The in-between week

Ahh, the in-between week. All the preparation, stress and over indulgence of food and drink of the Christmas season is over already. Just like that. Now comes the few days between Christmas and the New Year where you kinda feel like you're still on vacation, still eating the few remaining holiday cookies, traffic is still a mess, the stores are still crowded which makes the normal every day shopping even more annoying and motivation to exercise has come to a screeching eh. I've been good, not great but good about not letting myself fall into the black hole of the holidays where you feel like you've lost a week of your life and did nothing productive except for finishing the leftovers. I haven't kept to my regular schedule but I haven't taken any more than one rest day in a row.

Christmas was nice. Spent Christmas Eve with the inlaws, had way too much ham, keilbasa and indulged in pasta, dairy and sugar. I knew going in it would make for a long night but I was willing to take one for the team. Christmas day dinner was filet with sauteed mushrooms, bacon and brussle sprout side. Amazing what a nice lean non carb dinner can do for you. I was able to PR on my front squats the next day. By 10lbs. Haven't done heavy front squats in a long time so that was a nice bonus. Got some new New Balance sneakers and exercise/comfy clothes from Bob. The sneakers are more of an every day sneaker since I will not wear my Innovates for anything other than CrossFit (I know spaz) and my Reeboks are pretty beat up since the Mudder. My only other sneakers are dead Nikes, old Pumas and Chucks. And everyone knows Chucks are not a winter shoe. Might as well be wearing news paper. Haven't owned a pair of NB's in a very long time and seemed pretty good during the box jumps today. Little more cushion for the jump. Ah, enough about sneakers.

Going to shoot for new 1RMs this week since I'm done with month 3 of the 5-3-1 program. Need to see where I'm at. I'm assuming my back squat and bench press went up by at least 10. Shoulder press and dead lifts probably will stay the same. Maybe I'll increase by 5 on the DL if I'm lucky. Anything is progress at this point. I'm hoping with Bob home the next few days he'll get my ass going on the metcons. I think I did OK today, came in just shy of 4 rounds. Seemed like the top guys got between 5-7 at 20 minutes. I only did 15. But I was able to manage 42 out of 45 unassisted pull ups. Used the blue band for 3 and took it off. Wanted to suffer thru it and see how I could do. Happy with what I was able to accomplish today. Pull ups were always one of my weakest. Still need to get my mojo back to push thru and stop overthinking how much of a breather I need between reps. Tough to get back once you've been taking it easy. Hopefully the CF Games marathon will inspire me. I think that's on ESPN New Years day.

Friday (12/23)
warmup:
10x
kb squats
kb swings
good mornings
stretching

CFSB3 w4/d2
Deadlifts
deload: 5x85, 105, 125#

Recon Ron
Step 8/7: 5-4-3-2-2Saturday

Saturday (12/24)

*breakfast - bacon, eggs w/meat, broccoli. Lunch/Dinner - meatballs and smoked salmon apps, ham, keilbasa, pasta, brussle sprouts, stuffed cabbage, cookies, biscotti. Rest Day
Recon Ron
Step 8/8: 5-4-3-2-2

Sunday (12/25)

*breakfast-oatmeal. No lunch. Dinner - filet w/shrooms, brussle sprouts.
warmup:
10x
kb squats - 20#
kb swings
ohs - broomstick
good mornings - 45#
KTE
stretching

CFSB3 w4/d4
Bench Press
deload: 5x35, 40, 50#

WOD
2x10 55# bench press
2x10 tricep pull downs - blue band
2x15 ab roll outs
*notes - felt strong. must have been all the carbs night before.

Monday (12/26)

*breakfast - eggs. Lunch -?, Dinner - salmon salad
warmup:
jump rope
kb squats
stretching
2x55, 85, 105# front squats

Front Squats
2-2-2-2-2
115, 125, 135, 140, 145, 150#(PR)

Recon Ron
Step 8/9: 5-4-3-2-2

Last 2rm for front squats was 140#.

