5/3/1 Cycle 2

Walked 18 holes yesterday and recovered from the Sweat & Steel team competition at CrossFit Deviate on Sunday. In at 10am this morning. First day back in the box after the week in Vancouver to deload. Was really looking forward to lifting today.

Warm-up

Did a 450m run and not much else.

Strength

Back Squats – 5/3/1 Cycle 2 Week 1

  • 5 @ 120# (40% of training max – warm)
  • 5 @ 150# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 180# (60% – warm)
  • 5 @ 195# (65#)
  • 5 @ 225# (75%)
  • 5+ @ 255# (85%)

I wasn’t feeling that great during the last set and started to get to the “dark place” way too early. Felt my left side lagging behind on some of the reps. Managed to knock out 9 before I had to dump the bar on the 10th. Disappointing because in week one of the first cycle I did 12 at 250#. I seem to be going backwards with my squat since that week. I figured I’d be able to hit it hard after not squatting for a week. Maybe the pistols from the competition had me fatigued or maybe I’m not using the bounce enough. Something is definitely whacked!

Olympic Lifting

I warmed up with about 5 minutes of snatch position work with 45# on the training bar.

3:00 EMOM

  • 3 Snatches (95#)

3:00 Rest

3:00 EMOM

  • 2 Snatches (115#)

3:00 Rest

3:00 EMOM

  • 1 Snatches (125#)

Last time I did 5 minutes of the first two and was hitting good positions, so stepped it up a notch and tried 125# today. Felt pretty solid. I’m going to continue building up slow each session like this to make sure I’m really enforcing the change. Next thing I need to work on is not throwing my head back so violently. I tried to stay focused on a spot on the wall today during some reps and it actually felt better overall. All reps were squat snatches.

WOD

8 Rounds

  • 30s Row
  • 30s Rest

I tried to really push my pace and was able to stay very consistent, within 10 meters for every interval. Stroke rate seems too high though.

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I actually felt a little out of sorts today. Not sure why with a light week and then a rest day yesterday.

Later at night I loaded up the sled with a total of 160# and went for a walk in the neighborhood. It was 0.84 miles in 22:23. The streets here are absolutely terrible for dragging a sled around.

Sweat & Steel 2013

Went down to CrossFit Deviate in Rochester for a 6 person team competition with Casey, Kevin, Michelle, Breanne, and Katy.

Event 1

Follow the leader style:

  • 25 Burpee Pull-Ups (8’/7′)
  • 500 Meter Row
  • 25 Wall Balls (30#/20#) ball must hit the black line (10′)

Not too bad for us guys since we could all jump most of the way up on the pull-up. The gals really struggled with the wall balls. I did mine in 10-10-5 because I had plenty of time. We finished at exactly 18:00 (the time cap) and were 7th out of 16 teams in the open division.

Event 2

3×3 Min AMRAP

  • 3:00 AMRAP Shoulder-to-Overhead (135#/95#)
  • 1:00 rest to change plates
  • 3:00 AMRAP Clean (185#/115#)
  • 1:00 rest to change plates
  • 3:00 AMRAP Deadlift (275#/185#)

You paired up a guy and a girl for each movement. Kevin and Michelle did out SH to OH, Casey and Breanne on the cleans, and Katy and I on deadlifts. We crushed this one finishing 5th. I did all of my deadlifts in sets of 5s until the end where I did a set of 9. I completed something like 45 reps in the 3 minutes!

Event 3 & 4

Completed as one 16 Min event, but scored independently.

4:00 AMRAP

  • 6 Muscle-Ups (3 each) One male and one female

I did the 3 MU and them Michelle attempted for the next 3 minutes to get her first one. Hurt us not having a girl who could do any. Tied for last with 3 other teams that also didn’t have a female with MU.

12:00 to find Max Weight Front Squat (remaining 4 members)

Everyone set or tied a PR but we finished down in the pack on this one as well in 10th or 11th I think. Somehow despite these two workouts we managed to stay in 9th place and get into event 5 for the top 10 teams.

