Wednesday, July 30, 2014

And the PR's keep on coming.

More smiles tonight.  Really, I'm in some pain, my arms/shoulders are done for the week...or so they tell me.  I suspect they'll be ready again come Friday.  I posed the question on Facebook, does my full clean (think they just call it a clean) with the squat...if that beats my previous front squat weight, can I claim it? 

Maybe?  C'mon, it's close to the same thing right?  

Tonight I pulled a double.  5pm WOD, 7pm barbell club.  Wanted that hour break, take a little time to try and recover a little.  The WOD tonight sauteed my shoulders.  Did what was supposed to be a heavy strict press 2-3 reps, somewhere about 80% of the 1RM.  Don't know what that 1RM is, so I worked up to 115, and did that.  It was hard, a few times I felt like I had to will the weight up, because my arms weren't getting it done... an you know that "will the weight up" stance, where you kinda contort your body a bit, all without losing the strict part of press...just to get the weight overhead.  Either way, got it done in the end, and I'll call it my 1RM from now on.  I think I can do more, but I didn't have one written down, and if you don't write it down, it didn't happen.... or so I've heard. 

The METCON was a two parter.  5 rounds for time of 10 push presses (115/75) and 30 DUs.  Second part being a 400m run.  After having done the strict presses for 115, the pushes at the same weight should have been easier... or so I thought.  My form was awful, kept pushing off my toes instead of my heels.  #thestruggleisreal  The DU's for me are still singles, and by the end of the 5 rounds they were close to cramping.  9:24.  Slowest yet again, but I beat the time cap we set for 10 minutes, so it's not all bad. 

400m was special today.  EVERYONE was after Ariels 1:17 from earlier in the day.  Heck I chased it on a rower.  Got close...ish with 1:26.  Two of the guys beat it.  Still, 1:17 was the mark to hit, and it was fun chasing it.  One day I'll run a 1:30 400...sooner than later I hope. 

Ok, so WOD was done, now I had to stay loose during the next class.  Did some rowing, stretching, lots of lax ball usage.  In the end, mission accomplished, stayed warm, stayed loose. 

Establish Barbell Club, lets go.  Didn't do the warmup, didn't need to, was already loose, stretched out, ready.  We went through the progression for cleans, both power and full.  I had one thing on my mind.  Finally do a legit clean.

The goal was to do 2 heavy lifts.  I stopped short of what I could have done, in light of the fact I'd PR'd with the power clean just yesterday, and the fact that I'd gone to WOD So Hard University the hour before.  I wont bore you with the progression.  I got my 2 heavy's in at 135.  I'll take that for my first time really getting cleans, front squat and all. 

After that there were two moves you could do.  5x5 push-press, or pullups (if you'd done push press in the WOD previous).  Ring rows it was.  Felt easier after everything else... I mean not easier, but easier... if you get my drift. 

Last thing we did.  Barbell lunges, and then this weighted hip thrust.  Basically some old school super sets.  It's 1 am right now, so I'm not going to go into what it was like other than telling you that the lunges sucked, and the thrusts we're weird...

Closing thoughts....  I'm sore, but it's that "I just killed it" sore. 

Rest day tomorrow....well, today. 

More PR's, more 1RM's... it's great, getting stronger, getting results.  #HWPO

Ciao



Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Accidental surprise

I did a big no no today, or last night...stayed up waaay too late and only got 5 hours of sleep.  Took 2 (count'em, TWO) 5 hour energy's to get me through an 8 hour day today....still went and WOD'deded.  To be fair though, I thought it was going to be easier than it was, not because of what it was, but because of how I thought it was going to be... Lemmie 'splain.

Actually, lemmie take a step back.  I'M BACK!  That whole "owwwy, I'm sore from lack of doing WODs" is gone.  My body is back in the rhythm of getting my butt handed to me.  It's good to be back, that achy stuff is for noobs and hero WODs.  Sorry, had to share my big smile, I'm not totally decrepit as I write this, it's a good day.

Ok, so the warmup today, little involved.  My KB OHS... was gawd awful.  It's like I couldn't bend my knees holding on to the KB over my head like that... put that in my growing pile of things to work on.... Anyway, the point of me bringing up the warmup was because when we were done, I was tightening the Olys, and from one shoe to the next, there was this nice, neat line of 10-15 sweat drops in a row...

So todays WOD was a 2 part EMOM, and a final piece of rowing for time.  The first part was a Clean or Power Clean x2 reps, for 12 minutes, adding weight each time. I'm glad I grabbed the 5lbs, and that Jordan had the sense to toss the 2.5lbs down near me too.  I kept adding weight until I caught J's eye, and then with him there, I worked on getting under the bar a bit more.  I need to get better on my 1/4 squat anyway...but the last couple, I worked on getting "under" the bar quicker.  Not perfect but better, I'll take it.

Second EMOM, also for 12 minutes, is 10KB swings, and 5 burpees.  Now, my confusion was that it was 1 minute for the KB swings, and 1 minute for 5 burpees, and then back to the swings... I can hear you laughing...I'm laughing myself.  Not exactly how it's supposed to work.  So the first EMOM starts, and I get the KB's done...oh, and I've finally gone up to the 1 pood (36lbs right?).  So I'm done with my 10, and everyone drops down and doing burpees....and I'm like no no no, thats the second minute... and they're like no no no, it's all in the same minute.

!@#!$!@#

!@#$ #$%$  @#$%@#$   @#$%@#$%

2nd minute starts, KB's a swinging, and then I drop for the burpees.  I got 3 in before the top of the minute, back to KB swings.  Get the 10 done in around 20 seconds, respectable.  The burpees.... I get two done this time.  Beep, another minute.  KB swings.  One burpee is all I managed.  My shoulders...and really my arms, are pushing all this weight up to a position to either hop up, or get up one leg at a time.  The struggle continues with burpees.  I staggered to my feet, and Jordan and I shared a look, it's instant, and took the next round off.  The rest of the time I do the full thing, but it takes me a minute 20 roughly to bang out all 5 burpees.

It still irritates me...no, frustrates me that I struggle so mightily with these.  I know they're going to get better with time, but still.  Chris is seemingly always around for burpees...cause he pumps me up a little, saying things like "I can't imagine how much harder it is for you than me.  I know you're probably putting in 3, maybe 4 times the work I am.  Keep it up"....he says stuff like that to me all the time... Helps me get out of my funk quickly, and he's probably right.

I know I talked about intensity yesterday...it's hard for me to be intense when it comes to burpees.  I do them as fast as I'm able, but dat gum they...ug!  Moving on, the 500m row... I beat 2 minutes, 155.9  to be exact.  If I hadn't stopped for a pull or two, I'd probably have gotten into the 140's.  Maybe.

Need to make longer pulls rowing.  I'm pulling 30 times a minute, and others are doing 20, and going as fast or faster.  Something to improve on.

Now, I did something on accident today, and it was quite wonderful.  You see, all those power cleans, I just kept adding weight and doing them.  I could have gone higher, but ran out of time.... ended up with a 15 pound PR.  Didn't find out it was a PR till I got home.  Pleasant surprise.  I'm all smiles, I can't lie.

Positive enough thought to leave you with.  :D

Monday, July 28, 2014

Show me moar intsensity!

Oh man.  7 days is much too long indeed.  I was sore all weekend, particularly the hammys, a bit in the obliques, and the pecks were tender as well.  Moving along and getting right to the post title, I need help with my intensity...I think.  Let me explain, first with todays WOD:

Rounds for time:
10 Single-Arm DB Snatch 45/35
-2 Lunge Steps w/DB Overhead
-15 Pull-Ups
-Run 400 Meters

Pretty simple really.  For some reason, I read the two lunges w/db overhead, and thought plate... anyway.  DB Snatchs I can do.  Lunges I can do.  DB snatch, then 2 lunges, snatch, 2 lunges, etc...thats another story.  I know I can snatch 45, but can I do it while doing lunges?  I have my doubts, my balance still isn't great, and thats just lunges without weight overhead.  I settled on 30# for my weight. 

Now what I put up above for the WOD, was what was on the website.  "Rounds for time".  Turns out that means 5 rounds.  50 snatches (25 each arm), 100 lunges, 75 pullups, and 2000m or running, or for me, rowing.  For time.  LOL.

I'm not going to go into my struggles today, I'll just tell you they felt pretty substantial.  About halfway in, I noticed everyones lunges touching the ground...didn't know if this was the way it was supposed to be, I'd been trying to stop myself short, I asked.  Coach J said yeah, if you have the mobility for it.  I did.  The first one I did.... the extra stretch on my quads was amazing, and a bit scary at the same time, decided to keep doing them as I had, next time I'll try to get them like that, need a bit more stretching. 

