7/2 – The Push of Going Second

Back at the box tonight – the WOD didn’t look too bad to get me moving again after the comp on the weekend.  Monday was spent sleeping in and chilling out and barely moving – my back was still pretty messed up, made me feel like I was 100 years old.  Still a little sore getting to Southern and even moreso as we progressed through the warm-up – hello back extensions (ouch) and demo-ing KB CJ’s (at least it was only 12kg).  But I survived that and then we partnered up for the WOD

WOD

12-9-6-9-12

Pull-ups

Sit-ups

100m run

7:30ish*

*battery was dead on the gym clock from the weekend so although the coaches still timed us with stopwatches I have no idea how long it took me, somewhere around 7:30 I think.  I don’t really care, just wanted to do it.

Partnered up with Naydine (yay!) who when asked the million dollar question ‘do you want to go first or second?’ responded with the only right answer there could ever be ‘first!’.  I usually hate going second mostly because you see full on how hard the WOD is and specifically where.  Knowing that you still have to follow that is often hard though at times can be a bonus if you figure out a better strategy (though not usually the case with the gals I train with).  Anyway, no biggie – I think part of me was okay with this underneath it all because I really had no desire to do much of anything (laziness full on).

Naydine rocked it – she was worried about her pull-ups before starting then busted out 6 solids ones to start.  She kept up the big sets throughout setting the bar high for my turn – hence the title of this post ‘the push of going second’ she really made me up my game – not because of the competitiveness of it all but because I do want to be better and doing so will make me better.

When it was my turn I started the same – 6 pull-ups then another 6 (I think) before staying solid on the pull-ups and hitting the run – my run pace was nothing extraordinary (thankfully it was only 100m) – it was solid but not speedy by any means.  I kept up the big sets for the pull-ups even when my kip began to waver – not staying tight in my shoulders.  Pushed through and finished up solidly – or what felt solid on the day.

One of the guys started cheering me on toward the end – half way through the sit-ups he made a comment ‘you know you’re better than that, go faster’ or something like that and for some reason it really struck me the wrong way.  It wasn’t positive at all and for how I was feeling it was the best that I had.  Talked to him afterward which was good – we all have different things we respond to and I really noted in that moment how the negativity actually wanted to make me quit maybe on any other day it would have been fine but I was tired and sore.  Anyway, move on, no big deal.  Live and learn right?

Spent a bunch of time mobilizing after – going to be a big focus on that this week to get everything back into working order.  Ouch.

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.

6/29 – Primal Throwdown 2013 – Day 1

Another year of the Primal Throwdown was upon us.  It seemed to sneak up on us this year – seems like only a month ago that the open was ending though it was actually closer to 3.  Funny how fast time flies.

My training heading into this year was much different than last – last year I had the month of June off from work and there were many more double day WODs whereas this year there were more WODs overall, heavier and longer in some cases but less double days so I wasn’t sure how the weekend would go.  I honestly didn’t have much excitement or expectation going into it – I knew the WODs would be challenging and (likely) heavy, I knew I wanted to come top 10 again though I knew the competition would be tougher and that was about it for my mental state.  It’s probably best covered in another post but overall I’m not feeling as strong at this point compared to last year though I know rationally that I am (by a lot) – my head space has just changed and it’s interesting to contemplate sometimes though not coherent enough to lay out here.

So… we all showed up bright (dark) and early Saturday morning – the Rx division had started the night before in a swim WOD that was fun to watch but the rest of us only started on Saturday.  The first three WODs of the day were posted when we arrived.

 

 WOD #1

5 rounds

5 minute cut-off

6 axle deadlifts (72kg)

6 broad jumps (1.6m)

4:04 (16^th place)

This was a tough one to lead into though felt good about it given that we’d had a bit of practice with the axle bars already and I knew that I could deadlift them though also knew that 72kg would feel heavier than 72kg on a normal bar.  The WOD didn’t look too rough though in the earlier heats you could see some girls struggling with them.  I started off strong going unbroken in the first two sets of deadlifts – the broad jumps took more out of me than I expected though – having little legs and needing to clear the distance meant that I had to give it my all and each rep I landed in a full depth squat which took a huge toll on my back.  I finished out the deadlifts going 4-2, 3-3 and then 2-2-2.  I thought I’d place higher with my time – having finished it (when it seemed that in earlier rounds many didn’t) but happy to have it done.

