Year: 2017

Wobble Wobble

I wasn’t feeling any better yesterday except for when I went back to the chiropractor and for a short time after the adjustment. Needed a rest day from the Airdyne though.

Mornings are especially rough getting out of bed and then for quite some time after. I couldn’t even get a pair of socks on this morning, but when I went to put them on this afternoon I didn’t have a problem.

I’ve been sitting on an exercise ball from time to time yesterday and today, as suggested by my chiro. It’s the same idea as the wobble chairs they have in the waiting room at their office. It does feel much better for me to keep moving around, but my legs get sore after a while even though I have the ball on a couch cushion to higher it.

Super bummed I have to skip out on 17.5 but there is just no way possible I could do it since I still cannot air squat and I don’t want to regress and extend this discomfort longer. Went out to the garage this afternoon for a workout.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×160
  • 5×180
  • 5x5x195

I was getting on and off the bench much smoother today and moving around the garage much better. Good sign because I wasn’t feeling much improvement throughout the day. Weight felt a little heavy. Keeping rest at 2-3 minutes between sets.

Accessory – 3 Sets

  • 15 Banded Tricep Press-downs (blue)

Conditioning

4 Sets

  • 3:00 Airdyne
  • 1:30 Rest

My goal was to hold 85+ RPMs. After the 1st round I didn’t think it was going to be sustainable. After nearly the same calories in round 2, I got the confidence to gut through and suffer. Then I got more confidence and pushed harder. Funny how the mind works some days. My calories were 117 – 115 – 119 – 120. My legs were wobbly for quite a while after.

I did another 5 minutes to cool down and went 1.38 miles.

New Best Friend

I was getting worried this morning when my back was feeling worse. I called my chiro and he talked me down, explaining it was a good sign I didn’t have any numbness going up or down from the area. What I was feeling was pretty typical and it could take me 2 weeks to recover from this one. Felt better mentally after talking to him, but definitely not physically. I tried to get some work done but standing and sitting were both uncomfortable, so I took the day off and camped on the floor in front of the TV.

One thing that has actually felt better is when I’m spent time on the Airdyne, so in the afternoon I went out to the garage and did an easy 40 minutes to get some motion going through my back. It ended up being 11.89 miles and 716 calories.

I have a feeling my 2017 CrossFit Games Open is over. With the close of score validations tonight, my rankings for 17.4 were:

  • Open Division: 16,217 / 161,366 (10%)
  • Masters 35-39: 1,915 / 30,720 (6.2%)

Just when 17.3 was my best Open workout, we get a solid repeat for me and now this was my best. Too bad my back gave out or I think I could have went over the 200 rep mark in my redo.

Overall after 4 weeks, my standings sit at:

  • Open Division: 22,032 / 20,1784 (10.9%)
  • Masters 35-39: 2,681 / 38,072 (7%)

Would be my best finish, even for the Open division. Crossing my fingers I’m feeling good enough to do 17.5 by Monday night.

 

It’s Spinal

No change today. Called the chiro and was able to get in this afternoon. Things adjusted well, but were definitely tight and tender. I felt better there and for a bit, but as soon as I got back home and sat to work again it was back to pretty much the same. They told me to keep icing throughout the day and night so I have been. Supposedly should start to feel better tomorrow around the 72 hour mark, like DOMS I guess.

Went out to the garage after I got done with work. Had to pay for 3 months of Hybrid to start off and I have a month left so I switched to their Push Only program so I could start saving the workouts and get more bang for my buck before I cancel once my 3 months are done. Stole some of the bench stuff for today. Might as well get a head start and it’s a movement I can do. Getting down and back off the bench was pretty comical though.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 8×135
  • 4x8x165
  • 3x12x135

Close Grip Bench Press

  • 3x12x115#

Thought I was staying on the lighter side with both the sets of 12s with both styles, but that was a lot of accumulation of reps.

Conditioning

10 Rounds

  • 30s Airdyne (Fast)
  • 30s Airdyne (Slow)

More time on the bike! I was keeping RPMs at 95+ for the fast rounds and around 55 for the slow ones. Then with 3 rounds left I stopped looking and tried to push a bit, so I have no idea what my pace was at then. Tallied up 313 total calories.

