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

2010-05-01 - Murph 50%

50% Murph
Run 800m

50 Pullups
100 Pushups
150 Squats

Run 800 m

5:14;
4:41; 4:08; 4:40; 6:18; 6:08 (2:20)
7:39

Total: 41:11

This was the hardest 50% Murph I've done in a long time. I broke it up intop rounds of 10 pullup[s, 20 pushups and 30 squats broken up like so:
10Plu-5Pus-10Sq-5Pu-5Sq-5Pus-10Sq-5Pus-5Sq.

I was using a green band for assisted pullups, and it was enough of a PITA to get my foot into it, that I wanted to gang the attempts together as much as possible.

I really hit a wall in round 4. the 2:20 in brackets was me futzing with my shoe. I thought my sock was bunched up funny, but one of my toenails had gotten too long and was digging into the adjacent toe which was really painful. I ended up walking much of the last 800 as a result. (Although my time still would have been pretty dreadful - i had a terrible foot cramp and a side stitch, too.) I just couldn't bring myself to simply quit.

2010-04-26

Warmup: run 800m, ME

Mini-metcon: 8:05
Each followed by 'gate sprint' approx 35m

40 situps
30 squats
20 pushups
10 jumping pullups (attempt-they were pretty pathetic)

I was last by nearly 2 minutes. The sprints were anything but. my legs just felt like lead, and they kept threatening to give out on me, so they were more jogs or even shuffles.

A couple brief handstand attempts

Spent most of the evening working on right legged pistols. (sitting down to and standing up from a stack of 3 55# and 1 25# bumpers)

Left to it's own devices my right hip and right knee do not track correctly over my foot. My knee tracks to the inside and my hip swings way out to the right. It's some very strange geometry, and I have to really concentrate and literally force them into the right path. It feels extremely remedial, and is therefore very frustrating and even a little embarrassing. But it's definitely the right thing to be working on. *le sigh*

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2010-04-16

Warmup: Row 1000, burpees, Max Rep Pushup: 22

20RM Back Squat 5/12 (DNS - tweaked my knee a little doing burpees or warming up for the squats)

Followed by:

AMRAP* in 20 minutes:

10 Pull-Ups
10 Push-Ups
10 V-Ups

Results: 6 rounds, 10 pull-ups

1:57; 2:49; 2:10*; 4:42*; 3:41; 3:27; 1:08;
* accidentally hit the lap button while doing pushups - round 3 really took about 3:10 and round 4 really took about 3:42.

3-12-2010

Amrap 20 min

5 pushups
10 1P kb swings
15 situps

11 rounds + 8 KB swings




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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)

Cindy

Cindy: 14 +9 pushups (PR)

My goal has been 15 for a long time, but I didn't think I had it in me tonight - had I known how close I would be, I think I could have made it (one more pushup and I'd basically be there - the squats were never a problem). Rats!

Did the pullups on the rings - don't know how much difference that made.

2-5-2010 Presses & Cindy

Warmup: run 800m

Press 5-5-5
40-50-52(f rep4)

Cindy
9 rounds + 5 (jumping) pullups

Bleah. My aerobic capacity has gone to pot. The warmup run was sluggish and uncomfortable. And I felt like I was moving through molasses doing Cindy. The jumping pullups were hard; the pushups were hard; the squats were hard.

The first round was only 1:20, but most of my rounds were 2 to 2.5 minutes. I did manage to get my last full round under 2, so although I was really working towards trying to keep my form and ROM legit, maybe the thing that's missing (as much or more than aerobic capacity) is my intensity.

Sent from my iPhone

1-19-2010 - press + box jump &pushup mini metcon

WOD:
Shoulder Press 5-5-5
40-50-52(fail rep 5)

Then
21-15-9
Depth Jumps* - subbed box jumps
pushups
not timed

NEWS FLASH: today marks the first day I have done box jumps in a WOD.  a bit lower than RX - but 45 reps of actual jumping were done. 

