"I'm going to hold you to it"

Ah yes, accountability.  Those words we're spoken to me today by the one and only Big Ticket.  We were talking about the next goal of getting under 400lbs.  He asked me when it was going to happen, thought I had already told him that was.  I couldn't remember what I told him though, so I told him the end of summer.  Better make sure I get on it. 

This week has been a bit more brutal that I thought it would be.  It's been successful, things are going well, people are happy, I'm doing my job well... all good things.  But I'm tired.  Like a stage past normal tired I always talk about.  Last night was another sub 6 hour night of sleep.  I'm somewhere around 15-16 hours of sleep since waking up Sunday morning... that, combined with 14 hour days... brutal.  Got out of work early today though, some of that hard work paying off, so to the box I went.  

Got there late, me leaving early from work didn't correlate to getting to the box on time... about 10 minutes late.  Doing Nancy tonight, first time that I've done it... or at least first time that I remember.  Got to the box, they're ready to go... I'm scrambling to get my lifters on, and Ticket comes up like "no no no no, we're running today son".  Uh, wut?  This man went and got my MF shoes.   Good time to tell you that all day, my calves were getting tight.  I mean I went and got coconut water, ate bananas, stretched, and they kept getting tighter.  I have no idea whats going on with them...  anyway, so Ticket drops off my shoes and is like "you gon' learn today"..... well actually no, not quite like that, more of a "we're running today", but still, it felt like he said the first phrase.  We actually went back and forth a little about it.  He was even like you can run a 100m.  I wasn't buying it.  First time doing this WOD... I'm tired as fuqq... my calves and getting tighter.  No sir, not today.  Soon.

Nancy.  400m run, 15 OHS @ 95lbs, 5 rounds for time.  I rowed 500m instead of 4, and did 75lbs OHS, still not comfortable with the idea of doing 95lbs that many times... another 'soon'.  There isn't a lot to talk about, it was lots of rowing, and lots of squats.  Breathing was the biggest issue.  I know I  need a spinal adjustment, but the breathing, my goodness.  Everything in the upper lungs, nothing getting deep down.  Need to do #research and of course more practice. 

Ended up with 19:37.  Sub 20 isn't bad for a first time right? 

Back to Ticket.  This man is a gold mine for quotes.  I don't have any more from tonight, but he's always got something to say.  Sometimes they're funny, sometimes they're motivating, sometimes they can rub you the wrong way.  The man is unapologetic for being who he is, and I love him for it.  He seems to have made it his mission to make a man out of me, wants to hold me accountable, he's even confirmed he reads these very words.  Alright man, you want the job, it's yours.  Under 400 by the end of summer.  Do I get anything for doing it before then?  ;)

On to other things.  Product review.  Halo sweatbands.  The Halo II specifically.  Chris McCune over at www.ifailedfran.com had reviewed them a while back, and it made me want to try it out.  I got the basic black one:

 Nancy was a good WOD to do this too.  Lots of rowing, it's warm, OHS... lots of sweat.  At one point, I was grabbing the bar, setting up to snatch it and there was sweat dripping from the top of my head onto the mat.  Lots of sweat.  Not a drop of any of this sweat got in my eyes.  It was freaking wonderful.  No more red, irritated eyes.  I have proof... I used to be red eye before the workout was over.  No mas.  See:

Dem eyebawls is white!  And the best part, this thing fit my big ol' head.  If it fits me, it's likely to fit you too.  I'm ordering more (not sure I want to re-wear them in the week), going to get a wider one, then decide if thats going to be the deal going forward, or if it will be a mix.  In short, I love these.  I'll let you know how well they hold up as time goes on. 

Alright last bit.  I've talked on here a lot about how these people I workout with are like family.  It's not idle talk, I promise you.  I found out today that Kelly D's mom's passed this week, services are this weekend, and I'm going to miss them.  I try to make things like that every chance I get, it's one of those "people don't care how much you know till they know how much you care" type of deals.  Before she left for the night, I caught Kelly getting in her vehicle, and I gave her a hug, expressed my condolence.  Had a tear in my eyes as I pulled away, couldn't really say much more than that, just smiled and nodded.  Who has the reaction to strangers?  I'm telling you, they're family.  It hurts that I can't be here, I send all my love and support to Kelly and her family during this difficult time. 

