Eat and Run. Or Not.

So Mike waltzes back in, all gung ho and ready to resume the battle. I’m totally fine physically – I actually feel better than I have in a while and am consistently running around 7.30-7.35 pace for 6-7 mile runs. All seems aligned for me to give Mike a beat down.

However, mentally I am not at all in marathon mode. As I am sure I droned on about already, I have done several marathons so the thrill of finishing or running a fast time (sub 3.35 or 3.30) doesn’t really motivate me. But the idea of taking on Mike and CrossFit Endurance got me excited to train for one (i.e., do an increasingly long run every weekend) and I getting almost excited to start doing 9 miles or more. And then Mike got hurt and the air went out of the balloon and it became me challenging myself to run far. And that isn’t a challenge that interests me anymore. I proved I can do a not quite slow marathon – been there done that.

And then I read Eat and Run by Scott Jurek and it took the deflated balloon and shredded it into 1,000 pieces. Jurek essentially filled 250 pages on his life which boils down to running long distances and living a very strict vegan diet. That is it. That’s his life. The highlight is when he describes his wife’s explanation for leaving him – “I was dull and boring and lived an uninteresting life.” Ya think?

I over associate with books – if I am reading a book about an Ironman champion, Navy Seal or Bobby Kennedy, I want to be like that person. Not Jurek. The idea of living a monofocused life like Jurek seems so unappealing. Of course my version of it is running 40 more minutes than normal each week and eating less In ‘n Out and more Hi-Tech burritos but it still turns me off.

But if Mike wants to pop off about a sub 15 minute two mile run as some sort of accomplishment, then I am more than happy to reengage.  I just need to read Rich Froning’s book as soon as it is published.

FYI – 44.40 the last time I ran 6 miles on the treadmill and I am regularly shattering the sub 50 minute time for my 6.6 mile route in Mill Valley. And I dead lifted 140 pounds 10 times after just two weeks back doing it.

Bring in bitch.

Injury Report: Don't Declare Victory. Yet.

On March 29, I went to see a general practitioner (I needed a new doc anyway), who diagnosed a possible injury. Not a hernia, but rather a pull of a small muscle inside the hip - I can't recall the name - that when inflamed, can pinch a nerve and cause numbness or pain that I was describing through the lower abs and groin.

He prescribed a week of steroids, getting huge!, and that I don't do anything to trigger the pain. As I hadn't run or played soccer since March 12, didn't think that would be a problem.

I took the meds and a couple more weeks off from running, though a bout with the C2 Rower seemed to cause some issues last week. Starting this past Saturday, I hadn't felt any pain for a couple days and I did a bit of jogging and playing with my son's soccer team yesterday.

-cue dramatic music-

So today, I took on a two mile run. Not a blazing pace, I just wanted to keep it under 15 minutes and gauge how the pain developed. I'm happy to report there seems to have been virtually no pain related to the injury. There is a slight tweak in my right groin, but it feels distinctly different than from before and it's quite a bit higher than the previous pain. I hope that is true and not just me hoping for the best.

I'm not ready to declare victory over this bizarre injury just yet, but it's the first positive move in a couple months, so I'll take that.

WOD: 2 mile run

mywrite: 14:39. Mid-3/4 of a mile slacked off, so had to push the finish. Felt good. We'll see how everything feels as the week goes on and see if we might get back to this.

Almost 8 for 60

I might not be currently competing against Mike but I can still compete against the clock and myself. One of my sacred cows is running 8 miles in one hour or less. I have done it a bunch of times and the fastest I've ever done is 57.19. It doesn't kill me doing it but its a good effort. Today, on the treadmill of course, I hot 7.94 miles in an hour which I am happy about. I am going to hit the track tomorrow and see if i can get under an hour for 8.

One of the attractive things about CrossFit is the group workouts - it seems like a great way to motivate yourself to go harder/faster, actually learn how to use proper form and meet people with similar interests (or lack thereof). The yang to this ying is I have always liked working out alone. For running, I don't have to worry about matching someone's pace and for lifting, the rest breaks between sets can be excessive if you work out with someone. Of course this isn't an issue since there are no breaks and/or plenty of equipment.

I just checked - TJs, which is the closest CrossFit Gym to me, has a class at 5:15 am in the mornings. Hmmmmm - time to genflect.

13.2

Again, sorry Merrill. I'll blog my CrossFit WODs if you want a reason to keep obsessing. And we do have the head-to-head strength WOD to worry about...

It is so strange, I literally have no pain right now or during WODs (even 13.2), yet I go to jog around playing with my kids in the yard and the pain starts up.

So yeah, I've already got a couple WODs in:

mywrite: 3x5 front squat (alternative to overhead, due to shoulder)

3*(125, 155, 185, 200(PR), 185) =2550(PR) 

I did this yesterday. Wanted to get out and move to see how things were feeling after Tuesday's pain-inducing run. This felt great, actually better than just sitting around. Looks like a PR by 25#. 

Hopefully this will translate to cleans at some point, so afterwards, worked a bunch of hang and regular squat cleans at #125 working on hip extension and not pulling too early with arms.

mywrite: 13.2 

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:

115 pound Shoulder to overhead, 5 reps

115 pound Deadlift, 10 reps

15 Box jumps, 24" box

Sorry, not going to reveal total at this point, don't want to be the rabbit for the group I WOD with. I was happy with overheads, 115 is right on the line of where that shit gets hard for me, but the WOD was harder than I was expecting overall. 

Pop goes the motivation

The balloon of motivation has completely popped. Without Mike as competition and motivation I have no desire at all to do a marathon. If I am in this endeavor alone until Mike heals, them I am just another "look at me" endurance blogger listing his workouts in a pathetic attempt to justify his strange compulsion.

Tapping out.

For now, gotta call it quits. I went out today after nearly a week off, legs and hernia stuff feeling good, and pretty much from the start of warmups, it was hurting. I made it through 2x1000M repeats at 4:22, but it's just not worth the next week of dull, annoying pain.

I'm scheduling a doctor's appointment, so we'll try to get this taken care of ASAP, but I'm guessing it will require surgery, and if not, a long, probably useless rehab. This should be fun. If I can get back to CFE by mid-June, I'll still make a run at a fall marathon for the hell of it.

The weird thing is that I can do almost any other Crossfit movement without repercussions (GHDs and rowing seem to bother it). So oh well, my plan in the meantime is to get back to regularly-scheduled Crossfit WODs, including Open 13.2, and go from there. We know Merrill will keep running, though maybe not as intently since he doesn't have me to keep up with.

And Merrill, I will take you up on the challenge. Let me go through some WODs and we'll post it here to keep our legions of fans interested while I'm laid up.

I challenge Mike to strength contest

So the fact is that I am not just obsessed with running faster than Mike (the bar for 6 miles was just raised to 45.19) but also in being stronger than him. However, it is difficult to compare strength when we are both doing totally different workouts. He's going for random tests of strength (eg do 30 burpees and then 30 clean and jerks with 105 pounds) while I am sticking to the old school approach of max bench press or squats, or max set of 10.

I am still trying to do 100 push-ups straight (not the new CrossFit arms off floor chest on ground variety) and 25 pull-ups (much easier if I can learn to kip). At this point I'd take Mile in push-ups and he would win pull-ups.

In addition to slugging it out on the road, we need to pick a strength event that will test both our approaches to lifting and it can't involve the obscure Olympic events that I can't do. Maybe Cindy? Or 100 pull-ups air squats sit-ups and push-ups.

Care to name the event Mike?

How to Avoid the 20 Mile Run

I hit 8.5 miles this morning (67.33), which is my longest run since October. I have arrived at the approach I am going to take between now and the fall marathon. Basically I am going to keep increasing speed on the six milers duiring the week until I am consistently in the 43-44 minute range and get up to a weekly 12-16 miler at eight minute pace.

I despise runs over 10 miles and stumbled upon an article a few years ago on the myth of the 20-22 mile training run as key prep for the marathon. The article essentially states that 20-22 mile runs are too long to go when you are training as it ties to much of your weekly miles into one run and opens you up to injury. The key is to learn how to run when your legs are tired so rather than doing a long 20, do 14-16 and the next day go 6-8. Any suggestion that I can avoid a 20 mile run works for me.

I had dinner with Miranda and James last night, a trainer at UB and he comically tried to help me with my form on deadlifts. I say comically because no one has worse form than me, which is the most compelling reason for why I should cross fit - so I don't end up crippled due to horrible form while squatting. That is one of the benefits of going to 24 Hour Fitness to run on the treadmill - next to the out of shape joggers I look relatively smooth.

What happens when time doesn't matter

Just finished Mountain Madness, the biography of Scott Fischer, one of the guides in the disastrous 1996 Everest Disaster that was subject of the Krakauer Into Thin Air masterpiece. I will read anything he writes. But I digress.

Fischer's challenge was all about tackling the next mountain, which was first McKinley and then K2 and finally Everest. There is no award or record for climbing mountains as fast as possible. You either climb to the top or you don't. Win or lose.

