Alternating 200s

My ankles were really tight last night doing ROMWOD and they are a bit sore this morning. Must be from the double unders because my calves are sore too. Went to the track before lunch.

Aerobic Capacity – VO2 Max

2016-09-12-200sWarmed up with an easy 400m jog.

8 Sets

  • 200m at target pace
  • 200m jog

Target for #1-3 was 54s, #4-6 was 52s, and #7-8 was 51s, which I was able to hit with ease. All my splits are in the screenshot. Walked a lap before heading home.

Wanted to hit a garage session in the afternoon, but got some yard work done instead. ROMWOD for 20 minutes tonight.

Not Even An Hour

Warm-up

  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Shoulder Stretching
  • Ladder Footwork Drills
  • 5 Power Snatch (45#)
  • 3 Power Snatch (75#)

Getting better at some of the drills. One leg is definitely dominant.

Conditioning

8:00 AMRAP

  • 10 Power Snatch (75#)
  • 10 Bar-facing Burpees

Unbroken every round on the snatches. Getting the hang of my new bar-facing burpee steps better and better each time I do them. Dare I say I’m starting to enjoy them? First round was done in just over a minute, which I knew wasn’t sustainable, but I think is good for me instead of always pacing so much. Good to push the gas more. Finished 5 Rounds plus the 10 snatches.

Skill & Midline

  • 4 Tabata DU
  • 40s Rest
  • 4 Tabata Supermans
  • 40s Rest
  • 4 Tabata DU
  • 40s Rest
  • 4 Tabata Hollow Rocks

Basically just 1 Tabata round off between movements. Never missed a double under and think the Zeus rope is really helping with shoulder fatigue. I got 149 dubs, 44 Supermans, 150 dubs, and 72 hollow rocks.

Overhead Stability / Carry

  • 600m OH Single-arm KB Carry (44#)

Increase in distance, so went lighter. Switched arms about every 100 meters.

We finished in less than an hour today. Will get in a 21 min ROMWOD at some point.

Too Heavy

After staying up for the iPhone 7 pre-order, I took a needed rest day yesterday. I’ve had this crazy idea to try a 225# “Grace” for months. Today was finally going to be the day.

C&J Warm-up

  • 5×45#
  • 3×95
  • 3×135
  • 2×165
  • 2×185
  • 1×205

Heavy Heavy Grace

Oh boy, 205# was already feeling heavy in the warm-up. I got through 4 reps with 225# right around a minute in. Then I failed the jerk on the 5th rep. Enough of that! I am not fit enough; it would have taken me way too long to finish. So I rested up and lightened the load.

  • 30 C&J (185#)

This was more my level. Tried not to rest too much and happy with the result. Made it through 11 reps before I started to reset between the clean and the jerk. Finished in 6:59, which is the time domain I was looking for. I was so uncomfortable after I finished, I had to get everything off. Then for a few seconds I thought I might actually puke. My splits every 5 reps were:

  • 5 – 0:40
  • 10 – 1:42 (1:02)
  • 15 – 3:02 (1:20)
  • 20 – 4:39 (1:37)
  • 25 – 5:56 (1:17)
  • 30 – 6:59 (1:03)

Really slowed through the middle.

Aerobic Capacity – Strength Endurance

Took a solid recovery time and headed outside.

6 Sets

  • 25′ Broad Jump
  • 200m Run (Target = 0:39)
  • 2:00 Rest

Some of the instructions for this one said 10 jumps OR 25 feet. Using the distance seemed much better logistically to me, but after doing it I feel like I probably missed out on a lot of the intended response since I did the 25 feet in 4 jumps. I was easily under the target on the 200s every round since I didn’t mark off a 100m spot to check my pace. My run times were 36, 37, 36, 38, 38, and 37 seconds. Including the rests it took me 14:35 to finish.

Nineteen minute ROMWOD in the afternoon.

100% Open

Trip to the gym before lunch.

Warm-up

  • Crossover Symmetry Activation
  • 5:00 Air Dyne – 1.5 miles
  • 5 OHS (45#)
  • 5 OHS (95#)

Open Workout 11.4

10:00 AMRAP

  • 60 Bar-facing Burpees
  • 30 OHS (120/90#)
  • 10 MU

I’ve had this one on my list for quite some time, especially since it was the lone remaining Open workout I hadn’t attempted. Without being able to do muscle-ups for 8+ months, it’s been on hold. Finally got to it today.

I was able to stick with my new BFB technique pretty much the whole time and felt pretty good. Finished them in 4:59, took a breather to put on the belt and then did the overhead squats in sets of 8-8-8-6. They went much better than I expected. Could have pushed for 3 sets, maybe 11-10-9. Finished the squats at 7:59. I planned to try going 3-3-2-2 on the rings, but had to go 3-2-2-2-1 instead. Had enough time left to get in 1 burpee.

