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Sunday, November 6, 2011

“To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist.” ~ Gail Sheehy

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 108 & 109:


Well, BlogLand, I'm going to count this as a pretty successful weekend, in Spartan Shape-Up terms, all things considered.
Saturday brought Day 108, as well as No Bread Day 2. Saturday was slated to be my Bodyweight exercise day... and well, we all know how very much I love that one. However, in true Spartan-Chicked spirit, I decided it was time to "embrace the suck" and push that workout a little more. If I could do more, I probably SHOULD be doing more.
So, the WOD looked liked this:

  • Squats - 100
  • Push ups - 50 (still on my knees...)
  • Split Squats - 20
  • Dips - 50
  • Calf Raises - 40 
  • Lunges - 50
  • Ball Crunches - 40
  • Burpees - 20 (You know, just for good measure.)
Yes. 100 squats, plus 20 split squats, plus 50 lunges. My quads and my butt were burning like crazy. This is a good thing. LOL. I contemplated doing more, but I had run out of time (had to be somewhere. grr!), and I wasn't sure how sore I'd be after that.... and today (Day 109) was Run Day! 
I would like to take this moment to recognize that my burpees ARE actually getting better. WOOT. Limiting factor seems to be the arm-strength at this point (well, it is the biggest one). My freaking t-rex arms, while getting muscly and toned STILL are not entirely on board with the rest of my body, strength-wise. Which, I find hella-frustrating... BUT, they are progressing. I'm thinking that a winter of Crossfit (... complete with an inordinate amount of pushups, pull-ups, ring dips, etc.) should help that out a bit. If there's one thing I've learned from stalking the various Spartan Race blogs, etc. is that upper body strength is KEY, and everyone seems to underestimate just how much they will need. Note to self: Get upper body together. HMM.

Anyway, on to Day 109: Run Day!
Since it was the weekend, and I had some more time at my disposal, I figured it was probably time to get a little more mileage on the sneakers. Also, it suddenly occurred to me the other day, when I was lamenting the fact that I had no one to run with, that I DID in fact have a very enthusiastic buddy at my disposal, just waiting for me to say the word:
Spanky, my adorable 3y.o. Pitbull
 Having never run with a dog before, knowing that this dog had never gone running, I was a little perturbed about how this might go... but ultimately I decided this was probably good for both of us, so we'd try it. 

With a 2.25 mile out and back stretch in front of us, off we went. My dog ("Spanky", as my mother decided he looked like the dog from Spanky and Our Gang, with the eye patch.... who's name is actually Petey... but... hey.), was a little confused at first. A little squirrely on the leash, all excited and all like "WE'RE RUNNING... THIS IS AWEEESOMMMEEE!"... I swear to you, that was what he was saying. In a minute or two, he settled right in to a nice trot beside me (Cesar Milan, you'd be so proud. We were totally rocking out some good Pack Leader form.), and all was well with the world. I had a steady pace going, he looked to be enjoying himself, and the road was ours for the conquering. 
The first 2 miles were okay. I can hold a pretty steady pace, no stopping.... but then as we round the 3 mile marker (as I'm looking at my MapMyRun Graph..), I definitely have to start to push more, and my speed becomes much less constant. I do have to throw in a recovery walk for 10-15 steps, here and there.... and I am definitely slower overall, once I try and push close to 4 miles. Today I had a little bit of an excuse. My dog legit had to stop once or twice. LOL. And I was tired today, for some reason. I pushed on as much as I could, but this was not exactly a stellar run today. HOWEVER. I still lapped everyone that was on the couch today. HA. 
My Run looked like this:
Time: 51:58 min
Distance: 3.94 mi
Pace: 11:54 min/mi

Honestly, I think my body is still settling in a bit to this No Bread thing. I know that it will take a little bit for my blood sugar to even out and everything, and compounded with the fact that I slept like crap last night, I think I was just a little bit doomed to be a little low energy. However, still got the job done, and I had one tired, happy pooch, afterward. The last third of a mile or so, my dog was beginning to lag a little bit... so, probably he and I are about evenly matched, at this point, for runs.... lol. I am pretty psyched to find a running buddy, even if he is a little hairy.... 

And, with that, I think I should just touch on the status of No Bread time. It's the end of Day 3, and it's getting a little easier. I have a better idea of what I should and should not eat, and how to put that into practice. I'm finding that the tricky part really comes when you must leave your own kitchen, and find something to eat. Like, going out to a restaurant, or Sunday dinner at my Mothers.... You have NO IDEA how carb-laden these places are, until suddenly you try and figure out what you and and your no-carb self are going to eat. I got dragged to a Mexican place this weekend, which one might think is no-carb friendly, do to the proportions of beans, avocado and such that are typically found there. BUT THEN, I would like you to consider the tortilla chips, tortilla wrappers, rice.... Yeah. It was pretty tricky. I ended up going with a Taco salad that had chicken and beans and avocado on it, and (SO SAD) leaving the deep fried, crispy-shelled goodness behind. The waitress was so confused. 

I am most definitely in a better head-space about this food task though... Taking on day at a time, and just looking at it as an opportunity to expand my food/recipe horizons. I'm already pondering if my pumpkin soup might be tastey with some pureed white beans for a little more substance and protein... HMM. 

With that, I leave you Dear Blog, to remove my foot from the ice pack (it's a pre-emptive treatment, to hopefully make sure that weird foot ouchy doesn't flair up again...), and hit the hay. 

Incidentally, a new WOD schedule is coming down the pipe from the GT... Still working out the rest of the details, but I've officially been tasked with upping my Run days from 3x a week, to FOUR times a week (ack!), which is to consist of 3 "regular" three-mile-ish days, and one Long Run day, where I am to get to 4miles, irregardless of the time. 
My mind is a little intimidated by 4 run days a week... but, I just need to develop a new routine... What's one more day, REALLY?
Time to Spartan the *&^% Up, and get running.... :-)


1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you are doing a great job! Kudos to you. And I wish I wasn't allergic to dogs bc I would so get myself a furry running buddy. My cat wouldn't like a leash much!

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