Back to Burpees?

*16 hour fast*

One-footed climbing at IW: 9(o), 9(o), 10a(f), 9(f), 9(o)
100 Burpees, sets of 10

One-footed climbing is pretty hard. The first climb I did was actually technically the hardest, because I left my shoe OFF my left foot, and the climb was slab on the back wall so didn't have much in the way of jugs. Try doing pullups on a pair of underclings. It's hard. After that I discovered that the inverted/roofy routes were better, as they would often have giant buckets from which to hop up the wall, and it's good to have the shoe on, even loosely, on the left foot to do little limp-maneuvers while getting the right foot up. It's weird intentionally violating one of the most fundamental rules of climbing: to use your feet. But it's a good workout - lots of big dynamic moves, and pretty pumpy. My ankle is actually feeling pretty good lately, so I think next time (Friday) I might be able to climb more regularly.

I tried simply hanging off the biggest hold on the campus board and failed. Something to work on.

So, burpees. Yeah. I was able to do 100, in good ol' sets of 10 with long rests. I weighted both feet, but kept most of my weight on the right foot on the landings. Am I back in? I dunno. My deficit currently stands at 471, with 21 days left in the challenge. Even if I did 100/day for the rest of the time, I wouldn't catch up, so it'd require some devoted effort to make it up. Not sure how I feel about it, to be honest.

Cindy

In 20 minutes, how many rounds of:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats.

Results ... I have no frickin idea. probably 9 or 10 rounds plus 7 pushups.

I, once again, idiotically, decided to try to time every exercise, instead of each round. Not only did my watch run out of laps, but after round 16, for some completely inexplicable reason, started basically quadrupling my round times. I definitely got 6 rounds in the first 10 minutes. But then - even though my watch stopped @ 18.5 minutes - presumably when it ran out of rounds and/or because i didn't start it until i was a few reps into my first pushup round, if i add up the lap times for rounds 16 through 26, i get 36 minutes!!! Yeah - that's not right at all.

Items I can extrapolate from the data from the first six rounds: my pullups and squats were holding pretty consistent around the 25-30 second mark each. My pushup rounds were getting progressively longer with each round. round 1 was about 25 seconds - round 6 was about 1:10. I am sure that this continued to get longer with each round except the last one where i gave up and moved to knee pushups since I was trying to squeeze in a last round before time ran out.

So - say my first 6 rounds took just over 10 minutes say 10:10 ... round 7 probably took 2:20 - 12:30?. Round 8: 2:30 - 15:00, Round 9 2:35 - 17:35 ?

I remember that I finished my last full round with about a minute left, and it would have been faster than the round before it because all pushups were knee pushups instead of full ROM. So i guess it's possible i finished 10 rounds plus 7 push ups. It's hard to know for sure how much my pushups really slowed down. I definitely got at least 9 rounds.

I'm really irritated i don't know for sure. I was looking forward to finally having a benchmark for this workout.

Aside from this issue - i think that my jumping pull-ups were strong, and my squats were better than they've been, but still need work. And I'm considering taking on a pushup challenge to try to improve my pushup stamina. I can get the first 10 pretty easily. But it doesn't take long for them to completely fall apart. I was pretty determined to try to make all my pushups full ROM for this workout - and i would say tyhat except for the last 1.5 rounds about 90% of them were. In each of the later rounds, i could get about the first 4 and then was reduced to sets of 2 and 1 to finish them out. I probably could have gotten 11 or more rounds if i had reverted to knee pushups since these were definitely my limiting factor. STILL - on the otherhand, i am pretty darn excited to have ANY full ROM pushups :-D

Cindy

Despite being a bit sore from FGB, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to do Cindy today. Not sure why, but Cindy has always been one of my favorite CF workouts - it was the very first one I did, so maybe that's what earned it its special place in my heart. It's not like she isn't as much of a punishing, brutal bitch as the other CF girls.

*18 hour fast*

In 20 minutes, how many rounds of:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats.

13 rounds (PR).

My goal was 15, so I'm a little bummed. The last time I did this was May 15, when I got 10 rounds. Three more rounds in four months - I could wish for more. On the plus side, my pullups were always strong and consistent kips, and weren't what killed me - it was the pushups.

I won't post all my splits, as that's not very interesting, but here are the salient points: My fastest round was 0:54. My slowest was 1:58. The average of all rounds was exactly 1:30. I'll need to get that down to 1:20 to get 15. Hopefully next time!

The Final Fight Gone Bad

Today was FGB3, and the culmination of three weeks of FGB-specific training. Max has promised that we won't need to do FGB again for several months. Hallelujah! That said, today was actually pretty good - particularly since I was worried about my ankle dragging my score down.

* 21 hour fast *

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
SDHP 75#	16	16	16
Box Jump 20"	21	21	21
Push-Press 75#	11	11	11
Row	16	17	16
Wall-Ball 20#	16	16	14

For a total score of 239 RX(i). 14 points better than last week. I couldn't do box JUMPS because of my ankle, so I did step-ups - everything else was RX.

The plan was to do the same thing I did last week, only with one more rep per exercise per round, which should have given me a score 15 points higher. It nearly worked out that way, too. Damn you, wall-ball! I didn't realize the end of the round was so close, and paused just a little too long for breath - my 15th wallball left my hands after Max called time, so didn't count. Fortunately, I accidentally did 17 calories of rowing in the second round (my eyes were closed), so only wound up ONE MEASLY POINT below goal. Oh well - I can live with that.

I expected the step-ups to be easier than the jumps, but they weren't, really - Max pointed out that it's the same amount of work (ie, moving the same amount of weight the same distance), which is true, but primarly they're just so damn SLOW that they filled the whole minute, only giving me a few seconds to catch my breath before the push-presses. When jumping, I was able to sit and rest for ~20 seconds, which made a real difference - so they felt about equivalent.

FGB III - huge PR!

Warmup: Mobility Exercises, 25 air squats, 30 situps, 10 pushups, run 400m


WOD: Fight Gone Bad

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 14 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 55 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 55 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

Results:

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Total
Wall-Ball 14#	8	8	9	25(+4)
SDHP 55#	9	8	7	24(+3)
Box Jump	16	16	16	48(+1)
Push-Press 45#	9	8	6	23(+7)!
Row	13	12	11	36(+4)
TOTAL	55 (+11)	52 (+5)	49 (+3)	156 (+19)!!!

For a total score of 156. 19 points higher than last time and 8 points higher than my previous PR with lower weights for the wall ball and SDHP!!!!.

HOLY COW! 'nuff said. (... there might be a few wall ball reps in here that weren't technically quite high enough ... shhh.)

I'm very much looking forward to a retun to Crossfit as normally scheduled and a departure from the 31 flavors of FGB Max has inflicted on us ... I admit that - clearly - looking at my scores from the last several weeks - it paid off ... but I'm still glad it's over with.

Also - today I nearly got a deadhang and a kipping pull up! Well - half a deadhang. THis morning before leaving to go to the gym i decided to see what i could do on our pullup bar at home - i started with my arms bent - and got the bar to about eye level. - probably about 6 inches up or so.

And then after the workout i tried a kipping pullup and ALMOST got it ... i got my eyes up to the bar - just another few inches!

In other news, I tweaked my left knee a little bit last week when trying (and utterly failing) to climb an exceptionlaly stemmy 5.10 a/b last Sunday. My knee was definitely unhappy the rest of that day - and it's been sort of complaining in a low whine this past week. It really didn't like me trying to jump up on to the 20" box on Wednesday since it was doing most of the work, and Thursday's running for Nicole was also hard. ... and while it didn't bother me at all during FGB today, it was aching both before, and definitely after. I know Daniel wants to do Cindy tomorrow - and frankly, i do too, but I'm not sure how happy it will be about the squats. .... :-p darn it. Maybe I'll just do right legged pistols ... ROFL! ... right ... (Max you can just ingnore that thought as crazy talk ;-) ).

Nicole

Warmup: 10 burpees, 20 pushups, 40 situps, 160m carying a 25# sandbag, 160 w/sandbag overhead

WOD:

Nicole
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
Run 400 meters
Max rep Pull-ups

Results - jumping pullups:
5 rounds 15-15-15-13-15

400m	pullups
time HR	# time HR
1:59 161 (pr!)	15 0:48 174
2:14 174	15 0:52 178
2:28 175	15 1:22 172
2:33 174	13 1:35 171
2:36 174	15 2:34 160
Total	73 pullups

I'm not sure how close the GWPC roof run actually is to 400m, so I'm not sure whether to call it a PR.

I finished my last round a little early - not early enough to fit in another run and more pullups.

It one sense I wish I had done ring rows instead of jumping pullups because it's easier to figure out your max reps. With real pullups you stop as soon as you let go of the bar, but you can hang there trying to rest a bit to get the last few reps in. With jumping pullups, since you can reach the ground, it's hard to approximate that point of 'max' reps.

