Impr-YOU-vement

I have taken 15 hot yoga classes. Since then my abs have become visible, I have lost zero pounds, and I've been able to increase my total weekly exercise load. Today I did an OCR workout at the gym for the first time in a while, and I noticed huge improvement in a few things. 

Started with 5 minutes of grip strength in the form of hanging from the high pullup bar in the squat rack. There are rails on either side of the squat rack that I can plant my feet on so I can either wedge myself in (possibly going hands-free for a break) or I can at least take some weight off my hands to make the hanging a bit easier. Normally I've needed to drop to the ground a few times during this 5 minute span just to get a break. Not today, Satan! (tm Bianca Del Rio, if ya don't know, Google it.) I was able to stay up either with just my hands or with a foot assist for the full 5 minutes. I didn't even need to spend much time hands-free propped. BOOM.

I also do a 5-minute segment where I prop myself in between the rails of the smaller squat rack, kind of hovering my body from child's pose up into downward dog and such. It's a great isometric workout. Naturally, 15 sessions of yoga have greatly improved my ability to hold myself up. I also managed to get one leg on each rail and do some held squats that surely made every 25-year-old dude on that side of the room go "what the actual F is that lady doing?" To which I would have responded, "GODDESS SQUATS!" 

The other improvements I have made might not be directly credited to hot yoga, but it probably didn't hurt. I have gotten far more fluid and faster at the belly crawl. If needed, I could pull myself across the entirety of the gym using just my arms. I got up and down the stairs one extra time in my 5 minutes (16 times, rather than 15) with my 15-lb medicine ball in hands. My leg plyometrics have gotten more solid and my body feels dang near bulletproof. Injury prevention is and always has been my number one priority, as it must for any athlete. It feels like the training is working.

Going into race season, confidence is critical. Find activities that make you feel strong and do them often. Find activities that help you recover and do them often. Protect your body with modifications, rest days, and proper nutrition. Races are expensive and you don't want to lose out on the fees with a DNS (did not start). Write everything down so you can see measured improvement. Be better. Be your best. (Don't "Be Best," though, that is Melania's tragedy, not yours!)

Nutrition for Maximum Performance and Maximum Sanity

Not to brag, but I am pretty good at dieting. When I am on, I am on. For a little while. Then I fall off the wagon and, in the past, have rebounded spectacularly and suddenly I'm wondering how all these fast food receipts got into my purse in only 48 hours. What these incidents all have in common is they occur when I focus on my weight rather than on my performance. Trying to lose a lot of weight as quickly as possible is a mistake and your psyche is more likely to rebel.

In this last, and most successful, attempt at getting my weight stable and under control, I basically took it into three phases.

Phase 1: May-June 2017. I was at a high weight of 185 and decided I needed to drop as many pounds as possible before my first Spartan race (Lambeau Stadium, end of June). In 5 weeks I got down to 174 through very diligent calorie-counting and restriction to approximately 1700 calories a day. This is low for my size (5'11") but not so low as to be unsustainable for about a month.

Phase 2: July - October 2017. In this phase I was in no real hurry since I didn't have any more OCRs on my calendar and therefore wouldn't need to haul my body weight around. I took my calories up to about 1900 a day and worked on my walking fitness, while at the same time slowly building an OCR base of calisthenics, grip strength, and muscular endurance. During this phase I got down to about 164 lb very gradually.

Phase 3: November 2017 - present. I am still losing weight at a rate of approximately 1 lb a month, while eating around 2200-2300 calories a day. My goal is to maintain and build muscle mass while very slowly burning fat. With this diet I never feel deprived and no foods are "off limits," in fact I eat whatever I want to and can still lose weight thanks to the discipline I built in phases 1 and 2.

Everyone is different and no diet is perfect for every single body, but there are some basic principles one must follow to successfully lose weight over the long-term. I recommend these particular strategies for everyone.

