Virtuosity

Stopped by CF Virtuosity before my private clients came in and grabbed a quick class.

Warm up dumbell presses: 25# x 10, 30# x 10,
3 x 10 of #35

Workout: 30, 20, 10
25# situps
24" box jumps
4:23

Haven't had a chance to stop by the library, so I picked a book off of Melissa's shelf. I will use the "People's History of the United States" as my back up book when I am between library books. So far, it is a look at US history from the eyes of those who were fucked over by rich, white male Europeans. Understandably, given the size of that underclass, the book is rather large.

Marriage of Figaro and Front Squats

Did Barbell front squats for the first time in 2.5 months. Was glad to see I could do them without undue wrist pain.

Front Squat 5 X 3
Warmup 45 x7, 95 x 3, 115 x 3
145, 155, 165F(1), 155, 155

Then did 10 count Sissy test with 1.5 pood weight in 9:28

Shows: Went to Lincoln Center to wait 2 hours for Rush tickets to Marriage of Figaro. Got the tickets, met up with my sister and went to the show. It was really enjoyable, with the typical Met production budget. Had a great time and was happy to introduce Lara to Opera. Next time, will pick up ballet tickets, since she is probably more into that.

Reading: Finished "All the Shah's Men." Solid book with an appropriate level of detail and explanation for someone of my knowledge regarding Iran (none). It is obviously pro-Mossedegh and anti-American involvement in foreign coups, but still presents an interesting background on where mideast terror, particularly Iran-sponsored terror,comes from. Increased my already existing desire to read a good biography of Eisenhower.

Linda

On Saturday, I was still halfway crippled by soreness from the lunges. Feels good to be doing CF again at full strength.

Saturday was Linda with lower weight. Rep scheme is descending from 10, 9, 8 etc. to one of each of the following:
Deadlift 205# (107% of body weight)
Bench Press 155# (82%)
Clean using 2 x 1.5 pood kettlebells (55%)

Rx weight would be 150%, 100%, 75%. Deadlifts were the hardest, as my legs were still shot and mostly no help to getting that weight up.

While I did that, Melissa practiced for her performance on Wednesday. After practice, we had a romantic date at Fairway. This included grocery shopping and then sharing 2 for 1 clearance sandwiches in the parking lot, while looking at the statue of Liberty. Was fun, if a little silly.

Thanksgiving

Busy few days:

Tuesday night: Crossfit Endurance in Central park: 30s on/30s off of shuttle runs about 15 meters apart. 10 minutes. 7,8,9,9,8,8,7,7

Wednesday: 400m walking lunges. 14:15. Finished out with some yoga with Lara.

Thursday: 5 rounds of:
~350m
10 pushups
10 squats
20 situps
14:48

Thanksgiving itself was fairly typical with stuff breaking, dad yelling at people and good food. Nice to see everyone and to not have to rush home for work.

Finished playing the campaign in Modern Warfare 2 last night. That was depressing. Great game, but really depressing.

1st Day of Freedom

Last day of work as an in house counsel was yesterday. I am now, at least for the forseeable future, away from the office. It feels damn good.

With the restart, I will add some things besides just workouts. First, some recent PR's.

Fran, subbed 2 x 1 pood kettlebells: 4:43. This is a 4:17 improvement off of my last Rx attempt.

Deadlift 315, up from 305 and I was so very close to 325.

Helen 9:27 as RX. This is about 90 seconds faster than the last PR.

Today was:
5x1 press
5x3 push press
5x5 push jerk

115, 135, 140F, 135, 135
115, 125, 135, 140, 145
115, 115, 135, 135, 125


Reading:

Just finished "G-Man" which is the story of Assistant Director of the FBI Mark Felt, more commonly known as Deep Throat. Depressing story of a virtuous man who spent almost his whole life serving his country only to be attacked, sued and have his family break apart.

Just picked up from the library "All the Shah's Men" the story of the CIA sponsored coup in Iran.

Will be cooking thanksgiving dinner this week for the family. Should be fun and a good time to see everybody. Melissa, of course, will spend turkey day by herself watching awful TV and eating high end mac and cheese. Should be great.

Murph

It has been a long time, but finally Murph came up again in the rotation. Again it is:

1 mile run
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 squats
1 mile run

Finished in 40:50 (PR), a little less than 4 minutes faster than last time a more than 3 minutes faster than my prior PR. Unfortunately, I am still not fast enough, particularly on pull ups and pushups, to do this as fully RX, which includes wearing a 20# vest or equivalent in body armor.

Generally feel pretty good physically and I am looking forward to the weekend, which will be an adventure in knife making.

2009 Goals

After having a few weeks to mull it over, I have come up with a draft of the 2009 goals. I am looking for suggestions on these, especially subjects/books for reading.

Fitness:
1. Complete Marathon
2. Win Urbanathlon
3. 5 Second free standing handstand
4. 750 CFT (sum of back squat, deadlift, overhead press)
5. 60 second 400m Run
6. 5 minute mile

Travel
1. Gencon 2009 (Indianapolis, IN in August)
2. Tucson, AZ
3. Montreal or Toronto

Adventure:
1. Swim under a natural waterfall
2. Speed hiking and camping
3. Skinny dipping in lake or ocean

Cooking
1. Successfully bake a loaf of bread
2. Make sushi for Melissa

Learning
1. Read 12 non-fiction books on subjects I am not familiar with
2. Get certified as a Level 1 Crossfit Trainer
3. Learn (very) basic Blacksmithing and fashion my own knife

Career
1. Apply for a different career
2. Get a job I hate less
3. Finish NJ CLE

Relationship
1. At least 2 date nights a month

Gaming
1. 1500 point fully painted Menoth Army
2. Sell unused models (FOW + Everblight)

Financial
1. Complete taxes by end of March
2. Have $15,000 in savings by YE

I will almost certainly add more, but I think this is a good beginning.