Still healing, but getting better

I modified the WOD this morning to remove running and jump rope to allow less impact on my ankle.  Those movements are still painful.  Yet other movements, such as KB swings, where my feet are pretty much locked down, feel fine.  So I am going to keep going as I have been so that I can get back to 100%.  That said, here was the WOD I did:

20 minute AMRAP:

  • 15 kettlebell swings @ 70lbs
  • 500m row

I had two goals with this, the first being to keep every 500m row under 2 minutes and second, to do all of the swings unbroken.  I made it through 5 1/2 rounds and accomplished both goals.  Moving the 70# KB is starting to feel more natural and as crazy as this is going to sound, it didn’t really totally challenge me until the last set.  Of course by then the row felt like someone was tugging on the other end as well.

Post-WOD:

  • 10-10-10 GHD situps

Deadlift:

  • 275# x 10
  • 275# x 8
  • 305# x 6
  • 315# x 4
  • 345# x 2
  • 375# x 1
  • 405# x 1

And with that, I am officially tired of deadlifts this week.  Taking the pressure off my ankle with certain movements has really helped.  Figure I will keep that trend going this week and late next week try going for a slow run and see how that goes.

Warm-up: 500m row (1:45) WOD: “Randy”75 power snatches for time.  Got 6:01, which is a 45 second PR for me.  PR’s are a wonderful thing, except when you miss breaking into another bracket by 2 seconds like this.  I wish now I had paced differently as I could have easily broken into the 5 minute mark for this. Strength: 10 rounds, untimed:5 Hang Cleans (75#)5 Push Presses (75#)5 deadlifts (245#) Did not time this, but focused on moving as quickly as I could through each round and doing everything unbroken.  None of the weights were heavy so it wasn’t really a problem.  I tried to go fast to where I was winded after each round. Overall, great day at the gym.  You got to pick your own hero WOD or do what was programmed from the gym.  A few others were doing Randy I felt like it would be good to try it out again since it had been a while.  Thankful for the ability to get in the gym.  Just thankful in general today, as we all should be.
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Warm-up:
500m row (1:45)

WOD: “Randy”
75 power snatches for time.  Got 6:01, which is a 45 second PR for me.  PR’s are a wonderful thing, except when you miss breaking into another bracket by 2 seconds like this.  I wish now I had paced differently as I could have easily broken into the 5 minute mark for this.

Strength: 10 rounds, untimed:
5 Hang Cleans (75#)
5 Push Presses (75#)
5 deadlifts (245#)

Did not time this, but focused on moving as quickly as I could through each round and doing everything unbroken.  None of the weights were heavy so it wasn’t really a problem.  I tried to go fast to where I was winded after each round.

Overall, great day at the gym.  You got to pick your own hero WOD or do what was programmed from the gym.  A few others were doing Randy I felt like it would be good to try it out again since it had been a while.  Thankful for the ability to get in the gym.  Just thankful in general today, as we all should be.

Eat Real Things

I have had this on my mind for a while now but it keeps coming back up for some reason.  As any of you out there can attest to, the minute you lose enough weight for people to notice one of the very first questions asked is “How did you lose the weight?”  At first I was always really excited to answer that question but as time goes on it gets a little frustrating.  The answer is a lifestyle change through a change of how I eat coupled with exercise as well as more active life in general. 

But nobody wants to hear that.

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Badger

“Badger” is a hero WOD in honor of Navy Chief Petty Officer Mark Carter, 27, of Virginia Beach, VA who was killed in Iraq in 2007.

3RFT:

  • 30 Squat Cleans (95#)
  • 30 Pull-Ups
  • 800m run

I had done this WOD before back in September.  It sucked then.  It sucked today.  But was nothing compared to what this guy did for our country.  Our gym opted to scale this down to 15 reps per round and label that as RX.  “Beast” was the actual WOD as written above.  Just didn’t feel right to scale it down.  These are meant to be tough and you just have to fight through it, chipping away at each round.  That was my game plan, to chip away, breaking this down to 5 reps at a time.

