Sergeant Fontes

Ten Miler Training Part II- and other news...

2011-05-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

,Wish me luck. The past two weeks have basically been useless as far as exercise is concerned. I did finally register for the run though, so now, when I crawl across the finish line, dehydrated, exhausted, delirious and searching for a medic at least I'll get a t-shirt. Due to other mission requirements, many of my team members haven't been training as faithfully either. However, the mission we've been focusing on is nearly complete, and there's only one four day weekend in the month of May. Feel free to view my blog from last night for insight into the blessing/curse of four days.

The problem? I am now left with all of one month to train for this event. I am determined NOT to walk during the race. Yet I have to urge to walk at about mile 5.5 every time...

Never one to be discouraged, I figure I can get my iPOD working and wear it during the race to distract me from the pain and fatigue that I know are inevitable. Everything worth having requires blood, sweat and tears, so I'm mentally preparing myself to embrace the pain and fatigue. Also, I'll get the remainder of the day off upon completion of the race, and my fiance, being the supportive man that he is, will be waiting at the finish line with a cooler filled with Yueng Ling. I am abstaining from alcohol until after the race. It's not as hard as I thought, but I often wonder if my increase in food is to make up for the lack of drinking. This is a possibility I prefer not to examine too closely.

Training picks back up tomorrow. The plan is to cover seven miles. If I blog tomorrow night, it means I was not injured in my attempt. Prior to the run a kettle bell and stability ball work out are in order. I wish I was as fast as I am strong... I guess carrying around a seven year old that can't walk naturally helps with strength training.

NOW... In other news....

I'm super proud of my fiance's girls, who competed in a statewide cheerleading competetion. The youngest daughter's team placed fourth and the oldest placed first! I know any readers who come across this will think I'm biased, but they were the cutest competitors in the state. However, I don't really have to be biased, as I didn't give birth to these ladies, but am blessed to have them in my life.

Unfortunately, the excitement was tainted by a lack of consideration for Americans with disabilities. After the competetion, I had no way to get down from the bleachers with my son and see the girls. I was ok with this on the grounds that their mother, father and grandmother could get down there, but had they actually been my children, or heaven forbid had any parent in the building was confined to a wheelchair, there wasn't any route to the gym floor that didn't have stairs. Actually, there were ramps on two of the side entrances, but those were closed off, and only got you to the floor. Once there, you can't get into the bleachers from the floor. Stand by for my letter to Congress regarding this issue.

Couch Potato

2011-04-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

Working out can be addictive. I have literally experienced withdrawal symptoms from going too many days without exercising. I get tense, anxious and restless if I take a break longer than three days, and I'll seek out a gym with the same intensity and determination that humans seek food when they are starving.

Unfortunately, the opposite end of the spectrum can be addictive as well. I once heard that it only takes three days for your body to lose it's conditioning. If this is true it may very well explain the feeling I get on day three of skipping my daily work out routine. However, by day four, I'm officially over it and become quite comfortable with being a couch potato. I'll swear to get back on track the following day, then something, usually a marathon of America's Next Top Model or Gangland keeps me off track. The whole process snowballs and I find the five or six pounds that I thought I lost in weeks prior.

This vicious cycle often begins with a four day weekend. These weekends are glorious to the average soldier. When your life revolves around planning to go to war, going to war, coming home from war, or supporting others while they are in war, time to relax and decompress is vital. The problem, though, is that I may find myself relaxing and decompressing just a little bit too much.

We recently had a four day weekend that snowballed just the way I described in the previous paragraph. A short work week, while nice in theory, is usually intense. Everything you normally accomplish in five days must be done in four. By the time Thursday evening rolls around, soldiers are nearly delirious with the anticipation of the weekend.

Once I made it home on this particular Thursday night, my day still hadn't ended. I had to drive another hour to get to Goldsboro to visit my fiance, his parents and his daughters. Once my day was finally over, I was beyond exhausted. I fell asleep with plans to hit the weights and treadmill the following day, after a birthday party in the next town.

During the party, tornadoes attacked a very large portion of North Carolina, including Goldsboro. Once we made it back from the party, the power was out. So much for the treadmill. There were no streetlights on, and the rain was coming down by the gallon, so running outside wasn't an option. There went my plans for Saturday's work out. On the bright side, being unable to cook makes it easy to cut calories. Despite obstacles to exercising, I think I still lost about two pounds that weekend.

The power was still out on Sunday. The rain had died down slightly, but I had decided to designate Sunday as my day of rest and skip the workout all together. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon finding creative ways to keep three children entertained without a television. Arts and crafts can only occupy kids for so long.

