An interesting week for sure.
Even though at the end of this week I had an endurance event I decided to go on zero carbs and severe calorie restriction. Decided to shock my body a bit this week. Primarily because my weight has been drifting up a little bit late last week and then over our anniversary weekend it spiked up significantly. I did keep my carbs low that weekend but my fat choices were not the best.
Workouts went well on Mon + Wed despite cal restrictions and zero carbs. Skipped Thursday’s squat day due to event.
I started the week at close to 230lbs and as of Friday morning for the event I had cut the low 220’s. Kind of opposite of what should be done but it needed done and I wanted the challenge.
EVENT
Starting at 5am our 12 person relay team began race walking from Portland over the Cascade Range and to the Coast. We also had a 12 person running team which started at the top of Mt Hood that morning as well…but I’m not much into running.
I did take in 80-100g of carbs prior to my legs with Pslin. Also used my normal cocktail of stimulants/NO/creatine/antioxidants ala Get Diesel.
You pretty much get little to no sleep as when it’s not your leg you’re supporting the other walkers. Although we did get a couple hours of shuteye between 11pm-2am while the other van was out before our next legs began at 3am.
I did a similar event last year and I had done some training for it doing some walks and hikes with the team and my wife. Last years relays I was barely able to do over 4 miles of the fast pace walk, and it was all flat. I averaged something like 14.5, 13.7, and 16.5 for my 3 aprox 4.5mile legs last year. And that was with a little bit of training. Although I was at 250+lbs at the time and the last leg was so slow due to chaffing issues.
This year I went in without having done a walk since July of last year. I wanted to see how my sled pulling would prepare me and also with carrying 20+less lbs around. However I have not really done that much sled work in last 6 weeks.
My first leg was a difficult one. It was 7 miles with the first 2 miles being straight up, then 3 miles down and 2 miles flat. The hill felt like nothing to me and I powered up it smoking tons of people, then continued my pace till the last mile where if finally started to slow down. I finished in the 12’s min/mile which is quite respectable time for this leg, not even considering my BW and lack of training. I passed 27 people on this leg and was only passed by 2 people and that was in the last mile. I was a bit delirious for a few minutes after this one. Kind of weird feeling that way.
After this leg I took one of my shoes (old and I should have replaced) off to inspect a blister. My team mate saw my foot and sent me immediately to the first aid tent. They were not much help as they didn’t know what to do about it as it was a horrible mess. They chastised me for letting it get so bad but finally after some time were able to get it bandaged up and sent me on my way. That is after telling me not to walk anymore.
If you know my by now I’m sure you know what my decision was. To do the next leg of course but to do it even quicker so I wouldn’t be on my foot so long. My glutes and quads were already sore from the first leg with the huge uphill and long downhill, but I felt I could do it quicker.
My next leg was only 4.5miles with some moderate ups and downs. I smoked through that one in the 11’s min/mile and wasn’t even winded at the finish after passing 18 people. I was passed by one elite team (teams under 10min/mile were started 4 hours later than us) in this race. Kind of humbling as I was just flat flying by everyone and then they came buy me like they were running.
All in all I was quite happy with what I accomplished. I believe I posted the fastest time on our team and a few of the people have been doing this for over 10 years. Overall, not even considering I fall in the Clydesdale Category (over 200lb class) my times were up there with the folks that trained regularly for this with long hard walks frequently several times a week and hard hikes. I was only passed 3 times and passed a total of 45 people.
As for my BW, I was hoping it would drop further during the event but I was so shot by the time we passed the finish line at 11am on Saturday morning I decided to cheat. Had a burger and clam chowder at the coast along with a couple bloody marry’s before heading home. Then some ice cream and a few glasses of wine at home. Woke up this morning at 225lbs (which puts me back close to 230 after food and water) so I’m right back into my diet today.
Doing lots of soaking of my foot in Epsom salts to keep it clean as it really is a nasty bloody seeping mess. I was going to take a picture of it…until I took the bandages off and decided that was a bad idea. Buying new shoes today.
I think with a little bit of work I break into the elite walk group next year…and I’m sure be the biggest elite walker around. Don’t worry…I’m not redirecting my training one bit just going to change up my ‘style’ of sled pulling. Other than that no program changes. My goal is still to be the strongest.
Here are some pics. Guy in yellow shorts is on my team, just giving me water.
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