Endurance sports and CrossFit aren't like that. You have to finish to be eligible to brag but you are Ultimately judged by your time. This has been totally fine for me up until now as I know if I train hard enough I can possibly do a "my best time ever" for a race or distance.

But what happens when age starts to affect my times and I can never come close to a 330 marathon or 1.35 half. My sprinting speed left years ago and I'm ok with that but I never was fast. Since I identify so much by my times (aspergers warning) will I be crushed emotionally and start climbing mountains to affirm my manhood. God I hope not. Unless it can be done on an extreme oxygen treadmill.

Speaking of which, 46.37 for six miles on the mill. I went easy as my left calf was very sore after cramping in the middle if the night. What a joke. I am shooting for 8.5 miles at 8 minute pace tomorrow.

Open 13.1.

The house has been ravaged by a nasty cold/sinus thing, only one of us remains standing. I'll probably take the next couple days off, but I felt pretty good yesterday afternoon though, so went ahead and took on 13.1, since we'll be traveling this weekend.

I really enjoyed the announcement, it was pretty sweet to see a couple of the "sports" top guys go at it immediately. And I'm very excited to live just a few minutes from the Midwest Regional, we are stacked! Bailey, Froning, Hendren, Panchick on the men's side, and Smith and a semi-retired Foucher, who won't be competing, unfortunately, on the women's side, which will hopefully give Kinney a chance to get back to the Games.

CrossFit Games Open 13.1
Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 17 minutes of:
40 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
135 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
165 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
210 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

mywrite: 100 reps. Finished those with about 6:45 remaining.
I've got a bum right shoulder, and I never do snatches. So I knew going in I'd be hampered, but decided to at least attempt 75# with a narrow grip (essentially the same grip as a press grip, which doesn't bother my shoulder). It worked great at 75#, and I plowed through the first 100 pretty well. I rested about 2 minutes, and then took 4 or 5 attempts at 135# narrow grip, but couldn't get it above my forehead. At that weight and time, this was a fun WOD. It was admittedly probably not as fun at 135#s.

Is less more?

I am a mini disciple of Tim Ferris, the author of Four Hour Work Week and the Four Hour Body. His basic principle is to do the minimum amount of work to get the maximum amount of work. One of his arguments/theories (Mike, be prepared to throw this back into my face as another example that I am a CrossFitter at heart) is that people exercise way too much for the results that they are getting. He has hacked  the code for doing 10 minute workouts that give him the same results as hour long ones. In one deadlift workout, he does about 10 reps over 5 sets and calls it a day - although going back and forth to the gym for a 10 minute lift seems kind of dumb.

I typically lift three times a week for a 45-minute workout (six exercises, four sets of 10 each), which has gotten me an acceptable level of strength. In the last few weeks, as I have tried to play catch up in running as I return from an injury, I have dropped the weights from thrice to twice a week and actually feel stronger in the workouts with the extra days off in between. I lifted today with only a one day break and didn't feel as good as measured by bench pressing 200 10 times rather than 12. My weight has held about the same (176-178) with the extra day of running each week so I am going to try this approach for awhile. This obviously has the inevitable hint of heading to CrossFit type workouts. This would not make me a hypocrit - I anm skeptical about CFE, not CF.

I am debating doing some of the CrossFit open workouts if they are doable from my apartment - e.g. burpees until you die, Cindy, a god forbid they program a run) but I will definitely not do it if it's a fancy Olympic lift. Takes too much skill.

Plethora of topics.

The fun thing for me about keeping quiet on this blog recently is watching Merrill torture himself each day with self-doubt, questioning and rationalization. It's really a deep, dark entertaining look into his psyche.

Still, I suppose I'll get back into this, as the injury is feeling good, even after a hard weekend, and I can test it once more. But first, a few things to weigh in on...

Paleo: Merrill, be sure to actually figure out what you're supposed to be doing before you get into this. Otherwise, you will be in some serious trouble in regards to your training - or just quit really quickly, as expected. For instance, Paleo is not "no carbs," it's no refined carbs or sugar (bread/pancake/pizza/twinkies), which naturally makes it much lower carb than the traditional American/Merrill diet.

I feel like I have a pretty strong top-level understanding of paleo, thanks to Robb Wolf, and am pretty close to paleo outside of dairy and the occasional slice of bread or low-carb wrap. I've also done the Zone diet for an extended time in the past, which worked great for cutting body fat.

Overall, paleo's been pretty great for me, but since starting CFE and adding the extra couple WODs and running to the mix, I've had a lot of trouble keeping my weight up (and I assume, losing some strength, which was and is a big point of this endeavor). That's with the additional protein shakes I hit post-WOD daily as well, which definitely aren't paleo.  So at the least, Merrill, I'd suggest loading up on starches like sweet potatoes and potatoes with all the endurance stuff you're doing. Eat them all the time.

The Open: is upon us. Well, tomorrow night it is. This should add an interesting twist to the training, because I want to be competitive in our Crossfit group's Open contest. Bragging rights and all that... There may be a bit of a drop-off in CFE WODs in order to work around rest and recovery for the Open over the next few weeks. Merrill, are you doing this?

Inspiration: I am truly psyched Merrill got signed up for the half in April. I hope to join him, but I'm still waiting a bit longer on the injury thing before pulling the trigger for my May half. Hopefully getting a CFE WOD in tomorrow.

Meantime, came across some great longform running articles compiled by Slate. I've already hit the Prefontaine and fake marathoner story (which I may need to emulate if I want to beat Merrill in the fall).

Finally, an endurance WOD today: Time trial, 5K row.  

mywrite: 21:55. I had quite a bit of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) from the weekend work, so really used this as an active recovery day. Most of it was at 2:15/500M pace, which is quite slow. My PR is 20:14.

I am not a gamer

I had lunch with Gina, a friend with whom I trained for the 2010 New York Marathon. We would go for weekly long runs that spiked with an 18 miler. While she is a great athlete and super fit, I always felt like I was faster than her and was holding back a little in our runs. So of course, what happens? She shatters me in the marathon by nine minutes (3.28 to 3.37).

This isn't the first time this has happened. In high school and college, when I actually ran on a team, I would routinely train with the better runners on the team and totally kept up with them in the workouts. Speed work, long runs, intervals - I was up there. The coach would get all excited that I was improving and ready for a big breakthrough. When it actually came time to race, I would be nowhere near where I should have been based on my workouts. It was probably a combination of nerves on my end and the better runners being gamers. I clearly am not a gamer.

This is why I need to train much faster than I should if I am going to break 3.30 and Mike. Assuming I am going to flail on race day, I need to be in 3.20 shape or better so I have enough of a window to make failure acceptable. In pursuit of this dream of a mediocre performance, I busted out a 46.59 10k run on the treadmill today - I and my left leg are definitely ready to hit the roads tomorrow.

Off-the-rails WOD.

I hit a couple WODs over the weekend as part of the "super-secret" event I was covering. The first one, a famous Crossfit girl, did not go well. Understatement of the season.

Fran: 21-15-9 of 95# thrusters and pull-ups. 

mywrite: 8:13. With the adrenaline I expected to have going into this, I also fully expected to PR (6:16) this classic Crossfit WOD. Instead, the wheels absolutely fell off in the round of 15, where I ended up getting scaled down to 75#s for the final round. Even with that, I was two minutes behind. Thankfully, only a few people were watching the abomination, but it pretty much ruined my day.

Sunday's WOD went over better:

AMRAP in 8 minutes: 8 pushups, 10 med-ball cleans (20#), 12 sit-ups. 

mywrite: 6 rounds + 8 pushups. Limiting factor was the pushups after round four, but overall this went very well. Redeemed myself a bit.  

The Paleo Diet Contest

One of the reasons I work out everyday is so I can eat whatever I want and as much as I want without having to worry about it (or almost not worry about it). Eating is without a doubt my biggest passion; I would not call myself a foodie because I don't have the most discerning palate in the world. A $20 pie from Roccos  (the best pizza on Mill Valley bar none) is as enjoyable an experience for me as Boulevard.

I don't follow a particularly healthy diet - I do not dabble much in vegetables or fruit. I eat mostly carbs, proteins and fats. I stick to this approach because 1) I tend to eat what I love and what is easy and 2) I feel very healthy physically and statistically (e.g., weight, blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol). Perhaps I would feel and perform better if I followed a better or any nutrition plan but I have never tried one so there has been no reinforcing behavior.

That could change. Miranda, a woman with whom I work, is organizing a Paleo contest to see who can most strictly follow it. I don't really understand it beyond the fact that you are supposed to eat similar to how people at in the Paleolithic era (I nailed an anthropology class at CU Boulder in 1990) so I better do some major research and shopping before it starts March 11. My fear is two fold. First, I will become really depressed if I deprive myself of carbs which Paleo stresses and will spend all day thinking about it. I once tried a four-day fast and made it 24 hours before quitting because my brain was too overwhelmed with thoughts of food. Second, Sam is not going to be amused if we start eating just chicken and salads for dinner every night instead of our current staple burritos and Lucky Charms. Which I love.

