Better living through chemistry . . .

Annie was driving me nuts, so I laced her puppy chow with valium . . .

Just kidding. Mostly.

Dogs love dirt.

Hi. My name is Annie. I'm about to roll around in this dirt.


I'm a dusty mess.

A New Experiment: Week One.

I've been cruising Mountain Athlete for a while. Jason, The Scientist, and I decided to give it an honest try with a four-week work capacity cycle. Week one did not disappoint.

Monday:
Warm up:
4 Rounds
Medicine Ball Complex @ 20#
10x Push ups

Training:
(1) 5 Rounds for Reps
60 seconds 25m sprint
60 seconds rest
Total reps: 40

(2) 10 minute sandbag get up for reps (80lbs)
Total reps: 18 (There's definitely an efficient way to do these. I chose an inefficient way.)

(3) 10 Rounds
5x Pull ups
10x Dips
15x Push ups
(ugghhh...no fun...)

Wednesday:
Warm up: 4 Rounds
Barbell Complex
HAM - Hip Mobility Drill

(1) Work up to 1RM Front Squat
205 PR

(2) Work up to 1RM Push Press
150

(3) 5 Rounds
5x Kettlebell Floor Press (16kg)
7 rope pull ups
5x Shoulder Scarecrow

(4) 5 Rounds
5x Sandbag Clean & Squat
Tire Drag
HUG - Hip Mobility Drill
(Everything was going well until this complex. Then the lights got dim...)

Friday:
Warm up:
10 minute Kettlebell Complex (16kg)

(1) 8 Rounds for Time
50x Step ups (40lbs)
10x Push ups
5x Ankles-to-Bar
29:40

(2) 5 Rounds
10x GHD Situp
5x Cauldron
10x Ab Wheel

And the winner is . . .

ANNIE. By a landslide. This little pup is so friendly and cute that she sold herself.

A rare moment of calm in the parking lot.

This is more typical. And it's Example Number Two of why wildlife photographers do not use the iPhone.

Cast your votes . . .

Athletically, I've been doing jack nothing this week. The MMM beat me up. I was feeling good on Wednesday and went to the gym to do Death by Ten Meters -- one lazy performance later, I left limping. My left leg is still jacked up from the marathon. And so I've been spending time on more important matters.

FINDING A DOG.

The Wee One and I are looking for a dog. Here are the current contenders. We haven't met any of them yet, so we're trying to divine as much as we can from crappy pictures.

Posha: 2 years old, just had a litter of puppies, no known issues.


Annie: 14 weeks old, lab/pit mix, no known issues. Pegs the CuteMeter.


Billy: Such a good looking pit. 6 months old. Apparently he's a little p-s-y-c-h-o. But he looks so good.

5:10:06

I finished the Mid Mountain Marathon in 5 hours, 10 minutes, and 6 seconds. While 98th out of 115 men is nothing to broadcast on The Internets, I'm okay with it. I worked hard, I managed not to cramp until I crossed the line, and most importantly -- I finished. Mission accomplished.

26.2 miles is a long way. The debilitating tightness in my calves and hamstrings is a nice reminder that I may want to stick to races in the 16-18 mile range. In those, right about the time the little voice in your head starts to say "I'm kinda over this," you turn downhill and run for the finish. But I've already shot my mouth off about longer endeavors next summer.

Cue Jason yelling SPEEDGOAT!

Mixed results.

The office makes me stir crazy -- especially after a week on the beach -- and so I bolted to the gym for a little "fun" yesterday at lunch. There's a thought that's been nagging me for a couple of months now: in terms of short intense efforts -- perhaps anything less than an hour -- I've lost fitness. Yesterday's trip to the gym proves it.

3 rounds, for time
400m run
25 burpees
16:02

That's downright slow. But here's the good news: I feel like I've developed the ability to cover a lot of terrain rather efficiently. Sixteen miles and few thousand feet of gain used to sound like an all day affair -- now I can knock it off between breakfast and lunch. And all of this raises two more questions:

1. How much farther can I go? Saturday will give me a clue about that. And, more importantly . . .

2. How will all of this translate in the winter?

'Cuz that's really what matters.

Tapering towards a beating . . .

The Mid Mountain Marathon is this Saturday. I'm not sure that drinking my weight in Pacifico last week will help my time, but I'm pretty sure I can finish -- if I don't cramp, and if I can shake the GI bug that I brought back from Mexico. There are plenty of aid stations and I've recon'd the first and last thirds of the course. I just need to start slow and crawl into my own little pain cave once I reach Red Pine Lodge.

Check out the elevation profile. Lots of leg-frying little ups and downs. The descent at the end is (comparatively) a welcome relief.

Yesterday's "fun"
Recovery WOD -- three sets of 10-12 [GHD sit ups, back extensions, pull ups, push ups, KB swings], not for time.

Monday's "fun"

I ran the last 8.4 miles of the MMM course -- or at least what I thought were the last 8.4 miles of the MMM course. I got suckered into following the orange blazes for the Park City Point to Point MTB race -- which includes a gnarly multi-mile climb -- and ended going farther, and finishing more beat up, than I wanted to. 9ish miles, two-ish hours, too much climbing.

Sayulita.

Here is all that you need to know about Sayulita: GO THERE. The Wee One and I will surely go back. But not in August.

The view from our private terrace. We spent hours watching the surf. In part because it was beautiful, and in part because it was SO EFFING HOT.


We nicknamed this "The Pit." It is a basketball/badminton court below the terrace and it was an effing furnace. For some reason, The Wee One decided it was the best spot to do burpees and jump rope. I decided it was the best place to contemplate death by dehydration.


WTF? The only thing to do a pull up on was a concrete beam that was (a) a little less than stout, and (b) topped with frayed electrical wires. My overheated brain decided that slinging a towel over that same beam would eliminate the simultaneous risks of being electrocuted and crushed by falling debris. Right.


A unexpected bonus of visiting Sayulita is making friends with stray dogs. I know, I know -- sounds weird. But these dogs were strangely endearing. This guy followed me around for three days. He never begged, never barked; just followed me around with a huge grin on his face. I kept trying to think of a way to smuggle him home in my carry-on.