 |
| Appropriate after last night... I think Tim agrees |
Friday, September 28, 2012
GET YOUR PINK ON!
Almost forgot... I was super excited to get the call (facebook message) up from Jane last night asking me to partner with her for The Cell's 'Get Your Pink On!' in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month and to raise funds for the Cancer Council.
I was honored to get the call to be her partner again and I know we will have another fun time doing a chipper WOD at the cell on October 6th. I'm looking forward to it especially as I love a good chipper!
I was honored to get the call to be her partner again and I know we will have another fun time doing a chipper WOD at the cell on October 6th. I'm looking forward to it especially as I love a good chipper!
9/27 - burpees and bumpers... rowing and running...
Coach Tim was back at it today and it was a good one right
from the start. The warmup was pretty
much another WOD.
Warm-up
300m run
In pairs complete the following:
100 air squats
100 KB deadlifts
100 push-ups
100 BJ’s aka Box Jumps (get your mind out of the gutter people – HA!)
8:43 (357 reps completed)
The final 50 DU’s went better than the first which isn’t surprising given how the first set went. I bit off bit chunks and got going again pretty quickly after tripping up mostly because in a way I was racing Shonelle as we both had finished the work portion at about the same time.
Warm-up
300m run
In pairs complete the following:
100 air squats
100 KB deadlifts
100 push-ups
100 BJ’s aka Box Jumps (get your mind out of the gutter people – HA!)
8:43 (357 reps completed)
.JPG) |
| Tee-hee |
I partnered with Glen and off we went. We had to do all reps of one movement before
going on to the next though we could break them up however we wanted. I started with 25 air squats and we
alternated from there at 25 each. The deadlifts
were pretty easy (we only had an 18kg KB) and again broke them down into sets
of 25 each. The push-ups were much
harder, I knew I couldn’t do 25 though I did manage 20 on my first set and se
we went from there alternating 20-20-20-20-10-10. The box jumps we did in sets of 10 each and
only got up to 57 reps completed before the 8 minute cut-off. Still quite a solid effort and definitely got
me warmed up.
I also really enjoyed it being a ‘team’ effort. The primal pairs made me realize how fun it
is to work with someone else to complete a large amount of work in whatever
form so I hope we do a little more of this at Cooee either just in the warm-ups
or even on some specific training days.
In a lot of ways it makes you work a bit harder if only to not let the
other person down.
WOD
50 double-unders
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Chest to overhead with bumper plate (10/20kg)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Burpee bumper jumps
50 double-unders
50 double-unders
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Chest to overhead with bumper plate (10/20kg)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Burpee bumper jumps
50 double-unders
8:14 Rx
Pretty solid on this one though I stuffed up the first set
of DU’s about 4 times right from the start.
I was getting only 5 or 6 reps and then tripping and having to start all
over. Talk about frustrating especially when
I initially wondered if I could get 50 unbroken. That fell apart pretty quick.
Coach Tim asked Shonelle and I when the next class went how
best to motivate the workout – what the focus needed to be, etc. and really the
only thing I could think of was ‘just keep moving’ and get through the grunt
work as really that’s all it was. Just
keep moving. I was glad that the
shoulder to overhead was descending and the burpees were ascending as it would
have been horrible trying to do 10 shoulder to overhead at the end, those were
the tough part. Managed to get a
ridiculous huge and tender bruise on my knee from the burpees too – not sure
why only one got the brunt of it…
 |
| Ouch! |
The final 50 DU’s went better than the first which isn’t surprising given how the first set went. I bit off bit chunks and got going again pretty quickly after tripping up mostly because in a way I was racing Shonelle as we both had finished the work portion at about the same time.
After WOD
300m row
300m run
30 ab-mat sit-ups
3:43
I was in the first group to have a go at this (only 4
rowers) and was with three very tall boys.
I managed to keep pretty close to them on the row (within about 10
seconds) and then lost some time on the run mostly because it took me the first
150m to actually get my legs to work as they were supposed to. That transition is always the worst
especially with tight hamstrings.
