My Mid-Life Crisis

So my team of maniacs has now signed up for the Iron Warrior Dash on September 21 in Walker, MI.  Ity is the same day as the Warrior Dash, with a couple key differences:

1. The Warrior Dash is a 5k; the Iron Warrior Dash is 15.6 miles.
2. The Warrior Dash has 12 obstacles; the Iron Warrior Dash has 24.
3. The entire Warrior Dash if, again, a 5k; the Iron Warrior Dash has a 5k smack in the middle of it just for fun.

The Tough Mudder was a really good time, and weighed-in at 12.4 miles.  Not too shabby.  But it also wasn't a timed event; rather, it was a "can you finish" event.  Yes, apparently, these 40-year-olds can indeed, thank you very much.  The Iron Warrior, however, is a timed event, so not only is it about finishing, it's about racing as well, so we're all training a little harder to get our run times a tad faster.

I took a look at the obstacles for this event, and they look a good deal more physically demanding than the Mudder, which varied in terms of difficulty and relative misery.  Really, the obstacles along the Mudder were more designed to make you dirtier, wetter, and more miserable as you went along.  These look to do the same, but involve much more climbing, hanging, and relative strength/endurance.  Lucky for us, at least 2 of us on our team have years of experience being wet, dirty, miserable, and tired.

Bob asked how one trains for this.

First, I have gone over to the insane asylum and do Crossfit.  Here's my gym.  Regular gym guys who like to scream through 8 bench presses and then sit on the bench for 5 minutes between sets flexing or watching Sports Center like to disparage Crossfit because it involves a lot of leaping, Olympic-style lifts, and bad decisions; they think it looks silly or that they get better results.  But I submit:  the Marine Corps was the first branch to switch their entire fitness regimen to Crossfit, and now all the branches use it to keep the troops in top shape.  I've never been in such good shape (down to 184 lbs now!!).  And the guys who crushed the Tough Mudder?  Every one of them wore a Crossfit gym's shirt.  Every guy who was walking by mile 4 and skipped obstacles?  Muscley-looking dudes in Fitness World shirts.  But I digress:  a typical Crossfit "WOD" (WorkOut of the Day) might look like:

Warmup
2 times:

• 200 M run
• 30 jumping jacks
• 20 air squats
• 10 lunges

Mobility/Stretching
Strength

• 5 x 1 push press (think: standing military press), increase weight every set to achieve 1-rep maximum (mine is 180#)

WOD
15 minutes, As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP); each round consists of:

• 12 push press (50% of max)
• 12 pull-ups
• 24 air squats

Done.  In and out of the gym in 40 minutes.  And it's all I can take.  Check out my gym's site for more examples of just how well Crossfit conditions your entire body.

Then, I mix-in running.  I kinda-sorta use this site as a rough week-by-week guide of how far and how many times a week I need to be running to get myself to the half-marathon mark.  But as aggressively as Crossfit works me, I break-down my Crossfit and Running schedule: odd weeks - Crossfit 3 days, run 4 days; even weeks - Crossfit 4 days, run 3.  2/3 of my runs in a week are 5k, some at a slower pace to "feel" the pace I need to survive a half marathon, and some at a blistering pace to push myself and my limits, which ultimately makes the "slower" pace faster and faster.  Then the remaining runs I have in a week are longer distance, starting at 6, then 8, then 10 miles.

Then the week before the race?  1 or 2 light jogs, some nice brisk walks around the neighborhood to keep the hips and ankles mobile, some light, basic, "open gym" work at the gym just doing some light basics, a solid deep tissue massage and hot tub soak about 3 days before.  The day before?  Nothing much at all, and eat only meals I am really familiar with and have eaten many times before.  Hydrate like MAD to the point where I have to piss on the hour every hour.

Now, with diabetes, I have to watch my sugar.  Hours and hours of physical exertion can threaten to leave me hypoglycemic.  So I load up on good, diabetes-friendly carbs (whole grains) and protein bars and shakes to further slow the absorption of the carbs.  For instance, the night before the Mudder:

• Dinner:  grilled salmon over a double-helping of mixed greens, Sesame dressing, whole-grain roll
• Snack: Popcorn (it's a whole grain!)

