Good times all around on Saturday evening - definitely made up for Wednesday night about ten-fold. Went to church with the fam on Sunday and we all went out to lunch at one of our usual Colombian spots in Elizabeth. i specifically ordered the platter with the rice and beans. Not sure if this article had to do with my recent string of poor nutritional choices, but i hope to be better motivated so i can perform at my best during the wods.
I think my rating system for movies that are already out on dvd is going to adhere to the following: buy it, rent it, wait for cable, avoid at all costs. I determined this as i watched Rob Zombie's Halloween II. My rating - rent it. while it was very good, i just couldnt give it a buy it rating due to the brutal way most of the victims in the movie "bought the farm" - watching once is fine but its not something that i would want to own to watch over and over and over again.
Mon 10/25/10
Got to work early with the intent not to leave until i finally got this project (which involves requesting a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection for a routine culvert replacement) that has been sitting on my desk for months submitted for review. Mostly administrative stuff but it needed to get done. Left the office at 545p.
due to some new guidelines at the box, i did not have the requisite amount of time prior to class starting to do the wod - so i was going to have to do it on my own after everyone left. Great.
15-12-9
Thrusters, 115#
Clapping Push-Ups
Watching everyone go through it revealed that the wod was a lot tougher than it looked. Double Great. After the last class, I warmed up really well - and I guess should sport a goatee more often as I had a small audience to cheer me on (thanks for staying everyone) - then 3,2,1.. go and banged the first 15 thrusters unbroken. i was feeling really good. the next 15 clapping push-ups smacked me from the small pedestal i had just put myself on. Push-ups are such a goat for me - i just fatigue so quickly. I had to do sets of 3. Overall i finished in 6:54 and that was with two missed lifts, a fall down, and doing 1 clapping push-up at a time in the third round. the last few push ups did not have the greatest form either as my shoulders were coming up before my hips - but it is what it is. Even though the fastest times were sub 5 minutes, I never deceived myself that i would get below 5:45 - so i was extremely happy with my effort.
Went shopping after my wod - unfortunately Walmart rolled back its rollback price for its no sugar added applesauce from $1.50 to $1.78 - but i found some skirt steak at the supermarket that i made immediately when i got home. Delish!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Recovery
Thurs 10/21
Glad i had a friend come over after the miseducation of LM on wednesday night who was able to bring to my attention, on thursday afternoon, that i (among other things - dont ask - really) threw up around 330a that morning. a proverbial light bulb finally turned on and it reconciled why i felt so awful while at work that day with the events of the previous night- i was working on a completely empty stomach and less than 5 hours of sleep. Thank you for being, to quote my alleged repeated phrase from the hennessey, jack, vodka, and gin session, "so good to me" and for cleaning up so i wouldnt have to the next morning - i owe you HUGE.
Needless to say Thursday was not the most productive day at work, i skipped the wod, and barely made it co-coach my endu class with Jared. It was the endoers new 1RM day and i was excited for them as they had been doing really well during the louie simmons powerlifting series. everyone posted gains of at least 10# in their back squat and 10# in their deadlifts - which is awesome - everyone except one llocfme. she was fighting a huge mental battle that cost her any gains that day. as a coach i should have been prepared to handle that scenario that day and i should have intervened sooner but i wasnt thinking properly since i was handling my own scenarios (which i had determined by that point that my scenario has never actually happened in real life and only occurs in rom-coms and so effectively it didnt really happen to me). My life needs to have its ducks in a row at home in order for me to be the best that i can be for the people i'm servicing - and i like to provide quality full service that people can depend on. moral of the story: i learned not to be an idiot and set myself up for drama, especially mid week.
Friday 10/22
Woke up refreshed, ate well throughout the day, finally got word from my sister and noah (YAY!) that they are settled in their new home in Nicaragua and thats its nice and warm down there. the prospect of a vacation in the near future is extremely high! decided i was healthy enough to do the wod at the 545p class:
For time:
1000m Row
200 Double Unders
1000m Run
i finished my row in 3:44 and i was able to string mostly 15 doubles unders at a time but could/should have gone through them a little faster. i didnt check my time as i left for the 1000m run but it felt fast and i finished with a time of 14:36. im happy with that considering the best time for the day was 13:16. went home - had some organic chicken breasts and relaxed the rest of the evening.
Sat 10/23
Met the endoers who weren't going to The Hunt for a wod at the track and they all went at max effort. Spent the day at home doing various chores and looking forward to a fun evening out in NY.
Glad i had a friend come over after the miseducation of LM on wednesday night who was able to bring to my attention, on thursday afternoon, that i (among other things - dont ask - really) threw up around 330a that morning. a proverbial light bulb finally turned on and it reconciled why i felt so awful while at work that day with the events of the previous night- i was working on a completely empty stomach and less than 5 hours of sleep. Thank you for being, to quote my alleged repeated phrase from the hennessey, jack, vodka, and gin session, "so good to me" and for cleaning up so i wouldnt have to the next morning - i owe you HUGE.
Needless to say Thursday was not the most productive day at work, i skipped the wod, and barely made it co-coach my endu class with Jared. It was the endoers new 1RM day and i was excited for them as they had been doing really well during the louie simmons powerlifting series. everyone posted gains of at least 10# in their back squat and 10# in their deadlifts - which is awesome - everyone except one llocfme. she was fighting a huge mental battle that cost her any gains that day. as a coach i should have been prepared to handle that scenario that day and i should have intervened sooner but i wasnt thinking properly since i was handling my own scenarios (which i had determined by that point that my scenario has never actually happened in real life and only occurs in rom-coms and so effectively it didnt really happen to me). My life needs to have its ducks in a row at home in order for me to be the best that i can be for the people i'm servicing - and i like to provide quality full service that people can depend on. moral of the story: i learned not to be an idiot and set myself up for drama, especially mid week.
