Virtuosity

not totally sure why I was compelled to write this but...

In response to Team Crossfit Academy’s post on virtuosity:

In my previous life as a mediocre high school athlete I was fortunate enough to be able to take instruction from some of the best in my sport. It included multiple NCAA All-Americans, Olympians including a gold medalist, and some of the best coaches a teenager can ask for and one thing was always constant: the focus on the basics. They went over the same things again and again drilling and re-drilling constantly correcting small flaws.

Watch an athlete at the top of their respective sport; wrestling, baseball, basketball, golf and you see the same things. They are all exceptionally good at the basics. Tom Brady is not a great quarterback because he can make plays with bad mechanics and sloppy foot work, he is great because his footwork is impeccable, his mechanics are sound and consistent, and his preparation is extensive and elaborate. He is future hall of fame QB because he is great at the simple things.

In no place is this more evident (to me) than in MMA. All of the fighters are good at jiu-jitsu and can do the fancy submissions but it’s the first one they learn, the rear naked choke, which wins many fights. The guy who is best at the basics is most commonly the victor.

Voltron

26.2

So I ran a marathon.

It was long.

I did it after almost everyone told me not to do it because of what happened after my last long training run. For those of you that have not heard I had to go to the emergency room after my run two weeks ago with severe stomach cramps and vomiting. I was suffering from an electrolyte imbalance and dehydration. That was one of the worst feelings I have ever had. Because of that I did nothing all week but felt good Friday and Saturday so I decided to run.

I woke up early Sunday, felt good and got going. I did everything I could to prepare myself as far as nutrition was concerned. I had initially wanted to do the whole thing paleo style but after what happened the previous weekend and my lack of testing I decided to pass on that and went with the GU's and electrolyte/potassium/calcium pills. I started with the pills and Gatorade first thing Saturday and upped the dosage during the run taking a total of 16 pills on the course along with 6 GU's.

The first 14 miles were the most fun I have had on a run. Black Jon and I were having a blast and annoying the people around us as much as possible. Jon had his phone playing music at full blast so we sang and danced when we felt it appropriate. I like to think we helped lighten the mood. People take these things way to serious. Nothing that takes that long and is that hard should lack fun.

At about mile 14 I had to back my pace down some while Jon, because of his time goal had to keep it up or even pick it up so we split ways. I maintained my slightly slower pace for a while after that. At about mile 18 I started to develop a blister on my foot but was able to take care of it with some Vaseline.

Miles 18-22 were fun taking us through CSULB where the students were out having a good time and cheering the runners on. It helped.

At about mile 22 after walking through an aid station I was caught by one of the pacers. She was leading a group that was intending on finishing at 4:15. I thought perfect I can handle this pace, I feel pretty good still and my foot issues are under control. So thats what I did for the next mile or so.

Just after mile 23 I started to break down. My legs started to cramp and I went from OK to shitty in about 10 steps. My legs had enough and started to just stop. I tried to walk it off letting the legs settle a little but each time I would try to start to run even in a slow trot my legs would cramp from calf to hip. It was pretty brutal. Because of that I had to walk. So that's what I did for about 3 miles I walked watching my time slip away with every agonizing step. And they wer agonizing steps I was massaging my quads while I walked because if I didn't I would have had to stop entirely.

But I finished in a respectable (I guess) 4:50. I was angry that my legs let me down but I had never run anything close to that distance and only really did 4 runs over 10miles prior to that and the only one over 13 put me in the hospital.

All that said it was a blast but I dont need to do that again any time soon. 13.1 sure any time; I like that distance a lot but you can keep your marathons.


Huge respect to Jon who beat his time goal of 4:00 with a 3:57.
Well done sir.

Paleo Challenge

There have been lots of "paleo challenges" on the blogs lately, each with a different punishment and reward for efforts. Ours is no different.

Those of you who are not familiar with what paleo means there are several great sources online:
Robb Wolf
The Paleo Diet

As well as some great places to find recipes and meal ideas
performance menu
caveman food (not a good fitness blog but look around she has great food ideas)

If you want more ask I have a couple but just Google paleo food recipes you are bound to find something.

