Rest and Travel Days

As I was getting ready for bed on Wednesday night in Chicago I went on line to find the closest Crossfit box.   It was less than a mile away but no early class just an open gym.   This is the first time in a long time that I had a chance to get to a gym and decide to pass.  It was a very tiring week and I thought I would benefit more from an extra rest day.   If your reading this John Mc. its not a misprint.  I took an unscheduled rest day.

"Southie"

Strength: Front Squat 3×5 (15 reps @ same weight)

165, 185, 185 ran out of time

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WOD
Southie
10min Amrap
10 Front Squat 115/85 – weight is taken from the floor
10 Burpees

6 rounds - 1/2 rep

Mastery

I find it very difficult to do Deadhang pullups.  My body is wired to kip.  Pushed myself but not hard enough. 

Mastery
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Deadlift 225/155
Box Jump
Deadhang Pullup

13:51

Inaugural BAA 10K

I put this on the schedule when I realized I couldn't do the Natucket Ironteam relay.  I also convinced Dennis Mahoney and Michael Benadon to do the race as well.   Its always good to do a race with friends.  We carpooled in as well which made it even simpler.   I didn't have a great run up to the race as I only averaged 5 hours of sleep for the past 7 days - the red eye on Wednesday didn't help either.  More importantly yesterdays wallballs and burpees took a toll on my legs.  They were sore and tired before we even started.   Ok enough of the excuses.    The plan was to try and run as close to 7 minute miles as possible.  Good start but I fell off the mark in the 3rd and 4th and slipped from there.   Clearly I need to do some intervals when I am fresh as all the 400 & 800's have been in the middle of wods. 



After the race played pickup soccer with some Dedham families.  Worn out for sure.   Weighed in 166 - that is 7 pounds of water lost.

Saturday Morning Fun

1A perfect wod for a Saturday morning.  Not a lot to worry about as far as technique goes.  Just get after it....  Lots of energy in the class.  Dave C is a running and burpee machine set the pace for the day.   My burpees were not good.

WOD
Run 400m
2-4-6-8-10
Wallball 20/15
Burpee
Run 800m
10-8-6-4-2
Wallball 20/15
Burpee

First 400m 1:20
1st group of Wall ball Burpee - 3:38
800 - 4:25
2md group 4:25
400 - 1:57

Total time 15:16

Snatch

Back at Crossfit Gotham.  They dont post in advance so you never can get mentally ready.   7x3 Snatches were on the board.   Not a great movement for me as I just dont practice them enough.   Happy to get after it.  Probably erred on the side of going to light in order to try to improve my technique.

65-75-75-95-95-115-125

Home away from Home

Of all of the crossfit gyms that I have visited Crossfit Gotham feels most like home.  Coach Mike P.  sets the tone for the box and is unbelievably welcoming.  Myself and Four crossfitters from Salesforce ( Dennis, Amy, Sean and Joe W) showed up on his doorstep for the 6am class and he was happy to have us even though it was a big class already.   On the board was a workout that I was very excited to do.  We were broken up into two groups - I was put in the thruster group which was ok by me.  Getting set up and have my barbell ready when Im told give my barbell to the guy next to me and get the one in the closet.  Hmmm - At this point I have no idea what to expect.  Well what I found in the closet was a 55lb thick bar.  An introduction of the unknowable.

7 rounds for time:  
20 double unders (or 200 singles)
15 wall ball (or thrusters)
10 push ups
5 pull ups (or burpees)


The WOD went well aside from a hiccup on the double unders in the 2nd round. I couldn't get a rhythm, I tried to keep my cool and they came back.   The thrusters I ended up having to break up.  The large bar grip really was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be. Great effort by my colleagues even though Sean thought he was doing Bikram Crossfit

Total Time - 14:36 

Rest Day _ Travel Day Again

Red eye to Cleveland and then on to Toronto.   6 hours on the ground and then on to NYC

Rest Day

Would have loved to get a workout but I was in the office at 6:30am and havent been able to shut down yet.  My window for working out has closed as I have to get ready for a flight.  That is how it goes!

