Bummed

So, I ran the Tel Aviv Night Run on Saturday night.
It was, from the start, poorly managed: no organization, little to no security (anyone could - and did - run the race), late to begin, etc. etc. More on mis-management later...
Having said that, the feeling of running with 9,999 or so other people is amazing. A sea of red shirts all undulating up and down to
The beginning of races are always a mix of running and walking, and it's always a challenge to pick my way through the slower folks that started before me.
By the 2 kilometer mark, I felt good, really started to loosen up; by the halfway point, I had passed, I don't know, several hundred, if not a thousand or so people (this seems like a lot until you realize that you are running on the highway, which is 4-5 lanes packed with people).
The race organizers did not realize that about 35% of the last half was unlighted and visibility sucked. We were bunching up around corners, which again is fine, as long as you can see the borders of the corners...
Every couple of kilometers was a marker with a DJ playing the music typical of a city that was also participating in the Night Run (Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, London, NYC). This was also lame: just a lone DJ, with 2 plasma screens, one showing the KM marker, and the other the name of the city and style of music being played. For me and the 14,500 other people wearing iPods, this was a total waste of money...
By 7 kilometers, I was going strong, and by 9 kilometers I had caught up with the guy I was playing tag with for most of the race. The final kilometer was a blast, with people all along the sides of the path cheering us on. This was it! This was make or break time, so I went for it, sprinting the final 750 meters.
It was over, and the waiting began.
Remember I said there would be more on mis-management?
Results, which should have been posted immediately, were not up for display on the website until over 24 hours later. Talk about annoying. If there had at least been big clocks at the Start & End lines, I would have been OK with it, but I had no way of knowing how I did.
And how did I do?
My stated goal was to break 45:00 minutes. I was almost certain that I did, but I think I got cocky, and I did not reach my goal. Here are my statistics:
Time: 50:04.25
Place in Age group/Category: 423/2416
Place in Race Total: 1876 (out of a total of 9376)

I feel like I let the CrossFit team down, somehow, but I know that running the race strong, and finishing with gas left in the tank (I had to run home!!) was a certain show of the effectiveness of CrossFit to deliver the fitness required to safely (and somewhat) quickly run a 10K race with zero training.

 Thoughts?

Headline: Crazy CrossFitter Breaks Personal Record at the Night Run - Tel Aviv, October 24, 2009

So, a few weeks ago, Omry Peled threw down the gauntlet (and caused quite a serious discussion) when he committed to running a marathon using only CrossFit training.
Yesterday, I decided to run the Tel Aviv Night Run, using it as a guerilla marketing tool by wearing my newly designed t-shirt. Granted it's only a 10K, but  I have done zero running-specific training for it. And it's a good thing I made the decision, because registration ended yesterday at 16:00.
The rules of the run state that you must wear the race t-shirt. I am going to start the race with it, but I guarantee you that I won't finish with it.
I did the Tel Aviv Marathon 10K on 2K of running training and finished in about 48 minutes.That was in May, and I have since considerably stepped up my CrossFit training; my goal is now to break 45 miutes.
Wish me luck...
Ian

Two-A-Days are H...A...R..D...

Following up on my promise yesterday, I am posting the results of two workouts that I did back to back last night.
The WODs are: Weighted Pullups & Tabata This.

Warmup:

• Dutch Lowy warmup (which is awesome!)
• Basic capoeira movements (ginga, esquiva, role)

Mobility Drills using the resistance bands I ordered from the US, and which Sam brought me (thanks, Sam!):

• shuffle forward, pushing off back leg - 2 x 5 each leg
• shuffle backwards, pushing off front leg - 2 x 5 each leg
• shuffle sideways, pushing off rear leg - 2 x 5 each leg
• hip flexors - 2 x 5 each leg

WOD 1 - Weighted pullups

• Set up is on rings, using a weight belt and rope to lift external load
• Round 1 - 15 kg KB
• Round 2 - 15 kg KB
• Round 3 - 20 kg weight plate
• Round 4 - 15 kg KB + 20 kg weight plate
• Round 5 - 15 kg KB + 20 kg weight plate

WOD 2 - Tabata This

Sucked.

• Even though I had nothing left in the tank, I went mental on this one, substituting KB swings with resistance bands around the hips to accentuate (and make harder) the hip extension for the pushups.
• I didnt count or anything, just went hard frm the word "go!"

Ouch.

Back again...

So...I have been away awhile.
As my friend Dael told me, "in blogging, content is king. It's really easy to start a blog, but really hard to keep it up".
So true.
I think I got carried away with the notion that I had to blog every day, or it wouldn't count; faced with that, I just didn't bother, because who has the time?
Lately I have been reading other blogs, all (of course) to do with CrossFit, and I noticed that every couple of days they weighed in with something.
So that is what I will do. I can commit to updating the blog at least 3 times a week, I just hope it's quality stuff.
You heard it here first.
Ian