Bear Plus

Thursday night I had to go to NY. Some bad weather turned my 2 hour trip into a 10 hour ordeal. I sat on a plane for 3 hours, and then they took us back to the gate. In a pissy mood, I decided to take the train instead of waiting. Who know what would have been faster. But the whole thing sucked. I took the metro from the airport to Union Station, and of course all of the escalators were down. Thank god I am in better shape, because I was lugging a suitcase and bag of work. Then train was relaxing, but my whole day of hanging out in NY was shot.

After my meetings, I flew home and landed at 4:30. I decided to go to CF. Of course I had to stop and buy some clothes at Sports Authority. Lets call it the $60 workout.

5,4,3,2,1 of muscle ups and the bear at 115. I subbed 3 each of dips and pullups for muscle ups. With all my pent up aggression, I flew through. I partitioned the 2nd two rounds of bear, but did not rest. Finished in 8:41.

I have to say that I am happy with my newly added work capacity. I don't have to stand around as much. The Fran challenge is having some nice side effects.

How low can I go?

This is getting ridiculous. Maybe its the summer heat. Maybe it was the Fran challenge. But this is the least I have weighed since high school. Too light.

Running clinic #1

Coach Stanley gave an intensive hours worth of drills that made me sweat and suffer. It is hard work to relearn how to run. My hammies hurt!

10 Power Cleans, 10 pushups

Hands leave the bar and you get a 200m penalty run.
9:00 for 5 rounds
Felt good

Annie Up

50, 40, 30, 20, 10 Double unders and then half the pullups.
10:41
After Fran - the pullups still hurt. Had to break the up more than usual

OH Squats, GHD, 400m Run

My mind was so free after finishing the Fran Challenge. What a weight off my shoulders. Sure I am sore, but I feel better just being done.

Or at least I did. After 1 single round of OH squats, my legs failed me. "You want us to OH squat, and then run - hahahahaha" They actually said that. Round 2 was terrible, and then I took off some weight. I actually considered taking off more weight each round until I had a bamboo stick over my head.

So there you go.

Sunday - Fran challenge winner. Monday - puppy dog weight and very slow time.

p.s. Dwight was asking me for diet advice. Win a Fran Challenge and be on a nutrition panel and people start to look up to you. But I am certain that Dwight is in better shape than I am and has lower body fat. But my advice for him is like my advice for everyone. 5 simple things. 1. Keep showing up at CFOT and doing what is on the board. 2. Do a little extra to improve. 3. Get enough sleep. 4. Cut out the crap in your diet. 5. Roll out, pre-hab and rehab what hurts.

I bet those simple steps get you very far. Then tailor the rest as needed cause everyone is different.

Fran Finals

($80 for 1st place of non-coaches plus $30 for 5th best improvement since prelims - 1:05 or 16.9%)



Lot's of thoughts running though my head. Six weeks ago I did Fran in 6:24, and today I did it in 5:19. Fastest time of the non-coaches.

I am very proud of my progress. Coaches Sean, Danya and Kevin all had better times. I would say they inspired me. Sadly today, I did not see a single rep that they did. I was busy dealing with 21/15/9 thrusters and pullups, and they all finished ahead of me. But I bet they were awesome to watch.

The pain during and immediately after Fran is horrible. It is so brief, but just hateful. I had one single moment of doubt during my middle round of thrusters. I put the bar down after 11 reps and fought hard in my mind to pick it up as soon as I could. I really did have that moment of "I should just quit - this hurts too much." It is a just mental dog fight, and I guess I did ok.

Six weeks ago I told Jerry that I really wanted to win the challenge. Beating Kevin's initial time of 5:23 (or his PR of 4 minutes) was never realistic, but I really took this seriously. Jerry prescribed a regimen of 10x tabata rows a couple of times a week. I did not do them 3 times every week, but I did them a bunch. Tabata rows really do mimic the horrible short term exhaustion of Fran. It's all out effort with some very short breaks. And 10 intervals = 5 minutes of work, which was my goal. So all in all, I was just 19 minutes off of my insane goal (and damn if I did not beat Kevin's first time.) I guess if I did all my tabata rows I could have gotten there.

