CrossFit

Ouch!

Last night's workout looked like a good place to try moving from level 2 to level 1. I knew it would be challenging, but I wanted to give it a shot. After a lengthy stretching warm-up, I did 5x5 of front squats at 135 and 145 for the last three sets. Then this was the main workout:

21-15-9

Burpee into a kettlebell swing

Walking lunges with a barbell plate held overhead.

My prescribed numbers were 35 pounds for the kettlebell and 25 for the weight plate. The first weight worked fine, but the second was too much after the front squats and I dropped to 15 partway through the workout. I was the last one done, so I had the entire class cheering for me, and on those last 18 lunges (9 per side, not just 9 steps), the coach was yelling at me to not put down the weight and just keep moving. It was brutal. And exhilarating. And, I'm sore today.

Today starts a few days where I'm just going to relax and enjoy the holidays. I'm going to a little gathering with friends tonight. Tomorrow, I pick up new skis and get to ski with my family for part of the day. Then, my sister arrives and we'll go out for a nice dinner on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day will be with my wife's family. On Sunday, my sister and my wife and I will find something to do. On Monday, I'm taking my son and a friend to see a concert, but I might be able to sneak in a CF workout. On Wednesday, I'm going to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals with my wife, but I can definitely get in a workout that day. Life is good.

Skiing

I had a mostly great weekend teaching skiing. One thing probably stopped it from being perfect and I'll discuss that below.

There had been a decent amount of snow at the mountain during the week and more trails were open than a week ago. However, the natural snow trails were a little bit thin and the snow was of variable quality. It was nice to have new trails to spread out the crowds, but I knew the skiing conditions would be challenging.

After a couple warm-up runs on Saturday morning, we had a quick meeting. I found out that I'd be getting a new girl in my group, and I was happy about this. I enjoy getting to know the students well and skiing with them for multiple years in a row. But, this had been my first season ever where I'd gotten no new students. I thought that adding a new girl would be a nice change for the entire group.

It turned out that the new girl already knew one of the other girls in my group. All of the girls welcomed the new girl and we had a great morning. Because I had a girl that I'd never met before, we started on very easy terrain. The new girl had less experience than my other skiers, but she was athletic and had a great attitude. By mid-afternoon, I had the entire group on intermediate to low level expert terrain. The new girl was the last one down one particular run, and when she finished, she asked me why she was the slowest skier in the group. I had every other girl talk about how long they'd been skiing. I told the new girl that she was doing amazingly well given that everyone else had been skiing for much longer than her. She seemed happy with that explanation. And, the new girl wasn't a beginner. She is new to a ski school program and a lot of her skiing has been on a smaller mountain, but she has skied a lot.

At the end of the day, I felt it had been a great success. Sunday, I would try to build on that success.

I typically structure our ski day in a way that allows me to teach something and then let the group work with what I've taught. We start skiing at 9:30. We take a warm-up run and then on the second run, I do some teaching. We practice whatever it is that I'm teaching for our second and third runs. From the end of the third run until lunchtime, I use moderate terrain that allows the girls to use whatever I've taught. After lunch, we usually spend some time on more challenging terrain, mostly for the girls to have fun, but also so I can see what happen to their technique on tougher terrain. I give individual guidance to the girls in the second half of the day, but rarely do any formal teaching. A huge amount of skiing is really just practice, and if the girls had to listen to me all day long rather than skiing, I'd have a rebellion on my hands.

Yesterday at lunch, I was trying to think of appropriate challenging terrain for the afternoon. The new girl had handled everything just fine so far. Some of the other girls wanted to ski a double-black diamond bump run, but I knew this was inappropriate terrain for my new student. Safety comes first at all times.

I finally decided to use the easier part of a single-black diamond trail for our challenge. I expected some ice and moguls, but nothing much more difficult than what we'd done already. So, we headed to the summit, headed down an easy intermediate trail, and then took a side trail to the more challenging terrain. As soon as the new girl saw the trail, she expressed her concern that it was too steep. I told her it was no steeper than other terrain we had skied already, but it was a longer trail. My son mentioned to me later that this trail does have a unique feature compared to other trails we had been skiing. It is completely straight and you can look down the steep hill for a long way. I think my son was correct that the view was intimidating to my new student. We started skiing and found the terrain to be challenging. We had soft snow moguls separated by large patches of slick ice. The ice was intimidating to the new girl. It was intimidating to two other students as well, including my own daughter.

I stayed with the new girl, but it was clear she was scared. And, the more scared she got, the more her skills regressed. This in turn caused her to have less control. Which scared her more. You get the point. About halfway down the trail, she told me she couldn't do it. She wanted to take off her skis and walk down. Sometimes, this is a good exit strategy, but not with icy trails. Skis are much better than ski boots on icy terrain.

I must admit that I've never had a student have a meltdown like that. I felt terrible. After almost 30 minutes, we finished the trail. On the lower part of the trail, the pitch decreased, and I was glad to see my student relax and make some nice turns. When the group was finally all back together, I apologized to everyone. I had put a student into a scary situation and it had affected the entire group.

We skied a little bit more, took a break for some hot chocolate, and then spent some time just playing in the snow to wrap up the day.

I've continued to think about my decision-making. In hindsight, it's easy to say I made the wrong decision. Yet, in some respects, I think I'd make the same decision again. The snow conditions were worse than I'd expected. And, I hadn't skied that trail in the past week. So, I made a decision based on incomplete information. Yet, the conditions were well within the abilities of the entire group. Most of the group enjoyed the trail and I had numerous requests to ski it again. We didn't do that. Perhaps I should have spent more time with the girl, waiting until I knew her better before I challenged her like that. Perhaps I would have found a clue that she would become mentally unraveled by the terrain. But, the terrain was not that big a jump from other trails we'd skied. The view was certainly different though.

A few years ago, I was coaching the daughter of a good friend who has also been a mentor to me as a ski instructor. My group that day asked to ski a tougher trail than I'd planned. The request was unanimous, and my friend's daughter got hurt. It was a minor injury but a scary situation. Near the end of that season, my friend asked me about my decision-making that day. He asked what I would do if the same thing happened again. I told him that in hindsight, I would, of course, make a different decision. But, I told him that without knowing that hindsight, I'd make the same choice. I felt it had been an appropriate decision. He told me that he was glad I felt I'd made the correct decision.

The first word of the motto of the Professional Ski Instructors of America is "Safety". I take that very seriously. Yet, sometimes, things don't go the way I expect. And every time this happens, I get to think about my decision-making. And hopefully, I learn from these situations and become a better ski instructor. But, sometimes I wonder. If something doesn't go well, and later, I still think my decision was appropriate, there seems to be some sort of cognitive dissonance. Skiing is certainly a sport with risks, but my job is to reduce risk, not increase it.

I guess I'll be replaying yesterday in my mind for a long time.

Taboo subject

I don't write about politics here very often. My good friends know that I fit in very well in Vermont - a liberal hippie type in a liberal hippie type of state. Despite the fact that I work for a venture funded start-up software company, I have managed to stay employed so far in the economic downturn. And, I make a pretty decent salary as the IT Director of my small company.

I hope I have the right understanding of the bill in my analysis below.

In exchange for an $800 dollar tax credit that is now gone, my wife and I will save even more than that in reduced social security payments. A lot more.

Individuals who are employed but make less than $20K per year will see their total tax liability increase, as they lose the $400 credit and save less than that in reduced social security taxes. The same applies to couples who make less than $800.

I live in one of the poorer counties in VT. The median household income here is about $48K. People who make that much probably struggle to even own a house here. That median household will save about $160 in taxes this coming year. I'll save over ten times that much.

Yes, I'm happy that unemployment benefits will be extended for those that need them. Those benefits are urgently needed by some people who simply can't find work. VT has a much lower unemployment rate than the national rate, and I'm sure that the extended benefits will have a bigger impact in places other than here. But, people without jobs need that lifeline. I'm certainly not one of those people who believes that unemployment benefits are a disincentive to working. They aren't that much money and I think that most people collecting them would truly prefer to be working.

But, how in the world did Congress and the President come up with something that hurts the employed poor (and I assume this hurts people on Social Security as well), and give me an even bigger tax cut.

I can certainly donate the money to people who will get hurt by this change, potentially including some family members. But, I'm tempted to save the money and donate it to the first liberal who announces a primary challenge against Obama. Obama may as well just change parties, because he is certainly a Democrat in name only.

5-5-5-5-5, 6-6-19-42?

Who comes up with these workouts?

Last night at CrossFit, we started with an expanded version of something called the Burgener warm-up. Instead of using barbells, we use thin pieces of PVC pipe and practice Olympic lifting movements.

