Africa! Day 10 - 3/17/12

Woke Around 6:15 am. Met Doug, Marcy, & Matt at a playground near the market by the beach.

Training:
5:00 AMRAP @ 90%
15 Double Unders
5 Burpees
Rest 2 min.

+
5:00 AMRAP @ 90%
5 strict pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Rest 2 min.

+

5:00 AMRAP @ 90%
5 box jumps
10 situps
Rest 2 min.

+


5:00 AMRAP @ 90%
10 lunges
1 leg bear crawl down and back, 15m

Felt great. Good session. Went back to hotel, packed and showered. Had a good breakfast at the hotel. Some eggs, "sausage" (more like hot dogs), and some watermelon and juice. After breakfast we walked around the streets for a while looking at some souvenir shops. Every store here sells the same crap.

Feeling really good today. We've been extremely blessed with perfect weather. Grateful to be healthy and grateful to be on this trip with such awesome friends. Now we're heading up to the North part of the island.

We arrived to the White Sands Beach Hotel around noon. This place is absolutely gorgeous! White sandy beaches, crystal clear blue water. My room is just a short walk to the beach. And it's air conditioned! We met down at the restaurant on the beach for lunch. I had some beef chop suey and a few drinks. Went and swam and hung out on the beach. Tonight we had a sunset cruise on a sail boat with the whole group. Looking forward to it. They call it a "booze cruise". It's all you can drink while on the boat.

Spent probaly 3-4 hours on the boat. Got to see the sunset and swim out in the ocean for a bit. The boat was an old, old wooden ship. I'm not sure what the name meant but I think it stands for diversity.

It had an upper deck that we were jumping off of. So much fun doing back flips off a sail boat into the crystal clear waters off the coast of Zanzibar Island. Stumbled our way back to the island after the sun had set and met for dinner. We pre-ordered earlier and I can't remember what I ate. Plus my writing is pretty sloppy in my journal for this day. Awesome day. One of the best so far!

Hanging out on the playground after a MAP session. 

Our view at lunch.

 Paradise!

My room! $50/night. Too good to be true.

Our boat.

Cap'n Mikey!

Buddies! 

5/30/12 - Training

PM:

12 min amrap @80%
5 CTB chin ups
5 burpee box jumps 24"
5 ring dips
run 200m
Rest 7 min
6+15, Felt great. All movements felt smooth. Tried to butterfly the chest to bar a few times. No shoulder problems. Breathing was easy during these.
+

12 min amrap @80%
5 power clean and jerk 135#
5 toes to bar
10 push ups hand release
20 double unders
Airdyne 10 calories
Rest 7 min

5+6, This one stung a little. C/J's were a little hard to stay cool on but got better as the rounds progressed. T2B were easy and felt great. Pushups got pretty slow. Shoulders were really tired. DU's easy and airdyne was smooth. Hardest to stay cool during c/j & t2b transition.
+
12 min amrap @80%
5 DL 185#
5 hspu
10 wall balls
Run 200m
6+10, Deadlifts were easy, hspu's strict and easy, wallballs were easy. All movements I can breathe really well during. Geared up the run a little bit on the last two sets. Felt like I finished really strong on this one. 


Great session today. Still difficult, but felt much more controlled than last week. Feeling really good. Ready to crush Friday.

Africa! Day 9 - 3/16/12

Woke up around 5:45 am. Went down to the beach with Matt and Doug . I made up a workout and named it.

"Dar"
15m handstand walk
10 pistols
15m handstand walk
30 Burpees
Run 200m

15m handstand walk
20 pistols
15m handstand walk
20 Burpees
Run 200m

15m handstand walk
30 pistols
15m handstand walk
10 Burpees
Run 200m

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-0AAzn7Qak&feature=youtu.be

Took around 10:00. Felt good. Hard to move fast at first. Had our last breakfast with Mwai and packed up left for the ferry station to head to Zanzibar. Almost didn't make the ferry. It was pulling away from the dock as we were stepping on.

