8/20 – Lifting Day

WOD

Clean Pull 5-5-5-5-5

60-60-65-65-65

Close Grip Bench Press 5-5-5-5-5

35-35-35-35-35 

*Alternate Between Movements.

Was a good little one today – nice to (mostly) rest the legs after all the squatting yesterday.  I didn’t realize it until well after but I did a solid and strong clean pull on 80kg in the warm-up.  I jumped onto Cam and Sean’s bar (thinking it was 70kg) because I had 60kg on my bar and wanted to see if that would be okay – it was a bit on the heavy side so I stuck with 60kg, I think had I know I might have jumped to 65kg sooner or even 70kg but alas, it was what it was. 

Got some good feedback from Coach Hayden, he said my knees were coming in right from the start so I worked on correcting that and it felt a lot stronger.  Coach Tara also noted that I was pulling back a little (instead of just straight up), great to have the little things to think about.

The bench press was pretty solid throughout – like push-ups it’s hard on my shoulder so I don’t go too heavy on it but managed all the sets quite well.

8/10 - Saturday Sports Class

1) Back Squats

10x3rep @85% (+ 5kg's to last week)

10x3 @73kg

2) Comp WOD

9min AMRAP of;
3 Muscle-ups 6 pull-ups/ 6 dips
6 Thrusters 60/42.5kg

4 +6 pull-ups + 6 dips (30kg thrusters)

3) 10 x 100m Sprints
*rest will be determind by your group/partners 

No time for these (thankfully!!!)

It always feels like I’ve just left when I return for Saturday sports class.  It also feels like the sun shining is really the only difference – it barely feels like I’ve had a nights sleep to rest and this was especially true after the rope climbs and KB swings of last night.  My shoulders were heavy when I woke up and my legs just tired.  You can imagine how much I was looking forward to more squatting but alas, the burpee rule still applies – no negative talk about backsquats or you guessed it… burpee penalty (self-imposed).

Anyway, we started with a full hour to get through the back squats.  This was sufficient time and I managed to get them all done without failing any even though the weight was actually 91% of my 1RM backsquat (really curious to see what it will be after all this).  Worked through with Sacha which was good, we got a chance to chat and work on our hip mobility in between sets.  I tried to rest a minimum of 3 minutes between rounds which at times was closer to 4 or 5 which was needed.  I also had Sacha spot me for most of them as well again, ‘just in case’ because of how I was feeling.  You just never know and since we’re not supposed to drop the bar but rather get through the movement it worked to be aware.

Following this we set up for the WOD.  I usually love going first but when the girls (Ali and Sacha) made me go first without thought I almost dreaded it.  I had no motivation or desire as I was just so physically exhausted.  I kept the weight low on the thrusters and knew that with the current state (still) of my hands I wasn’t going to get c2b (what we were supposed to scale to) so I just did pull-ups and dips (on the bars, not the rings),  It was still crazy hard.  I didn’t even think about counting (had Ali for that thankfully) and when Sacha asked me at the end how many rounds I’d gotten I truly had no idea and I really didn’t care.  I had to ask Ali.  This WOD however for me what just to focus on each movement and get through them rather than racing the clock or whatnot.  I had to break up the pull-ups because of my hands and then dips were the part that failed first.  They are similar to HSPU’s in that when they go they go so you need to back off before failure.  It was still tough but I made it through (mostly) the full range of motion.  I struggled but it was one of those days.  The thrusters felt solid – Coach Hayden told me to keep my elbows up and really drive through which made a huge difference and definitely made me feel stronger (as could be on the day).

Followed it up with a well earned breakfast of pancakes and bacon and eggs which I struggled to eat with a knife and fork as I could barely lift my arms at this point (I think the feeling was similar for many who had done the Friday night WOD).  I had to use two hands to hold my coffee.  Hard times.  Timmy and Jack came by Foam though - awesome to catch up with them too and compare rope climb marks.  Miss you boys!

Rest day Sunday – so happy!!

7/16 – Clean and Jerk Redo!

Another repeat from back in April.  Wasn’t sure what to expect (actually had no real expectations) but kind of did want (still do!) 65kg. 

WOD

20minutes

Find 1RM Clean and Jerk

60kg

Then 

15, 10, 5​

Strict Pull Up​ Ring Row

Sit Up​

Kettlebell Swing 25/16kg​

3:04 Rx KB

Was fun to work with Ali again and we pretty much smashed through the CJ’s with only 20 minutes.  I think our first warm-up set was at 40kg.  The we did 50 for a few reps, 55-57.5-60-63(f)-64(f).

