It's Been Too Long...Back on the Blog!

It's been too long! About time I make my return. First, a little update:

In May, myself and a 5 others from Jogo Crossfit Bellingham competed as a team at the 2010 Northwest Regional Qualifier. We competed valiantly and were in 5th place overall going into the third and final workout, the top 6 teams at the end of the weekend advancing to the 2010 Crossfit Games down in California. We gave it all we had but after the dust settled, our team ended up falling just short, tied for 8th. It was an honor and pleasure to compete side by side with the friends I've come to love through the months of training and preparation leading up to the qualifier. It was also outstanding to go head to head with Loren, Walt and the rest of the Kirkland Crossfit gang. They were just out of the top 6 going into the final workout and put up an outstanding performance to finish in the 4th position overall. As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, root for 'em! Were cheering for you guys to take it all come the middle of July!

In the month and a half since then, I've geared down my training in some ways and amped it up in others. I'm trying to give extra focus to the lifts and to the gymnastics skills that are my biggest weaknesses; basically bw pushing and pulling, especially in the handstand position and on the rings. Up to the present, I've done so with varying success. I've not been very productive with the gymnastics programming and am looking to refine what I'm doing to improve. As for the lifts, I've been making decent progress. Until last week, I'd been on a steady progression in load. I had an awful week with the lifts. I think sub-par nutrition and rest in the time since the qualifier finally caught up with me. I'll look to shape up in both of those areas and keep going at it. Stay tuned.

From here on I'll certainly look to be on the blog more consistently. Most often, I'll only be posting when I have pr efforts or when I see a benchmark wod. In the time since the qualifier, I've literally done less than 10 met-cons. Here's a look at a few noteables:

Individual Northwest Qualifier #1

3 rounds for time of:
-10 overhead squats, 135#
-50 double-unders

time=5:04

Walt was in town for this one and we went head to head. I barely clipped him and it was a good battle. I was amazed at how difficult this workout was. I honestly thought I'd finish closer to the 3 minute mark. That last set of overheads was brutal!


"Fight Gone Bad"


score=399

I went after this one last week. I was actually in the gym to lift, was having an awful session, got frustrated and decided to call it and just go after a met-con with the rest of the gym. I wasn't expecting much and was almost in disbelief when I added it up : a 6 rep pr. I'm certain I'll finally eclipse the 400 mark on my next go at 'er.


"Cindy"

AMRAP in 20 minutes of:
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats

score=15+1

I wasn't happy with this result as I was hoping to be closer to 20 rounds. My body-weight going in was about 240 and I felt every pound. As is usually the case, push-ups destroyed me. I know what I have to work on.


That's it for now, be back sooner than later.

Blog Update-4/20

I've been on a little hiatus from blog land due solely to my own laziness. My apologies. Here's an update of the last couple weeks.

The Level 1 Cert down at Rainier CrossFit was excellent! I learned more than I thought I would and had a great time with Loren and his pals from Kirkland CrossFit. Loren and I went after "Fran" at the cert in an epic head to head battle that left me grounded for upwards of a half hour. We were also taught how to lift atlas stones in what I'd call the realization of a boyhood dream (maybe a bit dramatic, but I've seriously wanted to try my hand at atlas stones since I was a lad watching world's strongest man on espn). Kurtis, owner of Rainier CrossFit, schooled us well in the stones and left me wanting more. By the time it was done, I was able to easily hoist a 230# stone! I'll be looking to add stones to JoGo's repetoire at some point in the future, seriously, stay tuned. Overall, the weekend was great and one I'd describe as an excellent "community" experience.

As for my training, here's a quick look at some notable performances from the Level 1 until now, "Fran" included:


Saturday, 4/10-"Fran"

3 rounds, 21-15-9, AFAP of:
-thrusters, 95#
-pull-ups

time=4:22

I missed my pr by almost a minute (3:27). But the standards with the HQ trainers in your grill were STRICT and I had a number of reps not counted. It was a good eye opener for me to realize I need to be more stringent in attaining full range of motion.


Tuesday, 4/12-"Bionic"

"Bionic" is a JoGo benchmark and a gnarly wod. I first went after it February of 2009 at the first annual JoGo Throwdown competition. I finished in 10:49 that day and the winning time was 7:13 by who else, Jer Ingersoll, the metabolic machine from Kirkland CrossFit. I hoped to challenge that time this go-around.