The other experience I had was one of shame...to me.  Well, maybe not shame, but of another eye opening experience.  I'm used to being near the last, but I went to the 5pm class today, with some of the supermen.  These rock stars tend to be around the hours that start with 5.  AM/PM doesn't matter, there are monsters in both classes.  Today I got lapped.  Having folks finish round 5 before I'm done with round 4...  Humbling, but also a great goal to chase.

I finish the workout with the rowing, and I'm rowing harder than I had the whole time, left me gassed.  Chest heaving up and down, think I took a minute on the rower, then went over to some boxes and sat on them for another minute or so.  Feel like I need to throw up...but I haven't eaten anything in hours.  Probably a good thing.  I walk around a little, roll out a little.  Getting better at doing that, but I need to spend more time rolling out than I do I suspect. 

Chilled out for a bit longer, and with the 6pm class getting started on the WOD, I politely excuse myself, say my goodbyes, and roll out (the leaving kind, not foam roll kind).  The whole ride home, I'm having this mental conversation about going faster, and pushing harder.   My dilemma is that I feel like I've got a lot of juice once I leave, like I didn't leave everything on the floor in the box.  I don't know if this is my recovery talking, or if I have more gas in the tank. 

Anyone else experience this? 

Going to take you back to my first days working for QT (Quik Trip) in KC.  I was recently out of training...or maybe at the tail end, and this replacement/stand in assistant manager was making comments about me.  She was like "can't you go faster?"  and "Dan's got one speed, on, or off, nothing in between".  I guess I took it to heart, in 60 days I was promoted to a travel position like her, and 3 months later I was running stores at the ripe age of 19.  Part of the reason was I got a lot faster at getting stuff done. 

Maybe I need this kind of motivation?  I'm not sure, but having had that experience once in my life leads me to believe that I may have another gear or two that I'm just not hitting.  I'm sure some of this still revolves around my breathing, but that can't be all of it, I mean when I'm rowing, it's in and out at a rate of 31 strokes per min....

Any feedback, links, or other comments, as always, are appreciated. 

**Next day edit/addition**
What I forgot to add to my story, the drive home, I'm feeling good, like I could have done more, and then I get home, and I'm suddenly very "ug".  Ug being fatigued, tired, pooped, etc.  It's a challenge to get upstairs to the shower and I'm all wimpy... I don't know if thats normal...maybe the car ride is a "runners high" sort of time for me?  Anyway, just thought that was useful info for anyone thinking of offering a suggestion. 
Cheers!

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Back in action

Well hey there.  It's been a while since I've sat down at written anything, pretty sure thats dust on the keyboard...  Anywho, it's been a crazy couple of days since I last said anything, got a couple of firsts under my belt.  First time I haven't done a WOD in 7 days, first time I lifted that much weight 3x in a row, and the first time I've ever been stuck at an airport overnight. 

Wednesday was a travel day for me this week, was supposed to depart DCA (otherwise known as Regan or National if your not up on the airport scene) at 730, be home by 9 something.  Flight got delayed.  Flight got delayed several times, changed terminals twice, got delayed some more.... A real fun time.  Then, at something approaching 11pm, flight got canceled.  :(

There were those special people...frontrunners, who are more important than you or I.  They ran...and I mean booked it to the ticket counter.  I walked briskly, but I was wearing flip flops...not going top speed in those.  Anyway, long story shorter, got re-booked on a 10am to Charlotte, then home to KC.  Now what?  I happened to be in line with some Gov auditors, and they were frantically calling every hotel around.  Nothing in DC, closest open was in Maryland, no idea how long of a drive that was going to be, said meh, I'll stay up. 

Had I not been in flip flops, I may have gone and walked the capital....had there been showers, I may have just worked out right there.  What else was I going to do?  

So I stayed up like a champ, talked to some folks, played on the laptop, wrote some emails, all sorts of stuff.  0430 comes around and I get to go back through security.  There was a 0530 flight to Charlotte that I tried to get on...there was also a 6, 7, and 9 am, tried to get on those too.  No dice.  At some point, I was sitting by the gate for my 10am flight, I passed out.  Can't tell you how long I was out, not very is my guess....another first. 

Fast forward through the flights, where I tried to sleep as much as possible, got home at 4pm or so... looking at 35 hours of being mostly awake.  Get home, get unpacked, and then I went to EST.  I just wanted to stretch, roll, and otherwise loosen up.  My back was a mess, my body weary, but I hadn't been in a box in days... had to get there.  The WOD on the board was one I was looking forward to doing since the night before when it got posted.  No sleep, and being sore, no chance.  As much as I wanted to do the workout, it wasn't worth the risk of injury, and I know I wouldn't have been giving it 100%. 

Now I should have been rocked, and useless, and I was for the most part, then the download for this beta was finished, and amazingly, I got involved...found a 3rd...or maybe 4th wind.  Was up till 0230.  That made it something like 45 hours, with two little airplane naps of less than an hour as my only sleep.  Crazy, and stupid.  LOL.  Spent the next day and a half recovering. 

It's now Saturday, I'm not 100%, but I feel miles better, and it's time to get that Thursday WOD in during open gym.  What am I so excited about?  Glad you asked. 

Skill/Strength:
Deadlifts, Find Heavy Triple
WOD:
For time-
-Deadlift x 15 reps (using 75% of today’s heavy triple)
-Hand-Release Push-Ups x 30 reps
-Run 800 Meters
-Deadlift x 10 reps
-Hand-Release Push-Ups x 20 reps
-Run 400 Meters
-Deadlift x 5 reps
-Hand-Release Push-Ups x 10 reps
-Run 200 Meters

I found my heavy triple...happened to be a PR too :D  from 275 to 295.  Makes me wonder what my 1RM is going to be next time I chase it.  Getting stronger.  Another thing I'm going to change is my grip.  I've been using what I think of as a traditional grip, and I'm going to try out the... idk what it's called.... just looked it up.  I've been using a double overhand, but want to try out the mixed grip...kept reading that article, maybe I'll stick with... idk.  Coaches?

The rest of the workout is as monstrous as it looks.   I had to break the lifts up more than I wanted to.  Sets of 5, my hands weren't having it any other way, I was using the touch n go technique...if it's a technique...thats how I was doing it, wasn't dropping from the top. 

I was beat up when it was done, did some barbell pushups instead of hand release, those hurt.  7 days feels like 7 weeks.  Can't wait that long again, ever.  

Parting thought, saw just one event of the CrossFit games, and it set the bar for me mentally.  I caught the...power clean ladder?  I think that was it.  345 was the max weight, Froning didn't make the final heat by .9 seconds or something like that... anyway, some of those guys made that weight look light, the bar is set.  This coming 2015 Open is a stretch, but if I'm doing well, we'll see.  6 months, anything can happen. 

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

My Family

I've heard a lot of sayings about family.  Things like "you've only got the family you're born into", "there is the family you're related to, and the family you choose", and "Having a place to go — is a home. Having someone to love — is a family. Having both — is a blessing." among many many others.  I spent an hour driving with the windows down, music off, just thinking, enjoying the drive, thinking about family, and what it means to me.  For me there is a lot of truth in these three statements, and indeed many of the other ones that are easily available to you on the Internet.

I can't really tell you what family should be, or what/who I think you should consider family, but I can tell you who I consider family, and how awesome they are. 

I'm a lucky guy, I've got 3 families.  I have my traditional family, the one I was born into, the ones I share my name with, the ones who I can never deny.  I dearly love my immediate family.  Wife, daughter, kid 2 (we don't know the gender yet... but #becausefutbol :D), my mother, my father, and usually my brother.  For me, as they are for most, these people are irreplaceable, and I'm lucky to have them.

My second family found me when I was going into 4th grade.  Robert and Donna Perez moved next door and brought their 3 boys, Robert, James, and Jesse.  I've been friends with these guys from day 1, they took me into their family, took me to meet the rest of the family, and our parents still live next to each other 20 some years later.  Hardly a day goes by where I don't talk to at least one of them.  I've had heated fights/battles with the two younger ones, James and Jesses, as we were the closest in ages, but just like brothers, we've always worked things out.  Lots of that through thick and thin stuff.  Love them like they were my blood, and I treat them like they are.  I'm lucky to have them in my life.   