So back to the challenge. We have decided to create our own challenge. It started with The Jer, Loo, Danae and me. We made the pact then got absolutely trashed on cheep Japanese beer. then started the next day. It has grown adding several of people and intriguing others.

The details:
The challenge runs from two weeks ago for us, whenever you decide to start for you, until Halloween.

NO GLUTEN!! EVER! Not even with cheat meals.
You can have dairy (milk, dressing, cheese, ice cream, etc) one time every other week
You can have one cheat meal per week.
On those cheat meals you can have improper proportions (for those who eat zone or close to it), fried food, sugar, candy just about anything as long as it does not have any gluten in it and dairy only every other week.

Sounds simple enough?

Its really not so bad, I did 5 weeks but with dairy once a week and it was actually pretty easy. For me it was the beer that killed me but thanks to Whole Foods there is a good answer to that: Redbrige Gluten Free Beer
Trust me its good.

Ok so now that you read all that now you need to know the price.
The punishment is simple really.

30 MIN OF 6 COUNT BURPEES

see not so bad. If you dont know what a 6 count burpee is just ask me, Jeremy, Loo or one of the trainers. It will be taped and posted to facebook like all good public embarrassments should be. Those burpees will be counted out by one of the non-cheaters and if you stop moving so does the clock. The 30 mins is 100% active so if it takes you 60 min to do 30min of burpees, well then you shouldn't have cheated.

Before you say "sounds great I f*$@ing hate burpees! I would never cheat if I knew I had that coming" read this: Burpees vs Cookies. Its a good write up of why punishment does not always work. Personally it works pretty well for me but to each their own.

So after all that: Good luck and be ready to cut loose on Halloween.

~Pat
aka Voltron

Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Why Crossfit?

TCA is looking for some T-shirt ideas, this was an idea Jeremy had I just put it together.

Quck bit and a couple of pictures

Have not posted in a while but I have been doing well. My workouts are getting better by the day and even if my pull-ups suck I can still go hard on most everything else. I am really looking forward to the long weekend coming up and then the Games. I am not competing but it will be fun to cheer for the teams that I have friends on and then watch the elite kill it.


The Mud Run



City Chase

The Next Set

Now that I am almost done with the 5 weeks of consecutive Saturday races I am ready to plan my next set of challenges. So far my list of races I hope to do looks like this:

Aug 8th - Sprint Triathlon at Camp Pendleton 1:54 A good effort. This one was more about fun but I pushed hard and felt like I went as fast as I could that day.
Sep 19th - Heart Break Ridge 1/2 Marathon at Camp Pendleton
Sep 27th - Orange County Oly Tri
Oct 4th - LA Oly Tri
Oct 11th - Long Beach Marathon (full distance)
Nov 22nd 18K Trail run in Santa Monica
Dec 6th Muddy Buddy Temecula

The more I look at it the crazier it seems. I like that. I don't think I will do both those Oly tris, I will likely do the OC and then focus on the marathon for a few weeks. I want to do well there.

I have only signed up for the sprint tri so far but plan to regester for the rest (the ones I choose) in the next 7-10 days. If anyone is planning on doing one of these let me know and I we can get some trainig days in.

A Full Plate!

I was looking at my schedule for the summer and realized I have a busy next few weeks:

Sat May 23rd: Mt Wilson Trail Race 1:46 1 down 4 to go

Sat May 30th: OC Duathlon 2:25 I had some really bad cramping, I need to work on my nutrition on race day

Sat June 6th: Camp P. Mud Run 1:10 Got a late start and something of an extended warm up but had a great time. Cant wait till next week, hope to go sub 1:05 and based on the slow downs we had I dont think that will be too tough.

Sat June 13th: Camp P. Mud Run 1:01 I got to the starting line and was able to run the whole thing. I had to slow down going up the hill a few times and could really feel some fatigue in my legs but I felt good. Glad those 2 are done but cant wait till next year. I plan on doing it at least twice (maybe 3 times) including one B&U's.

