187 Squat Clean 45-55-65-75-85-95-105 18:14@129/163+6

187 Squat Clean 45-55-65-75-85-95-105 18:14@129/163+6
Compare with #60 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 @65#
I am not sure if the bar in the gym is 45# but assuming it is, this would be a PR. Easy PR as well. I cut myself on the clipper edge and took it easy. 105# felt difficult but was with very poor form so I can improve upon it with better form. The squats were full depth for all reps.

On swimming side, I made some progress scoring 6 laps (150m). Two of the 6 laps were almost complete (about 20/25 meter). Trick is to roll the whole body with shoulders instead of rolling the neck. Also I tried to slow down the frequency of strokes which helped. Only problem with slowing the frequency was that I was running out of air since I have been breathing every 4th stroke instead of every other stroke. Breathing every other stroke breaks by rhythm too much to continue.

Also I had been keeping my eyes tight shut the whole time and effectively swimming blind. This time I tried opening eyes while breathing which helped keep myself at the center of the lane. I am temped to buy swimming goggles. I really dont want to but it will help in the initial phase. So far, I have been happy with my progression. In last three times I have used the pool, I did 3-4-6 laps.
187 Squat Clean 45-55-65-75-85-95-105 18:14@129/163+6

186 5x(Ring Push/Inv Hand descend) 22:08@131.168

186 5x(Ring Push/Inv Hand descend) 22:08@131.168
The wod involved two brand new motions. Ring push ups and straight body descend fron inverted hang (from PU bar for me). Ring pushups were harder than I thought but somehow, I got better at it as I learned how to control the rings. I had to shamelessly lean against ropes every now and then and some of the pushups were not deep enough but it got better. I improved from 5-5-5 half pushups to 15 continous and deep pushups by the fifth set.

Inverted hang was, of course, whole different ball game. There was no way I could keep my body straight even once on way down. I dont think I even managed to get a proper starting position of inverted hang with straight body. So this motion was just a deeper variation of L-hang. Other challenge was to keep hands straight on way down at elbows which was quite difficult. I had never tried this skill-drill before so I need to practice it some more going forward.

186 5x(Ring Push/Inv Hand descend) 22:08@131.168

Prechristmas workouts

182 Split Jerk (45-115@incr 10#) 11:14@135/158
Compare with WOD#170 (45-65-85-95-105-115-125) 11:08@106/150
and WOD#82 45#-65#-85#
I did missed PR 125# by 10# but I didnt try hard since I had marginal failure on first attempt at 125#. Something to do with the support bars on squat rack and inability to stoop down enough before pushing back up.

183 800m/30x(BkExt-GHD-HipExt-KneeElbow-BkExt-Sit) 15:46@160/182
Major back exercise which was made hard by the fast 800m@7:30min/mi. But apart from knees to elbow, rest of the wod felt like warmup. However, going to gym at 3pm was fun when it was all deserted.


184 Pull/ElvPush(21-18-15-12-9-6-3 17:11@154/177+4
This was much harder than I thought. The pullups were supposed to be strict but I did kipping anyway, mostly in sets of 5-6. Pushups were easy enough but I tried to do most sets continuously which became progressively harder despite drop in reps.

185 BackSquat 3x(35-55-75-85-105) 17:11@6:32@97/106
Compare with #172 BkSqt 5x5 45-65-95-115-125 9:25@122/148
WOD#125 (machine!) Backsquat 115# 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 4:37@109/134
WOD#79 Back Squat (65#, 85#) 3-3-3-3-3
This wad sucked since there is no squat rack in gym and I had to do backsquat on a machine. I was also very sore from pull/push wod yesterday

182 Split Jerk (45-115@incr 10#) 11:14@135/158
183 800m/30x(BkExt-GHD-HipExt-KneeElbow-BkExt-Sit) 15:46@160/182
184 Pull/ElvPush(21-18-15-12-9-6-3 17:11@154/177+4
185 BackSquat 3x(35-55-75-85-105) 17:11@6:32@97/106

181 Lumberjack 20! 38:15@173/188

181 Lumberjack 20! 38:15@173/188

First hero workout of the season and it didnt disappoint. I scaled the weights way down just to make it through all the routine. Wod called for set of 20 with 400m run in between. To make things worse all the treadmills were occupied forcing me to get creative and run 8 shape outside field in cool 45 degrees.

