Stone Glacier Workout Email

[label027]

A couple of you fellas can run... Some of those 800 splits are impressive.

No kidding! I feel like I could compete with Olympians with how fast I am running, but you guys are smoking me in all splits.

 

[P Carter]

When I'm running these, there have been "real runner" clubs with a coach doing timed workouts. I'll be darned if I'm going to get smoked....well, I still get smoked but at least not lapped!

Really though, as I've picked up running I've been amazed at the capabilities of people out there. I'm pretty consistently in the front 1/3 of most races. But there are people that can flat-out fly. They can smoke me in all distances, from 100 meters to 100 miles. Pretty cool to watch, actually. Good on them.

I also have in the back of my mind that my little sister ran 2:08 for 800 and :58 for 400, and little brother ran under 1:55 for 800 and under 4:10 for the mile. Now THOSE guys are fast!

 

[bounds]

Haha yeah running fast definitely amazes me. There's hard work to improve for sure, but so much of it is pure God given natural ability. I have a good buddy that ran for a "real runner" club and he could run a 5:20-5:30 mile all day. He was never down to 4:10 for one mile, but he could keep his pace forever.

I can keep up with most in a short sprint, but anything over 200 yards brings out the turtle in me.

 

[bounds]

Finally did another round last night. It's been over 2 weeks since my last one... and I felt it. I've only worked out twice in the last two weeks, so my cardio was the worst part. P Carter inspired me to push a little more on the running, so that probably left me gassed even more than I already would have been.

2X400 1:18, 1:17
2X880 3:53, 3:41
2X400 1:25, 1:21

100 yards of lunges with pack, no dumbells
After the running, I kept running out of breath on the lunges. I do them in 25 yard increments with a break to catch my breath in between, but had to stop briefly in the middle of each 25 yard stretch as well.

Step ups with dumbbells. I settled in and caught my breath after a minute or so, but then about 7 minutes in I ran out of gas and had to stop. This was disappointing as I usually get thru these without much issue.

To redeem myself, I did another 100 yards of lunges to get to the 200 yard mark for the night! But....I did them without my pack just holding dumbbells. They were still hard.

3X45 sec planks

Gotta get back on the horse. That was harder than it should have been.

 

[dangerousD]

I tried this suckfest last night for the first time. My work schedule has prevented me from getting in as much morning cardio as I generally do. Shortly into the sprints, I quickly wished I would not have skipped so many summer HIIT classes as my cardio is suffering.

Finished the whole thing in 60 mins. Not a good time. Pack was only 50 lbs and no dumbbells. I guess I'm excited to try it again?!

 

[bounds]

Finished the whole thing in 60 mins. Not a good time. Pack was only 50 lbs and no dumbbells. I guess I'm excited to try it again?!

I'm pretty sure the email said the goal was an hour or less. So I'd say you did damn well, especially considering you were able to do all the lunges. Hats off to you sir.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I've done the workout a few times and it's pretty rough. Last night I got back from a short hike to get my pack dialed in and figured "what the hell" running shoes are right there and there's already 60lbs in the pack.

I did it as written in 57:35. It was a s immersion mode sure.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Im on week 6 of the MTI Big Game plan and can tell you it is no joke. Its designed for someone who is already in decent shape and looking to get into more "sport" specific shape. I also started in about 10 weeks out to give some wiggle room for missed days since its set up to be done 6 days a week. Ive done a lot of different work outs and enjoy this program and will continue to use it for future seasons.

How do you like the MTI plans I was thinking of jumping on that since I normally don't have a gym where I live and my workouts have gotten sort of stale.

 

[dangerousD]

I'm pretty sure the email said the goal was an hour or less. So I'd say you did damn well, especially considering you were able to do all the lunges. Hats off to you sir.

Thanks for the compliment. Going into it I was over confident in my conditioning and expected to do better with a lighter pack and no dumbbells, but it didn't take long before it was kicking my ass. The lunges were certainly hard, but I'd do 10-20 lunges, catch my breath, and start again so it wasn't horrible. Although about 50 meters in I began to realize how hard this was going to be and my glutes began to cramp on the first couple lunges after pausing for a breather. I settled in at about 75 meters and felt OK at the 100M turn-around point.

Stairs were hard at first, but the jello leg syndrome subsided after a couple minutes. Planks were easy. But I layed down in a pool of sweat for a couple minutes afterwards to cool off. Then when got up (pack still on) and walked down the lower level of bleacher steps to track level, I had jello legs again could barely hold myself up going down the stairs and had to hold the railing or risk falling.

But its always such a great feeling in those tired moments after enduring something miserable where you truly appreciate how good it feels to be done and how glad you are that you got off your ass and accomplished it. Hats off to all the guys that made it through some or all of this workout!

 

[freshta]

Hey, where'd you guys find the info concerning these workouts? I've been all over their website and see no info.