Longest run in weeks this morning - 7.5 miles in 58.07. I ran on Tam Track and it felt weird and exhausting at the beginning to be running outside but I felt great by the end. I also signed up for the Santa Cruz Half Marathon on April 7.

First gauntlet has been thrown down Mike.

Sergey Bubka Principle

Sergey Bubka was a world record pole vaulter in the 1980s who broke the indoor and outdoor record like 30 times. When he did set the record it was a centimeter at a time; he clearly could have jumped higher each time but there was no motivation to do so. The Soviet sports federation paid him a bonus every time he set a record. Mo records mo money.

Now that I do not have Mike breathing down my neck and posting times at which I can aim, I have to motivate myself to get faster but I don't want to set the bar too high too quickly. If I run some really fast time (relatively speaking) like 43 minutes for 6 miles now it will be hard for me to top that without a painful effort. And I will psyche myself out to not even try to top it to avoid the potential pain.

So I am taking the Bubka approach of incrementally running faster - today I ran 6 miles in 45.40 which is about 12 seconds faster than I ran a week ago. Felt good and I had the glow of improvement.

This goes out the window when Mike pops a 43 minute time and I look like a moron. Then I move to the Bob Beamon space shot approach.

Is Mike done before we started?

Now that the leg is totally fine I have my first cold in years. This should not be read as a whine but merely a statement. The impact of a cold on training is just as difficult to assess as an injury. I feel run down but this could be the psychological impact of a sore throat and runny nose which means I should push through it.

I ran 10k on the treadmill in 47.41 this morning and felt good about it until I noticed the guy next to me was running a mere 1.5 mph faster than me which constitutes a horizon job. While he many not know it, we were competing and now I have my eye out next time I see him to give him a better run for his money.

Which leads to be consider what am I going to so if Mike is on the recovery shelf for weeks or months? Will my competitive juices keep flowing even if he is clearly on the ropes? I really had no desire to run a marathon this year until we formed the challenge but I became pretty pumped. Maybe Dave Borders, who allegedly is doing CFE will enter the fray.

Of course he might still be banning me.

Long run, and another long break.

I hit the CFE tempo/time trial run today after taking Sunday off. Felt good going in, but the legs were heavy and it got pretty painful on the groin/hernia thing about halfway through. I was planning to take it easy this week anyway for a super-top-secret potential story I'll be working on over the weekend, so this just locks that break in.

Frustrating, because I'm feeling very good otherwise and I'm now back to thinking this is an injury. We'll see what happens next week, I guess.

I meant to track my 6 mile split, just so Merrill could place undo meaning on his "blazing" treadmill times, but forgot to look at my watch. Sorry about that, Merrill. You definitely beat me though.

CFE 10K tempo at 90 percent 12K TT.

mywrite:  48:47.
I don't have a 12K time trial in the books, so went with 90 percent of my 10K PR, which is a 7:10/mile pace, meaning I paced this at 7:53/mile, which ends up at 48:59.

I got out ahead early and just paced from there. On the Alum Creek Trail, which is paved but much more rolling hills than I've been running, and legs felt heavy today. Probably still not recovered from Fri/Sat WOD combo.

Runners World Says I will run a 3.20 marathon

There are lots of calculators for predicting how fast you should be able to run a race based on a workout or race (i.e. if you can run 6 miles in x, you should be able to run a marathon in x). Based on today's 6 mile run on the treadmill in 45.56 I am in 3.20 shape. I am ready for the marathon, no?

I don't trust these calculators as it assumes everyone is as gifted at running shorter distances as they are long ones. It's like the obesity charts which assume that all 6 feet, 175 pounds people are in the exact same shape. But at least these pace calculators give you something in which to gauge where you stand compared to a goal. For example, conventional wisdom is that you if you double your half marathon time and add 10 minutes, that should equal your marathon time. Break 1.40 for the half and voila, you have a 3.30 pace. This hasn't been a magic formula for me as I consistently run around 1.35 for the half and have broken 3.30 only once.

However, I do like the verification that my training is on the path to success. I am sure Mike is gaining confidence that he is getting faster and fitter running 2.5 miles hard in training (4 X 1000 meters) but it must be scary for him that he has no idea how this will translate to 10 times that distance. He's kind of like the Karate Kid sanding the floor with no clue how this will help him beat Johnny Lawrence.

Plus he now needs to genuflect about how I just ran 33 seconds faster than he did 13 days ago. It's gotta hurt his confidence.

Train with Restraint

While recovering, the evil twin to the excitement of fast improvement is the danger of pushing it too hard too quickly. You are pain free and you are pumped up about being able to exercise without feeling constrained by your injury. With a little of pushing you feel like you can quickly get to the same fitness level from before. And if you are like me and have no patience, restraint is a four letter word.

Which again is a flaw to CrossFit and CrossFit Endurance approach. The goal of each WOD is to go as fast as possible – to do as many sets of 5 pullups, 10 pushups and 15 air squats in 20 minutes as possible. When you finish Cindy you should be exhausted – at least I have been when I have done it. There is no such thing as a moderate Cindy. Running 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off for 12 minutes is not about restraint. If you are restraining, you aint training. But you might reinjure yourself.

Which leads us to today’s run. It’s only been five days since I ran pain free and I am ready to start increasing the pace and distance so I am assured of crushing Mike. I ran 7 miles today in 55.28 – which is about a 7.54 pace. I can deal with that for now but it is not going to get me to a sub 3.30. Look for more speed tomorrow.

Crossfit's LSD.

This is the post where Merrill finally realizes with incredible clarity just how amazingly boring his training life has become.

Today, I did one of Crossfit's "hero" WODs from the mainsite, and like many of these, it was a bit of a  slog - for me, anyway - and could be classified as Crossfit's version of Long, Slow Distance training. Which was still roughly 10 to 15 times more fun than Merrill's 7 miles on a track or treadmill or whatever it is. That just sounds horrible.

"Hamilton"
Three rounds for time of:
Row 1000 meters
50 Push-ups
Run 1000 meters
50 Pull-ups

mywrite: 36:43. I scaled the push-ups and pull-ups to 25 and 20 per round, respectively, otherwise it would've been LSD that never ended. Also, I wanted to try to go unbroken, which I did throughout (insert Merrill's cheating pull-ups joke here, but I'd love to see him attempt our strict push-ups). Definitely long, and knew that going in so I didn't end up pushing all that hard except for pushups/pullups. But I was sort of in the mood for this, so it was pretty enjoyable.

Yesterday, I hit the CFE long interval WOD, which didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped.

mywrite: Run: Repeat 1000m, recover 3:00 min, until form/pace deteriorates
4:27, 4:10, 4:12, 4:11. The first round was part of my warmup. I didn't like this distance, mainly because I didn't take the time to figure out what I should be at in relation to a 6-ish minute mile. Turns out these times are roughly 6:45/mile pace. Also, I thought I felt better going into this than how it turned out, I could've easily bailed after two rounds, but didn't think that would be a very useful day.

Re: A flawed debate because of weight

At least you qualified your comment about not listening to the podcast... his point was actually about running technique, and very little to do with strength. Although he did say he would make sure he was squatting and deadlifting.

And I tried to make it pretty clear that it was absolutely egotastic to think he could make Hall better.

Still, I hope you stay on the creatine, get a girlfriend, and you really should listen.

I hit a quick Crossfit mainsite WOD today:


12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
95 pound Power snatch
Burpee

mywrite: 4:50. But I modified to squat cleans (shoulder, I don't snatch, sadly).
This was a good WOD, faster than I thought I'd get done. Had to subset round of 9, completely winded. Afterwards, worked on 95 pound presses, push presses and push jerks. Amazing what two days of mobility work will do for a shoulder. Last week I couldn't get it over my head without serious pain.

A flawed debate because of weight

Let me qualify my upcoming comment by stating I have not yet listened to the debate that Mike referenced in his last post. Lack of facts have never stopped me before. The notion that Brian MacKenzie could train Ryan Hall to run faster than his current 2.04 best is flawed for at least one reason - weight. If Hall started doing CFE. and 3-4 CrossFit workouts per week at the prescribed intensity, he would almost definitely gain weight. Maybe not 25 pounds but he's going to gain something doing all of those resistance exercises.

Over 26.2 miles even a pound of extra weight makes a huge difference. I am no Ryan Hall but I did the California International Marathon in 2006 and 2008 and essentially did the same exact running training for both. For the second one I was on the juice (creatine) and about five pounds heavier from lifting heavier weights. The difference; I did 3.27 in 2006 and 3.33 in 2008. Weight matters although I did have a girlfriend in 2008 - so I had that going for me.

Recovery continues - 10k on the treadmill in 49.04. My plan is to do 7 miles 2 to 3 times per week on the treadmill and one longish run on the weekends outside. Hopefully the treadmill will be easier on my legs. Especially since I am still on he juice although single.

Better debate.

