3 weeks and a 5K

           Well, we have 3 weeks until the big event, and today I did a 5k run with the weight vest on at the full weight of 40#'s. The vest is easily closer to 45# once you factor in the weight of the actual vest, and then I had a bottle of water strapped on just in case. For those of you not living in the Treasure Valley, the weather has been crazy at best. Some sun, some rain, and occasional hail or snow flurry, and windy. That's all in one day too. I was lucky to get a run in today in between rain showers. Most of the running that I've been doing to prepare for the event has been on a treadmill, which is better than nothing. But, the race will not be on a treadmill, and I need to start getting some actual road time in as well. With the treadmill, I can just set a pace and not worry about it. You want an 8 min/mile, set the pace and go. But on the road, you don't have that luxury. So today was a 5K, and I REALLY wanted to get a 30 min 5K. I thought that would be a good pace for me, as that would put me at a regular 1/2 marathon in the 2:15 range. During the run I felt GREAT! It was funny to see the cars pass and the drivers and passengers who actually saw me running. They would just stare at me like I had a Gorilla on my back. So I got my 5K done, missing the rain storms, with a total time of 28:59. I was VERY happy with that result, especially with how I felt at the end. So there's a pic of me after the 5K.
          So before I go into the gritty of my training for the last couple of days, I needed to talk about some exciting news. I got an email from FORGED CLOTHING and they have been gracious enough to support my effort and hook me up with some sweet gear. Now, I get to try and patiently wait for the stuff to arrive. If it's anything like the t-shirts I already have, then I know that I won't be disappointed. I'll be sure to take some pics of the gear and let you know what I think. Secondly, I sent out an official press release to all of the major news outlets in the area. I've already been contacted by KIVI news Ch 6 (ABC) and they are interested in doing a story on my efforts. They even asked if I'd be able to do a spot on their morning show. So that is GREAT news on getting the word out. I will be contacting some corporations this week to see about them sponsoring the event as well. Lastly on the news front, I finally received my SKINS calf tights last week and have used them with every work out since. I like them, and have noticed that my calf's are not nearly as sore as they have been. 2 thumbs up for the SKINS!
                          Now for the training.......
        Sat 3/26 Endurance day
Time Trial 5K w/ the 40# vest
28:59.32

        Fri 3/25
   S+C
Every min on the min for 8 min  3x Push Press @ 150#
Every min on the min for 8 min
5x Kettle Bell Swings @ 70#
5x Goblet Squat with the 70# KB
5x Clapping push ups
   Endurance
6 rounds of 400m runs w/ 2 min rest
R1- 9.5 mi/hr = 1:35
R2 +3- 10.5 = 1:25
R4- 11.0 = 1:20
R5- 12.0 = 1:10
R6- 12.5 = 1:05
There was supposed to be a 3 hr rest between the lifting and the running. But with the work schedule the way it was, I had a 20 min rest before getting on the treadmill.

        Ths 2/24- All S+C
Squat 3x3 @ 90% (340 #) = 310#
Front Squat 3x5 @ 50% (300) = 150#  work on fast, explosive bar speed
3 rounds, no time
15x unanchored sit ups
10x strict knees to elbows
1 min hollow rocks
there was a 30 sec rest between each excersize

      Wens 2/23
   S+C
15-12-10-8 reps of :
Overhead Squats @ 70% (210) = 150#
Chest to bar pull ups
total time: 7:52.78
   Endurance
30 sec on : 20 sec off x 8 rounds
Treadmill at 12% incline
R1-R4 @ 9.5 mile/hr
R5- Fail at 23 sec
R6- Fail at 20 sec @ 9.0 mi/hr
R7- @ 9.0
R8- Fail at 18 sec
Did a couple of penalty rounds after a 2 min rest
PR1 @ 9.0 mi/hr
PR2- Fail at 22 sec
That endurance WOD was absolutely BRUTAL and had me hanging onto the treadmill gasping for air in between rounds in the end. I tacked on a couple of penalty rounds for the failure, but I'd of rather failed going hard than made it going easy.

