3 Position Squat Clean For Max (Pockets, Knees, Floor)
10 Minutes AMRAP:
5 KB Swing 70/53
10 Toes To Bar
15 Air Squats
Congrats to all the runners who tore it up yesterday. I will never forget Matt P's comment to me after he and I ran a 5k together back in March. Matt had been doing CrossFit for 9 months and was mixing in some CrossFit Endurance running WODs as well. He was essentially 9 months removed from any slow long distance training yet he got about a minute and a half PR on the 5k that day. Prior to CrossFit Matt had been a slave to long slow distance aerobic training at a volume of about 20 hours per week. I finished about a minute and a half after Matt. I was delirious and about to puke from running my guts out trying to keep up with him. He was fully recovered and laughing. As soon as I was able to hear and see again I remember him saying, "I guess this shit really works." Hard to believe, but a stamina based running volume of less than 10 miles a week seems to be a very effective method of gaining endurance ability. Well… it looks like you guys proved it again yesterday.
Check out these stats-
5k:
-Alice Keller: 22:35 (1st out of 116 in her age group)
-John Michelmore: 23:58 (6th out of 48 in his age group)
-Sabrina: 24:12 (PR by more than 2 minutes; 4th out of 187 in her age grop)
-Big Rob: 36:48 Close to his PR
Half Marathon
-Matt P: 1:29:48 which is a 6:52/mile pace (PR by more than 5 minutes)
17th out of 206 age group; 68th out of 3117 overall
-Jen R: 1:49:38, first Half Marathon in the Vibrums. 23rd out of 284 in her age group
To me these results are quite impressive. How can a bunch of weightlifting sprinters go out and perform that well with such low training volume? The answers lie in strength, stamina, intensity, and neuro-endocrine response. If you are an endurance athlete and you are continuing to bury your head in the sand, shame on you. There is a better, healthier, more effective way to train successfully and spend far less time doing so.
Check out the following free video that just came out last week in the CrossFit Journal. It documents a handful of Ironman Triathletes and their experience using the CrossFit Endurance method of training vs. traditional training.
Training for the Ironman
http://journal.crossfit.com/2010/09/lakeplacid-ironman.tpl
Also interesting that I looked up the 2010 USAW rankings for Olympic Weightlifting. It lists the top 50 ahtletes ranked by thier best competition Total (sum of snatch and clean & jerk). Travis' total Saturday was only 22 kilos behind the 50th ranked lifter in the nation in the 77kg weight class. My total in the Atlas Open last month was only 18kg behind the 49th place lifter in the 85kg class. Not quite what I would call world class, but pretty legit. This shit really does work.
