Second WOD with a PR, and being RX. I could really get used to this... it's a pretty darn good feeling. I don't have a whole lot of time, I need to get some of that highly valued sleep I'm always ranting about. The WOD today was bench press for a max set of 5, which I hadn't done before...so really, PR sounds a bit presumptuous....at the same time, the weight I used was just 20lbs shy of the last PR I have written down. :D Me thinks I'll smash that one too. Actually, I know I will. EST seems to be on a simple strength cycle. 5 rep max of both the squats, and the bench, and there are other things that I wasn't able to get to this week... So I wouldn't be surprised to see it drop to 4 next week. In those famous Bart Scott words, CANT WAIT.
The METCON was also pretty simple. Not easy, but simple. On a two minute running clock (2 minutes work, 2 minutes rest) we were doing a 300m row and 95lb power snatch. 4 rounds. I was a bit lazy tonight, I left my "in the back" with other newer people, so I'd have a 5 second walk to it, a chance to catch my breath... needed it. Went 5-4-4-4 for my reps... Probably could have done it as 6-5-5-5 had it been closer. Though, saying all of that, I'll say that my scap/rhomboid shoulder issue is better...but still was an issue when I arrived. That and my shoulder (on the outside... like where shoulder pads would be), felt a bit funny with the snatches, like maybe it was a bit too much weight to do... *shrug* No idea.
Parting thoughts, someone suggested I go to an upcoming comp... I'm juggling the idea. Might be worth trying...but to be honest, I want to win...or be top 10, and I don't feel I'm close. Maybe when I'm nearer the top of the box on regular WODs.
Other though, I'm looking at getting my body fat and everything measured in a Bod Pod. This isn't the place, but it's a link to what I'm looking at. http://www.nifs.org/fitness-center/fitness-assessments/bodpod I'm getting a blood draw tomorrow, so I'll hop on the scale and see what my latest transgressions have earned me. I'm expecting a small loss...and I'll take that as a slap in the face... like a wake up signal... time to get back on track cupcake.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Don't Cheat Yourself
Had a great workout tonight, glad I went. I went and got myself injured over the weekend. How did you do that you ask? One of the silliest ways possible. The older game called Rock Band. WHAT?! Yeah, thats what I said too. Played it late...or early Sunday morning...hadn't played in a while, figured I'd fire it up. Banging away on the plastic drums (looked something like this), bobbing my head to the music... apparently pulled something. Woke up that morning and it was evident damage had been done. Sore in my shoulder... carried that pain all day yesterday, and through work today. Couldn't wait to get to the box to lax ball this out.
Got their on time... wanted to be there early, but construction near work made that a pipe dream. Got stretched out, cut some of that short, but I wanted to spend some time putting the hurt to my shoulder. Got that done and got to the strength piece, which was a heavy, if not new 5RM for the back squat. I worked up to it slow, never really feeling too stained. I stopped at the 4th weight increase at 175. I could have done more... but I didn't want to be behind the group... and would have been had I kept going. Something to push a bit next time.. 215 is the 1RM that I last did. I'm pretty sure I could add at least 30 over to that now, can't wait to test that.
METCON was nice.... I'm still slow, but I'm getting faster. 3RFT of 500m rowing, 15 hand release pushups, and 25 KB swings. I went light on the KB's...lighter than the 70lbs Rx anyway. The first round took me an even 5 minutes, which surprised me a little, I didn't think it would take me that long. I didn't lose much pace on that through the other two. Finished really tired at 15:52. Looking forward to hitting this one again someday.
Now, why the title don't' cheat yourself? There were several parts here where I wanted to cheat... almost convinced myself to do it. The squats... no one was watching me, I could have done 4 instead of 5. After that, we actually had weighted good mornings.... could have taken a few off there. Hand release pushups, KB swings. Opportunity to get a better time was everywhere... but is that getting me anywhere? Probably not. My #1 competitor is myself, and cheating to get a better time doesn't do me any favors with getting better, and it also doesn't make "the winner" of the me vs me battle a very good champion... If cheating isn't going to make me better, it's not going to make you better. Taylor put of effing 351 or some such at our spaced out Fight Gone Bad. Now she's pretty close to, if not actually an elite level female competitor. There is no way I'm going to make up any ground on that number if I'm cutting corners in everyday workouts. Know what I'm saying?
Last thing I want to make a comment on is my eating. This weekend was good, but bad... but having Brian ask... or the specter of Brian asking me what I ate... is doing me worlds of good in keeping on the level. I avoided the concourses at two airports because I couldn't get anything healthy. I did have some Hawaiian bun sandwich that I got in business class on the last leg home, but that was 200 calories vs 1200... Baby steps.
Got their on time... wanted to be there early, but construction near work made that a pipe dream. Got stretched out, cut some of that short, but I wanted to spend some time putting the hurt to my shoulder. Got that done and got to the strength piece, which was a heavy, if not new 5RM for the back squat. I worked up to it slow, never really feeling too stained. I stopped at the 4th weight increase at 175. I could have done more... but I didn't want to be behind the group... and would have been had I kept going. Something to push a bit next time.. 215 is the 1RM that I last did. I'm pretty sure I could add at least 30 over to that now, can't wait to test that.
METCON was nice.... I'm still slow, but I'm getting faster. 3RFT of 500m rowing, 15 hand release pushups, and 25 KB swings. I went light on the KB's...lighter than the 70lbs Rx anyway. The first round took me an even 5 minutes, which surprised me a little, I didn't think it would take me that long. I didn't lose much pace on that through the other two. Finished really tired at 15:52. Looking forward to hitting this one again someday.
Now, why the title don't' cheat yourself? There were several parts here where I wanted to cheat... almost convinced myself to do it. The squats... no one was watching me, I could have done 4 instead of 5. After that, we actually had weighted good mornings.... could have taken a few off there. Hand release pushups, KB swings. Opportunity to get a better time was everywhere... but is that getting me anywhere? Probably not. My #1 competitor is myself, and cheating to get a better time doesn't do me any favors with getting better, and it also doesn't make "the winner" of the me vs me battle a very good champion... If cheating isn't going to make me better, it's not going to make you better. Taylor put of effing 351 or some such at our spaced out Fight Gone Bad. Now she's pretty close to, if not actually an elite level female competitor. There is no way I'm going to make up any ground on that number if I'm cutting corners in everyday workouts. Know what I'm saying?
Last thing I want to make a comment on is my eating. This weekend was good, but bad... but having Brian ask... or the specter of Brian asking me what I ate... is doing me worlds of good in keeping on the level. I avoided the concourses at two airports because I couldn't get anything healthy. I did have some Hawaiian bun sandwich that I got in business class on the last leg home, but that was 200 calories vs 1200... Baby steps.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Sore and loving it
Holy crap I'm sore. I mean I haven't been this sore in months! Those Russian twists and the overhead 20lb situps... my abs are sore. That 53lb KB... my shoulders are sore. I'm beat up... oh, and I attempted a hero WOD tonight.
Late again... I love my job, but not getting a full warmup... those minutes add up. Not to say I'm not getting warmed up, but taking 5-7 minutes vs say 4 for the same warmup... it's just nicer. Ok, so todays Hero WOD is dedicated to U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Aaron N. Holleyman. The workout, like so many other ones, looked pretty solid on paper:
30 Rounds for time of:
5 Wall-Ball Shots, 20#
3 Handstand Push-ups
1 Power Clean, 225#
I thought, heh, I should be able to get this done under 20 minutes. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thats what I thought while driving up for the workout. I go to CFDS, asked Gia, whats the average time people have been getting done? I'm expecting something like 15 minutes. She thought about it, tells me 30. THIRTY?! no, surly not. "Hey Andy, how long did this thing take you?" "About 30 minutes". What? Damn! I wasn't expecting this news. My shoulders are still achying... oh boy.
