holy hell that hurt

500m row, 3 min rest, repeat 8 times. This was more brutal than I expected (noticing a theme here). Averaged around 1:43 for the first couple sets, slowing down to 1:52 for the last. Not even the sweet melodies of Rammstein could coax any more effort out of me at the end.

Thursday

21 push-ups/ 21 squats/ 500m row, 15 push-ups/ 15 squats/ 500m row, 9 push-ups/ 9 squats/ 500m row. Total time 8:41.

What does HCR, a Ferrari, and cycling and swimming have in common?

Well... me actually (And Mrs. Me. Liz rode w/me on Sat). Moved a bunch of workouts around to accommodate the beautiful weather/scheduling. I rode on both Sat (38 miles) and Sun (45 miles). Sat turned out to be a group ride w/the my corporate "team". Was actually surprised that I was one of the 3 people pulling for the majority of the ride. I guess some of this trainer stuff is paying off early in the season. Sunday I went out on my own to do the 3 miles, rest a min, 6 miles, rest 2 min, 9 miles, rest 3 min, 12 miles. Started off fairly well after a 5 mile warm up to get to my route. Avg'd about 22mph for the first 3 and 6. I went to grab a drink after the 6 mile pull and realized I has unknowingly launched my one bottle of nutrition (I had 2 bottles of water, 1 of concentrated Accelerade, and a back-up gel). Oops. Downed my gel, stretched my back out (having the familiar early season holy-hell-the-aero-position-takes-a-while-to-get-used-to back spasms), and took off on the 9 mile pull which included the Great Falls hill. Yowza. Somewhere around here a yuppy in his new Ferrari almost ran me over. Seriously, if you're gonna drop 150k on a car, splurge for driving lessons. (I also saw a pristine 80's Lamborghini Countach on a Sunday drive- the car of my teenage dreams :) Anywho, I stopped after 9 to stretch again and strip off my base layer shirt, and set off on my 12 miler. About 3 miles in I saw my bottle of Accelerade sitting in the dirt on the side of the road (in the sun, of course). Stopped, cleaned it off as best I could, and drank from the sweet fountain of warm, sticky goodness. It was a little too late though- I ran out of juice at about mile 9 and spent the last 3 in a state of total bonk-ness. Before that I was chugging along at a steady 21ish, which I thought was pretty good for this early in the season. 

So... I finished the workout portion of the ride and leisurely rode home across the National Mall. Leisurely until I ran into the Immigration protests, followed by the Health Care Reform protests. At least 100k people out there. Wow- in the 5 years I've been in DC, I've never seen anger like this. Not just activism, but downright anger. The driveway into the Capitol bldg was lined 10 deep with protesters screaming at the representatives as they arrived. Crazy.

Finally, I swam this morning. 250, 5x50, repeat 3 times. I was fairly consistent the entire time. Each 250 was right at 4:20, and my 50's were all within a sec of :45. Not bad for a slow swimmer.

Finally finally... shoulder press 5 sets of 3. Warmed up w/45#, 65#, 95#, then the 5 sets at 115#.

100 days and counting...

I just looked at the ticker and noticed I'm at the 100 day mark until CdA. All of a sudden it just got a whole lot closer. Today's workout: Row 200/ 21 sit-ups, Row 200/18 sit-ups, decreasing the sit-ups by 3 until you get to 0 and row a final 200. I thought this was one of the easier workouts, although my core was more fatigued than I expected at the start. Doing the sit-ups on the hard floor next to the ERG's didn't feel so good either. But... finished in 12:50.

Riding outside tomorrow- can't wait!

Saturday's workout today

I had a bike today and a lift/row on Sat. Since the weather is supposed to be abso-bleepin-lutely beautiful on Sat, I swapped them. So today was deadlift 1/2 bodyweight 30 times and row 1k for time. 1/2 my bodyweight is somewhere around 90-95 lbs (I used 95)- 30 deadlifts in 1:05, and then the 1k row in 3:42, for a total time of 4:47.  And now, I drink coffee!

I actually passed someone in the pool.

Good swim this morning. As someone who has always been a middle-of-the-pack swimmer, I think I lucked out and wound up in a lane with 2 people much slower than me. It does a lot to boost your confidence when you actually pass someone. Anywho, 1000yd TT in 18:55.

And just like that: cha-ching!

Not sure if I was fueled by my desire to prove that a little fracture in my foot can't stop me, my hatred for Chuck Bass, my excitement over the return of Michael Shumacher to F1, or if this Crossfit thing really works, but I had a great ride. Did my 20K TT on the trainer over 3 min faster than last week. And my HR was a full 10 bpm higher throughout the ride, topping out around 182. Finished in 39:42. Take that, Mr. Foot Fracture.