In the last set of pull-ups when I dropped down off the bar, I was suddenly struck with a giant surge of coordination, and landed right on the rack, rolling my ankle.  It took the wind out of me and sent a spike of pain up through my leg.  I sat down for a good minute or so.  I finished the row and the WOD in 42:38.  I was bummed that I did not beat my old time, but had that squat rack not come out of nowhere and attacked me…

Got home, ankle sore, and took some Ibuprofen.  Going to keep it elevated and iced throughout the day, hoping that the knot on it drops down.

This morning was just one of those workouts. I think we have all had them. You know, where you are just out of sync. Nothing that required strength, just lungs and capacity, an area I really need work in.

Can’t wait for my feet to get back to normal so I can start on this cardio plan I have waiting on me. In a way, I’m quite thankful for workouts like these. They serve as a reminder of what I feel like I need to improve upon. And I will improve. Just have to trust the process.

Going to hit CrossFit again in the morning and hope for different and better results.

Super sore from Saturday!  On Sunday I felt like I had been beat in my sleep and some of that carried over to this morning. WOD #1 - For Time60 hand-release push-ups.  3:01 WOD #2 - 3RFTRow 500m21 Push Presses (95#)21 Box Jumps (24”) I subbed the row for the run but figured I would test the wheels a bit on the box jumps.  Felt pretty good until the last round and it is clear that I need to avoid high impact activity for a little bit longer.  The good thing about rowing is that I feel much more confident with that now and have been able to better gauge my pace and form. Time was 17:11.
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Super sore from Saturday!  On Sunday I felt like I had been beat in my sleep and some of that carried over to this morning.

WOD #1 - For Time
60 hand-release push-ups.  3:01

WOD #2 - 3RFT
Row 500m
21 Push Presses (95#)
21 Box Jumps (24”)

I subbed the row for the run but figured I would test the wheels a bit on the box jumps.  Felt pretty good until the last round and it is clear that I need to avoid high impact activity for a little bit longer.  The good thing about rowing is that I feel much more confident with that now and have been able to better gauge my pace and form.

Time was 17:11.

Strength - Split Jerks from the rack (5-5-5-3-3-1-1): 5 x 135lbs 5 x 155lbs 5 x 165lbs 3 x 185lbs 3 x 205lbs 1 x 225lbs 1 x 245lbs I have never done the jerks from the rack like this so it was fun.  I just wish we had more time during class to have worked on these because I wanted to keep going.  The last one, while heavy, did not feel close to my max. WOD: As you can see in the photo, not a lot of foot action.  I was not going to run so that I would not push my feet but was worried a bit about the swings and wall balls.  I am good as long as there is not too much stress and movement on my feet and want to keep it that way until they don’t hurt at all.  I figured if I was doing the movements correctly, my feet would be planted and not moving so it was good in that sense as it made me focus on my form.  Did all of the wall balls unbroken and then split up the KBs, situps, and DB snatches.  I felt gassed through the end and during the last row my arms were on fire.  Time was 16:50. I am battling a head cold and it has sucked the life from me this morning.  It was hard to get going.  On top of that we are making some changes in our diet which required grocery shopping and making of the meals last night, meaning I was up later than normal.  Going to bed as early as I can tonight and taking tomorrow as a rest day.
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Strength - Split Jerks from the rack (5-5-5-3-3-1-1):

  • 5 x 135lbs
  • 5 x 155lbs
  • 5 x 165lbs
  • 3 x 185lbs
  • 3 x 205lbs
  • 1 x 225lbs
  • 1 x 245lbs

I have never done the jerks from the rack like this so it was fun.  I just wish we had more time during class to have worked on these because I wanted to keep going.  The last one, while heavy, did not feel close to my max.

WOD:
As you can see in the photo, not a lot of foot action.  I was not going to run so that I would not push my feet but was worried a bit about the swings and wall balls.  I am good as long as there is not too much stress and movement on my feet and want to keep it that way until they don’t hurt at all.  I figured if I was doing the movements correctly, my feet would be planted and not moving so it was good in that sense as it made me focus on my form.  Did all of the wall balls unbroken and then split up the KBs, situps, and DB snatches.  I felt gassed through the end and during the last row my arms were on fire.  Time was 16:50.

