"Uncle Jimmy"

25 225lb deadlifts
50 95lb thrusters
75 55lb bell swings
100 45lb overhead walking lunges

This was not one of my stronger efforts.

27:53.

Spring Fling WODs 2 and 3

Spring Fling WOD #2 “Pull Through”
For time: 45 Pull-ups
Then 21-15-9 reps of
Power Snatch – 95/65lb
Row Calories

Time was 12:52


“Rain or Shine”
3 rounds for time:
400m Run
20 Push Press/Jerk – 115/80lb
20 Box Jumps – 20″

Time was 13:53

My times today were slower than they were when I did these in the Spring Fling, (10:28 and 3:20 respectively). That can be attributed to a number of factors, but mostly due to the fact that the competition atmosphere is so crazy that it pushes you to your absolute limit. It's hard to take much of a break when you've got a gym full of people screaming at you to pick up that bar or jump on that box, and you've got a counter right with you keeping track of your results and coaching you through. Plus, if you're chasing someone or trying to stay ahead of someone, it gives you a heck of a push.

Plus, I hadn't eaten. I had woke up about 5:45. I didn't warm up. AND it was 6am in the morning and I didn't even have my pre-morning WOD meal of a spoonful of Nutella (note to self: buy more Nutella). Finally, I knew I'd have only a 10-minute break to do these WODs, not five hours so I paced myself a bit more on the first one.

If I'm being honest with myself, I could and should have pushed myself a little harder. Lesson learned.

Strength: Deja vu FUCK!!

I was getting warmed up for today's session. I was pretty psyched for my first-ever attempt to squat 5 x 275 lbs.

After two warm-up sets of 225 lbs, I got a pain in my back, the kind of pain that tells me that squatting is going to have to take a backseat for now.

Fuck!

The worst thing? This is exactly the same thing that happened last time, right down to the warm-up weight.

Next time, I will do a more gradual warm up than empty bar, 135, and 225. Still... fuck.

Team Okotoks

In teams of 4 (2 men and 2 women):
600m run by both males in tandem
25 OHS 65# by both females, each (men rest)
25 OHS 95# by both males, each (females rest)
80 burpees in 8 sets of 10, each athlete does sets of 10 in order i.e. 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4
25 SDLHP 65# by both females, each (men rest)
25 SDLHP 95# by both males, each (females rest)
600m run by both females in tandem

I teamed with Darren, Kim Fe, and Kat for this one, and it took us 18-something.

Everything felt good, probably because there was lots of rest. I felt like I had a pretty good pace on the 600m run. I did the 25 OHS unbroken. I actually should have done them in smaller sets to make it easier on Darren, who is nursing an ankle injury.

Burpees are burpees. I can do sets of 10 pretty quickly. The sumo deadlift high pulls felt better than they usually do. I think I was getting a better shrug than I ever have before.

Strength - Workout A

You know that rotten smell that clothes get when you left them in the washer for too long before drying and then they get a little wet when you sweat in them? My T-shirt today had a faint whiff of that smell going on. I'm pretty proud of myself for doing all my lifts successfully, despite this adversity.

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 270 lbs

Effing heavy. This is the most I've ever successfully done for three sets of five. I did my best to warm up well at 6am, but I came pretty close to failing on the first set. Actually, I came close to failing on all of them, I'd say, but you could probably say that for any of the squats I've done since about 240 lbs.

On Monday, I'm going to set a PR when I get 5 x 275. Gravity can go fuck itself.


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 120b lbs

Small increases of two or three pounds for this reset. Perhaps I should have warmed up better, because I failed on my fifth rep of my first set. I decided to set that aside as a practice session, concentrate on my breathing and do three more sets, which I was able to do.

Power cleans - Five sets of 3 x 180 lbs

Coach Jeff noted that my feet tend to travel backwards as I lift, but the bar looks like it's going fairly straight vertical. He wasn't sure if that was a problem, seeing as the lifts have been successful.

"Power Cindy"

AMRAP in 15 minutes

1 Power Clean – 135 lbs
1 Round of Cindy
2 Power Cleans
1 Round of Cindy
and so it goes for 15 minutes, adding one Power Clean each round.

I actually prefer this WOD to regular Cindy. Power cleans may be my favourite lift, and the fact that you have to do them in this WOD slows things down enough that it somewhat hides my true weakness when it comes to Cindy: push-ups.

This time out, I got 9 rounds + 2 power cleans.

I desperately wanted to beat my score of 9 rounds even from last time, but wondered if I'd even be able to come close. At the end, I had about 10 seconds left after finishing the 9th round, so I hustled over to the bar and got it up. I looked at the clock and still had 4 seconds left, so I did it again.

And then it was time to lie down.

.

Moo-Cow Fuckmilk

Strength - Workout B

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 265 lbs

Nasty. I nearly lost it on the last rep of the second set. Third set felt great, though.


Bench press - Three sets of 5 x 160 lbs FAIL!

Got it up four times in the first set, five times in the second and three times in the third.


Deadlift - One set of 5 x 285 lbs

Fucking heavy, and I lifted too much with my arms. But it went up. I used the hook grip and that was not pleasant on the thumbs, let me tells ya.

Elizabeth, plus Tabata

“Elizabeth” for time
21-15-9 reps of:
Cleans 135/95lb
Ring Dips

Took me 12:49 as rx'd. Considering that's more than a nine-minute improvement over the last time I did this, I'm pretty happy about it. Basically, it's a result of me that me getting over my fear of 135-lb cleans following the strength work that I've been doing.

That's not to say there isn't room for improvement here. I still took too many breaks during the cleans and my ring dips could be better. But I'm in a really good mood (about this WOD and some other stuff not related to CrossFit) so I'm not going to dwell on the negative for once.

Speaking of negative, we also had to do a Tabata mash-up with pull-ups and 20" box jumps. Tabata is alternating exercises, 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest.

Here's how it went for me:

12 PLU
rest
11 BJ
rest
9 PLU
rest
11 BJ
rest
7 PLU
rest
10 BJ
rest
5 PLU
rest
9 BJ
rest
6 PLU
rest
10 BJ
rest
5 PLU
rest
8 BJ
rest
6 PLU
rest
12 BJ
rest
8 PLU
rest
11 BJ

Total: 58 pull-ups and 82 box jumps for a combined score of 140.

Tabatas... they're just awful. 15 minutes after I was done the workout, I still felt like I might puke.

Strength - Workout A

Back squats - Three sets of 5 x 260 lbs.

Heavy. Very tough. On the third set, I lost count, so I may have done an extra one.


Shoulder press - Three sets of 5 x 117 lbs.

This was a 10 per cent reset from my failure at 130.


Power cleans - Five sets of 3 x 175 lbs.
I love power cleans, I really do. Though, I doubt I'll be saying that 20 lbs from now.