Friday 10/22
Woke up refreshed, ate well throughout the day, finally got word from my sister and noah (YAY!) that they are settled in their new home in Nicaragua and thats its nice and warm down there. the prospect of a vacation in the near future is extremely high! decided i was healthy enough to do the wod at the 545p class:
For time:
1000m Row
200 Double Unders
1000m Run
i finished my row in 3:44 and i was able to string mostly 15 doubles unders at a time but could/should have gone through them a little faster. i didnt check my time as i left for the 1000m run but it felt fast and i finished with a time of 14:36. im happy with that considering the best time for the day was 13:16. went home - had some organic chicken breasts and relaxed the rest of the evening.
Sat 10/23
Met the endoers who weren't going to The Hunt for a wod at the track and they all went at max effort. Spent the day at home doing various chores and looking forward to a fun evening out in NY.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Bittersweet
Had a crazy day at work on Tuesday so i couldnt get to the lunchtime wod and i barely got to the gym before the 545p class that i had to coach so i didnt get to wod. Classes went well (it seemed as if everyone liked the new 800m run) but for some reason my onramp ran very late and i didnt get started with the endu class until 850p. right there i knew that getting up early was going to be tough - even though i had to get up early because i need to take a long lunch from my regular 9-5 to see my sister off at the airport the next day.
Next day: I get to my parents house and my mom is crying. Not a good way to start the trip to the airport. Got to hold Noah and put him to sleep before helping my sister zipper close all of her bags. it was surprising that she only had 6 pieces of luggage considering she was leaving for the year but then i remembered that only a little less than 2 months ago the fire in their apartment pretty much destroyed everything - then i was really surprised that she had 6 pieces of luggage to take. It was mostly noah's stuff though. did my best not to tear up - but it happened anyway. Im not going to lie, i thought i was going to be the tough guy but it went a lot worse than expected as the whole family was helping her bring all the bags into the airport. i was consoled by the fact that she was happy/excited about starting this new chapter in her life - and that i saw the econfirmation ticket for her return in mid january.
didnt get a chance to wod because i took a long lunch and stayed at work late. I was looking forward to a nice evening (rented Minority Report on bluray) but then got schooled in my own kitchen - subject: douchebaggery. Night did not end well at all. i drank with the hope that today goes better. just got up and finished typing this blog. note to self: the day will not be better when you finish a whole bottle of hennessey and you have to work the next day...
Next day: I get to my parents house and my mom is crying. Not a good way to start the trip to the airport. Got to hold Noah and put him to sleep before helping my sister zipper close all of her bags. it was surprising that she only had 6 pieces of luggage considering she was leaving for the year but then i remembered that only a little less than 2 months ago the fire in their apartment pretty much destroyed everything - then i was really surprised that she had 6 pieces of luggage to take. It was mostly noah's stuff though. did my best not to tear up - but it happened anyway. Im not going to lie, i thought i was going to be the tough guy but it went a lot worse than expected as the whole family was helping her bring all the bags into the airport. i was consoled by the fact that she was happy/excited about starting this new chapter in her life - and that i saw the econfirmation ticket for her return in mid january.
didnt get a chance to wod because i took a long lunch and stayed at work late. I was looking forward to a nice evening (rented Minority Report on bluray) but then got schooled in my own kitchen - subject: douchebaggery. Night did not end well at all. i drank with the hope that today goes better. just got up and finished typing this blog. note to self: the day will not be better when you finish a whole bottle of hennessey and you have to work the next day...
Monday, October 18, 2010
Blustery
Well official results are still not posted online for the 5k from saturday - but based on my playlist, i did not PR. Its not as heartbreaking as i would have originally thought as it was very windy and i didnt properly hydrate the night before / day of (so part of me wasnt expecting a PR), but I probably could have gone a bit harder in mile 2 - i dropped off my targeted pace by over 30secs - i dont know what happened so that's my only regret. I'll post the time once i know exactly what that was. The endoers took the nifty little surprise (after the 5k, rest 4min then run 2miles, rest 2min then run 1 mile) like champs. i felt bad when they said they thought the nifty little surprise was that they were finally going to get their shirts - to quote coach mike, sadface. read here for more on the 5k.
I love her - she is so easy to hold! Saw the new Bruce Willis movie Red - it receives a designation of wait. Sunday i went pumpkin picking with the family and had them over my place for an impromptu bbq. It was bittersweet because it's probably going to be one of the last family functions - where the entire family is there - for a while since Rebeca is leaving on wednesday for Nicaragua for a year - and she is of course taking my godson Noah. Im going to miss them both very much and im not looking forward to wednesday at all.
after the family left, i went out to watch football and drank more than i was planning - being hungover is not the best way to start a Monday in case anyone was wondering. I skipped out of work early today - in part due to my lackadaisical attitude stemming from my hangover - to do my CF Total and went up 20# in my back squat but went down #20 in my deadlift for a total of 715#. (In comparison, i watched a video of Dave Lipson get a total of 1400#.) I should have gone up in the deadlift but i didnt check my previous 1rm and went way too heavy on my first attempt. this just further motivates me to start the louie simmons powerlifting so that next time i can break the 750# mark. Everyone in the classes i coached did really well. Then i did a short little metcon wod at the coaches meeting:
10-8-6-4-2
Front Squat, 115#
Burpee
First one to break three minutes with 2:54. I was happy with my time and effort and most importantly that it was a productive coaches meeting. Was given some more work to do in terms of organizing the program for a incoming group of cyclists - which is cool but only adds to the list of things i need to do. now all i need are more hours in the day :)
After the 5k, I went to my church in Hillside for Cecilia's baptism (she didnt even wake up when the priest was pouring the holy water on her head) and her party (below is a picture of us dancing there).
