Beyond the Blog: The Carolinas CAN Ruck For Autism

Concord, NC - Of course, I don't really hate this but I'm in the last two weeks of peak training and I'm exhausted, cranky, sore, and have a lot of stuff going on in the other parts of my life.  So when I'm looking at 5 hours of ruck training on Saturday and Sunday....yeah, I hate this.

  Me and Coach Jeff having a post-workout conversation at the 300 gym.  I really like the strength and stability work he is putting me through, its a great break from the miles. Concord, NC - Going to be a short one today as it's already Tuesday Feb 23rd.   Last week we bumped the mileage up to 20-mile workouts, which is taking me about 4 1/2 hours. Sometimes 5 hours if I need to take a break.   I'm having to break up some of the runs with bike work to keep my feet from hurting too much.  It helps a lot.   Another new twist is that I'm training with Slappy in my ruck instead of the 25 lb weight vest in the bag.  Slappy is BIG, as you can see from the treadmill pic, and very bulky.   He pulls back on my center of gravity and it is a lot harder to run or ruck than I imagined.   I've got to find a solution for getting the ball up higher on my back, because its kind of painful bouncing off my lower back.   My ch...

  Concord, NC - Finished this block of three 19-mile rucks but I am WIPED.   Today (Sunday) was a combo ruck-run-ruck with Ted and Charlie starting at 6:30.   Rucked 4 as a warm-up, ran 12 in the rain (each running mile is 1/2 of a rucking mile, in my own twisted calculus), then rucked 9.   The last leg was horrible...freezing rain and I completely bonked about 5 miles in.  I forgot to eat and need to remember how that creeps up on you.   Ted's wife Cyn took care of me with a plate of chocolate chip cookies, which are the closest thing to miracle recovery food that I know. Yesterday (Saturday) was more freezing rain so I ran on the treadmill, watched two movies and ran the last mile outside in the rain like a lunatic. Tuesday I almost cried when my alarm went off at 2:30.  That is an absolutely stupid time to wake up and run for 4 hours.   BUT, it was a nice morning with temps in the high 40's and by the time I got home at...

  Concord, NC - This week the mileage has increased to 18 miles of rucking 3 times a week, and the distance is starting to take a toll.    My pace has slowed down to about 13 min/mile so each run is taking almost 4 hours.  If I want to be home by 7 am that means a 3 am start!  In other whining news, my feet are starting to really hurt...its not planter faciitis, just general inflammation from all that pounding.   Cheryl had a great idea to interject riding with my running, so here I am during the SuperBowl last night, with my bike parked next to the treadmill.  1 hr run, 30 min ride, 1 hr run, 30 min ride...rinse and repeat.   Pretty boring actually, but I finally got to watch "Django" in its entirety.   Love that QT! We still need drivers for the event..anyone? Anyone? Please reach out if you are interested, we can't do this without a ride!