TGIF!

What a crazy week this has been.  I've been scrambling to get everything in place for a new company before today, so I can go on vacation.  The last pieces of all this are falling into place today.  It's like I've been running a marathon at work.  I'm ready to relax on the beach. 

On top of the work stress, somehow I have managed to pinch a nerve in my neck and it is excruciating when I move the wrong way.  It hurt just to pick up a barbell today.  We did some back squats with the bar and I decided it wasn't worth the pain.  So I did a leisurely row while everyone else back squatted.

Instead of the posted WOD I did:

Karen

150 wall ball shots for time

My time:  10:22 - scaled

Yes, I even scaled this!  I used an 8 lb ball and my time still sucked.  The humidity this morning made me feel like I was really working hard, though.  Ha ha!

And with that, I'm off to work, and then off to Jamaica tomorrow to enjoy the sand and the sun and the sea.  Ahh....

TGIF!

Hump Day!

Seriously wanted to sleep in today.  I'm tired.  But, I'm on the home stretch headed for vacation, so I made myself get up and work out this morning.

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

10 Toes to bar
10 Box jumps (Men 24” box, Women 20” box)
10 Hang squat snatch (Men 75#, Women 55#)(bar must go below the knee on each rep)

My rounds:  5 + 4 box steps (164 reps)
I stepped the box instead of jumping but all else was Rx.

The complicating factor (there is always one, it seems) in this WOD was the "bar must go below the knee on each rep". Holy cow, what a game changer!  Hang snatches are a piece of cake compared to having to drop below the knee each time.  I was exhausted after the first round!  I split everything up a with lots of rest breaks, and thought somewhere in round 3 I might actually puke.  But I didn't.  :)

Strength today was Squat Snatch - 10 singles

My loads:  40-45-50-55-65-70-75-80-85-90

Pool Party

Pix from the CFJ Pool Party this past weekend.  If you see one you like, you should be able to click on the slide show and go to Picasa and download the pic:

Not a rest day.

Yeah.  I wanted to sleep in until 6 this morning and do a rowing WOD at home.  But guess what?  I woke up at 3:45 am, and could not for the life of me get back to sleep.  This annoyed me to no end, and I decided I might as well go work out anyway, so off to CFJ.

Once I got there, I actually had a good time.  At one point, I even laughed so hard that I snorted.  Hopefully no one heard me over the fans and music.  Ha!  Anyway, I had a good laugh.

So the warm-up was dumbbells, which I don't mind, but those one arm overhead dumbbell squats are a killer, even with 5 lbs.

Strength today was squat clean & jerk, 1 every 90 sec:

My loads:  65-70-75-80-85-95-105-110-120-130 - PR!

Yes, I actually got a 5 lb pr on this lift today.  I wasn't sure at the time, but looking at my "records" my last recorded clean & jerk PR was 125.   I was a little hesitant in calling it a PR for a couple reasons, though.  First of all, I have squat cleaned 145#, but I didn't jerk it.  Then, I have jerked 140#, but only from a rack, and no clean.  Anyway, after asking a couple of other people, I decide that for the actual combination of a clean & jerk, yes, this is a PR.

I'll take it!  See what I would've missed by sleeping in!?

WOD:
As many reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
1 Dumbbell burpee complex (Push-up, Squat Clean & Thruster)
1 Muscle up
2 Dumbbell burpee complex
2 Muscle ups
3 Dumbbell burpee complex
3 Muscle ups
Continue as long as you can adding a rep each round.
Post total reps and dumbbell load to responses.
Substitute burpee pull-ups for muscle ups.

My total reps:  39, w/ 20# DB's and burpee pull ups

What can I say?  Burpee Hell.  Glad that 12 minutes is over with!

Kettlebell Annie

Annie was posted today as the WOD, but I'm trying to let my leg heal up and not doing any jumping right now.  So I subbed in KBS for the double unders.  Couple more weeks I'm hoping this thing is well again! 

Kettlebell Annie

50-40-30-20-10
Kettlebell Swings - 35#
Sit ups

My time:  14:50

Whew!  I was slooowwww on this today.  No excuses, just slow.  :)

Strength was 5 deadlifts every even minute, 5 hspu every odd minute for 10 minutes
I chose 185# for my deadlifts. 

Tough Monday!

Let's start with I'm exhausted from laying sod and shoveling dirt ALL DAY Saturday.  Seriously Exhausted, even after a half day of rest.  The weight for the workout didn't seem that daunting at first glance, but that's a whole lot of thrusters, let me tell ya!!

