Blog Hiatus

Visit the CFOT Mobility Lounge for insightful and witty pre-wod strategies.

Otherwise, I am hoping to focus more time and effort preparing for and doing the wods, and less time reminiscing and typing about them after the fact.

Really, how much do you want to hear from me anyway?

MarkD

Intervals

First of all, I am injured. I have a major strain of my TFL. If I turn my leg a certain way and put weight on it, I almost collapse. Feels like an electric shock running from my knee to my hip. So I have a lot of icing in my future. For a moment I thought I did something really bad, like a knee injury. And while a muscle strain is a pain to deal with, it is much better than a structural injury.

So the interval wod of d/u, hspu and ghd presented some problems. I focused on the hspu and was able to get 1 minute rounds of 30, 27, 27 and 22 = 106.

That was fun. Looking forward to another run at this when I am full strength.

Barbells for Boobs

A long chipper of 12 exercises. 30 minute time cap. Towards the end, my knee and hip failed and I could hardly even put weight on it. Not sure what it is.

cleans, etc

Clean x5 touch and go. I was able to get 155 fairly easily. 175 slipped from my grip after 3. Then again after 4. Hello grip, where were you today?

deadlift and burpee tabata. Not so hot for me. Scaled to 245 and by the end only could get 2 per round. A burst of 9 burpees at the end to salvage my pride, but not my score.

200m run and thruster intervals

If its Monday, it must be heavy lifting at CFOT. Today, work for 2 minutes, rest for 2.

Run 200m and for remainder, perform max thrusters.

Round - Weight - Reps - thoughts

1     155     5  Very heavy - did 2,2,1
2     135     7  Felt ok - did 4. But then was very winded and could only do another set of 3.
3     115    11 6 then 5
4       95    16  8, 5 and 3
5       75    21  all 21 baby. Slow and steady. Never dropped the bar.

The Mobility Lounge

Late one night, over a few bourbons - I thought up the CFOT Mobility Lounge. Initially, this little space is set up as a FB group here: The CFOT Mobility Lounge

I will try my best to load it up with relevant and timely mobility advice and videos to assist CFOT members as we attack our daily WODs. It is something I have been doing for myself anyway. And short of me doing better at CFOT, I like nothing better than to see everyone else doing better too.

Being 42+ with several recent surgeries means that by all rights I should not be any good at Crossfit. Working on my mobility is the only thing between me showing up ready to work, and me looking like this guy.

Happy stretching.

Snatch work and OHS metcon

12 minutes of work on sntach lifts. Unremarkable.

Metcon - 3 rounds 15 ohs (95), 30 KBS (53) and 60 double unders.
16:00.

rx was 115, but not for me.

Best news is that my double unders seemed to be coming around. Had 20+ twice after class. My toe is finally strong enough to give me the quick and higher jumps that I need. Things are looking up.

Rest. Ahhhhhh.

Side note. 1 beer only so far this week.

Deadlift ladder metcon

A down ladder of 20,15,10 of 225# deadlifs and dips. Then 10, 15 and 20 of box jumps and burpees. I tired out badly in the second half. Wish that I had more than 5 minutes of max output.

Thruster and heavy ass metcon

Part 1 - max thruster from the floor. 195 was good. 206 was on my shoulders but I could not stand up. Only 10 minutes, which was not quite enough.

Part 2 - 3 cleans, 6 fr sq, and 9 C2B pullups. 185#!!! 15 minute amrap. That was super heavy. I limped to 3 rounds plus 2 cleans.

Sat deadlifts x 3

Sat at 8am. Who am I? Anyway, it felt good to pull heavy from the floor before starting my day. deadlift x3 with 3 seconds between pulls. Not a try 3 rep max. But I pulled 345 x 3 anyway - so I was happy with that. 

Quick metcon afterwards of hang clean and box jumps. 3.5 minutes and out.

Muscle up madness

EMOM - "Every minute on the minute" for those who forget. Try to hit X muscle ups for 10 minutes. I tried 4. What was I thinking. Jerry did 5. I'm no Jerry. But I did at least attempt 4 each minute. Minute 1 I got all 4. From there out I was pretty much 3 yes, 1 no. In the end, I got 30 good ones, and 10 terribly painful misses.

2, 7 minute amraps next. Double unders, abmat, and wall ball, hr pushups. I got 4-5 rounds.

Back squat x 3 with chains - then Row test

Worked up to 225# x 3 plus 2 sets of chains. I think that is a PR, I should really know that.

Row test. 500m row, rest 90 sec and row 500m. Terrible. I had 1:47 and then 1:53. So I slipped a little. I know I was slipping, but the pain built up and got worse and worse. I did not feel right again for another hour, so I think I gave it my all.

Clean, Jerk and DT

I taken to doing the full Rx workouts again, despite the lingering foot swelling and pain. Clearly it can hold up so long as I can take it. And the theory is that each day it will get a little better.

But I have to retrain myself a little. Part 1 of the wod was max clean and jerk. While my cleans were good, I was not getting under the bar for the jerks. Mentally, I am not ready for the split jerk again, but there is no reason that I should be doing push presses. Bottom line, is that I cleaned 195# easily - which was comforting - but I had a crappy attempt to get it overhead and did not lock it out.

DT - I went Rx - which starts off tough and becomes very tough. The cleans really get me. Especially getting the bar from the shoulders back down. My grip strength failed and I could not get to many reps in a row. At 15 minutes I had 4 rounds in plus the deadlifts and felt that was a good place to end. Looking back I should have finished, but I was mentally done.