200

Thats it.  200 steps, thats all I did tonight.  More on that in a short bit.  This is a conversion week this week, and that means 12-14 hour days.  That also means it going to be very hard to get to the box.  Being a bit of a problem solver, I thought it might be a good idea to bring the box to me.  So I texted the master of body weight workouts, Dave P, and asked him for a quick WOD I could do at the hotel, and boy, did he deliver.

5 rounds for time.  Bottom floor to the top floor, 10 air squats when you get to the top.  Oh, and try not to hold onto the rail.  Alright, I can do that.

Didn't do much warming up, didn't think I'd need it... and maybe I did... or didn't, not sure.  So I get to the bottom of the stairs (I typically stay on the second floor), take a deep breath, and here we go.  I jogged up the stairs.  Feeling good, moving good.  Theeeeeen we got to the squats.  Owie!  These first 10 were rough, not a good sign of the things to come.  Turn and burn back down the stairs.

I actually counted the stairs before I started, 200.  As soon as I touched the bottom, turn and burn... except the burn wasn't speed this time, it was the acid in the quads.  Got to the top, oh man oh man oh man, those squats were brutal.  Typical air squat form was gone, replaced by something else, I think they call it pain.  LOL.  Going back downstairs was suddenly very very difficult.  No handrails is out. I needed all the stability I could going downstairs. 

The following three rounds were all mental.  Going up the stairs was easy, no handrail needed.  The hard parts were the squats and going back down.  I'm not terribly proud of my time, I think I can take a bit off of it.  7:21.  I'm pretty sure I can shave 30 seconds just by speeding up my descent and air squats a little bit. 

I texted the Quad Killer back with my time, and that I did it.... I actually started the text with "I thought we were friends".  HAHA.  Later told him that my quads were trying to secede, and that they had a pretty good case.  I think they'll stay, but we'll see what the vote comes to in the morning.

Happy I got to get something in.  Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to get to Unlocked tomorrow, if not, I'll text Dave again and see what sort of nastiness he can come up with.    

Other news.  My peoples (Amanda) at On Track sent me an email this week.  "We miss you".  I was a little surprised, I'll confess.  On Track doesn't use a WOD tracking software (that I know of), so the fact that noticed I hadn't been around... I felt kinda special.  And then I felt bad.  She was right, I haven't been around, using my lack of sleep and general laziness on the weekends as an excuse.  No mas.  Wife and several DE readers have also given me a little salt about that as well this past week... confluence of people, I love you all.  

Don't advertise if you aren't selling....

Show'd up tonight ready to put in WORK.  I mean I was in a good mood, and I felt ready.  Hehehe... like a workout with breaks built in, this feeling wasn't going last.  Tonight, we had an all star cast.  Ticket, the Peets, the De Leons, the Navarres... lots of firepower for this WOD.  I'm going to come in dead last, I know it.  LOL

Warmup was a good one... one of those ones that gives you a nice heart rate, good little bit of sweat.... love/hate type of warmup.  After that, some skill work.  Toes to bar, or muscle ups.  I had high goals in my mind.  Thought I might just, maaaaybe, maaaaybe get those toe to the bar.  Yeah, no joy.  I did get some swinging type stuff going, and maybe sorta got the knees towards the elbows.  Still a lot of stomach in the way.  Time to do some real work now.

3 rounds for time.  300m run, 20 power cleans, 10 OHS, 5 HSPU  95/65.  I really toyed with the idea of 95lbs, but remembering back to the day of 80 cleans at 95, I remembered it being awful, with bad form... and then add on the OHS... might be an issue.  So I went with a little bit lighter weight, 75.  Ticket tired, unsuccessfully, but he tried to get me out running.  Apparently someone told him that I'd actually done a little running.  :)

So we started, and the rowing was a little more difficult than it should have been... a sign?  Maybe.  Got to the bar, and somewhere around the first 10 reps, it strikes me that this isn't going to as easy or fun as I thought it would be.  10 more and I'm hurting.  On the OHS... I don't think I did but maybe 1 of them to a decent depth.  Just wasn't moving that well.  HSPU, Dave (coaching tonight) had me set up with the pad RIGHT by the box.  I don't know that it was a very realistic expectation, but I tried.... and it wasn't very good, at all, I think I spent too much time trying to stay close to the box.  My last one was my best one, and then it was off to the rower for round two. 

