The Oracle of Apollo Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

CrossFit Day 50

Today’s workout humbled me quite a bit. It was a fairly straight forward session, which I thought I’d get through with heavy weights and a good time. Yeah, I was quite mistaken about that one. Here’s what we’re up to this evening:

Five rounds for time:

1. 400 m run
2. Overhead squat – 15 reps

At first, I tried a couple of reps inside next to my dumbbell pile, just to make sure I could do the overhead squat with the pair of 30 pound dumbbells. Nope, that’s not going to happen. My form is shaky and I either topple the weight or lose the lockout on my arms. Let’s try with a pair of the 25 pounders. Again, not going to happen. Finally, I did three inside with the 20 pound dumbbells. That’s going to have to do.

I’m really gratified that I was able to keep my 400 m runs (more like 415 m per leg) under 2 minutes pretty easily, but those overhead squats humbled me, even at a light weight like 40 pounds. I better work on those more and get some good fundamental form practice. This workout should have taken me 20 minutes or less. Instead, I got it in half an hour.

My results: 30:09, 15:46 zone (hard); HR: 161 avg, 187 max; 412 cal

Also, this was my fiftieth CrossFit workout. I’m getting stronger and lighter. I can see the difference in my body in the mirror and my endurance is getting better. Let’s see what the scale has to say:

• Sep 18: 181.0# (82.10 kg) => 25.97 BMI
• Nov 24: 157.0# (71.21 kg) => 22.53 BMI
• Difference: -24.0# (-11.1 kg) => -3.44 BMI

Onward!

CrossFit Day 49

Today’s workout scared me a little bit, but I decided to see if I could increase my numbers over last time. It’s not a complicated workout. For those of us unable to do muscle ups, it simply asks for 120 pullups and 120 dips.

Just before sunset, I headed over to the elementary school nearby to do the work on the low bar and the rolly almost-as-low bar. Standing on the bench allowed my assisted pullups to be doable in a reasonable amount of time (I decided against doing jumping pullups just because of the sheer amount of work I’m doing today). The dips proved to be the most difficult and toward the end, each descent felt like someone was punching me in the sternum. But, I managed to yank and dip my way done with the exercise in under 15 minutes. I think my performance was okay, but nothing to get excited about.

My results: 14:00, 8:06 zone (hard); HR: 148 avg, 165 max; 164 cal

CrossFit Day 48

Today’s workout wasn’t too bad. It was “Helen,” a standard benchmark workout that consists of three events. To wit:

Three rounds for time:

1. Run 400 m
2. 21 Kettlebell swings
3. 12 pullups

I’m still doing jumping pullups and I used the 35 pound kettlebell I had in my car from the other day. The running was the fastest part for me and, as expected, the pullups took the longest. If you do this workout at full intensity, it leaves you breathless almost immediately.

My results: 19:41, 8:00 zone (hard); HR: 164 avg, 183 max; 279 cal

CrossFit Day 47

Today’s workout was pretty simple: Do five set of three reps, ramping weight, of the clean and jerk. With no Olympic barbell set, this was going to pretty easy, so I changed each set to ten reps.

My form is terrible. I clean the weight to my shoulders just fine, but then I always screw up the split landing when I jump the weight above my head. Luckily, I was using a pair of 30 pound dumbbells tonight, so the weight was never an issue. After 50 reps, I still couldn’t get a consistent jump split, no matter how many times I’ve seen the video. Seems like something to practice more.

My results: 14:26, 7:56 zone (hard); HR: 154 avg, 173 max; 181 cal

CrossFit Day 46

Two months ago today, I started doing CrossFit as my primary training regimen. Since that day, I have lost 23 pounds and I’ve noticed significant changes in my body composition in the process. Today’s weigh in had me at 158 pounds, 38 pounds lighter than 16 weeks ago, and I feel like I am in better shape now than when I was primarily a cyclist. I have a long way to go, but I know it’s going to be awesome to reach and surpass my goals. Especially with more brutal barrages of work like today.

Today’s workout was insane, dubbed “Filthy Fifty.” It took me over and hour to perform and the sheer amount of work I did virtually guarantees incredible soreness tomorrow. This may be the toughest CrossFit workout I’ve ever done. You’re not going to believe this list of tasks. Ready? Let’s get it on.

1. 50 box jumps, 24″ box (I used bleachers at the park).
2. 50 jumping pullups
3. 50 kettlebell swings (35 pounds)
4. Walking lunge, 50 steps
5. 50 knees to elbows
6. 50 push presses, 40 pounds (2×20# dumbbells)
7. 50 back extensions, standing (20# dumbbell)
8. 50 thrusters, 40 pounds (2×20# dumbbells)
9. 50 burpees
10. 100 rope jumps

I did the first half of the work at the local park, because they have bleachers to jump on and a pullup bar. The pullups, knees to elbows, burpees, and thrusters took the most time. I’m getting stronger and faster, but the process is gradual. After nine minutes had elapsed while I was attempting the knees to elbows, I pushed through the set, tossed my weights and kettlebell into the car, and drove home to eat a Clif shot and get more water.

This was a workout that handily whipped my ass. I am still kind of a pansy, but I’m seeing some positive results. This set had me panting a lot and standing around staring at the dumbbells. My goal for next time is to do all this in under an hour.

