21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, Ouch

WOD: 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3:

L-sits pull-ups & then

Strict Presses - 95#s

L-sits pull-ups are no fun. At best I can do 3 or 4 or maybe 5. So a set of 21 is a long fight. Strict presses with 95 pounds is OK for me. Although a set of 21 of anything is a lot, and the L-sit pull-ups take it out of you before you even get started.

Time: 25:59.

The L-Sits took me a lot more time than the presses did. The presses were OK. I had a few sets of 10+, and never had to put the bar down more than twice per round. I was very excited that I did the 9, 6 and 3 rep rounds without dropping the bar. How SONI did this in 21 something, I want to know. I know I stood gasping at the pull up bar for a while, but didn't everyone?

I had to pull a Harold halfway through. Coincidence that I was able to power through those last few rounds of strict presses, I think not.

Pictures from my visit toCrossfit Lewes, DE

Here is a link to the CH Lewes Flikr site.

Starting on the 2nd picture. Meredith and I both thought it was funny the day I showed up and there were 8 other women and no other men. I called it ladies night.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crossfitlewes/page5/

Here are a few:

So sore....So soon

It's the day after. After 100 95lb thrusters for time, that is. Plus it is 2 days after 7 rounds of 3 heavy deadlifts for time. And my weeks of rest and recuperation are now a distant memory.

I am sore, and I feel worthless today and I've got just 18 hours until the 12:30 class.

It's good to be back.

The secret supplement – Vitamin R….

….as in “Rest.” I have been back to CFOT for 2 days and I have been dialed in like never before. The past two weeks I was at the beach dealing with a flooded vacation house and kids in pools and I lifted a weight exactly once – not including clean and pressing those kids in the pool – and otherwise had a few metcon visits to CF Lewes, DE. But those two weeks away from weights were so helpful.

In early August I had my 6 month CF anniversary. Lately I have been tracking all my workouts on beyondthewhiteboard.com, and in addition to it being a good resource to look up max weights lifted and times, the main page has a handy graph that tells you how many visits per week you have had over the past few months. Prior to CF I was doing the bicep curl, stairmaster workout 2x per week. Early CF had me coming in 2-3x per week and being very, very sore. Starting in June, I see that I have had 0 weeks of less than 4 CF workouts and a bunch of 5x and 6x weeks. That is a lot.

Another few signs of overtraining included the near constant soreness of muscles and joints, the foam roller near my bed, the ice packs that have replaced the Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer, and my recent email to Jerry asking him how do I know if I am over-training? So yeah, I clearly have been overdoing it.

Today’s WOD was 100 thrusters with 95 pounds for time. Everytime you drop the bar or do a bad rep, hit 5 pull ups. I started at 2:10 after Heath did his 3^rd pass through the thursters. That way, I thought we would not bump into each other too much. I finished at 14:30, which means my time was 12:20. I was surprised how well that compared to some others. My goal was just to finish as fast as I could, duh – but more so, because it was sucking the wind and the life out of me and I wanted it to be over. Heath had a med ball for the thrusters – I am certain that this helped my time and effort. Although I knew touching it on each rep meant I was low enough, you do get a little bounce. So I am not sure how my time would have been otherwise.

But best of all, the front squat portion of the thrusters felt good. Vitamin R had cured my knee pain, and I seemed to have more upward drive to get that bar weightless. Shoulders felt strong as well – more Vitamin R. So I was able to do 15, 15, 10, 7,7,7,7,7,5,5,5,5,5 = 100 plus 12 rounds * 5 pullups.

Two other tricks – I brought a big water bottle that was in the fridge overnight. Saved trips to the water fountain. Also, I cut down on the pacing and aimless wandering around. If I was tired, I waited at either the pullup bar or the thruster bar. You see a lot of people pacing in that tired, zombie state. It wastes more time and energy than you might think. You don’t even realize it when you do it. But when you see videos of the CF studs, they do not do it at all, and I used to do it a lot.

Shout out to: Leslie and John and their new son Luke born 5 this morning. Kind of thought they would still stroll in – I mean they had 4 hours to recover. Just kidding, take some damn time off and enjoy that baby.

Look at me go!

Back at it

I admit I am crazy. I woke up at 4am in Rehoboth; and instead of going back to sleep, I took off for home in one of our two cars we had on vacation. My wife and daughter smartly rolled over and left after the sun came up.

