Back to work - 11/2/2012

After a week off I am back and ready for the Burf challenge....bring it big guy!

-Buy In-
5/3/1 Press – Deload
40% x 5, 50% x 5, 60% x 5
*Not for Max Reps

75x5, 85x3, 95x5
-Time to add some weight to this!


WOD
100 Strict Burpees for Time
-Ok this SUCKED!  I only got 60 :-(
-The "strict" part was real push-ups.....ugh....



-Cash Out-
Advanced: 3 x 5 Unbroken Pause Pull Ups – 5 second pause
Intermediate: 3 x 5 Unbroken Pause Pull Ups – 3 second pause
Beginner: 3 x 10 Strict Pull Ups
-I was a little burned out by the time I got to this.
-I did beginner with a green band

Note to self....never take a week off!

10/23/2012 - Ugh....

-Buy In-

5/3/1 Press – Week 2
70% x 3, 80% x 3, 90% x 3

3x 65lbs, 3x 75lbs, 10x 85lbs

WOD

For Time:

30 Kettlebell Swings (53/35)

Then 3 Rounds of:

12 Shoulder Touches - Modified
15 Toes to Bar

30 Kettlebell Swings (53/35)

8:15

-Cash Out-

Max Height Box Jump

40"

10/16/2016 - Running

-Buy In-

Coaches’ Dynamic Warmup

WOD

4 x 800m Run

Rest 1:1

First - 3:34

Second - 3:42

Third - 3:32

Forth - 3:46

Total TIme - 25:22

Rest 1:1 means if you ran the first 800m in 3:34 then you had 3:34 until you ran the next one.

-Cash Out-

Muscle Up Skillz

10/9/2012 - Bench & Push Ups!

-Buy In-

Take 15 Minutes to Establish 1RM Bench Press
-New PR: 185lbs - I might actually be able to bench my weight by summer!

WOD

3 Rounds for Time: (scalled down)

25 Hand Release Push Ups - Ugh...
500m Row
-Time was 14:11, not great but not bad.

-Cash Out-

100 Weighted Russian Twists
-Never heard of these before, they were fun....tough...

10/8/2012 - Mile run and Planks!

-Buy In-

Skill Work: Clean and Jerk - 65lbs

WOD

For Time:

Run 1 Mile - 7:30 

30 Clean and Jerks 135/95 65lbs
Total Time: 14:11

-Cash Out-

3 x Max Weighted Planks 60 secs - 45 secs - 20 secs

*Rest 60s between attempts

Never done Planks before, those were tough.

10/7/2012 - Home workout

I could not get to the gym so during the Steelers game I tried to do some work:

100 Push-ups - Those were a lot tougher then I originally thought.  The last 10 were burning my tries.
200 Sit-ups - These we a little easier then I expected.  I did them in groups of 15 or 20 which I think needs to go up so I get a burn.

10/2/2012 - CFSH Baseline II

-Buy In-

2 Rounds:

15 Kettlebell Swings
10 Jump Squats

WOD

“CFSH Baseline II”

Run 800M - 3:15

*Rest 90 Seconds* -

2 Minutes Max Rep Double Unders - 41

*Rest 90 Seconds*

2 Minutes Max Rep Pull Ups - 9 (Blue Band) just sad...

*Rest 90 Seconds*

90 Seconds Max Rep Box Jumps 24/20 - 26

*Rest 90 Seconds*

90 Seconds Max Thrusters 75/45 - 22 (with bar, should have been doing 75lbs)

-Cash Out-

3 x Max Handstand Hold - Did not do

10/1/2012 - The Crossfit Total

WOD

“The Crossfit Total”

*You have three attempts to find your 1 rep max for each lift.

Power Clean 1 Rep - 105

Bench Press 1 Rep - 185

Overhead Squat 1 Rep - 85

Total Weight = 375

Really happy with bench, the rest were terrible.