So - i think i could have done more reps at the beginning if I had been able to figure out what constituted "letting go of the bar". But, I definitely feel like i worked hard, so I'm not sad to have "lost" a few reps.

My first couple runs felt good - my last one was awful. My hips and knees hurt. i think that going around that little track puts undue stress on my inside leg - going round and round those corners. I wonder how long the "track" would be if we did a figure 8 around two sets of window banks? I probably also need to invest in a proper pair of running shoes. The bottoms of my feet always feel abraded after any significant amount of running.

Still - it was good not to be doing FGB ;-)

5x5's at home

No chance of doing Nicole today, and didn't feel like riding my bike across town to watch everyone else doing the WOD, so I made up a little something at home.

5 x...
5 weighted pullups (5#)
10 weighted pushups (5#)
5 L-sit leg raises

All the pullups were full-ROM deadhangs. I don't have the facility for dips at home, so chest-to-deck slow pushups with a weight around my neck was the best I could come up with.

Felt like a decent recovery workout. The last couple sets were hard to complete with strict form.

Ankle's feeling a bit better every day.

no. more. FGB. ugh.

Warmup: Mobility Exercises, some attempts at a pullup, some pushups, some situps, etc.

WOD:

Choose ONE of the following exercises and perform 150 reps for time:
Row (one calorie = one rep)
Wall-Ball 20#/14# (AKA "Karen")
Sumo Deadlift High Pull 75#/55#
Box Jump 20"
Push-Press 75#/55#

I didn't know what to choose. Rowing is the easiest. I was tempted to choose this. I suck at push-press - 150 would have taken me all frickin day and left me tired for days. I thought I might be able to successfully jump up onto the 24" box using the wall like i did for murph gone bad on the 10" box. I tried it a couple times before the workout started. It was hard but doable. I decided to make this my exercise to see if i could move this one step closer to doing FGB as Rx.

On my 10th jump I didn't quite make it all the way on to the box, and garnered my first real CF war wound:




Interestingly, the skin never broke. It's a bruise that's as close to a gash as you can get without actually bleeding. Damn box jumps and damn balance issues.

So - since i was a whole 9 reps into the 150 rep workout - i decided that I'd just start over and switch to rowing after all - it'd keep me off my feet.

I rowed 151 calories in 12:28. My speed was realy consistent - i was at 50 calories at about the 4:00 mark and 100 calories at about the 8 minute mark. I rowed a total of 2649 meters, with a average of 2:21/500m.

James rowed his 150 calories in just about11 minutes and rowed a bit more than 2400 meters. Considering that James is much fitter and stronger than I am, I'm pretty psyched that i came in only about 1:00 longer than his time.

Karen Gone...kinda Bad

Well, like it or not (I don't.) it looks like I'm in a recovery week. In his long-running quest to make Crossfoie Gras by shoving Fight Gone Bad down our throats until we die, Max lobbed us a relatively easy one today: Karen Gone Bad.

*17 hour fast*

Choose ONE of the following exercises and perform 150 reps for time:

Row (one calorie = one rep)
Wall-Ball 20#/14# (AKA "Karen")
Sumo Deadlift High Pull 75#/55#
Box Jump 20"
Push-Press 75#/55#

100 Push-Press 75#, 16:20

I chose Push-Press, because A) I suck at it, and 2) It's one of the least ankle-intensive movements of the bunch. Still, I had a hard time getting a good drive from the legs, and wound up compensating with the shoulders and arms, making it harder. Plus, I suck at it. My ankle was starting to feel sore, so I called it a day at 100, and left feeling dissatisfied. Yeah, it was hard, but it wasn't CROSSFIT hard. This is why I'm terrible about doing 50% recovery weeks - I just feel like I'm treading water. Which is really the point, in this case - my body should be concentrating on repairing my ankle, not repairing torn muscle tissue, and I should be focusing on just doing enough to keep my body in the game so I can re-enter the game at 100% when I'm ready without killing myself like I did with that Murph after vacation.

...doesn't mean I have to like it.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 3

Interesting developments this week:

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,386
Fat: 133g (49%)
Carbs: 111g + 24g fiber (21%)
Protein: 175g (30%)

Results:
Weight: 181 (-0 lbs, 7lbs total)
Waist: 32.75 (-0.25", 1.25" total)
Bodyfat: 12.5% (-0.5%, 2.5% total)
Percentage to goal: 63%

Didn't lose any weight this week, which is fine as long as my waist keeps going down. In fact, I'm a bit puzzled at how I could stay the same weight and lose another quarter inch. Could be just flux within the measurements, could be I'm somehow managing to gain a little muscle along with losing fat, which would be something of a holy grail if true. All other body measurements are essentially the same.

So, the bad news: first, I fell off the carb wagon a little bit. Had both pasta and cheesecake at a friend's birthday party, and >100g a couple other days. Not the end of the world, but off goal a little bit. Second, I sprained my ankle while climbing on Monday, which will have an effect on my workouts for the near future. It'll force me to miss two or three HIIT sessions (I'm going to try one-legged rowing tonight), and it has forced me to drop my daily burpees (not sure if that's good or bad news, actually). Without the HIIT, I would expect the rate of fat loss to diminish, so I may not get my .25" off this week. I may try and lower calories and prolong fasts a little to compensate.

But there is a bright side: I noticed a bit of ab definition reappearing in the mirror this week, which was a pleasant surprise. Still very slight, but I didn't expect to see ANY until 32.25" (the last time I saw it), so not sure what's happening there.

As far as the IF goes, it has become quite easy and habitual. Probably TOO habitual, as my fasting is following a predictable pattern based on my schedule, so I should probably be mixing it up more. It is difficult not to fast when the opportunity arises, as fasting days are easier than non-fasting ones.

Well....crap.

Went to Ironworks this morning. Warmed up on a nice 10a. Felt perhaps a bit more tired than I thought I was, but since I climbed a bunch yesterday that's totally understandable. Feeling a bit nervous, I hopped on my very first 11a ever.

Two moves up, I slip, fall, and twist my ankle on the landing.

I don't know how bad it is. It hurts like a bitch when I put weight on it, but it fine otherwise. I stayed home today and am icing and elevating and taking ibuprofen, and the swelling isn't too bad...there is a little discoloration.

Twist? Sprain? Obscure tiny bone broken? Dunno yet. My hunch is that it's a light sprain, but I'll have a better idea after a day or two. It may have knocked me out of the burpee challenge - more than a couple days out and I'll be deeper in debt than I'm interested in paying off. More alarmingly, it may have knocked me out of the TRS comp on Friday and/or the Fight Gone Bad benefit Saturday. We'll just have to rest, recover, and hope.

Injuries are a pain in the ass.

Great day o' climbing

Decided to forego CF today in favor of getting on the wall, something we've been missing a bit lately. So off we went to GWPC, where I climbed:

10a, 10d(f), 10d(o!), 10c(o), 10a/b(o)

FIVE climbs, TWO d's, and only one fall! And even then the fall was not from muscle exhaustion, it was because I made a dynamic semi-jump out of what should have been a smooth, controlled move, and slid off the greasy hold. Second-to the last move, too. I was pissed.

Both the d's were set by Jim. The first was a pretty straightforward start and finish sandwiching a nice series of awkward, technical moves inside a body-width diagonal dihedral - good rests when you could find them. The second was a mean piece of work on the edge of an exposed bit of wall with a slight negative, involving the same pattern of movements repeated three times (lie way back on a big hold and then step WAY out and pull/push up onto the foothold), each time with smaller holds on a steeper bit of wall. I was actually really surprised I made it up this one without falling. It MAY be my first onsight 10d, I'm not sure.

The 10c was an arete climb that seemed way over-rated - the 10a I warmed up on felt harder - and the 10a/b was just because it looked like it had some fun stemming, and I like stemming. It did, too, and I was tired enough that it was still quite challenging.

I really like climbing at the Power Company - it's good for the ego. The walls are not so massively overhung like they are at Ironworks, so you don't get pumped so quickly or have to muscle your way over so many roofs. There are also lots of nice features that allow the setters to mix things up within climbs, so it's not ALL stemming or ALL face, but you get good variety.

Tomorrow is Ironworks with Tor. We'll see how that goes.

Fight gone bad - again >.<

Warmup: Mobility Exercises, 10 Burpee/sun salutations, 20 10# med ball cleans, 10 pushups, run 400m(2:53/162), 50 air squats. (40 were done before class - 2x10 with a resistance band, and 20 'free')

WOD: Fight Gone Bad

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 14 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 55 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 55 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

Results:

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Total
Wall-Ball 14#	7	7	7	21
SDHP 55#	7	7	7	21
Box Jump	15	17	15	47
Push-Press 45#	5	5	6	16
Row	10	11	11	32
TOTAL: Avg HR	44: 167	47: 174	46: 178	137: 172

For a total score of 137. 11 points lower than last time. But I moved up to the RX weight for both the wall ball and the SDHP.

