Holiday skate

Crazy time of year for everyone I am sure. Yesterday had 1 hour dance lesson. It wasn't too tiring this time around as we spent more time on technical stuff. I have been taking some flack for taking these lessons. It is no matter to me I am having fun and learning a new skill.

Last night after 8 hours of driving Amy and I finally made it up to bala. Had a couple of beers to unwind after a stressful car ride. Weather was shit and the were an abundance of shitty drivers.

Today I did some sprints at the ice rink. About 30 mins total. I would sprint around the rink 2 times and skate easy for 2. Not a killer workout but enough to make me want to stop and eat some candy floss from the concession stand.
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Skating WOD- Mountain Climbers

Today was a fun skating WOD with my 2 nephews Jack and Sam. I was going to do something else but they suggested that I complete a series of skates called mountain climbers. It is a drill that Jack and Sam do at hockey if they are in shit for something. It is a form of punishment for these hockey players. After I said that I would do it they pleaded with me to not try it because it would "kill" me. Hearing that just made me want to try it more. It is complicated so bear with me as I try to explain it.

Start at the goal line - sprint to the first blue line - stop - sprint to the goal line - stop- sprint to the red line- stop- sprint to the goal line - stop- sprint to far blue line - stop - sprint to the far goal line - stop - sprint to the goal line - stop - sprint to the goal line behind the goal to the far blue line - stop- sprint to the original goal line by passing behind the...

Okay this is ridiculous. It is a suicide skate but you use the whole ice surface. You carry on to each line until you reach your original start position. It is a big loop. Then you do the same thing but reverse back.

After I came huffing and puffing back to Jack and Sam they decided to do it. This meant a lot because this is something that they view as torture. So for them to volunteer to do it is a big deal.
Steve (33)
7:42
Sam (11 years old)
6:41
Jack (12 years old)
6:29

Diane Scaled

Photo hijacked from Bro's computer. I think this is The Kee to Bala!

We are getting hammered here in London with a snow storm. I loved having a jeep today so I could just plow through the snow drifts. When it snows like this is the only time I don't mind paying a little more for gas to have a vehicle that is good in these conditions.

"Diane"

21-15-9 reps of:

185 pound Deadlift

Handstand push-ups

7:42

I tried a couple of practice lifts with 225. Decided to scale it instead. Lower left of back was pretty tight after this WOD. HSPU's were murder. First round of DL's took 1:15 and the 21 HSPU's took 2 mins.

Cleans

Me on my first Army course in Petawawa. Notice the cigarette in the left hand. My how times change.


Christmas vacation has started for me on Monday past. I have been sitting at home not really doing too much other then going to dancing and putting up Christmas decorations. Leading up to the time off I was looking forward to not having to do anything for 3 weeks. Yes 21 consecutive days off. I do love my job. Well it is only day 3 and I am getting bored.

The greatest part of vacation so far is not having to shave. I love not having to shave each and every morning. I hope that for the next 18 days I will have to opportunity to grow A True Man Beard! I know that 21 days is not long enough but I can always dream.

CFWU x 1


In the warm up I subbed OHS with Snatch with a PVC. I miss the snatch.

Cleans, floor to rack position.
5-5-5-5-5
95,115,125,135,135

This was a fun workout. I haven't done these for a long time. It was nice to get back to them after so long. I am looking towards trying some old WODs and possibly getting back to CFHQ WODs. I will admit that I am a little fearful of them now. Having not followed them for so long it appears to me that they are harder then when I was doing them regularly.

Dance Lessons

Amy and I are taking Dance lessons in Prep for the up coming wedding on 15th Aug 2009. When I first thought about going to these lessons I never even considered dancing to be physical. Wow, was I wrong. After the lesson my stomach was sore my arms were sore and my calves were sore.

It was a great workout. I was sweaty and tired. Plus we had fun together.

Dancing

35 mins

Pooped.

PS. I know you are probably thinking "what is Steve trying to pull off? Dancing lessons as a WOD?" Well just try it and you will see what I mean.

Garage WOD (Cold)

Yesterday I posted that I ran a 2:30 800m it was actually 2:34 on Day 1 CIOR fitness testing, my mistake, sorry.

In the garage with toque and gloves on I did:

2 rounds for time:
100 single unders
15, 24 lbs medball cleans
20 pull ups
6:19

Thank you to Melissa for giving me the code to my question yesterday. I am still trying to figure it out. May take some time.

KB Snatch

100 x 1.5 pood snatch

5:13

This was a ridiculous WOD. I am wrecked. Lungs are burning, hands are burning, forearms are burning. My lungs feel the same as when I ran a 2:30 800m. I am still coughing and feel generally terrible.

I think it may be some time before I attempt the 200 snatch in 10 mins.



*How do you change a link from a link to a phrase? IE www.crossfit.com to "Best thing ever!". So that when you click on it it opens the link intended?

Deadlifts

CFWU x 1

Deadlift

5-5-3-3-5

135-225-275-275-225

This was heavy. First heavy lift in 5 months. I will feel that in the
legs tomorrow I am sure.

20 mins if handstands. I walked over 20m on my hands today. I was
super happy with that. Had some good success with HS's since meeting
with Merritt.

Thanks Merritt

Filthy 50

CFWU x 1

For time:
50 Box jump,
24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots,
20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

28:29

Burpees and DU's were where I lagged this time. Okay who's kidding who? I sucked ass because of the 15 extra pounds.

Had a good time with this today though.

Floor hockey

Today is my units Christmas dinner and sports day. Not much to say about todays activities other then I scored a goal with 5 seconds to play against the officers. We still lost but hey. Had adin time and the knee held up okay.

Hockey

45 mins
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Handstands

Today I went to Forest City Gymnastics and meet with Merritt. She is a gymnastics coach that Dave H introduced me to. We went over what my goals were with respect to handstands and such.

After the initial introductions Merritt had me go inverted. After a short time she saw a few errors that she thought could be easily fixed. A couple of different stretches and some helpful instruction I was inverted again.

After a bit I did some HS's and she would correct me while inverted. As the lesson wore on I began to get a feel of the correct body position. I feel much more comfortable with the HS.

I was only there for about 45 mins but by the end I was sore and tired. My back was on fire. I am excited to go back and learn some more and maybe I will be as good as the 6 year olds that were there. That was embarrassing to watch. These little girls were so good. I was impressed.

Thanks again Merritt and Dave for the introduction.

Cindy

CFWU x 1

Cindy

As many rounds as possible in 20 mins of:

5 Pull ups
10 Push ups
15 Squats

21 and 5 pull ups

My goal when I started this was to get to 20. I started with a pace of a round every 50 seconds. This was a good pace for me at this stage until about round 10. Things went to hell after that. The pulls were fine the push ups were okay but the squats were murder.

Happy with this though. 6 rounds off a PR.

WallBall

5 min run on treadmill (no incline sorry Ice Cream)

CFWU x 1

3 Rounds
50 skips
25 Wallball, 12 Lbs

Not timed but about 4.5 mins

10 mins Handstanding.
Terrible today. I would get up and tip over. Tired I guess from the
party last night and only 4 hours sleep.
I practiced kicking to handstand from a crouched position. Like a frog
getting ready to jump. I would "muscle" my way into the handstand. Good
to develop the back and shoulder muscles.

Most stop when they begin to tire. Good men go until they think they are
going to collapse, but the very best know that the mind tires before the
body, and pushes themselves further and further....beyond all limits.
Only when all of these limits have been shattered, can the unattainable
be reached! (USMC)

Shoulder Press

CFWU x 1
Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1 reps

95-105-125-130-130

6 mins handstands.

