OPT Championship Series #3

I did my 3rd competition this weekend from OPT's blog.  It was a good one and I felt really good on everything except a couple areas I would have liked to push harder.  Here are the workouts and my results, and I am still waiting to see the final results of how I compared to the rest of the field.

WOD 1
3 sets of 15 OHS

WOD 2
2K row and AMRAP Double Unders in 10 minutes

WOD 3
50 CTB chin ups
50 push up burpees

Here are the videos:

OPT Championship Series #3 Wod #1 from Joseph Warren on Vimeo.

OPT championship series #3 WOD#2 from Joseph Warren on Vimeo.

OPT championship series #3 WOD #3 from Joseph Warren on Vimeo.

The OHS squat I felt really good and was surprised how easy my body weight (180lb) felt on this until the last rep.  I shortened it up just a tad.  It was close and I didn't know if it would count as my score but I was hoping until James emailed me and said it killed him, but he couldn't count that last rep.  I knew this might be the case so after I did the 180lb I did 155lb fairly easy and do not do my thrid attempt to conserve energy.  This might come back to haunt me becasue I think I could have done 165 or 175lb and would have been ahead of a lot of people in the competition.  I think my same mistake happened to a lot of other people, this was poor strategy, lesson learned...

The row and double unders- I felt awesome during the row but the thrid 500m I fell off a little and wish I pushed harder there to get closer to a 6:45.  I was just so nervous I would not be able to do any double unders afterward becasue I know how hard they get and they are not my best thing.  I still pushed hard and double unders went about how I expected.  My goal was 200 and looking at the rest of the field, it looks like that is a really good number, so I guess I paced  myself pretty well.

Pull up/burpees- I wanted to move a little quicker on pullups but still felt strong and fast.  Burpees were surprisingly slower and harder than I thought.  I knew they would be hard but I thought it wouldnt get hard until about 25 or 30 and I thought from there I would just be able to push through it.  It felt hard and slow the entire time.  I think 30-40 reps is my comfort range on each so need to up that number.  Still Im fairly happy with the result though.

"Isabel"

As perfection is never attainable, it is the journey toward perfection that makes one great!

-Progress not perfection: Even those who survive the impossible are still only human. 'That final stage in the process of being lost can prove to be either a beginning or an end. Some give up and die. Others stop denying and begin surviving. You don't have to be an elite performer. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to get on with it and do the next right thing.' - Laurence Gonzales "Deep Survival"

Here is a crossfit benchmark, "Isabel", a workout that I have never done before.  The workout is:

135lb snatch x 30 reps for time

My strategy was to start out fast and do as many consecutive reps as possible and then just truck along as needed.  My goal was to get sub 3 min and I far surpassed that.  Now I have a better understanding of where I want to be on this workout.  

As I previously saw failure, from my previous post, and had to learn my limits and reset my goals with a new path in mind of how to achieve that to prevent me from failing miserably, here I reset my goals from a success. If I dont, I will not grow and progress, and I'll remain stagnant.  So I'm learning that goals must always be redirected when you better understand where you want to go.  But you must have a goal in mind or you will have no direction, and ultimately no motivation.

Another new goal; sub 2 min "Isabel".  Is it achievable?  Hell YEAH, and I will do it!

135# snatch x 30 for time from Joseph Warren on Vimeo.

"broken"

Every once in a while you find yourself broken down.  While this is discouraging it is a good time to reflect and grow.  It humbles you and brings you back down to earth.  We all can relate to this, if it is in every day life, work, family, or friends.  We have to know our limits so we can protect ourselves from injury and we know where we need work in order to progress.  Everything you do takes progression and you must take the first step with a goal in mind and a path determined of how to achieve that.  Most greatness happens when the journey is enjoyable, not just the outcome.  Sometimes during a workout when Im in extreme pain, I try to smile because I know its supposed to be fun!  

Today I did a workout called "unbroken".  It broke me down.  Here is a video of me getting my ass handed to me.  I had to cut the video short because I had to take too much rest before completing the workout.  Even though pushing the limits is great to improve your fitness, and what I try to get all my clients to do, sometimes I need to know my limits or I will fail miserably.  Its one of the hardest things to do in crossfit, figuring out how to pace yourself.  When do you push through the pain, and when do you breath?  Today I failed.  It was on 20th rep of the last set, I just couldnt do another one.  I was at 5:20 at that time, I waited 1 min tried again and failed at 18 reps.  I rested a while again and finally completed 20 unbroken pullups.  This was 9 min later for a total time of 14:25.  I was 1 rep away from 5:20, and failed because I didnt know my limits and 9 min later I finished my last set. Enjoy watching me get "broken".

