7-31-2010 6 mile run at Brust Park, Munroe Falls, Ohio

What do you do on a Saturday morning when there is no free CrossFit class at your box? You find something else to do.

We were able to gather nine people to do a run this morning.

After some discussion we decided on a six mile run.

For several of us this was something brand new.

The longest I have ever run was 1.5 miles that I did on Thursday morning in 17 minutes and 11 seconds.

I came in dead last but I ran every step of the six miles this morning at 63 minutes and 18 seconds. I never stopped except for about 30 seconds for some instruction from Dan because I think I was driving him crazy with my poor form.

Starting off I was able to stick with the group but then very slowly I started to fall behind. On three separate occasions Will ran back to me and applied some “willivation” to get me to catch up with the group and at one point even be in the lead.

Everyone made it back alive and there were no injuries that I heard about. CrossFitters like to show of their injuries, not for sympathy, just to show how much pain we can take so if someone had got hurt we would have been sure to hear about it.

Based upon my calculations (which are always suspect) I was running at 10 minutes 55 seconds per mile. That seems very fast to me but maybe I am getting faster. It could happen.

Here is a little pre and post run discussion by the group.

Boneless Chicken Dinner

Whiteboard for 7-30-2010

Also worked on Handstand Push Ups. Did much better than yesterday so that started the morning off well.

Brian is gone on the annual Yoak Boys Weekend so Charlie ran our class this morning. He had an individual WOD set up but the class explained that Fridays were Team Day. We ended up with a new WOD.

Dave C and I teamed up and we did take Charlies suggestion to scale as needed. We scaled back the numbers on everything but the sit ups and squats. This allowed us to keep going with some intensity. The burpees and pull ups are real challenges for Dave and I and had we attempted to do the volume in the WOD we would have been really slow.

Will and Brandon decided they would do the WOD as an individual WOD. Will did the entire WOD as written for a team, including doing GHD sit ups in place of regular sit ups. Will finished in 51:38. It was a very impressive performance and might make you wonder why someone would put themselves through such an ordeal. Bottom line, you either understand it or you don’t.

Here is my final July NGU Challenge video. If I get my 1.5 run down to 15:26 I would pass the State of Iowa Law Enforcement Physical Fitness test.

This was a fun day, the day the lights went out in Norton.

CrossFit at 6AM. Yesterday was the foggiest day I remember for a long time and this morning was the rainiest day. Going down the country road to the box I was wondering if I was going to go under water a couple of times.

Once at the box it was clear something was different. No lights…no power. Would this keep Steve, Dave, Eric and I from doing our WOD? Nope. Brian moved his car so the headlights shown in one window, we opened a door that let a little light in (remember, it’s 6AM on an overcast rainy morning). That gave us enough light that we could see each other in the shadows and we did our WOD. I was hoping for Kettlebell tossing this morning but we decided against that.

Music, ambient lighting and stopwatches were provided by various cell phones.

I did OK on the rowing but the thrusters were a disaster, even with just the 45lb bar. My hips were not cooperating on the way down and my right bicep was shot on the way up so it was not a pretty sight and took me forever. The pull ups were a mess also, my arms were just not kicking this morning. So, I worked like a dog as far as using energy but was really disappointed in my form. Deadlifts are much more fun that this stuff but I try to keep focused on the fact that I need to work on my weakness.

You can see from the whiteboard that we just found a spot to show our results, using the light of an iPhone.

Today’s WOD
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With all the excitement of being without power this morning I forgot about doing my weigh in. Not a big issue, I can just do that next week. The number on the scale is not really going to change anything.

Eating—Staying on track 100 percent. All I have to do now is watch out for anything that takes me off my plan and schedule. The temptation of the doughnut is still around and I have to be on guard.

What hurts today—Back of right heel still a big problem. Something started up in my right bicep after rowing this morning that impacted the rest of my workout. Hopefully that will pass. Other than those issues I am feeling good.

Whiteboard for 7-29-2010

It was the boys club this morning. Danny brought his little boy along and he jumped right in with us on the workouts.

Worked on getting a Push Jerk Max this morning. I was struggling quite a lot and finally ended up with 165. As usual I was not happy with that, sure that I had not done as well as I have in the past but I went to check what I got on this last time and in March and I got 165. I have not lost anything so I am OK with the numbers today although I always want to see them going up.

We worked on the 10M Of Death. Run 10M first minute, 2 10M’s second minute and so on. I made it to 11M’s. I admit that I was really careful on these runs. You had to make a quick turn at each 10M’s and the pavement was damp. Had I thrown caution to the wind I might have been a bit faster but on something like this I am OK going a little slower and avoid going down.

