WOD#108 21-15-9 45#OHS/BurpeePU 16:43@167/191

WOD#108 21-15-9 45#OHS/BurpeePU 16:43@167/191

21-15-9 at 7:03-6:09-3:29 with PUburpee and OHS @ 45#. This seems like a brand new wod. I dont think I have done burpee pullup before. Burpees in general are pretty exausting. But burpee pullup not only adds pullup element to burpee but also needs very quick coordination to grasp the bar on the way up from burpee without looking up too early. I religiously tried to make the transition from burpee jump up to pullup bar fluid. This was the most fun part of the wod. Its amazing how sharp coordination gets when your brain senses danger of falling down despite the exersion. The trick was to take break (which were quite unavoidable for me) in sitting position after finishing pushup and jump up without looking up or aiming and then try to figure out how to grab the bar on the jump up on the fly. Only part needs some work is the transition from end of the pullup/jump into push up. I just dont know how rest of the crossfitters do this transition so fluidly. I have to drag my feet back, often one at a time which just doesnt feel right. If I can figure out a way to continue down the pushup after sitting down in a fluid motion, I think my burpees will improve a lot. On overhead squat front, I decided to take it easy with just the 45# bar and that turned out to be excellent choice. I was having vey hard time keeping the bar overhead as I got exausted. In fact, couple of time, I just had to bring the bar down to hang position since I could not hold OHS stance even in standing mode. This needs some core/midline stabalization as strength wasnt really the issue, just balancing bar overhead was tough. Perhaps I will start doing some GHDs every other day or so.

WOD#108 21-15-9 45#OHS/BurpeePU 16:43@167/191

First regular BB wod (Hansen)+FGB

WOD#106 Fight Gone Bad (65#SDLHP/45#PP) 80+62+73=215 17:00@174/189

Elements class#6 (elements of FGB). Compare with wod#91 (45#) score 209 17:04@162/177 and WOD#100! Mini FGB 11:07@171/184 and WOD#24 score 245 (25#/45#). FGB continues to be quite a workout. Since the weights were a bit heavier (65# for SDLHP and 45# for PP), strength was a biggercomponent of this workout compared to my previous wods. The box jump was higher as well as also wall ball included the throw for a change. The strategy to start with wall ball and end with rower workout reasonable well. I still remember how hard is it to do wall balls after rowing. However the rowing scores were a bit smaller (10/10/13) as a result. Total score 80+62+73=215 reflects a deliberate slow down in second round after overestimating my capacity in first round. Also the strong numbers in last round reflect coaches pushing for a strong finish.

WOD#107 Hansen 6 x (15 35#KBswing/Situp/Burpee) 23:10@163/174

My first regular wod at blackbox. It was a hero workout called Hansen scaled down to 6 x (15 35#KBswing/Situp/Burpee). Frankly I didnt push too much because I had just finished the fight gone bad the previous night. Also it was a very rough bike ride to the blackbox since it took much longer than it takes to bike through midtown. About 5minutes of this ride was a real workout touching 160+ HR as east midtown can be very hilly, especially when you are rushing through traffic and late. The workout itself was good.
Btw, I had to take off shoes halfway through as laces came off. I realized that barefooting at blackbox may be harder than I thought since the rubber surface has strong coefficient of friction so when you are doing dynamic motions like burpees, where you need a little bit of leaway to adjust positions on the fly, there is good chance of getting a blister. I didnt get any but its worth thinking about which workout is to be done before making show choice (or lack there off)

WOD#106 Fight Gone Bad (65#SDLHP/45#PP) 80+62+73=215 17:00@174/189

WOD#107 Hansen 6 x (15 35#KBswing/Situp/Burpee) 23:10@163/174

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

Bunch of WOD logs incl half-murph, PUmania and Oly Lifts

WOD#78 Clean and jerk (65#, 85#?) 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
WOD#79 Back Squat (65#, 85#) 3-3-3-3-3
WOD#80 J.T.21-15-9 x (HSPUass, Dips, PU) 12:41@129/141
WOD#81 Half murph incl 2x1mi@8min/mi 46:59@156/188
46:59@156/188 (Compared to Wod#25 MURPH 54:46@153/198 1mi 46:59@156/188 (Compared to Wod#25 MURPH 54:46@153/198 1mi 6:46/50pullups/100pushups/150squats1mi 8:00)This is definitely a killer workout. Unlike last time, I was not dead by the time I reached the second miler but I was definitely hurting. I considering doing some of the second half after the run but that was just too hard. This wod, this is pretty heavy loaded takes about 50min to do first half so doing the whole thing would easy mean 2hrs of continous torture. I think these 2hrs will be worse than second half of the marathon.

WOD#82 Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 45#, 65#/85#
Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 45#, 65#. 85#. Substantial improvement in form as I developed confidence to stick my head under unsupported weight. Its still tough to trust skills enough to do a deep squat to catch the barbell on its way up but the jumping aspect clearly helps. There were a few reps with hint of presses at top of the jerk.

WOD#83 Karen 150 #15 wallball (no throw) 7:27@173/184!
Karen in exausting! despite no throw (whic is a major scale down), the wod can eay compete running for anarobic activity. I took 30sec break per 30sec/20 throws but HRvstayed averaged 180ish for later part of wod. 20-20-20-20-20-20-15-15 per min.

WOD#84 DL just 95# 21-15-9 + 3x800m@8:30mi/min 18:10@175/187
After Karen, this wod was tough even with a lot of scaling down. The runs even at slow pace of 8:30 felt like 7min/mi (seriously) till I realized that it was 7mi/min. Just plain full body fatigue which was hard to shake off.

WOD#85 PU Mania 10x(1@20#, 3 strict, 5 kipping) 25:52@136/157
The weighted pullup was quite hard. I must say the weighted pullup made regular pullups much easier. Weighted pullups might be a short cut to improving pullup counts. Of course, 10 rounds of 9 pullups each is plain crazy so the splits steadily deteriorated from 38 sec to over 4min.

WOD#86 Front Squats 3-3-3-3-3 20:10@145/174
45#, 65#, 85#, 95#, 115#. First three rounds were without the rack so needed pickups and holding in between. At 115#, this is by far the heaviest PR, up from 45#. I think the main difference from the effort in Jan is the well developed shoulders now coming in handy to provide nice and safe slot of tugging in the barbell for front squat. The squat were quite deep however I think I was leaning forward a bit at the bottom most position. No aches in back so thats a good sign.

WOD#87 5xMaxPU/elvPush (10/20 first and 5/10 rest)8:29@145/160
I managed to squeeze 10pullups in the first round and then 20 elevated pushups. But next 4 rounds were not upto that standard and I scaled down. Total PU30, pushups 60. I probably could have pushed harder but I was pretty spent by the time I reached 5th round.

