J.T. Kalnay's Blog, page 18

Dear CrossFit, It’s Pop-Tarts vs. Protein Shakes

Dear CrossFit,

Today I had a protein shake instead of four pop-tarts and a big glass of milk. I’m hoping this is going to get that second oar closer to the water. CrossFit talks about nutrition all the time, but there’s something missing in the implementation. The support structure that gets you through a WOD is missing on the nutrition prong. Let me explain… It only takes one “win”, one good decision, to get my *ss to the box. When I’m at the box, it’s 3-2-1-go and you work hard and people cheer and support and are all in it together. The whole thing works because you only have to be right once a day and you get instant, useful, motivational feedback right there in the box when you need it most. But this nutrition thing is completely different. It feels like wandering alone on the ever fewer ice floes in the Arctic Ocean surrounded by the foods and habits that have produced this unacceptable body fat percentage. It’s so hard because you have to say “no” about 1,376 times a day (e.g., no to Pop Tarts, no to Hagen Daz, no to a second pizza), and you have to get it right (e.g., say yes to protein shake instead of pop-tarts, say yes to lean meat instead of potato chips) a lot. And you have to do this on your own. There’s no supportive crowd down at the box sweating along with you, cheering you on, helping you through that torturous WOD. So, CrossFit, if you want more of us to get that second oar in the water, we’re going to need some help. We can’t do this on our own. That support structure you’ve built throughout the whole community and in each box just doesn’t reach the scene of the late night munchies. I know I can’t have the WODders from the box hang out with me all day, so what can we do? I’m really open to suggestion. I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Dear CrossFit, I Peaked at the Red Line

but didn’t go over today. I’ll admit to watching four hours of the CrossFit Games on ESPN2 last night. Other than noticing how many payday loan ads there were (are CrossFitters chronically short on cash?), I noticed how many times the phrase “red line” was used. This, of course, required a trip to Google and to the CrossFit Journal. Turns out they were talking about intensity. I noticed how the winners would go “unbroken”, rather than stopping and starting. It looked like they were moving slower than some of the other competitors who were stopping and starting, but in the end, the unbroken athletes who crept up to the red line but who didn’t go over were the winners. So, today at the Box, instead of doing my normal crazy man approach of going all out until I couldn’t breath and the room started spinning and I wanted to puke, I tried to look at that red line without going over it. The results? An excellent WOD that was really painful and left me worked at the end but without the starting and stopping in the middle. Five rounds, for time, of: (row 400m, 30 KBS 35#, 15 burpees) 28:48. For me, that’s an excellent time. What’s even better, was going unbroken, and feeling like a finisher, feeling like a champion. It was so hard to keep swinging that kettle bell without putting it down. I wanted to put it down. My muscles were screaming to put it down. My head was demanding that I put it down. But because I could breath, because I was on this side of that red line, I didn’t have to put it down. I think there might be something to spending some time to understand this intensity thing!

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Why I’m Not Angry At Lance Armstrong, By Sally Jenkins

This is a brilliant piece of journalism by a writer who knows Lance very well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/othersports/why-im-not-angry-at-lance-armstrong/2012/12/15/5802bcce-460e-11e2-8061-253bccfc7532_story.html

Dear CrossFit, Who Knew You Could Be FUN!! (Getting Horizontal and Upside Down With Karen)

Who knew that CrossFit could be fun! Yes Fun! Like a shrieking six year old doing cartwheels and playing tag with a puppy fun. Like long summer days and running through the sprinkler and throwing water balloon fun. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time, maybe not since summiting Seneca with my best friend. Anyway, today Karen Hawley took on the challenge of teaching an old rotund guy with zero gymnastics skills. Thanks Karen for sharing your talent, experience, and great sense of humor. I usually dread hearing the word “Karen” when associated with CrossFit, but today changed all that. This is one of the best parts of CrossFit, people like Karen who share what they know so that people who want to can get better at something. Unlike some of the girls of CrossFit (thank Fran, think Grace), this “Karen” is more fun than a barrel full of monkeys. She helped us understand “hollow body” and how to achieve it. Then she gave us progressions for handstands, escaping from a handstand, chest to bars, bar muscle ups (for the better CrossFitters) and pistols. I even got the first progression on a pistol. I have to admit, I was scared senseless about some of these inversions. I was certain I was going to fail and break something. But then I figured if I’ve got a skilled gymnast at the helm, who also happens to be an M.D., then if I’m going to break every bone in my body, at least there will be a physician there who witnessed it and who can start putting the pieces back together.

