Some (Knee) Highs and Some Lows

I'll keep this brief. Today for strength we did deadlifts (5-3-1+). The first five reps were to be at 75% of your one rep max; the set of three was to be at 87.5%; and the one-plus was to be your one rep max plus any additional reps. My numbers looked like this: 82.5 - 96 - 110.

Now, I did not do additional reps of my one rep max. Instead, I climbed the weight up slightly. I did an additional rep at 111 and then another rep at 113, which I was pretty pleased with. Yay for personal records. It must have been my new knee highs.

After the strength workout we then moved on to probably my least favorite named workout of all time: Angie. (For a rundown of my last experience with Angie please go here: An Ode to Angie).

Now there may be some psycho-- I mean, really cool people that enjoy Angie's company through 100 pull ups, push ups, sit ups and squats; however, I am not one of them. My dislike for Angie is based on the fact that my hands have a tendency to explode whenever she's around, which did happen today when I was halfway through my pull ups.

However, since I am too stubborn to quit, I kept going; I finished the pull ups, moved on to the push ups, struggled through those and then went through the rest of the WOD relatively quickly. All in all, I finished in 26 (something), which was a heck of a lot better than what I did it in last time (32-something). I'm just guessing that Angie laid off just a little because of my socks...

I still don't like her though.

A Pride Check with a Side of Redemption

I'm back in the blogosphere (at least for tonight) and decided that it was necessary for me to comment on my experience at sectionals this past weekend in St. Louis. I am just warning you: There were some highs, and there were some definite lows.

Personally, I always like to start with the bad news first. (It's the whole rip-off-the-band-aid-quickly mentality. The faster you go, the less it'll hurt.) The bad news is that I got crushed by the first WOD of the competition. For those of you who aren't familiar with this little number, let me spell out it for you:

The Airforce WOD*

• 20 Thrusters (30 kg)


• 20 Sumo deadlift high pulls


• 20 Push jerks


• 20 OH squats


• 20 Front squats
  

*Every minute, on the minute, the competitor must complete four burpees.
*20:00 DNF

Guess who DNF'd?

Um... that would be me.

I did my first set of burpees and thrusters like a damn maniac; however, the weight started to catch up with me and the clock started ticking faster and faster, I lost momentum and found myself doing far more burpees than any person would ever like to do.

In the end, the OH squats did me in (I swear they are taking pull ups place as my ultimate enemy), and I found myself (very upset but) glad that the clock buzzed, indicating that my performance (or lack thereof) was over. I then retreated to the stands where I could hide amongst the rest of the crowd to await my second beating of the day, which consisted of a 5:00 AMRAP of clean and jerks at fifty kilos.

In short, I was not confident about the second workout at all. At that point in time, I hadn't cleaned over 56 kilos and the first WOD hadn't really boosted my confidence about my abilities as a CrossFitter. Regardless (because I'd rather have someone break my legs than quit for no reason other than pride; I am that stubborn/determined/possibly not very smart), I made my way out onto the floor, telling myself that my main goal was to get ten or more and to not waste any reps.

Well, I actually exceeded my expectations. Although I did fail two reps, I was able to get sixteen clean and jerks before the time elapsed. I was personally happy about what I had accomplished, albeit it was far from impressive in comparison to many of the beasts that were there. Little did I know that I would soon redeem myself at least slightly on the third workout.

The third workout was the 54321 WOD. We did five minutes of rowing for calories, four minutes of box jumps on a twenty inch box, three minutes of squat snatches at twenty kilos, two minutes of wall balls at thirteen pounds and one minute of handstand push ups. My numbers looked something like this:

• Row: 65 calories


• Box jumps: 115 (I was a box jumping machine.)


• Snatches: 15 (Eh. I rested with these.)


• Wall balls: 25


• Handstand push ups: 0 (I can only do two on a good day, and my shoulders were cashed from the day before.)
  

Total: 220

Now 220 may not seem all that impressive, but I did manage to win my heat. I also tied for the twelfth best female score in the third workout. Not too shabby for a girl who got her ass handed to her the day before if I do say so myself. Personally, though, I think it was the fact that I didn't wear a shirt that made me do so well. Garth may be onto something... (PS: I have zero idea as to what I'm looking at in that picture. Lord knows why they put it on CrossFit TNT's site.)

Overall, I did not qualify (let's get serious); however, it was a good experience. It was exciting and I loved being able to watch everyone else compete. Everyone from the Fort did an excellent job, and I'm so proud that I get to associate myself with CrossFit Fire [CFF] and the people that go there (yes, this is the overly sentimental part of my post). Plus, I'm even more excited that Pete and Stacy get to move on to Denver. There will be more good things to come, I'm sure, for both Pete and Stacy and for the rest of the firebrethers at CFF. And with that, I'll leave you with the words of a wise elder: GFO (That's "game f8&^in' on", for you non-CrossForters).

CrossFit Total

Yesterday we completed the following workout:

CrossFit Total

• Back squats
• Press
• Deadlift

You are allowed three single attempts at each movement, in which you want to achieve your single rep max. In order for a rep to be deemed as successful, it must be in one fluid motion. Your total is the sum of each max rep.

I had never done the CrossFit Total before and was excited to do it. I had watched some of the five pm class go through the WOD and wanted to know where I was at strength-wise. Everyone was putting up some serious numbers and I wanted my name right alongside them.

I obviously started with the back squats, warming up and maxed at 76 kg (PR). After that I moved on to presses and then maxed out at 42 kg (another PR). Finally, I went onto deadlifts. I had to beat 102, which was old personal record, and had to beat 105, which had kicked me off the record board. Luckily, I was able to pull out a 110, beating my old PR by eight kilos. Awesome.

Overall, I was pretty happy with my final number (228) and am looking forward to the next time the Total comes around.

"You can cry, but you can't quit..."

Monday, was awful. Although I wasn't necessarily that sore on Monday, I was definitely still feeling the effects of the three WOD competition on Saturday - that and I suck at all three of the movements scheduled for Monday: OH squats, pull ups and push ups.

The workout looked a little like this:

Strength: "Power Snatch"
1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1

30 - 35 - 40 - 41.6 - 42.6 PR

Not that my snatch PR was all that significant (my old PR was 42), but I do think that it affected me just a bit when it came to the WOD.

WOD: The Trifecta of Evilness

21 -15 - 9 of:

• OH Squats (35 kg)
• pull ups
• clapping push ups

Now, I'm not really sure what the hell I was thinking but for some reason I decided to do the weight prescribed. And during the first portion of the workout I felt okay about it. I completed eleven reps right out of the gate; however, as soon as I went to snatch the bar back up to complete the remaining ten, I knew that I was in for a long one.

Long story short, (and this is a hey-uge understatement) I struggled through the rest of the workout, so much so that I was nearly crying by the end of the WOD. Both the boyfriend and Jennie told me it was painful to watch: It was painful to live through too. What was good about the experience is, that despite the fact that I hated my entire being through the majority of the workout and I was on the verge of tears throughout my last nine OH Squats, I pushed through the suck and finished the damn thing. Because it's just as Bill told me once: "You can cry, but you can't quit."

Four Men & a Lady

This past Saturday Pete, Matt L., Garth, Tom and I (along with the coaches) all woke up a little earlier to compete in a three WOD extravaganza in order to help us prepare for sectionals. Bill took the three workouts for the day from a competition that had been done earlier in Utah. The workouts looked a little like this:

WOD #1
For time:

500 m row
440 m run

TIME: 3:57

WOD #2
For total reps:

:90 clean and jerks (35 kg)
:30 rest
:90 ring dip push ups
:30 rest
:90 front squat (35 kg)
:30 rest
:90 burpees

TOTAL REPS: 65

WOD #3
For time:

440 meter run
10 deadlifts (65 kg)
20 box jumps (24")
30 kettle bell swings
40 wall ball shots (14#)
50 meters of OH walking lungs (10 kg)
400 meter run

TIME: 12:52

Overall, it was a great experience. Although I wish another female would have been there, it was great to workout with the guys. They're uber competitive and really pushed me to do better. (I was only disappointed that I wasn't able to show them all up in the last WOD when I was in the lead for a good ten seconds. ) All in all though, I did okay. When Bill calculated the final numbers I would have finished eleventh overall out the the 27; moreover, if I hadn't messed up on my final run (I was so excited I was in first place I forgot to run around the cone), I probably would have finished somewhere around sixth place, which is kind of exciting.

"We all go a little mad sometimes..."

I realize that I've been absent from the blogosphere for the past month or so. Oddly enough, one would assume that with school out that I would blog more frequently; however, I seemed to take a vacation from all things associated with writing over winter break and am now just returning to your regularly scheduled blogging.

I could give you a brief highlight of the exciting things I did CrossFit-related over break. Unfortunately though, none were all that impressive or exciting (with the exception of my little excursion to CrossFit Rockford with Pete and Stacy, which resulted in some very sore legs). Other than that, (oh... and doing far too many burpees and sit ups on a cruise ship), I cannot recall anything that I did that was overly spectacular (except that I PR'd on my press, clean, and back squat and now hold the record or weighted ring dips).

I can, however, recall suffering from a moment of insanity. Here's exactly what happened:

I was sitting at my desk thinking, as I sometimes (rarely) do, and was poking through old emails when I came across one from CrossFit HQ for the CrossFit Qualifier in February. I opened the email, studying the confirmation number I had been issued for being listed as an athlete's guest and began thinking some more (which, I might add, is almost always a bad idea).

As I was sitting there thinking about all my insecurities and vice versa, I had this Norman Bates moment. It was literally as if someone took over my body, directed my mouse to the CrossFit Games site and then began signing me up to compete in the Qualifier. Little did I know that my body snatcher succeeded. Because when I finally returned to reality, I found that $100 had been deducted from my bank account and I learned I would be receiving a medium shirt as a valentine from CrossFit HQ.

Oh my God, Mother! What did you do?!

That's right. Mother signed me up for the Qualifier. (Lord have mercy on my soul.) However, now that I am in this situation I plan on making the best out of it. I've got nothing to lose. Besides... I like to think that all CrossFitters are a little mad anyway.

We are not, however, creepy.

I Wish I Had Greek Blood...

Do you ever walk into the gym knowing that the workout is going to crush you? It's that slight mental tick that gets in the back of your mind, nagging and reminding you that you will probably regret the next five to ten minutes of your life and making you wish that it was your rest day. Today was one of those days.

I was (un)fortunate to know what I was in for when I arrived at the Fort. The boyfriend had informed me earlier what the WOD was and so I was (somewhat) mentally prepared for the Suck Fest that I had bought front row tickets to. I was also (un)fortunate enough to have arrived just before the second heat of 5pm-ers. As soon as I walked in I said "hello" to Steph (Rasmussen) who was getting drink. She responded with a "hey" and then quickly answered Bill who had just asked her what weight she was using for the workout.

"I'm going RX'd," she said as she ventured back over to her bar under the loft.

"Damn," I thought (okay, I said it aloud) as I took off my jacket and put on my other shoes. "That's a lot of weight."

And it was. The workout was (after completing 5-5-5-3-3-3 of back squats) was the following:

12 - 9 - 6

• Deadlifts (140/95 kg)
• Thrusters (60/40 kg)

Goal: 3-7:00
DNF: 10:00

I waited in the lobby as Bill called the 3-2-1-Go! and watched this whole thing go down. It looked tough, and as I watched everyone crumple to the ground at the end of the WOD, I really wished that I had taken today as a rest day. Heavy weights are not really my thing. Despite this, I took a deep breathe and headed upstairs to warm up.

I went through one of our old school warm ups: I rowed for a little bit, did a couple sets of ten pull ups, push ups, sit ups and back extensions. The group then did some mobility drills and then set up for the back squat.

In regards to my back squat, I felt pretty good. I'm not exactly sure what my one rep max is but I was able to do three reps at 65 kg. Moreover, it was only on my very last rep that I felt like the weight was about to crush me.

Then came the workout. Since my single rep max deadlift is 102 kg, I decided against trying to do the WOD RX'd. It wasn't going to happen. I did, however, decide on 80 kgs and to do the thrusters at the prescribed weight. Here's how this debacle went down:

Round One: I repped through my deadlifts and then went to do my thrusters. The result? Not so much.

Round Two: I did three sets of three on my deadlifts and then went to do my thrusters. Again... not so much; however, I did manage to catch Pete (the other Rasmussen) out of the corner of my eye going RX'd and yelling "time" just as I was about to drop the bar on my head. (So jealous).

Round Three: I did three and then three sets of one and then moved onto my thrusters. This time, WOW. I practically did drop the bar on my head, twice, and then followed suit, crumpling to the floor when I finally reached "six".

Overall: 10:08 = D.N.F.

Needless to say, I was not able to go RX'd like either Rasmussen. Heck, I wasn't even able to finish. I'd be embarrassed but I was (and am) still tired. I wish that I had Greek blood.