Thursday, May 27, 2010

Canadian Regionals, Mountain Bike Mecca, and Totally Random Science


This weekend is the Crossfit Canadian Regional Qualifier, being held in Okotoks, Alberta.  The top 6 men and top 6 women from this event will go on to the 2010 Crossfit Games, being held in Carson, California, on July 16-18th.  Two athletes I know personally will be competing this weekend:  Heather Gillespie, owner and coach at Crossfit Lethbridge, and Katrina Burton, trainer at Action Conditoning.  Both women are amazing athletes, and placed 2nd and 12th, respectively, at the sectional Qualifier in Edmonton back in March.

If you can't make it to Okotoks this weekend, fret not, faithful readers:  David "MagicTweet" Muryn will be Twitter-ing away on his blackberry, more than likely completely jacked on caffeine and adrenaline; check the Crossfit Lethbridge  website for "tweet" updates.  I'll be at the firehall on Saturday, but I'll be blazing a trail up from Lethbridge Sunday morning to catch these two fire-breathing women live.

Ah, vacation time!

This blog, and myself, will be on a temporary hiatus as I'll be heading to the mountain bike mecca of Canada: Whistler, British Columbia, from June 2-9th.  5 of us from the fire department will be renting a condo in the village, and the days will consist of: wake, eat, ride, eat, ride, eat/drink/find trouble, rinse, repeat.  While Whistler is known for it's crazy downhill and platform/ledge riding, there's miles and miles of singletrack.  That said, I'm still bringing my full face helmet and armor.  :)  This'll be great technical training for my 24 hour race in July.



Since I'm a nice guy and don't want to leave ye hordes of faithful readers without material for the next week or so, here's some random, semi-related to nutrition & health kinda linky-links:

Five Simple Post-Workout Shakes from Core Performance
Kristy demolishes The China Study: Part 1 and Part 2.  Awesome stuff.
Dan John's book, Never Let Go , is phenomenal.  Do yourself a favor and buy it.
Sean Croxton from Underground Wellness does a killer 10 minute synopsis of Dr. Lustig's 90+ minute rant on sugar.  This is a must-watch.
Dr. Guyenet from Whole Health Source posted some sweet info on sweet potatoes.  Carb up!
A nephrologist talking about coffee and inflammation?  I'm Listening.
We all need better thoracic spine mobility.  Mark Sisson from Mark's Daily Apple shows us how.
Chris McDougall, author of Born to Run, wonders "What Happened To His Ear?"
Dr BG talks about MCT oil and fat lossGo eat some coconuts!
Go order Robb Wolf's new book,  The Paleolithic Solution right freakin' now!

Various Training

May 21st, CFLA, noon
5RM Back Squat
135#x5
185#x5
225#x5.  Worked on ATG (ass-to-ground) high bar form.  Also, sandbagged it big time, because:

Death By Squats
On-the minute air squats, starting at 5/first minute, 10/second minute, then add 1 per minute.
Made it to 33 squats, totaling 521 squats.  I did this about 2 or so years ago, and said I'd never do it again.  Well, I'll never do it again after this.  For at least another two years.

U of L Indoor Rock Gym
Climbing x2 hours.  Didn't think I'd make it because of the squats.  DOMS had yet to set in.

Sat/Sun off.  My legs were trashed.  Localized rhabdo?  Bingo.

May 24th, Monday, Firehall #1
Treadmill x20 minutes@7mph, 2% grade.  Just wanted some active recovery for the legs.

May 25th, CFLA, 1PM
Squat Snatch
65#x3
85#x3
95#x3
115#x3
125#x3.  Felt pretty damn good, for the fist time.  165#x1 by Dec 2010.

May 26th, CFLA, 1PM
3 Rounds for Time:
400m run
5 Power Cleans(155#)
10 GHD Sit Ups
8:10.  Felt slow as a snail on the run.  PCs were cake, GHDs were fine, but slow.

May 27th, CFLA, 1PM
Split Jerk, 3RM
95#x3
115#x3
135#x3
155#x3
175#x3
185#x3.  Shoulder felt great today, weight felt light.  Concerned about a minor hip flexor "pop", which is probably carry-over damage from the ridiculous Death By Squats.  225#, coming, up...

5 rounds for repetitions:
With a 3 minute running clock, row 500 meters then AMRAP DUs for remainder.
Rest 1 minute between sets.

1:46.3/55
1:45.4/50
1:44.8/47
1:47.3/46
1:49.4/40.

Cool interval set up I ripped off from Blair Morrison of Anywherefit.  I like it.  Tried keeping the row at 1:45, but hit a serious wall in the 4th.  For reference, Blair was busting out 80's on the DUs.  Ha!

U of L Indoor Rock Gym, 5PM
Rock climb x2 hours.  Finally successfully finished a tough 5.10c route tonight; warming up on 5.10a/5.10b with no probs.  Weather has got to shape-the-f*ck-up so I can get outside.