CrossFit Games Open Sectionals 11.5

AMRAP 20
5 power clean (100#)
10 toes to bar
15 wall ball (14# to 9' target)

Results: 5 rounds + 5 + 7

Had more important stuff to think/care about this morning than CrossFit. That kind of attitude never bodes well for a good performance... Not as much of a bomb as Week 1, but it felt worse...

Fight Gone Bad

I'm so glad I broke out of my workout slump yesterday. My husband met me at the gym on his way home from work to do "Fight Gone Bad" -- I was already there after coaching at 5:30.

I ordered my exercises as show in the picture, just so I would be doing it like my athletes did. I've only ever done it as: box jump, SDPH, wall ball, row, push press. Yes, somehow I've only done FGB twice, and yesterday was the second time.

Result: 249, PR!

Previous score was 232.

I think for my next goal I'd like to get 260.

Allie

Pulled this WOD from CrossFit Camden. It's a great test of stamina and endurance.

"Allie"
400m run
20 pullups
400m run
15 wall ball shots (14#)
400m run
10 burpees
400m run
5 tire flips

Results: 11:50-ish

Felt the lung burn, so I know I pushed myself -- that was my main goal.

My previous time for this was around 14 minutes, but I think the 400m run at C2 is a bit short.

Filthy Fifty

Hit this WOD on a whim Sunday night. Husband has a weird issue going on with his shin, so I took him over to the "satellite" gym to use the rower for his running substitute. He's addicted to running, so complete rest is not an option for him.

Filthy Fifty was on the board for Friday, and some other peeps had come in and done it on Sunday. So we modified it for him, and I did it "regular".

Filthy Fifty
50 box jumps (20'')
50 jumping pullups
50 kettlebell swings (1/2 pood - 16kg)
50 walking lunge steps
50 knees to elbows
50 push press (35#)
50 back extensions (did supermans, no GHD for me yet)
50 wall ball shots (14#)
50 burpees
50 double unders

Results: 45:29 (includes a potty break during DUs :-p)

This WOD and I just do not get along. Especially the part where I'm supposed to do 50 K2Es. I think I spent about 15 minutes doing K2Es, and 30 minutes doing everything else. Seriously.

Low points:
 - K2Es were not only agonizingly slow with small sets of 2s, 3s and 4s, but there weren't even close to Rx with my knees touching triceps most of the time; I have a lot practice to get "Rx" on this WOD...
 - Back extensions -- still afraid of getting on the GHD for fear of triggering renewed back/hip pain...

High points:
 - 50 unbroken kb swings
 - 25-15-10 wall balls; this is an epic improvement for me on those
 - push press felt light, wish I had gone for unbroken
 - double unders -- every minute of practice I did to get these is worth it when I breeze through them in a wod

Begrudging workout

Did you ever just sit there for a good 20 minutes alternating between talking yourself into working out, and talking yourself out of it?

That was so me yesterday. I coached at an odd hour -- 11am -- and with the rest of the day to schedule as I wanted, I realized I should just do the WOD. Yeah, I was wearing pants not shorts, blah blah blah. I am always good at coming up with clothing-related excuses.

Anyway, I made myself do it. So that was good. :)

--
WOD:
"Karen" PLUS
150 wall ball shots
150 AbMat situps
Partition reps as desired.

Results: 16:24, 14# med ball -- 3 sets of 50 each

My original thought was that since I haven't ever done "Karen", I should do all 150 wall balls, then move on to situps. Obviously I abandoned that plan. :)

The biggest hurdle to overcome on this WOD -- and it's been a theme lately -- is just my lack of conditioning. I got to the point where I did 10 wall balls, and I was sucking wind like I just sprinted 400 meters. I had to actually slow down the pace of the wall balls so I could string more together. I was strong enough to do them super-fast, but my cardiovascular system couldn't keep up.

So, mission accomplished -- I've gotten A LOT stronger. But now I am having a "come to Jesus" moment about how I also need to stay on top of my conditioning.

TGU's are ruining my shoes

Another nice relaxing WOD at the gym on base. I used to hate working out there, but I truly love my AM workouts with friends these last few weeks. Sucks that I'm moving 30 minutes away to be closer to the gym I coach for now.

3 rounds:
15 wall ball shots (used 12#)
10 Turkish get-ups, each side (20# kettlebell)
15 knees to elbows

No timer on this one.

My friend did 10 total the first round, and stuck with that. I did 10 each side, then 8 each side, then 5 each side. Went for 5 in a row each arm, but the left arm was too weak. I think I was doing 3's by the last round on the left.

