Still the new kid

Saturday WODs are rare for me.  I'm very selfish with my weekends, I admit it freely.  This weekend, however, I'm not as selfish.  I've got a standing check in with Amanda on Fridays... and I might just see about moving it to Saturday, since A, Friday is her half day, and B, it's one less thing to worry about on what are becoming increasingly busy Fridays.  I canceled this last Friday (I did call, so she wasn't stuck waiting), and wanted to make amends for it by showing up today.  A small bit of personal sacrifice...

Today was a good day to have a Saturday WOD.... I mean I'd love to have slept in, it's a cold rainy Saturday morning, but these cold rainy days are also usually good days to train. 

This is my second real workout at OT.  I haven't been here often yet (that changes if Feb), so I'm very much "the new guy" again.  This box is a bit bigger than any of my previous ones, and it seems there are new people everywhere....  lol.  "New to me" people everywhere.  I've already started spotting some regulars, see them every time I'm there, no matter when I show up, but met some more people today.  All the nice sort, people I've come to expect to be at a CrossFit box, I'm getting more comfortable here.  Good times. 

I don't know if I'm mental, or if the workouts here are longer or anything, but damn it feels like it.  The warm-ups alone are some peoples workouts.  Today was 4 rounds of 8 KB swings, 6 hang power cleans, 4 pullups, and 2 tall box jumps (they got a 30" pyramid box that looks ridiculous).  I get through that and we're quickly on to the clean progression warm ups.... I work my New Balance today.  I'm starting to like them less and less.  My first hang squat clean, I was at the bottom, and my balance was shite.  I almost fell backwards, had to put the bar out in front of me to get the balance back and pop tall.  I need another WOD shoe that isn't my lifters.  A, because the lifters are wearing out (the spot where the tongue attatches to the rest of the shoe is ripping), and B, because lifters suck for jumping. 

Moving on we get to the lifting pieces of the workout.  Squat hang cleans to a heavy ish weight.  Think I was at 115... which wasn't awful, but (and maybe it's the shoes) it was overly challenging... Now that I think about it, this IS a hang clean, so thats not a terrible weight... idk.  I've lost a lot of confidence in my lifting lately, and I'm not sure why.  January has been a rough month for me mentally it seems.  Anyway, after the cleans, we did 3 sets of 5 front squat at that same rate.  I'm getting better at keeping my chest up and arms up, little bit more is resting on the shelf, but I'm still in these damn New Balances, and I'm worried about my squat the whole time.  I got it done, wrists still hurt, need to use that built in shelf a bit more.  

Time for the WOD... they're calling it a chipper, but it says 17 min AMRAP.  I don't get it, but ok.  It's a long one, it's easier to copy/past to be honest:

30 Burpees
30 Double Unders
30 Power Clean – 135/95
30 Double Unders
30 Pull Ups
30 Double Unders
30 Shoulder to Overhead – 135/95
30 Double Unders
30 Toes to Bar
30 Double Unders


Great way to test capacity, and right at the top is my favorite exercise.  Guess I'll be getting better at these sooner than later anyway.  Clock starts, I got my fist... 12? burpees with jumping up, then the steps up start.  I didn't stop, and I don't think I sandbagged much.  I'm tired.  We were counting down from 17, so I'm not sure how long the 30 took... but I want to say I'm still sub 5.  Next up, sub 4 minutes.

Double Unders.... still don't have them.  I did, finally.  FINALLY, bought my rope.  We'll see if I can finally get some consistency.  It's nothing fancy, at least I don't think, but take a look, you be the judge.  The rope I had today was ok.  I think my biggest challenge is dealing with ropes that have kinks.  This one had a small kink, and then there is the whole being tired bit, so I didn't jump terribly well. 

The power cleans were at a light 75.  Amanda emphasized speed, and wanted people to pick weights they could do 10 in a row of.  I was going to do 95, but I'm glad I listened.  I'm a bit winded at this point, so the 75's are pretty easy from a wight perspective.  The movement wasn't especially good, pretty sure I muscle cleaned a lot of them.  *shrug*.  More DU's (which, until I tell you otherwise, really mean singles).  The second set went better than the first.  The pullups, are ring rows, and I had already decided to break it up into sets of 4.  I don't know why 5 is so much more difficult than 4, but at 4 I always seem to pull a solid "strict" ring row, the longer I go, the more back and hip arch seem to creep in.  Coachs, if you see this, talk to me, help me get it right, or at least better.

Thirds set of jumping sucked.  It was very broken up, but I kept moving.  Ended the "AMRAP on the shoulder to overhead.  I chose the push press as my method, and got something like 16, for a total of 201 reps.  Not awful, but not the best results, especially knowing some cats were on their second round.  Gotta get faster.... going to get faster. 

Thought the workout today, had a few people offering me tips and suggestions...  I appreciate it.  They aren't really needed, I know where I mess up, but they are appreciated.  Plus, it's a chance to get to know folks.  Still the new kid.  LOL.  They'll learn, I'll learn, we'll all move forward. 

Quick hit things. 

Next week there is a local competition at OT, I might go to see one, and of course help out.  We'll see, I'm notorious with my weekends if you recall. 

The Navarre's have inspired me to design some of my own gear.  We'll see what comes of it. 

Not much else, these ideas come and go quickly.  Glad I got a good workout in today, ready for next week.  Cheers!

Living in a burpee paradise

Man, I love that post WOD high.  I don't get it all the time, but man, when I do, it puts me in a better place.  #crossfithigh 

I think I've started to figure out Unlocked's coaches... at least as far as the WOD programming goes.  I guessed (correctly) that Jeff was programming this week.  Jeff seems to favor more of the traditional movements, box jumps, burpees, stuff like that.  Tylers workouts just suck.  They're heavy, and typically seem to involve lifting.  My first WOD at Unlocked was a Tyler workout... never forget it.  I haven't quite pegged Brian's yet.  Ali's... just depend on her mood.  She typically programs pretty solid stuff... but if she's angry at something when programming... they turn into soul crushing WODs.  :D

Tonights WOD was a Jeff WOD.  Simple.  Challenging.  Brutal if you let it get to you.  The first bit was 5 minutes of jump rope.  We broke into partners, I got Kara.  We both do singles.  She rocked it with over 250.  She had several long runs of 20+.  Can't wait to get there myself.  My singles were awful.  I did maaaybe 25 at first, with the rope I picked.  After that, it went downhill fast.  After about 3 or 4 failed sets, I got mad at my rope.  Earlier, I had asked Kara if I could use the rope she used, I had a feeling... turns out I was right.  I dropped the loaner rope and picked up hers.  INSTANT gratification... of sorts.  It felt better, moved better... it was better all around.  I don't like the thin speed line, I can't really "feel" the rope moving, so it's all muscle memory and guessing.  The 5 minutes seemed to take forever.  I had trouble linking 10 in a row towards the end. 

Here's the thing...  For most people, their calves cramp up and get sore.  Thats not my problem.  I mean it is, but it isn't.  I don't have to stop to stretch my calves or anything like that.  I have to stop because my calves are fatigued.  It's a lot of Dan to be getting off the ground that many times.  5 minutes is the longest I think I've been asked to jump.  I got a bit of a second wind near the end, might have actually got a full 10 before I couldn't get off the ground anymore.  Ended up 182, I think.  Kara counted, I wrote it down, but I can't remember if it was a 2 or 7 at the end.  Back to the calves thing.  Everyone else is stretching them back out, and having a good time of it.  I had to sit down.  You see, I've been blessed with these amazingly wide, flat feet.  THEY HURT!   I mean even sitting down, flexing, stretching... It was like I had a wide flat rock in my shoe, right where the arch is supposed to be.   Ug. 

