I have nothing clever to say.

Weight Day:
Front Squats
135x3
155x3
175x3
185x3
195M
195x1 (PR)

Then

Pick up a 95lb barbell, and without racking it, perform:
Strict presses to exhaustion
Push presses to exhaustion
Push jerks to exhaustion
8/3/2

About 5 months to go . . .

Ehhh. I'm over it. Bring back the snow. Yeah, yeah, today's weather was beautiful blah blah blah. Get real -- it has been pouring for weeks and it's gonna be 101 degrees in the blink of an eye. Let's get back to the season that matters.

Tonight's "Fun"
400 m run*
21 burpees, 21 squats, 21 sit ups
400 m run
15 burpees, 15 squats, 15 sit ups
400 m run
9 burpees, 9 squats, 9 sit ups
15:52
*My first four-hundo clocked at 1:16 -- slow in the grand scheme, but fast for me. I'll call it progress.

New Tradition . . .

Jason has started a new tradition of Friday Morning Beatdowns and this morning was the inaugural event. Imagine that the trainers and some of the strongest clients from the gym got together to try and break themselves, and that they "blessed" me with an invitation to their party.

Recipe for abject failure? Oh, you betcha'.

Worth it? Absolutely. It was humbling, demoralizing, and inspiring all at the same time, and it'll pay off over time. . . if I don't break my back the way Sickle did.

Friday Morning Beatdown #1:
AMRAP in 60 minutes*
25 Calorie Row
15 Hang Power Cleans @ 95LBS
10 Push Press @ 115LBS
5 Back Squat @ 185LBS
5 Muscle Ups**
1 Deadlift @ 225LBS***
20 Ball Slams @ 20LBS
4 rounds in 1 hour 13 minutes-ish
* Everyone else -- except Sickle, who was sidelined in round 4 by a gnarly pull up disaster -- did ten rounds. Ten effing rounds!
** I managed 3 in the first round, 1 in the second, and 1 in the third. I sub'd 4 pull ups and 4 ring dips for the rest.
*** The rest of the crowd pulled 275lbs. Uugghhhh.

New Target . . .

The Wee One and I have registered for the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase. It looks like a lighter version of the Wahsatch Steeplechase -- it's a little shorter, ascends less -- but looks can be deceiving. The rumor is that this race can be run -- actually run -- in its entirety. For most of us, that wasn't the case last weekend.

But the fun factor will be higher this time. This will be The Wee One's event and I'm just along for the ride. She gets to stress about training, about tapering, about meeting goals. I get to carry her water.

Tonight's fun: Work got in the way of a ride, so I went for a run.
3.6 miles
~1000' of elevation gain
34:40

Back to The Suck.

I returned to the gym on Monday. I'd forgotten how "fun" it is.

WOD: "Nasty Girls"
Three rounds for time of:
50 squats
7 muscle ups*
10 hang power cleans @ 135lbs
26 minutes and change
* I managed 3 muscle ups in the first round, and 1 in the second. For each one that I missed, I sub'd 4 pull ups and 4 ring dips.

I'm not ready to completely re-engage with the daily Crossfit beatdown. If the weather holds, I'm going for a ride tonight.

Not bad . . . and I want a rematch.

4:05:49

We ran the real course, which was awesome. I started slow, kicked it into gear on the climb up Black Mountain, and then my calves started cramping on the summit. Which was not so awesome. I tried everything I could to turn things around -- Gato, water, banana, more water, more Gato -- I would have given my kingdom for a few salty pretzels.

I moved pretty well for the first seven-ish miles of the descent from Smuggler's Gap. For the last two-ish miles, though, I couldn't run more than a few steps before both calves seized and I crumpled into an expletive-spewing ball of frustration.

Objectively, I'm "happy" with my time, especially given the cramping troubles. But I'm still frustrated. My goal was to finish strong and to run across the line. I didn't do it.

I WANT A REMATCH.

Coming into Rotary Park. Cramping at bay, for now. . .



The last three miles of City Creek Canyon. Things went pear-shaped shortly hereafter.

Enough already. Let's do this.

I hate The Waiting. I don't know how to taper, so I just try to "take it easy" and "stay loose," all the while worrying that I'm losing fitness. And worrying about the rain.

The frickin' rain. We live in the desert, yet it has rained enough over the last two weeks to turn the course into a gooey mess. The race organizer has threatened to switch to the "contingency course," which is a mostly-paved 14 mile out-and-back in City Creek Canyon. L-A-M-E.

But the sun is shining right now, and it hasn't rained yet today. With a little luck, I'll be running the whole course tomorrow morning. Until then, I wait . . .

Wednesday:
Two laps in Memory Grove
Easy up
Tempo down

Thursday:
"Stay loose" WOD at the gym
sampler of pull ups, ring push ups, GHD sit ups, hip extensions, and hand stands

Friday:
Chant "don't rain, don't rain"