8.1.2011

Here are the last few weeks worth of WODS:

CrossFit Regionals 2011

 I have quite a bit of catching up to do! Regionals was a couple of weeks ago and an absolute blast. We drove down Friday afternoon and watched the last of the thruster ladder attempts, which I might add, were at 295lbs!! The rest of the weekend was utter insanity... motivating, but insanity nonetheless. The workouts are as follows:


Individual Workouts

Workout 1

For time:
Run 1000 meters
30 Handstand push-ups
Row 1000 meters


We missed out on this one since it was Friday afternoon, but from what I can tell, it was a fairly difficult WOD. It was nice to see the metcon element included in the regional workouts. Sectionals failed to incorporate any running or rowing since it would be very difficult to judge. I'm honestly hoping next year's sectionals are event based rather than "Open" like this years were. A sectionals qualifier setup like this year's "Open" would make sense - I think the possibility of cheating as well as lack of enforcement of judging during sectionals leaves too much room for error when qualifying for Regionals and the Games. Anyway, I'll get off my 30" box and continue with my thoughts of the Regionals WODs...

Workout 2

295lb Thrusters!

Thruster Ladder - Athletes will have 20 seconds to take a barbell from the ground, then perform one thruster at a specified weight. They will have 10 seconds to transition to the next barbell.  Their result is the highest successful thruster.

Men’s weights in pounds: 155, 165, 175, 185, 195, 205, 215, 225, 235, 245, 255, 265, 275, 285, 295

Women’s weights in pounds: 105, 115, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 150, 155, 160, 165, 170, 175, 180, 185


We also missed out on this WOD, but did show up in time to watch a mammoth of a man attempt a 295lb thruster. He failed, but made a solid attempt. I think this WOD would be fun, but a serious challenge once someone hits their Lactic Threshold considering there is only 10 seconds to recover between reps. I think this is a great WOD to separate the traditional strength athlete from the CrossFit athlete. The time component wins again.

Josh tearing through the deadlifts!

Workout 3

21-15-9 reps for time of:
Deadlift (315lb / 205lb)
Box jump (30”/24”) 

Saturday morning we were able to watch the deadlift/box jump WOD... this one looked exceptionally painful! 315lb/205lb is not a weight to take lightly, I was contemplating if I would even be able to finish had I been competing. There were many athletes who weren't able to finish this WOD because of the high number of reps at a very, very heavy weight. I was impressed with most of the athlete's form - I know I would have a difficult time keeping my back tight and straight. Only a few bowed and continued to pull, but I have a feeling they learned their lesson the next day... ;)

Thursday evening I did 5 rounds of 5x315lb deadlifts and 10 ring dips... I did the deadlifts unbroken as well as the ring dips and finished the WOD in 5:47RX. The rest of the weekend I was recovering! I can't imagine what the Regional competitors felt like after the deadlift/box jump WOD!!



Workout 4

For time:
100 Pull-ups
100 Kettlebell swings (53lb / 35lb)
100 Double-unders
100 Overhead squats (95lb / 65lb)

Simply. Beast. Mode. #AmandaSchwartz

Josh doing kettle-bell swings

This WOD really needs no long, drawn out introduction, it is simply BEAST. Pull-ups followed by kettlebell swings is nuts by itself. Then to gas the athlete before 100 OHS?? Really? I have a ton of respect for the athletes who finished this WOD, or honestly, to any who attempted it! Amanda and Josh both suffered burns and still worked through the pain and rocked it. I think 98.456% of the crowd watching was cringing as the athletes forced themselves to continue repping away with most of their hands torn and bleeding. Intense. Speaking of which, check out this picture of Amanda's hands...

