End of Paleo Challenge & The Open Wod 14.1

Before and after the 6 week Paleo Challenge

But First the Open!

The Open WOD 14.1 

AMRAP

30 Double Unders

15 Power Snatches 75/55#

Quick clip from the 14.1 AMRAP

Open WOD 14.1 is in the books. I was nervous all night after hanging at Paul's watching the pros do it live. Got a 1/2 decent nights rest(Eli was all up in my business), then jumped up- ate well and ran to the box. I taped it for shits and giggles and to use for critical analysis. 10 mins can be a long time. The first couple of rounds felt good- I knew the DU's were going to be strong for me and the Snatches a weak point. Meg was an awesome judge calling out the reps as I got close to the end and always offering words of encouragement. In the end- it was her push that helped me finish the last round. So, I finished exactly 5 rounds for a total of 225 reps. A truly outstanding performance. Good pacing, control of the bar and lots of staying under the bar as much as I could muster when the burn was on. Reviewing the video, its clear as I got tired & my form began to falter. During the day I kept comparing my number to the other numbers posted at the games. For my division in the North East my score put me in the top 3 for a few fleeting moments, but as more scores trickled in it was clear that wasn't going to last long-I figured as much. Its clear my cardio is in phenomenal shape, when I own a technique-its golden & but know it'll be the strength pieces that kill me. Too bad we aren't running 1/2 marathons w/ thrusters every 5 miles! Bring on box jumps and burpees! 

Trim and w/ better posture!

Today also ends the Paleo-Challenge. 6 weeks of no grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol or refined sugar. To say that it has been a rejuvenating experience would be an understatement. I only lost a couple of pounds-statistically inconsequential, but the transformation of my body to lean, strong, fast,w/ fast recovery & clear mind has been a paradigm shift in my life. Will I keep it up? Most definitely but with some caveats- a very rare sweet and an occasional glass of wine or beer. The biggest drawback has been the cost and the prep time each week.  This new diet + the programming at NCCF has turned this winter/spring into a trans-formative experience for a late blooming father. More to come on this- its late and I'm tired.

Benchmark WOD Rd 2

Dammit man- I need a beer about now.

Thought I would have done better.*Sigh*

Completed the Paleo Challenge benchmark WOD today.

7 Thrusters 75/55#

7 Pull-ups

7 Burpees

 6 weeks ago: 2 rds@7, 2@5  and finished up with 3's. Today 3@7, 1@5, then did almost all the 3's till the last round where I did 7reps again. The 3's were not challenging at all and I wanted to finish strong and save myself for the Open on Friday. I should have pushed harder on the 5's but in all reality- its the 7 rep rounds that really count. Push it to the max VO2/Lactic threshold anything else is purely coasting. It is definitely a brutal workout and worthy of a comparison to 'Fran'. It was mentioned afterward, probably harder than Fran due to its length & rep scheme. Essentially doing a Fran in 4 minutes, then not stopping for the next 12 minutes. Despite the fact I HATED every second of this workout was there a significant improvement? Yes, definitely. Satisfying? Not at all & I'm not sure why -maybe it didn't stroke my ego or fill me with happiness. I've been busting my ass on every front, skipping fine wines(sacrilegious), eating according to all the rules(monotonous) and not straying from the straight and narrow path(insipid) only to feel like a loser. WTF? Maybe it is the seeming numerical insignificance on paper of 1 bloody round that so perturbs me or the pissy mood from a muscle spasm in one of the erector muscles along my spine that put a dent in my day before the WOD.  Its a win, but tasteless.

As to the Paleo challenge- I feel awesome other than dying for a tall dark beer. Looking forward to a long weekend of gustatory & debaucherous excess.

BOOM! A Muscleup!

1st muscle-up and very happy indeed!

Shit- now the bar has been raised, again!

Finally a muscle up! After a particularly grueling CFE class, feeling good w/ no twinges in the arms, I popped right up. It felt GREAT! I wish it was more elegant, but it happened so fast! Of course, I then wanted to video it and was almost too exhausted to do a second,  but was able to get 1 more- albeit really rough - for the blog.(Thank you Carly for shooting it!). A testament to hard work & fantastic instruction from Ben and Meg -NCCF's trainer's extraordinaire. They always give great advice, tireless assistance & constant positive support. Thank you both! Truthfully, that goes for the entire community at this gym- everyone is super supportive no matter the skill or task. 

Bro reps w/ the Endurance Crewe- minus some amigo's!

 The endurance class was particularly grueling for some reason. I had a long kind of monotonous day where I just could not get motivated, hell awake for that matter, to tackle the big things that needed to get done.  I did have 1 lamb born which makes 6 babies for the season thus far. Just adding more work to the heaping plate.

 4 Rnds for time:

15 Wall Balls 20/14#

100 ft Walking Lunge

10 One-arm DB Clean (right)

10 One-arm DB Clean (left)

50 Double Unders

Anyway, Michelle kicked ass tonight- I came in at rough 14:30 or so(still getting used to the phone timer hence the discrepancy) pushing hard through the last DU's. If you look at the HRM below- I started to dig into the V02 range and my lungs were really burning. Who would have thought #40 DB cleans would have been so difficult? I think the balancing act you have to keep works the body much differently than using the bar. The asymmetry does a number on form and speed. Ben was right- its super easy to get sloppy. I did and need to work on that particular movement. The walking lunges started to take a toll after about 30ft. It's clear I need to work on longer sets of reps, but when your gasping for air and your quads are seizing up- its hard. This should have been a 12 min WOD- got some work to do.

