Officially a Tough Mudder!

You may notice that I've removed the words "In training" from my blog title.  I never wanted to misrepresent myself.  So until now, I've been a Tough Mudder in Training.  Today, I am officially a Tough Mudder.  And I have the headband to prove it:

But you didn't just come for the finish, you want to know the pain and torment I went through don't you?  Well, here goes.  So, a little background. I've been training for this for about four months.  My friend Allen Benningfield decided to do this event and wanted someone to do it with him.  Allen and I served together in Iraq back in 2005.  I wanted to do something for my 30th year alive and really wanted to push the limits.  So I found Tough  Mudder and thought it fit the bill.  Extreme, unique, fun, and fulfilling.  So Tough Mudder, VA was what we did.  This is the map of Tough Mudder, VA, thanks to McAlister Drive, via Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150884339965416.750042.500040415&type=3#!/photo.php?fbid=10150361015709361&set=o.121520047789&type=1&theater

So, I'll start from the beginning.  The guy DJing the start was awesome.  He was funny, encouraging, and serious all at the same time. He told us what we needed to know, but still took time to have a little fun.  Here's a video of me and Allen Benningfield at the start.  I'm right behind the first row, on the left side of the announcer, wearing a red shirt, with a white circle on the back.  You'll see me jumping up and down just before we start. 

I'll go through each obstacle one at a time:

1. Braveheart Charge- This is pretty straightforward, you run down a slight slope and start the race.  But it couldn't be that easy.  They had those snow-making machines spraying water on the course and as I turned to go up the hill, I slipped, a mere 100 yards into the course.  I recovered really quickly, which was good, because there were 500 people running behind me. 

2. Berlin Walls- Funny thing about these walls, they were at the top of a very large hill.  This was our first wake-up call.  Everyone went charging out of the gate.  We weren't more than a quarter of a mile down the course and we hit this hill.  Everyone started running up it, and everyone- I mean everyone ended up walking by the time we hit the Berlin Walls.  Allen and I quickly got over them- they were 10 feet high, but we were already sucking wind as we ran down the other side of the hill.

3. At the bottom of the hill/mountain was The Gauntlet.  Again, they had a snow-making machine spraying water and several rows of baled hay we had to climb over.  But we quickly climbed over them to find ourselves climbing back up the mountain!

4. At the top of this hill/mountain was the Devil's Beard.  This was a cargo net laying on the ground, so after taking our turn holding up the opening, Allen and I crawled the 40 or so feet under the net to hold up the exit. 

5. After the Devil's Beard, we ran up to the top of the hill and started back down it, into a section where, if it hadn't been so congested, we might have been able to run a little.  Then it was more downhill to Hold Your Wood.  Here, we grabbed a log and climbed what looked like the Bunny slopes, carrying our logs.  This was the first time we saw Julie and Job, who had come for moral support.  Once up the hill, we went back down it to drop off our logs.

6. After grabbing water and some energy chews that were offered to us, we headed to Funky Monkey.  Believe it or not, this was the one obstacle I wasn't sure I was going to make it across without falling into the water.  But I made it and so did Allen. 

7. We then ran through the woods and the Log Bog Jog.  It's pretty self-explanatory.

8. Then there was Twinkle Toes.  This is the kind of obstacle that is just sort of pure chance.  Sometimes you'll do fine, other times, you just eat it.  I went across first, and got to the middle and the whole thing started shaking.  I wobbled back and forth and finally just gritted my teeth and started moving again.  Once I got away from the center, I was good, and made it across without getting wet. 



Me watching Allen cross Twinkle Toes



Me, blissfully unaware that this is the last moment I'll be dry on the whole course.

9. Up to this point, Allen and I have both made it along the course without getting too wet.  A little spray from the snow-makers, but we've managed to not get submerged.  Then came Chernobyl Jacuzzi.  These were those 30 ft long commercial dumpsters, filled with dyed water and tons (literally tons) of ice.  There was a beam going across the middle of the dumpster that forced you to submerge into the icy bath.  I can say with all honesty that this was the single most uniquely painful and weird feeling I've ever experience.  As soon as my body hit the water/ice, shock waves just overcame me.  I jumped in and immediately submerged, moved forward underwater enough to know I was clear of the beam and popped up out of the ice.  The blood vessels in my head and my entire body immediately yanked blood away into my core and it felt like the worst brain-freeze imaginable.  It was all I could do to run to the end of the dumpster.  I was sucking in air like I was on the moon.  And I felt like I couldn't move.  At the time, I thought I only made it out because I was pulled out, but seeing the video, I actually jumped out of the ice pretty high.  But I know people grabbed me and pulled me out.  And the water was so cold that once I was fully out, I felt incredibly warm in the 50 degree air outside.  I stayed and helped about three guys get out and then Allen and I moved on.

This is video of Allen and I jumping into Chernobyl Jacuzzi

10. So now were were wet.  As long as we kept moving, we didn't feel cold, but once we got to the Spiders Web, we had to wait for people to climb over before we could keep moving and it got rather chilly.  We climbed over quickly, took our turn holding the net taut for others and then moved on. 

I'm the one in the red shirt with the white circle, Allen is to my right.

