kettlebellguy

Archive for December, 2009

Whiteboard 12-30-2009

This morning we had a choice of movements to work on to establish benchmarks. Click the thumbnail to see the choices we had. I went with the 2,000M row. Most of the other options were out of the question for me.

I was pleased with my results. It was a good test of my endurance. My 1,000M row earlier in the week was 4:02 and this 2,000M was 9:12. My rowing was consistent for the entire 2,000 meters.

Had fun at self defense class last evening. Reviewed what I have learned so far and starting working on “ducking”, or getting the hell out of the way by squatting down. Squatting is a real challenge for me but having a fist coming at my face did help with my speed and depth. Also got an introduction to stick fighting. Let me know if you want to join me for some free classes.

CrossFit Lexington T Shirt

Having a shaved head is not a requirement to wear this T-Shirt, but it does add to the effect.

Eating—Tracking starts on Monday. Will be having before pictures taken, weigh in and body fat measurement. If you want to join Dave C and I on this 90 day tracking period just let Brian know.

What hurts today—Same old crap. This morning was really bad after yesterdays deadlifts and self defense. I just keep playing that old Margo Smith favorite, “It only hurts for a little while” in the back of my head.
It only hurts for a little while
That’s what they tell me that’s what they say
It only hurts for a little while
That’s what they tell me just wait and see

One Year Ago—Below is what we did on the last day of 2008. Wonder what we will do for the last day of 2009.

WOD “31″ in honor of the 31st day of the last month in 2008.

31 Med ball Clean
31 Knee to Elbow
31 Push Press(45lb bar)

**3 rounds for time***
Results

Charlie–9:39
Matt–11:37
Eric–13:56
Terry–15:00
Caryn–16:44
Monique–17:27

Whiteboard for 12-29-2009

Was apprehensive about this morning because I did not want to lose my 405 lb deadlift PR. I knew that I was going to get knocked out of the top three ranking for the box but I still wanted to hold onto what I had.

I was pleased to get 5 pounds on my max, up to 410 lbs. Eric had a huge increase of 55 pounds to 380 and Joe C. set the bar higher at 465 pounds.

As everyone continues to get stronger and we continue to grow in membership at the box it’s clear that we are going to see many numbers over the 400 pound mark in the future.

Although I don’t want to limit my current potential my real long term goal is to lift 400+ at 60, 70 and 80. My primary focus is not on getting bigger numbers but doing what I can to hold on to what I have for as long as I can. What’s your focus? What number are you going for?

Eating—Tracking starts Monday. I am really afraid to get on the scales but anxious to have a tracking plan.

What hurts today—Second night of not sleeping. My hips and legs kept me up most of the night. Get up to pee myself and getting up twice to let Heidi the dog out screwed any other chance of getting some rest. The pain seems to fade by 3-4 in the morning but then it is almost time to get up. I thought that the lack of sleep might impact my deadlift this morning (and it probably did) but I was still happy with my performance.

One Year Ago—Just me this morning at Crossfit at 6A. Brian coached and Jerry did the workout along with me.

Another self defense class this evening. I am having a great time with this. I you want to try it out for free I can get you a pass.

Whiteboard 12-28-2009

This is going to be a benchmark setting week. Today we set our benchmark for the 1000M row. I was OK with my time, 4:02.5. I would have liked to have a sub 4 minute time but now I have something to work toward.

I did it again. I added this note after finding another 1000M benchmark on 11-18-2009. That one was 4:28, today was 4:02. I feel a lot better about my 4:02 now. Another example of why you need to keep records.

Here is what other people got on 11-18-2009, click to see the blog entry.
Steve 4:28-6
Terry 4:28-6
Conner 5:55-7
Kelly 4:58-7
Dave 3:46-7
Will 3:35-9
Brett 3:41-6
Miranda 4:09-7
Joe S. 3:38.6-7
Tom 3:35-6
Eric 3:47-7

For the metcom my swings were great (35lb) but my pull ups sucked big time.

Tomorrow we are going to do deadlifts. I really need to get 410 lbs tomorrow but I have to admit there is some doubt in my mind. I still don’t know how I got the previous 405lbs. 410 will be sweet but I will be really happy to get 400. We will see.