1) Log your calories in and out. I use the app Lose It, but others use My Fitness Pal or other apps. There are ways to look up or scan your individual foods, but I personally tend to fall into disordered patterns when I do that, so I use approximately 15 years of calorie-counting experience to accurately estimate and total up my meals and snacks and just log the calories.

2) Get a food scale. This is critical for the aforementioned accuracy of one's calorie estimates. It is quite easy for me to measure out, for example, 100 grams of Frosted Mini Wheats (which I know is 350 calories) or to weigh a piece of fruit and just Google however many calories are in it. If there are foods that I don't know the counts, or I don't know exactly how big a portion I'm having, weighing it helps.

3) Avoid caloric beverages. I drink a lot of water, probably 100 oz a day. If I'm not drinking water, I'm having coffee with a bit of sugar-free creamer, or Diet Coke, or occasionally a glass of chocolate milk. Getting most of your fluid from regular soda, juice, frappuccinos, or god forbid, BOOZE is a massive mistake for weight management.

So those are my tips for everybody, and here are my basic eating principles that help support my training and general health.

A) I eat a lot of fiber. I really focus on it. I eat at least 35 grams of fiber every single day. When you work to eat at least two high-fiber (10+ grams) meals or snacks every day, your digestive health will thank you and you will feel more satiated. High fiber foods also tend to be fairly healthy with micronutrients.

B) Increase protein. I buy a dozen eggs and boil them on Sunday so I'll have an easy high-protein snack in the fridge all week. This is fantastic for muscle recovery. Any high-protein food will do.

C) If I'm craving it, eat it, in sensible portions. Sometimes I want some McDonalds. Instead of a value meal, I'll get a McChicken with no mayo and a small fries for 550 calories, which is a totally delicious lunch. If I want a cupcake from the bakery, I'll eat it, especially if I've worked out twice today. If you're at a big deficit for the week and you want dinner at Olive Garden, go! "Unhealthy" foods can fit just fine into a healthy lifestyle, since it's not like you eat massive quantities of crap all the time and don't exercise. This is how to maintain sanity. Do not ban any particular foods from your life unless you are allergic or they are a major trigger food for you (some folks can't eat just one or a few of something. This is why I no longer buy Fruit Rollups).

D) Don't proselytize, don't self-punish, don't talk endlessly about what you can and cannot eat. (That is boring shit. This blog post is basically it for me, y'all.) At the end of the day, one's diet is only one component of their training, and it's not the most vital part of performance. If you have a shitty day, don't beat yourself up and don't whine about it. Do better next time. It's a series of choices that you make every day. Choose to support your training with (mostly) healthy ones.

A Week In The Life Of A Spartan

This week was a fairly typical week for me. Let's break it down.

Monday morning: Cycling class, 50 minutes. Covered 15.7 miles, legs didn't have much speed but those hills, gurl. I'm getting fitter.
Monday evening: Group personal training, 50 minutes. I lead a small group through a workout that's mostly circuit weight training with some cardio calisthenics mixed in. Not a lot of rest periods for ol' Clare.

Tuesday morning: I go to the Rec Center to bang out 90 minutes on the elliptical, but the network is down so I can't log into Netflix. Since my legs felt completely dead anyway, I decided to take a REST DAY, and this was no big loss. Went home and felt the lactic acid settling in for the long haul. Uh oh.

Wednesday morning: Hot yoga, 1 hour. Wednesday's instructor always kicks my ass!
Wednesday evening: Group personal training, 1 hour. Low weight, high reps. In that hour I probably did about 1000 reps. Appropriate, because "muscular endurance" seems to be one of the top two attributes I will need to finish my Spartan Beast (the other one being "cardio endurance").

Thursday morning: Running (and a bit of walking) 7.4 miles at my favorite lake, and doing a total of 24 passes of monkey bars along the way. This took me just under 1.5 hours and was extremely tiring. My run fitness is improving, thankfully, but it still isn't great! Have bruises on my lower legs from all the pounding.

