Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-11/20/15

Great grip advice here

This is the last day of my run fast. I'll start running next week. In the meantime, I'm still trying to strengthen my grip to conquer the Battle Frog Platinum Rig and the rig at Spartan Race.

Farmer Sandbag Carry 25# in each hand. Walk until grip failure. Repeat 3 times
Sets of pull ups until muscle failure. Use various grips and pull up platforms. Repeat to do max pull ups (I had goal of 200)
60 push ups
2 x 10 Romanian Dead Lifts
Using various grips and platforms, hold your body weight while hanging.

The rock climbing cleats are great for finger strength
The Cannon Balls are awesome for overall hand and forearm strength

Hang by horizontal rope or even a vertical rope.
Great pull up platforms as well.

A little more comfortable pull up platform

                                                                       

Run In Mud Obstacle Race Training-11/9/15

Recovering from a BattleFrog event is tough. I am sore, but want to continue my workouts. I am taking a 2 week break from running to recover. The race season is over until next march and I am contemplating a new workout plan to prepare for the new race season. I'll add strength building to longer running distances. I believe the obstacles will become more technical and require greater strength and endurance. 

Do the following as a final goal. Break the workout into as many sets as necessary. 

100 pull ups (using multiple grips)
100 push ups

Walk 1 mile with a 25-30 # sand bag or back pack. Alternate carrying on shoulders, farmer carry, or carry in front of body. Try different grips for different distances.

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-11/3/15

Run 2.5 miles
Walk .5 miles
6 x 10 pull ups
Dumbbell farmer carries
Dead lift x 5
Plank hold for 2 minutes

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-9/14/15

I'm working hard this week before resting a week. I have a race coming up on September 26 and going hard at it. Next week will be total rest, while this week will be lots of work at about 75% effort. I split today's workout into two parts.

Lunch
Run 3.65 miles
Walk .6 miles

After work, run a total of 2.26 miles with circuit training:
10 spiderman burpees
18 foot rope climb
balance beam x 2
5 pull ups with leg lifts
Run .75 miles
6 spiderman burpees
Monkey bars x 2
Run .35 miles

10 spiderman burpees
18 foot rope climb
balance beam x 2
5 pull ups with leg lifts
Run .35 miles
6 spiderman burpees
Monkey bars x 2
Run .75 miles

10 spiderman burpees
18 foot rope climb
balance beam x 2
5 pull ups with leg lifts
Cinder block sled pull

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-9/10/15

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Walk 1 mile
Do the following 3 times:
10 push ups
6 pull ups with leg lifts
1 dumbbell squat, 1 dumbbell curl, 1 dumbbell over head press repeat 10 times
Run 4.1 miles

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-9/9/2015

 I am training with four immediate goals in mind. I think these goals are a great way to stay motivated and finish the year strong before winter sets in.

1. Urban Assault on 26 September. An 8k obstacle race with urban type obstacles.

2. Warrior Dash World Championship on 10 October.

3. Spartan Sprint on 24 October.

4. Battle Frog on 7 November

Here is what I'm doing to stay focused.

Main set:

Run 2.75 miles

Do a circuit workout. Use any circuit replicating an obstacle mud run. I did the following 2 x:

7 pull ups with leg lifts

6 dips using a pull up bar (push up with arms fully extended above the bar (Lower body until chest touches bar, and return with arms at full extended position).

Climb 6 foot obstacle (ladder type)

Monkey bars

Here's what it looks like:

Run 2 miles

Cool down:

Walk 1 mile

What are your workout goals and how will you meet them?

Run In Mud Obstacle Race Training-9/3/15

Tire flip obstacle

Back to the track. This track has obstacles all around. Today I am running 3.1 miles and completing two obstacles per lap. I run in the outside lane which equals about 3 laps per mile.

Here are the obstacles. If you can, try two per lap or something similar

45 degree incline rings

1. Monkey bar incline rings x 2-series of rings set at a 45 degree angle
2. 15 foot pole climb with 5 pull ups at top
3. Balance obstacle
4. Parallel bars-raise feet off the ground and move down the bars using your arms. Make it more challenging with a dip for each step.
5. Monkey bars x 2
6. 6 pull ups with leg lifts
7. Climbing obstacle
8. 6 pull ups with leg lifts
9. Tire obstacle
10. Monkey bar rings x 2
11. Leap over 4 foot wall x 2
12. Monkey bar rings x 2
13. 6 pull ups with leg lifts
14. Tire flip x 3

4 foot wall

Cool down:
Walk .5 miles

Monkey bars and other workouts here:

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-8/25/15

Run 4.1 miles
Walk 1 mile
30 pull ups with leg lifts (break up into as many sets as necessary. I did a set of 10, 2 sets of 6, and 2 sets of 4).