San Francisco Lalanne Fitness

Warm Up 
2 Rounds
200m
20 Jump Squats
20 Lunges

Workout of the Day
100 Back Squats (BW) at 85lbs
Press
3x3  135lbs
-break
Seven rounds for time or 15 min AMRAP
21 Press #75
21 Back Extensions
5 rounds 18 reps

Rest Day?

Up early - unfortunately not to work out but to take my youngest to a Lacrosse Jamboree in Devens.   First game was scheduled at 8:45am.  Got there in plenty of time and went to the field with the team and because of a schedule change no one noticed we missed our first game.  Seems crazy that you cant find the team your suppose to play until you know there are 132 teams all at this tournament.  Very well run.  Tris seemed to enjoy it.

As far as rest. Im pretty tired as I havent slept well or that many hours and two days in the sun can wear you out as well.

I found this post on a crossfit blog and really liked it...

....The words she was telling herself were overpowering her physical abilities. The mind was overcoming the body.. not the other way around.

So one might ask then, how do we overcome these excuses and fear of the unknown? And here is what I might tell them. Think the following:

I CAN

I WILL

I MUST

I HAVE NO EXCUSE

THERE IS NO REASON I CAN'T

THERE IS NO LIMIT

THERE IS NO STOPPING

I KNOW NO FEAR

I KNOW NO PIAN

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO QUIT

I DONT KNOW WHEN TO SAY WHEN

I CANT COMPREHEND FAILURE

I WON'T LET FAILURE GET ME DOWN

I WON'T ALLOW MY MIND TO CONTROL ME

IF I TAKE A BREATHER, I WILL GET BACK ON THE BAR, ON THE RUN, ON THE LIFT, ON THE EXERCISE AND ACHIEVE

I KNOW NOTHING BUT SUCCESS

I KNOW I'VE GOT THIS

I KNOW I AM POWERFUL

I KNOW I AM A CROSSFITTER

I KNOW I HAVE DONE HARDER THINGS IN LIFE

I KNOW PEOPLE HAVE DONE INCREDIBLE THINGS AND I AM NO DIFFERENT

I KNOW I AM EXTRAORDINARY

I KNOW THAT THIS WILL BE THE BEST PART OF MY DAY

I KNOW I WILL FEEL BETTER

I KNOW I AM ACHIEVING MY FITNESS GOALS

I KNOW THIS CAN BE DONE

I UNDERSTAND THAT CHALLENGE IS PART OF THE PROCESS AND ONLY MAKES ME STRONGER

I KNOW IT MIGHT SEEM INTIMIDATING BUT I CAN AND WILL GET THROUGH IT

I BELIEVE IN MYSELF

I HAVE FAITH IN WHAT I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED

I AM AN AMAZING ATHLETE AND WILL SUCCEED AT WHATEVER TASK LAID BEFORE ME!


Try saying these things to yourself before a workout. Try just turning the doubt into belief.

Rest 2k Row

Running out of time to get my retests done.  This has been stressing me out all week.  Its a challenge to figure out when you forgo the planned WOD for the No Bread test.   I backed myself in a corner so today was the day for the 2k row.   I had a great plan last time around and stuck to it and it felt easier than any 2k row I have done.    Today was not the same experience.   I felt good today and probably went 3-5 seconds faster in the first 500.   The middle 1000 felt ok but I kept bumping up over 1:50.   Just didnt feel good and i even resorted to no legs all arms pull on a couple of occasions.  

Final Time = 7:13 an improvement of 2 seconds.   Just not where I want it to be.   Should be thrilled with doing better but for some reason only feeling disappointment. Will need to do this one again and again and again.

