Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Regional WODish

There will be a strict 30 minute time limit on this WOD:
75 Pullup, 75 KB Swing (35W, 53M), 75 Double-under, 75 Overhead Sq (65W, 95m).
Straight through.

I went into Tuesday morning doubting myself. Doubting my abilities to finish this WOD, actually finish 75 pullups.  Its been a long time since I've done much volume work on my pullups.  I started neysaying before the WOD and my teammates were there to give me the "you can do this", "i know you can".

I decided to hop on the high pullup bars, the ones I need a box to get to.  When you hang on the high bars and work that hard to get up there you really don't want to come down!  I started out hitting 8 in a row, then 5, then 5, then 5, and I just kept on going for 5's.  And kept going.  I hit 25, took a rest, hit a few...next thing i knew I was at 50.  I hopped down to my "normal bars" and was only hitting 2's and 3's. I went back to the high bars and finished out the last 18-20.  My palm ripped on the 73rd rep, but I pushed out the last two.  On to KB swings, which were a piece of cake, minus an exhausted grip.  I subbed 4:1 single jumps for DUs and just breezed through-fast.  OHS were going to be a beast-I loaded a bar at 55lbs...I had done some volume on Friday at 65lbs--my first OHS wod in quite some time...
I got 15 on the first round and told myself that I only had to do it 4 more times.  I doubted myself again, but loaded it up and got 15 more.  Round 3 of 4...I got some cheering from the sidelines of people from the next class. I heard, Looking strong erin, keep it up, core tight, you got this, from Gar, Shannon, Mike, Nikki...I knew I could do it.  I finished in 28 minutes. I did it. It felt absolutley amazing. 


Got a massage last night and took a rest day to let the massage do its magic.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Training Countdown

After a serious effort on Friday I followed it up on Saturday morning with a 10 mile run with my old running buddy Kayla.  She runs a running group out of the Pacers store in Logan Circle.  I got my butt out of bed, headed to the city, and joined some cool peeps for 8.25m run through beautiful Washington DC.  The course headed up historic 16th Street, skirted Rock Creek Park, wound down by the National Zoo, Georgetown waterfront, by the Kennedy Center, behind the Lincoln Memorial, then up 17th Street past the White House back to the store.  What a fun course.  Miles 6-7 flew by.  Once we got back into the city the stopping and starting really hurt my momentum.  I branched off after they finished the course for another 1.5 miles.  It was a bit short of 10m, not pretty, but pretty fun to run with people again on a cool course.

I bonked again around 6 miles and got the bacon nausea again. NOT COOL.  Trying to eat paleo and have enough energy/fuel to run these distances has been very hard.  I didn't get much support from the paleo challenge group.  A lot of "why are you still running" and "running long slow distances raises cortisol levels, making it difficult to loose weight and potentially make you gain weight".  I refuse to accept any of this.  I nice nudge towards the CF Endurance site would have helped.  Instead I had to think and research since I totally forgot about that program.  I should have used their WODs to train for the half, but lesson learned for the next race! I will eat paleo, just not the super strict paleo instructed by the challenge, which does not include fruit or nuts.  I've been "cheating" with bananas post run/post WOD to keep my energy levels up.  Really just a few berries would probably have the same effect.  I also learned doing some CFE reading, I need to eat lean protein/carbs in certain amounts pre-race and post race.  Eating paleo does aid much much faster recovery. That's for sure.

I will continue to blog on this topic and let you all know my results.  A coach seems to think that my training plan is counterintelligence to my goals (loose 10lbs, 120+ power clean, sub 2:10 half marathon) I'm holding steady at 157lbs, so no weight loss this week, but I've noticed a lot of body changes (slimmer thighs --pants not so tight, looser waist in my pants)  I'm thinking not enough rest is likely holding me back, but we head out to Chicago for a week on Thursday so we'll see what a week of relaxing and sleeping in will do for us!

This mornings WOD:
Regional affiliate WOD
21-15-9
Deadlifts (185 was RX, scaled to 155)
box jumps (24")
Time: 10:30

Was pretty proud of the box jumps this morning, not so much on the DL's.  More weaknesses to work.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Macho Man

Friday WOD
"Macho Man"
15 OHS
15 lateral burpee
12 OHS
12 lateral burpee
9 OHS
9 lateral burpee
9 Thruster
9 C-2-B Pullup
12 Thruster
12 C-2-b Pullup
15 Thruster
15 C-2-b Pullup
115lb Men, 75lb Women

I really wanted to hit this WOD RX'd this morning. I knew it would be ambitious.  The first few OHS's went up ok, but I couldn't even recall the last time I did OHS.  I soon realized I wasn't going to be doing 36 reps at 75#. But that's ok, because I was able to do the entire WOD @ 65#!!!!


