Thursday, May 21, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Crossfit Ya Ya.
World-Class Fitness in 100 Words:
Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch.
Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds.
Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.
Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy.
Keep workouts short and intense.
Regularly learn and play new sports.
1. Gymnasts learn new sports faster than other athletes.
2. Olympic lifters can apply more useful power to more activities than other athletes.
3. Powerlifters are stronger than other athletes.
4. Sprinters can match the cardiovascular performance of endurance athletes even at extended efforts.
5. Endurance athletes are woefully lacking in total physical capacity.
6. With high carb diets you either get fat or weak.
7. Bodybuilders can't punch, jump, run, or throw like athletes can.
8. Segmenting training efforts delivers a segmented capacity.
9. Optimizing physical capacity requires training at unsustainable intensities.
10. The world's most successful athletes and coaches rely on exercise science the way deer hunters rely on the accordion.
11. Glycogen depletion for fat burning - 1 hour plus at low intensity.
The bodybuilding model is designed around, requires, steroids for significant hypertrophy.
The neuroendocrine response of bodybuilding protocols is so blunted that without "exogenous hormonal therapy" little happens.
The CrossFit protocol is designed to elicit a substantial neuroendocrine whollop and hence packs an anabolic punch that puts on impressive amounts of muscle though that is not our concern. Strength is.
Natural bodybuilders (the natural ones that are not on steroids) never approach the mass that our ahtletes do. They don't come close.
Those athletes who train for function end up with better form than those who value form over function. This is one of the beautiful ironies of training.
Number one rule:
Don't cheat the movement! Don't cheat to get a faster time, don't cheat to lift a heavier weight!
The key to CrossFit is functional movements, performed on a variable set rep pattern with intensity. If the workout of the day involves 21 front squats do not substitute leg extensions and hamstring curls and say you did CrossFit. You will have missed the point behind functional movement. Do not take a workout and do it every other day for a month. You will have missed the point of Variance.
Oh, and your easy days are too hard, and your hard days are too easy, yah.
Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch.
Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds.
Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.
Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy.
Keep workouts short and intense.
Regularly learn and play new sports.
1. Gymnasts learn new sports faster than other athletes.
2. Olympic lifters can apply more useful power to more activities than other athletes.
3. Powerlifters are stronger than other athletes.
4. Sprinters can match the cardiovascular performance of endurance athletes even at extended efforts.
5. Endurance athletes are woefully lacking in total physical capacity.
6. With high carb diets you either get fat or weak.
7. Bodybuilders can't punch, jump, run, or throw like athletes can.
8. Segmenting training efforts delivers a segmented capacity.
9. Optimizing physical capacity requires training at unsustainable intensities.
10. The world's most successful athletes and coaches rely on exercise science the way deer hunters rely on the accordion.
11. Glycogen depletion for fat burning - 1 hour plus at low intensity.
The bodybuilding model is designed around, requires, steroids for significant hypertrophy.
The neuroendocrine response of bodybuilding protocols is so blunted that without "exogenous hormonal therapy" little happens.
The CrossFit protocol is designed to elicit a substantial neuroendocrine whollop and hence packs an anabolic punch that puts on impressive amounts of muscle though that is not our concern. Strength is.
Natural bodybuilders (the natural ones that are not on steroids) never approach the mass that our ahtletes do. They don't come close.
Those athletes who train for function end up with better form than those who value form over function. This is one of the beautiful ironies of training.
Number one rule:
Don't cheat the movement! Don't cheat to get a faster time, don't cheat to lift a heavier weight!
The key to CrossFit is functional movements, performed on a variable set rep pattern with intensity. If the workout of the day involves 21 front squats do not substitute leg extensions and hamstring curls and say you did CrossFit. You will have missed the point behind functional movement. Do not take a workout and do it every other day for a month. You will have missed the point of Variance.
Oh, and your easy days are too hard, and your hard days are too easy, yah.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Big Sur Marathon 2009
Training for Big Sur came at a bad time of year. I took long runs, or tried, while away at shows by running cache-to-cache Georuns. I developed a cough during the final weeks 5 down to 2 that would NOT go away.
