The Open 12.5

12.5, the last Open wod

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

3 Barbell Thrusters
3 Chest to bar Pull-ups
6 Barbell Thrusters
6 Chest to bar Pull-ups
9 Barbell Thrusters
9 Chest to bar Pull-ups
12 Barbell Thrusters
12 Chest to bar Pull-ups
15 Barbell Thrusters
15 Chest to bar Pull-ups
18 Barbell Thrusters
18 Chest to bar Pull-ups
21 Barbell Thrusters
21 Chest to bar Pull-ups...
This is a timed workout. If you complete the round of 21, go on to 24. If you complete 24, go on to 27, etc.

Thrusters Rxd: women 65#/men 100# 

This was a repeated wod from 2011 Open 11.6, last year I got a score of 83, this year was 94 (which means that I completed the round of 15s and got 4 thrusters into the 18 round.

My thrusters have improved tremendously this year. You can see in the video I am trying to keep up with Corey's pace. He ended up with a score of 106. 

The Open 12.4

12.4

12 min AMRAP

150 Wall Balls (14# to 9' target)

90 Double unders

30 Muscle ups

score: 243

no, I didn't hurt my shoulder, watch the end to see what I mean

150 Wall balls done in about 7:30 mins which was better than expected

90 Double unders was harder than I thought it would be due to my quads being worked from WBS

Wish I'd had more time for the muscle ups since I generally like them, was really pushing for a fourth one to beat the clock

Vibram 5 Fingers

After the busy summer of work at NCOBS I am hoping to get on here more frequently and post thoughts. I just got back from a short vacation at the beach this past weekend. It was wonderful spending time doing...not doing actually. In the last 10 years I don't think I have been to the beach on vacation and it was definately needed and worth the drive to get to Wrightsville Beach. Glenn and I spent the weekend relaxing with an old friend, Bryan, who was visiting from Hawaii. Like I said we didn't do much of anything, we had no agenda but to relax. I was proud of myself for not cracking into my school books (which I foolishly brought with me) and studying. Okay so knowing me you may know that I couldn't do nothing completely, truth be told.

We swam in the ocean both days, even on sunday when it was overcast and 70 with biting wind. It was so refreshing to be in the ocean. It makes me feel so alive and at the same time so small and insignificant. I also got a great run in on the beach to the south point of Wrightsville Beach overlooking Masonboro Inlet, which brings me to the title of this post: Vibram 5 Fingers. I have been using a pair of Vibram Classics all summer for walking around and to do crossfit and they have been great. My goal was to actually run a distance of more than 1 mile in them but the classics just feel too flimsy for me. About a month ago I became the owner of a pair of Vibram Treksports, which have more padding and a outsole built for traction. I thought a run at the beach would be the best way to test them out and get some distance in them. I ran (as fast as I could on sand) about 4 miles in them on the beach and THEY WERE AMAZING. I love the feel of being barefoot on the beach but sometimes the shells and broken pieces can rip up your feet. The Treksports were perfect - it felt like I was barefoot but I had protection against broken shells on the beach. At the south end of Wrightsville Beach there are a lot of shells and broken jagged pieces - I was able to just run right over them no problem. Toward the end of the run the balls of my feet did begin to feel a bit bruised from running on the hard sand (the strip that is wet and begins to dry out closest to the waves). I ended the last mile or so higher up on the beach in the dry sand where my foot sank a lot more and received less impact. Another thing that makes them great for beach running specifically is that when my feet got wet from waves crashing into the beach they are light weight enough not to absorb and hold water like a pair of running shoes - so I had not problem running with them wet! My ankles were a bit sore so I stretched well and massaged the balls of my feet and had no pain or issues the next day - not bad for weening my body off of overly padded running shoes all these years! I don't think that I will ever be able to run on pavement for more than 1 or 2 miles though with them. As long as I can sprint in them on pavement at crossfit and do longer distances on trails I am happy!

