OLY and Beers

I wanted to get in to the box for the WOD this morning, but it was heavy on the DUs. Since I’m not doing any jump rope for a few weeks, to let my neck heal, I went for a 2.18 mile hike at Piestewa Peak instead. I did make it in for the Olympic lifting class at noon, especially since people were bringing beers and sticking around afterwards. In class we worked on the different steps of the clean and jerk. I worked up to 155# and stopped there because my arms and elbows weren’t feeling very good from yesterday’s Open workout. Then I did 4 sets of RDLs with the same 155#. Hung out for about an hour and a half shooting the shit with everyone. Made it out to walk 18 holes of twilight golf.

2012 CrossFit Games Open Workout 12.5

Today was the day. The end of the 2012 CrossFit Games for me. When the workout was announced I wasn’t too excited because I’m not good at thrusters or chest to bar pull-ups. I knew I’d give it my best though.

Open Workout 12.5

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:

  • 3 Thrusters
  • 3 C2B Pull-ups
  • 6 Thrusters
  • 6 C2B Pull-ups
  • 9 Thrusters
  • 9 C2B Pull-ups
  • 12 Thrusters
  • 12 C2B Pull-ups
  • 15 Thrusters
  • 15 C2B Pull-ups
  • …

If you complete the round of 15, go on to 18, increasing the reps by 3 with each new round as far as you can go. Thrusters are done using 100#.

I did a slow 400m row and a bunch of stretching as a warm-up. My goal was to get through the rounds of 12, to give me 60 reps. In the end I managed 58 total reps with some no-reps on the C2B pull-ups otherwise I would have hit my goal. I won’t know my final placing until Tuesday night, but it looks like I’ll beat about 25% of men. That’s a success in my book since I started CrossFit on the last day of October (less than 5 months ago) and my goal was to beat 10% of the guys.

This was my first CrossFit competition and I’m hungry for more. However, I am glad this one is over so I can get back to a regular workout schedule without having to fit in a special workout every week. The CrossFit Games Open have taught me that overall strength is my greatest weakness. When the weights get heavy I struggle and fatigue fast. My endurance is probably better than average, but I hit a point where my muscles don’t have much left in them to crank out reps. I’m already looking forward to the 2013 Open to see how much I can progress in a year.

Now that I’m done with all 5 workouts, I can finally wear the Reebok CrossFit Games Open shirt I bought after I registered. I told myself I wouldn’t put it on until I completed the competition.

More Neck Work

I dropped my brother off at the airport not too long ago. Took him out for a hike this morning. I went about 2 miles.

After I dropped him off I headed back to the chiropractor for my 2nd adjustment. The Doc said it was easier to get things moving, which I guess is good. He wants me to focus an stretching out my upper chest and shoulder area today and keep going with the ice on my neck.

Hopefully I’ll be well rested to do Open workout 12.5 tomorrow morning.

Adjusting My Neck

Yesterday I went to the chiropractor for the first time in my life. After dealing with DU headaches for several weeks I figured it was time to get some help. The Doc loosened me up, cracked my neck and back, and suggested I keep coming in for a couple of weeks. He thinks I probably sprained or strained my neck which has caused swelling. With all of the nerve endings in the spinal area, it can cause headaches and a variety of other problems. He told me to ice the neck and make sure I move my head and neck around throughout the day. He also said that jumping rope or running could cause the most problems because of the repetitive pounding it causes. So, for the most part, everything was as I had predicted. After getting the adjustment, the rest of the day was pretty miserable. I had a slight throbbing headache the entire time I was out playing golf, but it did go away once I got home and was able to ice it. I’m glad to be on track to getting fixed up.

The 5th and last Open workout was announced last night. Thrusters and chest to bar pull-ups are not my strengths, but I’ll do my best. Since today’s WOD at the box involved DUs and some of the same type of movements in 12.5, I decided not to go in. I jumped on the stationary bike at the fitness center in my apartment complex for 30 minutes and went 7.13 miles. I used what the machine called a fat burning workout.

Suicide Sprints

Final scores are in after the 4th workout of the CrossFit Games Open. Thanks to a good showing I made a big jump up to 1,241st out of 1,733 in the South West region and 17,235th out of 24,995 in the world, which puts me right around beating 30% of the mean in each, way above my goal of 10%. One workout remaining. I bet we’ll see deadlifts paired with one other movement.

Warm-up

5m Mini flight simulator (5-10-15-20-25-30-25-20-15-10-5 unbroken DUs)

I was only able to get up to 15 unbroken. My DU headache started about 1:30 in to the 5 minutes and I still have a bit of it 30 minutes after the workout. I may go see a chiropractor about my neck. Since I started having a little soreness there I haven’t been able to crack my neck, which I’ve always done. Maybe (hopefully) I just have a little alignment issue causing these problems.