So, the training plan is at left, and the actual training is parenthetical at right:
week 16: 188 mins: 8 mi R/108 min Bike (143/5 mi and indoor)
week 15: 190 mins: 9 mi R/90 min Bike (did 198/9 mi)
week 14: 210 mins: 11 mi R/100 min Bike (did zero)
week 13: 210 mins: 12 mi R/90 min Bike (did 78/7 mi Bud Light course)
week 12: 160 mins: 13 mi R/30 min Bike (did 53/5 mi on the zipper course)
week 11: 225 mins: 14 mi R/85 min Bike (did 90 indoors)
week 10: 225 mins: 15 mi R/75 min Bike (did 100/9.5 mi)
week 9: 250 mins: 16 mi R/90 min Bike (did 135 on MTB)
week 8: 250 mins: 17 mi R/80 min Bike (did 230/16 mi)
week 7: 190 mins: 18 mi R/10 min Bike (did 168/14.5 mi georun)
week 6: 275 mins: 19 mi R/85 min Bike (did 55/4 mi georun)
week 5: 275 mins: 20 mi R/75 min Bike (rode 102 MTB)
week 4: 300 mins: 22 mi R/80 min Bike (did zero)
week 3: 225 mins: 12 mi R/105 min Bike (did zero)
week 2: 170 mins: 13 mi R/40 min Bike (did one run/5 mi with hand bottles to loosen up)
week 1: Big Sur Marathon
Training in the early going was pretty strong (and what you're not seeing here was that I was hitting my secondary key days as well). The final 6 weeks was anemic. And so went the race day; strong in the early going with the wheels falling off in the late stages.
Mile splits.
1: 8.45 (First 5 mi are generally downhill, through the trees - wind isn't a factor)
2: 9.03 - 17.49
3: 9.05 - 26.55
4: 9.55 - 36.50
5: 9.49 - 46.39
6: 10.30 - 57.10 (6 to 9, the Point Sur windy corner and long grades)
7: 10.07 - 1.07.18
8: 10.36 - 1.17.55
9: 10.31 - 1.28.27
10: 9.21 - 1.37.48 (Downhill into Hurricane)
11: 13.52 - 1.51.41 (Hurricane Point uphill, mi 1)
12: 12.12 - 2.03.53 (Hurricane Point uphill, mi 2)
13: 9.59 - 2.13.53 (cruising down the backside of Hurricane into Bixby Bridge - the "moment" of the marathon. Blighted only by the snakes writhing about within my calves)
14: 10.31 - 2.24.24
15: 9.54 - 2.34.19
16: 11.52 - 2.46.11 (Walker runs on, Laurie's Relay Leg begins, and my Cramp Legs begin in earnest as you can see by the ensuing times)
17: 12.28 - 2.58.39
18: 14.07 - 3.12.47
19: 13.50 - 3.26.37
20: 14.54 - 3.41.31
21: 16.12 - 3.57.44
22: 15.46 - 4.13.31
23: 12.23 - 4.25.55
24: 13.55 - 4.39.50
25: 12.48 - 4.52.39
26: 16.06 - 5.08.45
Finish: 2.20 - 5.11.06
The cold, the wind, and in the end, the cramping. The hills are what everyone talks about, and they could be a problem for some, but I like hills(!) and had worn a trail into the zipper during training. I was careful not to grind up the hills on the course, and to let the backsides carry me along. I don't understand the theory of maintaining pace up (too fast) and pace down (too slow). I say, don't fight gravity on the way up, and let gravity work for you on the way down - but that's just me. The wind was demoralizing, blowing people's hats and gloves off. The cold got to me too, through tights and two layers and gloves and thick hat.
We walked the aid stations, and walked most of the uphills. At 16.5 the cramping really owned me. After 16 I did a lot of full-mile walking - only tried to roll the downhills as much as possible to keep mile times under 15 minutes. The interminable stretch from 17-22 was going to suck while running; walking it into the wind and hills made it an otherworldly draining purgatory. So much so that at 22, I read the sign as 24 and thought there could only possibly be two miles to go. Ugh.
Not at all sure what the cramping is all about. Started in the calves and locked up my Vastus' - with was plenty, but a saving grace was that I was careful with the S caps and stride, so the hamstrings didn't fail. Like to get a handle on this cramping though.