I found a really good podcast today, with CFE Founder Brian MacKenzie as the guest. And the host, and apparently really popular author, is the exact opposite of CFE: a vegan training with long slow distance (LSD) for ultra marathons. They're like Merrill and I, only cooler, smarter and more laid back.

There is also a lot of ego, which is awesome. MacKenzie believes he could make Ryan Hall - the fastest American-born marathoner in history - a better runner. But at the same time, no one "wins" the conversation, so where's the fun in that?

They essentially agree to disagree, but it is a great discussion on how CFE could work and why it might not.

Highly recommend a listen.

Meantime, I took an extra day off yesterday as some virus was working its way through our family. I got a touch of it Monday night. Came back today with a two-a-day. Groin bothering me, but the pain faded after the first 200M of my 400 of the CFE WOD, not sure if it was because I was finally warmed up or everything else was in so much pain I forgot about it.


CrossFit mainsite WOD: 5x5 backsquat
mywrite: 5*(165, 185, 195, 205, 185) = 4675 (PR)
I was really pleased with this initially, because I almost bailed in warmups with the sore groin, and I thought I was doing 20 pounds heavier each set than what I was actually doing (i.e. I thought I peaked at 225, not 205). Except I did this in the early a.m. before coffee and realized as I was driving the kids to the 'sitter what I'd done. Shit. Sports is 80 percent mental, right, so should I count it as 225?
I still got the overall PR somehow and it seems like it's been awhile since I've been under the bar.

CFE short intervals: 400m TT, recover 2:00, then repeat 200m recover 1:30, until form/pace deteriorates.
mywrite: 400M: 1:17.
200M repeats: 6 repeats. 41 seconds for the first three, 40 seconds for the final 3. I probably should've shot for two more since form seemed to be holding, but I was feeling absolutely fried and needed to function the remainder of the day. I considered walking inside after the 400, it was crushing (and it was 15 degrees outside). But this is my second fastest 400 in the last four years (PR is 1:09), so that's a plus.

It's so on. Again.

I almost like getting hurt because it forces me to start at the beginning and go slower to make sure I don't push my leg to far and to start recallousing my brain to accept healthy pain. And every time I run I can go relatively faster than the time before without dying.

That is a beauty of individual events like CrossFit and running - you can measure yourself everyday with unadulterated and unambiguous feedback. You are either getting better or worse and there is no sugar coating it.

And I am clearly getting better - I ran about 2 minutes faster for 6 miles today - 47.55 - and had zero leg pain again. That's an 8 minute mile which is the magical pace to hit sub 3.30 marathon.

That's me in the rear view mirror Mike.

Structure vs unstructured

Call me cheap or call me unscientific but I am not going to pull the trigger and buy a heart rate monitor or try and follow the MAF training program. Yes - I am wishy washy and flip flop back and forth between following a new workout or diet and going back to what I have always done/always do. Just ask the famous Dave Borders about my oft stated desire to join him for CrossFit workouts. After flaking for 7th time, he banned me. Banned.

The reason I have decided for the next 36 hours not to follow a rigid heart rate program is that exercise is to a large extent based on feel. Sometimes you wake up after a horrible night's sleep and have ridiculous amounts of energy and just need to push yourself in a workout. And then you are all rested for the Sunday 20 miler and after 3 miles you feel like crap and have to pull the plug. I understand that to some extent you have to power through these moments to reach new levels of performance but I think that just ends up draining you mentally and psychologically. While I do aspire to achieving specific goals, I am more concerned with being able to workout everyday and if I feel great I want to go for it that day regardless what MAF tells me.

So maybe this contest is less about CFE versus old school and more about structured workouts versus haphazardness. Program versus unprogram.

After my succcesfully unpainful six miler yesterday I felt slight pain in my calf while losing to Sam in basketball. I am going to give it a shot tomorrow - I am younger Michael Jordan by 20 months so I have that going for me.

Costume update - I went but did not wear a costume and bailed muy early.

re: Weighty topic.

While Merrill is right to be a bit embarrassed about his obsession with weight, historically, that has been the primary driver of fitness programs in this country - people want to lose weight and look better, right? And with the proliferation of "paleo challenges" and the Zone diet throughout Crossfit affiliates, that hasn't changed with Crossfit.

I think one significant alteration, however, is that in addition to how much you weigh or what you look like, Crossfit tracks your performance. Ideally, you're looking better, but you're also getting stronger, not just skinnier. Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Diet and owner of one of the first Crossfit gyms, hammers that point regularly in his podcast and blog - how do you look, feel and perform? - and was a key to changing the way I approached eating for performance. I've changed from a pretty strict Zone diet that counted macronutrients to eating fairly paleo-ish, but however much I want.

The tough thing for me is that I believe my natural state is to eat less than I need to properly fuel a program like CFE, so it's a constant battle to actually eat enough. And after all, the whole point of me doing CFE is to try to keep the modest strength I've gained, not lose it and waste away into an endurance runner.

One thing I would point out to you, Merrill, is that it's no longer about calories in/calories out, it's more about what type of calories are coming in. You're already working out like it's the 1980s, you should at least be eating like it's 2013 (or 300,000 years ago, depending). And as you readily admit, who knows really how many calories are going out depending on the Lifecycle settings or your heart rate monitor, so what's the point?

Clearly, you're not the only one thinking about all of this Merrill, and I'm sad to admit I've led many email exchanges in our Crossfit group about weight and "diet." Interestingly, the women in our group never contribute to those discussions.

Also: Merrill, how was the costume party? And what was your costume? I'm thinking "teen anorexic." The blog needs some pictures.

I'm back and the heart of the workout

All is right with the world today. 6 miles on the treadmill in 49.57. I don't want to push the pace below an 8 minute mile for the first week to make sure I don't regress back into purgatory. And of course I will have to buy a heart rate monitor if I going to keep faith with the MAF training.

One other bonus to the MAF training (other than the hope that it actually works) is that I don't freak out about the wildly fluctuating differences between rests on endurance machines at health clubs. The Lifecycle at Planet Fitness had me expelling 150 more calories for a 60 minute workout than the one at 24 hour. I care deeply about these numbers but if i just worry about my heart rate it won't matter.

One thing I will concede to Mike and CFE is that it takes more heart to do his workouts than mine. Given that I do pretty much the same thing other day (alternating run and lift), the workouts aren't too scary whereas he has no idea what's in store tomorrow. It is a downer for me because part of the allure of training is proving your machismo. There is a downside to my laser like scientific approach.

Two miles.

Sometimes, even CFE's "long runs" aren't that long. Today was billed as a 2 mile tempo run at 90 percent of your 2 mile time trial pace. I didn't have a time trial in the record books (though I suppose I could've used my 5K splits), so decided to go for one. I started out thinking sub-14, then realized I should probably shoot for roughly my 5K pace at about 13 minutes.

mywrite: 2 miles in 13:24. A little disappointing, this is slower than that 5K pace. The middle part of this was a beast, I glanced at my watch a couple times and I had crept below 7:30/mile pace. Yikes. Good finish though, was just over 6 min/mile pace for the last half mile or so.

Check-the-box.

Today was one of those where I just couldn't get myself going. It's cold and windy and snowy out in the garage gym, and I'm sore from earlier this week and couldn't get warmed up. Therefore, this was one of those check-the-box WODs, where you just do it because you're supposed to. A rest day would've been just as useful.

I made up a WOD based on a recent mainsite workout:

5 rounds of:
7 back extensions
7 pull-ups
7 burpees

mywrite: 5:21. The real WOD had push press instead of back extensions, but I've been ignoring mobility work on my sore shoulder, so I couldn't even get 95# over my head comfortably. This WOD was pretty much a disaster. Oh well.

Weighty Topic

As a dude,I know I am not supposed to discuss weight and it's physical, psychological and emotional impact on performance. But I am also not supposed to go to costume parties which I am doing tonight.

Great marathon runners are all ridiculously skinny - 5'9ish, 140 pounds and 4% body fat. I'm 6', 177 and if you believe my FitBit scale, which I don't, about 7% body fat. So I am basically carrying around 25 unneeded pounds on my back, which can't be helping my blazing 7.45/mile pace.

Of course I have other weighty considerations beyond my run pace. Principally vanity. Actually only vanity. I am trying to balance feeling sufficiently large in the context of a 2013 male and light enough that I can approach 3.30 marathon. The emotional issue is that I have no idea how I am weighing that balance.

The scale can pretty much pop out any number and I am unhappy. 173 and I am an emaciated geriatric and 179 and I am a bloated hippo. This is why alternating lifting and running every day works for me on an emotional level - I am different people depending on what the scale tells me so I need to treat them with different endorphin drugs.

Another 60 minute MAF (bite me Mike, I can go science too) Lifecycle ride - 821 calories this time or 10 more than Wednesday while holding heart rate to 137 peak. I might try and run tomorrow which means I will be a nervous wreck all day.

More science!