The part where you "bridge" your hips up, and then sweep your leg through and put your knee down -- well I guess I scraped my shoe on the ground a lot, because I'm missing from rubber. The toe rubber of the Nike's I've been wearing do not hold up well from burpees, pushups or TGUs. Boo.

--
After the WOD I did the "B" day from my pullup program.

On the minute for 10 minutes:
6-10 second hold with chin above bar. Used pullup grip.

One the minute for 10 minutes:
6-10 second negative. Had to switch to a station with neutral grip for first 7 sets, then I did a wide-ish pullup grip for the last 3 sets.

12 Days of Christmas

Hit this one up with my CF KoP peeps while visiting husband's family. (Check the link for a hilarious picture of me doing DB snatches)

12 Days of Christmas at CrossFit KoP
1 Deadlift (185/275)
2 Wall Ascents (6ft/8ft)
3 Ring Dips
4 Box Jumps (21"/25")
5 Med Ball Clean (14/20)
6 Clean and Jerk (75/115)
7 Toes to Bar
8 Burpees
9 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (55/75)
10 Wall Balls (14/20) to (9ft/10ft)
11 Thrusters (75/115)
12 DB Snatch 12L/12R 25/40

Results: 70:28

Deadlifts, clean and jerk, burpees and thrusters were all scaled due to my continuing (nagging) back injury. Everything else was Rx'd.

Weird about the burpees, right? Something about the part where you jump your feet back aggravates my QL muscle, so for many of them I stepped my feet back. Once I was nice and warm, in the middle and later days, I did jump my feet back on some of them.

I felt like I got hit by a truck after this. My core was wrecked, I think from the wall climbs and toes to bar -- don't do either of those with any regularity.

Best part of the WOD - watching a CF KoP superstar female athlete scaling the 8 foot wall. BAD. ASS. And her nickname is "Grans" -- love it.

Main site chipper

We took on the crazy chipper from the main site at our box, and it was interesting to say the least!

25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 24k/16
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 35/20 pound dumbells
25 Back extensions
30 Wall ball shots, 20/14 pound ball
3 Rope climb ascents

Results: 30:50

I completed the pullups without incident, definitely got 5 to kick things off. THANK GOD.

Banged out the box jumps at a good pace.

Thought my 20 DUs were in the bag, but missed #20 and had to do one single DU. Still pleased with that. :)

Skinny band for the ring dips -- need to rededicated myself to getting rid of that soon.

K2Es were fucking beautiful, not to brag. :-D

Swings, situps, hang cleans -- no problemo.

Back extensions -- this is where I wussed out big time. I've learned recently that my back is a very weak area in my body, comparatively. So I have a stronger back than some people, but overall I'm front-dominant to compensate for a weaker back. I knew these back extensions would lock me up, but did them anyway. And then got locked up. Probably wasted 2 minutes afterwards trying to un-fuck myself enough to do the wall balls. I had a Filthy Fifty flashback for sure.

Wall balls were badass, got 15 the first set, not sure if I broke the 2nd half or not. Soooooo glad these don't trip me up so much anymore.

ROPE CLIMBS. Went up with the rope wrapped around, came down with feet in the J-hook. Probably rested a little too long between attempts, but I'm still too freaked out to do these while I'm super-winded or feeling weak in the arms. Since we don't have a crash mat, I'm OK with this.

--
The only thing I'm pissed about is the WOD was posted with 24kg/16kg for the kettlebell swings, and Rx on the main site was 2 pood (32kg) -- which means ladies Rx was 24kg. Boooooo. I would've used my 45# kettlebell or maybe even the big one if I had known that.

Plus ladies Rx should really have been 25# dumbbells... Bummah.

But based on what was written on the whiteboard the day I did this, I am happy that I only scaled ring dips. Woot! I will take "nearly Rx" whenever I can get it. :-D

Big loads going overhead, videos

Strength + metcon today, so you know I was happy. :)

Strength: Push press 1-1-1-1-1-1

Results: 85-90-95-105-115-125

Everything went up fairly easy except the 125. I did lose my balance a bit and move my feet, which I think technically fails the rep? But I'm counting it since I know I didn't rebend the knees at all to try to jerk it. I can remember having that problem last time I worked push press.

I AM SO STOKED ABOUT THIS NUMBER! How amazing that I am putting that much weight over my head! Last time I tested this lift, I maxed out at 95. 30 pound PR baby! Woot!

After strength it was time for a metcon.