Tuesday (12/27)

Rest Day

*breakfast - muffin w/almond butter. Lunch - nothing. Snack - almonds, protein ball, pretzel rods. Dinner- spaghetti w/turkey meatballs

Wednesday (12/28)

*no breakfast. Lunch-Protein ball, hummus, turkey, swiss. Dinner - pork w/mango chutney, broccoli rabe
warmup:
squats
ohs
kb swings
stretching

WOD
Puppies
Complete as many rounds as possible in 12-15minutes of: 15
18 Box jumps, 12-15” box - 15”
15 Toes to bar
12 Pull-ups

3 rounds + 18 + 15 + 9 pull ups

*All but 3 pull ups unassisted.

Dear Santa

I have a few things I need to ask you to take into consideration this year. Most of the requests on this list as you will see, will benefit more than just me. I know you're not God, but see what you can do.

1. Run over Justin Beiber and whoever came up with the Christmas Lexus commercials with your sleigh.
2. Clean out my garage so I can make it a dedicated CrossFit gym, heat and air conditioning would be nice.
3. Ban Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' from the airwaves.
4. Give BrandX and Recon Ron an extra special present this year.
5. A bottle of Patron... or two.
6. Keep my kids in bed until 6:00am on Christmas morning.
7. Help me to like Burpees.
8. More bumper plates.
9. C2 Rower
10. Make bread paleo friendly.
11. Bury Bill O'Reilly in a snowbank until next Christmas.
12. One muscle up. Just one.
13. A stable housing market and jail time for crooked politicians.

Much appreciated,
Karen

Chocolate Biscotti baking day for me today since I was pigheaded with my cleans yesterday. Not that I can't do 65#, but doing 45 of them was probably a bit much for my shoulder. Live, learn and BenGay.

*breakfast - muffin w/almond butter. Lunch - hummus, turkey, beef jerky, almonds. Dinner - sauteed shrimp w/veggies. 
Wednesday
warmup:
10x
kb squats - 20#
good mornings - 45#
tuck jumps
stretching

CFSB3 w4/d2
Shoulder Press
deload: 5x35, 45, 55#

WOD
Pack
21-15-9 reps for time of:
95 pound Clean - 65#
Sit-up - anchored
Women 65
6:54

*Notes - did the sit ups anchored since the original wod was for ghd sit ups, increased speed when anchored. Also increased pukieness. Had to give myself a few seconds before the cleans to get over the dizzies. Couldn't do cleans unbroken, felt good though, no shoulder pain during. Next day soreness. Biceps a bit fried too. Haven't done that many cleans in a while at that weight.

My tolerance for pain

I've noticed has increased as I get older. Case in point, I do CrossFit and didn't start until I was 38. This past weekend I got a tattoo. My first one. And it's a big one, on my shoulder blade. Well, not enormous but big enough for a virgin. I thought the pain was pretty tolerable for the most part and I had to laugh at myself when I was equating the pain of the tattoo as opposed to doing say... a Fran, double unders or deadlifts and running or thrusters and pushups, fill in the blank. And who the hell ever said the outline is more painful than the fill? That is so not true. When I met my artist Frank before I sat down I asked him what happens if I flinch? He said I'll fuck up your tattoo so don't flinch. OK, no flinching, check. Anyway, it looks awesome and a big thanks to Frank and Charlie at Philadelphia Eddie's for making it a pleasant experience.

Between shopping and baking (some of which were paleo cookies) and all the other stuff that comes along with Christmas I've been busy. Took an unscheduled rest day yesterday since I had a long day of shopping ahead of me. And those of you with little kids know the worse time for shopping is anywhere near lunch or nap time. The last thing I needed was to be dragging my 4 year old by his belt loops out of a store screaming so I had to make an early start. Besides, my shoulders have been bothering me pretty bad so the extra rest day was needed. I think between the stress and the white knuckle grip I had on the chair during my tattoo and bench presses on Sunday, they just did me in.

