memorial day

approaching the 10-year anniversary of September 11, 2001, as Americans, we know of at least one person who has given up his or her life in defense of our country in support of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.  presently, that number approaches 6,030 and the most recent, Army PFC Anthony M. Nunn, a 19 year old, has given up his life today protecting us in Afghanistan.  these selfless, brave men and women are the driving force behind the concept of creating 4TWC and participating in events like tough mudder.  the least we could do, while they protect the American way of life 24/7, is try to spread awareness of charitable organizations that raise money for those that have passed, the wounded, and their families. 

Database of KIA in OEF & OIF

instead of listing a few of my personal friends who have given their life, today i would like to say, "thank you," to all who have sacrificed.  not a day goes by when i'm not thankful for having the life i live because of them.  their actions keep me humble and continually serve as a reminder that things could always be worse...

"when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." - edmund burke, thoughts on the cause of the present discontents (1770)

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

thank you,

-DV _ level ^ fitness

in memoriam: Corporal Bryan Lizalda (1985-2010)

i remember sitting in my living room, receiving texts from HD and KB that Bryan was in the hospital and it wasn't looking good.  what was weird was that we'd always joke about him dying young because he definitely lived his life full out and pushed his limits, but we were really never serious.  he was a man who lived... and to even think about him in that sort of condition was unimaginable.

when times were rough and things really sucked, Bryan would lift morale by doing something crazy or saying something hilarious.  i honestly hate complainers and also hate myself when i complain, but when Bryan did it about a field op or the garrison "pogue" bs we had to deal with in the rear, he at least made it funny.  definitely belligerent as hell, but funny... sort of akin to Terminal Lance humor.  below is Bryan doing a rant, in the form of slam poetry, after a field op in Wadi Al Sahara during Mojave Viper in 29 Palms before we went to iraq.  **warning, Bryan uses strong language, so don't watch if that sort of stuff offends you**:

i think about him daily, particularly because i have his prayer card placed in the driver's side sun visor of my car.  like i said, this was a man who loved to live and did it well...  i would like to think he has something to do with the little good luck hook-ups we've experienced here and there.  i know he definitely has bottle service waiting for us where he's at and is already working out a deal with the bouncers to let all of us cut the line.

Making time to enjoy the day

Bryan and AM at our "Welcome Home" on base

he left behind a ton of friends who love and adore him.  i was always curious to see how his life would pan out because not only was he a funny guy (could've pursued comedy), he had the mind of a slick entrepreneur, and was always involved with the health industry & studying to become a PA or nurse.  he had a lot of avenues that he could've gone down and it's unfortunate we don't have the chance to see his full potential come to fruition.  below is a video his friend from home made about him:

since your passing, all the good times in my life and i'm sure in others' lives as well, have been and will be experienced in your name my friend....  rest in peace brother.  we miss you.

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

vaya con dios,

-DV _ level ^ fitness

in memory of Lance Corporal Anthony Adams

it's truly nonsensical to me when a young service member dies violently at the hands of another within the borders he or she took an oath to protect...  it boggles my mind further, especially if the person responsible for that death is a young, selfish civilian.  Lance Corporal Adams was the victim of a failed carjacking early this morning.

EARL AUSTIN of Jersey City...what more could you want from him?  he gave you years from his youth to do something that less than 1% of our country's population has done... something that you could've done, but didn't... and you go ahead to try and take his vehicle, but take his life instead.  when the authorities catch you, may God have mercy on your soul.  whoever out there is reading this, if you have information regarding this tragedy, please contact the Jersey City Police.