After a minute or two of getting things simmered down, I grabbed a box.  I'm ready for what's next.  I've been looking forward to this.  A bit of redemption.  You see, this part is burpess and dips.  I'm thinking back to last weeks 30 plate burpees.  Having done those in under 5 minutes, I wanted to see if I could break this one up.  I picked what I thought was a modest 6:23 time.  12-10-8-6-4-2 of burpees, 5-4-3-2-1 of dips after each set of burpees.  They're supposed to be ring dips, I'm doing box dips... it's all the same as long as it works, right?  LOL

GO!  I knew right away this was going to be difficult... more difficult than I had thought.  Monday and Tuesday are weighing pretty heavy on my body now.  I don't even think I made it through the whole first 12 jumping up.  In a word, fatigue.  I got to the dips, and WOW.  Sneaky things.  First of the next set of burpees, and the triceps are singing to me... it's not a good song either.  LOL.  I pushed through it, didn't stop much on the box.  I was definitely slower.  Redemption may not come today... redemption is also the wrong word, maybe satisfaction at doing better?  Doesn't matter, keep pushing.  Ran into another case of going a little harder with Jeff around.  Push it push it push it.  I feel like I was in my 8's that some of the faster people were getting done.  DANG!  I kept moving, I think I've hit the point where I stop stopping.  Thats good.  Mental strength, and like Rocky said, keep moving forward, thats how winning is done. 

I'm no longer paying attention to anyone.  I see Kara out the side of my eye, I know we're in this together, but other than that, it's me, the mat, and the box.  I push, I'm moving, maybe even faster.  It's near the end.  I'm nearly the last one.  Jeff is paying more attention now, giving me timing update.  I'm getting up from my second to last set of burpees.  He's telling me I'm close, MOVE!  I tried to bounce up from the last two burpees.  It didn't quite happen.  I stepped up for the last time.  6:47.  Longer than I wanted to go, but it was under the 7 minute mark Jeff and I had agreed was the worst I could do. 

That hurt.  My pride, my body, maybe my soul a little too.  I didn't expect to be quite so tired, and those damn dips were sneaky as hell.  I'm disappointed that I didn't hit my goal of 6:23, but for being as beat up as I ended up feeling at the beginning, I did better than I thought I would after the first 12.  Summer is going to be a whole different game this year.  I may not take the double layer off when I get down to that first 50 lost.  Sweat equity is good. 

Cool down is 20 GHD situps.  I'm scared of knocking the thing over, so I get 35 butterfly's.  I hate situps.  Not like burpees, but close enough.  They hurt, they take a lot of energy, and... just waaa waa waaa.  Took me almost 3 minutes to do just 35... another thing to get faster at.  Sigh. 

I'm getting better... it's been something like 9 months since I started.  I know I'm better, I'm stronger, I'm faster.  Still a lot of work to go.  Going to be a fun journey, I hope you stay with me as I stay with this.  #crossfit  #gettingstronger  #unbreakable

De-loading when I don't need to

What a night.  Got up to CFDS this week (barely) and had a nice little lung busting workout.  Just enough rest to make you want to keep going faster.  Lets get to it, gotta make this quick. 

Showed up on time... and they were starting early.  The bums!  Got changed, rowed a cool 700m, and finished the warmups.  Did some new backpack stretches... using a resistance bank and wrapping it around a prig post, and then wearing it like a backpack... and then doing air strict pushes.  Supposed to help the shoulders loosen up.  I think I got stuck with too "light" a band... I felt it, but I thought I should feel it more... anyway. 

Strength portion was the strict press.  Apparently it's a deload week for them, so it was just 5 reps at 40, 50, and 60%.  Since it was light, form was greatly stressed.  60% was feeling pretty solid at 5 reps with strict strict form.  Worked with Xavier tonight, he ended up being my partner for the WOD.  Surprised Dustin Simmons wasn't there, he's usually the sucker... er lucky guy I get stuck with.

WOD today was a 15 minute AMRAP partner ladder.  5 pullups, power cleans, pushups, then 10 of each, then 15, so forth.  You had to finish each movement before moving to the next.  We decided to split it into 5's.  No matter what the set or movement.  We started out strong, he did the pullups, I did the cleans, he did the pushups.  Then I started the next round with my jumping pullups, then he did his pullups, 5 cleans, he did 5, I did 5 etc.  It started getting real spicy around set 30.  About halfway through the power cleans, we split them into 2 each, back and forth.  I must have looked pretty wasted.  I didn't necessarily want to do it, but this may have been what helped us make it though.  We got to the pushups then ran out of time.

At 15 minutes, I was a bit incredulous.  I thought we were going to 18... I had become confused with the 18 minutes of last night.  Left me a little disappointed.  I might have pushed harder at the end.  Not that I was intentionally sandbagging, but more because I would have dug deeper for that last bit. 

Tough workout.  We ended up with 300 reps.  150 each at that rate... that what, 10 rounds?  Not terrible for the time.  Might have done more by myself in 15 minutes... oh well, it was a good workout, Xavier was a good sport.  Reminds me, I let him pick the weight, and he said 115.  I was thinking 95, and I though 115 would be heavy.... it was heavy.  LOL.  Glad I did it at the higher weight level though.  Makes me feel like I'm progressing.  Anyway, I'm chasing sleep now, catch you tomorrow!

**********
Day after (1/28) additions. 

Forgot to mention that I banged the hell out of my elbow on a J hook when coming off the rig in one of the later rounds.  Really, it wasn't even my elbow, it was a bit higher, closer to meaty party of the tricep.  Only reason I bring it up now is that I didn't sleep well last night, and I'm blaming that. 

Last thing, to expand upon the title.  Since I don't have a set box right now, I just kind of WOD and do whatever strength training is put in front of me... so my shoulders were in no way smoked... but I did appreciate taking the time last night to work on the form a bit more.  Thanks AP for coaching!

Ok, that was the second to last thing.  I'm two WODs into the week, and I still haven't done the 10 burpees as fast as I can at the end of a workout... you know, to get better.  I can tell you now, having looked at todays WOD.... I don't know that I'll be doing them after todays either (hint, it's got burpees in it).  #wellsee  

12.3

Yeah, you read that right, we did 12.3.  Before we get into that, I want to pat myself on the back.  The whole drive home, I was hungry.  Forgot to get Carlas Buffalo Chicken two weeks in a row.  I've been super stressed at work.... anyway, so I weighted and dismissed several fast food options.  Just went to the store and got what i needed. 

Oh, in other news, my company has decided to change the per diem amounts to help our clients out....which is great for our clients.  Sucks for me though.  I'm in south Delaware, not known for its high amounts... and they just cut it by 20%.  Sigh, not your problem, I'm just venting.  Might have to get creative with meals. 

Add some veggies and store brand chicken... won't be healthy, but it would be cheap. 

Moving on to the workout tonight at CF Unlocked.  The first 10 minutes of the workout were dedicated to skill work.  To be honest, I typically skirt skill work.  Today I tried to do some handstand holds against the wall...  I did ok, and it's more than I might have done the week or even day before.  I'm trying to get better all around, need to stop ducking this stuff.  So I got nice and sweaty trying to do this stuff... even think I may have messed my shoulder up a little.  Glad I packed my lax ball. 

On to the meat of this workout.  18 minute AMRAP of 15 box jumps, 12 push press, and 9 toes to bar.  For me this is step ups, push press at 95, and knees to parallel.  I grabbed a 12" box at first, and then thought I'd grab an 18" box, and swap when I got tired.  Made sense at the time. 

So we start, and I'm the last one to get done.  It's been a long time since I've done step ups, let alone to an 18" box.  The push presses seem to be more difficult than they should be.  This is like 50% of my 1RM... why is this so difficult?  I get those done... and the toes to bar.  Remembering what happened just a few day ago, I paced myself.  I used several different bars, some high, some low.  No craps.  Only knock is that fact I think the impact is doing something to my ankle, it's sore as hell right now.  Probably swollen... I think I should elevate this. 

The workout was arduous, but I didn't stop... at least not fully.  Steps ups were consistent if not slow.  I am happy with the fact I didn't switch boxes to the smaller one.  I may have gotten more rounds with that, but this was arguably the better workout.  I do think I need more supervision... I found around round 4, with Jeff in front of me, seemingly watching, I was able to string together more push presses that when he wasn't.  HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO develop more mental toughness. 