My third family is my CrossFit family, and tonight I was able to come home to CFDS, and be with some of them.  I wanted to tell you about my other two families, so you could hopefully see exactly how highly I regard my peoples at CFDS.  I think I'll always have an "instant on" connection with anyone who has ever CrossFitted.  It's just one of those things that once you've been exposed to it, and done it, it's a bond with the people who do it...or at least it is to me. 

Let me tell you about today.  I've known I was going back to Delaware for a few weeks.  Super geeked.  Then I found out it was going to be in Seaford, DE... about 1.5 hours from CrossFit Diamond State to be exact.  This was a bit of a bummer, but I grew up in a town called Tonganoxie, and it was 30-45 minutes from ANYTHING cool I wanted to do growing up, so I got real used to driving.  So, knowing I was going to be in Delaware, I kept it a big secret, up until last night, then I told my man Dustin Simmons, since I knew I wouldn't see him today, he's out of town for work as well...

So a few weeks of holding on to the fact I was going to be close...or a lot closer than KC.  I had big plans for today, I was going to come through the front door, and loundly ask who had some scissors... I needed to cut the tags off my new kicks...reminds me, the Minimus 00's (I think) I picked up @ Rehoboth New Balance yesterday...
So my plan was to go in with these and loudly ask "who's got some scissors", ya know, like I owned the place.  Well, thats not how it happened. 

If it had been a perfect day, I'd have been able to leave slightly before 5, or even right at 5.  Today, and granted I'm still new to the site, we didn't leave until 5:45.  I can't be too mad, the big bossman is here, and I'm still trying to get my feet under me.  Last thing I want to do is leave early and get one of those demerits or some other such internal judgement from my peers.   I sucked it up... well kinda.  I was fidgety from about 505 all the way till 545. 

I finally got on the road, and started driving...and I've got to tell you Delaware, you need another North-South highway...one that isn't burdened by a 55mph speed limit, and lots of stoplights and small town speed limits...  people have places to be. 

The drive got better once I got onto highway 1.  No more stoplights, and a bump in speed to 65.  #flying now.  Exactly one hour and thirty minutes from the time I left, I made it to CFDS.  I'm kinda mad Google was right on the money.  I was happier when Mapquest would tell me the same route and say it would take 2+ hours.  Feel like I made up some time that way, but Google...no Google has to be accurate.... not that that is a bad thing most days, I was just wanting to make up some time.

7:21...right in time for the 6:30 class to be over.  I take off my flipflops, and put on some old black socks... they matched the shoes...minus the fact they were faded, and by having the shoes in hand, I could still maybe get my chosen line off. 

I walked in the front door.  Through the kitchen, and in the box proper, I see my man Andy.  He kinda leans his head to the side, I think he's trying to figure out who's at the door.  I leaned my head to the side, I'm smiling... I start walking in, and then I see it, that moment of recognition.  It's a beautiful thing.  I don't remember fully hugging, I think it was more of that sportsman bro hug handshake thing... but either way, it was good to see him.  Then Laura came up, big hug.  Then some of the rest of my peoples see me.  Jessica Simmons, Theresa Driggers, Mike Li, the list goes on.  Hugs, handshakes, fistbumps.  It's great to be back. 

Oh, and the smell... that box smell.  Can't tell you I'd want it in a bottle, but it's still a smell I miss, we don't have it at EST, and I'm kinda glad, makes CFDS special. 

I look around, don't see some of the other staples, I know coach Eli is gone (he's being an official at the CF games, lucky dude), and coach Chris usually isn't an evenings kind of guy, so I wasn't expecting him, but I didn't see Pete, coach Randi, coach Gia, or the PR dancing sensation Jaimie.

Quickly find out, they're outside...doing some crazy wod...something I'd have a time of 2 hours on... 3000m row, 300 DU's, 3 mile run.  First one back is Jaimie.  She's out of it, sees me, but doesn't make it 20 ft in the door before she's on her back, sucking air from yet another monster effort.  Next in was Pete, good to see him, then it's Randi, and finally Gia.  I get smiles and nods, while everyone catches their breath, then hugs, fist bumps, etc.  I can't wait to be able to do this sort of thing in the time they did it.   

This is the first time I've seen everyone since I left.  I can't stop smiling, I'm telling the latest deets of my world, my scandalous secret about being back in DE but waaaay down south, and we catch up.  I won't bore you with all the conversations, but my family reunion has kicked off quite nicely, I didn't get to see everyone, but I got to see enough people that I'm happy I came.  3 hours of driving for a little over an hours worth of visiting.  Easily worth the trade for me.  Easily. 

I wish I'd taken some pictures with my people so I could share them with you.  I told you I have 3 families, it's really 4.  Diamond State gets their own spot, no offense to my other boxes.  They're the family I was born with in CrossFit.   CFDS and the people that make it up have a very special place in my heart.  A drive 3 hours to spend 1 with them kind of place.  Who would you do that for?  Most peoples answer is probably not for very many people, if anyone. 

Saying bye was a lot easier this time, I know when I'll be back in DE, and I know it will be soon.  It's well past my bedtime, but I wanted to share my day with you, and tell you about my family and how happy I am to have seen them today, makes the fact I'm getting 5 hours sleep bearable.  Hopefully you can smile and nod with a fuller understanding of what these folks mean to me.

Parting thoughts:
No one said anything about the beard I was sporting.  Thanks anyway to Dustin and Chris for their inspiration.  :P
EST, I didn't get a single WOD in, it will be 5 days come Thursday, make me sweat. 
CFDS, next time can't come soon enough. 
Momma, I love you
I'm out. 

Oh, and sorry for another mushy post, I can't help it, they bring it out of me. 

And sorry for misspelling, typos, and other grammatical errors.  It's 1am again...

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Aba-ka-Tabada

Tabada workouts are something else.  Today was Tabada DU's.  20seconds of activity, 10 seconds rest, 8 rounds.  Half way through, Adrian, whom I haven't really worked with much lately (been going to the morning classes), stopped and asked if step ups would be better, he's checking on me, checking on that knee.  Much appreciated, but we're good here, I'm using a different rope than previous times, the rope is thinner, lighter.  Struggling to get more than 5 or 10 jumps in a row.  I think it's merely adjusting to a new rope.  By the end of the Tabada DU's, my feet hurt, like cramped up hurt.  I blame it on tightening the shoes too tightly.  I had to sit down and take my shoes off for a few minutes, just to get it to go away.  These Asics are toast.  I REALLY hope these New Balance shoes are the ticket.  Might have a blog post about them all by themselves on Monday. 

Alright, so this Tabada stuff, 20 seconds on, 10 off... I can imagine this gets pretty intense with some of the other workouts.  DU's we're a challenge, but I think air squats, burpees, or something else would be worse.  Another vocab word in the books. 

The rest of the WOD was about as CrossFit as it gets.  No weights, no bands, no nonsense.  5 rounds of a 3 minute AMRAP with a 3 minute rest between rounds.  3 Toes to Bar, 6 burpees, 9 KB swings.  I though that the 3 minutes of rest would be sweet... and it was...but those burpees...just like every other movement that has me going ground to standing, wipes me out, and no amount of rest between sets fixes that. 

I had what I thought was a good pace going, about 2 sets per 3 min.  Not an Open speed, but what seemed like a good speed for me.  By the end of the third round, I was beat, and out of water.  The whole time I'm walking over to the fountain to refill my bottle I'm muttering crazy things like I regret the past 9 years (read, the time it took me to gain this weight).  Someone was like don't worry about the past, focus on now and tomorrow.  I hope they didn't see my eye roll.  LOL.  I'm here today to fix tomorrow, but once in a while, I crack jokes about how I got to the place I started at.  The sentiment is still appreciated.  

So my 2 sets per 3 minutes is morning right along....and then we got to the third round.  That finally broke my 2 sets per 3 minutes.  I got through everything but the 9 KB swings.  After rest 3, I get the privileged of picking up where I left off.  I tried to make up some time with the t2b and KB swings.  Didn't quite make it.  I'll save you from reading about my struggles with the burpees, these are well documented.  I did tell Chris that in two years, I'd be able to do box over burpees in faster time than what I was doing today.  We both got a good chuckle.  Ended the WOD with 9 complete sets and 4 additional movements.  Gassed, but happy to be done. 

I didn't capitulate.  Everyone around me is on their backs, sucking air after the workout, but thats just not how I recover... I'm sure it feels great, but I can't bring myself to do it.  Sit down, bend over in front of the fan, lean against the rig...anything but lie down.  Maybe thats just me. 

I'm ready for next week.  New client, new town, and hopefully some new WOD shoes.  The Asics are shot.  I'll let you know.  :)

Thursday, July 17, 2014

My other knee...