Gymnanstics

EMOM - max hspu / alternate with max strict pullups for 6 cycles. I got 65 and 49. Had 25 hspu in round 2. I was going for 30 or 31. No dice. Maybe I should have tried it in round 1. Ruined me for the rest of the time.

metcon - d/u, air squats, and hr pushups good rehab after Sat's race. Dont I look horrible!

The 5Ton / 5k

Yesterday was the 5Ton / 5k in Columbia, MD.  It is a crossfit competition event that combines running with lifting. You know you are going to run 5k and lift 5 tons, but you do not know the rep scheme, movements,  or rounds until the day of.

Here is the rep scheme they announced:

That seemed different than last year when they went with lighter weights and higher reps. This was harder and the winning times were 20% slower than last year. 

So why did I enter. Right here – My Frankenfoot: 

Just 10 weeks ago I had elective surgery to repair this old thing. I had broken it years back, and my body responded by growing a bone spur and severely limiting the flexibility of my toe joint - to nil. It affected the way I walked, ran, jumped, and hurt – a lot. Nowadays they fix this by peeling your foot open like a banana, shaving off the extra bone, and inserting two titanium screws in the foot to pull the last foot bone backwards away from the toe – in order to create some space and restore some flexibility.

But recovery has been slow. I started on crutches, then a walking boot, then a hospital boot, and ice, lots of ice. After 4 weeks it was much better, but since then improvements have been slow and incremental. I would say that I am now better than pre-surgery with regards to pain and flexibility, but not much. Another 6 months and I should be almost as good as new. (Just in time for the CF Open? )

Of course my doctor, or any rational care provider would not think competing in the 5 ton 5k was a wise idea. That assumes I asked him, which I did not. But he told me at my last visit that my toe was safe and I could not damage it – it was all a matter of backing off when it hurt. A month back, I decided that this event would be a great way to test that theory and push it to the complete limit. And while it hurt a good bit on the running, it did not fail, break or otherwise.

So  while my time was slower than molasses, I learned a few things.

 1 – I am a slow runner anyway, and the pain and swelling in my foot is not helping. So I need to start adding some mile loops.

2 – My conditioning/stamina on longer workouts is the pits. 5 minutes or less and my power compares well with anyone. After than, I am the slow, old guy. In this workout, the first round of lifits punched me in the face and I never recovered. I was doing well on the cleans until rep 9 when I lost my grip and dropped the bar. There I was 20 seconds in, gassed and I realized that this was going to be a long day. So First Friday's now  = long wods for me.

3 – I have at least some mental toughness. I was considering DNF’ing a couple of times early on. I was not enjoying it at all. I could have said my toe hurt too much and no one would have cared. But I just kept going and at the end actually cranked out that final lifts unbroken for a brief moment of glory. Never quit, just focus on the moment and keep going.

4 – Competing outside of your friendly CF box is good for you.  Have someone else count and judge for you. It is better. It is also good to meet others. I had nice chats with Christy Phillips, Steve Dumaine, and the coaches at CF Diesel. No surprise, they are great people. Christy is flat out amazing, but that is obvious. 

5  - I love my Crossfit Oldtown crew. I competed in the last heat, so I missed this group shot - as did Erin and Laura. Laura, Erin and Nicole hung around to cheer for me, and I loved that support.

6 – I look forward to doing this again. Cause my time was atrocious, and I have no choice but to redeem myself. 

Helen - 11:32 (PR!)

I had no intention of setting a PR, I just wanted to complete all 3 rounds unbroken and without totally dying at the end. Which is also known as a good way to set a PR. Going out too fast and dying is a time waster. It might be good to push yourself, but not efficient.

Helen; with 3 rounds of the same reps. steady is faster. For Fran - where you do less reps, you can be more aggressive and hope to hold on.

That is all the wod philosophy I have for today.

Front Squat / Metcon

Front squat x1. I was able to get 235m which is a PR. But my form is off. I am not keeping upright, because I am trying to use my quads. I need to do better.

Met con of wall ball and toes to bar. 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 each. Wall ball felt better than ever before. Not sure why. But I was able to do the rounds of 30, 10 and 5 unbroken and the middle rounds with just one break. Much better than usual.

Not sure why, becuase my diet is crap and I have put on a solid 5. I admit it.

Snatch and Isabel

I like the new programming. Work for a while on a strength lift, and then do a related metcon wod. Travel Monday, and then on Tues we did max snatch in 10 minutes and then Isabel. I scaled - alot. Snatch 115, then Isabel 95# in 4:45. I will do more next time. I think Isabel at 115 would have been a good challenge.

Deadlift and Diane

2 reps on the minute for 10 min. Last time I worked with Jeremy and struggled along at 305 the whole time, while he easily worked up to hoisting 335 at the end. Funny thing, today I started fairly light at 225#, and then added weight as I went. I stopped at 295, but I could have kept going. It felt pretty good, despite the photo evidence to the contrary that showed me setting up to far forward and not sitting back enough. Something to work on.

Diane was interesting. I was a little tired from the deadlift session, and we had just a brief break. My handstand pushups have been good lately, so I did not even warm those up. Talk about cocky. But it turned out to be the right call. My deadlift slowed me down and the hspu's were good. I partitioned once each round until the end, when my deadlift fell apart and I had to do singles.

Time 4:27 - 3 seconds off my best.

Once I get my conditioning back a little, and get a handle on my tight hamstrings, I can get this under 4. Definitely.

Back Squat and a metcon

Back squat x 5. less than 48 hours after the CF MV barbell complex with back squats and thrusters, here I was again. I played it safe and did 225 x 5. I need to get that over 250 asap.

