The Oracle of Apollo Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

CrossFit Day 66

Today’s workout was very simple: 400 m walking lunges (for time and lunge count). Okay, that shouldn’t be too big of a deal, right? That’s what I thought when I started my heart rate monitor (and left it on basic, instead of switching it to hard).

For this exercise, there is, like practically every other exercise we CrossFitters do, a video on the Exercise Demos page. I watched it a few times, made mental notes about how to do the lunges correctly, and marched over to the track near my house. According to gmap pedometer, the distance around the outside of the track is 448.4 m. That’s about the distance I covered. Today’s workout was also the first workout I’ve done in quite a long time that I started before sunset.

I had to remind myself not to take giant lunges, but to keep it sane. I found myself out of breath a lot. Despite the simple looking instruction, this was a brutal workout that literally handed my ass to me. I had to stop for a break every 20 lunges. So, it took me almost as long to lunge-walk the 450 m as it to run the 13 laps a couple of weeks ago. All told, I completed 451 lunges from my water bottle back to my water bottle, attracting the strange looks of the other users of the track. Yeah, folks, I look funny. Go ahead and join me, though, before you laugh too hard.

My results: 27:29, 1:03 zone (basic); HR: 170 avg, 184 max; 410 cal

CrossFit Day 65

Today’s workout began a little late, after I got back from dinner and a movie this evening. I got out to the track with the two good pullup bars about 15 minutes before midnight. The prescribed workout called for seven rounds of weighted pullups. After perusing Annie’s kipping pullups videos, I decided to use today’s workout to see if I could do fifteen real kipping pullups. No jumpers, no assists, just good honest pullups—from full hanging extension to finish, chin above the bar.

I started out on the low 6½ foot bar, practicing the moves from the videos. First, it was “front, back, jump”, then “front, back, jump, push away.” Then, I started on the high 8 foot bar. The maneuver, especially the transition from the swing to the kip, is still awkward for me and it’s easy for me to throw my rhythm off. Also, my hards are fairly soft and I have no calluses on the palms of my hands, so I often attempt assisted or jumping pullups with my kayaking gloves. Doing these, I noticed quickly that they hurt more than the scrunching of my palms into the bases of my fingers.

I had to do three of the pullups over, because I only made it up to my nose at the top of those attempts. Still, I managed to complete fifteen in addition to the low bar practice and stomping around rubbing my hands. Next time, I’ll go for multiples in a row.

My results: 18:54, 16:48 zone (basic); HR: 139 avg, 163 max; 196 cal

Melt

Tonight, I decided to return to the San Francisco night life for the first time since July 14. That was the last time I went out to any party and got my crazy groove on. But, I figured that five months away from the scene was probably a good break and I’m allowed to have fun, dammit.

It was after that party that I noticed my waning ability to hold it down for very long on the dancefloor. Some time after that, I did the infamous weigh in that kicked my ass off the couch. I promised myself that I wouldn’t go out until I’d lost at least ten pounds. I think I’ve passed that mark quite decisively. I think my exile can end.

After tonight’s workout, I grabbed a shower, sat around for a while, and thought about not going out at all. But, my friend, Ernie, called and nagged at me a little more. Well, I’m all dressed up. Might as well go.

M3 and Ellen Ferrato were spinning at an upscale club called Levende Lounge. I got there just after midnight, saw lots of familiar faces, including an already inebriated Ernie, and enjoyed the music. I don’t really like the dancefloor at Levende, but there’s no complaining about the music. It’s good to see old familiar faces around (hi, Angelica!) again. I doubt that I’ll return to my every-weekend-night clubbing schedule, but there’s nothing wrong with an outing once in a while.

New Year’s Eve is coming up. I wonder what I should do. Suggestions?

CrossFit Day 64

Today’s workout was three sets of shoulder exercises. The first consisted of five rounds of single rep shoulder presses. The second was five rounds of three reps of the push press (dip, drive). And the third was five rounds of five reps of the push jerk (dip, drive, stand).

I did the shoulder presses and push presses with my 35 pound dumbbells. They’re fairly straight forward exercises. The challenging exercise for me was the push jerk. Push jerks are more difficult. There require a dip to drive the weight to an overhead locked out position, a catch in a dipped position, and a stand to completion. For my soft form, this requires concentration and practice. So, for push jerks, I went through five sets of dumbbells, starting at 15 pounds and finishing the final round with the 35 pounders.

I imagine this will get much more difficult when I get an Olympic weight set. Next time, I think I’d like to do this work using the 35 pounders (or a potential pair of 40 pound dumbbells) for all the push jerks.

My results: 12:45, 6:35 zone (basic); HR: 154 avg, 179 max; 159 cal

CrossFit Day 63

Today’s workout was clumsy, consisting of a number of back squats using, in my case, dumbbells. We’re doing 100 reps of the back squat under 70 pounds of weight (a pair of 35 pound dumbbells).

I subdivided this amount of work into sets of ten. After each set, I would untangle my hand from the dumbbell on each side, set them on the mat near the door, take a breather, and then clean the weight back to my shoulders. Then I’d twist around, dislodge my thumbs from under the bar of the dumbbell and do my squats.

70 pounds isn’t very much for a back squat, but that’s as much as I have. I think, given the awkwardness of getting the weight positioned correctly on top my shoulders, that this may be the high water mark for back squats with dumbbells. Of course, three months from now, when I’m shopping around for 60 pound dumbbells, I’ll probably sing a different tune.