Yesterdays workout could have been brutal.  It was bad enough for what it was, but thankfully I had the sense to not grab some weight that would have crushed my soul.  I'll get into that here in a sec.  I wanted to go ahead and point out that I've got a new knee issue.  I think it's because of the oly's I've been wearing this week.  Pain on my left knee now, on the outside...right about where the calf and whatever muscle is on the front of the leg meet.  I think it's the perneus longus muscle that works to "evert and plantar flex the ankle".  And with new shoes, my foot might be sitting differently, so it would make sense that the ankle may be in a different position, and thus this thing is aggravated when I'm in the olys... time to see a professional about that. 

Back to the WOD.  Seemingly a fairly short one if you don't rest too much.  

5 Rounds:
-10 Back Squat (70% 1RM)
Rest 30 seconds
-10 Single Arm Dumbbell Rows (45/35)
Rest 30 seconds
-10 Russian Kettlebell Swings (70/53)
Rest 30 seconds
-10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press (45/35)
Rest 2 minutes


50 reps of each.  The back squat I ended up going lighter on for sets 2-5.  I probably could have done them at the 115, but opted for the 95 after the first set.  I'd rather finish it sooner than later, and I had a feeling re-racks would have been in my future, and that's not what this was going for... I don't think anyway.  

I was under the impression that the dumbbell rows and shoulder press should be done with the same dumbells.  In retrospect, I probably should have asked for clarification.  I can row double what I can press, probably more than double.  I opted for a lighter row weight, but something that was a solid challenge for the press.  20# seems to be that magic number for the press (did I mention it was strict).  
KB swings... I know I said I was going to go up in weight, but I didn't... and I think that was a mistake now.  My swings have gotten ugly.  They don't feel right, I don't feel like I'm moving right...it's just all wrong, and I think a good portion of that is that the weight is just too light...I've gotten too strong.  Good problems to have, but at the same time, it's annoying.  Either way, I'm grabbing the bigger KB for the next swings.  

25:20.  That was my time with some decent rest in there.  I mean it's got close to 15 minutes rest time built in, IF you follow it the way it was written.  I'm pretty sure most people didn't as There were some times of 16 minutes on the board.  Not that I'm judging, I'd like to get to the point I can bang this out at that speed..... dreams, goals, and desires.  

The rest of the WOD was pretty simple.  5 100m sprints on the rower, with a minute rest between each attempt.  My stated goal last post was 18 seconds.  To be honest, I thought I'd beat it easily.  Not the case.  Didn't even hit 18.  Sniffed it once.  My times as I remember them.  19.8, 19.8, 19.9, 19.3, 19.8.  I know the numbers are right, the order might be off in the middle.  Gives me something to shoot for.  I know I held back a little, and it was mainly I size thing.  I didn't want to break the rower trying to pull like Hercules and have the seat slide off one side or another.  

The rest of today is going to be straight rest.  Not even active rest, just going to ice a little, and elevate.  I need to mow soon... guess we'll see about that rest.  Cheers!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Chutes and ladders

Yeah buddy.  The soreness didn't get to me... I actually rolled out when I got to EST, AND I used a lax ball.  If you've read any of my other posts, you should know I hate the lax ball.  With a passion.  Always ended up sore when we'd use it pre-workout warmups/stretching.  Today I craved it.  Found a spot on my shoulder, came back to it a few more times.  It was awesome.  Now...I might have to say I like it. 

So yeah, got to the box nice and early, cause I'm soooore.  I foam rolled and lax balled probably 4x more than I've ever done before.  Glad I did, when it came to warmups, I felt pretty normal as I went through them.  I'd need that feeling before the end.  Workouts with any sort of hitch/stitch/owwwey just aren't any fun. 

Had a new activity in the warm up...well, new to me.  Rowing 100m sprint style.  I didn't have my rower set to count down, and I didn't kill it, but the guy next to me, Weldy, he did.  And he was rowing like a madman.  I mean the back...well, I assume the back came up, I know the front of the rower came off the floor with every pull.  14.6 seconds.  I was in the low 20's, but that's cause it kept going once I stopped....need to figure out how to setup the C2's....  Tomorrow we're all doing it as part of the WOD.  I'm aiming for a time of 18 or less, we'll see. 

Back to today, all stretched out, all warmed up, time to do a 1RM for the power clean.  I thought I had one...maybe it's on Wodify?  Idk, not one in my notebook, so I just started going at 75, and I went up 20lbs at a time from there.  Funny story.  I was at 115# with a 15, and two 10's on each end.  It was getting to be tough, but I was ready for the next 20#.  I take all the weights off, and put on a 45...and another 10.  You see, in my mind, that's where I'm supposed to be at....but thats a 40# jump, not a 20#.  I pull that bar with about all  I've got, and I got it up, AND got my arms under it, but my back was arched like Robin Hoods bow.  I got it, but I'm not sure it counts...I mean it's up, but it's not proper.  Well, after doing it once, I was in disbelief...how did it get so difficult?  I go back and start counting... OOOOH.  Ok, so that's my problem.  I took off the 10's and did the 135#.  MUCH better form, pleased with this.  Claiming this as my 1RM. 

That's done, whats next?  METCON.  It's a nasty one.  Take 75% of that 1RM, and we're doing a 16minute AMRAP of a hang clean ladder.  Lemmie 'splain...actually, let me give it to your from the site:

In 16 minutes, complete as many ladders as possible from 1 to 5 reps of Hang Power Clean, with approximately 75% of your 1RM Power Clean
THE BAR CANNOT TOUCH THE GROUND MID-LADDER.

So 1 rep, bar down, 2 reps, bar down, 3 reps, bar down, 4 reps, bar down, 5 reps.  If you drop the bar while in any set of reps, you start back over at that ladder.

Sound awful?  It was certainly tough.  At first, I was just going to go with 70%... because it was just two plates, but settled on doing it the way it was meant to be, 75%...so I added 2.5# to each side...not a big deal to you maybe, but just doing that, making it right, rather than close enough...another positive step.  #mentalgames #stopcheatingyourself

I got through with 5 ladders, plus starting the sixth.  76 reps of hang cleans at 100#.  Not terrible.  Some guys, broke their ladders, only ended up with like 40 reps... felt bad for them a little.  Bout this much actually  |--|  Having more counted reps, and beating people who normally own me, yeah, I'll take that. 

Not much else to say at the moment...it's 1:19AM, and I think I'm just tired...lollygagging...and not really moving this story forward.  Catch you later. 

Establish Barbell Club

Oh man.  I have a new found respect for the box athletes that do a WOD, and then do extra stuff.  Doing the WOD at 0930 and then waiting till 1900 to do the barbell club, I thought I'd be recoved enough... and to an extent, I was, but today, "the morning after"...I'm sore in more places than I've been sore before, or at least it feels that way. 

There isn't a website for the EBC yet, but I can try to recount what I did to the best of my abilities (I knew I should have written this last night).  The objective... goal... whatever...  What we were working on tonight was snatches, and we broke the form down into pieces.  Everything started with a trusty PVC pipe.  First was the full ground to overhead with the arms locked out.  Then it was overhead squats.  Then it was the snatch balance.  Did this a few times with the PVC, then got out a training bar. 

Training bar was light, I didn't realize it was aluminum until I picked one up for the first time.  #thingsyoulearn  So I do them in sets of 2.  2 ground to overhead, 2 ohs, 2 snatch balances, put the bar down.  We added some weight, repeat a few times.  Ok, now, we're going to do the actual movement.  I did all 3 of the previous movements together, got my first real snatch.  Not to say I hadn't 'done' them before, but this one was much much much closer to what it's supposed to be.  I found that I can go nice and deep on the squat...heck, I hold it at the bottom no less.  Breaking new ground all the time.  First good snatch, and I'm holding a deep squat with a weighted bar overhead...good times.  

Knowing I can do this, I expect my cleans to start looking like cleans, and less like they did in the beginning (read, with little to no squatting).  I still can't do a lot of weight on these snatches.  I mean getting the weight up is easy, but keeping it overhead is my struggle.  I think I stopped at like 75, was having trouble keeping the weight overhead.  Overhead squatting that much weight has been difficult for me.  It's the maintaining balance piece.  I didn't keep track, but I kept trying to fall over at the bottom of the squat or standing up... 3 times?  Never fell over though, brought the bar down in front and used it to keep me stable.  #smallvictories

The rest of the time, we did front squats.  Mobility.  Still working on getting that front rack right.  We bumped the weight up...only 85# or something.  I want to get these both over 100# before the end of the year.  Shouldn't be too hard, but it's going to take some work.  The squat will come quicker I expect.  Much quicker. 