Comments
Once again, I'm pretty pleased with how this workout went, despite thinking twice about going to class because it was going to BE this workout. I'm starting to miss our usual CF variety, and I am glad we're going to be done with this next week.

The MOST exciting part about today's workout was moving up to women's Rx weight for Wall Ball and SDHP and not losing that much in my score. I showed good consistency across the two exercises with the heavier weights, and my box jumps were nearly identical to last time. Unfortunately I lost 34 points in my push presses. I think this is probably directly attributable to going heavier with the wall ball and SDHP - especially since the PP came after both of the other two.

I'm still stepping up to the 20" box, and the PP are still 45# instead of 55 - but I was MUCH closer to Rx with today's workout.

We stuck around after class to cheer Max on through his Filthy 50 workout. While he was working I worked a little bit on my pull ups. I think I'm getting really close to being able to do them. I found that if I jumped up to the bar, and didn't quite make it, I could sort of kick my way the rest of the way up. I'm also MUCH better at controling my descent from the bar. I really need to start GTG with these - i think i could probably get them in a month or two if i put some more concentrated effort into training them regularly.

Fight Gone Bad....again

*18.5 hour fast *

Apparently Max's grand scheme for training us for the big charity FGB next week is to do a whole lot of workouts in the FGB scheme, capped by a real FGB every weekend. It wasn't really much of a surprise, but when Rebecca looked up the workout this morning and reported it was FGB again, we both had a moment of "aw, shit...maybe we should call in sick."

The mojo was not strong. Even after 9 hours of sleep my shoulders were still sore enough to border on "alarming," and I didn't have the sense of kick-assery that I woke up with last week. Still, like good little soldiers we suited up and headed down to battle.

I partnered up with James again, and this time he got to go first, which was good. He actually had a strategy in mind, which honestly hadn't occurred to me and inspired me to come up with one as well, which made me more interested in doing the workout since I had a concrete goal to work towards.

So with that in mind, check out THIS bad-assness:

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
SDHP 75#	15	15	15
Box Jump 20"	20	20	20
Push-Press 75#	10	10	10
Row	15	15	15
Wall-Ball 20#	15	15	15

For a total score of 225. 4 points better than last week.

Yeah, baby! Absolute consistency. Definitely a very different feel from before - early rounds feel quite easy, like you really shouldn't be stopping with 30 seconds left on the clock, but the late rounds, my God, were nightmarish. It was good to do it this way, though...I'm not really sure which method I prefer. Next week I'm thinking doing the same thing, just one rep more for each exercise - which would put me at 240, an admirable score for someone like me, I think. This is doable, I think, with a combination of a stronger attitude heading in and more efficient resting (ie, deeper breaths) in the breaks that I give myself.

Oh, I also did 30 burpees before and 39 after. 69, dude!

It's Friday. Why does it feel like Monday?

I was NOT in the mood this morning. Tired and more than a little sore, with a shoulder that hurts more than it should, I approached my morning with a very crappy outlook. Was it the early wake-up to get Rebecca to work on time for a meeting? Possibly. Poor nutrition? Doubtful. Too many fucking burpees? Quite likely.

*16 hour fast*

68 Burpees, performed in desultory and half-ass sets of 10.
30 minutes of treadmill, 6MPH pace

And that's it. Felt like it took forever, and now I feel wiped and quite creaky when I attempt to walk around. Maybe I'll manage a nap this afternoon. I hope my shoulder keeps it together.

Dipstick

Tonight was a bit of an odd one, as Rebecca had a PT appointment with Max an hour before class, so since I went with her I had some gym time butting right up against a CF class. I decided I'd start sketching out my new 5x5 plan: pullups & dips, with a side of static compression holds. All of this is with the ultimate goal of a muscle-up and a 30-second L-sit.

So, the workout was:

Pullups (unweighted): 5x5
Dips (unweighted): 5x5
Static leg-raises in the Captain's chair

The pullups were OK. I did them on the rings, slow and controlled with ZERO kip allowed, absolutely full ROM. I would start as a pullup and rotate to a chinup as I went - I don't know why, it's just comfortable for me that way. The last rep was always a challenge, but doable.

The dips....SUCKED. I have discovered a heretofore unknown deficiency in my capabilities: I can't dip for shit. I THOUGHT I was quite good at dips, but I was misinformed - my ROM was terrible. Going down as deep as I could tonight, I still couldn't hit maximum depth, and it felt like it was tearing up my front deltoid. GWPC doesn't have rings low enough for ring dips, but this is what I want to be working on, ideally. I have a ways to go on these...not sure when the right time to start adding weight will be.

The leg-raises were also pretty horrible. I got two 10-second rounds, and then managed to eke out a 15-second one. These are really hard. Damn long legs. I still can't do Richard Vanmeerbeek's sitting leg raises worth a damn, so I'll need to work up to those.

Then it was time for class, which had some warmup jazz before:

Three rounds of:
Double-Unders (Reps)
Burpees(Reps)
Double-Unders (Reps)
Burpees (Reps)
Double-Unders (Reps)
FGB-style

60 RX (ha!)

I'd already done 30 burpees this morning, so only really needed 37 more, but I did 10 every round anyway (for a total of 60). I did not get a single legitimate double-under (thus the pathetic score). But it wasn't for lack of trying - I was still hopping around and thrashing my legs with the damn rope. Add this to the long list of things I wish I could do but, for the moment, can't really.

Murph Gone Bad - 62%

Warmup: 10 rock n rolls, 10 sun salutations, run prep

WOD:

"Murph Gone Bad"

Run One Mile
100 calorie row
100 wall-ball 10#
100 KB SDHP 16KG
100 box jumps 20" Box *sub 10"
100 push-press 30#
Run one mile

Results
1:04:22 - 62%

Splits - rounds of 20 Reps
Run 1 mile: 11:41
Round 1: 12:55
Round 2: 13:21
Round 3: 17:27 (included an extra 10 box jumps while waiting for final row)
Transition: 1:41
Run(mostly walk) 800m: 7:06

Comments
Whew. This workout was a beast. I guess I'm not too surprised that last round was so slow. A little disappointed - but i think i spent a good chunk of time waiting for equipment. (not maybe a whole 4 minutes)

The first run was ... weird. I was able to do the whole mile with just two short walking segments 1 after the first half mile and 1 about half way through the second half mile. It was weird because my muscles felt pretty strong, but I was having trouble regulating my breathing and a side stitch was hovering right there the WHOLE run, but never really bit me hard.

I think that going for 5 rounds of 20 reps was a little overly ambitious, and i should have stuck to 10 reps - i spent a lot of time resting between reps 10, 15 and 20, that I could have been using working different muscles on a different exercise. - Except that much of my rest time was just trying to catch my breath, so I'm actually not sure that switching between exercises more actually would have helped ... I wish i had my heart rate monitor on, today, but i'm pretty sure it would have told me it was just high, all the time.

Max helped me figure out a way to use the wall for a little balance support for the box jumps, so i was able to jump to the 10" box instead of stepping up to the 20" box. I'd be curious to try the same technique with the taller box - but not in the middle of a workout like this one. The first jump was always the hardest - ie scariest. But once i got started they were totally manageable.

The coolest part of the workout was how consistent my wall ball was. There were, of course, a few reps that didn't go quite high enough, but the majority of the 60 reps I did were high enough and accurate and actually hit the X. This exercise is definitely the most improved, although I still can't quite chain the reps together. but it wasn't that long ago - 6 weeks? - that I was just super excited to get ONE. I guess I need to try it with the 14# ball. I expect it will be much harder, but I think I might actually have some hope of getting it up there.

Another achievement for the evening is doing 20 SDHP with the 55# KB. There was a backup for the rower, and the sub was doing a 55# SDHP for each calorie. The most I've ever done is the 44# weight, but I managed to get 20 done - by taking breaks to go do other exercises when i reached muscular failure - i think i took breaks @ #2, 8, 13,17 - after 2 I went to go see if maybe the other rower was available >:), the break @ 13 is when i got my extra 10 box jumps in, i think.

The last run was more of a pained walk - yes 7 minutes to go half a mile. I don't think the shoes i was wearing are any good for running. My feet really hurt, and my toes were cramping and sort of folding up in my shoes, and after about 200m the side stitch that had threatened all the way through the first run was right there and a lot more vicious. So I decided to call it quits at .5 miles. I figured I only did 60% of the workout, 75% of the 'running' would be sufficient - especially since it was more of an amble.

I would like to have gotten 70 or 80% complete, but i am still pretty happy with what i did accomplish. Regardless of performance, it has been a great improvement on my mood. I haven't gotten to work out since Saturday, and with work and family and election stress I've been in a really bad mood the past few days. Hooray for endorphins and the mood equalizing effect of a good workout. Maybe I'll actually be able to focus at work tomorrow - but only if i get my butt to bed.

Gnight.

