Back pain strikes again, to relay or not to relay and rainbow socks

You knew it was coming back. Someday.

My lower back tweaked in the middle of the WOD. Surprise surprise.

Took a while though. I swear I've been back pain free since whenever that Portland Crossfit guy was here. When was that? July? Somebody look in my archives and tell me tomorrow.

I'm starting to deduce what triggers the pain. It's not kettlebells by themselves. There has to be some sort of pre-fatigue workout like squats. Both of which we did today.

The thrusters may have had something to do with it also but I think I just hate them so much that I like to blame thrusters for everything.

First was a strength workout consisting of shoulder presses and squats. I did 15 reps of 95 lbs for presses and 15 reps of 140 for squats. Not too shabby.

Then the WOD. Three rounds of three thrusters, six box jumps and nine kettlebell swings with a one minute rest period after every three minutes of work.

Ouch.

I made it to the third round and did six sets before my back stiffened up. I didn't whine or fight it, I just laid down. I'm learning to listen to my body and my body appreciates it. My relationship with myself has evolved, yay.

Now if only I can listen to my mind like I listen to my body. For example, I was not listening to my mind when it said to me, "Make sure not to forget your checkbook so you can pay Bumper for the Hana Relay registration."

So right now I'm not sure if I'm going to get registered. I want to run, for real! As long as there's no back pain I'll run my legs off. If I can I'll stop off at Kaiser tomorrow and drop off a check for Bump then. Please?

And if I do run, I will not be running with Lori's rainbow socks like I did today. I had my workout shoes and no socks so Lori let me use some extra ones that she had.

You know, I like sacrificing my dignity just so I have material for this blog but . . . yeah, those multicolored socks were a bit much. It wasn't so much funny as it was . . . weird. And unfashionable. Not that I coordinate my outfits but damn I looked confused today.

Okay, gonna ice my back. Or mabye just lay down. That sounds like a good idea.

Later gang,

Rod

Easy like Sunday bloggin

Before I start I'd just like to say you peeps missed a good get together at my place in Paia. Steak, beer and a good football game. Afterwards we played some music and grooved until midnight. Some of us went to Moana Cafe for more partying. I stayed home and cleaned up and decided to blog too.

Anyway, got some catchin up to do here. Let's start with Friday:

Friday was deadlift testing day. An scary message from our coaches online stated that we would be going so heavy on deadlifts that we weren't going to have a WOD. Instead we would have "mobility work as you may feel like you were hit by a truck after the heavy deadlifts."

Yeah.

So, I've sorta got a love/hate relationship with deadlifts right now. I used to love them until my back started tweaking. Now I try to be cautious and use strict form, to the point where the RFM coaches say my lift looks like I'm doing a three part movement.

Anyway, I tried to go big on Friday. I hit 365 which was a personal best for me. I was getting psyched up and yelled out, "C'mon gang let's get hit by a truck!" Big talk too soon.

Right after that I tried 385 and just couldn't get it past my knees. I felt the weight and it scared me and I said, no more for today.

It sorta felt like a couple of times when I was in the water and attempting to catch some decent sized waves. I got pounded down to the ocean floor and when I got to the surface I started paddling for shore for survival's sake. That's how badly I wanted NOT to do another deadlift after that scare with the 385. When I walked away I felt like I was paddling for shore that day.

But no worries gang, I eventually got back in the water (not that day) and I'll return to deadlift that weight. I want to hit 400 too. Kats hit 400 and he couldn't stop smiling. It was a big kid on Christmas morning kinda smile and I was happy for him. Can't wait to have that smile too. Good job brah.

So what now? Oh yeah, Saturday.

We had a special workout called "31 Heroes", in honor of Kraig Vickers, a Maui High School graduate who died in that Afghanistan helicopter crash on August 6th. I know Kraig's brother Mark and I knew Kraig too. Good guy and a good family.

So it is for Kraig that we did this workout. I'm not going to be so foolish as to compare Kraig's sacrifice to mine, because he gave his life for his country. He leaves behind a wife, kids and another unborn child on the way, a child who will never have met his father. You can't give more for us than Kraig did.

But, because this is I Hate Cardio and because I am who I am, I have to say this:

That damn workout sucked.

Thrusters, box jumps, pushups, burpees and double unders, as many as you can of each for a 2:04 minute round. Three rounds total.

Thrusters and burpees in the same workout? Insane you say? For you Kraig, only for you.

Thankfully we worked out with a partner, and God be praised that Luke was there to save my ass.

