Crossfit log for Saturday, March 30th

We are in the middle of unpacking but we still took time for a Saturday morning trip to the gym for 13.4.

7 min AMRAP of:
-3 clean& jerk 135lbs
-3 toes to bar
-6 clean& jerk 135lbs
-6 toes to bar
-9 clean& jerk 135lbs
-9 toes to bar
...
Continuing to 12, 15 and so on. I had hope to get to the 12s, but man, 135lbs is heavy. I barely got the 9 c&j done and had time for 4 t2b when the buzzer rang. 31 reps. Not stellar but it'll do.

Now back to unpacking!

Moving day!

10 months and 4 days later the process of moving 200m from our temporary rental place to our home has begun.

The moving company is packing up the rental house as I type this.  The cleaners are in the house getting it ready.  The duct cleaner should be finished by now.  All the appliances except the washer and dryer are installed, and the two delinquents should be set up today.

Starting tomorrow we get to spend the long weekend unpacking and figuring out where stuff goes.  Granted much of it won't have changed, but we added a ton of storage areas, changed the layout a bit and we don't have a lot of the same stuff anymore, so it won't be trivial. 

Exciting and a bit overwhelming at the same time.

The house looks fantastic. The little things we are stressing about now will all but vanish once we move back in.  It's easy to pick nits when they're all there is to see, but once our furniture and decorations are in place, that's what will catch our eye, not the minor flaws.

I can't wait to sleep in my own room again. It's been a long ordeal, and we've been extremely lucky.  I have nothing to complain about, but I just want to be back in my home.

Tomorrow. 

Crossfit log for Wednesday, March 27th

Probably shouldn't have gone this morning but I felt bad for bailing yesterday. Glutes and lower back along the pelvic ridge are still sore but I figured I'd do what I can.

The WOD was 5 rounds for time
2 rope climbs
10 kettle bell swings
6 hand stand push ups
5 thrusters

Rope climbs were fine, kettle bell swings, felt a bit tight, but I did 20kg instead of 24kg.

I would have done 16kg if there had been any left, popular choice with the women's scaled workout.

Hand stand push ups were fine.

We'll fine on my lower back, not so fine on my poor triceps.

Thruster were not fine. Even at 75# instead of the scaled 105# it was hard to get into that deep squat. I took my time and did the whole workout in 20:37.

Back is no worse than it was. Wish I had time to go back to massage therapist. It'll have to wait until after the move.

Yay! We move today!

Bailed on Crossfit for Tuesday, March 26th

So with all the physio I've been doing to improve my body position it seems I've over taxed the new muscles. Lower back and upper glutes are unhappy with me today. The air squats in Cindy were the straw that broke the "camel's" back. So to speak.

Massage and acupuncture yesterday helped a lot but not enough. I'm fully mobile except in deep hip flexion, so to be on the safe side I bailed this morning.

I stayed to cheer on the rest of the crew. That's a hard thing to do. When you see your peers suffering through a tough workout, you can't help but feel you couldn've done something instead of just standing there. Not a good feeling.

It was for the best. I'll rest up today and stretch at noon, see how I feel tomorrow.

It does the body good. Crossfit year two

It's coming up on two years now that I've been doing this Crossfit thing.

Some call it a cult, some hate it with a passion, most that do it, love it. A lot. I'm in that camp.  I love the community, the bond of shared suffering, the intensity but mostly the focus on good body position and full range of motion (which you don't have to focus on, but I choose to).

I don't defend it to be clear. It's not the be all end all, but it definitely works for a wide range of fitness goals, mine included.  And as Kiza loves to say, the best fitness program in the world is the one you stick with.  So from that point of view, Crossfit is the best fitness program for me (and many others).

One of the biggest things it's done for me is identify my deficiencies. I was going to say weaknesses, but that's not right. I have some mobility limitations that I sort of knew about, but Crossfit really exposed in a "you can't hide from this anymore" kind of way.

I've been working on it for a while now, but not with any focus, or systematic methodology.  Enter 2013: the year of mobility.  I hit something of a plateau late last year, partly due to my limitations and the compensations my body found to accommodate them, so I decided to go see a physiotherapist to figure out exactly what's wrong and hopefully fix it.

Rob Crispo, my physiotherapist, has helped me enormously already. He told me you can only compensate for so long until things start to break down.  Thankfully I had decided to do something about it before things broke down.

