Christmas Eve

Trying to get out of work and out to LI for Christmas Eve dinner with the family, so I will make this short.

Monday 3 x 1200m runs. Done at B3 in the cold and ice. Good times
4:51
4:52
4:49

Tuesday: Eva, one of the hardest CF workouts.
5 rounds of:
800m run
30 2 pood (70#) swings
30 pullups

Subbed 1.5 pood (~50#) swings and 32 gym lengths of running at the Manhattan box
45:59. Happy with the time, although I definitely want to try this again with a less silly sub for the runs.

Catch up

Quick catch up for the failure to post last week:
Monday: ladder of running- 45 sec on, 45 off, 90 on, 90 off, 3 min, 6 min, 3 min, 90 sec, 45 sec. 4600m total. Then tabata pushups (80), swings with 1.5 pood (64) and muscle ups (6).

Tuesday: Split jerk technique: 7 x 135.

Wednesday: AMRAP 20 min of:
400m run
15 L-pullups
15 good mornings 45#

4 rounds + 10 pullups.

Thursday: 3X 1 mile repeats at 80%, 90% then max effort with 2 minutes rest-
6:40
6:24
6:09

Friday: Rest day for dinner- made Filet mignon for app, Broiled salmon with rosemary and an artichoke/mushroom rissotto for entree, brownies for dessert. Very relaxed evening, low pressure cooking.

Saturday: 4 x 800, 2 min rest between:
2:52
2:52
2:54
2:46

Sunday: Blackjack 15- ladder of pushups and squats, which starts at 15 pushups and 1 squat, then 14-2, 13-3, etc. 8:45. Didn't warm up enough.

More BSG, a return to real cooking and 'Ow my back'

Got another chance to play the Battlestar board game. I continue to be impressed, as it gave a different set of challenges to the human team, flip flopped between seemingly impossible to win to impossible to lose and then back again. Also, got to play Tigh, took both the Admiral and President positions, launched nukes while authorizing brutal force and used my special ability (Cylon Hatred) to brig a cylon. Then found out I was a cylon, shot Helo in the face and proceed to beat humanity into the ground. Good times.

In even better news, I got back to cooking. I haven't made a real meal in quite some time. Invited over Martin and his wife Hope and made a three course meal that knock out one of my 2008 goals. Theme was a fall feast of game:

Shredded roast duck with homemade BBQ sauce and Habenaro sauce in a cornmeal pancake with cilantro garnish
Roast whole rabbit, with fall vegetables and mushrooms, cooked with venison sausage that had blueberries and Merlot with the meat and pork fat.
Spicy Chocolate cornmeal pone with chocolate custard and whip cream.

Meal was good, with the duck and the sausage being the standouts. Sadly, I still don't have a sausage maker, so that was the one part of the meal I didn't make from scratch. On the plus side, I finally found a good butcher, who proved to be knowledgeable, generous (free sausage) and verbally abusive. These are all things I look for in a purveyor of meats.

Friday was a terrible mixture:

3 rounds for time:
50 box jumps on a 24" box
21 185# deadlifts
30 pullups

23:34. As usual, pullups are the slow part, with most of them being done in pairs. Really hate pull ups.

Saturday I cooked all day, so that was a rest. Then Sunday I did the Bodyweight mile. Rules are simply: walk/run a mile carrying your bodyweight. You can carry it anyway you want, from kettlebells to dufflebags to weightvests.

I used two 32kg (~70#) kettlebells and a 40# weight vest. 23:35. Just terrible, with grip being the largest limiting factor. My forearms are going to be sore for a couple of days. I also think I will skip today's heavy deadlift workout. Here is a video that Juan took, mid-mile:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gonzaleznj/3110010606/in/photostream/

1 hour of Running

Did the CFE 60 minute TT yesterday. Ran to the track then did laps and ran home, with the goal of getting as far as possible during that hour. Finished after 12,340m or around 7.7 miles, a good portion of which was in a cold rain. Not a fun run, but I did it. Reinforced that the marathon is going to be tough. It also showed me how far I have to go before the coming September, where I have to do all the obstacles, the stairs and run 8.2 miles, all in one hour. That is going to be tough.

Three in One

Well, guilt can do bad things to me. Guilt over having two rest days in a row led me to go a little overboard on the WoD last night.

Warmed up with clean and jerk practice. Can't ever get enough of that and weightlifting has been taking a back seat to met con and edurance recently.

Lots of empty bar/pvc warmup/practice.
3X4 95#
2X2 115
1 145# with ugly form on both movements

Then did AMRAP 20 minutes:

15 pullups
15 ring pushups
15 situps, weighted with 25# med ball
15 45# good morning back extensions

5 rounds plus 10 pulls. Sad, since most people made it to 6 and I was pretty well rested. Real limiter for me is the pull up as I still don't kip right.

Then did 4X400 sprints with 2 min rest

83, 86, 77, 82

Not good, but felt better about it as I had done it right after a hard metcon. Looks like a long run tonight.

300/30, The Longest Mile and Battlestar Galactica

Friday was a brutal Jason-like WoD:
100 squats
2 Muscle ups
80 Squats
4 muscle ups
60 S
6 MU
40S
8 MU
20 S
10 MU

18:41. Felt good about the time and that I didn't fail any Muscle ups until the very last one, which I failed twice before finally nailing it. Also, my false grip is slightly off, resulting in unnecessary bruising on my wrist.

Saturday was a WoD of my own creation, which I got to use on the unsuspecting CF'ers as I was trainer for a day. The Longest Mile:
4 rounds of:
100m sprint
10 squats
100m sprint
10 pushups
100m sprint
10 jumping lunges
100m sprint
10 burpees

13:48. I liked this workout, but would change out the pushups as they were too easy. Probably make it either box jumps or precisions. Definitely hurt though, as it was the 5 straight day I had done a workout involving heavy leg recruitment.

Sunday was an inadvertant rest day, as I waited too long to workout and then ended up having too many commitments to make it happen. Probably for the best though, as the prior 5 day cycle was pretty brutal.

Lunging Kettlebell Swings

With a 24Kg kettle bell 5 rounds of:

10 walking lunges
15 swings

4:42

Good time, but not best in box. Fran took it out of everyone and it looks like today is high rep air squats and muscle ups. Joy.

Fran

Did Fran last night at Black Box 2.0 with its recently installed ghetto pull up bar. Sadly, my poor performance had nothing to do with the bar, the Box or anything but a combination of weakness and poor technique. Apparently my thrusters are shit and I have little technique on the pullups.



9:48, chest to bar. 48 seconds slower than last time. Dammit.

Making up for missed posts

So, apparently the Thanksgiving week was an excuse to not post the training. Weak, but what can you do. Here is a short run down:

Monday (11/24)- Stair intervals. 3 rounds of 1min on/1min off X 3. Last rest period is the run to the bottom. Foul if you 2nd and 3rd climbs are a different distance from the first. Foul= 50 air squats. 25.5, 26.5, 27. Went to easy on the first round and it cost me 100 squats on the last walk to the bottom.

Tuesday- Lynne, 5 rounds of max BW bench and then chest to bar pull ups. BW= 180. 7/7, 6/5, 6/4, 3/5, 3/5. Not impressive, but got it done.

Wednesday (11/26): Mr. Joshua. 5 rounds of
400m run
30 abmat situps (sub from GHD)
15 reps of 177# deadlift (sub from 250#)

19:01. Fast for this workout, but I believe I missed the strength hit it was supposed to give. I will increase to 205 deads and see if I can use the GHD next time.

Thursday (Thanksgiving): Nate. AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
2 Muscle ups
4 Handstand pushups (sub HSPU negatives)
8 2 pood (~75#) Kettlebell swings

6 rounds, with 4-5 failed muscle ups. That was disheartening.

Friday: 4x800 interval training.
2:54, 2:59, 3:00, 2:55

Saturday: Helped move the Manhattan Box to its new location (26th street and 6th ave.). Felt really tired after the move, so skipped the official workout.

Sunday: Exhaustion continues. Decided to take a full on Rest Day and skip all exercise.

Monday: Felt much better after the full rest. Good decision. Shoulder press 1 X 7.
115, 125, 130, 135, 135F, 135, 130

Tuesday: 10K run. Target was sub 45 minutes. Hit 45:03. Disappointing that the hard sprint at the end couldn't push it 4 seconds faster, but my pacing was solid, as the 5K split was 22:33. Felt pretty good, despite the cold. Some knee pain, but less than my last PR time at the 5K, so I am hopeful that the form change is paying off.

Over the weekend

Turned out that Friday was a 5k run, so I took the opportunity to do some strength and recovery work at the box. Saturday was a run to and from the Brooklyn Box (5 miles total) with some Clean and Jerks in between. Good to see people, but I was rushed as Melissa and I had a date that night and a tango lesson.