Wednesday, September 26

-Buy In-

Skill: Hang Clean

2 Hang Cleans on the Minute for 10 Minutes

--65, 85, 95, 110, 135, 115, 115

WOD

As Many Rounds as Possible in 8 Minutes:

8 Hang Clean  --95lbs

25 Kettlebell Swings 53/35 --25lbs

--2 rounds and 2 Hang Cleans

-Cash Out-

Max Rope Climb

--First time doing this so I laid on the ground and pulled myself to my feet.  According to coaches this will help me get a feel for the rope.  I am trying to learn how to wrap it around my feet when I jump onto the rope.  I got 3 in....s in 2 Minutes

Tough workout!

-Buy In-
5/3/1 Deadlift 120x5 140x5 160x15
-This was my first time, I did -pretty well.  This weight is going to move up next time.

WOD
3 Rounds For Time:
Run 800 meters
50 Back Extensions
50 Sit-ups
-This took 26:48 to complete but I did the whole thing.  Some of the other girls/guys only went 400 meters or did 25 sit ups.  After this I almost threw up, it was a tough one.

-Cash Out-
Max Effort Front Rack Barbell Walking Lunges 135/95
-My form broke down around 4/5.

Day 2 - Real Crossfit class 2

http://instagr.am/p/PmVhBYwgT0/

Cross-Fit Day: One Month Down

 Ok, I admit I have been lazy updating this blog but really who is reading it anyway?

I finished up one month of Cross-fit and I have to admit I saw some major changes in my strength, especially in push-ups.  I am now able to do multiple sets of 10-15 "good form" push-ups now whereas before I could only do 7-10 twice.  Last night at Cross-fit we did the very first workout to see how progressed:

-200m Run

3 rds of 15-12-9

Squats

Push-ups

Body Row

-200m Run

The first time I did it I finished in 9:39 this time I did it in 5:57.  It felt great to actually see a major improvement.

Now the fun starts, I joined the real class.  I was doing maybe 1/2 of what they were doing...this is going to get interesting!

Cross-Fit Day 3: Handstands.....REALLY?

Well I walked into Cross-Fit today and checked out the board to see what we were going to be put through.  The one thing I was actually nervous about finally showed up, handstands.  I am sure the majority of you out there would not understand what it is like for someone 6'3" to do a handstand.  Short people (under 6' tall).....make me sick!

So as usual we started out with the DROM and back extensions.  We learned how to do Superman's which was a streatch to get us ready to learn Kipping.  We all did 500m rows at the same time, which I excelled at because I am the only person in my class over 6' tall.  I have to be honest, it was tough....I started to fell like I did at the end of my first class.  I could hear myself breathing hard which annoyed me because I am only 10 minutes into the class.

We next learned the basic motions of Kipping which is basically a form of a pull-up where you use all of your body:



Next was jumping pull-ups, that is sort of self explanatory.  Last was walking lunges which I learned here in a few minutes I need to strengthen my legs!

The WOD

 

3 rounds for time:

200m Run

12 Walkng lunges

10 Jump pull-ups

 

So that means we had to do them in order 3 times.  I came in middle of the pack but I was moving on that last 200m.  I caught the girl in front of me, she probably thought I was going to eat her because of how loud I was breathing as I passed her.  I have to admit I am pretty disgusting when I do any running.

 

So now onto the dumb handstands :-(  Here is how they are supposed to look:

 

I decided to be the first one to try these because I knew I was going to have some issues.  So attempt after attempt I tried to flip onto the wall and every time it looked like my arms and legs were all over the place.  After about 6 attempts I finally got my heels to stick to the wall.  Unfortunately I did not lock my left arm so I came tumbling down on my shoulder.  I am glad I did not hurt myself but it is going to take me some time to learn how to do those.  Oh..everyone else in my call (all under 6') were able to do it after 2 or 3 attempts.  So I decided to do it again....I didn't even come close to completing one of them...ugh.

Cross-Fit Day 3: Where are the chicks? (Last Friday)

It looks like the girls in the class were intimidated by my muscular body because they decided to take the morning class instead of the Friday afternoon class.  I don't blame them....I am just that good looking....ok not really.

