Wednesday, March 31, 2021

CrossFit Open 21.3 and 21.4

I was not physically, mentally or spiritually prepared for this year's CrossFit Open. My fitness was doing much better back in October, which was when we should have been doing this Open. I was struggling to keep up my fitness through the pandemic, but I was doing pretty well until November. After my mom passed, I got quite a bit off track. 

And right now, I'm working through some diet changes. I want to feel better, and that means I need to find a baseline and then start experimenting. I'm still working on the baseline, which means I've limited my diet to simple foods - things with ingredients I can read through easily, and not very much variation. 

I haven't been counting calories, but maybe I should be. After my performance for 21.3 and 21.4, I suspect that I am not eating sufficient fuel for doing CrossFit. I'll be looking into trying to eat a bit more, but I've cut out the things that I most want to eat. I guess I'm a bit of a junk food addict, and the withdrawal from chips and Cheetos and candy makes other food seem less appetizing. 

Even though I made a mental note of it, I still forgot that the Open announcement was taking place in the afternoon instead of the evening as usual. So I missed the whole thing live, but I did go back and rewatch it. But the first I learned of the workout was via email. 

I was expecting something with the pull up bar. Toes to bar, or chest to bar pull ups. I thought bar muscle ups would be out, because not everyone has the room to do those at a home pull up bar. In that, I was wrong. We got all three of those in the Rx version of 21.3. Then a complex for 21.4, to give us all that heavy barbell we'd been missing from our lives: deadlift, clean, hang clean, jerk. 

Oh, but I forgot about the rest of 21.3 - so, 15 front squats, 30 toes to bar, 15 thrusters, one minute rest, then 15 front squats, 30 chest to bar pull ups, 15 thrusters, one minute rest, then 15 front squats, 30 bar muscle ups, 15 thrusters. 15 minute time cap, Rx weight 65 pounds for women (95 for men). 

Yeah, I didn't do that. I scaled, which replaces the toes to bar with hanging knee raises, the chest to bars with chin over bar pull ups, and the muscle ups with chest to bar pull ups. Plus the weight went down to 45 for women (65 for men). 

And I didn't even finish that in the time allowed. I've done 65 pound thrusters before for an Open workout. It was, in fact, my first Rx Open workout, the one with 10 rounds of 9 thrusters and 35 double unders. But this year, 45 pound thrusters were almost more than I could handle. The only easy part of that workout was the 30 hanging knee raises. I can hanging knee raise all day! But my pull ups have suffered from the pandemic. I have no pull up bar at home, and I know I've lost some strength. 

I did a few for warm up, and they were hard. I even tried a few chest to bar, which I can kind of do, as long as I do a chin up grip and pull really, really hard. 

But when it came to the workout itself, I was not ready. 

Part of this was because I was feeling pretty emotional. I cried before I got there. Part was because, for the first time ever, I puked at CrossFit. 

It did NOT go down how I imagined it. 

I figured I would one day puke at CrossFit. It's almost a rite of passage. But I figured it would be because I worked so hard, or worked out while hungover. Mid-workout! Or just after. Hard core!

Nope. 

My mask is a lint trap. It sucks in dryer lint, and positions it so that my lungs will attempt to suck that lint right down my trachea. Usually, I catch it in my mouth and that's gross, but merely inconvenient. On Friday, I sucked a piece of lint straight down. A coughing fit ensued, and I headed to my car where I had a bottle of water. 

The coughing was not helping to clear the lint, and neither was the water, so, in desperation, I swiped a finger into my throat to try and clear it. 

As an overweight adolescent, I had considered about a bulimia lifestyle at least one or twice, but I never did it, because I had a hard time making myself puke. 

Not on this day. Part of my dinner made a precipitate reappearance. (I really should chew more thoroughly.) I poured some water over it, but I didn't have enough to rinse it off the blacktop, so I went in and got the coach to help me get the mop bucket out and then I rinsed it off the ground well enough. 

And about 5 minutes later, I was attempting 21.3. 

The first 15 front squats weren't bad, and the hanging knee raises were easy. But the 15 thrusters were slow and painful. My body just didn't want to do the work. The one minute rest went by super fast, and the second set of front squats was harder than the first. 

