Back into CrossFit (and training for NYC Marathon 2012)

I'm running the NYC Marathon this year - for Team for Kids again. I missed running it last year - this year I'm planning on training intelligently.  My goal is sub 4:00 hours.

I also saw a rebroadcast of the 2011 CrossFit Games while in the airport waiting for a flight, and I was really inspired to get back into CrossFit.  I'm still on the road for work, but I was happy to discover the tiny fitness center in this hotel has a pull-up bar, so I decided to do the "Cindy" workout.

As many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 20 minutes:

• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 20 body weight squats

I managed 9 rounds with a bonus 5 pull-ups and 4 push-ups.  That may seem like a high number for someone who's really not in shape, but after round 3 my pull-ups were chair-assisted.  Also, now that I've cleaned up my diet, I'm probably about 15 pounds lighter than I was the last time I did this workout.

Tennis is Hard

I picked up a racket again after more than 11 years. What does it mean that the only backhands I can hit have a weird side-spin to them, and only land in the court about 20% of the time?

I'll tell you what it means. It means my tennis mechanics need some serious help.

NYC Marathon 2010 - Follow me Live!

Please note: I'll only have this tracking service up and running during the marathon - and I'll likely take this post down immediately after the marathon.  If you see "Location Unavailable" please check back Sunday morning, November 7, 2010 starting at about 9:30am Eastern Time.

Tomorrow, November 6, 2010 is the NYC Marathon!

I'll be using a service called Instamapper to allow folks to track my position during the marathon tomorrow.  The map below should show my progress live with a good level of accuracy, and should be much improved over my failed Google Latitude experiment during the 2009 NYC Marathon. (One of my friends reported that at one point he looked at his map and it reported my location as being somewhere in the middle of the Hudson River.)

My start time is at 9:40 a.m.

If you're going to be out and about and have a mobile web browser, you can use this link to track my progress on your phone.  (If you're following me on your mobile phone, you'll need to manually refresh the page to see the most updated position.)

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

Dirty Martinis + Concept 2: The Aftermath

The title of this post feels like a bad CrossFit workout.  This isn't the first time I've tried to work out after drinking. Somehow, I didn't learn my lesson the first time. My performance wasn't disastrous, but I definitely wasn't having fun.

My stomach felt both shaken and stirred. Urp.

Shins are a little happier now. I'll probably start running again this week.

An Update On My Training

I've been training pretty hard this year for the marathon, with the goal of trying for a Boston qualifying time. I've probably been training too hard; shin splints have plagued me for over a month, and I've decided to stop running for two weeks to let my calves and shins heal up. I've been cross-training like there's no tomorrow, and discovered that the rowing machine is a pretty good full-body workout that I can sustain for much longer than my pathetic swimming technique will allow in the pool. I just finished my first week of not running and I'm already getting anxious about losing my running fitness. One more week of only cross-training and we'll see how I feel.