AMAirdyne 30 minutes @ Easy PacePMA. Push Jerk x 5/Split Jerk x 1; rest 3 min x 5B. HSPU; 20 reps x 3 sets; rest 2 min+For Time:100 Overhead Squats @ 95#100 Double Unders100 Burpee CTB Pull-upsResultsAMDonePMA. 225245265Stopped here as I was going from the rack and brining it down was crushing my back. I really need to start on the jerk blocks when I do these so I can really push the weight. I know I could have done 300+ if I had.B. Done, all sets in 25 secs20:55 or 21:05I didn't know if I miscounted at the end so I did a extra rep just in case. So might have done 101 reps. This was, obviously, a grind. Quads and calves were sore from the Monday amrap which made the OHS super fun. Broke up the OHS:Min 1: 25Min 2: 15/10Then sets of 10 finishing 100 around 5:15-5:20ish.Doubles went 2-68 (stopped to rest)-2-28, took a little under 1:30ishBroke the Burpee c2b pull-ups into sets of 10 took about 13:30ishThe 6" jump felt huge. My lats were feeling it during these. Went with a wide grip when I jumped up which made it easier to pull my chest to the bar. The first 30 reps I was doing a gymnastics kip and it felt slow and harder to get in a rthym. I started using a butterfly kick and that took half the time and felt easier so that sped things up for the last 70 reps. Man those things are just such a mental challenge as they seem to drag on with no end in sight.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Tuesday 1/28/14 Preseason Week 3, Day 2
Monday 1/27/14 Preseason Week 3, Day 1
AM20 sets:Row 30 sec @ 90%rest 30 secRun 30 sec @ 90%rest 30 sec(rest 2 minutes after every 5 sets)PMA. Every 15 sec for 7 minutes: 1 Deadlift @ 315#B. Power Clean @ 155#; 10 reps x 5 sets; rest 1 min+AMRAP in 8 minutes:10 Box Jumps @ 24" (rebound)10 Wall balls10 KBS @ 53#ResultsAMDone. Held a 1:40 avg and 120m on the run (30m shuttle). Was able to hold same pace as last week.PMA. Done. Felt good, starting to get the hang of locking in my lats which helps keep my lower back from getting overly involved.B. All sets done in 20-21 secs, felt strong and fast the whole time7 rounds + 13 reps (3 wall balls)I thought 8 rounds would be possible but hard. The box jumps started getting a little slower the last 2 rounds and lost some time there. KB swings and wall ball started getting tough too, but didn't slow down on them. I couldn't have gone much faster, I didn't take much transition rest at all, was really pushing the pace.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Saturday 1/25/14 Preseason Week 2, day 6
AM
10 minutes @ 90%
Row 250m
3 Muscle-ups
10 Air Squats
5 Burpees
rest 5 minutes
10 minutes @ 90%
Airdyne 20 cals
10 GHD Sit-ups
5 Squat Cleans @ 135#
rest 5 minutes
10 minutes @ 90%
30 Double Unders
10 HSPU
10 Burpee Box Jumps @ 24"
PM
A. Strength ladder:
1 Snatch + 1 Thruster, start at 165#, add 10 # every minute on the minute
B. 150 Thrusters @ 45# for time
+
Row 30 sec @ 97%
rest 3:30
x 3 sets
Results
Based on how I was feeling Friday I moved my Friday PM MAP session to Saturday morning. I knew this would affect my performance on my Saturday work but I think it was worth it.
AM
5 rounds
5 rounds
5 rounds + 20 double-Unders
Felt decent. I pushed the pace but didn't blow myself out by any stretch of thr imagination. Even after warming up well it was hard to get into this. The first amrap I felt pretty sluggish.
PM
A. 245#
B. 6:40
Avg 1:23.7 (180m)
1:25.7 (175m)
1:23.0 (183m)
My back was pretty blasted from Thursday still and then from the MAP session a few hours before, so the snatch felt pretty heavy from the beginning. This compounded with still dialing my technique back in, did not have me feeling confident. I hit 245 a little shaky and then 255 I was just off and missed it twice, but still should have gotten it. Thruster never felt great, but never felt like I was close to missing either.
