Tag: run

Sunday Garage WOD

I went to visit some friends for the weekend and did some golfing while there. I filled my face at P.F. Chang’s last night with a bowl of egg drop soup, one of the chicken lettuce wraps, an entire Ahi Tuna appetizer (my friend ate one slice of the Tuna), all of my Honey Shrimp with Candied Walnuts entrée with brown rice, nearly half of the Great Wall of Chocolate, and several drinks. On the ride home today I stopped for a medium blizzard at Dairy Queen and then had Taco Bell for dinner. So I was feeling pretty guilty about my bad choices, especially the ones today. After watching Tiger pull out another win I made up a quick workout.

5 rounds

  • 700m Run (around the block)
  • 5 Push Presses (50# DBs)
  • 20 Sit-ups

I finished in 21:49. My goal was sub-20 when I started out because I came into the garage just after the 3:00 mark after the first run. If I hadn’t taken a quick water break after every run I think I could have been pretty close to 20 minutes. This wasn’t anything crazy but enough to get my heart rate up for a while and burn a few calories. The fifties were pretty heavy, but doable. I’m going to try to use them quite a bit when I go on my 10 day vacation starting Wednesday.

Wiped Out by Floor Wipers

I’m absolutely wrecked from the last week of WODs and today was my 5th day in a row. I don’t like going to 9am when I went to 8pm because that’s a short recovery, but with heat indices approaching 105 today and a heat advisory until midnight, I knew I wouldn’t go in tonight if I wanted. Working out in the morning also gives me extra rest to hit up the 4:15 and then open gym tomorrow before I head out-of-town for the weekend.

Warm-up

  • 100 Jumping Jacks
  • 100 Butt Kicks
  • 5 rounds
    • 1m Plank
    • 1m Bottom Squat Hold

I made it through each of the 5 plank minutes without breaking down by concentrating on a tight core and ass as well as consistent deep breathing. In the bottom squat holds I’m really fighting for better position of the back and keeping my chest up. These holds were really needed after the last few days of squat movements.

WOD

  • 21-15-9 Floor Wipers (45# DBs)
  • 12-9-6 Man Makers (45# DBs)
  • 400m Run

This was the first time doing floor wipers and I really liked them. Great core work due to the combination of holding up the weights and moving the legs as one unit without having them touch the ground. I broke the rounds down to 12+9, 9+6, and 9. Man Makers are absolutely brutal but I felt better here than I did when we did 50 of them for time. Having some wrist sweat bands really helps to keep my hands from getting soaked with sweat. I really tried to push it on the last 400m and finished in 23:31.

Time to chill in the AC for the rest of the day while I work.

Screw the Rest Day

I couldn’t help myself and had to get in for a WOD tonight. Matt had posted some pictures on Facebook showing that deadlifts were part of the WOD today. I love deadlifting, so I got all excited and it didn’t take long for me to decide I’d hit the gym. Well, he switched up the WOD for the night classes and no deadlifts. Night classes got one of the Hero benchmarks instead.

Warm-up

25-20-15-10-5

  • Lunges
  • Tuck Jumps

WOD

“Helton” Hero Benchmark
3 rounds

  • 800m Run
  • 30 DB Squat Cleans (40#)
  • 30 Burpees

WOW! This one was a bruiser of a WOD, as most of the Hero benchmarks usually are. The WOD calls for using 50# DBs as Rx, but we don’t have any and I wouldn’t have been able to do that anyway. I could have tried the 45s, but I wouldn’t have been able to keep up much intensity. I settled on the 40s which worked out pretty well. If I had used 35s I would have been able to push a little harder, but I was still able to finish under the 40 minute time limit we had, so I’m happy. I finished in 36:56.

For the first two rounds I tried to stick to sets of 5 squat cleans, other than at the beginning when I probably did a few more reps in the first couple of sets to start. In the 3rd round I was getting mostly sets of 4. All burpees were done unbroken, but pretty damn slow.

After doing 110 goblet squats and 110 burpees yesterday, this WOD had a lot of similarities, so hopefully the next two days will be something completely different. Then Saturday and Sunday are rest days for sure since I’ll be out-of-town visiting some friends.

Karen Plus Helen

Today was another scorcher and I had gone out walking 18 holes of golf this morning, so I went to the 8pm class hoping it would cool off some. I just got home (9:15 pm as I write this) and it’s still 86 degrees out.

Warm-up

  • 50-40-30-20-10 DUs
  • 25-20-15-10-5 Burpees

I finished in 7:59 and had good rhythm with the DUs through each set.

WOD

Split up Karen 6 ways and mix the pieces with Helen. What do you get? Haren? Kelen? How about a suck fest?

