Month: March 2013

Float Like a Butterfly

I’m feeling pretty good today, considering how wrecked I was last night. I’m a little sore in a bunch of different areas, but nothing too bad. Went in for the 4:15.

Warm-up

  • 2m Jump Rope
  • 2 Rounds
    • 40 Mountain Climbers
    • 20 Russian Twists (35# KB)
    • 20 Air Squats

WOD

  • 800-600-400-200m Run
  • 15 Pull-ups
  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 15 Wall Balls (20# MB, 10′ target

This was a lot tougher than I expected. I went out hard on the 800m run to work on my conditioning and then really tried to work on my butterfly for the pull-ups. First set was a little rough, but I went 9-6, 10-5, and 10-5 in the last three sets. Had never done more than 7 in a row before today and I only stopped each time because of fatigue, not because of rhythm. I focused on keeping my kick going, kept a tighter kick, and kept my feet together. Tried to just power through the push-ups, but they were the slowest part for me. Did each round of wall balls unbroken. Finished in 18:39.

That was a nice recovery WOD after a tough workout for 13.2 yesterday. Back to hitting it hard tomorrow for 2 hours of work.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.2

So here we are, with week 2 of the Open. I was excited when workout 13.2 was announced because it involved 15 box jumps per round. The box jump is my best movement and I can keep rebounding for a long time. I was looking to make up some ground after my disappointing score on 13.1.

After 13.1, I’m in 18,893 (25.7%) out of 73,419 men in the world and 1,292 (28.25%) out of 4,573 men in the South West region. Both are really close to cracking that top 25% so with this probably being my worst workout, I’m revising my goal of being above average (top 50%) to being top 25% in the Open.

Then a day or so later we realized that step-ups were allowed. As the last few days progressed it has been determined that step-ups are the way to go for most people because they save your legs more and really save your lungs. Well, so much for any advantage I had over a lot of people. In the end, step-up with a jump/fall down turned out the way to go for the majority of folks.

I had done a 4 round test of this workout on Friday and finished in 3:52, which I felt was pretty good. Each round was getting a few seconds slower, but not too bad.

Open Workout 13.2

10:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Shoulder to overheads (115#)
  • 10 Deadlifts (115#)
  • 15 Box jumps/Step-ups (24″)

I went out flying and kept a sub 1:00 pace through the first 5 rounds. Then I hit the wall hard. It was a struggle to get up on the box for the last 3-4 minutes. I was pushing off my leg for help and resorted to step-downs instead of the jump/fall down. I finished with 8 full rounds plus 5 presses, 10 deadlifts, and 10 step-ups, for a 265 total. I’m happy with that because 20 minutes later I was still dying, so I know I had nothing more to give. This jumps me up nicely in the standings.

13.2 Test & New Push-up Strategy

I was excited with the announcement of Workout 13.2 for the CrossFit Games Open. Box jumps are probably my best movement so to see them count for half of the reps per round made me happy. I however didn’t realize right away that the standards are allowing a step up this year, where last year they only allowed a step down. The step up is a completely different movement and eliminates most of the advantage rebounding box jumpers have in this workout. It’s confusing why they would allow this for everyone instead of just the oldest Masters division like last year.

So I’ve been hearing conflicting reports on whether or not step ups are the better choice, depending on your level of fitness and ability to rebound. I agree that for the less than average CrossFitter, step ups make perfect sense because they won’t kill your lungs like box jumps will. For the average and slightly above CrossFitter, I’m not sure though. For the elite that won’t have to slow down in a 10 minute workout, rebounding box jumps are clearly the correct choice.

So I had to do some testing of my own in order to feel confident going into the WOD on Sunday. Adam opened up the box for me and I headed in at noon to do a little test of my own. I warmed up a bit, but kept it short so Adam could get out of there since I found out he wasn’t going to do anything. Super nice of him to open up the gym for me so I didn’t want to take up more of his day than I had to. I did 4 rounds of the AMRAP without trying to do any certain pacing or anything. Pretty much going all out.

Pretty shitty camera setup for these videos. I should have done them vertically.

I timed out the splits to see where I was losing ground and it definitely wasn’t the box jumps, which were consistent. I need to get faster on the push presses by not over extending so much and getting on that bar and into the first rep sooner. I took a long time setting my hands and then sat in the rack before the first rep. I should be able to rep out the deadlifts faster too, but have to be careful that I get my shoulders behind the bar. It was getting close on some of those reps, which is good for timing, but at the same time you don’t want any no reps on a workout like this.

