J.T. Kalnay's Blog, page 13

Everglades, Mother Gator with Babies

Even baby gators are cute!

Fishing Florida Bay, Mother Porpoise With Babies

Another photo of mother and baby porpoises in Florida Bay.

Fishing Florida Bay, Porpoises!

While heading in from a great day on the shallow water of the bay we came aross a pod of 13 or 14 dolphins, which included this mother and baby!

Dear CrossFit, So It’s Been A Year…

Let’s compare the written down entries in the log book, and then let’s think about it.

Four rounds, FT, 10×55# Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, 15×12″ stepups, 20×8# Wallball Shots

March 1, 2012: (13:53)

March 3, 2013: (7:44)

So that’s more than six minutes off the 2012 time.  Apparently this sh*t works!  I had been both looking forward to and dreading this retest.  Looking forward to it because sometimes I was certain that I was more fit than last year.  Dreading it, because more frequently I was scared that maybe I wasn’t as fit.  Dreading it because I knew I had failed several times to improve my nutrition, even while having many successes with faster times and heavier weights and more complicated movements.  Dreading it because I will admit that lately I’ve been discouraged with CrossFit.  The discouragement is a function of a long cold winter with no sunlight.  The discouragement is a function of hundreds (thousands) of failed attempts at harder movements.  The discouragement is also a function of constantly being surrounded by younger, faster, lighter, stronger, and just plain superior athletes.  The discouragement is a function of not having an accurate picture of what has actually been going on for the past year.  That’s why we write it down.

I was talking with another man in my demographic yesterday, and he owned to also being discouraged sometimes by being the oldest and slowest.  This is why we have to write down our times and our WODs.  While it’s easy to see that we are coming last, day after day, WOD after WOD, apparently it’s not so easy to see the DRAMATIC improvements that we are making.  March 1, 2012 (13:53).  March 3, 2013 (7:44).  Those numbers speak for themselves.  And they speak to that demon called discouragement.  They speak to the purple colored devil called jealousy and they speak to his evil twin envy.  They speak to the little voice that asks “Why?”.  They speak to the other little voice that calls you back to the old ways, the old habits, the vices that somehow you overcame when you walked into the box for the first time, and the second time, and so on.

Yes I’m another year past 50, yes there’s a little more grey and little less hair for that grey to get into.  And yes, now there’s 7:44 instead of 13:53.  Yes now there’s an actual squat that finds the bottom.  Yes now there’s the ability to walk two or three or even four miles, instead of just a shuffle back and forth.  We all get discouraged.  We all get jealous and envious.  We all get tunnel vision from invalid and ill-found comparisons.  We all see the younger, faster, lighter, stronger, prettier, sexier, wealthier, better athletes.  Only by writing down a date and a time (e.g., March 1, 2012, 13:53) and then writing it down again (e.g., March 3, 2013, 7:44) do we get an accurate picture of ourselves.  Writing it down let’s us see that we are faster, lighter, stronger, and better athletes.  (I won’t comment on sexier…)  So write it down, then do the work, and then a year from now, look at it again.  It’ll let you look at yourself in a way that maybe you never have, objectively, with none of the little voices or the little devils adding inflection or twisting a meaning.  Write it down, do the work, then look at it later, if you get discouraged.  I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Dear CrossFit, Testing Out CrossFit Silver

Dear CrossFit, I’ve been experimenting with some of the initial WODs for CrossFit Silver.  CrossFit Silver is intended for people over 50, or for people with challenges.  You’re supposed to be able to complete the CrossFit Silver WODs and still be able to function that night and the next day.  Here’s the first “official” CrossFit Silver WOD, with its warmup.  It’s based on Cindy, but now Cindy has some lines near her eyes and some silver in her hair.

 

Warmup:

15 minutes, with a partner, alternating between:

Move Like Jagger toe taps (10 with each foot, mirror your partner)

Move Like Jagger hand taps (10 with each hand, mirror your partner)

25 step ups onto a plate, alternating with your partner (45#, scale to 25# or 10#, or scale to tapping up on plate)

10 bean bag toss across with a partner (increase distance to failure)

10 ground to overhead with a plate (5% of bodyweight)

10 dislocates

 

Skills:

15 minutes practicing deadlift.

Start at 20% of bodyweight, work up to 50% of bodyweight.