  • 25 Wall Balls (20# MB)
  • 400m Run
  • 21 KBS (55#)
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 400m Run
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 21 KBS
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 400m Run
  • 21 KBS
  • 25 Wall Balls
  • 12 Pull-ups
  • 25 Wall Balls

I knocked out the best time of the day at 20:59 with one of the owners, Cora, right behind me setting the 2nd best time of the day at 21:06. After we were both done we were talking about how we would not have pushed as hard if the other hadn’t been there, which is so true. Out of the corner of your eye you might see someone close to your level catching up to you or taking a break. That small glimpse makes you push to extend your lead or catch up. In the end, we all make each other better.

Chase’s Birthday WOD

Sometimes we’ll do a birthday WOD on or near someone’s birthday. Usually it has something to do with their name and their age. Last Thursday was Chase’s birthday, but he was out-of-town, so we “celebrated” today. For the 5:30 class it was 92 degrees with 40% humidity. I think the weather contributed to a smaller class size than usual especially since it looked like the 4:15 class only had a handful of folks as well. We had 6 people show up and only one was female, which is very rare for Survival Fitness. I bet membership is 2-1 in favor of the women, but I’m not complaining about that ratio. 🙂

Yesterday I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to try on some Nike Free running shoes if they had any is a size 14. Luckily they had just the pair I was looking for. I tried on the 4.0 v2 and absolutely loved them. They are so light, minimal, and comfortable, without being too close to a true barefoot style running shoe. I didn’t buy them right away because I wanted to check around online for color options and better pricing. I couldn’t find anything I liked better than the black/gray or a better price, so I went back today and bought them. I’m looking forward to going out for a recovery run on my next rest day.

Warm-up

  • Tabata Box Jumps (24″)
  • Tabata Deadlifts (85#)
  • Tabata Wall Ball Sit-ups (20# MB)

Instead of a Tabata mash-up we did all 8 rounds at a station before moving on. The deadlifts were light, but for a warm-up I could actually feel them by the end. Wall ball sit-ups were something new and really worked the abs. I’m a fan of those!

WOD

27:00 AMRAP

  • Chest-to-deck Push-ups
  • Hanging Leg Raises
  • Aabove the head plate lunges (10#)
  • SDLHP (75#)
  • End each round with a 150m run

Do 27 reps of each, except the run. I completed 3 full rounds, 27 push-ups, 27 leg raises, 27 lunges, and 27 SDLHP for a 3+108 score. There were about 20 seconds left on the clock and I knew I couldn’t finish the run in that time so I didn’t even make the attempt. I sort of defeated myself with the SDLHP and I’m disappointed. I should have pushed through them harder to give myself enough time to finish the run. I beat myself before I even started the first rep. Ugh!

Five Station Warm-up

I’m pretty sore from the long run yesterday, most of which is in my calves. I attended the 7pm class today. It was a hot and humid night. I thought I might stick around and do some strength work after class, but decided against it after sweating so much.

Warm-up

3 rounds

  • 1m Box Jumps (Big Tire)
  • 1m Star Jumps
  • 1m Hang Cleans (85#)
  • 1m Russian KBS (62#)
  • 1m Mountain Climbers
  • 1m Rest

If you did the Hope workout or have done Fight Gone Bad, this format should be familiar. I really enjoyed the hang cleans, but it was tougher than I expected to keep going for the entire minute with what was a relatively light weight. I didn’t count reps since this was only a warm-up.

WOD

10 rounds

  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 100m Run (sprint)
  • 90s Rest

For the 100m sprints we ran 50m down and then back. I finished in 19:12. I tried to jump out of the gates too quickly and as a result, tweaked my left calf. It was pretty tight for the 2nd and 3rd sprints, but then it loosened up. I was able to do all of the push-ups unbroken, but as the rounds went on the 10th through 15th reps got slower and slower.

Finisher

150 Air Squats with 5 burpees after every 25 squats (except the last 25). I didn’t check the clock when I started, so no idea how long this took.

10k

Stormy weather prevented us from being able to golf this morning, so Dad and I each headed out for runs in separate directions. I was planning to go for 3 or 4 easy miles. As I got in to the run I was feeling pretty good, so decided to see if I could push it to a 10k.

I didn’t have the RunKeeper app set to announce time and distance very often and didn’t look at the distance when I turned around, so my run ended up a bit shy of a true 10k, but it was damn close. I ran 6.16 miles in 53:51 and was able to keep a pretty steady pace. It was really nice running through the woods and along Lake Huron on the bike path.

WODless Weekend

I slept well, but went to bed late and got up early, so didn’t get a ton of sleep. Went in to the 9am class this morning because I’m heading up to my parent’s for the weekend later tonight. I’m actually feeling pretty damn good today considering how much crap I ate yesterday.

Warm-up

  • 500m Run
  • 25 Air Squats
  • 50 Lateral Hops (25 each leg)
  • 75 High Knees
  • 100 Jumping Jacks

Good warm-up to get the blood flowing.

Skill

20:00
Switch between exercises each minute and aim to work 30-35s of each minute, which will end up giving everyone different rep numbers.

  • 6 DB Split Cleans (35# DBs)
  • 8 Pistols (alternate legs)

The goal here was to work on the skill with the cleans, so we didn’t go heavy. There was still good intensity and I was sweating like a hog. Probably pretty good that we didn’t go heavy since I just did 30 cleans with 135# last night.

