They say you never get a second chance at a first impression. Hopefully the impression I made on them was the same impression they made on me. I really like On Track. I'll try my best to give you all my impressions...
It's large. Probably not quite the same size as Establish, but pretty close. They got a ton of open floor space with the rig being off to one side. Several rowers, lots of bars, KB's... all the typical things you see in a box. They have 3 showers, 2 showers, laundry stuff, few other odds and ends. There is even another gym area where the more elite level guys/girls train. Competition level stuff. Can't wait to be in there myself.
Now we all know, a gym is nothing but a room full of tools without the people to use them. OT has all kinds of people. Felt like organized chaos tonight, people everywhere... figured it out later, that the beginners class straddles the 530 and 630 classes, so there can be a lot going on. Makes sense why I felt that way now. People all seem pretty cool... and I mean I didn't expect anything less, it's a CrossFit box, that seems to be growing... so yeah, good people are bound to be there right?
Enough (for now) about OT... it's 0116, and I need to get some beauty sleep, I have a feeling work will be calling on yet another day off. The beginners class tonight was taught by Brandon. Amanda told me he had a way with people, and I'd agree. He made the teaching seem quite a bit less like teaching, and just ...kind of follow the leader. *shrug* I don't know how to describe it. We went through the snatch progression. Lots of holding positions and what not... pain. LOL. I feel like every time I go through that, I get better... like a lot better. Things are already looking good.
Next thing we did was go over wallballs. We were doing a partner WOD...Karen. 150 wallballs... oh lawd! J.Peet, I'm sorry, this long off working out... my form was awful. AWFUL!! I'm getting deep enough, but my chest isn't high at all, I'm leaned forward... it sucked... the form and the workout. LOL. The whole time it was just bad. My quads... they hurt like they've rarely hurt... it was just bad. But we got done, Sarah and I got done in sub 8 minutes. I know thats probably not a great time, but at the same time, thats the first time I've done Karen, partner WOD or not.
I wish I'd worn my lifters tonight... sorry, still feeling the quads... maybe they would have helped? After all this, spent some time chatting up the coaches, got to know some people a little bit more, they got to know me a bit more. Tomorrow is a WOD called Candyland... picture a home made board with... idk, 70 spaces, mixed up between the girls, tabata workouts, gymnastics, etc. There is the upside of it being partner workouts, and of course the BYOB... if I can walk when I wake up, I might go. Maybe. Anyway, it's late, and frankly my thoughts aren't coming together... so I'll catch you later.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Back On Track (part 1/2)
HEY! Hope everyone had a great Christmas or other chosen holiday. It's all in good holiday cheer, don't be one of the chronically offended. Moving on...it's been a busy week +. Moved into our new house, have new house issues, work is calling me on my days off... busy. Onto the wonderful work of blogging about it.
Haven't eaten the best this past week... we're going to say past week, but really we're talking like 10 days, give or take. I also haven't eaten the worst. Christmas Day was the worst offender by far, creamy corn, potatoes, more potatoes, some cheesy spinach, more potatoes... but no soda. The only sugary drink I've had have been little 12oz bottles of G2 Gatorade. They say low calorie if that gets me any bonus points. Next week it's back on the road... maybe everything will magically fall back into place by then?
So I stopped by On Track this last Saturday... I'm just going to shorten them to OT.... stopped by between the classes (near as I could tell online) and there were a lot of people there. Felt a lot like the first time at Diamond State, or even Establish. Nervous, no idea whats waiting on the other side of the door... Turns out, much like the other boxes, there are people and tools on the other side of the door... go figure. Met a coach, Reggie I believe his name was, and he seemed like a good sort. Easy smile, friendly, I liked him immediately. We dug around, couldn't find the waiver forms and the owners/office managers Brian and Amanda weren't yet in, so I chatted with Reggie for a bit and was going to come back Sunday. Missed Sunday, emailed Amanda at some point, and we were going to meet up this week sometime... well, I made that this morning.
...and I just missed Brian. LOL. He'd just run a local spot to get his beverage of choice. Few minutes later he was back, and I got to chat with him a little bit. We didn't get to go over everything, he had a previous appointment I'd stolen him away from, and I had other places to be as well. We did agree on me coming back in tonight at 6pm for a beginners class, so that should explain the part 1/2 for most folks...and the back on track... going to Crossfit On Track... so I'm getting back on track... get it? No? ....
Anyway, I've got some nervous anticipation for tonight's beginner class. Brian thought it would be better if I went through that. I think part of it is a check to make sure I am who I say I am, and another part to just see me move around. It's probably a good idea all around, I'm not offended....and I don't think I should be. To be honest, it's been "a week", I could be pretty rusty. Something else to consider, I think they do a little bit more than a lot of other boxes when I look at their WODs online. I could use a few days to work back up to that load.
In the end I'm excited, I'm ready to get to work. See you on the other side.
Haven't eaten the best this past week... we're going to say past week, but really we're talking like 10 days, give or take. I also haven't eaten the worst. Christmas Day was the worst offender by far, creamy corn, potatoes, more potatoes, some cheesy spinach, more potatoes... but no soda. The only sugary drink I've had have been little 12oz bottles of G2 Gatorade. They say low calorie if that gets me any bonus points. Next week it's back on the road... maybe everything will magically fall back into place by then?
So I stopped by On Track this last Saturday... I'm just going to shorten them to OT.... stopped by between the classes (near as I could tell online) and there were a lot of people there. Felt a lot like the first time at Diamond State, or even Establish. Nervous, no idea whats waiting on the other side of the door... Turns out, much like the other boxes, there are people and tools on the other side of the door... go figure. Met a coach, Reggie I believe his name was, and he seemed like a good sort. Easy smile, friendly, I liked him immediately. We dug around, couldn't find the waiver forms and the owners/office managers Brian and Amanda weren't yet in, so I chatted with Reggie for a bit and was going to come back Sunday. Missed Sunday, emailed Amanda at some point, and we were going to meet up this week sometime... well, I made that this morning.
...and I just missed Brian. LOL. He'd just run a local spot to get his beverage of choice. Few minutes later he was back, and I got to chat with him a little bit. We didn't get to go over everything, he had a previous appointment I'd stolen him away from, and I had other places to be as well. We did agree on me coming back in tonight at 6pm for a beginners class, so that should explain the part 1/2 for most folks...and the back on track... going to Crossfit On Track... so I'm getting back on track... get it? No? ....
Anyway, I've got some nervous anticipation for tonight's beginner class. Brian thought it would be better if I went through that. I think part of it is a check to make sure I am who I say I am, and another part to just see me move around. It's probably a good idea all around, I'm not offended....and I don't think I should be. To be honest, it's been "a week", I could be pretty rusty. Something else to consider, I think they do a little bit more than a lot of other boxes when I look at their WODs online. I could use a few days to work back up to that load.
In the end I'm excited, I'm ready to get to work. See you on the other side.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Well poo...
Oh lawd! Another long day at work today, but it was only 12 hours, instead of 14 hours like yesterday. I'm a wee bit tired, but, I DID get to Unlocked. I was late, and I really hate being late. Good news for me was everyone was till warming up. Well, they were just finishing up the stretching, and then they were starting their warmup movements? I don't know what to call them, but it was the stuff past dynamic stretching.
