Father-and-son Jackie

A. Jackie

1,000m row
50 thrusters with a 45lb bar
30 pull-ups

When I got to CFR today, Kim Fly told me that everyone else had already started Jackie, so I'd be in a heat of one. 

The Boy was tagging along with me so I figured I'd make him do the workout alongside me, just modified with PVC thrusters and jumping ring pull-ups.  He wouldn't have to worry about counting reps, he could just switch when I switched. 

It was fun. I figured that I wouldn't PR this today, given that I'd be paying a bit of attention to him and not going up against anyone, but as it turned out I got a 20-second PR. 

7:56 (PR) 

B. 1 km run

Yeah... after doing Jackie, I wasn't going to be setting any records on this.  It was a nice little cool-down, I guess. 

5:04



The Boy didn't join me on the run, but did do a little sprint in the alley.  When I told him it was time to go home, he protested, "But I'm not sweaty yet!"

So he did a bunch of other stuff:
-headstands on an abmat, and handstand push-ups (his head comes up about 2 inches, but still);
-"atlas stone" lifts and carries with a 20lb medicine ball; and
-more jumping pull-ups.

I guess he got sweaty at some point, because he took off his shirt.  As Kim Fly noted, "You can do that here."

Finally, he and I also did a race to 10 burpees. He managed to eke out a win on that one and it was almost completely legit.

I was very proud of him... not just for the burpee win.

Earlier at home, I told him I was heading to CrossFit.  He had had a busy day already playing with some neighbourhood friends and looked like he was ready for a nap.  He told me he wanted to come to CrossFit with me.  I told him I wasn't sure he was up to it, but he insisted.  He said if he needed to nap, he could nap there.  (He's done it before.)

I'm proud that he seems to be grasping the idea that physical fitness is important. 

In the era he's living in, there are so many things that can derail a kid's happiness.  It would be great if one thing he and his little sister didn't have worry about were self-esteem problems stemming from weight, body image and athletic ability. 

It's a lesson I wish I had taken to heart a lot earlier in my life.   As I've noted here before, for most of my life pre-CrossFit,  I was overweight.  Maybe not obese, but ranging from chubby to fat.  It wasn't my parents' fault. They enrolled me in sports and prepared reasonably healthy meals.  But when left to my own devices, I'd spend hours playing video games or watching TV and consuming way too much junk food.  Genetically, I'm not predisposed to being able to eat whatever I want and still be lean. 

The results were predictable.  And I wrongly felt they were inevitable, that this was just the hand that I've been dealt.  I bought into the belief that I didn't have the capacity to change myself, because it was easier than getting off my ass and doing something about it. 

It definitely impacted how I saw myself, and not in a good way.  I'm not saying I spent every waking hour mired in a deep depression because I was carrying 20 or 30 extra pounds, but I wasn't always as happy or as confident in myself as I could have been.  Starting CrossFit five years ago definitely helped change that, though a lifetime of thinking of yourself as the fat kid is hard to completely undo. 

My goal for my kids is to encourage and enable them pursue healthy and active lifestyles.  If they achieve that through CrossFit, great.  I'd be just as happy if they did it through soccer, dancing, swimming, basketball, gymnastics or martial arts... or all of the above. 

Whatever activity they choose, they don't have to be the best.  I just want them to try hard and have fun being active. 

They shouldn't have to go through life thinking of themselves as the fat kid who can't. 

Like the salad dressing, hate the WOD

Looks delicious, huh? Well, the WOD that shares a name with this dressing sent me into a weekend-long shame spiral.

“Thousand Islands”

10 Burpees

1000m Row

10 Burpees

1000m Run

10 Burpees

1000 Skips

10 Burpees

33:47.  All I know is that it took FUCKING FOREVER once I got to the 1000 skips.  I couldn't do more than 50 straight without my feet protesting that I was hurting them, so there were a lot of breaks. 