Ferry took around 5 minutes to cross the bay. The we boarded the long ferry for Zanzibar Island. It's around a 2 hour boat ride. This boat is extremely comfortable. Almost like a plane. They had some movies playing as well. Took a nap and ate a paleo kit. Feeling good.

Once we arrived to Zanzibar, we went straight to our hotel for the night in Stone Town. Loved the hotel rooms. Super simple and cheap. Like $30/night.

We met back up with the group for some sightseeing and tours. First tour was the Stone Town Slave Tour. Pretty interesting but didn't learn a whole lot because it was very difficult to understand our guide. Took some cool pictures though. Tour was mainly about the slave trading that took place on the Island. Zanzibar served as a trade port for slaves and goods/merchandise. It wasn't abolished until almost 1900.

Once that was over we packed into a van and left the city to check out the Spice Tour. This was a blast. We learned a TON. They dropped us off at what basically felt like the side of the road and we started following two guys into the woods. Our guide was super friendly and pretty funny. He walked us through the  spice farm telling us a little bit about each plant and its uses. Then he would break off a sample from the tree or plant.

Spices and Fruits found on the farm:
-Breadfruit
-Tumeric Root "Poor mans saphron"
-Starfruit
-Lemongrass (also used for citranella)
-Cinnamon Tree (Magic Tree)
   *Leaves are used as cloves
   *Bark is used as the spice
   *Root is used as Vapor Rub, also for porridge during Ramadan
-Coffee Tree, two types Arabica & Robusta
-Achwarte (Lip stick plant)
   *Mash the inside of the fruit and use for red curry and chicken Masala
-Vanilla Bean Plant, second most expensive spice
-Aloe, extract the sap for it's use on skin
-Ylangylang, used for soap, shampoo, and perfume
-Nutmeg Tree
   *Aphrodisiac for females
   *food coloring
   *Curries
-Peppercorns, similar to vanilla
   *Use the black for cooking
   *Use the green for asthma
-Ginger Plant, used for colds and cooking
-Touch-Me-Not Plants
-Henna Trees
-Pineapple Plant
-Cacao Tree, used for chocolate and beans for fruit
-Cloves Tree, for toothaches and nausea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niad7TOM8MY&feature=youtu.be

Towards the end of the tour the sat us down for a fruit tasting. Here's a list of what we had.
Sevilla Orange
Green Orange
Passion Fruit
Grapefruit
Jackfruit
Cucumber
Pineapple
Banana

Best fruit I have ever had. Wrapped up the tour and bought some spices as souvenirs and gifts. Took the van back to the hotel to shower and relax for a bit. Tonight we are going out to the local food market.

Food market was probably a two blocks walk from where we are staying. It's probably 50-70 tables of food vendors setup in a park selling local fresh caught seafood and desserts. Awesome! You can go to each table and buy small amounts of samples for a few bucks each. It was a giant buffet basically.

I tried:
Mahi Mahi kabobs w/ carrots
Zanzibar Pizza
Lobster kabobs, spicy w/ chili sauce
Tuna kabobs
King fish kabobs
Beef kabobs
Fresh cucumber w/ chili salt
A few pieces of mango
and for desert a Banana mango chocolate Nutella pizza. Unreal!

It was an awesome experience other than every vendor trying to rip you off. You have to be super aggressive.

We left the market and decided to walk around the town for a little bit. Stumbled into the Livingstone bar. Pretty cool restaurant with an outside patio in the sand right next to the water. Tried a popular local drink called a "Dawa." (vodka or Konyagi, honey, and lime juice) Close to a Norcal Margarita. Left and hit the sack around 11pm. Long day. Tomorrow we head to North on the island to our hotel on the beach for a few days. Mwangi says that we should be excited. This place is going to be paradise.

Our campsite in Dar Es Salaam 

This is how I keep terrorists away. 

Inside ancient Stone Town 

Some hats and fresh coconut juice they made us during the spice tour.

My safehouse 

Food Market! Closest is spicy lobster. 

