Testing My Training
Three events in two months to test my endurance.
I’ve taken some time to reflect after my last event (Spartan) on what I learned and what I need to work on. I will have to admit, doing three endurance events in under three months might’ve been a bit too much.
Tough Mudder
This event kicked off a busy two months (not just with races and endurance events, but with life in general).
I pushed myself hard going into Tough Mudder and it showed. I hit the start line confident and ready to go. After a long 10 miles and falling off of every strength based obstacle, I was the only member of my team with the energy to go on.
I started the day after sore, but it went away fairly quickly, so I know my training helped with my recovery, just not enough for me to hang onto the obstacles.
17 Hour Martial Arts Day
To say this was the toughest of all my events is not an over exaggeration. My teacher cooked up quite the day for us. It started at 4:45 in the morning with a trek up a steep hill to workout and stretch with the sunrise. And then we ran.
You know, that thing I hadn’t really been training that hard on. My mistake.
Then came more training, including carrying each other through the stream as though our partner was injured. The day culminated with a free-for-all team brawl that went through three rounds.
To say I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to crawl into my sleeping bag at the end of the night is not an overstatement.
The day did highlight gaps in my training for martial arts and my need to start running for real.
Did I mention I don’t like running?
Spartan
Like Tough Mudder, if it was a strength based obstacle, I couldn’t do it. Guess what I’m back in the gym working on.
Because it was a stadium race, we did all the stairs in the world. I like to think my walking on the treadmill at a steep incline did help with being able to do all those stairs. And my recovery.
I did more burpees than I wanted, but I still met my goal of earning my medal.
I regret taking a training break between my martial arts day and Spartan because I did backtrack on my diet and I wasn’t as strong as I would’ve like.
The Take Away
I burned myself out on working out right around the time Tough Mudder hit, so I latched onto pretty much any excuse I could find to not work out. I need to find a good balance that allows me to have a life outside of training and work.
I need to find the joy in pushing myself again because I had hit a plateau with my work outs and didn’t push past it.
And I really need to run more. Not just because it’s good cardio, but because I committed to running a marathon in February. You know, because I love running so much.