I am battling a head cold and it has sucked the life from me this morning.  It was hard to get going.  On top of that we are making some changes in our diet which required grocery shopping and making of the meals last night, meaning I was up later than normal.  Going to bed as early as I can tonight and taking tomorrow as a rest day.

Seriously. Wanted. To. Die. I have been doing CrossFit for a little over a year now.  Up until this workout, I have never wanted to puke after a WOD.  Until today.  My stomach is uneasy and my hands are shaking.  At some point, and I can’t be sure, but I thought I saw unicorns dancing in fields and I remember hearing the voice of God.  This WOD was disgusting.  No breaks, just pain.  I broke up the pull-ups throughout and the thrusters in the set of 21.  I did double unders as best as I could, which meant one at a time.  During the set of 15 I was able to string 8 together in a row which was a huge accomplishment for me. I did Fran last year and it took me about 8 minutes.  I was using the bands for the pull-ups at the time.  Not sure if I could do the RX thruster at that time either.  To do this, basically Fran twice, at RX was quite an achievement for me.  In that aspect I was very pleased. Assuming I am still able to operate my arms and legs, the plan is to hit the road for Nashville in a few hours, putting us up there around 3 or 4 depending on how well my wife’s bladder holds up.  ;-)  13.1 awaits tomorrow.
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Seriously. Wanted. To. Die.

I have been doing CrossFit for a little over a year now.  Up until this workout, I have never wanted to puke after a WOD.  Until today.  My stomach is uneasy and my hands are shaking.  At some point, and I can’t be sure, but I thought I saw unicorns dancing in fields and I remember hearing the voice of God.  This WOD was disgusting.  No breaks, just pain.  I broke up the pull-ups throughout and the thrusters in the set of 21.  I did double unders as best as I could, which meant one at a time.  During the set of 15 I was able to string 8 together in a row which was a huge accomplishment for me.

I did Fran last year and it took me about 8 minutes.  I was using the bands for the pull-ups at the time.  Not sure if I could do the RX thruster at that time either.  To do this, basically Fran twice, at RX was quite an achievement for me.  In that aspect I was very pleased.

Assuming I am still able to operate my arms and legs, the plan is to hit the road for Nashville in a few hours, putting us up there around 3 or 4 depending on how well my wife’s bladder holds up.  ;-) 

13.1 awaits tomorrow.

Yea.  Nasty.  The original WOD was 150 for time with 100m run every time you have to stop/rest but that was changed on the fly due to time constraints this morning.  I think the hand-release push-ups helped me get through as I paced myself pretty good.  Time was 11:22. My highlight for the day was the shoulder work.  I worked on strict press and push press working up to 3x185 on the push press.  I felt pretty good with the weight and had we worked to a 1RM I feel confident that I would be 200+.  Getting seriously close to all of my lifts being body weight plus.
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Yea.  Nasty.  The original WOD was 150 for time with 100m run every time you have to stop/rest but that was changed on the fly due to time constraints this morning.  I think the hand-release push-ups helped me get through as I paced myself pretty good.  Time was 11:22.

My highlight for the day was the shoulder work.  I worked on strict press and push press working up to 3x185 on the push press.  I felt pretty good with the weight and had we worked to a 1RM I feel confident that I would be 200+.  Getting seriously close to all of my lifts being body weight plus.

