12-6-09

WOD:
Run 400m/Row 500m
50 Double Unders (subbed 4xsingle skip)
12 Push Press/Jerk 155# (subbed 55# and then 50# after rep #5 rd 2)

Round	400m	Jump Rope	Push Press	Elapsed
1	2:18	3:50	4:38	10:46
2	2:48	5:37	10:45	29:59
3	2:52	3:51	3:55	40:34

Comments:
This WOD was horrible.  I thought the 4 x skips were going to be an easy sub.  I got a side stitch. The 55# PP were ridiculously hard.  Round 2 was so long because I decided to go looking for my own bar after rep #5 (i was sharing with 2 other girls) and of course by the time i got back, they were both done.   But for all its horribleness, at least I can say that I finished it.  Coming back from vacation SUCKS.

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.

Kitchen Sink

33:57

Splits:

1:40 10 GI Janes
1:04 Run 100 Meters
2:09 10 Box Jump 30" box (stepup 24")
1:02 Run 100 Meters
1:32 10 KB swing 2.0P/1.5P (1P)
1:02 Run 100 Meters
1:30 10 C2B Pull-ups (28kg SDHP)
0:47 Run 100 Meters
2:47 10 Weight Overhead Lunge 45#/25# (8kg)
0:49 Run 100 Meters
2:29 10 Ankles-to-bar (knees to chest)
0:41 Run 100 Meters
2:25 20 Supermans
0:45 Run 100 Meters
3:28 10 clap push-up (hopping? pushups)
0:44 Run 100 Meters
4:09 10 Double-Squat Wall-Ball 14#
0:00 Run 100 Meters
4:06 50 Double-Unders (Subbed 200 skips)

I think I was feeling a bit under the weather, and hoping not to push myself over the edge into full blown sick, I decided to do half volume. Also, we had a full afternoon planned with a trip to the Circus School open house and a friend's Christmas party later that evening, and I didn't want to be totally wiped all day. Blogging this 2+ weeks after the fact is tricky.

Gi Janes on rings are hard because you have to find the rings before you jump - unlike a bar which is stationary.

Even though I was only stepping up to the box, I still managed to fall on my butt when i got both feet up, but couldn't get "out of the hole". Lame.

The swings went relatively well, though I still have a little way to go before 16kg is reliably good form.

I did SDHP with the 28kg KB instead of pullups. 28kg is definitely the heaviest I have managed to perform this movement with, and I was able to get it most, but not really ALL the way up. This is a good practice movement for explosive hip movement.

I did the OH lunges with the 8kg KB ... these were hard. but i did fairly well with them. Definitely a movement I should practice.

I think the first couple reps of knees to chest were actually pretty close to knees to elbow. After the first 5 or so, they were barely knees to chest. another movement that would be good to practice.

The wall ball actually went much better than the last time i tried it. The las ttime I tried it, I could barely get any - I'm not realy sure why, but they just wouldn't go up. This time, it was pretty stright forward. I still can't string them together because I suck at catching it, but I managed to get the height.

Since I was only doing half the reps, I tried to really go for form, and not worry Too much about time, but it's hard when you just want to get it over with.

Jump rope, KB swings & pullups

Warm up: ME, kb cleans & PP, KB Snatches.

WOD:
For Time:

3 Rounds

50 Double-Unders *subbed x4 skips
21 Kettlebell Swing, 2 Pood* subbed 1 Pood
30 Pull-Ups* subbed jumping pullups

Results:
26:38

Round	Rope	Swings	Pullups
1	3:16	1:35	2:28
2	2:50	2:14	3:21
3	3:33	2:59	4:20
Total	9:39	7:48	10:09

Comments:
This workout was hard. 30 pullups at a time (even of the jumping variety) was especially hard.

The good news (as you can see from the picture in Daniel's post) is that I am finally starting to get some good form going with the 1P KB swings. These are still hard, but more and more often, I am able to get the swings fully overhead. Max happened to capture one of the really great ones.