Murph Gone Bad

Morning workout

66 Burpees, sets of 10
(2/3 of the way through...chronologically!)

And then, as if Murph wasn't bad enough, tonight we did:

"Murph Gone Bad"

Run One Mile
100 calorie row
100 wall-ball 14#
100 KB SDHP 24KG
100 box jumps 20" Box
100 push-press 45#
Run one mile

56:31 RX

Unfortunately my watch reset itself in my bag, so I don't have the splits. My first run was 7:40 or so, my second was ~10. That puts my average round at about 8 minutes, I think (I did five sets of 20 reps).

This was about 16 minutes faster than my last Murph, and while it was very hard, I don't think it will knock me on my ass like that one did. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. I did have the same experience in the final mile of a certain numbness creeping into my lips. I'm not sure what this means - I think I may have read it indicates severe strain on the CNS. I'll have to ask around to see if it's something to be worried about. That last mile is a massive, painful, insulting bitch. I think I'll nickname it "the Palin mile."

Intermittent Fasting: Week 2

Week 2 sees far less dramatic effects than week 1 (to be expected), but still good news:

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,289
Fat: 127g (49%)
Carbs: 89g + 21g fiber (18%)
Protein: 167g (30%)

Results:
Weight: 181 (-2 lbs, 7lbs total)
Waist: 33 (-0.25", 1" total)
Bodyfat: 13% (-0.5%, 2% total)
Percentage to goal: 50%

Before last week, a quarter-inch off the waist was the most I'd lost in a week, so that was what I projected out. If I can maintain that pace, then I should be at goal in four more weeks.

This week saw more variation than the strict regimen of the first week. My fasts went from 16-20 hours, and I had my first cheat meal (dinner at a fancy restaurant - though I did skip dessert). On average, however, the numbers are very similar to last week.

I continue to feel good on this regimen - even better, in fact. I got a +37 point PR on Fight Gone Bad this weekend while fasted, and in general am feeling lean again (it's amazing how much difference an inch or two on the waist makes). My muscle recovery also feels faster - I generally only feel sore one day after a workout, and didn't feel much soreness at all from FGB.

Monday, Monday

Took yesterday as a rest day (except the burpees), primarily because family and friend and work obligations prevented us from doing anything exciting.

* 16 hour fast *

This morning:

Climbing: 10a/b, 10d(dnf), 10c(o), 10d(f++)
64 Burpees, sets of 10
~45 minutes easy cycling on machine & bike

My finger felt good enough this morning for some of Ironworks' infamous overhang. The a/b has lots of big jugs but follows an overhanging arete for ~10 feet, so it's pretty pumpy. The first 10d I tried was HARD, and Tor agreed it felt more like an 11. I wasn't able to get more than ten feet up it, sadly. The c was a fun bit of inverted stemming over the cave mouth in the back - good climb. The final d was negative incline all the way up with an overhang, and I fell off it a TON. It's frustrating how I seem to be able to send just about every c I try, but d's are still giving me a lot of difficulty. I think maybe it's time to try my hand at an 11a, just to see what it's like.

I tried to do the burpees 10 every minute on the minute, but wasn't able to keep up after just three minutes. All 64 wound up taking me 8 minutes (2 minute-long rests).

The cardio was boring again, but I did it on one of the recumbent bike machines, which at least allowed me to read, and I was easily able to check that my heartrate was ~60-65% throughout.

We were supposed to do a 5x5 routine tonight, but it's looking like we might go visit my mom in the hospital instead.

Fight Gone Bad ... gone better :)

Warmup: Mobility Exercises, Run 400m, 15 burpees

WOD: Fight Gone Bad

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Total
Wall-Ball 10#	8	9	12	29
SDHP 44#	12	8	6	26
Box Jump	15	17	16	48
Push-Press 45#	8	6	6	20
Row	7	8	10	25
TOTAL	50	48	50	148

For a total score of 148. 27 points (22%) better than last time.

Comments
I'm pretty pleased with how this workout went - again :)

I was feeling a bit beat before the workout started - the prescribed warmup was run 800m and 25 burpees, but 200m into the run I was feeling winded and tired, and I figured it wasn't worth killing myself to try to get through the full 800m - the workout to come was going to be plenty hard enough. Same with the burpees.

The first round through with the wallball was horrible. I still got nearly 3 times the number i got for all three rounds last time (3), but my coordination was terrible - i kept losing the ball or hitting myself in the face with the ball or tripping over the ball i was supposed to be squatting down to. I am glad this was not on film. Round two was a little better - round three i kicked the butt ball out of the way altogether - and clearly that worked best of all. I think i was still getting good depth, but trying to sit down on a moving target with every rep really challenged my limited coordination.

In June's FGB with the SDHP i did as many reps as I could with the 44# weight and then moved to the 35# weight. This time I did about 75% more reps with the 44# weight and did not move down to the next weight on muscular failure - so while i did more reps with the heavier weight(15 vs. 26) , i lost out on the quantity of easier reps that sort of padded out my score the last time through (19). In fact - the SDHP is the only exercise I lost a significant amount on.

The box "jumps" - i'm still stepping up - were a tiny bit higher - but about the same 41 vs. 48

I effectively doubled my score on the push press. (!) :-D . last time on round 3 I moved to the 30# body bar which enabled me to pad my score a bit - but for rounds 1 & 2 I got twice as many this time with the 45# weight as i did the last time, and I was able to (barely!) maintain my round 2 # of reps through round 3.

When I sat down to row the first time the damper on the rower was @ 3. I never thought it really made any difference where the damper was but it sure does! With the damper @ 3 there is barely any resistance at all, and it is very very hard to generate power that way. In fact, since there was so little resistance, i actually ended up falling right off the back of the seat. so there was a good 10-15 seconds where i was just trying to get back on the seat. round 2 i asked Suen (my score keeper) to move the damper up to 5 and round 3 up to 7 - and you can tell from my increasing score that it really makes a difference. Next time - the damper is going to 10 for all three rounds.

Once the real workout started - and I was past that first, horrible(!) wall ball round, poppy energy was not a problem. I'm still glad that I didn't push it in the warmups, though.

I was wearing my heart rate monitor - it was my intention to try to track average heart rate for each exercise on each round - but, stupidly, i realized about half way through round two that I'd completely forgotten to start it. I just left it off.

The weirdest damn "diet" I've ever been on

Yesterday I had to cram 2400 calories of fat and protein into four hours. Today it was six.

This is not easy to do. The fasting has, I think, shrunk my stomach, so that a "normal" size meal is quite filling. So you wind up with situations like I had tonight: finding yourself with 2 hours to go and only 900 calories in the bank.

"Oh, shit!" you say to yourself, "I better get busy!"

So you cram down some EXTREMELY filling high-fat pesto-tofu-mozzarella salad, and toss a protein shake on top of that, and then half an hour later go out to Thai food where, still feeling stuffed, you fill up your plate and eye it in much the same way you might eye a 95# bar before your third round of thrusters. Then you mumble and groan and complain about how fucking full you are, and you've still failed to hit your caloric and protein goals for the day, but not TOO badly.

Diet, my ass.

Fight Gone Awesome

*18 hour fast*

Well, I was very curious to see how a hard metcon would go while fasted. I had fears of crashing hard after the first round, but that did not materialize. Indeed, I got a big PR! I am immensely pleased with today's workout.

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
SDHP 75#	19	14	12
Box Jump	18	13	14
Push-Press	11	8	10
Row	16	12	15
Wall-Ball 20#	27	17	15

For a total score of 221. 37 points (20%) better than last time.

How did it feel? Like hell, of course - it always does. Max was yelling at me for my last three exercises in the last round, which is probably why I managed to score higher in round 3 than 2. However, it DIDN'T feel like I might puke (...much), or like I might run out of gas. I felt the crisp, light, focused sensation that other IF'ers describe, and didn't have the waves of bad juju mid-exercise where the brain starts bargaining for longer breaks and starts abandoning work before the minute is up. The 15-second call was always a call to try for another couple reps, not a call to say "ah, fuck it." Exciting.

Where can I improve? Well, I think starting with Wall-Ball was the right call...or rather, ending with rowing. I think I could go with a higher damper setting on the rower for more calories. My weakest exercise is definitely the push-press - that's just muscle, really, and will take a long time to improve. I might be able to up my Box Jump if I hopped off the box as well as on, but that makes me nervous about my knee, so I play it safer by stepping down.

17 burpees left to do at some point today, and then I'm done.

Busy day

* 20.5 hour fast *

Climbing w/Tor @ BIW: 10a, 10b/c(o), 10c(o), 10c(f), 10b(o)

Good climbing. Yesterday's sharp pain in my shoulder dimmed down to a dull ache after a solid 9 hours' sleep, and while my finger did complain, it didn't yell at me or call me vulgar names. Think it's slowly mending. The climbs felt solid in a nice, surprising kind of way - I suspect it's the lower bodyweight - but I didn't have the nerve to step back up to a 10d quite yet. Once the finger's better.

Followed that up with:

61 Burpees, sets of 10
30 minutes easy jogging (6MPH pace)

Which was much like it was last week - really hard, then really boring.