Also pose running technique rocks too by the way! That's another reason I think my transition into "barefoot" sprinting and running has gone so well. Thanks to the coaches at CFA for that. Perhaps a later post on this technique because it has really helped me with not having joint pain after running.

Disclaimer- When the 5 fingers first came out I was skeptical and wrote them off as another footwear fad. I thought they were the dorkiest things ever and they are really dorky looking I don't deny that. I tried them on about a year ago and DID NOT like them at all - they felt bad and my feet felt too sensitive in them. I went back to try them on again after about 6 months of running in some Onitsuka Tiger track shoes, which have very little padding compared to modern day running shoes, and they felt so much better. I decided to give them a try and I love them. I am lucky for the time being, because my workplace is casual enough that I can wear my classics at work and now I mostly use the Treksports for crossfit and running (now!). I think that the 6 month period with less padded shoes made my feet, ankles and legs stronger so that I can wear the 5 fingers now and not feel "sensitive". My transition into them has taken a little while and that's what my body was telling me to do. I also have friends who got a pair and took them out of the box and started running on them - listen to your body if you decide to try them out. Not sure whether I will be able to wear them into the fall and winter, probably not entirely, but I'll try!

Crossfit Endurance

So yesterday I started my foray into Crossfit Endurance WODs. First let me say that I am very impressed with the website and how helpful it is.
http://www.crossfitendurance.com/
CFE recommends that you crossfit 4-6 times per week with 2-3 CFE sport specific WODs (for a single sport athlete). Generally it seems as though they also recommend 3 days on and 1 day off rotation. So I am going to try to do this. Since late December I have been crossfitting with my affiliate WODs (Crossfit Asheville!) 3 times per week, with various other exercise the rest of the week (paddling, hiking, running - see my post from yesterday about running- a handful of 5ks, 10k and 12k but nothing routine). I feel like with the Shut - In Ridge Trail run I have a goal on the horizon so I am going to try and crossfit 4x per week and do 2-3 CFE run specific WODs in preparation. I also need to find a good race to do late summer/early fall.

So back to yesterday - I crossfitted in the morning with CFA and then in evening did a CFE WOD that was called a 4 2 1 interval. It was a great workout but my legs felt like jello afterwards, which I think is the point. I was not running on a track so had no way to keep track of my distance, next time I may use a treadmill or go to the UNCA track.

4 2 1 Intervals:

On 4 mins, off 3 mins

On 2 mins, off 30 secs

On 1 min, off 3 mins

On 2 mins, off 30 secs

On 4 mins, DONE

Today I crossfitted at home with the strength and conditioning WOD posted on the CFE website - it was awesome! Plus all I needed at home was a kettlebell and a yoga mat.

At the top of every minute for 15 minutes complete the following until failure to complete it within the minute:

4 clapping push ups (not sure if I did these right)

8 KB swings (I only have a 20 lbs KB at home and have graduated to the 35 lb at CFA, so instead I did single arm swings 4 on each arm).

12 air squats

I got in my 15 minutes and was at about 43 secs each minute to complete the above.

Tomorrow, friday morning I crossfit with CFA and it will be my first time doing 3 on so we'll see how it goes!

Becoming a sprinter?

Since starting Crossfit last October I have reduced the time I spend running in both the frequency and in duration. I have always thought of myself as a runner, never a sprinter. First let me define "running" in my terms - Running for several consecutive miles at a time. By running, however, I really was really jogging - based on the definition put forth by my coaches at CFA (see below).
This simple understanding of jogging (I lump running into this) versus sprinting, versus walking has totally changed my outlook on fitness and exercise physiology.

And here is why:

CFA's definition of Jogging -
Let me clarify Jogging.  This is the act of repeatedly running consecutive distances of 2 or more miles at a pace slower than 8 minutes/mile. 


Coach Corey also adds that -
If you aren’t running that fast (8 min pace or faster) you should speed up and shorten your distance.