WOD

10:00 AMRAP

2-4-6-8…

  • SDLHP (88# KB)
  • Plyo Push-ups (clapping)

Each round, the reps increase by 2. I got through the round of 16 plus 13 additional SDLHPs. Nice short WOD, but don’t let that fool you. As the reps increased, I had to use more and more sets to finish the rounds.

There was a finisher of 40 yard sprints up on the board, but we didn’t have time to get to them. Since I’m heading out-of-town for the weekend, I’m going to try not to WOD. I may get in a long run on Saturday or Sunday though.

Working Off That Pizza

As promised, I ordered pizza today. I also ordered a Cinnapie, which I don’t think was my best idea.

Pizza, Cinnapie, and Mountain Dew

Today’s benchmark WOD for the Paleo Challenge was a good test, but I didn’t feel overworked due to all of the rest time. Since I took a rest day yesterday and will be out-of-town all weekend, I went back to the gym at 8pm for some extra work.

I warmed up with an easy 500m run and some shoulder stretching with the bands. Then I did 3 Cleans + Push Presses on the minute, every minute, for 10 minutes with 135#. I worked on DUs here and there a bit, getting one streak of 37 in a row. I did 3 sets of 15 KBS with the 62# KB. The first two sets were on the top of consecutive minutes and the 3rd set was after taking an extra minute off. I jumped on the bar and attempted some MUs, sort of getting up there once, but with a bit of help from my leg on the support 4×4. Doesn’t count.

It’s time to finish the last 3 pieces of pizza and the last 3rd of the Mountain Dew. The Cinnapie was gone hours ago. 🙂

End of the Paleo Challenge

One month ago, we started a team Paleo Challenge at Survival Fitness. I promised myself that I would try to go 100% Paleo for the entire challenge, and with one small exception (shredded cheese and croutons on a salad), I did it. I’ve seen incredible results in my fitness, my body composition, and how I feel.

I started the challenge at 12.3% body fat and 181 pounds. In less than 2 weeks, I had dropped to 172 pounds (home scale)! I was losing too much weight, so I increased my protein sources (eggs, meat, fish, etc.) by 50% at each meal. As an example, I went from eating 4 eggs at breakfast to 6. This brought my weight back up into the 175 pound range where I’ve been able to stabilize. This morning at my final weigh-in at the gym I was 178 pounds (not sure how I got back up that high) and 9.8% body fat. That’s a drop of more than 20% of my starting body fat %. I have a visible 6-pack, which has always been a goal of mine. I can’t believe the changes in my body is one short month. A key point is that I had already been eating 80-90% Paleo since I started doing CrossFit, but going 100% made a huge difference!

After taking the rest day yesterday I was feeling great this morning. I attended the 9am class so I could get the benchmark WOD done early. Can you say pizza and Mountain Dew for lunch and dinner? Seriously!

Warm-up

4 rounds

  • 15s Zombie Kicks
  • 15s Jumping Jacks
  • 15s Butt Kicks
  • 15s Mountain Climbers

12:00 AMRAP

  • 150m Run
  • Rest as long as the run took

I started out pretty fast, but realized 12:00 is a long time to do sprints, so I slowed down to a 30s pace in order to save myself for the WOD. It is a warm-up after all. I think I completed 13 runs.

WOD

We partnered up again so that we could count each other and get a bit of rest.

5:00 AMRAP

  • Burpees

4:00 AMRAP

  • Wall Balls

3:00 AMRAP

  • Air Squats

2:00 AMRAP

  • KBS (Russian)

1:00 AMRAP

  • AbMat Sit-ups

I improved in each of the tests:

  • Burpees went from 82 to 91, an increase of 10.9%.
  • Wall balls went from 77 to 95, an increase of 23.4%.
  • Air squats went from 101 to 112, an increase of 10.9%
  • KBS went from 76 to 82, an increase of 7.9%.
  • AbMat (“cheater”) sit-ups went from 67 to 81, an increase of 20.9%
  • Total reps went from 403 to 461, an overall increase of 14.4%.

I had one of the top 5 scores for the first assessment, so I figured improving wasn’t going to be easy. I’m thrilled with a 14.4% improvement. Hard work pays off! I’m really happy with my burpee and wall ball improvements because burpees are such a great overall cardio and full body exercise and I knew wall balls were one of my weaknesses. My air squats are still pretty weak compared to the best in the gym, but getting better. It’s hard to improve on the Russian KBS, except by increasing weight, because you can only do them so fast. In the first test I took one short break, but went unbroken for the entire 2 minutes today. I’m not concerned about the sit-up number because it was doing the cheater standard, which I’m no longer doing.

With all of the rest time, I don’t feel like I had to work very hard overall, even though I pushed as hard as I could go. I may try attend 8pm open gym and do a strength WOD since I’ll be out of town for the weekend.