Challenge Update - week 5

So it’s been 5 weeks since I started my personal take on my own challenge and up until week 4 I was going great guns.  Then the dreaded stomach flu bug that has been doing the rounds hit. I spent three days curled up on the sofa in serious pain eating porridge and toast as staples to try and keep my energy levels up.

I can honestly say I have never felt stomach pain quite like that before.  It was quite horrendous.  What was upsetting was it was the run up to my best friends’ wedding day and the last thing I wanted was to be an ill bridesmaid.  Thankfully, the pains etc had eased by the big day and Clare and Giles’ day was simply perfect. I have to admit I couldn’t look at Clare while Glyn and I performed the song for her and Giles' first dance, as I could feel myself getting teary.  It was a pleasure, honour and joy to perform that for them and I’m so proud of them both. Enough gushing, haha!

The downside to the three days on not eating properly and no exercise was that I had to drop out of the Spartan Super race that I have been so looking forward to, and kiss goodbye to my Trifecta hopes for this year. But that means I have more time to work harder, be faster and compete properly next year. Something I have learned over the years, is that there is no end to goals, even when they are initially achieved; the posts just move. While I might not have gained the Trifecta this year, I am still going to be running the Beast in November and I have the Nottingham Half Marathon to look forward to this weekend.

On the challenge side, I haven’t measured or checked my Body Fat and will do that on Monday next week, the start of week 6.  What has happened though is that I have re-discovered my productivity streak.  I am suddenly waking up at 6:30/7am and hitting the ground running, the background stuff for the challenge is in place and I have a number of people on board already. I’m very excited to get this challenge up and running but also nervous at the same time.

I have discovered that I actually quite like the ‘fear’ feeling that comes with starting new projects.  Facing fear is one of the most important things we can do. Fear, after all, is a natural emotion when we do something new but it is also momentary; regret lasts forever.  Sometimes just the decision to try something new is enough to instil fear, and then attacking that new project shows us what we are capable of. If we can apply that to the small things, then the bigger things start to not look so big at all.

So this weekend is my Half Marathon challenge….I’m so under prepared for it but heck, the aim is just to finish it in whatever time it takes. And then Monday the challenge kicks off, as do my new classes at a local community centre.  So it’s all go. I’m looking forward to the next 12 weeks helping to motivate others online, and to help them achieve their goal to start and implement a new healthy lifestyle.   

Until then be kind to yourself, always.

Krissie

x

Running, Jumping, Climbing Trees!

Last Sunday (June 2nd) I, along with 14 other sane people (this may be debatable but we'll get to that in a minute)  descended on Pippingford Park in East Sussex to take part in the 4 hour, advance group, of Spartan Race Training UK.  Having run one of the Spartan Sprints last year, and taken part in the inaugural Zombie Evacuation, I had a fair idea of the type of things that would come up in the training day.  That said, I was still apprehensive and utterly unsure of going to the training camp.

The day before, I had developed a knot in the pit of my stomach, one that was threatening to flare up to the point of debilitation.  It's been a long time since I felt that sick through nerves.  As a rule I tend not get nervous of many things, but for some reason this had me in pieces.  It's very strange, you'd think after 3 years of being a member of the fitness industry, having been through all the various courses I've done, not to mention performing on stage regularly, that going to a training day for obstacle course racing, well.. that would be a walk in the park, right?  Nope, something was really playing on my nerves.  And I know what it is.  It was that 'I'll be find out' feeling, found out that I'm not as good as these other people I'll be with, not tough enough/strong enough/small enough/fit enough.... Silly? No. Natural? Maybe. But Pandora (remember her, that negative voice that creeps out of her box) she was back with vengeance.

