I've been training regularly since my last post but haven't been logging much here. The past two days have been pretty fun. I plan to keep this updated now with two major events coming up. 1) GoRuck Heavy in Chicago this May; 2) TC Marathon in October. We had a brutal winter in Minneapolis this year that left me training many times at the gym in the skyway near where I work. I generally prefer to workout outside when I can -- not being able to walk outside without frozen eyebrows has been depressing. For the past while I have followed this routine:
1) Warmup
-- Arm swings, leg swings, lunges, torso twists, etc
2) Strength
-- Large movements i.e. squats, deadlifts, press, push press, cleans, snatch
-- Low-ish reps i.e. 3x5 or EMOM 2 reps for 10 min.
3) Metcon involving gymnastics
-- Focus on burpees, pushups, and jumping
4) Bust ass
-- Tabata sprints, stair stepper, rowing sprints, something to end on at full speed
5) Cooldown
I've been diggin this so far but I need to get more in shape for these contests coming up. I recently did a cleanse for 5 days that involved eating very little and drinking a lot of water (formally: neera cleanse). I felt awesome after the 5 days and was very focused and "in the zone." Coming off the fast, however, I learned some things. Tiltrate onto the diet, ease off the diet. I went from eating regularly to not eating cold turkey, which was managable but not advisable. THEN going from not eating to eating regularly i.e. back to regular protein and fat quantities was frankly stupid. Next time I do this cleanse I will have my "on/off ramps" detailed and follow them just as strictly as I follow the cleanse.
Other things I noticed: increased sensory perception i.e. clearer thoughts, brighter colors, more in-tune with nuances of music (no I was not taking acid), less stress in general i.e. more calm and able to stay focused on tasks, peeing much more often (always pale-colored... the "detox" portion of the cleanse was most evident in how much I was peeing, sorry if TMI), in general I would say my cells were communicating much more efficiently/effectively as a result of not being bogged down with having to digest.
The past few days I've had some good workouts.
Saturday
5 RFT
10 KBS - 2pd
5 TGU - 1.5pd
10 KBS
10 TGU (other side)
Run 600m
Time: ~30 min
Monday
EMOM back squats
255 x 3 x 10 min
Tabata sprints
15% ele, 7 mph
Daily report:
- Mind: Tired. Not feeling 100% but getting there.
- Body: Legs very sore after squat session. Not much soreness otherwise. Need to be mindful of water intake (I don't think I'm getting enough at the moment)
- Spirit: Reading Black Swan right now. Fantastic read... reminds me a bit of Freakonomics but more dark and the implications are applicable to what's happening in the world right now.
- M/F/S: 4/5/5 (reminder: m/f/s = mood/fatigue/soreness; less is better e.g. 1/1/1 = happy/awake/ready to rumble vs 10/10/10 = pissed off/exhausted/can barely move)
Working on a website to document movies and stories I find about fitness. There I will enclose a link to this blog. www.dfbfitness.com
Playing with the idea of tweeting everything I eat. This morning I had an omlette and (gasp) hashbrowns. I will be eating strictly paleo the rest of the week and will document pictures here.
On the horizon:
Clean up the diet
Be mindful of recovery i.e. to bed like a farmer not a bartender
Up the endurance training (long runs throughout week, eventually adding a pack.)
Attend regular crossfit classes in AM instead of being a little bitch and doing it after work
Stay foolish; stay hungry
