Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day… The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.
- Seneca
Reflecting
Meditating on mortality need not be depressing. If anything it is an antidote to anxiety. Whatever I am worried about today matters if at all only in a flash of time for the rocks I run over and even the trees I run under. We are running towards our deathbeds. There is no time for delusion, ego, or cowardice. There is an urgency to deciding if something matters and either doing something about it or letting it go. If you care about something, now is the only time to do something about it. Go. Or at least get it on the calendar and book the trip. I don’t know if the fellow painted above lived a good life. Did he do consequential things and live a life of adventure? I hope he did without delay.
Training
This morning’s white board:
AMRAP 16
8 Barbell Bench 185 lbs. / bodyweight
12 Strict Pullups
40 DU’s
Tomorrow is a market holiday so I’m going to be able to squeeze in both a long trail run and a CrossFit WOD.
Fueling
Eggs in ham cups with a side of bacon:
Supplementing
Measuring
This week’s running plans:
Recovering
I’m crazy about my new Norda trail shoes. 10/10. Always have a change of shoes for right after an ultra. My approach/recovery shoe choice is also from Norda. Get something easy to get on and off because after enough miles it can be hard to tie them.
Closing
This week I volunteered to help some family friends prep for their first Spartan race. They have a strong baseline of fitness and are strong runners, so there’s plenty to work with. For your first Spartan Sprint, be comfortable running 3 miles within 20 minutes at a controlled heart rate. Work on grip strength with farmer carries, pull-ups, toes to bar, and dead hangs. Get comfy getting over and under. Over walls: dips. Under wire: bear crawl. Pick up an atlas stone properly – deep in a squat then dynamically lift it to your chest (not stomach). Train balance. I like a balance beam but love a slack line.
The specialized skill that you want to master before showing up is the rope climb. A good J hook allows you to use your legs and relax your arms. Remember that your legs could kick your arms’ ass (not that arms have asses). Get used to hooking at eye level then exploding upward dynamically and catching as high as possible. I’m 6’ tall and take out 10’ segments with each J hook. Spartan ropes are a bit thinner than CrossFit ropes, so buy one and train with it.
Gear: trail shoes not road running shoes. If you want to have fun crawling over gravel under barbed wire then you need padded arm sleeves, compression socks, and OCR gloves. That will maximize the fun. Do I have a spear for practicing the spear throw? Of course I do. But that is mostly because throwing spears is fun; it isn’t that hard so for a bit of practice you can get away with a broom handle and nail. If you haven’t already tried a Spartan race, then sign up here. It is more fun with friends. Once the elite athletes fly by, helping each other across obstacles is part of the culture so you can muddle through it better in a group. Please come back and comment if you try one!
"The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time".
Need to start each day with a quote like that.🙏🙏