5 rounds of pain

I was definitely not feeling it today.   Did a lot of mobility and a warm up on the erg and that didnt even seem to help.

WOD

500M row
15 Box Jumps
10 Pullups
5 Wall Walks

The row was slow, the box jumps taxed my stained abdominal and the pullups were pathetic. I was good on the first reps of the wall walks but then had to take a break.  They were tough. Long workout 30:35

Best of Boston

What a day - Beautiful weather.   Kicked off at 8am with a soccer match against Needham. Nice to have a short drive to the  match as we played away at  Defazio field.  Bad news was we only had 3 subs and not our regular central midfielders against a strong Needham side.  I was leary about playing on the field turf but in the end it was fantastic.  Easy on the legs and the ball played true.  I played the entire first half and about all of the 2nd half except for a 5-7 min rest.   It was the first game I felt like I had my legs under me and was not tiring. I also finally starting winning some balls, tackling and distributing better.  Had a chance to score at the end and hit a nice volley off a cross but the keeper made a nice save.  My foot and psoas are still bothering me and I ended up tweaking my groin as well.  I doubt I will be fully healthy this season.

I was skipping the ramble this year which is always a bit sad as I have done it at least 11 times.  Its a great event for Dedham.  I snapped a few photos on the walk back from Church,



After the game we watched part of the James Joyce Ramble.  I was sad to miss it this year but no way I was ready to do a 10k.  Maybe next year.

The Tris and I headed to the Sox game.   We bought the tickets at a silent auction last night,  Great game.

 Ended the night by going to see the Bruins last regular season game with Susie - courtesy of Jack Daly.

Crossfit Craic

Joined the regular class for a WOD for the first time in possibly a year.   Woke up again in the middle of the night with both shoulders sore as hell from all of the Thrusters.  Could barely pick my hands over my head.  So I would be joining the class but scaling the wod as there was no way I was going to be doing push presses.

20min AMRAP
Run 400m
20 DB Walking lunges
20 DB Deadlift a as my sub for the Push Press

I think I did 6 rounds. 

Hotel Wod 2

What felt like a late night - we all left the event around 10:30pm combined with an early start mean the best we were going to do was a short hotel wod.  I elected to use the smaller gym and had the place to myself. 

5 rounds
90 seconds db thruster
3 min rest
Add weight every round
Round 1 - 36 @20lbs
Round 2 - 31@25lbs
Round 3 - 25@30lbs
Round 4 - 18@35lbs
Round 5 - 16 @ 40lbs

This was a good WOD.  We had a meeting recap and then went out on a hike to finish the meeting before the the long trek back to the East Coast.

Resort Gym Wod

After looking at the WOD from Monterrey and not feeling the vibe in the box we elected to stay on campus.  I had woke up in the middle of the night with a aching left rotator cuff from the pullups.  Weird as I felt fine when i went to bed.  It took awhile but it felt better after a lengthy warm up,

Checked my list of hotel wods and came up with this one.  

50 Air Squats
50 Sit Ups
30 Man-Makers @25lbs
30 Air Squats
30 Sit Ups
20 Man-Makers @25lbs
20 Air Squats
20 Sit Ups
10 Man-Makers @25lbs
10 Air Squats
10 Sit Ups

Time = 18:55

This was all about the man-makers. 

Crossfit Monterrey

Chris coordinated a drop in at Crossfit Monterrey which was much appreciated.  Good size box and nice people but they didn't seem to have a ton of equipment.  I dont mind sharing but with 3 groups ( level 1 & 2 and team) all training at the same it seemed odd to me they didnt have more racks and ergs.   My objective this week was to simply just get back into it and not try to crush myself.

Bench Press - 5x3
155 -165 175 185 - 205

WOD

Nicole
20 min AMRAP
400m Run
Max Pullups

7 rounds 110 reps
Round 1 - 31
Round 2 - 23
Round 3 - 21
Round 4 - 20
Round 5 - 18
Round 6 - 1  got to the bar with 3 seconds remaining

Hike at Carmel Valley Offsite

Woke up early given the time change and decided to get out and check out the trails before the day started. 

