Sandbag Shitstorm / MUs #2 and #3

The programming at CrossFit Regina called for a strength segment and metcon, as per usual.

I was looking forward to doing back squats for the first time in a while, but got hung up at home so completely missed that part.

I did get there in time for the metcon, though. 

 

A. "Sandbag Shitstorm"*

*not the official name... but it's an awesome name and if you think otherwise, I will fight you. 

10min AMRAP:


30 Sand bag walking lunges 45/20
30 sand bag shouldering (15 each) +5 squats with bag on left shoulder, 5 squat with bag on right shoulder
100 sand bag carry

I got 2 rounds, plus 30 lunges plus 15, uh, shoulderings and 4 squats.

I guess that's okay.  But I think I was without inspiration due to a lack of appropriate WOD music.

Given the sandbaggy nature of this WOD, they should have played "Darube" by Sandstorm on a constant loop. (Please enjoy this timeless techno classic, accompanied by visuals of legendary MMA fighter Wanderlei Silva mauling people by punching, kneeing, and stomping.  Oh so much stomping)

Really, this song should be the soundtrack for all of our lives.  It would make us all a minimum142% better. 

 

B. Muscle-Up practice

So I figured that I'd do the backsquats with the 7pm crowd, after doing the metcon at 6:30.  When I mentioned this to Aaron, he replied, "Your backsquats will be severely compromised by the metcon."
While I am the #VoiceOfReason for my Neanderthal buddies on our upcoming UFC roadtrip to Winnipeg (a group which includes Aaron), I have to admit that he was right.   It's reassuring to know I have someone who can step in as a #SubstituteVoiceOfReason should I get stabbed by a Winnipeg ne'er-do-well or throttled by Harlan. 

Instead of doing backsquats, I thought I'd work on muscle-ups, since I hadn't been able to get a second one since the day I finally knocked the MU monkey off my back. 

I got some tips from Ann-Marie and Leya.  After a few frustrating attempts and walking away, I did a few jumping MU's and then came back to the rings with no one around. 

Nailed it.  I was so happy, I just stayed up there and waited until Leya noticed from across the gym, since it seems like the only time I can do these fucking things is when she's present. 

I then made a less than graceful dismount that ended up with me falling down on my ass. 

A few minutes later, I decided I wanted to try for a second one.  I got it, though it was a bit more of a struggle to push myself up.  No one-legged eggbeater move though. 

So, in the course one evening, I managed to increase my lifetime total for MUs by 200%. 

CrossFit Open 13.2

10 minute AMRAP of:

5 shoulder to overhead (115lbs)
10 deadlift (115lbs)
15 box jumps or steps  (I did steps to maintain a constant pace)

I got 238 reps.  That amounts to 7 rounds, plus 5 push press, 10 DL and  13 steps 

I was hoping for 7 and change, so this was good.  Plus, I had at least a half dozen no-reps called by Aaron (including two in the last round) so I know I had it in me to break 8, which makes me happy.  Not quite as happy as if I had officially gotten 8 rounds, but mostly happy. 

To be clear, I'm not bitching about the no-rep calls. They were largely from me not completely opening my hips on top of the box and I would expect they were all justified. I'm not sure if I seemed like I was angry about it during the WOD... I was trying to maintain an intensity level and I probably had my "pissed off CrossFit face" going.  Plus, I think there was a time when Aaron told me to stand straight and I yelled "Stand straight!" on the top of the box.  I was yelling mostly at myself, but it might have come off as backtalk.

I'm such a frickin' spaz sometimes. 

The bottom line is that I knowingly went to the station where Aaron had judged the previous heat, and I know Aaron's a strict judge. I might have gotten away with some of those reps with someone else, but in the end I'm glad (well, mostly glad) that he ruled them a no-rep.  If I had had my wits about me after the WOD was over, I would have thanked him for making sure I met the standards.

So, if you're reading this:  Thanks, Aaron!  Your awesome judging embiggens us all. 

"The Chief"

A minor illness, sick kid and other real-life stuff kept me out of the gym for close to two weeks.  First WOD back is a classic. 

"The Chief"

Five three minute rounds (one minute rest between) with an AMRAP:
3 Squat cleans (135lbs)
6 Push ups
9 Squats

At the start of each round, you start with the 3 squat cleans.  I think we've done the "pick up where you left off" version in the past, too but since Aaron was the coach today, I'm going to assume without looking it up, that starting at the start of the sequence is the correct way to do it. 

Round 1: 5 rounds even.
Round 2: 3 rounds +3+6+7
Round 3: 3 rounds +2
Round 4: 3 rounds +2
Round 5: 3 rounds +2

The Bad:

• This is quite bit lower than my better results on this 
• My push-ups continue to suck, both in form and my ability to perform them.
• My score was the lowest of all the dudes. 

The Good:

• At least I'm back in the gym.
• There's something about doing 135lb squat cleans that just make me feel fucking awesome.

Aaron is a sadist or maybe a masochist

This was described on the shiny new CrossFit Regina site as one of Aaron's two favourite WODs.

I suspect that means that it's one of his favourite WODs to inflict on people (sadist) not to actually do himself (masochist).

Five rounds of:

20 OH lunges with 45lb barbell
21 burpees

13:50

I slowed way down on the burpees in the middle three rounds, but the last one I did them pretty much uninterrupted. I finished with a time a fair bit faster than I figured I would, as I was shooting for the 15:00 range.

6 a.m. Waxing & Tanning: OHS and Row/DU

I showed up at CFR at 6 a.m. after approximately three hours sleep. I should be paying for that later today.

A. Overhead Squat 3-3-3

155-165-180(PR)

My previous best for 3s was 175. The 180 felt really good, actually easier than the 155, likely because I didn't warm up very much. I probably could have done a bit more.

B. 12 minute Time Cap:
2km Row (one score)
Max Double Unders in the remaining time (one score)

Row: 7:42
DUs: 141

I figured I would do a nice leisurely row, and I didn't burn myself out here, but I actually kept up a pretty good pace. the thing that really helped was the fact that we got Aaron to talk about random CrossFit-related things. It was like he was the Piano Man, but instead of playing songs on request, he'd talk about CrossFit stuff.

Questions I shouted out:
"Most common mistakes people make with overhead squats?"

"Tips on how can someone maximize their Fran time (if they were to do it right now)?"

"I'm about to pose for a calendar, do you have any advice you can share?"

For the last one, his tips involved tanning and waxing. I can't say I disagree with either of them.

SCFC - "Spring Fling"

57 competitors, three events, one freaking crazy day.

Read about it on the CrossFit Regina website here.

See the final results here.

See pictures from the event here.

My voice was hoarse from screaming at other competitors. There was a great energy in the gym all day, and there were some incredible athletes gathered in one place. But just as inspiring were the regular people who pushed their bodies and spirits to the absolute limit, cheered on by friends and people they had never even met. I am not exaggerating when I say that there were a few times that I almost teared up just watching.

WOD 1 "Bottoms Up"
Concentric back squat (one rep max) plus ring dips.

This was like a max backsquat, except the bar was racked low and you start from that position. Your score on this one was the weight that you lifted plus five points for every ring dip.

You get four attempts at a lift. I did 245 and then 265. I failed on 285 and 275. After the fail on 285, I had a brief but entirely ridiculous spaz-out episode, which subsequently embarrassed me way more than actually missing the lift. That may have messed with my concentration when I went for 275. I didn't even lock the bar down properly on my back before standing up, so it rolled back and was ruled no lift.

I got 15 ring dips, which I think was a PR. I thought that was pretty good, but nearly every other guy in Div 1 beat it.

Total score was 340, which put me at 10th out of 14.

Even though adding the ring dips hurt me as far as the standings went (I would have finished a couple of spots higher if only squat numbers were counted), I thought adding them to this event made it a good balance.

WOD 2 "Pull Through"

45 pull-ups, then
21-15-9 of:
95lb snatch
Row for calories.

I did 26 pull-ups off the start, then finished it off with a few more sets in the 4-6 range. I had a couple of blisters, one on each ring finger. But I taped them up and I don't think they slowed me down on this one.

My strategy was to go as fast as I could though the snatches and not kill myself on the rower. Having said that, the 21 snatches were pretty awful.

There was a guy next to me who could pass for a marine and I figured he'd pull away from the pack, but going into the 15 snatches, I was right on his tail. I think I passed him around the ninth rep. Having someone to chase, and then someone to stay ahead of, really helped me push through this one. And it was nasty.

I did this in 10:28, which was good for 4th out of all the Div 1 men, and moved me to 7th overall. I was definitely surprised that I finished that high (because I went in one of the earlier heats, I was briefly in first place) and I think there were a few other people who were, too.


WOD 3 "Rain or Shine"
Three rounds:

400m run (in the rain)
20 115 lb push press or jerk
20 20" box jump


Because I was in 7th, I got to go in the final heat of the day. That was a blessing and a curse. It was good, because we got to see what worked for the other athletes.

It was bad because I got to see how this wod destroyed people. See, until then, I didn't think it was gonna be that bad.

It was THAT bad.

We had to run in the rain, which was probably better than doing it in oppressive heat. But running at the start of a round instead of the end always presents a bit of a pacing challenge.

On the first 400m run, I wanted to keep a good pace, but leave something in the tank for the push press. My thinking was that it was going to be the push press that really determined who would do well on this one. I had seen the push press just absolutely wipe some people out in earlier heats and I had also seen some freakishly strong people, like Hardcore Ange, crank them out like she was pressing a PVC pipe.

The key would be to put the bar down as little as possible. As I came in from the run I was thinking that I would have to break up the push press into sets of 7, but on the first set, I was able to do 12 straight. I then did eight straight to finish off the set. My technique must have been a bit iffy, because I heard Aaron telling my judge Shae to make sure I locked out at the top and straightened my legs. From what I had seen earlier, Shae didn't cut people a whole lot of slack, so I couldn't have been too bad.