Strength

5 Sets

  • 8-10 DB Push Press, 2-0-X-1 tempo
  • 45s Rest
  • MAX Dips
  • 3m Rest

I started with 35# DBs for the first two sets, then went 40#, 45#, and 50#, with 10 reps each round. The 50s were definitely my limit at the end. I used the rings for dips and was able to do 8, 7, 8, 7, and 5 dips for a total of 35.

WOD

5 Rounds

  • 20 yard Suicide Sprint (10y down and back)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 1m Rest

My kind of WOD. Splits for each round were within a 1 second difference. The one minute of rest was enough to catch my breath and keep going at full throttle. Finished in 6:32.

Now we wait for the final workout of the CrossFit Games Open to be announced…

Swing Some More

Didn’t get as much sleep as I’d like last night because I had to get up early. I had a golf lesson scheduled for 10am so went in to the 8am open gym to do today’s WOD.

Warm-up

  • 400m Run
  • 2x
    • 10 Swimming Supermans
    • 10 PVC Pass Thrus
    • 10 Flamingos (5 each side)

Strength

3 Sets

  • MAX Push-ups, 2-0-X-0 tempo
  • 45s Rest
  • 6-8 Romanian DL, 3-0-1-1 tempo
  • 3m Rest

For the push-ups I was able to do 30, 22, and 18 reps. For the RDLs I started with 135#, went to 155#, and finished with 205#. I was able to do 8 reps on the first 2 sets, but only 6 on the last set.

WOD

4 Rounds – Against a 4-minute running clock, with 4-minutes rest between sets, complete four sets of the following for max reps of pull-ups.

  • 500m Row
  • 30 KBS
  • MAX Pull-ups
  • 4m Rest

This was brutal. Using a 53# KB, the swings add up quickly. I completed all 30 unbroken in the 1st round, but broken them into 15-15 for rounds 2 and 3, then 20-10 for the final round. I was able to knock out 8, 5, 2, and 3 pull-ups.

Bact At It

I did not want to get out of bed this morning. After some short nights of sleep in Las Vegas, it felt great to be back to my apartment and getting a full night of sleep. It was great to have a few complete rest days from working out, but now I have to hit it hard to work off the brunch buffet I dominated 3 days in a row.

Warm-up

2x

  • 10 PVC OHS
  • 10 KBS
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 10 GHD Sit-ups
  • 10 Hip Extensions

I used a 53# KB for the swings.

Strength

3 Sets

  • 8-10 Bulgarian Split Squats, 3-0-X-0 tempo
  • 30s Rest
  • 8-10 SA Trap 3 Raises, 2-1-1-1 tempo
  • 30s Rest

For the split squats I held 25# DBs and used a 10# DB for the Trap Raises. This little strength session was harder than it looks, especially after 3 days of unhealthy eating and little sleep. I think I was also dehydrated from the weekend because I was peeing yellow this morning and started to get a headache (different from the headaches I’ve been getting with DUs) towards the end of this.

WOD

3 Rounds

  • 15 DB Thrusters
  • 400m Run

My quads had just recovered from the 150 wall balls, so of course today’s WOD would involve thrusters! I used 35# DBs, which was a challenge. I finished in 8:52. I was definitely not feeling like myself today, especially during the runs. Tomorrow is another day.

2012 CrossFit Games Open Workout 12.4

After the third workout of the Open I was 1,526th out of 1,930 in the South West region and 21,310th out of 28,234. My goal is to finish ahead of 10% of the men and I’m in the 20-25% range (I don’t feel like doing exact calculations right now). I’m really happy with that so far. Since I’m heading out of town for the weekend I needed to hit the next workout this morning.

Open Workout 12.4

12m AMRAP

  • 150 Wall balls (20lbs to 10′ target)
  • 90 DUs
  • 30 Muscle-ups

That’s a full “Karen” WOD followed by DUs and muscle-ups!

I guess it’s a good thing I got a band-assisted muscle-up yesterday since I’ve never done any muscle-up before. My goal was to finish the wall balls and DUs and get at least one muscle-up. I was close to getting a strict one yesterday before class started. I knew a key for this workout was going to be limiting no-reps with the wall balls. Make every rep count or else it’s just wasted energy and time.