Metcon of 21/15/9 of 35# db thrusters and burpees. Not as bad as it sounds. The thurster weight was manageable. Lots of sweat flying off during the burpees. Koz is an animal. Never tires.

CF Mountain View with Chad & Sue

A quick west coast swing would not be complete without a drop-in to one of the hundreds of CF boxes in CA. They are everywhere. Multiple in every town.

Monday night I visited CF Mountain View - the 2nd that Jason Khalipa runs. I visited his original earlier this year. Both have good athletes and 1.5 hours of working out jam packed into an hour. The warmups are long, then both a strength and a metcon wod. The wod was both max snatch and a horrible barbell complex metcon similar to the bear, but much worse.

The best part was the CFOT lunch bunch reunion. Chad and Sue now call this box their home. We lined up are barbells 3 in a row and made it through. Being across the street from Google HQ makes for a strange mix of members, but it was a 20+ person class and a good one.

Deadlift x3. FGB intervals

A rarity. A deadlift day and I was unable to get a PR. Back in April we did Deadlift x 3 and I was able to get 345. Today I did 225x3, 275x3, 315x3 and then could only get 350x1. It it was a tough 1. I just could not lift it. No speed today.

After a few minutes, I did 335x3 and they felt ok. Need to build my strength back up.

FGB prep. 1 minute at each station with a 1 minute break. A much more civilized way to do FGB.

Muscle ups and 400m runs

run 400m and then 10 muscle ups. Repeat. 30 minutes.

I was able to complete 4 rounds plus almost one more full run. Nothing spectacular. The muscle ups were mostly singles. I think I had 1 or 2 misses. But when I had 1:40 to finish 1 more 400 m run, I actually gave it my all and came up short. Considering this was in minute 30 of the wod, that was cool to have the energy to do. I am pretty sore now.

Final note - 40 muscle ups + a flu shot = one sore-ass shoulder muscle.

Failure is an option

10 minutes: Hang squat clean ladder complex
Perform 1 hang squat clean/drop, then 2/drop, then 3/drop, then 4/drop then 5/drop. repeat.

htfu weight was 155#. I started there, but pulled off 20# after the 4s reps. Too heavy. Especially heavy when catching the bar on the way down. A thumb bruiser for me.

I really struggled with this. But I also looked around the room. There were 16 people there and no one was using 155. Not sure why I assumed automatically that I had to go htfu. And clearly, it was the wrong choice. 135 felt better, but was still tough.

5 rounds of work

Row, jump rope, KBHP, pull up, and GHD. 1 minute stations for all 5 and then a minute of rest. 5 times through.

I was sore as hell from the 2 prior days and I was on the fence about going. But I showed up and just went through the motions in an attempt at a recovery wod. I do feel better. I did not really push it, and I barely kept track.

30 hspu - 45 seconds

I could not get all 30 in a row. Had to come off the wall after 27. And it was harder than you might think to get the last 3. Getting to all 30 is going to be tough, but this is an improvement over the 22 I got 3 months ago. So with more hard work, 30 is possible.

A 20 minute metcon (with 60 wall ball and 75 push press) afterwards, and now my shoulders are completely done.

Best WOD Ever: 30 hspu for time

Looking forward to this. I have done this once before in 0:47. That is correct, 47 seconds. I cannot say each every one was perfect lockout or form, but I did not have to come down off the wall even once. Today, I am for perfect form and sub 1 minute.

Ready to hit it....now

Deadlifts 2x EMOM

EMOM / Every Minute On the Minute. I like EMOM wods. I like saying "EMOM wods."

But today the wod was two heavy deadlifts EMOM for 10 minutes, and I struggled. Suggested weight was 70-75% of your max - which for me would equate to a 270-285 range. But working out with someone stronger than you can make you struggle and try to lift a little heavier. Such as today with Jeremy Moss - we started at 305. I stayed there the whole time and had a hell of a time even doing that. My last rep was a disaster of bad form, and I would have stopped or lowered the weight if we were not done. In a way it was the perfect weight. Just a little too heavy, and I really had to struggle. I knew it that I would not survive all 20 lifts, but was pleased to almost make it. If I had gone lighter, it would have been too easy. I am still gunning for a 400# deadlift this year, and this session cannot hurt.

In contrast, Jeremy added weight up to 335 as we went and was able to touch and go all the reps. Ass......

Just kidding. Not only is Jeremy strong and a diligent worker, but I believe he is also the sole reader of my blog.

A little deadlifts hamstring work afterwards, which I was not nearly recovered enough to do as intended.

I revived for the met con. An up and down ladder to pullups and burpees. I was lucky that the clock hit the turnaround point as I was almost done with the round of 8 as opposed to starting the round of 9. Or maybe I was watching the clock and gamed it? Either way, I was able to work back down in time to watch the last 10 seconds tick off. I did not go back up, cause I suck.

First Friday - Badger

I am still broken down from Nate 2 days ago. I also had an extremely vigorous massage after that, which means I have flu-like muscle soreness all over.

I am going to attempt Badger for FF. I have done it before, but cannot remember my exact time. 32:XX?

This will be my first runs of any distance since early July.

Time: 31 minutes. I felt good on the squat cleans and ok on the pullups. Terrible on the run. Just no stamina.

Nate

11 rounds even. almost a full round off my pr.

