Tank Crossing and 7 Until 26.2

So, as I wrote in my last post I was at a training for work. Ironically, the same thing applies to this post. I am currently on the Fort McCoy base outside of Tomah, WI for a Hostage Rescue Training. Being on an active military base is a new experience for me, from seeing how our USA military prepares for overseas combat and seeing very different traffic signs (see my photo to see what I mean) to dealing with bugle calls. The bugle calls initially startled me. I was in bed before 10pm my first night and there is a bugle call recording at 1030pm which woke me up thinking my alarm was going off. On top of the night bugle call, there are calls at 6am, 615am, noon, and 5pm. It's definitely a different experience for a civilian. But back to my Hostage Rescue training. The training is put on by a group of high speed, highly trained, and very experienced military guys. So the mindset is a little different from majority of other law enforcement trainings. We start sharp at 0800 and go straight with no breaks until 1630. The only "breaks" we get are 5-10 minutes to reload our ammo. During that break is our opportunity to get a drink of water or eat our packed snacks of Clif bars and Powerbars. On top of it we are to remain in our gear throughout the duration of training. Training has been exhausting. It's not exactly the most optimum situation to be in. But you got to make do with what's given to you and that's really all you can do. I consider myself to be very fortunate to be given all these opportunities to better myself as an officer. The way I look at it is this job is not the safest of professions to be in, so the more training I get sent to, the better my tactics and the better chances I have of coming home to my girls at the end of all my shifts and special operations. It's training is a 4 day intense training that involves a lot of shooting and being put into stressful situations which we are expected to complete certain tasks smoothly and calmly. We are also getting to utilize a shoot house which is just that, a training house which allows us to fire live ammunition inside while operating as a team of 8 or more. It's an opportunity that some never get so I am seizing the opportunity.

So, how am I dealing with all the physical stress on top of being just 7 days away from a marathon in the middle of a taper? Well, honestly, I'm just dealing, I guess. I have done several previous marathons, so by no means is this my first. On top of doing many other marathons I have had about just as many differing training plans. But, one thing that remains contestant in my marathon plans is the final 7 days. I have always planned an 8 mile run done on either the Saturday or Sunday before race day. My plans while away for training were to do a 4 mile run on Friday morning, 8 mile run on Saturday, take Sunday off from running, and a 4 mile run on Monday. Knowing that this training was going to be intense I had all intentions of getting my runs done before training, which is what I did. It made the training days a little more stressful on my legs but like I said earlier, you just got to deal with what is given and take it for what it's worth. I did my 8 mile run around the base on Saturday morning and was out the door before 0530. My legs were sore and felt heavy from Fridays training but still finished the run feeling as fresh a I could expect to feel, all things considered, in 1:00. After we get back to our dorm rooms from training I take a nice and warm shower and then take 15-20 minutes to just stretch to help aid in recovery. I also took Thursday and Friday off leading up to Sundays marathon to just sit around the house with my daughters and relax, which I'm hoping will help counter the physical stress I'm putting on my body this weekend. I'm even going to try to take Wednesday night off from work as well.

As for my taper in general, it's going pretty well. I have not had any caffeine for the past 2 weeks which will mean ill go into the marathon with no caffeine for about 2.5 weeks prior to race day. I do this to increase my body's reaction to caffeine. I do this so I can take caffeine on race day morning and since it will be the first caffeine my body will see in a while my body will have a better ergogenic effect. I also have cut out alcohol for just as long. I do this to enhance recovery and increase hydration. However being away at training makes this difficult on a guy who enjoys the art of craft brewing and really understands beer (I consider myself a sort of beer connoisseur) all on top of being away at a training with other guys who are not tapering or running any sort of race for that matter. So I did break down and have a single beer (a Spotted Cow) on Sunday night. But to help counter the alcohol I drank several glasses of water along with dinner. Yea, I do realize this is lame, but I'll quote one of the best quotes I've read in regards to competitive racing - "To finish in the top 1%, you need to be willing to do what the other 99% isn't." And lave have found that to be so true. Yes, I could probably drink beer leading right up to the nit before the race, but there's no way I would finish as well as if I didn't. There's come a point in your race results where the little stuff makes a difference in your race results, not matter how small these negative differences are, they are still obvious.

So with all that being said, I'm looking forward to truly resetting and recovering once I get home and spending some much needed and necessary time with the wife and kids before the marathon. I mad hoping to write another post with my race plan and strategy before Saturday of this week. So until then, stay safe and stay fit!