So I'm doing these front squats, and because I have to re-rack the weights to save my wrist, Coach J has me do this arms crossed, hold it with my elbows thing... probably the next step to just having my arms up and have the bar sitting on the shelf... either way...I'm getting them done.  85# is probably too light, but quite frankly, from all the stuff from the morning, my quads were suspect.  3 sets of 8.  In the middle of the second set, my quads start cramping/tightening up.  It sucked.  The last set...oh man.  I didn't really cramp, but man it was hurting.  Got to 5, had to re rack (I tried it from the front rack position again).  Only took a few breaths and then with the arm/underhook bit, finished the set with as much speed and tenacity as I had left.  I wanted to fall over and just lay on the ground....

But I don't do that.  Falling down, laying on the floor, has never been my thing.  Walked it off.  EBC was over.  I hurt, but I'm happier.  I did lifts I absolutely hated, and I got better at them.  Might help me hate them less?  We'll see, I hope so.  My understanding of things will help me, this much I know, or think I know.  Going to have to come back. 

The fallout.  Lets just say, this soreness...ouch.  Parts of my abs hurt that don't normally hurt, my shoulders are sore, my back, my quads...and then that special group of muscles...the glutes.  WOW.  Walking and going up and down stairs, these glutes are just....wow.  Thats all's I can say.  I hope I'm over being sore so I can go tonight.  Hang power cleans, something else I want to get better at, should be a good time.  I think I'm going to go, sore or not.  Tell you all about it soon I hope. 

Cheers. 

Monday, July 14, 2014

The Jeff

Hope your weekend was great.  Mine was great minus Sunday night.  I had planned on going to Establish Barbell Club, but got home late from watching the WC2014 final, and by the time I looked at the clock, the only thing I could say was dat gummit.  Might head out tonight, need to ice my knees from today first. 

So, my knees needing some ice...  yeah, todays WOD was supposed to be doing weighted pullups (can you do weight ring rows?), and then a 7 minute AMRAP of a progressing scale (ladder maybe) of pullups and thrusters.  3, 6, 9, 12, etc.  This will be awfu....I mean awesome!

We get through he warmups, I'm trying to get faster with wall balls and air squats.  I put more effort into banging them out quickly instead of the other way I've been doing them...ya know, slowly.  LOL.  Really on the second and third rounds of the warmup I went for speed and found that I can do things faster.  Another checkbox to keep in mind while working on that mental game. 

Weighted pullups... I was tempted to try a band out today and do banded pullups, and I almost did, but I really don't think I'm there yet.  Thats not my weak mental game talking, I don't think my back/shoulders are quite there, even with some band help, maybe next time.  I did some ring rows.  Instead of being on my normal side of the bar, I started on the farther side, and I kept going that way, 6" at a time, till I cold only do one.  It wasn't very far, maybe 24" past the midline....not very far, but it was my 1RM.

Moving on.  It's Jeffs birthday.  Jeff is an inspiration in himself.  He's lost over 50lbs since starting CrossFit.  Pretty awesome right?  I think so.  Jeff turned 44 today.  So Andy made us a birthday WOD:

44 wallballs
44 situps
44 kb swings
44 walking lunges
44 calorie row

Happy Birthday indeed.  The wallballs, I actually did 20 in a row before dropping the ball.  I think thats a milestone of sorts.  The next 24, no rhyme or reason to how I got done, I just did it as fast as I could.  Cool, done, moving on.  

Situps...yeah, I didn't think these would be a problem at all.  I figured it out after the first 11.  See, I figured I'd do sets of 4 and be done.  Maybe it was the way I was doing them, butterfly legs instead of straight, but somewhere around 20, I lost count.  My breathing is about useless once I get into situps, and at a point I was doing just 2 or 3 at a time.  I don't know what number I got to.  I'm sure I got over 30, but I lost track, and told myself do 4 more and be done...

KB's were much easier to break into 4 sets of 11.  I probably should have used a bigger weight.  Need to get myself grabbing that green one.  I think it's a pood.  Anyway, get these done, time for the walking lunges. 

PR on my mental toughness.  I wanted to sandbag the heck out of this.  I'm behind everyone else, and I was going to quit on myself, but I kept going.  7 sets of 6, and then I did two on the last one.  I just kept going, I wanted to quit after 3.  My legs were burning, it was awful, but something kept me going.  Rounds 4, 5, and 6 were a grinder.  I can't really tell you the conversation I was having mentally, I don't remember it, but it was a lot of back and forth.  Thankfully, while I'm arguing the merits of stopping early with myself, my body kept moving.  Set 7 was here...wow, that wasn't so bad right?  LOL.  The last 8 were rough, and I think the fact I was pausing longer at the bottom probably didn't make it any easier. 

Calorie rowing can suck.  At this point, my quads are on fire.  When I get on the rower and start going, it actually feels really good for the fist 10 pulls.  Then the suck sets in.  My quads are now no longer having fun, it's drudgery.  Theresa, one of the coaches who's on the DL (had rotator cuff surgery) happened to be by today, this is her normal class.  As I'm rowing, she takes the display, and pushes it back.  I can't see it, I have no idea where I'm at.  I don't know if this is a good thing or not, knowing vs not knowing... I row on.  Eventually I got there, Jeff was even nice enough to row with my while I finished.  :) 

Good WOD, and my quads are the closest they've been to that first Elements class at Diamond State.  I'm talking that wobbly, can't walk or do much of anything.  I'm not wobbly, but I suspect it might be an "ow ow ow" night judging by how much I could "feel" them.  We'll see.  Going to try to hit the barbell club tonight, but if they're doing squats, you can forget it. 

Friday, July 11, 2014

Sine Waves

Today has been a bag of ups and downs, very much like a sine wave, I've been all over today.  This might be to be a bit of a long winded narrative, so you may end up needing a bathroom break, or want to go make some popcorn before you get started.   I'm looking out for your best interest here...I mean while you're reading my confessional.  Every once in a while I need to just put it all out there... or something like that.  

0703, alarm goes off.  I have a thing for not doing it on "normal" times like 0700 or 0715.  I like the weirdness, don't hate.  This is early for me.  It's been a few weeks since I've been up this early, or even woken up to an alarm.  Rough life right?  Anyway, I'm getting up "this early" because I've got a check-in with my primary care physician (PCP).  I'm psyched.  Time to see how much I've lost, don't care about the rest of the visit, I just want that scale to be lower than last time. 

It was!  But not by the amount I wanted.  Actually, let me back up a sec.  Around week 7, I went and weighed myself after a WOD.  Apparently I sweat out a lot of weight working out.  I was down to 459 (from 482) when I did that.  At the end of the week, after re hydrating and going to see the PCP, I was back at 465.  Granted this was with more clothes on and what not, so I wasn't terribly upset, I certainly didn't think I gained all that weight back, I knew the after WOD weight might be a suspect weight.

Ok, so now you know the backstory... so I'm comparing my 454 today, to the 459 from week 7 (think we're in week 11 now).  Not so impressive.  My PCP, she was stoked.  11 lbs from her perspective (remember the 465).  Lesson learned here, don't weigh in after a WOD unless you're in a competition.  I'm down 28 lbs according to official records, and I'm on pace to make it 10lbs a month with this next week.  This is a high. 

Do some driving around, get a sweet soccer jersey to frame from a guy who works for my company, but at another campus on west side of KC.  Fun project.  I keep going around KC (435 is a big loop if you've never been to KC).  Get to the south side, and arrive at the New Balance store.  Get the foot measured, guy goes in the back to get the shoe.  Imagine my surprise when they don't have the size in stock.  I'm really not surprised mind you, 14's just don't seem to be in anyones backstock.  Ever.  Closest store doesn't have it either (St. Louis).  They'd have to order it from Boston.  Nah.  This is a low on the day. 

Driving from there to the box, I did a search on my phone for New Balance stores around my new client site.  Two calls later, they're on order, and should arrive in the store next Friday, and be waiting on me the following Monday.  My first week out is going to be good, getting some new gear, and I might be able to find a new box or two, we'll see.  Another high. 

Get to the box, get changed, got the Olys today, they're tight, see if we can break them in a little.  Lo and behold, a few regulars who I haven't been introduced (but know) showed up today for the noon WOD, and they bring co-workers.  I'm pretty sure this is a good chunk (if not all) of the Army recruiters in KC.  All here to do the noon WOD.  In my mind this is about the equivalent to having the top 6 guys from the CrossFit Open (pick one) show up.  Not that I'm competing, but I'm competing.... if you know what I mean.  This is more the middle of the wave, not a high or low. 

