2k row - could've been better

2 k Row today. Finished 8:34.9 Prev 2k row was 8:39, so 5 sec PR.

I RUSHED out of the gate on this one. Had my iPhone and Rihanna's Shut up and Drive was the first song up. Sooo, I jammed to the song and I rowed. Fast. Stayed under 1:48 for the first 500m. What a mistake. I crashed and burned and the rest of my row was around 2:10. Super disappointing, but lesson learned - music is something new I'm adding into my training and so I've gotta work out the kinks. Also, I've been pulling 1:45 for my 250m and 500m rows for the past few weeks which got me a bit too excited about my improvement. Thought I could row at that pace and then slow to 1:55 for the remainder. Should've paced to go under 2:02 all the way through the row and no faster than 1:55 until the last sprint at the very end. Next time :)

Ended the workout with a bunch of HandStand holds, and a few HSPU to 2 abmats. Also scared the shit outta Mandie, Bryce, and Emmitt by trying to get my ass up on the wall on paralettes. It was NOT a successful attempt. The 2nd time though Emm and Steve pulled me up a bit and then I held on up there for a little while. Nice to change it up adn try something new, even if I suck at it :)

Then, played 6 games of vball. We came in second in our season. Wanted first obviously, but was okay getting beat by the team who took first. They were better than us, so I can accept that. Also, the captain of their team (I am making that up - who knows if he the capt was but he seemed in charge) invited me to go to the bathroom with him while we were waiting on Megan and Jason to get back from the bathroom. So, there's that.

Developed a supplemental workouts calendar to supplement my training with the things I want to focus on the most. Will include:

• 1 full day of rest each week. FULL-ON REST. This is important if I am going to be able to continue to myself as hard as I want to with supplemental work and our regular programming.
• 1 active rest day (bikram yoga and/or skills but no metcon or heavy lifts)
• 1 day gymnastic work (pull-ups, muscle-ups, KTE, TTB, etc.)
• 1 day OH work (OH lunges, HSPU, HS negatives, HS holds, OH squats)
• 1 day Oly work (most likely this will be my day with Roger and Mike)
• 1 day cardio/respiratory endurance work (row, run, mostly sprints but some long distances too, jump rope)
• 1 day deadlifting with Emily

Sounds exhausting really, but I'm excited. I'm excited to have a focused plan set out, and I think it'll be good for me to learn to lay out programming for myself, as all coaches need to know a bit about programming so this should help me learn a new skill that will help me in my CrossFit future :)

Also talked to Bryce a bit about focus. I really wanted to push myself on the CF Total on Monday and was really proud of the numbers I put up. I had my headphones on and only focused on myself and I think I need to incorporate more of that focus into my daily training. Only way I'm gonna improve is to get serious about it... so we'll see where that takes me.
--
8:00am - 2 eggs; 3 1/2 oz. mushrooms; 1 cup coffee + 1/8 c coconut milk.
1:15 pm - 4 oz. steak; ~7 oz. mixed butter lettuce, sauteed asparagus & roasted yellow peppers (homemade so not soaking in oil), with 1/3 avocado, white truffle infused grapeseed oil & balsamic vinegar, black pepper and a shake of sea salt. Delicious. Anyone who doesn't like salads isn't doing it right. Amazing.
-Had some cashew/almond/macadamia nut butter today at some point as a snack. Not sure when :)
4:30 pm [Pre-wod] - 4 oz swordfish; 1/2 coconut cream larabar.

5:30 pm [Post wod] - 2 oz. skate wing.

6:30 pm [Pre-vball] - 1 oz. skate wing; 1/2 coconut cream larabar.

-During vball - 1 L water plus 2 bites of Jason's oatmeal raisin power bar.

10:15 pm - 3-4 oz. no salt rotisserie chicken; kale, roasted yellow peppers, handful raspberries with 1/4 avocado; white truffle infused grapeseed oil & balsamic vinegar

Three Days of catch-up

Weekend wods, first.

Sat: FUN Team wod with JJ, Emmitt, and Tina:

Round 1: 2 rope climbs
Round 2: 50 ball slams
Round 3: 10 muscle ups
Round 4: 40 toe to bars
Round 5: A hallways length of lunges with a 25# plate

Each round each team member had to run the length of the hallway 2x. Felt awesome to sprint again - hadn't run in forever.

Time: 19:21

Post-wod on Sat I ate way too much at the paleo cook off, and then wanted a nap but instead had three cups of black coffee, followed by more food and bunch of vodka. Late night after getting up at 6am.

