Tag: 2017 CrossFit Games Open

17.5

Today was finally the day!

Warm-up

  • 5:00 Ski Erg (1,117 m)
  • 10 Thrusters (45#)
  • 20 DU
  • 10 Thrusters (75#)
  • 20 DU

Then I took my sweet time procrastinating before I started the clock. Flying solo in the garage isn’t easy for something like this.

CrossFit Games Open Workout 17.5

10 Rounds

  • 9 Thrusters (95#)
  • 35 Double Unders

Nobody wanted to listen, but I had told many during the Open that breaking up the thrusters would be smart. The workout is designed to make you think you have to do them unbroken, but most of us aren’t Regional level competitors (or even close). My plan all along was to go 5-4 with short planned rest. I did do the final round unbroken. Once I got to the bar after dubs or after my set of 5 I did a quick count to 3 and then it was time to pick the bar up. Worked out great and I was able to keep what felt like a steady pace, other than my misses with the rope. Finished in 13:28, which I’m excited about. Based off of friends’ scores we figured I’d be in the 14-15 minute range. I actually really liked that one and look forward to the next time.

No looping in this video!

With a video of course I had to geek out on some data.

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Consistent throughout. A better double under day, even limited to 1 miss per round, would have saved 20-30 seconds. I’m really proud of how I stuck to the strict rest between all thruster sets. Usually it’s too easy to take an extra few seconds here and there, which adds up to a lot.

Was bummed not to be able to get this in officially during the Open, especially after it went pretty well today. Had to tally up where I might have placed. For the workout I would have been 24,526 / 148,468 (16.5%) in the Open division and 3,147 / 28,206 (11.2%) in the Masters 35-39 division. Overall through the 5 weeks I would have had 139,975 points in the Open division, ranking me 20,616 / 201,951 (10.2%) and 18,825 points in the Masters 35-39 division for 2,455 / 38,106 (6.4%). Definitely my best fitness level to date! So close to that top 10%! Each year when I calculate, I base the % off of people who have submitted at least one score.

Back to my workout… After resting a bit, I wanted to get in some strength work from the PT.

Deficit Deadlifts

  • 10×95#
  • 5×135
  • 5×185
  • 5×225
  • 5x5x255

I stood on 45# competition plates. Good place to start with the loading. Wonder if I’ll feel these tomorrow.

deficit-deads

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.

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17.3 Fresh Off the Plane

I forgot to check overall standings before week 3 scores starting showing up on the leaderboard. My ranking on 17.2 was much better for me though.

  • Open: 25,442th
  • Masters 35-39: 3,129th

Nearly moved halfway up to the top of both overall leaderboards from where I was after week 1, but can’t really get exact numbers due to not looking last night.

Flew home from Austin today, but wanted to get in that first attempt. The plane landed at 7:15 and I was at the gym by 8:30.

Warm-up

  • 3:00 Airdyne
  • Banded shoulder mobility
  • Bottom Squat Hold
  • Snatch
    • 4×45#
    • 3×95#
    • 2×135#
    • 1×155#

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.

Wasn’t sure how to attack this one. Changed my mind a couple of times throughout the day and changed again at the gym after hearing how Bryan did it.

I went 3-3 for the first 3 sets of C2B and touch-n-go on all 3 sets of snatches because 95# really bounces all over the place. Had a solid split at 2:49. First set of 7 pull-ups was 3-2-2 and then a double followed by singles for the other 2 sets. All single snatches with 135#. I really hate doing single pull-ups because I take more break than you can afford. Made it under the 8 minute cutoff with 13 seconds to spare. Not great. I did 8 single C2B trying to calm myself down for the 185#. Took some breaths before giving it a pull and I was not prepared for it. That bar felt heavy as hell, I “Clarked” it, and nearly blacked out. So then I had to waste a bunch of time recovering and getting my head right before stepping back up. I made my next 4 attempts and went 3-3-2 on C2B. I was getting ready to take a pull on the snatch with less than 10 seconds left but my head wasn’t there so I didn’t even try.

