Cycle 117 (CFE 2×5/5×1)

Straight out of the CrossFit Endurance playbook, here’s a great cycling workout.

2x 5 min intervals, 2 min rest — maximal distance

5×1 min intervals, 30 sec rest — maximal distance

Warm-up:

• Three’s No Secrets This Year – Silversun Pickups (easy spin)
• I Was a Teenage Anarchist – Against Me! (false flat, standing jog, seated acceleration adding 10-20rpm)
• Thunderstruck – AC/DC (seated/standing climb between medium and high resistance)
• Lights and Sounds – Yellowcard (flat road with accelerations of 20 rpm)
• Black Heart Inertia – Incubus (easy spin)

2×5:

• Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) – Journey (5 min max distance)
• Rock ‘n Roll Band – Boston (rest)
• The End Is the Beginning Is the End – Smashing Pumpkins (5 min max distance)
• Big Me – Foo Fighters (rest)

5×1:

• Clubbed To Death (Kurayamino Variation) – Rob Dougan (60s:30sx5)

Cool down:

• Swing Life Away – Rise Against
• Sweetness – Jimmy Eat World

Cycle 116

Flat road to a climb, flat road finish.

Warm-up and flat road start

• Strobe – Deadmau5

Climb  - ascending resistance

• Different – Pendulum
• Cult Logic – Miike Snow
• Kicking and Screaming – The Presets
• The Perfect Drug – Nine Inch Nails

Flat road finish

• One More Chance – Bloc Party
• Take a Bow – Muse

90 second cash out

• Let it Die – Foo Fighters

Cool down

• Reckoner – Radiohead
• Sleeping In – The Postal Service

Cycle 115

A couple climbs with sprints after each.

Warm-up

• Hi Friend! – Deadmau5

Couplet: seated climb/standing jog, seated climb/hill sprint

• The City Is At War – Cobra Starship/Glass Danse – The Faint
• Animal – Miike Snow/American Trash – Innerpartysystem

False Flat Sprint section

• Thoughts of a Dying Atheist – Muse
• Rocketship 2010 – Shiny Toy Guns

Descending resistance climb (heavy -> light)

• Talk Like That – The Presets
• Given Up – Linkin Park
• Jigsaw Falling Into Place – Radiohead

False Flat Sprint finish

• Famous Last Words – My Chemical Romance
• Sunburn – Muse

Cool down

• Fix You – Coldplay
• Be Somebody – Kings of Leon

Thoughts of a disillusioned athlete

I’m burnt out.  I’m disillusioned.  I want to get back into my routine, but the thought is scary as hell.  I’m tired of the concept that one size fits all, because it doesn’t.  I’m tired of the guilt associated with taking a break.  I know that if I quit I’ll become a pariah; I don’t want to quit.  I want to change (update: I don’t want to just change, I want to evolve.)

I need to create something sustainable.  The key word in that previous sentence is “I.”  Not “we,” and not “my coach.”  No one can give me a training plan — hell, a life plan — that I didn’t have a hand in making.  It’s my goals I need to achieve.  All these plans can do is hope to help me.

One thing I love about Robb Wolf is how he basically refuses to answer questions about training athletes for their sports.  The short of it is… if the person is still progressing, if they’re happy, then why mess around?  What’s the takeaway?  The formula to get someone to continuously improve, at first, is simple.  It’s when the progression stops that it’s hard.  Why is that?

Training changes from physical to mental.  I have a 400+ lb deadlift, but if I just don’t feel like working on that, it’s not going to get any better.  I have a reliable 1:43 half marathon; if I stop running, it’ll only get worse.  At some point, I’m just going to run out of steam.  I’ve got a full-time job, 2 part-time jobs, I need to train for some races I want to run, and I’ve got a social life that is too hectic for its own good.  In the rare time that I can balance all of this stuff, I’m a rockstar.  When something gets out of balance, I’m a mess.

In the last few months, from say late February through today, I’ve been more of a mess than a rockstar.  So how do I fix that?

I’ve been burnt out before, or just tired, or something.  But in those times, I knew that if I got up at 5:30 and went to work out at 6:15, there would be a group of people that would welcome my return, which would fuel my desire to get back on track.  More and more, this is not the case — that group of people is completely different.  The community is so large that it’s hard to re-enter.

This is a different kind of burn out.  This one is making me rethink everything.  For you CrossFit haters that read my blog, it’s got absolutely nothing to do with that… I still believe that CrossFit as GPP and sport-specific training layered on top is way more powerful than the traditional weekend warrior training plan.  Everyone should know how to clean a barbell and squat effectively.

It’s time to go back to square one, to come up with goals.  I need a coach for not only my athletic ventures but for life.  A confidant that knows how to motivate me, not just yell or criticize my food log (which I don’t have at the moment).

I don’t have the answer to this one… I don’t even have a good start at an answer.  All I know is that tomorrow, I need to move.  And how I move is going to be important.

How do you bring yourself back?  Post your thoughts to comments.

cycle 114

tempo ride… higher resistance in the beginning, ending fast and flat.

1. Home – LCD Soundsystem: warmup
2. Neutron Star Collision – Muse: seated/standing climb
3. Tear You Apart – She Wants Revenge: seated/standing climb
4. Turn Your Back – Billy Talent: standing climb
5. You Will Leave a Mark – A Silent Film: false flat, accelerations
6. Going Wrong – Armin Van Buuren: time trial
7. Move Along – All American Rejects: seated climb, standing jog
8. I Was a Teenage Anarchist – Against Me!: seated climb, accelerations
9. Sunburn – Muse: false flat cadence challenge
10. Survive – Rise Against: false flat power intervals
11. Word Forward – Foo Fighters: sprints
12. You and Your Heart – Jack Johnson: cool down
13. Hey, Soul Sister – Train : cool down