Saturday

AM
3 sets:
1200m row @ 85% effort - moderate, sustainable, high-breathing pace
5:00 walk rest
+
10:00 hamstring/hip/quad mobility work

PM
10:00 muscle-up tech practice on fat rings
+
A1. Bear crawl, 5 x 10' forward + 10' reverse, slow & controlled keeping hips level; :30 rest
A2. Deadbug w/hands pressed into wall, 5 x 10 alternating breathing out hard each rep; :30 rest
B. Power snatch, 10:00 to build to a heavy single
C. Close-grip bench press, build quickly to heavy single
+
w/partners (comp group has the same training):
Barbell Blitz 6:00 AMRAP 1
rest as needed
Barbell Blitz 6:00 AMRAP 2
+
For total time:
250m row
:60 rest w/feet in straps
250m row

AM

5:00.7 (2:05.2/500m)

4:59.8 (2:04.9/500m)

4:59.1 (2:04.6/500m)

PM

shoulder clinic 

+

3 rough singles 

+

A1/A2. complete 

B. 135, 140Fx1

C. 180 (PR +6)

+

with Leah 

30 KB snatch + 17 pistols 

(1:00 rest)

18 S2O + 7 BBJ

+

2:41.3
(0:49.7 + 0:51.6)


Oy.  Today was a lot.

Rows at 85% were challenging.  That felt like the upper limit of sustainable, at least for right out of bed... 

Surprised at how cold my shoulders felt on the muscle-ups despite the 2 hour shoulder clinic... not nearly as good as they felt last night, so I called it early.

The snatch at 130 was one of the crispest heavy snatches I've ever done (it even sounded good!).  135 was a little wobbly, but super relieved to get it today (I think only the 3rd time ever?). (Video of both). I wasn't sure if these were actually power snatches or squat snatches, and I still can't tell on video, but after I hit 135, McNaughton said "and it was power, too!", so take that for what it's worth.  I think I'm just good at snatching at exactly parallel.  Had a nice pull at 140, then chickened out.

Kind of surprised that I hit that bench PR today - 170 wasn't as easy as I was hoping, but went for 180 just for the hell of it.  Pretty slow on the way up, and McNaughton had to yell at Leah who was spotting not to touch the bar, I think she was about ready to save me, haha.  That's cool.  180 sounds pretty legit for a chick.

The two 6:00 AMRAPs were tough.  Eeeesh.  Leah suggested that we only take the 1:00 transition like we'll have in the competition, which I wasn't super excited about but went along with because I didn't have a good reason not to.  This was unpleasant.

Leah did all the pistols and I did all the kettlebell snatches.  Through 18 was no big deal.  I don't think I slowed down at all, even in the rounds of 24 and 30, but I was starting to get pretty fatigued, and my back was getting a little blown up.  It doesn't take long for Leah to do 24 pistols, which was sad for me personally but good for us as a team.

My shoulders were wrecked going into the second AMRAP.  This is how we broke it up:
3 S2O: Leah
3 BBJ: me
6 S2O: Leah
6 BBJ: 3 for me, 3 for Leah
9 S2O: 5 for me, 4 for Leah
9 BBJ: alternated 3's
12 S2O: 6 for Leah, 3 for me, 3 for Leah --> not planned, I thought we would do 4's, but she did 6 and I couldn't match her
and we alternated 3's on everything after that
I was a hot mess on this.  I legitimately thought I might fail some reps, which was a strange and unpleasant feeling.  They were all fast, with no re-setting at the shoulders, but got pretty ugly. I even ended up split jerking in the last set.  The BBJ weren't an issue at all, my shoulders were just completely toasted.  We might need to work up a better game plan... 

Did not feel recovered at all before doing the row, but felt pressed for time at this point.  Held back just a hair on the first one, intending to empty the tank on the second, but hit a wall with 100m to go on the second one and completely lost it.  Disappointing.

