too funky in here

To quote the immortal James Brown, “Things are too funky in here,” but they’re a whole lot of fun. Alternatively, I was definitely feeling the fact that today was the fifth workout of the week. Still a good day overall.

WOD for Friday 052413

Skill:
Kipping Pullups
5 Rounds:
5 sec on/5 sec off x 3 kipping swing (no pullup, just swing)
Rest 30 seconds after each round Then, 3 Rounds of 5 reps each:  On the ground, hip thrusts.

If you have 20 unbroken Kipping Pullups, work this Muscle Up drill:
5 Rounds
5 reps of “False grip ring row, false grip ring row, false grip ring row to transition

While I don’t quite have 20 unbroken kipping pull ups, I let Coach Erin know that I wanted to do some of the muscle up drill listed above. She decided that with the group of folks attending we would all benefit from a mix of both sets of drills. So that’s what we did.

I believe in the end, I probably went through 3, maybe 4 cycles of the muscle up drill and 2 sets of kipping drills on the bar.

Strength:
Clean
3 singles @75% -145#
3 singles @85% – 165#
2 singles @90% 1RM – 175#

I was really looking forward to cleans today. Wwanted to see if I could manage those 90% lifts. Never got to try. The lifts at 145 all went ok. So I loaded up for 165.

On the very first lift, I got a monster cramp in the top and front of my left shoulder. The muscles all the way to the base of my ear seized up. I missed the lift, cursed loudly and walked away.

Coach Erin showed me a stretch to help loosen things up and after a few minutes I went back to the bar, scaled back to 145 and got one or two more ok lifts. I figured, “good enough. End with a hit.”

Yesterday was a lot of shoulder work so I’m not surprised it happened. No big deal.

Conditioning:
Double Tabata – 8 minutes of alternating rounds of:
Power Clean (50% of 1RM Snatch)
Power Snatch

50% of my 1RM Snatch is 75#. Seemed like a workable weight so that’s what I used. I was very pleased with the consistency on this METCON. I pulled 6 power cleans each round, and 5 snatches on 7 of the 8 rounds for those. One round of 4. Total score 87 reps. I’ll take it.

Funky Short Friday continues to grow! That’s as gratifying as any PR. To see this totally silly notion catching on with my friends is very cool. It’s a harmless way to build a bit of esprit de corp among the group and it’s a whole lot of fun. Very cool that folks are embracing it. I got to wear my new “travel” shorts today. The pattern consists entirely of 35MM slides repeating in a grid all over the board shorts. Pretty cool. Matt however was the ‘winner’ of the day, hands down!

He wore this pair of orange, green and white animal patterned compression shorts and that’s it! I lack the words to do them justice and explain how audacious they were. I told him at the time, “it takes a very bold and confident man to go out in public and work out in those.” He has set the bar very high for the Summer as the competition is sure to ramp up. This could be fun.

 

rippin flippin day

It was a wildly wonderfully painful day today.

WOD for Thursday 051613

Skill:
Kipping Pullups
5 Rounds:
5 sec on/5 sec off x 3 kipping swing (no pullup, just swing)
Rest 30 seconds after each round Then, 3 Rounds of 5 reps each: On the ground, hip thrusts.

I got overzealous during the kipping drills and set myself up for a very difficult morning. I was thinking about long term goals, specifically bar muscle ups. The kipping drill seemed like a great time to rev up my efforts.  So I decided that for the last 5 seconds of each of the last two rounds, I would do “big” kips

II tried to do hip to bar kipping. That was ill advised. By the time we were done I had sizable blood blisters at the base of my ring finger on both hands. That would be a real problem later.

Strength:
Clean
3 singles @70% – 125#
3 singles @75% – 135#
2 singles @80% – 145#
2 singles @85% 1RM – 155#

Weights were as prescribed based on a 1RM of 180#. These felt pretty good today. Coach Erin had us go through a quick drill of hip extensions before starting. That seemed very helpful before getting into the assigned work.

 

I even smiled about catching the bar on the larynx once. Know why? Because it was the last lift of the session. 85% of 1RM and Coach Erin’s additional direction on extension and a straight bar path meant I was able to get lower faster than any preceding lift.

If I can put all the pieces together, testing this lift for a new 1RM in the future could be a lot of fun.

Conditioning:
For Time:
30 KB Swings (52/35)
30 Pullups
20 KB Swings
20 Pullups
10 KB Swings
10 Pullups

Time Cap: 10 minutes

I knew going in that completing this WOD  as prescribed was beyond me. 60 unassisted pull ups is beyond my current work capacity. But that wasn’t gong to stop me from trying.