Don't remember what he was saying but he was probably asking for 

more money.

Tuesday 5/29/12

Took 4 days off of training. Feels good. Went to the beach and relaxed for a few days. Stayed pretty active and ate pretty well. Good trip. Ran several miles at easy pace on Saturday and did some double unders and pushups at the boardwalk. Other than that took it pretty easy. Hip feels much better. Still not 100%. I am able to squat below parallel though. We'll see how it feels tonight.

Training:
PM:
A. Squat snatch, 2, 2, 1, 1; rest 3 min

205#, 225#, 235#, 245#X

Tweaked hip again. Hurts like hell going below parallel. Frustrating.

B. TnG squat snatch 8, 8, 6, 6; rest 2 min

165#, 165#, 175#, 185#(3/6) Ran out of gas on the last set. Scared to use my hip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkOCAP2CicA&feature=youtu.be

C. Amrap 1-5 unbroken hang squat clean ladders 185# in 8 min

2 + 8

I was out of gas from part B. Should have rested a little bit longer. Crappy day. Onward.

Africa! - Day 8

3/15/12 - Snake Park to Dar Es Salaam

Woke up at 4:00 am to pack and load the truck. We're making the long haul from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam. Supposed to take around 12 hours. Stopped in the small town of Moshi along the way to look at Mt. Kilimanjaro. Saw several Baobab trees, some over one thousand years old. Huge!

Drove along the Usambara Mountain Range for a while. Miles of Sisal plants that are used to make rope.

A few other towns we passed through along the way were Usambara to Segera to Chalinze.

Finally arrived to Dar Es Salaam around 5pm. Took us 2 more hours to get to our campsite on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Traffic is crazy here. This city is a nightmare!

Kipepao camp is where we are staying. I set up my tent on the sand and am about 200 feet from the ocean. Awesome! It's extremely humid here. Had some dinner then went to the bar at the camp site to have a beer and sing Happy Birthday to Pip!

Baobab Tree 

African version of a Scotch egg. 

Hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage, deep fried. 

A main roadway in and out of Dar. Nightmare.

Thursday - 5/24/12

Testing:

For time:
10 muscle ups
100 push press 75#
1000m row

6:40xxx Only did 90 push press....damnit.


Muscle ups ub, broke 4 times on push press. Kept the reps really fast though.
Row was around 1:45-1:50. Pretty painful and sloppy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4b0c1CJIZI&feature=youtu.be

Africa! Day 7 - 3/14/12

Woke at 5:30 am. Slept like a baby. Never woke once throughout the night. Kind of a bummer because everyone else said it was pretty noisy with all the animals around. Just had some breakfast and we're headed back to Snake park.

On the way out of the campsite we saw some hippos out of water. A few minutes later a pride of lions hanging out on top of some rocks. Stopped at the Serengeti visitors center on the way back and some several lizards and rock hyrax hanging out on the rocks. They would walk right up to you and let you touch them.

Long drive back from the Serengeti. So freakin dusty. My clothes are painted orange. Had enough time for a workout once we got back to Snake Park. Turns out they actually have a gym at the Snake Park!

Training:
5 sets @ high effort:
AMRAP HSPU
7 Hang Power Cleans @ all the weight they had
60 sec. 24" box jump overs
walk/rest 5 min.

This got really tough! Fell way off on last set. Averaged around 15 HSPU, and 30 box jumps. Very winded.

Dinner was good. Mwai cooked pumpkin soup. Legit. Entree was grilled chicken with carrots, potatoes, and peas. Packed up then off to bed. We get up early tomorrow to leave for Dar Es Salaam.

5/23/12 - Wednesday

6:30 AM
Swim 1k time trial
34:24, stop laughing. < 2:00 splits, 15:52 @ 500m

Went sidestroke the whole way. Can't freestyle comfortably. Not that sidestroke is a whole lot better, but at least I'm able to keep moving. Never stopped for more than 20 sec. Very slow. 

