Fitness-12/19-snatch, deads, bench, "Ten Five"

Saturday

Woke up this morning still feeling tight and sore in that upper back/neck but markedly improved. Went into the gym for a big morning. Started with some strength:

Snatch

-5 x 125

-5 x 140

-5 x 160

Deads

-5 x 245

-5 x 280

-15 x 320

Bench

-5 x 165

-5 x 190

-10 x 215

The snatch wasn't max-effort, just a good active warm-up to the deads. I'd hoped to hit closer to 20 on the last set of deads but the body wasn't having it. Still a good effort. I failed on rep 11 @ 215 on the bench. We've been benching just as supplement and I don't care much about it. But it is getting stronger.

After the strength work, we went after a gnarly one. The "Ten Five" was a 800m row immediately followed by 9 to 1 push-press (155#), 1 to 9 front squats (155#), and 5 chest-to-bar pull-ups (body weight) for time. It went as follows:

-row 800m then...

-9 push press, 1 front squat, 5 pullups

-8 push press, 2 front squats, 5 pullups

-7 push press, 3 front squats, 5 pullups

-6 push press, 4 front squats, 5 pullups

on down to...

-1 push press, 9 front squats, 5 pullups

time=22:09

So, you were basically doing 10 reps of barbell work followed by 5 ctb pull-ups for 9 rounds. It was rough and I wasn't happy with my time at all. I rowed a mellow 800m, about 1:45-1:50/500m pace, because I knew I'd need some gas going into the barbell work. I got to the barbell work breathing easy and started slaying the barbell. All was well until I got to the round of 5-5-5. I was only about 8 minutes in at this point and I made it through the 5 push press/5 fronts without putting down the barbell. Banged out 5 quick pulls and then absolutely died. Hit the wall HARD today. Ended up having to lay down between every round from that point on. I think to be competitive, this workout needs to be finished close to the 15 minute mark. I plan to try this one again in the near future. It was good to "get humbled" today at the gym. I'm feeling more inspired to work harder.

Fitness-12/18-active rest

Thursday

I had a big day at the gym planned but when I woke up this morning, I knew it wasn't to be. My upper back and neck (from whatever I did when I felt a twinge on Tuesday jumping rope) were hurting good. I'd gone to sleep in pain, hoping I'd wake in the morning feeling good. Instead, I tossed and turned all night and woke up feeling worse. I spent most of the day on the couch resting up and then decided to go into the gym about 8pm and take myself through a thorough warm-up and some nice and light active rest work. I went through a ton of different, light-load movements. The only "work" I did (not timed) was:

-1k row

then, 5 rounds of:

-10 ghd hip extensions

-10 ghd situps

-200m row

I went through this nice and mellow, with no rests, but very slow and methodically. It felt good and really helped to loosen me up. I finished with some serious stretch and foam roll work.

Fitness-12/17-press, run

Thursday

I rested yesterday and my body feels good aside from the fact that it appears I've pinched a nerve/pulled a muscle in my upper back/neck. It's more annoying than anything else and only limits my range of motion from the neck up. Turning my head side to side is rough as is looking up. Started with some press work today anyway.

-5 x 105#

-5 x 125#

-8 x 140#

Was trying to rep out 140 as many times as possible and was disappointed to fail on rep 9. But, my press continues to improve. Felt the upper back for sure but really don't think it held me back much.

After the press, I went after some running intervals with a work:rest ratio of 1:1. My intervals looked as follows.

400m-1:39

400m-1:33

400m-1:32

400m-1:29

I went after these about 85% intensity. On the first one, a car pulled in front of me as I was rounding a corner, hence the 1:39.

I finished the day with some ring-dip work. Productive day, hopefully the back heals.

Fitness-12/15-deadlift/burpee, "Annie"

Tuesday

Went after 2 shorter met-cons today separated by a 5 minute rest. The first wod was the burpee/deadlift wod from the 2008 CrossFit Games. It was 5 rounds of the following for time:

-5 x deadlifts, 275#

-10 x burpees

time=3:36

After exactly 5 minutes rest , I did "Annie" for time. She is 5 rounds, 5o-40-30-20-10, afap of:

-doubleunders

-abmat situps

time=8:21

TOTAL WOD TIME (with rest included)=16:53

Not too bad here. I smoked the dl/burpee wod. But "Annie" smoked me. This was a little over 1 minute slower than my previous PR. I realized today sit-ups are actually a weakness. Time to spend more time on the abmat and ghd.

Fitness-12/14-clean and jerk, front squats

Monday

I felt pretty good coming into the gym today after a few days of rest. The only thing keeping me from feeling great was a weekend of poor nutrition/too much alcohol (I was in a wedding on Friday night). I still went after it.

Started out with clean and jerks and transitioned to front squats:

Cleans

-5 x 145#

-5 x 175#

-5 x 195#

Fronts

-5 x 200#

-8 x 225#

Not a bad session here. I used the clean (squat) and jerks to warm-up to the front squat. The last set at 195# was tough but sub-maximal, prob about 85%. On the fronts, I was hoping for 10-11 reps at 225# but failed on rep 9. Next time.

A short session today. I finished with muscle-up and handstand work. Good day.

Fitness-12/10-"Elizabeth" , "Josh"

Thursday WOD

With rest on Wednesday and then Friday through Sunday planned off, I went after it today in the gym. "Elizabeth" was up first. She's 3 rounds, 21-15-9, afap of:

-squat cleans, 135

-ring dips

time=12:39

I burned right through the cleans. Ring-dips held me back. But I'm improving. Last time I did this one, I was up over 20 minutes. I'd like to get this one about half the time it took me today.

Next I went after "Josh." Another Hero WOD which usually means ouch. "Josh" is the following afap:

-21 ohd squats, 115# (normally 95#)

-42 pullups

-15 ohd squats, 115#

-30 pullups

-9 ohd squats, 115#

-18 pullups

time=8:58

Not bad here but not great either. I upped the weight from Rx and didn't have any problem going unbroken on the overheads. Pull-ups certainly slowed me down.

I worked on a number of other lifts/skills before, between, and after these 2 wods. But they were the meat of my session. It was productive.

Nutrition-Update

Tuesday

I realize this is probably getting old by now. I've just been in a place lately where I've been a little apathetic in regards to my diet and because of this, I usually don't end up making time to blog. Don't get me wrong, I still care about what I put in my body and I've not been eating horrible. But, and I think it's just the time of year (with party's and get togethers galore), I've just been allowing myself a little more slack. My weight is up a few pounds as a result but amazingly, my performance in the gym is significantly increased. Which excites me to buckle down nutritionally because I do believe when all cylinders are firing/aligned (diet, rest, exercise), you set yourself up to be your best. With Christmas a week away and New Years right after that, I plan to continue on this "easy" streak when it comes to fuel...but come January 1, 2010, it's on! That's two months out from the 2010 CrossFit Games Sectional Qualifier and certainly time to get disciplined. So, stay tuned for quality intake come 1/1/2010. And I mean it this time.