My jump rope form was not as strong as it was on Sunday. As soon as I tried to speed up the rate I'd fail. I had several sets of 5-15 skips especially in the last set - instead of being able to get most of the reps in a contiguous set. I did get 2 or 3 really good long sets, but mostly not.

I am trying to do my jumping pull-ups from a lower box, so that I have to use more arm strength to get up. These are definitely harder, and they definitely take longer, but another reason why the pullups took me a while is that I was sharing a box - though I think the rest was necessary.

I am resigned to this being a bad work-out week for me. It's "that time" of the month - which always messes with my energy levels, and what is much worse: my boss, who I was(am) very fond of, was unexpectedly laid off this week, and I'm not sure what the future of my company is going to be like. Just exactly the kind of stress you want to add into the holiday mix ... not.

Annie

Warm up: ME, 400m, burgener

WOD:
"Annie"

50-40-30-20-10

Double-Under
Sit-Up

*subbed 4x single skips for DU.

Results:

Round	Rope	Situps	Elapsed Time
200-50	2:40	1:54	4:34
160-40	1:58	1:54	8:26
120-30	1:53	1:30	11:49
80-20	1:08	0:57	13:54
40-10	0:43	0:30	15:07
Total	8:22	6:45

Comments:
This was Friday night's WOD - but we went out to dinner with Daniel's parents on Friday, and since i was so so sore from Murph on Saturday, I just could not even begin to think of trying to get 7,000 pounds over my head, so I elected to do this one instead.

I had some hope that I'd actually be able to get a double under, but after they still elude me, so I opted for the quadruple skips as a modification.

There's not a lot to say about this workout. Mostly I was just glad not to be lifting weights.

It looks like my situps were pretty consistently about 10 every 30 seconds. My abs are a little sore today. In the last couple rounds I managed to get the skips going really fast. I managed to get several sets in the 50-60 skips range.

It's a weird wish, but I wish i had a jump rope that was just handles and no rope but woud click when the imaginary rope would hit the ground based on the movement of the handles. ... And the reason I want such a bizarre thing is that I feel like the main reason I haven't managed to get a double under is that I am having a hard time coordinating the faster spin with the higher jump, and with an actual rope it's very difficult to practice it without actually doing it because the rope keeps getting stopped by my clumsy feet.

Holy Ow.

Warm up: ME, hands over head squat, wheelbarrow, piggyback rides.

WOD:
Run 800 Meters
25 Push-Ups
Run 600 Meters
50 Burpees
Run 400 Meters
75 Kettlebell swings 1.5P/1.0P
Run 200 Meters
100 Jump Squats
Run 100 Meters
125 Double-Unders

*subbed a 12kg KB for swings, and did 500 single skips in lieu of 125 double-unders.

Results:
56:55

Exercise	Time	Trans.	ET
800m	4:58		4:59
Pushups	2:43	0:39	8:21
600m	3:48		12:09
Burpees	11:29	0:26	24:04
400m	2:38	2:21	29:03
Swings	5:49	0:29	35:21
200m	1:19		36:40
Jump Squats	8:42		45:22
100m	0:40		46:02
Jump Rope	10:53		56:55
Total	52:59	3:56

Comments:
Um, OW!!!

Fortunately my headache disappeared late yesterday afternoon. However, my shoulders were quite sore this morning when I woke up - I'm guessing it's mostly from yesterday's Push-presses - a lot of reps with a weight that was just barely manageable - but I' m guessing Friday's presses, and yesterday's pullups also did not help. Since I was feeling beat up before the workout even started, I kept telling myself I was going to cut some part of this in half, - the exercises, the running , something, but I'd get to half, and decide that, "what the hell, I'm half way there." My shoulders might not forgive me for my stubbornness. Probably not for a couple days, anyway.

I'm glad I did my six pull-ups for the day this morning before this WOD. None of them were as good as yesterday - i think the best of them was probably nose to bar - the worst, forehead to bar.