I love her - she is so easy to hold! Saw the new Bruce Willis movie Red - it receives a designation of wait. Sunday i went pumpkin picking with the family and had them over my place for an impromptu bbq. It was bittersweet because it's probably going to be one of the last family functions - where the entire family is there - for a while since Rebeca is leaving on wednesday for Nicaragua for a year - and she is of course taking my godson Noah. Im going to miss them both very much and im not looking forward to wednesday at all.
after the family left, i went out to watch football and drank more than i was planning - being hungover is not the best way to start a Monday in case anyone was wondering. I skipped out of work early today - in part due to my lackadaisical attitude stemming from my hangover - to do my CF Total and went up 20# in my back squat but went down #20 in my deadlift for a total of 715#. (In comparison, i watched a video of Dave Lipson get a total of 1400#.) I should have gone up in the deadlift but i didnt check my previous 1rm and went way too heavy on my first attempt. this just further motivates me to start the louie simmons powerlifting so that next time i can break the 750# mark. Everyone in the classes i coached did really well. Then i did a short little metcon wod at the coaches meeting:
10-8-6-4-2
Front Squat, 115#
Burpee
First one to break three minutes with 2:54. I was happy with my time and effort and most importantly that it was a productive coaches meeting. Was given some more work to do in terms of organizing the program for a incoming group of cyclists - which is cool but only adds to the list of things i need to do. now all i need are more hours in the day :)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Keep on Truckin'
Thursday started off well enough - productive at work, i was fairly good nutrition wise, and i was excited about doing the wod.
5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5
Muscle Ups
Deadlifts, 315#
I wasnt underestimating it - i was definitely nervous about doing 29 muscleups and i had already decided that i wasnt going to Rx the deadlift and go for just 285# - i was excited because it was going to be a good, challenging, technique intensive workout. I also "liked" the fact that the 9 rounds descended down the ladder only to ascend it at the end - a very different component that we dont usually encounter. one of the many great ways to constantly vary things.
I wanted to go to Bville to do it because i hadn't seen Griffin in a while but decided that in order to help Jared out for onramp at 715p (so we could both be on time for endu at 820p) that i needed to do the 630p motown class. I get there and its a full house - about 13 people and we only have 4 sets of rings where muscle ups (for taller people) can be performed. i decided to do the bar muscle up to not further clog the rings up. first two rounds went fine - i was really paying attention to my form on the deadlift as i ended up doing 295# - got to round three of the muscle ups and i just couldnt get that third one done. I must have had over 10 failed attempts. very frustrating to see people get two, three, four rounds ahead of you and i seriously contemplated stopping once i got to round 5 (the 1 muscle up / 1 deadlift round)...
i figured no one would notice - i would be way more coherent when helping jared coach - and i did at least half the workout - which, according to the rationalization that was going on in my head, was nothing to be ashamed of. luckily i reminded myself of the only time that i quit during a wod (first month of crossfitting in bville - did 4 rounds of something instead of 5) and how much i still regret not being able to say that ive never quit a workout. i thought about leading by example and how disappointed i get when im coaching and people just stop putting in the effort. i decided to drop my deadlift weight to #275 after round 5 - and i ended up going to jumping muscle ups in rounds 8 and 9 - but i kept on truckin through the wod and while everybody was wrapping up their cool down stretching and jared was starting his onramp class - i finally finished with a time of 24:42. i was as happy with not quitting as i was appreciative that most of the athletes stayed to cheer me on until i finished. and im pretty sure it was 24 minutes and something - i wasnt really paying too much attention to the time as i was tired. oh, that and during the jumping muscle ups i clocked myself in the face with the rings and gave myself a slightly blackish eye
For the remainder of the onramp class and the endu class - i was walking around with a cold beer can compressed to my face. since then ive come up with better stories that sound believable and are more masculine in nature than getting roughed up by gymnastics rings - clearly not to be confused for the more user friendly gymnicetics rings that i should have been on... Had a good time at Tashmoo after.
Friday was terribly unproductive at my other 9-5 as it was the first official friday back at work and i was still on "fridays off" mode. came home took a nap (awesome!!!), went to the box to get one of the llocfme caught up on her speed powerlifting (tight form = great job), had some chipotles for dinner (always good times), and i am looking forward to getting a PR in the 5k tomorrow. im also anxious about the nifty little surprise jared and me have in store for the endoers afterward...
5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5
Muscle Ups
Deadlifts, 315#
I wasnt underestimating it - i was definitely nervous about doing 29 muscleups and i had already decided that i wasnt going to Rx the deadlift and go for just 285# - i was excited because it was going to be a good, challenging, technique intensive workout. I also "liked" the fact that the 9 rounds descended down the ladder only to ascend it at the end - a very different component that we dont usually encounter. one of the many great ways to constantly vary things.
