Maybe just WOD happy

‘Barbara’ – 5 Rounds:
20 10 Pull-ups
30 15 Push-ups
40 20 Sit-ups
50 25 Squats

With a running clock, rest exactly 3 minutes between every round.  Your final time will include your 3 minute mandatory rest periods.

Kazoo walks in the door at 4PM and says, "You want to WOD at 5pm?" Without skipping a beat, I reply, "What's the WOD?"

Even though I did a strength WOD, a 20min AMRAP triplet, plus 400m walking lunge earlier in the day, another WOD was not out of the question. After hearing it was Barbara, I decided to scale it in half to keep the intensity up, really treat like interval training, and save my hands from pure annihilation. 

Off to LAXCF we go... 

I'm quite happy with my times: 

Round 1- 2:00 flat

Round 2- 2:28, my biggest drop off

Round 3- 2:44, 26 second gain

Round 4- 2:54, 10 sec gain

Round 5- 3:02, 6 second gain

Round 3 and 4 it seems that my push ups were the most difficult. Round 5, I did them in sets of 5. I really think that I have officially graduated to doing push ups in WODs with no bands forever and ever Amen. That's pretty fuckin' cool. 

I did all 10 pull ups straight without break all 5 rounds. My sits up felt like slow motion. My hip flexor was feeling really tight; must have been all those box jumps and Knees to Elbows. Squats were squats; thank goodness I do Curves :) 

Reflection

Five rounds for time of:

35 Double-unders

Run 200 meters

I came in dreading this WOD but afterwards I realized I loved/hated it. At 3-2-1 Go! I had this knot in my tummy anticipating that this was going to suck. The 10 minutes went by pretty fast. I don't really remember rounds 2 or 3. I do remember coming back from my 4th run and saw Martina on the ground resting. She gave me this look like, Finish this shit up, and I shot her my index finger saying I only had 1 more round left. 

My last set of DUs were spotty. I messed up 4 times to rep 8, until I finally got in a rhythm and finished out the remaining 27 reps in one fell swoop. Started on my run and was going as fast as I could, which wasn't fast. I just knew that I was almost done (and the finish line sounded like paradise) so I kept a nice steady pace; shit, it was fastest sprint I could muster with what gas I had left in the tank.

I collapsed on the concrete and felt my tummy convulsing, making me burp continuously. Dry heaving, a good sign that I pushed myself. 

This WOD was the cherry on top to a fun and grueling week of WODs. 

I am ready

"Mini JT"

12-9-6 reps NOT for time of:

Handstand Pushups

Ring Dips

Pushups

Rest as needed, then

"Annie"

50-40-30-20-10 reps for time of:

Double Unders

Situps

New PR by 1:02!!!!

While i'm super stoked about my PR I can't help but think if I had not messed up like 5 time during my 40 round I would have at least done a minute better... Aaaaaand, this is not to talk shit buuuuuut I should not have jumped rope next to Viola, whom was frantically/spasmatically Double Undering, which really fucked up my "calm" that I need to get into a groove. I really had to concentrate on not absorbing his energy and tune him out. 

My sit ups were lightening fast. I know that Smidty started his 50 set about 5 seconds fast than I, yet I managed to finish about 5 seconds faster than he. I didn't take a calculated rest at this point and went straight into my 40 set of DUs, and failed several times. I then took a deep breath and told myself to relax. 

Rounds 30-20 and 10 were without incident. 

So I worked out 3 days in a row and I am so sore. My body is pretty beat down. I plan to take the next couple of days, probably go a back in on Sunday. 

I'm strangely calm. I got some very good "advice" and comfort from close friends. It has me refocused and serene about what I have to do. 

You know what I like about your snatch?

Snatch balance 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Towards the end I was finally feeling that good solid receiving position at the bottom of the squat. The set of 50s were done multiple times because I was receiving the half way into the squat, not at the bottom. So I made the point to get FASTER! and COMMIT. It's all a mind game. I know I can overhead squat a lot more, but the snatch balance is such a vulnerable position... YOu really have to be confident, not just capable or strong. 