I had resolved that I would do kipping pull ups as far as I could, with a goal to get around 45-50 (that would be a Fran-ish amount of pull ups), then go to jumping pull ups to completion. But all hell broke loose in the first  round. Kettle bell swings were done in sets of 20 and 10. I didn’t want to burn out.

Within the first 5 kipping pull ups both blood blisters tore open. After that kipping pull ups were more painful than I was willing to bear and I really wanted to minimize tearing the blisters further. So I went to jumping pull ups. That minimized how my hands were rotating around the bar and reduced wear and tear, but it slowed me way down.

When the 10 minutes was over, I had worked through the round of 20 plus 5 of the KB swings in the round of 10. I did the last 5 swings after time expired to get those done. I did not go back for the last 10 pull ups.

Score this one 85 reps.

Last Tuesday I took some swings at the truck tire out in front of the gym. Today I flipped it, literally. 4 times. Why? Just because I’ve been working out at Crossfit Durham for 2 years now and I had never done it. I wanted to know if I could. So just for the hell of it I went out and flipped that joker, with the intent of doing it twice, once for each year at the gym. I think tire flips should be a CrossFitiversary tradition much like birthday burpees! What do you think? Who’s game?

I enjoyed it so much, I flipped twice more, for luck I guess.

I want to talk more about what this anniversary means, but that’s going to be a post all its own and I want to give it more time and thought before I post that. Stay tuned.

 

blue funk monday

If Friday’s are “Funky Shorts Friday,” then I guess today was just sort of a “Blue Funk Monday”.

Skill:
Complete 3 Rounds (not timed)
1 Hang Power Clean
1 Hang Clean
1 Power Clean
1 Clean
Use 40% 1RM

These all went very ok today. Did all three rounds at 85#, I think.

Strength:
Deadlift
5 reps @50%
5 reps @65%
3 reps @80%
2 reps @90%
Establish 1RM (no more than 3 attempts)

I shared a bar with Nat and Craig today for deadlifts. They both had banner days with bigh PRs! Very excited for them. I however did not. Not sure why but I had nothing for heavy deadlifts today. Fortunately, I had a good run at the METCON, so that made up for it…some.

There’s a whole list of reasons that might explain why deadlifts were off today. I’m not really interested in disecting it. We’ll just shake it off, let it go and work for better the next time around.

Conditioning:
10 Rounds:
3 Goblet Squats (70/52)
3 KB Swings
3 Pushups

Time Cap: 7 minutes

Wasn’t sure what to expect here. After failing at deadlifts I was determined to get my money’s worth out of this part of the workout. I picked a 62# kettle bell rather than 70#. It won’t be long before I can move up to that one, but not just yet.

Corey was stationed next to me and we started chatting. He was encouraging me telling me again that I was going to be his rabbit. That’s amusing because we’ve worked out a half dozen times side by side and I always end up chasing him.

He actually helped me set my goals for the morning. Go unbroken start to finish and finish under 5 minutes. I was pretty confident I could do one or the other. Wasn’t sure I could do both.

I got it done in 4:28 and did go unbroken and yes, once again, I was chasing Corey the whole way. Still it was a nice pick up after a disappointing strength session.

Goblet squats were very uncomfortable. There’s something not entirely correct going on in my right leg. When I squat I get an ache on that side that I can’t quite pin down. It starts in the ankle, but shoots up the leg. Not sure what’s going on there or how to remedy it. If it goes on much longer, I may need to get a consult.

In part I know the issue is form. I’m not sure why, but I’m rolling that right ankle inward when I squat and that’s tweaking the leg. The right answer is to fix my squat technique. But of course, during a METCON when I’m trying to go fast, I lose track of it until I do it wrong and then it hurts. Ah well.

Meh. Maybe I’m just grumbling for the sake of listening to myself talk.

 

no chipper, its a smoker

Or perhaps a grinder, I don’t know what the word is for today’s METCON. I just know that it was gloriously savage!

Skill:
Kipping Pullups
5 Rounds:
5 sec on/5 sec off x 3 kipping swing (no pullup, just swing)
Rest 30 seconds after each round Then, 3 Rounds of 5 reps each:  On the ground, hip thrusts.

The skill work went pretty well. There are days when it’s tempting to slack off on this drill. I need to remember my goals. If I want to pull off a bar muscle up by year’s end, then I really need to push harder when these opportunities present themselves.

Don’t misunderstand, I didn’t sandbag the kipping, but I should have gone in with a better focus. Should have taken the opportunity to focus on hip to bar kipping, not standard pull up kipping. Note to self: think ahead!

Strength:
Clean
4 singles @60% – 115
4 singles @65% – 125
4 singles @70% 1RM – 135

Cleans were just ok today. My grip held out for the strength training, so that was a relief. Just felt a bit sluggish dropping into the squat for the catch, but I’m not too concerned.

