On the Team

After 3 months the competition has ended. I was slated in 4th place but due to a late drop out I was moved up a slot to 3rd and on to Team Crossfit Academy's affiliate team. Although its not exactly how I wanted it to go I am proud of my efforts. I pr'd in every workout I attempted, some twice, and was able to tackle a couple of my weaknesses. I still have a way to go but I look forward to May 8-9th when I get to compete at crossfit for the first time outside of the gym. I still have a way to go and am as excited, if not more so, to prepare for the games as I am the games themselves.

Some of my scores:

• DT 18:24 (2nd place)
• Nancey 14:46 (4th place)
• Elizabeth 14:52 (4th place)
• Grace 4:03 (3rd place)
• Diane 10:14 (2nd place)
• Press 150#s (4th place)
• Back Squat 335# (1st place)
• Snatch 165# (4th place)
• C&J 215# (3rd place)
• 1 mile run 6:07 (1st place)
• 5K Row 19:21 (2nd place)

Not great scores but I am improving and will continue to do so.

Excuses

I noticed something last night at the gym: I have way to many excuses. I was a giant vagina in the gym yesterday, I was way under my max lifts, had a tough time with my 85%s and just felt like a shit popsicle. The guys (and girls) around me were killing it, one in particular, and I am not going to lie, it pissed me off. I was not angry with them, they are all great people and I hope they continue to progress but we are competing now and it really bothered me to watch them get stronger and PR while I was putting Vagisil on my yeast infected ego.

The worst part is how weak my excuses were. "I got up early this morning", "I went snowboarding on Monday", "I have really cleaned up my eating so I must be adjusting." Wow I hate myself right now.

The truth: I suck. BUT I am working on it. As it stands right now I am out classed by this group but I will not let that stand.

A Rededication

When the New Year rolls around most people make resolutions, they want to get “fit” or lose weight or quit smoking. This is not that. I am not making a resolution; my resolve was never in question. What was a problem was commitment. My commitment has been lacking and that is what I plan on changing. I plan on going back to what I know works. For me that’s paleo-zone and a steady mix of crossfit, o-lift and some running and rowing in there to keep it interesting. I am going to get my nutrition dialed in first, to me that is the cornerstone to everything. I am not a good enough athlete to be able to make significant improvements in spite of good nutrition. The next step is motivated and directed training and practice. I have way too many holes in my game and need to start to plug those up. To do that I need to be focused on my end goal, create a plan and then work that plan. The next 30 days are huge for me and I need to stay focused.

The game: 16 workouts including a few “Warrior” wods, some “Girls” o-lift, power lift and some endurance work.

No strategy just hard work from here on out. I will finish these next 90 or so days as hard as a coffin nail or kill myself trying.

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