Retest of Craic Test

We are retaking the baseline tests to see if we made any improvements.   I purposely didnt look at my scores from last time so that I just did the workout.  That said I had a general idea of rep counts.  At the end of the day it comes down to the double unders.   I thought I had done in the 90's last time, when I looked it up I saw that I did 132.  This put me in a significant hole in trying to better my time.

Craic Test - Retest
2 minutes for max reps on each exercise. 1 min rest between each exercise. Everything must be done in order. Score is max reps.  
1- Burpees =   46
2- Double Unders - 112
3- Kettlebell Swings 55/35 - 62
4- Box Jumps 24″/20″ - 42
5-Wallball 20/15 - 45

Total Reps -307

Comparison

Burpees: +1
Double Unders: -25
KBS: +2
Box Jumps: +6
Wallballs +9
-7 reps - huge bummer on double unders


Still have to do 2k row and max pullups

Wilson Mountain Running Club

Couldnt get into the 6am class at the Craic house and that was my only option as I had an early meeting in Boston.     Good news is that the Wilson Mountain running club had scheduled a rare Thursday run.   I would have thought there would be a big turnout ready to talk about the Bruins Stanley Cup win.   It ended up being Zander, Liesel, and Olly Ames.   Perfect day for a run for sure.   Zander picked a great route as well.

Travel Day

Travel Day - down to Atlantic City and back and then a client dinner so no workout

Press Push and Swing

Strength: Push Press 5 x 3 (5 sets of 3 at the same weight)

Went to 155lbs - Probably could have and should have gone higher.   Think that 175-185lb would have been ideal.

________________________

WOD
10-8-6-4-2-4-6-8-10
Pushups
KB Swings 55/35

5:14

We didnt do the 2k today so I'm still stressing about having to do that later this week.

Backstretch

We are into the last 7 days of the No Bread challenge and will be repeating our baseline tests, pullups, 2k row and Crossfit Craic baseline.   Re-testing always gets me a bit on edge.  You want to show improvement after being focused on the diet for 50 days.   That said if you have been at this awhile it gets harder and harder to move the needle in any dramatic way.  I had a slight panic when I saw the programming today as I though it was a lot of pullups on a day we were testing max pullups.  Clearly I misread the post and that will come later in the week. 

Skill - 3x Double Unders in 10 minutes

My best were 32, 39 and 45.  Not bad but it would be great to do 50x50x50

Strength: Deadhang Pullups (overhand) – 3 x max reps – 2 min rest between

17, 12, 9

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WOD
21-15-9
Pullups
Box Jumps 24/20

Scaled up to do Chest 2 Bar and 32inch box jumps

5:49

RestDay - Finally

Finally taking a rest day.

Sadly another hero workout has been posted on the main site.  I will try to do this one over the weekend in honor of Sergeant Marc Small very soon.

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Marc Small, 29, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, died on February 12, 2009, from wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and small arms fire in Faramuz, Afghanistan. He is survived by his father and stepmother, Murray and Karen, mother and stepfather, Mary and Peter MacFarland, and fiancee Amanda Charney.
  

"Small"
Three rounds for time of:
Row 1000 meters
50 Burpees
50 Box jumps, 24" box
Run 800 meters

Day off... I dont think so

Feeling fairly worn down from the last few WODs but I am finding very hard to not be lured in by the Sirens of Crossfit.  Instead of enchanting music and voices it comes in the form of programming.   The programming this week in particular has been either right in my wheel house or at the other end of the spectrum.  The WODs that are my goats I want to do so i can get better and the WODs that play to my strengths I wanted to scale up and test myself.   I know I shouldn't do 5 days in a row but I couldn't stop myself.  Especially after I saw today's WOD - pullups and running!!! Oh yeh bring it on.  I was thinking about the WOD and what part I would try to focus on.  Initially I thought I would kill myself on the runs but then decided that if I put the weighted vest on it would challenge me on the pullups and help me build running strength.  After I decided to do this I started searching for the vest and found out Coach John took it to Maine for the weekend.   The good news was I had enough time to run home and get it before we started. 