3 rounds:
50 double unders
25 wall balls

Result: 13:16

I should've been so much faster on this. Definitely didn't achieve anything close to 23 DUs this time, but I was able to get a couple sets of 10+.

I did a lot of resting in this metcon. When I start to try to push push push, I lose focus and miss attempts at both DUs and wall balls. I have to take a deep breath, focus, and start again.

Considering how angry and frustrated DUs used to make me, I'm glad I can maintain my focus, but at some point I need to do that without taking so much rest. I'll figure it out.

--
Cool video one of our coaches put together. Look for me in the colorful outfit with the blue socks. :)



--
Messed around with this butterfly technique today, and got a few singles out of it. Very neat! Take a quick second to watch and try it out. You know it's gotta be good if it's coming from Chris Spealler. :)

Allie

I'm supposed to be doing the dishes while husband mows, but you know I had to get on here and post my WOD first, right? :)

This morning we did "Allie" -- yep, named after one of my friends from the gym. She won the honor of creating a workout to torture us all after her slam-dunk victory on the Paleo challenge during April and March. My goal was to be my time from my first attempt on this WOD.

"Allie"
Run 400m
20 pullups
Run 400m
15 wall ball shots (20#)
Run 400m
10 burpees
Run 400m
5 tire flips

Results: 14:10 -- took 37 seconds off my old time, woot!

This WOD is deceiving -- it looks simple, just run a mile with some other stuff thrown in. But if you go all out, it really gasses you! Plus the humidity was horrible this morning, though thankfully there was cloud cover to keep the sun from totally scorching us on the runs.

Pullups were accomplished as follows: 5-5-5-4-1. My goal was sets of 5, but in hindsight, that isn't enough of a challenge for me. I regularly do sets of 5 deadhangs at the pool -- with kipping in play, I should be able to bust out more like 7 or 8 in a row. But then again, at least I didn't forget how to kip like I did on Wednesday's deadlift-pullup WOD. I'll be happy with 5's for today, and go for more next time. :)

Wall balls were to the 10' mark with the 14# ball. Forgot that Allie was using the 20# ball, and that I meant to use that one too. I think I'd be OK with throwing that to the 8' line. :)

OMG, runs must've been sooooooo slow. Like I've been saying for a bazillion years, I need to hit the track and do several 400m sprints to assess where I'm at. Did you guys know that in high school I ran a sub-6-minute mile, and a 400m in the 1:40s? I was fast as shit. Right now my weight is about 15 pounds heavier, mostly due to musculature I've built in my core, back, chest, shoulders and arms, so it's gonna be a lot harder to move my mass that fast. I'd like to bring my 400's down to the 2 minute mark. Should be doable -- my most recent timed mile was around 8:30.

OK, now I will go work on the kitchen. We have been ignoring it all week and it's a total disaster. I'm going to put on my fav NPR show ever, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and hopefully that will help pass the time. :)

It feels good to "win"

My back was tight from deadlifts, but I knew the best remedy would be a workout. Today's WOD wasn't going to be hard on my back at all, so it was perfect for getting a good sweat and loosening everything up.

Strength: press
7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Results: 55-60-65-70-75-85-95

 I *really* wanted that 95 at the end, but it got stuck at my forehead. I was basically staring at it, willing it to go up, for about 3 or 4 seconds before I gave up. With 95 being my current 1RM, I'm not surprised at the result. Would've been nice to match that 1RM, but I'm still happy with the work I did today.

metcon:
50 abmat situps
40 double unders
30 box jumps (20'')
20 wall ball shots (20#/14)
10 knees to elbows

Results: 6:26

When I saw today's metcon on the website last night, I thought to myself, "I can smack that bitch down." And when I was starting out the class with some strict press sets, I starting thinking again: "I can WIN."

Every once in a while when I know I'm good at everything in the WOD, my competitive spirit breaks out and I become absolutely determined to finish first.

There were only 4 people in my class this morning, and I finished first by a minute, and I was damn proud!

Best moment of the morning -- I did 23 double unders!!!! It was fucking amazing! I just keep doing them, and doing them, and doing them -- what a great feeling! And then I finished out the rest of the 40 unbroken, so that's 17 unbroken.

Those are basically my #1 and #2 longest sets of double unders I've ever done. Just goes to show what happens when I put on my game face. I need to go to that place more often!

Situps I did unbroken.

Box jumps I took a slow and steady approach. Started not paying close attention and missed one attempt, but focused back in after that and kept the knees high.