Routines in between included DL (120#), 40# DB Swing, 45-55#OHS (poor form and slowest), Burpee, PU (3set), Box Jump, 2x20# DB Sqt Clean. Most are scaled down more than 50% but 400m run makes everything hard. its funny how PU were the easiest of them all, even box jump! All in all, it was a classic wod; the kind which make everything and nothing hurt the next day.

181 Lumberjack 20! 38:15@173/188

180 1K Row + 21-15-9 GHD?BkExt 8:51@171/189

180 1K Row + 21-15-9 GHD?BkExt 8:51@171/189

1K Row took 4:21min with 700m in 3min and almost 250m in 1min. Rowing is hard as it is but I dont seem to have the hang of it as I kept sliding off the seat. HR stayed high the whole time averaging 177 for the 1K. GHD and BkExt substitutes are tough but are no match for the real deal which I cant do without a GHD machine. The one machine I do need is the one which is not there. I should check my other Gym next week when I join. All in all, not the hardest wod I have done. It always feel good to do a wod with heavy cordio component followed by rest of the wod. It takes simple acts to different level.

180 1K Row + 21-15-9 GHD?BkExt 8:51@171/189

179 5K@9min/mi hudson river park! 28:29@173/191

179 5K@9min/mi hudson river park! 28:29@173/191
It was raining and freezing cold (45degrees). I ran with old supernova (no socks) for a change. 5K is almost the right amount to run from waste treatment center at 58th street to construction zone at 86th street. Of course the run includes the giant stairs which is when the HR peaked at 191. It felt good but 5K felt long. I have clearly lost habit of running. But its nice to be next to the river side park. When the weather is nice it will be fun to go for run. Of course its quite windy so winters wont be fun.

179 5K@9min/mi hudson river park! 28:29@173/191

One year anniversary of crossfit, new gym, pool

176 15-12-9x(30# L/R Thruster, PUreg) 16:34@162/184+3

Rx called for one arm PU which is insane so I did regular PUs. It was also one year anniversary of crossfit. total 175 wods i.e. about once every other day. I will target 205 wods for 2010 (to make total 365 in two years.)

This was also my first wod in new Gym. The gym does not have a squat rack but has a full size pool. I did 3 (1.5?) laps which felt great. I started getting spasm following the streneous thrusters so I did push too hard. Also my swimming is quite rustic and I had to break each leg in three segments. Lets see how long it takes to get a hang of it.

177 Front Sqt 3each (45-125 with 10#increment) 15:03@127/160

Compare with WOD#168 FrontSqt 3x(65#85#95#105#115#) 14:02@131/158

WOD#86 45#, 65#, 85#, 95#, 115# 20:10@145/174 and wod#62(?),

WOD#86 115# 20:10@145/174.

I am pleased with the progression. 125# was not a max effort so there is more room to go. Key was to do slow controlled air squats before and hold breath while squatting.

178 3x(800m+21xHPC65#) 20:18@174/196

Runs were at 8:30-7:30-7:30 pace. HPCs at 65# were broken in 7x3 for first two sets and then continuous for last set. HR peaked at 189 for the runs and 196 max was during this last HPC marathon which is aronic. 65# is not that heavy (I had done 95# for Grace with sets of 3 before) but running makes everything hard. 174 avg HR is a quite high for a wod. I should have done all HPCs continuos.

