I solely wanted to write a post about my new workout toy, but then I realized I should probably go ahead and blog my workouts, because, well, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing here.

SOOO, since I get super excited about anything, I want to talk about my toy!

My friend Jacob sent a picture of a tire drag he made. I was floored. BRILLIANT! And who already has a tire junk yard in her backyard for flipping, for hitting with sledgehammers, for throwing…this girl! How had I not thought of this?! So, this week I was preoccupied with making the perfect tire drag(s) – plural because every girl needs assorted sizes.

Who wants to know how to make a tire drag? Or a drag tire? Whatever. Call it what you want.

First, go to your local junkyard. Or semi-busy highway. A road where you see tires! If you start keeping an eye out, you’ll start to see discarded tires everywhere! Ok, not everywhere, but pretty often. All my tires were free! 2 came from the junkyard, but the rest were discarded tractor & 18wheeler tires.

Next, get them home and clean them. This isn’t a necessary step, but you’ll be glad you did. Otherwise, you get nasty junk all over you and your clothes whenever you handle it. I suggest a bucket of water and bleach, some light scrubbing with a brush or rag. Pretty easy! Hose it off. Take about 5min for a small tire (regular car tire) or…a lot longer for a 300lb tractor tire 🙂

Then, weigh your tire(s). I prefer to do this after cleaning. You can do it before, and save you a step or two… as I ended up taking one back to the junkyard in pristine condition because it was too big. However, it was better than getting really dirty.

Also, weighing your tires in your pajamas–purple skull pants and hot pink tie-dye  Honey Badger shirt–is essential.

Then, have a strapping man drill a hole in your tire. Or, do it yourself if you don’t have one of those handy. It’s not hard.

Here are the rest of your materials: rope. A 1/4in washer. A carabiner. A bungee rope with the carabiner attached to it. A weight lifting belt OR harness.
Put the washer inside the tire, tie off a knot in the rope.
Make a loop around the belt, attach to carabiner. Attach the bungee between the belt and the tire rope.
That’s it!

Final product!

(photo courtesy of Jacob: I don’t take pictures that pretty)

Then…try it out! Up and down the street! It’s FUN!
(oh, and super hard. ugh)

Going to a gravel path is a little easier. Also, the levee is our ONLY hill for many miles. At least 50. We’d have to drive several towns NE or W to find some things people would call “hills”.
I’ve since made the rope a little shorter. In these pictures, I have the bungee attached, that’s why it looks REALLLLLY long.
The backside of the levee, as you can see it’s reinforced with concrete. It’s really steep and terribly hard to pull the tire up that concrete wall. I had to go up at an angle.

And finally….

When you get really tired, tie a dog to the front of the belt!
It’s ok, he really liked it.

Felt pretty lazy this past week with my workouts. There wasn’t much of a focus, but I had 2 tests to prepare for. I felt tired as well, I think the 2-a-day CF workouts caught up with me. Of course, today (the 7th) my legs are really tired from the tire work the past several days!

Day 59 (feb 28): treadmill desk walking. 2hr 50min. Watched several tv shows from the night before. I love walking early in the AM to catch up on the shows I sleep through at night; since I go to bed well before 10!

Day 60 (mar 1): treadmill desk walking: 2hr. Working on schoolwork.

Day 61 (mar 2): Run.
1.5mi with the dogs. 15min, 10min/mi. Ridiculous. My other half is out of town for several days and I just can’t handle going out with the dogs–together–by myself. They’re just too big and run too fast!
(Oh, take them one at a time you say? Sure. Then whomever is left will CRY and whine very loudly! It’s pathetic. They *KNOW* the leash and collar and knows that means A RUN!, and they are very upset when they are left. Dog people problems.)

Day 62 (mar 3): Kettlebell. 15min. 10 sets of: 10 swings, 10 goblet squats to push press (kind of like a KB thruster)

Day 63: (mar 4) CrossFit, sorta. 15min. + stretching, 15min total for the day.
Warmup: 50 jumping jacks, 20 lunges, 10 burpees, stretching: 5min @ CF.
Strength: 1 RPM. Warmup & build up: bar, 65lb, 95lb, 120lbs. Stopped at 120, my hip was killing me. Aggravating an old injury I guess.
Since the WOD was more squats, I called it a day.

Day 64: (mar 5) Tire drag “run” x2, treadmill desk walking.
Tire Drag, 46lb small tractor tire:
First try (10am): .5mi, 10min. Up and down the street. Too heavy. Cement isn’t optimal.
2nd run: 2mi, time: 27:23, 13:41min/mi. On the Mississippi River levee. The gravel is a better terrain for pulling the tires.
Treadmill walking: 45min while watching Biggest Loser from the night before.

Practically falling over trying to get up the levee. Horrible.

Day 65: (mar 6) Tire drag run, home CrossFit, treadmill desk walking
Run: 1.2mi, 12:33, 10:28 pace. Pulled the 25lb tire. Much easier than the 46lb, but still hard!  Planned on running 2-3, but my legs were TI-RED. They were more tired from yesterday than I thought.
CrossFit @ home: 5 rounds: 10 sledgehammer (5 each arm), 15kb swings. Time: 4:41.
Treadmill desk Walking: 1hr 15min. Watched some TV in the morning while walking.

Day 66 (mar 7): CrossFit @ home. Felt like a cop-out. Really feeling like I need some purpose rather than throwing stuff together.
3 rounds
10 sledgehammer (5 each arm)
10 KB swings
10 burpees
5 tire flips (the smaller tire, too tired for the huge one)
time: 5:52
These are my big tires, the ones I hit and flip. I hit, do box jumps and (sometimes) flip the huge one. The smaller one is for flipping and throwing when I’m tired.

Week in review: LOVE my new toy. I think trying new things, changing things up, and just keeping it fresh, is going to be key for the rest of the year. Every couple of months I’ll have to put a new life into this. Even with the excitement of the tire, I’m feeling very…without purpose this week. I can’t go back hard into workouts as I’ve got a big race in 2 weeks. So, this feeling will continue as I “rest” for that. I won’t use the word “taper” since I don’t actually train in a race specific way. 🙂