Overhead Squats and DL/T2B: That'll teach me to open my big mouth

Yesterday, I ranted a bit about cherrypicking WODs, and not skipping the gym if you see one you don't like.

It's like the CrossFit gods (or Robin and Aaron) read what I wrote and wanted to test my resolve by including a WOD that is tailor-made for me to ditch.

Hey, what if it included both deadlifts for time AND toes to bar?


A. Overhead Squats 3-3-3

135-155-175(PR)

Barely got the third rep on the 175 and strained my right shoulder a bit in trying to hang on. Nothing serious.

B. Dot Com 2
5 rounds for time:
15 Deadlifts – 185/135lb
15 Toes to Bar

19:58 Just barely got in sub-20. That's about three minutes slower than I would have liked.

I took WAY too many breaks on this, but I found it really tough. Fortunately, I did not tear my sissy hands, though there might be a couple of new blisters in development. Whatever, callouses are manly and sexy.


C. SASKATOON COMPETITORS' BONUS - A 400m run with a medicine ball. Not timed.
I did it, but it was mostly a walk with a few half-hearted jogging spurts. The rain, my sweat and the leftover chalk got things nice and pasty, and the ball was hard to carry.


In a vaguely related matter, the squiggly veins on either side of my forehead are especially pronounced these days after a workout. I realize it's probably nothing, but part of me wonders if I should be concerned. If it gets any more noticeable, I'll be looking like the dude from the Green Lantern movie.

3 x 1km runs: Tyler demonstrates self-awareness

Okay, I'm gonna get really preachy. Possibly even hypocritical

I'm not a big fan of picking and choosing WODs. I believe it's sort of against the CrossFit philosophy to skip the Workout of the Day chosen by the coaches in favour of a previous day's workout unless you have a valid reason. (Worse yet are the people who choose to NOT GO TO THE GYM AT ALL because they don't like the WOD. Please don't do that. It's way better to trade WODs than not go at all.)

Valid reasons for trading WODS include, but are not limited to:
-an injury you are working around
-the WOD will negatively affect your ability to participate in an upcoming athletic event (ie. if you've got a Frisbee tournament Sunday, you may not want to do 800m sprints or boatloads of squats on Saturday and burn out your legs so you can't run.)
-you REALLY want to do the previous day's WOD because it's a benchmark like Fran against which you've been wanting to measure yourself.


Non-valid reasons include, but are not limited to:
-It's a WOD that you don't particularly like.
-It contains a skill or exercise that is a goat (all the more reason to fucking do it)


Here's where I get a bit hypocritical. I've broken these rules in the past, though not often, and me writing this could be considered my pledge to not do so again.

I bring this up because I was considering trading WODs today. When I saw that the WOD today at CrossFit Regina was a 5km run, I started planning to do yesterday's insane metcon, figuring the squat cleans were out of the question because it would take too long, given that I was working out on my lunch hour.

My thinking was that I need to get my still-substandard cardio up back up to snuff, and it's the shorter, intense WODs that would better prepare me for Saskatoon.

Fortunately, Robin had a plan in place for the folks competing in Saskatoon. CrossFit Regina is particularly good at adapting the WOD schedule for upcoming events.

Our special WOD was:

3 x 1km runs, resting five minutes in between.

Also, three sets of 10 ring dips, unbroken. (Synergy is hinting that rings are going to play a significant part in the Bridge City Beat Down WODs.)

Now, for some reason when I do runs like this, my first two times seem to be the same and my third time is a bit slower. The same thing happened the last time we did 800m sprints.

Run #1: 4:30
I actually thought to myself, "I bet I run the same time on Run #2."


Sure enough...

Run #2: 4:30

Robin noted: "That's consistent. Try for the same time on your third."

I replied: "Nope. I will be slower by 14 seconds, even though it will feel like I'm running harder."

Run #3: 4:44
I am Nostra-F'N-damus.

Last time I did 3 x 1km runs, my times were 4:14, 4:14 and 4:16.

So that's a noticeable decline. I was running straight into a strong wind during one of the longer stretches, but I don't think that is the sole or even primary reason for the decline. I could have pushed myself harder today, because I seem to recall running like zombies were chasing me back in June. That day, if I remember correctly, was a nice, cool day with a spitting rain. Today was hot, dry and windy so that may have been a bit of a factor.