I remember at one point looking at Naydine who was beside me (she smashed it) and seeing her just step to the line and jump like it was no big deal – an unfortunately part of being short(er)… oh well, works to my favor in other events such as WOD #2.

As soon as this WOD was over I knew my back was pretty f$%^ed.  Thankfully Cam was kind enough to give me a bit of a rub down with some tiger balm and later on Jas taped it up for me (after taping my shoulder earlier in the day) - super big thanks to her for this as it definitely helped me get through the WODs.

WOD #2

12 minute AMRAP

Burpees

EMOM do 8 x 10m shuttle runs

99 (10^th place)

Seeing this first thing in the morning upon arrival was just mean.  12 minutes of burpees with a bit of running rest.  Not sure who the evil genius was that programmed this WOD but man it was a beast.  12 minutes is forever.

We all knew that the runs would be the ‘rest’ and that it wouldn’t be a sprint so much as a shuffle recovery to breath.  It was good that we only had to get one foot fully across the line (as opposed to having to touch with a hand or whatnot) but they definitely weren’t fast.  I smashed out 12 burpees on the first round (we had to jump up onto a 20kg plate and lock out for the rep to count) and then held onto 8 reps per minute the rest of the way (pretty much).  It became quite clear when you knew to line up for the run or whether you had time to squeeze in one last rep – usually if there was 5 seconds or more left I could finish a rep and then run – this made a difference though if you could get in one more a round.

The biggest hurt I had on this WOD was in my quads (and the one time that I hit the concrete hard with my knee).  Every jump forward and then onto the plate was tough (after the deadlifts and broad jumps) on my legs and my shoulders actually didn’t feel too bad (surprisingly though I think this would catch up to me through the weekend).  I really wanted to get in one more rep for an even 100 but just missed it – wouldn’t have mattered for my placing though.

It was after this WOD – checking the scoreboard that we all started to realize that there would be a WOD #4 that was not yet posted on the walls – it was however in the webscorer and was a 2 minute snatch AMRAP – so two more WODs for the day.

WOD #3

6 minute cut-off

400m row

30 KB clean and jerks (16kg – 15 consecutive each arm)

20 pistols (any way)

10 pull-ups

6:10 (8^th place)

I was actually looking forward to this one and hoping to make it into the pull-ups (my goal was just 1 pull-up).  I felt solid on the row – just maintaining a steady pace between 1:50-1:55/ 500m split while breathing and getting ready for the KBs.  I had done a few warm up reps to decide which arm to start on and decided to start on my left as my right (though stronger) was feeling sore (and was taped for the weekend).  I had a game plan of going 6-5-4 for reps on each arm but when I got to 6 on the left I kept going knocking out 8.  The second set I managed to get through the 7 and followed this up with the same on my right.  It felt good and I found I wasn’t using my legs as much because they were hurting (which later would turn out to be a bit of a downfall for me).  The pistols were a bit wobbly.  I did more of them on my right leg than my left after bouncing through a few on my left and taking too much time to lock them out.  I had one where I hopped around and came so very close to falling off the mat (a no rep) but managed to hold on and saw Coach Clare smile at me.  Heh.  I finished the pistols with about 5 seconds or so on the clock and ran to the bars, jumped up and didn’t have enough time to complete a rep which was unfortunate but was happy to even get to it, not quite my goal but close.  Would have needed two pull-ups to jump up on the leaderboard at all so in the end it didn’t matter but there was a little disappointment that I didn’t get to bust out the pull-ups especially given the judging looks coming my way by a few specific (non-crossfitting) girls.

Love these photos that Bruce captured of Steph and I doing our synchronized KB clean and jerks.