Ended up with 5 rounds and 2 reps.  I actually took the time to do 2 more step ups at the end.  Something I may not have done a week ago.... so there is some mental toughness there.  I stayed on top of the box for a little bit.  Just about everyone else was on the ground, or sitting on a box.  I decided to put up my bar before I did anything.  I don't know why I care so much about not sitting down, but it's what I do.  While everyone else was resting, I was putting up my gear.  It's what I do. 

Alright, I know there was something else, but I'm trying to get some good sleep.  Catch you later. 

33 random facts in honor of my birthday

Following in the footsteps of another blogger who's work I enjoy.  His birthday is right beside mine, he started CrossFitting right before I did, so this just kinda makes sense.  That, and I'm still a little beat up from Thursday, and I don't have a WOD to talk about... I did go get measured and got a new food plan at On Track on Friday (need to read a Zone book now)....

On to the 33 random (weird, crazy, interesting?) facts about me... we'll see how strange this gets.   

1. I'm an Army brat.  Born and lived the first 8 years of my life in Germany.  Didn't get to learn much German, they didn't start teaching it till the year I we left (after the Berlin Wall came down).  The German I do know, I got off of a few weeks of free Rosetta Stone. 
2. Sports strikes kill me.  94-95 baseball strike is where it all started.  I LOVED the Kansas City Royals.  TV wasn't all that big into baseball back then, but I'd watch when I could, listen to the radio a lot.  Then the strike happened.  Being a kid, I still wasn't aware of the money and politics of sports, so it crushed me when they stopped playing because of money.  I was very naive (still am).   So now, when sports strike, I lose interest very quickly.  NBA was going so well after 08, then poof, over it again.  NFL hasn't been the same since their strike either... 
3. Speaking of the NFL, I hate the commercials.  3+ hours to watch a game that takes 60 minutes of clock...  Ain't nobody got time for that.  
4. I love soccer.   Chelsea FC, Sporting Kansas City, US Mens National Team, German National Team, Bayern Munich, US Womens National Team, FC Kansas City.  Those are the teams I follow, in that order.  
5. The left lane is the fast lane.  It's for passing and faster traffic.  Don't drive the speed limit in it.  Don't pass people going 1mph faster than the person you're "passing" in it.  
6. Turn signals.  They aren't optional equipment on cars.  Use them please.  
7. I record several shows on DVR, and then don't watch them for weeks or months later.  NCIS New Orleans is playing now, just finished the Halloween episode... 
8. Entrepreneurism.  I've got the disease.  I want to be rich/successful, and have so much coming in that my full time job would be to give it away to others.  #philanthropy
9. I've had some 20 plus jobs, in several fields, my current job is the longest time I've stayed in one place.  
10. Clothes.  I currently only shop at two stores thanks to my large size.  I'm very ready to be back to shopping wherever a sale is.
11. Water.  Until starting CrossFit, I was a water snob.  I would always buy VOSS, preferably in the glass bottles, then plastic if I had to.  After that it falls off to Fiji, then Smart Water, and a few others.  Now I drink so much water that I don't care near as much about the taste.  Deer Park is my go to in DE. 
12. I judge Mexican eateries based on their nachos.  That shouldn't make sense to about 98% of the people who read this.  
13. I've never had a hangover.  Granted, I don't drink often, at all, but when I do, it's copious amounts, and I wake up fine.  
14. I have a forehead dimple.  It's not something I can flex or anything on demand, so I don't have a picture of it to share, but it's there, and the day you see you'll be like aaaaah, thats what he's talking about. 
15. I can't roller skate.  Bought a pair of roller blades before ever knowing how to use them.  Super scuffed up now, fell down a lot, but I still own them.  Maybe on day I'll figure it out
16. I have flat feet, think they were inherited from my pops.  
17. While I'm not fearless with my food, I have tried some interesting things.  I've been fed deer heart before.  Even had a peanut butter and tomato sandwich.  Favorite thing is this pizza available in Anchorage Alaska, place called Mooses Tooth.  Place is known for thier craft beers, but the pizza is great too.  My favorite is one called Amazing Apricot.  http://moosestooth.net/menus/pizzas/
18. I'm the oldest of the next generation of my family.  I've been as much an inspiration, as a warning of what not to do. 
19. I hate cats, yet it's the only animal in our house.  As soon as the traveling stops, dog is going coming home.  German Shepard, a G. Shepard mix, Belgian Malinois, or a straight up mutt. 
20. Video games are my favorite hobby, for better or worse.  
21. My genetic past includes Russian nobility, German nobility, and an American President.  
22. I've got a vivid imagination.  Makes empathizing with people easy.  Also makes me seem crazy.  I see people in other people... like the last Rocky movie, Rocky Balboa.  Even though it's Sly Stallone on my screen, his mannerisms, movements, charms... all remind me of my father.  When he passes, that movie will become harder to watch. 
23. Broke my ankle warming up for a rescheduled soccer game.  Then it rained on me.  Was soaked before halftime.  
24. Alarm clocks, I set mine at random times.  I don't have a good explanation, for it, but one day, about 12 years ago, I set it to 703 or something like that.  Trend has been that way every since. 
25. Not ashamed to admit that I love sci-fi.  I don't necessarily love everything in the genre, but I can get down on some Star Trek or Star Wars. 
26. I play well with others.  In the Cub-Scouts while in Germany, we got to play on actual military tank sims as a troop.  Having some natural leadership traits, I got to be the tank commander for one of the machines.  Another kid had issues... wasn't having fun, or something, and I switched the best role in the tank, for becoming the driver.  I'm a nice guy.  
27. Hair.  I've got it everywhere, except my head... it's falling out of there.  Every other haircut I have to make sure I trim the 'edges'.  I've got hair that comes out of my ears, and if I don't get it every other time, it gets long, quickly.  I don't get it.  
28. I've never smoked anything.  Been around several things, worked with smokers, etc.  Never tried it.  Think it stems from the fact I got made fun of as a kid in Germany.  My mom was a smoker, and she'd smoke while doing laundry, so my clothes would smell and I got teased.  After a few times, I think I broke down in front of my mom, crying about how I was getting made fun of.  She quit cold turkey the next day.  As a child, I had no idea that was what it was... 
29. Spent most of my formative life in the small town of Tonganoxie Kansas.  Ton-guh-nox-E... or at least thats how I'm phonetically spelling it out.  YouTube has several videos where people say it.  Here is one from some guy who won big on Wheel of Fortune. 
30. Sleep with a fan on.  It's part white noise, part breeze.  Even have a fan with me when I travel, I leave it at the work site while I'm home.  
31. Haven't watched the news in probably 5 years.  I get most of my stories from the internets.  Goes back to the commercials, and then the slant of the news stories.  I miss the free press.
32. Grammar and spell checking... I hated English as a subject in school, yet here, years later, I'm critical of everything I read.  "Thats spelled wrong".  "It's your, not you're".  Make since?  Of course I meant make sense?  I see it everywhere, drives me nuts.  The kicker. I don't proofread this blog ever, and I know I make mistakes... maybe put this on some sort of resolution list.  
33. Last one,  I prefer wired to wireless.  It's dumb really, but when I'm home, I prefer things to be wired.  Fun fact, after the move, I haven't wired up a single thing in my house.  No Cat 5 or 6 cables anywhere.  #contradiction

Ok, that was both challenging, and kind of fun.  Didn't get too strange.  I think I'm Divergent.  Anyway, be back in few days with more WOD stories and adventure as I keep moving forward in this CrossFit journey. 

That good bad good stuff.

YEEEEEEEEAAAH!   I'm feeling really freaking good.  Endorphins are still coming in 3 hours later.  This was one of those workouts that sucks and is awesome.  I haven't had one of these in a while... I miss it, and I needed this today.  I was tired... still am, but work has been beating on me.  Doing my job while trying to learn someone elses... it's been rough.  I need more fuel, better fuel.  I didn't ask Carla to make me anything today (I'm usually not here Thursday), I did get to meet her for the first time though.  Hey Carla!  Getting off track a little, back to the food.  Dinner ended up being BK... nuggets, and a whopper... with cheese.  It's sitting REALLY heavy right now, but it was sooooo good for about 10 minutes.  Shame on me. 