We will be working on other benchmarks for Wednesday and Thursday. No class on Friday this week.

Enjoyed my self defense class yesterday afternoon. I started my first class on the 6th of December so that was my 4th Sunday class and I have had 3 Tuesday classes. That is a total of 7 classes. It seems like a lot more. I have made good progress in large part because of the small class size. I am sure that will change after the first of the year when everyone’s schedules get back on track.

I need to get a mouth guard now because the contact is becoming closer and closer. Took a couple of hits yesterday. I guess for some it might be uncomfortable but for me it is just a welcome diversion from the usual pain I am in.

I credit CrossFit with being able to keep up with the cardio component of the classes. I wish that the constant movement was not so taxing on my hips, legs and heels but that is the way it is for now.

I still have some free passes to classes. Just let me know if you are interested.

At this point it looks like we have Joe H, Brett, Aaron and Justin going to the 2010 CrossFit games sectionals.

Eating—What a mess. Going to work hard on keeping things under control Ramping for the start of weight and body fat tracking on the 4th.

What hurts today—In bed at 9PM, awake at midnight. My hips, legs and heels were on fire. Took some pain meds and fortunately they worked and by 2AM I drifted off again. I could have really slept in this morning especially knowing that I had to do shoveling to get the car out.

One Year Ago—Crossfit at 6AM. Andrew (this will be his last visit until around Easter. He is going back to his base), Matt, Ted, Dave, Eric, Kelly with Brian and Jerry coaching.

My main drain is now cleaned out. It’s such a comfort to be able to flush with confidence once again. The plumber was a nice guy and did a good job. Being a plumber is a hard job. The equipment he had to bring into the basement was very heavy and hard to handle.

He was very overweight and I could tell he was a smoker. His breathing was very labored. I wondered to myself just how many more years he was going to be able to do the job. My guess is that he was in his mid to late 30′s, surely not over 40 but I am not good at making a guess at someones age. Moving the equipment up and down the stairs was really just a quick deadlift warm up but you could tell it was a real effort for him.

This was just another example of why it’s important to be strong.

The big personal record board at the box is being filled in. I grabbed a picture of it today to remember when my name was on there for one of the top three male CFT (CrossFit Totals).

I am not a mind reader or a fortune teller but I have a good idea that when we do a CFT again I might get knocked down a few notches. The number of mutants is on the rise.

I will keep working on the CFT because it is the one thing I think I have the best chance of having a good showing with.

Whiteboard 12-26-2009

Ended up with a big crowd this morning with several new faces. I counted 23 for the WOD plus Brian and Charlie coaching. I think that is our record for number of people in one class.

My wonderful Christmas continued as I saw Burpees as our skill (can a burpee actually be a skill?) plus 50 more burpees in the WOD. Times ranged from 7 minutes 3 seconds to 16 minutes 9 seconds.

photo Brian Yoak, CrossFitLegacy

I can’t wait until the holidays are over. Everything is off schedule, including me. The only thing I have been able to keep constant is my workouts. My eating has spiraled out of control. Things need to get back on schedule.

Once a coworker that I respected very much said to me “Terry, you are rigid, controlling and confrontational”.

“What the hell do you mean by that?” was my reply.

When I got back from CrossFit I was going to start up the washing machine. I noticed a suspicious layer of water standing around the main drain out of the house. Doing some detective work I determined that my main drain is plugged up.

Waiting for the plumber.

Sometimes I really mean it when I say my day is full of shi*.

I have a self defense class tomorrow afternoon at 3PM. I have free passes if anyone wants to try it out with me.

Chilled water is always available

Whiteboard 12-24-2009

Had a full house this morning. Andrew is in town for the holidays and joined us. Steve and Noreen were there to start class but had to leave. Steve was not feeling well. This was just after he was telling me that Carl was at home with the stomach flu. Could there be a connection?

Doing the “Twelve Days Of Christmas” has now become a CrossFit Legacy tradition, this being the second year in a row we have completed this workout on Christmas Eve. Perhaps by next year I will actually figure out how to do it.