Based on my short intervals today, thought I'd throw out a recent blog post from Zone5Endurance, a site that admittedly, focuses the importance of strength and high intensity training for endurance athletes. The main point in the research they cite is how quickly short bursts and repeats can contribute to aerobic capacity (yes, the capacity you need to run marathons).

Here's the key: the research "reveals the crossover from dominant anaerobic to dominant aerobic energy production can occur within the first 30 seconds of intense activity (correcting the old misconception that aerobic energy dominance requires several minutes or more and/or sub-maximal intensity)."

So much for Merrill's Mark Allen training program...

Here are the WODs I did today:



Crossfit mainsite, "The Chief:"
Max rounds in 3 minutes, 5 cycles, 1 minute rest between cycles.
3 power cleans (135#)
6 push ups
9 squats

mywrite: splits: 4+3PCs+6PU/4+3PCs/4+3PCs/4+3PCs/4+1PC.
After the first round, had no expectations of holding 4 rounds throughout, but always finished first 2 rounds quickly, so it made it possible. First time doing this one, I liked it but it was rough. Lots of foam rolling the next couple days.


mywrite: From CFE, repeat 100m, recover 3:00, until form/pace deteriorates

Splits: first five rounds in 19s and 20s, last five in 18s. Thought I stopped at 9 rounds - started losing form. That's a lot of rest, but once I started pushing it (18 seconds), it felt right. I decided late (9 p.m.-ish) to go ahead and do this today, looking forward to rest tomorrow and no running until Sunday. And I thought it would torture Merrill to see I've run three times this week. (Seriously, don't go running yet dude). This was also after fish tacos and wine for dinner. Turned out sorta fun to be sprinting in front of the house in the dark.

Rational for Cross Training (not CrossFitting)

Hit the Lifecycle yesterday for an hour and 810 calories at max heart rate of 132. Riding the Lifecycle as a replacement for running while my leg heals serves several functions.

1. I can maintain a modicum of sanity by not skipping a day which also enables me to eat as much as I want. Sam has now reached the age where he can legitimately keep up in eating contests so I can't lose face.

2. I want to maintain some level of cardio fitness and the theory is that by taxing my lungs, heart, etc. I will be able to run at the same pace when I recover. Of course this can be taken too far. I once trained for a 100 mile mountainous bike ride by pretty much just running. It wasn't pretty when I suffered a full body cramp from mile 30 to 60 and dropped out.

3. I have fought it for 6 years but I know I am going to make the stupid decision to sign up for another Ironman so Lifecycling is the bridge.

4. I have no other hobbies so what the fuck else am I going to do.

Day two of not running and the. Calf seems like it is headed in the right direction - several people who I have whined to have suggested seeing a doctor. Now that's just insane. What will the next suggestion be - stretch?

Hurt vs. Injured.

I heard an interview on the Dan LeBatard radio show (sports guy out of Miami) with Jeff Van Gundy, who was making a point about Dwight Howard and I think it shed some light on why I was so out of it and bummed last week.

Essentially, he was explaining the difference between being hurt and injured: when you're "hurt," you're in pain, but if you can put that aside, you're not going to wreck yourself or get "injured." Dwight has been cleared to play, but for awhile (until Kobe called him out), couldn't or wouldn't go. When you're "injured," if you play - or in our case, WOD - you run the risk of making things worse, precipitating surgery or some other long-term consequences and hopefully, solution. That's where I thought I was last week.

The good news? Based on how I'm feeling, I'm more optimistic that I'm hurt, and not injured. And after the 6 miles Monday, my hernia/groin/peep area feels better than it has in two weeks. That puts the power back in my hands, because if I can deal, I can go. Last week, I was seriously a bit scared. Obviously, I need to be careful and not get too cocky about all of this, and I am totally bailing on my soccer team - sorry guys - but I'm also hopeful things are on the upswing over here.

Honestly, I hope Merrill experiences the same thing with his week of rest. If he actually takes it... We gotta get back to the competition instead of all of this incessant whining. We're bleeping annoying.

On to the WODs (plural!):

This one from CrossFit mainsite, which I did this morning:
For time:
205 pound Front squat 20 reps
30 Box jump 30 inch box
40 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball

mywrite: 12:35. Scaled to 155# front squat and 14# wallball. 12:35. Was planning to do 175, but even 135 felt really heavy this morning. Props to any of you who work out early morning, tough to get moving. I liked this WOD, just couldn't get the effort going.

And this afternoon, I hit up the CFE long interval WOD: 


mywrite: Repeat 1200m, recover 3:00 min, until form/pace deteriorates
First round was too fast, so I backed off to roughly 7 min/mile pace, otherwise it would have been one-and-done due to form breakage. Splits: 5:04/5:11/5:13. At this point, I have to concentrate throughout to truly hold form at anything faster than about 7:15/mile.

Hurt chasing numbers

I am now officially ready to shut down the running for at least the next week. The leg was feeling good and Mike’s 46.xx 6 mile run had me all excited to actually try a hard run. That sounded good right up to the end of the first lap and then the pain started. I made it a little past 3.5 miles (at nowhere close to his pace) and the pain went from sore to sharp. So I ran for 29 minutes and 52 seconds, which is eight seconds of what I consider to be a workout. There is no logical reason why I picked 30 other than it is a good round number.

Other numbers of distinction that I consider my Mendoza line :

·     

              20 pullups  (without kipping)

·         50 pushups

·         35% - the amount of things I actually accomplish on my to-do list each day

·         3 – the average amount of times I cry in a Friday Night Lights episode

·         7.5 – mileage I like to run in an hour

·         5:30 am – the latest I can sleep regardless of what time I go to sleep

·         11 – number of times I changed my mind on Sunday about buying a Garmin watch on Sunday (I haven’t yet)

So tomorrow it is back to Planet Fitness to ride the Lifecycle – swear to God, I will not run until next Tuesday at the earliest. It’s on my to do list for tomorrow so very good chance that I’ll stick to this promise.

Stupid is...

...as we does.

It looks like we're just gonna keep doing this, Merrill? Competition until one of us blows up, I guess. It's irresistible. It would probably be worth it if this actually meant anything, or we were putting down impressive times. Oh well.

Therefore, today I scaled the 10 mile time trial (run as fast as you can) from CFE, initially to a 6 mile tempo run at 8 min/mile. But below is what ended up happening, so I'm calling this a time trial, though an admittedly slow one:

mywrite: Run 6 mile TT. 46:29. As I said, I started out shooting for the 8 min/mile pace, but got out pretty far ahead without too much trouble. When I crossed 5 miles at 39:15 and felt really good, I decided Merrill's time from Saturday (46:57) was within striking distance. I ran the last mile in 7:14 for a 46:29. (7:45/mile pace overall).

Catching up...

The WOD Merrill bailed on was a birthday WOD for one of the guys in our CrossFit crew and I tackled that yesterday. The hernia/groin thing was a bit painful only during running warmups (not much during my other warmup which includes pullups, squats, deadlifts and a bunch of other various movements). So that's encouraging. And then during the run portion of the WOD, it didn't hurt at all, which I'm chalking up to adrenaline. That could theoretically also get me through a half marathon...

And I'm just mildly sore today. I think my two-pronged approach is to continue training, but schedule a physical (I'm overdue for one) and get a referral to see what's up, until it hurts too much.

Here's the WOD: Run 1 mile as fast as possible. Take a 1 minute break, then you have another 2 minutes to find your heaviest deadlift. Substract the weight from the total seconds of your mile, and that is your score. Winner is the lowest score.

mywrite: 6:10 mile minus 365# deadlift = +5.
This was fun. My whole body was numb after the run, I really thought I had sub-6 coming down the last 400M or so (it felt like I was running fast, I wasn't).

I put 365 on the bar as a "safety," and failed my first attempt. It helped that Maxwell (my 5-y.o son) was there to ask if it was too heavy for me. I laughed, said no, and with horrible form picked it up. Didn't have the heart to attempt anything else. (My all-time PR is 400).

For comparison, the winning score was -54. (6:01 run, 415 DL). And the birthday boy ran a 5:34 mile.

Three Steps to Maintaining an Injury

Several cliches over which to genuflect as I continue to run through pain.

1) What does not kill you can only make you stronger. My below the calf injury isn't so painful that I can't run. I ran another 6 miles today (in 48.28) ,going back to back, and it was definitely worse than yesterday but it did not get appreciably worse during the run and I managed to run at 7.50ish pace the last three miles or so. Using the Kobe Bryant mentality, I just have to figure out a way to work through it and I'll be mentally stronger.

2) If you aint in pain then you can't gain. The only way to get better is to slowly push the edge of your comfort zone, which means you are pushing your body to do extraordinary things.

3) I am a moron. I never stretch which is pretty obvious if you see my hands an area code away from my toes. I haven't touched my upper back in about three years. The only time I do start stretching is when I have a problem. So I have stretched two days in a row.

Back to the weights tomorrow morning - I think I am going to add deadlifts. Mike did 365 yesterday and I'm feeling inadequate.