Wall balls were also amazing, considering my history with sucking at those- banged them out in 2 solid sets of 10. I used a 14# ball and threw it to the 10 foot line.

Side note on wall balls: I can't accept that women should scale both weight and height on wall balls. Height of the throw should be scaled based on the person's height, not their gender. Like, if you're 5'4'' or shorter, use the 8 foot line. Taller, use the 10 foot line. And those giant people over 6 feet should have an even higher line!

OK, end wall ball rant and ramblings about the metcon. Suffice it to say it was a fun day in the gym, and I enjoyed my little moment of victory. :) (Though I'm thinking somebody probably beat my time in the evening classes)

Later gators. :)

DJ

Showed up for this WOD at 6:30am in an attempt to get myself on a new schedule. It ended up being a bit of a clusterfuck.

"DJ"
5 rounds:
5 muscle ups
25 wall ball shots (20lb/14)

Results: I think I vaguely remember that this one was just shy of 30 minutes?

When I compare the past write up for this WOD (from February 2, 2010) to my hugely frustrating experience on this day, it really highlights how my mental focus is not there right now...

I don't have a muscle up, so I attempted to sub ring pullups and ring dips at first. I can't remember the number of reps I was subbing... 10 and 10 maybe? I had so much trouble with that substitution -- in other words, ring pullups in false grip were *not* happening -- that I ended up switching to subbing assisted muscle ups transitions and ring dips with the skinny band.

I tried to send all my signals of "I need to be left alone please" while doing this WOD, but I could not get a respite from that day's coach giving me lots and lots of feedback. No, I do not want to discuss MU progressions that will work best for me mid-WOD. No, I do not need you in my face the entire time I'm struggling with wall balls... Ugh. :( So I ended up just quasi melting down the entire WOD because I could not get my focus back. *sigh*

Needless to say I was practically spitting with anger and frustration by the time the last set of wall balls were being thrown. And just like in February, I was still thinking to myself, "why haven't I practiced and perfected these???". Gotta work these in as goat work after WODs, for sure...

Ugh, just a bad day overall...

--
I have since decided I would like to do progressions for a strict muscle up, rather than continuing trying to get a kipping muscle up. I think this will prevent injury, improve strength, promote my continued work on strict pullups and dips, and will also be less frustrating in the end because I'll expect the process to take a while. This is another reason I got my own set of rings for at home, since I'll start these progressions from the knees -- plenty of room for that under an 8 foot bar.

H/T to CrossFit Proper for the inspiration to go this route. I'd also like to invest in the book Building the Gymnastic Body (recommended by Robb Wolf) to further my knowledge of gymnastics progressions.


Strict Muscle up Progressions from charisse skye on Vimeo.

Three days at CF KoP

For some reason I've been lazy about posting my WODs this week. Time to catch up. :)

But first, shoutout to Donkey -- if you're reading, leave me a comment! Profanity welcomed! :-p

--
Monday morning I drove to Philly (this week of my trip I'm staying with my in-laws) and hit up CF KoP for the 6:30 WOD. It was fun to be back and see lots of familiar faces. As a bonus Aimee was even teaching the 6:30 class -- I didn't get to see her over Christmas, as she was taking a well-deserved vacation.

We did 4 mini workouts, each 3 minutes long.

1. Wall ball - as many shots as possible above 10 foot line in 3 mins
2. Deadlift - as many reps as possible in 3 mins
3. Row - as many calories as possible in 3 mins
4. Atlas stone - as many ground to shoulder as possible in 3 mins

Results:

1. Wall ball - 32 @ 14#
2. Deadlift - 40 @ 95#
3. Row - 47 w/ regular damper (noticed some people were putting theirs on 10)
4. Atlas stones - 12 @ 60#

The Atlas stones were interesting to say the least! I have a little bruising on both collar bones, and some bad bruising on my right clavicle. Which made the front squats I did today challenging, but I'm still glad I got to try the stones. I have been intrigued by strongman stuff since they started playing "World's Strongest Man" competitions on ESPN.

Got some good feedback on row from Aimee -- only go back to 11 o'clock on the pull. I will give that a shot next time I'm rowing.

--
Tuesday was a benchmark WOD, which made me nervous all day, but I was excited to WOD with Steph and Cindy.

"Nicole"
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
400m run
Max pullups

Score is total number of pullups.

Results: 36

If anyone heard a sound during my first round of pullups, that was the sound of me blowing my own mind. I did 6 freaking pullups in a row! Then squeezed out 2 more before I dropped off the bar. Holy hell!