Next, we did overhead squats, at what was supposed to be a fairly high weight, 5 sets of 5, or 5-5-5-5-5. When I started doing CrossFit, I couldn't do an overhead squat at all. My attempts on my own in the past resulted in me in awkward position, balancing on the balls of my feet instead of my heels, with the bar too far forward and my squat not very deep. Since starting CrossFit, the coach has worked with me quite a bit on this lift, focusing on shoulder mobility and ankle dorsiflexion. Years of distance running have resulted in a very strong and tight gastroc, which really inhibits the flexion of the ankle. (This lack of flexibility is very noticeable when I'm skiing, so I'm constantly working on it). After lots of mobility work, I can finally do the lift, but not with much weight. I did a few decent sets with just the bar - 45 pounds. I then did two sets with 65 pounds, but my form suffered. I went back to 45 pounds to finish the sets. I was working out last night with a group of very fit Coast Guard members. One of them was doing the lift with perfect form and 175 pounds overhead. I was very impressed. He told me that a year ago, he couldn't do the lift at all, and that he'd come that far in year. So, I need to keep working to make this old body more flexible.

The last portion of the workout was timed, doing as many reps as possible of the following sequence:

6 pull-ups (I'm still doing band-assisted pull-ups, but I'm getting stronger)

6 push-ups

19 air squats

42 reps of jump rope

Who comes up with 6-6-19-42 as a sequence? Anyway, I've been getting much better at pacing myself in these types of workouts. In the beginning, I would start way too fast and burn out quickly. Last night, I nailed the timing. I was just starting to flail as I ran out of time.

I did 5 full rounds, plus 6-6-15 reps. The most encouraging thing was 36 total push-ups with really good form. In some recent workouts, I've resorted to knee push-ups to get through the workout, but not last night.

I will admit that I'm feeling tired from the past two days. Unlike the young kids there, I can't do the full-on workout day after day. I'm getting better, but I'm trying to listen to my body when it tells me not to push too hard. So, tonight remains undecided.

CrossFit Total

On Monday night, we were supposed to do the "CrossFit Total" test in the gym. I was not only beat from skiing all weekend, but I was also extremely busy at work. So, I did the workout last night, on my own.

Basically, the workout is really a test. Excluding warm-up reps, you try for a maximum score in the back squat, strict (or military) press and deadlift. There is no time limit for rest between sets, but it has to be a single workout. You can't do one lift one day, go home, eat and sleep, do the other lift the next day, etc.

This rule is important and it certainly affected my total score.

Coming into this workout, I had worked out really hard last week. Then, I took a rest day on Friday, skied all weekend, and took another rest day on Monday. I still felt some fatigue from my first full weekend on snow, but it wasn't too bad.

I worked from home yesterday, so I did the workout on my own in my local gym.

Squat:

Last week, I tied my lifetime best in the squat at 285 pounds. A year ago in December, I had a good month and set new PRs for the back squat at 285 and deadlift at 355. I had three attempts, and wanted to start with a weight I knew I'd hit, then try a slightly higher weight, and go from there. So, I started at 275 and it went pretty well. I was leaning towards an attempt at 285, but decided to try to break my PR on the next lift instead at 290. I nailed that one. So, I went for 300 on my third attempt and nailed that one. I was off to a good start.

Press:

I had never really done this lift before starting CrossFit recently. I had done push-presses a lot - a lift where you dip a bit and then use momentum from the legs to help drive the weight overhead. But, this kind of movement is forbidden in the strict press. Consequently, this can be a frustrating lift. If you get stuck on the way up, it seems like you're done. In the bench press, it's possible to get stuck, adjust pressure somewhat and resume. But, not in the strict press. I knew I could do 115, so I started there after my warm-up and hit it easily. My goal was to try 125 and if I made that, 135. On the attempt at 125, the movement started OK, but then slowed to a crawl. I could see my face in a mirror in front of me, and my face got all red and I thought my head would explode. But, the bar kept moving very, very slowly. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I completed the lift. There was no reason to try anything higher. I was done here.

Deadlift:

I've been frustrated by my deadlift recently. As I mentioned above, I did 355 last winter, but I haven't been close to that since March or so. I hit 325 last week and that was on the edge. It's been interesting that my squat is improving while my deadlift has regressed. The difference between my best in each lift was 70 pounds a year ago, but only 25 pounds now. After my warm-up reps (limited after the previous hard work), I decided to start at 315. I knew I could lift that much and I did. Then, I got greedy. Rather than trying to tie my best for the season, I was thinking about my high-end goal of more than 750 pounds for my total, so I jumped to 335. I failed miserably. I barely got the bar off the ground and I just stalled. That frustrated me, but I felt like there was still a silver lining. I would drop to 325, nail that one, and get exactly 750.

But, the attempt at 335 plus the other lifts had taken too much out of me, and I stalled out again, although I came close on this one.

So, my total was 740.

There is a formula called the Wilks formula that uses age, sex, and bodyweight to adjust lifts so they can be normalized. My Wilks total was 220. I don't know if the coach calculated the Wilks total for anyone else. My primary interest is that it takes my age into account in a gym where 3/4 of the people are half my age.