We tried to be smart, tried doing reps of 10 then switching off and letting the other one rest. But Kehau and Lori still handed us our ASSES. They beat us in reps and weight for their thrusters. I think their total was 700 plus reps and ours was 600 plus reps. AND their thruster barbell weight was around 105 pounds compared to our wimpy 75 pound barbell.

Hey, what can I say? They're good. One day I'll be just like them. And on that day I'll need to buy new jeans because my quads won't fit into anything.

It was good to see that Luke was tired too. He's the guy in the gym that makes everything look easy, but yesterday he was bogging like the rest of us. Hell if someone wasn't bogging I'd check to see if they were part cyborg. Give me power cleans instead of thrusters ANY day.

The aftermath? My triceps are sore like a mother. Hot DAMN they hurt. Must be from the pushups I guess. (Bump I think we might need more chest work, just a thought.)

But you know what the pain means right? Pain means you're alive. I'm alive because I live in a country that is protected by people like Kraig. God bless 'em all and the sooner we can bring everyone home the better.

Aloha gang,

Rod

Weight belts, relay races and the blog mid-life crisis

You know, there was a time when I couldn't wait to write this blog.

Now, though, it seems like I never have time for it. But like the workouts, you have to make time.

Or maybe it's just harder to come up with new stuff, to try and keep things fresh. Ah well.

Maybe I'll come up with a magic writing formula one day, for now though I'll just keep doin what I'm doin.

Like today. Searching for that one rep max for push press. The board said warm up with 50, 60, 70 percent and so on and so forth. Hell, I just kept putting on weight until something didn't feel right.

I got to 205 pounds and was tempted to stop. Then I saw Ikaika's weight on the board which said 215.

That's okay, I was still going to stop. Listen to your own body right, don't compete against anyone else except yourself.

Right.

Except . . . well . . . I didn't really struggle with 205. I mean I did, but I had a little left in the tank.

So I strapped on Bob's weight belt, tightened up the wrist straps and went for it.

Man, 215 was heavy, but I did it. Maybe the day will come when I rep 225 for push press, but it ain't happening anytime soon.

So yeah Ikaika, I did 215, but if you had the weight belt I think you could have done 225. Stabalizing my back made all the difference.

Speaking about my back, I'm getting small kine nervous about the Hana Relay. I think my stamina will be fine, but my back might give out again. Hopefully not.

Three miles a leg should be fine. I do Crossfit, right?

Crap. I should start running. Like, a lot. For an hour a day. Up and down hills.

Except I hate running. I hate cardio. It's the name of my blog damn it.

I'll run when I'm ready, which will be the day of the Hana Relay, not before.

I'm going to be sore for a week aren't I?

Sigh. Bump, maybe we better start running a mile for our warm-ups. Just a thought.

Later gang,

Rod

Video don't lie

Finally made it back to Crossfit today, work on Monday kept me from the 5 p.m. workout.

Today we did snatch balances for 30 minutes. You know, pull the bar off the ground, flip it above your head and squat down under it. It's tough enough without any weight, just because it's easy to lose balance and either lean too far forward or back.

Today however we had a secret weapon. Ikaika's iPhone video camera. At first I was like, no way dude, get that away from me.

But I gotta admit, nothing like really scrutinizing your technique than watching video right after you do it. And slowing it down so Bump can catch every movement.

It was a real useful tool. First I was pulling the weight too early, then I wasn't pulling the weight close enough to my body. Small things but they matter when you're trying to do it right.

Afterwards we had a gasser of a WOD. Eight rounds of 20 seconds of kettlebell swings, 10 seconds of rest then 20 seconds of mountain climbers.

Wow man, that was just straight up cardio. But the good thing is my back isn't freaking out anymore when it comes to kettleball swings. At least not yet. My left arm feels a little tweaked though from the snatches. I'm still doing something wrong obviously.

Also, the diet. Man, I've gone so far off the path that it sucks. For lunch I had bread and butter, then I had some pancit for dinner and that was just today. It's been bad since I got back from Vegas and it needs to stop. Like now. I weighed myself today and I was still at 188, but if I keep this up I'll be back to 200 in no time. I've got to stop. Now.

Alright. Deep breath. Do it.

Okay, let's see if that works.

Later gang,

Rod

I live. Barely.

As many of you know I am back from Vegas. I will not go into details except to say I did not come out ahead financially. I did lose/have my wallet stolen but that might have been a good thing as I was forced to not spend anymore money.

But this isn't a blog about Vegas. This is about how I Hate Cardio. And there's nothing like coming back from a week of not Crossfitting and hating cardio all over again.