MOTHER#@$&%^#$ING DOUBLE UNDERS! Worked on strength before hand and really felt good with the OHS.  Probably better than I have felt in a while on these.  Started off light and worked up to a new 2RM @ 185lbs.  I wish there had been a little more time before the WOD to work up a little heavier for a new 1RM.  I feel confident that I had 200 in me.  Pretty pleased about 185 x 2 considering that the last time I went heavy on OHS I had to stop at 155. The WOD was a disaster for me.  Like, I went down in flames.  Those freaking double unders man.  Ugh.  Look, I know that the trial by fire here is probably the way to go, but talk about a blow to your ego.  Not really a blow, but more like an open hand slap in front of all your buddies.  Did what I could to get through the first set and hit the cleans.  The cleans were great and that was where I made my time up.  Hollow rocks suck but I did them and then got back to the DU’s where I became so frustrated that I started to sub the tuck jumps. My friend Kip came over, got in my face, pointed at the rope and told me to pick it back up.  Told me to screw the clock and do the double unders even if I couldn’t string them together (which I couldn’t).  It just frustrates the crap out of me.  I was really mad.  There were people that breezed through the double unders who I caught up to with the cleans but because I struggle so badly with DU’s the second time around I was once again behind. In the end, it doesn’t really matter, right?  Freaking jump ropes aren’t the end of the world.  Side note: I have one of these Rogue Speed Ropes and they are the business! At the end of the day its just another workout and one exercise won’t defeat me.  I am thankful my friend got in my grill and made me do them.  I am thankful that I was 30lbs heavier on my OHS with better form.  Work the weaknesses and grow the strengths.  Another productive day in the house of pain.
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MOTHER#@$&%^#$ING DOUBLE UNDERS!

Worked on strength before hand and really felt good with the OHS.  Probably better than I have felt in a while on these.  Started off light and worked up to a new 2RM @ 185lbs.  I wish there had been a little more time before the WOD to work up a little heavier for a new 1RM.  I feel confident that I had 200 in me.  Pretty pleased about 185 x 2 considering that the last time I went heavy on OHS I had to stop at 155.

The WOD was a disaster for me.  Like, I went down in flames.  Those freaking double unders man.  Ugh.  Look, I know that the trial by fire here is probably the way to go, but talk about a blow to your ego.  Not really a blow, but more like an open hand slap in front of all your buddies.  Did what I could to get through the first set and hit the cleans.  The cleans were great and that was where I made my time up.  Hollow rocks suck but I did them and then got back to the DU’s where I became so frustrated that I started to sub the tuck jumps.

My friend Kip came over, got in my face, pointed at the rope and told me to pick it back up.  Told me to screw the clock and do the double unders even if I couldn’t string them together (which I couldn’t).  It just frustrates the crap out of me.  I was really mad.  There were people that breezed through the double unders who I caught up to with the cleans but because I struggle so badly with DU’s the second time around I was once again behind.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter, right?  Freaking jump ropes aren’t the end of the world.  Side note: I have one of these Rogue Speed Ropes and they are the business! At the end of the day its just another workout and one exercise won’t defeat me.  I am thankful my friend got in my grill and made me do them.  I am thankful that I was 30lbs heavier on my OHS with better form. 

Work the weaknesses and grow the strengths.  Another productive day in the house of pain.

I love Saturdays

WOD #1 - 10RFT:

  • 3 Clean & Jerks @ 155lbs
  • 10 Double Unders
  • 10 Box Jumps (24”)

Time was 22 minutes and some change.  Double unders slowed me down but it was cool to actually try them in a WOD.  This was actually programmed by a friend and something I would not have wanted to do.  Which made it great because it worked some weaknesses.  I actually don’t like box jumps and struggle with DU’s.

WOD #2: 3 Rounds (Untimed)

  • 250m row
  • 10 KB Swings (70lbs)

I had really planned on calling it a day and going home until a buddy mentioned he was going to do some heavy deads.  I mean, how can you pass that up right?  We did a deadlift ladder, up and back down the way we started.  That went a little something like this:

  • 8 x 135lbs
  • 8 x 185lbs
  • 6 x 225lbs
  • 5 x 275lbs
  • 3 x 315lbs
  • 2 x 345lbs
  • 1 x 365lbs
  • 1 x 385lbs
  • 1 x 365lbs
  • 2 x 345lbs
  • 3 x 315lbs
  • 5 x 275lbs
  • 6 x 225lbs
  • 8 x 185lbs
  • 8 x 135lbs

Felt pretty good on all of these.  When we got back down to 135lbs I was blowing through them but still tired at the same time.  When my buddy got done with 135 he went right into some snatches.