The good part about it is that I got warmed up for my 1.5 mile run after class. I needed to do that for the NGU Challenge on youTube. I hoped to get 15:26 but came in at 17:11. Still a long way from the fat boy that could not even run 200M’s. I captured it on video and will be putting together my entry video for the challenge over the weekend.

Jerry and I ran the 1.2 mile trail at the park on Treaty Line Road last night. We did not time the first run. We walked a bit and then went for a second round. We came out the other end 16:40 later. That is slow but the trail does have multiple steep hills and you really have to watch where you are stepping. Clearly room for improvement in time and distance. Hopefully I was not holding Jerry up too much but my ass was dragging toward the end of the second run.

We are making this a regular thing for Wednesday evenings so if you want to join us feel free to come along. Hopefully Eric will make it next week.

Stacia, Tina and Tom with Brian coaching. Have not seen Jerry for awhile. I noticed this morning that as I looked in the mirror I almost felt good about myself. Need to have Jerry back in the gym to help me deal with these strange feelings.

Not a very good night for me last night. Very restless and my right heel was really hurting, keeping me awake. I suspect that it was the double unders yesterday that has aggravated it even more than it was.

Our workout this morning had sets of 150 jump ropes and I considered doing some rowing as a substitute to give my heel a break however that would have taxed my arms which were going to have to work hard in the WOD. I went ahead and did the jump ropes but did the smallest jumps possible.

The WOD is very deceiving when you just read it. There was a lot of work. It comes out to

600 Jump Ropes
60 Push Jerk
60 Power Snatch
60 Push Ups

I seemed to be moving at extra slow speed this morning. My transition from the power snatch to the push up was very slow as I fought a lot of pain getting up and down and my jump ropes were very broken. I know this WOD was designed to be fast but I was not much of a sprinter this morning. Best news was that I did not quit and I finished everything with reasonable form using 95 lbs for the Jerk and Snatch.

Today’s WOD
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Eating—Staying on plan. Made another batch of red, green, yellow peppers and onion with ground turkey breast yesterday. Hard to believe that tomorrow is weigh in again (and also the last day of July).

What hurts today—Biggest issue it the back of the right heel. Other than feeling like I have been run over by a truck as a result of the WOD I am feeling great.

Whiteboard for 7-28-2010

I looked and felt like I had already done a workout before class started.

16 in class this morning, a lot for a Wednesday morning.

This mornings WOD went OK and I managed to get the slowest time. I got 3:55 for my 1,000 M Row, finishing first in my heat. Anytime I get a sub 4 minutes that is a good thing. I did not mind having the slowest time this morning because I did every single Knee to Elbow as a real Knee to Elbow. That was a big improvement. Still can’t get more that two strung together at a time but better than not doing a knee to elbow at all. The wall balls were my usual, good on the upper body strength to get the ball up on the wall and a total suck for getting down into a squat.

I fell into bed at 9:30PM and dd not get up once to pee so that tells me I was exhausted. I was surprised that I was able to move at all this morning. It was bad getting moving but not as bad as I thought it would be.

Will was giving Tom some diet and nutrition advice after class. Let’s just say it was not your typical mamma’s Weight Watchers Meeting. Hope you were listening Tom because there will be a test.

I got 220 on the scale and Tom is holding his 217. I know I am going to drop 3-4 pounds before too long. I have been holding the same for long enough. Once that happens I am going to be below Tom unless he does something soon. I looked back and on 1-4-2010 Tom was 225 and I was 256.

Running the trails tonight with Jerry. We walked last week but ramping it up to running this week. We will see what happens.

Brian had some exciting news to share this morning. Coach Glassman (CrossFit founder) has confirmed that he will be visiting the CrossfitLegacy box on Saturday, November 28, 2009. This is really big news for our box and for the NE Ohio area. No details are set other than the date. More to come.

Worked on Hang Cleans as our skill. I think I am getting to the point where I actually understand how to do this.

Was successful with the Hang Cleans at 95 lbs during the WOD. My squats on the thrusters sucked today. You could put a thousand pounds on my bar today and I would not go down. The concrete was set hard in my hips this morning.

About beat myself to death with the jump rope on the double unders. It’s very frustrating because I know all the things I am doing wrong. Much of it has to do with my handling of the rope. I was able to get a couple in here and there but I never made the 10 per set. I would still be in the gym if I had waited until that happened.

Although all my movements were not the best this morning I sure worked hard for 24 minutes.

Today’s WOD
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Eating—Doing great on plan. Expecting at least some type of loss by Friday morning.

