Long time no ... blog ...

Okay, so it's been a while. I've been busy, alright?

So, after I front-loaded (when my sibs came to town), I had a few more WODs the following week. I can't remember them off-hand, but they were good. Why? Because I don't remember being in much pain. Okay, so I'm over that part of it (the long-lasting physical pain of the WOD), but I think I'd remember if one was particularly bad. (Come to think of it, I do remember specifically doing a full Cindy. Though I scaled the pull-ups (red band), I didn't scale anything else and ended up doing 10+ sets, I think. Not the highest count but exhausting nonetheless and worthwhile. Especially considering that on Foundations Day One I did a half-Cindy -- and it kicked my butt -- I feel like I've adapted and overcome that hurdle.)

I'm now in Pensacola, and before yesterday it had been about 9-10 days since my last WOD (I tested out of my language training and moved back down to Pensacola, both of which took a lot of my time). However, I went to Razor's Edge with Molly yesterday. I like the facility and like the owner (Gil), which is great. I'm concerned about Molly's coach right now, in that she (the coach) applies unfocused pressure, pushing for the sake of pushing. She also taught bad form on at least one exercise (resulting in Molly being injured and out-of-commission for a couple of weeks). Her technique of instruction is certainly her own, but I find it less-than-productive with me (and Molly).

Granted, my exposure to Razor's Edge in Pensacola has been limited to two coaches: Gil and the other one. Like I said, I like Gil, but I haven't seen him coach. If I assume that she has Gil's blessing then I can only assume that the rest of Razor runs things the same, and I'm not impressed. Granted, I'm still a sub-novice in CF but mechanics/form do not appear to be stressed nearly as much as in Potomac CF. If Molly opts to continue with CF at Razor, I hope she gets exposure to different coaches running the WODs. Sticking with the other coach could easily be discouraging.

Soooooo, yesterday's WOD was relatively simple: warmup with 3x5 snatch full squats, and the WOD was 3x4 minutes of AMRAP (10x20" box jumps, 5 ring dips, and 8 GHD situps). I used a red band for the dips, but otherwise did 12 sets.

Today's was again good: warmup with 3x5 Romanian deadlifts (135#), WOD of 3x(400m run, 25 GHD back extensions, 15 pull-ups) for time. I scaled on the first sets of rom-DL but ended on 135# (yay!). For the WOD, I did the first set of pull-ups with a red band (15 reps) and went without a band on subsequent sets (10 each). I'm not thrilled with the 18 minutes it took, but I was able to do more unaided pull-ups than I had previously thought which is great. My kip form was alright with the band but really sucked unaided ... something I really need to work on.

I have an ice-pack on my neck/shoulders now but it's precautionary (felt a little tightness after today's WOD). I'll go back to Razor on Thursday before I go up to Indiana on Friday and am limited to whatever facilities they have up there. CF affilitiates on base? I can almost guarantee "no". CF-friendly gym(s)? Likely, but again it will be limited and certainly not solely CF-oriented (meaning I'll have to work in/around others). Wish me luck!

Quick post-script: if I were to give myself a report card right now, I'd say I'm really feeling the benefits of a good workout regime. My previous 5K was in May (a virtual race, running while Molly was running an actual race 1000 miles away) and was not thrilled with my 28:00 time; 4 days ago I ran another 5K here in Pensacola (this time much closer to Molly ;-), and crushed it (relatively) in 24:02. So, my general health is certainly improving (metcon, tabatas, etc). My strength numbers are getting better, though by a table I saw at Razor's today, I'm still at to slightly below "novice" for weight levels. I have my work cut out for me.