 

WOD

20 Minutes, No Stopping

Five deadlifts, half your body weight (scale to 1/3 or 1/4 of your body weight based on skill work and last workout)

Five jumping pullups (pull as high as you can, land softly with bent knee)

Five pushups (scale to pushups from knees or to a box (12, 18, 24)

Five air squats (scale to a box (12, 18, 24)

Five kettlebell swings, to just above parallel, (10% of your bodyweight, scale to 5% of your bodyweight)

The goal is to keep moving without stopping.  You can slow down, but you can’t stop.

 

I am open to suggestion about this day of programming.

I did it today in the barn, got a good sweat going, and feel like I could WOD tomorrow.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Dear CrossFit, Why I’m NOT Doing The Open

Because I can’t possibly win.

Because people will beat me.

Because I will finish last.

Because people will criticize me for trying.

Because people will laugh at me.

Because people will mock my score.

Because, because, because, …..

When you run out of excuses, it’s time to do CrossFit, and it’s time to go in the Open.

I’m out of excuses, that’s why I’m doing the Open.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.

Fishing Florida Bay

After fishing the flat water in the back country around Florida Bay I’ve decided I’m never going offshore again!  Why?  Not just because I get seasick on the ocean, but because of the magic and beauty of the back country water.

Al & I spent a nearly indescribable day fishing with Captain Dave Perkins ( http://www.captaindaveperkins.net/ ) on Florida Bay. 

We left the dock at 9:15 and were fishing for real fish (not for bait fish) by 9:30 and had fish in the boat by 9:45.  We saw sea trout, blue fish, jack, sheepshead, pinfish, and even one shark.  We tried fishing the muds (areas disturbed by feeding fish) and we tried pole fishing for redfish.  This part of Florida is so beautiful that I would have gone on this trip even if we hadn’t taken the fishing rods.

When you go offshore, you see the ocean.  When you go in the back country, you see the mangroves, the birds in the mangroves, the clear water and the flora and fauna on the bottom of the clear water.  If you get lucky, like we did, you may see porpoises (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3uvudvYqow ).  And, unlike our last couple of tries offshore, we came home both with supper and with our breakfasts…

I’ll be going out with Captain Dave again next year.  It’ll be worth the ride just to visit this nearly idyllic piece of the planet again.  Dave gets “it”, that it’s about being out in the back country that is the thing.  I’d go out there again even if we didn’t catch any fish.  But if you go with Dave, you’re likely to catch some fish.

Here’s a link to a short video that captures some of the beauty of the place and of the day. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWuPvY8rssY )  I can highly recommend this place and this captain.

Dear CrossFit, Best Reason Yet To Get A Good Squat

so you can get better gator video!

Dear CrossFit, I train therefore I can!

Today’s blog post is a little video, shot after a couple miles of hiking, about a mile of wading, and about a half mile of swimming, in the Everglades.  I’ve named the WOD “Baby Gators”, you’ll see why.  I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXvxnJF3P4E&feature=youtu.be

Dear CrossFit, Baby Steps

We’ve all heard sayings like “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” or “how do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time…”  If you’re doing CrossFit, you are on a journey of a million miles, and, since they’re definetly Paleo, you are likely eating an elephant.

Today, my journey got one step shorter as I transitioned from 4 ab mat HSPU to 3 ab mat HSPU and even tried a 2 ab mat HSPU.  At the start of the journey, I could not kick up into a handstand, but could kick up into a headstand.  As the journey progressed, kicking up into a headstand turned into kicking up into a handstand then being able to hold a handstand against the wall for increasingly longer periods of time.  The next step was doing a half inch HSPU.  Just a half an inch.  The first hundred tries all resulted in crashing to the floor.  Over the past year, that half inch of travel has now progressed to about eight inches of travel, leaving only another 3 ab mats worth of distance to go before I have a “real” HSPU.  I don’t think anyone else noticed, but I sure as h*ll noticed the difference between four ab mats and three.  The two or three inches felt like several feet of travel.  But isn’t that true about all of CrossFit?  It doesn’t actually get easier, it gets harder.  As you master basic movements you unlock the keys to trying intermediate and then advanced movements.  They’re harder, believe me.  There’s no comparison between a 4 ab mat HSPU and a 3 ab mat HSPU.  They are orders of magnitude more difficult.  Which makes me appreciate even more the specimens who can do HSPU on parallettes.  OMG you are animals and works of art.  I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…