Achievement unlocked… 💯% CrossFit Open Workouts!!

Midline / Skill / Conditioning

img_8092“Annie Up”

  • 50-40-30-20-10 Zeus DU
  • 25-20-15-10-5 GHD Sit-ups

I kept playing around with different rep schemes when planning my workouts for the week, mainly focused on getting in a bunch of GHD volume. At the last minute I decided on this upgrade to an already upgraded “Annie” I’ve done a couple of times with a regular rope. My best time had been 6:04 just over a year ago when I did it last. It’s a lot different with the Zeus rope and I have to admit I didn’t put the pedal to the floor today on this.

I did start off with a PR unbroken set of 35 Zeus dubs and then 15 to finish the 50. In the round of 40 I went 13-15-12 and then the 30-20-10 were each done unbroken. I never stopped when I was on the GHD but wasn’t going very fast either. Ended up taking 7:44.

Now I think I’ll hit the golf course (rode a quick 9 holes before leagues) and do a 23 minute ROMWOD tonight.

Vaughn Is Complete

Did a 22 min ROMWOD this morning and then sat around on my ass most of the day. This humidity is exhausting. Got to the gym a bit after 4.

Front Squat

Pause 5 seconds on the first rep of each set.

  • 6x20kg
  • 6×60
  • 4×90
  • 2×102
  • 6x2x111

Warming up the bar felt really heavy. Thought I’d have to go with the minimum 3 second pause. Just took some sets to get loose I guess because the working sets felt really good.

Snatch balance + OHS

  • 2x20kg
  • 2×33
  • 2×40
  • 2×50
  • 1×60
  • 1×68
  • 1×74
  • 1×80
  • 1×85
  • 1×89
  • 1×92

The instructions were to go for a max today. Finally on something! The last two sets were both PRs on my snatch balance, beating the 195# I’d done previously. Glad not to have any misses, even with the extra overhead squat. Maybe could have gone heavier, but it was time to move on with a lot of reps left in the session. Maybe wore the belt starting with 74?

Snatch

3 second lift off on every rep.

  • 3x20kg
  • 3×40
  • 3×50
  • 3×60
  • 3×70
  • 3×75
  • 2×80
  • 1×80
  • 3x1x85

I think I started dropping between reps with 60 kilos. I went for the 3rd rep in a row with 80 but was breathing pretty good already and just rushed it. Rested before making the final rep. First attempt with 85 was falling behind me. Felt pretty solid to make the final 3 singles.

Clean & Jerk

Clean with 3 second lift off and jerk with 3 second pause in split.

  • 3x40kg
  • 3×60
  • 2×80
  • 2×91
  • 2×98
  • 2x1x104
  • 2x1x111

Wore the belt with 91 and over. Started to feel my back a little with the final weight.

That’s a wrap on the Vaughn program! Excited to switch it up and get back to doing some lifts without pauses or tempo. This was a really solid base program though. It took me 5 weeks and 3 days to get through, which isn’t too bad considering I had a minor back tweak that set me back and spaced the workouts out a bit more to help my body recover.

I’m going to do a few different things for the rest of this week and probably part of next week, but continue running, and then start a new lifting program middle to late next week.

Pace By 100s

Felt a little tight this morning but nothing noticeably sore. Headed over to Heritage High School after 10am. Warmed up with an easy 400m jog.

Aerobic Capacity – VO2 Max

  • 4x200m with 1:00 rests
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 3x300m with 1:00 rests
  • 3:00 Rest
  • 2x400m with 1:00 rest

The target pace was 20-22 seconds per 100m for each interval. No issues on the 200s going in 42, 40, 40, and 38 seconds. That extra 100 meters in the 300s started to burn a little, but still no problem in 0:58, 0:59, and 1:01. I knew the 400s would be a good challenge, but made the targets there too with 1:22 and 1:25. Walked 700m to cool down. Easy day as far as volume goes.

2016-09-06-ac.jpg
✅ Week 6 of Aerobic Capacity

Might go to the driving range to work on my swing after lunch. I have a chiro appointment tonight and will do a 45 minute ROMWOD at some point. Otherwise taking it easy today.

Jerk Off

Woke up with my hips feeling a little tight from all of those wall balls and air squats. Did a 20 minute ROMWOD this morning. Opened up the gym at 11am.

Hang Power Clean (above knee)

  • 5x20kg
  • 5×40
  • 3×60
  • 3×75
  • 3×86
  • 3×92
  • 2×98
  • 2×105

Felt really good and Alex said my timing was on point with no bar crashing.

Clean Deadlift

  • 3x115kg
  • 3×130
  • 7x3x138

Wore straps for all of the sets. Easy.