 Note: wall balls are ridiculously slow- must find a way to speed them up-but how? Also- breathing- how to expel CO2 faster while keeping the HR low. I noticed taking some large deep breaths before the WOD begins really helps start the workout strong, like a free diver ridding the body of CO2 before plunging down- need more research on this to see if it really does help. I do know you cant add O2 to the body as usually you are already in the 95-99% saturation point for O2 only ridding CO2 to make more room to absorb. Wonder how this acts on lactic acid thresholds too?

 Its definitely going to be an exciting week: tomorrow- the benchmark WOD, rest day, then Friday- the Open, then paleo potluck on Saturday followed by meatball madness Sunday!
 

Kind of a Blah 1/2 Day

Not quite a power snatch but a good diagram.

So my day started by waking up late & Eli sneezing on a plate of 1/2 eaten eggs which set the stage for the plodding melancholic course the day took. I raced out of the house for morning class 1/2 caffeinated and 1/2 fed. The weather has turned nasty cold again and the car was only 1/2 warm which put me in an even more disgruntled but not quite foul mood. The strength piece was nice enough 4×4 HBBS @ 75% – Rest 90 sec. I ran through it at #205, just shy of 75% which wasn't too difficult, but aggravated a small twinge from yoga yesterday in my left shoulder that I slept on funny since I only had a 1/2 a pillow because kiddo was sleeping sideways and the cats took the others. So, with an overabundance of caution, I dialed back on the WOD weight to #95 only to realize it was way too light for power snatches. Surprisingly I felt ok about the snatches and was complimented on their improvement. ;) All that empty bar work paying off.  I did finish in 7:22 + 26 burpee box jumps. The TTB when I finally got my rhythm felt good and were fast- but aggravated the twinge.

With a 10 minute running clock
15-12-9
Power Snatch, 115/80
TTB
in the remaining time, AMRAP of:
Burpee Box Jumps, 24/20

The Paleo benchmark WOD is Wednesday- am fairly certain there will not be any monumental jumps in my performance despite physically feeling great.Was hellacious and painful the first time around- probably wont be much different the second. Since the open starts on Friday- talk now is of how to dial down the workouts to be rested. Will probably skip Thursday Endurance for the Open & eat more calories to make sure I am well rested and fueled. Not sure about other workouts for the week-will need to discuss them with the program master on tomorrow. 

A Prehensile Moment Followed by a Sunny Run WOD.

A stunning February day-warm- in the 30's and 40's, with a crazy standing wind.Got some butchering done(down to one goat and some sheep) and house cleaning- The Saturday WOD did not disappoint. But before we get to that lovely goodness, I had moment of realization this morning.

The warm weather had turned the driveway into an unblemished sheet of Olympic hockey quality ice. Running to the car w/ a bag and box precariously balanced I started to slide. Slide fast and out of control - but towards the car. For some reason- my mind kept vacillating between 'just get to the car ' and 'this shit is going to hurt for going too fast, dumbass'. As I slid further and further, things began to go haywire-the box started to fall in one direction and each foot in an opposing but equally unsettling vector. All was lost till my fingers grasped the door handle. Like a bolt of lightning, my posterior chain engaged with the core and not only did I regain balance but was able to catch the box before it hit the ground in addition to standing up sure footed, effortlessly. So what happened?

I theorize that evolution and childhood gifted us with an ability to enact split second control of our bodies based on the slightest enervation of stimuli to ground our location in 3 dimensional space. We do this every day when we interact with our surroundings reinforcing our place through kinesthetic awareness without the slightest bit of forethought. Like being in a room that is dark but familiar,  the moment you touch a light switch or doorknob, you know & your body knows EXACTLY where you are. Beyond just sight, this is a multi faceted observational awareness that is particularly powerful when we have 3 axis engaged-i.e. 1 hand and 2 feet. What's the take away? We need to engage that sensory observation in all of our actions. When we do pull-ups, lifts, climbs, etc.. every time we wrap our fingers around an object, we should feel that prehensile sensory connection between our body, the ground the object(bar or other) and our place in space as we have been doing for thousands of years.  So the next time you jump on a bar to do a pull-up, slowly grip the bar, feel your body like a baby gorilla in the tree, know it's place in the surroundings. Notice how your body knows what and how to engage to move effortlessly.

So the WOD, not quite the "Gymnasty" of the competitors class, but taxing none the less. 

100m sprint

12 front squats #155

200m sprint

10  front squats #155

300m sprint

8  front squats #155

900m sprint

6  front squats #155

1500m sprint

4  front squats #155

I rx'd the weight, was one of the last one's out the door on the first round but made up time finishing strong in 19:23. This was a heavy front squat for me- at 6 reps I came very very close to pulling off the 10's, but pushed on through. So glad I did. The running felt great, but had a hard time setting and keeping a good cadence & rhythm for the running. Being outside, despite the treacherous icy spots was just lovely in the warm sunny air. All this despite a standing 40 mph howling gust off the Tarmac of Pburgh. International. Afterwards, some feeble msucleup attempts were made. Kyle looked at me pointing to his head, 'It's all in your mind man' Dammit man! then why can't I get it! Tomorrow a rest day with Yoga, maybe a run. Next week the Open begins, thus spoke Zarathustra.