Workout 5

Muscle Ups

“Amanda”
9-7-5 reps for time of:
Ring muscle-up 
Squat snatch (135lb / 95lb)

Muscle ups! These were amazing to watch. Normally, muscle ups are tough, but not terrible. Considering the abuse these athletes went through in the previous workouts, it was incredibly motivating to watch them fight through this workout. 'Captain American' made quite a showing and finished first in his heat while his fans chanted. Knowing the mental fortitude and pain tolerance it took to speed through this workout made it even more inspiring to watch. I have a feeling had there been a set of rings hanging somewhere in the stands the crowd may have burst into spontaneous muscle ups. The standards on this WOD were fairly tight, many of the athletes were 'no-repped' which caused some rather icy glares (I can attest to the annoyance of a "no-rep", especially on muscle ups!!), but they continued to fight through the reps.


Workout 6

For time:
20 Calorie row
30 Burpees
40 Two-hand dumbbell ground-to-overhead (45lb / 35lb)
50 Toes-to-bar
100 foot Overhead walking lunge (45lb plate / 25lb)150 foot Sprint


We were able to watch the team version of this WOD before we headed back to Tyler. Most of this WOD didn't seem to bad - the burpees after the row would be rough - but the only other aspect of this wod that looked difficult was the 40 Two-hand dumbell ground to overheads... those seemed to tear people up. One athlete on the Bayou City team did them unbroken, talk about fun to watch!!

As for the last week, I did the following two WODs before I headed to Nebraska for vacation. I was very happy with the deadlift WOD - 335 didn't feel too heavy! Especially after 20 315lb deadlifts. Its coming along slowly. I'm trying to lift heavier more often in order to increase my strength. I'd like to deadlift 400lb sometime in the near future!

5:30am - Hardcore.

The picture on the left is my 5:30am-ers ripping through some 100m of 95lb/65lb overhead lunges as a cash-out. Nasty, but great for stability work!!

While in Nebraska on vacation we did some short daily "garage WODs" in my friends garage and driveway.

Friday we did the Premier WOD for the day: http://www.premiercrossfit.com/2011/07/wod-732011.html

I ended up getting 39 at 95lbs.. It seemed like my lungs were ok, but on the snatches my shoulders were on fire trying to stabilize the lock out. Great 6 minute WOD.

Saturday I went through air squats, back squats, front squats, overhead squats, push-ups, sit-ups, strict press, push press, and push jerk with my friend who is going to start CrossFit this week. We finished the form work with tabata air squats. I was able to hold 19 every round! PR by 2 reps!! :)

Sunday we rested and enjoyed a few wonderful food WODs ;)

Monday we did the Premier WOD - http://www.premiercrossfit.com/2011/07/wod-7611.html - did it in 3:40RX. We cashed-out with 1-10-1 (resting 1 second on 1 rep, 2 seconds on 2 reps, and so on) box dips, then followed it with the same rep scheme of 45lb barbell curls. I'm blown up!!!

Tuesday afternoon Diana and I did 10 sets of 10 front squats with 5 unbroken 36" box jumps in between each round. No time component, but did try to keep a good pace. I used 155lbs and on the 7th set just about puked. AWESOME leg workout. We did a 200m lunge as a cash-out and stretched. Today I'm waddling around a bit, but I know I'll be stronger because of it.

Today (Wednesday) I did an "old school" workout in the gym with Diana - felt great to mix it into my normal crossfit training. We did 12-12-10-10-8-8 dumbell bench press (I used 70lbs on my first set and then used 75lbs for the rest). This amazed me - my strength has continued to skyrocket through crossfit training! We followed dumbell bench with 8-8-8-8 decline barbell bench press (I used 175lbs) followed by 10 sets of 5 incline diamond grip pushups. We finished the workout with 12-12-10-10-8-8 cable supine flys. (I had it on 10 for the first set, then went to 11 for the rest).

My body is fairly beat up right now, I am going to soak up a solid rest day tomorrow and hit it hard on Friday!

ASRX Dallas is in a little over a month and should be a blast! Time to start kicking up the training intensity a bit. I'm going to try and ramp up over the next month leading up to the competition and see if I can time my peak correctly. I'm not planning on being at my best like I tried to do with sectionals, but I'd like to be at least 90%. I can't wait to see how it goes - I love to compete!!!