Synchronized KB's (photo stolen from Steph and Bruce)

Synchronized KB's (photo stolen from Steph and Bruce)

pistol time (photo stolen from Steph and Bruce)

There was a lot of sitting around through the day – long waits between WODs which was tough on my body – I was in the last heat for WOD #1 and then heat 4 on WOD #2 so a fairly quick turnaround before another long way heading into WOD #3.  The same went for WOD #4 being in the last heat again – which wasn’t until almost 6pm (after arriving for 7am).  I think this all caught up to me on the last WOD.

WOD #4

2 minute AMRAP

Snatch (30kg)

9 reps (12^th place)

For the intermediate division we had the option of power snatching and then doing an OHS – having to go through the full range of motion in some form.  My intent was to squat snatch the reps and I did a few solid ones in warm up and again once we got on the floor but I’m not sure if it was fatigue or adrenaline but the first rep of the WOD I didn’t reach full depth on the squat snatch and had to OHS it anyway.  I think I tried to overcompensate on the second rep and dumped the bar over my head – I just couldn’t catch it – and landed on my ass.  I then lost my confidence and went to power snatches and OHS the rest of the way.  I did a few touch and go and then when I would drop the bar I’d try and pick it up again right away.  The power snatches were ugly – no technique at all – getting my legs wide rather than low because I was tired and sore.  I’m happy with the number I go though I’m sure I could have gotten a few extra if I didn’t mess around so much on the first two reps (which took almost 35 seconds).  One extra rep would have brought me up to 10^th place, two would have got me 6^th so it definitely emphasized the ‘every rep counts’ mantra.  Want to focus on doing more EMOM sets especially when I’m tired to focus on keeping better technique when it’s needed.

concentration - (photo from Alphafit's facebook page)

I finished off day 1 in 8^th place overall so I was happy with that.  Wanted to be in top 10 and after working my way back from the deadlift WOD managed to get there after WOD #3 and stay there the rest of the day so solid effort though my body was definitely hurting.  Went for Nando’s to refuel and then home to shower and spend the night sleeping in compression gear on my heating blanket ready to wake up and do it all again.

6/25 – Quick cleans and box jumps

WOD

3 rounds

7 power cleans (60/42.5kg)

7 box jumps (24/18”)

1:57 Rx

So we are now less than 5 days out from Primal Throwdown and should be fully in on the taper BUT… oh, but…  that wasn’t the case with this one.  I headed to the box planning to drop the weight to an easy 30kg and just go from there.  I don’t have much ability to ‘go slow’ in a WOD so my only way to lessen the work is to scale, scale, scale.  This didn’t happen, obviously. 

Through the warm up and mobility and set up both Naydine and Ali were commenting on how it’s just a quick WOD (less than 5 minutes) and 42.5kg isn’t that hard, and, and, and… ya, I succumbed to them and didn’t scale.  Feeling it in my shoulders today though especially after (not scaling) ‘Fran’ on Monday.  Oh well…

We partnered up and Ali went first (thankfully).  Then it was my turn.  I did I think 3 unbroken reps just to warm-up/ check the weight and it made me winded (a little) and hurt (a little).  I knew there wasn’t any room to rest on this one.  Seven is that horrid number that hurts more than 5 and is still harder than 10 because at least with 10 you can do 5-5 or 6-4.  When you get to 5 and only have seven in total you’re going to keep going.  This hurt more in the later rounds as well.

The first set of power cleans I was solid on – focused on breathing and going unbroken.  I was slower than those around me but I was trying not to focus on that.  I did however see Cam beside me and wanted to catch him.  I went unbroken on the box jumps, the first round feeling fairly easy and caught him there.  We came off about the same time and I knew I had some ground to make up on the bar (it didn’t happen).  I went unbroken but had to rest a few times (I did this in the rack position so I could still ‘touch and go’ at the bottom).  Cam beat me back to the box so I went hard at it though I did really start to feel my hamstrings – thrusters catching up.  I snuck ahead on the cleans and though I needed a few more ‘rests’ – my technique went to shit though and that’s an understatement.  Cam never caught back up, not sure what happened even though I still used this as fuel to push harder, I wanted to win – though it wasn’t even a race against anyone but myself – though was funny afterward to hear that Adam was also using Cam as a pacer.  Haha, funny how our minds work mid WOD and who we pace off of –for whatever reasons.