All my dawdling at the gym today made me late for a client meeting in the city this afternoon, so I didn't have time to break my fast before heading over there. This resulted in an unusually long fast, the longest I've done yet. It wasn't actually THAT bad, since I was busy so could turn my mind to other things, but the last hour or so while doing the grocery shopping and dealing with getting home was taxing on my patience. Came home and make a big 4-egg scramble with veggie sausage and spinach, and now it feels better.

No workout tonight. We're going to stay in and watch 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'. We'll do the CF class tomorrow morning, where it will probably be my first real metcon while fasted. Curious to see how that goes.

One 5x5

Back squat: 140 x 5

Not much more to add, really. Had a sharp pain in my shoulder from Wednesday's WOD, so did the burpees in small sets throughout the day. The squats were fine (I know I can go heavier than this), but I gave up on the Bench Press after the first weighted warmup set - it was clear to me that it would prolong the shoulder pain, and the BP just wasn't worth it to me. So instead I went home and it's off to bed early.

5x5 sort of .. ugh

Maybe Thursdays are just a bad day to be working out, and maybe I should just steer clear of the gym altogether when it's "that time of the month" - though yesterday was fine, good even. Of course I also remembered to eat lunch yesterday ... :-| Actually - i should say managed - remembering really isn't the issue. I've got those stupid outlook reminders popping up all the time. I snooze them.

I hate being so stressed out. It's a real chicken and egg situation - when i get stressed I don't eat, when i don't eat, i get moody, when i get moody, i get stressed - maybe it's just more of a vicious circle. Add the monthly hormonal deluge that kicks the whole ugly cycle into high gear, and it's a bit of a wonder that I function at all.

The original plan was to try to make it to GWPC in time for their photoshoot, and to do our 5x5's there. But Daniel was delayed by traffic, and he didn't pick me up until 5:55. So we decided to check out BIW. I maintained that if it was crowded like last week we should still go to GWPC. It didn't appear to be, but just as we were heading out to our car to get our stuff, one of the people who only works out in the weight area came in, and i was afraid maybe we'd missed our window.

Turns out I was half right. We warmed up in the squat rack area and had it mostly to ourselves, but there were two oly bars on the rack by the mirror, and just as I was moving the second bar onto the second rack for daniel - that *)#$)@*&% guy slides into the rack by the mirror and starts doing back squats!!! I was so angry. (I wasn't in a great mood to start with). I should have said something, but i was really taken aback by the way he just scooted in there without even a 'hi' or 'do you mind' or ... anything.

Since Daniel is so much taller than me, there is no way we can share a squat rack set up. I need the bar set nearly a foot lower. So since there was no way we could alternate, i decided to go try to work on other stuff while he did his squats. I knew that if i stayed in the squat area I'd just get progressively more pissed off, and take it out on Daniel by sniping at him about his form - which wouldn't be a good thing for either one of us.

So - off to the gravitron i went. I did some pull ups on the downstairs gravitron - set to 70. But the pad was hurting my shins, so I went upstairs and did some more pull-ups on the compressed air one - where you can stand - i beleive it was set to 8. I tried a couple dips, but realized that f i had any hope of doing any bench presses that I'd be shooting myself in the foot, so eventually i just hopped on one of the bikes overlooking the squat area so I could tell when Daniel was done so I could have my turn. Cool fact- those bikes have little built in fans to keep you cool!

When Daniel was done I went down to take my turn. My intention was to only work on form with just the empty bar. Good thing too, since the empty bar was about all I could manage. My first set was terrible. I kept corkscrewing to the left - settling all my weight on my left leg, thereby misaligning my hips and shoulders. And the way I was holding the bar was really hurting my right arm. I nearly decided to just call it a day, but Daniel very sweetly and supportively urged me to try another set. So I did. and it was better. I did 5 sets, really focusing on trying to keep my weight equally on both legs, and they were better by the end - though rep 4 & 5 of each set was pretty much always a struggle(though i did not fail any reps). So:

5x5
45-45-45-45-45

As for the bench press: I got in 1 set of 45 that was a lot harder than it should have been - my shoulders are very tired from yesterday's workout - and daniel got in a set of 45 and a set of 95 which was also a lot harder than it should have been - one of his shoulders is bugging him - so we decided to call it a night.

Since I wasn't going to do bench press I did 9.5 dips of the air compressor gravitron @ 9 - and i finally understand how that darn thing works! Amd I did about 10 minutes of streching while Daniel showered.

And now I am going to go to bed. Early. Hopefully whatever Dark cloud that has been following me around will have dissipated in the morning.

Fight Gone ... Different

Warmup: run 800m (4:55 avg HR 169 - 20 seconds better than last time!)

WOD

Three rounds of:
Kettlebell Thruster 15#DBx2 (Reps)
Kettlebell Swings 16KG (Reps)
Burpees (Reps)
Kettlebell Front Squat, 16KG# (Reps)
Hang Power Clean 45# (Reps)

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Front Sq	10	7	8
HPC	6	3	6
Thruster	9	8	5
KB Swing	6	4	4
Burpees	7	7	7

For a total score of 97 (avg HR 168).

I feel good about the way this workout went. My score is pretty low compared to the other folks in my class - but Max estimated that the number of reps for this particular workout should be about half of what they would be for a standard FGB - and the last time i did FGB, I scored 121, so even if it was only 50% harder (instead of 100%) that would make my comprable FGB score 146 - which is still several point higher than 121. Hooray for progress! I'm also pleased about how (relatively) consistent i was across rounds - and I was even able to increase my reps in some exercises in round 3.

Also, I knew that my score was going to be low because I was really pushing the boundaries of the heaviest weight i could manage for each exercise. I used the full 35# weight for my KB swings today - MAN that's hard! - i think the most consecutive swings i managed was 2 ... i might have gotten 3 once - and i never got it fully over head - just up past my eye level. But I am confident that with a little more practice these will be fully within my reach.

I heard Max telling someone before class that he thought the HPC were the easiest exercise - i thought they were the hardest (and my score really reflects that). I've never really done this exercise before, though, and I am sure some of it is just form. The movements that require squatting quickly to get under a weight to "catch it" - even just a little - are definitely harder for me.

I didn't get a chance to stretch after class because we had to leave, so I'm going to try to squeeze some in before bed. I need to be better about stretching after workouts. I think my body will appreciate the little bit of extra attention.

body comp analysis

Weight 124(+1)

Arms: 10 (L&R) (0)
Shoulders: 38.25 (0)
Chest: 33.25 (0)
Waist: 30 (+1)
Hips: 36.75 (+.75)
Thigh: 20 R 20.5 L (-0.25)
Calves: 13 R 13.25 L (0)

Body fat content according to this Zone Body Fat % Calculator
BF% 24 - back to where I was in June.
94# lean body mass
30# fat

Seems a little strange to me that so many of my measurements haven't changed at all, but I guess this is about what I expected after the past month of unclean eating and limited workouts. Just glad the 'damage' wasn't worse :)

Fight Gone Bad...ish.

*17 hour fast*

Morning workout

50 Burpees, sprint sets
followed by brisk walk to work

Could have been brisker. Think I need to choose high-energy music to keep my heartrate elevated for this.

Evening workout

Three rounds of:
Kettlebell Thruster 12KG#x2/16KG#x2 pounds (Reps)
Kettlebell Swings 28KG#/20KG (Reps)
Burpees (Reps)
Kettlebell Front Squat, 32KG#/24KG# (Reps)
Hang Power Clean 95#/65# (Reps)

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
HPC	11	8	7
Thruster	10	7	5
KB Swing	12	9	8
Burpees	10	7	7
Front Sq	5	9	7

For a total score of 127. (Nearly RX - I used 24kg for the Front Squats.)

My last FGB was 184, two and a half months ago. Max said he intended this to be 50-100% harder than a regular FGB, which bears out in my score (~70% of my last score). I should have shot for 10 every exercise, every round - I think I could have done it. Though that may have been too much, I dunno.

I did have a grand total of 20 grams of carbohydrates today before this workout, after intentionally depleting my glycogen this morning, so I did NOT have a great deal of fuel to work with. That said, it didn't seem any more or less grueling than it normally would have. In fact, on the bike ride down after work I felt really good and energetic...a spike that was effectively gone by the time the warmup was over.

I'll be curious to see if I'm sore tomorrow. I feel worked, but not crushed, and I think the fasting IS improving my recovery times.

Update: Yeah, my shoulders/deltoids are quite sore - particularly my right shoulder.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 1

Alright, the first week of my grand experiment with IF is done. So how did it go?

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,340
Fat: 131g (50%)
Carbs: 100g + 28g fiber (20%)
Protein: 175g (30%)

Results:
Weight: 183 (-5 lbs)
Waist: 33.25 (-0.75")
Bodyfat: 13.5% (-1.5%)
Percentage to goal: 38%

I met my goals! It actually wasn't all that bad. I miss toast w/almond butter, but to be honest I was getting pretty sick of Builder's Bars. I eat a lot of eggs, in various forms. Don't get to drink as much milk as I'd like (just a pint a day), and on a few days I had to finish off the day with a protein shake at dinner in order to make my protein quota for the day.