My plan this week was to do deload on the strength and go hard on the metcons but I'm thinking now that I'm just going to keep my own pace this week and just do what I can when I can instead of stressing myself out trying to keep a strict WOD schedule. I know, but hey, I'm not using the holidays as an excuse not to do anything, I'm just not doing as much as I would. Thats gotta count for something. As long as my diet can stay in check, which it has with the exception of a few butter/sugar/fattening/high calorie homemade christmas cookies. Oh and I even passed up the opportunity to have a Jim's steak in Philly on Saturday. If anyone has had one or a REAL Philly steak... from Philly people, not an imitation, you know it's hard to pass up, especially since it was right across the street from the tattoo place. Sigh. Instead of dreams of sugarplums and candycanes I'll be dreaming of gooey cheesey oniony delicious steak sandwiches for christmas.

Saturday:
Rest Day
Recon Ron
Step 8/5: 5-4-3-2-2

Sunday:
warmup:
10x
kettlbell squats - 20#
kettlebell swings
kettlebell cleans
good morings
med ball sit ups - 12#
stretching

CFSB3 w3/d4
Bench Press
warmup: 5x30, 40, 50#
work: 5c60, 3x70, 1x80#(3)
last set max reps

Recon Ron
Step 8/6: 5-4-3-2-2

2x10 tricep pull downs (blue band)
2x15 curl grip barbell rows - 65#
2x10 ab roll outs

Monday:

Rest Day

Tuesday:

*breakfast - oatmeal w/flax, coconut, bananas

warmup:
10x
kb squats - 20#
ohs
good mornings
chair dips

CFSB3 w4/d1
Back Squat
deload: 5x70, 85, 100#

Front Squats
2x10 @60% - 75#

Recon Ron
Step 8/6: 5-4-3-2-2

Sad day in the Chase household

I'm trying to keep my blog focused on CrossFit and health and skip a majority of my personal life but this little story I feel warranted a post. Yesterday when I went to wake up my son from his nap, I was sitting on his bed and noticed that something was missing on his dresser. "Um, Bud, where's your fish?" I waited for him to answer while I checked the bottom of my shoes. "He's right here." As he points to his bed. Great. "What do you mean he's right here, where is here Bud, on your bed?!" As panic sets in. I was expecting to see a smashed beta fish under the covers. I looked behind the pillow and there he was. "He was taking a nap with me." Bud said. Poor poor fishy. I scooped him up and low and behold he flopped when I touched him. WTF? Now, I don't know how long a fish can survive without water but he was 'napping' for at least an hour. I picked him up and threw him back in his bowl and don't you know he actually swum around? Well, at least for a few hours anyway. Sorry to report fishy passed away sometime during the night. I was shocked he lived as long as he did between the missed feedings, dirty bowls, being dropped in the sink (by me while cleaning his bowl) and being tortured by a 4 year old boy, but still, it's a sad day. Services will be held at noon in the backyard. All are welcome and donations can be made to the 'fish need water to live awareness foundation.'

On to my deadlifts. Not too bad today. Couldn't budge a second off the ground @195 but felt like I maintained good form on the one. My back will tell the tale tomorrow. I may have rounded a bit @175 but a few minutes on the pain foam usually helps with that.

*breakfast (before wod)- oatmeal w/flax, coconut, walnuts, pb, maple syrup
*lunch - don't know

*dinner - will be filet, broccoli rabe, squash

warmup:
10x
burpees
good mornings
12# med ball sit ups
20# kb squats
20# kb cleans
stretching

CFSB3 w3/d3
Deadlifts
warmup: 5x85, 105, 125#
work: 5x155, 3x175, 1x195#(1)
last set max reps

Recon Ron
Step 8/5: 5-4-3-2-2

No metcon, shoulders sore, need to rest.

My 2 cents on toes to bar

Yesterdays WOD included a total of 45 toes to bar or knees to elbows if you can't make it that high. I saw quite a few people had trouble with them, and rightly so, they are not easy. It's all about baby steps and as with anything else, practice practice practice. Now, I do mine on the rings. I'm sure some will disagree whether it's strict and proper form, but I'm doing them. I'm getting my toes to touch the rings and that still requires the same effort as toes touching a bar. I can do them on the bar but it's a logistical nightmare during a metcon. The bar is too high for me to get on without a chair and the chair gets in the way when I swing my legs. So with that, I'll lay out the progressions that worked for me, take it for what it's worth.

