Fight Gone Bad II & Carol's Birthday!

Fight Gone Bad II Participants at Hyperfit USA! Hooyah!
FGB went really well. I smashed my previous PB of 378 (set a week ago during a FGB dry run) to get 435. I had no idea 400 was within reach - I was initially gunning for 380 today. Having calculated and formulated my pre-FGB strategy, it seemed as though 400 points was practically unimaginable. Apparently it wasn't. It's funny - my original goal, right after the first time I ever did FGB, was just to make 300, because during my very first FGB on June 30th I only managed 283 points. But when I next did a FGB dry run in early September, I got 358 points. What a leap! Considering that professional fighters in the UFC are typically expected to hit 350 points, I'll take 435 any time. I spluttered, gasped, and wheezed my way through the last round knowing that 400 points was in the bag, because I somehow managed to rake up 303 points in the first 2 rounds alone, by riding the crest of adrenaline that permeated the entire gym, with people cheering their partners on and the fervor at an all-time high. It was amazing. We also managed to raise over $22,000.00 this year, all for a great cause. I'm so happy I took part. The only thorny issue is how I'm supposed to top 435 next year, which seems ridiculously difficult unless I pump myself full of steroids and and O/D on Red Bulls and caffeine, neither of which I'm planning on doing.

Tonight, I had dinner at Yotsuba Japanese Restaurant (just off Washtenaw, past US-23 heading towards Ypsi, right on Golfside) with perhaps the most eclectic group of people (Hyperfit USA groupies) I've had the good fortune of meeting. The occasion was my friend's birthday - she turned 49 today, and she celebrated by scoring 252 points in the Fight Gone Bad II Fundraiser earlier this morning. Another friend and I orchestrated the entire surprise by gathering as many people as we could from Hyperfit USA and making sure everyone, all twenty people, showed up at 6:00 pm to await our unsuspecting birthday victim.

It's Carol (center)'s birthday - her husband, Steve, calls us three - I, Carol, and Ceren (L-R) the Bounty Hunters. Hahaha!

We dug into massive amounts of food. My table (eight of us) went berserk (FOOOD! Food after Fight Gone Bad always rocks) and merrily ticked off 19 rolls on the sushi order list - mercifully, the waiter foresaw imminent self-destruction caused by wanton overconsumption and informed us that we ought to take some of them off the list. True enough, we ate till we were stuffed and still the rolls kept coming. Oddly enough, they all seemed to feature eel in some form or permutation, and those of us who had never sampled eel before quickly discovered whether or not they were to have an affinity for it. Despite the surfeit of rolls and being overly-satiated to the point of drowsiness, everyone still managed to find room for the chocolate-frosted raspberry white cake studded with M&Ms that Ceren had baked for the momentous occasion. Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have met these wonderful people. Get some, go again!

***
<<龙卷风>>

作曲: 周杰伦
作词: 徐若瑄

爱像一阵风 吹完它就走
这样的节奏 谁都无可奈何
没有你以后 我灵魂失控
黑云在降落 我被它拖著走

静静悄悄默默离开
陷入了危险边缘
我的世界已狂风暴雨

爱情来的太快就像龙卷风
离不开暴风圈 来不及逃
我不能再想 我不能再想
我不 我不 我不能

爱情走的太快就像龙卷风
不能承受 我已无处可躲
我不要再想 我不要再想
我不 我不 我不要再想你

不知不觉 你已经离开我
不知不觉 我跟了这节奏
后知后觉 又过了一个秋
后知后觉 我该好好生活
***

Chinese Weightlifting

Some photos depicting Chinese weightlifters in training and competition. Hardcore! Photos courtesy of dehwang's Flickr photostream (click on title of post for link).

Now there's an arched back! Chen Yanqing.

Young Chinese weightlifter with what easily looks like 40 kg in weight.

Le Maosheng has a wide grip in the clean.

Shi Zhiyong reacts to successfully clean and jerking 170 kg.

Zhang Guozheng doing a set of overhead squats.

Long Slow Cardio Makes You Old, Sick, and Ugly

taken from http://joshsgarage.typepad.com/articles/2007/09/long-slow-cardi.html

Long Slow Cardio Makes You Old, Sick, and Ugly
Check out this article at slowtwitch.com. It's a phenomenal article on how marathon training tears you down.

I always say: "Half marathon runners are always hotter than marathon runners. 10k runners are hotter than half marathon runners. And 5k runners are hotter than 10k runners." This article, while it approaches it from an anti-aging perspective, explains why longer training makes you sick, injured, and less attractive.

It's even more interesting when you note that the author is a former sub-2:20 marathoner and a 4th place finisher in the Hawaiian Ironman.

-Josh


from slowtwitch.com:
Training is no guarantee of health

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Endurance training is antithetical to anti-aging. So it amazes me when guys in their 40s and 50s who are training for a marathon or Ironman suggest that doing so will keep them young. It won’t. You may feel like a stud now with your shaved legs and your magic marker biceps tattoos, but endurance training speeds up the aging process almost as fast as watching TV, drinking sodas and eating potato chips. Actually, in some cases, it speeds it up even faster.

Read the rest here: http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/features/health_doping_slowtwitch2.html


I also thought this was pretty good - from Mark's official bio on his blog:

"In fact, the running was going so well after college that I decided to forgo medical school for a few years (it’s at 31 years now) and concentrate on a running career. I trained seriously as a marathoner for another five years, racking up well over 100 miles each week in training. The effort culminated in a top 5 finish in the 1980 US National Marathon Championships and a qualifying spot for the 1980 US Olympic Trials. Unfortunately, by then the inhuman amount of training and weekly racing was taking its toll and I found myself constantly sick or injured. (Note to self: too much exercise is not a good thing). In fact, in my last year of competition, as a world class, extremely “fit” athlete, I experienced eight upper respiratory infections! Clearly I was ruining my immune system and my joints doing too much exercise. That’s when I started exploring nutrition and supplementation as a way to enhance my performance and to support my damaged body and bolster my immune system."

Check out his articles on all kinds of cool stuff about fitness, looking athletic, anti-aging, and health - http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Get Some, Go Again... at 6:00 am

Setting up for the Clean
WOD for Thursday, 09/13/2007
Using a #85 Barbell, complete 5 rounds for time of:
5 Power Cleans
10 Pullups
15 Back Squats

Time: 14:02


***
"We're good at what you do".
- Coach Greg Glassman
***

Words to Live By

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt, 1916

Athletes for a Cure: 2007 CrossFit Fight Gone Bad

Please click on the link above to help me in raising funds for the Fight Gone Bad event on September 29th. Just in case you can't get the link, here it is:
http://athletes.kintera.org/crossfit07/secondtimothyfourseven

As you may be aware, I have been diligently training for the "Athletes for a Cure: 2007 CrossFit Fight Gone Bad" event, to be held at CrossFit affiliates nationwide on Saturday, September 29th, 2007. In addition, I am committed to supporting the Prostate Cancer Foundation in raising funds for prostate cancer research.

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in America, affecting one in six men. Men are 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than women are to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Athletes for a Cure, a program of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, is a new fundraising and awareness program to assist individual athletes in their quest to raise money for better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer. The Prostate Cancer Foundation is the world’s largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research with a simple, yet urgent goal: to find better treatments and a cure for recurrent prostate cancer.

I am dedicated to this race and hope that you will support me in reaching my fundraising goal.