176 15-12-9x(30# L/R Thruster, PUreg) 16:34@162/184+3

177 Front Sqt 3each (45-125 with 10#increment) 15:03@127/160

178 3x(800m+21xHPC65#) 20:18@174/196

Baarefoot group run

I joined a group of other barefooter in NYC for a quick run today. Two were barefoot and two in five fingers. The time goes fast when running with other runners. Three reservior loops. 7.5mi@11:00

BarefootinNY for 981mi

WOD#175 5x(30GHD/25BkExt 13:15@149/168

WOD#175 5x(30GHD/25BkExt 13:15@149/168

Compare with

WOD#149 20:12@140/152,

WOD#90 17:04@162/177,

WOD#41 16:33@120/135

No headache (!), no midline destabilization. BkExt in circles in full swing was fun. 2:00/2:34/3:00/2:50/2:51

WOD#175 5x(30GHD/25BkExt 13:15@149/168

Back in the saddle 8mi@10:45

After the painful absteinence from running for 5months and equally painful 5hour marathon, the "get up and run marathon" experiment is officially over. Now I can get back into the routine of running whenever and however long I want.

I run 8 miles on wet surface today at 10:45min/mi including couple of walking breaks. It was kind of coarse for me as I haven't been in top barefoot conditions but the run was fun. I still have remenants of blister on left heel ironically making it more susceptible to deeper poking. I had two painful encounters. Also i have lost ability to run on gravel road with actual gravel. Ouch. But overall it was a blast.

Barefoot in NY for 974mi

Marathon wod and back to crossfit

WOD#174 WOD#174 Marathon! 5:08@162/190?

Insane sub for a 4x800m! I did manage to squeeze the marathon out as a wod with no wod specific training:-) However the marathon ate up the week before and after. Marathon was LONG but it is not a stretch to think of it as wod with minor DOMS and blister problems following day. I was back to normal within 4 days like it never happened which is a first for me among 4 marathon. No injury what so ever and if anything, the heel pain I had before the marathon is mostly gone which is weird. Now I know I can sign up for 2010 as well.

WOD#175 (Hang) PwrClean 45-65-75-85-95-105-115

Good form and nice progression to failure. 115# took two attempts but must be a PR. I confused PCs for HPCs but it was still good wods.

WOD#176 Mary! 5x15ElvPush-10Pistol-15PU 20:00@151/167

I did Mary despite covering Cindy before marathon but had to sub handstands with 3xelevated pushups. Pistols were horrible form as I had never tried or practiced them. I dont think I have a comparison before for Mary since I have always defaulted to Cindy which is a fav. Perhaps I should do both somehow going fwd.

WOD#174 WOD#174 Marathon! 5:08@162/190?

WOD#175 (Hang) PwrClean 45-65-75-85-95-105-115

WOD#176 Mary 5x15ElvPush-10Pistol-15PU 20:00@151/167

Marathon race report

Conventional wisdom says that running marathon is crazy, running without expensive running shoes is foolish and running marathon without marathon training is invitation to injury. I put the convention wisdom to test this year. No shoes, no fancy "carbo loading" diets and no 20mile runs every other weekend. In fact no running to speak of in last 5 months. Just wake up on a cool November morning, take a ride to the startlinw and start running.

I finished in just over 5 hours.... with no injuries. Even the DOMS are gone within three days and I am back to normal like it never happened. I am positive that this had something to do with barefoot running. For better or for worse, barefoot running made me stay fully alert about my form for all of 5 hours. I slowed down a lot when the running surface was coarse (which is very common on ny marathon course) and at every gatorade stop when it got sticky. But I was running steadily for the rest of the time at my target pace and finished strong.

I did get one blister and had it dressed at finishline. It was quite funny when I limped into the medical pit stop. Everyone gathered around me assuming there must be something really wrong with me after running barefoot and they were almost disappointed to see that it was just a minor blister. After I stepping out of there I picked up my bag. I was asked to keep moving and I said that I just need a minute to put my shoes on. The volunteer looked down at my feet and then looked up at and we started laughing. That made my day.

All in all, this was the slowest of the 4 marathons I have run but it is also the one I am most proud of. While I am the first to admit that no training is dumb, its good to know that our feet are designed to take marathon distance on moments notice and dont need shoes.

BF in NY for 966mi

Last minute thoughts

Few final thoughts before I sign off the the day and go to sleep.