For the record the height was 2 of the slimmer 45# plates, 1 10# plate and 1 25# plate.  Once the WOD was done I added 2 more 25# bumpers and did several successful jumps up to that height, too.

Hello!!! Box jumps!!  In a WOD.  Huge first.

Also - matched and nearly beat my 5rm for presses - it was 50# - set in March of last year.


*Depth jumps are basically squat jumps to a box

12 days of Christmas

Warmup: Jump rope - got several right footed single skips. even managed to get three consecutive! It may sound like a terribly minor achievement, but it's actually pretty major. I have not ever had any success trying to jump exclusively on my right foot, and having enough balance to stay only on my right foot and make it over the rope three times is an exceptional achievement.

WOD:
On the first day of Christmas CrossFit gave to us.....

1 - Muscle-up - subbed 4 band assisted ring dips
2 - HSPU - subbed piked push-ups
3 - Dead-hang pull-ups - green band assisted (mostly) dead-hangs
4 - Jumping squats
5 - Burpees
6 - Push-ups
7 - Toes to bar - subbed knees to elbows
8 - Forward rolls
9 - Double Unders
10 - KB Snatch 1.5pd / 1pd - used 8kg
11 - Box jumps
12 - Virtual snow shoveling 45# plate/25# plate (24"barrier)

Comments:

This went pretty well for a workout I didn't really think i wanted to do.

Actually the most exciting part was pre-WOD when i decided to see whether I could do box jumps, and I managed to jump - without any assistance - to a stack of bumper plates. First I tried 2 of the fuzzy 45# plates - about 10" maybe? - and it was no problem, I put a smooth 45# plate on top of that - maybe another 4" - and tried it, and it was still totally manageable, so I put a 25# plate on top of that (another 3") and, while it was a bit intimidating, I found I could do that, too. I nearly took a nasty backwards spill when I tried to show Daniel my new achievement; I got distracted by someone else. But I got it on my second attempt. I was actually bummed not to get to the box jumps in the WOD. That's a first, for sure.

Since the 3 pull-ups were supposed to be dead-hang, i tried to keep my band assisted pull-ups as kip free as I could - and for the first several rounds, they were fairly static - as the rounds went on, as I started getting tired i started kipping a bit more.

I have to say that I find it very gratifying that I am still making improvements in some areas despite the fact that my diet has been absolute crap this month, and I've only been making it to a handful of workouts a week.

Diet wise, I've pretty much written off the month of December. There are just too many wonderful things out there this time of year, and I am enjoying my freedom to eat whatever terrible food i want, but I definitely feel and see the effects of not eating clean, so I am also looking forward to getting 'back on the wagon' in January.

Sorta Cindy 12-12-09

Warmup: row 2000m, - 9:2? - not my fastest, but was trying to keep it a warmup, not a max effort.

WOD:
AMRAP in 20 minutes

5 push-up
5 pull-up
5 push-up
15 squats

Results:

Round	Time	Elapsed
1	1:18	1:18
2	1:46	3:04
3	1:46	4:50
4	1:55	6:45
5	2:24	9:09
6	2:28	11:37
7	2:18	13:55
8	2:04	15:59
9	2:01	18:00
10	2:00	20:00

Comments:
The squats were really my limiting factor here. It was nice to break up the pushups, but since everything else was 5 reps, 15 squats felt like a lot, and since my squats are terrible, and I was trying for the best ROM I could manage, they just took a long time. In the last round I had 45 seconds to get through 15 squats, and I still barely managed to eke out the last squat before time was called.

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. 

Metcon

WOD:

For Time:

3 Rounds:

Advanced	Intermediate	Beginner
21 C2B Pull-Ups 15 Deadlift 225/155 9 HSPU	21 Pull-Ups 15 Deadlift 185/135 9 Push-ups	21 Jumping Pull-Ups 15 KB SDHP 1.5/1.0P 9 Push-ups

Results on beginner using mens weight: 11:36
I forgot my regular watch, so I did not get split times.  I think I finished the first round in about 3:30 - I didn't quite manage to maintain that pace.  SDHP after jumping pullups is really HARD.

