Monday, February 27, 2012

Open Wod 12.1 and a power clean PR.

Open Wod 12.1
7 minute AMRAP burpees with a jump to touch a target 6" above reach.
I got 103 reps, which was a big disappointment. I thought I'd be closer to 115 but fatigue set in and I wasn't able to keep a good enough pace. That score puts me at 919th place in the ultra competitive and deep Northeast region. I expect to do much better relative to the field on the remaining wods so I hope to improve upon that ranking significantly. Not going to get into too much reflection here as the competition is still on and the time for that will come at the end. Just going to do my best on all remaining workouts.

Sunday's training had a bit of a more positive note with a 275 lb power clean, which is a 15 lb PR from the Optahlon in October and this lift felt great and no insane psych up was necessary. My pulling power feels like its at all time high with PR's in rows, pull-ups, deadlifts and cleans coming on a semi regular basis.

Power Clean video below :

Sunday, February 19, 2012


Another week of training

Tuesday: 
part 1:
for time:
20 squat snatch - 135 lbs

5:56.  missed a few reps as I didn't stay tight.  Went all out from beginning.  A little pacing would have been better.
 
rest 4+ hours
 
part 2:
A. bench press - 3,2,1; rest 5 min
230,240,250
B. hang power clean - build to a tough single fast - max 4 sets
235 PR
C1. AMRAP CTB Chin Ups - 1 attempt; rest 5 min
41 PR
C2. AMRAP Chin Ups - 1 attempt
42 - not even close to a PR.  Was gassed after max CTB. 

Wednesday 
took wednesday off as I was feeling beat up

Thursday
Did 3 reps Jerks
185,195

then a brutal terribly long wod that felt like one big MAP session:
for time:
Run 1 mile
+
5 rounds:
15 R KB Snatch - 2/1.5 pd
15 L KB Snatch - 2/1.5 pd
10 muscle ups
5 HSPU
+
Run 1 mile

49:30.  A few sets of KB snatch per arm were unbroken. A few sets of HPSU were unbroken. Long slow grind of a wod. Miles were 90% ice and felt great coming in. 


Saturday

part 1:
Sand Bag Run 200 m - 100#
AMRAP Double Unders left in 2 min
rest 2 min x 5

used a barbell on back.   65,53,67,53,63 DU's per set.  runs were 55-60s. 

rest 2+ hours
 
part 2:
A. Clean and Jerk - 2,2,1,1,1,1,1; rest as needed
 
205,215,225,225, 235 F jerk, 235 F jerk.    Jerk has gotten disastrous. Way off from PR.  

rest 2+ hours
 
part 3:
as many rounds in 7 min:
5 KBS - 70 lbs. 
5 burpees
15 rds even. constant movement. 


Sunday
part 1:
A1. Front Squat @ 20X2; 3,3,3; rest 20 sec
A2. 25 COVP chin ups; rest 5 min x 3
B. Implement Carry Walking Lunges - 12 tough steps; rest 1 min x 4
 
A1. 250, 260,260
A2. all sets of 25 unbroken
B. two 60 lbs sand bags. one on each shoulder.  this was brutal

rest 4+ hours
 
part 2:
for time:
30 OHS - 135#
100 double unders
20 squat clean - 135#
100 double unders
10 thrusters - 135#

Monday, February 13, 2012

Bunch of testers

As it gets closer to the Crossfit Games season the emphasis in training has shifted to a decidedly more "crossfit" styled workouts and being ready for the types of workouts that we are expecting to see in the Crossfit Open. Below is a bunch of tester workouts completed in the last week. We call them tests because their is a difference in training and testing. It's like any sport where the skills and execution of the sport are practiced in various manners. Then occasionally to find out where we are energy system wise we have a test. This weeks training was as follows

Tuesday:

part 2:
for time:
135# OHS x 15
Run 200 m
115# OHS x 15
Run 200 m
95# OHS x 15
Run 200 m

time = 4:50.  All the OHS were unbroken but they were not very fast. I stripped my own weight on the bar so transitions were ~20s. 

rest 10 mins and then:

3 rounds for time:
25 KBS - 70 lbs
15 HSPU
75 double unders

time = 15:52.  This represents progress as HSPU have been a weakness but are getting better. There was a time it would have taken me over 15 minutes to get just the 45 HSPU.  Throw in the KBS and the double unders and I feel pretty good about this.  Also my shoulders and traps were pretty smoked from the 45 OHS done prior.  I suppose that's why there was supposed to be 6 hours rest between the workouts. But with my work schedule I had to squeeze them into one session. 