Event 5

For Time – 12:00 Time cap

  • 90 HSPU
  • 90 C2B Pull-ups
  • 90 Pistols
  • 90 T2B

Teams were divided into 3 men and 3 women, with the men completing 2 of the movements and the women completing the other 2. Our guys did HSPU and pistols, which was different from most teams, but we had to because our girls would have died on HSPU and their pistols would have been way too slow. This hurt us because even though they got through the C2B, they were slow. We were the first team in our heat off of the wall by quite a bit, but quickly fell behind in the C2B. Our ladies got done withe 37 of the T2B before time ran out. We held on to 9th place, even moving up a bit in the points.

It was a really fun team event and I couldn’t believe we were in 6th place after the first two events against some top-level teams. I knew of at least 3 teams that went to Regionals and several other competitors went as individuals.

Keeping Pace

2.28 mile run in 18:23. My running pace is slacking. Last summer I could run an 8:00/mile pace for 3 or 4 miles without any problem but I was pushing it to keep that pace today. Could be the extra 15-20 pounds I’m carrying compared to last year.

Heading to Vancouver

My abs are still a little sore, which tells me I’m not doing enough sit-ups. Next week I’m in Vancouver for work and it’ll be all running and body weight stuff, so I’ll make sure to get in a bunch. Trained at 3pm for a couple of hours. Hit the barbell hard since it’ll be a week without it.

Warm-up

1,000m Row

Strength

5/3/1 Shoulder Press – Cycle 1 Week 3

  • 5 @ 60# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 75# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 90# (60% – warm)
  • 3 @ 110# (75%)
  • 3 @ 125# (85%)
  • 1+ @ 140# (95%)

Knocked out 5 reps on the last set for an estimated max of 163#, which is just under my 165# PR.

5/3/1 Front Squats – Cycle 1 Week 2

I wanted to get in an extra squat session for the week so decided to just pick this even though I hadn’t done week 1.

  • 5 @ 105# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 135# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 160# (60% – warm)
  • 3 @ 185# (70%)
  • 3 @ 210# (80%)
  • 3+ @ 240# (90%)

Trying to do a big set of front squats isn’t the easiest because it get’s really hard to breathe with the bar there for so long. I managed 6 reps, putting my estimated max at 287.5#, shy of my 295# PR. Felt good to get in some more squats for the week though.

Olympic Lifting

Trying to put a lot of time into snatches. Kevin’s help with some position stuff to work on meeting the bar with my hips and it’s really paying off.

Did about 10 minutes of position work with 45# on the training bar.

5:00 EMOM

  • 3 Snatches (95#)

Rested for 5:00.

5:00 EMOM

  • 2 Snatches (115#)

Felt great at 95#, so I wanted to see if I could keep it going with more weight. I was able to! I was getting such explosion behind some of them the bar got so high that I didn’t even have to drop under it and I ended up doing a power snatch. I did have one miss on the 2nd set, but stepped right up and ripped off two makes. I think I hit the hips on every rep in both EMOMs, which is probably more times hitting my hips than total before today. Need to keep doing this. Here’s one of the 115# lifts…

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 150m Run
  • 20 Pull-ups
  • 5 Curtis P (95#)

Wore the gymnastics grips to protect my hand. Felt pretty good. I split pull-ups down to 14-6, 10-6-4, and 10-6-4. Definitely need to add in more high rep pull-up sets. Finished in 9:06.

Garage Thirty

My abs are still sore from Tuesday! Walked 18 holes of golf this morning.

Had an itch to sweat, so jumped on the Air Dyne in the garage just after 8pm for a solid 30 minutes of work. Kept it steady at 67-70rpm to get 699 calories (I know, just one more!) and 16.27km.

Solo Session

My abs are sore from deadlifts and “Annie” on Tuesday, otherwise feeling good. Trained at 10am, but all alone today.

