A list of random things we learned during our week on Kauai:
ONE: With a kitchen (and a sister-in-law who cooks for a living!), it’s easy to eat Paleo on Kauai.
TWO: However, the farmer’s markets are overpriced; the same locally-grown produce can be found for a lot cheaper at roadside stands or even Banana Joe’s (where you can also treat yourself to a Paleo-friendly frozen treat on a hot, sticky day).
FIVE: We weren’t able to consume four pounds of butter in one week, but as a family, we easily polished off four dozen eggs, twelve avocados, and countless coconuts and macadamia nuts.
SIX: The least attractive sights on Kauai are Hawaii's anti-meth posters.
SEVEN: Purple sweet potatoes are tasty (and pretty!), but take forever to cook in the oven. Microwave ‘em instead.
EIGHT: Kauai CrossFit is a fantastic place to get your WOD on. Want a challenging workout in a jaw-dropping setting alongside friendly, laid-back (but firebreathing) CrossFitters? Get in touch with Jerome.
NINE: When Big-O says he’s carsick and he’s gonna hurl, he’s not kidding.
TEN: I like the citrus-y, banana-y, pineapple-y taste of soursop, but the slimy texture is a turn-off.
ELEVEN: Wild roosters are everywhere: strip mall parking lots, the middle of the highway, behind restaurants, our front yard. And they don’t limit their crowing to daybreak.
TWELVE: Lil-O appears to be immune to bug bites. Everyone else in our family? Not so much.
THIRTEEN: I'm pretty sure Hawaii state law requires every radio station to play Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" every hour, on the hour, in perpetuity.
NINETEEN: This time, unlike our last couple of trips to Kauai, we didn’t snorkel, take a helicopter ride, hike to hidden beaches/waterfalls, or almost disappear off the side of a treacherous cliff.
TWENTY: But lounging around for a week with my insanely awesome family in an insanely awesome house with insanely awesome views and an insanely awesome pool was insanely awesome nonetheless.
M and I woke up late this morning. By the time we arrived at Kauai CrossFit after a long drive down the Kuhio Highway, it was a couple of minutes after 6, and Jerome had already begun leading the group through some light stretching.
Thankfully, we didn't miss any of the scheduled warm-up:
Jump rope for 3 minutes, and then three rounds of:
30 seconds of handstand hold
30 seconds of chin-over-bar (basically, a static hold at the top of a pull-up)
30 seconds of L-sit
30 seconds of mountain climbers
Yes, the warm-up was just 9 minutes long, but by the end, I'd already worked up a nice sweat. (Which, by the way, isn't hard to do while exercising outside in the warm, muggy air.)
Next: the main event.
Metcon:
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:
5 handstand push-ups
10 dumbbell ground-to-overheads (35lbs / 25lbs)
15 toes-to-bar
20 bent-over dumbbell rows (35lbs /25lbs)
I knew I could do all these movements using the RXed weights (i.e., a pair of 35-pound dumbbells), and I wasn't concerned about the toes-to-bar -- but I also recognized from past experience that the HSPUs would take me forever to finish. (And possibly cause facial hemorrhages to boot.) All of this was expected.
What I didn't expect was that the dumbbell moves would take me as long as they did. I especially struggled with the bent-over rows; although I have a vague recollection of doing similar exercises in P90X, I'm rusty. My form was ugly, and I stopped for more breaks than I'd like to admit.
During one of my breathers, Jerome walked over and shared with me that the original workout as listed on the Main Site was "an 8-minute AMRAP" incorporating similar movements -- not a 20-minute one. "But there's no way the other gym members would go for that," he continued. "So we threw this one together last night."
On the one hand, I REALLY wish Jerome hadn't told me that he'd extended the length of the WOD by 250 percent. But on the other hand, I felt like a badass (albeit a slow one) every time I flipped upside down against the wall to eke out another HSPU or five.
Result: 3 rounds plus 39 reps as RXed. I was the only person in our class to do this workout RXed -- but I was also the slowest. Ugh. I'm determined to do better next time, but I guess "next time" will have to wait -- we're flying back home tomorrow.
Nonetheless, mark my words: You'll definitely see both of us back at Kauai CrossFit again.
