It was nice to finally get my bike out yesterday, track down all my gear, and pedal in the wind. Everything is blooming in Northeast Indiana. The day before I even had a nice butterfly flutter deftly into my mouth. Poor fella. Everything was going so well for him. He just came out of his shell into the beauty of the world only to be quickly salivated and spit to the ground. A Spring casualty. Or fate? We just happened to collide at the wrong time.
I felt half way strong in the saddle (i.e. CrossFit legs). We went East to Hoagland, IN (not even sure how we got there - I just followed) then West to Poe. Hadn't been down Poe way in a while. Not much had changed.
I've been riding without a cyclometer. Those little electronic devices that tell you your distance and your speed. I used to obsess over my pace, forever trying to maintain at least 17 miles per hour, even in a headwind (which at times is incredibly difficult if not impossible). And I always had to hit a certain mileage, log it, know what my cumulative mileage was for the month, for the year, etc. I really had my bearings.
But now I'm just pedaling.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
shoes.
When life's not going your way, join a Cross Fit gym, go on a Paleo diet, and buy new footwear.
There you have it. That was easy huh?
I have noticed something slightly peculiar about Cross Fit: it's in the shoes. I resisted in the beginning. Me and my high heeled running shoes were just fine. But as we did more and more box jumps together, and jump roping (double unders suck, btw, but I'm getting better), and progressed along toward the more complicated and heavy lifts with the bar my shoes and I decided to part ways. Running shoes are good for running. (And, I'm not even so sure of that as I have ran a few times recently in a pair of Brooks Pure Connect and felt like a gazelle).
I too decided to join the club with a low rise, light weight shoe. People are wearing those funny things where your toes fit in like a glove, a lot of New Balance Minimus going on, some other CF specific brand called Inov. Everything is either black or fairly bright and light weight. I started out with a pair of super odd bright blue beauties from Brooks mentioned above. I look and feel strange in them. I ran in them at Foster and I swear people were staring at my feet. I felt compelled to stop and ask the heavy-set walkers if their snickers and sideways glances were directed to my shoes. Obviously they don't understand Cross Fit fashion.
(Reebok does. They are all over the marketing of CrossFit and have sunk some money into the trend...a little business oriented sidenote).
Anyway, in conclusion of this blog entry that should be titled "Much Ado About Nothing" I settled on a pair of New Balance myself, not Minimus, but some funky silvery trail running shoe. They feel lighter than a good pair of Smart Wools. Happy Trails!
There you have it. That was easy huh?
I have noticed something slightly peculiar about Cross Fit: it's in the shoes. I resisted in the beginning. Me and my high heeled running shoes were just fine. But as we did more and more box jumps together, and jump roping (double unders suck, btw, but I'm getting better), and progressed along toward the more complicated and heavy lifts with the bar my shoes and I decided to part ways. Running shoes are good for running. (And, I'm not even so sure of that as I have ran a few times recently in a pair of Brooks Pure Connect and felt like a gazelle).
I too decided to join the club with a low rise, light weight shoe. People are wearing those funny things where your toes fit in like a glove, a lot of New Balance Minimus going on, some other CF specific brand called Inov. Everything is either black or fairly bright and light weight. I started out with a pair of super odd bright blue beauties from Brooks mentioned above. I look and feel strange in them. I ran in them at Foster and I swear people were staring at my feet. I felt compelled to stop and ask the heavy-set walkers if their snickers and sideways glances were directed to my shoes. Obviously they don't understand Cross Fit fashion.
(Reebok does. They are all over the marketing of CrossFit and have sunk some money into the trend...a little business oriented sidenote).
Anyway, in conclusion of this blog entry that should be titled "Much Ado About Nothing" I settled on a pair of New Balance myself, not Minimus, but some funky silvery trail running shoe. They feel lighter than a good pair of Smart Wools. Happy Trails!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Tire flipping?
No chaulk yesterday, although I could have used it. Our workout was a series of tire flips and jumps with 200 meter sprint runs between each flipping set. I'd never squared up to flip a huge truck tire before - tires from large farm implements. I just kept muttering "Nothing runs like a Deere" the whole time.
It's a pretty interesting move. In order to flip a truck tire you must squat low, put your whole body into it, really want it to rise from the ground, then once it's up you got it. A quick shove and it's over. More difficult may be what happens next, two quick jumps, hops really, one into the tire and one out. Repeat. Then run. I loved it.
It's a pretty interesting move. In order to flip a truck tire you must squat low, put your whole body into it, really want it to rise from the ground, then once it's up you got it. A quick shove and it's over. More difficult may be what happens next, two quick jumps, hops really, one into the tire and one out. Repeat. Then run. I loved it.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
chalk.