Nice job everyone. Some damn inspiring efforts by Jason B. Nate, Bry, Kelly, Mike O, and all the rest. And thanks to Kevin, Sean and Danya for putting a goal out there for me to chase. They are studs and to be near their level is something to be proud of. Thanks to Jerry and Melissa for everything.

In CFOT I trust.

deadlift x 3

So much for my plan to get a ton of rest before the Fran Challenge on Sunday. With 2 days off, I was feeling less sore than usual, and I had a ton of energy. Time will tell if this was a mistake.

But with all that said, I worked only 6 sets and stopped at 300 x3. My previous time, I had done 315 x 3 and then got two out of three attempts at 340. So today was less for sure.

300 felt great, and I am ready to go on Sunday.

3,2,1 Fran

Count down to Fran Challenge - 3 days

I am making way too big a deal of this.

Push x3 x3 x3

Strict Press 145x3 - but only 160x2
Push Press - 185 x3
Jerk 190 x3.

Worked on form and I was better. I tried 205x1 at then end and missed. I could have gotten it.

Squat cleans x 3

Worked up to 185 and only got 2.
Went back to 175 and got 3.

Video of the workout

Tabata stuff

Wall Ball / Pull up / Burpee / Push Press / Row

62 / 60 /40 /48 /35 = 245

I did pretty well except for the row. I was toast and it showed. But otherwise, I was happy with my ability to keep working. Especially on Wall Ball. I have gotten better at them. The Push Presses were also hard. Not a good sign for the Fran Challange. Overhead with 95# is tough when you are completely exhausted.

Way to go Melissa

We just wrapped up 2 weeks of WODs programmed by Melissa. I was impressed. However, there were some real crushers in there.

Looking forward to the next two weeks by Danya.

It is kind of like visiting another crossfit, without having to go anywhere.

Snatch, T2B 10, 9, 8....1

What an eye opener. I started with 115 and had to drop to 95. I should have done 105 or something in the middle. I felt like I was pressing out with 115, but then 95 felt too easy. Ripped my hand on the T2B. All in all, not a great Monday for me. But a bad day at CF is better than none.

TGU

Never been to a turkish bathhouse.
Never had a Turkish coffee.
Never done a Turkish Get Up *


* Before 07/09/2010.

So today Melissa programmed these into our WOD.

5 TGU
10 ring dips
15 Wall Ball

4,5 or 6 rounds.

I chose the 35# kb and 4 rounds. It was my first time after all. These exhaust you. And I think I like them.

Rest up

2 hard days and I need a rest already. The 100 pullups crushed my back, and the thrusters/lunges combo finished off my legs and shoulders.

Thanks Melissa.

Thruster x 1

A much as I hate Fran. This was fun. Worked up to 200. Tried 206 and failed terribly.

Pullups

100 for time with a 10 burpee penalty for each drop from the bar

20, 20, 15, 15 ,10, 10 ,10 = 100 (and 60 burpees)
in 8:56. This workout hurt, but not too badly. Just get through it. Standing around and resting seemed like a waste to me, so I kept going.


Farmers walk afterwards. That is a weakness for me. I only did the 45#s and only did 400m. And boy was it hot.

First Friday

I am rule breaker. I did not feel like doing any of the hero workouts. I was having a bad week at work and was distracted. Exhausting myself with fran or the like was not what I felt like.

But earlier in the week we did clean and jerks. The highest suggested weight was 155, but I did 135. Right away I felt guilty. So for FF, I was going to do heavy ones until I was beat again.

In the past I had once cleaned 201, and once jerked 210. But not together. Both together is not the same as doing either. I think once before I was able to c/j 175.

Today I got 201. Form was not perfect. So really with more work, 210 or more is coming soon. I like that. My goal for the year was 225 and I have 6 months. Did another 20 or so reps with 135. Form was better.