6/8 – ASG WOD

Caught up with both Sharon and Angie for coffee on Saturday.  Let the return to regular Foam dates commence!  I also knew that Angie was planning on hitting up the Albert Street Garage for their 3pm session.  I figured with the timing of it all I’d tag along to say hi to Shonelle and Vini as it’s been too long since I saw them both.  When I arrived I noted that some of my favorite things were programmed for the day – snatches and double unders so I quietly asked Vini if there was space… he said that there was one more spot so I ran to my car and grabbed my bag that was still there from the morning at Southern and quickly changed to avoid any burpee penalties for being late.  Success.  Another bonus was that Ruth was there as well so there was solid girl power all around.

ASG Strength

3RM OHS

45kg (PR)

This was fun.  I think the original plan was 4 or 5 sets of 3 but Angie and I really just wanted some more PR’s.  I know that I was doing 3RM OHS the other week but I couldn’t find the weight I used for that – figure at most it was 40kg but might have only been 35kg.  It was fun though.  We were changing  the weight at one point and one of the guys (3 of them working on the other rack) commented on how we were getting heavy pretty quick and that they needed to step up their game.  That’s when Shonelle pointed out that we had already gone heavier than them.  Oops.  We worked up steading I think doing 15-25-35-40-42.5-45(PR).  It was solid and since Angie was going first once she so easily knocked out the set I had to step up my game and keep pace.  Good times and a new PR for us both.  Loved it.

ASG WOD

15-12-9-6-3

Power snatch (30/45kg)

Double Unders

5:25 Rx

Also a fun one to be working alongside Angie on as we pushed each other the whole way.  She’d get a little ahead of me on the snatches as she could just drop straight to the ground whereas I was catching the bar on my quads so keep the strain off of my shoulder.  I’d gain some ground back on the DU’s and we were neck and neck right down to the wire.  She got my by 3 seconds but it was amazing to push that hard and to be chasing each other throughout.  I was happy with it – my transitions were solid.  I stuck to my plan on the snatches – 8-7 then 4-4-4 and 5-4 followed by 4-2 and then 3.  It worked with minimal resting though in the round of 9 I started to feel my forearms and thought I should be hook gripping but it was too late for me to make the change efficiently.  I managed though. 

It was a solid effort from everyone on the day and I loved it.  Realized that I’ve been missing it and as Vini commented – I always seem to set another PR when I go there so I should be heading there more.  Ha.  A great (and unexpected) afternoon.  Thanks guys!

5/28 – “Annie”

WOD “Annie”

50-40-30-20-10

Double Unders

Sit-ups

7:28

First day back from vacation and it was a good little one to get going.  Knew from the way I was feeling that there wouldn’t be any records set but was looking forward to it anyway.  Brendan and I were beside each other and he really pushed me to go faster.  There was a bit of back and forth for the first couple of rounds then I snuck ahead by a few situps and went from there.  He definitely made it challenging knowing in my head I couldn’t stop to rest at all.  Finished almost one minute slower than my PR but was to be expected.

Followed it up with a bit of open gym.  Didn’t really have  a plan but was inspired by the OHS WOD at the regionals so worked on that.

Open Gym

Overhead Squats

Warmup

5x15kg

3x25kg

Working

5x3 @ 35kg

This felt solid. Not sure what my previous OHS PR was but this was probably close to it.  Haven’t done them in ages and it felt good.

2/19 - Catching Up...

Haven’t felt up to blogging this week though have been having fun getting a ton of workouts in and they have been fun. 

Seemed like many people skipped the running WOD (200m repeats) on Monday night and instead showed up for Tuesday workout.  I was included in this group though did manage that 5km run with Cam.  I was paying for it on Tuesday (and Wednesday and also Thursday I think) with tired (and sore) quads and achy IT bands.  Ouch.  Probably means I need to run more (shhh, don’t tell Cam that!).

As I mentioned, EVERYONE showed up on Tuesday – it was the largest class as SXF ever (apparently, according to Tara there were 38 people) so we split into pairs and partnered off for the WOD.  I was with Shalon and she went first (which is a change for me – going second – but wasn’t as bad as I’d expected). 

She rocked the AMRAP and after watching her I knew I had my work cut out for me – it looked rough (and sweaty). 