Just to clarify a couple more definitions - 


CFA's definition of walking-
Walking was meant to carry us for incredible distances by using very little energy.  The mechanics and loading mechanism shows just this.  Using muscles are TAXING to our metabolism and thus walking uses very little of them.  It instead places the forces on our bones, ligaments, and cartilage.  Because walking is a relatively slow cadence and there is little vertical movement the tissues handle it easily and without issue. 


CFA's definition of sprinting -
Sprinting is meant to carry us short distances extremely quickly by using a great deal of energy.  Sprinting uses every muscle in our body to its fullest potential and is burns a great deal of energy.  In doing so it saves our joints and bones by loading the muscles in a shock absorbing manner because otherwise the bones and joints would break down beyond repair.  Thus, sprinting and walking look entirely different and should be used for different purposes.


CFA's take on jogging (what I used to call running) and why it is actually bad for you:
The problem with Jogging is that people often speed up their walk instead of slowing down their sprint to move greater distances.  Elite 100m sprinters and elite marathoners look nearly identical in their mechanics.  Hell, elite marathoners are essentially sprinting for 26.2 miles; running faster for the first mile than most can for only one.  Speeding up the walk leads to the two issues that make jogging terrible.  It increases injury rates by increasing a load on a movement not meant to handle that load.  Walking does not spare joints but is safe at low loads.  Jogging is not low load.   It also does not burn energy at a greater rate than walking and not NEARLY as much as sprinting.  By hardly loading the muscles, jogging does not increase energy burn from walking by an appreciable rate compared to sprinting.  This means, you don’t “get into shape” any faster than walking for the same distance.


This problem of jogging is similar to what blogger Mark Sisson calls chronic cardio. Chronic cardio is the trap that many people fall into. We think that if we run for 1 hour we will be getting a good workout in. And if we go longer then all the better because we think we are burning more calories and fat, which must mean we are getting more fit, right?. But that's not what happens. What happens is that we run for 1 hour 5-6 days a week and we start to suffer from musclo-skeletal injuries (knee, ankle, shin and foot pain). This ultimately gets us nothing but frustration and misery. Not to mention that we have not improved our running pace or overall fitness by much. Has this happened to anyone out there???

How can we get out of this chronic cardio trap? What Crossfit Asheville has allowed me to realize is that by using sprinting intervals we can increase our fitness and prepare ourselves to run that 5k or 10k or 20 miler more so than continuing to do chronic cardio. How is this possible? Physiologically sprinting trains both our aerobic and anaerobic capacity, which will translate into better performance in your next race or first race.


Since starting Crossfit and incorporating sprinting and tabata intervals I have run my fastest mile, sub-7 and my fastest 5k and 10k and I have stopped running long distances for training entirely. I have experienced no pain in my feet or knees during or after those races. (The pose running technique which the CFA coaches teach is also responsible for some of this - it helps to reduce impact on joints and tissue.) My goal will be to take this training and apply it to an endurance event as a grand experiment into fitness and exercise science. My goal is to finish the Shut -In Ridge trail race (18 miles) with a decent time and to feel strong and great during and after. I have run this distance before on trail with a similar amount of elevation gain and loss but I felt like crap for days afterwards. Coach Corey has told me to check out Crossfit Endurance, which is a type of crossfit in which the WODs are focused specifically for the endurance athlete. We will see how my training goes - I hope to post updates here - the race is not until November so in the meantime I will keep up my Crossfit Asheville workouts and start to slowly incorporate some of the Crossfit Endurance WODs. Wish me luck!