Proof of two things. I perform better when I feel like I'm working out in a supportive environment. And I perform SO MUCH BETTER when I'm eating food that is good for me. I've been focusing on cutting out sugar and dairy for the past few days, and upping the protein, and I'm back to feeling normal, instead of feeling like shit. I love Paleo. Hoping to dial back into being grain free very soon, but I'm just taking baby steps back into it at the moment.

I wish I had written down the rounds, but I think they played out something like this: 8-7-7-6-5-3

After the amazing first round of pullups, I was sooooo wanting to get to 40, but it just didn't happen. I would've been 2 closer, but 2 of my attempts on round 6 didn't quite get chin over the bar. I'm just happy I gutted out 3 good ones that round.

PS - This is another Rx'd benchmark WOD to check off the list! Woot! :-D

--
Tonight (Wednesday) was a strength day, which I was soooooooooo ready for. Haven't had a good strength day in what feels like forever.

Front squat: 3-3-3-3-3
Weighted ring dips: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Front squats were a bit challenging because of my aforementioned Atlas stone clavicle bruising. Owie! I got somebody's old tshirt out of the lost and found to pad my shoulder, and that really helped for my last three sets. Set #2 was almost a train wreck because I was so distracted by my shoulder hurting.

Results: 95-105-115-125-135

I am happy to report a new PR! My old 1RM was 125, and tonight I did 135 for 3. It was definitely a *struggle* on the way back up for each of the 3 reps, but I made it! What a great feeling! And it was cool to have a little cheering section right there with me, I felt a little bit like a CF rockstar. :-p

Next, it was on to dips. I just worked body weight dips since I can barely do a single body weight ring dip right now. First attempt I missed, then I got the next two. Then the ladies decided I needed to try a muscle up, which I totally wussed out on. My kip was just weak and I know I wasn't focused enough to do it. But I got some good feedback from Jason, and I have some things to practice.

Fourth attempt was a jumping muscle up, I went through transition by jumping and then pressed out of the bottom to do my dip. Fifth attempt was the end of another assisted muscle up, with my feet on a box in front of me. Got the sixth just on the rings, and failed on the seventh.

--
All in all, fun times, and a great three days of CrossFit. Tomorrow might be a rest day -- my dog seems to have ripped off part of her dew claw, so I have to get her to the vet. Poor girl. On a happier note, SHOPPING! It's so nice to be near stores I like, even if it's only temporary. :-D

2-a-days

It wasn't my original intention to do two WODs today, but what the hell, I did anyway. :-D

--
AM WOD
 
This morning I did a makeup of yesterday's WOD between coaching the 0630 and 0830 classes. My back was just so tight yesterday, I couldn't get myself to the box to get the WOD done.

WOD: 150 kettlebell swing (32k/24) Every time you drop the kb, run 150m.

Results: 23:59 (sets of: 20-20-14-16-20-15-15-15-15)

I have to admit this one intimidated me. I feel pretty confident with the 45#/20kg bell, but the 53#/24kg bell is just BIG. After the 3rd set of swings, when I only got 14, I wanted to just cry and give up. I'm proud of myself for finishing.

And I also must admit to resting a bit too much, and wearing gloves. I had wussy grip today, ew.

--
PM WOD

This WOD was created by one of my best buds at our box, Allie. She is amazing and inspires me every day. She was the winner of our Paleo challenge, and in addition to some other not-so-great prizes, she got to make up her own WOD! I think she did a great job coming up with something challenging but fun. :)

"Allie"
For time:
400m run
20 pullups
400m run
15 wall balls (20/14)
400m run
10 burpees
400m run
5 tire flips

Results: 14:49

Um... in a word -- SLOW. I came out of the gate pretty fast, but my runs were just sucking by the 3rd and 4th 400's.

And can I just say the wussy hands factor came into play majorly in how long it took me to do my pullups. I was back down to sets of 2 and 3. BOOOOOOOOO. I know it was my 2nd WOD, but seriously! I need to be doing a minimum of 3 pullups every time I get on the bar.

Coming soon -- tire flips video. Our tire is only ~100#'s, so it's not that hard to flip, but it still *looks* badass. :-D

--
With WODs covered, here are some links I've seen the last day or two. The first one I'd really like your comments on.

--
Lisbeth yet again provides some very meaty food for thought, this time the subject is females scaling pushups, a topic that I have actually spent a lot of time thinking about and researching. This, to me, is a breath of fresh air. I have a hatred of knee-pushups.

Get Off Your Knees

"Do tire push-ups, bench push-ups, ring push-ups, wall push-ups. If you don’t have real honest-to-God, chest-to-deck push-ups, then do whatever you have to do in order to get the push-ups done. Tire, rings, wall. But NEVER knee push-ups. 

Seriously. Simply decide that you would rather eat glass than ever go to your knees again."

Post thoughts to comments. How did your own pushups progress? Do you think putting down your knees to scale, rather than changing the angle, hampered your progress to "the real deal"?

--
Stop Being Content and Become Great

"No matter what happens in life or in your training, if you live outside your comfort zone then nothing can knock you off your game.  Sure things might knock you back a step or two, but you are the type of person in which problems and other negative things just bounce right off of because you are used to being outside your comfort level."

I really need to cultivate this type of thing in my life, because I definitely get too set in my ways, and too upset when things suddenly change.

--
I haven't been gainfully employed in over 1 year now, and that still feels really... strange. Reading this article about what "work" really means was good for me. It's hard to uncouple your self-esteem from job performance and salary, and instead derive self-worth from things you accomplish on your own.

Some quotes:

"My definition of work now is that it’s an activity which is undertaken for a productive outcome."

"This turns work into something more like a state of mind than a set of particular activities."

"Work isn’t a place which I go to, or a certain portion of the day; it’s the meaningful stuff which I do, the contributions which I make in the world."

Filthy Fifty - the rematch

So, back in October, during a trip up north to visit family, I DNF'd on Filthy Fifty at CrossFit KoP.

The posted WOD for 3/14 is again Filthy Fifty, with a reminder link to compare back to October.

In a wonderful turn of events, the WOD my box schedule for today was Filthy Fifty, so I was able to finally make an attempt to finish this WOD and get a baseline time.

It turned out pretty ugly. But I got it done.

I probably wouldn't have felt so beat down if I hadn't attended a 1 hour swimming class just prior to doing this WOD. And also if it wasn't my first time back in the pool in about 6-7 months.

Oh well, that's definitely a "varied stimulus" that should produce some bad ass adaptations! :-D (Yes, I have been studying my CrossFit manual for the cert this weekend.)

"Filthy Fifty"

50 reps of each movement, for time:
Box jump, 24 inch box
Jumping pull-ups
Kettlebell swings (24kg/16)
Walking Lunges (50 total steps)
Knees to elbows
Push press, (45lbs/25)
GHD Back extensions
Wall ball shots (20/14)
Burpees
Double unders

Results:  41:25, Rx'd

I definitely dawdled a good bit during this WOD. Probably enough to take off 5 minutes. I was feeling decidedly beat down and wussy.

In bullets:

• Box jumps: It felt good to jump the 24'' box -- seems like all I've been doing lately is the 20''. I like the big one better. 
• Jumping pullups: felt weird! I haven't done one of those in a very long time. 
• KB swings: 2 sets of 25. Cake.
• Lunges: Could've been a lot faster, and in larger sets. 
• Knees to elbows: Done in sets of 5. I'm still using a good bit of kipping at the bottom to get my knees up. But I do try to engage the shoulders and get my back parallel to the ground when I get to the top. These really hurt my hands!
• Push press: Sets of 25, 15, 10. 25# felt super light after the 55# for Fight Gone Bad.
• Back ext: Started with 25 straight, not sure of the rest of the breakdown. Felt fine doing them, but OWWWWWW, my back was one big ass spasm when I was finished. I could barely climb off the GHD.
• Burpees: When I got in my groove, I was pumping these out. Tried to do sets of 10. The last 10 were really brutal... I actually took some pointers from that video of the Guvernator at the CF Games Ohio Sectionals, where he's watching a deadlift-burpee WOD. The girl doing burpees in that video had a great technique.
• Double unders: THANK GOD I can do these now. Got the first 40 in sets of 10-ish. Last 10 were ridiculous. My shoe came untied and that laces were getting caught in my jump rope, so I just ripped it off so I could do the last one. That got a laugh out of my spectators. My anger amuses them. :-p

Final thought of the recap -- tired. I am beat. Gotta hit the rack early tonight, because tomorrow at 8:30am we're doing the main site WOD from a few days ago. Gotta love 10 rounds of anything. :-p

PTP Days 5 & 6

I highly recommend starting the PTP program on the 1st day of the month. It makes it easy when the date and the day of the program are synched up. :-D

No time to blog yesterday, I was running all over the place.