I completed the WOD in 18:40 and was the first one to finish! Granted there was only 5 of us this morning all working at different levels, but damn that felt good!!  The burpees weren't fast, but I never stopped moving...I did all 3 sets of OHS unbroken.  I got through all 9 thrusters and hit 5 pullups on the first round, split the 12 thrusters into 6 and 6, and the last round 8 and 7.  It was awful, but it felt great to push through it. And, the pullups didn't even feel that bad.

Thursday WOD
5 mile training run.
8:30 average

Wednesday WOD
SKILL/SPEED-STRENGTH: 2 Snatches every MINUTE on the minute for 15 min.
Load should be heavy (80-85%) and technically sound (no ugly press-outs).
CONDITIONING: “Grace” 30 Clean and Jerks for time (95w, 135m)

Snatches: Started at 65,  moved up to 70 for a few more rounds, hit 75, failed at 80 at round 13.
Form was solid, no shoulder pain. It felt great.  Can't wait to do a 1x max!!

Grace: I've actually never done grace before.  After that serious snatch WOD I didn't get to try it at 85 like I wanted to so I stayed at 75# and finished in 4:01.  I just kept moving and moving and tried not to think about how tired I was.  I can't wait to try this for a first friday!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

HSPU

After a huge PR Monday you never know what you're going to get when you show back up on Tuesday at 0515.  Today was another good day!

WOD
EMOM for 10 minutes, do 2-3 HSPU at a level that are challenging to you.

Well, we last left off HSPU with JT about 2 months ago.  The shoulder that was bothering me hasn't bothered me at all in about 2 weeks and that feels awesome.  I started back with my "challenge" at 1 45lb plate and an ABMAT.  I got through all 10 rounds and completed 3 reps each set.  Towards the end I should have made it harder, but I was really scared for my shoulder.  Now I know I CAN do it and can go lower than I think I can.

The conditioning WOD was:
20 pullups (C2B if you have them)
30 burpees
400 m run
30 hand release push ups
20 pullups
Time: 12:30

The metcons are getting a ton easier so as much as I hated our last serious metcon series it was worthwhile and paid off.

On the paleo diet front, I had a HUGE cheat day.  I totally fell off the wagon emotionally and ate a doughnut this morning because its what I though I needed.  It wasn't, but for some sick reason it helped.  I went out to lunch and snagged a piece of pita bread from Chip's meal--he of course has the willpower to resist it.  I was a disaster in the kitchen and had a total failure trying to make my own mayonnaise--twice.  Sigh.  What a disaster. Tomorrow is a new day and its time to hit the sack and just go DO BETTER TOMORROW.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Back Squat X3

New PR this morning. God did that feel awesome!
Back Squat x3
85, 105, 135, 155, 165, 170 (PR)

Fun times lifting with Shanyn and Bry this morning.  Everybody put out a stellar effort. I think the paleo magic must be kicking in. I slacked a little bit this weekend with some nuts, dried cranberries, and one small serving of plain froyo.

Today's breakfast consisted of chix salad with a little mayo, mustard, red onion, and a few dried cranberries (next week I can add some grapes back in there) and a banana. If I eat the nanners, I don't feel so miserable around 10-11am and can make it all the way until lunch w/o getting cranky.

I've seen the scale move all over the place in this first week.  Last Saturday after the challenge WODs I weighed in at a heafty 164.  By Monday am, I was at 160#.  By Saturday morning, 157#.  Post 8mile run, 154# (had to weigh in to see how much h20 i lost), Monday am, back up to 157#.  So, that's 10# of swinging in one week. If you take the Monday to Monday readings, I've lost 3#'s this week. I'd love to see another solid 2# this week.

On the running/training front--the 8 miles on Saturday went really well and I held a solid 9:20 pace for the first six miles and the hills on the way back slowed me down to an average 9:35 pace for the whole run.  Will put in 5 mid-week and 10 next weekend, about the same the following, then taper...at this point an olympic distance triathlon is looking so much easier.   I've also signed up for the Army 10 miler this fall.  My brother Andy and his wife Sarah will be joining me along with Nikki and our buddy Nate! Will be an awesome crew for sure.  Hoping to hit a nice 5K in October too with Christine, Chip and Tamara--all coming off of injuries this year.  Toying with the idea of doing the olympic distance triathlon at Luray in August...hmmm.

