Friday, May 29, 2015

More than much

The endurance is gone.  2-3 weeks out, and it's gone.  I noted that on Tuesday to Brian.  A week off, you can be rested, 2-3, rusty is more likely.  I sat out the past two days due to some nasty soreness (think I went a little too hard), and more because of what the workout was.  Not cherry picking quite so much as the fact I'm still scared of messing up my wrist.  There was enough bodyweight movements (pushups, burpees, etc) that I didn't want to push it.  Not yet anyway. 

So, I got to the box early tonight.  Thought it was the top of the hour, guess on Fridays it's at the bottom of the hour.  No matter.  Did more of the same warm ups... wrist still tender... hope that goes away soon.  I had expectations when I got to the box tonight... I was going to do the level 1 class for the strength, and then row a 3k instead of the AMRAP.  That didn't happen.  You see, a large chunk of On Track leadership and a smaller chunk of the athletes are all at the Central Regionals.  That is to tell you, we've got 1 coach, and thus 1 class.  This WOD is at almost chipper status.

 But first, the warmup... had lots of OHS with the bar.  The after the warmup, we warmed up to workout weights... with more OHS with weight... So by the time we got to the WOD, I've done 50, maybe 60 OHS... Shoulda seen this coming....  

Workout was this:
1200m run or row
35 Overhead squats (135 / 95 lb. or 50-60% of your 1RM)
75 AbMat sit-ups
100 double-unders
35 Sumo high pulls (135 / 95 lb.)
75 box jump overs (24 / 20 in.)

25 minute time cap

I did the row,  squats at a little less than 50%, and kept that same weight for the high pulls.  I was going to do 50% of my 1RM for the OHS, but during the warm up, I went to that, and I wobbled a little too much to be comfortable doing it in the WOD 35 times, so I went back down to 65#. 

The row wasn't awful.  Going back to the whole being rusty bit, I felt gassed early.  Hit 1k at 4:14, which isn't awful, but it wasn't good in my opinion.  Slowed down a bit to get some wind back, finished the 1200 at 5 minutes.  I didn't watch the clock the whole time doing OHS, but I had to break it up into 3's and 4's.  Took.  For.  Ever.  I know its not spelled right, doing it for effect.  Or affect... whichever. 

Didn't make 75 situps.  Took me a while to get to 45.  The last 10, cramps, and then awful cramps... like do one situp, then lay back for an extra bit to let it relax... so yeah, too much left, stopped early.  The jump rope... yet another thing that has suffered from a lack of workouts.  Couldn't tell you how long it too me to do 100 singles, but it was a ridiculous amount of time...again.  The high pulls took me almost to the time limit.  Think I got 5 box jump overs....or step overs, then time. 

I didn't want to go, I sure didn't want to do this workout... but, like always, glad I went. 

Back to regionals.  On Track had an abysmal team event 1.  Last place.  Pair 2 of 3 got no-repped to death.  Thats not to complain about the reffing, tandem chest to bar is difficult to judge, and our own athletes said most of them were legit (one is battling some sickness)... doesn't make it suck any less though.  Event 2, different story.  4th place finish, has us sitting at 15 after the first day.  Not terrible considering how event 1 went.  Strong showing tomorrow should get them in the top 10, then it's anyones event.  Lets get it! 


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The wait is over!

WHATS UP!?!??!!

Feels like it's been freaking forever.  Haven't lifted weights in almost 3 weeks due to my first injury.  Got sick.  Work has been busy.  Lots of things going on, but something was missing.  Well, I'm here to tell you that I found out what it was.  You.... well, you, and a box, and some weights. 

I'm not better, at least not 100%.  Took longer than expected, but I got yet another diagnosis of unclassified strep.  3rd time in 6 months.  Wholesale changes going on.  Dumping the toothbrushes and anything else I've had for a while.  Tired of this showing up... and this last time, going on over 10 days... usually it's 2 days of meh, or 4 days of near death.  This has been absurd.  #NoMas

The wrist is almost 100%, I'm going to say it's 90.  That last 10% has been a real bugger to get to.  Getting sick gave me more time home "off of it", so we'll call it a blessing in disguise.  I still think I need to see a specialist...but I'm not going to spend the money till I'm sure.  Spider man stretches today caused me some decent pain while trying to stabilize my body.  Shortly after discovering that, straps came on, and I started the warm up.  Nothing too strenuous.  Some single unders, Russian KB swings, and some rowing. 

I chose today to come back because my throat felt good enough to breath, and I though this workout would be a good test of the wrist.  Strength part was strict presses.  Wasn't your normal strict press though, we did it off the rack, and the rack was set above the shoulders.  Brian said was it was to emulate, I don't recall, but it was difficult.  Built up to 95, then took it back down to 75 for the rep scheme we were doing.  In between rounds there were hollow rocks AND situps.  Bleh!  My hollow rocks are probably terrible looking.  The feel like they're terrible looking...  need some coaching.  

