More WODs

The 6min/mi 400m rounds are getting easier. I hope I can keep it up for the 5K this Sunday. The weather is warming up so perhaps I can get some runs outside over next few days.

WOD#64 50Dips/Pushups/HSPU w/ 400m@6:00 between 23:06@152/190

Upper Arm Tricep/mania! Rx was 50 ring dips but I cant even hold static position on rings never mind dips so 50 ring dips were out of question. 50 regular Dips were easier than I thought. However, I didnt/couldnt really do complete dips so thats something I need to work on. All runs were at 6min/mi despite slight tightness in back side of the right leg ankle. Max HR reached 184/190/188 so its getting easier. I was surprised at this but the hardest routine turned out to be 50 pushups as I was actually grunting in last 15 or so pushups. I had done 50 pushups before but perhaps not in chunky sets of 10-15. Or perhaps it was doing pushups after dips and/or fast runs. But as Rxed I tried to keep the pushups as honest as possible though perhaps I was short by about 1-2 inches at lower most position. Also, I noticed I had psudo muscle failure couple of times (i.e. uncontrollered movement going down which was a bit scary. Finally, HSPU is long way for me as I havent even tried head stand yet.I did HSPU with half weight (supported on knees) and that was not very pretty. Its quite clear to me that I need to practice more such workouts before I can trust those shoulder muscles to take entire body weight.

WOD#65 Push Jerk 7@45#/65#

I havent fully internalized technique for Push Jerk and cannot push weights much more before I get the technique right. Part of the problem is lack of flexibility in shoulder and back.

WOD#64 50Dips/Pushups/HSPU w/ 400m@6:00 between 23:06@152/190

WOD#65 Push Jerk 7@45#/65#

No running in this damn cold weather.

I am still looking forward to the 5K this weekend. Its been so cold this week that no running. It warmed up to 45 degrees on one day but it was raining so I skipped running. Besides, since the 90 (more like 120) double unders, I have been feeling pain in the heel of left foot. Ironically, I was wearing highly cushioned Adidas Supernovas when this happened and not while running barefoot.

WODs continue.

WOD#60 Clean and Squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 @65#

Terrible! I remember doing 45 of these last week as a part of 4 different routine (WOD#56) but today, each rep was harder than last and by end the arms felt like they were just about ready to fall off. Not one but BOTH which means it wasnt an injury. It must have ben the Fran and burpees in last couple of days but hard to believe. Even after couple of hours I am hurting but no sharp shooting pain. Very confusing, especially since the rings are in the main due to arrive tomorrow....not to mention Pullups marathon wod coming up.

WOD#61 PU Mania (1-2-3...9-10)  10:00@143/177

This was a lot of fun. This is the only workout in which the HR INCREASED exponentially instead of typical saturation I see. All this time I had been thinking that PU is just a strength training, its quite clear to me now that PU can be quite aerobic if done under time constraint. 

Also, the breakdown I had yesterday on squat-clean was not a limiting factor for the PUs today but right after the workout, I had that familiar feeling of arms just hanging on the side ready to fall off...like in zombie movies. Pretty weird really. Fortunately, the shipment of my rings got delayed so I wont be fulling around with weak shoulders.

Besids ordering rings, another experiement I had been toying with has been the BOSU balance dome. I tried to mimick some weightlifting motions standing on upsidedown dome while keeping balance. I have also been doing 10 squats everyday for last week on BOSU. I made quite a progress since the first time I tried it and couldnt even stand on it.

WOD#63 4 x (400m C2, PP 21-18-15-12@45#) 21:30@153/183

The C2 is moving slowly from strength workout to edurance workout as I am having less muscle fatige but more breathing difficulty doing 500m (250m is not so hard). But total 2km rowing was 9:10). Also pushpress felt harder intially but wasnt really as I managed to do last two sets unbroken. Very nice arms workout with quite a bit of HR work as well.

Speaking of arms, I just got my rings in the mail and they are really nice to touch. However, when I put them up (very easy), even the basis hanging position (top of dip) was rediculously hard. It was so rediculous, I started laughing. RIngs are going to be fun.

