Kelly Overboard

Five rounds, for time, of:

500m row
30 24" box jumps
30 wall balls

Today at 6am, I got to do the Kelly WOD with CFR firebreather chick Kelly, among others.

I did this last December in 33:16. Today, I got 33:33. Obviously, I would have liked to improve, but I did it today without remembering my previous mark and was happy with what I got, so I'm not going to bitch about it now.

The good: I kept a good pace in rounds 2-5 and broke the work into reasonable sets. Jumps in sets of 10, WB in a 12-10-8 pattern.

The bad: I missed my very first box jump. That was embarrassing.

Squat Snatches

3-3-3-1-1-1

I hadn't done these for a while, and wasn't sure where to start.

Sets of three:

105, 115, 125


Sets of one

135, 140(f), 140.

The success at 140 felt good, so I thought I'd try a single 145. FAIL.

Squat Cleans then Box Jumps and Pull-ups Metcon

Squat cleans

3-3-3-1-1-1

I had never done max squat cleans before, so I started low, but the sets of three kept coming, so I would erase the early sets.

Ended up with

155x3, 175x3, 185x3

The singles didn't go so well.

195x1, 205x1 (FAIL).

I didn't try a third one. My elbows were threatening mutiny.

Then it was time for a little metcon.

30 20-inch box jumps
10 pull-ups
30 20-inch box jumps
20 pull-ups
30 20-inch box jumps
30 pull-ups

I kept up with Blair for exactly one round.

6:46 as rx'd.

I ran out of gas a bit on the box jumps. I'm going to blame some noxious fumes I inhaled when I first got to CrossFit.

On a completely unrelated note, AngDesj, if you are going to DO THAT like a guy, you're going to have to do the guys' weight on future WODs.

.

"Saturday with Jeff"

Not to be confused with "Tuesdays With Morrie."

AMRAP in 15 minutes:

5 one-arm 55-lb dumbell thrusters (left)
5 one-arm thrusters (right)
7 push-ups
9 24-inch box jumps.

I got 8 rounds, plus 5 thrusters.

Overhead Squats and Box Jumps

OHS 5x5

115-135-145-155(f)-155

On the failed set, I spent too much time with the bar over my head and my right arm decided it was done for the moment. I coaxed it back to work for the fifth set. I feel like I probably could do a bit more. My one rep max late last year was 165, and since I did the strength work, I find that the weights on a lot of my five-rep maxes are my pre-Strength work old one-rep maxes. But since I stopped doing strength work, I may have regressed a bit. Still fat, though!

24" box jumps for one minute x 3, resting four minutes between.

27-28-29. Just trying to keep up with the Janimal.

In the second and third sets, I had a smoother rhythm going for the first 15 or so. Then fatigue would kick in.

Power Cindy

AMRAP in 15 min:

1 power clean (135lbs)
1 round of Cindy

Each round, you add another power clean. (Round 2, do two PC then a round of Cindy, Round 3, do three PC and a round of Cindy, etc.)


I got nine rounds even.


Overheard at the Gym:

Ang(3&4)Desj: "My favourite is a skin sandwich dipped in gravy. And I'm not even talking about KFC."

Heh

Courtesy of Kat.

Double Unders in sets of 10

In order to somewhat attone for yesterday's gluttony at the KFC buffet in Weyburn, I grabbed my skipping rope and headed into CrossFit Creekside (the totally unauthorized and woefully under-equipped rogue affiliate that doubles as my garage) last night for a quick sweat.

My idea was to do 200 double unders. I have misplaced my stopwatch, so I wasn't going to worry too much about the time it took (another blatant flaunting of a core tenet of Crossfit; geez, no wonder this place is a "rogue affiliate"). Then, when I got started, I decided that I would only count sets of ten, sort of similar to the "Fran will not be broken" WOD from a few days ago.

All was well and good, until I hit 40, and then I couldn't put together more than seven DUs in a row. I couldn't figure it out. It may have been the fact that I wasn't using my new speed rope, or some kind of a mental block or something else. But it took me several minutes and numerous attempts before I could get another set of 10.