I wanted to go to Bville to do it because i hadn't seen Griffin in a while but decided that in order to help Jared out for onramp at 715p (so we could both be on time for endu at 820p) that i needed to do the 630p motown class. I get there and its a full house - about 13 people and we only have 4 sets of rings where muscle ups (for taller people) can be performed. i decided to do the bar muscle up to not further clog the rings up. first two rounds went fine - i was really paying attention to my form on the deadlift as i ended up doing 295# - got to round three of the muscle ups and i just couldnt get that third one done. I must have had over 10 failed attempts. very frustrating to see people get two, three, four rounds ahead of you and i seriously contemplated stopping once i got to round 5 (the 1 muscle up / 1 deadlift round)...
i figured no one would notice - i would be way more coherent when helping jared coach - and i did at least half the workout - which, according to the rationalization that was going on in my head, was nothing to be ashamed of. luckily i reminded myself of the only time that i quit during a wod (first month of crossfitting in bville - did 4 rounds of something instead of 5) and how much i still regret not being able to say that ive never quit a workout. i thought about leading by example and how disappointed i get when im coaching and people just stop putting in the effort. i decided to drop my deadlift weight to #275 after round 5 - and i ended up going to jumping muscle ups in rounds 8 and 9 - but i kept on truckin through the wod and while everybody was wrapping up their cool down stretching and jared was starting his onramp class - i finally finished with a time of 24:42. i was as happy with not quitting as i was appreciative that most of the athletes stayed to cheer me on until i finished. and im pretty sure it was 24 minutes and something - i wasnt really paying too much attention to the time as i was tired. oh, that and during the jumping muscle ups i clocked myself in the face with the rings and gave myself a slightly blackish eye
For the remainder of the onramp class and the endu class - i was walking around with a cold beer can compressed to my face. since then ive come up with better stories that sound believable and are more masculine in nature than getting roughed up by gymnastics rings - clearly not to be confused for the more user friendly gymnicetics rings that i should have been on... Had a good time at Tashmoo after.
Friday was terribly unproductive at my other 9-5 as it was the first official friday back at work and i was still on "fridays off" mode. came home took a nap (awesome!!!), went to the box to get one of the llocfme caught up on her speed powerlifting (tight form = great job), had some chipotles for dinner (always good times), and i am looking forward to getting a PR in the 5k tomorrow. im also anxious about the nifty little surprise jared and me have in store for the endoers afterward...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Things not to do by yourself
A) Mountain Climb - make sure your belayer is paying attention though
B) Get Married - that's just akward on so many levels
C) Wods that have 6 rounds in them
Holy moly was the lonely component a factor for today's wod:
6 Rounds
20 SDLHP 95#
15 T2B
10 Burpee Broad Jumps
Other components included getting less than six hours of sleep the night before, not eating for over six hours before the wod, thinking about the heavier SDLHP all day - but it was the fact that i was by my lonesome that made it so easy for me to rest that much longer in between sets as I didnt have anyone to directly compare my effort against - especially with this type of wod where there needs to be a certain level of pacing involved (and pace i did). However, i was happy that i didnt do sets of less than 5 for anything - and i was really happy that i was able to hang onto the bar for the T2B in sets of at least 5 and that i further vaired my workout time as i took a late lunch and did the wod (did i mention by myselft?) at 130p. Finished in 28:49.
Went to a lululemon design meeting after my other 9-5 and that was very informative and it was refreshing to see a company that actually listens to the people who are buying their clothes. Visited my nice and nephew. Tried to get a picture of Noah smiling but this is the best i got:
told my sister that Cecilia looked like a movie star
paint her green and she is a shoe in for Yoda - that didnt go over too well.
Had a great dinner with Jared talking shop to finish out the evening - glad to have you around buddy!
B) Get Married - that's just akward on so many levels
C) Wods that have 6 rounds in them
Holy moly was the lonely component a factor for today's wod:
6 Rounds
20 SDLHP 95#
15 T2B
10 Burpee Broad Jumps
Other components included getting less than six hours of sleep the night before, not eating for over six hours before the wod, thinking about the heavier SDLHP all day - but it was the fact that i was by my lonesome that made it so easy for me to rest that much longer in between sets as I didnt have anyone to directly compare my effort against - especially with this type of wod where there needs to be a certain level of pacing involved (and pace i did). However, i was happy that i didnt do sets of less than 5 for anything - and i was really happy that i was able to hang onto the bar for the T2B in sets of at least 5 and that i further vaired my workout time as i took a late lunch and did the wod (did i mention by myselft?) at 130p. Finished in 28:49.
Went to a lululemon design meeting after my other 9-5 and that was very informative and it was refreshing to see a company that actually listens to the people who are buying their clothes. Visited my nice and nephew. Tried to get a picture of Noah smiling but this is the best i got:
told my sister that Cecilia looked like a movie star
paint her green and she is a shoe in for Yoda - that didnt go over too well.
Had a great dinner with Jared talking shop to finish out the evening - glad to have you around buddy!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Three K
Got to church late, had lunch and played games with the fam, picked up a three piece suit, and ended up at home last night without further plans so I sifted through my entire DVD collection and chose to watch Serenity. If you like sci-fi and/or Joss Whedon then definitely rent it. (Geek out alert - Im so glad he is at the helm for The Avengers.) Minus getting to church late and the lack of plans - it was a good end to a good weekend.
Got to work this morning and there was carrot cake in the kitchen. the carrot cake never stood a chance. I had to restrain myself from going for a fourth piece (in my defense, as im sure anyone who works in a cubicle will attest to, Monday mornings and cake are a dangerously tempting combination) as the wod was a 3000m row and on top of never having rowed that distance, i knew i really wanted to get sub 12min. luckily i reasoned with myself that having carrot cake did not amount to a nutritionally valuable fuel source and followed up my dessert after my regular bfast with a solid salad for lunch.