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Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-8/14/15

Tire flip obstacle

Back to the track. This track has obstacles all around. Today I am running two miles and completing three obstacles per lap. I run in the outside lane which equals about 3 laps per mile.

Here are the obstacles. If you can, try three per lap.

Run 1 lap


45 degree incline rings

1. Monkey bar incline rings x 2-series of rings set at a 45 degree angle
2. 15 foot pole climb with 5 pull ups at top
3. Balance obstacle

Run 1 lap

1. Parallel bars-raise feet off the ground and move down the bars using your arms. Make it more challenging with a dip for each step.
2. Monkey bars x 2
3. 6 pull ups with leg lifts

Run 1 lap

1. Climbing obstacle
2. 6 pull ups with leg lifts
3. Tire obstacle

Run 1 lap

4 foot wall

1. Monkey bar rings x 2
2. Leap over 4 foot wall x 2
3. Monkey bar rings x 2

Run 1 lap

6 pull ups with leg lifts
Tire flip x 3

Continue laps until the run is complete

Cool down:
Walk .5 miles

Monkey bars and other workouts here:

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-8/12/15

Block Party!!!

This is a way to run hard, train on obstacles, go hard, but stay close to home. No need to carry water and a bathroom is always within 1/2 mile.

My block is 1.01 miles around and along the way I have a few playgrounds that provide great obstacle training. Here we go:

Warm up:
Stretch muscles and rotate joints for 6 minutes
25 jumping jacks

Main set:
Run 4.1 miles in 1 mile increments while incorporate the following:

Cannon Balls for pull ups

First mile:
Rope climb
6 pull ups with leg lifts using Cannon Balls
Wall climb with rope
10 burpees
Run .75 miles
10 burpees
Monkey bars x 2
run .3 miles

2nd mile
Rope climb
6 pull ups with leg lifts using Cannon Balls
Wall climb with rope
10 burpees
Run .75 miles
10 burpees
Monkey bars x 2

Wall climb

run .3 miles

3rd mile
10 burpees
Run .75 miles
10 burpees
Monkey bars x 2
run .3 miles

4th mile
10 burpees
Run .75 miles
10 burpees
Monkey bars x 2
run .3 miles

Cool down:
Walk .5 miles

These are great for your grip:

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-Aug 1, 2 weekend edition

I made it to the weekend where I can scale down my workouts and do things I want to do. During the week, I try to get in 20 miles of running mixed in with some obstacle style workouts, then rest for Monday's start up. Now I just have some fun with whatever I want to focus on. The plan for the weekend is go to a water park. I want to work on my "presentation" before I go:

Repeat the following 3 times:

6 pull ups with leg lifts from a 4x6 board (wide grip) 

Pull sled through the grass (rope tied with 3 cinder blocks)

10 foot rope climb walking up a wall

18 foot Rope climb

Play at water park

Next day:

Swim 1/2 mile as fast as possible

Use rope to climb wall

Build your sled with three cinder blocks and rope.

Run In Mud Obstacle Race Training-7/27/15

It's one of the hottest days of the year. Drink plenty of water and stay hydrated. I ran a fitness trail with lots of shade. However, I carried a bottle of water on the run. It was barely enough. Once I finished the run, I jumped into a creek to cool down. How do you stay cool?

Run 4.1 miles

Playground workout

6 pull ups with leg lifts x 3

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-7/25/15 Weekend

Rope Climb
Travers monkey bars x 2
Sled pull (2 cinder blocks with 20 foot rope. Pull hand over hand, bringing blocks to you. Carry blocks back to starting position.)

Bike 5 miles

Rope Climb
Travers monkey bars x 2
Sled pull

Swim 1/2 mile

Run In Mud Obstacle Race Training-7/24/15

Track or fitness zone work out.

I'm preparing for the upcoming Warrior Dash world champion ship, Spartan Sprint, and Savage Race for my fall schedule. It's important to stay trained, but not overheat. Here's how I workout in the high heat.

Find a track or fitness area and incorporate the workouts into your run. I have a 1/4 mile track I use that is packed full of rope climbs, pull up bars, climbing, and balancing obstacles. It even has truck tires for flipping.