5 rounds AFAP of:

6 x sdhp, 95#
6 x burpees
6 x front squat, 95#
6 x kb swing, 24kg
6 x hang power snatch, 95#

time=7:29

I went after this one with Jonathan and only clipped him by about 5 seconds. It was a good battle and we pushed each other hard towards Jer's time. Didn't get it but were close and certainly pleased with the result. And, btw, Jon's time at the competition was upwards of 13 minutes. That's a hell of an improvement.

Also on this day in the gym, I realized I'm capable of handstands in space as well as walking on my hands which was exciting. Unfortunately, all the excitement cost me a severely bruised hip...but it was worth it.


Friday, 4/16-heavy snatch balances

I've heard much about, and strongly believe in, the benefit of heavy snatch balances. Their ability to get you confident with putting big weight overhead and develop not only speed strength, but confidence in the snatch (my favorite lift), is second to none. So why haven't I been doing them? Great question, was time to start:

3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 185
3 x 205
1 x 225
1 x 235
1 x 255
1 x 275, failed 3 attempts

Man, again, talk about building confidence. I started light and patterned my way up and pretty soon was putting weight overhead I didn't realize I was capable of. I was SO CLOSE to getting the first attempt at 275, lost shoulder stability coming out of the bottom. I wish I had a video of that first attempt to see what all went wrong. I got the bright idea to record my efforts after that attempt. Here's a video of the second go at 275 attached below. The camera was flipped and I'm not sure how to rotate the video here (I'm technically inept) so you'll have to turn your head, apologies. I wasn't that close on this one but much can be learned from it. Namely, notice how I inclinate forward on my dip and my elbows are way behind the bar instead of beneath it. Where does the bar go and where do I lose the lift? Forward. I'm convinced if I keep a vertical trunk during the dip and suck my elbows under, I make this lift. That's exciting.




Here's another video of Chris Spealler and Eric o'Connor going at snatch balances: Chris vs Eric

There are some fantastic lifts in this video, especially from Chris.

Fitness Update-4/5 thru 4/9

Friday

Today is Friday 4/9 and I've taken the past two days off. This was my first week back on strict nutrition and I felt it. I was sluggish and having to dig deep to find energy. Now, I'm feeling fantastic but for a few days there, my body was going through some "poor fuel" withdrawls and hollering at me a bit. I'm already down about 10-12 pounds from my weight on Monday (that's some serious food/water weight I was carrying!) and that's without fasting, I've been eating like a horse! I'm stoked to be over the hump. My nutrition this week has been legit and I'm pretty pumped to be feeling the motivation again to stay clean. I think my performance from here on out will really start to reap reward.

This week, I trained hard Monday through Wednesday. As I said, I was struggling but was still able to get a good bit of work done.

Monday-4/5-Running Chipper AFAP:

800m run
50 jump rung pull-ups
40 kb swings, 32kg
400m run
30 box jumps, 24"
20 wall ball shots, 10ft/20#
200m run
15 push-ups
10 kick to supports
100m run

time=14:30

This one had a 15 minute time cap and I just wanted to make sure I came in under the cap.

Tuesday-4/6-"DT", 5 rounds AFAP:

12 deadlifts, 155#
9 hang power cleans, 155#
6 jerks, 155#

time=8:30

Wasn't happy with this time, was shooting for sub-8. I went after it and gassed out. I went unbroken on all the jerks until the very last one and failed rep 6 in round 5. Took me a bit to re-coup and finish the final rep, it was pretty poor. All things considered, I'll look to do this one again in the next month and really think I can come in close to the 7 minute mark.


I'm headed down to the level 1 cert this weekend with my brother from another mother, Loren Winter, and company. It's being held down at Rainier CrossFit and I'm stoked for it! I'm in Snohomish today hanging with the old man before I head down and am toying with swinging into Snohomish CrossFit to get a wod in. But then again it'd probably be wise to save some energy for the weekend. Stay tuned.