We use chalk in Cross Fit. At least I do anyway. Some of the more experienced have moved on to gloves when doing the workouts where really all we do is hang from a bar and pull up. Knees to elbows. Feet to hands. Pull Ups. I didn't even think feet-to-hands was possible until I tried it - folding your body into a V while hanging from that silly bar. Pull ups, kipping, swinging and 'flying' up over the bar. Sure wish I could do 'em like some of the people with whom I exercise.
Chalk. When I chalk-up my hands I have some odd distant memory of an enormous man, from the Olympics or something, getting ready to pick-up an equally enormous amount of weight. I think my Dad would stop the channel on those scenes. And we would together watch the belted neck-less men chalk themselves then strain under the load. Seems like the crowd, or coaches I suppose, would crescendo in loud encouragement as the bar rose. Then the red faced giants would drop the bar to the ground, taped fingers and wrists work completed, then scream a little or grunt satisfactorily.
Cross Fit is nothing like that in the least. Most of us have very nice proportional necks. But it's still a little grueling, and I like it. The point: if you have to 'chalk-up' to do something it's fairly serious. Guess I do feel a little like the neck-less power lifters from my childhood memories.
Get ready! Here I come:
Chalk. When I chalk-up my hands I have some odd distant memory of an enormous man, from the Olympics or something, getting ready to pick-up an equally enormous amount of weight. I think my Dad would stop the channel on those scenes. And we would together watch the belted neck-less men chalk themselves then strain under the load. Seems like the crowd, or coaches I suppose, would crescendo in loud encouragement as the bar rose. Then the red faced giants would drop the bar to the ground, taped fingers and wrists work completed, then scream a little or grunt satisfactorily.
Cross Fit is nothing like that in the least. Most of us have very nice proportional necks. But it's still a little grueling, and I like it. The point: if you have to 'chalk-up' to do something it's fairly serious. Guess I do feel a little like the neck-less power lifters from my childhood memories.
Get ready! Here I come:
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Paleo
This morning I poured myself a nice glass of almond milk. Then I carefully cut open a single serving of egg white protein powder and mixed it in. Then, with little egg white chunks poorly mixed I downed it. Chewed down the powdery parts. Followed it up with two Omega-3 fish oil pills. Gag.
At my desk I've had a few cashews, handful of blueberries, and about four nice raspberries. I always feel like I'm really living well when eating raspberries. They're so delicate. Must be costly to deliver that fresh little morsel from where ever it grew.
This is my life now. The CrossFit cult I joined has gone into the brain-washing phase of modifying my diet. No processed foods. No soft drinks. No refined sugars. Fine. Not even grains. No beans. No rice. But no dairy? For goodness sake. A guy likes to get his Gorgonzola on every now and then. What's so blue about cheese? OK, fine, I'll do it. No red wine either? Is that even healthy? I'm finding out, mostly, via the 8-week Paleo diet I'm attempting.
I must say, going into week two of this all vegetable, fruit, seed/nut, meat/seafood diet, that I feel 'clean'. I'm taking food into perspective. Something most people don't do. We just eat. And boy we eat a lot. I sat in a business lunch recently, drinking a small V-8 (which I hope is allowed) and watched four grown men devour heaping piles of pizza. How pretentious I must have looked to them?
When you're not a participant in the frenzy its not nearly as attractive. I didn't even salivate. Just rolled my eyes now and then with each passing bite.
At my desk I've had a few cashews, handful of blueberries, and about four nice raspberries. I always feel like I'm really living well when eating raspberries. They're so delicate. Must be costly to deliver that fresh little morsel from where ever it grew.
This is my life now. The CrossFit cult I joined has gone into the brain-washing phase of modifying my diet. No processed foods. No soft drinks. No refined sugars. Fine. Not even grains. No beans. No rice. But no dairy? For goodness sake. A guy likes to get his Gorgonzola on every now and then. What's so blue about cheese? OK, fine, I'll do it. No red wine either? Is that even healthy? I'm finding out, mostly, via the 8-week Paleo diet I'm attempting.
I must say, going into week two of this all vegetable, fruit, seed/nut, meat/seafood diet, that I feel 'clean'. I'm taking food into perspective. Something most people don't do. We just eat. And boy we eat a lot. I sat in a business lunch recently, drinking a small V-8 (which I hope is allowed) and watched four grown men devour heaping piles of pizza. How pretentious I must have looked to them?
When you're not a participant in the frenzy its not nearly as attractive. I didn't even salivate. Just rolled my eyes now and then with each passing bite.
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