Finally a Run!

Not our CFE class but a normal spring run in the North country- wet cold and snowy

It was dark, raining, but not freezing & I dont care- we actually got an honest to god run in tonight. It felt GREAT! Ben had us warm up w/time on the GHD then 100 TTB- took us about 6-7 minutes....um lets describe 100 TTB it as...pleasantly unpleasant. Felt a small tweak in my right shoulder. Will stretch it out and see if anything comes of it. probably due to all of the pullups and muscle up attempts this week. Then more awesome stretches before an 8x400 OT3M. We were blasting them a touch faster each time starting in the 1:40's then down to about 1:26 on the last sprint. Cota was turning up the heat on the last few rounds which really felt like an all out effort. Akin to inhaling lit butane. Afterwards my glutes were and still are a little sore.

So the MyDigifit website sucks. The only thing I really want to see is my workout results and that's the only thing that seems to hang it up. Works fine on the phone but I dont sit and do analysis on my F'ing phone! Anyway-its clear I also need to figure out an easy way slap a lap on the screen to better mimic milestones on the run.  I did get the annoying voice shutoff. Looks I spent 1/2 the time in Hardcore and Max effort zones which is great. On the last sprint, I clearly felt like I was starting to get to the redzone and it shows in the creep up to the Warning. Now I have to figure out a slower pacing for longer runs- how slow must one go to go forever? How to make the movement & breathing as efficient as possible while keeping the HR down? I've been measuring my resting HR every morning and it seems to be in the mid 40's which according to the charts and my GP's nurse, shockingly great cardiovascular health. Go Endurance training!

'I wanna throw weights around not F'king do Yoga'

Not my wife, but indicative of her game face.

I love my wife.  She is reserved and thoughtful and not really into endorphin rush workouts, but recently she injured her lower back doing deadlifts and has been taking it easy with PT at home. Tonight, after a particularly brutal day in the office, I asked how she was feeling and she responded, 'I wanna throw weights around not F'kng do Yoga.' Enough said- You are awesome honey bun.  Sometimes when you need to blow off steam, slow and quiet just doesn't cut it. When stress breeds frustration- there is nothing like a quality session sweating under the bar or a good tough run to go beyond the wall of cathartic cleansing into the relam of sublime existence.

Today's WOD was another cardio heavy quad burner:

EMOM x 7min complete 9 HSPU

-Rest 3 minutes-

4 Rounds for total reps of:

30 sec ME Split Jumps

30 sec ME Double Unders

30 sec ME Split Jumps

90 sec Rest

The HSPU's felt good, I got through almost the first set strict, then was kipping like a Mad Mantis shrimp to keep going. By the last 2 rounds I was scaled back to newborn level in the pike position on the box. Humbling. I cannot lift crazy amounts of weight, but the one thing I can do well and very fast is jump rope.  For the rest of the workout I was on fire-Split jumps were strong on the first set of each round. My DU's were almost completely unbroken and the second set of Split jumps felt like I was dousing my quads w/ lit kerosene. In the end I counted 401 reps. Most of that DU's.

I tried a couple more bar MU's to no avail, but I am so damn close. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Meg commented-'you are there- its all in your head now.' Dammit- then get the hell out so I can do these things! Cant wait for CFE tomorrow! Warm weather and running outside!!!

Walk in the Park WOD and the HRM

Just a walk in the park... w/ godzilla.

Today's CFE class was a big class on few rowers & a long long slow burner.A walk in the park...if you are walking with Gojiro.

In teams of 4

10 k Row

One athlete works at a time. Switch every 250m. Athletes must complete 7 burpee box jumps 24/20” before returning to the rower.

Lotta team spirit in the CFE classes!

Scott, Paul, Eric and I cranked through it in about 40 mins. The rowing got your heart rate up, then w/ jello legs you tried to do a burpee box jump. Wicked simple. Originally, the workout was to be with 3 people, that would have been BRUTAL. We did 10 rounds each, putting us at about 4 mins a round each w/ rest being only about 90-120 secs. It was pretty fast paced. I just figured out what the small number in the bottom corner is on the display- Strokes/minute. I was averaging in the low to mid 40's occassionaly bouncing up to 50. But my strokes were short(short arms and legs) and I really tried to stay in the power zone of my stroke rather than over extend or lean back. It felt like I was going fast- dont know for sure. (addendum: after reading this article maybe I was going too fast with the cadence? Lucky- I didnt 'stroke out' and have to be medivac'd to Fletcher Allen!)Pretty much everyone could finish the row BEFORE the person in front finished their burpeebox jumps. If the row didnt get you... the box jumps would.



I finally got to break in the Polar H7HRM coupled with the Digifit app. Paired up and worked just fine. No irritation and light weight.The data was easy to read in the app, but the start-up was slow and the voice and updating every few minutes really annoying- Ive got some config and settings to tweak. The online display of the data set was nicely handled... if you are a 4ryold. No decent scales or controls for the graphs, but easy to read and colorful. Does have a map feature and other data set options. I was kind of hoping for more. You do have limited options to export data, but who wants to cook their own excel files? More to come on this front. It did reinforce the theory that these classes were really pushing our heart rates into the right zones for serious cardio work. Cant wait to see how this compares to some Tabata WOD's!


