Just Go

This girl's amazing.

Long Skate

Swedetown 14F, breezy, LF mid-temp mixed with cold wax.

I had to be talked into it, but I finally got my act together, skis waxed and out to Swedetown by noon. After missing so much time, I'm not too sure this is going to work out.  On top of that, Kirsten has developed a shoulder problem; the PT says no upper body work for a month.  So that tears it, right?

Kirsten is gamely soldiering on, so today we did the Greenstone loop and the three Bears. The back of the Bears is a long, steady climb.  Kirsten is skating without much assistance from the poles.  Two things surprise me.  Kirsten without poles is a better, faster skier than she was with poles.  She is also faster and fitter than me.  With poles.

The long uphill slog about did me in. I could only manage short runs before stopping.  Kirsten waited for me, ever the patient soul.  There was more.  Though I was spared a visit from the Gingerbread Man, I did hear him in the distance.  I'm afraid my digestion hasn't been the same since we had the bad soup.  Perhaps nutrition isn't able to do it's job.

Anyway, there's still a month of training left.  Gym and skiing, we'll see how things work out.

Shootim

Trainer Susan demonstrating secret Shootim skills.

With the temperature dropping, we kept it short.  Grooming, lunging and showmanship skills for Shootim.  Sarah had an even shorter day.  I had the able grooming assistant of Kirsten and training from Susan and Kirsten.  Susan showed me some tricks that Shootim already knows.  He knows how to work on a loose line, cueing off of your body.  He even squares himself up when you stand just so.  

In case you don't know, showmanship is like showing at halter.  The handler is on the ground leading the horse on a short line.  In a show the handler is judged by how well they show the horse.  In actual halter classes, the horse is judged.

I tried Susan's secrets with some success.  Then I worked his off side. He doesn't know that at all well.  It freaked him out a little.  I came back to the side that he's used to to finish up on a positive note.  Kirsten wanted to show me how she had been working showmanship with him, but by then his brain was fried.  She found a successful place to stop and we put him up.  

Tomorrow we'll go back and I'll work him the way Susan showed me.  That's a good thing, because it looks to be cold then too.

Back At The Gym

The new gym.  Coach Jared is in the middle. Really, that's him.

I've been away for quite a while.  First was the cold, then busy with work to catch up. So I was fine with just one workout this week, and took it easy at that.  It was also my first time at the new CF906.  Wow, it looks stupendous.  Very well equipped, too, with some new additions.  

WOD

3 rounds

• 500m Row
• 2 x 15' Rope Climbs
• 10 x TTB
• 15 Wall Balls 20/14
• 20 Hip Extensions

CW:  I DNF'd at about 15 minutes after 2 rounds.  I felt that was enough for my first time back.  Other scalings: 10' rope climbs, 12# wall ball, 10 hip extensions.  I think I was the only one In my group not to sub any movements.  Ooh, I'm all proud.

The King And Queen Of Recovery

Kirsten and Sarah.  Susan is in the background.

Today it was 16F. Not only that, but we both felt pretty snoozy all morning.  I thought it was just me, but Kirsten felt the same, too.  We decided to take the day off.

Shootim

At this temperature, the footing had frozen hard.   Not as greasy as before, but still no riding today.  I lunged Shootim and did a little showmanship.

That's all for today, We're taking it easy.  I'm looking forward to being rested up to work out at the new gym at CrossFit 906.  I've missed all the moving, but I'm excited nonetheless to see the new place.

The Beginning Of The End And The End Of The Beginning

Here's all I've got.  I'll get you more pictures tomorrow.

I've been out for the last 2 weeks with a cold.  Coach Kirsten recommended not doing an interval workout this time, since I've had no CrossFit or ski workouts for a while.  

A bit of a ski

Swedetown 20F, 70%RH, warm HF wax with structure.

4.6km

25:37

5:35/km

Overnight was a bit of a thaw, then temperatures dropped throughout the day.  Icy conditions made for really fast snow.  The yellow wax seemed to work.  Fortunately the trails were dragged this morning, so it wasn't glazed ice.  First we skied Len's loop, which is in the beginning section of the Bear Chase.  Then we skied Ed's loop, which marks the start of the last section.

The objective today was to skate as slow as possible.  We still moved pretty quickly; Snow/wax trumps all.  I went as slow as I could up the hills, but was still pretty wiped out at the top of big hills.  

Maybe it was just due to recovering from being sick.  I fear that it is just that I'm too out of shape to do this.  Only time and effort will tell.

Shootim

The footing was much improved today, the indoor arena is finally beginning to dry out.  After lunging and brushing, Shootim went driving with something new, a cavesson.  He has been opening his mouth and getting his tongue over the bit, not to mention grabbing the lines in his teeth.  He was not happy and did a little protesting.  We will see how he settles down once he gets used to the idea.  I hope to ride tomorrow.

Powderhouse, I'll Say!

Picture pause.  Not just the usual exhaustion pause.

Long Skate

Swedetown, 10F, calm.  Rolled, then snowed on. Low temperature wax.

This time we skied on the last of the loops missing from our training collection, Len's loop, Powderhouse and the Pine loop. Swedetown operates Pine loop in a clockwise direction.  The Bearchase comes off of Powderhouse onto the back of Pine and goes counterclockwise.  It was a light traffic day, so we went the wrong direction.  After returning to the Powderhouse turnoff, a special Bearchase trail leads one right onto the Greenstone loop.  Instead of doing the rest of Powderhouse we found our way back to the chalet by means of the Valley trail.

I expected the snow conditions to be like yesterday, cold and hard packed or else rolled. Instead we had light, fresh powder to ski through, up to a foot deep.  It was all from today, they had already rolled the trails in the morning.  It was funny to watch - boots plowing through the snow with no skis apparent.

Technique underwent a re-think.  Lifting the skis required extra effort.  Sometimes I could leave a fairly straight ski just plowing through under the snow, shifting my weight over without lifting the ski. anything to be learned there?  Hmm.

With the balance shifting as the snow compressed underneath, I had to keep on the balls of my feet more, not standing solidly in any one place.  That may prove useful under normal conditions as well.

Yes, we were very slow.  Although the powder was fun, it was more work. We stopped a lot.  Kirsten says her hip flexors are worn out.  Powderhouse has a lot of hills, so slow and more stopping.  Kirsten figures that if we can conquer Powderhouse, we can conquer the Bearchase.

Nutrition:

Some big news on the race nutrition front.  We tried a supplement that I've been wondering about.  It's called 3FU3L. Designed to fuel workouts and recovery, it has grass-fed whey protein, coconut fat and resistant carbs.  The carbs are a slow release kind of thing, so a serving should last a while.  We hope to use it as our race fuel.  At $60 per bag it's pricey, so we're only going to use it for race fuel.  

Today was our first trial.  I bought chocolate.  One serving is 2 scoops and 24oz of water.  I chugged that before we got ready to go, so about 30 minutes before.  Kirsten had half a serving.  It was yummy, like a cocoa with coconut milk.  An hour before that we had chicken soup.  Eventually I hope to try it in lieu of some or all of breakfast.

So, did we have energy the whole time?  I still get pooped at the top of every climb, either stopping or skiing weakly on for a while.  I think that's actually more about my conditioning.  The thing is, I always came back after a break and I was never hungry. Kirsten never noticed feeling hungry, thirsty or tired, except for the hills.  Yeah, that's it, me too.  Everything except peak efforts.

Best of all, neither of us felt any tummy upsets.  This may work!  It would be much better than sugary gels or sports drinks.  Solid foods would be problematic as well.  We'll just take on water if we need it. We'll keep trying it on our long efforts.

The Data:

• 7.3km
• 1:01:10
• average 8:23/km

Where Have You Been, Charlie Boy, Charlie Boy?

