CrossFit Level 1 Certification, Day 2

Day 2 dawned with moderate soreness. Mostly I was just happy to have the Fran experience behind me. We jumped straight back into class with a Q&A session with Dave Castro, who then went on to fill in some more info from his "What is CrossFit?" section the day before. Then we went outside for a brief session on the two most complicated and frequently mis-performed fundamental movements, the push-jerk and the medball clean. From there we went straight into the WOD.

Everyone was expecting Fight Gone Bad, and when they started wheeling out the rowers and the 15# plates, we thought for sure that's what we were in for. Well, not quite. In a pleasant surprise, they gave us a team variation on FGB that wasn't anywhere near as punishing. It went something like this:

Teams of 4. In 15 minutes, perform AMRAP of:

Row: 10 calories
75#/45# Push-press: 15 reps
24" Box Jump: 10 reps
Rest

Each team member must be at their station until everyone has completed their reps, then they can advance to the next station. One designated counter marks a round when they get to the rest station.

My team, a coed team, was one push-press shy of 4 rounds. This was a pretty typical score. Two teams managed 6 rounds. I acquitted myself very well on the rower (10 calories = 12 strokes) decently on the box jumps and tolerable on the push-press. At any rate, I didn't feel like I was a hindrance to my team. I was glad they did this workout - it was more fun than FGB, which everyone has done, and was a good example of adapting a classic WOD to a slightly different format to accomodate given circumstances. Even with all the gear they had, I don't think they could have done FGB in one heat (someone should count, after all, which means two heats) and I got a sense that they really didn't like running heats.

Following the workout, Pat Barber led a session on nutrition, which quickly became a session on the Zone diet. I didn't take any notes here, as it was all very basic (and often oversimplified) stuff. I pulled my old-school by-hand mathematics out of the dusty closet to figure out my blocks without a calculator, and came up with somewhere between 16 and 17 blocks. I'm toying with the notion of doing a monthlong strict zone challenge, just so I can have the experience of having done it and come from a more informed place when I describe it to clients (it is the official diet of CrossFit, after all), but I have no idea how I'd make that work with cooking for Rebecca, leftovers, and all the eating out we do.

Another delicious lunch prepared by the Castros, and we watched the trainers do their own workouts. A brief session on the Glute-Ham Developer with Stefan followed, then we broke into five groups for a series of 15-minute skill workshops:

• PVC snatch with Stefan - he basically taught the Burgener warmup. Emphasized snatching from the hang position as being 90% adequate for lower-skilled athletes until they could reliably snatch from the ground.
• Rowing with Freddie - he went over basic mechanics then had us race 500m. I came in second, with 1:30.2 (a PR!), but this other dude who was also 6'4" but 230lbs came in first at 1:26.5.
• Muscle-ups with Pat and Jason - the rings were too low for me to get a decent kip, so they just told me to work on my ring dips. Which I DO need to improve.
• GHD with Jolie - even at its maximum extension, the GHD is too short to allow me to do back extensions (as opposed to hip extensions. True back extensions require trapping the hip on the pads). I can do hip extensions and situps, though.
• Kipping pullups with Austin. He went over the progression from the mainsite video (ie, lying on the floor, etc). Not much to learn, here, other than I could probably be pushing away from the bar more.

The trainers are good, but with groups of 12 people and a window of 15 minutes, they could really only go over the most basic elements of each movement.

Freddie led the last session on programming. He emphasized the superiority of 3-on, 1-off, but acknowledged that it's an extremely difficult cycle to make work in a real-world setting. He also went over the basic breakdown of movements (W = weightlifting, M = monostructural, G = gymnastics) and how to combine them into singles, couplets, triplets and chippers. Throughout the weekend, the coaches warned against programming too many workouts at an hour or more time domain, and also seemed leery of CFSB, CF Football and CFE - they clearly wanted the emphasis to be on plain vanilla CrossFit, at least for us. Though they said they do encourage boxes to do their own programming, thereby letting the Games be the mechanism by which they discover whose programming is superior. When the Frequently Asked Questions came up, they all came back with standard party-line responses (Go heavy and slow or light and fast? Yes. Two-a-days? If you can workout twice a day you're not working out hard enough. Etc.)