Did a slow 5 minutes more on the AD to cool off and went 1.39 miles.

I Sat Down & I Can’t Get Up

It was rough moving around the rest of the day yesterday, but sleeping wasn’t too bad, which is usually a good sign. Today is pretty terrible too, especially when I get up out of the chair from working. It takes me about a minute to fully stand up straight. Drying off my feet and putting my socks on was quite the chore this morning. Definitely was not making my way to the gym because I didn’t know if I’d be able to get out of the car. After finishing up work, I needed to move, so headed out to the garage to see what I could do.

I knew the Airdyne would be a go, so I tried to use Pi AD2, but it wouldn’t launch properly on my Raspberry Pi and when I tried to run it from my Mac it wouldn’t track the spinning of the flywheel. I need to spend some time on it and get intervals programmed anyway.

7 Rounds

  • 2:00 Airdyne (AD2)
  • 20 Push-ups

I did 10-10 on every set of push-ups. The second 10 got rough after the second round, but I kept each 10 unbroken, with some short pauses at the top of later reps. Finished in 20:35 and tallied up 423 cals, holding RPMs at about 75 and then picked it up for the last couple of rounds.

Quick Redo

My ass has been sore from the 55 deadlifts and my shoulders have been a bit fatigued. Had some plans to get through the wall balls quicker by doing 15-15-15-10 and not be a pussy on the rower for the redo of 17.4

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Airdyne
  • Shoulder stretching
  • 2×10 Heel Drives
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Deadlift
    • 10×45#
    • 2x5x135
    • 5×185
    • 2x3x225
    • 3×245

Well, I did my first set of 5 reps and then tweaked my back when I picked up the bar for my next set. Shortest Open workout ever! 😦 Glad my first attempt was a PR.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 8×125
  • 6×155
  • 4×185
  • 4×215
  • 4×235
  • 3×255 (PR)

Figured I could still bench since it doesn’t require moving my back. Had to gingerly lay on the bench each time. Didn’t realize it, but that was a 15# PR for a triple! Maybe I’ll do a bunch cycle or two after the Open and try to get to 300.

Conditioning

“300 FY” – 10:00 AMRAP

  • AirDyne Calories

Been a long time since I’ve tested this. Wanted to breathe hard in something since I didn’t workout yesterday and who knows how much I’ll be able to do over the next few days with this damn back. I started out at a much better pace than my previous PR and did well at holding above 80 RPMs, then picked it up in the last 60-90 seconds. Ended up with 357 calories (AD2 model), which is only 1 calorie under my best. Seemed much easier than my previous attempts.

17.4 is 16.4

This week I remembered to check the leaderboard after score validations closed. Even though I didn’t improve on my redo, 17.3 may have been my best placing ever in an Open workout. After a weak 17.1, I’ve been able to make a nice climb up the overall leaderboards with the last two workouts.

17.3 Results

  • Open Division: 19,602/167,143 (11.7%)
  • Masters 35-39 Division: 2,268/31,768 (7.1%)

Overall Placing After 3 Weeks

  • Open Division: 26,201/201,248 (13%)
  • Masters 35-39 Division: 3,282/36,980 (8.9%)

*I only count athletes who have submitted at least one score.

Many people were predicting 16.4 as the repeat workout for this year. Since it was my best workout from the 2016 Open I was happy to see Castro select it. We’ve been working a lot on HSPU and I recently improved my score on 15.4 by 9 reps, so I wanted to do a retest on this one. Even last year I felt I left some reps on the table by pacing too much.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Airdyne
  • 2×10 Heel Drives
  • Deadlift
    • 10×45#
    • 5×135
    • 5×185
    • 3×225
    • 2x3x275
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Shoulder stretching

CrossFit Open Workout 17.4

13:00 AMRAP

  • 55 Deadlifts (225#)
  • 55 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 55 Row (calories)
  • 55 Handstand Push-ups