WOD#88 Lynne 5x(5assist MU!, 5PU, 5ringdip) 27:23@118/141
This was my first attempt at muscle up. It became clear in very first attempt that this is almost a hopeless attempt. I did MUs withlegs on the floor. First 4 set were done while sitting with L-shape keen bent and the last with sitting in a squat directly below rings. Clearly the former was lot harder. MU will take a long time. I think there was exactly once out of 25 attempts when I got into right deep dip position but couldnt pull up. That brings me to the dips portion of the wod. Rings dips are a beast as well. I have practically no range of motion in the dip. The dip is basically couple of inches of motion without reaching full extention. Depth is obviously lacking as well. Work in progress.

BF in NY for 848mi
WOD#78 Clean and jerk (65#, 85#?) 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
WOD#79 Back Squat (65#, 85#) 3-3-3-3-3
WOD#80 J.T.21-15-9 x (HSPUass, Dips, PU) 12:41@129/141
WOD#81 Half murph incl 2x1mi@8min/mi 46:59@156/188
WOD#82 Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 45#, 65#/85#
WOD#83 Karen 150 #15 wallball (no throw) 7:27@173/184!
WOD#84 DL just 95# 21-15-9 + 3x800m@8:30mi/min 18:10@175/187
WOD#85 PU Mania 10x(1@20#, 3 strict, 5 kipping) 25:52@136/157
WOD#86 Front Squats 3-3-3-3-3 20:10@145/174
WOD#87 5xMaxPU/elvPush (10/20 first and 5/10 rest)8:29@145/160
WOD#88 Lynne 5x(5assist MU!, 5PU, 5ringdip) 27:23@118/141

Learning olympic lifts the hard way.

Today's workout included 5x9 hang power clean @ 85#. While I had been focusing heavily on keeping good form on midline stanalization, I used deadlift positioning for my hands on the bar. To be more precise, the hands were way too far. Not only did the triangular shape arm position made the clean wobbly, it would scratch soft skin on inner side on both thumbs. Halfway through this high rep workout, I lost outer skin pn both hands as can be seen in picture above. This forced me to get arms closer to body. This also made the clean easier.I haven't check yet but i'm pretty sure this is correct form. Later. ...

8mi@9:10mi/min hafl Barbara, DL165#, 170Pullups, 50 Ring dips!

8mi@9:10mi/min 1:14:41@168/187

Another slow training run which turned out to be pretty fast 8mi@9:10mi/min. At 50 degrees it was almost too hot to run since it was quite humid. I need to start running in sub 50 degrees, especially when its dry. The dirt path was wettish but not too to wet or cold to run on. It made fo a nice soft path to run on. The only harsh part was the chipped wood part on west side of the reservior. It was supplemented with brand new chipped wood which was a bit to hard to run on since it wasnt really broken into a path yet. But its good that I didnt get any blisters. The soles are a bit tender but nothing major. There is slight bit of dead outer skinning giving out which is probably a good thing.

WOD#74 (half) Barbara 2.5 x (20PU, 30Push, 40Sit, 50SQT) 29:54@147/167

Barbara is EVIL. I did not realize the simple math that 5 rounds of 20 pull ups and 30 pushups means 100 pullups and 150 pushups! I am nowhere in shape to do this, despite TWO rest days I took. At the end of the second round I started feeling pain in left shoulder upper joint and I had to stop soon after. Even pushups were hard to do with the shoulder pain. This is the second time I did Barbara. Both times I did half the Rxed workout except last time I did all 5 rounds of half the reps and this time I did 2.5rounds of full reps. Unfortunately, the timing was SLOWER this time by couple of minutes which sucks. Very disappointing, especially after wasting two days taking rest.

Oh well! May be next time. After all the art of maximizing benefit from crossfit is to not give up during hard workout despite pain and strong desire to quit but at the same time not to overdo when a specific pain becomes a threat of full-fledged injury. Its hard to differentiate but in this cse, the shoulder pain was sharp shooting and I had to stop as my form started detiorating rapidly.

WOD#75 7x(10HSPU, 10 LPull, 15Lunge) 20min@149/169

7 rounds in twenty minutes of 10 Handstand (with knees support) Push-ups, 10 L Pull-ups, 15 Step Lunge. I liked this workout. All in all, 70 L-pull ups is not an easy feat, especially on day after doing 50 regular pullups in Barabara. The HR was pretty high, especially during the lunges. Between the three routines and HR elevation, this was a pretty good whole body workout. Most rounds were about 2:50sec except first two and last one which were about 2min. I had whole minute left after round 7 which I used only for HSPU.

WOD#76 SP65#, BkSquat85#, DL165#

PR in DL at 165#. In fact, I stopped at 165# even though I did 3reps instead of 1. No reason just taking it easy. On the third rep, the finger grip was the limiting factor. Pushpress at 85# was too much for me. BkSquat at 85# was probably not the limit but since I had done 125 airsquat previous day, I couldnt push to the limits on squats. There is another wod coming up with 3-3-3-3-3 backsquats. I will try to push the weight past 85# and see how it goes. Also other limiting factor is inability to squat all the way down so I dont want to just keep adding weight without making sure I can do the reps with full depth.

WOD#77 10Rounds (5Pull, 5RingDip, 15Sit) 30min@118/147

My first wod using rings! WOD called for 5 ring dips per rounds. My form as horrible but atleast I got started. This may be as bad a challenge as pullups if not worse. I still cannot hold still on rings on top of the dip position. Also the depth of each dip was barely couple of inches. I had to push rings up to at least get those two inches without use for push from floor (height spec: top of ring same level as nipples).

Pullups on the other hand are getting stronger. I did all 10 rounds with the 5 pull ups unbroken despite lack of kipping ability at door pullup bar. I still dont do the pullups through 100% range of motion but at least I can do them unbroken. I tried to do the last of the 5 with deeper ROM with some success which is encouraging. Also pullup count for the week is 170 (50, 70L, 50) which is not too shabby.

BF in NY for 848mi

WOD#74 (half) Barbara 2.5 x (20PU, 30Push, 40Sit, 50SQT) 29:54@147/167

WOD#75 7x(10HSPU, 10 LPull, 15Lunge) 20min@149/169

WOD#76 SP65#, BkSquat85#, DL165#

WOD#77 10Rounds (5Pull, 5RingDip, 15Sit) 30min@118/147

Ah nice 5K barefoot run in 70 degrees!