Next item on the list.  Deadlifts.  It was a weird progression.  Wanted us to go from ~50% and do 10 reps, then over and additional 10-8-6-3-3, work to a heavy 3 rep max, or PR.  I started at 135, and worked up.  My goal was as much a speed goal as weight.  Trying to train my body to go faster... that and it's my first WOD with weights in a while, so weight wasn't my main concern.  I added 25's to each side every round, and got to the round of 3 with 4 plates on each side.  I actually missed the second set of 3, and stopped at the first set.  285 for 3.  295 is my recognized 1RM, so doing 285 for 3 seems alright to me.  I think I need to adopt the mix grip.  This is getting hard to hold on to for touch and go reps.  Need to spend a little time on this this year, my stated goal is 350 by the end.  Might be able to hit it now... hard to say. 

The WOD was the real test.  Being honest, I should have finished in the time cap.  I sand bagged a little, and talked to Brian a little.  My first round of thurster were classic me... front squat with a strict press.  LOL.  7 reps power cleans, 30 single under, 5 thursters, 12 situps.  At least thats what I did.  The firs set of cleans felt good... light, but I tried to focus on form... oh, and I did them at 95, forgot to mention that bit.  The jumping was fine.  Like I mentioned earlier, the thursters were a bit brutal.  First few times my wrists felt awful.  Too much of a clean grip on them I suspect.  Situps sucked, I'd already done plenty earlier, so coming back to this wasn't all that fun.  I'd rather have done knees to elbows and bitched about my hands. 

Second round wasn't much different than the first.  Touch'n'go power cleans the whole way, didn't need to drop the bar.  Jumping... rhythm was off, I blame the missing workouts.  Thrusters got better, hurt less.  Situps we're meh.  Got through round 3 about the same way.  Near the end of the situps, I hear "3 minutes left".  I should have been able to make it, but I didn't.  Got the cleans in easy enough, the jumping torched a lot of time.  I had about 45 seconds left on the thursters.  I got 2.  It was mental, and I didn't rise to the bell.  Ended up with two thursters.  Brian seemed half way impressed.  Not many people finished todays WOD, and most weren't' as close as I was.   

Felt good to be back.  Wrist feels ok now, but as soon as I'm done with this, I'm putting it on ice.  I'm already taking some ibuprofen to stem any inflammation, the rest is Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation (RICE).  See how I feel in the morning.  Until then...

Sunday, May 17, 2015

You know it's bad when...

First, let me say that I'm alive.  LOL.  It's been a rough couple of days.  I wish I could just blame it on the wrist, but no, sometime Wednesday, after noon, I got hit by a truck.  Not a literal truck, but a metaphorical one.  Suddenly I was fatigued, to say the least.  Shoulders sore, throat was scratchy, and my stomach was... learning to cope with a lot of veggies and hummus...

I left work early that day, took a nap, took some stuff, thought I'd be good.  Even went and had dinner with some of the Unlocked family.  Thought I was already on the mend... Today, 4 days later... sick.  Or still sick I should say.  Don't know if it's upper respitory or what.  It's acted like the flu, like a head cold, and like an upper respiratory bug...  no idea.  Going to see a doc tomorrow if I can't fix it tonight.  I'm bringing out the big guns, something I don't use unless I'm desperate.  Vapor rub.  And honestly, I feel better already, like it's breaking up whatever is sitting on/in my chest. 

Wrist report... it's getting better and better.  Right now I'd say it's back to about 90% mobility with no pain.  So we're almost there.  Under load, I think it's a little bit less... like maybe 75%.  There are a few things I want to be able to do with minimal pain before I think I'm "ready".  Pushing off the arm of a couch/sofa to get up is one of the measures.  I don't plan on being 100% before getting back after it, but I'd like to be.  We'll see what the sickness does. 

Other news, been watching some CFDS family down at the Atlantic Regionals in Atlanta.  Both have had solid solid showings.  Both are top 20 going into day 3, and thats pretty great considering the level of competition.  Proud of them both, Jaimie Byerly and Vinny Casey. 

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

It's not goodbye son, it's see ya later...

Where to start...   yesterday was an interesting day.  Got to the box early, did the 0545 class.  Didn't do the WOD as prescribed, still babying the sprained wrist, so back on the bike I went while the ladies did the deadlifts.  I set out with a particular purpose, I wanted to do better on the calories for time than I did the previous day.  Using the baseline of 10 minutes 100 calories of the previous attempt, this time I focused more on the calories.  I wanted to beat 10 minutes... and I did.  Handily.  Ended up at 08:11.  Almost a 2 minute improvement.  Nicely done. 

