Friday's Episode: "Caleb"

It was my birthday Friday, and while I usually hate my birthday (for reasons I do not care to get into here), one good thing did come out of it: I was able to pick the workout of the day.

Originally, I had wanted to do the rowing, burpee, running workout from the tryouts; however, Bill suggested that we stay away from rowing because a lot of people had been completing the extra rowing workouts for the team (Again, we'll talk about this later.) Not wanting to be difficult, I emptied out the corners of my brain for a good WOD. I quickly narrowed it down to three:

• Harco: Four rounds for time of: 200 meter sprint, 20 jumping pull ups, 30 push ups, 40 sit ups and 50 squats


• Michael: Three rounds for time of: 800 meter run, 50 back extensions, 50 sit ups


• Caleb: Eight rounds for time of: 400 meter run, 8 walking lunges and 8 box jumps (24")

Well, I eliminated "Harco" because I just kind of didn't feel like it; I eliminated "Michael" because I didn't feel like substituting supermans for back extensions; and so I settled on "Caleb." I had done this workout during my second week of CrossFit and wanted to see how I had improved.

In a nutshell, of course, I had improved tremendously. Not only did I beat my old time but I also did the box jumps prescribed; whereas the first time I completed the WOD, I did not. In addition, to improving my time; I was able to spend some time with the Graveyard Gang, which is like living in a sitcom itself. Here's some of the highlights from Friday's episode:

• Garth, shirtless of course, hauled ass and crushed this workout. Yes, it is worth both italicizing and bolding this word; he did that well.
• Tom reminded me mid-third or fourth round that I had no one to blame except myself if I was hating my life at that moment or if my legs were tired or sore tomorrow.
• Both of the gentlemen mentioned above were talking some major booty chatter (aka talking trash).
• Matt went outside to run beside my brother Nate on his last 400 meters, and when Nate reached the 200 meter point or so, he took off like someone stuck a hot poker on his butt, leaving Matt behind him. It was something to see.

All in all, it was an eventful morning, a good workout and a great start to my birthday. I loved the WOD, although I can't say the same for anyone else except for maybe Brian. Everyone was nice enough to wish me "Happy Birthday" throughout the day (I went in to the Fort later for rowing practice) but they also were not shy about telling me they hated my workout (e.g. Mark, Jennie, Season, Zach, Bender, etc.). I'm sure they will have their revenge though someday and our positions will be reversed.

On a side note: Thank you all for the birthday wishes and to those of you who were able to make it out on Friday night. I had an absolute blast and it was by far the best birthday I have had in a very, very long time (not exaggerating here either). So thank all of you. It meant a lot to me. *Tear*

Feeling Dirty?

When I looked at Tommy Mo's blog yesterday and saw that they did "The Filthy Fifty" at the Fort, I decided it was time for a little visit. Despite the fact that "The Filthy Fifty" is a tough workout, it is actually one of my favorites (I know... Crazy, right?). I enjoy chipper workouts though because once you finish that movement - you're done with it. There are sometimes when I'm going through however many rounds in WODs and the last thing I want to do is 21 more burpees or 30 more cleans, but I digress. Here is the outline for yesterday's WOD:

"The Filthy Fifty"

• 50 Box Jumps (24")
• 50 Jumping Pull-Ups
• 50 Kettlebell Swings (16K/12K)
• 50 Walking Lunges
• 50 Knees to Elbows
• 50 Push Presses (20K/15K)
• 50 Back Extensions
• 50 Wall Ball Shots (20LB/14LB)
• 50 Burpees
• 50 Double Unders

Well, let me just tell you how this went down. I completed the WOD as prescribed. My pacing throughout the box jumps went well and it was similar in regards to my walking lunges. I flew through my first 25 reps of my jumping pull ups and then nearly repped through the remaining 25; it was a similar situation in regards to both my push presses and back extensions. I did rep through my kettlebell swings (heck yes!). My double unders were okay, but I needed to push through them faster. Then there was the knees to elbows (K2E), wall balls and burpees.

Remember that wall I ran into before during that other WOD? Well, I bumped into it on my K2E, ran straight into the damn thing on my wall balls and then did it again on my burpees. My form on K2E's could have been a little better; they were decent but I wasn't focusing on laces to bars as much as I should have; instead I was focusing on not swinging (I'm not sure which is more important, but it's most likely the former). As for the wall balls, I don't know what happened except that I hit a wall at this point in the WOD last time. Guess, I need to focus on my wall balls, especially the pacing, because I unfortunately cannot rep through those beasts like Tommy Mo. As for the burpees... Well, I think Matty-Lo was absolutely right when he said: "Those are the worst 50 burpees you will ever do." And just like Forrest Gump said: "That's all I have to say about that."

In the end I finished in 32:19, which I felt okay with since I improved from 33:05. I had wanted to reach 30:00 mark but it may have been wishful thinking. Next time though, next time things will really get dirty.