Forced Inside Today

The fam and I are now living out of a hotel and the temps are hovering in the low teens so I was forced inside today today the treadmill in the hotel exercise room. The worst part was they didn't even have ESPN for me to watch. I stayed in Zone 3 the whole time but only averaged 11:00 min miles for a total of 4.89 miles in 55:51.

I've got some work to do before I get back to where I want to be. I could probably go faster on the street but that will all work itself in the end. Stay Tuned. Only 150 days until Ironman 70.3 Austria.

Snow Snow Everywhere

I went out this afternoon to do a short run and took off down the street heading towards the sidewalk when I realized that the sidewalk was still covered by the eight plus inches of snow that had fallen over the weekend. Man I really wanted to run off the Christmas cookies, prime rib, and beer I had taken over the holiday weekend. I guess it will have to wait until the snow melts.

On another note I've decided to give up the CrossFit for now. I'm just not convinced that it's going to get me in shape for the Prague Marathon and Ironman 70.3 Austria, especially with a 3 week training break as I do a training exercise prior to deploying to Afghanistan. I think I'll implement it fully as my workout while deployed and see how that helps me do a 70.3 after I come back.

Torture.....Make It Stop!!!!!

Warm up

Samson Stretch 5 ea leg
Overhead Squats 5 reps 65lbs
Situps - 15 reps
Back Extensions - 10 reps
Dips - 5 reps
Pullups -5 reps

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 pyramid down

Lunges
Thrusters 65lbs
Pull ups
Knees to Elbows

Time: 35:02

I really suck at pullups I know I've said that before but I still suck. I can do about 10-15 but that's about it. The first 21 reps whooped my a$$ so I decided to scale and instead of pyramiding down by 3 I went by 6 which is why some of the reps are in red, they are the ones I didn't do. Additionally the pullups and knees to elbows were tearing up my callouses on my hands so by 3 reps I'd had enough. I'd hate to see what my hands would have looked like if I'd done all the reps.

In case you didn't know what the knees to elbows are here it is. Oh yeah the girl in the video is smoking hot too!

Pounding Pavement

With nothing in the house except a TV, laptop, Christmas tree and Macen's toys. I decided to do a short run this afternoon to break in my new running shoes. Here's the data:

Distance : 4:87mi
Total Time: 51:16
AVG Pace: 10:32
Total Calories: 759
AVG HR: 171 bpm
Max HR: 187 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 11:48
Mile 2: 10:10
Mile 3: 9:53
Mile 4: 10:31
Mile .87: 10:13
Zone 1 Time: 0:09 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:15 Distance: 0ft
Zone 3 Time: 2:39 Distance: .2 mi
Zone 4 Time: 38:29 Distance: 3.8 mi
Zone 5 Time: 10:30 Distnace: 1.0 mi

Horrible Horrible run I couldn't control my heart rate to save my life. I'm actually going to start running in the afternoons 3 times a week after my morning Crossfit workout. I know I shouldn't do it but LSRs are like crack to me I just can't quit them and I really want to get my heart rate to where it was earlier in the year when I had a 49 resting heart rate.

Kettlebells, Wallballs and Burpees, Oh My!!!!

Warm Up
Samson Stretch - 5 ea leg
Overhead Squat - 5 @ 75lbs
Situps - 15 reps
Dips - 5 reps
Pullups - 5 reps

Clean & Jerk
3-3-3-3-3-3 I skipped these, no reason, I just forgot.

Rest

3 rounds for time of:
25 Kettlebell swings 35lbs
20 wall balls 14lbs
15 burpees

Time 17:20 Ahhhhhh!!!!!!! This sucked not only was I slow but I was wore the heck out. Guess I'll get more punishment tomorrow.

Ironman World Championships On TV Today

Check your local NBC station today at 3:30 CT for the Ironman World Championship from Kona. If you are into triathlons or even just sports in general then this is a great inspirational show to watch. Chrissie Wellington won the women's race for the THIRD year in row and set the course record! She is also a great person as well as a stud athlete. I met her at Ironman 70.3 Kansas last year and she was as nice as she could be. The men's race winner was Craig Alexander who won it for the second year in a row one of only 4 men to win it back to back.

I WILL DO Kona someday, probably after I retire from the Army. Right now I'll stick to the 70.3 events and maybe a full Ironman if I can get sufficient training time.

"Some athletes consider a Marathon the ultimate endurance event. Ironmen consider it a cool down!!"

