5x5 Deadlifts

Warmup:
21-15-9
1.5p KB swing
Pushup

3:13rx

Workout:
Deadlifts 5-5-5-5-5

275-280-285-290-295

Finisher:
Row 500m (damper 7ish)

1:31

Comments:
Deadlifts felt much better than last week without the cold. The deadlifts were heavy, but I think I was able to maintain about 80% good form even in the higher sets. The row was only 1 second slower than the PR I set at the cert, which isn't bad considering it was after a bunch of heavy deadlifts.

Food Log:
2 eggs, 2 slices turkey bacon, 2 slices toast = 4 blocks
Spinach salad with tuna, apple and pear = 4 blocks
Cottage cheese, applesauce and milky coffee = 4 blocks
Chicken sausage, black beans, zucchini, salsa & avocado = 4 blocks

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

Overhead Squats

OHS 21 - 10 - 5 - 5 - 3 - 1

65-75-85-95x4-95-105(f)-105(f)

Felt good on technique, weak on strength. Wrists still hurt like a sonuvabitch, I should be trying to narrow my grip more, but I find that pressing up against the bar tends to push out my hands, too. 105 was close - it was a failure in my front deltoid to keep the weight stable while changing direction at the bottom. More practice would get me there pretty quick, I think.

Food Log:
3 eggs, 1 bacon, 2 slices toast, 2 cups strawberries = 4 blocks
Picante chicken tostada (no tortilla), 1c milk = 4 blocks
cottage cheese, applesauce and milky coffee = 4 blocks
TJ's chicken sausage, sauteed spinach and a yam = 4 blocks

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 and Bench

Gotta get more regular with the blogging again...

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.

13:40 run (I think)
Bench 155 x 1

Food log:
2 eggs, 2 bacon, 3 toast and 1 apple = 4 blocks
2 slices turkey and 1 apple = 2 blocks
3 oz. chicken, sweet potato, broccoli and gravy = 3 blocks
1 1/8c applesauce, 3/4c cottage cheese, 1/8c walnuts = 3 blocks
3 oz. chicken, 1 oz. cheese quesadilla = 4 blocks

Going shopping tomorrow. Clearly I need more quantity and variety of fruit.

Trying the Zone

Starting Oct 1 Daniel and I are trying the Zone diet.

I have many reservations about this. My last food based experiment (the no dairy) did not go well. I already have weird OCD tendencies about my food. I get overly invested in systems that let me find excuses to strictly control what I eat. I am afraid that I'll become somewhat obsessive about weighing and measuring my food. I'm relying on Daniel to keep me 'on the level' about this aspect. In many cases I'm just going to rely on him to do the counting and measuring. It means more work for him, but this was his idea, so - he can manage ;-P. If it gets overwhelming I can stop.

I only get 11 blocks/day. Technically, I should only get 10, but I made Daniel round it up. It just seems like hardly any food at all - or at least it does if you're eating high density/high GI (glycemic index) carbs. Once you start factoring in lower GI carbs the volumes of food get kind of ridiculous. Which is the other thing about this diet that I am finding so strange. Eating large volumes of carbs - much larger than we have been.

The thing that makes me the very most sad of all is that this will really restrict my milk consumption. Since milk is a combo food, one cup of milk = a whole protein/fat/carb block. If i stuck to my normal 16oz PWO milk and 16oz with dinner, that would only leave me 7 blocks for the rest of my food for the day. The size of my daily cottage cheese snack has been cut in about half, too. After hearing repeatedly and often that the key to good performance is to 'eat more food', this feels almost as foreign as the need to eat more carbs to meet the required ratios.

If it seems at any point like it is negatively affecting my performance, or I am getting obsessive about the weighing and measuring, the diet will go, and I'll go back to the low-carb, whole food, solid portion size way I was eating before that seemed to be working just fine. All that said, though, I have heard and seen enough positive results from following this diet that I do feel it is worth trying. So - here goes.

Beginning Stats:
Weight: 125
Waist: 29"
Hips: 37"
Body Fat: 24%
LBM: 95#