Archive for September, 2013

Workout 09/19/2013

Thursday, September 19th, 2013

Karate:

Discussion topic: kami and ke; animal hair and human head hair.
ke and kami should be together. To demonstrate how we shouldn’t forget they should stay connected, he showed two ends of a piece of hard wire, then crossed them and twisted them together with pliers.

Worked on heian godan, meikyo, tekki shodan, bokutan (jodan oi-zuki, age-uke, jodan ude-uke, gedan-barai, slice through the next and then through the stomach).

Crossfit (7am, Dolph):
Warmup
Pass Throughs (shoulders were VERY tight after yesterday’s PRs and several training sessions)
OHS with PVC

Strength
Snatch Complex  10x thru – worked with empty bar for 3 sets, then 95# for remaining 7 sets – shoulders are sore 🙂
3 Behind the Neck Jerks
3 Snatch Balance
3 OHS 

MetCon
4 Rounds for time
5 Squat Cleans 135# (this felt easy last night, but today it’s feeling heavier, perhaps I’m fatigued)
10 Pullups (5 dead-hang, then kipping in first two sets, last two sets was all kipping)
20 Double Unders (I CAN FINALLY DO SINGLE-DOUBLE, PRETTY CONSISTENTLY! Thanks PunkRope)

This took about 10:15, but should have been much less.

Workout 09/18/2013

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Crossfit:

Skill
Double Under Practice
Accumulate as many DBs in 5 minutes

Mobility
Tricep smash
Improve front rack position
Hip and Ankle Mobility

Strength
Front Squat
10×2, 90% 1 Rep max.
I actually started my sets with my 1RepMax: 185#.
For the last set, I jumped to 2 x 200# (PR!) and still felt strong, so jumped to 1 x 215#.

2 sets of 2 x 135# (warm-up)
9 sets of 2 x 185#
1 set of 2 x 200#
1 set of 1 x 215#

MetCon
1 mile run
5 minute Max effort KB Snatches, switch hands as needed (116 reps at 24kg)
800 meter run
3 min Max effort Burpees (33 burpees)
400 meter
1 minute Max effort Pushups (30 push-ups)

Lunch:
BodyFit Class
Random combinations of the following exercises, selected by playing card, in sets of 60 seconds each:
Ace: Bar Jumping jacks (essentially a push jerk with 40 pound barbell)
King: Boxing punches with dumbbells
Queen: Band Rounds (step on the band, and rotate arms in circles holding just below the handles)
Jack: Hulk Squats (holding two dumbbells, squat and touch the floor, then raise DBs overhead and jump into the air)
10: Lunge Jumps
9: 1-legged burpees
Joker: run up and down 4 flights of stairs.
Core: Duck-duck-goose style core
– situps until each person in the circle jumps up and runs around the circle
– hold plank
– disc-ins/outs with a 30 second lead-in before the first person stands to run around the circle.
Evening:
Olympic Lifting Class
– Worked on burgener warmup, and clean progression.
At the end of class, I was able to do my max clean with great form, and felt good. I added 20 more pounds and did it three times total.
So, new PR for Clean: 165#.
And new PR for Front Squat: 215#

Workout 09/17/2013

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013

I have been negligent logging my karate workouts and other miscellaneous workouts. I’m not sure how useful it is, so at this point I’ve decided to only log it when I have something of interest I learned during the class.

Karate (5am):

An interesting cue – use your forefinger and thumb to “brush” just below then through your eyebrows. Still trying to figure out what this really means. I’m sure it will reveal itself in time.  More boken training.

Crossfit (7am, Dolph):

Warmup
Coach led dynamic
Burgener warmup

Strength
Clean Work
3x thru
5x  1st pull (from the ground, shoulders out past [not over] the bar, to just above the knee, shoulders still out past the bar)
5x 2nd pull (pull from the top of the knees to the waist, keep arms straight, thrust hips forward, extend onto toes but don’t just go airborne)
5x 3rd pull (“tall clean” – pull from the waist into the clean position. I need to check whether the knees should be in play here at all for this position.)

Worked with empty bar for Burgener warmup, then up to 145#. 

MetCon
16 Min AMRAP
400 meter run
3 Push Jerks, heavy (115#)
6 Box Jumps (24″)
9 Toes to Bar (I finally got a better rhythm for T2B – after touching toes to the bar, thrust shoulders and hips forward quickly as your bring your feet down)

I had just finished the 5th round at about 15:20, so began the 400m run of the 6th round. When I returned the clock read 17:00, but I finished the jerks, boxes, and T2B.

