Annual physical, a sprint workout, and some college football

On Friday afternoon, I had my annual physical. It was kind of odd, in some respects. My previously borderline high BP was normal. I've dropped one medication and cut another in half. I had lost 23 pounds since my last visit to my doctor, just a few months ago. He noted that my mood or disposition or whatever you want to call it was better than the last time he'd seen me. All in all, things went really well. Then, my doctor asked how I'd accomplished the improvements. I gave credit to training at CrossFit and my Paleo Diet. He stopped for a second, and said he wasn't familiar with CrossFit. But, Paleo was just a "fad diet", implying by the way he said it that he didn't think it was a good idea. I felt like asking him if I'd merely shown "fad" improvements in my health, but I just dropped it. I'd like to lose another 20-25 pounds right now, and see where I am at that point. I am feeling more and more fit all the time, I'm definitely getting smaller, but I am still 30 pounds heavier than when I got to Western States in 2008 - the year the race was cancelled by fires. I have more muscle mass now than I had then, but I also have more fat mass, and I need to keep working on that.

Given my family history of diabetes, the doc did order a Hemoglobin A1C test. I deal with this test all the time in my work, but I've never had one before. Hopefully, I won't be surprised by a bad result.

Friday after work, my wife and I did a quick sprint workout. We warmed up for half a mile, ran a quarter very hard, walked back to the starting point, and did three more quarters. I averaged 1:36, which is the best I've done in a long time. On the other hand, about 20 years ago, I did a dozen quarters averaging 1:16, with only 1:45 or so of recovery. I'll never see that again, but what I did on Friday is much better than when I did the same workout a couple months ago.

My wife entered a 5K XC race on Saturday morning, only 14 hours or so after this workout. She took second in her age group. I've been too polite to ask how many runners were in her AG.

Saturday, while my wife was racing, I went shopping at the farmers market, took my daughter and one of her friends out for breakfast, got some new tire tubes for my bike, and then came home to cook and watch football. I'd hoped to ride my bike, but time got away from me and it never happened.

My main interest was the Penn State vs. Alabama game. I have to admit that I didn't like anything that I saw from Penn State. After Penn State took an early 3-0 lead, Alabama tried a fake punt on their next possession. In my opinion, the spot of the ball was terrible, Alabama just barely got the first down and they went on to score a touchdown. However, even if the call was wrong, it ultimately didn't matter. Penn State simply didn't have the talent to play with Alabama. There is a world of difference in their talent levels right now. For years, I know that many people have been suggesting that Joe Paterno should retire. I've often argued that he's earned the right to retire when he wants. Penn State is only a few years removed from an 12-1 season and a BCS bowl win over Florida State. But suddenly, they seem to be, at best, a second tier team. I hate to say it, but perhaps at age 84, Joe really needs to consider retiring. I'm just a fan, a nobody in this issue. Yes, I've gone to lots of Penn State games over the years, seeing them play in CA, PA, MD, UT, LA and MA. In PA, I've seen a lot of games. Right now, I'm not even sure if I want to watch them on TV any more. I don't donate a lot of money to the university. I'm not a coach, a sportswriter, and I don't even have a degree from PSU. But, I'm guessing that there are donors and potential recruits out there who are seeing and thinking the same things as me. Oh well, it's just a sporting event played by other people that I don't know. I don't know why I let it occupy so much space in my life at times.

After training hard during the week, I ended up doing very little over the weekend. I mowed the lawn, bu that's far from a workout. I'm working from home today, so I'll probably do a CrossFit style workout on my own tonight before heading back to the actual CF gym tomorrow.

The 100 kilometer rowing challenge starts later this week as well.

My shoulders are trashed

On Tuesday, we did cleans for a one rep max.

On Wednesday, Sumo deadlift high pulls plus knee-ups hanging from the bar.

And then yesterday, we did snatches and deadlifts.

The really good thing is that my shoulder injury from earlier this year is much improved. I am not holding back as much in my workouts, although I limited my snatches to 95 pounds yesterday. So, while my shoulders are sore (cleans and snatches should make your shoulders/traps sore if you do them correctly), I'm not feeling injured.

The "hot spot" I had at the top of my right hamstring felt better as the day went on yesterday, and our workout included some running, which felt OK.

Yesterday's workout:

5x5 Snatches (power snatches for me - I suck at squat snatches).

Then, 15 minutes, as many reps as possible:

10 deadlifts at 185#

10 pull-ups (band assisted)

run 250 meters

I completed five rounds plus 10 deadlifts.

Today, I'll do a running interval workout after work.