Start on rings if you have them. I'm assuming most of us do. Lower the rings so you're elbows are chest high and that you're feet can touch the ground. Tighten up and pull your knees up until they touch you're elbows, obviously. Practice knees to elbows until you can do 20 without resting or touching the ground. Next time raise the rings up higher. Do another successful 20, raise, 20 etc until you can pull the feet up to touch the rings. I think the lower rings at the beginning just helped me learn how to control my lower half since I was able to rely on a bit of arm strength too. Like I said, my 2 cents. Everyone has they're own methods.

Now to my utter fail on my shoulder press. Blah. My previous 1RM was 80#. Today I had to get at least one at 85#. Couldn't do it. Got a few inches up and had to push press the rest. Damnit! My shoulder just didn't want to do it today. Today was the first failure in 3 months of this program. I should be happy with that I guess but no. I'm disappointed. Even though the overall weight did increase by.... 20lbs approx since I started, I'm still pissed. Gah.

*no breakfast

lunch - eggs w/veggies

dinner - will be turkey burger on a portabella w/guacomole, sweet pot fries

warmup:
10 good mornings
10x45# front squat
20 kb swings
stretching

CFSB3 w3/d2
Shoulder Press
warmup: 5x35, 45, 55#
work: 5x65, 3x75, 1x85#(F)
*had to jerk it @85 so counting as fail.

WOD
Puppies
Three rounds for time of:
5-15 pound Dumbbell squat snatch, 15 reps, right arm - 10#
15 Sit-ups
5-15 pound Dumbbell squat snatch, 15 reps, left arm
15 Toes to bar

12:25

Yoga

Took the day today to do some Yoga. Much needed yoga at that. If you've never tried it you should. Unless of course, you're Gumby. I bet he doesn't have any flexibility issues. Want to improve your squatting position, yoga. Want to get those elbows up farther, yoga. I just did a 35 minute session and it was great. Stretched out the tender spots and got to actually relax for a few even though my son was intent on explaining the finer details of his new favorite show The Power Rangers. Which of course is only slightly less annoying than Cailou. If you have kids, you know that 4 year old brat is pretty annoying. I do my yoga at home thru Verizon OnDemand, Exercise TV. Hopefully I can sign up for a class sometime soon to get the full hands on experience. I took a pilates class a while ago and I really liked it. So start slow, learn the movements. Even if you only do it once, you could at least learn some new stretches to use after warmup or on days you're feeling tight.

No strength training for me today since it would be shoulder presses and my shoulder is acting up. Need to rest and ice. Not much else to report.

Power Yoga - 35 minutes

*Food Tip: Mara Natha Organic Peanut Butter. Awesome.

Welcome back motivation

If you've kept up with me this far you know I've been feeling pretty unmotivated, tired, lazy, sore etc... thank god thats over with, at least for now. Even with less sleep (thank you Dallas Cowboys) and no breakfast this morning I felt good.  Got a new PR on my back squat. My max was 1@160. Today I hit 3@160 plus one more but I may not have been completely parallel. Even my pull ups felt good. Did a little mish mash of stuff after. Bob did some dumbbell split squats last week that I wanted to try so I worked on them, did some lunges which are always a 'why did I choose to do these' exercise for me and kettlebell swings. KB swings don't come easy for me, at least done properly. I tend to squat and pull instead of using the hips and core to drive. I'm sure my legs will be crying tomorrow but it's all good. I can work thru the sore squat legs. They tend to warm up faster than the sore back, shoulder, abs, traps... basically any other part of my body.

Didn't do much CF this weekend which has been nice. I needed to take a mini break and I feel like its paying off. It was a balmy 34 degrees when I was out in the garage at 8:45am this morning but I was ready to go. Haven't been able to say that lately.