Eventually I got my act together and managed to string together some sets of 10 and 20.

The effort expended probably wasn't enough to completely undo the damage I did to my body in Weyburn, but hopefully it mitigated it somewhat.

"My Pet Rock"

Partner up and each person perform
3 rounds for time:
15 X Bear Complex -95lb/65lb
30 pull-ups
60 push-ups
400m run

The “pet rocks” are a pair of 45# plates for men, 25# plates for women. One partner holds the pets while the other does the exercise. You may switch when necessary, but they must not touch the ground. Pets hate to be left alone or worse yet dropped. If the “pets” are dropped or set down on the ground each partner must add 5 reps to the exercise they are doing.

Brief Rest

Partner Rutman Mile:
Pass the sandbag back and forth without touching the ground.

I originally did this WOD with Harlan like a year and a half ago and we only got through two rounds. It was awful, mostly due to the sheer volume of work and the requirement to hold those plates off the ground.

I've been wanting to erase the DNF off of my conscience for a long time, but the two or three times this WOD has come back up, I have not been able to go to CrossFit, much to Harlan's chagrin (although he did get paired with BrianB at least one of those times, so he actually traded up on the deal).

This time, I was able to make it, though Harlan couldn't come. Instead, I was in a trio with "The Yeast from the East" Kat and Leya. I basically did whatever Kat did at the same time as her, alternating work with Leya.

Due to a smarter way of holding the "pet rocks" off the ground (basically, squatting with the plates resting on our legs), this wasn't so bad this time. I mean, it was still absolutely awful, but it was something that we could deal with.

We were done the first part at 70:57

We rested a few minutes and headed out on the Rutman Mile. Because I didn't have a dude to partner with, I carried a 45lb sandbag the whole mile, rather than splitting the work on a 90lb sandbag. Kat and Leya split the work on their own. When we got back, the clock read 87:56

Overheard at the Gym

"That's enough Vagisil talk. It's making me itchy."
-a trainer we'll call "Sparrow" in order to protect her anonymity.

"Fran Will Not Be Broken”

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:
10 Thrusters – 95/65lb – UNBROKEN
10 Pull-ups – UNBROKEN
*To a max of 10 rounds

If you get 8 for example, start over until you get 10 in a row.

Rest 5-10 minutes, then 1K Run for time.

When I first looked on the CrossFit Regina website saw this horrible variation of Fran from the twisted mind of Robin, my first reaction was to cancel my plans to go at lunch.

Then I remembered that being scared of a workout is not a valid excuse to skip it. Actually, I believe one of the unofficial tenets of CrossFit is that if the workout doesn't scare you, it's not hard enough.

So I went. My plan was to attack this workout at a reasonable pace and rest when necessary so I didn't have any broken sets, which would just demoralize me and waste energy. I figured five or six rounds was a reasonable goal.

As it turns out, my strategy worked better than expected and I exceeded my goal.

8 rounds + 7 thrusters.

I don't think I rested unnecessarily all that much, but I may have been able to squeeze a bit more out of myself on this one.

The 1k run totally sucked afterward. About halfway through, my calves were threatening a mutiny and I thought I might have to start walking. Then, on the home stretch down McDonald St. we were running against a strong wind and that was just brutal.

Time was 5:16, which is slower than my 1k average the last time I ran a 5k.

"Gates of Fire 2"

For time:
50 Situps
50 Push-ups
25 Front Squats
25 Back Squats
25 Overhead Squats
25 Front Squats
50 Pull-ups
50 Situps

Rx'd weight for the squats for dudes is 65lbs.

Time was 14:40... unless I miscounted on the sit-ups, in which case I did it in 15:12. But I'm pretty sure it's 14:40. It's more than a two-minute improvement from the last time I did it, and that's probably the first WOD where I've seen tangible benefits from all the strength work I did.