But the truth is, despite the fact that I'm probably 10 lbs lighter than I was in early June, I'm simply not as fit as I've been in the past.

One thing I didn't do, which I should have, was refer before the WOD to the last time I did 3 x 1km runs, because it might have given me something to shoot for. Then again, when you're out there running, you don't have a really good concept of time and carrying a stopwatch is not something I would do.

Oh yeah, the ring dips. I had done one set of 10 unbroken ring dips before the runs and I did the other two afterward. Actually, I was a bit surprised I was able to do it. Ring dips are gonna need a little work before Sept. 10.

Frisbee playoffs

In short, our team lost both games and were bounced mercifully from the playoffs. We had 9 people show up, but still no subs for girls, so our ladies were run pretty ragged.

Neither game went to the full 13 points. Both ended as a result of the time cap. We lost the first one by three points to Ramrod. We lost to Discs of Glory (the team we beat in the finals last year) by one point.

I've told the team that I think this season was my last.

After the game, we went to the Brewsters deck and drank beer. I took advantage of the Sunday brunch buffet and absolutely stuffed myself. I did not feel very good about myself afterward.

"Kettle Balls"

A. Push Press
5-5-5 (start at about 75% of max overhead, push press or jerk)

135-155-165

B. Deadlift
1×5

It had been forever since I deadlifted. I only did 225. The official reason is that I didn't want to go heavy and hurt my back before Sunday's Frisbee playoffs. The unofficial reason is that I'm a giant pussy.

C. ‘Kettle Balls’

50 Wallballs
15 Kettlebell Swings
35 Wallballs
30 Kettlebell Swings
20 Wallballs
45 Kettlebell Swings

Took me 15:02. It was not fun and I took too many breaks.

"Intestinal Explosion"

50 reps of:
Sit-ups
Double unders
Sit-ups
Walking lunges
Sit-ups
Speed burpees
Sit-ups

Took me 16:06. I was, once again, the slowest one in the group by far, which was sort of humbling. I also lost count of my reps a couple of times. Oh, and I suck at sit-ups.

On the bright side, I did my DUs unbroken, and I managed to avoid getting monkey butt.

Sandbag Thrusters and Burpee Pull-ups

20-15-10

45lb sandbag thrusters
Burpee pull-ups

I thought I would do a little better on this, but my cardio is still totally shot. Took me 11:28.

Flame War vs Fever

PAnother shorthanded game. Like last week, my cardio was not where it should be. A single hard sprint downfield would leave me gasping for air render me useless for at least a minute afterward. I hope it's a temporary result of my recent bout with the flu and not something else. I'm gonna need to be better on Sunday for playoffs.

Against Fever, I mostly played in the middle for our zone defence, not in the cup. When I did play in the cup, I wasn't good.

Considering we only had six players, it was a surpisingly competitive game. We pulled to within two points in the second half until Fever ran away with it. It was much more fun than last week, though.

Final score: Fever 13 Flame War 8

Twisted Bentley

With a partner spitting the work, ten rounds of:

100m sprint
10 pull-ups
100m sprint
10 speed burpees

That works out to five rounds each. You don't get to rest while your parnter works, though. Ineach round, there was a different exercise to do:
Double unders
Sit-ups
Box jumps
Air squats
Row for calories

Gerald and I got 569 reps in 27:39

Flame War vs 175g

This was one of the most unpleasant Frisbee games I have ever played. Our team only had 6 people show up, and we played a good young team who ran us ragged. We kept up with them for a few points, then they stared to light us up.

My cardio was completely shot halfway through the first half. I was pretty much useless out there.

Partner Painstorm

With a partner, 5 rounds of:
Row 300m (both partners do this, switching off)
100 feet walking lunges with 75lbs across our backs (split the work)
Run 400m (everyone runs!)
100 feet traveling burpees (split the work, alternate jumps, start from where your partner lands)

I partnered with Jarrett and Darren, with me working the same time as Jarrett.

Maybe it's because I didn't eat more than a spoonful of Nutella beforehand, or maybe it's just a tough-ass WOD, but this FUCKING KILLED ME.

The transitions from the lunges to the 400m run were the worst. I stopped running for a moment at one point during the third round.