I was disappointed with this. Legs were burning of course but my shoulders were what made me put the bar down to early and too often. Opened with 70 reps then had to go 10's from then until thr finish. Breathing was never a issue, simply muscular endurance in the shoulders.
Rows felt alright. Definitely fell off on the 2nd one and the 3rd one was tough to maintain the high pace.
Friday 1/24/14 Preseason Week 2, Day 5
AM
Run 40 min @ easy pace
PM
10 minutes @ 90%
Row 250m
3 Muscle-ups
10 Air Squats
5 Burpees
rest 5 minutes
10 minutes @ 90%
Airdyne 20 cals
10 GHD Sit-ups
5 Squat Cleans @ 135#
rest 5 minutes
10 minutes @ 90%
30 Double Unders
10 HSPU
10 Burpee Box Jumps @ 24"
Results
AM
Run completed. Due to not having a car I thought it would be fun to run home from the gym to get my 40 min in. Well I was expecting it to be in the 30's but it was almost 0 degrees again with wind chill so I was hurting when I stopped at 40 min in to go into a store and warm up. When I realized I'd run 4.5ish miles (had to stop and wait to cross major intersections and lost time otherwise would have run 5+ miles) and still had 4.5 to go to get home and it was still in the teens temp wise, I said forget that and got a cab.
PM
Finished coaching classes in the evening and just ha zero motivation to have another late night training session this week. Also I knew I'd have time to get it in on Saturday.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Thursday 1/24/14 (Preseason Week 2, Day 4)
AM
A. Squat Snatch; 1.1.1 x 4 sets; rest 15 sec b/t reps, 3 min b/t sets
B. Back Squat @ 20X1; 3-4 reps x 5 sets; rest 3 min
+
100 Wall Balls for time
(10 Toes to Bar at the top of each minute)
PM
For time:
40 Pistols
60 KBS @ 70#
40 cal Row
Results
A.
225
235
245 (fail, made, fail)
245 (made, made, failed)
B.
315x4
335x4
355x4
375x4
405x2
Completed in 4:56 (5 sets of 10 UB t2b and 20 UB wall ball)
PM
Completed in 5:56
Snatch technique was off. Not surprising since I haven't squat snatched heavy in what feels like 6 weeks. The weight wasn't a problem, caught 245 and just slowly had it fall behind me as I was slightly off balance a lot today. Squat felt alright. Matched the last time I squatted which was 405x2, just like the snatch it felt awkward not having done it for 6 + weeks. Happy to see I haven't lost any strength even though it's been a while since focusing on it. I was pretty pumped at how well I did on the wall ball piece. To do 100 wall balls and 50 t2b in under 5 min makes me pretty happy. It was a bit of a push the last 2 rounds but I was able to move through it. The PM workout I pushed hard on the pistols knowing I wouldn't necessarily be able to go big on the swings. Took just over 1 min, then opened with 30 swings. Short rest then back on it for 3x10 to finish the 60. I'd like to be able to hold onto that thing for 40+ reps and not have it be a max effort but I'm not there yet. Forearms and traps/arms were blowing up. Jumped on the rower and did the 40 Cals steadily in 1:45. I wonder how much worse the ski erg would have been though after thr swings.
Tuesday 1/22/14 (Preseason Week 2, Day 2)
AM
Airdyne 30 minutes @ Easy Pace
PM
A. Push Press; 3, 3, 3, 2, 2; rest 3 min
B. Muscle-ups; 10 reps x 3 sets; rest 3 min
+
AMRAP in 7 minutes:
10 HSPU
10 CTB Pull-ups
10 Box Jumps @ 24" (rebound)
Results
Did the airdyne Wednesday due to time constraints and wanting to train with a partner.
AM
A.