ABC News article on Lance Corporal Anthony Adams

i found out about the news once i touched down in vegas because my phone was off during the flight.  didn't feel like drinking or gambling, so i worked out instead at my hotel.  in times like these, some people feel like doing something destructive... i did... but what would that accomplish and what would its purpose be in serving this Marine's memory?  the following workout is dedicated to Anthony Adams.  it's the best i could do from out here for now:

Linda - CrossFit WOD (scaled down)

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of each exercise
deadlift (prescribed weight is 1.25x of your bodyweight... i used a 40lbs EZ curl bar)
bench (prescribed weight is your bodyweight... i used 90lbs)
clean (prescribed weight is .75x of your  bodyweight... i used a 40lbs EZ curl bar)

for example, do 10 reps of deadlifts, then bench, then cleans... then 9 reps, etc.

venetian - las vegas.  didn't feel like hamming it up for the camera today.
afterward, i ran on the treadmill:
.5% incline

0-5minutes: 6.5mph
5-10minutes: 7.0mph
10-11:09minutes: 7.5mph

total of 1.25 miles and 135 calories burned

went back upstairs, watched the bulls vs. heat game, and now i'm here.  waiting for AY to get to the hotel room and figure out what the next move is.

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

Rest in Peace Anthony,

-DV _ level ^ fitness

TD 6 & new join!....

posting late again...  from work, went to class, came home a couple of hours ago, ate a fat sandwich from RU Grill (if you know me, then you know the exact one i ordered... haha you're missing out), then started packing for vegas... now i'm here.  looking over my notes this morning, i wrote that my legs and lats were absolutely sore at the beginning of the workout.  HD and i were pretty spent from the last couple of days, which is a good thing.  might as well get all of that soreness out of our systems now and have our bodies get used to it.  we have to carefully monitor whether or not we're over training.

well, strategically, since i am heading to the west coast... we saved the "vanity muscles" workout (chest & biceps) for the day before my flight.  i apologize in advance for not filming the quad set.  until someone else joins HD and i, we can't film sets that need a no sh*t spotter:

as you can see, we've increased our work capacity... maybe i was a little over zealous considering it's been 2 years since my last trip to sin city.  anyways, below is my 1st set of the 1st superset.  you would think i was working out in the philippines, given my company in the background haha:

here is HD on his 1st set of the 2nd superset.  i also comment on the guy dropping 40lbs dumbbells on the ground like it's cool:

afterward, we hit the treadmill and did a tabata since we were hitting the 90 minute mark (we try to keep workouts under an hour, ideally 45 minutes total... we most likely took so long because we hit 13 exercises for the first time in awhile and were dragging just a bit)...  i planned to do at least 18 minutes and increase the speed on 3-minute intervals, but we had stuff to do...

TABATA on the treadmill

20:10 x 8
set it to 6.5mph and 12% incline (supposed to be set at 0-30sec slower than your best 5k speed)
run for 20 seconds, hop off for 10 seconds and do that 8 times

i felt strong on this morning's tabata, so i'm either getting better or it's because i sandbagged yesterday's tread work.  to conclude the workout, we stretched.  i was pretty pleased with our efforts.

in more recent news, 4TWC has acquired an AK...  haha, it's actually DK's wife.  she has officially joined the team this evening and should be present for our first training session on June 3rd at the 4TWC TM training grounds.  i will have a dedicated paragraph on her sooner than later.  for now, know that she is a tremendous athlete!  i have honestly got to get a move on working on the "about" section before more members join.  as of today, we are 9 strong!  

i'm gonna try my best to be a good boy and immediately workout once i check into my hotel haha!  my next post should be from vegas, wish me luck.

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness

TD 5

it appears that news of the blog is spreading and a couple more people are interested in joining 4TWC... this is great news.  with Memorial Day Weekend approaching, i just have to emphasize that the purpose of this blog goes beyond posting workouts and preparing for tough mudder... the main intent is to not only motivate my teammates to train hard, but to also spread awareness about the Wounded Warrior Project to as many people as possible and to also highlight other organizations that aid in the advancement of troops and their families...

with that said, HD and i definitely increased the intensity of this morning's workout, specifically concentrating on our backs and triceps.  just for our own reference, HD currently weighs in at 153lbs and i weigh in at 142lbs...  we started up with a barbell complex warm-up from Military Athlete, then rolled into two tri-sets, followed by abs, and an attempt at a 90 second ladder on the treadmill:

barbell complex (complete 6 reps of each exercise x 4 sets, try to finish without stopping, rest as needed)-

romanian deadlift (modified from a regular deadlift because we were using light weight)
bent over row
hang power clean
front squat
push press
back squat
pushups

we used 55lbs for our warm-up... which is nothing compared to what women were using in the Military Athlete videos... haha so as you can see we have work to do.  here i am with my first 2 sets of my warmup:

we actually didn't expect the warm-up to kill us, but it did.  afterward, we managed to push through the following, but we were definitely fatigued:

 

here i am, completing my 3rd set of the 2nd tri-set:

treadmill - 90 second ladder (at this point we were running on fumes):
.5% incline at 9.5mph

90 seconds on, 1 minute off
90 seconds on, 45 seconds off
90 seconds on, 30 seconds off
90 seconds on (lowered it to 9.0mph), 15 seconds off (we decided to call it a day after this)

didn't complete:
90 seconds on, 30 seconds off
90 seconds on, 45 seconds off
90 seconds on

so we ended up doing 57% of the treadmill work, accounting for 0.9375 miles.  next time, we have to account for intensity throughout the whole training day if we want to complete challenging ladders similar to this... now we know better.  there was no doubt i was drenched in sweat though... we also got to finally stretch- something we've ignored for a couple of training days.

i'm definitely anxious to hit the gym in a few hours... it'll be my last workout before i touchdown in las vegas at noon PST on thursday haha... one work day and a wake-up to go. until then...

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness

TD 4

this morning's workout was pretty dynamic, starting off with a scaled down version of may 7th's WOD from the CrossFit main site to warm up, then moving on to supersets that focused on legs and shoulders, and finishing with light treadmill work.  there was a noticeable increase of people at the gym, which looks to be mostly college kids... which is surprising, because i never woke up that early when i was in college haha.  oh well, maybe that's just me.  below are our results:

11-8-5 (scaled down from 21-15-9)
you do 11 reps of each exercise, then 8, then 5 for time... rest when needed but do it as fast as you can:
box jump
55lbs hang power snatch (modified from a 75lbs power snatch)
pullup (kipping is allowed for CF pullups, however my stubborn body rarely does because i'm used to doing strictly dead hang)

HD finished in 5mins and 54 seconds.  i finished in 2mins and 16 seconds.  here is my first set (11 reps of each exercise) going through this modified WOD:

it's good that we started filming our workouts so we can see where we have to improve our form.  i have to stop cheating on box jumps and have to work on my power snatch... then we moved on to:

 

HD doing his 1st set of the 2nd superset:

 

my comments in this vid were geared towards the "rapture."  i still can't get over it... anyways...
treadmill work:

0-3minutes: 6.5mph

3-6minutes: 7.0mph

6-9minutes: 7.5mph

9-12minutes: 8.0mph

12-15minutes: 8.5mph

15-15:49minutes: 9.0mph

total of 2 miles and 243 calories burned (again... supposedly)

after i came home from work this evening, i moderately ran 3 miles and did 1 set of active recovery exercises....  once grad school is done, i can't wait to log more miles on the road...   sorry for posting sooo after the fact.  will be posting around the same time on tuesday and wednesday cause i'll be in the city until late.

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness

KB's last camping trip weekend

one fact of life is that people will come and go and that's something you're going to have to get used to.  and it is definitely hard to get used to seeing people leave the reason responsible for allowing you to develop a friendship.  for the last six years, we've spent our twenties figuring out our place in the world while sharing excellent memories and going through some bad times.  you can only hope that the friendship you've developed goes beyond what you have in common.  nonetheless, if it doesn't, i would say the last six years still made us better men for society and i wouldn't have changed a damn thing.

HD, DK, AM, KB, DV, RL - may 2011

SR, KB, DV, AI, DS moments before the "supposed" rapture

with that said, KB is moving on, but i'm glad he decided to join 4TWC for our journey to tough mudder.  this ensures that the rest of us still have a reason to keep in touch... haha.  also moving on is one of my brothers, JS, who i've also known for six years.  crazy times, hilarious times, boring times, and sad times... you guys mean a lot to me and thank you for helping me become the person i am today. 

so back to being "tough" haha... HD and i are pumped to kick off training tomorrow morning dark and early.  also, after having a 4TWC meeting with 6 out of 9 of the members, we've decided to have a team training session at our TM training grounds on June 3rd.  requests have been made to make the session really hard so that one of us falls out, unable to complete all the required exercises, and that one of us vomits.  i think we can arrange that... perhaps both might be me.

