The Oracle of Apollo Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

CrossFit Day 32

Today’s workout was out of my reach once again since I don’t have an Olympic weight set. It was to do five sets of five reps of the front squat, for max load. The best I have are a pair of thirty pound dumbbells. So, I put together a variation that included ten rounds of the front squat with my heaviest dumbbells and losing one rep per set. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 = 55 reps of 60 pounds. That didn’t take very long.

My results: 6:24, 4:21 zone (hard); HR: 151 avg, 167 max; 78 cal

In order to get a workout, instead of an embarrassing warm up, I devised a supplemental workout to add to tonight’s workout. Until I acquire an Olympic weight set and the instruction to perform lifts correctly, this is a good supplement.

Wimpy Front Back Go

“Front Back Go” was an exercise we got in Army Basic Training. We hated it. We usually got Front Back Go when we as a unit or someone among us screwed up and pissed the drill sergeant off. When the sergeant called “Front”, we’d assume pushup position and do pushups. “Back” meant to roll over and do situps. “Go” meant to run in place. The drill sergeant would invariably rapid fire it as “front front front back back back GO!”

My “Wimpy” version is the following:

10 rounds for time:

1. 5 pushups (Front)
2. 10 situps (Back)
3. 15 squats (Go)

All told, the Wimpy Front Back Go as prescribed above is 50 pushups, 100 situps, and 150 squats. Attacking this at a significant pace kept my heart rate high. I may double this for the “Soft” version and quadruple it for “Hard.” Time will tell.

My results: 17:11, 12:12 zone (hard); HR: 152 avg, 168 max; 216 cal

Earthquake

Oooh, did you feel that? It shook my entire house. I had just finished making my ravioli, carrying it to my coffee table, and starting a movie when the rumble started. It looks like the USGS has the earthquake information. 5.6 on the Richter Scale.

That’ll get the blood pumping.

No damage at my house. Just a nice rumble and shakes. Carry on.

CrossFit Day 31

Today’s workout was pretty simple, but the time got away from me quickly. It required ramping sets of pullups. I’m still doing assisted pullups, since I’m not yet strong enough to do more than one pullup and I’m not coordinated enough to kip. Our instructions were simple—start a clock and do one pullup the first minute, two the second minute, and so on, increasing sets by one per minute until you’re unable to finish a set in a minute.

I managed to get seven complete sets and six of the eighth set. I’m sure if I’d had 10 more seconds on the clock, I could have done an eighth set and part of a ninth. I have a lot of upper body strength training to do. Knowing that 34 assisted pullups isn’t jack, I added a set of 34 pushups and 34 squats at the end. I ended up with 21 extra pushups having forgotten to turn on the heart rate monitor. When that happens, you can either say “screw it” or “I need the extra work anyway” and start over.

My results: 13:12, 6:55 zone (hard); HR: 155 avg, 173 max; 170 cal
Pullups: 34; Pushups: 45; Squats: 34

Results include pullups, pushups, and squats, but not the extra set of not-monitored pushups mentioned above.

Two Years

Two years ago today, I suffered a serious injury at the hands of a negligent driver while I was riding a metric century on my bicycle. Nearly a year later, I was on the ground again.

One year ago today, I rode the most recent mile I’ve ridden. After four crashes in four subsequent years, I sort of lost interest in cycling. I used to think, quite erroneously, that the only way for me to be in decent physical condition was to ride 200 or more miles a week.

I believe that I am currently in better physical condition than I ever was as a cyclist. When I was averaging 40 miles a day on a six day schedule, I still could not run a continuous mile, I carried too much body fat, and I couldn’t do 10 pushups in a row.

I still have both of my bicycles—the Trek 520 and the Trek 2100—parked in my bicycle room. What I’m wrestling with now is what to do with the bicycles. Will I ride again? Maybe I will.

But, I don’t expect to spend the kind of hours dedicated to my bicycling as I did before. There are more important things I have to do and there are modalities of my physical training that I am exploring. I may still attempt the California Triple Crown someday. Recent events have taught me that I can do anything.

I have no idea what my cycling future holds, but I do know that, while I have the legal right to ride my bicycle in a vehicular manner in the roadways, motorists are not looking for us. I do not want to die at the hands of someone who isn’t even paying attention, for whom my presence is unknown and then an insurance worry. I just don’t love riding bicycles that much.

I’m going to keep on pushing for elite physical fitness, though. Maybe you’ll see me out there clicked into pedals climbing toward Skyline, but let’s just get through 2007 without landing face-first on asphalt.

CrossFit Day 30

Today’s workout was quite a doozy. It involved two exercises that I either don’t have the skill to do (handstand pushups) or the equipment (ring dips). So, I had to completely swap out two of the movements for something I can do. Without further ado, here’s what I did this evening.

For time:

1. 50 parallette doorstep dips
2. 400 m run
3. 50 pushups
4. 400 m run
5. 50 burpees
6. 400 m run

If I was a bit stronger, I’d have gotten through this thing in half the time I did. The pushups took a long time. My plan on subdividing the 50 rep sets was to split them into seven descending sets (10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5). As I began to get tired on the pushups, the sets became threes. It’s really hard not to rest in the middle of sets of burpees, because you both start and stop in a standing position, making it easy to wander to the water bottle or put elbows to knees and pant. The 50 burpees ate nearly half the time for this workout.