So today we did our normal buy-in DROM (dynamic range of motion) but add some wrist stretches, back work and an intro to rowing.  We ended the buy-in with a 200 meter run out on the street....I cannot wait to get hit by a car :-(   We worked on rowing for a few minutes then did a 200 meter row to work on our form.  I felt I did well with this because I have the length to do some long rows.

We then reviewed dead lifts which I forgot how to do for some reason so that took a few reps to get back into it.  We next worked on understanding what a thruster was by going over front rack position, then a front squat then the actual thruster.  The thruster is hard for me because I have always been told to be on my toes or on the balls of my feet.  Exercises like the thruster or squat I need to stay on my heels.  It is going to take a while for the muscle memory to set in.

Here is a picture of a thruster:

The WOD consisted of 3 rounds for time - 200 meter row & 10 thrusters:
My results:

Round 1 - 1:56 (Walked from the row machine over to the thruster rack and lost time)
Round 2 - 1:39 (Really concentrated on the rowing.  I screwed up the thrusters badly)
Round 3 - 1:32 (Rowing went well, thrusters were 10x better.)

No cash-out today.

I talked with the trainers for a while after class about understanding squats/thrusters/whatever.  I need to unlock my hips first then start to squat down.  I seem to be keeping my knees in and that is messing up my squat.  Oh well.....lets see what happens tomorrow.

Cross-Fit Day 2: That wasn't so bad!

I guess they saw me almost passing out last class because this class was not so bad.  The trainers stressed form instead of actually trying to kill me.  We started out with a review of what we did on Monday for the warm up and added the Samson Stretch:

I can say it was hard to hold that for 20 seconds 2 different times.  I am just not flexible enough to do a lot of these type of exercises yet.  I really hope as I continue to try cross-fit I become more flexible!

The next few exercises we learned were the dead lift, press and push press.  I actually did pretty well at those.  We only used the bar so we could work on our form and try to understand how not to get injured.

Next was the WOD:

8 min round of
1. 10 dead lifts

2. 10 DB push press
(alternate between the two for 8 minutes)

I got approx. 12 rounds as the board says above and yes some of the girls did beat me but they are not 6' tall either.  It is so much easier for smaller people to do these exercises.  Towards the end of the 8 minutes I could feel my back tightening up, probably because I was doing something wrong so I called the trainer over to watch my form.  He showed me that I needed to straighten my back out more over the bar when I was doing the dead lifts.  He was right, my back started to feel much better after that.

I am not sure what to expect Friday...something tells me they are going to take us to hell and back since it is the weekend.

Can't wait!!



Cross-Fit Day 1: I want to die!

So last night I attended my first Cross-fit class.  This class was called "On-Ramp" which is for beginners to learn the basics and ease their way into the real classes.  It is three days a week and goes on for a month,  There were two girls along with myself in the class. We had two trainers who were watching over us to make sure we had proper form.

We first did the warm up which consisted of the trainers showing us how to do proper squats, push-ups, mountain climbers, leg swings and ring pull-ups. This last about 15 minutes of actual exercise since we all screwed up various motions...like squats.  My dumb slouch killed me on those.  I had to keep my back as straight as possible and push my hips back as far as I could..GOOD TIMES.

So now the WOD (workout of the day)

200 meter run

15-12-9  (we had to do 15 reps of the following three, then 12 reps, then 9 reps)
Squats
Push-ups
Ring pull-ups (not the right wording)

200 meter run

The WOD was timed...I came in last :-(  Little did I know that the two girls have actually done it before.  I think I finish in 8 minutes...I took me a while to complete the push-ups...ugh.

The "cash out" as it is called (sort of like a cool down.....but not really).
4 minutes of:
20 seconds mountain climbers
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds of sit-ups
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds mountain climbers
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds of sit-ups
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds mountain climbers
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds of sit-ups
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds mountain climbers
10 seconds of rest
20 seconds of sit-ups

We then we outside to talk about diet...the trainer thought I was going to pass out or throw up.
I was not going to but that was as close as I have ever got to being sick from working out.  I drove home and laid on the floor for about 25 minutes WANTING TO DIE.

Cannot wait for Wednesday!

Monday Morning Weigh-in & Cross-fit starts today!