Warmups were a little harder than they needed to be.  Jumping rope in Olys isn't the best idea...and it's harder for me than the other shoes were.  #thissucks  I don't do well, and the memory of this will hamper my WOD efforts later.

4 rounds, not for time, 5 front squats @70% 1RM, 5 box jumps.  The squats were great with the olys.  The jumping wasn't bad either, I felt springy today, no trips, no issues.  Funny I can jump (on plates mind you), but I can't jump rope...there is a disconnect somewhere.  My mobility is still not there for the front squats, still to much wrist, even with some stretching.  A few times I had to re-rack to get a better grip.  Overall, solid work on the weights though, we'll call this a high. 

Time for the METCON.  Nasty.  1000m row, then right into 15 thrusters and 30 double unders, thrusters and double unders are repeated 2 more times.  For time.  I was salivating for this 1000m.  I'm looking to beat my previous best of 4:50.  At least I think it's 4:50, I don't have the desire to go look at that post, it's back there somewhere. I cranked out this 1k.  Had to stop a few times just to catch my breath a little.  Final time 4:15.  Yessir.  I don't think I'll ever have a bigger single time jump on the 1000k than this.  Doing a PR dance on the inside, on the outside, stone cold killer face, cause we've still got work to do. 

I didn't realize how much the rowing was going to gas me...well, that and the front squats.  Address my bar, and clean that sucker, go.  5.  Put it down.  I don't know that I needed to, but I had made my mind up that I was stopping every 5.  This just goes to show the importance of being strong mentally... I need to get those mental numbers up.  I get these 15 knocked out fairly easily, and on to the double unders.  My legs are already burning, and now, mentally, I'm talking myself accepting less than an honest effort.  I can't string more than 3 or 4 single together, somewhere around 15, I get mad, I quit, toss the rope down like it did something wrong.  This is clearly another low. 

Second round, it gets worse.  I'm really in my head now.  3 thrusters, bar down.  3 more.  2 more.  2 more.  Done.  I punked out on 5 thrusters.  I'm sucking air, justifying it by saying it is me scaling it.  This is the lowest point of the day for me.  I'm mad at myself for doing it, and I know I'm going to have this frank conversation later... and I still did it.  I'm shamed, but I'm over it.  The DU's?  Yeah, got to 10, quit again. 

Round three.  I get the problem fixed...sorta.  I wanted redemption for only doing 10.  I wasn't going to add 5 and do 20, but I was sure as hell going to do 15.  5.  5.  5.  Done.  Thats more like it.  Now I'm chastising myself for quitting earlier, taking the easy way out.  It wasn't pretty.  I don't remember what I said to myself, but you've probably had a similar conversation at some point, and it probably wasn't worth remembering, or repeating.  The DU's only got to 15 again, so I still quit on myself, but I did better... So still a low moment overall.

Went straight to the car, took the olys off.  My feet can breath.  Put on some sandals...Suzie is right, cooling down is much faster this way.  High point on the wave.  

WOD over, talk to the coaches, cool down, roll out...like drive away, not foam roll.  Funny how word pairs now mean different things.  Anyway, fast forward through work to now, and I'm back to being a flat line of consistency.  Had enough of that up and down nonsense, my natural mood has taken over and life is back to being allllright. 

Started another post, going to be a work in progress for a while, about the tragedy and triumphs of fitness and how it's great.... You see, I got the idea in the shower...I get all my best ideas in the shower, don't know why...no pens in there, can't write them down before I forget them...

Ok, so it wasn't the longest post, or maybe it was...haven't seen a word count tool to verify it either way.  Doesn't matter.   I'll leave you with this:

Thursday, July 10, 2014

The best worst minute of the week

It feels like I haven't written a blog in weeks...and it's only been one day... wonder if thats a good thing or now.   Either way, it's good to be back.  Took Wednesday off, had the plumber over and the shower was kaput for "about 24 hours" while the grout dries.  No sense being stinky unnecessarily.  

Ok, so last night, something special showed up.  I'll give you a peek.
Photo: Happiest and saddest moment of the day inside a minute.  Got them, elation.  Laced them up, feel real good...then I stood up.. tragedy.  Part of the heel and instep aren't supported at all....so I have to ship them back, no nanos for me.

Going to the NB store tomorrow to try o  their minimalist series.  Wish me luck.

I was so excited.  Finally, the nano's have arrived.  I put them on, and they felt lovely, plenty of room in the toes, light.. yeah buddy.  I stand up to strut my stuff, ut o.  Problem.  My wide, flat foot, is hanging over a little on the heel, and some of it is hanging over the instep.  No support.  Think a muffin top, but for shoes.  This sucks.  In 30 seconds I went from being super excited to bummed.  Not super bummed mind you, but bummed non the less.

10:30 pm, I'm pooped...didn't even workout today.  Bed time.  2 hours go by, and I'm still not asleep.  Thinking about my new client, thinking about my shoes, thinking about tomorrow's WOD... I get up.
I think I spent 30 minutes online chatting with a Reebok rep, trying to find a solution.  No dice.  None of the Reebok CrossFit line are made in a wide.  I hoped to stay with Reebok, but when I asked about some of the wide shoes, the rep told me that their spouse didn't really like them very much.  Appreciated the honesty.  To the Google!

"Wide Shoes for Crossfit".   GOOGLE SEARCH.  .00342764 seconds later, I had my results.  And there were quite a few.  Enough that I think Reebok should maybe look into this wide foot phenomena...  anyway.  Through all the results, a New Balance product line call the Minimus came up.   It comes in wide.  There is a New Balance store in KC...only one, and I will be going to it in the morning...maybe I'll find what I need. 

I say what I need, because I need a new shoe.  I stayed up for another hour and 30 minutes after the Reebok conversation.  I read/researched a lot.  Heel to toe drop, squishy shoes, and whole bunch of other things.  I have a high heel to toe drop in my Asics...they are running shoes, supposed to be that way.  But now that I know they're too squishy...it bothers me.  We did some lifting today, and I left the Oly's home...again.  Back to squishy, I felt it when I was lifting, and walking around...it's strange, I never felt it till I'd read about it yesterday. 

Short soapbox stump speech.  If your new to CrossFit, or thinking about trying it out, bring what you've got, and give this a shot.  If you find yourself liking CrossFit, then you need to get some good shoes.  There are a lot out there...well, a lot of shoes, and with everyone foot being different, I can't tell you whats is perfect for you.  What I will say, is that a lot of CrossFitters wear a "minimalist" shoe.  Something that has low heel/toe drop, and that isn't squishy...so look at getting something like that.  You don't have to spend a ton, some Chuck Taylors would be just fine, might mess with your distance running, so I wouldn't wear them then, but for the most part, shoes as inexpensive as that can be great.  In the end your mileage may vary...I want to write a lot more about this....but I said short.  Do some research, you'll see the variety.  Good luck.  

So, with my squishy shoes, we're doing some power cleans tonight.  Looking for a 3RM.  My lack of sleep is evident.  I struggled today.  I envision 2 45lbs bumpers/plates on my bar, plus maybe a 25 or something.  I should be killing this.  I STRUGGLED with just two 45's.  I mean, 135 isn't chump change, but I was aiming a bit higher.  *shrug*  Got the 3 done the first time, and they were ugly.  I walked away from the bar and came back hungrier.  Much better.  Still not as pretty as they should have been.  Need to invest some time with the Establish Barbell Club that just started.  I know they can help me with this.  Maybe next time we'll get that bigger PR champ. 

The programming was pretty light today...not to say it was easy, but it was just light.  After the power cleans, we had a 3round AMRAP of 5 burpees, 5 ground to overheads (get your barbell from the ground to above you head, you call it).  So 3 rounds of 2 minutes work, 90 seconds rest, pick up where you left off.

I went lighter on the bar than maybe I should have, but I wanted to keep it light so I would have the energy for the life sucking burpees.  The first two rounds were exactly what I expected, and I did a good job keeping a pace to do 3 sets of 5.  So it went burpee, g2o, burpee, rest, g2o, burpee, g2o, rest.  I'm so slow...or I feel that way, but it's also two minutes... so maybe I'm not sooo bad.  3rd round was going to have to be burpee/g2o/burpee to keep pace. 