Turns out I’m becoming a barefoot lifter. Rachel noticed that I was rolling my ankles in again in my Innov-8′s (and yes, I do the same thing in my lifting shoes), so she suggested going barefoot. Being shoeless, definitely makes me more aware of my feet and my landings certainly gets better.

Part of me thinks it’s not the best idea to train barefoot. There’s part of me that’s thinking, “you have lifting shoes. You HAVE the proper gear. Use it learn to use it properly.” Then the other part of me figures, “Eh, go with what works and makes you right, right now.” So that’s what I’m doing. The shoes aren’t going anywhere. I can always work with them again later.

Conditioning:
For Time:
Run 400m
5 Power Cleans (95/65)
Run 400m
5 Power Cleans
10 Front Squats
Run 400m
5 Power Cleans
10 Front Squats
15 Shoulder to Overhead
Run 400m
5 Power Cleans
10 Front Squats
15 Shoulder to Overhead
20 Thrusters

Time cap: 20 minutes

This METCON was an absolute MONSTER! Look at it this way. There were 9 folks training at 6:15 this morning. 4 men 5 women. By the time the METCON was over half the group had ditched their t-shirts, and not just the guys! There are always a couple of folks who prefer working shirtless, but those folks were not part of today’s group.

I started the WOD Rx, but suspected it was going to be too much. I set the 45# bar with 15′s and 10′s if I decided to scale on the fly. In the round of 5 cleans and 10 front squats I could feel my cleans getting really sloppy. I worried about straining something with all of the reps still to come. Rachel graciously agreed to slip the 10′s off while I was out completing the third 400M. From then on the lifting was much more managable and safer.

I was pretty pleased with the runs. First one was fast (1:48) Knew that wasn’t going to hold up over the entire METCON, so I resolved to bring each one in under 2 minutes. Did that on the third and 4th runs. Not sure about the second. There were clock issues this morning, so I was unable to track it.

Final time to complete was 17:08 or :18. Don’t have my WOD book handy to confirm. This one left my head spinning when it was all said and done.

No extra or accessory work today. The schedule was packed.

Looking forward to a new challenge coming up in a couple of weeks. Greg and I had a FB conversation last night that started about push ups. As conversations tend to do, this one wandered until we came to agreement that we want to get together and take the Army Physical Fitness Test. We’re extending invitations to folks throughout the gym. (If we’re not connected on FB or you missed those posts, consider this YOUR invitation) We’re going to meet at 10am, Sunday, May 19 at the Durham Northern High School track and conduct the test. It’s 2 minutes each to do max reps push ups and sit ups, then a 2 mile run for time.

Taking this test will answer a question that’s been rattling around in my mind for a couple of months. I have been wondering how this 42 year old Crossfit me would fare in an APFT against 25 yo Army me. There’s no doubt in my mind that I can pass the test based on the standards for my gender and age. I’m not concerned with that. I want to know if I can, at this age, do more total push ups and sit ups and run 2 miles faster than I could 17 years ago. It may sound arrogant, but I’m reasonably sure that it’s going to be close. I think it’s going to be damn close and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

 

call it a good day

Had a much better day with a lift that pretty much owned me less than two weeks ago. Very satisfied, and more than a bit relieved, with that.

WOD for Monday 042213
Skill:

Kipping Pullups
5 Rounds:
5 sec on/5 sec off x 3 kipping swing (no pullup, just swing)
Rest 30 seconds after each round Then, 3 Rounds of 5 reps each:  On the ground, hip thrusts.

This skill work felt very good today. I was a bit worried about how it would effect my grip for later work, but that proved not to be an issue. In fact, practicing the kip swing seemed to act as an additional warm up loosening up the body for later work. By the time we finished the requisite 5 rounds of 3, I felt as if I’d worked out the last of the kinks from Saturday’s Mud Run.

Kind of liked the hip thrust work as well. Interesting way to isolate that portion of the kip. Hope to practice that more at home on my own.

Strength:
Clean
1 rep @60%
1 rep @60%
1 rep @70%
1 rep @80%
1 rep @85%
1 rep @90%
1 rep @95%
Establish 1RM (no more than 4 attempts)

So when I read the white board this morning and saw “cleans” posted, I was kinda confused. I would have bet large sums of cash that when I read the posted workout Sunday evening, the strength work was listed as “press.” For those of you who read often, you know that I had an absolutely miserable day doing cleans back about 10 days ago. That day I had a terrible time just holding on to the bar. I was unable to lift anything even approaching the assigned weights/percentages. I had not really practiced or changed anything since then, so I was very unsure about what to expect today.

