I stayed at work too late today, so I did a workout at home.  I’ve been slowly working on getting my endurance up to the point of being able to do 5 sets of 500 jump ropes.  This evening I did 5 x 280 single unders followed by 5 x 140 alternating foot jumps with 1min rest between sets.  I kept up, but it was pretty tough.  Afterward I did some double under practice.  I tried keeping my jumping pace steady, and just changing the tempo of my rope.  I did pretty well and will add this to my daily warm-up.

Today was the first day of the gym’s Performance Challenge.  We had two different benchmarks, 1RM deadlifts, and a metabolic conditioning workout:

Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)
30 KB Swings (35# / 25# )
30 Burpees
30 Double Unders
30 Push Presses (45# / 35#)
Run to Stop Sign (~700 M)

I’ve never worked on my max deadlift before, so this was a real treat.  I worked my way up from a couple of warm-up sets,  177# to 265#.  I tried 288# and got it almost up, but the bar started rolling out of my hands and I wasn’t able to fully stand up before losing control of it.  I tried a second time with a mixed grip, but couldn’t stand up.  I probably could have played around with weights between 265 and 288, but decided that what I got was good enough.

The MetCon WOD was not fun.  I took it easy on the first run so that my breathing and heart rate weren’t completely blown away before I started the hard stuff.  While doing the KB swings, I learned a lot about how to do it correctly.  I finally got the “explosive hips” that everyone kept yelling at me for not doing in the past.  I got through everything else by breaking them into sets of 2-5.  The final run was a jog.  Yuck.  Final time: 18:25 Rx

I’ve done three days of CrossFit, so I get today off;  well, sorta.  I did a jump rope work out this morning.  5 sets of 200 single-unders, followed by 5 sets of 100 alternating foot jumps with 1 minute of rest between sets.  It took me just under a half-hour which is a little slower than I want.  I’d like to have the coordination and fitness to have done it in about 22 minutes (that’s 150 jumps per minute), but I’m just not there yet.  Maybe I’ll be faster when I finish my progression in two more weeks.

My jump rope schedule told me to do 80 basic jumps and 40 alternating foot jumps. My breathing and heart rate were much faster on this one, compared to yesterday’s. Also, my forearms started to get a little pumped, like I had been rock climbing. I missed about 10 jumps throughout the workout. I’m looking forward to a day off before I attempt 5×100 5×50 on Friday.

I mentioned the other day, that I would be working my way up to 500 jump ropes.  Yesterday was supposed to be the first day, but my calves were very tight from my weekend run and I didn’t want to pull anything.  Today I did 5 sets of 60 basic jumps, and 5 sets of 30 alternating foot jumps (think running in place with a jump rope).  My arms started to get tired by the end of the last two sets, but other than that, the workout went well.  Tomorrow morning I’ll step up the reps.

I ordered a Buddy Lee jump rope a couple of days ago, and was surprised to find it at my doorstep today.  I immediately opened up the package, adjusted the rope for my height, and gave it a whirl.  It’s nice!  I don’t know that it’s completely worth the money, but it is very smooth and easy to use.

My double-unders aren’t that great, so I’m going to work on my jump roping.  Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’ll be working my up to 500 consecutive jumps and my double-unders.  Buddy published a 6-week schedule in a CrossFit Journal at the end of 2007, so I’m starting at week three.  This should be fun!