Vacation week

This last week has been a doozy. I had the kids to myself from Thursday through Monday, was in Connecticut on business from Tuesday through Thursday, and had five nights where I worked until after 9pm. There never seemed to be a good time to get in a workout and in the few times where it was possible, spending time with family or time contemplating the inside of my eyelids seemed a better choice. The upshot was that today, I was able to pick up my programming pretty much where I left off - hitting a workout not that unlike my last one. So much for constantly varied. At least I kept it functional, and I hit it with a well-rested intensity.
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Warmup
Hip mobility drills
Shoulder mobility drills
Agility drills (dot, triangle x 5, W x 3)

Skill work
Handstands, 5:00 (four solid 10-15 second holds, these felt really good)

Heavy stuff
Back squat 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 255x1, 260x5, 270x5, 280x5 (PR)

Burgener warmup

Metcon
Running Grace

3 rounds:

10 C&J, 135#
Run 400m

14:10

Core work
Abwheel 2x10

Nice to hit a PR on the squats in consectuve weeks. That felt heavy. It's fun thinking I'll be going even heavier next week. Reminds me of my starting strength days.

My running Grace got messed up by a malfunctioning treadmill in round 1. Lost about a minute there, but I kept pushing afterwards and was laying in a heap by the end. Got a bit of a Fran cough coming on at the moment. I don't that I got a good time and it's hard to compare to others with the extra 100m spent going from bar to treadmill, but I sure brought what I had to it. Very little standing around and I kept the pace up on the treadmill outside the beginning of the last round. Was spent enough that even after a 5+minute rest prior to my core work, I literally fell on my face at the end of the first set of abwheel rollouts.

The slippery slope

As I said yesterday, I've been on a mission to Just Eat. I'd been making good food choices for the most part, although sometimes indulging in some Breyer's at the end of the day. Last weekend was Valentines Day, and Margaret and I went down to my folk's house so we could get some babysitting for one of our three yearly dates. Living in the Stix and having grown up the next town over from Newport, RI also makes the night out a little nicer, as there are plenty of really nice restaurants.

I tried to be good, ordering a cheese platter to share as an appetizer, and a steak with roasted vegetables for an entree. Of course, the cheese platter came with french bread, candied dates, and other treats, but at least they were in small proportions. Add some strawberries and dark chocolate and a few drinks and a bowl of ice cream each night of the weekend and by Monday, I was in full-on carb-craving mode.

The funny thing is, I've never had that much of a sweet tooth. Sure, I could polish off some gummy bears real quick if they were around, but the things that show up on a daily basis in the home and office - cookies, doughnuts, milk chocolate, etc. - don't hold that much appeal. However, after cleaning up my diet and then having a weekend of treats, the next couple of days were tough. I'd have my customary snacks - almonds, olives, or cheese - and I just wouldn't be satisfied. It wasn't until I had some dried fruit that a snack would feel complete. An evening ice cream a couple more times, and I was in the same place the next day.

Nicole Carrol was right. Carbs are like crack. Have a little, you want more, and after my slightly carby days, suddenly the cookies, chocolates, gummy candies, and assorted treats belonging to my not-yet-paleo family started to look mighty tempting. This was the signal to me that I better spend a few days eating on the strict. Last night, when the ice cream craving came, I threw it off with some green beans with garlic and olive oil. Not exactly the same thing, but when I added a glass of milk and some almonds, things worked out OK. Of course, the house is now almost barren of healthy foods. So it's off to the grocery to spend far too much money, but if I want to eat clean while on this mission to Eat More, I'm going to have to buy what looks like far too much food. I'm betting I'll eat it.

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Had some fun with the warmup and gymnastics skills today. The agility drills yesterday were fun, too. (Those will be part of the regular mix as far as monostructural warmup activities go.) Today, the gymnastics practice I've been doing started to pay-off with some old skills coming back to me. Fun stuff. (Did I mention that already?) Good thing, too, because the rest of the workout meant business.

Warmup/Skill work
Jump rope 5:00 - max of 9 consecutive DUs
Shoulder rolls

Handstand practice

2 straddle presses off a 10" mat
Hand walks 18, 29, 26 feet

TGU-Windmill drill 35 x 4 each
RRs 35 x 8 each (alternating)

Heavy stuff
Deadlift 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 275x1, 300x3, 315x3, 330x3 (new 3RM), 250x16

Metcon
7 rounds:

10 SDLHP, 95#
10 ring dips

7:23

Funny how it goes sometimes. Those warmup DL sets felt brutally heavy, but I managed to pull the three sets of three with pretty good form and tackled my first ever set of 15+ DLs and still finished strong with the metcon. I might have been able to keep going on the long set of DLs, but it didn't seem it at the time. Those DLs hurt from the 7th rep on. Next time, I'll hang in there for all 20 (I hope). The high-rep set is a great training tool. There's no excuse about pacing yourself, like I've used in Diane. I have to just hold onto that bar, gather myself, and pull another rep.