Circadian Rhythm

Anyone feeling a bit off this week? Several people over the last few days have mentioned to me that the time change throws them off each year. I too have experienced this feeling before and wanted to explore some of the reasons why this is. The time change this year came on a saturday night, which means that we 'sprang' forward by one hour. So our bodies woke up feeling like it was 9am on sunday morning but instead on the clock (if you remembered to set it forward) it was 10am. This change was most apparent to my body on this past monday morning when I woke up to go to Crossfit for the 7am class, which has been my routine 3 days a week since December. In the heart of winter, it was dark at 6:30am, which is the time I am getting up and out the door to get to class.  A few weeks before the time change it had started getting light at about 6:30am, the light of each day slowly starting earlier and lasting longer. After the time change this past weekend, it was a bit of jolt to me that after a few weeks of light at 6:30am it is now dark again. How does this change affect our bodies, minds, mental and emotional status?

Just yesterday I was telling my roommate how bad the drivers in Asheville are, IMO. That comment was after I was narrowly missed by a car while I was walking down my street. My roommate is taking a psychology class this semester and said she learned recently that there are more driving accidents following daylight savings time changes. What is that about?

I have heard of circadian rhythm before but wanted to know more in an attempt to explain why we experience the sense of feeling off after day light saving. After some brief research on the internet this is what I came up with. A circadian rhythm is a 24 hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological or behavioral processes of all living things (animals, humans, plants, and even fungi and bacteria). Circadian is derived from the Latin circa meaning around and diem meaning day. While circadian rhythms are inherent to all living things they are also influenced by external cues like daylight. Subterranean animals and organisms for instance do not experience the external cue of daylight and their circadian rhythms are called freerunning because it is based mostly on internal processes like temperature and digestion.

The biological clock in humans is considered to be located within cells in the hypothalamus in the brain. The retina takes in light and the hypothalamus interprets the light and secretes the hormone melatonin in response to it. The secretion of melatonin peaks during the night and ebbs during the day.  Presence of melatonin, either high or low, gives the body information about the length of the night and day. This reaction determines our physiology and our behavior. Another biological marker of the human circadian rhythm is core body temperature, which reaches it highest point at about 5pm.

Overview of biological circadian clock in humans.
Biological clock affects the daily rhythm of many physiological processes. This diagram depicts the circadian patterns typical of someone who rises early in morning, eats lunch around noon, and sleeps at night (10 p.m.). Although circadian rhythms tend to be synchronized with cycles of light and dark, other factors - such as ambient temperature, meal times, stress and exercise - can influence the timing as well.

Studies show that both the amount and quality of the light the retina takes in can affect whether the circadian rhythm is triggered. In fact for the circadian rhythm to be trigger it takes more illumination of light than is found in typical household lighting.

"According to a 2010 study completed by the Lighting Research Center, daylight has a direct effect on circadian rhythms and, consequently, on performance and well-being. The research showed that students who experience disruption in lighting schemes in the morning consequently experience disruption in sleeping patterns. The change in sleeping patterns may lead to negatively impacted student performance and alertness. "

This strongly suggests that the 'off' feeling that many of us experience after the daylight savings time change is based in our biochemistry and physiology. It's not just us imagining something is off, it really is off. Maybe this is why there are more car accidents after the time change - our sleep, coordination, alertness and overall performance is negatively impacted when our circadian rhythms are changed.

Short term disruption in the circadian rhythm can have slight negative impacts, jet lag that travelers experience is an example of this. Typically this is overcome in a few days as people's circadian ryhthm gets re-set. However long term disruption of the circadian rhythm can have negative health consequences and there are several disorders associated with this. (SAD - seasonal affective disorder, sleep disorders like insomnia, and bipolar disorder). This disruption can even have adverse affects on organs other than the brain like the heart.

Perhaps this explains why I felt like I was dragging a bit on monday in Crossfit. We were gifted with the workout Fran bright and early monday morning at 7am. That was my first time doing Fran and after hearing all the stories of how people dread it so much I didn't think it was so bad although it was difficult. Okay I won't blame my monday performance with Fran all on the circadian rhythm thing - I know that I could do it better next time if I just try harder.

I hope you all get your circadians re-set and look forward to springing into spring!

