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

Getting with the Program.

The CFE website is admittedly a little overwhelming and confusing, especially if you haven't spent two years reporting on the program, read MacKenzie's book or spent countless hours (years?) obsessing about your WOD programming. So yes, I get some questions about what a CFE program should look like.

Therefore, I'll boil it down into it's simplest, ideal form, and then explain what I'm actually doing:

-4 strength/strength & conditioning (S&C) WODs each week.
-3 endurance (running) WODs each week.

-Perform the short interval and long interval endurance WODs on the same day as the S&C WODs, 3+ hours before or after said WOD.
-Perform the tempo/time trial WODs on a separate day from the S&C WOD.

-MacKenzie has also added programming of 20-45 minutes of daily skill work.

There you have it. Questions?

--
Now, the mywrite schedule: 
In starting CFE this time around, I'm going with 3 of each type of WOD, with the hopes of increasing to 4 S&C WODs within the next couple months.

For the S&C WODs, I will use workouts from either CFE or Crossfit mainsite, depending on my mood, inclination and if the folks in my email group are performing these WODs (to increase daily competition). Also the Crossfit Open is starting soon, so I'll be sure to perform those workouts.

In general, I will do the longer tempo/time trial runs on either Sunday or Monday. I will do the long interval WODs Wednesday and the short intervals on Saturday (both of course with the strength & conditioning WODs as often as possible).

I will try to maintain the skill work as well, but I'm not hopeful. It will probably be closer to 10-15 minutes.

I'm also playing soccer once a week for the next two months, so depending on my recovery and how I'm feeling, I may "count" that as either a S&C or a short interval WOD just so I don't overtrain my system.

Incidentally, my soccer game was last night, so there's my WOD. Played a little longer than the first game (roughly 30 minutes) because we had fewer subs. But also probably didn't run as hard knowing I had to remain in the game for longer stretches. We got smoked, 8-3. But I did score my first goal of the year, tying the game at 1-1. And probably my first goal in at least 14 years, so that was fun.

Outside Magazine's CFE article - a conversation.

This month, Outside Magazine published a story about Crossfit Endurance and Brian MacKenzie, where the author used the program to train for a marathon at the end of the year. Merrill and I traded a few emails about the article "Brian MacKenzie's Controversial New Approach to Marathon Training." Here's our conversation:

mywrite: Merrill, thanks for sending this piece. It's really great, well-researched and written, and hits the journalism climax of a perfectly balanced story. Which also makes it incredibly annoying (damn you, journalism standards). The first thing I wanted to bring up was this idea of "sports specificity," which a lot of critics talk about. You wouldn't only lift weights to get better at baseball - you have to hit the baseball. I completely agree. And for a person like me, who sorta likes running, but never ran all that much, CFE is sports specific. i.e. this is a shit-ton of running. For me. You don't think it's enough though?

Merrill: It is fair but left open the question on whether CFE is for completing or competing. Other than the one triathlete that you and every other CFE continues to reference who won a short sprint tri, no one seems to be excelling in endurance sports following CFE. And Brian McKenzie doesn't seem to differentiate between competing versus being competitive. He criticizes traditional training as a flawed approach period. But there is scant little evidence (at least none that I have seen) that anyone has tried to win races using CFE.

The article, while well written, didn't really help answer the debate. The author ran the marathon at about the same pace using CFE as he did on normal training. So it's as good? That's not a satisfying conclusion.

mywrite: Well, I'm competing with you, and I'm also guessing (and hoping) that we'll come to nearly the same conclusion Outside did. And if by some miracle I follow this all the way through and hit 3:30 in the marathon, which you consider a "stud" time, is that completing or competing? 

It is funny that there is essentially one pro and one critic for all of us writers to quote and use as "evidence," but I think that's also the product of being a relatively recent phenomenon. I guess for me if the answer is "yes, it's as good as marathon training without logging 30-mile weeks, while maintaining some semblance of Crossfit strength," then that would also be better than traditional training. For me. 

But that wouldn't be better for people like the author and you, who enjoy the long slog and make it such a big part of your lives. I mean, you have to really like what you're doing if you want to stay fit. 

Merrill: Here's the rub (it's not really a rub - I just like quoting Swingers whenever I can). 30 miles a week training for a marathon is so low, even for a wannabe 3.30 marathoner. I'm very far from being a typical marathoner - I lift weights three times a week, I am about 20 pounds heavier than I should be for a typical six foot marathoner (probably because I treat Creatine like a condiment), and as you will see over the next seven months, I despise runs over two hours. 

Yet CFE considers me this extreme distance-obsessed person who is wasting hours on the road when I could be sprinting my head off. That I am wasting too much time on empty miles. Where is my life? What about having the time to do two workouts a day on which CFE is based ? You have your morning Xfit WOD followed three hours later by a CFE workout. Isn't that a little time intensive? Do I really need to shower twice a day? Am I supposed to do 10 X 400 in my office hallway (shades of indoor track practice in high school)? Double workouts adds about an hour of prep time to your day. And don't get me started on membership fees at CrossFit gyms.

That's a rant for another time.

And yes. we are competing, but we certainly aren't going to be competitive with the winners of the marathon we do in the fall. And that's my question. If I really trained like I should for a marathon - 70+ miles a week, 20 mile long runs, stopped lifting, lost 20 pounds, etc) I could probably do 3 hours (this will never happen by the way). I don't think that's true if I did CFE. And I have yet to find an article that says otherwise.

mywrite: If it will "never happen" either way, why all the criticism? Why is CFE a threat to you? And wait, you're the one who created the CFE vs. Old School site! So it's you who is claiming the "old school" mantle, and I would guess that MacKenzie wouldn't actually be all that freaked out about your training, simply because of the weight you are lifting. So it begs the question, why does this blog exist? Also for another time, I suppose. 

I'll break down my training schedule in another blog post (it's 3+ hours, not 3 exactly and I work from home, so I don't need two showers), but I would be interested in the time you spend versus my CFE, because what you lay out looks like it could be similar in time commitment to what I'm doing - the only difference is my 6-7 workouts is limited to 3-4 days, whereas yours are every day of the week.

OK, let's get back to the article... I know the science puts you to sleep - who wants science to get in the way of a good long run? - but all that stuff absolutely intrigues me. Even the science that says you need to run long to develop into a good distance runner:  "your body starts creating new capillaries around the muscle fibers in your thighs. That increases blood flow to the muscles and allows for better delivery of oxygen and metabolic substrates like fat." How fucking cool is that!?! 

Merrill: You are only finally determining that my approach is contradictory and not backed by any science? I totally get that weight lifting or any kind of strength training makes you a better runner and any other kind of athlete. Strength and a balanced body is ideal for preventing injuries and overdeveloping certain areas of your body. It also provides emotional and mental balance since you aren't always getting up in the morning to do the same 10 mile slog. Running every other day makes me look forward to the runs a lot more (although this morning's 8-9 miler isn't high on my list of weekend treats). 

However, no way do I see scientifically that a 13 miler is ample preparation for a 100 miler, no matter what MacKenzie says. He will be on Oprah shortly confessing his lies.

mywrite: Just so readers know what I'm up against, I saw on Facebook you've broken out your Livestrong bracelet again, leading the charge in Lance's redemption. Great.

Both you and the author hit I think what is the best point in all of this: enjoyment. Your every-other-day thing keeps you interested in the running, my Crossfit WODs keep me interested in the running so that it remains a bit of a novelty. At least here for these first two weeks. We'll see in May how I'm feeling about all of this. And maybe that is the "satisfying conclusion" we actually need - if it's good enough, and you like it, you should do that thing that gets you out on the road or in the gym everyday.

Speaking of calves...

The last time I started up CFE, I had two calf strains in the first two months - part of it was the speed, part also was that I was mixing in some barefoot/minimalist and wasn't quite strong enough. This time around, I'm taking it a bit slower, hence today's row.

And Merrill, do these. They'll help: http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/03/episode-194365-why-do-you-hate-your-calfs.html


The CFE time trial today was a 10K run, but because I'm building up distance to take it easy on my calves (and I do have a sore, though uninjured calf right now), I decided to do the Row option, which was 5K.

mywrite: 5K row in 20:14.

Knocked 10 seconds off my time from a few weeks ago. Held 2 minute/500M pace for 2000M, then had to back off to 2:08-ish for the next 2000M. Final 1000M in 3:50, last 500 right around 1:50. Felt MUCH worse than I remember from the 20:25.

Phantom Calf Injury

I thought I was anal in tracking down to the tenth of a mile but 131 to 144 meters for a 30 second sprint? Are you using the GPS on a Drone to track your runs?

This was going to be the weekend when I started going a little longer and faster. The plan was to do 8-9 miles on Saturday and 10 X 400 on Sunday. So of course I slightly tweaked my left calf muscle on Tuesday or Thursday's morning run and I didn't want to push it so I did my normal 6-7 mile runs both days.

I usually get slightly injured about once a year and it almost always involves my calves (which is ironic since I have almost non existent ones hence why I call it my phantom calf injuries). It tends to happen when I start to slightly increase my pace to under 7 min 30 sec pace, so I have to reduce the pace until the pain goes away. By the time I have gotten over the fear that running harder will cause a return of the injury and start running hard, I get injured.

The smart thing to do would be to avoid running for a few days to give it time to heal but I don't have the patience to wait or mental strength to fight through my exercise addiction. Even when I was training for an Ironman, I could not take more than one day off from running. Of course I could stretch or do other preventative exercises but that would be too logical.

Saturday - around 7 miles in 52.51  http://app.strava.com/activities/37996072

Sunday - 6 miles on Mt Tam High School Track (boring yes but I didn't want to walk home three miles if my calf injury got so bad I had to walk)   in 45.25

Track work.

Made my first visit back to the track for CFE today. The last two running WODs have been a little different, just because of the lengthy breaks. But that really allows you to crank it when you run, and my legs are going to be wrecked tomorrow, I can already tell.

