Busy, crazy, sleepless week with all the fun!

So June 19/20 was an interesting weekend for me, I had a goal of a hurricane heat (recap here), 2 laps around the super (recap here) on Saturday, and then 2 more laps around the super on Sunday. Now you might say, why would a sane person think to do so much stuff in one weekend? Well (have we met, sanity is questionable, but that is what makes life fun, right?) I want to do the Killington ultra beast, so I need to start pushing myself, more so than i have, I would rather approach this head on, with a good chance, luckily, I have a good friend that is going to do it with me, and we plan to push each other along. So I strongly feel that it would have been doable, but alas, I failed my attempt. Now I did not do this smart, but I also did not have much choice in the matter. Due to insomnia (and packing for a long weekend), I had 4 hours of sleep or less from Tuesday night through Saturday night. So that is 4 nights in a row, of no real sleep. I also spent Thursday, and Friday building the super course, and the hurricane heat let me leave my shift early, just enough time to change (at my trunk, I love that race weekends it is normal to chat with people in your boxers, or even meeting new people) and get my gear ready for the hh. Also, in the beginning when we did the ridiculous number of push ups, because of the speed, and not being in shape enough, by 20ish I felt my triceps tighten instantly, so I knew I was so not in the right shape, I have been slacking too much. So I am writing this because I like to note my experiences, and also learn from my mistakes, and maybe somebody else can learn from my mistakes. I had also been fighting something since Monday. Also, my sleep post record length hurricane heat, was about 3, in my car, my bed plans fell through (stuff happens, at least my car was warm). But ya know what was cool? Wile running the fire wood to it's home by the finish line, a nice little pick me up, a surprise, one of the people watching us, around 1030pm, is a good friend. His few words "I am proud of you buddy" was a nice addition to my night, and put a smile on my face. My main bummer though, my shoes prevented me from doing my second lap wile I had the energy to do it on Saturday, after my first lap, (they were giving me blisters on my arches). Skipping the lap was annoying because I figured it would help me guarantee that I could do the 2 laps on Sunday. Saturday night I got  sleep in my bed and a nap in my car before heading home, a nap at the team tent, and most of the day on my couch half asleep. Then Sunday, after feeling mostly rested, at 5am my body ached so much telling me that I had no business getting up and doing anything. I was looking forward to running with team Ilene that day, for the first time, but I will have to wait for another day. Some days you need to forget about everything else, and just rest, do nothing, or eventually your body will do it for you. Sunday was one of those days that my body one, and was completely exhausted. So If I can blog about my successes, why not blog about my failures as well? Also this is a warning to make sure that you take time for recovery, as well as rest, Rest is when your body makes your gains, as it builds itself up stronger than before, no rest = no gain.

Hurricane Heat #071 (Boston/Barre)

Rule #1, Always look cool (in Fit challenge shades, and zombie charge buff #racelocal)

 So I did a hurricane heat last year, and frankly, I was disappointed, so I wanted to give it another shot, and always wanting to push the envelope, I wanted to do the race afterwards, after all I did that last year.

Anthony Looking cool,

It started (6/19/15) off with a warm up jog, maybe a 1/4 mile, as a group, we did it twice, because part of the group was separated at the start, with bathrooms and late comers, and we wound up starting at 530 instead of 6. (we also ended our HH, which is normally 4 hrs, at about 1130, he was going for a time record, and we got it, I think). Followed up by 118 push ups in 3 minutes, which was randomly shouted out. We made it to about 35ish, then had to restart, and got another 40ish, then they had us stop, so we could get on with the day. This was an interesting night, as Anthony would repeat several times through the night, "lets go into the woods, and do some fucking weird shit" He reminds me a little bit of the crazy guy from that fantasy football tv show, Rafi, (still not sure if that is a good thing or not) I was hoping for more Playing on the obstacles. The group I was with (we broke into 2 groups, then back to 1 big one, then 3 group, back to one, then into 2 teams twice more) The first split we hung out in the pool of water under the rope climb, for a wile, wile passing out ammo cans above our head, and holding for a wile. Next my team played around on the Tyrolean traverse rope for a bit, but we went on them a different way first, through, instead of across. The point was to make us work as a team, so we lifted teammates, and then they touched the ropes, and then we divided up into smaller teams and raced the regular way across the traverse ropes. Next we did squat holds, wile holding a penny, another required gear list item. The lead guy was told that they did not run enough at his last event, so we did indian runs, but it was a slow jog, most like walking, but shuffling our feet, until it was your turn to go to the front. Then we explored for a bit, found some trees, and were told we were going to carry one. But wile Anthony was climbing on top to pick one out, you just hear, "man I am listening to some fucking angry music right now" and he was visibly getting more amped up.

Anthony climbing the tree pile

For those that were not carrying the tree, you carried the ammo cans, at least 2 (oh yeah, some people still had water in them from when we all played in the water under the ropes) we carried logs from another pile a little farther away. Then wile we moved along the trail, and got way ahead of the people carrying a tree (trust me that ain't easy, especially through trails!) we got to the spear throw. The field be hind, we went from sprinting, to lunges, to crawling, all to different points, and then repeated until we got back to the point we started, when the trees joined us again. Then we got to throw the spear if we wanted, but if we missed, we had to do 40 burpees, luckily, I stuck the spear in! At some earlier point Anthony got annoyed that people were talking, so when we stopped we had to squat, or do some exercise wile waiting for whatever we were waiting for. so wile we waited to throw a spear, squats, when we finished and waited for others to finish, squats, you get the point, it went on all night. Then more indian runs, split into the 3 groups, I did lunges and whatever else came to mind from the guy leading us, Lucky for me, when we did burpees, I found the one spot with poop on course, but because it was pitch black out, i did not realize until after my knee was in it, good thing for tights! Then more indian runs, and what seems to be a standard when their is a HH, we stacked the fire wood for the start line.