Wednesday:
A. Power Clean x 1/Split Jerk x 1; rest 30 sec x 6 - add per set
B. TnG hang squat clean - 7 tight and fast; rest 1 min x 3 - same load per set
C. 20 sets of 5 CTB chin ups unbroken for time - you cannot do more than 5 at a time

A. 185,195,200,205,210,215.  doing a CJ every 30s got tiring.  Cue for myself is PULL self under the bar quicker on the jerk and pull the bar apart with my hands. All power cleans were super easy. Jerks were not but its good practice to do when fatigued.

B. used 155.  pretty easy. definitely tight and fast. 

C. 6:39.  paced for a 5 min time then fell off a bit.  Still pleased to get 100 CTB chin-ups in under 7 mins with the unbroken protocol in mind. 

Thursday
5 min @ 70%:
row 10 strokes
7 knees to elbows
 
rest 2 min
 
5 min @ 80%:
15 double unders
5 burpees
 
rest 2 min
 
5 min @ 90%:
5 SDLHP- 95/65#
10 sit ups
 
rest 2 min
 
5 min @ 95%:
row 10 strokes
5 burpees
 
5 min @ 70%:
row 10 strokes
7 knees to elbows
 
rest 2 min
 
5 min @ 80%:
15 double unders
5 burpees
 
rest 2 min
 
5 min @ 90%:
5 SDLHP- 95/65#
10 sit ups
 
rest 2 min
 
5 min @ 95%:
row 10 strokes
5 burpees
 
On paper this looks like a lot of work but it really was not. This is a MAP (Maximal Aerobic Power) session designed to build an Aerobic capacity that is useful for Crossfit workouts. Truly this feels like a recovery workouts after some of the more intense things we do. If you look at each little 5 min amrap the movements are easy enough and light enough and the rep scheme calls for frequent changes between the movements. This means I never got truly gassed in any one 5 min am rap due to constantly changing the movement. This was a good session to move some blood and get a sweat going but was a relatively easy session. This prepped for the weekend which was too include some tests. 

Friday - rest

Saturday 
part 1:
A. squat clean thruster - build to a single in 8 min
rest 2 min

built to 215. probably used to many sets to get there as I cleaned 225 easy but had no drive left in legs to power it overhead. It was good to test this to know where I'm at in the thruster and if I were to do it again I would build with the idea of hitting 225.  

B. AMRAP 90% of part A in 8 min - squat clean thruster
 got 12 reps at 193 lbs here.  Wanted to get 16 but had a miss in the middle that deflated that. I always struggle in the 90% of part A amrap type exercises. 

rest 2+ hours
 
part 2:
A. Press - buld to a max single in 4 min from empty bar
got to 170 and it felt light.  PR is 172 from about a year ago and that would have been broken today with a few more minutes. 
rest 1 min
B. AMRAP KBS - 70 lbs  - 1 attempt
80 reps.  Felt pretty good about this. 80 continuous kettle bell swing reps overhead was tiring. My grip was shot by the end
rest 2 min
C. Airdyne - max cals in 3 min   
got 83 cals. Was still recovering from the KBS and didn't have much pop, but that was the training effect we were going for. Did this fresh a few weeks ago and got 100 cals. 

Sunday
part 1:
Run 3K or 1.875 miles for those unsure of the metric system.
 
time: 11:19 on a treadmill. 

 I hate having to run on a treadmill but it was 15 degrees F out and windy as all hell so that was the choice. I dislike any distance running over 400m but it is a necessary training tool to prepare for Crossfit competitions. I rarely run yet my time today was pretty decent and I felt very comfortable at the end. I have done enough 2 mile cooper tests as a result of soccer training in the past to legitimately despise this distance, but it was still a decent effort.


rest 2+ hours
 
part 2:
21,15,9 rep rounds for time:
Box Jumps - 30"
Chest To Bar Chin Ups

time : 2:48. BJ were unbroken. first set of CTB chins was unbroken and then I had to break those on the 15 and 9 set. Feel pretty good in this time domain and getting 45 box jumps and 45 CTB chins done in sub 3 tells me this energy system is prepped and ready to go. 



Monday - rest


less than 2 weeks now until the Crossfit Open. It's going to be fun to compete and put it all out there. I am looking forward to the challenge and feel like I have had a pretty solid year in training and am ready to perform at my best.