Oh boy was right. The first 10 rounds were rough, but were what I was expecting...and if I could have stayed on that pace, I'd have been done in under 30 minutes. It helps that I was only using a 14lb wall ball, doing regular pushups, and had 135 on the bar.... still, it's not an easy workout. It was somewhere after 12 that I started slowing down and the clock started winning. We were in the 20's when I got to 19. I had just finished the clean... and I was light headed. Holding my breath too much. Told G I was going to rest for a sec (and why), went to a tall box and sat. 30 seconds and the wind was back, so I went to finish 20. Thats when it happened, 2nd wall ball squat, felt this.... twinge? in my knee. Great. I finished the WB's, pushup and clean, and I was done. Not pushing that any further.
So I'm picking up my chips, and I sat down for another second. Looked at the clock, over 30 minutes... 35 minute cap on this WOD. Fuqq it, I'm doing more. I'm not sure why I did it, but I was driven to get more, chips or no chips. I took the liberty of widening that stance by a bit, and did a WB... didn't really feel it, did another, and another. Cool, another set done, pushups done, power clean, done. 2 minutes left. Lets get one more. Same wide stance, I could feel it a little more this time, pushed through it, got it all done, finished the clean with 15 seconds left, good enough. 22.
Not as easy as it looked on paper. I look around, bodies everywhere. It's not just me. Guess that makes me feel better... think I just feel a bit of comradere... we've made it thought another WOD, together. Highlight for me was that Gia and Randi said my lifts were looking "really good". Thats good, I've been trying to make a much better effort with my pull part of the lifts. I'm smiling now... I like hearing that my hard work is paying off... it always does #HWPO
It's a late night, if I was seeing Jeff tomorrow, he'd be telling me that I need to stay on top of that sleep... and he's right, but Jeff is off tomorrow, and I'm not sure where I'm going yet. CFDS is doing Lurong, which I want to get done, but thats another days worth of gas... and Unlocked is doing something that looks like it might get spicy....burpees...same power cleans as tonight... and a wall ball count every minute on the minute while doing burpees and power cleans... yeah, thats going to get spicy. Still, it's almost nice to be here on a Thursday night and have choices... Guess we'll see what happens later this morning.
dw
Late again... I love my job, but not getting a full warmup... those minutes add up. Not to say I'm not getting warmed up, but taking 5-7 minutes vs say 4 for the same warmup... it's just nicer. Ok, so todays Hero WOD is dedicated to U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Aaron N. Holleyman. The workout, like so many other ones, looked pretty solid on paper:
30 Rounds for time of:
5 Wall-Ball Shots, 20#
3 Handstand Push-ups
1 Power Clean, 225#
I thought, heh, I should be able to get this done under 20 minutes. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thats what I thought while driving up for the workout. I go to CFDS, asked Gia, whats the average time people have been getting done? I'm expecting something like 15 minutes. She thought about it, tells me 30. THIRTY?! no, surly not. "Hey Andy, how long did this thing take you?" "About 30 minutes". What? Damn! I wasn't expecting this news. My shoulders are still achying... oh boy.
Oh boy was right. The first 10 rounds were rough, but were what I was expecting...and if I could have stayed on that pace, I'd have been done in under 30 minutes. It helps that I was only using a 14lb wall ball, doing regular pushups, and had 135 on the bar.... still, it's not an easy workout. It was somewhere after 12 that I started slowing down and the clock started winning. We were in the 20's when I got to 19. I had just finished the clean... and I was light headed. Holding my breath too much. Told G I was going to rest for a sec (and why), went to a tall box and sat. 30 seconds and the wind was back, so I went to finish 20. Thats when it happened, 2nd wall ball squat, felt this.... twinge? in my knee. Great. I finished the WB's, pushup and clean, and I was done. Not pushing that any further.
So I'm picking up my chips, and I sat down for another second. Looked at the clock, over 30 minutes... 35 minute cap on this WOD. Fuqq it, I'm doing more. I'm not sure why I did it, but I was driven to get more, chips or no chips. I took the liberty of widening that stance by a bit, and did a WB... didn't really feel it, did another, and another. Cool, another set done, pushups done, power clean, done. 2 minutes left. Lets get one more. Same wide stance, I could feel it a little more this time, pushed through it, got it all done, finished the clean with 15 seconds left, good enough. 22.
Not as easy as it looked on paper. I look around, bodies everywhere. It's not just me. Guess that makes me feel better... think I just feel a bit of comradere... we've made it thought another WOD, together. Highlight for me was that Gia and Randi said my lifts were looking "really good". Thats good, I've been trying to make a much better effort with my pull part of the lifts. I'm smiling now... I like hearing that my hard work is paying off... it always does #HWPO
It's a late night, if I was seeing Jeff tomorrow, he'd be telling me that I need to stay on top of that sleep... and he's right, but Jeff is off tomorrow, and I'm not sure where I'm going yet. CFDS is doing Lurong, which I want to get done, but thats another days worth of gas... and Unlocked is doing something that looks like it might get spicy....burpees...same power cleans as tonight... and a wall ball count every minute on the minute while doing burpees and power cleans... yeah, thats going to get spicy. Still, it's almost nice to be here on a Thursday night and have choices... Guess we'll see what happens later this morning.
dw
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Yet another WOD double header.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Ha Ha. Ha. Oh yeah, it's that kind of day.
Actually, it's yet Lutheran double header WOD day. I don't know why I'm
a sucker for punishment, but I am. Now, why all the ha ha's? Great
question, let me tell you. Broke the 100lb barrier on my OHS today. We
were doing a 5x4 and the guy I was working (big crowd this morning at Unlocked) with was taking it easy, and
I couldn't blame him, cause I knew what my 1RM was. I think we got to 80lbs by the time we got up to the 4th set. We still had time on to work on this, and my guy was done, so I decided to go for the 1RM...actually, I went for 10lbs over the 1RM, 105. Did it, easy. Lets add 10 more lbs, make it 115#. Did it again. Still pretty easy. I didn't want to push the time that was left, still had more WOD to do, but I got it. Jeff was coaching today, told me I didn't have to pause so long at the bottom. Not sure why I do that, I think it's stability as much as anything... anyway, thats another PR, thank you.
The Metcon was a Tabata workout. 8 rounds (so 4 minutes) each movement. 20lbs overhead situps, 30lb wall ball slams, 20 lb Russian twists, and KB swings (53lbs). I didn't do a spectacular amount, in fact, I'm pretty sure I was 40 reps less than everyone else. What I did manage to do though, was do that whole workout RX. First one, feels really nice, no small amount of pride in that. Don't know what possessed me to grab that heavy ass KB, but I did it, and I'm glad I did.
Work day was killer, I tried to OD on caffeine, I was tired all day... which made going to the night WOD at CFDS kinda strange. Been dying all day in the office, and now I'm going to go put myself through another set of nonsense. It's ok though, I'm glad I went, got a new accountability partner for my wayward eating habits (thanks Brian, and thanks Charlie for the referral). It's a lot harder to mess up when you know you have someone who's going to ask the touch questions.
So I got to CFDS late (left work late to be fair), did a brief warmup and got to the high hang power snatch. Talk about a difficult movement. The very top of the pull... and you still need to get weight up overhead. I don't think I've done it before. I didn't go very heavy, ended up with 65, did it the required amount, coaches said it was solid, I'll take that. The real reason I'm here is for the WOD... and it's really not something I enjoy doing. At all. At all at all. We've got a 3-6-9-12-15 etc ascending ladder of a calorie row and then box jump burpees. 12 minute time limit. Thats the opportunity for a lot of burpees. I didn't put up stellar numbers, but from what I understand, I hit what was about the box average at 15. I was just shy of finishing the burpees of it, 87 total reps. I'll also take pride in not stopping. Guy next to me sat down a few times on his box, I didn't, so I'll take that as a small win. I was slow, but I didn't stop.
Not doing it again tomorrow. I know I'm likely going to CFDS at night, I've seen Unlockeds WOD... and anything called "Double Dutch" isn't going to be in my wheelhouse. Something like 3 or 4 hundred double unders, plus some other stuff. Thats all I've got, getting to be earlier than normal tonight, have a big day of work tomorrow, not to mention another WOD.