Yeah, so I started doing the dynamic stretching, and would do some of the warmups, but it was a lot of work, I was already pooped, and getting everything warm seemed like a better idea at the time. My knees are a bit achy this morning, so I can tell you now that I didn't do enough... need to work on that. Still think the Oly stretch on the wall is my best warmup for squatting, but that doesn't really do that much for the knees... does it?
So I get started, we've got a lot of lifting to do today. I'm ready, I'm excited, I want to work out some of my work issues with the bar and weights. It's a demanding workout.
2x3 squat clean at 85%
2x6 squat clean at 70%
2x9 squat clean at something else...
2x12 power clean 55%
2x 15 power clean 45%?
And there was more stuff than that, this was just the strength/skill part. I can't really tell you about it, because I didn't get there. I warmed up to my 85%, and was ready to get started. Got 1, then 2, then on the third clean, I paused at the bottom. Now, a pause at the bottom isn't weird or necessarily strange, but this time was different. You see, my stomach was playing the part of Judas tonight, and now there was some uncertainty in my bowel continence... in other words, I had stomach problems.
So I'm sitting here, at the bottom of a squat, with the bar in the front rack positions... and I've got choices to make. Really, it's what choices to make, but what muscles to engage first to that I don't have any problems while getting up. It didn't really occur to me to just drop the bar, I had to get up... And I did. And then I went to the bathroom for a while. I came back out, tried it again, and made it to the set of 2x6, and had it again. So I called it short. Crappy workout, pun intended.
Hope to get back to Unlocked tonight, try again.
Yeah, so I started doing the dynamic stretching, and would do some of the warmups, but it was a lot of work, I was already pooped, and getting everything warm seemed like a better idea at the time. My knees are a bit achy this morning, so I can tell you now that I didn't do enough... need to work on that. Still think the Oly stretch on the wall is my best warmup for squatting, but that doesn't really do that much for the knees... does it?
So I get started, we've got a lot of lifting to do today. I'm ready, I'm excited, I want to work out some of my work issues with the bar and weights. It's a demanding workout.
2x3 squat clean at 85%
2x6 squat clean at 70%
2x9 squat clean at something else...
2x12 power clean 55%
2x 15 power clean 45%?
And there was more stuff than that, this was just the strength/skill part. I can't really tell you about it, because I didn't get there. I warmed up to my 85%, and was ready to get started. Got 1, then 2, then on the third clean, I paused at the bottom. Now, a pause at the bottom isn't weird or necessarily strange, but this time was different. You see, my stomach was playing the part of Judas tonight, and now there was some uncertainty in my bowel continence... in other words, I had stomach problems.
So I'm sitting here, at the bottom of a squat, with the bar in the front rack positions... and I've got choices to make. Really, it's what choices to make, but what muscles to engage first to that I don't have any problems while getting up. It didn't really occur to me to just drop the bar, I had to get up... And I did. And then I went to the bathroom for a while. I came back out, tried it again, and made it to the set of 2x6, and had it again. So I called it short. Crappy workout, pun intended.
Hope to get back to Unlocked tonight, try again.
Monday, December 15, 2014
The coast is socked in with rain and fog, no WOD tonight.
Pulling a little Band of Brothers reference for those of you that may have seen it. I can't say I wont WOD tonight for sure, but I've got some serious concerns that I wont be. This weekend was filled with plenty of work. I packed up most of the house, and got it moved to the garage.... lots of sweat and lol's were had. Sore back for the rest of the night too.
Flew out to DE last night, got to the hotel after 10. Normally not a bad time to get to the hotel at all...unless you need to be up before 5. Even better, my body woke me up at 0400... so yeah, it was something like 4 hours of sleep. It's been a loooong day already. Work is really messing up my fitness vibe man.
Just to complain a little more, probably not going to get to WOD a whole lot this week... Going live with several solutions at work, probably a lot of 14 hour days... bit of a sad panda. After a week of this, going home just in time to move. I think after moving, I'm going to sleep all day Sunday. Apologies to you, my thoughts are very random and all over right now. I'm already at something like 800mg of caffeine right now... and I'm pretty sure thats not all that good for me. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I might not get a chance to WOD tonight, but I AM going to get me some paleo food. Which is good, makes up for the donuts and the other junk I've been ingesting to try to stay awake...
Sigh.
I really can't have another long week of no WODs. Going to have to find a way... so I may not WOD tonight, but I'm going to try and get a few in this week. I need to get a few in this week.
Flew out to DE last night, got to the hotel after 10. Normally not a bad time to get to the hotel at all...unless you need to be up before 5. Even better, my body woke me up at 0400... so yeah, it was something like 4 hours of sleep. It's been a loooong day already. Work is really messing up my fitness vibe man.
Just to complain a little more, probably not going to get to WOD a whole lot this week... Going live with several solutions at work, probably a lot of 14 hour days... bit of a sad panda. After a week of this, going home just in time to move. I think after moving, I'm going to sleep all day Sunday. Apologies to you, my thoughts are very random and all over right now. I'm already at something like 800mg of caffeine right now... and I'm pretty sure thats not all that good for me. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I might not get a chance to WOD tonight, but I AM going to get me some paleo food. Which is good, makes up for the donuts and the other junk I've been ingesting to try to stay awake...
Sigh.
I really can't have another long week of no WODs. Going to have to find a way... so I may not WOD tonight, but I'm going to try and get a few in this week. I need to get a few in this week.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
EMOMs and AMRAPS
So I'm driving to the box tonight, feeling alright. Battling that sleepy feeling most people get between 2 and 5pm... and I'm pretty close...then it happens. Felt like I took a shot from a pro boxer on the right side of my stomach. I did not feel good... I got to the box feeling like I was losing @ life. Told Jeff bout that feeling... and that I was going to go through warmups, see where that left me.
Made it through the pain, and the warmup... I actually punked out of the warmup. It looked like running, so, being in my lifters, I was like I'll be over here.... rowing. Dave had them do a life sized version of the game hungry hippos.... it doesn't scale quite like you'd think. :) It was 4 corners, teams of 2. Bear crawl to the middle of the room, grab a wall ball, then, with the wallball on your stomach and crab walk back. Looked fun, but I was doing just fun on my rower. By the time they were done...or the time I stopped, I had a 1k done in 4:30. Not terribly fast, but I wasn't really pushing with the spectacle I was watching before me.
Pain is gone, it's go time. The strength/skill part was an 8 minute EMOM of 4 barbell lunges and 10 bar jump overs. Every minute. My lunges are bad... I don't get all the way down on one knee... not even close. My squats are slowly getting heavier... but even with that, I'm still a lot of dude to pick up with one leg, add a barbell of weights....I did try. Quads were on instant fire. The the jump overs... not even close to two footed. I'm in my lifters, and I'm trying... by the end of the EMOM, I want to just fall over and cry...but my flatfooted feet hurt more than than anything else. So I settled for taking off my lifters and getting ready for the METCON... 17 minute AMRAP. Goody!
Simple AMRAP today. 3 power snatches, 6 chest 2 bar pullups, 9 pushups. Every 2 minutes, you stop and work 3 front squats. Knowing all this, I went with a 95lb bar. I might have been able to do RX at 135, but thats over my known 1RM for a snatch of any kind, and the last thing I want to do is destroy my shoulders in a bad way.