Sun: Was exhausted!! Got up to a-coach and then hit up the West Loop for open gym with Jonny. Did a 500m row super slow. Stuck around 2:15. I got off the rower, went and got some water and tried to shake that slow ass row off. Got back on a few minutes later, and rowed 500m in 2:00.5! Much better time. Only went above 2:00 in the first few strokes. Felt waaay better! My right deltoid has been troubling me the past few days so since the 2nd row started to hurt towards the end I opted to stop working out and rest. Then got a phenomenal massage. She focused on my lower body and stripped away so many trigger points and so much whatever was in there. My thighs feel a bit tender but I'm not in pain in my hip flexors anymore and the muscle that goes on top of my IT band (don't remember its name) was apparently the problem, but it's better now. My snatches on Monday were easy to get into the bottom of and without pain :)

Mon: Olympic Total!

"Olympic Total"
1RM Snatch - 78# (failed 83# 3x)
1RM Clean and Jerk - 118#
(failed clean @ 123# 3x)

Total: 196.

My prev ugly-as-crap-total-press-out power snatch (from the oly meet) was 75#... My prev. full squat snatch PR was 63#. SO, 78# felt great tonight! Think I can get more if I get under the bar faster and with better hip extension. I muscled up the 83# pretty easily, but it wasn't a good snatch so didn't count it. Danced around like a silly little girl afterward.

Prev Clean PR was 110, Prev Jerk PR was 115. 118 was exciting, though I was disappointed b/c I felt I could've gotten 123 but just wasn't getting my elbows under fast enough... or I wasn't getting low enough fast enough. Wasn't sure, and the coach there had newer CFers working on 1RM Power Cleans so his focus was on them.

Have to workout tomorrow at 6:30 am in order to get a wod in while in VA. Not sure how that's gonna go... never tried working out that early. Maybe I should go to bed...

Weekend workouts

Saturday 1/9/10

Bench Press 3-3-3+
70%/80%/90% of 1RM+5 (1RM = 110)
73/83/93# (x3 reps, failed on 4th)

Metcon (from NorCal CF Games Qualifier):
500 M Row
30 burpees (subbed 30 knee push-ups + 30 overhead lunges)
10 shoulder to overhead (95#)

I kept pace with my heat on the row, but finished did OH lunges and knee push-ups (I did these on my knees as Bryce instructed so that I would speed through them, not due to muscle fatigue/failure or b/c I was a wuss) before anyone else finished their burpees, so got to the bar for shoulder to overhead first. These took longer than I expected or wanted them to take, but Coach said to wait and not lift the weight until I was ready and committed. This is the first time I've ever been given that instruction in a WOD, so I took it seriously and took more breaths than usual. The jerks were broken 3-2-2(+1 fail)-2(+1 fail)-1. I was glad I did Rx'd, though it took a bit longer than I wanted it to. Finished about 6:52. I don't remember the exact time but I finished just after Megan and I am pretty sure it was sub 7. I'd like to do this wod again after I get my stitches out with burpees to gauge my time better. If I do it again I'd like to break the shoulder to overhead less, but it may be worse after burpees - who knows.

Sunday 1/10/10 (Active Rest Day) BEGIN PALEO CHALLENGE



Today begins the Paleo Challenge. I'd like to say I ate well today, but not really. I'm going to start tracking my food in this blog too.



9am - 2 eggs, 4 bites jicama/blood orange/jalapeno salad


10:30-1:30 pm - Drank coconut water (about 1/4 liter) while listening to the Paleo Challenge intro and then doing skills work



2:15pm - Whole Foods!!! The buffet there is amazing and today I fully appreciated it. 4-5 oz. pulled turkey+red peppers+onions (fajita meat); plus 10-12 oz of: kale salad, zuchini, squash, artichoke hearts, whole garlic cloves, cucumber+tomato salad. Delicious.


4:30pm - 3 t. sunbutter + 1 t. forestberry preserves (lots of berries plus very little sugar)


9:30pm - 3 oz halibut, 4-5 oz eggplant and yellow peppers sauteed in water + a little grapeseed oil

The problems with what I ate today are: 
-breakfast/pre-workout: no fat, not enough carbs. Also not close enough to my workout.
-no post-wod meal
-By lunch I was starving so ate more than I usually eat. Also, it was delicious. 
-no protein in my snack, which I justified at the time because i ate extra protein at lunch... but i know better. Also, too much fat, though most meals I lack fat so maybe once a day having too much fat is okay? probably only if it's pre-wod though and I'm doing a long/extreme workout.


Skills work:


Talked to Jonny about my grip for pull-ups. I'm over-gripping and gripping lower in my hand than he does (which is why i tear so often and so badly). Need to work on releasing a bit once I have my chin above the bar. The changed grip makes it tougher to string stuff together but I think that's just until I get used to it.


