Holy workout weekend. I completed my first workout from SEALfit.com, it certainly lived up to its expectations. I’m not sure it was the hardest workout I’ve ever done, but it was definitely in the top 3, never have I not wanted to pick up a bar so badly. The push press is what was killing me. You know a workout sucks when your favorite part is the burpees. It was more than twice as long as most of the CrossFit workouts I’ve been doing lately:

2 sets of
AMRAP 15 minutes:
12 push press 60#
9 sumo deadlift high pull
6 burpees
Run 1 mile between sets

Most of the time we stick to a single set of AMRAP 15 minutes. Anyways, it was really hard, but it felt great to finish a soul-crusher. Especially when I finished that first set of 15 minutes I thought I was through, but I managed to pull out almost the same effort during the second set. Good to know I have magical energy stored up somewhere deep inside. Did I mention that this is only one of three parts of a SEALfit workout? Yeah, I skipped parts one and two.

Sunday morning I got up way too early to get out to the trails by 7am. It was well worth it though, because by the very end of my 60 minute tempo it was starting to heat up, and I was already getting back into the air conditioned car! This run went about 100 times better than last weekend’s and was a good way to reset and get ready for another long one next weekend.

// photo of Kath, Me and Aubyn

In the words of Nate, "That was miserable, just miserable." I don't really feel the need to give a play-by-play of Saturday's 13.1 mile "time trial," but I did learn some valuable lessons:

1. If someone tells you there is water halfway through your run, take the 10 minutes to drive there and double check. Yes, we did find water, but had many panic moments thinking there wouldn't be any at mile 7.
2. Don't listen to the random man at the campground who is smoking weed and drinking beer telling you it's only 3 miles back down to the freeway.
3. Don't start a 13.1 mile run in the desert at noon.
4. When you feel nauseous at mile 1, maybe it's time to re-evaluate, and re-schedule for another day.

I'm sure there were more lessons that I am forgetting. Overall, that run was completely demoralizing and a general mind f***. It made me question entering the race at all, if it takes me 3:44 to go 13 miles, how the hell am I going to finish 33 miles in less than 9 hours (the cut off time).

It's two days later and I'm feeling much better, I've come to realize that run was an anomaly. Here's to a better time next weekend. I know it won't get worse than this.

Yesterday's run was seriously fun. I can't believe how little I thought about running and just looked at the view and focused on my footing. It didn't take us too long to get our first 4 miles down into Noble Canyon (about 40 minutes). I thought coming back up would take us at least double that time, but it only took us an hour to get back to the car. I'm so thankful we had a chance to run on the course and get some mileage on our feet. Now that I know that portion of the course it will make me feel great on race day to be able to recognize where I am and how far to the Penny Pines aid station.

So glad Susan was able to join us too!

Change of plans for next weekend... We were going to run the AFC half, but after feeling the altitude on this run we decided it would be smarter to do our 13.1 miles on the trails again. As a former Colorado girl, I forget that 5000 feet isn't 'normal' anymore. Maybe I should go live at home for the two weeks leading up to the race ;)

Found a blog from a great CF coach titled Barbells and Bacon. This guy is brilliant, and he has a post with some good weighlifting goals. I love this! I've never thought about making weightlifting goals for myself, I just like to PR ;). His list:

1. Snatch Bodyweight
2. Press Bodyweight
3. Double bodyweight squat.
4. 150% Bodyweight Clean and Jerk
5. Triple Bodyweight Deadlift

My progress on the list based on my current bodyweight of 130 ish.

1. Snatch Bodyweight - 58 pounds, 45% of goal
2. Press Bodyweight - 70 pounds, 54% of goal
3. Double bodyweight squat - 133 pounds, 51% of goal (of 260 pounds)
4. 150% Bodyweight Clean and Jerk - not sure of my c&j max, probably around 70 pounds about 36% of goal (of 195 pounds)
5. Triple Bodyweight Deadlift - 188 pound, 48% of goal (of 390 pounds)

So, a ways to go to get to these numbers, but it's nice to have an idea of long term goals.