Battle of the Boxes

What an absolutely phenomenal day!! Between an extremely well-organized event, fun workouts and a badass team of awesome people, this was by far my best competition experience to date. It didn't hurt that we kicked some serious ass against a strong field with some Regionals teams. Everyone turned in stellar performances and our communication and strategy throughout the day was on point. This is a team that I am so, so proud to be part of. We ended up in 14th place of 36! 

Event 1: team row, 8000m (29th)

We split this 5x1200m + 2000m (lucky Wolf). 

1200m in 4:52.2 

Held 2:03-2:05 until 200m, then down to 1:44. 

We walked into this completely cold, but I actually felt excellent throughout the whole row. Never went above 2:05. Could have started sprinting at least 50m earlier, if not 100m earlier. Very happy with this personally, although we didn't do very well comparatively as a team (8k in 30:12, the best times were 27ish). 

Event 2: team total (combined male/female scores: 3rd on snatch, 10th on jerk, 19th on clean)

Chels snatched (145), Demi cleaned (195) and I jerked (195); Wolf snatched (225), Pat cleaned (255), Jeff jerked (285). 

We did really well here, which was awesome because we (at least the girls) were pretty nervous. We all hit our opening weights, no prob. I hit 175 easy, lowered it to the front rack, had Chels and Demi add 10lbs, and got 185. Then waited a minute while the others lifted and got 195, waited another minute and failed 205. I could tell while I was holding the bar and they were adding weight that 205 was gonna feel heavy and I never really committed to it. Super pleased to hit 195 though!! Also, we were the only team to power clean a light weight and have the teammates add weight while the bar was racked. Smart move on our part, and we impressed our judge. 

Floater Stations: 

2:00 AMRAP of wallballs, 30/20 to 10/8

Wolf and Demi got 116 (7th)

2:00 AMRAP of slam balls, 50/35

Jeff and Demi got 95 (16th)

2:00 AMRAP of sandbag squat cleans, 100/60

Jeff and Chels got 50 (14th)

2:00 AMRAP of double unders 

Pat and Chels got 411 (9th)

2:00 AMRAP of axle S2O, 115/75

45 for me, 54 for Wolf (15th)

(Did this immediately after the total)

Opened with 20 (fast tng), then 10, then smaller sets. This got hard, split jerked a few at the end and hung out with the axle in the front rack a little too much in the last 0:30. Would have been better off dumping, taking a breath, and hitting another set of faster tng reps. 

2:00 AMRAP of medball over the shoulder, 100/75

33 for me, 33 for Pat (10th)

(Did this between events 3 and 4)

This was a lot of fun - all those stones over the summer paid off. Just kept a steady pace throughout, never stopped or slowed down. Not sure I could do much better than this... 

Event 3: like a girl I used to know (16th)

Pat and Chels did Karen

Demi and I did Grace 

Wolf and Jeff did Isabel 

For Grace, our plan was to start with sets of 5, which lasted through 30, then we alternated 3s. Bar felt super heavy, but speed never really slowed down. We communicated well and this is another one I'm proud of. 

Event 4: chipper (19th)

I feel like a dick for not really participating in this event. I did one set of 20 burpees AFAP and one set of 15 toes to bar. Was prepared to do another set of toes to bar, but Wolf closed out the 100 in a huge set. Our communication and strategy and transitions were all on point, we just weren't fast enough, even though we subbed out as soon as cycle time started to slow. Got through 99 hspus. 

Event 5: cou-pull-lets (9th)

Wolf and Demi did thrusters

Jeff and Chels did deadlifts 

Pat and I did cleans 

This event was AWESOME. It was really hard, especially at the end of a long day, but we all pulled out awesome performances. Pat and I got to the rig with just over 3:00 left on the clock. I butterflied about 10-12 pullups (2 sets) then switched to regular kip and smaller sets with minimal rest. Pat and I did 21 synchronized cleans (quick singles) then we each hit 8 more pullups before time ran out. Only 3 teams finished the cleans; many didn't even get to their third pair of athletes. Really proud of matching Pat rep for rep. 