Muscle-up School
2-2-1 reverse pull-up on rings
1:00 accumulated static hold on rings
Shonelle was really keen to do this and was the sole reason
for me giving it a go. It was day four
in a row at the box and I have some hurting shoulders (handstands!) and really
didn’t want to but I did. We did some
sets of slow lowering from a pull-up position on the ring focused on
maintaining our false grip and turning out our shoulders at the bottom. We then alternated on ring dip holds to
accumulate a total of one minute. I
managed 20 seconds on the first set which was double of the day before (so
happy!) and then followed that up with three more sets at 15 seconds each for a
total of 1:05. It was funny thinking
about the days when I couldn’t even do a static hold and had Jack and Tim and Pete
helping me to stay up there. Progress!
Forgot to mention how sore I feel in the front of my shoulders from the reverse pull-ups and how tight I am in my chest from the static holds. Progress?
Forgot to mention how sore I feel in the front of my shoulders from the reverse pull-ups and how tight I am in my chest from the static holds. Progress?
Mobility
Glutes
Calves
Lots of tender spots in my glutes. I was also talking to Coach Match about my
tight hamstrings and how to mobilize then and he said that they’re tight
because of my glutes and calves being tight.
My calves never feel tight but my massage therapist did mention that
they felt tight to her. When I started
digging into the with the ball I realized quite quickly that there were
definitely some tender points, especially when Match had me find a tight spot, put
my resting leg over the one I was mobilizing and flex my bottom foot and
quickly let go. He laughed as I shouted
in agony. Wow. Good movement right there. I managed to suffer through this a bit more even
though every time I flexed my foot I really didn’t want to relax it.
Playing
Handstand push-ups
One arm release handstands (trying to touch one arm to
shoulder/side of body)
One hand handstands
Shonelle and I played around a bit and it was fun. I had forgotten about Coach Match giving me
the one arm release handstands to work on.
Need to remember this one.
WLC Day 14
Another good one with a really hearty and tasty dinner
courtesy of Brenda – chicken and roasted vegetables – so yummy and perfect for
a cold windy evening. It feels more like
autumn weather than spring at the moment.
Unrelated – anyone ever noticed just how long the song
American Pie is by Don MacLean? It took
me from Leighton Beach all the way to my house to hear the entire thing – crazy. Remind me to never use it as a song to do a
set of any workout to. Heh.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
9/26 - shoulders! KBs! squats!
Warm-up
Shoulder mobility with bands
KB swings (with a weight that you think you can do 15 consecutive reps
with) – 15 reps (consecutive)
KB swings (with the next heavier KB than you just used) – 15 reps
(consecutive)
With empty barbell two rounds of
10 front squats
5 strict presses
Load bar up to WOD weight
WOD
4 rounds
15 KB swings
10 front squats (45/60kg)
5 strict presses
WOD
4 rounds
15 KB swings
10 front squats (45/60kg)
5 strict presses
9:49 (20kg KB,
28kg bar)
For the warm-up I immediately picked up the 20kg KB knowing I did significantly more than 15 reps consecutively at the primal pairs on the weekend and as we were just about to swing realized that at primal pairs we only had to do Russian swings (to above shoulder) rather than American swings (fully overhead) but I went with it anyway. I managed the 15 and it really forced me to use my hips. I then went up one KB to 22kg and did another 15 consecutive reps but knew there was no way I was going to do 4 rounds at 22kg unbroken so for the WOD I went back to the 20kg KB – this was good though as the 20kg felt considerably lighter than it had just moments before when I started.
I started with 30.5kg on the bar and did the first round at this weight but as I struggled through the last two reps of the strict presses knew I was only going to do damage to my already achy left shoulder if I tried that weight for 3 more rounds so I shed the 1.25kg weights on either side and dropped down to 28kg for the final 3 sets. Even at this weight I broke up both the front squats and presses rather than doing them in one set of 15 which was the ultimate goal. I always linked the strict presses with the last reps of front squats but put the bar down once on both the front squats and strict presses. It was good though being forced to do strict presses is tough as you want to involve your legs especially as you get tired and this obviously isn’t an option.
Post WOD
Tabata Hollow Body
Again, this is part of Coach Match’s plan to give us six packs for Christmas. I did the first 4 rounds with both my arms and legs stretched out which is a major improvement for me. I could feel the burning in both my upper and lower abs at this point however and while I tried to mostly keep my arms overhead my legs were bending in and at times I was alternating between keeping one extended and the other bent. It was good though I definitely felt the work.
