The Oracle of Apollo
Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

Today’s workout was seven rounds of the clean & jerk for a one-rep max. I’m swapping that out for seven rounds for time of 10 dumbbell clean & jerks at 70 pounds (a pair of 35-pounders). I really need to do more upper body work anyway and practicing the dumbbell clean & jerks will work my core, hip extensors, and shoulders.

I started out really fast, but it only took a couple of rounds before I was subdividing the rounds into fives or threes. As I got more and more tired, I started to slow way down. But, I determined to stick out the whole workout, especially since I’m going on vacation next week to visit my family in Idaho. I doubt I’ll get much of a chance to work out while I’m up in the Gem State.

Rounds:

1. 01:07.87 (01:07.87)
2. 02:14.70 (03:22.57)
3. 03:09.13 (06:31.70)
4. 03:52.75 (10:24.45)
5. 02:46.78 (13:11.23)
6. 04:13.00 (17:24.23)
7. 03:37.95 (21:02.18)

That was a little bit harder than I thought it would be. I spent a bunch of that time starting at the dumbbells and breathing hard. Next time, I hope to knock half that time off.

My HRM: 21:04, 3:38 zone (hard); HR: 172 avg, 189 max; 319 cal

Today’s workout was “Fight Gone Bad”, a legendary workout that features an amazing barrage of work against the clock in a very short period of time. I’m definitely substituting some of these, due to lack of equipment or strength. But, let’s go after it.

Fight Gone Somewhat Douchey:

Three rounds for max reps:

1. 60 sec dumbbell thrusters (2×20# DB)
2. 60 sec sumo deadlift high pulls (53# KB)
3. 60 sec dumbbell push presses (2×35# DB)
4. 60s kettlebell swings (53# KB)
5. 60s rest

The original prescription also includes box jumps which I’d slated for tuck jumps, but in all the excitement I forgot them. Once I got going, I spent more time gasping than throwing the weights around, but I stayed after it as hard as I could. I managed to tangle up my headphones after a warmup and had to stop and restart the tabata music that allowed me to keep track of what I was doing. This workout didn’t like me and beat me up. I’m looking forward to a rematch.

Rounds:

1. 25 + 23 + 05 + 17 = 70
2. 21 + 20 + 06 + 21 = 68
3. 21 + 20 + 04 + 17 = 62

That made my score 200. Obviously, I need to do a lot more push presses with the heavy dumbbells. There’s really no excuse for such a weak showing, but I’ve been a little distracted lately. I need to stop blowing off so many workouts and refocus on my conditioning.

My HRM: 15:08, 3:06 zone (hard); HR: 166 avg, 185 max; 214 cal

With the beginning of 2008, I made a resolution to get serious about my music. While I didn’t say much about it here, I resolved to attempt to write at least one track per week for the whole year.

At first, I concentrated on writing exactly one track a week, but I’ve been a little more prolific over the last couple of months. In order to keep myself disciplined and on track with this project, I started a brand new blog. But, unlike Digeum, a podcast Jay Def and I started in 2005 that died after the first episode, I wanted to make sure that the “52 Tracks in 52 Weeks” project stayed on focus.

I decided to announce it today with the completion of the 20th track of 2008. Most of the music I’ve written so far this week has been ambient. So far, I’ve written 18 improvised ambient tracks in a row, with a pair of simple house tracks in January. Not all of this music is good, but a baseball player doesn’t hit a home run with every at bat.

In the process of creating big skills in all my software, I also started another project, Osteocephalic, which is a blog that give me a place to try experiments, tutorials, offer my musical insight (mainly to myself and my friends). Sadly, Osteocephalic.com doesn’t have nearly as many articles as ApolloLee.com, but hopefully, I’ll come up with some good tutorials and experiments before long.

Please feel free to listen to my new tracks. A full track list is available. Enjoy!

Today’s workout was “Nate”, a hero workout that debuted about a month ago. My variation, “Eights for Nate”, features 20 minutes of work for max rounds. My lack of a pullup bar today will have me doing the pullups on a door. Here we go.

