Mountain Climbing & Salzberg

Our last day in Munich was bitter sweet as we had really started to enjoy Dirk and Silvi, our hosts. We headed to a castle and hit a very fun workout, got in trouble for the first time but finished up and got some scarecrows in -- a fun thing many Friendshippers will be privied to soon enough. We also made it to the Olympic village, and sprinted up an enormous hill that used to be a classic Munich feat of strength. Much of the park was created on top of rubble taken from WWII, which I thought was cool. The sprint up was rough, 150-200m, straight up, and bear crawl down!

My afternoons in Munich were spent with a 30min nap, coffee and a cross-cultural conversation with a German crossfitter...those who know me know how much I enjoyed this. We got in our bus to leave for Vienna, but we found out the night before it would be interrupted by a day in Salzberg. Salzberg is known around here for bein one of the most beautiful places in all of Europe. We began our day with a hike up a mountain...now they say this normally takes between 3 and 6 hours. There are trails and paths, many ways to the top. However that is clearly no way for a CF'er. How does 47 minutes for the fastest of us sound? We literally went straight up the face, off path for a large chunk of the time, and basically the steepest incline you can walk up. It was hard, breathtaking (literally and figuratively), and awesome. I finished in 1.27 and noticed a large gap in my training... Or was made re-aware. I enjoyed the experience and the town of Salzberg was amazing. Small, alp town exactly as you imagine it, romantic, classic, cool. We shopped a bit and saw the city stronghold castle where we hit our morning workout (quite an odd place to do it I assure you). The next morning we were off early for Vienna! More to update soon!

Acrobats, concentration camps, virility

Yesterday was absolutely jam packed with awesome. We started the day by heading out to a local river in their "Central Park" - the biggest intercity park in all of Europe. Water was supposed to be very cold, and the river is said to give men virility and be a sign of manliness. My guess is this is mostly due to the extremely strong current that it has. Luckily the water levels, like everywhere are low, so it was managable, we even had the advantage of being just south of the dam...fun stuff. We then hit breakfast in the park (the second breakfast thanks to our amazing hosts, Dirk and Silvia (ex-volleyballing Crossfitters here, who have been nothing short of amazing, I hope to send them a nice gift when I get home). I had to get semi-adventurous with veal sausage links for breakfast, that were a solid fist size a piece. Just like everything in Germany it was pair with a soft-pretzel and beer. We moved back and caught a train to Duchau, the first concentration camp...which was sobering but also gave you a good sense of American pride reading the liberation stuff. It was enormous...like blew my mind how large it was.

Got back around 5 and sat with Dirk for a nice 2 hour conversation on everything from Germany's disappointing Olympics to why "Off The Charts" is a sweet saying. Then the night began...we hit an authentic dinner and all the Germans wore their traditional Oktoberfest type garb....so cool. They have designators on their clothes to show if you're single, dating, in love, or widowed. Pretty sweet (and crazy expensive!). Took dinner straight to the theatre...which I cannot begin to do justice...many had seen circ-de-solei and said it didn't compare...impressive acrobatics to say the least, balance feats, juggler types, and comedy (which of course we didn't get). We then hit a university bar after being denied getting into P1 (the local "Hollywood" celebrity scene)

Partied into the night pretty well, got back, hit some Z's and here I am on the patio with some coffee ready for a day of workouts! Olympic park and more today...

Oh and forgot I introduced everyone to Quarters...and I one hit Doug, one of the guys who let me demonstrate on him...#StillGotIt

Roof weightlifting

Met the group today and did a walk around downtown Munich! Saw a shrine to Michael Jackson, which as Americans we naturally thought was kind of funny/weird...then the two women taking care of the shrine got very serious with us. Interesting to read the notes about him, and how loved he is here still. We moved on to a sweet little diner, had some kraut for the first time, a schnitzel and meatloaf -- German food is just meat and potatoes, not too bad. We hit our first workout in the middle of an awesome square in the center of town /hundreds of people watching. Simple team workout to warm everyone just getting off planes and trains to loosen up. 50m walking lunge, broad jumps, inch worm push-ups, crab crawl (back/forward). Set as a relay race. Then we moved back to the gym, which overlooks downtown munich on a 10 story roof. Hit this:
10min Amrap: (4 rounds + 2 flights)
10 story stair climb/descent
5min rest
10min Amrap: (8 rounds)
10 DL @225
Bear crawl 50 ft
5min rest
10m Amrap: 7 rounds
3 MU
15 KBS @ 53

Pretty good, certainly what I needed, now back to a local German's house for food and sleep!
People are of course awesome, pumped for the next 9 days!