This was a bad workout for me. I didn't do particularly well in my mind, and it wore me out. I feel like I rested a lot, even with the scaling options... I mean the girly pushups I'm doing... arms still hurt as I type this. It was a lot of pushups, with me trying to do them with as little "butt in the air" moves as I could (as in hold that plank down and up). The front squats messed me up pretty good. The 5th one was it for my wrists, I was done. Told Jeff that my wrist were shot, he make that shut it down gesture... idk how to explain it... hold out your arm with your palm in the air, bend it at the elbow, and bed your wrist so you see your finger tips...no with the put your fingertips close to your neck, and shake back and forth... that gesture. I shake my head, ask about doing back squats instead, he nods the affirmative, and we keep going.
I only got 5+1 in... not exactly a great time or speed, but I didn't quit. We're calling that a win after today. I'll explain that. Didn't get much sleep. Not because I didn't try to get sleep, but I was worried about waking up to my alarm for some reason....so I tossed and turned all damn night. #gofigure Lots of big shots at the facility today, so had that added stress.... it's just been meh... sleep does that, or lack thereof does it.
DID get my paleo goodnees today. Even had some artwork on it. Peep this
Even had a picture of someone doing snatches... I know it's not me, I wasn't smiling. Thanks again Carla! Food hit the spot.
Need to figure out Establish and On Track this weekend. I'd really like to just pay a drop in fee when I show up rather than dropping a full 10 day punch card... need to email Heath and see if that is an option. Going to try to stop by On Track as well this weekend as well, meet the owners maybe, see what's what. Wish me luck.
On, last thing, got blood on my lifters tonight. Battle tested! Not sure what happened, but I scratched my right leg, below the knee, inside area. Dripped a little during the METCON, had to clean that up. Have to admit, felt a little bit like a bad ass. Anyways... just sharing. LOL
Made it through the pain, and the warmup... I actually punked out of the warmup. It looked like running, so, being in my lifters, I was like I'll be over here.... rowing. Dave had them do a life sized version of the game hungry hippos.... it doesn't scale quite like you'd think. :) It was 4 corners, teams of 2. Bear crawl to the middle of the room, grab a wall ball, then, with the wallball on your stomach and crab walk back. Looked fun, but I was doing just fun on my rower. By the time they were done...or the time I stopped, I had a 1k done in 4:30. Not terribly fast, but I wasn't really pushing with the spectacle I was watching before me.
Pain is gone, it's go time. The strength/skill part was an 8 minute EMOM of 4 barbell lunges and 10 bar jump overs. Every minute. My lunges are bad... I don't get all the way down on one knee... not even close. My squats are slowly getting heavier... but even with that, I'm still a lot of dude to pick up with one leg, add a barbell of weights....I did try. Quads were on instant fire. The the jump overs... not even close to two footed. I'm in my lifters, and I'm trying... by the end of the EMOM, I want to just fall over and cry...but my flatfooted feet hurt more than than anything else. So I settled for taking off my lifters and getting ready for the METCON... 17 minute AMRAP. Goody!
Simple AMRAP today. 3 power snatches, 6 chest 2 bar pullups, 9 pushups. Every 2 minutes, you stop and work 3 front squats. Knowing all this, I went with a 95lb bar. I might have been able to do RX at 135, but thats over my known 1RM for a snatch of any kind, and the last thing I want to do is destroy my shoulders in a bad way.
This was a bad workout for me. I didn't do particularly well in my mind, and it wore me out. I feel like I rested a lot, even with the scaling options... I mean the girly pushups I'm doing... arms still hurt as I type this. It was a lot of pushups, with me trying to do them with as little "butt in the air" moves as I could (as in hold that plank down and up). The front squats messed me up pretty good. The 5th one was it for my wrists, I was done. Told Jeff that my wrist were shot, he make that shut it down gesture... idk how to explain it... hold out your arm with your palm in the air, bend it at the elbow, and bed your wrist so you see your finger tips...no with the put your fingertips close to your neck, and shake back and forth... that gesture. I shake my head, ask about doing back squats instead, he nods the affirmative, and we keep going.
I only got 5+1 in... not exactly a great time or speed, but I didn't quit. We're calling that a win after today. I'll explain that. Didn't get much sleep. Not because I didn't try to get sleep, but I was worried about waking up to my alarm for some reason....so I tossed and turned all damn night. #gofigure Lots of big shots at the facility today, so had that added stress.... it's just been meh... sleep does that, or lack thereof does it.
DID get my paleo goodnees today. Even had some artwork on it. Peep this
Even had a picture of someone doing snatches... I know it's not me, I wasn't smiling. Thanks again Carla! Food hit the spot.
Need to figure out Establish and On Track this weekend. I'd really like to just pay a drop in fee when I show up rather than dropping a full 10 day punch card... need to email Heath and see if that is an option. Going to try to stop by On Track as well this weekend as well, meet the owners maybe, see what's what. Wish me luck.
On, last thing, got blood on my lifters tonight. Battle tested! Not sure what happened, but I scratched my right leg, below the knee, inside area. Dripped a little during the METCON, had to clean that up. Have to admit, felt a little bit like a bad ass. Anyways... just sharing. LOL
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
It's ok to change your mind
I know I do. Not all the time, but often enough, but more on that in a minute. Don't think I mentioned it yesterday, but my paleo super chef and I missed our connection yesterday. Things happen, not worried about that... but gave me the opportunity to eat a decent sized veggie tray last night. Which would have been better if my stomach didn't declare war this morning. Reminds me of a joke my mom told me... in the 90's? What do you call a vegetarian with diarrhea? A salad shooter!!
Quality potty humor never gets old. Reminds me of another joke...
Moving on.
Made the drive to Diamond State tonight. Rain, mist, and a Nor'easter up north... undeterred. Even made good time. Got there plenty early to see some friendly old faces. Saw some people on the rowers, and it didn't make sense. These are some strong mofo's, and they're rowing already? Let me take a step back, the WOD was a EMOM AMRAP... and I couldn't figure out why these guys were on the rowers, I thought I'd be able to do it... more on this in a minute too.
So, catch up with a few people, coaches I don't get to see often, some I do... Good times. Its about minute 16 into the 20 minute AMRAP that I come to understand why all these folks are on the rowers. You see, I had thought the EMOM of hang cleans, burpees, and wall balls happened separate...ie hang cleans for that minute, next minute was the burpees, then wall balls... which is why I couldn't believe these jokers were rowing (you had to row once you couldn't get the EMOM completed)... it wasn't till the 16th minute that I realized you had to do all 3 in a minute. FML.
I thought I'd get to the end, or close... now I'm like jeeze, I'm going to make it to round 6. Maybe. LOL. No time to worry about that. First we're working up to a heavy 2 rep thurster (4 times)
Worked in a crew of 3, semi slowly getting up to a "heavy" weight. Think we only made it to 135... but that was heavy for me tonight. Funny to me since I can push press 185...ish and front squat 205. And thrusters are basically those two put together... Eh well. Got that done, some panting, I'm tired. Hotel was too hot last night, and that was with my box fan set on high.