I've worked on my shoulder joint sitting in it's socket properly, hamstring flexibility, lower lumbar engagement, thoracic spine mobility and a all kinds of stretching and mobility exercises I would have otherwise never even heard of. (ever hear of a Brettzel?)

I'm already making progress, but I need to keep my focus.  It's too easy to let you ego get the best of you and go too heavy instead of focusing on form (there is a time and place for that, but for the most part form should come first).  And now I'm starting to get sore in all new places, places that should be working, but haven't been because I've been compensating.  This year has to be about proper movement patterns above all else.  I need to keep my eye on the prize; I have no doubt I'll see progress as my body position improves.

So this is good.  I can't wait to see how this year 3 of Crossfit turns out.

Crossfit log for Monday, March 25th

Three days off seems to have paid off.

PR'd my push press today. Previous recorded best was 140#, today I was with stronger guys (as usual, just about every guy at the gym is stronger than I am), and they jumped from 135# to 165#, I was last so I said I'll peel off the 15s and put 5s instead, making it 145#, hoping I'd make it since I was jumping from 5# below my PR to #5 above without trying 140# first.

Boom! Easy as pie, I was a bit shocked. So when they went up to 175# I pulled the same move and peeled off the 15s and 5s and put on some 10s for 155# and BOOM! Called it quits there, didn't want to push my luck, ending on a 15# PR for push press, was sweet enough.

WOD was 15min Cindy (which is normally 20:00)
AMRAP
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 air squats

Stupid push ups, kill me every time. Did 5 rounds in 5 minutes, then took the next 10 minutes to do 4 rounds + 22 reps (7 squats).

So 9+22 in 15min, my best is 14+n (n<5) in 20min (didn't record how many pull ups I managed on the 15th round). So I was on par.

Crossfit log for Thursday, March 21st

Ugh!

The 2013 Crossfit Open week 3 WOD, 13.3 was released last night, a repeat of last year's 12.4 :

12min AMRAP:
150 wall balls 20#/14#
90 double unders
30 muscle ups

Didn't need to worry about my inability to do muscle ups, there was no way I'd get that far. In fact I almost didn't have to worry about double unders, I finished the wall balls in 11:55, and managed to get only 1 double under. Crazy.

Score: 151. Ugh.

Home for Easter

No, I'm not going to visit my parents for the long weekend.

A little over ten months since our house fire that destroyed our kitchen and smoke damaged the entire rest of the house, we will be moving back home.

I'd kind of put the thought out of my mind, but now that it's happening, now that it's real, it is almost overpowering on an emotional level.

Once that's ride comes to an end the realization of the logistical nightmare that awaits us sinks in.  Thankfully Kiza is a master logistician (is that a word?).  I'll bet the hotel is already booked, a mental list of all the suitcases, accounting for worst case scenarios with at least two variations have been formulated. Meal plans started, if not finished and a working list of items we'll just bring ourselves tabulated.

That's my gal.

We do have to deal with utilities.  Heating and electricity is already on.  I need to cancel the accounts at the rental place.  I also need to arrange for phone and internet service to be relocated.

Breathe.

The house looks fantastic.  Naturally there are a few snags, but nothing monumental. The kitchen is wonderful, the modified layout of the living room will take some getting used to.

The colors are so vibrant. We should have painted the house years ago.  Well there's a ton of things we should have done over the year, but now they're all done!  My to do list has all but disappeared!

The magnitude of this undertaking really hasn't sunk in.  I'm more of a 'take things as they come' kind of guy, so it'll work itself out, but poor Kiza will be stressed out beyond belief.

I can't wait.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, March 20th

Oh man, what a WOD.

First we had 12 minutes to find our 1 rep max power clean. I don't have a record of my 1 rep max for power clean, full clean is 160#, which should be heavier than power clean since you are catching it lower. I somehow managed to get a 155# bar to my shoulders. I impressed myself.

The WOD was a killer
12 min cap
1 rope climb
25 double unders
30 ball slams (12#)
15 thrusters (75#)
15 knees to elbows
20 burpees
15 knees to elbows
15 thrusters (75#)
30 ball slams (12#)
25 double unders
1 rope climb

I made it 4 ball slams. I was just starting the burpees at 6:00, so I knew there was no way I'd finish. Just glad I made through the thrusters. Glad that's over!