The Metcon was a Tabata workout. 8 rounds (so 4 minutes) each movement. 20lbs overhead situps, 30lb wall ball slams, 20 lb Russian twists, and KB swings (53lbs). I didn't do a spectacular amount, in fact, I'm pretty sure I was 40 reps less than everyone else. What I did manage to do though, was do that whole workout RX. First one, feels really nice, no small amount of pride in that. Don't know what possessed me to grab that heavy ass KB, but I did it, and I'm glad I did.
Work day was killer, I tried to OD on caffeine, I was tired all day... which made going to the night WOD at CFDS kinda strange. Been dying all day in the office, and now I'm going to go put myself through another set of nonsense. It's ok though, I'm glad I went, got a new accountability partner for my wayward eating habits (thanks Brian, and thanks Charlie for the referral). It's a lot harder to mess up when you know you have someone who's going to ask the touch questions.
So I got to CFDS late (left work late to be fair), did a brief warmup and got to the high hang power snatch. Talk about a difficult movement. The very top of the pull... and you still need to get weight up overhead. I don't think I've done it before. I didn't go very heavy, ended up with 65, did it the required amount, coaches said it was solid, I'll take that. The real reason I'm here is for the WOD... and it's really not something I enjoy doing. At all. At all at all. We've got a 3-6-9-12-15 etc ascending ladder of a calorie row and then box jump burpees. 12 minute time limit. Thats the opportunity for a lot of burpees. I didn't put up stellar numbers, but from what I understand, I hit what was about the box average at 15. I was just shy of finishing the burpees of it, 87 total reps. I'll also take pride in not stopping. Guy next to me sat down a few times on his box, I didn't, so I'll take that as a small win. I was slow, but I didn't stop.
Not doing it again tomorrow. I know I'm likely going to CFDS at night, I've seen Unlockeds WOD... and anything called "Double Dutch" isn't going to be in my wheelhouse. Something like 3 or 4 hundred double unders, plus some other stuff. Thats all I've got, getting to be earlier than normal tonight, have a big day of work tomorrow, not to mention another WOD.
Monday, October 20, 2014
5 months in and still going.
I shouldn't be surprised that it's already been 5 months, I mean time keeps marching on. That said, I'm stopping to smell the roses, and take stock of where I'm at, for better or worse.
"Keeping it real"... I've fallen off the paleo wagon, got back on it, fell off again... it's been a rough deal. Doesn't help that I should be doing it 100% correct for Lurong...ug. Failure is a great teacher though, and doing it wrong has show me why I should be doing it right. I've had stomach issues, bloated feeling, I'm slower, don't feel as alert...the list goes on and on. If nothing else, this last week has shown me where I need to get better at outside the box.
The past few weeks have really reinforced what proper eating can do for you. I should have learned that when everything was going good, but instead I jumped off the wagon at the first signs of progress. Momma always said I learned things the hard way, seems she was right. Really, I need to stop talking about how I know it's better... just shut up and do it.
My goals. Still not any significant progress on them. Well, thats not true. I think I can do a single pushup. I was doing some movement a week or so ago, and I was pretty close to doing the pushup then, but it wasn't what I was focused on... I think it would be good for me to go over them once every few months and update them. I did that semi-recently, so I'll leave it for now. At 6 months I should probably re-evaluate, and add the things I want to do now, like get my OHS over 100 this year, push press 200lbs soon, etc etc.
Kinda going back to the eating... I need to hop on the scale more. This once a month thing was great, till it stopped. I haven't seen my PCP for a few months now, and I have no idea where I am on the scale. This bad eating and no accountability on the back end is a dangerous combo. It may not be for everyone, but I feel like I should go weekly, or at least bi-weekly. Closer monitoring is what I need now. "Quick wins" make progressing to that long term goal a little easier.
Alright, enough bad and semi-bad stuff. Good things. I'm stronger by close to double on everything I started on. Body has responded positively to CrossFit, a few issues aside. I see muscles in places I haven't seen muscles in a long time. I move easier. I was flexible before, but I'm more so now. My clothes are looser, some hang off me now, and that gets me positive comments. Good things to have.
Ok, I think thats all the truthiness I have time for this morning. Lets talking WODs. EST celebrated their 1 year on Saturday. FGB was the workout. I went into this thing thinking I was going to smoke my original 207 by 15-20 reps. I was confident this was going to happen. Beyond confident, I was boastful. I fell stronger, I wasn't going to start on the rower like I did the first time, I had a mission. With as many people showing up as we had, we had to have partners to count and go in 2 big groups. I counted the first time, and the guy I was following did 267. He's a tall skinny cat named Brent, and he's pretty good at all the movements. This was when I got my first, "uh... maybe this will be different". Oh buddy it was different.
168 was my number. Maybe it was 167. Idk. It was LOW compared to the first time. I was tired as sheet too. When I got that number, I was a bit upset, how could I drop 50 reps? Figured it out pretty quick. One of the biggest culprits was the fact that the stations were all around EST, which is about 3x the size of Unlocked, maybe even 4x. So there was extra walking. Second, I did plate jumps, then eventually plate step ups when my legs refused to jump any more. Those are a lot easier than box step ups. Ok, thats two big spots. The highpulls were similar, and I'm pretty sure I did more push press than before... that leaves wallballs and the rowers. Well, wallballs were a little better, but the rowing tanked.
I had this grand idea that rowing shouldn't be my first thing, that I was losing too much time starting on the rower. Have to disagree now. The first time, the rower may have cost me 2-4 wallballs each round at most. Doing the rowers last, cost me 10+ calories per event. I remember hitting 26, 24, 22 at Unlocked, here at EST It was like 14, 12, 10. Lesson here, row first. LOL. It also didn't help that someone used the rower I used. They were moving the straps around, and that was extra time lost.
So I didn't do as good from a numbers set, but I'd probably tell you then like now, that I worked harder this time. Brings me to a point I thought about leading this post off with.
CrossFit doesn't get easier, you get better. It's not exactly rocket science to the people who already know. I'd asked several people the question, and I'd gotten answers back, and they fell into three categories. Ready? Yes. No. Maybe. Pretty good right? I've got my own answer now, and thats what I put above. It doesn't get easier, you get better. What does that mean? Glad you asked. For me, it means that if you're progressing, getting better, then you're going to push yourself harder....ergo, it never gets easier, but you're always getting better. Savvy?
Alright, I'm packing up, going to DE a little later in the day than normal, so I've got a plane to catch. Until next time.
"Keeping it real"... I've fallen off the paleo wagon, got back on it, fell off again... it's been a rough deal. Doesn't help that I should be doing it 100% correct for Lurong...ug. Failure is a great teacher though, and doing it wrong has show me why I should be doing it right. I've had stomach issues, bloated feeling, I'm slower, don't feel as alert...the list goes on and on. If nothing else, this last week has shown me where I need to get better at outside the box.
The past few weeks have really reinforced what proper eating can do for you. I should have learned that when everything was going good, but instead I jumped off the wagon at the first signs of progress. Momma always said I learned things the hard way, seems she was right. Really, I need to stop talking about how I know it's better... just shut up and do it.
My goals. Still not any significant progress on them. Well, thats not true. I think I can do a single pushup. I was doing some movement a week or so ago, and I was pretty close to doing the pushup then, but it wasn't what I was focused on... I think it would be good for me to go over them once every few months and update them. I did that semi-recently, so I'll leave it for now. At 6 months I should probably re-evaluate, and add the things I want to do now, like get my OHS over 100 this year, push press 200lbs soon, etc etc.
Kinda going back to the eating... I need to hop on the scale more. This once a month thing was great, till it stopped. I haven't seen my PCP for a few months now, and I have no idea where I am on the scale. This bad eating and no accountability on the back end is a dangerous combo. It may not be for everyone, but I feel like I should go weekly, or at least bi-weekly. Closer monitoring is what I need now. "Quick wins" make progressing to that long term goal a little easier.
