Crossfit log for Friday, June 28th

Strength work today was bench press 4 sets of 8.
Did the first 3 at 135#, 3rd set I could only muster 7 reps, so dropped to 115# for the last set, probably should've gone with 125# but whatever.

Then we worked on pull up and bar muscle up technique.

WOD was another killer, like the last two team WODs but no teams!

500m row
30 box jumps 30" box
30 pull ups
30 plate burpees
30 wall balls
30 sit ups
50 air squats

17:47

Since we only have 3 rowers I started on the box jumps, which were 24" for blue and 30" for Rx (that was the only difference I figured go Rx). Really felt it in my quads when pulling my feet up to land, stumbled on the last one, but recovered. I hit the rower right after the box jumps, didn't want to end with that. Finished in 2:02 felt very efficient. Pull ups went well, burpees sucked as always, wall balls were okay. sit ups were tedious as were the air squats.

Happy with my score.

Sick again, but not the same old, same old...

Well now I have a kidney infection!  Ciprophlaxicin prescribed.

Explains Friday's run.

Still had some pretty solid workouts.

Maybe when I'm actually healthy I'll kick some ass!

Gah!

Sitting at my desk this afternoon, my condition deteriorated so rapidly I thought I had a kidney stone or something.

I had to leave work and make my way to the nearest clinic (well nearest that didn't have a 2 hour wait), which was several blocks away.  So I bused it most of the way. I was really worried I might pass out on the way, I was in so much pain.

In hind sight I should have asked someone from work to come with me.

In the waiting room I very nearly asked the receptionist to call an ambulance. But at some point the pain began to subside.

A quick urine test revealed blood and bacteria in my urine.  Got yet another course of anti-biotics and went home with Kiza, who had arrived just after I was brought in to the examination room.

I need this like I need a hole in the head.

Crossfit log for Wednesday, June 26th

Must be team WOD week.

Partnered with Kamil, my favourite WOD partner. We are fairly evenly matched and have different strengths and weakness to play off of. We decided to go Rx and see what happens. We did really well.

1 partner works at a time,

Today was a 18 min AMRAP of:
4 rope to the beam
16 dumb bell squat cleans
20 ball slams 16# slam ball
16 bar bell squat cleans 115#
20 wall balls 20# med ball
16 ring dips

We made 2 full rounds and 43 reps (3 bar bell cleans). The bar bell cleans at 115# slowed us down.

All but one of the 6 rope climbs I was able to get to the beam with only 2 steps.

The db squats we did 8 and 8 the first round then 4, 4, 4, 4 the next two.

Ball slams seemed like a break, we did 10 in a row each all three times. Same with the wall balls for both times.

Ring dips we did 4, 4, 4, 4 both rounds. We ended with the barbell cleans, first round we did 8 and 8, then 4, 4, 4,4, the last round we had seconds left. Kamil did 2, but the second was agonizingly slow getting up, so as soon as he dropped it I jumped in with less than 10 seconds left, fresher, I was able to get it up just before the buzzer!

Awesome workout.

Crossft log for Tuesday, June 25th

Well the good news is a have a new 2 rep max push press. The bad news is it was supposed to be a 3 rep max!

Worked up to 135# for 3, tried 145# but just couldn't get the third one to lock out. Oh well.

Then we did 3 sets of 10 strict dumb bell press, first set 25# and was a bit too light, so I did 30# for the next 2 sets, and that was a better weight.

WOD (as if shoulders weren't toast enough)
Partner WOD, 16 minute cap
-40 box jumps 24"
-30 alternating plate burpees
-30 toes to bar (knees to elbows)
-20 hand stand push ups

Had a rough time with the toes to bar, did knees to elbows on round 2, my partner had a hard time with the hand stand push ups. only made it to 24 (combined) box jumps on round 3 when the time ran out.

Good workout. A real sweat fest.

Crossfit log for Monday, June 24th

Olympic lifting Platform is coming along nicely. Just need to install the rubber to absorb the weights impact when dropping.

Workout today:
Power Clean complex: 1 power clean, 1 hang power clean, 1 power clean.
3 sets @ 75%-80% Did 125#

Back squats 3 sets of 10 at 60-65% of max. did 150#

WOD:
400m row
15 thrusters @45#
10 pull ups
15 thrusters @ 45#
10 pull ups
15 thrusters @ 45#
20 kettle bell swings

8:18

Did really well in the row, held under 1:40/500m pace the whole time. Kettle bell was rough, grip strength was toast.

Crossfit log for Friday, June 21st

I guess I'm still sick.

I can't believe I've lost that much run fitness since Goofy. Sick is the only viable explanation.

Strength work: Close grip bench press, 5 rep max, struggled through 155#, sound good.