The last round of box jumps were a bit of a struggle but I managed to get them all out quickly, thankful that it was just three rounds and it was over.  All in less than 2 minutes.  I was happy with that – still not sure going with 42.5kg was the best idea but there’ll be a lot of rest built into the rest of my week.

We were talking during mobility after – a group of us – and about tapering, etc.  I managed to recall that we did a lot of this during the open – not pushing as hard as to save ourselves for the actual open wods each weekend and I think in many ways our training and our scores suffered a little bit for this – our bodies were actually missing the intensity especially over a 5 week period so perhaps this extra push 5 days out isn’t a bad thing.  Will be back at it tonight – scaled for sure with a bit of skill work and then I’ll focus on mobility and rest until the competition.

6/12 – Rowing and Snatching

WOD

7 rounds

200m row

10 power snatches (50/30kg)

16:28 Rx

This was fun yet also challenging (aren’t they all?).  I was partnered with Tara and though she called me a bully for making her go first it was amazing and astonishing to watch her power through it – unbroken!  I knew it’d take me a little longer.  She didn’t kill herself on the row holding a solid yet breathable pace and then smashed out all the snatches – again, UNBROKEN.  Unbelievably awesome.

When it was my turn I started to get a bit nervous and also think what my plan would be.  I thought about trying to hold a 2:10/500m split on the row as long as it seemed manageable/ not too full on and then break up the snatches but as little as possible – was thinking 5-5 until T suggested that I try and hold 6-4 throughout.  Solid plan.

At the 3-2-1-go… I started on the row and before I knew it I was holding about a 2 minute/ 500m split.  I noted that I was only going 26 strokes per minute – steady and focused on my breathing – not too labored.  It felt okay so I went with it not sure how long it’d hold there for throughout the WOD.  I’m happy to say however that it held.  I managed between 1:55- 2:05/ 500m splits throughout with my stroke rate never going above 30 strokes per minute.  Solid.  Definitely happy with this even as my forearms started cramping up in later rounds.  I definitely didn’t grip the rower handle, just linked my fingers over it and went.  Again, I can’t say just how happy I was with this – I felt strong and this wasn’t hard for me to hold.

The snatches were hard.  I powered through 6-4 in the first few rounds with solid technique but then it started to deteriorate from there.  I managed to keep the 6-4 rep scheme except for I think rounds 5-6 in the middle where I broke it up to 3-4-3 and 4-3-3.  I really didn’t want to pick up the bar.  It was on round 5 that I asked where I was thinking it was my second last round, when T noted that it was round 5 and I knew that I had 20 more snatches after I’d finished the last few reps I almost cried.  It was definitely hurting.  It’s funny how quickly 30kg can feel really heavy.  It was amazing to have people cheering me on in the last few rounds.  I knew Steph was warming up upstairs – I was watching her during the row to change my focus on and could hear her when I was on the snatches (thanks girl!) and on the last round Cam also came around and was counting for me along with T.  Throughout the WOD I was neck and neck with Nadene and really wanted to catch her on the last round.  I banged out the first 6 then didn’t quite want to finish but saw her put the bar down and picked mine up.  Unfortunately she only had 2 reps to go and I had 4 so she just edged me out but we both agreed in the end that it was awesome to have someone pushing us.  Solid effort all around and so much hurt.  I can’t even describe how broken I felt afterward.  Definitely did not have the energy to do anything else.

I am glad I did it though – I know how far I can push myself and keep going especially knowing the end is in sight.  I gotta say though that 7 rounds is just painful.  Five would have been enough – it’s the limit and then the last two rounds feel like just holding on.  Happy to have finished within the 18 minute time cap too!