CrossFit Open Throwback Tuesday

With the CrossFit Open coming back, CFR decided to revisit a couple of workouts from last year's open for the Tuesday WOD.  And why not?


13.2:
10 minute AMRAP of
-5 shoulder to overhead (115lb)
-10 deadlifts (115lb)
-15 box jumps or steps on a 24" box

Here's how I did on this last year.

A year later, I wasn't quite as proficient.  I got 7 rounds, plus one push press. 

I used push presses for the overhead lifts, and was able to bang them out pretty quick.  The deadlifts started to suck about halfway through, but writing this the next day I have zero back discomfort so I guess the bit of foam rolling I did helped.  I stepped on the box the whole way through.  It allowed me to keep a steady pace and not burn myself out. It's maybe not quite as fast as jumping, but I didn't have to rest during the steps at all.   


We rested for 10 minutes.  Then..



13.5
Four-minute AMRAP of
-15 thrusters (100lbs)
-15 C2B pull-ups

Here's how I did on this last year.

Unlike the Open version of the workout, where you get another four minutes for every three rounds you complete, we were supposed to stop after four minutes.  Not that it mattered to me anyway. 

Again, I did significantly worse than last year, though that can probably be excused by being older, injured and freaking tired from the first WOD.  Plus, the competition atmosphere, with hordes of people cheering me on, was missing. 

I'll settle for a score of 61 (two full rounds, plus one thruster)

Regional WOD #4: "The 100s"

For time:
100 Wall balls, 20/14 lbs to a 10’ target
100 Chest-to-bar Pull-ups
100 Pistols (one-legged squats), alternating
100 One-arm dumbbell snatches, alternating (70/55lb), do not need to squat
Time cap 25mins.

I was dreading this one all day.  Honestly, I was really re-thinking my rule about not cherrypicking WODs. 

Actually, the best thing about it was the time cap.  Knowing that it wouldn't go longer than 25 minutes, and being fairly certain I wouldn't get to the DB snatches, that provided some comfort. 

I was also mildly concerned about my ability to keep track of my reps, no joke.  I decided to do the wall balls in sets of 10 and mark each set on the whiteboard.  This had the added bonus of giving me a little rest in between sets. 

It wasn't the fastest way to do it -- I think it took me over 7:00, which is pretty slow -- but I also wasn't bagged when I moved to the C2B.

Going into this, I knew the C2B pull-ups were gonna be ugly.  My goal was to get through them without tearing my hands... and also just to get through them. 

I did the first set of 10.  Then sets of fives.  Then sets of three and two.  I finished it sometime after 20:00. 

For something I'm not real adept at, the pistols went better than expected.  I'm still much better with my left leg than my right, but the gap seemed closer tonight than any time previously.  Perhaps my legs were good and warmed up after the 100 WB. 

Whatever it was, I got through 33 of them before the time ran out, which is more than I expected.  

Final result: 100 WB +  100 C2B + 33 pistols. 

"Marathon Monday"

 5 rounds for time (30min time cap):

• 4 Squat Clean and Jerks (185/125)
• 15 Chest to Bar Pull-ups
• 13 Burpee lateral jumps (over barbell)

Then finish with 1km Row (once)

When I read this originally, I thought every round ended with a 1km row.  Even though that would be an insane amount of work, it didn't occur to me just how insane.  If I had taken some time to think about it, I probably would have stayed home. Fortunately, thinking too much is something I rarely do. 

Even as it was written, this was a very gruelling workout.  I was doing this by myself, as well.   The gym was full, but it was Strength Club on one side and  a youth soccer team doing a training session with Keenan on the other.  There was also the Sask Weightlifting Association guys, who - if they had paid any attention all - would have likely been amused by my struggles to squat clean and jerk a weight they would consider an inadequate warm-up weight. 

Ah, yes, the clean and jerk.  Before starting, I had to consider was whether to Rx this WOD with the 185lb squat clean and jerks or go with the 155lb intermediate weight.  My general rule of thumb is that if I can do it, I do it.  I can do a 185lb squat clean and jerk, but that's a fairly heavy single for me.

I went with the 185lb, realizing that it would take a significant amount of time.  I may have underestimated just how much.  Doing those four reps in each round took more time than either of the other exercises, due to the lengthy breaks in between lifts.  I just couldn't bring myself to get back to the bar.  Because I was doing a squat clean, I wanted to ensure that I was able to do the lift without failing every time. 

In the first round, it took me around two minutes to do the set of four.  I think by the later rounds, I was taking more than three minutes, maybe close to four to do those same four reps. 

The C2B pull-ups were fine.  I split them into two sets at the start, three sets at the end.  The burpee lateral jumps were okay.  I was moving pretty slowly by that point in each round.