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • PVC Pass-thrus
  • 3:00 Air Dyne
  • Bottom Squat Hold

Strength

5/3/1 Back Squats – Cycle 1 Week 3

  • 5 @ 115# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 145# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 175# (60% – warm)
  • 5 @ 220# (75%)
  • 3 @ 250# (85%)
  • 1+ @ 280# (95%)

Squats felt better than Saturday. Recovery is crucial and hit the legs way too much last week. I stopped after 3 reps at 280# because the last one was a slow rep and I didn’t want to push it with nobody else there to spot or help me if something happened. On that last set it was the first time I’ve ever felt my hamstrings engage like that. Pretty cool! The 3 @ 280# puts my estimated max at 307.5#, which is low but I’m ok with that for this week, considering the situation.

5 Rounds NFT

  • 8 Font Rack Walking Lunges (155#)
  • 5 RDLs (205#)
  • 5 Strict Chin-ups

Felt really good. On my chin-ups I really tried to accelerate during the 2nd half and got my chin way above the bar.

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Olympic Lifting

10:00 of Snatch Position Work with 45# training bar

It didn’t feel as good as yesterday overall, but I did get some really good hip pops in there. My timing seemed really off. Maybe it had to do with my legs being fatigued from the strength work.

WOD

4 Rounds

  • 500m Row
  • 2:00 Rest

Went all out on the first 500 and set a new PR with 1:34.4. Obviously couldn’t maintain that but kept consistent on the next 3 with 1:44.9, 1:45.5, and 1:44.6. I need more of this stuff because I was really dying. Jason Khalipa rowed a 6:31 2k in the Games and I couldn’t even hit that with two minutes of rest between each 500m.

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While tearing out a stump, the landscaping crew snapped an AT&T line that went right though the stump. So without Internet, I headed back to the box at 6pm for open gym. Warmed up with about 3:00 on the Air Dyne.

OHS

  • 5 @ 95#
  • 4 @ 135#
  • 3 @ 155#
  • F @ 180#
  • F @ 180#

I was actually going to do 5 with 135# but lost it in the bottom of the last rep. I should have known right there it wasn’t going to be good. My abs are still wrecked from the deadlifts and “Annie” so I think that may have been a big part of it. This is 2 OHS sessions in a row that have been terrible though, with the last one being while I was still recovering from the Tough Mudder Crud.

Did a 1.02 mile sled drag with 115# in 26:14. Switched directions 3 times I think and took a minute or so to help Ellen strap up a sled.

A Big Retest

My low back isn’t feeling the greatest from yesterday’s deadlift session. Otherwise feeling good though. In at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Air Dyne
  • PVC Pass-thrus

Strength

5/3/1 Bench Press – Cycle 1 Week 3

  • 5 @ 85# (40% of Training Max – warm)
  • 5 @ 105# (50% – warm)
  • 3 @ 135# (60% – warm)
  • 5 @ 160# (75%)
  • 3 @ 180# (85%)
  • 1+ @ 200# (95%)

I used the Reactive Slingshot again for the working sets. I got 8 reps on the last set, but had a little issue with my right arm flaring out again. Gives me an estimated max of 253#, down from the 271.5# last lift.

Pullovers

3 x 15 with 60# DB

Olympic Lifting

I loaded up a training bar so it was only 35# to work on my snatch technique. Worked on keeping the bar close on the first pull and then getting to the hips on the second pull. I need to do this type of stuff a lot more often. I think we did 5-10 minutes of work.

WOD

  • 10 -> 1 HSPU
  • 10 -> 1 Ring Dips
  • 30 DU

Kevin had planned out just the first two movements and I remembered an almost identical WOD I did back in Phoenix, so we modified it for a retest. Back in January it took me 24:24 to finish. It’s the only WOD to ever put me in bed for the rest of the day and make me think I had rhabdo. I’d never done that many HSPU in a day before. Today I finished in 17:49 and feel great! Broke the HSPU up into 2 sets each round until I got to 4. Ring dips were 3 sets for most of the way and then some sets of 2 before doing the last 3 sets unbroken. Too many misses on middle rounds of DU. Huge improvement though and shows how far my strength has come.