Didn’t manage to increase my CJ 1RM but had  a few attempts one at 63kg and one at 64kg.  Managed to squat clean them both up (new 1RM squat clean at 64kg!) but couldn’t lock out the jerk – though did get them both sufficiently over my head.  On the last one (64kg) Ali told me that she could see the doubt on my face and Coach Hayden noted that I lost it on the dip – my shoulder just crumpled so I didn’t have much drive upward (not surprising).  Still really happy with this – my squat clean has always been pretty weak (and I couldn’t do 65kg in sports class not that long ago) so this was a good feeling overall. 

In the WOD I repeated what I had done last time to compare even though the ring rows were quite easy for me.  I did them all unbroken – actually I did the entire WOD unbroken not even stopping to chalk up.  I started strong and was the first to the sit-ups and KB swings and when most people are either still at the bars or on their backs on the floor I felt pretty badass swinging the KB (understandably those doing strict PU’s were not as fast).  Anyway, that feeling stuck with me and I really just wanted to smash the WOD.  I finished first (probably for the first time ever at SXF) and knew that I had really pushed myself but also could see the progress I have been making overall to just keep going.  I liked it.  It felt solid.

Sports Extra WOD

This was good.  Managed to get another PR – in the class on Saturday when we tested our max attempt at strict HSPU’s I only managed to get 6.  What I didn’t consider at the time was that we had a very shoulder heavy (literally) warm-up which involved two 200m overhead plate carries (walking speed only) with a 400m team relay prowler push in between.  Needless to say by after the warm-up and max strict pull-up attempt my shoulders were pretty done and then we did the HSPU’s.  I didn’t think I could get all the reps out but I managed to do an unbroken set of 12 strict HSPU’s to 1 abmat.  Win!  Can’t tell you the rest though… secrets.  Haha.

7/4 – Happy ‘Tabata’ Day

Or for my American friends – Happy 4^th of July and since I’m clearly becoming such a bad Canadian – Happy (belated) Canada Day! To be fair, I was barely moving on Canada Day after the weekend of competing, I kind of ignored it completely – like I said, bad Canadian.

WOD

Tabata-Tabata-Tabata

8 rounds (20 seconds on 10 seconds rest) of each then rotate

V-ups

Push Press (40/30kg)

Box Jumps (30/24”)

Score = lowest from each round

10-8-6 = 24

We broke into three groups for this one and I started on the v-ups and progressed in order as noted above.  I picked a number for each movement and tried to stick with it – the v-ups started out ok, I had about 10 seconds to rest in the early rounds and though I managed to keep 10 throughout by the last round I just snuck in the last rep.

I knew that the push press were going to be heavy as my shoulders are still hurting from the weekend (when 30 kg shoulder to overhead was oh-so-humbling) so I chose to just do the empty bar and that was a good decision just so I could maintain good form and not put extra stress on my back.  I did all the rounds unbroken and had an extra 10 seconds or so rest each round but it was a good choice, no need to do high reps even at low weight when I’m still trying to recover – Coach Hayden supported this decision as well which was great.

I started out the box jumps with 8 reps thinking it should be doable but apparently my legs are also still recovering from all the jumping on the weekend.  Where 24” would normally be easy for me to rebound I just couldn’t do it consistently last night.  It didn’t take long either for my left calve to tighten up again as it did the last time I did the high box jumps in Melbourne (not good).  So I stopped rebounding most of them, I’m jump up and down and then go again rather than bouncing right back up.  Coach Claire came around telling me to lock out on one of them – I’d just lost my balance – but I’d already no-repped myself on that one.  Better to do the quality reps in practice so that it translates into competition.

Was a good little workout – glad that the v-ups came first as they would have been much harder had they come when I was already breathing heavy.

6/30 – Primal Throwdown 2013 – Day 2

Another crazy early morning in which my body did not want to get out of bed.  Thankfully I was already in my compression tights and therefore half dressed to start the morning.  Everything was a bit sore and all I wanted to do was stay warm in bed, sadly I couldn’t.

Got back to the Claremont Showgrounds – the venue this year was perfect – to sign in and warm up for Day 2.

WOD #5

9 minute cut-off

50-40-30-20-10

Double Unders

25-20-15-10-5

Wall balls (14lb ball to 10’ target)

5-4-3-2-1

Power clean (35kg)

9:06 (3^rd place)

I really liked this one – perhaps because it was where I peaked on the weekend – but it was definitely my kind of WOD. 