Pictures-3/30-Power Hour Pics

At 3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a few of us often get together for the days training session for a time we've affectionately labeled "Power Hour." And today's Hour was one hell of a sesh (see the post below). Em (JoGo visionary, co-coach, teammate, dear friend) sat this one out as she'd gone after a training session earlier in the day. But she decided to stick around for a little moral support. And she snapped a few pics of Jonathan and I getting gnarly while she was at it. Check 'em out. Of note: I outweigh Jonathan by about 60# but only got him by about 15 reps today. Pretty impressive effort at 115# for the young fella, he's becoming a beast. Good stuff brother.

"Sumo-Thruster War Power Hour"

Fitness-3/30-"Sumo-Thruster War"

Tuesday

No lift today, just one hell of a wod. "Sumo-Thruster War" was on the docket today, 20 minutes of pain:

30 seconds thrusters, 115#
30 seconds rest
30 seconds sdhp, 115#
30 seconds rest

repeat for 20 minutes

score=192

I went after this one with my bud and teammate Jonathan by my side. It was a good war indeed as we offset in order to work while the other one rested, a good battle back and forth. My goal was to go after this one hard until I hit a wall and then scrap to finish every round with the same amount of reps as in the round I "crashed." And I did pretty well to do that. My goal going in, however, was to hit 200 reps-I wanted to average 20 reps per minute of work. And I fell 8 reps short which seems like a lot but when you break it down, that's less than an extra 1/2 rep per interval. When I think back to the times I dropped the bar when there were still a few seconds left in the interval, I realize I could've gotten those 8 reps easy. A little disappointed with my resolve during this one but a great wod none the less.

Fitness-3/29-press/push press/split jerk, "Fitness Tests"

Monday

I came into the gym feeling pretty well rested after taking it very easy Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday. Started with some overhead work, here were my best efforts:

press
-5 x 155

push press
-1 x 205

split jerk
-3 x 240

I felt fairly strong going overhead. Attempted a 6th rep at 155 on the press and missed it but am finally starting to see my press strength improve. The jerks felt like butter and 3 at 240 was no problem. This is exciting.

After the lift, went after some fitness tests, taken from one of the events at the 2010 CrossFit Games Hawaii Sectional. In these tests, you've 1 minute to do the prescribed work and even if you end up having time to do more, you stop once you hit the mark required. In other words, it's pass/fail. If you finish before the minute is up, you've the remainder of the minute plus the next minute to rest before starting the next test. There were 5 tests, so the wod was 9 minutes total since the last rest isn't taken into account because the workout is over:

1) 10 ohd squats @ 135#, score=pass, took me about 20 seconds and felt like I could've gone the whole minute
2) 10 unbroken pistols each leg, score=pass, barely got this one right leg needs work...both legs need work
3) 30 unbroken pull-ups, score=fail, I did 28 and grip was the determining factor
4) 45 unbroken 20 inch box jumps, score=pass, finished around 50 seconds
5) 4 unbroken hspu on parallettes, score=fail, I couldn't get one, the parallettes make for a brutal range of motion

Overall, there weren't really any surprises here. I did think I could get 30 pull-ups so was a bit disappointed I didn't. But next time, I will. And the hspu's on the parallettes is a whole new ball game. I plan to start spending a lot of time on them.

Fitness-3/27-cleans/fronts, sandbag stair runs

Saturday

Started off the morning right with some oly work. Went after some sub-max squat cleans to gear up for some front squats, here are my best efforts:

cleans
-3 x 215

fronts
-6 x 245

I took all the cleans from the hang and felt strong. The 6 reps at 245 on the fronts was a good effort for me, I failed on rep 7 unfortunately. I think it was more of a mental failure then physical, gave up on 'er a bit. But still getting stronger.

Fitness-3/22-snatch, deads, "Team Annie", double-unders

Monday

Body was feeling good after the rest on Sunday. Started the day out with a lift, here are my bests:

snatch
3 x 165

deads
5 x 375

Snatches were pretty light, I took them all from the hang except for the set at 165. They were a good warm-up for the deads. The deads felt heavy but I felt strong. It was weird. The reps were slow, like I was lifting a house or something but I felt like I could've just kept going. Kind of bizarre. I stopped at 5 x 375 but felt like I might've been good for another 5. Just didn't want to wreck myself and 5 reps felt like enough. I'm trying to get better about making smarter decisions in regards to training, especially early in the week when it might really impact the rest. Went after a "Team Annie" next.