What hurts today—My hips were not squatting this morning. I was hopeful that after a couple of sets of thrusters they would loosen up but that did not happen today. All the jump rope work did a number on my already sore heels (back of heel). We will see how they are acting in the morning.

Whiteboard for 7-27-2010

We tried something new this morning for our warm up which I am calling “People’s Choice” where everyone, in turn, calls of a movement to do and we do 20 reps. I started with burpees. We had chest to bars, squats, box jumps, window wipers and some others. With 10 people that was 200 reps for our warm up.

I went with 155 pounds for the Power Cleans this morning and did Kettlebell Shoulder presses instead of a modified Hand Stand Push Up. There were a lot of variations in what people were doing this morning so the actual times don’t really mean anything.

Every once in a while a power clean would work for me. Still continue to work the issue of keeping arms straight long enough and landing in a better position. I know when it works right. It’s just a problem to consistently recreate the movement.

Sit and reach
1 minute sit up
1 minute push up
1.5 mile run

I completed filming everything but the 1.5 mile run and only had to do the sit up’s twice, since the first time I failed to turn the camera on to record.

Very concerned about getting the run done within the 15:26 time. Last night I was able to do 1.5 in 14:55 on the treadmill but that is a lot different from the real world. Hopefully I can do that run and record it on Thursday morning after class.

Eric and I are set for Self Defense class tonight and tomorrow night I am trail running with Jerry. Next week is another vacation week so I am trying to decide if that should also be a 2 WOD a day week. OK, it’s going to be. That was easy.

Another beautiful Ohio summer morning.

We lifted and moved heavy things this morning so I had a great time.

I felt especially good and strong this morning. I was even able to push out some decent ring dips (with assistance from bands). For the deadlifts I went with 230 lbs. Had to get 5 more lbs than Eric. I am just glad I am not a competitive type of person. Even the 230 lbs felt surprising light this morning. I should have gone heavier.

Carl and I were having our own little mini competition between each other. Although we spend the majority of the time harassing and annoying each other without mercy we made a really good team when it was time to workout this morning. I am really hopeful that we come up with a way to keep Carl coming a couple times a week, even when school starts. I know that he will benefit from the workouts.

Today’s WOD
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Eating—On plan. Feeling really good. Going into week three of Paleo. Does the different eating have anything to do with how I feel stronger and just generally more fit? With a lack of anything else to attribute my good health to I will go with the diet. I have to stay consistently on guard against the temptation of a doughnut but if I can keep that up I will be successful.

What hurts today—I slept well last night and no major issues. My right heel still causes a problem on some mornings. If I just keep moving it will finally loosen up.

Whiteboard for 7-26-2010

There were 20 in class for this mornings WOD. Monday mornings continue to get bigger and bigger even with people gone for summer vacation time.

I did bail out of the Knees to Elbows in the warm up this morning. My right shoulder is not letting me hold the tension I need to do those today.

My movements were slow but not as slow as some others, coming in 17th out of 20. My squats were good, burpees were ugly and pull ups were solid jumping. Running was slow, as usual, but I never stopped. On these types of workouts I don’t go fast but I am consistent and don’t spend a lot of time resting. I just keep moving.

We worked on the press movement (shoulder, push, push jerk) and Med Ball Cleans this morning.

Today’s WOD
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Worked hard on the box jumps today and did every one as a jump up and down. Box was approximately 12 inches. This was a big thing for me as I get over my “reluctance” to jump.

Eating—On plan, doing well. Steve did his weigh in yesterday and was down three so Paleo is working for both of us.

What hurts today—Continuing to feel really good. Nothing major going on.

It’s hard to believe that is starts the last week of July. This summer is flying by.

What Is Cross Fit? Short by CrossFit by Overload

]]> http://kettlebellguy.com/blog/2010/07/25/072510-sunday/feed/ 0 http://kettlebellguy.com/blog/2010/07/24/072410-saturday-crossfit-my-two-year-anniversary/ http://kettlebellguy.com/blog/2010/07/24/072410-saturday-crossfit-my-two-year-anniversary/#comments Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:22:57 +0000 trboh http://kettlebellguy.com/blog/?p=6721

Whiteboard 7-24-2010

At the box at 8AM for an hour before class. Worked on leg raises, GHD sit ups (or the rack as I like to call it) and KB juggling and actually got some other people to try it.

One word for the weather today – HOT!

Eric and I were talking after class about how long we had been doing CrossFit to someone that just completed their first class. I was sure it was close to my two year anniversary. Once I stared working on this post I realized my two year anniversary was today.

Has CrossFit changed anything? Well, I got weighed in at 218 this morning. I was well over 260 two years ago.