Karen "Lite"

This is the last workout for the week. I'm heading out this afternoon so that I can get some hunting in and to do a couple of Christmases. I'll hit it again on Monday.

Warm-Up
Samson Stretch - 5 ea leg
Overhead Squat - 5 reps @ 65lbs
Situps - 15 reps
Pullups - 5 reps
Dips - 5 reps

Push Press
3-3-3-1-1-1 @ 85lbs

Rest

Kettlebell Karen “Lite”

75 reps of:
“Wall-ball Substitute”
Kettlebell 35lbs 7:59

Yesterday Was A Bad Day and Today Wasn't Much Better

Yes I know I missed a workout yesterday, the mover's were here to pick up the storage shipment, I blew a tire on the mustang and had to change it as well as find someone who stocks the high performance tires on it. The stess of the holiday's and the move got to both me and Shantel yesterday and the end result of all that is that I didn't make it to the gym. Believe me it had nothing to do with the feared "Barbara" WOD that I was supposed to do because I was on my way to the gym when the tire blew. Here's what Barbara is:

Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats

Rest precisely three minutes between each round.

Today's workout looked much easier but let me tell you at round 2 I was sucking wind with muscle fatigue.

Warmup

Samson Stretch - 5 ea
Overhead Squat - 5 ea 55lbs
Situps - 15 ea
Dips - 5 ea
Pullups - 5 ea

Overhead Squat
3-3-3-1-1-1 75lbs

Rest

5 rounds for time of:
10 Burpees
10 Ring Dips (Modified to regular dips)
10 Tru Push ups

(Tru push ups are done with both hands and feet balancing on parallets, make sure you get your chest below parallel.)

I had never used the gymanstic rings to do dips before and tried a couple before the workout and decided that I needed to do the regular dips instead. By round 3 I was having to break for ten seconds every 2 reps of the dips and pushups. I was sucking for a total time of 28 minutes.

New Kicks

I retired my current pair of running shoes today, a pair of Zoot Ultra Tempo+ triathlon shoes. I had used them for my race shoes for most of the summer and then when my regular running shoes were retired used them for my daily runners. I probably put 300+ miles on them that included two half Ironman races, 2 Olympic Distance races, a Marathon and a Half Marathon. They were a great shoe for summertime racing and running, lightweight, elastic laces, sockless wear, anti-microbial lining (that means they don't stink) and drain holes that lets the sweat drip away through the sole (the only draw back is that works in reverse too when it's wet out). I'll definitely be buying another pair for race season next year.

The new shoes I got are Nike Impax Contain, an update over the Impax Torrent's that I've had about 5 or 6 pairs of. They are pretty much the only style of Nike's I'll buy anymore. Even though they are great right out of the box, I do add a pair of reflective elastic lace YankZ that make for easy transition if I'm racing and keep me from having to worrying about the laces coming undone.

Monday's Always Suck!!!!

And it takes a little extra longer to get up the motivation to go to the gym.

Warm Up
Samson Stretch - 5 ea leg
Overhead Squat - 55lbs
Sit Ups - 15 reps
Pull Ups - 5 reps
Dips - 5 reps

Snatch / your choice: (Full Squat, Split or Power)
3-3-2-2-1-1 Power Snatch 95lbs

Rest

AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 10 minutes
5 hang power clean 85lbs
7 pull up
9 box jump

I only did 4 rounds in the 10 minutes allowed. Pretty pathetic. I had lots of trouble with the pullups, muscle fatigue and bad technique for the Kipping Pullups. I am still too used to doing the old school straight leg pullups. This is what the Pullups should have looked like.


I'm still working it. I'll get it figured out one of these days

Ice, Ice Baby

No I'm not talking about a bad early nineties rap song. I'm talking about my run this morning. It's been 4 days since our ice/snow storm and I was hoping that most of the ice and snow was gone from the sidewalks where I run. That was not quite the case. Despite the ice and cold (30 degrees when I started) I got a good 6 miles in.

Distance : 5:92mi
Total Time: 1:03:24
AVG Pace: 10:43
Total Calories: 930
AVG HR: 164 bpm
Max HR: 183 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 11:55
Mile 2: 10:55
Mile 3: 10:04
Mile 4: 10:40
Mile 5: 10:14
Mile .92: 10:26
Zone 1 Time: 0:10 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:12 Distance: 0ft
Zone 3 Time: 10:28 Distance: .9 mi
Zone 4 Time: 49:58 Distance: 4.8 mi
Zone 5 Time: 3:58 Distnace: .3 mi

I had a hard time staying in Zone 3, I was mainly in the low Zone 4 range. I'll chalk that up to the cold and the 3 cups of coffee I had before I ran. I'm not too worried about it since my pace was pretty close to my average when I'm staying in Zone 3.
I also know that an Long Slow Run like this doesn't jive with the Crossfit workouts I've been doing lately. I'm liking the Crossfit, but it's hard not to throw in an old style workout like this every once in awhile, especially on the weekends when I'm not doing any Crossfit stuff.