Comments:

Max said that this should really be a blazing metcon, and even one round of 21 legit pullups and  15 deadlifts at 135# would not have been anything close to a metcon for me, which is why I opted for the beginner selection at the men's weight.

Having the SDHP right after the jumping pullups was still a little bit of a roadblock to 'blazing' because i frequently had to wait for my hip flexors to recover enough to get another SDHP rep.  The 9 pushups were an absolute breeze. 

I really like that Max has been has been breaking up the workouts into Advanced, Intermediate and Beginner - it really helps to have the scaling pre-thought out.  It's a little disheartening that I am still stuck at beginner level on so many exercises, but only a little.  I know I am still WAY better than I was when I started.  It just reinforces was an amazingly low place that was.

What a difference a day makes

Today went very differently than yesterday.

Yesterday I had huge heaps of energy and enthusiasm.  Today I found myself on the edge of tears, pre-workout and nearly quit the workout after round 1. Round 2 I managed to pull myself together, and the workout went pretty much fine after that, but it was an EXTREMELY rocky start, and there was definitely no energy left at the end for a finisher.

There are only a couple things that were different from the day before. I woke up at about the same time, got about the same amount of sleep, ate almost exactly the same food and even at approximately the same times. The only things that were different was that my luch was carnitas and beans instead of chicken and yams, I was slightly sore from the workout the day before, and the warmup was far less rigorous.

Until just this moment, I had been thinking that it was the reduced warmup that was part of the problem, because once I got going I was ok - but I just remembered that I did not have nearly as much fat in my lunch as the day before - I didn't add much extra because I thought the fat in the meat would make up the difference. Conversely yesterday, when I did so amazingly well, I probably had an overabundance of fat because my lunch was accidentally swimming in 'gravy', which was essentially just rendered chicken fat because we were out of flour when Daniel made it.

Based on this accidental experiment, I am going to switch to 2x fat immediately, and see what sort of effect it has on my moods, constant hunger, and overal performance.

And now on to the actual info about the WOD:

Warmup:  ME
WOD:
Five rounds for time of:
135 pound Hang squat clean, 15 reps (subbed russian swings with the 1.5P/55# KB)
30 Push-ups

Results:
25:21

I forgot my usual stop watch so I don't have the exact splits, but I kept an eye on the watch when I could. The first round took my about 5:10, I managed to keep each consecutive round until the last round under the 5 minute mark - round 2 finished a bit before 10:00, round 3 a bit before 15:00, etc. the KB swings generally took a little less than 2 minutes, the remaining 3 min was the pushups.

The first round - as I've said - was terrible. i couldn't figure out how to swing the bell - i only got it up in singles, and only barely chest high. i couldn't string any swings together. I actually did the last 5 swings of round 1 with the 1P KB because I got so frustrated. The pushups were similarly difficult.

When I finished the pushups from round 1 I thought about quitting, I thought about switching to the 1P KB, I contemplated trying the 1.5P bell again. It took 10 or 20 seconds for my stubborn nature to kick in to gear, and I picked up the 1.5P bell. And managed to string a couple together at a decent height. From there it was just a matter of finishing it 1-5 reps at a time.

Several people commented on how good my KB swings looked - they were not full ROM - not anywhere near full overhead, but most of them got as high as my chin, and it was definitely as a result of hip power because the only way I could get it that high was in the moment of 'weightlessness' from a full body launch. In that regard they were a lot like SDHP.

In the last round I managed to finish the KB swings in the allotted 2 min, but my pushups just completely ran out, and I just barely missed my goal of 25 min or less. :p

Strength day

Warmup run 400m, ME, Bear crawl, aligator crawl, lunge twists, jump rope drills

100 single skips (subbed for 50 DU) + 25 pushups.