I was ready to leave when it ended, so I collected my certificate and took off. I missed working out with my CFEB friends, and hoped to make it back in time for the evening workout, despite feeling pretty thrashed. I DID make it back in time, but the workout looked too heavy for me to do in my current condition, so I wound up going on a five-mile trail run with Alex that was a lot of fun and completely kicked my ass. I haven't been as thrashed as I was after this weekend for quite a while.

My overall review? Pretty much unchanged from before I went. The level 1 cert is not worth the (very high) cost, UNLESS you intend to become a CrossFit trainer. In that case it is valuable, and not just because it allows you to legally pursue a CF career, but it also gives you some direct experience at the hands of a variety of coaches. But the vast majority of the information taught at the cert is widely available to anyone with a CF Journal subscription, a membership on the boards, and a measure of self-motivation. There is this mythology out there that you need to take a cert in order to "be serious" about CrossFit, and that's totally not true. You'd be better served with simply going to an affiliate as often as you can. I don't feel as though I'm a significantly better CrossFitter at the end of the weekend as I was at the beginning (although I AM motivated to fix my goddamn squat), nor did I find the experience itself to be terribly enjoyable or fulfilling (Great Fran Humiliation aside).

However, I DO want to become a CF coach, so I'm glad I went. I look forward to getting the opportunity to train others, and ultimately going to a level 2 - I think that might be more of what I'm looking for.

Increased Capacity

The past couple weeks I have been participating in the Team CFEB training regimen - primarily as an exercise in solidarity, and to see what I am capable of. Gita has said that the goal is to increase capacity and conditioning, and I don't know about the other athletes, but I have DEFINITELY seen a significant increase in both.

Yesterday was an absolutely banner day. Hopefully without revealing too many details ... I managed to get 25 Russian swings with the 1.5P KB - a KB 8lbs heavier than the heaviest KB I've ever swung before, and 16# heavier than the one I usually swing. The team I was on actually won the team WOD.

But by far and away the most impressive accomplishment of the day was in the running. I ran every step of nearly 4 miles of running - 3 of them on rough, hilly terrain. It was not that long ago when it was a major accomplishment just to run one complete mile of flat road. And not only did I run every step, but the running felt strong - it felt good, even. We ran in the same location last week, and I had had to walk some of the route the second time through. This week, I ran all three laps. I forgot to put my watch on so I didn't get the times for this week's runs, but I am pretty sure they were faster than last week's. For a lot of the running I was right on Ynez's heels. I think it freaked her out a bit to have me so close, but it was great inspiration to me to keep going.

I'm excited to keep working with Team CFEB and see how much farther I progress.

San Francisco CrossFit Throwdown

Bill and I get comfortable on the field after finishing our heat.

Another month, another affiliate cup throwdown. On one of the most beautiful days the Bay Area has seen, we had the immense good fortune to go to one of the most beautiful places in the Bay Area (Crissy Field) and lug heavy shit around. It was a fabulous day.

16 folks from CFEB showed up, which allowed us exactly four teams of four. SFCF was very cagey with the details of the workout, so we had to have our teams picked out AND signed up in advance. Nobody wanted the first slot, but my team volunteered to go second (I like just getting it over with, though there is something to be said for learning from the experience of previous teams). My team consisted of Bill, Jennifer, Doron and myself. We had about 10 minutes of prep time between when they told us the announcement and when we had to go (they released a new team every minute, making this the all-time shortest throwdown I've ever seen).

