12.5 results and future plans

12.5 . I got 105 reps which was a minor disappointment as I thought I would be in the low 120 range and if I just could've got back to the pull-up bar with 20-30s left that wouldn't have been a problem as the pull-ups were easy. My limiter was my breathing and my ability to quickly move through the higher rep thrusters due to breathing and leg fatigue.

After the 5 workouts I finished in 305th place in the Northeast region which is the deepest and most participated region in the world with 2400 men completing all 5 workouts and 3400 completing the first burpee workout. I had hoped for a better finish overall but I know I gave an honest effort and learned some things and have much more to work on and fine tune for a hopefully better showing next year.



Looking at things from the big picture my worst performance was easily 12.1 the 7 minute AMRAP burpees.  I only managed 103 reps and this put me in 929th after one workout. I came out trying for 18-19 burpees a minute which was definitely too fast a pace. I believed I could have maximized my score with approximately 16-17 per minute and gotten around 110-115. I couldn't keep a great pace in the middle portion of the workout. Regardless of how I paced it my engine was not there with the top competitors on this workout. Similarly in the last workout12.5, the first few minutes went smooth but the last 15 reps of thrusters I got took forever and left me knowing the strength and ability to do the work is there but my anaerobic threshold is poor compared to top competitors That is the thing that needs the most fixing right now if the goal is 2013 Open season, which is how I will eventually focus in.


However having said that, I can fix and sort that out at a later time.  Right now the last thing I want to do is work on my anaerobic threshold one year out form competition.  Right now my main desire is to lift heavy things and eat bloody red meat. So that is what I am going to do.  Right now and for the next few months I just want to get stronger overall and get more proficient at the Olympic lifts. I'll do some conditioning but the main focus is going to be doing what I enjoy right now and keeping the eye towards being my strongest and fittest one year from now.

I have no idea if it will be detrimental to my overall performance as a Crossfit athlete or not but I am going to finally get serious about putting on and keeping on some weight. It doesn't seem like it will help with workouts like 12.1 and 12.5 but I watched other, heavier and in my mind less strong pure engines do better on those workouts than I did. I guess it can't hurt to have a 300 lb bench for the burpee workout and a 400 lb squat for the thruster workout. Most importantly for me right now is that this is the way I want to train and whether it makes me a better Crossfit athlete or not I will enjoy it.

In order to help with the weight gain I am adding a few things to my diet that I haven't ate in a couple years since switching to a mostly Paleo diet. I'm going to add brown rice and quinoa as I will be significantly upping my carbohydrate intake and these are two gluten-free options that I have handled well in the past and should help with adding weight. I also will be adding Goat's milk as another way to increase my intake.


So in summary I have come to the conclusion that my engine needs to get better but I am essentially running in the other direction to lift heavy and gain some weight.



My current numbers and goals to accomplish by July 1.

bwt   183         ----  195-200
squat  325       ------  360
snatch 180          ----      200
clean and jerk      260  ------270
close grip bench   260---275

Squatting is the number one emphasis as I feel this will help with everything else in sport/Crossfit. The snatch PR is a power snatch and I am not even close to that in a full snatch, because of a past wrist injury, which is healed but still doesn't feel great in receiving position of snatch. I am going to not even worry about weight on the snatch until I am confident in form and that my wrist is ok to receive full squat snatches. The CJ PR is a huge outlier as it was done at the OPTahlon and was a pure adrenaline lift. I still haven't hit 250 in training so again the emphasis here is consistency not necessarily making a huge PR.
I won't be devoting any special training to the close grip bench but with increased body weight and occasional benching and dip work I'm hoping it goes up a bit.



The current plan will be based off of a Hatch Squat cycle and I will be low bar back squatting one day a week and high bar back squatting one day a week. Olympic lifts and their variants will be practiced the other days of the week.   I have an outline for the conditioning but that is going to be very loose for awhile and will be  my last concern and will be the first thing to go if I am feeling beat up, tired etc., I am looking forward to starting.

Open WOD 12.4 results and Open WOD 12.5

Open wod 12.4 was probably my best performance by far.  Started with 113 unbroken WB and did Karen in 5:24 and was still breathing ok.  Double unders didn't go great but got through them then was able to get 16 muscle-ups for a 256 score. I was exhausted and smashed after the wod and felt like I gave it a good effort.


Open Wod 12.5 is AMRAP in 7 minutes.

3 Barbell Thrusters    100#/65#
3 Chest to bar Pull-ups
6 Barbell Thrusters
6 Chest to bar Pull-ups
9 Barbell Thrusters
9 Chest to bar Pull-ups
12 Barbell Thrusters
12 Chest to bar Pull-ups
15 Barbell Thrusters
15 Chest to bar Pull-ups
18 Barbell Thrusters
18 Chest to bar Pull-ups
21 Barbell Thrusters
21 Chest to bar Pull-ups...

It should be interesting.  

Open WOD 12.3 results and 12.4

Open WOD 12.3

AMRAP in 18 mins
15 Box Jumps 24"
12 Push Press  115 lbs
9 Toes to Bar

9 complete rounds plus 7 Box Jumps.  331 total reps.