Stayed a bit longer after work and finally photoshopped the images for the CFME shirts and sent them to the shirt printers (resized and at the right resolution) and so i got to the box to coach right before my first class. as expected only a few people showed up. either crossfiters must really love Chris of ocean blue fame or they saw the wod and thought "i dislike rowing, its a long row, im choosing today as my day off". i have a strong suspicion that it was the latter - which is disappointing from a coach's perspective mainly because it goes against one of crossfit's three main components - that i know we hammer home every day to our athletes - "constantly varied". By training in a broad, general, and inclusive manner, we become better prepared for the unknown and/or the unknowable - it puts us in a more capable ready state to be able to mentally and physically handle whatever life throws at us. so anyone reading this post that skipped out on today's wod for the aforementioned reason (and you haven't named any of your daughters Nina, Pinta, or Santa Maria) - i urge you to get comfortable with being uncomfortable next time. i promise i'll help you.
i wodded after the 715p class and after chatting with coach Mike (who apologized for being sleepy and leaving early on friday night) - much later than usual for a monday but in a prime example of my constantly varied diatribe above - life happens. ive got to thank Pat and Chip for all the great pointers they gave us at that rowing seminar back in August - i paid attention to my s/m and my feet were never strapped into the erg and i finished in 11:40. Sweet! I worked on some grip exercises after and it wasnt until i was pulling into my driveway that i realized that i missed a good opportunity to start my Louis Simmons powerlifting / do any Bergener skill transfer exercises - boo to me. Overall solid day.
Finally, a big up top to my llocfme who rocked longer distances this weekend - way to crush it!
Got to work this morning and there was carrot cake in the kitchen. the carrot cake never stood a chance. I had to restrain myself from going for a fourth piece (in my defense, as im sure anyone who works in a cubicle will attest to, Monday mornings and cake are a dangerously tempting combination) as the wod was a 3000m row and on top of never having rowed that distance, i knew i really wanted to get sub 12min. luckily i reasoned with myself that having carrot cake did not amount to a nutritionally valuable fuel source and followed up my dessert after my regular bfast with a solid salad for lunch.
Stayed a bit longer after work and finally photoshopped the images for the CFME shirts and sent them to the shirt printers (resized and at the right resolution) and so i got to the box to coach right before my first class. as expected only a few people showed up. either crossfiters must really love Chris of ocean blue fame or they saw the wod and thought "i dislike rowing, its a long row, im choosing today as my day off". i have a strong suspicion that it was the latter - which is disappointing from a coach's perspective mainly because it goes against one of crossfit's three main components - that i know we hammer home every day to our athletes - "constantly varied". By training in a broad, general, and inclusive manner, we become better prepared for the unknown and/or the unknowable - it puts us in a more capable ready state to be able to mentally and physically handle whatever life throws at us. so anyone reading this post that skipped out on today's wod for the aforementioned reason (and you haven't named any of your daughters Nina, Pinta, or Santa Maria) - i urge you to get comfortable with being uncomfortable next time. i promise i'll help you.
i wodded after the 715p class and after chatting with coach Mike (who apologized for being sleepy and leaving early on friday night) - much later than usual for a monday but in a prime example of my constantly varied diatribe above - life happens. ive got to thank Pat and Chip for all the great pointers they gave us at that rowing seminar back in August - i paid attention to my s/m and my feet were never strapped into the erg and i finished in 11:40. Sweet! I worked on some grip exercises after and it wasnt until i was pulling into my driveway that i realized that i missed a good opportunity to start my Louis Simmons powerlifting / do any Bergener skill transfer exercises - boo to me. Overall solid day.
Finally, a big up top to my llocfme who rocked longer distances this weekend - way to crush it!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sounding Board
Thurs 10/07
I couldnt fully extend my left arm - it was as if my bicep was sore but i really hadn't done anything bicep intensive. This was my much needed day off. Co-coached onramp and had the endoers do their second speed strength day as well as what i dub the Crazy 8 wod. Had a delicious cobb salad topped with a buffalo burger to finish off my day.
Fri 10/08
Still really couldnt extend my left arm but Jared said he was going to the 1215 class so i couldnt not go. wod was:
20min to find my 1RM for the snatch then
3Rounds
5 clapping pushups
15 wallballs, 20#,10'
let's just throw this out there from the offset - I can't even begin to express my love for the snatch. with that being said, i only got to 115# - which was disappointing because i had previously done 125# (and that was after 5 sets of 3 reps each) and i was shooting for 155# and would have settled for 135#. i think it boils down to me thinking way too much about not being comfortable with that weight overhead. i was still a little nervous about tweaking that transition point in my spine. so i cleaned 125#, snatch grip push jerked it overhead and attempted to squat it thinking that if i could overhead squat it - i should be able to snatch it. well the overhead squat didnt go as smoothly as i wanted it to and in typical mind over matter fashion, i failed on three separate attempts to snatch 125#. i would really like to start implementing the louie simmons weight training outline again (with the focus this time being the OHS) as it worked so well for me during the Be Crossfit Challenge. Additionally, i know that implementing the Bergener skill transfer exercises would be helpful as well - i just need to commit to a schedule and do it - so ill start posting about when i do that and how thats going from this point forward. the short metcon went really well - 1:48 which was third fastest at that point of the day (im moving on up in the world).
Met up with some CF peeps at the Frog later that evening and that was a lot of fun. I always tell myself to take pictures - whether its during wods or when im just out with friends - so considering both those worlds combined at the Frog, i actually remembered to (although i wish i got around to more of the people there) and got this (rather adorable) shot of Jodi and me. i appreciate her for her honesty and accordingly she's becoming a consistent sounding board in my CF life. that and she's a lot of fun to hang out with.
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BTW - that was post car bomb.
Sat 10/09
Ugh. drinks are so good during but not the morning after - especially if you dont hydrate before you go to bed. literally shuffled into the box at 820a for the 800a endurance class. the endoers are doing really well during their wod when i see Lynn shuffle in. Lynn very awesomely came out with us hardcore partiers to Sona after the Frog - and even though i was barely comfortable standing up - i decided that if she managed to make it there, i have to do the reg wod.
