Warrior Dash Recap

I think the last time I did a race recap was about four years ago after having completed my third Boston Marathon. I think that was also the last time I entered any type of race. The training leading up that marathon and the punishing 26.2 miles that followed made me never want to do any distance running again. So I didn't. Distance running became 400 meter intervals down at the track.

So four or so years off the race circuit, it was time to get back to it. I recognized the growing popularity of these mud runs, had some friends who expressed some interest in it and knowing that it was only a 5k, I said , "Let's do it". I figured the training couldn't be that hard and I wouldn't have to spend much time out on the roads getting my aerobic fitness up. It also provided a bit of a challenge, something I really needed to give my training a bit of a spark.

So my training leading up to the race was mainly spent in the gym. I continued with my normal strength training routines, would finish up the strength work with some sort of conditioning, did one day a week of Prowler pushes or 400 meter runs and went out for a 2-2.5 mile run once a week. I figured others may have the edge on me with their aerobic fitness, but I would have the edge on getting through, over or under the obstacles. But honestly, I didn't know what to expect.

So race day rolls around and that morning it is absolutely pouring. Luckily my wave wasn't starting until 2pm. The rain had stopped late that morning so I figured it would give the course some time to dry out a bit plus I wouldn't have to deal with pelting rain in my face the entire time. The only downside could be that the course was going to be pretty beat up by then.

I get to the course and all you can really see is the start and the finish. The start is about a 100 yard climb up a dirt hill then disappears into the woods. Ok, not too bad I thought. Kind of what I expected. The finish is about a 20 ft climb up and over cargo nets, then a run or slide on your ass down hill, whatever option you wanted to chose. A little bit more running on flat land and then crawling through another series of cargo nets. Again, not bad I thought.

I get to the start. No warm up. No one was warming up and I didn't want to look the fitness pro going through his dynamic warm up. I'm in the first couple of rows of the starting line so I can make a quick climb up that starting hill without having to weave through a bunch of stragglers.

The gun goes off and up I go. Remember it's only a 100yard climb or so and I'm going up at a pretty good pace. I get to the top and when I do my legs are already feeling it. Damn. Ok, no problem. The next part of the race is downhill, but it turns out to be a downhill like I never could have imagined. A downhill run through 1-2 feet of mud, leaping tree stumps, falling on my ass, falling on my face, avoiding branches, avoiding helpless others. And then it goes back up hill much the same way. Then downhill. This goes on for a good mile and a half. My legs are already shot. I'm sucking wind like I haven't in a long time. I'm close to falling on my face every five feet. Every minute I'm thinking, "When do we get out of the woods? When is the next obstacle? What the hells is this?". I see people start walking and I start walking. Bad move and not any easier because I'm still trying to prevent myself from sliding down from one side of the trail to the other. And then finally the first obstacle. A series of four foot walls to get over followed by crawling underneath some ropes. Then back to the crappy trail running and this god awful hill that just seemed to go up and around forever. More walking.

The hill is done and leads out to this open field. "Nice", I thought. Wrong again. The entire trail through the field was sloped so there was never any flat ground. Again fighting to stay on my feet. And this trail seemed to meander forever. The other side of this field seemed so close yet it was so far away. Now I'm looking forward to the obstacles because I can actually give my legs a bit of a break. Next obstacle is about a 15 foot rope climb over a wall. Piece of cake. Then back to more slogging through these trails, but I can hear some music in the background so I know that the finish has got to be near. By this time I have so much mud in my eyes I can barely see and I can't wipe it out because every piece of me is covered in mud.

A quick leap over a fire pit and now I can see the finish. I'm actually feeling better now. Another climb this time over a 20 foot cargo net wall and the rest of the run is downhill. Except I chose to do what every other person is doing. Go down the hill on my ass. Much quicker except for trying to untangle from the pile of bodies at the bottom. A bit more of a run. A climb through some elevated cargo netting and done. Forty minutes later.

What was three grueling miles was actually a lot of fun. I did underestimate how difficult this thing was going to be though. I didn't realize I would have to run through two feet of mud for a mile and a half. That was easily the worst part of the race. My legs were cooked early and never really recovered. I thought my upper body strength would serve me well and it really didn't.