I'm happy. I hope to get up to 70#s soon. 

Jeremy

In honor of "Jeremy"

Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps for time of:

95 pound Overhead squats (I used 45#)

Burpees

If you scroll down, you'll see that I did a 3x5 of OHS the night prior. This was a determining factor in the weight I chose for "Jeremy." As well, I wanted to keep the intensity high. I set a goal of sub 10mins, so I was really happy to finish well before. But a day later, after comparing myself to other people's times I feel like 8:30 is slow and I could have down better. I did do the first 21 OHS straight through, without dropping the bar. The last 4 of the 21 were pretty shakey; my legs were cooked at that point. 

The burpees were burpees. My pace was good; good enough that when I set up to the bar for the 15 OHS, I threw up a little bit in my mouth-- LOL! The second round of 15 were a bit more difficult. I dropped the bar after 7 reps. Then, I DROPPED THE BAR WITH ONE REP LEFT! I was sooo pissed. Every time I power snatched the bar up; do you know how much energy that takes? Ugh! I was soooo upset when my mid-section crumbled right after rep #14 and I couldn't keep my arms locked out. This is where I lost time. Today I really feel my time should have been sub 7 mins. 

The 9th set, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just trudged through, never stopping in the overhead squats. I did take a breather after my 7th burpee, but like for a couple of seconds. And then it was done. I definitely had that post wod euphoria/afterglow. It's been awhile since I've had that... 3 weeks? The last time was when I did half-Jack. That got me all heady. 

I remembrance of "jeremy"

Giant among us!

This post is dedicated to Chris Sherwin. 

Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

This story is just crazy.... Only in Assassin's world :D

So Martina does Games WOD 11.6. At her completion I claim her 65# bar. I slap on 2-35# plates on it. I lift it. I do not record this on the whiteboard. I add 2-10# plates. I lift successfully and with ease. 

I go to the whiteboard and record my last 2 reps: 125-145-

Add 2 more 10# plates. Lift. Done. 165#.

Add 2 more 10# plates. Liiiiiiiiift really slowly, but complete the rep with "ease" once the bar was off the ground. I was mindful to also do the eccentric movement back down to the ground, knowing it aids in making me stronger. It wasn't bad. 185#. Done. This felt very heavy, which kinda already put in a bad mood, cause I thought, If it was soooo difficult to do my current PR, how the heck am I gonna set a new one at 190? I was discouraged and thought, Maybe I'm not that strong today. 

I scout for 2 and half plates to add another small increment of 5# total. I pulled as hard as I could, but the bar would not even budge off the ground. I knew it was my head. 

I took a long rest and was determined to PR. I went to ZEb and said I HAD to lift this off the ground. On my 2nd and final attempt, I set up strong and pulled. NOthing. 

I got really down on myself. I just laid on the ground with CR and had this running loop of disappointment in my head. We goofed off long enough for the 6:30pm class to start. I decided to FINALLY strip my bar and put it away. AND that is when I found out that the 2 innermost plates were 15#s, not 10#. So this entire time I was recording my reps, I was off by 10#s. 

THEREFORE, I DID SET A NEW PR BY 10#s: 195#s!!!! I'm only 5#s away from DL'ing double my body weight. 

So my last 2 missed reps were actually attempts at 200#s. 

It totally turned my blah class into pure elation. I'm even giddy about it now, 6 hours later :)

200#s is my goal my birthday. Which is totally doable. 

For no particular reason I just want to say that I really appreciate my Coaches, Diso and Zeb. Now that I'm coaching, I have a greater respect for what they do, and I hope that I can be in a place to touch lives like they have mine. 

Unsore

CrossFit Games Open 11.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 5 minutes of:

165 pound Squat clean

165 pound Jerk

I used a 63# barbell, which is about 85% of my 1RM. 

