Weekend Row and Mobility

Spent the weekend on the rower and on mobility. We have a fun week planned of thrusters (will Fran show up?) so ai spent time on shoulder and arm flexibility. Tomorrow night is thrusters 5x5 and I would like to make it to 155 if possible. An easy frot squat and press weight but put the two together and uh oh.

Sunday WOD
Row 5000 meters

Not that fun in a garage when the temp is 19. Had to get the kerosene heater out and go for it. 21:20 which is a 1:22 PR. I need to pull this one out sooner than the 11 1/2 months I did it last.

Otherwise, an excellent weekend. Girls and I did breakfast with Santa this morning and had a blast. I am typing this entry while the girls are decorating the tree. I was given strict instructions that I cannot participate in it this year nor see it until they are done.

Push Press / SFH / Juicer

Push presses were nice. Pattnered up with Sam who is 2" taller than I am.

WOD
Push Press
5-2-2-2-1-1-1-1

Essentially the plan is to get to your one rep max. My last max on this was 255 and I was hoping to get at least to that tonight but during the last rep of 2 my right wrist started to bother me which affected my grip.  Had a planned rep at 225 which I did not get under so I essentially just went ahead and pressed it up. Krystal (trainer that night) started laughing and was astonished that I did a straight press of 225. Bumped up to 235 and then decided to mot go higher to avoid further injury.  At the end of the day I need to work on grip strength so I need to get my racquetball back out.

I also used the chocolate SFH recovery mix after the WOD mixed with milk. Overall, I am really satisfied. Thanks John for the suggestion! I ordered a larger quantity of it today.

Lastly, I bought a juicer today to get a bit of a jump start on getting down a few pounds. I tried a recipe from my buddy Pete of apples, ginger and carrots. I was floored at how filling it was.

Oly's and new recovery powder

Multiple reps of Push Press in the box tonight.  Should be able to beat my last max rep of 235 pretty easily.  It's all about the leg strength in my opinion.

I'm also trying out a new recovery powder tonight after the WOD.  It's made by "Stronger Faster Healthier."  I'll try it tonight and see how it works.

Wednesday Rest Day / Thursday Cleans

Had to take a rest day on Wednesday. My legs were screaming and I needed a break.

Thursday WOD

Started with junkyard dog. Always fun!! Then moved into the Burgener warm up and snatch progression.

WOD
Power Clean 5x3

One big thing I learned is that I need some new wrist wraps. I got almost a year out of my current pair but they are not cutting it. As usual I was setup by myself in the side corner. Did a few warm up sets at 135 and 185 working on speed. My wrist turnover has improved a lot in the past year. Moved into 225 with zero issues then made a mistake by jumping straight to 245. 1 rep only the first round. When I went to rep number 2 I completely forgot to shrug. And as Coach says once the elbows bend the power ends. Regrouped and did 2 reps but failed on third due to bad grip. Dropped to 235 in hopes to knock out 3 and I was clearly done. Overall disappointed that I did not hit 245 for 3 but the lift is feeling and looking a lot better. I need to get a video next time.

2011 Games WOD

Rough one tonight. Started with Junkyard Dog and the Burgener WarmUp which is standard for all this week. It is really a great way to warmup. It gets my blood flowing and gets me in the mood to start strong. The only downfall for the day was that about two hours before the WOD my legs started cramping up. I pulled out the stick and rolled them pretty hard for an hour or so. It helped quite a bit.

WOD
60 bar facing burpees
30 OHS (120 #)
10 Muscle ups

My goal going into this was to make it to the OHS.  My cardio has seen better days and I need to work on it. Goal was to just keep moving. I ended up with 61 total reps. I made it through the burpees and needed a long few breaths before starting the OHS. I only had 20 seconds so I took a deep breath and then grabbed the bar and did a squat snatch. +1. :)

Fully expect my legs to scream tonight. After a nice big salad for dinner I am going to hit the steam shower in the basement and call it a night.

Legs are Thrashed

Woke up with morning to the tightest legs I have had in months.  I need to push the water like mad today and get out my "stick" to beat the lactic acid that's built up.  Big WOD in the gym tonight.

10 min AMRAP
60 Bar Facing Burpees
30 OHS (120#)
20 Muscle Ups

My goal is to get at least 1/2 way through the OHSs.

Pulling iron

Great night at the box. Caught up about 75% from PTO and had to drop Jacqueline at dance at 4:30 so went ahead and jumped into the 5 pm class.

Warmup
Junkyard Dog
Burgener Warm Up

Always a good time!!

WOD1
Clean Grip high pulls on a 2" plate
3x3

Stopped at 225. Pretty happy with that. The 2" plate was new and more difficult than I thought it would be.

WOD2
Deadlift on 2" plate
3x3
Felt pretty warmed up so jumped right into it. Sets at 225, 315 and 405.

Back from PTO

An absolutely killer week of vacation. Time with the girls and time to relax was worth it. Ready to get back to work. Hopefully I will catch up quickly.

Checked the programming for the week at the box and excited to see a complete week of snatches!!!

PTO / Long Weekend / WODs

Took Friday 11/16 through all of next week as PTO.  I am at the point where I'm almost not able to accrue anymore vacation so I felt it was time to take a bit.  I also needed a break from the grind.  Re-org at work and other things going on pushed the stress level up.  The silver lining to that cloud is that it has really energized me to get back into the box.

Went out with good friend who was in town from Chicago on Thursday night.  Got a nice round of golf in on Friday.  Saturday rolled around and stopped by the box at request of Jacqueline to see the new space.  I was really happy when we got back in the car because she said that she wants to start going to Crossfit more often.  They are putting in a "tween" room so that kids can do homework and other stuff.  Essentially the older kids have a space and they don't have to hang with the toddlers.  Ryan also was telling Jacqueline about the Crossfit Kids class that they are about to start doing and she is energized about that.

Saturday WOD
CFP 045
1000 m Row
100 DUs
50 Box Jumps

I pulled this one out of the WOD book and set the garage gym up (posted pic to Facebook).  Jacqueline wanted to keep me company which was also quite nice.  Got on the rower and had her push the button to do the countdown.  She even went 3 - 2 -1 GO for me.  It was awesome!!  Row came in right at 4:05.  I know I can go harder on this one but I did not want to gas myself.  Got into the double unders and I'm embarrassed to say they just weren't flowing like they normally do.  I could string together sets of 5 or 10 or 8 or 7.  Real disappointing but I kept at the DUs instead of reverting to singles.  On to the box jumps.  First time I've really used my 24" box at home (other than sitting on it in the garage).  I was a little leery about how it would hold up but I'm happy to report that it did great.  Box jumps are getting better for me.  I'm putting in nice solid sets of 5 and up.  It's all about rhythm.

Final time was 15:44.  Not my best but as I've stated here before the METCONS are always tough for me.  I need to hit the rower harder.

Highlight of the WOD had to be when I got off of the rower Jacqueline hopped on and rowed a 1000m.  She did it in right about 10 minutes and she was so pleased.  That smile was great.  I'll continue to keep asking her to participate with me and that will be one great thing about doing more workouts at home.  This is something that I'd really like to see her continue on with.  Now, if only I could get Alexandra to do it too.  :)

Grip needs some work

FUn WOD at the box.

WOD1
Floor Press 3-3-3-3

Ended on 225.  It's a bit weird to do a bench press on the floor.  Instead of the bar hitting your chest your elbows hit the floor.  NOt quite comfortable with that at a high weight.

WOD2
Snatch Grip Deadlift  3-3-5-3

I ended on 315 the last time I did this lift and remember that my thumbs were killing me on the hook grip.  It's hard holding the weight on my snatch grip because I am collar to collar.  It also does not help that when I hook grip this much weight my thumbs are destroyed.  I should use lifting straps on this movement but I need to get my thumbs conditioned better.  I stopped at 225.

Major Construction

Major construction at the box this weekend. Ryan and Kyla took over the space next door so we had to get that wall down. One thing I am really happy about is that we are going to start having some OLY classes and yes, I am going to get to run a few of them.

SWEET

SDHP

Made it to the 6 pm class tonight. Great time to workout. Prior to heading into the box I checked the box site and saw that Ryan and Kyla have added on more space to the box. It looks like it will double in size which is great. I am hopeful that they will add an Olympic class at least twice a week.

WOD1
Find your 5RM SDHP

Started out nice. I have learned not to rush these lifts. 135,185,205. Lost grip on the bar after 3rd rep at 205.  Need more chalk.

WOD2
15 min AMRAP
Stop sign sprint (was a jog at best)
10 burpees
20 KB swings (went with 1.5 pd)

Made it through 3 rounds. Not happy with that but overall my cardio blows. Really need to get with it.