11. We ran down hill and came across my favorite obstacle: Greased Lightning.  Allen and I decided to go down this head first, and it was worth it.  At first, it looks like they just put down regular black plastic, but as you slide down, you realize it's really thick and I didn't feel any rocks or anything going down it.  It was a really long slide and honestly, provided a nice bit of relief and fun.  It was still extreme, which makes it fit into Tough Mudder perfectly.

12. Further down the hill, we hit the Boa Constrictor.  These were two pipes sloped into a pit of water.  Cold water.  They lined them with the same smooth plastic, so it wasn't as hard on my knees as I worried it would be. 

13. We continued even further down the hill until we reached the Underwater Tunnels.  I think these would have been more intimidating if it hadn't been for the Chernobyl Jacuzzi.  After Chernobyl, the other water obstacles were mere shadows of water obstacles.  I liked that.  I think mentally, getting that out of the way early made the other obstacles easier to overcome.  That being said, having to traverse 30 feet of freezing water and ducking under four different beams, submerging yourself again and again, was difficult enough.  I'm just saying, it was no Chernobyl.

14. And then it appeared.  Like a hurricane waiting to devour everything in it's path.  There was no way around it, no one would evade it.  The Death March.  This was the single most difficult obstacle on the course.  The beauty and brutality of this obstacle is this: it didn't matter how many marathons, burpees, squat lifts, or sprints you'd done, no one- absolutely no one ran up this mountain.  And it was a mountain.  I don't know the incline, but I measured the distance on Google Earth and it was over .6 miles.  Straight up a mountain!  

15. According to the map, Cliff Hanger was supposed to be somewhere along the Death March, but they may have removed it from the course. 

16. At the top of the Mountain, the Kiss of Mud was between the Death March and an aid station.  Here, you had to crawl underneath barbed wire and through mud.  But it was a relief after having just climbed up the mountain.

17. We did some push ups with the guy at the aid station, grabbed some water and a banana and finally got to really run for the first time on the course.  And run we did- right by our condo.  Right by our trucks parked in the parking lot.  This section of the course was the flattest we had experienced, and it was five miles into the course!  The next obstacle was Tired Yet.  It was simply a bunch of tires you had to run through.

18. We ran some more and hit Logjammin'.  These were a series of logs that you had to alternatively climb over or under.  Here is where we saw our first casualty.  A girl must of slipped on the log and twisted her leg pretty bad.  Her teammates were carrying her off to the side.  I couldn't help but feel really bad for her since she had made it through the toughest of the course and over half the course only to get hurt on something relatively easy.

19. The next obstacle was really close- Bale Bonds.  This was just a big stack of hay bales we had to climb over.

20. Then it was a lot of running through the golf course to the last set of Berlin Walls.  These were 12 feet tall and not easy to get over.  You definitely needed a boost to get over them, but we both got over them quickly.

21. Then we had the longest stretch without an obstacle.  It was probably close to a full mile without one.  Most of it was through the golf course, which allowed us to make up valuable time.  Finally, we hit the "Mystery Obstacle", which was the Smoke Tunnel.  This was my least favorite obstacle.  Basically, you climbed up about 12 to 15 feet, and dropped into a smoke-filled slide.  The problem I had with this was that it was completely vertical until the last 4 or 5 feet.  It wasn't "Tough" or fun, it was just painful.  I got banged and scrapped up on the stupid thing.  I just found it obnoxious.  It was the one obstacle I suggested Tough Mudder never use again.

22. We then ran about halfway back down the mountain, through some woods and came across the Kinky Tunnels.  I'm a bit claustrophobic, but throughout the course, Tough Mudder always left enough room to crawl through on your hands and knees.  The Kiss of Mud might be the exception.  But if you've ever been in the military, you know a low crawl when you see one, and never once did we have to do a true low crawl.  Which honestly, was nice.  Kinky Tunnels was an obstacle that you had to crawl through where you couldn't see the daylight ahead of you because of the bends in the tunnels.  But even I didn't get too claustrophobic from it, so it wasn't too bad.

23. From here, we ran part of the way back down the mountain alongside the people doing the Death March.  It was hard on the knees to run back down that mountain, but you were just thankful you weren't on the other side going up the damn thing again.  We ran through some woods and came out to a ton of spectators cheering us on.  But there it was- another damn hill.  We climbed the hill and hit Shake and Bake.  Basically, exactly like Kiss of Mud, but sand instead of mud. 

24. Then we hit Turds Nest.  This was a suspended cargo net that you had to traverse while someone was spraying you with a fire hose.  It was different, but not difficult.

25. Then came Everest.  This is a quarter pipe about 12 or 15 feet high.  When Allen and I got there, there were about 300 people standing at the bottom of the damn thing standing around looking at it.  I had seen photos from previous events where people made human ladders to get over the obstacle.  So I told Allen about it, and we walked up to the bottom of the thing, sat down and formed a ladder.  We tried to convince other people to add on, and got on guy to join.  But then people started trying to run up and then push off of our three-person ladder and it didn't work.  So the three photos that were taken of both Allen and I on Everest is just us basically setting up the ladder.  Instead of running and summiting it.  Thanks a lot.  Needless to say, we gave up the whole teamwork thing and Allen ran up the quarter pipe and was over it on his first try.  Then I tried and fell the first time.  The second time, I grabbed two guys at the top and they pulled me over.  I stayed at the top and helped two guys over.  Then a huge guy who was about 6'4, 280 lbs came barrelling up the pipe. I grabbed his hand and arm and started to pull, but the guy who had grabbed his left hand let go.  Thankfully the Hulk let go of me, or he would have easily pulled me back down the pipe.  I helped one more guy up and then he took my place at the top.