Alright, enough bad and semi-bad stuff. Good things. I'm stronger by close to double on everything I started on. Body has responded positively to CrossFit, a few issues aside. I see muscles in places I haven't seen muscles in a long time. I move easier. I was flexible before, but I'm more so now. My clothes are looser, some hang off me now, and that gets me positive comments. Good things to have.
Ok, I think thats all the truthiness I have time for this morning. Lets talking WODs. EST celebrated their 1 year on Saturday. FGB was the workout. I went into this thing thinking I was going to smoke my original 207 by 15-20 reps. I was confident this was going to happen. Beyond confident, I was boastful. I fell stronger, I wasn't going to start on the rower like I did the first time, I had a mission. With as many people showing up as we had, we had to have partners to count and go in 2 big groups. I counted the first time, and the guy I was following did 267. He's a tall skinny cat named Brent, and he's pretty good at all the movements. This was when I got my first, "uh... maybe this will be different". Oh buddy it was different.
168 was my number. Maybe it was 167. Idk. It was LOW compared to the first time. I was tired as sheet too. When I got that number, I was a bit upset, how could I drop 50 reps? Figured it out pretty quick. One of the biggest culprits was the fact that the stations were all around EST, which is about 3x the size of Unlocked, maybe even 4x. So there was extra walking. Second, I did plate jumps, then eventually plate step ups when my legs refused to jump any more. Those are a lot easier than box step ups. Ok, thats two big spots. The highpulls were similar, and I'm pretty sure I did more push press than before... that leaves wallballs and the rowers. Well, wallballs were a little better, but the rowing tanked.
I had this grand idea that rowing shouldn't be my first thing, that I was losing too much time starting on the rower. Have to disagree now. The first time, the rower may have cost me 2-4 wallballs each round at most. Doing the rowers last, cost me 10+ calories per event. I remember hitting 26, 24, 22 at Unlocked, here at EST It was like 14, 12, 10. Lesson here, row first. LOL. It also didn't help that someone used the rower I used. They were moving the straps around, and that was extra time lost.
So I didn't do as good from a numbers set, but I'd probably tell you then like now, that I worked harder this time. Brings me to a point I thought about leading this post off with.
CrossFit doesn't get easier, you get better. It's not exactly rocket science to the people who already know. I'd asked several people the question, and I'd gotten answers back, and they fell into three categories. Ready? Yes. No. Maybe. Pretty good right? I've got my own answer now, and thats what I put above. It doesn't get easier, you get better. What does that mean? Glad you asked. For me, it means that if you're progressing, getting better, then you're going to push yourself harder....ergo, it never gets easier, but you're always getting better. Savvy?
Alright, I'm packing up, going to DE a little later in the day than normal, so I've got a plane to catch. Until next time.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Lurong 6
Busy 18 hours. Man. Did yesterdays WOD at night, then came back for the Lurong this morning. Didn't get enough sleep, but I'm awake and alive, things moving well, good times.
Lets go back to yesterday, pretty quick WOD, the warmup was about as long as the workout. :) Not much to say on the workout, we did a seesaw press that was rough, but fair, and then we did a 4 RFT of 300 m run (row), and 10 alternating KB snatches. Think I came in at 11:17. Beat a guy who's normally on top of things. Felt good to be progressing...just need the weight to come off so I can get to running.
Short and sweet, good workout, but I wasn't super taxed afterwards. It was also nice celebrating with the city over the Royals sweep of the ALCS and finally making it back to the World Series.
This mornings Lurong WOD wasn't too bad either, especially after I found out it wasn't going to be squat snatches, it could be any kind of snatch. Now this isn't going to make me a better athlete, but I'm going to appreciate the fact I don't have to abuse my knees in an AMRAP. It was a descending then ascending ladder 15, 12, 9, etc. Snatches and an ab exercise. I actually did LVL 2 this time, so it was 75lbs and knees to 90degrees (my toes to bar exercise)
Jordan called me out on the knees to 90 bit after the WOD. Said I should probably try the higher bar so I'm focusing more on the movement instead of going right to the ground. It's a good call, something I've thought for a while now, forces me to hold onto the bar longer though, my hands aren't going to like the change. Other than that it was a decent workout with the power snatches. Got further than I thought. Need to work on that snatch form though, when I get in a hurry I do snatch press type things...
Sorry it's quick, I'm inbetween a calls on a day full of them, wanted to get something down, might come back and rework it/add to it.
Lets go back to yesterday, pretty quick WOD, the warmup was about as long as the workout. :) Not much to say on the workout, we did a seesaw press that was rough, but fair, and then we did a 4 RFT of 300 m run (row), and 10 alternating KB snatches. Think I came in at 11:17. Beat a guy who's normally on top of things. Felt good to be progressing...just need the weight to come off so I can get to running.
Short and sweet, good workout, but I wasn't super taxed afterwards. It was also nice celebrating with the city over the Royals sweep of the ALCS and finally making it back to the World Series.
This mornings Lurong WOD wasn't too bad either, especially after I found out it wasn't going to be squat snatches, it could be any kind of snatch. Now this isn't going to make me a better athlete, but I'm going to appreciate the fact I don't have to abuse my knees in an AMRAP. It was a descending then ascending ladder 15, 12, 9, etc. Snatches and an ab exercise. I actually did LVL 2 this time, so it was 75lbs and knees to 90degrees (my toes to bar exercise)
Jordan called me out on the knees to 90 bit after the WOD. Said I should probably try the higher bar so I'm focusing more on the movement instead of going right to the ground. It's a good call, something I've thought for a while now, forces me to hold onto the bar longer though, my hands aren't going to like the change. Other than that it was a decent workout with the power snatches. Got further than I thought. Need to work on that snatch form though, when I get in a hurry I do snatch press type things...
Sorry it's quick, I'm inbetween a calls on a day full of them, wanted to get something down, might come back and rework it/add to it.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Still not a correct PR on that squat clean...
It feels like it's been a long time since I've written in here. A few things have happened, figure this would be a good time to clean out the proverbial closet.
First, my WODs have been suffering, since I last wrote. I only did one WOD, and it was the Lurong WOD.... not only that, but I didn't finish the WOD, tweaked my knee. meh! The quick and dirty is this, wod was 1, 1, then 2, 2, then 3, 3...etc. Squat cleans and then jumping pullups. The cleans were at 55lbs. WAY too light for me, I'm going to start mixing and matching. Squat cleaning essentially a barbell just doesn't work for me. Moving on...
Paleo eating has been dismal. I've had sodas, I've had bread/grain products... it's been a mess. I'm home this week, and I've got salads and veggies galore. Should be able to fix this sooner than later.
It's late (1am), been busy today... trying to get something out here, bear with me.
Tonight's WOD was great... AND I thought I hit a PR....again. This stupid squat clean man. I'm now convinced that the 145 I hit last week was a PR, and that what I had written down was wrong. We worked towards heavy squat clean tonight here at EST. I worked my way up to 45 on each end of the bar, then put on 5 more on each side. In my head, this makes it 155... quick math will tell you that I'm wrong... it's only 145. But I'm like yeah, this is it, this is going to be a PR at 155... I hit it. I'm excited, like yeah, let me add more. So I trade out the 25# on there in the form of two 10's and a 5, and put on a 25. COMPLETELY forgot to add to it. So now there are 2 25's on each side of the bar. I get it, and I get excited again... but the weight hasn't actually changed.... I didn't really figure this out till I was done lifting, had one of those "hey wait a minute..." convos with myself. Sooner or later I'm going to get this stupid 1RM of 155 that I think I keep hitting. CFDS, wanna make that happen Tues or Wed next week? Let me know!
The rest of this WOD was a simple capacity test. One I've someone managed to miss any time it's been around. 5 min AMRAP of 5 squat cleans, 10 bar over burpees. This was challenging after doing squat cleans. I didn't do the RX of 135, I went with 95, and my legs still complained about the weight. Sissy! Anyway, 5 minutes was both an eternity and super quick. I actually did move over the bar rather than stay in place like I've done since pretty much day 1. Small change from last week to this...gotta get better ya know. Ended up with an even 2. Nowhere near where I'm going to be in a year, but now I've got this benchmark.