In terms of diet, it isn't terribly different from what it was before. Most of the recipes I've developed over the past few months still work. And as for the IF, the hunger is quite manageable - it only really gets noticeable in the last hour or two. The hardest part is really the coffee - black coffee just isn't as good in the morning (I'm getting used to it). In fact, I would generally consider the non-fasting days to be more troublesome, as the gaps between meals are longer and attended by hunger so I need to be careful not to snack myself above 2500 calories.

As for energy, I wouldn't say it's "through the roof" but it's sufficient for morning workouts. I never suffered lightheadedness during a workout, although I did feel a little nauseated rowing on Monday morning (Monday was rough).

Midway through the week, I noticed my weight had plummeted almost 9 pounds. I'm guessing this was water weight loss brought on by the shock of the lower carbs + IF. For the next few days, I was endlessly thirsty and drank copious amounts of water, and the weight went back up to a more reasonable level. I'm still more thirsty than usual, I'd say, so it's probably still correcting itself. Still, 5 pounds in one week is pretty cool - I'm even more happy about the waist measurement, though. I doubt this pace will continue after the first week or two, but so far, it's working gangbusters.

Rockin' Recipe: Cauliflower-crust pizza

So what does a vegetarian eat when he tries to pack in over 160g of protein a day without going over 100g carbs? Stuff like this! Actually, it's pretty freakin' delicious. Thanks to George over at the CF nationals for posting it on his recipe blog.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cauliflower, steamed and grated in Cuisinart
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
• 2 eggs
• few tsp spices (oregano, basil, parsley, fennel...whatever you like)
  
  
• 1/2c marinara
• 2 veggie sausages (Tofurkey or Field Roast)
• the rest of the mozzarella
• some parmesan
  

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450 degrees farenheit.

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray.

In a medium bowl, combine cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Press evenly on the pan. Sprinkle evenly with fennel, oregano and parsley.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven. To the crust, add sauce, then toppings and cheese. Be sure your toppings are already cooked.

Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted. Serves 4.

Nutritional Breakdown
(per serving)

533 calories
32g fat (53%)
9g carbs + 7g fiber (8%)
43g protein (38%)

Rough one

End of the workout week is always tough. The body is battered from the week's work and everything's just a little bit harder. Today is no exception, it seems, although I felt pretty well recovered this morning with just a few minor aches, compared to the chorus of muscular complaints that sang me to sleep. One of the many purported benefits of IF is increased recovery time, since during the fasting hours the body doesn't have to spend energy on digesting and processing food, and can therefore devote more of itself to repair. I wonder if that's happening for me? I read a very interesting series of articles last night about the physiology of IF, so am more committed than ever to trying to make this work even after I'm done shedding fat. Anyway, on to today:

*16 hour fast*
Climbing with Tor: 9, 10b, 10c - all slab, all clean and well-climbed with minimal finger pain
57 burpees, sprint-style
15 minutes easy rowing, 15 minute uphill bike ride to work

These shoes gave me blisters when I ran in them Friday, so I resolved to try rowing today. It was SO boring it was driving me insane, and I started feeling a little nauseated at 15 minutes so resolved to call it a day. Perhaps Muse was the wrong iPod choice. The treadmill, while boring, at least has a view, and it forces your pace for you so you don't need to constantly remind yourself to work a little harder. So I think I'm going to try and find some other shoes to wear.

Rest until Wednesday, now, so my body can (hopefully) catch up a bit on its repair-work.

Someday I'll climb again for realsies.

But not today.

Climbing at GWPC: 10a, 10b(f), 10a/b, 10b(f)

My arms felt pumped after the first climb, which is never a good sign - I guess they're tired from yesterday. But more than that, my finger HURT. However I damaged it (it feels like the bone is bruised), it really doesn't like climbing. Therefore I took it easy, tried to stick with climbs that had big holds and little overhang, and took a lot of right-handed rests on the wall, whenever I could find them.

Supposed to climb tomorrow with Tor. I think I might find a slab climb on the back wall that I like and just do it over and over, to practice balance and footwork. Something really stemmy would probably work, too - just not so much overhang.

The good news is that the new Evolve shoes Rebecca gave me are awesome. My feet felt like spiderman on the wall. It's a bit annoying taking them off after every climb, but ultimately I think I'm happy with my decision to go with the tight velcro instead of the lace-ups.

Also: 56 burpees, done in sets of 10 throughout the day.

Push Presses - not so great, actually

Warmup: Run 800m (5:16), 17 burpees, tabata pushups (4), burgener warmup w/dowel, 30 OHS, 20 push press. 10 weighted push press 30#

The tabata pushups were SUCH a joke. Round one I got 9 full ROM (after a false start where I got 4 or 5 done) and I thought i was taking it slow ... Round two - 2 full ROM 4 with knees. By the end I was struggling just to get 4 using my knees.

WOD:
Pushpress
5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1
45-45-50-50-50-55(PR)-60(f)

Today's workout was Push Presses - just like yesterday was dead lifts. Unfortunately, it did not go as well as yesterday's exercise. My shoulders are on strike, or something. Even just the empty oly bar felt a whole lot heavier today than it did the last time I did this.

However, I apparently misremembered - I thought I had push pressed 60# before, but 50# is the most I've ever done. So at least I didn't backslide like i did on the bench press.

After the workout some folks did 50 wall balls for time. I tried a few just to see whether I could do them, and had a really hard time with them. I took the ball inside and did pretty well - i think the marks inside might be a little lower. Mostly what I need to do is just practice the movement of throwing and catching it without worrying about the height. I suspect that will come easier once the form is dialed.

Still, I am glad I was out there and for all the performance issues, I still feel like I had a good workout.

More PRs!

My previous record for Push-Press is 107x3, set on July 2.

*17 hour fast*

Just one workout today:

55 Burpees (spread around)
Tabata pushups (I got 6)
Some other stuff

Push press: 5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1

95-95-115(PR)-115(f)-115(f)-125-130(PR)-135(f)

Eight pounds heavier (~7%), but I was only able to do it x3 once - I failed on the third rep the next two times. The 130 1RM is good to know, but I think I COULD do the 135 with fresher muscles - if I can nail the technique and get it in the groove, like I did with the 130, then it didn't actually feel that bad. Just need to drive harder and get it overhead faster, I think.

Deadlifts

Warmup:
Kipping Practice, run 400m
DL: x10-x5
45-65

WOD:
Deadlifts:
5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1

Finisher:
Sandbag carry - 25# 240m
21 box step-ups
25# overhead plate carry 240m

Results:
DL:
85-95-105-110(PR)-115-125-135!!!!-140(f)

Finisher:
6:00

Comments
Holy cow i got a 135# deadlift!

What a great birthday present - & Max even got a picture of it :)



For the finisher i experimented with jumping up to the box - but it was quickly apparent that the boxes were too high for me - jammed one of my fingers a little on a failed attempt - ow (feels fine now tho). Even the step-ups were a little sketchy. Sigh. Definitely need to work on these.

Still ... 135# deadlift! Woo-hoo!!

Hot fun in the summertime

Hot today! And a lot to blog about...

*16 hour fast*

Morning workout:

54 Burpees (sprint style)
~5 minute rest
30 minutes of easy jogging on treadmill (5mph)

It was interesting monitoring myself during this workout. The theory behind it, as I read here, is that in the absence of any insulin (thanks to the fasting), working a sprint-type workout will quickly deplete my glycogen stores, and prompt my body to begin tapping bodyfat for energy. Once the fat is released, a low-to-moderate intensity cardio will burn that up and prevent reabsorption, and voila!

So I'm not exactly sure whether it was the energy release or just plain ol' endorphins, but I noticed an elevation of my mood and a "second wind" about 5 minutes after the burpees. On the treadmill, I kept an inner eye open for these types of mood swings, and noticed another one after about 15 minutes (the treadmill is deadly boring, so introspection of this type is not difficult). There were a couple minor ones every five minutes or so after that, but nothing as dramatic as the first two. It was an interesting feeling of minor elation and personal satisfaction, and strength. I wonder if that was the result of my body releasing energy to my muscles from the fat stores? At any rate, apart from the tedium of the treadmill, it felt good.

Evening workout:

Deadlift 5-5-3-3-3-1-1-1

225-245-265-265-265-285-285-N/A
Everything from 245# on was a PR!

This is me seeing God at the top of my 285# deadlift.

I've never actually calculated my 1RM deadlift, so it's good to finally have a number for this. The 285 was TOUGH, and felt pretty borderline on the form. I may have been able to do 290, but didn't really feel the need to push it. 1.5BW for me, by the way, is 270.

My last 5x5's were at 235. 80% of 285 is 228. So that's about right, I think.