All of the lifts from 60% (105#) through 85% (155#) went fine. Better than fine, they felt normal and right. Where the clean felt completely foreign just 10 days ago things felt familiar again today. That was very reassuring. Coach Erin stopped by as I was progressing through the reps and asked how I was doing. She remembered how I struggled last time. I assured her I was having a much better day today and that the grip issue that had plagued me was not a problem today. The only thing I did differently was to tell myself to hold on longer. Whether I actually did or not, I’m unsure. All I know is that it was better today. I’ll take it.

I missed one attempt at 90% – 165#, but hit it the second time around. The attempt I missed was because I failed to lift my elbows high enough fast enough. Had nothing to do with my hands. I made two attempts at 95% at 170 and missed them both. At that point, I was just tired. I know I’m not 100% physically today. I took part in an obstacle course/mud run on Saturday. The combination of the exertion and the weather have left me congested and achier than I would otherwise be on a Monday. I’ll accept 165#/90% with a smile and call it a successful day given the conditions.

Conditioning:
4 Rounds:
6 double KB swings
6 double KB clean and press
6 double KB swings

So here’s the description for the METCON: KB weight is as heavy as possible without putting KBs down mid-round. This is a partner WOD. One person completes an entire round while the other one rests. Trade rounds like this until both have completed 4. Share the same set of KB’s if possible. 10 burpee penalty for every time the KB’s touch the ground between the start and finish of a round. Time cap: 8 minutes (total for both partners)

Greg and I teamed up and shared a pair of 40# KBs. We tried some practice swings with 44′s and agreed that it was excessive. The kettle bells were hauling us across the floor when we swung them. We worked our way through completing the WOD in 7:31, without putting the kettle bells down, so we avoided the penalty burpees. I call that a success as well.

I hear that Greg and Allison carried on with Funky Short Friday in my abscence last week! Way to go guys! I expect to be there this week and will get back into the groove!

 

no grip is no good

Today was the first time in some time that I can recall having a problem with my hands. Made for an odd sort of morning.

Skill:
Kipping Pullups
5 Rounds:
5 sec on/5 sec off x 3 kipping swing (no pullup, just swing)
Rest 30 seconds after each round

The kipping swing work was tougher than I anticipated. I’ve been really careful about maintaining my callouses, yet today they were really tender and raw. Made hanging from the bar very uncomfortable this morning.

Then, 3 Rounds of 5 reps each:  On the ground, hip thrusts. — Somehow we bypassed this portion of the work out. Whoops.

Strength:
Clean
5 singles @75%
3 singles @85%
3 singles @90% 1RM

I did one set of cleans at 95# without incident. Then I moved up to my first set of 5 singles at 75% – 135#.

My grip failed immediately after the bar bounced off my hips. I figure, “No big deal. I’m sweaty and slippery from the kipping work. Get some chalk.”

I chalk up, approach the bar again, pull and somewhere as I’m shooting my elbows through under the bar and ducking to meet it, I lose the bar again! It bounced off my left shoulder and bicep bruising both and crashed to the floor. Now I’m confused. This has never been an issue before.

Then I got to thinking about it. I lost my grip on a rep during the power cleans that were part of Tuesday’s METCON too. I didn’t dwell on it at the time. I thought, “it was one rep. Just a slip, no big deal.”

Erin and I talked it over a bit. She confirmed that the lift should start with a hook grip, which is what I was using. Best I can figure, I’m anticipating having to shoot my elbows through and under the bar. When I’m thinking ahead to that I’m relaxing/changing my grip way too early and the bar is going airborne.

It was a very odd feeling to struggle so hard just to get 5 respectable reps in at what should have been a very managable weight.

My takeaway:
1) Work on wrist and shoulder mobility. I suspect if I was more flexible and had more confidence in both, I wouldn’t be trying to cheat and get ahead here.

2) Need to spend some time during warm ups just cleaning a fairly light bar to reinforce the right form.

Conditioning:
8 Rounds For Time:
20 Double Unders
5 Wall Balls (20/14)
5 Pullups

Time cap: 10 minutes

Double Under gods were fairly generous today. I never ran the table during a round, but I didn’t miss by much! One run of 19, one of 17, one of 14, a few over 10. Plus a few glitchy short runs, but overall not bad.

Wall Balls were fine. Pull ups were kind of tough with hands that were already tender. I know, “Suck it up, Buttercup.” I’m just sayin’.

In the end, 6 full rounds, a 7th set of 20 DU’s and 5 Wall Balls. I’m pretty good with that.

After the WOD I monkeyed a bit with the low bar hip drive drill that I learned from a Carl Paoli bar muscle up training video. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, but that’s cool.

The funky short Friday season is upon us! If you’re not familiar with it, it’s just a silly thing I started doing last Summer. I make it a habit to wear the brightest, goofiest, most surprising shorts I can find every Friday. Just to have a bit of fun. I get a kick out of other folks’ reactions. Lexy has been an active player since Day 1. That’s greatly appreciated. And now we’ve got at least one new player in the game! Welcome to the club, Greg!

As you’ll see below I opted for red/pink camouflage! Lexy also opted for camo and Greg wins hands down for “brightest of the day.” Nice to have someone new join the party!

I’m making it my mission to get more and more participants over the course of the Summer! I’m guessing Allison is going to join in soon. I’ll know when Renee and Michelle join in that we have oficially arrived!

 

13.1 and other assorted stuff

Wasn’t motivated to write this weekend. Now I’m behind. So we’ll try to keep this succinct and stick to the highlights. Yeah, who am I kidding.

Open WOD 13.1 — So I’m registered in the Crossfit Games Open, along with roughly 138,000 other crossfitters globally. The first qualifying WOD took place this weekend.

Here’s the assigned workout.

17 minute AMRAP of:
40 Burpees
30 Snatch, 75#
30 Burpees
30 Snatch, 135#
20 Burpees
30 Snatch, 165#
10 burpees
Max rep Snatch, 210#

If you’ve read here before, you know this workout was inside my head. Here’s why: most days in the Crossfit world, you scale/modify weights and activities to your individual ability/strength level. During the Open, scaling is not permitted. In order for scores to be considered valid the workouts have to be completed as prescribed at the assigned weights. As a result, I was dreading that middle round of snatches at 135#. That’s my one rep max for a snatch. I tried a couple “test reps” at that weight on Thursday and failed in a dramatic fashion. This did not inspire confidence going into Saturday morning.

Still, I tried to approach the workout with a solid attitude. I told Erin the night before, if I walked out of the gym having completed 5 snatches at 135# for a total score of 105, I’d consider that very successful.

Burpees went about as expected. First time through I did them in 4 sets of 10, forcing myself to stop and take 5 quick breaths before continuing.

I used the same tactic for the 75# snatches.

Next time through the burpees, I believe I did 6, 4, then 5′s to completion.

Then it was snatch time again. Before the WOD, a few of us discussed that the split snatch, as opposed to a squat or power snatch was legal. In 18 mos of Crossfit training, I can count on one hand the number of reps I’ve attempted as a split snatch and none of those were at a weight close to a 1RM. Still, I thought, “I know the squat snatch is bound to be frustrating, so why not experiment?”

As I was loading the bar with the 135#, I finally committed to split snatching. To my great surprise, I was able to do it! It wasn’t pretty. No one was going to make a training video of my technique, but the bar went from ground to overhead in one movement not once, not 5 times, but 8 TIMES! No one was more surprised than I was.

As I was resting between reps, my friend Craig came by to cheer me on. I could tell by the look on his face, he was wondering what the hell I was doing. Though he didn’t say it out loud, I could read his expression. He was looking at me and saying, “but you don’t split snatch.”

I just smiled and said, “Picked a hell of a day to learn the split snatch, huh?” We all had a good laugh before I started again. To walk out of the gym at the end of the day with a 108 felt freakin’ great.

I’ve been wondering what kind of goals I should have for the Open. I was looking at the posted results on the games site last night. If I’m understanding the website correctly, my score Saturday currently has me in 345th place out of 7200 registered male masters athletes (ages 40-44). That means I’m in the top 5%. That blows my mind. Granted, it’s only one workout and it appears that close to 1000 folks that registered, failed to submit their scores, or they have posted scores of 1.

I don’t put that out there to brag. I share it simply to say that it’s helped me crystalize a quantifiable goal. I want to finish the Open in the top 10% for my division. I’m presuming that there are going to be WODs in the remaining 4 that will eat my lunch, but if April 7 comes around and I’m in the top 10% for this age bracket, I’d consider that a significant accomplishment. What do folks think? Does it sound on target? Is it overly optimistic, or does it sound like I’m sandbagging?

So here’s what was on the docket today
Monday 3/11 WOD
WOD for Monday 031113

Skill:
5 Rounds:
5 sec on/5 sec off x 3 kipping swing (no pullup, just swing)
Rest 30 seconds after each round

I jokingly refered to this as the callous strengthening portion of today’s WOD. But in seriousness, I really enjoyed it. I was able to stay on the bar all the way through each round, so that was an accomplishment. I also really enjoyed just working on controlling the kipping swing and focusing on stopping cold when Coach Rachel called out “Hang.”

Strength:
Clean
Singles @60-70-75-85-90-95% 1RM
Establish 1RM (no more than 5 attempts)

So based on the assigned percentages, I was to do single at 120, 140, 150, 170, 180, 190, then test for a new 1RM. Didn’t happen.