Last year I scored 192 reps, which is 27 HSPU after finishing the row at 8:34. Little bit of a strategy change this year…

  • Deadlift: 11 sets of 5 with short rests (count to 2 or 3 and go)
  • Wall Balls: 5 sets of 11 with about 10 second rests (I count to 8 and get going)
  • Row: 1,100-1,200 cal/hr
  • Handstand Push-ups: Sets of 3 with 10-15 second rests

Rests may have gotten a bit longer at the end of deadlifts, but wall balls were on pace. I needed to push on the rower as I was just under 1,000 cal/hr most of the way, which is not good. I picked it up for the last 10+ calories. Again like last year, I decided to camp out on the seat for probably a good 20-30 seconds before getting up. So much wasted time when I could have knocked out at least a set on the wall. For some dumb reason I decided to set the damper over 6, which I never row at. I usually am in the low 5 area, so not sure if that was enough to make any kind of difference.

I was done with deadlifts at 2:27, wall balls at 5:18, and rowing at 8:47. There weren’t tiebreakers except for finishing the row last year, so I only know that I was 13 seconds slower this year. Not good. 😦 When I finally got up on the wall I was having no problem with triples. Somewhere under 90 seconds I decided to do a set of 4 and it came back to bite me when I got 2 no-reps in the final minute. I didn’t have to do doubles until at the end. Even though I had less time this year, I still set a PR by 5 reps with 32 of the HSPU for a score of 197.

17-4.jpg

Deadlift Wednesday

Went to the Chiro at 5. Scheduled it after 3 weeks since it’s the Open. Will go back to about every 5 weeks now.

Warm-up

  • 2×10 RH Heel Drives
  • Dead Hang (feet on ground)

Deadlift

Supposed to be 4×4 @ 90%. Not a chance.

  • 12×45#
  • 8×155
  • 6×265
  • 4×315
  • 4×345
  • 4×375
  • 2x4x405

Conditioning

E3M – 5 Sets

  • 10 Burpees Over the Rower
  • 20 cal Row

Was supposed to be 20 cals of Assault Bike, so we threw in some burpees to get tired for the row. My first and last round were both 1:15 and the other 3 were 1:24 or better.

Chipper

  • 20 Deadlifts (275#)
  • 50 DU
  • 20 KBS (70#)
  • 50 DU
  • 20 Burpees
  • 50 DU
  • 20 C2B Pull-ups
  • 50 DU
  • 20 Box Jumps (24”)
  • 50 DU
  • 20 DB Full Cleans (50#)
  • 50 DU

Was programmed with 400m runs and I originally had the idea to do 100 DU. We decided to go with 50 instead and it was a good call since it still took me 18:01 to finish. Bryan and I shared a bar for the deadlifts and alternated every 5 reps. I did 10-10 on the KBS and 10-5-5 butterfly chest-to-bar pull-ups. When I got to the cleans he was 10 reps in so we alternated 5 reps each until he was done and then I took another rest before my final set of 5. I missed 2 dubs in round 1, got the next 3 sets unbroken and then started missing a lot in the final 2 sets after the movements that blew up my legs.

Interference

My back is a little tight from yesterday.

Power Clean + 3 Front Squats

  • 45#
  • 95
  • 95
  • 135
  • 165
  • 185
  • 205
  • 225
  • 235
  • 245

We got in the lifting from yesterday that was programmed for people not redoing the Open workout. Felt heavy today.

Conditioning

The programmed workout had a bunch of pull-ups and a ton more snatches. No thanks so I whipped up an idea using movements we still might see in the Open. Kept with the mash-up theme that’s been going on Tuesdays.

  • 10:00 AMRAP
    • 10 HSPU
    • 20 cal Row
    • 50 DU
  • 10:00 Rest
  • For Time:
    • 12-10-8 DB Thrusters (50#)
    • 9-7-5 MU

I went for it today on the handstand push-ups and surprised myself by doing 4 sets without coming off the wall! The first set was fast and smooth. The other sets were a bit slower with some short pauses resting on my head. Couldn’t believe it! I only missed one dub at 47 in the second round. Finished exactly 4 rounds with 2 seconds to spare.