The Everglades

I spent last week in the Florida Everglades to attend a program planning retreat for NC Outward Bound School. We got a lot of good work done and all 10 of us whom attended now have long to-do lists of action items to follow-up on. While the purpose of the week was to work in a team and address program needs for this season and long term, we did take some time to get outside and play.

We went on a swamp hike, which was a first for me. I had no idea what to expect, however, found my self surprised that we ended up being off-trail the entire time. Well our objective was to begin off-trail and then find a "boardwalk" in the swamp which would take us back to the van. We were out there for  about 4 hours and we never found the boardwalk. Some highlights: finding the Apple Snail shells and bromyliads, and swimming with alligators. That's right swimming with alligators - because we could not find the boardwalk, we had to swim the canal to get out of the swamp and back to the van.

Enter the swamp hike

The Outward Bound base in the Everglades

As I was gone for a week I missed my Crossfit classes, I decided to attempt some workouts on my own while I was in the Everglades. I ended up getting 2 workouts in. The first was brutal - not so much because of the workout but because of the mosquitos and no-seeums that chowed on me for the 10 minutes while I was outside doing the workout. I did have a great view though overlooking the dock and river during sunset at the Outward Bound basecamp where the retreat was held. The second workout, early one morning went much better - the morning temperatures were cool enough to make the bugs scare. For these workouts I brought a jump rope with me and 1 kettlebell - it worked well, however, it was hard to motivate and time myself. I missed my fellow Crossfitters from the 7am class at CFA. Looking forward to getting back to it!

Heartstrings 2010

This weekend I participated in an fund-raising event called Heartstrings. Money that gets raised goes to fund Project Access of the Buncombe County Medical Society Foundation. Specifically Project Access is a "physican-led, organized charity care system founded in Buncombe County. It is a dynamic partnership of physicians, community clinics, the local hospital, and pharmacies. Since it's inception in 1996, Project Access has helped to lower Emergency Room utilization and significantly increased the number of Buncombe County residents with access to primary care or specialty services."

Some Numbers:

Approximately 85 percent of practicing physicians in Buncombe County volunteer their time through Project Access.

Over $9 million in services are donated every year to help low-income uninsured patients recieve the care they need.

The Heartstrings event, an annual fundraiser, yesterday reached it goal to raise $14,000 for Project Access!

Thank you friends and family for your donation to this compassionate cause which helps my fellow residents of Buncombe County!

The Event:

In the past Heartstrings has traditionally been a bike riding fundraiser, however this year they decided to change it up a bit. Crossfit Asheville became a sponsor and they ran the event with a Crossfit workout. To gain public support and awareness this was held at the Asheville Mall with lots of people participating and watching. No prior knowledge or experience with Crossfit was necessary to participate - just willingness to raise funds and exercise.

The workout:

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of 75 single jump ropes and 10 burpees.

There were some alternative options for those that either needed less challenge or more challenge - for the off the couch folks it was 25 single jump ropes and 5 burpees and for the athletic aces it was 25 double under jump ropes and 10 burpees.

During the workout we had bumping music and lots of cheering from the crowd which was very inspiring. I got 7 rounds and was only 5 burpees short of having 8 rounds! We did the workout in small teams of about 10 people. The coaches from Crossfit Asheville were there all day to run and support the workouts.

It was a very fun and inspiring way to use Crossfit as a way to support something larger than just myself. As a way to uplift myself and participate in a healthy lifestyle which in turn uplifts the quality of life for others through Project Access. As you may read in other posts, Crossfit is awesome! I have been doing it 3 days a week and feel great. There are Crossfit affiliate gyms across the country - check it out if you are looking for a community of inspiring people who are getting/staying in shape.

Thanks again for the support!


Getting my jump rope on!


A burpee is a combination of a pushup and a jumping jack


Amanda and I working the burpees


The jumping jack at the end of a burpee

Crossfit Rocks My World!