I'm tired, it's getting late, I'm not going to to into the labored stories of rounds 2 and 3.  My OHS got better and better, especially in round 3.  Finally found a good groove, was able to get low, and stay locked out.  Happy about that.  The HSPU's, got a little deeper, a little better, but I was going quite a bit further out (away from the box) from where I had started. 

15:37.  Not a great time, but not a terrible time.  Probably could have added another 3 or 4 minutes had I gone running.  The rowing caught me a little off guard.  I haven't really had to row much in recent WODs, so I felt a little out of practice. 

Alright, so whats the business about advertising and selling and what not?  Well, like I said, Ticket was here, and he wouldn't shutup about running.  LOL.  I mean afterwards, we're all getting things cleaned up, and he's sitting on a box as I walk by, and he's like lets go run.  50, 100, 400, something.  I told him no.  So then he starts talking about getting outside my comfort zone.  I mumbled alright.  I don't think he heard me.  I could have got away!  Instead I grabbed my other shoes, went back out into the box, put them on, and stepped out in the light sprinkles to do a jog.   Dave P and Ticket accompanied me, Ticket even brought a 45lb plate for fun. 

I didn't tell them what I was going to do, but I was aiming for 200m, which is 100m than last time.  I think we got maybe 30 ft from the box, and both my calves started singing.... and it was one of those songs I haven't heard in ages, let me tell you.  Mind you, we're not going at any sort of real pace, but we are going, and we passed the first marker, and I think Dave and Ticket both thought I was going to turn around there.  Think I got a little bit of "man up" credit by going to the next marker.  LOL.  Got there and made the turn, wasn't planning on stopping, but I got maybe 20 ft from the turnaround, and had to stop.  Both calves were tight... and not just a little tight, I felt like I had two golf ball sized cramps in each calf, one on the left, and the other on the right side... so in both of the gastrocnemius.  I looked it up.  :)  Ended up walking another 20 ft or so, then jogging... or something... the rest of it.  I call it "or something" because I was basically landing on my heel and pushing off of it like I was doing a squat.  Very awkward... anyway... 

Spent a lot of time stretching, rolling, and otherwise getting the little knots out of my calves.  And for all the crap that I went through to do it... I'm kind happy I did it.  I wont tell him, but Ticket is right to push me a bit more.  I still don't plan on running during WODs full time, or even part time for a while longer, but the day to going back to it is closer than it was 2 months ago.  Really, it just comes down to the knees.  I still think the running I did when I started hosed me for a little bit... we'll see.  Everything still works... yeah, we'll see. 

Went to dinner with the family... place called... Arenas?  I can't remember.  I do recall it being 1/2 price sandwich night (from previous conversation), and with nothing between me and the hotel but a bunch of fast food, I figured I'd give it a shot.  Kinda invited myself anyway, saw people following each other, so I followed them.  LOL.  It worked out, got some grub that wasn't fast food, at least not fully.  We'll call it medium speed?  Ok, no, I'm clearly too tired, I'm making up stuff now...

Happy Anniversary!

I don't know exactly when I started CrossFit, but the first post on this blog was tax day last year, so we're going to call tax day my first day.  Got some surprises in store... won't be able to put them all in tonight... I'm actually going to write this over two days, there is more I want to put in here than I've got time for tonight.  It's already 1125pm, and frankly I want to hit Unlocked tomorrow morning for a 4th WOD this week... I mean one of the workouts is called Hip Hop BBQ... I've gotta... even thought it's nasty... unlike hip hop, and bbq.  Moving on...

Went back to my Mecca; CrossFit Diamond State.  Good place to go... good to be back where it all started.  Got a few hugs and high fives.  I'll be upfront and honest, this wasn't a good workout for me... I mean I did ok tonight, but it was more about the date, and getting back to "my roots" as it were.  Tax day will always be special for a whole different reason than taxes.  I do those in Feb anyway. 

Roxanne... if you're not familiar with the warmup, or part of a workout... you should be.  Old song by the Police.  Every time Roxanne is belted out, you drop an do a burpee.  I knew this was coming, so I did some research, 26 times.  I hate burpees, but this was fun.  I screwed up my like 4th burpee, my shoe caught in between the mats on the floor, and I missed that one completely.  Other than that, I got... idk, between 18 and 22 of them.  There were some at the end that were too close together, but it's a warmup, I don't feel too bad, not with having hit some may and jumping up like I did.  Getting better my friends, getting better.