Friday morning: Elliptical at the Rec Center, 35 minutes. This was as long as I could last without Netflix, y'all. How is it STILL not working?!
Friday evening: Group personal training, 55 minutes. Another high-rep day.

Saturday morning: Hot yoga, 1 hour. Usually Saturday's instructor plays more to my strengths, but my legs were having some trouble today. Holding those lunges made my hip flexors cramp up, and there were a TON of lunges. Had to stand up and pound the cramps out of my hips several times. Instructor afterward told me she felt bad for me, LOL.

Sunday (tomorrow) REST DAY!

Race Recap: UIVA Warrior Challenge

UIVA Warrior Challenge 4/22/18 Coralville, IA

Weather: High 40s, sunny

Trails: Mix of grass and concrete/asphalt

Distance: 5K, 8 obstacles

Started the spring/summer race season with a small, local 5K urban obstacle race that benefits the University of Iowa Veterans Affairs. The course is 5K on a combination of grassy paths/fields, local recreation trails, and sidewalks/parking lots. I arrived at around 7:45 AM for a 9 AM start (packet pickup ends at 8:30 AM, which is odd). The parking situation isn't ideal, as the designated lot was a 5-minute (fast) walk from the start area, but there were certainly enough spaces for everyone and it was free. Pickup itself was smooth and the swag was plentiful. Got coozies, sunglasses, a Bears lanyard (I HATE the Bears, but I can give it away), a technical fabric t-shirt, and a dog tag, along with my bib and chip. At a meeting just before race start, the course was totally explained to us. There would be no surprises today! Waves were being sent off with 12 people every 90 seconds. I think they were organized by sign-up order because I signed up quite early and was in wave 1. Highly recommended!

Race started on time in a grassy field, where we encountered our first obstacle, a balance beam of zig-zagging 4x4s that had only a slight wobble. From there we ran through grass to the next obstacle about 1/4 mile away, which was a low crawl under plastic netting (about 2' high) for about 40 feet. Thankfully I practice crawls and was quite fast. Then we had to run through a small field of tires for about 40-50 feet before getting onto a recreation trail and going up a VERY steep hill to a parking lot which held two obstacles. First was a double sandbag carry out and back to a line, for a total of only about 50 meters. The sandbags weighed about 25 total pounds, making this quite easy. Then was a tire flip where we had to flip a tire about 10 times to another part of the lot. The tire weighed about 150 lb and was very easy to flip. Neither of these obstacles had male vs female distinctions - everyone carried the same sandbags and flipped the same tires. Compared to Spartan male tires, this would feel extremely easy.

From the parking lot we continued on the trail to a low and high wall. The lone water stop was at this point (they handed out bottles to anyone who wanted one) so I knew we were halfway done. The low wall was about 4.5 feet high and I actually had a bit of difficulty trying to get over it without screwing up my shirt (we had to pin bibs to our fronts and I did NOT want to risk ripping my lucky Packers tank top!). The high wall was around 9 feet high and had boards going up to climb up, making it fairly easy. At the top I had to figure out how to get my feet up and over, but from there it was an easy grab-and-drop to the ground and keep on running. This was the longest continuous running stretch, about a mile straight and mostly downhill. Easy to coast! It was on this stretch of road that I finally got caught by a woman. I was pleased by my front-running abilities :)

Near the University of Iowa football complex we finally came across another obstacle - 2 A-frame walls in a row, both about 12 feet high with about a 75-degree pitch. There were 2x4 boards nailed across the walls in a sort of ladder/step that was easy to climb up and over as long as you made sure where to place your feet. In these two walls I put some distance between me and the ladies in my wave (I had been doing that on all the obstacles, actually - training pays off!). I needed a bit of a walk break though, and they caught me going into the next obstacle, which was a paracord maze that resembled the way a jewelry store might have lasers crossing the room in all directions to sound an alarm. This was trickier than it looked! I almost tripped several times and got a cramp in my abs that thankfully eased up as soon as I got through. Also thankfully, I managed to keep my gap with the other gals in my wave! So far only one chick had passed me in this race! 

