Age and Experience vs Youth and Exuberance

Today’s WOD was a killer.

100 meter sprint
10 burpees
10 Chin ups

10 Rounds!!!!

I checked the times of the other class I saw that all but 4 people scaled the WOD. Scaling this WOD meant jumping off a box into each chin up. The 4 guys that didn’t scale the WOD put up times in the low 20s. The coach told us our goal should be under 30 min. I knew under 20 was not in the cards, but I thought I could shoot for something in the mid 20 min range. Then I thought, “wait a min, only 4 guys did it without scaling and they put up incredible times so that means they were in incredible shape, maybe I should scale it too? Nah, F it! let’s see if I can do it without scaling.”

So there were 5 people in the class, me, a young skinny ripped guy, a girl, a new guy and another guy around my age. The ripped guy and I were the only ones planning on doing the WOD without scaling. Everyone else set up their boxes for the jump chin-ups right from the start.

Round 1
Right out of the gate Team Ripped Guy took off like a bat out of hell into the sprint, Team Hot Chick also started strong but not a full on sprint, Team Other Guy and Team New Guy held the middle of the pack and Team Old Guy (me) slowly took up the rear. I was the last one to finish the sprint and the last to finish the burpees.

Round 3
Team Ripped guy was still going strong, Team Hot Chick was starting to struggle with the chin-ups, Team Other Guy was holding his own but falling back, Team New Guy was doing his best and Team Old Guy was trudging along at an even pace but already starting to suck some wind.

Round 5
Team Ripped Guy is starting to rest between exercises and showing signs of struggle with the chin-ups, Team Hot Chick is mentally forcing herself through each chin-up one at a time, Team Other Guy has slowed his pace dramatically but was still going, Team New guy was still doing his best and Team Old Guy was getting the feeling of wanting to throw-up. Time was somewhere in the 13 min range.

Round 7
Team Ripped Guy was no longer able to do the chin-ups without scaling them. When I saw him scaling it gave me a huge boost of energy and the motivation to keep going.

Round 8
Team Old Guy pulls neck and neck with Team Ripped Guy who is still scaling the chin-ups.

Round 10
Team Ripped Guy finished in 22:50 but scaled rounds 7-10. Team Old Guy finished with a time of 24:03 (technically still in the low 20s) and was the only person in the class that didn’t scale the WOD!

Score one for Team Old Guy! Now rest and recover before BJJ tonight.

2/21/12 WOD

Today's crossfit WOD was pretty good, not ridiculously hard but very challenging. What made it post worthy is I did it "unborken" WOD. Normally I pace myself, slow and steady through the working taking rests at appropriate times so I can keep up a good pace. Today I decide to go balls out, no rest between sets, exercises or rounds. I also decided NOT to pace myself, I just hit the workout at a sprinters pace and ignored my mind screaming at me to slow down. It felt good to really open up.

wod

3 Rounds of

5 Pullups
10 Hand release pushups
15 2 handed overhead kettle bell swings
20 Burpees
25 Double unders

Surprisingly it was the burpees that killed me.

Old Man

I went out to JWs last night for some good hard training and as usually I was not disappointed. I did all three classes kettle bells, no gi and gi. Doing all three classes back to back is a tuff challenge physically but an even tuffer challenge mentally. By the time I left I was completely drained but it felt great.

It's nice to know I still have enough gas in the tank for a long haul training session.

WOD

Posting on this site have been few and far between, but today's CrossFit workout was posting worthy.

21 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
21 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

15 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
15 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

9 Deadlifts (225 lbs)
9 Hand Stand Pushups
25 Overhead Power Snatches (75lbs)

Puke (optional)

Lots of Changes

There have been lots of changes over the last couple of months and I have kept very very busy. I will probably move to a once a month update on this site so here is my update for this month. For more frequent random thoughts check out my posts at www.osagame.net/blog

Updates
Judo promotion to Black Belt - Check
BJJ promotion to Brown Belt - Check

Next on the list

Judo - Focus on grip fighting and footsweeps
BJJ - Focus on no gi bottom game
Fitness - Crossfit 3 - 5 times per week

Northeastern Judo Championships

Yesterday Lex and I made the long haul up to Patterson NJ for the Northeastern Judo Championships. Just to get it out of the way, my performance absolutely sucked! 0-2on the day without scoring a single point.

Now for the excuses.
1) I spent most of the week cutting weight trying to get down to 198. We got to the tournament around 10am so I could weigh in and start rehydrating and eating. I made weight coming in at 196. Turns out there was only 1 other guy in my division and he didn’t show so they bumped me up to 220.

2) The cutoff for masters was either 35 or 40 instead of the usually 30. So I was the lightest and oldest guy in my division.

3) I lost by a yoko scored very late in the match. Once he scored he played very defensively and ran down the clock.

