A New Experiment: Week 4.

I finished my 4-week experiment with MtnAthlete a few weeks ago. The links below provide a summary of the final three workouts of the work-capacity cycle.
Monday (I needed 43 sprints and 39 sandbag get ups; I managed the former and failed the latter.)
Wednesday
Friday (31:58 -- I feel like I killed it on this one.)

The Scientist and I rewarded ourselves with an eating challenge -- 12 cake donuts for time. The Scientist crushed it in 23 minutes. I managed 9 donuts and most of a half-gallon of chocolate milk before my preternatural fear of vomiting shut me down.

The starting line . . .


Right about now we called our buddy Jason, who was attending a nutrition certification in Bozeman. The irony . . .


Nearing the end . . .

A little of this and that . . .

1. My ring has reappeared.

Solid.

2. Coolest. Mug. Ever.

It doesn't hurt that [NAME REMOVED TO PROTECT THE GUILTY] stole this from the Vertical Diner because I was too much of a sally to do it myself.

3. Annie is still cute.

Watching The O.C. together.

4. Looks like my 09/10 Season will begin in t-minus 70 hours . . .

Just enough to hide the knee-shredding rocks . . .

Mea Culpa

I've been slacking, and I apologize.

When I started this nonsense, I was disciplined about updating this thing every 6 out of 7 days. I gained a loyal following of about 3.5 readers, and I was amazed to find that some even left comments. But I've gotten lazy, and I've let them down.

I promise to do better. I can't talk any more about what I actually do for a living because clients and partners don't have a sense of humor about associates spewing sensitive information on The Internets. And I won't ditch all the geeky Crossfit/MtnAthlete/boring stuff -- it's a current infatuation of mine, and at least 1.3 of you give a damn about it. But I can wrap it all in more pictures, more diverse content, and more frequent posts that up to 5.6 people may actually read. For example:

If I'm ever asked to speak at a college commencement, this will be my audio-visual aid.

Wait for it . . .

Freedom is a 30' rope.

Annie needed to stretch her legs -- and I needed to be able to get her back if she decided to bolt. Thirty feet of 7mm perlon and a carabiner later, we both had what we needed.

The Furry Satan learning to follow the trail.

A New Experiment: Week 3

The Mountain Athlete experiment continues. Week 3 wore me down.

Monday:
Warm up: 5 Rounds
Mini Leg Blaster
Rope Climb

Training:
(1) 5 Rounds
10x Front Squat @ 95#
2 minute step up to 20" box, unloaded
30 seconds rest

(2) 5 Rounds
10x Power Clean @ 95#
Run 400m
30 seconds rest
(Looks easy right? It wasn't.)

Wednesday:
Loooooong night at the firm = no morning trip to the gym. I took a couple days off.

Friday:
Warm up: 4x Barbell Complex + HAM - Hip Mobility Drill

Training:
(1) Work up to 1RM Push Press (160 PR)

(2) 6 Rounds
2x Push Press @ 135
3x Hip Swivel - (Lay on your back arms spread wide, palms pressed into floor, knees up and vertical, feet raised off the floor your lower legs are parallel to the floor. Swivel your hips so your knee touches the floor, keeping your palms pressed flat, then swivel to the other side. This is 1 rep.)

(3) 5 Rounds
5x Mr. Spectacular
Tire Drag
5x Horizontal Pull up (Hang horizontal from a barbell or rings, feet on floor or box, and pull your chest to the bar)
Effing tire drags!! So hard.

Saturday: I needed to make up Wednesday's misery, so I headed to the gym . . .
Warm Up:
4x Medicine Ball Complex with HUG stretch between each round

Training:
(1) 5 Rounds for Reps
60 seconds 25m sprint
60 seconds rest
42 (Phew. One more than last time.)

**** rest 5 minutes ****

(2) 10 minute sandbag get up for reps (80lbs).
37 (Seven more than last time. Moving in the right direction.)

**** rest 5 minutes ****

(3) 10 Rounds
5x Pull ups
10x Dips
15x Push ups
(I quit after five rounds. I'm a loser . . .)

I'm an idiot . . .

I have officially lost my wedding band.

The cool thing is, after e-mailing a plea to the entire firm to help me look for it, I realized that I am in good company. Here are a few of the responses I received:

"Good luck finding it! For my brother in law's third ring my sis had his name and phone number engraved inside."

"Haven’t seen it, but don’t feel too badly. My husband left his in the hotel room the night of our wedding."

"Rich, don’t feel bad. I lost my wedding ring in Japan 14 years ago, and I’m still looking for it." (I feel compelled to get the story behind this one.)

But this one, from the secretary down the hall, takes the cake.

"I sold it for a 30 pack of Bud Dry."

A New Experiment: Week Two.

The Mountain Athlete experiment continues . . .

Monday:
Warm up: 4x Barbell Complex

Training:
(1) Work up to 1RM Dead Lift
285 (PR)

(2) 6 Rounds
2x Dead Lift @ 85% 1RM (245)
SAM - Shoulder Mobility Drill

(3) 5 Rounds
6x Bench Press (95 -- yes, benching is a weak spot for me)
Rope Climb
5x Y+L Shoulder Strength Mobility Exercise

(4) 5 Rounds
Lunge Lap holding kettlebells (5 lunges each leg)
Tire Drag (weighted with 70 lbs -- much more diffcult)
HUG - Hip Mobility Drill

Wednesday:
Warm Up: 5 Rounds
5x Burpees
3x Jeremy Special
Instep Stretch

Training:
(1) 6 Rounds
Run 400m (I rowed a 500m instead 'cuz it was cold and raining . . .)
50 Step ups (40lbs)

(2) 5 Rounds
10x Slashers
10x GHD Sit ups
10x GHD Back Extensions
15x Toes to Sky
SAM - Shoulder Mobility Drill

Friday:
Warm Up: 4x Medicine Ball Complex with HUG stretch between each round

Training:
(1) 5 Rounds for Reps
60 seconds 25m sprint
60 seconds rest
41 (Phew. If I had failed to beat my last effort -- 40 -- I would have owed a sixth round. Mountain Athlete refers to this as "adding jeopardy." It works.)

**** rest 5 minutes *****

(2) 10 minute sandbag get up for reps (80lbs).
30. (Jeopardy applied to this as well. Thankfully, I easily eclipsed my last effort of 18. Which makes me think that I really mailed it in last time . . . .)

**** rest 5 minutes *****

(3) 8 Rounds
5x Scotty Bob (25lbs)
Rope Pull
7x Ring Dips (I used a band, because I am weak . . . for now.)