It took me most of the remaining time to get through 30 pull ups. Mostly singles, because I felt just absolutely drained after dropping off the bar. each time I got a couple sets in, 2s and 3s, even one set of 4. But for the most part, it was just a long trip on the struggle bus to finish those 30 under the time cap. I had time left for 2 thrusters, and then it was time for 21.4.

I had no plans to lift heavy on this. I had already felt my body going weak on the pull ups; I wasn't going to risk it going weak with heavy weights over my head. I got in a set at 45 pounds, just in case. Then went to 65, then 77, then 82 for the last set. I could have lifted a bit heavier, I think, but I was glad to stop where I was. 

I know this is not my best performance. But that will make getting the strength back that much sweeter. And it's quite possible that once I figure my tummy issues out, that I'll be able to build back better and faster. If for no other reason than that I'll not be expending energy on those issues. 

This was a weird CrossFit Open, to be sure, but it was also a good test. A new benchmark after a strange year. 

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

CrossFit Open 21.2

21.2 was a repeat of 17.1 - which I totally called! I actually posted my guess on Facebook, so my fellow CrossFitters got to have a little awe at my ability to get into Dave Castro's head. Well, I guess I'll only be in his head if I can nail 21.3, but I don't have high hopes for that. 

17.1 just made sense to my brain, because after doing a new movement (wall walks) and a movement we usually do with toes to bar (double unders), it made sense that we'd do burpees and something with dumbbells. 17.1 has increasing sets of dumbbell snatches alternating with steady sets of burpee box jump overs. For whatever reason, it made perfect sense to have that follow 21.1. 

I did 17.1 back in 2017 twice, and once in 2019 when it came up during our regular workouts. Scaled all three times, because box jumps are not my friend and a 35 pound dumbbell would be a very heavy snatch for me. The scaled workout allows for box step overs and women use a 20 pound dumbbell. That's very doable for me. However, the 20 minute time cap is tight for me because my burpees are very slow. 

They were faster in 2019, when I finally managed to finish under the time cap. 

In 2021, I was slower. 

Rather to be expected after 2020. In 2018 and 2019, I was going to CrossFit 20+ times a month. I did NOT do anywhere near that in 2020. I mean, I did more running in 2020, but overall, my fitness declined. Plus, I'm on a new simplified diet, which often leaves me feeling hungry or odd. 

Oh, and, well, I did the workout on a Friday night. The day after running 4 miles, and I had gotten up at 4:30 in the morning on Friday to run 4 miles. My legs may have been a wee bit tired. 

But I didn't want to go on Sunday again. I was not comfortable when I showed up and the place was pretty much a maskless madhouse. I didn't get as many reps as I had even in 2017, and I don't even know for sure what my tie break time was because my judge recorded every tie break time except the last one - which was the one I actually needed. 

The workout is painful, even when you don't finish all the reps. My low back especially gets affected by all those dumbbell snatches. 

I'm not as fit as I was two years ago, even though I weigh less. The Open gives me the chance to do these comparisons, to look honestly at myself and my level of fitness, and to make future choices based on what I want my future scores to look like. I'm going to be working on those burpees, which is something that I can do from home. And maybe I'll look into getting a dumbbell of my own for home, but then I'd have to pick a weight. 20 pounds would probably be what I'd pick for general use, but if I want to work up to Rx weights, that's generally 35 pounds for women. 

But right now, at this moment in time, I'm not focused so much on fitness and performance. I'm currently working really hard on getting my gut in line. My current diet is what I called 'simplified' and it isn't the most exciting. I'm eating a small number of foods, prepared in simple ways like steaming. So far, that's working to reduce pain and bloating, but my energy levels aren't super high. It's still a work in progress. 

The open is short this year, with only 3 weeks of workouts. That means next week is the last. I'm looking forward to the next challenge, which I anticipate will involve a barbell and a pull up bar. Maybe some hang cleans with chest to bar pull ups. Oh, or toes to bar! 

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

CrossFit Open 21.1

I haven't been going as hard on CrossFit over the last year as in year's prior. Gee, I wonder why that might be? 

I especially don't like working out with a mask on, but I strongly believe it's the right thing to do. So I suffer through it, and feel super hot and gross while working out. Well, hotter and grosser than usual. There's not really a way for me to do CrossFit pretty. 