Next up: Frankensteinian Testing to Keep the Corpse from Cramping
So, the training plan is at left, and the actual training is parenthetical at right:
week 16: 188 mins: 8 mi R/108 min Bike (143/5 mi and indoor)
week 15: 190 mins: 9 mi R/90 min Bike (did 198/9 mi)
week 14: 210 mins: 11 mi R/100 min Bike (did zero)
week 13: 210 mins: 12 mi R/90 min Bike (did 78/7 mi Bud Light course)
week 12: 160 mins: 13 mi R/30 min Bike (did 53/5 mi on the zipper course)
week 11: 225 mins: 14 mi R/85 min Bike (did 90 indoors)
week 10: 225 mins: 15 mi R/75 min Bike (did 100/9.5 mi)
week 9: 250 mins: 16 mi R/90 min Bike (did 135 on MTB)
week 8: 250 mins: 17 mi R/80 min Bike (did 230/16 mi)
week 7: 190 mins: 18 mi R/10 min Bike (did 168/14.5 mi georun)
week 6: 275 mins: 19 mi R/85 min Bike (did 55/4 mi georun)
week 5: 275 mins: 20 mi R/75 min Bike (rode 102 MTB)
week 4: 300 mins: 22 mi R/80 min Bike (did zero)
week 3: 225 mins: 12 mi R/105 min Bike (did zero)
week 2: 170 mins: 13 mi R/40 min Bike (did one run/5 mi with hand bottles to loosen up)
week 1: Big Sur Marathon
Training in the early going was pretty strong (and what you're not seeing here was that I was hitting my secondary key days as well). The final 6 weeks was anemic. And so went the race day; strong in the early going with the wheels falling off in the late stages.
Mile splits.
1: 8.45 (First 5 mi are generally downhill, through the trees - wind isn't a factor)
2: 9.03 - 17.49
3: 9.05 - 26.55
4: 9.55 - 36.50
5: 9.49 - 46.39
6: 10.30 - 57.10 (6 to 9, the Point Sur windy corner and long grades)
7: 10.07 - 1.07.18
8: 10.36 - 1.17.55
9: 10.31 - 1.28.27
10: 9.21 - 1.37.48 (Downhill into Hurricane)
11: 13.52 - 1.51.41 (Hurricane Point uphill, mi 1)
12: 12.12 - 2.03.53 (Hurricane Point uphill, mi 2)
13: 9.59 - 2.13.53 (cruising down the backside of Hurricane into Bixby Bridge - the "moment" of the marathon. Blighted only by the snakes writhing about within my calves)14: 10.31 - 2.24.24
15: 9.54 - 2.34.19
16: 11.52 - 2.46.11 (Walker runs on, Laurie's Relay Leg begins, and my Cramp Legs begin in earnest as you can see by the ensuing times)
17: 12.28 - 2.58.39
18: 14.07 - 3.12.47
19: 13.50 - 3.26.37
20: 14.54 - 3.41.31
21: 16.12 - 3.57.44
22: 15.46 - 4.13.31
23: 12.23 - 4.25.55
24: 13.55 - 4.39.50
25: 12.48 - 4.52.39
26: 16.06 - 5.08.45
Finish: 2.20 - 5.11.06
The cold, the wind, and in the end, the cramping. The hills are what everyone talks about, and they could be a problem for some, but I like hills(!) and had worn a trail into the zipper during training. I was careful not to grind up the hills on the course, and to let the backsides carry me along. I don't understand the theory of maintaining pace up (too fast) and pace down (too slow). I say, don't fight gravity on the way up, and let gravity work for you on the way down - but that's just me. The wind was demoralizing, blowing people's hats and gloves off. The cold got to me too, through tights and two layers and gloves and thick hat.We walked the aid stations, and walked most of the uphills. At 16.5 the cramping really owned me. After 16 I did a lot of full-mile walking - only tried to roll the downhills as much as possible to keep mile times under 15 minutes. The interminable stretch from 17-22 was going to suck while running; walking it into the wind and hills made it an otherworldly draining purgatory. So much so that at 22, I read the sign as 24 and thought there could only possibly be two miles to go. Ugh.
Not at all sure what the cramping is all about. Started in the calves and locked up my Vastus' - with was plenty, but a saving grace was that I was careful with the S caps and stride, so the hamstrings didn't fail. Like to get a handle on this cramping though.
Next up: Frankensteinian Testing to Keep the Corpse from Cramping
Friday, May 01, 2009
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