Back From Utah

Yesterday was a long travel day. My back didn’t seem to improve over the week away. I don’t think sitting on flights and working from couches, kitchen chairs, and patio chairs helped though. Mowed most of the lawn today but didn’t feel like doing an Engine Builder workout. Went to the 4pm class though.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • Line Drills
    • Ankle Rolls
    • Walking Lunges
    • Hug Knee to Chest
    • Quad Stretch
    • Lunge & twist
    • Side Lunge
    • High Knees
    • Butt Kicks

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 10 cal Assault Bike
  • 10 cal Row
  • 10 DB Floor Press (50# DBs)
  • 10 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

This was a good one to come back to, even though the notes said not to go hard. I held a pretty good pace though and smoked everyone. Took me 26:22 with a few short waits on for our one AB to open up and then for Weston to get done with the dumbbells we were sharing.

Accessory

5 Sets

  • 20 Russian Twists (53#)

Last Day in Utah

Another 7am drop-in at CrossFit St. George.

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

5 Rounds

  • 400m Row
  • 5:00 Rest

My goal was < 1:34/500m and I ended up 3.2 seconds faster overall. Last time 1:15.0 was my fastest and these are my times: 1:15.1, 1:14.7, 1:14.8, 1:14.6, 1:14.5.

Conditioning

  • 15-10-5 Strict Handstand Push-ups
  • 15-10-5 Toes to Bars
  • 45-30-15 Air Squats

Came up with this one last night. Thought I might be able to keep all sets of five, but wasn’t able to using the AbMat and 25# plates compared to my big mat at home. I think I did 3×5, 5-3-2, 2-2-1 on the HSPU. All sets of fives on the T2B. Squats were slower than I’d like, but had to recover a bit before going back to the HSPU. Finished in 7:20.

Midline

3 Sets

  • 60 Hollow Flutter Kicks
  • 30 Plank Jumps
  • 20 Floor Wipers
  • 1:00 Rest

This took me 7:34.

50 Minutes of Rowing

Went for about a 2 mile hike on Saturday, but wasn’t strenuous. Yesterday we did some hiking and touring around Zion National Park, which was amazingly beautiful. Went to the open gym at 7am again at CrossFit St. George.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 21s (30-30-25#)

Didn’t have much time for anything extra today since the rowing was going to take almost 50 minutes!

Engine Builder – Max Aerobic Power

18 Rounds

  • 1:45 Row
  • 1:00 Rest

Goal was 1:50/500m and got it, averaging 1:49.6 I think. Almost perfect consistency on my distances again, with the second one being the only one different. My meters were:

479-478-479-479-479-479-
479-479-479-479-479-479-
479-479-479-479-479-479m

Was over a total of 8,600 meters.

CrossFit St. George

Ended up not getting up for the gym yesterday morning as planned because I hadn’t slept very well. But it was so bright in my room that I should have gotten up and went because I didn’t sleep any extra. Got up this morning and dropped in for open gym at CrossFit St. George.

crossfit-st-george.jpg

BTW, this protein shake may have been the best one I’ve ever bought from a store.

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

10 Rounds

  • 20s Row
  • 1:40 Rest

Warmed up with a three minute row for 750 meters. My pace for the intervals was around 1:26-1:27/500m and I ended up getting 13 total meters more than a month ago. My meters were 114-115-116-115-115-115-115-115-116-116m.

Accessory

4 Sets

  • 15 Reverse Hypers (70#)
  • 8 Strict C2B Pull-ups
  • 30 Bear Hug Squats (20#)

Nice they had the RH, so I took advantage of it.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 30 Hollow Rocks
  • 10/10 Side V-ups

The hollow rocks got hard. Went 30, 15-15, and then 3×10 the last two sets. Finished in 4:58.

All The Scaling

Can still feel that back tweak there. Was out in the garage before lunch.

Engine Builder – Interval

8 Rounds

  • 1:30 Row
  • 30s Rest

I was really struggling to figure out a goal pace for this. In the last two months I have plenty of different samples, but the work:rest ratios are all a bit different. Going in I was set on 1:50/500m, but was doing 1:49 in the first interval so I stuck with it. Could have gone faster. My meters were 413-413-413-414-413-414-414-413, so another consistent one.

Went to the gym at 4pm.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

  • 1:00 Bike
  • 10 RDL (45#)
  • 30 Jump Ropes

Accessory

3 Sets

  • Dumbbell Curl – 21s (30-25-25#)
  • 10 GHR (red band)
  • 1:00/1:00 Single Leg Stand (62# KB)

I did this instead of 5×5 deadlifts. First 2 sets I was holding the KB in the wrong hand and it was an awkward stance. In addition to the red band, I’m pushing off the pads a bit with my hands so I don’t put stress on my back.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

  • 50 DU
  • 8 Pull-ups
  • 8 T2B
  • 5 Box Jumps (36″)
  • 50’ Farmer Carry (53# KBs)
  • 1:00 Rest

I think I got 2 sets of dubs unbroken and missed 3x in one of the sets! Scaled 8 muscle-ups down to the 8+8 and was able to do each movement unbroken, wearing grips. The bar I was using was a tad too low for me, so I actually had to spread my legs in my kip which felt really weird. Instead of doing 5 muscle cleans (155#) I figured the high box jumps would still get me working on leg drive and hip extension. Cruised through this one in 12:55.