BF in NY for 836mi

WOD#60 Clean and Squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 @65#

WOD#61 PU Mania (1-2-3...9-10)  10:00@143/177

WOD#63 4 x (400m C2, PP 21-18-15-12@45#) 21:30@153/183

Classic wods incl speed training

With 5K coming up next two weekends, its about time I do some speed work. Very proud to do 400m at 6min/mi under complete control at end of the last wod. I increased stride rates to very high levels and tried to keep body as motionless as possible.

WOD#58 Fran! women's weight:( 20:05@149/185

Fran puts "class" in all of "classic" crossfit wods. Its quite hard and crossfitters often measure themselves by fran time similar to how runner quote 5K or 400m PRs. I really wanted to do fran at original spec (21-15-9 thursters and pullups) for future comparison but I still got no form to do thursters properly. I scaled down the weight from 95# to 65# (women's weight) and broke all routines in set of 3. I just cannot squat down enough in front squat position. I think this has something to do with my extreme inflexibility in shoulder and ham strings. I may not be able to do more complex weight lifting (overhead squat in particular) till my core and my flexibility improves. I am sort of in "blah" phase for pullups as I retrogressed back to set of 3 after doing 5 last time. I blame it on thrusters but we will see for upcoming pullup only wod.

The high point was doing all 9 thruster reps in last round without stopping. HR shot up to 185 which is quite amazing. 20minutes quite pathetic despite 65# weight.

WOD#59 ALL Cardio 28:31@164/196

3 rounds of 500m Row + 21 burpee + 400m (at 7:30, 7:30, 6:00). As expected, HR stayed very high at 160+ most of the time. Max HR touched 196 which is a high for wod (other time I reached 196 in wod was a 4mi race!) Burpees are exausting and unlike running where I cant really stop on a TM, Burpee gives excuse to take break which is not good.

BF in NY for 836mi

WOD#58 Fran! women's weight:( 20:05@149/185

WOD#59 ALL Cardio 28:31@164/196

WOD#57 70 SDHP/dips and new dip station @ home

* SDHP was easy enough with my 44# KB (little less than half the prescribed 95#). Compared to SDHP I did on bar on Thursday, KB makes this work out so much easier and comfortable. Perhaps its got something to do with use of wrist in weird way while doing SDHP on a bar. 

* Dips are still work-in-progress. I tried to do the dip as deep as possible but it just feels like I am no where close to having my upper arm parallel to ground at the bottom. It just puts unbelievable stress on shoulder joint. Hopefully, few more of these dips wods and I will form right balance of muscles to gain enough confidence to push deeper without injury. It cant be harder than pullups, right?

I constructed this dip station at home using legs of a table put upright against the wall. The bars are not stable enough but that by itself makes the workout more exciting. I also ordered Elite gymnastics rings so soon I will be attempting dips on rings where stability will be critical. From what I heard, its going to be struggle just to stand on and hold the top position of dip without shooting the rings sideways, never mind keeping the rings close to body while doing dips. Anxiously awaiting arrival so I can test where I stand.

BF in NY for 836mi

WOD#57 7 x (10 SDHP + 10 dips) 12:28@126/154

WOD, form improvement for C2, Dips and Cleans

WOD#54 DL 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (max 135# PR)

Progression 7continuous 65#, 85#, 95#, 115# and then 1 each rep of 135#. This was NOT max effort partly because my left front hip muscle seem to hurt in squats and had sharp pain during first rep so I decided to stop at 135#

WOD#55 UpperArms! 3x(250m row + 21SDHP45# + 15PU) 23:43@153/188

Sub row for 400m run at 6mi/min for a round and sub 65#assisted DSHP for one round due to crowd.

I discovered proper form for C2 rower after watching video by one of the C2 experts on crossfit. Trick is to make very long range of motion by bending forward and making a long stroke back followed by slow and deliberate trip back. One way to coordinate the two legs is to count one for the pull and count TWO for way back. The resulting improvement in efficiency was remarkable.