15 AMRAP
200m run
20 steps overhead walking lunges
15 situps
10 pullups
3,2,1 go and im off. Completed 5 rounds (and 10m of the run on the 6th round) and it felt surprisingly good! i kept up with Billy and Derek (to their credit they were using a weight vest and the ghd respectively but i think that only makes the playing field a bit more level anyway), my runs didnt feel as sluggish as they normally do, and i did butterfly pullups for each round so i was extremely happy with my performance - and im not even making reference to the fact that i did it hungover - it was a solid performance due to my unbroken effort throughout. good way to start my day (except for waking up so early).
Just hung around the rest of the day - my sister and her bf came over and i get my lawn mowed (so it no longer looks like im living in a jungle) - played some video games - got some house chores done (like putting that first coat of paint on the spackle around the sliding door to my deck that i built... last summer) - went food shopping - played some more. it ended up being a very good saturday.
Sun 10/10
Hopefully the llocfme finsihed their tempo runs by now. Heading to church and going to spend time with the fam for the rest of the day.
I couldnt fully extend my left arm - it was as if my bicep was sore but i really hadn't done anything bicep intensive. This was my much needed day off. Co-coached onramp and had the endoers do their second speed strength day as well as what i dub the Crazy 8 wod. Had a delicious cobb salad topped with a buffalo burger to finish off my day.
Fri 10/08
Still really couldnt extend my left arm but Jared said he was going to the 1215 class so i couldnt not go. wod was:
20min to find my 1RM for the snatch then
3Rounds
5 clapping pushups
15 wallballs, 20#,10'
let's just throw this out there from the offset - I can't even begin to express my love for the snatch. with that being said, i only got to 115# - which was disappointing because i had previously done 125# (and that was after 5 sets of 3 reps each) and i was shooting for 155# and would have settled for 135#. i think it boils down to me thinking way too much about not being comfortable with that weight overhead. i was still a little nervous about tweaking that transition point in my spine. so i cleaned 125#, snatch grip push jerked it overhead and attempted to squat it thinking that if i could overhead squat it - i should be able to snatch it. well the overhead squat didnt go as smoothly as i wanted it to and in typical mind over matter fashion, i failed on three separate attempts to snatch 125#. i would really like to start implementing the louie simmons weight training outline again (with the focus this time being the OHS) as it worked so well for me during the Be Crossfit Challenge. Additionally, i know that implementing the Bergener skill transfer exercises would be helpful as well - i just need to commit to a schedule and do it - so ill start posting about when i do that and how thats going from this point forward. the short metcon went really well - 1:48 which was third fastest at that point of the day (im moving on up in the world).
Met up with some CF peeps at the Frog later that evening and that was a lot of fun. I always tell myself to take pictures - whether its during wods or when im just out with friends - so considering both those worlds combined at the Frog, i actually remembered to (although i wish i got around to more of the people there) and got this (rather adorable) shot of Jodi and me. i appreciate her for her honesty and accordingly she's becoming a consistent sounding board in my CF life. that and she's a lot of fun to hang out with.
.jpg)
BTW - that was post car bomb.
Sat 10/09
Ugh. drinks are so good during but not the morning after - especially if you dont hydrate before you go to bed. literally shuffled into the box at 820a for the 800a endurance class. the endoers are doing really well during their wod when i see Lynn shuffle in. Lynn very awesomely came out with us hardcore partiers to Sona after the Frog - and even though i was barely comfortable standing up - i decided that if she managed to make it there, i have to do the reg wod.
15 AMRAP
200m run
20 steps overhead walking lunges
15 situps
10 pullups
3,2,1 go and im off. Completed 5 rounds (and 10m of the run on the 6th round) and it felt surprisingly good! i kept up with Billy and Derek (to their credit they were using a weight vest and the ghd respectively but i think that only makes the playing field a bit more level anyway), my runs didnt feel as sluggish as they normally do, and i did butterfly pullups for each round so i was extremely happy with my performance - and im not even making reference to the fact that i did it hungover - it was a solid performance due to my unbroken effort throughout. good way to start my day (except for waking up so early).
Just hung around the rest of the day - my sister and her bf came over and i get my lawn mowed (so it no longer looks like im living in a jungle) - played some video games - got some house chores done (like putting that first coat of paint on the spackle around the sliding door to my deck that i built... last summer) - went food shopping - played some more. it ended up being a very good saturday.
Sun 10/10
Hopefully the llocfme finsihed their tempo runs by now. Heading to church and going to spend time with the fam for the rest of the day.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Partners
With a partner, alternating work/rest for each round:
5 Rounds:
12 snatch deadlifts, 205#
9 T2B
6 burpees
Wednesday is workout-with-Jared-day and the third day of my beginning of the week 3on wodding cycle. while we rxed (something i was apprehensive about when i saw the snatch grip requirment for the deadlifts) and finished with sub 14min - i really feel Jared would have had a faster time with a different partner - and that just shouldnt be the case. my grip was nonexistent and id like to blame it on the kb swing workout from last week but thats just lame. you cant lift what you cant hold on to and in my case during this wod i could not lift my toes to the bar more than three times consecutively because i could not hold on to the bar - and that really slowed each one of my rounds down. new goat of mine: grip strength. if i dont get motivated to get better for me - i should do it so i dont let my partner down in workout scenarios like this.
work was very productive, nutrition was good (minus the maggie moos ice cream i had as an undeserved consolation prize), and i watched gladiator on bluray - i was entertained for the day.