Do I have abs now? Well, in just the right light with just the right angle and if you squint your eyes you can kind of see an ab or two.

Can I lift more, carry more, keep moving longer than a lot of other 57 old bald guys. I think so.

Do I have more confidence in my abilities? Yes.

Am I more sure about my ability to take care of myself and others, now and well into the future? Yes.

Do I have the opportunity everyday to be surrounded by people who are interested in my progress, who care about my accomplishments, who push me to my limits, help me with those things that are difficult and who cheer for me just as loud when I come in last as they do for the one that came in first. Yes, and I think that is the best part about CrossFit.

If you force yourself to interact with people that expect you to do your best, in fact demand your best, whatever that best might be, you will surprise yourself with your accomplishments. It would be a lot easier for me to just workout with a group of old guys playing shuffle board or cards but where would be the challenge and the reward?

I am very blessed to have some very close friends, encourages, motivators, coaches and supporters as a result of CrossFit. My hope is that those relationships last even longer than the muscles I am building.

I try my best to let those people know as often as possible how important they are to me and how I value the opportunity of sharing time with them. If I have not told you that recently you need to know how much I value the relationships I have developed at CrossFit Legacy and within the CrossFit community.

I had to modify the OH Squats this morning. I tried with my arm overhead with just a 10 pound weight but my shoulder is not taking it. I modified to just holding the weight on my shoulder and trying for as much depth as I could get in the squat. Sit ups were slow, mountain climber were OK. The last 800M was long and lonely but Eric and Conner came out and ran the final 200M with me so that helped out. I did keep to my goal of never stopping on a run.

Warm up	10 K2E 10 Push up (games style) 10 Tuck Jumps 3 Rounds
Skill	Single Arm OH Squat
WOD	800 M Run 4 rounds of the following: -20 Single Arm OHS (10 each) -20 Sit Ups -20 Mountain Climbers end with 800 M Run
Results	24 in class this morning See whiteboard for results

Couple of new people this morning along with some out of town visitors. We had a total of 24 for the WOD.

As I mentioned above my weigh in was 218. Tom is at 217. Only 2 pounds to go to get below him, unless he actually starts to lose some pounds. But what are the chances of that happening?

It’s going to be in the 90′s today so I may not get much else done but I will get a visit to the pool in.

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ONE YEAR AGO
CrossFit at 9AM. Big crowd with several new people this morning for the free Saturday workout. We had a real mixture of experienced CrossFitters, new CrossFitters and 1st Day CrossFitters.

Today was the 1 year anniversary of my walking into CrossFitLegacy for my first WOD on a Free Saturday Workout morning in July of 2008. Here is a reprint of what I wrote for the next Monday when I started for real on CrossFit.

A restless night. I was doing Crossfit all night long in my sleep in anticipation of my first class, so I was already exhausted by the time I got there. This morning I needed to be at the Crossfit gym at 6A.

Results for WOD
6am
10 Renegade Row
15 Wall Ball
20 Front Squat
50 Jump Ropes

**4 rounds for time**

Kelly–12:32
Sharon–13:35
Eric–11:00
Terry–16:47
Tomas–18:00
Erica–16:18

That WOD does not seem near as much of a challenge now as it did one year ago. Although I am never going to be a speed demon I know my capacity for work has increased tremendously over the year. I am able to lift heavy things and carry them long distances.

CrossFit was what I was looking for and I was lucky to end up with the best CrossFit affiliate, Coach’s and fellow CrossFitter’s just minutes away from me. Looking forward to year two.

A bit of excitement this morning as Pukey made an appearance. One of the new guys doing their first every CrossFit WOD this morning spewed forth the power of pukey. I was trying to finish up my sit ups with Charlie on one side of me screaming words of encouragement and pukey happening a few feet away from me on the other side. Tell me what regular fitness gym you can have fun like that in? I just kept going on my sit ups, finished them up and then did my last squats and was done. By that time the pukey clean up squat was in full action.

Although I have been very close to pukey a few time I have never been able to actually bring him forth during a workout.

I was slow, as I would expect, on this mornings WOD but I completed it. Out of a given group of people I will usually be among the slowest on a bodyweight WOD.
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Eating—On plan. Worked the Church Yard Sale Saturday and avoided all church lady goodies offered at the bake sale plus the hot dogs, sloppy joes and pepperoni rolls they had for lunch. I had taken a big container of grapes and a small bag of raw almonds with me for snacking and I went home for lunch. Avoiding those things is becoming easier and easier.

What hurts today–I have felt really good over the weekend, no major aches or pains. Worked on the yard first thing this morning and will be running errands this afternoon.