We did more warmup activies, some empty bar work to get used to the movements, and then it was go time.  This is apparently a hero wod with a twist.  Don't know which one, I'm just repeating what I overheard.  12 deadlifts, 9 hang cleans, 6 push jerks, and 15 HSPU's... why it couldn't just be 3, I dont know.  I went with 95lbs, remembering the struggle from Monday with hang cleans...  Kinda wish I'd go a little lighter.  For speed sake you know.  ;)

Deadlifts were a breeze... the whole first round of barbell movements was quick... clean, and looked pretty... oh, and I didn't drop the bar.  The HSPUs... I tried something new...  I got up on a taller box, and tried to get over my arms, more like a HSPU, and not like a deficit pushups.  I failed... I mean I did 5, barely, got up... did 5 more, barely, and was going to stop at 10.... and I held up 10 fingers to Andy P, who was coaching tonight and was like "thats what I've got"... implying that that was all I wanted to do.  I don't know if he didn't hear me, or didn't like the answer, he was asked me something... I couldn't tell... sounded like "how many left?"...  point taken.  I had to go 3, 2.   It was like going to failure -1...  I think had I done one more, I'd have fallen off the damn box.

Segues into a nice little poem I thought up after the WOD.

Some of my coaches read this
Some of them don't
I'll bust my ass for some
For others I wont.

All of my coaches have my respect, and if I'm not deep enough in a squat, doing something wrong, or otherwise lolly gagging, I want them to tell me about it.  Some of these coaches, I'll go run a mile for, and give it everything I've got if they asked, and wanted me to actually run a mile from where I'm at physically now.  Others, I'd haggle with, and ask about the rower instead.  Not the best example, I'll see if I can come up with something better tomorrow.  Back on track... 

At this point, after 1 round... I'm in trouble.  I mean deep doo doo.  My shoulders are already smoldering and I've got 4 more rounds to do.  I'm not going to talk about the deadlifts anymore... they were easy.  I got lazy, and a tad breathless in the last two rounds, dropped the bar when I didn't need to, just to rest before the cleans... but thats it, no big story there.  The cleans... my goodness...  I thought they were ugly on Monday... form was gone.  I mean a few times I'd have a solid pull, fast elbows, and an otherwise exceptional clean, but for the most part these were quasi muscle cleans that I just wanted to get over with.  The push jerks we're ok... went about like you'd expect with HSPU's at the end of each round.  I still need work on my jerks, I don't feel I do enough jerking, like I need to get lower, faster.  Just re-read that sentence... the adolescent in me is chuckling.

The box HSPUs... by round 2, I... it was bad, ok?  I mean one to two.  I got to 5, and had had enough, it took me almost a minute to do 5.  I went over and grabbed a 12" box.  Damage was already done from the 20 (I think).  I got through this set, with decent "form"....and I feel these are harder, and better (truer) to HSPU's the the planks I did.  Round 2 passed without further incident.  3, 4, and 5 got harder each time... more stops, less of a HSPU look... it was ugly.  I'm happy I went with the larger box first, and that I tried to do this at a difficult level for me...  turns out I'm not quite ready for THAT, at least I wasn't today, but I tried, failed, "changed the weight" and finished the WOD.  21:08.

Thats all I've got for now, I'll have to gussy it up a bit in the morning, it's probably riddled with errors.  The second half of this is going to have my first coaches interview, we'll see how I'm going to proceed with them after this one... Do they get their own page?  Do I continue adding them to posts?  How do I present this awesome stuff...  Also need to get to work on getting the domain setup and getting a real site (not just a .blogger.com one) up.  Need to talk to Coach Randi from CFDS...

Going to use this here pic of myself with the Pallers as the break before "the interview".  I do find myself wishing I lived in DE with every day I spend with CFDS and Unlocked.  Tight bonds.  Anyway, before I write another lovely dovey novel about my affection for the CrossFitters of Delaware...

***********************************************************************************************************

Alright... this is about 6 days later than I intended to have it done.  I got busy, what can I say?  Without much further a due, here is the first of what will be many coach interviews.  I might get fancy at some point and make this official vlog type posts, but not this first one, this one is going to be transcribed from a vid I made that looked at the heavens or floor as much as at Coach Andy.  I started with some softball questions, then worked on some "harder" ones.  Might as well put it here, if you have something you want to know about, whether it's from my coaches (who may be one of yours), or you're curious what a CrossFit coaches answer to X might be, feel free to ask in the comments below.

