Training Log: Entry 3305

AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)

I’m going to narrate this one, because it was kind of involved.  This was an events day sorta approach.

I took my 100lb keg, prowler and throwbag out to my prowler training space, that has a .05 mile straight away (which is about 265’ apparently)

I did this for 3 rounds: Walk the 100lb keg as far as I could carry it, turning when I’d hit the end of the straight away.  Once I put the keg down, I’d run back to the start, take the throw bag, and throw it as many times as I needed to reach the keg.  I’d then run back to the start, backwards drag the prowler to the keg, load the keg onto the prowler and backwards drag it back to the start, then run back to the throw bag and throw it back to the start.

The first round, I did a horizontal carry with the keg and made 1.25 full trips (so .125 miles traveled).  Second round I tried a bearhug carry and only managed to get about halfway down the strip.  Final round, I went back to the horizontal carry and managed to get all the way down and halfway back.  

The bearhug carry seems non-viable for max distance: crushing my lungs while trying to carry something as far as I can doesn’t seem to work well for me.  Additionally, we ARE allowed to re-lap the implement, as long as it doesn’t touch the ground, and the horizontal carry works better for me there.  I’ll continue to train both styles still, but I’m finding my preference.

Had a real “ah hah!” moment with the throw bag and figured out how to let the bag’s weight throw ME through the 360 degree spin to generate more speed/momentum.  It’s like riding a wave.  That should be valuable for the future.

The backwards drags were nice.  Always quad intensive, but sparing otherwise.  My lower back was a little angry with me coming into this, most likely from some Tang Soo Do shenanigans, but at the end I was feeling pretty solid.  

In general, I like all the stuff that was in this workout.  Loaded carries, drags, and throws.  Dan John would approve.  It wasn’t terribly taxing on the conditioning, and I think for the future I’ll include some sort of burnout on it, but still easing into this and figuring it.  Same reason I’m using such a light keg: I want to rebuild my ability to endure the suck first and THEN start going harder.

In that regard, I did pretty good on just plodding along for as long as I could.  My initial run with the keg was over 4 minutes of carrying.  Great impact on the grip too.  The keg isn’t a sandbag, no, but the muscles involved in being miserable are the same.

Final Tang Soo Do class of the week is tonight.  I’m taking the day off work tomorrow to take my kid out fishing and do some other stuff, so I’ll be able to sleep in.