OMG a post on the same day as a workout?!

WOD:
Helen
Run 400 meters
21 KB Swings 1P
12 Pull-Ups (jumping from a low box)

Results:

Exercise	400m	KB Swing	Pullups	Total
Rd 1	2:37	2:06	4:10	8:54
Rd 2	2:37	2:38	3:10	8:25(17:19)
Rd 3	2:34	2:46	4:48	10:08 (27:28)

Comments:

Well - this is a full 10 minutes off my time from May. Yep. TEN minutes.

My running was, at least, nicely consistent - even if it was consistently mediocre. It's been worse.

The KB swings were mostly fine ... getting the 1p bell up over my head really isn't that hard but I was just bad today about taking lots of time to breathe between sets. I was having a a hard time catching my breath - particularly right after the runs. There was easily a minute of 'transition' between finishing the run and starting the swings. There's also a lot of transition time built into the pull-ups. up the stairs and down the stairs - and not quickly.

I wish I knew what happened to my drive and intensity. It's missing. So is a lot of my strength and stamina.

We went for a month of cutting out dairy, as an experiment. I've heard so many stories of people having all these wonderful effects when they cut out dairy - so even though I love it, and I've never had an adverse reaction to it that I was particularly aware of, I wanted to try it and see what would happen.

My skin did improve noticeably - that was great. My hair was better, too. But my allergies did not improve, and my performance in the gym absolutely and startlingly tanked. Everything made me sore, recovery was slow, I lost weight, and what feels like a great deal of strength (not that I had much to start with - but I had definitely gotten faster and stronger than when I started, and I feel a little bit like I'm back at square 1. I know it's not quite as drastic as that, I'm probably really at square 2. :-p I've been having terrible issues with leg cramps in the evenings and in the middle of the night, too.

I started adding dairy back in slowly at the beginning of August, but I was still trying to limit intake to only a one or two small servings a day - cheese with my eggs for breakfast, or some milk in my coffee. In the last week or so I've abandoned he idea of limiting dairy at all, and I am back to drinking milk with meals and between meals and after workouts and having a cottage cheese snack in the mornings.

I think I'm starting to feel better. Maybe I'll find my intensity again soon, too.

Dead Helen

3 rounds:

Run 400 meters
21 Deadlift 225/155
12 C2B Pull-Ups

24ish RX

Been a while since I did deadlifts. This was not a good welcome back. My form was quite bad, and my back very sore afterwards. Yuck.

Handstand Helen

Woke up still a little stiff from the weekend, but at a manageable level.

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
21 1.5/1.0P Kettlebell Swings
12 Handstand push-ups

20:47 RX

The runs were fast. The KB Swings were unbroken, and without rest after the runs. Nearly the entire time was spent on HSPU's. Mine suck. I haven't figured out how to kip them yet, so I was doing strict partials. VERY partial, but quite strict - I can't do it very well at all resting my ass or legs against the wall, so only the backs of my heels touch - this makes it close to a freestanding HSPU, but since I'm not terribly strong overhead the ROM is just a few inches. And I can only do them in sets of 3 with long breaks. This is definitely a skill I could improve on, but I also feel like there's a benefit to doing them strict - I use my hips for so much, and really could stand the focused work on getting things overhead.

Helen

Warmup: 40 situps, 25 Vups, 20 hollow rocks, 10 kte.

WOD:
Three rounds for time of:
Run 400 Meters
1.5 pood Kettlebell swing, 21 reps
12 Pull-ups

Results:
17:30

Exercise	400m	KB Swing	Pullups	Total
Rd 1	2:15	1:20	1:53	5:28
Rd 2	2:25	1:30	2:00	5:55 (11:23)
Rd 3	2:30	1:32	2:05	6:07 (17:30)
Total	7:10	4:22	5:58

Comments:
This is over a minute better than my last time - both my running and my KB swings by almost 2 minutes a piece, but my pullups got longer by 3 minutes - which just tells me that I was using a more appropriate sub this time (the pull up times last time were a bit ridiculous). This time i used rings that were just at about wrist height so I could get a little jump in, but i was still doing mostly pulling. I could get 2-4 pullups in a set before failing.

I started this WOD on my own after pretty much everyone else who was doing Helen had finished (though long before anyone doing Eva was anywhere near done). My excuse was lack of kettlebells of the proper weight; I knew that Helen is relatively short, so I decided it would be just fine to start it late since I have my own watch. I nearly decided just to skip it all together. I was just feeling horribly unmotivated. I owe a debt of thanks to Polly who urged me to just get it done and reminded me that I'd feel better once I started.

I really tried to focus on going at a steady pace, eliminating as much transition time as i could - going from one exercise to the next and starting the reps even if i had not fully caught my breath yet. "Do a couple reps, breathe, more reps, breathe" I think it really helped.

I have to say that after all the volume heavy workouts we've done lately, Helen felt like a short sweet break of a workout. I feel much more energized, now. Though if I am going to continue to feel that way, I need to get to bed, now.

To Helen with You

Crappy, rainy day today. Led the two regular CFEB classes in the morning, then rushed off to GWPC for the Firebreather WOD:

Bench Press x 1: 135-145-155-160-165(f)

And that concludes February Firebreathers. 160 is 91% of my bodyweight, and actually closer than I thought I'd be able to get. It went up fairly steadily, and I don't think 165 is far off. Hopefully this upcoming strength cycle will get me to 175, and one of my few remaining level II skills. My cumulative score for the month is 417%, and although the results are not completely tabulated yet, this should put me DFL for men. I could make excuses about tall & skinny and blah blah blah, but that's really all they'd be - excuses. The rock doesn't care about ape indexes, watts and joules or bodyweight percentages. The rock just needs to be moved (assuming a scenario in which there is a rock that needs moving, of course).

A few of us stuck around afterward to do Helen in the rain.

Three rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings
• 12 Pull-ups

11:15 apparently not quite RX
(splits: 2:55 | 3:44 | 4:40)
(previous PR: 3:50 | 4:27 | 4:37)

I've been aiming for <11:30 on this workout for months, and was not going to be denied today. The joy over finally getting the benchmark score is somewhat blunted, however, by Rebecca's discovery that we were not running quite far enough. It's hard to tell, but it looks like I was maybe 30-40m short per round. There were a few other obstacles to slow us down, though - several corners and puddles to run around (and through), as well as a 180 turnaround.

I pushed, though. The first round was totally unbroken, the second KB swings were unbroken and pullups were 6-6, the last round was much worse. I felt truly horrible, afterwards, and it took quite a while to return to feeling human. I had a sharp, acrid metallic smell in my nostrils that I found somewhat alarming, and looked it up tonight. The internet is full of theories on this score, but a fairly common one seems to be that the alveoli in the lungs, overstrained to get the CO2 out of the blood, actually pass some number of high-iron blood cells through the membrane. These become airborne during exhaling, causing a metallic, bloody taste in the back of the throat. Ew. Diagnosis seems to be that it is relatively common during very hard anaerobic workouts, and not something to worry about overmuch.

Today was the end of my week subbing in as the CFEB trainer. I led 10 workouts and a total of 103 people (some, obviously, counting multiple times). I learned a LOT, and by and large really enjoyed myself. It is more tiring than I expected it to be, having to be "on" through the whole hour and really focused on the athletes, driving them to push harder while keeping them safe. It's also a lot lonelier than I expected - not getting to participate in class meant doing the workouts on my own, which can be nice in the not-having-to-share kind of way, but definitely is not as much fun or inspiring as doing it in class. Keeps you honest, though.

The feedback I got was universally good, which is satisfying (though I'd have to be pretty horrible for someone to actually TELL me I sucked). Many people asked when/if I would be getting a cert and if so, would that mean more classes with two trainers available to teach. That would, of course, be ideal for me - a combination of leading some classes and taking others - but the decision is ultimately up to Max and the folks who run Ironworks and GWPC. Max has said I should look at getting my cert sooner rather than later, so I'm keeping an eye on the calendar. There's one in San Diego in May that looks promising - we have friends that live down there, and maybe would be able to stay with them.

Helen

Warmup: ME, row 1000m

WOD:
"Helen"
Three rounds for time:

Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

Results:
18:44

Exercise	400m	KB Swing	Pullups	Total
Rd 1	2:52	1:31	0:58	5:21
Rd 2	3:17	2:26	1:04	6:47 (12:08)
Rd 3	3:11	2:23	1:02	6:36 (18:44)
Total	9:20	6:20	3:04

Comments:
I dunno how to compare this to my previous Helens. The 400m mark at GWPC is not clear, and I didn't think the place where everyone else was turning around was far enough - but i think the place I picked was too far. That or my running has REALLY gone downhill. Which is actually possible. Or probable. I mapped 200m (656ft) at google maps and it looks like i did run about the right distance. So wow - my running has gotten horrible. - It definitely felt horrible. My problem with side-stitches is back :-(

The big improvement here is - well mostly reduced transition time - but KB swings were better - they took less time than last time, and the majority of them were fully overhead instead of just a few. ALthough there's still lots of room for improvement - except for my first round where i got 6 or 7 in my first set, I was only able to get through 1-4 reps at a go. Of course, while my legs were astonishingly not as sore as i thought they certainly would be after yesterday's squats - the only real casualty seems to be my aductors - which is actually great, cause they need the work - , I am not at all surprised that my hip drive was somewhat lacking today.

The pullups seemed relatively strong. I had a pair of rings set at a fairly high height for jumping pullups. I would like to have had them another inch or two higher, but folks were impatient to start.

My warmup was very insufficient, and round one was terrible. My body just wasn't ready to hit anything with any sort of intensity. Round 2 was a bit better, and then I was just totally gassed on round 3.

This time is nearly 3 minutes better than my last Helen, but there are so many discrepancies ... I'm going to count it as my new benchmark time, but I don't know whether to count it as a PR.

Sleep:
Terrible. Fitfully from 12:10 - 9:00 or so. I woke up several times during the night, and couldn't go back to sleep for anywhere from 15-45 minutes.

Food:
10:20 - 3 egg cheesy scramble, 1 piece veggie bacon, 8 oz coffee 2/3 cup milk, 3 omega-3
3:40 - 12oz milk
4:30 - 1/2 rotisserie chicken 3 oz coffee & 16 oz 2% milk - 3 squares of chocolate - 1 each of three different degrees of darkness. the 77% surprised me by being my favorite - because while i do love dark chocolate, there is definitely such a thing as too dark. Thanks Alex :-D
8:45 - 1 bowlMa Po Tofu with Broccoli and 16oz milk
11:20 - 2 zma

Final Firebreather for January: Heavy Helen

Somehow I missed the fact that there are five Saturdays in January, and got into a mini argument with Max and Andy at the party the other night because I was insisting an AMRAP workout would work for today's Firebreather (because I thought we were starting a new month). Oops.

Max went with a heavy Helen, which is a bit longer time domain than the other workouts (if someone nails this in under 10 minutes, I'll be seriously impressed):

3 Rounds for time:

• 70 Squats
• 21 KB Swing 2P/1.5P
• 12 C2B Pull-Ups

18:24 RX

I think this may have been the hardest one yet...the 100 2p swings at the top of the month were pretty frickin' horrible. But, as advertised, it was about 50% harder than a regular Helen. The swings were particularly hard after the squats - I was only able to do them in sets of 7. My quads were on fire from the squats.

I came in second-to-last. This is frustrating to me. I am not a terribly competitive person, but it sucks to make all this progress and still be at the back of the pack because everyone ELSE is making progress, too. Particularly the young whippersnappers like Raph and Polly. It's only going to get worse as I get older, too, which is a cruel joke.

Helen - in hell?

Warmup: ME, KB swings - 10 russian, 10 CF, 10 1 handed each hand, 10 KB presses, 10 KB front squats.

WOD:
Helen

Three rounds for time:

Run "400" meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

Results:
21:39

Round	400m	Ts.	KB S	Ts	Pullup	Ts	Total
Round 1	2:06	:17	1:34	2:25		:30	6:52
Round 2	2:26	:23	2:06	1:55		:36	14:18
Round 3	2:39	:52	2:08	:31	1:11		21:39
Total	7:11	1:31	5:48	2:00*	4:01	1:06

Comments:
I started this post the night after, but needed to go to bed. I need to finish it before the details get fuzzy!

This is about 3 minutes slower than the Helen I did on Nov. 26. There are, I think, 2 reasons for that. The first is the pullups. Last time i was doing jumping pullups from a 24" box, and I could tear through twelve in just a few seconds. This time, I wanted to try for a slightly more legitimate pull-up. My original intention was to try to do my pseudo/bent arm dead-hangs until they ran out, and then do jumping. Well - they just weren't there at all from the beginning, so I did jumping pullups from the 10" box which meant I had to do a lot more pulling with my arms to get my chin to the bar. (I think the bar is @ 8' or so.) These were a lot more tiring and took a lot longer - which feels like a more appropriate level to be working at.

The other reason is that the air quality was HORRIBLE, and I was having a really hard time breathing. At the time I just thought it was because I was tired or just having an off night and was having a bad aerobic capacity day, but a lot of other people felt it too. Afterwards, I had a cough for a couple hours. Yuck.

And the other reason - OK - maybe there are 3 - is that Max was urging us not to have any transition time or any rest time "to hit it as hard as we've ever hit anything", and I think that by trying to go full out and not rest and not have transitions, I ended up needing more rest and had longer transitions. I find that if I take a couple seconds to rest *before* I hit my capacity wall, I recover faster and can do more work more quickly than if I try to rest *after* hitting my capacity wall. Which is not to say that the "no rest no transitions" formula is a bad one to practice every now and again. I think it's probably useful to butt up against that wall and try to stretch that capacity.

That said, there were at least 4 minutes of transition time in this workout, and that's a LOT of transition time. There are maybe 45 seconds to possibly a whole minute in round 1 where I had forgotten to put my gloves on, and it took a little while to get that sorted.

One thing I am pleased about is that my run times were universally better than last time, AND the time before that (last time my runs were weaker than my previous attempt). I think that the daily walking exercises I am doing are actually making a difference. I even walked a few feet (25 or so?) of my last 400 when my breathing got ridiculously close to hyperventilating and I got a bit freaked out and decided to walk until I could get my breathing under control. (Another present from the HORRIBLE air ... did I mention it was bad?)

Also, this time, a greater percentage of my KB swings actually made it over head. Not all of them by any stretch, I counted anything that made it as high as eye level, but I tried for overhead when I could, and actually got it some of the time.

So - ultimately - even though my time took a step backwards, in terms of work performed and quality of work, i think this workout took a step forward.

Hellin'

Well, that was horrible.

I did not anticipate a PR going into class tonight. Mentally and spiritually I have been rather down the past couple days, due to some fairly heavy family shit. Mostly yesterday I just wanted something to kick me out of my funk, and in that, at least, the work-out was successful.

In everything else, however...

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings
12 Pull-ups

13:55 RX
Splits: 3:43 | 4:53 | 5:20
Last time: 3:50 | 4:27 | 4:37

One minute slower, and SIGNIFICANTLY more painful. Hours later, and I'm still coughing. I think there were a few contributing factors here:

• My mental state, which was pretty poor.
• I did the first half with bar pullups, and then got frustrated with how long it was taking (I could only string 2-3 together) and switched to ring pullups, which I could do at least 6 at a time.
• There was literally something in the air. My throat and lungs burned with the anger of a thousand fires. When it was over and I was walking around a little to recover, I had a mild bit of panic that I just couldn't seem to get enough oxygen. Max said he could smell something in the air (I couldn't). I wondered if maybe it was the coldness of the air, but we've done metcons in the cold before. Don't know what it was, but it hurt.
• Max wants us to focus on intensity this week, and egged us on to hit this "as hard as you've ever hit anything." No pauses for transitions. I tried this in the first round, and it hurt like hell and, I think, damaged my time in later rounds. The splits don't really reflect it, but the fact that I was 7 seconds faster with bar pullups, which take much longer, says a lot to me.

So it was a disappointing result, but not altogether surprising. I'm really tired of bar pullups being the limiting factor for me. 1.5 weeks into my pullup program, I feel like it probably is helping with deadhangs, but I need to re-find my kipping technique. Tonight is Murph, and there aren't really rings at the Power Company, so it's going to have to be entirely on the bar. Plenty of time to practice, I guess.

Helen

Warm up: 10 squats, 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 burpees

WOD:
"Helen"

Three rounds for time:

Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

Results:
17:31 PR!

Exercise	400m	KB Swing	Pullups	Total
Rd 1	2:32	3:06		5:38 (-:25)
Rd 2	2:46	2:08	1:17	6:11 (-1:37)
Rd 3	2:41	2:26	0:35	5:42 (-3:31)

Comments:
The last time I did this I got 23:07 - that's an improvement of 4.5 minutes! It looks like most of my gains were stamina gains - just not falling apart in rounds 2 & 3.

Where this Helen and the last one are different: Last time I used the 12kg KB instead of the 16kg Kb. Last time I used the gravitron, and tonight was jumping pullups - those puppies are fast ... i kinda miss the gravitron. Also my KB swings were only to about eye level - not all the way over head - though it sounds like they weren't last time either.

My run times are pretty consistent across each round, but are actually a bit worse today than they were in July - at least in the first two rounds. There's a good reason though: in the first 100m of the first run my right ankle tweaked and threatened to give out on me entirely, so I decided not to push it too hard. I also don't think i like running in my new 'trail running' shoes. They're heavy, and clumsy. It's hard to run on the balls of my feet instead of using heel strikes. I am going to wear them on the trail run tomorrow - that's what they for! But I think, for now, I'll go back to wearing my little brown shoes for running workouts. I should really try to get myself to a store where they actually take the time to fit a good running shoe.

There's probably 40 seconds of transition time in each of the swing times and the pullup times from going down the wet outside stairs - except the last pullup time since it was the end.

Helen: getting closer

The gym was CROWDED tonight. Due to the holiday, they closed at 6, and class was at 5. Everyone was getting in their pre-thanksgiving climbing, so the workout involved lots of dodging cars and people and folks lounging by the rings where I was trying to workout. Maybe I should've just kicked one of them while kipping. Oops.

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings
12 Pull-ups

12:54 RX (PR!)
Splits: 3:50 | 4:27 | 4:37
(Last time: 3:48 | 5:18 | 6:56)

A PR by a little over 3 minutes, and now I feel like I'm within striking distance of the Level II standard (11:30). The time killers here are A) the transitions and B) the pullups. The pullups I can address, and I think I'm going to embark on the twenty-deadhang program I've been wanting to do for a while. When I can do all three rounds of pullups unbroken, I think I'll be in business. I'm not sure what, if anything, I can do about the transitions - unless and until they put a pullup bar outside. If I can maintain my first round's time throughout, I'll get there.

Helen

Earlier today: Burpee challenge - 17 burpees

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1.5 pood Kettlebell x 21 swings
12 Pull-ups

16:02 RX (PR by 4:17!)
Splits: 3:48 | 5:18 | 6:56
(last time: 4:23 | 6:32 | 9:37)

The last time I did this was just a month ago, and came in at 20:19. Today was ~20% faster, which makes me very happy...and frankly pretty amazed that I could come that far in just a month.

My recollection of last time was that I blew myself out in the first round trying to sprint it, and had nothing for the next two rounds. So today I tried to pace myself, not sprinting the 400m and setting a steady pace for the swings. Turns out my first round was still 30 seconds faster today.

The pullups were MUCH better today, and I think that was the primary reason for the faster time. Having been GTGing heavily the past week, I was able to keep it to 2x6 sets with a short break between (I've been really working on limiting my rests to five slow, measured breaths).

I'm still 4:30 shy of level II, but it doesn't seem so far away now. I'm pretty sure it won't come until I can knock out the pullups in one set, but that should come as I continue to GTG my deadhangs every day. Here's hoping for next time!

Helen

Warmup: 10 Rock n'Roll, 40 squats, 30 situps, 20 pushups

WOD: Helen

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1.5 pood Kettlebell x 21 swings - used 12 kg
12 Pull-ups - used BIW gravitron set to 70

Results:
Modified: 23:07

Round 1:
Run: 2:10 (-:26)
KB Swings: 1:46 (+:06)
Pullups:2:07 (+:01)

Round 2:
Run: 2:34 (- 1:06!!!)
KB Swings: 2:17 (-:34)
Pullups: 2:57 (-:12)

Round 3:
Run: 3:16 (+:23)
KB Swings: 3:13 ( +:21)
Pullups: 2:44 (-:02)


Comments:
I am very excited that my time has improved by 1:30, and with less assistance on the pullups ... it's a little tough to compare splits because the transition time between the KB swings to the pullups is long and the transition from pullups to running is also long, and i wasn't consistent about where I hit my lap timer the last time through.

Today I was really trying to not spend any time in 'recovery' between activities and just moving from one to the next as smoothly as i could - though i know there was about 45 seconds of 'recovery' before both my 2nd and 3rd (and probably 1st) KB sequence.

My KB swings were probably my weakest link today - no - definitely. I just couldn't find the power to get them over head. I think the longest unbroken string i had was 12, and only in round two did i make it through in two sets.

Before the WOD started I tried a KB swing with the 35# weight, and I am really close to being able to do it. I think that if i was not tired from burpees, and pull up practice, and squat practice, i might have been able to use it today. definitely next time.

My pull-ups were pretty good - round 1 & 2 were 6 + 3 + 3. Round 3 was 4 + 4 +2+2 I had to repeat a couple reps due to not quite getting high enough. But it was 20 ... points? (that thing does not work on pounds ) ... less assistance than last time, which is awesome.

Annnd ... the burpees - I had done 12 earlier - 7 before i left for work, and 5 more while i heated my lunch - and finished off the last 5 after the workout (but a good 15-20 minutes after - not immediately after

Helen!

So I did Helen for the first time today - weee!

Helen WOD
Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1.5 pood Kettlebell x 21 swings - used 12 kg
12 Pull-ups - used BIW gravitron set to 90

Results
Modified: 24:37

Round 1:
Run: 2:36
KB Swings: 1:40
Pullups:2:06

Round 2:
Run:3:40
KB Swings: 2:51
Pullups: 3:09

Round 3:
Run:2:53
KB Swings: 2:52
Pullups: 2:46

Comments:
I feel pretty good about how I did on this today. We did the running and the KB swings outside, and the pullups had to be done inside so there was a pretty significant transition time between the pullups and the running. At the end of the first round i hit my lap timer as soon as I finished the pull ups, at the end of round two I hit it just before i started the run because i really wanted to get an accurate time for the run. I wish i had thought far enough ahead to do it that way the first time.

The runs felt food - i think the first round might be a PR - not sure - I haven't been good about keeping a record of my PR benchmarks, so I've added it to my goal list on my Blog. Just for a place to start I'm calling my round one time a PR. So there :p

The kettlebell swings mostly felt good too. The last time I did these my traps felt sad and bruised for a week. I suspect i was doing more lifting with my shoulders than 'poping' with my hips, so this time i really tried to focus on doing most of the work with my hips. It was really easy to tell which reps i got that right with, and which reps I didn't - the kettle bell felt a lot heavier when i got it wrong - practically weightless if i got it really right.

I didn't manage to make it through any rounds unbroken - the first and thirds round i got to about 13 or 15 - the second round i got to ... 4 :o . The second you loose the arch in you back .... schlooop - there you go - getting sucked under with the KB on it's downward swing ... weeee!

I actually did better on the pull-ups than i thought i would. I had it set @ 90. I didn't make it through any rounds unbroken - I usually got through 6 and then 3 and three - though I did have one round - round 2 i think - where it was 6 & 6. I figured out a way to kip a little and use my hips to help me up - and I think maybe next time I'll set it to 80.

All in all, though i am pleased with how the workout went. Yay! Another benchmark to keep tabs of on my list.

Helen

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1.5 pood Kettlebell x 21 swings
12 Pull-ups

20:19 RX

This was very hard, and very disappointing. Even more frustrating to see that I did this a minute faster three months ago! (albeit then it was scaled to 40# and assisted pullups).

The runs were OK. The KB swings were pretty bad, but passable. The transition time to go inside to the rings for pullups was bad, but the REAL killer was the pullups. They SUCKED. Two sets of 6 in the first round, and 3 of 4 in the second two, with really substantial rests. I had really hoped to do better with these, but I think my pullups have actually backslid since they haven't really been featured in WODs lately, and I haven't been good about GTG'ing them the past couple weeks. I really have to get back on that wagon.

Skill level II is to do this under 11:30. Clearly I'm a long way from there. My splits were 4:23 | 6:32 | 9:37, so I clearly have to focus on stamina here - if I managed to keep the pace for my first round, I wouldn't be far off. That ain't happening until I can knock out the pullups consecutively each round, which probably means I need to be able to do at least 20 consecutive fresh. So that's my immediate goal.

Helen

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1.5 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

19:38

I did 40# swings, and BW-30# PU's after the first round. The sprints and the kettlebells were hard, but the killer was the pullups - they're just shot after the last few days, and I had to rest a lot after every four or so. Hope to really improve that for next time.