"Annie" is 50-40-30-20-10 of:

double-unders
sit-ups

team time: 7:56

We had 3 to a team and alternated 20 second intervals until all reps were completed. 2:1 rest to work and a nice way to get the lungs going a bit but keep it light. Simple as that. After the workout, Art and I went after a 2 minutes double-under test:

score=152

I may have lost count here because I swear Art seemed to be getting more in than me and he only finished with 149. I think I made the first 80 unbroken and then things went downhill fast. This score should be up at 200 or more as far as I'm concerned. It was amazing how gassed I was after only 2 minutes. It just proved how much work I've to do. A good day none the less.

Fitness-3/20-Visit from Loren, cleans, front squats, "Northern European Chipper"

Saturday

I had the privlage of having my good friend Loren up for a visit Friday night and was stoked to have him with me in the gym the next day for a tough morning session. Loren pushes me hard and I needed it. We went after cleans and front squats to start. My sets looked as follows:

cleans
5 x 160
5 x 185
5 x 205

fronts
5 x 205
7 x 230

The cleans felt pretty light and were a good warm-up to the fronts. Actually, 205 felt heavy but I finished the set easily. Loren made it look like the bar, good Lord. The fronts felt heavy and I barely got that 7th rep up. I'll look to see my strength going back up quickly as this was my first workout under any heavy weight in a couple weeks and the body was hollering a bit. After the lift, we went after the chipper wod from the 2010 CrossFit Games Northern European Sectonal Qualifier. It was a brute:

35 x sdhp, 95#
50 x box jumps, 20"
35 x push press, 95#
50 x air squats
35 x toes to bar
50 x american kb swings, 24kg
30m farmers carry walking lunge, 24kg bells
50 burpees

time=18:24

I was pretty pleased with this output. It was a grinder and I just tried to set a pace and keep moving. The toughest part of this one was the transition from toes to bar on to kb swings, my grip was trashed. I know I wouldn't have done as well as I did if not for Loren getting after it with me. Thanks for the push brother, can't wait to do it again, "Fran" here we come!

Fitness-3/19-"Crunchless"

Friday

Was a quick one at the gym today. But Effective. "Crunchless" was 3 rounds, 15-12-9 with a run each round of:

-snatch balance, 95#
-toes to bar
-hollow rocks
-400m run

time=10:50

I was pretty pleased with this output. The toes-to-bar need work. Did the first round w/out coming off of the bar but they were slow, can't seem to cycle them like knees to bows, it's tough. Everything else was easy. I do need to run harder.

Fitness-3/17-press/push press/split jerks, "Alternate Universe"

Thursday

Started out with some overhead work.

Press
7 x 140

Push Press
5 x 175

Split Jerk
4 x 215

Going into this one, my shoulders were already pretty shot after yesterday's "Elizabeth" debacle and wasn't feeling too strong. The press continues to need lots of work. Push press was light and a good warm-up for the jerks. Was going for 5 at 215 and missed the last attempt. But made some great improvements to my technique and feel I'm getting back up close to my pr in the jerk.

Fitness-3/16/10-"Elizabeth...kind of", L-hang work

Tuesday

"Elizabeth" was on the board today and decided to go after it with a twist. I set the rings high and decided I'd do a muscle-up before commencing any of the dips. That meant if I came off the rings before I'd gotten my reps for the round, I'd have to hit a muscle-up to get back on and finish my reps. It was a poor choice. "Elizabeth" is 3 rounds, 21-15-9 of:

squat clean, 135#
ring-dips

time=19:45ish

This one was a disaster, the whole muscle-up idea killed me. I got the set of 21 dips done with only 4 muscle-ups. The set of 15, I hit my first muscle-up and knocked out 7 dips. Then I started failing muscle-ups. Then the rings about came loose and I had to grab a box and fix them. Then I kept failing muscle-ups. I ended up finishing the workout without muscle-ups, just performing straight dips. I took this one slow from the start and it still kicked my butt. I should note my body weight is up 10-12 pounds from the Sectional competition. And I can feel it big time doing the BW work. After the wod, I attempted more muscle-ups and couldn't get one, took my oly shoes off, and nailed one easily. It seems every pound counts. Maybe it's just my imagination.

Finished with some false-grip/l-hang work. Was a good day.