It took us 38:03. The individual version of this Painstorm involved 500m rows, half-bodyweight lunges (for me, that would have been 90lbs) and, obviously, no splitting the lunges or travelling burpees. That sounds inhuman.

Front Squats and a Chipper

So I sort of gave up setting my alarm for 6, but I thought I might naturally wake up in time to go to CFR this morning because I got into bed fairly early. Problem was, my darling wife had an iced coffee right before bed and wasn't sleepy. So I didn't get to sleep until well after midnight.

Then, at some point in the early morning hours, the Boy (age 4) crawls into bed beside me with a stuffed up nose and proceeds to loudly snore RIGHT IN MY EAR. I woke up around 5:50, and had a brief internal chat with myself about whether to get up to go to the gym.

"C'mon, you will feel better after working out."

"One more hour of sleep would be awesome."

"Like you're going to get any sleep with that chainsaw in your ear."

"But I'm tired."

"You're being a pussy."

"I'm okay with being a pussy."

"The Bridge City Beatdown is less than a month away. You should probably do a few workouts before then, you flabby, bereft-of-disciplinefuck."

"But it's so warm under the blanket."

"Hey, you never regret working out. You ALWAYS regret missing a workout."

"Grrrr. Fine. Okay. I'll do it."


A. Strength = Front Squats 5-5-5

155-185-205(2) Couldn't match my previous best. But Christian said, "Nobody should be setting PRs at 6 in the morning.

B. Metcon = Dot Com Chipper from 110322
For time:
70 (Speed) Burpees
60 Situps
50 Kettlebell Swings – 55/35lb
40 Pull-ups
30 Handstand Push-ups

25:29

This was a pretty tough chipper.

***

Never stop dreaming.




***

"Dear CrossFitter: Be kinder to yourself."

Something to think about. Hell, we don't need to take this so seriously that it makes us SAD when we don't meet our lofty expectations of ourselves.

.

Flame War vs. Discs of Glory

I really should've started including results from my Frisbee games here a long time ago. The season is almost over, but better late than never.

We played DOG last night and our team played iron man because we had JUST enough players. I thought it was going to be worse than it was, because my legs were useless from Saturday's WOD for most of the day Monday, but I was running around perfectly fine. In fact, after two and a half weeks of sickness, and feeling like utter crap all day Monday at work, I noticed that I felt AWESOME when I was playing. I guess I need to be hitting the gym more.

It was a very competitive game. At one point, we were down 7-3, and we came back to take the lead in the second half. What started helping is when we started keying in on their team's best player, Bamford. Instead of playing our standard zone defence, I shadowed him like we did last year when we beat them in the playoffs. That stymied their defence a bit. There were a couple of times I got lazy/tired/, though, and Bamford made us pay.

The beginning of the end came when -- with the scored tied 10-10 and very little time left on the clock -- Mike and one of the DOGs collided. Mike's head slammed into the dude's shoulder and he suffered what would later be diagnosed as a concussion. Mike resumed playing when he probably shouldn't have and they scored the winning point. I'm not saying that if he hadn't have been concussed that they wouldn't have scored, because I don't think Mike fell down on defence.

Anyway, it was a great night for Frisbee and a fun, competitive game. You could consider it a moral victory for us, I guess, given the fact that we are an old, short-handed team, but I always say that part of rec sports is showing up.

***

And now for something completely different, because I don't have my other blog anymore.

Courtesy of Aaron...

“Team Connection”

In teams of 4:

200m Run with 45lb Sandbags – 2 members

100 Overhead Squats 95/65 lbs – 25 reps each, 2 working at a time

200m Run with 45lb Sandbags – The other 2 members

100 Pull ups – 25 reps each, 2 working at a time

100 m Partner Carry – 2 members, 1 there, 1 back

100 Thrusters 95 lbs/65 lbs – 25 reps each, 2 working at a time

100 m Partner Carry – The other 2 members, 1 there, 1 back

100 Bell Swings 55/35lb – 25 reps each, 2 working at a time

200 Jumping Lunges as a team 10 at a time, 2 working at a time

400 m Run all together as a team


My team, the Queen City sEXies (Jarrett, Sarah and Alannah), finished this in 20:33. I'm writing this two days later and my legs are still making me pay for every step. Frisbee tonight is going to be fun. And by "fun" I mean "a complete fucking debacle."