Had more misses on muscle ups than I would like. Although, I have not done one in 7 weeks. After getting two in the first 2 rounds, I failed on rounds 3+4 and then just started to do all singles after that. I missed about 5 in all - which is a waste of energy. I will note that despite missing, I was not worried about the muscle ups at all, which is a nice place to be.

hspu's were no trouble. I lost my balance once, and fatigued once, but otherwise did all 4 for 9 of the 11 rounds without partitioning.

kb swings - here was my weakness. That 70# bell is a bitch. I hate it and I wasted more time waiting to pick that bell up than anything else.

OHS and some short runs

OHS x 2

I suck at OHS. I cannot get into the right position. I know that I need to move the bar back and sit back, but my shoulders do not want to move that way. I worked on form - and very light. Started with the bar and added 20# each round. At 105 - it felt ok, but not great.

Met con - 15 minutes amrap

200m run

15 T2B

30 d/u (I subbed 90 s/u)

My first runs and first jump rope since before surgery. Felt ok. T2B were the tough part.

Monday-cleans and burprees

10-1 ladder down of 165# cleans paired with

1-10 ladder up of lateral burpees.

16:33.

This was very tough. I did not tape and my thumbs are raw. Rookie mistake.

Clean & Jerk

Frankly I am still not sure if I should have done this wod. My own doctor has me coming back in for an appointment in 2 weeks. That would be 8 weeks after surgery. But initially he had told me 6 weeks would be a good time to resume normal activities. And to a crossfitter - cleaning and jerking heavy weight is a normal activity.

So 44 days after my operation - I did.

I went in with the idea to work on form and go light. Add weight only if the prior lift felt good and without any struggle. I also really did not want to split jerk yet, so instead I did a combination of push jerk and push press. But of course, I have never in my life lifted something to my shoulders that I could not lock out overhead. So while I was not working on form, I was still safe.

I started light - 95# clean and jerk. First one in over 6 weeks. And then Pete H and I added weight. And we added and added and added. When we got to 185, it still felt easy. No misses, not even close. I decided to do 1 more lift with an even 200#. It had a nice ring to it. And it went fine. Too easy if you ask me.

I have lifted 200# a handful of times and missed it plenty as well. I think 205# is my PR. Not for long.

A day later, my toe is a little more swollen, but otherwise fine.

Tues - 3, 6 minutes metcons

2 minutes of rest between each.

5 reps / 8 reps of

hspu/225# deadlifts (the deadlifts got heavy)

ring dips / toes to bar

HR pushups / box jumps

Hardest for me was the deadlifts. I could not keep up sets of 8, and by the end was doing ugly singles.

Rest Weeekend

After a long layoff from weights - the overload of (3 relatively) heavy squat and deadlift workouts nearly crippled me. I had a lot of trouble walking over the weekend.

1 minute of squats x 5 rounds

3 minutes of rest in between.

Had to scale to 155. Got 67 reps. Ouch. As good as rep 1 felt, by rep 5 I was struggling each round. Muscular endurance is gone.

HSPU Fun and a metcon

A little weight vested/depth handstand pushup progression here:

The bottom- Shoulders resting on the plates, head off the ground. Wearing a 20# vest.

Start pushing like crazy.

And pushing:

Then lock out at the top. Try to get into a hollow body position with your weight in a perfectly straight line from top to bottom - no arch in your back. I am better at this than I used to be. My back used to be bowed which is easier/less range of motion but not as safe for the ol' spine.

... and repeat 9 more times on the minute.

This was fun. I did singles and worked up to 4, 45# plates + 2 15# plates on each side - and wore a weight vest. There was no point in stacking it higher, because my shoulders were on the plates and my head was off the ground.

Then a little metcon 20 minute - 5.5 rounds of kb swings, steup ups, ab mats and airsquats.

Sumo DL and the Honey Badger

Farewell Laurie. We will miss your sweaty, cursing awesomeness.
Sumo Deadlift: 285#. I held back to 75% as I work back into heavier weights. Hamstrings were no trouble.
17:15 of a subbed up metcon - 3rds- 30 step ups, 500m row and 50 abmat. A completely altered workout to avoid my toe, but still got a good sweat on. What is your excuse?

Front Squat x 3

First day back of lifting heavy in over a month. Guess what. My muscles were not ready. I tried to approach my PR and damn near tore my hammy. I think I was smart enough to quit when when I felt it burning. We will see. Lots of ice now.

Life As Rx

It has been 30 days since my surgery and today is the very first day that I was able to do the CFOT WOD as Rx'ed. I am still waiting to visit the Dr on Thurs to see if I am cleared to run, jump and lift with any explosive jumping. My foot feels better than before surgery already. No pain at all. It is still swollen a bit, and the range of motion is limited - and yes the incision from surgery is still one nasty gash. But things are looking up.

WOD - 8/12/11:

reverse ladder

10-1 ring dips

1-10 deadlifts - 225#

Time 11:17.

Frankly, I got tired pretty fast and I have a hard time doing deadlifts when I am tired. I was also afraid for my toe and did a lot of single reps. But the few touch and go's that I did, felt ok. Ring Dips felt very good.

I cannot do Whitten tomorrow. To many runs and jumps. But I will be back.

Strict Press x 5

Strict Press x5: 145# – a 10# PR. T-minus 9 days.

Pullup metcon

5 rounds -

10 pullups

20 box (step ups - 20")

30 pushups

17:21

Pushup fatigue. Need to work on that.

JT - 10:00

My first wod back wearing two sneakers. Although the post surgery foot was very snug in there.

Did JT - A hero wod 21/15/9 of hspu, ring dips and regular pushups.