Nate

"Nate <http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/003348.html> "
Complete as many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
2 Muscle-ups *6 pull ups + 6 Dips
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 2-Pood Kettlebell swings *1.5 pood
13 rounds + 6 and 6 + 4 HSPU

What is your favorite book?
Mine is Kane and Abel or Rainbow 6

Wall Ball & Skipping

Picture of Parker for you Mom!
CFWU x 2

3 Rounds

15 wall ball, 12lbs
50 Skips

3:13

3 Rounds

10, 1.5 pood swings
20, 1.5 pood snatch

didn't time.

Handstand practice 10 mins. I used to think that it was all in the shoulders, hands, and arms. Stomach and legs and back are very important. Practice practice.

These were not stellar efforts. I am just seeing where I stand with my bummed knee. Things seemed to go well. After each workout I am medicating with anti inflammatories.

I am happy with the progress so far. Hope this keeps up because I am having fun with it again. Looking forward to CFHQ WODs as RX'd.

Box Jumps First time in Months

CFWU x 1

3 rounds

20, 20 inch box jumps
20 pull ups

Didn't time it because I forgot to start the watch. Had that coughing feeling after. Knee felt okay during but I am going to take Ibuprophin to stave off any swelling and pain.

10 mins of handstands. Had some good success today. Flexed my core and pointed my toes to have good form. It was easier to stay inverted this way. Will try that again.

BushFit

CFWU x 0

Today Pat B. and I spend 8 hours in the bush with 4 chainsaw, a maul, a tractor, and one crazy dog. You guessed it Parker! Parker had to spend most of the day in the truck because he was trying to bite the chainsaw while it was being used. I thought after awhile he would give up and get bored. Nope. He had a one track mind.

MUST! EAT! CHAINSAW!

After some initial issues with getting the chainsaws to work we began felling tree after tree. I think 12 in total. The largest being about 20 inches in diameter and the smallest being roughly 6 inches.

I think we have about 6-7 cords after one hell of a day. I will be a sore boy tomorrow. I have no idea how to put into WOD format but I did a lot for one WOD.

Shower, food, SLEEP!

Push Press and a Crazy Chocolate Lab named Parker

PARKER THE WONDER DOG!



CFWU x 1 with walking lunges

Push Press
5-5-5-5-5
95-115-135-135-135

Handstands 12 mins. Tried to incorporate HSPU's for the last 5 mins.

Random stuff and Explosives

CFWU x 1 subbed walking lunges

20 1 pood snatches
20 1.5 pood snatches
25 push ups
20 pull ups
25 close hand push ups
20 pull ups
10 TGU's

15 mins of Handstands.

I am going to have to get some professional assistance with handstands if I am going to improve from where I am now.

Barack Obama cheat-codes Crossfit Navy Seals WODS NFL NBA NHL Batman

IF YOU HAVE KIDS WATCH THIS


Crossfit Warm Up x 2 Subbed lunges for OHS

10 Rounds for time:
5 Pull ups
10 Push Ups
2:13

For time:
50 Back Ext
50 Sit ups
3:17

TGU
2 Per side per weight
.5 pood - 1.0 pood - 1.5 pood

25 Pull ups to finish

10 mins of handstands. I started to mix up the hand width to see if
this has an effect on my duration inverted. Nothing to report on that.

I had a lot of fun in the gym and I am getting back that feeling of
"wanting" to attack a WOD. I didn't do very much lower leg stuff today
but my knee is still tender. I just want to get back at it full speed.

Angie .5

CFWU x 1

.5 Angie
50 Pull ups
50 Push ups
50 Sit ups
50 Squats

5:58

Today I wanted to test the knee. It has been feeling better with only
mild discomfort after working out. I think the level of activity today
was at the threshold of comfort/intensity. My lungs were definitely
feeling it today. I it is obvious to me that I have been out of touch
with fitness for the last few months.

Today I was reading on the CF website a thread about "the truth about
Crossfit" written by someone at T-nation. There was some great ideas
and acceptance by most of the CF cult. However, Coach himself got into
the mix and was like a rabid dog. There are very few times that I have
read his posts where he goes off on someone for their lack of
understanding, experience, education, etc... I was confused as to how to
take it. It was funny and I liked the conflict of Coach defending is
system. I think though that coach only posts when he is having a bad
day and uses the forum to vent his frustrations.

http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=38880

If you care to read!

Better heads prevailed

CFWU x 1

3 Rounds For Reps
155 BP
Pull ups
10-12-12
25-25-25

Leg extentions as per Physio
30lbs x 15

High Pulls
1.5 pood
25

I almost didn't get to the gym today. I was being lazy again. However, as I was leaving work I decided to go. As I got to my car I forgot to bring shorts. I was tempted to turn around and head home. After all you can't workout in jeans. Well I did. I got some funny looks but I did it anyway. Such a rebel.

Where's Pat?

JT

CFWU x 2 did OHS this time

J.T
21-15-9 reps of:
Handstand push-ups
Ring dips
Push-ups

9:30
Over 1:15 past my PR. The HSPU's were the hardest part for me today.

I almost dodn't go to the gym today but I remembered Pat giving me the gears to get back at it so I went. Thanks Pat. I needed that.

Pull ups PR & Handstands

CFWU x 1

I added leg extensions in the warm up as per Physio rehab.

Pull ups
50 in one set

50 push ups

13 mins of Handstands
20m Handstand walk

I had an objective of doing 50 pull ups today. The hands were the
weakest part. No tears or blisters. That is good. However, at 35 my
mind started to tell me to just get 50. Once at 50 I just dropped off
the bar. Should have tried more.

Pull up PR (41 consecutive)

CFWU x 1 Back has lost a lot of flexibility

For time:

100 Pull ups
100 Push ups

12:27

First set was 41 consecutive followed by 10's. This really slowed me down on the other stuff because I was totally beat after.
Push ups were in 25's.

Followed by:

50 Back extentions
30 high pulls
5 mins handstanding

Lynneish

CFWU x 1 (starting to add some lower leg stuff - did squats)

4 Rounds of
BW Bench Press
Pull ups
175-175-175-175
30-20-20-20
After I got off the bar I thought I should have gone for 40 on the first set. Next time!

3 x 10
1 pood leg raise (physio)

3 rounds of
15 High pulls 2 pood

WOD, Rant, and a Funny story

WOD

CFWU x 1

Bench
10-8-6
135-185-205

Pull ups
5-5-5
36-36-36

Arm Curls (YES ARM CURLS)
10-10-10
30-35-45

Physio Leg Raises
20-20-20 (REPS)
17-17-17 (lbs)

This workout was very boring. Do try this at home.

RANT

DO YOUR JOB. DO YOUR JOB ON TIME. STOP COMING TO ME WHEN YOU DON'T AND
EXPECT ME TO FIX IT!
End Rant.

FUNNY STORY

I was asked help a friend to build a box jump. Seeing as I have made
two already that made me a Subject Matter Expert (That is a joke).
Anyway, I printed off the plans from CFJ #49 and off I went. After a
few miss cuts we managed to get everything square, for the most part.
Now I may be "qualified" at building a box I am not qualified to
operate a table saw. This became painfully obvious right after I cut the
tip of my pinkie finger off. I may be exaggerating but I did cut my
finger nail and a portion of the finger. At first I was thought nothing
of it until I saw the blood. I then became concerned it could have been
a lot worse. After some first aid and a bandage we finished one awesome
20 inch box with handles and everything.

Thanks Craig for not telling Amy. Otherwise I will never be allowed to
use a power tool again.

Swimming and Gym time.

Mitch Hedberg my new favorite comedian

This morning was a swimming day. At the crack of dawn I awoke to a very
annoying alarm. I tried every conceivable excuse as to why I shouldn't
go to the pool. Thankfully my better judgement and 3 Thanksgiving
Turkey dinners had something else to say.

30 mins of laps

32 x 25m laps. 20 Front crawl and 12 Breast stroke.

I was a little tired after about 10 mins so I took a little breather and
then carried on with it.