So I ended up with a score of 92, which I was surprised by. I remember thinking last night that 90+ would be pretty good for a first attempt. I’m happy to have gotten the 4 reps with 185# because that’s around the load where my squat snatch starts to get really inconsistent in the catch. Will probably try a redo on Sunday or Monday.

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Looks like 17.3 will move me up nicely too. This is ranked as a level 87 on BTWB, which doesn’t even account for people doing scaled and I should be able to improve on my redo.

17.2 First Attempt

My upper back and shoulders were tight yesterday and legs were a little tired for part of the day. Feeling refreshed and ready to go today.

My standings after 17.1 were:

  • Open: 53,684 / 194,167 (27.6%)
  • Masters 35-39: 8,307 / 36,746 (22.6%)

I have some climbing to do. Hopefully that’ll be my worst placing. I’ve already dropped 6 pounds since that workout so cleaning up my diet is quickly leaning me back out.

Warm-up

  • Banded shoulder opening and stretching
  • Bottom squat hold
  • Air Squats
  • 3:00 Row
  • Various testing of DB positioning

CrossFit Games Open Workout 17.2

12:00 AMRAP

  • 2 Rounds
    • 50′ Weighted Walking Lunge (2×50# DBs)
    • 16 Toes-to-bars
    • 8 DB Power Cleans (2×50# DBs)
  • 2 Rounds
    • 50′ Weighted Walking Lunge
    • 16 Bar Muscle-ups
    • 8 DB Power Cleans
  • Every 5-foot interval of the 50″ (25″ out and back), represents 1 rep of the lunge.

Glad I figured out how to better link bar muscle-ups together last week! Definitely work my grips for this one. Had on knee sleeves but forgot to pull them up until after the first set of lunges. Jackass!

My steps on the lunges sucked. I stretched it out a couple of times but was just shy most of the rounds. I need to stretch out each step a little bit to speed those up. I did 4×4 on both rounds of T2B. Went 4-3-1 on the first 2 rounds of cleans and then 4-4 to get a faster tiebreaker. All doubles on the first time through muscle-ups. When I got back to them I started with a triple, got another, but missed the 2nd, and I think I missed another single. Hit the wall right there at the end. So finished with 116 reps and a tiebreak of 9:36. Michelle actually kept nice splits for me throughout.

My thumbs were rubbing on the dumbbells a bit during the lunges and I asked Alex to grab me a piece of tape. In that 4th set I did set them down after 25 feet and tried to quickly put the tape on. I’ll have to remember to tape up with my stretchy tape next attempt to save time there too.

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Like I said, my grip and forearms were fine throughout, after, and now back home typing this post. I think I can make up time by pushing the lunge steps longer to make sure I get there without stretching the final one or having to take a last short one. Then obviously doing that 4th set unbroken too. Should be able to do 6-5-5 on the T2B since it’s only 2 rounds with plenty of rest in between. Cleans will be 6-2 or 7-1. I think I’ll stick to doubles on the muscle-ups because I did end up hitting the wall right at the end, though I was rushing a bit. I’m worried if I try to do triples I will blow it out before I’m through the first 16.

Should be an easy redo. This is one of the more fun Open workouts I’ve done.

17.1 Redo

Confident I’d crush my previous score of getting through 215 reps in the 20 minute time cap. Plan was to switch hands in the air on all of the snatches, not stand up on the box, and reduce my steps by turning in the jump and stepping down backwards off the box.

Warm-up

  • Pass throughs, stretching, and twisting
  • 4:00 Airdyne
  • Did some of each movement getting the hand of better efficiency.