The Art of Flaking on the WOD

Dave Borders, he of the incredible CrossFit home gym and the best spreadsheets for managing your life. emailed me yesterday that he was doing a WOD tomorrow consisting of running an all out mile on the track followed almost immediately by a max dead lift. Luckily I had to take Sam to his ACTs this morning so could not go. I say luckily for two reasons. First, I would have either run slow or blown out my leg even worse (neither which qualifies for dude points) and I haven't dead lifted in about four months so I would have put up embarrassingly low numbers. Second, I have a history of committing to WODs and then flaking on them.

The rational for flaking is a couplet. First, I spend so much time working out that adding travel to it only exacerbates the situation. However, if it is my favorite hobby, and it is, this shouldn't be a big deal (unless I would never join a club that would have me as a member). Second, for most of the WODs, I am doomed to failure because I don't ever do most of the exercises in the WODs like push press, dead lifts, thrusters, etc. So why would I want to set myself up for failure? I psychologically seem to prefer being the fit guy who might be good at CrossFit if he ever tried it but is afraid to try. Great role for me.

Ran 6 miles on the track in 46.57  and the calf held up for the most part although it started to get tight the last mile. It is actually a misnomer to call it a calf injury because it is below the calf - basically between the calf and achilles. It's kind of like when I lived between North Beach (cool) and Pier 39 (touist central) in a neighborhood that had no name. You could technically call it North Point but no one has any idea where that is.

By the way, I went through 5 miles in 39.13. Three seconds better than Mike's last five miler.

Getting there. Question mark?

So the hernia thing is feeling a bit better today, and I'm not quite yet feeling the irresistible urge to run through pain. However, I am surprised by how much this unplanned break has impacted my psyche. I feel like I'm becoming Merrill and OH MY GOD my world will crumble if I don't work out soon! WTF is wrong with me?

I've had to take breaks like this before, but I think there's more of a sense of dread with this one in that I don't know which movements and which WODs might make this worse, so I don't know how I will be able to continue. Maybe it's more of a question of control - I actually can't do a WOD or a run - than a choice not to work out because I'm tired or sore.

Interestingly, if I didn't have this far-off goal because of this contest/blog, I probably would've worked out yesterday to see what I could get away with. Basically, I would just Crossfit until surgery. But because I hope to run again this year, I'm left waiting and wondering. (Until I do the run/deadlift WOD tomorrow).

And Merrill, if you thought my "science of CFE" posts were boring, you don't even want to get me started on my food science. But I will say, creatine will be making it back into the mix when I'm back at it.

More run rest and God bless Creatine

I exhibited more judgment this morning. I do not like to go more than a day without running. This is something the great Emily Borders labels as the next day workout routine – make sure if you don’t exercise today that you do the next day. I haven’t run since – wait for it, wait for it – Tuesday and I thought my calf would be ready to go given that immense extra 24 hours of rest I gave it. But it is still a little sore so I lifted instead and will give it a shot tomorrow morning.

Creatine has clearly kicked in. I have definitely gotten stronger on bench pressing – nailed two sets of 200 for 11 reps (albeit with the controversial arched back, butt nowhere close to touching the bench) and I set a record with 40 dips in my office yesterday. No person is complete without the Ulltimate Body Press dip bar (shameless attempt for affiliate marketing dollars). There is NO question that I would take PEDs if I raced for a living - only reason I am not on steroids is the bad skin, large head and small package side effects.

I think Mike at least owes us an update on how much his body fat has increased in the past 72 hours.

Still on my feet - et tu CrossFit Mike

To prove I don't completely ignore my calf's warning whines, I hit the Lifecycle for 60 minutes this morning at Planet Fitness. Their recent ad was hysterical - it starts with several super model-looking women at a gym, not working out. This is taken as a bad thing - I mean who would want to go to a gym with good looking people? that would be so demotivating. Instead, you should go to Planet Fitness where all the shlubbs like you go - because there is no better carrot for putting your body through pain then seeing people who have the same average to mediocre bodies. If I keep working out, I can look like them!

The 60 minute spin was relatively pain and enjoyment free. In honor of the MAF training, I kept my heart rate at around 136 - I could literally hear my fat burning efficiently. If I was a real man I would have gone for a 90 minute ride in Marin in the cold and drizzle but my bike is locked in my storage closet at home and the key won't open it. Swear to God. This happened to Lance in chapter three of It's not About the Bike.

I wonder if Mike can see me starting to figuratively pull away from him

No run but no rest

If Mike is going to take a few days rest, then maybe I have the leeway to take a few days off from running. To compensate for my problematic left calf, I altered my running form so I wasn’t pushing off my left leg as hard which resulted in slight strain of my shin. Running through the pain is not working so much. 

I used to be a member of Planet Fitness, the ultimate no frills gym that was pretty much made for me. It’s cheap ($10-15 month), and has mostly endurance machines like treadmills, ellipticals and lifecycles. Unless  my leg make a remarkable recovery in the next 10 hours, I am going to rejoin and hit the lifecycle tomorrow which should do the trick.

Of course what will then happen is I will get all excited by the variety of doing multiple activities and will consider signing up for a half ironman. I just need to think about an open water swim in cold water and that will cure me of it. Plus being a white male in the Bay Area and the tech industry who does triathlons makes me quite possibly the most annoying stereotype imaginable. 

Listen to your body.

One thing I feel like I've gotten pretty good about over the past three years is figuring out when to rest, take time off, or otherwise just chill out a bit. Some would call that lazy - Merrill - but seeing as Crossfit can be a bit of a beatdown, it's good to back off occasionally and not just blindly stick to the protocol.

All of which is to say I really hope our little CFE v. Old School experiment isn't coming to an end much faster than anticipated, because I'm fairly sure I've got an onset of a sports hernia. Or as sure as you can possibly be without seeing a doctor, and because sports hernias are apparently just about impossible to diagnose without surgery. Excellent.

I've written a bit about some groin pain and otherwise being fairly sore the past couple weeks, so let's take a look at the potential symptoms:


-Pain in the groin, lower abdomen, or testicles (in males)
-Pain that usually affects just one side of the groin area
-Severe pain when accelerating, twisting, turning, lifting, coughing, or sneezing
-Groin or lower abdomen pain that persists for weeks or months
-Gradual onset of symptoms in runners

So yeah, I've pretty much got all of those except the testicle thing (woo hoo), and I wouldn't necessarily call it "severe," although after yesterday's run, I had to pop some Advil, which I rarely do.

And just for a kicker, "Because of the nature of their sports, hockey, soccer and tennis players are at highest risk..." This first came about after my soccer game a couple weeks back, and while it seems these are typically overuse injuries, versus acute, the soccer could have exacerbated things.

For some family history, I actually had surgery years ago for the more standard inguinal hernia, and apparently my grandfather regularly suffered from hernias.

My plan for now is to rest from everything until this weekend. Last week when I took two days off, I felt like a new man, but it came back hard after yesterday's run. And then I need to compete in another birthday WOD - unfortunately involving running and deadlifting which should set back any hernial progress I've made. Pain is temporary, pride is forever, right?

And I'll ice down the peep area regularly, as recommended. We'll see what happens, hopefully this is just a weird one-off thing and I can get back to it soon.

Merrill, maybe this is your opportunity to get your calf better too, since I'm resting anyway?

Big loss vs CFE

It is now time to answer the existential questions over whether it is possible to become less fit by training more. My calf (I am not actually sure it is a calf injury - it is the area right below my left calf that develops a knot during my run) is showing no signs of improving. It's good for the first mile and then slowly gets worse.

I started this morning's run on Tam Track super slow at 8.40 pace and got up to about an 8.05 mile before it started getting really sore at about five miles. End result is that I did 50.10 for six (and went through give in 41.50 so Mike crushed me in the rematch of the five mile run. It is obvious that my leg would feel better if I refrained from running for a week to 10 days but I am not sure if I could bear to be inside my head for that long. I might rejoin Planet Fitness and hit the Lifecycle for the next week if there is no sign of improvement by Saturday.

On the way back from the track after my ruin/run, I passed TJ's Gym in Mill Valley where there was a CrossFit workout underway at 6 am. I must admit that it made my 24 laps around the track seem lonely. Clearly, my calf is destroying my mental stability.

Groundhog tempo run.

I swear I didn't do this on purpose, but a 5-miler came up for the tempo run this week, this time at 90 percent of 10K time trial pace. I used my most recent 10K time, which is pretty much irrelevant because it comes from two years ago and sits at 7:10/mile. It's also a bit ambitious at this point, but I'd rather be aggressive than too slow, regardless of what MAF says. May is just around the corner.

Run: 5M @ 90% of 10k TT pace 

mywrite: For me, this would be a 7:53/mile pace, or 39:25. I got out ahead of pace early on and just held there, so finished at 39:16. Very happy with how my calves/achilles seem to be holding up to the slight uptick in mileage. So I guess I just beat Merrill?

Also, I hope the groundhog is right, I do not like these snowy cold runs. And this is basically my first one, so if we've got a long winter, I'm in trouble.

