Looking Ahead

One of the appealing aspects of Crossfit is the "standard" workouts that you can use to compare yourself to other from around the country (and beyond). Starting this Saturday, I will be doing some of the Crossfit "Benchmark Girls" in order to gauge my fitness progression.

Today my morning workout crew decided to tackle "Elizabeth". Elizabeth is a benchmark WOD that makes use of both weightlifting (cleans) and gymnastics movements (ring dips) in the classic 21-15-9 rep scheme. The goal of this WOD is to complete 21 cleans (135 pounds) and 21 ring dips, 15 cleans and 15 ring dips, and finally 9 cleans and 9 ring dips as fast as possible. Falling into a very short time domain (usually under 10 minutes), "Elizabeth" taxes the system. She was one of the final WODs chosen for the 2012 Crossfit Games (you can watch the actual Elizabeth event here). I was able to shave nearly 45 seconds off of my previous time and finished the WOD at 4:23. Not quite approaching Rich Froning's games time of 2:33, but I was pleased.

For a short workout it left me pretty spent. This goes to show how important rest is in recovery and improvement. Friday was a total rest day for me. I took the day totally off and could fell my body had recovered. Off/rest days are always tough for me. I always want to be doing something. I'll talk myself into a "recovery" workout, and then look back and realize that it had been several weeks without a true rest day. I felt good in the WOD today and felt good on the bike a couple hour afterwards.

After teaching my Functional Strength Training class, I meet up with Joe to hit a short ride to stretch the legs out. We did the usual almost 10 mile Fulton Ride, not real exciting, but it served the purpose of getting our legs primed for tomorrow's ride a Shawnee State Forest! I can't wait to get back there. I love riding the gravel in and around the Forest.






Looking forward to the coming months I have several "events" coming up. In two weeks I'll be competing in Crossfit Countdown's Gym Throwdown Competition, which will probably be a humbling experience with the Firebreathers that will be there. It is always good to step out of the comfort zone to see where you are. It is from these experiences that you can learn, and grow, and improve!

The month of February will be a month to challenge myself in my training to be ready for the events that blow in with the winds of March. Today, I completed registration for the annual trip to the Sub-9 Death March. This is one of the best bike events that I have ever participated/competed in during my years pedaling. 50 plus miles! Senic cemeteries! Awesome event! Followed closely by the Annual Athens Bicycle Gravel Rouser. Both of these awesome bike events also coincide with the 2013 Crossfit Open, which should prove very interesting (as long as we stay away form 7 minutes of burpees!) All the training during March will hopefully prepare me for the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek mountain bike race, which I will be racing on the singlespeed!

I am excited to push toward these tests! It's gonna be a blast!