I didn't actually mean to record my transition time, and I wasn't consistent about it after I started, but I wanted an accurate time for my runs, and I hit my lap timer right after the pushups were done. In hindsight, this is probably a pretty useful metric to track, since the goal is to get transitions down to a minimum, and since my new watch has so many laps, I might start trying to record transitions, too.

I was pretty happy to get my 800m under 5 minutes. Since there was a lot of volume and a lot of jumping, I decided to wear my trail running shoes to give me as much cushioning as possible, despite the fact that they have made me feel a bit clumsy in the past. They didn't bother me at all today, and I'm glad i decided to wear them. This workout would REALLY have sucked in my little brown shoes.

The pushups were a lot harder than they've been in a long time. I think my first set was 7 or 8, the second set might have been 4 or 5, and all the rest of them were 1's 2's or 3's - mostly 2's.

The only other 600m time I have on record is from the running ladder we did on Oct. 11th, and I did nearly a whole minute better today than I did then, but I'd also run a heck of a lot farther before I got to the 600m run in that workout. Still, overall, I feel pretty good about my runs, today. They weren't super fast, but they were solid - and probably the least tortuous part of this WOD.

The burpees, on the other hand, were far and away the MOST torturous part of today's WOD. I swear they almost killed me. They did reduce me to tears. But I got the fuckers done - about 1 burpee at a time ... in 11.5 minutes. >.< Burpees with burnt shoulders SUCK. I nearly quit on this one.

The 400m run was fine - the time compares pretty favorably with recent efforts - again not super fast, but right about on par with 400m in other recent metcon workouts.

And then we hit the 2:20 of 'transition time' before the KB swings. This was me trying to figure out a)what KB to use, and b) how many reps to do. It was also at this point (when several other folks were just finishing this workout) that Max came to me and asked if I was going to complete the full volume of the workout. I was still totally strung out from the burpees, and really feeling like i was right at the edge of my capacity. I asked whether he thought I should just do half the reps for the remaining exercises. The answer was a speedy 'Yes!' followed by him saying that whatever the rep scheme, I should set a 1 hour time limit for myself.

I decided I'd try to get through 40 reps with the 1P KB. I picked it up swung it back and forth a couple times experimentally, and realized that that was NEVER going to happen, put it down, picked up the 12kg KB, and basically decided that I'd see how things were going @ 40, but since I was using the lighter weight, I should do the full # of reps. I think that having sore shoulders actually probably helped my form with these a bit since I really wanted to use them as little as possible.

The jump squats were not fast, and they were often ugly, but they were not as brutal as the burpees, and therefore were totally tolerable. One of the reasons I managed to make it to 100 with these is that I felt like my 45-47th jumps were probably the strongest ones I'd done so far, and I continued to get some pretty good ones even in the higher numbers.

The skips were actually kind of fun - even though i was pretty tired by the time I got to them. I was able to find a really good rhythm a couple times. My first set was 55 consecutive jumps, and a couple similarly good runs after that, interspersed with sets of 15-20. I was super excited, though, when I managed to get my last 100 skips all in one shot! :-) That was a great way to end an otherwise brutal, un-fun, workout. I think that if I can get 100 skips unbroken, double-unders shouldn't be too far behind, I just need to actually work on getting them.

A CF friend, Ynez, and I were discussing how everybody has their particular strengths - hers is (literally) that she is just naturally quite strong. We decided that mine was tenacity. I definitely would not have made it through the full volume of this workout without that trait. That said, I'm not sure doing the full volume was an entirely brilliant idea. For whatever reason, I seem to be at less than the top of my game this week. And it was supposed to be an EASY week. I am going to think about making next week a half-intensity week, too.

Fortunately, I'll get two full rest days before the next workout because we won't be able to go climbing tomorrow due to Daniel's office holiday party. So I'll see how I am feeling on Wednesday.

Death by Sit-up

Warmup: Burgener Warmup, 50 (consecutive!) single jumps, lots of attempts at other kinds of jump rope movements.