PM
60 min z1 session:
Practiced bar muscleups. Figured out how to spin around and press out. Also, worked on triple unders for a while. Was stringing together sets of 10. I'll have these down very soon. Walked on my hands a little bit. Practiced turning around. Getting better at that as well. Did a few OH pistol with a pvc, could only use left leg. Can't quite squat that deep yet with the right. Right hip is feeling MUCH better. Had more ultrasound and therapy on it today.

+

PM: Relaxation based massage.

Africa! - Day 6

3/13/12

Woke at 5:00 am to head through the Ngorongo Crater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area)
 and towards the Serengeti National Park. Ngorongoro got its name from the sounds of a cow bell. Approximately 8,300 square km. Surrounded by the Aoldeani Mountains. Learned that elephants dig into the side of mountains for minerals. Drove passed the Malangia Depression as well, a sunken volcano.

While in the crater and through the Serengeti we saw:
Baboons
Hyaenas
Waterbucks
Lapet Faced Vultures
Warthogs
Kori Bustards - 2nd heaviest bird next to ostrich
Black Kites
Guinea fal
Black Faced Vervet Monkeys
Leopards
Rhino's
Zebras
Wildebeasts
Elephants
Water Buffalos
Lions
Saddly Stork
Crown Cranes - Uganda National Bird
Flamingos
Weaver Bats
Hippos
...and probably a few more left out.

Stopped and had lunch at Tok Tok swamp within the crater. A Black Kite swooped down and took a piece of food right out of Pip's hand as she was eating it. Freakin hilarious!

Time to leave the crater and drive through the Serengeti Plains. Hundreds of miles of desert. Probably saw a million Zebra and Wildebeasts. Part of the great migration. Zebra and Wildebeasts live together for use of each others senses. Zebra good eyesite and Wildebeasts good smell.

Serengeti means Endless Plain. 14,700 square Km

Stopped at Naabi Hill toward the end of the plains. It acts as the gateway to the Serengeti National Park. Simba Copies are known as the random picturesque mounds of rock and trees out in the middle of nowhere that you would see in a movie like the Lion King. Kind of like a "rock oasis." Makes you wonder how the hell they got out there.

About an hour away from our campsite we saw two leopards lounging up in a tree. Then, 5 min, later we get a flat tire. Great. Fixed the jeep and finally arrived to the Nguchiro Camp Site. Long day. I am smoked.

Nguchiro is pretty much a bush campsite. Several guards with rifles to protect us from the animals. Dinner tonight was more spag-bowl. Ready to crash.

Monkeys outside of Ngorongoro Crater entrance 

A view into the crater 

Lake Makat - Salt and Flamingos 

Sucks to be him.

Part of the Great Migration of Wildebeasts in the Serengeti Plains.

Leopard lounging up in a tree. 

The most incredible set of balls I have ever seen. 

Serengeti. 

Nguchiro Camp Site.

Africa! - Day 5

3/12/12

Woke around 6 am. Slept pretty good. Pretty awesome hearing birds and hyaenas all night. Matt, Doug, Marcy and I found an open camel field and went for a run.

Training was:
5 min. run @ easy pace
+
20 sets:
Run 15 sec @ 97%
Run 25 sec @ 60%
+
5 min. run @ easy pace

 Felt awesome!

Came back to camp and Mwai (the cook) had prepared breakfast for everyone. 3 sunny side eggs, 3 sausage links, 2 bananas and 1 large tbsp of peanut butter. Feeling great!

Now heading to Arusha  to get some supplies before we head off to the Serengeti. Stopped at this place called Ciao Gelato while in town and had some coffee flavored gelato. Pretty good!

Also had time to visit a small Masai Museum in the Snake Park. Learned that if a Masai warrior is dressed and painted in black and white, then he was recently circumcised. They are not allowed to cry or use anesthetics. If they don't cry they will also wear some long feathers over head.

