Fleeting

The past couple of days I have been thinking about how the glory of youth is fleeting.  Not just youth, really, but everything.  All of it is ever-changing and in many ways temporary.  Children grow up, people grow old, pets and people die.  Jobs are temporary as most people switch jobs or careers multiple times in their lives.  I know that I will have at least three more jobs in my lifetime and that is just the guarantee.  I have to move (at least twice more), try my hand at brewing and eventually open my own gym or brewery.  Three (even though that lists four).  I have held at least 13 different jobs (not including stay-at-home Dad) and have never been fired or downsized.  I have been on countless boards and committees and have held all sorts of volunteer positions.  I started a Fantasy Sports group that has managed to stay exciting and lively for 8 years now.  Some people think that what they are doing today is what they will do forever.  Even those who stay with one thing for decades will likely have multiple jobs for that company and will see the responsibilities of that job change constantly.  If we are able to step back and look at the big picture, we realize that everything is changing even while we are looking at it.  Even Facebook friends "unfriend us" but we always find new ones. 

The important question that needs to be asked is "are we changing for the better?" 

In fitness terms I can take measure very quickly.  Every time I run I can tell if I am faster, slower or just in the same neighborhood (sometimes literally).  When I perform a lift I can tell quickly if I have improved since the last time I performed it or if I have gone backwards.  In my estimation, staying the same is the same as backsliding.  If you aren't improving, if you aren't getting better, then you are on the decline. 

What does that mean?  Once that decline begins, our youth is spent.  I want mine to last forever.  It won't.  Eventually we will all grow old.  Our bodies will be ravaged by time and habit.  If we aren't getting better then we are dying.  Pretty bleak.  Pretty simple.  But if that doesn't motivate you to do something, I don't know what will. 

I fear the day when my deadlift and backsquat weights are declining.  Once I know I can no longer set a PR because when I was in my 30s or 40s I was lifting more, I think it will signal to me that the decline has begun.  At the same time, it is possible to improve through our 40s and into our 50s.  There is so much technique, body mechanics and muscle memory involved that we can still get faster and stronger.  But we can't wait.  There will come a point when the body starts to decline. 

If we start working at it right now, we can achieve fitness.  By practicing with that fitness we can live a longer healthy life.  I don't want to be stuck in a chair.  I don't want to be unable to play with my grandchildren.  HEALTHY life.  I don't want to live to 100 but have the last 20 years be painful and inactive.  So I work.  Everyday is a new challenge.  What are you doing today to become a better person?  Fitter, faster, better parent, more patient, better employee?  Lasting change isn't accomplished overnight.  It takes time and effort.  Whatever it is that we want to achieve, we need time to achieve it.  The only way that I know I can maximize the number of tomorrows that I have is to do the right things today.  With more tomorrows I can attain all of my goals and dreams.  Without them I am already dying.  What will you do today?

WOD
3 Rounds for Time
Run 800 meters
20 Thrusters (75/45)
15 Burpees

Phineas and Ferb

Ione won 4 tickets to see "Phineas and Ferb" live at the San Diego Sports Arena.  Lisa was the lucky one that got to attend the show with the girls.  The amazing part is that Ione hardly ever wins anything.  Gwen and Tessie have had fortune smile on them, but for Ione this is one of the first times and certainly the "biggest" or "coolest" prize.  The prize was awarded to one child who filled in their entire reading chart for the summer reading program.  There were three such children in this house, so we had a solid chance.  Tessie was the one in the promotional photograph as she attends Storytime regularly while the others are in school.  Summer reading was a brief window of attendance. 

I came home and did a WOD and cleaned up a little.  We had Gwen's Girl Scout bridging from Brownies to Juniors today.  I never left the gym today as between classes we had a "marketing meeting" or discussion and covered programming and schedules.  I came home to meet the kids after school, went to the bridging, picked up Tessie, passed the kids to Lisa at her office and came here.  What is my point?  My point is that I drank hardly any water today.  I wanted to my third "Fit Wars" WOD today.  I didn't feel my best, so now I have to do it on a Friday night when I should be drinking beer. 

Today I did the following WOD and you should too:

7 Minute AMRAP
5 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (95/65)
10 GHD Situps
15 Air Squats

I made 5 rounds and then the SDHP and 8 Squats.  I went right to squats on that last round to save my ABS for the Toes to Bar in the Fit Wars WOD tomorrow.  I could have done more rounds, but honestly I was lollygagging as the GHD made me worry about Ab tenderness for tomorrow.  Unlike me, but it happens.  I just want to get these WODs done so I can hang around waiting to hear if I made the finals.  Tomorrow and then if I am feeling it maybe go do the final WOD Monday night and be done with it.  That would require me to eat well the weekend.  Always a challenge.

Gymnastics

Ione had her second gymnastics class today.  While I understand that she is just a beginner and has a lot to learn and many skills to develop, my appreciation for what they do is at an all-time high.  Gwen had done Gymnastics for a while and it was great, but I didn't understand at that time just how many practical applications there were for gymnastic skills. 

So as I watch Ione I have an entirely different perspective than I did 4-5 years ago watching Gwen.  I can see the flexibility, coordination, balance, agility, strength and power elements so much clearer.  I have Crossfit to thank for that.  I think that playing any sport is a good thing.  Gymnastics is just one I have come to admire. 

The WOD:

5 Rounds for Time
15 Push Jerks (95/65)
15 Hand Release Pushups

Fit Wars

So, being a competitive person, I tend to look for opportunities to compete.  I would like to think it is simply measuring myself against other people.  I usually don't win at these things, although I do have some age group awards from races and lots of finisher medals.  I have won a few Fantasy Sports awards also.  I just like to compete.  I am a sucker for pickup basketball or softball.  I will play horseshoes, bocce, croquet or Memory like it is my job. 

When Lisa found an advertisement in the paper that said "we are looking for the toughest athlete in San Diego" and was sponsored by 6 Crossfit gyms and the Marine Corps, something inside me said "I have to do that!" 

So now I am two weeks into the 4 week "open round" to determine the 12 fittest males and 12 fittest females in San Diego.  Those 24 athletes will compete on live television for the title of "Fittest in San Diego."  I have no idea if I can make the finals, but that won't stop me from trying.  There should be a mutlitude of "20-somethings" whipping my butt and securing their places in the finals.  But will they?  I have learned in my life to never underestimate how hard I can work, how much I can take and how much I can accomplish.  All you do is limit yourself.  You will never find your potential if you have already put a lid on yourself.  We all have adversity in our lives.  The way that I have learned to cope is to block out all of the distractions and focus very intensely on the goal at hand.  Last evening as I did my 2nd WOD for the contest there were two classes of Crossfitters watching me.  The class that had finished and the class that was about to begin.  It was only a 7 minute AMRAP, so it didn't take long.  I knew they were there but I blocked them out.  They had nothing to do with my potential.  Would I have liked to squeeze out a couple more reps?  Always.  Was I pleased with my results?  Yes.  Was I satisfied?  No.  We can always get better.  Competing with others is a way to push ourselves to improve.  When you become a big fish in a little pond, the only way to improve is to move to a bigger pond.  You will always be humbled.  You will also be driven to improve. 

So if I qualify I will send you the weblink to watch the final on November 4.  Jenn's father won the National Amateur Golf Championship  a week or two ago.  That is the way that I want to grow old. . . still competing and still trying to improve.

I didn't post a WOD yesterday, so I will post two today to be done between now and Monday. 

WOD #1
12 minute AMRAP
1 Deadlift
1 Box Jump
1 Double Under
Add one rep to each movement per round.  So the second round is two of each, then three, then 4 and so forth until 12 minutes is up.

WOD #2
21-15-9
Thrusters (95/65)
CF Standard Hand Release Pushups
Wallballs

Clock issue

So the WOD for today is one that is best done with someone keeping the clock for you.  I prescribed this WOD for the gym today, but I don't know if I will make it there to do it.  I should go, but I don't know if I will.  Tessie is home with me today and I teach P.E. at the school this afternoon.  I also want to run some and would have been able to do both if I had gotten up at 5 like I had planned.  I had a hard time falling asleep last night and I am going to blame that on the coffee I drank at 4 o'clock while watching Ione at gymnastics.  I will do something today.  Don't ever worry about that.

The WOD:

Max Reps in 15 minutes

20 seconds pullups
20 seconds pushups
20 seconds squats

Post number of total reps to comments.

On the Run

I have taken for granted for too long my running ability.  I haven't been doing exclusively running workouts for most of the past 10 months.  I will do them when the Crossfit cycle calls for it and have neglected my running beyond that.  I have several races that are coming and would like to add more.  I need to put more time into running however.  I am fit from a Crossfit perspective, but I am not as good of a runner as I have been at any point in the past 6 years or so.  Practice.

The WOD today:

15 Minute AMRAP

10 Push Press (75/45)
20 Back Squats (75/45)
30 Situps

Deadlifting

Perhaps my favorite lift that we do in Crossfit is the deadlift.  I love it for its simplicity and for its complexity (if you are doing it correctly).  Today in the three morning classes at the gym EVERY SINGLE ATHLETE set a new PR on the deadlift.  That includes me, albeit with some grunting on the 1 rep.

So today. . .

Strength:

Deadlift--  Build up to a one rep max.


WOD:

5 Rounds for Time
15 Kettlebell Swings
30 ABMAT Situps

Blog fail

I need to get my blogging in order.  I missed a day here.  I have twice failed to get the WOD for work up this week. . .in three days.  Plus a fail last week.  I suck lately.

Today's WOD:

50 Double Unders
25 GHD Situps
40 Double Unders
20 GHD Situps
30 Double Unders
15 GHD Situps
20 Double Unders
10 GHD Situps
10 Double Unders
5 GHD Situps

Back into things

It is high-time to start blogging again.

