Sunday, May 31, 2009

Missed Opportunity

Today is the last chance video qualifier for the Crossfit Games.  The workouts are ones that I feel are up my alley, but I'm not going to do them.  My best shot came and went at Albany last weekend.  I'm ok with this.  I've come to grips with being not the best, and besides we all know that Josh Everett's going to win anyway.  I am excited to see who comes out of the video entrants.  It seems to me that it's a great way of including troops or the voluntary organizers of the regional qualifiers like James "OPT" Fitzgerald.  Besides, I'm focused on breaking the 250# barrier for the Snatch and I physically can't do both.

Diet Experiment:
Alternating weeks between T-Nation Mass Gain and Paleo Diet Mass Gain for the month of June I hope to put on about 5-10 pounds of muscle while not adding any body fat.  I'm still doing research for the paleo mass gain but the T-Nation diet consists of roughly 400g of protein daily with 150g of carbs and fat.  We're looking at 3,550 calories daily.  It'll be a good experiment.  Hopefully this adds on more than just weight but strength to go along with it.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Get Back At It

It feels so good to strap those shoes back on and tear that weight off the floor again.  Those two weeks of training for the CFNEQ’s really took me out of my rhythm.  The afterward soreness of the “unfamiliar” movements done at high intensity really put me in my place, literally, but getting under the bar on Tuesday, with sore, tired legs put me back in the zone.  The two weeks I “took off” from Mike Burgener’s programming was almost like a training vacation.  That type of training is a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.  I think though that my “vacation” helped me refocus.  Granted, it’s only been a couple of days, but I have been hitting the WOD’s hard and not half-assing them.  I’ve made a pact with myself to not underachieve from this point going forward and to take this Oly-lifting ride as far as it can take me.  I’m not sure how strong I can get, I’m sure I won’t ever be an Olympian or National level athlete but I can keep progressing.  That visit to Crossfit Land helped me get back to why I decided to put my efforts into strength.  It’s something that I enjoy.  Tossing heavy shit in the air and dropping my ass underneath is a thrill and I get to do it everyday.  I enjoyed my Crossfit vacation but I’m back home in the land of wooden heeled shoes, ATA squats and shoulder girdle flexibility and it’s nice to be back.  Home Sweet Home.

In other news; my buddy has started a business venture.  His goal is to team up trainers and people who want to get in shape, whether it is the previously sedentary or those looking to get ready for training camp.  If you are a trainer looking for clients or are looking for a trainer yourself please visit his website.  This could be a great opportunity to create clientele revenue in your gyms.  All details are available on his website.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Got Regrets?

This weekend was a blast.  All of it; the competing, the soreness, even the standing in the rain.  I got to meet some great people who absolutely killed themselves for those five spots.  Many of the best shows, however, were people who had no chance of qualifying but were there for fun and to prove to themselves that they belonged.  I, absolutely, became one of the latter.  It became apparent one minute into my first workout that maybe I should have done at least a little bit more metabolic conditioning.  The thrusters went up with ease (I use that word loosely) but the burpees crushed me.  I haven’t been that close to Pukie in a long time.

With tender legs, I went into the 2k Row thinking that I had a shot.  And I think I held my own, for at least the first thousand meters.  I died, almost literally.  It took me five minutes and the help of Charmel from CFSBK to get back up again.  I would have loved to have competed on Sunday, but being mathematically eliminated made my decision to watch Carlee kick some serious ass in her marathon ridiculously easy. 

As I drove off into the sunset with my two Double Quarter Pounders with Cheese, large chocolate milkshake and diet coke (I hope I’m not the only person to see the irony) I came to realize that maybe my training didn’t prepare me completely for the Crossfit Games Qualifier.  My focus on strength, specifically Olympic lifting, made me susceptible to burpees and other bodyweight exercises.  But I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  Over the course of a year, I have added over 100 pounds to my snatch and about 70 to my clean and jerk.  I’ve put about 10-15 pounds of muscle onto my frame and went from looking like an anorexic swimmer to a lumberjack (albeit the palest lumberjack on the planet). 

I had a great time in Albany.  I made some friends, worked out hard and survived my sketchy hotel.  I’m excited for next year, I just hope that one of the WOD’s is Snatch 1RM.  

Friday, May 22, 2009

Are You Scared?

Big Weekend

This is a pretty big weekend.  First off, my aunt's getting married.  That's nice, it's in Kansas City, won't be going, have bigger plans.  Here come the two important notes.  Northeast Qualifier and Marathon.  I'm doing the former, Carlee's doing the latter.  
I leave today for what could end up being a grueling test of physical strength and stamina as well as mental fortitude.  I have my strategy(ies) and hopefully this puts me in the running to be on the podium and get a crack at the games in Aromas this summer.  There's nothing that I can do at this point to prepare except to eat right, try and sleep and pick up some compression shorts (i don't want to lose any more pairs of underwear due to tears from squatting and DLing).  The goal, of course is to kick so much ass that I don't have to do the Sunday WOD's.  How awesome would that be to accumulate so many points that it was unneccesary to compete on Sunday.  That's the goal though, probably won't happen.
Carlee has her race on Sunday, which is also another reason that I want to just compete and get it over with (maybe Jason will let me do Sunday's WOD at night any how).  She's been training all year for this and has raised over $3,000 for the LLS.  I know that she'll do a great job and hope that she qualifies for Boston like she had hoped to, even through the injuries that have plagued her training.
It's going to be an exciting weekend and I hope to meet lots of people up in Albany.  The CF community is one of the best and these gatherings really show what this is all about.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The WOD's

Northeast Qualifier Saturday WOD's
12:00 AMRAP
5 Thrusters (135#)
10 Burpees
Strategy: I've decided that I need the counter to scream out at :22 and the :00.  this way I can get the rest and hopefully hold on for a solid 12 rounds

2k Row
Strategy: Strap in and hold on (Yikes!)

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Proof that I actually exercise

High and Tight

I'm describing my ass, not my haircut.  Larry put us, including himself, through a workout from Crossfit Coronado today.
7 rounds
15 weighted lunges (45#)
15 DB Swings (55#)
15 pushups
18:56
The swings were the easy part, just hip explosion and surprisingly enough, for me anyways, the lunges were harder than the pushups.  It's fun to flex my butt though, it shakes like Rainier Wolfcastle muscles, very nice.
But I'm pretty sure that my swings look like this, so you can understand why they'd be so easy...

Friday, May 15, 2009

Suck Me Sideways

I thought up this great workout.  It's quick and painful, it's heavy and it involved fun, new moves.  
3 rounds
5 Squat Clean & Jerk (185#)
10 Flying Pullups
6:42
On the other hand, I've got this flap of skin hanging from the base of my ring finger that starts literally in the middle of my hand.  This is probably the worst time for this to happen.  Here's the scenario that I see playing out:
  • This seriously hampers any quality training that I could have gotten over the course of next week
  • I can't go full bore on the announced WOD's so that I have an idea of what to expect on Saturday
  • My hand just barely heals in time for May 23
  • During the 1st workout with pullups it rips because it's not calloused enough and I get completely screwed and have no chance of winning.
Yup, that's how my pessimistic mind is working right now, can you tell that I'm getting a little bit nervous.  Then again, I was pretty responsible and got this bandaged and "neosporined" pretty quickly so I got that going for me, which is nice.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Job Search

I got hosed.  Really, I got screwed.  My salary, nominal to begin with, has been slashed by 33%.  So if anybody knows of any openings in CT or NY please give me a buzz.  Trust me when I say this, I am not at all attached to my job.  Fo' serial.

Simply Put...

Today's WOD, nothing more, nothing less
21-15-9
Snatch (135#)
Bench (185#)
Box Jump (24")
21:05

2x800m run
3:04
3:17

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Still Got It?

Throwing this out there: Ugh!  It's been a year since my last serious attempts at metcons and there have been some glitches.  Let me get this out of the way; Fuck you Burpees and a big ol' middle finger to running, that's right coming home hill, I'm looking at you.  But getting back into it has felt good.  I wouldn't say that I'd replace O-Lifting year round for the likes of a CFFootball or regular CF program, but I might like taking a month out of my lifting calendar to sweat off the man-boobs.  
So far the change in training schedule has been pretty good.  Monday was rough, Tuesday, also rough, mostly because of Monday, but today felt really good.  I've been doing the two-a-days.  WOD 1 at 4:30 and WOD 2 at 5:45.  
Today's WOD's
3rounds
10 Chest-to-Bar Pullups
10 Front Squats @ 165#
10 Burpees
6:53
Strangely, the front squats were the hard part for me.  Really?  I can handle 315# but I have a pretty hard time with 10 at 165#?  Whatever.  (Thanks Welbourn, 50 135# Thrusters probably really helped out on these).  
WOD #2
2 hurdle hops (30")
10 pushups
2 hurdle hops (30")
9 pushups
and cycle down to 1 pushup
2:22
Pushups are another one of my weaknesses and doing 55 actually taxed me.  Not good.  Maybe tomorrow will be better, but we'll see.  I guess it depends what I do.  
BTW, if any of the people in charge of the Northeast Qualifier are reading this may I recommend an o-lifting competition as one of the WOD's and NO RUNNING.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Taper

It's time to come down from my strength binge.  I've been doing nothing but strength for the past year.  It's been great.  It's helped me put on 10-15 pounds and increase my snatch from 165 to 232.  Pretty good I'd say, but now, two weeks away from the qualifiers, I've got to trim up a little bit and get my body used to doing some more frequent metcon work.  
The plan is as follows:
Kick ass everyday next week.  Bust out some metcons, mix it up, heavy, light, long, short and work my way into "fighting shape."  It starts with a Painstorm on Saturday and maybe some sprint work afterward or on Sunday.  I'll do the CF Football WOD's everyday this week and on their rest days get in something from the mainsite.  The point is to work on things that I'm in serious need of some work: running, burpees, double unders and of course thrusters.  In fact, I've thought of a great WOD that I could do involving all of these.
Run 400m (maybe 800?)
21-15-9
Thrusters
Double Unders
Burpees
Run 400m (maybe 800?)

Today's WOD:
CFFB Total
Power Clean - 255#
Back Squat - 315#
Bench - 225#
Dead Lift - 405#
Disappointed in the bench press and dead lift.  The dead lift was just a weak showing and I know that on any other day I crush that weight by minimum 90 pounds.  The bench press, however I suck at.  I feel strong enough to get at least 245 off of my chest but I just can't do it.  It's a weakness that I acknowledge but haven't done a single thing to improve.  That'll happen and I just hope that there's no benching in the qualifiers and if I'm lucky enough to make them, the games.  

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Fuckin' Feed Me

Let's talk about food.  Food is fairly simple when you get down to the bottom of it.  You eat it, it sustains you.  Wham!  Did I just hit you with some knowledge?  I think I did.  Of course, it's not that simple.  Is it?  You can't just go out and eat cookies and Twinkies, right?
Crossfit does a pretty decent job with it's description of good food choices.  Eat meat, nuts, seeds... and so on and so forth.  What I can't believe, however, is how confused people get.  People are always trying to find that perfect food combination.  Is it 40-30-30, is it no carbs, high carbs?  Fuck it.  Eat good foods.  Not that I necessarily do this but here's a good plan.  If you can't pick it or kill it, don't eat it.  How do you like that knowledge sandwich?  Delicious.
You want those abs?  Lift weights, eat meat and veggies.  Meat for the protein and veggies so you can shit.  Want to be a great crossfitter?  Steak and broccoli will do the trick.  You won't even have to worry about calories, just eat 'til full.  Bam, how you like me now?

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Advantage: Skinny Dudes

I just got trounced.  It was awful.  My ass was removed, prepared and then handed to me.  I don't like to make excuses, but I certainly can make the case that the three WOD's favored smaller Crossfitters who can run.  1. I'm big and 2. I'm an awful runner.  The WOD's were as follows:
4 rounds
450 meter run
10 Deadlifts @ 225
20 Pullups
19:58
This one was my mistake.  I took it out way too fast.  I tried keeping up with the quick runners in the first round.  Bad idea.  I died.  Absolutely got crushed.  If I was offered a do-over, I would have cruised the run and pounded out the DL's and Pullups.  That weight is really light for me and I can get those pullups pretty easily (although I will admit that some of my reps didn't count because my chin failed to get over the bar).  On a redo, I crush my 19:58 time by at least 3 minutes, it'd probably help if I didn't walk major portions of the run.
5round
5 Thruster @135
10 Burpees
7:59
More my speed.  I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but I was able to hold my own.  Still a little bit too light and favors the itty bitty guys just a little bit.  I think I should point out that 135# thrusters are not that light, but 155# would have really evened things out, especially considering what was coming up next. 
5k
28:29
Really?  WTF?  That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.  I'm starting to think that Jason from CFMilford doesn't like me.  Or maybe the offer CFEndurance and have a whole bunch of runners and triathletes.  The top time was 21:24, that's pretty quick.
If I was asked to do it again, I would, of course.  I'd hope that the WOD's would change but it is what it is and I know that I can do better.  I would argue that my middle of the pack finish wouldn't change much, especially with that run at the end but I did have a great time and I appreciate Jason hosting a great event that run smoothly.
Lessons learned: I can't run and those skinny people WOD's are a weakness.  Also, there are some really good Crossfitters (or possibly just runners) in Connecticut.  Maybe I'll do some CFE stuff before the qualifiers, but I'm really hoping that Albany has more stuff for the big guys.  Heavy snatches anybody, how about King Kong?