• Time Bomb – Dave Matthews Band: warm up to power push
• Discipline – Nine Inch Nails: seated/standing climb
• The Royal We – Silversun Pickups: power pushes/up-down
• Worked Up So Sexual – The Faint: cadence ride
• House of Jealous Lovers – The Rapture: cadence ride/standing sprints
• HFM – Ghostland Observatory: cadence ride
• This Is War – 30 Seconds to Mars: seated sprints
• 100 Suns – 30 Seconds to Mars: cool down

Handstands in the snow, with snowboard boots, are tough.

After you’ve thrown yourself off the deep end with CrossFit, there’s not much that can compare when it comes to a fitness facility.  Maybe you’ve got a traditional gym membership and a CrossFit Affiliate membership.  When you walk into the traditional gym, what’s your attitude?  I know what mine is…

“screw the machines and most of the contraptions… just give me a pull-up bar, some kettlebells, a med ball, maybe a rower. if i can lift heavy weights, even better.”

The way my job works is that I travel sporadically, and when I do, it’s a lot all at once.  For example, I left Austin on February 20, returned on February 25, left again on February 28, returning March 4, and will be leaving for two more trips this month.  What does that do to my training plan?  Shot. To. Hell.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Here are my tips for success in training on the road:

• Decide right now: do you care to stay on your training plan?  Does it matter that you do the .com WOD 3-on, 1-off?  Or, can you maybe get a couple runs in and call it a week?
• Plan ahead.  While you’re making your travel plans figure out what’s in your hotel and what’s around you.  Find the nearest CrossFit Affiliate, shoot them a note.  I guarantee you’ll be welcome there, and I’m willing to bet you’ll fit in.
• If you’ve decided you’re sticking to the plan, then do your best to stick with it, but don’t freak out if you miss something.  Remember the words of Rip: “training is a process, not an event.”  So I can’t do MEBB in every town I’m traveling to, but I can at least find a place that allows me to lift heavy.  I can search the programming of all the CrossFit boxes in the area and find out which ones might work the best for me.
• Pack versatile and light. You don’t need your oly shoes, running shoes, fivefingers, rings, abmat, chalk, tape, and 5 pukie shirts for your 4-day trip.  I bring the following: fivefingers, enough workout clothes for 2 days (and wash out in the tub/air dry to rewear… if you have good gear, it won’t smell), some tape, and a TriggerPoint ball.  For example, if you’re running and CrossFitting, do your CF workouts in your running shorts.

No CrossFit gym?  Then start heading to the fitness center in your hotel.  Use the dumbbells, treadmills, and mats to construct a workout.  Do “Fran” with dumbbell thrusters and body rows using the cable cross machine.  Do “Angie” with bench dips or body rows.  Or, hit up CrossFit Endurance and use the treadmills to do the WOD (or just run outside).  Get creative… the point is to just keep moving!

Case Study: Vegas and San Diego

Last week, I was in Vegas for a conference.  Vegas is a tough town because it’s hard to get around… cabs are expensive and they don’t like to go too far off the strip.  I’ve made it over to CrossFit Las Vegas a couple times — great place — but this time I didn’t have the time.  So, I took my Vegas hangovers to the MGM Spa and did a modified version of the CFE Recovery workout a few times:

Run 400m

3 rounds of:

• 15 bench press
• 15 swings
• 15 bench dips

Then do 2 rounds of:

• 50 situps
• 5×30:30 hip bridge

Keep the weights light but challenging — your third round should be tough but unbroken.  Move with purpose but not like you’re racing.  Then go hit the steam room.

In San Diego, life’s a lot different.  I wasn’t crazy like Vegas, and I had control over where I stayed.  So I stayed near CrossFit Invictus.  CJ and his crew (which includes the rockstar Sage Burgener) are awesome, and every time I show up, it’s only better.  Turns out I got 3 days of exactly what I needed — some lifts, and some metcon.

Conclusion

I’ve been around states and tried to keep up with my training.  At first I felt guilty because I was off “the plan.”  Then I began to realize that when you travel, it’s so much easier to simply do nothing.  So go do something.  Try to get it as close to what you’d do if you were home.  Meet some new people.  Buy a shirt from another affiliate.  Not only is CrossFit a good cult, but it can be done just about anywhere.

• run 800m
• stretches
• 5 rounds of “Cindy” (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats)

Workout

Every minute, on the minute, perform the following movements:

• 5 thrusters
• 10 jumping pull-ups

Continue for 15 minutes or until you cannot complete the round in 1 minute.

1. American Boy – Estelle
2. All the Above – Maino
3. Boom Boom Pow – Black Eyed Peas
4. Arcade Robot – Boys Noize
5. Use Somebody – Kings of Leon
6. Worked Up So Sexual – The Faint
7. The Underdog – Spoon
8. Forever – Chris Brown
9. Just Dance – Lady GaGa
10. In Pieces – Linkin Park
11. Together – The Presets

Cool down

1. Funny The Way It Is – Dave Matthews Band
2. Keep It Together – Ben Harper and Relentless7

3 rounds:

• sprint 100m
• 10 pushups
• sprint back
• 10 swings

Skill work: back squat

Workout

4 rounds:

• 400m run
• 15 back squat (lighter than skill work)
• 15 dips (ring, off box, off step)

Tabata mountain climbers

50 sit-ups for time

This year, I’m going to publish my training plan on this blog, just to show them how they’re wrong.

You can mix CrossFit and triathlon training, so long as you do it with some intelligence.  I’m not going to go out and kill Fran then bike 56 miles.  CrossFit is a general physical preparedness training method.  It’s the foundation of my training.  You start from there, and add in your sport.

The premise

The general idea behind my training plan is that strength and power = speed.  So I’m going to focus my time on getting stronger, measuring that progress, and then applying it out on the road or in the water.

Contrary to CrossFit methodology, however, I am going to employ a periodized training plan.  There needs to be some method to the madness; some periods of building and some periods of rest.

Period 1: Get stronger

In the last couple years of races, I’ve found that getting stronger through CrossFit makes me faster and allows my muscles to work more efficiently.  So, I’m working on a 9-week Max Effort Black Box plan to increase my strength by practicing various lifts.

During this time, I’m focused almost exclusively on strength building.  I mix in shorter CrossFit workouts (in the less than 15 minute time domain).  Run a little, nothing big.  Toward the end of the 9 weeks, I’m going to get back in the pool and start swimming again.

Period 2: CrossFit Endurance

Period 2 marks the kickoff of my season.  This period will be repeated for each race I want to do, with a 6- to 8-week lead up to the race itself.  During this time I’m going to follow CrossFit Endurance workouts for swim, bike, and run.  Shorter metcon focus here as well.  Longer distance work will be mixed in from time to time, although it will be infrequent.

Period 3: There is no period 3

Basically, I’ll just repeat period 2 when I need to.  That’s the beauty of staying with a good level of GPP — you can map out a 6 or 8 week training plan for shorter distance races and do well on it.  For longer distance races, I’ll need a little more time, maybe 10 or 12 weeks, but the basic premise goes unchanged.

I’ll keep my Dailymile profile updated with my progress.

Workout

• Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
• Resistance – Muse
• Pulp Fiction – Motion City Soundtrack
• Discipline – Nine Inch Nails
• Shadow of the Day – Linkin Park
• I Come From The Water – The Toadies
• Codeine – Ttc
• Panic Switch – Silversun Pickups
• The Sharpest Lives – My Chemical Romance
• One – Metallica

Cool down

• High And Dry – Radiohead
• Where I End And You Begin – Radiohead

21-15-9

pullups
thrusters (M: 95lb, W: 65lb)

Warm up

• Times Like These – Foo Fighters

Workout

• The (After) Life Of The Party – Fall Out Boy
• Here It Goes – Jimmy Eat World
• Break It Down Again – Tears for Fears
• Eucalyptus – The Presets
• On a Friday – Blaqk Audio
• Whatever’s Left – Snow Patrol
• The Red Summer Sun – Third Eye Blind
• Are We the Waiting / St. Jimmy – Green Day
• Under Pressure – My Chemical Romance
• But, Honestly – Foo Fighters

Cool down

• Apologize – Timbaland
• Girl America – Mat Kearney

Warm-up

• Dynamic stretches
• 3 rounds: V-ups 1 min, supermans 1 min

Workout

• 1 thruster
• 10 ring dips (scale to parallelette bar)
• 2/9, 4/8, 6/7, 8/6, 10/5, 12/4, 14/3, 16/2, 18/1