I'm sure there is more that I want to say, but it's getting late and I've got a few more work things to do. #workhardplayhard
Actually, there is one more story to share.... Ever since I started traveling for work, I'd been worried that I'd end up sitting next to a dick on a plane. Someone that would give me shit for my size. 3+ years in, it FINALLY happened. I might write it out more later...but 40lbs into this journey, and 3 years after I've started traveling, I finally had to deal with one of those people... Ask me about it when you see me.
First, my WODs have been suffering, since I last wrote. I only did one WOD, and it was the Lurong WOD.... not only that, but I didn't finish the WOD, tweaked my knee. meh! The quick and dirty is this, wod was 1, 1, then 2, 2, then 3, 3...etc. Squat cleans and then jumping pullups. The cleans were at 55lbs. WAY too light for me, I'm going to start mixing and matching. Squat cleaning essentially a barbell just doesn't work for me. Moving on...
Paleo eating has been dismal. I've had sodas, I've had bread/grain products... it's been a mess. I'm home this week, and I've got salads and veggies galore. Should be able to fix this sooner than later.
It's late (1am), been busy today... trying to get something out here, bear with me.
Tonight's WOD was great... AND I thought I hit a PR....again. This stupid squat clean man. I'm now convinced that the 145 I hit last week was a PR, and that what I had written down was wrong. We worked towards heavy squat clean tonight here at EST. I worked my way up to 45 on each end of the bar, then put on 5 more on each side. In my head, this makes it 155... quick math will tell you that I'm wrong... it's only 145. But I'm like yeah, this is it, this is going to be a PR at 155... I hit it. I'm excited, like yeah, let me add more. So I trade out the 25# on there in the form of two 10's and a 5, and put on a 25. COMPLETELY forgot to add to it. So now there are 2 25's on each side of the bar. I get it, and I get excited again... but the weight hasn't actually changed.... I didn't really figure this out till I was done lifting, had one of those "hey wait a minute..." convos with myself. Sooner or later I'm going to get this stupid 1RM of 155 that I think I keep hitting. CFDS, wanna make that happen Tues or Wed next week? Let me know!
The rest of this WOD was a simple capacity test. One I've someone managed to miss any time it's been around. 5 min AMRAP of 5 squat cleans, 10 bar over burpees. This was challenging after doing squat cleans. I didn't do the RX of 135, I went with 95, and my legs still complained about the weight. Sissy! Anyway, 5 minutes was both an eternity and super quick. I actually did move over the bar rather than stay in place like I've done since pretty much day 1. Small change from last week to this...gotta get better ya know. Ended up with an even 2. Nowhere near where I'm going to be in a year, but now I've got this benchmark.
I'm sure there is more that I want to say, but it's getting late and I've got a few more work things to do. #workhardplayhard
Actually, there is one more story to share.... Ever since I started traveling for work, I'd been worried that I'd end up sitting next to a dick on a plane. Someone that would give me shit for my size. 3+ years in, it FINALLY happened. I might write it out more later...but 40lbs into this journey, and 3 years after I've started traveling, I finally had to deal with one of those people... Ask me about it when you see me.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
81 miles
Thats probably how far I've rowed in CrossFit so far... but more accurately, thats the distance I'm willing to drive for a great workout with a great group of friends/fellow athletes. 81 miles is the distance from the hotel lobby, to the parking lot of CrossFit Diamond State. One way.
I was actually going to title this post something different, relating to hitting "PRs" but not hitting them....but after seeing exactly how far it was, I thought 81 miles had a better impact... but on to this PR business. Got plenty of sleep... well, got A LOT more than the previous night (7? hours), didn't want to get out of bed, but I did. Made it to yet another morning class. This may become a habit, we'll see.
So I roll up, not quite as early, so I didn't get to enjoy the stars, and there were more people there than I've ever seen at a 545 at Unlocked (not that I've been to all that many). 8 athletes, maybe 9? Good group. Todays skill work is the clean (squat clean if you prefer). 1RM is on the board. 1RM it is. I started kinda light. I usually try to do 2-3 of the lighter ones, but I'm still a baby about my knees, so I only did 1 of each. Got up to 125 very quickly, then did 135. Here is where things got fuzzy mentally. I don't typically travel with my little notebook that has my 1RM in it, and the last time I remember doing this, I had two 45's on the bar (making it 135 right). I've still got some goods in the tank, so I add 10 lbs. Boom. 145, PR! I'm excited. I add 10 more. Didn't get under it at all.... so I did a 155 power clean. Ok, that works...except it's not a squat clean. I think I just need time and some weight loss to get more comfortable with "throwing" myself under the bar.
Going to pause on the workout right there. Later that day, I sent an email to the Mrs, and found out that 145 was my squat clean PR... so I was a little down that I just matched a PR... I shouldn't be, but I am a little. I also found out that 150 was my power clean PR. I did 155 today. PR for me. LOL. So it's a mixed bag, PRing on the screw up of another movement. I'm still chuckling. I'll take it.
The rest of the workout was an AMRAP called Ski Ball. These names... smh. 12 minutes of fun. 6 push press at 115, which is my 1RM... so I'm doing 95. 12 ball slams, which I've never done, it called for 30, I decided on 20lbs since it was my first time. 24 double unders. I wont regale you with stories of my suffering, it was great, we'll leave it at that. No real chance to catch my breath. The last two ( I made it into the 5th round) sets of push press got to be pretty heavy, but it was only sets of 6, so I was able to stay unbroken. The slams... I was worn out on the last couple of those. I mean... it wasn't pretty. And the doubles were singles... and it has since reinforced the need for my own rope.
I was gassed. It helped that Coach Brian seemed to be on my side of the room, I think that pushed me past where I wanted to stop at, and kept me going throughout the workout. Always working on being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Let me go back to the gassed part. I drug my feet all the way to the car, I haven't been that tired in a long time. I was laughing at myself for considering doing another double day...
Then I got to work. Around 10 am, I pinged Andy at CFDS. Told him that I'd seen their WOD for tonight, and that I had concerns after having done 30 push press at Unlocked. He said it depended on how I was feeling, that I could probably do something else for the strength, since they were working on a 1RM of... you guessed it, push press. Fast forward a few hours, and I'm on the way to CFDS, I'm doing a double folks.
There is no place like home, and the smell of CFDS is something I look forward too. It sounds weird, it probably is weird, but I don't care, it's something that is ingrained in my CrossFit psyche. We go through the warm ups, it's a small class for Tuesday. I did about half of each warmup. I really just wanted/needed to stretch away the drive and sitting all day, the rest of me was loose, good to go. Small class means I get my own rack, my own rack means I can focus a bit more. Knowing I did the 95# for 5 rounds of 6 reps in the AMRAP this morning, I had a feeling I could beat this 115 push press PR. I set out to do just that. I put a bar up, and two 25's, figured I'd start where I left off this morning. Did two, put it down. At this point I knew it was at 95#. I stopped counting in my head. I went and grabbed two 15's put them on, did 2 more. Went and grabbed two 10's put them on, two more. This time I grabbed two 5's, this time I did 1 rep, it's getting heavy. Grabbed two more 5's, this rep was pushing it. Grabbed two more 5's, this was going to be my last rep. To call it ugly would be a complement to how awful this felt like it looked. I can't say for sure what it looked like, I don't film these things yet... but I felt like after the dip drive, it was a lot of squished face, bar wobbling nonsense. Got it up though, and of PRs, sometimes thats all that matters.