So…

We snatched. 

I missed the first one, most likely because I was tired.  My 1RM is around 155lbs so working at 135, especially after what I had done already, was a good challenge.  My buddy helped me out and I got better with my form as we went along.  We did about 6 rounds of 3 reps each at 135.

Then…

A member had made the gym one of those cool sleds that you can stack weight on and push, much like the ones at the CrossFit Games last year.  I had a friend stand on it (he weighs about 165lbs) and pushed it to one side of the building and back, my guess is 100 yards.  Talk about winded.  That gassed me!

Then…

I went home.  :-)

“Upside Down Cindy” The warm-up was, as it has been recently, wicked.  I didn’t think much of it until my forearms started to burn half way through.  It was 30 seconds of work & 30 seconds of rest of 5 hang cleans, 5 thrusters, 5 snatches, and 5 overhead squats (all with the 45# bar).  A few rounds in they said we couldn’t rest the bar on our backs and had to hold it at our waist.  Talk about getting the heart rate up! As for the actual WOD, I felt like I made it through this workout a lot better than some of the other recent workouts.  I felt like I rested less and worked more.  I had contemplated going up to 135 on the push press but after talking to a few of the stronger guys, I opted not to.  Looking back, I think that was the right call but in the back of my mind I know I could have handled 135. This turned out to be an awesome all body workout. 10 2/3 rounds @ RX. Post-WOD I hit the rower and managed to sneak in a quick PR on my 500m row with a time of 1:39.  In my log book, there are various level testing requirements and I want to start going through those as another self-measurement tool.
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“Upside Down Cindy”

The warm-up was, as it has been recently, wicked.  I didn’t think much of it until my forearms started to burn half way through.  It was 30 seconds of work & 30 seconds of rest of 5 hang cleans, 5 thrusters, 5 snatches, and 5 overhead squats (all with the 45# bar).  A few rounds in they said we couldn’t rest the bar on our backs and had to hold it at our waist.  Talk about getting the heart rate up!

As for the actual WOD, I felt like I made it through this workout a lot better than some of the other recent workouts.  I felt like I rested less and worked more.  I had contemplated going up to 135 on the push press but after talking to a few of the stronger guys, I opted not to.  Looking back, I think that was the right call but in the back of my mind I know I could have handled 135. This turned out to be an awesome all body workout. 10 2/3 rounds @ RX.

Post-WOD I hit the rower and managed to sneak in a quick PR on my 500m row with a time of 1:39.  In my log book, there are various level testing requirements and I want to start going through those as another self-measurement tool.

Our box has cranked the intensity up a notch lately, specifically with the warm-ups.  This morning was no exception.  We had 1 minute of all out effort at 3 stations: row (for calories), thrusters (45lbs), and hand release push-ups.  Great warm-up! The WOD called for box-jumps, which is where we could catch our breath, and 2 reps of heavy cleans.  I figured heavy for me would be around 175 lbs as my last 1RM was 190.  A buddy of mine (I call him Textbook because not only is he super strong but has flawless form) setup his bar a little heavier than me and I had to try it.  195.  I was pretty stoked because that was a PR for me.  A minute later he upped the weight and told me to try it. “Come over here and get a second PR.”  200! Finally was able to nail that.  According to Textbook I lifted 200 easier than 195.  Either way, I couldn’t have been happier.  Only catch was that meant my weight for the workout needed to be a little higher. WOD - 5RFT: 20 box jumps (24”) 2 power cleans (185lbs) Pretty challenging workout.  Seems so simple, with just the 2 exercises, but with the heavy weight it made it challenging.  We don’t get to do a lot of workouts where we are working with weight that close to our 1RM so this was pretty cool.  The power clean has been a tough movement for me to progress up in weight for some reason.  Working with 185lbs was a huge accomplishment for me.  Finished in 12:00.
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Our box has cranked the intensity up a notch lately, specifically with the warm-ups.  This morning was no exception.  We had 1 minute of all out effort at 3 stations: row (for calories), thrusters (45lbs), and hand release push-ups.  Great warm-up!

