Trail Run, Grace

Early Morning

An easy 3.5 mile run through the Wissahickon along this route. I wasn't intending on running this morning but Brigid woke me up while she was getting ready for work. It was so nice outside that If figured I might as well run now rather than this afternoon.

I'm amazed at the versatility of the iPhone, but still wish it had a more receptive GPS system. I have such a hard time getting the GPS to initiate during runs down in the Wissahickon. I'm not sure if it's because it resides in a little valley, or because of all the tree cover. It does the job, but maybe future versions will be more accurate.

I took the Vibrams with me this morning and was quickly reminded of how tough they are on your feet. It seems more plausible to use them on the street, where the terrain is smooth and predictable. I think it really defeats the spirit behind the shoes. I read the book Born to Run recently and was amazed at how the Tarahumara Indians can run trail ultramarathons in nothing but some rubber flaps tied to their feet. I guess it should take some getting used to if I really want to wear them on a regular basis.

Late afternoon

WU: Shoulder dislocates, calf stretch, quad stretch, Bosu ankle stability drills, 10 pushups, 10 squats, 10 situps, 10 back extensions.

Workout: Grace
3:19

Workout comments: New PR on Grace by almost 30 seconds. Previous PR was 3:57. I was trying for sub-3:00 and I had an honest shot at making it, with just over 60 seconds left and only 10 reps to go. I just couldn't finish them quickly enough. My traps were defintely the limiting factor. I just couldn't get the shrug up efficiently enough. Still pretty psyched about this though.

Bench Press, Fran, Squat Cleans

Late Afternoon

WU: Shoulder dislocates, quad stretch, Bosu ball ankle stability, calve stretch, 10 squats, 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 back extensions.

Workout: Bench Press: 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3

Loads: 195#, 215#, 220# (only 2 reps), 195#, 215#, 220#

Fran: 6:59
2:49, 2:53, 1:17

Squat Cleans: 3 X 5 (137#)

Workout comments: New PR on Fran by almost 2 minutes. This can most defintely be attributed to the thrusters. I completed all the thrusters as straight sets. The pullups had to be strict, because I was doing them on the bar from the Smith machine which is too low to swing my legs, not to mention that it's not locked in place and I've already suffered one spill while doing pullups.

The bench presses were also done using the Smith machine. I'm confused by my performance on the bench presses. The other day I could finish 5 X 5 reps of 195# and today I can't even perform more than 3 reps of 220# on the 6th set. Chest is defintely the area I need to work on the most over the next few months.

Squat cleans were peformed strictly, catching the bar at the absolute bottom of the squat. My calves/ankles are still very inflexible, which makes keeping a straight back at the bottom of the squat a near impossibility, but holding weight seems to help strectch them out a bit. I'll keep working on that over the next few months as well.

Back Squats, Abs, and Jumpies

Early afternoon

WU: Shoulder dislocates, alt. quad stretch, 6 X 30 sec alt. one-legged Bosu Ball holds, air squats.

Workout: Back Squats 5 X 3

Loads: 175#, 195#, 215#, 235#, 245#

AMRAP in 3:00 (Situps)
87

1:00 on, 1:00 off (jumpies) X 3
20, 22, 16

For each jumpie, drop into a full air squat, explode upwards and touch the ceiling. Ceiling was 12-14 inches above my raised arm on flat feet. Failed rep if legs did not drop below parallel or I did not touch the ceiling.

Late afternoon

An easy 4 mile SRT loop in about 37 minutes. One of the few bad things about living in Conshohocken is the lack of running routes in the area. It really is a municipal island in that it is surrounded on all sides by the Schuylkill River, 476, Ridge Ave, and the ritsy hilly neighborhoods of Andorra and Harts Lane. There are few safe crossings across any of these blockades, which means you need to do a little trekking to make it to better surroundings. At least it is close to the bike path and the Wissahickon.

Workout comments: I felt like I could have gone a little higher on the back squats, but this was my first attempt at a 3 rep max. I tried (successfully) to get my legs lower than parallel on each rep. I'm not sure but I think this was some others have referred to as clean depth. I defintely noticed that my calves/ankles lack the flexibility to keep my back straight at the lowest portion of this while still keeping my feet flat on the floor.

