Thursday, May 29, 2008

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.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

"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.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

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).

Friday, May 23, 2008

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.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

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!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

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.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

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.

Friday, May 16, 2008

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.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

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.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

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.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

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.

Monday, May 12, 2008

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.