I warmed up with a 400m row and got into it. The first minute went well and I got through 30 wall balls. Ahead of the 20-25 pace I was shooting for. Somewhere in the next minute or two things really slowed down though. I finished wall balls around 9:00, leaving me 3:00 to get through DUs and maybe a muscle-up. One week ago there would have been no chance of getting through the DUs, but practicing 5-10 minutes each day has paid off. I was a little worried when I only had 25 DUs after the 10:00 mark, but I picked up the pace towards the end and finished them with 10-15 seconds on the clock. Time for one hurried muscle-up attempt. Haha! Nothing left in the gas tank. Shoulders and arms were fried from the wall balls.

Final tally was 240 reps, which I think it going to a pretty common score in this workout. I’ll take it. I’m happy I at least had time to make an attempt at a muscle-up. I rowed a slow 1k as a cool down.

I’m on vacation for the next week and hitting the road to Las Vegas in a bit. I’m looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation before coming back on Sunday night. I’ll be back to the box on Monday morning to work off what I gain in Sin City.

Always Something New

I’ve been working out at CrossFit Full Strength for two and a half months now and I still end up doing some movement or new stretch I’ve never done at least once or twice a week. “Constantly varied” is exactly right when it comes to CrossFit. My legs are sore from back squats and particularly my inner thighs. Feels so good though!

Last night I did a bit of DU practice and I’m able to string together streaks consistently now. I don’t even start with singles first, which I think has helped. Start spinning that rope, but don’t jump for the first time until the rope is about to reach your feet and then start the fast wrist action and get right into doubles. Once again though, the headache came on while doing them. I’ve been doing some neck mobility a couple of times a day to try and loosen things up.

Warm-up

  • 2x
    • PVC Shoulder Mobility
    • 10 PVC OHS
    • 3 Groiners (each leg)
  • 400m Run

Strength

5 Sets

  • 8-10 DB Russian Step-ups (each leg)
  • 15s Rest
  • 30-45s Side Planks (each side)
  • 45s Rest

Russian step-ups are something new to me. I used a 24 inch box and 30# DBs, while doing 10 per leg in each set. I’m going to be feeling those for a few days. For the side planks I went a full 45 seconds on each side. You wouldn’t think it, but this work got me dripping with sweat.

Update: An hour and a half later I can barely walk. The Russian step-ups really worked the hamstrings.

WOD

12m AMRAP

  • 6 HSPUs
  • 9 Ring Dips
  • 12 HR Push-ups

Push, push, and push some more. This WOD was all about fatigue in the push motion. After the first round there wasn’t much left in the tank. More time was spending resting than working, but I was still out of breath at the end. For the HSPU sI used 2 AbMats because I die quickly using 1 and I knew it was going to be an issue with 2. The ring dips and HR push-ups were Rx. After round 1 I had to do a lot of kipping on the HSPUs. At the end I managed to get through 3 rounds plus 3 HSPUs.

Open workout 12.4 gets announced later today and I’m going to do it tomorrow morning because I’m driving up to Las Vegas for the weekend right after. My prediction is that we’ll see deadlifts, DUs, and a body weight movement such as HSPUs, HR Push-ups, or muscle-ups. But… I’m hoping I’m wrong on those last 3 because of today’s WOD.

Speaking of muscle-ups… I’ve been toying around with them a bit before and after classes this week. Today we set a rack with a band around the dip bars right under the rings. I stood on the band, got my false grip on the rings and completed an assisted muscle-up on my second attempt! I was done there though because of how dead my shoulders were from the WOD. I’m going to have these down before I head back to Michigan.

Maybe My Favorite WOD

Feeling good this morning.

Warm-up

  • 600m Run
  • 2x
    • 3 World’s Greatest Stretch (each side)
    • 10 Burpees

I got a little headache during the warm-up. I wonder if the pre-workout drink I started taking has something to do with it.

Strength

4 Sets

  • 2-3 Back Squat, 3-0-X-1 tempo
  • 20s Rest
  • 15 KBS
  • 3m Rest

Did one warm-up set of back squats at 135#. Then used 185#, 200#, 210#, and 220# for the working sets and was able to get 3 reps each set. For the first time I didn’t feel like I was tipping forward when I started to come up. 3 reps at 220# beats my previous best of 1 rep there. I used the 70# KB for the first time today. It was an ass kicker, but I got through each set unbroken.

WOD

4 Rounds, 2m each round, 2m rest between rounds

  • 250m Row
  • MAX Squat Cleans with remaining time

This might be my favorite WOD I’ve done since starting CrossFit. Going straight from the row to squat cleans was a killer on the quads. I finished the row in less than a minute each round and then used 115# on the bar. Knocked out 7, 6, 5, and 6 squat cleans during the rounds. I should have been able to get 6 in round 3 as well, but I gave up on myself with 6 seconds left on the clock. Should have been just enough time for one last rep. I made sure not to let that happen again in the last round.