After a quick chat in a lay-by with the hubby (he was on his way home from a Krav Maga workshop and we passed each other on the road), I got in the car, woman-ed up, and drove to my hotel near Gatwick. After a rather restless night, due to the hotel having had a hen party in residence who decided in their drunk state that loud was the only way to talk and to hammer on each others doors at 2am, I drove to Pippingford Park, an MOD training ground; still with a knot in my stomach and still hearing Pandora in my head giving me all those old thoughts.  I first met Annie (phew, I wasn't the only woman, a huge relief), then Fiona, Lauren and Alexandra. Five girls, thank goodness for that. Also joining us were some of the guys that are regulars on the Mudstacle forum and other mud running websites, as well as one of the guys who heads up Obstacle Racing Magazine UK (if you fancy doing OCRs, subscribe to the mag, it's free and has great articles and offers). 

All in all there were 15 of us, including assistant coach and Spartan Sprint champ Thomas Blanc, and Head Coach Michael Cohen, heading off to attack the 4 hours of training; training that would make us Spartan Fit, Spartan Safe, Spartan Ready. 

Pre-training brief with Head Coach Michael Cohen

We were given a pre-training briefing where we were given a little of the ethos behind the Spartan Race series, and the obligatory, 'If I say Spartans, you shout AROO!' lesson . Having already lost my Sparkle last year, I have witness first hand the teamwork and camaraderie that comes with taking part in mud runs/OCRs and that camaraderie was going to be instilled further by the training we were about to take part in.  Then after our team photo with obligatory AROO! it was time to set off.

First up we were introduced to our new best friend: a 6 foot log that we had to keep hold for the duration of the training session. Taken on a warm up jog, with postural reinforcement, general centre of mass explanations, and reminders to swap shoulders to maintain balance and work our weaker side, I soon realised that my fitness levels were going to be really tested, more so than they have been in a while.  I have to admit to all my geek friends, I did utter the immortal line, 'Spartan come back with your log, or on it'.  Well, it had to be done!

Head Coach Michael Cohen with his friendly log

We ran down the main track and soon we were off road and running down into a wooded area. After quite a few weaving runs through the trees, and doing our best not to hit everyone else with the end of our logs, we got to a point where we were introduced to a series of crawling techniques.  Bear crawls to help get up steep, muddy embankments and crab crawls to get down steep embankments without ending up with a nasty surprise in your posterior...ooer!  Wave after wave of practicing these techniques really made the quads burn and slowly we were starting to get the hang of the Spartan team spirit, with hands to help you get up the steep muddy sides being offered and encouragement of 'get up there, go on'.


With our logs back on our shoulders, we were off again through the terrain, until we came to an area with logs secured up in the trees and a low line.  Here we were to practice our hanging and leg raising skills, all to help with core work and to get us used to the different types of grip we would probably need in different situations.  We also were showed how to roll safely in case we tripped whilst on course.That was tricky to get the correct technique for after so much learning to roll for pole dance.

Crab crawling - get those hips UP!

Yes, I was automatically, and without thinking, trying to bring a little flare to the roll when really I needed to take all the flare out. After a number of these, Michael asked us to remove all shoes and socks and get barefoot and in touch with ground.

Barefoot running is interesting and something I quite enjoyed. Granted the area of ground we were on wasn't as treacherous as it could have been, and apart from the ants and spiked chestnut casings, it was actually quite nice underfoot.  We then practiced more various animal movements, (these are all things that I am looking forward to doing on my Primal Move course later this month so was good to have a practice in the wild as it were).  We did frog leaps up a small incline, monkey hops and then pressed our way down the hill starting in standard press up position but then moving hands and legs in to varying positions so that we forced more lateral movement.

My favourite part of all mud runs/OCRs tend to be the water obstacles.  I feel very much at home in the water, probably comes from growing up close to the sea. I was thrilled that we had river crossing obstacle practice. 

River crossings

Two options for crossing the river were presented, one where both hands and feet are on ropes so that you are upright and the other a single strap across the river.  Unfortunately the bottom rope on the two rope crossing came away mid cross and I have to try a style of crossing called monkeying.  I wasn't going to let he water claim me just yet, so channeling my inner stubbornness, I dug in and got over to the other side of the river without ending chest deep in the drink.  I did attempt the single rope crossing in the traditional arms and feet up style but got halfway, lost my feet and ended up chest deep in the river. The water was, surprisingly, a pleasant temperature.

