Survived first attempt at 6:30 a.m.

I went to bed intending to wake up and go to the 8 a.m. workout at CrossFit.

My body woke up at about 6:10, and my brain wouldn't go back to sleep. It knew I had time to get to the 6:30 class. Living about 2 miles from the gym helps in those situations.

So, off I went to the 6:30 class for Clean and jerk lifts: 5-5-5-3-3-3

It was a good size group with 10 of us, and it was nice to see Coach Donna again... it had been a while since I'd seen anyone from the morning crew face to face.

The biggest concern was fueling. As we warmed up with dynamic range of motion in a circle, I asked everyone what they ate and when. Consensus was apple sauce mixed with some protein powder about a half hour before.

I ate half a Cliff Bar, and dazed in the early morning, thought I was going to do yesterdays' workout, which was cardio. So I also had an Accel gel-- quickly absorbed fuel.

But it was good to do the clean and jerk again, had been a while for that, too. This was a taxing workout, starting with three sets of 5. Amazing how just a few reps can drain.

My weights: 53-58-63 for the sets of 5. Then I jumped to 73 for the first set of 3 and 83 for the final set. I have decent form for the cleans, which is vital once the weight gets heavier. But I was struggling to pull the weight up rather than jump it up and get under it on my final rep of the second-to-last set.

After that, I was shaking, and I knew I was done. Going heavier was not going happen. So, not sure if the failure came because I'm not used to fueling on this timetable, or if it's because I jumped up in 10-pound increments, which gets heavy fast!

Either way, I had enough time to go home, shower, eat breakfast, get ready and get to work. Leisurely and relaxed.

I may have to reconsider my decision to try and work out at 8 a.m., and just go at 6:30. If I get to bed early enough, all is well. Sleep really is a major key for me-- and fuel, of course. Still experimenting with that one.

The past few years, I have methodically planned my diet for the entire work day, preparing it at night and bringing a good amount of food with me to work.

Now, it's wake up and go for the most part.

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The morning experiment

Wednesday will be the morning experiment. Could be considered the mOUrning experiment given it could be a difficult change in lifestyle. But it will be the first time I try working out in the morning since the days of college swim team.

Getting up to work out before going to work is not by choice, but rather by demand. When the job demands later hours, a visit to the gym is the the first thing to go.

I can't go to the 5:30 or 6:30 a.m. classes-- too early! The 9 a.m. is too late, so I'm going to see how 8 a.m. works out.

I'm now fully feeling the soreness from Monday night's workout:
front squats 5-5-5-3-3-3
I hadn't done any type of squats for a while, so worked way up in weight going 73-78-83 for the sets of 5. Then did 88-93 for the first two sets of three. The quads were vibrating and getting weak. Saw that some of the women from the morning crew were in the low 100s, so I decided to jump 10 pounds for that last set of three to 103 and did it.

The bar was definitely heavy across the shoulders, but didn't hurt. Until today, when the front of the shoulders are sore, I assume from the pressure of the bar resting on them in the front squat position.

We'll how the shoulders and legs hold up for a demanding Wednesday workout:
As many rounds in 20 minutes of
30 wall-balls
25 kettlebells wings (1.5 pood for men)
10 burpees

Going to sweat! Just hope I can stay away for a long day of work.

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Diana Nyad swims for more miles than most can comprehend

If you've read this blog before, you know I love to swim.

You may not know that it was a love-hate relationship for many years, though. Many young swimmers are overtrained, and battle not only physical ailments but also physchological demons. I consider myself a survivor of such intense training, having battled shoulder injuries, bicep tendinitis and having to get a cortizone shot to numb the pain.

My Monday column is about Diana Nyad, an amazing woman. She was a world-class long-distance swimmer in the 1970s. She attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida in 1978 and was pulled from the water after... ready for this? ... 41 hours, 49 minutes of continuous swimming. The team didn't wait for good conditions, and she was thrown off course in rough seas and bad weather.

The following year, she set a world record for longest continuous swim-- 102.5 miles from Bimini to Florida.

The, she'd had enough and didn't swim one arm stroke for 30 years.

She decided to come back and chase after that dream of completing the
Cuba-to-Key West swim, this time without a shark cage. Susie Maroney swam from Cuba to Key West in 1997, but in a shark cage.

Nyad wants to be the first to do it without.

Coming from someone who thought completing the 12.5-mile Swim Around Key West was an admirable accomplishment (finishing in 4 hours, 56 minutes), there is no limit to the respect I have for Diana Nyad.

She talked about what goes through her mind when she swims for hours and hours and hours, stopping only to take in fluids or quick bites.