The WOD for today:

5 Rounds for time

5 Hang Power Cleans
5 Push Press
5 Pullups
10 Situps

3-D

So my children are sitting in the other room watching the previews before their movie.  They have seen it before, but they are excited.  They are wearing 3-D glasses this time.  It won't work, but they are stoked!

We went to see "Brave" in 3-D and took the glasses home with us.  Somehow this evening as the movie was getting set up they decided that they needed their 3-D glasses.  I am surprised that they were able to find them honestly.

So I will see how long this lasts before they get frustrated.  Even the 9 year old seems to think that this is going to work.  Maybe I will put mine on and pretend that it works. . . that would be really funny, right?

The WOD:

5 Rounds for time

Run 400 meters
Rest 1 minute

Post total time to comments.

Low Motivation

Periodically I will find myself sinking into a slump.  It doesn't matter what is going on and how "not in a slump" I had been.  This summer I have been exercising regularly and have maintained my weight.  With almost two weeks of house guest, weight maintenance is something to cheer about.  Even when things are going well, it doesn't take much to start me down the slippery slope that is the road to lost work capacity.  I have been setting new personal records at all sorts of lifts and workouts, but if I don't reverse the trend of the past two weeks or so I am going to have to build back up again and that is a two month process just to be sniffing where you were. 

Recognizing the problem is the key.  I have recognized it and hopefully can reverse it before it gets to be a real problem.  How did I recognize it?  I have found myself only getting up early on the days I have to work.  Normally I would get up early on my off days to run.  I have been saying "yes" to dessert more than I have been saying "no."  I missed a workout on Monday for the first time in over three months.  The clincher though was yesterday when I caught myself "stress eating."

What set it off?  Something small, but troubling for me.  Now that I am working again, albeit a limited schedule, I like to work.  I have always liked to work.  Perhaps it is why my hobbies have always taken on a very scheduled and regimented feel.  Training for marathons, lifting, Crossfit, beer and wine making. . . I enjoy making things into a "job."  The past few weeks I have been "given the noon class off."  I am sure that most people would welcome not having to go back to work and would enjoy just getting the rest of the day off.  Not me.  I thrive on schedule.  Once my schedule gets interrupted all hades breaks loose.  I waste time and will turn to all sorts of sinister things like eating too much or watching too much television.  I like to have something to do.  So when the call came yesterday I found myself immediately eating a grilled cheese.  Chipotle jack cheese is awesome, but grilled cheese is not my ideal fare.  I followed that up with some ice cream and cookies with the girls for dessert after lasagna for dinner.  Normally after eating a high glycemic food like pasta I will pass on dessert.  Not this time. 

So I have decided to come clean with those who might be reading.  Perhaps calling myself out here now will prevent this from continuing and leading to the inevitable 5-10 pound weight gain that then takes two months to get off again.  Perhaps I will stay on target with training for Marathons.  I know what needs to be done, I just need to do it.

The WOD:

7 Rounds for time

5 Back Extensions
7 GHD Situps
9 Pushups
11 Air Squats

Hooray!

Monday is almost over and blogger is finally letting me post.

I won't be writing much for that reason.

WOD:

Run 800 meters

13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,1
Push Press (75/45)
Knees to Elbows

Run 400 meters


Post time to comments.

Sesame Street Live

Lisa and I took the girls to see Sesame Street Live this evening.  Tessie and Ione loved it!  Tessie was beyond ecstatic.  Ione was very excited about the characters and having the opportunity to shake their hands.  Gwen, as I feared, is past the prime age for Sesame Street appreciation.  She sat and ate popcorn.  I could tell that she felt it was childish.  I was hoping that we might sneak in this one last opportunity to prove that you can have a 9 year old who has the innocence and excitability of a toddler.  It just doesn't happen.  She probably enjoyed the show more than she was letting on, but she definitely was playing "too cool."  They received some free USO bandanas and a little Elmo twirly light that I guarantee would set you back at least ten bucks if you went to Sesame Street Live in a basketball arena somewhere.  Free entertainment courtesy of the USO and the Marine Base.  Well, almost free.  The popcorn and slushies set me back $22.50.

Strength:  Power Clean 3-3-3-3-3

The WOD:

3 Rounds for time
Row 500 meters or Run 400 meters
15 Burpees
25 Double Unders

Cashout:  25 Pullups

Obama Brew

So tonight I learned that the Obamas brew beer in the white house.  Pretty cool, right?  They use honey from a beehive in the garden.  Awesome, right? 

So without having do any research on policy and position I know that I have at least one thing in common with the President. . . we both think that homebrew is a cool thing to make and a cool thing to share with others.  I wonder if he is practicing so that he can open his own brewpub when his current gig ends?

Warmup:  30 Lunges (15 per side), 4 x 20 second planks.  Weight the lunges with dumbbells if you feel strong

WOD:
25 Front Squats (95/65)
Run 400 meters
35 Situps
Run 400 meters
50 Pushups
Run 400 meters
35 Situps
Run 400 meters
25 Front Squats (95/65)

Post time to comments.

Cashout:  25 Good Mornings with a bar

Dogs in my yard

Someone left the side gate open last evening.  I am not pointing any fingers. . . you know who you are.

This morning there were two dogs in our yard.  For one of them it was his second visit.  I tried to corral them as I know where at least one of them belongs.  They would have none of it.  At least this time they weren't accompanied by a little boy in his underwear.  Ahh, there is the story.

One Sunday, about a month ago, we were cooking breakfast and one of Gwen's friends was here as they had a sleepover.  The window over the sink in the kitchen looks into the backyard, and honestly half the back wall of the house looks into the backyard with three sets of double doors.  So, suddenly we see a black dog.  By the time we could move to try and find out where he belonged we noticed he was followed by a little boy in his underwear.  He was a plump little boy with a british accent.  Suddenly I felt like I had been transported to a novel set in the 1800s. 

There was no little boy today.  On that other day, Lisa, Gwen and Tiffany (Gwen's friend) transported the dog and Zane (the little boy) back to their home. 

So the moral of the story is:  keep your side gate closed unless you like being surprised by random dogs and children.  Actually, my fear is that they wander into the yard while we aren't here and the gate swings shut and locks them in.  Could you imagine being a parent and not knowing where your dog and kid are at for 8 or 9 hours? 

The WOD:

21-15-9
Thrusters (95/65)
Box Jumps

Failed Jokes

So this morning I made a joke during the 6 AM Crossfit class.  It was missed.  I chose to not pursue it and then perhaps point out that I am not that funny.

Everyone was talking about the heat as I had the class stretching outside.  It was a solid ten degrees cooler outside this morning.  They were talking about when it would break.  I said, "it will break on Saturday because that is when they are coming to fix our AC unit."  Everyone was excited that it was going to break, but they didn't realize that I am no weatherman.  Maybe it will cool down, maybe not.  If it doesn't then perhaps they will get my joke.  I still think it is ridiculous that "heat" in San Diego is if it gets up around or above 90.  Even 80s makes people squirm.  72 and sunny is the way to live I guess.

Warmup:  25 Pushups, Row 250 meters (run 200)

Strength Training:  Shoulder Press 5-5-5

The WOD:  10 Minute AMRAP

5 Pullups
10 Situps
15 Air Squats

Cashout:  10 Tire Flips

Might as well sweat more

It is hot in San Diego right now.  Not like Georgia hot or New Orleans hot.  Just San Diego hot.  Maybe 90 or a little above.  We try to use AC as little as possible.  We finally went to give up and turn it on. . . but the funny thing was it didn't work.  It is only 14 months old, but it doesn't work.  Pretty awesome.  So the warranty covers it, but that means they get around to fixing it whenever they feel like it.  Christmas maybe.  Not really, but Saturday.  5 days.  By then we will be back to 70s for the next 11 months. 

When we last lived in North Carolina we had a bum of an AC unit and I used to just run instead of sweating in the 95 degree house.  Once again faulty equipment is going to press me to just exercise.  Might as well REALLY sweat, right?

The WOD:

5 Rounds for Time

10 Overhead Squats
15 GHD situps
20 Pushups

This will be brutal in that hot box garage.  Oh well. 

Jump Around

So why "Jump Around?" 

I have noticed lately that I tend to migrate when doing double unders.  I just creep backwards and could probably do better if I was able to focus on being more upright and hinge-like.

The WOD:

Accumulate 200 Double Unders and 2500 pounds of Push Jerk

Partition the work however you would like to.  5 Rounds of 40 double unders and 10 PJ at 50 pounds for instance.  125# would be 20 reps.  75 pounds is 33 reps. 

Deadbeat

I am a deadbeat blogger.  Better than a deadbeat Dad.  Vacation happened.  I got busy.  I still was working at the gym, but I didn't do anything on the computer.  No sports stuff, no blogging, no Facebook not even email!

So now I will settle back into the groove. 

The WOD:

30-25-20-15-10-5

Medicine Ball Cleans
Pushups
Run 200 meters between rounds

Death by Burpee

That is what we will do for fun today.  Sounds fun, right?

First we need to do some strength training.

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5
Post loads to comments. 

Without squat racks the numbers are going to be dictated for what you can comfortably rack on your body from the ground. 

Then the WOD:

"Death by Burpee"

Do one burpee the first minute.  Two the second.  Three the third.  Four the fourth and so forth and so on until failing to complete that number in a minute. With a continuously running clock up to 20 minutes.  I don't know anyone who can do 20 burpees in a minute so there is no need to go beyond that.

Enjoy!

 The weekend will be welcomed this week.  Two days of rest.  Of course, if you feel like you have the energy, I am telling everyone to Bike 45 minutes for distance this weekend. 