Muscle-Up School
1 minute static ring hold (accumulate time)
Vini pulled out his iphone and him, Ric and myself all did static ring holds – accumulating a minute of holding time. I only managed 10 seconds at a time but did do 6 rounds of it. Definitely hard.
I didn’t do much after that in terms of muscle up school mostly because Coach Match told me to try a static muscle up and I could barely pull myself up at all – didn’t even have a static pull-up at that point.
Mobility
Pecs and lats
Counted/ timed Coach Tim doing the mainsite WOD as well. 100 L-sit pull-ups for time. It was inspiring since those of us who tried it couldn't really get it (so hard) and he did 100. I did however manage to get one strict pull-up before I left and a few kipping HSPU's from an ab-mat.
WLC Day 12 (am losing count)…
Another perfect day. It’s easy during the week. For lunch I had leftover Thai red curry with beef which is my current addiction. I think I’ve made this for the past three weeks. It’s so easy and tasty and the leftovers are awesome and I still want more. I had Angie’s spicy meatballs with zucchini ‘pasta’ for dinner and when I took it out figured I’d split it between dinner and lunch but that didn’t happen. It was so tasty I ate it all up in one go. Thanks Angie.
For the warm-up I immediately picked up the 20kg KB knowing I did significantly more than 15 reps consecutively at the primal pairs on the weekend and as we were just about to swing realized that at primal pairs we only had to do Russian swings (to above shoulder) rather than American swings (fully overhead) but I went with it anyway. I managed the 15 and it really forced me to use my hips. I then went up one KB to 22kg and did another 15 consecutive reps but knew there was no way I was going to do 4 rounds at 22kg unbroken so for the WOD I went back to the 20kg KB – this was good though as the 20kg felt considerably lighter than it had just moments before when I started.
I started with 30.5kg on the bar and did the first round at this weight but as I struggled through the last two reps of the strict presses knew I was only going to do damage to my already achy left shoulder if I tried that weight for 3 more rounds so I shed the 1.25kg weights on either side and dropped down to 28kg for the final 3 sets. Even at this weight I broke up both the front squats and presses rather than doing them in one set of 15 which was the ultimate goal. I always linked the strict presses with the last reps of front squats but put the bar down once on both the front squats and strict presses. It was good though being forced to do strict presses is tough as you want to involve your legs especially as you get tired and this obviously isn’t an option.
Post WOD
Tabata Hollow Body
Again, this is part of Coach Match’s plan to give us six packs for Christmas. I did the first 4 rounds with both my arms and legs stretched out which is a major improvement for me. I could feel the burning in both my upper and lower abs at this point however and while I tried to mostly keep my arms overhead my legs were bending in and at times I was alternating between keeping one extended and the other bent. It was good though I definitely felt the work.
Muscle-Up School
1 minute static ring hold (accumulate time)
Vini pulled out his iphone and him, Ric and myself all did static ring holds – accumulating a minute of holding time. I only managed 10 seconds at a time but did do 6 rounds of it. Definitely hard.
I didn’t do much after that in terms of muscle up school mostly because Coach Match told me to try a static muscle up and I could barely pull myself up at all – didn’t even have a static pull-up at that point.
Mobility
Pecs and lats
Counted/ timed Coach Tim doing the mainsite WOD as well. 100 L-sit pull-ups for time. It was inspiring since those of us who tried it couldn't really get it (so hard) and he did 100. I did however manage to get one strict pull-up before I left and a few kipping HSPU's from an ab-mat.
WLC Day 12 (am losing count)…
Another perfect day. It’s easy during the week. For lunch I had leftover Thai red curry with beef which is my current addiction. I think I’ve made this for the past three weeks. It’s so easy and tasty and the leftovers are awesome and I still want more. I had Angie’s spicy meatballs with zucchini ‘pasta’ for dinner and when I took it out figured I’d split it between dinner and lunch but that didn’t happen. It was so tasty I ate it all up in one go. Thanks Angie.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
9/25 - empty bar thrusters (again!)