26. We ran a short distance and hit the Firewalker.  This was tough because you're catching your breath from sprinting up Everest and all you're doing is sucking in smoke.  But you know the end is so close, you just don't care.

27. And then you hit another freaking ski slope!  But you can see the start and hear the after party.  Just when you think you're at the end, they run you back down the slope, away from euphoria and back up the slope again. The whole time, spectators are riding the damn ski lift above you.  Finally, we came to Electroshock Therapy.  This was the obstacle that held the most anxiety for me.  It was the most unknown factor.  There was a fountain of water just before it that you had to run through.  If the finish line had not been right there, and tons of people standing around looking at us, I might have stood there for a minute to psych myself up.  But it was the end, and there were a ton of people.  So we just ran through it.  Allen ran in front of me.  I saw him react slightly to a jolt, but as I ran through, I felt....nothing.  It was somewhat of a disappointment, but I didn't have the energy or the inclination for disappointment because the finish line was right in front of me. 

Allen and I ran across the finish line together and were greeted by women with the coveted orange Tough Mudder sweatband.  Then there was a smorgasbord of goodies.  Dos Equis beer, Myoplex recovery drink, water, Clif bars, and our Tough Mudder t-shirts!

Julie and Job met us at the end, we drank our beers, took in a few minutes of the glory and headed up to the condo for a nice hot shower.  I didn't realize just how cold I was until after I had taken a shower.  I came out, shivering like crazy.  I put tons of clothes on and it took me about 5 minutes to finally stop shivering. 

Stay tuned, I hope to have some more photos once Tough Mudder posts their official photos of the event.  And I'm going to try to put together a video montage of the whole event. 

As an aside: the only equipment I purchased for the event were my New Balance Minimus shoes.  This event was truly the Gauntlet and these shoes performed above and beyond my expectations.  They gave me traction when I needed it, protected my feet, and self-drained water each time they were submerged.  I never sloshed around.  I had absolutely no hot spots.  I never had to re tighten or retie them.  They were absolutely superb.  And despite having run the furthest ever on them- 9 miles, I didn't have nearly the joint pain I had experienced on shorter 6- mile runs.  So I think the issue with my knees was from training on concrete and asphalt less than the shoes themselves. 



Pre-event Successes

Obviously this whole experience has been in an effort to complete Tough Mudder.  That happens this Sunday, in Wintergreen, VA.  My start time is at 9:20am, with Big Bible Benningfield and 498 other people.  But I had other goals, reasons why I signed up for Tough Mudder in the first place. 

1. Do something crazy in my 30th year on this earth.
2. Lose some weight.  On my 30th birthday, I weighed in at 201. 
3. Get fit, feel better about myself. 
4. Get out and do some of the things I've wanted to do: bike trips, camping trips, hiking, etc.

So, it's been four months since I signed up for Tough Mudder and just under seven since my 30th birthday and here I am.  I've got three days until the event, but as the tyrant Abraham Lincoln once said: "It's not the destination, but the  journey that matters."  (PS: Lincoln never said that)  So what has the journey yielded?

1. I'm now weighing in at 188 lbs, 13 lbs below my highest recorded weight.  And I'm weighing in at that weight consistently, occassionally lower.  So that's over 3 lbs per month lost.  
2. I've gone from a 36.5 waist to a 34.75.  I've gained 1/2 an inch at my chest, and 2 inches at my shoulders.  I've leaned down in every other area.  
3. My BMI went from  25.8 to 24. 
4. According to my getleantulsa.org profile, I've Exercised 76 different times, for a total of 4,874 minutes, 440.84 miles, and 50,301 calories!
5. I have biked 314 miles, run 104 miles, walked 19 miles, and kayaked 3. 
6. I've spent 1,134 minutes at the gym. 
7. I have increased my overall strength, though I haven't seen significant gains in the weight I am lifting, aside from benchpress.  However, my goal has been an overall fitness and strength package.  After this event, in preparation for the next, I may set goals for increasing my strength in more calculable ways.
8. I enjoyed most of my workouts.  And I have thrown in some really enjoyable experiences, like my C&O Canal Bike trip with Steve.  I'm really hoping to do more of this kind of experiential workouts as I keep going after Tough Mudder.

So, I obviously don't want to have done all of this work and not be able to complete Tough Mudder, but I think I can honestly say that this entire experience has been successful, regardless of what happens on Sunday.  Having said that, I really want to make it through Tough Mudder!  Come and check back next week to find out just how it went!

Cramming for Tough Mudder

With Tough Mudder just four days away, I'm down to my last couple of workouts.  On Friday and Saturday, I'm not going to do anything strenuous.  I might go for a jog on Friday, but Saturday is going to be spent getting to the event and checking into our apartment at Wintergreen.

Here's what I've done over the past few days:

I missed logging a day from last week:
10/10:  I went into the gym that night to do a basic workout.  I focused on lifting weights.  I don't remember everything I did, but I do remember doing M100s, barbell complexes, and working on my back and chest.