First Walk

Walked 18 holes for the first time this year. My hips and legs were feeling it after 15 holes. Beautiful day out. Snuck out in the garage for a quick test in the evening.

Warm-up

2:00 Airdyne (0.61 miles)

Engine Builder – Speed

10:00 Airdyne

Started out close to 90 RPM for a minute and then tried to settle in at 85. That drifted down to 82-83 for a while and I didn’t think I’d end up with a PR, but I found some energy and was able to pick up the pace and then push for the last 60-90 seconds. Ended up with a 4 calorie PR, getting 384 cals and 4.24 miles. 400 won’t be easy, but I’m realizing it’s possible.

That’s a Negative

My arms are all bruised and I’m beat from moving so much wood around yesterday. Started Sunday off right though…

Went to open gym at noon.

Warm-up

3 Sets

  • 1:00 Assault Bike
  • 10 Reverse Hypers (90#)

Conditioning

5 Rounds (40s Work : 20s Rest)

  • Bar-facing Burpees
  • Plank
  • Bear Hug Squats (20# MB)
  • Handstand Hold

Was supposed to start with Man Makers, but I’m laying off the weights until I get back from my trip. I did 11-11-12-12-13 burpees and 22-25-26-27-30 squats. Should have pusher harder earlier.

Gymnastics Strength

4 Sets

  • 5 Negative Pull-ups
  • 20s L-sit (rings)

It’s probably been years since I’ve done negative pull-ups.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 40 Hollow Flutter Kicks
  • 20 Side Plank Jumps
  • 20s Hollow Hold
  • 20 Alternating V-ups
  • 1:00 Rest

Hardest part was holding the hollow each round, but I managed them all unbroken. A lot of core work today! Finished in 9:50.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 10/10 Single Leg Lateral Box Step-ups (30″)

Did these a lot slower and controlled than I have in the past, going to the bottom of a deep pistol before touching my leg to the ground. I’m gonna feel those!

Finished cleaning up the rest of the sticks and tree tops in the yard. Beautiful “taps aff” day for it.

Engine Builder – Max Aerobic Power

12 Rounds

  • 1:30 Row
  • 1:30 Rest

Was trying to decide on a pace for this. Was thinking about 1:42-1:43, but settled on 1:45/500m. Glad I did because I was at 1:44.8 for 9 of them and 1:44.6 for 3. My distances were 429-429-429-429-430-429-430-429-429-429-430-429 meters. Excellent consistency!

Much Needed

After realizing I’d done something 8 days in a row I took a well-deserved and much needed complete rest day on Friday. Got up for the 9am class this morning. My back is still pretty tight.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • Line Drills

Conditioning

Partner Workout

  • 8:00 AMRAP – 20-40-60…
    • Calorie Row
    • Burpee Over Rower
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 8:00 AMRAP – 20-40-60…
    • 2x Plyo Lunges
    • HSPU
  • 2:00 Rest
  • 8:00 AMRAP – 20-40-60…
    • Wall Ball (20#, 10′)
    • Toes to Bar

I teamed up with Connie. She did 8 calories to my 12 and we alternated sets of 5 burpees. Got through the 20 and 40 there. In the second AMRAP I substituted those movements in place of hang power cleans and push presses because of my back. We split everything in sets of 5s so I was doing 10 lunges each time it was my turn. We got through the 20, 40, I had one set of 10 lunges left to finish the first part of 60. We split wall balls in sets of 10 and T2B in 5s. Finished the 20-40-60 wall balls and 48 (I did 23) of the 60 T2B. She was doing knee raises which gave me almost no rest.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 21s (30-25-25#)

Back to the originals. It was nice to switch it up to the other version for a few weeks, but I don’t think they worked very well. First time doing a set with 30s!

A friend came over to cut up some trees that fell during the winter, so I was hauling a bunch of logs around. Then I took a truckload, carried the wood around some more, and stacked it for another friend. Was planning to row tonight, but I’m whooped after moving all of that wood.

Back Off

Out in the garage before lunch.

Warm-up

3:00 Row

Paced around 1,000-1,200-1,300 cal/hr per minute for 810 meters.

Engine Builder – Anaerobic

6 Rounds

  • 45s Row
  • 3:30 Rest

After 4 days in a row on the Airdyne I was ready for some rowing intervals! Well, I did do a double EB on Sunday to get in 18x 45 second rows with 15 second rests. These 45 second rows are a lot different though. Wanted to get over 2,200 cal/hr by the 5th pull again, which I was able to do for the first 3 rounds, but as you can see, things really fell off:

27-27-26-25-24-24 cals
261-261-260-255-252-251 meters

2019-04-18-row.jpeg

Could feel my back getting tighter each round. Today was 20 meters and 6 calories shy of four weeks ago. Worse all the way around. 😦 Looking back at this one from four weeks ago, my stroke rate was 40-41 every round, so I was obviously compensating today to try and create more speed since I couldn’t get enough back in to it.

My little back tweak doesn’t seem to be going away, so I’m going to back off. After how that rowing felt and how stiff my back was getting out of the rower seat I scrapped my plans to go to the gym and do my own workout there. Today’s gym programming is snatches, deadlifts, and overhead squats, which aren’t a good idea with my back the way it is. I started writing up some other stuff to do at home, but it’s ok to rest up.

Wow, I haven’t had a true rest day since the 8th, 9th, and 10th when I was sick.