Monday CrossFit

With our snow slowly disappearing at lower elevations, I knew it wouldn't be long before we were putting running back into our CrossFit workouts. I got it last night.

When I first get to the gym, I immediately go to the board to look at the workout. I like to wear Vibram Five Fingers for workouts when it makes sense, but there are certain movements I don't like to do in them. First, unlike what seems to be half of the runners in the world these days, I don't run in them. I also don't like to do box jumps or burpees in the Vibrams and I have mixed feelings about push-ups and rope jumping. As my feet get stronger, I hope to expand the activities that I use them for, but for now, I use racing flats as my primary footwear at CF.

The boards that show our workouts are broken into segments. The first board is the warm-up, usually mobility, balance and perhaps some easy strength work. Then, we usually do some hard strength work, which is specified on the second board. The next four boards are the main workout, from the prescribed level down to Level 1. Last night, the strength board was blank. That usually means that the main workout is going to be long and difficult. This is what I saw last night:

4 rounds, as quickly as possible:

Row 500 meters

Run 400 meters

50 double-unders

A double-under is rope-jumping, where the rope passes under your feet twice in every jump. I'm not very good at double-unders yet, and the alternative is always three times as many single-unders. I could do the double-unders, but I miss so many times that it would take me forever to accumulate 50 even once, much less four times. So, I would end up doing 600 jump rope reps, more than I'd done in a day in many, many years, perhaps ever.

Most of our main workouts last anywhere from 8 to about 15 minutes. As I looked at this one, I was guessing that half an hour would be a decent time for me. I figured I'd average just over 2 minutes per 500 meters rowing, just under two minutes per run, and the rope jumping would take about 3 minutes. Plus, we had to travel back and forth between inside and outside and change equipment, etc.

I ended up finishing dead last in 30:33, but I was very happy with the workout. I paced myself well, and unlike someone in the class before us, I didn't get sick. I'm now doing the prescribed workout more often than not, and my fitness is definitely improving.

When I got to work this morning, the walk up four flights of stairs was a challenge.

I'm hoping tonight's workout focuses on strength and upper body muscles.