I can't wait to get this gang together for another competition! And I would highly recommend events by this Lex Artis group, they have their shit together and put on a great event. 

Staked out a sweet spot for the day

Hanging out with my best bud

Best photo of the day

These guys.  The best team!

Saturday - Gobblers and Gobblettes!

EVENT 1: Squat clean speed ladder

2 minutes to clear as many bars as possible; burpees as a tie-breaker
Men's Ladder: 185/205/225/250/275
Women's Ladder: 115/130/145/160/175

Cleared the ladder twice + 145. Made it to 160 with a lot of time to spare (0:20 or so, which I never got in practice), so I took my time to set up properly, pulled, caught it, and fell backwards with it. I literally don't think I've ever done that before. Somehow had the presence of mind to roll over and do one burpee before time ran out. Very happy with this. Obviously it would have been better to make the 160, but I can't complain. 15th. 

EVENT 2: Thruster/HSPU floater
1 Minute of Thrusters (135#/95#)
1 Minute of Handstand Push-Ups

24 thrusters (14/10)

0 HSPU 

I really wanted to hit the floater between the ladder and the row/jump/snatch workouts, mostly to save Cody's shoulders for the muscle ups. I didn't get as many thrusters as I would have liked. Maybe because I felt like I wasn't quite recovered enough from the ladder. UGH I don't know why I dropped it at 14, I don't think I was even slowing down, I just felt like that was a good place to take a break. Only attempted one HSPU at 1:55 and failed. Shitty. Looking forward to lots of improvement here in the coming year. Bring it. 

EVENT 3: Row, jump and snatch
In 10 Minutes, complete the following:
750m Row Per Person/150 Double Unders Per Person
AMRAP Snatches (155/95#)

21 snatches (I did 18)

We knew as soon as the workouts were announced that this was going to be our weakest score. 155 is right around Cody's 1RM, and he was unable to make it when he practiced on Thursday, so we had pretty low expectations heading in. I started on double unders, hit a big set of 67 to start then chipped away. Had a little bit of a rest before the row. Row pace bounced a bit - the first 250 was at about a 1:57 (adrenaline), the middle 250 slowed to 2:04ish, and the final 250 was 2:01ish. Finally got to the snatches and just felt exhausted. I was moving pretty slowly. I told Cody to basically just rest until he felt like he wanted to try one, and I'd just hit single after single. He failed his first 2 attempts, but then hit 3 throughout the course of the workout. I was so proud of him!! I was really excited that he hit a few, we really weren't expecting that. I kind of mentally checked out of this one because I knew we wouldn't score well. Should have had at LEAST 20 reps on my own, if not 25. I looked at the clock at 2:00 remaining and just groaned because I was so over it. Not my finest moment. 

EVENT 4: Double AMRAP

In 6 Minutes, complete as many reps as possible of:
3 Muscle Ups
9 Deadlifts (275/185#)
6 Muscle Ups
18 Deadlifts (275/185#)
9 Muscle Ups
27 Deadlifts (275/185#)
12 Muscle Ups
36 Deadlifts (275/185#)
etc.

(2:00 rest/transition)

In 6 Minutes, complete as many reps as possible of:
10 Pistol Squats
10 Toes-to-Bar
20 Pistol Squats
20 Toes-to-Bar
30 Pistol Squats
30 Toes-to-Bar
40 Pistol Squats
40 Toes-to-Bar
etc.