My results: 19:02, 10:10 zone (hard); HR: 155 avg, 174 max; 235 cal

CrossFit Day 62

Today’s workout was another benchmark workout dubbed “Angie.” I’m still not sure, at this point, if the “girl” workouts (that is, the ones named like girls) are named for specific namesakes, but I guess I’ll find out sooner or later. Here’s Angie:

For time:

1. 100 pullups
2. 100 pushups
3. 100 situps
4. 100 squats

Ooh, this looks kind of evil. About 9:15 this evening, I headed over to the nearby park to do the pullups (I’m doing assisted pullups, because I’m still building up my upper body strength). It was about 40°F outside when I started my work, but I was able to breeze through that set of assisted pullups fairly quickly. That round took me 6½ minutes. Not bad.

The pushups were a little tougher, because there are no assisted pushups. I must admit that after the first 25 or so, I wasn’t going down as far as I was when I started out. Eventually, I ended up subdividing the 100 pushups into sets of four as I got more and more tired. That round took me almost 8 minutes.

As soon as I rolled over to knock out my situps, my hip cramped. Thanks, yeah, good timing. Once I had my dumbbells (for weighing down my feet) and my butt all squared, I was able to do sets of 15 or 20. The situps went fairly quickly at 5½ minutes for the round.

The squats were the easiest for me, although sometimes my left leg creaks, depending on how my feet are positioned. I was able to bounce up and down for 20 or 25 reps before grabbing a quick drink of my water bottle. At just a shade over 5 minutes, the squats required the shortest amount of time.

This was a difficult workout that reminds me that I’m really weak in the upper body, something I need to continue to focus on. If I keep at it, I’ll get there.

My results: 26:46, 13:54 zone (hard); HR: 150 avg, 170 max; 316 cal

CrossFit Day 61

Today’s workout was a little tough, but went fairly quickly. While the original workout called for a barbell workout for weight maxes, I’m working with a pair of 30 pound dumbbells today. So, I’ll just do ten rounds of ten (100 reps) for time. The assigned exercise: the push jerk.

Now, I’m not very good at any of these Olympic lifts, having never been instructed in how to do them right. I’m not concerned, at this point, about injury, because the weight I’m using is fairly low. So, some of these push jerks probably turned into push presses, but work is work. My main injury concern is getting the elbows locked out at the top of the push, so I don’t drop a dumbbell that weighs as much as my touring bike onto my forehead. Still, after lots of heavy breathing, I managed to polish off all 100 reps.

Tomorrow? Yeah, baby, bring it on.

My results: 17:48, 5:54 zone (basic); HR: 160 avg, 179 max; 235 cal

CrossFit Day 60

Today’s workout called for five rounds of three reps of the deadlift, at increasing weight. Since I don’t have a barbell setup, I did a hundred dumbbell deadlifts at 70 pounds (2×35# dumbbells). Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough work. I got through that in about five minutes and, according to my heart rate monitor, burned 60 calories in the process.

In order to feel like I didn’t get dressed up for nothing, I grabbed the rubber 15 pound dumbbells from under the table and did 10 more rounds of 10 reps each of various shoulder presses, including six rounds of Arnolds, a bunch of push presses, and two rounds of shoulder presses.

My results: 14:48, 10:28 zone (basic); HR: 122 avg, 150 max; 123 cal

CrossFit Day 59

Today’s workout handed my ass to me. I thought I could do it indoors, where it’s nice and warm, but after smacking myself in the head with the door bar, I packed everything up and headed to the park. Here’s on today’s agenda:

Five rounds for time of:

1. 15 dumbbell bench presses
2. 15 pullups
3. 15 pushups
4. 15 chair dips

I started out and completed a set of presses from the floor with my 30 pound dumbbells, followed through with the other three exercises of the round, and started on the second round. I finished the presses, although it was a struggle, and got through 11 pullups when the bar slid and gave me a reality check.

I paused the clock, weighed my options, and bundled up. I grabbed the 25 pound dumbbells and drove over to the park with the benches next to the pullup bar. I decided to start at set #2, instead of in the middle of that incomplete second set. Thus, I ended up with extras. Extras are good, right?

After about 20 minutes, I was finished with the four new sets. As I got more and more tired, it was a real challenge to avoid dropping dumbbells on my crotch or my face. But, eventually, I persevered, although I can’t say that I won. Even though I did more reps than last time, I did the workout lighter this time. The dumbbells I used for the benches were lighter and my bodyweight is 13.5 pounds lower. I should have had better numbers. Ah, well. I’ll do better next time.

My results: 31:14, 11:31 zone (hard); HR: 141 avg, 163 max; 334 cal

CrossFit Day 58

Today’s workout was a rambunctious barrage of work that left me panting, dizzy, and near collapse for nearly an hour this evening. It’s storming in the Silicon Valley, so I substituted the parts that required me to be running outdoors. So, with my substitutions, here’s the dance:

Five rounds for time of:

1. 2:00 on the mag trainer for distance
2. 21 x sumo deadlift high pulls (53# KB)
3. 21 x thrusters (2×25# DB)

About 10 this evening, I set up my dumbbells, bike trainer, and iPod and started. I push a pretty aggressive pace on the trainer, so I tried to ratched it down just a little bit. I set up a pair of 30 pound dumbbells on the mat near the door for the weight exercises. After the brutal first round had me panting and dizzy, I scaled the weight back to the kettlebell and the 25 pound dumbbells.

After the second complete set of these exercises, I considered throwing in the towel, particularly after the third session on the trainer. I’ve been sore today, primarily because of that extra helping of squats on Tuesday (total: 205, 55 of which were weighted at 70 pounds). Ooh, sore.

I decided to get back off the floor and continue, trying to push through the workout. I fought back the nausea a couple of times and utterly failed to resist pushing heart rates over 175 bpm while on the trainer, but eventually, I outlasted this brutish workout. It did take me a long long time, though.

My results: 49:44, 23:20 zone (hard); HR: 161 avg, 188 max; 674 cal
Bike trainer: 3.60 mi in 10:16 (21.1 mph avg, 32.4 mph max)