No Workout Today

Today was the CGSC graduation ceremony and I was busy with that all day so no workout today.

The weather is supposed to warm up here tomorrow, high of 37 woohoo!, so I'm going to try and hit the pavement in the morning after the sun warms things up a bit.

201 lbs

That's what I weighed today before my workout. I really need to stay under 200 and closer to 195. The Army allows me to be 200lbs anything over and I have to be measured for my percentage of body fat. I guess I need more workouts. Here is today's:

Warmup

Overhead press 45lbs (5 reps)
Samson Stretch (5 reps each leg)
Situps (15 reps)
Pull ups (5 reps)
Dips (5 reps)

Push Press
5-5-5-3-3-3 (I did the first 4 sets with 95lbs. Last 2 were 85lbs)

Rest

5 rounds for time of:
5 Deadlifts 275/185
10 Burpees

I scaled the deadlift to 155lbs and my time was 10:30.

I Like Beer But It Doesn't Like Me

That's got to be why I put on so much weight when I'm drinking all the beer I want. Some women claim chocolate goes straight to their hips and thighs with me the beer goes straight to my belly.

I say all of this because I put on my new Army Service Uniform today and the pants are already starting to be too tight. I was measured for them in August when I was in peak condition. When I picked them up a month had elasped since my last half ironman and I was still running a lot training for a marathon, but not biking much and little to no swimming, and the pants were a little snug but not too bad. Well today the pants were more than a little snug and I'm probably going to have to get them taken out a little. I guess there was a little too much off in my off/maintenance season.

It's Still Nasty Outside

And if I didn't have to go to work today then I probably wouldn't have gone in at all. It sure didn't seem like the city or the Fort either put anything down on the roads and I was sliding around everywhere in the Mustang. I got to the gym all right but I think Shantel is going to have to come get me.

Warm up
Overhead Squat - 45lbs
Samson Stretch - 5 ea leg
Situps - 15 reps
Pullups - 5 reps
Dips - 5 reps


Overhead Squats
5-5-5-3-3-3 - 45lbs

Rest

20-15-10
KB Swings 35lbs
Box Jumps
Push ups

TIME: 10:01

New Beer I Really Like

I only drink Bud Light these days when I'm providing beer for a crowd of people and I don't know what they like to drink. For the most part I prefer to drink Shiner beers mainly Shiner Bock, but I haven't had one of their beers yet that I didn't like.

The point of all this though is Bud Light has a new beer out; Bud Light Wheat and I think it's pretty darn good. Give it a try. Besides it only has 118 calories compare that to 145 calories for New Belgium's Sunshine Wheat another excellent wheat beer that I like.

Bear Complex

Oh the weather outside is frosty......but I still got out and went to the gym, despite the 3 inches of snow and the sleet that was coming down as I left. We'll see if I'm still this motivated tomorrow.

I added a few warm up exercises before starting the WOD.

Samson stretch (5 each leg)
Overhead squat (5 reps)
Situps (15 reps)
Pullups (5 reps)
dips (5 reps)

The WOD

5 Rounds, 7 Reps each, where one rep is:

Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Press

-Bar cannot be placed on the ground, except between rounds, even to re-grip. Squats must break parallel. It is acceptable to go from the squats to the push press (thruster), but the clean and front squat are separate movements, even if you choose.

OK I started out with 75lbs and while I finished the first round I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it through the 5 rounds with that weight so I dropped down to 60lbs and managed to complete the rounds, not with ease but still able to complete the full rounds.

75-60-60-60-60 Time: 11:02

Here's a video of the WOD I did today. FYI I'm not too proud to say the chick in the video did more weight than me.

Olaf

That's what today's WOD is called

Snatch 5-5-5-3-3-3 @ 115lbs

Rest

5 rounds for time of:
5 Squat Clean @ 95lbs
25 Push ups

I actually started with 105lbs and had to go down to 95lbs. I ended up doing 3 of the 5 sets of pushups from my knees and my time for 5 rounds was 14:37. Now I can barely lift my arms and it sucks to type this.

