{"id":40214,"date":"2015-03-09T23:10:01","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T03:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=40214"},"modified":"2020-07-14T23:10:13","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T03:10:13","slug":"why-i-kick-my-own-ass-sometimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=40214","title":{"rendered":"Why I kick my own ass sometimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

My entire body is stiff and achy, my knees are raw, hurt to touch and look like hamburger, and I just completed the most pathetic workout of my entire life because I\u2019m a creature of habit that would rather go have the most pathetic workout of my entire life than not go to the gym at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of these things, again.\u00a0 Because this past weekend was the\u00a0Spartan Sprint<\/em>\u00a0that I\u2019ve now done three years in a row.<\/span><\/p>\n

During this year\u2019s race, I found myself walking an inordinate amount of the course, which made me feel a little panicked at the state of my physical preparation.\u00a0 It was no secret that there were several new obstacles integrated into the course this year, none more arduous and physically taxing as the five-gallon bucket that runners had to fill entirely with gravel, and walk about the distance of a quarter of a mile up and down a hill, but the point remains, walking to me is supposed to be for the weak competitors, and running was supposed my greatest strength, my biggest asset, and my trump card to pass and overtake lesser competitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Several times throughout the race, typically while I was walking, exhaustion creeping in, while mentally trying to will it away, I asked myself,\u00a0why the hell am I putting myself through this; again?<\/em>\u00a0I mean, I thought it was a valid question, seeing as how this was the third straight year that I was running through the mud and woods just outside of Covington, Georgia.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d already proven that I could handle a Spartan Sprint twice over now, and there was no question that I could handle it a third time.\u00a0 I like to believe that every year\u2019s Spartan is a good opportunity to exploit and discover weaknesses in our individual physical development and preparation, and that every following year is the chance to put them to the test.\u00a0 Seeing as how the wall up-and-overs were my problems in years prior, I integrated lots of lifts and exercises to combat this, and I had, with much internal glee, dominated all walls in front of me in the race.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless, it wasn\u2019t so much as the fact that I was getting any softer or getting any weaker, as much as it was the sentiment that this year\u2019s Spartan Sprint might actually have been more difficult.\u00a0 There were numerous new obstacles introduced into the run this year that weren\u2019t in prior years, including one that actually made runners have to utilize their brain, by memorizing a verbal code that would have to be recited later on in the course (which I remembered by using a mnemonic device, DELTA-730-Jeff Francoeur\u2019s last good year AKA 2007).\u00a0 Needless to say, I found myself panting and gassed way more often than I\u2019d really liked to admit.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, difficulty increase aside, it didn\u2019t make me feel any better when I later discovered my time on the course upon completion, which turned out to be\u00a01:36:10<\/strong>.\u00a0 This would be about 19 minutes slower than my time from a year prior, and almost 20 minutes slower from two years ago.\u00a0 This was a little deflating to me, considering how easily I traversed the walls that stumbled me up in years prior.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I also needed to consider the difficulty increase, because I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m a Nigerian endurance runner by any stretch of the imagination, but I couldn\u2019t possibly have been the only person to have been addled by the increase of obstacles, several of which were simply strength-based.<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, this is where the game of percentages come into play, because time aside, the most important information runners want to learn, is how they measure up to their fellow runners.<\/span><\/p>\n