Murph

CrossFit, originally uploaded by Wooly Biker.

So you may have noticed the link on my blog to CrossFit. I have been trying to follow the CrossFit Workout of the Day (WOD) for the last couple of weeks, at least whhenever I can. The workouts consist of variable functional movements performed at very high intensity over a short period of time. Normally this means a 15-20 minute workout that will have you gasping for air and screaming for your mommy.

Todays workout is much, much harder. It's called Murph, in honor of a Navy Seal named Michael Murphy who died at the age of 29 in Afghanistan in 2005. This was one of his favorite workouts, and if you click on the title of this post you can read about him. The workout consists of:

1 mile run
100 pullups
200 push ups
300 squats (air squats- no wieght)
1 mile run

Of course this is for time, like most crossFit workouts. Lieutenant Murphy used a weighted vest as he did this workout, so now the prescribed workout calls for a weighted vest if you have one. Doing these Hero workouts is as much about honoring the soldiers and servicemen who have died defending our freedom as it is about getting a workout. This will be my first Hero, and I'm a bit worried. Fortunately, you can do this workout in two ways. One way is just as it is listed above, with all pull ups done before moving on to the push ups, etc. The other way is to do pull ups, push ups and squats in groups, and then repeat. For example, I'll be doing it this way:

1 mile run
5 pullups
10 push ups
15 squats
repeat the above for 20 sets
1 mile run

Ouch, I can feel the pain already. My pull ups need the most work, and I have only done about 80 or so in previous workouts over the course of 20 minutes. The times I have seen others post for this workout range from 45 minutes to an hour plus. I'll be happy to finish in less than an hour.

So what's up with the picture of the little man and the big tire? Well CrossFit is based on functional movements, not a particular piece of gym equipment. In fact, you need very little equipment to do the Crossfit workouts. Tire flipping happens to be a great leg, back and arm workout, and tires are free from the local Les Schwab. I have a big one in the backyard and my 4 year old has a small one, and we race down the yard and back. Then we do pull ups and box jumps and repeat. Great family fun.

Now go do your WOD.

Update: My time was 46:15, but I had to substitute 8 minute hard efforts on the bike trainer for the runs. My calf cramped up after 3/4 mile of running, so I had to start over on the bike. I did 8 minutes because that's about how fast I would have run my miles for this effort. I was happy with my overall time, although there is a lot of room for improvement.