Tag: run

Weak with Heavy Overheads

Yesterday I was going to give an update on the Paleo Challenge, but forgot. The challenge officially started last Wednesday, but I started on Monday. After one week I lost 5 pounds and dropped 1% off my body fat. I posted A Week of Strict Paleo on my main blog that outlines what I ate and gives a bit more info if you are interested.

Today is the sorest I’ve been full-body-wise in a long time. Those prowler sprints from yesterday and the back squats on Sunday did a number on my body.

Warm-up

5 rounds:

  • 15 MB Full Squat Cleans
  • 150m Run

Pretty easy warm-up. I used a 20# MB and finished in 8:55.

WOD

  • 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Clean & Press
  • 1 round of “Cindy”

First, I’ll explain how this works. The number of Clean & Presses increases each time around, but there is only 1 round of “Cindy” to do each round. Make sense? Good. What’s a round of “Cindy” you ask? It comes from the benchmark girl WOD of the same name and is:

  • 5 Pull-ups
  • 10 Push-ups
  • 15 Air Squats

I’m not sure what it is, but when there is heavy overhead work with a lot of reps I really struggle. Look back to the WOD that had fifteen 95# thrusters in each of 5 rounds as an example. Today had a similar outcome. Maybe it has something to do with my height and long arms. Or maybe I’m just a weak-ass pussy!

I used 135# for the clean and press and snuck under the 33 minute time limit, with 2 seconds to spare, for a time of 32:58. The rounds of “Cindy” were actually pretty easy. I did all of the pull-ups and push-ups unbroken each round. I usually split up the air squats to 10-5, but should have pushed myself more there because my endurance fades fast with air squats.

I was going along and for some stupid fucking reason decided to figure out how many reps were left. In total you have 55 clean and press to do, half of those (27) are in the last 3 rounds! I tried to keep pushing as much as I could, but I was gassed. It was a great workout though and I’ve been wanting to get in some moderately heavy clean work, so that was great. The “Cindy” rounds were a good primer for Monday’s Memorial Day Murph.

Since it took me so long to do the WOD I didn’t get to do the Finisher, which was ten 40-yard sprints with a walk back as the rest.

You Never Know What You Might Miss

I was planning to take the day off, but felt good and was itching for a workout, so I went in to the 5:30pm class. I’m glad I did, because we worked on a bunch of new stuff and some things I really need work on.

Warm-up

3 Rounds:

  • 1m Sledge Hammer Slams
  • 1m Ring Push-ups
  • 1m Touch Jumps for Height
  • 1m Plank
  • 1m Wall Squat
  • 1m Prison Squats
  • 1m Rest

This was a nice switch-up from the norm and several new things.

WOD

  • 10-20-30-40-50 Pistols
  • 5-10-15-20-25 HSPUs
  • 100m-100m-200m-200m-300m Run

I’ve never tried more than 1 or two pistols in a row, so I grabbed a 12″ box to assist me when I couldn’t do them anymore. The round of 10 was kind of rough and I was falling all over the place, but as the rounds went on pistols actually got easier and easier because I learned how to control my body for them. Balance is huge for these one-legged bastards. I made it all the way through the workout doing them Rx on my first day doing them. Total of 75 per leg, which I’m sure to be feeling tomorrow. I started off doing Rx HSPU and knocked out the first 5 strict for a new PR. Next time around I got 9 in a row with a few kipping, blowing away the PR I just set. I think I had to add in an AbMat during the next round and was using 2 AbMats by the end. I was kind of slow, but kept pushing and finished with a time of 31:52.

Strength

Some people stayed after class and did some OHS. I did a set of 5 at 85#, a set of 3 at 105#, a set of 4 at 115#, and then went for a 1RM at 130#. I failed on the first attempt, but tried again and slowed myself down to keep steady. Got it up for a new PR.

If I had taken a rest day I would have missed out on a lot of great stuff today.

Smooth Double Unders

No surprise my legs are sore today after the last two WODs. This morning I drove up to Rogers City to visit the family for the weekend, so I have very limited workout equipment.

Warm-up

Went for a 2.62 mile run in 22:59. Pace was nice and steady throughout the run.

Strength

3 rounds:

  • MAX Push-ups
  • 1m Plank
  • 2m Rest

I set a new PR for unbroken push-ups in the 1st round with 40, then did 25 and 20. The planks were tougher than normal because it was right after push-ups which already work a lot of the same muscles.

WOD

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10

  • DUs
  • Sit-ups

I haven’t done DUs more than a couple of times since I left Phoenix, but wanted to test myself in something today. “Annie” seemed like a good one because it doesn’t require any special equipment other than the jump rope I keep in my vehicle and it would be a good chance to practice them.

My time was 8:26. I did the best DUs I’ve ever done! The set of 30 was completely unbroken and there were only a couple of streaks where I didn’t string together at least 10 in a row. For the sit-ups I sat on a towel with my feet flat on the ground. I laid back until my shoulder blades hit the ground and sat up until I could touch the top of my shoes without reaching too much.

Sweat Me a River

The humidity is picking up and so is the temperature. Just over 80 degrees tonight during class. I need to make the switch to mornings, but there are some good athletes that go to the 4:15pm or 5:30pm classes, which makes you push harder.