Friday was my first workout since I've been back and it wasn't THAT bad. Some deadlifts and good mornings then the WOD. I lucked out coming back on deload week. Because of my back I don't go all out on deadlifts anymore, so I know I'm not doing as much as I could. But you gotta listen to your body. At least when I'm not in Vegas I listen to my body.

Sorry, had a small flashback. The trip was sort of like a combination of Fear and Loathing and the Hangover. Without illegal drugs of course. There was a lot of confused wandering though.

Anyway, the workout. Deadlifts. Kat's is going to hit 400 soon and I would like to also, but I'm afraid of my back. Just as I'm afraid of doing more than 225 on bench because of my torn pec. I'm taking it slooooowwwww.

Then came the WOD. Six power cleans with no squat. I laugh at that. But then they added 40 double unders. For four rounds. Are you frickin serious.

By the way, I can DO double unders now. Like ten in a row. After that I get tired and start doing five and six. And then three and four then one and two. But I can do 'em.

It's frickin tiring though. Oh damn. Now I know why everybody complains about their shoulders. Had no idea the shoulder muscles involved in spinning that rope around twice on one jump.

Suffice to say, that was sorta brutal. After the second round I got confused and didn't know what round I was on, so I followed Kats. I knew we were working out at about the same speed because I ripped through my power cleans but was not as fast as he was on DU's so after I was done with what could have been my third or fourth round I watched him. If he grabbed the barbell again we both had just finished our third and still had our fourth left. If he sat down I was done too.

Bastard walked over to do more power cleans. Damn it.

I ripped through that last round and ended with a time of 11:27. I think. My back isn't happy.

But my liver is happy to be home. And so is my lingering bank account. Next time I get excited to go to Vegas someone please talk me out of it.

I will say this though, because I was on mostly a "liquid diet" in Vegas I lost even more weight. (Which I put back by eating crap when I got home this past week, whatever.) I tried to take a picture but didn't do a real good job, forgot to turn off the flash on my Blackberry. I know I'm going to get stupid comments about this but whatever. I don't usually put pictures of myself on this blog but you gotta show the progress at some point right? 

Okay gang, peepshow is over.

Later,

Rod

RFM Travel Benefits

There's no RFM mileage plan if that's what you're wondering.

No, I mean like I've been trained to endure the hardships of traveling. Like if you're traveling with a young child and carrying all the luggage. Or you have to run to try and make a connecting flight. Or both in my case.

First off the gate on Maui was the last gate farthest away. I carried both duffel bags and my son's overpacked backpack (he's 5-years-old) for what was a 1600 meter sprint as we tried to make the gate.

Then in Portland we had to catch a connecting flight and it was the same drill, except it was across the airport to catch the connecting flight to Seattle. About a football field away.

Then when we got off the plane in Seattle we had to go up a bunch of stairs. And I'm telling you, without RFM training I would have collapsed.

But you know, all that pain does a body good. As I treked through the airport carrying all that stuff I was thinking things like:

"Wow, those suitcase carry workouts are coming in pretty handy right now."

and

"This is kinda like doing deadlifts and running 400 meters except I don't have any chalk."

and of course

"This is much easier than thrusters. I effin hate thrusters."

So rejoice my RFM bretheren and sisteren, one day you will be put to the test and your RFM training will all make sense. Hell, I even picked up my son and ran carrying him and all our stuff at one point.

Didn't even hurt. Hell I was looking around for more stuff to carry. "I wonder if I can carry that woman's kids too? Hmmm . . ."

(Not wanting to trigger and amber alert I decided not to do that by the way.)

By the way, I'm still stuck in Seattle. Long story but I wasn't able to get on the earlier flight from Seattle to Vegas and had to stick with my 4:30 pm departure time. Ah well.

Adios kids,

Rod

She's identified herself

Bump you were right, it was Estelle. Here's the email she sent me today:


Hi, Rod!

It's me, the lady in the parking lot.  I was surprised that you mentioned our conversation in your blog especially since I didn't think you could hear what I was saying over the UPS truck...haha.  I started going to RFM last January but got two injuries (clumsy) and had to start training in May so I stopped going.  I still visit the site because I met some wonderful people and enjoyed my experience that I wanted to keep in touch somehow.

Your "I Hate Cardio" title intrigued me that I had to check out what you had to say.  I swim and do marathons so I, on the other hand, LOVE CARDIO.  It's the weights and strength that I hate.  You write extremely well and I can relate to your experiences.  And I crack up a lot!

So say "hi" to the old timers for me.  And thanks for the mention in your blog...that made my day!  =)

Estelle

Don't be a stranger Estelle, come and visit us sometime!

Rod