The need to be (a)ROUSED

Five rounds for time of:

15 Medicine ball cleans, 20 lb ball

15 Wall ball shots, 20 lb ball

I used a 12# ball for my cleans and 6# for the wall ball.  I'm very satisfied with my time. I never looked at the clock. After I called time, my legs just felt like jello. 

I have ADD right now and cannot concentrate on thinking what to write. I know I liked this WOD. I liked it last  night when it first posted. It sucked. More than I thought it would . I had a feeling of hopelessness at the end of round 2. I was so grateful at the beginning of round 5 that the end was in sight that it gave me a little push to suck it up and finish. 

Kids Cert this weekend. Still haven't booked my accommodations for Saturday. My former procrastinator self shows rears it ugly head every once and awhile. I'm excited to feed my brain. 

That's it. Tomorrow is dead lift and overhead squat. I love both. But not sure if my body will be on board. 

I feel very sleepy and relaxed. 

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. 

Today made up for yesterday

"Death By 10 Meters"

Run 10 meters the first minute, 20 meters the second minute and 30 meters the third.  Continue to run an additional 10 meters until you can no longer finish the prescribed number of meters within the minute. Score is complete rounds and meters run in last round.

I did better than I expected of myself. I'm a little upset that I missed the 11th round by just 10m, but I'm satisfied with my work. I was being very mindful of my form. After each round I expounded what I was feeling in my body and Diso let me know what I was doing wrong in my form to result in that feeling. Like whenever I run I have ankle "pain"--- not really pain but shocks of electricity. It happened yesterday during the 200m running drills; I got this shock in my ankle and it felt like I could put weight on it, but only for second. I was getting that same shock today. Diso explained that my ankle was not "loose" but tense and I was striking the ground with the tense ankle, making it sore... I think. So the next round I would take heed to Diso's assessment and try to correct it. 

By round 7 I was starting to feel the shock in the balls of my feet. In my class, I was the only one wearing barefoot shoes (Vibrams), so I wonder if they were feeling the fatigue in their feet like I was. 

(SIDEBAR: I cannot wait until my NB Minimus shoes get here! My Vibrams are literally coming apart at the seams)

I really liked this WOD, and I HATE running, so good job G for making a believer out of me! Lol!

Soooooo, I know that I want to set a new Clean & Jerk PR. After the 2 week intensive of squat cleans, I isolated the fact that I have to work on getting stronger in my front squat, because in the high rep WODs, I found myself not staying active at the bottom of my squat. I would "sit" down completely then fire up, which isn't the most efficient use of energy.  I set up to do a Front Squat complex with the intention of hopefully building strength.  Here it is: 

This was crazy. The first 10 @ 65#s was challenging already. The 8 @ 75#s even more so. The round of 6, I took long breaks between each rep, but with the bar racked on my shoulders. @ 95#s I banged out 3, then racked the bar on the stand, took a 15 sec. breather and completed my 4th rep. (BTW, my 3RM PR is 95#s which I set in January).  I was definitely seeing stars and my hearing went "out" after that set. After about 2 mins I attempted 2 reps @ 105#s and I FAILED at the first rep. I think I went into it too soon. I took about an 8 min break and stepped up to the bar and got aggressive. 105# is my 1RM set in November,  so this 2 rep attempt would technically be a PR. I went down, felt I was below parallel and fired up. It was good. I was seeing stars. Took a big breath in, tightened up my mid-line and went down. At the bottom, I had an inkling of doubt, but it took all my energy to hold on to fire up. It was like in super slo mo. I had to be mindful to keep my elbows up. I could feel my legs bowing in, trying to utilize any and all muscles in my legs. I did it! It completely drained me, but I was happy. 

So with 30 heavy squats under my belt, I half committed to attempting a new 1RM PR of 110#s. I probably didn't rest long enough and of course just plain leg fatigue, I failed at 110#. I'm ok about it. I feel this FS complex has built up more strength and tomorrow, I will probably work on my C&J if my hamstrings will allow. With the pose running + all those squats, my legs are pretty beat right now. Trying to stay hydrated and doing a lot stretching my living room floor. 