5 Rounds:
12 snatch deadlifts, 205#
9 T2B
6 burpees
Wednesday is workout-with-Jared-day and the third day of my beginning of the week 3on wodding cycle. while we rxed (something i was apprehensive about when i saw the snatch grip requirment for the deadlifts) and finished with sub 14min - i really feel Jared would have had a faster time with a different partner - and that just shouldnt be the case. my grip was nonexistent and id like to blame it on the kb swing workout from last week but thats just lame. you cant lift what you cant hold on to and in my case during this wod i could not lift my toes to the bar more than three times consecutively because i could not hold on to the bar - and that really slowed each one of my rounds down. new goat of mine: grip strength. if i dont get motivated to get better for me - i should do it so i dont let my partner down in workout scenarios like this.
work was very productive, nutrition was good (minus the maggie moos ice cream i had as an undeserved consolation prize), and i watched gladiator on bluray - i was entertained for the day.
Keeping up with the Dicksons
FRI 10/01:
Did the 20kb swings every min for 10min. Rx was 2 pood but i chose 1 pood and was happy that i did as every set was unbroken and i got all 10 rounds in. My forearms are still a little sore even today - so i cant even begin to imagine what they would feel like had i held on to even a 1.5 pood kb. After the evening class that i coached, i had my smokehouse Arthur's burger (you know how i feel about Arthur's burgers) and saw The Town - which was phenomenal! a very good evening indeed and i need to have more just like it!
SAT 10/02:
Xiomara is a member of her school's cross country team. She needs a bit of help in the running department so i was going to run this 5k that my dad was helping organize through his Souls for Faith running group with her - hopefully looking to get her to her first sub 30min 5k. I get to the park and she informs me that she would not be running. So here i was mentally preparing myself to coast and now my reason for coasting has backed out last minute - constantly varied at its finest. im not a big fan on running 5ks all willy nilly so i knew i wasnt going to PR (although im really hoping to on 10/16 with my endoers) but i get a good warm up in, trot over to the starting line and go to start my ipod only to find that its dead. grr. i do my best to keep a solid pace once the race starts but unfortunately my knee started to bother me at the beginning of mile 2 and i finish in 24:59. respectable considering the circumstances and im happy that i didnt keep myself in a mental funk throughout the race but still off my PR by about 2 min. my dad was happy that i was there supporting him so it made it worthwhile.
I was supposed to participate in a cornhole tournament with my sister in the afternoon but my mom hurt her back that morning and was unable to babysit for my sister so after visiting with my niece and nephew i just end up just going home and doing some much needed house cleaning for the rest of the day saturday.
SUN 10/03:
Finally rebuilt my massive desk in my basement and then headed off to church with the family. i wanted to do a new CF total in the afternoon but never got around to motown until much later in the evening due to a groom's party (bridal shower for dudes) for a friend from grammar school and an impromptu house warming party. nutrition was very poor due to all the parties (and my inability to turn food/beer down).
MON 10/04:
Couldnt wait to do the 10min amrap wod as soon as i saw it posted:
10min AMRAP
6 squat cleans, 125#
12 pullups
24 double unders
however due to my poor nutrition the day before, lack of sleep and poor nutrition the day of, i decided that going for the rx weight was unwise; so i only set up my squat cleans for 115#. i feel that not rxing is sometimes a suitable punishment for poor nutrition - and consequently i find it very motivating to get my nutrition back on track by rewarding myself with the privilege of rxing a workout. I was able to wod before the 630 class with one of the llocfme and finished with 4 rounds + 4 squat cleans. my last set of double unders were atrocious as i couldnt string more than 2 together at a time but i was able to string at least 4 butterfly pullups in each round - so i would consider the pro/con assessment of that wod a wash. highlight was not wodding by myself for a change. coaching went well and after class i watched the The Fourth Kind - i wouldnt spend any money to rent it.
TUES 10/05:
4 Rounds:
500m row
9 ring dips
12 shoulder to overhead, 135#
15 box jumps, 24"
i saw the shoulder to overhead at 135# and immediately thought no way. the middle of my back - on the transition point between the lumbar and thoracic regions of my spine - has been hurting recently. ive been to the chiro the past few weeks and have determined that it gets aggravated during heavier cleans and gets overloaded when i do heavy overhead work as i tend to overextend my back to compensate for not maintaining a stable mid line due to fatigue during a wod. i felt that 115# was still a challenging weight that allowed me to maintain proper mechanics while not setting me up to tweak my back.
Karianne was hanging around all class and coach mike is about to start the wod when suddenly she decides to throw her hat into the ring and wod with us lunchtimers. hot diggity dog! i was feeling good from my wod yesterday, ate well the night before and this morning, the shoulder to overhead weight was no longer uber heavy so it wasnt going to slow me down tremendously, and while one of karianne's stronger movements is the box jump, this wod also had a row in it - something clearly in my favor. so as Karianne was taking off her shirt - to reveal an even more form fitting shirt with the slogan "throwing up isnt just for supermodels anymore" - all i could think about was rick moranis. let me explain with the following video:
we start on the row and as expected i get off the erg first. finish my dips first. finish my push jerks first. get done with box jumps and im out the door first to start round 2 before her (as we had to alternate 500m rows with 400m runs because we only have 4 ergs). head over to round 2 of the rings and we get done at the same time. she ends up finishing the second set of push jerks before me and heads onto the box jumps. As expected, Karianne gets to the rower first to start round 3 but i am not worried. about 20 seconds later i hop on the rower and overtake her to head over to the dips. im a quarter of the way done with the third round and im still ahead of Karianne! Im thinking this is my one time.
i have 3 push jerks left by the time Karianne gets to the box jumps on our third round - and she just takes off. if you havent seen her do box jumps - its amazing. think about how quickly you lift your feet up when you're walking on hot sand and she's even quicker getting her whole body up to the top of the box - jump after jump after jump. now it was my intent to jump off the top of the box instead of step off but the push jerks took a lot out of me. by the time i start my fourth round with the 400m run - she is 300m ahead of me. She finishes in sub 19min (she was also using a 24" box) and i finish with 20:28. my runs were terribly slow and my fourth round of push jerks was broken into sets of 2 but overall i was very happy that i kept up with Karianne through about three rounds. next time (especially if there are rows involved).
i had a larger, challenging group when i coached in the evening but i managed, the onrampers this month are a great group, and i got to post on my blog today - good past few days.