For time:

20 Power snatch (Men 95#, Women 65#)
40 Thrusters
60 Hang power cleans

My time:  12:49, Rx

I did the snatches in two sets of 10.  My intent with the thrusters was to start with a set of 10, but I ended up doing 8 sets of 5.  It was the only way I could mentally get through it without breaking down.  Every time I picked up the bar I thought, "okay, I'll do 8 this time" and every single time I did 5.  Ha ha!!  I did the cleans in sets of 10 and  tried not to rest too much between.  Didn't mind the cleans at all, just got super winded.  All in all, a nice start to the week with just barbell work.  But it was tough!

Strength was the complex of 2 power snatch-4 thrusters-6 hang power cleans - without putting the bar down.

My loads:  45-55-65-70-75

TGIF!

Okay, I'm going to catch up today.  I have been SO swamped since getting back from vacation, I have had zero free time to speak of.

Today's workout was a doozie!  I told myself I'd scale it to 15 burpees per round, but when I got to 15 on the first round, I felt guilty for being a slacker so I convinced myself to do 21 reps and just scale to 3 rounds.  And, of course, when round 3 started coming to an end, I figured, what the heck, why not just finish the whole damn thing?!  So I did!  105 burpees in all.  Ugh.  But I did it.  And now I'll feel justified in having a couple of beers this weekend.

5 Rounds for time of:

Overhead walking lunges, 50 feet (Men 45# barbell, Women 35# barbell)
21 Burpees
Let trailing knee gently kiss the ground on each lunge.

My time:  21:42, Rx

Thanks to Jeremy and Jennifer for sticking around to push me through those last 7 burpees. Holy cow.  Oh, and this "knee gently kiss" the ground stuff...that only happens in the first round.  Gentle goes out the window pretty quickly.  I put my knee down on those teeny-tiny pebbles several times.  Not so gentle.

Our strength was bench press.  50 reps was the goal, but I only got 40.  So be it.  Bench Press and I are not all that in love.

We also started off the morning with the Jenks Mile.  My stress fractured leg didn't like this very much, but I haven't actually "confirmed" that it's a stress fracture, so I keep running.  I guess when there's bone poking out, I'll deal with it.

Jenks Mile
400 – 2:05
200 – 1:02
400 – 2:08
200 – 1:00
400 – 2:11
Total time: 12:26

TGIF y'all!

New PR!

I think I need to go away and drink and eat too much more often.  I managed to get a 10 lb PR on Hang Squat Clean this morning!  And my nutrition has been crap.  Hmm...

Strength:  Hang Squat Clean
Rep Scheme:  5-3-2-2-1-1-1\
My Loads:  65-785-85-100-115-130 (PR) -135 (PR)

My old PR was 125, but I didn't know that while I was lifting.  I was guessing somewhere around that, but was unsure.  Anyway, felt great to start the day off with a PR.

WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
10 Hang power clean (Men 115#, Women 75#)
20 Push-ups
30 Double unders

My score:  4 rds + 2 hang cleans, Rx

The push ups killed my time on this one.  And my double unders were going great until I saw Breck with his camera pointed at me.  For some reason that made me all nervous and I kept screwing up.  The next round, after he moved on, my double unders were just fine again.  Go figure!  

Back from the Bahamas

Spent a few days with the family down in the Bahamas.  We had a great time; ate too much, drank too much, and spent a day at Atlantis enjoying all the water slides.  I skipped the workout today because I was super tired.  Just got in a 20 minute row before work. 

Anyway, just a few pics from the trip.  I'll have a slideshow up over on my other blog soon.

Me and my son, Austin

Allan and me at the hotel

Atlantis Marina

Allan's girls and grandkids.

Spencer and me on shopping day.

Jessica and Austin

Dumbbell Hell

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes:

5 Dumbbell deadlifts
5 Dumbbell hang power cleans
5 Dumbbell thrusters
The rx’d dumbbell weight is 45% bodyweight for men and 30% bodyweight for women (that is
both dumbbells combined).

Post dumbbell weight used, total minutes completed and total rounds completed thereafter.


My weights - 20's, finished all 20 rounds!


Oh, the love/hate relationship with this one continues.  I love dumbbell workouts in general.  This one forces you to step back and do a gut check. Rather than be creative and come up with a whole new blog, I'm going to reprise my blog from last time this one came around.  And without further ado....


Rounds 1-5:  I feel like a total bad ass, raring to go, finishing the rounds in about 21-25 seconds. I love this. 

Rounds 6-10: Reality sets in that I'm in for a long, grueling workout, but I'm still somehow finishing about 25 seconds in.  Starting to gasp for air like the fat kid on the playground and wishing for a longer recovery period.  Thrusters are starting to burn like Hell, but otherwise feeling pretty good.

Rounds 10-12: The mental battle begins.  Really,  I want to quit.  I want to puke.  I don't need CrossFit!  This is insane!  I am going to lay these dumbbells down and just leave!  Or puke.  Or maybe just lay down on this nice rubber mat for a few minutes, because no way can I walk out of here on so little oxygen.

