My Tough Mudder Experience

Wow!  That was some experience.  This is a little lengthy as I go over the obstacles. 

I did Tough Mudder NorCal at Northstar in Tahoe.  I forgot about altitude while hiking.  Well forgot about it until I started walking after the start line.

Let's go back...our start time was 8:40a and we left the cabin at 7:30a.  We were 10 mins away and didn't expect the traffic we hit 3 miles from Northstar.  Once we got parked, shuttled over and went up a ski lift, then we hiked down to the registration area...it was well after 8:40a.  We all got our numbers on, faces marked and our before picture taken, we were ready.  We started at 9:40a.  Not too bad considering how many people were there.

First obstacle was after they said go but before the start line.  A wall to climb over.  Right away, people started helping everyone over.  I had heard everyone was nice and helpful for this event and I thought I would see it, didn't expect it so soon or on every obstacle like I did notice.

We had some hiking before we hit the first obstacle.  We also had about 1.5 miles of hiking straight with no obstacles sometime during the day.  I don't recall the obstacles it was between.  I just know that it took all I had to keep walking up that mountain.

Our first obstacle was named Kiss of Mud, we had to crawl through some mud with barb wire over top.  Had to stay low!

Next up was an obstacle where we climbed the ladder and jumped into water.  It was one of the scarier obstacles for me.  I FREAK out in cold water.  I jumped and just swam to the top as quickly as I could and then swam out of the way.  As I was coming up the cargo net, I yelled FUUUUCCCKKK to Joel as to let him know how cold I thought it was.

And then we had Arctic Enema.  An ice bath.  With a wooden plank in the middle where we had to swim under.  And then climb out on the other side.  Burrr!  I still remember how cold that one was.

I believe the gymnastic rings were here.  I grabbed the first one (according to pictures I grabbed it wrong and would never have made it) and fell into the water.  I had a little fun falling into the water here.  (Since water was going to be all over the place-I had to at least attempt to enjoy it.)

And then it was Boa constrictor time.  Just crawl through plastic tunnels with a mud puddle in the middle of them.  With barb wire on top of the mud puddle.  I had to slide like a snake through it.

And then the first of the Berlin Walls.  I'm so grateful for everyone's help over those walls.  Once I was lifted up, I grabbed the top, pulled myself the rest of the way and then just had to jump down.

And then we had electric eel.  Sliding like a snake again with live wires above.  Now there is water in this one and everyone feels everyone else's shocks.  I was really nervous about this one.  It was scary.  I made it through with a few of my own shocks and some from others.  Felt like a muscle twitch.

Next we had Hanging Tough.  We had to get across a body of cold water while balancing on a very thin piece of wood and it got thinner in the middle of the obstacle.  I made it halfway.  We noticed that those with vibrams or strong holds with their hands were able to make it across.

Trench warfare was next.  Just crawling in mud, in the dark underground.  It was a little like a maze but nothing too complicated.

A taller set of berlin walls was next.  Took me a few tries to get over the first one, with lots of help from others.

Next was one set of logs to get over.  I think there were three and you had to go over them.  Running jump!

Log bog jog was next.  Someone mentioned it felt like burpees, up-down under and then back up.

Next was to carry a fellow mudder 100 yards and then switch for another 100 yards.  I carried Joel the first 100 yards with only one rest.  And he carried me with no problem on his portion.

Next were the monkey bars.  I felt like I had no strength at this point to even attempt it.  I went ahead and jumped in the water and swam across.

And then we had mud mile.  Lots of mud puddles waist high with a couple of mud hills to climb over.

I don't remember if the cargo net was before or after the mud mile.  I have never really climbed a net before.  There were other mudders holding the bottom while you climbed up.  You held it while they climbed and then the person behind you held it while you climbed.  Across one net was like 4-5 people climbing at once.  I took the first side fast.  And then at the top, I realized the net started shaking and I didn't know how to get my foot over.  At this point, I got some help and some cheers from the crowd and got done successfully.  

After this was a set of wooden hurdles.  Don't remember the name of it.  I just ran and hopped over each one.

The 2nd to last obstacle was Mt Everst.  Run up a quarter pipe and have someone on top grab your hands/arms to help you up.  I successfully made it on the first try thanks to the strong guys pulling me up.

And then we have electroshock therapy.  Lots of live wires hanging down.  They sent a bunch of us all at once.  I covered my face and ducked down and ran as fast as I could.  I don't think I got shocked on that one.

I think I got all the obstacles.  Between my memory and looking at pictures, I don't think I missed one.