First two rounds were uneventful. I was a bit dissatisfied with the 140 rep, so I repeated it. I didn’t want to move on to a new weight until I was confident. For that reason I did two reps at 150 as well. At 170 things came unglued. I hit it once, but my elbows were very low. Dangerously close to getting pinched against my thighs. I’ve spent time in a splint because of that, so I was determined to get a better rep before adding more weight.

The first “do-over” my right hand came free of the bar at the top of the pull. A one-handed 170# clean seemed reckless so I let the bar drop.

The second do-over I was too focused on extending up and paying attention to my hands and basically everything above my waist. I didn’t drop fast enough or deep enough to catch the bar.

Third time through I was tired. I didn’t generate enough speed on the lift to even attempt a drop. I told Rachel at that point, “Three strikes. I’m out.” Before breaking down and moving onto the METCON, I did one more solid lift at 135#, just to end with a hit.

If you read last week, you know I was pretty frustrated on the heavy days because I felt like I failed. I’m in a much better head space about events today. I figured out a few things recently that help me accept today and even last week’s results.

First, I realized I’m working out more. My normal workout cycle up until the first of the year has been exercise Monday and Tuesday, rest Wednesday, exercise Thursday and Friday. But since the first of the year, I’ve been getting in some sort of 5th workout every weekend. Last weekend it was Open 13.1 on Saturday. The week before it was a 16 minute Tabata workout on Sunday. When I’m getting to the gym on Mondays, I’m just not as rested as I’ve been in the past. That’s not an excuse, but it does make the results an easier pill to swallow.

Plus this week, I’m in a better space in terms of remembering “Consistency, Form, then Intensity.” Let’s get the lifts right, then we’ll continue to get them heavy.

Conditioning:
3 Rounds For Time:
Run 200m
10 Burpees
10 Ball slams (40/30)

Time Cap: 6 minutes

This was a mad dash workout and it was a blast. I couldn’t finish all three rounds in the time allotted, but there weren’t many folks who did, so no big deal. I used a 30# slam ball rather than 40#. Last time I tried a 40 it left me with lower back pain for days. I’m not monkeying around with that sort of thing during the Open.

There really wasn’t much strategy for this one. It was pretty much, “Go fast. Don’t stop.” I completed the first round in exactly 2 minutes and knew that completing the WOD was unlikely, but kept at it. Ultimately, I finished 2 rounds and 7 burpees when Rachel called time. I was going to quit and started to mark down my results when I realized that everyone else around me that failed to meet the time cap were still working. So I knocked out the 3 remaining burpees and the 10 ball slams. Kudos to the 6:15 crew for seeing the WOD through and dragging me along with them. It was the right answer.

I added 3 rounds of 5 reps of Toes to Bar concentrating on strict form with a minimal back swing on the drop. Those went pretty well. Was nice to feel them coming together.

There’s a bunch on my mind regarding the Paleo challenge and recipes the family enjoyed last week, but this post has gotten silly long already. Guess I’ll need to draft another post tonight.

 

 

cleans and kettle bell snatches

Clean Pulls – 100% 1RM Five Sets of 2.
Place was packed at 6:15 today. Close to 20 athletes there! Shared a bar with Craig to “conserve space” as Coach Rachel phrased it.

Worked these at 185# today and they were awkward and heavy. First two sets were OK, but the bar felt SO heavy. I was barely pulling the bar above my navel. I kept thinking, “if I was trying to do a full squat clean, there’s no way, I’d get under that bar.” For the third and fourth sets, while I was hyper-focused on my hips and extension to better elevate the bar, my feet went wild. It felt like I was dancing under the bar.

One rep I would land on one foot first rather than both feet at the same time. The next lift the feet would hit the ground at the same time, but the left foot would shuffle. It was just weird. Probably would have done myself a favor, if I’d taken some weight off, but instead I got stubborn. The final set actually felt ok. Good explosive hips, decent extension, ok elevation and stable feet. I’ll take it.

Cleans – 80% of 1RM 8 x 1.

Took the weight down to 150 for these. The first two lifts were a bit off, but after getting warmed up at this weight, the remaining 6 all felt respectable. Rachel reminded me after an early lift to keep my elbows up and push them through further to avoid landing forward. It was well-timed advice and the subsequent reps were much smoother.

METCON
5 Minutes
Kettle Bell Snatches (52#)
As many reps as possible

The guidance on this was we could alternate arms as much or as little as desired. Put the kettle bell down as necessary, whatever, just keep moving.

Individually, I wanted to divide the reps as evenly as possible between my left and right arms even if it cost me reps. I also started with my weak side (left). My goal was to get 100 reps, Rx.

I was able to do 2 rounds of 15 each hand to get to 60 reps. Then went to 1 set of 10 each hand to get to 80 reps. One set each hand at 5 reps to reach 90. There was time for one last transition and one final snatch to get 91 reps, Rx.

