2010-05-16

Warmup - ME, Run Prep

Run 1 Mile - 10:25

WOD:
4 rounds

Run 400m
12 kb clean/pp left 12kg
12 kb clean/pp right 12kg (8 kg)
21 situps

31:56
2:18.76; 4:34.80; 1:12.75
2:36.17; 4:06.05; 1:15.83
2:31.74; 4:17.38; 1:32.12
2:13.71; 4:36.94; 0:40

Probably should have kept separate times for left and right -the 8kg KB is a little on the light side for my right so the right side went much faster, but the green is too heavy. I should maybe have tried a 20# dumbell instead.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2010-05-09

WOD:
3 Rounds

30 Double-Under
20 Burpee
320KG/240KG from below hip to overhead, two hands, using any kettlebell
320KG/240KG from below hip to overhead left, using any kettlebell
320KG/240KG from below hip to overhead right, using any kettlebell

Due to the blisters on my feet I skipped the DU and Burpees. I used 1P for the KB swings, 12kg for for the left handed hip 2 OH, and 8kg for the right handed hip 2 OH. My rep scheme was 15, 20, 30. I did clean and PP for both left and right. It's been so long since I did KB snatches, I just didn't feel comfortable keeping them stabilized.

9:56; 10:05; 9:29 = 29:31

Bar Gone Bad

Three rounds of:
Hang Squat Clean 95/65 (Reps)
Hang Snatch 95/65 (Reps)
Burpees (Reps)
Kettlebell Swings 2.0P/1.5P
Push-Jerk 95/65 (Reps)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep.

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Total
KB Pushpress 2 x 8kg	16	14	13	43
Clean high pull - 65#	6	5	6	17
Hang Snatch - 45#	3	1	2	6
Burpees	13	12	12	37
KB Swing	9	12	10	31
TOTAL	47	44	43	134

Comments:
this was a tough one, though i think something wasn't scaled quite right since this score is actually higher than my FGB score ... but only when i don't do box jumps. Still, i gave it everything I had and I'm pretty pleased with my performance. It would have been ideal to start with KB swings and end with burpees, but I gave Elaine that spot. It the first round, I was so tired from the burpees that the KB knocked me over and made me fall on my ass. It felt quite a lot heavier than it has lateley.

KB strength WOD

WOD 090903

Kettlebell Swing 18-15-12-9-6

Kettlebell Clean and Push-Press, each arm 15-12-9-6-3

Kettlebell Snatch, each arm 12-9-6-3-1

Results:
All weights in KG

Swing 12-12-16-16-(tried 24 - couldn't get it overhead)-16

Clean & PP
R 8-8-8-8-12(f)
L 8-8-8-12-12

Snatch
R 4-4-8-8-8
L 8-8-8-12-12

Kettlemania

Max got some new, heavier kettlebells, and celebrated with a WOD designed to let us play with them (if we could).

Kettlebell Swing 18-15-12-9-6
Kettlebell Clean and Push-Press, each arm 15-12-9-6-3
Kettlebell Snatch, each arm 12-9-6-3-1

Swing: 2p - 2p - 80# - 88# - 88#
Clean/PP: 1p - 1p - 1.25p - 1.5p - 1.5p
Snatch: 1.25p - 1.25p - 1.5p - 1.5p - 1.5p

My shoulders are fried, and my hands very tender - ripped a little bit, but didn't pull any callouses off.

The new 80 and 88# kettlebells are pretty tough to use. The handles are thicker, very rough, and the opening is smaller such that putting both my hands in there smashes my knuckles together. Definitely not something I can do a lot of volume with with any comfort level. There's also a 97#, but that beast is just too damn heavy to get overhead.

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).

OPD - a fundraiser workout.

Sleep:
11:30 - 7:45 Good nights sleep!

Warmup:
ME, Hip Openers, Air Squats

WOD:

"OPD"
Run 400m
40 deadlifts @ 275#/185# *(115#)
40 box jumps @ 24" *(step up to 20" box)
40 push presses: 2 dumbells @ 50#/35# *(15# dumbells)
Run 400m
*Scaled

The number 4 is prominent, in honor of the four who were killed in the line of duty: Sgt Mark Dunakin, Officer John Hege, Sgt Daniel Sakai, and Sgt Ervin Romans.

Results:

Exercise	Time	Elapsed
400m	2:11	2:11
40 115# DL	9:11	11:22
40 Step-ups	3:04	14:26
40 PP (15# x 2)	5:05	19:31
400m	2:32	22:03

Comments:
This workout was HARD - but satisfying. The Deadlifts were definitely the hardest part of the workout. I had to do them pretty much 1 at a time after about rep 15. They took a LONG time. The box step-ups afterwards were so much harder than they otherwise would have been. They were clumsy and slow. The push-presses weren't so bad ... I probably should have used a 20# dumbell for my left side so that they were equally hard. After the first 10 my right could only get through 5 reps at a time; my left was still ok. The runs were not that bad - my first run was somewhat faster than the time above - i didn't hit my lap timer until i was in front of my deadlift station - which was probably 10 - 15 or seconds after I finished the run - which would make the first run one of my faster times in recent memory. The secod one was definitely harder - but it was great cause it meant i was nearly done. I started out relatively strong, kinda lost steam after the turn around, but my CFEB peeps were cheering for me at the finish line and I was able to put on a little extra gas for the last 50-75m or so.

One of the OPD officers who was there cheered me on for much of the workout. He was wearing a very cool CrosFit OPD t shirt. I, unfortunately, did not learn his name, but I really appreciated his support.

It was great to be there among such a great community of supportive people.

Food:
8:30 black coffee
1:30 (ish?) - 3 egg cheese scramble - w/ turkey bacon, 10oz coffee 2/ milk
7:00 (ish) - cheesecake factory - avocado rolls, thai lettuce wraps, crab wontons, 1 pint sierra nevada
7:45 - 4 omega-3
8:45 - 2/3 bowl kale sausage & beans, 16 oz milk

Strength and "Idea Gone Bad"

Workout 1: Strength Cycle - Week 3, part 2

Deadlift x 5: 225- 245 - 265
Deadlift x 21: 185 (unbroken)
Press x 5: 70- 80- 90
Press x 21: 65 (16-5)

Oops. That DL superset should've been 195 or 200. No wonder it felt relatively easy. I'm going to start including NEXT week's numbers in each post, since it's tricky to go back a week later and figure out that day's goals.

The deadlift at 265 matches my previous PR, and was the first time during the strength cycle I've pulled the weight off the ground and thought "oh, shit that's heavy." Welcome to the front lines. Everything else went fairly well, although the press superset was UGLY - I blame yesterday's push-presses, which I'm a bit sore from.

Next Week: DL 270/200, SP 95/65

I went and joined the 12 o'clock class to practice some snatches, but I really didn't need to do THREE back-to-back workouts, so I mainly just used it for a little form practice and to try and stay warm for Firebreathers.

Workout 2: Idea Gone Bad

Jim gets the credit for coming up with that name. Other contenders: "Fight Gone Awkward," "Fight Gone Codeine," (Max is sick and Alex theorized that he came up with this while high on cold medicine) and "Fight Gone Fucking Bizarre." Basically, Max tried to come up with five high-strength, low-rep things we never (or almost never) do. Well, he succeeded.

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.

1. Wall-ball: 20/14 pound ball, 12 ft target. (Reps)
2. 180 degree 2P/1.5P Kettlebell Swing
3. Double-Under/Burpee Complex
4. 1.5PX2/1.0PX2 Push-Press
5. Run 50 meters (complete passes only)

107 RX

It definitely hit the "constantly varied" element, but was somewhat questionable when it came to functionality. I mean, 12-foot wall-ball, sure, but doubleunderburpees are just weird.

Exercise	1	2	3	Total
Wall-Ball	17	18	17	52
180 KB Swing	8	7	7	22
Burpee/DU	6	7	7	20
Push-Press	0	0	0	0
50m Sprint	4	4	5	13
TOTAL	35	36	36	107

I tried a two-fisted push-press before class, with fresh arms, and it was not good. I didn't get it up, and nearly crushed my foot when the bells came crashing down. Rather than try and accomplish that insanity while exhausted, I just sat that round out. Which worked out just fine, ultimately. Jim coached me through it, and was an excellent coach - soft-spoken, but intense and motivating, he squeezed a few more reps out of me in every round. I really wish I'd done as well by him, but mostly I let him set his own pace. Next time.

Oh right. Metcons.

It's true that this strength cycle deprecates metcons, particularly very long (over 30 minute) ones. Still, the way this week has worked out, we haven't done anything metconnish since Sunday, which is a pretty long time to go without. So it was good to get the heart racing today and feel a bit of the old familiar sensation-of-suck.

For time:
Run 400 Meters
1.5/1.0P Kettlebell Push press, 42 reps
Run 400 Meters
1.5/1.0P Kettlebell Push press, 36 reps
Run 400 Meters
1.5/1.0P Kettlebell Push press, 30 reps
Run 400 Meters
1.5/1.0P Kettlebell Push press, 24 reps

16:34, 1.25P

I don't scale workouts much anymore, particularly the kettlebell ones. Although it felt disappointing to do this non-Rx, I feel like I made the right choice. I CAN push-press the 1.5P bell, but not well and not frequently - when we did Fight Gone Bell, the best I could do was five push-presses in a minute. Even if I'd been able to maintain that pace the entire time (dubious), I'd still be at ~30 minutes just push-pressing. It wouldn't have been much of a metcon, with all the resting that would have been required. As it was, I finished at around the same time as the other folks, and it definitely FELT like a metcon, so I'm happy.

Strength Cycle, week 1 cont'd - and Fight Gone Bell

Today was an experiment, to see if Rebecca and I could do our strength workout directly before the Firebreather WOD. The answer, for today at least, was yes - we'll see what happens when the strength weight gets heavier. The CFSB protocol calls for short and heavy metcons (~10 mins) after lifting, so I'm thinking this could be similar.

Deadlift x 5: 185 - 205 - 225
Deadlift x 21: 185
Press x 5: 65 - 70 - 75
Press x 21: 65

The deadlifts were pretty much fine, although my back was surprisingly sore - maybe from Friday's 3x7. I was able to knock out the 185 unbroken, though, with only medium discomfort - I'll go up next week. The 21 shoulder presses, however, were 12-5-4: I'll keep it at this weight until I can do all of them.

Following that, we got to go outside on a gorgeous sunny spring day for the Firebreather WOD.

Fight Gone Bell
3 rounds, one minute each movement (1.5 pood) with a minute of rest in between, of:

• Swing
• Clean
• Goblet Squat
• Push Press
• Snatch

225 RX

My first thought, looking at this, was that 300 would be a good goal: 20 reps of each movement. Upon further reflection, I altered it somewhat to 25-25-20-15-15 per round. I almost managed to actually do that for the first round, too.

Exercise	1	2	3	Total
KB Swing	25	25	20	70
KB Clean	25	16	14	55
KB Goblet Squat	20	15	10	45
KB Push-press	5	4	4	13
KB Snatch	20	10	12	42
TOTAL	95	70	60	225

Clearly, push-presses were my downfall. (Well, that and my vaulting optimism that I'd be able to maintain that pace for three rounds.) I'm sure the press workout beforehand did not help, but 1.5 pood push-presses have never been particularly strong for me (in fact, doing them at all is a pretty recent phenomenon). This was a good workout, overall - not as nausea-inducing as Gita (who designed it) hoped, but a good combination of many key ways to torture yourself with kettlebells.

Baby Fire Breather

Strength WOD
Warmup - ME, stripper stretch, hip openers, 20 air squats.
DL 5x3
Warmup - 45# x 10
95-115-120
95# x 21 (had to break @ rep 13 and every 3-4 reps after that to keep form safe)

Press 5x3
Warmup - 25#x10
35-40-45
25# X 21 - unbroken - 30# next week

Fire Breathers WOD:



Warmup: run 400m, ME, 25 situps, 10 pushups, WOD skills practice KB(swing, clean, goblet squat, PP, snatch)

WOD:
FGB Rules
Men 1.5P/Women 1.0P

Swing
Clean
Goblet Squat
Push Press
Snatch

Results:

Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Total
KB Swing	15	14	12	41
KB Clean	9	3R 6L	1R 8L	27
KB Goblet Squat	6	6	7	19
KB Push-press	0	2	1	3
KB Snatch	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	30	31	29	90

Comments:
Well - first of all, I can't believe my math was so bad. I originally though5 - for some unknown reason I cannot now figure out- that my score was 61. It was actually 90. Still less than half the next lowest score, but much better than 61!

I am extremely excited that I got 4 cleans total with the 1P with my right arm, and a couple PP with the 1P with my left. Both firsts for me :-) I think my form with the goblet squats was a bit better than on Wednesday - I did better at keeping my chest up.

In the first round i did some PP & Snatches with the 12kg KB, but in the second round Max told me just to focus on the stuff I could do Rx and to just rest for the rounds i couldn't get anything, so the reps that were done with the 12kg are not listed above. In the last round I was not ready to just rest for the whole last round, so I worked on KB highpulls (snatch progressions) with the 1P with my right arm (I didn't keep count). On a really good rep I could get it shoulder high, on a less good rep I got it a little less than boob high. I think this could be a really good exercise for me to practice to work on really strengthening my right arm & shoulder (and hip drive). I'll try to remember it whenever I am looking for "cash out" or even warm-up options.

Sleep:
12:54 - 9:45 Hooray for extra sunlight! A pretty sound night's sleep - think I woke up twice, but they were brief. Woke up with congested ears though :-( DO NOT WANT DANIEL's COLD. :-P

Food:
10:30 - 3 egg cheesy scramble w/ 2 pieces turkey bacon. 12oz coffee w/2/3 cup milk
11:00 - 1 multiv, 3 wellness formula, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3
2:15 - 16 oz milk
3:35 - 1 bowl orange curry, 16 oz milk
7:30 - House of Curries: Approx: 1 8oz cup chai tea, 1/2 order each of daal, chicken w/cauliflower, tandoori chicken tikka & paneer tikka masala.
11:15 - 2 zma

More KB Bruises. Ow.

WOD:
Run 800 Meters
21 Kettlbell Press left 1.5p/1.0P
21 Kettlebell Press right 1.5p/1.0P
Run 800 Meters
21 Kettlbell Push-Press left 1.5p/1.0P
21 Kettlebell Push-Press right 1.5p/1.0P
Run 800 Meters
21 Kettlebell Push-Jerk left 1.5p/1.0P
21 Kettlebell Push-Jerk right 1.5p/1.0P

Results:
42:35

Round	Run	rest	Lift
1-Press	5:11	3:12	5:20 (R&L) 8kg
2-Push Press	5:39		3:23(R8kg) 4:21(L12kg)
3-Push Jerk	5:31		3:16(R8kg) 6:29(L12kg)

Comments:
Bleah. I came into this workout tired and hungry - having missed lunch - and just in an all-around foul temper. Doing the workout definitely helped to equalize my mood, but there certainly weren't any performance breakthroughs. I'd say I gave it about 80%.

Re Bruises: In the warmup I was using a light weight, and I practiced a Push-Press a little too forcefully, and the kettlebell jumped very high up and clobbered me on the wrist.

I've lost that running feelin'

It's odd how skills come and go. Sometimes I can kip like the dickens, most times I can't. For several months, running was probably my favorite thing in CrossFit - the Thanksgiving day trail run was a joyful revelation.

Then it all fell apart. Or at least I started falling apart.

My ankle is giving me real grief, and I've lost the thread for my running. Part of it is overthinking it - Gita led a mini workshop on POSE running, and I spend so much energy trying to figure out how to land on the correct part of my foot that I can't just RUN. The other part is that I've been running in my new Puma shoes, which are supposedly good POSE shoes due to the flat sole and lack of cushioning. The downside is that the ankle that I sprained is yelling at me a LOT, particularly after periods of inactivity (ie, sleep), and it has that bruised-bone feeling I was getting before I bought my "bad" running shoes.

I've switched back to my old shoes for running, at least until my ankle heals. It's my hope that the pain is my body adapting to a lifetime of week feet and ankles, and that I can switch back and forth between the shoes, with increasing periods of POSE shoes, until the joints are finally strong enough to handle it. Until then, my running is just going to suck, I guess.

I had some brief periods of feel-good running tonight. Every time it happened, I realized I was running heel-strike (ie, wrong). So further adjustment is clearly necessary.

Run 800 Meters
21 Kettlbell Press left 1.5p/1.0P
21 Kettlebell Press right 1.5p/1.0P
Run 800 Meters
21 Kettlbell Push-Press left 1.5p/1.0P
21 Kettlebell Push-Press right 1.5p/1.0P
Run 800 Meters
21 Kettlebell Push-Jerk left 1.5p/1.0P
21 Kettlebell Push-Jerk right 1.5p/1.0P

32:07, 1p press, 1.25p push-press & jerk
Splits: 9:54 | 11:24 | 10:39

This was not a good time, compared to others, but I'm still pleased. I got that gray kettlebell over my head 84 times, and while I wouldn't say it felt EASY, I would say it felt solid. I even got the black up a handful of times afterwards in practicing.

Ever since the disastrous (and infamous) KB ladder that wrecked my shoulder, I've been nervous about putting heavy bells above my head. They just didn't feel stable, like my elbow could bend the wrong direction, or the whole thing could crash on my head. I didn't have that problem tonight. There was some aching going on in the shoulder, but nothing alarming. And I think I might be getting the hang of the KB jerk - they felt distinctly different from the push-press tonight. One mental cue that I found helped was to think of my bicep and forearm as a platform that the bell was simply resting on, and my job was NOT to push it up, but simply to jump it up off the platform. Once the bell was airborne (and therefore weightless), I could activate my arm muscles to guide it up, but not until then. For whatever reason, thinking about it in this way made it considerably easier.

Several of us stayed after for a while to practice heavy KB snatches. We're all clearly worried about Saturday's Firebreather WOD: 100 1.5p KB snatches for time. I did a few with each hand and, while HARD, felt fairly stable, which is reassuring. I still think it may take me 30 minutes to do this WOD, but that's OK: when it's done, I'll have another Level II skill checked off, and that thought makes me happy.

WOD:
AMRAP* in 20 minutes

12 KB deadlift
3 KB clean left arm
3 KB push-press left arm
9 KB swing
3 KB clean right arm
3 KB push-press right arm

Results:
12 kb used for everything except right arm PP used 8kg.

Round	Time	Rest
1	1:43
2	2:04	0:25
3	2:00	0:29
4	2:11	0:32
5	1:54	0:25
6	1:54	1:01
7	1:52	0:20
8	1:31
9	1:36
Total	16:45	3:12

Comments:
Really wish i could reliably manage the PP with the 12 KG KB with my right arm. Other than that, this went well. I don't think i was working hard enough since i was able to make my rounds so much faster as the 20 minutes wore on.

The video is of my second to last round, i think.

Playing Catch-up - again

My workouts for the past several days have not been very focused or very successful, so I have been less than super excited to blog about them, but I guess I should get them down for posterity's sake.

I've been feeling pretty run down for the last week or so, and I think I might be fighting a bug. I have a very slightly sore throat - though I suppose it could just as easily be allergies - especially from all the dust we stirred up when cleaning out our closets over the weekend. That was a fun project :)

So - Sunday, we ended up doing both the crossfit workout of OHS and then we went climbing. I was tired heading into it, and I planned to focus primarily on form. I didn't really keep track of reps or weights. I think I got to rep 8 of 15 with the empty 15# bar, and failed. I tried 25# and failed on rep 3 or 4, same deal with 20#. I found that the main thing that was failing was actually my wrists, followed quickly by my shoulders. I just couldn't hold the weight up any longer. Daniel got some video of me with the empty bar. At the very least my knees are nice and solid - there's very little wobble. You'll see at the end of the video when my grip fails and I whack myself in the knee with the dropped bar. Glad I wasn't using the heavy bar, and my bruise is only a small one. Any comments on form are appreciated :-)



Climbing almost immediately after was ... not terribly wise or productive. I climbed 2 routes both 5.9's - neither of which should have given me any trouble - both of which were ugly. Particularly the first one. I rested or fell 4 or 5 times on the first - and it was a neat technical stemmy climb up a corner that I would really love to try fresh. I bet it would be fun. I fell fewer times on the second, but it still wasn't pretty. I was happy to just belay after that.

Sunday night we went to a potluck at the Athletic Playground. It's well named. They have lots of toys, a trapeze and aerial silk setups, they offer classes in these things and parkour and handstands - it's an adult, athletic, playground :-) (Though they offer classes for kids, too. Shira - one of the co-owners - introduced us to slam ball. That was fun :)

Monday was climbing at GWPC. I climbed ... 2.5 routes. There's a very easy 9 that I started with, and that went quite well. I tried "neck meat" again(10a), and got 1/2 way up got to a hold i thought was spun (watching Ev climb it later i think it was probably fine) but I just couldn't figure it out. And it was a struggle to get even that far. The whole climb was crap. I couldn't get my feet to stick to the wall, I couldn't find my next handhold. It was panic climbing. Daniel said that it looked like i was over reaching - moving my hands too far up - and that was why my feet wouldn't stick. Sometimes, when I feel uncomfortable on a climb I get sort of frantic, and just reach for anything that looks like it might be close enough to reach. It is not "tree sloth" climbing. It's pretty much the exact opposite. It's not pretty and it doesn't work. My last climb was a new 5.9 just east of the stairwell. The first half of the climb was frantic and graspy, again, and I recognized that, stopped, took a few breaths, tried to recenter myself and continued on to finish the climb. The last half was definitely better than the first.

Tonight was a KB strength WOD.

Double Kettlebell Press 6-6-6-6-6
Double Kettlebell Push-Press 8-8-8-8-8
Double Kettlebell Jerk 10-10-10-10-10

I was glad that it was not a killer metcon, but I knew the volume was still going to be a killer. I did 8kg KB all the way through. THe Jerks were definitely the hardest. I know you're supposed to be able to lift more weight with a Jerk than a PP, but with double KB, the jerk requires a lot more stabilization (unless you really nail the form), and are therefore harder. The most I managed to get in a single set was 9.5 in set 5. Most of my jerk sets failed between 6 and 8. I still completed all reps though. Took for freaking EVER!

Tomorrow we're going to start back in with the 5x5 routine. Max suggested that I move back to back squats, and I'm thinking maybe I'll work on cleans or SDHP instead of bench press ... not really sure yet.

I don't need this stuff! I don't need YOU, I don't need ANYTHING!

... except these kettlebells.

Double Kettlebell Press 6-6-6-6-6
Double Kettlebell Push-Press 8-8-8-8-8
Double Kettlebell Jerk 10-10-10-10-10

1 pood across. Didn't get all 10 reps for every set of jerks.

Everything went swimmingly until the jerks. I was quite pleased with how well the presses and push-presses went, actually - it felt heavy and unstable at first, but once my shoulder warmed up and I re-figured out how to stabilize and drive from the core, the weight went up significantly easier.

However, jerks. I did get some sets of 10, but they were really closer to push-presses than jerks - my second dip is tiny, if I even get it, and for some reason standing up with the KB locked out overhead is extremely tiring - such that 10 jerks is far harder than 10 push-presses. This is probably because I don't have it locked out properly, or at least that would be my guess. A little googling brought me to this video from CrossFit Philly, which has an interesting progression for working the timing of the second dip - I think I'll give it a shot.

Perhaps a Bad Idea

I was pretty sore yesterday, after Murph. But it was manageable. Enough that we decided to take a rest day, but not so much as to cause concern. This morning, however, was worse. The DO in DOMS seems to be a little longer than usual, this time. However, that did not stop me from doing the WOD, mostly because it looked like a lot of fun and would give me a real opportunity to practice my kettlebell snatch form, something I've been wanting to do (I've got my eye on that level II 60 x 1.5 pood KB snatch).

For time:
Buy-in: Run 800 meters
Get 10,000 pounds/7,000 pounds from the ground to overhead, anyway anyhow.
Cash-out: 25 Burpees

Rules of engagement:

• Object must begin at a point of contact with the ground.
• Object must be held overhead in a stabilized position.
• At the top of the movement, the knee, hip, shoulder and elbow joints must be at full extension.
• At the top of the movement an observer looking from the side must be able to see some portion of the athletes ear.

37:00 RX
Performed as:
240 x 1pood KB snatch
30 x 2pood KB clean & push-press(two-arm)
=10,500 pounds. Oops!

Math on the fly in these sorts of circumstances is not my strong suit, so I overshot the mark by 15 reps or so. Oh well.

I really like KB snatches, actually. Done correctly, the weight just floats up there. My forearms are not banged up at all, but the skin on the palms of my hands is really thrashed. I went through half a roll of tape today, and still have a nice little collection of ripped calluses and blood blisters to show for it. It was really the clean & push-presses that did it, though - which is why I didn't do anywhere near as many of them as I expected to do. After a while, I figured out a method with the snatches to sort of flip the weight back and forth from the saddle of my thumb to the top of my fingers, so it didn't stress out the top of the palm, where all my rips are.

Turns out Rebecca caught one of my sets-of-10 on video, so might as well throw it up here for posterity...

Worse, I am really. fucking. sore. Between this workout and Murph two days ago, I've done a LOT of volume. We're going climbing in a few minutes, but I don't think I'll actually climb. Just hang out and belay. Even if my muscles let me climb (a big if), I don't think my hands would.

...Edit to add:

OK, yeah. The climbing was brutal. Stuck with mock leading, since I was too tired to climb anything harder than a 10a.

ML10a(o), ML10a(f), ML10a(o)

The first 10a followed an arete up a bit of negative, and had a couple interesting moments of holds all going to one side of the arete, or only having one handhold. Still fine, though, and pretty short. The next one was a LONG 10a on the lead wall, about 60' with a long stretch of negative and a little roof. I got a bad clipping stance and could not get the rope into the damn carabiner, and my hand was slowly slipping off the hold - wound up falling, but could have done it if my hands weren't so weak. That climb made me want to weep. So I did another one - a fairly straightforward 10a complicated by the fact that the quickdraws were all about 2' to the left of the route, which made finding clipping stances awkward. That one ended on a sharp bit of negative and clearly was not meant to be led, as there were no feet for a stance at the top - Blake and I both fell almost immediately and didn't bother clipping the chains.

Rebecca and I are totally wrecked, and have elected to take tomorrow as a rest day. Max has posted two grueling options for the WOD, and while I might otherwise be interested in running 10k, my body is telling me in no uncertain terms that it needs a break.

A headache, some pullups, a WOD and a free* watch!

I woke up with a headache this morning. I don't know if it's the beer I had last night, or dehydration, or perhaps the onset of my period(?), but it feels like the same familiar icky headache I get just before my period starts, that throbs based on the position/movement of my head, and makes me feel downright queasy - which sucks, because the whole reason I stopped taking birth control it seemed to make these stupid headaches go away. I guess I'll just have to see if my period starts in the next few days to see if that's the cause. If so, I might as well start taking birth control again. Maybe then my skin will clear up, again. Stupid hormones :-|

Fortunately, this headache feels better when I am upright, and today's headache is only moderately bad, so I'm mostly ok except for occasional waves of nausea/head throbbing. (fun right?)

Headache and nausea aside ... Sometime last week I found this article posted on the main boards for National CrossFit: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6371554/Foot-Drills. 6 easy, fast drills to do mostly barefoot to strengthen the muscles in your feet, calves, and knees. I've started doing them every morning before I put my shoes on.

Our condo is configured in such a way that I can do "laps" from the bedroom through the kitchen to the living room and back to the bedroom. Our place is pretty small, so a full lap might be anywhere from 50 to 75 feet - not super far. Our pullup bar is in the doorway between the bedroom and the kitchen, so yesterday I decided to add the step of doing a pullup after every lap.

I should state here that currently, a pull-up, for me, means starting from standing with a very slightly bent arm, and going up as high as I can make it. So even though i usually make it pretty far up, it's not quite a full deadhang, because I don't start from full "dead" hang. For some reason, that first like 1-2 inches totally eludes me. Though I think I might be close to getting it, too.

Usually, when I work on pullups, I can get maybe 1 all the way up: clavicles to hand level, and any subsequent attempts might get as high as nose to bar. I won't get another good full ROM one for at least 15-20 minutes. A couple weeks ago I might get 1 really good one once a week. and only if I hadn't been working on pull exercises.

Today, i got ALL SIX pullups at the end of each lap face-to-door frame/hands-to-clavicles!!! All six! And there couldn't have been more than 1 or maybe 2 minutes in between. Woo-hoo! And I had even been working on my pullups the night before. Now if I can only get that first 2 inches, I'll actually have an honest to goodness deadhang pull up! Somehow, a kipping pullup still eludes me, too. ... Soon, though, I think I may have BOTH!

So, off we went to class. The last day of a strength focused week. Max was late, so Daniel led folks through the warmup, and sent everyone off to run a mile - since that's what Max had us doing every day this week. I've only been doing half a mile all week - either due to poor running shoes or a desire to conserve my strength for the strength workouts, but I had thought that I was going to try the whole mile today. Ha! It took about 25m for me to decide that a mile was not going to happen today. Every step made my head throb. As it was, it took me 3 minutes just to run 400m, and I decided that was plenty.

The rest of the warm up max had us do was KB swings - both russian and american, two handed and 1 handed. I worked with the 8kg KB to try to keep things light and focused on form.

The WOD:
Kettlebell Hang Clean and Push-Press 7-7-7-7-7-7 each arm

Results: (in kg)
8-12(R-PR)-12-12-12
Clean - 16

Comments:
Max kept changing his mind about whether we should do 5 or 7 sets of 7. I kept getting struck with headrush-y waves of queasiness, so I did 5.

I warmed up with and did my first set of Clean & PP with the 8kg KB. There wasn't much challenge on my left, and it even felt pretty easy on my right, so I decided to try the 12kg. I could clean 12kg just fine, but the first time I tried to PP the 12kg with my right I got it up about 6 inches before deciding it just wasn't going to happen. So I went ahead and did 7 with it on my left, and decided to try again with my right. To my astonishment, it actually went up! All the way! I couldn't do 7 unbroken, and it wasn't always pretty, but with some rest in between reps I managed to get through the rest of the workout only using the 12kg KB! This is certainly a milestone for me.

I found that I could only get the KB up with my right if I was properly and powerfully using my hips as a propellant. And if I was, then it was practically easy. If I got lazy or tired and didn't fully drive with my hips, that KB was not going to get all the way up. It was pretty exciting on those reps when it did, though :-)

When the workout was over, I tried the 16kg KB, and I was actually able to clean it with both arms, but I couldn't PP it with my left, so I didn't even try with my right. Still - that was pretty exciting too. It'd be nice if there were little mid weights you could add to the KB handles, or something to get intermediate weights since the intervals between KB's are so huge. - Especially at the lower weights - you get jumps anywhere from 100%-33%


After the workout, we went to REI - Daniel was in dire need of a belt - and I got distracted by the watch counter. I've been watching SteepandCheap.com pretty closely, hoping a good watch would show up because mine seems to utterly freak out after 16 laps - even though it has 26. And I thought it would be really fun to have a watch that could do Tabata intervals, too. That's where I found this little beauty. It's lovely, and slender, has a 50 lap memory, the ability store multiple workouts (up to a total of 50 laps1), 2 interval timers, 3 alarms ... no idea why I might ever need three separate alarms - but still - it has them. ... I do have 1 complaint, and that's that the chime between the first and second intervals, is just a single, short, relatively quiet beep. However the chime after the second interval is much louder and more robust, so I figure for tabata, I can just set the 10 second rest to be the first interval, and the second interval to be the 20 seconds of work since I am much more likely to hear the quiet beep while resting, and will need the louder chime for the end of work sets.

I was going to put it on my Christmas list, but the lady @ the store told me that that this is an older version of this model watch, and she wasn't sure how long it would be available. The new model is NOT this attractive, and I totally fell in love with THIS one, so I decided to just get it for myself. The decision was made much easier knowing that we had a $120 REI dividend that needed to be spent. Also - REI was having a deal where you could get $20 off any purchase of $100 or more. Between the two of us Daniel and I managed to purchase $170 worth of merchandise today @ REI, and yet we only spent $32. SWEET!

The end to heavy lifting week

Well, it was a nice change of pace to something a little less ass-kicking, but it's come to an end. Max has promised something brutally punishing tomorrow, so today we got our last little bit of slow reps with long rests:

Kettlebell Hang Clean and Push-Press 7-7-7-7-7 each arm

12kg - 16 - 16 - 20 - 20 - 24(f)

It was exactly this movement that infamously fucked up my shoulder a couple months ago, so I approached it pretty cautiously today, starting at a weight that was far too light. The 1 pood was enough to wind me, and it got hard once I went up to 1.25 pood. By the time I tried the black 1.5 pood, I was pretty tuckered out, and couldn't get more than 3 reps on my left side and none on my right (this movement is, oddly, easier on my left side). I do think I was better about form, though, keeping the weight towards the center of my body - but my form definitely deteriorates at higher weights. 20kg is really where I need to be for a little while longer, at least until I can dial in all the efficiencies of the form and get the 1.5 pood.

Also: Farmer's walk, 140 pounds each arm, maybe 100m?

Rawr. Sell it!

They said the weight carriers weighed 90# each, but I'm not sure I believe them. That would essentially mean I deadlifted 280# and then walked two basketball courts holding the weight. Maybe that's true, but my 1RM max deadlift was 285# last time I tried it, so I'd be surprised. I think it would make more sense if they weighed 45# each.

Owie # 2 ... Rackin' up my CF injury (accomplishment) list ...

Warmup: Mobility Exercises, 10 CFEB Sun Salutations, 800m (5:16)

WOD:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Advanced option A
Kettlebell Clean & Push-Press 2 pood/1.5 pood left
L pullups, or Weighted Pull-Up 25#/15#
Kettlebell Swing 2 pood/1.5 pood
Behind-The-Back Clapping Push-Up OR Kettlebell Weighted Push-Up
Kettlebell Clean & Push-Press 2 pood/1.5 pood right\

Modified:
KB C&PP 8kg
pullups - kipping attempts
KB swing 12kg
pushups
KB C&PP 8kg

Results
34:55

Round	Time	HR
10	6:18.3	152
9	6:17.3	158
8	4:28.3	164
7	4:23.5	169
6	3:14.1	170
5	3:09.3	168
4	2:59.7	166
3	1:54.4	161
2	1:22.3	174
1	0:47.9	175

Shortly after the workout started ( I was in round 9) the pull-up bar unthreaded in the middle, and i tried to hel get it back together - so that explains why my round 10 and round 9 times are nearly identical. I'm not really sure why round 8 and round 7 are so close.

Since I've felt that jumping pullups are not working me as hard as I feel the pullup section of these workout should, I decided just to count each kipping attempt at a pull up as a pull up rep. On a few rounds - particularly round 7 and 6 - i got REALLY close. I was able to get a good rhythm down, and was actually able to string together several attempts consecutively.

8kg was probably a little light for the C & PP, but I cannot C & PP 12 kg on my right side, and there is no intermediate KB between 8 and 12kg (at least not at our gym), so I was originally going to try to use the 8kg only for the right, and use the 12kg KB for the left as well as the swing, but the 12kg KB were in short supply, and i decided to opt for consistency accross my arms. Probably shoul have tried to work the 16kg KB for the swings, too - but my shoulders are only JUST starting to feel better from doing that earlier this week - i wimped out.

The pushups were possibly the easiest part of this workout - which is just totally awesome.

So - after the KB swings in round 5, i realized that my hand were really stinging. I looked down, and this is what i saw:


Ack! I'd ripped a huge flap of skin up right in the middle of my left palm. A classmate asked max to go get some tape, and I kept working through round 4 - trying to use just the fingers on my left hand as much as possible. max retuned with tape, and I finished the workout. I just couldn't bring myself to stop that close to the end of the workout. By the time i finished i big rip was opening up n my right hand as well. Ow.

Lesson learned - if there is going to be kipping or KB swings involved - USE TAPE - before my hands get shredded - not after.

Guess I won't be climbing tomorrow after all.