I registered as a spectator for the 2010 Games Sectional in Columbus

Ohio / Indiana / Kentucky / Michagan Sectional

Mar 7, 2010

Greater Columbus Conv. Center

300 N High St.

Columbus, OH 43215 — Map It »

Spots to the Regionals: 20 men, 20 women

If you are thinking about going you have to be registered in advance. The spectator cost for the one day even is $25.00. You can get information on registering as a spectator or competitor here.

Eating—It’s Christmas Eve. What do you expect?

What hurts toda—Bad night. Although the WOD’s are hard I do feel better after they are over.

Glad that we get a break tomorrow. There is a free class on Saturday morning so it will be interesting to see how many show up.

We will have a small group of Debbie’s relatives over tonight. Her sister is in the nursing home so I imagine there will be a trip to the nursing home. Tomorrow is dinner at Mom’s.

I still have passes for the free self defense classes and weight/body fat tracking starts on the 4th.

Merry Christmas!

Typical Chrismas Eve

Whiteboard 12-23-2009

The holiday season is taking its toll on class attendance. Just Dave R, Dave C and myself this morning.

I could hardly move this morning so the WOD was a real challenge.

I loaded up with 225 lbs for the deadlifts. I would have been able to to the WOD with 225 but not without breaking up my deadlifts. The design of Diane is that you do the deadlifts unbroken. Based on how I felt and the need to do the DL’s unbroken I went down to 185 lbs. I was able to do all 21-15-9 reps unbroken. I felt good that I was able to accomplish that.

All of us modified the Hand Stand Push Ups. We used a box with weight plates stacked on it then got on the top of the stack of plates on our knees. With our heads pointed to the ground we did our push ups. Kind of hard to paint a visual picture of this but words like awkward, painful and sad would be appropriate descriptors.

Had another good self defense class last night. We worked on advancing/retreating techniques. We made some modifications because the technique being used was really challenging my two primary weaknesses, my hips and Achilles tendons. Like so many things that involve the hips and Achillies tendons in CrossFit I need to find modifications in self defense.

I was able to score a limited number of free passes for some self defense classes at the Shaw Jewish Community Center at 750 White Pond Drive. If you want to come to classes on Sunday afternoon at 3PM or Tuesday at 7PM just let me know and I will get a pass to you. This is my way of demonstrating the CrossFit concept of regularly learning and playing new sports.

Eating—It’s almost Christmas. Getting ready for weight/body fat tracking starting on the 4th.

What hurts today—This morning was the third morning this week that I slept until the alarm clock went off. I am amazed. My Achilles tendons and hips are in bad shape today.

I did not do any burpees this morning.

One Year Ago—
Ron, Matt, Ted, Eric, Andrew and Kelly with Brian and Jerry coaching.

WOD

Whiteboard 12-22-2009

There were 14 people for the 6AM class. Everyone came to see Fran. Have to admit I was not all that excited because thrusters are one of my biggest challenges, followed by pull ups and that was all we were going to be doing this morning.

Because of the number of people in class we had two heats. I was in the first. I loaded up with 95 lbs and got a total fail. Brian and I negotiated for a bit and I ended up with 65 lbs.

Fortunately Fran only shows up about every 4 months and that is more than enough for me.

My time was better than previous FRAN attempts but my weight load was down, my squats sucked and I am still doing jumping pull ups. Looking back at 6/26/2009 I used 65lbs and had 5:30 so there was a small improvement. I am sure my thrusters and pull ups were of about the same quality.

Lot’s of PR’s over previous FRANS and some good benchmarks set.

I only got a few KB swings and a couple of burpees in prior to class to warm up. I finished up my 42 burpees while the second Fran heat was going on. It took me longer to do my burpees than it took some people to do their Fran. That just ain’t right.

Eating—It’s Christmas week. What else can I say?

What hurts today—Debbie did not get home until after 10PM last night so it was going on 11PM before we were in bed. I slept straight through until the alarm went off at 5AM. That is twice this week that the alarm has woke me up. That is really unusual. Usual stuff hurting, hips and heels.

One Year Ago—Just Eric and I on Tuesday last year. We did “My Pet Kettlebell” 6000M row.

Justin’s back squat and deadlift from last Saturday. Justin is a mutant!