Back On The Wagon

I apologize for the lack of posting; the course I was at was a lot more intensive, both physically and mentally, than I thought it would be. Time to get back on the wagon!

Training seriously lacked in Red Deer; I met another Crossfitter from Prince Albert, and we had planned on hitting up Crossfit Red Deer, but our class ran late every day.  I did get some short runs in, but nada in the way of strength workouts.  I had a couple of hours a night for studying, and that's it.

But enough of that.  I need input.  What topics do you want me to cover?

I have a few in mind, but I'd like to hear some input from others. Post your thoughts to comments.

Motivation, Inspiration, and Failure

First off, a kick-ass video I came across today while doing some catch-up surfing:



The imagery paired with the quotes is a phenomenal message; I think we (we, being Crossfitters) get caught up in PRs (personal records, as in fastest times, biggest lifts, etc) and attainment of goals.  This, of course, isn't a bad thing, but previous failures and the effort required to OVERCOME those failures is often forgotten.

Do you remember how many times you've failed on a 300# DL?

Do you remember how long it took to overcome that nagging injury?

Do you remember how much Fran hurt?  Ok, bad example, Fran hurts everytime.

Now, do you remember, vividly, your best "Cindy"?  I bet you do.  I bet you can remember the exact time and place, and thought "Holy hell, I just got XX rounds on Cindy.  YEAH!!!".

We are programmed to think this way, but realize, when the chips are down and failure is imminent, THIS IS THE TIME TO GROW.  This will be your base for the next PR.  Do not give up, do not back down.  Fuck Yoda and his gay-assed Jedi-ism.

Keep TRYING.   Always.

Today's Workout, CFLA, 4PM

Wanted to sleep-the-hell-in today; got in late last night from Red Deer after a hellish day of testing and brain-drain for the first part of my high-angle rescue technician certification.  Justification: Solid.

Low Bar Back Squat

45#x5
95#x5
135#x5 This first few were testing my back out; I twinge it last week, so I wasn't sure what it would be like.
185#x3
215#x3
225#x3
245#x3 Felt strong+++
275#x3, Boo-YAA, 10#PR. Let out a Primal scream at the bar. Take that, mo'fo!


Met-Con
Cindy-Lite

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 10 min of:

5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Squats

12 rounds dead-even. A few rounds in and I was questioning if doing similar movements from strength to met-con was a wise choice---legs were gassed hard.  Pushed through, and it was all good.  Shoulder felt a bit sketchy going chest-to-deck, so I kept the ROM a little shorter.  I'd like to bust 20 rounds of a full-on Cindy some time; the way things are going with the shoulder, I'm hoping sooner rather than later.

I'm kicking back with some friends + tequila (Tuh-Kill-Yah?) tonight at my place to watch UFC 104; tomorrow, I have to head back north for part 2 of the rescue cert.

Eating on the Road & Two-A -Days

*blink*...
*blink* *blink*
[clock radio=4:20AM]
WTF.

So I'm in Red Deer in a big comfy bed in a quiet hotel room with 4 goddamn pillows, and I'm AWAKE at 4:20?  Christ.
I know it's a combo of new place, excitement, and anxiety about a long and demanding course, but damn do I hate not getting enough sleep.  Ah well.  I agreed to go running with one of the guys I came up with at 6AM (wait, what?  Jesus, Mike), so I figured I'd get up, make some coffee, and eat....

Yeah!!! Coffee, and a big-assed spoon of coconut oil. Why oh why would anyone in their right mind eat pure saturated fat (SFA)by the spoonful? Because it bloody well ROCKS. How's that for scientific? Don't believe me? Then check out what some smarter folks, like Tolson and Dr. BG from Animal Pharm have to say about it.  Animal Pharm is probably one of thee best sources of nutritional info, next to Robb Wolf.  Plus, Dr. BG is sexy smart, is a Crossfitter, and I've seen her flat belly.  True story.

Anyways, back to the coconut oil.  Neither working out at 6AM or doing so in a fairly fasted state is par for the course for me; really, I just have no other options, and despite all the benefits of intermittent fasting and working out fasted, it just plain feels like shit to me.  So coffee + fat it is.  And was it ever!!

Running at 6AM in the dead-calm of a misty Red Deer was almost Zen like this morning.  I tell no lies!  When you're from Lethbridge, "dead calm" is Zen.  Also, when your towing along a 240lb guy who thinks he's going to start running THIS MORNING makes it pretty damn easy.  We ran just under 4km in 16 minutes, and I swear I could have held my breath the whole time.  I think my cohort was going to throw up a lung.

Was it the magical medium chain triglycerides, or was it......

CHUCK FUCKING TAYLORS, baby! These rock for running. For me, for right now. I feel my stride is quicker, and I'm quickly reminded not to heel strike. They are still a helluva lot more forgiving that the Vibrams, which I'll move to eventually.

Anyways, the run was good. Now, more in Food News

Eating on the road can suck. Options are nil, cooking facilities are non-existent, and restaurants are Carbo-death-traps. Or not?

The "continental breakfast" buffet was actually pretty decent! I had a big-assed plate full o' eggs, 4 sausages, and an apple, an orange, and more coffee.

Paleo, fuck yeah! For lunch? Chicken Pecan salad at BPs. Diet coke. Aspartame, boo.

Reader input----Would, if forced, you opt for "natural", yet high carb, or "artificial", yet low carb? Post your thoughts to comments. My 2 cents: Keeping insulin levels low maintains BGL (blood glucose levels) at steady rates, plus chronic low carb in the face of added stress/lack of sleep avoids, or attenuates, excess cortisol secretion. Uh huh.