After work:

CFWU x 1

Bench Press (I was supposed to do 3 sets but got bored)
2x8
135-205
Pull ups
3x5
50lbs
Kips
3x20
Push ups
100 (first 50 normal then 10 sets of 5. In the bottom position of the 5th rep I held it there for 5 seconds and then pressed it out to complete the rep.)

After the last workout I had I was very sore. I large case of DOMS. I took a few days to recover and then it was Thanksgiving. Today I had a good sweat and I hope that is all I needed to get back on track.

Long at Last

Last night Amy and I made a bet. Who ever loses the highest % of body
weight by 01 Aug 09 WINS!
The official weigh in will be next Friday 24 Oct 08.
The loser has to go without a car for 30 days.

Wish me Luck!

Today was the first day of my training for this monumental challenge.

I know that I will be sore tomorrow because I have not done very much in
the last 2 months.

CFWU x 1 No OHS

As many rounds in 20 mins of

5 Pull ups
10 Push ups
15 Sit ups

15 rounds.

The good thing about this is I can only get better.

Bench and Pull ups

CFWU x 2 minus OHS and anything to do with lower body.

Lyn(ne)
Bench press
Pull ups

15-10-10 155lbs
15-20-20

10 mins of hand standing.

General feeling of weakness. I should think so though. I have been away
from this place for too long.

Nice and easy

Today I decided to get off my ass and go to the base gym for a wod.

Cfwu x 1
2 x 500m row @ 2:00

5 rounds of
5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats
3:20

10 L-pull ups

25 kb snatch 1.5 pood each arm

10 minutes of handstands

All in all it was fun. Still having issues with left knee. I want to go running very badly.
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Garage WOD

Stinky Dog car wash

The wod's have been few and far between. During the week last week I was working in the field. There was no workout persay but I was active all week doing my job.

Today:

CFWU x 1

21-15-9
Pull ups
1.5 pood KB Snatch
Push ups

5:29

Wanted to have some intensity but I think I was going about 85%.

After:

Hand stands 5 mins
HSPU's 15
3x25 push ups
3x5 L-sit pull ups

Monday

Last nights WOD almost didn't happen. Not because I couldn't get there
but because I was lazy. I am happy to announce that I got off my ass
and made it to the gym.

CFWU x 1 Really focused on form for OHS. A little tight in the bottom.

Rowing

200m WU
200m WU
500m 1:31. My first real effort at rowing a 500m. I was tired but not
how I thought I would be. I wasn't too winded but my hamstrings were
screaming.

Misc stuff in the gym:
10x 135lbs Bench
10x Leg raises
10x 35lbs curls

8x 185lbs Bench
10x leg raises
10x pull ups

5x 185lbs Bench
10x leg raises
25x push ups
8x 45lbs curls
10x pull ups

20x Push ups

I know this workout would not be approved by CFHQ but who cares! I had
a fun time and I got my heart rate up.

Rowing some more (Yesterday)

I had recently remarked to Pat that I am finding it difficult to workout
consistently here. The time demands from teaching make it sometimes
difficult to get to the gym before it closes. By the time I am finished
work I am "finished". Shower bed and get ready for tomorrow.

I am anxious to get back into some type of routine again but I think it
will have to wait until I get home from the summer.

CFWU x2

500m row 1:34 still learning how this rowing thing works. Not to tired
after.

5 x 200m rowing sprints

34-36-35-42-45

1000m row

3:42

Handstand push ups for 10 minutes

Forgot to post!

100 Push ups

2:32

A little slower then last time.

Fitness Test

No warm up!

Fitness test with 9lb weight belt for potential new job.

Quite easy and not a real workout. Some running and jumping over stuff and some more running. Got home and Amy and I just hang out after me being away for the week.

Nothing really interesting to report. Sorry.

Rowing and Running in the fields all cammed up

Yesterday

Last night I was suffering from a case the DOMS from Cindy. I didn't
want to go to the gym but knew it was the right thing to do. On arrival
I noticed that they had C2 rowers and thought that would be a fun
workout.

500m Warm up row
1:40 Felt pretty good and the knee was fine

2000m
7:32

This was a little harder but not too bad.

Today

I had forgotten how much fun it was to run around all day with 50-65lbs
of equipment on and run through the fields all day.

7 hours of section and platoon drills on uneven ground can take its
toll.

Tired!

First CF WOD in some time! 5 Aug 08

It is with humility that I post this WOD. During the last few weeks I
have been "taking it easy" (lazy). Limited if any intensity in my
workouts. Having returned to normal training after 6 weeks of very
regimented and what I consider demanding training I was what I think,
burned out and slightly injured. It was my haphazard plan to just go
easy and allow myself to feel better and get the training spirit back.

Last night was when decided that I would return to full form. My plan
was to complete Cindy. Which is my favourite WOD. I was hoping to get
around 25-27 rounds. If I did this it would confirm my presumption that
I was healed. This was not the case. I was beat into submission and
was unable to complete the WOD as Rx'd. Ego deflated and knee inflated
I left the pull up bar.

CFWU x 2

Cindy.5 (40 second intervals with one minute rest at 9 rounds)
13 rounds
Squats seemed to be the issue. I was much slower on these then I
remember being.

Bench Press
135lbs x 10
185lbs x 5
185lbs x 5

L Pull ups x 10

Hand stand practice 15 mins.

HSPU's = 3

It is clear to me that I am not 100%, which really sucks. I am now
wanting to get back at it full speed but my delicate body is not ready.
In the meantime it will be upper body with intensity and lower with
moderate intensity.
Swimming when possible and bike riding if able.

In summary:

I know that the training I have completed in the previous 2.5 months has
greatly increased my endurance but my strength has diminished. It is a
delicate balance and one that has to be continually adjusted and
monitored to reflect lifestyle, family, and employment obligations.

Vacation WOD

AM

500m Swim

PM

5 rounds of

25 Push ups
25 Sit ups
25m Swim

Not Times

After a few hours Chad came by and we had a 30 min SCUBA dive at the falls.
This vacation is great. Doing a whole lot of nothing. This is great. Love it up here. I think we will stay another day.

Swimming in Bala, Muskoka

After a long car ride up to Bala I wanted to go for a run but I was given a beer upon arrival. So after a few sips down on the dock I decided that I needed to do something.

So I put on my swim trunks (not my speedo) and did 20x 25m (or so) sprints off the dock. I had a hard time getting a good workout because everytime I dove in I had to deal with Parker chasing me.

It was a good way to get the blood flowing after a car ride and before a couple of beers.

Mashup WOD

The new backyard game of Testical Toss. Hours of fun!

So there I was sitting in my living room watching UFC 85. After realizing that since I was allowed to go home early from work I didn't work out. Obviously I didn't want to miss any of the fights so in front of the TV I did.

3 rounds

20 1.5 KB Snatch
20 Push ups
20 Sit ups
20 SDLHP

Not for time just to do something.

Trail Run

View Larger Map

Today I just felt like going for a run. Near my house there is an old railroad line that has the track removed. So I went for an easy run along there. Felt pretty good. My knee was a little sore to start with but as I got going it loosened up and was okay for the rest of the run.

40:45 minutes. 7.5km Total

Swimming

Best game ever! Ladder golf AKA Testical Toss.

After Work

CFWU x 1
Row 500m - 2:00

Push Press

3-3-3-3-3

135-135-155-155-155

KB Swings 1.5 pood
40

Just messed around in the gym. No intensity. I am going to try and rest my knees so I can get rid of this Patella Tendinitis once and for all.

After Dinner

55 mins at the pool.
Did some warm up laps followed by 8x25m sprints. I didn't have a stop watch so I don't know the times.
I think in total it was about 2250m.

The pool felt great but in the gym I felt fairly weak. I would like to get my strength back but at the same time I really enjoy where I am fitness wise right now.