WOD
15 minute AMRAP
 8 O/H Squats 40/30kg
8 Ring Dips
8 Box Jumps 18/24"
8 Chest to Over Head 40/30kg
6 rounds/ 8 OHS

There wasn’t a lot of room to rest on this one with there only being 8 reps of each movement – they were a  struggle but it was hard to justify stopping.  This however wasn’t a choice for me as the time went on.  I started off strong on the OHS but then in later rounds my wrists started to hurt and I had to break up the sets into typically 5-3.  It was however a lot of fun to pick up the bar and power snatch it easily over head.  Snatching always makes me feel pretty badass.

I scaled the ring dips with an orange band as these are horrible for my shoulder.  One trick I gained from Shalon (which was awesome) is to put one knee into the band at a time to prevent swinging (by jumping both up together).  This made it infinitely easier to keep my arms locked by my sides and the rings from moving too much.  Even with the band I broke most of these into two sets aiming for 5-3 as much as possible.

It was funny in how we were set up – Shalon and I were at the front of the room for the bar and box work but our rings were in the back corner so there was a bit of a trek to get there.  It also served as a bit of rest in the middle of each round – I clearly remember Haydo telling me to use it as rest, get some deep breaths in and then get right onto the next movement.  It was good. 

The box jumps were pretty easy as they weren’t high (though being lower actually took a bit of getting used to initially).  I did all these unbroken and got them out of the way quickly.

The chest to overhead was tough though I managed to push press most of them before moving into a bit more of a push jerk in the later rounds.  I did all the rounds unbroken though sometimes had to rest briefly in the rack position.  

It was a good WOD and surprisingly the 15 minutes went quite quickly.  Initially going into it I was expecting to maybe get 5 full rounds and then a few reps but then I saw Shalon go (she got the same score as I did) and I knew how hard I’d have to work to get there and I was more than happy getting 6+ rounds in, especially at Rx weight.

Mobility
Calf rolling
Quad rolling
Back rolling
Wrist stretching

1/19 - ASG Saturday Session

Had plans to train with a few of my favorite peeps on Saturday afternoon – met up with the girls (and Nick and Cam) for coffee beforehand.  Reverse order this week because Brenda had to be off just after four.  It was good to get the gossip going and to see the broken man (hi Nick) and just enjoy one of our (our only?) favorite coffee shops in Leederville.

Then it was a mad dash to Albert Street to see what Coach Shonelle had in store for us – turns out Coach Vini was there though we didn’t realize he would be (sneaky!).

Strength

3-3-3-3

Strict Press

3-3-3-3

Push Press

30kg strict press (ASG PR)

37.5kg push press (ASG PR)

This was a good one as I haven’t done much strict pressing lately.  Angie and I alternated sets and this worked really well.  I think we started at 22.5 and went up by 2.5kg each round ending with 30kg.  Coach Shonelle gave me some good feedback in really exploding out on the strict press similar to the movement on a bench press – I was going slow and steady which was actually making it harder on me (focused on keeping my core tight instead) and the ‘explosion’ made it feel a lot lighter and definitely easier.

The push press was good.  Again, nothing too heavy as Angie had a big swim on Sunday and I was really tight in my traps and shoulders from all the HSPU’s the night before.

WOD #1

7 minute AMRAP

5 OHS (30/45kg)

10 HR push-ups (I subbed ring rows)

60m run

5+4

Rest 3 minutes then:

WOD #2

2-4-6-8-10-8-6-4-2

Squat clean (30/45kg)

Burpees

(7 minute cut-off)

10+12

Wow, these guys don’t mess around with programming.  The first WOD hurt because there was no real place to hide out.  I hang snatched all the rounds for the OHS and managed (barely in some cases) to do the OHS unbroken but definitely with some struggle.  Coach Shonelle kept telling me to focus on keeping my knees out which in my head I translated into squeezing my butt cheeks as this tends to be a better cue for me.  It was tough.

I did ring rows because of my tight shoulders/ biceps and even they were hard.  A few rounds I had to break them up into two sets of 5.  The sprint was good – it was just to the end of the driveway and back and a nice chance to shake everything out before going again.