Rocky

I love Rocky.  I like how he overcomes amazing odds.  I love how he trains with raw and basic equipment.  I love how he just wills his way to victory.  I love his stubborness and persistence.  Sure, the 5th movies was kind of a clunker, but you can't deny the brilliance of the overall series.  The two bookend movies, the original Rocky and then Rocky Balboa are just awesome stories that teach a lot of life-lessons.  There are plenty of quotes that I love in the final movie.  The line of "what is wrong with standing toe to toe and saying 'I am'" is great.  My favorite is the "it's not about how hard you can hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.  That's how winning is done."  He goes on about the world will bring you to your knees and keep you there if you let it.  This is all applicable to what we do.  We teach ourselves to do things that we don't like to do or maybe don't think we can do.  We overcome fear.  We improve.  We persist. 

The quote that is resonating with me this morning was from Marie in the final movie:  "tonight you are going to show the world that the last thing to age on someone is their heart."

Great line.  We are never too old to pursue greatness.  We are never too old to do something about our physical shape, educational level, work situation or anything else.  We are our only hurdle between our current selves and our best selves.  Our great selves. 

So don't stand in your own way.

Warmup--  10 Turkish Getups (per side)

WOD

For time

Run 800 meters
10 Pushups
15 Squats
Run 600 meters
20 Pushups
30 Squats
Run 400 meters
30 Pushups
45 Squats

Cashout
25 Back Extensions
15 Knees to Elbows

You are welcome for the back extensions after the squat cleans yesterday!

Squat Cleans

If you do this WOD as Rx'd you will be cursing the squat clean by the end.  Even if you don't, you might be cursing it. 

5 Rounds For Time
Run 400 meters
10 Pullups
15 Squat Cleans (95/65)

Tuesday July 24, 2012

WOD:

In 9 minutes complete 50 Burpees then row as far as you can with what remains of the 9 minutes.  If you don't have access to a rower then run. 

Post distance of row or run to comments.

Begin. . . NOW!

Alright, here it goes.  I am going to fill in all of your weaknesses.  We are going to force ourselves to do all of the things that we don't like to do in order to get better at them.  Unless you don't have access to the necessary equipment.  You will be able to enter the 2013 Crossfit Games Open division!

Skill Work:  Rope Climbs.  Do pullups or "towel pullups" if you don't have rope access.  Towel pullups you drape a towel over the bar and do pullups by alternating your hands up and down to simulate rope climbing.

WOD--  12 Minute AMRAP

7 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (75/45)
14 Crossfit Standard Pushups (hand-release at the bottom)

Cashout-- Run 400 meters, 15 GHD situps, 20 Double Unders

Programming

So next week I will start programming for the affiliate I am working at here 100% of the time.  I had been doing 50%.  So I will also start to sync this page up with the prescribed WODs. 

The question is:  should I tell people there that I am posting them here?  It might be fun to have some more people reading the page.  I need to go through and make sure that I have not written anything that would be offensive or divisive first maybe.  I am not a real controversial guy, but there might be something that I have written that could be taken the wrong way or simply wouldn't be appropriate in the context of the gym.  Perhaps I start at the top and simply ask, "hey, is it okay if I put the WODs here and tell people?" 

What do you think? 

The WOD:

For time:
30 GHD Situps
30 Deadlifts
30 Double Unders
30 Overhead Squats
30 Pullups

The Road to the Games

So lately I have been thinking about the 2013 Crossfit Games.  The 2012 just concluded and there are rumblings around the gym of entering an affiliate team for next year.  Initially I found myself thinking "man we have a lot of work to do to be ready for that."  I was thinking of pistol squats, muscle ups, handstand pushups and lifting loads that are higher than what most are putting up right now.  I found this to be negative self-talk in the sense that I was listing all the reasons that it would not be enjoyable.  Then I realized that working hard and with focus to overcome the weaknesses, work the margins and truly improve overall work capacity is exactly why we are there and why I am employed as a trainer.  Instead of a daunting task, I recognized it as a rewarding one.  Every gain that is made, every second that is shave, every new movement that is mastered will be cause for celebration.  It will move us closer to the goal of truly competing in the games rather than just signing up for them.  Of course anyone is free to register in the open.  In my mind however, if you are going to sign up then you are going to compete.  So we have until next March to try and train our weaknesses.  The focus will be good.  I already know that it will drive me to become a better athlete myself.  I will work out the bugs on my muscle ups and pistol squats and work to build up my rep count on handstand pushups.  Even if we lose, we win.  We will be stronger, healthier and more capable and by measuring ourselves against the world we will know exactly what we need to do in order to beat them the next year. 

My conclusion is a simple one.  Competition is good. 

Warmup:  20 Overhead Squats, 20 Pushups, 20 Situps

The WOD:
Run 800 meters for time
then
TABATA (8 minutes of 20 seconds work/10 seconds rest)
Push Press (75/45) (2 minutes)
Situps (2 minutes)
Pushups (2 minutes)
Air Squats (2 minutes)
then
Run 800 meters for time and try to go faster than the first 800 meters

Cashout:  15 Pullups, 15 Ring Dips

Sharing

I realized this morning that being married is good for helping you learn how to share.  You share your bed, your closet, your bathroom, your kitchen, your cars, your children, bank accounts and your computer.  The computer.  I went to post on here this morning and it was logged in as Lisa.  So rather than try to figure out how to "not lose" my post and get it to my profile, I just fired away.  It made me realize that it is good to share.  The sharing of the computer was noteworthy to me however.  For a while I think I functioned on "my own" computer.  Whether it was just my own self-imposed barrier or some unspoken agreement I didn't do much, if anything, on Lisa's computer. 

This isn't really about the computer though.  It is more about how sharing a life with someone can help to make you better.  Lisa shared Body-for-Life with me years ago.  I lost a lot of weight.  I started to run Marathons and enjoyed sharing the experience of travelling to them with Lisa and the kids.  It was easier to go alone, and I slept better in the hotels but it was BETTER when we were all together.  So this fall and winter I hope they travel with me to Tucson and Las Vegas.  I started Crossfit.  I became a Crossfit trainer and shared Crossfit with Lisa.  When she started to enjoy it, I needed a way to share it with her more instantaneously.  Enter Beerbells.  Now I can share it with everyone.  When we share ourselves and our talents we make the world better.  Last night at Ione's talent show the children shared their talents and it was wonderful to see what some 5 and 6 year olds are capable of.  Similarly there were recognitions for parent volunteers who shared their time.  I share a fair amount of my time as well and realized that what enables me to share so freely is the fact that Lisa shares her life with me.  Together we function as a team and are able to get more done and be the parents we want to be even if we aren't always the parent we want to be. 

So why wouldn't you share?  In a family you share hopes, dreams, laughter and love.  Sharing all the rest of the stuff is pretty easy after that.

The WOD:
10, 9, 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
Thrusters
Pullups
GHD Situps
Kettlebell Swings

Scaling and Adapting

In Crossfit we find a broad spectrum of athletes.  Rich Froning and Annie Thorisdotir won the 2012 Crossfit Games this past weekend, but they are among an extremely small group of elite among the elite among the extremely fit.  Most of us who have adopted the Crossfit prescription are fit.  Sure, we would like to be more so, but we are far ahead of the 67% of Americans who are obese and sedentary.  I know that isn't really a comparison that boosts our Crossfitting ego, but we are already among the minority by simply caring about our health and fitness. 

So sometimes when a WOD is posted at your gym of choice or on your blog of choice (whether it is this one, Crossfit.com or one of the myriad others) you will find that you simply don't have the capacity to do it as "Rx'd."  Let's take for example today's Crossfit.com WOD.  It is one of the "girls."  Today's WOD is "Elizabeth."  Elizabeth follows the 21-15-9 rep scheme for its three rounds.  The movements are the clean at 135 pounds and ring dips.  Now, at the gym I might give this a go as Rx'd.  I would suffer through the cleans at the Rx'd weight and welcome the punishment of the rings as a rest.  Not so when I am at home.  Our home gym is not outfitted with rings.  So I knew that I would have to scale the ring dips to static dips.  When I realized that, I decided that I wanted to add something to replace the core stability training of ring work.  When I recognized that this was no longer a "couplet" (two movements) but a "triplet" (three movements) I decided to reduce the weight for the cleans.  I wasn't sure where I wanted to go though.  I knew that 95# was not enough as I do cleans at 95 in my warmup sets often.  I put 105 on the bar and gave it a pull.  It seemed easy enough so went to move to 115.  Then I decided to not try 115 first but rather 125 to see if I could push myself closer to the 135 Rx.  So 125 it was. 

My point for all of this is that there is no right or wrong way to scale your workouts and adjust your weights as long as you are doing your best to follow the program that one trainer or another is putting out there.  The program is not random.  We  target different movements, weights, times and intensities to try to maximize the impact that they have on your overall health.  Most of the time the WOD will simply need adjustment for the weight, but on occasion you won't have rings or plyometric boxes or some other piece of gear.  If you would ever like me to scale or sub something for you, just ask.  After you practice and learn you will figure out for yourself when you need to modify and also begin to recognize your weaknesses and hopefully move to address them.  The key is not to "go rogue" and just start doing random movements with no trainer input.  Stick to a program and you will achieve the desired results.  We can bias the training for weight loss, endurance, strength and virtually whatever other goal you have.  So come workout with us.  We are pretty strong.

The WOD:
21-15-9
Cleans @125#
Dips
GHD situps

Happy Birthday Ione

Friday the 13th.  Historically I don't care for Friday the 13th, but I am using my mind to overcome that.  It is Ione's birthday and things have to go well on your child's birthday. 

This morning I spent time working on the snatch.  Power snatch, squat snatch and split snatch.  Then I did 30 of them at 75# just to practice technique.  Mostly I stuck with squat snatch but a few weren't deep enough so they were power snatches.  It is a good skill to work on for all of us as it is very technical and fast.  I mixed in some ring rows for good measure, but still we need an actual WOD to do.

