WOD#105 Fran@65# 12:35@174/188

WOD#105 Fran@65# 12:35@174/188
Elements class #5 (Jeff SP/SP/PJ, extensions, thursters)) with Fran wod. Compare with wod#58 20:05 @ 149/185 with same weight. 8minutes is quite a bit of improvement and I am pretty sure pull ups and in particular squats for thursters were much better form. I must say, I dont remember how hard last Fran was but today, the thursters were exausting and pullups this time were kipping pullups which only made the HR higher. Looking back it is not entirely clear if the HR was the limiting factor or strength but everything seemed hard. The second split seemed very long (splits: 4:30 / 5:48 / 2:15). Of course a HR for the two frans on top of each other tell the whole story. Its not even same class of workout. Its much shorter workout but much much more intense. It is almost frustrating to know that my best effort last time was not even to my best effort. The improvement in time was clearly not related to my fitness improvement.

WOD#105 Fran@65# 12:35@174/188

2nd/3rd Elements Classes max HR hitting 190/194!

WOD#103 half Cindy 6rnds+PUs x (5PU/10Push/15Squat) 10min@171/190

This was the second elements class. The wod for the class fortunately was something I had done couple of time before (once 5 rounds, once 10 rounds in 20min). I did a quick check was amazed in difference in intensity. The wod in crossfitnyc was by far the most intensity. The number of rounds were not too impressive but they were much better forms. The only weakness in form was the pushups. I thought they were complete but then coach pointed I wasnt touching the ground at the bottom. Touching the ground put a complete break in my momentum as I just could not do the 10pushups in quick manner. I hope this is due to my pushup Tabata effort to breaking point on previous day. Otherwise, I will have to work on my pushups. I cant have pushups weaker than pullups.Rest of the elements class (coach Joshua) was fun. We did some squats and deadlifts again and tried SDLHP (new trick learned is spreading the legs) and backsquats (trick is to lock the bar in notch just below the neck and not on the neck itself). We also touch on kipping pullups and ring dips/muscle ups. Finally the high point was the headstand and HSPU. I managed to get on headstand which was first for me. This is something which needs lot of work but I am ecstatic that I could even stand on my hands at all. I always thought I couldnt till i could do body weight overhead squat (which is of course BS).

WOD#104 21-15-9 Burpee/MBallClean 7:33@174/194

Elements class #3. Max HR of 194! No running involved...just the killer burpees. This is by far the highest wod MaxHR not involving running and forth highest overall. Interestingly enough, this wod was not a max effort. There was some work involved in correcting technique for ball cleans. The burpees were the killer. I did the last 9 burpees without stopping which caused HR to shoot. It may have something to do with a comment by the coach about last workout before the weekend.

The elements class was constructive as well. We worked on jump ropes, SP, front squats and most importantly kipping pullups. I discovered benefits of chalk and also importance of keeping hip extension straight in swing forward. Also, the trick to avoid blisters is NOT to jump on the bar but rather find a box and have the grip first before starting the kipping. (The gym owner stepped in to give us this tip which was a nice touch to the class). One of the classmate developed a pretty bad open blister during the pullup so the tip was definitely welcome.

No running this weekend. Just volunteering tomorrow for the More Marathon in Central Park.

BF in NY for 864mi

WOD#103 half Cindy 6rnds+PUs x (5PU/10Push/15Squat) 10min@171/190

WOD#104 21-15-9 Burpee/MBallClean 7:33@174/194

Second elements class, half cindy and pushup crisis

WOD#102 Pushups Tabata 10-10-10-10-5-5-5-5

As suggested in first elements class, I did a push up Tabatas. I started with 10 each round but soon realized that I wont lost all 8 rounds with 10 pushups. I scaled down to 5 in fifth round. Even then, I had couple of moments of scares when I had the darnest time pushing up and I was just about to fall flat on face. What a brutal workout for a 4minutes!