The diet hit a little bump in the road on Saturday afternoon. We met some friends at the Christmas tree farm then stopped at a great restaurant afterwards. Little tradition we started a few years ago. It's the one time around the holidays we can all get together since everyone is so busy all the time. So my 'linner' (lunch and dinner) was snapper soup, 5-6 deep fried zucchini sticks, 2 crab cakes (no bread), 2 large onion rings and a Blue Moon. Doesn't sound that terrible right? Let me tell you something, when the body hasn't had deep fried anything, ranch dressing, mayo relish and a large beer at one sitting, it doesn't respond well. I felt like the bottom of a shoe in horse shit the rest of the night. While I was eating I knew it was going to make me miserable but I justified it by saying 'I've been so good, this will be my dinner too, I'll work it off, it's a special occasion', yadda yadda yadda. When you have to justify eating something, it's probably not worth it. At least thats what I came up with after my 5th Tums.

Saturday
*eggs w/broccoli, collards, beef. Crab cakes, soup, onion rings, zucchini sticks, beer linner. Cracker snacks later,
warmup:
10-5 count
supermans
ironmans
hollowrocks
squats
good mornings
stretching

CFSB3 w2/d4
Bench Press
warmup: 5x35, 40, 50#
work: 3x60, 65, 75#(5)
last set max reps

Recon Ron Pull ups
Step 8/2: 5-4-3-2-2

Random stuff
10 TTB
20 kettlebell swings
10 20# med ball cleans
10x45# front squat

Sunday

*muffin w/pb breakfast, turkey, hummus, pretzels snack, chili w/brown rice dinner.Recon Ron Pull ups
Step 8/2: 5-4-3-2-2
Rest Day

Monday

*no breakfast, eggs w/chili and cheddar lunch, almonds snack, dinner will be roaster chicken and veggies.
warmup:
10 good mornings
10 hpc
10 tuck jumps
10 squats
pt stretching/lacrosse ball mobility

CFSB3 w3/d1
Back Squats
warmup: 5x70, 80, 100#
work: 5x125, 3x145, 1x160#(4)PR!
last set max reps

Recon Ron Pull ups:
Step 8/3: 5-4-3-2-2

Squatastic WOD - (nft)
10x20# dumbbell lunges
20 kettlebell swings
10x20# bulgarian split squats
10x20# dumbbell lunges
20 kettlebell swings
10x20# bulgarian split squats

Happy happy deadlift day

So today I decided to do my deadlift strength work. I usually do them on Saturdays with Bob then we do a workout together. But 99.9% of the time I'm slightly hungover on Saturday so I decided to do them today instead. Smart am I. Last weeks almost failure @175 had my panties in a bunch all week. I know I can do better. Today I got 4@185 off the ground pretty successfully. Most of the time I have Bob there to tell me you're doing this or that.. or looks good etc. I recorded it so I can see if my form was lacking at that weight and I'll tell you, after watching tons and TONS of videos and reading commentary on what was wrong or right, I think I'm doing pretty well.  All in all a happy day. I didn't do a metcon today though, still struggling with 'do I take time off or lighten the load'. Think I'm going to lighten the load instead for a few days. My body feels good so I don't want to take time off, but mentally I'm tired. So tired. Gearing up for a heavy day or horrible sounding wod is tough on the brain as well as the body. Not to mention all the other shit I have to do like take care of my kids and the house. My son has been especially tough this week so I'm feeling a little beat down by that. Anyone that has kids knows some days are just exhausting and you can't wait to put them to bed.... or yourself for that matter. Anyway, for all the trouble he's caused I know he'll turn it around and be my sweet little guy again. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Not much else going on, ordered some presents online to avoid actually shopping in the store. Hate holiday shopping. Too hot, too crowded and way too many assholes out. Like today for example... there is this major intersection, 4 lanes all directions and construction screwing everything up. I was in the left hand turn lane, the two cars in front of me started to go then had to stop in the middle of the intersection so a construction truck could pass thru. The workers held up the stop sign until the truck passed. At this point my light had turned red and the opposite lights turned green. Don't you know, instead of letting the two cars that were stuck in the middle of the fucking intersection continue to make their left turn the cars in the other lanes started going around them. In front and behind so the stuck cars couldn't move if they wanted to. Unbelievable. What a bunch of assholes. Ok expletive laced rant over.