Video test

In preparation for CrossFit Open, my first video taped workout - if 12 pullups constitute a workout. Note I cannot kip.

Long Interval - basketball.

Of course Merrill isn't banned from the Open, but there's no way he attempts it. In addition to the funky movements, you'll have to video all of your WODs, which smacks of extra effort (i.e. above and beyond putting on your running shoes).

That MAF theory is intriguing, but you failed to post a link, so I sort of feel like you made the whole thing up just to throw a wrench in my plans. And it's coming from a guy, Mark Allen,  who excelled in Ironman 30 years ago. (He was the reason I got my first Ironman watch, by the way). But 30 years ago is a long time and training and research has changed, right? The fastest times ever in Hawaii and overall happened in 2011 and 2012. Again, not 30 years ago.

To me, this seems like you would critique MAF for the same reasons you'd critique CFE: it'll get you to the finish line, but you won't win. Just because this reinforces your approach, however, you run with it - pardon the pun.

Anyway, I played nearly two straight hours of full-court basketball this morning, so I'm chalking that one up as my long interval training for the week.

mywrite: two hours of basketball. Lots of jogging, sprinting and a little defense. First time in 4 months, shot surprisingly well. Fun morning.

Am I banned from CrossFit Open?

Wednesday was the opening registration for the CrossFit Open, which anyone can do in an attempt to qualify for the CrossFit Games competition. Over five or six weeks, they list one WOD a week which you have seven days to do while being supervised for authenticity. The top 50 or so people in each region (West. Southwest, North, etc.) based on their combined relative scores for their five/six  WODs qualify for the Region CrossFit Games which feeds into the finals. Some of the workouts require little skill and all effort (10 minutes of burpees) which I could do and some are high skill (push press, cleans, etc) where I would kill myself.

I don't think I am a hypocrite if I enter the Open. I am not anti-CrossFit; I just don't think it's smart training for a marathon. If I don't do the Open it's because I have no balls, not because I am a purist.

MAF - A Program for Getting Faster by Going Slower

I was forwarded an article by a potential running coach that completely justifies my approach in this contest against CrossFit Endurance. Essentially it boils down to Mike doing short workouts in which he raises his heart rate to 180+ for 10-15 minutes, and I am doing longer ones of 50 minutes or greater where I maintain a heart rate of 150 or so. Simple math.

Well it turns out I am going too fast if I want to go faster. Mark Allen, the six-time Ironman winner, based his entire career on doing workouts in which he kept his heart rate at a level based on the below formula (the ironic thing is one of the first articles I read about CrossFit criticized Allen for wasting time training at such a slow pace).It's called MAF runnning.

 Take 180

2. Subtract your age

3. Take this number and correct it by the following:

-If you do not workout, subtract another 5 beats.

-If you workout only 1-2 days a week, only subtract 2 or 3 beats.

-If you workout 3-4 times a week keep the number where it is.

-If you workout 5-6 times a week keep the number where it is.

-If you workout 7 or more times a week and have done so for over a year, add 5 beats to the number.

-If you are over about 55 years old or younger than about 25 years old, add another 5 beats to whatever number you now have.

-If you are about 20 years old or younger, add an additional 5 beats to the corrected number you now have.

The theory is that if you do your runs at this heart rate, you will increasingly get faster at the same heart rate. After four months, the benefits to this approach eventually diminshes, and you have to start doing speed work. This isn't radically different from what I am doing now - I just need to run slower.
I was losing fitness but it turns out I am going too fast.

Who knew - I'll taunt Mike with my slowness to get faster.

Threepeat (TM).

Not sure what Merrill's been up to lately - maybe after his big "win" over me in a "race" I didn't know we were having and purposefully paced at 8 min/mile - he's come over to the CFE dark side and is actually resting that calf and shin. Glad I could help, Merrill.

It certainly helped me as I was a mess the entire last week, but the Monday and Tuesday off were like a miracle cure and the groinal area is just about back to normal. It's crazy to go from hurting so badly to feeling fine so quickly, and I haven't even been sleeping that well overnight.

But now I may be tempting fate, as today was three days in a row and I've got a two-hour basketball open gym tomorrow morning. Keep your fingers crossed.


CFE Strength and Conditioning WODs: 
Deadlift 10x2 on :45 @ 65% 1RM
Post load to comments. Recover 5:00 - 10:00 then perform CFE S&C Wod

mywrite: I wasn't planning to do this, but I felt really good after the WOD below, so modified it to a front squat WOD, so I used 145 pounds.

For Time:
40 - 30 - 20 - 10
KB Swings (1/1.5 pood)
Push Ups

mywrite: Scaled to 45# KB, which was heaviest at the gym. Therefore, singular goal was to go unbroken, which I did. Push-ups were a disaster, however, underestimated how much yesterday's bench would impact this. Excuses. I know I'm supposed to stop with those...

Liftin'.

Today's WODs, from CFE, looked a little more like what Merrill does every day. Only faster, I suppose.

CFE Strength and Conditioning WODs

Push Press 8x2 on :45 @ 65% 1RM
Post load to comments. Recover 5:00 - 10:00 then perform the following:
myrite: I used 120 pounds. Good weight, near failures on the last two sets.

As Many Rounds As Possible In 10:00 Of:
5 - bodyweight Bench Press
15 - Air Squats


mywrite: 4 rounds. I used bodyweight 160, which resulted in the weak performance, but decided to stick it out. These were floor bench due to no spotter and no bench. First round unbroken, then 1s and 2s the last two rounds. For some history, prior to Crossfit I had never been able to bench my bodyweight, and I haven't done any sort of bench for at least the past year. (Due to a shoulder issue and it just rarely comes up in Crossfit). So I don't actually feel that badly about "only" 20 reps.

Afterwards, I did 75 squats for time afterwards to make up for the lack of squats in-WOD: 1:33.

Sprint-ish.

Some balmy weather cruising through Ohio (until tonight, when it drops 30 degrees), so it was nice to get outside in shorts and T for a sprint WOD. Or as my title says, sprint-ish.

Run: 6:00 of 100m sprints on 0:30, recover 3:00, 4:00 of 100m sprints on 0:30, recover 2:00, 2:00 of 100m sprints on 0:30.

Quick explanation, basically you have 30 seconds to complete 100M sprint. Whatever you finish ahead of that, you rest until the next one starts on the 30 second mark. That ain't much stoppage time.

mywrite: 6:00 - 12 sprints at between 22-25 seconds. Last six were closer to 25. 4:00 - 8 sprints at between 22 and 25 seconds. 2:00 - 4 sprints, 21, 21, 21, 20 seconds. Odd workout, but pleased with the finish. Nearly 1.5 miles total distance.

And then tonight, I did one of Crossfit's "girls," named Gwen from mainsite:

Clean & Jerk 15-12- and 9 reps
Touch and go at floor only. Even a re-grip off the floor is a foul. No dumping. Use same load for each set. Rest as needed between sets.

This is one of those WODs that can be problematic - and injury-matic - if you're inexperienced or stupid or both. I'm either just smart enough, or just chickenshit enough that I kept the load light so even if I get out of whack, I could likely control it without getting hurt. Hopefully.

mywrite: 95 pound clean and jerk. I power cleaned throughout to give my groin a break. And this was tough on the legs regardless, would've been terrible squat cleaning, which I will do next time. Jerks were all split jerks. 4 minute breaks between sets. Was only stupid on a couple reps, though I'm sure I had some pretty nasty form issues near the end of rounds.

I took Mike/CrossFit by 4 seconds

So everyday that you do CrossFit you are competing against either your friends, the CrossFit site or within a competition. This can spur you on to a better performance than you would otherwise do but this is anathema to most endurance workout programs. A lot of running coaches will punish their athletes if they find out they raced an easy 10 mile workout. More and more workout programs profess that the rest days are almost important because you need to give your body a chance to rest.

Mike is going to fire back at me that he rests more than I do so who am I to talk. But given that I am not going balls to the wall everyday like he and his ilk, an easy 6 miles is almost like rest. And it's not just physical rest we are discussing - committing yourself everyday to exhaustion seems like it would eventually wear at you mentally to the point that you would not want to subject yourself to the anticipated pain. Which is why people join Boxes - so that the community of the suffering will motivate and inspire you. And try and beat your brains out.

Which brings me to my run today. Mike posted his 39.54 minute five miler right before my six mile run today. My left leg is still giving me issues so I was going to shoot for 8.15 mile pace until I saw him throw down the gauntlet, which I responded to with a 39.50. Not blazing my any stretch but I took him. And accomplished nothing besides transferring the pain from the calf to my shin.

He better not run another 5-6 miles or more tonight or my leg is toast tomorrow.

Mileage.

Yeah, I can't imagine doing more than 3 miles on the track. Of course, until today, it'd been months since I've gone past 5K, so really, what am I talking about?

Slowly ticking up the mileage and CFE programmed a 10K today. I dialed that back to 5 miles and paced at 8 min/mile. Chose that based on several factors, including sore legs, snow and ice and curiosity about about how fast 8 minute miles are because I'm typically going faster than that. Boom.