I am glad to have done the course.  I would say I was nervous about all the wrong things.  The hiking up the mountain was by far harder than anything else.

Tough Mudder 2013, anyone? 

Fitness Pinterest

As with everyone else, I'm obsessed with Pinterest.  I love reading all the fitness motivation posts.  So I thought I would share some of my favorite.

Always remember this!

 This is me after crossfit.  I'm incredibly shocked all the time.

 I need to remember this one and the one below it when I'm not wanting to really get out of bed to go for that run.

Wordless Wednesdays-Bootcamp Equipment

Tough Mudder

Um, I'm on my way to do Tough Mudder.

What's Tough Mudder you ask?  Oh you know...just 10-12 miles of like 25 obstacles that includes water, monkey bars, electricity and mud.  I'm sure I'll make it through.  Our group plans to stick together and just get it done.

So you know, when you are chatting with friends after a few drinks and one of them says, You are going to do the color run in SF, why not join me in Tahoe and do Tough Mudder.  I agreed then.  And am looking forward to it.  A little nervous as well.

I plan to do a full recap next week.  With as much as I can remember.  And I can't wait to see if there are any photos of our group.  Oh boy!

Row, row, row

I was so happy to go to crossfit yesterday at my normal time of 8a and have nothing to rush off to afterwards.

I didn't check the blog the night before so I did after I turned off the alarm.  Nothing was posted.  Thinking this is odd, I decided that I wanted 5 more minutes of sleep.  And that turned into 10 more minutes, having me rush to get out the door and to the box in time.

I made it just in time to foam roll a few spots on my legs.  And then we were warming up.  I glanced at the board for the WOD.  And there it was.

WOD:
Row 1k
rest 5 min
Row 500m

Ouch is all I thought of.  We had no lifting portion for today.  We warmed up a bit, practiced our handstands some more.  I'm thinking we'll have some handstand pushups in our future.

I didn't check to see if I had a time to beat.  I completely forgot to look at the board and looking through this blog and my google doc-I don't see a time.  Why wouldn't I have recorded it?  I'll check next week and compare the two.

And then we went over rowing.  Cues the coach might give and why.  We had to split up since we had 6 people in class and only 5 rowers.
My 1k time was 9:10. 
My quads were burning around 400m since I did a spin class yesterday.  I was so happy when I was done.  I just sat on the ground wincing in pain.

My 500m time was 4:01.
I wasn't ready but I had to do it. I was happy with this time, though I know I can do it better.  Soreness isn't an excuse.  I think I could have pushed more.  And listened to the cues better on how to improve my rowing stride.
Next time, row machine, next time.

Wordless Wednesday-crossfit a year ago

Oh me oh my

Friday was a great crossfit workout.  I coached from 5:30a to 7:30a and then headed over for my 8a crossfit workout. 

We did push press for the lifting portion of the workout.  And we had a great workout ahead of us.

WOD:

1 minute on, 30 seconds rest. 10 rounds.

sprint 80m

atlas stone carry for distance

I looked at the workout and dreaded the atlas stone carry.  I completed 7-80m walks with the stone in the 10 minutes.  560m with the atlas stone of 10(think it in the 40# range).  

I took each sprint as hard as I could.  Some were slower than others, particularly in the end.  And carrying objects is way harder than it looks.  It wears you out quickly.  The rest in between the rounds was very welcomed.  And felt too short.

This week along with my bootcamp classes that I'm teaching I have a spin + core class on Tuesday AM and I'm planning to go for a run this week...distance is undetermined.  And I have a crossfit workout on Wednesday.  And on Saturday I'm doing Tough Mudder.  I can't believe it's here and I'm actually doing it.  Can't wait!

Woot!

Today is the let's preorder iPhone 5 to get it on the 21st.

Also, I am teaching at 5:30a this morning so I was up a little earlier to put in my preorder.  You know, before the rest of California was awake.

I switched from blackberry to iphone in August 2011.  I have the iPhone 4.  It's been buggy lately, slow to respond.  Losing calendars and notes.  And a week ago my camera app decides it's taken it's last picture.  Fun, right?  You don't realize how many photos you take with your camera app until you can't.  Major bummer.  I didn't do a full restore since I knew the announcement was coming. 

In other news, we're heading to San Diego this weekend to watch the Titans take on the Chargers on Sunday afternoon.  Can't wait!!!

Work it Out

As you can see, I like to post some of the harder workouts on twitter with the hashtag of #workitout.  I know working out and eating a healthy diet is part of keeping a healthy and happy life.

