Two days of training and thoughts...

   Sit back because this could be a long one.  I didn't post anything yesterday because of business/laziness so this is two days worth of training and thoughts....

   On Tuesday 1/24 I did this:

AM session:

SERIES 1

back squat: 80-85% x 2-3 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
5 minutes - easy airdyne

+
kb squat jump: 32kg x 6 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes

+

6-8 minutes - easy airdyne

+
REPEAT SERIES 1

+
box jump, 16": 25 unbroken x 3; rest 2 minutes

*16" box - focusing on reactive ability, minimal ground contact

+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise

15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

   This felt great!  I was a little nervous about getting back into the heavier back squats (and am still a little nervous about a 90-95% day coming up next week) but I felt awesome doing this and hit all of the reps in both sets of both series at 100kg (85%) x 3. It felt relatively light and it was one of those days where, as soon as you lift up the bar, you know you're getting all of the reps with ease.  

   The kb squat jumps felt great too.  I felt really explosive even though I was slowing down the eccentric lowering portion, mostly to make sure that the kb fit between the jerk boxes that I was jumping on.

   Box jumps were easy as well and I focused on my reacting ability and trying to land on the same spot on the box each time so that I wasn't jumping forward and back and messing up the rhythm and timing.  I was most successful at that in the last set.

   I did this training in the morning.  I'm going to try and record when during the day I train to see if there's any correlation to the time of day I work out and how I feel during the session.

   When I got to the gym in the morning there was a guy there from crossfit.com who was doing interviews about the upcoming Crossfit Games Open.  Justin said "Hey Phil, come here.  This guy's going to ask you a few questions" and, all of a sudden, there I was with a camera in my face and a microphone in my hand.  I should have taken off my WCCF sweatshirt to reveal the OPT t-shirt I had on underneath.  That would have been a sure way to get me edited out of the video but, unfortunately, I didn't think of that until later.  The guy asked me to describe Crossfit in one word or sentence and what I thought about the Open last year.  He also asked about the competition between us and Crossfit Invictus for the most competitors from a single gym last year.  I have no recollection of what I said to these questions but it was pretty much a clinic in how to talk out of your ass.  The best was when he asked me to fill in the blank in this sentence: "I am the fittest ______"  All I could come up with was "firefighter in my firehouse".  This is not only not true but also a pretty ridiculous thing to say even if it was.  I guarantee that that will come back to bite me in the ass.  I'm really hoping that Crossfit doesn't make me look like a total dickhead with this but I have complete faith that they will. 

  

  Tonight on Wednesday 1/25 I did this:

A. bench press @ 60%: 12-12-12-12; rest 90 seconds
B1. ctb pull-up: 12-12-12-12; rest 10 seconds (keep working butterfly here)
B2. bat wing @ 20X3: 8-10 x 3; rest 2 minutes
C. db or kb press: 8-10/arm x 3; rest 2 minutes
D. ring dip: 12-15 x 3; rest 2 minutes (fast!)

   This was a rough one and, as I type this, my arms are still incredibly sore.  I actually had a hard time lifting my arms to wash my hair tonight and I haven't had that happen in a long time.    I was there in the evening but I don't think that had any effect on the difficulty because I did this exact thing last week in the morning and it still whooped me.  

     A.  57kg: 12-12-12-10

     B1. 12 (butterfly), 12 (butterfly), 12 (9 butterfly+3 kip), 12 (8 butterfly+4 kip)

     B2. 25lb x 10 x 2, 25lb x 8 x 2

     C. 45lb x 10/arm x 2, 45lb x 10 (right arm), 45lb x 9 (left arm)

     D. 15, 12, 10+1+1

   The bench presses felt heavy from the start and the last two sets were very tough.  In the last set I had Kyle Dillon spot me and I asked him what number we were on and he said "I don't know.  I haven't been counting".  Thanks dude!  We figured later that I managed 10 in that last set.  

   The first set of ctb pull-ups felt fantastic!  By the end I was struggling although I did more butterflies here than the last time I did this.  The bat wings were tough at tempo as usual.

   The db presses are coming along although there is still an imbalance between my right and my left.  I did more reps today in my left arm than I managed last week though.  Again- sometimes it's the little things.

   All I wrote in my notebook about the ring dips was "These felt horrible".  Not much more I can say here...

   I read two interesting articles today which have gotten me to thinking.  The first was about Billy Cundiff missing the game tying field goal in the AFC Championship this past Sunday.  The interesting thing about this wasn't the implication that the Patriots may have purposefully given misleading information on the scoreboard (although if there's any team that is capable of doing that in the NFL it's definitely Bill Belicheck and the Patriots).  The interesting part is about Cundiff's pre-kick rituals and, most importantly, the portion of his ritual that he missed by being rushed onto the field.  Apparently, Cundiff has specific rituals for each down as the Ravens get into field goal range.  On first down the long snapper, holder and Cundiff get together on the opposite side of the field and practice some timing drills.  On second down, he gets a little closer to the sideline and does some air kicks.  On third down he visualizes the kick one time.  This was the part that he had to skip due to the confusion about what down it was (Cundiff thought it was third when, in fact, it was fourth down).  Not any of the physical warm up, but the visualization.  Kickers are pretty routinely called on the field with little warning to kick extra points after touchdowns and, at only 32 yards, this kick wasn't much farther than a PAT.  So, physically, this should have been no problem.  But he missed this bit of mental gymnastics that he plays before kicks and it turned this chip shot into a terrible miss.  I'm fascinated by the mental portion of sports and competition and this made me think about this aspect in my own training.  I've really come to believe that training and competing is as much, if not more, mental than physical.  I've developed a few rituals of my own before lifts or workouts (I'll approach the platform or bar from the same direction each time, I put one strip of chalk on my hands, take a few deep breaths) but I need to focus some more on the mental portion of my training and I've started to do this a bit with some visualization exercises.    There's a ton to be said on this topic and I've only started to think about it and explore it for myself.  On a side note- I definitely have pre-fire rituals at work depending on my assignment for the day.  I put my gear on in the same order every time, I lay my tools out in the same place each day, etc.  I have always thought of firefighters as athletes, the main difference being that we have no idea when our game is going to be.  This is probably a topic for another post though...

   The second article was linked to by Cori Safe.  It was written by Aimee Everett and it is about her up and down motivation and drive to be the best weightlifter.  What was interesting here was about how Aimee (and Cori for that matter) has been lifting since she was very young and how she struggles with the motivation to give herself to the sport anymore.  I talked with Cori about this a little bit tonight and it reminded me of my relationship with music.  Cori mentioned that she's aware that many people in the gym would love to be able to lift like she does, but she's still losing the drive to compete.  Aimee recognizes the same thing and even says that she feels guilty sometimes for not giving 100% and still having the opportunities that she has.  I know that there are people who would love to be able to play guitar at all, let alone go to college and grad school for it and then function as a professional musician for a short time.  Yet I don't want to touch it anymore (and I haven't for almost 9 years).  The problem, I think, for Cori, Aimee and me was that we began to define ourselves by what we did on the platform or, in my case, with the instrument.  That made every failure, every let down, that much more difficult and...personal.    It basically set me up for a huge burnout that I have yet to recover from.  I tend to be a bit of an all or nothing person.  Things that I'm interested in or want to succeed at will consume me and I have to work hard to not let history repeat itself.