I've been lifting for less than four full years right now, and only doing CrossFit for a couple months. Overall, I'm pretty happy with these lifts, but I need to keep working on them.

My eating yesterday was dead-on - bacon and eggs for breakfast, a veggie based soup with some protein for lunch, and a salad and grilled beef for dinner.

My pants are fitting better than they were a few weeks ago.

Busy Day

Yesterday was a pretty busy work day, which happened to coincide with a planned rest day.

I had a late meeting with our CEO and some others in the company and I didn't leave the office until after 7:00. Then, due to snow and ice, it took me almost two hours to get home. I had a quick dinner, read for a bit, and got to sleep before 10:00. I am working from home today, so I got a good night of sleep last night.

Tonight, I'm going to do the planned workout from CrossFit yesterday. It's really a strength test called the "CrossFit Total", and after I get my score, I'll probably add some sort of interval work.

The CrossFit Total is the sum of your best weight in three different lifts: back squat, strict press and deadlift.

My recent bests for these lifts have been 285, 125, and 325. I think I can go higher in all three tonight, but I'm a bit confused why my back squat is currently at my "best ever" level, but my deadlift is 30 pounds from my max lift from a year ago. I have been doing max effort deadlifts at the end of tough workouts, so maybe doing fewer lifts tonight will let me lift more weight.

I was very happy with my skiing over the weekend. I can already feel how some of the CrossFit workouts have helped with mobility and dynamic balance, and all of my workouts are helping with strength. Despite weighing too much at present, I was very happy with how I skied this past weekend. I did have one technical issue that was bugging me a bit, but it was more a matter of being lazy at times. I noticed that any time my weight drifted back, even a bit, when I exited a turn, I would pressure my outside heel a bit just based on my weight distribution. This would cause me to exit the turn by smearing the skis rather than drawing a nice line in the snow.

I have to focus on my fore-aft balance more assiduously, and not let this lazy habit get worse.

We got a bunch of rain Sunday night and into Monday, but it snowed again last night. Hopefully, the mountain will have time to recover from the rain by next weekend.

Weekend

On Friday, I ended up taking a rest day instead of doing upper body lifting. I was just plain tired from workouts the previous five days. Even on Saturday morning, as I walked from the employee parking lot at the mountain to the instructors' locker room, I still felt tired. I got out for three quick ski runs before a meeting, and then we were off to pick up our students for our first day of teaching.

Last year, I had a group of ten girls. This year, 8 of them have returned to the group, although one is injured right now. The other seven girls showed up and we headed out to ski. I spent most of the day just lightly reviewing a few core concepts and letting the girls get used to new ski equipment and just re-adjusting to skiing. The ski terrain we had was limited, a lot of it was icy, and the mountain was crowded. It was a dangerous situation at times and I spent most of the day doing everything I could to keep the girls safe.

After the ski day was over, we had a party with the parents and the children, welcoming them back to the mountain for another season. I had a couple drinks at the party - the first time I had any alcohol in two weeks.

On Sunday, we were expecting rain, but the storm was supposed to start as light snow. Instead, we had a few hours of heavy snow and probably got 4" of new snow. It was very windy, and we had to abandon one ski run where we were skiing down a double-black diamond run into the wind and blowing snow. It was cold, visibility was very poor, and at our first opportunity, we left this trail and traversed slightly uphill to a much easier trail. By early afternoon, the snow changed to sleet and then rain, but the girls weren't willing to stop. All of their parents had already abandoned skiing for the day, but the girls weren't going to quit. All in all, despite the rain and wind, we had a really fun day, and on better snow than we had skied on Saturday.

Last night, we decorated the Christmas tree at home and I had some sparkling wine while we did that.

So, in the past week, I have continued to eat the way I wanted, I worked out or skied 6 days, and I'm feeling really good. Despite following the Primal Blueprint for the past two weeks, a grain and sugar free diet, I have not had energy issues with the lower carbohydrate diet. I did have some alcohol this week, which should be an infrequent part of primal eating, but I chose lower carbohydrate beverages (wine rather than beer or sweet cocktails).

I will have to weigh myself soon to see if my weight is changing. One of my co-workers mentioned yesterday that I looked like I'd lost some weight, and he's noticed me avoiding the pub at the mountain.

My legs are tired from the weekend and I have a lot of meetings today, so today will be a rest day. Tomorrow, I'll be back to working hard in the gym.

Oh yeah, my legs felt great while skiing this past weekend. I felt more flexible and stronger than I have on skis for the past few years. Despite the fact that I've never skied at a higher weight, it's clear that my CrossFit work and other workouts are helping with the skiing. Even though I felt tired from training hard during the week, once I got going, my legs felt really good.