CrossFit + POSE: My Secret Weapon to Running 50 Miles on a Whim

SAMSUNGA few weeks ago, Valerie Hunt, my good running friend (who, conveniently, happens to be a coach for both POSE Method and CrossFit) dragged me across the country to pace her in the first half of an ultra-marathon. When she first told me of the plan to run the American River Endurance 50 Mile Run in Sacramento, CA, I put my hands up to my ears as in “la-la-la, I can’t hear you.” I thought either she was teasing, dehydrated and in a delusional state, or perhaps a little more masochistic than I realized.  But my initial displeasure didn’t faze her one bit; you see, it’s not the first time I’ve dug in my heels when called to go outside my comfort zone — that scary place on the other side of “what I THINK I know. “

For example, when she first instructed me in POSE Method to improve my running mechanics, I cringed, I bitched, I belly-ached.  All those “falling” and “pulling” and “fore-foot” landing drills felt foreign, awkward and, quite frankly, unnecessary. After all, I KNEW how to run, I had been running for 15 years at that point — and quite well, thank-you-very-much.  Oh yeah, except for those times when I was sidelined because of ongoing foot, ankle and hip injuries. Eventually, I let her coach me through the principles of POSE and we checked in on form at least two times a week; now the movements are as natural to me as “the old way” and I run injury-free with more efficiency and  less impact than ever before.

Valerie and Jennifer practicing POSE Method drills,

Valerie and Jennifer practicing POSE Method drills,

This entire example of KNOWING (make that NOT KNOWING) what is good for me in running mechanics was almost entirely replicated with my debut into CrossFit almost two years ago – only the running drills were replaced with functional WOD exercises and my objections were even more on the defense. I’d tell my friend, “I DO strength train, you know, I sit there in the gym and do bicep curls and leg-extensions – but nothing too hard-core, I don’t want to bulk up.”  After her eye-rolling, Valerie took off her POSE coach hat and put on her CrossFit coach hat (although actually, the two hats can be worn teamed up together!)and patiently began taking baby steps with me, teaching me the basic movements used in CrossFit. On those mornings after, when I awoke too sore, I would conveniently “forget” about CrossFit and focus on my running.

However, the realization that I needed to marry the two together forever came when she took me to CrossFit Endurance Camp a few months later.  Because “endurance” was in the name, I figured I’d be a natural because, after all, I was a hot-shot runner and therefore a stellar athlete (insert sarcastic tone). Who cares that I could only do one pull-up and thought a “Good Morning” was a yoga position. However, after spending a weekend at camp getting one-upped in everything from pull-ups to presses, I was humbled enough to admit that maybe I DIDN’T KNOW what was best for me, my body and my running.

And, that’s when I committed to making it all work together, the CrossFit and the running and the being good to my body. And, today I’m happy to report that I didn’t bulk up (in fact, I am leaner than ever), I have broken all my previous Master’s PRs in every distance from 5k to marathon, and have had virtually NO injuries to speak of. Even when I was much younger, one of my biggest aches and pains after a race would be my lower back; well, no more !  But probably most impressive thing to me is that I feel like I’m prepared to do anything, at any time.

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Yup, you guessed it! After agreeing to pace my friend and coach, Valerie Hunt, and CrossFit Games star, Carey Kepler, for 20 miles during the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run, I decided to make my own go for the finish line. Lets’ do this; why not? I was about 18 miles into the run when I decided it would be no big deal to just complete the whole thing. Who cared that I had never run a step past 26.2 miles and my latest long run in ages had been just 13 miles? With no training, no special preparations, no pre-race worrying, I was free to just run and enjoy. As the three of us picked up the pace on our final miles to the finish, we looked and felt strong. We reveled in the cheers from the spectators and high-fived our awesome friends who jumped in for a few hundred yards after crewing us the entire way along the course. These were uphill miles and very few participants were still running at this point. While my legs were dead tired at the end of the day, I finished the race easily and recovered quickly enough to place high in a 10 mile race the next weekend.

