HFD Physical Assessment - Day 1 & 2

Not much time for words cause I've got some reading/studying to do.

Didn't have time to get in enough liquids (or piss) before yesterday's dry physical assessment. Did a 1/2 mile or so run warmup then got right at it.

Did a slightly hilly 2 mile, timed group run. Kept pace with the instructors until I asked their pace after the first mile. They were doing 6:17. Oh boy. I haven't kept that pace in a while. The second mile (7:13) found me drifting away. Finished strong at 2/18, about half a minute behind Mr Bump and the fitness instructors.

Pounded 13 pullups, but didn't go all the way up and down on the last two. So the instructor could only count 11 of them. Not outstanding either. Somewhere in the middle of the group.

Plank was incredible. I made it to the top 4 with 3:04. Next was Gary at 3:26. Adam and John made 6 minutes. LOLWTF.

Yeah so then we did pushups. I was up there with 25. We had to do them to a beat, so that was a fun new twist. Jordan lost count at 45 something. Animal.

Today was swim. I was in the 1st of 3 groups to show their 500m skills. I went out at a crazy pace, and died after 200m. Ended up 8/18. Adam got 7:45 or something for third. Keo finished at 6:50. Justin at 5:15 or some crazy shit. That dude is incredible. I heard he was a great diver, but DAMN.

We each have strengths and weaknesses. But we all share a passion for what we do. We quickly have become a team. If there's anything that I can do besides being the best damned fire recruit they've ever seen, it's to ensure that every single one of us will not only pass, but excel.

I work with a few fish, some gorillas, cheetahs, and a couple two-by-fours. I get to talk to them and learn from them. I love my job.

Okay, now onto the books, shoe polish and ironing. Good night :)

Triathlon is a Team Sport

Had my loose clothes. Forgot my Yoga mat. So I grabbed the huge blue beach towel from the car. Rochelle let me borrow her purple mat. My hands were slippery, so I had to lay the towel near the top of the mat for grip. We held downward dog positions for the better part of the class. The shoulder burners / clie from Insanity Core / Balance, and noon swim was an excellent warmup for the pose. My shoulders were on fire.

I tripped out when I looked at the class from Warrior2. I was the only one dripping with sweat. The rest of the class were warrior poses. My glutes got their 2nd workout of the day. If you're familiar with these set of poses, you know it also works the shoulders.

I felt a lot better after class, but had to rush to Sook's to get a quick buzzcut, then to Coconut Island to meet Jeremy for a quick run. We did the 5k route in 13:30 + 12:00 negative split. Very easy, until we loosened up after the bridge, going downhill.

We talked about how we felt before this race, but more so about Ironman. His mind is set on qualifying. I told him I didn't feel like I was pushing hard enough on my swims and was thinking about swimming at 5:30am before my P90x or Insanity workouts on MWF.

Cousin Mark called me soon after, inviting me to a practice sprint tri the following morning (Friday). 8am would be too late, so they agreed to push it up to 7am. I knew Jeremy wanted to get in a bike ride before the race so I got him in too. I met Tanner, another fresh young triathlete. I don't think he trained as hard as Brandon did, but he's got a lot of heart and will finish strong. Mark is going to a concert the night before. lol

When you think about doing a triathlon, you think of it as a solo event. Nobody can physically help you progress forward during a race. I trained solo for my recent races. I finished. But I didn't do as well as I'd like. Training solo, I didn't push myself hard enough. I forced myself into isolation during training, and it also felt like it on the races.

I called Adam one day and he invited me to a group ride. That was probably the most beneficial change to my training I have ever done. The camaraderie. We bounce ideas off each other. Most times Adam and Joe have already experienced them and can give us a quick, detailed answer along with justification.

We want to continue the weekly, long group workouts beyond the race. I also suggested to Adam that we begin hosting monthly triathlons at the beach, similar to TeamMangoRaces on the west side. We can offset the schedule so people could do either race, and so they don't coincide with big events.

Coach Jess sent me some motivational advice today. Such a small gesture really does help me a ton.

Brick on N.O., Insanity Day 1

Sunday Brick with Adam, Jeremy and Brian (bike only) - Warmed up, stretched out with a 400m open water swim at Richardson's then headed to HPP for the 2pm brick. Sun was in/out of the clouds, ~80F, Humidity in the mid 70's. 1.5 scoops NO-X, 30 min pre 40k ride, and 1.5 scoops NO-X at transition to 10k run. Stomach wasn't bothered much on the run. This might just work. I've been going no/low carb up until Sunday morning with 2 pre-race organic pop-tarts.

Quads cramped a bit at 9k, downhill portion of the run. Walked for a few seconds and decided to push through. Loosened and lengthened my stride. The P90x back and core workouts helped me improve and maintain my posture throughout the run. It was easier to focus on gently pulling my shoulders down and back. The second half of the run was finished strong. I waited too long to take my gel on the ride, and my stomach gave me noise about it.

Had trouble sleeping. Propped my feet up and wore my compression socks to sleep and into Insanity.

Insanity Day 1 - Fitness Test (what I now will call Confidence Test :)

Exercise	Mike	Eric
Switchkicks	110	110
Squat Jump?	55	55
Power Knees R	75	86
Power Jumps	50	41
Globe Jumps	14	5
Suicide Jumps	23	16
Push-Up Jacks	45	31
Low-Plank Obliques	60	32
Power Knees L	70	N/A

I noticed the vid skipped the opposite side Power Knees, so I RW to finish up. Was a bit tougher to do the other side at the end of the test.

Quite a workout for 30 min. Gotta loooove the quick warmup! Shaun-T gets right into it. Eric's a beast at strength, but cardio is my game. We're planning on pairing Insanity and P90x on the short Insanity days. I have to credit P90x for our ability to keep pace with the demonstrators' results. It's gonna be tough to improve upon our scores. We'll see if Insanity can deliver as expected.

Looking through the discs was hilarious. Cardio this, cardio that, cardio cardio. This is gonna kick our asses. We hope.


Got a fresh pair of compression socks at work, and trying to give my legs a rest (AFTER standing around with a 130min tech support call in the garage). They're not bothering me as much as last night, but they deserve a break.

Gonna shoot for 600m in the pool within the next 30min, then Yoga class after work.

Back to no/low carbs until Sunday for a double-brick (Jeremy's crazed idea).