Strength week ? ..8? Part 2 'n some other stuff ;-)

The last couple weeks have been pretty wonky so I'm not really sure what week we're on for the strength cycle - but Daniel says it's 8 - so sure. It's 8. Today went pretty well.

Warm up: 5 minutes on the elliptical just to get the blood flowing, 15 situps, 15 dowel OHS, 10 pushups, hip openers, some hammie stretching.

WOD:
Deadlift:
warmup: 10 x 45#, 5 X 75#

5 x
115# - 120# - 130# (f rep 5 - rep 4 was UGLY)

21 x 85# - way too easy. next week back up to 95#

Shoulder Press:
warm up: 10 x 15#

3 x
35-40-45-50-(54.5 oops!)-57(PR! - finally!)

21 x 35#(PR) (2:31)

WOD #2:
Won't say too much about this - it was the first WOD in our affiliate cup training series, and we're all keeping mum about the details - but I do want to mention one significant personal achievement. I managed to get 30 nearly consecutive eye-level russian swings today with the (grey) 20kg KB. I can't quite get it overhead yet, but this is still a massive PR. I'm thinking that it's possible the black(24kg) won't be too far behind.

Comments:
Today went really well. I'm a little bummed that I lost it on the 130# deadlifts. My hamstrings just decided they were done and I couldn't keep my lumbar arch locked in (rep #4 was all back - almost no legs) , but given the workouts of the past several days, and how sore my hammies have been, I cannot say that I am surprised. I AM surprised at how easy the 85# set of 21 was. That set was truly unbroken, and my form never degraded.

I had to do the final set of 57 on the presses twice because I (idiotically) forgot to change the weight on one side of the bar the first time, so I had a 2.5# weight on one side and a 5# weight on the other. The lift was totally lopsided and wonky, but I thought that it was just me havinga hard time - until I started cleaning the plates of the bar. Doh! But I got it the second time too. I sorta wish I had tried for 5 just to see if I could do it - the 3 weren't THAT bad. And the 21 x 35 wasn't too bad either. Although I did require a few little 'breaks with the bar in the racked position after rep 12 or 14 - i never had to drop the bar.

The past couple days Max has been remarking that he has noticed a recent, significant capacity increase in me, and while I was grateful for the compliment, I wasn't really sure that I saw what he saw. After today's 2nd WOD I said to Daniel "I don't really know what Max is talking about. I don't feel like my workouts have gotten that much better or that I've gotten that much stronger." He turned to me and said, "You just did 30 swings with a 20kg KB - a bell you've never swung before. What do you think?" *insert lightbulb moment here*. "Oh. Right. I see your point." (Duh.)

I't's weird how some stuff can just sneak up on you - even when you're specifically looking for it.