Rainy Beach Sprints and Mind Tricks
Rainy Beach Sprints and Mind Tricks
**Editor’s note:** I wanted to start this post with the Rocky 3 beach scene but all I could find were homo-erotic parodies on YouTube so I went with one of Houston’s finest…
*Ok, now you have something to nod your head to as you read this…*
While cruising up Rt. 1 looking for a proper beach on which to sprint, I remembered that [article] I read in the ProJo. East Beach in Charlestown it is!
This place is pretty sweet; but isn’t surfable (body or otherwise) due to the sharp drop-off and late-breaking waves. They were pretty powerful yesterday and thus were incorporated into the WOD. Motivated by online community blogs, I wanted to get a little more creative with the sprinting routine.
Speaking of, there are a million fitness blogs out there that can inspire with new ideas, remind one of forgotten movements, and demonstrate the many different (right and wrong) ways to exercise. Find some that work for you and give them a try. Then use your judgment and tweak it to fit your style…
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The Workout Breakdown:
* Warmup: Got loose with some lunges, leg swings, burpees, jumping jacks, POSE drills and “build” sprints (start slow then accelerate to full sprint).
* Soft Sand Sprints: 6 x all-out sprints in the soft sand @ 50 yds +/-. Started each with 10 mountain climbers or 2 burpees before hitting the sprint. Distance varied depending on how long I could maintain my max velocity (sounds faster that way instead of “pace” or “speed”).
* Tide Agility Drill: Football-style drill using the incoming tide and sharp drop-off: starting at the top of the drop I ran down to the line where the water receded (~5 yds), shuffled laterally (~10 yds), then when the wave hit and started climbing the drop, I tried to outrun it in a backpedal (~5 yds). Did this either 4 or 6 times.
* Hard Sand Tideline Sprints: 4 x all-out sprints @ 60–70 yds on the hard stuff. Picked a spot down the tideline and tried to beat the next incoming wave to the point. The objective was to get the Central Nervous System (CNS) more involved by creating a “need” to beat the wave and trick my semi-tired body to run faster. I think it worked because I was gassed.
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Workout Notes:
* Rest periods for all the above were very limited due to black lightning clouds that were comin' right for me (this also helped with CNS stimulation).
* Safe workout, crazy drive home!
* Post-workout (PWO) nutrition = nada.