215
225
235
250
260
B. Done; all sets UB
PM
6 rounds + 15 reps
Another good day. Continuing to warm up well before every workout and every workout piece has really made a noticeable difference. 260 push press is a 5# pr and I did it for 2. Muscle-ups continue to get better and feel more effortless as I practice staying hollow more and more. On the amrap my legs felt a little heavy on the box jumps from Monday's work but was really able to keep up a hard pace the whole time.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Monday 1/20/14 (Preseason week 2)
AM
15 sets:
Row 30 sec @ 90%
rest 30 sec
Run 30 sec @ 90%
rest 30 sec
(rest 2 minutes after every 5 sets)
PM
A. Every 20 sec for 8 minutes: 1 Deadlift @ 315#
B. Power Snatch @ 115#; 7 reps x 5 sets; rest 1 min
+
AMRAP in 9 minutes:
10 Clean & Jerks @ 135#
10 burpee Over Barbell
10 Clean & Jerks @ 155#
10 Burpee Over Barbell
10 Clean & Jerks @185#
10 Burpee Over Barbell
AMRAP Clean & Jerks @ 205#
Results
AM
Rows-1:39-1:40 avg
Runs-120m avg
Felt really good on this. Tried to push the pace on this, especially the run as I feel like I've neglected to focus on these interval sessions and get as much out of them as I can and need to. Warmed up well as I've realized over the last few weeks that it's time to start doing that again. I'm just not as revved and ready to go as I am when I've warmed up and prepped properly. I got out of the habit last couple years due to time constraints, but if need to put the time into it as it really does make a difference. I had a 30m wall to wall for my run today so I probably would have been running 130-150m with a open course, but figured it wasn't bad training to do shuttles as likely that's what we'll face at Regionals. First set was no problem, 2nd set was challenging but still not severely taxing. 3rd set got tough but was still strong so I feel like I paced it well as I was just starting to have trouble holding the 1:39-1:40 pace when I finished up, but felt like I could have kept going.
PM
A. Completed-felt solid, strong, and explosive. Worked on really engaging lats to take work off low back.
B. Completed-felt good
15 reps @ 205 completed
Workout went well I felt. I thought this was a style of workout and a time domain where I needed to go hard from the beginning and try to give myself as much time as possible at 205. I went UB at 135, then 4-2-1-1-1-1 at 155, then singles the rest of the way. First set of Burpees was fast, 2nd set was tough but kept moving fine, 3rd set was slow as quads were on fire at that point. Breathing was fast and heavy but never really slowed me down so much as the blown up quads on the Burpees and C&Js. Had around 2:30 minutes for 205. I didn't go as hard the final minute because I completely forgot that it was a 9 min clock and for some reason thought I had 10 min. Probably would have hit another 2-3 reps knowing that. Overall felt strong, fast, and kept moving. Never crashed or hit the wall even though I paced it hard from the beginning. Also was interested to see how my back did on this evening session as a whole since it was all pulling from the floor. Never had to think about it so very happy with that.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Saturday, 1/18/14 (Preseason day 6)
A. Squat Clean & Jerk; 2 reps x 5 sets; rest 3 min
B. AMRAP in 5 minutes: Hang Squat Cleans @ 95#
+
Row 20 sec @ 100%
rest 2:40
x 3 sets
Results
A.
255
275
295
305 (missed 2nd clean out front)
305
B. 65 reps
Disappointed with this. Stayed consistent after initially opening with a set of 15 UB in :40 sec. After that tried to go sets of 5'at least every 30 secs. My goal was 100 reps, so I've got a long way to go. Breathing wasn't a problem at all and neither was weight. It felt so light the whole time. Simply staying on the bar and fighting through thr burning grip, traps, quads and hips is what I need to get better at in this cycle before the Open begins.
116m/1:25 avg
115m/1:26 avg
117m/1:25 avg
Felt good on this especially since I rested only about 5 min after 5 min hang squat cleans.
Legs were a little heavy from yesterday's MAP work and I'm still getting back into it and fully recovering from GLI last weekend. Happy with today's session, and the first 3 days sessions back have all been solid. Definitely feel like I'll really be ready to go on Monday in final cycle before the Open.
