AM...PM

Workout of the Day:

In the morning… 3 rounds for time: 20 foot rope climb 5 x 60 kg stone thruster 200 meter thick grip farmers walk (25 kg)

Rest 10 minutes

KB swing progression ladder: Climb 2 swings per minute until you cannot finish the prescribed number of swings in the minute

In the afternoon… 5 rounds for time: 50 meter swim 20 pushups 20 air squats Big day today. For the morning session I headed down to the West end of the Seine River that winds its way through Paris. The area is used for docking ships from the looks of things. It’s industrial, empty, and spacious. It also is littered with potential tools for lifting, climbing, etc. I hauled my rope down there this morning and tied it to the top of a staircase leading up to an office building. Along the way I found a pile of old cement parking medians of different sizes. After trying to lift a few of the bigger ones, I settled on one that I’m guessing weighed about 60 kg. Doing thrusters with this thing was VERY difficult. Balance, core strength in the descent; all the things you’d expect to be taxed were taxed. I also found a few stray fence post anchors with handles and “25 kg” printed on the side. Then I knew this really was my lucky day. I paced off 100 meters down the alley and used the pair of anchors for farmers walks. The grips were very thick so this was a challenge. My arms were spent after the first round. The 3 rounds took me 12:51 to finish, with most of the time a result of battling with that damn cement stone. I was only getting 1 at a time during the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

For the KB swings, I used one of the anchors and just rotated it so that it would fit between my legs at the bottom of the swing. I almost made it to 10 full minutes on these, falling just 4 repetitions short. The grip was limiting, as well as my shoulders, ass, and breath. The combination of these two WODs was fantastic.

This afternoon I headed back to the water re-dedicated and determined to master the pool. The swimming actually felt great, and I was happy with how hard I pushed myself. Was certainly the only one in there getting in and out of the water to do extra stuff on the pool deck. It was the pushups that proved the weakest link. (Obviously the sprints in the pool had a lot to do with this). I finished 5 rounds in 11:40 and don’t think I could’ve gone much faster. I’m sure I was saving some gas in the early rounds on the swim, but by the end my chest was heaving. Really liked this sequence and recommend it for a change up from just swimming laps.

Heading to an Australian pub at 9am tomorrow to watch the finals in Melbourne and sample the Parisian bloody mary. Go Federer!