Mediocre Runners

Are we cool here at MR?  Well of course not!  What about crossfit?  Is that cool?  Well don’t take our word for it, take a look at what a very popular celebrity thinks.  I know I voted for her, twice!

Well today’s WOD was Hanging Power Cleans 5-5-5-5-5, which means you do 5 sets of 5 reps at your max.  Usually you build up to your absolute max.  This was eerily similar to the WOD from July 20 where I started with 85# and did a complete set of 3 at 115#.  Today’s aim was to at least tie that if not beat it.  Now in my experience, 3 weeks isn’t a lot of time between workouts to notice a significant improvement but I was willing to give it a shot.  So today I started at 85# and went up by 10s (85-95-105-115).  The last set I decided to go for it, but in a mediocre fashion.  I got 120 up 3 times, so not enough for a complete set, however this would have been good for July 20.  Soooo, this is a round about way of saying I’m improving.  Granted in a mediocre fashion.

On Thursday I went back to try my failed WOD from Tuesday. I was originally going to do 4 rounds of of 800m run + 20 squats + 20 pushups, but decided to add some knees to almost elbows for some extra flavor.  I don’t remember my times exactly, but I think my best was 3:32 and worst was 3:37. I think I will call this WOD a “Tar-Tar.”

I’ve been taking it easy because of a nagging ankle pain. I went for a short run yesterday, but had to cut it even shorter. I’m taking today and tomorrow off to give it some more quality rest and ice team. But I really just want to get out there and run!

Truer words haven’t been said.  Today’s WOD was a tough one called 500 or “Filthy Fifty,” which involves:

• 50 Box jump (24″m, 20″w)
• 50 Jumping pull-ups
• 50 Kettlebell swings (35#m, 25#w)
• Walking Lunge, 50 steps
• 50 Knees to elbows
• 50 Push press (44#m, 33#w)
• 50 Back extensions
• 50 Wall ball shots (20#m 15#w)
• 50 Burpees (yay burpees!)
• 50 Double unders

I will say I’ve been sick the last few days.  So much so that I missed work on Thursday.  I haven’t worked out since Tuesday because of it.  So the Filthy Fifty was a perfect debut to bounce back, except I still feel like someone with the plague.  I knew it was going to be a long one going in, but I finished in just over 40 min.  I fought off pukey a couple times during the burpees (yay burpees!).  I had to sub high knee raises (note: I did not say scale) for double unders because I am mediocre and not coordinated enough yet.  I’ll get there.  All-in-all it sucked.  I really think I could have finished around the 35 min mark, but I’m sick.  And it was my first day back in 4 days.  And I was groggy from the nyquil.  And I haven’t been sleeping well.  And I haven’t been eating a lot or well.  Excuses are what makes us….mediocre!

Yesterday was a classic example of a mediocre WOD.  I walked over to the track with the intention of using my fly Nike Frees to do a great WOD:

4 rounds of 800m + 20 pushups + 20 squats. It was going to be a variation of 20090725’s WOD.  Alas, when I got to the track it was closed for renovations. So instead I went for a jog to test out the Frees.  After about .5 mile I came across a swing set and though “pullups.”  I jumped up, missed my grip, and fell on my ass. Hard. I did manage to bust out 5 mediocre pullups on the nearby monkey bars.  I did finish up with about a 1.5 mile run.

A few thoughts on the Frees. They still feel great. It took my a while to get a good stride going. Once I did, I could really feel my legs working, but in a good way. It feels different than normal shoes and my legs felt more tired than normal the next day. The best thing was that after a while, the pain from my shin splints faded away. I also woke up today with no pain from my shins. The Frees must be physical therapy or something.

Today’s WOD was pretty good. The local box was a little on the annoying side, but I did enjoy the WOD:

Deadlift: 5-5-5 – 135, 145, 165 (yay PR!)
For time: 50 Burpees – 3:01 (yay burpees!)

The burpees were actually awesome. I felt pretty damn good about that time and Pat says I need to apologize, because that time is actually decent, not mediocre. Sorry.

Tabata Hell that is.  Ok I did workout at Diesel on Monday and Tuesday.  Those WODs were great:

Deadlift 15 (#225-M, #165-W)
Ropeclimb 5
Deadlift 12
Ropeclimb 4
Deadlift 9
Ropeclimb 3
Deadlift 6
Ropeclimb 2
Deadlift 3
Ropeclimb 1

I deadlifted #170, scaled the rope climb, and finished in 17:45.