Back on the blog

Back at the blog.  Taking advice from the firebreather himself "John Durocher" and using the blog as a nice outlet.

Headed back into the box tonight.  The days of lifting and rowing in the garage are a bit monotonous.

Tonight's WOD
50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Knees to Elbows

Looking forward to this one.  Double Unders are no issue for me.  My problem with double unders is hitting my goal of 100 straight.  I just can't seem to get past the mid 90's.  Purely mental block at this point.

Will report back on the results later tonight.

Need more creativity

I need to start getting more creative when we do deadlifts. The most it seems that I can load the bar is 515. That is five 45# and a 10# on each side. Even then I need to use a band to keep the weight on as opposed to using a collar. May need to look into buying some chains or stacking a weight best on the bar.

WOD
7x1 deadlift

Maxed out at 515# and quite honestly I would not have been able to go more than another 10# total. This is a lift I need to work on in the garage gym.

Box Jump Injury

Been pretty low key lately on the blog.  My days / week in the box is right at 3 now hovering closer to 4.  I need to get it back up to 4 hovering close to 5.

Fun night in the box last night.  We did a lot of drills early in the workout focusing on hip extensions.  A basic drill where you squat down on a box, touch the box and lift feet up, throw feet down and jump onto a box.  Took me a while to get used to them but it's going to help me get my snatch above 225 (I'm just stuck at that weight for some reason and my squat snatch looks horrible.  It is much more of a power snatch.).  So, to the title of my post today "Box Jump Injury."  Normally you see a box jump injury as a nice gash on the lower leg.  Not me.  I ended up cutting the inside of my wrist on my right arm.  NO IDEA how that happened.  Blood really started to flow so I jumped into the bathroom to wash it off then wrapped a lot of tape around it to head on to the WOD.

3 Rounds for Reps
1 min row, for calories
1 min situps
1 min KB swing, clean
1 min rest

I ended up scoring 159 total.  My row was consistant with 18 - 19 calories per minute.  I need to get my rower out more and get cracking on it.  Situps are never fun but I plowed through and knocked out between 10-15 per set (the 3rd set was toast though when I could only do 6).  Single arm KB swings into a clean were fun.  Max set was 30 on the last round when I just went all out.

OHS tonight and another Metcon full of dumbbells.

Thursday WOD Squat Drops

Catching up a bit here.

Thursday WOD was a good one.  The programming has moved back towards the Crossfit Football programming which has a strength movement followed by a Metcon.  Big fan of that.

Strength movement today was also a skill workout.  Front Squat Drops.  A bit awkward with the bar flying up as you dropped so had to learn to tuck my chin down.  I felt comfortable and went ahead doing multiple reps at 135.  Scott H. (trainer) was impressed at my progress of holding the bar with my elbows up.  Long ago when he and I were working on this I was essentially holding the bar with my arms up and down.  So, big improvement.

Moved on to Metcon
12 min AMRAP
10 pullups
14 front squats (95#)
22 pushups

My cardio is way behind and I only did 2 rounds plus 14 reps.  I need to drop the weight next time and focus on moving.

Write Off Month

I am officially writing off the month of August. Good vacation in Sturgis. Lots of good golf. Very little training. A lot of work. All leading up to some big decisions for me.

9/4 has me back at the box. Signed up and refused to look at the WOD. Happy to see it was a 3RM deadlift night and a metcon.

WOD1
Deadlift 3RM
Peaked at 455#. Quite a solid effort and one I am happy with. My form starts to degrade above that so while I know that I could have done more I decided to call it. Need to pick up my bar and weights at home and work on this lift. It has declined from a comfort standpoint.

WOD2 Metcon
5 rounds for time (18 min cap)
3 power cleans 185
10 burpees
13 pullups

The weight on the power cleans was zero issue. I about launched it into the 20' ceiling. Burpees and pullups blew my gas though. Cardio took a major hit in August so I need to play catch up. Only completed 4 roounds in the time cap.

Week in Review

Solid week getting back into things at the Box.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Good mix of weights and cardio.  Deadlifts on Monday did not really hit me until late on Wednesday.  Pushing the water and recovery mix after workout helped quite a bit.  Wednesday was a little setback in terms of joints.  Wednesday was pushjerks (a real uncomfortable lift) and split jerks.  My wrists started to give me a little problem so I need to check into strengthening them with racquet ball squeezes, etc.  Friday was a nice WOD of LSits (gymnastics movements) which I am very week in then a Metcon of crunches, chest to bar pullups (i can do 1 of these without band now) and 200 m run.

Solid rest day on Saturday with the girls and golf planned today.  Looking forward to another week in the box.  Need that stress relief from work.

Pull ups and deadlifts

Back in the box after my full week at Sturgis. I am positive that I will be in quite a bit of pain tomorrow.  Pullups and deadlifts on the menu.

WOD1 3RM weighted Pullups

I did 5# which is great in my opinion. I can still knock out 3 reps after a long time off.  Time to really bear down and knock it out.

WOD2
12-10-8
Muscle ups (2x pull ups and dips)
70% 1RM

Used a green band for pullups and 2 boxes for dips. 315 on the deadlift. A bit gassed but finished in 18:21.

Used my new Reebok crossfit shoes. Good stability but need to break them in quite a bit. Tomorrow's 10 rounds of 200 meter run and 10 hang squat cleans will probe them out.

7000 lbs. Ground to Overhead

Finally back at the box after at least a week off.  Rest I believe is a good thing but I'm not looking to repeat long absences from the box.

Tonight's WOD was 7000 lbs ground to overhead.  I had a few options on what I could have done here (75#, 95#, 135# or 155#).  I ended up warming up and while I could get 135# up pretty easy I felt that I would be completely gassed having to do 52 reps.  Instead I went the path of 95# and had to do 74 reps.  What was fun is that I snatched all but 1 rep.

The weight is never the problem.  It's the cardio that I have (or lack thereof).  I started out in sets of 5 then dropped to sets of 1 or 2 or 3 depending upon how I felt.  I did see that just dropping the weight was a big help because I was using zero muscles on the way down.

Total time - 18:28.  Not my best showing but one that I can work with.

Mental and Emotional Drain is Over (hopefully)

The mental and emotional exhaustion from my dad's liver surgery to remove the tumor is hopefully over.  Spent Sunday - Wednesday in Houston with him and family.  Surgery went great.  Per the doctor they removed all that they needed to.  The good news is that he does not have to take a round of chemo and is most likely going to be discharged from the hospital on Friday.  He will need to stay in area for a few days and if all things are good he will head back to TN on Wednesday / Thursday of next week.

Now I can get back into training.

Been a really looooooong month...

It's been a pretty long past month.  Work is crazy busy and I'm finding it quite a challenge to stay caught up.  I'm continually running about 2 days behind and that's never a good thing.  Adding on top of that is that I have not been as diligent at making into the box like I would like.  I've been doing some stuff at home but nowhere near the intensity that I would in the box.  Today unfortunately is no exception to my busy life.  Work all day and then I need to take Alexandra to physical therapy for her knee.  I do vow that I will spend at least an hour in my garage tonight.  Even if I am only looking at my gear.  Just need to find some time away from the work environment and focus heads down on peace of mind.

So, plan will be to jump rope, row, box jump, play with barbell, swing the kettlebell, do some pullups, do some pushups / situps... Anything to break a sweat and clear the mind.

The "Stick"

I don't have a foam roller at home but I'm thinking about getting one.  What I do have is the "stick."  It is essentially a 3' long stick with rollers in the middle.  I can use it to really push down on the muscles.  I'm finding that while I don't have to use it all the time when I do need to use it I find that it is a godsend.  For instance, we did 100 front squats at 95# on Monday with 5 pushups at the top of every minute.  My right knee was in some pretty major pain starting late on Tuesday and even into this morning.  I've been using my stick to roll out my muscles above and below the joint and it has been helping a lot.

No WOD today for me.  Alexandra has her final orchestra concert and Jacqueline has dance so I'll be all over the place to make both of those happen.  More rolling with the "stick" on today's agenda.

Pull Ups

Not sure what day it is of the challenge.  Too pumped to care all that much.

WOD
Minute Man PUllup
1 pullup first mintue
2 pullups second minute
etc.

I made it to 6 pullups completely Rx.  Did round 7 with blue band and round 8 with green band.  I am spent but pretty happy.

2 days of rest

Definitely needed.

Day 22 WOD / Day 23 Rest / Day 24 HELEN

Solid WOD at the box on Monday night.

WOD1
Back Squats
4x3 @ 80% 1 RM

Put 295 on the bar and knocked them out.  I looked up my last few CFT squats and this was right at 80%.  Finishing my last set I felt that I should have gone with 315.  Next time.  Depth is really solid.