I was defintely feeling the strain on my abs during the situp. Normally I can break 100 situps in 3:00, but I was just not feeling it today. Likewise, I had originally intended on 5 intervals of jumpies, but I was feeling some twinge in my ankle, so I cut them short. I don't think I've done jumpies since college, when we use to have to them all the time for crew. I don't think there is anything that I despised more than jumpies after morning practice and now I seem to be doing them willingly.

Sumo Deadlifts, Boot Camp

Early afternoon

WU: 10 squats, 10 situps, 10 back extensions

Workout: 5 X 3 Sumo Deadlifts (257#)

Boot Camp

1 Burpee
2 Thrusters (45# DBs)
3 Suitcase Deadlifts (45# DBs)
4 OH Squats (20# barbell)
5 Double Unders
6 Pushups
7 Push Press (45# DBs)
8 Situps
9 KB Swings (45# DB)
10 Squat Thrusts w/ Renegade Row

Perform the 1 burpee… then 2 thrusters, 1 burpee… then 3 suitcase deadlifts, 2 thrusters, 1 burpee…etc.

11: 46

30 side plank, 30 normal plank, 30 opposite side plank X 2

Max normal plank hold: 1:30

Late evening
Played basketball for about 2 hours tonight. I always consider this an interval workout, since I force myself to sprint up and down the court during every possession. Some of the older guys hate that.

Workout comments: Feeling good. First time I've taken this class in almost three weeks since I've been out the past two Tuesdays. Felt kind of surprised to finish this one in under 15 minutes. Usually Kathy's workouts seem easy enough that you attempt a weight that you clearly have no business with. I didn't want to scatter 6 different dumbells around the room so I figured 45# DBs would be a good choice for the majority of the movements. I do find myself getting better in certain areas and wanted to increase the weight/reps.

Easy run, Parallette Push

Late afternoon

Took the GREs finally today. I've been taking courses as a non-matriculated student for the past 12 months and am finally making the move to actual enrollment. I think part of the problem is that they allow you to take up to four courses as a non-matriculated student before requiring you to enroll in a degree program. I mean, honestly, who is not going to enroll in a program after being that far into it?

Easy run around Conshohocken on this route. Ankle felt pretty decent, even though I didn't use the brace. This would be one of those occasions where I get so frustrated by not being able to do most physical activity, that I just say "the hell with it" and run out the door. I was expecting at east mild pain but didn't feel anything. Kept things pretty short and easy at 4 miles in 37 minutes.

When I got back I attempted 100 parallete pushups for time: 6:03. I keep hearing that these pushups will significantly improve your bench press and general push up due to the increased range of motion they allow. I do feel the pull in my chest as I dip below the plane. I'm still too scared to try handstand pushups on them yet. We'll see. I have tried some L-sits and I'm getting pretty good at them.

Mountain Biking

Took out the mountain bike for the first time in a while on an awesome Saturday. Didn't feel much like driving to the park so I just rode up there. It's kind of a pain having to ride almost 5 miles there. The ride to the park is almost entirely uphill as well.

I logged about 15 miles in 1:50 on this route. GPS on my phone died just as I was making my way out of the park, but it did include the return ride home.

I was defintely feeling some strain in my lower back, and forgot how much translational power it takes to move up some of those hills. Between forcing the pedals down and pulling on the handlebars for added stability, my core takes the brunt of the load. Defintely a fun ride. I need to work on some technical skills so I can start meeting up with other people.

Bench Press, Hang Clean/Burpee Metcon

Early afternoon


WU: Shoulder Dislocates, Quad Stretch
2 Rounds: 10 Pullups, 10 Pushups, 10 Squats, 10 Situps, 10 Back Extensions


Workout:
Bench Press 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (load=195#)


Crossfit WOD: 3 Rounds for Time
135# Hang Power Clean-15 reps
Burpees-15 reps


8:03


Workout comments: Felt very strong for these workouts, until I checked the times on the crossfit main site and saw that some of the elite times were under 3 minutes. Kick a guy while he's down... I had no heart rate monitor today, but I still felt like I was totally gassed afterwards. My lungs were burning during this one. Had to break up the second and third sets of the hang power cleans. I think the limiting factor was my traps, I was having a hard time shrugging the bar.
Paleo faults: None today

Secret Service Snatch Test

Late Afternoon

Saw this workout on a few other blogs that I've been following. Never having done this workout before, it's pretty tough to gauge how difficult this actually will be. The actual workout calls for a 53# kettlebell using either arm. I'm deciding to use a 45# DB. Simple enough.