Warm-up
300m run
Leg swings
3 rounds:
10 walking lunges
10 air squats with 10 second hold on last one
10 toes to overhead stretch
hip mobility
static toes to bar practice (very hard though Coach Tim called it ‘fun’)
Strength
3-3-3 back squats (working sets)
I went into this thinking my max. back squat was 85 which probably led to me going heavier than I would have otherwise. I started at 40kg to warm up to a heavy weight and then did the same at 50kg. I think jumped to 60kg to see how that went and it felt heavier than I thought it should have (again, still thinking 85kg was my max.). I did the first set and then Coach Tim came by after watching my technique and asked what my 3RM was for back squats – I said ‘this’. Ha. And it was because I can’t ever remember doing heavy 3RM back squats in ages. Anyway, when I went to write my new PR on the white boards I realized that my 1RM back squat was actually 77.5kg and not 85kg. Ooops… and that would be why 60kg did in fact feel heavy.
WOD
10 min AMRAP
30 double-unders
20 thrusters with an empty bar (8/20kg)
10 burpee bar hops
3/50 (Rx, 20kg)
Managed to do all the DU’s unbroken which was a mini-goal I’d set for myself at the beginning of the WOD (and is usually the case when we have DU’s in a WOD – I figure if I can get out decent sets when tired I’ll be that much better when I’m just going for max consecutive DU’s). The empty bar thrusters were plain old mean mostly because they were a movement in the Primal Pairs on the weekend – we used a 20kg bar then and I used a 20kg bar in this WOD as well. As Kayla said the other day – you work into them (maybe she said that about OHS or snatches or something but it’s the overhead part that I find you ‘warm up’ into). The first two rounds really hurt. I think I did 10-10 in round one (painfully) then went 5-5-5-5 for round two. In round three I was back up to 10-5-5 and then rushing to get done in the last minute I did 5-5-5-5 with quick breaks in between. The burpee bar-hops were steady and consistent throughout. It was nice only having the bar on the ground to jump over (without plates). I didn’t really have to stand up but rather had a nice low ‘jump’ over instead of fighting gravity.
I felt good with this one. I knew the thrusters were going to hurt but it was awesome to see everyone using a 20kg bar in the class. All of the girls stepped it up. Super cool. It was also fun to workout (again) with people I don’t get to as often – Ric, Shonelle, Vini… good times and a different feel to the class which was fun.
Post-WOD
Muscle-up school
2-2-2 reverse pull-ups on the rings
Playing around on the full range of motion on banded rings
One of the coaches has added both Pull-up and Muscle-up ‘school’ to the white board. It’s for anyone trying to master those movements and it’s a great idea. It gives more of a focus and set of steps to focus on to get the strength to work into the movements. Since I graduated pull-up school months ago I jumped straight into muscle-up school and there were a few of us working on it (again) last night. Coach Match also helped us with turnout at the bottom of the reverse pull-ups to help us maintain the (oh-so painful) false grip. It was good though I didn’t make it through the whole list of items as I was hurting (mostly in my shoulders).
I also walked the length of the gym on my hands again just for fun – still falling over when I’m trying to make the turn at the other end though my turns are getting better when I’ve only taken a few steps they are still hard after a long ‘walk’.
300m run
Leg swings
3 rounds:
10 walking lunges
10 air squats with 10 second hold on last one
10 toes to overhead stretch
hip mobility
static toes to bar practice (very hard though Coach Tim called it ‘fun’)
Strength
3-3-3 back squats (working sets)
I went into this thinking my max. back squat was 85 which probably led to me going heavier than I would have otherwise. I started at 40kg to warm up to a heavy weight and then did the same at 50kg. I think jumped to 60kg to see how that went and it felt heavier than I thought it should have (again, still thinking 85kg was my max.). I did the first set and then Coach Tim came by after watching my technique and asked what my 3RM was for back squats – I said ‘this’. Ha. And it was because I can’t ever remember doing heavy 3RM back squats in ages. Anyway, when I went to write my new PR on the white boards I realized that my 1RM back squat was actually 77.5kg and not 85kg. Ooops… and that would be why 60kg did in fact feel heavy.