13.4 Test: Split Times

I’m glad I did this little test because it gave me a feel for the burn and showed a couple of weak areas where I can knock off valuable seconds. If I clean some of those things up and can keep a steady pace through the middle of the 10 minutes, I should be able to put up a pretty good score.

After a few minutes of rest I tried doing some step ups to see how they felt and how slow they were. With just one round of them (alternating legs) I could feel a burn in my legs before I even got to the 15th rep. I didn’t go crazy fast on them and it took about 32 seconds.

Since this alone took 32 seconds and my transition plus the box jumps were taking 30 seconds, I don’t see this as being a go to for me. I may do one or two rounds of step ups (or maybe 5 or 10 reps of the 15) after the 5 minute mark to catch some air, but it has to be worth it for how much longer it’s going to take. I need to take full advantage of my box jump rebounding in this WOD to have a good score.

When I got home, I did a 100 HR Push-up test since it’s been a couple of months and I wanted to test out a new push-up strategy for high reps with resting sooner and never doing more than 10 unbroken. It seems to have worked out because I did them in 5:04, beating my old PR of 5:42 by 38 seconds!

Hard and Heavy

It’s been a couple of rough days with 13.1 on Sunday, 2 sessions on Monday, and a 2 hour session yesterday. I’m feeling a little beat up, but not enough to keep me away from the box today. This morning I went in for the 9am and it was a hard hour.

Warm-up

  • 2m Jump Rope
  • 2 Rounds:
    • 10/10 Leg Swings (F2B, S2S)
    • 10 Flamingos
    • 10 Scorpions

Strength

5-3-1-1-1 Back Squats

I’ve been waiting for a 1RM back squat day and it finally arrived. Last max lift was 285# and I couldn’t wait to join the 300# club. I warmed up with 5 at 45#, 5 at 135#, and 3 at 185#, trying to do fast reps. Then I went into my working sets:

  • 5x 225#
  • 3x 255#
  • 1x 285#
  • 1x 300#
  • 1x 315#

BOOM! Hit a 30# PR and could not have gone a pound heavier.

WOD

7 Rounds

  • 3 Cleans (205#)
  • 21 DU (unbroken)

About a month ago we did a competitor’s WOD very similar to this, but with 4 deficit HSPU instead. I remembered the 185# cleans being really tough, but I decided to go for the Rx today and see how long I could do 205#. I managed to do all 21 of them as power cleans. I did have one miss in the last round when Gayle said something about it barely getting over my knees, so then I thought too much about it. Had a few misses on DU, but thankfully they were all early in counts. Finished in 9:14.

Glad I went in early and got the workout done. Now I can relax and get work done the rest of the day. Rest day tomorrow for sure. I’m excited to see the 13.2 announcement tonight.

Get It Overhead!

I’m feeling pretty sore in my shoulders from the HSPU yesterday and as the day goes on my ass is feeling those plyo lunges. Went in at 3:15 for some special OLY work and then stayed for the regular class.

OLY Warm-up

  • 500m Row
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 2 x 10 Pause Jerks with 45# bar

Jerks

  • 5x Jerk Short Step with 95#
  • Jerk from the Back – Doubles and Triples
  • Jerk from the Front – Doubles and Singles

I started off with 95# from the back, went 115#, 155#, and 185#. This was my first time doing any jerks from the back and they felt really weird. I only did a couple of singles at 185# because I don’t feel comfortable dropping that much weight back to my back and it felt uncomfortable to begin with. I need to do these once in a while to get the feel for them.

I dropped the weight back down to 155# and switched to jerks from the rack, doing a double there. Did a double at 185# and another at 205#. Then I was going to hit 225# for a single and Gayle asked if it was going to be a PR, so figured might as well throw another 5# on to make it 230# for a PR. Hit it easily without even punching under in fully. Upped it to 245# and pushed the weight forward instead of back, so failed. Fought it a bit and it didn’t feel too good on my low back.

Took a rest, made sure to punch under it, and got it up for a 20# PR. It was a little unstable over my head, but that’s fucking heavy. Gayle said I could have gotten my front foot out further too and got under it more. Did a good job of getting my head through though.