Run: Repeat :30 sec, recover 2:00, until form/pace deteriorates

mywrite: this was a bit difficult to judge pace because of heavy winds (up to 25mph), but the pace I maintained allowed me to get to 10 rounds in decent form. Funny I wasn't paying much attention to rounds on my watch, and when I looked down after feeling crappy on one of my sprints, it was my last one. Worked out well.

Distances were between 131 and 144 meters, usually closer to 140.

Defending Lance

After two nights of watching Lance/Oprah, I am strangely motivated to go for a longish run this morning. As one who worships Lance, I wasn't sure what would happen if the day ever came where he admitted to cheating. Now that it is here, I am still fascinated and someone inspired by him. His unwavering love and laser focus on excelling at endurance sports gives my much less serious pursuit additional meaning and legitimacy. Rather than just slogging 6 miles for the sake of fitness or to do OK in some local half marathon, Lance makes it seem like a noble quest. And even in the face of a lifetime ban, he continues to work out in the hopes that he will be able to race sometime in the future. It's like religion has been banned but he is still sneaking off to church.

I understand that what he did was wrong; it's much more the bullying and sanctimonious piety that is the problem than the actual doping. I won't try and defend or explain that he is an asshole. But I will the doping side. Sports are about pushing your body beyond normal limits and beyond your competitors. In this environment, it is inevitable that people are going to try and get any edge, legal or not, and we can't be shocked when they do. Cycling and baseball have become cleaner in the last five years not because of greater morality, but because the tests have become so good that the athletes fear getting caught. We should try and catch them but I don't think they are immoral when they do.

I don't even take lifting that seriously and I take Creatine just to get a few extra reps added to my 200 pound bench press (it works - I've gone from 200-10 to 200-12). Imagine if there was serious $$ on the line in my bet with Mike on top of the total prestige, and someone told me I could take 7 minutes off my marathon time by taking a little white pill. I'm not so sure I would say no. And now imagine that there is a high degree of certainty that Mike is taking the pill already so if I don't I'm pretty much sure of losing. And this is the whole point of competitive sports - to do whatever it takes to win.

I hope I still have this emotion at mile 6 of my run.

Double up.

I doubled up today, but I flipped it and did the running WOD first. I feel like I've got the Crossfit side fairly dialed, so if I want to half-ass something, I want it to be Crossfit at this point. Plus, the strength and conditioning WOD had a LOT more conditioning. Here we go:

Run: 4-6 x 2:00 Time Trial, recover 5:00, until form deteriorates or you complete 6 rounds
mywrite: completed 6 rounds, felt good and fairly fast. Because it was such a long WOD, used the first round + 5 minute break as part of my warmup.

Round distances: 486M, 514M, 521M, 502M, 523M, 507M.
Total distance including rest/drills: 4.09KM.

Form didn't break until about the final 400 of the 6th round. Really psyched about round 5, felt great while  running it, and turned out to be my furthest as well.

I considered doing Front Squats from Crossfit mainsite, but I know I've got a day off tomorrow, so decided to push it with the CFE WOD tonight. Starting at 9:30 p.m. after a hot dog dinner at Dirty Frank's in C-bus. Could get ugly:

For time:
Row 1k
Tabata Squats (:20 on :10 off x 8 rounds)
Run 1k

mywrite: splits - 3:54 row, 4:20 (127 squats), 4:44 run.
Row felt surprisingly good, I toyed around with the settings after watching an Olympic rower give some tips, need to keep experimenting. Warmed me up nicely for squats, so all 16s and one 15. The run included a shoelace malfunction.

Good day, interested to see how I feel tomorrow, but I only have short intervals on Saturday and tempo/tt on Sunday, no CF until at least Monday.

CrossFit has me on variety

Let me preface this post by reaffirming that my old school, time proven method of marathon training will enable me to beat Mike. I am convinced of this and am not folding after two weeks.

However I do recognize that CrossFit is a far more interesting way to train, particularly if you are a competitive person. Everyday you are basically trying to set a personal record and given how many WODs there are, and how infrequently they are repeated, the opportunities are many to nail one. Plus there is the whole communal aspect in which you can compare your times to anyone in the country. I get it - it's compelling.

So unless I am going to go insane with jealously, I need to come up with a way to challenge myself within the confines of a limited and focused program and with no one else doing the same workouts to spur me on.

A few options - I can publically set aggressive workout goals every day and then essentially race against the clock. I can actually go for runs beyond my normal 6.5 mile route, building enough variety with hills and locations that it is like a WOD. I can also try and get my bench press and squat beyond my normal levels although I'm not sure how much this will help my running.

Bottom line I need to do something to make these posts moved interesting than Mike's

Today's workout was the normal weight one I've posted twice already - I promise it will be varied by Monday.

Chipper.

Today's WOD is what in Crossfit parlance is a "chipper." Basically, you're just chipping away at big numbers. One like this is hard for me to get the heart rate up too high except for KBs, feels like I'm in that mid-range of conditioning with this one. 

For time:

30 Handstand push-ups (I scaled to 10 HSPUs). 

40 Pull-ups

50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 poods

60 Sit-ups

70 Burpees

mywrite's time: 16:00 

Really happy about HSPUs, 5/5 subsets, and I haven't done these in months. Pull-up subsets of 20/20 (insert Merrill's jab about kipping/cheating), KBs in 30/20, Abmat SUs in 40/20 and burpees were a mess, I couldn't stop whining about my tired shoulders. Weak link, but did 20 in a row to finish. 

Evidence of how far I've come with Crossfit, in 2010, I did this WOD at 10/30/40/50/60 (i.e. lots fewer reps) and it took me more than 26 minutes. And I didn't even do pull-ups, I did ring rows. 

Clinical proof CFE works zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I have to confess I fell asleep during the middle of Mike's post when he started citing scientific research to back up the legitimacy of CFE. I bought Power Speed and Endurance by Brian McKenzie (the father of CFE) about a month ago and he lost me on page 5 when he started discussing running form and scientific data. I understand that the scientific approach to exercise is completely legitimate and any successful champion  monitors heart rate, VO2 max, hermatocrit levels, but for me it kills the joy of sport.

I love exercise for many reasons and one is that it represents a non-intellectual side of my life - admittedly one of many non-intellectual areas. Just select the workout and go - don't worry about the numbers or scientific rational for why the workout makes sense. If you just have an inherent belief in what you are doing and it is grounded in some sort of logic (ie run a fast 7 miles over and over and you will  logically be able to run a fast 13 miles), then you will be able to perform. It's about confidence.This is why I have this magical affinity to running a minimum of 30 miles a week. It represents the specific numbers - an average of 7.5 miles/ run (assuming four run/week) or one hour  (assuming 8 minute mile - the minimum pace to be a running stud in my book which is a 3.30 marathon pace) or 1,560 miles/year (I once read that an endurance runner does a minimum of 1,500/miles year). I hit these numbers and I am confident that I have attained a minimum level of fitness. I have proof this works but there is no science behind it.

So while Mike does a number of different workouts to gain some mensa level of marathon fitness, I will just use the brainless approach of fast runs at distances increasingly close the distance at which we will be racing. And my 5k time is currently kicking Mike's time's ass

Tempo/Time Trial.

Merrill keeps demonstrating his inability, or unwillingness, to understand something that is outside his comfort zone. First, he said a few posts back that he hasn't seen anyone training CFE come forward with a demonstrably good race times, despite the fact that I found and quoted three different athletes in my CFE profile, some with very impressive times (8:08 50 miler). Plus there's this Guy, a pro, who won two of the four races he raced last season. (As a side note, I was only able to track down one CFE critic who had actually tried CFE in more than a year of reporting).

Now he's saying Crossfit and Crossfit Endurance are all-out all the time. How does that make sense when today's mainsite WOD is 5x5 deadlift? Not for time. And today's CFE WOD is a Tempo run?  Besides, an athlete's time on a metcon WOD will depend on many factors, whether you're going all out or not. Doing this WOD - For Time: 21 - 15 - 9 Power Clean (135/95), Ring Dips - from day to day, will result in different times. Just as Merrill's 6.6 mile run resulted in different times.

And again, as I posted here last week, this is why strength WODs like those above improve your running: efficiency. Here are four sample papers:


-Explosive strength training improves 5-km running time by improving running economy and muscle power, J Appl.Physiiol, 1999 May;86(5):1527-33
-Short term plyometric training improves running economy in highly trained middle and long distance runners, J Strength Cond Res. 2006 Nov;20(4):947-54
-Maximal strength training improves running economy in distance runners, Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Jun;40(6):1087-92
-Concurrent endurance and explosive type strength training improves neuromuscular and anaerobic characteristics in young distance runners., Int J Sports Med, 2007 Jul;28(7):602-11 Epub 2007 Mar 20.

And finally, Crossfit Endurance has Tempo runs programmed in, which I did today. Sure, they're not based on perceived effort, which Merrill himself proved yesterday that most people can't judge for themselves , but they are programmed at a slower pace than an "all-out" effort. Admittedly not as slow as an old-school 70 percent effort, but this is as close as we'll get to that program. The idea is that even though it's paced slower, it's still faster than what you'll likely need to run on race day, so you won't be shocked at the end of the race when you might actually need to push yourself.

Run: 5k @ 85% 5k Time Trial pace
My most recent 5K race was 20:08, so I needed to run today's 5K at 23:15, or 7:29/mile. I finished at 23:04. Considering how easy-breezy the first mile was, it got a bit more difficult than expected. Legs got heavy coming off yesterday's double-WOD at 1.8 miles.

Perceived effort

Perceived exertion is a term that is used a lot in endurance sports. It is the philosophy that you should not necessarily be exercising to a specific pace or time for a workout, but rather to how hard or easy the workout feels. A 7 minute/mile pace can feel very different  one day versus another. This can be proven on the bike where watts measure how much power you are exerting and can wildly vary regardless of pace.

To illustrate this point, the last two days I ran the usual 6.6 mile route. On Saturday, I purposely ran a little harder than normal to try and improve my speed. My time wasn’t dramatically faster (48.41) than I usually do but it did feel a little harder. Today, I wanted to run a chill workout and forced myself to run slower, at least a perceived slower pace, and ended up running 30 seconds faster (48.11) but felt better than yesterday. It’s good to try and understand how a certain pace feels so when you go into a race, you have a good idea for how you are going to feel at a specific level of exertion,

With CrossFit , there is no consideration of perceived effort because you are supposed to go all out on every workout . Other than the incredibly infrequent long runs, every workout is pretty much anaerobic. Workouts like 60 minute runs at 70% of maximum heart rate don’t exist. 

Which is why I don’t understand how doing 20 minute all out workouts of pushups, squats, kettle bell swings, etc. prepares you for running 26 miles at 8 minute pace. Yes, it gets you into shape but how does it do anything to prepare you mentally, let alone physically for how you will feel after two hours of a marathon. It’s like preparing to cook a Thanksgiving dinner by learning to become a gardener.

It. Is. On.

Alright, the moment we've all been waiting for... CFE is officially in the Myser hizouse! So I began the day with a CFE "Strength and Conditioning WOD," then followed that up with the CFE "Endurance WOD" this afternoon. A good, easy-ish start, and it's gonna be a long road back. I'm excited.

CFE changed their protocol a bit in this past week, so there are a couple things to get used to. First, instead of assigning say, 4-8 rounds of a given distance (for interval WODs), it's based on form/pace. Which makes it a bit difficult, but the guidance they give for the short intervals is to try to "work" 12 minutes, if possible. For example, that would be 8 x 400s at 1:30 pace.

The other thing they added was to work on running "skills" every day you WOD for 20 to 45 minutes. That, my friends, may be the most difficult part of the training. That's a lot of extra time to spend. I did about 20 minutes yesterday, and 12 minutes today warming up for the short interval WOD.


3 Rounds For Total Reps Of:
:60sec - Ring Dips
:30sec - Rest
:60sec - Pistols (alternating legs)
:30sec - Rest
:60sec - KB Swings (1.5 pood/1)
:30sec - Rest
Post total reps:

mywrite: 127 reps. Dips around 10 each round, pistols 12-14, and I had to cut KBs short at 10 in the last round, back is still too sore and didn't want to push it.

I then did the short interval CFE WOD this afternoon:

Repeat 400m, recover 1:00 until form/pace deterioriates

I was hoping to make it 6 repeats, and made it five. Could've maybe pushed to 6, but I was starting to swerve all over the sidewalk, form was a mess and didn't want to break on my first day. First thing that seems to go on my form is midline stability (I bend at the waist), so with an already tired back, I'm not too surprised this happened.

mywrite splits: 1:30, 1:30, 1:31, 1:32. 1:32. <br>

I went out too fast on the first three, had to jog it in to get in at 1:30. Next time this comes up, will go for 8x400 at 1:30.

Rest.

I'm glad Merrill brought up rest, because that's essentially what I've been doing this week. While my plan was to "officially" start CFE this week, I finally caught the kids' cold that had been floating around for a couple months, started off the week with little sleep and compounded that with a 10:30 p.m. soccer game start.

I took the CFE course while I was training the last time, and while MacKenzie hammered home skills and drills, lifting and fast endurance work, he also tried to make sure the audience understood the importance of rest. And I didn't want to start this whole CFE training thing in a deficit.

And Merrill, if rest was such a bad thing, why would everyone who trains via conventional wisdom, taper the week before a race? Shouldn't you be putting in your long runs, because OH MY GOD you're losing your endurance!!!!

See, unlike Merrill, who's an OCD-slave to the grind, I'm smart.

Or lazy.

So today, I just did some mobility work (I'm sore as bleep from the Birthday WOD the other day), and worked in about 20 minutes of running drills, which CFE has added to the daily protocol at www.crossfitendurance.com.

Racing versus training

I was entered in the 2012 New York Marathon that was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. This was kind of an act of god because I was not ready to run 26.2 miles. My longest run leading up to the race was 10 miles as I had not been super motivated to go long on weekends. And as Mike will painfully find out, you can't do well in a marathon without going long (16+ miles) several times leading up to the race.

Part of my relative ambivalence with racing is due to my obsession with working out everyday. I pretty much never miss a day even though I know it would probably be good to rest every now and then. When I do miss a day every few years due to illness, I feel like my fitness has gone out the window. In running, conventional wisdom is that every day you don't run, you lose two days of fitness. Of course I typically run every other day which means  I am always treading water in my fitness.While CrossFit promotes a day off every three days, I'm actually not sure what most people do - Rich Froning, who I quote like god, doesn't seem to take a day off and he does about seven WODs a day.

When you race, or train to do well in a race, as opposed for general fitness, you are venturing out onto the thin razor blade between fitness and injury - to become super fit you need to come close to injuring yourself or becoming ill due to over training, and I tend to get calf or hamstring injuries when I venture out on the edge. And given my addiction to working out everyday, I'd rather run a slow 6 than hammer it and become injured even if it sacrifices a fast time.

Of course it is all relative - we are talking the difference between a 6.50/mile and 7.30 mile pace. I am running 7 miles at 8:30 am and  am still not sure which one I will pick.

Tuesday and Thursday run
6.5 miles in around the same exact time --- 49 minutes and 40 seconds

Birthday WODs.

When I was introduced to Crossfit, I joined a group of a dozen or so men and women across the country in an email group who all tracked their WODs via said group, competing in mainsite WODs and critiquing one another's videos, and just all around sharing notes about Crossfit. It's sort of like having a virtual gym and one of the greatest things about my Crossfit experience. Most of us are planning to attend the Games together this year.

And one of our traditions is to compete in birthday WODs, so when it's your birthday, you post a workout for everyone to perform for time. Fastest time wins bragging rights and a prize of some sort. Workouts like this are one reason I won't stick religiously to CFE (if I ever actually start it, jeez). Anyway, here was today's workout, I'm currently in the lead with about 8 hours until group deadline:

These can get a little complicated:

3 parts for total time.

Part 1:

15-12-9 of the couplet:

Deadlifts 255/155

Pullups

Part 2:

Rest 1 minute.  During this rest, change the weight on the bar.  You must not start the Part 3 until at least one minute has passed, but you can rest more if needed.

Part 3:

5 clean and jerk 185/105

15 ring dips

25 KB swings 55/35

35 wall balls 20/14

run 800m

Complete the WOD and post result by Thursday, January 10, 8 PM central.  

You must complete the WOD in the order listed.

You may only use one barbell.

You may use lighter weights in exchange for a penalty on deadlifts and clean and jerks.  1 second penalty per pound per rep.  For example, if you use 175 on the clean and jerk, that is a 50 second penalty (10 lbs x 5 reps).  165 would be a 100 second penalty.  

Clean and jerk is any way (power cleans or squat cleans, push jerk or split jerk).

My time was 19:53. But I took a 5 minute penalty because I scaled the C&J all the way down to 125#.
Total: 24:53. And these are my notes:

I used 125# = 60 x 5 = 5 mins. Was actually hoping to do touch and go, but I had to step off the bar even at that weight. Ridiculous. 

Watched some of my wife's today, so knew roughly what pace I needed to be on and knew I needed to hit the run at about 15 mins pre-penalty. I hit the run at 15:42 and it was awful. Thankfully the ring dips, DL and pullups went according to plan, because it was that close to falling apart completely. Had to stifle a pukie both during DLs and KBs, which is one reason I took a KB subset. 

It's been awhile since I whimpered after a WOD, so Happy Birthday! 

The Case for Drugs

I worship Lance - note that it is still present tense. I have defended him for years against the accusations that he took performance enhancement drugs but even with the overwhelming evidence against him, I still admire him and refuse to take down all the photos of him in my office. Can't wait to hear what he says on Oprah on January 17.

I am ambivalent about the use of drugs to enhance performance. It is a violation of the rules of most sports but the purpose of sports is to entertain people, and freakish performance is incredibly entertaining. And with exceptions of gods like Derek Jeter, I assume that everyone is doing it. Even though Barry Bonds was loaded up on steroids when he attained the freakish numbers between 2001-2006, I don't think it diminishes his performance. It does represent a health risk but it's a personal decision to attain freakish fitness or strength, just like overdosing on heroine or alcoholism is a personal choice.

Which brings me to my PEDs - creatine. It isn't a real solid PED but it does add about 4-5 pounds of weight and about 2-3 reps to my bench pressing. It is a Sophie's choice because the extra weight and strength  does not help my running, adding about five minutes to my marathon time. If given the choice of talking EPO to increase my endurance, I am pretty sure I would say no but that's only because it's not worth the risk if it's the difference between doing a 3.30 or 3.22 marathon. But if I was a 2.15 marathoner, I would probably take it if I didn't think I would get caught.

Today was the basic weight workout. I am also trying to be able to do 20 pullups (with no kip - a subject for another rant) but am stuck on 15-16. I have followed the 20 pullup program but never to completion and am currently on week 4 day 3.

Play.

Though you couldn't tell by watching the Softball Toss event from the 2011 Crossfit Games, one of Crossfit's tenets is to get out and play something. "Regularly learn and play new sports," is how Glassman originally framed it.  Go hiking, jumping, climbing or whatever it is, but don't confine yourself to your garage gym or box.

For the past year, I've played basketball roughly once a week in a league that starts up again here in the spring. Meantime, I'm trying my hand at indoor soccer after subbing for an outdoor team in my neighborhood last fall and getting bitten by the bug. I played in high school and some intramural in college, so it's been awhile, but it's damn fun. Tonight was our first game.

A/B men's league, over 30, so you know it's legit, right?

And yes, I'm counting it as a WOD, because I'm gonna be a flipping mess tomorrow. Took a knee to the quad with 1 minute remaining, and it's the toughest sprint workout since my CFE workouts in 2011. I haven't decided if it'll be one of my Crossfit WODs, or a CFE WOD, but it's gotta count for something. So no, Merrill, it's not always about the numbers.

Soccer - 50 minute game.

Probably played 25 minutes. Tied 2-2, when one of their own defenders surprised his keeper with a "shot" from midfield with 5 minutes left. Whatever it takes, people. Whatever it takes.

It's all about the numbers. Sometimes.

The CrossFit community is obsessed with numbers - how many sets of Cindy did you nail, how many burpees can you do in 10 minutes, where do you stand in the CrossFit Open in Northern California after two workouts? The workouts for CrossFit Endurance are very time specific as well - how fast can you run 400s with a minute break between sets?

However, it's hard to find any numbers on the CFEr performance in the endurance event for which they  are training. I assume that people who do CFE have a goal  - like achieving a specific time in a marathon or an Ironman. But in all the articles, their time is never mentioned - just that they finished the race (OK - one of Mike's article mentioned a 3.19 time for a marathon). This raises the point as to whether you can use CFE to actually excel at endurance sports or is it just for finishing? Which brings me back to the issue of specificity of exercise. If, as Mike claims, a baseball player can use CF to be a better player, should Craig Alexander, a three-time Ironman champion, add CF workouts at the expense of a swim or bike workout? Or is it just about helping injured, middle of the road athletes?

Today's workout was the standard weight one

Bench 150-10 190-10 200-10 X 2 80 second break between sets
Curling and upright rows  100-10 x 4 45 second break between sets
Triceps with weird tricep bar 105-10 X 4 45 second break
Back squats  120-10 130-10 140-10 150-10  70 second break
Seated military press 100-10 x 4 45 second break

Two-parter...

First, I'd like to pick apart one of Merrill's issues with Crossfit from his original post:

"But mostly I hate the fact that CrossFit represents a threat or rebuttal to my 25+ year focus on essentially doing the same workouts over and over..." he writes. 

Crossfit may represent that threat, but it's pretty much now gospel in the athletic world that you shouldn't do one thing only for your health and fitness. What Crossfit Endurance is trying to tell runners and triathletes is that if they get stronger they will get better at their respective sport. I cited some research here, top of the page.

And the guys over at the Barbell Shrugged podcast do a great, and non-threatening (to people like Merrill) job of synthesizing that argument for endurance athletes at around minute 43. The most interesting thing to me was when you add strength and speed, without increasing things like endurance or VO2 Max, you will still improve in your respective sport.

Now Merrill is admittedly strong, but in a select few areas. Thankfully, he's got squats and sit-ups in the mix, otherwise, he would be a lost cause. That's also why his "old school" isn't really the old school miles-only approach, but we'll let it slide for the purposes of this blog.

And just so he knows, the "fastest you ever run" is almost the EXACT pace you'll need to get your goal time of 1:30 for the half. 6:52. For 13.1 miles.

---

Anyway, on to my workout. I'll get more into my programming later, it's sort of weird right now. For instance, tonight I was at a friend's house, no equipment, so decided to do an oldie but a goodie back from mainsite sometime in '09.

150 Burpees for time: 11:02. 

I was shooting for 15/minute for as long as possible. Missed it at 90 reps by 2 seconds. 100 in 7:02. 

Zen of the Track

I live in Marin County, which has incredibly beautiful trail running and an awesome bike trail that goes through the middle of Mill Valley. It's the birthplace of mountain biking and the weather is always perfect for endurance sports.

So of course, I run most of the time on the Mt Tam High School track - I love running on it because I know the exact distance I have run at any one time and I can play lots of number games (e.g., 12.5% done, X! to go, etc). And there are no hills. It's the outdoor equivalent of running on a treadmill which I also love.

This weekend I did two runs on the track - eight miles in 60.52 on Saturday and 10k in 44.47 (last 5k in 21.45) on Sunday, including a blazing last mile of around 6.52 which is about as fast as I ever go . If there is one thing my training lacks other than variety it's any type of speed work, and I am probably getting slower without realizing it since I never do anything less than a six mile run.

The monotony of the runs were broken up by the fun of playing chicken with soccer dads who kept walking into the first lane - I won every battle.

Be prepared for anything. Or not.

I don't mean to attack right away but I can't help it. It's Mike's statement:

Thought it would be a waste to pick my way through ice and snow on slow-ass 400M runs, so goals were to keep rows under 2 mins, and go unbroken. 

I want to be clear that I am not a CrossFit hater but I do find it a little preachy. As in the sermon that CrossFit makes you ready for any challenge. Rich Froning was asked if he would taper before the CrossFit Games and he responded "Tapering goes against what CrossFit preaches.(there's that word).  I mean we are supposed to be ready for anything right" So Mike, if you were a true CFer, you would have picked your way through the ice and snow because that's what presented itself to you this morning. To substitute rowing for running is sacrareligious.

Now I don't have to be so strict because unlike Mike, I have one goal. I don't have to be ready for anything. I am training with specificity in mind. I specifically want to be ready to kick his ass in a half marathon. And to look pretty doing it.

Which brings us to today's weight workout which will pretty much never vary by even 1%. Unless I ramble, posts on these workouts will get pretty boring.