I wasn't scheduled to teach on Wednesday so I signed up for a crossfit workout.  And then I realized our bootcamp was doing a Fit Test on the same day.  I went to crossfit at 7am and then bootcamp at 9am.  I did a double workout in 3 hours.  Needless to say, resting the rest of the day and Thursday is on the books.

WOD at Crossfit-we did deadlifts for the weightlifting part of the workout.
50 burpees
40 kb swings (14kg)
30 pull ups (modified with band)
Time: 10:12

This was brutal.  You know as soon as you get through these burpees everything else can be a piece of cake.  Though for me, pull ups are the hardest for me.  I did the burpess in sets of 10, with no real break during them.  I know once you stop, it's 10x harder to restart again.  The kb swings aren't that bad.  These were tough after all those burpees.  Now the pull ups are tough.  These don't get easier, no matter what I do.  I did them in sets of 5, and tried to increase the set to 6.  And then I would just try to get 3 or 4 in without taking a rest.

I was just so glad to be done with that workout.

Fit Test: there are 2 options, timed mile with timed exercises or the endurance test-10 sets of each: burpees, squats, push ups, and sit ups.  Then a lap around the park-maybe .5 mile.  For the endurance test, you go 2, 3, or 4 times and get your time at the end. 

Had I not done the workout before this, I would have gone 4 times.  On my 3rd lap, I knew I would significantly slow down if I continued.  I finished 3 rounds of the endurance test in 12:02.  Not too bad.  I also hadn't really run much since my half marathon which was a month ago. 

After we did the fit test, we had some stations with hurdles, TRX, jump ropes, tricep push ups and side kicks. 

I was completely spent after these workouts.  I came home and had a Smart Ones breakfast scramble and showered. 

Wordless Wednesdays-Katniss

Sushi for dessert

Last weekend we went to a sushi restaurant in SF.  We got the standard items: sake, hamachi, spicy tuna hand roll.  And we also got some rolls that were unique to this restaurant.

However, the one thing that stuck out was their dessert sushi.  Yes.  Dessert sushi.

They had a cookie dough roll.  Vanilla gelato with cookie dough on the outside and chocolate syrup drizzled on top.

Now, I don't order dessert.  Unless it's part of a tasting menu.  I don't have too sweet of a sweet tooth and I'd rather have a drink :) for those calories.  When the waitress mentioned this, everyone at the table were wondering the same thing, how many should we order.  There were 5 of us.  We ordered two!

Check it out!

Cupcakes

Joel bought me a small set of frosting tips a while ago.  I got a bug to bake on Wednesday evening and decided to use them.  Yes I was watching the opening NFL game while baking and I had a vodka tonic on the side. 

I found a recipe for small batch cupcakes (who needs 12 when you can make 8?) from Dollhouse Bake Shoppe.  So since the cupcakes were vanilla, I knew the frosting had to be orange.  Go Vols!

I went to the grocery to grab all the ingredients and some dinner and I was off.  The recipe was really simple, though softening the butter is very important.  And I didn't use 1 cup of anything, it was all in smaller measurements.  And being precise is key.  I did end up having to make 2 batches as I overfilled the first ones and they overflowed the tin.  Good thing I had 3 eggs when I started :)

For the frosting, I followed the directions on the food coloring to make orange.  I did put in two sets of the drops though.  I really wanted the orange to stand out.  And of course, shaping them in the T was very important.  Can't wait to taste one.

Friends, Food, Drinks! Oh my!

We headed up to Napa Valley for the weekend for a fabulous wedding.  We first got to our hotel on Saturday afternoon and decided to explore a bit through geocaching.  We found 5-6 caches before calling it an afternoon and heading into the hotel bar for a drink.  We ended up playing cards at the bar for a couple of hours before deciding on heading to Morimoto for dinner that night.  Our reservation was at 10:30pm.  Too late for the omikasa.  Still a great place to dine.

The wedding was gorgeous.  At each table for dinner there was a bottle of Vodka on each table.  And we had cocktail hour before and right after the ceremony.  Needless to say, I was so glad we had a shuttle back to the hotel. At each place setting was 2 wine glasses, champagne glass, water glass and a shot glass.  Dinner was amazing-check out this menu

We danced the night away. And made our way back for brunch the next morning.  It was so great to have a bloody mary on Monday AM.

After the wedding, we headed to Golden Gate Park to do some geocaching before heading to a bar to watch the GA Tech game.  We were there with a friend that went to GA Tech.  The vibe in the bar was amazing....until it went into overtime.  We headed to sushi for dinner in SF and then came home.

Overall it was a great weekend mixed with friends, good food, games, geocaching and drinks.  Can't complain.

Wordless Wednesdays-Brunch