Class Warm-up

  • 3/3 World’s Greatest Stretch
  • 10/10 Scorpions
  • 10/10 Flamingos
  • 10/10 Legs Swings (F2B, S2S)

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 600m Run
  • 25 Pull-ups

I tried to push it harder on the run today and the temperatures are rising fast here in Phoenix, so that makes the running even tougher. Did all butterfly pull-ups again, but I’m having trouble stringing together more than 7 before I lose rhythm. Finished in 12:24.

Finisher

90s-60s-30s

  • DU
  • AbMat Sit-ups

This was actually part of the class warm-up, but I was finishing up my jerk PR when class started so didn’t do it at that time. Took some rest after the WOD and then knocked it out since there was plenty of time before the next class started.

A Fresh Look On Monday

Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world…if you do so, you are insulting yourself.

Bill Gates

As time has gone by, I’m feeling better about my performance in 13.1. I looked back at my placing after 12.1 and 12.2, compared to 13.1. I’m ranked higher in the world and there are twice as many registrations. I’d say that’s a win. I’ll know more about exact placement and percentile Tuesday night after score validation closes.

My disappointment in not getting a score of at least 150 is nearly gone. I know there will be workouts that play more into my strengths and I can make up ground. I gave 13.1 my best shot and honestly don’t know where I could have gone any faster to pick up the 45 seconds I would have needed to get the final 8 burpees.

It’s a new week and back to training until the next workout is announced. My body feels good, just a little sore in the upper back. I went in for 9am and there sit Gayle and Adam, just having got done with Saturday’s WOD. They’re starting some 2-a-days, so I did that same workout on my own.

Warm-up

  • 750m Row at 20s/m

I kept right around a 2:15/500m pace.

WOD #1

2 Rounds

  • 400m Run
  • 25 HSPU
  • 400m Run
  • 30 Pistols (alternating)

I finished in 17:10. HSPU were broken down into 10-5-4-3-3 and 5-5-5-4-3-3 I think. I’ve improved my strength for them so much in the last 2 months. My second round of pistols was a lot faster than my first round and felt good. Out of there in well under an hour and home to rest for later.

This wasn’t really too bad because I had quite a bit of rest during HSPU while breaking them up. Solid strength work though with cardio in the mix.

I jumped on the scale after the WOD and was 189 with shoes and clothes on. I ate really bad yesterday as my cheat day after the workout. Usually those kind of days put me up 2-3 pounds on the scale, so I’d say I hit my first goal of leaning out and getting down to around 185 for the Open.

Back at 4:15 for round 2!

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • 3 Rounds:
    • 5 Pull-ups
    • 10 Push-ups
    • 15 Air Squats

I did strict pull-ups to work on strength and chest-to-deck push-ups.

WOD #2

5 Rounds (Similar to the “Chief” WOD)

  • 3:00 AMRAP
    • 3 Ring Dips
    • 6 Plyo Lunges
    • 9 American KBS (53#)
  • 1m Rest

* Start each 3:00 round where you left off.

Instead of only doing straight up ring dips, I put the rings up at about eye level, got down with my legs bent under me and on my toes, looking up at the rings. Took a false grip and worked on the MU transition by doing a jumping/strict MU type move from there. Once I got up above the rings I did my 3 dips each time. Now that I’m thinking about it I should have put the rings higher and just done jumping MU or even tried doing a kipping MU each time.

This was a solid WOD and those KBS really started to hurt in the last two 3 minute rounds. I finished with a score of 18+3. To make this a little better, I think I would swap the rep counts for the lunges and the KBS.

Those were two solid WODs today, but not the kind that knock you out for 2 days.

Unbroken or Else

I was feeling ok after the Open WOD today and saw that tomorrow’s WOD doesn’t have strength work, so I figured I could get in a quick home WOD. I’m trying to work my push-up endurance and squats (strength and speed) always need work, so I came up with the following.

WOD

Unbroken AMRAP

  • 10 HR Push-ups
  • 3/3 Pistols (alternating)

What’s the time domain you ask? Keep going until you have to break the 10 or 6, moving from one movement right to the other.

I finished 8 rounds and 7 more push-ups, all barefoot. Some of the pistols were pretty ugly and I fell back while standing up a few times, but I’m counting them without having any shoes on. When I failed the push-up, time was 6:12 for 87 push-ups and 64 pistols. My best time for 100 hand release push-ups is 5:42, so I’ve either improved a ton since January or found a new strategy for doing high-rep push-ups.

