8/14 – Snatches and Pistols

WOD

21-15-9

Power Snatch 60/42.5kg

Pistol (alt legs)

10:55 (35kg snatch, Rx pistols)

Challenging one tonight but also snatches which I love (and also hate at the moment with my mental issues toward them).

I got stuck in traffic on the way to crossfit – crazy, insane, worst traffic I’ve ever been in in this city where people don’t know quite how to drive.  There was a big crash and all lanes were blocked (or so the radio told me) – I took a detour to avoid finding out.  Instead of stressing or road raginga s I would have done in the past I resigned myself to switching up my schedule.  I knew I could do some of the extra work when I got there and then jump in on the 5:30 wod and finish up anything else before the other side closed at 7pm.  No worries, no stress, just life.  It was in thinking these thoughts that I saw a rainbow.  Have I mentioned how amazing my life is?  Love it.

Anyway, back to the WOD. 

We worked through the progressions of the snatch and pistols (I got to demo box pistols – again, how much does Coach Tara love me… haha).  The bar (15kg) felt crazy heavy – I couldn’t even muscle snatch it.  Yup.  Knew that the snatches were going to be rough.  I wanted to do a minimum of 35kg so that I could have 10kg plates on the bar and be able to drop it (not an option with anything less than the 10kg plates).  Thankfully I snagged some black plates (which don’t bounce as much as the greens) and survived at 35kg – even though the few warm-ups were hard and singles.  It was going to be one of those WODs – I was looking forward to being able to finish it – cut-off was 12 minutes.  I was facing Rhys which spurned me on at the start – he did I think 3 touch and go reps a few times so I followed suit – I did this twice before succumbing to dropping the bar after every rep.  I still tried to maintain sets of 3 – getting right back on the bar after a drop and then taking a bit of a bigger break in between those.  It was one of those WODs where you just have to chip away at the reps because they are hard and neverending.

The pistols were surprisingly good relatively speaking.  My legs are pretty heavy in a general sense from all the squatting but even still I managed to alternate in sets of 3 or 4 reps at a time before hurting.  That was a bonus.  I found it easier to step into the pistol and not hold my foot (though occasionally held my calf).

Finished it and that made me happy though had to then follow it up with squats.  Thankfully I’d already done half of the extra work before class.  Another fun day but Thursday is rest day… so happy!!

7/8 – HSPU’s and Backsquats and Oly

I can’t believe three months have passed since we last did these testing WODs.  It feels like it’s more recent than that.  Time flies.  So we had a chance last night to go through them again and see (any) improvement (or not).

WOD

5 Minute AMRAP

Handstand Push Up (to 1 abmat)

44 (previous was 34 reps)

Then

Find your 1RM Back Squat (in 20 minutes)

20kg x 10 reps

50kg x 5 reps

60kg x 3 reps

70kg x 2 reps

then singles at:

75-77.5-81(f) (previous and current 1RM PR is 80kg)

Was really happy with the new PR on the HSPU’s though it felt way harder than last time.  I started out with a set of 9 (came off the wall just before the 10^th which was what I was aiming for) but still happy with that set as I think my previous max was 5 reps.  I didn’t have any set plan for this go – I think last time I was aiming for 5 reps every thirty seconds but this time I just came down, shook it out and went back up.  I tried to really focus on getting a good kip, back on the wall, knees to chest and kicking into the wall.  Coach Claire told me to get my hips into it more than I was, getting that explosiveness similar to a clean.  It helped especially as I started to tire.

No new PR on my backsquat.  There was plenty of time to give 81kg another go but I really wasn’t feeling it.  I remember last time how badly I wanted the 80kg’s but last night I just didn’t have much motivation at all.  I got the 81kg back up but Tara had to help me as I just collapsed forward with the bar, it felt sloppy and I kind of gave up.  Not my finest moment but with the ‘chill’ in the air it was where I was at.

Afterward went over to the barbell room planning to work on some weaknesses with Steph but since it wasn’t open gym time our ring dips and pistols got shunned (managed one set of each though first) by Coach Scotty and we had to do the Oly session instead so…

Barbell Club

Oly

Clean and Jerk

5 x (2+1) – two cleans one jerk

Warm-up 25-35-40

Working 45-45-45-45-45

Clean Pulls

3x3

Working 55-55-55

Last time I did this work was back on May 13^th (again how time flies – what happened to June?).  I did working sets then at 50kg though being at 45kg was better today since I’d already done the backsquats – the second rep of each squat clean was a bit taxing and my shoulders definitely felt the HSPU’s on the jerks.  Managed to get through them and love working with Steph since we’re fairly similar and got a lot of feedback from Coach Scotty.  Needing to be more aggressive and faster on the dip and drive on the jerk and then speeding up sooner on the clean pulls (and if rolling slightly onto your toes is a byproduct of this then that’s okay).  

Was a good session and obviously we skipped the backsquat work.

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.

6/22 - Saturday Sports Class

Last big hurrah before Primal Throwdown 2013 next weekend.

Skill work

Bar Muscle-Up Progression

Axel Bar Deadlifts

WOD

5 minute cut-off

400m row

30 KB clean and jerk (16kg – 15 per side, one side at a time)

20 pistols

10 c2b pull-ups

5:28 Rx

Note that there was scaling for all three primal categories – those listed above are what was written for intermediate women.

Was fun getting the skill work in.  I have only done bar muscle-ups once (jumping) and managed to get them (from the highest box) that day.  I got them again today and tried to increase the height from the box to the bar but couldn’t quite manage that.  It was fun though to see Steph doing them (scaled) – she faced some of the same challenges that I did the first time I tried – namely the fear.  She got one though!  Awesome.

Then we split into boys and girls and played around both on axel bars (more specifically larger diameter pipe) and on the barbells with the fat grips – infinitely harder than the fat bar as they still spun.  We eventually got up to about 80kg – all of us using a mixed grip before Coach Tara came around and told us to try using overhand grip on both hands ‘just in case’ – and only a couple of the girls could actually do it.  So hard.

We then moved onto the WOD in two heats.  I was in the first go round with Steph judging me.  I knew the row would take about 1:30 (which it did) and then it’d be a push to get through the remaining reps – I think that was the plan – this WOD had a similar format to the first WOD from day 2 of the Primal Throwdown last year – that was a 15-10-5 (row for calories, KB shoulder to overhead, toes to bar) with a 5 minute cut-off – I’m pretty sure no one finished but it was about the amount of work that you could complete hence the challenge.  This was much the same.  Only a few of the top guys managed to get through everything.  I was happy just getting to the pistols as the 16kg KB was heavy for the CJ’s especially as you had to do 15 on one arm then 15 on the other rather than splitting them up somehow.  Good to know.  I also struggled a bit with my left arm and while I got the KB up without dropping it on my head it was a bit sketchy – thankfully Steph was kind enough to give me the reps – might have been called a no rep in comp.

It was a good push – on this one and working into game day strategy – I had less than 10 seconds left when I finished the CJ’s and knew that any pistols I could get would make a difference on the ranking (if it was truly game day) and rushed through 2 quick reps without thinking and even though it hurt.  Mentally preparing as well as physically.  I’m also getting quite happy with my rowing – my stroke rate is staying low as is my power output (split time) so I’m getting the results without having to kill myself which is definite progress from the girl who used to hate the erg – don’t ask me to stay on there forever though – 1km is about my limit before I want to scream/ get bored/ annoyed.  Still.  Fun.