Well it looks like I  have gained even more weight since the last time I weighed in:

Weight: 236.5
Goal: 218

I was around 218 this time last year and it felt great.  I am glad I only have around 18lbs to lose instead of the 32lbs I had to lose last year to get to 218.

I start my Cross-fit training today at http://crossfitsouthhills.com/.  If you need a good laugh give it a look every now and then.  I hear they love to take pictures of the new people in class.  I have really high hopes for the rest of this month!  I plan on getting my diet back to where it needs to be.  It is always so much easier when I am working out.

Other upcoming events:

Montour 1/2 Marathon
Erie 1/2 Marathon
The Great Race - Pittsburgh (10K)

Going to be tough.

Satuday fun day

So last Saturday I ran with Dunn on the Montour Trail near USC in Pittsburgh.  It was pretty terrible since I have not run over 5.5 miles since the Pittsburgh Marathon in May.  We did 5.2 miles down hill (47 min) and 5 miles up hill (49 min).  It felt great to get back out there and do some real running.

Monday Morning Weigh In

Weight: 234
Goal: 218

Lets see how long this takes.

Sunday Run

What worse then it being 90 out?  Running in it.....

5 miles on the Montour Trail which took about 52 minutes....slow but very carefu

Thursday, Saturday, Sunday

Thursday:
I started doing my outside training.  I found a 20lb log that I used to pickup from a squat position, put it above my head and slammed it down to the ground as hard as I could.  I really felt it as I ended up with a splinter.....I felt it in my chest and arms.

I did 60 24" box jumps onto my retaining wall which I plan to keep on doing to be ready for Footerest.

Saturday:
I got a terrible 3 mile run in the hills of Upper St. Clair in hot weather.  I ran about 10 min miles...I have not run hills in about a year so that was a change...

Sunday:
Leg day, 120 lunges with 25lb kettle-bell and 60 squats with the same 25lb kettle-bell.  I am definitely going to feel that tomorrow.

4 Mile Run

Well that was terrible....I did a 4 mile run yesterday and wow was I sore later that night.  I am not exactly sure where to go from here yet.  Should I bump it up to 6 miles are stick with 4 for a few days?  I will probably shoot for 6 next week.

I signed up for the Brentwood 5K on July 4th....nothing special but Kelly is running in it with me so that should be fun.

I also plan on signing up for the Erie 1/2 marathon again...13.1 seems so far right now.

Day 3

Yes I missed posting day 1 & 2 but that is OK.

I have started a really strict high protein diet, or as I call it eating healthy.  I am taking in around 185-200g of protein a day.  I finally ran after yesterday, only 2 miles but it felt good.  My chest injury and leg injury seem to have healed.  I am shooting for 4 miles today....I hope that goes well...of course I forgot my headphones today :-(

I am starting to setup my own cross-fit area in my backyard.  I have no idea how that will go but I want to do something different then just going to the gym.

I ran the Pittsburgh 1/2 Marathon this past weekend.  I have to admit it was extremely difficult with the weather being so hot.  I have yet to check my time because I was so slow...in fact the slowest I have ran a 1/2 marathon to date.

That is me in the green in the background trying not to die.

The good news coming out of this is I am again motivated to get into shape.  I plan on working in some cross-fit along with getting ready for my next 1/2 marathon.  One thing is for sure I am not taking 3 weeks off before a race like I did this time......

17 Miles.....

Yesterday I ran 17 miles with Mike, or should I say I ran about 16 and the last mile was me trying to man-up and finish it without walking.  I am really glad I hit the number 17 but my right hip and knee now hate me...cannot wait for VB tonight.

I did not get a chance to run last weekend because of the kids and a crappy cold.  I am hoping to ramp it up this week ending with a 20 mile run on Sat or Sun.  If I cannot get up to 20 miles this weekend I will probably throw in the towel and just run the 1/2 Marathon so I do not damage my body.

Still not pictures from Just a short run....probably for the best...