Results:
Time 39:56
cals 456, 11cpm
bpm 129avg 162max

Screen grab from a portion of Digifit's online workout display.

Command Performance= Average Result

My feelings precisely today-taken from http://www.nydailynews.com/

Today's WOD was a great benchmark taken from the CF Open last year. I did it back in December and scored exactly 6 rds.

“Open WOD 13.2”

AMRAP x 10min of:

5 Shoulder to OH 115/75#

10 Deadlift 115/75#

15 Box Jumps 24/20”

 Tough but strong, the low rep count seductively makes you think you'll kill it, then the box jumps slow you way down. By the time the third round hits everything is burning for oxygen and the heart rate is pegged at insane. You abruptly shutdown gasping for air. Last time I shot for 5 and made 6+rounds. Very satisfying at the time. Today, was much much different. I started off blazing (Sub 1 minute 1st round) then backed off and paced myself. Looking for 7 and scored 8+. POW!  A staggering improvement for 9 short weeks! Since it was a big class-we partnered up -Scott, counted reps and I concentrated on the techniques and pacing. BOOM- 8 rounds. I pushed fairly hard and Scott pushed me  over the top in the end! I was on top of the world happy...for a few minutes.

So I get home and logged on to see how I compared against the open results from last year. Weighted for height, age, weight... I barely crossed the 50% threshold on the Bell curve. Huh? WTF? A command physical performance and was barely average? From super high to super low in seconds- WTF? Were competitors smoking crack and steroids? How the hell did more than 50% do it faster?!!!

When I should have been ecstatic that I crawled out of the bottom qtr of the pool to the upper half, I was insanely pissed my showing was so poor. Thank god I have the best friends in the world. To quote Paul "If it's based on last years entrants, they have several years of crazy on you. A year from now some kid will marvel at what you did and wonder what his problem is."

Oh yeah- all of our peer group are kind of touched in that, 1 fry short of a happy meal, kinda way to actively pursue this self flagellation. This was definitely a strong performance and a show of exemplary improvement indicative of strong physical gains. I've been lifting for like 8 months after some bodyweight work and running, my results within this context are fabulous. Applied against the populous at large- fantastic results. My competitive streak is deeply ingrained-and my ego is always asking for a lashing by looking for praise in all the wrong places. I must accept that I am only fighting myself and today was a good fight that I won.

The Open starts next weekend. Exciting, not in that I'll bump Froning, Khalipa, et al., from Regionals way, but prove to my ego that yes I can do this. I will do it stronger and faster. Every damn time. 

Rest Day: Training Goal Problems & Yoga

Training Goal Problems

So for the better part of the past 40+years I have been small and weak compared to my peers. This always put me in the position of needing to be smarter and faster to counter the bigger kids. Thankfully, both came easily. First, I was pummeled a lot by uncompromising bullies. To counter the big kids, in the crucible of athletics,  I learned to love the  bliss of physical conditioning through exertion while failing to learn to wrestle in the 8th grade. Indelibly, the pleasure of calisthenics and running were cast. Second, a few years later I started a lifelong pursuit of martial  arts where technique trumps strength and discipline was  highly valued, which in my case was very much needed. My self confidence was strengthened and the bullies were no longer a threat, but as I've grown older and my tastes waxed and waned, I never was able to fulfill the one desire: to be strong.

About 2 years ago I started training for the Beast Spartan Race using body weight conditioning and running plans found in books and on the internet. I had been training consistently in Aikido for several years and felt in fair shape. Using a Higdon plan and the Spartan Races' own training plan,  I got fast and somewhat endurance strong keeping in the top 3% of the finishers. Then about 8 months ago I was gently coerced into trying out Crossfit. I learned quickly my state of physical condition was not nearly as great as I had once thought. Humble pie was eaten.  Less a breath of fresh air, the experience has been more akin to a gasping fish on the beach being tossed back into the ocean. Olympic Lifting,  body weight calisthenics, diet, attitude adjustment, deep anatomy analysis, self maintenance, new modalities of training, community support,...the list goes on and on. A flood of knowledge coupled with strong instruction now provided strength gains unlike anything I have ever experienced.  Suddenly, things began to gel into a new lifestyle & as a result I'm the strongest, fastest most agile I have been in my entire life. Now the problem is where to go from here? What goals should one make for the next year? 

Some appear easy with practice and persistence through training; muscle-ups, 350lb HBBS,  freestanding handstands,  etc...but what about competitions and runs? Finish a marathon for certain. An Ultra, definitely on the books for this fall, but what else? Then, the rational mind kicks in and here comes the problem. To plan to run long distances is a different plan than big strength gains. Getting really strong, usually means putting on some mass which is antithetical to leaning out to run fast in a race. Getting older means a plan must not only be productive it must prevent injury and accommodate the rest of ones life(kids, marriage, career, etc..). So what do we do? How can I get stronger and faster at the same time? Currently its CFE(Crossfit Endurance) endurance twice/week and as many regular CF classes as I can possibly handle physically, usually 4-5. This recipe is working to get strong and fast under 'the programmer''s tutelage.  But what else should be added? How should it be added? When am I going to be able to carve out some mat time?What shall the gauge of success be? Looks like we are going to have many more blog posts.