Morning-of:

• Race time: 11:40 am
• Breakfast (6:30 am): 1/2 C Egg Beaters mixed with 2 T hummus, 1 C low-fat Greek yogurt topped with 1/2 C granola
• 8:30 - Protein bar, with dark chocolate
• 10:30 - Another protein bar with dark chocolate
• 11:20 - Gu packet

Every 45 approximate minutes of race time: Gu packet

"Hypoglycemic" is a blood-sugar level of less than 70.  45 minutes after the race, after I was finally hosed-off enough to do so (but my body was still, after all that, burning energy like crazy), my reading was 83.  The race company offered Cliff protein bars just past the finish line; in the future, I'll take advantage of that just to get my levels to a comfy 100 or so.

And that is how I prepare for these "adventure races."

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Commencement

Though I am normally loathe to acknowledge the University of Michigan, seeing as how I am a fan of its "little brother" Michigan State and a graduate of it's infant step-cousin, Grand Valley State, that university did indeed host President Obama at its commencement ceremonies over the weekend.

You can find a copy of Obama's remarks here. In it is a strong defense of the role of government in our lives. And as Paul Krugman reminds us in his Op-Ed piece in yesterday's NYT, Sex & Drugs & The Spill:

If there’s any silver lining to the disaster in the gulf, it is that it may serve as a wake-up call, a reminder that we need politicians who believe in good government, because there are some jobs only the government can do.

From Obama's speech:

When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us. We, the people -- (applause.) We, the people, hold in our hands the power to choose our leaders and change our laws, and shape our own destiny.

Government is the police officers who are protecting our communities, and the servicemen and women who are defending us abroad. (Applause.) Government is the roads you drove in on and the speed limits that kept you safe. Government is what ensures that mines adhere to safety standards and that oil spills are cleaned up by the companies that caused them. (Applause.) Government is this extraordinary public university -– a place that’s doing lifesaving research, and catalyzing economic growth, and graduating students who will change the world around them in ways big and small. (Applause.)

The truth is, the debate we’ve had for decades now between more government and less government, it doesn’t really fit the times in which we live. We know that too much government can stifle competition and deprive us of choice and burden us with debt. But we’ve also clearly seen the dangers of too little government -– like when a lack of accountability on Wall Street nearly leads to the collapse of our entire economy. (Applause.)

OK. Enough about U of M.

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Where's Rickey?

We here at Around the Keg are big fans of “Riding with Ricky.”

It has been a month or so since last we saw a post over at RwR. Visitors to the site are now greeted by a page stating that it has gone private. None of us would be shocked if the honeymoon picks got a little too risqué for the public, but frankly, we here at ATK are a little concerned. (And with no traffic at RwR, traffic is halved here at ATK.)

Despite the fact that recently Rickey threw off his alter ego and revealed that in fact he was NOT a black baseball hall of famer, we at ATK got over our shock and still love and appreciate the musings at RwR.

With that, we ask our readers: Where is Rickey? If someone knows, please have him contact us.

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I hate liberals.

I am a liberal, but I really hate liberals. I think I might need therapy.

When the Republicans were kicking our butts in election after election by making the case that liberals looked down on others, they were right. We drove our smugmobiles, were isolated from reality by our textbook-driven theories of how the world should work vs. how the world does work.

We laughed at people who turned and voted for George Bush.

Liberals are anti-corporate, but seems very susceptible to corporate advertising and trends. Example: They love Toyota for the Prius, but forgive Toyota even though nearly every other car and truck they make gets worse mileage than a competitor.

We claim to support better health care, a clean environment, a secure retirement and on and on, but are so gullible that we bought into the whole free-trade, pro-capitalistic corporate crap that has lowered our standard of living, destroyed unionized labor, moved production to dirty manufacturing facilities, and otherwise undermined everything we as liberals stand for. For what? Short term corporate profits, and no better conditions for our fellow humans overseas.