3 Rounds for Time
5 Handstand Pushups
15 Double Unders
25 Situps

This will be a fast and furious workout.  If you can't do HSPU then do "pike" pushups with your feet on something and your hips bent in a manner to put your upper body in HSPU position.  If you can't do DUs then feel free to do 3 single rope turn for each DU or 45 rope skips per round.

Enjoy!

Don't get hurt!

Why do I say that?  Because today I am prescribing two moves that can easily lead to injury if they are not done properly. 

Clean.  Lisa went for an MRI last night and has been battling an injury to her radial nerve due to improper execution of a clean.  Just to protect my own credibility, and not to pass the buch, I will declare that she was not being trained by me when the injury happened.  I was providing workouts, but not hands-on coaching.  Hopefully this gives everyone reason to pause.  If you don't know how to execute the move properly and don't have a coach or trainer available at least make sure you watch some video tutorials.  There is no substitute for a trainer who can bark "drop it" if you are doing it wrong however.  Ideally, we train you to do it properly before we ever load the movement with weight.  Plenty of people will revert to some demented form of a clean once the workout begins however.  In any even, Lisa is your cautionary tale.  You can get seriously hurt if you do this wrong. 

Our strength training for today is:

Clean 1-1-1-1-1

We are searching for your 1 rep max (1RM) for this particular lift/movement.

Deadlift.  If you don't deadlift properly two things happen.  One:  you don't lift nearly as much.  When I finally learned to deadlift properly a couple years ago my max load jumped by over 100 pounds.  Two:  you hurt your back.  Thankfully I never did this because I had kept that weight manageable.  I used to max my deadlift around 185 pounds when I was just doing the "gym circuit" method of training.  Now that I have learned proper movements and adopted the Crossfit training scheme I have maxed my deadlift at 330 pounds.  I have a ways to go before I am where I want to be, but with proper mechanics I don't worry about injury anymore.  When I line up to lift a max load I know that I am either going to lift it or I am not going to lift it, but I am never going to get hurt.

The WOD:
21-18-15-12-9
Lunges
Deadlift (whatever your max load for Cleans was)
Pushups

Beginner/Bodyweight WOD:
21-18-15-12-9
Lunges
Hop on one foot (complete the number of reps per side)
Pushups

The scheme, for those who aren't familiar is to complete 21 reps for all three movements.  Then 18 reps, 15 reps, so forth and so on so that the last round you complete 9 reps for each of the movements.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Without planning.  Without intention.  I bottled the peanut butter cup beer a couple weeks ago.  I had 50 bottles total and set it along the wall in the dining room.  Lisa was a good sport about it.  While I am sure she wanted it out of the way, she understands that with bottled beer you need to leave it for a while to make sure it isn't going to explode.  We had a steam beer blow up in our basement in Kansas and it made a horrible mess.  Of course, messes in that house, and the basement in particular were commonplace.  Whether it was Tessie smashing eggs, emptying baby powder bottles, shampoo bottles or the sewer pipes backing up in the basement there was always a mess there.  In any event, the 50 bottles of peanut butter cup beer were still there when it came time to bottle the India Pale Weizen or what some would call a "white IPA."  So I bottled it up on Sunday afternoon and have been using some large bottles as I have nearly filled all of my available 12 ounce bottles.  All said and done I had 49 bottles of IPW.  I set the cases along the wall next to the peanut butter cup beer.  Wait for it, wait for it. . . did you do the math?  99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall!

I noticed this yesterday afternoon.

The WOD:

3 Rounds for Time

10 Pullups
15 Dips
20 Overhead Squats
25 Back Extensions

Beginner/Body Weight WOD

3 Rounds for Time
10 Pushups
20 Squats
30 Situps

Post time to Comments.

Loving It

So, I am one month in (plus a couple days) to my gig coaching/training at the local Crossfit affiliate.  I love it.  I find that I am pushing myself harder, eating better and spending more time developing my skills than I have since I was at IMCF.  I have had spells of working hard and eating well here in California and my Beerbells posting certainly helped with that.  The accountability of telling others about what you do is motivating for me.  What I find to be even more motivating is the responsibility of coaching and training others.  When I was just filling in or just working with the Crossfit Kids program it didn't have the same punch.  Now I find myself wanting to push people to develop their own "arc of improvement" and I find that my default personality is to try to lead people to do that by showing them that I am willing to do it myself.  I do difficult WODs with them if the group is small and the movements are less technical.  If there is a risk of injury or serious mechanical flaw I spend the whole time watching.  I have found a rhythm in coaching technique.  Gentle reminders.  One word cues.  Standing in front of the person and doing what I want them to do as a way for them to think about the movement.  If you aren't squatting deep enough I will squat in front of you.  If you aren't going down far enough on the pushups I will do those in front of you.  After I remind them a few times I start to feel like a nag using verbal cues, so I just do it.  It seems to be working and makes me feel better because there is no doubt that I am willing to do what I am telling you to do if I am doing it with you.  Follow? 

Anyway, this whole Crossfit thing is a remarkable journey for me.  It has truly changed my life and continues to do so.  If asked, I will suggest trying it to ANYONE.  Yesterday, a guy walked in and said "I need to lose 40 pounds, can you help me do that?"  Absolutely.  If you want to lose 40 then we will help you lose 60 and make you stronger, faster, healthier and able to jump higher then you ever thought possible.  He said, "I don't think I can do even one pullup."  I assured him that many of us can't when we first begin.  One of the women stopped her workout to come over and extol the virtues of Crossfit to him.  I hope he joins us.  Each person who joins a community and improves their own life also improves the lives of those in that community.  We all get stronger when one of us gets stronger.  We find motivation.  We find discipline.  We find the best version of ourselves. 

The WOD:
For Time
75 Thrusters

Omelette

Since I am posting in the morning I have a new muse.  My breakfast.  This morning I chopped up the portion of the onion that didn't go in last night's tuna salad and mixed in with the eggs.  Then I added some cheese and turkey and bang!  What a great omelette.  I have guilt associated with eating cheese, but it was so delicious.  I have guilt eating bread too.  Paleo is somehow embedded in my brain.  I am sort of on the Zone Diet.  I know that with the Zone there is no "sort of" but I am using the principles of its portions and ratios.  It is just tough to fit beer into any performance diet.  I am performing well though so I won't complain.  Maybe if I get more strict on the Zone I can see what happens.  It is worth a shot.

The WOD:

For Time
50 Air Squats
10 Push Press
40 Air Squats
15 Pullups
30 Air Squats
20 Push Press
20 Air Squats
25 Pullups
10 Air Squats
30 Push Press

Chick Flicks

Okay.  I will admit that I have seen way more than my share of the made up genre of "chick flicks."  I am a good sport about it.  I think.  I have seen plenty of Sandra Bullock and Rene Zellweger movies.  I have seen all of the Twilight movies.  I have gone way past just movies though.  If I leave the living room and the remote control is unguarded I can quickly go from the seventh inning stretch to "Sex and the City."  I can (and sometimes do) watch sports 24/7.  So when I return to the Dodgers vs. Giants game and find that Lisa has pirated the remote and has us watching reruns of Sex and The City and America's Got Talent I just grin and bear it.  I don't mind all that much as it makes her happy. 

The really disturbing part for me however was when we were watching last night and I remembered an episode.  Not only that, but I remembered other episodes because I saw certain characters and I know there is a plot line that involves the bald lawyer and the dark-haired girl.  I actually wonder why she isn't in more movies as she is very attractive and could surely be a leading lady. . . unless she doesn't act that well.  Anyway, this is the part that has me worried.  I know enough about these shows to have thoughts like that.  I know that the next Twilight movie comes out in November.  Do most men even know what Twilight is?

Oh well.  I can also tell you that Tim Lincecum is having an off year.  Kevin Youkilis has had hits in both games he played for the White Sox and R.A. Dickey is baffling people with the knuckle ball.

The WOD:

10:2  Handstand Pushups: Burpees
8:4
6:6
4:8
2:10

Skills:  Work on Double Unders

Vista

Lisa, the girls and I spent some time on a pub crawl in Vista, California this weekend.  I am continually impressed with the quality of the breweries here in San Diego.  I am fascinated with the "tasting room" business model and love the additon of the food trucks to make food available.  I am amazed that this hasn't caused a full-on "beer revolution" in this country.  The reduced overhead costs associated with starting a brewpub make it possible for any talented brewer to get something off the ground.  Why are there so many talented brewers in San Diego?  Maybe it just feeds itself.  People work in one brewery, learn the trade and then move on to a new brewery.  From what I have read about Portland this kind of thing happens where one brewer or owner ends up having been involved in 4 or 5 breweries over a decade or two.  I am pretty excited to give it a try myself. 

So anyway, we went to Latitude 33 Brewing, Iron Fist, Backstreet Brewery and Mother Earth.  Backstreet was mediocre but the pizza was good and it was the only restaurant or "brewpub" of the bunch.  I think I enjoyed being at Latitude 33 the most.  It was a little quieter and felt more laid back.  Mother Earth was the grand opening of the new facility so it is tough to judge based on Saturday.  Iron Fist was enjoyable but was just a beat off for me for some reason.  Backstreet has the look about it of a place that will soon be a "former brewpub" if they don't change something. 