Happy Birthday

Let me start today's blog off with a Happy Birthday to my big boy Kaden Noah. Today, Kaden turned 2 (although if you ask, he might say 3 since we've been working on counting). Today is going to be a rest day today to try and heal. Last night I did an hour long run while at work. This run was with my vest, and it was at the full 40# weight. It took a little bit of messing with the pack, but I think that I got all of the kinks out of the bounce. I might bring my pack to a commercial sewing place to have them put permanent straps on it, but I'm not sure yet. I'm going to rest today, as my foot is a little tender after the run. During the run, I felt good; had a good pace going, and only an occasional little twinge of pain or discomfort. After the run, I stretched, and even iced my calves while watching my new guilty pleasure "Shameless". But this morning, I got up and my ankle hurt. The pain got better with walking after about a half hour, but it's still there. Just below the ankle on the inside of my foot. I'm walking without a limp, for the most part, but going up and down the stairs is a little sore. Hopefully, this won't be a deal breaker for the event. I was really nervous about the run, with the weight, thinking about the event and the hill, but after the run last night, I feel better about it. The biggest thing is that I have to remember to just take it SLOW. This race wont be about speed, so much as it will be about finishing. I started the run last night at 7mph, and did a half mile at that pace, then I decided to slow it down to 5 mph as that was a more doable pace with the weight (plus I still had to be available to respond to calls while at work). I did the majority of the run at 5 mph, but did increase the speed the last 20 min (i think), and ended up with 5.28 miles in that hour long run. Now if only my foot will cooperate, we'll be good.

    I did make it to US Bank on Friday like I had planned and got the account almost completely set up. I say almost because I ended up having to call the IRS and get an EIN for the fundraiser. That sucked up most of the day, and by the time I was able to get back to the bank, they were closed. So, by Thurs, ANYONE should be able to go to any US Bank and make a donation directly into the donation account with the name of RACE TO ROBIE.   I guess people can also just Paypal me directly and I can then transfer the money into that account as well.

So here's how the training has gone the last few days....
Mon 3/21
Tempo 80-85% for 1 hour
Full 40# vest run with a total distance of 5.28 mi
Sun 3/20
Intervals 2x10 and 2x2
2 rounds of 10 min with 5 min rest, then
2 rounds of 2 min with a 1 min rest
1.51 miles and 1.49 miles for the 10 min
0.28 miles for the 2 min
I was supposed to do the intervals the day before at work. But then we had a barn fire, and didn't get dinner until after 830pm, i was spent. So I went to bed and did the intervals Sunday am instead
Sat 3/19
Every min on the min for 5 min,  4x Squat Cleans at 130# (60% of 1 rep max)
30 sec on : 30 sec off of Knees to Elbows
Friday 3/18
After the IRS call, and friend's over for dinner who stayed longer than expected, I decided to call it a night and not do anything instead of a half assed something at 11pm. I've come to the realization, that instead of getting frustrated when I don't work out, I will think of the fact that the recovery period is why you really get better.
Hope everyone is doing good, and that my foot gets better. I'm still waiting on my SKINS gear to arrive (better be today) and I have an email to one of the TV news channels to get the word out as well, so we'll see where that goes.

Happy St Patty's Day!!

Hey there everyone, here's a short vid of part of my St Patty's day WOD. Yesterday was a complete rest day for me. I was going to do today's WOD  last night, but was unable to, so instead I did it today.
Cindy
MRAP (as Many Reps As Possible)  20 min
5x pull ups
10x push ups
15x air squats
This was all done with my vest at 30#'s. My fastest ever for Cindy is 32 rounds, which is 960 reps. Today, with the vest, I got 15 rounds, plus 5 pull ups for a total of 455. The video was rounds 4-8, or somewhere around there, and you're able to see the dificulty I had with the vest. I ended up having to ditch the secondary strap and do my push ups on the paralettes so the vest would stop hitting the floor. All in all, it wasn't too bad. I was surprised how much harder the push ups were and how my arms gave out on me. I would of thought that the pull ups were going to be the hardest/slowest, but it was the push ups that really dragged me down.

Onto other news...... I signed and faxed the paper work back for the Lone Survivor Foundation for the fundraiser, and look forward to working with them. I'm hoping that I will get out to the bank tomorrow and get an account set up so people anywhere can donate, and I'm also looking into a Paypal account, seperate from my personal account, so people can donate online that way as well. Once I have the banking/finance stuff figured out, I plan to hit some of the larger corporate buisness' in the area for some donations.
I've also ordered some SKINS calf tights, as there called, in an attempt to help relieve some of my calf pain. It seems like everyone that I talk to that has used the compression gear loves it, so I'm jumping on the band wagon. I'll post what I think, although they aren't supposed to be in until Monday. Not sure what my WOD will be tomorrow, but I'll be sure to post something.

