So as CrossFit athletes and proponents of developing high degrees of fitness, we at the Zone have a bit of swagger in our step. It’s only natural – we train a LOT harder than your everyday average gym rat, and we have the results to prove it in terms of increasing numbers in strength lifts and decreasing times in benchmark workouts. That being said, it’s important not to limit our performance by only having it take place inside our home environment.
There are a host of physical fitness challenges going on every weekend around Victoria and it is always good to see what you’re made of when it comes to fitness “outside the box”. The Q’s Victoria Track Series (VTS) is one such example of a forum to test yourself against some actual running athletes. There are lots of opportunities to race throughout the summer and there are “open” categories to participate in. The race distance changes on each occasion so through June, July, and August there will be opportunities to race 800, 1500, 1600, 3000 and 5000m.
Last year I fought my fear of the fleet-footed and entered the Black Press 5000 at Oak Bay track, which was one of only a couple races put on as part of the VTS in 2009. It was a bad idea to enter it having thrashed my legs in a WOD two days before, but that was the only regret I had. Everyone was very supportive and I ran in a group of runners that were around my speed. It was a tough challenge for sure but it gave me a good objective look at where I stood relative to actual running athltetes. If it weren’t for a persistent calf problem I’d definitely be entering an 800 and another 5k this year but we’ll have to see.
For more info and a race schedule, check out their website here: http://victoriatrackseries.ca/registration/ . Scroll down to see the race dates and distances!
Turts
Today’s Workout:
Buy-in – Dynamic warm – up: lunges, skips, butt kicks, high knees etc followed by 3 x 100m fast, 100m jog back (use the 200m route, fast up to yellow curb, jog back to trailer)
WOD – “Helen”
Helen is an original CrossFit workout, most famously done by our budday OPT in under seven minutes . It demands a lot of mental toughness to push the speed on the runs and attempt unbroken on the kbs and pullups. Good luck!
Elite – 3 rounds for time of:
- 400m run
- 21 kettlebell swings (1/1.5 pd or 35/55lb)
- 12 pullups
Zone 3 – scale kettlebell swings as needed
Zone 2 – scale pullups
Zone 1 – scale as needed
Cash- out – Handstand and L-sit practice – 5 attempts at each for ~ 10 sec holds.
