Some Workout Stuff

Training for Kokoda is obviously an important part of my preparation. I am not really sure just how hard it is going to be, so I figure if I am prepared I can spend 10 days enjoying myself rather than 10 days wanting to go home and slowing everyone else down. Exercise and diet will be pretty important.


I have been going to Crossfit Noosa since July last year, as well surfing, throw in a bit of swimming and body surfing and hopefully I already have some OK level of fitness.  I usually go to Crossfit 3 times a week and I am stepping this up to 4 or 5 times, with the addition of some walks (including the stairs) which I will gradually start building up and adding pack weight to over the next few weeks.  I try to surf 4 - 5 times a week rain, hail or shine, crap waves or not. 


For those of you who do not know what Crossfit is and are interested, this is a good little explanation in less than 100 words.  This is pretty much the diet and lifestyle and am living by at the moment. 


'Distilled down to the simplest terms, CrossFit workouts are about intensity, variability, and functionality.

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, clean & jerk, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc. hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.'

I have noticed improvements in a lot of areas since July, my surfing has improved, I can dance for heaps longer at music festivals (yeew) and  lifting a heavy teak bar stool now only takes 3 fingers instead of two hands. A few months ago I even deadlifted a 60 kg cactus after it blew over in a storm.  There has been stuff I definitely do not want to do (800m runs spring to mind) but I have to say after 6 months I feel better and better all the time, stronger, more flexible, my body has changed shape and everything about my life has improved both mentally and physically. 

Crossfit is definitely something I will keep up all the time even after Kokoda as it has so many practical applications in daily life.  In addition I have made some really great friends!   Functional fitness at it's finest.  

This is the link to the box I train at.   http://crossfitnoosa.com.au/. You can get more info here and also check out our workout of the day, complete with great write-ups on why we are doing the workouts.

Some of the fun stuff we get up to at Crossfit Noosa, weighted chin-ups

Daniel & Holly at The Stairs of Death and No Speaking

Since my last post I have done the stairs a couple of times, now the workout includes a post stairs swim and coffee (woops). I am sometimes doing the stairs with a friend,  which is great because it's extra motivation when you have to meet someone else, as opposed to the temptation of just sleeping in for another half an hour.  Holly & Daniel even came with me one day, they loved it surprisingly!  Have also had another couple of Crossfit sessions since the last post.  This arvo (Monday) I did the stairs x4 and a small walk in the pouring rain with our black & tan kelpie Mackie, otherwise known as the Macuum Cleaner. She is a bit on the tubby side and has been passed out on the floor since we got home. My post stairs swim featured me losing my bikini bottoms at Noosa Main Beach all the way to my ankles.  More squats and stairs needed, if my thighs were bigger I seriously doubt that would happen.

and so it begins.... the stairs of death and no speaking

Took a drive down to Maroochydore last Friday morning to get some boots, waterproof jacket and some other bits and pieces.  Took a while to find some boots that I liked but I came home happy, a little bit poorer and still had some fun despite hanging out in outdoor shops all morning. I even secretly liked it a little.


On Friday I also received my 12 week training programme. Bugger. I have just had 4 weeks off training over Christmas and New Year. About the only exercise I have done lately are some bicep curls using beers or very heavy glasses of mojito's, wrestled a goat, grabbed a turtle on the head and surfed.  Surfing is OK when training for Kokoda, paddling is good strength training and you never know when you will need that strength to escape attacking leaches or some other tropical vermin and I seem to be attracting all types at the moment.


On Sunday I took a small walk, only about 2.6 kms, which included some pretty big hills and the stairs at Little Hastings Street, which I have renamed The Stairs of Death and No Speaking (because you really can't speak it's so bad). I think there are about 220 steps, all different heights and sizes and it's steep, really steep. Found it not too bad, time to up the challenge.


Monday I just surfed for a couple of hours and I have to say it was pretty damn awesome. I love my new surfboard, it rocks.


After some motivational issues and sleeping in a couple of times through the alarm until 7.30 (crikey) I finally made my grand (OK well it wasn't all that grand) entrance at Crossfit Noosa http://crossfitnoosa.com.au/ for the first time in 4 weeks, on Tuesday.  Good workout.  Crossfit Noosa will perhaps be the most important part of my Kokoda training strength and conditioning wise.  Danny  at Crossfit Noosa is a good bloke who knows heaps and he is on to it and pushing me, which I need.  Later in the day I tackled the stairs at Little Hastings Street again, this time 3 times with a pack in the pouring rain. Good lord. You know those marathon runners at the end of the marathon? I suspect I looked like that afterwards.


This morning, Wednesday, I had an early morning surf session then off to Crossfit a couple of hours later.  Only to find the workout was 5 reps of 5 front squats, and as many rounds of 10 deadlifts and 25 double under's as you can do in 10 minutes.  Legs? What legs? I actually can't feel them at all, pretty certain I don't even have any! I definitely needed them for this workout.  For those of you who do not know what a double under is its when you skip a rope two rotations under your feet in one jump. I know, it's really really extremely mean, but very good for you. I struggled through the workout, seemingly having no strength left in my thighs whatsoever, really struggling with the front squats and lifting 15 kg less than normal. If a pullup fell from heaven this morning I would have kissed it, my legs were so up to shit.  


Late this arvo I met a friend at the stairs, and we did them together. Me x 2, him 4 times. Strangely my first attempt was pretty easy, much easier than the first time I did it just a few days ago. After the second I decided to call it quits not wanting to overdo it considering my already feeling pretty stuffed state. Finished off with a swim and body surf at Noosa Main Beach in my undies, classy, but maybe not so shocking for those who know me fairly well. Interestingly but totally unrelated, I unintentionally grabbed two jellyfish today, once this morning and once tonight. After the turtle head grabbing incident a few weeks ago it's making me kind of worried about what I will come across in PNG.


So I am not going to post every workout as this is a pretty normal week for me, even the animal grabbing is becoming normal.  The stairs being the different thing so far.  Will try and update from here on in about once per week as I add new parts into my preparation and training. That's if my legs bother to actually walk me in to next week.........


Lessons learned this week:


1. Protein drinks are the bomb and help you wake up feeling like She-man.
2. Always always wear a bikini even when you are not planning on swimming.
3. I still feel like spewing after doing double under's.

70th Anniversary Kokoda Track Campaign 2012

As some of you already know I will be embarking on a bit of a journey this year.  The Kokoda Track has been on my bucket list for years and somewhere along the way got a little lost when kids and life in general took over. 


A couple of months ago while at Crossfit Noosa I met a trainer from Brisbane, Rob, who is a trek leader for Adventure Professionals http://www.adventureprofessionals.com.au/.  I got chatting to Rob who told me that he is doing Kokoda for the first time himself in April this year.  I told Rob it sounded amazing and he suggested I should come.  I didn't think much about it at the time but when I got home I decided that, yep, I was going to do this, finally. 


So, now it is really happening!  This trip will mark the 70th Anniversary of Kokoda, and of course we will be on the track for Anzac Day.  

For the most part people are really positive when I tell them about it. Whatever happens though I am going to give this thing a good crack.  If diggers can do in atrocious conditions then so can I.


This blog is to record my preparation and experiences on what is hopefully going to be an amazing journey at an important part of our military history.