Fitness-3/15/10-snatch, deadlifts, "Pillar Circuit"

Monday

Today marked the start of my first full week back in the gym. I'd hoped to get into the gym over the weekend to go after some new pr's in the snatch, deadlift and front squat but I didn't make time. The rest proved to be worthwhile. I felt good to go with new energy/motivation for another couple months of hard work. Started back on the first week of a new strength cycle with snatch and deads:

Snatch
5 x 155

Deadlifts
7 x 350

The snatch felt strong and light, was a good warm-up for the deads. The last set at 350 on the deads felt heavy (it was my first heavy dead since Sectionals) yet easy. I was good for more than 7 but decided to cap it. Trying to be smart about my training, especially first week back.

After the lift, went through a KB circuit, un-timed but with good pace. The "Pillar Circuit" was 3 rounds of the following:

-5 x R/L 2 arm front racked kb box step-up, 24" box/24kg or 16kg
-5 x R/L 1 arm kb chest press, back on medball, 24kg
-5 x R/L renegade row, 24kg
-10 x R/L 1 arm front racked kb abmat sit-up, 24kg

This one took me around 10-15 minutes to work through and I was actually pretty good and spent afterwards. It's amazing how much unilateral work will call out your weaknesses. These were some out of the ordinary exercises, at least for our programming, and it was an excellent change of pace and great way to start back to training. The step-ups were brutal! I used the 16kg's for the first round, decided it was too easy and went to the 24kg"s for the second round. Barely made 5 each leg. Gnarly exercise.

Fitness-3/12/10-clean pr, press, "The Great North"

Friday

I was pretty good and wrecked after Tuesday's first big effort back in the gym after my post-competition lay-off. So, I took Wednesday and Thursday off in order to rest up. I wanted to finish the week with some new 1-rep PR attempts in the olympic and power lifts before we start our next round of programming next week as we begin gearing up for regionals. So I went in this morning with plans to determine new 1-rep scores for the clean, front squat, press, snatch and deadlift. I started with the squat clean.

Clean
-1 x 225
-1 x 245
-1 x 260
-1 x 270
-1 x 275, failed

I was pretty happy with this effort. 270 was a pr by 25#. The attempt at 275 was close, but couldn't get out of the hole. I have a good enough pull to clean MUCH more than this but my front squat continues to be the limiting factor. It's improving steadily though and I'll look forward to retesting after a few more months of work.

After the clean, I planned to move to the front squat. I put 275 in the rack for my first attempt and ended up failing the rep. I'd done 275 fairly easily a couple weeks ago but my head wasn't in the game and it seemed I spent my energy on the clean. I decided to scrap the front squat and move to the press.

Press
-1 x 155
-1 x 170
-1 x 175, failed

My press is weaaaakkkkk. I think this was the same 1 rep I made last time I tested over 3 months ago. So, seemingly, it didn't improve at all. But, as evidenced by the front squat, I think I was zapped, probably mentally as much as anything else. Just couldn't get fired up. Feeling good, I'm sure I could get at least a 5-10# improvement. Still a long ways to go in the press but I already knew that.

After that, I decided my 1 rep day was done. My mind wasn't right and I didn't want to frustrate myself. I moved on to the "Great North," a wod from one of the sectional qualifiers.

4 rounds for time of:
-6 pullups, chest to bar
-6 ring dips
-500m row
-6 thrusters, 135#

time: 2 rounds in app 10 minutes

I went at this one un-timed and was just planning on pacing myself through. I know I still made it through the first round fairly quick, about 3 minutes. On the rower in round 2, I went tachycardic. Finished the row, laid down for a bit, finished the thrusters and decided to cut myself off. It's proving harder than I thought to get back in the gym and back to training with good intensity after the competition and the rest. My mind and body need a little more acclimatization. I plan to head into the gym tomorrow morning, after a good nights rest, and test my 1 rep snatch and deadlift. That's if I'm feeling good. And if I'm feeling really good, I'll make a purposeful go at my front squat and maybe even re-test my press. Stay tuned.