Bike to Work and a little WOD

City Scape Istanbul

AM

10km Bike to work: 32 mins

PM

CFWU x 2

10 rounds of Cindy
5:59

Bike ride home :34 mins

Land O Course!

I am the slow one. I made a few technical errors and that caused me to lose some time. That and the other guys on the team are very fast.

CFWU x 2

5-5-5-5-5

Weighted Pull ups 60lbs
Bench Press 185Lbs

Then 20 x 3 1.5 Pood snatches

Not feeling too well this morning so just farted around with stuff in the gym. Still feeling jet lag from the trip home.

50m Swim

I am having trouble with the Land O video. Once I sort that out I will put it here.

We did this in 45 seconds. Our best time in training was 47 Seconds. We were very happy with that.

Home Sweet Home (little running)

I am finally home. Instanbul was nice to visit for the first 2 days and then it was time to come home.

I haven't posted for some time now due to lack of resources. Now that I am home I should be able to regularly post again. I have missed posting to the blog.

First of all an update from Turkey. The team I was on did quite well in everything except the shooting. There are a number of reasons for that but I think the single most important one was nerves. During the pistol shoot I made some rookie mistakes that caused us to lose some important points.

The Land O and Water O we kicked ass. I was the slowest on the team for the land O however in my defence the two other guys were only 22 years old. They are both amazing athletes and I was privledged to be on their team. The land O our time was 3:11 and on the water O our time was :45. Both great times.

The Orienteering was another awesome time. 2:16 to travel 15km while trying to navigate over unknown terrain. Derrick did a great job getting us around the bush.

Overall we were 4th in our division. Very happy with that performance.

Once I arrived home I went for a run. I have really begun to enjoy running. I went for 1:10. Distance unknown.

Busy few days.

The last few days have been filled with excitment and adventure. They have also been filled with pain and punishment at the hands of the obstacle courses.

The schedule has been very similar to that of Quebec. Mornings are the ranges and the afternoons are for the O courses.

A few days ago I cracked my knee again on the land O and was unable to complete the days training. I thought it best for me to just rest it and not push it. We were almost finished so not much missed.

The Water O is a good one. Pretty fast and fun. Nothing to report on the course itself. However, I was fortunate enough to have been taken to the hospital as an over precaution. On the water O I took a hunck of skin off my nose and was bleeding pretty bad. The Dr. saw all the blood and quickly loaded me into the ambulance. Off to the hospital. The hospital was different then back home. Not nearly as clean. I was given some ice to put on it and a massive bandage. I looked like Rocky after fighting Apollo.

Once back at the pool I was all set to get back to training but while every country was busy laughing at my bandage I had to sit on the sideline and just watch. I was a little upset but no big deal.

Today we went to a forest about 1.5 hours away for some orienteering practice. There are these long vines that grow in the forest that are like rose stems. Very sharp and painful. Everyone has cuts and scrapes all over from them.

We were warned heavily about the ticks here so this morning we all douched ourselves in bug juice to prevent anything from happening. No such luck. I had three ticks on me at the end of the day. You could see everyone checking each other over for the little bastards. I hope that I got them all off me.

Break down for the last few days:

Pool: 3:00hrs
Land O: 3:00hrs
Orienteering: 6:00hrs
Running: 2:00hrs

Off to dinner!

Turkey

There ıs a long line up for the computer so it will be quıck.

Arrived after a long journey over the ocean. Very tıred. Went to bed.

Got up went for a 45 mınute run in downtown İstanbul. Almost got hit by a taxi. Got some weırd looks from the locals. Had a nap. Had supper. Went to bed. Worst sleep ever. Up at 0400hrs read a book.

Today we left for an İsland and had to run all over the island for 1 hour. clımbed a huge hıll. Felt great. Went swımmıng ın the ocean and ıt was very dırty. İ thınk I have a sunburn from the walkıng around after the swım. Had some Turkısh coffee. Very strong and bıtter but very good.

All the athletes are here now later tonıght we are havıng an ıce breaker for all the athletes. They get to drınk but we do not. That sucks.

Tomorrow we start traınıng for real. We shoot do the land O and water O and throw grenades.

That ıs all.

Happy Canada Day!

CFWU x 1

Angie
100 Pull ups
100 Push ups
100 Sit ups
100 Squats

12:26

This was my first CF WOD in over a month. I am happy with the results. A PR of 1:48ish. My hands have been ripped open from the bar that I used. Don't know if it was such a good idea to tear my hands before Turkey.

I am unsure of internet use over there. This may be the last post until mid July. Check back often. If I can post I will.

Well off to finish the last of the packing and heading to the airport. Thanks for all the support and well wishes.

Day 28, 29 and my Birthday!

Here is a Picture of the Team. Charles, Steve, and Simon. They are both French so I am excluded from a lot of the converstions while on the run in the bush.

Day 28

My Birthday. 33 Years old.

Today was the CIOR Cup! This is basically a reenactment of what we will experience in Turkey. We are treated like they will treat us there. Line up with ID card for the start of the rifle shoot. Draw our weapons and ammo. Lay down on the firing point and wait instructions. After the instructions it was game on. FIRE! We fired five confirmatory rounds to ensure our rifles were still zeroed. Then 9 rounds at a precision target from 200m. We had 5 minutes to fire these rounds. Highest possible score was 90. I scored 76. I had some issues with my rifle that I don’t need to talk about. After that 9 rounds for a rapid shoot. We have 1 minute to get all 9 rounds off. The targets measure 12 inches by 16 inches. Highest possible score is 90. I scored 68. I normally score better. Oh well.

After this it was the pistol range.

Same deal as the rifle shoot. 25m range with a precision and a rapid. 3 minutes for 9 rounds and 35 seconds for the other 9 rounds. I scored a total of 154. This was a good score for me on the pistol so I was happy with that score.

Land Obstacle course.

3:15 total time. This was a good score for us. All were happy.

Clean weapons for 4 hours and then back to base for supper.

Day 29

Orienteering Race. Our last race before Turkey.

Staggered start of five minutes. My team was 2nd in the rotation. We got all 5 maps at once and when it was our time we were driven to the start. This was so we couldn’t cheat and look at the maps before.
15km race was completed in 3:22. This seems pretty slow for only 15km but in the bush it is a fairly fast time. There were some mistakes made of course but we quickly adjusted and got back on track.

We leave for Turkey on Tuesday at 1600hrs. 2 days off to clean our gear and pack our shit. I will most likely not be able to get to computers over there so after Tuesday I will be away and not be able to post any updates.

So excited!

CIOR 27

Day 27

Today was a long one. We had the ranges like usual. Nothing too exciting to report on that.
We then went to the land O and did our regular warm up which is much too long for my liking, but anyways. We had time to work on the obstacles that give us problems. I usually work on the balance beam since it is near then end and that is where I am most tired. We then worked in our teams and did the course 2 times for time. Our best time today was 3:14. That is a good time but the winning time will most likely be around 3:00.

Lunch

Orienteering at Mont McGregorie. This was no joke of a mountain. Freaking large. It was very humid today and I think I lost about 5lbs of water weight. Today was with 3 maps. A topo, coutour/trail, and a orienteering map. The topo was straight forward but the contour one we had to do using a radio. The map and navigator sat at base camp with a radio and we went into the bush with just a radio. He had to direct us to all the points by only talking us through it. It was pretty fun and not as hard as I first thought.

Swimming. Our last day in the pool. We are doing the warm up and then once through the course at full speed to see our time. Should be fun.

CIOR 25, 26

Day 25

The 25th day of training was... you guessed it. Orienteering. We did all three maps with our teams. The day started out like all the others. I was happy to be running around in the bush without a care in the world. Except not getting lost and finding all our points. The first and second map we cruised through. No issues what so ever. We had a great time for the race up until that point.