My stunning wife with rippling muscles in front!

1 st formal yoga class at NCCF today. Felt good. Need to work on balance and holding poses longer. The teacher gave an good explanation of how to get in and out of the poses as well as choosing a well rounded set of techniques that were beneficial to the stresses and strains from regular CF. All those years at ACV really helped expose me to various basic poses thus, most were not new, but after a long absence, welcome movements. All good stuff. Gina commented, we needed music. I disagree, the quiet was a welcome relief to the usual cacophony and allowed one to concentrate on the breathing.

Team Endorphine Junkies!

Me, Paul and Ron- all high on endorphins post WOD!

Felt strong this morning for the team WOD at NCCF. Am super glad I teamed up w/ Paul and Ron to handle the absolutely humbling workout of:

100 Deadlifts

80 Hang Power Cleans

60 Front Squats

40 Jerks

20 Thrusters

*one athlete works at a time. EMOM stop and all 3 must do 5 burpees. 

We started with #155 on the deadlifts then stripped it down to #105 for the rest of the movements. I dont know how many reps we did, but it felt pretty equitable between the 3 of us. I cranked through the burpees pretty fast and tried to jump on the bar as quick as possible. Due to the way we ran out of steam and were constantly doing burpees- we all struggled on some movements. It took us about 22 1/2 mins to complete. Those burpees kept the heart rate way high the whole time and totally upset any chance of a rhythm of work.   On the thrusters, after 2-3 reps, my whole body felt like it wad filling up with boiling fire, starting at the legs and working tis way up. No wonder Fran is such a beast benchmark.

Always heartening to see such great camaraderie at the gym. The last 2 teams were still cranking out reps and burpees while most everyone else stood around and cheered them on. That's the way a community supports each other with strong encouragement. Pound for pound and scaled by gender, the last 2 teams  lifted more weight than our team, a testament to their level of fitness and power & completed many more burpees. In many ways, they gained more from the WOD than we did. Certainly, training for endurance under heavy loads- The last to finish are really first in the benefits they reap.

1 feeble muscle-up attempt was made, but the WOD had taken its toll on my strength. In other news, I've been doing much cogitation on goals, training plans and events for the coming year. With a plethora of choices and a rest day ont he books, perhaps tomorrow I can lay out the issues and gain some clarity developing a strong plan for the coming months.

Snowy Snatch'n Valentines day

My personal snatch struggle.

Today was great.  I got to work on things that needed work. 1st  3xME Strict HSPU + Kipping HSPU , the first set used 1 Abmat and got 9 strict then 11 kipping, then added 2 #35 weights on the sides to make a real horizontal but was too hammered for much more 3,4 & 3,4.  Ben suggested exploding more with the legs on the kipping, but by the time I could practice... was out of gas. Then the WOD:

21-15-9 reps for time of:

Snatch 95/65# (full squat)

C2B Pull-ups

We spent a long time w/ the PVC going over the movement-with great instruction. Bending the knees before extending the hips back helped alot. Still moving my feet out too wide during the drop into the squat.(see pic above). Scaled down to #75 to concentrate on proper form- out of 45 reps, maybe 5 were acceptable. All the others had serious faults. The pullups were good- getting faster on the kipping(less need for hollow rock wind up), lots of good height. Took me about 15:25 but was very slow on the snatches.

Afterwards I worked on the bar muscle up. 2 bad tries w/ 1/2 an arm stuck over like this:

Ben gave some awesome critique- Apparently the kipping was good, except when I needed to be pulling  my chest to the bar as low on my abdomen as possible in an arc( I was pulling straight up) while the body floated up in the weightless moment before the brisk pull of the body to the bar down low so the hinge effect and the push up on top can occur.
 
I'm very excited now as this seems totally doable.  I fell plenty strong enough when I'm fresh- so just need a day or 2 to relax and rest then give it another try.

Tabata This! & A snowstorm!

So, I rushed around trying to complete chores-get/stack hay, move garbage, bring in firewood etc... in order to  be ready for the 12-16" of snow expected tonight. Seems reminiscent of Valentines day storm from 2007:

 Thankfully it held off till late. So the Endurance WOD for tonight was a nice, felt great.

 8 rds each of 20secs on 10 off

Row

Push-up

Shuttle Sprint

Wall Ball

The object was to get the heart rate up and put in 90-100% effort as consistently as possible for 8 rds. I'm sure I was there &  felt good only losing my breath & concentration once or twice. Stayed fairly consistent throughout once I settled down into a good pace. I felt like there was room to push and gas in the tank, which leads me to believe I'm not pushing myself quite as much as I can or should. I dont know Tabata, but when I get winded or loose my cadence... I feel like....

Chest & lungs on a deep Tabata rep- like getting blasted by Gojiro himself.

The StayPuft man battling Godzilla. Will need to break out the HRM next week to make sure the HR is far enough into the right zone. I wonder if my age will have some bearing on whether or not I'm pushing it hard enough? Will start tracking that next week.  The wall balls seemed most difficult despite their slow cadence in such a small amount of time 8-10in 20 secs. Will need to figure out how to speed them up? Faster squats?

