Exhilaration!

Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

You have no idea how happy I am that a.) that I am no longer suffering in pain with my back b.) that I am able to do heavy lifts c.) that I set a new split jerk PR!!

Here is a comment I left on the PCF blog over a year and half ago:

March 31, 2010, 2:33 pm - Sweet Assassin

15-20-25-30-35-40 (x2)
I liked the Split-jerk, now I've just got to build up to some heavy weight :)

And here is my blog entry for that March 31, 2010. 

I'm pretty close to my body weight. I know that BW split jerk isn't that big of a deal; it's not a huge marker for strength. I think 1.5x body weigh for split jerk might be something to be marveled at. Either way, super happy with the new PR. I did 80# twice cause on my first rep I didn't feel solid in my landing, and struggled with getting control of the bar. Joe D. noticed that when i dipped, my torso came forward so I didn't drive the bar in a straight line. While the rep counted, I wanted to do it again.

On my second attempt, I resolved to drive my elbows up while racked so that I wouldn't be pulled forward when I dipped. And it worked. I dipped and pushed myself under the bar and the lift felt easy, not heavy at all. 

I really wanted to set a new personal record tonight. I was nervous at the thought of 85#s over my head. Sometimes I think about Arbel failing at a split jerk lift, dumping and breaking his foot in half. Ya, awesome. All I kept replaying in my head was Diso saying Technique! Technique! Technique! That technique is the key to a successful lift for small people, that what you lack in strength will only be amplified in lack of technique. Racking the bar on my shoulders, it felt heavy, even though it was only 5#s more. I took a deep breath and went for it. Success! 

I'm back in the lifting game. I still have hopes to compete. The sub 47kg weight class.... I got to build my strength back. I may have to 

Say it with me, "Bee-Brahms"

For time:

70 Burpees

60 Sit-ups

50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood

40 Pull-ups

30 Handstand push-ups

Since this was yesterday's WOD, I had already heard the murmurings of everyone's take on it: arms are blasted and wrecked by the time you get to the HSPUs, regardless of what kind of progression you use. Even my Wondergirl, Courtneyrose, had to scale way back from box HSPUs to tri-pod. Knowing this, I went into it realistically. 

The burpees were not bad. I mean, by #55 I was feeling it in my triceps and my shoulders. Every time I threw myself on the ground for the 2nd half of 70, I did a little upchuck in my mouth. I believe I did all 70 in under 5mins. The sit ups I broke up into 10s. I did take a decent rest between sets, but they felt like they went by fast. I also broke up the KB swings in sets of 10. I used 3/4pood (26.5#s). My last 2 sets of 10, I was feeling tired and my form was starting to be compromised. I felt myself not controlling the KB at the top, at times being overextended.  As well, there were times where I felt I was loosing my neutral back (core was going soft) and dipping my chest too far forward on the downswing. Makes sense since I just did 60 sit ups, my abs were going out on me. 

The pull ups were a joke. I did one kipping pull up and my arms were cooked. I got a 1" band and broke it up in sets of 10. It was really difficult, even with the band. My forearms were not happy post KB swings. I was really tired and kipping was becoming harder and harder. It felt like this movement took the longest for me, I don't know if that's the truth but it seemed like it. 

Onto the HSPUs, in which I did the tri-pod. I did 3 and rolled onto my head. I couldn't believe I had to do 27 more. It was with a lot of groaning and moaning that I did 3 at a time. I started HSPUs at 16:09 and called time at 20:44. That's a big chunk of time to spend on 30 reps. My arms were soooooo screaming after every rep. It took all my energy to get my arms locked out. It was brutal. 

After I called time, I collapsed in a heap and laid there for awhile since my arms could not support my weight to get upright. 

I went to the board and saw that my time was perfectly "average." I was saying to Thomas that being average in Crossfit is pretty fuckin' phenomenal, so I'm happy with being average among such great athletes at my box. 

Peso Muerto

Deadlift 1-10-1-20-1-30 reps

Post total load (add up all six barbell loads) 

My total on the board is not correct. The right total is 795. I'm super happy with my new PR. I'm sooo surprised. I remember 145# being really heavy. I warmed up at 135# and it felt light. Of course, G was like put weight more on that shit. I went up to 145#, but before I lifted it, G said not to fuck around and just add 5#s and set a new PR. Walked up to the bar and just did it. It felt good. Not easy, but not hard. 