"I guess the way I understand it, I was tested a lot back in my 20s, you’re right brain and left brain are working at same time, you’re in a semi dream state and you’re in a semi awake state. You’re in this metronome type of splashing, something that you’ve done all your life so you go on automatic after a while.

"So sometimes the brain does go into a real place of not concrete immediate thinking and I kind of wake up after a while and think, ‘I was just tripping out on the meaning of the universe, whether there’s a god or not, did I really do right by my mother, who died a couple of years ago.' "

She said she sings to herself, too.

After a training swim off Mexico (and those training swims can get up to 15 hours, by the way), someone asked her: "What are you thinking out there, are you thinking about the majesty and mystery of the ocean?"

"Sometimes you do think things like that," she said, "but to be frank, I was singing the Beverly Hill Billies theme song, and I sang it 2000 times. It’s a very metronomic song that fits with my particular cadence of stroke—it’s a song that works for me in the ocean, it gets me through a number of hours. I sang it exactly 2,000 times. That took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes- it passed the time and it comforted me so it’s kind of stupid and yet useful."

Nyad's warmup swim for Cuba-KW was a 24-hour straight swim on July 11. She did it. This amazing woman was dropped into the ocean in the Gulf Stream 50 miles offshore and swam to Florida. She also said it gave her the confidence she needed to know she can, indeed, do the Cuba swim.

Check out my column for more details on why she came back to complete that long-distance swimming dream at age 60.

You can keep up with her progress and diary at diananyad.com. She's awaiting governmental approval and favorable conditions... not repeating the mistake in 1978 of just setting off without considering the consequences.

Swimming the 103 statute miles is a tough enough journey, no need to throw in extra swells and waves and rough conditions.

Go, Diana!

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When there's excruciating soreness...

I always look forward to my Saturday swims. The workouts, although always hard, still work out soreness that results from CrossFit workouts during the week.

Yesterday was THE most sore I had been in recent memory. My shoulders, back and neck muscles were incredibly painful to use in normal swim strokes. About halfway through the practice, things started to loosen up some, but never completely let up. Still today, Sunday-- three days after the culprit workout -- it still hurts to stretch and move those muscles.

The cause: Thursday's WOD of:
as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of 3 strict pull-ups (no kipping) and 3 shoulder presses at half body weight.

While swimming laps in a bit of disbelief, I realized there was good reason for the pain. It's not until you think of the total numbers from an AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) workout that it sets in what you accomplished.

I did 14 sets (I think, I often lose count and may have had an additional). And I did all the pull-ups strict, dead-hang without any assistance from bands or other. I started to think about this, my total of 42 pull-ups, and realize that is not too bad! I am strong enough to get through such a task, but it had painful soreness consequences. I did the first 8 sets with all three in a row. Then, had to do two, rest and then finish the final rep for the remaining sets.

I tore up plenty in my body muscling through this, but regardless, I was very happy to have completed the task. Perhaps next time, it won't hurt as badly??

The other good news is that I'm getting better at double-under jump ropes. I'm at the point of being able to do it in this pattern:
double-single-double-single-repeat. Next is trying to connect all doubles. These really get the heartrate going FAST!!!

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Finding what we need

It's easy to get into a routine, and just as easy to fall out of one. Or maybe I should say, it's easy to get sucked into an alternate, less desirable one.

I've only been able to get to the gym a few times lately. Once last week, kept my weekend swim, and then tonight's visit was my once this week.

The workout of the day was interesting: as many rounds in 20 minutes of
3 strict pull-ups (no kipping)
3 shoulder press, think men had to do .62 body weight, and women half.

I was thrilled to be able to do all strict pull-ups, not having to scale with a band or kip. The down side was that it ripped more skin than when I kip. I think some people, myself included, struggle with kipping pull-ups because we lose rhythm. I always thought I was strong enough to keep them going, and tonight's workout proved that.

I switched my grip from forward to backward after a few sets, and was able to keep that going... it isolates the biceps more.

Felt great to go sweat. For those who don't know, our gym has no A.C. May seem scary to someone used to a cold-air gym, but we get used to it. About 2 years ago, I tried to run on an inside gym track and it burned my lungs.

Now, we have sweat drip into our eyes and soak our clothes, but it feels great.

I saw my friend Darcy at the gym tonight. She's been coming Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. She made a comment about how most everyone there is younger than her, but I never noticed such a thing. There has always been a nice mix of people of all ages and backgrounds, and each with different goals.

Coming to the gym is her time to herself. I couldn't think of a better way to focus and treat oneself. I love seeing her there, and others who come to get away or to get together. Whatever each of us needs, we find it at the gym.

I could have just as easily not gone, stayed at my computer and done some more work. But exercising in that one hour was the best thing I did for myself all day.

Great to be back.

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