Split Jerk

Was programmed to do 6 singles in the 85-95% range. If it felt good warming up, I planned to go heavier, and I did.

  • 3x20kg
  • 3×40
  • 3×60
  • 2×80
  • 1×90
  • 1×100
  • 1×108
  • 1×115
  • 1×120
  • 1×124
  • 1×128
  • 1×132
  • Missed 136 twice

Wanted that three hundo so I set my jumps to get there. After I felt really low to get the 132, I think it got in my head. The two attempts with 136 weren’t very committed, but I know what it feels like now. No surprise…it feels really fucking heavy! My last make was only 1 kilo under my best so I’m happy with it. The PR was from December and my 130 C&J PR was in January so it’s been a long time since I attempted a heavy jerk. Alex set a 2kg PR with 130 and then also made a couple of attempts with 136.

One big session left on the Vaughn program.

Midline & Gymnastics

6 Sets

  • 10 Weighted GHD Sit-ups (25#)
  • 5 Strict Ring Pull-ups

The 5# jump wasn’t a big deal. I liked the strict pull-up variation on the rings, which is supposed to translate over to the muscle-up.

Sitting around the house in the afternoon, I felt exhausted. Didn’t expect the workout to take that much out of me. Finally got in the shower and moving around to get out of the house. Played a fast 18 holes of golf (cart) and did another 20 minute ROMWOD at night.

Legs On Fire

Warm-up

  • Ladder Footwork Drills
  • 20 PVC Pass Thrus

Accessory

  • 5 Pendlay Rows (45#)
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (95#)
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (125#)
  • 8 Evil Wheels
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (155#)
  • 8 Evil Wheels
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (175#)
  • 8 Evil Wheels
  • 5 Pendlay Rows (185#)

Used an underhand (supinated) grip on the rows. I have a feeling I’m going to have sore abs tomorrow. Usually stick to sets of 4-5.

Grip / Carry Work

  • 400m Pinch Plate Carry (2×25#)

Getting easier to go longer without having to rest.

Conditioning

4 Cycles

  • 20 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)
  • 20 Air Squats
  • 200m Run
  • 3:00 Rest

My rounds were 1:57, 1:55, 1:57, and 1:58. That final round of air squats was getting me and I had to take 2-3 brief stops instead of busting them out non-stop. Was able to pick up the pace since it was the last run to make up for the lost time. This was exactly the leg burner I planned it to be; did not want to head out the door running after the 40 squats.

Played 18 holes of golf, but rode in the cart. I’m going to skip ROMWOD today and make it up tomorrow.

Hangin’ Snatch

Got to the gym at 10 and warmed up with Crossover Symmetry Activation.

Back Squat

E2M

  • 6×45#
  • 6×135
  • 3×205
  • 3×255
  • 7x3x285

Felt solid. Wore the belt for the 7 working sets.

Hang Snatch (above knee)

Pause 2 seconds above knee and 2 seconds in OHS.

  • 3x20kg
  • 3×40
  • 3×50
  • 2×55
  • 1×60
  • 1×65
  • 1×70
  • 1×75
  • 1×80
  • 1×85
  • 1×88
  • 1×90

Happy to not miss any of these this week. I was a bit toe-sy on the last couple, but saved them. Pretty sure the last two were both PRs from the hang.

Snatch Lift Off

  • 2x105kg
  • 2×110
  • 3x2x115

No straps and used a hook grip for all sets. These are tougher on my grip than anything else.

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Iron Scap and was out of there in about 90 minutes. Was nice to have done the push presses last night.

After the Michigan game I laced up my shoes and hit the pavement.

Aerobic Capacity – Aerobic Threshold

  • 35:00 Easy Aerobic Run
    • 8x40s Fast Surges

I did the surges every 4 minutes starting at 3:00. Took me a few to settle in and then I started to notice my body naturally adjusting. I’d slow more after each surge for maybe 30-60 seconds, but then as my heart rate recovered my pace picked back up without me concentrating on doing it. Pretty cool actually. I went a total of 3.72 miles and then walked just over a half mile back to the house.

I’ll do a 21 min ROMWOD tonight, which completes 5 weeks.

Good Intentions

Woke up early to lift before golf, but I didn’t have the energy, so I knocked out a 22 min ROMWOD instead. Probably better for my game anyway instead of heavy lifting that could tweak my back. Also did 20 minutes of e-stim which I’ve been doing almost every night too. Played another solid round of golf and walked the course for the 3rd time this week. Had to mow the lawn and then wanted to get in some lifting so that there wasn’t so much to do tomorrow.

Push Press

E2M

  • 6×45#
  • 6×95
  • 3×135
  • 3×165
  • 7x3x185

Easy. Planned to get in the back squats too, but it was a long day already and not the best idea slightly buzzed up. Tomorrow is another day.