My box jumps were painfully slow. In the previous heat, I saw Brad Flood crank out 20 straight box jumps in his third round to finish before the time limit ran out. Flood was exhausted, but jumped on and off quickly as the entire gym counted in unison. Flood was awesome and that was one of my favourite parts of the day.

I did not provide any box jump-related heroics. I jumped up and stepped down for the vast majority of mine. I just wanted to keep going and not burn myself out.

I don't remember too many specifics about the next two rounds. I think I did pretty good on the push press and when I did set the bar down, I didn'tleave it on the ground for long. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I had Shae urging me on and dozens of other people yelling at me. The atmosphere alone probably shaved a good two minutes off the time I would get if this were just the workout of the day. The box jumps were slow and steady, but I did deviate from my stepping down to throw in about four up-and-downs. I'm no Brad Flood, but it was the best I could do.

I finished in 13:20, good for 7th in the event.

After the results were posted, I I was in a three-way tie for 7th overall, which is better than I expected.

I had a great time, and it showed me that I still have a lot of room for improvement, both in my CrossFitness and to how I respond to adversity.

UPDATE:

Here's a cool video focusing on one of the athletes who competed that day. It looks really professional.

Sask CrossFit Challenge: Taryn Romanowich from Colin Tulloch on Vimeo.

Queensland Australia Sectional WOD #2

After yesterday's Strength work, I wanted to do a CrossFit WOD today and this one is perfect in that it is only 10 minutes of work and shouldn't mess me up too bad to do strength stuff on Thursday or Friday.

10 mins max reps, consisting of the following stations:
4 minutes – Thruster 110/77lb
3 minutes – KB Swing 55/35lb
2 minutes – Muscle-ups
1 minute – Burpees

People like me who cannot do muscle-ups, sub 10 pull-ups. That means I don't get the RX’d star, which is sort of a bummer. I've been meaning to get an MU tutorial, seeing as it's my other major CrossFit goal for the year. The problem is that the Strength workouts take at least an hour, so time is sort of an issue. I should probably just carve out some time to work on some muscle-ups when I know Aaron or Robin is going to be there, and after I've done some work on that, I could do a brief metcon as well. Perhaps I'll try to work that in next week.

Athletes move from one station to the next at the end of the allotted time without rest.

My results:

35 thrusters
43 bell swings
20 pull-ups (equal to 4 MU for the purposes of scoring)
14 burpees
____________96 total. I thought I could break 100 on this. I spent a little too much time trying to catch my breath. Still, I felt pretty good about this. Not necessarily because the result was all that impressive (it wasn't) but just having done it.

Either that, or it just might be a nice day out and I had an extra dose of Vitamin D this morning. Life is good. Go out and hug someone.

Strength - Workout B

3 sets of 5 x 185lb back squats. Note to self: Pay more attention to the amount of weight on the bar. I did a set of 5 x 175lbs before I noticed it was too light. Also, I notice that once I hit rep 3 or 4, I forget what number I'm on. There was likely at least one set, and possibly more, in which I did six reps.

Hey... they don't call it "CountFit."

3 sets of 5 x 100lb bench press.

5 sets of 3 x 115 power cleans.

I know it's still early days, but I'm really happy that I decided to start doing this. I don't harbour any illusions of having a 1000-plus CrossFit Total like Harlan, but I always knew there was a lot of room for improvement when it came to my strength. The number of metcon workouts that I'm doing is way down, but I don't really miss them that much. In fact, with the low-intensity strength workouts I barely even break a sweat... at least, so far. I'm sure when the weights start to get close to the limits of my capability, I will start to sweat. But even with the light weights, I think I'm actually losing the last of the Christmas/Cancun surplus weight and inching back into the 173-175 range I was at before.

Aaron had told me to make sure I eat when doing this. He wasn't kidding. I have been eating CONSTANTLY, and I am always hungry. I've been trying eat mostly good stuff, and I guess when you're eating good food (meat, veggies, fruit) it takes a lot to fill up. My stomach is literally growling as I write this, and it was less than an hour ago that I was eating a good portion of turkey and chicken breasts and some raw veggies, followed by a slice of banana bread.

I e-mailed Aaron the other night about the strength programming: "I am really digging it so far. I wish I had done this a long time ago."

He responded: "Glad you are enjoying it...Right now everything is fairly easy, but it will get tougher, much tougher. :-)"

Burpees/Run

Burpees/Run
For time:

25 Burpees, 400M run
20 Burpees, 400M run
15 Burpees, 400M run
10 Burpees, 400M run
5 Burpees, 400M run

Burpees and 400m runs. I don't hate either of these things, until I'm actually doing them.

My time was 15:38. I've never done this workout before so I was a bit unsure how to pace myself. I liked that the burpees decreased in number, rather than increased, but at the end, it meant less time between runs.

I commented to Aaron that I think I'd prefer this to a version in which the number of burpees increased from 5-25. Of course, it being Aaron, he said I had just given him a great idea.

Fuck.

Anyway, I could have probably pushed myself a little more on the runs, but I would be "resting" during the first 200 or 300 metres, and then try to pick up the pace on the home stretch.