Determined Chin!

After a small run and some more technique practice with our shoes and socks back on, we lifted our logs back on our shoulders and took them across the river.  Some followed Michael's example of taking the log across on the two rope crossing, others got in the water and walked across.  With more running through various terrain and getting up and down slopes, we then did throwing practice with the logs up a small incline to get used to different ways of throwing, more grip practice and how to safety lift a 6 foot log for throwing, always keeping in mind not to hit the camera man who was furiously taking pictures of the day.

Our second water obstacle was the river walk, which I loved doing at the Spartan Sprint last year. And with some simple technique instructions from Michael, we were all keeping upright and not sinking in the very muddy and rather soft river bed. The water was a little colder this time but still not unpleasant after you got over the initial chill and reminded your body to regulate it's temperature. After the river walk, to dry off came the last push back up to the base camp.  I'm not quite sure how long the run was, I would guess around a kilometer, but it was all up hill and with the log on your shoulder we were close to the end of 4 hours.  Our simple instruction for this part: No walking, no stopping, you have to run and if you have to drag your fellow Spartan with you, you do so. We leave no one behind!  At this point every muscle in my body was begging me for more glycogen. I had very little left. My runny buddy, Jon had been awesome in support all day and once again stepped up to help.  With a constant 'one foot in front of the other Krissie, you've got this' on the left side and a helping hand from Michael in that he grabbed my hand and started running faster pulling me along, I got a little further, I didn't stop.  Next thing I realise my log is being taken off my shoulder by Jon for the last 400m and I'm hearing that 'one foot, keep going' - I still owe him a pint or six! Thank you Jon :)

Jon, on the right, being a goddamn hero!

I kept my feet moving in a trot, with the log gone I found I had a little more in the tank and I am thrilled I didn't stop once to walk and made it to the top.  I am a little disappointing that I didn't finish with my log and that last 400m is now my target for the next training camp to complete it with log in tow!

 I am inspired by the people I trained with that day.  They proved that you can do anything when you put your mind to it.  The great thing about the day was that there was no judging of anyone and their abilities.  Everyone helped everyone else, we all pitched in and were supportive of each other and complimentary on each persons different sets of skill strengths.  It was a joy to be in the company of such like minded people.  I felt quite at home.

After a quick towel off and change, a very welcomed slug of coffee and a flapjack, we all hung around the cars talking about the day and really having a good geek out over mud races. It was at this point I found out that not only were most of these people seasoned runners, most were elite obstacle course racers, and a few were world class competitors in their previous field, including our very own World Champion Triathelete.  And you know what?  I kept up with them.  I may not have been the fastest, or the most agile but I held my own.  And Pandora was once again firmly put to sleep back in her box.

Just over seven years ago I weighed over 18stone and smoked 30 a day, and here I was keeping up with elite athletes who had been training for far more years than I had.  I realised that I was that much stronger than I gave myself credit for, was far fitter than I gave myself credit for, and that my stubbornness is a positive.  All those worries over not being good enough had dissipated by the end of the first hour.  It was tough, it was insane, my shoulders still haven't forgiven me and the bruises are something else (but then with pole bruising my skin is getting used to it) but it was so much fun. The other added bonus, not one twinge from the knee all day. Looks like I have nipped the IT Band issue in the bud finally.

If you are seriously considering a mud event, be it Sparatn, Tough Mudder, Rock Solid, Zombie Evac etc, I would heartily recommend you get to one of the training days that Wild Forest Gym host.  It will give you a great insight into how the OCR mentality works and how to get around a course safely and they even do one to one and group sessions. Do check them out.

Huge thanks to my fellow team mates from the day, it really was a pleasure to meet you all and spend the day training.  And massive thanks to Jon, Michael and Thomas. See you some of you in July! AROO!

June 2nd Advanced Group! AROO!

 

All photographs courtesy of Matt Bradshaw and Spartan Race Training UK. AROO!

