First Fail: http://youtu.be/L-OUlpFgmKA
Second Fail: http://youtu.be/k03ByOD_dTI
Monday, June 24, 2013
ACL Injury
*DiSCLAIMER* THIS IS FOR THE DOC TO SHOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. Graphic images of injury.
First Fail: http://youtu.be/L-OUlpFgmKA
Second Fail: http://youtu.be/k03ByOD_dTI
First Fail: http://youtu.be/L-OUlpFgmKA
Second Fail: http://youtu.be/k03ByOD_dTI
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Part I: "Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!" ... SET. GO!!
I didn't listen to the instructions given out over a microphone at the start of the race, but I do recall the emphasis of the race MCs that if we spot anyone injured or man down on the course to yell "Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!" and to hold your arms high in the sign of an "X". Hrumph. Alpha Warrior. What an experience and boy, what a day! This will be a long summary.. maybe I'll split it into a few posts.
Our team, "Mangoes and Bananas", consisted of old time climbing buds Roger and Kelly, and college bud, Keith. I'd say, compared to the majority of the burly Crossfitters there, our team looked rather unsuspecting of awesomeness on this course. But never discredit rock climbers! Other greats of the day was having my friends, Chris and Wayne and Seb, out there to cheer us on (aka heckling for some good entertainment). Thanks to CR for being our impromptu photog to help capture the day's event!
Start of the race w/ Roger and Keith leading the way.
Ryan and I attempting the 1st obstacle, giant Monster Barrels.
We had discussed strategy before and thought a high jump into a mantle, with added leg lift for additional top weight to help get one over the barrel, but these slippery buggers threw the strategy out the window.
Next were two cargo net obstacles. There was the Side Winder, a horizontal cargo net to traverse. Easy peasy.
And then there was the inverted cargo net climb, Silver Back.
Ryan showed off his rock climbing campus skillz here. Look ma! No feet!
Next was the Sea of Ropes. This one was fun.
And then Gut Buster. Gut Buster was horrendous for short people. I felt a lot of shoulders and forearms, not much gut. This was a fail for the shorties in the group.
The Sky Walk trampoline fun! Ryan denies it, but I do think the family trampoline outing helped him on this one.
---> Continue Onto Part II: "Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!"
Our team, "Mangoes and Bananas", consisted of old time climbing buds Roger and Kelly, and college bud, Keith. I'd say, compared to the majority of the burly Crossfitters there, our team looked rather unsuspecting of awesomeness on this course. But never discredit rock climbers! Other greats of the day was having my friends, Chris and Wayne and Seb, out there to cheer us on (aka heckling for some good entertainment). Thanks to CR for being our impromptu photog to help capture the day's event!
Start of the race w/ Roger and Keith leading the way.
We had discussed strategy before and thought a high jump into a mantle, with added leg lift for additional top weight to help get one over the barrel, but these slippery buggers threw the strategy out the window.
Next were two cargo net obstacles. There was the Side Winder, a horizontal cargo net to traverse. Easy peasy.
And then there was the inverted cargo net climb, Silver Back.
Ryan showed off his rock climbing campus skillz here. Look ma! No feet!
Next was the Sea of Ropes. This one was fun.
And then Gut Buster. Gut Buster was horrendous for short people. I felt a lot of shoulders and forearms, not much gut. This was a fail for the shorties in the group.
The Sky Walk trampoline fun! Ryan denies it, but I do think the family trampoline outing helped him on this one.
---> Continue Onto Part II: "Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!"
Part II: "Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!" OBSTACLES
Next up was one of my favorite obstacles, the Tarzan Swing into a cargo net.
Roger aced this!
Then Pipe Bombs.
Ryan's view of Roger on Pipes bombs with the GoPro
Chopper Crawl
Radial Rings
Battering Rams
This one was pretty hard. Much harder than I expected.
Camelback
Kelly was so there!!
Spider Wall
Ryan's got the trampoline thing down! His spidy shoes help too...
Slack City
---> Continue Onto Part III: "Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!"
Roger aced this!
Then Pipe Bombs.
Ryan's view of Roger on Pipes bombs with the GoPro
Chopper Crawl
Radial Rings
Battering Rams
This one was pretty hard. Much harder than I expected.
Camelback
Kelly was so there!!
Spider Wall
Ryan's got the trampoline thing down! His spidy shoes help too...
Slack City
---> Continue Onto Part III: "Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!"
Part III: "Alpha! Alpha! ALPHA!!".... ALCATRAZ
The grand finale of the obstacle elements resided in a structure, appropriately called "Alcatraz". It is a 3-tiered structure of galvanized piping, enclosed tunnels of crawl space, and challenges the mental aspect of overcoming the fear of heights. The obstacles themselves are not as technical as previous ones, though Alcatraz demands focus, overcoming fear of heights, and requires upper body strength and endurance. Here in Alcatraz, resided my childhood nemesis, Tree Tops. It also contained, one of my favorite childhood playground activities, monkey bars (or as they call it here, Gorilla bars).