I tried... maybe not hard enough, but I almost got it.  My first 4 burpess were phenomenal.  I think I've found a new way to do them, cause I was up and down faster than normal, maybe I'm learning...or just trying harder.  That 5th one doe.  I must not have been breathing very well, because number 5 took 20 seconds by itself.  Still gassed, the weights, I split between snatches and power clean to push press's.  30 seconds left.  I drop, and I didn't rise...  LOL.  It was like life had left me, it took everything I had.  1.  10 seconds left.  I dug, I pushed, grimaced, made noises, and forced that second one up.  4 seconds left.  No.  Just no. I'm done.  4+2.  Not the worst score...not the best.  I'm moving up it seems.

It took only...I don't know, maybe 90 seconds for me to go from gulping air to being able to carry on a conversation.  All things considered, I'd say I'm getting better all around...still going to be looking for a recovery supplement.  Might ditch the Myoplex and buy the Progenex.  #wellsee

I hope I get some new shoes tomorrow, the WOD looks nasty...half Fran/half are you fran-kin' kidding me....front squats for strength then doing thrusters in the METCON...it's just not right man, just not right. 

It's ok though, seeing the PCP tomorrow as well...hoping for at least another 10lbs gone.  That will make any amount of thrusters better.  

Fingers crossed, see you tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Man-makers

Man-makers...make me cry.  I looked them up last night, and oh boy.  Todays workout had me wanting to quit.  Being honest, I didn't even want to come, but I've got some meetings tomorrow and if I didn't show up today, I'd have suffered through it tonight.  Woulda shoulda coulda cherry picked this.  LOL.  Oh well, all done.  Maybe I'll cherry pick tomorrow... or maybe not. 

So, todays box finds us in a much better place than yesterday.  Rained like a typhoon last night, much cooler than it was on Monday, that and the 0930 class helped.  Warmups still leaves me in a pile of sweat. 

Strength today was deadlifts again.  3 RM this time.  Started low and moved up in % progression 5, 3, 2, 1.  The 1 being 90-95% of the 1RM .  It was "easy".  I went up a little more, closer to the 1RM, and banged out 3.  Broke the set up, didn't do a good job with my grip, but I did a 3RM at 275.  I really really really wanted to go for a 1RM after that, I feel like I could put another 20lbs or so over that 1RM.  Maybe a lot more.  Coach Andy kindly shook his head, that was something for another day. 

Still, I feel really good.  I can see what some rest and proper nutrition can do.  Not saying I got sooo much stronger or anything, I was probably a bit fatigued last time, but that feeling that I could do more... is kinda nice.  Not PR nice, but it's not too far off.  Hope I have that juice for the next 1RM day. 

Onto the METCON.  Still not sure why this gets an all caps every time I write it...  3RFT, 400m row and 10 man-makers.  If you don't know what man makers are, I suggest you watch this.  This thing is aptly named...cause I have the sensation that should I do enough of these, I will indeed be a manly man. 

The feeling good from almost PRing... all gone.  I've never wanted to quit like I did today.  It took everything I had to finish, and that was after modifying the counts, and the movement...everything that is and up down movement, or that has a pushup base to it... absolutely destroys me.  I'm slow, it takes everything I have to do it... and this thing does both, plus I get the added bonus of getting to do a thruster at the end of it.  Awesome. 

In the first set, Andy suggested just doing thrusters with the dumbbells.  I couldn't bring myself to outright abandon the whole thing.  Remember yesterdays quote?  Just wanted to get it done, to hell with dignity.. 

I'd like to regale you with stories of how I pushed through it, and got them all done, how I was such a bad ass... truth is, for bits of the second set, and most of the third set, I settled for thrusters.  17:19, scaled was my time with a max of 18 minutes.  I was defeated.  This one hurt, and not like "ow my knee hurts" but like a...like "my soul hurts" kinda hurt.  Not quite, but I hope that gives you an idea.  Oooof. 

In the end, I finished, got it done, and I'm in recovery mode.  

So, lessons learned.  Man-makers are the devil.  I'm stronger than I've thought, even with fighting with the devil.  Summer heat with two shirts still sucks.  Lastly, in the end, it really is a mental game. 

To steal from the Dos Equis brand... "stay hydrated my friends". 

Monday, July 7, 2014

To hell with dignity, I'll leave when he jobs done...

How was your 4th?  I hope it was awesome.  Spent an hour or so waiting for a fireworks show, lasted 5 minutes....and I'd probably go back next year, just maybe go back a little later so I don't have to wait so long.  Leads me to the next question...eeerybody is saying things like 'merica and 'murica...  my question to you is this, which on is it?  Maybe it's both... 

So, threes days rest, and I'm feeling...creaky.  Fresh, but creaky.  Couldn't drag myself out of bed to go to the 0930 class...but I got to the noon class.  Yesterday, we had a heat index of 103.  I believe it's actually warmer today, so the heat index is probably similar....goody, and here I am deciding to go at noon...  Should be lovely. 

We warmed up with 2 minute AMRAP of DUs.  I'm still working on getting 10 singles in a row regularly.  There is a lot of me to get to jump up and down...  Actually, today I noticed that my knee was hurting...the one I didn't get the MRI done on...it was hurting on the landing.  I think I turn the foot inside a bit when I jump...possible side effect to breaking that ankle years ago?  Maybe.  Might have to take some time to work on keeping everything neutral. 

Warmups are over...dripping sweat...I'm ready to see my PCP on Friday, jump on that scale, see where we're at.  Need to get this second shirt off, so I've just got the sleeveless, and eventually, maybe a bro tank.  

Strength part today was rough.  I didn't like it.  At all.  Snatch Balance and Jerk was the name of the game.  We started in the physical rack, then to a back squat position, then the objective was to drop under the weight while keeping it in a snatch position... if that makes sense.  Basically you don't want the weight to move, you just move from the rear squat start/upright position to a squatting snatch position.  The only thing moving is you, the bar should remain as motionless as possible. 

So my knee is already smarting a bit, and now I'm trying to drop my body under a bar, yeah right.  I do ok with just the bar, but when I add some weight, it gets exponentially more difficult.  At one point...no, actually at two points I drop the bar.  I hate this.  Really.  Hopefully this stuff helped with my balance and and jerk...or whatever it was called, cause this was a pain.  

METCON time baby!  Time for the heat and humidity to take effect.  Actually, Coach Clay took some time to explain to some folks what METCON stood for, and what the different bits of it work.  Aerobic, anaerobic, etc.  Learned (and promptly forgot sadly...) something new for the day.  Good thing we have the Google.  :)

AMRAP time.  7 toes to bar, 14 wallballs, 7 minutes.  I had some grand plans for this, I was wanting to smash it, planning on beating all but maybe the top results, but like all grand plans, once the party started, things changed.  HA!  I really don't care for this hanging about business...I'm trying to get better at keeping an active shoulder position while trying to get my knees up (for my scaled toes to bar), but it's a difficult thing holding this much weight up.  Maybe as I continue to get stronger it will get easier?  In the meantime, I may switch it to the laying down and doing toes to bar bit.  As far as ab exercises go, if the partner leg throw down is any indication, this will build up that strength much faster...or so I think.  Coaches?

4 sets is what I made it to.  Not the most by a long shot, but not the least either.  Wallballs just hurt now, no one thing about them is awful, just all around PITA...or rather in the legs.  If I use the lightest ball, they seem quite a bit easier, but the quads still suffer (I went medium ball today)... I'd like to think they get better/easier with time, but I doubt it....wouldn't be in some many WODs if it did. 

Last bit today was a 400m run and a 400m row.  As I'm sure you can imagine, I row'd the whole thing.  Made pretty good time too.  Immediately after I was done, I wished I'd go for a full 1000 to see how much better my time has gotten.  I'm sure I'll get the chance soon enough.  3:35 was my time, I feel pretty good about it all things considered.  Got up and was gulping air for a few minutes...this breathing thing has to get better at some point right?  Sigh.

In other news....

Looks like I'm getting a new client, finally.  Being able to watch the World Cup has been awesome for me, tried to keep it off social media as best I could, but I love this stuff.  Eat it up though, shame it's almost over.  But, I've been home for a while now, and it's time to get back to nomading.  Might have a new box to talk about soon. 

Quote of the day, courtesy of the movie I've been watching, Skyfall.  "To hell with dignity, I'll leave when he jobs done".  That wasn't the type of WOD today, the kind where I didn't care how I looked, just glad I survived.  But there are plenty of those out there, and that's just a little something to keep in mind when you find yourself in the thick of it.  Forget about the dignity of it, we're all suffering, just get the job done. 