Friday 1/17/14 (Preseason Day 5)
AM
Run 30 minutes @ Easy Pace
PM
5 minutes @ 90%:
5 Burpees
10 Overhead Squats @ 75#
5 Toes to Bar
rest 3 minutes
5 minutes @ 90%:
20 Double Unders
10 Wall Balls
5 Box Jumps @ 24" (rebound)
rest 5 minutes
x 2 sets
Results
AM
Done. Ran a little over 4 miles in 30 min. It was below 0...it hurt a lot it was so cold. Besides the horrible temp and my underdressing for it, the run felt very solid and easy. Fresh legs make all the difference in the world to my running.
PM
A1. 5+8
B1. 5+25
A2. 5+15
B2. 5+30
Felt steady on this. Did a good job of holding a output level the whole time. 2nd time through I picked it up a bit because it felt good.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Thursday, 1/16/14 Preseason Week 1, Day 4
A1. Power Clean; 3, 3, 3, 3, 3; rest 1 min
A2. HSPU; 12, 12, 12, 12, 12; rest 1 min
A3. Push Press @ 135#; 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10; rest 1 min
A4. Pull-ups; 15, 15, 15, 15, 15; rest 3 minutes
+
10 minute Airdyne - Easy
A2. HSPU; 12, 12, 12, 12, 12; rest 1 min
A3. Push Press @ 135#; 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10; rest 1 min
A4. Pull-ups; 15, 15, 15, 15, 15; rest 3 minutes
+
10 minute Airdyne - Easy
Result
Completed
Power cleans went:
225
255
275
295 (x2)
275
Felt good to move again but not go too hard. Felt solid throughout.
Monday-Wednesday 1/13-1/15 Preseason - Week 1, Day 1-3
Rest and Recovery from 2014 Great Lakes Invitational (Off season/Preseason test competition)
Monday, January 13, 2014 (7 weeks out from The Open)
Great Lakes Invitational 2014 Recap:
Well as soon as multiple workouts had been announced I knew that this event should be renamed "The Big Man Invitational." Maybe it's my skewed perspective but I really felt the programming was unbalanced and big person biased with a horrible lack of variety in tests. Overall it was a up and down weekend for me with some solid and even unexpected performances (both positive and negative). I'm glad that I went and had the chance to compete against a solid group of Regional and Games level athletes from mainly the Central East and also my own North Central region. However, I don't think I'll be returning to this competition in the future as I don't really know if it's a good and balanced test leading into the season.
Day 1
Event 1: 7 min 1RM clean, rest 1 min, 7 min 2RM bench press
Technique felt fine but not great on the clean. Warmed up to 275, felt solid, then had to wait 8+ min before we went out to lift. Originally I was planning to warm up to 295 then open at 315, but once I knew we had to sit and wait I decided to start at 295 instead. It took me a full minute to load the bar to 295. I went 295-315-325-335 with no misses about every min or slightly less time between. I went for 345, caught in front a little and couldn't stand it up as my upper back was rounded over and I couldn't fight through. Rested a little then tried again at 345 and caught it with a solid torso but couldn't get out of the hole. 335 is my pr that I've only hit 2 times, so I'm happy with that. Likewise, 275x2 is my pr on bench so can't complain about that either. I hit 285x1 but 2nd rep wouldn't go. I went 135x5-225x2-255x2-275x2-285x1
Event 2: unknown and announced Friday after event 1: EMOM for up to 30 min of even min 20 wall ball shots 30#, odd min 15 t2b Result-6 rounds + 15 WB (min 13)
This was a interesting one. Wall balls have always been a struggle for me due to shoulder strength/endurance but also leg/hip endurance and I'm short. If I had done this workout a year ago I would have been absolutely crushed by this thing. Instead I went 4-5 rounds UB and felt pretty solid to that point. Unfortunately in minute 10-11 I hit a wall and just had nothing left. I couldn't believe it. One minute I was going strong and the next my breathing was up, heart pounding, arms and hips blown up. I can't be 100% sure, but I think I made a mistake trying to go UB for as long as possible. The way this workout was programmed, the t2b meant little compared to the wall balls. They would slowly beat you down until you couldn't get through your t2b. Taller athletes who I thought would fall apart on the t2b had less issues because the WBs were taking less of a toll on them and 15 t2b in a minute, even when tired was a huge time difference between 20 WB, especially at 30#. I was surprised to see every single guy in the top heat, all the top athletes like Marcus Hendren, break up their WBs and t2b from the beginning. They all went to 16-25 min, doing 2 times the work of a lot of us. My friends and I were curious to see if we redid this workout in a week with breaking reps from the beginning if we could increase our score dramatically or if we just sucked at that workout.