When the power finally came back on, the kids immediately headed for the television, and I headed for the kitchen. Never once did it cross my mind to get on the treadmill or lift any weights. When I got home later that night, I fell asleep once again with the best of intentions. The following Monday, I took my son to school and went right back to sleep, completely missing my window of opportunity for the gym.

Back at work Tuesday, we didn't conduct unit physical training and I didn't stick to my normal routine of hitting the gym before unit training. I felt like I needed to ease myself back into working out. The rest of the week's training was mediocre, to say the least. I guess I had lost some of my exercise mojo.

Most of the second half of April hasn't been easy on my physical fitness needs. I've had several four day weekends, and skipped unit training for more pressing missions.

It will be May when I go back to work Monday. I plan on training hard and making up for the past two weeks. I'll stick to my routine on weekends as well. I mean it this time.....

Ten Mile Training-Part I

2011-04-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a common misconception that members of the military are all extreme athletes, who can out run Flo Joe on any day of the week. This is simply not true. The military might be a more physically fit institution than perhaps, fast food employees, but the average Soldier is not an Olympian. We are generally fit, perhaps even more so than the civilian sector. However, it's not impossible to be overweight, slow, and weak in the military. The military takes measures to prevent such atrocities from infesting our fighting forces, but some slip through the cracks, and Soldiers' physical abilities vary as much as their personalities.

Despite the fact that I have served in the Army, on active duty, for over ten years, I have never been an Olympic runner, but I definitely used to be faster. I also used to be more toned, stronger, and about 10 pounds lighter. To fight the weight gain and weakness, I had begun spending an additional 30-45 minutes in the gym, prior to conducting physical training with my unit. The weight was coming off, and my strength and tone were coming back (slowly), but my run time just didn't seem to improve. None of the cross fit style cardio machines seemed to help, despite what they did for my cardio vascular fitness.

Then recently, I ran into a Master Sergeant who had participated in the annual Fort Bragg Ten Miler last year. I spoke with him briefly and the Good Idea Fairy bestowed upon me a wonderful idea.... I could train for the ten miler. I called the Morale, Welfare and Recreation center to inquire about registration, rules, etc. I learned that there were no team competitions, the fee would be fifteen dollars, and the run would take place on June 3rd, 2011. The top male competitors an the top four female competitors on the installation would go on to compete in the Army Ten Mile event in Washington, DC. I didn't intend to place first, I just wanted to finish alive and uninjured.

I didn't have much time, but I knew I wanted, rather, NEEDED to take on this challenge. I wandered around my unit, asking other Soldiers to join me. I wasn't going to train (suffer) alone. When I was convinced I'd have at least ten Soldiers willing and able to participate with me, I called my First Sergeant, asking for permission to train separately from the unit for the event. Permission was granted, and I became excited, albeit somewhat nervous. Ok, terrified. I spent that weekend creating a training calender that incorporated distance runs, sprints, and strength training. It was a good thing I created the calender, because my Battery Commander decided he wanted to see a schedule. He also decided that he wanted to participate with us during our training.

It's always nice to complete a task before it's given and to give your higher-ups the impression that you have the situation under control. It's especially nice when deep down, you really have NO idea what you're doing. I have never in my life ran ten miles without stopping. I have walked ten miles on numerous occasions, but walking is not effective training for running. The only thing that improves your run time is more running.

During our first day training, I planned to run four miles. I underestimated the distance to our turn around point, and ended up running six miles that day. When I say "running," I don't necessarily mean that I honestly ran the entire distance, only that I covered six miles on foot. I was initially discouraged at how long it took me to run four miles. When I realized I ran six, I was mildly impressed. I expected my lower body to be extremely sore the following day, but I only felt slight discomfort. This let me know that I could have gone even farther.

My original plan was to start at four miles and add a mile each week, but I changed my calender slightly beginning at six miles, based on that first day's mishap. However, I was still sucking wind at six miles.

I solicited the advice of some of my more fitness savvy friends and was referred to a friend of a friend, who happens to be a true runner. She even has a coach. I sought her advice, and was told to run slower, but farther. She explained that speed would come with time, but that sprints and stride often cause injuries. Being that my goal was to complete the run without injuries, I heeded her advice.

Fast forward to today. I am still sucking wind at six miles, but I'm running farther into those six miles before feeling like I need to stop. I am still getting stronger, and no one who volunteered to participate with me has backed out. Each of these factors motivates me to continue.

I am still nervous about the event, but not terrified. I can honestly say these are good nerves. This of course may change on race day. What won't change on race day is everything I will have gained (or lost if you're counting weight and body fat in this equation) from training for the event. I am extremely confident that I will accomplish exactly what I set out to accomplish, and that I will be grateful for the experience in the end.