I finished the five rounds in 28:11. 

It probably took me at least another minute, maybe more, to get strapped into the rower, and then I rowed the 1000m in 4:02.

13.5: Thank God I'm not elite

"How dare you judge me, Steve? You have no idea what I've been through."

"13.5 may be awful, but it's over quickly.  Which is also the line of reasoning I use when attempting to woo Tracey."
-Me to AngDesj, on Facebook. 


I think I've mentioned before that I don't like AMRAPs for the simple reason that if you are better at CrossFit, your reward in an AMRAP is more work.  Talk about a disincentive. 

Well, 13.5 was even worse... but fortunately the only people who suffered the consequences are the people who are super fucking awesome at CrossFit.  

This would come as no surprise to anyone who's spent five minutes watching me do a WOD or reading this blog, but if there was a Venn diagram with a circle representing "People Who Are Super Fucking Awesome At CrossFit," your humble yet sexy blogger would not be inside that circle.  I'd be over in the circle representing "People For Whom CrossFit Is The Thin Line Separating Them From Obesity."

13.5
AMRAP in four minutes:
15 thrusters (100 lbs)
15 chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Here's the evil part:  If you get done three rounds within the four-minute time limit... you get another four minutes.

It doesn't stop there... for every three rounds you manage to complete, another four minutes are tacked on the clock.  So, theoretically, this workout could go on for a long time for those who are really elite.

Since the WOD was announced, I couldn't stop thinking about it and how I would have to get that bonus time or I'd be hugely disappointed in myself.  But for some reason I did the math wrong and thought that getting to that point meant completing 60 total reps, not the 90 it actually is.  I thought 60 reps would be hard, but doable for me. 

I got to the gym on Saturday morning, and Lexi told me no one at CFR had made it out of the first four minutes.  "It's 90 reps," she pointed out. 

Hey, they don't call it MathFit. 

Hearing that was like Christmas morning.  Which I guess means Lexi = Santa Claus. 

My goal was still to get into the 60s.  But now I had the luxury of knowing I didn't have to worry about having to do this for longer than four minutes.

I started the WOD unsure if I would do the first 15 thrusters unbroken.  In earlier heats, I saw a lot of people start fast and fade early. 

Once I got them going, I figured I should just finish rather than eat up precious seconds by resting early and having to pick up the bar again. 

Cary was doing this next to me and he finished his thrusters before me. 

As I moved to the C2B PLUs I was paying attention to his counter more than Steve, who was counting for me.  It probably helped me keep my pace fast, but really, I should probably just pay attention to what I'm doing. 

I got through the C2B fairly quickly and was back at my barbell with more than 2:30 left.  I was pretty sure at that time that I was going to break 60, since I was halfway there. 

I also knew that this set of 15 was not going to be unbroken. 

I picked it up and did 8 reps... I would have liked 10, but I had no choice but to drop it.  I thought I'd do the last 7 in one set, but after 4, I had to put it down. 

When I finally did get to the C2B, I did a set of 5 or so, then turned around so I could see what the clock read.  That helped me get through the last 10, though I did have to break it up into three or four sets, including a final set of 1. 

I was back at my barbell with 45-50 seconds left.  I don't remember what I did for sets, but I just knew I wanted to get to 70 or 72.  I would have been thrilled with 72. 

The gym was yelling at me, so that helped me pick the bar up when I really just wanted to leave that fucking thing on the ground. 

I got to 71 with four seconds left.  I was down in the squat part of the thruster for #72 when time ran out. 

Final score of the final Open WOD: 71 

After I went, I stuck around the gym to watch a couple of the later heats. 

And photobombing.  Hot damn, I love photobombing

There were some impressive performances, particularly Lance, who was the only person at CFR to get to that second four minutes. 

His reward for being elite was another four minutes and a final score (I think) of 124.  It was awesome to see. 

It's amazing to me to think that the top score in the world is more than double that.  Josh Bridges scored a 254. 

Sucks to be that guy... this week at least.

"Hope"

Same format as Fight Gone Bad, and it's just as awful.  I sure "Hope" I don't have to do this one again anytime soon. 

(Ha! I kill me.)

Three five-minute rounds, with one minute at each station:
-Burpees
-75 lb power snatch
-24" box jump
-75 lb thruster
-Chest to bar Pull-ups

I had a pretty good pace in the first round (88 reps, I think), but dropped off in the second (60) and third (55).  My goal was to maximize my reps on the burpees, snatches and thrusters.

203 total reps.

Pull-up Cluster / Wall Ball Run

Part 1:
1 minute max Pull-ups, 1 minute rest
45 seconds max Pull-ups, 45 seconds rest
30 seconds max Pull-ups, 30 seconds rest
15 seconds max Pull-ups.