WOD#72 5K+ (3.68mi) 32:07@171/184

70degree temperature = Barefoot run in CP. The grass and reservoir path were soaked and cushy from all the snow which melted over last few days. It wasnt cold though, I almost forgot how good it felt to run on grass. Yummm. I ran it reasonably fast at 8:43mi/min (8:30mi/min excl traffic stops). I didnt want to risk any funny injuries. Just like last time, this was the fastest training run ever. Coincidence? And it didnt even feel that fast.

WOD#71 Jackie 1000m row, 50x40#DB Thursters, 30 PUs 24:44@147/170

All upper arms workout. I liked doing thursters using DB. Towards end, it was getting clear that I dont have symmetric strength between two arms as the left hand could not keep up with right hand arm and I started loosing control (with just 20#!). Thursters were the hardest. PUs are getting easier. I managed to do sets with 6-7 PUs which is higher than usual 3-4.

WOD#71 Jackie 1000m row, 50x40#DB Thursters, 30 PUs

WOD#73 Clean and Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 45#, 65#, 85#

Complete failure at first rep attempt at 95# on Jerk part. I still cant do jurk properly and it ends up being push press. It has something to do with fear of getting under the weight. Ironically, I did have a mini-accident when the weight came down somewhat behind the head causing funny body position and some strain on lower back. No damage done but scary for a brief moment. The major problem was inability to let go of the weight. I need to work on exit strategies for bailing out of the weights. Also interestingly enough, I scrapped back sideof index finger (cant imagine how that happened with barbell in the grip. But I think this is the first time I had minor cut in crossfit wod (blisters dont count). Quite a moment.

The finger cut and some pain in lower back made me take a day off just to be on the safe side. Part of the reason was general breakdown in my daily routine as my cycle had flat last Friday forcing me to reorg commute etc. Also I forgot my HRM which I kindda need for the brutal Barbara long due now.

WOD#71 Jackie 1000m row, 50x40#DB Thursters, 30 PUs 24:44@147/170

WOD#72 5K+ (3.68mi) 32:07@171/184

WOD#73 Clean and Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 45#, 65#, 85#

Helen and other WODs

WOD#68 sit/pullups 21-18-15-12-9-6 with 100fr Lunges between 25:10@148/174

The lunges got progressively harder, especially to keep balance. Also the pullups were brutal and I could only do them in set of 3 most of the time. I quite like this style wods which are quite hard to start with but decrease in reps making them more even in effort over the whole wod. I also tried something new on BOSU, looking at watch instead of floor making it harder AFTER an intese workout.

WOD#69 DL 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (95#, 115#, 135#) BODYWEIGHT!!!

I think this is probably the first time in my life that I lefted anything bodyweight exept body (mine or otherwise), Pretty cool. It wasnt super hard but I decided not to push luck past 135# for now. An obvious PR.

WOD#70 Helen 3 x (400m, 21x40#KBS, 11PU) 19:16@169/188

Quick but exausting workout. The HR averaged at 169 which aint bad for 20min workout. Interestingly enough the max HR peaked at just 188bpm despite the three 400m runs. I think it has something to do with quick stride and full control of the runs. The pullups were hard as usual but I did them in two sets each with first set.

Technically I missed out on one pullup per round (not a biggie). Also for KB swings (Rx 54#), I couldnt trust myself doing anything more than 40# right after the 6min/mi run, especially since I had to hold it over my head:-)

BF in NY for 836mi

WOD#68 sit/pullups 21-18-15-12-9-6 with 100fr Lunges between 25:10@148/174

WOD#69 DL 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (95#, 115#, 135#) BODYWEIGHT!!!

WOD#70 Helen 3 x (400m, 21x40#KBS, 11PU) 19:16@169/188

5K 24:47@185/195 in Nike Free 5.0 + Joshie

I finally reverted back to shoes for the race today (well...nike frees which are more like half shoes). Its the first time I had run any distance in shoes outside since blazing hot runs in June 08, ironically because it was too cold. It was snowing lightly with wet and chilly road conditions and didnt want to test my luck after the tingly toes I had gotten in my last run in slushy cold surface back in Dec.

Also part of the reason was that I haven't run barefoot lately much and really wanted to run the 5K fast. The 5K turned out to be pretty crowded and I could run my best and had to be content with sub-25min run. The course was also very hilly which I wasn't really prepared for. In retrospect, shoes definitely slowed me down a bit. Something to do with less spring action and less efficiency. I could feel the lack of spring action when I tried to push forward. Its like trying to run faster in sand. Here is a video of a girl running in shoes vs socks side by side without any coaching. Interesting gait analysis worth checking out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9itkEkcQ8WM

Anyway, March is now here and I should have plenty of opportunities now to making good time in races barefoot. I am also falling behind on wods so I decided to count the 5K as a substitute for a 7rounds of 400m (with hip extensions in between). I may try to make up the hip extensions (21-18-15-12-9-6-3) later in Gym as I cant do them well at home. The other two wods lined are also pretty interesting, including another famous girl wod "Helen". On related topic, the rings are here installed on my bathroom door teasing me everytime I walk around the house. Still cant hold still on rings. Longest I could do was about 5sec with very bad form (bend forward, with wrist twisted inside).

WOD#66 Joshie 3 x (L+R) x (25#DBsnatchx21 + 11L-Pullups) 40:38@146/176

The WOD worth talking about is Joshie (hero workout) I did on Friday. Joshie looked insanely tough so I had been postponing it for a while and also I scaled down big time. Original wod called for three rounds of 21 righthand DB snatch@40# + 21 L-pullup and repeat for left hand. Thats total of 126 snatchs and L-pullups. Since I had never done snatchs, I scaled weight down to 25# (which was probably a bit too light). Also since L-pullups are strict pullups (no kippings), 6x21=126 were too many so I did 6x11=66. Also the L part was not really strictly L but atleast I tried my best.

Either I scaled down too much (which sounds unlikely) or the rest day made a big difference because the workout was not as hard as I was expecting. Also I realized in the last round that I was not doing the snatch properly as I was doing partly push. The trick is to pull the weight off the ground with explosive leg strength. When I corrected this form, I easily did all 21 reps at 25# without any break and it didnt even feel that hard, Excellent full body workout really.

BF in NY for 836mi

WOD#66 Joshie 3 x (L+R) x (25#DBsnatchx21 + 11L-Pullups) 40:38@146/176

WOD#67 5K sub(7rounds of 400m/84 HipExt) 24:51@185/195

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)

On crossfit front, the overall body strength training through crossfit is going GREAT. In fact, the crossfit workouts are making me wonder value of running long distance runs. I am definitely running marathon later this year but will have to think about training program given the crossfit schedule. Since starting on Nov30th, I have been religiously doing each of the wod (3days with 1day rest) and I am only couple of wods behind schedule. Most of the wods have been significantly scaled down. Its very typical to scale weight or reps down by two while adding some kind of "acceptable cheating" to make it through some of the harder work out (eg. jumping dips instead of ring dips. 

