Tuesday August 27, 2013

Still nursing a sore adductor muscle on my left side so being careful not to aggravate it. Took an unplanned rest day yesterday but I'm feeling pretty good today. Just a bit worried about how these front squats will go.

A. Front Squat, work to a heavy triple. Do this in limited sets. So for instance, do not do 4 heavy sets of 3, do one to two heavy sets of three. Build up quickly!
     - Didn't push it with these. 2 sets at 225# and call it a day. Didn't feel bad though. Just being careful.

B. Strict Press @ 20x1, 2-3 repetitions x 5 sets, rest 3 minutes between sets.
     - Built up to 145# but only 2 reps. I still feel like I just never get better at these. Stuck at same weights for last 5 years, lol! So frustrating.

C. On the Minute, Every Minute x 12 Minutes of the following:
3 Power Cleans @ 155 lbs
4-5 Chest to Bar Pull Ups
*Goal under 35 seconds every set*

     - No trouble with these. Every round was about 18-19 seconds. My weakest link on this was my grip on the CTB pull-ups. Just can't get comfortable and always feel like I'm going to tear. I've tried lots of chalk, less chalk, false grip, no false grip. Don't know what my problem is.

** Just for fun
"Annie"

50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Sit-Ups

- Time was 5:00 flat. Pretty sure that this is a PR. I am almost positive I've never broken 5:00 before. Double unders were all unbroken and tried to crush the sit-ups since that's where all the cycle time is in this workout.

Saturday August 24, 2013

A. Back Squat, 1 rep max.
     - OK, no more screwing around with Low Bar BS. Today it's back to high bar. I was super psyched to get after this one today. I had a target # in mind and that was 315#. Last time I did a 1RM BS I hit 305....barely!! I knew I had it in me to blow that away and perhaps do even a bit more than 315. However; during my warm-up sets I reaggravated a strain in my Hip Flexor/Groin that originally flared up in last Sunday's competition. I probably should have shut it down but there was no way I was quitting before beating my PR!!!
     - I did get 315# and it didn't feel super heavy except for the fact that it was pretty painful to go to rock bottom depth. I think I stopped just short of that but I believe I did break parallel. I definitely want to retest this once I get over this annoying muscle strain.

B. For Time of the following:
Row 1000 meters, Airdyne 150 Calories, Row 500 Meters, Airdyne 75 Calories
Last Time was: 17:59
     - Today's time was 17:56. I guess I thought I would blow away my last time but it was not to be. I rowed the 1,000M piece at about a 1:40 pace. That used to be easy for me but didn't feel that easy today. The 75 Cal Airdyne seemed like it took forever. My strategy was to do :30 at a hard pace (between 300-350 watts) and then back off for :30 at about 150 watts. I think if I were to do this again and take significant time off, I'd have to suffer more on the Airdyne and just push harder.

Friday August 23, 2013

10:00 of Rowing @ Z1
+ 10:00 Mobility -Shoulders (External rotations, lacrosse ball work, 5 TGU's/side @ light weight)

+ 10:00 Rowing @ Z1

+ 10:00 Mobility - Spine

Thursday August 22, 2013

4.5 Mile Run (not for time)
    - Just wanted to stay active today without anything intense. Will do some more active recovery and mobility tomorrow.

Wednesday August 21, 2013

A. Close Grip Bench Press, build to a 1 RM.
     - Got 235#. Failed at 245#. A little disappointed but not that surprised. I've never been great at bench pressing, even when I was doing it every week sometimes twice a week! Lately, I've been experiencing some impingement in my shoulders and not sure if it's from bad technique or something going on in my rotator cuff.
B.  Pendalay Barbell Row Cluster, 1.1.1.1 x 5 sets, rest 1:30
     - Used 155#

C. 500 Double Unders for time
Last Time: 10:00 on the dot.
     - Time was 8:23. Obviously big improvement but I know I can do better. I'm really not good at knowing when to rest and how long to rest when doing double-unders. All I know is that I have done the OPT "Flight Simulator" workout (which has 500 double unders) in just over 7:00 so that's a number I feel like I should be able to hit.