WOD was 21-15-9
Wall balls
pull ups
double unders

Went well, double unders when fatigued, not so good. Finished in 7:57

Then we got to do "Isabelle's surprise" 2km run. Pah! Easy peasy. Holy crap. First km was fine, then quickly went down hill. The longest 10:33 of my life.

Then to kill us further, weighted planks for 1:00, when we were all done, we all did a "plank off" girls with 25# plate, boys with 45#, last person standing wins.

I think Tom waited a full 10 seconds before yelling "I'm done" , that was my cue. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and die from that run.

Well at least it's done. Halo in place.

Home Gym

Feeling sick yesterday and today, but thankfully to keep me in the spirit I received my Olympic lifting bar and bumper plates.

Project: "Home Gym" initiate!




Très cool.

Strength log for Tuesday, June 18th

So I did the strength work at the Y again today.

Today I did 1 rep max split jerk from the rack. It still feels awkward at the Y, even though I know what I'm doing, it just feels intimidating. Anyway worked up from empty bar to 65#, 95#, 115#, 135# for 2 or 3 reps. At 155# I dropped to 1 rep.

My recorded PR is in the weightlifting comp we had last October, 160#, and it wasn't pretty. I loaded 165# on the bar and nailed it without problem.

My current clean PR is 175#, so I had to try that, to know that I am capable of a 175# clean and jerk. Had a bit of trouble locking it out but still got it (not okay for Olympic lifting standards but okay for Crossfit). I was going to try again at 175# but my body weight is around 180# (weighed my self afterwards 182#), so I had to go for body weight, it was only 5# more! Same deal as 175#, didn't lock it out, but managed to get it over head and controlled. Dropped the weights with HUGE bang! Love that sound!

Then I did the strict press part 3 sets of 6 @ 95#, last set was only 4, might have been able to get a fifth, but decided I was done.

The WOD today involved hand stand push ups and box jumps which would've been okay but also had sprints and chest to bar pull ups which are tricky at the Y so didn't bother.

Progress update of revised weightlifting goals. Derived from intermediate level for my body weight at http://www.exrx.net

Lift / target weight / current PR
Bench / 190lbs / 185lbs Apr 30, 2013 (up from 165lbs)
Deadlift / 300lbs / 285lbs Apr 25, 2013 (up from 265lbs)
Press / 130lbs / 120lbs May 14, 2013 (up from 110lbs)
Power Clean / 185lbs / 157lbs May 6, 2013 (up from 155lbs)
Power snatch / 140lbs / 105lbs May 6, 2013
Back Squat / 255lbs / 235lbs May 23, 2013 (up from 215lbs)

New Jerk PR:

Other lift PRs:
Front Squat 200# Apr 18, 2013
Push Press: 155# March 25, 2013
Clean: 175# May 23, 2013
Jerk: 180# Jun 18, 2013 (up from 160#)
Snatch: 125# May 27, 2013
Clean and Jerk: 160# Oct 2012

Crossfit log for Monday, June 17th

My back is feeling much better after the massage I got on Friday. Whole posterior chain needed work, from lats through erectors, down to glutes.

Today we started with snatch work, 16 min to reach max load for this triplet complex: power snatch, hang snatch, snatch. Topped out at 95#

Then front squats 3 sets of 3 @ 75%-80% of max. Did 165#-165#-175#

WOD was a 14 min chipper
60 double unders
50 wall balls 14#
40 kettle bell swings 24kg
30 burpees
20 toes to bar.

This was Women's Rx (Men's blue had only 25 double unders, 20kg kettle bell and knees to elbows instead of toes to bar, but a 20# med ball).

I broke my record for consecutive double unders, which was 45, as I approached 50 I was sure I would go unbroken, but lost it at 51. Bummer, but still a PR.

Burpees killed me.

Made it to 18 toes to bar. Just couldn't string them together. Oh well. It was a good workout.

Crossfit log for Thursday, June 13th

Back squats good. Dead lifts bad.

Confirmed my back squat PR @ 235#, so my glute problem doesn't affect my squat.

Dead lifts are another story. WOD called for fairly heavy dead lifts (225# for Rx, 185# for scaled, 135# novice) I knew there was no way I was doing 185#, tried 135# and even that was too much.

I went with 115# and it was manageable.

So 4 rounds for time
10 dead lifts 115#
6 hand stand push ups
2 rope climbs

14:26. Quite a bit of waiting for the ropes and there were 4 of use using two abmats under our heads for the HSPUs but only two stations available so had to wait there a couple of times too.

Did the rope climbs Rx (to the beam instead of to the red tape) an extra couple of feet of climb. I can reach the tape in two steps, but no matter how high I jumped for the first grip on the rope, or how high I brought my feet for to re-anchor, I was always inches away from touching the beam, had to make a tiny extra step each time. Grrr.