Listing rest of the wods

WOD#36 situp / BackExtension / 45#Thruster / Pullups 36:05@143/173

10 Sit-ups 

10 Hip & Back Extensions 

45 pound Thrusters, 20 reps 

30 Pull-ups

20 Sit-ups 

20 Hip & Back Extensions 

45 pound Thrusters, 15 reps 

20 Pull-ups

30 Sit-ups 

30 Hip & Back Extensions 

45 pound Thrusters, 10 reps 

15 Pull-ups

WOD#37 Hang Power Clean 50#DB 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

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WHOLE WEEK OFF for a vacation

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WOD#38 RaisedPushup/LPullups 14:00@141/165 15-13-11-9-7-5-3-1/rev

11,13,15 pullups mostly jumping (no kipping)

set time Max HR

15-1 0:34 131

13-3 0:52 138

11-5 1:40 142

9-7 2:03 138

7-9 1:56 144

5-11 2:27 150

3-13 2:11 155

1-15 2:12 165

WOD#39 5x(50ft lunges22# + 11 burpees)

Half of Rxed WOD Very very tiring despite no real muscle work. Also for some reason killed my back. I am guessing pushing weights too far back while taking lunges and NOT using active shoulder. Shoulders were bit weiry after pull/push up wod yesterday.

HR reached 183 on each of the lunges except first and burpees were too tiring to do despite scaled down from 21 to 11 (HR maxed at 170+ most of the time)

Max overall HR was 186 which is highest on wod not involving longer runs on heavy weight lifting.

WOD#40 BackSquat 65#/SP65#/DL85# one Rep (light!)

Back ache following the lunges forced very light weights. Could easily add 20# to backsquat and DL but not SP.

Must try again after back gets better.

WOD#41 5 x ( 30situps, 25bkexten)

WOD#42 Thruster 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

WOD#43 Elizabeth 21-15-7 x (Clean 45#, Jumping Dips) 6:32@166/188

WOD#44 Mr. Joshua 5 x (400m/30situp/15x65#DL) 30:50@163/187

Quite exausting, especially after starting with a 400m@6mi/mi. Rest of the 400m were at 7:30min/mi. My situps have clearly improved a lot as I did the 30 situp set in about 45sec-1:05min. DL was easy but very tiring so the weight of 65# turned out to be relatively optimal choice.

WOD#45 (half) Barbara 5 x (10pull,15push,20sit,25squat)

Despite scaled down by half, the order of difficulty was same as the sets i,e. Pull ups were by far the hardest and then pushups with good form. My continuous strict pullups count is now probably about 4 though I will be trying for more in "Nicole" coming up.

List of January wods (no barefoot running)

I havent really been posting at this blog since yearend as I STOPPED running barefoot in this god-awful cold weather. As if its not bad enough to be in first winter barefoot, January also turned out to be insanely colder (5 degrees colder than average). One the bright side, I have been training some speedwork on trademill (in my good old Supernovas purely for social aspect of the work gym). I have significantly improved my tolerance to running 400m reps at 6min/mi. 

Listing all the wods below and next entry.

WOD #26 Hang Power Clean 65# 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 6:25@146/185

WOD#27 Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 65# 14:20@143/168

WOD#28 Clean&Jerk 65# 1-2-3-4 in 1-2-3-4th min 15:33@156/191

WOD#29 3x(400m run, 15MBPushups, 15pullups) 41@152/192

WOD#30 Pullup var 3, 5x1, 7skip

WOD#31 Front Squat 45# 1-1-1-1-1

WOD#32 5mi Race @ 8:30mi/min 42:45@171/194

WOD#33 mini-pullup/Virtual Shoveling 20-15-10-5

WOD#34 Back Squats 65# 3-3-3-3-3

WOD#35 14:57 65#PowerClean/jumping Dips 15-12-9-6-3 15@152/165

WOD#25 (half murph)

Murph is one of the most feared crossfit workout. Ideal way to start the new years! The RXed version calls for 1mile run, 100 pullups(!), 200 pushups (!!), 300 squats (!!!), 1mile run. I just scaled down to 50/100/150 with 5 sets of 10/20/30.

I did the two runs as prescribed at 6:46 and 8:00. The hr touched 193 in first run and 190 in the second. However, the second run at mare 8:00 pace was worse than most races I remember, never mind the first mile at 6:40. What a nightmare! I had to actually visualize the marathon finishline starting at 59th street to make it through it. This visualization is sacred and only meant for life i'd death running scenario. That gives some idea how exaustimg the mile run was. Funny thing was that nothing was aching as rest the Murph doesn't really use running muscles. It was like hitting a wall within one hour of workout.

As for other parts, pullups continue to haunt me. I barely squeezed in a set of 5 continous Kipping pullups and it was downhill from there finishing at one-at-a-time half complete pullups by the time I reached 40+.

Pushups were easier but only on relative basis. I started with set of 10 each and quickly deteriorated to 5 a set and couldn't reach the floor on way down. 100pushups in one session is a first for me.

Squats was a bright point. I quickly developed a more proper form as I ventured a deeper squat. While hard, somehow it felt much cleaner and I could do 30 in one go. Of course it made squats a real workout as opposed to earlier wods. HR reached 180 the two times I attempted all 30 squats in one go which is pretty heavy.
Phew.

BF in NY for 816mi
Wod#25 MURPH 54:46 1mi 6:46/50pullups/100pushups/150squats1mi 8:00

WOD# 24 Fight Gone Bad! (or almost bad)

Today's WOD was the infamous "fight gone bad" with 3 rounds of 1minute rounds of Wall Ball (15# no throw), Sumo DeadLift high Pull (45#) , Boxjump (15inch?) , Push press (25#?), Row (calory) and 1min rest. My watch forces a 10sec break between each set which is technically not allowed but was godsent just to get set up. I did 25-26-15-15-13...20-15-15-15-13...15-15-20-16-13.

Quite a workout despite the scale down and extra 10sec break. I forgot my HR this time but wish I could see how high the HR stayed the whole time. I could feel it elevated the whole time. Amazing howmuch workout I got in mare 20minutes.

BF in NY for 816mi

WOD#24 Fight Gone Bad approx 15 each (score 245 scaled)

WOD#23 SP/PP/PJ 5x(1/3/5)

WOD #23 was purely weightlifting with successive progression from Shoulder Press to Push Press and then Push Jerk. I decided to use the barebell at Gym after having some trouble doing DB version couple of days. I had to work on the form quite a bit. I was having trouble keeping the back straight till I realized that I was not pushing the bar behind my head at upright position.  