Gorilla Bars - Oh Gorilla bars! You are suppose to be my easy, piece-of-cake obstacle. This was the start of 3 microsecond split decision mistakes that I made that ultimately affected my outcome.
Oh. My. NEMESIS. At a childhood camp experience, I encountered a ropes challenge called the "Leap of Faith". It was part of a ropes course challenge geared towards encouraging teamwork and trust. The last element of that rope's challenge was to climb up to the top of a tree (of course safety harnessed in) and jump out onto a platform and then climb down a ladder. Back then, I recall not being able to focus on jumping to the platform. Seeing the ground below, 25-30 feet down, was paralyzing to the legs. Needless to say, I did not make the jump and held on to the harness as they lowered me down.
Tree Tops --> Various levels of platforms to hop across roughly 30 feet in the air. The distances between the platforms varied as well, though I would estimate no more than 5 feet wide. This was definitely a mental challenge and really not much of a physical one.
Roger's 1st attempt... made it on 2nd.
Ryan on TreeTops
Connie's knee buckling on TreeTops
... cries of "ALPHA! ALPHA! ALPHA!" and an Alcatraz rescue/extraction operation begins..
Kelly on TreeTops
Broken Bars --> They are vertical, horizontal, skewed, higher, and lower hanging bars that move. So the challenge is that you do not have a consistent movement or grip while traversing them.
The initial move goes from minimal momentum getting on the first bar, to having to reach up high to a second uneven bar. Not an easy move. This IS Kelly's AWESOMENESS as anyone will clearly see. First attempt seems daunting...
but she follows through with Determination. Tenacity. 110% sheer toughness. All done with a smile. =) So glad the GoPro captured this so I could replay and see it!
Keith on Broken Bars
The End.
Alpha Warrior completed!
The joy of victory... and oh, the agony of defeat!
Overall, Alpha Warrior's obstacles were challenging, but not as hard as we thought it would be. It is definitely doable for the average athlete, and seems more about technique. Grip strength was a plus, which seemed to come easy to the rock climbers of our group. I should have thought better about the grip strength, as Gorilla Bars with gloves was my first downfall mistake. Split second decision to use gloves to protect the hands resulted in very slippery grip. Second mistake was to make an attempt with the gloves, knowing it was slippery. A fluke awkward fall led to injury of the knee, though I did not think anything of it at the time and continued. Third mistake. I continued onto TreeTops and TreeTops finished off the knee. Initial ortho consultation indicates ACL injury.. so, looks like I'm going to be out for a while, at least for the 2013/2014 season. I am bummed as I will not be able to compete in any more races for a long while.. as well as the road to recovery will not be an easy one. I have spent a week eating sweet sugary comfort foods as I re-focus on what is next. The unexpected, though not welcomed, is an opportunity to switch gears and to create new goals. Regardless of the outcome, Alpha Warrior was a great experience. It was fun for the family and friends, and it was great to really focus and develop a disciplined training. I will Alpha again... if it comes back around in 2-3 more years. =P
Gorilla Bars - Oh Gorilla bars! You are suppose to be my easy, piece-of-cake obstacle. This was the start of 3 microsecond split decision mistakes that I made that ultimately affected my outcome.
Oh. My. NEMESIS. At a childhood camp experience, I encountered a ropes challenge called the "Leap of Faith". It was part of a ropes course challenge geared towards encouraging teamwork and trust. The last element of that rope's challenge was to climb up to the top of a tree (of course safety harnessed in) and jump out onto a platform and then climb down a ladder. Back then, I recall not being able to focus on jumping to the platform. Seeing the ground below, 25-30 feet down, was paralyzing to the legs. Needless to say, I did not make the jump and held on to the harness as they lowered me down.
Tree Tops --> Various levels of platforms to hop across roughly 30 feet in the air. The distances between the platforms varied as well, though I would estimate no more than 5 feet wide. This was definitely a mental challenge and really not much of a physical one.
Roger's 1st attempt... made it on 2nd.
Ryan on TreeTops
Connie's knee buckling on TreeTops
... cries of "ALPHA! ALPHA! ALPHA!" and an Alcatraz rescue/extraction operation begins..
Kelly on TreeTops
Broken Bars --> They are vertical, horizontal, skewed, higher, and lower hanging bars that move. So the challenge is that you do not have a consistent movement or grip while traversing them.