Friday, July 4, 2014

Cheerleading

So... 120 KB swings is no joke, broken up or not.  WOWzer.  I am def not going tomorrow... and I wanted to.  4th of July, hero WOD, some BBQ... but there is no way...at least no way I'm WODding tomorrow...the BBQ might be quite nice....chalk this up as a maybe.   

Got myself another PR today...disguised as a 1RM.  I'd never found my 1RM for deadlifts until today, and I think I might have gone for a little more, but it felt like the right number for me today.  I started at 135, and just kept adding plates.  Didn't bother counting till the 1st pull felt like it should be the last one.  It's probably not a super impressive number for my size, but I was hoping to get to 200.  When it was all said and done, I was sitting pretty at 285.  Now I've a number to go off of in the future.  Feels good. 

I keep struggling to remember that the METCON is supposed to be intense, and I should rest so much.  Maybe this is stamina training in disguise?  Tonight was something else.  20 Pullups 40 KB swings, 3 rounds for time.  I wanted to split this into 6 sets of 10/20, but got shot down.  Something about defeating the purpose of the numbers as they were.  It sounded better when he said it. 

Ring rows baby.  I don't know if I'm just fatigued, or maybe I'm doing them at an increased angle...either way, more than 10 at once is getting difficult.  The first set I'm able to do 10, then I do 5.  And at this point I put my resolve to the test.  There are scaling options on the board as far as effort goes.  Less reps for both things.  I wanted to do them all, but all the way through my first 15 ring rows, the question nagged at me.  Should I scale the numbers too... This was a long internal debate.  I even stopped for a bit while on 15, trying to decide.  No.  Not going to do it.  I'm not scaling this.  I had planned on hitting 20/40, so thats what I'm going to do.  20 rows done, on to the KBs...I feel like I've been doing a lot of these lately...  can't remember what my count was.  Not fully unbroken, but I think I only put it down 3 times.  I wasn't using a heavy KB today... Got to 40, moving on. 

Round two, I'm maybe 4 minutes into this, and I'm hurting.  Rows are now in sets of 5.  Done.  Burning.  KB's are in sets of 10.  Last set, near the end, I finally see why people drop these things, or otherwise let them going flying.  My grip is garbage, almost dropped it myself.  Back on the rings, I peek over, Chris is on his last set, this other lady is almost done, and I'm actually ahead of another person... sorry, I'm still competitive. 

I'm back on the rings.  Chris is done, comes over, "how many you got left".  I hold up 4 fingers.  How did I get to 4, I don't know, not able to do sets of 5 I guess.  That survival mode, just trying to get done.  Done.  The KB's are torturous, nail 15 my first set, 10, 5, then ten to finish.  I'm done.  I hurt, fist bump.  I look around, grab my water, kill the whole thing, 16oz in maybe 3 seconds.  Look around some more, Stephanie is sill doing her pullups.  Chris and I go over, cheering her on.  It's nice to be able to pay come of the motivation back.  5 more pullups, then she's done, onto KBs.  She powers out 15, but the form starts to suffer.  Swap out to a lighter KB, and she kills the last 15.  I counted her down the whole way, and then she was done. 

Yeah, it's nice to be able to do that for someone else, instead of always receiving it.  Gave me something to smile about anyway. 

Have a happy 4th! 

Thursday, July 3, 2014

How do you celebrate your PRs?

Where to start?  Might as well get the METCON out of the way.  7 minutes of heaven...aka 7 minutes of suck.  7 minute AMRAP of burpees.  I didn't have it today.  I know I'm slow, but that slowness today was bad.  I only got 38.  I was 30 short of the next person...but it's ok, I know I suck at burpees right now, thats changing, slowly.  Please believe that this is the worst that WOD will ever be.  These things waste my arms like nothing else.  Debating a rest day tomorrow, but it's a dead lift day, and I'd really like to get some of those in, only really done them once in 3 months of CrossFit, I need some more. 

Tomorrow will take care of itself, back to today.  I've got major endorphins right now, feeling good.  Spent some time with @Iamthehealer getting adjusted, had my brother over earlier, got some leg and shoulder work in, happy about that, I'm all physical therapied up.  Massaged, chiropracted... all good.  Think I'll make tomorrow just fine now that I think about it, but back to the endorphins.  We did some bro-love bench pressing today.  This is only the second or third noon WOD I've done at Establish.  First one, about two months ago, was the only other time we did the bench press that I can remember, it was for a 1RM as well.

So back then (2 mo's ago) it was...a surprisingly similar type of day, 70's outside, bright, cheery.  Getting something like that in July, nearly unheard of in the mid-west, glad I made the most of it.  So I'm working with Clay today (was then too), and we start at something light, easy enough, and we take the time to build up to about 10lbs below the 1rm.  Then we jumped to a little over, 10lbs I think.  Done.  Easy.  Gimmie some more.  10lb more.  Done.  Struggled a little, but solid.  He thinks for a minute, I do some stretches.  10 more lbs.  Bar goes down, takes a solid push, bar comes up.  Done.  30lbs over my previous 1RM.  About a 20% gain, in 2 months.  YEAAAH!

I was too cool to do a PR dance, and we didn't have a bell to ring, so I settled for a big smile and an Fonzy "Aaaay".  I could have done more, maybe 5lbs, maybe even 10, but Clay called it there, and it was probably the right call.  The burpees after that were awful, but I had a 30# RP to hang my hat on, can't complain.  Good Wednesday. 

How do you celebrate your PRs?  You don't have to reply (feel free to), just a question for the masses.  At CFDS, there is this bell, and it's rung when someone PRs.  I think all boxes should have something like this, but that could just be my exuberance.  I need to get something going, Jaimie does a dance, and frankly it's awesome, so I may end up doing that.  Decisions decisions...

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Heavy Legs

Title says it all.  My legs are heavy tonight.  Had an awesomely awful WOD tonight, and I'll be feeling it in the morning.  My quads hadn't quite recovered from yesterdays squats beating, and today had a little bit more leg type stuff.  Lets get into it. 

The early stuff was all fun and games.  Rowing, leg swings, stretching, all that.  Then we had a PR broad jump competition type thing.  Well, it wasn't a competition, but you know how competitive people get...some good stuff.  We also spent a little time on handstand walking.  For me that means strict DB pressing.  My shoulders are already in rough shape...not sure why, so I felt every bit of these presses.  With all the standing around, I feel like I got more from this than everyone else, but I don't know...it doesn't matter anyway. 

The METCON today is simple, yet awful... and it's funny, nearly 3 months into this journey, I'm still here, still sore all the time, and still loving it.  Just thought I'd share that.  Wanted to say thank you for everyone I've met and WODded with on this journey... still a ways to go, but if this first bit has been any indication, it'll be worth the ride. 

Where was I?  Oh yeah, simple, yet awful....4 minute AMRAP of sorts.  25 KB swings, 400m rowing, then as many double unders as you can muster.  2 minute rest, repeat 3 more times. 

I followed through with the going up a KB size.  Won't call it a mistake, but I only made it through 1 round of it.  Felt something in my shoulder, decided to do the last 3 with a lighter load, just in case it was something rough.  KB's can be fun right?  I think for every single round, right around 15 or so, the though of  "damn, 25?" crept into my head.  Finish that first set, then it's on to the rower. 

I have company today.  Kara, another longtime member I think, cause everyone seems to know her.  She's got knee issues too, a tear of some sort, surgery coming up.  Knowing what I went through, I feel for her, but right now, we've got rowing.  She's able to start before me just about every round, but I'm a bit taller, have a different stroke, so I'm able to catch her, or at least catch up to her.  Not that it's a competition mind you, but I can't get beat by a girl.  LOL. 

Each row leaves me about 50-60 seconds for double unders...but my rope is further from the rower than it probably should be.  Sandbagging.  I did single unders for the day, divide by two.  My legs are so heavy from yesterday, I didn't bother attempting a DU, and with the time left, and my "eh" style of jumping, I get about 20 each time.  A few of the times I stuffed more in a shorter time, the other ones had me messing up mid time, and re setting too much....I really need to find a jump rope so I can practice... 

Normally I'd go through all four rounds with you, or tell you something funny...or at least something I think is funny, but frankly, my body is trying to put me to sleep and my spelling is getting awful.  The mind is willing, but the body is weak, or so it seems. 

Good news, tomorrow is another simple workout....looking like bench pressing for strength, and 12.1 for the METCON....don't know why I always capitalize that...anyway, 12.1, for those of you that don't know, is the reference to 2012's 1st Open workout.  For those of you who don't remember, or don't feel like looking it up, it's a 7 minute AMRAP.  Of burpees.  Ug.  Pray for me.