Sunday, January 22, 2012: Workout #8 — Fran Redux

Sunday open gym. My phone clocks confused me again this morning as I looked at one first thing and it said “10:15″ and I was like – shit, how did I sleep this late, I’ll never make it to the gym. Until I turned on my laptop to check the overnight sports scores and discovered my phone was still on Holland time. And then I was like — shit, this means I really do have to go face Fran again, doesn’t it.

So, a bit of not-that-long-ago history. My first workout of 2012 — and the first workout in about a month and a half, really — was none other than Fran. And she kicked my ass like no other. I don’t think I have ever felt that close to death in a Crossfit workout, seriously. While it was a plus that I did the pullups unassisted, the fact that I finished in 16 minutes and the fact that I thought I was GOING TO DIE made it quite unbearable. It was almost weird. I left that class so discouraged and down on myself. Ugh.

But I have been feeling better recently in the WOD’s and while I don’t think I am quite at my peak levels of last year, have been more encouraged. I have been researching thruster technique on the web and tried out some things last weekend which helped. So I decided last weekend that I needed to redo Fran.

Got to the gym about 11 to see it was quite Dragon filled. The team competing in the London Throwdown was there. I was really trying to get in and out, though, so I didn’t socialize all that much. I did a quick warmup of running and some PVC work on Front Squats and Thrusters, did some with just the bar, and then got into Fran.

I decided to take a new mental tack today. In Fran and other metcon type workouts, I usually go hard at the beginning then just burn out. Today I decided, you know, I’m doing this by myself, I’m not competing against anyone, I’m going to start with a good, steady pace, nothing too fast, take a break when I need to, but get back on the bar quickly. Not trying to impress anyone, but have to minimize my time off the bar. My time goal was 10 minutes. Like last time, I did the Thrusters at 30KG, which is light, but until I can get my time under 10 minutes, I have no business going heavier.

This seemed to help. I did the first round of Thrusters (oh – Fran is 21-15-9 of Thrusters and Pullups) in a group of 7-5-5-4. At the end of it, I felt pretty good, which was already an improvement. Dare I say my pullups were also pretty good? I watched some kipping videos last night and that helped, I got some good kipping action going for about 5 reps, which was great.

I finished the round of 21 in just about 5 minutes. So far, so good. The round of 15 is usually my death round, but I got through it ok. My thrusters were still going in groups of 4-5. My pullups were also pretty good. I was a little slower than I wanted to be, but it wasn’t the drop off like before — I didn’t hit a “wall” really. The round of 9 was hard, but I got the thrusters in 2 sets (5-4). The pullups were also hard, and I got them in three sets of 3.

All in all I finished in 10:30. So I missed my time goal of 10 minutes, but I shaved 5:30 off of my time last week. That’s not bad, really. And I know I can do better. I was exhausted, but not dying exhausted, which means I can push it a little bit more next time. I think I did what I wanted to do today, which was really to get that awful first workout out of my mind and start to think a little more positively about things. Think I will revisit Fran in a few months again. And it won’t even be a question of whether I can get under 10 minutes.

Saturday, January 21, 2012: Workout #7 — Fight Gone Bad

Bloody plane delay last night caused me to miss DC, which sucked because it was all about Muscle Ups and Snatches, two exercises where I could really use the coaching.  Joined the gang for dinner at Nandos and found out today was going to be Fight Gone Bad.  

Fight Gone Bad is one of my top 3 most hated workouts (for the record, the other two are Fran and Kelly).  It’s similar to Fran in that a) it feels like an all out sprint and b) I do significantly worse than the class on it, which I hate.  The two things are related lol.  So I was a bit nervous today and actually briefly thought about giving it a skip.  But it was time to face it head on!

FGB is 1 minute at each of the following stations:  Wall Balls, Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (35KG), Box Jumps, Push Press (35KG), and Row (for calorie).  You spend a minute at each station then, after finishing, rest for 1 minute then do it again.  And again.  3 times through in total.  You count each rep you perform and the overall total is your score.  

The good thing about FGB is that I can do it Rx, which is rare.   But my problem is that I burn out quickly on it, so the potential is there where I just shut down.  I remember doing FGB a few years ago and getting like 2 reps on certain exercises in rounds 2 and 3.  Nightmare.