Happy 2nd Birthday blog

Wow hasn't the time flown?  Two whole years. This little corner of the web that I started two years ago has grown fairly consistently, so thank you to everyone who has shared my ramblings, the articles and all the general information that spews forth from this adled brain.  I love reading your comments and hope that some of the information I share is of use.

What started as a project to keep myself accountable to my continuation of a better me (in health and in character) has grown into something much more than that.  It's something I am fiercely proud of and something that continues to bring me great joy on a weekly basis.  I say it everytime and mean it with earnest, that I will maintain this blog with more regularity, but alas time has gotten the better of my yet again.  Hopefully with the launch of the full new venture on April 8th (a date for the diary) I will be posting far more regularly and incorporating a new look to these pages.

I will explain more about the new venture when certain things are in place (I know, I'm such a tease). But for now I want to look back at the last couple of months and share what's been going on.  It's been a tad on the busy side.

Since the launch of the album the band hasn't really stopped.  Even in our down time, we managed to maintain momentum with the album and do as much promotional work as we could.  We had a feature in Metal Hammer, had lots of airplay of the new tracks and announced the 2013 leg of the Rage and Retribution tour, Oh and we also got announced for some festivals and as support to Queensryche (I'm super chuffed with that one as I grew up headbanging to those guys).

Over Christmas, Mr K and I proved you could workout anywhere as we were visiting my parent's (who have retired to Spain), getting some much needed vitamin D courtesy of that giant nuclear explosion called the Sun, and using the local park to do all sorts of crazy workouts. My parents are very lucky, in that that the park right next door to their house has football pitches, tennis courts, bleachers, basketball courts and more, making it a fitness buff's dream come true to get a good workout in on a regular basis.  The Spartan WODs came in handy for me to get to grips with training in different environments (which will come in very useful when I take that module next month to finish off my PT training).  I passed my Level 3 Advanced Training Approches and Anatomy and Physiology modules, and also my Beginner Pole Instructor qualification and I'm coming up to my assessment for my Exercise to Music, and the last two modules for the Level 3. So all is on course to have completed all the main qualifications by the end of March.  I must admit to being utterly in love with training others to find their soul mate workouts, to find somehing that inspires them to be healthy.  It's quite a fulfilling job.

I have purchased a weights bench and some spinlock vinyl, sand-filled weights, for my home gym, which have already proved invaluable.  So when I've been working late and get home I can get a fairly heavy lifting session in without having to go to the gym.  There are absolutely no excuses for me not to workout anymore.  I have so much home equipment now, that to not workout is not an option unless it's a rest day (and everyone MUST take rest days or you are going to injure yourself), or when my parents are visiting as they take over the basement. For those days I can just use my local gym.   I am really looking forward to ramping up my client base and being able to offer so many different training methods to get the best possible results.  It's something that I think every Personal Trainer should be able to do, offer a wide variety of training methods as one size doesn't fit all and if I can make working out as fun as possible then my clients are going to see quicker results.

Figured it out finally!

As for the weight loss, well, I'm not worried about it anymore. I do weight myself periodically but more than anything it's what I'm eating that I've noticed has the biggest effect on how I feel.  If I have chips from the chippy, I generally feel sluggish for the rest of the evening.  If I eat a lot of chocolate (I do have some as I quite enjoy it still but nowhere near the amount I was having and not everyday either), the sugar crash is so horrendous that it's just not worth me having more than a few grams.  My eating is very clean these days.  At the start of January I invested in the KiFit bodybugg to monitor my everyday energy expenditure and sleeping patterns. I have discovered that even though I may be lying down for 7-8 hours a night, I'm actually only getting between 3 -4 hours sleep, and even then it's sporadic and not all in one consistent block.  At most I get a full hour unbroken sleep.  It is little wonder that I wake up feeling dreadful.  And that is also impacting on my physical wellbeing, as I'm not getting sufficient rest.  So to ensure that I am getting more beneficial sleep, I am trying not to use my phone or iPad before bed, and I'm using the time to do my reading and research the old fashioned way, via a good book.  Something else that the bodybugg pointed out was that I wasn't eating enough.  Yes really!  I am far more active than I thought, which is a very good thing of course, but as I'd not being fuelling myself sufficiently then my body had reacted adversely. Now I'm more mindful of how I can pad out my meals and am far more mindful of my snacks and the body fat has decreased, and my energy levels are through the roof.  So it's all going in the right direction.