I plan on doing races like these in the future and now that I kind of know what to expect I think I would switch up my training a bit differently. I would:

• Do more hill running and lengthen the distance of my Prowler sprints to build up strength endurance in my legs and get myself used to feeling that uncomfortable burning in my legs


• More metabolic circuit training with an emphasis on the lower body.



• Run in anything besides Nike Free's. A great shoe to work out in at the gym. A terrible shoe to run through the mud with. I felt like I was on ice skates the entire time.



• Hold back a little in the beginning of the race not knowing what is looming ahead.

All in all it was a great day day. I had lots of fun with my friends and family. The beer tasted delicious at the end. And I look forward to doing it again.

Exercise of the Week: Single Leg Squat w/Contralateral Load

Here's a way to load the single leg squat once you've been successful with the bodyweight version. Place a kettlebell or a dumbbell in the arm opposite the working leg. Some would go to a weighted vest after the bodyweight version, but let's assume you do not have access to a weight vest. Or if you want to get a little nuts you can use a weight vest and this contralateral load.

The Other 23

Let's assume that each of your workouts is lasting around an hour. You've put in an hour of honest, hard work in the gym, at the track or out on the road with a desire to lose weight, get stronger or just get healthier. Give yourself a pat on the back because you are doing more than a majority of people are doing. Now here's where my cynical standpoint comes in. In reality that is only one hour of twenty four. That's four percent of your day. If you're getting in 3-5 hours of exercise each week, that's only 2-3% of your week. All the hard work that you just put in at the gym can easily be undone by letting the remaining hours of your day or go to absolute hell. Poor nutrition. Not enough sleep. Poor recovery methods. You name it. Maybe this is why you are not getting the results that you think you should be getting. It could be the reason why you are not losing weight, getting stronger or improving your posture to name just a few things.

So let's take a look at some factors during the 23 hours outside of your workout that can help accelerate your results:

• Sleep. About 5-10 years a go I recall the optimal number of hours of sleep each night was suggested to be about 8-10 hours each night. Figuring that was not feasible for a large percentage of the population, the suggested hours of sleep each night is now 7-8. And I still think that a good number of people are not getting those 7-8 hours of quality sleep in. Sleep is the ultimate recovery method. Also, getting enough sleep each night has been shown to help with weight loss. Getting enough sleep each night will help lower cortisol levels and result in increased production of growth hormone which is the body's number one natural fat burner. Plus, it's hard to train hard with getting adequate sleep. Rather than sleepwalking through your workouts, get your sleep in at night. I don't think you're missing much quality television at eleven o'clock. If you are, DVR it.
• Nutrition. This is usually the deal breaker when it comes to weight loss. You can not out train a lousy diet. All the hard work you just put in over the course of that hour can easily be undone by loading up on processed foods, skipping meals, not getting enough protein, etc. The list goes on and on. I know some people who workout so they can eat all types of junk and overindulge on some bad tasting beers. What kind of thinking is that? That is a situation of constantly spinning your tires. Instead you should be looking to accelerate your fat results through good nutrition. Also, good nutrition is another one of your top recovery methods enabling you put in a quality training session each time you hit the gym.
• Posture Correction. What good is doing all this postural correction work in the gym if you're just going to go sit behind a monitor for 5-7 hours in a slumped posture? Probably not much. If you want to fix your posture or want your shoulders or lower back to feel better, posture is something you have to be constantly aware of throughout the course of the day. If it means me putting together a recording on your Ipod that says "Chin up, chest up, shoulders back, get tall" and you have to listen to it all day, let's do it. If you are one of those people who has to sit behind a monitor all day, try to get up out of your chair every 20-30 minutes to get extended out. Good posture doesn't just result in feeling good. It also looks good.
• Mobility / Flexibility. A foam roller costs about $20. A decent mobility or stretching session will take you about 15-20 minutes. A lot of the those nagging pains that you are dealing with can be eased up by putting some foam rolling and mobility work together on a routine basis. It doesn't require that much time. An episode of the Bachelor lasts two damn hours and you can't get on the floor to roll and stretch for 1/6th of those hours? The choice is yours. Again, get yourself feeling good so that you can train to look good and feel good.
• N.E.A.T. What is N.E.A.T.? It's non-exercise activity thermogenesis. Basically this the non-structured activity that occurs outside your training sessions. Increasing your activity outside of your training sessions can account for hundreds of extra calories burned throughout the course of a day without you really even thinking about it. Go take the dog for a walk. Take the stairs rather than taking the elevator. Go for a walk to get something to eat for lunch, unless it's a walk to pick up KFC's famous Double Down. Get outside and do some shoveling or mowing the lawn. Walk nine holes of golf. The way I play golf has me trekking up, down and all over the place leaving me exhausted by the end of a round. Just try to get away from being so sedentary.