anyways, human race- we've beat yet another apocalyptic prediction.  warning, the following video contains just a couple cusses:

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project 

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness

TD 3

like i said yesterday, "supposed to work out with GI." if you're friends with me on fb, you may know about that guy to sleep in. he decided to go out until 4am... oh those college ki... wait, he's almost 25. haha, anyways, HD and i still managed to workout. thank God for HDTV, all day urrrry day son lol...  since we neglected to workout back, legs, shoulders, and tri's this week, we've incorporated them in this morning's workout. it was challenging, but not a break-off so definitely felt good:

 

DV- 135lbs clean & jerk

HD: diagonal lunges

 afterward, we put in some light work on the treadmill as follows:

incline: .5%, weight: 140lbs (yes, i still managed to lose weight even after DD1)

0-3minutes: 6.5mph

3-6minutes: 7.0mph

6-9minutes: 7.5mph

9-12minutes: 8.0mph

12-12:22minutes: 8.5mph

total of 1.5 miles and 174 calories burned (supposedly)

off to work, be back on sunday.  like i said, if i have the opportunity to post before then, i will.

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness 

aftermath to DD1

drinking day 1... the first official drinking day of the 6-month training period... more like drinking night 1... decided to take it easy this morning because i went to happy hour with my softball team from work last night.  definitely, definitely felt sore when i woke up.  we were supposed to have a game in central park, but the fields weren't in the best condition due to the rain... so we did some team building instead haha.  happy hour turned into happy hours.... plural.

not necessarily last night's happy hour, but these are my buds i usually cause trouble with after work

my justification is that we did some heavy drinking after tough mudder, even watched UFC 123 at sliders in new brunswick.  so drinking days/nights like last night's happy hour are merely training evolutions for post-TM haha.

if you haven't checked out our "about section" - you should.  it's on the lower right hand side and features JB, GI, and DK.  i'm still waiting for the rest of the team to respond to the "about section" questionnaire.  haha sometimes my teammates are the worst.  will surely keep updating the "about section" until everyone is written about.

supposed to be working out with HD and GI in a few hours and won't be able to post until sunday.  but if i do get the chance, i will.

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness 

TD 2

this morning HD and i hit the gym up a little later than usual, around 6:10am.  we were out by 6:45am because we didn't stick around to swim... haha we couldn't.  we thought it'd be a good idea to mix a scaled down version of the WOD (workout of the day) from 5/16 off the CrossFit website, do a tabata on the treadmill, then swim 300m.  here was the plan as follows:

AMRAP (as many reps as possible)
for 5 minutes
225lbs deadlift, 3 reps (scaled down from 275lbs)
75 lbs push press, 7 reps (scaled down from 115lbs)

HD did 5 rounds + 3 deadlifts & i did 7 rounds in 5 minutes.  here is HD doing work in the middle of his 3rd & 4th round.

rest as needed

TABATA on the treadmill
20:10 x 8
set it to 6.5mph and 12% incline (supposed to be set at 0-30sec slower than your best 5k speed)
run for 20 seconds, hop off for 10 seconds and do that 8 times

HD on the last 20 seconds of his tabata:

you can definitely hear me panting like a little thirsty puppy...

rest as needed

300 meter swim (we were pretty wiped after the tabata, so we didn't do this part)
Partitioned by 50 meters, 50 meters, 25 meters, 25 meters, 25 meters, 25 meters, 50 meters, 50 meters
in between each lap, rest 30seconds to 1minute

probably going to rest tomorrow, feeling sore... that's the thing about getting better. you want to challenge yourself, but you don't want to over do it.  you also don't want to cheat yourself and take it easy, so you have to find that balance.  listen to your body and "flow with the go" as the Gracie family says.