Rest & Recovery April 14-22

Nagging injuries to my wrist and Baker's cyst on the back of my knee and my foot are just not healing.  Additionally I am still burnt out from a years cycle of training and the Opens.  I thought it would be a good idea to take some time off and hit the reset button.  Im hoping I come back ready to train and healthier

Jet-Lag & Hammer Light

Its always the day after the red eye when the lack of sleep catches up with me.  I was sound asleep until after 9am which is late for me.  Nice sunny day but still on the cool side with temperatures in the 40's.   It was going to be a cold one for Tristan's game at Millennium Park as its always windy on the top of the hill.   It ended up being calm which was good.  They tied again 0-0.

Got to the gym in the afternoon and wasnt sure what I was going to do since my wrist and knee are still bothering me.  I just wish they would heal up.  Its been well over 6 weeks since I have been fully healthy.   It was nice to be in the gym and have the whole place to myself and not be flipping out over 13.1,2,3,4 or 5

Warm-Up on the Airdyne

Mobility

5 min AMRAP of 25 Double-Unders

Did this one and did alright but then went back and re-read the wod and realized it was suppose to be 25 unbroken.  Need to keep this one in my regular routine along with wall balls and box jumps.


Had planned on doing Hammer but while warming up I realized that my wrist and knee probably couldnt handle more than 3 rounds. This is  a tough one and I will have to try this one again.  Went butterfly in first round but then could only do kipping.

3 Rounds of Hammer -  with rest of 1:30 between

5 Power Cleans
10 Front Squats
5 Jerks
20 Pull-Ups

Rd 1 - 1:50
Rd 2 - 3:16
Rd 3- 3:26




Did a drive around after Church and Dinner.   A few photos of the drive.

WOD and Travel

Nice long warm up on the bike this morning.   Close to 25-30 minutes.   After that did Bear Complex with dumbells,


5 Rounds of

7 Deadlifts
7 Hang Squat Cleans
7 Push Press
7 Front Squats

Each round add more weight. Put the weight down and the round doesnt count.

25, 30, 35, 40, and 50lbs



After the WOD tried to spend as much time before we would have to leave. 

Old school WOD & Foundation Event

At dinner last night the talk turned to Crossfit and Susie generated a lot of interest in crossfit as well a request to take a couple from work through a workout.   Morning rolled around and Susie needed to get some sleep so I was on my own to pick a wod and coach them through it.

Morning Wod on the lawn

It was really fun to pick and old school body weight wod and do it for nothing more than the challenge and fun of it.

WOD
10,9,8,7,6,5.......

Burpees
Push-ups
Sit-ups

8:35

So the guy I was doing it with said - that's it?  He pushed himself but it was foreign to him that we could be done so quickly.   I programmed another little wod.

WOD 2

3 Rounds of
250M Run
10 Tuck Jumps
10 walking lunges

Felt good aside from right knee.  Right knee is still messed up behind the knee. Lots of time to find the issues and address.

We had a team building event which consisted of 24 groups trying to write a song/jingle using as

Siera our coach!

many salesforce statements as possible.   The fun part was that we brought a group of high schoolers in to act as our coaches.   This was a fantastic event and my team was one of the 4 teams that made it to the finals.   The had told the students that the winner would get the instrument of their choice.  In typical salesforce.com fashion we gave every student who participated in the event the instrument of their choice.  They were all thrilled.  All 24 of them were jumpimg around yelling and crying tears of joy.
These kinds of events are why I joined salesforce in the first place.   I love how that aspect of the company is not only universal but such a priority for all groups.





Tonight was the gala event with the 60's theme.  Usually I am not into these things but I thought it sounded fund.   Additionally I was looking forward to hearing who the band would be as they kept a tight lid on it and although their was rapent speculation no one guessed it was going to be TRAIN!  Here are some photos from tonights party.

Hawaii - Peak Performers trip

Quick trip out to Hawaii to celebrate another great year at Salesforce.com.   It is always nice to be selected in a non sales to join the top gun sales people at their recognition event. 

Even nicer to be going as the OPENs are over.  The Top 20 Masters in each age group are going to The Home Depot Center in July but this  Non qualifier is now in Hawaii.  I have grown to really like Hawaii and the culture.   Here are some shots of the bus ride, a little shopping and a view from the room.

Its all over - and I couldnt be happier.

