Easing into it

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Warm-up:
Take 15 minutes to work up to your 1 RM Squat clean and jerk (splitting is ok)

I put up 70#s. This was the first time for me to put heavy weight overhead with my wrist healed. It felt fine. Was still cautious of doing heavier than 70#s. I have a feeling I could break my C&J PR of 85#s. My technique has gotten waaaaay better since becoming a full time coach. Diso said he didn't have anything to correct today and that I move well. 

Workout:
“Christine”
3 rounds for time of:
Row 500 meters
12 Bodyweight Deadlifts (100#)
21 Box jumps Step Ups, 24 in.

My hip flexors were not happy. Probably from track night last night. During the row they def flared up. I was unsure if I would finish in the 15 minute cut off. So I'm glad. When I called time, I had that yummy heady feeling. 

Monday, June 4, 2012


Endurance Training 

Warm Up: 60 yard Suicides

Short Interval

Tabata Run

Remember Tabata is 8 rounds of 20 seconds of Effort, followed by 10 seconds of Rest.  If possible, use a treadmill hill at a 12% grade for the sprints.  Run 0-30 seconds slower than your 5k pace per mile, do not change the speed.  This is a pacing drill!

I ran about 525 meters, which is in line with my current 200m/400m pace. 

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

Warmup:
Back Squat 8-8-5-5 reps

Start around 60% of your 1 rep max and end around 80%.  So if your 1RM is 100 lbs, do 60 lbs for 8 reps and work up to 80 lbs for 5 reps.  Rest no more than 2 minutes between sets.

95-100-105-115

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Chest to bar Pull-ups
5 Ring dips
15 Squats

My Score: 11 + 4C2B

Ketchup

5-4-3-2-1 reps for time of:
225lb Front Squats
Strict Parallette Handstand Pushups, ears below hands

Rest 5 minutes

Row 2k for time

Rest 5 minutes

20-15-10-5 reps for time of:
Toes to Bar, touch feet outside both hands, alternate sides
Burpees

Score is Total time.

So our clock is broken and the first heat started at the 79the minute. The clock turn over at 100, so my total time is 39:39. 

I had done 400m walking lunge the evening before, and I was surprised to find that my legs were not sore and were firing very well during the front squat. When I had started the Wendler 5-3-1 strength program about 2 months ago, I failed at 90# front squat, so I thought 75#s would be heavy. But I really think that 5-3-1 has made me stronger. 75# felt completely doable. 

The last time I rowed 2K it took me 10:47. This time I rowed 10:46. Hahaha. 

The burpees were gross. 

I'm running out of titles

Tabata Double-under

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.

Rest 3 minutes, then perform

2k Row for time

So my ROW time was 10:47. Not too shabby. 

This sucked. I'm super dissapointed in my tabata score. I think I got too much in my head and couldn't relax my shoulders. 

Dragging Ass

In teams of two, complete 3 rounds of the following

Row 500 meters and Double unders for reps

Ring dips (25 reps for gentlemen, 20 for the ladies) and Power Cleans for reps (135/95 lbs)

In this workout, one athlete will perform double unders while the other athlete rows 500 meters.  Upon completion, one athlete will perform power cleans for as long as it takes the other athlete to complete the dips.  Then switch.  Both athletes must be done with the double unders/row before starting the power cleans/dips.

Each athlete must row at least once and double under at least once.  At the end of the WOD, the team total reps of power cleans and double unders will equal seconds off the total time.

Partner: Kazoo

Time- 22:30

Total # of Reps in minutes- 5:33

Final Time- 16:27

I need to get back to Love

For time:

800 meter sprint ROW

Rest precisely 3 minutes, then perform 3 rounds of:

7 Front Squats 155lbs 65lbs (from the ground)

14 oh walking lunges with 45lb 15lb plate

7 burpees

I arrived to the box and thought to jog a mile to warm up. I didn't stop once. I'm happy about that. I kept an easy pace. Afterwards I got this crazy headache, like a migraine that made my head just throb painfully. I was on the fence about even doing the WOD, but was convinced by C-Rose. I knew I didn't want to run, so I rowed. I didn't really warm up my front squat, so the 65#s was a shot in the dark. It was definitely difficult. I hurriedly grabbed a 15# plate for my walking lunges when I should have grabbed 25#. 

Either way, this WOD sucked more than I could have anticipated. I went hard on the row, and kept a 2:30 pace; I haven't rowed in 2 months. It gassed me. 

After the break, I realized 4 reps into the FS that  65#s was too advantages(sp?) for myself whom has not done multiple rep front squats in a WOD in a really long time. I did do the 1x5 FS WOD last week, but 65#s was my max weight. I hope I didn't fuck my back up; I wasn't hurting during the WOD. I'll find out tonight when I sleep if my back/hip are jacked. 

I no longer have the attention span to finish this blog entry. 

I must go and get centered. 

Fishy

My arms are fried. I thought I would do the WOD @ 50#s but after a few reps I failed. So I dropped down to 40#s. Round 3, I could no longer get the bar over my chin, so I stripped off 10#s. 

One legged row still feels weird, and there is now way to get intensity up doing it. 

Again very happy to be doing anything at this point. My arms are going to get RIPPED with this hip/back injury...

Speaking of injury, I still haven't pinned down an appt with the chiropractor. I would not be surprised to find out that my injury is really having to do with the nerves around my glute. With all the lacrosse ball rolling that I've been doing, it has given me some relief. I can't wait to see the Doc. 

Fishing is still on my mind. Lol. 

Bravery

For time:

Accumulate 5 minutes of Farmer Carry, 1.5 pood

1K Row

30 Handstand push-ups

Back on the injured reserve (IR) list. This time i'm not fuckin' around; I'm going to a chiropractor ASAP. A Dr. Yu in Redondo Beach, whom comes highly recommended from many members at CFSB and LAXCF. Dr. Yu was actually in attendance at the BoomBox Party this past Friday. 

I've been rolling out on the lacrosse ball and have isolate the injury to the top half of my hip joint... so if you were to man handle my left ass check, it would only be on the upper half of my nalga with a downward angle. Rolling the bottom half of the joint does nothing, or at least there is not painful grimace on my face. 

After about 30 minutes of lacrosse ball, foam roller, plow stretch, groiners, active squat, et al... all of which brought this feeling of hot searing pain to the area (very similar to the feeling of getting tattooed I noticed), I attempted to jump rope to warm up. Jumping no good. 

Diso and I brainstormed a modified WOD for me (above) and I went at it. The farmer carry was difficult. I did holds in 20-30 sec intervals with 10 second breaks. My forearms were screaming. As were my triceps. The row was interesting. I use only my right leg. I let my left leg dangle on a plate, fully extended. My right leg definitely got fatigued, but I didn't really feel gassed at the end of the 1000m. 

Onto the HSPUs, I got inverted facing the wall and squared off my hips- which is an advanced progression over doing them on the box or tripod style. My HSPUs were strict, not kipping. I got through the first 11 straight. Then did 3. Then did 2. Then 5. Then 2. Then 1. Then 2. Then 1. Then 1. My arms were burned out. 

Then intensity wasn't there today. I don't think it will be for awhile. But I'm glad that I'm doing SOMETHING. I can't not be at the box. Even on this injury. 

My sleep was horrible last night because of my hip/back. I hope tonight's is better. I feel like being in any one position for too long (like driving in the car or laying on one side) becomes dreadfully uncomfortable. Oy. 

I'm strangely calm and at peace. I feel brave. 

Schlep

Regional Workout 6

For time:

Row 20 calories

30 Burpees

45 pound Two-arm dumbbell ground-to-overhead, 40 reps

50 Toes to bar

100 foot Walking lunge with 45lb plate held overhead

150 foot Sprint

I figured the DB work and the K2B were going to kill me. I was right. 

I'm glad I made it to the box. I pretty much slept the weekend away. I took a nap at 3pmish and awoke around 6:15pm. I thought it was 6:15 in the morning. Whoops. I immediately through on my gym clothes and head out the door, not even washing the sleep out of my mouth. 

I finished the row and burpees at 5:30. The DB G2OH I broke up in sets of 5. I chose to do Power Snatch. I probably could have gone heavier. The T2B only lasted until about rep 15; from there I switched to K2E, but would intermittently do T2B if I could kip my body hard enough. This set took my the longest... Maybe 8 mins or so. Getting to the lunges, holding the plate over my head was difficult cause my shoulders were killed from the DB Snatches and the K2B. I took more breaks on the lunges than I wanted. Plus the measurement of 100 ft was NOT CORRECT. I remeasured the distance for the guys heats after me and I definitely did a 125 ft of lunges. Whatevers, more work is good. 

I'm happy with my time. My hand are pretty busted. No blood, but my hands are pretty rough. 

I came back to this

In teams of 2 for time: 

Heavy Farmer's Carry 400m while partner...

Wall Ball for as many reps as possible

Row 750m while partner...

Lateral Burpees for as many reps as possible 

Both partners switch off for each couplet. 

Score is time minus the amount of reps. 1 rep=1 sec.

Jamie Gilbert and I were partners in crime. The worse part of the WOD had to be the farmer carry. I took more breaks than I wanted during the 400m. It was my triceps that were killing me. Hot, searing burning in both arms as I took small, hurried steps with 26.5# kettlebells in each hand. I took so long, but thought at least Jamie would be able to do a lot of WBs. I believe she pulled an even 100. 

When I finished, I went into the Wall balls, which weren't so bad. They definitely very taxing on me since I have to use my entire body to get the 6# ball to the 10ft line. I clocked 76 reps by the time Jamie got back from her Farmer's carry. 

Onto the 750m row, it took me 4:00, which isn't that great, being that it takes me 2:30 to row 500m. It only should have taken me a minute longer if I would have kept the 2:30/500m pace. But my legs were completely shot from the wall ball. Jamie was able to accomplish 27 burpees in 4 mins.

My strategy for the burpees was DON'T STOP MOVING. It resulted in a good amount of reps: 30. 

When we called time, I felt dizzy. I'm sure it's a combo if me taking 8 days off and that I'm about half way into my Whole30 cleanse. 

Today, my legs are pretty sore. It feels good. I've missed you Crossfit. 

I partied too hard this weekend.

Five rounds for time of:

Row 250 meters

135 pound Front squat, 10 reps

15 GHD Sit-ups

20 Box jumps, 24 inch box

Scale Version B)

Three rounds for time of:

Row 250 meters

10-35 pound Front squat, 10 reps (65#s)

15 Sit-ups- I used the GHD

20 Box jumps, 12-15 inch box (16" box)

And I felt my partying in the WOD today. Everything sucked. I found the front squat especially heavy today. My 1RM is 85#, so 65# was definitely on the high end for me and was very challenging. The rowing always go slower than I think. I used it as my "rest" and kept a comfortable pace. The GHD sit-ups were fine. As usual, box jumps make me pukie.  

I didn't make it to the box once this holiday weekend. I drank every evening and ate my hearts desire.

Friday was taco and bourbon night.

Saturday was Korean BBQ and Soju night.

Sunday was the LA County Fair and every fried greasy thing you can imagine. I didn't consume any alcohol, but I did have bahn mi, thai ice tea, shrimp chips (yummmy!), poutine, Dr. Bob's ice cream, peking duck, lo mein, whole fried sole, rice.... 

Monday, I ate very "paleo"-ribs, grilled veg, fruit- but had copious amounts of strawberry daiquiri and beers. 

All of this came out in the WOD today. The 16 mins felt like 30 mins. I called time and was profusely sweating out all the toxins in my body. 

Today I had bacon and eggs for breakfast. And i'm about to have a large rib eye for dinner :) Meateriffic!

For time:

Run 1K

50 Wall Ball 2-fer-1's

25 Flying Pull-ups

Scale Version A:

Run 1K - I ROWED!

30 Wall Ball 2-fer-1's

15 Flying Pull-ups (one hand at a time)

My time: 14:54

I loved this wod. It kicked my ass. I rowed because my calves are super tight from the sprints on Sunday's team WOD. It took me 5:04 to row 1000, which means I have yet to improve on my 500m time. I've plateaued at the 2:29-2:34 range. Oh well. Rowing is low on my "things to work on" list. 

I love/hate the 2fer-1's. I like the challenge, but boy are they tiring. Esp. after the row, I could only do 2 at a time before having to take a couple of seconds to catch my breath. It felt like the 30 wall balls took me a long time to get through. 

Onto the bar, I used a 1.5" band. I violently kipped and reached behind me to the 7ft bar, hoping that my little hand would take. Times 15. It was not cool. And it ripped up the hands good. No blood for me, but quite a few did escape unscathed. 

I collapsed on the floor and had that feeling I chase... it was great. My body was felt like a big beating heart. The heat rushing to my face. Mmmm. 

My body is in healing mode. Even though I had 8 hours of sleep last night, I felt really tired in the middle of the day and took an hour nap. I can only assume it's because it needs the sleep to heal my sore parts. It's not even 11pm now and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open It's like I'm a baby or a puppy. It could also be that I had hot tubby time with Suzy this evening that really made all mailable and relaxed. I put my tight calves against one of the water jets and it felt soooooooooooooo good. 

Ok, can't fight the sleep monster anymo...re.

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

"Matty"

Today was my first day back in the box after a 4 day whirlwind of celebrating my birthday of excess; excess food and libations.

I didn't really take into account how my recent activities would effect my stamina. Last night, G and I were talking about how much we despised wall balls and rowing, so seeing the WOD today I was irritated. I didn't dwell on it too much, and committed to making it to 10AM class. I arrive to find 7 or 8 strangers standing about staring at the ladies warming up. The 10AM class was a female showing: G, Dawn, Aims, Kara and myself. Oh, and Zeb. LOL! Hahahaha, I forgot. The strangers were the research and development team from New Balance Shoes. They flew in from Boston to sit in different gyms and workout formats. They chose PCF as their Crossfit gym to observe. Crazy, right?

The warm up was pretty intense and had me winded. Dawn and I were in the second heat. I opted for a sub on the muscle ups of 4 linked pull ups counted as one rep. You had to come off the bar after every 4 pull ups.  For every rep you do in 1 min. equated to 2 seconds off your total time.  I did 4 "reps."

Going into the next part of the WOD, I loaded up my bar to 55# (actually 53#) and found it very difficult. I remember the AMRAP ground to overhead WOD from a couple months back and found it very approachable, but today, every time I'd clean the  bar it would wind the hell out of me! Then to jerk it overhead.. it just took a lot of effort on my part. I had to dump the bar after each rep, and felt dizzy.

Onto the wall balls. What can I say? I made it a point to knock out as many as I could; sometimes it would be 12, sometimes it would be 5. It did feel good to do a long chain of wall balls in a row. The first round of rowing my felt good.

The 2nd round was horrible. I mean BAAAAD. I felt like shit. Death. During the wall balls. I felt like I was going to faint every time I took a break. I took what felt like 3 minutes to catch my breath and my bearings. I was afraid of fainting. I finished that round of walls balls completely concerned if I could even do another whole round after ROWInG! While I rowed pretty passively, I tossed around the idea of ending it, like not going into the final round.

I bit the bullet and decided to complete the WOD. Last round was tough. For ground to overhead, I cleaned the bar into a split jerk. David said my form was really good. That gave me a little energy.
Onto wall ball, I wanted to finish so bad, so I was determined to break it up in big chunks. 14-23-35-45-50. Diso was in my ear telling me not to think about the time, just relax and take big breaths. I must have looked like shit/death.

The last row was sloppy and slow. I kept my eyes closed for the whole thing. Zeb was right there with me, pushing along.

When time was called (for me) I collapsed on the floor.

 I stayed in that post work out euphoria for almost an hour. In that time, I experienced shooting pain in the back of my head, dizziness, muscle spasms and cramping of my quads. That's how much my body was pissed at my excessive drinking the past 4 days.

I'm back on the wagon. Ate a zone-balanced paleo breakfast and lunch.

It was fun while it lasted. I can't wait till my body is back in a clean state, cause I know that I don't like feeling like I'm going to faint during a WOD. That's motivation enough to eat right.

"Matty" kicked my ass.

Hard work: Northwest Regional Event 4

Row 30 calories

35 pound Thruster, 30 reps

20 foot Rope climb, 3 ascents ( I did 6 rope raises/lowers from the floor)

30 Kettlebell swings, 3/4 pood

Row 20 calories

45 pound Thruster, 20 reps

20 foot Rope climb, 2 ascents(I did 6, when I was only suppose to do 4)

20 Kettlebell swings, 3/4 pood

Row 10 calories

50 pound Thruster, 10 reps

20 foot Rope climb, 1 ascent  (I did 6 when I was only suppose to do 2)

10 Kettlebell swings, 3/4 pood

I could have a 10 page bitch rant about how fuckin' horrible this was on me. But I'll just post my mediocre time and you have to trust me when I say that it was wretched. Hot, burning, bubbly gut... spinning head, gassed lungs... You name, I felt it. 

My time- 28:55.

I'm glad it's over. I'm glad I finished (cause I wanted to tap out sooooo many times) 

I'm just planned pooped. 

I ate a shit meal today. I really think it contributed to the feelings I felt during the wod. I had filipino food. OUr food is bad. I really need to reign in my eating. Like really. Fuck I'm weak. And it's my birthday month. Excuses. I hate when I don't do well in the WODs.  

Well, tomorrow is a new day. 

Back squat bliss

My time- 8:39

Loved today's WOD. I think I could have done more weight, but really wanted to work on my form, get really seated at the bottom, get the bar lower on my back. Also, my shoulders were really tight from the WOD yesterday, so 60#s felt good. I did the first 15 straight through. Racked the bar. Did 5 more. Rested. Did 7. Rested. Then knocked out the last 3. Jumped on the rower, and my legs gassed out at like 300 meters, so I felt my arms compensating with bigger pulls to keep pace which killed my lungs. I got a 2nd wind at about 800m mark, and finished strong. I got off the rower and my ass was burning somethin' crazy. My glutes are tingly as I type :)

Quite proud of the fact that my 500m pace was clocked at 2:35. My goal is to be below 2:30, which is big feat considering my height. I think when I started CF, I was above a 3min 500m, so I'm super pleased.

For the warm-up, I opted for the 800m jog. If you don't know, I hate running/jogging. Hate it. My head has all these voices that turn on when I jog: "Your lung is going to collapse" "This or that joint hurts" "My lower back" all this crazy shit that isn't really happening, but used to psyche me out. And it works. So I started my jog, knowing that during an 800 I usually stop 3 times; once at the back side of the brick building, then again at the middle of Suzy building, then in front of Suzy's building. I stopped once today- the side of Suzy's building. I did my hardest to ignore all the little feelings in my body and just looked up and kept a good pace. Acheiving these little goals may seem sooo minute, but in my mind I'm leaping huge buildings.

What a great day!

Sweet Assassin- Don't get too close.