Afterwards- I was ready to start another WOD within minutes. My recovery time feels like it's getting shorter and shorter.  The quad/calf/IT band smashes plus band work really loosened up the hips and legs. The knee gave me no problem at all. The only injury was that damn Abmat strawberry on my ass. Need to work on keeping ass end down, as I got tired started sliding off the mat. 

'The Programmer' must be reading my mind- I want to work on HSPU and tomorrows strength piece is 3xME Strict. Food wise- I'm getting sick of eggs, need to mix things up and cut back on all these nuts. Am craving steak- maybe I can dig one up this weekend- a big 2" thick sirloin or ribeye rare. Mmm yeah that would do it.Yesterday, I grabbed some meatballs outa the freezer, cooked them up w/ onions and peppers and started chowing down only to realize they had some sugar added to them- they were so cloyingly sweet as to nearly make me gag. But damn they smelled so good. Strike one on the Paleo diet due to ignorance. They didn't have a  label so I really could not have known-Gina had purchased them at one of the big box stores in bulk. Onwards and upwards.

Nooners and OHS's

4×5 TnG Power Clean + Push Jerk – work up to a heavy set of 5

-then-

AMRAP x 7min of:

10 Power Cleans 115/75#

10 Overhead Squats 115/75#

Was a nice noon class, small and quiet. I practiced some grip hangs on the rope & stayed light on the strength piece getting up to #135.  Starting to feel much stronger on the Push jerk and Push press as felt today with the last set of 5 reps.  I dialed it back to an empty bar on the OHS to try and really focus on good form before piling on weight. As noted in previous posts, injury is a concern. I got to the 4 rd using #95 on the PC/PJ and #45lb (empty bar) on the OHS. It was definitely taxing. 2 great pieces of info today from Ben and Meg:
1) On the OHS-as you drop down, allow the bar to float back- its not going away at the bottom its actually staying in alignment- your head & upper body are moving to allow the hips to bend. (See top A above) It's a perception of the body.
2) On the Touch and Goes, watch that the bar doesn't float out and away from the body but rather floats straight down along the shins on the touch. 

Now- I've got to work on this recovery thing-I'm feeling rested and recovered waaaay too easily. Feeling like a I need another workout suddenly! Damn you successful training and Paleo! ;)

Need to plan out some new goals and get them in writing: weekly running mileage,  handstands not against a wall, some grip stuff and work towards that damned muscle-up!

Endurance- Jackie on Steroids

 'Jackie' on Steroids

For time:

Row 2k

-then with no rest-

2 Rounds of:

30 Thrusters 45/35#

15 Med Ball Abmat Situps

I feel great! Plenty of energy and not feeling very sick at all for the second WOD of the day. Endurance tonight was somewhat quick and fun-But first lets discuss my physical therapy appt. I spent a solid hour at Pearl PT this morning. Erica and Liz really took great care of me. After much anguish and gnashing of teeth they seemed to hone in on the fact that my Psoas was really tight on one side, coupled with weak OHS type heavy lift maneuvers and a slightly out of whack lower spine/trunk creating bad posture was likely aggravating some nerves from old injuries down my leg to my knee.
So, they sent me home w/ a bag of new self massage techniques using a ball on the floor and another appt in 1 week.

Technique:Roll the lacrosse ball down towards your femur, using small movements. The psoas accelerates hip flexion and decreases hip extension.
 
 Good stuff- then something happened in Endurance... during the abmat situps I started getting outside pain in the knee. After the workout I told Ben who surmised very quickly that my IT band was likely aggravating my knee by tightening up and pulling. Sure as shit, I laid down on the hard foam roller and BAM tears welled in my eyes trying to roll out, what felt like a baseball of molten pain from mid thigh.
Now- this seems to make a lot more sense as to why my knee was intermittently hurting. Its clear I'm not doing enough mobility work and  need to religiously roll stuff out.

Back to the Endurance WOD. Ben described it as ' Jackie' on steroids and it was. My rows felt good- if not a little slow, was able to keep my heart rate down scoring a time of 7:56 on the row alone- Averaging a hair better than 2mins/500m. My overall time was 14:53. The thrusters were strong- cranking out 15, 10, 5 reps on the first set.

Post Sick Workout-Somewhat Rough

After 3 days off- I felt like there was a little gas in my tank, but not much. Worried my lungs were going to give out but in fact they held up well. The weighted chinups felt good- got up to 30lbs before things started to give out. Found a nice graphic above to display the muscle groups of the pullup. For some reason I think there maybe some ab muscles that are engaged that should be highlighted if doing them correctly- See Kelly Starret.

The rest of the wod was just gruesome- blasted through the burpees, then got hog tied on the Snatches. I was going way too fast for good form... need to really spend time working on snatch form.I was muscling them up. There were maybe 2-4 that were good and floated right on up correctly- or rather felt like they did. Maybe I need to start video taping them.  The Split jumps on minute 4-7... BRUTAL. I had to stop after 4 to get my legs to move. They were locked up and filled w/ lactic acid. I finished in 7:30, but don't think that was an accurate time. Looking forward to a long slow burner in Endurance tonight.

