Cross - Warrior Style

There is lot of cyclo-cross racing going on in Iowa these days... just not anything close enough to the east side to motivate me to compete.   Too bad, because I really like the warm cyclo-cross races as opposed to the chilly ones...  Speaking of cyclo-cross events... man there are alot of them... back to back races all throughout September, October and November... I surmise that this is because they are so much easier to put on than road races and crits... again sort of the opposite of my preference, but completely understandable.

So, rather than mope around while my fellow bike racing enthusiasts are jumping over hurdlers and rolling through sand traps, I have stumbled upon a workout out regimen called WARRIOR CROSSFIT that will allow me to engage in equally odd physical challenges, in an effort to maximize my fall fitness:

I went down to their brand new workout center to ask if they would be willing to let us use their facilities as the 'Muscatine's Biggest Loser' fitness ranch...

As we were talking they invited me to try the workouts for a week... I didn't have my workout clothes with me, so I drove home and dashed back to the 6:30pm workout... I did a workout called 'Jodi' which entailed a timed circuit that included the rowing machine, medicine ball thrusts, box jump-ups, and alligator push-ups/rope climbs... I was joined by the owner as his wife led us through the routine.  I dug into the workout with total disregard... I just wanted to post a fast time and stay somewhat close to the owner's result.

The effort was very intense and seemed to have potential to help my cycling in a variety of unconventional ways.  Unfortunately, I really did nail it, and was getting sore even as I walked to my car.  Yep, my quads were cashed for the next 3 days...  Oddly, I could ride my bike with little discomfort.  The exercises seemed to be engaging a muscle group that isn't prominent during a pedal stroke...

Now I'm hooked... I even recorded the 'Cross Fit Games' on ESPN so I can start to immerse my self into the culture... ever the competitor, I am thinking there will be  some local Cross-Fit competitions this winter/spring that I can enter.   My cardio-vascular engine is much much stronger than my legs/arms/chest, etc, so I am going to enjoy trying to get some more balance.

I am looking for ways to adapt some of these training principles/movements to bike training... it will be a stretch, but either way, I will have fun trying...