Knowing that I usually lift 105#s for high rep DL WODS, I assessed that 115# would be good to start the 10 rep set. It was tough, the last 3 felt slopppy. I tried not to loose form and keep a strong back position. 

The next single, I knew I wanted to add more weight. So I added another 5#s. I pulled and it felt heavy. 

The second set of 20, I dropped down to 105# which is what I know I can do, but never at that many reps. And can I tell you, the 20 DL did not feel bad at all. I felt good. My form felt strong. No tweaking of the back.  G immediately said I should have done more weight.

On my last single rep max, I tacked on 10 more pounds to make it 165#. Walked up to the bar and pulled. Once the bar was off the ground, it was slow motion to get fully erect. I stood strong for a good 3 seconds and dropped the bar. It felt good, not ugly. 

Since my set of 20 was strong, I decided to stick with the same weight of 105#s for the 30 rep set. Going into it I felt tired after the first 10. After 15, I felt my form starting to compromise. At 20 my hands started to hurt, I was loosing my grip. I stopped at 24-- Fail! I was pissed, but I couldn't pull out 6 more. I was tired. I took a break, but did finish my last 6 reps. Even with the little 15 second break, the last 6 were really difficult. I was gassed for sure. 

Overall super happy with my performance.  I feel confident that I am getting stronger, and that I shouldn't be intimidated to go heavy. To quote G, "You're stronger than you think." That's the best compliment ever :)

Paleo-zone Day 4 and I feel good. Who knows if my eating clean is contributing to my jump in strength.  10 blocks is not a lot of food. I'll show you a picture of a 2 block meal. 

Smalll, right? That is a 3 oz can of tuna, so I don't even eat the whole can, only 2/3 of it. That's 2 kiwi and 6 almonds. 2P-2C-2F. After I inhaled this lunch, it felt like it was a drop in the bucket of my stomach. Oy. It's not hard. I like it. But it's getting some taking use to. 

I going to eat soon. Again. 5x a day I do some like the picture above. Sigh. 

Return of the Assassin

After 11 days of being away from the box, I was eagerly excited to get back into it. I saw the workout on the Nat'l site last night and already loved it. Pull ups and OH squats are 2 areas that I could always work on for improvement.

Arrived 2 minutes late to the 10AM class, and found that the very full On-ramp class was running long. All the rowers were occupied so I went for a run to warm up. I made sure to really warm up my shoulders as one of my concerns is range of motion and flexibility. I've only injured myself twice in 7 months and both times where my shoulder.

Since I had been cooking this week, which means long hours standing in one place, I had already made a mental note while in the kitchen that I knew I would have a tight back coming back into the box. I rolled on the foam roller to loosen up the tightness. I warmed up my OH Squats with a light bar. I wanted to to feel that money spot where the bar is perfectly above the center line of my body. I felt it and put more weight on to 35#s. My 1 rep max PR is 50#s, and WODs that were high reps, I would do 20#s-30#s. So combining the facts that  I had taken 11 days off and my back was acting like a bitch, I stuck with 35# for the workout, knowing that at this lighter weight I better be perfect with my form- getting deep and seated at the bottom and keeping active shoulders with arms locked out over the center of my body.

Right before Diso calls "3-2-1-GO!" I think, Fuck this is going to Suck! This is how I broke up the first set of 21: 11, break. 6, break. 4. I made a mental note that dumping the bar and having to clean it, push press it overhead took a lot of energy out of me... I had to change it up for the next set.

Going to the bar, I had the thicker blue band set up. Diso wanted use to go thicker if neccessary to satisfy the Chest to Bar requirement. I knew I wouldn't be able to do C2B with the thin red. I don't remember the set of 21 C2B pull ups. I guess I was in the zone.

Back to OH Squats. Knowing that getting the bar overhead used a lot of energy I did my best to go for as long as I could. I only dumped the bar once in the set of 15. Did 8 squats, dumped, then knocked out the last 7.

For the last set of 9 OH Squats, I did them straight- not stopping once. I really felt that at this point my hips were nice and warm and I can feel myself get really seated at the bottom. It felt good.

And my time:

I'm happy. I did some good work for a girl who's been out of commission for a bit. Afterwards I collapsed and went to into that lovely workout stupor that I'm addicted to :D