The paracord maze was the last obstacle, leaving about 1/2-mile run to the finish, which was again largely downhill (we got to go back down that VERY steep hill that we climbed up earlier). On the downhill I was passed by a pack of 3 sprinting ladies. All good front-running must come to an end when wave starts happen! I was determined to run all the way to the finish and I did. I estimate that I only walked about 10% of the distance of this race, total, and most of those walks were uphill. My finish time was 36:20, which was in the top half of females in this race and far better than my goal of "under 40 minutes." Apples, bananas, bagels and water were available for finishers.

Pros:

-Small. It's nice to do a race that isn't crowded. The wave start was well done and I liked the fairness of having people start based on their sign-up date. I never had to wait to do an obstacle and never felt like the trails were congested. 

-Price. The race cost me $40 because I signed up early, and it's nice to be able to practice on some obstacles and know that part of my entry went to a good cause.

-Swag. Liked that they had some different offerings, like sunglasses and a lanyard (even if the Bears are evil incarnate).

Cons:

-No bells and whistles. No bag check, no finisher medal, no photographers. If you require these features, look elsewhere.

-Few obstacles. There were only 8. They were good, basic obstacles but presented very little challenge for people accustomed to the difficulty of, say, Spartan or Abominable Snow Race. That would be a pro, though, for total beginners or fairly untrained participants.

Race Grade: B. With only 8 obstacles it is more of a runner's event (I am a bad runner), and there aren't tons of amenities, but it is a quality race and a good way to spend a Sunday morning!

Finding a "Fitness Test" Workout

I have discovered a fabulous format for an obstacle race workout at my local lake trail. This particular loop is 1.25 miles and has 4 large metal rigs with monkey bars, dip bars, and box jump platforms that can give you a versatile workout. Today's workout was not super versatile, but it was super effective.

Loop 1: speed round, jog as much as possible; do every pass of monkey bars, then continue immediately. 16 minutes.

Loop 2: get a 20-lb sandbag, carry it around the loop. Drop it for every pass of monkey bars, then continue immediately. 19:50.

Loop 3: another speed round, same as loop 1. 16 minutes.

Loop 4: weighted, same as loop 2. 19:25 (faster than loop 2!).

Total workout time: 1:11:15 for 5 miles.

This workout will serve as an excellent fitness test. Not only does it test basic obstacle race skills, it also requires a fair amount of stamina. The plan is to do this same workout every now and then, with the hypothesis being that my time would improve every time I do it. This workout format is an excellent skeleton to apply to my Trifecta training as well. I can add calisthenics, burpees, broad jumps, crawls, or other "obstacles" to the loops easily. Carrying the sandbag around the lake will make the much shorter carries of Spartan races feel easier.

I highly recommend regularly (every other month, at least) doing a standard fitness test workout. It's a great way to gauge your progress and keep you motivated!

Gender in OCR

Obstacle course races are a sausage-fest. There's no use denying it. Men typically outnumber women 2- or 3-to-1 at any given race, and sometimes the ratio is even more skewed. Because the origins of obstacle course racing are steeped in military training, it's easy to see why it attracts a lot of men who want to prove themselves physically capable without making, you know, a military commitment.

So there's lots of dudes out there. The obstacles are mostly biased towards male strengths, let's be honest. Good technique will get you up a rope, but so will brute upper body strength. The average fit man can do maybe 10 pullups, and the average fit woman can do...zero. So why should women do OCR?