Bench 150-10 190-10 200-10 200-9 80 second break between sets
Curling and upright rows  100-10 x 4 45 second break between sets
Triceps with weird tricep bar 105-10 X 4 45 second break
Back squats  120-10 136-10 150-10 160-10  70 second break
Seated military press 100-10 x 4 45 second break

A discussion of my form during these exercises will come later and will not be pretty.

Snow = Row.

 I'm officially starting CFE sometime next week, but will post my standard WODs up until then, since Merrill started his.

One thing I like about Crossfit is that once you've done it awhile, it's easy to find substitutions for various movements for whatever reason - injury, tired, unskilled, even snow and ice all over town. Particularly if you've cobbled together all that "specialized" equipment Merrill complains about.

Today I did a modified "Helen:"


Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters (I subbed 500M row for this run).
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

Time: 12:30. Thought it would be a waste to pick my way through ice and snow on slow-ass 400M runs, so goals were to keep rows under 2 mins, and go unbroken. Got both, but had to take a longish break before the last set of KBs, couldn't make myself pick the damn thing up. This was a killer on the posterior chain and biceps, though because the KB swings jack up my heart rate, it felt very similar to the standard Helen. 

For comparison, my PR on Helen is 8:34.

See? You're already having more fun than Merrill.

This is what I do

So it begins with a run I have done about 45 times in the five months I have lived in Mill Valley. It's 6.5 miles assuming Gmap is accurate (I didn't include on the map the two laps around the Tam High School track that is critical to this run but track running is a topic we will cover later). My Mendoza line for this run is sub 50 minutes. Not sure why except it's a solid looking number. Anything faster and I'm moving, slower and I'm clearly succumbing to the inexorable effects of aging. And it's all about confidence. The great Sam Fussell said if you don't think you can bench 350 pounds, you never will. Same with running - to feel confident you can run fast, you have to run fast. So everyday when I run, I try and convince myself I can run fast. On the same route. At the same time.I think my record is 48.22. OK - I know that for a fact but don't want to seem ridiculous

Clearly I was off today. 50.09. Of course it was too cold for me to see my watch under my mittens so I'll mulligan today's workout.

I can't quit you, Crossfit.

I love Crossfit. Since a mutual friend of ours introduced it to me in May of 2009, I've completed more than 700 WODs (workouts of the day), mostly in my garage gym from the mainsite Crossfit.com, with occasional forays into local Crossfit gyms and bouts of strength-focused training. All of this meticulously recorded via email and Google docs with a group of friends across the country.

Prior to that, I was an occasional runner with a few half marathons under my belt and a respectable 5K. I'd never figured out strength training outside of my senior year of college when I did the infamous chest/back/bi/shoulders/traps/tris circuit. And I was never interested in running more than 13 miles, mainly because I didn't have the true runner's desire to put in 30 mile weeks.

From those humble beginnings with an ugly 95# push jerk, and a 45# "Grace" in 4:20, while I'm so far from "elite," it's scary,  I am stronger than I've ever been in my life. By far. I won't preen yet. And then I was nudged towards Crossfit Endurance (CFE), and it's idea of Crossfit training mixed with mainly interval training and up-tempo and time trial runs that push you to the brink.

So intrigued, in fact, I wrote about it for Muscle & Performance: http://bit.ly/UsfMNA. (And yes, I will shamelessly plug my writing throughout this blog. You're welcome). Also with CFE, I PRd my own half marathon by 3:30 for 1:37:24 while hitting a sub-20 minute 5K and 2:35 time trial 800M. All while running significantly fewer than 40 miles in a month.

Anyway, I've been inspired to take up CFE again by some of the folks I profiled in my story, as well as a desire to run a bit more.

And to beat Merrill.

I just can't CrossFit

I have a love-hate relationship with CrossFit. I LOVE the randomness and unpredictability of the workouts based on basic exercises like pushups, squats and deadlifts, and the intensity and relative short duration of the WODs (love that acronym) that are perfect for ADD people like myself.

 I HATE the fact that many of the exercises like thrusters and muscle ups require a lot of coordination and flexibility, neither of which I possess, and that you buy lots of specialized equipment that you place in your spacious garage (which I don’t have) or get membership in a pricey gym. But mostly I hate the fact that CrossFit represents a threat or rebuttal to my 25+ year focus on essentially doing the same workouts over and over.

I believe that if I can run 6-8 miles four times a week at a certain pace, and bench, curl, press and squat an amount I consider studly, than I will be ultrafit. So I have done that for years and felt content. I can bench 200 ten times and have done marathons in under 3.30 minutes. And I’m 48 goddamn years old.

I am preening as I write. But CrossFit tells me my approach is wrong. I should be doing lots of random workouts to run faster marathons or to get stronger. And I have read the articles and the case studies and they do make a little sense. Shaking it up might be better for me but here’s the rub. I’m stubborn and am afraid to change what I have done for years. What if I get slower? What if I get hurt? What if I get fatter? I can’t let go of my rainman predictability so I take the position that I am right.

But how do I prove it? How about I destroy Mike in a half and full marathon?