We were in the bush running/walking for over 3 hours. At the end of the second map we cam back to the meeting place for lunch. Wrong. We were handed another map and told to get going. The clock was ticking. This was at 1pm. We were starving and without very much water. The map looked short so we didn't mind too much.

Off into the wild we went. After about one hour of racing we started to make small mistakes. We would take a back bearing only to notice after 5 steps that we were going in the wrong direction. Later we missed a point that we should have seen easy. Since we were tired and hungry we were not thinking straight. Stupid things were causing us issues.

This is about the time that I started to lose my mind. I was going insane. Not because of the mistakes. It was the stinging mettles and rasberry bushes that were driving me to the brink of calling it quits. Because it is a race we don't have the luxury to go "around" these obstacles so you just go through them. I was wearing shorts and that compounded all my problems. Add to that me tripping on every branch in the forest and you can picture me cursing aloud every 3 steps. the other guys were laughing because they thought it was funny that I was losing it.

After one mistake I stopped the other guys and we had a little pep talk. Something to the effect of: "look we are tired, thirsty, and hungry. We have to start making the right choices. If that means we slow down a bit that is okay." The navigatior agreed and we carried on without incident.

Total KM: 15

Day 26

Ranges
Land Obstacle course
Water O Course.

One the Land O, we did the warm up as always. We had 20 minutes to practice the obstalces that gave us the most problems. Then it was 30 minutes of as many round as possible. After 15 minutes I got taken out of the game because my knee was causing me severe pain and I was not doing the technique properly to compensate for the pain. The coach pulled me from the practice and told me to go ice my knee. I felt kinda shitty that everyone else had to finish but I was sitting out. I think in the long run it was a wise choice but at the time I was pissed.

Pool.

100m Crawl
100m Arms only
2x50m one leg kicks
2x50m 2 leg kicks

100m = each 25m progressively faster

4 x 25m Racing Sprints

5 x Water course in teams for time.

Eyes are sore again from the water. I keep diving and the goggles fall off.

CIOR 24

Day 24

Yesterday was our day off and I did sweet F-all. Iced the knee and finished the new Bourne Book. It was an okay book.

Today:

Ranges. Did some good shooting today. I think the rest day really help me refocus and relax while shooting.

Land O was fun today as well. Today the warm up was like always. 1500m run with some dynamic stretching afterwards.

We practiced in teams how to assist each other on some of the more difficult obstacles. For example the “Irish table” and the “bear pit”. It is significantly easier with some assistance.

For the main portion of the practice it was do half of the course all out, 2 minutes rest and then the last half.
We did this 3 times. It was a very challenging day on the land o. I see pukie in my future when we have to do the complete thing.

Pool:
The warm up was the usual: arms only, legs only, arms and legs, hand paddles, and front crawl to finish the warm up.
The main practice was the complete course 5 times with 2 minutes rest. During the first portion on the course I do very well. I am out of the water first and back in first. It is the last 25m that really gets me gassed. I finish first most times but the other guy is much faster then me. He has to help the 3rd guy onto the “bridge”. So he is a little behind me but not because I am faster.

That is all.

CIOR Day 22

Day 22

Orienteering at Mont Royal.

The first Map was an air photo. This was a good fast race. I was paired with my new team members. One of the guys is way too fast of a runner for me. I spent the whole time just trying to keep up. Sweaty.

Every Sunday we are entered into a Montreal Orienteering Race. Today was a fun race. I am not sure of our placing because everyone starts at different times. I think we did pretty good.

After the official race we had another map to do. No compass this time. Just the map to go off of.

Total distance for the day: 17km

I really like the orienteering days. I think that when I get home I will try to do some orienteering with the Forest City Orienteering Club.

I think that the jist of the training is pretty obvious. We only have one more week to go then it is off to Turkey. It is going by so fast. I am getting pretty excited.

CIOR 21

Day 21

Ranges/Lunch/O Course/Water Course

The Rifle range was good and my groupings were good. The pistol ranges were dismal. Everyone was shooting such garbage that they shut the range down early.

Today everyone started to really feel the effects of training for 21 day with only 2 days off. Aches, pains, and extreme fatigue, both physically and mentally.

After the ranges it was lunch time and we had a nice boxed lunch. (that was a joke) Off to the land O. Today was a good one. I was feeling very tired at the beginning but as the practice went on I found that my energy levels were coming up. Maybe it was the food entering my system.

We did the course 3 times with breaks every ¼ of the track. We had a 2 min break before we had to start up again. The rest was just enough for you to catch your breathe and go hard again for the next quarter.

Pool. The pool is now getting to be my favorite time of the day. Not only is it the last thing we have to do but it is a nice low impact way to get a high heart rate.

Pool:

100m crawl
100m arms only
100m legs only
30x25m (4 crawl, 4 arms only, 4 legs only, 6 crawl, 4 legs, 4 arms, and 4 sprints)
200m easy

4 x 12.5 sprints with coveralls on

30 minutes water course practice. We just practiced all the things we needed more experience with.

Everyone was wiped out at the end of the day. Early to bed tonight. We have to go orienteering tomorrow!

CIOR 19,20 Another lost story!

Day 18

Day 19

Morning was First Aid and Obstacle course. Had to slow it down on the o course today due to my knee being an issue. I had a talk with the coach and he thinks it is a good ida to go easy on it now for a bit and then give it hell in Turkey. I like that idea.

This afternoon was the Orienteering. Again I was the navigator. I never thought they would allow me to hold a compass and map again after my little issues from before.

Today was a totally awesome experience navigating at Mount St. Bruno. This was another ski mountain. I don’t know the vertical but walking/running up it was a massive challenge.

We started the nav with 4 maps (remember that number). Each map joined with the ones that followed. The 4 maps were each different. One was a topo, one was contours only, one was a park map, and the last was aerial photo.

It was a shotgun start so we all take off in the same direction at once. Me and my partner were off like lightning. We completed the first map (topo) first of the 4 teams. Right on the 2nd map (contours only). Off we go into the bush and start up this mountain. We are doing well and getting some good ground covered. At the top we were looking for a 4 ft cliff with a boulder behind it. After 15 minutes of searching we were like a pinball in a pinball machine. Getting every point in quick succession. I was very happy with our performance and was thinking to myself that we will make a great team for Turkey.

At the end of map 2 it was time to get map 3 (Aerial) out and start on that one. This one was a little tricky because we had a hard time lining it up right. After some discussion we had what we thought was the right section. It is harder then you might think to line up a contour map with a sat photo. Down the mountain we go. At the bottom we see some houses. Okay maybe the map from the satellite is an old one. Into the streets we are running at top speed. Dirt covers our entire bodies from head to toe. We zigzag along the subdivision streets trying to find our next point. After about 5 blocks I am getting nervous that we did something wrong. “Okay lets stop and assess the situation” I say. We line the two maps up to face north and try to get our bearings as to where the hell we are.

That was when we learned that the maps were wrong. Or better put we were wrong. In fact map 3, the one we should have been naving off of was still in the bag. We were on map 4. That was why we were all fucked up. We were using the wrong map.

It is now 4pm, we should have been back at the vans to get picked up by now and we had NO idea where we were. What are we going to do? Shit, fuck, shit fuck. We are screwed. Our only option was to go back up the mountain and start again. So up we go. Half way up we see something that we know was on the photo map. A quarry. Awesome. Now we can finish. So up we go.

We pad our way over to the top point on the ski mountain and there was see the instructors with worried faces. “Where have you two been?” “oh just looking at the sights.” We reply. After some discussion about our adventure we finish the map by sprinting down the ski hill and collecting the last 4 points on our map.

Into the van and home for supper!

What a day. Even though we were off our map we still managed to get back on track. I was happy with the performance even though we ran an extra 10km in the process.

You may be thinking to yourself what idiots. And yes you are correct. The best thing was that we finished last. only 2 minutes behind the team in front of us. Another team was just so slow getting all the points that even with our 10km detour we still had the same time as them.

