Row of AWESOME

I started the day with a cup of Jeff’s ridiculously strong French press coffee and then decided that I would go for the globo fitness challenge of the 500m row. The top time in my age class was 1:46. More on that later. I began with PVC snatch work and would have liked a turn at the Oly platform but some people were doing bicep curls on it (WTF???). Anyway, I did a 5×3 OHS, which was 65-75-80-85-90, getting fantastic depth. I then did a 5×1 press, which was a little disappointing:

45×5 (warm up)
65×3 (warm up)
75×2 (warm up)
80×1
85×1
90×1
95×1
100×0 (F)
95×1

I’m disappointed that I couldn’t get 100 over my head today because I know I can; I’ve done it twice now. So I got pissed off and channeled that energy into the 500m row, getting it in 1:39, which cuts three seconds off of my PR and made me #1 in my age class and #2 overall on the leader board. I only trailed the top score by one second, and she’s, like, on Cornell crew or something. Anyway, I am very happy with my new PR, which is also under a minute forty. Yay!

Dead Lift/Inverted Burpees

I didn’t have a ton of time today, but I decided that I really wanted to dead lift. It is my very favorite lift and is the one and only that actually favors freakishly tall humans like myself. I did a 5×3, which was:

115×5 (warm up)
135×4 (warm up)
155×3 (warm up)
165×3
175×3
185×3
195×3
205×3 (new 3RM!)

Next time I do this, I probably am not going to go up in weight because 205 was very hard and my form was not the best ever. I interspersed with toes to bar.

I finished with another pick from the hopper deck (Ace of Spades, I think…), 100 inverted burpees for time. People who scoff at this workout have clearly never tried it. It is like doing box jumps and air squats and handstands and KTE all at the same time. And it is especially challenging after doing dead lifts because it taxes the hamstrings big time. Anyway, I hadn’t done it since July, and I took three minutes off of my original time, coming in at 14:46. Part of the reason I was going faster was that I would come out of the plow position and go straight into the handstand without standing in between. I couldn’t do that for all 100 reps, but I did it for a good chunk of them and that made them go very fast. I thought I was super-slow (and my pants kept falling down), but I really scorched my previous time so yay!

Back Squat/Run of SUCK

I was so very, very happy to be back in the gym today after my three-day hiatus. I started with a 5×5 OHS, which was 65-75-80-85-90, getting great depth and rock solid feet. I then went on to a 5×3 back squat, interspersing toes to bar, and got:

115×5 (warm up)
135×3
145×3
155×3
165×3
175×3 (new 3RM!)

I can only squeeze out about two or three toes-to-bar, but I like them. I then did my push-up progression and am in about the same spot I was before, with 14-14-10-10-9, rather than 15. I hate push-ups. I picked the 5k run out of the hopper deck last, and made it about 3/4 of a mile before my knee gave out. This has me very worried for the competition. I don’t run out of energy or cardiorespiratory endurance. I can feel my knee starting to go and then that’s it. Maybe if I Ace it next time.

Merry Christmas

I am feeling better now. I violated my diet today with eggnog and a cookie. Christmas comes but once a year and eggnog tastes great when you have big, yucky tonsils and don’t want to eat anything. Back at it tomorrow, and back in the gym. And, and! I got a 35# KB for Christmas! Yay! Now I can do Hansen in the comfort(?) of my own home.

Also, I am officially registered as an athlete in the NY/NJ Sectionals. Eek!

Sick

Yup, I’m definitely sick. My temperature climbed and climbed at work last night to top out at 101.5. Luckily, because of where I work, it was easy to get diagnosed (strep throat) and get a prescription. But I’ll be out of commission for a bit…

OK, I’m done wallowing now…

I got another dead-hang pull-up today, which puts my PR up to seven! If only I could kip. I did 5×3 OHS, which was:

45×5 (warm-up)
65×3
75×3
80×3
85×3
90×3

I then went on to 5×3 press and my shoulders were a little stiff, why I don’t know.

65×5 (warm up)
75×3
80×3
85×3
90×3
85×3

Yeah, I went down. On my fourth round, I barely got the weight up, but I think that’s a new 3RM (ETA: no it’s not; I’ve done it before). I finished up with the Belly Buster, which I should have used a heavier KB on or should have added a couple of rounds. It’s three rounds for time of:

-20 KB swings (one-pood KB)
-20 Box jumps (18″?)
-20 Sit-ups

I got 7:38. One of my problems with box jumps is that I have to step down because my knees are crappy, which adds time, but I don’t really know what to do about it. I also think that I’m getting sick. My neck hurts really bad, I have a headache and it hurts to swallow. I am in denial about this fact, however, as I haven’t gotten sick since I started CFing back in April. I’ll feel better tomorrow. I had damned well better feel better tomorrow…

Deadlift

Doing everything I want to do on days I have to work is hard and I missed out on metcon today as a result. I started with an attempt at the 100 push-ups challenge and only made 14-14-6. Pathetic. I think I’m going to do these between whatever lift I do for the day and metcon because doing them first never, ever works. I then did a 5×5 dead lift and found a new 5RM:

115×5 (warm up)
135×5 (warm up)
155×5
165×5
175×5
185×5
195×5

The last set was very difficult, like veins standing out in my neck difficult, but I did it. I finished with a tiny bit of double under practice and some handstands and headstands.

