This past Sunday I completed the Spartan 5K Run.  This is the first “mud run” I’ve done.  I did a regular 5K back in April.  If you view my previous entry you can see a video preview of the event as well as some additional information. 

Simply put: I had a BLAST! 

I believe it took me somewhere around 35-40 minutes to complete the course.  The only issue I had was that a portion of the race was on pavement and as I learned from the regular 5K back in April, I have trouble running on pavement for an extended period of time. 

Many years ago I was struck by a car.  The car actually impacted my right knee which resulted to damage to the knee.  I had to wear a knee brace for months.  If I didn’t the knee would pop out of its socket.  Since then I’ve had trouble with it. 

I’m attempting to build up tolerance in that leg but I’m not sure how possible it will be to really run a 5K or even a 10K on pavement without any pain.  While I completed the Spartan 5K perfectly fine, I did notice pain towards the end and my knee actually gave out when walking up the steps to my apartment several hours after the event.

I have decided to compete in three upcoming races.  The first two are 5K races and the last one is 12 miles and considered one of the toughest races in the world.  I will give further updates as those dates come closer

Upcoming Events I’m Signed Up For:

Sunday, September 19^th: Warrior Dash 5K – Windham, NY

Sunday, October 3^rd: Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run 5K – Orchard Beach, NY

Sunday, November 21^st: Tough Mudder 12 Miles – Englishtown, NJ

On Sunday, August 15th I will be participating in the Spartan Race.  The event takes place at Floyd Bennett Field
in Brooklyn, NY.  It is a 5K Race.  Below is a brief description of the event taken directly from their website along with a video of the event.

“The Spartan Race is for athletes and people who are tired of the tedium of the usual races and workouts and yearn to recapture the spirit of an adventurous age. This international race is set up to test not only the strength and stamina but the cunning and creativity of each athlete’s warrior essence. Participants will confront obstacles ranging from extreme to absurd that gain their inspiration from sources as varied as Spartan training, Navy SEAL training and American Gladiators.”

I test for Blue Belt on the 19th in Tae Kwon Do.  For those that are wondering, our school’s belt ranking runs: White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Brown, Red/Black, Yellow/Black, Black.  So as a Blue Blelt I will be at the beginning of the midway point between White and Black.  I do hope to train conistently enough to reach Purple by the end of the year and maybe even Red sometime in December or January.  I’m going to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu side control seminar at my BJJ school this Saturday and will also find out when some upcoming tournaments are so I can begin preparing to compete

It looks like I will be testing for the Blue Belt in Tae Kwon Do later this month.  My main priority in martial arts for the last year and a half has been Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and my progress in Tae Kwon Do had slown to a crawl as a result, but lately I’ve been trying to attend both martial arts with equal zeal and as a result it looks as though I may be testing for Blue.  I won’t know for sure until sometime towards the end of next week but will post when I know more

This will be the only entry I make in regards to this topic and it will be short.  I started working at a law firm this week (I’m an Attorney for those that weren’t aware) and I don’t think I could have found a better fit.  The people there are great and the energy level in the office is wonderful.  On top of that the firm is located a brief ten minute walk from my apartment.  I don’t think anyone could ask for a shorter commute.  Even when going to court the trip is either a 15 minute car ride or train ride.  With a commute not an issue I am able to go to the gym in the morning and unless I’m in the office past 7 p.m., either Tae Kwon Do or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the late afternoon/evening.  I’m definitely a happy camper

I had gotten very sick two weeks ago.  Some sort of throat infection that resulted in me being unable to swallow any liquids or solids (which included antibiotics).  I spent three days in the hospital recovering.  I hadn’t eaten or drank anything for four days prior to being admitted to the hospital and literally began fantasizing about glasses of water.  I couldn’t sleep because I began to choke and I was bordering on delirious.  It is these types of experiences that change people-or at least me.

Last year I had my appendix removed.  In hindsight not very serious, but still serious enough for me to reevaluate my life and what I wanted from it.  It resulted in me changing a lot about my lifestyle.  Since that surgery I haven’t had ANY fast food of any sort.  Since January I haven’t eaten at any national chain restaurants al la Outback, Applebee’s, etc. except for a weekly breakfast I have with some friends at IHOP where I normally only get scrambled eggs and cheese on whole wheat toast rather than their usual items on their artery clogging menu.

After this latest incident (I guess I’m due a new one once a year if this holds up) I have decided to get very serious about fitness.  Not the usual, oh I do Tae Kwon do, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and workout at the gym somewhat regularly – but rather go back to basics that allowed me to accomplish so much of what I did in the past.  And that is basically to just sign up, commit to, and pay for things that are going to require me to perform.  That means from this moment on, every Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament, marathon, and triathlon type of event that I can work into my schedule I will.