Sat June 20th: San Diego City Chase The City Chase was one of the most fun things I have ever done. It was similar to the last Pioneer run I did with TCA but on a larger level with some great checkpoints (and some not so great ones). I will do a better write up when I get the pictures sent over but I could not recommend this race enough. I will defiantly do it again next year.

Then a couple of free weeks followed
July 10th-12th: Crossfit Games 2009
Sat July 18th: Crossfit Nutrition Cert
Friday July 24th: Every Second Counts Premier
Sat Aug 8th: Camp P. Spring Triathlon?

I may add more but I am not sure where. I would like to do a couple of Olympic Distance Tri's as well but I will have to see how the shoulder does and when I can get in a pool.

Its going to be a fun summer.

The Road Back Again

I have been away for a while, I apologize but I have been working hard and trying not to screw up my shoulder rehab but I am close. I can do most things without pain, including pull-ups which were totally impossible just a few weeks ago.

I have had a couple of Pr's on the C2:
2K 7:20
5K 19:24

I also Pr'd Michael a few weeks ago by 25 seconds so I have not lost it. I am still about 2 weeks from really starting to lift but its close I can feel it.

Tomorrow will be a good test. I will have the OG No Name Gym crew at the Academy so my little speal about taking it easy might have to wait till Saturday.

I have also been doing some Long Slow Duration (LSD) stuff which sucks but is a necesary evil

I did the MWTR course about 3 weeks ago in 1:42. looking forward to the race! I have also signed up for a City Chase with a buddy. Team Jimmy Jam will crush it.


"Only people willing to work to the point of discomfort on a regular basis using effective means to produce that discomfort will actually look like they have been other-than-comfortable most of the time."

Coach Rip

Risk

“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”
-Leo F. Buscaglia

There is a reason people live in mediocrity, because it is easy. If you never give it your all you will never know how far you can go. If you do go 100% you run the risk of losing control or "hitting the wall." If you worry about holding back or saving something you will never reach your full potential. To me the latter is much worse. I would rather risk an injury and go all out then worry about the injury and never know what I am made off.

I am not perfect, no one is. I can not give every ounce of my self in every workout but I want to. But I do it often enough to know that I can.

"I don't save anything for the swim back"

On a less serious note that whole blog your food shit is for the birds. F that.

I get to do today as Rx'ed!!

The WOD posted today at my gym is one I can do as rx'ed!

10x 225 deadlift + 200m sprint: 3 Rounds


6:10am Zone Bar: 2P 2C 2F

9:30 3oz turkey, 1oz cheese = 3P; 1 slice bread = 2C; 6 macadamia nuts = 6F




"There are few things graven in stone, except that you have to squat or you're a pussy." Coach Rippetoe

Same Shit Different Day

7 hours of good sleep

Back is sore from the GHD yesterday.

6:30am Zone Bar: 2P 2C 2F

9:10am 3oz turkey breast, oz cheese = 3P; 1 orange (s/m) = 2C; 6 macadamia nuts = 6F

12:00pm 4oz ground buffalo meat = 4P; 1 small apple = 2C; ~2Tbs peanut butter 12F

4:00pm 1 yogurt (with fruit), 1 string cheese = 2P & 2C; 3 macadamia nuts 3F

7:00pm 5oz chicken breast = 5P; 2 1/2 cups steamed broccoli = 2C; 12oz beer = 1.5C; 2 Tbs peanut butter 6F

Again not a bad day but not great. I need to work harder at packing my lunch so I am satisfied after meals. I have been craving sugar bad the last few days.

WOD:
5x 400m sprint with a 3min rest between sets

R1: 1:20
R2: 1:18
R3: 1:22
R4: 1:24
R4: 1:27
R5: 1:28

Not bad but the legs are not happy. I recovered well between sets but it was hard to keep the run technique in the last few sets.

Something New

I want to start tracking more on this site. I'm not sure how long this will last but I am really trying to make a solid 6 week run with one cheat meal a week and I think this will help. I will update throughout the day.

