On the Road Again...

AMRAP 10 Rounds:

30 seconds Squats
30 seconds Rest
30 seconds Double Unders
30 seconds Rest

740.

Today is Day 2 of 1o of my last marathon work trip. Didn't get to workout yesterday due to some nightmare travel. But, today I made sure that despite 2 hours of sleep last night I fit a WOD in.

My friend Ryan, posted a very timely blog post regarding nutrition on the road. I also spoke to him about his strategies on eating well on the road as well. The bottom line: preparation.

In Harrisburg, PA I was hard-pressed to find a Whole Foods to secure some grass-fed jerky so tonight I settled for a meal alone at Applebee's. As you can see below, my nutrition was all over the place today from skipping meals to downing mashed potatoes at lunch. Before I start weighing and measuring I can do a lot better with decisions around timing and cutting out complex carbohydrates such as bread and white potatoes.

B: None
S: 12 almonds
L: Meatloaf w/ gravy, mashed potatoes with gravy, mixed veggies, 1.5 c of whole milk
D: Chicken breast sauteed in peppers, mushrooms and onions, 2 spoonfuls of mashed potatoes and side of broccoli

It's the Little Things

Clean and Jerk
5-5-5: 165#, 185#, 205#
Rest
AMRAP Pushups = 63
Rest
Tabata Situps and Pushups = 185

Today was an average day. I went into the 10AM WOD without a good night's rest or anything in my stomach. Thus, I set myself up for mediocrity. Beyond adequate preparation, today I also learned the value of little things.

For instance, the clean and jerk done fast at light weight looks and feels simple. For someone who possesses above average strength, muscling up 135 pound clean and jerks is not excessively strenuous. However, dial that weight up to 200+, and form and technique make the difference between a finished or failed rep. Olympic lifts are fun because they are violent and aggressive, yet also technical. And the skill is what separates an average lifter from a great lifter.

Similar to life in general, it is the little things that will get you ahead. The olympic lifts require patience, dedication and attention to detail in order to improve. These are all skills that will not only translate into improved general physical preparedness, but general all-around preparedness as well.

This lesson was further reinforced by my outing at the track this afternoon with with Aaron M-J, Jon M, and Ryan P to do 10 100m sprints. I felt slow on round one and pulled up lame (a la Michael Johnson vs. Donovan Bailey) at the 70m mark. I'm still humiliated.

Again the little things came into play. I still have lingering muscle strength imbalance in my legs from knee surgery about 7 years ago. I attribute this injury to this because the exact same thing happenned during the last time I tried to sprint 1oom at full speed about 3 years ago. To this day, my left leg (on which I had knee reconstruction) is significantly weaker than my right leg. On most WODs, this doesn't impair me or my right leg compensates. However, in a sprint there is no masking weakness. Similar to the olympic lifts, it will take patience, dedication and persistance to improve the strength of my left leg. But, if I want to attain a higher tier of fitness, it is the little things that will get me there.

Train harder,

Ian

Back (Squat) Pain

Back Squat
5-5-5-5-5

225-315-365-405-425

Finished with 1 round of the Tuesday 06.09.09 Workout: Tosh

C2: 3x( 250m +500m+ 700m)

5 mins flat

Upon entering PCF today I was greeted with a couple remarks to the effect of "ohhh of course Ian shows up on squat day." The sarcasm was all in good fun and well-played because the back squat is one of my strongest lifts. But, it's all one of my least favorite.

Why? Because squatting heavy hurts. Anybody is who thinks loading 400-500 lbs of steel on your back is fun, must be on some nice painkillers. Lifting heavy is uncomfortable, and it should be cause it's a signal that you're a pushing your body to it's upper limits. If you approach a heavy set and a thought questioning your ability to complete the set never enters your mind, then you need to step back to rack and add more iron.

If it feels good, you're not lifting heavy shit.