06.14.2011

Great quote from Matt Chandler I heard today ( http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/200805250900HWC21ASAAA_MattChandler_LukePt18-HopeInRealLife.mp3 ) - "This is the God of the Bible - that sends both joy and sorrow - to detach our hands from the things of the world and to attach them to him - to treasure what we really need."

Such an incredibly true statement. The more we trust and rely on Him, the more we find joy through Him that isn't taken away by things in this life! Awesome. :)

Along those same lines, Oswald was epic today:  http://utmost.org/get-moving-1/

Abide in Me . . . —John 15:4

In the matter of determination. The Spirit of Jesus is put into me by way of the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I then have to build my thinking patiently to bring it into perfect harmony with my Lord. God will not make me think like Jesus— I have to do it myself. I have to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). “Abide in Me”— in intellectual matters, in money matters, in every one of the matters that make human life what it is. Our lives are not made up of only one neatly confined area.

Am I preventing God from doing things in my circumstances by saying that it will only serve to hinder my fellowship with Him? How irrelevant and disrespectful that is! It does not matter what my circumstances are. I can be as much assured of abiding in Jesus in any one of them as I am in any prayer meeting. It is unnecessary to change and arrange my circumstances myself. Our Lord’s inner abiding was pure and unblemished. He was at home with God wherever His body was. He never chose His own circumstances, but was meek, submitting to His Father’s plans and directions for Him. Just think of how amazingly relaxed our Lord’s life was! But we tend to keep God at a fever pitch in our lives. We have none of the serenity of the life which is “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

Think of the things that take you out of the position of abiding in Christ. You say, “Yes, Lord, just a minute— I still have this to do. Yes, I will abide as soon as this is finished, or as soon as this week is over. It will be all right, Lord. I will abide then.” Get moving— begin to abide now. In the initial stages it will be a continual effort to abide, but as you continue, it will become so much a part of your life that you will abide in Him without any conscious effort. Make the determination to abide in Jesus wherever you are now or wherever you may be placed in the future.

As for Crossfit:

I coached my 5:30am class this morning and after watching them crush the WOD -

- I had the urge to hit it myself. Luckily for me, Justin had wandered into the box and we convinced each other to try and crush it. the WOD was:

"Meet 'MBCWB'"

(Med-Ball Clean Wall Balls)

50 MBCWB (20/15)

40 KB Swings (53/35)30 Box Jumps (30"/24")

20 Floor Wipers

10 Burpees

200m Run between each movement.

 It hurt, but I'm glad I did it! MBCWB (Medicine Ball Clean Wall Balls) and KBs unbroken, 30" box jumps in sets of 5 - kind of disappointed about those, but next time I'll shoot for 10s! - did 10-5-5 on the floor wipers, and was able to complete the burpees unbroken. 

For some reason I can't get this to display in the right position! My time was: 12:25RX

6.13.2011

Here are the workouts I've done in the last week - 

My goal on this WOD was to do the GHD situps and HSPUs unbroken. The last set was more of a mental game than anything, but I was able to finish them and it felt great!  

Chris set a solid time for this WOD and I attempted to keep up with him - it always helps me to have something to shoot for. He definitely stomped me on this one. I was able to string all the deads, but I had to break up the pushups. 

This WOD was one of the more painful short WODs I've done in awhile. The first round went perfectly, I was able to do 21 thrusters and 21 pullups unbroken rather easily. Then, around 8 reps into my second set of thrusters I proceeded to get hit by a train! After that I mentally shut down and barely finished. These are the workouts where I try to work on my pain tolerance. I know I can physically do more reps in a row, its just a matter of shutting out the burn! Next time this WOD rolls around, I'll try to get to 12 before shutting down! Every little bit counts. 