CrossFit Games Open Workout 17.1

  • 10 Dumbbell Snatch (50#)
  • 15 Burpee Box Jump-overs (24″)
  • 20 DB Snatch
  • 15 BBJO
  • 30 DB Snatch
  • 15 BBJO
  • 40 DB Snatch
  • 15 BBJO
  • 50 DB Snatch
  • 15 BBJO

Finished in 19:15! So much better. It hurt so much worse on the lungs though. It was considerably easier on my back without spending so much time bent over switching the dumbbell hands on the ground. Losing almost 4 pounds in the last couple of days probably helped on the burpees some. Look at the difference in my splits…

17-1-attempts-splits.jpg

Improved round 1 from 2:06 to 1:40, round 2 from 3:27 to 2:47, round 3 from 4:32 to 4:13, and round 4 from 5:43 to 5:24. Then to finish it off I did the round of 50s in 5:09, which was faster than I did the 40s! The snatch hand switch was much faster, but it was also harder on the shoulder and the lungs. I had to do the 30 is 3 sets of 10 today and still did the 40 in 4 sets of 10. I was able to do the 50 in one fewer set by going 14-12 and then 10-14 maybe? It took me forever to catch my breath.

Eventually jumped on the Airdyne for a nice 15:00 flush, going 3.53 miles.

Gymnastics

8 Rounds (Tabata)

  • 20s T2B
  • 10s Rest

Strapped on my grips and tried to match the 7s I’d done last time. Nearly made it. Did 6 sets of 7, then 6-1, and only managed 2-2-1 in the final set. I’ll take it though after all those DB snatches.

Bring on 17.2!

First Attempt @ 17.1

After seeing Ro vs. Boz last night I didn’t expect to finish 17.1. They were hurting!

Did a few heel drives and about 5 minutes on the Airdyne to warm-up, but not much else. The first sets of burpees and snatches would warm me up.

CrossFit Games Open Workout 17.1

  • 10 Dumbbell Snatch (50#)
  • 15 Burpee Box Jump-overs (24″)
  • 20 DB Snatch
  • 15 BBJO
  • 30 DB Snatch
  • 15 BBJO
  • 40 DB Snatch
  • 15 BBJO
  • 50 DB Snatch
  • 15 BBJO

Time cap: 20:00

The burpees crushed my soul. I’ve tried the stay low technique and it never worked for me, feeling like I’d face plant. I was really trying to limit my steps too but didn’t always work. I think I did the 10 and 20 snatches unbroken, then 15-15, and then sets of 10 with pretty short rest. Guess I was taking a bit of time to pick up the DB after the burpees though. I left 10 of the burpees on the table when time ran out for a score of 215, with a tiebreak (last completed round of burpees) at 15:48.

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I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, because I didn’t have expectations to finish. I did learn a lot from the attempt though. My splits after each set of burpees were 2:06, 5:33 (3:27), 10:05 (4:32), and 15:48 (5:43). I spent 4:12 in the final round, with 10 burpees to go. Look how much slower each round got with only adding 10 snatches; An extra 1:21 for the set with 20, then an extra 1:05 for the set with 30, and 1:09 more for the set with 40. If I kept pace on my final set of burpees the 50s round would have been faster than the 40s because I was trying to empty the tank.

With 2 exceptions in my first 5 Opens, I’ve always been a one-and-done Open athlete. One of those was when I had to do my first attempt the night of the announcement and then drive back to Michigan from Phoenix and the other was when I paced 15.2 way too much. Last year I was already thinking of giving myself the option to redo each workout for this year…

You just learn a lot the first time you do a workout. I’m already thinking next year I might just commit to doing every workout twice for a change and an interesting challenge. If they do introduce a 35-39 Masters division it would be fun to see how I rank with full effort and redoing workouts too. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I have to worry about making it into the Masters Qualifier. I’m far from that level.
16.4

My back is pretty tight and pumped right now, but hopefully I’ll recover well and can make a second attempt on Sunday or Monday. I’m going to finish! It’ll save me a lot of time if I switch hands on the way down instead of resetting every rep on the ground. Maybe a second per rep (150!) and hopefully it’ll save my back from not spending so much time bent over. I’m going to mess around with some different techniques getting over the box too because I wasted so much time there.

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Taking advantage of some e-stim on my back to speed up recovery.