WOD
Run 400m
21 Pullups
Run 400m
18 Pullups
Run 400m
15 Pullups
Run 400m
12 Pullups
Run 400m

Total time - 13:32 with 20lb weighted vest

1st run 1:48   - pullups 36 seconds = 2:24
2nd run 2:19  - 43 seconds = 5:27
3rd run 2:26  37 seconds = 8:31
4th run 2:23  31 seconds = 11:26
5th run 2:05

I thought that I had 3 more rounds when I was on my 4th run so I was a little suprised when I relooked at the board and saw that we didnt go down to 6 pullups.

I decided today that If I am going to make the Games next year I have to continue to scale up and work on my strength.  

DT

Today should have been my day off but when I saw DT posted as the workout I really want to do it.  Now I should have really rested as I was pretty worn down by the double KB Thrusters and Heavy Helen but this WOD doesnt come up very frequently and I really wanted to have a go at it without scaling the weight or the movement.   Now I think that I have one fluke performance but even in that one I think that I did full power cleans versus hang power cleans.   Glen put a cap on the WOD of 15 minutes but there was no way I was stopping until I finished.    I kind of knew this was going to be a slog when the bar felt heavy and when Glen had me demo the WOD at 65lbs I was winded.

Skill: Hang Power Clean , Push Jerk

_______________________

WOD
D.T.
5 rounds for time
12 Deadlifts 155/105
9 Hang Power Cleans 155/105
6 Push Jerks 155/105

19:57

It wasnt pretty it was smooth but I finished.I felt good on my Jerks and I will focus on the positive.

Heavy Helen!

I love the movements in this WOD.   Just when you get confident someone comes along and scorches the WOD to set a new standard. This standard then becomes what everyone is chasing.  If its to far away from a current performance.  Then beat your own time and chip away.   This is what makes Xfit interesting.  Chase a leader or chase yourself.   The end result is the same.  A focus on improving and doing better.   When I got out of bed this morning I was feeling my legs from yesterday but still excited nontheless.  As went through our warm-up and mobility work Coach John informed me that I would be doing Heavy Helen.  Fine by me.   I have been trying to be more coachable - ie not debate and challenge everything.  I figure that is what I want from the players I coach that is what I should be doing,  That doesnt mean I wont ask questions.


Heavy Helen
3 rounds for time
Run 400m
21 KB Swings 70lb
12 Chest 2 Bar Pullups

11:42 - Rounds 3:02/4:13/4:26

Hot Kettlebells

We have been doing a lot of running lately and Im good with that.  So many days of the year you have to either battle the cold or snow or ice, its nice to just have the heat.  The runs are short so it really isnt even a factor.
 
Today John had us run a 400m warmup run and I have been trying to run these at 80-90 percent effort versus just a nice easy pace.  It is the only way I will get faster.  (1:26 pace)

I was sweating like crazy even in the kettlebell warm-up movements.  I briefly considered scaling up and then thought better of it.  Good thing as after the 2nd round I had to break up the thrusters. Felt great after the first round but those KB's seemed to gain about 20lbs between round 1 and 2.
 
WOD
5 rounds
7 Double KB Thrusters 55/35
11 Burpees
 Time 8:25

Featuring HPS

Skill: Hang Power Snatch

___________________

WOD
AMRAP 10min
5 Power Snatch 75/45
7 Hand release Push ups
9 KB Swings 55/35

 8 rounds 3 reps  - I was really trying to do a round a minute.  Harder than I expected

USA vs Spain Friendly

A friend emailed earlier in the week and asked if I wanted to buy an extra set of tickets to the USA vs Spain friendly.   Before I could answer Susie had already replied with a yes.   This time of the year is always busy with graduations parties, end of the year school events and sports.  Yesterday was no different.  My youngest son had been pleading his case to go to the game in place of Susie as soon as he found out.   I was thrilled with the opportunity to take him to his first Pro level soccer match even though it meant driving into the throngs of a virtually sold out Foxboro Stadium (57,000)!   Aside from getting separated from me from a brief moment I think he enjoyed it.