Saturday, I actually did an 'old school' bodybuilding-esque workout. It was awesome! Justin was training Diana and I was able to sneak in and workout with them :) We did a 4 supersets of Dumbbell Bench x 6 reps and Lat Pull Down x 6 reps. I was able to do 95# dumbbells!! 9 months ago I had just achieved 90#s for a few reps and literally had not touched them since. Being able to walk in and do 95# dumbbells for sets of 6 was just another thing to add to the "Proof CrossFit Works" list!!!! Next we did the same thing with Decline Bench Press and Narrow Grip Underhand Lat Pull Down and I think I lost my biceps at that point. We finished with some volume training - rep scheme 20-13-12-10-8-7 super-setted with no rest - strict Lat Pull Down and Seated Machine Press, then finished off with the same rep scheme on Cable Flys and Machine Narrow Grip Rows. I am STILL SORE. Great workout!!! It felt good to supplement this in with my normal CrossFit training.

I've been a bit sore and slightly sick the last few days but, I'm finally getting over it and ready to WOD in the am!! More results to follow!! Keep working hard, it will pay off!!!

5.29.2011

Workouts this week:

Thursday evening:

WOD: 15min AMRAP:

5 Clean and Jerks (135#)

5 Strict Pullups

5 Ring Dips

I subbed 5 muscle ups in for the strict pull-ups and ring dips... Finished with 8 rounds and 4 Clean and Jerks. The muscles ups were not too bad, surprisingly enough. I'm starting to learn to pace myself through heavy WODs like this and stay consistent. By going slower, with better consistency, I am actually able to push out more work! 

Friday Afternoon: 

I wasn't in the mood for a WOD especially after Thursday's WOD being rather heavy, so I did some skill work and heavy bench. The box jumps had to be unbroken (10 in a row) in order to count. Surprisingly, I survived all the sets! After the box jump non-timed WOD I decided to see what my 1 rep max height box jump was. I increased by one 45 each jump until I got to 3, then went up by a 25 each jump. I finished with 4 45s and a 25 - approximately 3 inches above my nipple line! 

Saturday Morning:

This WOD was simply brutal. I couldn't think of another way to describe it. The first 1000m row was interesting, my legs started to cramp up around 500m, but luckily cleaned up somewhere just past the 600m mark. The OHS, SDHP and K2Es went well, I split the OHS and SDHP into 6-5-5 and did the K2E unbroken. The last 1000m row was terrible. Absolutely, positively terrible. I wanted to quit multiple times but forced myself to keep pulling, finished, then collapsed. Fun stuff! :)

Sunday: 

Rest Day.

Monday:

 'Murph' speaks for itself, but I will say this: CrossFit proved itself to me once again... I ran a 6:54 on the first mile WITH a 20# vest! The amazing part is, a few months ago, my best mile time was a 7:30 (NON-vested)!!! Again and again, CrossFit training amazes me. It works!!

Thoughts for the day:

I've been attempting to explain the undeniable importance of consistency and a well thought out plan with finite, well defined goals. From what I've seen so far, everyone who has done CrossFit consistently for 2.5 months has seen noticeable results - Consistency and determination provide these results! I have seen these qualities garner results in more than just CrossFit and fitness, they have helped me in my relationship with God as well. Staying in relationship with Him through prayer and the word is unbelievably important! There have been more times in my life than I can count where I was able to survive and continue pushing forward through difficult situations or make the correct decision because I had been staying close to Him. I think Paul, in this following passage from Corinthians, is emphasizing the need to take what were are doing in this life seriously. 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New International Version)

The Need for Self-Discipline

 ²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I know I can't just go floating through life aimlessly. Honestly, I would go nuts! I need to have goals, challenges, and obstacles to overcome. I think God puts these challenges and obstacles in our lives for a reason. He wants to help us grow stronger and grow closer to Him through them! I know every challenge I have faced in life, whether or not it seemed like it at the time, has brought me closer to Him and I am incredibly thankful for that fact. Paul challenges us to think about our life and make sure what we are pouring our energy, time, and emotions into will be of eternal value and not just further us in this life. Sometimes its difficult to differentiate between what is of eternal value and what isn't. When I come to these situations and decisions, I try to dig into the word, pray, talk with other believers God has blessed me with in my life, and really search out what I should do. By doing this I have been able to continue to be sure I'm headed in the direction He has planned for me. Most time its a direction I haven't expected and simply had to trust Him it was the right decision. Sometimes, I've gone one direction, which was completely wrong, just to find him tugging on my heart to turn around and head in another. All we need to do is keep our relationship with Him strong and at the center of everything we do. He'll be there for us and support us through everything! So cool. :)

Also, some legit Oswald I stole from J. Hill (thanks for this!) and www.utmost.org:

Lord, I will follow You, but . . . —Luke 9:61

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.

5.26.2011

Here is a quick update of my workouts this week so far:

Mon 5:30am:

Monday Evening:

I've been rather busy since Tuesday with life, work, coaching, and planning for this summer semester starting on Monday.

God's been rocking my world these last few days as well.. I'm really feeling the pull to keep chasing Him! I have such an undeniable peace about everything going on in life. The more I learn to trust Him, the more peace I have.

Mathew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Also, here is some AWESOME reading, I pulled it from www.utmost.org -

Pray without ceasing . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:17

Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues “without ceasing”; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing . . .”— maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.

Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, “. . . everyone who asks receives . . .” (Matthew 7:8). Yet we say, “But . . . , but . . . .” God answers prayer in the best way— not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?

The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.

5.22.2011

Quick weekend synopsis:

And Saturday after the community WOD we did:

21-15-9
CTB pullups
KB swings (63#)
Air Squats

My time was 4:47 and my arms felt like they might fall off!! Great quick wod.

5.19.2011

The last 14 days have been insanity.. I ended up surviving finals, miraculously pulling an A in Heat Transfer and a C in Thermodynamics 2 (one person was passing with a 61% going into the final -_-)! Sometimes I look back at where I was, both physically and spiritually, almost exactly a year ago and it amazes me. So many things have changed. I was introduced to CrossFit a year ago by Chris who randomly asked me to work out with him and Cune the upcoming Saturday. I had never tried CrossFit and couldn't deny the challenge, so I decided to go. The workout was Cindy - a 20 Min AMRAP of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats. I was summarily annihilated. I was able to squeeze out 22 rounds and almost caught Chris who did 23. I then proceeded to fall over attempt to catch my breath and grasp on reality. The workout was killer! I hadn't experienced that sort of a challenge in a workout since back when I was swimming competitively. I absolutely loved it and have been hopelessly hooked ever since then. Physically, I am close to the being in the best shape of my life - stronger, faster, better endurance, more flexibility, less aches/injuries, and on and on. Its amazing what a high intensity, full range of motion, constantly varied program can do! CrossFit works! On the other side of the coin, through CrossFit, I made many close friends and in alot of ways, family. After joining I started going to bible study and then church with many of the people from CrossFit and getting connected with other believers and through these relationships, God challenged me in more ways than I thought possible. He put the right people in my life at the right time in order to challenge, support, encourage, and bring me closer to Him. CrossFit allowed me to see God work in other people's lives and challenge me to let Him do the same with mine. It still amazes me how close we all end up getting through a crazy workout that leaves us on the ground hoping the pain will subside so we can get up and do it again. I need to delve deeper into everything that has changed over the past year, but I thought I would start with a quick overview and start digging over the next few weeks. As for the last few weeks, I actually didn't record my workouts but instead just did my best to survive them. With the lack of sleep and time, I was just happy to be able to get in the box when I could! Sometimes life gets extremely busy and time is a rare commodity. These are the times I try and squeeze in workouts when I can and look forward to the luxury of upcoming free time when I can get back to a normal training, sleeping, and normal life schedule. Starting tomorrow at 4:45am I should be back on track!