Here was the workout:

Two-man sled drag, ~150 pounds
One-man zercher pipe carry, ~60 pounds
One man rest

Drag the sled .3 miles. Everyone on the team does 30 burpees. Drag the sled back. The catch? The pipe (they were yellow and affectionately dubbed "french fries") can never, EVER touch the ground, or else incur a 20-burpee penalty for the whole team, and every team member must drag, carry and rest at least twice.

15:04 RX

We acquitted ourselves well, I think. Nowhere near the best times, obviously (the top time was 11:20), but somewhere around the middle of the pack. Everyone was worried about the zercher carry, but it really wasn't THAT bad - and there was always someone to hand it off to in case of trouble. The real pain was the sled - that got tiring FAST, and we really should have switched off more frequently, as fresh legs made a BIG difference in keeping that thing moving. Our burpees were also not terribly fast. It was a fun workout, and a nice change of pace from the weight-lifting orientation of the other gyms. My personal hunch is that the Games are going to be more like this.

Gita and Polly dragging the sled. Team A came in sixth place, with a time of 12:20 (I think)

Afterwards, we grabbed lunch (Blue Barn - one of the best salads I've ever had) and headed over to Rodeo Beach across the Golden Gate, one of Gita's favorite spots (it's where Sandra got married). The place had a good amount of people, but it wasn't terribly crowded, and (since this is what we do), we decided to go for a hill run. Nobody kept time or marked distance, it was very casual, but we figure it was about a mile, and pretty damn steep (several sections were stairs). Truth be told, I found that to be much more tiring than the throwdown. I tried to run as much of it as I could, but wound up walking quite a bit and came in third - WELL after Brandon and Gita. We admired the vista from the top of our hill, then about half the folks ran back down. I hate running downhill - it stresses my knees and makes me nervous - so I walked back down at a leisurely pace with Rebecca, Ynez and Max. Then we had about an hour of lying on the beach in the sun, which was totally great. That night we had the victory dinner for Polly's qualifications to go to the Games, so it was a day almost entirely spent with the CFEB family, and it was fantastic.

Team CFEB at SFCF

Christmas 5-ish k

Christmas day was beautiful and sunny (if a bit chilly), so in the lull between breakfast and presents, and dinner, we decided to go for a run along the trail that goes around my Parents' housing development. My mom said it was about three miles. I think it was probably a bit less than that. I can't figure out how to get a satellite view on Map my Run, so I can't map it out for sure since it was on trails and not roads.

I worked in a rotating schedule of 3 minutes of running followed by 1 minute of walking, and I completed the run in 29:28.

The trail has a stretch that goes right along the Potomac river, and it was a gorgeous day. I really enjoyed the run, and I never had to walk during a run period - even after I ran for the first 6 minutes stright when I accidentally set my interval timers for 3 hours and 1 hour instead of 3 minutes and 1 minute. I figured that out when I started feeling like the first 3 minutes were taking FOREVER. After taking a quick break to reset the interval timers on my watch I ran for the next 3 minutes, too - so I actually ran for most of the first 9 minutes or so.

Thanksgiving, part I: The Trail Run

I've always been attracted to the idea of trail running. I've been a hiker all my life, but lately I haven't done it much because A) in order for it to be worth anything as exercise, you've got to go a long way, which takes a LONG time, and B) long, slow distance stuff is kinda anathema to CrossFit. However, trail running neatly sidesteps (ha!) both those problems. I've never done it, though - only recently have I come to actually think of running as something that *I* do, and not just other, crazier people with healthier knees, better cardiovascular systems and snazzier shorts.

So it was with a combination of excitement and trepidation that I approached today's special Thanksgiving Day Trail Run that Max organized. Excitement to finally be trying this, and anxiety about running on uneven and potentially slippery surfaces. Not to mention that I'd be running 5k, which is three times the longest amount I've ever run before this (I did say I'm not a runner), and it would involve some pretty serious hills - another first.

Yeah. Sucks, right?

5K - 25:12

It was AWESOME.