After the first day of the course, I did a mini WOD of "Tabata Something Else", consisting of air squats, situps, and pushups; I had 15 minutes from the time I walked into my hotel room until we left for dinner. Warmup? HA! Do freakin' African lions warmup before the kill? Hell no. Neither does Mike. And it showed in my numbers, which is why you won't see them. :) WOD was good, pushups were sketchy. Limited my ROM for my shoulder's sake. I've got two weeks of hanging upsidedown off a rope, so I'll need it. Jmac is sending me some hotel WODS via email, so that'll help.

Dinner? Seafood, chicken, and sausage Jambalaya washed down with a few NorCal margaritas. Hey, the Oilers were playing. And won.

POSE Running and Death By Ten Meters

So that funny-lookin' dude is supposed to be me running with perfect POSE technique.  Yeah, not so much.  Today was part two of a mini-cert in POSE technique; David and Ryno went to Tuscon, AZ, to do the Crossfit Endurance certification.  We are now an affiliate of CF Endurance, and Dave and Ryno will now be doing these seminars for the members.

A little about POSE:

Today we went through some refresher drills; most of these involve "pulling" with your hamstring, and learning to forward lean while running. I wore my Chucks today, which are really flat and thin, so I could definately feel when I was heel striking. My gait felt better, but the vid analyses at the end didn't show a whole lot of improvement.

It's been frustrating trying to pick this up, but that just means I'll have to practice a LOT more. It'd be nice to get out and do another 5k before the white stuff flies.

Death By Ten Meters

Just like Death by any other means in Crossfit, this one involves 10m sprints; 1 in the first minute, 2 (20m, there and back) in the second, and so on and so forth. I got to 10 quite easily, and I think 13 would be in range, perhaps 15, which is what David pulled off in Tuscon. Considering how much sleep I DIDN'T get, and how much tequila (Tuh-Kill-Yah?) I drank last night, I felt pretty damn decent after this.

Kat had the kids coming in at 1PM and we were running late, so I pulled the plug at 10. I'll have to do this one again, soon.

I'm working the PFA fights tonight, doing the ringside medical; I always like doing this, as it's the one thing that kinda keeps me connected with the MMA crowd, but I'd much rather spend it with Tam just chillin'. I'm off to Red Deer tomorrow for two weeks of high-angle rescue training, so I may not be posting for a while, depending on time/internet connection/and how and where I can train. I'd like to hit up Jason Macdonald's CF at least once.

First Foray Into The Massive Blog-o-Sphere

So this is my first attempt at a fitness/nutrition/workout log type-blog; at this point, I'm unsure of what the main body of content will be, or how frequently they'll happen.  I tend to visit a lot of well written and frequently updated blogs, so the bar (in my mind) is set high.

At the very least, I plan on logging my workouts, numbers, and more entertainingly, my thoughts.  I'd expect a lot of re-canned nutrition content, since that entails most of my e-surfing.

***Note:  I'm currently doing my own version of Crossfit Strength Bias, in case your wondering "Why the f*** is Mike doing his own thing???". No, I'm not "better" than the CFLA wod; in fact, our programming rocks, as our client's regular progress can attest to, and the daily CF Lethbridge WOD usually scares the shit out of me.  I have been attempting to work around a FUBAR'd left shoulder, and would like to get stronger. Yup, it's that simple.  When I can, I try and do the CF Leth WOD; after a session or two of coaching, I'm usually chomping at the bit to try it.  More on that in later posts.

Today's Workout, 1PM, CF Lethbridge

Power Clean

95# x many times, worked on full extension.  Did some hang PC and Tall cleans
135# x 3
155# x 3
175# x 3, felt easy, strong, caught high.
185# x 3.  Used to be a tough 1RM for me, fairly easy PC now.  Catch is lower, though.
195# x 0,0,1 Fawk.  Expected this to be easy, and hoped for a 205#PR.  Eventually power cleaned this up, brutally low catch.  Ugly as shit.

Split Jerk

135# x3
145# x3
155# x3
Easy-peasy; did this to just test the shoulder.  It's been surprisingly great lately, and I've been pushing the envelope, so to speak, on trying to get it a-throbbin' again.  Last week's adventure back to wall-balls did it, along with some strict OHP, but for whatever reason, PJ and SJ don't seem to affect it much.  Left trapezius aches due to muscle guarding, but whatever.

Warning and Disclaimer:  I'm going to bitch and moan about my shoulder a lot.  Oh, you'll hear about it, trust me.  Get used to it.

Met-Con

5 rounds for time of:
10 C2B pullups
10 Box Jumps
10 GHD situps
8:47. GHDs are, as always, the limiting factor. A monkey could write a freakin' bestselling novel in the time it takes me to do 10 GHDs. Regardless, no fractioning on the chest-to-bar (C2B) pullups or box jumps---or GHDs, but they are slow it might as well be considered fractioning. Gotta get faster at those box jumps, they have been a constant nemesis of mine since day 1, and I really have no excuse, being a tall skinny bastard.

On the Menu

NorCal Margarita

Made famous by the folks from Crossfit Norcal (Robb and Nicki),
this Paleo-friendly highball consists of:
1 oz white tequila.  Preferably, Silver Patron.  Tonight will be Jose Cuervo Classico.  I'll report back on this.
Bunch o' ice
Shwack of soda water
Slice or two of lime

Simple, yet classy.  Clean, yet crisp.  Sexy, but not whorish.  Ok, I'm done.  I'll be consuming a plethora of these tonight with Sean'o + company.


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