Eights for Nate:

Max rounds in 20 minutes of:

1. 8 door pullups
2. 8 weighted chair dips (22#)
3. 8 handstand pushups (knees on table)
4. 8 kettlebell swings (53#)

I thought that I’d be able to equal my effort from last time and get 8 rounds of the Eights done. Unfortunately, I underestimated the difficulty of doing pullups against a door with a limited range of motion. The pullups took much longer than they do on a bar, just because there’s nowhere to go but up. I’m going to get a pullup bar as soon as possible.

I finished 7 rounds with 15 seconds to spare. Next time, I’m going to get at least 8 rounds. No more door pullups for me. That’s a little bit ridiculous. Let’s try not to break our equipment in the future.

My HRM: 20:12, 7:32 zone (hard); HR: 158 avg, 178 max; 264 cal

Today’s workout was “Nicole”, a “girl” workout that I’ve done once before, although that time was using assisted jumping pullups. Today, we’re going for the full monty.

Max rounds in 20 minutes of:

1. 415 m run
2. Max rep pullups

I decided to set my pullup rounds to 10 pullups plus the run. After a couple of trial pullups to make sure that my horrendously rope-burnt fingers could handle the pullups. Feels okay. Let’s do this thing.

At first, I thought my runs were going to be difficult, because the sprinklers were on until I finished stretching out. Luckily, the sprinklers stopped and the area I was running through was either dirt or non-wet grass. I wanted to get at least five rounds done this time, so my goal per round was 4 minutes, run included. Most of the time, I’d wait about 15 seconds to run after my pullups were done.

I noticed time slipping away from me on the last round, so I decided to do 20 pullups in that round instead of the usual 10. This enabled me to do a little more upper body work and get everything finished with about 10 seconds to spare. I forgot to turn off my heart rate monitor, though, until I was in the car, heading home. Oops.

Rounds:

1. 3:25
2. 3:46
3. 4:00
4. 4:00
5. 4:50 (20 pullups)

My HRM: 23:33, 1:16 zone (hard); HR: 171 avg, 188 max; 358 cal
My stopwatch: 19:50

This afternoon, around 1:30 in the afternoon, CNET switched off Consumating for the last time. It was announced about six weeks ago, but we all still hoped that there’d be a last minute reprieve. This evening, we were redirected at Help.com, where the foul-mouthed hipsters of Consumating crashed head-on with the heavily-moderated juvenile-friendly help.com.

I’ll avoid romanticizing Consumating, but I mentioned the shutdown before and I’ve made my feelings known to my friends there. We’re all over on Go Team Internet, as well as a couple of other clones.

This evening, my friend, Lady Oracle, and I wandered up to San Francisco to Katie O’Brien’s to gather with some friends and give Consumating a send off that she certainly deserved. Combustible Monkey, Oranges, Ozreiuosn, 18percentgrey, and Machined joined us, but before long we all parted company, except for the five of us that headed over to CNET Headquarters to remember Consumating.

Somehow, Lady Oracle managed to snag the CDF Honor Guard Band, which was roaming around the pubs of San Francisco playing their music, to play “Amazing Grace” as some people held a candlelight vigil. The bagpipers played, the drummers drummed, the security guard at CNET looked baffled, and the honor guard refused all suggestions of tips. Not only did they play several songs and march around in the CNET courtyard, they continued to play for about half an hour. The acoustics in front of that building, bounded by a hotel, are fantastic.

That’s how you send off something that’s been a central part of your life for two years. Thanks for everything, Ben, Adam, Jesse, and the whole crew of Consumating. It’s been a blast.

Today’s workout was “Michael”, a hero workout we get frequently (previously: Jan 09, Dec 03, Nov 17, Oct 28, Sep 19). Michael was the second CrossFit workout I ever attempted. Today, I’m gonna try to go hard and aggressive. My goal: 27:00 or faster. My January time was 27:42.96.

Three rounds for time of:

1. 810 m run
2. 50 situps
3. 50 back extensions (good mornings), 30# DB

Perhaps accidentally moving the situps and back extensions around in order (the website assigns the extensions first) allowed me to steam through this thing faster, but I’d like to think it’s because I’m significantly stronger than I was two months ago. Not only did I beat my 27 minute goal, but I beat it by more than a minute. This means that I’ve ripped 2 minutes off my previous best. Yeah, baby! Onward!