Heres some great stuff to munch on:

Psalm 46:

1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

5.7.2011

Friday afternoon I felt like getting back to some heavy weights after sectionals. The last 6 weeks I've avoided doing anything too heavy so I could stay fresh for the Open WODs. I've been looking forward to adding some significant strength into my training again! After work, I did:

16min AMRAP of:
3 Deadlifts (315#)
13 Box Jumps (24")
3 Muscle Ups

I did 6 rounds + 1 deadlift. I REALLY focused on form. Had I let my form go, I think I could have finished a few more rounds. But, I'm sticking with what I've tried to always do - back down on the weight if my form is not where it should be and work my way back up with perfect form. By doing this most of my life through athletics, power-lifting, etc, I have avoided ever having a significant injury. It's hard to do this, especially when competing. I want to push myself beyond my limits, but I know I have stick with good form. It pays off in the end!

Today (Saturday) I went in and did some skill work.. started with 5 sets of 200m row sprints with 45 seconds of rest.

1st set - 20% intensity, 2nd - 40%, 3rd - 60%, 4th - 80%, 5th - 100%. I ended up holding a 1:29 on the last one!!

Then I worked on getting a better CTB butterfly. I was trying to figure out how to do CTB butterflies and make a significant separation in form in comparison to regular pullup butterflies. There is a fairly large difference between the two. It seemed like CTB butterflies work better when I keep my body more vertical through the whole movement. With regular pullup butterflies, I have a much larger angle with respect to the ground. I also realized how much more important my legs were in CTB butterflies.

After this, I worked on my strict press form followed by a set of 7 reps done in singles, 20 seconds rest between each single. I used 125#.

I finished the day off with 3 X 1 min wall hand stand holds and 15 minutes of stretching.

5.4.2011

Ridiculous performance of 11.6!! Check it out:

http://pd.crossfit.com/games/video/Games2011Open_DanBaileyWOD11-6.mov

I found some time to sneak into the box after work tonight and hit:

"Karabel"

10 Rounds of:
3 Snatches (135#/90#)
15 Wallballs (20#/15#)

My time was 18:32RX - The snatches were nasty until I really focused on splitting my deadlift out of the movement.. deadlift--hit my knees and EXPLODE into the shrug and snatch. It really helps. Once I figured that out (around round 4), it was more of a matter of lungs than weight.

I took the last 4 days off to rest after sectionals as well as out of necessity from work and school requirements.. 4.75 hours of sleep doesn't really make WODing a great idea! I can always notice a significant difference in my output when I don't get enough sleep (e.g. 6-8 hours a night). It seems like my fuel runs out much quicker and the weight always feels heavier! The weeks when I do get the sleep I need, I'm usually able to hit my 'second wind' halfway through a WOD and keep a consistent pace. Sometimes though, when you don't have a choice when it comes to sleep, I do find even if the WOD was terrible and I felt like I was going to fall over and most likely not get up for a week or two, I generally feel much better afterwards. 1.5 weeks and this semester is over!!! I can't wait to tear through some non-stress-relief WODs!

5.1.2011

I read a fairly interesting article on SICFIT earlier about people cheating in the Open because of loose judging from some affiliates. This has been based on people who know the output of some of these athletes from competing side by side with them recently etc.. and saw impossible  submissions from the same athletes.. Personally, I have always been impressed with the honor system of CrossFit. I've watched many of our coaches and athletes no-rep themselves in wods, which yes, is frustrating, but if we want to judge our actual athletic output and progress, we have to have a static set of standards we follow. If we cheat and sneak a few wall balls too short of the line, a clean a jerk without full extension and our head through, a shallow squat, or a few less burpees, we are undermining the whole idea of CrossFit and just hurting ourselves. The essence of CrossFit is forcing those wall balls to the line, rocking out solid form on the clean and jerks, breaking parallel on our squats and sweating, screaming, and muscling out those last brutal burpees.... The reward for honesty is recovering on the floor writhing around waiting for the pain to stop, stumbling to the wall and writing your name and time on the white-board and knowing that EVERY REP counted. 