No suprise, I hit zero traffic - and got to Old Town in 2.5 hours. Just in time to unpack and go early to the 9 am CF Olt Town class. By the way, I am no fan of the upcoming schedule change. I can get away with showing up at work at 10 or so, but 10:30 is kind of obnoxious.

I was glad to see all the familiar faces and happy to hit a WOD with some heavy weights - today was a 7 rounds DL/t2b/burpee trio. It had been 2 weeks out of town and I lifted a weight once (front squats) and otherwise did just a few metcons.

It was a good day back. Took 17:16. Totally gassed. But I was psyched that I did the last 9 burpees fast with no breaks.

Then did a mile run in 8:46, that is good for me - actually best ever.

Accidental rest day

I meant to make it to CF Lewes today. But the beach and vacation took precedence. My diet is off the tracks as well.

I did take a vitamin today.

CF Lewes 8.25: Core blaster

5 rounds of:
30 med ball situps
25 good mornings w/45#

My time 10 something

Ouch-but ready for the beach

Mark Davis

Sent from my iPhone

Crossfit Lewes 08.24.09

A real good Crossfit visit today for two reasons.

First, I was happy to see 8 regulars at the 5:30pm session, after only a couple on Sat. And I was extra pleasantly suprised that of the nine people, it was: me plus Taryn, Michelle, Kim, Lori, Tina, Kathy and Elissa. Yup, me and 8 strong and beautiful women vs. Barbara today. Plus coach Meredith to encourage and yell a little.

If Meredith posts pictures, I will add them, cause I know it is hard to fathom.

I note that during the WOD there was a range of experience levels, with some Rx, some pullups with bands, some modified pushups, some med ball support in squats; but everyone was complete 100% intensity. No breaks. Very awesome. Very Crossfit. I think that shows the good coaching they have and the good members they attract. And I am not saying that because it was 8 women, I was just excited by 8 other Crossfitters going all out for 30+ minutes. Just like home.

The other great development was my pullups. It is my sad little secret that after 6+ months, I still cannot string together but a handful. I get away with it by just powering through, but that it such a waste of valuable time and energy. It could be due to my inflexible rotator cuff/shoulder (which is actually much better) or it could be simply that I do them wrong. Earlier in the month Jerry asked us to work on a weakness, and this was my choice. I had not gotten too far. Maybe at this point I am ashamed to tell my CFOT coaches that my pullups suck and I need help. However I'm pretty sure they already know.

Today I got to class a little early and mentioned my weakness to Meredith. She instantly observed that I am not pushing away at the top, thus losing all my momentum. (yeah just like Melissa tells me) Meredith also showed me a good drill which I will use before classes.

Luckily, I was about to get 100 chances to work on pullups because it is 3-2-1 Go!

Today's WOD:

Barabara - 5 rounds with a 3 minute break between rounds of:
20 pullups
30 pushups
40 ab mats
50 air squats

Total time less the 12 minutes of rest. I had 32:44-12:00=20:44.
I was happy. And I even had a couple of solid 5 pullup bursts with good kipping and momentum. But Barbara will wear you down.

I am sore and tired, and I struggled to carry around our friends super-sized 2 year old tonight. Her dad had to go home and I was annointed. She is 35 pounds if she is an ounce.

I am hoping for a break from metcons. Some cleans, jerks, 1 rep maxes, etc....

Functional fitness: Changing a tire

It has to be 20 years since I have had to change a flat. That changed on a 90 degree day parked at the beach. And not a single person stopped to help, save one sorry homeless drunk.

There is not much noteworthy about this, except that one of the lugnuts was on so tight that I had to draw upon my Crossfit experience.

After seveal failed attempts to free this last one - otherwise I would have raised the white flag and called AAA - I set up and prepared for a max rep deadlift with the lug wrench. If my previous max DL was 315, then this pull was a PR. It took everything I had.

Off it came, and we were soon on our way.

CrossFit Lewes

A little Sat vacation visit to CrossFit Lewes. Meredith Simmons seems to be the owner, coach, and sole grown-up that runs the whole show. She is very fit and a good mix of encouraging and a taskmaster. She opened up a few months ago and seems to be in need of members. On this Saturday, there were 2 locals, 3 visitors from Wilmington, DE Crossfit and me.

The space is a smallish, but clean and well organized. You can definately do all the WODs here. A nice spot on Rt 9/404 with good street access and a wide bike line for runs. She has wired speakers around the whole gym, which is a nice touch - not that I dont love the CFOT monster boombox. But she did forget her iPod, so today was tunes by DJ-MarkD. Who doesnt love Linkin Park / Jay-Z mashups?

Interestingly they share the building with the local ambulance EMS dept. I would think these guys would be all over CrossFit, but I see that from the shape of them, they are not.

The WOD and results are below. It was a good one. It had just rained, so it was a little cooler than the regular 90 and 75% humidity. Jeff and Carol from CF Wilmington beat me. Jeff is solid and he says he made it to day 2 in this years Mid Atlantic qual. Carol is a good runner and I could not catch up after the leads she gained on our total 1600 meters.

After the WOD we did a 250m (each) team row challenge with 3 per side and 3 rounds. Talk about a a cool down! Now I am ready to get back to vacation. CF again on Monday.

But it's a good cult

How strange is this? Today in Five Guys Bethany Beach getting lunch with the rest of the hoards, I see a guy with a Fight Gone Bad T-shirt.

I said hi, and for the next 10 minutes while we waited for our non Paleo food, we discussed our home box, what we were doing for WODs while on vacation, and other CF related minutiae. And the two of us talked with all the enthusiam of school girls catching up after summer break. Yet we had never met.

Sadly for him, He had done 100 burpees for time that morning, the poor bastard.

And then, just like that, we split.

I wonder how many of us are out there?

Squats with no spots

After 5 days without lifting a weight, I was raring to do something. Instead of driving 30 miles to CF Lewes, I did the CFOT WOD at the local gym.

I cannot do OH squats, so I did fronts. My last 3 rep effort was 145. Given that I had no spotters, I hit 155 and called it a day. I could have done more, but I also could have loudly collapsed onto the globo-gym's clean floor. They would not like that.

p.s. The one sign they have at the squat rack is: No Chalk!

p.p.s. Before the WOD I did 50 med ball cleans while facing the mirror. I was careful to make sure the shrug portion was solid. I think these are helping.

Mark Davis

Sent from my iPhone

Easing back into it

A strike back against lethargy. I went for a 3 mile run in the morning heat and humidity (85 and 70 repsectively) It felt easier than lifting some big heavy weights or doing the CFOT WOD. Like Forrest Gump, just keep going.

Anyway, I have not run 3 miles in who knows how long, and I have to assume that 27:05 is the fastest yet.

Rest Day 4

The family went to Jungle Jim's waterpark today. More fun than I expeceted. Just block out the germs. Also, I saw Jerry mention some folks in the airport using wheelchairs or transports that just looked unable to walk to the gate. Well, try looking at these same people in their bathing attire - wowser! CrossFit has made me very aware of my fitness, and apparently, I am becoming a fitness snob about others. I have to be careful about that.

Also, trying to teach my daughter to ride her bike.

Took off the training wheels and she is scared and very wobbly. I am worn out from chasing.

I officially have the itch to hit a CrossFit WOD. Vacation diet is hit and miss. Lots of local produce, but also some serious lapses. Pancakes - are not primal.

Rest day 3

While I continue to see WODs posted on FB that look awesome, I rest on. Even the main site WOD - 1 rep push presses - are not better than resting up right now. After 3 days I can actually touch my arm without feeling sore. How about that.

My goal is a complete week off and then a visit to CrossFit Lewes on Sat am. Will I make it?

Rest day 2

Sadly, I still have access to FB and I can see what the day's WODs are. Damn FB, cause of course I want to do max 115lb push presses and pull ups.

But instead I will deal with the aftermath of the water damage to our beach house. Arranging insurance, contractors and property managers, etc...

I am equidistant from CF Ocean City and CF Lewes. One of these days I will make the journey, but not yet.

Rest, cheat, rinse & repeat

Greetings from Bethany Beach, DE. I see so many Georgetown Prep and Landon Tee's I think I am at Mazza Gallerie Mall. Arrived to find a spraying water leak and moderate flood. Of the joys of (multiple) home ownership. Now I have a project to keep me busy.

Otherwise, vacationing is suiting me quite well. As opposed to vacations past, when I was not working out enough, and felt compelled to "catch up" while on vacation - this time I have no desire to do anything but rest and enjoy myself and family. After six months of going from fat to sort of fit, I am content with taking a mental and physical break.

As for my Primal/Paleo regimen, that too is on break.

The local beer is Dogfish head, and I am putting it away at a steady clip.

And as for breakfast - lets

just say the local coffee

shop and bakery is not just good, but amazing.

Here is a sample of their walnut (primal) sticky

bun (about as far from primal as you can get).

Yummmmm

3,2,1 Gone

2 weeks off. Yessss!



I feel like a teacher on the last day of school as I head out to our secret condo out at Bethany Beach. I say secret, because we are viciously jealous about the place and when people ask me "oh, you have a place at Bethany? Do you rent it when you are not there? - I immediately seize up. The answers are yes and hell no! One bad friend rental was all it took to keep this thing lonely and empty unless we are there. I call it our "investment" - cause real estate is such a good one lately.

Before we left I hit one last Sat CFOT WOD. Compared to last weekend - which I did not do - this was a quickie. But a perfect pre vacation run through of some good cleans, pullups, and metcon moves. I picked out people all around me that I am trying to get to their level. Mike H. easily cleaned 185 for 10 - I did 155. Felt good about my run - keeping pace with visiting coach Sam - yet Lynette passed us both like we were walking. And of course Soni knocked out the box jumps like he had springs on his feet. Wall balls required a small break, but that seems fair.

Finished in 16 something.

After class a big group was heading for a long run. Not me. I had my vibrams on, which I limit to 800m or less, plus I gots to go. Packing and laundry await, so we can head east and see the ocean before sundown.

I look very forward to taking a break from weights to recover - as I am sore to the touch in my shoulder and quads. Lots of swimming and throwing my daughter around in the pool. Functional fitness!

I will post randomly while away if anything funny or noteworthy happens. Have a great two weeks everyone.

3,2,1 GO!

Of course I went today and I was rewarded. I felt great. The 400m run magically became 300 further allowing me to go all out.

I gave this absolutely everything and had just a few 5 seconds of heavy breathing / hands on knees quick breaks. Last run was a full sprint home - could hear my vibrams smacking pavement and my heart pounding. Flipping awesome.

18:16.

Shout out to - Once again I came in first of all people not named Chad today at 12:30. Chad C. paced me and crushed sub 17:00. Chad N is on vacation - oh man would that have been an epic Chad v. Chad battle.

Should I rest or should I go?

Thursday Metcon. 5 rounds of 9 Toes to Bar, 12 Push Press, 15 Pushup, Run 400m.

Let’s do some pros and cons:

Pros:

-Once again – the WOD looks fun – and I mean fun as in, it is going to hurt and make me sweat through every stitch of clothing I am wearing leaving me on the floor like Sean Soni making a sweat angel. Jerry, programming has been amazing of late. I want to do every WOD I see.

-I need this. I am already strong, so these Metcons are what better me.

- Push presses – 5 rounds, 12*95 pounds. I guarantee that I will crush that portion and do them nonstop. It will be a thing of beauty.

Cons:

-I am tired and sore all over. Mostly my abs. Yesterday’s 4 rounds of 30 abmats makes me not want to do 5 rounds of toes to bar.

-I cannot Crossfit every day. I have to take one day off. Especially if I want to hit Saturday. Those WODs seem like super-sessions lately.

- Running in this heat/humidity. Yuck.

So will I go or not – guess you will have to wait and see.

Rowing 101

Thanks to Ellen for the great coaching. Apparently I have been doing it all wrong. As she said, using her tips may slow you down at first, and it did.

WOD

was: Interval training 500m Row, 40 Squats, 30 Abmat, 20 KB Swing, 10 pullups.

I am such a dolt, I did not know what “interval” meant, and thought we got to do this once through and then go home.

Ha!

My times were not great, but they were consistent. I tried to rest 2-3 minutes only and then get back to it. I am short and have weaker legs, which makes my row weak. And my hand has a nice open pull-up sore on it. But despite that, my energy was good. If not for my family, I could have stayed and done 10 rounds.

But, I did do 2 rounds with the row, and 2 rounds without. At the end I felt like I was the only one still doing anything, which made me happy, because I know that putting in the hard work is its own reward.

Funny note – over the weekend we had some friends over including Chad N and his

wife Sue. At one point Chad asked my daughter which of us had bigger

muscles?

With the honesty that only a kid can muster, she confidently said– well, I’m not sure, let me see. After a quick pose down – much to the delight of all of our

guests – she declared me the winner. I have to keep it up though, Chad is currently on a west coast tour of CrossFit locations and is getting stronger every day. It will be a sad day when my own daughter turns on me.

Ring Dips and Dead lifts - Pt 2

My new socks. Saved my shins on deadlifts - although I still scraped and bled.

Plus, check out the nasty bruise on my arm from the clasp on the ring dips.

A tough WOD that left its mark.

Tues 8/11: Deadlifts - ring dips and L pull ups

Is today the day?

At the Chiropractor, something in my shoulder popped - and it was a good pop. I have had limited range of motion in my left shoulder for sooo long. Lately, I have been seeing him 2x a week for this issue. It has hamstrung my CrossFit progress and I am getting tired of it.

Here is what 1 bad shoulder can do:

-Limits kipping pull ups because it hurts like hell when I swing forward. So no momentum and I basically do 1 pull up at a time.

-No overhead squats. Can't get that arm back far enough overhead to have proper position.

- Crappy back squats. Can't get a good low rack position. Throws off my mojo.

-Rules me out from becoming 2010 CrossFit Games champion.

But today, that pop was like magic. After that, almost full range and no pain. I really hope this is as good as it seems.

Today was a great workout. 7 rounds - 3 255# DL, 5 30# ring dips, and 7 L pull ups.I did "Pro Level" in 15:15. Shared a bar with Adam H. Decided to wait until 3 minutes into start in the hopes that he would be several rounds in and that we would not bump into each other. Funny thing is, that we did not really bump into each other at all, and when we finally did, I was glad for a 20 second breather.

I am not badass enough to attempt a 315 "Elite level" deadlift. So I decided today was not the day to try 21 of them in a timed workout. Maybe next time we do max weight deadlifts I will hit it, but not when you are in a hurry.

Ring dips were good - got all 5 on 5 rounds and then did 3s and 2s.

L pull ups. I did chin ups, and in round 1 I cranked 7 in a row in an L sit and was as shocked as anyone.The best were broken into 2 or 3 groups.

Two funny notes:

1. In round 5 or 6 I looked out the window and was pissed because I thought it was raining. I had walked to CFOT and was not happy. Of course, I was just sweating so much that I thought those were rain drops I was seeing. That is a good sign.

2. Bought some socks kind of like Jerry. Good for dead lifts (save your shins) and just plain Arggggh.

Cheat Meal

If you are going to go off script of Primal eating, you can do it without completely f'ing up your mojo.

Elevation burger -

An awesome grass-fed, organic burger that even Mark Sisson would love. I used a knife and fork and skipped most of teh bun.

Mandarin Oranges instead of fries.

Unsweetened Ice Tea instead of soda.

Oh yeah, and a big ass shake. I chose vanilla with fresh banana and strawberries. A true cheat and for me a rare splurge. Wow, that was good.

Still dropping a pound every week or two....

Since eating a more Primal/Paleo diet.

Honestly, I am stuffing myself, but avoiding bread, pasta and sugar. Meat, veg and fruits are a go.

Split Jerk

185. Not feeling it today.

But I did move my blog and learn how to post this from my iPhone.

Blog Move

Seemed like the CFOT Ning site is fading away as a blog host. So I thought I would join the exodus before the lights are turned off.

For blog posts of mine made prior to August, you can look here:

http://crossfitoldtown.ning.com/profile/markdavis

First Friday Mark vs. Grace

Grace wins.

Pre WOD checklist - I had 135 on the bar, the back corner of the room, loud/angry music on my iPod and a bad attitude. I was warmed up and ready to give maximum effort for this short test.

I really thought I could go sub 3:00. And reps 1-15 flew by. Did 10 touch and go, dropped the bar and did another 5. Peeked up and it was just about a minute in. Then, as often happens, the wheels came off.

My final time was 3:45 - which is an amazing 2:04 better than First Friday in June. Or 35% better! But just 0:21 from a top 5 CFOT time - so close. And I coulda/shoulda/woulda done better.