Ok, confession over, lets talk about this nasty awesomeness.  Started off with Unlocked's back squat progression.  I don't know exactly where they are in it, but it looks like fairly early... ok, honestly, I couldn't tell you that without asking a coach.  Either way, it's been a long while since I've done back squats.  It was good getting under the bar again.  I went with another guys lighter weight since it had been a while.  It was still a good burn.  Think it was 5 @ 50%, 5 @ 60%, max reps at 85%.  I did 10 for my max reps (weight was only 160).  I think I could have done more... I should have done more, but I was happy with 10.  Kicked off the lifters, and got ready for the next part... what I wasn't looking forward to.

THIRTY BURPEES!   

As fast as possible.  There were like 16 of us?  Idk.  But they were plate burpees, so burpee, jump on the plate, jump down, burpee.  So 8 people went while 8 people counted.  Peer pressure, along with having someone count, and knowing everyone is going to be waiting on me... effing sucks.  So I get to go first.  Jeremy Navarre is my partner for this...or counter to be more accurate.  He's one of the coaches here at Unlocked, dude is a monster.  Physical.  Specimen.  So I've got superman counting for me.  LOL.  This whole thing proved one thing, when I get tired, I SUCK at counting.  I thought I was further ahead than I was 3 different time, and then he'd call out a number.  There haven't been too many WODs where I've had to do a bunch of burpees in a row, for time or as an AMRAP, or anything in between. 

The first 10 weren't awful.  I think I bounced up for most of them, but that was about all the jumping juice I had.  Guy next to me, Adam, I think he was already on 18 though.  LOL.  I kept moving, Jeremy always near by, saying encouraging things.  Somewhere around 15, I get the sense most people were done.  I'm hearing more people say things like keep it up Dan!  Great.  I mean I'm happy for the encouragement, but at the same time the shy guy in me is like don't look!  I'm near 20 now.  Sweat is pouring off me.  It's at my feet, and in a steady line up to, on the plate, and past it.  Dave P just got done, and rather than sucking wind, he's now at my side, he's tossing motivation my way, I swear it sounded like he was smiling when he was telling me not to stop, and he said something about having another paragraph to write about tonight.  I gave him the best sideways look I had at the time.  I think I smiled too, but I can't be sure.  #oxygenchoices

The last 10 weren't necessarily "difficult", I wasn't experiencing muscle fatigue or anything.  I could feel my legs and shoulders burning a little (there IS still a lot of me coming up off the floor), but I was managing.  One of the things Jeremy said early on was that breathing was the big limiter here, and to keep breathing.  I kept breathing....and sweating... and moving.  Kept moving the whole way.  Last couple had just about everyone around... felt good, and mortifying at the same time.  I'll still take that every day.  I think I may have actually jumped onto the plat the last time.  4:36.  I had it in my mind that I wanted to beat 5 minutes.  I did.  I didn't think I'd stop, but it's good to know I didn't.  Side note, Dave P just texted me with an "atta boy".  Thank you sir. 

The second wave went next.  I though for sure Jeremy was going to crush everyone... Turns out another coach, Jeff Peet had other ideas.  They both dominated my time, sub 1:30 for both... dat gum. Shows me there is still a ways to go, but now I know what's possible.  Another side note.  Jeremy and his wife have started up a clothing company, and it seems to dovetail nicely with us CrossFit folks.  They even took these photo's tonight, so it's cool to see them and the shirts up so quickly.  Give it a click for me, maybe you'll find something you like?  http://nolimitsswag.com/

AMRAP time.  Ascending ladder of hang power cleans and toes to bar.  3-6-9, etc.  7 minutes.  I was going to do 115, but Brian thought 95 would be better... he was right.   The first 3 cleans were tough enough... burpees kicking in maybe?  The toes to bar were interesting.  The rig... I don't remember it being THAT high.  I had to reach up and use the tip toe method.  I'm still doing knees to parallel... being off the ground that extra bit though, makes all the difference.  I was forced to hold on and pull up, rather than doing a touch n go on a lower rig... I liked it...until the second round.  I will pause right here and say that hanging from the bar, I can STILL feel the effects of last Fridays weighted med ball situps... Next 6 cleans weren't too bad.  The T2Bs I had to split up into sets of 3... and the tip toe method was done.  I could feel the calves cramping, round 3 would be the end of my WOD if I wasn't careful.  The hang cleans sucked now too.  3rd round had me dropping the bar 3 times.  Getting back to the rig, I used a box someone else was using to get up there... it wasn't in the best spot for me, and the way I did it didn't do my hands any favors either.  Got them done though, much less cramping as well. 

ROUND 4... I was already here, and that was my goal.  The cleans were now ugly... and thinking about it, I was doing muscle cleans more than power cleans, it's ok to dip a little next time buddy.... get a rhythm for goodness sake... when I got back to the rig, I did something I don't recall having ever done at Unlocked before..... or at least I haven't done it in a long time.  What is it you ask?  I went to the bucket of chalk.  My hands HURT... so I put a little on there to get2B.  Didn't help a lot, but it was something.  I ended up with 6 more cleans before time ran out.  My hands are still tender all this time later. 

All in all, a sucky, brutal, awesome workout.  Still a little miffed about my calves cramping up, I'll have to look into that.  Talked to Brian about getting faster at the burpees.  He gave an unwanted, but probably VERY useful suggestion.  Do 10 burpees as fast as possible after every workout (at least 3) for a week, then do 15 the next week, then 20, etc till you get to 40.  Said I wouldn't believe the improvement.  He's probably right... but damn thats a lot of buprees! 

The one thing that sucks about not being home is not having some of the normal things in my car, like a pen and paper... I had two great topics come to mind on the way back to the hotel... and they're not lost in the woods of Sussex County, DE.  Le Sigh.  Ok, well I'll leave this here then, got to get up at 0345 tomorrow, have no idea what DC traffic is like, and I'd rather get their early than get stuck in traffic. 

Happy Birthday

Man, I was mad as hell last night.  Got off work, was trying to get out of Seaford and up to CFDS, and this construction at this light... which wasn't the problem, but the drivers between myself and the light... couldn't figure out how to navigate between orange barrels.  They all did this serpentine maneuver to go through the cones... I drove straight, no problems, didn't hit a one.... idiots.  This took almost 15 minutes, and then as I was driving up north, traffic refused to go over the speed limit.  After about 15 more minutes, I was about 20 minutes behind where I needed to be, so I got fed up, turned around and went back to the hotel.  Couldn't even make it back to Unlocked at that point.  So disappointed.  Ended up going to dinner with the largest group of work people yet down here (8).  Had fettuccine alfredo.  Bad day all around. 

Moving on from that disappointment, we come to today, my birthday.  I woke up, so thats a plus.  Woke up early to go WOD.  Thats even better.

Got to catch up a little with Coach Brian DeLeon, 4th place masters finisher at this years Wodapalooza (however it's spelled).  Proud of him.  The only question I had after congratulating him was if he'd learned anything.  He said yes with a good sized smile.  Thats good.  Means next comp, he'll be even more prepared, and will beat out the others.  I have lofty goals for myself and others...  Anyway, like I said, congrats to him, and the boy wonder Trace who claimed top honors in the 16-18 division. 

Todays workout seems to me like a bit of a midweek rest day type of WOD.  It really wasn't all that bad.  The first 10 minutes we did skill work.  Ring dips and handstand holds.  Still can't do either, but I modified them.  It's funny, doing the dips.  I'm pushing with everything I've got to get to a locked out position, which is great.  But my feet or at least one foot is still on the ground.  I realize it's still a lot of weight I'm tyring to move up and down, but I'm struggling with just a portion of my weight... long road ahead.  It's ok though, it's going to be awesome to do my first ring dip with a band, then without, then, eventually, a muscle up.  Begin with the end in mind. 

The handstand holds are in a very similar position.  I still struggle walking back up the wall, and I wasn't feeling it today.  I don't even think this is the highest I've been on the wall....  I did step onto the wall and just held the position for as long as I could.  Baby steps.  Shoulders and quads are big on my list of to do's this year.  I hope to have this figured out by summer. 

Speaking of summer... sweating... like most people I'm not sweating AS much, but I'm still dripping wet most days.  After Monday, I went to wash my hands, and I looked like I was stoned out of my mind.  Eyes were about the most bloodshot I'd seen them.  I'm really thinking about wearing a sweat band more often.  Chirs over at ifailedfran.com has recommended Halo brand headbands, I may try them. 

The WOD today wasn't awful.  10-8-6-4-2 push jerk at 135 1-2-3-4-5 MU's (double that if chest to bar), and on the dashes, 25 DU's. 

I went heavier than I would have, and I'm glad Brian suggested I do that.  115.  It got heavy quick, but I was able to do most of the push jerks unbroken, and with decent form.  The round of 8 I dropped the bar, but that was it.  Solid effort.  The MU's... were ring rows for me, they weren't awful, but they weren't spectacular either.  I need to work myself back to starting under the bar, or negative, and make this a killer workout.  I think I'm still in the good zone, but I can do more I think. 

The double unders... they get their own paragraph.  I'm buying a rope today.  I tried to find one here, and I found one that was the perfect lengthy, but the rope was so beat up... I think I got 7 unbroken singles before I had to start over.  Irritating as hell.  Can't wait to not have to deal with this.

I got the WOD done in less than 10 minutes, when it comes around again, I'm going to shoot for under nine.  I didn't tell Brian it was my birthday until well into when folks have cooled down.  :)  Jeff might have something in store for tomorrow anyway, so I'll be ready regardless. 

Last thing.  Tried this mystery meat popular out here called scrapple... and I tried it from a place that came highly recommended.  I wasn't impressed.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I thought it was going to be (which was, in a word, amazing).  Next time you're in Kansas City, try the Z Man from Oklahoma Joes/Joes Kansas City.  That is a BBQ sandwich worth trying.  Anyway, I digress.  Happy Hump day to you and yours!

Cheers. 

...squat squat squat squat, EVERYBODY!!

What a difference a day (or two) makes.  Truthfully, it didn't make all THAT much difference (my upper abs are STILL sore from Friday), but it did help.  Rolling out of bed at 0300 was rough this morning, and I was still sore... ab work and I probably need to become closer with the ab mats.  Train ze muscle!

I saw the WOD today, and was concerned it might be pull on my abs and be uncomfortable.  I was definitely right about the uncomfortable, wrong about what would cause it.  The WOD was named in honor of the DeLeons and their amazing showing at Wodapalooza... or at least I asssumed it was named in their honor.  Either way, WOD was called TeamDeLeon.  6 rounds.  4 HSPU's, 8 sumo dead lift high pulls, 12 ball slams, 24 air squats. 

I knew pretty early in round one, that this was waaaay going to take waaaay longer if I stuck with RX.  At 12 air squats, it felt like everyone else was already on their sumo pulls or ball slams.  I decided then and there that scaling was the only good option in front of me.  Let me take a step back.  I'm tired, it's a travel day... WODs like this suck for me on these days.  Air squats last Wednesday here in sets of 10 was bad enough... I had to break them up.  24?  I mentally broke at the thought of that.... probably stems back to that half Karen...still in my head.  Back on track, the 24 was more than I thought I had in me... I'm trying to regain my form, pushing from the heels... I was scared of being too sore to workout...  LOL.  I'm having a hard time justifying it to myself...

Moving on.  I did everything in stepped down sets.  The HSPUs... I don't know that I like the plate idea, I think I'm going to go back to the box, sure the plate is hard too, but the box feels more like what I need... idk.  So I did 4 plates, 6 high pulls, 8 slams, and 10 squats.  That is still a lot of squatting with 440lbs on my frame.  I got through this mess in just over 18 and a half minutes.... took me that long WITH the scaling.  Last one done, was expecting that.  I wanted so badly to sit down, sit on the floor... something.  I stayed on my feet, which is a small victory for me.  Walked around for a while, ended up going to Wal-Mart, walked around some more.  My legs will be sore tomorrow.  Maybe not as sore as they might have been, but it's going to be sore in the morning.  The highlight, the ball slams.  Not for the cardio/quad..io... work, but for the fact that with little bounce, I'm worried about getting down quickly, to get under the ball as it bounces all of 2" off the ground.  I think this will help me tremendously with my squat cleans.  I hope it will anyway. 

I feel like I had more I wanted to say about this, but it's getting late, and it's a long day tomorrow.  More new projects, more stuff to do.  Somethings I did want to hit on: 

This article.  http://games.crossfit.com/article/and-fitness-all     I needed some motivation today... not workout motivation, but I was looking for anything.  This fell into my Facebook news feed, I'll take it.  Maybe one day in a few months, I'll make it here?  Either way, big ups to Daniel Casey for sticking with it, great story. 

Birthday is this week...and will likely be at CF Unlocked... can't wait (ok, really I can wait) to see what they have in store for me/us. 

I'm going to get better, I'm going to get better, I'm going to get better... 

Gone...

Gone is the thought that this 100lbs is going to be easy to lose. 

Gone is the notion that 200 WODs in a year will be an easy goal.

Gone is my somewhat regular squat form. 

Gone is the phrase "that doesn't look too bad" when referring to a posted WOD online.

Man alive...  yesterdays WOD left me in disbelief.  So much so, I didn't even type this up then.  It looked easy.  It looked needed.  It looked like I was going to have a good time...

Well, I did have a good time, but the rest of that was boo boo.  The posted WOD at On Track had several parts.  The parts that excited me were the words mobility and recovery.  All day Thursday I'd been sore, particularly my (outside) shoulders.  I could use some mobility and recovery in my life, so I head in.

I'll admit, I'm still a little bit intimidated by On Track.  Not because of the people, but because of the people...  It's complicated and stupid.  I'm not really the shy type, but sometimes I am... and thats whats coming to the front here.  I'm in this weird place, between belonging, and proving I belong.  I know that shouldn't be necessary, but it's still there.  I need more time in KC to get the feeling gone I think.  That should be coming up in February with the birth of #2.  I'm getting off topic. 

So 530 comes around and I start the warmup.  500m row, 30KB swings and this barbell complex.  I don't know if it's got a name, but it's unlike anything I've done to date.  6 upright rows, 6 behind the neck thrusters, 6 muscle (or power) snatches, 6 overhead squats, 6 bent over rows.  WHAT?  Man, ok, if you say so.  I banged out two of the three sets, and called it good enough for a warmup.  I was only using a barbell, the OH squats have been out of my repertoire for so long... it was just bad, we'll leave it at that. 

Alright, time for the mobility piece.  We did a good 10 minutes of work on the lower extremities.  Groin muscle, hip flexors, and all sorts of things I don't know the name of.  Felt great.  The shoulder stuff was after that, and frankly, by comparison for the stuff we just did, I found it lacking.  That could also be because I needed more work. 

Alright, no what?  Oh yeah, that barbell complex I described above, we're doing that for 4 rounds, ascending weight as you go.  I've got visions of grandeur here.  I'm thinking to myself I'm going to go up by 20 each round.... I mean it's only 10lbs each side of the bar, it can't be that bad right?  I should have known better...hold on a sec

Gone is the belief that 20lbs isn't that much weight to add on...

Ok, better.  So I started with the the bar again.  No problem right?  I go grab two 10's.  I've noticed that others are grabbing 5lb pieces.  I'm struggling to figure out why these guys are starting to light.... figured it out soon enough.  I made it through this second round, but it was tough.  I forgot to mention, the goal was to do every set unbroken, and not put the bar down until the complex was over.  A couple times during the second round I wanted to put the bar down, but didn't.  Brian had a few words for me about my squatting... and it's really gotten in my head.  I think I just need to take a week and do some extra squats (can't believe I'm typing this...).  I want to get my muscle memory back for that, so it just happens and I don't have to think about my knees or hips. 