5×5 Weighted Chin-Ups – heaviest possible

-then-

For Time:

25 Burpees

25 Power Snatches 125/85#

25 Burpees

EMOM complete 8 Split Jumps

*At the minute mark complete 8 Split Jumps and then continue through the 25-25-25 stopping every minute on the minute to complete 8 Split Jumps.

Nice Graphic

So, suffering through a second rest day w/ a chest cold, trying not to  feel to sorry for myself about missing workouts I found this awesome graphic for a muscle-up.  

Great WOD- Muscle-Up is in my sights!

Great workout! Really tough. Had to scale to C2B pullups since I cant do a muscle-up yet. 14:48 on time and felt good and strong. The #135 thruster at the end really was tough- longest run was 2 reps during the set, the first 50 thrusters ran a quick 20, 10, 5, 5.

For Time:

50 Thrusters 45/35#

75 Double Unders

5 Muscle Ups

25 Thrusters 95/65#

50 Double Unders

7 Muscle Ups

10 Thrusters 135/95#

25 Double Unders

9 Muscle Ups

* Sub for MU is C2B Pull-ups

Not me- but what I looked like- except not making it flopping around moaning!

The one great thing about today was twice getting an elbow over the bar for a muscle-up. I was stuck there struggling like a wounded squirrel

NFL Sprints

Work was super busy and tedious today. By the time I could get to the gym- it was balls to the wall; switching cars, pickup & swap kiddo, answer work emails, etc... The workout started slow then got very very fast. I really wanted to do 'Chelsea' but it would have been way too much and I'm still sore from the past few days.

3×10 Banded Good Mornings

-then-

10×50 yards – 30 secs rest between sprints – goal is under 7 seconds

rest 3 minutes

10×50 yards – 30 secs rest between sprints – goal is under 7 seconds

rest 3 minutes

10×50 yards – 30 secs rest between sprints – goal is under 7 seconds

I felt really good- Paul and I were neck and neck through most of them. We consistently blasted through them just under 7 seconds, our fastest in the 6.86 range. Tried to keep to the Pose method but felt like I was too upright and not leaning forward enough. Always room to improve. Would have helped had it not been 10 degrees, but running int he cold is somewhat easier this far into winter.  It got the heart rate pumping pretty good though- a different pattern of start/stops than other sprints. To quote Ben ' used by the NE Patriots to test players. They have to run the whole set in less than 7 sec reps.' Not as taxing as anything Tabata style or 10x 'any other longer distance' but I'm sure beneficial in some manner. The old Cross-fit 'no pattern' technique always apparent- change it up so our bodies never adapt but only grow stronger. Feeling like I need to add some isolation type sets- grip work, weighted pullups and handstand practice. Was practicing muscle ups on the rings and was called out that I am there -just needed to roll forward. Ugh- so close but feel so far.  Energy wise, very smooth throughout the day. A little too much coffee- but alert and upbeat. Paleo still providing.

On another note- Neil gave me an awesome shout out on his blog.

Soreness- DOMS?

Wow- am I sore. I woke up uncomfortable at 3 AM with extreme soreness in my hip flexors and glutes. Guess those GHD machine movements on Tuesday coupled with a DL workout yesterday did a real number on my body. At least today, I'm taking it easy all day till my endurance class tonight. I think this is a classic DOMS and it appears continued abuse and torture are probably the best medicine for it.

 DOMS-Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness-is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. Counterintuitively, continued exercise may temporarily suppress the soreness. Exercise increases pain thresholds and pain tolerance. This effect, called exercise-induced analgesia, is known to occur in endurance training (running, cycling, swimming), but little is known about whether it also occurs in resistance training. There are claims in the literature that exercising sore muscles appears to be the best way to reduce or eliminate the soreness, but this has not yet been systematically investigated.-Wikipedia

Dr's Visit

So- spent the morning fording the snow squalls and poorly cleared streets only to have the Dr. say 'Take it easy. If it gets worse we will MRI your knee.You dont need PT. ' Lame. I would have preferred more than a few cursory joint mobility cks and wait and see. Rather have had a regimen of self administered maintenance techniques to shore up any possible ligament or tendon issues. 'The first words out of his mouth- are you taking anything like Motrin for it?' Indicative of the fundamental problem with our bodies and society in this day and age- pharmaceutical companies w/ the medical industry's stamp of approval have us on a Pavlovian hamster wheel to anything we think of as out of the ordinary- it is a problem they must be fixed. The way i see it is...pain is a language. It can tell you when you have a problem for certain- but the nuance is in knowing what the pain is, why it started and how to handle it. You have a headache- why take 2 aspirin when you can Socratically backtrack and figure out why things are hurting? Ask yourself, are you tired? Dehydrated? bump your head? If the fix is mere water- why take the drug? Tangentially but in a similar vein-on long endurance runs- things hurt- they come and go, you can run through some, others mean- you need to call it quits- youve gone too far. Till you have pushed yourself to some of those limits, you never know what you are capable of. Sometimes the pain means you need some aspirin- others its your body settling in for a long haul- just letting you know all the modes of communication are open and active.

Today's noon class was fun-

For Time:

10 HSPU

30 Deadlifts 135/95#

20 HSPU

20 Deadlifts 185/125#

30 HSPU

10 Deadlifts 225/155#

I finished in 12:10 or so.  After the first 30 HSPU's I had to go to 1 abmat- my arms were just out of gas. Still need to work on full extensions at the top. The dead lifts felt good- Still having an issue opening up at the top. Energy wise am feeling much better today-ate a ton. Maybe my body was fighting off a bug by having me not eat as much yesterday or the day before.