10:00 even. My PR was 9:32, and I cannot help but wonder if I could have beaten that with a little less rest here and there. After finishing all 21 hspu in round 1, I was able to get a grand total of 2 in a row after that. JT is also short for Just Toast.

Wed 8/3

Substitution WOD:

Strict Press 95×3, 115×3, 135×3, 155×2, 175×1.

And Strict chin up 35×3, 45×3, 53×2, 63x1x 70x1, 80 (f)

Back to it

4 rounds of

12 ring rows

24 ab mat situps

12 strict press with 35# dbs

24 pushups

22 minutes or so. And harder than I expected.

My first workout back since surgery. I avoided my toe and did no harm.

Toe Story

A lot of questions and concern over my big toe.

So lets recap. Sometime in the late 90's or so, I broke my big toe doing some summer circus flips off a diving board. Too much torque and my toe must have overextended. I remember feeling and hearing a pop. The next days the entire joint where my big toe met my foot turned black and swollen. So I did what most 30 year old guys would. Nothing.

Eventually it felt better. But was never quite the same. And while the bruising went away, a weird lump grew - and never went away.

Exhibit A - the lump:



And my toe has not been-pain free since. Frankly it has gotten worse and worse, until I could not really even walk without favoring it. So you can imagine what all the Crossfitting has felt like. Walking lunge - how about I do all on one leg? Box jump, double under, or burpee - it hurt to jump. Running, who hasn't passed me?

So I set a date and had surgery. From what I understand, they shaved off a bunch of extra bone (and spur) and inserted two screws to create space between the foot and the big toe. I felt nothing and came home wearing this.



Early recovery meant sitting in bed on drugs. (Pretty much like my summer of '85). Wed-Fri was an Oxycodone blur. My keepers fed me all kinds of non-paleo foods. But what was I to do.

By the weekend I was feeling better. And on Monday I returned to the doc for a follow up. He laughed about how little I remember. I think he said I was a cheap drunk. But he also said what a mess my foot was. "Like an arthritic 60+ year old man." Doc then proceeded to cut away and I was scared. Not sure what it was going to look like. Other than a long red incision under some steri-strips, it looked like my foot - but without the bump. He then grabbed my toe and started flexing it up and down. I was in shock. It was only 5 days since he operated. I had no idea it would move at all. But it moved well and was mostly pain free. He then xrayed, and pronounced me ready for my walking boot, and told me to do exercises to flex the toe 3x a day.




And each day I feel better and better. I am not following docs orders much. I am a terrible patient. I am walking in the boot mostly without the crutches already. But at the same time I am not putting any body weight on the toe. But considering that it has been less than a week since surgery, this is amazing. At this rate, I will be the world record holding sprinter by Labor Day!

Just kidding. My goal is to progress as quickly as possible without incurring a setback. But I feel great. I plan to make it back to Crossfit soon to attack the various parts of me that do not put my toe at risk. I promise to be careful.

Two a day

With my surgery set for Wed, I decided to come back and hit the alt workout ~ the 7s. 20 minute amrap of pullups, ring dips, 2x air squats and 95# push presses. I got 9+ rounds.

Tues: 3-5-7s

20 min Amrap: 3 MU, 5 HSPU, 7 Snatch (65w, 95m)

5 or 6 rounds. My hands are very raw. Muscle ups got harder and harder to do.

Partner WOD

3 rounds with a partner (Kevin Hare) 46:05. A real sweat fest.

Partner WOD (one person working at a time)

THREE rounds:

1,000m row (250m at a time)

50 Burpees

40 med ball cleans

30 t-2-b (scale to 90 situps)

800m relay run (200m at a time)

hspu work and a metcon

Did my first ever muscle up to ring hand stand push-up. Laurie Wasko saw it, so you can ask her how it went. The dismount was terrifying. So one was enough. Increasing plates for hands on remaining hspu. My shoulders were resting on the plates. Wod 2 – 11:37 subbed ghd for boxes.

THE WOD:

Gymnastic Strength

1-3 Challenging HSPU every minute x 10 min

Attempt to stay at a challenging level (or make it tougher) the whole time. I’d rather you move from 3reps to 1 rep in the wod and stay at a challenging level then stay at 3 reps for all 10 rounds by making the level easier. Record level and total reps.

Conditioning:

5 rounds: 12 KB Swing (53lbW, 70lb M), 12 Dip (9 women), 12 box jumps (24″w, 30″m) Regional standards, must stand fully on box.

The Kabul 9

One rough WOD.

Time for me: 59:06

900 meter cash in run

80 pull ups

10 deadlifts @ 185w, 275m

80 push ups

10 thrusters @ 95w, 135m

80 situps

10 OHS @ 95w, 135m - I did 75 and worked on form

80 wallballs

10 deadlifts @ 185w, 275m

900 meter cash out row

First Friday - Linda

The three bars of death.

3 exercises and a rep scheme of 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 each.

Deadlift - 150% of bodyweight, Bench at bodyweight and squat clean at 75%. I still weight between 160-163. I rounded down to 160 to match when I did Linda in January as noted in this post in 25:58.

That was the first time I had done it and I went out fast - unbroken sets to start - and I fatigued. Today, I held back and partitioned the deadlifts into 2 sets to start and the squat cleans pretty much all singles with no breaks. Bench press I only had to partition one set.

Time - 23:01. I could have gone a little faster, but not much. Next time.

Pistol Up

An awesome wod that I really got after. I have to say that I kicked it into another gear.