AMRAP time... sheeet. Wait. Whats this? Oh we're changing it? Well I think thats good... didn't want to row for 15 minutes anyway. Too many people to have the rowers as an option. So we're partnering up. EMOM still, but every other minute, you get to rest. Only real change is try to get more than one round in each set. AMRAP still applies. Ok, cool.
So 10 rounds of 3 hang power cleans, 4 burpees, 5 wall balls... basically a lot of the same crap I did last night... This is the scaled version by the way. LOL. I let Mark go first... minute goes fast. I didn't do the hang cleans I wanted to... I wanted to make sure I had something light enough to get through this thing with some speed. 95lb power cleans... once or twice I pulled the bar up high enough, quick enough, and out of control enough to catch me in the neck... lol. That didn't last too long though.
Burpees... I worked harder tonight...even harder than last night. I didn't want to step up at all. I ended up doing it once... maybe twice. Not bad for the whole time. Found my last set was better than all my previous ones. Not sure what that was about, guess I just wanted to make sure I finished.
Wall balls... well they were wall balls. I feel like I did those better than I did last night at unlocked... still have Jeff in my ear about staying up tall, and I think I did pretty good with it. The fact I was in my lifters may have helped.
So, the changing my mind thing. I had just finished round 8. I was hurting. Breathing was shallow... trying to get better at gulping it down in a slower, deeper way, but the first 30 seconds of recovering are panting at best.... and I'm feeling this pain. Feel like someone took a barbell at jabbed me just under the ribs. My man Andy Paller is nearby... I describe it to him, and I tell him I think I might be taking this next set off to gather myself. I'm committed. He's silent, still looking over everyone, making sure their form is right. I feel like a dummy after having said it. I've take a few more breaths by now, I feel a little better. Fuqq it, I'm grabbing the bar. The only thing he says is "you've come this far" and he's back to walking, and I'm back on the power cleans.
Proudest moment of the past few weeks. Strong burpees... maybe the strongest yet. Didn't quit on myself, so we'll say I got a little bit stronger mentally. Felt good. Coaches are good for those extra pushes though... Jeff and Andy. Not quite two peas in a pod, but maybe in the pod's next to each other. Makes sense since they grew up more or less together from the few stories I've gotten. Lucky to have them both as coaches. Really, all the coaches I've gotten the chance to chat with, WOD with, or otherwise talk with have been pretty awesome. So if you find yourself at CrossFit Diamond State, CrossFit Unlocked, or CrossFit Establish, you'll be in great hands.
Parting thought, I'm ready for Friday, but not just because it's Friday. I'll be home, and I can get to the office early, get a chance to swing by the gym at work, hop on a scale and see what the past 3 weeks have accomplished. Really wanting to hit that big 50 (lbs lost) before the end of the year. Until then...
Quality potty humor never gets old. Reminds me of another joke...
Moving on.
Made the drive to Diamond State tonight. Rain, mist, and a Nor'easter up north... undeterred. Even made good time. Got there plenty early to see some friendly old faces. Saw some people on the rowers, and it didn't make sense. These are some strong mofo's, and they're rowing already? Let me take a step back, the WOD was a EMOM AMRAP... and I couldn't figure out why these guys were on the rowers, I thought I'd be able to do it... more on this in a minute too.
So, catch up with a few people, coaches I don't get to see often, some I do... Good times. Its about minute 16 into the 20 minute AMRAP that I come to understand why all these folks are on the rowers. You see, I had thought the EMOM of hang cleans, burpees, and wall balls happened separate...ie hang cleans for that minute, next minute was the burpees, then wall balls... which is why I couldn't believe these jokers were rowing (you had to row once you couldn't get the EMOM completed)... it wasn't till the 16th minute that I realized you had to do all 3 in a minute. FML.
I thought I'd get to the end, or close... now I'm like jeeze, I'm going to make it to round 6. Maybe. LOL. No time to worry about that. First we're working up to a heavy 2 rep thurster (4 times)
Worked in a crew of 3, semi slowly getting up to a "heavy" weight. Think we only made it to 135... but that was heavy for me tonight. Funny to me since I can push press 185...ish and front squat 205. And thrusters are basically those two put together... Eh well. Got that done, some panting, I'm tired. Hotel was too hot last night, and that was with my box fan set on high.
AMRAP time... sheeet. Wait. Whats this? Oh we're changing it? Well I think thats good... didn't want to row for 15 minutes anyway. Too many people to have the rowers as an option. So we're partnering up. EMOM still, but every other minute, you get to rest. Only real change is try to get more than one round in each set. AMRAP still applies. Ok, cool.
So 10 rounds of 3 hang power cleans, 4 burpees, 5 wall balls... basically a lot of the same crap I did last night... This is the scaled version by the way. LOL. I let Mark go first... minute goes fast. I didn't do the hang cleans I wanted to... I wanted to make sure I had something light enough to get through this thing with some speed. 95lb power cleans... once or twice I pulled the bar up high enough, quick enough, and out of control enough to catch me in the neck... lol. That didn't last too long though.
Burpees... I worked harder tonight...even harder than last night. I didn't want to step up at all. I ended up doing it once... maybe twice. Not bad for the whole time. Found my last set was better than all my previous ones. Not sure what that was about, guess I just wanted to make sure I finished.
Wall balls... well they were wall balls. I feel like I did those better than I did last night at unlocked... still have Jeff in my ear about staying up tall, and I think I did pretty good with it. The fact I was in my lifters may have helped.
So, the changing my mind thing. I had just finished round 8. I was hurting. Breathing was shallow... trying to get better at gulping it down in a slower, deeper way, but the first 30 seconds of recovering are panting at best.... and I'm feeling this pain. Feel like someone took a barbell at jabbed me just under the ribs. My man Andy Paller is nearby... I describe it to him, and I tell him I think I might be taking this next set off to gather myself. I'm committed. He's silent, still looking over everyone, making sure their form is right. I feel like a dummy after having said it. I've take a few more breaths by now, I feel a little better. Fuqq it, I'm grabbing the bar. The only thing he says is "you've come this far" and he's back to walking, and I'm back on the power cleans.
Proudest moment of the past few weeks. Strong burpees... maybe the strongest yet. Didn't quit on myself, so we'll say I got a little bit stronger mentally. Felt good. Coaches are good for those extra pushes though... Jeff and Andy. Not quite two peas in a pod, but maybe in the pod's next to each other. Makes sense since they grew up more or less together from the few stories I've gotten. Lucky to have them both as coaches. Really, all the coaches I've gotten the chance to chat with, WOD with, or otherwise talk with have been pretty awesome. So if you find yourself at CrossFit Diamond State, CrossFit Unlocked, or CrossFit Establish, you'll be in great hands.
Parting thought, I'm ready for Friday, but not just because it's Friday. I'll be home, and I can get to the office early, get a chance to swing by the gym at work, hop on a scale and see what the past 3 weeks have accomplished. Really wanting to hit that big 50 (lbs lost) before the end of the year. Until then...