10/14: I worked out at the gym.  I changed things up a bit and did several Near Muscle Fatigue exercises.  I used a barbell with 20 lbs on it.  I did bicep curls, flat bench press, and shoulder press.  I also worked on my core with crunches, planks, leg lifts, etc. 

10/15: I did the 5-mile loop around Lake Habeeb.  I started to go around a second time, for a full ten miles, but just couldn't see my knees making the trip.  I did the first 5 miles in about 54 minutes.  I'm really hoping that the obstacles throughout Tough Mudder will allow me opportunities to give my knees a break.  Based on the course they have up on the website, I might just get lucky.

10/18:  I really don't think I took two days off, but I can't remember what I did either Sunday or Monday, so all I've got is Tuesday.  I worked out at the gym.

1. Dumbbell Curls, 30 lbs each, 10 reps, 3 sets.
2. Dumbbell shoulder press, 15 lbs each, 10 reps, 3 sets.
3. Dumbbell tricep extensions, 15 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
4. Dumbbell shoulder raises, 15 lbs each, 10 reps, 3 sets.
5. Dumbbell flat bench, 45 lbs each, 10 reps, 3 sets.
6. Dumbbell row, 80 lb dumbbell, 10 reps, 3 sets.
7. Core: crunches, leg raises.

10/19: Last run.  3.64 miles in 34 minutes.  I ran with my Minimus shoes, and spent about a third of the run on the front of my feet.  My calves are killing me, but my knees aren't.  I feel like I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.  Again, hoping that obstacles allow me to use different muscles and give some things, particularly my knees, breaks (albeit brief).

Down to the wire

10/5: 3.64 mile run in my normal shoes.  Somewhere around the 40 minute mark, but I wasn't really keeping track.

10/6:

1. M100s
2. Barbell complex, 70 lbs. six reps each: Deadlift, straightleg deadlift, standing row, jump shrug, hang clean, and shoulder press. Did this twice.
3. Flat dumbbell press, 45 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
4. Twisted standing dumbbell curl, 30 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
5. Plate pinch curl, 10 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.  (This is a forearm exercise where you pinch two 5lb plates together while you curl them.  Sounds simple, and it is, but it's effective.
6. Several plank styles.

10/7

1. Barbell complex, 70 lbs, six reps each: Deadlift, straightleg deadlift, standing row, jump shrug, hang clean, and shoulder press/front squat.  I did this twice, once finishing with shoulder press and then the front squat for the second round.
2. Single arm kettle ball snatch, 35 lbs, 10 reps each arm, 3 sets.
3. Kneeling stability reverse chop, 60 lbs, 10 reps each side, 3 sets.
4. Cable row, 200 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
5. Lat pull down, 200 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
6. Elevated feet plank, 30 seconds, 5 sets.
7. Lower back machine exercise, 200 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.

10/8: 5-mile bike ride around the lake. 

10/10: Hiked with Elijah for a couple of miles around the lake. 

10/12:

1. M100
2. Barbell Complex.  I mixed it up a bit for these.  Six reps of each: Deadlift, front squat, row, jump shrug, hang clean. Two rounds.
3. Dumbbell shrug, 60 lbs in each hand, 10 reps, 3 sets.
4. Standing lat pressdown, 50 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
5. Cable row, 200 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
6. Dumbbell curl, 30 lbs each, 10 reps, 3 sets.
7. Tricep pressdown, 100 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
8. I tried a my own sort of barbell complex next.  I did a seated barbell shoulder press, flat barbell bench press, and then standing barbell curl, 40 lbs, 10 reps per exercise and 3 sets.  It felt great and really kept me moving.
9. Leg raises, 20 reps, 3 sets.

10/13: I did a 6.1 mile run in my New Balance Minimus in 54 minutes.  So that's not a great time, but I guess it's just something I'm going to have to work on for the next Tough Mudder event.  I've only got a little over a week before Tough Mudder and I don't see that time lowering much at all in a week.

Mixing it up

We all reach plateaus along the way in our exercise routines.  That's the key word: routine.  If we're not careful, we'll get stuck in a routine and our bodies will simply adapt to that routine.  The beauty of the internet and exercise nuts is that there is plethora of information out there for mixing things up.
So over the past couple of weeks, I've been adding in a few things along with my regular workout routines.  Here's what I've been up to since the Bike Ride.

9/20: Barbell complex, 70 lbs.  This is a pretty decent exercise, where I complete about 5 different exercises, 6 reps of each exercise.  But you do them all without putting the barbell down.  So the exercises I did were the Romanian deadlift, straight-leg deadlift, standing barbell row, barbell jump shrug, and barbell hang clean.  This isn't the exact complex I do, but it gives you a good idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGCLljisR9w

I then worked on my back:
    1. Seated row, 200 lbs, 12 reps, 3 sets.
    2. Seated lat pull down, 180 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
    I also added in a couple of core exercises.
    3. A cable exercise called the hatchet.  I use about 80 lbs, stand with my side facing the cable handle and pull down and across my body.  This works my arms, chest, and core.  Form is more important than weight.
   4.  I also did several ab exercises: crunches, planks, oblique plank.

