Solution To Writer's Block . . . Go Back to the Beginning

So I've been having a hard time getting this blog up and running again. Loss of motivation, writer's block, getting old and lazy, aliens kidnapped me and replaced me with a clone of myself but I don't realize that I'm not the original copy of Rod Antone . . . whatever.

Anyway, there's a solution to this I feel. Read some Hunter S. Thompson and go back to the beginning. Back to when it all started. Jump into the DeLorean and hit 88 mph and revisit 2010 again when I first started my Crossfit journey at RFM.

I looked back at my first blog on September 28, 2010 and found this. My first post about Bump taking me through an introduction workout:

"The place is nothing more than a garage with weights all around and ropes hanging from the ceiling. But he's got me sweating after a 3 minute warm up and then has me lying down on the ground and gasping for air over the next seven minutes. I couldn't believe it. We did something called thrusters and burpees back to back and I almost saw the bright light and went over to the other side. It was nuts. 

Meanwhile I look around the gym and there are high school girls ripping through a more advanced workout than I just did. It was embarrassing. And painful. I was hooked."

Haha. Oh yes, I remember that day well. I didn't know anyone's name, just Bump and that his cute fiancee's name was Kristi. But I remember seeing Lori and Kehau and Frank and Derek all jam at the workout. (Kehau you're going to laugh but the first thought when I saw you was "big shoulders and small shorts" hahaha)

I also remember foolishly thinking that "Yeah the guys don't look THAT in shape . . . I can do this crap."

Well more than two years later and I'm still trying to do "that crap." The workouts are still hard, and challenging, and I'm still hooked.

And yes, there are those workouts that I still see the "bright light" but I no longer feel like I'm gonna die. Instead I know that this is just another workout and all I have to do is lie down in front of the fan and rest for a bit.

When I look back at it the journey has been more than just a physical one. I got some confidence back, some "mojo" as Austin Powers called it, something that kept deteriorating along with my health. My wife and I had decided to split, about to send my son to the mainland, was still working freelance and not making much money and still just basically finding my way back to . . . myself really.

RFM helped. Bumper and I really never talked in high school but God must have sensed that he could help me because we drank beers and talked several times that night at my 20th year reunion.

Things work out for a reason. Sometimes I say that RFM saved me, but that's not true, or that's not accurate as we say in journalism.

RFM revived me. Like defibrillators shock a body into working again, that's what RFM did for me. That first workout was a shock, and it revived me.

Not sure what I'm trying to say here, maybe I'm just trying to remind myself how this all started.

One final note for today, we did 30 manmakers for yesterday's workout. My time was 6:34. Last March it was more than 7 minutes.

Like Hunter S. Thompson once said . . . "Buy the ticket, take the ride." Been fun so far guys, let's keep it going.

Later,

Rod

I Hate . . . Blogging

It's been a while, a couple weeks actually, since I wrote anything in this blog.

I gotta be honest here folks, I've not been feeling it.

The I Hate Cardio blog was supposed to keep me honest, force me to stick to Crossfit if my workouts were on display for the world to see.

But ya know, I'm addicted. I'm going to keep going to Raw Fitness Maui until I get tired of it or suffer a major injury. The way things are going the second will happen long before the first.

So, I don't need this blog for that reason anymore. What then?

The only other reason is . . . I like people reading it.

For real. I'm a Leo, feeding my ego is a way of life. I need attention, which is why marriage didn't suit me I think.I hate to be ignored.

Now, lest you think I'm blaming you, the reader (or the non-reader if you want to get technical), I'm not. I blame myself.

It's not you, it's me.

Really. I've been so damn boring lately, who the hell would want to read this crap. My blog sounds like this:

"Oh today sucked because I was weak. Or slow. Or because I had the wrong sort of shoes on. Blah blah  blah blah blah."

I sound like a whining asshole. I don't even want to listen to me! Forget it.

No, if I'm going to keep writing this blog it's going to change. We all have to evolve. "Get stronger or get weaker." Applies to the Box and applies to the Blog.

So, to exercise some marketing techniques here, what makes a blog fun to read?

