For those of you who have not met me, my name is Andrea Trafford. My husband, Thomas, and I moved to Charlottesville in May. I have been doing Crossfit for almost five years, and both Thomas and I have trained in four different gyms in the last three years. Most recently I was the programmer for Crossfit 5280 in Castle Rock, CO for a year, and then the Head Trainer/Manager for East Coast Crossfit in Southern Pines, NC.
As some of you may have noticed the programming has been a little different the last couple of weeks. Mainly a lot more running/rowing and volume, as we have transitioned from a strength phase to an endurance phase to prepare for the Tough Mudder in October. The goal for the next eight weeks is to increase your anaerobic threshold and your ability to endure and recover from longer efforts while maintaining and even building on the strength you gained during the strength phase. Although not everyone is training for the Tough Mudder, we are fielding a team to represent the gym at the race and so we are using this as a goal to introduce a different focus for the programming that will expand everyone’s capacity.
Listen to your body in the upcoming weeks – you may need to take an extra rest day or scale the volume (either by doing less repetitions, a lighter weight, or setting a time limit for yourself) if your body isn’t recovering optimally. Push the intensity during your workouts for the next eight weeks, but do it smartly while listening to your body throughout.
Thanks for the programming update Andrea! I for one know that my running and endurance have dropped off a bit, so I’ve been very excited to see longer MetCons pop up. I’m eager to see fire pits and electrified obstacles in our Tough Mudder training 😛
Hello Andrea, I have no clue you were so well trained in CF, I ve noticed u were doing the programming lately but thanks anyway for pushing us more for a better endurance phase. Elvia
Are there certain days of the week when we will regularly do a long metcon or mostly strength training? I.e. in the past our long metcon day was always wed, and more strength training on tues/thurs.
Just curious (not cherry picking) since my training is a bit different with competitions every weekend.
Alex-
Typically we will have two strength days, one endurance day, and two days with skill work+WOD. It may vary slightly week-to-week but for the most part I follow this schedule and just switch up the days-so nobody gets into a rut.
Hey Andrea,
I think you’re doing a great job and I’m enjoying the programming. I’m a huge fan of your intent to vary things up. . . I imagine I’m not the only person who has a couple “can’t make” days and if long metcons, etc. regularly fall on these days of the week, I habitually miss them:(
Cheers!
sounds good! I am also loving how we are mixing things up a bit, especially adding some plyo stuff to the burpees.