We're firmly into CFSB mode now. I like what it demands of me, but I'm going to have to be really strict with my recovery, if I want to make it work over the long haul.

I had some planks planned as a finisher, but when I got home we took the kids outside for an hour, and once the cold got into me I knew I better spend the rest of the day resting, eating, and otherwise recovering.

C'mon, all the cool kids are doing it

Inspired by my friend Melissa Byers' excellent blog and the blogs of firebreathers like Jason "Rhabdo" Kaplan and Shana Alverson tracking their training for the Crossfit Games, I've decided to join the fun and put together a chronicle of my own training for the Northeast Regional Qualifiers. The difference with my blog is that I have no realistic expectation of qualifying for the CF Games. I signed up for the qualifiers, both to back-up my encouragement of some athletes from the CF message boards who I was encouraging to sign up themselves, and because Sean "Dammit" Manseau of Pioneer Valley Crossfit goaded me into not letting him be the only old guy at the Northeast qualifiers.

The fact of the matter is I'm a thoroughly average CFer. By the time the NE Qualifiers come around in late May, I'll have been at it with some pretty good consistency for two years. I took up CF to aid in conditioning for backcountry skiing and to ward off a midlife crisis associated with feeling old as I turned 40. Now, at 41, I'm pretty close to the best shape of my life, but by Crossfit standards, I'm nothing special. I have my strengths, but even those aren't exceptional:

CFT 795
200# C&J
Fran 4:46
Helen 9:16
FGB 281 (not really a strength, but it illustrates where I'm at)
Kelly 25:19
Murph 36:43

While those stats may be adequate to bring to the Qualifiers, I've got a host of weaknesses to address. Personal bests like

Grace 6:58
Diane 14:54
Angie 23:11 (although that was with ring pullups)

won't get the job done. I also have some pretty fundamental problems that need addressing. There are exercises where my technique is sorely lacking (e.g., snatch, muscle up), several more where I cannot consistently apply proper technique, (e.g., clean, push press, and push jerk), and some which defy my attempts to bring intensity to bear (e.g., deadlifts, handstand pushups). The Crossfit formula for development of exercise is to first master the technique, then develop consistency, and lastly to apply intensity. While the snatch probably won't appear at the Qualifiers and the muscle up and handstand pushup might not, the rest of my weaknesses almost certainly will appear. Thus, my preparation for the Qualifiers is going to be as much remedial physical education as hardcore training.

You may ask, "Then why the hell are you signed-up for the qualifiers?" I signed up for the same reason that I train. In the words of Jon Gilson, "I train to train." I have no illusions of becoming an outstanding athlete at this stage of life. I have no major worries about my body breaking down if I don't push harder in my training. I certainly don't expect to impress the assembly of discriminating eyes at the Qualifiers. However, by training for the Qualifiers, I am forcing myself to focus my training. I can't afford to chase PRs on workouts that I already do well; I can't afford to pace myself comfortably through metcons that last longer than 10 minutes (another major weakness of mine); I can't work muscular strength at the expense of muscular stamina, and I can't afford to push through workouts like Grace with substandard technique. In short, I have forced myself to program my workouts intelligently to address my weaknesses; I must push through my workouts with intensity; and I must invest myself fully in my nutrition and recovery.

There is no settling for strong enough, fast enough, enough stamina, etc. Once I look in the mirror and decide that I look good for a 40-year-old guy and let that be enough, I start to slip. The numbers don't lie. I'm not good enough. Improving my weaknesses won't be what makes me good enough. I may not get several muscle ups; I may not develop a super-strong deadlift; but I can train intelligently and diligently and leave everything I have on the ground at the Qualifiers, and that will be good enough. I may finish DFL, but that puts me miles ahead of DNS. Signing up for the Qualifiers is as much an investment in mental training as physical. It's time to see what I can do when put to the test.

Since this is a training log, I guess I should post a workout. Here's yesterday's effort:

Warmup
Goblet squats
Hip mobility drills

Skill work
Handstand practice
managed three 0:05-second free-standing handstands
1:00 wall handstand hold
walk on hands 4, 9, 9, 10 & 6 feet

Heavy stuff
Back squat 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 245x1, 255x5, 260x5, 265x5
Good morning 45x8, 95x8, 135x5, 155x8, 160x8, 165x8

Core work
10 STCs (on rings)

Metcon
5 rounds:
Row 250m
8 Hang C&Js, 40# DBs
11:59

That metcon was positively brutal on my grip. I desperately wanted to go to a lower weight on the dumbbells and simply hanging on to the rower in the last round was Hard. Pushing through that was definitely good for me and my willingness to endure discomfort.

The squats were solid, but were definitely hard work. My 5RM is 270, but I'm just getting back to a proper LBS from a hybrid LB position/HB torso squat that I'd been working on this past fall. The LBS is definitely the right tool to help me build strength through the posterior chain, but that's a topic for another post.

Thanks for reading.