The WOD called for box-jumps, which is where we could catch our breath, and 2 reps of heavy cleans.  I figured heavy for me would be around 175 lbs as my last 1RM was 190.  A buddy of mine (I call him Textbook because not only is he super strong but has flawless form) setup his bar a little heavier than me and I had to try it.  195.  I was pretty stoked because that was a PR for me.  A minute later he upped the weight and told me to try it. “Come over here and get a second PR.” 

200!

Finally was able to nail that.  According to Textbook I lifted 200 easier than 195.  Either way, I couldn’t have been happier.  Only catch was that meant my weight for the workout needed to be a little higher.

WOD - 5RFT:

  • 20 box jumps (24”)
  • 2 power cleans (185lbs)

Pretty challenging workout.  Seems so simple, with just the 2 exercises, but with the heavy weight it made it challenging.  We don’t get to do a lot of workouts where we are working with weight that close to our 1RM so this was pretty cool.  The power clean has been a tough movement for me to progress up in weight for some reason.  Working with 185lbs was a huge accomplishment for me.  Finished in 12:00.

Things you aren’t too thrilled to see on the whiteboard after a week off from CrossFit: Filthy Fifty. I knew it would suck.  It sucked.  K2E was a major slowing point for me and I had to break them into sets of 5.  Wall balls, something I don’t normally have trouble with, really winded me.  And burpees, well, not all of us like them as much as others.  Time was 33:46.  I felt like I was moving in slow motion this morning and was just happy to get through it.  This was the first time I have ever done this WOD and will be anxious to give it another shot in the future when I am more in rhythm.
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Things you aren’t too thrilled to see on the whiteboard after a week off from CrossFit: Filthy Fifty.

I knew it would suck.  It sucked.  K2E was a major slowing point for me and I had to break them into sets of 5.  Wall balls, something I don’t normally have trouble with, really winded me.  And burpees, well, not all of us like them as much as others.  Time was 33:46.  I felt like I was moving in slow motion this morning and was just happy to get through it.  This was the first time I have ever done this WOD and will be anxious to give it another shot in the future when I am more in rhythm.

Our box has been on a roll lately with the warm-ups.  This morning we did some push press, jump rope, and sit-ups to get the heart rate going.  Good stuff. Strength - Bench: 135 x 5 185 x 5 190 x 3 195 x 3 205 x 2 WOD - 12 minute AMRAP: 4 pull-ups 8 deadlifts (205lbs) 4 knees-to-elbows 8 goblet squats (53lb KB) My form on pull-ups sucked this morning. Each one felt like a struggle.  Not Mel Gibson in Braveheart fighting for his people type of struggle, but pretty close to that.  My kipping on the K2E feels better than it did and I am gaining confidence in that movement.  This was a particularly difficult WOD for me this morning.  I got through 5 rounds but it sucked. Post-WOD: 30 sit-ups & 30 GHD sit-ups
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Our box has been on a roll lately with the warm-ups.  This morning we did some push press, jump rope, and sit-ups to get the heart rate going.  Good stuff.

Strength - Bench:

  • 135 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 190 x 3
  • 195 x 3
  • 205 x 2

WOD - 12 minute AMRAP:

  • 4 pull-ups
  • 8 deadlifts (205lbs)
  • 4 knees-to-elbows
  • 8 goblet squats (53lb KB)

My form on pull-ups sucked this morning. Each one felt like a struggle.  Not Mel Gibson in Braveheart fighting for his people type of struggle, but pretty close to that.  My kipping on the K2E feels better than it did and I am gaining confidence in that movement.  This was a particularly difficult WOD for me this morning.  I got through 5 rounds but it sucked.

Post-WOD: 30 sit-ups & 30 GHD sit-ups