 

[mtwarden]

it was in an email they sent out- the details of the workout are on page one of this thread

 

[UtahJimmy]

I finally tried this workout yesterday morning and it sucks! I can't do sprints because of asthma, but tried it anyways because I have been running since early spring and had a false sense of confidence. Well I got through the two 400's and was not in a good place. I'll have to work up on the sprints.

But I got through the lunges, stairs, and planks fine (42 lb pack, 10 lb dumbbells in each hand) once I determined that I wasn't going to die. No overall time to share because I had to walk the 800s.

I also got out for a 3 mile mountain hike last night and my calves are screaming now! More hiking tomorrow and Sunday to loosen things up but I hope to try this again very soon. I'll probably cut the sprints in half, but props to you guys that are able to get through those with the impressive splits!

 

[KHNC]

Did this one last week. Time was 56mins 3 secs. A brutal one for sure. Probably do it again this thursday.

 

[mtwarden]

I finally got 200 meters of lunges unbroken- that's with no weight, plan is to start adding weight slowly

I've determined that lunges are similar to pullups- it doesn't matter your conditioning, if you want to be able to do pullups decently, you've got to do pullups (or lunges in this case)

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Pods if you are willing I'm sure I'm not the only one who would enjoy a review of the program along with your progress?

Figured I'd check in, as bmart2622 noted its no joke BUT its doable if you have a decent baseline and its surprising/inspiring what your body can start handling. I did the first 3 weeks of MTI plan on schedule, then spent a week just running 3-6mi a day while I was traveling. Started into week 4 of MTI now (I have 1 week of buffer still so if I get a chance I'll see about trying this SG workout again later in my progress).

ANYWAYS day 1 had a baseline test of 30min of 16" step ups with a 40lb pack keeping track of quantity and then this was repeated the first day of week 4 (again week 7). I did 483 day 1 and a few weeks later I did 566 so ~17% increase from my personal baseline. Setting out on 75lb hikes feels completely fine/strong. I'm at 4.5mi distance on those and do start feeling it on the second half and occasionally stop for a moment for a breather but never drop my pack/sit down but the first half is stronger feeling than week 1 for the same distance. I should have taken a baseline measurement of my thighs for shits a giggles because those are larger and more defined/solid than when I started.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Awesome pods. Your going to crush it.

 

[bmart2622]

How about some of those mini events pods? I kept track of my calories burned on one and it was over 2500 for the workout. Its a grind for sure but fairly realistic to say hike in and kill a bull and then pack ot out. Really boosts that long term endurance, plus helps with some mental toughness too.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Yeah week 2 supposedly being 2hr... yeah right lol. In general I don't think I have sweat so hard in workouts in a while.

Yeah in general there is a element of working on your grind mode between the events and just the level of workouts day after day. A few of my first 75lb hikes were in the rain and a few have been via headlamp after dinner. Packing elk is worse than the mini events. At least all the ones I have shot anyways.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Figured I'd check in, as bmart2622 noted its no joke BUT its doable if you have a decent baseline and its surprising/inspiring what your body can start handling. I did the first 3 weeks of MTI plan on schedule, then spent a week just running 3-6mi a day while I was traveling. Started into week 4 of MTI now (I have 1 week of buffer still so if I get a chance I'll see about trying this SG workout again later in my progress).

ANYWAYS day 1 had a baseline test of 30min of 16" step ups with a 40lb pack keeping track of quantity and then this was repeated the first day of week 4 (again week 7). I did 483 day 1 and a few weeks later I did 566 so ~17% increase from my personal baseline. Setting out on 75lb hikes feels completely fine/strong. I'm at 4.5mi distance on those and do start feeling it on the second half and occasionally stop for a moment for a breather but never drop my pack/sit down but the first half is stronger feeling than week 1 for the same distance. I should have taken a baseline measurement of my thighs for shits a giggles because those are larger and more defined/solid than when I started.

Last couple weeks have been a bit hectic, only got in 3 of 6 each week but hey better than nothing. Anyways did the week 7 stepup session (next week I taper). 600 16" step ups in 30min with a 40lb pack. Thats ~124% improvement since day 1. Got my pack dialed in well too on those 75lb hauls.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Okay that's a wrap on my mountain hunts. Massive improvement over last year. The fitness definitely played a roll in my comfort level, ability to perform (intensity and duration), success and morale. After a ton of uphill that gear for me would fatigue out from where I started at and I couldn't recover it fully until a couple days rest so some more work there (should have found some steeper stuff for my 75lb pack hikes). But even with it fatigued I was stronger than last year, its just was notable from what I could do prior. I don't think at any point I felt any muscles getting torn up which has happened in the past to me in steep terrain. Sat I hauled out a 94lb pack, I definitely felt it but not in an injury/sole crushing sort of way, just that it was noticeably heavier than 75lb and I was looking forward to getting back to the truck.