There are probably other factors that come into play over the course of those other 23 hours that you have control over. The point is to get control of those 23 and get control of your results. Stop sabotaging yourself.

Exercise of the Week: Overhead Walking Lunge w/Hip Lift

This exercise of the week is a nice exercise to use as part of your dynamic flexibility training or warm up. It's an exercise that I took from Eric Cressey's Show and Go program. In addition to addressing hip mobility, particularly through the hip flexor and hamstring areas, it's a good exercise to help open up your shoulders. One key point is that when the hands go up overhead, really press the palm of one hand and the back of the other hand into each other. Doing so will produce a nice isometric contraction in your scapular stabilizers.

Exercise of the Week: Standing Rope Pulldown

How Did She Do It?

How did she do what you ask? I'm referring to a client of mine who over an eight week period dropped her body fat percentage by just under five percent. That five percent was about nine pounds of body fat gone over that eight week period. Anytime you're looking at a loss of one pound of body fat per week you're looking at some pretty remarkable results.

I'll be the first to say that her remarkable results were not achieved by any special type of diet, extreme workout program or spending an extra 6-8 hours in the gym each week. What she did was actually pretty simple. But she applied this simplicity on a consistent basis. And every time she was faced with a situation that may have comprised her progress she asked herself, "What is more important?"

So what was it that she did exactly? Just a few tweaks to her training and nutrition:

• Adding an extra hour of training each week. She went from training around 2-3 hours per week to 3-4 hours of training each week. That extra hour was an hour of strength training, not slow steady state cardio.
• Spending more time foam rolling and stretching to enhance recovery and deal with the increased training volume. You can't train consistently if you are consistently sore or injured.
• Sticking to the basics as far as exercise selection: split squats, inverted rows, DB incline presses, push ups, half kneeling cable chops and lifts, etc. No circus act exercises. No wacky Bosu ball madness. Exercises that are hard. Exercises that give you the biggest bang for your buck. Trying to hit the basic movement patterns every workout: some pushing, some pulling, a hip dominant exercise, a quad dominant exercise and some core stability work.
• Stopped worrying about calories and started worrying about foods. Calories will take care of themselves when the focus is on nutrient dense foods. Plus calorie counting is an inexact science unless you are weighing every single food item. Or unless you're eating everything out of a box or a bag that has a nutritional label.
• Increased protein intake with the goal of getting her around 100 grams of protein a day. Prior to that she was around 50-75 grams of protein per day which was not nearly enough. To get her up to this 100 gram level I emphasized the importance of including some source of protein whenever it came time to eat. My next goal with her is to get that protein intake even up a little bit more.
• Cut back on carbohydrate intake which kind of goes hand in hand with increased protein intake. In a lot of cases increasing protein intake displaces carbohydrate intake. The carbs that were part of her nutritional intake were consumed at breakfast or when they came during the day the majority of them came from fruits and vegetables. Carb intake from grains was reduced dramatically. When it comes to dropping body fat carbs need to be dropped.
• And here is the the one a lot of people are not willing to do: cut back on the alcohol which was mostly red wine. Less red wine meant less calorie containing beverages which meant less calories taken in overall. More than anything, cutting back on the alcohol showed me what was important to her. She wasn't done in by any social pressure that could have sabotaged her progress.