WU: 1/2 mile job at 9:00 pace, 3% incline.
For time: 50 Pushups (60s), 50 Situps, 50 Squats
3:55

Workout: Secret Service Snatch Test
AMRAP in 10 minutes: Single arm dumbell snatches (45# DB)
190 total reps
Average HR: 172 BPM

Workout comments: I'm pretty stoked about this workout. The only frame of reference I have is another crossfit blog I found. His total was 188 using a 45# DB. I was defintely feeling the last few days worth of metcons in my legs, so this makes it a bit more fulfilling.

Body: I'm defintely feeling the soreness in my legs and lower back. I'm going to have to start searching for more ways to actively recover, other than sleeping enough and trying to eat the right foods. In all fairness, I don't think I do the best job at this, but it still doesn't warrant the constant muscle soreness I've been feeling recently.

Hotel Metcon

Been in Boston for a work training for the past few days, so I have to come up with interesting ways to incorporate crossfit. Of course there's always bodyweight workouts, but I get so bored of them after a while. Pure strength training is out, since no hotel would ever assume the insurance costs of owning a squat rack, barbells, and plates. I actually googled the nearest Crossfit affiliate to the hotel and came up with Crossfit Fenway. They deal with some interesting problems up here. Even the crossfitters wear their Red Sox pride on their sleeves. With yesterday being Marathon Monda (with an additional 11:00AM Red Sox game against the Yankees) they warned against parking at their facility. I would have liked to have taken a trip down there, but it was still 13.6 miles from my hotel and I am car-less. Fortunately, the hotel gym here did have dumbells and you can always make good use of those, especially when they range up to 50#.


WU: 2 Rounds

10 Squats, 10 Dips, 10 Situps, 10 Back Extensions, Samson Stretch


Workout: 4 Rounds for Time


10 Man Makers (2 X 25#)
20 Situps
10 KB Swings (50#)
20 OH Walking Lunges (45#)


Man Makers are a brutal movement I learned from the Boot Camp instructor Kathy. Basically, you start with a pair of dumbells, drop down in burpee-like fashion and complete a pushup. Then immediately into a Renegade Row, pulling both dumbells alternately back past your hip. Then pull your feet up under you into a landing position, peform a squat clean and finish with a thruster in one fluid movement. In reality, it takes just as long to complete one rep as it did for me to type all of this, so 10 reps is pretty taxing.


Time: 19:56


Average HR: 161 BPM on the monitor, but it was fading out during the Man Makers, most likely because of the bending I was doing at the waist. I was getting regular readings between 160 and 170, with my final HR reading at 180 at the very end of the workout.

Thrusters/Burpees

Morning
Easy jog over to Sutcliffe Park for:

4 X Max rep Pullups
9, 7, 7, 6

Late evening
WU: 2 Rounds
15 Squats, 15 Pushups, 15 Situps, 15 Back Extensions, Samson Stretch

Workout: For time
100 Thrusters (45# DBs)

*Every minute on the minute: 3 Burpees
13:56

1 Mile Uphill Treadmill Walking: 15% Grade
18:16

Workout comments: Continuously frustrated with the pullups. I'm wondering if the thick bar at the park has anything to do with the strict pullups I've been doing. I did the thruster workout a while back at Central Bucks Crossfit with 40# DBs and I think my time was a bit faster. Still I was pretty happy with this workout. My average heart rate was close to 180 for the entire workout and I don't think I could have forced it any higher than that. I rested during the 10th minute without doing any thrusters.

Paleo faults: Some cream in my coffee, salad dressing, a few pieces of chocolate. Otherwise good.

Road Cycling Hill Repeats

10.4 miles total in 47 minutes.


5 X 0.20 mile repeats at 11% grade.


60, 56, 53, 51, ??, did an extra at 53.

Workout comments: Did not record the 5th repeat, so I had to do an extra one. The hill should probably be a little longer and steeper if I plan to this workout in the future, but it's one of the few hills with little traffic so I can safely make the U-turn down the hill. Speaking of rest, I only rested during the ride down, which averaged roughly 45-60 seconds. Felt good to ride the bike again, even though the weather was cold and windy. I defintely need to spend some more time in the saddle to get all my "bike" muscles back into shape. I'd like to spend significantly more time mountain biking this summer as well.