3rd round, I made it to the OHS, got 3 slow ones done, and then put the bar down.  I mean I could have held on to it, but I didn't think I'd be able to get it up again to do an OHS.  I took the plates off, and did my 4th round fairly well enough, little to no stopping, but the OHS were still pretty weak.  Either way I'm done now.  That sucked.  At least I had my lifters, no 1/2 Karen quads tonight. 

Next up, partner ab work.  In a word, fuqq.  There are 5 of us, and I REALLY don't want to start out bad with folks.  First up is 3 rounds of 2 minute of a situp, med ball exchange.  So both people do a situp, but one person had a med ball behind their head (arms extended) and then comes up at the same time as the other person, and they exchange, both go back down, rinse, repeat.  This was a long 2 minutes.  A few times, I was getting used to it, stayed up when I should have fallen back for a situp.  I think I was over thinking things.  I have no idea how many we did, felt like a lot.  Knowing that 75-80 is about my max per sitting... I'm thinking this is going to be bad. 

I was right. 

After the 3rd exchange on the second round, it became very apparent that I needed the med ball to generate enough momentum to get back up.  I was struggling to do it with no ball.  About half way through, I was only doing the exchange where I had the ball, otherwise I sat up and waited for the return.  This is not the way I want to start working out with folks, but I'm struggling mightily with situps with no medball... I'd rather finish with half the reps than not finish at all.  3rd round was all just doing one the medball situp.  This was awful.  I can tell I'm being watched...or at least I felt like I had some extra eyes on me.  That didn't bug me, not being able to do this with a partner... it just sucked, I didn't like that part.... and it gets better. 

After the 3 sets are done, we're doing partner planking.  One is up, the other rests, someone has to be up the whole time.  Seven minutes.  Go. 

I have no idea what the breakdown was, but my partner held plank for probably 5 of the minutes.  Not straight, I just suspect that is close to what the division of labor ended up being.  I felt bad for him.  I felt bad for me.  My abs just felt bad.  That was it for the main workout.  There was an extra bit at the end, as a class we had to get through 100KB swings.  Encouraged to go heavy since we'd be sharing the load.  Picked 55lb KB.  Since there were 5 of us left, it was 10 each, twice.  Easy enough, 55 was heavy, but it wasn't going to kill me.  Got that done and that was it.  I said my bye's, thanked Brian for the workout, and went home.  I think I just sat... like when you're so tired you just stay put.  I think I had that sort of sit down experience a few times that night.  So much for being an easy night.
Few quick notes.  Registered a domain.  thecrossfitnomad.com will be the home for the blog...as soon as I figure out how to set it up and link this to that.  Might mean this whole thing looks different in the future, we'll see.

Ok, so it was one quick note.  I'm off here for the night, catch you guys/gals later.  

Angies second cousin...

Jumping right into this (since I'm writing this a day later and still technically on the clock).  Last night was a tough night at Unlocked.  It wasn't that the workout was so tough, but coming off a two-a-day with less than 8 hours sleep and dealing with this... it wasn't my best work.  :) 

The night started off with about 15 minutes of skill work.... which I did none of.  I was still feeling the effects of a double should workout, and so I spent a lot of time stretching, doing extra stretching, and other mobility exercises to loosen everything up for the WOD.  Lots of extra lax ball work, calf stretching, downward dog on the wall... just a lot of stuff.  Thankful I did it. 

Angie is one of the classic "girl" workouts of CrossFit:

100 pull ups
100 push ups
100 sit ups
100 squats
for time

We did Angies second cousin (unless this workout has a different name?)

100 pull-ups
100 air squats
100 push-ups
100 goblet lunges

Break it up however you want was the only added stipulation (I'm sure that applies to Angie too).  I had all day to figure out how I wanted to tackle this beast.  Do I do it in 20's and only have 5 reps?  Maybe do it in sets of 5 so I can move quick from move to move?  I ended up picking what seemed like a reasonable 10 sets of 10. 

Grabbed a 44lb KB for the lunges, and had some rings for the ring rows I'm going to do.  I'm ready, you ready?  Ok, lets go!  Started on the rings, banged out 10 in a row.  Good start.  The squats were quick too.  Everything was going well till I got to the lunges.  Post workout I talked to Jeff... I think I overstep by quite a bit.  More on that in a sec.  First round was done easy enough.  I was working out near my man Dave P.  If you don't remember, I've referred to him as the most honest man in CrossFit.  This is also important later. 

Round 2 was also pretty good.  I broke started to crack a bit though, ring rows weren't unbroken.  Still, solid. 

Round 3, the problems started here.  5-4-1 rows.  Squats... noticed that my squats are in need of a real overhaul.  I didn't exactly want to start here, in the middle of 100, but I think I'm going to have to get a WOD doc to help me work on these to make sure my form is 100% right, and consistent for EVERY movement.  I noticed that I didn't always go back, then down like when we do weighted squats.  I also noticed that sometimes my knees come in when I push up.  It's not right, I can tell you that.  With those Karen quads from a few weeks ago... I don't want to go through that pain again, but I think I really need it.  No sense doing half assed things, only going to end up hurt, so this is now a top thing for me.  It's also going to help...little bit of pain and learning upfront for big gains later... at least thats how I'm planning on it working. 

Pushups are not broken up as well, nice line of sweat on the floor.  I'm ready for the day I do full pushups... saw Ali doing some afterwards, it was weird, but neat to.  Right before she'd push up, you could just see her entire frame go rigid, then the push.  #cantwait to be able to do it like that.  Ok, so now we're at round 3 of the lunges.  My inconsistency with the squats and lunges has caused an issue.  My outside left hip flexor thingy (scientific right?) was starting to hurt.  Cramp isn't the right word, but it describes the sensation fairly well.  I made it through 8 before I had to set down the KB and rub on it a little.  Picked it up and finished.  Going to watch it now. 

Round 4, rings suck.  I'm hating life now.  4-4-2.  squats suck 4-5-1, pushups suck 6-3-1.  Lunges are now a problem.  My left leg hurts.  I'm starting to wonder about whether or not I'm going to be able to complete the WOD.  Luckily, Jeff is coming by.  I explain my dilemma, and he suggest trying it with no weight.  Ok, will do next round. 

Round 5, that little rest helped.  back to 5-5 for everything up to the lunges.  I still overstepped, but without the 44lb KB, it was easier, and the pain was noticeably less. 

Round 6, back to sucking.  Jeff came by to see how I'm feeling.  I smile through the sweat and say things are better, and they are.  The crampy type pain is gone, and now it's just quads being sore.  Here is where being next to Dave helped.  We've been keeping similar pace, and minus my quick stop and talk, I've been step for step with him as far as being around the same spot and number of reps.  I've lost all count at this point.  10 counts for each movement are all I'm paying attention to. 

Rounds 7-8-9 go by with similar speed and suffering.  I'm doing my pushups for 9, and I see Dave cross off number 9 on his chalk board as he mutters last one.  I'm thinking the same thing.  This is almost over!  I finish the round, and pursue 10 with vigor, tapping into that little bit of extra I seem to always have in the tank.  I do everything nearly unbroken.  It was awesome. When I'm finally done, clock reads 25:39.  Took longer than I thought. 

Damage is done.  I untie my lifters (think that was part of why Karen at CF On Track killed me), and put up the KB and chalk board that I didn't bother to use.  I've found the guy I know I want to chase later.  He got done in a shade under 13 minutes.  About half the time.  I've got some work to do for sure.  Get faster!  Well, get it right first, then get faster. 

Confession.  Dig Carla's Buffalo Chicken.  Confession about that is that I eat it cold on the way home from the box.  It's mushy, cold, and still delicious.  Can't help it.  Glad I wash my hands afterwards...

This weekend is Wodaplooza, however it's spelled.  Want to wish Coach Brian DeLeon and Trace DeLeon from Unlocked and Coach Gia O'Keefe from CrossFit Diamond State the best of luck at the competition.  They've been training hard, eating right, and getting ready for this.  I'll be watching online to see how they do.  Little jealous.  It's in Miami.  Anyway, best of luck, hope you guys crush the competition in your divisions.  Look forward to the war stories next week. 