So today I said I was going to concentrate on my breathing, not rush it, and try to consistently stay moving.  My first round was pretty good.  I got 30 box jumps, which was a record for me, and also did OK with the row, push press, and wall ball.  SDHP was my last exercise of the round and it showed.  I got 10 on the push press, which makes me think the weight may be a little heavy.  I ended the round at 67, which is not bad for me, but, BUT, is still really low compared to most people.  Besides the box jumps, I don’t have another exercise where I get over 15 reps, and that just dooms me to a low number.

The second round was complete murder.  My box jumps went down to 24 and the others were down a bit as well.  I got a 50 overall.

The third round, actually, was good for me.  On 4 out of the 5 exercises, I got one more rep than the previous round.  So my score actually was higher in round 3 than round 2.  I was pleased with this.  

So overall I scored 170.  Most people score over 200 and that is my goal.  30 additional reps over 3 rounds means I need to average 10 more reps a round, so 2 more reps an exercise.  Sounds easy, doesn’t it?  

Sunday, January 15: Workout #6, Sunday morning with Gwenno

Gwenno and I decided to open gym it today. On my agenda I wanted to do Annie (make up of one of the baseline workouts) and try some tips around Thrusters I picked up last night online.

It’s fair to say that we should not be allowed in the box unsupervised in the future!!!!

Actually, we did quite a bit. After a little warm up, we decided to tackle some Ring Dips, and I’m pleased to say that I got my very first one! That alone made today worth the price of admission. I did 3 good ones to check the box on the Level 1 standards, which was great.

We then did some pullups. Something is still not there in my shoulder strength for some reason….I still haven’t found the strict pullups I had late last year. I don’t think I am far off, but there is definitely a sticking point. I also tried some Thrusters with my new tips (open up the hips, knees out type of thing) and I have to say it makes a difference.

So then we tried to find a WOD to do. After much comedy of looking through the WOD book, we decided to construct our own WOD based on some of the exercises we had been working on. So we decided on 5 rounds of 5 Thrusters, 5 pullups, 5 ring dips, and 200 M Run. It turned out to be a difficult workout skill wise (I lost the ring dips midway through round 3), but not terribly exhausting. My pullups were not great – I was getting only 2 at a time really – but got through them. The Thrusters were actually the best part, I started to gain some confidence in the movement. Almost makes me want to redo Fran…..almost. Actually, yes, I want to redo Fran. Next Sunday, maybe.

After that WOD, I decided to do Annie since I wasn’t that tired. My Double Unders were actually pretty good…..I strung together 27 at one point, which I believe is a record for me. Had some trouble with the sit ups. Finished in something like 10:32. This is the first time I’ve done Annie where the situps were the time suck, not the DU’s. In looking at my blog, the last time I did Annie I finished in 11:20, so nearly a minute faster this time.

Was a good little workout today. Glad we went!

Saturday, January 14: Workout #5 — Slow, but steady

Usually the turnaround between the Friday evening workout and the Saturday morning one is difficult for me, but today I was feeling pretty good which is a positive sign.

Pleased to report we did the same type of warmup game this morning that we did last night and no pratfalls were involved.

We practiced handstand push ups. Am starting to like these, even though I can’t do them lol. I worked through some of my apprehension about doing the handstand in general — towards the end I was able to do a bit of a runner into the handstand as opposed to my runner – stop – place hands on ground – attempt handstand sequence. There was no chance of me getting the actual push up today, think I need more work on my positioning beforehand (getting my butt close to the wall, my hands a little further out, etc). Will work on these tomorrow in open gym I think.

The WOD was a chipper of 500M Row, 400M Run (! – after the row?!), 50 air squats, 40 push ups, 30 overhead lunges, 20 burpees, 10 pullups. I did OK. Except for the burpees, I was able to keep moving throughout. I was surprised I was slowest in the class today, because I didn’t FEEL that slow. But I felt pretty good afterwards, which tells me I needed to have taken it up a notch intensity wise. Certainly the WODs are feeling different this week than last, which is a good sign. Am starting to get a little bit of confidence back.

Friday, January 13th, 2012: Workout 4 — Average

And I mean average in a positive way….

First of all, I pulled a Gwenno off the pull up bar type thing in the warmup. We were doing some silly thing where we were two teams on either side of the track and we had to do a movement then run to the other side. First team to have all members across wins the round. The movement one time was to do 5 weird burpee sit up things (do a burpee, but instead of coming up, roll over to your back, do a sit up, roll back over to your stomach, then jump up). After my last one, I tried to be clever and jump forward to get a head start to the other side, but I jumped head first into the rings, and then stumbled forward, forward, forward, forward, CRASH. It was like slapstick comedy. And I have the bruises to prove it lol.