Sumo Deadlift Highpull didnt go so well as I sort of had my hands positioned too far apart making it somewhere in between SDHP and clean. I wish my gym had KBs which would have eliminated this problem. In general, it it pretty obvious that now I can do the motion of some of these more complex weight lifting motions and clearly I have muscular strength to do light weights but cannot perform due to lack of form or perhaps lack of muscle memory to perform the motions right without making an effort. As I increase the loads, this lack of efficiency will become progressively more important.

Pullups were incredibly hard despite nice two day break which bothered me during the workout. It wasnt untill the workout was over that I realized that all the three segments of wod were focusing on same muscles despite seemingly very different workouts. 

WOD#56 45doubleU + 45clean/semisquat65# + 45dips + 45doubleU 48:52@133/170

Form is less than perfect for clean and squat. For some reason, I could not keep myback straght at beginning of squat and thought I was getting pain when I tried to look up to help this problem. I had to raise the stopper higher a bit to help this problem. But all in all, 45 reps were tough. 

Also doubleunders needs more practice. I made sure I didnt count lots of incomplete doubleunders which only added to this workout. Despite 90 reps, I have yet to do two back to back double unders. Interestingly enough, first 45 DUs took 5minutes while the second 45DUs took 9minutes. I dont think the arms or legs were tired but my coordination had deteriorated.

On the brightside, I realized that I could in fact do back to back dips (I have been doing jumping dips assuming I couldnt do back to back dips). I did 11 sets of 4 dips (excl first/last jumping part). Most of the dips were not "deep" enough but I did manage to squeeze a few deep dips just to get a taste. Clearly another classic whole body workout if done to complete range of motion.

BF in NY for 836mi

WOD#54 DL 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (max 135# PR)

WOD#55 UpperArms! 3x(250m row + 21SDHP45# + 15PU) 23:43@153/188

WOD#56 45doubleU + 45clean/semisquat65# + 45dips + 45doubleU 48:52@133/170

Cindy! (10 rounds up from 5 in Christmas)

I am bit hurting from tight calf and hamstrings after yesterday's run. Nothing major but given that today's wod was Cindy, a favorite, I didnt like that I wasn't 100%. I really want to start hitting wods in at least somewhat respectable range as I am seeing repeat wods. (I had done Cindy back in Dec 21st). This competition between Crossfit and running will only get worse as I get back into racing season. First few wods felt like I was cheating on running by sneaking in the wods. Now its exactly the opposite.

WOD#53 Cindy 10x(5pu, 10push, 15dsquat)  20:00@153/172

10 rounds compared to 5 rounds back in christmas week (HR 148/162)! Still short of 15-20 we usually see in typical crossfitter but at least it was a Rxed.

The major improvement is the ability to do continuous 5 pullups. Even the form steadily deteriorated and I moved to skipping PU with bad form but at least I was hanging up there for all 5 in each set. ALL push ups were excellent form even though it got progressively harder to do the set of 10. I never reached breaking point so its clear pushups are not really bottleneck. Squat were easy as well but both took so much air out of me that I had to catch breath and gather mojo to take the chance to jump in the air and hope that I catch the pullup bar. Its just no fun getting on pullup bar using the steps.

First barefoot run of the season and some fun wods.

First real barefoot run of the season 7.9mi@9:15  1:13:14@166/189. No vibrams! It was warm at 50+ but the central park road was covered with icy cold water as ice on the sides melted. First two miles were hard. I seriouly considered turnining back after first mile as the cold icy water made my feet hypersensitive and then the salt crystals all over the road kept poking and sticking to the sole making it very uncomfortable. The trick was to find water puddles and get rid of them as often as possible. But all this became non-issue after mile 3-4 and rest of the run was pretty nice. It started raining and hailing(!) by mile 6 so I speeded up a bit.

I think this was my first barefoot run since november 30. So I am surprised that I managed to survive the whole 8mile stretch without any damage without conditioning of the feet. There are couple of hints of blisters but nothing to scream about. I didnt even notice them till I was out of shower and back in cozy comforter. Also calfs didnt ache either which was another surprise since, firsttime barefooters often get screaming calfs after a long run. 