Rounds:

My HRM: 25:34, 4:50 zone (hard); HR: 171 avg, 192 max; 383 cal
My stopwatch: 25:34.91

My workout today was supposed to involve rope climbs, but I didn’t have a rope. I also didn’t have a 15 foot high ceiling to attach a climbing rope to. But, I figured I could tie a rope to my kettlebells and toss one end over a pullup bar. That’d do the trick, right?

Sure. If you get the right rope. The right rope is 5/8″ or 3/4″ or 1″ or 1½”. I went to REI this evening and bought an 8mm rope. I learned a few things from this experiment.

1. It’s very difficult to pull even a smallish 35 pound kettlebell off the floor with an 8 mm rope.
2. It’s very easy to friction burn skin off your fingers, even wearing a nice pair of weight lifting gloves.
3. Burning skin off your fingers makes pr0n useless.
4. I suck at certain knots, but I’ll practice them. You will not escape if I tie you up.
5. If you have a kettlebell suspended from the ceiling of the garage with a rope and the weak ass knot you tied fails, watch out for the swing. 35 pounds of cast iron swinging at your man berries will give you quite an adrenaline rush.

Today’s workout was the 5 km run. I headed out to the track under cover of darkness, as usual, in my kayaking shirt and a desire to beat my previous best. Last time, I finished five seconds slower than my previous run. Today, I’m aiming for a time of 26:30, which will be 14 seconds faster than my personal best.

As usual, I started out by trying to push my pace a little, so when I start to lag later on, I’ll hopefully be able to hold on for a 2 minute lap average. I maintained a sub 2:00 pace on the first six laps, except for the fourth, when my iPod headphones came out and I slowed down to reinstall them. As I rounded the 12th lap and noticed that I would beat my 26:30 goal if I maintained my pace, I decided to start the afterburner. Really hoping for a nice 26:00 finish, I lengthened my stride and started to fly. Unfortunately, I started my kick too softly and too late. But, I chopped 39 seconds off my previous best and 25 seconds off my stated goal. That’s a win, as far as I’m concerned.

Total time: 26:05.11 for 13 laps (5214 m)
Fast Lap: 01:53.87 (2)
Slow Lap: 02:05.83 (11)
Average Lap: 02:00.39

My HRM: 26:42, 0:28 zone (hard); HR: 189 avg, 199 max; 451 cal

Previously:

1. Feb 16, 2008: 26:49
2. Feb 09, 2008: 26:44
3. Jan 16, 2008: 27:00
4. Dec 28, 2007: 28:02
5. Dec 20, 2007: 28:23
6. Nov 29, 2007: 28:45
7. Sep 26, 2007: 32:06

Today’s workout was “Lynne.” Since I don’t have a barbell, a bench, or a pullup bar (I messed mine up the other day in a seething rage that saw its untimely demise), I’m swapping it out with a pair of exercises similar to those assigned. The workout I completed was actually the second attempt at a similar workout today (the first of which was the one that saw me throwing my pullup bar out the door).

“Soft Lynne”: Five rounds for time:

1. 10 pushups
2. 10 push presses (2×35# DB)

I thought, for some reason, that my push press times would be similar to my pushup times. Push presses are dramatically more difficult than pushups. My pushup rounds started out fast and, as the dumbbells sapped my strength, got noticeably slower. I should use this as a warmup when I get stronger.

Rounds

1. PU 1: 00:18.05 - 00:18.05
2. PP 1: 01:02.00 - 01:20.05
3. PU 2: 00:34.51 - 01:54.56
4. PP 2: 02:04.49 - 03:59.05
5. PU 3: 01:02.68 - 05:01.73
6. PP 3: 02:26.21 - 07:27.94
7. PU 4: 01:34.81 - 09:02.75
8. PP 4: 02:50.43 - 11:53.18
9. PU 5: 01:05.63 - 12:58.81
10. PP 5: 02:47.94 - 15:46.75

• Fast pushups: 00:18.05 (1)
• Slow pushups: 01:34.81 (4)
• Avg pushups: 00:55.14
• Fast push presses: 01:02.00 (1)
• Slow push presses: 02:50.43 (4)
• Avg push presses: 02:14.21

My HRM: 15:50, 7:32 zone (hard), HR: 158 avg, 178 max; 206 cal

Today’s workout was “Diane.” I felt like I needed something extra for Diane, because my heavy weights are the 35 pound dumbbells, so I added a round of heavy kettlebell swings. Here’s what we’re doing today.