9/22: YouTube is a wealth of information for exercising.  The barbell complex is a case in point.  A deadlift is a quick way to get yourself hurt.  Or worse yet, a hang clean.  And while I do have a very illustration-filled resource in my Men's Health Big Book of Exercises, it helps to see someone actually doing the exercise, and doing it right.  While cruising around on YouTube, I found this crazy exercise routine: the M100.  This is from sixpackshortcuts.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkD9LwDBWW0

So I started out small, by doing one circuit of thirty reps, then "taking a break" by doing a barbell complex set.  After doing three sets of each, I worked on my chest and back.  I usually do my chest workout with dumbbells, but I decided to start working with a barbell.  So I put 70 lbs on for a total of 110 and did incline, flat, and decline press, 10 reps each, 3 sets each.  I really liked using the barbell, so I think I'll do this for a while.  I also worked on my back as well, with Seated Cable row, 200 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets; and Seated lat pulldown, 180 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.

9/23: I started with the M100s, but did them in groups of 30, then barbell complex, then M100, then barbell complex, etc.  I did the cable hatchet, cable pull, and worked on my shoulders.  

9/27: Today, was a great workout.  I was finally able to do an entire set of M100.  It was brutal, but I got through it.  I also did two sets of barbell complexes.  Then I did the following workout: 

   1. Seated lat pulldown, 180 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets. 

   2. Seated row, 180 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.  

   3. Cable Hatchet, 80 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets. 

   4. Cable pull, 130 lbs, 10 reps each arm, 3 sets.  

   5. Leg raises, 10 reps straight, 5 each to the side, 3 sets.  

   6. Oblique raises, with 25 lb weight, 10 reps each side, 3 sets.  

9/28: 5.1 mile run in about 50 minutes, with a 1-mile walk to cool off.  For the first mile of my run, I incorporated some side-straddle hops and sprints.  It wasn't much, but it helped add that little edge that made my muscles remember it the next day.  

9/29: I wasn't able to work out at the gym, so once the little guy was down for bed, I decided to make up my own workout outside.  So here's what I came up with:

I did workouts in groups of threes.  I'd do workout 1, then 2, then 3 and then repeated each group three times.  

Group 1: 

  1. Dumbbell complex using two 25 lbs dumbbells, six reps each.   

      - Romanian Deadlift

      - Straight leg deadlift

      - Shoulder press

      - Squat

      - Bicep curl   

      - Jump shrug

  2. Wall jump, 36 inches, 15 reps. 

  3. Knee highs, 20 reps. 

  4. Crunches, 25 reps. 

Group 2: 

  5. Burpees, 10 reps

  6. Calf tabatas- These can be tough exercises.  I did 1 minute the first time through, then 2 minutes, then 3 minutes. Here's a video of the exercise:  

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpI8sPP3Wcg

   7. Tricep extensions, 1st round: 10 lbs, 15 reps; 2nd round: 15 lbs, 15 reps; 3rd round: 25 lbs, 15 reps.  

Group 3: 

  8. Chair leg overs, 20 reps. 

  9. Chair dips, 10 reps. 

  10. Lateral jumps, 20 reps.  

Group 4: 

  11. Curl and dumbbell shoulder press: 25 lbs, 20 reps (10 for each arm).

  12. Forward dumbbell raise: 25 lbs., 10 reps. 

  13. Overhead tricep extension: 25 lbs, 10 reps.  

Biking the C&O Canal Path

Background


For a little background, the C&O Canal Path is a 184.5 mile trail from Washington, DC to Cumberland, MD.  It is a former canal towpath that runs parallel to the Potomac River.  Mule teams pulled canal boats with goods up and down a canal that was dug along the river.  Much of the canal still exists, with locks all along the way.  The National Park Service owns and maintains the trail now.  For a deeper history check out the NPS website here: http://www.nps.gov/choh/index.htm.

The resource I used to plan most of my trip can be found here:  http://bikewashington.org/canal/

I've wanted to bike this whole trail for a long time, but it's not easy finding three days to just ride a bike and even harder to find someone who wants to ride 184 miles with you.  But a few months ago, my friends, Steve and Krishna, and I were riding along the Greater Allegheny Passage (GAP) when we came across a couple that had biked from DC and were continuing on the GAP to Pittsburgh, PA.  The husband was riding a really nice Specialized bike, but the woman was riding a single-speed beach cruiser with a basket full of gear.  They were just trucking right along.  So Steve and I figured, well, what is our excuse for not doing it.

Day #1


So at 7:30 am on Friday morning, our co-worker Krishna dropped us off at Fletcher's Boathouse at mile 3.1 in DC. Now I know, I know, it's not mile 0.  But that last 3.1 miles would have taken us a least another half an hour of driving time during the morning commute and believe me, you'll see we made up for those miles along the way.  According to the thermometer outside Steve's place it was 45 degrees out, and it felt every bit as cold as that.

The trail is pretty well maintained around the DC area, and we were fresh and ready to go.  Here we are all geared up and ready to go: 

 We made good time and stopped along the way to see a few sights like a kayak slalom course: 

And Great Falls: 

We made it to White's Ferry by 12:30 pm and took a break and watched the ferry do one round trip: 

We stopped for lunch at Point of Rocks and made Brunswick by about 2:30.  By 4 pm, we managed to make it to Harper's Ferry, tired, sore, but happy to be at our destination for the day.  The last 10 miles were tough and slow going.  Finally, we arrived in Harper's Ferry.  To speed up our first day, we had dropped our gear off at the Harper's Ferry Hostel International.  So we stopped in and checked into the hostel.  Hostel hosts Craig and Brian at HI were great and very helpful before, during, and after our stay. 

Steve and I in front of the hostel: 

So once off the trail, we went to the hostel to check in and figure out where to pick up the gear trailer we would use for the remainder of the trip.  Steve had rented it from River and Trail Outfitters.  Now, these guys are great, but their bread and butter is river outfitting for the Potomac River.  They seem to do a small side business in bicycles, but it's not their focus.  Stop by their shop and you'll understand.  So after riding 60 miles, you can imagine our chagrin when we were told that our bike trailer was in Brunswick, MD- a place we had riden past about 45 minutes before.  Luckily, these guys have better customer service than Netflix and Kevin from the shop agreed to drop the trailer off at the hostel while Steve and I went into town for dinner. Here's the trailer after a few hours in the trail: 

I asked the omniscient hostel host Brian for a restaurant suggestion and he recommened Secret Six, a local pub.  Off we headed, risking life and limb walking along some narrow streets to get over the river to Harper's Ferry, WV.  The food was good and they had beer, so Steve and I were happy.  There was only one waitress serving the entire restaurant, so service wasn't speedy, but she did her job, which was to keep us in food and beer.  And honestly, Harper's Ferry didn't seem to be a wealth of choices, so you take what you can get.  And be warned, a cab ride will cost you: Steve and I didn't feel like walking back in the dark and it cost us $20 to get a cab ride the 2+ miles back to the hostel. 

Day # 2

Here's where we made our first mistake.  We decided that we would sleep in a bit.  Rest is essential for these kinds of trips.  Actually, one of the many things I learned on this trip is just how much our bodies can recover from with just a little rest.  I got up at 8:15 am and took the Yakima Big Tow outside and attached it to my bike.  And then came our second mistake: me and Steve made pancakes.  This was my first hostel stay and I enjoyed the communal experience.  It's like staying at someone's house where they really mean it when they say "Help yourself".  We used the kitchen to whip up some pancakes, but well, they didn't come out.  And it took us like half an hour.  And Steve admits that he eats really slowly.  Thanks to my military training, I can scarf down an entire 3000-calorie meal in 2 minutes flat.  So the three four-inch pancakes on my plate lasted less than 15 seconds.   I didn't even bother sitting down. 

Once we were done eating, we went to load up the trailer.  Now, I don't really have anything bad to say about the Yakima Big Tow, but it's not a car trailer.  And Steve and I had seriously overpacked.  We had brought all the gear to camp out and as it turned out, we weren't going to need to do that.  So we spent another 20 minutes going through all of our stuff and axing everything except a change of clothes, some food, and our toiletries.  Once again, Craig found himself guardian of gear.  Long story short, it was 10:30 by the time we had wheels on the trail. 

Allow me to rant for a moment: weather forcasters suck!  How is it possible to have a sunny-filled forcast at 10 pm the day before and then step out into rain 12 hours later?  Where are we as a society anyway?  Is science dead?!  As you can tell, it was raining on the morning of day 2.  It wasn't a hard rain, but it was cool- probably about 60/65 and rain isn't how you want to start a 65-mile day.   Once we got on the trail, we rode about two miles and stopped under a railroad bridge when it really opened up.  Here we met Adam, a biker with a few more career miles than us, who was on his way to Cumberland to spend time with friends.  Apparently this was just one of many such trips he had undertaken to visit them.  He had his guitar strapped to his back and the rest of his gear in panniers attached to his bike.  This guy was fit.  Once the rain let up to a drizzle, we all started back on the trail and within a minute, Adam had disappeared forever.  He was booking it. 

It rained for about an hour and a half, though not enough to really soak the trail, just make it wet and cold.  Surprisingly, neither Steve or I were quite as sore as we had expected.  And after about two hours of riding, we got into a rhythm and were making up for lost time.  We never stopped for more than a few minutes.  And by the time we hit Shepherdstown, MD we were setting a good pace.  Here, we ran into some Civil War reenactors who had marched from Harpers Ferry, some of them barefoot.  (They must have not slept in, like we had). 

We kept up the pace and made another quick 12 miles until we ended up at Dam 4.  And here is where things really went south.  Throughout our trip up to this point, the National Park Service had dozens of signs that said something like "Rough trail ahead.  Please walk your bicycle through this portion of the trail."  But none of these signs seem to designate any rougher portion of trail than anything we normally experienced.  In fact, they should have put those signs up for the entire trail from Big Pool to Hancock, but we saw nary a one on that section.  Needless to say, all of this crying wolf had us slightly desensitized to trail warnings.  Unfortunately the big sign that cried wolf was for reals!  But Steve and I were tired and already running behind so taking a friggin 6-mile road detour was not something we wanted to do.  Also, when you tell someone that they need to take a 6-mile detour, you shouldn't also inform them that only 1.5 miles ahead, they can find out for themselves whether you're full of crap or not.  So we made our second BIG mistake: we tested out the sincerity of the NPS.  We rode up to Slackwater to see for ourselves.  Let's just put it this way- the wolf came this time. 