Friday
warmup:
20 kettlebell swings
10 good mornings
10 hpc
10 snatch
10 squats
yoga stretching

CFSB3 w2/d3
Deadlifts
warmup: 5x85, 105, 125#
work: 3x145, 165, 185#(4)
last set max reps

Recon Ron Pull ups
Step 8/1: 5-4-3-2-2

*Food tip - want 'tacos' but not all the fat? We did marinated grilled flank steak, sliced thin, smashed avocado w/lime and s&p, tomato and onion relish w/red wine vinegar and oil and topped with a little greek yogurt and wrapped them in a lettuce leaf. Messy but really good and light on calories. Settles the taco craving. 

 

So I was reading this post

on my forum today about doing extra work besides the daily wods and it got me thinking. My opinion and its just that, is I think people stress out too much about numbers and times and percentages and how much they feel they should be lifting or how fast they should be. Now, with that said, I think it's great to have numbers to strive for and expectations that want to be met but come on, don't overanalyze it. Just do it. Just look at the workout and adjust to what you can handle. It's not rocket science. If you can handle more or need less, note it for next time. If you suck at something, practice it. If you're good at something use it to your advantage. I see the times for the metcons posted by inhuman athletes and they should be unobtainable to a certain extent. Most of them have been Crossfitting for years and train really hard every day. I'm not one of them and I'm fine with that. I know I can't or won't come close to those numbers... and if by some small miracle I do, kudos to me. I do my workouts at my speed and to my capability. If that means I'm 10 minutes slower, so be it. It's still a very challenging workout, it still excites me to know I can complete it and I still look forward to doing it 5-6 days a week. Not everyone can say that about an exercise program.

Now the main point of the post was why do people do extra work and it was answered with some people shouldn't and some people should depending on your capabilities.... more or less. I do strength work to get stronger. Period. I was at the point where I needed to push myself a little bit more and I didn't start it until after a year of suffering thru 5-6 workouts a week and learning proper movements. Do I post great times on metcons? Not all the time but I fall pretty close to some of the stronger people on the board. And you know what? I'm happy with that. I don't need to post a 3 minute Fran to prove anything. I'm 40 years old and in the best shape of my life. I feel great, my diet is clean, I'm at my lowest weight since I was 21 years old, my flab is gone and I can deadlift 205lbs. Thats proof enough for me that I've been doing something right over the past 18 months. I think sometimes people expect results too soon. No one likes to put in the time or the effort and those people fail. Be happy with your accomplishments whether it takes 6 months or 2 years. The end result is a healthier, fitter stronger you. Thats the only real goal right?

Tuesday
warmup:
10 good mornings
10 ohs
10 c&j
10 squats
20 mini ghd sit ups (on physio ball)
stretching

CFSB3 w2/d1
Back Squats
warmup: 5x70, 85, 100
work: 3x120, 135, 150#(3)
last set max reps

WOD
3x
5 OHS - 45#
10 TTB
20 wall balls - 12#
6:22

Recon Ron Pull ups
Step 7/14: 4-4-2-2-2

Wednesday

warmup:
10 good mornings
5x45 cleans
10 squats
stretching

CFSB3 w2/d2
Shoulder Press
warmup: 5x35, 45, 55#
work: 3x60, 70 80#(3)PR!
last set max reps
**Previous 1RM was 80.

“Wood”
Pack
5 Rounds for time of: 3 rounds
Run 400 meters - subbed jump rope 2 min ea
10 Burpee box jumps, 20” box
65 pound Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 10 reps - curl grip barbell rows
65 pound Thruster, 10 reps
Rest 1 minute
18:09 w/rest

*Notes - Felt good today. Actually beat my 1rm on the press and got 3. Couldn't eek out another but at least I got 2 more than before. Hero wod was tough. Had to sub 2 things but still a good one. Legs are feeling the heavy squats the other day. May need a break tomorrow... we'll see. 