Sunday saw another run to B3 for a painstorm WoD:

3 rounds for time:

21 Knees to elbows
21 1.5 pood KB swings
21 pushups
6 brooklyn rope climbs (Got to use my rope)
21 box jumps
21 back extensions
150 feet of walking lunges (3 lengths of the gym)

25:56. Best in box by at least two minutes. Pretty happy with the performance, but doing so in an enclosed space with only a propane heater gave me a headache and a little naseau. We really need to fix the heating situation out there.

Today is a rest day, so I will do a CFE WoD on the stairs at work. Should be a good time.

5K Run

Took the rest day to do a 5K time trial. Although it was cold (about 25-30 degrees) and I have been doing 400m sprints everyday since Monday (16 total in three days), I thought I might be able to sneak a small PR in, since I have been getting stronger and faster generally. That was not to be and I turned in a 21:36. Although I am still happy with the performance given that I haven’t had a true rest day in 2 weeks, I was a little frustrated.

On the positive side, I did get to incorporate POSE into the running to a greater extent than ever before and my knee thanked me for it after the run was over. Unlike last time, when my knee was displeased to have been exposed to that, I had only a slight pulse of discomfort that ended shortly after the run. This is very encouraging from an injury prevention standpoint.

Unfortunately, I predicted today's WoD, which is "Run a 5K." So I am not sure what I should do at the gym.

Jerking, sprinting and Nicole

Tuesday was 7x1 push jerks. I learned that my form is terrible for this and it cost me weight, as I was only able to put up 155 (30 pounds less than Martin, who I outweigh by 10-15 pounds). That night, I did 4x400 sprints on 38th street (across 6th ave), which, to my chagrin, was all uphill and in the cold. Ended up with 81, 89, 84, 86. Sad performance, but it was cold and I was tired.

Wednesday was Nicole, which is AMRAP 20 min of:
400m run
max pull ups

I subbed Chest to Rings, as my grip with gloves on sucks and the taped rings help. It also meant that I couldn't do as many pullups and, therefore, could get more rounds in.

Today is a Rest Day for the mainsite, so it will be a 5K time trial for me. Good thing I brought warm clothing.

Last, I am bowing out of my own pushup challenge. The extra recovery time necessary to continue going at a reasonable pace is better used in recovering from the increased running. Since the marathon is only two and half months away, that is what I need to focus on.

Helen

Another metcon, although, thankfully, this time a short one:

3 rounds of:

400m run
21 1.5 pood KB swings
12 pullups


10:57


Not impressive, but considering how sore I am and that the last cycle was all metcons, I am happy with the time. Did some post-wod stretching and then treated myself to peanut butter dream protein shake (I love those things).


Pushups: 4020


I think I will get to 5000 and then call it quits.

Snatch running, Samuel Adams and recovery day

Friday was the following:

5 rounds for time of:
15 Hang power snatches at 65#
400m run

Finished in 15:10. Snatches put a hate on the shoulder, but still held up well.

Saturday, I went with the family to check out CF Old Bethpage. They were celebrating the birthday's of two members, Sam (34) and Adam (28), so they came up with this nasty piece of work. All barbell work done at 95# and rep count alternates between 34 and 28.

Pullups
Pushups
Squats with 25 plate held at arms length
1.5 pood swings
dips
GHD back extensions
GHD situps
deadlifts
hang power clean
push press

25:15. Not using a rack meant that for every 3-5 push presses, there was an extra power clean. That sucked, in a good way, and it was nice to meet new CF people. My dad, not surprisingly, had only criticism for it. Mom might try it with a personal trainer, which would be great, but I think it intimidated her. Not surprising, since it intimidated me too when I started.

Sunday was supposed to be a 5K time trial, but a combination of soreness, exhaustion and how freaking cold it was, convinced me that some recovery work was in order. Also did a slow, weighted run to Melissa's place and back (~3.5-4 miles). Felt a little better afterwards and think it was a good choice. Can't afford to invite sickness in.

Pushups: 4000

The intensity of everything else is slowing me down on the pushups. Finishing by year end is impossible, as I won't sacrifice CF intensity or run training.

Jason

Made it to the lunch WoD yesterday for Jason:
100 squats
5 muscle ups
75 squats
10 muscle ups
50 squats
15 muscle ups
25 squats
20 muscle ups

I started doing a scaled workout with a 20% reduction in MUs, but after the first set, I upgraded and ended up doing the full 50. Got a 35:14, which I didn't real care so much about, just looking for a completion. Next time I will definitely have to attack it harder and get a real comparison time.

Tried to do some pushups afterwards, but triceps were shot.

After the WoD, I made it down to Grand Central Market for a free sample of Jamon Iberico, which retails for $100/pound. Good stuff, great texture, but maybe a little too pricey for what you get. Looking forward to trying a new crossfit this weekend and introducing my parents to what it is that I do.

Pushups: 3930

Fight Gone Bad and Intervals Gone Worse

Well, my previous FGB score was an inspiring 300. I had a feeling with the training level of recent days and changes in diet, I would have trouble matching it and I was right. I fell apart on wallball and the SDLHP had terrible form. I even managed to drop the push press on the last set. Good times. Ended up with 278. Not bad, but not great either, particularly when you count reps for the guy who ends up with 344.

Then did Interval pyramid at night. 1 min on, 1 min off, 1 min on, 50 secs off down to 10 secs rest and then back up. Went 3400m, which isn't too shabby for 11 minutes of running on the same day as FGB.

My pushups are beginning to suffer and I may have to give in to the challenge in order to maintain intensity elsewhere.

Pushups: 3900 (4100 is the target for yesterday)

Inverted Burpees? What the hell is that?

Today's WoD was 5 rounds of 25 reps of inverted burpees, pullups, burpees. An inverted burpee begins in a supine position (on your back) roll forward and kick up into a handstand (usually against a wall). I scaled as follows:

5 rounds for time:

15 inverted burpees
15 pullups
15 burpees

24:08. The inverts were ugly after the first couple of sets and I fell a few times. Some reps didn't count and things got a little blurry when I tried to finish quickly at the end. Good times.

After the WoD, I got a good cool down stretch period, followed by POSE drills and pushups. Long night at the box, but a productive one. Watching people do the full WoD was sad, as I saw the firebreathers get humbled by the sheer rep count.

Pushups: 3840

Back from the Running and Endurance Certification

Took a trip to Boston and attended the CF run and Enduro cert at Northshore CF in Topsfield, MA. It was a good time and although pricey at $600, definitely exposed me to POSE running and taught me a lot about the CF approach to training a distance athlete.

I now have lots of drills to do and feel like I can start training POSE and get ready for the marathon at the same time. Also met a NYer at the cert who is interested in doing some Adventure race stuff next season. Will definitely have to check that out.

Pushups: 3715

Rest Day, slacking on pushups

Took a rest day yesterday and managed to slip on my pushups. Really need to get back on track if I am going to finish by new year's eve. Today is run/squat, but I may have to miss because of the trip to Boston. Sucks.

Pushups: 3350

Out of gas on Frannish, but did well in the Electoral college

Yesterday, did the Electoral College WoD on 11/4: each state assigned a movement and rep count equal to the number of votes they carry. Get to 270 for time. I did it in 13:55.
With the workout and extra pushups for a day’s total of: 165

Today, the third day of Strict Zoning, I pretty much failed out on Frannish:
AMRAP in 20 minutes:
10 pullups
10 65# thrusters

8 rounds plus 2 pulls. I became disoriented around round 4 and tore a callus on 7. This sucked and was my worst performance in a long time. I am going to up my fat blocks to 2x block count and see if I can get a little more energy, not to mention to stop wanting to stick my face in the peanut butter jar. It is strange how the body can crave fat and not carbs, which seems much more normal to me.

Pushups: 3305

Michael (again)

Michael came up again, prompting me to wonder, with so much variation, how this WoD is so common. Again, it is:
3 rounds for time:
800 meters
50 GHD back extensions (sub heavy bag BE)
50 GHD situps (subbed ab mat situps

17:12 (PR), 20 seconds faster than the previous 17:32 (17:44, 18:26 being those before). Hopefully, we will soon get a GHD for Brooklyn so I can find out what my actual time for this is.

Then moved Melissa's stuff for time. That sucked. I put everything I had into Michael and was just plain tired.

Pushups: 3130 (170 pushups behind the 100/day average)

Back to Running

Finally got back at it this weekend. Am getting excited for the Running and Endurance Certification coming up this weekend, especially since I having been suffering knee pain every time I run. It gets better when I do my weak-ass interpretation of POSE, but, since I can't keep that up very long, the pain is still worrisome.