Anyway, the WOD for Monday June 25:

50-40-30-20-10
Box Jumps
Air Squats

Since Monday is mostly over I suppose you might be able to do it Tuesday

June 19, 2012

Skills:  Push Jerk
Get as close to 1 RM as possible on Push jerk in 5 attempts
1-1-1-1-1

Then
14 Minute AMRAP
7 Deadlifts
14 Kettlebell Swings
21 Pushups

Food Stands

My kids LOVE them!  They think that going to Costco is one of the greatest destination vacations known to man.  I do have to hand it to them, they mix it up with the variety.  Today the girls had peanut butter cups, chocolate covered acai berries, lemonade, brownies, cheddar popcorn, yogurt and probably something I am forgetting.  We bought some sockeye salmon and pistacchio/cherry mix for a salad topper.  My weakness was front and center for just a moment. . . even though I make a lot of beer and wine and we have probably twenty cases of beer around when you add in store bought and the kegs. . . I can't pass up a good deal for something out of the ordinary or even just that I haven't had in a while.  Firestone Walker has debuted mixed cases at the local Costco and for $23.99 I couldn't say no.  They are one of my favorite "large" microbreweries. 

To finish the story, or my reason for telling it, I had an idea:  tour all of the local Costco stores some weekend day to see if I could feed my kids on nothing but "Food Stands" as they are affectionately known by the three girls I call daughters.  I think that the real challenge will be to try and feed them three balanced meals using nothing but "food stands."  Start early and maybe nab some cereal, yogurt or breakfast burritos.  Maybe turkey bacon like they had today.  For lunch we can search out the sandwiches and maybe some fruit or a little bit of soup.  Dinner we should be able to come up with some fish or meat.  Maybe a salad of one sort or another.  Desert will be a snap. 

So, should this be a goal of mine?  I think it would be great fun.  It would be even better with video and photos turned into a "mockumentary."  I have dreams too.

The WOD:

5 Rounds For Time
15 Sumo Deadlift High Pull
15 Wall Balls
30 Situps

Sub for wall balls if no medicine ball is available should be a front squat with just the bar. 

Flag Day

Today we honor the flag.

Burpees for the blue because I like alliteration.

Pullups for the red because if you do enough of them your hands will bleed.

Situps for the white because it is a pure movement.  Simple enough for a child.

50 Reps of each for the stars on the flag.

The WOD:

For time:

50 Burpees
50 Pullups
50 Situps

Blog Identity Crisis

So what happens to a blog when its original reason for existing is null and void?  Evolution?  Execution?  Greatest Hits infomercials? 

Lisa is home.  That is a wonderful thing for my life and my family.  It has however cast a pall over the world of Beerbells.  I know that Jenn and Kevin are still reading.  Is anybody else?  Do Jenn and Kevin read all the time?  Occasionally?  I need a new mission statement.  I would feel like Jerry Maguire, but I rarely eat pizza and I don't have a goldfish.  Even worse, I am working in earnest at the gym now so I have to mix in the WODs that are done there a few days a week.  I can't even do my own Rx'd WODs part of the time.  Unless. . . I start to double up.  Back when I began Beerbells I was doing two WODs most days and running too.  I was strong, fit and fast.  Now?  I am okay. 

I have been living a life of fitness for long enough now that I have come to understand that there will inevitably be some times when you are not at your peak.  Cold winter months in Minnesota.  Hot summer months in Kansas.  Busy months of coaching youth sports and being involved in Girl Scouts.  Classes to take and visitors to entertain.  The key is to adopt fitness as a habit.  It needs to be your Monday to Friday 9-5 type of routine.  It doesn't matter which days you workout, but 5 or 6 per week isn't a bad idea.  So the past two weeks or so was an "off" time for Beerbells. 

I still don't think I have answered the question of "what is the future of Beerbells?"  I will continue to post WODs.  Hopefully I will continue to have interesting things to say.  If I end up being the tree falling in the woods, then that is okay too.

The WOD:

3 Rounds for Time
Run 400 Meters
15 Overhead Squats
10 Kettlebell Swings

Feel free to sub 500 Meters Row or 50 Double Unders for the Run if you are forced to do so as I often am on account of having a child that I don't want following me 200 meters down the road and back.

Burpees

I have done a lot of them since Lisa came home.

She was finishing the "100 Day Burpee Challenge."  There was a three day backlog so one day we did 288 of them.  That was rugged.  The next day was 21-15-9 of front squat, burpees and pullups. . . I did that WOD twice.

So 378 burpees in two days.  Pretty awesome, right?

For tomorrow:

Practice Handstands
then

5 RFT
25 Double Unders
15 Back Extensions
10 GHD situps


That will do.

Friday

For time:

30 Snatch
100 Situps

Mainpage

Today we will do the "mainpage" Crossfit WOD.  It is good to try and follow the main site for at least some of the time and some would say "all of the time."  Every once in a while something pops up there that we can be limited by due to equipment or ability and while scaling is always an option we need to remember to work on our weaknesses and never sacrifice our mechanics and try to not sacrifice our intensity.

So the WOD as prescribed on Crossfit.com for Tuesday:

21-15-9
95# Front Squat
Burpees
Pullups

Should be fun following the 100 pullups and 200 pushups of Monday. . . it will make us stronger.

Memorial Day

Well, I couldn't find a specific WOD for Memorial Day.  Crossfit has numerous "hero WODs" that are in memory of fallen service members, police officers and firefighters. 

This is one of the earliest hero WODs that I remember doing:

"Murph"
Run 1 mile
100 Pullups
200 Pushups
300 Squats
Run 1 mile

You can partition the work however you like.  Unlike "Angie" you don't need to finish all the pullups before you move on to the next movement.  I am probably going to just go with max reps for pullups and then try to hold 20 pushups and 30 squats as long as I can.  If I could do ten rounds like that I would be thrilled.  Max Rep pullups will start out over ten, but will fade quickly. 

Post time to comments.

Eleven Questions

Okay, so Kevin tagged me to do this "blog" challenge.  Crap.  I fashion myself a "non-blogger that keeps a blog" but I like Kevin, so I will play along. 

I am one of 11 he tagged, and I am supposed to tag 11.  I don't read 11 blogs unless you count the various Crossfit affiliates whose cyberspace I haunt, but I doubt they would appreciate this as they are "strictly business" and I am more of a whimsical trainer.  I don't think that there are eleven people who even read this one.  So here is what I will do.  I know that Jonny, Fish and Jenn keep blogs, so I will tag you and anyone else who reads this and keeps a blog or knows someone who keeps a blog.  I am going to throw a little wrinkle into this and ask that anyone reading this blog answer the 11 questions I post after answering those assigned to me in the comments. 

Here goes.  In yellow below are the questions Kevin sent me.  My answers follow.

1. Which movie best describes your life?I don't know if it is true or not, but I would like to think "Rocky Balboa."  I am not a boxer, but I am a crazy old man that still thinks he can do the things he did years ago.  I also like the idea of not backing down from any challenge.  There are some others I could choose, but this is as good as any. 
2. What is your favorite comic strip? Peanuts.  Charles Schultz sealed the deal being from Minnesota.
3. Who or what is your favorite Star Wars character? Han Solo.  I too am a scruffy looking nurfurter.  I do dig Yoda's wisdom though.
4. What song can you listen to over and over ad over? Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash "Girl from the North Country"
5. Are your farts loud, silent but deadly or in between? When my diet is on, neither.  When I eat like crap I am toxic and volume doesn't really matter does it? 
6. Who is your favorite stand up comic? George Carlin, then Adam Sandler but Louis C.K. is pretty funny.
7. If you were stranded in the desert and your wagon lost a wheel, how many pancakes would it take to cover a dog house? Damned if I know.
8. Are you allergic to anything? Shrimp.
9. What is your ideal vehicle? Bicycle, or my own two feet.
10. Would you put one of those ridiculous stick figure families on your ideal vehicle?   I don't do tattoos.
11. If we were to look in your browser history what would we find in the top ten? Sports sites, fitness sites, Facebook, email, news, Youtube. . . nothing exciting. 

So my eleven questions for all of you and for myself, to be answered in the comments. . . with two minutes rest between each question.

1.  How many pushups can you do in 2 minutes?
2.  How many situps can you do in 2 minutes?
3.  How many squats can you do in 2 minutes?
4.  How many pullups can you do in 2 minutes?
5.  How many burpees can you do in 2 minutes?
6.  How many double unders can you do in 2 minutes? 
7.  How many box jumps can you do in 2 minutes?
8.  How many lunges can you do in 2 minutes?
9.  How many handstand pushups can you do in 2 minutes?
10.  How many dips can you do in 2 minutes?
11.  What is your favorite beer?

Graduating

Today Ione's teacher called me in after school.  She was thrilled with our Field Day, but wanted to talk with me again about Ione's writing.  She has come along with her reading and other things and I was informed she will graduate to first grade.  There is concern with her writing though as she will need to do more of it.  So now I have another project.  My crash course and intensive reading program will shift to writing.  Her teacher is phenomenal and I was honestly okay with her doing kindergarten again if she could stay in her class.  But first grade will make her happy as she has great friends and all those parents will be a nice circle for us to stay with. 

At the same time she again wanted to thank Lisa for her service and praised the job I have done with three girls by myself.  I admitted that I feel I could have done better, but I did the best I could at the moments along the way.  I always want to have done more.  I always want to do more.  Crossfit, running, child rearing. . . I want to live up to my own expectations. 

Tonight I am carrying around some weird guilt about a toilet that I can't unclog.  Tessie flushes entire rolls of toilet paper and this time the toilet won't drain.  I can't plunge it.  I can't snake it with the makeshift coathanger.  So tomorrow it is off to the hardware store for reinforcements.  I hope this isn't my "bad luck" Kevin posted about.  If the toilet is the whole of it I will take that though.  I am hoping it slowly drains overnight so I can assess the situation tomorrow.  I think I might be getting sick to boot.  I felt bad yesterday and today.  Working in a cesspool of a bathroom is not making it better. 

