Catch-up: 12.3, C&Js, 12.2

Now that I'm getting back in the habit of doing WODs, I also need to get back in the habit of posting about them. :)

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3/8
Have to work on Friday and Saturday AM, so today was my chance to get WOD 12.3 counted and validated at CFR. My goal was 4 rounds, and I met that and exceeded it so I'm happy with how I did.

WOD 12.3
AMRAP in 18 minutes
15 box jumps
12 push press (75#)
9 toes to bar

Results: 4 rounds + 15 bj + 12 pp + 2 ttb

Prior to deciding to do the WOD today, I did strength, which was push press. For my final work set I got 120x1. I also got 115x3. So yeah, probably not a good idea to smoke my arms like that just prior to a WOD with high-rep, somewhat heavy PPs. Oh well! hehe

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3/7

Did a WOD on my own at the HITT Center (functional fitness gym on base).

Every 90 seconds, do 2 C&Js. Increase weight each round.
55-65-75-85-95-105-110

Jerks were decent, a couple sucked, the last one at 110 felt the best -- fast and deep and stable. Once I get back into "practice", I'm going to take some videos and post to YouTube for my weightlifting coach Facebook friends to look at.

WOD: 1/2 Barbara
5 rounds
10 pullups
15 pushups
20 situps
25 squats

Result: 29:33
Sad. The pushups took me FOREVER. I suck so bad at those. Time to start doing them nearly every day again, just like pullups. I think even sets of 5 would help immensely.

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3/3

WOD 12.2
AMRAP in 10 minutes:
45# snatch, 30 reps
75# snatch, 30 reps
100# snatch, 30 reps

Results: 60

I definitely went into the zone on this WOD, and it felt awesome. All of my weightlifting practice definitely showed here, the only reason I made it to 60 was by sticking with keeping my reps pretty. A lot of people I watched did NOT drop low under 75, but weren't able to power snatch it either. Which resulted in lots of weird press-out reps where I was afraid people were going to hit themselves in the face with the bar.

I love workouts with only 1 or 2 movements (unless one of those movements is pullups or pushups) because then it allows you to tunnel vision and really focus on technique. I think if I had been switching between snatches and another exercise, it would've been harder for me to drop under and squat snatch, and force myself to give up on power snatching.

I did get my bar loaded for 1 successful attempt and 1 unsuccessful attempt at 100# -- but afterwards I realized that I only put 25s and 2.5s on the bar. That's 90#. Oh well! It was still motivating to be able to put up that kind of weight, and do so with what I felt was "white light" technique. After a bit of rest, I did a single rep at 95# and then one at 100#. That felt good. :)

CrossFit Games Open - WOD 12.1

As many reps as possible in 7 minutes of:
BURPEES!!! :)

Score: 64

Just like last year, I'm sick for the first workout of the Open, and I also sucked. Oh well! :-p

I'm definitely not in it to win it, and my goal is just to ramp up the intensity each week, and hopefully be back in fighting shape by the end of it.

Had a great time meeting more people at my new affiliate today. I think there's a lot of interest in starting a USAW club, so that has me stoked! I really think the Open is just the kickoff for what's going to be a great year. :)

100m sprints, Press 3RM

Great first weekday workout at CrossFit Rifles. Yay to having a CrossFit home!

Phase I: 100m sprints x 10

These sucked. My first one was beautiful, great form, heels pulling into my butt, no landing heavy on my heels. Then the oxygen deprivation kicked in. Sprints 7 and 8 were probably the worst. #10 I managed to get myself moving faster, and crossed the line at 23 seconds, I think. Not too bad! Also, it's great I didn't pull anything, that always seems to happen to me when I do sprints. Perhaps a nice side effect of marathon training? :)

Phase II: Choose a lift, 5x3, work up to a 3RM.

I partnered up with Jenny and we did press, since our legs felt like hell after sprinting. So why not choose the one lift where you don't have to do much with your legs? heh

W/U:
5 @ 45
3 @ 55

Work sets:
3 @ 65
3 @ 70
3 @ 75
3 @ 80
32@ 85

Last time I tested 1RM on press, I got 90, so I was happy with getting to 85.

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7 minutes of burpees with a 6 inch vertical jump coming on Saturday! Lungs/oxygen will definitely be the primary limiting factor, closely followed by arms/chest. I honestly might have to lay flat on the ground, roll over to my back, and get up that way after a few minutes. Whatever it takes to get it done! I am really glad that the Open is at the same time as my CrossFit "restart", it is really helping me get motivated to not only stay consistent with WODs, but also get my food choices cleaned up.