I am thinking about the Sectionals, and hemming and hawing about it. I really want to, but I have to be realistic about my capabilities as an athlete. When other CFers meet me, they are always disappointed about what I can actually do; their expectations exceed my abilities, which, I mean, I’m not doing it for other people, but it’s discouraging when people say, “you can only do three ring dips? Really?” Um, yeah. However, find me other women in the gym who can do one ring dip, no no, one unassisted bar dip and I bet that you can only come up with a couple that can come off of the bench or the gravitron.

I’m proud of my accomplishments thus far and can honestly say that I am one of the strongest women at the globo, but compared to the Gillians and Annies and Nicoles of the world, I am a big tub of goo. I can’t do a single benchmark WOD as Rx’d, I can’t kip, I can’t really snatch, I can’t do a HSPU, I can’t do a muscle up…I wish there were a website that spelled out what you should be able to do to compete…I just know I’m not there and probably couldn’t be realistically in three months.

*sigh*

OHS/Annie

Today I got back to overhead squats. I did a little practice with the PVC and snatch stuff. I really want to be able to snatch. Mike Burgener says that in theory, you should be able to snatch as much as you can OHS, which in my case is about 95#, but I can barely snatch an unloaded bar…Anyway, I did a pretty good OHS set today, 5×5 of 65-75-80-85-85. My trapezius were stiff from doing stupid Elizabeth yesterday but that’s actually a good thing because it means that I’m getting a nice, big, powerful shrug. Most of my cleans were pretty good, which was part of the reason why I was so slow yesterday. The other reason is because, well, I’m slow.

Next to me was one of the people I met yesterday (whose name I don’t remember. Dammit.) doing Linda. Linda did not make it into my hopper deck. I don’t know how much I can bench and I really didn’t want to do cleans two days in a row. It is gratifying, however, to see CFers come out of the woodwork at the globo. Another globo trainer that I met today is a closeted CFer as well. But I digress.

I finished out with Annie, which is supposed to be:

50-40-30-20-10
-Double Unders
-Sit-ups

I always triple the double unders with singles. I did practice double unders prior to doing Annie, and got five(!). For some reason, my pants were falling down though. But I decided to do Annie with singles, and I took 20 seconds off of my time, so now I’m down below nine minutes at 8:55. The sit-ups are coming faster is what it is. Now I need to learn double unders so I can do this WOD as Rx’d, and when I can do that, do AbMat sit-ups.

Meh…

I had sort of a meh day today. I started with Week 2 of the Hundred Push-Ups plan. I’ve neglected this for a while and until I can meet the max, I’m not moving on to Day 2. I did 14-14-10-10-8; max was supposed to be 15. I then went on to 5×5 back squat, again really focusing on breaking at the hips first, which 1.) saves my knees and 2.) keeps my heels glued to the floor. I did better than I usually do at:

95×5 (warm up)
115×5
125×5
135×5
145×5
155×5

Next to me, two other CFers were doing Elizabeth (the six of hearts in my hopper deck) as Rx’d and asked if I wanted to try. I scoffed and said no, and they finished and left. I felt bad afterwords, so I attempted Elizabeth with 95#, which is the women’s weight. Elizabeth is:

21-15-9
-Cleans
-Ring dips

I timed my effort with a sundial. I did bar dips to begin but then someone was using the station so I subbed in bench dips at the end. I have to say I have never cleaned that much weight once in my life, much less 45 times. I missed the lift once, but other than that, I did OK, although it was very, very slow at 9:20. I sort of wished that I had my rings and a resistance band because doing bench dips was way too easy and I felt like I was cheating. I think I have to do Elizabeth on a Saturday when no one’s in the globo.

No Time…

They were installing a new hot water heater at my house today, which was great, but made me really late for the gym, so all I had time for was a 5×5 press:

45×5 (warm up)
65×5
75×5
80×5
85×5
85×5

I barely got that last set up. I haven’t done this in a while, so I couldn’t remember what my 5RM was. Guess it’s 85. I then did a few toes to bar. Turns out that I can actually do it, but only about twice in a row. They are really, really hard but greasing the groove on L-sits on the rings at home has definitely paid off. I finished with a few handstands, but I was seriously out of time. I hate being rushed. It wasn’t a wasted day, but it was shorter than I like.