Oh and last Friday we did a barbell complex WOD called the Eliminator.
Looked like this:
55, 70, 85, 95, 105, 115, 125...
5DL, 3 Hang Clean, 1 Jerk
Nailed the round at 95#, and got one clean at 105...
It was a super fun WOD, just wish I could have hit that 105...That would have been a huge Jerk for me in that round since i've laid off the overhead work for almost 3 months now.  Luckily that shoulder is feeling better and this WOD went off pain free! :)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Monday Run and Tuesday Squats

Monday was Day 2 of Paleo challenge.  I had done a late bikram yoga class on Sunday afternoon that left me totally wipes.  I slept in to start the week of right and skipped crossfit.  I needed to get in a long run after work and i knew the diet would weigh on that run.  I got home from work, had a quick snack and hit the trail.  I wasn't sure I was going to make six miles since i was feeling so sluggish and my stomach was growling, not to mention I was a bit dehydrated.

I felt like crap and my legs were hating me, but I finished the 6 miles in 57 min. A decent training pace even though it felt more like a race pace.  8 miles or so is on deck for this coming weekend.

This morning I hit CFOT's morning WOD for "Quadzilla".

5 burpees on the minute for as long as it takes to complete
50 front squats (95# was RX, I used 85#)
Time: 8:53

This was killer. Worked a ton of mobility afterwords.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Friday and Saturday

Friday was CFOT's "First Friday", as in the first Friday of the month. You get to pick your hero/girl WOD and get after it.   Nikki and I chose to do "Elizabeth".  21-15-9 Squat Cleans, Ring Dips. 

Obviously I had to scale as the RX weight was 135# for men, about 105# for women.  I started with 75#, but had to drop to 65# after 10 reps. I was going to injure my back if I had kept that up. Ring dips were done on the skinny orange floss.  Going to try this again in a few months and see where I'm at.

I made it to the gym on Thursday for an evil WOD called Fight Gone Really Bad. I won't go there.

More exciting was Saturday.  Chip and I have joined Potomac/Patriot Crossfit Spring Paleo Challenge.  Oh baby. Money on the line, photos taken for before and afters, benchmark WODs. 
 For this particular challenge, we are no sugar, no fruit and nuts for 2 weeks, and starchy veggies only if you do not need to loose weight. What does that mean for me? Meat and veggies only. Water, coffee, and tea.  I might get really cranky of the next few weeks. I've put on a few pounds and fallen off the wagon that was cruising so well back in Jan/Feb.  I now have the "pooch" again and I don't like it.

I was quite proud of my efforts on the benchmark WODs of the day though.  The first was 1min pullups, 1 min pushups, 1 min situps, 1 min squats.  On the pullup bars I got 8 in a row. 8!!! That is PR improvement of 3 (i think). My goal is 10 in a row in the retest in 5 weeks.  I also pulled a 115# clean which wasn't bad considering all the cleans I did yesterday. Goal is 125# in the retest.  There was also a 6 minute AMRAP which I smoked. It felt amazing. 

I hope to keep up the blogging to share my experience over the next 5 weeks. 

Dinner last night:
Huge turkey burger (green onions, mustard, and S&P for seasoning)
roasted asparagus

Breakfast:
2 eggs over easy
1.5 whole foods breakfast sausage links (AMAZING)
about 15 blueberries  (I refuse to throw away good berries--once they are gone, they are gone)
coffee

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Back to Blogging

Saturday

6.2 mile run.  1 hour. Training run for a half marathon in 5 weeks....i know, I should have started sooner, right?


Monday

WoD 1:
Back Squat 5 Rep Max
Use 5 Sets to establish your 5RM
145#.  Not a pr kind of day, about 10lbs off, but that's ok.  Hit this weight 2x, then dropped to 125# for a set of 10.

WoD 2:
50 Burpees for time
3:58.  Actually felt pretty good! Could I go faster? Always, but there was very little slacking here today.

Tuesday

Jack
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
10 Push press 85/115(65#)
10 KB Swings 35/53
10 Box jumps 24″ (23")
8 rounds+16 reps
As I've written, I have injured my shoulder a while ago, but we are on the mend! This was the second WOD I've done lately going overhead with moderate weight.  This time though, 80 reps of PP w/o pain is serious improvement. Huge.  KB swings and box jumps felt awesome.  I was pretty impressed that I was able to keep my cycle rate pretty consistent for the whole 20 minutes.  I had a few stumbles on the box jumps, but collected myself and got back up there. They are certainly coming along! 
More fun tomorrow!