The workout was:

20 unbroken pullups

500m row

20 unbroken pullups

500m row

20 unbroken pullups

"unbroken" from Joseph Warren on Vimeo.

NEW PR!

Well the workout was amrap double unders in 30 sec then 30 sec rest x 10 sets.  This was a total time of ten minutes, the same time domain of "rhiannon" which is amrap of double unders in ten minutes.  Last time I did rhiannon I got 480 double unders.  Today performing 30 sec and resting 30 sec for ten minutes I surpassed the number of double unders I performed with a ten minute continuously running clock. Here's the video, needed to zoom out the screen, not too exciting just watching my lower half but you can see I never broke once.

Double unders 30sec/30sec x 10 from Joseph Warren on Vimeo.

Still Paleo...still eating like a king

 So I have been enjoying the spaghetti squash so much, I decided to make it again.  Not very creative, but I'll stick with what I enjoy especially if its this healthy.  This time I cooked a nice big New York steak, grass fed, I picked up from Whole Foods and I ate about 8oz of steak.  Maybe a little much but it was good.  The sauce I put on the squash was just like my Mom's, fresh basil, chopped tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil.  On the side was roasted veggies cooked in the oven consisting of eggplant, cauliflower, mushrooms, and onions.  Another great meal!  

I will be consistently improving my nutrition this next month gearing up to peak my performance in the gym by the end of the month.  It will be an exciting month, I will work harder than I ever have.  Stay tuned!

Paleo Food!

After the holidays I need to get my butt back in gear with some cleaner food.  I think getting back in a routine will help with that, but in the meantime I have been trying creative ways to eat healthier. Ill be sticking with no gluten, no dairy, and no processed food for the month of January.  Then the food I choose, I will try to stick mostly with the healthiest vegetables, fruits, lean meats, nuts and oils. 

 The bottom picture is some fresh Halibut and shrimp I picked up from a fish market in Monterey Bay CA, after leaving the Monterey Bay Aqyuarium.  Haha, I guess I was in the mood for fish after seeing all those cute creatures.  My girlfriend helped cook all this as I baked the fish perfectly and had a hell of a time peeling off all the shrimp legs before grilling those guys.  The fish turned out great and was the freshest fish I have had in a long time.  This was sitting on top of spaghetti squash with an olive oil based pesto sauce.  This tasted just like pasta and it was so good.  On the side my girlfriend made brussel sprouts with prociutto.  This turned out to be a perfect side but was a little salty.  First she boiled the sprouts for a few minutes then put them in ice water to stop the cooking.  Then she fried up the prociutto in olive oil with garlic until crisp before adding low sodium chicken broth and the brussel sprouts.  It turned out well but beware that prociutto along with the chicken broth are high sodium.  Everything paired up perfectly especially the Edna Valley Chardonnay I had from the Central Coast of CA.  Oops thats not Paleo but it was such an extravagant meal I wanted to make it complete with just a little wine to wash down the fish.  Can you tell I loved the meal, and overall it was pretty healthy and Paleo friendly.  For all of you that say you get bored with the Paleo diet, here is a perfect example of how to be creative.  And there was so much more fresh fish at the market that I wanted to try. 

The top picture is my Mothers version she made the next night.  It is spaghetti squash with fresh basil and tomato drizzled with olive oil.  She grilled shrimp and got fresh crab from the farmers market in Paso Robles, on the central coast of California.  It looks like she added parmesan cheese, Ill give her a slap on the hand, but I bet it was good though.  Then she cooked a lamb shank for my Dad which would be another good meat to be used on top of the squash. Too bad my dad wont eat the squash, hes Italian so he wont have anything but real pasta. So there are many ways to fix this meal just like there are many ways to have pasta at an Italian restaurant.  So don't tell me you're bored with the Paleo diet!

Tonight Im going with some steak, I've been eating like a king this holiday break.  But soon Ill be back to left over chicken and spinach salad with broccoli.  So im enjoying this.