Rounds 13-15:  Somehow I'm still finishing in under 30 seconds.  But I'm wheezing like an asthmatic kid sneaking a cigar.  I'm going to pass out.  I'm not sure how everyone else is still standing - are they even human? Some of these people don't even look like they're sweating!  They're walking around, talking, getting drinks of water like it's a damn picnic!  I vaguely hear, through the madness in my mind, "only five more rounds".  Since I can hear, I must still be alive. And if I'm alive, I have to keep moving!

Rounds 16-20:  Nothing is left in me except the sheer will to finish this bitch of a workout, and thankfully a little bit of muscle memory from having done these moves so many times.  I'm on some sort of oxygen-deprived, exercise induced high that feels like an out of body experience and the only coherent thought I can form is "please let this end".  I'm on auto-pilot.

Mercifully, the workout ended, and I made it through all 20 rounds.  I spent a good 3-5 minutes just laid out on the floor gasping for air, writhing in misery.

After a little recovery time, I felt like a total bad ass all over again.

“Jackie”

For time:

1000 meter row
50 Thrusters (Men 45 lbs, Women 35 lbs)
30 pull-ups

My time:  12:06, Rx

Some day I'd like to get this one back around 11 minutes.  But today wasn't that day.  I split up the thrusters way too much like always, and my pull ups...bleh.  I started with a set of 5 I think, and then it was 3's and 2's all the way to the end.  Not sure why I cannot mentally just hang onto that bar for 5 reps.  Anyway, it's a good workout.

Strength was 5 sets of 3 push press - 2 push jerk - 1 split jerk

My loads:  55-65-75-85-95

Fun Friday!

“T.S.”

For time:

5 Rope Climbs
23 Hang power cleans (Men 135#, Women 95#)
85 Calorie row
23 Shoulder to overhead
5-50’ Sled pushes (Men sled + 45#, Women sled + 25#)

My time:  18:04

I modified this one.  I did three rope climbs instead of 5, and I didn't touch the beam, although I was probably close enough to reach out and do it at least once...I just didn't.     Then on to the cleans - I used 75# for this.  95 just seemed way too heavy today.  That 85 calorie row just sucks the life out of this workout.  Serious time killer.  The shoulder to overhead went quickly and then I had to force myself to do all the sled pushes.  I was tempted to do just three, to match the rope climbs, but I love sled pushes (really I do) so I gutted it out and got it over with.  This was a fun one, in all honesty, and I kind of wished afterward that I had done all the rope climbs.  Maybe next time.  :)

TGIF!!

Open WOD 11.4

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:

60 Bar-facing burpees
30 Overhead squats (Men 120 lbs, Women 90 lbs)
10 Muscle-ups

My score at 10 min:  67 reps
My score at 15 min:  76 reps

Breck very generously *sarcasm* gave us an extra 5 minutes on this one, so we could get in more reps.  Ha ha.  I still didn't do very well.  The original time I did this during the open I got 70 points, but I was a lot younger then.  Is that an excuse?  Ha ha!

Oh well, it was fun.  As fun as burpees can be anyway.

Strength was snatch balance to two overhead squats

My loads:  45-55-65-75-80

Hump Day

Whatever is going on with my leg (pretty sure it's another stress fracture) it was really hurting this morning, and double-unders would not have been any help at all.  So I re-set the alarm, got an extra hour of sleep and then got on the rower for a 5k.

My time:  24:51.1

Not exactly a record, but still a damn good workout  this morning! 

“The Lumber Jack”

1 Minute of Squat Cleans (95lbs/55lbs) =1pt for each rep
3 Min rest
1 Minute of Squat Cleans (135lbs/85lbs) = 3pts for each rep
3 Min rest
1 Minute of Squat Cleans (155lbs/95lbs) = 5pts for each rep
3 Min rest
1 Minute of Squat Cleans (185lbs/115lbs) = 8pts for each rep
3 Min rest
1 Minute of squat cleans (205lbs/125lbs) = 12pts for each rep
3 Min rest
1 Minute of squat cleans (225lbs/135lbs) = 17pts for each rep

55# – 15 x 1 = 15
85# – 9 x 3 = 27
95# – 7 x 5 = 35
115# – 6 x 8 = 48
125# – 5 x 12 = 60
135# – 3 x 17 = 51
Total = 236 – PR (and 1st time as Rx’d)

Not even a slight hangover could keep me from showing up for this WOD.  I love squat cleans, and I've been dying to do this workout for a while, but I've been out of town every time it's been posted for the last few years.  Last time I did it was in 2011!!  Anyway, I improved my score considerably today, and it was totally worth getting out of bed for.

In the warm up I worked strict pull ups and actually got a couple of sets of two. Progress!!