Something that struck me last night, as I got ready to go to a community gala evening, is how seriously comfortable in my own skin I have become.  Don't misunderstand me, it's been a tough old journey and I still have those days where I think 'urgh', but now it doesn't matter what people think of me or how they view me.  I am happy with me, and sure there are little things I think could be improved but isn't that the measure of success?  I've stopped comparing myself to others, because it doesn't matter, it really doesn't.  I'm me, and no one else is.  The only person I need to compare myself to was the person I was yesterday and even then it's not about how I look, it's about how I act. I've completed what I initially set out to do and that was to get healthy and to lose weight.  My goals are vastly different now.  I still want to be the best me that I can be, of course, and increase my own strength to show to myself what my body can achieve but I'm more concerned with how I am as a person and how I treat those around me.

We make mud look damned good!

So things that are coming up in 2013! Mr K and I have got our Season Passes for the Spartan Race UK this year.  That will be kicking off in August and hopefully we will be completing the Trifecta in November finishing with the Beast (a half marathon with so many obstacles it's not funny, but I love it!).  We hope to do at least 2 of the Zombie Evacuation runs, as they were great fun last year.  There may even be a Tough Mudder in there somewhere if we have the time.  I have some ideas for projects that I will start once the new venture has launched (April 8th remember), and I will be starting to teach one to one pole lessons from home for a while as well to build that up, as well as improve my own training and technique when it comes to pole. It's all go presently, and to top it all off we're back on tour with the band which makes me even happier.  Always the performer ;).  I'm so busy I don't sit still for more than a few seconds, unless I'm writing a blog of course.  And you know I wouldn't have it any other way, I am loving life right now and long may it continue. 

htpp://www.krissiekirby.com

new content coming soon

Be kind to yourself, always

Much Love

Krissie

x

Mud, mud and more mud!

So we did it! We arrived a little under an hour before our heat and we registered for our first ever Spartan Sprint :D

The registration process for the event is a very well oiled machine.  With waiver forms in hand all signed and ready to just be handed in, we were given our timing chips to attach to our shoes so that we didn't have to worry about the effects of water/mud and various other substances on HRMs and the like.

Having picked up our timing chip which also acted as our bib and with our numbers inked in indelible ink on our foreheads (for the pictures apparently), we handed in our keys to the key drop and prepared to warm up. And that's when disaster almost struck! I was doing some high knees and I turned over on my ankle. The crack was as though I landed on a twig, but no that was my ankle going crunch. Luckily it wasn't a major sprain just a slight twist and with some quick stretching it seemed to be fine, and what tiny twinges of pain I had dissipated. Had there been instant swelling and bruising, or any pain when I applied body weight onto the ankle, I would have withdrawn from the race.  However, there was nothing immediately apparent, and we had another 25 mins before the start of our heat, plenty of time for me to do a self diagnostic as were and check that I was still race fit. Thankfully, all was well. So time to Spartan the f*** up and get to it.

We lined up, amongst likeminded men and women, all ready to tackle whatever the course threw at us. The master of ceremonies took as through what we faced, and for the brave amongst us who were undertaking the Super Spartan they were told they'd have to do the course twice and with a brick on the second time through, 2 tyres instead of one, and 2 sand bags on the carry instead of one. As the course was a double for the super we worked out that we had roughly a 6 to 6.5 Km course to get through.  (The Super is over 12km). With the cry of 'What is your profession?' and our obligatory 'Aroo! Aroo! Aroo!' we started over the line and we were off.

Mo Mud!