Here is a quote from the article on SICFIT by Ronnie Teasedale I thought described why we do what we do really well:

"“The magic” of the WOD happens not when you finish, but in those final moments when you are in a territory you have never been in. You know this because you might barely be able to stand, or breath, or keep your food down,…. You might be faced with putting a barbell over your head that you are barely holding on your shoulders. It is in these situations that you don’t know,… and… against all other wishes your body may have: you keep going. You gather all the strength you have, both physically and mentally. You might think back to a time you were strong to get you through this current dilemma. You might take a second to tighten up every rep,… Whatever it is, and however it plays out you get through it,… you were in a place you never have been before,… and you push through it. You gained access to that territory. You got your 4 min Fran, or you climbed the rope with no feet all the way to the ceiling, or you got 400 reps on Fight Gone Bad…. Whatever it is,… it’s yours."


Here is the last few days workouts:


Friday: 
I had been really busy this week with school, 2 tests this week and finals coming up in 2 weeks. so, Wednesday morning at 5am I did 11.6 which is -


11.6:
7 Min AMRAP
100# Thrusters
Chest to Bar Pullups
Rep Scheme - 3,3,9,9,12,12,15,15,18,18,21,21,etc,etc...


I finished the sets of 15 and got 14 thrusters into 18 for a total rep count of 104.


I'm re-naming this WOD "Death By Fran"... 


I followed 11.6 with some mobility and foam rolling..
Fri (morning) - warmed up, mobility and foam rolled
Fri (afternoon) - 1.5 mile run + 1000m row (split into 200m sprints, no time domain, just until I caught my breath)


Then Saturday I did 11.6 again during our sectionals at Premier and attempted to "strategize" the wod. I figured I'd pace it and try and just stay consistent. I ended up with 98 total reps. 7 minutes was too short to attempt to slow down, I went all out on Tuesday and had 6 more reps!!


Overall rank in the region is 73 (as of 12:31pm).. On the bubble!!! I dropped quite a few from 92 last week, but not enough. Time to start training for next year! I met my goal of being in the top 100, but no regionals bonus round. 


I'm excited for the next few months - training with our athletes who qualified and pushing them to rock regionals, adding more strength into my training, ASRX tour event in Dallas in August, Olympic Lifting Cert sometime soon after that, should be fun!



Also...

Watch more video of The 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games on sicfit.com

04.22.11

Crazy week!! Had my second Heat Transfer test today, long week of studying and trying to stay ahead of Thermo homework. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off and decided to burn some stress on 11.5 before studying all night:

CrossFit Games - wod 11.5:
20min AMRAP:
5 Power Cleans @ 145#
10 T2B
15 Wall Balls @20#

Pretty solid, warmed up, talked strategy with some of the guys before hitting it. We ended up deciding that keeping a consistent (not slow, just consistent) pace was the best idea for this wod. 20 minutes is a LONG time! I forced myself to say I wasn't going to break my wall balls and I'm really glad I did. The wod went well, ended up with 317 total reps (10 rounds, 5 Power Cleans, 10 T2B, 2 Wall Balls). I did all my wall balls unbroken!! But, I did outpace myself after the 2nd round, I had been trying to string the power cleans and that gassed me. The following sets I dropped the bar, took 3 breaths, did a rep, etc. Also, I split the T2Bs into sets of 5 with 3 breaths to rest in between. It really helped having people there yelling at me and keeping me on pace. I have a tendency to outrun my pace and get gassed! Overall, I'm happy with the way it played out.

We'll see what happens with the rankings, I'd love to be in the top 100 in the region when it's all said and done. Regionals would be an AWESOME surprise - I'm going to NUKE myself on 11.6 and maybe I'll get there!

Currently(as of 9:21pm) - 50th in the region overall and 19th for 11.5 in the region. We'll see how that holds up until Sunday!

04.18.2011

Power Cleans: 135, 185, 205, 205, 205 - then did one at 225. Last time I did this I had to squat clean everything over 205, so I think I should be able to get a better max!

04.17.2011

Did 11.4 again today (second time through). Pulled out 111! 8 more burpees. Tons of people at the box yelling and motivating, it was awesome!