Coulda - After rep 20 or so, I felt like someone charlie-horsed me in the thigh. So I came up lame and methodically finished up without the gusto I wanted to. 1 drop, 1 drop, 1, etc.... I will say that I never took one step away from that bar and picked it up every time it stopped bouncing. Also, the cleans felt good. No drops, and no real struggles. But all the jumping added up. I really hurt on the last 10 presses. Serious thigh pain. At least I know I was using my legs! So now I am limping and here I sit with an ice pack.

Shoulda - This injury is not a surprise to me considering that my legs have been sore and feeling under-stretched for days. Over training and not stretching is cool and macho. But on game day, it can backfire. I'm old - so I should be stretching more.

Woulda - Jerry was standing with me for a long stretch of Grace. But I was listening to my loud and angry music (System of a Down) and did not hear a damn thing he was saying. At one point I took off my headphones and he looked at me and said "Make sense?" Sorry man, but I have no idea what you said. Maybe the advice would have helped.

Last Sat we had the 30-20-10 workout that included cleans of 135, and I did those last 10 like a man on fire and I was whipped even before that. But today, I am sure I had a second or two of rest each rep. But it was actually the jerk presses that really caught up with me. Who knew.

Now that I have Grace out of my system, I am going to move on. Being done in less than 4 minutes while others in class are doing Murph, Nancy or other 30+minute workouts seemed like I was dogging it. Holding the door for runners and handing out encouragement was the least I could do with my time. Saw some gritty performances. Chad is getting stronger by the second and I think Christine looked miserable, but she would not quit.

Next First Friday - the opposite of Grace. Maybe Murph with a vest. 3 minutes into that one, I will be running by the river and digging in for a long awesome workout.

8/5 A littls mid week MetCon

5 rounds: 275m run, 9 ring dips, 12 pushups & 15 WBs

Time 15:14.

I came in 1st in the 1230 class - Actually 1st of all people not named Chad - which means 3rd. Have I ever beaten anyone named Chad -or Chris for that matter- at CFOT? Not likely.

Nice little workout today. Hurt intensely and then it was over. Am I the only one that questions Jerry's sanity for pairing 5 rounds of WBs and runs on the day after heavy back squats? My pencil legs are revolting and cramping up. I work at a desk all day people.

I am still wrapping my mind around the fact that I am almost, sort of, nearly competitive with Chad and Chad. Two nicer or fitter people you may never meet - but I must destroy them. Just kidding. I am not competing with anyone, but comparisons are a good gauge of where I started vs. where I am. Used to be that a WOD with runs meant I would be last. Today, I felt slow and steady, but everyone looked a little slow today for obvious reasons. We are all getting better, but maybe I am on a faster curve because I had more fitness catching up to do.

Thursday rest day - ahhhhhh. I might even eat a piece of bread.
Next - Show-down vs. Grace! 135lbs of fun x30. (Grace the WOD not our classmate who I also can never beat

8/4 - Back Squat 5x5

Top weight 215 x 5.

I never used to squat in the gym by myself. No surprise, my legs look like pencils.

When doing back squats my shoulder/rotator cuff continue to keep me from getting a low bar placement on my back. A high back squat throws everything off and limits how much I can do, but my shoulder pain allows only so much. Felt better today, but still not great.

As for the today, I never failed, but I was close. Saw some stars after reps 3 and 4 of the last set. Chriss said they were all deep, so that is good. I could have pushed it a little heavier but 215 was set 5 and I was done. I suspect I would not have gotten all reps with 225 after all that. Failing on a set of squats is a little rougher than a missed clean or press. In the back of my mind I definitely do play it safe with back squats.

Chris M made a big 40 lb jump on his last round and failed on a rep. Seeing that it is all worked out OK for him helps me for next time. I did not know the other guy we were working with and honestly I felt like he was not paying attention when spotting, but he was there when needed, so I guess I was wrong.

Chad C, Jim, Aaron, Ian and some others had some serious 300+ lb sets. Awesome.

8/3 CFOT Team Competition

Fight gone bad variation

5 rounds, 5 stations, 5 minutes on, 1 minute off

3,2,1 Go!

Had to shuffle my schedule and go to class 0900. I bounce back and forth between that class and 1230 - and I like them both. Sometimes I just can make one and sometimes I can make the other. One of these days, I will go after work again as well. Since I am now 40, I can admit that I am sore and creaky in the am, and sometimes after work, I feel more ready to tackle the WOD. But today had to be 0900 and the team competition - creaky or not.