WOD#103 half Cindy 6rnds+PUs x (5PU/10Push/15Squat) 10min@171/190

This was the second elements class. The wod for the class fortunately was something I had done couple of time before (once 5 rounds, once 10 rounds in 20min). I did a quick check was amazed in difference in intensity. The wod in crossfitnyc was by far the most intensity. The number of rounds were not too impressive but they were much better forms. The only weakness in form was the pushups. I thought they were complete but then coach pointed I wasnt touching the ground at the bottom. Touching the ground put a complete break in my momentum as I just could not do the 10pushups in quick manner. I hope this is due to my pushup Tabata effort to breaking point on previous day. Otherwise, I will have to work on my pushups. I cant have pushups weaker than pullups.Rest of the elements class (coach Joshua) was fun. We did some squats and deadlifts again and tried SDLHP (new trick learned is spreading the legs) and backsquats (trick is to lock the bar in notch just below the neck and not on the neck itself). We also touch on kipping pullups and ring dips/muscle ups. Finally the high point was the headstand and HSPU. I managed to get on headstand which was first for me. This is something which needs lot of work but I am ecstatic that I could even stand on my hands at all. I always thought I couldnt till i could do body weight overhead squat (which is of course BS).

BF in NY for 864mi

WOD#103 half Cindy 6rnds+PUs x (5PU/10Push/15Squat) 10min@171/190

WOD#102 Pushups Tabata 10-10-10-10-5-5-5-5

WOD#101 Element#1 Tabata 8xSquats 15-15-15-15-16-17-18-19 4:00@160/184

WOD#101 Element#1 Tabata 8xSquats 15-15-15-15-16-17-18-19 4:00@160/184 First Element class wod was Tabata Squats. 20secON/10secOFF 8 rounds of air squats. I kept the first four rounds light at 15 and then linearly ramped up to 19. The coach (Court) did 22-23 setting a pretty high standard. The effort probably wasnt my max efffort but front portion was thighs were sore the next day, partly because we did so many slow and proper squats in the class. We also did proper form sit ups, push ups, regular/jumping pullups and deadlift. The high light was the squats. The trick was the butt backing exercises and arching of the back.

BF in NY for 864mi

WOD#101 Element#1 Tabata 8xSquats 15-15-15-15-16-17-18-19 4:00@160/184

WOD#100! Mini Fight Gone Bad (at Black Box) 11:07@171/184

WOD#100! Mini Fight Gone Bad (at Black Box) 11:07@171/184

2 rounds: 1min rounds of Rowing/8# wallball/Squats/Situps/PU/Break. Average HR was pretty high at 171bpm with max 184 despite no sprints. The max mostly came in wallball as its a tough workout and it comes right after rowing. The situps were full range of motion and PUs required taking hands of the floor. I dont have exact stat but approx: 15-15-30-29-15-*-13-11-20-20-10

The fun part was really the location. This wod wasnt a regular wod. It was part of a beginners' class at the CrossfitNYC. I just thought it was a bit cool to make it a wod#100. Of course I am very quickly falling behind in the regular wod and its likely to get worse due to elements class coming up. The difference in atmosphere is amazing. Its felt very "raw". I notice someone looking for tap to cover blisters. I heard floorwide annoucement which had something to do with blood and pullup bars (I didnt hear the whole thing but it sounds nasty). Even on the beginner's class routine, I had "fun" doing pushups on floor which required raising hands at end and on my first pushup I noticed wet droples right below my face. The rest of the routine was all about avoiding getting my face getting smashed into it (whatever it might have been).

On barefoot front, I did lookout for any barefooter but didnt see any so that issue is still outstanding. Also trainer mentioned about sprints involving running down 3 flights and on street and back up. Interesting concept but not sure if its feasible running on streets. Perhaps I should start bringing vibrams as a compromise.

WOD#100! Mini Fight Gone Bad (at Black Box) 11:07@171/184

BF in NY for 864mi

WOD#94 3 x (21 L PU, 3 x 3 ropish PU) 13:25@140/154 +21 KPU

As usual, first set of PUs were easy and they dramatically got harder after that. First round took 2:45 while next two took well over 5min. After a rest day, it felt good doing PUs, especially since my legs were sore from the semi-RACE last weekend. Rope clibe was substituted by rope PU 3x3. I need to find a rope to do the original. They key here is grip. I still dont think I can hang by holding a towel.