I was working with a milspouse friend at the base gym on CrossFit basics, so I did my deadlift and press there. I actually had a conversation with the on-base firemen about kipping pullups, which I was doing during my warm up on one of the squat racks. They are kind of attention grabbing in a "regular" gym. Of course I took a moment to try to sell CrossFit, we'll see what comes of it. :) I also had a fun conversation with a 65-year-old guy who competes in bench press competitions -- it's some variant of powerlifting where you can compete in a single event. He was cool, and I might swing back to the base gym next week to get some pointers from him and his lifting partner.

At our box we sign up for 5Ks and running events, but to keep it inclusive, I think we need to branch out and see if we can participate in things like powerlifting meets or Olympic weightlifting meets. One of my best friends at the box Allie is still working on her body comp, so her running is still really slow. But she out-lifts the rest of the ladies in the box by 30, 40, 50 pounds. A big part of me just wants to put her in the spotlight and let her beat us all soundly. :) She totally deserves it because she works her ass off, and never gets upset or frustrated, just keeps on plugging away.

Hopefully I will be posting more about that idea soon!

Anyway, back to the PTP stuff.

PTP Day 5:

• Deadlift: 115, 105
• Press: 55, 50

I really did intend to hit the track after that, but the posted WOD for the box was Fight Gone Bad, and I felt bad about skipping a chance to perform a benchmark WOD that I've never done.

So I went to the box and did Fight Gone Bad. I'll make up those sprints soon, though.

Here's the breakdown for my FGB, though I know no one cares about the rep breakdown other than me. :)

Wall ball: 11, 12, 12
Box jump: 28, 23, 19
Push press: 18, 14, 11
SDHP: 20, 16, 16
Row: 11, 11, 10

Total reps: 232

At first I felt good about those numbers, but after we all finished, I realized that I was in 3rd place, and had only been beaten by 4 and 7 reps. WTF???? Makes me think to myself I could've pushed out a few more reps here and there if I had know I could've pumped out the highest female score at my box.

So, as far as I'm concerned, Fight Gone Bad and I have a rematch sometime SOON.

--
This morning I coached the 0930 class, and we did "Team Cindy". In pairs, only one partner works at a time, and whole rounds must be completed before switching off.

There was some debate before we started about how much "waiting around" would have to be done, but I enjoyed doing the WOD that way. I think it is a perfect way to prep to do Cindy, which I would like to do sometime soon (afterall, it is in my 1st quarter goals). By having a break while your partner works, you can not only cheer them on, you can also move a lot faster each time it's your turn.

I starting losing my pushups on about the 5th of 6th round that I completed... That sucked. But I'm happy to say that I only had 1 really awful round for pullups. I pretty much was able to complete 5 in a row on 6 or 7 of the 9 total rounds that I did. Being able to do pullups is freaking wonderful. Now to get those dead hangs...

Squats were cake, makes me happy I've been working on them a lot. :-D

--
In two weeks I will be at my cert -- yikes! I need to re-read the study guide. I wish they provided some practice questions or something, I just feel like I don't know what to concentrate on since there are about 90 pages of material!

I also need to visit a copy shop and have them print and bind it for me, with extra pages added for notes. They provide some notes areas in the PDF file, but not enough for me.

Lots of links, Friday's WOD, Saturday preview

I'll start with the links today. :)

This "burpee tag" warmup looks so fun! If we didn't have so much equipment blocking the edges of our area of mats, I would totally do this for a warmup. Maybe if we go to the track one of these day for sprints, this would be a good warmup to do on the football field.




20 tips for improving your squat, shared by CrossFit East Sacramento, originally from the "Squat Clinic" article of the CrossFit Journal.

I finally gave in and signed up for Twitter -- I'm ceewiss, since cwiss was already taken. I only did it because one of my friends won't sign up for Facebook and we are having a heck of a time staying in touch. Guess she won that standoff. :-p

Yesterday I cooked up some yummy veggies and beef in my CrockPot -- I posted about it on the CrossFit Camden Paleo Challenge blog. :)

--
Today's scheduled WOD was "JT" -- handstand pushups, ring dips, pushups. With my (still) tweaky shoulder, I knew that was not a good idea. So I made up the workout from the 17th, with some modifications.

WOD:
20 cal row
20 wall ball shots (20lbs/14)
20 clapping push ups hip extensions
20 knees to elbows GHD situps
20 double unders
20 star jumps
20 pull ups
20 lunge steps (each leg)
20 slam balls

Results:  13:27

The only shoulder exercises I left in were wall balls, pullups and slam balls. I did a test K2E during my warmup, and it did not feel good, so those were out. The pushups I took out just to be on the safe side. I want to rest this as much as possible so I can get back to improving my skills for the cert in March.

