When Titans Clash

This past weekend I removed my 'honey-do' list from the dresser, blew off the dust, and realized that my wife had crossed out the 'honey' so now it was just a 'do' list. At the top: install hardwood floors. Friday night I raced home from the gym and started ripping out carpet. With all the carpet in a pile in the garage, and all the staples and nails up, it finally dawned on me that I really have to go through with this project now. I called my pops. He said he would be down in the morning. Let me tell you about my dad. He is 50 years old. In great shape. Started Crossfitting a couple months ago and is hooked. I get three texts from my dad EVERYDAY: the first asks how he can scale the wod based on what equipment he has in his garage gym. The second asks what other people got on the wod. the third is his time. Usually I am shocked and impressed at his third text. It is not alcohol, drugs, or gambling that grips his soul. It's Crossfit. He drank the Koolaid. Now my dad came down dressed to work. By ten am and three trips to the hardware store for the right tools and materials, we got started. By 9:30 that night, we were putting the furniture back in the living room and by six Sunday night we were finished with the hallway. Only three more rooms to go.

Yesterday's WOD was the Airforce WOD. this was the first workout in the 2010 Midwest Sectional. I got 6:40 followed closely by Jeremy at 6:59. I sent a text out to Jeremy and EyeCandy Andy on Sunday night to set up the playing field for us three to go head to head. Jeremy bowed out due to a sinus infection and I was hoping Andy would be busy so I wouldnt have to face another loss. But the text came late Sunday night: "Yeah man, I'll be there." Thoughts of faking an injury, a sickness, just flat out not showing up crossed my mind. But I'm a competitor. I walk in the gym at noon on Monday. Melissa is already setting her bar up and Andy is waiting, shirt off, grinning from ear to ear, ready to go to war. I captured the epic battle on my Flip. The video is below. the workout is as follows:



Complete the following in order with 95/65 as the weight:

20 Thrusters

20 SDHP

20 Push press/jerk

20 OH Squat

20 front squat

Eye Candy Andy

Holy hell could it be any hotter. 95 stagnant degrees, no air, the perfect way to sweat. I train clients in the morning and I'm drenched. I train myself at noon and I'm drenched. I train more clients at night and I'm drenched. Three showers and a load of laundry daily. That is what Crossfit is all about!

So there is the new kid on the playground. His name is Andy. He is 0% body fat. A marine. Married with a beautiful wife and daughter who gives me hugs every day (the daughter, not the wife), has that perfect smile...and completely destroys my times in the gym. I would be so jealous, so pissed, so annoyed, if it weren't for the fact that he is probably one of the most genuine people I have ever met. You could say that he's my man crush but Grant Wistrom already fills that category and I'm only allowed one to avoid any homosexual connotations. I tried to find a bad picture of Andy to bring him back down to a competitive level with me.

The other night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch Chuck Liddell get put to sleep. While we were there, all the cute little BWW waitresses were whispering and giggling while pointing at Andy. Then one told him how cute he was. About thirty minutes later, two waitresses that resembled Peter and Chris from Family Guy dressed in wigs came up and this time tapped on my shoulder. Apparently they thought I was cute. I wasnt even flattered and all Andy could do was laugh at me as they walked away. Andy beat my "Bareknuckle" time by almost a minute and he had a 10 burpee penalty. He dominated our scrimmage workout. Josh Nimmo got 11:43 and I got 11:45. Andy...10:05. It is great to have such a competitor to train with. We can only go one direction, and that's up. Sectionals 2011 should see Crossfit Springfield bring at least six or seven to regionals.

Today's workout:

Did a strength workout of Clean and Jerk practice with Melissa at 8am. Then went back at noon for:

Row 2000m

50 wall balls 20#

Row 1000m

35 wall balls

Row 500

20 wall balls.

Didnt time it b/c didnt work the stopwatch right. But based on the group clock, probably between 15-18 min.

Nasty Girls

Coming off a refreshing Father's Day weekend ready to hit the weights. Father's Day was amazing. Jalah gave me a homemade mobile which is hanging above my office. Pictures of us at the beach, me painting her nails, and her hitting me with a snowball. I love her so much. She has gained so much personality in the last few months. And she has become so affectionate. I love hearing her call me daddy. It makes the rest of my life have meaning. Shanna is doing great. Little Jaxx is doing Capoeira in her belly daily. It's fun and weird to feel it. Today I went into the gym and met Melissa for a quick workout called 'Nasty Girls.'

3 rounds for time:

50 air squats

7 muscle ups

10 hang power cleans 135#

My last PR was 7 30something.

Today I finished up at 6:53. I broke the last two sets of hang cleans which took some time. Muscle ups felt strong. Melissa is doing amazing with her muscle ups and finished in 12:30ish. Meeting her tomorrow at 8am for a strength workout then at noon for a WOD.

Right Cross...Left Hook

I walked in the gym yesterday afternoon with the intention of doing the "Four Quarters" workout that Jeremy had programmed. There, in the corner, quietly putting away his gear, was Mel (pic above). I do not get the opportunity to work with Mel that often so I put my bar up and strapped the gloves on for a 30 min brutal kickboxing session. First off, let me mention that Mel is a ninja. He even wears Vibrams, aka the creepy foot shoes and climbes up the 30 foot tall support beam for fun. Here was the workout:

7 Two minute rounds of hands only resting :15 in between
7 Two minute rounds of hands and kicks resting :15 in between

I got my butt handed to me buy a guy holding focus mits

It Begins

So I have had people ask me what my training is like. What I do to prepare for competition. What my workouts/times are. So I decided to start a blog to share.

Today I had planned on meeting Melissa for Fran and then max effort clean and jerk. However, Jeremy cut me off at the pass and came up with a master plan of his own:

Death by Thrusters:
Two sets of 35# dumbells were set 10 meters apart. At the start of the workout, you had to sprint the 10 meters and then do max effort thrusters for the remainder of the minute. At the top of the next minute you had to sprint 20m and max thrusters for the remainder. 30m the third, 40m the fourth and so on until you could not complete at least one thruster within the minute. I made it 12 minutes and did a total of 86 thrusters which tied Jeremy. Melissa dropped out at 9 minutes but got 96 thrusters at 20#.

then...

We decided to follow that up by 4X3 OH Squats at 205# coupled with max weighted pullups at 25#. Once again I tied Jeremy with 36 pullups in the four sets.

It's good to get back into competition mode again and Jeremy is such a good competitor to train with.