Tomorrow, I'll do a bike ride before settling in to watch the Penn State vs. Alabama game. Penn State is a 10 point underdog at home, and will have to face a tough defense and a tailback who torched them at Alabama last year. But, I think this Penn State team is better than last year's team. Both teams are unsettled at QB and at least 4 different QBs should take snaps during the game. Penn State will probably have to play nearly flawless football to win, especially in the red zone. They'll have to stay away from penalties, turnovers, and poor decisions by young QBs. But, playing at Beaver Stadium is a big benefit. I've seen some very good visiting teams lose there over the years.

Oh yeah, I have a physical today. After seeing my weight drop and my fitness improve with a Paleo diet and CrossFit, I'm hoping that my bloodwork today also shows improvement from a year ago.

Weather, and of course, more CrossFit

September is one of our rainiest months in Vermont. I like the rain in September, because I know it's filling the ponds used to make snow in the winter at the ski resorts. If we had to wait for natural snow, there are some years that we wouldn't be skiing yet at Christmas or New Years Day. Instead, we are normally skiing by Thanksgiving, which is now only about 10 or 11 weeks away. So, the September rains are important.

But, after Hurricane Irene and the devastation it caused here in Vermont, we just don't need any more rain right now. But, it rained most of last weekend and it's been raining all week. We've had a lot of rain and rivers are very high right now. My son and I haven't even been able to consider any fly fishing recently, given the depth and color of the rivers. Of course, considering the damage done to property all over the state, not being able to go fishing is truly a trivial consideration.

It sounds like the rain will finally wind down today and we should have a decent weekend. Hopefully, my lawn will dry out and I'll be able to get it mowed. I'm hoping to ride my bike this weekend as well, although I have to fix two flat tires before I can do that.

Last night, at CrossFit, we did 6 sets of progressively heavier squats, with a rep pattern on 5-5-3-3-1-max. I started at 195 and ended up at 310. My two reps at 310 weren't very high in quality; my depth wasn't good enough.

Then, we did 21-15-9 of these three exercises for time:

Burpees

Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (I used 85#)

Toes to Bar (I did an easier variation called knee-ups)

My time was 9:59.

More CrossFit tonight, although I've got one really sore spot at the top of my right hamstring, so I might need to take it easy tonight. If my leg feels OK, tomorrow will be running speedwork.

Paleo Challenge Benchmarks

Yesterday was the start of our 30 day Paleo challenge at CrossFit. We needed to get weighed, photographed, and do some benchmark tests to compare at the end of the month. The contest has four scoring categories - Paleo Diet compliance, weight loss, performance improvement and a subjective "physique change" based on photos.

My weight was 213.6 - down about 22 pounds from late April, but that still puts me only halfway from where I was to where I'd like to be.

There were four performance benchmarks:

1 rep max barbell clean:

I realized after the workout that I had never before attempted a max barbell clean. I'd done reps at lower weight of both power cleans and squat cleans, but no max attempts. My technique was terrible as the weight increased. I really needed to be doing squat cleans as the weight increased, but my technique was a poor power clean. I got to 165 and then failed 3 times at 175. Over the next four weeks, I need to practice this lift. I'm strong enough to lift more if I get the technique down.

Max reps ring push-ups:

I had done these only once before and I did only 11. Compared to a standard push-up, the fact that the rings can move makes things very interesting.

2 minutes - max box jumps:

I was pretty happy with 33 box jumps in two minutes, although I saw some much better results than mine.

500 meter row for time:

This one left everyone on the floor, lightheaded and gasping for breath. My technique has been improving on the rower and my times have been improving somewhat, but going all out for 500m is not something I've done recently. I started out at a 1:35-1:36 pace, but that didn't last too long. Near the end, I'd drifted over a 2:00 pace, and I didn't even hit my goal of 1:45, instead rowing 1:46.7.

So, I now have five numbers to improve upon in the next month. Losing weight will help with the four benchmarks, and sticking with my Paleo diet will help me to lose weight. It all starts with how I eat. Some people might be able to do it, but I simply cannot out-train a bad diet.

Long weekend, more workouts

After CrossFit on Thursday night, I spent Friday working from home.  I was planning to go to the gym after work, but the weather forecast for the weekend made me change my mind.  We had nice weather on Friday, with lots of rain and electricity expected for the rest of the weekend.

So, after work, I did a simple workout that I've been doing a lot recently - a short warm-up, and then 10 by one minute hard, with a one minute walk between each hard rep.  I did a total of 2.5 miles in under half an hour and I was done.

Saturday, I went to the farmers market in the morning and I wanted to watch some college football, including Penn State's noon game.  So, I went to the gym for a quick workout:

Deadlift pyramid - 5 reps at 135 ending up with one rep at 335.  I tried a heavier rep but it wasn't there on Saturday.  Then, on my own, I did the CrossFit workout known as "Cindy":

20 minutes, as many reps as possible:
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats

I used assistance bands for the pull-ups and after the first few sets, switched to knee push-ups, so I could keep moving quickly.  I ended up with 14 rounds plus 5 pull-ups.  Today, I can still feel the 210 air squats in my legs.  I keep having this fear that I'll get to the gym tonight and the workout will be "Cindy".