December 26th through January 10th.

With no computer on my holiday, it's been a while since I made any entries.  On our way downstate we worked out at CF906.  

CF906 and the beginning of our Christmas holiday.

December 26th - Deck the Halls WOD:

2 person teams, each with a deck of cards.AMCAP (As many cards as possible) in 30 minutes:

• Spades: Butterfly Abmat Sit-ups
• Hearts: Wall Climbs
• Clubs: Medicine Ball Cleans 20#/14#
• Diamonds: Box Jumps 24/20″
• Jokers: Both partners row 500 meters
• Aces 11 Burpees

*post number of cards and number of jokers in 30 min.

We had a good time suffering together.  the wall climbs were the hardest part of that, especially with Kirsten's shoulder bugging her.  Naturally the new pack of cards that we borrowed showed us all the hearts.  Kirsten thinks we got 30 cards + both jokers

 

After a nice visit with Kirsten's dad, we travelled to my Mom's in Mount Pleasant.

Angels doing kettle bell workouts.

 

The very next day we got the sad news that Kirsten's dad passed away.  On the 29th I went to my Mom's gym, CrossFit Worthy.  Kirsten was not yet wanting to go.

 

Jeremy at CrossFit Worthy tries out the Magic Elf Hat.

December 29th

Coach Jeremy led me through a workout that took me a couple of hours.  Later I watched a class of veteran's do the same workout in an hour.

Warm-up

3x

• 3 Goblet Squats W/ Blue Band
• 3/3/3 Snatch Press W/ PVC
• 6 Steps Overhead Duck Walk

Then with an empty bar:

• 5 Snatch Pull
• 5 Dude Pull
• 5 Hang Muscle Snatch
• 5 Snatch Balance
• 5 Snatch

Weightlifting

A): Snatch (Heavy Single; 3×1 @ 80%; E2:00)

B): Back Squat (5×3; @ 85%; E:150)

MetconC): Metcon (Weight)

Alternating EMOM x 10:00

• Odds: 5-8 Box Jumps 24/20
• Evens: 5-8 Overhead Squat 135/95

January 2nd

I went back and fit into a class this time. Mom came too.  Susie had a special program for her.

Warm-up

3X

• 5 Goblet Squats
• 5 Barbell Jump Squats
• 3 Seated Box Jumps

Think *Explosive!*

Weightlifting

A): Back Squat (Work up to 2rm; 15:00)

B): Weighted Dips (75×5, 85×3, 95×1+; 1:45 rest )

MetconMetcon (Weight)

Alternating EMOM x 10:00

• 5 Burpees
• 6 Power Snatch 135/95#

 

Mom and coach Susie.

The following day was our trip back north. We stopped at CF Worthy to limber up before the drive.  Jeremy did some excellent work on Kirsten's shoulder.  We continue to use the stuff that he showed us.   Although this stuff really helps, Kirsten now feels that a trip to the doc is in order.

Kirsten working out her shoulder stuff.

 

January 5th

Back home and back to work.  This Monday was a rest day, so I did Sunday's workout.

Back at CF906 this week.

WOD:“Diane”

21-15-9

• Deadlifts 225/155#
• Handstand push-ups (*sub shoulder press)

Having not done any pulling, I switched out ring rows for the push-ups.

January 5th

Naturally the next workout had pull-ups.

Strength

Front Squat

WOD:“Jackie”

• 1000m Row
• 50 Thrusters 45/35#
• 30 Pull-ups

Lot's of green band pull-ups.

January 7th

I did a bit of the workout from the day before.

EMOM 20'

• 1 Snatch @ 70%

I've been working on my snatch.

 

January 10th

Back home for drills and hills!

We went to MTU trails. Cold! fairly slow.

Drill

Double pole up gradual uphill (Oak straightaway.)

Hills

One loop of Balsam.

There, that's us all caught up.  I'd tell you more about it, but we need to get back out there!