Since it's so hot and humid out, I ran the 3.1 miles around the track with a little modification to take advantage of the shade. I began running the laps to complete a mile, then switched to only running the shady part (about 3/4 of a lap) to complete the rest of the run. Just be sure to complete between 1 and three obstacles every 1/4 or 1/3 mile point. I use the Map My Run app to keep track.

Here is a list of the obstacles.
6 chin ups with leg lifts
tire obstacle x 2
Monkey bars x 2
Climb over 4 foot wall x 2
Monkey bars x 2
6 chin ups with leg lifts
3 x truck tire flips
Incline monkey bars x 2 
Parallel bar work out. Walk on hands for 1 step, dip and repeat until traverse parallel bar distance
Rope climb with 5 pull ups at top 
Balance obstacle x 2
Monkey bars x 2

6 Chin ups with leg lifts

Climbing obstacle x 2

I completed the above obstacles within the first mile doing three at a time.

For the remaining two miles, I ran only in the shade for 3/4 of a lap. I began by completing 5 burpees at the beginning of the shade, run to the end of the shade, perform 5 burpees and repeated until 2.1 miles were completed. That resulted in 40 burpees.

Rest

Walk for .3 miles

12 pull ups with leg lifts (2 sets of 6)

Run In Mud Obstacle Race Training-7/21/15

Hot day out, so drink lots of water before and during the workout. Fortunately I have a wooded trail that I can run and it's really close to work. This week I am running in the evenings.

Morning work out:

Grab some dumbbells of moderate weight (I use 20 lbs). The following dumbbell workout should be accomplished as a cycle. 

Begin downward squat movement. On the way up, bring arms up to perform a curl. While arms are in top curl position, move to shoulder press, then bring dumbbells down to complete press, complete curl, and back down into squat. Do this for 10 repetitions.

20 v ups

10 squats

10 curls

10 dumbbell presses

20 v ups

Then go into squat, curl, press routine.

20 bent knee v ups

 

6 pull ups with leg lifts

 

Evening workout:

Run 4.1 miles

6 pull ups with leg lifts
Wall climb
6 Pull up/press up

6 pull ups with leg lifts x 3

 

Run In Mud Obstacle Race Training-7/15/15

Warm up:
Stretch and Rotate for 6 minutes

Main set:
Ride bicycle for 30 minutes
Rope climb x 2
Pull heavy weight with 20 foot rope while standing. Stand in place and reel in rope hand over hand. (I have 3 cinder blocks tied to a rope)
5 pull ups using CFF pro series balls x 2



5 pull ups CFF pro series balls while upside down (hang, then lift feet up and over head).
5 pull ups using straps hanging from chin up bars
Travers swing set or horizontal bar x 2

 

 

2o close hand push ups
20 push ups
20 wide arm push ups

Plank for 2 minutes (incorporate 20 spider man leg lifts each leg)
Side plank for 1 minute each side (bring knees in to chest 10 times and scissor kick upper leg 5 times while on left side and then again while on right side)

20 horizontal leg lifts x 2
20 horizontal pelvic lifts x 2

More ab and shoulder burning exercises in this book. Get some hooah!

Run In Mud Obstacle Race Training-7/6/15

Warm up:
6 minutes stretching and rotating
10 push ups

Main set:

Run 4.1 miles 
During each mile, perform:
20 burpees
20 supine leg lifts

total: 80 leg lifts and 80 burpees

Later set:
10 pull ups with leg lifts x 3

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Run In Mud Obstacle Race Training-Independence Day 2015

How's this for a tribute run? I am in Plymouth, MA home of the Pilgrims. They gave their all for freedom, discovery, and each other. So, I decided to honor their commitment with a run through history.

Stretch and rotate for 6 minutes

Run 3.1 miles through historical land marks (here's what I saw):

Forefather's Monument

Pilgrim Graveyard

First Church in Plymouth, MA

Grist Mill

July 4th festivities

Plymouth Rock

Mayflower replica

Walk 2 miles

50 pull ups
100 push ups
150 squats

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-6/20/15

Army Physical Readiness

 Swim .5 miles

10 pull ups with leg lifts x 2

Climb rope x 3

Run in Mud Obstacle Race Training-6/4/15

Warm up:
Stretch and rotate for 6 minutes

Main set:
Run a 5k at a moderate pace.
Rope climb with 6 alternate grip pull ups
Traverse swing set bar
Climb rope wall

Cool down:
Walk .2 miles


Traverse a swing set demonstration:

Climb rope with pull ups:

Climb rope wall:

Climb rope with feet on wall