Tuesday August 20, 2013

A. Front Squat @ 20x1, plus 40 lbs of chains, load 215 lbs, 3 repetitions x 5 sets.

     - Did 2 sets @ 205 then 3 sets @ 215# (not including the 40# of chains) still feeling pretty sore from Sunday's competition

B1. Clean Deadlift Cluster @ 30x1, 1.1.1.1 @ 275 lbs x 5 sets, rest 10 seconds

B2. Kipping Handstand Push Up Cluster, 2.2.2 x 5 sets, rest 3 minutes between sets.

     - No problem with these

C1. Chest to Bar Pull Ups Cluster, 5.5.5 x 3 sets, rest 1:30

     - Felt really good on the pull-ups today. I decided to mess around with a false grip on the bar and it felt so much better than the closed grip that I typically use on pull-ups. Need to try this technique with butterfly CTB's!!

C2. Thruster Cluster @ 95/65, 6.6.6 x 3 sets, rest 1:30

     - Thrusters felt terrible today. I got through them but my reps seemed slow and not smooth at all.

Sunday August 18, 2013

"GAMEDAY"

Garage Games Team competition at CF Newton 

Training has been going really well lately and I felt very ready for this comp. If anything, I was overconfident as I didn't think that doing 4 workouts in one day would be a big deal physically. I have to admit that this day was much tougher than I ever would have imagined!

First, the mental fatigue of being at this event for almost 13 hours was pretty draining. Second, the programming for the workouts was....interesting. I'll leave it at that!

WOD 1: All 4 members complete 50 Cal Row/25 Front Squats/75 Double Unders
     - For some reason I thought this one would be harder. It may have actually been the easiest WOD we did all day. I led off for my team and finished my Double Unders somewhere between 4:30 and 4:45. Messed up only once on D/U's which cost me maybe :05. My team finished somewhere in the middle of the pack overall.

WOD 2: 30 Heavy KB Swings/25m walking Lunge/50m sprint/25m walking lunge/Heavy KB Swings
     - Almost everyone who did this described it as a "bloodbath" and the "toughest WOD" of the comp. I guess I'd have to agree. That last 25m of lunges was pretty miserable. It was even more miserable because I was paired with She-beast Bridget Constantino who was flying through the lunges! I thought that I would finish my lunges before her and have at least :10 of rest before starting my swings!! Boy was I wrong. My team did well on this one and finished top 10.

WOD 3: 25m sled pull x 2 / 60 Deadlifts / 25m sled pull x 2
     - This one worried me a little bit because I just didn't know how it would feel to drag that sled over rough and uneven terrain. My first few steps were all over the place as I struggled to get control of the sled. I also had a mental FUBAR when I forgot to turn the sled around for my partner and cost us a few seconds. The deadlifts really weren't bad. This one seemed all about the sled pull and the teamwork required to change plates. Again, we did real well on this one. The ladies especially did great!

WOD 4: 20 Burpee Box Jump Overs @ 24" box / 40 Toes to Bar / 20 Burpee Jump Overs / 40 Snatch or Cleans
     - Not much strategy required here other than to break the reps into manageable sets. If anything slowed us down it was probably the TTB's. Those are tough if you don't have a solid kip or if you lose your kipping rhythm in the middle of a workout! Strict TTB's are 10x harder! Everything else went as planned and we placed well enough to qualify for the final WOD. Not sure if that's a good thing(???)

WOD 5 Finals: 10 Rope Climbs/ 75 HSPU/ 75 Pistols / 75 Pull-Ups / 75 Thrusters @ 135/95 / 10 Rope Climbs
     - My first reaction to this workout was "you've got to be F-ing kidding me!!". My second was giving serious consideration to just calling it a day. I could tell some of my teammates were pretty worn out as well and I thought if I planted the seed, everyone else would quickly fall in line! Glad I sucked it up though. The workout was nowhere near as hard as it sounded. We would have had a shot to finish except for the fact that the HSPU's and Pistols exposed some team weaknesses (and I am DEFINITELY counting myself as one of those weaknesses!).

Not sure exactly where we ended up placing but it really doesn't matter. Everyone on our team had their one shining moment. I'll never forget the look on Jessi's face when she completed her first rope climb! And Bridget was cranking out the Pistols as if she'd been doing them for years. Dillon did about 50 of our team's HSPU's, lol!

So, as with all CrossFit competitions, all the anxiety and suffering that happens before and during are forgotten and what you remember is the sense of accomplishment and the great friendships you take away!