THAT out of the way, the strength portion was 5×3 of strict pullups. Last time I did these in December strict pullups were part of a workout and I was able to do like 7 total, so was looking forward to see what today brought. Well today brought a big fat zero. O-M-G. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago I was able to do them, so had to do assisted. Will need to work on THAT in the coming weeks.

The workout was a 20 minute AMRAP of 5 Thrusters, 10 Box Jumps, 15 Situps with a plate overhead, 20 KB Swings, and 2 laps. Talk about leave your ego at the door, I went light on the thrusters (30KG) and KB Swings (16KG) in order to try and get through it at an ok pace. I have to admit I felt like a pussy doing that, but bit my tongue and did it for the greater good.

I felt good during the workout. I was able, for the most part, to keep moving, and focused on my form and intensity. I got just over 4 rounds (pretty average for the class, which is an improvement for me this year lol), and didn’t feel like death afterwards (also an improvement).

So…..finally feel like I am getting back into things. Going on Friday after landing from Amsterdam the past two weeks has been fine, actually I was looking forward to class all day. Will see everyone tomorrow.

Monday, January 9, 2012: Workout #3 — Open Gym

Left Hereford late this evening, so missed class (even the 7pm!) but decided to make an appearance to work out on my own.

This is usually not my thing – one of the reasons I love Crossfit is the class atmosphere, but I felt motivated to go tonight. Having the bench marks to catch up on helps, as I don’t like trying to figure out what I’m going to do when I get there. So I went in with the goal of doing Helen, which is 3 rounds of 400 M run, 21 KB Swings, and 12 pullups.

I did some warmups with the skipping rope and the PVC, then got into it. I chose a light KB (16KG) as I was interested in concentrating on speed and minimizing my rest periods. I think I was pretty successful tonight in that — I got through the KB Swings pretty well. I had trouble with my kipping tonight, so I was coming off the bar every couple of pullups, but I jumped right back up and continued.

I finished in 13:05, which I was happy with. I was tired, but not Fran-dying tired, so positive news there lol. Starting to feel better about things.

Am back in class Friday evening (barring a flight delay from NL), goal for Holland is to do SOMETHING on Wednesday, even if it’s just some burpees and situps or other bodyweight type things.

Saturday, January 7, 2012: Workout #2 — A Bit Better

Bucked up and went back to the gym this morning. Confirmed that the breakdown last night was primarily mental, as I wasn’t that sore.

Prior to the workout, got some measurements done, which will be good to compare against throughout the year. Wish I would have done this last year, as I made some good improvements! Anyhow, am still a bit of a fat fuck, need to continue the Paleo and the metcons. As much as I want to gain strength, Andy suggested I start lightening the weights a bit to ensure I can get through the metcons FAST. Having Fran become a slog really wasn’t the point of Fran, for example.

So. Today was a bit better in that I was able to keep moving (for the most part). I wasn’t stuck in these paralyzing rest periods where I just couldn’t move like last night. The workout was:

100 M Burpee Broad Jumps (ugh)

then

29-19-9 of:

Deadlifts
(Run 1 lap)
Box Jumps
(Run 1 lap)
Ball Slams
(Run 1 lap)

then

100 M Walking Lunges

I was concerned when the warmup fatigued me a bit. And the burpee broad jumps were not pleasant. But the weight for the deadlifts (50KG) was a good weight for this WOD (I would have normally tried 60KG), and the Box Jumps/Ball Slams were not terrible. Like I said, all in all I was able to keep moving, which felt good. And, unlike yesterday, I didn’t leave the gym wanting to just go hide in a corner and never come back!

Have thought about some things I could do in Holland during the week as I decided I don’t like going to that Crossfit there. Certainly I could do things like burpees and stuff with minimal hassle, maybe get a bar and a few KG of weights to do thrusters? Or a Wall Ball? Will check it out.

Friday, Jan 6th, 2012: Workout #1 – Fucking Fran (and Grace!)

It’s either a very bad sign or a very good sign when you feel as if you hit rock bottom in the first workout of the year. We’ll see which one it is shortly. (hoping it’s a good sign – nowhere to go but up?)