How long have you been CrossFiting?

"Coming up on 5 years this summer, so we'll say 4 and a half"

What about coaching?

"About 3 and a half"

So, what got you into coaching?

"My job is... or was teaching customers for Siemens, and I guess I had a pretty good way of interacting with people in training, had a way of making things simple.  A lot of people were like "you're really good at this, you should get certified".  So I put it off for a about a year, and finally thought it was a good idea, plus (he's smiling now) it was kinda a way to get a free membership too, so for the last 3 and a half years I've been coaching."

Makes sense.  So what is your favorite movement, and why?

Mmmm... Hand Stand Pushups, cause I'm good at it (another smile, I laughed, cause, well, I'm awful).  I like to tease you with them, and I have good endurance with them too."

Whats the movement you hate the most?

"Snatches, cause I've still never gotten over 200lbs.  I got to 195 as my best ever, and then ever since my back has been tweaked, it's just been... no (he kind of trailed off there... feel like there is some unfinished business for AP).

Anything you love, or hate to program?

"I love making programs that look very simple, so like a minute on (going/moving), or rounds with rest built in them, because people think they don't need to rest or something, but the output is SO tough, that the workout surprises them"

You mean like Tabata?

"Yeah, yeah"

What have been some of your top moments as a coach and/or athlete?

"Uh, I have two.  One top moment was the second time I help coached Gia at regionals, and just being able to go back and see her progress over the year from the regionals before.  And the other was the toughest athlete I've had to coach, who was Oliver who was in here earlier.  His movments have been on point, and it challenged me to find the fine tuning for his movements."

Has he done CrossFit before, I saw him when I showed up tonight and he was just slaying this workout like it was... fun, almost easy.

"Yeah, he was at regionals twice, and  would have gone to the games if he wasn't in PT school"

Oh.. Awws.... so he's THAT kind of athlete huh?

"Yeah, he challenged me".

(editorial comment, this dude was doing this WOD Rx at 155, at he didn't look like he we struggling one bit.  To top it off, he doesn't look like you're stereotypical CrossFit regionals level athlete... at least not with his shirt on.)

Alright, I know you'll have something here.  What are some of your pet peeves at the box?

"Uh.... my biggest pet peeve is when I go to give somebody a good piece of advice, and they pretend to listen to me, and then they go right back to what they were doing before."

What's the sideways look for?

(headshake and a smile)

Oh ok, I was about to be like "what are you saying? "

*laughter*

Ok, two more, if you could only have one recovery item, what would it be?

"Probably Progenex.  I had a good weekend, SuperFit, first weekend I used that stuff, so Progenex Protein... Chocolate".

One thing, good or bad, that not enough people know about or do.

"Hmmm, one of the things I think a lot of people don't do, is take care of their hands.  Simple hand manicures, so they rip, constantly.  They don't understand that simple shaving of their hands will take care of that.  I've only ripped two times, and they were both in competitions."

Ok, last question, what is music that you absolutely can't work out to?

(no hesitation) "Country, I can't get down with country"

You know your boy Jeff (Peet) loves to workout to country?

"I do, yes."

Everyones gone, he turns on country, and I gave him this look like really?

"If I'm listening to music while I'm working out, I'm probably not working out hard enough"

Fair enough.  Alright, well this will be going up for posterity, anything else you'd like to share?

"No man, I just like to see that you made a full year of working out, that you're still around"

Are you surprised (I've got a big smile now).  You can be honest.

"Uh, no.  After meeting you, seeing your mentality, no."

There you have it, the first interview with one of my favorite coaches.  I wanted to interview Gia first, since she was my gateway into CrossFit, but she just got a new house, and had some things to do, so I got to interview my guy Andy.  AP falls into a special category of person for me and frankly, I wish I lived closer, I'd like to see him, Laura...and really all of my peoples more.  Many thanks to Andy for agreeing to be filmed while answering some questions. 

DNF

Three letters I hate.... Did. Not. Finish.  Shitty way to start the workout week.  Let me take a small step back, I was feeling all kinds of wrong when I stepped into the box tonight, but I knew I'd feel better in a little bit, and I did. 