Midway through the round of 12 muscle ups 

+

Midway through the round of 30 pistols 

Just like we planned, Cody did all the muscle ups and I did all the deadlifts. Cody's muscle ups have improved so much in the past year! He did 3 and 6 unbroken, then 8/1, then singles on the round of 12 I think. I did 54 fucking deadlifts. Ugh that hurt. Did 5/4, 6/6/6, then the plan fell apart on the round of 27 - wanted to do 5/5/5/5/4/3, but I think I did a single somewhere around 18, and a couple of doubles, then 3 to finish. We didn't think it would be worth it for Cody to grind out a rep or two, and decided that would only hurt him for the muscle ups. 275 was far too heavy, and not on the same scale as 185 for women. Ugh. This felt horrible, like 14.3. High volume deadlifts are not my favorite. 

It was pure torture to watch Cody struggle through the pistols and just stand there, unable to help. I know it was an unfortunate circumstance and it was for the best, but I felt like such a dick for just standing there. Did 10 ttb unbroken, then did 8, Cody did 4, I did 8. Very happy with how these felt, they have come a long way. Not the best end to the day but it is what it is. 

Overall 

This is such a fun competition. I really love that we had so many people from CSC competing!  It was very nice to see both Cody's and my improvement over last year in all areas, especially in strategy and communication. Felt like I never really had a chance to relax throughout the day, I was constantly worrying that we should be warming up or would miss our heat, but it all worked out. Super fun day. My back hurts. My knee hurts. My legs are jello. Competing is an awesome experience but I'm ready to get back to regular training.

Benchmark Bracket Competition

Benchmark Bracket Competition at CrossFit the Tracks with my best bud!

Event 1:
Cindy, 12:00 time cap
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 squats

complete @ 90%
8 rounds + 5 pull-ups + 8 push-ups
Decided ahead of time to not go balls-out on this first event.  I wasn't interested in winning the bracket, so I just plugged along for 12:00.  Their pull-up bars are EXTREMELY slippery, and even with a good tape job, opened up Wednesday's rip early on this.  Push-ups were the limiting factor, by far.  Was doing 5 sets of 2 for the last 3 rounds.

Event 2:
Nancy, 15:00 time cap
5 rounds for time of:
400m run
15 overhead squats, 65

4 + 400m run - finished the run right at the buzzer
Gave this one 100%.  Very happy with my effort, but really disappointed that I couldn't come in under the time cap.  All OHS extremely easy and unbroken, with zero transition or set up time approaching the bar.  Used a men's bar - was unable to hook grip it when snatching it, but it felt more stable than the women's bar does when overhead.  First round done in 2:20, second round done at 5:45, third round done at 9:00, fourth round done at 12:15.  I knew when the 3rd round took a little over 3:00 that it wouldn't be possible to finish in 15:00.  My lower back completely tightened up when I went out for the 4th run, which became very slow and more pathetic than usual.  Projected finish would have been somewhere around 15:30.

Event 3:
Mary, 12:00 time cap
5 handstand pushups
10 alternating pistols
15 pullups

complete @ 60-70%
3 rounds + 5 HSPU + 8 pistols
Didn't want to play anymore, at this point.  Considered it 12:00 of skill work.  HSPU standards were using an abmat but no plates, so they were much easier than usual.  2 of the 4 sets were UB, and the other 2 sets were very fast and efficient even though they were broken.  Pistols were slower than normal (legs were tired!) but no misses.  Did the last 8 in about 0:20, and didn't have time to pull the bees knees back up, so very happy that I'm able to do some pistols without wearing them (I wasn't sure!).  Pull-ups were a DISASTER.  Between the rip in my hand and the slippery bars, and having to step up to a tall bar using a J-hook every time, I wasn't in any particular rush.  Almost all sets of 2-3.  Had zero pulling capacity toward the end, and did a few singles on the last round.  On every one of those last singles, I wasn't sure if I would be no-repped or not... it was a struggle.  I really think my judge gave me a few pity reps.

Overall, this was a very fun day and a well-run event!  It was nice to have a change of scenery and meet some new people.  I'm really looking forward to more local competitions this year!

Saturday 16 November

Today was the Gobblers and Goblettes Competition at CrossFit Covington 

(there were 38 teams competing)


WOD #1

In 10 Minutes: partner #1 will row 250m, while partner #2 completes AMRAP burpees. Then the partners will switch. They will continue switching until the 10 minutes is complete.

*When the rowing judge calls switch, the person doing the burpees must STOP and the partners switch immediately.

Score #1 – Total # meters rowed between the 2 partners.
Score #2 – Total # burpees completed between the 2 partners.

Cody and I did really well on this one!  (despite not hearing any announcement that the workout was starting... I wasn't on the rower when the announcer called 3, 2, 1 GO and kind of fell on to it, haha!)  My first round on the rower was way fast - like under 1:55 - but rounds 2, 3, and 4 slowed considerably (2:06ish).  I was back on the rower to start round 5 with less than a minute to go, and sprinted (1:47).  We ended up with 2218 meters rowed (28th place!).  The burpees were just a steady suckfest.  I couldn't wait to get back to the rower.  I think I got 17 burpees the first round, then tried to get 15 each round after that.  I stopped counting a few times, and I think one round was terrible and I only got like 12.  I just tried to keep moving, but a couple of times I took an extra second on the ground.  I couldn't see Cody while I was rowing, but he must have been a burpee machine, because we ended up with 145 burpees (29th place!).  Really happy with this event!

WOD #2 – Deadlift, Hang Clean and Double Jerk Ladder

Women’s Ladder: 125, 135, 145, 155, 165, 175, 185, 195
Men’s Ladder: 185, 205, 225, 255, 275, 295, 305, 315

*You will have 1 minute to complete the complex. There will be a 10 second transition between each lift.

I was really nervous going into the ladder, because I really wanted to do well.  This was the only event that I had expectations of, so that didn't help.  Also, there was not nearly enough rest after WOD # 1, and really no weights to warm up with (85lbs only).  Starting at 125 felt really heavy, because I usually like to start with something like 105, but once I was on the ladder the nerves kind of went away.  I ended up hang power cleaning everything through 165 - that was not the plan!  I planned to squat clean everything, but I kept catching the bar super high and just stood up with it.  I was very happy to get 165 - that's what I reasonably expected to get, and what I got in practice earlier this week.  I wasn't sure about 175 - that matches my squat clean max, and I've never cleaned and jerked 175 at the same time (much less two jerks!).  I caught 175 in a squat, but two of my fingers were caught on the wrong side of the bar, so when I stood up I was trying to free my fingers before doing the jerk.  I got both jerks, and was really surprised and happy!  That's a PR!  I deadlifted 185 twice, but both times I knew I wasn't going to get the clean.  REALLY happy with this event!  (12th place!)  Cody also PRed his clean and jerk at 205 (33rd place)!  So much fun!

WOD #3 – 3 Parts – **1 Minute Rest between each part**

Part #1 – You have 6 Minutes to complete as a team:

40-30-20
Deadlifts – (225/135#)
Alternating Partner Box Jumps (20″)

*On the deadlift, the partner must hold their bar at the top of the deadlift, while the other person is working on the deadlifts. You may switch at any time.

Cody and I had a plan going in, but we should have changed it in the middle of the workout.  We planned to split reps evenly, but the weight was really heavy for Cody (and really light for me).  I saw that he was struggling on the round of 40, but I didn't really put 2 and 2 together that I could just do more deadlifts.  I changed up the strategy on the round of 30, (I did 20 and he did 10) but it was still really heavy for Cody.  We did really poorly on this event, and this is the only one that I'm disappointed in because we could have done better with a different strategy.  135 is so light for me that I should have done way more.  We got 38th place on this one.  I don't think we finished the round of 30 box jumps.

Part #2 - In 6 Minutes as a team, complete AMRAP:

100 Double Unders
12 Thrusters (135/85#)

*For the double unders, one person working at at time.*For the thruster, the partner must hold the front rack position, while the other person is working on the thrusters. You may switch at any time.

