The Back to Basics Survival Workout

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Kim and I had been planning a ‘Back to Basics Survival Workout’ and she called me to see if we were on. I’d run earlier in the day and told her I’d do some of the workout, but she was going to get the full treatment. She was excited, but nervous that she might re-injure the heel she’d been off of since the end of track season three weeks earlier.

Kim is a scholarship runner for the Akron Zips, which is another way of saying…she’s a running stud. When she can’t run, she spends countless hours on the bike and elliptical trainer, but can’t wait to get back to running. She should be in base training for her upcoming cross country season right now and so the frustration is building. Still…you have to treat the injuries with care. The workout we would be doing would purposefully be devoid of running, though would include some explosive moves that I had concerns might cause her trouble. We’d see.

We headed to the park and after a 10-minute walk into my special training area, I went over all of the activities we would be doing. We figured ways to do everything without having her run or impact her heel. I started her with the TRX training bands for her push-ups and quickly moved to the picnic table hop. This exhausting move requires you to jump on the bench, to the top of the table and down the other side. Turn around and come back up and over and continue this for 60 seconds. From that, she headed for the steep, 200 meter hill behind the bench. I expected her to climb and return in under 3 minutes, which would be very difficult because of the mud.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Nah. It’s muddy, slippery, the mosquito’s are thick and I’ve run an hour already. Enjoy,” I answered.

I did do some ab work while she climbed, but when she returned…covered in mud…I had her do the ab’s, too. Then it was on to the bear and crab crawls followed by 50 yards of high skips. I sent her for another trip up the hill and when she returned, we headed for the swing set and I climbing the posts, without legs, to the top. She didn’t quite have the upper body for the climb without legs, but didn’t use them on the descent, which is still tough. More TRX bands for the upper body and then ‘walk the line’ for balance and power.

She really liked going under the fallen tree, which offered about 12” of clearance.

“You need to go under it…but don’t let your belly touch the ground,” I said.

“There’s poison ivy! I’m allergic,” she said.

“C’mon. You afraid of a little itching? Let’s get this thing done,” I said, without sympathy.

She crawled under and managed to stay elevated enough to keep her belly off the ground. This move requires great core strength and a willingness to get dirty. She has both in abundance. Finally, we grabbed our rocks…hers went around 20 pounds…and walked with them for about 20 yards, pressing them overhead as we went. At the end of the walk, we threw them as far as we could – about 8 feet.

“Pick it up. We’ve got 5 more trips with it,” I told her.

Once you’ve learned all the moves and can put them back-to-back smoothly, the workout takes about 30 minutes and works the core, muscular endurance, balance, power, speed, flexibility and cardiovascular endurance. It is the complete workout in the woods where you get to get dirty like a kid, enjoy the serenity, and use creativity to keep it interesting and challenging. Everyone that has done it, likes it and Kim was no exception. I did about half. I’ll move into it slowly over the next three weeks eventually making it a regular part of the routine. I have found that it helps me with my climbing trips to the Adirondacks, which will happen in August and September. I like it and am willing to do anything to stay out of the gym and in the great outdoors.

Run duration: 65 minutes. Survival workout: 30 minutes

Training Heart Rate: 140 running. 150-160 during survival.

Calories burned during workout: 1105 running. 400 for survival.