Somehow, I kept all the running stints (about 415 m each) under 2 minutes. This is good. This was a great workout that reminded me that I have a couple of light years to go before I’m anywhere in the Awesome Star System.

Bring it on.

My results: 32:03, 10:38 zone (hard); HR: 152 avg, 199 max; 405 cal

CrossFit Day 29

Today’s workout was relatively simple—ten one-rep for max sets of cleans. Unfortunately, I still don’t have an Olympic weight set. So, I decided to do a tapered round of ten sets of dumbbell cleans with the 30 pound dumbbells (so, 55 cleans — 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 rep sets).

My form was pretty bad (I could see my reflection in the sliding glass door) but better than I expected. I really tried to focus on doing each exercise completely. I may start shopping around for weights and a bar (I found Olympic bars at a nearby store for $59.99). Earlier today, I noticed that a new CrossFit gym has opened in Sunnyvale. Perhaps I should go down there and get some instruction on how to do the exercises properly.

My results: 15:06, 8:08 zone (hard); HR: 154 avg, 180 max; 195 cal

CrossFit Day 28

Today’s workout is one I’ve done before. We’re spending half an hour with Michael this evening. This time, we’re doing the whole shebang.

Michael
Three rounds for time:

1. 800 meter run
2. 50 back extensions (standing, weighted with 30# dumbbell)
3. 50 situps

I was pretty slow. My running legs were faster this time around, but I’m 15 pounds lighter. Factoring on the fact that I did more than twice as many reps as last time, I think I’m far stronger than I was before. Next time the good lieutenant’s workout comes around, I’m gonna try to get it in under half an hour.

Also, don’t do situps on concrete. Pinching the crease of your ass against concrete is unpleasant. Especially when you’ve got 50 more situps to go today.

My results: 35:15, 11:52 zone (hard); HR: 158 avg, 187 max; 485 cal

Thirty Pounds Down

This morning, I got on the scale as I do every day and noticed the number: 165.5. As of this morning, I am lighter by 30½ pounds than I was just three months ago. I have another little bit to go and a long way to go until I’m in the kind of shape I’m after. Still, it sure feels good to no longer be overweight. It feels especially good to be able do things that I didn’t think I’d be able to do, like my 10 km runs last week.

My body weight goal is 156 pounds. Just ten more pounds to go. Onward!

CrossFit Day 27

Today’s workout was pretty simple, but quite difficult. Dubbed “Tabata Something Else”, this tabata workout involved four exercises—pullups, pushups, situps, and squats. A tabata is where you do a particular exercise for 20 seconds, then rest for ten. Since I don’t have a timekeeper partner, I downloaded a song for the purpose, loaded it onto my iPod Shuffle, grabbed a notebook, and headed down to the park.

After I finished my first eight rounds of assisted pullups and started in on the pushups, I accidentally yanked my headphones. Instead of halting the heart rate monitor until I could get the iPod cable figured out, I accidentally hit the stop button. Oops. Looks like we’re starting over. So, this tabata is 8 rounds of pullups, 8 rounds of pushups, 8 rounds of situps, and 8 rounds of squats. I just get a bonus of 73 pullups and 5 pushups.

The last 3 rounds of any set are gruelling. Luckily, since the time here is short, there’s not much time to move. But, it’s still difficult to get into a position to write numbers on a notebook from the situp position. I’ll have to use my cell phone next time instead.

My results: 21:57, 14:25 zone, HR: 153 avg, 169 max; 282 cal

1. AP 1: 11 10 09 09 09 08 09 08 = 73
2. AP 2: 12 10 09 08 09 09 08 08 = 73
3. PU 1: 07 08 06 06 05 05 04 04 = 45
4. SU 1: 09 09 08 08 06 06 07 06 = 59
5. SQ 1: 11 10 10 10 10 10 08 11 = 80
6. Total: 335 (including AP1 + 5 PU), 257 (without AP1 and extra pushups)

CrossFit Day 26

Today’s workout is called “Lynne.” Since I lacked a barbell, I got to come up with two extra exercises to compensate for the lightness of the weight portion of the workout. Here’s the assigned work for today:

Five rounds for max reps of:

1. Bodyweight bench presses
2. Pullups

So, after dinner, I took my thirty pound dumbbells over to the park with the low pullup bar and the benches together and went after the following subsitution:

Five rounds for max reps of:

1. 60# (2×30#) dumbbell bench presses
2. Pushups
3. Assisted Pullups
4. Bench dips

At first, I was going to attempt tapering sets of 21, 18, 15, 12, and 9 reps. 60 pounds of dumbbells directly over my face proved a little much, so I went for 50 reps total. Pushups were very difficult toward the end and I almost dropped dumbbells on my face twice (and on my balls once). The pullup bar was low enough that the assisted pullups were not so difficult, and the bench dips were extra tricep work. I was wobbly lots of the time. Maybe this weekend on a rest day, I’ll go for this one again with the 75 reps of the tapering sets. Lynne spanked me pretty hard and still has me rubbing my arms an hour later. Whew.

My results: 22:46, 6:28 zone (hard); HR: 137 avg, 164 max; 245 cal (45%)
50 of each exercise (dumbbell bench press, pushup, assisted pullup, dips) completed.