Personally I find that if I (1) write about my friends at RFM (2) make fun of myself or them and (3) say something interesting or exciting then usually I get an uptick in readership.

So therefore, I will employ all three. Not tonight though, because I'm not in the mood.

Gonna hit the box  tomorrow  though. Hopefully I find some inspiration.

Later . . . I think,

Rod

My Throat Still Hurts But It's Time to Get A Bloggin

Look, I'm not going to blame it all on sickness but . . .

I've been stricken with the strep. As in, in the throat. Praise God for antibiotics.

I noticed something was wrong last week Tuesday, when I could not even complete one round of the WOD.

Those of you who know me know that while I may be slow, I'll finish the WOD. But Tuesday I was miserable. Everything hurt and I didn't know why.

That night I started getting body aches, had a fever of 104 and still had the chills after putting on thermal underwear and socks. Oh yeah, and my throat hurt so bad I could barely drink water.

The next day I looked up "strep throat symptoms" on Google and sure enough, there was a wall of yellow crap behind my tonsils. I felt like I had been infested with Aliens. Ugh.

But thanks to Kaiser, lots of fluids and amoxicillin, I'm back. Had my first workout today and did my best, even though my throat was still a little sore. Here are some highlights:

- deadlift was 260 and it was reasonably easy. Next time I'll go up to 270. Maybe.
- pull-ups were weak, did three sets of five reps of weighted pull-ups using the 53 pound kettle bell. It sucked.
- the WOD was a simple and straightforward three rounder, :30 seconds of work followed by :30 seconds of rest, like so:


:30 kettle bell swings
:30 rest
:30 sit-ups
:30 rest
:30 double unders
:30 rest

After three rounds I ended up with about 180 something reps. My weak points were of course the double unders but at round two I managed to get 25 reps. My DU's have been sucking lately so I was happy with that at least.

Okay gang, gotta get serious about the workouts and my eating habits. Nothing like a bout with a painful illness to make you not take your health for granted. So let's get started.

See you at the box 'cause I'm back. For good this time.

Peace,

Rod

Hana Relay Rocks and so does the WOD Afterwards

So. I wasn't going to run the Hana Relay.

Haven't been running, haven't been jogging, haven't even been walking. A week prior to the race I didn't even go to any Crossfit workouts.

But Kristi sees the entertainment value of having me on the team so they sign up FOR ME . . .

And you know, I'm glad they did.

So Friday night I take it easy, get some good rest and then come Saturday I put on our killer new RFM "Jerk" shirts for the race. They're sweet.

I saw earlier that RFM had me listed to run just one leg, a 2 miler that was all downhill. I didn't blame them after last year's race. I ran super slow and we were like in last place. There were no other teams around us for miles.

This year I needed some redemption so I told the team I'd meet them at Baldwin Park for the leg there. I wasn't registered to do that leg but I wanted to do it last year, just because it was through my home town and I know the route by heart.

So I got there, threw my bag in Shauna and Jun's truck and started running with Jun and Bill on leg three, from Baldwin Park to Hookipa Park, a little more than 3 miles.

This first leg sucked. My back hurt and I was out of breath. Runners were passing me left and right, one of them a silver haired guy with a knee brace and a t-shirt that said "Motrin in Motion" or something like that.

I made it though and on the way out I grabbed some Motrin from that same old guy. After about an hour and a half the Motrin kicked in and I was thinking about running again. So they let me run leg 10 with Brent, a mile downhill and a mile uphill.

This time it went a little bit better and even though I was moving kinda slow I made some decent time.

Before too long it was time for the last leg through Hana Town. Marcus said "You're coming right?" and I said yeah, why not.

We chugged a beer and Bump, Brent, Marcus, Lori and I ran the last leg. Crossing the finish line was pretty awesome. Drinking beer afterwards and the Red Sand beach was even more awesome but I don't have time to write about that today.

Then we get back on Monday and we have a cool little WOD that requires no legs (thank God), a blessing for all of us that ran the relay. AMRAP 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 sit-ups. I got 9 rounds so I was pretty stoked about that.

Been a good weekend/start of the week for me guys, hope you're having fun too.

