Here we are, 14 weeks from Killington and starting a critical turning point in training. This week would be a standard week, but the plans for next week have started already. For the most part, things would remain normal this week, with the addition of a trail run to get some technical terrain under my feet. After all, road running doesn’t do much for stressing the ankles. The end of the week will have me at Tuxedo, NY for the Spartan Sprint, no weight training this weekend.

Ultra Beast Articles Joe’s Blog

Monday 6/6

There was little motivation to work out today. My knees and ankles are experiencing some discomfort from last week’s runs. Getting old isn’t easy, especially when you are trying to outrun father time. Instead of sitting on the couch like I want to, I have to do something. There will be no epic hill climbs or intense miles today… just a short 3.5ish mile run with a decent pace. I have to figure out a way to get motivated this week, perhaps this will kick start my engine. There is a local development near me that seems well planned for running, one loop is close to a mile and there are some small hills that make it better than running at a track. The route is predictable and repeatable.

 

Tuesday 6/7

Today is going to focus on shoulders, as usual, mixing in some TaeKwonDo. Our class this week would be light in comparison to other weeks, we have a promotion test coming up and our students need to practice. No hour long sparring sessions, no gorilla runs, and no insane medicine ball workouts. Nothing to see here folks… come back later.

Military Press (dumbbells)	10 Reps	8 Reps	8 Reps	8 Reps
	35 lbs.	45 lbs.	50 lbs.	55 lbs.
Front Raise (dumbell)	10 Reps	8 Reps	6 Reps	4 Reps
	15 lbs.	20 lbs.	25 lbs.	30 lbs.
SuperSet
Leg Extensions	10 Reps	10 Reps	10 Reps	10 Reps
	150 lbs.	150 lbs.	150 lbs.	150 lbs.
Sissy Squats	10 Reps	10 Reps	10 Reps	10 Reps
Lateral Raises (dumbell)	10 Reps	8 Reps	6 Reps	4 Reps
	15 lbs.	20 lbs.	25 lbs.	30 lbs.
Cuban Press (dumbell)	10 Reps	10 Reps	10 Reps	10 Reps
	15 lbs.	15 lbs.	15 lbs.	15 lbs.
Shrugs (dumbell)	10 Reps	10 Reps	10 Reps	10 Reps
	55 lbs.	55 lbs.	55 lbs.	55 lbs.
Upright Row	10 Reps	8 Reps	6 Reps	4 Reps
	120 lbs.	130 lbs.	140 lbs.	150 lbs.

TKD

Wednesday 6/8

Today started with the intention of tackling Janes Chapel Rd. JC gives me 1K in elevation on a nice 5-mile run. On our way there, I somehow convinced my buddy to switch it up and tackle a local trail instead. I have run this trail before with my son, it was technical and long enough to mirror the distance of a long Spartan Sprint. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like anyone has hit these trails since early spring and it is completely overgrown. It was near impossible to figure out where we were or where we were supposed to go. What should have been a 6-mile trail run turned into a 4.38-mile bushwacking session that ended up with us nowhere near where we were supposed to be. To finish the run, we decided to do some telephone pole to telephone pole sprints when we found ourselves on a local road instead of the trail. I cut GPS watch off right around the time we hit the road, total run was more in the neighborhood of 5 miles.

Thursday 6/9

Rest day

Friday 6/10

TaeKwonDo today. Nothing spectacular, I am running Tuxedo tomorrow and cannot risk injury tonight. Although I will participate in some cardio, I won’t be recording anything and I won’t be sparring. We did a ton of bag work and suicide like bag sessions with two teams competing against each other for speed. The loser would have to do 10 pushups each time. Total pushups for the class, 301.

Saturday 6/11

TUXEDO!!!! I ran in the competitive heat today. This would be my first time running anything but the Open Heat. It was fun, but I think I like Open Heat better. People like to chat it up in the open heat and I am a VERY social person. Unfortunately, I forgot to shut my watch off at the end of the race, total time was 1:19:57 according to Chronotrack and no Burpees. Earlier in the week I tried to make a bet with a friend that I am running Tuxedo again with tomorrow; if I could run two laps today in the time it would take our team to run one lap on Sunday, he would do a Spartan Beast this year. I couldn’t get him to bite. Let’s see how we do tomorrow.

Sunday 6/12

Today is all about pushing my friends past their limits. They are athletic, determined, and focused. This will be one friend’s second Spartan Race and the third time I have run with the other. The three of us tackled Tuxedo today as a team, no man left behind. No GPS watch, but our time was 2:58:45. I wish my friend would have taken that bet! I would enjoy nothing more than getting him ready for a Beast. While I didn’t get any hard running in, I did get 2K in elevation in again.