Field Day was a smashing success.  Ione's class dominated the long jump, which I took great pride in as that was the one thing I had an effect on with coaching.  They finished second in the relay, which I attribute to the hundreds of miles they have done at Running Club.  We are trying to push so every child earns at least a medal at the end of year ceremony.  Some are going to come up short, but many will get a medal and quite a few ran even more and will get a trophy.  Two more months of kindergarten.  I will have to start dropping the girls off to run alone on Tuesday and Thursday so I can make it to the gym for 9 AM.  Life evolves however and they have had my support every day this year.  Gwen and Ione will each reach the 100 mile mark and Tessie is nearing the 50 mile mark (47.25 as of today). 

In honor of all that running the WOD for tomorrow:

Run 5 miles for time.

Field Day

Okay, so I was volunteered to be the Field Day coordinator for either Ione's class or the whole kindergarten.  I don't actually know.  Information from "the top" is sparse.  I have assembled a crack squad of parents (read those I talk to the most so it was easiest to get them to volunteer).  The mom who was supposed to do refreshments ended up in the hospital, for what I don't know but being hospitalized when you are not having a baby at our age is serious.  So I was pressed into action of securing refreshments, when Ernie, one of the other dad's who frequents the school and in fact does an awful lot of volunteer work in the classroom, says to me "I am going to Costco anyway, I will pick it up."  Awesome.  I am going to have to write "thank yous" after this as these folks are making it too easy for me.  Anyway, the girls and I picked up some oranges and grapes and Ernie has the rest.  I bring the coolers of ice. 

So while shopping for fruit at Sprout's, which is like a whole foods/farmer's market, the girls asked for spinach and heirloom tomatoes for dinner.  Sold.  We mixed in some cottage cheese and crackers and that was our "dinner" today. 

Tessie and I toured what will be her new preschool today.  She is very excited and asked me to drop her off on our way home from the gym today.  No separation anxiety to deal with.  She won't start for a few weeks and I am just hoping to pick up enough hours to pay her tuition.  I am hoping my wages are adjusted for San Diego like the tuition is.  On the plus side, I mentioned that she wouldn't start until "after Mom comes home from Afghanistan" and I was notified of the 10% military discount.  I am falling into all sorts of good luck today.  That is my life though.  Fraught with good luck.  We keep the hard work quiet and it makes everything "look" easy. 

Another tell of our good fortune:  Tessie's storytime teacher, who had us over several times since Lisa left including Thanksgiving after I got stitches, volunteered to take the girls for a weekend so Lisa and I could have a "weekend getaway" after she has been back a while and is ready for a childless outing.  What good fortune I have!  I finalized my work schedule at the gym and taught Crossfit Kids this afternoon.  Even Tessie and Ione were doing thrusters and pullups in the "kid version of 'Fran.'"  Great day. 

Now on to Field Day tomorrow and hopefully more great times. 

The WOD:

Row 500 meters
20 Deadlifts
Run 600 Meters
20 Deadlifts
Row 500 Meters
20 Thrusters
Run 600 Meters
20 Thrusters

Post time to comments. 

If this looks familiar it is what I did today.  Tomorrow I will do what you did today.

Heat Wave

It was up to 75 degrees in the house today.  That is hot here in San Diego.  I wouldn't care really, but the upper end for the yeast strain I used in the scottish ale I brewed yesterday is 75 degrees.  I am hoping that it isn't going to leave undesirable phenols and fruity esters that make it less than what I had hoped for.  I was so thrilled with the mash yesterday and everything went so well.  It will cool down tonight, but if it warms up tomorrow I may have to move it to the coolest room off the garage and keep the kids out of there.  Bummer.  I was hopeful that it would be the best beer ever.  Time will tell.  It is fermenting like crazy.  All is not lost as the range is 64-75.  Hopefully the air temperature only raised the liquid to maybe 73 or 74.  I can hope. 

The WOD tomorrow will be fun as I won't get to it until after story time with Tessie and it will smack in the heat of the day. 

The WOD:

I am stealing this one off or Iron Major Crossfit. 

Skill work:  Wall climbs

Start in a pushup position and climb your feet up the wall to a handstand.  Practice until you are comfortable.

Then:

75 Double Unders

Rest 3 minutes

Then

18 minute AMRAP
5 Wall Climbs
10  Box Jumps
15 Kettlebell Swings

Bottling Day

So today I sanitized 97 bottles and then filled 95 of them.  I scraped the seven or so bottles that I wanted to throw into the rotation and then spent a long time scrubbing them out so that I could fill them.  First up was the peach/apricot ale.  Fifty bottles of that in the end.  I sampled a little bit of the uncarbonated stuff and it seems like it will be much better than the raspberry/blackberry which wasn't bad.  I followed that up with a second of sanitizing equipment, but at least the bottles were already done.  Then I mixed up a 4 gallon batch of root beer and put that into bottles.  I "cut" two to weaken the flavor for Gwen.  I actually reduced the sugar on all of it as I am not a huge fan of super-sweet soda and figured that if I am making it then I can make whatever the heck I want.  So I reduced the amount of sugar and then replaced some of that reduced amount with honey.  Why?  Why not!  Did you miss the sentence about "I am making and can do whatever I want?" 

In any event, there are 95 bottles of something or other along the wall in the dining room now.  If ever there was a time when bottles were going to burst this is it.  I had a steam beer blow up in Kansas, but there is so much more sugar in these two concoctions that I fully anticipate cleaning up a mess.  We'll see.  I left a little extra headspace on the bottles of root beer to try and beat the odds.  The yeast strain is the same as you would use for bread so it shouldn't make much gas and no alcohol. 

The WOD:

5 Overhead Squats
15 Pushups
25 Situps
10 Overhead Squats
30 Pushups
50 Situps
20 Overhead Squats
60 Pushups
100 Situps

Post time to comments.

I will go with maybe 75 pounds for the OHS.  65 if I am struggling with form and 95 if I am feeling "beast-like" as there are still 35 reps to knock out.

T-shirts and Recorders

Tonight was the "Recorder concert" for the third graders at school.  Gwen told me that she HAD to have a pair of sunglasses for the concert.  I tried to convince her to wear mine or one of the numerous pairs floating around.  Nope.  So we went to the store to buy sunglasses.  She didn't like anything I suggested and I was getting pretty irritated.  Finally she found a pair that set me back $20 plus tax.  Ugh.  She is so particular, but in a "pair of jeans and a hoodie" kind of way.  Not only that but the other two insisted on getting a pair for themselves.  Since they each found something under ten dollars I caved.  While I was at it I picked myself up a pair as I am always breaking them anyway.  All said and done $61 worth of sunglasses.  I could have made 5 gallons of beer for less than that!  Even better, out of 100 third graders there were about 8 that had on sunglasses.  But Gwen was one of them!  I hope someone noticed that I am such an awesome Dad.  Doubtful.

Anyway, the recorder concert was surprisingly good considering that it was a bunch of nine year olds blowing on plastic flutes.  I will hand it to the Music teachers, those kids not only performed but they were all on the beat and everything sounded harmonic.  They only played about 20 minutes but the place was smoking hot for San Diego so that was all anyone could bear anyway. 

Afterwards we did baths and snacks and I did some laundry.  This is where the t-shirts come into play.  My closet here is of a width that Lisa figured out a very specific way of folding t-shirts so that two rows would fit on each shelf.  I wear t-shirts pretty much all the time.  Except for church.  So for the past 7 months I had been folding them however I could get them neatly folded quickest.  They didn't fit as well.  About 3 weeks ago I realized that Lisa would be home eventually and my closet really looked like crap.  So I did what any guy would do and did nothing. . . at that moment.  I pledged to start folding my shirts the "proper" way when they came out of the laundry and eventually the situation would rectify itself.  I am so freaking smart!  So tonight I was folding up the shirts and smiling at my genius as the closet is really coming together.  Not only that, but I actually have disciplined myself to fold them that way and now it is a piece of cake.  It is not that crazy "japanese shirt folding" trick I once figured out, but it is all I need for now.  Someday we will move and I will be folding them the wrong way for about a year before I am motivated to adjust to the new environment.  This is why I loved Glacier National Park.  I can relate to glaciers.  I am constantly moving.  But I like to take things slowly. 

The WOD:
12 Minute AMRAP

5 Knees to Elbows
7 Back Extensions
9 Dips
11 Hollow Rocks

Post rounds to comments.

Salmon Burgers

Yeah, I know that it sounds kind of gross.  But it isn't. 

I had some hamburger and hot dog buns left after our BBQ with Oscar on Saturday.  He was supposed to be back tonight so I went shopping in search of "something to serve on buns." 

I wanted some kind of chicken, pork or fish.  Well, I picked up some bratwurst and more hot dogs for the kids.  Hot dog buns solved.  For the hamburger buns I found some bratwurst patties.  Now, I love bratwurst and I love burgers.  This interesting new synergy was too good to pass up despite the fact that I know full well it can't be healthy.  Since there were six buns and only four brat patties, the salmon filets cut into neat little rounds and flash frozen were the winner.  They were on sale for $3.99 and I love me a sale. 

Fast forward to 4 o'clock.  Oscar calls.  There was a "going away" and he caved to the peer pressure and had a few drinks.  He is gunshy about driving after even one until he gets promoted.  So now I have a crapload of meat and me and the girls to eat it.  So I did what any reasonable person would do.  First I ate a salad to make sure I didn't overeat in the higher fat fare.  Then I had a 22 ounce Amber Ale from Ballast Point.  Then I had one of my own "deporter" porters.  I ate a salmon burger which was very good and half of a bratwurst that Ione thought she wanted until she tasted it.  I ate some "california blend" vegetables and cleaned the kitchen.  Then I realized the coffee pot had some dregs in it.  I mixed up an iced coffee with Bailey's irish cream.  I am on my way to the moon tonight if I don't slow down.  Good thing I have a nice WOD planned for tomorrow.  Pay special attention because we are going to do this one over again on July 11 regardless of what day of the week that is.