Sorry this isn’t a piece of literary genius. I just felt like ranting.

Have a nice day.


R.I.P. Teddy.

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Huh?

Resigning is no way to pad your resume Governor.





Discuss.

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It's The Economy, Stupid

If I would have paid attention at Grand Valley State to my Econ classes, I would have understood what is going on in Washington.

But I had...other priorities. Or something like that.

Anyway, I give credit to Mike over at Mike's Neighborhood and Mr. Furious over at the like-named blog for informing me, shedding light on the disaster, and, most importantly, showing me that' not only being handled poorly, but being handled in such as way as to benefit a small cadre of insiders.

I know there are a variety of opinions out there about the economic crisis and its mismanagement, but for me, Mike has made it clear, and I think he does a great job, at least among the little network of readers and blogs around, um, this particular keg, of putting all of this in terms that someone with my general lack of understanding can understand.

Go read the following posts on these blogs, and then, as importantly, go visit the links in the comments sections for more and deeper links.

Mike's Bad Bank: Bad Policy, Bad Economics, Bad IDea, Bad News

Mr. F's FAIL

Mike's Scare Tactics: They're Not Just For Republicans Anymore

Mr. F's Not Getting It (read: Obama is not getting it, not that Mr. F doesn't get it...)

Mike's The Insider, followed shortly by his The Insiders(part of a fantastic Moyers interview)

Mr. F's Lecture Hall (follow the links therein)

Mike's post on Pelosi and Frank's complicity

Mike's snark-filled post Let's Just Establish a 4th Branch of Government

Mike then schooled me on a glib remark I made about my own ignorance and acceptance of whatever Obama says as good, and sent me to 4 other places I encourage you to check out too: Naked Capitalism, Jesse's Cafe' Americain, The Big Picture, and The Cunning Realist.

I only offer these various links because they are how I finally came to understand the nature of the crisis and what is wrong with the response so far. Maybe soon I'll be smart enough to offer a different solution. Right now, I am questioning the response as serving too narrow an agenda.

Have at it, and if you see other links or takes on all of this that I or we am missing...you knw where to put them (in the comments section, of course!).

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Post-election ramblings of a conservative leaning/pragmatic/libertarian

It is no secret that I have some concerns about Obama in several areas. I am not going to blog about those. I appreciate the history and want to let his die-hard supporters enjoy their moment. I found this post by Ilya Somin on Volokh, which has become one of my favorite blogs (besides ATK) because they take a reasoned approach to the issues and don't seem beholden to any party (for the most part). It is called, Three Positive Aspects of Obama's Victory and I think they bear consideration by Independents and Conservatives.

One:

First and foremost, Obama's victory is an extraordinary milestone in the history of American race relations...As recently as 45 years ago, most American blacks did not even have the right to vote, much less any hope of being elected to the highest office in the land. Just a few decades before that, in the early 1900s, many southern blacks could not even freely change jobs, because of constraints imposed by state peonage laws.


Two:

Second, it is clear that Obama's win will improve the image of the United States throughout much of the world. I do not believe that pleasing foreign public opinion should be the be all and end all of American foreign policy. Sometimes, we can and should take unpopular actions. But it would be wrong to assume, as some conservatives have during the Bush Administration, that the good will of foreign publics is irrelevant.


Three:

Obama is an incredibly talented and charismatic politician. His meteoric rise from being a little-known state senator just four years ago is the most rapid ascent from obscurity to the White House in at least a century, if not longer. Conservatives and libertarians underestimate his competence and political skills at their peril.

The author ends with this point:

However, it is fair to say that Obama is unlikely to commit serious mistakes merely because of incompetence or stupidity. If he adopts flawed policies, it will be because of his ideology or because of perverse political incentives that enable him and his party to reap short-term political gains from policies that cause long-run harm.

I would be lying to say I am not a little bit frightened by one party controlling 2 of the 3 braches of government, but I am still cautiously optimistic. For now, congratulations to President Obama and his supporters on a well earned victory.

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