WOD#95 21-18-15-12-9-6 PU/Sit +100Lunges between 25:30@160/174

Monster workout! Interestingly enough, my timing was 20sec slower than WOD68 (25:10@148/174). Clearly my PUs have improved since and I inrtoduced kipping PUs so I would have thought that my time would improve. I took long breaks before and bween PUs as lunges got my HR elevated.

WOD#96 SP, PP, PJ 5 x 1-3-5

45# warmups and 65#

WOD#97 10KRACE@8:20 Barefoot in chilly rain 50:46@177/189

(substitute for 5K WOD) The race at 50:46min might be a PR for me (previous PR 52:08) though I cant be sure because I think I might have missed the startline by 0.1-0.2mi (the start and finish are stacked close because Centra Park is a 6.03mi. If I add a minute+ I get damn close to PR. So I am not going to challenge the PR.However, more interestingly, the barefoot running turned out to be a disaster. The main problem was dumb decision by me to run to and back from the start line 2mi from home (6+2+2=10mi!). My feet were not ready to 10mi barefoot fast run on wet surface...wet and very coarse surface of central park loop. The race was fine except for the big crowd but I had trouble getting back. Its too bad because I really wanted to run this race kindda fast. Avereage HR of 177bpm is not that high so I didnt push hard from cardio perspective. But I had to take it a little easy on my soles. I am sure it did not help that I had to run to the startline 2mi from home before the race making it effectively 8mi race. Oh well.
It was raining continuously the whole time and it was windy and chilly 45 degrees which did not help. I didnt realize this till I got home but the problem was two blisters on my right foot. One at base of the heel and other at front of the sole. I am a bit disappointed, partly due to missing a PR and partly due to these blisters. None of them are serious and they are all close under solid sole skin. But I was looking forward to the crossfit wod tomorrow at Black Box and now I will have to go limping (it at all). Ouch. I really want to heal before it. Just for fun I tries crawling around the apartment on all four to give the soles some rest. It was enlightening how hard life can be without legs. Also the new strength in hands have been coming in handy keeping pressure off heels when moving around. Anyway. Lessons learnt are* Bike to and back from races.* Not underestimate issues running longer distances in wet cold conditions* Need those long runs if I want to avoid repetation of the last year's marathon.

BF in NY for 864mi

WOD#94 3 x (21 L PU, 3 x 3 ropish PU) 13:25@140/154 +21 KPU

WOD#95 21-18-15-12-9-6 PU/Sit +100Lunges between 25:30@160/174

WOD#96 SP, PP, PJ 5 x 1-3-5

WOD#97 10KRACE@8:20 Barefoot in chilly rain 50:46@177/189

Weightlifting Mania DL205#, SP75#, Clean/Jerk95#

WOD#98 HPClean/SplitJerk 7x1 95#
45#, 65#, 85#, 95#. It was easier than I thought even though 95# is a PR for me. It must have been the fresh arms after long break. Also no major breakdown in form etc. The trick was to decrease width of the grip so that the clean part end on a right position for jerk setup. Also it helps to make the grip deep in the palms in the clean even though its a pull because it minimizes the strain on wrist on jerk. I did go for split jerk than plain jerk as it just felt right. I am not sure if thats a problem. Split jerks are so much more fun than regular jerks anyway.
WOD#99 Crossfit TOTAL! DL 205# (PR), BkSquat 85#, SP 75# (PR)
All three PRs but bksquat was equaling PR not exceeding. DL was a MAJOR PR up from 165#. Also the grip was hard but it felt like I could go up some more. Interestingly SP was exact opposite. I tried 85# couple of times with no success. Even 75# SP was technically incomplete since I halted halfway through but made it in a second push. Its just amazing to see this big difference in leg strength vs arm strength. Bk Sqaut was not a 100% effort as my heels and calfs are still not 100% after the 10K on Saturday. All in all, pretty much all 4 weightlifting routines today were PR efforts. Not bad.