I got 34, 15, 12, 7

I consider this to be good, though I suppose I should have gotten a few more in the 45-second round. That's a pretty significant drop-off. I was going for a PR in consecutive pull-ups in the first round, and I got it (33), then I added one more before the minute was up.

The pull-ups were supposed to be strict gymnastic pull-ups (this sort of stuff happens whenever Robin gets back from a certification, and she just went to a gymnastics cert). I didn't realize until I had to change that I do more of a frog kick, with my own spazzy flair.

Part 2:
As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes:
200 m Run
20 Wall Ball – 20/14lb

Blair got 7 rounds and something, so I was hoping to get within sniffing distance of that. My runs were pretty damn slow from round 2 on.

I got 6 rounds, plus 200m, plus 2 WB.

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.

.

"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.

How many sets for 100 pull-ups?

We had to do 100 pull-ups, for time.

The catch was, every time you drop off the bar, you have to do 10 thrusters with 2 x 35lbs dumbbells

As rx'd in a seemingly endless 22:43 or something.

Sets of 25-15-11-11-12-8-12-8, and, of course 70 thrusters.

If you add them up, you'll see that I did 102 pull-ups. That's because I can't do math. (74 + 8 does not = 80)

Deck of Cards Saturday

The one thing about doing this Strength programming is that I "miss out" on all the "fun" of doing the WODs that everyone else at CrossFit Regina are doing. And there have been some nasty looking WODs lately.

It's weird, but after a month of not suffering in the same way as everyone else at CrossFit Regina - even though it's my choice to do my own thing for a little while - I kind of feel left out.

(This is the part where Tracey would tell me that I'm being such a girl. Good thing she doesn't read this blog.)

Anyway, to alleviate my feelings of CrossFit loner-ism (can you tell I write things for a living?), I'm trying to hit at least one WOD a week and it's probably going to be Saturdays for the most part. Hopefully, I'll be able to retain a bit of metcon capacity, too. This past Saturday, the 10a.m. WOD was the good ol' "Deck of Cards."

Pretty simple:

Do the number of reps that the card's value represents. (Aces = 11, duh)
Hearts = Pull-ups
Diamonds = Push-ups
Spades = Squats
Clubs = Sit-ups
Jokers = 20 Burpees, and you double the reps on the card that comes next.

I was invited into a group of four with the Competition Team members Christian, Kim F., and Kat. They had all just finished the 9a.m. workout involving some kind of Tabata-related torture, so I had nothing to complain about. But Christian still was the first one done on every rep.

I can still feel it in my shoulders a couple of days later.

Tyler almost bails on "Fran-ish" (a.k.a. "C2B Fran") but eventually discovers his testicles

Kind of a weird morning.

When I signed up online for the 6am class, I saw that there was only one other person registered for the class. I figured that at least a couple more people would show up, but when I got there, it was just Franz (who was coaching) and MichelleD.

Then I looked on the board and saw that the WOD was C2B Fran.

21-15-9 of:
95lb thrusters
Chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Fuck.

While this isn't what I consider to be a benchmark WOD, it's close enough that I would have liked to know I was doing it a little more in advance than 15 minutes. With benchmark WODs (basically, the ones with girls names) I usually prefer to do them in the evening so that I can come in, see what people have done, and feed off some of the energy in the gym. This morning, I was going to be doing this one alone because MichelleD was going to be doing yesterday's WOD.

Also contributing to my foul mood was the fact that when I looked on the whiteboard, my results for the first part of yesterday's WOD (skips and pushups/mountain climbers) were in the bottom third of everyone that did it yesterday. It pisses me off because that's the kind of stuff I'm supposed to be good at.

So, during a half-hearted warm-up, I started looking for reasons why I shouldn't do Fran-ish. I thought about maybe trying to improve my score on the first part of yesterday's WOD. I even seriously contemplated just going home and going back to bed.

Basically, I figured I was going to completely tank on this and I really didn't want to have the whiteboard displaying a substandard time under my name for the next week. (When I'm thinking rationally, I know most people couldn't give two shits about my results, but those moments of rational thinking are rare).

While the little devil on my shoulder was telling me, "Go on, bail on Fran-ish... you can go home to your nice warm bed," the little angel on the other side took a break from kettlebell swings to say, "This is what CrossFit is all about: getting you physically prepared for the unexpected. In real life, you don't always get to choose what challenges you will face. Man the fuck up, douchey."

The devil was the reason I got fat and stayed that way for years, so I listened to the angel.

Speaking of angels, Franz provided some good coaching throughout.

The last time I did regular Fran was one of my better days ever at CrossFit. That day, I had the benefit of a cheering crowd, a week's notice of the workout being Fran, and, because I did it in the evening, I had a whole day's worth of results to compare to.