Noon at the Y did max box jump.

40.5"

Also not so good for my back.

But still a PR

Crossfit log for Tuesday, June 11th

Bench day. 1 rep max made 175#, failed at 195#

Then strict press 4 sets of 8, did 65#, 75#, 75#, 75#

WOD was 10 minute AMRAP (start at 3 reps each, increase by 3 reps each round)

Power cleans 95#
Ring dips
Wall balls

My back still isn't quite right, aggravated it last night at Olympic lifting class, so the cleans were harder than they should've been. Wall ball probably weren't below parallel and the dips really sucked after trashing the triceps during strength work.

The round of 9 and 12 I finished the last 4 dips on the bars instead of the rings.

Made it through the rounds of 3, 6 and 9, made 12 cleans and 12 dips at the buzzer.

Olympic lifting last night was strength day I think

Started with Power clean from the floor plus strict press combo 1-5, 1-4, 1-3, 1-2, 1-1, 1-1 increasing weight each set

Then power cleans 1 from the floor 1 from the hang 1 from the floor, at 65%-70% of max clean and jerk weight.

Then over head squat (or in my case, lunge) going all the way down, up 2 thirds, down up 1 third, down then all the way up for 1 set.

Did 65#

Then back squats 4 sets of 10 coming up to 80% of upright (so no locking out the legs, OMG burn) at 75% of C&J max, so I did 125# paying for it today.

Crossfit log for Monday, June 10th

Back at it.

Worked up to max weight for the following complex: 1 full clean, 2 front squats, 1 jerk (power or split).

Worked with new guy as he slowly worked up to 105#, then 115#, so I had a really good warm up.

I did 135#, then 155# and smashed my chin on the jerk but still managed to lock it out.

Tried 165#, cleaned it, no problem, front squats, no problem, jerk, problem. Failed to lock it out, worried about hitting my chin again I suspect.

Then we revisited Jackie:
1000m row
50 thrusters 45#
30 pull ups.

Went 10:49. Too fast on the row, just under 4:00. I didn't feel slow on the thrusters, but was over 3 min for sure (I did 12, 13, 10, 10, 5). Same for the pull ups, I felt fairly fast, I did 10-10-7-3.

Jackie is a gut wrencher.

Crossfit log for Thursday, June 6th

Took yesterday off after massage/acupuncture/electo-muscle-stimulation.

Things are better, but not better enough. The discomfort (I can't really call it pain) and tightness has migrated away from my tailbone area towards my hips but still makes pulling form the ground "un-fun".

I did the front squats max weight for 3 reps and was able to lift 185# 3 times. Wanted to try 195# but didn't want to risk aggravating my glutes.

Of the 4 sets of 8 walking lunches with barbell across traps/shoulders I did only 2 sets @ 115#.

The WOD was a nice one
3 rounds for time
15 toes to bar (or knees to elbows)
10 cleans 115#
15 abmat sit ups
10 box jumps 30"
15 ball slams

We staggered the start due to limited number of boxes and abmats, so I started at the cleans, I still had my lifting belt on from the strength work. That came off for the sit ups, box jumps went really well, ball slams too. Then came the toes to bar. Glutes are just too tight right now, I couldn't even go knees to elbows. Did sit ups instead.

Went back to the bar for the cleans, minus the weight belt and did one. This was the point where I realized that the risk of further injury outweighed the value of the workout. So I ended it there and went to roll my glutes with a lacrosse ball.

Still a fine workout.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, June 4th

Today we did 1 rep max thrusters, followed by 4 sets of 4 behind the head push press.

Made it to 145# on the thrusters, failed at 155#, my sore glutes and back may be to blame. Did 115# for the push press.

The WOD was "Helen"
3 rounds
400m runs (372m)
21 kettle bell swings 24kg
12 pull ups

10:53

I have "Helen" listed three times in my log before this one. Once was a team WOD and it was combined with "Grace", one where the run was replaced with a row and once with 30 kettle bell swings instead of 21 (coach's mistake). So I don't have a score to compare to.

Ran out of gas on the last round. I need to start running again. (I said that out loud and someone said "you don't run and you're that fast??!, good for the ego)

Tried butterfly kip again, managed 4 or 5 before switching back to regular kip. It'll click one day.

Massage later today. Yay!

Becoming an Olympic Lifting Coach

It was fascinating. Exhausting. 12 hours of alternating lifting and coaching, plus 2 hours of a mock competition.

As scary as that was, the real scary part is the next step in certification: coaching an athlete and having them compete under my supervision in an open Olympic lifting competition put on by coaching evaluators.

I feel nauseous just thinking about it.