4) I almost pinned him but the ref stopped the match just as I got on top of him. I haven’t had a chance to watch the footage yet to determine if it was a controversial stoppage. The ref may have called time earlier and I just didn’t hear it but as long as I am listing the lame ass excuses I thought I would throw in something about the ref.

5) After my first match I had to sit around for almost an hour before my second match which really really sucked.

6) We got to the tournament around 10am and didn’t leave until 6:30ish which is unusual for a Judo tournament.

The excuses sound good as far as excuses go but the reality is age/weight/time was not a factor, at least not in my first fight. I had a beatable opponent that I played very poorly against period. I did not play my game, I was very tentative, I avoided Newaza (I have NO idea why) and I was rushing to try to get my throws in without a thought of setting anything up. I didn’t pay any attention to grip fighting, I didn’t pay attention what he was trying to do, I didn’t alter my strategy when the lame ass throws I was trying weren’t working….I basically just played shitty judo. I was very disappointed in myself and my performance, but I guess that is part of the game sometimes.

In the second match size was definitely a factor. I had a very big very strong guy that probably cut to make 220. He got a very dominant belt grip and threw right threw my hip check landing me squarely on my head. I am not sure I could have done too much differently against that guy.

On a more positive note:

Even though my Judo looked more like shit-udo there was some amazing Judo by other Judokas. There were several top ranked Judo black belts at yesterday’s tournament and it was a pleasure watching them play. There were 4 or 5 top ranked guys that have Olympic potential so watching them go head to head for the grand champion award was pretty cool. There was also a pretty big women’s division which is unusual. The girls in our club should really think about putting this tournament on their calendars next year.

Burnt Lung

I made it out to crossfit yesterday for the first time on a Wed. It seems the current weekly routine is strength and conditioning on Mon with the emphasis on strength, strength and conditioning on Wed with the emphasis on conditioning and strength on Fridays with little emphasis on conditioning.

Yesterday’s workout was called the “Burnt Lung” and as soon as a saw the name of the workout I knew I was in trouble.

Usual warm-up

WOD
20 wallballs
5 Burpees
400 meter run

10 ROUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Wall balls – Explode out of a deep squat position with a 20 lb medicine ball and throw the ball up in the air to a line on a wall that is about 15 – 20 feet high.

Every WOD has one exercise that I think of as the “make or break” exercise of the WOD. That exercise has the biggest impact on the overall time to complete the WOD. In this WOD there was no doubt about what the make or break exercise was going to be, obviously managing the run was going to be the key. The person with the fastest time would be the person how could get through each round without walking. Run to fast and you’ll burn out forcing yourself to walk so you can catch your breath, run too slow and you might as well be walking. My strategy for this WOD was managing the run at a slow pace that allowed my legs to actively recover during the run.

So we start the WOD and right out of the gate everyone else takes off into the wallballs, rips through the burpees and sprints out the door into the run. I was the last to finish the wallballs, last to finish the burpees , walked from my burpee station to the door for the run and began my long slow jog solidly bringing up the rear in 10th. I kept up my pace and by round 3 I was in 3rd. During the run of round 4 I noticed the guy ahead of me slowing down a little so I lengthened my stride ever so slightly to close the distance. About mid way through the run on round 5 I pasted the guy ahead of me and took command of 2nd place. Now the only guy ahead of me was a little guy who was clearly a very strong running. He had a tougher time with the wall balls then me but he tore around the track. At the end of round 7 he was about 50 paces ahead of me on the run. When we finished the run on round 8 he stopped for a quick sip of water. I closed the distance by NOT walking from the door of the gym to my wallball station but instead I ran that short distance while he was taking his drink. This short extra bit of energy was enough to bring us neck and neck. I could tell he was not looking forward to the wall balls on round 9 so I gave him a little shout of encouragement that kicked him back into gear. Not the best strategy for winning the crossfit Olympics but who gives a shit. We got through the wallballs at about the same time but he ripped through the burpees then took off for the run at a sprinting pace. I could not keep up, going into the run on round 10 he was about half a lap ahead of me but I was still really really happy to come in 2nd out of 10 in our class. I finished the workout in 39 min which put me fairly high on the leader board for the day but nowhere near the top. Someone in the morning class finished the WOD in 29:45. I can’t even imagine getting through that WOD at that pace.

After I class I was desperately in need to massive amounts of calories so I skipped the tuna lunch I had planned and decided to eat fried chicken allow with a box of fries. Lately I have been doing research on the benefits of eating fast food after a super intense workout. It turns out the benefit is the feel of wanting to throw up for the rest of the afternoon…..perhaps not my best meal choice.

Fast forward to Thr morning. My entire body is sore, I am hobbling around like a 98 year old man that got run over by a truck. How will I get through BJJ and Judo tonight? I suspect I will be playing a lot of fetal position guard.