Grips!

So I got the hand grips in the mail today - tomorrow's the big test if they work or not - we'll see at 9am... I'm not going to lie here - after that fall, and doing another crossfit workout this past week, I have to admit I was a bit scared to start the pullups again. Even Krystle said my workout wasn't up to what I normally do. I guess I did feel a bit sluggish and not quite up to my work as hard as possible mentality.It didn't help that we did a workout including jumping rope - I don't think I'm coordinated enough to jump rope - much less to do "double unders". (A "double under" is your basic jump rope routine but you have to have the rope go around you twice before your feet jump again - it's tough, try it if you don't believe me) Anyway - I hope I can jump back on the horse as they say for the workout tomorrow.

Happy Training!

JR

Concussion - Don't Worry, It's Minor

Well I've got kind of a sad/funny story... we did a Team Tabata workout on Sat. (20 sec on, 10 sec off x8 rounds for each type - pushups, squats, situps, pull ups, etc.) Anyway, I've get really clammy hands, especially when I work out, so I was doing pullups and my hands slipped from the bar. I used the chalk they have there, but chalk doesn't last for too long on my hands :( Anyway, I ended up falling flat on my back and head - went to the doctor and they said I probably had a minor concussion, so now I'm taking a muscle relaxer for my back (so if I seemed a little tired this weekend doing the weather, you know why. So the funny part about this was that I had just ordered palm grips like they use in gymnastics at the beginning of the week, and sure enough, when the mail came on Saturday, they grips were in my mailbox... too bad they came then instead of 24 hours earlier - would have helped!

I ended up taking another rest day today just to let my body try and recuperate from the fall, but I'll be doing a swim workout tomorrow, the doctor said my head is normal (as normal as it can be ;) so that's good)

Safe training!
~JR

5K and Couples Workout

I re-ran my 5K yesterday (pretty close to one month after my first 5K time trial) and I was pretty happy with my one month progress. January 14th, I ran the 5K in 25:33... February 13th, I ran it in 21:22! So I dropped 4:11 in one month - and I felt like I could keep going at that pace for a few more miles... which was really weird since that's about a 7:07 minute mile!Now if you missed the Crossfit segment on Thursday, we explained the McMillans Calculator... it's a fun tool where you choose a distance you've run, enter your time and it estimates the time you could complete pretty much any distance you want. So based on my 5K time - I could run the Brookings marathon in 3 hours 28 minutes. Which would be really cool, but I of course did do the 5K indoors on a tredmill - which means no hills, corners or any other element that would be encountered during the race... so there's still a lot of training to be done.

This morning at Crossfit, we did a "Lovers Workout" for V-day.

200 Kettle Balls

200 Lunges

150 KB

150 Lunges

100 KB

100 Lunges

So you do half of each section - your partner does the other half - it was pretty fun and we were done in 20:18 - have to love those shorter workouts!

Here's a layout for this week as far as training goes: (my plan on the left - straight running plan on the right)

Mon: Swim Endurance Workout - 12 mile run

Tues: Crossfit - Cross train

Wed: Crossfit or Endurance Workout - 3 mile run

Thurs: Crossfit - 5 mile run

Fri: Off - 3 mile run

Sat: Crossfit - Off

Sun: Running Endurance - 6 mile pace

Happy Training!

~JR

Core Workout!

Okay, so I had to share this one with you... I've never felt my core/middle section so much during a workout or a run EVER! This was an incredibly intense workout:

400m Run
10 Burpees
30 Situps
400m Run
10 Pullups
20 Pushups

And REPEAT that times 4!!!! So that's 2 miles of hard core running with burpees, situps, pullups and pushups intertwined... wowza - can't even describe! It was a great workout though!

~JR

"Dirty 30" & "Kinda A Linda"

Okay, so on Saturday the 7th, we did a workout called "The Dirty 30" and rightfully named is all I can say... here's what it was:

30 double unders (jump rope with the rope going around 2x in one jump - or 120 single jump ropes)
30 situps
30 Kettleball raises
30 Jumping Squats - (basically a squat where you slap your hands on the ground then jump up)
30 Push Ups
30 Wall Balls
And REPEAT!
This one took me 15:29 and wow did it kick my bum . . . I'm starting to realize that if the workout has a name - it's going to be a rough one!


On Sunday I had an Endurance Day so I decided to swim - this time WITH goggles! And boy does THAT make a difference! The workout was 50meters as hard as you can and time it - however long it took to do that 50m, multiply that by 5 and that's your recovery time. (So it took me 30 secs to swim 50, so I rested 2 and a half minutes) Then you repeat this 10X. Now I'm not the biggest swimmer so I was a little shocked how out of breath I was after each 50m - it was definitely an endurance workout!


I actually am in MN right now visiting family but I wanted to keep up with the workouts - so I looked online and found a Crossfit pretty close to where I'm staying. I went to the 6pm workout which was great - they said any Crossfitter is welcome, so I hopped on with their group. Things work a bit differently there but it was still a fun and hard workout:

"Kinda A Linda"
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (so 10 of each of the following, then 9 of each, 8 of each, etc.)
-Deadlift - I did 95#
-Ring Push-Ups (they had their rings a lot closer to the ground)
-Front Squats

(Ring Push-Ups - and believe me... they are as hard as they look - I had to do them from my knees!)

Hope things are going well or you are just enjoying hearing about the pains of training ; )
~JR

Sinking with Swimming . . .

Okay, so I did an endurance workout today in the pool: 6 min time trial, 3 min rest, 4 min time trial, 2 min rest, 1 min time trial, 30 sec rest, 30 sec time trial, 15 sec rest, 15 sec time trial... and I'm not kidding when I say I almost sank! I don't have any goggles, and I thought I'd be okay, but my eyes disagreed! So I ended up doing the front crawl with my head above water most of the workout, which, of course, wastes even more energy... if you end up trying this workout - I recommend goggles for sure, I'm heading to Target right away!The swim workout was a nice way to give my leg joints a rest, I was feeling a little weary from the 2 running workouts that I did, so I figured that a pool workout would be better for my body and give my joints a brake from the track and from the pavement. Plus running outside with the ice and snow melting isn't the safest on your ankles, I kept my eyes on the sidewalk and the bike path to make sure I didn't slip and break something... and that doesn't help your running form.

It's finally back to CrossFit tomorrow - we'll see how it goes... oh and one week from today is another 5K time trial. I'll get to the importance of these time trials in an upcoming post - there's this crazy cool calculator that will blow you away!!!

Happy training,
~JR