The Warrior Dash

The crew after the race

We did the Warrior Dash race this past weekend. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Warrior Dash it is one of the most popular mud runs. The race is a 5k with obstacles. So how does this tie in to my 400 meter training? It doesn't. A group of us did it last year and someone talked me into doing it again this year. As regular readers of the blog may know, I don't do well with long distances. I have chronic exertional compartment syndrome in both calves and any running over a couple of minutes is difficult. So running a course on a ski hill that is mostly uphill on rough terrain is not the best thing for me. Again, I got talked into it. At least I said no to the Tough Mudder.

So my main goal was to not get injured. I did fine there although I've been pretty sore for the past couple of days. I also got caught by the neck on a section of barbed wire at one point, but didn't have much more than a little scratch. My second goal was to try to make a good workout out of it. I accomplished that too. I pushed fairly hard except for some of the long uphill sections. I was able to move pretty quickly over many of the obstacles.

Overall for our race day I finished 293rd overall out of 8,610 people. That's men and women and all age groups. In my age group and just men I was 102nd out of 1,725 which puts me in the top 6%. Not too bad for someone who doesn't do well with long distances.

There's talk now of doing another one in September. At least I would be done with all of my track races and not as concerned with messing up my training. And if nothing else, it's a good workout.

What to do now

The USATFMNC threw a bit of a wrench into my normal training schedule. Since this was the first year with a big track meet in the winter, this is the first year that I have had my 90-day workout schedule interrupted. Even last year when I hurt my back I was still able to continue on with P90X with just a bit of modification to the schedule. My real problem with not being on a program where I know what I will do each day is that I am more likely to skip a workout. It's too easy when I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do for a workout to just pick the thing that is short or easy.

I also remember someone posting a comment on a blog at TeamBeachbody.com where he said that if he is not following a program where he knows exactly what he's supposed to do, then a bowl of ice cream goes into his belly while he watches TV instead. That's kind of how I feel too. It's easy to think that you're either on a program or off a program. When you're off you can sit around and eat anything you want because you're going to get back on in a week or two. Or three. Or four.

So what have I been doing these past couple of weeks? I've been continuing on with P90X2 for the most part. We decided to switch things up a bit for or Friday morning workout group. We did an Insanity Plyo workout last week. Insanity takes it's toll on my calves. With my compartment syndrome I am not able to do things like jogging for more than a few minutes without pain. For some reason the newer Insanity: The Asylum does not bother my calves. I actually find it better than trying to run on the track.

With my calves already sore from Insanity, I wanted to play basketball on Sunday since it was the last opportunity until next September. Between Insanity and basketball my left calf was not happy with me. So I had to take it easy for a few days. I've taken this opportunity to play with the kids every night this week. It's still active and I think it sets a good example that you can still play when you get older.

We did another Insanity workout this morning and I don't think I will have any calf issues this weekend. My plan is to do two more P90X2 P.A.P. workouts and then start back up on Insanity: The Asylum. That's a 30-day program so I will either go back to P90X or P90X2 after that along with starting one or two track workouts each week. I've just got to get back on to something.

Starting Week 4 Insanity

I finished out week 3 a little rough, but now I'm back at it for week 4. I took yesterday off since I played basketball on Sunday. I didn't want to make the same mistake as last week and I new I needed some rest for my calves. I'm not sure that this is a workout I can stick with long term since I end up working my calves so much. I think the P90X/Insanity Hybrid might be a good solution, but for now I'm going to try to get through it.

I had some great encouragement from some of my workout buddies on teambeachbody.com. It helps a lot to know that you're not alone and other people go through the same things. You know that if they can get through it, you can do it too. It also helps to take a step back and really remember why I do this. That got me through the rest of the week. Then I had a good game of basketball on Sunday and made the decision that I would take Monday completely off. Tonight's Pure Cardio went much better than last week and by the time I finished Cardio Abs I was feeling great. That's how it should be.

When you get knocked down, you get back up. Only sometimes you need to catch your breath first.

Sweat in my eyes

"I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm just trying to make you better." - Shaun T

Well, I've made it through two weeks of Insanity now. I accomplished my goal of making it through an entire warmup without taking a break. I would like to say that there's no going back now, but I realized today that one of the reasons I have been stopping is that my left calf is hurting so much. With my compartment syndrome I need to give it a break now and then and there is no break during the warmup.

Today I had my second dose of Pure Cardio for the week and an additional workout of Cardio Abs. Cardio Abs will take a little getting used to since there are no crunches. What's unique about this workout is almost every move is using your core from the bottom up. Instead of bringing your chest toward your waist you bring your legs toward your chest on most of the moves. It seems to work for Shaun T so I'm not going to argue with it.

One issue I have been having is trying to keep the sweat out of my eyes. These workouts do make you sweat a lot. I got a sweatband a while back for my head and it helps a little bit, but not enough. I always keep a towel handy so I can wipe my face during the breaks, but the Pure Cardio workout doesn't have many breaks. By the time I get to the stretch and cooldown at the end I'm pretty much doing it with my eyes closed. I guess it's good that I am getting so much of a workout to be sweating that much, but it gets pretty annoying. One of the guys that I coach has said he has the same issue with the P90X PlyoX workout and we haven't been able to come up with a good solution. If you have things that have worked for you, let me know.

So next up on the schedule is a day off, but I plan to play basketball. Then I do another Fit Test on Monday. Look for me to post the comparison of my day 1 and day 15 Fit tests on Monday night.

Compartment Syndrome

One of the reasons I do Track & Field sprinting events instead of 5 & 10k runs is that I have a condition called chronic exertional compartment syndrome. What happens is my calves get very sore and swollen after about 2 minutes of jogging. It is very painful and not something that you want to continue to push through for very long, as the swelling in the compartments causes increased pressure in the calves. If the pressure is high enough, blood flow to the compartment can be blocked. This can lead to permanent injury.

I had surgery about four years ago on one leg and did not notice much improvement. I couldn't walk for about three weeks and it was not a pleasant time. It's not really something I want to go through again, but it is something I hope to have corrected if possible.

In the meantime I will stick with exercise that doesn't aggrivate it as much. With sprint training I can take enough rest between high intensity short runs to let the pressure go back down. I also believe that sprint training works the muscles in a way to get the body type I'm looking for.

Take care.