Our plan going into this event was for Cody to do all the double unders, and for me to do all the thrusters (with the goal of going unbroken).  Cody's double unders are usually really good, but it was really crowded on the floor and his rope kept hitting obstacles, and he struggled stringing them together a bit.  I tried to jump in and do a few in the first round to give him a break, but I was pretty much useless ( I think I got 5 double unders not consecutively haha).  I did the 12 thrusters unbroken.  On the second round of double unders, I gave Cody a break again in the middle, and this time I was more useful - got at least 20 strung together, but I wasn't counting.  I did the second set of 12 thrusters unbroken again, and we just made it back to the double unders when time expired.  Double unders are so hit and miss for me (and Cody too) that this is a hard event to be disappointed in.  I'm really happy that I did the thrusters unbroken - that was my goal going in.  To be honest, I'm happy I didn't have to do a third set :)  We ended up in 34th place on this one.

Part #3 – You have 6 minutes to complete as a team :

3 Rounds:
10 Snatch (135/85#)
10 Muscle Ups

*One person working at a time for both movements, you may switch at any time.*If you do not complete the workout within that 6 minute time frame, then score is 6 minutes plus a one second penalty for every rep not completed.

Our plan for this event was for me to do all the snatches, and Cody to do all the muscle ups.  The snatches should have been light weight for me, and I knew I couldn't contribute to the muscle ups.  I did 4 snatches TnG, but my back was super tired at this point and I couldn't keep tight enough to string more together.  I finished out the 10 with singles and doubles, but it took way longer than I wanted, and I'm disappointed with this.  When I dropped at 4, I planned to finish with 3/3, but then I dropped at 2 and planned to do 2/2/2, but then I did singles, and it all went to hell.  Cody got through 8 muscle ups before time expired - I'm so proud of him!  He was exhausted and his muscle ups are pretty much strict and require a lot of energy, and I couldn't help him out at all on this part.  I wish I could have gotten back to the second set of snatches, because I had recovered enough by that point to do bigger sets, but at that point I was just happy to be done.  We ended up in 36th place on this one.

Overall, this was such a fun day!  We ended up in 35th place.  I'm so proud of Cody for doing awesome in his first competition, and so proud of everyone else from CSC!!  It was really nice being detached from the results and just competing for fun (applying the lesson from OPT).  I am really happy with everything I did, and it was a really nice change of pace from normal training.

As for fueling: I had coffee and oatmeal with protein powder and walnuts at 8am and a protein shake with vitargo at 1pm.  I had gatorade after WOD#1 and a protein shake with vitargo after WOD#2.  I felt really good the entire time, except next time I may add some caffeine before WOD#3.

Saturday 10 November

Fall Brawl competition at CrossFit Perrysburg:

Event 1: 2.5 mile run. Felt good. No idea of pace or time.

Event 2: 7 minute AMRAP of:
15 wallballs (14 to 9')
10 covp pull-ups
= 3 rounds + 8 wall balls.

Event 3: snatch + 2 OH squat ladder.
= Got 105 fairly easily. 115 wasn't even close. 30 dead lifts at 115 in the remaining time.

Event 4: 5 rounds for time of:
30' OH KB walking lunge (35lbs)
15 burpees
other hand lunge back
50 double unders
= Finished 4 rounds + 1 burpee before the 17:00 time cap. Lunges were super easy. Burpees sucked. Could not string together double unders for the life of me.

Event 5: 6 rounds of 1:15 on/ 0:45 off of:
4x40m shuttle run, then in the remaining time:
24" box jumps (rounds 1,3,5)
or
170lb dead lifts (rounds 2,4,6)
= 8 reps each round

Event 6:
2:00 AMRAP handstand push-ups
2:00 AMRAP muscle ups
2:00 to establish a 7rm back squat
= 3 + 0 + 175lbs. Super fatigued on the handstand push-ups. Could have gone heavier on the back squats.

Overall a fun day full of learning opportunities. Worked at a steady pace on events 1, 2, 4 and 5.