I start taking the weights off, first the 5's. 5, 10, 15... 30 lbs, ok. Then the 10's. 50. 15's off, that makes 80. 25's (which I thought were 45's the first two times counting them... #fishstories ) ok, we're at 130. Add the bar. 175. YESSIRRRRRR. Too tired what?!?! Excuse me while I straighten my tie. That 'dere be a 60lb PR on the push press. Maybe I should start dating my PR's so I can tell how long between them I've gone? Either way, thats a 60 POUND PR! For a shoulder move. yeah buddy. I should have wrong the glorious PR bell... I didn't. Saving it for my first over 200# move there I guess. *shrug*
Alright, I'm all celebrated up, couldn't find a champagne bottle anywhere... then I looked at the board... there was still a WOD to do... awww crap. This thing was a monster... a very sneaky one. It looks ok on paper.
400 meter run
25 KB swings Rx: 53/35#
25 ring dips
400m run
20 KB swings
20 pull ups
400m run
15 push press Rx: 135/95#
15 ring dips
400m run
10 push press
10 pull ups
Being as this was my second WOD for the day, and having just PR's my pushpress, I opted for much lighter KBs and PP weights than maybe I would have at another time. I will go through this one, unlike that AMRAP above.... the pain is fresher you see :)
The 400m row started off super slow....as in there was a 321 go, and I didn't have my feet in the rower yet. LOL. The pads weren't set right at all. Probably took me 20 seconds to get in before I got going. Almost caught the other rowers, I'm liking this 4.5 rower setting and the fact that I'm aiming for 20-22 pulls per min, rather than the 32ish I was doing before. Thanks Barbell Shrugged. The KB's... I'm so glad I went down a KB for this. At 15 my arms were smoking, had to set the bell down. Andy (just like Brian...) is right to my left, I picked that bisch right back up and got back to work. I'm already starting to pant... already. Over to the box. I tried to do straight legged ones. Got 3 done, and they were slooooow and arguous. Nope, bent knee. I would have sworn to you that I could feel the fibers in the triceps being ripped... I feel like I went to parallel and got up about 70% of the way before engaging the legs a little bit. 25... finally done. I really wanted to sit on that box for a few seconds, but there was no rest for the weary.
The second set of rowing wasn't bad, same pace as the first, all good. Then Mike Li walks by, said something about me smelling good. This has been bugging me since he said it. I need to segue, sorry. I can't speak for other big dudes, but I know being smelly is high on my lists of things to avoid, like passing gas.... now he said I smelled good, but did I really, or was he just clownin? I took the time to put on fresh deodorant before I drove down, so I'm pretty sure between the Irish Spring shower this morning and a second coat of deodorant, I shouldn't' stink, not that early into a workout... anyway, I digress. This second set of KB swings was easier... but only becasue I knew what I was going to do before I got there. 10-10. Done. Other people were using the rings, so no ring rows for pullups, this was jumping pullup territory. It takes a concentrated effort to not just jump. I flex and pull with everything I've got as I'm jumping. There is now a brief pause at the top, before I fall back to earth. Wasn't there before. Getting stronger...Joelle is beside me, nursing her way back from some injuries, doing ring rows. Lucky! LOL. Maybe not, I'll have to ask her next time. During a break (at this point I'm doing 2-3 before stopping), she's like lets do 5 in a row, don't stop. OK, bet. JUST the sort of challenge that makes me try harder. We got our 5, I broke up 2 more sets, then finished with 5 strong.
This rowing was painful. Consistent, but painful. I'm tried now. Halfway done, on the the push press. I grabbed the bar, this stuff is LIGHT, but after 3, it's not so light. I thought I was going to break it up into 5's, but instead I did 10, then 5. Small victories. Last set of dips. 3 sets of 5, leggo!
No.
Oh they were difficult. 3 here, 2 there. I got what would have been the second set of 5 through sheer force of will. I tried hard for that that last set. Got 4, went down and didn't come back up for 5. Had to push myself up with the legs. Didn't miss a beat though, as soon as I was reset, I finished my last one. BOOM. Done with those devils. Last row. I'm somewhere around 30m already when J was like if you don't stop, I wont stop. I LOL'd a bit. Told her I don't stop, it's the stroke count I'm after, just looks like a stop. :) We powered through that last bit together, done with the rowers. Push press... ok, 5 and 5, go. Truthfully, I could have probably screamed through 10 straight, but I wanted that quick break, thought I'd still be faster with it. Jumping pullups... I see the light at the end of the tunnel...it's blindingly bright. 4-3-3. DONE! I wanted to collapse. Instead I grabbed my KB and did 10 mo... no, no I didn't. I did grab it and took it over to where it belonged though... there was a nice big box to sit on right beside there. 2 birds, 1 stone sort of thing.
The rest was brief, as soon as Dr. J got done, gave her a five, we were finished, then I started breaking down my bar. The last three ladies were at their pullup stations, giving this everything they had. Cheered them on with everything I had left. Everyone is done. Yay \o/ Cleaned up my bar, stuck around a bit after, talking with my peoples, tried my hand at yelling encouraging things to the Pallers as they did the same workout....need to get used to this if I'm ever going to coach. :P
A good day... a great day really. Two WODs again, and I did what I felt was a solid job in both, got two PR's... yeah, this was a good day. Still haven't had any post WOD meals with anyone from CFDS... Had Chipotle with the De Leon's and Peets from Unlocked a month or so ago. Folks upstate be slippin.
I want to WOD with CFDS on Wednesday, It's bro day, but I don't think I'm going to be able to. Work things and all. I've already seen Unlocked's WOD. Lots of running with a sandbag (hence the title Sandbagging)... not sure how to translate that to a rower, so I wont be going there in the morning... that and I'm tired. LOL. I'll talk a big game, but no, Wed should probably be a rest day anyway...
Thats all I've got, just fought off a monster simple sugar craving with positive thoughts and water. Need to find me some fruit, stay away from the processed stuff. Until next time.
dw
I was actually going to title this post something different, relating to hitting "PRs" but not hitting them....but after seeing exactly how far it was, I thought 81 miles had a better impact... but on to this PR business. Got plenty of sleep... well, got A LOT more than the previous night (7? hours), didn't want to get out of bed, but I did. Made it to yet another morning class. This may become a habit, we'll see.
So I roll up, not quite as early, so I didn't get to enjoy the stars, and there were more people there than I've ever seen at a 545 at Unlocked (not that I've been to all that many). 8 athletes, maybe 9? Good group. Todays skill work is the clean (squat clean if you prefer). 1RM is on the board. 1RM it is. I started kinda light. I usually try to do 2-3 of the lighter ones, but I'm still a baby about my knees, so I only did 1 of each. Got up to 125 very quickly, then did 135. Here is where things got fuzzy mentally. I don't typically travel with my little notebook that has my 1RM in it, and the last time I remember doing this, I had two 45's on the bar (making it 135 right). I've still got some goods in the tank, so I add 10 lbs. Boom. 145, PR! I'm excited. I add 10 more. Didn't get under it at all.... so I did a 155 power clean. Ok, that works...except it's not a squat clean. I think I just need time and some weight loss to get more comfortable with "throwing" myself under the bar.
Going to pause on the workout right there. Later that day, I sent an email to the Mrs, and found out that 145 was my squat clean PR... so I was a little down that I just matched a PR... I shouldn't be, but I am a little. I also found out that 150 was my power clean PR. I did 155 today. PR for me. LOL. So it's a mixed bag, PRing on the screw up of another movement. I'm still chuckling. I'll take it.
The rest of the workout was an AMRAP called Ski Ball. These names... smh. 12 minutes of fun. 6 push press at 115, which is my 1RM... so I'm doing 95. 12 ball slams, which I've never done, it called for 30, I decided on 20lbs since it was my first time. 24 double unders. I wont regale you with stories of my suffering, it was great, we'll leave it at that. No real chance to catch my breath. The last two ( I made it into the 5th round) sets of push press got to be pretty heavy, but it was only sets of 6, so I was able to stay unbroken. The slams... I was worn out on the last couple of those. I mean... it wasn't pretty. And the doubles were singles... and it has since reinforced the need for my own rope.
I was gassed. It helped that Coach Brian seemed to be on my side of the room, I think that pushed me past where I wanted to stop at, and kept me going throughout the workout. Always working on being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Let me go back to the gassed part. I drug my feet all the way to the car, I haven't been that tired in a long time. I was laughing at myself for considering doing another double day...
