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.