We rode back to Dam 4, having lost about 40 minutes and all of my patience and started our detour.  You know those lazy days when you just hop in your car and ride around in the country?  (If you don't, you should, it's the best way to see America.)  Well, those nice rolling hills that make the experience so enjoyable- they are a pain in the ass on a bike.  So just to summarize, we've ridden 27 legitimate miles, 4 you-should-have-listened-to-the-sign miles, and now we're riding 6 detour-up-and-down (but mostly up) miles.  An hour later we were back on the trail and found ourselves at mile number 90- not even halfway for the day and it's 3:30ish.  I had called Julie and told her our predicament.  Steve was burned out and I was just plain pissed- at ourselves and our bad luck.  I told her we were going to keep going for a bit and I'd let her know whether or not we were going to keep going.  

Neither of us had eaten much of anything all day.  And because I had left my damn water bottle at Steve's house, I was existing on a small water bottle I was refilling at the pumps along the path.  So we took our first real break at Opequon Junction.  I drank an entire bottle of Gatorade and at one of the Clif bars that Steve brought.  Steve had two of them.   Now, I'm not a paid spokesperson for anyone, but these Clif Bars saved us!  We were really dragging it, just running on empty.  We only took a 20 minute break, and within about 15 minutes, we were feeling so much better.  The trail conditions improved drastically within a few miles and the sun was finally out. 

Soon we were past the midpoint and then we hit mile 100 in Williamsport, MD.  Now there really isn't anything significant about it.  It's not the midpoint.  We weren't staying there.  In fact, it was 24 miles from our destination, but the human mind is a strange and powerful thing.  Mentally, knowing that over the past two days, we had pedaled more than 100 miles was just what we needed.  We asked a gentleman walking along the path to take a picture of us posing in front of the mile marker:

We chatted it up with our photographer for a few minutes and then hopped back on our rides, energized and encouraged.  I want to take a moment here and plug Williamsport, MD.  I don't know who or why, but this section of the trail, from about Lock 43 to maybe McCoy's Ferry were the best maintained miles we spent on the trail, even more than the Capital Region.  Sorry, DC, but Williamsport, MD made you look like hobos.  And remember, we're talking about having already ridden 36 miles.  This particular 15+ mile section was an absolute joy to ride.  We made great time.  The sun was out.  And the trail was smooth and well-maintained.  So whoever is responsible- kudos! 

Here's some photos from along that stretch: 

But before every storm, there's a quiet.  And that's what those 15 miles of heaven were.  It didn't happen suddenly, but very gradually.  It happened at the same pace that the sun sets, which is what was happeneing simultaneously.  By the time we hit the Licking Creek Aqueduct, it was quickly getting dark and by the time we were 8 miles outside of Hancock, MD, we were biking by headlamp and flashlight.  The last 8 miles took us nearly 2 hours.  5 miles outside of Hancock and the trail desintegrated into mud puddle after mud puddle.  The best I can figure, NPS all but gave up on maintaining the C&O through this section because the Western Maryland Rail Trail runs parallel to the C&O from Big Pool to Hancock.  Maybe more people favor the paved WMRT and so the C&O seems to be relagated to the back burner.  At least that's the sense you get riding this portion of the trail.  Riding it in the dark made it all the worse. 

But we did make it to Hancock around 8:30pm.  It was a relief to have light enough to ride.  Neither of us had headlights or taillights, so we both rode down the hill towards the hotel on the sidewalk.  Here we met our demise: 

I don't know why this was designed this way, but I hit the cutout first.  My front shock took the brunt of the hit on my front wheel, but my back wheel was slammed into the curb by the weight of the trailer and I blew my rear tire.  I made it onto the other side.  Steve wasn't so lucky. 

We walked our bikes the mile or so to the hotel, checked in and nursed our hunger and pain at Pizza Hut.  A few wings, some soda and beer, and a large Italian sausage did a lot to ease our pains.  We went back to the hotel to sleep and hopefully start the last leg of our trip. 

Both of us really wanted to keep going and I selfishly ignored the warning bells in my head that told me it wasn't a good idea.  That is until Steve started wrapping up his knee for the ride.  I got a good look at his knee.  It had swollen up to twice its normal size.  I finally listened to myself and said, "Steve, we can't keep going. Not with your knee like that."  He was disappointed, but wasn't going to argue.  I called Julie and she came and picked us up. 

So, no trip like this is complete without learning a few lessons.  Here are the ones I learned:

1. Rest is a powerful thing- get the rest you need.
2. Always get an early start.  You can always find something to do at the end of the day.  What you can't do is make more daylight. 
3. Don't believe every sign you see, but the big ones are probably for real.  Be prepared to pay the price associated with ignoring them. 
4. Study your ENTIRE route, not just the places you THINK you're going to stop at. 
5. You usually need much less than you pack. 
6. No matter how little you pack, if you're going somewhere farther than you care to walk with a broken foot from a place that carries first aid supplies, then bring a first aid kit.  That's a hell of a sentence to say- pack a damn first aid kit! 
7. Never ride on a sidewalk. 
8. No matter how close you are to your destination, don't let your guard down until you're there.
9. This is stolen from http://bikewashington.org/canal/index.php: Eat before you're hungry, drink before you're thirsty.  And from me: rest before you're dead.
10. Finally, don't be afraid to try something scary.  We rode 132.93 miles in two days.  72.93 of those were on our second day.  You may surprise yourself. 