WOD#98 HPClean/SplitJerk 7x1 95#
WOD#99 Crossfit TOTAL! DL 205# (PR), BkSquat 85#, SP 75# (PR)

4mi RACE as interval training 6:42min/mi

WOD#93 4x800m in 4mi RACE 6:42/33/58/37 13:25@182/192

Compared to WOD#16: 13:36 (6:48)

This is a long overdue WOD which was stuck due to cold weather and heel injury (incidently due to heel strike in sprints/rope jumps while using shoes!). It was a bit chillier than I had expected but mostly dry. The surface was cold and it was a bit windy so my soles became insensitive halfway through the race which concerned me. But then they thawed and it was back to normal by last mile of the race. There is a hint of clear blister under right foot front sole (same place as marathon injury). The skin is so tough that the blister is not as sensitive as regular blister but none the less it will keep me away from running for couple of days.

The 4miler race was very crowded. Good that I didnt plan on racing the whole thing. I jammed my 4x800m interval training in this race which means 800m race and 800m rest. It worked great. I jogged first 800m (which included the cat hill...thank god) and then raced next half mile till mile mark and then rest again etc.I kept going back and forth from the perspective of other runners running at my average pace which must have been interesting. Anyway, according to my garmin, the intervals were all betwen 6:30 and 7:00 averaging at 6:42. Not too shabby. However, the pace was not even and steadily deteriorated after about 250m. Also max HR was nowhere near max possible HR so a lot of this must have been mental. Oh well!

WOD#93 4x800m in 4mi RACE 6:42/33/58/37 13:25@182/192

BF in NY for 854mi

Fight Gone Bad, OHSquats

WOD#89 5 x (9 x HangPowerClean 85# + 3 x 3 rope pullups)

I cleaned up my clean. Rope pullups was fun. It wasnt really easy but the challenging part was the grip and not pull itself. I tried doing it on a towel but I couldnt hold on to the grip. Hang power cleans were quite difficult but I managed to squeeze the 45 out. I broke first three rounds in 2 and last two in 3 subsets.

WOD#90 5 x(25 BkExt, 30 Situp) 17:04@162/177

Easy workout on paper. It becase hard as time went by. I can feel that my midline is much stronger than similar workouts before.

WOD#91 Fight Gone Bad (45#) score 209 17:04@162/177

Compared to WOD#24 score 245 (21min). Great workout: 3 rounds of 1minute rounds of Row for calories+Wall Ball (15# no throw)+Sumo DeadLift high Pull(45#)+Boxjump (15inch?)+Push press (45#)+1min rest. Here was the 209 score breakdown:13-13-17-17-15, 15-15-13-15-13-15, 15-10-10-15-13-5

The score was down from last time since I didnt get the 10sec break between the sets like last time. That explains the shorter time of 17min instead of 21min last time. It was hard getting back from row machine in time and do enough wallballs. The pushpress and SumoDL were done at just 45#. Anything heavier would have reduced my score substantially. Rx was 75# which is doable so I will try to increase load next time even if it drops the score.

WOD#92 5 x (400m@7min/mi, 15 OHSquat 45#) 24:08@169/188

I was very surprised how hard the overhead squats were. Clearly technique is key but even heartrate was quickly pumped up during these squats. I realized during the workout that I need to keep the hands far. Still they were not far enough so that might have been part of the problem. I need work on shoulder flexibility. Also very important: SHOULDER TO THE EAR! Left shoulder is hurting a bit due to miss aligned weight load during the workout. I started having breakdowns in the third set so forth and fifth sets were not very deep on squat side. The third round included three times when I had to get the bar down to hang position through awkward range of motions. Runs were fine. Still concerned about the running in shoe business. I am no longer used to heel strike and the heels are hurting as of next day morning.

BF in NY for 848mi

WOD#89 5 x (9 x HangPowerClean 85# + 3 x 3 rope pullups)

WOD#90 5 x(25 BkExt, 30 Situp) 17:04@162/177

WOD#91 Fight Gone Bad (45#) score 209 17:04@162/177

WOD#92 5 x (400m@7min/mi, 15 OHSquat 45#) 24:08@169/188