Day 2
Event 3: 1000m run with 80# bag, 50 pistols, 30 snatches 135#, 10 rope climbs 15'
Result- 18:26, 28th place
When I tested this I did a 20:30 so I pr'd by 2 min. However, this workout really came down to the sandbag run. Everyone pretty much moved through the other movements in the same amount of time overall, the run is where you lost the workout. If you ran slower than 6-7 min 1000m, you did not get a top time. I ran about 2 min faster than I did when I tested it and that was the difference. I actually went a little faster on each movement too, though because of the run it hurt a lot more this time. Little under 2 min on pistols, 4 min on snatches, 3:30ish on the rope climbs. I ran a 7:30 min 1000m and then had to walk to my pistol station which was a 30-45 secs walk, but everyone had that and walked it. I was pretty disappointed with my finish on this, as I thought besides the run it was a good workout for me, but the run turned out to be the deciding factor. I pushed it as hard as I could without totally blowing myself out, and it still was slow compared to a lot of guys (and girls apparently!). Just couldn't go faster.
Event 4: Row 2k, Run 1 mile, Row 2k
Result-23:36, 33rd-ish place
Wow, if I didn't know that my running is slow when my legs are feeling heavy, I do now. My rows were 7:33 and 7:33, my mile run was over 8 min I think. If I had run a7-7:30 min mile I would have been in the top 15-20 scores. My legs had no "go".
Event 5: heavy Fran (15-12-9 thrusters @ 135#, c2b pull-ups) Result-2:50, 6th
Felt good on this. Had to break 12 and 9 set of thrusters up but was able to keep moving and embrace the suck. My best workout by far over the weekend and most memorable since I beat the 5th fittest guy from the 2013 Games, Marcus Hendren and several other Games level athletes on this one. It gave me a lot of confidence going into the final two workouts on Sunday.
Day 3
Event 6: heavy Grace (30 clean & jerk @ 225) Result-5:20, 8th place
One and drop and just kept moving. Happy with how this went, although I know I could have gone sub 5 on this and gotten a top 5 score, just over paced slightly.
Event 7: muscle-ups, yoke push, heavy overhead squats Result-7:49, 6th place
I knew this would be a good one for me. What I'm probably most happy about is when I was neck and neck with several guys in my heat (athletes in 20th to 11th place at the time) with one more yoke push and the final set of 10 OHS, I looked around and said, "go for it." And I did. I knew I needed to turn around and push the yoke back and get to the bar first and go hard and fast to beat them and I didn't hesitate. I had it in me after everything we'd done and after how destroyed we were. I do wish I'd been able to go UB on my 18 and 14 sets of OHS, don't know if that was shoulder endurance or hips/quads or all the above, but I kept moving. Also, my new muscle-up technique was good until I started to fatigue in the hips and when I started catching lower and needing to dip a little I couldn't find a good rhythm for kipping them since I hadn't practiced them in a fatigued state. Still it was helpful and once I have practiced them more, will be pretty awesome and won't break down like that.
Overall my takeaways are these:
Negatives:
1. Running is not good enough, especially when legs are fatigued
2. Comp weekend nutrition still needs work but this weekend's experimenting helped that
3. Workout strategizing during a competition weekend is not great and can lead to bad finishes on workouts I can do better on if properly planned
Positives:
1. Finished strong at the end of the competition, both mentally and physically I had it in me to go hard and not give up and put up some solid and elite performances
2. My maximal strength numbers were at current PR levels and performed my best when tested
3. In a big man, strength heavy programmed comp I was able to hold my own with the big boys and even excel
4. Even though I felt pretty beat up due to the programming all weekend and before every workout practically, I was able to mentally prep and be ready to go to give my best effort that I had in me from beginning to end do the weekend
5. Most importantly to me, I solidified the fact that I can indeed still compete at a elite level in CrossFit, even when I believe the workouts or programming don't favor me. There was a point after getting beat up and having 3 disappointing finishes in a row (Events 2-4), where I really questioned wether I was able to compete at the level I wanted to anymore. To come back from that and finish strong on the final 3 workouts, and knowing that if I had made it to the final 3 workouts for the top 10, that I would have continued that success, really helped me get a good perspective and confidence boost going into the Open training and competition.
Well as soon as multiple workouts had been announced I knew that this event should be renamed "The Big Man Invitational." Maybe it's my skewed perspective but I really felt the programming was unbalanced and big person biased with a horrible lack of variety in tests. Overall it was a up and down weekend for me with some solid and even unexpected performances (both positive and negative). I'm glad that I went and had the chance to compete against a solid group of Regional and Games level athletes from mainly the Central East and also my own North Central region. However, I don't think I'll be returning to this competition in the future as I don't really know if it's a good and balanced test leading into the season.
Day 1
Event 1: 7 min 1RM clean, rest 1 min, 7 min 2RM bench press
Technique felt fine but not great on the clean. Warmed up to 275, felt solid, then had to wait 8+ min before we went out to lift. Originally I was planning to warm up to 295 then open at 315, but once I knew we had to sit and wait I decided to start at 295 instead. It took me a full minute to load the bar to 295. I went 295-315-325-335 with no misses about every min or slightly less time between. I went for 345, caught in front a little and couldn't stand it up as my upper back was rounded over and I couldn't fight through. Rested a little then tried again at 345 and caught it with a solid torso but couldn't get out of the hole. 335 is my pr that I've only hit 2 times, so I'm happy with that. Likewise, 275x2 is my pr on bench so can't complain about that either. I hit 285x1 but 2nd rep wouldn't go. I went 135x5-225x2-255x2-275x2-285x1
Event 2: unknown and announced Friday after event 1: EMOM for up to 30 min of even min 20 wall ball shots 30#, odd min 15 t2b Result-6 rounds + 15 WB (min 13)
This was a interesting one. Wall balls have always been a struggle for me due to shoulder strength/endurance but also leg/hip endurance and I'm short. If I had done this workout a year ago I would have been absolutely crushed by this thing. Instead I went 4-5 rounds UB and felt pretty solid to that point. Unfortunately in minute 10-11 I hit a wall and just had nothing left. I couldn't believe it. One minute I was going strong and the next my breathing was up, heart pounding, arms and hips blown up. I can't be 100% sure, but I think I made a mistake trying to go UB for as long as possible. The way this workout was programmed, the t2b meant little compared to the wall balls. They would slowly beat you down until you couldn't get through your t2b. Taller athletes who I thought would fall apart on the t2b had less issues because the WBs were taking less of a toll on them and 15 t2b in a minute, even when tired was a huge time difference between 20 WB, especially at 30#. I was surprised to see every single guy in the top heat, all the top athletes like Marcus Hendren, break up their WBs and t2b from the beginning. They all went to 16-25 min, doing 2 times the work of a lot of us. My friends and I were curious to see if we redid this workout in a week with breaking reps from the beginning if we could increase our score dramatically or if we just sucked at that workout.