2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.1

The 2013 CrossFit Games Open is upon us. My goal this year is to beat 50% of the men, which might not be a lofty enough of a goal, but considering I only beat about 25% of the guys last year, that would be a huge improvement.

Yesterday I wrote the post Why I Compete in the CrossFit Games Open, which explains a lot of my motivation for competing. You can also check out my Games Profile.

If there were any WODs I didn’t want to see come up again from 2013 it was the snatch ladder and the combination of thrusters and C2B pull-ups. Well, 13.1 brings back the snatch ladder, but pairs it up with burpees. A brutal combination.

Open Workout 13.1

17:00 AMRAP

  • 40 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (75#)
  • 30 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (135#)
  • 20 Burpees
  • 30 Snatch (165#)
  • 10 Burpees
  • Max rep Snatch (210#)

My goal was to get to the 165# snatches and get at least one, which would have been a PR. I had several days to prepare, and obsessively mapped out a strategy based on tips I read online and chatting with friends who had already done the WOD. But it’s impossible to know how your body is going to react, so planning can only do so much for you.

I hit the pace I wanted to for the 40 burpees and felt good going into the 75# snatches. Broke it up into sets of 10-8-6-6 and they crushed me pretty bad. I wasn’t expecting them to get to me. Even so, I was only 15 seconds behind the pace I was hoping for at this point. But I was pretty dead already and the 30 burpees ended up going pretty slow. After changing the weights, I started the 135# snatches at around 9 minutes, now a minute behind the pace I wanted.

I did all singles at 135# and tried to get right back on the bar, but they were taking a lot out of me and I was already dead. I finished them at 15:52, almost 3 minutes slower than I wanted to. Managed to get 12 of the 20 burpees for a final score of 142. There was no way I would have been able to get a 165# snatch (10# PR) after all that work, so 150 was the best score I could have gotten.

I was disappointed (and still am a bit), but then I realized that last year in 12.1 I got 92 burpees in 7 minutes and in 12.2 I got 36 snatches in 10 minutes. In this combined 17 minute WOD I got 82 burpees and 60 snatches. Hell of an improvement, so I’m going to chalk this up as a win. The snatch is one of my weakest movements, so I ended up pretty well and I’m way ahead of pace to finish above average in the Open.

I guess I can count that as a 6:52 time for “Isabel” since it was 30 snatches. Shouldn’t be hard to beat whenever I do the benchmark on it’s own.

Bring on 13.2!

Pacing Burpees

Back of my thighs are sore from all those back squats still. The box is closed since it’s Friday and I’m going to rest tomorrow to do Open WOD 13.1 on Sunday. Figured I would get in a little home work.

Did a trial run of 40 burpees to a 6″ target as a slow and steady pace, so I could get used to it for the 13.1. I couple of weeks ago I did 50 of these all out in 2:39 and was dead for like a half hour. I did the trial run in about 2:50, which I think turned out to be pretty solid. I was breathing heavy, but not dying. Started out at about 4 seconds per burpee, but slowed down in the half. Good overall rhythm.

5 Rounds

  • 15 HR Push-ups
  • 20s L-Sit
  • 20 Air Squats

I didn’t time it since my goal was quality movements and trying to do everything unbroken. I probably rested 2-3 minutes after each round, except for a quick turnover into round 5. Everything was done unbroken. For the l-sits I put two chairs together and help myself up, with knees bent and above parallel for all 20 seconds.

Deads & Cardio

I was originally planning to take a rest day today and do Open WOD 13.1 tomorrow, but things changed. My hamstrings are feeling pretty tight from the squat volume yesterday, but ended up going in for 7:15pm and I’ll make tomorrow a rest day.

Warm-up

  • 3m Jump Rope
  • 50 AbMat Sit-ups
  • 50 Supermans

Strength

4 Sets

  • 7-10 Deadlifts
  • 90s Rest

I did a 5 reps at 135# and 185# to loosen up. Then I hit all 10 reps at 225#, 275#, 305#, and 325#. Moved a lot of weight, but didn’t go overboard and end up with a headache that’ll lasts 3 days

WOD

  • 750m Row
  • 600m Run
  • 75 DU
  • 500m Row
  • 400m Run
  • 50 DU
  • 250m Row
  • 200m Run
  • 25 DU

Nice cardio WOD today. Struggled with me DU on the round of 75 failing about every 10, but was good on the other sets. Finished in 15:26.