WOD
10 min AMRAP
30 double-unders
20 thrusters with an empty bar (8/20kg)
10 burpee bar hops
3/50 (Rx, 20kg)
Managed to do all the DU’s unbroken which was a mini-goal I’d set for myself at the beginning of the WOD (and is usually the case when we have DU’s in a WOD – I figure if I can get out decent sets when tired I’ll be that much better when I’m just going for max consecutive DU’s). The empty bar thrusters were plain old mean mostly because they were a movement in the Primal Pairs on the weekend – we used a 20kg bar then and I used a 20kg bar in this WOD as well. As Kayla said the other day – you work into them (maybe she said that about OHS or snatches or something but it’s the overhead part that I find you ‘warm up’ into). The first two rounds really hurt. I think I did 10-10 in round one (painfully) then went 5-5-5-5 for round two. In round three I was back up to 10-5-5 and then rushing to get done in the last minute I did 5-5-5-5 with quick breaks in between. The burpee bar-hops were steady and consistent throughout. It was nice only having the bar on the ground to jump over (without plates). I didn’t really have to stand up but rather had a nice low ‘jump’ over instead of fighting gravity.
I felt good with this one. I knew the thrusters were going to hurt but it was awesome to see everyone using a 20kg bar in the class. All of the girls stepped it up. Super cool. It was also fun to workout (again) with people I don’t get to as often – Ric, Shonelle, Vini… good times and a different feel to the class which was fun.
Post-WOD
Muscle-up school
2-2-2 reverse pull-ups on the rings
Playing around on the full range of motion on banded rings
One of the coaches has added both Pull-up and Muscle-up ‘school’ to the white board. It’s for anyone trying to master those movements and it’s a great idea. It gives more of a focus and set of steps to focus on to get the strength to work into the movements. Since I graduated pull-up school months ago I jumped straight into muscle-up school and there were a few of us working on it (again) last night. Coach Match also helped us with turnout at the bottom of the reverse pull-ups to help us maintain the (oh-so painful) false grip. It was good though I didn’t make it through the whole list of items as I was hurting (mostly in my shoulders).
.JPG) |
| My goal... |
I also walked the length of the gym on my hands again just for fun – still falling over when I’m trying to make the turn at the other end though my turns are getting better when I’ve only taken a few steps they are still hard after a long ‘walk’.
Mobility
Pecs, pecs and more pecs
Abs
Did a lot of mobility while sprawled
on the floor chatting with Vini, Shonelle and Ric. It was good to catch up and a great
distraction from the pain (though not entirely)
WLC Day 11
Another good day of eating and I
picked up spicy meatballs from Angie… can’t wait to dig into those. I skipped dinner – had a bit of melon and
then went to bed early because I got some shitty news and had that down feeling
that kind of turned me off of food. Not
a good thing but it was what it was last night and not a habit I’ll get
into. Surprisingly though I didn’t feel
as hungry as I thought I would this morning though my hunger for second
breakfast (two boiled eggs) came earlier than usual today – 9:30am instead of about
10:30. It also means it’s time for
another coffee (typically I only have one) as the morning is going slowly, work
isn’t annoyingly painful at the moment (budgets really suck) and just because
it’s one of those days.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
9/24 - Squat Cleans and WLC Day 9
Today it was back to routine and it felt good. After another Sunday afternoon spent
preparing for the week ahead I felt exhausted but ready to take it on.
I think the swim helped minimize sore muscles but the fatigue is still definitely there but it was back to regular Monday training anyway.
Warm-up
Run 300m
Shuttle sprints back and forth across box (x5)
Shuttle sprints back and forth across box with increasing number of burpees in between (1-2-3-4-5)
Leg swings
Bar work – warm-up in to squat snatches
WOD
12 min AMRAP
9 snatches (45/60kg)
6 pull-ups
100m run
4 (30.5kg/ Rx)
Going into this one I knew I wouldn’t be able to make Rx weight – it’s well above my snatch PR so there’s that, there’s also the tiredness and the number of reps. I thought I’d be anywhere from 35kg on down. As we were warming up and making our way up to the weight we were going to use 28kg felt heavy and so I figured 30.5kg would be a good weight for me today and it was. It was challenging (and heavy at the end) but I was still able to squat snatch it throughout with (fairly) decent technique.
I dumped the bar on the first rep (again!). I remember the last time we did squat snatches (or was it cleans?) in a WOD and I dumped the first two in front of Kayla and remember her both laughing at me and telling me to get my shit together (in that friendly way only Kayla can)… anyway, it happened again. And I realized that I’m trying too hard to rush that first rep in order to “catch up”. You see most people in the WOD get into their set position as the clock starts beeping down 3-2-1 so on ‘Go!’ they are pulling their first rep. I try and stay upright until ‘Go’ as these are typically competition standards – I always notice in my peripheral vision that Kayla does this too. I then try to ‘catch up’ which I should know better than to do as it usually leads me to having poor (rushed) form and clearly dumping the bar more than I should. Slow and steady… I need to remind myself of that – tortoise!