Facebook wisdom:

CrossFit Games Open Sectionals 11.6

Thank god this is over! I think 6 weeks was too long (and especially 7 weeks was WAAAY too long). I think 4 weeks would be perfect.

WOD:
AMRAP in 7 minutes thruster / C2B pullups ladder
3 / 3 then add 3 each round.

My score was 51 -- I got finished with 12 thrusters and did 3 CTB pullups before time was up. Ripped a bit of skin off my palm on one of those last 3 pullups. Very happy my hands only succumbed on the last WOD. :)

My only "do over" moment was resting during the set of 12 thrusters. Should've done all 12 -- I rested after 9 and then did 3 more. I also didn't squat clean any of my first thrusters in that round.

CrossFit Games Open Sectionals 11.5

AMRAP 20
5 power clean (100#)
10 toes to bar
15 wall ball (14# to 9' target)

Results: 5 rounds + 5 + 7

Had more important stuff to think/care about this morning than CrossFit. That kind of attitude never bodes well for a good performance... Not as much of a bomb as Week 1, but it felt worse...

CrossFit Games Open Sectionals 11.4

This WOD was one that I considered doing a second time, but when Sunday rolled around I just didn't have the motivation to try to do that many burpees faster, so I would have more time for OHS.

As many reps and rounds as possible in 10 minutes:
60 bar-facing burpees
30 OHS (120/90)
10 muscle-ups

Results: 60 + 13 OHS

Did OHS in sets of 6 + 6 + 1. *Very* ugly snatches to get the bar up, including some press-out. Yuck! The only thing that hurt on the OHS was my wrists.

CrossFit Games Open Sectionals 11.3

5 min AMRAP of:
Squat clean (50kg)
Jerk

Results: 10 rounds + 1 squat clean

The week 3 WOD was the first one where the CrossFit "powers that be" really started excluding athletes. Which made me sad. It was absolutely joyous when one of my newer athletes deadlift 100 once for a new PR, and a score of 1 rep on the week 2 workout. Alas, a clean of 110 is definitely something that requires a decent amount of strength and skill to attempt, not for the average newbie...

What was funny to me was that I had the best score of all the females at our gym. And what I got wasn't even half of what the best ladies out there put up on the board! I got to witness some truly amazing performances at my CrossFit Kids Cert this weekend -- I'm talking 25 to 30+ rounds. I love being around STRONG women! So inspiring. :)

Not to mention my girl Steph got 24 rounds + 1 squat clean. How amazingly awesome is that! I am in awe. :)

CrossFit Games Open Sectionals 11.2

Ooops, never posted about this WOD. Consider this to be me "catching" up. I haven't really done much outside of the Games WODs in the past 2 weeks.

AMRAP in 15 minutes:
9 deadlifts
12 pushups
15 box jumps

7 rounds + 6 deads

The deads were a lot easier than I thought -- but then again, I have an unnatural fear of them after doing high reps at too high of a weight. This weight was easy, once you got past the first one starting off the next round. All unbroken.

Pushups sucked sucked sucked, as expected. Was down to 1, 2 and 3 at a time by round 3. This was where I took my "rest".

Box jumps -- tried not to pause at all. On the 7th round, my right shoe came untied, so I kicked it off, did 1 or 2 jumps with 1 shoe, then kicked the other one off too. My judge was like "WTF!?" hehehe I'm thinking I could've done all 9 deads without the shoe issue. On a redo I might've been up for 8 rounds. I wasn't willing to try. :-)

CrossFit Games Open Sectionals 11.1

I finally did this workout on Friday. The day after I swung the 24kg kettlebell 85 times, plus some other kb fun.

Probably not my best idea...

Results: 2 rounds + 26 DUs


In short, I blew it on the double unders. I did the snatches all 15 in a row both rounds, no problem at all. First round of DUs was pretty smooth -- and why not, they're easy when you're fresh. Starting the 2nd round, I spent minutes doing single DUs, and missing tons of DU attempts. It was as if I regressed back to a time when I couldn't do DUs at all. OMG!

If I can find another coach at my box to judge me, I will attempt a redo on Sunday. I have a mud run to do on Saturday, so hopefully I'm not in the same boat again -- trying to do the WOD while super-sore from the day prior...

Even if I don't get a new score for the "official" CF Games, I will do this again, and DO BETTER!