Strength training or just lifting heavy stuff

I'm into my third month of a strength training program and I think it's going well. Haven't tested my 1RM yet to see what improvements I've made but I can tell you, it's kicking my ass. Over the weekend I did deadlifts. My last set was 5@175. I barely got it off the floor each time. It felt like someone was pulling it back down. My 1RM for DLs is 205. So yeah, technically I should be able to lift 175 with no problem....well, I shouldn't say no problem, because it was. I usually like the deadlift but Saturday, not so much. They felt really heavy. Really heavy. Did I forget to mention I drank tequila and stayed up way too late the night before? Oh right, yeah, that may have something to do with it. Lots of tequila + little sleep + heavy deadlifts = misery. Got it.

Today was back squats. Last set was 3@150. Felt good and should have pushed for max reps but I didn't.  Total lack of motivation today. All I want to do is take a nap. Maybe its the weather, dark and rainy today, maybe its pms, the kids, stress of Christmas coming up... I don't know but I'm in a funk. I'm doing the work, hating it, but doing it, I'm eating right, I'm sleeping, 10 hours last night. I hate to think I'm overtrained because that means I need a break longer than one rest day. I'm afraid if I take more than 2 days I'll have a hard time finding the zone again. Take it day by day I guess. I think I should take a few weeks off the strength stuff after this round and get back into suffering thru some ugly metcons at heavier weights. Need to move out of my comfort zone. My shoulder has also been an issue. It's been pretty painful over the last few days so thats bumming me out as well. It will be almost a year since I've been suffering with it. I will say it's not as bad as it used to be, but it still forces me to alter my WODs which I'm tired of doing. If I didn't have this problem my OHS which I used to love, would be higher than 65#. Before last March I was able to get 85# over my head. Now 65# is hard. Oh well, enough whinning, I'll get over it.

Saturday
warmup:
10 snatch balance
10 ohs
10 good mornings

CFSB3 w1/d3
Deadlifts
warmup: 5x85, 105, 125#
work: 5x135, 165, 175#(5)
last set max reps
*No metcon*

Sunday
warmup:
w/16.5# bar
10 good mornings
10 ohs
10 c&j
10 snatch
stretching

CFSB3 w1/d4
Bench Press
warmup: 5x35, 40, 50#
work: 5x55, 60, 70#(10)
last set max reps

Recon Ron Pull ups
Step 7/13: 4-4-2-2-2

WOD - nft
2x15 incline dumbbell - 15#
2x10 tricep pressdown - blue band
2x10 curl grip barbell row - 45, 55#
2x15 ab rollouts

Monday - Rest day

Tuesday
warmup:
10 good mornings
10 ohs
10 c&j
10 squats
20 mini ghd sit ups (on physio ball)
stretching

CFSB3 w2/d1
Back Squats
warmup: 5x70, 85, 100
work: 3x120, 135, 150#(3)
last set max reps

WOD
3x
5 OHS - 45#
10 TTB
20 wall balls - 12#

6:22

Recon Ron Pull ups
Step 7/14: 4-4-2-2-2

Can't. Lift. Arms.

OK, thats a bit dramatic. I can lift them, just not very high or for very long. Wow. Take a few days off from the weights and ouch. Between the shoulder presses and the damn rope climbs yesterday my upper body is beat up. I am happy that I was able to get up the rope pretty easily though even after not doing it for quite a while. I guess it's like riding a bike, once you learn you can always do it, it just hurts when you haven't done it in a while. The key is learning to use the rope around one foot and gripping it with the other. Once you get that down, it's pretty easy to pull yourself up. Well, easier. If you don't have access to a rope or can't climb it, you can wrap a towel around a pull up bar and simulate climbing. I don't know if the towel pull up sub ever did anything for me. I think it was overall upper body strength from all the training then doing rope climbs with my feet on the tree...like I was walking up the tree. Doing that is much more difficult than towel pull ups and you actually get the feel of gripping the rope and pulling your body weight. Much more effective but not everyone has access to a rope or a good tree to hang it from so I get the sub. Just don't like it I guess.