6:30am Zone Bar: 2P 2C 2F

9:45am 1 flour tortilla = 3C, 3oz turkey 1 0z cheese = 3P, 3 macadamia nuts = 3F

12:45pm 1 slice whole grain bread = 2C, 3oz turkey, 1oz cheese spread, 1 string cheese = 4P, 10 macadamia nuts = 10F

4:45pm small apple = 2C, 3oz, 1 string cheese = 3P, 9 macadamia nuts = 9F

7:30pm 4 cups spinach, 1 Tbs dried cranberry, 1/2 apple = 3C, 1oz blue cheese 4oz cooked ground buffalo = 5P, 2 Tbs avocado + fat in cheese = 3F.

12C 15P 27F

Not a perfect day but not bad.

WOD
7 rounds of
12 pulls on a rower
12 GHD sit-ups

12:30

Shoulder Pain Fucking Sucks

My shoulder is fucked up. It hurts more and more every fucking day. It hurts more when I sleep then at the gym but its still keeping me out. I am going to the doc next week so he/she can tell me not to workout and I can tell him/her to go to hell. Then I will go to a PT who will tell me not to work out but at least try to fix me. So you know what this means? I will be doing more heavy back squats, dead-lifts and other static movements that I don't hurt and some running. No pull-ups, KB swings, snatches, shoulder press, push-ups or anything else remotely fun. Fuck this sucks. FML

Still Grinding

Last Friday night I did a group run with friends and friends of friends from my gym called The Pioneer Run. In a nutshell it is a night time trail run from an undisclosed location for a unknown distance. This is how my coach and team leader for the run described it:

"Pioneer Runs were designed as a way to spend the evening with friends running through unfamiliar terrain making choices along the way (Thinking while running)...Friday night would serve as the 4th Pioneer Run. The initial concept was designed around 7-10 miles from Mt. Wilson to Jones Peak via the Toll Road and a ridge-line then down into Sierra Madre via the Mt. Wilson Trail. As the Teams filled up we had a unique opportunity to push the envelope and increase the distance all while giving our Teams the maximum opportunity to make great route selections for added Teamwork challenges.


The Teammates had no idea really what they were getting themselves into as they arrived at my house Friday evening. After a meeting with both the Team Captains and the Team of drivers we broke our folks into 4 groups...Blue, Green, Red, and Yellow. Once color-coded and matched with their respective Captains away we drove up the 210 Freeway to Highway 2 and up towards Mt. Wilson. Again, 90% of the Teammates still having NO clue as to where they were to be dropped off...that's how I like it.


The Road Closure Sign stopped none of us, and the snow packed road to Wilson only elated both imaginations and anxieties. The night was young, air was crisp, and the temperature was perfect...about 45 degrees. After a quick drop off at Eaton Saddle @ 5090ft we broke into our groups and headed through the Meullar Tunnel to Markham Saddle @ 5270ft. The snow, ice, and drop-offs forced a lot of folks to pay attention quickly..."

It was a great time that pushed me mentally more then anything else. Not because it was hard but my group had a few people that were not as at the level of fitness to be great at this so I took it upon myself to push them. Put it this way when we started I was the go-team guy cheering people on with an "at-a-boy" or a "keep pushing you can do this" and people liked me. As the night turned to morning and downhill turned into uphill my positive reinforcements stopped. Not that I was mean or cruel to these people, I just pushed them with a different timber in my voice, one of authority and anger, and not so much patience. I was physically pushing and pulling people up the hill for extended periods of time all and may have used a couple of bad words, but just a couple. At one point I told young Andy to "SHOW SOME FUCKING FORTITUDE!" and "I WILL NOT BE ON THIS MOUNTAIN ALL FUCKING NIGHT SO GET YOU SHIT TOGETHER AND GO!" But what was great about it was Andy responded. He did not recoil from the anger he pushed. I could see him pushing and it pushed me. Andy and I battled and I hope he would agree when I say we are both stronger because of it. When we finally made it to the final leg Andy was asked if he could run the rest of the way, about a mile or so. I did not let him respond I said "he doesn't have a fucking choice, we are running." And we did I finished right next to him in a RUN up to the drive way.

We finished at 2am and 15.5 miles in total distance with a lot of elevation changes in the middle.

Saturday I was useless. My WOD was sleeping on the couch for time.