On the way to the Serengeti! My crew in the Jeep today was Tom, Bridgette, Alicia, David, & Adrian. Spent a few hours heading through the Manyara Plains. Passed through a small town called Mosquito River. Stopped and bought some red bananas. Delicious, much sweeter than yellow. Also bought some liquor called Konyagi. http://www.konyagi.co.tz/ It's like a mixture of gin and vodka. They were selling it in bags. Pretty strange.

Arrived to the Kudu Camp & Lodge in the late afternoon. Matt, Christina and I out with the Aussie's for a bit. Pete, Sam, Ash, & Andrea. Had a great dinner. Ready to hit the sack. Driving through the Ngorongoro Crater tomorrow morning.

Pori = Bush

Locals selling red bananas 

Work. 

Monkeys on the side of the road. 

Overlook of Lake Manyara

5/22/12 - Tuesday

Training 5:30 PM:
Hip is feeling better. Should be good to go by next week. All movements unbroken and fast. Slower on transitions. 

10 min amrap @80%
5 kbs 2 pood
5 burpees
5 box jumps 24"
run 200m
Rest 5 min
6 + 15 reps
Felt good.
Took a few to warm up

10 min amrap @80%
5 power clean 135#
5 push press 95#
5 toes to bar
20 double unders
Airdyne 10 calories
Rest 5 min
5 + 2 cleans
Started a little too hot.
Had to slow movements down. Airdyne was slow. This was the hardest one.

10 min amrap @80%
5 DL 185#
5 hspu
5 GHD sit ups
Run 200m
6 even.
Felt better.
Picked it up a little bit towards the end

5/21/12 - Monday

Training:

A. power clean; 3, 2, 1; rest 3 min
255#, 275#, 285#
*Tried to stay light because of hip.
Didn’t want to catch anywhere near parallel 
B. 3 TnG power clean on the minute for 15 min 205#
Done. Easy.
C. Amrap 1-5 unbroken l-pull up ladders in 8 minutes
4 + (1+2+1)
Terrible at these.

Thursday 5/17/12

Strict Press: 5 x 5; rest 3 min.
*Stretch hammys during rest
135,155,165,175,185(4)
+
5 sets:
20 cal Airdyne @ 95%
50 double unders
walk/rest 5 min
 *All sets under :60

Wednesday 5/16/12

5 min. Z1 - Airdyne
+
10 min. stretch/foam roll
+
10 rounds for time @ 85%:
5 strict pullups
10 pushups

*Felt good to move.
Right hip flexor is still pretty sore.

Wednesday 5/9/12 - Training/Peak

Wednesday 5/9/12

PM:

A. 7-10 min. Snatch work
*Work on speed, technique
+
Muscleup Work
+
3 sets:
10 pullups
run 150m @ 90%
rest 1 min
+
3 sets:
20 Double Unders
Row 150m @ 90%
rest 1 min

Each set around :45. Feeling good.

5/8/12 - Training

Tuesday 5/8/12

Snatch: 2,2,1,1; rest 5 min.
205#, 225#, 245#x1, 255#x1
+
3 sets @ 95%:
Row 250m
10 pistols
5 tng Hang Power clean - Heavy
rest 5-6 min
Each set around 2:00 UB and smooth. Row was around 1:25. 225# for all sets. 
*Work on getting in and out of rower fast.

Training/Testing: 5/6/12

Sunday 5/6/12:

McG/Shep/Brandi:
Back Squat: work to a heavy single 405#, felt really good. Surprised. Pretty sore from yesterday. 
+
For Time:
Run 450m
10 DB Snatches - Alternating 100#/70#
10 Burpees
8 DB Snatches - Alternating 100#/70#
8 Burpees
6 DB Snatches - Alternating 100#/70#
6 Burpees
4 DB Snatches - Alternating 100#/70#
4 Burpees
2 DB Snatches - Alternating 100#/70#
2 Burpees
Run 450m

8:25, run felt ok. DB Snatches were slow. I felt really winded on this. Hips were a little tired from squatting. Feeling good though!

Saturday 5/5/12 - Team Training!

Saturday 5/5/12

Team Fran!