There were 5 guys and 4 girls in class 0900. Most of the regular suspects, although a few people shuffled around. I volunteered to start with the weight vest in round 1 and split time with the rower and push press.

Once again, lack of experience did me in a little. I went out really hard and had a huge row and then 45 push presses in round 1 - all with the vest. Pretty sure that I should have held back.

Round 2 I did not even want to do any push presses - does that sound like me? The rest was steady but really tired. I did 110 PPs during rounds 1,3,5 and bounced around the rest. Lot of box jumps too. As I looked around, I saw everyone really working hard. No one took any significant breaks save for a few second of gasping for air. And yet team 0900 came in dead last. Perhaps better strategy would have helped us.

Anyway, this workout really blasted me from the weight vested round 1, all the way to the end. I was useless at work today. So I know that I gave it all I had. Last place or not, it was a great workout.

8/2/09 - 3,2,,1.... Box

Hit a little boxing with Chad on Sun night. His normal coach / sparring partner was out of town so I was sort of a poor man's fill-in. I was kind of hoping for a rest day since I hit 5 WODs last week, but why not.

2 - alternating 3 minute rounds of hitting focus mits

then 2 alternating 3 minute rounds of the heavy bag

lastly a little speed bag

My footwork is pathetic. But at least I am lighter on my feet and I never really gassed out. I think I hit hard, but who knows. Overall I enjoyed the Met-Con, but I think Crossfit is all I need right now.

Chad is a regular Floyd Mayweather. Big roll of cash and all.

What can you really do in six months?

Today is August 1, 2009. I joined Crossfit OldTown Feb 2, 2009.

Here is me, or at least me last fall. 185lbs, which is my PR. Body fat was 22%. Cholesterol was 205 while taking Lipitor as well as Allegra, Advair and Albuterol. Notice the round stomach, love handles and face. 1, 2, 3, 4 chins and it looks like I am wearing a fanny pack. Also notice that I am sweating and winded while playing a mindless game with some neighborhood kids. I don’t really remember being round like this. My image of myself was of someone fit. I worked out a couple of times a week and did spinning classes, so of course I was fit.

My dad works out 4 times a week too. Notice something familiar. Was that my future?

With the new year, I was getting ready to turn 40 in May and I was freaking out. CFOT moved to Royal St. and I happened by. Signed up and did an intro class with my friend Bruce, and about six other people that day. Rachel and Josef were there too – that’s 3 regulars starting the same day. Anyway, before class when I told Jerry about my 40th birthday 4 months away, he looked me in the eye and said “Yeah, 4 months, we can do something in 4 months.” I did not believe him at all.

I took some early notes about those workouts and looking back they seem basic. But my notes from the first weeks includes phrases such as “felt sick, can’t walk, pain all over, had to walk on the 400, really sore, stairs suck” But I stuck with it and tried to make a schedule of 3 times a week.

After a few weeks, the intense pain subsided. There were still times when I thought I my heart would explode, like after my first (15:00) Fran. But I just kept at it. I was slowly but very consistently improving, getting stronger, and becoming super addicted. Convinced my fit co-worker Chad to join in, and then we started pushing ourselves to go 4-5 times a week.

What was your time….or what did you lift….Let the competition begin.
Chad and I have built a running competition. We are not at all evenly matched. He is a metcon speeder, and I am stronger. Yet it is oddly working. He is getting stronger, and I am getting faster.

So August 1 is six months since my first intro class. Compared to the other CFOT machines, I am not the fastest, nor the strongest. My technique is average, and I have a long list of things to improve upon. That is my current mindset, which is ironic, because I am now hands-down in the best shape of my life. Current weight 166lbs. Bodyfat 12% (maybe less now). Taking no prescriptions at all. Had to buy all new pants and belts. Cholesterol is 175 (without Lipitor). My doctor called me a “poster child for exercise” and my daughter called me “Popeye arms.”

I was just thinking about what the next 6 months could possibly bring. I know progress will not be as dramatic, but good things will keep happening. Just this week I set PRs in Strict Press, Push Press, Push Jerk and Deadlift. Guess things are starting to click.

So thank you CrossFit Oldtown. Thank you Jerry, Danny, Andrea, Chriss, Melissa, Danya and Keturah. Thank you to everyone of you that shows up and encourages me through their words and their actions.