Met up with Wendy-Lynn and we ran ~4 miles to the the McCarren park track. Did some interval work:
1X 1 mile- 5:46
3 X 200- 31, 35, 36

Didn't fully rest between the 200s. Then ran ~3 miles home. Was a nice day and had a good time. Also, got my first bar muscle-up. Very different experience from a ring muscle up.

Pushups- 3010

Angie

Still hobbling around after the stair sprints and back squats, but yesterday was the rest day, so today is Angie:

100, in order, of:
Pull ups
Pushups
Situps
Squats

27:07. Only 41 seconds faster than last April, but I will take that with the beating I have been giving my legs and arms. Still feel a little wobbly, but I am hoping the squats will help with some active recovery.

Pushups: 2850

Squat Cleans and Stair Sprints

Form work on Squat Cleans. Cleans are still a mystery, from the triple extension to the catch in rack position. Need lots of work on the exercise. I think the challenge after the pushups will be squats, so I have a good base of leg strength to start getting technical on my lifts. May also ask for a 24Kg kettlebell for Christmas and start with Turkish get ups.

Then did 3 X 10 flights of stairs (20 steps) at full sprint. Got 57 secs, 66, 67. Not bad and I certainly feel better about this than the sprint intervals I did last week. However, I feel really beat up today and will be taking a rest day. Having trouble with stairs as my quads are really sore. Time for some Vitamin I and rest.

Pushups: 2670

Squats and Waiter's Walk

Yesterday was a strange combo of light back squats and double waiters walk (weight held above head, active shoulders, arms extended, walk a prescribed distance and back).

50 back squats 135#
15 double Waiter's walk (2 24Kg kettlebells)

I, like most people at the gym, subbed 16kg bells, as this means that we only had to lift ~70# over head, rather than ~118# with the 24Kg. Finished in 14:56, which turned out to be a rather fast time for the night.

Pushups: 2571

Elizabeth and Interval Training

Well, looks like I am backing out of the pull up challenge. Without a bar at home, this became a game of getting to the gym just to do the pull ups and then having to do big sets to always catch up. Not interested.

Friday was sprint intervals, specifically 4 rounds of 400 then rest 2 minutes. I did this at B3, but on the street rather than at the track, since I wanted to actually do it with someone. Finished with 1:08, 1:17, 1:18, 1:23. 68 seconds would have been respectable, if I had been able to hold to that pace. Instead, I fell apart with an 83 second finish on the last set, not to mention knee pain. I really need to learn how to run better and then do a hell of a lot more of it.

Saturday was a rest day, although the pushups continued and Sunday was Elizabeth. The actual workout is 21-15-9 of:
135# squat cleans
Ring Dips

I subbed 95# power cleans and completed it in 6:30. I was happy with the time and the switch, as I don’t feel comfortable with the squat clean and, until I do, I am trying to avoid throwing around heavy weights. I hope that by the next time this comes around, I will have improved my clean technique to where I can do this with full squat cleans and 115#.

Pushups: 2451

More pushups and joining the 100 Day Pull up Challenge

Since my pullups obviously need work, I decided to join the Pull up challenge for as long as possible. Probably have issues keeping up on weekends, but I will do what I can. Since we are on Day 18 and I missed yesterday, I did 35. Also managed to bang out 125 pushups at lunch. After work, I will get out to brooklyn and do the 4X400 with 2 minutes rest in between. Looking for less than 70 seconds, preferably under 65 seconds. See how it goes.

Pushups: 2231

Fluffy Cloud Dance and DFL, AGAIN!

Did the amusingly named Fluffy Cloud Dance WoD at lunch:
AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
Squat
R pistol
Squat
L pistol
KB pushup
R renegade row
KB pushup
L renegade row
14 back extension (subbed for 7 supermans)

18 rounds, which put me squarely in dead last, despite having to sub assisted pistols and only 16kg bells. I am really doing poorly after the vacation. Will have to get my shit together this weekend, get started on running and drills and get back in shape.

Pushups: 1960

Too much bad food and Slacking

First WoD back to CF did its level best to break me.
10 Rounds of:
12 Burpees
12 pullups

29:06. One of the slowest Rx times at the box. Fought back vomit for the last 7 rounds. Just felt terrible. Hopefully, once I get my diet a little bit better and my body used to the beatings, I will get back in shape. Vacations are great, but definitely not good for fitness.

Today is a 5K, but I left my running shoes at home. Will have to remedy that somehow. Not really sure how yet.

Pushups: 1810

Back in the U.S. er.. A.

Back from Honduras, had a great time and am a newly certified Open Water Diver. Along the way, I managed to do the following:

10/9- three rounds of Erin in a respectable if slow time.

10/10- three rounds of:
10 30# DB thrusters
15 pushups
25 squats

10/11- three rounds of
70 second run at 10 min mile pace
21 30# DB swing
10 dead hang pullups

Then, the workouts died as I left the nice hotel in Tegucigalpa and headed for Roatan by way of La Ceiba. SCUBA kicked my ass, so I even missed whole days of pushups. However, I am back, relatively healthy and looking forward to getting back to it. Oh, and finally began setting plans for the next major trip next August to Peru!

Pushups: 1585

Erin and leaving on a jet plane

Did a heavily modified Erin at the Box today:
30# dumbell split cleans, 15 reps
21 pullups, chest to bar

3 rounds: 14:20. Nothing special, but it was my fourth day of metcon and I am just plain tired. Also, I didn't want to get to sore for the trip tomorrow.

As I will be in Honduras until 10/21, I will be suspending blogging until my return. However, the pushup challenge continues and I will try to get as many workouts in as possible, including some running drills.

Pushups: 800

Brother of the Beast

Helped with teaching Elements last night, which, I have found, is great for giving me repeated instruction on the basics. I hope that I can make it for the olympic lifting section of the instruction, as that always needs work.

Before the class, I made up Brother of the Beast, which was Sunday's WoD. 5 rounds with 115# of:
15 Deadlifts
12 Hang Power Cleans
9 Front squats
6 Push Jerks

22:16. Happy with the time, as it beat out a couple of guys around my ability level, but, once again, my clean form sucked. The front squats got a lot better once I really locked in the rack position and was able to let my torso bear the load. Push Jerks are still messy, but part of that is the light weight for them. Deadlifts were easy, weight is too light to make a difference.

Pushups: 700

A Day at the Range and Barbara

Made up Barbara last night: With three minute intervals between each, complete five rounds of:

20 pullups

30 pushups

40 situps

50 squats

36:36 total time. Pullups were terrible and cost me most of that time. They were chest to bar, but mostly singles. I really need to work on that. Rest of it was comparatively easy.

Martin forwarded the shooting pics, so here they are.

This is a group shot, with Martin (bottom right), his wife Hope, Juan and me. Sadly, they wouldn't take the pic while we were armed.

The MP5.

Good times, been waiting for this for a lonnnnng time.

The results of full auto. Not particularly accurate, but a great time.

Hope with a convincing argument in favor of eliminating violence against women. Sometimes, they're just better at it.

At the end of the day, this is what you are left with. Oh yeah, that and a feeling just how awesome your day was.

Pushups: 600

Crossfit Baseline, Dinners and Fully Automatic Fun

Friday was a rest night, so I did five rounds of the baseline test:
500m row
40 squats
30 sit ups
20 pushups
10 chest to bar pull ups

35:06

Went wayyyy to hard on the first row and it screwed me. Felt nauseas and the fourth round was terrible at around 9 minutes long. Most people only do this as one round and use that to gauge improvement over time. I wanted to get some real rowing in and, as a bonus, do my 100 pushups for the day as part of the WoD.

Then on to the rest night dinner with over 20 CFNYC'ers. Had a great time at a Mexican place in Hell's Kitchen, celebrated Erica's B-day and generally had fun. Also got to talk to some of the Manhattan people that I don't normally see. Good times.

Saturday, I finally got the replacement computer running and had a 4 hour orgy of computer game playing. AAHHH, so good to play again. Then to Dan's for a good home-cooked French meal with a wonderful Chocolate Almond cake for dessert. Good food and better company.

Sunday was Crossfit goes to the gun range. Went with Martin, Hope (Martin's wife) and Juan and we rented a .22 pistol, 1911 .45 auto and, best of all, a silenced, fully automatic MP5 submachine gun. That was, quite possibly, the most awesome day of shooting I have ever had. Everyone had a great time and I will post photos when I get the opportunity.

Pushups: 420

Clean and Jerk Ladder

Yesterday was a (power) clean and jerk workout. Typical for a ladder, do one the first minute, two the next and so on until you can make the reps for that minute. Rx weight was 135, I used 85. Managed to pull 9 rounds +6 and my shoulder a little. Good times.

Pushup total: 100

POSE Cert, drills and 10,000 challenge

Officially registered for the run and endurance cert on Nov 8th and 9th. Looking forward to that and, in preparation, I bought a POSE book for triathletes and have finally gotten through the intro (100+ pages) and am into the drill section. Will start learning POSE so that, when I actually get to the cert, they can correct my form, rather than teaching it whole hog.

On the walk home last night, which, because I forgot a key ended up being about an hour of walking and 20 minutes of biking, I was considering the 100 day Burpee challenge. I failed out of it early on when I couldn't so much as walk for 10 days without pain. It is now day 80 and people have gotten much stronger and better at burpees, but are complaining of repetitive stress injury and lack of recovery. With the idea of using the constant working of an exercise, I modified the challenge and have developed a my own, using pushups.

So, today will be the first day of the 10,000 Pushup challenge. Rules are simple: Do 10K pushups in as few days as possible while avoiding injury. No limit or quota for each day. Just get them done. Pushups done as part of a WoD count and I will endeavor to keep a counter at the bottom of each post to track how many have been completed. Should be fun.

Pushups completed: 0

Z-Health Seminar, Back Squats and Running Cert

Well, just like my mom told me as a kid, if you run in the rain, chances are, you will get sick. Sure enough, I am feeling a little under the weather. However, I did make it out to the free Z-Health seminar at the Box last night. It was a really cool presentation by the guy who developed the systems and he showed us some basic movements to open joints in the foot and spine that really helped my ability to stretch. Have to really try it out and see how it works in practice.

Today was 5X5 back squats, but after the seminar last night that consisted mostly of "form first" commandments, I decided to just go light and see how my body felt. The stretching helped and I feel much better now (but for the cold).

Also signed up for a CF Running and Endurance Cert in Topsfield Mass in November. Excited about this as it should be a good chance to really learn POSE and learn how to teach others about it. Should also be a fun weekend away and Melissa is coming with me for a chance to visit Boston.

Urbanathlon!!!

Finally, the best race of the year came up. With a start time of 7 am, I got up at 4:30 ready to get going and more than a little nervous. I had committed to cutting 10 minutes off my time from last year before really thinking about what that meant. After breaking down the times, it looked like I would have to run consistent 7 minute miles, hit the obstacles hard and still finish climbing and descending a 52 story building in less than 17 minutes.

The race started poorly, with fog, light rain and tight calves. The wet course slowed everybody down and lead to one incautious racer to fall and then tumble down a set of stone steps right in front of me. Finished the first set of obstacles without problem, but breathe was hard and erratic. The middle leg was the hardest, as I just felt outclassed in terms of actual running ability. If this wasn't a wake up call to get off my ass and learn POSE, I don't know what is. The low crawl, monkey bars and marine hurdles were fine, but I couldn't wait to end the distance running and hit the stairs. It was here that I knew I would shine and pick up some spots.

Sure enough, people started gassing around floor 30, allowing me to pass 15-20 people in the building. A hard mile run to the end, quick jump over the taxi and wall climb and the race was over.

Best part, I finished 24th out of ~950 individual runners with a time of 1:12:31, almost exactly ten minutes faster. Even with terrible run form, I picked up the time, pushed hard and made it happen. It was awesome!

Snatches and Shovels

Isabel (30 Snatches for time) was yesterday. I am still not comfortable with Snatches, so I did ~40 snatches @ 65 to practice form. Still not confident, but better.

Today was virtual shoveling and pushups. This is essentially an Olympic bar with a 45 pound weight on only one end. The athlete lifts the weight (no just bar) over an object of a certain height, here 24”. Workout was 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 of shovels and pushups. One rep of shoveling is touching both sides of the obstacle. My time was around 16 minutes, but I wasn’t into it. Just dragging ass worrying about work. Got to get back in the game, especially for the race this weekend.

The Weekend (5K)

Less than a week to go before the Urbanathlon. Still feeling Michael in my hamstrings and doing a lot of stretching to relieve that. As a pacing run, I did a 5K on Friday at the McCarren track. First time running a 5K on a track, especially one filled with the children of intermural soccer players. Good pacing for the upcoming race, as I got a feel for a 6:15 mile, 7 min mile and 8 min mile. Did a warm up mile, run to track (.75 mile), 5K in 21:02, run back to Box, run home (2.5 mi.). Felt good to go middle distance, even if it was broken up.

Saturday was spent studying for my PADI Open water diving cert (SCUBA) with some other BS. Also bought new training shoes, which pissed me off to spend $60, but I will use them a lot. Sunday was a 15 mile bike ride and hanging out with friends. Good stuff and I am ready to begin the taper this week to the race. Crossing fingers for good weather.

The Chief and more Stairs

Two WoDs yesterday. Lunchtime at the Manhattan Box, made up the Chief, which is:
5 intervals, each interval is As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 3 minutes of:

3 115# power cleans
6 push ups
9 squats

Hit my mark of 4 rounds in each interval, although just barely making the last interval by a couple of seconds. Didn’t realize how tough it would be going from squats to power cleans.

That night, I stayed late at the office and did a modified Crossfit Endurance WoD on the stairs.

3 rounds of 20 seconds on/20 off, 30 on/30 off, 45/45. 60 on. The rest periods were pure rest, the end of each round was an immediate descent to the bottom at the fastest safe speed. As soon as I hit the bottom, the next round started.

Climbed 24 stories, 25, 25.5 in the three rounds. Not bad, but will have to do better at the Urbanathlon. Really looking forward to a race where my friends and family can be there to cheer me on and celebrate the finish. Should be a great time.

Michael (again)

Well, for the third time this summer, we ended up with Michael, which is:
3 rounds for time of:
800m run
50 back extensions (sub 45# good mornings)
50 sit ups

I pulled in 17:32, which is a PR, but only by 12 seconds (17:44), not the almost a minute that I thought it was (the PR before that was 18:26, so that would have been correct). Sit ups were unbroken and GMs only had a total of three breaks, all of them two breathes long. Looks like the running is where I am going to make the improvement. Hopefully enough to pull it sub 17. My end goal being a 15 min, with each run taking an average of 3 minutes and each other exercise taking 1 minute. Considering that my 800 best in high school was in the 2:20s, that is probably a pretty tough goal, but still one to reach for. Also, if we ever do get a GHD, I could finally do the actual back extension and have a real time for this. I am curious how much that would add.

Fran

After a tough day at the office, I managed to make it to the gym around 8:15 and get in a Fran: 21, 15, 9 of 95# thrusters and chest to bar pull ups. PR on this was 9:50. Despite being tired already, I managed to hit 9 minutes even, although it took the last of my will. The bike ride home was lonnnng and the collapse upon coming home was fast.

Looks like Michael today, a WoD that I normally do pretty well on. Will have to do it out in Brooklyn, as you can actually run out there.

1 year anniversary

Today is my one year anniversary with Melissa. In addition to a pleasant couple of days and a first date redux, this weekend has afforded me an opportunity to look at some of my goals, accomplishments and failures over the last year.

First, it would be difficult to disagree with the statement that I am in the best shape of my life. I can lift more, run farther, recover faster and have the highest level of confidence in my own physical ability than at any other time. Moreover, I feel like I have climbed to the top of a mountain, looked briefly around at how far I have climbed and then immediately started to look for more mountains to climb. I want to continue to feel that drive to do more, faster, better and have fun while doing it.

To that end, I have been trying to also find the appropriate training/living balance, which seems to work out to 5-6 days on and 1-2 days off, usually weekends. Sadly, some days, like today, get in the way and I have to stay late at work. Will hopefully continue tomorrow.

Jerking around

WOD today was 3x5 clean and jerks. After warmup and a little form work I ended up with this weight breakdown for sets: 95, 115, 125, 135, 125. The 135 set was crap form, especially on the jerk portion. The jerk is such a powerful movement that it is lost on an amount of weight that I can shoulder press, much less push press. The clean ended up being more of a power clean than a squat clean.

This should be a link to understanding the different types of cleans, for those that are unfamiliar:
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CleanCatchHeight.wmv

And this should be the jerk: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_PushJerkDaveOpensHip.wmv

Lastly, this is what we did, which is essentially putting them together (except I did a push jerk, rather than a split jerk): http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/josh_everett_lift.mpg

Follow up on the Sprint Triathlon

On August 23 I took on my first Triathlon. It was an off road Sprint distance which meant:

800m swim

11 mile trail bike

5K trail run

Since I am best described as a safety swimmer and had never swam more than 50m until that weekend, the first part was the most difficult. It took me 26:39 to get out of the water and I was tired, disoriented and sore from using my abs way too much. Unlike kayaking, mountain Biking and running, you can't fake swimming with athletic capability. You either swim or you don't.