The double unders were solid – my initial plan was to do 30-35 then finish with the rest but was in a groove and feeling good so focused on staying relaxed and kept going knowing I would struggle the most on the wall balls.  I managed to get through the 50 unbroken and was super stoked – there’s something that makes you feel a little badass being the first to walk off your mat and onto the next movement. I was feeling good. 

The wall balls were a bit of a challenge – between the sore body and the bit of extra height (minor) but mostly because it was a target sticking out from the rig and not an actual wall.   On a wall you can look at the ground and have a good idea where you want to be standing, on the target it’s a bit more challenging – there were a few times where I’d slowly move forward and end up a bit too far under the target to make it easy on me so there was a lot of focus on where I was standing.  My body kind of warmed up into the wall balls – I thought going in that this would be the place where I’d have a lot of chance to breath but turns out there really wasn’t anywhere in the WOD to breathe except in the transitions – it was definitely a lung burner.  There were times (a lot of them) where I’d almost shot put the wall ball – using mainly my right arm to get it onto the target – like shooting hoops rather than using both arms, I’m not sure why as I can’t recall ever doing this before but it seemed to work so I wasn’t going to change it.

I got to the first set of cleans in front and all I can remember is Jono somewhere in the middle of the floor with the microphone make a comment about me wearing the ‘Beast Mode’ tank.  It made me laugh.  The cleans felt heavy (35kg isn’t much on a  normal day) though with it being 5 reps or less they were all unbroken and quite quick.  Back to the DU’s and again, mostly unbroken.  I did make a few errors – counting the reps in my head wasn’ t goo as twice I thought I was done and Nine who was judging me told me I had one rep left and I had to pick up the rope and get it done – definitely lost some time there.  Lesson learned – keep going til your judge tells you to stop.  I struggled through all the wall balls but still managed to stay neck and neck with Hannah in my heat – she’d get ahead on the wall balls, I’d catch up on the double unders.  At the end of it all Steph and I ended up tied for 3^rd (in our different heats) and it was a solid effort for us both – would have liked to finish but just didn’t have it – probably would have if it was a day where I wasn’t hurting already.

There was a cut of the bottom 10 after this WOD – only 20 moving through to WOD #6.  Steph, Naydine and I all made I through.

WOD #6

7 minute cut-off

Sled push (85kg)

21-15-9

Shoulder to overhead (30kg)

Toes to bar

Sled push

7:18 (16^th place)

I peaked on WOD #5 and it went downhill from this point onward – my shoulders were absolutely destroyed.  It’s amazing how 30kg can actually feel so heavy.  My mind wanted it but my body was starting to suffer.

Exhausted (photo by Kevin Frankie Reid)

The sled push wasn’t too bad – I think we were all more nervous about it that we should have been – I know I was.  It wasn’t too bad and a quick buy in before picking up the bar.  The only advice Steph gave me before this WOD was to go unbroken on the shoulder to overheads – since I was mostly worried about the t2b I thought this would be a good plan and I really wanted to stick with it but it became apparent early on that I wouldn’t be able to.  I did the first 11 then had to put the bar down, I’m not sure how it went after that but I do know that I was having trouble – lots of it.  I had to start split jerking them in a bit of an awkward half split jerk way – to stay on the mat my legs were split and bent but not fully.  There was another rep that I just dropped – we had the small plates on our bars so weren’t allowed to drop them but I couldn’t lock out and the bar pulled behind me and I just had to let it go.  Ryan looked my way but immediately saw what happened and didn’t bother to come over to say anything – I really had no choice.  

Mini-split jerk (photo by Kevin Frankie Reid)

Surprisingly in comparison, the t2b went fairly well.  The first round I was last to the bar which meant I had to jump up on the high bar on the back of the rig – there were two green plates underneath it to help with the height though I stood on them and the bar was still miles away.  Nine was judging me again and couldn’t give me a boost so we both started calling Jase over who was floating around.  He gave me a boost and then I knew I had to stay up there for a big set as it took me so long to get there and because I didn’t know how I’d get back up if I dropped down so I pulled out 7 which felt good.  I came down and then Nine pointed me to a lower bar that I could jump to so I could finish it off.

t2b (photo by Kevin Frankie Reid)

I managed to sneak in one rep on the round of 9 shoulder to overhead but really wasn’t happy with my result.  This is a WOD I’d definitely like to do again when fresh just to see how it compares.  I can’t put into words how much my shoulders ached on this one but I think anyone who was watching could see (and was likely a little surprised) by the struggle I put up on the shoulder to overheads.  Ah well, the comp continued on.