I belatedly realized,after already doing more than 600 skips, that I could skip faster than I had been and it didn't seem to affect my cardio or discomfort (could still get 40-50 consecutive skips in a set before my feet started to call Amnesty International) so I guess that's something to keep in mind for next time. 

Tabata and running

A. “Tabata This”

Don't judge me because of my crappy, mid-WOD penmanship.  Judge me because of my pathetic push-up totals.

(tabata = 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off)

4 mins each of:

Pullups - 62 total

Pushups - 55 total

Situps - 81  total

Squats - 118 Total

Final score was 316.  That's within striking distance of the last time I did this in December (333), but it's still lower across the board.  Well, I am slightly older and fatter since then. 


B. 1km Run, 400m Run, 200m Run


1km - 4:43   Hey, you know what feels great after doing more than 100 squats?  Me neither, but it sure as fuck isn't a 1km run.

400m - 1:29  I was off to a nice lead on this one until the home stretch, when a dude named Frazier (who had destroyed everyone in our group on the 1km) blew past me like I was standing still.  That actually hurt my feelings to the point I slowed down slightly.  He also has a fantastic head of hair, so I am doubly envious.

200m - :51   I did NOT want to run anymore by this point.

.

"I should just quit CrossFit & make an appointment to get vajazzled"

A. Squat Cleans 3-2-1-1-1  then two sets of 2x85% of your one rep max

3x135
2x155
1x175
1x195
1x205 PR

I felt like there was maybe a bit more room at 205, but I'm really happy to get it. 

I used 175 for the two sets of doubles at the end.  My back was still a little stiff from the high-rep snatches on Saturday, and this movement aggravated that a bit on the first set. 

Even though there was a little imaginary birdie on my shoulder telling me I should just skip the last set and avoid any chance of injury, I stupidly decided I needed to do it. 

In fact, I would have to be a colossal pussy to NOT do it, wouldn't I?  I mean, I should just quit CrossFit and make an appointment to get vajazzled.



Obviously, I failed on the second attempt and tweaked my back even further to boot. I'll probably have to sit out CrossFit until Thursday at the earliest, Because I'm a dumbass who doesn't pay attention to the warning signs his body is sending him. 

But at least I'm not a pussy, right? 


B. Handstand Push-Ups: 5-4-3-2-1

Done.  I did them all strict, except for the set of three.  I did those kipping, but I did extra to compensate.


C. Run 1km carrying a 20 lb medicine ball

5:25.  That sucked some pretty serious ass.

3 x 1km runs: Tyler demonstrates self-awareness

Okay, I'm gonna get really preachy. Possibly even hypocritical

I'm not a big fan of picking and choosing WODs. I believe it's sort of against the CrossFit philosophy to skip the Workout of the Day chosen by the coaches in favour of a previous day's workout unless you have a valid reason. (Worse yet are the people who choose to NOT GO TO THE GYM AT ALL because they don't like the WOD. Please don't do that. It's way better to trade WODs than not go at all.)

Valid reasons for trading WODS include, but are not limited to:
-an injury you are working around
-the WOD will negatively affect your ability to participate in an upcoming athletic event (ie. if you've got a Frisbee tournament Sunday, you may not want to do 800m sprints or boatloads of squats on Saturday and burn out your legs so you can't run.)
-you REALLY want to do the previous day's WOD because it's a benchmark like Fran against which you've been wanting to measure yourself.


Non-valid reasons include, but are not limited to:
-It's a WOD that you don't particularly like.
-It contains a skill or exercise that is a goat (all the more reason to fucking do it)


Here's where I get a bit hypocritical. I've broken these rules in the past, though not often, and me writing this could be considered my pledge to not do so again.

I bring this up because I was considering trading WODs today. When I saw that the WOD today at CrossFit Regina was a 5km run, I started planning to do yesterday's insane metcon, figuring the squat cleans were out of the question because it would take too long, given that I was working out on my lunch hour.

My thinking was that I need to get my still-substandard cardio up back up to snuff, and it's the shorter, intense WODs that would better prepare me for Saskatoon.