get involved w/ or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,


-DV _ level ^ fitness 

TD 1

i apologize for posting so late... having technical difficulties trying to upload a portion of this morning's workout. i went to the gym with GI and JD at 530am. anyways, today we worked on the vanity muscles: "chest & bi's" haha- my favorite. and we really didn't get in a good workout cause we were pressed for time, so i was pretty agitated driving to work... it was actually a pretty crappy workout. below are my stats for training day 1:


here is the 3rd set of our 1st tri-set:

we usually do another superset, abs, and at least some work on the treadmill... so with half the work done, you can imagine how angry i was.  it didn't ruin my day that much because i got the chance to get some cardio in after work at Advanced Martial Arts  [not updated on the website yet... the new facility's address is 1853 livingston avenue, north brunswick, nj].  i did the 6:30pm muay thai class and i actually haven't gone to Advanced since maybe january/february.  i'm glad i did, cause it kicked my ass.  i enjoy getting beat down like that cause it's a continual reminder that you have to always keep bettering yourself at every aspect in life.  after seeing some familiar faces and realizing they've been going regularly, i'm definitely light years behind.  the women there are ferocious and unforgiving strikers that i don't want to mess with... you think i'm playing... my martial arts cardio definitely sucks right now.  hopefully i can find the time to keep at it at Advanced.  i'll start recording if i go there as well for my own reference.

heading to sleep... gotta make up for this morning's crappy workout.  planning to do a little circuit, some tread work, and a swim in a few hours... hopefully we'll have the time.

get involved w/ or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness  

will be out of the office today and will be monitoring emails...

sorry all- training day 1 was supposed to be conducted this morning and was planning to have some content up, but am feeling under the weather.  i absolutely hate skipping days from the gym because of being sick... i feel like it's something i could've prevented: i.e. maybe i shouldn't have skipped that meal, maybe i should've gotten more sleep, maybe i shouldn't have eaten this, i probably should've washed my hands, maybe i should've taken it easy on that last workout, etc. etc.

anyways, it's time to stop feeling sorry for myself and look at the bright side.  instead of heading to both my offices (haha the gym & my civilian job) today, i get to stay at home and spend some time with the pup, rest up and watch a little espn and/or netflix, catchup with some homework, and do a little laundry.

rain or shine tomorrow morning, work is getting done (in both offices) and i promise to post.  haha, sometimes i think people keep blogs so that they don't embarrass themselves in front of the whole world- unless you want to look like a fool, you're going to follow through with what you're going to do.  i honestly hate it when people write on their status updates "going on a X mile run" or "lifting weights!," but when you see them in person after all that work they wrote about- they're out of shape and look like crap!  before i get out of hand and start writing another blog, i'll get off my high horse now.

on a lighter note, if you haven't checked out this instant classic by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Riggle from FunnyorDie.com, here:

The Navy Seal Who Killed Osama Bin Laden from Rob Riggle

will see you on the field tomorrow.
get involved w/ or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness  

tm tri-state '10 recap pt. 2 (obstacles 10-19)

(10) boa constrictor- just an annoying obstacle.  this is where i would say most participants got the scrapes on their knees and elbows.  not difficult.  

on the way back... if i remember correctly, we passedd this obstacle twice.