Getting ugly

So I decided to name this new post, getting ugly because I have video from last nights run, and it is ugly. I'm not sure what the reason is, but i seem to have a mental block about my ability to lean forward enough while on the treadmill to get into a good POSE technique/form. I don't know if i'm afraid that I'll lean too far forward and some how fall, causing my to loose half my face to the treadmill tread or what, but i need to get over it. I knew, even without watching the video that I needed to lean more, and pull with my legs; I just couldn't get my body to do it. I will still post the videos, just so you can at least see what it is that I'm doing.

This second video would of been from earlier in the day, but it keeps giving me an error message??? It was part of the S+C workout that was done during lunch time. It was 4 rounds of hanging power snatch @ 115# for 6 unbroken reps, followed by 25 unbroken double unders. With the sets having to be unbroken, there was deafinately a little more rest time needed in between one set to the next. I didn't want to have to repeat any of the sets if I could help it. Luckily, I only had to repeat one set of DU, and that was in the first round.
So here's yesterday's WOD broken up for you
5 min of barefoot jump roping
7 wall walks
4 rounds
6x Hanging power snatch @ 115
25x Double unders
 6:24.59
Endurance
5 rounds x 2 min intervals with 3 min rest
This was done with the weight vest @ 30#
Rd 1+2:  0.26 miles @ 8.5
Rd 2+3: 0.27 miles @ 8.8
Rd 5: 0.28 miles @ 9.0
4 rounds x 1min intervals w/ 1 min rest
Rd1: 0.10 miles @ 9.0
Rd 2: 0.13 miles @ 9.2
Rd 3+4: 0.14 miles @ 9.5
I was still getting a lot of bounce on the 1st run, even after adjusting the strap on the vest. I ended up finding another, second, strap to put on and that really helped with the bounce. I will have to get one made that is black, and shorter than what u see in the vid, but I'm glad I was able to get that bounce problem in check!

Sunday was a rest day for me, and I used it to stretch out a little. My son, Elijah helped by jumping on my back while I was trying to stretch, it definitely helped to push my stretching just that little bit farther.
On Sat, at work, my WOD was
S+C
Clean & Jerk 5x2 (5 rounds x 2 reps) @ 175
Front Squats 3x3 @ 250
30 sec on : 30 sec off x 10 of Double Unders. Lowest was 25, high of 37 reps.
Endurance
3x 7min intervals with 3 min rest
1. 1.03 miles; 9mph for 6min and 9.5 for a min
2. 1.06 miles; 9.2 for 6min and 9.6 for a min
4. 1.07 miles @ 9.4
This Endurance WOD was a good one for me. I had done the same WOD almost 2 months earlier and was only able to get my first round over 1 mile @ 1.05mi. The other 2 rounds were 0.893 and 0.882. So I can definitely see an increase in my endurance and performance.
Today was going to be another rest day for me, as my calves are a little sore from the running. BUT, with how ugly my running was looking last night, I think that I'll instead do some POSE drills today. There's nothing like punishment to keep a person motivated.

First run with the weight

So this morning, I did my first run with the weight vest. But before I talk about that, I should probably just break down the last 2 days of training. Luckily, I did not get interupted while doing any of my 3 WOD's while at work. So here's the break down...
Ths 3/10
  AM- S+C
5x5 weighted step ups @ 95# onto a 24" box (5 steps per leg, per round)
5 Rounds:Time

6x Hand Stand Push Ups (HSPU)
9x Strict pull ups
12x Strict knees to elbows
11:08.33
  PM- Interval Run
The run was 1 min on, with varying rest periods. It started with 1 min of rest, and then 10 sec less each round until after 10 sec of rest, you did another 1 min run and the rest periods increased for 10 sec a round until you were back to the min of rest and then you were done. I started my run late in the evening, 930 or 10pm, and started the pace off a little slow as I was tired. By the end, I was up to the max speed on the treadmill of 11mph.
Round 1+2: 8.0, R3+4: 8.3, R4-6: 8.6, R7: 8.9, R8: 9.4, R9: 10.0,  R11: 10.5, R12: 11mph

Fri 3/11
Tempo hill climb of 80-85% with the treadmill set @ a 4% incline for 25 min. Total distance: 2.38 miles