Core

8 minutes of the following:
– odd minute – hold plank for full minute
– even minute: 20 seconds of each:
— frog sit-ups
— russian twists with 16kg kettle bell
— v-sits

Lunch

5 mile recovery run
Pull-ups
Dips

Workout 09/16/2013

Monday, September 16th, 2013

Crossfit

I took the 5am class today, so I could get the boys off to school.

Core Work
Accumulate 3 minutes of L holds, either on rings or Parallettes:
– I held them on the rings for about 20 seconds, but that degraded to 10 seconds, then I kept my knees up instead of legs out.
Intermix 50 frog situps 

Mobility, 3minutes
This was particularly helpful the day after the half marathon.
Ankle Mobility
Squat Therapy 

Strength

High Bar Back Squat (HBBS)
10×2, 90% 1 rep max
Worked up to 205#, max is currently 235#

MetCon
14 min EMOM
3 Thrusters, 95#/65# (actually, we ran out of 25# plates, so I scaled up to 115# using 35# plates)
3 Burpees
3 KB Swings (used 32kg)

Even with the higher weight, I still finished almost every set with about 25 – 30 seconds left in the minute. But the rest was well-received.
Lunch
Stretching, PVC rolling
3 30-sec rounds of low plank to high plank, AMRAP
Core work: sit-ups with kettle bell, single arm shoulder pushes
Pull-ups
Dips
Push-ups

My 12th Rock’n’Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon 09/15/2013

Sunday, September 15th, 2013

I left for the Rock’n’Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon at 6:20am, and arrived around 7am, but there was nowhere to park nearby. So I drove away from the start and ended up parking near Broad St and Spring Garden, which is about 1.5 miles from the start of the race. I don’t remember it being this crowded in the last 11 years I’ve done it, but I must admit that most often, Jeannie drives and drops me off at the start.

I spent so much time searching for parking, that I didn’t head to the start until 7:40. I stopped and used the port-o-potties along the course because I knew the ones at the start would have huge lines. I arrived at the start during the National Anthem. I stopped in my tracks and waiting for the Anthem to finish. Then I worked my way toward corral #2 but ended up in corral #3. This was no problem since I was wearing a chip, but in retrospect, it did keep from rushing out of the start too fast. I took my GU and we started at about 8:02:30. My first mile was about 6:55, which is slow for this race. The next couple miles were around 7:05. My lack of training was already showing.

I wore may Garmin GPS watch but it was off by 1/10th of a mile after the second mile. In addition, I tried to use the RunKeeper app on my iPhone to track my time, give me audible alerts, and let the family know where I was with RunKeeper Live. Unfortunately, it couldn’t get a satellite signal at the start, and so I just clicked “Start” hoping it would acquire the signal eventually. It started giving me quarter-mile splits right away so I knew something was wrong. I hadn’t even finished the first mile, but it had given me way too many quarter-mile splits, announcing that my pace was about 30 seconds per mile. Phenomenal! The voice was getting annoying, but I kept it on with hopes that it would help the family know where I was. Once I passed Jeannie, Matt and Pete around mile 4.5, I turned it off. Without the GPS signal, it was useless and distracting. After the race was over, I checked the RunKeeper website, and it reported that I had ran 28 miles when in fact I had only run 5 before I shut it off. Next race, I will be sure to get satellite lock earlier. It’s a great tool to have the audible alerts and they have worked pretty well in the past. Hopefully this issue is a one-time thing.

At the point in the race when I saw the family, I was running slower than expected. My miles were edging toward 7:30 per mile, and this is no surprise really. I didn’t train properly for this race. I told Jeannie when I saw her that I would be later than expected. I had high hopes of a finish between 1:30 and 1:35, but with 7:30 miles, that wasn’t going to happen. In fact, my knees were tight and giving me pain, as was my right hip flexor. And because I knew my finish would be slower than usual, I wasn’t very motivated. I took my second GU and was feeling down and wanted to quit at mile 5. But then I thought about all the people that can’t run but want to. I also thought about all the people that might have to walk parts of the race and wish they could have kept running. So, I pushed on. I locked into someone ahead of me with a red shirt, and maintained their pace until I felt comfortable and passed them, thanking them in the process.

The run along Kelly Drive was scenic, and I counted down the miles: 6, 7, 8. The Falls Bridge was a welcome visual from about a half-mile away — mile 9! I knew from that point, I was heading back to the finish. Sure, it’s another 4.1 miles but at least I was headed in the direction of the finish. I took my third GU and set my eyes on another runner ahead to reel in. I worked through the next few miles, trying to keep my tempo in synch with the music: miles 10 and 11.