Endurance WOD - Much Better!

Was a great turnout w/ a really fun workout:

3×5 Glute Ham Raises

5x Pro Agility Shuffle – 5 attempts to establish best time

10x200m OTM

I arrived slightly nauseous & worried that I might get queasy. The 500M row for warm up was nice- not too taxing.  The GHD machine was very hard. Will need to spend some time on that machine before and after class. Boy did it wake up the 'ol hamstrings and lower back. Afterwards I felt light as air!  The shuffle was interesting - very tough on the ankles and knees.I could only muster 5.85- definitely looking forward to retrying it again in a few weeks. The 10x200, a Liesl standard, felt good-Thought I wasn't going to have the lungs nor pace but in fact, the flock thinned out and I was a very consistent 37-41 give or take with most falling on or around 39/40. Again chasing Scott.  Eating today was sketchy- constantly worried I had picked up the stomach bug and the poor WOD this morning- made me feel pretty rotten all day. Drank too much coffee and not enough water. Weight seems to hover round 169-170, so not much changing there. Appointments with Dr and PT scheduled to take a look at my intermittent knee issues -which did not pose any problem tonight at all. Nice ending to a rotten beginning of a day.

Ugh. Weakness abides.

Weak. That's all I have to say about this mornings WOD at 5:30AM. Afraid to push my knee, 185,205,235, 255-I clearly had to back off on the weight for the HBBS. Then the overhead's just killed me, particularly the second set. I goofed around on a couple of weak half hearted attempts at a muscle-up, but even that was a total loss. Only 94 on the reps... just seems, no, it feels miserable. After reading about what the average contestant in the Crossfit Open (http://www.vordata.com/crossfit-games-2013) can do... Makes me feel pretty inadequate and weak. Damn, just not a great start to the day. Let's see how endurance goes tonight. 

HBBS – 1×8@75%, 1×5@80%, 1×3@85%, 1×3@90%

then-

AMRAP x 9min of:

30 Shoulder to OH 95/65#

20 Lateral Burpee (over the bar)

15 TTB

20 Shoulder to OH 125/85#

30 Lateral Burpee (over the bar)

15 TTB

ME Shoulder to OH 115/115# for remainder of the 9 min.

6:30 pm Endurance Class:

3×5 Glute Ham Raises

5x Pro Agility Shuffle – 5 attempts to establish best time

10x200m OTM

Unintended Rest Day

So kiddo was home from daycare w/ the stomach bug- no chance to go train. Feeling dumpy, fat and weak. For the life of me could not seem to get the gumption up to hit the pullup bar.Being up till 1Am w/ a screaming kid and cranky wife did not help only to then have her 'gentle wake' 40,000watt Klieg lamp blinding me from behind my closed eyelids roused me from my slumber like a pack of vikings. Will try for 2 tomorrow and go easy on the knee- appt setup for Dr and PT w/ the Pearl for some rehab.

Lost Posts and Past few days WOD's

Sprinting out the door on quite possibly the warmest day in 3 months for 'Meg-A-Tron'.

Strange- Ive lost some posts. I know there were 2 on the phone- but cannot find them anywhere! Dammit. Thursday had a wicked WOD for the normal classes that I sorely skipped but was strong on the endurance:

Thursday Partner WOD

In teams of 2 complete:

Row 1000m

40 Wall Balls

Row 800m

30 Wall Balls

Row 600m

20 Wall Balls

Row 400m

10 Wall Balls

Paul and I rocked it- felt really good on the rows. It seems I can get a higher M/s with shorter rows, but my overall time is only about the same. Need to work on the technique. Ben gave some good advice- I was overextending on the return and not letting the chain reset-Must take that little pause for maximum efficiency.

Friday's WOD:

500m Row

60 Air Squats

50 Double Unders

40 OH Walking Lunges 45/25# plate

30 Pushups

20 Abmat Situps

10 HSPU

5 Muscle Ups

1 Rope Climb 15’

Felt awesome -did it in 11:47 except for the Muscle ups/had to do it with pushups.MU's they just elude me. I did do some research last night on helpful hints. Guess I'll need to do more negatives and weighted pullups and dips. It seems like my weakest part is the transition. Did find a great primer on BeastSkills last night. 

Saturday was a blast for 'Megatron' Meg's 30th Bday workout:

 8 rounds

200m sprint

3 Squat cleans 135(RX 165)

6 Pullups

9 Knees to elbow

The running felt great! very fast w/ lots of wind in my lungs. #135 felt heavy but doable- definitely need to practice knees to elbows- there seems to be a lack of reach getting the knees to touch my elbows.

The paleo diet seems fine- 2.5 weeks in. Am no longer ravenous-much more sated. Started to feel a touch more calm- one might even say slightly melancholic- over the past few days- no energy spikes but much less enthusiastic to get to chores around the house. Having a raccoon kill and bury a chicken on the porch was not exactly thrilling- but at least got them all in the coop safe and sound with a light. Hopefully get them laying again to offset the 4 dozen eggs a week we are purchasing.