Then I got to work. Around 10 am, I pinged Andy at CFDS. Told him that I'd seen their WOD for tonight, and that I had concerns after having done 30 push press at Unlocked. He said it depended on how I was feeling, that I could probably do something else for the strength, since they were working on a 1RM of... you guessed it, push press. Fast forward a few hours, and I'm on the way to CFDS, I'm doing a double folks.
There is no place like home, and the smell of CFDS is something I look forward too. It sounds weird, it probably is weird, but I don't care, it's something that is ingrained in my CrossFit psyche. We go through the warm ups, it's a small class for Tuesday. I did about half of each warmup. I really just wanted/needed to stretch away the drive and sitting all day, the rest of me was loose, good to go. Small class means I get my own rack, my own rack means I can focus a bit more. Knowing I did the 95# for 5 rounds of 6 reps in the AMRAP this morning, I had a feeling I could beat this 115 push press PR. I set out to do just that. I put a bar up, and two 25's, figured I'd start where I left off this morning. Did two, put it down. At this point I knew it was at 95#. I stopped counting in my head. I went and grabbed two 15's put them on, did 2 more. Went and grabbed two 10's put them on, two more. This time I grabbed two 5's, this time I did 1 rep, it's getting heavy. Grabbed two more 5's, this rep was pushing it. Grabbed two more 5's, this was going to be my last rep. To call it ugly would be a complement to how awful this felt like it looked. I can't say for sure what it looked like, I don't film these things yet... but I felt like after the dip drive, it was a lot of squished face, bar wobbling nonsense. Got it up though, and of PRs, sometimes thats all that matters.
I start taking the weights off, first the 5's. 5, 10, 15... 30 lbs, ok. Then the 10's. 50. 15's off, that makes 80. 25's (which I thought were 45's the first two times counting them... #fishstories ) ok, we're at 130. Add the bar. 175. YESSIRRRRRR. Too tired what?!?! Excuse me while I straighten my tie. That 'dere be a 60lb PR on the push press. Maybe I should start dating my PR's so I can tell how long between them I've gone? Either way, thats a 60 POUND PR! For a shoulder move. yeah buddy. I should have wrong the glorious PR bell... I didn't. Saving it for my first over 200# move there I guess. *shrug*
Alright, I'm all celebrated up, couldn't find a champagne bottle anywhere... then I looked at the board... there was still a WOD to do... awww crap. This thing was a monster... a very sneaky one. It looks ok on paper.
400 meter run
25 KB swings Rx: 53/35#
25 ring dips
400m run
20 KB swings
20 pull ups
400m run
15 push press Rx: 135/95#
15 ring dips
400m run
10 push press
10 pull ups
Being as this was my second WOD for the day, and having just PR's my pushpress, I opted for much lighter KBs and PP weights than maybe I would have at another time. I will go through this one, unlike that AMRAP above.... the pain is fresher you see :)
The 400m row started off super slow....as in there was a 321 go, and I didn't have my feet in the rower yet. LOL. The pads weren't set right at all. Probably took me 20 seconds to get in before I got going. Almost caught the other rowers, I'm liking this 4.5 rower setting and the fact that I'm aiming for 20-22 pulls per min, rather than the 32ish I was doing before. Thanks Barbell Shrugged. The KB's... I'm so glad I went down a KB for this. At 15 my arms were smoking, had to set the bell down. Andy (just like Brian...) is right to my left, I picked that bisch right back up and got back to work. I'm already starting to pant... already. Over to the box. I tried to do straight legged ones. Got 3 done, and they were slooooow and arguous. Nope, bent knee. I would have sworn to you that I could feel the fibers in the triceps being ripped... I feel like I went to parallel and got up about 70% of the way before engaging the legs a little bit. 25... finally done. I really wanted to sit on that box for a few seconds, but there was no rest for the weary.
The second set of rowing wasn't bad, same pace as the first, all good. Then Mike Li walks by, said something about me smelling good. This has been bugging me since he said it. I need to segue, sorry. I can't speak for other big dudes, but I know being smelly is high on my lists of things to avoid, like passing gas.... now he said I smelled good, but did I really, or was he just clownin? I took the time to put on fresh deodorant before I drove down, so I'm pretty sure between the Irish Spring shower this morning and a second coat of deodorant, I shouldn't' stink, not that early into a workout... anyway, I digress. This second set of KB swings was easier... but only becasue I knew what I was going to do before I got there. 10-10. Done. Other people were using the rings, so no ring rows for pullups, this was jumping pullup territory. It takes a concentrated effort to not just jump. I flex and pull with everything I've got as I'm jumping. There is now a brief pause at the top, before I fall back to earth. Wasn't there before. Getting stronger...Joelle is beside me, nursing her way back from some injuries, doing ring rows. Lucky! LOL. Maybe not, I'll have to ask her next time. During a break (at this point I'm doing 2-3 before stopping), she's like lets do 5 in a row, don't stop. OK, bet. JUST the sort of challenge that makes me try harder. We got our 5, I broke up 2 more sets, then finished with 5 strong.
This rowing was painful. Consistent, but painful. I'm tried now. Halfway done, on the the push press. I grabbed the bar, this stuff is LIGHT, but after 3, it's not so light. I thought I was going to break it up into 5's, but instead I did 10, then 5. Small victories. Last set of dips. 3 sets of 5, leggo!
No.
Oh they were difficult. 3 here, 2 there. I got what would have been the second set of 5 through sheer force of will. I tried hard for that that last set. Got 4, went down and didn't come back up for 5. Had to push myself up with the legs. Didn't miss a beat though, as soon as I was reset, I finished my last one. BOOM. Done with those devils. Last row. I'm somewhere around 30m already when J was like if you don't stop, I wont stop. I LOL'd a bit. Told her I don't stop, it's the stroke count I'm after, just looks like a stop. :) We powered through that last bit together, done with the rowers. Push press... ok, 5 and 5, go. Truthfully, I could have probably screamed through 10 straight, but I wanted that quick break, thought I'd still be faster with it. Jumping pullups... I see the light at the end of the tunnel...it's blindingly bright. 4-3-3. DONE! I wanted to collapse. Instead I grabbed my KB and did 10 mo... no, no I didn't. I did grab it and took it over to where it belonged though... there was a nice big box to sit on right beside there. 2 birds, 1 stone sort of thing.
The rest was brief, as soon as Dr. J got done, gave her a five, we were finished, then I started breaking down my bar. The last three ladies were at their pullup stations, giving this everything they had. Cheered them on with everything I had left. Everyone is done. Yay \o/ Cleaned up my bar, stuck around a bit after, talking with my peoples, tried my hand at yelling encouraging things to the Pallers as they did the same workout....need to get used to this if I'm ever going to coach. :P
A good day... a great day really. Two WODs again, and I did what I felt was a solid job in both, got two PR's... yeah, this was a good day. Still haven't had any post WOD meals with anyone from CFDS... Had Chipotle with the De Leon's and Peets from Unlocked a month or so ago. Folks upstate be slippin.
I want to WOD with CFDS on Wednesday, It's bro day, but I don't think I'm going to be able to. Work things and all. I've already seen Unlocked's WOD. Lots of running with a sandbag (hence the title Sandbagging)... not sure how to translate that to a rower, so I wont be going there in the morning... that and I'm tired. LOL. I'll talk a big game, but no, Wed should probably be a rest day anyway...
Thats all I've got, just fought off a monster simple sugar craving with positive thoughts and water. Need to find me some fruit, stay away from the processed stuff. Until next time.
dw
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Are Chippers really chippers?
Oh man! The best way to start your Monday, in my opinion, is to be asleep. That said, I wasn't able to sleep much at all, so I went to CFUnlocked this Monday morning, did a chipper WOD, and am having a pretty solid start to my day. Hopefully yours is pretty solid as well.