"Seven Eleven"
Seven rounds for time
11 Burpees
11 Squats
11 Pullups
11 Situps
11 Pushups
11 Box Jumps
11 Lunges (per side)

Post time to comments.

Tuesday May 15, 2012

I have nothing witty or clever these days.  Well, I might have something but it would just make everyone sad.  I don't do sad.  Life is meant to be fun and enjoyable.  Nobody likes a downer.  Just have a good time and some parties when you can. 

The life insurance people are coming to poke me tomorrow.  Evidently they didn't poke me enough months ago.  Since my application was filed I had a birthday and they want to check me some more.  It is a good thing that I am interested in this transition to a new setup or I would just keep the old policy.  This is a hassle.  Just because it is the way I roll, I drank a bottle of wine tonight to make sure I look and feel my best.  I know that they are doing their jobs, but I know that I am one of the healthier 36 year old males out there and find myself perturbed that they won't take my word for that.  That is not what I wanted to talk about.

I love the brew catalog and the homebrewer magazine.  Even though I have more beers that I want to make then I will ever have time for it doesn't stop me from coming up with even more ideas.  Some day when I own my brewery I will be able to make everything I want and maybe a little bit more.  I don't want to be sucked into the trap of always making the stuff people "expect" but I know that will happen.  Even if you brew professionally you need to homebrew because where else can you make things like a peanut butter cup beer?  You sure as heck don't want to sell it in your pub.  Unless you already know it is really good.  This isn't what I wanted to talk about either.

Okay, so this life insurance thing.  They said "no strenuous activity 24 hours before."  I didn't listen.  I was thinking "what could they possibly be looking for that would be worse because I did a workout 22 hours beforehand?  It is just like when they did the EKG and the guy said to not workout.  Then he came and he apologized for "not knowing I was in shape."  Crazy world we live in.  I don't think I realized that only out of shape people got new life insurance policies.  I have been asked at least 50 times if I have lost or gained a lot of weight in the past 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years.  Nope.  Maybe 9 years.  But they didn't ask that.  Again, this isn't what I wanted to talk about.   

That is enough of that. 

The WOD:

Run 400 Meters
25 Pullups
Run 400 Meters
50 Pushups
Run 400 Meters
75 Situps
Run 400 Meters
100 Squats
Run 400 Meters
75 Situps
Run 400 Meters
50 Pushups
Run 400 Meters
25 Pullups
Run 400 Meters

Post time to comments.

Monday May 14, 2012

5 Rounds for Time
5 Front Squats (75/45)
10 Pullups
15 Pushups
20 Situps
25 Push Press (75/45)

Then run for a while.

Nitrites and Nitrates

So as I continue my slow creep, it is more like a surrender, despite the fact that I know it is better for me and my family I am always on the lookout for a way to feed everyone better food without paying exorbitant prices. 

So this next little story was a HUGE surprise.  I found some coupons for Oscar Mayer Naturals.  I wasn't sure what they meant, but I had high hopes.  So I checked it out and lo and behold the bacon and the hot dogs are free of nitrites and nitrates and are uncured.  Cool. 

Now I know that hot dogs are still probably not the best option, but the kids love them and I have only bought them once since our wandering/camping excursion last summer.  The bacon has to be good, right?  With my coupons I only paid $2.50 per package of bacon (they aren't pounds anymore--12 ounce) and 1.99 for the hot dogs.  Just to add some fun I bought one package of Chicago recipe and one package of New York style and I plan to do a "taste test" for the kids to see who wins. 

I know that hot dogs and bacon are not really newsworthy, but the fact that this whole healthy eating thing has companies the size of Oscar Mayer thinking this way is very exciting.  Imagine what another ten years will bring if we can stop getting fat and start getting fit? 

The WOD:

Run 5 miles
Every quarter mile do 10 pushups. 

Post time to comments.

The Vacuum Cleaner

Not once.  Never.  In the past thirteen years I have no memory of ever catching the cat, Nomar, with the vacuum cleaner.  I don't even remember getting close to him with it honestly.  So why?  Why is he is so afraid of it?  He has lived all but a few weeks of his life with us or with a friend or relative that watched him on one of our moves.  I am pretty sure that none of them ever tried to suck him up either. 

He flees as if his life depends on it every time the vacuum is turned on however.  Even if he is under the couch or the bed and the vacuum comes on he evacuates as if it is emitting nerve gas. 

Sierra would just lie there and I could have sucked her tail up with it before she moved.  So there is the difference between cats and dogs I guess.  Cats don't trust you.  Dogs don't know how to not trust you.  I have no point for this and really don't care about how trustworthy my cat finds me.  I just think it is funny to see him flee when the vacuum comes on.  It could be a fun game. . . but then he would be justified in his terror. 

The WOD:

5 Rounds For Time
5 Deadlift
7 Pullups
9 Thrusters
11 Pushups

Peaches

They are small, but they are good and they are free! 

I picked about 10-12 peaches off a tree out back.  They weren't ripe when I picked them.  Today they were and they didn't last long.  The girls destroyed them!  I did get to try a couple as well.  Pretty good.  I hope some more come through the year like the grapefruit and tangerines do.  Lemons as well.  Good crop this year. 

In addition to those fruits, let me tell you about "little apples."  Manzanita Brewing in Santee is bottling now and I picked up their IPA last week when I was hanging out in the plaza near the vets office an awful lot.  If my Spanish is correct, then Manzanita is "little apple."  This seems appropriate with the fruit post, but also because last year when we were in Manhattan, Kansas for Lisa's graduation from Kansas State with her Master's we went to Little Apple Brewing.  I thought that this was a rather clever name for a brewpub in Manhattan.  Manhattan, Kansas.  So I am enjoying this IPA tonight which is great.  I am usually more of a Double IPA and Imperial drinker.  Most "regular" IPAs leave me wanting in terms of body and flavor aside from the hops.  Not this one.  I am not sure if it has a higher original gravity or not, but they sure did manage to squeeze in a lot of flavor. 

So that is whay I have for you today. . . and, oh yeah, one more thing:

15 Minute AMRAP
15 Box Jumps
15 Pushups
15 Situps
15 Squats

Pancake Mix

Can someone tell me why you have to pay more for the pancake mix that requires you to add eggs, oil and milk than you pay for the kind that you just add water? 

I KNOW that there is more processing involved to hydrogenate that stuff so that it can sit on the shelf for 17 years, so why is it cheaper?  I moved to the "old school" stuff as a healthier option.  I don't think I am going to bother with pancake mix anymore.  I am going to pirate Lisa's buttermilk pancake recipe and then maybe steal one from my father for the sake of variety.  I don't use mix for waffles, so why should I do it for pancakes?  None of it is exactly health food, but I don't want the ultra-processed crap. 

The WOD:
20 Minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds as Possible)
Run 400 meters
10 Pullups
15 Pushups
20 Situps
25 Squats

I just know that this is going to hurt tomorrow after my run today.  That is life.  I am glad that I am able to do it.

Run like a dog

Run as fast and as far as you can today.

Enjoy it.  The fact that you are able to do it means that you are alive and healthy.  Pay attention to what you see, what you smell and what you hear.  Use your senses.  If you are indoors, I am sorry.  Still try to look, listen and smell. 

Post the details of your run here.  Most of all, have fun and take joy in your physical capabilities.

Void

I have nothing. 

I can land on a topic.

There is nothing coming out of me on any of them.  I don't want to cheat anyone out of a workout however. 

Just remember to always do your best.  Leave nothing on the field.  No regrets.

Clean
3-3-3-3-3
then
3 Rounds for Time
5 Handstand Pushups
10 Pullups
15 GHD Situps (2:1 for regular situp sub, so 30)

Trestles

This was the name of the beer I tried tonight.  An average to slightly above average IPA from Left Coast Brewing in San Clemente.  The idea behind their name is that it is an "escape" beer.  Get away to the "special" place. 

I thought of how I used to ride the train back and forth between Erie, Pennsylvania and Pittsfield, Massachusetts during short breaks from college.  Typically that meant November and March.  I was able to watch the countryside roll past as the last of the leaves were falling and then again as the snow was melting and buds were starting to form on those same trees.  I used to look forward to those train rides.  I met a lot of interesting characters over 4 years.  Train buffs or elderly that never bought into air travel, they all had a story to tell.  There were others, but they tended to be more mainstream and could have been any one of us. 

In the years since then most of my train rides (except for one through Amish Country in PA and one through the Manassas area of VA) have been on public transportation.  Atlanta, Washington D.C., Minneapolis, San Diego, Chicago and Boston.  They are all interesting places and those I rode the most have left images of the passing neighborhoods burned into my memory.  Especially the train in Minneapolis.  Countless trips and romanticized images of neighborhoods that many simply call "home." 

So that is my takeaway.  My life has taken me from one place to another.  The train takes us from one place to another.  It takes us from start to finish.  All of the stops and images along the way are the things that make it special.  The people we meet add the flavor.  For some people the places we pass are the start or the end.  They are someone's "escape."  When it is our own story, those places are simply part of the journey. 

The WOD:

Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1
then
10 Minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds as Possible)
20 Lunges
10 Pushups
20 Situps

I know I typically don't give workouts for the weekend, but I didn't prescribe anything for a few days this week.  Take your medicine!
 

Nelson Hops

So if Lisa ever had any doubts that she is constantly on my mind, today is a day that could be used as a symbol of how omi-present she is in my thoughts. 

