8/6 – Split Jerks and Presses

WOD

1-1-1-1-1

Split Jerk

55-57.5-60-62.5(f)-62.5(f)

Then

3-3-3

Strict Press

37.5(x2)-35(x2)-35-36

Worked this one with Ali which was fun though the lifting not so much.  Learned a few things though – one – my right shoulder is W-E-A-K… I got under the last 62.5 try though couldn’t lock out my right shoulder (left one was good).  Sucked to fail twice on that one but honestly wasn’t feeling it much either.  Used my belt for them though after sacrificing form a little in the Saturday Sports WOD (at 55kg).

The strict press was interesting.  I did the 37.5kg in warm-up – clearly I had higher expectations that I could actually do and only managed two reps hence dropping back to 35kg for the working sets.  I failed the first one at 35kg by only getting out two reps – turns out that Ali and I learned that if you breathe/ tighten up for the next rep when the bar is locked out over head it’s much easier to push through the rep – trying to breath and tighten in the rack position leads to getting ‘stuck’ down there and it becomes much harder.  That helped though a bit too late.  Happy to get the 36kg set though as that was hard.  Given my 1RM is currently 38kg I’m quite happy with how these turned out.

A little more extra work after all this – it’s becoming quite the thing with training now – 2 hour sessions at a minimum each night – lots of mobility work and recovery focus needed but I’m coping.  Heavy squats might kill me sooner rather than later but we’ll see.

8/5 - Tabata...

WOD

Tabata

20 seconds work / 10 seconds rest

Sit Ups

Thrusters 42.5/30kg

Pull Ups

Rowing (meters)

* Score equals Total Reps

993 Rx

Managed to keep consistent numbers for all movements (not sure about the row splits).  I (barely) held on to 12 sit-ups for each round which was solid as it took the entire 20 seconds to get through them.  I held back on the thrusters and only did 4 each round (consistently) with about 10 extra seconds of rest – my legs were feeling a little fried from having done the backsquats before class.  I did feel solid however squat cleaning the bar and going straight into the first thruster.

For the pull-ups I held 5 reps per round which though not many (again, an extra 8-10 seconds of rest a round) were enough given the current state of my hands (healing still from ‘Nate’).  I felt solid and my kip is quite small in order for me to get my chin above the bar.  It’s changing a bit now to be more compact and in many ways almost feels a bit like butterfly movement – need to work on those again.

The row was really hard at the end of it all.  It truly hurt especially as it felt like as soon as you stopped Coach Scotty was already going 3-2-1… to go again.  Rough.  My butt and hamstrings were pretty tight again (still?) and that didn’t help.  Was happy though to maintain a low 1:50’s/ 500m split throughout even though I had to close my eyes and try not to cry near the end. 

So close to a score of 1000 – if only I had done 1 extra thruster or pull-up each round  - would have made the difference.  Oh well.  What can you do?

We had yoga prescribed for our extra work tonight which was blissful, truly.  I need more childs pose in my life – my hip flexors definitely woke up from the class.  Necessary beyond the work I’ve already been doing to keep them going (and there has been a ton of hip mobility going on).

8/3 – Saturday Sports Class – Backsquats and Hard ‘Cindy’

Strength

10x3 backsquats at 85% 1RM

10x3 @68kg

WOD

Harder ‘Cindy’

5 c2b pull-ups

10 hand release push-ups

15 air squats

2-4-6-8-10 Clean and Jerks (70/50kg)

15:09 (9 CJ’s left)

As Coach Jono wrote on the board for the strength – Squat Mother F*cker… and that it was.  Especially back to back days.  We had about 50 minutes to work through it though so solid amount of rest which was necessary.  Definitely glad it was only sets of 3.  Worked with Steph which was fun as it was a chance to gossip.

Harder ‘Cindy’ was hard.  Fun though it a twisted way.  Essentially it’s 5 rounds of ‘Cindy’ with c2b and HR push-ups though in between each round you do heavy CJ’s in ascending reps (2-4-6-8-10).  There was also a 15 minute cut-off.

I didn’t do c2b as my hands are still pretty torn from doing ‘Nate’ and they just hurt.  I had plenty of height for each rep but my chest wasn’t hitting – probably a good thing given the size of the bruise that I already have.

The HR push-ups felt fairly good given that I haven’t been doing many push-ups at all lately.  And the air squats were just steady – almost great without weight and the amount of backsquatting we’ve been doing.

The CJ’s was the equalizer.  It’s where it slowed down a lot.  50kg is quite heavy though thankfully Coach Jono let us power clean if we wanted (that rarely is an option).  My power cleans were ugly, feet wide ugly however my legs were completely against dropping under the bar so that’s how it went.  I had some solid jerks though, they felt good and I only lost one of them over my head without locking it out so I was happy.

I didn’t finish – I managed to get one rep done on the last round of 10 CJ’s before the cut off.  And that left me pretty shattered.  Glad to have gotten through it though.

8/2 – Row, row, row… row

Today’s WOD was tough.  Painful even would be a good description.

We have been doing a ton of squatting lately and though it’s paying off in many aspects it has made my legs feel quite fatigued so it only took one sprint on the rower to get them screaming.