Tuesday’s WOD:

Push Press 3-3-3-3-3-3-3 reps. I had a first set of 85 and maxed out at 120 on the last set.  I did try and 8th set at 125 but could only get 1 out.  Ah well…next time right.  I’m not stud.  I know my place.

Ok for today’s WOD was Tabata Hell.  Tabata intervals are 8 rounds of 20 sec all out followed by 10 sec of rest.  The “all out” is what really gets you, esp around set 5-7.  Here’s how Tabata Hell played out (with the number of reps for each set listed after):

• Squats (rest at bottom): 19 20 20 19 19 18 18 18
• Push-ups (rest locked out at top for half of sets): 16 10 9 8 6 8 8 8
• Med Ball Cleans @ 18#: 11 12 11 11 11 11 11 12
• Sit-up: 18 16 16 16 15 14 15 16
• KB Swing @ 45#: 12 8 8 8 8 8 7 7

I couldn’t have been more dead at the end of this.  I will say my very first CF WOD at Diesel, in the beginning of May, was tabata squats where I did 15/17 (low/high), but I did not do active rest nor could I move after the 8th set.  CF must be doing something!  Ok, I think I’ll go lay down now.

A first for this mediocre runner: a WOD as RX’d.  I went to the track for this one, which was similar to Saturday’s.

4 Rounds for time:
Run 400m
40 Squats

I did it in about 13:45. My fist 400m was 1:37, then 1:50, then 1:52. I forgot to time the last one, but it must have been 2:00. Those squats really kicked my ass. Now it is time to ice my shin splints.

I didn’t have a chance to go to my local box to do a WOD today, so I adapted a workout from Gym Jones and scaled it to account for my mediocrity. (By the way, don’t tell Mark Twight that I used one of my workouts. He may punch me in the face while doing a Turkish get up).  The GJ workout calls for 8 rounds of 400m run + 25 pushups + 25 squats.  After warming up with a mile run @ 8:05, I scaled this workout to 400m run + 10 pushups + 10 squats and through in some pullups here and there for some flavor.  Here were my times:

1:38, 1:39, 1:38, 1:42, 1:39, 1:43, 1:39, 1:40

I was totally spent after this workout and even almost puked on the last run.  But boy did those endorphins come rushing in on my walk home.  Another thought: one of the nice things about these kinds of workouts is that you don’t need a local box or gym to perform them.  I just ran down to the local trail which has some monkey bars, measured 400m with runningahead.com, and did my workout.  Now the only problem is that my ankles and calves are killing me. I think I’ll go out and buy a foam roll tomorrow.

Ok, despite my blogging record, I have been working out.  Although I have not adhered to my schedule completely.  I will break it down for you.

Monday:

Today was a good day for lifting.  It’s been awhile since I’ve done some strength training, so hanging power cleans 3-3-3-3-3 was just what Coach ordered!  I did get a PR for the power clean, so CF is def working.  I suppose the true test will come when I can actually run.  My leg was a little sore today from swimming yesterday, so the warmup 3×100m was tough.

My cleans came in at 95-105-115-120×1-120×1-95.  I could only do 120 once (instead of the 3) and so to end the WOD I did an extra set at 95 just to keep my attitude positive.  See, us here at MR need all the help we can get.  So I threw up a mediocre 95 for the last set.  I felt good afterwards!

Tuesday:

Today I had a date with another woman.  Her name was Cinday and she pwned me.  For thos who don’t know, Cindy is as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

5 Pull-Ups
10 Push-Ups
15 Squats

I did this WOD by myself at 6:15am and was able to knock at 15 rounds.  Now I’m still nubs at pull-ups so I use the red assist band (I will have you know that the red band provides the least assistance).

Now I took Tuesday PM off and scrapped the CFE workout.  It’s ok.  Remember, I’m mediocre.

Thursday:

This WOD was a treat today.  I haven’t done many squats with weight so this was some challenge.  The WOD called for:

Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Front squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
(Try to increase load on each of the 15 sets.)

Here’s how I finished up:

OHS: 65-100 PR

BS: 85-165 PR

FS: 155-210 PR

You’ll notice that yeah, I PR’d in everything today!  When you’re mediocre, you tend to PR a lot because you have so much room to grow.  Stay frosty…

Fun WOD today!

5-5-5 Front squat: 75#

3x 500m row: 1:46, 1:55, 1:55

I’m still working on my squatting form and my wrist flexibility. But I think I’m getting it. I also worked on getting my stroke count down on the row. For my 1:46 time I was at 40 strokes/minute.  I’m trying to do fewer but more powerful strokes to keep up the pace.