Just a short run

This past weekend I ran in the Just a Short Run 1/2 marathon.  I finished with a time around 2 hours, Run Keeper had me under but the "official" chip had me over...not that it matters I am not trying for PRs.  It was about 44 degrees, not bad (last year it was 18 degrees that was cold) and when I finished the sweat froze on my shirt.

At mile 2 I wanted to quit, I just did not feel it.  I decided to stay behind the 9:10 pace girl and try to take it easy.  That seemed to work because I felt a lot better at mile 5 and that continued until mile 11 when the pace girl started pulling away.

Need a nice run tonight, maybe 10 miles but 8 is ok.  This weekend I need to push it a little more, maybe 17 miles.  I have to hit 20 next week or I am backing out of the Pittsburgh Full and going to the 1/2.

When I have pictures from the JASR 1/2 I will post.

Ugh

Not the greatest week, got a 10 mile run in on Friday which might have been the worst one ever.  Took me forever to to finish....I average 8:30 for the first 4 miles then about 10:00 for the last 6.  It was hot and and after a long day at work.

Today I ran a solid 15 miles....better than last week.  Now I am in some major pain, not sure what to do.  My right knee is really hurting me while I run up hill...probably going to have that looked at soon.

Two weeks....getting better

It has been a while since I posted on here so here is an update:

Two weekends ago I played in a VB tourney in Buffalo (Saturday) lost in playoffs, played in Cranberry Championships (Sunday) lost in championship game, play regular season VB game in Wexford (Monday) won one.  Not that great but I started losing some serious weight.  Tuesday I did 8 miles but I should have/could have done more.

This past weekend I did 15 miles and played VB in Cranberry.  I am down about 5 lbs right now and on my way to getting ready for this terrible marathon I should not have signed up for...

Tough right now

Had a really nice 8.3 mile run Tuesday but somehow hurt my foot.  I took Wednesday off to rest it so I could take a long run today.  Well for once the meteorologist was right....RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN.

So now I get to run on the treadmill...oh happy day....I cannot wait for my boredom to kick in about mile 3.

Want a good laugh?  Here is the pick they took at the Spring Thaw:

Mile 10

Yes that is my gut....yes I am have sweatshirt wrapped around me...yes I am not happy.

Tough week

My motivation hit a low last week, I only ran 4 miles.  Somehow I need to get back into the swing of things but now the weather is not cooperating....not happy.

I brought clothes to run in but the wind chill is going to be 22 this afternoon.  I am glad I have VB tonight to fall back on but I really needed to do both.  Unfortunately it looks like I will be on my treadmill running many miles instead of running outside:
Tuesday - 7 miles
Wednesday - 4 miles
Thursday - 6 miles

Saturday - 13 miles (I have a VB tourney on Saturday and VB playoffs on Sunday...not sure how I am going to fit this one in)

What a miserable run!

Last weekend I signed up to run 15 miles in Alison Park.

Well freezing temperatures, snow, wet sock and shoes stopped me at 10 miles...

I need to make up for that this week...going to be tough.

Monday Morning Week in Review

Last week went pretty well, I still need to get my miles up:

Monday - 3
Tuesday - 5
Wednesday - 3
Saturday - 6
Sunday - 4
Total: 21 Miles

The week coming up I need to run at least 26 miles.

Diet still not going well...need to concentrate on it a lot more.

Another new start

Well I am now up to 233, with is about 13lbs heavier then I was in November.  Time to get back into the swing of things.

The past few days I have been running:
Friday: 3.1
Saturday: 3.1
Sunday: 3.1
and today I woke up at 5am to run another 3 miles.  I have VB tonight so I needed to get that run in.  The rest of the week will be all about running and working out.

I need to get my mind, body, and diet going because this Marathon is looming large...and I would rather not die on mile 16.

and so it begins....

Day one of preparing for Pittsburgh Marathon.

Weight check: 231 - Up 13lbs since Thanksgiving.
Sparkpeople account up-to-date so I can enter in what I eat.

I will post my running schedule soon which should start in February.  As for right now I am going to run 3-5 miles, a few times a week to get back into the swing of things. 

Goal: 20+ miles / week until training starts!

More to come!

All I am going to say is: