2016 Open Recap

What's this? An Open recap? But you didn't do the Open, you'll say.

You're right.  I didn't.  But, I learned a LOT just by observing over the past few weeks, and I feel like writing about it. In no particular order:

1) This turned out to be a good year for me to sit out.  At first, I was really, really bummed to miss the Open (could the timing of my injury have been ANY worse?).  This would have been my 5th Open, which is pretty cool. I've worked extremely hard over the past year, and I don't think I could have prepared any better or trained any harder for this competitive season.  After week after week of announcements went by, I realized - I wouldn't have contributed to the team's score on any of the five workouts this year. I think I would have taken that pretty hard. I'm a lot fitter than I was last year, but it wouldn't have shown on the leaderboard. Every week, I let out a sigh of relief that something wasn't announced that I could absolutely crush. That made sitting out a lot easier.

2) Regionals can't be your only goal. This is a big one for me, because I won't deny that I would still very much like to go and be a part of that experience.  I had a pretty big realization when Stephen started my programming back up after surgery that I just legitimately enjoy training for training's sake.  I enjoy pushing myself and working hard and improving and completing tasks. I felt completely lost in that month without training, and realized that I just truly do love the process.  There's no end goal at the moment (unlike over the past year, where I thought if I worked hard enough I might be good enough to earn a spot on the team).  And it's kind of refreshing, and taking this step back reminds me that I'm doing what I genuinely love. And watching our team slip farther and farther down the leaderboard throughout the Open, and watching the disappointment on my friends' faces when they realize that the goal they've been working so hard towards may not happen this year, or watching my friends feel like they're not good enough despite turning out baller performances, makes me hope that they love the daily grind as much as I've learned I do.

3) We are ALL on the CSC team.  I'm going to be candid here.  I am completely aware of, and agree with, the fact that Open workouts are different than Regional workouts, and that just because you contributed the most during the Open does not mean you will be a valuable team member at Regionals, and vice versa, just because you didn't do very well in the Open, doesn't mean you won't crush some Regional events. But, I definitely got an "us vs. them" vibe, on many occasions, that just isn't cool. It takes a whole confluence of events to get 6 people to Regionals, and being an elitist asshole about it is childish and insulting. And just saying "I want to go to Regionals" doesn't mean you'll go. Healthy competition is one thing, but belittling your fellow teammates is unacceptable. Be humble.  On the weeks you don't do well, be grateful that you have teammates who excel at your weaknesses.  And treat them as just that - your teammates. Stick around on Friday nights to support them when they go, not to make sure they didn't beat your score.

4) Bro reps.  Plate gate.  Fudging the standards.  Blatant cheating.  Watching some elite athletes get seriously penalized (the OPEX athletes, Josh Bridges, etc.) for stuff that happens in 99% of all affiliates during the Open, especially affiliates hoping to qualify a team to Regionals, didn't sit well with me. I understand that everyone's doing it, so then everyone does it, but it's stupid and the sport loses legitimacy. Individually, this is pretty well controlled, with the video submissions of Regional-qualifying athletes.  But on the team side, it's anarchy. I think all scores which are calculated into the team totals each week should also be videoed and reviewed at random before invitations go out (i.e. HQ requests video of female #2 on 16.1 and male #3 on 16.4 from the top 30 teams, or something like that). How many fewer reps would teams post on 16.4 if the handstand push-ups were videoed to ensure they actually met the standard? As the team side of the sport is becoming more competitive with super teams and former individual athletes going team, it might happen.  It should.

5) When did it become okay to be a quitter? I have never seen so many people just stop halfway through a workout.  I understand why it happens: if you're not mentally in it, if you're not physically feeling great, etc. But it's really demoralizing to watch, especially if you're up next. And, I feel like if I ever just up and quit in the middle of a workout, I'd never hear the end of it.

6) None of this matters. Dave Castro does what Dave Castro wants, and your performance in the Open does not define you as an athlete or a person. Of course it's gratifying to do well, and to have an external measure with which to measure your progress year to year, but it can't overshadow the other 47 weeks of the year. The biggest goal in our gym is to qualify a team to Regionals, or to qualify yourself to the MQ, and as long as you've given your best effort, it's out of your hands. It sucks if you feel like your hard work isn't showcased, but it is what it is. Move on.

It was a really weird experience this year, being completely unattached to the outcome. It makes it easier to call bullshit on some of this stuff when you're watching from outside of it all. None of this takes away from the fact that I'm so incredibly proud of my very fit friends for giving it their all week after week, and I love this place. Onward!

Sunday

AM
30:00-60:00 easy walk or hike

PM
A. Hang power clean gauntlet, 1 every :60 starting @ 125 and adding 5 every :60
B. Clean-grip deadlift, 8-6-4 moderate, 11X1; 2:00 rest
+
15.4 @ 85%
+
3 sets steady:
200m ski erg
60 double-unders
1:1 work:rest

AM

30:00 AirDyne @ Z1

+

15:00 mobility

PM

A. 180 power, 185 to parallel (video of both)

B. 195, 215, 225 - no belt

+

66, 2:28 (+17 and 0:47 faster split) (round of 15 hspus)

+

1:56 

1:55

1:57


Hang cleans felt much better than last week.  The 180 was a HPC PR +5, but I'm hesitant to say that the 185 was power.  It felt like a squat, and it looks exactly at parallel... but I'm super pleased that I'm continuing to get lower instead of wider as it gets heavy! 

No issues on the CGDL.  My hamstrings were actually a bit sore from these last week, which was a first - maybe I'm finally learning to pull with something other than my back.

Wanted to smash 15.4.  I didn't.  Huge improvement from 8 months ago, but it's still an extremely weak score (from 699 in the region to 430).  And yes, I know it said @ 85%, but I'm not sure how much faster I really could have gone without risking failing more handstand push-ups.  Did 3, 6, 5/4, 4/4/4, then the video of the 15 is linked above (tried for 3's, but one fail, ended with 2's).  Had 0:10 to get back to the wall - rushed one rep, I locked it out but fell away from the wall, so no-rep.  Heels were clearly over the line on all reps, but I had to move my hands significantly closer to the wall than I naturally would have chosen.  All PCs quick singles.  I really didn't feel like I was resting  all that much, but the video makes it painfully apparent that I'm spending an enormous amount of time standing around.

Ski / double-under was fine... skiied at 2:20-2:25/500m, intentionally broke the first two sets of DUs 40/20, tripped on the third set (38/21/1).

2015 Open Recap

This Open season was awesome. Every single week, we had some amazing athletes just destroy the workouts and this was so much fun to watch and be a part of. We've got some pretty cool people here, and I'm proud to call them my friends.  This year was really inspiring and quite the bonding experience.  I love this place.

And also, progress is just the coolest. It was extremely gratifying to see the last year's work pay off, and I contributed 3 scores to help the team. And on the two weeks where I didn't contribute a score? I completely smashed it relative to where I was a year ago (muscle-ups and handstand push-ups). Thank you, Stephen!

It's these last 3 weeks which have really re-energized my goals and increased my motivation for training. Yes, compared to last year, I saw ridiculously huge improvements, not just in muscle-ups and handstand push-ups but also aerobically (15.5!). But, more than anything, having a taste of success makes me want to do even better and makes me excited for the upcoming year. I know I have the potential and I have the work ethic and I have the coaching in place. Just follow the program and see how far I can go. 

Of course, the Open is not everything and it's certainly not why I do this. It's a very nice benchmark for progress and a fun time in the gym to come together for a common goal. A spot on a Regionals team is still an ultimate goal, but it's not my driving force and I'm very aware of the many factors that go into team selection and team competition.  I refuse to set a goal that is dependent on other people. I'm just going to show up and put in the work and get better and continue to enjoy training. 

Speaking of, I miss training. That was a very long 5 weeks.  Can't wait to get back in it. 

Highlights:

15.1: hitting a 201lb clean and jerk, twice! 

15.2: adding 49 reps to my 14.2 score, which was already decent 

15.3: successfully catching muscle-ups under fatigue 

15.4: handstand push-up improvement under fatigue 

15.5: aerobic and mental improvement in a real nasty workout

Monday - 15.5 redo

AM
shoulder prep
+
10 sets:
:30 AirDyne @ high aerobic effort
:30 rest

PM
15.5 re-do

- 950-1000 cals/hr throughout
- 12/9/6, 12/9, 8/7, 9 on the barbell, keep rests short and transitions quick

AM

complete

PM

9:41 (0:18 faster than Friday)

Well. The Open is over! Planning to recap in another post. 

Today's 15.5 felt like a completely different workout than Friday's 15.5. Not gonna lie, I was very nervous going into this. I felt a lot of pressure to improve and had a better strategy, but was worried that it wouldn't be good enough. I'm very pleased with the improvement over Friday, but still not satisfied. I don't know if this is another instance of overestimating my abilities or what, but I want more. I want to be better, and I know I'm capable of it. 

Made a conscious decision to pull back the pace on the rows to something more sustainable and push it on the thrusters. Held 1000 for the 27, then 950ish on 21, 900ish on 15, 950ish on 9 (I think? It's kind of a blur). Broke the thrusters 12/9/6, 9/7/5, 5/5/5, 9. These felt much better than Friday, I think I did a much better job of picking up the bar and limiting the resting at the top. And I tried to just turn off my brain and listen to Stephen (and Conner, thanks buddy!), I was pretty much blacked out for the duration and left the decision making up to them. 

Wasn't nearly as wrecked as I was on Friday. It was still extremely unpleasant, but nothing like the first attempt. So of course, now that I'm sitting here with my gelato (finally!) and watching the leaderboard (ugh), I wonder if I could have pushed harder. I wonder if I could have rowed a little faster and kept the same speed on the bar. But I really don't think it would have happened today,  I think I really did my best and made the right call to guarantee an improvement. It would have been very risky to try to maintain a faster row pace, I'm 99% certain that this would have resulted in a repeat of Friday with way too much hesitation at the bar.  But it's that nagging 1% that has me writing all this. 

Anyway. I'm very proud of myself and of the entire group of athletes at CSC. These people make it fun. Onward! 

Friday - 15.5

AM

mobility @ home

PM

15.5
27-21-15-9 reps for time of:
Row (calories)
Thrusters
M 95 lb. F 65 lb.
+
10:00 AirDyne @ Z1
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

15.5: 9:59

+

Complete 

+

Complete


Eeeeeeeeesh.  This was one of the most unpleasant workouts I've ever done, perhaps only second to the row/KBS/burpee tester from OPT.  I haven't felt that messed up after a workout in a very, very, very long time.  Mentally out of it and nauseous and a little Fran cough and quads are fucking toasted.

I made a series of moderate errors that all added up to result in a pretty poor performance toward the end.  Stephen and I decided that I should hold a 1000 cal/hour pace for all the rows, and kick it up a notch in the 9s if I had it, and that I should do all the thrusters unbroken.  This is exactly the plan I had been thinking of all day, and I felt really confident going into this.  I expected to end up in the low 9:00s and turn in a solid score for the team.

The row felt okay on the 27 and 21, and I held just over 1000 cal/h for pretty much the duration of these.  27 thrusters unbroken, but when I got to maybe 24 or so I started to panic that going unbroken was a bad idea.  Slowed down quite a bit on the 21 thrusters, started pausing at the top a lot, so Stephen told me to drop it once.  Got back to the 15 calorie row and was fucking done.  I legit almost gave up, going just a hair hot in the first two rounds completely kicked me in the gut.  I don't think I ever made it over 900 cal/h on the 15.  Broke the 15 thrusters 8/7 but these were really slow and transitions were terrible.  Found a bit of a gear on the 9 calories, bumped the pace to 1080-1100ish, but this was a terrible idea because then I took a good 0:20-0:30 before picking up the bar for the 9 thrusters.  It really felt like physically I couldn't pick up the bar, but I know that's not true and this was a complete mental fail.

Extremely disappointed in myself and I feel like I disappointed Stephen, too.  I know I can do much better than this.  I'm a little afraid that, now that I know how much it's going to hurt, I won't go there again on Monday.  I think a better plan for me will be to break the thrusters once in the first 3 rounds, row at a very slightly less aggressive pace - I was working hard to keep it above 1000, but if it drifts to 980ish and feels like a better rhythm, I might just go with that - and fucking pick up the bar for the set of 9 without hesitation.  I need to listen to Stephen when he says to go.  He's always right.

Wore just the one knee sleeve and pulled it up/down for every transition except the 9 calorie row.  Knee felt okay while I was doing the thrusters, but it's pretty pissed off now.  Icing and ibuprofening and mentally preparing to attack this thing again on Monday with a slightly better plan and visualizing giving my best effort to end the Open.

Monday - 15.4 redo redo

AM
shoulder prep
+
20:00 AirDyne @ Z1

PM
A. Power clean, build quickly to a single @ 155
+
15.4 re-do re-do
+
3 sets for even times:
20 row calories
15 box jumps or step-up step-downs, 20
10 burpees
5 thrusters, 85
3:00 walk rest
+
3 sets not for time:
10 strict pull-ups
:30 glute bridge hold

AM

complete

PM

A. complete
+
46 (3:10) - worse than Saturday
+
3:03
3:08
3:09
+
complete

Totally demoralizing third attempt at 15.4 - failed (what felt like) dozens of handstand push-ups today, including the last one in the set of 6 (major warning sign).  My kip was absolute shit today, almost every rep was a struggle to lock out, and went to singles in the set of 9. Had just under a minute left when starting the set of 15, only got one good rep and 3 fails. This felt worse than it did on the first attempt, even though today's score beat Friday's.  Blah.  Moving on.  

3 sets were tough, the burpees were the easiest part (what?!).  Rowed right around 1000 cal/h, did all box jumps but legs were shaky after the row, so these were pretty slow.  Burpees were nice and fast.  Thrusters were murder on my knee - the weight felt light, it was just stabbing which made me hesitate before every rep.  Shit.  I know they're coming this week so I'm just gonna have to put my head down and deal. Wore the black knee sleeves throughout all the movements, no issues with the other pieces while wearing them. Gonna have to make a decision soon about whether to go back and see Tim...

Felt nice to do some strict pull-ups today! It's been a while.  The pulling felt really strong but I was swinging all over the place.  Glute bridge hold was weird, I think I was doing them correctly? Not challenging at all.

Saturday - 15.4 redo

AM
20:00 AirDyne @ Z1
+
20:00 shoulder mobility + scap work

PM
15.4 re-do

AM
complete

PM
15.4: 49 (3:15) - +11 over Friday and 0:52 faster split


So relieved that today's redo went so much better than yesterday!  It was a combination of the thorough shoulder warm-up in the AM session, and knowing what to expect, and having a better plan, and placing my clock so that I could see it at the wall.  Definitely am happy with this score considering my skill level on handstand push-ups at the moment.  

Broke the HSPUs 3, 3/3, 3/2/2/2, all 2s except for one fail and one single at the end, then 1/1/2 at the buzzer.  Did a much better job of patiently waiting until I was confident I could get a set of 2, and only failed twice (one in the round of 12 and one in the last minute at the round of 15, both lock-out fails).  Having the clock in front of me instead of having to turn around to look at it really helped with pacing.  Also did a much better job with the kip, really concentrated on making every rep a strong one with a good kip.  Cleans fast and easy, very happy to get another set here.  Really pleased that I burned through the first 3 rounds almost a minute faster than yesterday and bought myself a lot of time to finish the round of 12.

I don't particularly feel the need to do this again on Monday- I would, just to accumulate the handstand push-up reps, but I'm content with today's score.  For now.  I still want to crush this next year.

Friday - 15.4

AM
mobility @ home

PM
15.4:
8-minute AMRAP:
3 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
6 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
9 handstand push-ups
3 cleans
12 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
15 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
18 handstand push-ups
6 cleans
21 handstand push-ups
9 cleans
Etc., following same pattern
M 185 lb. F 125 lb.
+
10:00 AirDyne @ Z1
+
10:00 mobility work of choice 

38 (4:07)
+
complete
+
complete


Well.  This is another week where I'm so pleased to see how far I've come (hey, remember when I could only do one handstand push-up every minute and that CLB workout took me 1:17:00?  I DO.) but I'm so grounded to see how far I have to go.

Broke the HSPUs 3, 2/2/2, 2/2/2/2/1 + disaster on the round of 12.  It took me almost 4 whole minutes to get 11 handstand push-ups - what the actual fuck.  I failed a LOT, mostly because I would rush the rest.  Never had an issue with the standard - it was pretty easy to just remember to flex my toes, I never had a no-rep for not meeting the standard, it was all failure to lock out or falling off the wall.  I need to remember to bring my knees down all the way to my chest in the kip.  Why is this so hard for me to remember?  The reps were EASY when I did this, and impossible when I got lazy and shorted the kip.  Argh.

Cleans were so incredibly easy, I'm sad I only got to do 9.  The first 2 sets of 3 were singles, but did the third set TnG for the tiebreak time.  Maybe I shouldn't have done that, and I was a little more tired going into the set of 12 than I should have been?  Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think I need to be worried about a tiebreak time with a score of 38. 

Planning to re-do tomorrow.  I'd like to get a couple more sets of 3 hspus (at least 3/3 on the set of 6) and be a little smarter about not pushing the pace to failure.  I think a score of 45 is reasonable and probably close to max effort right now - so I'd just need to get that last HSPU on the 12s then the 6 PC.  

Will I ever be good at handstand push-ups?  Will I read this post a year from now and laugh?  I hope so.

Friday - 15.3

AM

mobility @ home

PM

15.3

14-minute AMRAP:
7 muscle-ups
50 wall balls
100 double-unders
+
10:00 AirDyne @ Z1
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

161 (7:41 tie break)
+
complete
+
complete


I have a lot to say about 15.3.  I feel like I'll be reflecting on this one for a while.

First of all, let me say (more for myself than anything else) that 3 months ago I got my very first muscle-up (after months and months of hard work and frustration and failure), and I didn't feel consistent with muscle-ups until about 5-6 weeks ago.  Today I did 11 muscle-ups within a shoulder-fatiguing workout (plus the 4 I did in warm-up).  I have never tested muscle-ups under fatigue, and have never tested the limits of how fast I can push these.  Today I did 3 muscle-ups within 0:30, 7 muscle-ups in 3:20, and 4 more muscle-ups after 50 wall-balls and 100 double-unders.  That's fucking awesome.

I will say that I was guilty of overestimating my abilities on this.  It was a rookie move, but I really thought my muscle-ups wouldn't be affected by the wall-balls and double-unders on the second set as long as I remained aggressive.  FALSE.  I took almost a whole minute after the double-unders before going for the first muscle-up of the second set, and did 7 total attempts from 8:30-14:00.  I turned all of them over, but caught these all reeeeeeeeeeally deep, much deeper than I ever have before.  I only was able to dip out of 4 of them, and had 3 really frustrating fails where I just got stuck halfway up the dip.  That was surprising, and annoying, and embarrassing.  I want to never again be in the position to fail the dip out of a muscle-up.  I see a lot of ring dips in my future.

Failed the 4th muscle-up of the first set, too.  I did the first 3 in 0:30 and failed the 4th (not sure exactly when I went, but it was within the first minute).  I got a little complacent on the aggressiveness and didn't turn it over.  I became much more cautious after this, going every 0:40 or so to finish the first set.  Pulled up the black knee sleeves while I was resting for the 7th, then immediately transitioned to the wallballs.  I think I moved pretty well here, 5 sets of 10 with really small breaks.  Knee felt fine.  Broke the double-unders 25/25/20/15/15ish (not exactly due to some trips but approximate sets).  At about 50 I started to get worried that my shoulders were feeling very tired, so I slowed down quite a bit.  I kind of forgot about the tiebreak time, but I could have moved faster here for sure.  I just wanted to feel relatively good going into the second set of muscle-ups.  Which was probably a good call, considering the fails and all.

I don't feel the need to repeat this workout this weekend.  I would probably be a little more cautious on the second set of muscle-ups, and perhaps get 5 instead of 4, maybe convert one of those fails into a make.  However, I would be VERY interested in repeating this workout in 3-6 months.  

Most of all, this workout makes me hungry for more.  I'm beyond thrilled with the progress I've made in the last year, and how much I've changed as an athlete over the past 4 years, but today was a huge wake-up call that I still have so far to go before I reach my full potential.  I'm excited and motivated and ready for the challenge.  Onward!

Friday - 15.2

15.2
For as long as possible:
From 0:00-3:00
2 rounds of:
10 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
From 3:00-6:00
2 rounds of:
12 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
From 6:00-9:00
2 rounds of:
14 overhead squats (95 / 65 lb.)
14 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Etc., following same pattern

+
10:00 AirDyne @ Z1

+
10:00 mobility work of choice

15.2: 185 (49 rep improvement over last year)

+

complete, more like 20:00 @ Z0.5

+

complete

Holy shit! This was fantastic.  I was really happy when this workout was announced last night, as it was my best finish of the 2014 Open, and I'd like to think I've gotten fitter in the past year.  I kind of had a goal of 180ish in mind, I figured I would finish the 14s, hit 16 OHS easily. spend most of the time on the first 16 CTBs, then get a few more OHS before time ran out.  And that's exactly what happened!  All OHS squat snatched and easily unbroken, CTBs started 4/3/3, 3/3/2/2, then 3/3/3/3, then 2s then singles.  I kind of blacked out at one point, I think it was in the second set of 14 CTBs, and I had no idea where I was, what round I was on, or how much time I had left... it's a good thing I just kept going, because I finished these right at the buzzer - probably should have been paying more attention.  Rested a really long time before starting the 16 OHS, like 0:45... if I cut this down a bit, I'm pretty confident I could finish the second set of 16 OHS. 

Knee felt much better than I expected it would! It had been bugging me all day, so I was a little worried, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was on the thrusters from Wednesday (same weight, same black knee sleeves...)

I don't really feel like I need to do this again, but my hands didn't tear and my knee feels okay at the moment, so if I need to, I wouldn't be mad.  Just sayin'.

Two weeks down... so far, so good.  :)

Monday - 15.1

AM
shoulder prep
+
30:00 AirDyne @ Z1, off every 5:00 for 5 box jump w/step-down, 20

PM
15.1/15.1a
+
10:00 @ very easy pace:
30 AirDyne calories
10 wall balls
1 rope climb
3 wall walks
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

AM

complete, subbed 10 step-ups/step-downs

PM
15.1: 106
15.1a: 201
+
complete
+
complete

Definitely pissed off my knee a bit on the heavy cleans from Friday... it's not terrible, but it did not like the box jumps today, and I figured there was no point aggravating it further, especially with the 15.1 redo.  It's not that bad, if box jumps come up this week I'll be fine, just would rather be safe than sorry.

I was really nervous going into the 15.1 redo... I really, really wanted to hit 201 again.  Broke all the deadlifts 5/5 and all singles on the snatches, with quite a bit of transition time.  I started off doing singles on the toes to bar, but I actually felt less fatigued doing sets of 5 with a longer break in between sets, so after the first 10 that's what I did.  Clean and jerked 156, 186, 196, 201.  I've never made such a large jump going to 185 before (I jumped 145 to 175 while warming up, and that was a first as well), but I almost always will take 10lb jumps once I'm around 165.  So that's the first cool thing about this, knowing that I can hit 185 solidly and after a large jump. I hit 196 with about 2:30 left (also I've never skipped 190 before, so that's cool), and opted to take the extra rest and make one good attempt at 201 instead of rushing the 201 and going for a 5th attempt.  None of my reps were nearly as crisp as they felt on Friday, but obviously I'm super happy with matching Friday's PR.  I'd kinda like to test a clean and jerk max under less stressful conditions!  I know I've got 205 for sure, maybe even a little more.

Got through one round + 20something calories on the 10:00 piece.  Mobility complete, hip and ankle.

Great start to the Open!  Ready for week 2.  I wouldn't mind some CTBs.

Friday - 15.1

Workout 15.1
9-minute AMRAP:
15 toes-to-bars
10 deadlifts
5 snatches
(M 115 lb. / F 75 lb.)

Workout 15.1a
1-rep-max clean and jerk
6-minute time cap

15.1

1

15.1a

201 (PR +1)

Really happy with how easily I hit heavier cleans without having done any since November... Caught 206 but it was a little forward, I totally surprised myself.

Friday

A. 1 push jerk + 3 split jerks, build to a heavy set
B. Power snatch, build quickly to a single @ 115
+
AMRAP in 8:00 @ Open pace - this is 14.1 but 2:00 shorter:
30 double-unders
15 power snatches, 55
+
10:00 AirDyne @ Z1

A. 185

B. Complete 

+

4 rounds + 30 DUs + 13 snatches 

+

Complete 

Jerks started off a little rough but felt really good when they got heavier. 185 matches a push jerk PR, and I have 180 recorded as a 2RM split jerk, so that's pretty cool. 

Power snatch felt fine, still caught 115 pretty wide but feeling comfortable with this weight. 

UGH. Stupid 14.1. I hated it last year and I hated it today. I really thought I would do much better than last year, but I did exactly the same (or would have, if extrapolated out to the full 10:00 - 5 rounds + 30 DUs + 7 snatches). Tripped on one round of double unders, the rest were unbroken. Broke the snatches 8/7 for 2 rounds, then 6/5/4 for 2 rounds, then a disaster on the last round (doubles and singles). My grip was just fucking shot, I couldn't maintain a hook grip, and then the bar would just slip out of my hands, involuntarily. Breathing felt pretty good, and transitions between the movements were deliberate but not too slow, it was just the breaks in between sets of snatches that got to be too much.  I don't even know what to do to improve here.  Days like this make me not want to do the Open at all.  I really, really hope this year is different...

Wednesday

AM
3 sets:
3:00 AirDyne easy
3:00 t-spine/anterior shoulder mobility - switch it up set-to-set
3:00 AirDyne easy
3:00 light scap activation

PM
A1. Shoulder press, 4 x 1-2, 21X1; :60 rest
A2. BB upright row, 4 x 3-4, 3010; 2:00 rest
+
5:00 @ 95%:
3 ground-to-overhead, 85
3 toes-to-bar
6 ground-to-overhead, 85
6 toes-to-bar
and so on...
+
10:00 rest
+
1 set:
500m row @ 97%

AM
complete

PM
A1. 100(2), 105(2), 110(2), 115(1 - PR+7)
A2. 63(4), 73(4), 78(3), 78(3)
+
72 (12/15 GTO) 
+
1:44.0

Awesome day!  Loved doing the shoulder stuff in the morning, I felt like I had better posture throughout the whole day at work.

Shoulder press felt EXCELLENT.  Previous best was 108 from 18 months ago, and I'd failed 110 a few times since then, so getting 110 for an easy 2 was somewhat unexpected but very welcome.  115 was slow but not too sticky.  Hooray!

Barbell upright rows felt good, I felt like I was in a better position than the single arm upright rows with the dumbbells.

GTO/TTB piece was super fun, I really enjoyed this.  Would LOVE for this to be the repeated Open workout this year... Both movements felt great; did the first 3 GTO unbroken, then all quick singles with no resting.  TTB: 3, 6, 5/4, 6/6, these felt super fast and easy today, too (taped bar, with the gymnastics mat below so I didn't have to jump).  Finished the round of 12 at exactly 4:00, and knew I could beat Conner's score of 9/15 if I wanted it, so I just kept picking up the bar without hesitating.  I know the weight is a little less, but my 13.4 score was 69 in 7:00, so that's neat.

Row is 0:00.2 off my best of 1:43.8 (from 2013).  I'm trying hard not to be disappointed with that; this is the closest I've ever come to the vicinity of that time, and I was very happy with effort here today.  Not to mention, doing this 10:00 after the other piece.  I really thought I would have a little PR, I was holding 1:43 pretty comfortably through the first 300m, then it just ever so slightly drifted up to 1:44-1:45.  Breathing felt really good, and I felt like I was able to deal with the lactate much better than usual, I just could not pull any harder.  Never went above 1:45, never hit the wall, never mentally gave up, never slowed down, so this is all progress.  It just sucks that being 0:00.2 off a PR hurts just as bad as a 0:00.2 PR...

2014 CrossFit Open Recap

This was the most fun I've had in my three years' Open experience.  Part of this was because of the atmosphere in the gym - everyone has been extremely supportive of one another, and genuinely excited to watch or help judge (very different from last year, which was just incredibly stressful).  But also, I feel like this year's Open was just a fun series of workouts, and I went into it with fairly low expectations.  Last year, I felt like every week the workout was designed for my express humiliation, and it was a really disappointing experience.  This year, I knew I was a  much different (better) athlete than I was in 2013, but I also accepted going into it that the Open doesn't validate my efforts over the past 12 months and it's not the reason I train.  I'm a very competitive person, and still look toward a Regionals (team) bid in the future, but I'm much more zen about knowing how much work I still need to do, and taking this year's Open as a benchmark.

Of the 3350 women registered in the Central East:
14.1: 248, 262 = top 20%
14.2: 85, 136 = top 5%
14.3: 137, 132 = top 12%
14.4: 175 = top 24%
14.5: 18:32, 16:43 = top 28%
overall: top 14%

...I'm still shocked that the CTB workout was my best finish!

And, of course, I'm extremely disappointed that I got sick right in the middle.  It's over and done.  Timing sucks, but what are you gonna do?  I know my scores for 14.4 and 14.5 aren't a true reflection of my abilities (and I want another shot at 14.4!).  I also know that if I can do 14.4 and 14.5 feeling as awful as I did, I really never have an excuse for skipping a workout again.

Really looking forward to individualized programming and to get back to training!

Monday 31 March

14.5 redo

16:43 (almost 2:00 faster than Friday)

It certainly helped that I didn't have an asthma attack in the middle of this workout. Even if I had been 100%, this would not have been in my wheelhouse, and I'm happy to have improved on a second attempt. Broke thrusters 12/9 (mistake! Jacked the hr up too much), 7/6/5, 5/5/5, 6/6, 5/4, 6, 3. Tried to keep moving on the burpees with a step down every time. Still moved very slowly and stood around a lot, so I know there's still room for improvement here (but I have no interest in doing this again). Never checked out mentally like I did the first time; I was painfully aware of how many reps remained during the entire time. Also felt a little more muscle fatigue, especially in my arms on the burpees, than on Friday's attempt. 

And one sore butt cheek from using the same damned leg to step back for 84 reps. 

Friday 28 March

14.5

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 for time:
Thrusters, 95
Bar-facing burpees

18:32 – that’s two for bronchitis.

Broke thrusters 8/7/6, 7/6/5, 5/5/5, 6/6, 5/4, 6, 3. Looking forward to doing this again on Monday, as long as lung capacity is better than today. Better strategy for me may be to only break the sets of 21/18/15 thrusters once instead of twice.

Didn't want to do this at all today, but wanted to have a run-through just in case I'm not healthy by Monday (skipping the Friday attempt last week was a huge mistake).  Felt extremely lightheaded and dizzy while warming up, and two burpees into the round of 21 I really wanted to quit.  Went extremely, extremely slowly on the burpees and took a few water breaks.  Started wheezing by the round of 15, I think, and at one point, vision started to go black around the edges when I was about to lift the bar.  Never hit the redline from a muscle fatigue standpoint, just could not get enough air.

On Monday's redo, assuming I'm feeling better, I don't think I'll move much faster on the burpees.  Just cut down transition time (no water breaks, no walking around) and break thrusters into 2 sets instead of 3.  

Monday 24 March

Open 14.4, AMRAP in 14:00:
60 row calories
50 toes-to-bar
40 wall balls, 20/14 to 10/9
30 cleans, 135/95
20 muscle-ups

175 (25 cleans)

Pretty sad about this one.  Nasty cold turned into bronchitis, which triggered asthma (which hasn't bothered me in YEARS), and I didn't have a functioning inhaler, which meant I could. not. breathe.

Kept the row at 900 cal/hr, which was an immense struggle.  Got off just after 4:00 and immediately had a coughing attack, then couldn't catch my breath on the TTB.  Heard several people say that sets of 5 were a mistake and to try smaller sets, like sets of 2 - so that's what I started with.  Got 3 sets of 2, but was distracted by not being able to breathe and ended up doing singles starting at rep 7.  UGH.  WB were the easiest part of this (thanks, Invictus!) - did 2 x 10, 4 x 5.  Finished the WB at 10:50.  Picked up the first couple of cleans and got extremely lightheaded.  Needed to keep the pace steady to finish 30 singles in 3:00, but I just couldn't breathe and couldn't focus and felt terrible.

Timing sucks.  I know the open doesn't really matter, but it's still incredibly disappointing.  Would like to try this again when my lungs are functional.

Friday 21 March

30:00 AD @ z1
+
14.4 movement prep

Decided to wait until Monday to attempt - still not feeling 100% and developed a nice little cough...

Ran through a few reps of everything 3x.  WB felt SO EASY since we've been doing so many 20lb to 10' lately.  Goal is to do these in 4 x 10 on Monday.

Monday 17 March

14.3 redo

Did significantly worse.  Broke the 20 DL into 5 x 4 and that set me back about 0:20 from Friday, then fell to 0:30 behind Friday's pace coming off the set of 25 DL.  Back felt significantly better throughout today's effort, but it was just too slow.  On Friday, I was rolling around on the floor for minutes after finishing, and felt completely fine today.  Ugh. Being sick didn't help, but I'm still pretty disappointed.