Karl Eagleman

Wow.  I feel ENTIRELY like this.

3:00PM – Force Fitness
Olympic lifting and strength training
Full Clean 3×4
100kg x 3
105kg x 3
105kg x 3
110kg x 3

Press 8×3
60kg x 8
62kg x 6
60kg x 8

Notes:  Something is wrong and I’m pretty sure I know what it is.  I’m putting in some decent work, but I’m neglecting my body when it comes to recovery.  For this past week I haven’t been stretching and rolling out as much as what I should and it has finally caught up with me.

Even before I started warming up today, I could feel my right hip feel suuuuper tight.  It was a familiar feeling that I’ve had many times before, and it is usually bad news.  The pain is localized in the upper glute, under and directly behind the iliac crest (basically the back side of the ilium).  Some tendons, or muscles haven’t been getting the proper recovery and have pulled my SI joint out of place.  I hate it.  It’s one of the worst feelings I have ever felt.  Thankfully it’s only at a 3-4 on a scale of 10 where 10 is “get-me-to-the-emergency-room” bad.  And yes, I’ve experienced a 10 before.

After my final set of cleans, Wil noticed that I was subconsciously rubbing this area favoring it a tad.  He told me to hold off on what was prescribed for the rest of the workout, and take it easy.  In retrospect, I’m glad he did because I could have made matters worse.

I’m going to call my sports physician guy tomorrow and hope that I can get in to see him as soon as possible to get this taken care of.  In the meantime it’s going to be a ton of rolling out and stretching and even, dare I say the four letter word… rest.  For a little while at least.

Why don’t I ever learn my lesson and keep a high importance on recovery?
Why do I always seem to forget how important this is to not only my performance, but my well being?
Do athletes training to make a national team experience this?  Do they have chronic injuries?  Are they smarter than this?

7:00AM – The Von Eaglehausen
Erg workout
6×1000 / 2:00 recovery

Notes: Not going to lie, a little disappointed with my results from today.  I definitely would have liked to have seen a lot more intervals finished near the 3:12 mark like the first one.  Still, I really feel like much of my time spent, especially doing interval training with an open steady stroke rate, is me figuring out how to best strategize.

I still feel as though my time spent training to be a competitive rower, and even an indoor rower at that, is very young.  In CrossFit, every now and then, people talk about “gaming” a WOD in an effort to maximize your performance.  Just as with any sport, rather than going balls to the wall never really seems to yield better results than if you were to find that strategic pace that can carry you through ultimately with enough at the end to finish strong.

The same is entirely true of rowing on the Concept 2.  From many of my erg workouts I’ve already noticed how stroke rate and pace can have a huge impact on one’s strategic approach to covering a distance in the shortest time possible.  Needless to say, I’m still learning what my body can do.

Today was another off day, but that’s fine.  Nothing negative as long as I can learn from it.

Then,

7:00PM – The Von Eaglehausen
Skills practice - Snatch balances and muscle-ups

Notes:  I was planning on rowing on the water this afternoon.  Unfortunately, with school starting and varsity practice kicking into full swing I am starting to run into a big time equipment problem.  Not enough boats to go around, and even worse, none that fit me anyway!

I decided to take some time tonight to work on some things that are weaknesses, but also seem to be things that I enjoy.  For 20 minutes I would do three snatch balances (135#) and three muscle-ups.  I can’t really even call it a workout as I was just walking back and forth the entire time.  The competitiveness within me did rise as I got closer to that 20 minute mark I found myself trotting between stations.  It just felt good to go through these movements tonight.  I love practicing muscle-ups because they are a skill that I never want to lose, and practicing snatch balances will do nothing but get me stronger on my snatch.  All in all a decent day with some good stuff.  I’m happy.  Things are looking up.

4:00PM – Force Fitness
Olympic lifting and strength training
Snatch 4, 4, 2, 2
80kg x 4
80kg x 4
85kg x 2
85kg x 2

Barbell Single Leg Russian Deadlift 5×5
60kg x 5
65kg x 5
65kg x 5
65kg x 5
65kg x 5

Bent Over Row 8×3
65kg x 8
65kg x 8
65kg x 8

Handstand Push-ups 6×4

Box Jumps 6×4 – 44.5″

Notes: Pretty bleh today.  I feel like I had a pretty big week last week.  More than anything, I just felt mentally and a little emotionally stressed.  Had a little headache during the workout today.  That being said, I’m happy to snatch 85kg for a double on a day like today.

Rest Day

Needed this one bad.

Rest Da…. wait… what?!
Run 10 miles… not for time, but still TEN MILES!

Notes:  What did this come from?!  Well, chalk this one up to being a good husband  Andrea is training for a marathon in October and today her schedule called for a long run… a 20 mile long run.  It turns out that the organizers for the upcoming Bloomington Marathon had an exhibition run of the course they are planning to use for this race.  Runners could pay $10, receive a nice pair of socks, some GU, and take part in running the 13.1 for… fun.

Since Andrea needed to get 20 today, she asked me if I would want to ride my bike alongside her while she ran (this would be a 6:00AM, super dark, and a tad unsafe for a female by herself) into town to the place of registration, a cool three miles from our house.  Well, Karl Eagleman is a lot of things, but one thing he is not is a schmuck.  A schmuck rides his bike next to his wife, while his wife is running.  Karl Eagleman is not a schmuck.