The rest of the WOD was a 20 minute AMRAP of some tendon tortures (7 of some type of clean, 7 burpees, 200m run).  I did 10 situps, 10 lunges, 200m row.  I think I got 8 solid rounds in, but I'm not sure.  My best moments in the whole workout were staying upright (mostly) on the lunges, and knocking out 200m in about 30 seconds on the rower, to finish the round before hitting the time cap.  A nice, nasty workout in a humid little box near the middle of the Delmarva peninsula.  I'll take that any day of the week.

Couple of stories and things I want to mention.... some quick, some longer.

My Halo 2 headband, awesome still... but the dang thing holds sweat for a while.  Driving to the box, I had it out the window trying to dry it from Monday night.  I must be doing something wrong, need to research it a bit.

There is a story I've been meaning to tell, it's not very long mid you, I just keep forgetting.  This wasn't the reason I started doing CrossFit, but it still gives me a chuckle when I remmber it.  There is this comedian, you may have heard of him.  Gabriel Iglesias aka Fluffy.   In the year before I started CrossFitting, when my wife would be at home with out then 3 year old, and Fluffy would be on TV, or on say Facebook, my sweet sweet child would be like "It's daddy!!"    Idk, it's funny to me.  Sad funny, but funny.  Maybe one day I'll be on stage too... LOL

Oh, got my first blister today... well yesterday.  I'm blaming the bike.  Then, for whatever reason, I popped it with my teeth... yuck.  We'll leave it at that. 

Stopped by Diamond State last night, saw some good ol' friends.  Wanted to do the WOD, but one workout on a bummy wrist was enough.  Had to stop by though, yesterday I got what look like marching orders and The CrossFit Nomad is soon to be back on the move.  I've got one more product launch the first week of June, then... nothing.  At least as far as travel out here is concerned.  The job is nothing if not fluid, so we'll see, I might end up near by, I might end up in the middle of Idaho....  so I said farewell (again) to some of my CFDS people, glad I was able to get up there.  Need to start setting the expectation with my Unlocked family now.  The post title is what it's all about though, it's not goodbye, it's see ya later. 

Monday, May 11, 2015

Live Long and Prosper

Ok, if I haven't said so yet, I've been seeing a lot of photos disappear off the blog, and I'm looking into.  Can't get the comedic impact if you can't see the photo, na mean? 

Alrighty, so, the last WOD, injured me.  There, I said it, I'm hurt.  After that Thursday WOD (and my subsequent updates), I had some pretty significant pain.  I wasn't  going to go anywhere, but after meeting with Madison on Friday, and a quick reminder from the Mrs that we'd already hit our deductible this year, I went to the ED.  ED being ER....hospital speak most places.  Got some xrays done, they didn't feel the need to look further with an MRI.  They said the xrays showed no bone movement, and that they thought it was most likely a sprain or strain.  Frankly, I didn't want to take the time to get a MRI done, I took the doc at his word.  Had a choice between some velcro splint, and a half cast one.  I chose the half cast, sounded better at the time.  I'm not better, but I'm on the mend. 



Brings me to today.  Took the roundabout way to get to DE this week.  Thought I was just adding a few hours to my commute (in order to save $300 on airfare)... turns out it added 4 and a half hours, and I didn't get much work done today...  #allthattravel  AND, I left the house EARLIER.  Thats my problem, not yours, lets move on. 

Decided to go to Unlocked today, injury and all.  I went through most of the warmup stuff, avoided anything on my wrists, even went through the snatch progression with a pipe.  Light work on the wrists (wearing the wrap mind you), and I felt good at the end.  No pain, everything was nice and warm... I was REAL tempted to do the WOD, a hero WOD called Randy.  75 snatches at 75# with a cool down of 10 minute EMOM of 100m sprints. 

Happy I didn't do Randy tonight, my wrists are tender with the work I did do.  While everyone was doing snatches and the like, I was riding the Air Assault bike.  Everyone seems super intimated by this thing, it's just another exercise bike to me.  I did it till the last person was done, ended up with 10 minutes and 100 calories.  No idea if this is good, or just average, but it's what I put in.  Then I got off the bike.  My plan was to ride it again during the sprinting, bu/t Ticket was like "you running with us?  Every other one, every third?"... I told him "I hate you".  He looked confused for a half second, till it clicked that I was running.  Decided to do every other.  I had thought about doing every one, briefly.  After the first one, I decided to stick with every other one.  Having done the bike before hand, my quads were heavy, my legs were heavy.  Not saying being fresh would have made me any faster, but the heavy legs sucked.  LOL.  Got all 5 in, ran them almost all the way back "to the mat" for the full 100.  500m.  Most of done in a long time, my knee is fussing at me a little at the moment, but that should pass in the morning.  I hope.  :)

I don't have any travel planned for the future yet, I don't know if this will be my last week in Delaware or not.  I don't think so, but I can't be for certain... might know more tomorrow.  In the meantime, I'm probably going to go to both boxes tomorrow.  Air squats, situps, and rowing (just throwing it together off the top of my head) at Unlocked, and then... something at Diamond State.  Or not.  We'll see. 