american river run bling

I have no doubt that it was the combination of all-over functional fitness (from CrossFit) and efficient running mechanics (from POSE) that gave me the wherewithal to run 50 miles on a whim. Because CrossFit is all about “constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement” and POSE focuses on moving your body in a series of efficient positions (hello, POSE is not just for running it can be applied to any human movement), the two team up perfectly to keep me prepared to do nearly anything that comes up on the spur of the moment – like running 50 miles – without too much trouble!  I don’t know if I would ever run 50 miles again, but it is a thrill to know that I could at any time!

jennifer fisher_thefitfork_stronger than I thought

 

On your Mark, Get Set, Press – Deadlift – Box Jump! CrossFit Open 13.2 Workout


Am I going to the CrossFit Games in 2013? Uh, no. But, just because I’m not going to compete to be the “fittest woman on earth,” doesn’t mean I can’t follow along with some of the workouts being dished out in the Open Competition which started last week. In fact, when I scale the weight-lifting elements down a bit, these WODs become a useful cross-training tool in my quest to become the “fastest woman on earth,” or maybe we should make that, “the speediest old lady in the neighborhood.”

So, I headed down to Fit & Fearless CrossFit to give WOD 13.2 an “unofficial” shot. This classic CrossFit triplet features shoulder to overhead, deadlifts and box jumps. Because the weights and time cap are moderate, this workout is focuses more on pure work capacity and pushing through the discomfort rather than raw strength or technical prowess. That being said, I still decided to cut the weight by more than one-half so I would not kill myself and have fresh enough legs to race a 5k this weekend!  I scored 290 with my weight Rx’d down, compare that to Iceland Annie who scored a legit  361!  Okay, I can run faster than her. Maybe.
Here’s the 13.2 WOD:

Complete as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 10 minutes (first weight male, second female):

  • 5 Shoulder to overhead, 115 / 75 lbs
  • 10 Deadlift, 115 / 75 lbs
  • 15 Box jump, 24 / 20 inch

So, if you’re looking for a little more information on how to perfect these moves, just get started, or tweak them to meet your fitness goals, here are some resources:

The deadlift builds strength in your legs, hips and back, perfect muscles to target for runners! An intermediate goal for women is to be able to lift 120 percent of body weight, that’s about my limit. However, some of these competitive CrossFit gals, can lift 160 to 200 percent bodyweight! In the video above, CrossFit coach Valerie shows a modified Band Resistance Dead Lifts for beginners. Or, you can check out an earlier post I did on Dead Lifts that even has a really cool diagram of all the muscled used in the move.

jennifer fisher_thefitfork_box jump ponytail

The box jump is an explosive move of plyometric power. If done right, box jumps can improve your running power by strengthening quads, hamstrings, gluts and calves. If done wrong, well, see my bleeding knees below! Carl Paoli (from GymnasticsWOD.com) and Kelley Starrett (from MobilityWOD.com) give their tips on how to tackle a box jump with the best body position possible. Check out their helpful tips on perfecting the box jump. The key take-away for me is to remember to fully extend the hips at the top of the box and then land with feet fairy close together to prevent a “torque dump.”

box jumps gone bad

Oops, box jumps gone bad!

 

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Technically, a shoulder-to-overhead could be one of three overhead lifts, the strict press, the push press or the jerk press. Even though it seems like you only need strong shoulders to succeed here, you actually use your entire body, including a lot of core, to get the bar up overhead in a fully-extended position. And, I could go on all day about how improving my core strength has helped my performance (and recovery) in running. The Tabata Times has a good explanation of these shoulder-to-overhead lifts and how to perform them properly.

So, have you done the 13.2 WOD yet? What was your score?  If not, do you use any of these moves (deadlift, press, or box jump) in your training?  Let me know in the comments ! Hint — get to the comments by clicking the little “speech bubble’ at top of post.