After being very nervous nellie for couple of days, I feel surprisingly calm today. I have decided to take speed out of equation. There is no room for speed when it comes to running marathon barefoot and with no training and good chance of getting bad blisters by mile 20.

I just don't know what I am going to do to minimize chances of DNF due to blisters. If I can make it through the horror show i suffered last year between mile 18 and 22mi, I will be fine. The gameplan is to somehow make to mile18 fresh so I am not tempted to step off the course to my house which is right on the course. If it's bad by mile 18, take a pit stop at home and perhaps put on dressing and/or vibrams so I can get back on the course.

Other interesting observation has been that the carboloading caused headache for me two years in row. This is kindda interesting. I decided to do carboloading anyways just to be safe as I am going to need those gyclogen reserves. Ironically despite no running this year, i have less less body fat this year than any other marathon year! Generally thats a good news but not for marathon. The only long run I had done this season was without carbo loading and I had hit wall at mile 8, which won't even get me out of Brooklyn!

Finally, it was raining today and the roads are wet. Weather prections call for 100%cloud cover and some rain till 7am. The it clears and gets to 60 degrees and partly claudy. Hopefully the roads will be dry without puddles. Wet conditions will ge hard for bluster situation.

At the last minute I found my Armstrong wrist band which fits perfectly for my ankle D-tag holding. Better than my original plan to use pony tail rubber band...

Yawn. Ciao.
BF in NY for 940mi.

Central park ride and marathon finishline

My first stab at video editing! This is a video I shot on my bike ride through central park. Fall colors have lit the whole park on fire. I even got a brief glimpse of marathon finish which I may (or may not!) be crossing tomorrow....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDpBRI40ZQY

NYTimes article on barefoot running

I miss the excitement which comes with reading media attention on barefoot running. I have lost track lately but today I found surprisingly supportive articles on nytimes website. Its very cool to see Christopher McDougall on both articles and of course his best selling book. Sometime back I had a blog entry about how good ideas eventually find their way to the right people and then catch on like wild fire. NYtimes and bestselling book are certainly steps in right direction. Despite shifting my focus away from running, I find this quite exciting.

Things are looking up for this weekend's marathon. Rain predictions are gone. It is expected to be sunny and breezy 59 degree day. Cant ask for more if it holds. I have stopped crossfit to let my heel do a speed recovery and I also started eating some heavyduty carbs for change. I hate it but probably for the best.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/the-roving-runner-goes-barefoot/

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/phys-ed-is-running-barefoot-better-for-you/#comments

Marathon weather predictions

Marathon weather predictions say about 45degree lows and 30% chance of rain. The part about chance of rain is a concern since blisters seem to love cold wet weather. Not to mention the miserable 3hour wait at the start line in such conditions. I guess it could be worse so I should stop complaining.

It really sucks to wait for marathon not knowing if I can finish. I can understand the tortures others go through who have REAL reasons to have same concern. Mine is just stuburn stupidity:-) oh well...

Yawn.
BF in NY for 940mi.

Its official!

I will be attempting the marathon this year, against my better judgement of course. The theme for this year is to "wake up and run a marathon" i.e. no shoes AND NOT TRAINING. Yep. In last 4 months, I did total 3 runs with total mileage less than a marathon distance. This will be an experiment testing if I can wake up one fine day and run 26.2mi with no usual pampering which precedes the marathon. I know its kindda dumb but it fits the "black box" wod philosophy. I mean if I cant fit marathon into my wods, it will likely to be my last marathon so really, I don't have much of a choice.

Frankly, I expect it to be a train wreck. I am in decent overall shape (thanks to Crossfit) so I am not too concerned if I can run the distance. However, my heel injury is still bothering me a bit and just like last time, the limiting factor is likely to be blisters. There is really no easy way to risk manage the blisters without the training. I will be carrying tapes so perhaps I can tape feet up BEFORE blisters form. I am also hopeful that a slower pace run will somehow will be less prone to blisters.

I plan to stay within 10-11min/mi till half way mark and then see how it feels before slowing down or speeding up. Fortunately I live on upper east side so I can drop out around mile 16-20 if I figure out that finishing will cause some major injury/blister. Other wild card is of course the weather. If its raining then I will have to figure out a better game-plan.