I was 150th out of the water, but pulled ahead on the bike and run to 117th. Not impressive, but I will take it, since I was obviously unprepared for the swim. Not sure if I like the tris, as the events are poorly sequenced(mass swim start is dumb) and not particularly interesting. Adventure racing seems like a much more interesting competition and much less able to be tech'ed for prior to the race. AR punishes those who don't have GPP and that is what I train.

We all like what we are good at, I guess.

Here is the ghetto photo of the finish (yes I am too cheap to buy the $30 print):

Approaching the Anniversary

Still missing posts, but will try to catch up.
(Sunday) Tried Lynn over the weekend: Body weight (BW) bench, 1.5x BW deadlifts, .75 BW cleans. I weigh 177 Done in sets of 10, 9,8, etc. for time. I completed the bench (185)in sets of 3s and 2s, deadlifts of 265 in 2s and 1s, and didn't even try 135 pound squat cleans, as that is just downright dangerous with my current form. I only made it through the ten round, before running out of time and realizing that I am too weak to complete this workout.
Also carried 27 inch TV home from Spanish Harlem.

(Monday) Did FGB at regulation weight and finally made it to 300! Workout is 3 rounds, 1 minute per exercise, 1 minute break between rounds and no breaks between exercises. Count reps for score. Exercises are: 75# push press, 75# sumo deadlift high pull, box jumps, 20# wallball, row (calories). Very pleased with this performance.

(Tuesday) CFE stair WoD, did 3 rounds of (2 min on/2min off, 2 min on/1 min off). Climbed 60 stories, descended 45. Not happy with the setup, but can adapt later. Probably always descending during rest periods so work sets are always going up.

(Wednesday) Did BW benching again, with pull ups and back squats. Workout was terrible and reinforced my own weakness. Then did CFE wod of 16 rounds of 10 sec work/20 sec rest at sprinting. Went a total of 1025m, but on a 100m course requiring back and forth. Will probably just do 100m sprints next time.

(Thursday) REST DAY!!!!!

Murph and Front Squats

Did Murph on Monday, the day after the tri, and finished in 44:05. Murph is:
1 mile run
100 pull ups
200 pushups
300 squats
1 mile run

partition the body weight any way you want, as long as the runs are the bookends. I broke it 5, 10, 15 across the three exercises for 20 rounds. Felt good and since I was not doing chest to bar on the pull ups, they felt like the rest portion. I almost wussed out because of the triathlon the day before (more on that later), but did it anyway and am happy with the score.

Then did form work on the Front squat on Tuesday with a 6X8 at 65#. Really helped and I will have to revisit next week to actually push the weight up.

Wednesday is a rest day for me, so today will likely be yesterday's work out or some similar insanity.

Back on it

Well, blogging fell apart right around the time of my birthday. This makes sense, considering I suffered probably the worst injury since I broke my leg right about then. Nothing like being in near constant pain for a week to put a dent in your training.

But, I am back in action. To prove it, I went hiking and camping with Anthony (roughly 26 miles and three mountains over 2 days) and I finished my first Triathlon. Good times, although I learned that I am swimming retarded. Will have to work on that and many other things.

So, time to re-dedicate, prepare and get on track to kick ass at the Urbanathlon on September 27th.

Lack of Activity

Well, not in my training, but certainly with the blogging. My home computer died, work got busy and training load has increased. I am trying to put stuff up anyway, but there will probably be a moratorium until the end of August.

Sprints and Squats and playing the hand you are dealt

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a run workout, especially since I have finally marked out 400 and 800 meters on the sidewalk, so we know exactly how far we have to run. It went something like this:

4 rounds of
400m run
50 squats

I finished this in 12 minutes flat, putting me in Dead Fucking Last of the three people who showed up yesterday. Not the best showing, especially with the 1:20 spread between me and first. Definitely need to get faster on the squats.

I also finished up my playing card project. I put a particular skill or exercise on each card with a Sharpie. After my main workout, I draw five cards and do a skill weight version of each of them to polish form with fatigue already part of the problem. Worked well last night with a combination of butterfly kipping pullups, skipping jump rope, deck squats and wallball. It is a nice change from the usual screwing around post-workout.

When I got back to Melissa's, she was in mid-yoga, so I joined her for a little active stretching and passed out. I also continued by experiment with replacing dinner with a protein shake. I have found that eating at 10 or 11 just hasn't been working for me, so I am going to try skipping dinner and eating more for breakfast, lunch and late lunch. We'll see how it goes.

Tommy Valentine

Came into the Box on Friday for a little post-Rest Night dinner ass-whooping. Since it was a rest day, I decided I would do something with rope climbing. Decided on "Tommy V"

21-15-9
135# Thrusters (subbed 95#)
15' rope climbs (subbed climbing w/o feet 6 feet from bottom handhold to top)

53:01

This was brutal. The thrusters weren't too bad and probably should have been at least 115. The rope climbs were horrible. After the first 3 or 4, I had to wait 30-45 seconds to recover strength enough to do the next climb. I also failed the last climb, as I wanted to just get done and I hadn't waited long enough to recover strength.

Guess I need to climb rope more.

"Total"ly "Sam"

I've missed updates here and will try to make up in a hurry. Last week I did "Sam" named after one of our members:

800m Run
21-15-9
Burpees
32kg KB swings
Pullups
800m run

~17:45

Later in the week, I managed to get in a Crossfit Total. This is a pure strength test and is used to measure progress outside of metabolic conditioning. It consists of a one rep max of shoulder press, back squat, and deadlift. Having never done a Total before, I took all of my prior highest scores in each of the lifts.

Shoulder press 135# (10# PR)
Back Squat 235# (50# PR)
Deadlift 285# (10# PR)

Total: 655.

Looks like my target for the year is a 700 Total. I think I have some room to move in the back squat and definitely a good amount left in the deadlift. Hopefully, with the recent addition of more barbells and weights to the Brooklyn Box, I will get more strength training in.

Jacinto's 69

A respected member of the Black Box, Jacinto, turned 69 yesterday. Given that the guy wakes up every morning of his retirement at 4:30 so he can teach the 7am WOD class and then do his own workout, I feel that I don't think I have to wait 40 years to find out if he has better drive than I do, he just plain does. In celebration of his birthday, he announced the following workout:

69 Squats
69 Pushups
69 Pullups
69 Wallballs*
69 24Kg kettlebell swings
69 95# deadlift

The guy did it the night before his birthday in 49 minutes, wakes up the next day and does it AGAIN, but 2 minutes faster! Let it be noted that, assuming I am still alive in my late 60's, I will probably be doing something along the lines of "Walk to the bathroom for time."

At almost 29 years old, I managed to get just sub-30 with 29:50. Not bad, but certainly not best in box. If you want to see what it is like to be jacked at 69, check out this or to show what an older, wiser Spartan looks like.

Work has gotten crazy with the new boss, so my posts will probably be less frequent. Heck, it's the Fourth of July and I am at the office. Guess I should get back to work so I can get out.

Halfway Done

Well, June 30 just passed, so the year is half over. Guess it is time to take a look at my 2008 goals and see how I am measuring up. The short list of goals I posted here was as follows:

1. Take 10 mins off my time for the urbanathlon. This isn't until 9/27, so no definitive data, but I am faster and stronger than ever before, so I feel that I am on the right track. Will have to start doing stair work again, to train up those leg muscles.

2.Get in shape for the running/camping trip in August. Date changed, but I think we are still going. Same as above, don't know until I try, but I certainly feel more prepared.

3. Free standing hand stand and full ROM HSPU. Don't have either. Been practicing, mostly the free standing, but not much progress. Will have to push harder.

4. Full ROM Muscle up. Unqualified success. I not only got my first (fluke) one, but I have pulled the second and third as well. Now I just need to grease the groove so I can do them over and over.

5. Compete in a Sprint Triathlon or Adventure Race. DONE! Not only done, but done well, given that I finished top ten in the adventure race. Plans are in place to do the triathlon and at least one more AR before season's end.

2/3 possible goals accomplished so far, good work on the rest. Looks good. I will admit that my non-physical goals haven't been met as well and I have pretty much given up on some of them, like learning conversational spanish. I just don't have time to spend on that, between the gym, weekend activities and work. It would be nice, but it is less important for overall happiness. Guess it is time to re-assess the rest of my 2008 goals and get them back up on the fridge.