Paleo faults: 2 slices of wheat toast,

Hand Stand Practice, DL/Burpees

Late afternoon

WU: Shoulder dislocates, quad stretch

10 minutes Hand Stand Walking Practice

Workout: 5 Rounds for Time

5 Deadlifts (227#)
10 Burpees

Should have chosen a different workout that would not accentuate the lower back muscles as much as this one did. My back was a little sore from yesterday and this was more than apparent after one round. Tried my best to keep form proper.

Nutrition: I recently bought and am in the process of reading the Paleo diet. There' s a few good programs that outline several levels of commitment to the program. Personally, I think adhering to a specific diet program is almost impossible in today's society. While I think it's ideal for the human body to eat natural, organic foods, I think that a little wheat here and there won't do any harm. Regardless, I'm pretty open to new ideas and this seems like the most beneficial program that doesn't take aim at the Agricultural/Beef/Sugar industry. So I'm going to try reporting as many "Paleo faults" as I can throughout the day or week. We'll see how it goes.

Paleo faults: White roll on a sandwich from WaWa. Clif Bar. Slice of wheat bread with butter.

Tabatta Situps, Barbell Complex

Late Afternoon

I haven't done an honest Crossfit weighted workout since last Wednesday, and I wasn't sure if I would be well rested, or just out of shape.

WU: Shoulder dislocates, ankle stability on Bosu ball
Tabatta situps: 13

I was hoping to hit 14 again, a number I reached a few weeks back. Despite the speed at which I thought I was moving, I just seemed to run out of gas after about 3 rounds.

Workout: Barbell complex

AMRAP in 20 minutes:

5 Thrusters (95#)
7 Hang Power Cleans (95#)
10 SDHP (95#)

My goal for this workout was 10 rounds. I figured I could easily average 22 reps in approx. 2 minutes or less. Boy was I wrong. The first round flew by in 1:39, which was surprising, but it was all downhill from there. I lost count of the rounds at some point, but I'm pretty sure it was either 7 or 8 complete rounds. I'm leaning towards 7 rounds, because that averages just under 3 minutes per round, which is what I was clocking some of my later rounds to be.

This was a really tough workout, probably should have been even tougher had I attacked it has hard as I should have. I still have to work on mental toughness and get "comfortable" in the anaerobic "red zone."

Bodyweight workout

Late Afternoon

WU: easy 0.5 mile jog/walk to Sutcliffe Park, the home of the awesome fit trail/crossfit training equipment. Went there yesterday and discovered some parallel bars.

Workout:
Kipping Pullups On the minute: 1, 2, 3, 4,...
Failed at 10, more because of the grip and blisters forming on my hands then from actual muscle failure. The bar is pretty thick too, so it makes for interesting later reps.

0.25 mile walking lunges, uneven terrain

11:49

Tried to ensure that my knee touched the ground each time, but I was going over some gravel and stones in shorts. I drew the line there.

100 Parallette Pushups: untimed.

Workout comments: The walking lunges didn't hurt as much the next day as I supposed they might. I'll have to lengthen the duration next time. I need to make one new parallete. One of them seems a bit wobbly, which doesn't concern me during the pushups, but HSPUs are a different story. I glued the damn things together so tightly that there is no way to pry apart the different sections either.

Central Bucks Crossfit, run (April 7th, 9th)

Bit of a late post, but I've been on vacation in Naples, Florida for the past week. Here's a few workouts since then:

Wednesday, April 7th (afternoon)

WU: air squats, SDHP practice

Workout: Central Bucks Crossfit

21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 SDHP (65#)

3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 KB Swings (53#)

Shuttle Runs (4 cones, set every 12 meters)*

* Done before each round of SHDP and KB swings, 7 total.

17:30

Friday, April 9th (morning)

An easy run down in Boca Raton, Florida while waiting for Brigid to get out of some training sessions. Spent the morning drinking coffee with this view:

Not to mention the fact the route I took was pretty much right down A1A Beach Front Avenue:

I didn't see Vanilla Ice, not all the Lamborginis, but I'm sure I wasn't far enough south for this.

Bootcamp

Wasn't sure if I was up for this workout today. I had to drop Brigid off at the airport at 6AM this morning after being up until almost 1130 last night watching the NCAA championship. What a great game. I was pulling for Butler just because they were the underdog but I would have been happy that either team won. Except for the fact that my brother was in near last place in our pool, but was the only jacka$$ to pick Duke to win everything. Now he picks up 35 points and the victory.