This is exciting and nerve wrecking. Its a familiar feeling similar to my first marathon and first barefoot marathon. While biking to work yesterday through Central Park yesterday, I saw people setting up spectator benches at finishline. I got goose bumps thinking about how cool it will be if I do finish this year. Last three years, DNF wasnt an option and I knew I would finish. I am not sure if I am shooting too high this year round. I just dont see how I can drop out once I make it into the manhattan streets with all the momentum and energy.

BF in NY for 940mi

WOD#173 Cindy! 11.5x(5PU/10PSH/15Sqt) 20:00@166/180

WOD#173 Cindy! 11.5x(5PU/10PSH/15Sqt) 20:00@166/180

Compare with WOD#103 half Cindy 6rnds+PUs 10min@171/190,WOD#53 Cindy 10 20:00@153/172, WOD#17 Cindy 20min=5

11.5 is up from 10 so a nice PR on my favorite wod. Pullups and squats were easy but Pushup got progressively harder. I kept the depth good but in the very last round, I fell flat on my face...twice. 120Pullups were more than I could handle. Squats were easy but my quads were a bit surprised and sore. Pullups continue to surprise me by being easiest segment of the wod. First two sets were straight PUs due to equipment traffic. The splits in sec were as follows:

53-68-89-85-128-65-128-155-144-112-133-60

WOD#173 Cindy! 11.5x(5PU/10PSH/15Sqt) 20:00@166/180

WOD#172 BkSqt 5x5 45-65-95-115-125 9:25@122/148

WOD#172 BkSqt 5x5 45-65-95-115-125 9:25@122/148

Compare with WOD#48 at 65#(last at 75#) and WOD#18 @65#

125# is lower than a recent one rep PR of 135# but for 5 reps 125# is good enough. Perhaps the squats could have been a bit deeper in last set but I was having trouble balancing, especially with awkward shoulder positioning for stiff shoulders from the Jerks on Monday. It feels like the technique needs work but really the issue is that the back arch is not deep enough to sustain good bksqt at low point. I am pretty sure this depth has improved a lot from last wods though there is some more room to improve lower back flexibility.

WOD#172 BkSqt 5x5 45-65-95-115-125 9:25@122/148

PushJerk 125# and PowerGrace@95#

WOD#170 Push Jerk 1x7 (45-65-85-95-105-115-125) 11:08@106/150

Compare with WOD#82 Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 45#, 65#/85#. Okay 125# is a huge PR. It felt easy enough and I could have pushed more but not a whole lot more. The best part was feeling the bar quite literally fly through sticky point in a PP. I caught the splits at good heights so I didn't have to split a whole lot.

WOD#171 Grace 30 x Clean&Jerk@95# 15:15@162/182

First time Grace but this was a total flop. I misunderstood the wod and did HPC instead of full cleans from floor. I tried first couple of reps properly and rationalized to myself that there is no way this wod specs 135#x30 Cleans from floor! So I escaped the real wrath of Grace. The HPC version was bad enough. By the time I reached #10, I was thinking of quitting at 15 despite scaled down 95# weight. But then I surprised myself by moving from a 2per subset to 3 per subset after #18. It was fun. This is one of those wods which get HR pumping at anaerobic levels and the only thing you can think about is how NOT to put head under this weight. Interestingly 95@ Clean&Jerk is also my PR weight so 30 compromised reps is not that bad. Great full body wod. It felt good after the wod when nothing was hurting bad but everything in the body was aching. Poor technique caused some pains in wrists but nothing major. Also catching weight on bare shoulder caused some bruising on neck but no skin damage. About half an hour later my fingers were shaking involuntarily at computer keyboard which felt funny. But again nothing serious. Looking forward to doing this wod properly next time.

WOD#170 Push Jerk 1x7 (45-65-85-95-105-115-125) 11:08@106/150

WOD#171 Grace 30 x Clean&Jerk@95# 15:15@162/182