20090130

WOD

AMRAP in 20 Minutes

2 loops Farmer's Walk, 2 pood in each hand, distance unknown

15 strict pull-ups

Penalty: 5 Burpees for each time the KB's are dropped during a walk

This was a partner workout where person A did the walk then person B did the pull-ups and then the walk. This meant that one person was working at a time and had to do both exercises in a row. It was a fun workout with a fairly laid back attitude, better than running outside. My partner was Lindsey, and quite frankly we won...hands down. No other way to put it. We each did 4 complete rounds and neither of us dropped the KB's (in fact nobody this morning did). I've never done Farmer's walks before and found them to be interesting. It was hard to hook grip the KB's but I tried and it seemed to work well. I think the pain in my thumbs from doing that is what made the walk tough mentally. Anyways, fun stuff and rest day tomorrow!

20090129

WOD

Elizabeth

21-15-9

135 lb. Cleans

Ring Dips

10:49

When I first saw this workout last night I thought it would be comparable to Fran. That was assuming that the cleans were just power cleans. However, this was not the case. I learned that unless otherwise noted (as power) a clean includes a full squat. It was the squat that made the workout difficult. Cleaning the weight was relatively no problem, but lifting the weight out of the hole really drains the energy. I started by trying to cluster the reps but in the second and thrid rounds I'd drop the weight and re-grip after each lift. I think I was able to get more reps done without rest, but I'm not sure which way would be faster. The ring dips weren't too bad. No new wounds on the arms anyways. All in all I liked this one, and as always there's plenty of room for improvement.

20090128

WOD

Thrusters

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

110-132-154-164-174(fx2)-169(f)-169

Ricky had high hopes that we would all hit 200 today. No dice. I've never done thrusters this heavy before so everything above 132 was a pr. I think I still need to work on the technique, but it's better than it was. Maybe next time I'll be able to hit 200.

20090126

WOD

AMRAP in 15 minutes

12 KB Swings 2 pood

21 Double Unders

9 rounds + 10 kb swings

Looking back I wish I had pushed harder, but that's usually the case. The double unders stopped me up more than I would have liked, but once I adapted to the fatigue they came easier. I'm not feeling the need for a rest day as much as last cycle, but I'm going to enjoy it because I know the pain train in coming in two days and I'm already tied to the tracks.

Ricky's sit-up tip that I alluded to yesterday was to flatten your legs out a bit. Doing so giving your muscles a little bit of rest at the top of the sit-up instead of constant contraction. I guess you kind of have to find the sweet spot through trial and error. Sounds like something worth checking out. 

20090125

WOD

"Barbara"

5 rounds, each for time:

20 pull-ups

30 push-ups

40 sit-ups

50 squats

Rest 3 Minutes between rounds

Time excluding rest: 25:19

I think the rounds broke down like this

1. 2:58

2. 4:04

3. 6:11

4. 6:22

5. 5:44

I'm sure on the seconds for round 3 and 4.

It all started out well, I didn't break anything up the first round and only broke push-ups and sit-ups on the second round. But rounds 3 and 4 got me the most. My push-ups are still a bit weak and the sit-ups are always tough. Ricky gave us some pointers on sit-ups after the workout, so I'll have to give them a try the next time we do sit-ups. As it shows here, I need to work on stamina and strength to improve on these workouts. Pull-ups and squats are two of my stronger areas, so that just leaves sit-ups and push-ups. All there is to do is get stronger.

20090124

WOD

Crossfit Total

Back Squat 1RM

Shoulder Press 1RM

Deadlift 1RM

Instead of maxing out on the Bs and DL, Ricky suggested that we do 3 reps at 92.5% of our max. This made it more of a strength building workout than a showing off workout. Here's what I did.

BS: 225, 255, 240 (PR)

SP: 120 (PR), 125(Fx2)

DL: 299, 308, 308

I bumped the weight up in both the DL and BS just for kicks. I was feeling good today and I guess it paid off. My back is feeling better, but still making its presence known. Another thing I did today was bring some chocolate milk for the recovery drink. I'll try and stay consistant with that and see if I feel any difference.

20090122

WOD

5 rounds for time

45 lb barbell overhead walking lunges, 50 feet

21 burpees

9:50

In contradiction to the mainsite recomendation, I don't think my trailing leg gently kissed the ground on each lunge. It was a more aggressive kiss, I think. Anyways this was a fun one as usual. The lunges made it interesting. I worked on Ricky's burpee technique and I think it helped. Not much else to say, except I'm looking forward to tomorrow's rest day.

20090121

WOD

15 HSPU

1 L pull-up

13 HSPU

3 L pull-ups

11 HSPU

5 L pull-ups

9 HSPU

7 L pull-ups

7 HSPU

9 L pull-ups

5 HSPU

11 L pull-ups

3 HSPU

13 L pull-ups

1 HSPU

15 L pull-ups

I was able to get through everything save 5 pull-ups by the 30 minute cut off. All the HSPU were strict and as prescribed, the L pull-ups were less so. Switching from an overhand to underhand or mixed grip helped a lot with the pull ups, but these are definitely something I'll have to work on. I kipped a little on some of the reps, but tried to stay as strict as I could. After the 30 minutes, I went back and did the last 5 reps with a tan band. This made it much easier, and maybe I should have switched earlier. Oh well.

However, I do have an interesting completely unrelated story for those who are interested. It's a story about mornings and odd awakenings. It all began with a slight tickle on my chin that drifted into my dreams. The tickle slowly crept up the side of my face and presumably onto my hair. Gaining consciousness and realizing this tickle was a bug I attempted aggressively persuade the little critter to tickle elsewhere. In an unfortunate turn of events the bug, in full flight mode, made a mad dash straight into my ear. Baffled, shocked, and still drifting out of sleep I didn't know what to think. For a bit I thought it was a dream or that the bug crawled away, but when the bug started moving inside my ear I knew what had happened. If you've never had a bug in your ear, it is quite a bizarre feeling to try and explain. It sounds like having water in your ear; water with antennas. I waited for a few minutes hoping that the bug would grow tired of the confined space and leave on it's own accord (at which point I would aggressively attack the little guy). This only creeped my out and didn't accomplish much. My second plan was to try and flush the bug out with a Q-Tip. This only sent the bug into a squirming fit... not fun. Finally, I consulted my two nearly doctor roommates. Their aggravation from being woken at 5 in the morning quickly subsided when I explained how my ear had become a haven. Eager to see they stared the bugger down eye to eye with their doctor tools. After getting a glimpse of something they will probably never see again, we hatched a plan to flush the bug out with some rubbing alcohol. I cannot explain to you how it felt to have a bug frantically try to leave your ear, it was crazy. But, luckily for me, in it's last moments the bug made it out of my ear into the light of day only to die from alcohol poisoning. Needless to say I didn't need an alarm clock this morning.

 

Here's a picture of that little rascal.

20090120

WOD

Mr. Joshua (Kind of)

5 Rounds for Time

400m run

30 ab-mat sit-ups (as opposed to Glute-hams)

230 lb. DL (as opposed to 250)

24:18

Everyone was subbing the ab-mat sit-ups, so that's at least consistent across the board at CFO. However, since my DL have been suffering since I tweaked my back I only did 230 lb dead-lifts. They were still plenty heavy, but I was able to push the pace a bit more and I think that's what Ricky wanted us to do. My back has been feeling better as of late and I think it's due to the heavy lifting or at least the using of those muscles. It's still not pain free but it's getting better (knock on wood). I'm going to keep stretching and keep lifting, so hopefully that will fix it. I am still impressed with the efforts but in this morning; it's awesome working out along side such beasts. Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring (I just hope I don't dream about it all night like I did with this one, seriously that was not fun in the least).

20090118

WOD

Cleans

1-1-1-1-1

198-208(pr)-218 (f)- 213(caught but didn't stand)

Since we had done hang power cleans recently, Ricky decided to have us do regular cleans from the ground. It was a lot of fun having such a large group of people working hard and pushing their limits. Many pr'd today, which is impressive considering it's only been a little over a week since the last cleans. Today I focused on being able to get under the bar and now I really want to work on front squats to build strength to get more weight out of the hole. It's really a matter of being comfortable catching so much weight so low and then standing. I was really happy to succeed at 208 (a 10 lb pr), but I was even more pleased to be able to catch 213 even though I didn't stand. I think today helped with the mental aspect of cleans just as much as it did with the physical. Also, I don't want to jinx anything, but my back hurt much less today then it has in the past.

After cleans we all started messing around on the pull-up bars, rings, and ropes. I got my first bar muscle up and my first strict muscle up. I also tried and inverse rope climb, but didn't get too far on that. This was a good end to what started as a frustrating cycle. 

20090117

WOD

Ricky's Version of 10K (6 miles)

6 Rounds

Teams of two

Alternating 800m runs

Teammate 1 runs 800m then teammate 2 runs 800m when teammate 1 returns and so on. This continues for 6 rounds resulting in each member of the team running 3 miles (6x800m).

This was a fun wod and definitely harder than running a 10k straight up. It's starting to feel more and more like a team as we prepare for the qualifier. It's just amazing to have such a sense of community and love of self inflicted suffering in a gym.

I felt pretty good today, i.e. no nausea. However, I will let tomorrow determine if that bout was just passing or what. I did get almost 10 hours of sleep last night and it was amazing. Maybe that's all I needed. Time will tell. 

20090116

WOD

10 GHD Sit-ups

10 Hip and Back Extensions

95 lb. Thruster, 30 reps

50 Pull-ups

30 GHD Sit-ups

30 Hip and Back Extensions

95 lb. Thruster, 20 reps

35 Pull-ups

50 GHD Sit-ups

50 Hip and Back Extensions

95 lb. Thruster, 10 reps

20 Pull-ups

DNF (Big Time)

What a terrible day. This one has left me a little downtrodden. I can think of half a dozen reasons why my performance was abysmal, but that doesn't negate the fact that it was down right bad. I only got through 10 Thrusters of the second set. However, this was not due to running out of time. It was due to the fact that I felt like blowing chunks after about 25 GHD sit-ups and then again after taking a break trying to rally. I don't know for sure what is causing me to feel wretched during workouts, but I've got to find out and bring an end to it. I've been zoning for a few weeks now and hope it turns around shortly. Maybe I need more sleep, or maybe I'm getting sick, or perhaps it's my body's reaction to donating plasma this week. Whatever it is here's what I'm going to do about it.

1. Sleep in tomorrow

2. Stop donating plasma indefinately

3. Keep zoning

4. Keep intensity high during workouts

If this persists for the rest of the cycle, I'll come up with a better plan. I know I mentioned on Monday that the first day of a cycle is usually my worst, but today felt worse than normal. I'm starting to become quite frustrated with my inability to perform at my best . Hopefully I can turns things around this weekend. 

20090114

WOD

"Annie"

50-40-30-20-10

Double Unders

Sit-ups

~9:15

I wish I had a mulligan on this one. I haven't worked on DU is a long time a forgot which rope worked best for me (it seems to change weekly). After trying a few out, I grabbed a short rope and knocked out a few du's. It wasn't great and I figured I was just rusty, so I decided to use it for the workout. The first 50 DU's were like trying to pound a nail with a wet sponge, frustrating. This took a lot of time, so after finding the wet sponge to be just as futile for the round of 40 I grabbed a longer rope and watched the DU's fly. Apparently I should have taken a longer rope to begin with. Next time I'll know. Sit-ups felt tougher today than usual, but that was probably due to the fact that we were going chest to knees, but no complaints here.

Tomorrow will be a much appreciated rest day.

20090113

WOD

For time:
155 pound Power clean 15 reps
30 Ring dips
155 pound Power clean 12 reps
24 Ring dips
155 pound Power clean 9 reps
18 Ring dips
155 pound Power clean 6 reps
12 Ring dips
155 pound Power clean 3 reps
6 Ring dips

15:54

My weightlifting shoes are in the shop for necessary improvements. As was the case I decided to go au natural and try this one barefoot. Honestly, I hardly noticed the lack of shoes once the adrenaline started flowing. I was questioning my intestinal stability at the begining of this workout and rightfully so. I started out well on the cleans and did 10 straight away. However, once on the ring dips my body became confused and I couldn't decide if I should be worried about puking or ... worse. This forced me to take more time on the dips than I would have liked and I had to break them to 5 reps a set. Nevertheless today was a better performance than yesterday.

