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I found this article from the NY Times, A Little Deception Helps Push Athletes to the Limit, via the Fitbomb blog. The article talks about how cyclists, when deceived into thinking they are competing against cyclists of similar speed, will go beyond their perceived limits in order to win. What’s interesting is this extra push is quantified: a 2% increase in power translates to a 1% increase in speed.

A 1% increase can translate to a massive difference in power endurance sports. In rowing, where a typical time might be 6′ over 2000 meters, 1% translates to 3.6 seconds. That margin in the rowing world is an open water win–one boat length is about 2.7 seconds for an eight-man boat. A clear and decisive victory.

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I have no direct connection to 9/11, thankfully. The way that I chose to honor 9/11 the last two years was by participating in the special 9/11 WOD that CrossFit Firebase puts on. This included a long workout at Lake Eola with running and calisthenics, then moved to a downtown office building for part 2, which was running stairs. Part 1 takes almost an hour and running the stairs takes several times that, so it’s an epic morning of working out by any standards.

This year, part 2 was 14 times up and down inside the Wells Fargo building (16 floors). I hammered through all 14 ups and downs. It took me 2.5 hours. Let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve grinded through stairs inside a muggy, sweaty stairwell for 2.5 hours. It was brutal and I was crawling by the end. I was very very glad to have done it with good friends, otherwise I don’t think I would have gone the distance.

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I’ve done five competitions this year and one thing I’ve noticed is the majority of competitors warm up like crap. Most CrossFitters warm up with dynamic stretching and lifting, with either the same or lighter weight from the WOD. This is useful for prepping the muscles and joints, but the areas that are neglected are the aerobic energy systems. I blogged about the role of the energy systems in CrossFit previously.

Here’s an example of how the right warmup can affect you. The Summer Crush Games WOD “Greyhound” started with a 400m sprint on a dirt track, followed by 4 movements that alternated with a 25M walking lunge with weight. The total WOD time took me about 9′, which was average time-wise.

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When I think of my top 5 all-time athletic experiences, it goes something like this in no particular order:

  • Winning a bronze medal at the ’98 Dad Vails in the lightweight 8+. I sat two-seat. I remember it like it was yesterday.
  • Doing a sprint adventure race (trail run, mountain bike, canoe, obstacles) in Deerfield Beach. This was ridiculously fun because I was racing all-out with two of my buddies and it was like 100 degrees out. Extreme conditions make a race that much more epic.
  • Tough Mudder SoCal. Similar to #2 above, the physical demand was high and it was a blast to race with two good friends. We were wrecked afterwards. The terrain was picturesque and brutal at the same time.
  • GoRuck St. Augustine. I had to think long and hard whether GoRuck was a top 5 event because, while it was happening, I basically hated it and wanted to die a fiery death. The memory has since matured mutated towards unadulterated fondness. I think this is because GoRuck was the most epic athletic endeavor I’ve done to date, and I did it with a bunch of dear friends. It also completely changed my attitude about competition and mental toughness. Anyway, I’m slotting this badboy into the top 5 until further notice.
  • Summer Crush Games.

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I ain’t gonna lie, doing crossfit can be friggin’ expensive. Rocking an unlimited membership at the local box can easily run $150 or more per month. Add in the expense of making your diet paleo, shoes (those Inov8s aren’t cheap), WOD clothes, Oly shoes, a jump rope, home equipment, supplements, travel to competition, and we’re talking about a pricey hobby. If you’re having affordability issues, here are some suggestions for cutting down and still getting your elite on.

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I’ve been messing around with NUTRILITE Rhodiala Rosea, a workout supplement, for the past couple weeks and it’s time for a review.

Rhodiala Rosea is an extract from a plant found in the Arctic and in many mountainous areas of the world. It’s been used for hundreds of years for dealing with stress and cold and is also prevalent in Chinese medicine. If you’re interested in more backstory and the chemical qualities of Rhodiala Rosea, please see the wiki page. I’ll focus instead on my personal experience and how it affected my training. The NUTRALITE supplement is all natural and doesn’t contain any ingredient on the WADA banned substances list, which is good if you’re concerned about drug testing during competition.

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I got sick with the flu early last year and was laid out for a couple of days. Up until that point I was doing crossfit only casually, just enough to supplement my other athletic endeavors. When I got sick, I had nothing else to do but surf the net, so I fired up the 2009 CrossFit Games vids and watched every event straight through, and even watched Sevan’s behind-the-scenes video. I loved how tough and interesting the events were and I especially liked the personality of the athletes.  There was also an uncommon amount of sportsmanship and camaderie on display and that really drew me in. Watching those vids was a turning point for me in the sport.

For the 2010 Games, I got even more invested in the athletes and I could tell you who won each event and reel off some highlight moments. Spealler winning Amanda under the lights. Graham winning the double Helen. Froning falling apart at the ropes. Annie and Kristen going head-to-head in the final WOD. I’ve watched some of those videos 5-6 times because they inspire and they’re high drama. I couldn’t get enough. It was a truly compelling event.

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I recently had the good fortune to demo some gear from 5.11 Tactical, an apparel and gear company that primarily markets to law enforcement, military, and firefighting professionals. They makes tons of quality stuff, though, and regular civilian types like me find their gear useful for everyday purposes. If you’ve been reading my blog since the beginning, you may recall I used 5.11 Tactical base garments for the GoRuck Challenge, all of which performed admirably.

For this review I’m rocking the Rush MOAB 10, a shoulder bag. Let me disclaim right off the bat, I can’t test gear from a tactical perspective…in other words, I don’t own a gun and I don’t have any AR-15 mags laying around to stuff into the mag pockets. With that being said, I find it strangely appealing that my bag has mag pockets.

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I competed in my fourth CrossFit competition over the weekend, the Swamp Monster 2.0 at CrossFit 305. Check here for final results. Swamp Monster featured over 100 competitors in four categories: Beginner, Intermediate, Masters, and RX for men and women. I did the intermediate.

Let’s cut right to the chase. Swamp Monster 2.0 was hard as hell, even for the intermediates. I figured I would dominate this category and instead I got body rocked. (The RX was downright impossible except for the serious heavy hitters.) The WODs were fantastically hard and a significant factor was the heat and humidity…the temps flirted with triple digits and the humidity made it feel like 108. Not only that, but going full bore inside of a packed gym with no air conditioning and wall-to-wall sweaty bodies did nothing to ease the extreme nature of the competition. In my long and illustrious sporting career, this was one of the most challenging competitions I’ve ever done…certainly one of my toughest days of CrossFit.

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Here’s an interview I did with Keith “Old Skool” McGuire at CrossFit Firebase. Keith qualified for the 2011 CrossFit Games by placing 16th in the Open in the 50-55 masters category. Check out his stats on the Games site. I’ve […]