The first thing I’ve signed up for is the Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run that is taking place on October 3rd (the day before my birthday) in New York at Pelham Bay Park at Orchard Beach.  I’m doing the 5K since I’ve never done anything like this before don’t want to jump into a 10k just yet.  Basically the description reads as follows:

The Merrell Down and Dirty National Mud Run Series features 5K and 10K off-road courses filled with:

•Military-style Obstacles

•Commanding cargo climbs

•Wild water crossings

•Mud, mud, and More Mud!

•Post-race BBQ and an awesome Tech Tee

So we’ll see what happens.  If all works out this blog will be filled with plenty of new adventures, hopefully absent of me injuring myself which seems all too common.

I might be competing in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament in March.  My middle finger on my right hand is still swollen and hurts from an MMA class back in early December.  I thought the swelling would go down and it would heal, but now I’m actually getting a bit concerned.  I am going to call the doctor tomorrow and have him look at it and get x-rays or whatever needs to be done and if he says its good and will heal on its own then I’m going to sign up and compete in the tournament in March.  If they have to do anything to it then I might not be competing   Will keep everyone posted.

I had an EXCELLENT week in respect to working out.  I have not missed a workout in the last few weeks and my body looks great as a result.  I have also been dead on with my eating habits, but my weight has remained stable fluctuating between 189 and 192.  I made it two Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class twice this week and Tae Kwon Do once.  I should have made it to at least one more Tae Kwon Do class but to make up for the missed class I went to Bally’s to do cardio instead.  As for split progress on the split machine I’m up to 130 Degrees and that pretty much sums up any progress this week in my pursuit of this year’s goals

I have decided to post weekly and monthly updates of my progress in completing the goals listed in the prior post.  Every Sunday, starting on January 10^th I will give a small progress update and the last day of the month I will post a summary of my progress for that month.  I haven’t done it this way before.  In the past I have only kept track of my progress on my main website, but I think this will be fun and will keep me more motivated than usual to try to complete everything on the list

It’s that time of the year again where the New Year’s Resolutions are declared.  I don’t care for New Year’s Resolutions.  I find that many people set vague resolutions that aren’t established in a practical way to achieve success or even in a measurable way to really measure success if it was obtained.  I personally go for a practical goals list for the New Year.  I’ve been doing this since 2004 and have been pretty successful at it.  Even though some years I don’t get everything I want done, I do get quite a few of my goals completed which is always a wonderful accomplishment   Below is my 2010 goals list:

1.       I plan on advancing at LEAST three belts in tae kwon do.  The belts are: Blue, Purple, and Red.  If I am able to maintain consistency with attending class I should advance approximately every three months.  Technically if I succeed at this I might be able to advance an additional belt, but I like to give myself room for injury, illness, and just life in general.

2.       I plan to obtain at least my first tip (out of four) for my blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  The minimum time it should take to achieve this is four months and for the second tip an additional five months.  Now because advancement in BJJ is very difficult and is based upon a variety of factors and not standardized testing or set periods of time, the four month number is only a guideline.  It could take me over a year to get that tip.  But I’m going to try my damn hardest to improve and train enough to earn it within 2010.  If I advance further than that, it will be great, but one step at a time.

3.       CPR and First Aid Recertification.  I could have done this in 2009 but I just didn’t get to it.  I have no valid excuse for not doing it, but this year I will attempt to get it done early on.

4.       Fly 10 Hours.  I haven’t been up flying in awhile.  I’m going to try to get rid of the rust on my wings and start going up a little.  At least 10 hours, hopefully much more.

5.       Be able to do a split.  I’ve had this damn goal on here every year for the last few years.  Hopefully I bang this one out.  It just needs to get done.  It is very important for martial arts.

6.       Go up to 450 vocabulary words memorized.  I haven’t been doing this very frequently for the past year-mostly I was focusing studying for the bar exam and finals and all that.  But now that all that is behind me I’m going to start memorizing additional vocabulary words. 

7.       Drop weight down to 180 lbs and body fat down to 10%.  This shouldn’t be a terribly hard goal actually since I’m not too far away from these numbers to begin with at this point.  The second half of 2009 was a very healthy one for me where I’ve completely cut out fast food from my diet.  This year I’m also aiming to drop those pesky chain restaurants such as Outback, Applebee’s, etc.

8.       Read 20 books (10 fiction and 10 non-fiction).  In 2009 I read 33 books, so this shouldn’t be difficult, especially since I won’t have bar prep or law school as added reading.

One thing that some of you might have noticed is that I no longer am aiming for my green belt in the Japanese Style of JuJutsu I was training in.  The school is an hour away, so it takes two hours round trip to travel to the classes and a steep bridge toll so I decided to put it aside indefinitely.  After I obtain my Tae Kwon Do black belt I will move on to Mauy Thai training and when I obtain my black belt in BJJ (which won’t be for many years) I will take up Judo to supplement the training.  Perhaps after that I might take up a Japanese style again, but I’m not worried about it.