I was feeling a little bit scared and wussy on the pullups -- those took me probably close to 1/2 my time. The double unders I did in 2 sets -- 9 and 11. That felt awesome. :)

--
Tomorrow is gonna be interesting -- I'm running a 5K that is completely on a bridge. With a 6% grade. ZOMG. It's the Sidney Lanier Bridge, which goes over the Brunswick River and essentially connects Jekyll Island to the rest of the Golden Isles / Brunswick, GA. This bridge is super-pretty, and I love driving across it. It should be painful fun to run across -- and then back again.

 

 

100 kipping pullups!

Subbed out the muscle-ups in this WOD with 4x pullups and ring dips. Tough, but do-able. I am blown away that I can say that about a workout like this!

WOD:

"DJ" - in honor of one of our departing members
5 rounds:
5 muscle-ups
25 wall balls

Results:  47:03 -- sub x4 pullups and ring dips w/ floss

Time on this sucked, I think I could've dialed it in. But it's hard to get that intensity up when muscle failure forces you to stop and rest... I think for the rest of 1st quarter I'm just going to focus on strength. Then when April hits, after the cert, it will be time to work on that intensity, and getting myself mentally strong.

It is shit that I can't do 25 consecutive 14# wall balls; and shit that I can barely do 10 consecutive. I need to be doing those either during warm up, or in cool down, at least once a week. They are a big weakness of mine, and shouldn't be -- I have the strength. It's just getting comfortable with performing the movement.

My pullups were freaking awesome. I managed to get several with chest-to-bar during rounds 1, 2 and 3. Rounds 4 and 5 were more of "just get one at a time, then rest". Left hand ripped a little bit in round 4, right hand ripped in round 5, but also wasn't bad. Near the end I couldn't get the kip that high, and was still able to muscle up that last few inches.

Ring dips -- I thought I'd have to upgrade to the white band in the later rounds, but I didn't. I need to try some jumping dips or negatives to help learn to control the rings and keep them close to the body. I think my strength is there for doing an unassisted ring dip if I can do 100 with the floss.

All in all, I loved this WOD. The ones that make me nervous beforehand are always the ones that I'm happiest to finish. I feel like I learn about myself from a workout that scares me.

Blah to K2Es

That would knees to elbows.

They are my new nemesis. The thing that makes me cry. Lovely.

Finished today's workout in 18 minutes and change. Horrible. I was half-way there to full-out crying from the first set of K2E's til the end. I have just been overwhelmed by the crappy state of my life today, and it bled over into my workout. I hate when that happens...


3 rounds for time:

• 30 wall ball shots (20lbs/14)
• 30 sit ups
• 15 kettle swings (24k/16)
• 15 knees to elbows

Bad attitude at the base gym

Something about working out at the base gym just throws me off my game... I don't know what it is.

Today I was able to do most of my stuff away from mirrors, and we were the only 2 people in the weight room area for most of the time, so it was something other than mirrors and crowds tonight...

The lack of a simple free-standing pullup bar and a few boxes to step on is one big frustration. Having to jump up to grab the two-handle grip thingy on a cable-crossover machine/rack to do knees to elbows was very fucking annoying.

And as I was struggling to do them, after feeling like I was really getting better at them on Tuesday in Charlotte, I just felt like a failure. I was thinking to myself how much I still suck at some of the movements that I practice.

I had some tears of frustration welling up in my eyes.

I know by now that the first thing that brings on those tears is a bad fucking attitude. A "can't do" attitude. Hate talk directed at myself.

STOP.

Instead, be aggressive. Focus. Attack. CONQUER.

Overcome.

Remember why you do this.

--
Courtesy of Crossfit Ballantyne.

WOD: For time. 2 rounds.

• 20 KB Swings (1.5/1)
• 20 Knees to Elbows
• 20 Wall Balls (20/14)
• 20 Box Jumps (24"/20")
• 50 Double Unders skipped these, forgot my rope at home, the ones at the gym suck
• 250m Row

Results:  who knows, I didn't end up timing myself

Wouldn't you know that the 1 other person in the gym working out, and not playing basketball, was on the 1 available rowing machine for 30 minutes, right while I was trying to do this WOD? Seriously, it was just a bad night like that. I did a 500m row at the end instead.

Cheered myself up when it was all over by doing an awesome frog stand to hand stand in the stretching area. Booyeah. I intend to impress my family with those once I get home for Christmas. :-p