Also, I found a great article on hydration. Good read, especially for those of us in hotter states with the summer rapidly approaching.

http://www.athletefuel.net/athlete-hydration-top-physical-performance/

4.16.2011

Friday:

5 rounds, Row Sprints.. Max distance until split goes over 1:40. rest 2 min.

Distances: 470m, 360m, 292m, 297m, 263m

It was interesting to see how my energy pathways break down.

Saturday (Today):

Spent around 45min foam rolling and stretching. My IT-band was really tight from the OHS on Wendesday (11.4) so I spent quite a bit of time rolling them. The difference in soreness and tightness afterwards was amazing! 11.4 round 2 tomorrow... o.O

11.4

I was able to pull out 1 round + 3 burpees... I'm going to do it again Sunday and see if I can get some more!

5 minutes after I finished 11.4, we did 50-40-30-20-10 KB swings and situps... Used the 62# KB ~14 minutes.. talk about a mental battle. I was BEAT.

4.8.2011

Games WOD 11.3

http://games.crossfit.com/compete/workouts/squat-clean-jerk

4.4.2011

4.3.2011

Games WOD 11.2.... 10 rounds + 2 deads.. I need to work on my box jumps. I wasn't very consistent until the last round!

Part 1:

Part 2:

3.30.2011

Insane

3.28.2011

500 DUs... got a PR of 48 unbroken!!!

Sectionals WOD 11.1

The end of 100 MUs... the audio is screwed up, but the vid is good. Finally figured out the form!

3.26.2011

This is a little bit of craziness....

Decided to redo Games WOD 11.1 and ended up getting one more snatch.. Final score of 307 (6 rounds, 30 DU, 7 snatches) ONE MORE REP than last time... Really painful, but it proved to me that I'm not going to magically figure out a WOD and be able to do significantly better the second time within a week unless something catastrophic happened the first time (fell, dropped bar on self, etc)

About 10 minutes after WOD 11.1, we decided to do a 30 minute, as many muscle ups as possible, rest as needed WOD... I ended up getting to 85 at around 28 minutes... so, I decided to see how long it would take to get 100! My hands are tore up, but it was worth it!

3.24.2011

3.21.2011

The runs are sloooooooowly getting better..

3.20.2011

Saturday, I spent the morning judging our 1st WOD of the CrossFit Open Sectionals. Tons of fun! Otherwise, rested.

Today, did:

Two PRs! 225 Overhead Squat and 255 Front Squat! Back squats were brutal after those.. 

3.18.2011

3.17.2011--- Did the first 'CrossFit Open' WOD after work...

10min AMRAP of:
30 DUs
15 Power Snatch (75#)

Every rep counts---> 6 rounds, 30 DUs, 6 Power Snatches..

not bad, looking like 19th in our region so far.. might do it again on Sunday and see if I can improve it. Surprisingly, I had two unbroken sets of DUs! Thats craziness!!

Today-->

3.14.2011

Say WHAT? I will never complain about Muscle Ups again.

3.14.2011

I dropped 56 seconds off my 'Nancy' time this morning!!

from a 13:14 to a 12:20!! My run is definitely getting stronger and I actually did all the OHS unbroken (didn't set the bar down.. continuous reps, not really)

3.12.2011

Deads were sets of 5, tried to keep perfect form.

I figured out how to get a HUGE kip in my muscle ups and was able to string 4s between each set of DLs. I need to try the OMEM again with the new form and see what happens...

3.11.2011

Did a few crazy things, Wednesday (3.9.2011) did a wod in the hotel gym. ear buds FTW..

WOD was....

4 rounds for time of:
20x50# 1-Arm Dumbell Snatches
30x50# 1-Arm Push Press
30x50# Goblet Squats

Time: 19:22

Today---->

Did Snatch Balances instead of KB swings.. just the bar. I've never done SB before, so it was a good day to stretch the coordination. Also, I found out that 150 SBs will UTTERLY DESTROY your shoulders! "just the bar" was perfectly ok with me. I am SO glad I didn't add weight. I'd still be in the box.