Crossfit log for Tuesday, March 19th

Today we did split jerk. 3 sets 3 reps. Did 125#, probably a bit too heavy, as it was supposed to be 65-70% which would've been between 104# and 112#

I was going to do 115# but there were no 10# plates to go from 95# (two 25# plates) to 115#, there were only 15# plates left, so 125# it was.
I wasn't as fast as the workout demanded, but I had no trouble getting it over head.

WOD was a "Hero WOD" called "DT" named for a fallen soldier.
It's 5 rounds for time of
12 dead lifts
9 hang power cleans
6 push jerks

Rx is 155#, yeah, not for me, blue scaled was 105#, but that wasn't happening today. Went with 95# and was happy I did.

Almost a year ago, I wrote:Back at Crossfit today.
Rough one. A "hero" WOD (typically harder than most WODs) called "DT", 5 rounds for time: 12 Dead lifts, 9 hang power clean, 6 push jerks.

Blue scaled was 115# on the bar, after a little warm-up I knew I wasn't doing blue. Settle on 95#, but after two rounds, there was no way I was doing another 3 at that weight, so I dropped it to 85# and that went better, but still hard. Took me like 15 minute, I didn't even look at the clock when I finished.

Last December I wrote:Wednesday was a Hero WOD called "DT"
5 rounds of 12 deadlifts, 9 hang power cleans, 6 push jerks, I think I did 105# I think I was 18:35. Brutal.

So not a great history with DT. Interesting that the scaling was 115# last year, but 105# this time around. But compare to last year, I had no problem finishing at 95# and went 14:02 today, clear improvement over last year.

Crossfit log for Monday, March 18th

First sign of any progress since the fall. My Front Squat PR is 175#. Strength work was 3 sets of two heavy front squats. 155#-165#-175# So doing my PR twice at the end of 3 sets wasn't a problem. I think I attribute it to better body position, the physio I've been doing is making a difference I think.

WOD was a 14min AMRAP:
40 wallballs
15 pull ups
12 handstand push ups
12 pull ups
30 double unders
10 pull ups

Although I had plenty of time, I failed to change out of my lifting shoes for the WOD, end up kicking my lifting shoes off during the handstand push ups, and going to get my flats. Lost a ton of time, but whatever, it was way better in the lighter shoes.

Made 1 full round, 40 wall balls and 1 pull up . Happy with that.

What will it take?

I can't figure out why it's so hard to blog regularly.  I post in my training log daily, I could just as easily put that content here.

I think it would be pretty dry though, and maybe that's the problem.  When I stare at this blank screen I want to fill it with "marvellous" words. (and now I've just realized that the title of my blog has a mistake in it)!  Or I have so much to say that I know I won't have time to put it all in, or the post would be way too long.

So rather than try to post about everything, I'll make a list, then blog about each one over the next little while. Maybe that will keep me posting!

So here we go.

Status of my eye surgery - the short of it is: no update, going back to Dr. Delperro April 4th)

Physio therapy - this is a new one, worthy of it's own post.

The House - I should really be posting daily on this one as we approach the deadline and so much has been done.

Strep Throat - Four infections in the last five month, eight in the last fifteen months.  Is a tonsillectomy in my future? Stay tuned!

Kids - they grow, and learn, and surprise you all the time with the stuff they come up with.  Need more posts about them.

So now that that's out of the way, I have no excuses!

Crossfit log for Saturday, March 16th

So two extra days of antibiotics and a day's rest made a pretty big difference redoing 13.2. Plus the absence of chin impact on the STO (shoulder to overhead) helped. Different shoes helped too. I wore my Mizuno Ronin running shoes this time.

Better support and cushioning for the box jumps and a bit of a heel for the the dead lifts and presses.

Made 5 full rounds + 5 push press, + 10 dead lifts + 9 box jumps for 174, 33 reps more than last time. Still ranks me at the bottom, but at least I narrowed the margin.

Crossfit log for Thursday, March 14th

Dammit! Strep again. New antibiotic started - Cefprozil.

Advil and Listerine have kept the worst at bay. So I wasn't feeling too bad this morning and it was a rare chance for IG and I to go to Crossfit together, and it was Open workout # 2 on top of that. So I couldn't not go.

13.2 was rough. One of those "looks easy on the board until you start that first round and realized it's gonna suck" type workouts.

10 min amrap:
5 shoulder to overhead 115#
10 dead lifts 115#
15 box jumps 24" box

115# is heavy, not dead lift heavy, but push press heavy for sure. By the third time through I was sucking wind with no break in side. And that particular round I nailed myself on the chin with the bar on the way over head, and really rang my bell. Took a bit of time to recover. Got to 6 box jumps of round 5. Not very good but, it's what I had in me.

It's not usually my style, but I'm going to try again on Saturday. The antibiotics will have had more time to do their thing and I'll hopefully be feeling a bit stronger. I'd like to at leas make 5 rounds!

Crossfit log for Monday, March 11th

Back at it bright and early, well not so bright, but definitely early!

Clean and jerk complex (1 power clean, 1 hang clean, 1 clean 1 jerk)
Work up to 70%-75% of 1 rep max, 3 sets

WOD was 4 rounds for time:
10 pull ups
7 thrusters 95#
8 box jumps 30"

This was women's Rx

Was 11:40, but coach ignored my pleas to wait until my shoes were tied to start the clock, I decided to change out of my lifting shoes at the last minute so I lost about 10 to 15 seconds putting on my Minimus. Thrusters are easier in lifting shoes, but not impossible in the flats. But box jumps, I'd much rather do them in flats than bulky lifting shoes, especially at 30".

So I took 10 seconds off my time making it 11:30.

Crossfit log for Thursday, March 7th

Oh boy.

So they just announced the first WOD of the 2013 Crossfit Open predictably called 13.1

Craziness:

17 minute amrap
40 burpees
30 snatches 75#
30 burpees
30 snatches 135#
20 burpees
10 snatches 165#
10 burpees
as many snatches as possible in the remaining time at 205#

Well I did it. Result was not what I'd hoped, but it was what I expected.

100. Couldn't snatch 135#. Had 4:30 left when I finished the second round of burpees. Tried 4 times, just didn't have the power.

Really, my PR is 110# but it was a half-assed PR, but I was stronger in the fall than I am now, I need to remember my focus is to improve my mobility and flexibility, strength will come later.

I don't think I'll try again, there's really no point.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, March 6th

No more WOD Wednesday (perhaps for the duration of the "Open")

The Crossfit Open starts today, and 8pm (5pm Pacific) they will announce the first of 5 workouts that athletes around the world will attempt and score to see how they stack up to everyone else and to see if they can qualify for the Regionals. It's a little bit nerve wracking.

So anyway, today we did strength work:
Front squat, 3 sets of 3 reps, did 145#, 145#, 145#.

WOD was 3 rounds for time of:
20 alternating dumb bell snatches 30#
10 knees to elbows (must touch or no-rep)
20 ball slams 16#

10:04, not bad, first round was a breeze, snatches after ball slams and out of breath from k2e, not so breezy.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, March 5th

Totally didn't want to get up this morning.

Close grip bench 4 sets of 8

On Feb 15, I wrote:
Did 95#-95#-115#-115# It was fairly easy, the last few reps were a bit tough, so I was close to a good weight, maybe a bit more would've been good.

This time did 95#-135#(7)-135#-135#(6)

Should have asked the guys I was working with to increment more slowly but there were warming up at 135 and I was maxing out. So I sucked it up and did my best. It'll do.

WOD was 3 rounds for time
10 ground to overhead 95# (did 85#)
2 rope climbs
10 wall balls
10 kettle bell swings 24kg (did 20kg)

12:24

I'm really glad I can climb a rope quickly and efficiently, save me from DFL on this on (the lighter weight helped too).

Crossfit log for Monday, March 4th

Spent the day yesterday at a mobility for weightlifters seminar. Brutal.

Learned a few things. Did work on mobility, flexibility and stability.

Got into shoulders and hips as well as extremities. Brockville was too far for it to have been "worth it", but I'll apply what I learned and see if it helps.

Today we did more snatch work, since I still can't land an overhead squat I worked on power snatch and split snatch. Up to 75#

The workout was 5 rounds for time
30-25-20-15-10 double-unders
7-7-7-7-7 deadlifts 165# (blue was 185#)

I was able to keep pretty good form at 165# and double unders went fairly well.

7:14

Crossfit log for Friday, March 1st

As if I wasn't sore and tired enough.

Today was a chipper.

600m row
30 clean and jerks 95#
60 air squats
30 pull ups
60 box jumps 24" box
30 burpees
60 ball slams 16# ball

Clean and jerks took the most time. 30:45. Rough.

But now I get two days off!