Today, I probably managed to summon up about 85-90 per cent of the intensity and focus I had during Fran last time. There were three or four pull-ups I didn't get all the contact I wanted between my chest and the bar, and the breaks I took were probably too long and too frequent, but I got through it.

Time was 7:00 which is a little under two minutes more than my regular Fran time. I'm not sure if the C2B pull-ups should really have that kind of an impact on my results, but I gave just about everything I had this morning.

One other thing: I was no longer in a pissy mood.

I actually don't know if that 7:00 time is "good" for a person at my level, or how well it will hold up against the people I usually compare my results to. At that point, I didn't really care. I had done it. I didn't listen to the devil on my shoulder who wants me to stay in bed when that alarm goes off at 5:30 in the morning, and who tries to talk me out of doing a workout because the result might bruise my fragile ego.

Fuck you, little devil. I refuse to be your bitch.

As I attempted to recover from Fran-ish, I looked at the clock and noticed that it was only 6:40am. So I started looking forward to getting home a bit earlier than normal, and maybe even rousing Tracey for a morning quickie. Then I found out that I wasn't done.

I hadn't noticed the bonus work was to do 75 GHD sit-ups in as few sets as possible.

Fuck.

I was shooting for three sets, but figured I'd probably end up doing it in four.

Turns out it took me five sets: 20-15-9-16-15.


Here's a video of a guy doing C2B Fran a lot quicker than me.

Gearing up for the Games

Today, participants in the upcoming Saskatchewan CrossFit Games (co-organized by the Regina and Saskatoon affiliates) were invited to do two workouts, one at 9am and the other at noon, in order to begin to get used to what it's going to be like in a couple of weeks.

9am

Three rounds of:

12 x 115 lb overhead squats
12 x 24" box jumps
12 x chest-to-bar pull-ups

We were given a 15 minute time limit to do this, and each competitor was assigned someone to count our reps and make sure our form was perfect. I was lucky to have Ferrah do mine. She provided just the right amount of steady encouragement throughout.

The worst part of this was the overhead squats. Actually, getting the 115 lbs overhead with a snatch was very tough, so it actually probably helped my time in a way, because it made me more reluctant to drop it. The first set of 12, I was able to do all of the squats uninterrupted. Getting low enough without losing my balance was a big challenge. I did end up falling on my ass during the second set. Always fun.

Somehow, I managed to finish with a time of 8:18, which was the best time of the day. I attribute it mostly to Brad Flood being next to me. I was finishing my squats a bit faster than him, but then we'd move to box jumps and he was popping up and down like it was completely effortless. (Note to self: Do more box jumps) It was everything I could do to just try to stay ahead of him.

12pm

At 9am, all we knew about the noon workout was that it would involve a salt bag. I joked, "Hey, after the 115 lb overhead squats, a 45 lb salt bag will feel light."

I should have known better.

With two saltbags in an oversized army surplus duffel bag:

400m run (yep, carrying the 90 lb bag anyway you like, without using the straps).

30 clean and jerks with the bag. ("Grace")

Climb the rope and ring the bell (thankfully, not carrying the two salt bags with you.)

I was placed in the second heat, which means I had to count for one of the competitors, James, who's an absolute animal and one of CFR's most elite athletes. That's when it hit home just how frickin' hard this workout was going to be. James's weighted 400m run was faster than a lot of people's regular 400m time, but he looked like he was going through Hell on the C&Js. He finished in just over 10 minutes, which was pretty incredible. Here's a video of BrianB doing C&Js with the bag. BrianB is in awesome shape, so watching this should tell you how tough this workout was.


After ripping up my hand on a rope dismount a few weeks back, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of a rope climb. But after seeing how the other competitors did in the first heat, I figured that I probably wouldn't finish the 30 C&Js before the 13 minute time limit, so it wouldn't be an issue.

When it was my turn, I had a pretty good time on the 400m, but it was very tough to get any kind of speed on the C&Js. I was taking way too long between the reps, but James was very good at keeping me going, making me aware of the time and giving me advice on the best way to keep the bag jerkable. He said my form got better and faster as I got toward the end. Part of that was just me wanting to get done so I wouldn't have to do it anymore.

I finally got done the 30 C&Js at around 11:00, so it was time to climb the rope. I took a quick drink, chalked my hands, and got on the rope. If I was fresher, I would have tried it no-hands, but today I needed my feet, too. Although I'm not sure how much spreading my knees out bowlegged and pinching the rope between my feet really helped. When I finally got to the top, it took a fair amount of willpower to get one hand off the rope to ring the bell at 11:50. This time, I climbed down and emerged free of any hand trauma.