Monday, December 8, 2014
Monday night in misery
Man, where to start... I guess at 3am, when I got up to start my day... tired...had an interesting flight into DCA too... only the second time in over 300 flights where I thought today might be the day I don't make it. It's hard to explain in words... well, no, it's hard to explain without using a lot of words. Short version, someone screwed up, and in DC airspace, there isn't much room for "oops" before you're over a no fly zone. It was fun. :)
Lets jump right into it. I've been debating how exactly I wanted to talk trash.... or if I was going to talk trash... I'll just tell you what happened. I get there, right on time, started stretching, ready to go. We're about to do the warm up, Jeff is running the show, trying to decide what to do. Then he gets a suggestion from the peanut gallery. Ticket said something... and to be honest, I didn't hear him, but the result was this thing... call it a burpee circle? If you haven't experienced this... it's something special. Essentially you form a circle, make sure there is adequate space between everyone, then lay on your stomach. Someone starts, and they jump over you, do a burpee, jump over the next person, do another one, so forth and so on. After that first person has been jumped over, then they jump up, and do likewise.
Pretty good warmup right? We had like 20 people tonight. Thats a lot of burpees to warm up with for me man. I started slowing down, may have sandbagged a little so I'd have juice for this nasty workout... didn't make it any easier (didn't help the workout either...). I will say the added pressure of having people behind me waiting, made me push harder.... welcome to CrossFit, land of wanting to do better and not impede other people.
Anyway, get that done... and I'm half looking at the door like dang, I'm done, I'm out. 3am wake up call and ya'll treat me like this.... and it's not even the workout. This WOD is what I've come to expect from Unlocked, and in particular from the coach who programmed it. I won't give out any names, but this guy needs to be beat with wrapping paper tubes and rotten tomato. Some of the nastiest workouts here are his... It's a love/hate relationship.
50 calorie row. 40 wall balls, 8 bastards, 30 box jumps, 8 bastards, 20 power cleans, 8 bastards, 10 handstand pushups, 8 bastards, 20 power cleans, 8 bastards, 30 box jumps, 8 bastards, 40 wall balls.
That row... I have no idea why it was so difficult... actually I do. I was trying to pull like a champion rower... and get one calorie per row, but damn that took a lot out of the tank. I should have just pulled the way I row, changing it messed me up bad. I mean I had to stop several times. I can row a 1k in under 4 minutes, not much in the way of stopping, but 50 calories, stopped several times. I must have looked haggard as a mother, because Jeff came over and was like go ahead and do 4 bastards instead of 8. I had no problem agreeing.
I'm not going to tell you about the suffering, about the scaling, about the step ups... well, I will say the step ups need to be on an 18" box. I think that is going to be the best thing till I can do 24" step ups in their place, then maybe, just maybe get around to doing box jumps. So yeah, two of my five least favorite movements, and lots of them. Wallballs and burpees... I'm having flashbacks already. Just a touch over 30 minutes. Good workout... and really, it's workouts like these that have me believing I'm going to be back on that 10lbs per month weight loss program in no time.
I'm going to bed, it's late enough. Should be hitting up CFDS tomorrow, but I've been told there might be a wintery mix. If the people down here's driving gets me when it's dry, I can only imagine what it's like with that.... lawd help us.
Lets jump right into it. I've been debating how exactly I wanted to talk trash.... or if I was going to talk trash... I'll just tell you what happened. I get there, right on time, started stretching, ready to go. We're about to do the warm up, Jeff is running the show, trying to decide what to do. Then he gets a suggestion from the peanut gallery. Ticket said something... and to be honest, I didn't hear him, but the result was this thing... call it a burpee circle? If you haven't experienced this... it's something special. Essentially you form a circle, make sure there is adequate space between everyone, then lay on your stomach. Someone starts, and they jump over you, do a burpee, jump over the next person, do another one, so forth and so on. After that first person has been jumped over, then they jump up, and do likewise.
Pretty good warmup right? We had like 20 people tonight. Thats a lot of burpees to warm up with for me man. I started slowing down, may have sandbagged a little so I'd have juice for this nasty workout... didn't make it any easier (didn't help the workout either...). I will say the added pressure of having people behind me waiting, made me push harder.... welcome to CrossFit, land of wanting to do better and not impede other people.
Anyway, get that done... and I'm half looking at the door like dang, I'm done, I'm out. 3am wake up call and ya'll treat me like this.... and it's not even the workout. This WOD is what I've come to expect from Unlocked, and in particular from the coach who programmed it. I won't give out any names, but this guy needs to be beat with wrapping paper tubes and rotten tomato. Some of the nastiest workouts here are his... It's a love/hate relationship.
50 calorie row. 40 wall balls, 8 bastards, 30 box jumps, 8 bastards, 20 power cleans, 8 bastards, 10 handstand pushups, 8 bastards, 20 power cleans, 8 bastards, 30 box jumps, 8 bastards, 40 wall balls.
That row... I have no idea why it was so difficult... actually I do. I was trying to pull like a champion rower... and get one calorie per row, but damn that took a lot out of the tank. I should have just pulled the way I row, changing it messed me up bad. I mean I had to stop several times. I can row a 1k in under 4 minutes, not much in the way of stopping, but 50 calories, stopped several times. I must have looked haggard as a mother, because Jeff came over and was like go ahead and do 4 bastards instead of 8. I had no problem agreeing.
I'm not going to tell you about the suffering, about the scaling, about the step ups... well, I will say the step ups need to be on an 18" box. I think that is going to be the best thing till I can do 24" step ups in their place, then maybe, just maybe get around to doing box jumps. So yeah, two of my five least favorite movements, and lots of them. Wallballs and burpees... I'm having flashbacks already. Just a touch over 30 minutes. Good workout... and really, it's workouts like these that have me believing I'm going to be back on that 10lbs per month weight loss program in no time.
I'm going to bed, it's late enough. Should be hitting up CFDS tomorrow, but I've been told there might be a wintery mix. If the people down here's driving gets me when it's dry, I can only imagine what it's like with that.... lawd help us.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Ready to go home after this week...
I'm smoked right now. I probably shouldn't have even gone... and to be honest, during warmups, I was really asking myself what I was doing there. And it wasn't a Karen-esque 50 wallballs, just KB swings, KB lunges, and something else to wake my shoulders up.... sore all over today, and yet I went back. I've got to get back into the 3-4 days a week. The whole 1-2, maybe 3 times thing over the month of November. No pain not gain, or something like that.
Lets jump right in to the work... 10 minute EMOM of dips and thrusters. 4 reps each. I didn't do the thrusters RX (115 I think)... and the dips were on a box. It was rough, my first round of thrusters were slow, which wasn't abnormal, but man that push press part was bad... idk. I HAVE to get faster. I did get faster today. As we got further along, I made every effort to go faster, and you know what, I did. None of them were as slow as the first one, and that made me happier with it.
Alright, so we get that done, and it's on to the main event. A 1000m row, 3 rounds of 10 box jumps, 15 KB swings, 20 situps. The whole "I HAVE to go faster"... right out the window....after I PRd my 1000m row. :D
And to be honest, I rowed badly. I started out pulling at 30 strokes a minute, I wasn't looking at the rower, I was looking everywhere else BUT at the display. When I finally looked down, I saw that 30 and dialed it back....and then I started getting winded. 1 second break. 1 second break. The lack of sleep, the being tired already... it was really catching up tonight. 2 minutes go by, then the 3rd minute hits. I'm in the 800's... this is starting to look a lot like the last time I rowed 1000m. Last time though, I pulled as hard and as fast as I could. This time, I kept my pace. I pulled harder, but I didn't mess with the rhythm. I beat my last PR by a full 10 seconds. 3:51. And remember, I didn't feel like I did very well.
