Roadtrip

3 Rounds for Fun of:

60 yard Prowler Push (inside is 3 laps)

40 yard Bear Crawl

10 Basic Dot Drills (youtube video)

Rest as needed, then perform

2010 Northwest Regional Event 1

Three rounds for time of:

135 pound Overhead squat, 10 reps

50 Double-unders

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet 6:48 (135lb OHS) 7/18/11

Rest as needed, then perform this Gymnastics Flexibility Wod

2 minute Pike Stretch

1 minute Bridge up

2 minute Pancake Split

1 minute Bottom of Skin the Cat (German Stretch)

2 minute Middle Split

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Ragnar Vegas 2011

The reason you leave your comfort zone and try new things is that we learn on the fringes of our experience.  If you didn’t hear, 7 of us from PCF joined a few others to create a team of 12 athletes to run a nearly 200 mile relay race over the course of 24 hours from Lake Mead to Las Vegas.  We were Team ‘Hit me Ragnar one more time!’  Thats right, a Britney theme to top it all off!

  Each runner was pre-assigned to run 3 different legs of the race, ranging anywhere from 3 miles to 10 miles per leg.  Below are a few words from those that participated.  Prerequisite knowledge:  Roadkill means you passed someone, Deaths or Kills means someone passed you.

Before you start to read, be informed there is a Ragnar Relay Socal coming in April!

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Pat aka Denim JT

Ragnar was amazing. The first leg on Friday was brutal. Sun beating down, hot and incredibly dry weather, sunscreen and sweat in my eyes a quarter mile into it. Roadkill: 4; killed twice.

Second leg on Friday night was perfect. Running south on that frontage road adjacent to the 15, in cool weather with a bit of a breeze. It was the most enjoyable run of my entire life, hands down. Enjoying running has long been a goal and that’s the first time I’ve ever truly enjoyed it. It felt incredibly effortless. It was also fun to chase people down… Roadkill: 15; killed three times.

Third leg on Saturday afternoon was warm, but nothing like the Friday heat. The scenery was gorgeous heading out of Red Rock Canyon. I got a compliment on my beard and had the most interesting experience passing a girl towards the end of the leg. She was flabbergasted to see me running in denim shorts and vest, so miserable and suffering so much in that last leg that she couldn’t imagine how you’d run in something like that. Awesome.

There were definitely some flubs along the way, like when we weren’t at the exchange where our van was supposed to take over from the other van. Or when I was walking to my first exchange and Courtneyrose was waiting for me. Or when I was *again* late for the last exchange. But damn, was that fun. I haven’t enjoyed myself doing ridiculous shit like that in the longest. Thanks to Suver and the Seattle crew for making Ragnar Las Vegas possible, and a huge thank you to the van 2 crew for being an amazing group of badass people. Absolutely looking forward to doing that again! (Just maybe not the Las Vegas one.

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Lara aka Oops, I’m running in the dark again Britney

The running itself was not at all as hard as I expected it to be, I thought things would hurt but they didn’t, and I kept thinking about how running the marathon at the end I was in pain, but I was not out of breathe, so I decided to run faster to attempt actually getting out of breath and maybe that helped, maybe I’m just fitter than before, I’m not really sure. I was always surprised to see the one mile marker, and thought wow, this is so much better than expected, but then that mile marker was cursed and evil and a total mind skrewer, because it was nothing like my image of 2-800 meter runs at the gym.

Glide became my new best friend and was a great bonding moment for the ladies. Not only was it the most important thing before running, but even in Vegas at the hotel, we couldn’t possibly leave the room without being marinated in glide… a definite must for the future! And it just might become a everyday thing like brushing teeth.

It was funny when providing water or coconut water martina instead asked for glide.

The group was really easy to actually live with for the weekend, considering how close we were all the time, Im surprised we didnt get on each other nerves more, the company was really good, and of course Red never ceased to entertain.

Something I find really funny to look back on is the exchange stations. We were in general terrible at them. The next runner always needed to go to the bathroom as the previous one was coming in, and most of the time the one runner would end and noone was there waiting to take the next leg. The reason this amuses me is because on the one hand it is so unnecessary that the other person should not be ready, the van knows exactly where the runner is and yet still the next runner is late, and then the other reason I’m amused is by how little that actually means. We didn’t treat it as a race at all, I didn’t at all know how many “kills” or “deaths” each runner actually had or how fast they were going, so the amount of time really meant nothing, yet somehow that exchange meant so much. I know that as I was running I would feel guilty every time someone killed me, because I would imagine that that was a runner that the previous person had killed and now I was letting down their progress, but then I would see that those people looked like legit runners and as they sprinted by I decided they couldn’t lift anything and because all they do is run I should expect them to beat me. But that aside, as I started nearing the end I felt obliged to give my next runner a sort of head-start and make my contribution worthwhile, so I would sprint to the end of my torture and really push it, so in that context to find that no-one was there was so disappointing, because it felt like my effort was completely unnecessary, which to be honest it sort-of was in the grand scheme of things, but felt good doing.

It was really amazing to see what a difference the heat made, the first run was hard and it was really hot, the second run, though I was still completely asleep as I was told to wake up, Diso is less than 5 mins away when I was out in a deep sleep, it was really easy, because it was night. Then the third leg was the hardest, because it was hot and I was completely dehydrated. I tried drinking lots of water while running but only created a little water belly that made me feel unbelievably nautious. The environment became a microcosmic study of heat, nutrition, sleep and hydration’s effects on athletic performance. When do you eat when you are constantly running? When do you sleep when you are constantly supporting in the van? When do you drink when you don’t want to pee? And yet all of that had such a significant effect on how the run was.

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Courtneyrose aka Its me against the Ragnar Britney

My #1 takeaway was, GLIDE is essential (and life changing)!

Always figure out where your exchange is going to be, several hours prior to departing, otherwise you may leave yourself 20 minutes to get somewhere that is an hour away – ugh

Next time: Bring CD’s, Air Fresheners, and plan for Van Yoga

CrossFit really can prepare you for anything… but in the future, I think I’ll run a little bit more to prepare, beforehand.

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Suver aka Britney’s #1 Superfan

Best part: Finally getting shitmartinasays twitter account up and running.

Pat running in denim

Martina cutting vents in her hat

Running faster than I ever have and actually enjoying it!

I also loved passing dudes on hills.

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Martina aka Toxic Stewardess Britney

I already agreed to do Ragnar SoCal, so I obviously liked it. 🙂 I ran the longest consecutive distance ever, 6.5 miles so that was awesome. My first leg was really tough, due to heat and lack of water. My other two legs were much easier although longer.

The race itself was pretty well organized, except for a few water support hiccups and parking. Running was a non issue, wasn’t really sore afterwards at all. Weather was definitely the hardest part. Makes you appreciate the training conditions we have, no snow, no heat etc. The worst part for me was not knowing distance remaining with no phone reception for run keeper (need to get a watch :)) and mile markers at wrong distances were totally annoying. The whole team kicked ass and everyone should do it because it really isn’t about running. 🙂 It will be nice to be better organized next time now that we know what to expect. Super fun.

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Red aka Toxic Britney

All Red had to say was:  It seemed like a good idea at the time…

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