Wednesday, July 29, 2009 by Rebecca

AMRAP HSPU & C2B

WOD:
AMRAP* in 20 minutes:
5 C2B Pull-Ups
5 Handstand Push-Ups

Results:
6 rounds (+ 5 pushups?)

1 - 1:55
2 - 2:53
3 - 2:26
4 - 3:07
5 - 4:07
6 - 3:52
7 - 1:31

Comments:
I did piking pushups for HSPU, and I did them first in the cycle instead of second - mostly due to a lack of space at the bar. I did the same Jumping C2B alternate for this workout as I did on Polly's b-day wod, and they were still hard :-p.

Rounds 4 and 5 were long because i was waiting for space on the pullup bar - round 5 was particularly long because i lost strength and gave up my spot to try to recupperate a bit, and then had to wait a LONG time to get back on the bar ... unfortunately, the box I needed was in high demand.

Thursday, July 23, 2009 by Rebecca

Bikram - the bat shit insane, gimmicky, McYoga

Today we decided to try Bikram out. We'd heard a lot of good things about it. I kinda hated it.

The worst part for me was the instructor - she was a grumpy little drill sergeant who treated the class like wayward children and never shut the hell up. But if that was the only thing that I disliked, I'd be willing to try it again with a different instructor.

The heat felt like a gimmick; the poses they put you through weren't actually all that interesting or difficult - as long as you could stand the heat. Since each pose in the series was pictured in a frame on the wall in the order that we did them, it's clear that every class is exactly the same every time. And the last 4-5 poses are all done sitting on your knees - something I can't do without triggering massively painful foot cramps - so I couldn't participate in the last 10 minutes of class. I've never spent so much time in shivassana in a class in my life - not that I wasn't grateful for the brief respites. And then, despite making sure i was very well hydrated before i went to class, and during class and after class, I had a horrible headache for several hours afterwards.

I MUCH prefer the Ashtanga class that we've started attending on Fridays at Iron Works. The teacher is an enthusiastic, well informed, yogi who has clearly had LOTS of training. He actually moves through the room for the whole class, helping people correct their postures, which is fantastic. and the poses actually feel like they will help me achieve greater static strength and flexibility - the whole reason I've gone back to doing yoga.

Additionally, when I told my acupuncturist that I had tried Bikram, he winced and then said, hesitantly "How did you like it?" When I said I kinda hated it, he was relieved to hear that, and told me that he thought that it was not a healthy practice - particularly not for me, and that he thought the Ashtanga practice was a much better idea - which is fantastic since it means that I now have a medical exuse not to try it again ... (not that I think I relaly needed one).

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by Rebecca

Polly's Birthday Wod - 50% volume

WOD - only did 50% volume:
1x2400m run
2x12 c2b pull ups
3x8 2pd kettle bell swings
4x6 HSPU *subbed feet up on a box
6x4 reverse burpee *subbed regular burpees
8x3 Kettle bell snatch *used 8kg bell
12 x 2 muscle up *
24 x 100 meter sprint

Results and scaling:
40:35

12oom run
12 kip attempts - got 1 or 2 real pullups
12 kb swings - don't remember which bell - 1 or 1.25P (probably 1)
12 HSPU - with feet on a tall box - these felt better than they have in the recent past
12 regular burpees
12 KB snatch - 8kg
12 C2B jumping pull-ups - low box - chest touched bar on every rep, or it didn't count.
1200m run

Comments:
I had come to class prepared to do Cindy. I had bad shoes for all the running that was supposed to be in this workout. I decided to do 50%. at 50% this actually felt like a really good - not horribly brutal workout.

I started using an alternate grip for my pullups - both the kip attempts and the jumping C2B pullups, and it seems to really help. The jumping C2B were something of a revelation. I used a low enough box that it really had to work to pull the last few inches, and these felt closer to real pullups than subs I've done in the past. I ran out of them pretty quickly and I had to stop and wait a bunch for the muscles to recuperate enough to get the next rep, so I know I was working hard.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 by Daniel

Putting my life in order

OK, we've been back a week now, and the dust has settled somewhat. I've been intending to write this post for this whole week, but have instead written NO posts, so have spent the last half-hour catching up on missed entries. Which is somewhat indicative of the point, actually.

I think the Games--particularly the training for the Games--took over my life for the last two months. Although we really only added one workout to Sunday afternoons, there were plenty of dinners, workout discussions, workout plannings, research, mental preparation, and religious attendance of CrossFit classes six times a week.

Don't get me wrong: this was a lot of fun, and doubtless good for my fitness. But other aspects of my life suffered as a result. I neglected clients and let work pile up, losing income. I neglected non-CrossFit friends and family. And I opted out of doing so many of the things that I normally do when summer rolls around - hiking, camping, or even regular climbing.

So I have some catching up to do, and amends to make. I've refocused on work, to try and chip away at the mountain of piled up requests I've been putting off. I still intend to go to CrossFit several times a week, but if I feel like climbing, yoga, or spending a day playing in the sunshine instead, I'm not going to feel guilty about missing it. CrossFit is really all about being well-rounded, after all, and it therefore defeats the purpose somewhat if CrossFit is ALL you do. One of Coach's edicts, after all, is "learn new sports."

Welcome to the off-season!

Monday, July 20, 2009 by Rebecca

Climbing again :-)

I really missed climbing.

Only did 2 or 3 climbs - we had to get home, but it was good to be back on the wall.

Sunday, July 19, 2009 by Daniel

ok, NOW we're back

Taking time off - even just a week - always results in some disturbance of workout equilibrium. After the months of training for the games, I stopped getting sore from just about anything we did. Then I didn't do much for a week, came back and did 280 weighted squat movements in Wednesday's morning, which severely crippled me for several days. It was like the Potomac CrossFit workout all over again.

Sunday's workout went much better. Still a little sore, I was feeling functional by the time we were warmed up.

3 Rounds

16 Kettlebell Swings 2.0/1.5P
12 Burpees
8 Hang Power Clean 135/95
4 Thruster 135/95
Run 400 Meters

21:17, scaled to 115#

Everything was unbroken. I was sharing a bar with Matthew and Bill, but Max started us several minutes apart, so it wasn't really an issue until the last round, when I caught up with them (and lapped Matthew, who was hangdogging). The swings felt good, the burpees went by fairly quickly, and I had just the right amount of weight on the bar for the cleans and thrusters to allow me to do the sets unbroken, but just barely. It felt good to be back.

Rediscovering intensity.

Warmup: ME, pullup practice, pushups,

WOD:
3 Rounds

16 Kettlebell Swings 2.0/1.5P
12 Burpees
8 Hang Power Clean 135/95
4 Thruster 135/95
Run 400 Meters

*Subbed 1.25P KB, 55# for cleans and thrusters.

Results:

Exercise
1
2
3
Total
16 Heavy KB Swings
1:16
2:22
3:36

12 Burpees
1:28
1:26
1:22

8 Hang Power Cleans
3:21
1:24
3:16

4 Thrusters

2:34
4:29

400m Run
2:19
2:29
2:31

Elapsed Round Time
8:24
10:18
15:17
33:59


Comments:
I very nearly did not finish this workout. The cleans and the thrusters were a weight that was hard when it started, and that I could just barely continue to do as the workout went on, and when I was nearly finished with the 3rd round of cleans, the bar slipped out of my right hand, and as a (stupid!) knee-jerk reaction, I tried to catch the bar instead of just getting out of its way. It hit me pretty hard in the thigh and gave me a bit of a charlie horse.

It took a few minutes to be able to squat at all let alone with weight, and even though I only had 4 thrusters left, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do them. But I'd dnf'ed so many work-outs lately, that I just decided this wasn't going to be one of them. My classmates were awesome at cheering me throgh the final few reps.

I was pretty pleased with the height I was able to get with the 1.25P KB - most reps were eye or even forehead level.

Saturday, July 18, 2009 by Rebecca

A hiking we will go!


Name: Point Reyes Hike
Date: July 18. 2009
Distance: 8.90 miles
Elapsed Time: 4:22:05
Avg. Speed: 2.0 mph
Max Speed: 9.9 mph
View in Google Maps
created using MotionX-GPS on the iPhone

It lost a little data in the trees at the beginning, so there's a large chunk missing from the trail - but i changed where I was carrying my phone, and it did a lot better.

This was a truly glorious day. The weather was absolutely perfect - the fog stayed at bay for all but about 20 minutes of the hike, at which point a little coolness was extremely welcome. And I felt STRONG. When we left the house we thought we would probably do a 6 or 7 mile hike. We thought that was all Daniel's mom would feel up to. But she was feeling great, and really wanted to try something closer to 9 miles. At fist I was just totally mentally unprepared for that, but we stopped and got some snacks for the trail, and got on our way.

The trail we chose started with a massive climb that just went up and up and up and up - seemingly forever. A year ago, it would have left me winded and tired. I was barely breathing heavily by the time we got to the top. My legs didn't feel leaden, either. For the first third of itor so I was right on Daniel's heels, and he's always been a strong hiker (he's got those long legs ;-) ). Daniel's mom was sort of struggling along, one step at a time in the back, much like I used to do, and I felt bad about leaving her behind, so I dropped back to keep her company, but it felt good to really stretch my legs - feel my muscles happily chugging along to propel me forward - for that little bit.

Last year, when I'd been doing crossfit for only a few months, I felt like I'd made large gains in my fitness, but when I went out to go hiking or biking, it didn't really translate - those activities were still pretty damn hard. So it was really nice to finally see my CrossFit fitness actually translate into a separate sport.

I definitely did start to get foot sore around mile 5, and my legs started getting really tight, but I found that stopping and stretching them out helped me to get a fresh burst of energy, and to feel less run down. And I never really hit that plodding - just put one foot in front of the next - state.

I was definitely ready to take my shoes off when it was done, and I was pretty stiff legged for the rest of the day, but it was a fantastic hike.

Friday, July 17, 2009 by Rebecca

Yoga. Humbling AND refreshing

Today, we went to an Ashtanga yoga class instead of Crossfit. I found it extremely refreshing to be doing something other than CrossFit for a change. It also became immediately clear (though I already knew this to be true) that i have a LONG way to go towards working on my flexibility.

I was gratified to notice that there were aspects of it that I was better at than I used to be - I can jump back into the plank position for sun salutations, which I could not before, and I also spent less time in child's pose when a movement required too much strength. Ex. I did not used to be able to hold downward dog all the way through all of the introductory Vinyasas - my arms and shoulders would just give out. And I was able to, this time.

But there have definitely been slips in balance and flexibility (particularly flexibility - since balance is just always bad), which I am very much looking forward to working on.

I liked the teacher. He was clearly extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the practice of yoga, and he actually went around the room and adjusted the students when they were having trouble with a pose, which I really appreciated.

Yogain

According to this blog, I haven't taken a yoga class since May 2, 2008 - over a year ago. Tonight we went to an Ashtanga class at Ironworks for a bit of variety, and because we both feel our functional flexibility is somewhat lacking.

It was a humbling experience. I am not perceptibly stronger or better at ANY pose, and several of them feel quite a bit worse. Maybe it was because I was exceptionally sore, but my body simply felt locked up most of the time.

I liked Matt, the instructor - he's a bit woowoo, but what do you expect in a yoga class in Berkeley? He's good about going around the room and physically making adjustments to the class participants, which I think is really important.

I felt better afterwards. I wish I had time to do this a couple times a week, even on my own, but as it is I expect we'll be sneaking back in whenever we get a chance.

Thursday, July 16, 2009 by Rebecca

7-16-09 Rest Day

I woke up with a scratchy throat, and I felt sluggish and low energy all day. The workout looked like 100 kinds of horrible (a modified rehash of the final chipper WOD from the games):

In this workout you move from each of eight stations after three minutes. The stations are:

squat cleans (100/155 lb.)
toes to bar
box jumps (20/24 inches)
muscle-ups
Single-Arm Push-Press 1.5P/1.0P
double-unders
thrusters (95/135 lb.)
pull-ups (chin over bar)
burpees
walking lunge steps with 45/25 lb. plate overhead

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of "rotate," the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep.

I decided to skip it.

Another Games WOD (modified)

Legs very sore today from Wednesday's workout. Didn't really have any choice but to take it somewhat easy on the workout - anything involving bending my legs slowed me down.

In this workout you move from each of eight stations after three minutes. The stations are:

squat cleans (100/155 lb.)
toes to bar
box jumps (20/24 inches)
muscle-ups
Single-Arm Push-Press 1.5P/1.0P
double-unders
thrusters (95/135 lb.)
pull-ups (chin over bar)
burpees
walking lunge steps with 45/25 lb. plate overhead

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of "rotate," the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep.

190. Scaled the cleans and thrusters to 95#, and didn't get any muscle-ups (big surprise there).

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 by Daniel

What a slog

First workout back after the games, and I was just happy to be working out again - I'd had essentially a week with plenty of activity, but nothing really physically strenuous, and I was feeling antsy.

Run 800 Meters

5 Rounds:
Barbell Hang Squat Snatch 45# 28 Reps/18 Reps
Barbell Thruster 45# 28 Reps/18 Reps

Run 800 Meters

56:29 RX

That happiness didn't last very long into this. I worked in with James (there was a shortage of bars), which made it take a bit longer, but I don't think I would have blazed through this anyway. I started out with sets of 7 on the snatches, but bumped that up to 10/10/8 in the third round. Likewise my thrusters went from 10/10/8 to 14/14, the last four of which typically had horrible, rounded form at the bottom. First run took 3:15, and the second took 4:30 - I could barely walk when I started it. The rounds took between 9 and 11 minutes.

Terrible no good very bad day

Warmup: ME and ... don't remember what else

WOD:
5 Rounds

Barbell Hang Snatch 45# 28 Reps/18 Reps
Barbell Thruster 45# 28 Reps/18 Reps

Run 800 Meters
*Subbed 15# body bar for snatches and thrusters

Results:
33:47 - DNF after 3 rounds.

Round
Run
1
2
3
Run
Run 800m
6:02




18 Hang Squat Snatches

5:06
5:15
5:03

18 Thrusters

1:48
1:54
2:15

Run 800m




6:20

Comments:
Ugh. I thought that after essentially a week off, my first workout back would go pretty well. This workout started terribly and continued terribly. At about the 300m mark I got the worst side stitch I've had in quite a while, and had to walk a great deal of the first 800 - hence the disastrous time. I haven't had to walk an 800 run in months. Particularly not the first run.

The squat snatches were also ridiculously hard. 18 15# squat snatches just should not take 5 minutes - not even when i had to power snatch the bar and then do an OHS - which was what most of them ended up being.

At the end of round 3 I stood around for a few minutes trying to decide whether I was going to continue. A couple other people had dropped out after round 2 or 3, so it was tempting. I was also having a hard time keeping my right knee out, and by the end of the third round it was feeling positively abused. I was afraid there might be injury if I kept going - and, in all honesty, I was extremely glad to have any excuse to stop. I decided I might as well finish out the run - but at about 250m the side stitch returned with a vengeance, so rather than limping through the full 800 I just called it done and staggered back to 'base'.

It was all pretty horrible.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 by Rebecca

800m x 4

Warm-up: ME, a few pull up attempts, some push ups, some minimally successful clapping push up attempts.

WOD:
Run 800 Meters x 4 every 9 minutes on the ninth minute.

Results:
4:16 | 4:24| 4:38 | 4:24

Comments:
None of these are a PR, but the first one is close. I'm glad I was able to pull that last one in. I had a classmate right behind me the whole way which was a great motivator - but i almost lost it in the end - i got a terrible side stitch about 30m out from the finish line, but managed to run it in anyway. I was having a REALLY hard time breathing today. I thought it was just personal lameness, but Daniel said he was, too.

These scores are quite a bit better than the last time we did this workout. I also spent a lot of time on the ground just trying to breathe between rounds this time that I didn't experience last time. Probably a combination of working harder and whatever was wrong with the air today.

Aromas Bound

CFEB classes are cancelled this week, as we'll be down in Aromas for the games. We may get in some sort of workout down there for noncompetitors, but the focus is going to be on Polly and the Team. Tonight was a simple back-off workout.

Run 800m every 9 minutes, four times

2:40(PR) | 3:04 | 2:59 | 2:54

I didn't realize this was a PR until I got home - I had a time of 2:38 in my head for some reason. Turns out I set my previous PR of 2:47 almost a year ago to the day. So that's pretty cool! It KILLED me for later laps, though - the second lap felt simply awful, and my lungs were burning. I think the air around Ironworks is just bad for running.

Sunday, July 5, 2009 by Daniel

Oops! Forgot one

Forgot to post this one.

Three Rounds
Run 400 Meters
21 Kettlebell Swings 1.5P/1.0P
12 Squat Snatch 95/65 (Mid-Atlantic Qualifier Rules)

14ish, I think - I used a 45# empty bar for the snatches, and only did full squat snatches.

Runs were good, swings were all unbroken, snatches were 6x2.

Friday, July 3, 2009 by Daniel

More fun with thrusters

12-9-6

Deadlift 250#/185#
Thruster 115#/85#

7:29 (thrusters at 95#)

I was tempted to try this RX, but considering I could barely do push-jerks at 115 on Wednesday, I didn't have much hope of completing this in under 10 minutes at the RX weight. It was plenty hard as it was - the deadlifts were fine, and (I think) unbroken. The thrusters took far longer.

Wod 7-3-09

Warm up: Burgener, dowell skill drills

WOD:

12-9-6

Deadlift 250#/185#
Thruster 115#/85#

Results:

115# deadlifts
50# cleans

3:58 - 3:23 - 2:47 = 10:09

Comments:

I'm having a strange strained pain in the back of my knee, so I opted to do cleans instead of thrusters (darn). I don't know what caused it but it hurts to fully straighten my leg. I suspect it is related to the fact that my hamstrings have been extremely tight for the last couple weeks.

I started w 60# cleans - only got 1 switched to 50#, should have switched to 55#. They were kinda easy.

The 115# deadlifts on the otherhand were ridiculously hard given that my 5RM is 135. I can only hope it's because of whatever is wrong with my knee. But by a little more than half way through round 1 and for the rest of the WOD I was reduced to doing them one at a time.

Still - not bad for a workout I wasn't really sure I was going to do at all.

Thursday, July 2, 2009 by Daniel

"Well, it only gets hard when you get good at it."

Words of wisdom from Coach Maximus, RE: my current dread of Fight Gone Bad.

Max is gambling that some version of FGB will be at the Games next weekend, and I'm guessing he's also ramping up for FGB IV, thus two FGBs on consecutive Thursdays.

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.
This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed
before repeating. We've used this in 3 and 5 round versions. The
stations are:

1. Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
3. Box Jump: 20" box (Reps)
4. Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
5. Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of
"rotate," the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good
score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each
calorie is one point.
275 RX

Essentially the same score as last week. The transition to the rower at GWPC is poor, which cuts a handful of calories from the overall workout, but it would not have been enough to get me over 300, and it's not like I wasn't sufficiently miserable as it was.

ExerciseSet 1Set 2Set 3Total
SDHP
25
20
20
65
BJ
25
23
20
68
PP
15
15
12
42
Row
20
17
15
52
WB
21
12
15
48
TOTAL
106
87
82
155

Good pace out the gate, but it went south at the second row (and REALLY tanked in Wall-Ball, my God). The more I do this, the more I think I'm never going to get the additional 25 points I need in the second or third rounds. Next time this comes up, if I remember, I'm going to shoot for 125 in the first round, then just hang on for dear life through the next two rounds. I have to rely on that minute of rest to be sufficient to get me through.

FGB - Again

Warmup:run 400m, 10 pushups, pushpress skill work, wallball skill
practice

WOD:
In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.
This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed
before repeating. We've used this in 3 and 5 round versions. The
stations are:

1. Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
3. Box Jump: 20" box (Reps)
4. Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
5. Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of
"rotate," the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good
score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each
calorie is one point.

Results:

ExerciseSet 1Set 2Set 3Total
Row
15
13
14
42
Wall Ball *10#
1
4
4
9
SDHP
12
12
9
33
Box Step-ups
17
17
16
50
Push-Press
8
7
6
21
TOTAL
53
53
49
155

Comments:
I did better today than I did last week. My row, my SDHP and my push press - heck even, marginally, my wall ball, are up. The box step ups slid down a couple reps i'm sure just from not coming at them first thing. I was having a hard time keeping my balance today. (Likely from being thoroughly winded.) ANd though there was improvement from last week - it still falls short of my perfomance in April for pretty much every exercise except rowing.

the 14 and 15 on the ROW are definitely PR's.

The wall ball is still just absolutely ridiculously bad. even with the 10# ball. Where the hell did this skill go?

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 by Daniel

What a jerk.

Two Rounds

6 HSPU
15 Old-School Pull-Ups (chin over bar)
21 Burpees
30 Double-unders
15 Push-Jerk 155#/105#

Go fast and hard. If you are not competent at a movement, sub in a progression. If you cannot do the push-jerks in sets of 3-5, scale back to 135#/95# or 95#/65.

24:16, Push-Jerks 125#

Man, I hate overhead stuff. I was cruising along with this one, keeping up with the pack, until the Jerks came along. I couldn't do them in more than sets of 3 with tons of rest. The second round was horrible.

Fast and Hard

Warmup: run 800m, ME, WOD skill drills

WOD:
Two Rounds

6 HSPU *Pike Pushup
15 Old-School Pull-Ups (chin over bar) *jumping pullup
21 Burpees
30 Double-unders *4x single unders
15 Push-Jerk 155#/105# *50#

Go fast and hard. If you are not competent at a movement, sub in a progression. If you cannot do the push-jerks in sets of 3-5, scale back.

Results:
18:22

Exercise
Round 1
Round 2
HSPU
0:17
1:02
Pull-ups
0:52
1:02
Burpees
1:58
2:05
Jump Rope
3:54
2:02
Push Jerks
2:38
2:32
Total
9:39
18:22


Comments:
Since Max said the goal of this workout was to go fast and hard, pretty much everything was subbed. I started off trying to do double unders, and just couldn't get them. (my rope was too long, and tying a knot in one side didn't help all that much.) After about 2 minutes I only had about 8. So I switched to 4 x single unders to keep my heart rate up. That's why round 2 went so much faster. my handle fell off at about rep 85 or so, or round 2 would have been faster still.

I think I probably did a mixture of push-presses and push-jerks. Sometimes it just felt ... right. I think those were the times when i caught the bar properly overhead instead of slightly forward as I tend to do.

Round 2 HSPU time is long entirely due to the transition time of going back upstairs from outside, it probably only took me 20 seconds or so to actually do 6 piking pushups.

I'm very pleased with my Burpee times. They average out to 5.6 and 5.9 seconds/burpee in rounds 1 & 2 respectively, which is a really good time for me - I'm counting 5.6 as a PR. Burpees are frequently part of a round of other things, and I don't always get a time just specifically for the burpees, so it's the fastest time from the workouts where I can calculate it. I used to only be able to get about 7 burpees in a minute (about 8.6 sec per) so this is a definite improvement.