Busy week

When did I last post? Maybe last Friday morning.

Work has been crazy busy, working with a consultant on a new product that we are building. I am the consultant's go-to person for any and all questions about the product. I'm also building a lot of reports that will be part of the new product. Plus, those reports are what our customers will see, so attention to detail is very important. And, I'm also building a huge suite of test data for the application once coding is finished. So, work has been very time consuming.

Last Friday, I rowed an easy 5K and then went to watch my daughter play soccer.

Saturday and Sunday, I watched some football, went fly fishing with my son, and did some work around the house. Plus, I worked when I had time.

Monday, I rowed 10K and went to watch my daughter play soccer again. I was very glad to be at this game, their first win of the year.

Tuesday, I worked and went to CrossFit. I got in some easy rowing before a tough workout - as many reps as possible of the following in 30 minutes:

Run 400 meters

30 Kettlebell snatches - my arms and shoulders are still sore from these

20 box jumps

10 pull-ups.

I did four rounds plus part of another 400, finishing the fifth 400 at 31:55. Our "400" is actually closer to 470 meters, but it's close enough.

Wednesday was kind of a rough day. We got some bad news here at work regarding our biggest customer. This had all kinds of immediate financial implications for our small company. I was just about to get my first raise in over 5 years, and it was supposed to be a nice raise. Instead, the raise was put on hold and some other people took temporary salary cuts. Hopefully, we'll close some sales soon and our revenue won't affected too badly. I really believe in the value of the product that we provide, or I wouldn't be taking the chances with an underfunded start-up the way I've been doing for years.

It was a disappointing day though. I made it to CrossFit after work, did some easy rowing, some heavy squats, some fast rowing, a bunch of burpees, and some running. Then, I went home and the day got worse. The Red Sox blew a lead and lost. The Yankees didn't seem to make any effort at all to hold a lead over Tampa Bay, and Tampa won in extra innings, knocking the Sox out of the playoffs - the end of an epic collapse.

Then, my wife and I awoke at 3:00 a.m. this morning to the sound of our dogs fighting. After we got them apart and calmed down, we discovered that one or both of them had emptied a garbage can all over the kitchen and living room. It honestly looked like someone had deliberately poured the contents of the garbage as widely around as possible. We figure that if either or both dogs get sick, we'll know who is guilty.

Today, it's back at work and CrossFit later.

I'm at the midpoint of the rowing challenge in terms of time, and I've rowed 51,000 meters, just about half of what I'm supposed to do in the challenge. So, that is moving along just fine.

Busy workout in humid weather

Last night, when I got to the gym, it was just starting to rain. It had been humid all day.

We work out in a warehouse type of facility, a typical CrossFit "box" that in no way resembles a Globo Gym. There is no air conditioning, and the big back doors are often open, so we essentially train in the same "air" that exists outside.

I got to the gym early yesterday. So, I worked on Double Unders for a while. I'm getting better, but still not ready to incorporate them into a workout.

Then, I rowed 3000 meters towards our month-long challenge. I'm at 30KM after 8 days, easily on pace for my 100KM.

Then came the official warm-up:

Run 100 meters

3 rounds of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats)

Run 100 meters

By now, having only finished the warm-up, the humidity was really affecting me. My shirt was absolutely soaked. Luckily, I had a second shirt in my bag and I switched for the main workout.

Next, we were supposed to work on snatch balances. Regretfully, to do a good snatch balance, you really need to have a good overhead squat, which I'm still working on. So, despite doing OH squats on Monday, I spent the strength portion last night working on them again.

After 20 minutes of OH squats, including one where I lost my balance and had to throw the bar, it was time for the main workout:

12 minutes - as many reps as possible:

Row 2000 meters

Double Unders or Box jumps

The rowing was there simply to take up time, delaying your start of the double unders or box jumps. Your score was the reps for the last exercise, and I was doing box jumps. It took me 8:18 to row 2000 meters, leaving me about 3.5 minutes for box jumps. I got 45 in that time span. Two other people who rowed more slowly than I did also managed 45 box jumps. So, while my rowing had given me an advantage, the others were much more proficient in the box jumps. I guess that gives me a "work your weakness" task the next time we do that workout.

So, in one workout, I did some running, easy rowing, hard rowing, pull-ups, push-ups, air squats, overhead squats, rope jumping, and box jumps.

Just another day at CrossFit.

My plan for today is to row an easy 5000 meters after my daughter's soccer game. Tomorrow, I'm planning some running sprints and 10000 meters of rowing before I start watching college football.

Sunday, I might row a bit, but my main priority is getting out for some fly fishing with my son. The season is just about over, and some of our rivers and streams have finally recovered enough from Irene to be worth fishing again.

And Another PR in the Gym

I am on some kind of a roll recently in the gym.

In recent weeks, I've set new bests for the clean, the clean and jerk, the strict press, the 500 meter row, and tied bests in overhead squats, and the back squat.

