The hardest exercise in the world, and a persistence hunt.

I've said many times the hardest exercise in the world is getting up off your couch.

  That was the situation I faced this morning, after a late night and an early morning left me feeling tired and demotivated for anything other than lounging around watching football.  Nonetheless, I got myself dressed (well, if a pair of light shorts and my Fivefingers count as 'dressed') and drove out to the park.

  Why the park?  Two reasons.  The first is that it's a nice trail, I'd done it once with a friend but wanted to run it on my own.  The second was simply a piece of mental trickery.  It was far enough away that once I committed to going I was definitely going to get a full workout in.  It also beat a round of HIIT in that once started, the fastest way back to the car was to finish the loop.  Sometimes willpower is about setting the conditions for success.

  Todays run was at Irvine Park, the Horseshoe Trail loop.  It's 3.7 miles around the border of the park on a mixed use trail.  I met some walkers, a couple mountain bikers, and more than a few horses.  The trail is generally soft dirt with some stretches along pavement, and one dry stream crossing on a gravel riverbed.  I'm actually thinking next time I run this trail I might go full barefoot and just carry the VFF's in case of emergency.

View Irvine Park in a larger map

  There were some hills, though not nearly enough for my liking.  No matter, next weekends run to the peak of San Jacinto will more than make up for.

  On my previous run through this trail I went with a friend who is still working up to more than a mile or two at a time.  We stopped at a few points along the way for recovery and we'd throw in some circuits just to keep things interesting.  We also cut off the last portion of the run to save some time as we needed to get back.

  This time, I wanted to run the trail all the way through and see how it went.  At first I was pretty sure my GPS was having a hard time locking onto a reliable signal, as first the one mile, then the two mile announcements came and went sooner than I expected.  When the announcement for the third mile came with the elapsed time and my average pace it sounded right but I just didn't feel tired enough to have already run three miles.  I knew it had to be right though since I was now in new territory, part of the end we cut off on the previous trip.  I was feeling great; I had plenty of wind, legs felt fresh, and my feet were in good shape. Things kept looking up.  Most of the run I had been alone or passing people going the other way.  Now as I looked ahead I saw a runner entering the trail from a diverging path about 300 yards ahead.  Time for a bit of a 'persistence hunt.'

  For those that don't know a persistence hunt is a pretty unique human hunting method involving running prey down to exhaustion before killing it.  Humans and canines are about the only types of animals on the planet that can successfully persistence hunt.  Nearly all other animals rely on sprinting from cover to overtake their prey.

  I was going to run him down over the next 3/4 of a mile.  He was several hundred yards in front of me, and actually running at a slightly faster pace.  I quickly stepped my own pace up to where I was beginning to overtake him.  I still felt great at this faster pace and was well within what I could manage for quite some time.  So far my prey hadn't noticed me creeping up behind him.  His thudding footfalls  masked my own softer nearly barefoot landings.  I was steadily reeling him in, the gap was now only 100 yards and closing.  Wearing just a light pair of shorts, I wasn't carrying my knife as I normally would.. no matter, this could be done by hand.  50 yards... 25... he knew I was behind now and looked back.  Hemmed in by the trail there was nowhere he could go but straight ahead... Closing... closing... and the leap!

  I landed on his back, my weight bearing him to the ground.  He was shocked to say the least and certainly not prepared to defend his vulnerable throat from my grasping fingers...  I reached out and squeezed...

  Ok, so that part maybe isn't true.  I did run him down though and caught him just before the end of the trail.  Once there we actually exchanged a nice little conversation about where the end of the trail was, as he was looking to get back to the trail head where he started.

  I was quite surprised to have reached the end of the trail so quickly as I certainly didn't feel like I had just run 3.7 miles.  I felt completely fresh and ready to keep running.  I strongly considered running the entire trail for a second loop but I just had too much going on to spend the extra time.  Anyway, check the video below for an actual modern day persistence hunt in Africa.

So just what is this Tough Mudder thing?