“Swinging Diane”: Three rounds (21, 15, and 9 reps) for time:

1. 70 pound dumbbell deadlift (2×35# DB)
2. Handstand pushups (knees on table)
3. 53 pound kettlebell swings

After I finished my warmup, I expected that this workout would take me about ten minutes. I did a lot more work last time (maybe I should have done that today, instead). It wasn’t much of a challenge, but I tried to maintain a consistent output of energy.

Rounds

1. 04:10.30 - (04:10.30)
2. 03:08.25 - (07:18.55)
3. 02:00.07 - (09:18.62)

My HRM: 9:22, 2:28 zone (hard), HR: 169 avg, 185 max; 137 cal

Today’s workout was “Filthy Fifty.” We get this one every couple of months (previously: Jan 15, Nov 18). Filthy fifty consists of 50 reps per set of 10 exercises.

After some trouble getting my heart rate monitor to stay put on my opening tuck jumps, I started over, having already done a full set. I moved on to the jumping pullups on a precariously situated low pullup bar in my sun room. I went after today’s workout hard, because I wanted to beat my previous attempt. Last time, I got this stuff all done in just over 47 minutes. Today, my goal is 45 or faster.

As I started to get more and more tired, my ability to throw dumbbells over my head started to diminish. By the time I got to the thrusters, I was using a pair of twenty pound dumbbells. I had no zip left for burpees and substituted squat thrusts in their place. But, despite my perceived weakness, I must be getting stronger. I had a pretty good run at this one and beat 45 minutes easily.

Rounds

1. 01:30.34 (01:30.34) - 50 tuck jumps
2. 04:11.60 (05:41.94) - 50 jump pullups
3. 03:32.74 (09:14.68) - 50 kb swings (35#)
4. 03:16.21 (12:30.89) - 50 walking lunges
5. 05:47.80 (18:18.69) - 50 knees to elbows (on floor)
6. 07:39.09 (25:57.78) - 50 push presses (50#)
7. 04:36.88 (30:34.66) - 50 back extensions (25#)
8. 04:06.18 (34:40.84) - 50 thrusters (40#)
9. 07:30.75 (42:11.59) - 50 squat thrusts
10. 02:03.69 (44:15.28) - 100 rope jumps

My HRM: 44:42, 14:52 zone (hard); HR: 161 avg, 182 max; 602 cal

Today’s workout was “Angie.” Angie is a benchmark workout that will mess you up. The last time I did this, I did assisted pullups. Today, I’m going for the real deal. Here’s our workout.

For time:

1. 100 pullups
2. 100 pushups
3. 100 situps
4. 100 squats

I headed out under cover of darkness and started my pullups, knocking them out in sets of three. There’s 30. 60. 70. 75. As I got more and more tired, I was doing two and dropping off the bar, shaking my arms out, and hitting the bar again. 76. Pull hard. 77. Rip. Ouch.

I pulled my glove off my right hand to check out my hand. I could feel some tenderness, probably because I was jerking hard and wearing kayaking gloves. Once I got the glove off, I saw the damage. I had ripped the both the calluses off my right hand. They’re hanging by a tiny little sliver of skin. I tore each away carefully, regloved and hit the bar again. Oh, that’s not going to hold my weight. Use less palm and more finger. 78. 79. 80. 81. Okay, I’m done. Looks like that’s it for pullups today.

I jumped in my car and headed back to my house, deciding whether to fold on the workout or attempt the 100 pushups. The situps and squats aren’t going to be a challenge for a newly mangled palm. I found other gloves that don’t bind, my padded pushup handles, and decided not to stop. Might as well get it done. I subdivided the pushups into tens, then eights–careful of that hand. I got through the situps quickly and the squats even more quickly. It took far longer than last time, but I did 81 pullups, which is far more than I’ve ever done in one workout before. This weekend, I’m going to buy better gloves.

My HRM: 57:07, 17:08 zone (hard); HR: 136 avg, 172 max; 569 cal
Stopwatch: 55:08.26

Rounds:

1. 24:41.33 - pullups
2. 17:02.84 - pushups
3. 06:51.60 - situps
4. 06:32.49 - squats

• Fast: squats
• Slow: pullups.
• Avg round: 13:47.06