Hanging at the gym

Today was a main site rest day, so there wasn't anything too organized at the gym. I had decided to run there and back (about 5.8 miles), so I just did a basic warmup, helped fold flyers, fixed some stuff and practiced deadlifts. My form on deads feels better, but I haven't lifted heavy in a long time. Hopefully, the climbing rope I ordered will show up tomorrow and we can start messing around with that. I am also looking into patching up their damaged heavy bag and hanging it from the rope hardware as an additional source of post-WoD entertainment. We'll see.

In less positive news, I have been eating less well recently and not getting enough sleep. This has begun to effect my performance at the gym and at work. Need to really step up my game on this as diet has a way of sliding back into crap mode.

Slosh pipe fun

Quick update for Monday and Tuesday:
Monday was just Sam and me at the Box, probably because the WoD was a 5K and partly because a new NY crossfit opened and some of the people went to check it out. Sam wanted to work deadlifts, but I had a desire to check out the slosh pipe. For those not familiar, a slosh pipe is essentially a pipe of varying diameter and length that is capped at both ends. The pipe is half-filled with water, making it very difficult to keep stable, as the water continously shifts the weight as you move the pipe. It usually ends up as a good whole body workout, but reduces the explosive power generated, as going to fast can be counter productive.

21-15-9
16kg KB swings each arm
Clean, Press and OHS the "Bone"

The "Bone" is a long, thin (compartively) pipe made of PVC. It is slick, as PVC is not porous, and makes for a good grip workout too. Difficult to do more than a couple in a row without stopping to re-chalk my hands. Finished in around 17 minutes. A little longer than normal because a couple of people stopped by to out our gym and I helped discuss what the gym was about.

Tuesday, we happened to get a med ball in the Box, so added that together with my abdominal weakness to do:

3 rounds
20 Wall balls
50 situps

8:13. Definitely slower than anticipated as my abs decided to protest the stability work the day before. Yesterday was Fight Gone Bad, a workout I really wanted to do, but I needed a rest after 3 days of work and had to go to league night for Warmachine anyway. Also went to Havana Central for a farewell dinner for one of the CF people leaving for college.

It was an Adventure, alright.

Yesterday was my first Adventure Race, which is something I didn't even know existed until about 2 months ago. Had a great day and very happy with my time (2:05:29) and place (5th in division, 10th overall counting three relay teams that beat me). Event included the following:

1 mile run (parts of it in the lake, up to waist deep water)

2 mile kayak

100 yard portage up the beach to the road

11 mile bike on trails, mostly single track with some tight turns and elevation changes

Challenge course (Low crawl, pushups, situps, jump rope, balance beam, foot ball toss, wheelbarrow run, word scamble, word search, math questions)

Had a good time, especially the first run, which left me in 5th place. Lost about ten places in the kayak portion, as I had a rented kayak and it was only my third time using one. Made up some with the run to the bike transition area, but lost some during the biking. That was tough, as single track riding actually requires some bike handling skills and trust in your equipment. I have neither and it showed. Didn't help that my brakes and wheels are not tuned correctly, meaning that the brake rubs on the wheel during normal use. Sucks.

The challenges were easy, but the word search was tough. Not enough energy in my brain for that kind of thing. The run at the end started well, but the last mile and half, right after coming out of running in the water for the last time, was brutal. I passed three or four people during the run and managed to hold it through to the end. It was a good time and I was plenty tired afterwards. Definitely looking forward to the Off road sprint triathlon in August.

Friday Night...er...Wednesday Afternoon Fight

Took my lunch hour at CF and did the Friday Night Fight WoD. Nice to get a little sprawl training in, which I haven't done in a long time.

3 rounds for time of:
30 Sprawls
30 pushups
30 situps
30 squats
30 sprawls plus 2 count combo

1 minute rest between rounds

I ended up with 23:38, which was best in box, but none of the A-listers had showed up yet, so that won't stand. Hamstrings are still sore and the sprawls put some pressure on my hips, something that is also chronically tight. Really need to work a yoga or stretching session into my weekly or bi-weekly work. Happy with my time as it works out to be about 7 minutes a round, not bad for 150 reps. Looking forward to tomorrow when I get to go to the evening WoD at Brooklyn.

As a side note, lamb butchering class last night was awesome. Interesting, informative and had fresh kidneys sauted in butter. Fantastic. Got home and grilled acouple of sirloins and ribs, which tasted like hot sex. Meat is great.

Pressing and Extending

Joined the afternoon crew for a little press work with the following workout:

7 rounds for time of:
21 reps of 65# shoulder press
21 reps of back extensions

Rx weight was 75, but I think I made the right call to drop the weight a little. Probably would have been better at 55#, so it could have been a better met con, but definitely feel it in my shoulders. Tough, but not impossible. Looking forward to the lamb class and grill some of the take home on Friday for Opera in the Park. God I love the summer.

First Muscle-up!

As the title states, I was finally able to punch out my first MU. Everything just came together and I felt like I just floated up, no real effort at all. Then I couldn't repeat it. Guess that is why I have to keep training it.

Also did the sit up WoD:
50 abmat sit ups (ASU)
50 Double unders
50 ASU
50 walking lunges
50 ASU
50 burpees
50 ASU

15:50. Double unders suck as usual, but my weekly goal of 25 minutes of jump rope has already begun to pay off. I can consistently do sets of singles and occaissonally a double, but that is followed by immediate failure. Pathetic, but better than last week.

Sadly, tonight is the lamb butchering class and tomorrow is Warmachine league night, so I will probably be hitting up the manhattan box at lunch and try to bang through a workout or at least get some good skills practice in. Really looking forward to the class, but it is inconveniently timed. Not that this will stop me from signing up for the pig butchering class if this one is good, but I can still rail against missing my favority gym time.

Lazy weekend

Had a good weekend, but a little light on the training. Saturday was 20 minutes of kayaking, which showed me that I really suck at kayaking, but not as much as the average NY'er. Also got the chance to talk to a rep at Osprey, who recommended a backpack for short adventure racing. Will have to try it out at EMS and maybe use the 15% off coupon they gave me to get a new backpack. I could definitely use a new backpack for general use, as mine is falling apart.

Rest of the weekend was mostly destination biking. Not taxing, but certainly useful for getting my ass used to the saddle. BBQ went well and it was good to drink too much and hang with cool people. I rarely do the former and it is difficult to get too much of the latter. Now I am ready to get my crossfit on.

Finishing up the week

Haven't had time to log the workouts recently, most of which have been a muddle of biking, running and crossfit. Just bought a new moutain bike, which I desparately need for my adventure race next weekend. Excited, but also a little nervous considering I have only kayaked once before in my whole life and have never done a 12 mile off road bike trek. Definitely need to log some more time on the new toy, if only to get used to the saddle.

Had a good day today and not just because it is Friday. "Michael" came up again, so I got a chance to measure myself against a benchmark. As I wrote in my last post about this workout, it is three rounds of 800m run, 50 back extensions and 50 situps. My last time was 18:26, which is respectable, but I knew I could do sub-18. We had reset the distance for the 800m, so I ended up running an extra 40-50 meters, but still managed to bring the time down to 17:44.

Definitely happy with the improvement, although much less after watching my fellow CF'ers bust out a crazy kettlebell workout. I really need to work on my swing, as the last time I did a workout with it, I ended up with a hyperextension of my spine.

Looking forward to the weekend, as I am hoping to get some kayaking in tomorrow in preparation for the race. Also want to do some biking, cooking, running and investigate the possibility of buying a whole pig directly from the farm. Good stuff.

Running in the Heat

Weekend was great, got to see Alvin Ailey at BAM, went to the Museum for first Saturday's, went bike riding and running. No real official work out, but did do some heat training on Saturday with a 5 mile run in 95 degree weather. Sunday had some jump rope practice and shoveling, but nothing too official either. Looking forward to actually getting back to the gym today.

Teams of 2

Took it back to Brooklyn tonight, as the Manhattan location is currently overpopulated and underventilated. Since there were only four of us and limited equipment, we broke into teams and did the following:

400m run/KTE (Knees to elbows)
100 walking lunges/KTE
200 situps and 200 squats (total for the team)

For the first two, one team member does one and then switches when the other team member comes back. Do the Situps and Squats together. Took about 15 minutes. Really like the team element, as it makes for a great push with the twin drives of competition and potential shame (letting your teammate down). Good stuff.

Since I have tickets for a dance performance tonight, I went to crossfit instead of going out for lunch. We did:

3 rounds for time of:
250m Row
5 burpees
10 SDLHP 75#
20 pushups
10 KB swings 1 pood
20 situps
10 DL 95#

Finished with a 12:54, which seemed like a good time, as I didn't rest that much during the exercise. I used a lighter weight with KB, as my back still feels a little weird from the hyperextension I put it through at the beginning of the week.

2 hours until the weekend!