There was another cut to the final 10 at this point, I was still hanging in there thanks to my performances on day 1. Steph was making a steady climb up the leader board as well and the two of us made it to WOD #7.

WOD #7

8 minute AMRAP

Ascending ladder (1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4…) of

Chest to rings

Walking lunge (32kg axel bar)

23 reps  (10^th place)

I could have done way better on this one –way better.  It just goes to show you how skills matter.  I definitely need more time playing on the rings.  It took me half of the workout to figure out how best to get my chest to the rings – I was trying more like a c2b pull-up where I was mostly vertical whereas the trick on the rings was to basically lay back horizontally and pull your chest up.  Easy now when I play around with it but in the heat of the moment an epic struggle.  My judge was amazing trying to help me through and even Ryan came over a few times to help out.  Once I figured it out I got through a few more rounds quite quickly but unfortunately I had just run out of time. 

Again, I thought going in that the lunges would be the struggle with the tiredness of my legs and having to clean the axel bar (though not heavy I had struggled with the 30kg in the previous WOD so anything was possible).  Turns out the lunges weren’t too bad nor was cleaning the axel bar but the rings were my downfall.   Like I said, I peaked in WOD #5.  Again, this is a WOD I’d like to do again just to see what difference a little practice and rest does for me. 

concentration (photo by Kevin Frankie Reid)

 Overall I finished in 9^th for the weekend.  I was up in 6^th after WOD #5 and would have liked to stay up there (bettering my 7^th from last year) but it wasn’t to be.  I was happy though to finish off top 10 (goal for the weekend) and to make it through all the WODs.  I definitely have to work on quick recovery and doing back to back WODs in preparation for next year after tanking in WODs 6 and 7 but that will come.  Most of all though, I’m excited to get back to training with my gals and working on my weaknesses and becoming more badass overall ready to do it all again at the next comp.  Anyone want to be my partner for primal pairs?

And to wrap it all up… it was a fantastic weekend - I am super proud of my Southern family for putting on an amazing and truly high caliber event – a huge thanks to the volunteers/ judges who were outstanding – from the encouragement and coaching to just honestly wanting each and every one of us to do our best with integrity throughout – it made our work as athletes that bit easier.  And to all the athletes – thanks for making me better by pushing me to meet your best every time we stepped onto the floor. We all became stronger this weekend in so many ways. To everyone who came down to cheer and photograph us with our sweaty faces and crazy workout faces – another big thank you – every time I was in the middle of it all I felt that extra boost of energy when someone called my name, you all own a piece of my achievement.   And to Steph, Naydine and Brydie – it was so much fun to be competing alongside you in the workouts – I love training with you each and every day in the box and this made me want to get right back in there and get stronger and better and faster for next year right alongside you all.  I can’t believe it’s over for a another year.

Sorry for all the stolen photos – I didn’t take any on the weekend – my priorities were elsewhere. Haha.

6/19 - 'Dirty 30'

Well, I was planning on taking yesterday as a rest day after ‘Diane’ and ‘Karen’ and the aching shoulders still from the weekend but I’ve never done Dirty 30 (or Filthy 50) for that matter and I always love me a good chipper so… I had to go to this.  I wasn’t sure about the wall balls, or the lunges, or really anything that required the use of my legs but I was game.

As a side note – I forgot to mention – when I got in the car after ‘Karen’ I almost didn’t think I’d be able to drive home – when I stepped on the clutch my leg started shaking uncontrollably.  It was a fun little journey with me sitting in neutral at all the lights and throwing it back into first at the last minute before having to accelerate.  Ah crossfit, the things you do to me.

We had a pretty quick warm-up and mobility session – the air squats were a killer but got through them then it was a whole lot of set up for the WOD – it was organized though – as much as could be – different areas for each movement with some of us choosing to throw our ropes outside to finish up out there (a good call overall).