WU: Jogging, Tabatta Squats: 10

Workout for today: Bootcamp

4 Rounds for time:

5 burpees
10 Dumbell Thrusters (2 X 30#)
15 Pushups
20 Situps
25 OH Walking Lunges (30#)

13:03

Workout comments: Normally the pushups wouldn't be a problem, but when they are predeced by burpees and thrusters, my arms get a bit fatigued. The original workout from Kathy's gym was supposed to be twice as many reps and the same number of rounds. This would have easily taken over 30 minutes.

Body: My legs were still extremely sore from the squats on Sunday. My lower back is also a little sore, but I'm not sure why.

A whole lot of reps...

Early afternoon

The culmination of an awesome weekend, and I was left not wanting to aggravate my ankle after running 5 miles yesterday. I took out the Vibrams and took a short job over to Sutcliffe Park, which is only 300 feet from where Brigid and I might be living shortly. I was looking for an adequate pullup bar. Many of the parks in the area have been installing "fit tracks": walking tracks approximately a quarter mile long with various structures aimed at improving overall fitness. You can find pullup bars, parallel bars, balance beams, etc. A crossfitters dream. I headed over in the middle of what can only be described as an April paradise. Ironically, my ankle felt like old times and I was tempted to push it further. But if I want to even think about a competitive summer, I had better take it easy until I'm feeling 100%. I had the following workout thrown together.

7 strict pullups on the minute for 10 minutes (first 3 rounds I started at 5 rounds because I didn't want to overdo it). Followed immediately by:

15 chest-to-deck pushpus on the minute for 10 minutes.

Kipping pullups practice

And then the kicker: 1000 air squats for time

43:06

I broke down the air squats into rounds of 100. Mental toughness is defintely a factor. I wouldn't say that the workout was excruciating, but it was tough to keep count and focus on finishing. After about 20 minutes, I couldn't believe I was only half way through. It was mentally draining. I'm sure I'll be feeling this for the next few days.

Workout comments: I wanted to get some muscle endurance workouts into my training plan over the next few weeks. This defintely fits the bill. I also needed to work on my pullups, since I seem to be seeing no improvement in this particular area, although I don't really put a whole lot of time into them.
Nutrition: decent, nothing to brag about.
Body: I woke up adequately rested, having done no resistance training yesterday. Ankle felt great.

First taste of summer

Early afternoon

A run! Easy five miles down Forbidden Drive with no ankle brace. I am convinced that chiropractics works. There were a few fleeting moments of discomfort, but they quickly passed before I could consider turning around and heading back. I probably should have been smarter and planned a loop, so that I could have easily called it a day if things starting going south, but honestly it could not have felt better. Average pace was approx. 9 minutes and heart rate was around 138. Pretty indicative of the training I've been doing with Crossfit over the past 4-5 months. I have seen my heart rate reach 170-180 during weight training workouts in a period of 10-30 minutes. Someone should defintely re-write the article on specificity of training, because this is defintely transferrable.

The weather was awesome. Could not have asked for a better day, and it was only further proven by the amount of people down in the park today. As big as the Wissahickon is, it makes me wish it was bigger so that I could spend days and days running and exploring. It literally melts away stress and worries, leaving calmness and tranquility in your mind. What else can you worry about?

I was so relaxed when I got home that my plan of 100 parallette pushups and pullups turned into 40 parallette pushups...and then some lemonade.

Now on to the Final Four....

Pretty Cool Article on Barefoot Running

Front Squat, Weighted Pullups, Short Metcon

Late afternoon

Front Squat: 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3

Loads: 125, 155, 175, 195, 205, 215 (failed second 2 reps)

Weighted Pullups: 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3

Loads: 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 (failed 3rd rep), 55

3 rounds for time:

40 DUs
30 Box Jumps (18in box)
20 KB Swings (50#)

10:32 (3:27, 3:36, 3:29)

Supplemental: 20 min light stretching

Workout comments: The major limiting factor on the front squats was the soreness in my wrists as I fought to keep the barbell racked. I just don't know if I have enough flexibility there. I used a Smith machine for this workout, so I'm not sure if my balance was totally centered either.
General comments: My ankle has felt light years better since the chiropractor. I didn't wear the ankle brace for the workout today and felt minimal discomfort. It does start to sore up after walking on it all day, but that's to be expected. Maybe this is the beginning of the end.