Crossfit log for Friday, August 31st

Good workout today.

We did narrow grip bench press to 3 rep max.  Wasn't stellar, succeeded at 135lbs, failed at 155lbs, called it a day.  We only started doing bench press in the last few months, and I kinda laughed.  Crossfit being so different than most gyms and bench being the ubiquitous gym benchmark, I'd jokingly call bench press days "Goodlife days" (but not in front of Frank, the owner/coach).  I've since learned the value of bench, as it helps the other Olympic lifts, especially the second half of the clean and jerk.  That being said, I like the regular bench press much more than close grip. Bench doesn't come up often, so when it does and it's close grip, it's a bit of a bummer, because I know it'll be that much longer before an other regular one comes up. Oh well.

The WOD was an interesting one.

1000m row
plus three rounds of:
- 20 dead lifts @ 135lbs
-15 wall ball sit ups  (for a demo see this video: http://vimeo.com/41059872)

My time was 13:35

I was satisfied with that.  The row really made the first set of dead lifts difficult, but after the the first set of wall ball sit ups, it was a bit easier.  By then I'd caught my breath from the rowing. The third round of dead lifts got hard again because my grip strength was almost gone, even using a hook grip I still had trouble hanging on to the bar. I tried to use my breathing to help brace for the dead lifts and it seemed to work. Albeit the weight wasn't very high at 135lbs, my form was good for all three rounds and my back wasn't the limiter, my grip strength was.  I was glad when it was over.

Goofy's race and a half

Now, what's this Goofy nonsense you might ask? Well, every January for the past twenty years, Walt Disney Worlds has put on the Donald Duck Half Marathon and the Mickey Mouse Marathon.  Somewhere along the way they decided to offer the option of doing the Goofy Race and a half, where essentially you run both and get a third medal, jut for being Goofy enough to do it.

So you guessed it, I'm Goofy enough. In an "OMG, what have I done" moment I registered for the Goofy (and registered Kiza for the Donald Duck Half Marathon), so it looks like we're going to Disney World.

Now it looks like I'm doing the "Dopey", since I appear to be running the  Disney Family Fun Run 5km with Clarisse.  "Dopey" being the unofficial name the reserve for the nut cases that do all three!

Now I just have to put in the training.

PEC half marathon training log for Thursday, August 30th

9km today along the canal to bank. 46:41. Was getting hot at the end there.

Stripped to the bone

One week and three months have passed since the fire and the demolition is just about complete. They are applying the smoke seal on the skeleton that used to be my home. The smoke seal is white, which surprised me, taking the skeletal metaphor a good step closer to reality.

Three months, yet it seems like ages ago. We've since settled into our temporary existence and are making the best of our situation.

But I miss my house. I miss my room, my closet, my shower, everything really.  I liked my house.  I hope I'll like it still, even after the renovations. We are meeting the contractor this week to go over what we want to do. It is just overwhelming.

Much of the house had a very seventies feel, which both Kiza and I loved. It reminded us of the houses we grew up in. I want to maintain that feel, but given carte blanche, it's hard not to imagine the possibilities.

Granted we want to stay within the budget and not spend on frivolous upgrades, but removing a wall here, moving a closet there, subtle changes can have dramatic effects.

It's going to be interesting to say the least.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, August 29th

No strength Wednesday.

3 rounds for time:
- Run 330m
- 2 rope climbs
- 12 kettle bell snatches (6 each arm)
- 8 ring dips

12:44

Dips were sometimes assisted with a foot on the ground. Rope climb was more difficult than usual, because I had my running shoes instead of my minimus "barefoot" shoes. I was really suprised by the difference, it was far more difficult to get a good clamp on the rope between my feet with the running shoes.

PEC half marathon training log for Tuesday, August 28th

Training has officially begun. Ran 6.8km. Yay.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5149460

Crossfit log for Tuesday, August 28th.

Today we did "Turkish get ups". Ugh. We had 10 minutes to find our 4 rep max. I managed 20kg, but it cost me, with two minutes left, I couldn't even sit up with the 24kg kettle bell.

The WOD was unclear.

It was 4 three minute rounds of
-3 cleans at 135lbs (not long ago this was my maximum for 1 rep)
-6 handstand push ups (just learned to do these a couple of weeks ago)
-40m sprint

Isabelle is the morning coach and doesn't do the programming, her brother Frank does. At first we thought it was 1 round then rest for the remaining time, but we were finished with half the time remaining, and noticed it said "for max reps" on the side. So round two we did as many rounds as possible, but there was no indication of rest between rounds. We just slugged out the rest as an 8 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible).

I look forward to finding out what it was supposed to be.

I really enjoyed the cleans. They were hard, but I'm must've done fifteen of them. Considering they were my max a couple of months ago, I take that as a sign of progress.

Turns out it was 3:00 AMRAP + 1:00 rest for 4 rounds. That's what I had figured.