Oh, almost forgot.  Have my eating plan for the week from Madison.  1800 calories, and under 36g of sugar.  We're going to work on macro's next week, but this week she wants to see if the 1800 calorie limit kickstarts the loss.  It's 8 weeks, so we've got time to play and see.  The 36g of sugar part means little fruit.... or really anything.  Found that out the hard way today when I was stuck in DFW and saw a smoothie king.  I was so excited, till I plugged it into the myfitnesspal app... then I was sad.   #onegooddecisionatatime

Thursday, May 7, 2015

A night of firsts.

Did ya miss me?  I missed you!  I took a whole 5 days to recover from the work week.  I'm talking 10+ hours of sleep at night, and naps in the day.  My sleep bank was beyond empty, but we're back to normal now.  Didn't get a WOD in yesterday, there were some vehicular issues, couldn't make it to the workout, but I did get to the initial group meeting of Madisons 8 Week Physique program, and I've got my first 1:1 tomorrow.  Weigh-in, measurements, food logs, the whole 9.  Expecting big things.  Madison Freeman happens to be the fittest woman in the state, she was #4 in the region... I think I'm in good hands.

I'm writing this and looking for new shoes.  I wore the New Balance... again... and stuff hurts.... again....  One thing is my fault, my wrist, I should wear the straps EVERY workout... the other thing was my bicep, think it's just a strain, we'll see how it feels in the morning.  I think it's just a coincidence, but really, every time I wear those shoes, something  goes wonky.

Tonight was a WOD full of firsts.  30 minute AMRAP of 4 stations, 2 minutes each station, 30 seconds rest between.  Rope climb, tire flip, atlas stones, sled push.  Everything was difficult, thats understood right, so I wont go through "the rounds".  Tire flips I did the second to heaviest one, was able to do the heaviest one, but the second to heaviest one was a better, more intense workout.  They said it was 300some pounds, don't know how much.  The heavier one was in the 400's, and I got it once in between rounds.

The rope climbs... I didn't do ring rows... I tried to pull myself up with them, ended up pulling and getting my feet right under me... it's hard to explain...  it's the best I could do with my strength and body weight being what it is.  It's a first pulling myself up with a rope, so I'll take it.

Sled pushes... I mean they're sled pushes with 3 45# plates... nothing special, but I hadn't done them before in a WOD, so another first. 

The altas stones.  I have no idea how heavy the one I was using the first two rounds was... I was trying to get comfortable with it.  Don't know if it was the tire flips or the stones that strained the bicep, but I felt it at the start of round 2 on the stones... Regardless, the last round I went up to 115#.  It was a bit heavier, and I had to use all my "tools" to get it up, never got stuck though, and never dropped it before it was at my shoulders... I can do more, and now I know and I'm ready for more!

30 minutes of mayhem.  A "real" CrossFit workout.  LOL  It was good to be back in the box though, and good to be back at On Track.  Tomorrow is a partner WOD, I know that much, we'll see what it's like.

***** edit from the day after ****
Yeah, definitely should have worn the straps.  Woke up in some severe discomfort.  Mentally I was begging for a cortisol/steroid shot, even after my experience last year.  To say that was some of the worse pain ever (shot from last year), and then to tell you I really wanted it this morning... should give you an idea of how bad this hurt.  Sending a note to my primary care doc, see what she says, maybe get a "quick" MRI done, make sure I didn't actually break anything.  Still works...mostly, just lots of pain...

****even later in that day ****

 Couldn't get to the clinic in enough time for them to see me.  I was 20 minutes late (work comes first mind you), and I got a "so sad, 2pm work?" type of response... to say I was upset, tad of an understatement.  So I just canceled.  Went and got the 8 week physique stuff started instead, then hung with coach Brandon at On Track for a bit while he was getting through some lifts, then went to the ED (you might call it the ER) at my local hospital.  Didn't get an MRI, but did get an xray done, and all my bones are right where they should be.  THANK THA LAWD!!!  So nothing major, or so the ED doc says.  I'm getting a side splint thing put on, it was my choice, something to really limit the mobility for a few days.  Sucks, but I feel like I dodged a bigger bullet.  Anyway, see you when I see you.