Sunday I took a run technique class with my gym that I think will pay big dividends as I work on the technique. It wont come easy but I am committed.

Monday I did the WOD at my gym.

The Punisher
10x 135# squat cleans +
run 200m+
9x 135# squat cleans +
run 200m....
so on to
1x 135# squat clean +
run 200m

It was hard. My legs hurt and my back was the tightest I have ever felt it including the tightness I felt in my triathlons.

Pat: 25:28

It was not a proud moment so I took Tuesday to try and recover.
Tonight I will do

Karen
150 Wall Balls
EDIT time: 8:53

As a follow up to my diet:

I continued to work on my diet and continued reading and decided on a stragity. I will cut my carbs to 8 blocks per day like I said last time but I will add 3 fat blocks for every missing carb block. So if my lunch is a 4 block lunch it will look like this:

4 Protein blocks

2 Carb blocks

10 Fat blcoks

so because that meal is short 2 carb blocks compared to the protein I add 6 fat blocks. So far I like it a lot and have not had any issues as it pertains to performance, sleep or recovery but it is still early.

Building

This past Monday was my 25th birthday, I did not do much to celebrate and that was fine by me. What I did do was use it as an excuse to carry the excesses from Saturday night right through Monday's pizza, beer and sweet potato fries lunch/dinner. Some of the crossfiters I have trained with tell me how they are never satisfied after cheat meals and it is never as good as they expect it to be. That was not the case for me. I had a great dinner on Valentine ’s Day and a great lunch on Saturday.

Prior to that weekend I had consistently stuck to my 17 blocks with two (sometimes three cheat meals) a week. It has been effective in decreasing my times and increasing energy and recovery but I wanted more. So after doing some reading and research (robbwolf.com) I have decided to drop my carbohydrate blocks down to 8 and increase my fats to 42. I was expecting to be dragging on Wednesday but by about 3pm I felt like I was going to tear through my own skin I was so amped. It felt like I had been pounding redbull all day. Today I am experiencing a similar feeling. I am actually a little light headed. I like it.

As far as workouts:

2/16
AMRAP in 20 min of
10 95# squat cleans
15 push-ups

I did 11 rounds.

I was happy with that number and was only slightly out done by one guy in the class. He did 11 and change, I did just 11.

2/17
7 rounds of 1 Squat Cleans
I pr'ed at 215#'s and it felt pretty good.

2/18
I meet up with Phil like it was last summer all over again and we invaded the land of the Jimmy’s. We strolled into a packed Globo Gym and did WOD from last year’s CF Games:

5x 275# Dead-Lift
10 Burpees

I'm not totally sure what my time was the last time I did this but I wanted to get close to 5min (top 50 at the games).

Pat: 5:29
Phil: 4:09

I went first and drew a ton of attention (and scorn) from the people in the crowded gym, especially from the fat-ass who could not comfortably do his seated calf raises, yes that’s what I said he was mad because I was so close to him while he did seated fucking calf raises. After I finished one of the trainers walked over and I could see the satisfaction on the people’s faces “now that asshole is going to get it! They should throw his ass out and revoke his membership for actually doing work in a gym. How am I supposed to concentrate on my lat crunch things with a 45# plate in one hand while some guy drops 275#s repeatedly.” But he is a friend of ours and only wanted to know my time. People were genially pissed that he did kick us out.

I am glad I went first because the effort Phil put in was humbling and I would not want to follow a 4:09.

Rest day today then a trail run on Friday and not sure about Saturday. Till then I will try not to make my shoulder any worse than it is.

God Damit I hate ring dips

Saturday I got up thinking sweet its O-lift day I don't have to kill myself for 20 minuets then lay on the floor for 15 just so I don't feel like I am going to die. But No

I got to the gym and was talked into doing the main site WOD for Saturday.

(to be fare I say talked into but all it took was "Pat are you going to do the WOD from the main site?" "Yes")

Seven rounds for time of:
95 pound Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 10 reps
10 Ring dips

I really fucking suck at ring dips. The high pulls were easy because it took so long to get through the ring dips.