I did

Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1 at 45#

Push Press 1-1-1-1-1-3-3-3-3-3 at 65#

Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 at 45#

BF in NY for 816mi

WOD#23 SP/PP/PJ 5x(1/3/5)

WOD#22 Michael 30:09 3 x (800m/50BackExt/50situps)

Today's WOD "Michael" sounded easier than it really was. The 50 situps in each round really add up. Also the elevated HR before starting the run in second and third round made the runs pretty hard. 

* My run split paces steadily deteriorated at 6:34, 7:12 and 7:20 even as avg HR increased with each. The last run was close to 188 most of 800m despite the natural break I get while getting out of apartment after situps. 

* On the other hand, situp times steadily improved with last round at 2:27 for 50. US Airforce minimum requirement includes 49 situps in two minutes so 2:27 is at least within respectable range for third round of Michael. I should try the 49 as a standalone one of these days. Marine situp requirement is 35 in a minute. On related topic, pullups requirements are 3-4 with average at 10. Pushups requirement in 2min is at 24min/41avg.

* I have no easy way to do back extensions at home so I just did mini version on a slanted wooden board. It did the job but was way too easy. However, I got a feeling that my back muscles were not 100% after yesterday's weight lifting fiasco so I didnt mind taking it easy. 

BF in NY for 816mi

WOD#22 Michael 30:09 3 x (800m/50BackExt/50situps)

WOD#21 20min 7x(5Thrust/7HPC/10SDLHP)

Finally, an unnamed WOD! The workout also does NOT have pullups. Lucky me. After incredibly heavy Annie yesterday, my shoulder and arms are still heavy and aching but I took the opportunity to catchup with my one-day lag finally by doing the Saturday workout on time. 

I attempted 7 rounds (1min each set) using 2x25#DB for Thrusters/HPC (Hang Power Clean) and the brand new 44# KB for SDLHP (Sumo Deadlift High Pull). The Rxed version asks for 95# so this is barely 50% of Rxed. However, halfway through fourth round while doing thrusters with the two dumbells, I had muscle failure. I quickly did damage control and scaled down to 20# instead to keep going but it was kindda hard after that. The DB version needs these tiny muscles in shoulder to support the weight, especially after I started loosing straight line form. One of them must have gave up. Good lesson though. I need to stick to barbell as much as possible till I strengthen my shoulders. 

The Sumo Deadlift High Pullup was a new exercise for me. It involves holding the KB in front in squat position and then pull it up vertically hard so it makes it all the way up to chin. Its sort of opposite of pumping air into bicycle pump. I bought a 44# KB for this and had to carry it home almost 0.5miles. Funny how 

that can easily qualify as a crossfit workout.

Hang power cleans were not as hard as thruster, probably because I had done them couple of times before. I did start to loose form pretty badly towards the end. In fact, I have no idea if I did HPCs or HCs. Anyway, the wod is over. Tomorrow's wod involves running 400m, situps and back extensions (no pullups!). So that should be easy.

On barefoot front, I bought $2 toe warmers which might come in hany next time I have to run in cold.

BF in NY for 814mi

WOD#21 20min 7x(50# or 20#5Thrusters /50#7HPC/44#10SDLHP)

WOD#19 Eva and WOD#20 Angie (almost hour each)

The named wod's are quite something. I attempted "Eva" yesterday on Christmas day and "Angie" today after "Cindy" on Monday. The Rxed Eva involves 5 rounds of (800m sprint + 30x72#kettlebell swing+ 30 pullups). It took me well over 2 hours to get my #%$% together just to get started. I scaled down to 5x(800m + 20x25# DB + 15pullups). In other words, only sprints were as Rxed. Rest was substantially scaled down. Even then it took all the life out of me by the end.

Weather was chilly but good enough and east river walkaway was icy to run on. Fortunately, its almost 400m just to get to the riverfront so I didnt have to risk running too much on icy portions. The sprints were okay but not great. This is partly due to hilly run and partly due to exertion related to rest of the Eva. I ran in Vibram and my toes would freeze every time I would be back from the quick 800m sprint. 

* My running splits were at 8:08 (uphill), 7:00, 7:22, 7:46, 6:44 (downhill)....avg 7:24. It wasn't particularly exhausting effort with HR around 175bpm. I tried to run fast but the rest of WOD sucked life out of motivation and I just wanted to get it over with. 

* Kettlebell swing were by far the easiest of the three routines. I just dont have anything heavier than 25# to do this workout. Also I kept it at 20reps per set instead of 30 because it seemed to strain muscles which were already sore from filthy fifty (which included swings).

* Pullups still continue to haunt me. I did the 15 (3x5) pullups each round by jumping up and then negatives. I didnt push too much since I knew that nextday's wod involved 100 pullups and I wanted to keep some reserves. Total time for the wod was 58:52min which is longest wod to date.

___________________________________________________________________

Today's wod was Angie: 100 pullups/pushups/situps/squats. I did everything as Rxed except pullups (no surprise there) except, I broke it down in 6 rounds (15/15/15/15 - 15/15/15/15 - 5/15/15/15 - 5/20/20/20 - 5/20/20/20 - 5/15/15/15)

* I did just 50pullups (kippings pullups). To be fair, I attempted 100 initially but had to revise after 30. Also by 40th pullup, I noticed tiny blister under the right ring finger. I had go finish atleast 50. Blister timing was perfect since, by 40th pullups, I could barely do 2pullups in one go and dropped down to 1 per go. There was no way I could have made it to 100. 

* Pushups turned out to be much harder than I thought. This is partly due to me correcting the form by moving arms back and bending them along the body instead of at an angle. The pushup felt different and more powerful but I was exhausted by 60th pushups. Most of the pushups were in a mini-set of 5. The few sets of 10 I attempted were quite difficult. So strictly speaking pushups were not as Rxed as I had to break it in so many mini-sets instead of 100 in one go (which is just insane).

* Situps were fun. Form was pretty good this time and I was getting pretty sore by last few rounds but manageable. Squats were also the easy. I need to work on form for squats a bit.

Total time 54:34 min, second longest. Each of the 6 rounds took about 10 min.

BF in NY for 814mi

WOD#19 Eva 5x(800m + 20x25# DB + 15pullups) at 58:52min HR (153/184)

WOD#20 Angie 50 pullups, 100 pushups/situps/squats 54:34min HR (131/158)

WOD#18 5-5-5-5-5 backsquat@65#

I jump ahead and did today's workout instead of Eva as planned. The wod involved 5-5-5-5-5 of backsquats.  I did 5 rounds with just the barbell (45#) just to get the form right. Then I did 5 rounds of 65#. It wasnt really that hard but given that this was my very first backsquat, I decided to keep it under full control. Its amazing how much easier it is to do workout with barbell instead of dumbbell. 