2 sets (Pull-ups 45 sec on/45 sec off): Got 10/13.
2 sets (Static hold pull-ups: chin/eye/head 20 sec on/20 sec off). Switched back and forth b/w palms toward me and away from me. Palms towards me KILLED my biceps. Never done those before. 1st set: 1st 20sec easy, 2nd 20sec burned like crazy from the palms away grip, 3rd 20 sec starting sliding down away from the height I should've been holding at. 2nd set: 1st 20 sec hard b/c I used the palms away grip but manageable, 2nd 20 sec started slipping downward at 15 sec, 3rd 20 sec started slipping at 12 and dropped at 15 sec.


Worked HSPUs. Didn't feel good on these today, this is the second time recently I've struggled on these more so than usual which is annoying. Strung together a max of 4 with 3 abmats.


Worked on Wall Ball form. 3 sets of 10 (rest in b/w). 1st set 14# unbroken to the red! Landed every one!! COUNT THAT JONNY!! 2nd set had to more to the wooden beam, and was nervous about throwing the ball through the hole, so switched to 12#, all 10 unbroken! 3rd set, disaster. Well, not disaster but frustrating. 6 unbroken, failed 3, got 2, failed 1, got 3. Not sure if I was tired or what caused the disappointing third round. And who was around watching my third round? Jonny darling. Of course. Why he wasn't around when I was nailing them?!



Worked with Amy on throwing myself against the wall for HSPUs. I have a hitch in my form (just like in wall ball) where I lose all my power. I'm not sure why in multiple movements I stop myself from using my full body strength and resort to only using arms- it's dumb. I think I worked through the hitch with Amy, but I guess we'll see if I can do it tomorrow sans hitch.


Had a stuffy nose all day today. Got worse after dinner. Took stinging nettle and quercitin - hope that helps so i can avoid cold medicine. Also, I think I might have a fever. Chicago winters are going to be the death of me. Going to bed early tonight (it's 11pm now), so expect 8-8 1/2 hrs of rest. Hopefully that plus 2 aleve will clear the fever/sick feeling and I'll be better tomorrow.

I do not regret coming to the box today

Today's WOD would normally have brought SOO much uneasiness and frustration except that yesterday I worked with Jonny on OH Squats and was able to nail a 70# OHS. Prev max OHS was like 45#. I've had soo much trouble getting into the bottom of my squat with weight overhead. The staying down the the bottom and holding for intervals really helped, and for today's strength I found my 1RM of OHS at 80#!! I failed 3x and 85#. I didn't get deep enough but I was close. I look forward to working on this in the near future - I was disappointed not to get 85# but I was really really happy I got 80#, and so wanted to try for for more. Zack was PHENOMENALLY helpful today and was able to nail down what I needed to to do improve:
(1) keep the bar in the center of my body (standing on a line helped),
(2) go SLOWLY with this movement,
(3) start by sticking my ass out and chest up FIRST before anything else,
(4) keep core and everything tight the whole way through the movement.

Mandie showed us another way to get under the OHS to start - I don't like popping it off my shoulders so had resorted to power snatching it, but I also like the super high rack method where you start off with your arms locked.


Took so long working 1RM OHS that I didn't get the max dead hang pull-ups in. IOU. Again.


Metcon: 

42 steps OH lunges (25#)
21 Pull-ups
30 steps OH lunges
15 pull-ups
18 steps OH lunges
9 pull-ups

6:16. 
It was nice having Chris to chase. Stayed on his ass 1st and 2nd rd only 2-4 reps behind him. OH Lunges: 1rd & 2nd rd unbroken (i paused for a moment once in the 2nd rd but never put the weight down), 3rd rd 6-6-6. I did not need to put the weight down during this at all. What a lazy ass. Pull-ups 18-3, 8-7, unsure about 3rd rd but I think i broke 2x. After Chris got into his pull-ups in the 3rd round and I had fallen further behind I slowed just a bit knowing I couldn't catch him. I caught myself doing that and had to force myself to get my mental game back and fight to the end. Need to get better at not giving up or giving in once I'm behind. Coming from behind is possible ONLY if you really work for it, and I should've pushed harder because he was pulling away not ceded to his win. Next time. Especially when pull-ups are in the damn metcon b/c they're a strength of mine.

PR'ed on pull-ups tonight - prev max was 15. Got 18 :)

OH lunges felt AMAZING. In the past, holding that awful 25# plate over my head was horrendous. It just felt terribly heavy and I was super irritated about it. Tonight it felt fantastically light. Yaay for getting better at Overhead movements!!!!

And, now, to sleep in my new Bucktown apartment. Such a wonderful day.