OPT Construction Series Event 3

This past weekend I competed in the OPT Construction Series Event 3. It was the final event of 3. This event consisted of 4 separate workouts. The workouts and my thoughts on each are below.

I placed 14th overall and feel pretty good with the open 6 weeks away. The goal is to qualify for Regionals and I feel like training has been going well lately. Qualifying for Regionals in the Northeast will be a tall task as last year the competition for the 60 spots was fierce and the athletes outstanding.

This weekends workouts were as follows:

On the hour, every hour:

1st hour:
5,4,3,2,1
C&J - 205/115#
MU's

(1 score = time)

My time was 9:55. This was by far my worst effort and probably cost me a top 10 finish. I was ultra conservative with the 205 CJ and paced it way too much from the beginning. All the MU's were completed unbroken. Many competitors with similar 1 rep max CJ completed this wod in much less time than I did. If I were to do this again I would go at a much more aggressive pace with the CJ and see how I held up. The weight is ~80% of my 1RM so I should be able to manage it at a much better pace. This was a good lesson before competition to attack all WODS. Recently I have been much more aggressive at the start of met-cons and have consistently been able to keep a high power output for longer than I anticipated. This is a good reminder that I need to do that. I think with a better warm-up and attack mode this is a 6 min workout for me.

2nd hour:
2K Row + Max DU's in 10 min

(2 scores = time for row and reps of DU's)

6:50.8 row and 190 DU's. Decent effort here. 2k PR is 6:39.8. Did row at about 85% effort. Few more misses than I would like on DU's but overall felt good about this.

3rd hour:
15,12,9
R KB Snatch - 2 pd
L KB Snatch - 2 pd
Burpees - vertical body at top

(1 score = time)

My time was 4:55. All KB snatch unbroken. Burpees were paced a bit to keep the snatch unbroken. Pleased with this effort.

This was probably my best effort as I didn't think and just went hard. All the KB snatches were unbroken which I was pleased with as I wasn't sure this was possible for me. Burpees were slightly paced except for last seat which was a sprint.

4th hour:
12 min amrap
10 wall balls - 20/14# to 10ft
5 toes to bar

(1 score = reps)

I completed 17 rounds. Steady and unbroken. Maybe should have went with a bit more urgency as this wasn't a great score and I never reached a failure point which tells me I may have had a bit more push. Got a bit too comfortable with going unbroken but taking my time between movements.

Overall I learned some really valuable lessons on how I need to compete and be prepared for competition. A go get it mentality is vital for me personally to succeed. When I first started crossfit I attacked ever workout from a 5 min amrap to a 20 min amrap. I crashed and burned a few times in the 20 min amraps but now I've almost shifted to being a bit too conservative early in workouts and not going for it from the beginning, especially in task priority workouts. My training and engine is much improved from when I used to go head first into those workouts and I need to continue to attack workouts and hang on for the finish.

Looking forward to being injury free this year and attacking the open workouts!!

Today's workout:

A. 8 sets of 3 reps on 1 minute rest. 185 lbs plus 40 lbs of chains. Emphasis on speed.

B. work up to a tough double in squat with short rest

C. 1-5 UB hang squat clean ladder x 4 for time - 185#/135#

first set only. took 3:11. total time was 19:58. grip became the limiting factor.

Christmas Day 500m Row

7 am on Christmas, Mandy and Sean still sleeping. Not much time to workout so a quick warm-up and a 500 meter row was it for the day. Time of 1:21.7. PR effort. I want 1:20 someday. Still have a big chunk to knock it down that low but it's on the radar now.

Front Squat PR

Front Squat at 300 lbs. It's a 15 lb PR but my form looks extra sloppy. This is why I video my lifts so I can make corrections to things. That said I'm pleased to hit 300 lbs without strength gains as my primary focus right now.

A few days after this we tested 10 minutes for max calories on the Airdyne. I got 245 which was a 2 calorie PR. I used short hard bursts intervals. Next time I will try a more consistent approach and shoot for 250 by going for a ~1550 cal/hr pace throughout.

Deadlift at 485

Below is a couple training videos. The first is a dead lift at 485. I hit 495 after but the music in the background has some lyrics that may be offensive to some so I'm refraining from posting that. A dead lift of 500 has been a long term goal of mine to accomplish. I knew I could get there quicker if I devoted myself to it, but I wanted to be able to deadlift 500lbs while still being fit enough to able to comfortably run a mile in under 6 minutes. Current mile time is ~ 5:40 so next time we go for a deadlift PR I hope to hit the 500 mark. At this point it will be time to set new goals.

This second video is a set of 5 deadlifts at 345 lbs at a Tap and Go pace followed by 20 seconds of sprinting on the Airdyne. This was repeated for 4 sets with 5 minutes rest between sets. I hit 325,345,365 and 375 for the deadlift weights and 21,20,18 and 15 calories on the bike. The Tap and Go pace means no pausing at the bottom.

Handful of new PR's

Have had a solid few weeks of training with a few recent PR's. Competition starts in 3 months so trying to fine tune the engine now. The recent PR's

Back Squat - 325

Dead lift - 495

500m Row : 1:22.0

Thursday November 3rd, 2011

Training has been consistent and feeling strong lately. On October 29th we competed in a team event at Crossfit Albany. Competing on a team as a CrossFit athlete was a new and fun experience. I look forward to doing it again.

Some recent videos from training:

10 Touch and go power cleans at 155 x 3 sets . Rest 3 minutes between sets. Did last set at 165.

A testing workout

for time:

250m row

15 burpees

25 KBS @ 70 lbs

15 burpees

250m row

time: 3:51

Too slow on the first set of burpees