Crossfit Workouts

I am currently in the process of totally revamping my gym workouts by adopting the Crossfit workout strategy. If you haven't heard about Crossfit then you should really research it. I first came across it in an old Men's Journal from 2006. The workouts intrigued me because it promised great results in a short period of time. I thought yeah right every magazine makes these outrageous claims for every article which ultimately turns out to be quite gimmicky.

The reason Crossfit can actual follow through on these claims can be summed up in one word.....Intense!! If you do this workout at the tempo and effort it is intended then you will get the workout of your life. Check out this Youtube video and also this direct link to a video.

I did a really hard Crossfit workout the other day before heading to the office and almost threw up my protein shake. It was awesome. It was the normal after workout high times 10!! I felt great all day and I was sore all over the next day.

You will quickly notice how you stand out from all of the other people at the gym who are worried about looking pretty while they workout. You will get an endless number of incredulous looks and stares as you quickly rotate between your exercises. Most people just can't handle this level of intensity.

The thing I have to be careful about is balancing Crossfit with my long distance running because this workout can really wipe you out. I have to be sure that I give my body enough time to build back up between all of these challenges I am throwing at it.

Running Goal

A few weeks ago I finished up what is so far my craziest running streak. I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC the last Sunday in October, followed it up with the Ultracentric 6 hr race in middle of November, and then completed White Rock Marathon in Dallas in early December.

Now I am left with the decision of how to proceed from here. Do I go for distance or do I go for speed. Going for distance would mean training for a 50 miler sometime later this year while going for speed would mean shooting for a 3 1/2 hr marathon or faster.

In the meantime I have the Austin Marathon and Cowtown Ultra on my running calendar. These are on back to back weekends in February. The only problem I have is the entry fee for Austin which is $110. This is pretty steep compared to most of the local marathons in Texas. Considering I can and sometimes will run almost an entire marathon during a training run, it makes it hard to fork over $110 for the privilege of doing it in Austin. I can do the Cowtown Ultra for just $85. What a deal.

It is funny how when marathons were a new thing for me I really wouldn't pay attention to the price. I was too caught up in wondering whether I could finish, or about the aid stations, or how course conditions would affect me. Now I can just grab a hydration pack or fuel belt and go knock out 26 miles in pretty much any type of weather conditions on any day.

Currently I am leaning toward a focus on speed since I am still young and realize that as I age my speed will probably slow down while my endurance will pick up. If I could run like Scott Jurek or David Goggins it would take care of my problems since those guys run a 100+ miles at my 10k my pace.