Games site WOD still not up. It is 11:11PM. Great. 

I take back all those words...

Five rounds for time of:

45 pound barbell Overhead walking lunges, 50 feet

21 burpees

Let trailing knee gently kiss the ground on each lunge.

12 days have past since I did my last WOD. Almost 2 weeks. Yikes. I don't like that. This WOD was definitely an interesting one to come back to. I did this couplet in June of 2010.  I remember it very well because I had injured my shoulder doing burpees. Myself, Diso and Zeb were confounded about it. It was when I was doing the push up portion that I felt a jolt of electricity in my left shoulder. 

So today, instead of using a 10# plate overhead, I carried a 25# barbell. The lunges got tough the last 10 meters of every round. It was my legs going dead; I felt really strong with the barbell over head, my shoulders really locked out--- my core felt solid. I giggle reading my comment that my abs were already sore so soon after doing an overhead lunges at 15#s. I'm happy to see improvement in my scaling "up."

The burpees were wretched. I literally burped everytime I threw my body to the ground. I felt sick and nauseous well into round 2. After I called time, I collapsed on my back and felt all my blood rush back into y head. I sat up and felt a terrible headache come on. First thing I thought of was my food intake in the past 2 weeks since getting off my cleanse; I've been eating like shit. Poop, if I hadn't eaten that flakey french toast and tater tots for breakfast.... yea, not even a like of protein in that meal... maybe I wouldn't be feeling like death right now. 

Tomorrow is a new day, new WOD.  

I'm GOLDEN

Every minute on the minute for 30 minutes, perform the following:

1 Squat Snatch

20 Double Unders

I think I did well. I'm a little upset that I didn't last longer doing the 1/20 DUs on the minute. I was having trouble getting into a rhythm during minute 9 and 10. I literally had 1 DU left when the minute changed over. I was pretty bummed about it. so with 20 mins left I managed to fit in 13 rounds. Within those 13 rounds, I was "greased" up enough at that point to really land my snatch. I went light for 2 reasons: I wanted to work on perfecting my technique, and two, my back is still acting up. When I commit to the snatch and I stick the landing... that feeling of being solid at the bottom of the squat, mid line tight, arms locked out, shoulders active... the feeling is GOLDEN. 

I was able to do 20 DUs straight through 5 times out of the 20 rounds. Felt pretty awesome :) 2 of those five times I collapsed on the floor with retching, pukie feeling in my tummy. Thinking back, I was pretty miserable the whole last 15 mins. So I'm quite happy that I survived it. 

At the end of the 30 min clock, I laid out on my back and felt the blood rush to my face. I felt ALIVE. I immediately iced my lower back/left nalga. As well, I consumed a sweet potato a la Rico. 

It is now 11PM, and my "back" is bad. I'm not even sure if it's my back. The pain can be described as radiating from the hip joint/socket, shooting up my back. It feels like electrical shocks. There are no specific movements that trigger the pain, but it has now encompassed bending forward from the hip, turning from the hip with feet in place, sitting with my weight on that left side, standing with weight on that left leg... There really isn't time when I'm absolutely in comfort. I'm concerned. I'm not sure what to do. Actually I know what I have to do, but I'm a stubborn, hard-headed donkey and I really don't feel like taking time off from training. 

Tonight I plan to go to 24hour CVS and buy some epsom salts and have a long soak in the tub. I can't wait. Another 10 hour day at work. Tomorrow looks like a 14 hour day. Shoot me. Is it Sunday yet? Having brunch with the hot cougars on Sunday. We're actually coming into the Hotel. I think I'm going to get schnookered. I'm starting to feel really unappreciated and overworked. In response to feeling overwhelmed, I emotionally ate today; I had Linguini and Clams. While I completely enjoyed the dish while consuming it, I felt really gorss and guilty afterwards. Tomorrow is a new day to make better choices :)

Besides work and this injury, my spirits are high. That feeling of yearning has left me. I'm not in want. So all the good things that happen feel like a BONUS.  

