"Tyler? Are you gonna make it?"

"Christine"
Three rounds, for time, of:

500m row
12 Bodyweight deadlift (185lbs because I'm a fatty)
21 Box Jumps  20"

13:40 (PR)

I was completely spent afterward.  Like, someone-asking-me-if-I-was-going-to-live kind of spent.  I'd say who it was, but I actually don't know, because I was in a state of exhausted, post-WOD delerium, so grateful for the opportunity to just lay on the black floor mats and NOT HAVE TO EXERCISE ANYMORE. 

(Actually, we were supposed to do weighted pull-ups afterward, but I had to get back to work, so I skipped out on those.  They would have just damaged my self-esteem, anyway.)

Writing this 24 hours after the fact, I just realized that this is a one-second PR for me.  Before doing the WOD, I consulted the Sissy Hands Archives for my previous Christine results, but I didn't read carefully.  I had done it with 135 lbs in 13:14 years ago, but my best recorded rx'd time was 13:41.   When I did this last December, it was 13:57.

 

Front Squats and "Christine"

A. Strength = Front Squats heavy single 3-2-1-1-1,
Then 90%x2, 85%x3x3


I did 165x3, 195x2 then singles of 215, 225, 235, and 245(PR)I thought that my previous PR was 225, so I thought I had a 20lb PR there for a little while, then discovered that I actually did 235 for a single in the past. Still, it's always good to get a PR, even if it is *only* 10lbs.

B. Metcon = “Christine” for time
3 rounds of
500m Row,
12 Bodyweight Deadlift (modify to 3/4 or 1/2 bodyweight as needed),
21 Box Jumps – 20”

I used 185 for the deadlifts, though I'm probably around 180. It's what I've used on this in the past.

The deadlifts probably slowed me down the most. I tried not to kill the row so I'd have some energy for the lifts and the jumps.

13:57

About 16 seconds slower than the previous time I've done it as rx'd.

"Christine"

Three rounds, for time, of:

500m row
12 bodyweight deadlifts (185 lbs)
21 20-inch box jumps

I think this was the first time I've done this benchmark, at least with bodyweight deadlifts. Back in February, I did it with 135lbs and it took me 13:14.

When I stepped on the scale this morning, it said 178.6, but the scale at CrossFit Regina said 183 and a bit, (though angdesj swears the scale reads heavy) so I decided to go a bit higher than my actual weight rather than a bit less.

Time was 13:41 or thereabouts. My DL technique needs work, as my back is pretty stiff right now.

Saskatchewan CrossFit Challenge

It was held at CrossFit Saskatoon on Saturday and it was a hell of an event. I started shitting bricks about Thursday.

There were more than 80 athletes from Regina, Saskatoon, and a handful from Alberta.

WOD 1
800m run
50 45lb sandbag thrusters
30 burpee pull-ups to an 8'5" bar.

12 minute time limit.

Here's a video explaining in detail.



I just wanted to get done this. With the time limit, there were plenty of good athletes who didn't get done in the earlier rounds, and I really didn't want to get a DNF. 12 minutes isn't a lot of time for this. There's no shame in a DNF, but I really, really wanted to finish this one.

I was one of the first ones in from the run, did the thrusters in sets of 25, 10, 5 and 10.

The last part was the worst. Burpulls to a fucking 8-foot-5 bar. That's like Nature taunting me for being short. I'm 5'9" with no vertical, and actually missed my first fucking jump, and at least a couple others.

I finished in 10:57, I think. That was good for 9th place out of the Division 1 men.


WOD 2
Anyway Overhead

You get three lifts. The heaviest weight you can take from the rack, onto your shoulders and then overhead counts, whether it's press, pushpress, push jerk or split jerk.

Demo video:

I haven't done enough weightlifting to know my max, and I didn't warm up because I'm an idiot who doesn't pay attention enough to know when it was almost our time. First lift was 135. Second was 165. I almost asked for 180, but went to 185 on the third and got it. I may have been able to do a bit more, but not much. There were some really strong dudes in Division 1, so 185 was only good for 14th in that event.


WOD 3
Three rounds of
1 minute Row for Calories
1 minute 95lb Snatch
1 minute Double Unders
1 minute 75lb KB swings
1 minute Rest

Demo video:


It's scored like a Fight Gone Bad, so maximizing reps was everything. The way this was structured, if someone is good at DUs, they were going to do well... as long as they had something left in the tank by the time they got there. Good news for me, who can do them, bad news for awesome athletes like James who just don't do them that much. I borrowed Hardcore Ange's speed rope and did okay on them.

Those 75lb KB swings were just inhuman. See the picture at the top of this post. The rest was basically just enough time to get back into the rower. It was good for 5th place in this round.
After everything was said and done, I finished in 8th place out of 19 guys. I have absolutely no problems with that, and feel lucky to have finished that high. Hell, Robin and Flood finished in 8th in their divisions, and I'm flattered to be in the same company as them.

Christian was the top CFR rep in Division 1, coming in fifth place. We had five guys in the top 10, though. Kelly and AngDesj were 1 and 2 in the women's podium. BrianB got third in Division 2, though he should have been in Division 1, and probably would have finished higher than me.

I was so grateful to have my wife Tracey and the Boy cheering me on in events 1 and 3, taking pictures and making sure I got plenty of good nutrition before and after. I am sure that I wouldn't have done nearly as well without her coming with me. Tracey was completely supportive and she was on "Mom" duty for the better part of the weekend so I could focus on the SCFC events (and then the afterparty). Yeah, I'm not sure what I did to deserve someone so awesome, either.

The Boy (two years old) even showed off his burpee technique in between events and won a few fans.

I also consider myself fortunate that I was able to go to this great event with an awesome group of people from CrossFit Regina. There were no assholes and no egos, just strong, supportive people who cheered on their fellow athletes. We even got visited by Nick and Christine, awesome CrossFitters themselves, who drove up just to cheer us on.

It was a great weekend.

Fight Gone Bad: Well, THAT'S a bit of a surprise

318. Previous best was 291. A year ago, I did 256 on Sept. 27.

That score is a bit of a because we had some people over last night and there were Jell-o shooters (I lost count) and cheese fondue. I wasn't super hungover today, but I did feel a bit off.

I also did the workout solo. Everyone else who showed up to do it all went in the first round. Some of their scores may have suffered a bit because of the gym's configuration and some confusion about which station to hit next.

When it was my turn, I made sure the barbell and boxjump were nice and close to the rower and wallball to make sure the transitions were quick, since I didn't have to worry about getting in anyone else's way. That helped a bit, but it was the steady encouragement from Christine, Julie and Leya that really drove this score. I'm pretty happy with it.