WOD:
With a continuously running clock do one Double-Under the first minute, two Double-Unders the second minute, three Double-Unders the third minute... continuing as long as you are able.

Results:
24 rounds + 22 Sit-ups. (total: 322 reps!!)

Comments:
Yeah - the WOD was double-unders. I can't do double-unders. At all. And not only that, but we were working out in the yoga room where you can't wear shoes - and failing - repeatedly - at double-unders in cold, bare feet SUCKS. I just don't have that kind of pain tolerance. Max suggested sit-ups as an alternate. I happily accepted. I can DO situps. Apparently I can do a LOT of situps!! 322 of them in 25 minutes.

I'm extremely impressed with my performance. There were two other folks doing situps instead of double unders - and I don't think either one of them made it past round 20. I was going really strong until about round 22 - getting them all done in 30-40 seconds), and then muscular failure started to set in. Rounds 23 and 24 finished pretty close to the wire, and I just didn't have any gas left in round 25, though i ALMOST made it.

I was having a pretty crappy day, and I had been kinda dreading going to a workout where I was going to spend an hour trying and most likely failing at double unders. It was great to be able to sub in something I actually could do, work my ass off getting it done, and feel good about my performance afterward. It did wonders for my mood.

The was one rock star classmate who went for like 34 rounds of the double-unders - he's got them DOWN - no double single double for him - just lots and lots of 100% consecutive double-unders.

While he was still jumping away, Daniel and I did some work on handstand holds. They have started to feel a little less scary. But there's a huge amount of work yet to be done on them.

OH Squats and Tea and cookies ;-)

WOD #1 OH Squats
Warm up: Mobility Exercises, Burgener Warm Up ... don't remember what else - I'm sure there was something

WOD: OH Squats
30-15-5-5-5

Results:
dowel-dowel-9#-15#-15# .... give or take - I wasn't paying particularly close attention to the rep scheme - and just did a set whenever I felt well rested.

Wod#2 Tea & Cookies
Warm up: Mobility Exercises, 10 Rock'n Rolls, Jump Rope Drills, run 900m

WOD:
"Tea & Cookies"

100 Meter walking lunge
42 Sit-Ups
Run 200 Meters backwards
30 V-Ups
Run 400 Meters
18 Knees-To-Elbows

Results:
19:18

Exercise	Time	HR
100m walking lunge	5:59	145
42 sit-ups	2:13	134
run 200m backwards	3:02	151
30 V-ups	2:15	141
run 400m	2:21	156
18 knees-to-elbows*	3:26	121

Comments:
With the OH squats today, my main focus was on form - which has gotten quite a bit stronger. Those who were watching me said that my depth was really good and that my form looked pretty solid. I do still tend to corkscrew a little bit to the left - but significantly less than I used to. I did not get brave enough to try these with an empty oly bar. I stuck to the dowel and some relatively light body bars. 9# & 15# I made one feeble attempt with the 30# body bar - but it is think and ungainly, and i did not make it down very far before I decided not to proceed with that bar. My wrists and shoulders got tired pretty quickly even with the light weight.

The second WOD today had several exercises I strongly dislike because they really push my issues to the fore-front. I'm going to steal Melissa Byers name for these exercises and create a "goat list". The first three items on this list:

Jump rope drills. I do ok on the regular two footed jumps and cross overs, but the moment i have to alternate feet, or change rope rhythm (doubleunders) everything goes to hell. My right leg/foot can't navigate on it's own.

Walking lunges - also on the list - they really emphasize how off balance I am.

Running backwards - um yeah - just hard.

I think I got closer than I've ever gotten before to getting the knees to elbows, but they're still not quite there.

Needless to say, if it weren't for the walking lunges this workout would have been much much faster. there was also a lot of transition time in between exercises. But Nick was doing them with a 70# kettlebell, so he was slowed down to my pace and kept me company and motivated. I'm glad he made it to class today :)

Everything else was essentially fine. And my strained muscle didn't give me any trouble.