Right, so I sat on the rower sucking air for 10-20 seconds. Finally get up and grab a smaller box. I had a 20" one, but there is no way I'm going to be able to step up on that 30 times. I grabbed a 12"... it wasn't hard enough, but in the same breath, it was enough. The KB I was swinging WAS light, I wanted to be able to go faster. Every time I swung it, I thought I should have manned up an used the RX weight. The situps were situps.
I cheated tonight. I debated 5 minutes here before writing this... and I don't know why. This is supposed to be a very honest trip through CrossFit... and I flubbed my numbers tonight. Still ended up dead last. Not that I was trying to beat everyone, or anyone, but myself... so maybe I didn't cheat so much as I scaled when I needed to? I really don't know which answer is 100% right, and maybe neither are fully true, perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
Either way, near the end of some sets, I stopped early. The situps were the biggest thing. 5 short the first two sets, did all 20 at the end. I don't have any good excuses, it hurt, and I was tired. I'll get better. My promise to myself, and to you. Ended up just shy of 13 minutes total (with 1k row). Never caught my breath, 2nd off the rowers, last total....and the guy who was first SMOKED everyone. LOL. Oh, and he's sick by the way. Crazy. I'll get there.
Alright, it's late, I'm tired as hell, I need a full nights sleep. Wont happen tonight either, but this weekend I'm catching up so I'm good to go next week. I had entertained the idea of working out tomorrow morning, but that monster (I just looked) is nothing I can handle at this point in the week, with where I'm at. That workout I told you Ticket was doing while I was doing the 3-5minute AMRAPS... yeah, thats on the board for tomorrow. The first two things were going to be rough, but this third item (of 7) was this:
No, just... no, hell no. It's a 20 minute AMRAP of some crazy things, but that 80 burpees would be the end of me... and with that, I'm going to bed. Just knowing I don't have to do that... I'm suddenly much happier. Good luck tomorrow at Unlocked guys... you'll need it. :)
Lets jump right in to the work... 10 minute EMOM of dips and thrusters. 4 reps each. I didn't do the thrusters RX (115 I think)... and the dips were on a box. It was rough, my first round of thrusters were slow, which wasn't abnormal, but man that push press part was bad... idk. I HAVE to get faster. I did get faster today. As we got further along, I made every effort to go faster, and you know what, I did. None of them were as slow as the first one, and that made me happier with it.
Alright, so we get that done, and it's on to the main event. A 1000m row, 3 rounds of 10 box jumps, 15 KB swings, 20 situps. The whole "I HAVE to go faster"... right out the window....after I PRd my 1000m row. :D
And to be honest, I rowed badly. I started out pulling at 30 strokes a minute, I wasn't looking at the rower, I was looking everywhere else BUT at the display. When I finally looked down, I saw that 30 and dialed it back....and then I started getting winded. 1 second break. 1 second break. The lack of sleep, the being tired already... it was really catching up tonight. 2 minutes go by, then the 3rd minute hits. I'm in the 800's... this is starting to look a lot like the last time I rowed 1000m. Last time though, I pulled as hard and as fast as I could. This time, I kept my pace. I pulled harder, but I didn't mess with the rhythm. I beat my last PR by a full 10 seconds. 3:51. And remember, I didn't feel like I did very well.
Right, so I sat on the rower sucking air for 10-20 seconds. Finally get up and grab a smaller box. I had a 20" one, but there is no way I'm going to be able to step up on that 30 times. I grabbed a 12"... it wasn't hard enough, but in the same breath, it was enough. The KB I was swinging WAS light, I wanted to be able to go faster. Every time I swung it, I thought I should have manned up an used the RX weight. The situps were situps.
I cheated tonight. I debated 5 minutes here before writing this... and I don't know why. This is supposed to be a very honest trip through CrossFit... and I flubbed my numbers tonight. Still ended up dead last. Not that I was trying to beat everyone, or anyone, but myself... so maybe I didn't cheat so much as I scaled when I needed to? I really don't know which answer is 100% right, and maybe neither are fully true, perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
Either way, near the end of some sets, I stopped early. The situps were the biggest thing. 5 short the first two sets, did all 20 at the end. I don't have any good excuses, it hurt, and I was tired. I'll get better. My promise to myself, and to you. Ended up just shy of 13 minutes total (with 1k row). Never caught my breath, 2nd off the rowers, last total....and the guy who was first SMOKED everyone. LOL. Oh, and he's sick by the way. Crazy. I'll get there.
Alright, it's late, I'm tired as hell, I need a full nights sleep. Wont happen tonight either, but this weekend I'm catching up so I'm good to go next week. I had entertained the idea of working out tomorrow morning, but that monster (I just looked) is nothing I can handle at this point in the week, with where I'm at. That workout I told you Ticket was doing while I was doing the 3-5minute AMRAPS... yeah, thats on the board for tomorrow. The first two things were going to be rough, but this third item (of 7) was this:
80 reps of burpee
No, just... no, hell no. It's a 20 minute AMRAP of some crazy things, but that 80 burpees would be the end of me... and with that, I'm going to bed. Just knowing I don't have to do that... I'm suddenly much happier. Good luck tomorrow at Unlocked guys... you'll need it. :)
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The saga continues...
Oh wow. First thing I'll say is this paleo buffalo chicken Carla made... fantastic. I was so hungry after the WOD, I ate half of it on the way home. Cold, no silverware, just bare handed. Delicious. Got back to the room, put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and it was even better... so good.
Ok, now that I've said that, it's time to talk about putting in some work. I didn't bring my lifters tonight, I really should have. So I come in my busted ass Asics. I figured I could do this WOD in them with minimal fuss. And I may have been right, but our warmup changed my mind, so I'm glad I had the New Balances with me.
I did my warmup, got my hips and shoulders mobilized, and then Jeff gathers us around. Another box member has had a birthday, so our warmup was in honor of her... Partner workout of 100 wallballs. !@#$ Now I really wish I did have my lifters. There was one other stipulation, you had to do it in sets of 10 each, and swap with the ball in the air. If it hits the ground, both have to do burpees. I didn't want to do burpees. At all. LOL. So Shannon grabs the 20lb WB and we begin. I don't think I've ever done 50 WB's, and certainly not at 20lbs. This hurt. Shannon took it in stride, he does RX or close to it every time I see it. For me... it was rough. We didn't drop the ball though, but man I was slow those last two rounds.
I'm sweating. Profusely. I'm tired. My feet hurt, so no Asics, grabbed the New Balance. WOD tonight is 3 consecutive 5 minute AMRAPS.
With my legs already burning from the wallballs, this should be easy... right? Lets be honest, this thing is nasty.
The first round was arguably the best, and I only got 2+7. The squats started pretty well, deep, fairly upright. The first set of burpees weren't bad either. After that... lol. I need to keep laughing... makes it hurt less. The second set saw deep squats, but my chest was coming down. I didn't mind, but Jeff was watching me close. Wants me to keep that chest high. The third set, I wasn't going very deep, I'd given up, did it Jeffs way. I'm not going to say they were bad from a depth perspective, but I know they weren't where I wanted to be.