Possible reasons for gastrointestinal distress:

too much refined sugar (leftover Christmas candy)

too much food/fat?

plasma donating

Remnants of Runza burger wreaking havok

I will try and keep a closer eye on what I eat so as to fine tune my diet and or other habits. 

20090112

WOD

30-25-20-15-10-5

Virtual Shovel (45#)

Pull-ups (CTB)

Cut-off time: 20 min

DNF (Through round of 15)

This was kind of a rough morning for me for some reason. I'm not trying to make excuses for my performance or anything, I'm just making note for future reference. I had trouble sleeping last night and ate a Runza Burger for lunch yesterday. Another interesting thing I noticed was that some of my poorer performances come on the first wod of a cycle. This may be the third of fourth time this has happened, but now that I know what to look for I will definately be taking not of it.

Today was the first day of doing the mainsite wods and I look forward to see what torture they post for us over the next 4 months. The good thing is that we have a great group who are all training for the qualifier and this really helps with motivation.

I would like to try and hone in my diet over the next few weeks and I think I will have the resources to do so after this weekend's info session with Ricky. Jeff and Zach have also developed a pretty cool template to keep track of wellness to keep us on the straight and narrow. These should be fun times ahead. 

20090109

WOD

7 Rounds for time

7 Squat Clean Thrusters 65lb

7 Jumping Pull-ups

4:56

Hang Power Clean

198lbx1

Today felt like another good day. The heavy lifting was great and the wod was a good one. I need to work on dropping under the bar for the cleans though. After I got 198, Ricky suggested I try 220, it's a big jump but, after watching the tape, I think I could have gotten it if I dropped under the bar quicker. Good thing I'll be hitting it hard for the next 4 months. Looking forward to a two day rest period (even though some think it is three).

20090108

WOD

21-15-9

Box Jumps (20")

Burpees

Slam Balls (20#)

4:49

5rm OHS

142x5

This was a much better day for me compared to yesterday. My back is sore, but it didn't play such an important role. For the OHS I used a narrower grip because I had to jerk it up in front due to my shoulder. Also that gave me no trouble either so double plus. The metcon today was a little lung burner, lots of fun. I'm excited to kick off the training this weekend when we get our nutrition prescriptions. Ricky said it will be hard and I can't wait.  

20090107

WOD

3RM Deadlift

294

Today was kind of a reality check for me. I tweaked my back about two months ago and it has been a burden ever since. Because of this I can only go so heavy on DL before the pain becomes too much. I know I can lift more that what I'm doing now, but this nagging injury is holding me back (literally). Needless to say this has turned one of my favorite lifts into a frustrating one.

20090106

WOD

Max Overhead 2RM-184, 1RM-194

Max weighted pull-up 1RM-70

Today we continued setting benchmarks as part of our training for the regional qualifier. It is going to be great training hard with everyone at CFO. They are a bunch of dedicated, motivated individuals.

I PR'd on both lifts today and am pleased with the progress I've made, expecially in weighted pull-ups. I can;t wait to see what's in store for the training.

20090105

WOD

3RM Back Squat

223 lb

I would have liked to be heavier in this since my 5RM is 220, but it was my first day back from break. Also, I did max rep HSPU today just to see what I could get and I hit 18. Once again more would have obviously been better, but I am thankful for the progress.

I'm really excited to start training for the qualifier and it sounds like we're going to have a solid crew. I hope my shoulder holds up and my back stops hurting. I'll make sure to stay strong and flexible.

20090102

WOD

4 rounds for time:

25 lb plate cleans, 20 reps

15 knees to elbows

45 lb dumbell snatch, 10 reps each arm

14:54

This is a workout courtesy of CFO. The only change I made was the substitution of a 25 lb plate due to the lack of a 20 lb medicine ball. I definately could have gone faster and stopped mid-workout to answer a few questions my friend had. This will probably be my last workout until I return to Omaha on Monday. I'm getting excited to started training with the gym again.

50 HSPU (And DONE!)

20090101

Rest Day

Forgot to do yesterday's HSPU so made them up today.

48+49 HSPU