Together, we left the house this morning at 6:00AM (another moment of zen here that I’ll mention in another post) and ran into town.  After we arrived and she registered, she still had to get in another four to make seven before the 13.1.  We took off for a loop around IU’s campus to finish get in the miles.  Andrea’s GPS watched helped out a lot, helping make sure covered the distance.  When we got back, the group of runners taking on the exhibition half marathon today had grown and after about 10 minutes or so, everyone set off.  I kissed my wife goodbye, wished her luck on her run and set back home for another three miles.  So much for the rest day!  Haha!  Still, I’m super glad I did this run today, and furthermore feel blessed that I have a body that allows me to do stuff like this.

As usual, Andrea wrote all about her run today.  Check it out here.

Aftermath of "Devin"

7:00PM – The Von Eaglehausen
“Devin”
21-15-9 reps for time of:
Overhead Squat, 115lbs
Airdyne/Row, Calories
Burpees
Then once finished with the above…
400m Run, +45lb Weight/Sandbag
*Start the clock and let it run until you finish your run.

Time – 10:42

Notes: My buddy Jacob is a legit CrossFit firebreather and trains out of his Elgin Garage Gym.  The training (not to mention the volume) he and his buddies do is insane.  I find myself frequently visiting his blog to not only get a daily dose of humble-pie, but also to get inspired.  Anyway, he recommended that I give this workout “Devin” a try.

Jacob, posted an 11:20 on this one.  Considering he was feeling off on that day and deadlifted a small house on his workout right before this one, I can’t bring myself to say I bested his effort.  Regardless, this was a killer WOD, my first CrossFit workout in over a few weeks, and it felt good to get it done.

Had moment of zen this morning. More about that in another post.

6:30AM – Lake Lemon
Single Sculling Practice
80 minutes

Notes: Best row so far.  Not kidding.  Last practice before school starts on Monday and I really felt like I was hitting on all cylinders this morning.  Still a ton to work on, but I was moving that cramped little scull as best I possibly could.

6:00PM – The Von Eaglehausen
Erg workout
3×2000 / 4:00 recovery
6:43.1  -  1:40.7/500M  -  25 s/m
6:38.0  -  1:39.5/500M  -  26 s/m
6:37.3  -  1:39.3/500M  -  27 s/m

Then,

30 muscle-ups
Not for time, but it just felt good to do them.  Last 12 or so were with grip pointing entirely outward.

Notes:  It’s a funny thing how when you practice something and actually put forth some effort, you improve.  I’m not saying today’s 2Ks were awesome, but for training I have to admit, I’m pretty happy.  My plan wasn’t necessarily to go full bore, balls to the wall on each interval.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  I wanted to actually pace myself and see how that worked.

The strokes during my first 1K were what I would consider full extension.  At the end of each stroke my hips were open as much as possible without falling out of the foot holders.  Stroke rate was low, 24 or so, and pace was nice and low too, 1:30 or so (low for me at least).  These full extension strokes were about as full range of movement as I could possibly get on a C2.  The problem was that, although they were keeping my pace low, it took longer to move through that entire range of movement and take a lot of energy… obviously.

So anyway, my strategy for these 2Ks were basically to keep those long, full extended strokes for the first 1K with a stroke rating of 24 or so.  Once I hit 1K, I picked up the SR and tried to hold steady at that pace as best as I could for the next 500M.  For the final 500M I basically tried my hardest to rip it up as hard as possible.  The good news is that I actually HAD energy left over for this!  Usually at the tale end, well 700M or so of a 2K, I’m usually blasted because I just go nutso for the first 500M.

In essence, employing this strategy was basically opposite of how I usually approach a 2K.  USUALLY from the first pull I’m ripping that wheel off the erg with a SR of 30 or so.  I try to maintain that as long as I can before I just burnout and fade during that last 600M or so.  Bad strategy.  Not smart.

The best feeling with these 2Ks was hitting that 6:19 (my PR) mark with a little less than 100M to go.  Considering how these were training 2Ks at about 80-90% of my maximum effort, today was a big confidence boos that the next time I attempt a 2K test I’ll be ready.  Much more so than my last attempt.

Yeah, I did half that weight today…

4:00PM – Force Fitness
Olympic lifting and strength training
Clean and Jerk 3, 3, 2, 2, 1
90kg x 3
100kg x 3
105kg x 2
110kg x 2
115kg x 1

Front Squat 6×4
100kg x 6
100kg x 6
105kg x 6
105kg x 6

Weighted pull-ups 8×3
Lazy Boys med ball throws 10×3 20#

Notes:  I felt pretty good today!  Considering 120kg is my 1RM on C&J and 115kg felt really good for a single, I’m happy with that.  I wasn’t shooting for a max or PR, so I’m glad I was able to get that up without any problem.  Front squat weights are about around where I would expect them to be.  Of course, everything needs to get heavier.  I’m still satisfied with today’s session.

Joshua Tree Under the Milky Way from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.
Timelapse video of the Perseid Meteor Shower and the galactic core of the Milky Way as seen from Joshua Tree National Park.

Take a minute to slow down and watch this.