Can you believe in my first WOD of the new year we did fucking Fran? Omg, talk about a barf fest. Even on my very best day, Fran is a terrible workout for me. I knew it was going to be bad – I was actually kind of nervous the whole day.

Fran is 21-15-9 reps of Thrusters and Pullups. Rx weight is 42.5KG. Last time I did Fran I used 35KG. I have never done Fran without a band on the pullups….so I was looking forward to doing it unassisted today.

It was worse than I thought. I was able to get through the pullups unassisted, but I had to drop the weight in the 15 set to 30KG on the thrusters…..and it didn’t really make a difference. It’s hard to express just how awful this was. Poor Andy – he stood by me and cheered me on, but I really had trouble moving. The whole thing made me a bit sad, which is so sad lol! The cap was at 15 minutes, and when we hit it I had 6 more pullups to do. I went ahead and finished them, so finished in about 16 minutes.

I wanted to just bolt to the door, but I decided that I was going to do Grace, the second WOD tonight. Grace is 30 Floor to Overheads. Again, last time I used 35KG, but I just kept the 30 on there and decided that just finishing it would be a moral victory. I finished in 4:25, which is not a terrible time, but with that weight it’s pretty mediocre. But I was happy to finish and happy to be done for the day frankly.

All there is to do really is keep going and know that it will get better.

Day 64: Saturday, November 19, 2011

Back to Dragon FINALLY. Weekend in Holland plus NYC done, have been very slow to get back into things. Doesn’t seem like I have been away that long, but judging from the gap between entries here, CLEARLY it has been.

You know, wasn’t apprehensive really going into it. I knew that my conditioning would suck, but I have (miraculously) kept my weight down and, I don’t know, I’m feeling more athletic.

The workout was tantalizing — it had strict pullups in them, which I was psyched about trying. I have only recently been able to do them at all, and only in singles, so this was going to be a good test. While I was claiming a bar to use for the wod, I attempted one and – omg – it was pretty easy. How many would I be able to do?

The other part of the WOD I was looking forward to was the Double Unders. There were 50 of them smack in the middle of it. I like having DU’s in the WOD because it’s like the ONE EXERCISE where I can feel a tiny bit superior to much of the class lol. Most of the time I’m on the losing end of that game, so even though it sounds terrible to say, please allow me to be proud of my abilities with the freaking double unders!!

What I WASN’T looking forward to was that the overall workout was going to kill me. In its entirety, the WOD was:

3 rounds of:

5 Strict Pullups
10 Ring Pushups
15 OH Situps (15KG)

THEN 50 Double Unders

THEN 3 rounds of:

7 Burpee Box Jumps
14 Wall Balls (9KG)
21 KB Swings (24KG)

Just writing that WOD out was exhausting.

The only thing I scaled was the KB Swings to 20KG. In my fantasy world I was going to knock out all 3 rounds of the strict pullups without a band, but I prepared a purple band as backup. There was no question I was going to finish last today. And it was 50/50 whether I was going to have a heart attack before I finished.

Good news first….the answer to the question above about how many strict pullups I was going to be able to do without a band is………7! I got through the first round of 5 pullups without too many problems, but the second round was murder. I struggled through 2 before I went to the band. The third round WITH the band was difficult even. But I was actually VERY pleased with the effort.

And my DU’s were pretty damn good! I got through the 50 in only 4 sets. My best set was 18, which is great for me. They felt comfortable too. I love the rope I used — I need to get one and tailor the length for me….will need to ask Andy what kind of rope it is.

But I lost it after the DU’s. I was so tired. I could not keep moving and — this is sad — I only got through 2 of the 3 rounds before (thankfully) we hit the 20 minute cap. Ugh, it was not pretty.

First workouts back are usually like that for me, however….am in Cardiff all week this week, so should be able to hit a few during the week.

Day 37: Sunday, October 23, 2011

Back to Dragon today, Crossfit 365 made the trip over to WOD with us. Was feeling pretty good this morning, actually, so was looking forward to the workout.

We did a team workout today, in teams of 3. We had to split up, between the team, the following:

75 power snatches
150 Wall Balls
30 clean and jerks
18 rounds of Cindy (5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 air squats)

I did good today. My power snatches were good at 30 kg, and my wall balls held up surprisingly well. The hardest part was actually doing my part ( which was 10 reps) of the clean and jerks at 40 kg. Cindy was fine, as normal. I actually felt like I had some leftover energy, which never happens. Maybe a little progress? Need to keep it up.