Warm-up

  • Tabata Mountain Climbers
  • Tabata Monkey Fuckers
  • Tabata Bear Crawls

WOD

3 rounds

  • 200m Run
  • 50 Ring Rows
  • 30 KBS
  • 10 SDLHP
  • 200m Run

Yes, that’s a run to start and end each round, so you end up running a couple of 400s unless you take a break between rounds. I used a 55# KB for the swings (American) and a 71# KB for the SDLHPs. Doing that many ring rows was the biggest trouble for me. I had to split them up into sets of 5 for the most part and even some smaller sets. My hands are hurting from earlier in the week and I still have a good blister from the 350 Russian KBS the other day. I finished in 29:37.

Strength

Work up to a 1RM Clean and Jerk, doing 1 rep each minute. My sets were 135#, 155# 165#, 175#, 180#, and 185#. I did a full clean on the last two reps and on my last jerk my split was so small I’m not even sure you could call it a split. I had to muscle it up because I didn’t get under the bar. That’s a 5# PR on the clean, 15# PR on the jerk, and 20# PR on the combination. Not a bad day at the gym!

Packed House

Biggest class I’ve attended, but Tuesday is usually pretty big because there is only a 5:30pm and a 7pm at night. I think we had 18 or 20 people there. It’s cool to see the box growing especially in the new space.

Warm-up

3 Rounds:

  • 200m Run
  • 50 Jumping Jacks
  • 50 High Knees
  • 50 Butt Kicks

Pretty easy warm-up, but it did its job and got the blood flowing.

WOD

15:00 AMRAP

  • 5 Box Jumps
  • 10 Wall Balls

I used a 28 inch box and a 20# MB. Started out strong going rep for rep with the fittest guy in the gym, but I couldn’t keep up and fell 2 rounds behind him by the end. I completed 15 rounds + 4 box jumps, so that’s an entire Karen in there.

AB WOD

5 Rounds:

  • 1m Russian Twists
  • 30s Side Plank on each side
  • 1m Ab Crunch
  • 1m Hand Plank
  • 1m Scissor Kicks
  • 1m Rest

I used a 30# KB for the Russian twists which was plenty with all of the other stuff in there. The ab crunches were probably the hardest but nothing was easy I guess. Had to take breaks during most everything except the side planks and only one short break during the hand planks.

Great workout today and probably the most I’ve sweated during a CrossFit workout since I started. I feel like I lost 5 pounds. It’s not even 60 degrees out, so I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when it gets in the 80s or 90s with high humidity.

Last Day in Seaside

Warm-up

Ran 2.09 miles in 17:04. Running an 8 minute per mile pace has become incredibly easy for me due to CrossFit.

Strength

5 sets

  • 5 Leg Press
  • 1m Rest
  • 5 Seated Row
  • 1m Rest

For the leg presses I set the machine to 145#, 175#, 190#, 220#, and 250#. I wanted to simulate heavy squats. Probably could have gone heavier throughout, but I had no idea how I’d do on the machine. For the seated rows I had a pretty good idea of my strength there since I used the machine earlier in the week. I went with settings at 100#, 130#, 145#, 160#, and 175#.

WOD

I went with a pretty simply workout to finish off my week. 200 Russian Twists with a 30# DB for time. I finished it in 4:21.

8 is Great

Warm-up

Didn’t push hard on the run, just a nice easy pace and did it in 9:14.

Strength

5 sets

  • 5 Rotary Shoulder
  • MAX Pull-ups
  • 1-2m rest

For the rotary shoulder I set the machine to 100#, 115#, 130#, 145#, and 160#. I set a new PR on my first set of pull-ups by getting 8. For the other sets I completed 6, 6, 6, and 5 reps.

WOD

5 rounds

  • 20 Sit-ups
  • 15 Push-ups
  • 10 Push Presses

I used 35# DBs for the push presses and they got really tough after the 2nd round, but I powered through and finished in a time of 10:14.

Making the Most of Machines

This morning I headed over to the fitness center in Seaside, FL, which we get access to. Pretty nice facility with a lot of nice machines, an assortment of DBs, and some other equipment.

Warm-up

  • .58 mile run
  • 3 rounds
    • 15 Hip Extensions
    • 15 Sit-ups
    • 30s Plank
    • 10 One-arm KBS (each arm) using a 30# DB
    • 20 Band Walk Steps L
    • 10 Band Presses
    • 20 Band Walk Steps R
    • 10 Band Presses

Strength

4 sets

  • 10 seated row (100#, 115#, 130#, 160#)
  • 10 rotary chest (100#, 130#, 160#, 175#)

WOD

3 rounds

  • 10 Dips
  • 10 Pull-ups
  • 10 Squat Clean and Press using 40# DBs

My total time was 10:55. The squat cleans and presses were really draining on me.

Cool-down

0.34 mile run

Overlooking the Beach

Yesterday I took a well-deserved rest day after the race. Flew out to Seaside, FL and will be here all week for a meetup with some people from work. This morning I headed out for a run and a WOD on the beach. I ended up doing my WOD on the flat part of this stairway with a view.

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Not a bad way to start the day!

I ran a 1.1 mile warm-up.

WOD

8 Tabata Rounds:

  • Plank (on hands)
  • Push-ups
  • Sit-ups
  • Air Squats

Then I ran back the 1.1 miles again at a faster pace.