Memorial Day

I typically don't show up on holidays or weekends, but I needed to work out, so I showed up.  The posted workout was Murph, but I am off running any distance for a while, and 100 pull ups just sounded like pure misery to me.  I know, it's a Hero WOD and it's supposed to represent sacrifice, and I suck for not doing it, but whatever.  I did choose another Hero WOD, however, and modified it with rowing.


“Rowing Michael”

3 rds for time of:

Row 1000m
50 back extensions
50 sit ups

My Time 33:17

The last 25 sit ups were GHD sit ups.  This is probably my slowest Michael time ever, but rowing adds some time.  The humidity was super high today, but it felt good to sweat!   Great workout.

TGIF!

In front of a clock set for 16 minutes:

4 Minutes of clean & jerks (Men 135#, Women 95#)
4 Minutes of rowing for calories
4 Minutes of GHD sit-ups
4 Minutes of triple unders
Athletes choice of order.


Clean & Jerks (95#) = 14
Row = 40 cal
GHD Sit ups = 50
Double Unders = 50

Total reps: 154

OKay, so triple unders.  Not happening.  I know "never say never" but I just don't see these in my future.  I made a sincere effort and got whip marks on my ass in return.  I'll pass on that!


Warm up:
Row 30 sec on/30 sec off 10 min = 1025 m
100m “sprints” = slowest about 28 sec, fastest 20 sec

TGIF!

Migraine...Day 3, but you can't stop me!

I actually PR'd today, despite being on day three of a brutal migraine, and being groggy from drugs.  I didn't even hesitate to get up and go this morning, because yesterday while I was working out was the only time my head wasn't just killing me.  (Endorphins kicked in I guess.)  And the same was true for today.  Once I got warmed up and started lifting, my head felt fine.  Maybe I should just hang out at the gym all day. 

21-18-15-12-9-6 and 3 rep rounds of:

Sumo deadlift high-pull (Men 75 lbs, Women 55 lbs)
Push jerk (Men 75 lbs, Women 55 lbs)
If bar is dropped, there will be a 10 lateral jumps over barbell penalty before continuing.

My time:  10:50, Rx - PR by 3:04

Last time I did this workout was in August 2013 with a time of 13:54.  I would've been happy with that today, but I have just been feeling way stronger lately (mostly mentally) so I went for it as best I could.  There were a lot of really fast times this morning at 5 am!  Pretty good motivation.

Strength today was Push Jerk.  We were doing sets of 2, and so I ended up setting sort of a PR - I don't have any PR's recorded on sets of two, so I'm calling it a PR!

My loads:  55-65-85-95-105-120-130 (pr for 2 reps)

Now, if I could just get rid of this migraine!

A New PR!

I almost skipped today. I almost re-set the alarm and slept another hour. I have a headache, and took some drugs that make me super sleep, and when I saw 50 wall ball shots my mind almost melted. But less than 20 seconds of consideration and I was up and out of bed, getting ready to go.

And I'm so glad I did, because I set a PR today! Not on wall ball shots, but on Front Squat.

Strength: Front Squat Rep Scheme: 3-2-2-1-1-1-1
My loads: 65-85-105-115-125-135-165 (10# PR!)

I almost accidentally went for 175, but thankfully Jennifer is smarter than me and noticed I had way too much on there. Ha! The 165# felt pretty good.

Little bit of rest and then on to the WOD:

For time: 20 Front squats (Men 205#, Women 135#)
30 Box jumps (Men 30” box, Women 24” box)
40 Kettlebell swings (Men 55#, Women 35#)
50 Wall ball shots (Men 20# ball, Women 14# ball)

My time: 10:15, modified 

I modified as follows: 85# front squats, 20" box steps, and 10# wall ball. Kept the kettle bell as rx...not much but whatev.

Great day at CFJ!

Whew!

This morning was just brutal.  I thought it was just me, but seems everyone else thought it was pretty tough too.  Kelby and I both thought we were going to puke on the main WOD.  It was just ridiculously exhausting.  But I feel fine now....almost 4 hours later.

The "Strength" consisted of warming up with some dead lifts and then...

12 min amrap:

Run 1 mile
50 dead lifts at 155# (women) in the remaining time

My reps:  42 deadlifts, scaled run to 1200m

Then we had 8 dearly needed minutes of rest before the WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:

5 Burpees
10 Pull-ups
15 Jumping squats (touch an 8’ bar with both hands)

My rounds:  3 + 1 pull up

I was jumping to a set of rings on the jumping squats.  Not sure of their height, but doubt it was 8 feet.  Still, this one kicked my ass.   Feeling like I still don't know what's going on with this right leg of mine.  Whether it's just muscle/tendon issues or if I have another stress fracture.  I tend more toward muscle, as I'm just not getting that deep ache you get with a stress fracture. I'll keep going and see what happens.  Hopefully my leg won't just snap in two.  ha ha!!