Sickies and links

Well, my last workout was on Tuesday morning. I was all pumped up for attempting to PR on "Helen" on Wednesday morning, since I had just gotten 12 kipping pullups in a row. But alas, the sickies set in Tuesday afternoon. :(

I might've tried to push through it, but my husband came home from work SUPER sick, vomiting and chills and lots of nasty stuff. Seeing him I feared for what would develop if I didn't rest!

So I've been resting all week, though surprisingly I feel a bit worse this morning? But still just congested, tired and headache-y. Nothing horrible, so maybe I've dodged the bullet.

I will be as ready to do the first sectionals WOD tomorrow as I can be! Yesterday I did a couple 55# snatches after judging some of my athletes, and tonight I'm going to practice DUs and try out a speed rope before judging a few more.

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Here's a backlog of links that I've been building. I haven't shared any in quite a while, so enjoy or ignore, whichever is your habit. :)

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Stuck in the SUCK

"We all have stuck in the suck moments. Not the moments where life is difficult externally, but the moments where internally we feel like it’s difficult regardless of what’s really happening. Moments where we lose presence and our highest possible selves cannot be expressed. Those moments are just as much a part of life as the moments where we transcend and achieve."

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Earning your body versus punishing your body

"Stop hating your body, it is not your bodies fault that it isn’t what you want it to be. Embrace what it is. Find out what it can DO. You may be the perfect built to be a weightlifter, you maybe you’d be a really good swimmer. You might be a natural dancer or martial artists. You might love to cycle. Go rockclimb, or do parkour. Run if you want to run. Do something that has a built in reward. Stop punishing your body because it doesn’t fit a mold you want it to."

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I posted about Kallista before. She still rocks.

Two-Time Games Vet At 17: Kallista Pappas 

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"Yoked"

"I got strong for my life. I discovered my life. I found my muscles and I found my voice. "

"I used to look at that girl and wish I was her. I used to look at that girl and think I could never do that, that it was ridiculous, that it was impossible. It was impossible for me. ... But not anymore. No more baggy t-shirts for me. No more being held in place. I went and got strong."

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Go Easy on Yourself - practicing self-compassion will improve your life

“Self-compassion is really conducive to motivation,” Dr. Neff said. “The reason you don’t let your children eat five big tubs of ice cream is because you care about them. With self-compassion, if you care about yourself, you do what’s healthy for you rather than what’s harmful to you.”

H/T Stephanie
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Why Running is Important, by Blair Morrison

"Last, psychologically, running teaches you how thin the walls are between optimal and sub-optimal performance. Lifting weights you often reach a point where you literally cannot do another rep, where your muscles have actually failed and there is nothing you can do about it. At this point, your mind gets a break. It’s off the hook... on vacation. This can’t happen in running. You can always take another step therefore your head never gets a rest (incredible ironman Youtube footage notwithstanding). To get better in this discipline you have to improve your toughness. Period. And that flows over into everything else you do."

By Land & By Sea

Neat WOD title, huh? Reminds me of "The Viking" from CrossFit Camden. Which is appropriate since Doug programmed this WOD, and he is, in fact, a descendent of the vikings. Seriously! I prefer being Irish. :-p

Did this one on my own after coaching the AM classes. I was so glad I had my iPod armband in my bag from the race this weekend, that helped me keep my intensity up.

"By Land & By Sea"
Row 1000m
Run 800m
Row 750m
Run 600m
Row 500m
Run 400m
Row 250m
Run 200m

Results: 26:47

Not awesome, and not horrible - I'm fine with that.

Rolled out and used the band a ton after the WOD. Also tried this MWOD for calves, since mine get sore so often. Holy crap did it hurt -- more on the left side than the right. That is my "tight" side according to the chiro, so I'm not surprised.

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After the WOD I set a new kipping pullup PR -- 12 in a row! Last week I did 10, and thought that was freaking awesome. And this week I've got 2 more! I'm still not as good with stringing them together during WODs, but I'm more hopefully about that getting better now that I'm able to get more in a row just in practice.

Woot!

I'm thinking an update to my "kipping pullup progress" video is in order. Maybe for that I can bust out 15. :-D


Kipping Pullup Progress - Nov 09 to Jan 10 from c wiss on Vimeo.

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Anybody else doing the OPEN sectionals? I am doing my best to help our affiliate get a team spot at regionals, so hopefully nothing comes up in the workouts that will cause me to DNF. Fingers crossed...

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