WOD 'Dirty 30'

30 Box jump, 24 inch box

30 Jumping pull-ups

30 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood (16kg/12)

Walking Lunge, 30 steps

30 Knees to elbows

30 Push press, 20kg/15

30 Back extensions

30 Wall ball shots, 10kg/5 ball

30 Burpees

30 Double unders

12:38 Rx

I was in the first group to go and was planning on breaking up the box jumps into sets of 10 but the boys around me didn’t stop and so neither did I.  I think I almost ate it at about 14 reps – not so pretty – box felt really, really high – but kept going pretty much unbroken.  I got off the box jumps fairly quickly overall but that hurt me on the jumping pull-ups – my legs started to rebel.  I think I did three sets of 10 or something, just trying to get through them as quick as possible.  The kettlebell swings were super light which was amazing – I was trying to minimize use of my legs on this knowing that the lunges and wall balls were still ahead.  My arms felt good and I went unbroken quite quickly.  The walking lunges hurt way less that I expected – way less than they did the other week in sports class though then we had a 15kg plate overhead.  They were over fast and it was on to knees to elbow – I swear this is worse than toes to bar.  It was a painful struggle all around but got through them – broke them up quite a bit though – I think 10-10 then 5-5. 

Similar to the KB swings, I tried to minimize use of my legs on the push press – again, 15kg was light so it wasn’t too hard to strict press it mostly, tiny little dip-drive only.  I did them in two sets of 15.  The back extensions really hurt though I was pushing to get done in the time cap – knowing that the wall balls and burpees would take me some time.  I tried to minimize the rest and get done with them, moving on to the wall balls.  I wasn’t wearing my oly shoes or my knee sleeves which felt odd but there were only 30 reps.  My form wasn’t great – Coach Hayden at one point commented to both Ali and I to stay on our heels – good cue, not great follow through from me.  My intent was to do three sets of 10 but that fell apart rather quick.  10-8-4-4-4.  I was aiming for 8-7-5 but couldn’t hold on after those 4 reps.  It killed and so did the burpees.  I did three sets of 10 moving ever closer to the door between each, finishing the last set of 10 outside (thankfully it was cooler out there).  I then grabbed my rope for the DU’s which went quick thankfully though I did stuff up once.  It hurt but I’m happy that I did it, that I survived and that I came in under the time cap.  I can’t imagine doing this for 50 reps of each but I’m sure the day will come.

It was funny afterward both in thinking about the WOD and watching the next class go through parts of it – I mentally blocked some of it out – I know I did it but can’t quite remember doing it/ it was a blur.  I guess in some ways that might be a good thing?  Or perhaps the pain was just too bad.  Who knows.  Definitely earned tonight as a rest day.  My body needs it as I can barely sit down/ get up from my chair.   Ugh.

6/1 – Sports Class

WOD #1

9-13 minute Virtuosity Session

3 rounds

5-10 HSPU (strict)

20 pistols

5-10 pull-ups (strict)

5 strict HSPU/20 pistols/3 strict pull-ups

This was a fun warm-up.  Coach Hayden explicitly told us if we finished before the 9 minute mark that he’d make us do burpees until everyone else had finished.  The goal was good form not to speed through.  I wasn’t sure about the strict HSPU’s as it’s been a while since I’ve done them but they worked.  I did sets of 5 unbroken down to 2 ab mats/ an abmat on a plate.  The pistols got easier as I got into it more and they started to flow as I bounced out of the bottom.  The strict pull-ups really hurt my shoulder even though I only did 3 reps each round.  Not the best idea.  Oops.

WOD #2

EMOM5

10 shoulder to overhead (40/60kg)

10 pull-ups

30kg (missed minutes 2 and 4)

This was tough and I was smart to drop the weight down from Rx.  Given that my abs still ached something fierce I struggled a lot.  It (surprisingly?) takes a ton of core strength/ activation to do both shoulder to overhead and pull-ups.  The rule was that if you didn’t finish the 20 reps in the minute then you’d miss a round and have to wait to the start of the next minute to go again.  As such I missed both the second and fourth minutes as it took me about 10-15 seconds over the minute to finish the reps.

WOD #3

5 rounds

250m row

5 backsquats

Bailed after 1 round and a 250m row

I went light on the backsquats (40kg I think) and still bailed after the row on the second round as I was hurting.  My abs were no longer working at all and rather than set myself back further by pushing I walked away.  I could barely even row so it was a good thing.  Instead while everyone finished up I worked on trying to stretch my abs a bit – this still hurt but also probably helped a little in the long run.  It sucked to walk away, I rarely ever do this but I also have learned over time that I need to listen to my body and not push beyond the sore/ tired to the hurt phase, it’s a fine line and a struggle to face sometimes but in this case I still feel like it was the right one.