Want to thank my wife for putting up with me over the last 5 weeks.  The Opens were very stressful for me especially as I had made it my goal to qualify and had really focused my training to get there.   I walk away with my head held high as I gave it everything I had in each workout and I just fell short against these other monsters.   Hard work couldnt overcome my genetic limitations.  I made huge strides in my strength numbers this year.  I also want to thank Johnny Mac my coach for the focus and attention he gave me this year,  He went out of his way to make the gym accessible for me given my crazy schedule.  I also want to thank the athletes of Craic.  They were always supportive even though I was usually over in some corner of the gym suffering thru a solo workout.  I cant say enough about the community.  It makes me proud to put on the Craic shirt knowing that a whole legion of badasses have my back.   I also want to thank the folks who came into the gym on their "off" days to judge and cheer.   Thanks Christina for agreeing to judge whenever and wherever.

So I did 13.5 again today but it had to wait until after the opener of my first game with Medfield masters soccer team.  Made my debut as the holding midfielder.  They heard I was fit and wanted me to track back win balls and distribute.   Michael Bradley I was not. I covered a lot of ground but accomplished little. Too make matters worse I missed a golden opportunity to score. I had made a nice run and held up when I thought the guy missed seeing me and he played a perfect dummy ball and I was a step late for an open goal.   I would give myself a Player Rating  of 2 at best. I need to win a lot more more balls and distribute better. 

As luck would have it Jack Daly came into the gym with thoughts of doing 13.5 again.  He got 88 yesterday.  I knew that if I stayed close I might be able to improve my score.  I absolutely was going to follow Glen Waters feedback this time and break everything from the get go!  Got a good warm up and my legs which felt like wood when I came in were loose and ready to go.

3.2.1 Go
Thrusters - 5,5,5
c2b Pullups - 5,5,5
1:05 = Not that much slower than when I went unbroken, only 6 seconds.
Thrusters - 5,5,5
C2B - 5,5,5
2:35 - This was 9 seconds fasters even with bigger breaks

The money round - 
Thrusters - 5,5,5
got to the pullup bar at 3:45 same as before but with more gas.
got 6 straight!
 81 reps.  Not the 90 I really wanted but happy with it all things considering.

Im looking forward to a month of just working out with the class and being closer to the community.  Once we hit May I will start to train for the Masters event at Reebok at the end of June.   The weekend events are more to my liking.   I didnt really enjoy the stress of managing my travel schedule against the Opens.   I am considering whether I will do it again next year if the format stays the same.   I realize I am not a top 20 athlete so the toll it takes is probably not worth it.  I realize its all on me but thats my personality I cant do it just for fun.  Im either all in or not.  

My favorite photo of the OPENS!

Busy Saturday

Dedham Fire Open

 Between dropping kids off for their events and running errand most of the day disappeared quickly.  Tristan had his first game on a sunny but blustery day.  Everyone had their winter coats on and were huddled up.  Certainly didnt feel like spring.

Friday Night Fran -

First off Dave Castro can F**CK OFF.   The opens are hard enough and mentally taxing without having to do the same old wod.  Its not that I dont like the wod but it is not very inspiring. 

Workout 13.5
4 minute AMRAP of:
15 Thrusters (100 / 65 lbs)
15 Chest to bar Pull-ups
*4 minute bonus for every 90 reps (3 rounds) completed.

I have been thinking about the rep schemes and what I should do.   Had been going back forth on whether to break it up or not.   3,2,1 Go....  

Rep scheme out the window.

First 15 Thrusters - unbroken 
First 15 C2B - unbroken 

59 seconds

2nd 15 Thrusters= 10 & 5
2nd 15 c2b - 5,5,5 =messed up a few kips had to do 2 reps over

 2:44

3rd round - 10 second looking at the bar -
3rd 15-  5,5,5 - much slower 3:45

3rd 15 - 4 reps unbroken

Total of 79

Good first attempt - will try again on Sunday,

Travel and Work

Red Eye home.

Light Work and Row

Was suppose to work to a heavy one rep single on squat snatch.   Was working out in YMCA in SF so limited in what I could do on the snatch.  Ended up just doing some skill work on the squat snatch. 

Then went to work on a row wod. 

Row - 750m Row - Rest 3 minutes
Row - 500m row  - rest 2 minutes
Row - 250m row - rest 1 minute
Row - 100m row 

Boston to NY to SF

Business trip to NY for a meeting and then a late flight to SF.