WOD2
Weighted Good Mornings
4x8

After squats this was  good movement to go to.  Weight scheme of 45 / 95/ 135 / 155.  Felt solid the whole way through.

Finished resting and hopped up on bar to knock out a few pullups.  Did 2 sets of 1.  Need to really work on stringing them together because I drop straight down after each one.  The way I look at it is that I can do some of them now so I am happy.

HELEN on the game plan for tomorrow.  Toying with idea of doing it Rx.  Will have to see how I feel tomorrow.  Resting all day today.  Need to catch up on work and sleep and nutrition.

Day 22

Not good that the weekend was Cinco de Mayo.  It did not help my point situation but I made sure to track my cheats and my alcohol.  I did not hurt me as much as I thought it would.

Ready to get back at it tonight.  Diet dialed back in starting this morning.

Day 17 WOD / Reflection from Day 18

Diet is going strong.  I say this as I just finished a monster breakfast.  I'm taking a rest day today so have my meals planned out well.  4 block breakfast.

• 4 eggs
• tons of mushrooms, tomatoes, onions
• 1 avocado

A ton of food so I had to force it down but all in all the diet is working so I will keep at it.

Day 17 WOD

Weighted Pullups
3 x 5

Pullups have always been something I have never been good at.  My goal for last year was to get a pullup and I did meet that goal before the end of the year.  I have been using bands and have progressively gone down in the thickness of band (ie. color...).  I felt that this was a good chance to go all out.  Given that I could not do many pullups I was focusing on really small bands on this WOD.  Did a few sets with the red band then did 2 sets with the super tiny band.  This band is so small it is really as if I am not using a band.  We had a lot of first timers in the class so Rick (shadowing) was spending time down on my end of the bar.  Rick is a good dude and he even pointed out that I should go ahead and drop that band.  Just for fun I moved over a bar to the really high bar where my feet were nowhere near touching the floor and knocked out 5 kipping pullups.  Holy cow, I was excited.  Dropped off of the bar and Rick just smiled and said told you.  Ryan was just finishing up some instruction and I asked him if he saw and he said "no, get back up there."  So, I hopped back up and knocked out 3.  He was almost as excited as I was.  He gave me some good pointers on how to string them together because I am for the most part dropping straight down and having to re-kip.  Essentially, not effiicient.  Definitely some things to work on.

Snatch Grip Deadlift
3x3x5x3

Deadlifts are a strong area for me.  This one was the wide snatch grip which means my hands are all the way to the collars.  Using the hook grip here was tough.  Ended up at 315 because anything higher killed my thumbs.

I put all of my weights away and stretched to cool down then hopped back on the bar for 1.  Got my 10 done.  I need to practice this more often and will take a note to knock out a few per day while working from home in the garage bar.

Day 15 & 16 WOD

The WODs on days 15 & 16 were not fun.  They definitely did not play to my strengths.  In hindsight I believe that I normally would "skip" those WODs but it's good that we get points for WOD attendance because it forces you to go in.  I am also trying to take to heart something I've heard from John D. a lot which is make sure you go to the WODs that are areas you are not strong in (or something to that effect).  It's the only way to get better.

WOD15
5 rounds for time
12 lunges (135#)
225m run
5 Wall balls (20#)

No other words to describe this other than it was not fun.  A few learning points.  When class sizes are large I end up outside because I need less monitoring.  I'm totally ok with this because it puts it all on me.  The only thing I don't like is doing lunges in a concrete parking lot with a lot of pebbles.  Need to get knee pads.  I did the first 3 rounds with 135 and then hit the wall so dropped to 115.  I have one leg that is grossly weaker than the other so that makes this not fun.  Running is the bane of my existence.  Never a fan.  Wallballs were nothing.  Provided a break from the other torture.  Final time 21:16.  Getting better.

WOD16
4 rounds for time
20 wall ball tosses (20#)
10 ring dips
5 reverse burpees
400 m run

Again, not fun.  Wall ball tosses were not a big deal.  Good way to stretch out the body.  Ring dips were challenging but I was able to get through them easily (used green band).  Reverse burpees are not fun.  I am getting better at handstands against the wall but I'm still not making contact.  Jered says I am arching too much and need to get my but to move more towards the wall.  Will try this in class.  Then the run (totally not my week).  Time cap was 31:00.  I started the last run just as the timer went off so went ahead and did my run / walk to finish it up.

Looking forward to WOD17 which is lifting.

Day 16

It is going strong on the Rock My Body Challenge.  I'm a week late in blogging about progress.  Quick update:

• Down at least 6 pounds
• Waist is down at least 3 inches

Some major key learnings:

• Cheats are emotionally not cool but helps physically
• Diet Coke is evil.  I had a few diet cokes and they made me so hungry I ended up with 2 cheat meals

Workouts have been pretty solid and I'm continuing to make improvements.  I now have my new Rogue bar and lots of weight (320 total pounds of plates) so I'll add in some movements at home.  I need to get my platform built this weekend so that I have the room in my garage to work.  I'm going to steal an idea from John D. and do a nice mural on the wall.  I am not good at painting or design so I'll troll the internet for ideas.

Things are looking up.

Day 6 - 8

Golf on Day 6 which was sweet.  Day 7 was a little ride on the Harley plus yardwork and home WOD.

Day 8

WOD
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
C2B Pullups
Box Jumps 32"
KB Swings (1.5 pd)

This was a killer WOD.  Used green and blue bands for C2B and was pulling like mad on those.  Realy happy with the results.  Box jumps were solid but getting down was not fun.  KB swings were good.

Overall time was 23:24.  I was pleased.  Diet is still going well.

Day 4 Filthy 50 / Day 5 Rest & Golf

Day 4 of our RMB Challenge had Filthy 50 as our WOD.  I have never done this one before and immediately knew from the description that it would be long and taxing.  Jared asked me if I had done it before and when I said no he asked if I was feeling spry.  I nodded my head and he had me tackle it instead of scaling like the rest of the class except 2 others.  The confidence in me was a good boost.

Filthy 50
For time perform 50 reps of the following:
Box Jumps 24"
Jumping pullups
KB Swings 1 pd
50 steps, walking lunges
50 knees to elbows
50 push press, 45#
50 back extensions
50 wall balls, 20#
50 burpees
50 double unders

My goal on this was to of course make it as far as I could given there was a 35 min time limit.  I had a rep scheme in my head and just kept at it.  Box jumps were good.  I for the most part went all the way through them with a few step backs here or there to stretch out.  Sets of 10 on the jumping pullups.  Sets of 10 on the KB swings.  Walked through the lunges unbroken. Knees to elbows in sets of 2 (I did a few sets of 3 by accident).  I was really happy with Knees to Elbows doing them all Rx.  Big improvement for me.  Push press in sets of 10.  Back extensions are never fun so I did superman instead.  Started wall balls and was going in sets of 3 by this time (completely gassed).

Ended up with 21 wall balls.  Overall, quite pleased.

Day 5 was a rest day.  I did get a round of golf in with my friend Kevin Hall.  My daughter Jacqueline came along as well with her clubs so we hit the driving range before and after.  She putted on the greens during the round.  Told me all day long how awesome of a time she was having.

Day 6 starting now and have another round of golf shortly.  Diet is going strong and I feel better.

Day 2&3 / 40

Made it through day 3 of the 40 day challenge and all things still green.

Tuesday WOD

Clean&Jerk 7x1
It was good to get back to an olympic lift and one that I enjoy.  I am fine on the clean part but the jerk is another matter.  I have issues committing to the entire lift and that is never good.  Started out at 135 for a warmup then went up to 225 on my 4th set.  Put it up no problem.  Went to 245 and failed the next 3 singles.  I could have dropped the weight and put something else up but each time I tried to split jerk 245 I was an inch from getting it.  I need to drop under the bar more.  Cleaning it is no issue.

Wednesday WOD

25 air squats
400m run
50 air squats
800m run
50 air squats
800m run
25 air squats
400m run

Finished up in 29:23 which was just under the 30 minute time cap.  My legs are complete jello though.  While running my lower back was twinging.  Spent an extra 20 minutes after WOD stretching it out.

Diet is good.  Energy level is up.

Day 1 / 40

Ate well today. Kyla and Ryan had me drop to 19 blocks which is fine. Bit of an issue counting the blocks for my post WOD drink (it had 4 carbs and 4 proteins in it) because my dinner consisted of a glass of milk and my fish oil. Plan in place for tomorrow.

WOD
Jackie
1000m row
50 thrusters @ 45#
30 pullups

Total time was 13:53 which is an ~1:05 PR from last time. Used the green and red band and was able to knock out sets of 10 then all 5s. Good start and an area I am going to work on given I have a rower and pullup bar. Rogue bar should be here in a few more days.