3 Teams, 1 Guy & 1 Girl

For Time:

Guy completes Fran Me: 2:10

Girl completes Fran Ash: 5:20

As soon as Girl is done, Team completes Fran together. May partition reps however needed.

Total: 10:38

Fun Day!

Training 5/4/12

5/4/12

McG/Shep:
A. Snatch Balance: Work to heavy single in 5 sets 275#, felt solid.
B. Snatch: 2,2,2,2; rest 3 min. 225#,230#,235#, 245# Felt freakin fantastic!
+
McG/Shep
For Time:
Buddy Carry x 2 lengths each w/ dumbbell
10 muscle ups
Both members much hold chin over bar for 60 sec. total
10 muscle ups
Buddy Carry x 2 lengths each w/ dumbbell

Around 7:00. Second set of muscleups was really tough after the hold. Fun workout.

Double Training 5/2/12

5/2/12

AM: Brandi/Shep/McG/Austin
5 min. Row/Run @ conversation pace
+
20 Sets:
Row/Run 35 sec @ 90%
Row/Run 25 sec @ 60%
*Focus on breathing, keep each set the same output
+
5 min. Row @ conversation pace
Each set was around 125-130m, back felt aweful this morning. Really stiff.


Rest 4 + hours

Austin/McG: PM

50 back squats for time - 135#/95#, 1:48
rest 1 minute
row 500m 1:38
rest 1 minute
25 Shoulder to Overhead - 135# :40
rest 20 minutes
50 thrusters for time - 65# 1:28
rest 1 min.
Row 500m 1:40
rest 1 min.
Double Unders - 90 sec. AMRAP Lost count passed 100. Broke 3x and shoe came untied. Fun session.

Double Training 5/1/12

Training: 5/1/12

McG:
A. In 10 min. work to heavy double in Snatch Grip Deadlifts - 335#
B. 50 HSPU for time -  2:58 10/10/10/5/5/3/3/4 Felt ok
C. Death by Hang Power Clean - 225#, 6 rounds + 6 reps

Rest 4+ hours

Shep/McG/Austin/Brandi: PM
6 sets @ High Effort :
10 Burpees
10 KB Swings - Heavy
10 Box Jumps
20 Double Unders
3 Muscle ups/ *Brandi - 1 muscle up
Walk/rest 7 min.

All sets around 1:20. Last set went all out. Felt freakin awesome today.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syVyjSj-Sg0&feature=youtu.be

Africa! Day 4 - 3/11/12

Woke around 6:00 am. Feeling great. Slept on a top bunk with a mosquito net at the Acacia Camp in Nairobi. Had a big breakfast with some sausage and eggs. Made some sandwiches for on the go. Met our 10-day tour leader today, Mwangi. Super cool dude. Today we head down to Tanzania.

The border was hectic. We were swarmed by Masaai women selling necklaces. The drive through the Tanzania countryside is gorgeous! Our cook Mwai prepared some great food. During this excursion there are about 20 of us. Everyone has their own chores, cooking, cleaning dishes, packing the bus. We arrived to the Mesarani Snake Park around 6:00 pm or so.

I found a good spot to throw up the tent. Right next to crocodiles fenced in a park. Also found a large tree to hang some rings from. Unpacked and found time for a quick workout.

Training:
7 Rounds for time:
15 Overhead squat with my backpack
3 muscleups


7:02, didn't feel that great. It was a long day in the bus with crappy food. Did feel good to do something active though.

Here's a crappy video. Blurry the whole time for some reason. Camera never focused.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDTbiSdI93U&feature=youtu.be

Afterwards we found some Masaai's with camels who let us ride them for a few bucks. Pretty fun! The group prepared dinner then we had a quick meeting about the next few days. Had just enough time to head to the camp shack to grab a beer and socialize for a little bit. Tried a Safari and a Kilimanjaro. Asleep by 10pm.

Some kind of snake inside the Snake Park

 Tanzania Countryside

Camel ride!

Post camel ride success beeaz with Marcy!

The crew!