My time: 15:30

Split Jerks and Ring Dips

On Wednesday I did a max effort day:
Split Jerk 7 sets of 1

I hate the sets of 1 so I always do a couple of extra, mostly in the first few sets, to get warmed up for the heavy stuff. I think I constantly sell myself short by not warming up properly.

I pr'ed at 205#s which was nice but I still have a ways to go. the good thing was that it didn't really feel that heavy so with some practice I think I am strong enough to do more weight. Its all about technique with these things.

During the class I was giving the instructor Nathan a hard time about his sore back and that he needed to suck it up. He called me out so, knowing full well that it was a bad idea I did the workout he had done earlier that day. It was the WOD from the main site.

45 double unders
45 squat cleans @ 135#s
45 ring dips
45 double unders

It sucked. I am pitiful at the ring dips but that was one of the reasons I did the WOD. I really want to start to flush out my weaknesses and ring dips is a huge weakness.

My time was 21:38. Of the people who had done it that day I was the slowest and the quality of my dips were suspect but I felt good on the cleans and the double unders.

The 2009 Crossfit Games So Cal Qualifier

OK so I am in. I registered this morning.

After a solid Performance last night with a 30:52 Barbara I was inspired.

I know I wont qualify but I will give it all I got between then and now and may get lucky and be able to represent my gym in the affiliate cup.

A Long Review

I have not posted much so below is the last several days but first some thoughts

I have been zoning strong since the 2nd of Jan with 17 blocks a day and 2 cheat meals a week. I don't even really notice it that much any more. its gotten a lot easier. It has started to show in the gym too. My times are coming down along with the body fat. I feel lighter and that's what is important.

Friday 1/30 I did Randy

75x 75lb Power Cleans

7:59

I did this WOD in November and got 9:??. This one felt harder then I remember but I was happy with the time

Saturday 1/31 I did a hill repeat run. It was the same run from 2 weeks prior but this time I was alone and about a minute slower.

I also did a team workout.

150 wall balls (20lb ball)

200 KB swings (53lb bell)

250 dead lifts (135lb)

300 push-ups

It was with two other people; a girl who I had never met before but really impressed me with her effort especially on the push-ups and wall balls and a guy I had seen before who is average and had to scale the weights but also put in a good effort. They both pushed me.

I felt great on this. I had a coffee immediately before the WOD but I don’t know if that had anything to do with it but everything went well. I did a little more than my 1/3 share on most of the stations but I was cruising especially on the dead lifts the weight felt easy. The push-ups were as good as they have felt in a long time and the wall balls were not to hard either.

.

Sunday 2/1 I rested

Monday 2/2 was Hanging Power Cleans

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

I finished with a sketch 195lbs. It was more of a hanging squat clean. I did a good 190lb and failed at 205lb.

Tuesday 2/3 was Jackie:

1000m Row +

50 Thrusters @ 45lbs

30 pull-ups

I forgot my exact time for this but I think it was in the 8 min range. I know I did the row in 3:30.08 and got through the thrusters well. I was having a little trouble on the pull-ups; I am getting my butterfly kip down and could not get the regular kip to work

The day after this was filmed I got it. It clicked and now I can string them together much better.

Wednesday 2/4 I did a evil thing called “Reverse Running Fran”

9 Pull-ups +

9 Thrusters +

800m sprint +

15 Pull-ups +

15 Thrusters +

400m sprint

21 Pull-ups

21 Thrusters

200m sprint

13:23

I was able to “butterfly kip” almost all of these and that helped my time a lot and the thrusts felt a lot better than they have recently.

Thursday 2/5 I rested

Friday 2/6 I did Annie:

50-40-30-20-10 of double unders and sit-ups

8:23

I have been pulling out the jump rope a little lately and have not done many sit-ups so this seemed like a good one to do. (on a side note this is the 2nd fastest time on the gym's board but #1 is 5:25 ish)

Saturday 2/7 I did "Tabata Hell"

8 rounds of 20 seconds work 10 seconds rest

Row

Pull-Ups

Sit-ups

KB Swings (53 lbs)

and B to B squats

This sucked. period.

Sunday 2/8 Rest