So after dumping the first rep I slowed myself a bit and focused on good technique – slow movement until the knee then exploding, full extension, elbows high and dropping under the bar. It was working well though a few times Coach Match commented that on my set up my butt needs to be down more – hips back – not sure if this is bad form that I’ve fallen into or merely a case of hurt from the weekend. Will have to be mindful of this. I managed to do solid sets throughout – I think mostly in the 3-3-3 fashion while only dumping one more early in the second round as I just didn’t drop as I should have – too much going on in my head and I lost my focus.*
The pull-ups were fairly solid. I love now that I consistently go Rx that I can just jump on any bar that is free to bang them out. I think I did 3-3 or 2-2-2 for most rounds. They went quick – I actually looked forward to them and wanted to get through the squat cleans merely so I could do the pull-ups and then was out the door for a quick run.
On the last round I could see the clock as I was nearing the last 3 squat cleans and had about 30 or so seconds left. I knew I could finish them and quickly push through the pull-ups aiming to get out the door before time expired (as you get to count the run if you’re out before time ends – since you can’t see the clock). I had just gotten around the cars when I heard the beep on the clock and finished off the run to complete a total of 4 rounds. It was a solid effort. I’m happy with it – again, slow and steady is my new mantra on things like this. I need to just focus on me doing the work with good form and technique because ultimately this makes me faster overall. As others around me burnout I just keep going even if I’m slow off the blocks. Dumping the weight because of rushed or poor form only slows me down more in the grand scheme of it all.
*In terms of losing my focus on the lifting – I set up at the back of the room closer to the pull-up bars partly because Coach Match was teasing me the other day on how I always set up right at the front in the same spot all the time so I figured I’d switch it up a bit. I didn’t like it because there was too much movement going on around me. Since I was going heavier and therefore slower I was on the squat snatches longer/ behind everyone so as people were transitioning to the pull-ups bars (which I was right in front of) they were walking very close to me sometimes while I was about to pull the bar off the ground which would steal my focus for a fraction of a second because I was afraid of hitting them/ them hitting me/ dropping the heavy weight/ etc. and it was definitely challenging. Perhaps there is something to me setting up at the front where no one would be walking past me. Another lesson.
Mobility
Shoulder mobility before class – left shoulder is a bit achy from so many things (including not resting it)
Rolled out my back and quads after class
Rode home (oh, guess this doesn’t count but it sure was fun).
WLC Day 10
Another perfect day today – Monday to Friday it’s easy for me – I’m in a routine and I regularly bring all my food. Picked up Brenda’s co-op dish which is waiting for me for dinner tonight – chicken and baked veggies… it looks very tasty!
Dinner last night was some pulled pork that I’d made overnight in the slow cooker slathered in tasty (and garlic/spicy) bbq sauce that I made – I’d give the recipe but it was pretty freestyle – started with a base of WLC compliant tomato paste, added some apple cider vinegar and mustard powder (in substitute of the mustard the recipe called for and which is not WLC compliant). I spiced it up with some garlic powder (too lazy/tired to chop the garlic in the fridge), chili powder and paprika – didn’t measure anything. I also added a few of my ‘date paste ice cubes’ to give it a bit of sweetness. I simmered that all up on the stove and then mixed with the pulled pork. Tasty. I hope Angie and Brenda feel the same. Hee.
I think the swim helped minimize sore muscles but the fatigue is still definitely there but it was back to regular Monday training anyway.
Warm-up
Run 300m
Shuttle sprints back and forth across box (x5)
Shuttle sprints back and forth across box with increasing number of burpees in between (1-2-3-4-5)
Leg swings
Bar work – warm-up in to squat snatches
WOD
12 min AMRAP
9 snatches (45/60kg)
6 pull-ups
100m run
4 (30.5kg/ Rx)
Going into this one I knew I wouldn’t be able to make Rx weight – it’s well above my snatch PR so there’s that, there’s also the tiredness and the number of reps. I thought I’d be anywhere from 35kg on down. As we were warming up and making our way up to the weight we were going to use 28kg felt heavy and so I figured 30.5kg would be a good weight for me today and it was. It was challenging (and heavy at the end) but I was still able to squat snatch it throughout with (fairly) decent technique.