My results: 1:05:04, 41:16 zone (hard); HR: 153 avg, 179 max; 817 cal

CrossFit Day 45

Today’s workout was a hero workout called “Michael”, which I get about once a month (October 25, September 19). In October, I did the whole workout, but I ended up rubbing my butt the wrong way on the flagstones in my front yard. This time I was determined for that not to happen.

My goal was to be substantially faster than I was last time—turn in a time faster than 35:15. After procrastinating as long as I really could, I set my watch, and started.

The first part is the 800 m run. I was aiming at 4:00 or faster per leg, but every time I needed to cross the street in front of my house, a parade of cars would come by at that exact moment and add a few seconds to my time. It didn’t matter whether it was the start of the run or the end of the run. Never a car when I’m not running, suddenly a parade when I am.

I used a 30 pound dumbbell for the back extensions, which weren’t too bad. I also use the 30 pound dumbbells to hold my feet down while I’m doing the situps. I noticed on my timer that I was nearing completion three minutes faster than my previous time, so I pushed for that goal. Unfortunately, my hip started to cramp a little bit just before the finish line. Still, a good workout that had me breathless for a while.

My results: 32:33, 9:22 zone (hard); HR: 162 avg, 191 max; 456 cal
Improvement: 2:42 faster.

CrossFit Day 44

Today’s workout is a standard benchmark workout, called “Fran.” Fran requires three rounds for time (with 21, 15, and 9 reps per round) of thrusters and pullups. I did my work with a pair of 30 pound dumbbells and jumping pullups.

My time was longer than I’d have liked, because in the middle of my first set of thrusters, my heart rate monitor strap lost contact and it would sporadically read my heart rate. After some time of fussing with it, getting it all wet, getting my chest all wet, and losing about two minutes to messing with my technology, it started working correctly. Onward!

I’m still not very good at the kipping pullups, but I can get four deadhang pullups on the high bar. In order to keep the intensity up and complete this workout in less than three hours, I did jumping pullups from the lower bar. My touch on the ground is getting lighter and lighter and I’m sure I’ll get a full set of pullups soon.

Sadly, I took a lot longer than I intended to, but most of that involved me yelling at technology that I expect to be accurate. Oh, well, no sense whining about it. Fix the issue, overcome the obstacle, and march on.

My results: 22:59, 9:37 zone (hard); HR: 159 avg, 176 max; 256 cal

CrossFit Day 43

Today’s workout — called “Diane” — required an Olympic weight set or three. The prescriptions was for ten tapering sets (of 10 – 1 reps) of:

1. Deadlift (150% BW — 238.5 lb) [I weigh 159 lb today.]
2. Bench Press (100% BW — 159 lb)
3. Clean ( 75% BW — 119.25 lb)

The heaviest weight I have is a pair of thirty pound dumbbells. The last time I attempted this workout, I scaled the percentages around the 60 pounds of the maximum weight and doubled the number of reps. This time, I’m a little stronger, so I decided to do all the exercises with the same set of dumbbells.

The most difficult transition was from the deadlifts to the “bench” presses from a lying position on the floor. The technique involves sitting on the floor, hugging the dumbbells to my chest, and rolling back into the bench press position. Then, the transition back to a standing position for the cleans was sometimes tricky.

Still, this is a really good workout that will become far more challenging when I get access to real set of weights.

My results: 19:23, 8:56 zone (hard); HR: 149 avg, 171 max; 238 cal

CrossFit Day 42

Today’s workout was light enough that I got through it pretty quickly. I didn’t have the equipment to do the full prescription, but I got my dose done. Here we go.

Seven rounds for time:

1. 10 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (53# Kettlebell)
2. 10 Chair Dips

I picked up the heavier of my two kettlebells today, about twenty pounds heavier than the one I used the other day. Since I don’t have rings set up, I used a chair for the dips. The whole workout went pretty quickly.

I should do more things with the kettlebells, especially the heavy one. Perhaps I should get a training book to walk me through some interesting supplemental circuits using them.

My results: 10:11, 3:45 zone (hard); HR: 159 avg, 177 max; 140 cal

CrossFit Day 41

Today’s workout consisted of two exercises I’m not strong enough or balanced enough to do. But, I went after it anyway, making my substitutions. Here’s my work:

Do as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

1. 5 SASL pushups
2. 10 assisted pullups
3. 15 walking lunges

Before I got to the park and attempted to use several of the parcourse apparatus to invert myself and attempt hand-stand pushups. I’m just not able to support all or most of my weight on my hands and maintain enough balance to use such a position for pushup-style exercise. I’m still awkward and unbalanced. Pullups are still difficult for me. I warmed up a little bit and tried to get the rhythm right for the kipping pullups, but for some reason I can’t get it right. This is especially infuriating for me, because I’m a dancer. I have two achingly slow palms in dead hang pullups. For all my strides, that’s my best showing.

I was shooting for four rounds tonight of the work tonight, though. I knew with the extra jumping pullups that it would take me some time. The pullups are my weakest exercise and, despite the fact that I have lost more than 35 pounds, I don’t feel like I’ve gained any headway in the pullup department. I’m going to have to add extra work to help me build my upper body strength much faster.

So, in 20 minutes, I got 5 rounds plus 5 of those special pushups. I guess that’ll do. For now.

My results: 20:00, 14:12 zone (hard); HR: 157 avg, 177 max; 269 cal