Tuesday, October 30, 2012

10/29 - More clean and jerks, more PR's...


So there were a lot of PR’s set yesterday at the box, more specifically there were a lot of PR’s published on facebook throughout the day which after many comments and iterations clearly outlined that we’d be doing C&J’s and there was a lot of time to pull off PR’s.  After power clean and jerking 50kg on Sunday at Tim’s I was ready to see how far I could go.  Needless to say I was excited all day and ready to do it once I got there.

Warm-up
300m run
Leg swings
Partner sprints (with resistant bands)
Air squats
Shoulder mobility
Air squats
Barbell warm-up

We spent a good 25 minutes on the warm-up which worried me a bit as I knew that trying to go heavy in only 20 minutes would be tough – need adequate rest between heavy reps and also I need to work up to heave and I didn’t want to be rushed – the benefit of strength in the Albert Street Gym – usually unlimited lifting time – you just go until you’re done not until time runs out.

WOD
1-1-1-1
Clean and Jerk
28-40-45-50-52.5-55-57.5(f)-57.5 PR

Did the warm-up with the 8kg bar and then knowing that I’d started at 35kg on Sunday started at a higher weight than I usually would (due to time as noted above).  I did a couple of reps at 28kgs just to get used to the squat clean aspect of the lift (the hardest part typically for me, especially with the lighter weight that I can easily power clean).  I knew that if I was going really heavy I’d need to squat clean and I also know that just jumping right into squat cleans at heavy weight doesn’t work either (watch the guys from the Crossfit Games clean ladder – I think Froning started with squat cleans from the start for this reason as did many others). 

I really tried to focus on my squat clean and keep this solid though as the bar got heavier it was the scarier part for me and took the most out of me mentally to just pick up the bar for phase 1.  It was odd as well that my hands felt like they were in the wrong spot on in the rack position but I think that maybe that was just because of the quantity of work that my shoulders had been through in the two days. 

I jumped up to 40k on the second set mostly because I was switching from the 8kg bar to the 20kg bar and it is just how it went.  As I progressed from there I started shadowing Kayla for a bit – going 45 then 50 but knew I needed to stop that if I was going to PR so I started taking smaller increases to work up.  The jerk portion never truly got that hard as I was going – it was more fighting through the squat cleans.  I dumped the 57.5kg on the first try as I didn’t get it balanced overhead though it was high enough (clearly) as it went behind me – I just stepped forward.  I think it looked worse to Kayla who only caught it out of her peripheral vision – it did feel like it dropped in slo-mo though.

Coach Match came by after that attempt and told me that while I am fast at dropping under the bar/ locking it out – I’m a bit too slow (fractions) in my dip/explosion, he said if I could get just slightly faster then there would be that extra tenth of a second of lightness in the bar that would make it effortless – and it did.  I knew I had the 57.5kg lift in me (I really wanted 60kg but my squat clean was getting tough even at 57.5).  At this point it was 5:45 (class ending time) but I was giving it one more go.  I pushed through the squat clean (barely) and as Coach Match instructed really focused on speed on the front portion of the jerk and it was solid – much easier.  I loved it and yes, there was more PR dancing and lots of hugs – specifically for Coach Tim who knew how badly I wanted it.  Also hugs for Jaimie who is finally back (woo-hoo) – haven’t seen him forever and still love that he calls me all things short.  Also for Bonnie who I haven’t had much time to catch up with lately and also more for Tim because he’s awesome… haha.  It was a pretty fantastic evening after being built up (in my head) all day.  Two PRs in two days… now I know why Tim lifts all the time – it feels amazing.

Mobility
Glutes
Shoulders
Hanging from pull-up bar
Beat swings (for fun – these feel so different/easier now)

WLC
Made a couple of new ‘recipes’ Sunday night for food for this week – first off was mango chicken (yay, mango season is back) with capsicum and sweet onion served to Brenda and Angie (tonight) with a side of roasted brussel sprouts (veggie challenge this week).  The other was stuffed capsicum – stuffed with a mixture of beef mince, onion, diced zucchini and mushrooms – cooked these in the slow cooker (beef mince was raw when stuffed) and they are fantastic – I added the extra mixture just into the bottom and it was so tasty.  Highly recommend both though they’re ‘recipes’ I don’t  have any how-tos… I just tend to wing it but it still ends up tasty!

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