Thursday, still feeling Murph.

I’m still reeling from Murph on monday. No way was I going to CF tuesday, and wednesday was worse. I awoke this morning still very sore in my hips and inner thighs. Went to CF and sort of stumbled through the class. The wod was 5 rounds of 20 kettlebell swings with 53 lbs, 10 barbell lunges at 95 lb. , then 10 pushups (handstand pushups for those who could). It was really tough, mentally, to keep going. Harder than Murph. I usually don’t have to tell myself to keep going during a workout, but today I did. I wanted to stop. So I’m part of CF Masters Facebook group. Lots of people posting how well they did on Murph. I can understand that. But now a lot of discussion on whether Murph should be done by anyone. It not only is not training, it is detrimental to training (as in I missed two days of CF and stumbled through another when I could have been improving my fitness those three days), it’s survival, not training. Interesting things to think about. Ego is what drives people to injury (David and his shoulder surgery). I want to be a beast again, but how do I get there without being ego driven? How do I get there without injury? 

Tuesday, The day after Murph.

   I had to not go to CF this morning. I figured my ability to walk would be a bit compromised, and I was right! I did not even time Murph (well over an hour). It was pretty chaotic there. Over 100 people. The first wave was 7:00 am. I was there for the second 8:00 am wave, and all the spots (pull up bars) were already claimed. A guy finished from the first wave about 20 minutes into the the second wave, so I started my own (alone) Murph. The mile run was much easier than the last time I ran a mile (can’t even remember when that might have been). I started with 5/10/15 (pull/push/squat) for the first few rounds and then 5/6/4/15 as the pushups became harder and splitting them into 6/4 made it so I could get through them. I tried 5/5/15/5 a couple of rounds with pushups second and fourth, but getting up to do squats and then back down for pushups them back up for pull-ups was tough mentally. So I just coasted along, drank a gallon of water, and finally I was done. The mile after was really hard. I so wanted to walk. I didn’t, I ran every step. That was the first time in my life that my calves were so fatigued my legs didn’t want to move. I figured it would be my thighs and/or hamstrings. I‘m still surprised my calves had any issues from doing squats. Maybe running a mile first, then 300 squats, makes for fatigued calves. Saturday we did a Hero wod of push presses, kettle bell swings, and box jumps, so I was not too sure how monday would be with only one day off. It was good. I only missed wednesday last week. I think tuesday will be my only day off this week. I’m finding with enough sleep, good diet, and plenty of mobility before class, I can do this almost ever day. I may still take up olympic lifting one or two days a week as I think that is the road to strength. I did a 305 lb deadlift last week. Heaviest I’ve ever done. I just never went for “heaviest” when I was younger. I think I can easily get 400 lbs with another years training. Oh, I was the only person at 60+ at Murph. Shelly is 53, the only person in her 50s there. A few in their 40’s (maybe), most in 20s and 30s. 

   I pretty much laid on the couch all yesterday after Murph. I had in my mind that I would rest for a couple of hours, then trim trees and mow. Well fuck that! I just laid there all day. Watched a couple of movies. Petted dogs and cats. First day I can remember just taking off the whole day. After Murph of course, so maybe not taking the whole day off.

Wednesday 4/29/15 WOD

I was at the vet with a sick cat until 3:30 on tuesday morning, so I didn't make the tuesday class.  A forced day off. Probably for the better. So todays wod:

30 minute amrap (as many rounds as possible)
1 rope climb
5 snatch
10 clean
20 push press
30 sit ups
40 double unders
run 400 meters

I still can't effectively climb a rope. I'm adding that to EDDs (every damn day). I do 3 rope pulls instead of 1 rope climb. The weight for today was an easy 75 lbs. Ken (the guy in class who is usually first did 95 lbs, and I usually do what he does, but 75 was the intermediate weight for today). My double unders are still a work in progress (I can do them, but can't string them together yet), so we do twice the number of single unders instead. I finished 2 rounds and all the way through to 60 single unders towards the third set. So 2+125. Finished in the top 1/4 of about 12 people. After the clock, I finished my single unders and ran the 400 meters with Mary Jo and another woman to finish out 3 rounds. Just because.

Busy work day today. Will try and get to my push ups, sit ups, and pull ups this evening. I won't be at the gym the next 4 days because I'll be working on replacing my roof as the temp/humidity will be okay for the last 4 days before full on summer.

Added 30 sit ups for 120 for the day.
61 push ups.

Monday 4/27/15

All my good intentions slept late this morning. My plans for getting to the gym a hour early for mobility work were sidelined by awaking at 4 AM from being so hot I could not stay in bed. Air conditioned at 72 degrees and a ceiling fan over me on medium and I'm sweating like crazy. I walk around the house for a while until I feel cooler. Back to bed with no sheet over me and let the fan do it's work. Awake at 9:10 AM and class is in 20 minutes (and a 15 minute road trip). 5 minutes late to class. Not fully wake. Missed some of the warm up. EDD next (every damn day). I work on my doubleunders and overhead squat. For the first time I was able to do a double under followed by a single. Progress! The overhead squat with a 10 lb bar.
Front squats are next. My previous 1RM was 185. I did 195 today. It didn't feel great however. I really wanted more mobility in my legs. If I had made the hour early mobility work, this would have been a piece of cake.
The WOD:
21-15-9
Front squat
Push press
Pull-ups

I'm in the 95 lb group. I still can't do pull-ups, so I do ring rows. My time was 14:16. Last one in my class I think. Previous class had  4 or 5 with later times. I'm the oldest, tallest, and heaviest in today's class (as usual).


Homework:
100 situps
51 pushups
Bike 6 miles

Homework

Nearly 9 months of crossfit now. I guess I'm a crossfitter! I do want to start keeping track of what is going on with me from now on. I have decided to really do this. Set goals (double unders, pull-ups, and overhead squats are what I put down about a month ago). Do extra work at home. I was miserable at situps a couple of weeks ago, and that used to be easy for me (Well shit, Jerry, everything used to be easy!). So sit-ups every day after class if there were no sit-ups. Push ups every day whether or not there were pushups. Pull ups every day. And more biking to save my knees for running in class. The bike I added yesterday with 6 miles also. Need to get my ass used to the saddle again and my quads , though much stronger than before crossfit, have to get used to the continuos pedaling again. Looking forward to tomorrows class.

10 pull-ups with band (green and purple) assistance.
8 sets of 10/28 lbs incline db curls
85 situps
41 pushups
Bike 6 miles

6 months in, it feels like I'm home.

I started Crossfit the first week of August 2014. I was looking at turning 60 November 29 and I felt like an old man. Sore knees, no flexibility, I was diminished in so many ways from even 10 years before. Trading a very active workday as a carpenter/contractor seven years ago to owning a guitar shop and sitting in front of a computer all day long, my capacity to do everything was slowly dying. I needed a challenge, a change, a goal, a different life.