This run was done after a long night of work, and was the first with the weight vest on. I wasn't sure what to make of the weight vest, and where my speed would be with it, and with the incline. It turned out that 6mph on a 4% incline with the weight vest is a little tough. I had issues with the vest bouncing a lot, so I'll have to adjust it some more and get that figured out. I turned down the speed half way in for 2 1/2 min, and then finished off the last 10 min at 6mph. Got a couple of pics on the treadmill for you

its hard to see the black vest on a dark blue shirt, but you can at least see the reflective material on the back

My Programming

So I thought that I'd start this one off with talking about my "programming". Before I started to Crossfit, I just worked out, and never thought about my program, or anything like that. But having been in the Crossfit community for 3 1/2 years now, i've come to realize that you need to take your programming seriously if you want any type of results. I've done multiple things with Crossfit, from the main site WOD's (Workout Of the Day), to the CF football, and most recently now the CF Endurance (CFE) site to get ready for this adventure. I've seen amazing results with the CF methodology, and it was just a natural fit to use the CFE program as my staple to undertake this task. I made the switch to the CFE site around the 1st of the year, thinking that I'd get a ticket for the race, and wanted to get a good start with the program before adding the weight vest.
Tha basis for the CFE program is a strength and conditioning (S+C) workout, then a run (for me). The site is geared toward endurance athletes and Tri-athletes, so theres optional swimming, rowing and biking WODs other than the run that I do. The method behind the madness is simple, train at high intensity, and you wont have to train for hours upon hours. So when I run, I run hard. None of this long, slow distance running. One of the things that I've really been trying to work on is the form to my running, switching to a more energy efficient POSE running. This has been the hardest part of the training for me so far, but it's starting to come together now.
So, it's Friday the 10th of March, and I thought that I'd recap this last week of my WOD's for you, so you can see what I've been doing.
Sat 3/5
A pure S+C day for me
3 rounds for time (as fast as possible)
15x Thrusters @ 105#
20x GHD sit ups
25X Box jumps @ 20"
7:42.85
Sun 3/6
S+C day
Front squats: 7 reps @ 185, 5 reps @ 225, 5 reps @ 255
Power Clean: 5 reps @ 135, 5 reps @ 155, 3 reps @ 165, 3 reps @ 175
Shoulder Press: 3 reps @ 135, 3 reps @ 145, 1 rep each @ 150-155-160
Then I did a Tabata of Double Unders. Tabata is 8 rounds of 20sec of work and 10 sec of rest. The entire wod is only 4 min, but you're working VERY hard the entire time. The score is based on the lowest number of reps completed in a round. My tabata score was 13, with the highest being 25
Mon 3/7
Every min on the minute for 7 min, do 3x Dead Lift @ 80% of 1 rep max (370 max) = 300 DL
For time: 50 pull ups, 50 Ring dips.  4:38.52
Tues 3/8
Last S+C day before a Rest day
21-15-9 (meaning 21 reps, then 15 reps, and then 9 reps of the following)
Sumo Dead Lift High Pull (SDLHP) @ 95#
Overhead Squat (OHS) @ 95#
I did this one with my vest weight @ 20#'s. I was very unsure of what to expect with the added weight, and my low back was definitely tight from the previous days dead lift. My time was way better than I expected at 6:46.81. The only real difficulty was the snatching of the bar to start the OHS. The weight vest was throwing me off of my game in that department.
Thurs was a much needed rest day. I was going to spend at least 20 to 30 min stretching, but it never really happened. So far today I feel good, and am already hitting it hard.