Missed my goal, but I’m satisfied with the effort and the result.

I’m debating whether or not I’m going to participate in CFD’s Paleo food challenge starting Monday. I definitely need a kick in the pants to recalibrate my nutrition. I’ve gotten very sloppy about carbs and sweets of late. I’ve reigned in the beer limiting myself to two a weekend. I really should dial that back to one.

I’ve cut out the soda again, a holiday lapse. I’ve tightened up my portion sizes again. But man have we been pounding some pasta and pizza in this house of late. We grossly overestimated how much pizza we would need for our kids’ birthday parties a couple of weeks ago. The result was we had entire pies, yes plural, on hand and I made lousy decisions there. Plus, and this is mostly my fault, we’ve been cooking a lot of pasta of late because of the convenience factor.

Erin has been working hard at making smart choices and preparing balanced meals for the family, but I’ve got to get better. I’ve been lazy on nights when she’s been working and I’m left to feed myself and the kids. Have to tighten that up.

While I won’t impose 100% paleo standards on the family, committing myself to a thirty-day challenge might just be what I need. I’m curious to see what impact it might have overall. But part of me has the same mindset about the challenge that I did about the crossfit open. There are way too many folks around CFD that are FAR more committed than I to a true Paleo lifestyle. Therefore, I can’t win, so what’s the point? But that’s a feeble excuse for not taking on the challenge. I’ve got a week to make up my mind. We’ll see.

 

 

would you could you in the rain

Great crowd this morning even on a cold soggy dark day. That makes working out so much better when you’re among friends.

WOD for Thursday 011713
Front Squat – 85%
3-3-3-3-3
Shared a rack with Brian and Craig today. I worked the 5 assigned sets of 3 at 185#. That’s around 75-ish percent of my 1RM. While my upper body felt good and I was able to maintain proper form throughout most lifts, my feet were a bit of a challenge today.

One set I was getting forward into the balls of my feet. The next I was rolling my feet inward as I descended. Going into the third set Coach Erin suggested I bring my feet in some a bit closer to, but not quite under the shoulders. In the moment it confused me. I could have sworn that very recently she or another coach encouraged me to spread my feet out a bit. But I confuse easily, so that may have been in reference to a back squat. I don’t know.

However, the last three sets with my feet closer together but still with toes pointed out were better than the preceding lifts. The last set of the day actually felt the best and Brian confirmed that they appeared to have the best form of any done on the day. So I ended with a hit.

METCON
AMRAP in 15 minutes:

5 Clean (135/95)
10 lateral jumps over your barbell
Run 100m

So I looked at this WOD last night and thought, “10 rounds should be achievable. 12 would be fantastic.” Yet again, I learned this morning what a lousy judge I am of the effort necessary to complete any given WOD.

I did the WOD Rx and the cleans got VERY heavy, very fast. I had a challenge the first round with dropping the bar after each rep. You wouldn’t expect that to present a challenge would you? However I found that with the bar racked on my chest in a loose grip that allowed my elbows to rise as they should, getting out from under the bar strained my wrists. I was trying to pull the bar away from my chest with my arms and that was bending my wrists back farther than was comfortable.

About halfway through the second set it finally occurred to me to do a small dip drive. Just enough to alleviate some of the pressure of the bar on my chest. That little lift was enough that I could then step backwards and clear my hands and arms out from under the bar allowing it to drop. Some days it comes together and I can be just a little bit clever.

I really enjoyed the lateral hops! I’ve said before that I wish I could find an opportunity to do some downhill skiing. Lateral hops are much like slaloming downhill. When it was time for hops, I went to my happy place out on a favorite ski run in the Adirondacks envisioning the perfect ski run. Don’t laugh. It helped! I got through all lateral hops unbroken.

Runs were not nearly as pleasant. It’s rained all night here in Durham. There was a very slight drizzle going on during the WOD and it was around 50 degrees or so. Not cold, but it was damp, dark and dank. But hey, it’s all part of the game. If we get the 2-4 inches of snow tonight that the weather stations are calling for, tomorrow could be a VERY interesting workout.

I actually called out to the box as I returned from the third round run, “Would you, could you in the rain? Would you, could you, with the pain?” In the moment, it amused me. If anyone noticed or responded, I couldn’t tell or missed it over the noise of the other athletes working.

When the 15 minutes expired, I had completed 6 full rounds, 5 cleans, the 10 lateral jumps and was headed out the door for one last run.

Call it 6 rds + 15 reps. No where NEAR the 10 rounds I was envisioning. Ah well. I’m pleased to have completed this one Rx, so I’ll take it.