Back in September, it sounds like I was slowed down a bit by the results of the previous day's workout. Today, I was actually wondering if I should even go, as my shoulder is a bit tender. In the end, I decided to go for it rather than gorge myself on the delicious Indian buffet at Spices of Punjab.

The good: Squats. Oh, and I did 15 pull-ups straight to get off to a good start for the set of 50. It was mostly sets of five after that.

The not-so-good: Push-ups. But you already knew that.

"Ride the Lightning"

5 rounds for time of:
200m medicine ball run – 20/14lb
9 Ring Dips (4 for women)
12 Pull-ups
15 Wall Ball – 20/14lb

In my case, it was more like being "Raped by Lightning." Man, that was awful. I worked out beside Kelly, and kept up with her until the third round of ring dips. She ended up finishing a whole round in front of me, and that's not just because women had to do fewer ring dips. I was sucking wind early in the second round.

Time was 20:45.

The good: I did my last two sets of wall balls unbroken. Hey, I realize that's not a momentous feat, but I'm trying to stay positive here, okay?

The not-so-good: Plenty of things to choose from, but I'm going to have to go with ring dips. After taking them down for the winter, I am putting my rings up in CrossFit Creekside TONIGHT.

Partner workout

I can't remember the name of it.

With a partner, AMRAP in 25 minutes:

50 wallball
40 double unders
30 55 lb bell swings
20 push-ups
10 pull ups.

I was actually in a trio with James and Nathan, so we just increased all the required numbers by 50 per cent (75, 60, 45, 30 15). The good thing was that any two of us could be working at the same time.

We got five rounds done, plus James and Nathan got an extra 10 wall balls.

The Bear - Aw... F**K!!

The Bear calls for five rounds of seven repetitions of this sequence:
Power clean
Front squat
Push press
Back Squat
Push Press

It's not done for time. You go for max weight. The weight cannot rest on the ground, just touch and go.

I started with 95, and increased to 105, then 115.

Of course, looking across the gym at Blair and Shae tossing around 165 with ease made me feel like Kung Fu Panda on his first day of training with the Furious Five. Shae was shirtless and shoeless because, as he said, "I feel stronger when I'm naked." I guess he's eventually going to replace his gym shorts with a loin cloth.

Round four with 125 was going well and I had visions of 135 dancing in my head. Then I felt a strong pinch in my lower back. I ignored it and went down into my front squat in the sixth sequence repetition, and felt it again, worse, and knew that I had messed up what was apparently a still-healing back.

DNFF. You can probably guess what the other "F" stands for.

Saturday Happy Fun Time

I can't remember what this WOD was called.

I partnered with Nathan and we split the non-running stuff, one partner working at a time.

21 pull-ups
200m run
21 push-ups
200m run
21 135lb squat clean and jerks
200m run
21 burpulls
200m run
21 handstand push-ups
200m run
21 calorie row
100m run.

The 9am class did this solo. I would like to give it a shot when I get my mojo back. It doesn't seem that much harder on paper, but then you remember that you get far less rest time and are doing a lot more work.

I couldn't get a smooth rhythm going for my pull-ups, so I probably looked like a spastic monkey up there. Thankfully, I only had to do 11.

I was a bit worried about how my back would handle the C&Js but it was good. My first three reps, I didn't get under the bar with a squat (I basically power cleaned it, front squatted, then jerked), but I got my shit together for reps 4-11 and it felt awesome.
Burpulls were better for my second set than they were for my first. I think I was just trying to keep up with Kurt and John.

My HSPUs have fallen off a bit, but I can still do them. Kipping ones anyway.

Time was 18:07 or 18:09. Can't remember.

DUs/PLUs

I was getting sick of being so inactive while waiting for my back to feel better, so I went out to CrossFit Creekside (my garage) to do a little workout while my kid had a nap.

For time, four rounds of:

50 double unders
15 pull-ups.

Took about 11:30.

I did manage to get 45 DUs in a row for my first set. I had originally written here that I thought that was a new record, but the sidebar tells me that I did 50 in a row in December.