Recovered and Back in the Gym-3/9/10

Tuesday

Well, I'm back and I think I'm recovered. Sectionals was quite the experience. I started off the weekend pretty poorly placing low in the first two events. But I finished strong, finishing in the top 25 in events 3 and 4 and finishing workout 5 under the time-cap which was a good accomplishment for me considering it consisted of 20 muscle-ups. It was an amazing weekend and such a blessing to compete with so many amazing athletes and witness so many inspirational performances. The energy was great and the support from fellow competitors was unbelievable. It's pretty phenomenal to watch someone complete a workout only to have them turn around and cheer for you to better their performance. Quite the sport. Much like last year, the weekend renewed my motivation to keep on training. I didn't qualify but gave it my best and significantly improved my performance/fitness from the 2009 Regional Comp less than 1 year ago. Next up: The 2010 CrossFit Games Affiliate Competition! Our gym is putting together a coed team to compete and the middle of May marks the first qualification competition. The top 6 teams from our Northwest region will be invited to compete down in Aromas come July and we think, the way we're going, we've a strong chance to be one of those 6! We'll officially start our next round of training next week.

This week, I'm back in the gym after taking all of last week off. I did a light workout yesterday but today marked my first "intense" effort since the competition and it didn't disappoint. I started the session off with an impromptu clean and jerk wod in celebration of a teammates birthday. John turned 20 today and decided he wanted to do 20 body weight clean and jerks at for time. I couldn't let him go it alone and decided to join. But I used his body weight. If I'd used my own, I think I'd still be there.

20 clean and jerks, 175#

time=3:46

I didn't go for broke on this one. Took 'em one at a time and split jerked all of them. Finished feeling shaky but on my feet and with more in the tank. Wanted to save a little something for the wod to follow. One of these days I'll give Grace a go at 185. But think I'll wait a bit for that effort. 5 minutes later, went after the wod.

"Kettle Bell Hell" was the big effort on the docket today. It's a gnarly wod and is 10 rounds of the following performed AFAP:

-20 Russian kb swings (eye level), 24kg

-5 burpees

-20 Russian kb swings, 24kg

-5 TGU sit-ups each arm, 24kg

time=26:47

This was a pretty good effort. I never broke on any of the exercises. Took a few too many rest breaths between them but for the first day back and 400 kb swings, I'll take it.

Update-2/18-Less than 10 days to go

Thursday

We're less than 10 days out from the 2010 CrossFit Games Washington Sectional Qualifier and I'm in the process of making final preparations to give the best performance I can. I've not been sharing my workouts or nutrition lately. Time, in large part, has been an issue but I've also kept off the blog in order to "protect the playbook" so to speak. Sounds cheesy, I know, but much can be accomplished with proper training, nutrition and rest in the final month leading up to competition. And in the spirit of friendly competition, I'm keeping some training tricks/methods to myself. Ultimately, the fittest athletes will win but to the winners also goes the affirmation of good programming and effective preparation. Basically, a successful performance proves your shit works. Look at Mikko Salo for example, a year ago no one knew him, let alone cared how he prepared. He comes out of nowhere and wins the CF Games and now everyone's dying to know his method. We're all looking for an edge, some more seriously than others. In all honesty though, I've not prepared in this last month nearly as well as I could, or probably should, have. But, I'm buckling down in this last week and a half here and going to give it the best run I can. I'm so excited to get after it with you guys and everyone else who competes next weekend. Trust me when I say it promises to be a weekend we'll never forget! That said, here's a look at some of my notable performances from the last few weeks:

2/9/10

2009 NorCal Qualifier WOD

500m row

30 burpees

10 jerks, 165#

time=4:55

2/10/10

"Helen"

3 rounds

-400m run

-21 kb swings, 24kg

-12 pullups

time=8:42 (pr by about 1:15)

2/12/10

5 rounds (10 minute cap)

-200m run

-10 burpees

-10 kb swings

score=4 rounds + run+8 burpees

2/16/10

"Nasty Girls"

3 rounds

-50 air squats

-7 muscle ups

-10 hang power cleans, 135#

time=12:19- this is not a competitive time, the small and strong guys are finishing this one in well under 10 minutes. But this was a milestone workout performance for me. I was about 232# at the time of this one. I had tried this wod the week before with a 10 minute cap and had barely finished 1 round in 10 minutes, making only 8 successful MU's in over 20 attempts. In my second go at her, less than a week later, I made all 21 MU's with only 1 missed rep. And finished the whole wod only 2 minuets slower than it took me to finish a third of it on the first go. Needless to say, it was a big confidence builder.