It may seem crazy that M and I got up before the crack of dawn -- WHILE ON VACATION -- to get ready for the 6 a.m. class at Kauai CrossFit this morning. But hey: 6 a.m. in Hawaii is 9 a.m. in California, so we actually got to sleep in. Besides, how could we possibly pass up a chance to WOD in paradise?
Open since last October, Kauai CrossFit is the only affiliate on the island. Owned and run by Jerome Hromiak, a recent transplant from the Bay Area, the gym has physical features resembling that of San Francisco CrossFit (which makes sense when you consider that Jerome was introduced to CrossFit by Kelly Starrett). Members exercise under a large waterproof tent and a wooden pull-up structure that offers some extra protection from the rain -- but otherwise wide-open to the sea breeze and sunshine. It's perfect, given the jaw-dropping tropical setting.
We showed up a few minutes before 6 a.m. to sign some waivers and learn a bit more about the gym and its programming. Since February, Kauai CrossFit has followed the workouts posted on CrossFit.com, though the WODs aren't necessarily done concurrently with the Main Site. And, of course, Main Site WODs tend to lean towards long metcon beat-downs -- something we do at CrossFit Palo Alto only one-quarter of the time. "People here like the 30 to 60 minute metcons," Jerome said. Holy hell.
And just to drive home the point, he warned us (with a smile!): "We have a really hard one planned for today."
But first, he led the eight early birds in the 6 a.m. class through a directed warm-up, and then three rounds of:
But honestly, I knew nothing of the context when the WOD began. I just knew I wanted to survive the damned thing. Even at six in the morning, the air was moist and warm. Rain had soaked everything around us, and as I loaded my barbell with plates, I started getting worried.
And in fact, it took a while to get through this one -- not because it was technically challenging (aside from the overhead squats), but because there was a ton of stuff to complete, and a lot of running, too. I had little-to-no difficulty with the deadlifts (though I scaled the weight down to 225 pounds), kettlebell swings, burpees or chest-to-bar pull-ups, and the first few 400-meter runs felt good. (Probably because I was so dazzled by the view from the running path.) The overhead squats were a killer, but at least they came fairly early in the WOD. I was proud of myself for snatching the barbell overhead, even though I'd scaled the weight down to 95 pounds.
It wasn't until the last two rounds that I really hit the wall. Box jumps at 24 inches are typically one of my favorites because I can whip through them quickly. Today, though, I was slow as molasses -- and even took a tumble off the rain-slicked surface. The dumbbell squat cleans seemed impossibly heavy. And my ragged running looked more like stumbling -- though whenever I felt tired, I just stared out at the blue of the Pacific and imagined I was stretching out on a beach towel instead of hustling back to the box to lift more heavy stuff.
Result: 30:12. Seemed like a lot longer, but I had it better than M, who -- because she didn't have her contacts in -- didn't see that the WOD kept going after the burpees. I'm sure she silently mouthed some expletives before powering through the rest of the workout.
The folks we met this morning were pretty kick-ass. They're clearly used to regularly grinding out long metcons, and all of them tackled the Lumberjack 20 with an unbelievably cheery, can-do attitude. For the first three rounds, I did my best to keep up with the leader of the pack. While we ran, she shared with me that she's currently recovering from knee surgery -- but by the end of the WOD, she'd lapped me. In fact, the thing that impressed me most was everyone's running prowess; even after over a hundred reps of fairly heavy lifts, these folks could still hustle like jackrabbits.
During the WOD, Jerome calmly walked around, helping us strip our bars to transition from deadlifts to overhead squats, and helping folks with squat clean technique. Even with all the clanking bumper plates and grunting CrossFitters around him, Jerome maintained a friendly, low-key approach that's perfectly matched to the environment.
As M and I gobbled down our post-workout purple sweet potatoes, we agreed that a good butt-kicking was the perfect way to start a morning on Kauai. To be frank, though, I don't think I could handle a bunch of Hero WODs three times a week on an ongoing basis. I think my head would explode and the cortisol would erupt like a volcano from the top of my neck-stump and slowly ooze down the front of my shirt, mixing with the briny sweat and blood. I can't help but have mad respect for the members of Kauai CrossFit, who throw down like this regularly.
We pack light. Between the four of us, we're bringing a grand total of two carry-on bags to Kauai -- a little one stuffed with clothes, and a bigger one loaded with the really important stuff:
