasn't that big the toilet was leaking and I'm pretty sure the neighbor was selling drugs.  We continued to do Krav classes and prepare for the final leg of our Trifecta medal.  The weeks seem to fly by and before we knew it we were heading to South Carolina.  It was Friday at Midnight when we started our journey.  My fiancé took the first shift driving with one of our teammates navigating, while Myself and our other teammate slept.  We each took turns driving and made to the motel by about 3 pm.  After waiting for the attendant for about 30 minutes we went into our room put our stuff down and went looking for a good spot for our Pre Race dinner.  We ate at the Texas Road House after dinner we headed back to the motel to sleep.

     Sleep was hard to come by,  mostly because we were afraid to sleep, but there was that pre race excitement keeping our minds up.  Morning came and we grabbed our race gear and headed to the course.  Weather was completely different than the beast.  The sun was shining and it was hot out.  We got in line grabbed our bibs and timing chips and headed into the festivities.  We got a quick glance at the course and it said 9 miles and named a few of the obstacles but most of the names where blanked out. 

    It was our turn to head to the starting line so we checked our bags, got some last minute stretching in, and jumped that first wall to get in line.  This race started like every other race, a quick run up and down some hills and a few over, under through walls.  I am the slowest in the group but we were making some great times.  Miles were flying by and obstacles were dominated.  The course wasn't extremely steep but it had it's hills to conquer.  The terrain however was a bit clumsy.  The venue was normally and ATV park so there was all sorts of divots and tire tracks left behind.  About 4 miles in during one of the downhill runs my foot slipped into one of those track marks and twisted my knee pretty bad.  It didn't hurt much at first,  I was able to keep a good pace and get through the obstacles.  As time went on it started getting a little more soar, but didn't really affect me until the bucket brigade.  The uphill climb with a bucket full of rocks was the final straw and my knee was begging to rest.  Right after the bucket carry was a little swim across a small stream.  I thought the cold water and taking the weight off of my legs for a minute might help.  I finished the bucket carry and jumped right into the water.  It was cold and I did forget about my knee for a second. 

    I got out of the water and the knee had cramped up, I had to work it out a bit to keep on my way.  We had about 2 miles left and I wasn't giving up.  I was able to get through it, nailed the spear throw, walked the concrete block, wadded through the clay, then came the rope climb.  I managed to get myself up to start but couldn't lift myself up with my knee.  I could see the finish line from here and decided to take my burpee penalty and move on.  After the penalty we climbed the pallet bridge had a small section of barbwire into a couple mud pits, went under the wall in the mud, and climbed the slippery wall.  The only thing standing between us and our trifecta was the fire jump.  I was able to muster what we left in my leg we jumped and sprinted to the finish line (3hrs43mins).  We set out to get a Trifecta this year and thanks to my team and my extremely supportive fiancé we accomplished it. 

   I needed to take a good week off from working out to heal my knee up.  I have done a couple runs since then and it hasn't bothered me.  With that behind us it was time to focus on our wedding plans.  We have decided to take this year off from Spartan races until after the wedding.  Knowing what we accomplished and how much fun it was it will be hard to sit out this upcoming season of races.

Killington Beast

     With Amesbury complete I now know where I am in my training for the Beast at Killington.  It was clear that I was not even close to ready.  There are about 5 weeks of good training days left.  We continue our trips to Dave at Train 180, 2 days a week.  I can't stress how awesome this was.  He had us going all out each and every session.  We signed up for the Beast special and were not disappointed.  Every session served a purpose to prepare for the next session, but most importantly it was related to something we might see at Killington.  I could feel myself getting better.  I remember saying after each session "I feel great next session is going to feel easier."  I was wrong.  Some how the next session I was completely spent at the end of the workout.  I told Dave I don't know how he does it but just when I feel I have caught up to the workout's intensity you crank it up on me.  This is what we asked for and it was working.  I have been in programs before and dreaded going not because it was hard but because it was boring.  At no time did I dread driving up to Nashua,  I looked forward to every workout.  He made it fun, different, but most importantly affective.

     The Beast weekend is upon us.  We leave work early and had to Killington Vermont.  It was a long drive for a Spartan race, but as we will learn later not our longest.  As we approached the mountain the excitement grew and the nerves started to tense up.  We drove to the start line, and checked out some of the obstacles before heading to the hotel and checking in.  Once checked in we drove to our room.  It was a little ways down the road from the main hotel in a set of townhouse style buildings.  We had a bedroom, kitchen, dinning room, and living room area.  It wasn't huge by no means but decent size and cozy.  This was perfect for our team pre-race dinner.  As you see Guns & Hoses travel in packs.  We had a decent group of us running on Saturday and a nice cheering section that came to show their support.  So we prepared the kitchen and cooked some Pasta, now when I say we I mean my fiancé.  Everyone brought something to the meal it was quite the spread.  After a good meal and good conversation it was time to sleep.

   Sleep was hard to come by.  I felt like a kid on Christmas eve.  I don't know how or when but my eyes eventually closed and my mind let me sleep.  Morning came very quick,  we woke up and I looked outside toward the mountain and I could see a helicopter and also a lot of fog about halfway up the mountain.  We packed the night before so all we had to do was some last minute checks and a quick protein filled breakfast.  We had a 1030 start time which was good for the sleeping in a bit but not good for allowing a lot of time to complete.  We headed towards the mountain and met up with the team.  Camel packs filled with water, snacks, gu, a headlamp, and a change of clothes if we get to wet and cold.

   We made our way to the starting line it was our turn to go.  It started with a small down hill run then you turned the corner and headed up the mountain, the first of about 5 climbs up the mountain.  We were making good time, just under 30 minute miles, as we took on each mile and obstacle as the came our way.  I was a little surprised to see the bucket brigade so early but thought this is good although it will take a lot out of my grip strength it's still early I can recover as we run.  We were approaching the swim and tarzan swing.  I was looking forward to this obstacle it was different and well looked like a lot of fun.  Unfortunately due to someone chip not checking them in at that obstacle they had to shut it down and search for him.  Luckily it was just a malfunction and he was found when his chip checked him in at the next spot, but it was too late for us at this point we had been diverted around it.  At this time we started another climb up the mountain.  We still were going very strong conquering every mile and defeating every obstacle in our way.  My earlier relief to get the bucket brigade over with turned out to be a false sense of hope.  We encountered a second bucket brigade, well played Spartan.  Everything was going great we were making another climb up the mountain.  We had slowed down a bit, and were all a bit soar but at this time we were more than halfway done.  At one point we entered the woods and were descending down the mountain, which was turning out to be just as hard as the climbing.  The path was small and steep.  A couple of us got stuck behind some people which ended up splitting half of us from the team at the worst time.  It was generally darker in the wooded area so we had no idea what we were coming out to.  Headlamps had been on for about an hour now and we emerged from the woods to find it pitch black out.  This was kind of a downer day light was gone and we still had a few miles to go.  We pushed on with our smaller group hoping the other group was pushing on as well.  We made it to the second sandbag carry which was the hardest sandbag carry ever.  This late in the game most of our strength spent legs tired and soar this was a practically vertical climb with a sandbag up and back down.  We made it through it was approaching 9 pm and getting close to the time where people would be pulled off the course.  We worked to hard on this course to be pulled on account of time. 

     With not a lot left in the tank we picked up our pace and made it to the cut off spot with time to spare.  We were going to be able to finish the race.  I can't say exactly how far we had left to go but it felt like a million miles.  We made our way to the last half mile and a bunch of obstacles.  We made quick work of these obstacles and started the last little climb to put us running down the mountain jumping over the flames and collecting our medals.  It took us 10 and a half hours to complete this course.  The other half of Guns & Hoses was there at the finish line and so was our cheering squad.

     I would not have been able to complete that without Train 180's help.  I also know that I could have done a lot better if I didn't wait so long to train.

The first real test

     With the proposal successfully completed it was time to enjoy the next 7 days.  Taking a cruise however is not really an ideal thing to do when training for a Spartan.  On a cruise they feed you, then they feed you some more, and once you feel so stuffed you can't eat anymore they feed you some more.  You don't always make the healthiest of choices while vacationing either.  You go for that delicious cheeseburger with Bacon, and cake for dessert.  Hungary at midnight go grab a pizza and some ice cream.  So in an attempt to counteract the over eating we decided to not take the elevator anywhere and workout everyday.  Our stateroom was on the first deck which is perfect for this little challenge we set out.  In the end we only took the stairs the entire trip but only worked out the first 2 days.

     When we got back from vacation Krav classes had started again.  This would count for a majority of my training for the next 8 weeks.  With August approaching fast I was still feeling invincible when it came to the Spartan Sprint so my training really took a back seat to my life.  March through July I wasn't very disciplined and maybe only ran once a week and didn't eat very healthy.  My fiancé's friends have been training in Nashua NH with Train 180.  This is located in an old warehouse style building right near some trails.  He has a great setup when it comes to obstacle training.  The girls invited my fiancé to a Saturday 5k obstacle training race.  It was $15 to run a 5k obstacle race around and inside his complex.  She came home from this and said we need to step up our training especially if we want to finish the beast in September.  She talked to the owner of the gym and set up a private session for us.  This was about 2 weeks out from the Sprint.

     We showed up to our first session with Train 180.  When we got there Dave asked what we expected out of these sessions.  We explained that we wanted to be able to finish the Spartan Beast at Killington.  I'm pretty sure he thought we were insane.  He asked how intense we wanted the workouts to be.  We agreed it would be beneficial if he kicked our asses into gear.  So he did.  He had us running up and down the stairs, flipping tires, long distance lunges, rope climbs, wall climbs, and the list goes on.  After each session I felt like I was going to die. 
     We got 4 sessions in before the Sprint and it was a good thing.  Amesbury was 4.8 Miles of absolute pain.  Half way through I started cramping up.  I had no traction on my shoes, twice I slipped and landed full force on my back knocking the wind out of me and just torturing my back.  I am really thankful for my Guns & Hoses team.  Not only the ones running with us but our cheering section that came out for the day.  Took us almost 3 hours.  This upset me for 2 reasons both having to do with my kids.  I had them with me and I thought for sure it would be 2 hours max and be able to get back to them.  My mom was watching them and it was a hot day.  The second reason was I missed their race.  My kids were running their first Spartan jr race and I wanted to be there when they finished.
      I was not in the shape I needed to be.  I was so glad we were going to the trainer, the beast was going to be so much harder.