Also, the good thing about CFE is even though you're supposed to recover, really, you're never fully recovered, so you can always chalk up a given performance to lingering effects of prior workouts. I know, I need to stop using excuses, because technically, my times should always be improving.

I was happy with today though, it certainly never taxed my cardio, just wore down on my legs (groin, mainly). And I felt really great post-run, so that's always a plus.

mywrite: 5 mile run paced at 8 min/mile. Finished slightly ahead of pace at 39:54. Enjoyable.
Only have to run a little more than 5 times as far at that pace in 8 months to get my marathon time.

Love and Hate Affair with The Track

The seven miler on Tam Track went reasonably well at 57.04 My calf isn't improving but it isn't getting worse which I  consider improvement. I like the zen of running on the track, metronomically clicking off the laps and knowing my exact pace every .25 miles and it's easier on my calf since there is no extra strain from up or downhills.

What I don't like about the track is:

• The soccer moms and dads who love standing in the first and second lanes and gossip during their kids practice or games. While it is annoying, I do like playing the game of chicken and forcing them to move or risk spilling their coffee post collision.
• I hate feeling like Kevin Spacey's character in America Beauty. Running lap after lap during a girl's lacrosse practice must have some parents worried about my moral character.
• While running on a track requires the same effort and involves the same total elevation gain as any other one, it doesn't really register on the macho scale given my co-runners on the track tend to be much older people going for a leisurely walk. Northface doesn't sell shoes just for the track. The positive is I do own the first lane. 

On another note, I watched  video interview with CrossFit champ Rich Froning and he doesn't eat bread - but does eat french fries. So I have given up bread, just like that. I am sponge. 

Excuses, not reasons.

Merrill seems to build up excuses for not trying Crossfit rather than valid reasons for not trying it. In fact, the picture of his cinderblock $450 gym would be perfect for Crossfit if he had any imagination. I'll let him keep grasping at straws, while I WOD over here and get stronger and faster (said in Bro voice).


Speaking of, I did today's mainsite WOD, of which I wasn't particularly strong, nor fast. Oh well.

For time:
135 pound Thruster, 15 reps
Run 200 meters
95 pound Thruster, 20 reps
Run 400 meters
65 pound Thruster, 30 reps
Run 800 meters

mywrite: I scaled the first set of thrusters to 115#, the rest were as RX'd. Thrusters suck the life outta me. 6/5/4, 11/9, 19/11 subsets. Runs were slow, so I tried to hold form.

It should be spelled Cro$$Fit

A topic that I almost never see covered either by Cross Fit devotees or haters is its high cost. To give some perspective up front, consider these numbers (San Francisco bias built in)

Planet Fitness                       $15/month (admittedly with little eye candy)
Crunch Membership            $60/month  (and lots of wacky classes)
LA Sports Club                   $150/month with access to every known exercise equipment invented
CrossFit                               $250-$300/month for all you can eat unlimited access to the "Box"

CrossFit Boxes don't exactly include massive amounts of equipment either so there is no wide open options to what you can do when you get there. They take the bare bones approach of kettle bells, pullups bars, squat racks and ropes. I am a bog fan of the spartan life so I actually think this is cool but this spartan approach comes at a cost.

I understand the argument - you are paying for this intense instruction which helps you master basic lifts like clean and jerk, front squats and kipping (hate the kip - can't kip) without getting severely injured. These instructors need to get paid and the gyms need to recoup their high rents in pricey neighborhoods where all the yuppie CrossFitters live. But it's not like the cost drops after you have mastered the skills.

CrossFit paints itself as this all inclusive community but at $2,500/year, this is a pretty elitist price structure. Many of my friends (such as Mike and his aforementioned junk pile) overcome this by building their own boxes in the garages or basements, but this requires quite the investment and kind of dilutes the whole community aspect to CrossFit.

As for me, I am using the same weight set (old school cement/plastic weights) I bought when I was a junior in college, plus squat rack and extra weights for $200, and the $25 IronGym pullup bar - the world's greatest invention. 29 years, $450.

Off to test calf with a 7 miler.

Rest.

One thing CFE is not afraid of, unlike Merrill, is rest. I've been absolutely cooked all week, but took yesterday off, slept nearly nine hours (unheard of) and thought I was going to have today off as well. I then realized I wouldn't fit in my three strength WODs for the week unless I did today and tomorrow, so off to the gym with me...

Glad I went though, funny when you feel better during a workout than just walking around your house.


Three rounds for time of:
35 pound Dumbbell squat snatch, 15 reps, right arm
15 GHD sit-ups
35 pound Dumbbell squat snatch, 15 reps, left arm
15 Toes to bar

mywrite: 12:39, scaled. Scaled to 25 pound snatches and knees-to-elbows. Was hoping this would allow me to go unbroken, but after first round, no chance. Even squat snatches were subsetted by the end and my last K2Es were 5/3/3/4. Awful, in a good way.

Getting my last one for the week in tomorrow morning.

Re: Injury - Sort Of

Second sentence:

Not mentioned: I tweaked my calves twice when I first started CFE in 2011. I think if you build up to it, it could be fine though.

Decathletes are Cross Fitters

I can breathe today since I managed to run 6 miles on the Tam High School track in 51.38. It wasn't pretty but it was also at 4:00 am so no one was there to witness it other than a few deer. The bad news is my lower calf is still sore but the good news is that the pain did not get worse during the robble (run/hobble). 8:30 mile pace is definitely not going to get me to a 1.30 let alone beat Mike but I am optimistic.

On the strength side, the Creatine has kicked in again - my weight workouts are getting easier, my squat (160-10) and bench (200-12) are slowly going up as is the dips I do in my office every day (every office needs a dip bar to pound out sets of 32 twice a day).

Here is a thought. Decathletes are probably the most versatile athletes in the world - they have speed, strength, endurance and agility, and are pretty much trained to do anything. But while they might have world class abilities, they don't come close in any event to world class times because they don't focus enough on any one event. Which is what Cross Fit Endurance is all about. It prepares you to do workouts that while impressive, are not the actual event (I'm back to the specificity of training) in which you want to excel. Of course hobbling 6 miles at 90 seconds slower than race pace isn't exactly specific training either.

Snowod.

Did my long interval on the treadmill this morning, figured I could power through a weight workout in zero degree weather tonight, but couldn't run in it (and it ended up snowing, so good thing):

mywrite: 
Run: Repeat 1M, recover 4:00, until form/pace deterioriates (:10-:15sec)
Went in knowing I was going to go 3 miles: splits: 6:47, 6:47, 6:45 (Time includes treadmill startup). Disappointed in the times, just didn't have a lot of heart. Forgot how awful treadmills are, hard to work on form, I mainly just focused on short stride and footstrike. In my defense, I'm still pretty crushed from the weekend running WODs and soccer (core and groin mainly).

And tonight, 9:17 start, I did this CFE S&C WOD:

For Time:
Row 500m
then
12 - 9 - 6
Thrusters (135/95)
Strict Pull Ups
then
Row 500m

mywrite: 10:37. I scaled to 95# push press. My groin/high hammies are feeling pretty beat up. Not injured-sore like Merrill's calf, but scary-sore, so thrusters weren't in the cards. I know, I'm full of excuses, but for what I thought was going to be a check-the-box WOD, I ended up feeling decent and going fairly hard. Rows in 1:53 and 1:54. Pullups in 9/3, 5/4, 3/3. Ended up not too cold either, 28 degrees in the garage at start of WOD. 

What looks like a junk pile behind me is my garage gym. 

Injury - Sort Of

I honestly made it through two paragraphs of Mike's last blog post and fell asleep. I can relate to Cross Fit Endurance when you approach the workouts as this 20 minute challenge that you intend to crush with no real thought to its intent. Just blindly go to CrossFit Endurance, find the workout and do it. But throw in all the science behind the madness and I glaze over. I think I already repeating myself.

I am in full on crisis mode. I went to do my normal 6.5 miles this morning and my lower calf slowly started tightening and it became too painful to run after 36 minutes. I've had similar pain before and my approach is to:

• Definitely run through it if I can, regardless if it is smart;
• Pray the 48 hours between runs is enough to semi heal
• Run exclusively on the track so a) if the pain forces me to stop I am not miles from home; b) the flat and smooth surface helps prevent any strains caused by uphills, downhills or sharp turns; c) it feels easier to monitor the pain if I know exactly how long I have gone and have to go.

I also believe in the principal of callousing your mind to pain. For example, the worst part of a cold is the first few day you are sick. You aren't accustomed to being sick and you are miserable about how much worse you feel compared to 12 hours ago. After a day or two, even before you start to recover, you feel better because your mind is used to being sick. It's the same with exercise. You need to program your mind to dealing with pain. As long as an injury isn't the kind that can permanently hobble you, you learn to deal and adapt to the pain from a small injury. 

We shall see if I can hobble on my calloused brain on Thursday.

Today's Workout

http://app.strava.com/activities/38332080