I also practiced kipping pullups a bit but its harder than I thought but its doable. Also when I pulled it off, it was so much fun. Separately, I practiced double-under. This also needs some coordination practice and I could only do one at a time. HR shot up to 160+ even with just one doubleunder reps so double-unders have potential to push into anaerobic zone pretty quickly.

BF in NY for 809mi

WOD#18 5-5-5-5-5@65# backsquat

WOD#17 Cindy! (5rounds) + 800m@6:20

I skipped the rest day to do the Cindy wod yesterday. I kept it pretty intense along the line with more recent WODs in Gym. The workout involved max rounds of 5 pullups/10 pushups/15 squats in 20 minutes. I managed to squeeze in 5 rounds with very good form in pushups and squats though pullups continues to haunt me. I did do 5 pullups in each round though my form deteriorated steadily each round and most pullups were in set of 2 with last few basically jumping negative pullups. I also squeezed in a sprint at the end for 800m pushing HR to 191max (first half 6:40 second half 6:00). Sprint was fun but it interferes with Eva wod coming up which has 5x800m.

It is amazing how heavily the recent wods are skewed toward pullups (15 on Thursday, 20 on Friday, 25 on Monday and 50-150 coming up on Wednesday) and I need to do something about it. Next wod, called Eva, involves 5 rounds of 30 pullups (thats 150 pull ups). I think kipping pullups are legitimate pullups and I plan to learn to do them. At the very least, I might be able to alternate between two and kipping pullups sounds lot more fun if I can manage them. Anyway, after 5x5=25 pullup attempts yesterday, I am in no shape to do Eva and took the rest day today and hence continue to be late by a day (which is fine with me). While the upper body muscles are pretty tight today and aching, I dont see any injury so I should be back in the saddle tomorrow. I just hope Eva is followed by some kind of lower body workout (no more pullups pl!) I will find soon enough.

Except for the form, technically, Cindy workout was as Rxed. Of course, 5 round is nothing compared to 15-20 typically reported on crossfit community but its something. Squats were easy (the marathon training paid off) but push ups were getting harder with each round. I worked really hard to keep the form good by fully lowering the body but I had to take break in last three rounds to do all 10.

On barefoot front, the 4x800 interval training on Sunday in slushy snow turned out to be worse than I had anticipated. The 4 small toes in each feet were semi-numb next day as well and only after 48hours I find them to be about 90% original sensation. No blister or discoloration but still a bit disturbing. I still think its the last one mile home which caused most of the damage. However, there is no way to be sure if I had run that 5th mile in central park on dry road, it would have been the same or it was the stopping and stepping in icy water puddle at stoplight caused the real damage. Depending on answer to this, I have to figure out how I am going to tackle the half marathons in Late Jan, early Feb. (Bzzzzz!) In any case, if I indeed end up keeping up with crossfit wod, I doubt if I will have cycles left to do the halfs but we will see (already signed up!).

BF in NY for 809mi

WOD#17 Cindy 20min=5x(5PULL+10PUSH+15SQAT) + 800m@6:20

Wod#16 4x800@3:24

The wod for saturday was 4x800m interval training. My first wod which is as Rxed with respectable perfomance! (this is a BIG deal)

After the brutal filthy fifty on Friday, I had to take a day break just to get out of bed, especially with snow storm out there. I bailed out on the 15k race which was converted into fun race anyway. But it wasn't the snow but the crossfit workout which made me bail out.

Anyway, I did the workout today instead as temperature reached above freezing and ice started melting giving some grip. Of course (? See last paragraph?) barefoot running was out of question but I ran in vibrams. Vibrams are not waterproof at all and my feet were wet within a minute into the 50minute workout. It was also pretty slippery since the vibrams are smooth at the bottom. So getting to the park, especially walkways in the park was pretty tricky. Even walk back was tough as my feet turned into almost like block of ice. But more on this later.

The actual workout was mostly uneventful. I ran 3:16, 3:29, 3:31, 3:20 (average 3:24) with hrs at 186, 183 184, 187. First and last lap were quite fast. There no way to be sure but cold wet conditions didn't affect the fast runs much. I think the bigger limiting factor was lack of mental training to "push through" anarobic exertion. Marathon training has hardcoded these slow-down reflexes. Perhaps i should sneak in a few sprints after regular wod I do in gym just till I touch HR 200.

While I am lagging by a day, next workout is 20min max rounds of 5 pullups(ouch!), 10 pushups and 15 squats. I can sneak in a sprint. I thinking of doing this "cindy" workout tommorow and can't wait.

Final passing comment on barefoot aspect. While the vibrams protect from unnecessary pricking into the numb soles, they are absolutely no protection to cold whatsoever in wet cold conditions. If anything the whole foot is covered by cold wet surface exacerbating the cooling. I hope the situation is different in cold and dry conditions. I don't see myself doing anything more run a few miles in wet conditions at freezing conditions and much less, if any, at below freezing wet conditions. I am assuming that barefoot will be worse run vibrams but I won't know till I try. Perhaps a good balance might be alternating. To be continued on this topic.

In the mean time, I was fully aware of conditions of my feet today and they never really went numb till my way back. I had to wait at stop lights a lot and step in deep slushy water both contributing to very quick chilling of feet. By the time I got home, I had lost more than 75% sensations in sole. I have smartened up now and know NOT to take warm shower right away and warmed up the feet with hand and air heater till I started getting tingling sensation. Then I took a shower moving from lukewarm to hotish water. Even 4hours later I can feel tinglish in left feet fingers. But unlike the 10k race couple of weeks back when I had a tiny amount of skin damage, nothing of the sort today. I think the trick is to keep the workout within an hour. I need to find a warm pitstop in central park.

BF in NY for 809mi

WOD#16 4x800m@6:48 interval (1min break) AvgHR185/max201

Getting serious with the WODs

I upgraded my WODs by attempting couple of them in the gym. Since lack is equipment is not really an excuse in gym, the WODs had been brutal. 

WOD #14 involved 5 rounds of 3pullups and all of the 15 pullups were mostly unassisted. I was pretty surprised that I could do pull ups since I was struggling to do ONE in the morning on the door-pullup bar. Also for the first time, a WOD involved running and I had to give it my best shot. Its been 8months since I ran in comfy shoes so it felt weird but I ran 5 rounds of 400 yards at 6:40pace. Piece of cake.