WOD:
Hang Snatch & Overhead Squat 7-7-7

Hang Clean & Push-Press 3-3-3

Results:

Snatch+OHS: 15-20-25
Clean + PP: 55-55-60

Run 800m to try out my new shoes - Thanks Hanna!!

Comments:

I'm pretty pleased with this workout. I kept the OHS light because I was concerned about being able to make it through a full set of 7. I probably could have done my last set at 30, but I wanted to make sure that I was really dialed in with my form - which could certainly use the work. Even at the lighter weights, my form was not great. I asked Polly to watch my last set, and she really got after me to keep my knees out even more.

My first set of cleans and push-presses felt extraordinarily heavy - i wasn't sure if maybe I had counted the weight wrong - but it was 55#. my second set felt better. so I decided to try 60# for my last set. 60# is my standing 3RM for both cleans and push jerks from March, and I got it without too much trouble, although I did have a bit of trouble with my 3rd clean. I had to try it twice to get it up - I was thinking too much. Makes me wonder whether I could have gotten any at 65#. I should have tried it. Alas - the second class was short on bars due to the first class taking forever, so I gave mine over. Besides, I was eager to try out an actual jog with my NEW SHOES!

Hanna - who was in the second class - had a pair of super cute Saucony running shoes pictured here she had bought online that were just a bit too small for her and asked whether, if they fit me, I'd be interested in them. Turns out they fit PERFECTLY, and i LOVE them!! I think part of the reason I did so well with the 60# clean and PP was because I was so jazzed about the shoes.

I originally intended to only run 400m, but by the time i got to the 400m turn around, I wasn't ready to stop, so I did a full 800m - just because I felt like it. That's certainly unusual for me. particularly AFTER a workout.

It was a good day. I had oatmeal with cottage cheese and some milk for breakfast instead of my usual eggs and toast. It definitely lacked in the flavor department. Maybe I'll substitute a block of cottage cheese for a block of bacon next time just to add some flavor - but it did a good job of getting me all the way through the workout and then a little bit extra without feeling hungry or overloaded.

Chelsea

WOD:
"Chelsea"

Set up before a clock, and every minute, on the minute, perform 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats.

Comments:
I had to work late, and I showed up for class about 30 minutes late. I was kind of just intending to go home because Daniel had to skip class to babysit a website launch, but he convinced me that I should go to the gym even though I was so ridiculously late. I got almost no warmup. I substituted 55# KB SDHP for pullups because I thought it would just take too long to use a box or a strap for the pullups.

Results:
1 round + 11 squats

Turns out I squat too slow for this workout. I finished my pushups with about 25 seconds to spare, and I just couldn't get all my squats done.

Bleah. so glad i made it to class.

I did get some pullup practice done after everyone else was finished and I ALMOST got my first real kipping pullup. I got my nose to the bar. Once. That was satisfying, at least.

AMRAP - Pullups, KB Swings, Pushups

WOD:
As Many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

5 C2B Pull-Ups
10 2.0/1.5P Kettlebell Swings
15 Push-Ups

Results:
5 rounds + 10 pushups

Comments:
I subbed kip attempts for pullups and 1P for 1.5 KB swings.

I have to say that this was not a 100% effort - I probably gave this about 85% and got a pretty good workout out of it. Some of my kip attempts got pretty close. The thing I was happiest about with this workout was the KB swings.

Except for the first round and the last round which each had 1 little break when I sort of lost my balance, all the KB were unbroken w/ full ROM - KB all the way overhead. That's certainly new territory for me. The 1P KB has been pretty easy for me for he first 5 swings or so for a while, but they quickly fall apart, and it's unusual for me to get long strings of unbroken reps.

The pushups sucked. I tried to keep myself as tight as possible for them because they really put a lot of strain on the place in my back tat was feeling tweaked. They were definitely the limiting factor in the number of rounds I was able to complete.