The US team on the other hand could not have enjoyed themselves.  They were absolutely taken a part in the first half.   They were without a few starters but you would have thought Bradley would have selected a line-up that was more mobile to start the game.  They looked like pylons.

Strength Day

Couldn't get into a class because of other commitments but really wanted to do some work because of  work schedule on Monday.   Decided to just do strength work.  

3 Sets of
Front Squats
Press
Overhead Squats

Hero WOD #3 for the week (Abbate)

This has been the oddest week of workouts.  That is what happen when you train at 3 different boxes in a week.   I have racked up 8 miles of running in wods.  I have done 3 hero wods.  
Abbate
Run 1 mile
21 Clean + Jerk 155/105
Run 800m
21 Clean + Jerk 155/105
Run 1 mile


Perfect conditions for working out  - bluebird sky and temps in the 60's!


Mile 1 - 6:29
c&J - 6:31
800m - 4:13
C&J - 6:48
1 Mile - 8:00
Total Time 32:03

6.3.11 HARP Gotham Crossfit

Schedule worked out so that I could hit the 6am class at Gotham Crossfit, even better Dennis was going to be able to join me.   We meet at 5:45 to walk over and were both surprised it was a little cool.  Good temps for a wod.   Coach Mike had wiped the board clean and sworn the 5am to secrecy.  The only hint that we had oh what it was going to be was the statement" You guys from CFNE may have done this one already.  I saw the rowers out so had an idea but wasn't certain since all the Xfit websites were blending together.   Pretty fired up when I saw it.

Run 1 Mile
30 HSPU
Row 1000 Meters

My plan was to try to keep Dennis close since he flys like the wind and the try to catch him in the HSPU and then go head to head in the 1000k meter row.

 Dennis paced us through a great 400 - 1:15, and then I was trailing him by a few seconds a round.  He did a 5:47 and I was right behind him at 5:50.   I did 15 HSPU and then did 5 at a time.   Hit the rower and tried to stay under 2minutes.  Generally around 1:50 - 1:55.


Final Time 13:28

Crossfit Toronto - EVA

I was psyched when I figured out that I could pay a visit to Crossfit Toronto.  Everything lined up perfectly - they were open to me dropping in,  there class schedule lined up with my work schedule and it was only about 2 miles from my hotel.

Great box in a little industrial area.  The gyms neighbor included a couple of Movie production companies.  Toronto is a very popular city for filming and is used as a knock off for NYC occasionally.  The gym had a great reception area, class room setting and then 3 areas for WODs. 

When I saw the posted workout I had mixed emotions - I really like the movements in EVA but I was worried about the volume considering I did Murph on Monday.

Eva
Complete 5 round for time of:

• 800m Run
• 30 Kettlebell swings (boys: 32kg; girls: 24kg)
• 30 Pull-ups

 Scaling the workouts is a critical aspect to Crossfit programing especially with a WOD like EVA.   The scaling recommendations were 3 or 4 rounds with bands for pullups and less weight on the KBS.  Since I have done this one a few times I was determined to do it full bore as prescribed.   Felt good after the first run and swings but definitely had no kick on the pullups.  When I struggled with the first set I knew it was going to be a long morning.  I was forced to break up everything even in the first round. It was  a matter of slogging through it.  One funny thing was that one of the younger women athletes who was headed home as i was finishing my last run said "good job sir"  What the heck is that .... do I look that old?

Final time 54:54  O

I was pretty spent so there was no way I was going to be able to run back to my hotel.  The upside was that it was 70 with a bluebird sky.  What a better way to spend the morning but taking a nice walk along Lakeshore drive.