Moving on, my shoulders are still a bit smoked from Tuesday. These push presses were painful, and heavy. Who'd have thought 95lbs, half of my 1RM, would be so heavy today. But getting through these was easy. The pistols, after the wallballs, after the squats... yeah right. I did a new modification, had one foot a bit back, about like split jerk, and then descend on the forward leg. My balance needs work, so this was difficult, but for that reason and not because it was heavy... I mean it was heavy, but I struggled as much with staying upright. Ended up with 3+1. 10 minutes in, chest heaving, and it's on to round 3.
Working out in front of me is Wayne, he's crushing it. To my left is Adam, known as Big Ticket, he's doing a different workout with 3 others... it looks about as fun as mine.
Third round was brutal. My squats felt like my HSPU yesterday... shallow and weak. I kept the chest tall though, and tried to go deeper every lift. I will beat this at some point. I wont bore you with the suffering. I got a little stronger in the end when getting up from the bottom of the burpee. It's not a lot of speed, but it's something I pushed for, and it's something I can measure. Final for the round, and even 2.
I'm dead. I'm almost to the point I can't breath. I sat on a box, and struggled to catch my breath. I don't remember ever being like this. More than once I wondered if I'd start seeing black on the edges of my vision. Never happened, but I was looking hard for it.
CrossFit is a funny thing. The moment I finally got enough breath to do or say anything, I'm yelling encouragement to Ticket since he's still going in his WOD. I'm not trying to get more air, I'm not cleaning up, I'm trying to motivate another athlete to go faster and further than he wants to... maybe CrossFit is just funny to me.
I cleaned up my bar and then did our cash out of a 1 minute plank. Had to break it up into 2 20 seconds and then 2 10 seconds. I think it's better than any time before it, but I couldn't say what with much confidence. I'm finally done. I stick around for a while. Try to help Brian put together a new rower... it's really a one man job, so I did more watching than anything.
Good workout, I'm tied, my quads hurt, and they're going to get beat up again tomorrow, I already know what we're doing. Doesn't matter though, no time to cherry pick, need to get back to 3-4 times a week in a bad way. Paleo is still going strong (thanks again Carla!). The saga continues...
Ok, now that I've said that, it's time to talk about putting in some work. I didn't bring my lifters tonight, I really should have. So I come in my busted ass Asics. I figured I could do this WOD in them with minimal fuss. And I may have been right, but our warmup changed my mind, so I'm glad I had the New Balances with me.
I did my warmup, got my hips and shoulders mobilized, and then Jeff gathers us around. Another box member has had a birthday, so our warmup was in honor of her... Partner workout of 100 wallballs. !@#$ Now I really wish I did have my lifters. There was one other stipulation, you had to do it in sets of 10 each, and swap with the ball in the air. If it hits the ground, both have to do burpees. I didn't want to do burpees. At all. LOL. So Shannon grabs the 20lb WB and we begin. I don't think I've ever done 50 WB's, and certainly not at 20lbs. This hurt. Shannon took it in stride, he does RX or close to it every time I see it. For me... it was rough. We didn't drop the ball though, but man I was slow those last two rounds.
I'm sweating. Profusely. I'm tired. My feet hurt, so no Asics, grabbed the New Balance. WOD tonight is 3 consecutive 5 minute AMRAPS.
5 minute AMRAP of: 6 reps of back squat at 95 lb 6 reps of bastard 5 minute AMRAP of: 6 reps of push press at 95 lb 6 reps of pistol 5 minute AMRAP of: 6 reps of back squat at 95 lb 6 reps of bastard
With my legs already burning from the wallballs, this should be easy... right? Lets be honest, this thing is nasty.
The first round was arguably the best, and I only got 2+7. The squats started pretty well, deep, fairly upright. The first set of burpees weren't bad either. After that... lol. I need to keep laughing... makes it hurt less. The second set saw deep squats, but my chest was coming down. I didn't mind, but Jeff was watching me close. Wants me to keep that chest high. The third set, I wasn't going very deep, I'd given up, did it Jeffs way. I'm not going to say they were bad from a depth perspective, but I know they weren't where I wanted to be.
Moving on, my shoulders are still a bit smoked from Tuesday. These push presses were painful, and heavy. Who'd have thought 95lbs, half of my 1RM, would be so heavy today. But getting through these was easy. The pistols, after the wallballs, after the squats... yeah right. I did a new modification, had one foot a bit back, about like split jerk, and then descend on the forward leg. My balance needs work, so this was difficult, but for that reason and not because it was heavy... I mean it was heavy, but I struggled as much with staying upright. Ended up with 3+1. 10 minutes in, chest heaving, and it's on to round 3.
Working out in front of me is Wayne, he's crushing it. To my left is Adam, known as Big Ticket, he's doing a different workout with 3 others... it looks about as fun as mine.
Third round was brutal. My squats felt like my HSPU yesterday... shallow and weak. I kept the chest tall though, and tried to go deeper every lift. I will beat this at some point. I wont bore you with the suffering. I got a little stronger in the end when getting up from the bottom of the burpee. It's not a lot of speed, but it's something I pushed for, and it's something I can measure. Final for the round, and even 2.
I'm dead. I'm almost to the point I can't breath. I sat on a box, and struggled to catch my breath. I don't remember ever being like this. More than once I wondered if I'd start seeing black on the edges of my vision. Never happened, but I was looking hard for it.
CrossFit is a funny thing. The moment I finally got enough breath to do or say anything, I'm yelling encouragement to Ticket since he's still going in his WOD. I'm not trying to get more air, I'm not cleaning up, I'm trying to motivate another athlete to go faster and further than he wants to... maybe CrossFit is just funny to me.
I cleaned up my bar and then did our cash out of a 1 minute plank. Had to break it up into 2 20 seconds and then 2 10 seconds. I think it's better than any time before it, but I couldn't say what with much confidence. I'm finally done. I stick around for a while. Try to help Brian put together a new rower... it's really a one man job, so I did more watching than anything.
Good workout, I'm tied, my quads hurt, and they're going to get beat up again tomorrow, I already know what we're doing. Doesn't matter though, no time to cherry pick, need to get back to 3-4 times a week in a bad way. Paleo is still going strong (thanks again Carla!). The saga continues...
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Cleanin' and Jerkin'
Can't believe I made it the entire Thanksgiving week without a single stitch of turkey. Not that I was trying to avoid it mind you, but I had a carb. bonanza. that day and there wasn't much protein on the plate... paid for it on my flight Monday too... So much bloating and gas, bet I was a joy to be around. Thankfully I slept for a bit on each flight, so I didn't notice it :) I guess I should reference that the family Thanksgiving was Sunday.
Monday sucked. I mean it was a work day, THEN a travel day. Didn't get to DE and in bed until 3AM on Tuesday. Ug. Another 3 5hour energy day..... didn't quit (caffeine) over this break like I thought I would... so maybe Christmas....