Not looking back

Max rounds and reps in eight minutes of:

4 Handstand push-ups

2 pood Kettlebell swing, 8 reps

12 GHD situps

My score: 5 rounds + 4 Tripod PUs. 

(I was so excited to go to dinner and catch up with Thomas I forgot to take a snapshot of the whiteboard)

I really liked this WOD. Except one thing: I almost tossed my Korean lunch. The first round of GHD Sit ups I went so fast that I definitely stirred up shit in my upper GI that I started to feel burpy and woozy by round 3. No bueno! This Tripod Push up is way more difficult than the variation on the box. It's definitely the next progression. I had muscle failure with this movement. That really hasn't happened when I'm on the box to do my HSPUs sub. 

My KB swings felt strong. Yup. Felt good. 

Tomorrow's WOD looks awesome. I hope they deliver my couch before 11:30am so I can make noon class. Cross your fingers :)

Update 111210:

Babaloo!

"Barbara"

Five rounds, each for time of:

20 Pull-ups

30 Push-ups

40 Sit-ups

50 Squats

Scaling Option B:

"Barbie"

5 Rounds, each for time of:

5 Pull ups

10 Push ups

20 Sit ups

30 Squats

Rest 3 Minutes

I opted for scale B because I really wanted to keep the intensity up and make sure I kept proper form all 5 rounds. That means chin above bar on every pull up, chest to the ground and arms locked out at the top for every push up, sitting all the way up so chest touches thighs for every sit up, and getting below parallel and standing fully erect for every squat. 

I did a scaled version of Barbara in May. I remember it really kicking my ass. This time around I felt really good and strong. My kipping pull ups were perfect. My push ups were "model" push ups. My sit ups were not lazy. And my squats were in good form. 

Doing the math for each round...

R1-2:11

R2-2:34

R3- 2:33

R4-2:35

R5-2:50

I kept each round under 3 minutes, which isn't too shabby for me. Kenny Kane had very similar times as me but he was doing Barbara as RX'd. What a crazy monster!!! 

I feel good. My abs still have residual soreness from The GHD workout from FRiday. 

Tomorrow is a total beach day. Can't wait!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Thruster 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Not really sure if you can read my weight progression: 50-55-60-65-70F-55-55

50#s is the max effort I've ever attempted for thruster WODs, usually high rep, 55#s and beyond are all PRs. I'm very excited to be able to successfully thrust 65#s cause I'm this much closer to doing Fran rx'd. That is my immediate goal on the board: To do a benchmark girls' WOD rx'd. Now I just have to get stronger. To complement on chipping away at that goal, I decided to do a 2nd WOD tonight... the Pull-up Ladder WOD from a few weeks back:

With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able.

I don't think I did that hot, but not that bad for someone who just started doing unassisted pull up less than 2 months ago. In the eighth round I knew I was approaching muscle failure, as at each rep I found it more and more difficult to get my chin above the bar. I will do this again soon and see if I can beat myself. 

The past couple of weeks have been that of transition. I moved. I started a new job. My attendance to the box was nil. I did my best during the 2 week Zone intro. I would say that I was 90% compliant. 100% the first week, the 2nd week I started to slack on the measuring but made sure that meals were at least balanced with  P/C/F. I found myself eating 2-5block meals instead of 3-3 block meals and 1-1 block snack. I think it affected my sleep for worse. Or it could also be that I'm ending my days sometimes at 2:30AM and won't be in bed until past 3AM.  Either way, I think watching my food intake I was able to retain my strength during my lapse away from the box. Tomorrow, I start a new regiment of a SFH shake (Daily Balance) for breakfast, with frozen berries and almond milk. I've been skipping breakfast, then I get all crazy hungry and eat something that I don't zone. No bueno. 

After the WODs, I came home with one desire. To get inside of this:

Yes that is an IPA. I really wanted wine, but I had no wine key :(

And this is me in my braising liquid :) 

Good night!

Love letters to Dr. Izumi Tabata

"Test 3"

Tabata Squat

Max reps of Muscle-ups in 4 minutes

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals. Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Begin time for muscle-ups immediately after the last 10 second rest interval. Test score equals Tabata score multiplied by number of muscle-ups completed.

My score:

Super stoked about my Tabata squat performance. Rounds 1 & 2 clocked in 20 squats. Rounds 3 & 4 did 19 squats. By round 5 I was really tired, and did 17. Round 6 got back up to 18 squats. And rounds 7 & 8 I really had to really fight for 17 squats. I remember there was 7 seconds left on the clock in the 8th round, I was at rep 12 and I knew I had to go hard to get to 17... and I did, and it was painful. 

The last time I did Tabata squats, and used the traditional scoring method of your lowest rep, was in March. My score was 14, and I remember being quite proud of that then. So I'm really glad to see that I've improved in the past 5 months :)

I scaled the muscle up AMRAP to 4 banded dips/4 banded pull ups to equal 1 MU. My shoulder felt good, especially when my arm locked out on the rings supporting my weight, so that's a good sign.

For the warm up, there was 3-3-3 Deadlift. I started at 85#s, the first set of 3 being a "warm up." I slapped on 2-10# plates for 105, and that seemed easy. Added 2 more 10# plates for 125 and I did 5 reps and it felt effortless. Feeling "strong" in the moment, I decided to add 2-5# plates to equal 135#. I lifted the barbell and I didn't feel strained; I actually did 5 reps very quickly and could have done more, but knew I didn't have any more time before the start of the WOD. Take into account that my 1RM is 165# and my "go to" weight for high rep deadlift WODs is 105# (and usually I'm gassed at this weight), I'm quite happy that I have gotten stronger.

I have been diligent in the my efforts to attain double under SKILLZ :) Today, I chained together 11, and can consistently chain an average of 6 to 8 DUs with a short "recovery." While I have more work to get where I want to be, I know this improvement will greatly improve my times with WODs that have Double Unders in them. Yay! On average I spend about an extra 30 mins each time I'm in the box devoted to just working on my double unders. I know that I will have to start giving this type of attention to my pull-ups for me to see any gains in that arena.

If you're reading this, check out my new blog, Littlest Giant.  It is here that I will track my experience of acquiring my Level 1 Crossfit Certification, transitioning into applying the skills gained at my cert class by way of training, acquiring my CF Kids cert and hopefully one day "make" LITTLE GIANTS in my own box. So go to www.littlestgiant.com, bookmark it or "follow me" and share in the adventure :)

Lucidity

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

7 Back squats (185/ 135) [75#s]

Dumbbell Overhead walking lunge, 10 steps right hand (45/ 30) [12#s]

7 Burpees

Dumbbell Overhead walking lunge, 10 steps left hand

My score: 

Now I'm at a loss as to what my true score is. I really think I did 7 rounds but miscounted. You see, we were paired up for our heats with someone to share the rack with for the back squat. I was paired up with Deniz. She started the WOD in its true order and began with B Squats. I started on the opposite movement at the burpees. Checking over at her progress once a round to make sure that we wouldn't meet at the rack at the same time, I noticed that we were in perfect "opposite" sync. When I was doing my left lunge, she was on her right lunge... When I was doing my back squats, she was doing her burpees... Deniz reported doing 7 rounds and I 6 rounds. I know that the 2nd to the last time I was doing BSs, I questioned whether I was in my 6th round or if I just finished my 6th round. Then take into account that I completed 4 rounds the first 10 minutes; if I really did only do 6 rounds total, that means I was working at half my power the last half of the 20 minutes, which doesn't sound correct. 

So I think my TRUE score is 7 rounds and 5 back squats. 

I loved this WOD. It was good and bad and good. I loved all the movements. I did not press the bar overhead for my left side since my shoulder is still jacked. I hung the dumbbell on my side, it worked. 75#s started to feel heavy after round 4. I was having a tough time at that point getting below parallel. My left shoulder was also feeling tingly in the position it was in for racking the bar on my back. I'm sure my posterior chain is going to be sore tomorrow. 

I only had 4 hours of sleep last night and did not eat a thing before I got to the box, so when the clock stopped I collapsed on the floor and felt a hot rush of blood to my head and face. I moved only once in the next 20 mins (to get out of the way for the next heat); I laid on the cold, glazed concrete floor by the door, enjoying the breeze  cool my sweat-slicked body. I felt all heady and liquid. The post WOD drunk was really intense and lovely feeling. I half closed my eyes and left my mouth go slack, leaving it partially open. I probably looked half in ecstasy and half straddling death. I didn't cheer for the second heat, I couldn't. I was completely content to get lost in my own nothingness. 

Little Giants

Three rounds for time of:

Row 500 meters

30 Box jumps, 24 inch box

25 Back extensions

20 Deadlift

I scaled down to the 20BJs (16"), 20 BEs, and 15DLs @ 105#s. 

I loved this WOD, even with my sore body going into it. I knew that the rowing was going to get me in regards to time. My first 500 row I came in at 2:29. The box jumps were ok, I couldn't get a rhythm the first round. The back extension were fine the first round as well. Going into the Deadlift, I notice that my hamstrings are really tight from the BEs. I break up the work into 3 sets of 5. 

Round 2 I was tired. My row dropped by 16 seconds to 2:45, my box jumps were a snap. I just got a good head space and did them. I think I took a break once at #14. The BEs seemed to breeze by as well. My posterior chain and back seemed warmed up at this point and helped with the movement. 

Round 3 seemed to go fast for some reason. I really think my I was breathing better, I wouldn't characterize what I was feeling as tired. My last round of rowing I did the exact same time as round 2 of 2:45, which I think is pretty awesome. My last round of box jumps felt "easy"--- you know what I mean, not easy easy, but I had a good rhythm and didn't feel overwhelmed. The last round of BE really sucked for some reason, I just wanted them to be over. My DLs felt solid. 

So overall, I'm happy. I completely gotten over my shame/fear/embarrassment of scaling. I completely embrace it and know that it is what will make for a good foundation to slowly chip away at making BIGGER, GRANDER gains in the long run. 

I've decided to use my other blog to track my journey towards coaching kids crossfit. I think it's apropos that my domain is Littlest Giant--- that's what kids who do crossfit are, Little Giants :)

LittlestGiant.com

The Last Ascent

"Last Ascent"

5 - 10 - 15 reps of

225 lb Back Squat

Box Jumps, 24"

Loved this WOD. On paper it looks so simple. A couplet. Low reps. Fast. Don't be fooled, it kicked my butt. It was one of those that really got my sweat glands goin'. I was drenched in sweat after only 5 mins and 6 seconds. 

I had some flexibility issues with my arms and shoulders due to the WOD yesterday. It was a challenge and painful to get my arms parallel to the floor, with my shoulders actively holding the bar "racked" on my back. I was tight. The first set of 5 back squats were good, I had good depth and I felt strong coming up. 

The second set of 10 were not as seamless. Diso said to go lower on a few of my reps, so I was being conscious of trying to go below parallel. 

On the last set of 15 reps, I broke up the work into sets of 5 then racked the bar to rest. Each set was difficult at this point; I was getting tired and getting deep in my squat was tough cause I was afraid to not be able to get back up. I can feel it in my hamstrings, actually the whole posterior chain was tiring. I had to fire my legs at the bottom as explosively as possible to make it back up. 

The box jumps were the "rest" portion of the WOD. 

I love back squats. I wanted to do more weight like 85#s, but I don't think I'd make it through the WOD. My 3RM is 110#s set about 2 and half months ago. 

Sleepy.