The first workout of this year's Open involved an insane number of wall walks and a moderate number of double unders. Okay, maybe the dubs were a bit insane, too, but only if you got past the set of 21 wall walks. 

I chose to scale, because I know I can do one wall walk, and maybe I could do a set of 3, but even the set of 6 would really challenge me, and I wanted a workout rather than trying to do Rx when it's not where I'm at. I'm letting myself make game day decisions on scaled vs Rx this year, rather than deciding ahead of time. 

The scaled version was scaled wall walks - a totally new movement. After practicing them a bit on Friday, I have christened them "wall dogs" because it's kind of like doing downward dog up a wall. There's a piece of tape that goes under your shoulders, and your hands have to start in front of it, get behind it with your feet up on the wall, and then back in front. Reps start and end with chest and thighs touching the floor. 

The total scaled workout was: 1 wall dog, 10 single unders, 3 wall dogs, 30 single unders, 6 wall dogs, 60 single unders, 9 wall dogs, 90 single unders, 15 wall dogs, 150 single unders, 21 wall dogs, 210 single unders. Rx just change the wall dogs to wall walks and the singles to doubles. 

I made it through 11 reps of the round of 21 wall dogs before I hit the 15 minute time cap. I was hoping to finish, but my shoulders just got fried in the round of 15. I had a couple of no reps. 

Overall, I felt good about the workout, and I'm looking forward to 21.2.




Wednesday, March 10, 2021

My Wilderness Addiction

I'm already itching to get outside. 

I want to go hiking. 

I want to go camping. 

I will totally settle for just driving out somewhere wild and hanging out for a few hours. Preferably near a body of water that will trickle or flow or rush by in a soothing manner. 

The apartment feels too small, but even when I leave, I'm in such a city. Which is only partly a joke. Boise is more of a city than the suburb I grew up in, but there are other suburbs of Chicago that are more "city" than Boise. People, and signs of people, everywhere. Cars, houses, walkers, runners, cyclists, apartment complexes... 

The air is perfumed with car exhaust and so much food, along with occasional hints of dirt, grass and growing things, because Boise isn't that much of a city. 

But it's enough of one that even on the Greenbelt, you can hear the rumble of cars on nearby roads, and see houses and offices. One of my favorite parts of the hike up to Lucky Peak via the Highland trail is that there are parts of it where if you look to one side, you see a city, but if you look in the other direction, you could almost be in the wilderness. The mountains just stretch into the distance as if man had never existed. 

Maybe I'll hike Lucky Peak or the foothills this weekend. Still a lot of people, but more chances for being solitary with the outdoors. Breathing in that brisk air, untainted by those civilized smells. Hearing the wind in your ears. 

If there's only one workout for the first week of the CrossFit Open, then I might just do that on Saturday. Or maybe try a drive out towards Nevada on 51, just to see it. If I can't go out and hike, exploring by car would be cool as well, if it's a new area with potential for hiking later. 

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Getting Back on Track

After 11 weeks and change, I broke my running streak and took a break. This week, I'm getting back on track with the running, because consistency is key. My body needed a bit of a rest from running, and I gave it that. But if I'm going to be backpacking in comfort this summer, then I need to put the work in now. 

There's something that Ambrose read a while back about trail running and hiking. That if you can do a 5 mile trail run, then you are ready for a 10 mile backpack. I should have been doing 10 mile runs easily last year before trying for 15 mile backpacking days. This year, I'm going to be prepared, dammit. Even if it's just that my legs are ready to go. 

But I'm also doing a lot more work on my food than I did last year. I'm trying to figure out and tame my IBS by trying to avoid foods that don't actually list all of their ingredients. Natural flavors? Natural colors? Considering there's no FDA definition of the word natural, I can't trust what is covered by those terms. This alone would restrict my diet quite a bit, but I'm also trying to keep things simple so that I can start legitimately testing foods. 

As the weather warms, I will probably break the running streak to get some big mile day hikes in. It will depend on the weather, because I won't hike on muddy trails - that just ruins the trails for future hikes. But I hope to get at least a couple 15 to 20 mile day hikes before June. With a day pack, not a full backpack. It's important to have some weight for training, but fully weighted backpack training will come later, on the trail.

For now, I'll work on getting my long run day up to 10 miles, though I'll probably leave the weekly goal at 10 miles even when I get there.