Fitness-2/5-ghd/ring push/kb carry

Friday WOD

I felt pretty good and recovered/fresh after taking Thursday off. Went into the gym to get after a short one. We did a 3 rounder AFAP:

20 x ghd situps

20 x ring push-ups

50m kb waiter carry, R arm/32kg

50m kb waiter carry, L arm/32kg

time=14:40

This one humbled me. I rolled through the first round pretty quick. As soon as I started failing on the ring push-ups in the second round though, I knew it'd be a grind. Transitioning from the push to holding 32kg over head and walking 50m was wretched for me. My triceps were so spent from the ring push-ups, it was an absolute battle to keep my elbow locked. Push strength is a weakness and this one was a good reminder of how much I need to work on it.

I took about 10 minutes rest after this one and then went after some muscle-ups. I made 3 muscle-ups in as many minutes and decided to call it a day. Wasn't feeling the gusto and figured I'd be better served resting up for a big day tomorrow.

Nutrition-2/5

Friday

sleep: 8.5 hours on the night

11am

-7 oz. chicken breast prepared in organic evoo

-1/2 cup walnuts

-1 cup blueberries

-medium banana

-16 oz. organic brewed coffee, black

-2.8g epa+dha

3pm

-6 oz. chicken breast prepared in organic evoo

-1/2 cup walnuts

-6 oz. red grapes

-medium organic gala apple

-1g epa+dha

5:30pm (post wod)

-"endurox"-13g prot, 52g cho, 0.5g glutamine

6:45pm

-6 oz. chicken breast

-1/2 cup walnuts

-1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

-2.8g epa+dha

8:45pm (bayou on bay)

-smoked chicken salad w/romaine, spinach, app. 2 oz. chopped bacon, app. 5 oz. smoked chicken breast, and a little bit of smoked ranch dressing on the side (I'm weak)

-1 oyster shooter (I really didn't want to but had said I'd try one, yikes)

-1 glass pinot noir

10:30pm (the green frog)

-1.5 pints two towers blonde ale

11:30pm (the nimbus)

-1 glass cabernet

12:30am

-2 oz. chicken breast

-1 cup organic whole milk

-130 oz. water on the day

Nutriton-2/4

Thursday

sleep: 6 hours on the night

7:15am

-5 oz. organic lean ground buffalo

-1/2 cup walnuts

-large banana

-1.2g epa+dha

8:15am

-triple 16 oz. americano, black

1:45pm

-5 oz. organic lean ground buffalo

-1/2 cup walnuts

-8 oz. red grapes

-medium organic gala apple

-2.8g epa+dha

8:50pm

-5 oz. organic lean ground buffalo

-1/2 cup walnuts

-large banana

-2.8g epa+dha

12am

-1 cup organic milk

-1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

-1.2g epa+dha

-115 oz. water on the day

Fitness-2/3-press, snatch, overheads, "Role Reversal", hspu and pistol work

Wednesday

Another good day in the gym. Started with a sub-max press and snatch warming up to a max effort overhead squat:

press

2 x 5 x 75

2 x 5 x 95

2 x 5 x 105

squat snatch

5 x 145

3 x 165

1 x 185

overheads

3 x 185

3 x 205

2 x 225

I was sore from Tuesday's work but still felt pretty good throughout the lift. The snatch at 185 was easy, I'm starting to produce a lot of speed through the middle which is promising. This was the first time I've done heavy overheads in months. I lost stability through my shoulders at the top of the 3rd rep w/225 and dumped it. I know I'm capable of more than this but was still encouraged as I've not been training heavy overheads and I'd never done a rep with more than 215.

I rested 7 minutes and then went after "Role Reversal." This was a wod from last year's Rocky Mountain qualifier for the 2009 CF Games and was 3 rounds of the following AFAP:

8 x deadlifts, 300#

run 400m

time=6:31

I was shooting for sub-6 but saved a little too much on the first two runs and couldn't make up the time on the last one. I never broke on the deads and they felt pretty light. I've got to start pushing my pace more when I run.

I rested 7 minutes after this one then went after handstand push-ups EMOTM followed by pistols EMOTM. I started the hspu's w/1 abmat and finished using 2, failing in the 5th minute to complete 5 reps. I failed in the 4th minute on the pistols, my legs were/are shot. Still a good short burst of work to finish the session. I'm resting Thursday and will be back after it Friday.