I dumped the bar on the first rep (again!). I remember the last time we did squat snatches (or was it cleans?) in a WOD and I dumped the first two in front of Kayla and remember her both laughing at me and telling me to get my shit together (in that friendly way only Kayla can)… anyway, it happened again. And I realized that I’m trying too hard to rush that first rep in order to “catch up”. You see most people in the WOD get into their set position as the clock starts beeping down 3-2-1 so on ‘Go!’ they are pulling their first rep. I try and stay upright until ‘Go’ as these are typically competition standards – I always notice in my peripheral vision that Kayla does this too. I then try to ‘catch up’ which I should know better than to do as it usually leads me to having poor (rushed) form and clearly dumping the bar more than I should. Slow and steady… I need to remind myself of that – tortoise!
So after dumping the first rep I slowed myself a bit and focused on good technique – slow movement until the knee then exploding, full extension, elbows high and dropping under the bar. It was working well though a few times Coach Match commented that on my set up my butt needs to be down more – hips back – not sure if this is bad form that I’ve fallen into or merely a case of hurt from the weekend. Will have to be mindful of this. I managed to do solid sets throughout – I think mostly in the 3-3-3 fashion while only dumping one more early in the second round as I just didn’t drop as I should have – too much going on in my head and I lost my focus.*
The pull-ups were fairly solid. I love now that I consistently go Rx that I can just jump on any bar that is free to bang them out. I think I did 3-3 or 2-2-2 for most rounds. They went quick – I actually looked forward to them and wanted to get through the squat cleans merely so I could do the pull-ups and then was out the door for a quick run.
On the last round I could see the clock as I was nearing the last 3 squat cleans and had about 30 or so seconds left. I knew I could finish them and quickly push through the pull-ups aiming to get out the door before time expired (as you get to count the run if you’re out before time ends – since you can’t see the clock). I had just gotten around the cars when I heard the beep on the clock and finished off the run to complete a total of 4 rounds. It was a solid effort. I’m happy with it – again, slow and steady is my new mantra on things like this. I need to just focus on me doing the work with good form and technique because ultimately this makes me faster overall. As others around me burnout I just keep going even if I’m slow off the blocks. Dumping the weight because of rushed or poor form only slows me down more in the grand scheme of it all.
*In terms of losing my focus on the lifting – I set up at the back of the room closer to the pull-up bars partly because Coach Match was teasing me the other day on how I always set up right at the front in the same spot all the time so I figured I’d switch it up a bit. I didn’t like it because there was too much movement going on around me. Since I was going heavier and therefore slower I was on the squat snatches longer/ behind everyone so as people were transitioning to the pull-ups bars (which I was right in front of) they were walking very close to me sometimes while I was about to pull the bar off the ground which would steal my focus for a fraction of a second because I was afraid of hitting them/ them hitting me/ dropping the heavy weight/ etc. and it was definitely challenging. Perhaps there is something to me setting up at the front where no one would be walking past me. Another lesson.
Mobility
Shoulder mobility before class – left shoulder is a bit achy from so many things (including not resting it)
Rolled out my back and quads after class
Rode home (oh, guess this doesn’t count but it sure was fun).
WLC Day 10
Another perfect day today – Monday to Friday it’s easy for me – I’m in a routine and I regularly bring all my food. Picked up Brenda’s co-op dish which is waiting for me for dinner tonight – chicken and baked veggies… it looks very tasty!
Dinner last night was some pulled pork that I’d made overnight in the slow cooker slathered in tasty (and garlic/spicy) bbq sauce that I made – I’d give the recipe but it was pretty freestyle – started with a base of WLC compliant tomato paste, added some apple cider vinegar and mustard powder (in substitute of the mustard the recipe called for and which is not WLC compliant). I spiced it up with some garlic powder (too lazy/tired to chop the garlic in the fridge), chili powder and paprika – didn’t measure anything. I also added a few of my ‘date paste ice cubes’ to give it a bit of sweetness. I simmered that all up on the stove and then mixed with the pulled pork. Tasty. I hope Angie and Brenda feel the same. Hee.
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