I should have known it would be a rough night.  I decided to take the New Balance out, had looked at the WOD earlier, and it looked like 12 snatches, then a nice little METCON... buuuuut it wasn't 12 snatches, it's was a 12 minute EMOM with 3 snatches in each minute.  Power snatch, hang snatch, hang squat snatch.... great.  And now the completeness of my failure was apparent.  Plenty of snatch work, oh, and every 4th round, add weight... and me without a foundation to build on.

Every snatch, I'm thinking about my shoes.... matter of fact, forgot to mention, during the warmup, I was doing 5 OHS with the bar.... on the second or third one, I started falling backwards... couldn't save it.  Plunk, right down.  I think this is only the third time I've ever fallen over.  I blame the shoes.  It's funny, as many times as I've talked about these shoes, you'd think I'd chuck them and not look back.  Not to say they're bad shoes, I just don't think they're for me.  So why am I keeping them around?  Funny word... hope.  I hope that next time will be different....  The one "downside" to being an optimist I guess.

So the snatches, they went ok, I think of the 12, I only got 3 really solid squat snatches done.  Didn't have a stable enough base, and with the last 4 being 95lbs... unstable base means I'm not really itching to try hang squat snatches.  I mean I tired, but I only got two power snatches with a OHS at the end.... as disappointed as I was with this, I was feeling much better than when I started.  Cheers to endorphins.  

Second piece was simple.  2 rope climbs (or 20 mountain climbers per rope climb, so 40), 20  box jump overs.  3 rounds.  Go!  Mountain climbers... slow going (in my mind) but solid.  Box step overs... I wen with the 20" box again, trying to get stronger.  Might have been a mistake.  Between that, and the lack of water throughout the day, the second round of mountain climbers had a nice cramp form in the left quad.  I tried to stop, and stretch it.  Brian was coaching... "c'mon Dan, don't stop"... I wish it was just an I'm tired stop.  I tried the hurdlers stretch and a couch stretch, better.  To the box, 1, 2.... 8.  and I stopped.  Even with using my right leg to step up, my quad kept tightening.  Took the time to go over to the racks to get "the stick".  Rolled out the quad for a few minutes... felt better, but having to put up a DNF... not my idea of fun.

So, first workout back from an extended weekend, not the best, but I went, and got some work in.  I've drank almost 100oz SINCE the workout and will finish with a little bit more before the night is over.  Cramps suck... no mas cramps!  Viva los aquas!

Someone tell Big Ticket he missed it.

I get this a lot from Ticket. 

"Hey man, when are you going to come running with us."

"Remind me again when you're running."

"You said under 400 lbs right?"

"Lets go!"

Things like that.  Not all in the same day mind you, but about once a week.  HAHA.  Well guess what man, I went to 0545 this morning, and I ran.  And it was awful.  Found this meme fitting. 

It was part of a 10 minute EMOM... 100m sprint, and a heavy clean and jerk... might have been just a jerk, but you had to clean it, so we're calling it a clean and jerk.  Was going to do 145, but, frankly, too heavy for that early in the morning, coming off that kind of sleep, after doing that kind of WOD at CFDS less than 12 hours before... Ended up on 125. 

So yeah, back to it, I ran... the first 100m.  That was it.  But it was glorious, until my shorts started riding up, and I started slowing down... then it wasn't so glorious.  Really, my sprint was more of an inglorious jog.  After that it was on the rower.  Life was much better on the rower.  Only one other person was there with me this morning, Kim (forget her last name).  We battled through this, she kept running whilst I row'd.  Finally finished.  Great, lets go home.... Oh wait, we've got Hip Hop BBQ to do.  Alright lets do that, what is it?  

Great question.  It's six minutes of total work, spread out over six work periods.  60seconds each?  Not so fast.  90 seconds work, 30 rest, 60 work 60 rest, 30 work 90 rest, then repeat.  Ok, seems easy enough, whats the movement.  Oh, it's a goody.  THRUSTERS!!  Yay \o/  (thats a little head there with arms raised up on both sides... if you can't see it).  I haven't done thrusters since 15.5.  So I'm pretty well physically wasted from the 3 previous WODs, my shoulders haven't had time to recover... I've got no sleep.... and THIS was what I decided to do while driving home from CFDS last night.  Idiot.