The girls and I were at the store to pick up some more bland foods to feed the ailing dog.  As I am nursing Sierra, hopefully, back to some form of health I have one goal and that is to keep her healthy enough to see Lisa again (yeah, I know Sierra is blind. . . I will turn the light on for her).  That is "exhibit a."

Exhibit "B" would be that while we were in the store today I noticed Sam Adams Noble Pils and Lattitude 48 IPA, neither of which I had seen in a while.  I thought of Lisa, as those are both beers she enjoys.  The real clincher however was when I saw the limited release beer from Widmer Brothers in Portland.  Nelson Imperial IPA.  When we first arrived in Southern California we went to a few brewpubs and breweries.  There was one particular hop variety that Lisa really didn't like.  Since we know a little bit about beer, we had isolated it and suspected it was nelson.  My best comparison is cat urine.  I shared this comparison with my father when he and I were pub crawling.  He hadn't picked it up initially, but once I said it he admitted to not being able to shake it.  Hey, Dad, you are welcome for me ruining an entire swath of beers for you.  Anyway, today in the store I noticed this Nelson Imperial IPA.  At first I just kept walking as you would imagine I would.  BUT, I couldn't help myself.  It was an opportunity to confirm my suspicions.  It was an opportunity to give it another shot.  It was an opportunity to "have a beer with Lisa."  So I have opened the 22 ounce bottle.  I jotted down my tasting notes and now sit with about 18 ounces remaining in my glass.  The beer is really well done.  The malt is sweet and tasty.  That hops!  So "cat urine-y."  Delicious.  So, Lisa, it is confirmed.  I will think of you as I finish my beer.  It isn't bad really.  Just makes me shake my head with each sip as to why this is desirable in a beer.  Must be for people who smoke.  Their palates are wrecked anyway.  This is strong enough to register. 

The WOD:

TABATA

Double Unders
Pushups
Squats
Situps

2 minutes for each exercise in the format of 20 seconds max reps and 10 seconds rest.  Total of 4 rounds per movement.  The score is your LOWEST number of reps in a round for each of the 4 movements.  I learned the hard way on TABATA long ago.  I busted through 20 or 21 reps on pushups.  Held it for round 2.  17 for round 3 and then 12 for round 4.  It would obviously be better scoring wise to hold 15s.  Okay, that is all I have.  Sorry for my brief absence.  I have been a little distracted.  None of you would have liked what I had to say the last few days anyway. 

Tea Cups

Maybe one of you will be able to tell me what story this is.  The priest at church today was the old "pastured pastor."  He is entertaining and always surprises in that he isn't "old school." 

The homily today he talked about a children's story with a talking tea cup.  The tea cup told its story to grandparents shopping for a gift.  The grandparents had commented on its beauty.  The tea cup replied, "I wasn't always beautiful."  The tea cup told a story of being wet, ugly and formless clay.  It told of being plopped on a wheel and being spun around until it was disoriented and wanting to be ill.  It pleaded for the potter to stop.  Not yet.  The tea cup told of being punched and poked and formed and how that hurt.  The tea cup begged for the pain to stop.  Not yet.  The tea cup told of being put into the furnace and encountering heat so intense that it didn't think it could survive.  Stop!  Not yet.  Then the tea cup told of being painted by a woman and encountering noxious paint fumes and being overwhelmed.  The tea cup begged for it to stop.  Not yet.  The tea cup then told of being placed back into the furnace, but the heat was even hotter and more intense than before.  Please stop. 

The tea cup was not always beautiful.  The tea cup suffered through a great deal of pain.  Once the pain passed, the beauty remained.

So it is with life. So it can be with Crossfit.  We will suffer through some pain.  We will feel as if we cannot endure anymore.  If we don't quit, if we allow ourselves to go through the pain, that pain will pass.  When that pain passes, the beauty will remain. 

21-15-9
Knees to Elbows
Thrusters (95/65)

Beer

I made you smile, didn't I?

Who doesn't love beer?  I REALLY love beer.  I am sure that statement would make some people roll their eyes.  Let me explain. 

It is not just drinking beer that gets me excited.  I love to make it.  I love to shop for it.  I love to shop for the ingredients to make it.  I love the colors, the smells, the flavors and the process.  I love a neat row of freshly capped bottles.  I am learning to love being able to pull the tap handle and fill whatever size glass I dare.  Not just beer.  I love wine.  I love mixing beer with mead, wine with mead.  I am not crazy about mead though.  It is the process of making braggot or pyment that excites me.  I have made hard cider and that was awesome too.  I love that my daughter, Gwen, enjoys helping me.  The other two get excited, but don't help as much.  I think they are learning to love the process, the colors and the neat rows.  Today I was racking my malbec for its final phase before going into bottles.  While doing that I started preparations for bottling the raspberry/blackberry fruit ale that I made.  I just think a keg of fruit beer would overwhelm me, so bottles it was.  When I stacked the cases of bottles near the back door so that they could be scrubbed and sanitized the girls all asked "are you bottling beer?"  My affirmative reply elicited a "yeah (yay)!" from the assembled crowd. 

So on we went.  Filtering the fruit the yeast feasted on and the dead yeast was of above average difficulty for beer.  Gwen was undaunted.  She assisted me the entire way.  She was rinsing buckets and hoses.  She loves to use the "jet washer" for rinsing the sterilized bottles.  She is my "cap placer," and "bottle arranger."  We bottled it up and she loves to write the three letter codes on the caps that tell us what nectar is inside.  Today was "FAT" for "fruit ale tart."  She thought that was funny. 

Anyhow, in the process there are always little bits of sludge in the bottom of the buckets.  I filtered out the wine sludge and let it settle.  We had a few ounces of the beer in the bottom of the bottling bucket.  I let Gwen try it.  She said the wine was "like the wine at church."  Interesting comparison.  I will rattle on about that another day.  Let me say this:  if the wine in church tastes like that I need to start taking the wine at communion.  The beer was cool.  It tasted nice even with no carbonation.  She marvelled at all the seeds in the bucket and that it was "all that was left" of all the raspberries and blackberries."  The yeast did its job.  We had discussions about force carbonation versus bottle conditioning.  While I am sure we have discussed this before, my ability to show her both in action HAS to be a better way to drive it home.  By the time we were done she was excited about "what are we going to make next?"  We ordered the peaches and apricots to make a fruit ale with those.  I ordered the ingredients to make a lager before it gets too warm for lager fermentaton now that I have lagering capability.  I ordered juice to make a Spanish Tempranillo and the honey and pinot noir juice to make a pyment just because I was so happy.  I feel it necessary to explain that the joy of shopping for ingredients is diminished with three kids in tow.  Online brings joy, but not quite as much.  You can't smell and touch. 

This day.  I coached Ione's soccer team in the morning.  Gwen worked with me on beer and wine for the bulk of the day.  I read from from the trilogy we are plowing through tonight.  This day.  Gwen said to me while we were outside on the patio, "Daddy, is this kind of like how you and Grampie made maple syrup together when you were a kid?" 

I love beer.

Blogs

It wasn't all that long ago that I thought blogs were useless and stupid.  My opinion was that it was just an outlet for the extremely narcissistic or those with delusions that someone was going to spot their blog and pay them boatloads of money to write a column for (insert publication here).

My view has changed.  I have numerous friends who write blogs.  I write a blog.  I have always been a "letter writer" but that was because I believed in leaving "footprints" and allowing people to digest what I had to say on their own time and terms.  Phone calls are so forced.  "Here is what I have to say whether you like it or not."  That isn't always the case as somtimes conversations ramble.  Typically one person or the other sets the agenda for a conversation whether face to face or via telephone.  It is just how it must be.  When the magical conversations happen is when both people are at the same place and interested in the same topic.  I love it when this happens.  I am not a fan of being probed or explored, but through a good conversation I will open up to people and tell them things about myself that are normally reserved for those closest to me.  Letters, however, allow you to pour your soul out for the recipient to absorb.  They can read it once or mutliple times.  They can share it with others and discuss.  They can respond thoughtfully when they have time to do so.  This is how it is with blogs. 

Recently I learned that Jenn's back must be better because she pushed her car.  I also learned that a guy I grew up with did the same things I did, but with a whole different circle of people.  I have learned that potty humor never gets old.  I have learned that some people take a long hiatus from their blogs.  Mostly I learned that I have even more friends that write blogs.  One of those friends had written about her beekeeping and was the "advisor" for my little bee removal project.  Blogs are like letters to everyone. 

I am still a little too private to reveal my entire soul as I do in letters to family and friends. . . but I am getting there.  Little by little.  I have learned to appreciate them.  It is like going to someone's Facebook wall to see what is up with them, but you get a lot more insight and a lot fewer Farmville requests. 

So what is the point of all of this?  Getting to know people.  It is a truly wonderful thing.  I have had the fortune to know all of my grandparents pretty well.  I lost them at 21, 29, and 36 respectively with my grandmother still living.  She and I write LOTS of letters.  My two grandfathers served in World War II.  The stories from one were plentiful and the other not as much.  I have been reading lately about the battles that I have the personal narratives for.  It is so fascinating to get to know the man this way.  There are things I read that connect dots.  It is an amazing experience.  I am lucky to have it, but only have it because I took time to get to know him over the years.  I am inspired to investigate more about the other grandfather.  I am sure I can.  I am finding a tremendous amount of joy and inspiration in reading the contextual stories to the personal narratives that I have recorded to memory. 

So in reading the blog of someone, is it possible to discern what it is exactly they are going through?  Perhaps.  Maybe I reveal more than I realize.  I know that some of my friends tell amazing stories that allow me to understand where they are at.  It is impossible for me to know if I am giving the same gift of myself.  I try. 

The WOD:

1-1-1-1-1
Push Press
post loads to comments

then

For time:
20 Pullups
40 Burpees
60 Pushups
80 Squats
100 Situps
post time to comments