After the workout, I got pretty lazy for the rest of the weekend.  I did some cooking.  I watched college football.  I went for a swim.  I slept in on Sunday.  It rained so much that I couldn't mow the lawn.  And then, it was time to come back to work.

Today, we start our 3rd Paleo Challenge of the year at the gym.  In the first challenge, which lasted 45 days, I just kind of gave up about halfway through.  I caught a cold that wouldn't go away, I wasn't getting to the gym enough, and I just let it go.  In May, we did a 30 day challenge.  In that one, I stuck with it pretty well and finished 3rd.  As of now, I'm down over 20 pounds since late April, and another month of strict eating and hard training should help me to improve that.  As long as I stick with it this time around.

Nicole

The photo above is one that our CrossFit coach took last week in a "Work Your Weakness" workout. The caption that he put on the photo was "Damon hitting some of those awful bulgarian split squats". While it certainly looks like I was working, I actually like this lift, and I have done them a lot in the past. They are a mainstay of workouts in the New Rules of Lifting books, and I've used them for years. But, it had been a while since I'd done them.

Last night was an interesting workout named Nicole. The goal was to do as many pull-ups as possible in 20 minutes. However, it wasn't that simple. We started with a 400 meter run, although our 400 meter loop is closer to 470 meters according to my GPS device. Then, we could do as many pull-ups as possible without coming off the bar or resting on the floor. As soon as you came off the bar, you had to run another 400 meters. Repeat until out of time.

This workout is different than many workouts in that it has some strategy. Also, every time you run, you are losing time to the clock while accumulating no "points". Do you run as fast as possible to do as many rounds of pull-ups as possible? If you do that, will the hard running compromise your pull-up total. Also, when you get to the point in pull-ups where you aren't cranking them out anymore, should you do a hanging rest for a while and then try to do a few more? Or, should you abandon the pull-ups, run and resume the pull-ups?

The people who scored highest tended to use the run hard, do pull-ups quickly, quit when you stall, and run again strategy. I used the run a bit easier, hang for a bit and eke out a few more pull-ups strategy. I managed five rounds, and my pull-up totals were between 11 and 14, for a total of 61. The best score yesterday was a 155 by a new guy to our gym - a very lean and fit college student who weighs only 140 pounds but can deadlift 375 pounds.

The coach picked the workout because it was the one year anniversary of the gym being open and Nicole was the workout on opening day.

Today, I'm working from home, so I'll work out on my own tonight, but I'll do a CrossFit style workout. Tomorrow, I'll do some short interval work before I settle in for the first full day of the new college football season.

More CrossFit

Yesterday was my 15th CrossFit workout of August - the most I've done in one month since joining the gym. For the year, I've done 92 CF workouts in 8 months, an average of 11.5 per month. I would like to average 3-4 workouts per week in general, although the coach is now telling us that he is going to change the programming a bit to make it more physically feasible for people to do 5 straight workouts during the work week. We have enough people who work near the gym but live far away, and those people, including me, don't make the Saturday workouts, which tend to be long. So, it sounds like we'll do fewer long workouts during the workweek for a while.

I've gotten some good comments this week about my weight. Two friends that I hadn't seen for a couple months mentioned that I'd definitely lost weight. And, in a more typical CrossFit fashion, someone at the gym mentioned that it was clear I'd been dropping some "tonnage".

Starting next week, we are doing another 30 day Paleo challenge at CrossFit, so I may have to give up dairy for a month again. I don't seem to have any real issues with dairy and I tend to eat some high quality cheese on a regular basis, plus cream in my coffee and I cook with cream as well.

So, last night's workout:

5x5 push presses - I used 125 pounds, which is close to my max for a single strict press

Then, 15 minutes, as many reps as possible:

5 pull-ups

10 push-ups

20 Abmat sit-ups

This is one of those workouts that most people could do at home, as long as you have a bar to do pull-ups. It was pure simplicity and plenty difficult.

I used an assistance band for the pull-ups, but should have used a lighter band. For the push-ups, I was very happy with how my shoulder felt, and I didn't do any knee push-ups. This was the first time I've done a high volume workout with push-ups without needing to back off to protect my shoulder.

I did 7 rounds plus 15 reps - 40 pull-ups, 80 push-ups, and 140 sit-ups. That's an average of one rep every 3.5 seconds for the 15 minutes. The fastest guys in the class did up to 13 rounds. When you can do kipping pull-ups with no assistance, things can move a lot faster.