Our coach put a GPS on us to see what we did. I am looking forward to seeing all the twists and turns we made. I be it will be pretty funny.

Day 20

Ranges were awesome today. Finally getting all the bullet on the paper.

Land O Course was fun as well. 30 minutes straight. As many rounds as possible. 13 was my score. I was totally smoked.

Track workout was indoors today. I spent 45 mins on the bike with a HR of 135. After I had some time so I did 50 kipping pull ups and 25 HSPU’s. While I was doing this a guy came over and asked if I was Crossfitting. He wanted some instruction on kipping and the HSPU’s. That was a fun diversion to be teaching here while I was training. The head coach was watching and he started asking questions a well. He mentioned that was why I was able to do some of the obstacles so fast because I have good upper body strength. Too bad for the running portion!

Swimming! I am really starting to love the time in the pool.

100m Crawl
50m legs only
50m arms only
50m legs
4x25m (2 progessivly getting faster, 2 all out sprints)
4 x 12.5m dive and sprint

15 x first half of water course as fast as possible. This was fun. I really liked that we had to go all out. Very tiring.

CIOR 17 Codename: Brutal!

Day 17

Utter hell! That is the best way to put how today went for me. The whole day was a race against the other teams.

We were orienteering again. This time was at Sutton Ski Mountain. It was a real mountain as far as I was concerned. It was supposed to be an easy first one for the day. An aerial photo of the mountain. We were in teams today and I was the navigator. That means a lot of responsibility for me to get us to where we had to go. (I used a new special compass today. That may explain some of the mistakes.)

* the markers are about 12 inched cubed red and white markers that are hung from trees.

On the first point I missed the target by 200m. After realizing where I went wrong we simply had to do an about turn and go back the 200m to get back on track. This should have taken 10 minutes max. After 1 hour of searching I abandoned hope even though I was sure we were at the right spot in the first 5 minutes of searching.

On to point 2. Again it was only 500m away and should have been easy to find. Again another 45 minutes searching for the marker. Screw this lets hit point 3. Point 3 we found exactly where it was supposed to be. Thank god I am not loosing my mind.

At the bottom of the hill we stroll up to the final check and there they are waiting for us. After explaining how frustrated I was that I couldn’t get the points. They explain to me that they had taken them down while we had gone past the first one. Fucken’ hell! I spent 1 hour and 45 minutes looking for something that wasn’t even there.

That was not the right way to gain the confidence of my team. They understood and we soldiered on.

At the base of the mountain we checked in and got two more maps and each got a bike. This was going to be fun. We went screaming into the town on our new mountain bikes with reckless abandon. A turn here, a skid there, and a huge ass hill every other turn. We arrived at the farm in the middle of nowhere. Off the bikes and into the bush. We were told that we had to eat our lunch on the run. We were behind by a lot so we skipped lunch thinking that we were almost complete and we would eat after. WRONG!

In the bush we go at 100 mph. The next mistake was my fault. I take all responsibility for it. Off by 300m again. So mad. My confidence was shattered. What was I doing? Why am I all screwed up? The next leg I took super slow and didn’t run or rush. I needed to get my head on straight and prove to the guys I know what I am going. We get there! YAHOO! I was so happy.

After finishing the map we headed back to the vans for some lunch (3pm). No time for lunch. We had another map to get finished while everyone else waited for us because they were finished to race. Off we go to the bush again. I was so pissed off. Lost, no food, and everyone waiting for us. I didn’t want to make any mistakes so we just took it slow and steady. We made it out of that hell hole in 1 hour.

No time for eating, no time for a swim, just get in the van and lets get the hell out of this shit hole.

That was my worst day by far and I hated every minute of it.

CIOR 15 and 16

Orienteering again.

Yesterday was a hoot. We went to a park a hour and a half away. We were dropped off on a dirt road with a map and told to find our way to the last check point for lunch. I did pretty well and found all the points. The second one gave me a run for my money. We were to find a small pond in the bush. I got turned around and finally decided to just follow a river. I thought rivers go to ponds. It worked.

The rest of the day was spend running in the bush and getting assualted by bugs.

I am started to get a real handle on this orienteering business.

Today is a rest day and I will be resting for sure. Not doing much other then icing my knee and reading.

CIOR 13,14

Day 13

Range G33 and 9mm. Same stuff to report.

Obstacle course was a fun one again. We had only 30 minutes after the warm up to practice the ones we thought we needed more time on. I just did them all but really focused on what foot and hand went where. I want to make it robotic so when I am completely gassed it will just happen.

Todays o-ring was done on the Campus at St Jean Royal Military College. We did aerial photos, topo and sketch maps. At the end of one of them we had to board assault boats and paddle across the river to a point and then carry the boat back to the starting position. People on the campus must have thought we were a bunch of crazies running all around the place sweating and looking at sheets of paper.

Day 14

Ranges 9mm and G3. Did well other then the fact that I had some issues zeroing the G3 again. Stupid piece of Shit.

We did some first aid review and what the judges will be looking for with the First Aid portion. Not too interesting.

Piste de obstacle (obstacle course)

This one today was hard. We broke the course down into 1/4ths. We did each quarter three times before moving onto the next. It was very cardio intensive. I missed the ladder once and crushed my balls on the first rung. That hurt. Finally got some pictures.

Swimming!

200m warm up

4x100m crawl (100m with hand paddles 100m without. Repeat)

4x50m Flutter kicks

300m (100m legs only, 100m Arms only, 100m arms and legs with paddles)

4 rounds of
25m sprint
10 Muscle ups out of the pool
12.5m under water
12.5m sprint

30 minutes of water o-course. The course is only 50m but it is very hard. Will try to get some video.

CIOR 9,10,11,12

Day 9

You will have by now seen a pattern to the training.

AM

C7 and 9mm Range. We fired from the 20m line today for the first time with the Pistol. I begin to focus on one aspect only to forget one of the other very important ones. I really enjoy the range practices. The next one we will be putting away the C7 and start working with the Turkish G3 (?). I shot pretty well with the C7 and moderately well with the 9mm.

After the range it was O-course time. Today on the course was complete pain and suffering. It was about 33 degrees and humid. Very humid. We started at the beginning and ran the first obstacle 3 times. On the 3rd time you went straight into the 2nd obstacle. Complete that 3 times and on the 3rd time move to the 3rd obstacle… On so on until the course was complete. There are 25 obstacles so it was a long time out there in that heat. I seriously thought I was getting heat exhaustion. We were all bagged while doing this. After it was done it was time for a cold shower. Just to get my temp down.

We were to have a track workout but instead we had to get our vaccinations to go to Turkey. I got two, one in each arm. One fellow had to get 12. Sucker!

Pool in the PM

100m Crawl
100m Arms only
2x50m one leg kicks
2x50m 2 leg kicks

100m = each 25m progressively faster

2 rounds of:
150m crawl
150m arms only
100m legs only

4 x 50m (12.5m underwater, 25m crawl, 12.5m underwater)
4x 25m Sprints with a Dive

We then practiced the Water o-course. Fairly difficult to complete. I will try and get video to show what it is like.

Changed my eating just a bit. Trying to increase fat intake and upped the starches a bit. Will see how it goes.

Day 11

Orienteering again today. I will spare you all the minor details. We travelled 1.5 hours to get to our destination for the day. We were handed maps like usual and headed off into very hilly terrain. Up and Down and Up and Down till lunch.

I started to get some serious knee pains today as I ran back to parking lot of lunch. So much so that I had to walk some. I took and Ibuprofen and after lunch away I went. At first the knee was still sore but as time went on the running became more frequent, especially on the downhills. It is fun to run full out in the bush going downhill.

