Hang power clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps
135 (f), 135 (f), 135, 135 (f), 135, 135 (f), 135 (f)
This was horrible. I know I can lift this weight, as evinced by how easily I lifted the weight on the two successful attempts, but I kept psyching myself out and my technique kept faltering. Also, I think I was nervous about my knee, which is still bothering me.
Oh well.
On the plus side, my pull-ups are improving.
Did a three mile run around the old neighborhood. I was really nice to be able to run in shorts and sunshine, and to not have to worry about ice patches. It’s odd, but everything in the neighborhood seemed somehow smaller than I remember - which makes no sense because I haven’t grown since I graduated from high school.
It took me 25:12 at an easy pace. My knee acted up a little - I still need to pick up new shoes, and I’ll need to ease into the mileage.
I’m back in Cali for a few days to visit the parentals. With no access to a gym, I decided to head to my high school track to make up an old CrossFit WOD I had to skip because of bad weather.
Run 4×800 meters for time, with rest between each interval.
2:58, 3:00, 3:17, 3:15
This was pretty devastating, considering I expected to be in the 2:50 range for all four intervals. I can think of any number of reasons for why my times were so miserable. First, I haven’t been running regularly since the marathon. Second, I’ve put on weight since the marathon - about 7 pounds. Third - and this is related to the first and second reasons - my diet hasn’t changed too much from when I was training for the marathon, which means that I’m eating way too many carbs, not enough protein, and probably too many calories.
So, courtesy of this little holiday kick-in-the-ass, be it resolved that I will start running again, I will eat fewer carbs and more lean protein, and I will eat fewer calories. Now if I could just avoid all this holiday temptation…
“Eva ”
5 rounds for time:
800m rows
1.5 kettlebell swings (2 pood first round)
20 pull-ups (10 pull-ups on last round, callus ripped off)
51:58
This workout was brutal. I wanted to actually run 800m, but it’s below freezing out here, and there are patches of ice everywhere, so I ended up using the rowing machine instead. I did the first round with a 2 pood (70 lb) kettlebell. Yeah. Not a great idea. Also, I had to scale down the pull-ups, because there’s no way I would have finished in less than an hour if I had to 30-pull-up sets.
A callus on my hand ripped off on the last set of pull-ups. It was fairly painful. Don’t know when I’ll be doing pull-ups again, but I saw that someone else had these neoprene pads to go over your palms, secured by an elastic strap. I might have to invest in a pair of those.
As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 20 minutes of:
10 full rounds plus 5 pull-ups and 6 push-ups As usual, my pull-ups were my weakness. For the last four rounds, I couldn’t even string two together and had to break them up. My push-ups started to fail me pretty early, too. I was able to make up a lot of time on the squats - for some reason, everyone else seemed to be doing them super slow. Maybe it’s because I run so much, squats seem easy to bust out quickly.
Also, a patch of skin next to my callus started to rip - I hope it heals up enough before the next pulling-centric workout.
Missed the 4×800m workout yesteday because there’s ice and snow everywhere, and I didn’t sign up for my running club’s access to the indoor track on the Upper East Side. (I probably couldn’t just show up and use it whenever I wanted to, anyway). I’m hoping I can find a patch of cleared road to do it tomorrow, or I’ll make it up when I head to Cali next week at my high school track. It’ll be good to see what my 800m time is like these days.
For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows (video)
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball (throw the ball up 10′ in the air, catch it, squat, repeat)
50 Burpees
50 Double unders (jump rope, two turns of the rope per jump equals one double under)
37:24. Thirty-seven minutes, twenty-four seconds of misery.
Per Joeseph’s admonition, I decided to actually do the box jumps as jumps instead of stepping up and down, and it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be. The Knees-to-Elbows kicked my ass, and the fifty burpees felt like they would never end.
Tomorrow’s WOD is running 4×800m… I’m hoping I can find a dry track somewhere to actually do it after today’s ice storm.
Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps
115, 135, 135, 145, 155, 155, 155
My first time doing split jerks. I probably could have gone heavier, but my form was utter crap so I hung out at 155 to work on my back foot placement. You’d think after years of martial arts training, I could get footing and stances right.
Since the NYC Marathon, I’ve been doing CrossFit workouts fairly regularly. Thought I’d start recording my workouts here to track my progress.
Today’s Workout Of the Day (WOD)
Five rounds for time of:
275 pound Deadlift, 5 reps
10 Burpees
I subbed in 205 lbs, because 275 just sounded way too insane.
7:37. Burpees suck. Especially after 5 deadlifts.
I finished! The weather was great, the spectators were awesome… It was an amazing time.
Thanks everyone who contributed to my Team for Kids pledge. With everyone’s help, I raised $3270.00, which will go towards running-based athletic programs for youth in disadvantaged communities. In the lead-up to the marathon, I learned that in the United States, 1 out of every 3 children born in the year 2000 is expected to be afflicted by Type II Diabetes, and in the African American and Latino communities, that number increases to 1 in every 2. Type II Diabetes is a disesase that can be directly linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, and the idea that such an easily preventable disease is running so rampant is unimaginable to me. I’m more committed now than ever to continue supporting Team for Kids and to try encourage more folks to eat healthier and to do some kind of exercise, and I hope you won’t mind if I hit you all up again next year.
As far as the race went: I’m really disappointed with the results. As you can see from my results, at the halfway point, I was motoring along with a 1:53:27 split - which, given my knee problems this year, was really good. But not long after that, the wheels kind of came off and my pace slowed, and then between mile 18 and 19 I got rocked by really bad leg cramps, which forced me to do a walk/jog/shuffle for the most of the last 7 miles.
So, it wasn’t a very well-run marathon. Finishing the first half in 1:53:27 and the second half in just under 3 hours… not good. But now I’m super-motivated for next year. Now to rest up a little, fix my knee somehow and map out a plan to be ready for next year.
The marathon is less than 36 hours away, and I’m starting to get a
little jittery.
This year, the NYC Marathon will start the runners in waves, and it
looks like I’m scheduled for the 10:00am wave. I’m expecting to run a
9:30 min pace - which is a slower pace than I would like, but the
unfortunate reality of my gimpy knee has forced me to limit training
and slow my pace.
I’ll be experimenting with the official NYC Marathon Athlete Alert
feature, which will send updates of my time to email addresses I’ve
identified in advance. If I set it up properly, those splits should
get posted to my blog (and from my blog to Facebook). Splits will be
reported at every 5K mark along the course as well as at the start,
half-marathon mark (13.1 miles/21.1K), miles 16 through 26, and the
finish.
If anyone else is interested enough to want to get splits via email,
you can sign up for email alerts by clicking here. Once you register, you can
search for me by my bib number, 19089.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to my Team For Kids pledge and
who have cheered me on through this long training season!