Various obstacles that we faced along the way included balance beams, wading through LOTS of river water (over 2km in water), low walls, high walls, carrying sand bags and tyres, cargo nets, spear throw, crawling through mud, and on one occasion under barbed wire, holding bricks up for a set period of time, rope ladders and all with lots of mud from the previous racers and ourselves. But they saved the most evil obstacles till last.  As we turned into the home straight, we were faced with a pit of ice under barbed wire, that we had to crawl through...and it was dyed red! As soon as we come out of the ice pit it was the rope wall, and the surface of the inclined wall is like tarpaulin, so slippery when wet, and muddy. We tried to get up it, my god did we try but alas no, so honour burpees it was. In fact on the entire course I only did 2 x 30 burpees which I was really pleased with. (The spear throw had a rule, 1 throw and if you miss you do burpees...I missed but that's fine, if you recall I'm one of those weird people who like burpees)

Updating Facebook!

Around the 4km mark my knee started to give me some problems, so I'm not out of the woods with the old IT Band syndrome just yet and no doubt my physio will give me a telling off on Wednesday ;) But damn it this was something I needed to do for me and my great gods did I enjoy it.

Caked in mud, we finished our race, removed our chips, collected our medals and made our way back to the car to clean off, obviously had to update all social networking site, put civies back on and grab some food.  A quick jolly back over to the main arena saw us bump into one of the most inspiring fitness aficionados that I have ever witnessed. Doing a double take and saying to OH 'isn't that Jessie Pavelka?' lo, it was indeed Mr Palvelka in all his chiseled glory, with that dazzling smile.  What a thoroughly lovely man, he even obliged me with a photograph. I came away starstruck, utterly starstruck.

No sparkle here, just lots of glow!

All in all, a bloody good day. I lost my sparkle, met a fitness idol, had a great day with OH and faced my fear of heights head on scaling that cargo net and high wall. I feel quite accomplished. They say on the blurb that 'You'll know at the finish line' and you now what, you do.  You know that nothing can beat you if you really give it everything you have, and even if you fail at something there will be another way around the problem. What you know at the finish line is that you CAN do it and more, that you are strong in mind, body and spirit and that this community you've found yourself in all believe that and understand it too. You know at the finish line exactly who you are.

With Jessie Pavelka

Clean and proud Spartan Chick!

So next on the agenda is a visit to my physio and to really work on getting the strength and flexibility back in my IT band, I have a routine to film in pole tomorrow with my class, then I can start training for the Zombie Evacuation run in October,  and after that in 2013 the next sprint and maybe the super, and possibly the beast ;) Well, why not eh?

As always, be kind to yourself
Much love
Krissie
xx
Officially a Spartan Chick!

Spartan Up Buster!

About a year ago a friend of mine sent me a video on Facebook, all about a series of obstacle course races that happen across the globe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4aM0fpS0IU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I watched in wonder at this madness that had people crawling through pits of mud, under barbed wire, and grinning like utter loons while doing so. What was this wondrous thing, and was it available in the UK?

Well it turns out that, yes, the Spartan Series and Tough Mudder are both in the UK. For those of you who follow this blog, you know I love crazy ways of keeping fit and what is more crazy than taking on a series of obstacle courses over varying distances in a metric tonne of mud? The Sprint is the smaller of the three main Spartan races, and is a 5km run with 15 or more obstacles. If there is an obstacle that you just can't complete then you have the option to do burpees. And this will come as a huge surprise to many but I fricking LOVE burpees. Plyometric and strength conditioning with core stability all in one fluid movement, what's not to love?

So here I am, typing on my trusty iPad, in the car enroute to my first ever Spartan Sprint. Am I nervous? A little. Am I excited? Hell yes. I'm all about embracing the fear and pushing yourself that little further.  Now to just get through the never ending stream of roadworks on the M50/M5 and we're all set ;)


For all my fellow chicks who are losing their sparkle this weekend, good on ya girls, I'll see you at the finish line :D

Will blog with pictures if I survive ;)

As always, be kind to yourself
Much love
Krissie

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