What I love about obstacle racing is, even though it is male-dominated, it is extremely respectful of women. The men who participate in these events have a clear admiration of women who participate, and it shows in the way they behave toward women on the course. Men are oddly protective of us ladies out there. And not in a condescending, "oh, the little girl can't get up the wall, let a big strong man help you" kind of way. It's genuine. There's care there. There is a mutual respect as an athlete. These guys are stopping or stalling their own race to help us out on the obstacles where there is a clear male bias and the men are physically able to help (tip: men won't get you up a rope). The camaraderie is real. Women become part of the brotherhood.

On the obstacles, a woman by herself can basically *expect* male assistance, and here's the best part...the guy will expect absolutely nothing in return. It can be such a breath of fresh air, sadly, for a woman to receive aid, be able to say "thank you," and have that be the end of the obligation. Again, it comes down to that mutual respect, that unspoken acknowledgment that "yeah, I'm a man, I know this is freakin' hard for women, I'm here to help level the playing field by sacrificing my fast time."

Let's look at the basic types of obstacles to see what I mean.

1) Grip strength: obviously, men have the advantage, despite weighing more.
2) Climbing: again, heavier weight, but natural upper body strength 2-3x greater than women.
3) Heavy carries: women generally are required to carry about 2/3rd the weight men are, which helps equalize. For tire flips, a power move, the women's tires are half the weight of men's.
4) Crawls: actually, women might be slightly better at these, because of our smaller stature (usually, haha) and low center of gravity.
5) Calisthenics/burpees: men usually are better at these. VO2 Max, and all that.

So women, if you are considering OCR but are intimidated by some of these obstacles, remember that racers take care of each other out there. If there are somehow no dudes around when you get to an 8-foot wall, you can always form a posse of ladies and haul each other up. Every skill I listed above can be improved upon. Even if you aren't as strong as a man physically, you can still crush a course.

And men: keep helping us if we ask. It's chivalrous.

O.C.R. Puff'n Stuff

Saturday: The Abominable Snow Race! See my last post for my recap. Wow, what a day! I feel like a warrior goddessa!

Sunday: Oof. I have been hit by some sort of bus. Municipal, perhaps school. My ass is bruised everso. I have gained 2 pounds.

Monday: OOF. I maybe was hit by a train. A coal train, by the looks of these bruises all over my arms and legs. Holy god, things are cramping. I need to use the elliptical for 30 minutes and stretch, but I can barely get my arms over my head. I have gained another 2 pounds, for a total of 4 pounds. At least I am no longer on prednisone.

Tuesday: Dear lord. Will the soreness never cease? At least my cough has eased up a bit today. I discovered a new bruise on my left tricep that will be pointed out to me by concerned onlookers in the week to come. I went on the elliptical for 75 minutes while watching Fuller House on Netflix, then stretched. Made a lot of noise, trying to get my arms over my head. I have gained another 2 pounds, for a total of 6 pounds.

Wednesday: DEAR LORD. I have gained another 2 pounds, for a total of 8 pounds. I honestly didn't think it was physically possible for a female, even a jacked one like myself, to gain this much water weight unless on an IV drip at the hospital. Feeling puffy AF, as the kids say. My bruises continue to darken. Fortunately I start peeing a lot in the afternoon and evening. Perhaps I have reached the weight-gain apex. My soreness is slightly downgraded to a mere "ouch."

Thursday: I have lost 5 of the 8 pounds that I gained overnight, praise heaven. Unfortunately my sinuses are now trying to kill me. Perhaps I will lose another pound of mucus. Thank goodness I didn't feel this lousy on race day.

Friday: I have now lost 7 of the 8 pounds that I gained. I still cannot raise my arms over my head without making loud squeaking sounds like a strangled hamster.

Saturday: I have lost all of the excess weight and now wince instead of squeak. I have so much mucus in my stomach that I feel exceedingly nauseous.

Sunday: I am 2 pounds lighter than I was on race day. Mucus is still out of control, but my arms function at last. But the bruises may last forever. Then again, so will the glory. Training resumes next week!