Nyquill is a wonderful thing and I'm hoping that after one more dose tonight this headcold finally goes away.

Damn It's Cold

And I'm a big wuss. The soreness from the first three days of this new workout program coupled with an extreme drop in the temperature and a head cold I've been fighting has caused me to skip the WOD on Friday and the 9 mile run I had planned on doing today to make up for that. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

It's time to start running on the treadmill inside and I'll hit the WOD again on Monday. I promise!!!!

I wussed out on the WOD

This is what I should have done today. I was pretty sore today and I wussed out and decided not to do it. It could be the workouts or the air mattress that I've been sleeping on. I'm not sure which it was.

Sots Press w/KB or DB5-5-3-3-1-1 (ea arm)

Rest

21-15-9 (RX’D) or 14-10-6 (Mod)
KB Swings 55/35
Pull ups
Ring Dips

**mini met-con must be completed under 12 minutes**

Barbell Complex

I almost thought about taking today since I'm sore from the last two days. I was a good boy though and I went to the gym and did today's workout.

Deadlift
3-3-2-2-1-1

Rest

AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) in 10 minutes
(use approx. 50% of your 1 RM upright row)

Upright row, 6 reps
High pull snatch, 6 reps
Behind head squat push press, 6 reps
Behind head good morning, 6 reps
Bent over row, 6 reps

OK I don't know what my 1 RM (Rep Max) of upright row is so I had to guess on this and of course I guessed wrong. I did the deadlift with 105lbs again and then dropped down to 95lbs for the barbell complex and after the upright rows decided that was too much and dropped down to 75lbs which seemed to work. I also had problems with the Behind Head Good Morning, I don't think I was doing it right, so I cut it out.

I only managed to do 3 cycles of the complex with two breaks 1 to change weight and the other to put collars on since the weight was sliding off. As mentioned I also cut out the Behind Head Good Morning. I'm not real happy with that I should have been able to do at least 5 I think. Oh well I know what to shoot for for next time.

Throwing Up and Blowing Chunks

That's what today's WOD is called. Here it is.

50 Wall Ball
50 Ball Slams
50 Jumping Pull ups

Repeat with 40 and 30 reps of each.

OK I didn't throw up or blow chunks but this was much harder than it sounds and I was smoked again by the time I was finished. I also cut out the jumping pullups. I just couldn't quite get them right without falling on my face. I'll do them next time they show up.

I didn't record my time but it was around 25 minutes with water breaks between the sets. Pretty crappy if you think I cut out an exercise.

WOD 30 NOV 2009

I'll be using the Workout Of the Day (WOD) from the Crossfit Results site. They program their workouts for 5 days on 2 days off, which is a little different from the Main Crossfit site workout which is 3 on 1 off. I'm just playing with the workouts right now, trying to work on form for the olympic lifts and getting used to using a different set of muscles.

I've been told it takes about 4-6 weeks before you really start seeing results with Crossfit and coincidentally I've got about 6 weeks before I would have to start my traditional workout program for Ironman 70.3 Austria. We'll see if I like the Crossfit or if I'm going to revert back to a traditional workout.

Here's today's workout:

Clean
3-3-2-2-1-1
Rest
“Mark Twite”
10 Pull ups
20 KB Swings 55/35
30 Box Jumps
40 Push ups
50 Sit ups
60 Burpees
10 Pull ups
**max time alloted for mini met-con is 12 minutes if you complete it or not**

I did the clean's with 105lbs, light I know but I wanted to work on form.
I only made it through the "Mark Twite" up to 15 Burpees before my 12 minutes were up. I was smoked! A pretty good workout. We'll keep going from here.

AAAAGH Thanksgiving Overeating.......

Man I ate way too much this last weekend. No I didn't run and now it's time to get back to work.

I'm going to start a new workout program this week, Crossfit. It's supposed to be a pretty good program and every one I know who does it likes the results. I knew a guy who did Crossfit and Crossfit Endurance for Ironman 70.3 Kansas and he only trained for 2 hours or less a day (compared to the 4+ hours I did) and he finished 30 minutes faster than I did.

Look for the workouts starting this afternoon.

Rest Day and Thanksgiving

Well today was a rest day. Thanksgiving is this week as well and I'm actually supposed to do a 9 mile run Thanksgiving Day and a 13-15 miler on Saturday, but we are traveling and we'll see if I get my runs in.