(11) rubbernecking- at this point, you just grab a tire and go.  not bad at all, was definitely a point in the course where you got to see a lot of things going on because obstacles 12 and 13 were in close proximity.  (12) tired yet- it was pretty fun and i remember my calves acting up again.  (13) firewalker- running through fire is a cool concept and you would think that this would be difficult for people who have an aversion to it.  however, the difficult parts of running through fire and the winding turns were smoke inhalation and the smoke blinding you.  haha, i was actually afraid of running into a bail of hay that was on fire.  pretty difficult to see if you had a wrong gust of wind and soot get into your eyes.  (14) devil’s beard- not hard, just annoying.  even the TM website describes it as annoying.  (15) the log bog jog- you can feel that you were definitely coming to an end of the course when you saw this obstacle.  along with my calves, both of my entire legs were cramping up here and there.  the only way to beat the pain was not to stop and to keep on pushing.  (16) funky monkey- being one of the last runs, the monkey bars were super slippery and technique definitely played a factor.  you could be really strong, but if you approached it the wrong way, you were taking a dip.  the smartest method I’ve seen is the sideways move.  i’d need a picture to actually show you what i’m talking about, but it was extremely efficient as it allowed you to bypass 2 to 4 bars.  i did the one by one method and ended up falling in the water about 2/3s into it because my hands lacked endurance at that point in the day.  they cramped up and I took a dip with just a few bars to go.  i was definitely angry at myself.  (17) twinkle toes- was pretty easy.  slow and steady wins the race.  (18) shock therapy- haha this damn obstacle almost ruined my day and ended my TM tri-state short of completion.  by the time we got here, you could see the finish line… maybe about 1000 meters left, definitely less than a mile.  this was the mystery obstacle that was revealed before the start of the course: basically a bunch of wires you run through that give you a little shock.  well, as you know i was cramping up through parts of the course.  once i ran through the first 75% of the obstacle, i was thinking, “they are liars!”  they were not…. the last set of wires managed to give me a little shock… haha my whole body cramped up and i fell, immediately disabled, to the ground on my face.  i looked up towards the sky and asked God, “really?”  my teammates told me to get up and finish this thing… so i listened and we did.  there was no time to feel sorry for myself.  (19) insane bolt- this was supposed to be a 100 meter sprint to the finish line.  by the time our heat began to finish, I think everyone stopped caring haha.  It was just nice to see the finish line.  13 miles and a few obstacles in less than 2 hours and 40 minutes with a team of 8 and Doc TD.  it was a great bonding experience and most importantly: we started together and we finished together.  no man left behind.

TM tri-state: it's what's for dinner.  Doc TD all smiles at the finish line.

get involved w/ or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project 

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness   

tm tri-state '10 recap pt. 1 (obstacles 1-9)

the obstacles were as follows and the reviews of each obstacle are my reflections alone (teammates/other participants could’ve found them more challenging or easier):

(1) monster chase – basically chasing a monster truck for a couple of hundred meters on raceway’s straightaway track before you hit the next obstacle. not difficult.  (2) ball shrinker- this is where participants started bunching up because you had to wait in line to go.  not difficult.  (3) walk the plank- jumping off a 15 foot platform isn’t difficult at all… it’s landing in ball-shrinking-jersey-november-cold water and having to swim that could be.  thank God this was in the beginning of the course, otherwise there may have been some fatalities.  i would say that this is the point where most of the people that quit did.  i remember seeing a guy who wrapped his upper body in naughty by nature chains do a bad ass flip into the water… only to go into a seizure the second his skin got wet.  seeing Marines working the event pull him out of the water made me think that flip maybe wasn’t as bad ass.  (4) underwater tunnels- i thought this was cool, however, AM and GI almost drowned. haha i made the mistake of ordering customized cotton team shorts to wear for the event.  you would think having experience in arctic weather that i would’ve been smart enough to remember why cotton, water, and cold weather don’t mix well.

literally "chilling" w/a couple of Norwegian officers in the arctic circle

nevertheless, all of us soon remembered as it felt like we were running with tupperware stuck to our crevices as the cotton immediately froze to our skin once we exited the water… signaling how cold it was that day lol.  at the end of the day, although those shorts added to the course's difficulty, they're still pretty comfortable shorts to rock to the gym and a good memento.  (5) spider’s web- we were one of the last runs to go, so by the time we got to this obstacle, they took it down… it was probably causing a lot of delays.  (6) mud mile- actually fun… see below:

RL, DK, DV

(7) cliffhanger- this is where i personally saw the tough mudder camaraderie developing and being exhibited.  there is no way possible, considering how muddy those hills are, that an individual can conquer them without the aid of someone else especially if you are in one of the last runs.  everyone helped each other and pulled strangers up throughout...  the only way i see people bypassing the cliffhanger is if they no sh*t bypassed it and decided to skip this portion of the course.  at this stage, this i where i experienced my first left calf cramp… maybe a little more than third into the course and i know this worried my older cousin JB... cause then, he was waiting his turn to start cramping.  (8) kiss of mud- not difficult.  my teammates were helping the rest of the TM crowd as they waited for JB and i to catch up:

Doc TD, DK, RH

right before we hit the next obstacle, we passed by the straightaway racetrack again... there were rumors that the course was only 6 miles and it was "falsely advertised" as being 12-13.  at that point we were assured that we were only halfway done haha... and last for now, (9) berlin walls- the girls said we blazed through this portion of the course cause our teamwork was on point.  they couldn't catch up in time to take pictures.

to be continued...