Finisher:

For time:
240 meters 75# sandbag carry
21 box jumps
240 meters 45# OH carry

5:10RX

I did not much care for the sandbag carry on one shoulder - felt like it was knocking my spine out of whack. The box jumps and OH carry were easier.

Shoulda skiped the gym tonight ...

Daniel and I went to the gym to do our weekly Thursday 5x5 routine (which we haven't had a chance to do since mid-August.)

Warmup: mobility exercises, 20 air squats, 20 incline situps, 10 burpees.

We usually do squats first and then bench press, but the squat cages were over crowded, and it was clear we weren't going to be able to squeeze in any time soon, so we reluctantly decided to do bench first.

x5
45-45-60(3f)-55-55-55

This was hard - a lot harder than it should have been. 60# is what I did last time, and i very quickly failed at that weight - Daniel had to rescue me. I have a small suspicion that doing the squats first really helps to finish off the 'warmup' and really gets everything pumping, and that not doing them first is one of the reasons this felt so hard. The other two reasons are because I did not eat well today - missed lunch - and it's been several weeks since I've worked out regularly.

The squat cages were still packed when we were done with the bench,so after some heming and hawing, we decided to try to work on my pull up a bit. Daniel assisted me up to the top of the pull up, and i worked on negatives - about twice. My shoulders started off tired from yesterday's workout, and weren't really happy about struggling through the bench.

Finally we just decided to call it an evening because it was getting late, and tomorrow is a fasting day for Daniel so we needed to get home in time for dinner.

I did 15 more burpees while I wated for Daniel to get out of the locker room - so i only have 48 left to go to finish off the 50 day challenge.

Now my shoulders are not just tired, they pretty damn sore. ... Maybe if tomorrow's CFEB workout at GWPC isn't too shoulder centric we'll go do that as a 'special treat' for my Birthday ;-). ... Dunno what it is yet tho ...

5x5x0.5

Not much to report. Went to IW for some 5x5's, but the squat cages were really overcrowded, so we wound up just doing bench press. 140#, last set was just 4.

Back and neck are sore today from the KB swings yesterday.

Welcome back, take two

Last week's reintroduction to CF after vacation didn't go so well, as the combination of a crippling Murph and a road trip to Portland prevented any further workouts that week. Hopefully this week will be a smoother re-entry.

*16 hour fast*

Morning workout:

50 burpees for time
(done in quick sets of 10)

6:07

Evening workout:

10 Rounds For Time:
10 Kettlebell Swings 55#/35#
10 Burpees

24:52 RX

Needless to say, I was not enthralled with the idea of another hundred burpees. But after some thought, I resolved to do the damn workout, and count them as tomorrow's burpees. Screw the rules! Now I get a day with no burpees, which has me thrilled.

I'm not gonna lie: this WOD was very hard. Hard enough that I was seriously considering not finishing it when, in round 7, folks started calling time. It could be any number of things, or a combination of all of them: very low carbs the past few days (and essentially none today, as I was saving them for my burrito dinner)... out of the habit with all the travelling lately... too many fucking burpees. Or it could just be that I still really suck at burpees, I just suck a little less than I used to.

Afterwards, we messed around with weighted pullups and I figured out my 1RM: 45#. That will come in handy for my next 5x5 cycle, which I intend to include weighted pullups in.

9-3-08 WOD

Warm up: Burgener's warm up, KB snatch practice

WOD:

10 Rounds For Time

10 Kettlebell Swings 55#/35#
10 Burpees

Results:
75% 23:59 (7.5 rounds)

Splits:
1:42 (both? slight watch malfunction somehow)
0:42.5 - 1:41.5
0:56.6 - 1:55.4
1:10.4 - 2:01.8
1:15.6 - 2:26.8
1:43.3 - 2:22.1
1:33.5 - 2:30.7
1:01.5 - 0:54.8

Comments:
I'm actually really pleased with how this workout went. It was hard, and I was sucking wind pretty much from the first round, but I worked hard on trying to keep my pace even and consistent - not even across rounds - clearly everything got slower as I went - but I was just trying to keep moving and keep rest periods to a minimum, and I think, for the most part, I succeeded at that - or at least i did better than i have done previously.

But the biggest thing that makes me happy is that every one of the burpees was full ROM (maybe not a super exuberant jump at the end) - but a full jump back, a full jump forward, and no knees to get up from the pushup position for any of them.

The main reason I decided to scale this back to 75% are that - aside from the Murph I did last week(which pretty much wrecked me), I basically have not done any serious exercise since mid-August, and I wanted to try to ease my way back into it a bit, instead of trying to jump in with both feet and being ridiculously sore for the next few days. I certainly got a whole lotta 'work-out' done, and I definitely don't feel like I didn't get enough.

After the wod, everyone (who had at least one deadhang pullup) was trying weighted pull-ups - from the National WOD a few days ago. Max assisted me to the top of the pull-up position so that I could work on my negatives. Based on how I did with that, he said he thought I might be pretty close to being able to do a kipping pull up - or two. So I tried it. I didn't quite get it, but I got close. Just another couple inches, and I should have it. I need to GTG on them more. The process concerns me a little bit just cause I've read a lot of accounts of people getting shoulder injuries from trying to learn how to kip. But I think if I work on the negatives, and get good at controlling my descent instead of just dropping, I'll have a better chance of not injuring myself.

Our latest adventure

So - we just got back from a weekend up in Portland. We went up because my best friend from early childhood - Margaret (now Maggie) - was getting married.

It was a beautiful wedding that very much fit the personalities of the Bride & Groom.



They're both phenomenal old-time musicians and, unsurprisingly, so are most of their friends. So there was LOTS of fantastic acoustic music just all the way through the ceremony and the reception which both took place at a beautiful park a few miles east of Portland.

There was also a square dance on Sunday with lots more fabulous music which was a super fun time.

My cousin Alyson and her boyfriend Levi were kind enough to let us use their apartment while we were there - they were actually camping most of the weekend - but we got to see them on Monday for breakfast before we left - and we got to play with their sweet (energetic!) cats Moose and Chuck.

We also got to see our friend Ilana who was kind enough to play tour guide for us when we weren't doing wedding related activities - mostly Sunday afternoon. We had a nice long sleep in on Sunday morning. Ahhhhh. SO necessary after the long drive.

Ilana took us to Powell's - OMG that place is totally awesome! - and we walked through a lot of downtown Portland. We went to a very tasty restaurant called Mother's - our waitress was a total spaz, but in a good, funny way. Daniel got some Stumptown coffee - I was too full. And we visited the Saturday Markets (which are open on Sundays too). Daniel got an AWESOME new hat and I got a cute new sundress that I got to wear to the square dance, and got lots of compliments on. Ilana and I had a lengthy conversation with the man who had developed a game called "the game of Real life" It looks interesting and fun - he had clearly spent quite a long time developing it - but Daniel seemed totally uninterested, so I didn't get one.

We left Portland around 10am - after a very tasty breakfast at Genies and a very nice visit with Alyson and Levi. We were making ok time, we stopped at the food co-op in Ashland for a healthy lunch, and then about 4:30 - shortly after we crossed the Oregon border we got a flat tire. - #@*($&@@!!!!!

According to the owner's manual of my car, I have a spare tire, a jack with a handle, and while they discuss the presence of a "wheel nut wrench" in other sections of the book, its location is not mentioned in the 'tire changing tools' section, and we sure couldn't find one. @#*&@#$! @#(&$@*(!

Neither Daniel nor I had any real idea where we were. I had been asleep when the tire went. Fortunately, we had refilled our gas tank in Ashland, so I was able to tell the AAA lady that we were on I-5 Southbound approximately 53 miles south of Ashland Oregon. We were, by this time, sitting rather dejectedly in the open back of our car with our luggage next to the car and the spare out - with no further progress to be made without a tire-iron.

After putting me on hold for several minutes, the idiot AAA lady was in the process of explaining to me that, according to her manager, it wasn't possible that we were where I said we were, and without a mile marker or a sign, or an idea of what town we were near, she wasn't going to be able to help me ... WTF!!! #@$&)@#, @(#%&@(&, @#^()*#!!!! how hard is it to pull out a map and figure out where 53 miles south of a city is?! ... when - hallelujah!!! - a highway patrol officer pulled over to see how we were doing.

He let us use his tire iron - he fortunately had one of those 4 pronged ones with multiple sizes - and we were able to put our spare on and continue on. We found, once we removed the flat tire, that there is large gaping hole in the inside wall of it. There will be no repairing it. But it's good that the blow out was not worse than that. we were able to pull over reasonably smoothly.

Well - those little half-size spares - they're not rated for high speed travel (or even, truth to tell, long distance, but we didn't have much choice in that regard. After 5pm on Labor day, there wasn't a lot of hope for finding an open Auto/Tire store.) SO - there we were nearly 300 miles from home - and required to go no faster than 60 mph. We were passed by ... pretty much everything else on the road - RV's, large MAC trucks, trucks with ginormous RV trailers, but by far, the most humiliating moment was when we were speedily passed by a SMART CAR. Yes - one of those tiny little 'economy' cars. Doh.

We didn't make it home until 11pm. 13 hour day. Yuck.

But I am glad that, if the flat tire had to happen it did when and where it did. It was still several hours from being dark, and the highway patrol man was an absolute gift because even if AAA COULD figure out how to find us (turns out we were about 14 miles south of Yreka), it would have taken them HOURS to get to us - apparently they were already on a call for a car about 5 miles down the road from us with a broken fan belt. Which is a much worse problem than a flat tire (as long as you have a spare , a jack, & a tire iron ;-) )

Next time, we'll fly :-p

Day one of IF

Yesterday was Day 1 of IF, and it wasn't too bad. Here are the numbers:

*16.5 hour fast*
Calories: 2,221
Fat: 114g (45%)
Carbs: 126g + 27g Fiber (24%)
Protein: 165g (31%)

The majority of the carbs came from three sources: an apple, a banana and 16 oz of milk. It adds up quickly! I'll cut back to just one piece of fruit a day, which should help. But I'm pretty happy with this. I had to tack some cottage cheese on at the end to meet protein goals, which will probably happen a lot - it's hard to do without protein shakes or bars.

I'm not going to do this every day, but I just wanted to record day 1.

Edited to respond to Evelyn, 'cause her questions are good:

The fasting itself wasn't especially tough. I didn't get uncomfortably hungry until the last hour or so. In fact, it was a lot worse a few hours into my eating window, since I didn't bring sufficient food to work with me and the only no-carb option I could find to buy near work was a salad, so my body was getting teasing glimpses of food but no satisfaction. When I got home I made a scramble with eggs, cheese and veggie sausage, and my body was very grateful.

I will be working out in a fasted state - sometimes. It obviously won't work for evening classes, but I climb in the mornings twice a week and will be doing burpees/rowing in the mornings. I did 50 burpees for time yesterday and today, and it's hard but not, I would say, any harder than doing it normally. I will primarily be doing Sprint-8 or Tabata-type workouts while fasted to try and activate the body fat for fuel.

Today is day 2, and so far it feels much the same as yesterday. I'm planning on eating normally tomorrow, and then fasting again on Friday and Saturday, doing Saturday's CF class in a fasted state. We'll see how that goes.

Fitness Status Report

Ugh. I am really ready for the summer travels to be over and to get back to a regular schedule of working out, and a cleaner diet. I can definitely feel the effects of 'dirty' diet. Reduced energy, more weight :-p

Turns out the tight muscle on my right side that I thought was my hamstring is actually my hip. It was pretty tight before I left for Florida, and instead of getting better with a week of nothing (except burpees) it actually got worse. It loosens up with exercise, but as soon as I spend any time siting down, it tightens right back up. The only exercise I've done that it bothered my WHILE exercising (after loosening up) is running.

The drive up to Portland was made even less comfortable by my aching hip. Every time I got out of the car I had to limp around until it loosened up.

I've asked my friend Jeremy - who is an EXCELLENT body worker to take a stab at making it loosen up. Pretty sure that will happen Sunday.

In other news, I have also decided to drop out of the burpee challenge. :(

I was so sore after Murph that I couldn't do burpees for two days (46 & 47) I tried to pick them back up while I was in Portland and I got day 48 done+ 10 'make-up' burpees and then on day 49 I only got 35 done. We went to a (SUPER FUN) square dance on day 49, but that was also really hard on my hips, and arms - which in reality were still not quite fully recovered from Murph, and day 50 - our 13 hour drive back from Portland - burpees just were not going to happen. I had really hoped to make it at least to day 50, but as of yesterday, I was 147 burpees behind, and I'm pretty sure they're aggravating my hip issue, so ... between the devastation that was muph and the full weekend of long traveling, I lost my rhythm, and think it's probably just best to let them go. I got an awful lot out of it.

Looking forward I am excited to work on getting healthy(er) with a combination of body work, better diet, and some focused training with Max to work on trying to iron our my particular proprioception issues so that I can work out and get stronger without injuring myself.

Here comes year # 32. Bring it on.

About, Face!

OK, Bulking is over. I don't like the way I feel when my waist is over 34", and I hate the way the extra fat affects my climbing performance, so I think it's time to scrap this cycle and start over.

Results of this cycle
OK. In two months I managed to gain 13 pounds, approximately 5-6 of which were muscle. Much of this cycle was marked by frustration and no gains, though, until the final rest week when I managed to double my gains in one fell swoop. Lesson learned: rest more. Actually DO the half-intensity weeks and weeks off. I will continue to try and improve LBM gain efficiency next time, most likely with IF.

Goals looking forward
First, I want to drop the bodyfat I picked up this cycle ASAP, so I can get back on the growth wagon. I figure losing 10 pounds of bodyfat should put me at about a 32" waist and 10% BF, which seems a good place to start again. Here's the plan on how to do that...

Intermittent Fasting
Approx 4-5 days a week, I will fast from ~8pm until ~noon the next day (target: 16 hours). Never on rest days. I will learn to appreciate black coffee. I will learn to take my vitamins at different times.

HIIT Me Baby, One More Time
To complement the IF, I will try to incorporate 10 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training in a fasted state in the mornings. This should cause my body to activate some body fat for energy and dump it into my bloodstream. After a 10 minute break, I will then spend the next 30 minutes or so in some form of lightly-elevated-heartrate activity to burn that dump. Here's what I'm thinking:

• Gym mornings: 10 minutes on the rower (30 sec sprint, 90 sec cruise) after climbing, followed by a shower and the ride uphill to work.
• At home: Tabata burpees, followed by a brisk walk to work. Heavy on the brisk!

Macrobionic Man
This will be tricky, as there are a lot of goals to cover. While I'm focusing on fat loss, I'll primarily be interested in muscle retention rather than growth. So 160g/protein (1g per lb LBM) daily should do it. If I like how IF goes and decide to try and GAIN weight with it, this will go up to 210+g/day, and therefore become even trickier. I would like to limit my carbohydrates to below Mark's Daily Apple's "magic number" of 150g/day. 100 would be better. Not only that, but I want to have the bulk of those carbs post-workout. This means no more toast, no more protein bars or shakes, and limited milk. I won't concern myself with fat - whatever it wants to be, it will be. I have enough on my plate already (so to speak).

5x5x0
I can't expect to grow on a caloric deficit, so I will suspend the linear increase of my 5x5 program until such time as I can support growth again. However, I do not want to lose what I've gained, so I will keep doing some deadlifts and squats, but just maintaining current levels.

Expectations
Oh, who knows. This is changing a LOT of things all at once, several of them outside my regular experience. I don't think it will take long to lose the weight - maybe a month, certainly not more than two. At the moment I'm thinking I would like to continue the IF during another gaining cycle, to see if I can achieve more efficient growth, but this from a perspective of not having actually TRIED it yet. I'll revisit in two inches.

Happy Half-an-anniversary to me.

September 1st marks my six month anniversary with CrossFit.

It's kinda crazy to think I've only been doing it that long, since it feels like such an integral part of my life now. But it's impossible to deny the results - I'm far fitter now than I was when I started.

But there's still a long way to go. I have set for myself the goal of achieving ALL the level II skills by my one-year anniversary on March 1, 2009. Since this is the halfway mark, it seems a good time to take stock and plot my future course.

These are the skills that remain (and where I stand with them):

• 1 x BW Squat (140x5, 40# short)
• 1 x BW Benchpress (135x5, 45# short)
• 15 Ring Dips (Uh...0, if you're talking full ROM)
• 1.3 BW Ring Dip (An even bigger 0)
• 20 Pullups (12 at last attempt)
• 1.3 x BW Pullup (I've only tried this once, and I think it was with 25#. It needs to be 60#.)
• 1 Muscle-up (0, obviously)
• 30 second L-sit (0 seconds. This may be the hardest one to achieve.)
• 30 24kg Kettlebell Snatch (I could do this with 20kg on my right arm...probably not with my left)
• 45 0.5 BW Thrusters (Nowhere near. I MIGHT be able to do this with 65#. Needs to be 90#.)
• Helen <> (16:02 at last attempt)
• .75 x BW Power Clean (Needs to be 135#. Never attempted)
• 0.5 BW Power Snatch (Needs to be 90#. Never attempted)

Of the thirteen skills left on the list, a large chunk of them can be taken out simply by working towards a muscle up (six by my count - my limiting factor in Helen is the pullups). So that will be a priority - I'm thinking of doing a linear 5x5 program with weighted dips and pullups, one day a week. The other day will be Squats/Bench until I get to the goals. This leaves five miscellaneous skills. The Clean and Snatch will, I think, primarily be technique development. The KB Snatches are just strength and, I think, not THAT far away. The thrusters and L-sit are just brutally difficult. I can try to improve compression with Richard Vanmeerbeek's crazy leg raises, but the thrusters are just gonna be practice, practice, practice I think, until I can get enough gas to handle it.