Lone Survivor Foundation

So i wanted to talk a little about why the Lone Survivor foundation was chosen as a charity to support. From the time that I can remember, I wanted nothing more than to serve in the military when I grew up. Ask anyone who knew me even from elementry school, and they would tell you that. It was somewhere around 6th grade, or in Jr high that I found out about the SEALs. Maybe it was because of the movie, or something, but when I found out about SEALs, I knew that I would be one. For me, it was just a matter of time. When I was 13, I was finally old enough to join the Sea Cadets. It's a youth organization sponsored by the Navy, that shows kids 13-17 what Navy life would be like. We met one weekend a month, and had opportunities to do 2 week trainings over the summer on various military bases, and naval ships. I spent almost 5 full years in the Sea Cadets, and loved every minute of it! Some of my 2 week trainings included: Boot camp, USN recruit station, USS David R Rey (destroyer) 2 different Coast Guard trainings, one at USCG station Channel Islands, and the other aboard an 81' Cutter. I also did SeaBee training at Port Hueneme California. I worked hard, learned a ton and had a blast! I rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, and lead my Sea Cadet Unit (Trident Patrol Sqn 65).
The one training that I was unable to participate in was the SEAL training. This was extremely disappointing to me, but it was based on things outside of my control. The navy canceled both sessions of the SEAL training that I had qualified for because of deployment conflicts with the teams and our scheduled training dates. I say qualified to go because for almost every other training with the Sea Cadets, it was simply filling out the forms and submitting the paperwork. If yours got in before it closed up, then the training was yours. But that's not how it was for the SEALs training. For SEALs, you had to do a day long physical agility test to prove that you could hack it. It included a distance run, pull up, push up and sit ups, and the pool test. The pool test consisted of a distance swim, along with a timed event of treading water. The treading water event included keeping your arms above you head with your elbows out of the water. It was tough, but I passed and was ready to tackle to the challenge that lay before me. But, like I said, it was canceled both times. After that, they just stopped putting the SEAL training on the list.
My senior year of high school, I tried to enlist in the Navy. I thought that it would be the first step in my career as a SEAL. My written ASVAB score was good, and I chose to enlist as a Corpsman (medic) and go to BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL). The problem was my hearing. I knew from the 5th grade that I was partially deaf in one ear. Yes, it was bad enough to get me a hearing aid, but I didn't think that it would be bad enough to keep me out of the military. Unfortunately for me, it was. The news was heart breaking to me, the one thing in life that I wanted to do was now unobtainable. It would of been different for me if I got to BUD/S and dropped out, or got injured and couldn't complete the course. I didn't even get a chance to prove myself.
Since even before the rejection by the Navy, the special operations community, and SEALs in particular, have held a special place in my heart. When I heard about the Lone Survivor Foundation, I thought that this would be a fitting way to help out where I could.
I remember the day that I heard the news about what would be known as Operation Redwing, and the SEALs that were MIA. When I got my hands on the Lone Survivor Book, I couldn't put it down. Now, that Marcus has this foundation to help fellow service members, I thought that there must be something that I can do to help them. So here it is, the Race To Robie Creek.

Lets get the party started!

Hey there everyone, this is the first blog post of my journey to raise some money for 2 very good causes.

The first cause is the Fallen Firefighter Memorial of Idaho. It is obviously near and dear to my heart being that I am a firefighter, and I know that the beauty of the memorial is only as good as the people that support the memorial. I will post some pics of the memorial later.
The second cause will be for the Lone Survivor Foundation. This non-profit was started by a former Navy SEAL named Marcus Luttrell, who was the lone survivor of a 4 man SEAL team that was ambushed in Afghanistan. The Lone Survivor Foundation is dedicated to helping wounded warriors recover both mentally and physically while at their ranch in Texas. More info on why this charity is close to my heart later.

So, how do I plan on raising this money for these two causes??? Well, by sacrificing myself and my body that's how. Here in Boise Idaho we have a yearly race called the Race To Robie Creek. It is a grueling half marathon (13.1 mi) that bills itself as the toughest half marathon in the North West. It's for good reason to, as the first approx 8 1/2 miles of the course is uphill, followed by an insane down hill that goes for easily a mile to 1 1/2 miles before it starts to flatten out at the end. But I don't plan to just run the race like everyone else, that would be too easy. Besides, why would you want to read this, and donate if I was just doing this race like everyone else? Instead, I have decided to run the race with a weight vest. 40 POUNDS to be exact. Why 40? Well, being a firefighter, our gear weighs in over 40# on any given day, and most combat loads for SEALs are easily 40# or more. So it will be 40 POUNDS for me. I figure that it's the least I can do to help raise money for those who have given so much of themselves already. I plan to split the money raised right down the middle with 50% going to each charity.
In this blog, I will talk more about the 2 charities, why they need our help, how you can help me, and what my training will be like up until race day. I might also talk about how I'm feeling about my training, the nutrition that I will be using, the gear that I use to train with and any other thoughts or feelings or answers to your questions/comments. But for now, that's enough babbling, it's midnight and I need some sleep.