Long travel days

After 29 hours of planes, trains, walking, and more sitting than I care to do in a year...I have my bed. I had planned to stick through the first night and exhaust myself as much as could, small naps here and there, to get on the time zone schedule. Due to a woman's neglect of Her child (that I'm currently being chastised for calling out on Facebook (though not my best tact in hindsight) so I'll leave the details at that) I am more sleep deprived than I had planned originally. So here I am, enjoying a beautiful restaurant with no one here who speaks English, enjoying an amazing pizza and beer, getting asked funny foreigner questions ("how do you say 'Bon apeitite' in english?"....uh we just say that?) --my saving grace for today was the Dublin Aer Lingus frequent flyer club...I had my own personal bathroom, free espresso and coffee, free food and wifi plus chargers! It was a travelers dream! Some pics below

Airports n' stuff

Sitting in the airport uncomfortably early, counting my blessings and amazed at how much can happen in a year. Last May Jay, Tom, Grant and I were sitting around trying to figure out how to keep our dream of training without being hassled alive. 15 months later we are leading an amazing group of CrossFitters down an exciting path. It is because of the success of our path that I have allowed myself to take more chances, spend more on experiences rather than save for later. I have gained a trust and faith in the CF community, so much so that I am not nervous in the least to get the chance to meet an awesome group of like-minded-Koolaid-drinkers halfway around the world for half a years salary.

Sometimes we let ourselves stick into a routine and a shell too long. I have never grasped the concept of working hard without playing equally or more hard. Playing for me differs than with others I guess...in that some read the "play hard" as drinking and partying with frequency. I have had more fun, more positive experiences, remembered them better and with far fewer consequences since I have stopped drinking (or over-drinking) and in half the time. I will likely be one of the few Americans in Europe who won't get blitzed a few times. But a belief in self-discipline and devotion to being a better person than I once was is more important to me and my values than anything. My pit stains are already half way to my waist (starbucks x airport "air" =disaster), and I'm looking forward to 24 hours of flying and layovers. I got recognized in the security line by an all-lululemon wearing couple, my first celebrity sighting...we discussed how awesome these new shorts are (guy was wearing the same ones), which is funny cuz the shorts caused me to get groped real solid by the TSA guy (triple pockets). The perfect situation for a soft moan #OpportunityMissed

Leaving for Europe!

Packing up, downloading useful Europe Apps (Fantasy Football, WiFi messengers, this...) and testing them. Realized that I pack freakishly light which always leads you into a "Forgot something" panic. Testing pics on this with one of the Winstigator

Some current PR updates:
Snatch 220
Clean - 300
Jerk - 300
C&J - 295
King Kong - 3.49
Games RC/C&J WoD: 6.08
Nasty Girls: 6.59
Fran - 2.40
Front Squat - 325 x 3

Lots of HS walk PRs...consistently able to hit 40ft unbroken in metcons and ~70ft (length of the gym) unbroken in skill practice.

Tuesday - May 15, 2012
Day after Regionals ends -- 4-5 week Oly/Gymnastics cycle begins.

Oly-
Snatch - 170 x 3 x 2, 170 x 2
Power Clean - 225 x 3 x 3, 205 x 3 x 4
Jerk -- 225 x 3, 225 x 2 x 2
FS - 270 x 3, 290 x 2, 270 x 3 x 3, 270 x 2
Romanian Pull - 225 x 3 x 4
Snatch Grip Strict Press - 5 x 5 @ 75lbs
Weighted GHR Sit-Ups --70lbs x 6 x 3


Wednesday - May 16, 2012
 Gymanstics
Ring Complex x 6 -- Kipping MU, Ring Dip, Slow Negative, FG Pull-Up (CTB), Skin the Cat


MetCon:
7 Rounds:
50 DU
Max Set HSPU (Strict)
9, 7, 7, 6, 7, 6, 4 -- 46 Total

Sunday - February 12, 2012

C&J -- Worked up to 265, failed at 270 a few times, caught the clean very nicely though, had the Jerk high enough just had a tough time getting my head through...

Cleans -- Worked up to 280, failed at 285 a few times...couldn't hang onto it...kind of annoying...

Front Squat -- Heavy 1-- Ended up going well, got 350lbs for a 20lb PR which last time I had a belt on, so this is big.

Saturday - February 11, 2012

Snatch - 190

C&J - 255 - Failed at 260 and 265...annoyed

5 Rounds of:
250m Row
10 Squat Clean Thrusters @ 95lbs
15 Burpees
Wearing a 20lb Weightvest
Rest 3 minutes
Time: 25.52 total, all sets were sub 3 minutes, fastest time on the Outlaw Site...felt pretty damn good on this for how rough it was.

Thursday - February 9, 2012

BB Gymnastics --Hang Squat Snatches

Doubles:
75, 95, 125, 140, 150, 165
Singles:
170, 175, 185, 195F x 3

Felt pretty good

Cond -
8 Minute AmRap:
15 Box Jumps @ 24" (Step down mandatory)
20 Burpees
Total:
4 Rounds + 4 BJ -- Legs lit up

Accessory stuff -- TGU's ruin my knees did a few but had to call it...