Day 2
Event 3: 1000m run with 80# bag, 50 pistols, 30 snatches 135#, 10 rope climbs 15'
Result- 18:26, 28th place
When I tested this I did a 20:30 so I pr'd by 2 min. However, this workout really came down to the sandbag run. Everyone pretty much moved through the other movements in the same amount of time overall, the run is where you lost the workout. If you ran slower than 6-7 min 1000m, you did not get a top time. I ran about 2 min faster than I did when I tested it and that was the difference. I actually went a little faster on each movement too, though because of the run it hurt a lot more this time. Little under 2 min on pistols, 4 min on snatches, 3:30ish on the rope climbs. I ran a 7:30 min 1000m and then had to walk to my pistol station which was a 30-45 secs walk, but everyone had that and walked it. I was pretty disappointed with my finish on this, as I thought besides the run it was a good workout for me, but the run turned out to be the deciding factor. I pushed it as hard as I could without totally blowing myself out, and it still was slow compared to a lot of guys (and girls apparently!). Just couldn't go faster.
Event 4: Row 2k, Run 1 mile, Row 2k
Result-23:36, 33rd-ish place
Wow, if I didn't know that my running is slow when my legs are feeling heavy, I do now. My rows were 7:33 and 7:33, my mile run was over 8 min I think. If I had run a7-7:30 min mile I would have been in the top 15-20 scores. My legs had no "go".
Event 5: heavy Fran (15-12-9 thrusters @ 135#, c2b pull-ups) Result-2:50, 6th
Felt good on this. Had to break 12 and 9 set of thrusters up but was able to keep moving and embrace the suck. My best workout by far over the weekend and most memorable since I beat the 5th fittest guy from the 2013 Games, Marcus Hendren and several other Games level athletes on this one. It gave me a lot of confidence going into the final two workouts on Sunday.
Day 3
Event 6: heavy Grace (30 clean & jerk @ 225) Result-5:20, 8th place
One and drop and just kept moving. Happy with how this went, although I know I could have gone sub 5 on this and gotten a top 5 score, just over paced slightly.
Event 7: muscle-ups, yoke push, heavy overhead squats Result-7:49, 6th place
I knew this would be a good one for me. What I'm probably most happy about is when I was neck and neck with several guys in my heat (athletes in 20th to 11th place at the time) with one more yoke push and the final set of 10 OHS, I looked around and said, "go for it." And I did. I knew I needed to turn around and push the yoke back and get to the bar first and go hard and fast to beat them and I didn't hesitate. I had it in me after everything we'd done and after how destroyed we were. I do wish I'd been able to go UB on my 18 and 14 sets of OHS, don't know if that was shoulder endurance or hips/quads or all the above, but I kept moving. Also, my new muscle-up technique was good until I started to fatigue in the hips and when I started catching lower and needing to dip a little I couldn't find a good rhythm for kipping them since I hadn't practiced them in a fatigued state. Still it was helpful and once I have practiced them more, will be pretty awesome and won't break down like that.
Overall my takeaways are these:
Negatives:
1. Running is not good enough, especially when legs are fatigued
2. Comp weekend nutrition still needs work but this weekend's experimenting helped that
3. Workout strategizing during a competition weekend is not great and can lead to bad finishes on workouts I can do better on if properly planned
Positives:
1. Finished strong at the end of the competition, both mentally and physically I had it in me to go hard and not give up and put up some solid and elite performances
2. My maximal strength numbers were at current PR levels and performed my best when tested
3. In a big man, strength heavy programmed comp I was able to hold my own with the big boys and even excel
4. Even though I felt pretty beat up due to the programming all weekend and before every workout practically, I was able to mentally prep and be ready to go to give my best effort that I had in me from beginning to end do the weekend
5. Most importantly to me, I solidified the fact that I can indeed still compete at a elite level in CrossFit, even when I believe the workouts or programming don't favor me. There was a point after getting beat up and having 3 disappointing finishes in a row (Events 2-4), where I really questioned wether I was able to compete at the level I wanted to anymore. To come back from that and finish strong on the final 3 workouts, and knowing that if I had made it to the final 3 workouts for the top 10, that I would have continued that success, really helped me get a good perspective and confidence boost going into the Open training and competition.
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