Regardless, I like the rope climbs but my arms are shot and my shoulder is killing me. Taking a rest day today. Not that I actually rest, but I'm not exercising at all and I have some important stuff to do today. Buy new boots, go food shopping and play Modern Warfare 3. Yep, I'm a gaming nerd. Love video games. If I could, I would play all day long. No lie. It's as much of a sickness for me as CrossFit and cheese. Although at least with CrossFit, I know when to stop.... most of the time.

Have a good one!

Phew... that was a long week

Here I am. I made it thru a long week filled with too much food and alcohol (2 1/2 bottles of Patron, coffee flavored vodka, wine and bloody marys), little sleep, visiting parents, dogs, family stomach virus and turning 40. Not even sure where to begin but I'll make it short. Thanksgiving dinner was awesome as usual and I didn't completely lose control on the deserts. One piece of pumpkin pie and a few pieces of homemade chocolate candy brittle. Come on who could pass that up.

Saturday morning about 3am my daughter threw up all over her bed. Fucking fabulous. What a way to start the day. That continued for the rest of the day but thanks to the generosity of my parents, they told us to keep our plans for my 40th birthday. So we stayed overnight at a great little hotel in Phila. We had a wine sampling, a fantastic dinner, veal stuffed with proscuitto and moz, and biscotti and coffee for desert. Sunday morning we ran up to the Phila Art Museum which was about 2.5 miles, ran the steps.... 3 times for me, about 6 for Bob, then did 10 burpees and back 2.5 to the hotel. It was a beautiful morning. From the top of the steps you could see down to city hall, the sun was coming up behind it, there were 3 people and no traffic. Couldn't ask for a better day.... it could have been a tad warmer for me, but for those of you who do run, it was a perfectly cool 50-55 degrees.

Then the magic began. My son got sick that morning and we were home about 2 hours before I fell ill. I was in bed from 1pm Sunday until 7am Monday. It was a horrible day even though I don't remember much of it. I do know this, I will probably never eat a soft boiled egg again. Shudder. Both Bob and my mom were sick the next 2 days. What a nightmare. But anyway happy to report everyone is feeling good... or maybe I should just keep my mouth shut so I don't jinx us.

I did keep up my workout schedule for the most part. Obviously the virus kept me down 2 days but I'm proud I stuck with it last week. My eating was ok, too many carbs and grains and I can feel the difference. I just feel shitty. Well, felt. Yesterday was detox day, turkey, hummus, grilled salmon salad with lemon caper dressing.... back on track. Amazing how the body reacts to good food.

Oh and the best part, I got a new iPhone for my birthday. Yahoo! Mine was dying a slow death so this was a timely replacement. And Siri is terrific. Used her this morning as a matter of fact. 'Hey Siri, how many feet in 200 meters?' Answered me in 2 seconds. Fantastic. Also got to talk to our tattoo artists on Saturday. Seemed like really nice guys. Got some artwork priced out. Now it's just finding the time to get down to the city and someone to watch the kids. I'm finally going to do it. I figured how bad could it hurt, shit I've had 2 kids, can't be any worse than that right? Maybe I'll ask Siri.

Just going to start with todays WOD.

warmup:
10 good mornings
10 snatch
10 clean and jerk
10 sdhp
stretching

CFSB3 w1/d2
Shoulder Press
warmup: 5x35, 45, 55#
work: 5x60, 65, 75#(5)
last set max reps

WOD
Pack
Complete as many rounds in fifteen minutes of:
15 foot Rope climb, 2 ascents
20 Wall ball shots, 14 pound ball - 12#
Run 200 meters
Women - 10

3 rounds + 2 rope climbs + 20 wall balls

*Notes - rope climbs were good, one of them I didn't make all the way up. Couldn't get a grip since my shoes were muddy and arms were tired but did better than I thought I would. Max rep @75 couldn't get past 5, had to jerk it a tiny bit to finish. Shoulder was hurting pretty bad last night, not to terrible this morning but aggravated it with the presses.