Later,

Rod

Back to the Blog and the Box

In case you haven't noticed this blog has been AWOL along with my presence at RFM.

No biggie. Last week it was meetings, meetings and more meetings.

Then on Monday it was a holiday and I didn't show up again. At that point they put out a missing person's poster on the RFM website with my picture on it. Haha. Funny mathafathas.

So I showed up on Tuesday. Sometimes the schedule sucks and you just can't make it into the gym and that was last week. Sue me.

But I'm back and just in time, because Tuesday's workout was just right. Push-ups, sit-ups and some running. Cool.

Except the only other person with me was the new girl Allison, who looked like she could run like a gazelle. Damn these new members who are already in shape, how the hell am I supposed to enjoy their pain?

So the WOD consisted of running 200 meters, then coming back and doing as many push-ups as you could in whatever time you had left from a minute and a half (1:30). Then you run again and come back and do as many sit-ups as possible. Run again and do push-ups again then run again and finish off with sit-ups.

Anyway, we start and me and Allison are neck and neck. Neither of us are breathing hard. Then I get back in the gym and I start pumping out the push-ups. Something in my mind said to just go for broke because I wouldn't get a chance later. I was aiming for 60 but I got 50 instead.

I could go on but there's nothing more to this story except that I never got close to running with Allison again. I was winded and she her stride was . . . well, gazelle-like. I ended up with 98 reps total which means the other three push-up/sit-up sessions were pitiful. Thank God for that first round.

The next day though . . . crap I'm still feeling Wednesday's workout.

Back-squats for strength then 12-9-6 reps of dumbbell power cleans, dead-hang pull-ups and burpees.

This was humbling. First off, we had to use half our body weight for the dumbbells so I had to use 50's. Painful.

Then the dead-hang pull-ups were a disaster. I used to be able to do 12 but with this weird shoulder injury I did six then went dead after the first round.

The easiest part were the burpees. Wait, what did I say. Hell yes, you heard it. The burpees were the easiest part. I speak the truth.

What say you RFM bretheren?

Peace,

Rod

Running Like Fred Flintstone

So the other day I talked about doing the Iao run with some RFM members who are training for the Hana Relay.

I hate running but I went because if I'm going to run the relay I better put in some time on the road. Plus RFM was close due to Robert and Kristi being out of town, so I really had no excuses.

So that morning I grabbed my workout clothes and looked for my shoes . . . and couldn't find them anywhere.

Crap. It was getting late so I just left. I thought maybe I could stop by the mall and grab some shoes but I never got the chance.

So 4 o'clock rolls around and I don't want to run but I do want to do SOMETHING that will get the heart pumping. Anyway, I got dressed, parked up the street and walked over to where Kathy and Kalaheo were standing, with no shoes. Shauna and the others came up soon afterwards and everyone was like:

"Where are your shoes?"

"Are you seriously going barefoot?"

"You're crazy."

No I'm not crazy. Just didn't have time to get new shoes and really wanted to do some sort of workout.

And I didn't trust myself to workout at home by myself. I'm a Crossfitter, I need my gym-peeps. They keep me going.

In this case, they kept me going all the way up to the road that leads into Iao Valley and about two or three turns into the valley itself. After that my back gave out and I had to turn around and head back to the car.

Not a bad workout though, next time hopefully I'll make it to the end with the rest of the group.

Then again, next time I also hope to have shoes.

Peace.

Rod

Damn You Shoulder and Running on Tuesday?

Handstand push-ups used to be my favorite workout.

Then came the shoulder problems.

Damn it.

Today was five rounds of 20 double unders then 10 handstand push-ups.

Shauna finished in less than 5 minutes. I took more than nine.

Nuff said.

Sheesh. Okay, gotta spin this into a more positive light.

Perhaps this is a ploy by the Crossfit gods to force me to concentrate on other things. Such as training to run.

The Hana Relay is coming up soon and I've got the cardio of a sloth when it comes to running.

Gotta get busy. The gang is running tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. Not sure I can make that.

I gotta do something though. Don't focus on what you can't do, focus on what you can do.

Right?

Later gang,

Rod