Baseline Accomplished

So having completed the Toro Loco, and having had a couple days to think about my performance,  I have a good idea where I stand w/ getting ready for my Trifecta and I have a long way to go.


Running - Although I can USE the treadmill for a long time (ie occasionally jog non stop for up to 45 min equating to 3.5 miles) that does not translate well to the real world. For the TLC I only made it about .53 miles before slowing to walk to rest.  Granted the dirt we were on was so loose one left 3/4 inch deep footprints where they walked, in a very sandy consistency for the first 2 miles of the route.  Starting the race with this just exhausted me.  Temperature also worked against me (as did my pants - more later).  So I REALLY needed water before the 1st obstacle.  At home on the treadmill I rarely drink until the workout is finished with no ill effects.  The solution for this will be longer workouts on the treadmill at more of an angle combined with 'real world' runnign, as much as I am not thrilled with that.

Note the footprints, very loose dirt not the easiest to run in.

Attire - In this race, as in the last one I wore pants (BDUs specifically).  My logic being, wit the crawling that tends to happen, either in dirt or 'mud'  my knees get pretty scraped up.  By using pants I have some level of protection.  Clearly they were unnecessary for this event where there were no crawling obstacles at all. The added weight & airflow restriction more than likely worked to make me warmer & more tired. Maybe I need to experiment with more of a knee length version.


Music - Although very useful on the treadmill. But not so much on the race.  If you happen to go with people, its a distraction and something else to carry around. Even with out people around, while making the videos the cord gets in the way camera visually & audibly due to the short cord. I plan on keeping this for the Super & Beast but need to rethink how it is used especially the track order.


Distance/Time - My time was approx  1 hr 38 min. 
BUt distance, that is an issue.  The race billed itself as a 10k aka 6.2 miles.
Looking at Google Earth, however it comes up as ~5.76 miles - Close to  a half mile difference in length. For my calculations I will err on the side of caution and use the shorter distance. Certainly due to the conversion of photos to a curved surface may cause some discrepancy. I saw some between the billed Spartan Race distance & measured route using the Google too. Of course there is a possibility that the race itself was not accurately measured, using what I saw from obstacle completion & general event management this is completely plausible. 

The TLC 10k race route.

Using this lower value for calculating minutes per mile puts my pace at 17.01 minutes per mile.   Almost as bad as the 1st warrior dash I basically walked through. Sure this distance was almost 2x as much, and I have learned from running at the track my mile times increase with every additional mile after the first one, but all in all pretty poor results as I see it.  When you consider that the Spartan Races will have obstacles with penalties, tack on another 3-4 min per obstacle I fail and ~25 obstacles for the BEAST that equates to a possible 100 penalty minutes + ~222 min for the race = FIVE and a half hours to complete at this pace. 

Granted if Google Earth is off and the race was indeed 6.2 miles then my minutes per mile is improved to 15.81 & it will only be 5 hours for BEAST completion.  Wow.  Definitely need to work on better time.


Upper Body - I know I should not have, but I have neglected my upper body during these last couple months.  I wanted to work on running stamina & losing weight.   Bad idea.  With more upper body I may have completed some of these obstacles I failed AND with Spartan will succeed & miss those possible penalty minutes doing burpees.  Not to mention how much more doing burpees will tire me and that it will take longer to complete them as I progress. One plan it to hit a rock gym a couple times before the 3 races, this will help w/ the upper body AND give me a bit more experience when it comes to the horizontal wall obstacle, possibly saving 30 burpees.  


To sum up I have A LOT of work ahead of me.  starting with more/ faster treadmil times planned.  More hiking & some running outdoors to boost that endurance.  And of course adding burpees  & upper body to the workouts.  

145 days will go by pretty fast with work school & misc holidays impeding workouts.  Hopefully I will be in better position come the Sprint.

Meanwhile the next thing on the calendar is volunteering at a race, the zombie buffet 5k in one month, who knows maybe I will be chosen to be a zombie & get to run some of it.