Dave, the gym owner, posted pictures on Facebook of the new 35# and 40# slam balls that have arrived at CFD. During the front squat work I made mention of them and exclaimed how I was looking forward to playing with them later in the morning. “Playing with balls” of course led to some suggestive banter between Craig, Brian and I. My response was, “Hey, we’re all adults here, so let’s be honest. Who among us doesn’t enjoy a few good ball slams in the morning?” I noticed that both Craig and Einar on the neighboring rig had to take a few extra moments to compose themselves before their next sets of squats. Am I wrong?

Being the slam ball addict that I am, I did experiment with a 40# ball after the WOD. I did a quick set of 5 reps. I’m not sure I’ll be working with the 40# ball regularly in a WOD. It felt a whole lot heavier than 10# more than a 30# slam ball. We’ll see.

Definitely a fun day today.

 

fighting off pukie

I really thought today was going to be the day that that nasty clown was gonna get me.

WOD for Thursday 112212
“Klepto”
4 Rounds For Time:
27 Box Jumps (24/20)
20 Burpees
11 Squat Clean (145/105)

It was a pretty huge crowd, nearly 30 people. Folks were sharing equipment and spread out all over the gym. I know we were invited to work out doors as well. Not sure if anyone took Coach Paul up on that or not.

Going into this I had no intention of using a 24″ box for 108 total box jumps. Still by the time I’d set up my bar, 24′s were all that were avaiable. I certainly could have looked for someone to share a box with, but ultimately decided to go for it. It was an aggressive choice, and probably a bit reckless.

Burpees are burpees. The squat cleans were going to be grueling. I did 21 cleans at 145# as part of Tuesday’s WOD. My arms were still sore from that workout and it didn’t include all of the other mischief associated with this one. So I knew I wasn’t going anywhere near 145#. I set the bar at 115#, but I underestimated just how taxing all of the other work involved would be.

I didn’t have any set goals going into this other than get through it. I did have a semi-strategy though. All box jumps were to be done in sets of 9 reps. Burpees in 4 sets of 5. Cleans I thought I’d work something like 3,3,3, and 2. I was sort of successful at maintaining this.

The first round went according to plan. The second round box jumps and burpees went as planned. Cleans sort of fell apart. I got through the round and caught Coach Paul’s attention and asked him to reset the weight to 95#. He gracious enough to scale the bar back for as well as put away the 35# plates. Greatly appreciated, sir! Perhaps if I’d stuck with the 20″ box as I originally intended, I would have made it through all the cleans at 115#, but who knows?

Even through the third round I was able to maintain my strategy for box jumps and burpees, but my legs were SCREAMING! They were on FIRE! The cleans were all singles with lots of pauses for chalk, or just to stop the gym from spinning after every third or so lift.

By the time I got back to the last round of box jumps my legs were shaking so bad I was afraid to try a box jump. I wasn’t convinced I could get up on the platform. I swung my arms up and out. My right foot never moved. My left foot shook a couple of times but wouldn’t go. I tried again. Same thing. Finally, I just said, “Screw it! Get in motion do step ups!” Which I did. Those went VERY slowly, but unbroken.

About 4 reps into the burpees, I was swallowing hard after every rep, trying not to vomit. I started looking at the gym door and mapping my escape route. I was looking to see who was between me and the door, where their gear was located and what stage of the WOD they were in. Only because I was trying to map out the fewest steps to exit the building to puke! I was definitely wrestling hard with “Uncle Pukie” through this one and serously thought this was going to be the WOD where I lost my breakfast. It seemed prudent to have an evacuation plan to avoid losing it on the gym floor. Fortunately, it never quite came to that.

The last round of cleans were just about being done. As Coach Paul was reminding us, “the faster you finish, the faster you’re done.” That’s all I wanted, was to be done.

In total it took 26:08 to churn through this one. And I looked like this!

Wiped out~! Photo by Crossfit Durham

Beyond the workout:
It was great to work out under Coach Paul’s guidance today. His yoga warm up was incredibly helpful in loosening up the hips and legs for this workout. I have to try to remember some of the stretches he showed us today. They would be useful lunchtime stretches on other workout days when I’m tightening up after the morning workout.

What a crew today! So many folks from the 6:15 crew were there today. That made it very comfortable to work out. Was great to see young kids there with their families getting into it too!

I can honestly say that after this morning’s effort I ate the Thanksgiving feast today with absolutely zero guilt or consideration for calories. One day, that’s all….it was worth it.

Let’s close this by giving thanks. Thanks to Crossfit Durham and the coaches for all they do day in and day out. Thanks to Coach Paul for giving his time today, giving lunatics like me who want to work out on a holiday the opportunity to do so. Thanks to my family for indulging this obsession not just today but every day! Thanks also to all of you who take time to read these thoughts I write. I really appreciate the fact that there are folks out there who seem to have a genuine curiosity in what I have to say and that we can interact this way.