Happy Thursday to the rest of you, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my rest day/work day, and hope there is no lasting soreness before my first main WOD at On Track tomorrow.  Cheers. 

Double Dipping

Greetings!  It's been a wild day.  To catch you up, didn't work out since the 100 situps on Wednesday.  I JUST got over the soreness today.  Long time to have achy breaky abs....

Alarm went off at 0500, since I missed Monday night, I needed to make up some ground, so morning WOD at Unlocked.  Everything was going well, driving along... about halfway there, did a quick inventory.  Progenex, check.  All dressed, check.  Lifters for the WOD... ch... nope.  Dammit!  Oh well, too late to go back.  Time to soldier on. 

Got there, got stretched, ready to go.  Strict Press 1RM.  No lifters, no problem.  Got my first warmup set done with the bar, then I took off the shoes.  Weird walking around the box in socks.  Kept working with two other guys.  They both tapped out early.  First time out doing all the guys in a class (remember, it IS 0545...).  Still, I had a small prideful smile.  I only went one lift past the last guy, and ended up with a 145. 

I wasn't happy with it, I thought it should be higher.  Wasn't till I checked the numbers today that I saw it was a 10lb PR over the previous.  Guess thats a good way to start the day (even thought I didn't know it then).  On to the AMRAP.  12 minutes total.  1 minute squat cleans, 1 minute push jerk.  2 minutes squat cleans, 2 minutes push jerk.  3 minutes worth of squat clean, then, finally 3 minutes of push jerks.  Still shoeless, I gave this the good ol college try.  I can tell I'm doing much better than I was last week, or the week before that.  Still not a great total, but I did better each round (as I should mind you).  57 was my total, and I thought it was pretty good... till Amanda belted out 137... or something like that.  Dayum.  Oh well, still room to grow. 

I swear I'm the only one that sweats.  By the time we were done, I had a nice line of sweat beads on the floor.  I hope it stays like this for a long time, makes me feel like I've put in a good days work. 

Fast forward 12 hours, and I'm at CrossFit Diamond State.  We've done some stretching and everyone ready to go.  Strict Press!  Dammit!  LOL.  I didn't do as much as everyone else.  I might have been able to, but I didn't push it, felt a little hitch in my left shoulder, and shut it down.  Still, it didn't hurt, so thats a good thing right?  The AMRAP was... well, quite similar to Unlocked's.  Almost like they were planned from the same book.  21-18-15-12-9-6-3 of power cleans and situps.  12 minute time cap. 

I was worried about this one.  Having JUST recovered from my last bout of situps, I was leery.  So I decided (while doing them) that I was going to scale down the total number of reps.  I think I did 15 or so the first time, 13, the second etc.  Let me backup.  The weight I was using was 75 instead of the Rx 95.  I had it in my head that I was already beat from the first time, so I went lighter... that and the 12 minute cap had me worried.  I got the first 21 done without dropping the bar (another nice feeling), after that everything was broken up, cleans and situps.  I wont bother you with the details, but I moved pretty quick, minimal rest, and got done at 9:42.  In retrospect, maybe I should have done all the situps, I feel ok right now (we'll see in the morning).  At the same time, I may have not finished... too late for regrets or what ifs, tomorrow is a new day.  Speaking of a new day, it's after midnight.  I need that sleep.  Catch you tomorrow. 

Karma

I had several clever ideas for the title of this one, and they've all evaporated with dinner and work.  Something will show up later I hope.  Moving on, tonight was a nice little WOD.  Inspired by Fight Gone Bad.  Maybe they should call it Pillow Fight Gone Bad, because my arms are toast...most of the people had calf issues.... and I laughed at them for it, then, when getting in my car, in the dark, by myself... had a nasty nasty calf cramp.  #karma

The warmup today was bad for me.  I hate situps.  Especially when it's supposed to be 100 of them.  After the Lurong cool down we did months ago, I discovered that 100 is just too much for me.  I've gotten better but I'm not quite there.  Oh, and this warmup was with a partner.  While one was doing situps, the other held plank.  We started strong, but faded quick, or at least I did.  25, then 20, then 10, 10, 10 done.  That last 10 for me, I was THROWING my arms forward, and it was everything I had just to break parallel.

Pop up from that and time to do our FGB.  Calorie row, KB swings, double unders, pullups, and pushups.  I started on the rower, thought I'd do the best here.  After the first pull of the rower, it was evident that I use my abs more than I ever knew.  My rows suffered the first two rounds, then after that, they rowing just sucked for more obvious reasons. 

I used too light a KB, didn't make it go any faster the second third of fourth rounds though.  I need to get that mental toughness back, stop going for the easy way out.

DU's... still didn't happen, but I feel I'm getting better at jumping longer.  And I'm more convinced than ever that I need my own rope.  Maybe for my birthday?

Pullups were more ring rows.  I can't wait to get a band and start doing pullups.  I don't know that 4 banded pullups is better than 20 ring rows, but I'd feel quite a bit more accomplished.  In due time I guess.  The pushups weren't anything spectacular, more princess pushups.  The one highlight was that I was able to push hard through the last round and had a higher number than any previous round. 

Ended up with 372 I think.  Comparing it to FGB, I thought I was the man.... till everyone was yelling out 500+ scores.  LOL.  Oh well, it was a good workout for me.  Going to get some much needed sleep tonight, then a rest day tomorrow, then back to On Track for more fun.  Cheers!

Simple doesn't mean easy

Aint that the truth!  Last nights WOD at Unlocked was simple.  Looked easy on paper... those bastards get you every time.  5 movements total for the night.  No big deal.  Split it in roughly half, and you have an EMOM of 12 minutes, and an 8 minute AMRAP.  This should be great.  And it was, till it wasn't.  :) 

This cold evening found me at the newly remodeled Unlocked.  They've added lots of cubbys to store gear in while you're there, and a counter/bar with check-in stuff and some announcements on it.  They've been busy since I've been gone.  Good to see folks, but now it's time to throw some weights around. 

I hate warmups where I have to broad jump.  It's 100% mental for me.  I baby the heck out of my knees, so drying to jump that far, doesn't work for my baby strategy.  That and having my belly slap against my body and make a very audible slap sound... I cringe every time.  I just don't like it, so I half ass that every time so I don't have to hear that.  High knees, butt kickers and the like aren't really all that fun either... huffing and puffing after a warmup just isn't fun.  Necessary for some workouts, but that doesn't mean I like it :P

EMOM today of 4 deadlifts at 75% of your training 1RM.  MATH!  I had seen this earlier in the day, and knew I needed a 45 and 35 on each end to hit that number.  Ended up with a 45 and 25.  This was one of the bigger classes I've been to at Unlocked, and we ran out of all but the smallest weights.  Good problems to have from a business/box perspective, not so much from a workout perspective. 

EMOM was 12 minutes.  4 deadlifts, then for the remainder of the minute to the 45 second mark, you do jumpovers.  Side to side is the preferred method.  I'm still not comfortable leaving my feet jumping side to side, so I do this sort of Heisman high step jump thing.  Not the same, but not so different as to be wrong.  I don't think.  I'm moving, that matters right?  Anyway, this was tiring, especially towards the end.  With the lateral jumping, my glutes and the sides of my things... my outer outer outer glutes?  ... those were struggling to keep up.  I thought for sure I would be super sore today... didn't quite happen that way, seem to be working fine.  I did a solid job on the deadlifts, kept it at or under 20 seconds of time for the most part.  There were a few (half?) of the jump overs that I just did step overs.  Couldn't convince my legs to do exactly what I wanted... I need to become a better salesman.  

Everyone was gasping for air after that.  2 movements for 12 minutes.  They even let us rest 15 seconds!  Guess we were doing some decent work if we're all still struggling after that.  I prefer to move while I try to recover, so I started to get my bar ready for the AMRAP.  Rx was 115.  I'm close to it (did 95), I'm SO very glad I didn't do it last night.  The AMRAP was 6 front rack lunges (like at CFDS the night before), into 2 bear complex, and then a bastard.  The kicker is that for each round you complete, you add another bastard at the end. 