Last night, we were working on deadlift sets as follows:

5 reps - 65% of 1 rep max

5 - 70%

3 - 75%

3 - 80%

1 - 85%

max - 90%

But, I hadn't tried a maximal deadlift for a while, so I deviated in the last set. I started at 245 for my first set, and by the fifth, I was at 320 pounds. This went pretty easily, so I skipped the 335 pound max reps set, and tried for a new PR at 385 pounds, vs. my previous best of 375.

It turned out to be a very unusual lift. I got the bar a couple inches off the ground and then I just stalled. After maybe 5 seconds (OK, probably 2, but it felt like a lot more), I was about to give up on the lift, assuming I couldn't make it. My lifting partner said later that I shifted my body position just a little bit, moving back just a bit and allowing my hips to open up a bit more easily. Suddenly, the bar started moving slowly upwards again. I knew as soon as I had movement, I'd finish the lift. When I fail, it's always early in this lift, unlike strict presses, where I often fail at the end of the lift.

And, bit by bit, with the whole gym watching, I nailed the rep. Everyone broke out in applause; it was pretty cool to pull it off with an audience. It wasn't pretty, but it's a new PR for me.

My weight is down to 210 right now, from a high of 236 back in April. One of my deadlifting goals for a while has been to lift twice my body weight. Yesterday, I lifted 183% of my body weight, so I'm getting close. If I can get under 200 pounds and get to 405# on this lift by the end of the year, I'll make that goal.

After my deadlift, the rest of the workout seemed unimportant. The workout was 100 burpee pull-ups, which is a tough one. You do a burpee, but instead of the normal jump at the end, you jump to a pull-up bar and do a pull-up. If you can't do pull-ups, you are supposed to do 10 burpees, 10 pull-ups, etc.

Another option is jumping pull-ups, where you use a lower pull-up bar than prescribed, and really get a jumping start to the pull-up. I chose that option, and scaled the workout to 60 reps. I finished in 11:29, but kind of felt like a cheater because everyone else was still going.

After the workout, the chiropractor worked on my shoulder a bit, and we decided to decrease the frequency of treatments; my shoulder is just about fully healed.

Then, I headed home to watch the CrossFit games on TV.

All in all, it was a pretty good day.

Today, I'll do some rowing and the CrossFit workout, and then tomorrow may be a rest day. My legs are a bit tired today.

Another lifting PR

Last night at CF, we started with 7 x 1 clean and jerks. This is a lift that I don't do very often, except at lower weights in our main workout. The goal last night was to do heavy reps. I looked at my logbook and found that my best C&J was only 135 pounds. Given that I'd cleaned 165 pounds a week or two ago, and that I can push press 135 pounds, it seemed a sure thing that I would, at the very least, tie my best weight.

I warmed up at 95 pounds and then started adding weight, 10 or 20 pounds at a time. At 155 pounds, the lift still went pretty well - a new PR by 20 pounds. Then, I tried 165 a few times. I could handle the clean, but my jerk (I was using a split jerk) just wasn't dynamic enough, and I failed a couple times. Finally, after some coaching, I managed to commit more to the movement and I nailed 165 pounds. So, I tried 175 pounds, which would be a PR for the clean as well as the clean and jerk. Here, I failed on the clean. My pull was good enough, but I just couldn't get under the bar quickly enough. But, I'm getting better.

I dropped back to 165 and nailed another rep there and then called it a day on the C&Js - with a 30 pound PR.

Next was the main workout - 4 x 500m of rowing. I had planned to take yesterday as a rest day from rowing after rowing for 3 straight days, but it wasn't to be. The pointers that I got at the gym recently from a Concept2 employee have really helped me, and I'm rowing faster than ever.

In a time trial at 500 meters a few weeks ago, I got 147.6. Yesterday, my first rep, with less effort than the time trial a few weeks ago, was a 1:46.4. I did fade a bit, with one rep at 1:50, but I averaged 1:48.1 for the four reps. And, I got a 500 meter PR out of the workout.

Work has been crazy for a few days, but our release seems to be stabilizing, so I can get back to my normal software development work for now. I hope. Nothing seems to be broken at the moment anyway.

Tonight at CF, I know we are starting with heavy deadlifts, but who knows what we'll do after that.

Sometime this week, I need to do some running as well. I've got a marathon in six weeks or so.

Row, row, row your (fake) boat...

The last few days, including the weekend, have been pretty intense at work. We put a major new release out yesterday, and it's required a lot of planning and baby-sitting - making sure that nothing is misbehaving in the software.

I've managed to keep working out, but things have been pretty boring the past few days.

Friday was a rest day.

Saturday was the farmers market, an 8K row, and I watched college football the rest of the day.

On Sunday, I worked, did a lot of work around the house, rowed 5K pretty easily, and tried to get to bed early.

