Veni Vida Vici Training & GoPro Splurge {Review}
By admin
The fun part about signing up for events at the last minute is that you don’t really have a lot of time to freak out.
It was just a week ago when Dan and I decided to embark on this crazy 2-day trail run. Instead of focusing on the fear of being under trained, we’ve decided to take it day by day and do what we can to prepare in the little amount of time we have.
We’ve got running legs, endurance, physical fitness… the glass is half full, people!
So what if we don’t have hills? We’ve been doing the best we can.
And I want to share a bit of what that means.
But before I do, let me stress this…
Okay…
Hill Workouts & Weighted Runs
Last Week
Last week kicked off hill training on the treadmill. I’ve already talked about that, so make sure to see what my hill tips and workouts here!
While I was focusing on hill sprints, my husband was focusing on endurance. Adding in the miles and breaking in his trail shoes… on trails.
He hates the idea of doing hills on a treadmill, so to get the same form of training he likes to run 4-6 miles with a weighted backpack. Generally, adding around 20 pounds and running trails in Caw Caw and Daniel Island (for those locals curious).
I think it’s crazy but it works. He used this same method for training for the last trail race we did. I was amazed at how great he did. Running with extra weight can add stress to the joints, specifically the knees which is why he keeps the miles at a low – mid range.
As for endurance, Dan ran his first 10 miler run last week. And did great. It was actually a little over 10 miles (I know he would want me to say that) and he walked in the door smiling with pride. Way to go!
This Week
Dan is getting ready to head out on his last tough run today actually. He’s taking on the Cooper River Bridge (our only real incline).
As for me, I’m actually taking this week off. Completely.
Last week, I begin to get some pain in my left knee during a run. The pain went away immediately when I was done, so I forgot about it.
Then in our run through the forrest this past weekend, the pain came back 2 miles into the run and pretty much stayed.
When I got home and started rolling my legs I realized how knotted up my left IT-Band was. I have 3 days to get the inflammation down and the pain to reside and I’m not taking any chances.
Ice, stretching, foam rolling, and resting.
That’s why my physical therapist has prescribed to me.
And I’m taking turmeric pills which help fight inflammation… I’ll report more on this one later!
I learned my lesson about this time last year about pushing through pain. I refuse to be that stupid girl again.
GoPro & Go Trails
We made the decision to splurge on a GoPro Hero3 (Amazon Link) since we’re planning to spend a lot of time doing adventure races and trail runs over the next 12 months (more on this below).
I can’t wait to be able to have amazing shots of our adventures to share.
I’m sure I will have a more in-depth review after the race, but here are our initial thoughts…
Dan tested it out at CawCaw using the wand, basically you hold the camera on a stick. He said it wasn’t hard to hold while running and this is the method he prefers so he can take selfies and turn the camera where ever.
I on the other hand, hate to hold ANYTHING when I run, so I opted to test out the head strap on our last trail run in Francis Marion Forrest (not the most gorgeous run because we ended up a bit lost).
The GoPro stayed put the entire 6 miles and didn’t drive me crazy at all. I loved that it was capturing pictures from my view, literally.
As for the quality, I was extremely surprised by how great the pictures and videos came out.
We set the settings to snap a picture every 10 seconds, which meant we ended up with over 250 pictures of trails at the half way point (when I turned it off since we were running back the same way we came). Some were good, some great, some not so great.
If you have questions on the GoPro, let me know. I’m happy to answer them, or get Dan to!
I can’t believe that the next time I mention this race will be in my recap. I am so excited.
But before I sign off, I want to keep you in the loop about the blog and about Dan and I…
Prepping For A Family
Hold your horses… no, we’re not trying to have a family yet.
But we are talking about it. We both want to try for a family and we pray that it’s in the cards.
We have a few things we want to do first. We know that having a baby will change everything, we can’t imagine those changes at all of course, but we will welcome it when it happens.
Until then however, we want to run, and race, and get muddy, and travel.
All of that to say this… you’re going to see more adventures, more trail runs, more Spartans, more mud runs, more training tips and more personal stories here.
As we embark on this “Year of the Race” as we have decided to call it, I want to bring you along too. I hope that’s okay.
A few race we know we’re doing…
- Expedition Paris Mountain Trail Run
- Charleston Bull Dog Challenge
- Spartan Sprint – Charlotte
- Spartan Super – Pennsylvania
- Spartan Beast – Vermont
- Wine Vineyard Run – California (haven’t settled on which one yet)
Thanks for supporting us, I can’t wait to share our adventures!
Make sure to come back tomorrow, I have one heck of a kettlebell workout for you!