Rock My Body Challenge Starts Monday

i went in on Thursday but have no idea what I did. Shows that I need to do a better job logging. It is on the site where I log every workout.

The Rock My Body Challenge starts on Monday. We did the lecture and weigh in and measurements on saturday. I am happy to report that I am 6%+ down on my body fat in the past year when we did this challenge last. That is great considering my diet has not been what it should have been over the past several months. Quite jazzed about that.

Starting of with 20 blocks this time instead of 21 like last time. I need to drop some inches. I amm also going to pick a movement each week and make sure I knock out several sets of high reps when I can. Thinking aout push ups this week then situps followed by pull ups, air squats, etc.

Out of Gas

Went in Wednesday night for the WOD.  I really try to hit all WODs where we do any lifting and after CFT on Monday I needed to work out some soreness.

WOD1
High Bar Back Squats (This is the only way I know how to do it)
10 reps 50% 1 RM
10 reps 60% 1RM
8 reps 65% 1 RM
8 reps 70% 1 RM

Warmed up with 10 reps of 135 lbs then jumped into it.  185 / 205/ 225 / 255.  When I got to 255 I had no gas and did 1 rep.  Disappointing but if I kept going I would have had to dump it.

WOD2
4 rounds for time
5 Front Squats
8 Strict Pullups
40 Double Unders

I put 135 lbs on the front squat.  This is a challenging lift for me.  The lack of flexibility hurts me here.  Pullups I used black band for round 1 and black and red for rounds 2 - 4.  Double Unders were good for round 1 but when I got to next round they just fell apart.  I switched to singles.  Double Unders is an item I am good at so disappointing to say the least and one thing I need to work on.

Plan to take a rest day on Thursday from the box and will row in the basement.

Sweet Sweet Crossfit Total

I think the rest did me a lot of a good.  Crossfit total at the box tonight.  As usual I had a rack and bar setup all to myself.

WOD - Crossfit Total
1 RM Back Squat
1 RM Press
1 RM Deadlift

I have been putting a lot of time in on my squats so I was pleased with the 365 I put up tonight.  I had to lift it 3 times before Ryan was satisfied with the depth.  I have zero issue with that.  I need that extra discipline there and it will only make me stronger.  I believe with more reps over the next few months I will hit 400+ easy.  Press was a bit of a disappointment but I did rush through them.  I was pressed for time and went 195 then 205.  Failed at 205 which was my PR last round.  Should have bypassed 195 entirely.  Deadlift was rocking solid.  Ended up at 515.  I think I could have gone another 10 lbs on this lift.  We had zero room on the bar so we had to improvise by putting a pull up band on each end.  Ryan made a note to buy more iron.

Ready to really get after it this week.

The really sweet thing is that I have the top 3 scores on the board for CFT at the box.

Rest is Always Good

Took a few days off partially due to travel but also due to the fact that I feel a little burned out.  Diet has been all over the place so I really need to get that back on track.  I am happy to say that I got my 2 small bands I ordered from rogue fitness so kipping pullups in the garage will be better.  Back in the box tonight at 6 pm for CFT.  I'm still working hard on squats so will continue to work on form and then blow out the press and deadlift.  I'm shooting for 210 - 215 on press and at least 500 again on the deadlift.  I'll most likely stop at 315 on the squats like last time.

Back Squats / METCON

Neck and shoulder pain throughout the weekend.  I went into the box a little early on Monday night so that I could do some extra stretching.

Back Squat
10-6-5-3-3

I worked up to 275 on my first set of 3 and my depth is really solid.  The bad news is that I am still leaning too far forward.  Ryan gave me a few things to try.  One was to rack the bar lower on my back.  I'm not used to that so I will need to start from scratch on it.  I ended up with my last set of 3 at 275 also.  Could have easily gone to 300+.

METCON
3 rounds for time
5 hang power cleans (70% of 1 RM)
20 Double Unders
10 Pullups

I did this WOD back in January of this year and looked up how I did.  I went with 185# on the cleans and used the green band on the pullups.  Ended up with a final time of 8:41 which was essentially a 47 second PR.

Still enjoying things.

Neck & Shoulder Pain

Ouch. 12.5 wrecked me. My neck and left shoulder are in pain. Had to buy Advil and drown myself in beer margaritas.

12.5

Evil C2B kept me at 3 reps for this entire WOD.  Just when I can start to hit a good kipping pullup this curve ball comes my way.  Not sure if it is mental or not.  I grabbed the small band which provides somewhere close to 30 lbs of help and on the first rep of chest to bar I literally crushed my chest on the bar.  So, I think with practice I can do this.  Just something more to work on.

Overall, I am pretty happy with my performance this year in the Open.  Definitely have some things to work on but I'm still excited about Crossfit.

Push Jerk / Metcon

Push jerks and fun Metcon on Wednesday night.  I remember back to the cert class how Coach B made a lot of fun of the Crossfit push jerk.  I have never liked the movement myself because I don't feel stable at all on any weight (especially when it gets heavy).  So, I took one from Coach B's book and stuck to the Split Jerk.

WOD1
3x5 Push Jerk (Split Jerk)

I'll confess that I really messed up on this one.  For some reason I thought this was 5 x 3 instead of 3 x 5 so I made a bit of a mistake here.  Anyway, I ended up with 185.  It was fun to watch this class.  Everyone was using a rack but I went old school and pulled from the floor.  This was the first time we were doing anything Olympic where I have been in the class so I offerred up to Jered to help Tyler (Chad and Melissa's teenage son who is new to it all).  I worked with him on his split jerk position by using the technique that Coach B taught with the chalk lines.  It was quite satisfying and made up for my inherent lack of 3 x 5.

WOD2
Metcon
25-20-15-10
Slam Ball (30#)
Situps

All I can say on this one is WOW.  I will confess I am horrible at counting when I am working out.  I've been doing a better job lately and on this one I wanted to really make sure I hit every rep.  Grabbed the 30# slam ball and started.  Round 1 I did all 30 slam balls in a row and made sure I caught it on the first bounce.  Situps were next and I worked them in sets of 5.  Round 2, 3 and 4 were just as fun.  I ended up with 8:15 as a time.  I should be able to do this sub 7 so I will work on it.  Situps are what takes a lot of my time.

WOD 12.5 is now out.  I'm not looking forward to it.  Chest to Bar is not something I can do so I will be lucky to knock out 1 rep.  I'll do my best though but definitely have something to work towards.

Tuesday's WOD - Back Squats and Tire Flips

My quads were still screaming through Tuesday afternoon and I toyed with the idea of blowing this WOD off.  Thankfully, I decided to go ahead.  Partially because I committed to myself that if I am in town I go and partially because I do really like going and lastly because squats are a favorite lift.

WOD
Back Squats 5x5
50 Tire Flips (choose the size and pain)

Started out with a nice round of 135 for warmup.  I have been working a lot on my depth and have been spending time going as far below parallel as I can.  Ryan gave me a great little drill on light weight to drop down and hold at the bottom.  It has helped a bit.  I ended up with 285 on my 4th set and Ryan picked that one set to really watch my depth.  I am happy to say I was below parallel on all (essentially my depth was good).  So, happy to post that one.

As for the tire flips I did 4 sets (10, 15, 15,10) in between the back squats.  Personally I think that it really helped my squats because I made myself bottom out prior to lifting each tire.  I need to talk to Ryan about how to incorporate something like that on back squat only days.

Tonight's WOD is Push Jerk 3x3 (I think I'll do Power Jerk per Coach B.) and then a Metcon 25-20-15-10 slam balls and situps.

Floor Press Lynne

Sore all weekend thanks to 12.4.  That many wall balls really knocked me for a loop.  I spent a lot of time rolling out my quads with my "stick" and I plan on continuing that through the week.  Back in the box Monday night for Floor Press Lynne

WOD
Floor Press Lynne
5 Rounds for Reps
Max Floor Press Reps
Max Pullups Dead Hang

I started out with 225 (the goal was body weight but I don't have the strength for that yet) and only was able to knock out 3 reps.  Not sure if I was warmed up yet or not but I had done 3 sets on the regular bench and ended up with 2 reps at 225 as final warmup.  Personally I think I have a mental issue of benching on the floor and my elbows hitting.  I need to practice on this one.  Moved right into the pullups from a dead hang.  I've been working on my pullups for the last year and am pleased with my progess.  These were dead hangs though so I used just a single black band and was able to keep my rep schemes in the 6-8 range through all 5 rounds.

Total score was 63.  Still lots of room to work on.

I'm back on my fish oil now.  I took a break while I was on my course of antibiotics and steroids for my monster lung / allergy issue.  Now I'm on Allegra thanks to the suggestion of my pharmacist sister in law.  Time to get the fish oil back in me and get back on the Paleo wagon.