11 rounds as follows:

muscle ups 1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1

pistols 2,4,6,8,10,12,10,8,6,4,2

box jumps. 3,6,9,12,15,18,15,12,9,6,3

Time 25:20

Now I could pick my performance apart. I only flashed the first few rounds of muscle ups. My pistols were crap. I was slow on some of the box jumps.

But I will focus on the positive. I was nailing the muscle ups. 36 in total and only 4 misses. I strung the first 5 rounds all together. And then the 3 and 2 rounds on the way back. So that is 8 out of 11 rounds.

Now, I am tired, and getting ready to be sore.

In other news. My knee feels 99.5% better after a phone consult with Kelly Starrett. My fee. See the link below. Seriously. That is the deal we cut:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9RRoKEQjDI

Run, Clean & Jerk

800m run/15 C&J (135#)

600m run/10 C&J (135#)

400m run/5 C&J (135#)

Time 16:47

Slowed greatly by the running. My foot hurt. The faster I tried to go and the harder I pushed off, the more it hurt. So no speed outside.

Worked through the C&J with few pauses.

First day back = brutal

Heaving snatch balance and a 10 minute metcon of OH plate lunges and d/u's. After a week of non crossfitting and non mobility - this sucked for me.

An hour of KStarr at Google

Well worth it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfg_e6YG37U&feature=player_embedded

Vacation recap - Get outta here.

So I have been away for a week. Due to some particular hecticness at work this year, June 22-26 was the first vacation I have had this year. I took off the Friday before Presidents day off and the Friday of the Mid Atlantic CrossFit Regionals off. And I worked remotely both of those days. Seriously, that is it. Not to mention all of the late nights, weekends, etc. Work has been bad. But perhaps finally getting better.

So Stella is out of school and we like to get away after that. Last year we went to Yellowstone Park and this year Yosemte. See a pattern here? I like to go west and see some wide open spaces and hike a bit with the family. I don't love crowds. The other week in NYC we walked through Times Square. I almost had a panic attack.

But even at these parks you have to be careful. At both Yosemite (the main lodge) and Yellowstone (Old Faithful Lodge) there can be crowds. Busloads of people come in each day. Luckily - as it is the rest of America - these people are lazy. The hardly go anywhere that a car can't get to, if not a car and a 5 minute or less walk. So we were in luck.

I did zero crossfit workouts while away. The Paleo challenge wod was my last one. That makes 7 full days without a wod. Longest break I have taken in 2+ years. Time will tell if that was helpful for all the minor aches and pains. I bet so.

Mentally, it was great. Initially I had a hard time unplugging, but eventually did. I have not checked my work email since Wed night. Those 4 days might be the longest break in a year. It feels good.

And food? Not so good. I mostly observed my normal diet - which is pretty good. But towards the end of the week, I succumbed to some treats. A few beers, a few desserts, french toast. The last was at San Francisco Airport. They must have the best airport food in the world. No crappy airport food at all. Best french toast I have ever had.

So what did I do? Well - we hiked a little. We rode horses, we spent a day with a Park Ranger. Hung out with the family. A high note: the Mist Trail was one of the coolest hikes I have ever taken. About a 4.5 hour loop up and down a very steep rocky grade along a waterfall. Parts were so steep, that you were almost hands and knees. And all the while, a torrent of icy water spray from the Vernal Falls absolutely soaked you. But you are rewarded with great views. And soon, and huge slab of granite perfect for soaking up the sun, drying off, resting and eating. Below is an example of the climb. It was awesome.

We also toured San Francisco before flying home. Took the touristy bus ride. It was good. I could seriously live there, and lately have thought about it.

But for now, back to reality. Time to fix up the diet and get back to work. And CrossFit.

The Mist Trail up to Vernal Falls. Keep climbing, and climbing. There are > 1,000 steps on this leg of the trail.

Paleo Challenge - test wod

Most people did Kelly, but since I will be on crutches, I made up something that I can repeat on July 31.

3 rounds:

10 ring dips

20 pullups

30 pushups

40 ab mat

16:03 and I was struggling. That was tougher than I expected, and I had serious muscle fatigue. Round 1 was unbroken, but by the end I was doing 3 pushups and having to rest. Wow.

Fri - Sq Cleans x 2 and Elizabeth

It was a day to disregard the weight and the clock and work on form. Sq Cleans are a great exercise - if you do them correctly. And I have a tendency to both pull early with my arms and also to not get under fast enough. So I had a lot to work on.

I started at a very light 95 and added 20 each round. The time limit was 12:00, so not a ton of time. After 175 I opted to add only 10 more and did 185 for 2. My form was good and I have confidence for the next time to get 200 or more. I made sure to keep my arms locked straight all the way through the explosive jump, and then get down fast. It seemed to go all right.

Then Elizabeth, which is 21/15/9 of 135# sq cleans and ring dips. I did all singles, but did not need much rest. Powered through in just over 10 for my first time. I like this wod.

Thurs Metcon

3, 4, or 5 Rounds:

20 GHD Situps
20 KB Swing
20 Pullups
20 Sledge Strike
20 Double-under

I ended up being stupid and not taping up before the wod. The combination above tore my hands quickly and I had to tape up in round 3 and I quit after 4.

Thrusters and running

3 rounds - 800m run. then 21 thrusters at 95#.

I sucked at this. My toe hurt and I could not run. Very depressing. I was last back from the first run and then was out of gas for the thrusters. Not pretty.

Deadlifts x 1 - 380#

The slow, steady creep towards a 400# deadlift continues.

I started 135x5, 225 x3 and then singles of 295,345,380, 400(f). This was the first time I ever loaded 400# on the bar and tried to lift it. And it when NOWHERE!. Granted, I had just lifted a PR of 380 and it was a bit of a struggle. The lift of 345 was a piece of cake - which surprised me.