WOD

4 x 500m row

(2:1 rest to row)

1.51-1.54-1.55-1.56

The

4 x max effort watt row

330-316-317-328

Was quite happy to keep a (relatively) consistent time throughout the four sets.  I have to really credit Ali though on that last one – I was ready to just give up with about 150m or so left and she saw it all over my face.  Coach Claire actually said she looked at me and thought I was going to cry.  Anyway, at that moment Ali said ‘Don’t you dare give up now’ or something along those lines, completely reading my mind and spurning me on to finish strong.  I didn’t have it left in my mental game – I didn’t even want to do the last two rounds so it definitely helped push me.  My legs however were burning and cramped. In between  I couldn’t even sit down as my glutes were so cramped and it hurt.  Agony I tell you.  Why we saved squats until after the WOD was something I wasn’t sure about at the time.

Turns out part two of the WOD actually helped get everything feeling better again – a good flush of the lactic acid from my muscles.  Essentially you watch the wattage on the rower and you keep going as the number is increasing and the second that it drops you are done and record that wattage. It’s cool as it’s a direct output of power.  I played around on the damper setting for the first 3 rounds (5, 7, 3) then went back to 5 for the last just as a comparison.  It’s good to know where abouts I should be. 

Took a lot out of me but we all moseyed on over to do the extra work – good times on a Friday night.

7/31 – ‘Nate’

There are more parts of my body this morning angry at me than there are not and I’m somewhat happily enjoying this.  Last night was solid.  Definitely not easy but it felt good.  We are 2.5 weeks into the new Sports Extra programming and everyone is still going strong and more importantly getting strong(er).  A few people made this comment last night and I can’t help but agree.

Every movement containing squats feels solid these days – cleans, snatches (minus my mental headcase-ness), CJ’s… the list goes on.  And then there is the fact that in the past two weeks I’ve solidly acquired chest to bar pull-ups and have the bruises to show for it.  They are there now whenever I want them, not just sometimes and not ‘almost-but-just-not-quite’.  Included on the list too – Rx HSPU’s.  Yup, did these in a WOD last night and some sets unbroken too. 

I’m feeling stronger and more important than that my body is adapting – there are days still that I’m a little sore or tired or my legs feel heavy but I’m not hurting, the programming is varied so that we’re not smashing the same muscles day after day – the variety is amazing and I’m excited for each new WOD, I’m learning to love squats (or at least trying to say it until I do) and the feeling of us all working through the extra bits together makes it that much more amazing – we truly are in this together and when it comes down to competition time we will be that much stronger as a group for it.  Bring it on… I’m looking forward to continuing this journey.

WOD

‘Nate’

AMRAP 20

2 muscle-ups 4 c2b pull-ups

4 HSPU’s

8 KB Swings (24/32kg)

10/1* (Rx HSPU/ Rx KB Swings)

*2 c2b completed

First off let’s talk about ‘Nate’ – he’s a bit of a jerk (in a really good way) though I did make a comment last night in a joking manner that I didn’t know who he was but… Here’s what I know, he’s a hero.  That’s all that matters but I think today I should also learn more.  From crossfit.com… this is Nate:

In honor of Chief Petty Officer Nate Hardy, who was killed Sunday February 4th during combat operations in Iraq.  Nate is survived by his wife, Mindi, and his infant son Parker.

Nate did a number on me last night – I finished the WOD sweaty and worn out, shirt off (for the first time ever at SXF) and hand bloody and I kind of loved every minute of it.

It wasn’t a WOD that was a lung burner, it was heavy, it was steady and long though the time ticked by quite quickly.  Most of the movements I tried to do unbroken unless I feel off the wall on the HSPU’s (a few times) or my hands started to tear near the end – then I broke up the C2B.   I am pretty sure that it’s only the second time that I’ve swung the 24kg KB for more than a few reps and I was determined not to break up any of the sets even though brining the KB down was what in the end caused my hands to tear open (and bleed).  Oops.

This was the first workout that I managed to HSPU’s Rx for the entire WOD.  I’m feeling strong.  I did a few sets unbroken though for some was struggling to stay on the wall (with my feet). Coach Scotty came around at one point and told me to stop looking at the ground and to cast my eyes forward which made a huge difference – an amazing cue. 

I loved this WOD.  I loved it even as my hands tore and started to bleed (they didn’t really hurt until it was over).  It was funny too, about a minute after I realized that I had torn my hand Coach Scotty shouts to the class – ‘Stop before you tear your hands’.  Too late but I didn’t mind, I wasn’t stopping as I felt too good with it all.  Did most of my c2b mixed grip but at one point because of the tear I did one regular grip and it still was no problem – love it.  I saw Cam on a few of the sets early on where we were much on pace and when I could string together my c2b I was actually ahead of him (and secretly loved it!)

I was happy with my score.  I had no idea where I was at as I couldn’t see the number on the clicker I just pushed the button after each round.  I had a nice little compact corner in the back of the room so I didn’t have to move around much and the people around me were all good at cheering for each other which helped as the WOD progressed.  So Nate, as much of a jerk as you may have been I kind of loved you all the same.  Til we meet again and I know we will.