Should've Been a Swim Day

But man I sure didn't feel like getting out of bed at 4:50 this morning and heading to the pool. I was still pretty sore from yesterday's half marathon and I didn't sleep real well. So when the alarm went off I turned it off and told myself I needed a recovery day.

Well when I went out with Shantel and Macen this afternoon I realized it was 60 degrees and you don't waste a 60 degree day in Kansas/Missouri in the middle of November so I decided to go out and do a short run.

Distance : 4:53mi
Total Time: 47:14
AVG Pace: 10:26
Total Calories: 711
AVG HR: 155 bpm
Max HR: 177bpm
Mile 1: 11:14
Mile 2: 10:12
Mile 3: 10:00
Mile 4: 10:06
.53 Mile: 5:40
Zone 1 Time: 0:11 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:15 Distance: 99ft
Zone 3 Time: 34:44 Distance: 3.4 mi
Zone 4 Time: 12:54 Distance: 1.2 mi
Zone 5 Time: :36 Distnace: 282 ft

Chicken Wings and Beer Equals.......

A new personal record for the 1/2 marathon!!!! OK I must be honest any time I achieved today would be a new personal record, since I've never run "just" a 1/2 marathon either doing them as part of a 1/2 Ironman or a marathon, so I really can't attribute the time to the chicken wings and beer I had at Hooters last night.

Today was a great day for a long run, temps in the 50s with a little bit of a breeze. The breeze made it chilly enough to pull out the tights although at about mile 9 I was wishing I didn't have them on.

Mariah and I just before the race. Shivering a little bit in the wind.Mile 1.5 running strong. I probably pushed Mariah a little too hard, she mentioned that she hasn't run 5 miles that fast ever. Finishing strong. Just a little off the pace I would have liked to have run but not too shabby for a chilly day in November.
Mariah taking it home. Maybe next time she'll run a little more before racing. :)

Click here for the official results. Here are the stats according to my Garmin:

Distance : 13:20mi
Total Time: 1:54:58
AVG Pace: 8:42
Total Calories: 1561
AVG HR: 182 bpm
Max HR: 197 bpm
Mile 1: 9:04
Mile 2: 9:03
Mile 3: 9:08
Mile 4: 9:18
Mile 5: 9:17
Mile 6: 9:16
Mile 7: 8:11
Mile 8: 8:38
Mile 9: 8:17
Mile 10: 7:56
Mile 11: 8:13
Mile 12: 8.32
Mile 13: 8:30
.20: 7:35
Zone 1 Time: 0:00 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:10 Distance: 99ft
Zone 3 Time: 1:09 Distance: .1 mi
Zone 4 Time: 39:58 Distance: 4.4 mi
Zone 5 Time: 1:16:26 Distnace: 9.0 mi

If you look I really sped up at mile 6, that's when Mariah started to fall behind, so I gave her a high five and upped my pace. Mariah still did really good finishing in 2:21. Not as fast as she did at Omaha but still respectable.

Rest Day

Today's a rest day and you know what that means, beer. Of course I'm also running a half marathon tomorrow so I only had one beer, it just happened to be a big one.

For the Gobbler Grind Half Marathon tomorrow I'm only looking to run a sub 2 hour half marathon. The weather looks to be good, a little chilly maybe but not raining or snowing. Mariah will be joining me for the run and we'll see if she can beat the 2:10 she ran at Omaha.

Swim Day......Maybe

Today was supposed to be a swim day. My friend Andy has been working with me on my stroke so I can become a more efficient swimmer and I don't look so much like I'm trying to beat the water into submission when I swim. Well he seems to have lost his swim goggles and I was sore from my run last night so we decided to go get some coffee instead this morning. After all it is the off season right???

Medium Run Day

Slow 9 mile run today. I was supposed to keep it in Zone 3 but I'm still having issues with that. I took too much time off after my last marathon.

Distance : 9:07mi
Total Time: 1:37:20
AVG Pace: 10:43
Total Calories: 1090
AVG HR: 152 bpm
Max HR: 174 bpm
Mile 1: 10:30
Mile 2: 10:43
Mile 3: 10:48
Mile 4: 11:06
Mile 5: 10:47
Mile 6: 10:32
Mile 7: 10:38
Mile 8: 10:21
Mile 9: 10:06
Mile .07: 0:44
Zone 1 Time: 0:05 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:22 Distance: 96ft
Zone 3 Time: 27:34 Distance: 2.6 mi
Zone 4 Time: 1:09:20 Distance: 6.5 mi
Zone 5 Time: 1:20 Distnace: 507ft