Looking forward to tonight's WOD which is back squat 5x5 and then 50 tire flips (I choose the pain) for time.

WOD 12.4

Did WOD 12.4 tonight. I am definitely not going to do this one again anytime soon.

WOD 12.4
AMRAP
150 wall balls / 20# 10' target
90 double unders
25 muscle ups

I ended up with 115 wall balls. I have a 20# ball at home. I need to get after using it.

Sandbag Complex

Tuesday's WOD was a short one but lot of fun.  Started out with a nice 400m coffee run (I really need to be running a lot more to get ready for the Tough Mudder.).  We then ran through the junkyard warmup.  Thanks Coach B.!!

WOD Sandbag Complex
10 ground to overhead
50 jump rope singles
20 push press
25 jump rope reverse
20 push press
50 jump rope singles
10 ground to overhead

Finished in 4:06.  The backward jump ropes killed me.  I have zero coordination for that.

Saturday 12.3 WOD

Took a rest on Friday to let the antibiotic and steroid to work a little more magic then went to the 8:30 validation WOD for 12.3.

WOD
15 Box Jumps 24"
12 Push Press 115#
9 Toes to Bar

I had done the pre-run and hoped to get to 4 rounds.  While I didn't make it that far I did put more reps on the board.  I ended up with 3 rounds / 15 box jumps and 7 push press.

Toes to Bar are a real weak point but I'm happy again to say that I couldn't do them a year ago when I started to I am still jazzed about that.  Hoping to see deadlifts and double unders coming up in one of the remaining 2 WODs.  SOmething that I know I rock at.

WOD 12.3 Pre-Run

The 1 day that I have been on antibiotics and steroids has already helped me out quite a bit.  I decided to head in this morning to see how things would feel.

WOD 12.3
AMRAP in 18 min
15 box jumps (24")
12 push press (115#)
9 toes to bar

I was definitely planning on gaming this going into it because I signed up for the validation WOD on Saturday morning at 8:30.  I really just wanted to see if I could do a workout and not cough up my lung. Long story short I only coughed up about 1/2 of 1 of my lungs.

Totals were 3 rounds and 10 box jumps.  I was definitely gaming and not at all smoked at the end of this so I feel confident that I can get to the 4th round plus all my box jumps and into the push presses.

Looking forward to Saturday.  Class tomorrow is olympic skills so coming fresh off of the Olympic Cert I am really looking forward to that one.

Forced Rest

Travel finally caught up to me. Out of action for past 2 days and I will take it real easy tomorrow. My congestion is in full nasty mode and I am battling it with an antibiotic and a steroid. I will be doing WOD 12.3 on Saturday morning at 8:30. I will do a dry run to,orrow during the morning class to help set myself up. No worries on box jumps or push presses. I will smoke those. Toes to bar will be fun. i have the confidence from a few weeks ago when I knocked out 42 in an 8 min AMRAP. Just need to do them in sets of 9 (??).

Crossfit Olypmic Lifting Certification - Checked Off

Finished my Crossfit Olympic Lifing Certification class today at LaLanne Fitness. Coach B was the instructor and holy cow what a class.

Now I want to complete my Powerlifting Cert and my Level 1 Cert.

WOD2 Snatches

Knocked out WOD2 Thursday night at CFP.  I was pretty energized to do this WOD.  However, I had flown in that morning from a few days in NYC at meetings and am nursing a sinus problem or cold.  Essentially, I have been clogged up for a number of days.

WOD2
AMRAP 10 Min
30 snatches 75#
30 snatches 135#
30 snatches 165#
as many snatches at 210#

The snatch is a good power movement for me.  I knew that I could easily put up 165# if only I could get there.  I went through the first 30 in sets of 10, 11 then 9.  meant to do sets of 10 but I lost count.  Got to 135# and the train fell off of the tracks.  My breathing was very poor due to my clogged nature.  I knocked out a few sets of 2 then did sets of 1 with breathers in between.  Total score was 52 at which point I fell on the floor to catch my breath and then went outside to dry heave due to the clogged nature of my throat and nose.  One thing I am pleased with is that I snatched all 52 reps and did not muscle up a single one.

I'm in San Fran this weekend attending the Crossfit Oly Lifting certification so I may try to knock it ou Sunday night as well.

No Go on Crossfit Gotham

Saw Dennis M. yesterday in the office and he told me that Crossfit Gotham was currently closed while they are having some construction done.  Guess that means I'll have to hit a globo gym tonight.

Monday's Pre-Flight WOD

Able to get Monday's WOD in early on Monday prior to my flight to NYC.  OHS and Toes to Bar were on the agenda.

WOD1
OHS 3 x 5

WOD2
Strict barbell curls

WOD3
8 min AMRAP
Toes to bar

OHS is a weak movement for me.  I have a tendency to get to the bottom and lose it.  Ryan offered some great advice which I took advantage of on rounds 2 and 3.  He suggested that I hold for a 3 to 5 count on the bottom with a weight that I can control.  65,65,95,135(2).

Barbell curls were fun.  65,75,95 for reps of 10,8,4.

On to toes to bar.  I was really happy with this one.  I knocked out 42 reps in 8 min and my pleasure comes from only being able to do 1 or 2 at all this time last year.

Weekend and WOD1 in the Books

Weekend is in the books. Headed to NYC tomorrow night but planning on hitting the box tomorrow morning for OHS. Boarded at Brck on Saturday. Crowds were light so was able to get some great quality time in with the girls. I definitely need to buy a place up there. This year it is time to finish the basement Nd start looking in Eagle for a solid 1 bedroom.

Real anxious for Thursday as I will be back in Denver and spend some time with Amanda and knock out WOD2. When is that going to be posted?

WOD1 = Ouch

A bit nervous all day on this WOD. Long story short I knocked out 49 which was 1 less than my goal which in hindsight I should have been able to get.

The silver lining though is that I was 1 second shy of 50 and the last time I did that many burpees was in November of last year (11/16/11) when it took me 9:10 to do 50 burpee bar hopes. So, the way I look at it is that I just cut 2:09 off of my 50 burpee time. I will take that all day and twice on Sunday. SWEET !!!

One major thing I learned is that I am not the kind of person that thrives on people yelling me to get moving or cheering me on. I need the calm deliberate person telling me to just keep moving. Thanks to Jared for doing that for me tomight.

Pre-WOD1 Rest Day

Planning to go balls to the walls on Friday's 6 pm validation WOD.  I'm taking today off and will do some stretching later today and into tomorrow morning.

WOD1 Burpees

Looking forward to Burpees.  I think my goal needs to be to keep moving.  I'd like to hit 70 which I think is a nice round number for me to start with.  Let's see how I am feeling on Friday.

Fran Style Rep Scheme

I like the Fran Style Rep Schemes.  Depending upon what the movement is you can break it down into manageable sets (ie. 7,5,3...).

WOD
21-15-9
Power Clean
Floor Bench
Box Jumps (24")

Since I'm doing the Open, Jared said to game today's WOD and go with 95# as the weight instead of the prescribed 135#.  So, I loaded 95# on the bar and took off.

First round was really solid.  I did all 21 reps of cleans and bench unbroken.  Box jumps are never fun and I ended up with knocking out sets of 3 and 4 and then 2.

Round 2 was good also.  I was starting to speed up and form was sucking bad so I stopped and regathered my thoughts and just slowed down.  Ended up doing the 15 reps of cleans in 2 sets.  Nothing spectacular about the bench or the box jumps.

Round 3 was just there.  Nothing magical.  I did push through the box jumps as quick as I could.

Total time 12:10.

I'm really looking forward to the WOD announcement tonight for the open.  Fun times.

Rest Day

Rest days are great!!

Squats / Press / Box Jump

Knee felt good so was excited to take on this WOD.

WOD1
Squats 3x5

WOD2
Press 3x5

WOD3
Max height box jump (with one step)

Stopped at 3rd rep of 315 because I was feeling weak. Scott H. was the trainer today and he said I picked a good time to stop because my left knee (the one I had hurt) was trembling. He suggested I give it a few more weeks and I agree.

Press was weak for me too. Stopped at 155 but did go for 165 and knocked out 3 reps.

Box jumps were fun. I maxed at 42" which is pretty high in my opinion. I went for 45" but to get that I stacked a 45# plate on top and I couldn't get past the view and faulted.

Fundraiser WOD

One of the things that I truly enjoy with crossfit is that we often do WODs with the sole purpose of raising money for good causes. This weekend we had the leukemia foundation fundraiser hich will go to the South Metro firefighters fund who are going to the Seattle 75 flights of stair event in March.

I went in early to make sure all things were setup properly and to see if they needed help. That help was appreciated.

WOD
For time
500m Row
50 sledge hammer hits (10# hammer)
7 Wall up & overs (monster sandbag)
20 flights of stairs

This was put together last minute so we only had 2 lanes setup. I partnered with Chad on this one. I was off the rower first at 1:42. Had about a 10 second head start which he caught up with on the sledge hits thanks to my left handed swinging which was more like fumbling. I caught up on the up and overs thanks to my height and then we were even on the stairs. This was my first time in about 4 years to do the stair climber and in true fashion I almost fell off three or four times. I ended up just slowing down the speed and held on kept going.

Ended up with a time of 8:40 which while respectable was about a minute off what I wanted it to be.

Good news is that I spent the rest of the weekend with Amanda and my knee is well enough to hit the 3x5 squats and 3x5 press WOD tomorrow. Also have a 1 step max box jump as WOD number 2.

Partner WOD / CFT Recovery

After Monday's CFT I did not expect that we would do any lifting in the box on Tuesday.  I felt that a good Metcon type workout would help me out a lot to loosen up the body (and the knee) and help me get a good sweat on.  Partner WOD it was.  I ended up partnering with Harvey.

Partner WOD
14 Wall Ball Shots
14 Wall Ball Situps
14 Leapfrogs
14 Pullups (each)

We used a 10# ball for the workout.  Wall balls were a little harder for me this time around because of the knee.  I breezed through the situps and the leapfrogs were really just broad jumps.  Pullups were more of a challenge.  I had tried to stick to just the blue band but after 1 rep I knew it was a rough night so I switched to the green for round 1 and 2 then the green plus the skinny purple for remainder.

Waking up on Wed I am completely dragging.  No idea why.  I think I am just plain tired.  Taking today off since I'm traveling tonight.

Crossfit Total #3

Psyched about getting back into the box today.  My knee is still a little tight so I knew I was not going to be able to go after it on the squats.  Plan was to get to 315 and then stop there and focus on the other lifts.

CFT
Max Squat
Max Press
Max Deadlift

Final score was 1,020.  Stopped at 315 on squats (knee felt okay so I could have gone more but decided to not push it).  Press I ended with 205 which is a 30 lb PR from last CFT and about a 10 lb PR from a few weeks ago.  Deadlifts rocked out at 500 total.  There was no more room left on the bar to put anymore weight and I was not able to put the spring collar on.

I believe with a healthy knee I can easily hit my goal of 1,100+ for the year.

CFT Monday

CFT on Monday. My goal for the year is 1,100+. Unfortunately, tomorrow will not be the day to do it. Knee is not 100% and I need that for the squats. I'll most likely max at 300 then bail and get after the press and dead lift. I think my press will bump up 5-10 lbs and my dead lift should easily be over 500 this round.

Knee is on the mend

Took the girls today to Breck to get a day on the mountain.  I was not expecting a thrashing day given the stiffness in the knee so it was pure GREEN slopes for the day.  Alexandra needed to get back on her skis for the first time this year after the snowboarding debacle.  Overall the knee felt real solid and I'm looking forward to getting back at it this week.  I'm signing up for the leukemia fund raiser on Saturday next week so plan to go hard on Monday - Wednesday (travel on Thurs and Fri) and then really kill it on Sat.

Rest / Need Knee to Heal Take 2

Knee is better but still tight.  Today's WOD was turkish getups so I tried a few this morning and would not have been able to do the WOD.  So, basement rowing WOD tonight.  The old 5x500 standby.

Rest / Need Knee to Heal

Knee is still a little tight.  Sleep last night was interrupted by the occasional toss and turn and my knee protesting.  Need to stretch when I can today.

Squat and Bench WOD / Bum Knee

Tonight's planned WODs in the box are Squats 3x5 @ 90% of 5RM then a 1x5 Bench Press.  Definitely planning on heading in but I'll have to scale the squats given that I wrenched my knee a bit a few hours ago shoveling the driveway.  Key learning point is don't be in such a hurry to shovel especially when there is ice underneath the snow.

Goal will be to just knock out sets of 185 - 225 of squats (work on depth) and go for 250 or so on bench.

Tyler Hero WOD

Today was my first ever solo hero WOD.  I've done some as partners or as a group so I was looking forward to it.

TYLER WOD
5 Rounds for time
7 Muscle Ups
21 SDHP 95#

Ryan was the coach today and he took one look at me and said I needed to do 3x instead of the prescribed 2x for pullups and dips as the sub for muscle ups.  His words were my pullups are getting better and he wanted to push me.  Thanks a lot for that one.

Started our round 1 with the blue band and I am pleased to say I made it through all 21 pullups with just the blue band (sets of 7 then 5 then whatever to finish).  After round 1 I used the green band for all pullups and ended up using the green band only for the dips.

Ended up with 3 rounds and 12 pullups for the 25:00 cutoff.  Overall I was pleased and I need to get some food in me.  Paleo day 15 has started and I feel great.  Still no bread outside of that 1 piece of pizza last week which wrecked me.

Snow Day

Major blizzard here in Parker so no WOD at the box today.  I'm doing a home gym WOD.  Food will be easy this weekend because all I have in the house is various types of meat in the freezer.  It's all good though.  Nothing like a batch of chili to ward off the cold.

San Fran / Rest & Travel

3rd day in San Fran and no visits to the box out here this week.  Work has been busy so I've just worked on drills in my room for the Olympic class coming up in March.  Good rest overall.  Paleo has been a lot easier this trip but that is partially due to no appetite on my part.

Tuesday Travel Day

My flight this morning was cancelled and rebooked for this afternoon so I'm pretty much dead in the water on getting a workout in.  Trying to get my work queued on my laptop so that I can do something on the plane.

Lots of Shoulder Work

Purely a strength WOD today.

WOD
Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1
Push Press 3-3-3-3-3
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5

Ended up with 195# on shoulder press which is a 10# PR for me.  Will help me hit my CFT Goal this year of 1100+.  Push Press was 175# and Push Jerk was 155#.  I just lost major steam when I got to Push Jerks.

Time to get some protein and fish oil in the body.  Feeling strong and healthier now on day 7 of Paleo.

Row Row Row Row Row

Per my earlier post I set my eyes on a row WOD today. Ended up with a 5x500 with a 3 min rest between each interval. Times were between 1:52.9-1:55.7 so ended with an average of 1:53.7. Good little workout overall. Signd up for my 9:30 am class tomorrow morning then off to San Fran fairly early on Tues. will dedinitely hit LaLanne on Wed morning.

Week in Reflection

On day 7 of Paleo so I thought I would write a few things about what I am experincing.

1. There are a ton of cookbooks out there and other sites with recipes so I cannot use lack of variety as an excuse to not eat Paleo (I did actually just find 2 Paleo cookbooks that I have acquired over the years.
2. It is a really bad idea to cheat with a slice of pizza. I had a slice on Friday and felt rotten. Not only did I go into a carb coma but I tossed and turned all night long.
3. Yes, it is more expensive to eat this way but based on how I feel it is worth it. The bloated feeling has gone away and I do look much slimmer.
4. Coconut pancakes rock! Made them for the first time this morning and really enjoyed them.
5. Traveling and staying on Paleo is really not that hard. Just stick to salads and soups and meals without rice and potatoes (more vegetables please).

Travel mid week so I am going to get a workout in later today. Think I will go for 5x500 on the rower and some dumbbell / KB work.

Clock Malfunction

Planned to knock out the NEW Year's Eve WOD with 3 rounds of row 1000/500, pullups 20/12, double unders 20/12 and SDHP 1 pd 20/12.

Row was solid and then as I started pullups I noticed the clock was sruck at 3:00. Looks like I never reset it from my last round of 3 min double unders. Never could get it set so I went ahead and kept moving. Got downstairs to start my 2nd row and I just could not get the clock malfunction out of my head so I bailed on the remainder.

I think I was roughly at 8:30 on my first round which would have meant I would have blown out the last time score I got of 31:52. Next time.

On a happy note I did get my clock reset properly so I am all happy with that. Day 6 on Paleo is going well.

1 Slice Pizza = The Devil

Girls decided that they wanted to order pizza last night so I thought "why not?"  I have been 90% Paleo since Monday and while I had a nice flank steak cooking I decided to have a slice of pizza.  WOW  What a mistake that was.  Ate the slice then my flank steak and sat on the couch.  I immediately started to go to sleep.  Decided that I would head on into bed where I promptly went to sleep at 8 pm.  Woke up at 8:30 am this morning but tossed and turned most of the night thanks to Mr. Gluten.  If that doesn't tell me that I'm eating the right way and to never go back then I don't know what will.

Off to Whole Foods later today.

Power Cleans & Broad Jumps

Back in the box today. Got qnothe a.m. WOD in. Ms. Courtney was the trainer (always fun).

WOD1
Power Clean 3x5

Had a solid warmup and then jumped into the heavy weight. Sets of 185,205(3),205 were solid. Need to work on speed and focus on the shrug.

WOD2
6 rounds
3 KB clean (each arm)
3 broad jumps

Took the 1.5 pood out and ran through that. Jumps were all 24' with my best at 26'.

Got some news from Courtney that Verve has 100# plates so I will drop in on an open gym day to Get a slid day of deadlifts in.

Squats / Bench & Object Thrusters / Fran Style

It was great to get back in the box today.  Two full days of rest in San Fran with meetings and good food (yes, still sticking to Paleo) have really energized me.  Same schedule with a strength WOD and then a MetCon.

WOD1
Squats 3 x 5

Warmed up with 135# then knocked out sets at 185#, 225# and 275#.  Depth is getting better but Ryan suggested to go ahead and drop weight and get more used to the depth.  So, I dropped for a final set at 225# and bottomed out essentially.  A few more sessions of that should help a lot.

WOD2
Bench Press 3 x 5

Warmed up with 135# then knocked out sets at 185#, 205# and then a final set at 215#.  PR for me by 10#'s so I'm pretty jazzed about that.

WOD3
12-9-6-3 Object Thrusters (I used a 45# bar)
90ft Shuttle Sprint

I am not that great at thrusters with a bar so I opted to go with it for practice.  Depth was real solid as again this is something that I need to work on.  Knocked out 12 in a row and then did the run.  Essentially knocked out the remaining thrusters in sets of 6 or 3 with a very small rest in the rack position.  Final time was 3:45 which I was real pleased with.  Could have gone heavier but I need the form work.

Paleo & Feeling Good

Traveling over past few days in San Fran. Decided to rest on this trip instead of hitting LaLanne. Have been following Paleonnow for 3 full days and I am feeling good. Plan to keep it up this time. Just got home at 10 pm and made an omelet with some guac.

Rest Works / Squats, Presses and AMRAP

I was quite sore all last week from a session of OHS which were a complete failure for me.  My left shoulder (behind and below my shoulder) was tight all week.  Today I went in 20 minutes early to do some stretching.  Traveling tonight so I was looking to (and able) to hit the 10:30 am WOD between meetings.  Still on the same type of scheduling where we have a strength WOD and metcon.

WOD1
3x5 Back Squats
3x5 Press

Squats felt good and Ryan (owner / trainer) jumped in and lifted with us today.  It was really instructive watching him do the lift and gave me a good goal to shoot for in depth.  Real pleased with my final squat which was 295#.  Depth was right at 90 or just a hair below so I'm getting better on that.  Presses were about the same with a final at 155#.

WOD2
AMRAP
6 Pushups
6 Squat Jumps
6 KTE

I did this same AMRAP in April of last year and it was not fun.  However, this time I did it Rx (no knee pushups or bands for KTE like last time).  I ended up with 5 rounds and 4 pushups.

Real pleased.

It's a Row Day

It's been a really tough week of WODs for me this week. Started with OHS which I confess I am not good at.  I didn't pull a muscle in my left shoulder area but I sure did get sore.  Following that WOD up with Barbara (only completed 4 rounds) didn't win me any points.  Add to that last nights 2RM Push Press (stuck at 205 which I think is a mental block) and then 3 rounds of KB, bear crawls, pullups, bear crawls and box jumps and I think I deserve a day of rest.

Let me rephrase that a bit and take into account that I rolled over in bed last night and came awake due to a whole body muscle cramp and say that I think I have a body mandated rest day.

So, I will drink my coffee and take my fish oil and bear down to get some work done.  I believe I'll get a row in later today but nothing major.  Just enough to finish breaking in my rowing shoes and get a little sweat going.

Olympic Lifting Cert Here I Come

Just completed registration for the Crossfit Olympic Lifting Trainer Course to be held at LaLanne Fitness on 3/3-3/4.  Pretty excited about this.  Ryan recommended tonight that I do a lot of work over the next few months on my hip flexors as it will help me get more out of the class.  Need to chat with him on what he would recommend I do.

Push Press and Bear Crawls

Another day for a strength WOD and then a Metcon.

WOD1
2RM Push Press

Had a good warm up with 5 reps or so with the bar and then some weight. Progressions were: 45,95,135. Then went to 185 for 2 reps and then 205.

WOD2
10 KB swings 2pd
25' Bear Crawl
10 strict pulups (I used the black band)
25' Bear Crawl
20 side box jumps 24"

Round 1 was pretty solid. Right around 5 minutes. The box jumps were pretty rough. Ended up with 16:38 as a total score.

Pain pain go away...

I am not a fan of pain of any kind (I think sinus headaches are the worst) but I can say that I really like the pain I am experiencing now.  "Barbara" smoked me last night and my upper body is sore from all of the pullups and pushups.  I'm pushing my Pure Pharma fish oil like an addict to get ready for tonight.

Found a great recipe on Juli's blog for Jambalaya.  Will try that this weekend.

Barbara

Went to the box today because the posted WOD said we were going to do a 1RM clean the do Barbara. So, essentially I went in to do the 1RM. Needless to say we did not do the 1RM and stuck to just Barbara. What an evil woman she was.

WOD
Barbara
5 rounds
20 pullups
30 pushups
40 situps
50 air squats
3 min rest between rounds

Went with the green band. Final score was 39 minutes but I only did 4 rounds. I was just gassed. Need to really push the fish oil as I am very sore.

Rest Day

Busy day at work and no time to make it to the box. Add to that no energy to row at home and I ended up with a rest day.

My Pure Pharma fish oil shows up tomorrow.

The Train Derailed

Felt much better today so headed to the box. In hondsight after my performance I wish I had stayed at home. OHS tomight at the box. Something I need a ton of work on.

WOD
OHS
5-10-5-10-5

Had a good warmup and threw some weight on the bar. I can do singles quite well but when I try to string multiples together I fall apart. My balance is for s€#*. over the next few weeks I need to get in a few minutes early and work on form.

Getting a cold = Forced Rest

Woke up Saturday morning with a bit of congestion and before the day was out had a bit of a sore throat.  Things did not improve to Sunday morning.  Definitely wishing that I had that steam shower in place already because it is time to get all over that.

No workouts this weekend at all.  Zero energy.  I believe that is a good reason to take a break so I'll hopefully be recovered by mid week.

Cleans and Pull-ups

WOD1
Power clean 3x5

This was my favorite lift in college and my max at that point was 345. Warmed up with a few reps at 135 then 3-2-1 GO. Round 1 I started with a nice 185 on the bar. Felt solid so I then moved up to 205. Decided that it was my day for 225. Loaded up the bar and got ready. Pulled out 2 reps and lost all sense of balance and had to drop. Got ready for the next set so stuck with 225. Again only 2 reps. Ugh! I can do more than that.

WOD2
Max pull-ups x 3

Decided that it was time to go to the blue band. Did sets of 6,5,5. I think I can definitely have gone more on the first round. This is definitely something that I am getting better at.

Rough one tomorrow to give Jon a sendoff. 5 rounds of lots of wall balls, wall climbs, burpees and cleans.

Breakfast - Great start to the day

I went to bed on a big endorphine high last night real pleased with the WODs in the box.  Woke up early this morning to get a crack in my windshield fixed.  I lived with the crack for about a year.  May as well given that I don't really drive all that much (home to airport and back, home to box and back, grocery...).  The crack finally went from the lower right to the lower left of the windshield so I figured it was time.  Service technician showed up early so I had to be up and ready.

Took advantage of the early rise to knock out some admin and focus on a good breakfast.  3 egg omelet with the right combination of salt and pepper and a good 30g of cheese.  A nice solid 3 block zone meal to start the day.  Pot of coffee is brewed and I'm starting to drink that.

I did get a new order for fish oil placed last night.  I decided to go the route of a product from Pure Pharma.  I've heard a lot about it and read a lot about it from Juli's paleomg.com blog.

Back at the box tonight.

Squats and Floor Bench and Sprints

Long week of meetings on site with customer. Essentially I had 3 days of rest so even though I landed at 2:30 I made sure to get to the box for the 6 pm class.

WOD1
Back Squats 3x5

Did a few sets of 135 for warmup then jumped into things. 225, 275, 295.

WOD2
Floor Bench 3x5

First time that I have tried this one. Lift was just what it says. It was a bench press without the bench. I lay flat on the floor and went to work. 135, 185, 225.

WOD3
10 sprints up to the stop sign and back carrying a sandbag

This one was a lot hard than it sounds. It was dark and the run was ice and snow covered. I also ended up carrying the monster Rogue sandbag which was easily 40 lbs. I also did not have a partner so I went up and back then a little rest times 10. Last rep was 22:04.

I was really focused tonight because I was working a bit of anger out of the system. Focus was great and I need to continue to find that.

Rest Day from WODs / Going Skiing

Headed to Vail late tonight so I'll pass on tonight's WOD as well as tomorrow morning's group WOD.  I'll get my workout on the mountain.

Squats / Bench & a Run

Felt a good surge of energy this afternoon and add to that my body felt recovered I decided to head to the box for the 6 pm class.  For a good stretch of time the schedule showed 10 had signed up which is the cap but when I checked back around 4:15 or so it was down to 7.  Guess other people were feeling tired.

Schedule of WODs is still following the strength WOD first and then some type of Metcon.  My only complaint on this is that I feel rushed through the strength WOD but recognize that speed is part of it.

WOD1
Back Squats 3x5

Felt good on this one.  Did a number of warmups then knocked out sets at 225 and 275.  Really focusing on going below parallel and as I was about to rack up 315 I looked at the time and had only 7 minutes to get in WOD2 so I bailed on the 3rd set.

WOD2
Bench Press 3 x 5

Arguably one area that is a weakness and has been for life.  The most I benched in college was 315 and that was when I was squatting 650.  That was a good 19 years ago.  Was warmed up from the squats and additional movements so jumped right in at 135.  Felt solid so went for sets at 185 and then 205.  Wanted to at least do 1 at 225 so I knocked that out.  Chad helped me a bit on that one because I was pretty spent.

WOD3
Run 1 Mile

Needless to say it is pitch black in Parker, CO after 5:30 and it was at least 6:45 when I started this WOD.  I'm not the best runner.  It's a movement that I really dread.  3-2-1 GO.  Ended up scoring 12:03 on this one.  Yes, I admit it was really bad but it's my best time in 18 years so I'm happy with it (just shows you how much I run).  I ran the first 800 entirely and walked about 150 meters of the second.  Per Jon, the course we ran is a little over a mile.  He was going to drive it to verify.  If the weather holds (and I think it will) I'm going to head to the track at the high school on Saturday to get some 400 repeats in.  I'll plan to go for 4 x 400 with a 2 minute rest between.

Changed my mind and headed to the box...

Changed my mind and headed to the box. Squats and 1 mile run here I come.

Rest Day 2

Had my feet up the entire time yesterday and was loving life.  Body was recovering and it was great.  Girls and I went to dinner at Red Robin and aside from their not having the chili burger anymore with garlic fries things were all good.  I ended up going with the patty melt.  It's about as healthy as I was willing to go.

Went back home and sat on the couch and started to snooze.  Alexandra still had to finish her homework so I kept the TV off and kept snoozing.  She finally got done at 10 pm and I decided to catch the weather (it's 61 today for a high in Parker) and then hit the bed.  Fell right asleep but woke up around 1 or 2 and couldn't get back to sleep that well.

So, I decided given that I would take another rest day to try to get my sleep back in line.  Today will most likely not be a complete rest day though.  Just a rest day from the box.  I think I'll squeeze a row in later this afternoon if my schedule permits it.

Rest Day

Complete and total relaxation day. Zero WOD. Zero row. It was awesome. It is now 8:30 and I am battling to keep my eyes open

Wednesday - Planned Rest Day

Schedule on Wednesday is not going to allow me to WOD at the box so I will take a much needed rest day. If anything I will do a short row just to stretch out the kinks and hang from the bar a little bit. While feeding the dog tonight I tried a little bar hang and I can already tell that my shoulders are tightening up.

I think on any downtime tomorrow that I will plan out some new meals.

Deadlifts and wall climbs

Programming this week (and expcted for rest of the quarter) is really great. Looks like we are going the crossfit football path which is a strength WOD then some type of Metcon. I am sure we will have some Metcon only days in there but I am energized by this change.

3 WODs today.

WOD 1
Deadlift 5RM

We had a 10 minute time cap on this one so I was really rushing. Ended up with 405 for 5 reps. I think if I had 5 more minutes I could have hit 455 which was my goal.

WOD 2
Max reps chinups x 3

This was harder than I thought it would be. No kipping here and the reverse grip really bothered me. I ended up using the green band (tried blue but couldn't make it work) and had reps of 3-2-1.

WOD 3
30 KB swings 2 pd 1 min
1 min rest
200m row in 1 min
1 min rest
10 sandbag wall tosses and climb wall in 1 min
1 min rest

This one was a lot of fun. Wall climbs were great. I ended up with reps of 26 and 24 of the 2 pd in 1 min.

Ouch...

Had issues sleeping last night.  I don't think I'm going to bother getting in my bed until I have at least fallen asleep on the coach or the chair two or three times.  This has been going on for the past week or so.  When I finally do get to sleep I want to stay in bed until 11 or so but now that work has picked back up that's not realistic.

Woke up this morning and my body is feeling a little rough.  Joints and muscles are chatting with pain right now.  Decided to brew my coffee and as I was hunting for breakfast I saw a little pack of smoked salmon in the fridge.  44 grams of protein is essentially 6 1/2 blocks on the zone so while it is greater than the 5 that I shoot for salmon is not something that you can eat part of then save for later.  So, down the hatch.  Holy cow! This was the best salmon that I've bought.  I got it at Whole Foods.  It is Norwegian Center Cut Premium Smoked Salmon.  I remember paying right at $5.50 for the pack and I'm definitely headed back to get more.  It was as tender as biting through warm butter.  This extra boost of fish oil will help recovery.

Multi WOD Programming

Strength WOD and a timed WOD tonight.

WOD 1
3x5 Back Squats
3x5 Press

225, 275, 315(1) on the back squats. I just wasn't feeling it on the squats. Press was feeling really solid. 95,135,155 on the press. This felt strong.

WOD 2
5 x hanging cleans (70% 1 RM)
20 Double Unders
10 Pullups

9:28 total time. Went with 185# on the cleans. I had to pull a few from off of the floor in the last round. After round 1 I was just gassed. Double Unders were a breeze. I think I am getting the feel of my rope. Went Round 1 with an immediate 18 then failed and had to do the final 2. Round 2 was straight 20. Round 3 was 10 then sets of 3 and 4 to complete it. I lost my rhythm. Pullups were good. Started out with sets of 5 then dropped to sets of 3 and 2. Definitely sticking with the green band. I need to do a few with the blue band to see how that feels.

Good 2 days starting the New Year.

Juli's BLOG

Took a quick read through Juli's blog this morning. If you don't follow I highly recommend it. An interesting reflection on being single that I can relate to. Also reminded of an article in teh Crossfit Journal that Crossfitters should really only date Crossfitters. Sounds about right. I guess I need to start visiting a lot more boxes since the women at mine are for the most part married. Perhaps I should also consider yoga.

She did have a really good looking recipe up there with a stuffed pumpkin. Not really a pumpkin fan so I am going to try that with squash (my favorite).

Looking forward to tonight's WOD. Programming is different per Ryan for the next month so I am going to hit it hard. strength and timed WOD tonight. Squats and Presses for strength whoch I can rock.

So much for rest weekend...

As the title says so much for resting this weekend. Did a short Rowing WOD yesterday and I felt about getting after one today. Plan was to utilize what I have at home which on reflection is quite a lot. I have:

Rower
1 pd KB
Pullup bar
Rings (for bar)
Jump rope
25 and 35 lb dumbbells
24" box (not put together yet)

Add to that anything that I can do with body weight (ie. pushups, air squats...). I have added an ab mat to the above list but it is not here yet. One thing I do want to pick up is some kind of rubber mat that I can put down on the ground (will look into that).

Taking into account all of the above I asked for a few suggestions and got the best one from Eric N. The plan was to find something that I can do in 30 min of good intense work.

WOD
3 rounds for time (alternating)
1000 / 500 m row
20 / 12 pullups (used black band because that is all I have)
20 / 12 double unders
20 / 12 SDHP 1 pd

Total time was 31:52. Overall I was pretty pleased. Music was rocking which helped and I ended up stripping off my long sleeve shirt in last round. A few key learning points. I lost some time going up and down to the basement and garage (rower in basement due to cold). I believe strongly that if rower was in garage I would have been sub 30. I need a heavier KB. A 1.5 or 2 pd would have been perfect here. Double unders are getting solid so I could probably up that for this WOD. I also need some chalk. I did lower the bar on my pullup bar to the bottom spot so it is eaiser to grasp but my hands are all chewed up. I ended up with 3 blisters on my fingers. I also need to put my jump box together because that is a better platform to get my foot in the band. Also need a band down from my black band.

Felt real energized when done so decided to do some double under work. I went for a second mini WOD.

Mini-WOD
3 min Max Double Unders

Total number of DUs = 86. Think I can get above 100 next time.