Pages

August 9, 2011

Playing with Monkey Boy - Day 2

Today Monkey Boy planned to come do my speed workout with me, but the track was overrun by high school football players so we had to turn around. We decided to do Monkey Boy's workout at the local park. This consists of the exercise stations, each with his personal little twist. I've run the park time and again, but never done the stations.

We picked up Ninja and made our way to the park. The plan was to run the bike path up to the big hill, doing the stations as we hit them. Run a few hill repeats, then come down the trail side and do those stations as well.

Station 1 was less than a quarter mile up the trail
You're supposed to walk on your hands across the length of the bar
Unless you're Monkey Boy, who added 6 dips along the way
I have a very weak upper body. I couldn't even walk the bars,
not to mention do the dips.
Monkey Boy helped.
Then we ran to the next station
 
3 sets. 10x. 12x. 14x.
 Then we ran to the next station.

Jumping Jacks are boring, so we only did one set of 30
The next few stations were close together, so we sprinted to each one.
Circles are boring too...
3 sets of 6
 
Hop 1, run around, hop 2. 3 sets.
I apparently have no lift. I could barely hop one...
 
I thought I had a better photo of this. They included knees to the chest.
Knowing the hill repeats were coming soon, we opted for a single set of 12
 The next run was about a mile, to the hill.
We did not sprint.
The hill. You can't see the sharper incline at about 2x this distance, just around the bend.
I've been here many times, but somehow thought the hill was broken into 2 sections.
I was wrong.
I have never run this hill. It was always my turn around point.
I would rather run the park 2x than run this hill.
I ran this hill today. I got almost all the way to the top, too.
Then I turned around and ran it down.
I will run it again, and make it all the way.
Soon.

The original plan was for hill repeats, but after running it once I remembered I have a race on Saturday, and I didn't want to completely destroy my legs.
We still had a ways to go to get back to the car.
I made a good choice considering the trail we chose to return.
We ran the half mile or so back down the path to where the trail started.
I used to take the boys on this trail when they were in middle school.
I have been meaning to try trail running.
I have been meaning to run this trail, but never got around to it.
until today.
I had a lot of fun running this trail.
It got steep in parts.
There were certainly more uphills and downhills then the path.
There were rock crossings and bridge crossings
and a log crossing.
I will run it again.
Soon.


I could not do this, even on the lowest incline.
My legs just wouldn't come up.
I tried regular sit-ups with my feet at top.
That didn't work very well either.
I walked away feeling like I had splinters in my shorts.
2 sets of 6. 1 with fingers facing back, 1 with fingers facing forward.
Monkey Boy tried to lift me to help, but ultimately I had to jump to get my chin up.
The only arm muscles I used were to slow me as I fell to the ground.
Monkey Boy showing off!
This exercise was very odd...
Monkey Boy caught fabulous air
Ninja did well too. Look how high he can get that leg!
Photog skills were a little lacking here...
And here. Notice the lack of air...
Urban Ninja'ing!
6x. Win!
Win!
Fail!
I did make it over, just one foot at a time.

25. 15. 10.
15. 10. 5.
 I could not do a single push-up. Instead I planked for 30 seconds on each level and called it done.

That was the end of the trail, and we walked it back to the car for a cooldown.

Overall, we ran about 3 miles. The whole thing took about an hour and a half, and we were all covered with sweat. As I write this, my arms and back are a bit tight. My legs are a little tired. Nothing is terribly sore, but feeling it today means I will feel it tomorrow.

I'm told tomorrow is leg day.
As Monkey Boy says, gotta get my swol' on!

3 comments:

Emz said...

This post made me tired just reading x 2.
Holy. Crap.
That's a freaking tough workout!!
Loved all the photos!!
No thanks on the hill. [I mean yes, please]. I suck at hills.
Monkey boy adding dips!!?! What?!
90 mins of awesome hard work.
Totally. Impressed.
But
Seriously?! You ate doing legs in the near future?!
Amazing.

Still Running said...

That is the coolest thing ever. Our trail has some kinda pathetic stations, with no instructions, all made of steel that gets scorching hot or freezing cold. I'm moving to wherever you are.

Energizer bunny said...

Hey!! I was there this morning. The hill is wicked, but I LOVE the trail. I've never added in the workout stops, nor done it with monkey boy showing off next to me. It looks like an awfully good time.