If you have no idea who that is... you're probably better off not knowing.  If you want to know, leave a comment, I'll fill you in.  This is the exact phrase going through my mind as we start the first set of thrusters.... that and things like "I can't believe you chose to do this", "what were you thinking", "how is this related to BBQ?"

I made it a whole 2 thrusters at 95lbs before I dropped the bar and made a beeline over to the weight stack to grab 15's to replace the 25's.  Jeff helped me change the bar PDQ.  Like a NASCAR pit crew he said.  They wish they were this fast!  HA!  Anyway, this part of the workout ended up being pretty spicy for me... mornings are hit and miss it seems.  Tuesdays, I'm usually pretty good, Wed or Thurs, mornings, I tend to suck.  Here come the excuses: knee wasn't warmed up really well so squatting was awkward, shoulders are still toast from the night before, wrist hurt from trying to do more difficult HSPU scaling last night...  lots of little issues today.  Ended up with 58.  I think had I done this on Monday, been fresher, I could have finished in the high 80's with this weight. 

Oh well.  I knew it was going to be a battle coming into this, and a battle it was.  Still happy I showed up... I mean it was called Hip Hop BBQ (named after the popular Pandora station), but I still had to go... no pain... no pain.  Its a Direct TV add, some Russian guy, think they call him Epic Win... Which is really close to my twitter handle... @Epic_WINdler   Anyway, youtube that video, just put in No Pain Russian guy, should pop right up.  Cracks me up every time. 

Gotta run, need to finish a few things at the office, and then finish my anniversary post that I should have finished before this one...

Limiting factors...

I CRUSHED my old OHS (overhead squat) PR today.  50lbs, so yeah, crushed it.  I was feeling good too.  I had the right depth, I wasn't wobbly... I could have done more.  My limiting factor was my shoulders.  80 cleans, the HSPU's, pushups, and rowing yesterday... cut me down a little bit.  Also, I need to keep in mind that I'm trying to use a wider grip push press from behind my neck... and that was what I think the limiting factos were, the fatigue, and the wider push press.  Maybe I could have do a push press from the front?   I had 155 on the bar, and I'm 99% sure I could have squatted it overhead, but I couldn't get it overhead from the rack, so I stopped at 145.  Not a bad way to start the WOD though.  

Rest of it was terrible though, and I knew it would be.  On my way to car this morning, I dropped my water bottle and it rolled under someone elses car.  I had to basically do a burpee to get it (and I knew burpees were coming)... was a little slow getting up, took it as a sign.  LOL. 

I actually took both sets of shoes to the box this morning, but about half way there, it occurred to me that with the jumping rope... I shouldn't even bother changing shoes, I jump better in my lifters... might even do burpees better in them too?  We'll see.  Today's WOD was 500m row, 150DUs and 50 burpees.  We had a big class, so we split into two groups, ended up being guys and girls with the girls going first.  I should have got in that group, but more on that in a second. 

500m went quick.  I knew I was going to out do the other two guys, Rick and Ruben.  Rowing isn't a strong suit per say, but I'm better than a lot of people at it, I've had the practice.  Where I knew I was going to get caught was the jumping... and thats exactly where it happened.  I tried to string together big sets, think the most I got was 15 at one time.  My legs get tired, what can I say.  I could probably make a nasty working with all the things I want to get much better at... burpess, jumping rope, burpees again... moving on. 

Actually, back to the burpees.  Main reason I think I should have gone with the first group.  My burpees are slow, and when I get tired, my counting sucks.  More times than not it's just me getting ahead of myself on what I've done, and then getting further ahead.  Flashbacks to the plate burpees with Jeremy Navarre.  Thought I was done well before I actually was.  I'm not sure how many I did exactly, but I'm sure if I was going with wave 1, I would have finished with the end of wave 2.  I was the last one to finish anyway.  11 minutes and some seconds... 35 maybe?  Appropriately exhausted, however many I did.  Positive note, I jumped up from about half of these instead of that tired ass step up. 

Alright, last thing, then it's off to work.  I want to make something.... like a window decal, or an antenna topper... something to let people know I support them.  What people you ask?  Those people you pass on the road who are out running, walking, or otherwise trying to make their lives better.  I don't feel right honking at them or yelling encouragement out the window.  Waves are ok, when they see them.  IDK.  They motivate me, and I'd like to return the favor somehow....