Part of CrossFit is the constantly varied voyage of discovery. For example, today, I discovered the difference between propelling the head upwards in a straight line and propelling the syphoid process straight up to the bar. And I discovered the difference between “maintain angles” and “break angles.” I had never been exposed to either of these concepts before. There’s a lot of CrossFit I’d been exposed to before (e.g., wind sprints, lifting, calisthenics, puking), but this gymnastics stuff was downright fun. There’s moments of weightlessness when you kip just right, it really is like flying. If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend getting horizontal on a bar and getting upside down (with a spotter).

Here’s a couple of short videos that show just how much fun it can be. Thanks again Karen, thanks. I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

Kicking Up To A Handstand And Then Escaping (without breaking anything…)

http://www.facebook.com/v/10151183670326794

Chest to Bar Pullup (it hurts if you whack it too hard)

http://www.facebook.com/v/10151183664341794

Dear CrossFit, I Passed Someone Today

It hasn’t happened since I got my hip replaced, or since I got fat, (actually both, which coincided, or maybe had a cause/effect relationship).  But today something happened.  During Helen, I passed someone running.  Let’s back up so that this amazing event can be understood.  First we did Tabata things to warm up.  Box jumps, pushups, step ups, situps.  Got a great sweat going.  Cursed Tabata in Japanese (I know some Japanese swear words from martial arts as a kid).  Then we did actual running warmup drills.  High steps, butt kicks, kariokes.  My brother, the runner, would call them As and Bs.  I haven’t done those since college football, or maybe high school basketball.  Then we got ready for Helen.  My friend Tim has a really nasty name for this WOD.  It involves your head and an anatomically impossible act.  Anyway, Helen is three rounds, for time, of “run” 400m, 21 KBS @ 55#, then 12 pullups. I put quotes around “run” because I don’t run.  I haven’t run in years.  I used to run, but now I don’t run.  I try, but it doesn’t happen.  My feet just won’t move quick enough.  I’ve been doing drills to get my feet to move quicker, but after all those years of just shuffling an obese an arthritic body from couch to bed and bed to chair, they just won’t move.  Once in a while they do, and it feels like a miracle, but then someone turns off the oxygen and the rest of my body won’t go and my feet stop.  Today the oxygen stayed turned on, and the feet actually moved.  Was it the runnning specific warmups?  Was it the last two weeks of concerted metcon-ing?  Was it dancing to “Moves Like Jagger” and “Call Me Maybe?”  Who knows.  But then, on the last round of running, it happened.  On the second last round, a guy passed me.  Not a fat old man like me, but a real athlete.  I didn’t let him go.  That old competitive itch needed a scratch, so I slid into his slipstream and let him pull me the 200m back to the box.  My GOD did it feel incredible to feel like I was in a race again.  Sure it wasn’t a 16:30 5k or a 3:22 marathon or an ironman, but it was a RACE!!!  21KBS, 12 pullups, all while watching the other athletes out of the corner of my blurry eye, and then back out for the last 400.  I was all alone until another athlete passed me.  Scratch that itch, feed it, embrace it, go after him!  I latched on, wouldn’t let him go, felt the stride get longer, the breaths get deeper, the suck start pulling until, with 50m left, I passed him back.  Broke the suction of the suck.  Just this one time said “NO” when my body said slow down.  Was prepared to take the consequences for going past that limit.  It felt great, if only for the 50m during which I didn’t feel like the least fit and worst CrossFitter on the planet.  Then, during the 21 KBS and the 12 pullups, the real revelation happened.  I realized that being the least fit and worst CrossFitter on the planet would be a good thing, because I’d still be ahead of about 6,000,000,000 (Billion) people who couldn’t do Helen if they’re lives depended on it.  Today I did Helen in 12;38 and I’m damn proud of it.   I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.