I completed the 2 maps fairly quickly and was given another to work on. This map only had contour lines on and nothing else. At first I was pretty concerned but I started slow. I made a few mistakes and had to back track to get my bearing again. After the 3rd point I had a system down and I really began to motor. It is very satisfying to be in the bush with only a compass and a map with just contours and not get lost. During this nav ex I was accompanied by Simon the head coach. I think he was surprised that I did so well. I managed to finish the day in second overall. I was lucky to finish before a 6 year veteran and after the faster runner ever! That will put me in a good position when the teams are selected I think.

That was my day. Tomorrow promises to be a good one. Ouch!

Day 12

Range in the AM and The O-course. The range was fun. We started firing the G3 and it is quite different from the C-7. The sighting is different to zeroize. Complete opposite of the C-7. This is taking some getting used to. The biggest difference is physical. The recoil slams the upper part of the butt into your cheek. It is very hard to not flinch with each round. You just have to lay there and take it. That sucks.

The O-Course was pretty good today as well. I have noticed a shift in my physical stamina. It seems to be improving to the point where I feel really good about completing the workouts with max effort. It was not as hot today so that made things easier.

PM

Track workout. I was dreading this one. It was quite good. I feel like the running is coming along well.

4 rounds
700m in 3:00 minutes
3 minutes Rest

Jog 10 minutes

4 rounds
700m in 3:00 minutes
3 minutes rest.

Pool

The pool was a good one. I am feeling like my swimming is starting to come around.

200m Crawl
20 x 25m (6 crawl, 4 arms only, 4 legs only, 6 with hand paddles arms only)
300m crawl

3 rounds of:
100m crawl
100m arms only
100m easy swim

After the swimming we started to practice the water o-course. Pretty fun as well. We have to do this one in combats so that does make it a little more challenging. It is a 50m course and at 25m there is a platform that you have to pull yourself out of the water onto and then dive into the water. It was like weighted muscle ups while totally soaked.

I am loving each day and the challenges it brings for me and my conditioning.

CIOR 7,8

Yesterday we were entered into a o-ring race at the Montreal Olympic Park. It was a race that was organized by a civilian o-ring club here in montreal. It was a staggered start so as people showed up you got your map and off you went. The race was 7.4 km and I think I did it in 1hrs 17 mins. I was pretty happy with that considering the 3rd point I kinda screwed up on. I had to back track and get my place again. The hardest part for me is judging the distance from the map to the ground.

It was freaking hot yesterday. The weather man said it was 35 degrees. I think he was right. Very difficult to run in that heat seeing as it was only the second day of such high temps. I am not used to it yet. It will be hot in Turkey so I guess I have to just suck it up.

After the race we had lunch in the park and we continued to practice our skills. The o-ring coach gave us maps to complete that were quite fun. One was a photo map. We had to run all over the place. The Olympic village, the Olympic arena, side streets and various parks surrounding the olympic park. People must have thought we were crazy running around like crazy people with maps and compasses all day long.

By the end of the day I was walking about 50m and running 50m. My lungs were not the issue, it was my legs they were smoked.

Today is our day off and I am just relaxing. I will do my laundry and lay in my bed. I got up at 0730 for breakfast but it was closed by the time I got there. I will have to go somewhere else for some grub.

CIOR 4,5,6

Day 4

Today began with a long drive into Montreal. We had our O-ring (orienteering) training at the park where the Olympics and the Montreal Grand Prix were held. It was a very nice park. As the day wore on I began to hate it. I was running from 9 am until 1130 with a 30 minute lunch break. In the afternoon it was another 4 hours of running around this park looking for orange marking tape. My feet are killing me.

We started with a map that we had seen before but it is very difficult to read. I don’t know the name of it but it is a straight line with all the turns on it that you are not to take. If you follow all the turns correctly you finish where you started.



This one is okay once you get the jist of it.

The next was an orienteering map with tons of symbols that I have no idea what they were. You had to nav to different spots as fast as you could and find the marking tape. All you have is a shitty compass and a map.

Next there was a map with no points to nav to only a trail on the map you had to follow. As you naved your way on the trail on the map you had to find the marking tape. This was okay too so long as you stayed exactly on the line drawn on the map. So you could be in the bush one minute and then you would be in a field the next looking for a small rock. Pretty hard but fun.

Arial Photo map with no descriptions just circles you had to find.
A map with just a trail and no terrain features to follow.
A map with only portions of the map showing. So there would be blank space between one objective and the next. You really had to focus on bearing and pacing. I screwed up on this one a few times.
We later had to triangulate our position one the map with grid references and then nav to each point.

The day finally ended with a map we were only allowed to look at and not take with us. You had to memorize all the points and then go to them. If you forgot where one was you had to go back to the original start location and figure out which one you forgot and then go back to it.

All in all it was a fun day and I learned so much that I will forget it soon I am sure. That is why we have 15 orienteering sessions in these 26 days of training.

Tomorrow I have a session with the team physical therapist for my shoulder and neck that I hurt around Christmas time. It has started to bother me again.

Oh and I have a few people who want to my rings because I showed a video of a muscle up and they want to try and do a couple of them. We’ll see how that goes. Wink!

Another early night and another early morning. Shitty.


Day 5

My eyes are fucking killing me.

Today I was up at 5am and off to Farnham Training area so I could pick up the ammo. Thankfully the 2 privates who were hired to drive, now have their qualification for dangerous goods and they can drive tomorrow.

So I now know what it is like to be professionally coached. It is hard. Damn hard. I remember a crossfit
t-shirt that had the slogan “embrace the suck”. I have begun to embrace it. Today really felt like a training day for an athlete. We were at the ranges again today. Rifle and Pistol. I did okay on the pistol and very well at the 100m with the rifle with an iron sight. Then we moved back to the 200m and it went to shit fast. It was the first day at that distance so I am okay with that.

After the ranges it was to the o-course. This is always fun. We tackled a few more obstacles like the irish table and low wire. There is definitely technique in crossing these two with the least amount of effort. Because we are competing for time we try to do everything with as little effort as possible so we will not waste effort where it doesn’t need to be that way. I really look forward to putting the whole thing together into one challenge. We spent about an hour running and jumping and climbing out there today.

Lunch

After lunch was a track workout. I was really looking forward to this one. That soon changed after I was told what we were doing.

6 rounds of:

500m in two minutes. No faster no slower.
After the 2 minutes were up we had to jog for 4 minutes. We were not allowed to walk during the whole time.

32 minutes of work.

Off to the pool! The pool was by far the hardest workout for the day. And this is why my eyes are fucked up. I have no goggles. I didn’t think that I would need them. Boy was I wrong!

200 m front crawl as a warm up

8 x 50m (3 arms only, 2 legs only, and 3 where you can’t bring your one hand back in the stroke until the other one touches it. Very hard)

2 rounds of
2 x 100m (25m kicks with flutter board, 50m crawl, 25m kicks)
2 x 100m (25m sprint, 25m relaxed)
100m relaxed

100m front crawl Long strokes

8 x 25m (first one slow and each successive one faster)

100m crawl relaxed.

Cool down.

Total 2000m or 1 hour and 10 minutes of swimming.

Supper

I have been eating very well and trying to stick to the zone as best I can. I had a bit of a cheat meal at supper tonight. I was staving.
Tonight’s supper was garlic spaghetti, 2 slices of bread and butter, 20 olives, chicken kabab, celery sticks, cucumber, and 2 scoops of ice cream. I washed this all down with 1glass of pink lemonade, 1 glass of water, and a coffee.

Starting to get some aches and pains all over. Oh, got some scrapes and bruises from the o-course too!


Day 6

Another great day here in Quebec. This morning it was sunny with a nice breeze while we were shooting the 9mm Pistol. We had a great shot practicing the rapid applications where you have to shoot 9 rounds in one minute from 25m. A mag of 3 and a mag of 6. It is quite fast when you have a mag change thrown into the mix.