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-DV _ level ^ fitness 

digging through the archives of my email...

i found results from a team workout we conducted on august 26, 2010.  this would be a good one to re-visit.  so if you were there and you're reading this now, did you get better since last year or did you let yourself go?  the beautiful thing about life is that every second that passes is a chance to turn it all around for the best if you feel like you're heading in the wrong direction.

 i can't believe this was almost a year ago... i remember that evening vividly and i remember scoring some dinner and beers afterward.  another thing to put in perspective in considering how time flies is this:

DV, DK, KB, RF, SR

can you believe this was 3 years ago?  any second i think that something sucks, i immediately thank God that i'm not stuck in some AAV, sweating bullets in the desert.  i also thank God for the guys out there that do it everyday for our country...

before i sign out, here's some food for thought, especially for the guys with me that had to listen to war stories that summer in '08- Battle of Haditha - Operation Quick Strike ... it doesn't talk about Kilo, it doesn't talk about India, it only talks about Lima.  oorah Lima Co. and forget all the lames from upstate NY that pretend they did all of your work.

get involved w/ or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project 

-DV _ level ^ fitness 

we all had to start somewhere...

introducing the first four members of 4TWC 2011.  as you can see, with regards to TM, one of us is not like the other.  however, i did include pictures of us from when we all were boots to remind us that we all had to start somewhere.

HD is one of newest members to 4TWC, but he isn't an unfamiliar face.  definitely a great addition to the team and has a ton of experience working with us in various scenarios, helping us train for our first TM last summer.  it doesn't matter how crappy a situation could be, HD doesn't quit and gets the job done.

 rounding out our newest members... boots rather, are JS and KB... both have exhibited the ability to use their mouths to speak their minds, haha but you cannot deny that they're hard workers when they put their minds to it.  one of them has actually reformed his ways.  which one?  you'll have to find out.

 last... and certainly least... jk- is Doc TD.  on paper, he is the least boot out of all of us, having completed two deployments to OIF and last year's TM.  we love him to death, although he does have his boot moments.

that is officially 4TWC as of May 9, 2011.

get involved w/ or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

more to come...

-DV _ level ^ fitness 

... it's not about the destination, so much as the journey...

<-- The Original 4TWC: JB, AY, RH, GI, DK, DV, AM, RL"prior to" - tough mudder tri-state 2010 

 

so basically i'm starting this blog off with a cliche quote.  and from what we've learned last year as a team, the journey to our first tough mudder tri-state in 2010 was fun, despite the few times we trained together.  training days were definitely break off sessions, but were really fun.  by game day and the start of the event, some people met each other for the first time and less than 3 hours later when we finished, a bond was shared and an enduring lifelong connection was created.

Doc TD joins 4TWC and runs the course with us -->

teammates for this year's tough mudder tri-state 2011 are the intended audience for this blog- a motivational tool to make us train hard for the next 27 weeks.  should it motivate anyone else outside of our circle, then cheers.  we must always remind ourselves that there are men and women who protect our freedom around the clock, enabling us to live the lives we lead: our team name is a tribute to the fallen and wounded service men and women of our country's campaigns to instill peace and stability throughout this world. it is also a tribute to the fallen and wounded police officers, fire fighters, and government workers who have selflessly put the needs of others before their own.

last year, we were able to raise $1,260 for the wounded warrior project.  although tough mudder still supports the project, there isn't a direct avenue like last year for us to raise money.  so every time i post, i will be sure to include the following link:

get involved w/ or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

all in all, there are 188 days until the big dance.  4TWC, make sure to email me the best days to train and we'll start figuring out a schedule for team training sessions.  also, next week, starting on either sunday or monday, i will start posting my own workouts to give you ideas to level up on your own.

cheers & here's to the next 6 months of our lives.

-DV _ level ^ fitness

brought together by the love of fitness & support for our military

"done sir, done"