Monday, January 18, 2010

Rough Day

I'm switching the order up and posting workout first, food second. On to today's workout.

Press 5-5-5+ @ 58.5%/67.5%/76.5% of my 1RM (85#)
50#-57#-60# x7
15 Handstand negatives

Didn't scream once (success!). Felt better on these, however I failed to maintain speed/stay on the wall every time Bryce was watching. And when I nailed it a few times and jumped up excited, he was talking to Chris... not watching. Once I hit the wall and fell immediately on my head. Yep - he saw that one. 

WOD#2 from the Rocky Mountain Regionals 2009
Three rounds for time of:
10 CTB pull-ups
10 Front Squats 165/105 or (50% of 1RM back squat)
10 burpees


Wow. Going in tonight I had a healthy respect for the workout. I was excited to go Rx'd on and '09 Regionals wod. I knew 105 was gonna be heavy, but I also knew I have done thrusters at 85# for 15 reps that were heavy but not heavy enough to crush me. I also knew that I could front squat, what, 1 1/2 times Rx'd weight so while this should hurt, I should be able to get through it.

What I didn't take into account was that the bar would start not on a rack, but from the ground. So, not only did I have to front squat that weight, I'd have to clean it. My 1RM squat clean is 105.

Of course, I didn't think about this until after I was standing in front of the bar 30 seconds or so into round one. Hitting my 1RM after not doing any cleans in the warm-up did not happen today. I tried. I really really tried. I tried over and over again. I focused on my breathing. I walked away from the bar and came back, trying to give myself enough energy to get the bar up. Trying to give myself enough of whatever I needed to get it up. I was trying to power clean the bar, and then Bryce told me to squat clean it. I was so flustered I didn't know what that meant. "Get under the bar. You're lifting the bar high enough to get under it, so just get under it." Oh, riiiiight, a squat clean. Receive the bar in a squat. Got it. Except, I just couldn't do it. I don't know how many times I tried and failed. I thought - maybe this is an opportunity for me to just pound away at this weight until I hit it. I'll get it, I know I will, I've done it before and it doesn't feel impossible, I'm just not getting it. Bryce came over and started to take weight off. I didn't want to go down in weight. I wanted to fight for it. I WANTED TO FUCKING GO RX'D. I decided the other day that no matter what, when I compete at sectionals, I'm going Rx'd. I don't care if the wod takes me all fucking day, I'm not lowering the weight and D'Qing. So that's what I wanted to do today - finish. Rx'd.

But I also know that I need to trust my coaches. One of the things that makes working out in a CrossFit box, and our box specifically, better than working out anywhere else is having coaches around to help you, to train you, to push you, and sometimes even to know what's best for you when you don't.

Recently I've been reading blogs and discussing with other athletes how we push ourselves when we should stop because we're too proud or frustrated or whatever the reason. I'm committed to listening to our coaches. I believe in them, and believe they want what's best from me and for me. I don't always agree with them, but I always do what they say. And tonight, when Bryce grabbed the bar and started taking the weight off, I simply reached down to the other side of the bar, asked what he was taking off and followed suit (dropping the weight to 85#). I was disappointed. I heard Chris shout that I had to get these unbroken now. Well, fuck, I was so far behind in this workout of course I had to! Plus, I told myself that if I wasn't gonna go Rx'd weight on the front squats then I would at least do them unbroken. Oh yeah, and the thought of more failed cleans was not especially appealing.

The burpees were next, and those went slower than usual as I felt defeated, but I was still pushing through. Not as fast as I wanted, but unbroken as well. I knew I had to push extra hard to get my head back in the game. Once I got to Round 2 though, I just sorta fell into the wod. I had things to do - 10 CTB, another fucking clean and then 10 front squats, more burpees and then 1 more round. I finished at 9:50.

After the wod, I was disappointed. I was irritated. I thought about how I was going to try this wod again with 85# or 95#. I thought about how I needed to improve my clean strength and technique. I hung out, I ate my post-wod meal, and I rested. I talked with Jonny for awhile about casual things (not relating to my workout, thankfully) and eventually I went home to make dinner and watch Heroes. I enjoyed eating my paleo chili and had a delicious cup of chocolate tea.

Tomorrow I'll have a whole wod's worth of cleans to fight through (I may ask to do full squat cleans instead of hang power cleans to strengthen that movement, since I struggled so with it today). At least I know I'll get an opportunity quickly to work on what I failed at today. So, at least there's that :) See you tomorrow.
--
Nutrition
9:30am - 3 oz. grassfed filet, 7 oz. of yellow peppers, eggplant, & portabella mushrooms sauteed in 1 t. coconut oil

10:30am - 1 T. sunbutter

1pm - 4 oz macademia crusted catfish, 2 T. sunbutter, 1/8 c. blueberries

6:20pm [Pre-wod] - 4 oz. imitation crab meat (all gone now - only good meat from here on out), coconut water, 2 T. sunbutter

8:40ishpm [Post-wod] - 4 oz. salmon sashimi, coconut water

9:30pm - 10 oz. paleo chili plus 1 T. guacamole

11pm - chocolate tea w/ coconut milk and 1 T. raw sugar

3 comments:

  1. Kerry, we've all experienced what you did today. Way to push through, AND do all squats unbroken! That's an accomplishment in itself! Don't let it get to you. I've seen you kill many a workout. Remember tomorrow is another day and another WOD. Stay positive and remember you're an amazing athlete! :)

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  2. I don't know if this will help, but I would much rather strip weights down based on a coach's recommendation than take a DNF. We check our ego at the door every time we step in and on the days we forget to, CrossFit has a funny way of reminding us.

    I know you want to do Rx weight and I encourage you to attack the WODs that you can handle. Start to visualize the WOD before you actually do it. I do it before I go to bed, maybe that's why I'm having problems sleeping. I literally think about what the bar is going to look like, what shoes should I be wearing, does anything require me to chaulk or tape, what movements will I have to do and what do I think the warm-up will consist of, where I would like to be on the platform, who I envision being next to, my goals per round, how many breaths I take between stations, etc. Doing so has helped me focused a ton and it may be worth giving a shot.

    Get 'em next time.

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  3. true indeed jonny visualizing takes away the nervousness a little bit...that happened too me last week. It sucks but you learn from it and get better. "A wise man/woman sees failure as progress"

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