I knew I was in trouble after the first set of lunges.  I didn't go super deep with them, and I was still struggling mightily.  Figured I could re assess after my first bear complex.  The bear complex, for those that don't know, in it's most broken down aspect, is a power clean, front squat, push press, bring the bar down on the back for a back squat, and then another pushpress.  If you've got the juice, then it's a squat clean, thruster, back squat, back thruster 1.  I did have the juice for my first bear.  The second I got done smooth enough, but my quads were toast.  Not even finished with my first rep, and I already wanted to quit.  The burpee was the icing on the cake.  My hands are better, been using a thick layer of Vaseline on the knuckles at night, they're almost back to normal. 

The second set of lunges we're uglie than the first, and I had to set the bar down after 4.  My right quad just didn't want to do much in the way of work tonight I guess.  It was crying like newborn with colic.  The next two hurt just as bad, but I was finishing the sets on that right leg, and it was taking away any momentum every time I went to it.  This second set of bears, broke each move down individually.  95lbs is getting hard to press, particularly from the back position.  I'm struggling now.  Call goes out for 4 minutes, halfway done with the time, and I haven't finished 2 reps yet.  WOW. 

What happened next wasn't very fun, but necessary.  I got my lunges done 2 at a time, dropping the bar and rubbing on my quads briefly at each reset.  I'm still so dat gum slow though.  Call for 2 minutes left is out, and I'm just now starting my second bear.  Get done, 90 seconds.  Burpee, "jump over the bar"  burpee.  60 seconds.  I'm beat to my knees.  Hopping back up to standing isn't happening.  Get to my feet, over the bar, burpee 3.  Done.  I look at the clock, 15 seconds left.  To my credit, and to a lesser degree, amazement, I picked up the bar and started on the next round of lunges.  Was aiming for 4, got to 3.  Better than 0 on round 4. 

I wanted to lay on the floor... to sit down... to something.  My legs aren't wobbly, but they sure could use a rest.  Instead it's a few high/low fives, and I'm putting my gear away.  I spent a bit of time just wobbling around.  Got my 'Happy Family' meal from Carla the Cavewoman.  Eventually went back to the hotel and ate it.  Tasty as always. 

Been trying harder to eat better.  I know that 100lbs is a tall order, so I'm going to have to be mindful of everything I eat and drink.  Scrutinize everything.  I think I'm going to add 200 WODs to my goals.  Averages out to 4 a week.  I'm already behind.  Should be able to hit 5 this week if I can get 2 in at On Track this weekend.

Might switch over to Zone.  On Track likes macros, and so does my man Andy P, so it might behoove me to take a look at it.  If Amanda is in this weekend, I'll chat her up about it. 

Back to the tile though.  5 "simple" movements, and that was it.  Nice and worn out last night.  Slept pretty good.  Tonight, it's looking like Fight Gone Bad...ish.  No wallballs, so I'm very thankful there, my quads could use a day or 2 off.  I'm giving 4:1 odds now that I'm going to talk about how awful it was.  :)  Guess we'll see. 

Canceled flights, AMRAPs, and the new year starting off right

Today was a mixed blessing kind of day.  First flight was canceled, next flight delayed... when I finally got to Philly, it was late, too late to get to my client site... got my rental at 4pm.  Here is where things started getting better.  Rental is a Chevy Traverse, with a pretty sweet trim package.  Good thing too, I hear it's supposed to snow.  Hit the Philly traffic, and me oh my, look at the time... guess we'll just swing into CrossFit Diamond State. 

Showed up, surprised everyone.  It was great fun.  Got a great WOD to get back on the horse.  I'm going to keep it pretty brief, I've missed a day to catch up on emails... the same emails I've missed the past two weeks... We did some back squats.  I'm stronger than I remember, but I the last set we were going for reps, and I punked out at 4.  Goal was 8.  Mental strength has left me... Need to work hard to get that back. 

The AMRAP was a 10 minute sprint.  3 rounds.  10 lunges with a front rack of weights.  100m run.  10 burpee box jump overs.  100m run.  I did everything to the 8.  8 lunges, 8 burpees.  Still did the 100m, but it was rowing.  I wanted to get the impact of the workout without beating myself into submission again, I was also concerned about my lack of water.  Let me explain.  You know how you get those cracked knuckles once in a while?  Thats what my entire hand looked like this morning at the airport.  I have been severely lacking in the water department for most of the break.  Short story is that I had plumbing issues in the new house, didn't want to have to use the bathroom more than necessary...  So all of that made me decide on 8.  I finished at 9:39.  Looks like the right call. 

Awesome way to get back in the workout.  I'm looking forward to tomorow at Unlocked... even thought they're doing some similar stuff.  LOL.  Need to get these quads back in shape. 

Side notes, drank 4 L today, going for 6 tomorrow.  Left my Progenyx at home... dummy.  Did pick up some fish oil.  We'll make it work. 

State of the Union

Remember that post about how awesome I think On Track is going to be?  Well, I still think that... I just haven't been back.  My quads were/are a mess still.  It was almost as bad as my first day CrossFitting at Diamond State.  In other words, I still hurt... getting up, walking up and down stairs, etc etc etc.  Maaaaybe I'll go back tomorrow.  I want to, can't have them thinking I got run off.

On to the State of the Union... can a Nomad have one of those?  *shrug*  I've got one.  Take that!  And really, maybe this isn't a SoU, but a goals and ambitions for 2015.  A resolution perhaps?  mmmm.

I think I'm going to put my current 1RM's that I have, and then put goals beside them.  I do know that I want to take 7-10 more lifts into "club 200".  I also want to have the big harry goal of dropping a smooth 100 lbs this year.   ONE HUNDRED!  Help me get there.  This should help me drop 2-3ish shirt sizes, and probably a few more pant sizes.  Which is now a mixed blessing.  My favorite store to shop at in KC is folding itself into JC Penneys... as long as they still have the goods, I don't really care where they sit.

Ok, here is the original list of the club 200 lifts/movements.  Some of these will get crossed off at the same time, or very close together I suspect, looking at them now, well after I'd first made this list. 

Name	Current	2015 Goal
Push Press	175	230
Strict Press	135 (this has to be old)	205
Jerk Press	145 (this is also old)	220
Bench Press	205	260
Overhead Squat	95 (old, but still relevent)	150
Front Squat	205	250
Back Squat	245	300?
Hang Clean	unknown	205
Power Clean	150	205
Squat Clean	145	180 (this one is all mental)
Hang Snatch	75	120
Power Snatch	125	170
Squat Snatch	75	145
Deadlifts	295	350+
Thrusters	unknown	150?
Bear Complex	95? Don't remember	135
Shankle Complex	unknown	150+
Additions
Clean and Jerk	175	205
TGU	no weight	1/2 pood
DU's	0	10
Consistent Box Jumps	0	12"
1000 row	3:51	3:30

So yeah, it's an ambitious year, lose a lot of weight, and get stronger...  I think I'm up to it.  I mean I doubled most of the lifts from when I started in 8 months, while losing 40 lbs.  Add 4 months on that, yeah, I can probably hit, if not smash all these goals this year.  Stay tuned for updates.  :)

I think my biggest struggle/hurdle will be eating right.  Amanda from OT said that she'd read a study somewhere, and it said... well, crap, I forget exactly what it said, but the translation for me was that I'm probably going to have to cook more at home.  Maybe I need a Wok?  Got picky eaters to please.

Also, supplements.  I haven't been taking anything, and I'm starting to feel achy.  Not sure on the multi-vitamin I'll take.  Getting back on a joint supplement...Triflex from GNC I believe.  Fish oil...while it's not all equal, I think with the volume I'll be taking, I might just deal with a discount store brand.  

Not much else on my mind at the moment, though I know I'll remember it tomorrow, or later tonight.  Good luck to me (and you) on our fitness goals this year