As I've mentioned several times in the Blog now, I'm training for the upcoming Tough Mudder.  But what the heck is that?

As you've probably deduced from the name it's another one of those mud runs that have become popular lately.  They label themselves as "probably the toughest event on the planet."  I don't know about that, but it doesn't look exactly like a walk in the park either.

The race I'm scheduled for, the Southern California Tough Mudder is an 11 mile obstacle run in the mountains around Vail Lake in Temecula.  The course itself is a constantly ascending and descending run around the lake, following the shoreline, ridgelines, and valleys.   Perusing the terrain on Google Earth there doesn't seem to be a flat spot longer than perhaps 1/2 mile.  Interspersed throughout the 11 miles are 24 obstacles ranging from 12 foot wooden walls, low strung barbed wire, mud pits, cold water underwater swims, greased ramps, tunnel crawls, buttered monkey bars (possibly with firehose snipers) flaming hay bales, and oh yeah, a live electrical wire gauntlet.  Fun!

You can run individually or as a team, and I've chosen to put a team together.  Myself and several friends are running as "The Axis of Awesomeness".  Yeah.  Don't ask.

So what's the plan?  After extensive research (I must have watched like... six videos!) I determined the most challenging obstacles, and what muscle groups would be called upon to complete the challenge.  First, since it IS an 11 mile hill run I'm running hills.  Lots of hills.  In fact, in the coming weeks I'll be running from the Tramway station at Mt. San Jacinto to the peak and down again.  This is also 11 miles though obviously half is downhill.  However it also starts at 8,500 ft elevation and tops out around 10,200 feet, one of the tallest peaks in California.

My current fitness plan calls for twice weekly runs; one short day and one long day.  My short day is usually around 3 miles, and either hilly trails or deep sand.  Both work your legs and calves especially, muscles I'll need in top shape come the Mudder.  My long run is going to be progressive, currently I'm going 5 miles but I'm increasing the distance by about 1/2 mile each time, until I reach approximately 10 miles.

Individual obstacles will also call upon different muscle groups and unusual movement styles.  The walls, rope climbs, and monkey bars will all require upper body strength, and the ability to pull yourself up repeatedly.  To this end, I'm doing several sets of Australian pull ups.  They differ from a regular pull up in that you aren't lifting your entire body off the ground.  Instead you set your bar low, prop your feet, and pull yourself up as in a pull-up.  You can almost imagine it as an upside (Australian) push up.  The advantage is it allows you to do a much increased volume of exercises as compared to regular pull ups.  Doing 5-10 sets of 10 is a great workout, and entirely realistic.

The cargo net, barbed wire crawl, tunnels, and several other obstacles require you to pull yourself along low to the ground or push constant weights off your head.  For these obstacles I'm doing a variety of push-ups (regular, wide, narrow, diamond, inclined) and bear crawls.  Bear crawls work not only your arms and shoulders, but also are great for your abs and other core muscles.  I do them with my body held low to the ground, and bringing my knees up to my armpits as I crawl.  It's a great overall workout.

For general overall fitness I also am doing body weight squats (prisoner style) and a variety of burpees.  I'm actually doing a 100 day burpee challenge as part of the fitness, adding a single burpee each day for the next hundred days.

My goals are to complete 100 consecutive push ups in less than 2 minutes, be able to do 15 dead hang pull ups, and run 3 miles at a 7 minute mile pace.  Will I make it?  Keep checking back to find out.

Bobcats, baby heads, and broken toes?

I went for another trail run yesterday, and it was eventful to say the least. I saw bobcats on the trail, two of them, just sitting there off the path. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of these guys.

Instead, it was construction equipment.  They were doing trail maintenance.  That's good I suppose, but the temporary damage the machines did to the trail was pretty ugly and off putting.  As I'll be running this trail for the next several months I'm interesting in seeing how long it takes to recover.

The run itself was great.  I concentrated really carefully on form, running with a proper midfoot strike.  It felt good, but of necessity shortened my stride.  Overall this slowed me down just a hair.  Over 3.6 miles I was a total of three minutes slower, but I was also able to run the entire time.  During previous runs on this same trail I always had to walk at least short portions, usually on the longest grades.  This actually bodes well for the Tough Mudder where endurance and consistency are going to count for more than raw speed.