Yesterday, I rowed and did CrossFit. I had a really good workout yesterday, feeling really strong. Some lifting, some bodyweight stuff, some running - same old, same old.

Then, home for dinner with the family, a couple innings of the Red Sox game, up at 5:00 today, took my son to work, and got to the office before 7:00.

I think I need a vacation.

Owww! - Beat up today

Last night's CF workout was very different than normal.

First, I arrived early and rowed 5K, the start of my 100K in 30 days challenge. That was a more substantial warm-up than I normally do, but I kept the effort fairly moderate.

Then we worked on squat snatches. I'm getting better at this lift, but I still have some mobility and speed and technique issues. We did 3x3 at heavier weights and then 3x10 at lighter weights.

And then, we went outside for sled pulls - 8 reps of about 30 seconds each with 90 seconds rest. These were brutally hard, and my entire body hurts today.

I was planning to row some more today, but with a CrossFit fundraiser/workout tomorrow morning, I think it's a rest day today.

Tomorrow morning, we have an open gym, doing a workout called Fight Gone Bad. It's 17 minutes of torture. It's also a major CF fundraiser, so we'll have a big crowd.

After that, I'm likely to come home and take a nap while attempting to watch college football. Hopefully, I'll be up for some rowing on Sunday.

Autumn is rapidly approaching here in VT and we are going to have cool temps all weekend, with the chance of frost. Hopefully, the farmers markets will continue to have good produce for a few more weeks, but as October approaches, the volume definitely decreases. I haven't really been in a regular supermarket all summer, living off food from the farmers markets and the side of beef in my freezer. It will be disappointing to return to the supermarket in October, even though we belong to a high quality co-op. It's just not the same as buying from the farmers directly.

Strict Press PR

A friend of mine mentioned to me recently that my blog is, um, somewhat boring. Now, she doesn't really exercise much - yoga and a she's a hasher. I can easily see that this could be boring. The title of the blog suggests that it's about ultrarunning. I haven't finished an ultra in a couple years right now, although I did a marathon this summer and I'll do another this autumn.

It's not ski season, so there's not much to say about skiing.

And, I do talk about nutrition, and I'm making good progress with a Paleo/Primal diet, but I don't spend a whole lot of time talking about that. My doctor thinks it's a fad. My boss, a doctor, also seems to think the same thing. I see what is happening with my fitness and physique, and I think the diet and CrossFit should get the credit. However, while my weight is down and my strength is up, I'm far from being a cover model for Mens Health or some other such magazine. Even if I ever did have the lean, ripped body, there's still the rest of me that would need airbrushing, I suppose.

So, am I just talking to hear myself talk? Is this just a diary that I allow the whole world to see? I don't think that's really true, because there's a lot I'd write in a private diary that I'd never even consider writing here.

Perhaps it's just a glorified workout log. I do wonder if someday, my currently teenage children will stumble upon this and read it, and find out more about the dad that they ignore on a regular basis. After all, Project Runway or video games are way more interesting than a dad, at least right now.

Well, enough of that rambling. Time to write about what I always write about - a workout.

We started with strict press work at CrossFit yesterday. The rep pattern was 5-5-3-3-1-max, starting at 70% of max and going up by 5% each round. Yesterday was 9/14/2011. My best ever strict press is 125, first achieved on 12/14/2010 - nine months prior. I've done 125 a few times since, but I've failed at every attempt higher than 125. The shoulder injury that I suffered in March of this year has been part of the issue, but it's a frustrating lift. Just like the bench press, an increase in this lift comes with lots of workouts doing the lift in question, and with the addition of muscle mass in the upper body.

So yesterday, after finding that my single rep at 90% (112.5 pounds) went pretty well, I decided to skip the 95% set and try for a PR at 127.5. That would be a 2% improvement in 9 months - not very significant at all. But, I did nail the rep, and then did 3 additional push presses at the same weight. So, at age 49, there's something in my life where I'm still improving.

After that lift, the rest of the workout seemed pretty easy:

12 minutes, as many reps as possible:

12 push-ups

12 sit-ups

12 box jumps

I came within four box jumps of completing 6 rounds. If my arms weren't still feeling the effects of 200 push-ups on Monday, even if they were knee push-ups, I would have done more reps.

When I got home last night, I spent two hours watching the CrossFit Games on ESPN2. I've officially crossed into CF-nerdom now, I suppose. It was nice to see a lady from our gym doing so well in one of the workouts. And, my wife really enjoyed watching it and she will be doing her first ever CF workout this coming Saturday. My daughter, on the other hand, had a completely different viewpoint. She seemed a bit weirded out that I get home late every night because I'm doing something that ridiculous. Then, I told her about CrossFit kids, and she is now interested in trying a workout with one of her friends.

Because I stayed up late, I overslept this morning and never got to the gym to row before work. I'll definitely row tomorrow after work, and maybe I'll get in a few thousand meters after CF tonight.