Wednesday - February 8, 2012
Back Squat – 250 x 5, 285 x 5, 300 x 2, 320 x 3, 355 x 1 — Still figuring out where my 1RM is…legs are plenty strong for this, but going beltless and dropping ass to grass has me losing my upper back/chest up position as I pop out of the bottom…nonetheless very fast 1RM.

2a) Strict C2B Pull-Ups --  7, 5, 6, 5

2b) Front Squat - 225 x 5, 250 x 4, 270 x 4, 285 x 4 — Thought this would be harder than it was

Diane: Set this up by saying I did the 60 deficit HS WoD on Monday instead of the tempo running, and my shoulders were not ready for Diane. I timed out my splits.

21DL – 24 seconds, 21 HSPU – 3.22, 15DL – 18 seconds, 15 HSPU – 2.45, 9DL – 8 seconds, 9 HSPU – 2.30 == Total – 9.32

Didn’t take the full rest, didn’t need it, wasn’t out of breath…

Double Unders 3min – 232 (PR on first set, 133)
T2B 2min – 32
Row 1min – 22Cals (16 second transition )

Wednesday - February 1, 2012

Back Squat - 245 x 6, 280 x 6, 315 x 3, 330 x 2 -- Still finding my capacity with my new squats
Supinated Bent-Over Rows 4 x 5- 155 across all sets
Front Squats - 215 x 5, 250 x 4, 270 x 4 x 2

Conditioning....
4 Rounds (did 5) of:
100m Sled Drag - Heavy as FUCK!
200m Sled Sprint - *Strip half the weight from the drag*

well after reading peoples things, I apparently read "HEAVY AS FUCK" differently than everyone else.  I did 300lbs (6 - 45lbs plates) on the heavy drag for the first 3 rounds, then dropped to 200 (4 45s), and 155 (3 45s) on the sprints...it was so dominating and fun that I ended up doing 5 rounds, plus it was perfect outside, 55 degrees in January, I'll take it!  I ended up blacking out a little bit, and almost passed out when I was done, kept forgetting to hit the lap timer on the watch...all 5 rounds took me almost 20 minutes.  Maybe it was my blissful ignorance as to what weight to do as it was my first time...sweet experience though. Love these things...needless to say I didn't get to my muscle-ups...

This was one of the most enjoyable destructive days I have had in a long time...

Tuesday - January 31, 2012

BB Gymnastics:
Took it light worked on speed and fluidity, hit cleans heavy yesterday
1a) Clean Pulls for Height -- 3 x 5 @ 165#
1b) Tall Cleans -- 3 x 5-7 @ 115#

Conditioning:
Part 1) 8 minute AMRAP of:
8 Push Jerks 155/105#
8 Ring Dips
16 KB Snatches (8L/8R) @ 24/16kg
Followed IMMEDIATELY by:
Part 2) 2 minute AMRAP of:
Double-Unders

Score: 4 Rounds + 16/17 Reps (haven’t watched video to see if first snatch counts on 5th round) + 130 Double Unders = 144/5 + 26 = 170/1 total

Midline – T2B were really fast (3 x 15) - 16, 18, 19 seconds
GHD Raises =  3 x 10

Monday - January 30, 2012

Clean & Jerks -- 135 x 3, 185 x 2, 215 x 2, 240, 250, 260, 270 (F x 2 on the Jerk, caught cleans very well)

Cleans - 280! PR!!! -- 290 x 2F -- Felt amazing, great day!

Saturday / Sunday - January 28/29, 2012

Back Squat -- Still working on Raw, High bar dropping.  Worked up to 335 x 1, felt ok, need to continue to work on this, not sure where my 1RM is, so hatch may be out of the question for now.


Bench Press - 215 x 5 x 2, 235 x 5 x 2 --
Front Squat - 205 x 5, 215 x 5, 235 x 5 x 2 -- Still working on dropping and keeping elbows high in the bottom.  Beltless though, felt pretty good.

___________________________________________________

Snatch -- Worked up to 185, couldn't extend
12 min AmRap of:
300m Row
410lb Farmers Carries ~50ft
20 KB Snatches (70lbs)
Farmer Carry
Total: 4 Rounds

Friday - January 27, 2012

Games WoD 11.1:
AmRap 10 minutes of:
30 Double Unders
15 Power Snatches (75lbs)
Total: 7rnds + 10 = 325 Reps

then...

20 Minutes Snatch work:
Worked up to 185, some hang stuff, couldn't hit extension today...

10 Minutes Handstand Walk practice:
Got 47 Ft (PR!!)
then 35ft and a really powerful kip-up off the ground -- good day

m/f/s = 1/1/1