The picture is a lie – we were late starting the first WOD so Coach Vini so kindly told us we’d only get 3 minutes rest – that part killed going into the second WOD. Our legs were already slightly hurting from the OHS’s and our heart rate was already elevated and off we went for round 2.  Cam’s calf acted up on him (again) early on and he (smartly) dropped out and I’m not sure what happened to Angie except I saw her in a heap on the ground somewhere most of the way through.  It was tough.  At one point, I think starting the round of 8’s (going up) I had about half the time left and thought that I could probably get it done under the cut-off.  Wrong.  The time disappeared fast.  The burpees were agonizing, I kept moving but there were times where I just closed my eyes and bore down on them trying to will the dripping sweat and hurt away (note, it didn’t work).  The squat cleans hurt, the 30kg felt really heavy – likely also because of the heavy hang cleans the night before.  I’m going to have to figure out a way for my body to recover better in order to up my training through the week.

It was another tough session at the ASG but also a fun way to spend time with the cool kids.  Shonelle and Vini made up a PR board now and I’m happy to be on it.  Thanks for all the effort guys, things are really shaping up and your coaching is fantastic!

We had a mini-photo shoot post wod… yup, I’m that sweaty and red (no that’s not a sunburn). Cam is either flying, airing out or dripping sweat - you choose.

 

Our awesome (and smiley) coaches!

 

8/29 - more squats...

We had Coach Jack last night!!  Excitement only because I haven’t seen him since before I left for Canada – he’s been coaching mornings and I’ve been at the night sessions.  It was good to catch up and also to mix it up a bit.  And yes, even though Jack and Tim are twins I knew immediately that it was Jack and not Tim (funny stories there).

We had a small class tonight which was great.  I think many were probably still hurting over the squats from Monday.  I know I was.  I was in agony.  My coworkers spent all day laughing at me every time I had to walk anywhere.  It wasn’t pretty, my hamstrings weren’t my friends.  So in the morning when Tim told me we were doing benchmark ‘Nancy’ for the WOD I started to wonder how exactly I was going to do it.  Really.

Warmup

Run 200m

Skipping

15 ohs with skipping rope

100 skips

15 ohs with skipping rope

Across width of room do:

High knee stretch

Quad stretch/ reach for the ceiling

Inch worm

High kicks

My body barely worked for any of this warmup.  I’m not even joking.  I did a bit of rolling out before class but even that made me want to cry.  Every movement made my hamstrings scream.  

Strength
8 mins to get 2 RM turkish get-ups (left & right)
10kg

I didn’t really put much effort in here rather I was trying to convince my body that working out would be okay.  I was happy though with my form on these, the movement requires a lot of thinking – there’s a lot of steps to go through – but it seemed to go well.

With an empty bar do 15 ohs then load bar for WOD – again, this killed.  I was still determined however to Rx the WOD (mostly because it was a benchmark).  I knew I’d (probably) get through it just perhaps not in the 18 minute cut-off or with big sets of OHS.

WOD
“Nancy”
5 rounds
400m run
15 OHS (30/45kg)

17:50 Rx.5

This one started off very weird.  I led the entire first 400m run.  Like I said, weird.  I don’t have a fast of faster speed of running.  I pretty much have one speed and it’s barely definable as fast.  Hun and Glen were each a step behind me but wouldn’t pass which on any other day would have been the case from the start.  In a way it felt like they were letting me pace them but again, weird.  I kept a steady pace but nothing insane but yet still came out in front. 

For all the OHS I managed to complete them in two sets of 10 and 5 each.  I was happy that I was able to maintain that throughout even when the 10th rep was starting to get a little shaky in the later rounds.  I felt solid in the power snatch each time though once overhead I found my wrists were the weak point, they most definitely hurt after it was done.  The first round really killed my legs but it seemed the more reps I did the more my legs responded.  The additional blood flow I think helped to clear some of the soreness from Monday’s wod.  The runs were just steady, two 200m laps.  A few times my legs almost buckled at the corners but that just made me laugh and carry on.  On the second to last run with about 4 minutes left I told Coach Jack that I was going to finish – thinking that I would miss the cut-off time but keep going anyway.   

When I came back in from my last run I saw just under 17 minutes on the clock and knew I had to push it to make the cut-off.  I immediately picked up the bar and struggled through 10 reps (barely) and then put it down, stared at the clock and knew that I had to give myself about 30 seconds for the last 5 reps just to be sure.  And I did.  After a few deep breaths I picked it back up and finished it off.  I surprised myself at how fast I managed to do this wod, especially when comparing it to times from earlier in the day along with how my legs were feeling when I showed up.  As the workout progressed though my legs felt better though they hurt again today even after a night spent sleeping in my compression tights (they were almost part of my work attire today!).  125 (heavy) squats in 3 days is substantial.  Hopefully there aren’t any tonight as I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t survive.