BlogTalk Radio With Elaine Raco Chase

Will be on Blog Talk Triangle Radio tonight with Elaine Raco Chase at 9:55 pm, talking about audiobooks in general, and The Pattern (just released in audiobook) and The Point (in production).  Hope I don’t say anything too stupid…

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trianglevariety/2012/12/14/authors-corner-with-elaine-raco-chase

Marijuana Legal in Washington State, Illegal in United States: Constitutional Crisis?

The state of Washington decriminalized possession and use of marijuana.  The governmenet in Washington D.C. still has laws on the books that make possession and use of marijuana illegal.  This creates an interesting legal, Constitutional, and political question.  From the point of view of the Obama Administration in Washington D.C., smoking marijuana is illegal.  From the point of view of the state of Washington, smoking marijuana is legal.  So which law trumps?  Federal law?  Or state law?  It will be extremely interesting to watch how this plays out, particularly in light of the open admissions from the President concerning his membership in the Choom Gang and their frequent (constant?) marijuana usage.  One other interesting part of this equation is the tax revenue that the state of Washington stands to gain.  There will be a 25% tax on each transaction, from grower to wholesaler, from wholesaler to retailer, from retailer to consumer.  That’s a lot of tax money.  Also, it’s a lot of lost revenue to the current marijuana providers.  Will the current providers take this sitting down?  Will they still provide marijuana illegally?  And what will this do to the jails and prisons in Washington?  If use and possession is no longer a crime, will there be fewer arrests?  Fewer convicts?  Will fewer police be gunned down or corrupted?  This is an extremely interesting situation, and one that bears close watching, which may be complicated by the haze currently hanging over Seattle…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9728034/Washington-state-lights-up-as-smoking-marijuana-becomes-legal.html

 

CrossFit and Triathlon

I’ve been delighted to see the swimming and triathlons in the recent Games.  I wonder if we’ll ever see a triathlon where at each transition the triathletes have to do Fran…  I think about triathlon and CrossFit a lot, because:

Athlete A finished an iron distance triathlon, but couldn’t finish Fran, Karen, Diane, or the Filthy Fifty.  He only had one pullup, and limped around everywhere.  Athlete A was at least 30 pounds overweight even while finishing an iron distance triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile walk).

Five years later, Athlete B finished Fran, Karen, Diane, and the Filthy Fifty.  Athlete B also finished a short triathlon (1/2 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 3.1 mile walk).  Athlete B also snatches 165, cleans and jerks 235, squats 290, and deadlifts 415.  Athlete B also has a prosthetic hip, but is still at least 30 pounds oveweight.

Which athlete are you?  If either.

So what does this tell us about CrossFit and Triathlon?  And what does this tell us about athletic performance and obesity?  It tells us that no amount of exercise can overcome a bad diet.  Could someone please get this athlete to eat better?

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.

CrossFit Games 2013, A Reason To Compete

The CrossFit Games Open runs from March 6th through April 7th.  Are you going to register?  Are you going to compete?  I am.  Here’s why…

Because registering and competing makes the training concrete and immediate.  Training is no longer a theoretical exercise.  It is tranformed into a practical necessary for dealing with an important and impending tangible deadline.  Back when I used to swim, bike, and run, (think Ironman) there were three different types of training: training for fun with other athletes, training for fitness, and training for an event!  Fun runs were fun, and usually a little (or a lot) less intense than either of the other two.  Fitness rides were a specific length on a specific day at (hopefully) a specific speed to meet a specific time.  There were schedules and graphs and record keeping.  They were, generally, more intense than fun rides.  Swim training before an event was a completely different thing.  It was marked on the calendar and it happened.  There was a technique portion, an interval portion, a mental portion visualizing the event.  There was a “what if this goes wrong” portion (e.g., goggles break).  Or, on a ride I’d get off an change a tire that wasn’t flat.