All in all, if I have not lost my foot conditioning, thats a good news. The whole run averaged at 9:15 pace including slow runs to and back from park. The real pace was little faster than 9:00 which is nice. When I plotted all barefoot training runs excluding races, this run turns out to be THE fastest, despiting being on the longer end of distance (7.9mi). I couldnt make it to the Bronx half this morning but now I know I would have had no trouble doing it at 9:00pace provided I didnt have a blister issue.

BF in NY for 836mi

7.9mi@9:15  1:13:14@166/189

WOD#49 Kelly 400m, 30box, 30wallish15# 48:23@156/183

This was HARD. I cannot believe people can actually do 20ft high wallball with 20# ball. I was dead pushing it up overhead at just 15#. The runs even at 7:30 pace felt brutal as the whole wod is designed to keep HR in anarobic levels. I had to take so many breaks just to get HR below anarobic threshold for a few seconds which really defeats the purpose of the wod. Ouch.

WOD#50 Nicole 6 rounds 400m+5strict cont PU 20:00@163/179

Fun wod. 5 unbroken pullups which is a first.

WOD#51 5 X (15KBswing35#, 25situp, 25bkExt, 15 Knelbow 42:95@140/164

Major accomplishment: "got" the right form for Knee to Ellbow in last round making 15 in a set after struggling with 5 in all earlier sets. Rx called for 2 poodx25 but had to scale down to 1pood x 15. First round was 1pood x 25 which was hard. Situps and back extensionsare definitely getting easier.

WOD#52 SP1x5, PP3x5, PJ5x5 all@65#

First time use of the newly aquired barbell (thanks to my neighbor leaving). Now I just need a rack.

Pullups/Dips/backsquat wods

After the race on Sunday, I haven't fully recovered in my calfs. It must be the lack of vibram/barefoot training. Even my trade-mill intervals are in supernova so the calfs were hurting. I had to take yesterday off after doing so many of wods. I was all fresh today except for the calfs and covered two wods. One was just backsquat at 5-5-5-5-5 which are did with 65# (last 75#). Piece of cake. Could easily push for more if I can get my form right. I also tries overhead squat at just 45# and couldnt really do a single rep properly. Torso balance muscles are just not developed to correct for imbalance.

Other WOD was sub for 30 muscle-ups. Original Rx was 120pullups and 120 dips which is plain insanity. I scaled it down to 60pullups (15-30-15) and 60 dips (15-30-15). It wasnt so hard and could have easily done more. The trick was to sneak a few strick pullups with different hand positions into kipping pullups. I am still having trouble doing kipping pullup sets past 3-4. It feels like a technique problem and not so much strength issue. However, this is so much better than last time when I was struggling to even do 50 pullups in 10 rounds. Dips is a whole different story. I tried one strict dip and I barely made it. Rest were all jumping dips.

WOD#47 60 pullups and jumping dips (half wod) 22:15@132/158

WOD#48 Backsquat at 65# 5-5-5-5-5 (last at 75#)

Slow 4mi Race at 8:07 in Vibrams

I ran my second race of this year (6more to go excl marathon). Since I had been doubling up on wods to catch up on a week lost due to vacation, I decided to take it a bit easy. 4mi race at 8:07 pace (8:48, 8:12, 8:34, 7:17). Over a minute in negative split since I had so much reserves left for the last mile. But despite easy effort, the fastest mile was comparable to the average pace I ran for my PR race last year at 7:21 so I am clearly loosing my running fitness slowly. 

As for the race, it was barely above freezing and a bit windy. Also I had to start running the race right after reaching the startline from home which is about 1.5mi as I was late (as usual). The first mile was painfully slow weaving through so many people. But it felt good enveloped by so many people after running in cold windy roads to the startline. Somehow it felt much warmer. The race was mostly uneventful. I considered taking my vibrams off but decided against it as my toes already felt tingly. Fortunately, the road was dry. I still remember the last training run in vibrams on December 21 in similar temperature (in fact slightly warmer 38degrees) but with wet slushy snow on the ground. I had slight loss of sensation in toes for couple of weeks. No permanent damage but quite an experience. Bzzzz.

Next weekend is the Bronx half so I need to start thinking about it. 

 

WOD#47 4mi Race@8:07 32:53@175/196 

(Substitute for 10K wod missed two weeks back + 2.3mi up and bk warmup)