Running the entire up-hill portions also REALLY engaged my calves, even more so in the Vibram Fivefinger shoes.  I could feel them working to drive me forward, and in just the few weeks I've been doing this run there is already a noticeable difference in their size.  Between this and running sand I'll have calves the size of baby heads in no time.

There is a downside to running in VFF's though.  They're a 'minimal' shoe.  That means minimal interference between you and the ground, but also minimal protection.  Right near the end of the course I got careless, wasn't watching my foot placement like I should have, and kicked a damn rock!  Full force, straight on, punching it with your foot strike!

I don't think I broke anything, my toes feel alright and I finished the run.  I've got a ugly bruise on the top of my foot though and pushing off hurts.  I think it's just a nasty jam with no real injury but we'll see how it plays out during my workout tomorrow.

August 15th - Trail Running

As part of my preparation for the Tough Mudder in February, I'm trying to do at least one trail run per week.  This week it just so happened that Monday was that day, so after work I quickly changed out of my work clothes, into my Vibrams, and hit the dirt.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=204346856542915835114.0004aaabdd347e2055e79


View Weir Canyon Loop Run in a larger map



I love Weir Canyon Loop because this trail's got a good variety of hills, valleys, some ecosystem changes, lots of wildlife, and yet it's just a short drive from the city.  It's a fairly easy 3.6 mile loop with elevation changes from about 900 ft to around 1200 ft in a series of constant dips and climbs.

I wasn't going for speed, in fact I took it pretty easy.  I'm still in the break-in phase of my new shoes, and the muscles of my feet and lower legs are still learning to compensate for the more barefoot style gait.  Even so I turned in a decent time, right around  4.6 miles per hour, totaling 47 minutes for a 3.6 mile run.

I prefer trail running to any other sort.  Treadmills are mind numbing and running on roads or tracks is about the most boring thing I can imagine.  Trail running by comparison is a mini-adventure with constantly changing terrain, random wildlife (mountain lions have been seen in this area), and constant new challenges forcing your muscles to adapt.

Trail running of course comes with it's own set of unique challenges too.  Obviously you're more likely to be alone, and so any injury is going to be more serious.  Make sure someone knows where you are going, and when to expect you back.  Make sure they know to come look for you if you don't make it back by an agreed upon time.  Be aware of local wildlife (the aforementioned mountain lions).  It's unlikely you'll encounter anything dangerous, but know how to deal with it if you do.  Predators, rattlesnakes, and africanized bees are all known to be in the Weir Canyon Loop area.  Finally make sure you've got water or are well hydrated.  You won't be stopping at the corner 7-11 for a gatorade after your run.  Bring some with you, and make sure there is more in the car.  Know your body, and learn to listen when it's saying you're pushing too hard.  You want to stretch your limits, not break them with catastrophic results.

Vibram Five Fingers - My workout shoe of choice.

As an editors note, I wrote this post about five weeks ago.  I'm sharing it here now because I still agree with everything I wrote now, and more time in the shoes only serves to strengthen my love for them.

Initial impressions on the Vibram Five Fingers.

I got my first pair of VFF’s this weekend, so let me give my initial impressions while they’re still fresh.

I won’t go into detail on why minimalist toe shoes are good for you (though I think they are) as there are already lots of websites talking about that.  I’m just going to let you know how they feel, as a first time wearer and what you might experience.

Fitting

Get fitted!  Then, double check the fitting because it’s the most important part.  VFF’s don’t use standard sizing, they go by European sizing but even then you need to actually try several pairs on.  No other shoe fits like these.  It literally needs to fit “like a glove” for comfort, and being off a single size in either direction will make them unwearable.

Also, make sure your toenails are trimmed when you try them on.  Yeah, even something as simple as that will matter.