Off to the C7 range. This is where things started to heat up. It was 30 degrees and it was hot laying in the sun. I did better today on this range. I took my time and made sure all my rounds were going where I was aiming. Well there was one round that found its way onto someone else’s target but oh well.

Lunch

O-course in the afternoon on a full belly was very hard. The sun was beating down on us and it was very hot and sweaty. I am getting comfortable with jumping off stuff. It is rush to run up to an obstacle and climb it and jump off and keep going. We were at the o-course for 2 hours and we had a great workout.

Pool. The dreaded pool. I managed to buy some goggles today. I thought I got a great pair but when I put them on I learned that they were prescription with a -4 rating. I couldn’t see shit. At least my eyes feel good tonight so I will continue to use them.

2 Round of:
100m crawl
100m kick with flutter board
100m with pool bouy (PB is something you put between your legs so you can focus on just using the arms.)

2 Rounds of:
50m crawl
50m with head out of water
50m crawl
50m kick
50m crawl
25m easy
25m fast
50m kicks
25m easy
25m fast

6x25m kicks as a race. I finished second last
8x25m crawl I was third each time.

1750m total or 1hr 15 minutes in the pool.

Supper
Bed!

Day 2 and 3 CIOR

Day 2 CIOR

The morning started at 0500 hrs for me. I had to go pick up the ammo from the Ammo compound because I am the only one qualified Hazardous Material. After this it was the 9mm range. We shot from about 0715 until about 1000. We are being instructed by a QPP Swat team leader. After 1 hour of personalized instruction I was shooting like a Special Ops guy. Okay maybe not that good. But it was a large improvement. We then moved to the rifle range and shot there for another 2 hours straight. I don’t know how I did on that yet. We never saw our targets. We were just focusing on natural body alignment and weapon control.

After lunch we spent 2 hours on the obstacle course. It is the NATO standard obstacle course. It was so cool. We were doing all the moves you wanted to do but the military wouldn’t let you. I think my favorite was jumping off the 12 foot wall. It was like the parkour stuff you see on Youtube. I was loving the sensation of jumping off the wall, landing, and starting to run as soon as you hit the ground. I am looking forward to the 14 foot ladder.

Then at 4pm it was in the pool. I like swimming but the pool sucked. We were in there for 1.5 hours. We started with the 50m Swim. I did it in 36 seconds. I screwed up the flip turn and had to start from a dead stop on the way back. I think I will practice that maneuver some more. Front crawl for 10 lengths, flutter kicks for 6 lengths. Talk about sore hip flexors. Front crawl again but no legs this time 10 lengths. To finish off we did 25 meters sprints for 5 minutes. That was not as bad as the flutter kicks but my shoulders were smoked.

I can see that Crossfit has really given me the strength and agility for the O-course but I need to work on the running and swimming. But I saw that coming.


Day 3

Today started a little later then yesterday. It was nice to be able to sleep in until 0615. After breakfast we loaded up in the vans and headed off to Farhnam Training Area. First order of the day was to throw hand grenades at targets. During the competition for the Orienteering portion at one stage you have to throw grenades at targets and are awarded points for each one. You can get either 14 or 24 points depending on the targets difficulty to hit. This is important because for each 12 points represent 1 minute being taken off your over all running time.

We then had orienteering class (instructed by a member of the National Team) for a couple of hours the get familiar with how to do it. It is not as simple as I first thought. Orienteers have their own language when it comes to maps and navigating. With these details sorted out we headed outside (In the rain no less). We practiced range estimation and pacing for the nav portion.

Once we were handed our maps and compasses it was 4 hours of running around in every puddle and creek there was on the base. I had a lot more fun doing this then I had though. It is not mindless running. I felt like I had a purpose. Somewhere to get to fast. I think I did pretty well. Out of 8 maps I only missed one point.

After all this time someone finally saw my pukie sticker and I got to give a ramble on what Crossfit is. That was fun. The head coach and I had a great talk about fitness and different training methods. He is the head trainer for a Quebec Junior Hockey team so he has some experience with this type of thing.

Well that is all for now. I am off to bed. I am very tired and pretty sore from all that running and swimming.

Day 1 at CIOR

It appears that I will have intermitent access to the internet here. That is a good thing.

Last night after a 8.5 hr drive I finally made it to Camp St. Jean in Quebec. I got signed in and gien my room key and meal card. I unpacked then had a snack and went to bed. I slept like shit. No Amy, new bed, strange place, and a big day coming up.

This morning we met to discuss what CIOR, what to expect from the training, and then we did a few tests. Max pull ups, max sit ups, max push ups and VO2 max test.

I finally learned what CIOR is. It is the Warriors Challenge. It is a series of physical tests that are designed to be the ultimate test of being combat ready. From the video we saw of past challenges it does look hard and fun.

AM
Pull ups = 22 (fat bar that killed my grip)
Sit ups in 2 mins = 72
Push ups in 2 mins = 106
VO2 max = Level 15 (whatever that means) I was sucking wind.

Then in the afternoon we had some lessons on the rifle and 9mm. The coach for the shooting is the Quebec SWAT Teams instructor.

PM
To finish the day we ran the 800m

800m = 2:34

Off to bed and get ready for tomorrows day at the range and obstacle course. Oh and then 1.5 hrs in the pool.

Leaving to CIOR

Well I am getting all set to leave for Quebec on Sunday. I have been taking it easy from the WODs. Day one of training camp involves the fitness test. I want to rest and make sure that I am ready for that.

I do not know weather or not I will have access to internet so this may be my last post for some time. I will return to regular posting by 17 Jul 08 if I don't have access.

I am extremely excited to be fortunate enough to get selected for this international competition. I have worked hard to get to where I am and I am proud to have this opportunity.

I am looking forward to see where Crossfit will take me with this. I have not done any other training then Crossfit to get ready, well I have done "Sealfit" for a bit. But that is it.

In the event that I do have internet access I will post regularly with the training that we are doing and what I am learning.

Cheers.

OHS with a Cute Kid

CFWU x 3

100 Ring push ups for time
3:42
100 Squats for time
1:32

Working Out is Bala on the dock

3 rounds for time

20 KB Snatch
20 Push Up
3:23

Did some handstands after.

NSC WOD KB Snatch/K2E

This looks like a great facility.

Run 1 mile

21 - 15 - 9

Dumbbell Snatch (35lbs each arm)
Knees to elbows

13:22

The run felt really good. I seem to be starting the run too slow. Today I ran the mile in 7:03. I think I can really cut that time down. However, I have to keep in mind that I have a WOD to complete after too.

"Prisoner of War" Navy Seal WOD

"Prisoner of War" Modified

50 KB Swings
100 Thrusters (45lbs)
100 Push ups
50 KB Swings
100 Pull ups
100 Sit ups
50 KB Swings

27:01

The Thrusters, push ups, KB Swings, Pull ups, and the sit ups killed me.
The Rx'd WOD called for 400m Run. I forgot my shoes so I did the swings.

CrossFit Main Page WOD

CFWU x 1

For time:
75 Push-ups
95 pound Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 50 reps
50 Dips
45 pound Weighted Pull-ups, 30 reps (last 15 there was a little bit of a jump to start the pull up. Couldn't get a kip with the weight system I had.)
25 Handstand Push-ups

13:58

Starting to slow down the training for the next couple of weeks. Going to try and just keep things fun and easy. I don't want to burn myself out before I even get to the training camp. I will use the 4-5 weeks of training there to ramp things up.

Deadlift, OHS

So Freaking What I can do a Handstand!

Today was suppose to be a 10 km run. Everyone knows I hate running so I didn't do it. I know I should have. Maybe my Bro will run with me later.

CFWU x 2

5-3-3-1-1

135-225-315-335-345

OHS

2x5

135-155

These were not max efforts just wanted to lift some stuff today. Traps a little sore still.

10 KB Snatch each hand

Handstand practice and then went home.