At mile 12, I called Jeannie to let her know I had a mile left. I tried using voice commands with my iphone 4 to call her, but it wasn’t understanding “Call Jeannie Sconzo”. So, I swiped while running and made the call. Hopefully the iPhone 5s works much better at understanding voice commands than the 4 does, especially while running. With the RunKeeper failure and problems with voice calling, I’ll be glad to have a new phone soon — Sept 20!

As I approached the finish line, I was feeling strong and sprinted. Overall, the issue I had throughout the race was I just couldn’t muster consistent speed, but at least I felt stronger once I overcame my depression at mile 5.

I met up with Jeannie and the boys, and we walked the 1.5 miles back to the cars. I split off to head to a jump-rope seminar with PunkRope at 11:30.

The race, as always, was exciting and the course was well marked. There were several people dressed in fun colors, or costumes, like Elvis. There were lots of spectators, and the bands along the course were great. One negative was that the water tables seemed slightly overwhelmed. It’s possible there weren’t enough volunteers to man the water stations because as I went through, many runners were retrieving their own water from the tables which seemed to cause some backup in places. But that is my only complaint. Great race — looking forward to doing it again next year.

Now, onto the Citizen’s Bank Park Spartan Sprint on Sept 28, Tough Mudder on Oct 12, Princeton Half Marathon on Nov 3, and Trenton Half Marathon on Nov 9.

Workout 09/12/2013

Thursday, September 12th, 2013

Crossfit:

Warmup
1 R
Fight gone bad (FGB)
60% intensity

Strength

Deck Press
7×3, increase load. Started with 135#, worked up to 205#

MetCon

“Lunging Nancy”

5 rounds for time of:
– Walking Lunges to the curb and run backwards to garage door
– 95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps

 

Workout 09/11/2013

Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

Crossfit:

Warmup
Mobility

9/11 MetCon:

2001 Meter Run
11 Box Jumps 24
11 Thrusters (first two at 135#, then dropped to 95#)
11 Burpee to Chest to Bar Pullups (scaled to regular pullups)
11 Power Cleans 135#
11 HSPU
11 KB Swings 32kg
11 Toes to Bar
11 Dead Lifts 225#
11 Push Jerks 95#
2001 Meter Run

Time: 32:15

Core:
5 min EMOM:
10 frog situps with 24kg KB, then 10 second hold on parallel bars

Lunch:
Bodyfit class – 35 mins of 30 sec rounds of:
Medicine ball slams (15lb)
Burpees
Kettle bell swings (two 25 lb KBs)
Banded arm swings
Rope pull/whip
V-Sit with med ball touching feet
Chest press with 15lb DB with hips raised and feet flat
Reverse get ups

Workout 09/10/2013

Tuesday, September 10th, 2013

Crossfit:

Warmup:
Jump Rope practice 5 minutes
3RNFT
7 box jumps
7 frog situps
7 jumping air squats

Strength:
High Bar Back Squat (HBBS)
7×3
Dolph said to stay with 80% of your 1RM, but in the last to sets, I increased by 20#:
135#, 185#, 185#, 185#, 185#, 205#, 205#

MetCon:
21-15-9 reps of:
Hang squat clean, 115#
Handstand push-ups

Workout 09/09/2013

Monday, September 9th, 2013

Crossfit:

Warmup
1 Mile run (this was changed to 800m, but I just did the mile)
squat therapy
couch stretch
samson stretch

Strength
Push Jerk
15 minutes to establish 3 rep max.
I worked up to 175# for a 3-rep max. I might have been able to go a bit more (maybe 180) but ran out of time.

MetCon
400 meter run
5 minutes AMRAP
10 Kb Swings (24kg)
10 Pushups
400 meter run
5 minute AMRAP
10 OH walking lunges, 45#
5 Stone to Shoulder  – I was late picking out my stone, and got stuck with 70# 🙁
400 meter run

My left knee has been exceptionally tight today, after yesterday’s long run.

Core:
6 mins of tabata: 20 sec of frog situps, 10 sec of hollow body position

Workout 09/06/2013

Friday, September 6th, 2013

Crossfit:

Warmup:
400 meter run
Squat Therapy 5 minutes
Couch stretch
down dog to cobra 4x thru
pigeon

Strength
Front Squat
7×3, 80%
*first two sets I did 7 reps
7 @ 95#
7 @ 135#
3 @ 135# (Bill Tindall joined in here)
3 @ 155#
3 @ 155#
3 @ 185#
3 @ 185# (This is [was] my 1RM)

MetCon
18 minute EMOM
Odd Minute
– 1 sprint curb and back
Even Minute
– 5 Stone Deads (used 145#)
– 10 Double Unders (I’m getting one every 3 to 4 regulars now. The new ropes Dolph made are a big help)

After:
– 12 mi bike ride (would have gone longer but got a flat tire)