While wod #14 felt heavy, it was nothing compared to wod #15, the filthy fifty. This wod involved 50 reps of various routine starting with box jumps (my favorite) and then pullups (my nightmare). While I am no shape to do the complete routine as Rxed, I tried to break most of the routines and alternate between. Particularly, I would do 5 pullups between some of the routine. The whole thing took over 45minutes. Absolutely brutal. My arms are in pain today. Knees to elbow was also very hard and I lost count but must have done just 20-25 and mostly incomplete. I also did 50burpees with at least 10 break. I couldnt even do 5 burpees in one set by the time I finished. This one is a classic routine for getting heart pumped up and getting whole body strength training. Finally, I havent learnt how to do double under but I did 80 single under instead.

On running front, I am absolutely spent after last night's wod to do the 15K, especially with snow storm yesterday and windchills in teens today. Fortunately (i.e. no more pullups), todays WOD involves 4 rounds of 800meters so I will have to run one way or the other.

WOD #13 3:25 HR119/127 (UI!)

Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps 50#

WOD#14 23min PUL/Sprint/BkExtension HR?

20min 5 rounds of 3pullups + 0.3mi at 6:40pace + 10 back extensions.

WOD #15 FILTHY FIFTIES 47:32 HR154/180

50 (25+25) Box jump, 15 inch box

20 (5+5+5+5) Jumping pull-ups

50 (30+20) Kettlebell swings, 30#

Walking Lunge, 50 steps

20 Knees to elbows

30 (20 + 10) Push press, 25 pounds

50 (10+10+10+10+10) Back extensions

50 (10+10+10+10+10) ball crunchs, 20 pound ball

50 (10 breaks) Burpees

100 (80+20) Single unders

4mi RACE in vibrams/WOD 9,10 and 11

Three WODs in three days including a 4miler race which work out as a substitute for a 10K WOD run. How convenient!  The race was great just not super fast. I barely managed to squeeze in 8min/mi in Vibrams compared to PR of 7:21 barefoot a month back. It was relatively cold (barely above freezing) and running barefoot was out of question. I ran to and from startline as well making the whole run close to fast 8mi. The run was fine. Toes froze again though it wasnt too bad like last time as I didnt take shoes off at all. The first mile was hard as legs felt really heavy. It may have something to do with 3x50 squats for Nasty girls? But the last mile was perfect at about 7min/mi pace and average HR of 189bpm. It didnt feel too hard a pace despite high HR. It was tempting to take shoes off given a dry surface (at 33degrees) compared to wet surface last weekend (however at warmer 37degrees). Its worth noting that with all the WODs taking life out of me, I had had no running done at all besides races lately. Thats kind of a shame. At least two runs a week are a must to keep up the training.

Other WODs were fun as well. WOD10 involved three rounds of 50 2ft box jumps, which scaled down to 5in box jumps and that was bad enough (btw, I did these barefoot potentially cutting out any spring loading in shoes. The box jumps were hard work out. The three rounds included 21 185 hang power cleans which I scaled down to 10x50pound HPCs (heaviest weights I have) and also 30 (!) pull-ups which I scaled down to highly assisted 15pullups each round. Multiple pull-ups are really a non-starter.

WOD11 was the run (reverse the order between WOD11 and WOD10). WOD 12 seemed simple with 5 rounds of 5 x deadlift of 27pounds which I had to substitute with 5 x (10 x 50pounds). The more fun part was the 5 sets of 10 burpees. I did it as Rxed. This might have been the first Rxed routine for me. It was quite brutal and technically I have been keeping the pushups half elevated some times. I had no idea that small thing like burpee can get my heart pumping. This would be a good warmup routine if needed.

BF in NY for 805mi/overall 983mi

WOD#10 3 x (5in box jump x 50 + 21HPCs x 50 + 15 x A-pullups) 154/171bpm 15:01min

WOD#11 4mi race 8min/mi 179/193bpm vibrams 32:13min

WOD#12 5 x (10 x 50pount deadlifts + 10 burpees) 148/167bpm 11:12min

 

WOD#9 Nasty girls and no run

Chilly rain keeping me away from running this week. I also have a quick 4miler this Saturday. In the meantime, I continue with my modified WODs. Today's WOD is called Nasty Girls (three rounds of 50squats, 7muscle pull-ups and 10 135pounds hang power clean. I did 3 rounds of 50squats, 7 assisted pull-ups/assisted dips, 10 50pound dumbbell hang power clean. The routine took 12:29min. The squat portion of the wod was same as Rxed which might be a first for me. Average HR at solid 149 and max touched 182bpm in last round. I had a hard time believing that the weights portion will spike HR so much more than the 50 squats. Except for the pull-ups, rest of the routine felt good.'

BF in NY for 797mi and WOD9: 3x(50squats, 7pull/dip, 10x50# hang power clean12:29min, 149/182bpm)

WOD#7 and #8 (no run)

After freezing cold yesterday, today warmed up to almost 50 degrees. But I didnt go for run today as I decided to do two light WODs in row. WOD#7 was a clean and jerk using dumbbell. I had to use just 2x25=50 pounds but I worked on form a bit given that this is the first time I had done clean and jerk. It felt easy but the HR remained elevated at 150bpm most of the time. Also with right hand being the stronger hand, the imbalance in strength caused issues doing jerks using dumbbell instead of barbell. I may need to get a barbell set.

Then I did a moderated version of Annie (situp+doubleunderx50-40-30-20-10). I basically did full situps 25-20-15-10-5 with correct form and high jumps 50-40-30-20-10. High jumps were too easy but I dont have space or tools to do doubleunder. Sittups were hard, especially while keeping good form. It became harder to get jerk momentum past 10+sit ups. But 75 situps with few breaks isnt too shabby. With two WODs, I am back on track. Tomorrow also happens to be a rest day so perhaps I can squeeze in a run. Still got 4miler race this Saturday.

BF in NY for 796mi

WOD#7 (1x7 clean-jerk 50pounds 3:10 min) and WOD#8 half-Annie 25-20-15-10-5sittups and 50-40-30-20-10jumps 8:47min)

WOD#6 and yes run (10K race in vibrams...mostly)

I ran the 10K race today at somewhere between 53-54min (PR 52:08) incl a 2min+ standing break (more later). It was just above freezing temperature with wet and icy cold surface temperature. I was almost frozen by the time I biked to the startline. I was late, as usual. I was so late that they had already removed the mats and I couldnt time my stop watch properly at right startline. In fact, I ran from my bike to start and also back so it was more like 6.35mi race for me in 54:43min. 

Even though I raced in Vibrams most of the race, I took them off at the 3mi mark till Columbus circle (3.6mi). The surface was too cold and I could tell that I could not run like that all the way to finish-line. This is by far the coldest I have run barefoot. It felt nice to be able to wiggle my toes to warm them up unlike in shoes but the fingers do get cold pretty fast. I was having trouble putting vibrams back on when they got cold. This affair took solid 2min of standstill at 3.6mi mark. Then I took my shoes off again at 6mi mark to finish really strong barefoot. All in all, despite the freezing conditions and wet cold surface, I ran the race at PR pace if adjusted for 2min standstill. It wasnt even a hard effort with avg HR at 175. I didnt shoot for PR since I was too late to get make it to startline mat and would not be getting "net chip timing". Oh well. I got another 4mi race next week to make up for it. 

The freezing temperatures were not too bad for training barefoot but definitely slowed me down. If nothing else, the vibram on and off business is a bit time consuming for racing purposes. Also 3mi might have been a bit early. The second barefoot run past 6mi was very nice and was no problem at all. The feet were quite warmed up by then. Also I had no trouble putting vibrams back on right after finishline. However, I had to fix my bike and them ride into the wind on windy day and that again froze me and my toes in particular. Biking seems so much worse than even barefoot running as far as freezing extremities are concerned. Next time if I will just jog to the startline. (I would have done that today if I wasnt late).

Now for the fun part. The wod on Saturday doing 150squats etc didnt go unnoticed in the race but it just made me a bit jumpy (quite literally). Every few minutes, I would get sick of running same pace and would jump or sprint a bit. The WOD was pretty heavy and I expected it to affect my race but to be perfectly honest, it didnt affect the race, especially since I didnt push hard in the race. However, my legs are quite sore today and they will get worse tomorrow. Moreover, I did today's WOD as well. Fortunately, the wod#6 was all upper body so sore legs didnt make a difference. WOD#6 was originally doing as many sets of 15pullups/ringpushups/BackExtension/GHsitups in 20min. I lightened the routine to 5 assisted pullups/plain pushups/25degree back extension/regular full situps. I did 8 rounds (8x5=40count each). Pullups continue to be hardest but I tried to do as many pure negatives as possible. Also 5x8 are quite a few assisted pullups. Also, I invented simple way to do back extension. I put one of the hexa-dumbbell and put wooden plank on it to create bit of space to do mini-back extension. I think it would help if I get a heavy ball to do some of these exercises.

BF in NY for 797mi

WOD#5. No run yet

I just did yesterday's wod today morning instead (today is meant to be a rest day). The original wod called for squats and ring (muscle) pull ups at 100-2-80-4-70-6-60-8-50-10. I tones it down to squats and assisted regular pullups at 50-1-40-2-30-3-20-4-10-5 that is about half the effort on squats and nominal effort on pullups while I get in shape to get pullups with right form. The multiple pullup sets were mostly one at a time as well. Total time 9:04min. The modified workout didn't seem too hard so I am still planning on running the 10k tomorrow. I would have thought 150squats will kill my quads. Perhaps they will be sore tomorrow. I was definitely sore after 80squats last week. Also I worked on improving form for the squats by mdking sure that thighs become horizontal before I stand up. I am sure I wasn't doing the squats complete last time. Today I used a box to give me "feedback" when I need to stand up again.

I have really done any running today partly due to relatively new physical load due to these wod and partly due to general work load. I might run 3-4miles today to pick up the race number and to taste running in subzero temperature in vibrams. It would be nice if I can figure out a routine of running in vibram for couple of miles and the move to barefoot running once blood circulation peaks.

BF in NY for 791mi
WOD#5 SQT x PUL 50-1-40-2-30-3-20-4-10-5

WOD#4 (no run)

I am starting to like these indoor workouts though its leaving me a bit spent to venture a run outside. Today's workout included 5 sets of 10 lunge with 10 pounds held above head alternating with 5x10 pounds swings. Quite a workout lasting 10:21 with avg HR at solid 156 and max at 173. The lunges were relatively easy but the lunges are new to me and I can tell that I will be hurting tomorrow. I must say the "functional" workouts are so much more fun than training on machine. There no one single muscles which hurts but whole arms and legs are heavy with dull ache. 

Also I was having trouble keeping balance while weaving though turns while doing lunge in my home. I can barely make 10 from one end to the other. To be fair, the lunge steps were bit short with knee bending at 90degrees in the back. Ideally, the knee would just barely bend while touching the ground and also just barely touch ground before pulling up. I will have to find larger space area next time around. Swings were a lot more fun. I needed some work to keep my form upright but hard to do swings wrong given how simple it is.

BF in NY for 791mi

WOD#4 5x(10step 10pound LNG/10x25pound swing) 10:21/156avg/173max

WOD#3 (no run!)

I just cant find motivation to get out in cold and dark conditions even though its not that cold. I did some research and found water/snow-proof socks called sealskinz. Apparently, it is designed for outdoor rough activities such as military training/snow boating etc and can handle running in even without shoes. The way I see it, its just a matter of time before I wont be able to keep the barefoot streak any more.

On the bright side, cross training is going great. I did toned down version of WOD#3 timed at 3:07. This version of  "Fran" routine was a 21-15-9 thruster (20pounds) + 7-5-3 pull-ups (assisted). The 20 pounds were easy but 50 would have been too much. I got decent work at out in any case. Average HR was solid 144 with max at 159. The pull-ups were assisted with a initial jump. Original Fran requires 21-15-9 pull-ups which is quite a workout it seems. 

There is a 10K race coming up this weekend. The race is at 8:30am and the low for the day is 27degrees with snow showers so I am absolutely TERRIFIED. I may finally have to suck it up and run this one in vibram (or worse: shoes!)

BF in NY for 791mi

WOD#3 21-15-9THR/7-5-3PUL (3:07)

No Run today and WOD#2

Still a bit sore in thighs from squats yesterday and a bit tender on sole from abrasion from running. So no running today despite beautiful 50+ degree temperature. I even ventured out in just a t-shirt to pick up food getting funny looks from people. One girl said "its not THAT warm". Somehow, it didn't bother me much after running barefoot for few months now. 

As for WOD#2, I did 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Shoulder Press with 50pounds, with one set a minute (HR peak  105, low 85). Wasn't that hard but we will find out tomorrow if i get sore. Lifting the weight was easy but maintaining balance and keeping the back straight didnt feel right. The main difference between regular shoulder press and dumbbell shoulder press is precisely this issue. Dumbbell SP requires extra work by muscles in back to keep individual dumbbell in balance. So while 50pound is pretty light for SP, given lack of conditioning of delicate back muscles, its probably not such a bad idea to start light. Eventually, I will have to consider moving the weightlifting exercises to the gym.

On barefoot front, tomorrow is predicated to be warmish as well. So I will probably go for a run, preferably in the morning. Technically its a rest day for WOD so probably no other workouts.

BF in NY for 791mi

WOD#2 7x1x50SPin7min