The initial move goes from minimal momentum getting on the first bar, to having to reach up high to a second uneven bar. Not an easy move. This IS Kelly's AWESOMENESS as anyone will clearly see. First attempt seems daunting...
but she follows through with Determination. Tenacity. 110% sheer toughness. All done with a smile. =) So glad the GoPro captured this so I could replay and see it!
Keith on Broken Bars
The End.
Alpha Warrior completed!
The joy of victory... and oh, the agony of defeat!
Overall, Alpha Warrior's obstacles were challenging, but not as hard as we thought it would be. It is definitely doable for the average athlete, and seems more about technique. Grip strength was a plus, which seemed to come easy to the rock climbers of our group. I should have thought better about the grip strength, as Gorilla Bars with gloves was my first downfall mistake. Split second decision to use gloves to protect the hands resulted in very slippery grip. Second mistake was to make an attempt with the gloves, knowing it was slippery. A fluke awkward fall led to injury of the knee, though I did not think anything of it at the time and continued. Third mistake. I continued onto TreeTops and TreeTops finished off the knee. Initial ortho consultation indicates ACL injury.. so, looks like I'm going to be out for a while, at least for the 2013/2014 season. I am bummed as I will not be able to compete in any more races for a long while.. as well as the road to recovery will not be an easy one. I have spent a week eating sweet sugary comfort foods as I re-focus on what is next. The unexpected, though not welcomed, is an opportunity to switch gears and to create new goals. Regardless of the outcome, Alpha Warrior was a great experience. It was fun for the family and friends, and it was great to really focus and develop a disciplined training. I will Alpha again... if it comes back around in 2-3 more years. =P
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Training is A Family Affair
The Alpha Warrior has come and gone with lots of good sweat, and fun, and the ugly. I had planned on updating with progress leading up to the big day, but.. as always, never enough time. When there was spare time, it has been all about incorporating training into daily life balance. It has definitely been a family affair experience that has gotten us excited and trying new things while having fun with family "training". Regardless of the outcome of Alpha Warrior, the whole experience has consisted of fun, memorable moments that are worth it.
Lo and behold, the home makeshift Alpha Training Center! Yup. Ryan incorporated training elements into the deck work. The rings were a surprise for me for Mother's Day. #besthusbandEVER And the Pipe bombs (vertical pipes hanging from the deck frame) came after. These are two similar elements that would be at the Alpha Warrior for us to practice on beforehand.
We also had other make shift at-home training elements that consisted of practicing low-high/high-low broad jumps, spider wall climbing up deck beams, and trampoline jumping on the kiddies' trampoline. Speaking of trampolines... research lead us to the discovery of a brand new giant indoor trampoline center that just opened up about a month ago. So naturally, a combined family time with training time was required!
Not only did the kiddies get a head start on training, they also have a head start on learning how to drive!
Lo and behold, the home makeshift Alpha Training Center! Yup. Ryan incorporated training elements into the deck work. The rings were a surprise for me for Mother's Day. #besthusbandEVER And the Pipe bombs (vertical pipes hanging from the deck frame) came after. These are two similar elements that would be at the Alpha Warrior for us to practice on beforehand.
We also had other make shift at-home training elements that consisted of practicing low-high/high-low broad jumps, spider wall climbing up deck beams, and trampoline jumping on the kiddies' trampoline. Speaking of trampolines... research lead us to the discovery of a brand new giant indoor trampoline center that just opened up about a month ago. So naturally, a combined family time with training time was required!
Not only did the kiddies get a head start on training, they also have a head start on learning how to drive!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
JTree 2013: Part V: Last Day's Photos
Mornings mean the kiddies get more independent exploration around the campsite, while mom and dad get breakfast going and get things organized for the day.
On occasion, we'll hear a cry for help... like Liam getting stuck under a table.
He's resisting his nap time.. too much going on to want to sleep!
Emilia wants to join the big kids, but alas, she was listening to us and waiting for one of us to scramble up the rocks with her.
Found her own way of having fun. =)
Hiking in to find other climbing spots.
Came across this cool rock formation thats reminiscent of slot canyons.
Ryan's letting Emilia get away with belly baring!
One of Emilia's best bud on this trip.
See Ryan in here? The tiny human on the top left of the rock.
I do believe we FINALLY tired the kiddies out.
On occasion, we'll hear a cry for help... like Liam getting stuck under a table.
He's resisting his nap time.. too much going on to want to sleep!
Emilia wants to join the big kids, but alas, she was listening to us and waiting for one of us to scramble up the rocks with her.
Found her own way of having fun. =)
Hiking in to find other climbing spots.
Came across this cool rock formation thats reminiscent of slot canyons.
Ryan's letting Emilia get away with belly baring!
One of Emilia's best bud on this trip.
See Ryan in here? The tiny human on the top left of the rock.
I do believe we FINALLY tired the kiddies out.
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