Hotboxing it

So the new "temporary" Manhattan location opened yesterday. Looks like an old clothing store, complete with hanger rakcs covering most of the back of the small space. Unfortunately, it is both small and doesn't appear to have working AC. This resulted in high temperatures and even higher humidity. The clamouring for the re-opening of the Brooklyn gym was loud.

Nonetheless, we did the rest day homebrew WoD below:
500m row
40 KB swings
30 pushups
400, 30, 15
300, 20, 10
200, 10, 5

Time was around 14:30 with a 24 KG bell. However, my form was fucked up on swings and resulted in repeated hyperextension of my back. I worked on it after my WoD, but it did a number on my back. Still hurts today, but I don't think anything is busted. Nonetheless, in an effort to remain healthy, I am taking both today and tomorrow off from the gym. Thankfully, today's workout is a series of high weight snatchs, so I am not missing much.

I'll have a Mini-Cindi, hmm, make that on the Rocks

Ran to the gym on Sunday for the 11am class, but the gym was closed. Still wanting a workout, I ventured to the nearby park and found that they have a faux playground rockwall. I decided I could have some fun and make up a workout based on that:

Mini-Cindi:
AMRAP in 10 minutes of-
5 pull ups
10 pushups
15 squats

On the Rocks- All exercises must be performed off the ground and on the rock wall while retaining their prior orientation to the ground. Essentially, pullups and squats have your body vertical and pushups it is horizontal. Grip strength and stabilization are incredibly important. Fun workout (4 rounds) followed by the run home for a total of a little over 5 miles.

Take this Double Under and Thrust It!

Time for a back dated post. This workout was on Saturday and was a real bitch of alternating 95# Thrusters and Double unders in the following groups

10/50
8/40
6/30
4/20
2/10

My time was around 17:30, but I subbed the last 50 DUs with Tuck Jumps as spending 10-15 seconds per double under was both frustrating and interfering with the met con nature of the workout. I hate DUs!

Steak, Shots and Bull-Riding, Yeah, it's a Crossfit Party

Friday was Hari's, a trainer at the Black Box, birthday and that meant that 30+ fitness freaks descended on Roth's Steakhouse on the Upper West Side to feed like a plague of locusts on their tasty meats. Many diets went on hold, mine included, with the promise of Filet Mignon with Bernaise sauce and three flavors of gelato. After the party, a younger group of 7, basically mean and a bunch of 24 year olds, piled into a car meant for four and went down to the lower east side to Mason Dixon. There, we ordered up some vodka shots, beers and got our drink on. After sufficient fueling, I decided to lead the group in the main event of the evening- mechanical bull riding.

Normally, I would say that the idea of me riding a mechanical bull, strap in one hand, leapord print cowboy hat in another is ridiculous. Now, picture that, except I am wearing my $500 designer suit as I went to the party straight from work. What can I say, I don't really have much dignity left. Pictures will be posted as soon as I get them.

Pressing and Playing

Yesterday's WoD was a simple 5 sets of 3 reps of shoulder presses. I got to the gym, did a full warmup (3 sets of 10 each of Pull ups, push ups, squats, situps), stretched and went at it. Bar was feeling really heavy and I couldn't push anywhere near my max (125-129). Failed out a few times at 115. Decided it would be better to avoid frustration and work on strengthening the shoulder itself, so I did skills practice. Worked the muscle up transition on a box, did Kettlebell balancing presses and jump rope practice. The WOD itself was frustrating, but the playground atmosphere of just trying different strength and skill exercises afterwards was fun.

Today is a Rest Day and tomorrow is likely to be one as well. Melissa is gone for the weekend to Martha's Vinyard, so I will likely be able to get a workout in on both days, probably a run Saturday and CF on Sun.

"Mile" Times

The WoD yesterday was different from normal, in that the goals were bifurcated into a mile run and then a running 10 minute clock for 5 separate exercises, counting reps as points. This means that you can kick it hard in the run, but have nothing left for the first couple of exercises, lowering your point count. WoD as follows:

1 Mile run
2 minutes each of-
Row (calories=reps)
30# Dumbell thrusters (used 1 pood KB in each hand ~70# total)
20# med ball cleans
double unders (subbed tuck jumps 1:1)
pull ups

I ended up with 5:05 "mile." and then 121 reps. Our mile was a bit short as I am no longer a 5 minute miler. I did have the fastest mile time on the board when I left a couple hours later, but a couple others had beaten my rep count and didn't pussy out and do tuck jumps either. I ended up running a couple more miles with friends, just to get some interval work in, doing them in 6:00 and 6:45. Then the 2.5 mile run home. Tired that night, but not exhausted.

As an amusing side note, I had accidentally picked up Melissa's yoga capri pants, which look exactly like my shorts, but longer (unless they are folded neatly in the drawer). Having nothing else to wear at the gym and not wanting to make the 5mile round trip home, I did the above in her pants. It is a good thing I got rid of that dignity thing a long time ago.

2 Pood

Last workout before a long weekend (and three days without internet access). This one was tough and put a real hurt on my core:

5 rounds of 25 reps of each of the following:
2 pood kettlebell swings (~70 pounds)
Glute ham developer (GHD) situps
GHD back extensions
Knees to elbows

Finished in 40:02

If someone had been keeping track of the time, I probably could have kicked it a little faster and finished sub-30, but since we only have 1 GHD, no such close monitoring was possible. I had never swung a 2 pood before and 125 reps of anything is tough.

Finished it off with a run home and figured my back would hurt all weekend, so I stretched it out frequently. Amusingly, it is my abs that really hurt, still today. Rest of the weekend was a wash for workouts, but I did get camping stuff from Harold, got outside and tried doing a muscle up on a tree branch (failed).

Dead Heads

Felt pretty good after the rest day and the first workout of the cycle is a rather boring-
5 rounds of 3 rep deadlifts and max Handstand Pushups. No time limit.

Went to CF Williamsburg and took my time going through a long warmup and then the workout. Ended up with (deadlift/HSPU rep count):
225/3, 245/4, 245/5, 245/4, 255/1.
HSPU to 2 abmats.

Not terribly impressive, so I hung around and practiced Med-ball cleans, Turkish Get-ups and skin the cats. I really want to improve shoulder and hamstring flexibility, as I feel my rigid frame is holding back performance on most of my lifting. Plus, it would just make life more comfortable if I didn't feel tight all the time.

Today's workout looks like a beast. Looking forward to the weekend and a chance to catch up on all the stuff I have been putting off.

Row, Burpee, Run

Although the hamstrings were still hurting yesterday, I could finally walk without limping every few steps and felt strong, despite the upper body pounding I took yesterday.

Got to the Cardboard Box early, which was good as we only have two rowers and this WoD was going to put them in high demand:

Row 1000 meters
25 burpees
Row 750 meters
50 burpees
Row 500 meters
750 burpees

Given that I had banged out 75 pushups yesterday, I figured that this would be a slogfest. However, my "step-back" style of burpee (done to avoid accidentally yanking my hamstring) proved to be great for this grind and allowed me to do long sets and limit wasted break time. I ended up with 25:22 and actually beat Robzilla, who was up to the 50 set of burpees when I started the workout. Normally, he and I are pretty close in times, but he looked just plain tired.

After the workout, I practiced some "skin the cats" and med-ball cleans, both skills that I greatly need practice with. While I was practicing, I encouraged the follow on heats and saw that Rachel, one of our new members, was struggling with the last 75. So I joined her in the last 60 reps, in 5 rep sets. She went all out and finished really well. That girl has some kick to her and will probably start giving Erica, her roommate, a run for her money in another 4 or 5 months.

After a cool down, I ran home or, rather, I jogged slowly home, as I was running low on gas. Making dinner for myself and Melissa, even something as simple as pan fried chicken and salmon over spinach, was a chore and I was very happy to fall into bed. Horray for Rest Day on Wednesday!

Push it, Pull it, Dip it, Climb it, Now upside down

Finally purchased a bike helmet on the way home from work, since it appears someone in my family thought that my old helmet looked better in the garbage can. This allowed me to try actually biking around brooklyn, which makes me feel like I did when I first started to drive in Manhattan. Anything can happan at any time for any reason and most of it can kill or maim you. Given all of the stupid shit that people do on the streets of New York, I wasn't looking forward to this, especially on a bike that I don't trust to shift gears on. However, after finding out that a entry level mountain bike with no real features, costs about $1,600, I have decided to make due for the time being.