Fortunately, Robin had a plan in place for the folks competing in Saskatoon. CrossFit Regina is particularly good at adapting the WOD schedule for upcoming events.

Our special WOD was:

3 x 1km runs, resting five minutes in between.

Also, three sets of 10 ring dips, unbroken. (Synergy is hinting that rings are going to play a significant part in the Bridge City Beat Down WODs.)

Now, for some reason when I do runs like this, my first two times seem to be the same and my third time is a bit slower. The same thing happened the last time we did 800m sprints.

Run #1: 4:30
I actually thought to myself, "I bet I run the same time on Run #2."


Sure enough...

Run #2: 4:30

Robin noted: "That's consistent. Try for the same time on your third."

I replied: "Nope. I will be slower by 14 seconds, even though it will feel like I'm running harder."

Run #3: 4:44
I am Nostra-F'N-damus.

Last time I did 3 x 1km runs, my times were 4:14, 4:14 and 4:16.

So that's a noticeable decline. I was running straight into a strong wind during one of the longer stretches, but I don't think that is the sole or even primary reason for the decline. I could have pushed myself harder today, because I seem to recall running like zombies were chasing me back in June. That day, if I remember correctly, was a nice, cool day with a spitting rain. Today was hot, dry and windy so that may have been a bit of a factor.

But the truth is, despite the fact that I'm probably 10 lbs lighter than I was in early June, I'm simply not as fit as I've been in the past.

One thing I didn't do, which I should have, was refer before the WOD to the last time I did 3 x 1km runs, because it might have given me something to shoot for. Then again, when you're out there running, you don't have a really good concept of time and carrying a stopwatch is not something I would do.

Oh yeah, the ring dips. I had done one set of 10 unbroken ring dips before the runs and I did the other two afterward. Actually, I was a bit surprised I was able to do it. Ring dips are gonna need a little work before Sept. 10.

Sunday with Shae

This WOD has a name, but I forget what it was. They should call it "Pretty Fucking Unpleasant."

2-4-6-8-10-8-6-4-2 reps of

hang power cleans (135lbs)
push press (135lbs)
super burpees (like a regular strict burpee with two push-ups)

Finish with a 1km run.

Took me 26:21.

European Regional WOD (Partnered) / 1km Run

With a partner (mine was Harlan), taking turns, do 20 reps each of:

Pull-ups (managed to do 20 straight)
Box Jumps – 24″
Situps (I did toes-to-bar because that's how the 9AMers did it.
6×10m overhead carry together – 135/95lb (The height difference between Harlan and I was good for a few laughs on this one)
Situps (no toes to bar this time)
Box Jumps
Pull-ups (No 20 straight this time; probably 10-5-5)

Took us 13:33


Then the group did a 1km run. Took me 4:17.

"Fran Will Not Be Broken”

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:
10 Thrusters – 95/65lb – UNBROKEN
10 Pull-ups – UNBROKEN
*To a max of 10 rounds

If you get 8 for example, start over until you get 10 in a row.

Rest 5-10 minutes, then 1K Run for time.

When I first looked on the CrossFit Regina website saw this horrible variation of Fran from the twisted mind of Robin, my first reaction was to cancel my plans to go at lunch.

Then I remembered that being scared of a workout is not a valid excuse to skip it. Actually, I believe one of the unofficial tenets of CrossFit is that if the workout doesn't scare you, it's not hard enough.

So I went. My plan was to attack this workout at a reasonable pace and rest when necessary so I didn't have any broken sets, which would just demoralize me and waste energy. I figured five or six rounds was a reasonable goal.

As it turns out, my strategy worked better than expected and I exceeded my goal.

8 rounds + 7 thrusters.

I don't think I rested unnecessarily all that much, but I may have been able to squeeze a bit more out of myself on this one.

The 1k run totally sucked afterward. About halfway through, my calves were threatening a mutiny and I thought I might have to start walking. Then, on the home stretch down McDonald St. we were running against a strong wind and that was just brutal.

Time was 5:16, which is slower than my 1k average the last time I ran a 5k.