Walking

If you just walk around the store in them it doesn’t seem too different.  You definitely feel more barefoot than walking around in regular shoes, but it’s not a feeling you’re unfamiliar with.  It’s probably similar to how you walk around at home most of the time.  You might notice you’re walking a bit differently than when you had your shoes on, but that’s normal.  With no heel drop and no padding, you’re walking such that your foot is absorbing the impact, not your shoe.

Running/Working out

I went for a four mile trail run the day after I got mine and didn’t have any problem at all.  One thing that helped was that I took my nephew along, so the pace was a lot slower, we took frequent breaks, and I didn’t over do it.  Nonetheless I managed to start a blister on the bottom of each big toe.  For some reason the shoe has a seem right there, and with the constant pushing off you’ll be doing in these shoes it created a hot spot.  Vibram recommends you start slowly in these things, like 1/10 of your normal mileage.  I suspect that’s to let your feet grow calluses on areas that never really had any contact or pressure before, encased as they were in traditional shoes.

I also did a bit of running on concrete and pavement, and some dynamic exercises on grass wearing them.  Running on concrete you DEFINITELY notice a difference.  Trail running hills led to a natural forefoot strike even in a regular shoe, so it wasn’t really all that different.  On flat concrete you could really feel the difference between a proper forefoot strike in the VFF’s and a heel-toe strike as in a traditional running shoe.  Heel-toe strikes in VFF’s are painful, and you feel the shock straight up through your heels, knees, hips, and spine.  A proper forefoot strike has very little impact, and isn’t uncomfortable at all.  If you intend to run on pavement of concrete, start slow… really slow and learn the proper foot strike.  It’ll come naturally, you just have to give your body time to adapt and let it become second nature.

By contrast to running on concrete working out in the grass was AMAZING.   I could really feel my toes gripping in, finding purchase in the soft ground.  I felt ‘connected’ to the ground in a way you really never do in shoes.  At the same time I was protected from sticks, rocks, and other debris that would have been uncomfortable in truly bare feet.

I did bear crawls, standing long jumps, burpee push-ups (jumping between), lunges, squats, and sprints.  All felt great in the VFF’s though it did take a little getting used to when landing.  Traditional shoes have a much larger heel, not only is it raised, but it’s also wider and more squared off, making a bigger surface to lean back on when landing from a jump.  With just the natural heel of the VFF you have to actually place the foot correctly or you’ll be off balance.  You’ll also notice you are using muscles in your foot and lower leg that normally don’t get much use.  This leads to my last thoughts,

The Day After

Quite often when working out, especially something new you don’t really feel it until the day after.  By them muscles have had time to swell up, get stiff, and generally make you think “I’ll never do that again.”  There was actually some of that with the VFF’s, but maybe because I didn’t push it too hard it wasn’t that bad.  I could definitely feel the muscles in my feet had been used.  Ha! I bet you didn’t even realize you HAD muscles in your feet!  In traditional shoes your foot is sort of a dumb club, just sitting there in a shoe designed to do all the work.  In VFF’s your foot has to retake that dynamic aspect it was meant to, flexing with terrain, stabilizing the upper body, and becoming that link with the ground that delivers and transmits all force from the body.  I could also feel some muscle use in the front of the shins, using muscles that had previously not been used much in traditional shoes.  Nothing was bad, in fact it was a great feeling realizing there were muscles all through my feet that were finally getting a workout.

Conclusions.

I had originally planned on just using my VFF’s for working out, something I do on average between 1-3 times a week.  I’m actually even more excited about working out since getting them, as the running and work on grass feels even better.  I’m also planning on wearing them out a lot more during regular activities too now, even to the point that I might buy another pair soon so I can have a dedicated work out pair, and another ‘casual pair’.

And so it begins...

Inspired by my friend Leia, I've started my own blog.  I'll be updating with my personal journey for health and fitness, discussing the Paleo/Primal lifestyle, my work out regime and training for the upcoming Tough Mudder SoCal.

I'm sure other aspects of my life will creep in here too, food, family, highland games, and the tech world.  Stay tuned!