Sending in the check for the Columbus marathon, and then letting everyone know I was going to be running that marathon, and my expected time (so they could figure out when to be on the sidewalk to cheer), was a completely different experience than running 26.2 laps around my 1 mile track on the farm.  So too was signing up for and competing in the Master’s CrossFit comp in Columbus earlier this year.  I knew I wasn’t going to win, and I was hoping I wouldn’t come last, but I was ready for either of these results, or the expected “somewhere in the middle” reality.  Most importantly, my training had FOCUS.  That FOCUS extended beyond myself.  For the marathon, my training partners knew I had signed up and they became much more diligent in showing up for group runs, not because they were running the marathon, but because I was running the marathon.  They were there to hold me and our group accountable, and to support this crazy goal I had established.  It was important to me, so it became important to them.  Their training had focus also.  They couldn’t miss a run because they would have been letting me down.  Same thing with the Master’s comp.  People showed up to train hard not because they were going, but because someone they knew was going.  They were part of it vicariously, and their training improved too.

So, after a couple hundred words, it’s about FOCUS.  Not just for the competitor, but for people around the competitor.  CrossFit training is hard.  It’s really hard.  We have fantastic support from coaches and fellow athletes, but it’s still really really hard.  Mentally it’s easy to coast once in a while.  Mentally it’s easy to skip one day here or there.  Mentally it’s easy to scale when maybe we didn’t need to scale, or to shave a rep when we didn’t need to shave a rep.  But when that date is on the calendar, these things tend to happen less, both because you know that date is on the calendar, and also because your coaches, colleagues, fellow athletes, family, dog,… know that date is on the calendar.  That date on the calendar is an indicator of your commitment.  Not to winning, or to competing, but to excelling in your own world.  Unless your name is Annie, or Julie, or Talayna, or Kristen,  or Valerie, or Rich, or Matt, or Spencer, or Jason, or Hulk you’re probably not going to win the Games.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t win BIG from being IN the Games.  Even if you don’t register, still mark that date on your calendar, and still do all the workouts, and still look at what everyone else does.  And tell your training partners you’re going to do all the workouts, RX, for real, just like it matters.  Do it.  Prepare to excel, and prepare to be humbled.

If you’re doing CrossFit you’re part of a bigger community.  It’s there to help you, it’s there to humble you, and it’s there to help you be the best you you can be.  Sign up, compete, and prepare to get much much better.

I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…

CrossFit, Do You Measure Up?

Today was benchmark day at the box.  We’re CrossFitters.  We measure.  A lot.  Maybe not as much as baseball players, but then again, maybe we are that anal.  Why do we measure?  And more importantly, who do you measure against?  I’ll tell you why I measure.  On my best days I measure so that I’ll know whether what I’m doing is working.  Whether it’s helping me attain goals, or isn’t.  Whether this incredibly long and painful journey back from hip replacement and obesity is real.  On my not so best days I measure because I want to know where I stand.  I’ll own it, some days I want to beat you.  And therein lies the double edged sword of measuring…

When we measure to improve ourselves, to be the best “me” I can be, that’s fantastic.  When we measure to know if I’m “better” than you, that can be not so fantastic.  Yes I like to compete, yes I want to win, but the best way to win is to constantly improve against yourself.  Sometimes I care too much about the numbers.  Sometimes I care so much that my form deteriorates, or evaporates.  That’s where injuries live.  But today, on benchmark day, it was all good.  Got a PR number of pullups in a minute, a PR number of double unders in a minute, a PR number of burpees in a minute, a PR snatch, a PR C&J, and a PR back squat.  The PR back squat was nearly a 100% PR!!!  I’m not going to share the actual numbers on this post, because, on this great day, those numbers are just for me and for the great athletes who were busting their shapely asses right beside me.  Thanks for the help fellow athletes, thanks for the help coach!

Looking back, the best moment, by far, of this whole benchmark day was when another CrossFitter came over when we were all done and said “I don’t have a pull up yet.”  She said “yet”.  That’s the key word.  She didn’t say “I can’t do a pullup.”  She said “I don’t have one yet.”  Those are two completely different statements reflecting two completely different mind sets.  She knows she’s going to get it, and when she does it’s going to be spectacularly awesome.  I hope I’m there for it when it happens.  I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…