Terrible Team WOD

WOD:
In two teams:

Break up into squads of 3 people.

Each squad must perform the following as a relay:

Row 1500 Meters #4 - 500m
Run 1200 Meters #2-400
105 Pull-Ups #5 - 35 green band assisted
150 Push-Ups #7 - 55
150 Box Jumps #9 - 60 (step ups)
105 Burpees #10 - 30?
75 KB swing 2.0/1.5P #8 - 25 (1P)
105 Wall-Ball 20/14 Pounds #3 - 20
75 Ground-To-Overhead 75/55 #1 - 15
75 Front Squat 75/55 #6 - 12

- Each athlete may only perform each movement once.
- Only one squad may do an event at one time: another squad cannot start the event before the currently performing squad is finished.
- There are no additional rules.
-The winning team is the team with the lowest cumulative time across all squads.

Results:
78 minutes - or so. Would have been a great deal longer except that for the last 4 exercises we all worked in tandem. we just wanted to be done.

Comments:
I knew I would hate this WOD as soon as I heard about it. I REALLY resent workouts where the structure is such that it becomes necessary for other athletes to do more work to make up for my inability to keep up. REALLY. I appreciate the theory - I'll work my ass off to try to make my weakness as little of an impact on the team as possible - but in practice it just makes me feel shitty and inadequate.

I was paired - based on the rankings of a pre-WOD warmup - with two very strong, but not super fast people. For every exercise, I went first and did as many reps as i could, and then the rest was up to them. I'm afraid I made our time even slower, because the few reps I could do for the strength based exercises - like front squats and ground to overhead, were done quite slowly, and since I couldn't go back to an exercise after resting they had to wait for me to rest in order to be able to do more reps before giving my turn over to them - and even with the extra effort, my total reps were usually well short of a third of the total reps. They were extremely nice and very supportive, but even with 'cheating' for the last 4 exercises, we were still the last squad to finish.

Yuck.

Deadlifts

Warmup:
21-15-9
1P KB swing/Pushups

5:31

That warmup couplet was pretty evil with my shoulders as sore as they are from yesterday's OHS. I had the slowest time in the class by several seconds - maybe as many as 30. My first 15 or so KB swings were really good, but then they totally fell apart. My shoes had almost no traction on the floor which made both the swings and the pushups tricky. These shoes are much better for burpees. The pushups were particularly hard.


WOD:
Deadlifts 5-5-5-5-5

125-130-135x3-135x4-DNF

These actually went relatively well - despite the DNF.

We were supposed to start at 85% of our 1rm - which means that with a 1RM of 155 i should have started at 130, but I wasn't ready to start just 5 pounds shy of my 5RM. So i started with 125. I think it was the right place to start.

Every set was definitely hard. I was never sure whether I was going to make it through all 5 reps - but at least I always made it through at least 3. Since 135# was my 5RM right at the end of our strength cycle, I'm actually pretty pleasedthat i was able to get 135# x 4 today. 135# x 5 feels within range of immediate acheivability with just a little form work.

For some reason, my trouble area seems to have become the top of the lift - once i get it past my knees, I was having a hard time just standing the rest of the way up. But apparently my form from the ground to my knees was fine. Which - as Daniel points out - is just backwards. But that seems to be the way I roll ... >.>

After the 4th attempt I was shaky, and lightheaded, and due to the arrival of fall, also somewhat chilled, and I tried to wait long enough to let the shaky and lightheadedness go away - but apparently I waited long enough for all my muscles to cool down too, and attempt #5 just wouldn't leave the ground.

My main take-away from the day is that I'm relieved to find that I appear to have finally made up most of the ground I lost (at least as it pertains to the deadlift).


Food Log:
2b breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 1piece toast w/ butter
4b lunch: 1cup milk (1p/1f/1c) + 3b quesadilla: 2oz chicken (2p) 1oz cheese(1p) 3tbs avocado (3f) garnished with salsa