Wednesday, November 5, 2014

High of 75

T-minus 6 weeks until Hellgate. Getting excited. It's been a fun few weeks of training, both for Hellgate, and generally for Crossfit.

Running:
Last week was a recovery week, so weekdays I was doing eights, fifteen on Saturday, and two hours on Sunday. Overall I felt pretty well and on point. For my fifteen on Saturday, I finally felt like I was getting back in the groove. I wouldn't say my long runs have been struggling, but I haven't really been at the pace I've been in the past. The past few recovery cycles, my fifteens have been well over 2h10m, getting near 2:20. Pretty close to my pace for the longer runs, but not typical for me. This past week I was feeling strong and had a good time getting out around 2:05. This week hasn't been too much of a slog-fest, and this morning I did 10 miles at sub-7 pace. Not a HUGE deal - I normally have two or three of these in a training cycle - but exciting to see those numbers. I have two more build weeks, another recovery week, and then a few weeks of tapering.

Crossfit:
I'm still riding the wave of the Triangle Invitational competition I saw two weeks ago. Morrisville placed third, and my brother competed with his box as well. I was amazed to see how far he's come since the last time I saw him compete. Then this past weekend, our own box celebrated its one year anniversary. There was a lot of very cool demonstrations: Super Skippers (nationally-ranked jump rope squad), martial arts, and gymnastics. We had a food drive that collected over 2000 lbs of food, and watched the local Strongman trainers attempt to deadlift 2900 pounds. With the Super skippers, I got some pointers and completed my first double under (two turns of the jump rope per jump); a major goal. This week during workouts I feel like I've made some turning points with handstand pushups which are another major goal. Not quite "prescribed" but I found a way to make some positive progress.

Only negative is I have some nagging in my left leg. Where it is, I can't tell if it's my glutes or my hamstring originates, but hopefully it'll work itself out. Given the running has been going ok, I'm not worried at the moment, but I have my eye on it and I'm being proactive with some foam rolling.

Soundtrack: Though I feel like I haven't found any good NEW music lately
"New City" by The Fold
"High of 75" by Relient K