Open WOD 12.4
AMRAP in 12 mins
150 Wall Balls   20 lbs to 10 feet
90 double unders
30 Muscle-ups

Coming tomorrow. The goal is going to be a 6:30-7 min Karen. 90-120s on double unders.  Then muscle-ups in 3 and 2 rep increments.  Hoping to get near 260. Will all depend on how shoulders hold up.

12.2 and a another bit of training

After 12.1 and the power clean PR the week's training was:

Tuesday Feb 28th

A. front squat - build to a tough single in 10 min - NOT a 1RM

285 

+

5 sets @ 95%:

5 squat clean thrusters - tougher per set

10 CTB chin ups

10 burpees

30 double unders

rest walk 3 min after set 1, 3:30 after set 2, 4 min after set 3 and 4:30 after set 4

135 lbs/1:19
145 lbs /1:19
155lbs / 1:26
165 lb./ 1:54
170lbs / 1:58

felt fully recovered between sets. times slowed due to extra effort needed on thrusters. 

Good day of training.

Wednesday Feb 29th

A. Press - build to a 2RM in 10 min

B. Row 5 min - every min increase stroke rate AND speed to a maximum sustained effort for last 1 minute

A. 162

B. 1485m
1:49.4 / 31s/m
1:45.2 / 31 s/m
1:39.6 / 32 s/m
1:39.3 / 32 s/m
1:33.1 / 35 s/m

interesting rowing piece. I think I would've PR'd 2k row today. current pr is 6:39.8 and I think I could've held a ~ 1:37 for final 515m and finished round 6:37. I never would've thought that rowing in this manner.

Thursday March 1st

A. snatch practice - 15 min - light and heavy load TnG work

B. Rope Ascent leg less - 15 for time - 20'

C. ghd sit ups - 15 x 3; rest 45 sec

A. 10 and 15 at 75. I think I'll go 15-15 on the wod. 3-5's on 135. Felt good, think I can push pace a bit here. And then get as many singles as I can at at 165. For 12.2 I'm actually going to hit a rep at 155 (which obviously won't count) after the 30 @ 135 just so the 30lb jump doesn't shock me.

B. subbed some CTB as rope climbs have made bicep extremely sore in past.

C. ghd sit-ups complete unbroken easy, good pop here

This was a good prep workout for the Open WOD on Saturday.

Saturday March 3rd

part 1:

Open WOD 12.2

continuous amrap in 10 min:

30 snatch - 45/75#

30 snatch - 75/135#

30 snatch - 100/165#

max snatch - 120/210#

63 reps.  Under my expectations again. I expected to be in the high 60's. Did the first 30 in 17/13 and was done in about 2 mins.  Finished the next 30 at around 7 mins with some TnG reps. Could only manage 3 in the last couple minutes with 2 misses.  Maybe would have been better to take all reps at 135 as singles. That might have saved the low back and kept breathing better allowing for a few more reps at 165.  

As far as the standings go I moved up from 929 to 594 so looking for a few WODS to do well on and move up some more. 

rest 30 min  (I had to rest about 60 min due to running the Open Wod at gym. )

part 2:

for time:

15 hang squat clean thruster - 1.5/1 pd KB per hand

10 L Pull Ups

12 hang squat clean thruster - 1.5/1 pd KB per hand

10 L Pull Ups

9 hang squat clean thruster - 1.5/1 pd KB per hand

10 L Pull Ups

6 hang squat clean thruster - 1.5/1 pd KB per hand

10 L Pull Ups

3 hang squat clean thruster - 1.5/1 pd KB per hand

10 L Pull Ups

13:27 with 55 lb DB's.  Was hard to really get up for this after Open WOD 12.2.  

Sunday March 4th, 2012

as many rounds in 20 min:

10 ghd sit ups

20 wall balls - 20/14#

30 double unders

11 rounds plus 14 reps.   Was able to keep constant movement and felt really good. Most everything unbroken. Legs are gonna be sore after 220+ WB. 

Tuesday March 6th

part 1:

run 5 min @ Z1

+

Run 30 sec @ 90% aerobic

Run 30 sec @ 50% effort

x 15

+

Run 5 min @ Z1

only had time for 1 WOD today so subbed did 5 minutes of this on Airdyne as warm-up for part 2. 

rest 6+ hours

part 2:

A. close grip bench press - build to a tough 3 in few sets; rest as needed

B. AMRAP 1-3 unbroken dip ladders in 5 min (add 1/4 BWT)

C. 3 strict chin ups/6 COVP chin ups/9 CTB chin ups; rest 120 sec x 5

A 225. Bit more in there but few sets were up
B. 5 times through. 46 lbs added
C. Complete unbroken. Did a few extra strict for last 4 sets


Wednesday March 7th

for time:

15 squat clean - 135#/95#

21 toes to bar

15 power clean - 135#/95#

21 wall balls - 20/14#

15 jerk - 135#/95#

21 burpees


6:55