Did the 20kb swings every min for 10min. Rx was 2 pood but i chose 1 pood and was happy that i did as every set was unbroken and i got all 10 rounds in. My forearms are still a little sore even today - so i cant even begin to imagine what they would feel like had i held on to even a 1.5 pood kb. After the evening class that i coached, i had my smokehouse Arthur's burger (you know how i feel about Arthur's burgers) and saw The Town - which was phenomenal! a very good evening indeed and i need to have more just like it!
SAT 10/02:
Xiomara is a member of her school's cross country team. She needs a bit of help in the running department so i was going to run this 5k that my dad was helping organize through his Souls for Faith running group with her - hopefully looking to get her to her first sub 30min 5k. I get to the park and she informs me that she would not be running. So here i was mentally preparing myself to coast and now my reason for coasting has backed out last minute - constantly varied at its finest. im not a big fan on running 5ks all willy nilly so i knew i wasnt going to PR (although im really hoping to on 10/16 with my endoers) but i get a good warm up in, trot over to the starting line and go to start my ipod only to find that its dead. grr. i do my best to keep a solid pace once the race starts but unfortunately my knee started to bother me at the beginning of mile 2 and i finish in 24:59. respectable considering the circumstances and im happy that i didnt keep myself in a mental funk throughout the race but still off my PR by about 2 min. my dad was happy that i was there supporting him so it made it worthwhile.
I was supposed to participate in a cornhole tournament with my sister in the afternoon but my mom hurt her back that morning and was unable to babysit for my sister so after visiting with my niece and nephew i just end up just going home and doing some much needed house cleaning for the rest of the day saturday.
SUN 10/03:
Finally rebuilt my massive desk in my basement and then headed off to church with the family. i wanted to do a new CF total in the afternoon but never got around to motown until much later in the evening due to a groom's party (bridal shower for dudes) for a friend from grammar school and an impromptu house warming party. nutrition was very poor due to all the parties (and my inability to turn food/beer down).
MON 10/04:
Couldnt wait to do the 10min amrap wod as soon as i saw it posted:
10min AMRAP
6 squat cleans, 125#
12 pullups
24 double unders
however due to my poor nutrition the day before, lack of sleep and poor nutrition the day of, i decided that going for the rx weight was unwise; so i only set up my squat cleans for 115#. i feel that not rxing is sometimes a suitable punishment for poor nutrition - and consequently i find it very motivating to get my nutrition back on track by rewarding myself with the privilege of rxing a workout. I was able to wod before the 630 class with one of the llocfme and finished with 4 rounds + 4 squat cleans. my last set of double unders were atrocious as i couldnt string more than 2 together at a time but i was able to string at least 4 butterfly pullups in each round - so i would consider the pro/con assessment of that wod a wash. highlight was not wodding by myself for a change. coaching went well and after class i watched the The Fourth Kind - i wouldnt spend any money to rent it.
TUES 10/05:
4 Rounds:
500m row
9 ring dips
12 shoulder to overhead, 135#
15 box jumps, 24"
i saw the shoulder to overhead at 135# and immediately thought no way. the middle of my back - on the transition point between the lumbar and thoracic regions of my spine - has been hurting recently. ive been to the chiro the past few weeks and have determined that it gets aggravated during heavier cleans and gets overloaded when i do heavy overhead work as i tend to overextend my back to compensate for not maintaining a stable mid line due to fatigue during a wod. i felt that 115# was still a challenging weight that allowed me to maintain proper mechanics while not setting me up to tweak my back.
Karianne was hanging around all class and coach mike is about to start the wod when suddenly she decides to throw her hat into the ring and wod with us lunchtimers. hot diggity dog! i was feeling good from my wod yesterday, ate well the night before and this morning, the shoulder to overhead weight was no longer uber heavy so it wasnt going to slow me down tremendously, and while one of karianne's stronger movements is the box jump, this wod also had a row in it - something clearly in my favor. so as Karianne was taking off her shirt - to reveal an even more form fitting shirt with the slogan "throwing up isnt just for supermodels anymore" - all i could think about was rick moranis. let me explain with the following video:
we start on the row and as expected i get off the erg first. finish my dips first. finish my push jerks first. get done with box jumps and im out the door first to start round 2 before her (as we had to alternate 500m rows with 400m runs because we only have 4 ergs). head over to round 2 of the rings and we get done at the same time. she ends up finishing the second set of push jerks before me and heads onto the box jumps. As expected, Karianne gets to the rower first to start round 3 but i am not worried. about 20 seconds later i hop on the rower and overtake her to head over to the dips. im a quarter of the way done with the third round and im still ahead of Karianne! Im thinking this is my one time.
i have 3 push jerks left by the time Karianne gets to the box jumps on our third round - and she just takes off. if you havent seen her do box jumps - its amazing. think about how quickly you lift your feet up when you're walking on hot sand and she's even quicker getting her whole body up to the top of the box - jump after jump after jump. now it was my intent to jump off the top of the box instead of step off but the push jerks took a lot out of me. by the time i start my fourth round with the 400m run - she is 300m ahead of me. She finishes in sub 19min (she was also using a 24" box) and i finish with 20:28. my runs were terribly slow and my fourth round of push jerks was broken into sets of 2 but overall i was very happy that i kept up with Karianne through about three rounds. next time (especially if there are rows involved).
i had a larger, challenging group when i coached in the evening but i managed, the onrampers this month are a great group, and i got to post on my blog today - good past few days.
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