I don't think that I will get 400# before my foot surgery in a month. But I will get it. And by the end of 2011 seems like a realistic goal. I will be out until Sept and then working my way back.

Front Squat x3 and metcon

Got 215 - although one rep was high. Attempted 225# and got 2. I am close.

Quick metcon. It is really hot.

Hot Helen

Temp almost 100 muggy degrees. Foot - sore.

Perfect time for Helen.

Time 12:07. Not great, but for me not bad given how slowly I am running these days. I was pretty good on the inside part. Only having to partition the last round. The runs were very, very slow. I should be closer to 11 minutes.

Split Jerk, then metcon

Worked on the split jerk and of all things, my wrist was very sore. I worked to 175 and then called it a day. It was not heavy.

Metcon - I gave Regional WOD 1 a try. 1000m run, 30 hspu, 1000 row. Time 8:59. The run was ok being fully rested to start, the 30 hspu were not hard for me. I lost my balance once and had to kick back up after 18. Then I did the row. I had a 1:50 pace early on, but it slipped to 2 and then 2 and a little. Very painful and easy to give in. My back was on fire from the pulls. It is a good time and one of the only Regional Wods I would have done decently at.

Back Squat x3

Worked up to 235x3.

More worked up about AJ Moore and his saga:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_232519443431900

Regionals

What a show by the athletes, and yet a bit of a debacle with regards to judging. Is this CrossFit or Wrestlemania. Team CFOT did amazing and I am proud of the way they represented. On the one hand the team was the victem of suspect judging - twice - but as a spectator I can also admit that their were some teams that were better. Only the top three teams go to the Games and Team RAW is legit. Sadly, so is CrossFit BWI - who is a bad judging event from going as well. I feel for them.

But the story of the weekend so far is Men's competitor AJ Moore, who with 59 no reps on KB swings - went from 1st to 5th. I have never seen him before, but he is built like a tank and I am sure that he can handle a 53# KB. Guess the judge thought otherwise. No offense to Spencer Hendel, but if you make the Games over AJ, you should bow out - cause I have seen AJ out perform you 4 workouts in a row - no matter what the judges say about his KB swings.

Jason Hoggan won the brutal deadlift / box jump wod. He is a bad ass, but it is little consolation as he entered the day in the bottom third of the standings. He made up huge ground on day 2 because he is legit and determined. But the hspu wod on Day 1 (24th place out of 31) killed him. He has a range of motion issue that was evident in the Sectionals Open. His over head lock out is not really what most peoples look like. Not sure if his arms don't extend fully, if his triceps are so developed that you can't tell, or what, but they called a ton of no reps on him on the hspu. Ironically, he is one of the fittest dudes around and the thing that did him in is the one and only thing I am really any good at. I bet he makes it to The Games next year.

The women's side seems to be controversy free. And there is an epic Sunday battle brewing. Games vet Christy Phillips struggled (imagine if you were 9th fittest person in the region and everyone says you are "struggling") on Day 1, she gained on Day 2, but is still outside of the top three with 2 events to go. Becky C is the most impressive and consistent athlete at the Mid Atlantic Regionals and has a lock on 1st place. Gretchen K is a solid 2nd place, and if it were not for Becky - would be dominating. So can Christy make up ground? She will have to earn it with top finishes in both final events. And Coutney Modecki is in 14th place. I mention that only because I can't stop looking at her.

Thats a rap.

Front Squat x2, then tabata that

After all this time I was able to work up to 225x2. And it felt good. I bet I could add a little more still.

225# has never felt so comfortable on my shoulders. Usually, I mentally give up as soon as I get it off the rack. But I was aggressive and it felt solid. Helped to lift with Lee, who is a bigger stronger guy than I am. Looked easy for him, so I just did what he did.

Tabata - I tried to pick a # and stay with it. I was not born yesterday, and I do not need to do 25 pushups in round 1 anymore.

Push ups -11

ab mat -11

squat -10

pullup- 8 then 6 for the last 2.

Total - 320 or so. Not really sure.

Push Press x3, then metcon

Worked with Joe_Hart and Steve - Got up to 190. I can do more.

Met con of 9,12,15 Ring Dips, box jump and wall ball. 10:50. I need work.

Deadlift gauntlet and interval metcon

Every minute on the minute - 1 deadlift. Add 20# each minute.

I started with Jared at 250 and got 350. Missed 350 the first time. Got it after 1 more minute.

3 x 250m row and 20 burpees. 2 minutes rest in between. Just over 2 minutes on the first and 2:30 by the last.

Next time you are out of town and want to get a work out in. Try a variation on this. Run 200m and do 20 burpees. Rest 2 minutes in between. If you get past 4 intervals - that is a solid workout for you.

A very special blog post

Today the family and I are in NYC. It is Memorial Day Weekend, the weather is beautiful, and I am happy. Although, along the way I had a very deep thought and a revelation.

A few years ago, when my daughter was still much younger - we came to to NY and visited the Central Park Zoo. It is a 5 minute cab from the heart of Midtown Manhattan, and is an oasis from hustle and bustle. Being at the far south end of the park - you are surrounded by grass, and trees, and bamboo and pools - but you can still hear the traffic and see the tall buildings.The zoo is not a real zoo. There are a dozen exhibits, tops. But it is the only zoo I know within walking distance of Bergdorf Goodman. So it will do.