I need to backup a bit, and talk about the days between my last post and today. I took more of them off than perhaps I should have, but I did get the Lurong WOD in on Friday. You people reading this are some of the few who would understand it when I say my butt hurt all weekend. Some things we just can't say to non fitness people, know what I mean ;) ? That WOD had a ton of thrusters in it, and after taking some time away to let my body get back to good... I had sore glutes for two days....
So work had me back in DE on Sunday night, I got in about 10, by the time I got settled, it was 1030. I should have got a respectable 6 hours of sleep, but I was worried about getting up on time, so I tossed and turned all night. It sucked. It was after 4 when I FINALLY got that good sleep...and I remember looking at the clock and thinking, I bet now I'll finally knock out and be super tired when 5 hits. Sure enough, called it like a Vegas bookie.
It was hard getting up this morning. I mean I walked around that room for a good 3 minutes looking for stuff I'd laid out the night before (knowing I'd probably be looking for it anyway...). Got everything, got in the car, and about the point I was 10 minutes down the road, a complete 180. Eyes were clear, motor was running, I was ready to WOD. Good thing too, a chipper isn't something you want to go into yawning if you can help it.
Showed up, did some row work as the skill work. We did... a dampner test? I forget what it was called, but worked on finding what our rower dampner should be set to. 4.5, 4.75...somewhere over 4 and a half but not quite 5 is my ideal range. Who knew. Works for me though, not going to say it was my fastest 250 split, but I think it was a pretty good time. This would beat my PR for the 1k by 20-30 seconds... not shabby.
The chipper today was a 100m run (row), 20 OHS, 30 bar facing burpees, 40 bar jump overs, 50 straight leg situps, then 40 jump overs 30, 20, etc. I'd be lying if I said I was super excited for this. 30 burpees at one time... my numbers are steadily dropping, but that is still several minutes of exhaustive labor for me. Starting at the beginning, the row was super easy and quick. The OHS, not so much. I tried to go through them quickly, but I couldn't. Latent trauma from the squat cycle maybe :P When I put the bar down, I stripped the weights... set the bar on the weigts and proceeded to do the jump overs. Could I have done them with the weights on? Probably... well, maybe. I'll try next time, this time I was fighting a mental and physical battle, try to make the next one physical only.
For some reason situps have become the paper cut of my CrossFit existence. Even as a super chunkster, I could bang out situps and crunches at skinny guy speed.... but now it's like they mysteriously got harder with these back pad. Not sure what the deal is, but after 25 or 30, I want to wave that white flag. The second set of jumpovers when a lot faster than the first. I concentrated on that speed, pretended I was running a soccer or football drill. It's amazing how much more I can accomplish when I really focus on what I'm doing... should probably keep that in mind every workout. I didn't have that focus on the second set of burpees. I just kept going till everyone else was done, then did 3 more for good measure....probably should have done 5 more just to be sure.
The last set of OHS were ugly. Jeff told me just to worry about keeping my chest tall, not necessairly about the depth... this was both very welcome, and slightly insulting... not that Jeff would insult me, I'm insulted by my body for not being able to do these with good form in a "professional" manner. I did mostly OHS's at the end... I'm not proud of it, moving on... finished with the row, it was quick and easy. I like this new 4.5-4.75 thing, so happy to have found that.
I was wiped out. CFDS had a really good WOD that I saw later today, and I really wanted to go do it... but frankly, my body said no. I was so tired from the lack of sleep, and I suspect my body remembered the last time I had this much sleep and did a double... so it was a non starter today. Too bad... maybe tomorrow :)
I'm somewhat happy with what I accomplished today... I never came to a real "stop and rest" period. Thatst not to say I didn't stop and grab a few gulps of air here or there, but I don't remember a hands on my hips, watching the clock type of rest. +1 for my Monday mental fitness. We'll see what Tuesday holds...
To the question asked by the post title... I think I consider chippers to be more like AMRAPS with a rep limit rather than a time limit. To me, a chipper is something much larger... like Murph or some of the other hero WODs. Something that is so monstrous that you have to break it down to do it.... to chip away at the numbers. Maybe thats just me.
I need to backup a bit, and talk about the days between my last post and today. I took more of them off than perhaps I should have, but I did get the Lurong WOD in on Friday. You people reading this are some of the few who would understand it when I say my butt hurt all weekend. Some things we just can't say to non fitness people, know what I mean ;) ? That WOD had a ton of thrusters in it, and after taking some time away to let my body get back to good... I had sore glutes for two days....
So work had me back in DE on Sunday night, I got in about 10, by the time I got settled, it was 1030. I should have got a respectable 6 hours of sleep, but I was worried about getting up on time, so I tossed and turned all night. It sucked. It was after 4 when I FINALLY got that good sleep...and I remember looking at the clock and thinking, I bet now I'll finally knock out and be super tired when 5 hits. Sure enough, called it like a Vegas bookie.
It was hard getting up this morning. I mean I walked around that room for a good 3 minutes looking for stuff I'd laid out the night before (knowing I'd probably be looking for it anyway...). Got everything, got in the car, and about the point I was 10 minutes down the road, a complete 180. Eyes were clear, motor was running, I was ready to WOD. Good thing too, a chipper isn't something you want to go into yawning if you can help it.
Showed up, did some row work as the skill work. We did... a dampner test? I forget what it was called, but worked on finding what our rower dampner should be set to. 4.5, 4.75...somewhere over 4 and a half but not quite 5 is my ideal range. Who knew. Works for me though, not going to say it was my fastest 250 split, but I think it was a pretty good time. This would beat my PR for the 1k by 20-30 seconds... not shabby.
The chipper today was a 100m run (row), 20 OHS, 30 bar facing burpees, 40 bar jump overs, 50 straight leg situps, then 40 jump overs 30, 20, etc. I'd be lying if I said I was super excited for this. 30 burpees at one time... my numbers are steadily dropping, but that is still several minutes of exhaustive labor for me. Starting at the beginning, the row was super easy and quick. The OHS, not so much. I tried to go through them quickly, but I couldn't. Latent trauma from the squat cycle maybe :P When I put the bar down, I stripped the weights... set the bar on the weigts and proceeded to do the jump overs. Could I have done them with the weights on? Probably... well, maybe. I'll try next time, this time I was fighting a mental and physical battle, try to make the next one physical only.
For some reason situps have become the paper cut of my CrossFit existence. Even as a super chunkster, I could bang out situps and crunches at skinny guy speed.... but now it's like they mysteriously got harder with these back pad. Not sure what the deal is, but after 25 or 30, I want to wave that white flag. The second set of jumpovers when a lot faster than the first. I concentrated on that speed, pretended I was running a soccer or football drill. It's amazing how much more I can accomplish when I really focus on what I'm doing... should probably keep that in mind every workout. I didn't have that focus on the second set of burpees. I just kept going till everyone else was done, then did 3 more for good measure....probably should have done 5 more just to be sure.
The last set of OHS were ugly. Jeff told me just to worry about keeping my chest tall, not necessairly about the depth... this was both very welcome, and slightly insulting... not that Jeff would insult me, I'm insulted by my body for not being able to do these with good form in a "professional" manner. I did mostly OHS's at the end... I'm not proud of it, moving on... finished with the row, it was quick and easy. I like this new 4.5-4.75 thing, so happy to have found that.
I was wiped out. CFDS had a really good WOD that I saw later today, and I really wanted to go do it... but frankly, my body said no. I was so tired from the lack of sleep, and I suspect my body remembered the last time I had this much sleep and did a double... so it was a non starter today. Too bad... maybe tomorrow :)
I'm somewhat happy with what I accomplished today... I never came to a real "stop and rest" period. Thatst not to say I didn't stop and grab a few gulps of air here or there, but I don't remember a hands on my hips, watching the clock type of rest. +1 for my Monday mental fitness. We'll see what Tuesday holds...
To the question asked by the post title... I think I consider chippers to be more like AMRAPS with a rep limit rather than a time limit. To me, a chipper is something much larger... like Murph or some of the other hero WODs. Something that is so monstrous that you have to break it down to do it.... to chip away at the numbers. Maybe thats just me.
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