Seriously. It had all the endorphins and challenge of exercise, all the beauty of a redwood park in the breaking fog, and none of the hassle of running on sidewalks or tracks (cars, dust, asphalt).

My path was in three parts. First came East Ridge trail, a fire road along the (duh) eastern ridge of the park. Ups and downs, but nothing too dramatic. Then came Prince Trail, which was really just a cut down to the valley floor - very steep, very short. Then came Stream Trail, which went up the center of the valley back to the northern Skyline entrance, where we started. The first half of stream trail was like that photo above - flat, wide, soft, dark, quiet, through tall redwoods. Then came the Up.

I learned two valuable lessons today. 1) Trail running is really fun, and 2) Running uphill is REALLY hard. I don't know the exact numbers, but some googling tells me it's about a 600' climb. I ran every step of that motherfucker, 'cause I swore I would, but DAMN.

I don't know if 25 minutes is a good time for this run, but the simple fact that I did it, and that I ran the whole thing, fills me with a great sense of accomplishment. It was a great experience.

The ending was complicated somewhat because Rebecca, who had started WELL ahead of me, was not back at the parking lot, and I didn't think I'd passed her. Which meant she'd either gotten lost, or I HAD run right by her and not even noticed, which would pretty much make me an asshole. I waited for probably 10-15 minutes, and then got worried enough to start running back the other direction. Thankfully, she was only a quarter mile or so down the trail (she had taken a wrong turn), so everything turned out fine.

Trail Running Rocks!

We met up with a few CFEB folks for a morning T-Day trail run. It was foggy and chilly, but the park is really beautiful, no matter what the weather. A few folks ended up at the wrong park entrance, and the start was delayed, but I had my own watch, I know I'm slow, and I needed to get home before noon if at all possible, so I started off on my own.

Daniel assured me that the path was pretty easy - just 3 trails - east fire trail, right on prince trail, right on stream trail.

My plan was to run 2 minutes and walk 2 minutes, alternating. I had the countdown timer on my watch set to 2 min, so all i had to do was restart it every time it beeped.

I wish I had had the presences of mind to hit my lap timer every time i switched trails, so I could get a better idea of how long each segment took me.

Things got a bit trickier when I missed the right turn onto the stream trail, and ended up on a trail I thought was the stream trail, but wasn't. That trail dead-ended, and I had the option of continuing on a much steeper, narrower trail, or backtracking, but since I thought i was on the stream trail, I didn't know that backtracking would have helped me - I just thought that maybe the stream trail =had gotten closed, and the maps hadn't been updated, so I set off up the narrower, steeper, Mill trail, which met up with the French trail - another steep and narrow trail - whose name I recognized, and knew that if I followed it I would eventually end up back where I started.

Up until the mill trail turn off, I had done very well at sticking to the 2 minutes run, 2 minutes walk. Once I started up the Mill trail that completely fell apart, and it was just run whenever I could manage the breath and/or strength.

I ended up adding almost a full mile to what I intended to run, and -probably - several hundred feet of elevation gain - unlike the stream trail, which is basically flat along the bottom of the valley except for the last steep climb at the end, the french trail goes up and down several times along the edge of the valley. And since I managed to find my way back to the stream trail just before it headed up and out of the valley, I still got to do that steep climb at the end, too.

Directional goofs aside, however, I loved this experience. I always thought trail running sounded fun, except it also sounded dangerous - high possibility for twisted ankles and such, but it was a lot ess scary than I thought it would be. Running through the park was beautiful, even in the fog. My new trail running shoes are awesome - even going down some very steep hills my toes never felt smooshed.

... As soon as my hips/ass stop hurting, I want to go do it again! ... The sore hips are a bit of a downer. I've now been hobbling around like an arthritic old lady for two days. That's no fun at all. But hopefully doing this more often will build up those muscles so they don't hurt so much. It'll probably be good for my squats, too. Strengthen up those glutes and hamstrings!