The field where we lunged next to spear throw

I really do not understand why that seems to be a standard, but hey, it is what it is, they usually find a way to make us do work for the race/venue some how. That is not all that different from the Other stuff, like death race that spartan like to compare a HH to (which i do not understand, they are 2 very different animals, trust me) where people constantly do "yard work" or "construction" or adding stirs to joe's mountain as just a part of their fun. After fire wood, we moved lines of rocks into piles of rocks (again to help venue, and this is where my ammo can magically was the only one to disappear, horrible luck on my end) and the last task we did, was move bushels of hay into a barn, 100 yards (ish) away.

Log again, But later in the night

Then just afterwards, we had a chat about how this was meant  to show us what we can do, literally anything, as long as we believe in it, and just do it (which is true, and a nice touch) Jumped up with all our might several times, also did burpess, and maybe squats, wile smoke grenades were thrown around us, which was kind of a cool way to end it all, it paired well with his speech, then we got our dog tags, and shirts. I am a little disappointed with the finishers shirt, it is 100% cotton, unlike the regular finishers that are softer, and 50% polyester, and personally I like the design from last years shirt better than this year. Then we got food and drinks from the venue, which was pretty cool, since it was close to midnight, and nothing would be open anywhere near there.

Finish Photo, Post Food

TIPS FOR A HURRICANE HEAT:

• Do not be late, trust me, you penalise the whole group
• Do not ask questions before or during the event (except when and what time, these things may be monitored fyi)
• You get a gear list just a few days before the event, be careful asking, I know about 3 people that did not get sent a list, That I think is an exception
• Do not ask questions as to why you need an item, you could get penalized
• Stay with the team, it is a team building exercise
• Know that they will be trying to break you in one way or the other, just to build you back up, and show you what you can do

Basically If you have done a goruck, you have done the same thing, but harder, and not just because rucks require weight, I prefer the goruck light compared to a hurricane heat. If you played on the obstacles more, then maybe spartan would win, but the whole "psycho" aspect seems to take away from the team mentality they try to push. The whole system is even more confusing now that they "killed" the death race, but for all intents and purposes, they just re branded it, and put it under the spartan brand completely, rather than the peak company. As well as adding various different options, and pulling in the hurricane heat events into it. You have to be approved for, the whole thing seems very weird to me. And again, even on the spartan post, that first released the new one Named "AGOGE" are saying it is ripping off goruck, I wouldn't go that far, but i see the point they are making, I would strongly encourage everybody do a goruck light, or at least shadow one, it is an awesome experience.

So The main reason for so much of my dislike for this event is based on the decryption that they post on their page for the hurricane heat.

What is the Hurricane Heat?
The Hurricane Heat gives runners the chance to meet and run with the staff and sometimes even the Founders of Spartan Race in a unique and memorable way. This special heat is held early in the mornings of the race and occasionally on the eve. There is always a mandatory gear list and all Hurricane Heats will venture on and off the Spartan Race Course at the Race Director’s desire. The goal of the Hurricane Heat is to finish as teams. There are no chips, no clock, just a fun run Spartan-style that represents what our company and our athletes are about…getting up when you’re knocked down and finishing what you start.
The Hurricane Heat is designed to break you down over and over again crafting you into a unified team, capable of overcoming the most difficult of objectives. It will reveal your weaknesses and exploit them until they are strengthened.
Every Hurricane Heat is unique, they are designed to utilize a combination of what is on the course and the areas that surround the course. Often times, there will be a series of missions or challenges that will need to be completed in order to succeed. Burpees are the currency in Hurricane Heats, if something can’t be accomplished for whatever reason there is often times a burpee cost that can get you out of it. Do note that not all challenges have this option so don’t bank on being able to just bust out burpees to finish the Hurricane Heat. We will cover a solid distance in the 3-4 hour time span that Hurricane Heats typically last. Come prepared with food, water, and anything else, like salt tabs, that you may need.
Successful finishers earn a finisher dog tag medal*,entry into a closed networking group, a finisher t-shirt, and the chance of a lifetime discovering the camaraderie derived from becoming a Hurricane Heater.

The decryption used to say that you run with the founders, and that is the idea I got in my head, at least it has been updated since my first hurricane heat. The stories I have heard from the first event were the entire reason I signed up for these events. I have several friends that remissness about their first event, but it has morphed into something different. So I may be unfairly judging it, but I would prefer the stories from the first events, where you are playing a lot more on obstacles, and less of a crazy element to it. Not to say that I regretted it, I still had fun, and was reminded even more of what I need to work on. The people running it were pretty cool, take away anything you want from this (very long) post, but their goal is to break you down and show you what you are made of, and what you can do, just remember, never give up.

Also Special Note, Thank you to Henry, he took all the photos, and as you can see did a great job!

Until next time
Never stop, Never give up
Stephen