Yep, dumbbell thrusters are still terrible. Didn’t realize how much they interfere with muscle-ups too. Did all of the thrusters unbroken. Wanted to go for it on that first set of muscle-ups, but I had to come down after 5. Went 2-2 to finish the 9. I think I got a double to start the round of 7 and then failed on the next double, so I stuck to singles the rest of the way. The thrusters got my heart racing so much I had to take long breaks to make sure I made each muscle-up. Finished in 9:50.

Good Bye 17.3

Warm-up

  • 4:00 Air Dyne
  • Banded Shoulder Mobility
  • Snatch
    • 5×45#
    • 3×95
    • 4×95
    • 2×125
    • 2×145
    • 1×165

Was feeling smooth.

2017 CrossFit Games Open 17.3

  • Prior to 8:00, complete:
    • 3 rounds of:
      • 6 chest-to-bar pull-ups
      • 6 squat snatches, 95 lb.
    • Then, 3 rounds of:
      • 7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
      • 5 squat snatches, 135 lb.
  • *Prior to 12:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    • 8 chest-to-bar pull-ups
    • 4 squat snatches, 185 lb.
  • *Prior to 16:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    • 9 chest-to-bar pull-ups
    • 3 squat snatches, 225 lb.
  • *Prior to 20:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    • 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
    • 2 squat snatches, 245 lb.
  • Prior to 24:00, complete 3 rounds of:
    • 11 chest-to-bar pull-ups
    • 1 squat snatch 265 lb.

*If all reps are completed, time cap extends by 4 minutes.

I wasn’t sure what to change from my first attempt, even up to when I was warming up. I ended up keeping 3-3 pull-ups for the first 3 rounds, but did 3-3 on the snatches instead of unbroken. Finished 13 seconds faster. Then I kept all 3 sets of pull-ups at 3-2-2 instead of going double with singles on the 5th and 6th round. Kept that 13 second gain so would have a better tiebreaker. Did 8 single pull-ups to try to bring my heard rate down. Rested before grabbing that 185 and made sure I really got into it. Made it, so now I was way ahead of pace. I was fucking gassed though. Was just a bit forward on my next two attempts to miss them. Did not want to pick up that bar because I couldn’t breathe, so I called it quits after I got to 11:00 on the clock since I wasn’t going to even match my 92 at that point.

Since the 3-2-2 on those 2 other rounds didn’t make me faster, I guess I should have ketp to 2 + singles and maybe I wouldn’t have been so gassed. Oh well, had to try something.

17-3-redo.jpg

We decided to do some lifting.

Behind the Neck Jerks

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95
  • 3×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×185
  • 3×205
  • 3×215

Good enough for the day.

Still Got ‘Em

When I workout late, I’m hyped up and can’t get to bed, so I was up until like 1:30 last night. Made it to the gym at 10am though. Hybrid had a bunch of heavy snatches programmed today because they didn’t adjust after 17.3 was announced and some long AMRAPs, but we didn’t feel like doing any of that stuff.

12:00 EMOM

  • 10 Pistols
  • 7 Strict HSPU

Have had doubts about pistols lately because my left quad has been bothering me a bit during squats. Once I got in a few reps they were feeling great though. Went for an increase on the handstand push-ups from what I’ve been doing and made every set. Was fun doing these two movements back-to-back.

Back Squat

  • 10×45#
  • 5×155
  • 5×205
  • 5×245
  • 3x5x275

Felt heavy and I could feel my low back a little bit so didn’t push the weight.

Bench Press (pause)

  • 10×45#
  • 5×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×165
  • 5×185
  • 5×205
  • 5×225
  • 5×230

I couple of weeks ago I did 225 for a triple with the pauses so this was a big jump. My 5RM without pauses is 240, so wondering where my max is these days.

Conditioning

  • 500m Row

It’s been too long since I did this for time. Had it going good with the average pace down to 1:22/500m at one point, but died in the last 150 meters. Finished with 1:24.1, which is only 0.6 seconds off my best.

2017-03-11-500m-row.jpg