The changes to her training and nutrition were the easy part. The adherence to each change was the hard part. The greater the adherence, the greater the change which is what we ended up seeing. The funny thing is that now that this transformation challenge has ended she has a desire to keep up with it. What initially started out as a challenge has turned into a new lifestyle.

Exercise of the Week: Alternating DB Bench Press

Hey guys, Monday doesn't mean you have to bench press. There are other options such as this exercise of the week. If your training has gotten a bit stale (benching every Monday for the last 15 years will do that) or if your shoulders are feeling a bit beat up (benching every Monday for the last 15 years will do that also) substitute the Bench press with the Alternating DB Bench Press. In addition to some great shoulder stability work you're going to get some core stability work. A good bang for your buck exercise.








Go Bruins!!

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Have a Grocery List

As mentioned previously, it's tough to eat well if you're not prepared to eat well. Part of being prepared is going to involve your weekly grocery shopping. At least I hope it's done on a weekly basis and I hope it's not done at the Cumberland Farms around the corner.

To get the most out of your shopping you really should have a grocery list. Now a grocery list with stuff on there such as Oreo's and strawberry milk is not what I'm actually referring to. Instead a grocery list that has a number of fruits and veggies, some protein sources, some carb sources, some fat sources and all the spices, oils and what not to flavor up your meals or add to your recipes. Here's a list I've borrowed from the Metabolic Cooking Cookbook that should entail everything you might want to consider:

Veggies Asparagus__ Bell Peppers __ Broccoli__ Brussels Sprouts__ Cabbage__ Carrots__ Cauliflower__ Celery__ Cucumber__ Eggplant__ Fennel__ Garlic__ Green beans__ Kale__ Lettuce__ Mushroom__ Okra__ Onion__ Radish__ Snow Peas__ Spinach__ Tomato__ Zucchini__

Protein Tuna__ Salmon__ Halibut__ Haddock__ Tilapia__ Sardines__ Shrimp__ Scallops__ Chicken Breasts__ Ground Chicken__ Turkey Breasts__ Turkey Bacon__ Extra Lean Ground Beef__ Beef Roast_ Sirloin steak__ Venison__ Buffalo (Bison)__ Ostrich__ Pork Tenderloin__ Pork Chops __ Whey Protein __ Eggs__ Egg Whites__ Cottage cheese__ Greek yogurt__

Carbs Oatmeal__ Sweet Potatoes__ Pinto Beans__ Chickpeas__ Kidney Beans__ Black Beans__ Oat Bran__ Wheat Bran__ Quinoa__ Bulgur__ Ezekiel Bread__ Whole Wheat Pasta__ Brown Rice

Fruits Banana__ Apples__ Orange__ Pear__ Apple Sauce (unsweetened)__ Grapefruit__ Kiwi__ Peaches__ Strawberries__ Blueberries__ Raspberries__ Apricot__

Fats Natural Peanut Butter__ Natural Almond Butter__ Olive oil__ Flaxseed oil__ Macadamia nut oil__ Coconut Oil__ Almonds__ Walnuts__ Peanuts__ Macadamia nuts__ Avocados__

Other Apple Cider Vinegar__ Balsamic Vinegar__ Red Wine Vinegar__ White Wine Vinegar__ Salsa__ Red Hot Sauce__ Worcestershire sauce__ Chili powder__ Ground paprika__ Onion powder__ Ginger powder__ Cumin powder__ Clove powder__ Chili powder__ Cayenne pepper__ Ground turmeric__ Curry powder__ Ground nutmeg__ Dried oregano__ Dried parsley__ Dried basil__ Dried sage__ Bay leaves__ Rosemary__ Parsley__ Red Pepper Flakes__ Black Pepper__ Sea Salt__ Stevia__ Dijon Mustard__ Extracts (vanilla, almond, etc)__ Low sodium beef or chicken broth__ Low sodium soy sauce__ Lime juice__ Lemon juice__ Pure cocoa powder__ Almond milk__ Coconut milk __