Let me first define what I mean by 'rocks my world'. First off when something rocks my world it creates a paradigm shift in my life, it makes me see the world in a whole new light, it changes my perspective, it invigorates me and in essence it means that it fills me up and lifts me up!

Things in my life that I would define as rocking my proverbial world (for some context):
Rock climbing
Outward Bound
TIOBEC diversity training (for Outward Bounders you may know what I mean by this)
Travel
Love
Paddling
and now Crossfit

Crossfit, much like climbing, is the physical manifestation of elevate - definition - verb. to increase the amplitude, intensity, or volume of. The end of January marks only 3 months that I have been doing crossfit and I am sold. In a short period of time Crossfit has made me run faster, lift more, pull more, and push more. When I first started I never thought I could do as much as I have already. When you first learned how to do a thruster do you ever think you would be able to do 100 in a WOD? Whether you are a naturally gifted with athletics or not, crossfit can give you an extra edge over anything you want to accomplish - be that a physical or mental pursuit. Also similiar to climbing, crossfit for me tests both my physical and mental fitness. If you don't think you can pull a climbing move and tell yourself that you can't do it, chances are you won't be able to - the opposite mental thinking will more likely result in your success - if you believe that you can do something you are more mentally fit to accomplish it physically. The same I think has been true in crossfit - when I have not limited myself with negative self talk I can more often physically do what I set my mind to. This opportunity for both physical and mental fitness training is what I love about crossfit and how it parallels in that regard with climbing.

Arno Ilgner who developed the Rock Warriors Way a mental fitness training program for climber's believes that "The conscious mind is the primary agent active in the preparation phase. It lays the groundwork to allow the subconscious mind to effectively guide action later, when you're actually in action, when there's little time for thought. In the preparation phase, ideas and concepts are the important elements. You will ' clean house' in your brain, assess, and plan. You'll learn to avoid traps such as wishing behavior. You will train to focus not on how difficult the climbing is, but rather on what possibilities are open to you. You also will prepare the conscious mind to stay out of the way once you're in the heat of action."

The first 3 tenets of the Rock Warriors way apply to crossfit:

1) Our performance is greatly affected by the subconscious, hidden parts of our mind.

2) Improved performance occurs through a process that is fundamentally one of growth, which, in the mental sphere, we also call learning. You learn best by focusing your attention on the situation, in an attitude of problem solving.

and

3) Motivation is a key ingredient in performance, and the quality of that motivation, not just its quantity, matters. Performance is improved by moving away from fear-based motivation and toward love-based motivation.

One specific way that crossfit has shifted my perspective is on how important short periods of intense and explosive workouts actually make you more fit. When I say short I mean short - some work outs are as short as 5 minutes, when I say intense I mean intense - you are giving it all you have in each moment. I used to think that longer is better - the longer the run, the longer you workout etc. Crossfit has shown me that constantly varied workouts that are short and intense are really beneficial to overall fitness. One of the things that initially lead me to try crossfit was that it focuses on 10 aspects of fitness: cardiovascular endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, speed, agility, balance, and accuracy. By training each of these 10 areas you will be able to perform any task better and you will even be able to perform well at unfamiliar tasks. Even though I have only been at this for 3 months - it really is true. I recently ran a 10k that I did not really train for, my main source of activity in the months leading up to it was crossfit workouts. I surprised myself with my performance and beat my goal I set for myself by 9 minutes! I am sure that this was not a random event.

In summary - Crossfit rocks my world - it's awesome! My favorite exercises so far: pull-ups, deadlifts, thrusters, and KB swings. So far I am most challenged by power cleans, snatches, and handstands (not to mention the many crossfit exercises I haven't done yet) Thanks so much to the coaches and members at Crossfit Asheville, you all are very inspiring and uplifting!

Reading:
Check out the CF Asheville link and associated links
Arno Ilgner's book: The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers