2 PRs

3 short workouts today:

42-30-18
Double-under
21-15-9
Pull-up

4:59 (subbed 2pd KB swings for pullups, due to ab injury)

Work to a 1RM Clean

150# (pr)

Truly awful form, but it got there.

Run 1 mile

5:47 (pr)

4:59
150
5:47

2010-07-27

Max rep pull-ups every 3 minutes on the 3rd minute for 12 minutes (5 rounds)
Max rep push-ups every 3 minutes on the 3rd minute for 12 minutes (5 rounds)
Run one mile

Pushups 16,14,13,10,8
Pullups 13,11,10,8,9
1 mile: 10:15 - new gwpc PR!

Pull push run

Max rep pull-ups
Every 3 minutes on the 3rd minute for 12 minutes (5 rounds)
Max rep push-ups
Every 3 minutes on the 3rd minute for 12 minutes (5 rounds)
Run one mile

Pull-ups: 21-13-13-10-10
Push-ups: 20-15-12-10-12
Mile: 6:18

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

2010-05-05 - certainly intense - not as short as expected.

Warmup: run 1 mile, ME

Original WOD:
3 Rounds

Run 800 Meters
30 Kettlebell Swings 1.5P/1.0P
50 Double-Unders

Modified WOD:
3 Rounds

Run 400 Meters
15 (Russian) Kettlebell Swings 1.25P
25 Double-Unders

26:02
Round 1: 2:04, 5:08
Round 2: 2:49; 1:51; 4:45
Round 3: 2:57; 2:09; 4:15

The reason I cut the volume in half and increased the weight of the KB is that I wanted to make this a quicker, more intense workout, and to really try to keep the effort/intensity high the whole time. It was certainly intense, but it wasn't exactly quick. I underestimated (ie didn't even consider) how hard DU would be after heavy KB swings. That's definitely what ate up most of the time.

I didn't completely succeed at keeping the intensity up the full time. I actually had to walk part of both the second and third runs because i couldn't get my breathing under control and it felt like i was about to start hyperventilating. And all the time with the double-unders - it's a really fine line between resting long enough that you won't fail the next rep, and resting longer than necessary. It's such a waste of energy to fail a rep. Most of my reps were singles - i did get a couple strings of more than 1 - a very few times i got as many as 4 or 5.

Gratifyingly, Max said my KB swings were looking really solid. I got several of them as high as my forehead - they were all at least chin level, though, and I was able to do the first set straight through, and rounds 2 and 3 were done in a set of 8 and a set of 7.

But the real victory of the day was my running (which might also have been my downfall). I didn't realize when I set out that the warmup run was supposed to be a mile. it's usually just 800m. A class mate passed me by and asked whether i was on lap 1 or 2 and helpfully told me that the warmup was supposed to be a mile when I looked confused. Yay. I knew I was going to cut the running in half for the workout, so i decided to go ahead and run the whole mile. It's been a while since I've run one. I managed to time the second lap, and I came in at 5:11 - which is actually quicker than I've been running lately, and - assuming that my second lap was not faster than my first, would put it in PR range since my best full mile time on record is 10:34. I really wish I had gotten the time for the full thing.

I also managed to get 2:04 on my first 400 - which is only 5 seconds off my PR for the 400. I was definitely booking it, but that good a result was unexpected. I've been working on lengthening my stride and running slightly less on the balls of my toes (someone told me it looked more like i was leaping than running). I guess maybe it's working? :-)

They're calling it "the Gauntlet"

I put two classes through this on Sunday, and it looked like hell. So, when it came time to decide what to do today, I figured "what the hell, I haven't done a big WOD in a while," and jumped in. Surprisingly, Joe D, Brandon, Andre and John all signed on as well.

In 30 minutes...
Run 1 mile
50 KB Swings (2P)
50 Burpees
In remaining time, perform AMRAP
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Score is number of rounds completed.

7 rounds + 3 pull-ups RX
(Splits: mile 6:16, KB 4:20, burpees 5:50, round 1-2:10, round 2-2:37, round 3-2:30, round 4-1:35, round 5-1:44, round 6-1:37, round 7-1:08)

That was satisfyingly horrible. For only being 30 minutes, it lasted forEVER, and the Cindy rounds were brutal. It's nice to see I generally sped up on them (really pushed that last round hard) rather than the other way around, but (as always) it was the pushups that really held me back.

Inside-out Murph

I think I've done this one before, but can't find a record of it on the blog, so maybe it was just posted to CFEB but we missed it.

50 C2B Pull-ups
100 Pushups
150 Squats
Run 2 miles
50 C2B Pull-ups
100 Pushups
150 Squats

46:01 RX (no vest)

Faster than my fastest recorded unweighted Murph, whatever that means. In some ways, this is easier than regular Murph since you don't have that cruel, long last mile to run. However, I found my first 3-4 rounds in the second half to be very slow and painful, as my muscles had cooled off and stiffened during the run, and it took some work to unkink them enough to follow my commands.

I believe this is my first full-volume C2B Murph (of any variety)

Murph

WOD:
For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups *used green resistance band
200 Push-ups *squatted to a med-ball
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

Reults:
1:04:01

11/8/09	6/12/09
Exercise Time Elapsed 1 Mile 10:58 10:58 Round 1 3:48 14:46 Round 2 2:33 17:19 Round 3 3:44 21:03 Round 4 3:53 24:56 Round 5 4:16 29:12 Round 6 4:27* 33:39 Round 7 4:13 37:52 Round 8 4:10 42:02 Round 9 4:13 46:15 Round 10 3:58 50:13 1 mile 13:48** 1:04:01	Exercise Time Elapsed 1 Mile 10:34 10:34 Round 1 4:28 15:02 Round 2 4:17 19:19 Round 3 4:59 24:18 Round 4 5:00 29:18 Round 5 4:24 33:42 Round 6 4:25 38:07 Round 7 5:22 43:29 Round 8 7:42* 51:11 Round 9 5:14 56:25 Round 10 4:37 1:01:02 1 mile 12:47 1:13:49

*paused to drink some water
**includes about 50 seconds of 'transition time' to get downstairs and start the run. 

Comments:
Wow - nearly 10 minutes better than my last time.  It looks like, on average, every round was about a minute faster.

I was really able to pump out the pullups without too much trouble this time - i could almost always get a set of 8 before having to rest - i wish we had a smaller band. 

It looks like maybe in round 2, when i was still tweaking what to put where, i might have forgotten to do something ... or maybe i just did it really fast ... >.>  ... So my time might be more like 1:05, but eventually I developed a rep scheme that really helped me get through the pushups without hitting muscular failure.

1 round =10 pullups, 9 pushups,10 squats, 7 pushups,10 squats, 4 pushups,10 squats

It doesn't mean that I was able to get all the pushups in straight sets, I still had to stop and take a breath or two between some reps, but it I never needed more than a breath or two, so it effectively allowed me to stay in nearly constant motion.

I used a med-ball to squat to because I have a tendency to go farther down than I need to, and I suspect that little aid had something to do with my decreased time - I sorta wish I hadn't used it just so today's time was a closer comparison to the last time - but i definitely liked having it (it has a little bounce >.> shhhh)

Daniel said that my form looked pretty good throughout - clean decisive reps.  Which is good to hear. 

Team WOD - winner!

Warmup:
was quite late, missed the warmup.

WOD:
In teams of 2 or 3

Run One Mile

30 Box Jumps 24/20
30 Muscle-Ups (or 120 pull-ups + 120 dips)
30 Handstand Push-Ups
30 Back Squat 135/185
30 Deadlift 135/185
30 Push-Press 95/65
30 Thruster 95/65
30 Kettlebell Swings 2.0/1.5P
30 Burpees
30 Double-Unders

Run One Mile

Partition the movements as needed. Athletes may assist each other with movements, as long as they work through the full range of motion. Start and finish with a team mile run.

Results:
46:?? I failed to stop my watch properly. My team came in first!! I got split times for the miles, but that was it.

My first mile was actually a PR - despite having to walk a portion of the second lap due to a really horrible side stitch. I did two laps - no driveway - in 9:46. My previous no driveway record is 10:12 - a 26 second improvement! I finished the first lap in something like 4:34, and the running felt really strong and easy - I was doing really well at keeping up with the girls ahead of me - even felt like i might be able to pass one of them, and then the sidestitch actually just kind of surprised me. My energy still felt realy good, and my air even felt good - usually I feel like i can't get enough breath in when i start to cramp up, but that was not the case today. I even had enough energy - despite the impending cramp - to pour on a little extra gas for the last 50 meters or so.

My team split up the exercises where we could with each person doing all he reps of the exercises they could do. Fortunately, despite having two of the weaker girls in the class, our third member was probably the strongest guy in class, so it was a good break down. He was able to churn out all the heavy stuff like nothing.Half way through class Max switched the backsquats to 135/95 - but Robin had already done all 30 at 185.

I took on the burpees and the double unders on my own. The burpees were fine. I had to do the double unders 1 at a time, but i had a much lower failure rate than I have had with them in the past - I'd say I probably made about 80-85% of my attempts. That's MUCH higher than the 40-50% (maybe even less) successful attempt rate I've had before.

With the team, I helped with 10 assisted deadlifts, 20 assisted HSPU - Robin basically just lifted me up and down while offered what limited help I could. And I also did 30 assisted muscleups - I guess technically, they're my first ;-) - I sat on Robin's shoulders and he basically squatted me while I went through the motions of a muscle up. - I did do some of the work - but he really did most of it. He was an incredibly good sport, and probably got about twice or three times as much of a workout as either of the other of us, but it was a good team effort.

My second run was actually much more decent than I thought it would be - it was 10:37 - also no driveway.

Mutt and Jeff

So during the bench relay the other night, Polly and I got into our endless argument over whether CrossFit favors the short or the tall. I, of course, maintain that it's easier for shorter people. Polly's response is, invariably, "wall ball." Max heard the the argument, and came up with this fun team workout to test the theory: take 6 movements, 3 that supposedly favor the tall and 3 the short, divide the class into equal teams sorted by height (all the tall people on one team, all the shorter people on the other), and have them do a massive quantity of reps for time.

Each team, which was (I think) 12 people, had to complete the following:

Run 10k
300 Push-ups
300 GI-Janes
300 Ground-to-Overhead #95/65
300 Hang Squat Cleans #95/65
300 Wallball 20/14

Team short beat team tall, 24-something to 26-something.

I don't recall exactly what I did to contribute. Something like:

Run 1600m
50 GI-Janes
20 Push-ups
30 Wall-ball
20 Ground-to-Overhead
10 Hang Squat Cleans

It was a fun workout. And remarkably close, actually.

Food log:
Spinach salad with tuna, apple, toast and strawberries (5 blocks)
Cottage cheese with applesauce and milky coffee (4 blocks)
16 oz milk PWO (2 blocks)
Chicken with Broccoli and Garbanzo beans (4 blocks)
Slice of turkey, Guinness draught and 3 almonds (1 block)

Running & Bench ladder

WOD:
Run 2 miles.

20 minutes after the beginning of the run, entire group relay bench presses two reps each, starting at 45 pounds and continuing in 10 pound jumps until failure, in reverse order of first to last on the run (slowest runner goes first). After all who are able have lifted a given weight, those remaining add 10 pounds. Bench Press continues until strongest athlete fails. There is no rest between lifts, except as needed, momentarily, to increase the weight.

Results:
1 mile: 11:13

65#

Comments:
I had thought I'd be able to pull off at least 1.5 miles - I felt pretty good going into this workout, but about 2/3 of the way through the first miles, a good Beastie Boys song came on - Sabotage maybe? - and got me going a little faster than my measured pace, and I totally burned out. I had to take my headphones off entirely, and I was just relieved to make it all the way through the mile. No more music when running. It messes with my rhythm (ironically?). Although, looking through my recent mile times - and even my mot so recent mile times - this is actually a pretty decent time for me. That's gratifying.

I really liked the relay with the deadlifts. I liked it a lot less with the bench press. Mostly because it's not a lift I am good at, and my max lift is not that far above 45#, so I was out after 2 cycles - Max jumped from 45# to 65# to try to speed things up a bit, and I did not have a chance to 'warm up' to a max lift. My first few reps of the Bench are ALWAYS awkward and strange - even when I was doing it every week - my arms just have no muscle memory for this lift.

When we did the DL relay, we started with 95# and even in 10# increments, that was enough to let me really warm up to my max rep weights. This time I got a 'warm up set at 45 (with crookedly placed hands), a decent set at 65, and I failed at 75# - I didn't even get one rep, but I was having a really hard time figuring out where to put my hands, and it just felt like they were way too wide on that attempt.

This was not a particularly satisfying workout.

Food Log:
3b breakfast:
2 eggs (2p) & 1 piece turkey bacon (1p) wrapped in a wheat tortilla/wrap (3C) the fat was in the butter the eggs were cooked in (and the eggs)
2b snack:
1/2c cottage cheese (2p) 3/4c apple sauce(2c) slivered almonds(2f)
3b lunch:
3 oz chicken(3p) yams & broccoli(3c) gravy & slivered almonds (3f)
3b dinner:
2oz chicken(2p) 1oz cheese(1p) wheat tortilla/wrap (3C)cooked in coconut oil(3f)

Unexpected PR

Run 2 miles.

20 minutes after the beginning of the run, entire group relay deadlifts one rep each, starting at 95 pounds and continuing in 10 pound jumps until failure. After all who are able have lifted a given weight, those remaining add 10 pounds. Deadlift continues until strongest athlete fails. There is no rest between lifts, except as needed, momentarily, to increase the weight.

After the past two days, I am INCREDIBLY sore. Maybe not quite top 5 as Daniel has been saying because it's only localized to my legs, but definitely more sore than I've been in a long time. Walking, standing up and sitting down are all exceedingly uncomfortable.

The only reason I showed up to this workout was because the bouldering comp was being held at the gym, and I really wanted one of the T-shirts - they're super cute this time around, and I knew I wouldn't make it to any of the other comps because I don't actually boulder. at all. (Lame reasoning, I know - but there it is).

I really only planned to walk a mile in the hopes that it would help my legs loosen up a bit, and watch the other folks deadlift while I stretched. But of course, once I'm there, I always get suckered in to trying harder. (not a bad thing! - unless ones goal is actually to recover)

I did stick to only going a mile, but I managed to run the whole thing albeit very slowly but I didn't walk any part of it. It took me just a little over 12 minutes ... 12:15, i think.

Then I decided to participate in the deadlift ladder. They started at 95# which I was totally comfortable with, and I just decided to see how far I could get. I wasn't sure what my PR was - i thought it might be 155 or 160. I knew if I could get to 165, that would be a PR. Now, before I go on, I'd like to preface that, while my PR was up in the 150ish range, I haven't been able to lift even 135 consistently for months. For WOD's I've been stuck down in the 115/125 range.

So. 115# went up, 125# went up, 135 went up :D, 145# went up!, 155# went up!!!, 165# got off the ground!! but my back was in a weird position, and I knew I wouldn't be able to stand up with it, so I put it down and couldn't break it on a second attempt. I was satisfied that I had probably at least matched my previous PR - especially since I had been stuck so much lower for so long.

And then, when I finally got on this site to check what my previous PR really was, it was only 150#!! so I achieved a 5# PR, and even managed to break 10# more than that off the ground. It's very exciting to finally be performing well again. I'm going to try to write a separate post just about that - I swear it's the milk.

Another note: I actually really liked the DL 'relay'. It was fun :-) and it was really surprising how many people PR'ed (at least 3 or 4) PARTICULARLY because everyone is pretty wrecked from the last 2 days. I wonder if it was a function of just not having time to think about it too much. I hope we do this again in some form or other.

Oh - and I got my T-shirt :-)

Behind on blogging - catching up

It's been an extremely busy week - and I've fallen behind on these.

Wednesday 6/17:
AMRAP in 10 minutes:
5 Deadlift 315/205
10 OHS 115/75
15 Double-Under

I subbed 135# for the DL and 30# for the OHS. I got 1 round. The deadlifts took me 3-4 minutes, the ohs took 3-4 minutes, and i had a hell of a time with the double unders - though truth-to-tell i was sort of dreading more deadlifts so i wasn't sad when it took me a long time to get through them. i had about 1 minute left by the time i finished the DU - but I could not get the bar off the ground, so that was it. I taped my writst which actually really did help with the OHS. My wrists did not fail after 7 reps like they did lat week.


Thursday, we went to the theatre - Excellent show.


Friday:
WOD:
75 KB Swings 2.0/1.5P
50 Push-Ups
25 Ground to Overhead 115#/75#
Run 2 miles
75 KB Swings 2.0/1.5P
50 Push-Ups
25 Ground to Overhead 115#/75#

I subbed 1P KB swings, 45# snatches, and only did 50%.
26:13

The first 10 G2O, 20 PU and 30 KB swings took 4:30
The second set took 6:30
the last set of half that volume took 3:20
The mile took me about 11:30

I was feeling tired, run down, and migrane-y so I decided to take it easy. The 45# snatches actually felt almost easy (even though they were totally impossible today). The 1P KB swings felt harder than they should have - i think i just wasn't using enough hip. The pushups were done on a slight incline - one of the few spcaes that wasn't taken by people with heavy barbells or KB, so they were probably a bit easier, too.

I was just relieved that my head did not feel like it was going to fall off when i was done.

100% Murph!

Warmup: run 400m, ME, 15 squats, 10 pushups

WOD:
For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups *used green resistance band
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

Results:
1:13:49

Exercise	Time	Elapsed
1 Mile	10:34	10:34
Round 1	4:28	15:02
Round 2	4:17	19:19
Round 3	4:59	24:18
Round 4	5:00	29:18
Round 5	4:24	33:42
Round 6	4:25	38:07
Round 7	5:22	43:29
Round 8	7:42*	51:11
Round 9	5:14	56:25
Round 10	4:37	1:01:02
1 mile	12:47	1:13:49

*had to stop to tape hands. Thank you Alex!!

Comments:
Woo hoo! I managed to finish the whole darn thing!

That first mile is either the first or second fastest mile I have enver run. I ran one faster in December (10:12), but it did not include the little back and forth piece in the GWPC driveway/parkinglot that Max has recently added to make it an actual mile. By the time I made it back to that part I had a horrible stitch, and had to walk the back and forth piece, so the December mile was probably still a little faster.

Each round consisted of 10 pullups, 20 push ups and 30 squats - though the order varied widely. The first round was 10pull-up(plu), 10 push ups (psu), 15 squats(sq), 10 psu, 15 sq. The pullups quickly got too hard to 10 at once, so I switched to cindy style rounds to try to just keep moving as much as possible. I also started running out of pullups so i switched to 5plu, 5psu, 5 sq, 5 psu, 10 sq. It was a LOT of transitions, but I was able to keep moving instead of waiting for the strength to eke out another rep.

And then half way through round 4 something clicked with the kipping action of the pullups and i was suddenly getting a lot more plu a lot more easily so i switched back to doing 10 plu at a go. Getting into the resistance band was awkward and time consuming enough that I really wanted to minimize the number of those transitions I had to make. I was extremely fortunate that Nick and I ended up at the pullup bar at the same time for several rounds, and he was sweet enough to help me by holding that band for me to get my foot in. It made a big difference.

The final rep scheme I used for the last 3-4 rounds or so was 10 plu, 10 psu, 15 sq, 5 psu, 5 sq, 5 psu, 10 sq. For some reason I had it in my head that I only needed to do 5 rounds. It was only at round 6 that I realized I needed to do 10 rounds which was quite a dissapointment.

The last mile was exceedingly slow, but my only goal was to be able to run every step - not necessarily run them quickly, and I managed that. I figured out that it was much smarter to run the back-and-forth bit on the driveway first so that when i was done at the end, I was just done.

Murph n' Stuff

Morning:

Sprint-8 on rower: 3375m
20 minutes light jogging on treadmill
5.9(o), 10b(o), 10b(o)

The rower went well - I was able to maintain a 1:30 pace on all the sprints, which I think is an improvement (I haven't done this in a while). The first two climbs weren't too bad, although my arms were sending warning signals. The third climb, a long climb that had a bit of everything - roof, arete and stemming - started my arms screaming. So I didn't continue.

Evening:
I remember when Murph was a workout to be dreaded, one approached with much grimacing and wincing. My first knee-jerk reaction when I saw it posted was "oh, no." But once I thought about it a little, I realized that in comparison to the shit we've been doing every week, Murph is really not that big a deal. So when we lined up on the starting line, I didn't have any butterflies of dread flitting around in my stomach.

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

44:36 (no vest, subbed v-ups for pullups)

V-ups are considerably easier than pullups, but I wanted to actually finish a Friday workout without the agony in my biceps, so I don't regret my choice - it was really nice to do the workout without pain. I went in ten rounds of 10 v-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats, 10 push-ups, 15 squats, and that went fairly well. Here are the splits:

run 1: 7:30
round 1: 2:31
round 2: 2:17
round 3: 3:16
round 4: 3:16
round 5: 3:17
round 6: 3:13
round 7: 2:58
round 8: 3:04
round 9: 2:47
round 10: 2:27.5
run 2: 6:59

Fairly consistent. The limiter was, once again, the pushups - will I ever be able to consistently knock out sets of 10? I dunno, it seems my chest strength is very reluctant to develop. The squats were actually pretty damn hard for the first three rounds or so, until my body warmed up to them - after last night's max-effort with them, the muscles were surprisingly uncooperative. The V-ups were fine - the last few sets involved some grunting, but I was always able to knock out 10 consecutive.

Deadlifts and Double-unders

Warmup: 1 mile (6:52) Not a good time for me - a minute off my record, in fact. But I wasn't really pushing that hard for most of it, just going at a moderate-to-hard pace, and I still can't go very fast in my POSE shoes. I challenged Andy to sprint the last 200 meters with me, so we did get to push it a bit.

We went with one of the MidAtlantic Qualifier workouts today, a particularly pernicious combination of heavy, CNS-killing deadlifts and high-speed, high-skill double-unders. The obvious theory behind this one is that heavy deadlifts are notorious for killing things like fine motor skills, so double-unders should be particularly difficult afterwards.

3 Rounds for time of:
10 Deadlifts (275lbs men / 185lbs women)
50 Double-unders

18:37 RX
Splits: 5:25 | 7:35 | 5:36

Pretty slow, particularly when you consider the top qualifier score was 2:54! However, 275 is still heavy enough for me that I treat it with a great deal of caution, respect and attention to form. I did them in two sets of five with ample rest in between. And, of course, my double-unders are terrible. I did manage a set of 22 in my final round, which was very gratifying.

A good workout. I hope we do it again sometime.

Pain Fest

Warmup: ME, BOZ warmup X 3 (10 dislocates + 10 OHS w/ dowel - increasingly narrow grip and squat stance.)

WOD:
Run One Mile
100 Squats
Run 800 Meters
75 Push-Ups
Run 400 Meters
50 Burpees
Run 200 Meters
25 "GI Janes"
Run One Mile

Results:
1:03:20

Exercise	Time	Elapsed
1 Mile	10:55	10:55
100 Squats	5:50	16:45
800m	5:52	22:37
75 Pushups	8:30	31:07
400m	2:58	34:05
50 Burpees	10:12	44:17
200m	1:05	45:22
25 GI Janes	6:13	51:35
1 Mile	11:45	1:03:20

Comments:
This was a bastard of a workout. There were a couple times - particularly once the burpees started where I nearly broke down crying. Having really suffered through 50 burpees yesterday, when i was relatively fresh, I knew exactly how horrible 50 burpees was going to be totally wiped, and that made it harder to just buckle down and get through them.

My strategy for this workout was "slow and steady" I was not worried about breaking any speed records - I knew it would be hard enough just to finish the damn thing.

"Focus" is my new mantra. "I can. I will. I must." is just too many damn syllables for when I can barely think. I used it to help me get back on track with the burpees - I kept losing count and just wanted to throw in the towel. Take a breath, "Focus".

As soon as I started the last run I found myself plagued with NaST - 'There's no way ..." "My feet hurt, my knees hurt, I think I'm getting a side stitch." ... "Focus" would get me through a couple steps, but I just couldn't keep the bad thoughts at bay and I was sure that I wasn't going to get through it without walking. And then I decided to try a technique Ynez has talked about using with food. I gave myself permission to stop if i really wanted to; if it got unbearable I could absolutely stop at any time, but I was pretty sure I had a little left in me - enough for a few more steps anyway. I dunno - something about having permission to stop shut my contary self right up - there were no more excuses about why it was too hard to continue - and then all I had to do was keep putting one foot in front of the other. it was a LONG ass mile - but I ran the whole damn thing - in fact I ran every step of all the runs. Except for the GI Janes - where I used somewhat lower rings so I could do jumping pullups, this workout was pretty much Rx.

I definitely feel like I have reachieved my ability to work through the suck, and I am very happy to have finished this workout. Max has promised to make tomorrow's workout another killer - which means I need to get myself to bed.

Overtraining is the new training

This week begins the enacting of Gita's new motto, "overtraining is the new training," in which we ride the line of volume, strength and endurance for the final six weeks leading to the Games. It got off to a good start:

Run One Mile
100 Squats
Run 800 Meters
75 Push-Ups
Run 400 Meters
50 Burpees
Run 200 Meters
25 "GI Janes"
Run One Mile

45:11 RX

Max came up with this one, and it was a well-designed bit of agony. The movements stacked together nicely in such a way that each one made the next one harder (burpees after pushups are brutal). While I'm not particularly proud of my time, I'm pleased that I was able to pick a pace and maintain it with only a few pauses for breath throughout. Well, except for the GI Janes - those were slow as molasses.

Murph

Every time this workout comes up, it cripples me. I haven't done a full one since the August debacle, when we did it the day after we came back from vacation, which turned out to be a Bad Idea of staggering proportions. Literally: we were staggering for days. However, that was my first (and, until last night, last) full-volume RX Murph, and I was proud simply to have done it.

This time went much better.

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

56:56 RX+
(PR by 15:17, and I accidentally did 21 rounds!)

This went really well, actually. Turns out I either didn't press my lap button, or just didn't press it hard enough, so I wound up doing one too many rounds (oops!), so in reality this time should even be a couple minutes faster. As with last time, the limiting factor was the push-ups. The pullups were not terribly difficult done Cindy-style, and before I got exhausted I was even able to string them together. I think the bar at GWPC is easier to kip on for me, for some reason. My form really fell apart on the pushups about halfway through, but at that point it was either crap-pushups or no-pushups. The squats were EASY - rather than use them as a rest, I did them quite fast, and they never gave me any trouble. The transitions were somewhat tricky due to a full class and not a lot of real estate to do the stuff.

But what I was really happy about was the second mile. Normally, I'm too exhausted to actually run the whole thing, and my time is terrible. This time it was only a little over a minute longer than my first mile, I ran the whole thing, and even managed to sprint the last 200m! Damn near killed me, though.

Splits:
6:43
1:29
1:25
1:38
1:52
1:54
1:50
1:52
4:53
1:58
2:12
1:57
2:10
2:26
2:31
2:20
2:24
2:01
2:02
1:49
1:44
7:51

Performance Testing

Warm up: ME, Burgener Warm up, run 400m

WOD:
1: One Mile Run

2: Max Rep Pull-Ups
-Advanced: C2B Pull-Ups
-Intermediate: Pull-Ups
-Beginner: Jumping Pull-Ups

3: 400 Meter Run

4: Max Rep Push-Ups

5: Max Rep Kettlebell Swing
-Advanced: 2P/1.5P
-Intermediate: 1.5P/ 1P
-Beginner: 1P/.75P

Results:
1: 11:11
2. 19 Jumping
3. 2:08
4. 24!!!
5. 16 - ha ha ha

Comments:
I really debated whether to go to class today or not. Yesterday was a huge amount of work, and I didn't get to bed until almost 2 and I was having major anxiety about work ... but I wanted to do some sort of aerobic activity before breaking my fast ... so I decided that I would go to class with Daniel, just do the mile, and be done with it. Ha. Right.

ooo - well - here's why this blog is awesome. Until just this second, I thought that my best mile time was 10:30, and today was a bit of a let down. Well - my memory clearly SUCKS - because I went to check my past time, and it turns out my GOAL is to get down to 10:30, and my previous best time was 11:21, so today's effort was ACTUALLY a PR! go me!

I still had major cramping issues in the last half. I dunno why, but practically the second i cross the 'start' line and begin the second half of the mile the cramp just appears. Slowly, but I can feel it gathering, and despite my best efforts to breathe it away, it still comes and smacks me down. I dunno if it's a psychological thing or my insides are really just only ready to put up with so much jostling before they tell me to QUIT IT ALREADY! Today it got so bad that I couldn't run 2 steps without serious pain.

I was probably between 200 meters or so away from the finish at 9:45, and I REALLY wanted to just run through the cramp - i was pretty sure I could hit 10:30 if I did - but I just couldn't quite do it. I DID manage to run the last 50-75 yards at a reasonable clip, though. I'd like to try running a mile at a proper track and see how that goes.

Max decided that the way to measure 'Max Rep' jumping pullups was that the jumping had to be continuous, and as soon as you failed to get your chin above the bar, you're done. I got 19. I feel like this is slightly confusing max continuous reps and max reps. For pullups, 'max reps' counts as long as you don't let go of the bar. You can hang as long as you're able. I think that for jumping pullups, the same sort of concept should count. Obviously you can't count holding onto the bar as any form of work with jumping pullups, but you should be able to count all good reps - even if there are a couple bad ones in there - as long as you are continuously jumping and actively trying to get good reps - little mini 'resting jumps' wouldn't count. Anyway. Next time. 19 is still pretty decent - especially the day after clean & jerks and SEVEN climbs!

the 2:08 400m is - astonishingly - the best one I have run recently. Though not a PR, I have to go back - and it was AFTER having run a mile! I was the last one done - but the only person who had my own stop watch and therefiore the only one who got my time, since apparently max had a stop watch malfunction. He tried to make everyone run it again after 3 minutes rest, but there was a class rebellion, and we just moved on to pushups.

so ... 24!! wow. Downward dog was a bit more helpful today than it was last week, but, again given how thrashed I felt this morning, I'm kinda astonished.

by the time the KB swings came up, I was just tired and done, and the 16 was a sort of halfhearted effort with the 12kg KB. someone walked kinda close to me and made me lose my concentration, and I was fine with that.

You know - it's kida fascinating ... most of today, and up until the writing of this post, I sort of felt like most of this workout was a wash - the original title had a "*snicker*" appended to it it because i thought it was kinda laughable to have tried to test performance on a day I felt so donein. But I actually got PR's, or near PR's for most of the exercises. I wonder how much was attributable to working out fasted, and taking advantage of the additional recovery fasting offers.

Daniel said that he was talking to a classmate today after class who said that he was inspired by me. Specifically by my willingness to push beyond merely 'tired' and really push for those extra reps or that shorter time or that extra weight. That was really nice to hear, especially when I wasn't personally very impressed with how I did today - although clearly I underestimated my performance.

Afterwards we went Rudy's where I had a Monster burger (two 6 oz patties) and FRENCH FRIES! and ate EVERYTHING. Wow was I hungry. I even had a huge class of milk before we got our food. Daniel was astonished when, after I polished off my massive hamburger, I proceeded to also polish off most of my fries. Frankly, I was too. But - FRENCH FRIES. Definitely couldn't let those go to waste! mmmmmm.