Catching up

So it has been too long since I wrote my last blog.  I'll summarize what I've done over the last couple of weeks:

8/23: Gym workout.  I've started doing the Tough Mudder workout at the beginning of my gym workouts. That can be found at: http://toughmudder.com/training-prep/.  I've been doing just one set to warm up, and it's been going pretty well.  I found a Fat-loss workout from my Men's Health Big Book of Exercises.  So here's what it was:
   Dumbbell Bench press: 45 lbs, 2 sets, 15 reps.
   Dumbbell row: 30 lbs, 2 sets, 15 reps.
   Scaption: 10 lbs, 2 sets, 15 reps. - This is a weird word for a shoulder exercise where you simply raise the weights out in front of you.  Maybe they should have tried something like: "Forward shoulder raise". 
   Seated dumbbell rotation: 10 lbs, 2 sets, 15 reps. - This is a really annoying excercise that is supposed to help counteract the caveman effect of doing too many arm exercises.  It's a decent exercise, but just annoying to actually do.
   Plank: 2 sets, 8 reps. I've started heeding the book's suggestion to do these as reps- you hold the position for 5-10 second, relax- and that's a rep.  It seems to be much more effective than simply holding the position for say, 30 seconds straight. 

8/24: Bicycle day. I towed the little monkey behind me for 15 miles.  It took me about an hour and ten minutes.  I rode on the C&O Canal path, from mile 184.5 to mile 177.  You can check out the entire trail here: http://bikewashington.org/canal/.  As an aside, I'm hoping to ride the entire trail from September 16-18th.  I'll let you know how that goes!

8/26: Gym workout.  Again, started with the Tough Mudder workout.  Another Fat-loss workout:
   Pushup: 2 sets, 12 reps.
   Inverted row: 2 sets, 12 reps.  This is another awkward exercise.  Not a big fan.
   Combo shoulder raise: 10 lbs, 2 sets, 12 reps.
   Lying external rotation: 10 lbs, 2 sets, 12 reps. This is similar to the Seated Dumbbell rotation, only you have to balance yourself on a rickety incline bench and do it.  Luckily the exercise requires only about a 10-15 lbs weight.  Otherwise, there's just no chance of doing it without looking like a Stooge. 
   Side plank: 2 sets, 8 reps.  Again, breaking these into reps worked great!

8/27: Running day.  I've been trying to seriously increase my cardio, so I've been trying to run/bike for at least an hour each time.  This day, I ran 7.03 miles in about an hour and 10 minutes.  This was one of those runs where everything felt great.  I made good time, didn't get winded, and my legs felt good.  I did about four miles on the nice, flat C&O canal path, so that helped me add the distance I needed.   It did rain for the last 1.5 miles, so I got a little bit of a Tough Mudder factor added in.  The last half mile or so was kind of rough on my knees. 

8/29: Bicycle day.  I rode 11.88 miles towing my son behind me in the trailer.  This trip, I took the Greater Alleghany Path (GAP).  For half of the ride, it was uphill and downhill for the last half.  I kept a 10mph+ pace up, which is always my goal. 

8/30: Gym workout.  Tough Mudder workout warmup.  Then chest and back workout of my own.
   Incline bench press: 45 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.  Starting out on this exercise always allows me to complete it and still be able to continue working my chest. 
   Seated machine row: 200 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.  My gym has a machine for this and the lat bar, but the seat is up off the floor and I never seem to do very well with it.  It never seems to actually work out my back.  So I decided to use another machine, but sit on the floor.  It allowed me to focus on using my back and lift more weight. 
   Flat bench press: 45 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.
   Seated lat bar pulldown: 180 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.  Again, I sat on the floor and was able to really focus on using my back muscles. 
   Kneeling ab machine pulldown: 200 lbs, 10 reps, 2 sets.
   Some sort of lower back machine workout where you sit on a bench and lean back against the weight of the machine.  200 lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets.

8/31: Run day.  I ran 6.1 miles in an hour.  This doesn't seem like as tough of a run as on the 27th, but in fact it was tougher.  There is this one road about 1 mile long that I sometimes run downhill on.  It drops quite a bit in that 1 mile.  And every now and then, I try to run up it.  And I did that this day.  I usually do it within the first few miles of my run, so I can keep going.  It mixes things up and I feel like it helps me prepare for the big uphill in Tough Mudder.  I'll let you know if that's true after the event. 

9/1- 9/4: I took a few days break from "workouts".  Over the long weekend on 9/2-9/5, I built a bed for my wife an I.  It was a bit of work, so I took a few days off from working out or running.

9/5: Run day.  Today I ran the farthest I've ever run with my New Balance Minimus: 3.64 miles.  And it was raining the entire time.  A Tough Mudder run.  All in all, the shoes held up spectacularly.  No sloshing around, even though I ran through my share of puddles.  They drained well and kept snug through the whole run.  And it seems like my legs and feet are starting to get used to them as well.

So that's what I've been up to.