On that random trip a few years ago we visited their Polar Bear exhibit. Two older bears - Gus and Ida - occupy a nice enclosure complete with a deep pool and lots of rocky space. You can watch them from above, and you can see them through the windows one level down under water. Our daughter Stella loves Polar Bears. Her Kindergarten class was named the Polar Bears, and her 3 favorite stuffed animals are all .... yeah... Polar Bears.

Gus and Ida were frisky that day. They were playing with toys, swimming all over, and diving down to the bottom and back, again and again. Stella was in heaven and would not leave. We spent the better part of 2 hours watching the bears. We chased them up the stairs and down the stairs, over and over. Best day of her little life, and therefore ours too.

So fast forward to this trip. Remembering all that fun, we went back to NY and the first order of business would be to visit Gus and Ida. The weather was perfect, the trip was easy - and the bears? Awesome right?

Not so much. Gus was taking a big ol' bear nap. Face first on a rock - the dude was racked out and not waking up. And Ida? Never ever saw her. There was no frolicking or swimming or playing. No nothing. We did see some other exhibits and it was still a nice afternoon - all in all. But not the same and not what we had expected.


WAIT - What is MarkyD doing? This blog post has nothing to do with CrossFit.


Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. In Crossfit, in life - there are moments. Perfect little moments. By and large - they are unplanned and unexpected - which makes them all the more perfect. And frankly, when you try to plan The Magic - it rarely appears. So don't try. Instead you have to let go. Be in the moment. Just make the most of what you are doing.

Right now I am counting down to major foot surgery. Changes are - it will be end up fine, and my Crossfit performances will improve in the long run. But there is no small chance that it won't. There could be complications. I could end up no better off than I am now, and the slightest possibility exists that I could end up worse. Worse as in - I can never really fully Crossfit again. Never compete again. Never equal what I have done again. As you get into your 40s it is not like those thoughts don't scream in your head enough as it is, so add a surgery in there and you can imagine where my head is right now. Let's not even thing about Chad (and Sue) moving cross country - my coworker of 9 years, bro and crossfit partner in crime.

So for all these deep thoughts. I have a response. I am just living in the moment and enjoying Crossfit a whole lot right now. Even when we run and I come in last place cause I am half functional. Every lift feels great, every met-con feels terrible but awesome. Every handstand pushup - pure heaven.

And as I stood there at the zoo today - watching that lazy piece of crap Polar Bear drooling on a rock doing nothing - I realized that living in the moment is all that you can do. Cause you cannot plan and manipulate those perfect moments. They just happen when you are not trying. Just doing what you do. And the more you enjoy every moment of every thing you do, the more perfect moments there will be. Unplanned, unexpected, unparalleled. Just perfect.

Thrusters and Cleans, oh my

15 minutes to work up to a heavy - but perfect form- squat clean thruster

I did 95, 115, 135, 155, 165, 185 (f) and then 175. Needed more speed. 185 was a mess. Of all things my wrist hurt.

Then 15 minutes for a 1 rep clean
I did 175, 185, 195, 205, 215(f), 215(f but very close)
195 was the best clean I have ever done. It was perfect.

Have a good holiday. I am off for a mini vacation.

Cindy + Running

Thursday 5/26/11: 5 rounds of a a double dose of Cindy (10/20/30) plus a 400m run.

I was ok inside. I was out the door in 1:30 after the first 10 pullups, 20 pushups and 30 airsquats. Also, I never had to break up the 10 pullups - while they hurt, I was glad that I could string them together.

But outside was rough. Not only was it 90 degrees, but my foot was really killing me. I am looking forward to getting that fixed, despite the long layoff. I never passed anyone on a run, and was passed several times. My stride is so short, as I cannot push off at all on my left foot. More of a shuffle - a limping shuffle. My first 400m run was 2:00+ - and that was before I was tired.

5 rounds in 25:47. which was near the back of the pack.

Foot Surgery = 8 weeks of limited CF

Got the X-rays back and the results are bad. My bone spur issue is bad and needs major corrective surgery.

It all stems from breaking my toe 10 years ago. It never healed correctly. In a way, this is a good thing. I limp when I walk and cant really press off my left foot. I have been compensating for years and more so lately. It has created all sorts of imbalances and limitations.

So July 13 - I will get it fixed. From what I understand:
1 week of crutches and no impact
2 more weeks of a boot and mild impact
5 more weeks of walking but low impact + some rehab

So, I technically can row, pullup, and other non toe related work after a few days - or a week. And back at it right after labor day.

Not sure how I am going to survive.

Crossfit/Reebok Co-Marketing Fail

If you are going to have Reebok be the main sponsor of the CrossFit games, then when you look for Reebok apparel and type "CrossFit" in the search box, this should not happen. Easytone sneakers are the first product they recommend!

Reebok FAIL
CrossFit FAIL
Fitness FAIL

Tuesday - regional Wod 4 (sort of)

75 reps each of:
pullup
53# kb swing
double under
ohs (95#)

30 minute time limit

The pullups went fine - about 4 minutes - although my hands were hurting. The KB swings just exhausted me. The double unders were ok, but I was already tired.

I had to scale the ohs squat to 75#. And tool almost 15 minutes to get them done. By the end - it was 3-4 reps and drop. Ouch.

Monday - Regional wod 1 and 2

21-15-9 reps for time of: Deadlift (275lbm/ 185lb) Box jump (30”/24”) - 7:38. Very tough for me. My hands started to tear and the box jumps seemed very high. Did the last 9 plyo. Just sold out cause I wanted it to be over.

30 hspu for time. 0:47. Just banged out all without coming off the wall. I could go a little faster.