Monday also sucked because the rental I picked up has issues mechanically, and more importantly, has some extra fees. I'm flew in at BWI, and I'm flying out from PHL, so it's a one-way rental. Those apparently carry a $.35 charger per mile. I'm glad I found that today... beacause I was going to go to Diamond State, and that would have cost me almost $60, not counting gas. I love you guys, a lot, but I can't afford $80 a trip. Time I can spend, yes, $$, not quite there, can't explain that away to the bean counters. But it's all good, I'll be back next week with a round trip from the same airport (DCA)...this means it's an unlimited mileage...so I can drive to Canada and back, and there is no extra mileage charge. Still have to pay for that gas though... so thats not working, but you get the idea.
So that means more time with the Unlocked crew. Helluva "consolation prize" since I couldn't make it to CFDS. Had an interesting workout tonight. At first glance, it wasn't anything I really wanted to do... but I'm here, it's a WOD with good peeps... lets do it!.
Clean and jerk...still sounds dirty...I'll never grow out of my sophomoric humor, sue me. This is a move I haven't done very much of in all my months of CrossFit. I hit a 1RM tonight for the movement. Was close to my 1RM for the separate movements. Stuck with the power clean to get the weight up... and I wonder if I'd tried to squat clean it, if I'd been fine to do it. When you don't think about it too much, it can't get in your head right? The jerk was decent, I just did a push jerk...or squat jerk... I don't know the name exactly, but I didn't jump. I'm still not comfortable leaving my feet with extra weight.
We shared bars tonight, I worked with a new guy Randy. He did pretty good for being new to the lifting. I tried my best to show him good technique when I was working and he was resting. Hopefully I did ok. My last lift... wasn't it though. LOL. I caught the bar with a bowed back, and I don't remember if it was there, or in the dip/drive of my push jerk. At some point, in there, I popped something above the sacrum. It didn't hurt, but it did surprise me. My push jerk was a lot more like a push press than a jerk... but I got it up and done. 175lbs.
It didn't hurt... but I felt like I should stop while I'm ahead... almost stopped the workout, but there wasn't pain, stiffness, or soreness, so I decided to continue on. Diane I believe is this wonder workouts name. 21-15-9 of dead-lifts at 225 and handstand pushups. I didn't do the full 225. I ended up with 185 on my bar, it was heavy, but didn't slow me down terribly much....the last 9, I only dropped the bar once, had found a great rhythm. The HSPU's were another matter. I got a new mod, instead of just doing knee pushups, or flubbing with box pushups, did something different. Put some plates on the ground, then stood in a pike position as best I could, and did them that way....I'm sure it doesn't lend itself to the imagination...
There, like that... and the higher you get your but in the air, the more like a HSPU it is, and the harder it is. I don't have a picture of how I looked doing it, but I feel like I was where these kids are... and, to my own shame, I think I was going down maybe 4"... I mean it may have been more, but I certainly didn't feel like I was going very far. Shit was hard man. I did about half of the 21, then went to the knees... I didn't bother with many the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Ended up at 7:56 with the 8 minute cap out there... Guess I made the right call.
Cashout was a 20 calorie row. Apparently there is a way to game the wheel, so you can get it to a calorie a pull.... I'll have to mess with it to see. I just pulled at it, and it took me 35 seconds to hit 20 calories. Not a bad time, but not where I want to be. Rowing is my great equalizer, and minus not having the lung capacity other athletes have, it's a level playing field. Maybe I can make this my whoop ass area for now... hmmm, devious thoughts.
Alright, thats everything. Ate a meh dinner tonight, wasn't expecting to be down here, so I ended up with a few pieces of fried chicken tenders... just couldn't wait till I got back to the hotel (and then showered) to go somewhere else. Had my recovery and some veggies when I got back, so it wasn't a total loss. Looking forward to tomorrow and what it brings. Until then!
Monday sucked. I mean it was a work day, THEN a travel day. Didn't get to DE and in bed until 3AM on Tuesday. Ug. Another 3 5hour energy day..... didn't quit (caffeine) over this break like I thought I would... so maybe Christmas....
Monday also sucked because the rental I picked up has issues mechanically, and more importantly, has some extra fees. I'm flew in at BWI, and I'm flying out from PHL, so it's a one-way rental. Those apparently carry a $.35 charger per mile. I'm glad I found that today... beacause I was going to go to Diamond State, and that would have cost me almost $60, not counting gas. I love you guys, a lot, but I can't afford $80 a trip. Time I can spend, yes, $$, not quite there, can't explain that away to the bean counters. But it's all good, I'll be back next week with a round trip from the same airport (DCA)...this means it's an unlimited mileage...so I can drive to Canada and back, and there is no extra mileage charge. Still have to pay for that gas though... so thats not working, but you get the idea.
So that means more time with the Unlocked crew. Helluva "consolation prize" since I couldn't make it to CFDS. Had an interesting workout tonight. At first glance, it wasn't anything I really wanted to do... but I'm here, it's a WOD with good peeps... lets do it!.
Clean and jerk...still sounds dirty...I'll never grow out of my sophomoric humor, sue me. This is a move I haven't done very much of in all my months of CrossFit. I hit a 1RM tonight for the movement. Was close to my 1RM for the separate movements. Stuck with the power clean to get the weight up... and I wonder if I'd tried to squat clean it, if I'd been fine to do it. When you don't think about it too much, it can't get in your head right? The jerk was decent, I just did a push jerk...or squat jerk... I don't know the name exactly, but I didn't jump. I'm still not comfortable leaving my feet with extra weight.
We shared bars tonight, I worked with a new guy Randy. He did pretty good for being new to the lifting. I tried my best to show him good technique when I was working and he was resting. Hopefully I did ok. My last lift... wasn't it though. LOL. I caught the bar with a bowed back, and I don't remember if it was there, or in the dip/drive of my push jerk. At some point, in there, I popped something above the sacrum. It didn't hurt, but it did surprise me. My push jerk was a lot more like a push press than a jerk... but I got it up and done. 175lbs.
It didn't hurt... but I felt like I should stop while I'm ahead... almost stopped the workout, but there wasn't pain, stiffness, or soreness, so I decided to continue on. Diane I believe is this wonder workouts name. 21-15-9 of dead-lifts at 225 and handstand pushups. I didn't do the full 225. I ended up with 185 on my bar, it was heavy, but didn't slow me down terribly much....the last 9, I only dropped the bar once, had found a great rhythm. The HSPU's were another matter. I got a new mod, instead of just doing knee pushups, or flubbing with box pushups, did something different. Put some plates on the ground, then stood in a pike position as best I could, and did them that way....I'm sure it doesn't lend itself to the imagination...
Cashout was a 20 calorie row. Apparently there is a way to game the wheel, so you can get it to a calorie a pull.... I'll have to mess with it to see. I just pulled at it, and it took me 35 seconds to hit 20 calories. Not a bad time, but not where I want to be. Rowing is my great equalizer, and minus not having the lung capacity other athletes have, it's a level playing field. Maybe I can make this my whoop ass area for now... hmmm, devious thoughts.
Alright, thats everything. Ate a meh dinner tonight, wasn't expecting to be down here, so I ended up with a few pieces of fried chicken tenders... just couldn't wait till I got back to the hotel (and then showered) to go somewhere else. Had my recovery and some veggies when I got back, so it wasn't a total loss. Looking forward to tomorrow and what it brings. Until then!
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