Tuesday, March 30, 2010

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.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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.