Once I got to the gym, somewhat behind schedule, I almost immediately dropped into this workout:

75 pushups
95# sumo deadlift high pull
50 jumping ring dips
30 pullups with an 8Kg kettlebell around my hips
25 pike pushups on a high plyo box (think of putting you feet on a box, hands on floor so that your hips are directly above your head and then doing a pushup so the floor will touch the top of your head. It is sub for a handstand pushup)

I finished in 25:22 and my hamstrings didn't seem to hold me back too much. I was happy with both my pace and my time, although it was definitely a workout that demands much more arm strength than I have. The actual workout requires: normal ring dips, 40 pounds on the pull up (I only used about 20) and full on Handstand pushups. One of the guys at my gym finished the full workout in sub-19 min. I love CF, but it is often humbling.

Speaking of which, because I left Into the Wild at the girlfriend's apartment, I started reading Into Thin Air, a book by the same guy about his 1996 climb up Everest that left 8 people dead, including his expedition leader. It is a fascinating and well paced book that gives a first hand account of the trials even an experienced climber undergoes on a guided expedition up Everest, which costs around 65K a head. The first person perspective makes the book much more intriguing and some of the visuals are astounding, particularly the passage that describes passing a 10-15 year old frozen corpse as the expedition leaves Base Camp. I would definitely recommend it for those interested in mountaineering or adventure reading.

Today's workout looks to be a rowing/burpee pyramid. Will probably be glad for a rest day on Wednesday.

Without a car

Some things in brooklyn have taken a little getting used to. Everyone in my neighborhood listens to rap all the time and I mean ALL the time. The streets are a collection of grids that aren't related to each other, so when one grid meets another, you can keep going straight and end up behind where you started. One big thing that is taking some time is walking everywhere. In queens, everyone has a car and there is parking in most places. Here, with no car and subways being mostly geared toward manhattan-brooklyn travel, getting around is based on your feet.

Made it to the saturday morning crossfit workout, which was:
21-15-9
20# medball cleans
burpees
1.5 pood (24kg) kettlebell swings

Workout was named "fumes" since some workmen were running a generator and welding pipes in the basement. Made for a lightheaded day.

With the walk there, back, to downtown brooklyn to drop off knives to be sharpened and then walking to a friends BBQ, I probably put in another 8 miles, most of which had a pack on my back, with 2 bottles of wine and a couple pounds of knives. Sunday brought a break from working out, but for another few miles of walking.

Just looked at the crossfit main site and tomorrow's WOD looks brutal. Best get to bed and start the recovery so I can tear it up after work.

18:26

Did Michael at the Brooklyn Box and felt pretty good about the time. I think the run was about 50 meters short as my first split was 2:30 for an 800. Felt good and first round sets were unbroken.

Definitely happy with the progress, even though some of the 5 minutes boost is artificial as the old gym was a fourth floor walk up that you had to do at the end of each 800. Still, it was the best time posted today, although some of that was probably due to my 45# good mornings subbed for back extentions. Have to figure out how to use the GHD without damaging certain sensitive portions of my body.

Will try to make it to the gym tomorrow, which is a main site rest day, so the WoD could be anything.

Day of Rest

It felt great to go home, pick up a couple pounds of bluefish fillet and have a nice dinner. I had big plans to continue working on the apartment, but those fell through when I realized I had played video games in awhile. Needless to say, had a great time and the apartment looks the same.

My Amazon order came in and I started Into the Wild, a book about a guy who graduates from college, leaves all of his possessions to tramp around the US and eventually dies in a bus in the middle of the Alaskan Wilderness. Sounds depressing, but, so far, it is inspiring. The idea of getting out of the plastic society and really living sounds great, but I am far to attached to my comfort to do so. Hopefully, I will take more measured steps towards enjoying the outdoors by taking lots of trips this summer.

Today's WoD is "Michael," a workout we did not too long ago. It consists of:

3 rounds for time of-
800 meter run
50 back extensions
50 sit-ups

Last time (benchmark) was around 23 minutes. I feel like I should be faster this time. Guess I will find out tonight.

Lifting the Dead

Heavy day at CF with 7 sets of one rep deadlift being the order of business. Since I haven't actually done a deadlift outside of last week's 205 for 45 total reps, I had no idea where I should be. After a warmup, went with:
225, 235, 285(f), 275, 275(f), 275, 275(f)

Form was terrible on the up motion, decent on the down. I have trouble setting the start position due to inflexibility, so I will have to work on some stretching. Maybe recruit Melissa in to get me to actually DO the stretching.

Run home- took another wrong turn and ended up doing over 3 miles, rather than the 2.5 it should be. I had increased the weight of the pack by including my "Starting Strength" book, so that could be another reason for the slow run. I am tired and looking forward to having a day off. The deadlifts seem impressive, but I really should be able to pull much more than that. 2 x BW is my goal. That seems like a good segue into a list of my current metrics:

Height: 6'2"
Weight: 178.5 (last night at the gym)
Waist: 33" at belly button
Body fat: 10%

I don't know if that last figure is accurate. I don't feel like I am that lean, but time will tell. I have slipped on my diet a little, as the new BBQ grill has led to an over consumption of fatty meat and some extra grains (hamburger buns). Will work on correcting that tonight with my rest day.

Lunging Kettlebell Fran

Crossfit has an infamous workout called Fran, a seemingly simple and amazingly short series of movements done for time that has become a benchmark. Like it or not, "What's your Fran time?" is becoming a popular interrogatory of where you stand in the heirarchy.

Since I stand (un)comfrotably in the middle of the pack, I don't have to worry about such bullshit.

WoD:
pyramid of 10-1 Kettlebell thrusters (2 X 16Kg) and 1-10 pullups
10 overhead walking lunges

So, the first set is 10 KB thrusters, 1 pull up and 10 lunges, next is 9 KB, 2 pulls and 10 lunges, etc.

I substituted 12Kg and ended up with ~14:30. I was happy with my time as I didn't spend a lot of time resting, but next time I should jump to the real weight.

Then the run home with 12 pound pack in 22:48 (2.8 miles), changed out some stuff for the next day and then run to Melissa's 16:32 (1.8 miles). Not good times, but by that point I was pretty tired. Good news is that running with a pack is beginning to seem much more normal and I notice the shifting less.

Looks like today's WOD will be heavy deadlifts, so I get to find out what my 1RM is. Too bad I don't have access to the internet at home, so I guess posting on today's work will be delayed till tomorrow.

Following Up

I have been trying to work running back into my Crossfit work. The Black Box has a new, temporary location in Williamsburg, which is within running distance of my apartment. Seems like a perfect way to get in two ass kicking workouts.

A list of the recent workouts with rough time estimates:

5/6
Run 2 miles with 20 pound backpack and 10 pound bag
Run 3 miles in intervals with pushups, pullups, HSPUs and squats mixed in at Ft. Greene park.

5/8-
Run 3 miles ~25 mins.
"Diane" 21-15-9 of 205# deadlift and pike push up off a plyo box (<11mins)
Run 3 miles ~31 mins (really slow)

5/9
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 of 16kg KB swings, 20# slamball and squatting box jumps
Run 3 miles with pack (~15 pounds) ~28 mins

5/12
Run ~6 miles with ~12# pack ~55 mins.

I have really been feeling the running in my legs. Looks like I had taken off too much time from running. I really enjoy the push of doing the CF WOD and then having to run home already fatigued. Hoping to do more of that tonight.

Upon doing further research into Adventure Racing, I found Sleep Monsters, which looks like a decent opener into the world of adventure racing. Most of the articles are pretty old, but hopefully it will lead me in the right direction to finding a good forum or blog.

Goals, Ideas, Plans and other things that change

First post and time for the obligatory explanation of why I feel the need to empty my thoughts into the interwebs. My hope is that, with a log of goals, accomplishments and failures, I will be more motivated to go farther, faster and heavier. Although primarily about athletic targets, this will hopefully serve to remind me that, just like life isn't just about your job, it also isn't about how much weight I can lift or what mountains I have climbed.

Enough of the touchy BS, here are the main, short term goals:

1) Take 1:30 off my per mile time in the Urbanathlon. I did it last year in 80 minutes on an 8 mile track. You do the math on where I need to be. Just remember, that time includes all obstacles and the 52 story staircase that sits 3/4 of the way through. Race is 9/27/08.

2)Get in sufficient shape to keep up on the Adventure Race training weekend August 1 to 3. 30 miles in one weekend seems like a lot to me when we will be hitting 5 peaks, but it is really a short distance in terms of real AR. Since I am going with guys who can certainly out run me, I need to pound some pavement

3)Free standing hand stand and full ROM hand stand push up.

4) Full ROM ring muscle up. Hell of a lot harder than it looks and I am not even close at this point. Common understanding is you have to have 15 dead hang pull ups and 15 full ROM dips before having a good shot at this. I have neither.

5) Compete in either a sprint triathlon or a sprint AR. Hopefully sometime in late August or early September.

Enough for now. Will list the most recent training in the next post. Time to get away from the office.