My inner Bob Ross

Kaitlin and I decided a while ago that it might not be a bad idea to do some paintings for Christmas presents. Also I wanted to do a painting for the county fair. So I took a shot at doing a Bob Ross style oil painting. Unfortunately it will not be dry in time to submit to the county fair. No big deal though it will still make a good Christmas present for somebody.

It's not a good photo.  You can't see the colors very well at all, and there's some sort of a weird streak that showed up in the lower left corner.  This photo makes it look a lot duller than it is.

Our workout of the day was:

30 hand stand push ups

60 box jumps (24" box)

15 hand stand push ups

30 box jumps

My time: 10:04

Felt good about the time and my effort.  I put 4" boxes under my hands and padding under my head to make it level across, so that I could work on full range on these.  I probably did about half of the hspu Rx.  The other half were either partial range, and on some of the reps, I would just lower myself down as slowly as I could.  The full range of motion definitely made it harder than what I'm used to, which is good.  As always though my neck is sore after doing these.  Where I was slow on the hspu, I tried to make up ground by going fast on my box jumps.

"Fran"

Kaitlin and I determined to make it to the gym today since neither of us was able to make it yesterday or this morning. So we got my mom to watch the girls so we could both go.

When we walked in and I saw the workout on the board, my heart rate immediately increased as a strong mix of emotion filled me.

"Fran"
21-15-9
thrusters (95lbs)
Pullups

It might not seen that terrible, but it is... Infamously so.  An elite crossfitter can do it in under 3 minutes. Some of the faster times are low 2's and even a few guys can do it in under 2. The last time I did this workout I did it in 7:04. Not impressive, but it still nearly killed me.

I was determined to best my previous time.  My time was 5:17.  I was very pleased, but completely spent. Next time I'll have to do it in under 5.

Planter beds part 2

A tough workout this morning:

5 min Airdyne
rest 2 min
5 min burpees

My score: 134 calories / 47 burpees

I was so spent after the airdyne, that I had difficulty pushing very hard on the burpees.  I did't do as well as I would have liked on either.  I was hoping for 150 calories on the airdyne.  I was happy there were no pullups though.  It gives my hand a little time to recover from the tear.

We decided to get the next planter bed done today.  Here's the before shot

Not too impressive.  It's pretty ugly.  We dug it up early while it was still cool out, and then headed back up to the river bed to find some more rocks.  Here is the river bed.  After gathering rocks we went for a little walk up it, since it was dry.

Afterwards we came home and laid in the rocks.  I made sure to employ my child slave labor to get the job done.

And the finished product looks pretty good.  Now we just need to find some plants to go in them.  Because we do not have a rain gutter on our house we put in a row of small river stone along the drip line.  Last time we planted things in this planter the dripping was hard on our new little flowers, so we were hoping this would help with the problem.

Anyways the girls had a great time playing in the rocks and dirt.  Any time there is dirt, sand, or water involved they have a great time.

Busy Day Off

I did a lot of stuff today.  For starters, I got up with Kaitlin.  She went to the gym and I hopped on the computer.  I was determined to get some artwork done, so I started cleaning off my computer desk so I could do just that, but it wasn't long before Sofi started screaming which woke Heather and she started crying, so I had to go get them and see what the big fuss was.  Well, Sofi had thrown up in her bed, so there goes the morning.  Luckily she didn't get any on herself, just on the bed.  We cleaned up that mess and everyone was up.  We had breakfast and I was still feeling motivated, so I cleaned the kitchen.  Kaitlin had of course returned from the workout and got cleaned up.  I guess she wanted the day off, because after her shower she just went back to bed.  I figured she needed the rest, so I got the girls ready and we were just about to leave to go rock hunting, when she came out and wanted to go with us, so the whole family went rock hunting.  We drove up by the "I" on the mountain and found some nice rocks.

Great view from up there.

We went a few other places too, and I gathered a bunch of river rocks for a project I have in mind.  I've been wanting to dig up the planter beds because they look terrible.  Then line them with some nice river rocks.  That's what we spent the afternoon doing after lunch is digging up the planter beds and lining them with the rocks we had gathered.  The girls were great help with this project.

By now it was getting too hot, so we all came in and took a nice nap.

After the nap I went out and washed the car, and then it was time to head to the gym.

Today's workout
4 rounds for time:
400M run
10 thrusters (95lbs)
15 pull ups

My time: 15:22

Not too shabby.  It was one of the faster times up on the board.  I did tear a callous on my finger though, which hurt.  I figure I might have done a little better if it weren't so hot and if I hadn't already done so much work today, but that's just making excuses.  Just work harder, that's all I can do.

Call the Wonder Pets - I'm not cut out for this!

It was rather relaxing today.  I got to sleep in til 7, which never happens!  I got up with the girls and we ate breakfast while Kaitlin headed to the gym to workout.  When she got home she decided to hop on the treadmill for a bit, so I went outside with the girls.

We spent time watering the grass, raking up all the crap that falls off our trees, and attempting to save baby birds.  Apparently today was the day mom and dad bird were kicking the babies out of the nest.  They weren't doing so well with it.  The first to fall out was battered about severely by the cat and dragged off in its mouth.  After chasing the cat all over creation, we managed to free the baby bird from its clutches, but now what?  It will most likely die if we just leave it, and trying to take care of it until it can fly on its own was not really a good option.  And if we return it to the nest, it's chances are still not good.  Nevertheless, we opted to return it to the nest and hope for the best.  So I climbed on up the tree and placed it back in the nest.  I don't know how it did.  I have not been able to spot it up there, so its either resting, or maybe dead.

This baby bird had a sibling though.  And it's turn to plummet to near certain death came later in the day.  After taking a nice nap midday, I decided to wander outside and see how the birds were doing.  I was able to witness the second baby bird making a go at it.  It ventured from the nest out onto the branches, but it wasn't long until it came flapping down and thudded to the ground. It seemed uninjured though, and this time I determined that its best bet was for us to just not touch it.  It made attempts to fly back up the tree and even was able to grasp the bark and hang on for a while before falling back down.  It rested there a while, and I defended it valiantly from my daughters and the neighbor girls who desperately wanted to pick it up.  Eventually it flew off down the street and took shelter in a rose bush a while.  When I checked back on it later, it was gone.  So who knows, maybe the second one made it.

After the baby bird fiasco, I went inside to do my own workout.  The workout from the gym was one I could do at home.

The workout:
50 Hand stand push ups (HSPU) for time.

My time: 11:15
It felt really slow for me, and my head was killing me.  I need to learn to come down slower, so I don't kill my head and neck.  Maybe there's a secret for this.  I don't want to injure myself.

After that I did the Ab Ripper DVD from the P90X workouts.  I only did 16 of each movement instead of the 25 they do in the DVD, and did 10 pushups in between each.  I figured 16 of each was good since it's been so long since I've done it.

Then it was time to shower up and head to work.  Kaitlin made up some venison chili for dinner, so that's going to be great!

Laterz

Got Milk?

Today was a rest day.  No workout today.  It's a good thing, because I'm pretty darn sore from this week.

Since I am resting, it's a good time to write about something that's been on my mind of late.  Is milk good for you or bad?  I love to drink milk.  I drink it everyday.  I have had several people tell me that milk is bad for me though, so I have to wonder why?  I have been delving into the issue and found several arguments for both sides.  Some saying how terrible milk is and how bad it is for you, and others saying it's just fine and that people thrive on milk.  So what is the truth?!  How can I sort through the mists of confusion?

I think I'll go find a grove of trees somewhere and pray about it...   Hey you never know...

But I am not fully convinced of the negative arguments.  Most of them can either be easily refuted, or they just plain don't make sense to me in terms of human physiology (based on my limited understanding).  I have decided to ask one of the fittest dudes I know what his opinion is.  Gil is always up on this kind of thing and always eats for good performance since he's a competitive Crossfitter.

Gil drinks a lot of milk.  He especially likes whole milk which he says is great for building strength.  He does not put much stock in the negative claims against milk, particularly in the claim that milk actually weakens your bones by drawing calcium out to neutralize your pH levels as a result of the protein intake (which doesn't make any sense to me, but I haven't looked at the actual science behind that claim).  He thinks that if you are doing weight bearing exercise, that you will still build bone density and not lose any.

In addition to Gil drinking lots of milk and being way tougher and more fit than I'll ever be, he also referenced that Rich Froning drinks tons of milk.  That pretty much ends the argument right there.  Enough said about that.  I'm a "by their fruits ye shall know them" kind of guy, and there isn't better proof than the fittest man on earth - three years running.

Well, I think I'll enjoy the rest of my Rest day with a nice tall glass of milk.

Laterz

Fitness Journal

I was watching a few videos on crossfit.com today and I decided it would be a good idea to keep a fitness journal.  I used to be pretty good about that.  I would write down my workouts, times, and reflections about it in a little notebook, but I haven't done that in a long time.

I thought I might use my blog to do it since typing is fast and nobody really reads this blog ever anyways, so why not use the space.  It might be a good way to get me blogging again about everyday stuff as well.

So, today's workout:
21-15-9
Deadlifts (bodyweight +10) - I used 185
Box Jumps 24"

My time was 3:14

I felt pretty good about how I did.  I went almost unbroken on all the deadlifts.  I did pause a couple of times.  Overall I am really sore today.  It's been a good week of workouts and I'm definitely feeling the effects.  A lot of pushups this week which is great, because I haven't been doing well on those lately.