Crossfit log for Friday, August 12th

Well that wasn't very much fun. 

Warm up was row 500m, rest 2 minutes, row 500m hard.

That smoked both me and Kamil.

Then we did the new dynamic stretching drills:

Frankenstein walk,  squeeze knee to chest, and  lunge with hands overhead stretch, inchworm,-push up, pistol walk: and shoulder stretch on wall.

Did a handstand hold for the upside down work

The WOD was supposed to have running but with the rain it was switch to rowing.

8 rounds for time:
- row 200m
- 5 muscle ups (scale to ring dips).

Round 6 got really hard to do the dips.  Arms will suck this weekend.

Finished about 30 seconds behind Kamil, in 15:35

After the the real suck started: 10 minute EMOM of 7 power cleans.

Thankfully I scaled to women's Rx at 95#, I had nothing left at round 6.

Round 7 I did only 5 reps,  round 8 I did 6 reps, round 9 I did zero reps and finished off with a full 7 thanks to the extra rest.

Ugh. 

Crossfit log for Thursday, January 28th

Today was opposite day.  The workout looked like it would be really hard, but Kamil and I destroyed it.

Coach Connor was 8 minutes late, so I truncated the warm up and some of the strength work.

The 2 minutes warm up of 10 band pull aparts and glute bridges turned in to 2 rounds.

After the 4 sets of bulgarian split squats with dumbells (I did 4 total, not 4 each leg) we did 1 heavey set of 5 back squats instead of 5 sets of 5.

So instead of my planned 225# I did 255#.  Felt good.  I like squats.

The was a short version of the 50s from Regionals in 2014, so it was only 30 reps, plus it was partnered, so share the reps, meaning 15 reps each, so the 30 made it look worse.

Chipper for time - one parnter works at a time, share the reps:

- 30 calorie row
- 30 box jump overs
- 30 dead lifts  155#/ 105#
- 30 wall balls 20#/14#
- 30 ring dips
- 30 wall balls 20#/14#
- 30 dead lifts  155#/ 105#
- 30 box jump overs
- 30 calorie row

I was happy to split the difference on the barbell, but Kamil loaded the bar at Rx, so I cursed him and just went with it.

We finished in 10:57.  I was impressed.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, Novermber 10

After a week of no Crossfit, day two this week seemed like I'm already worn down. 

I need to pace myself better.

Warm up was 3 rounds for time of: 9 Straight Legged Deadlifts, 95# + 7 Strict Push Ups

Then we moved on to an EMOM for 10 mins: 2 Squat Cleans + 1 Jerk

Worked with Kamil, settle on 135#.  Was planning on going heavier but glad I didn't.  Got pretty hard at the end.

Also worked with Kamil on the WOD too.  Shared a bar and thankfully we didn't slow each other up.

5 rounds for time, 12 minute cap :

- 7 Deadlifts, 275/185 lbs

- 30 Air Squats

- 7 Strict Handstand Push-ups

I started on the air squats, Kamil on the bar.

 

We scaled to 225# but really should have done women's Rx, 225# was heavy. I broke up round 4 as 5 + 2 and round 5 as 5+1+1, because I was  done.

 

First round of air squats, being fresh, I sped through them. After that they got harder.

We scaled the HSPU to strict push ups,  I wanted to do them with feet on a box in  a pike position to better simulate HSPU, but the scale offered was push ups and that's what Kamil was doing, so in order to go head to head with him, I did the same.

I beat him.  Yay.    9:40.  Not sure what his time was (he just messaged me: 10:30).

I may take tomorrow off.

Crossfit Team Series Part Two, day 2, Sunday, October 11th

Today our sister gym wasn't there.  I guess it was a one day special.

So we were under no pressure to get only two workouts done by 3pm.

We decided to start with the longer one, 200s, 200 shared sit ups while two team members held a barbell overhead (75# men/ 55# women) plus 200 shoulder to overhead (same bars) while two team members hung from a pull bar.  Reps only counted while both bars were overhead or both members were in dead hang.

Then we'd have the 4 individual benchmark WODs done in succession where we could just go all out, not needing to save anything for subsequent WODs.

We setup with all 4 bars (for when either both boys or both girls were holding overhead), and got to work.

I was the weakest link holding overhead.  My shoulder range isn't quite good enough to lock out in a stable overhead for long. I cut Kiza's sit ups short more than once.  We were trying to get 25 sit ups each before rotating.

Kiza devised the plan, where after sit ups you'd rest by stand on the next sit up person's feet, then two shifts on the overhead.  This sucked for me, but we managed.  I made up for it by being really fast on the sit ups and did some extra reps when I could.  We failed to record our time on this part so I estimated 6:50

Then came part two, the shoulder to overhead, this I was pretty strong at. I can hammer out a lot of push press at 75# and for the hanging, with all the work I've been doing on grip strength over the last month or so really paid off.

We chipped away and finished in 14:45.  Sub 15! We were pretty stoked with that, having seen the other do this yesterday around the 20 minute mark.

We rested a bit and set an artificial deadline of 1:30 to start the last workout.  I would be going first again, since I volunteered to do Karen (150 wall balls, scaled to women's Rx for the men, so 14# ball and 9' target) because no one else wanted it.

My plan was sets of 50, 40, 30, 20, 10.  As I mentioned to the team before starting, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.  The first 50 went well. The set of 40 was aborted at 10. Ugh, this would be ugly. I alternated between sets of 10 and 15, with on set of 20 and one of 18 mixed in there somewhere.

I simply ran out of shoulders after the previous workout. Managed 7:10, which isn't too bad at all.

Kiza took over with Grace, 30 clean and jerks for time at 65#.  She smoked it. 2:47! I look forward to seeing her tackle this at women's Rx.

Linda fought hard for Diane.  The deadlifts were a snap. There is no doubting the power of her posterior chain, but the strict press at 55# required every ounce of her will and strength.  She did amazing, until the very last rep, the pain must have been so bad, that her brain defaulted to push press, a clear no rep, and she knew it too, before she even locked it out, the look on her face said it all. "Crap, no I have to do it again, without a dip!!!". And she did it.  Simply amazing finish in 4:29!

Brandon took over with quite possibly the worst workout of the bunch. 75 snatches at 65# (only 10lbs less than Rx, what's with that?), I didn't know what his plan was, or if he had a plan, I yell out, "get to 10!" after he started, but he kept going and did a solid 15, so I'm like hell yeah, sets of 15, this will be quick. But no, the next set was only 5. Like my workout, it was falling apart. So he did like I did, chipped away, many sets of 3, some of 5, I think once he did a set of 10 in there. But eventually he made it, spent, he rolled on the floor. All that struggle and he still finished in a stellar 6:11!

We were done. We did remarkably well this week.  My legs don't work today, but that's temporary.  I'm really happy with our performance.

Crossfit Team Series Part Two, day 1, Saturday, October 10th

Feeling recovered enough with my eye to tackle this weekends events head on.

After Kiza squared away the kids for the afternoon, the team assembled.

Our plan to do all four events in relatively quick succession was thwarted by our sister gym  Crossfit YOW joining us to do the WODS.

They were all starting with event 7, the 30's of deadlift/calorie row/overhead squats. So we figured fine, we'll get in wave two.

But then they put everything away?!  We kept a rower out to do it ourselves, but almost everyone in "wave two" was doing event 6, the 7 rep max front squat from the floor (aka max clean+6 front squats), we figured it was better if everyone did the same.  So plan "C" it was.

So with almost no warm up, we just went to work.  The last time I attempted my max of 205#, I injured my wrist.  The most I've cleaned since is 185#.

I started with 155# and after 2 squats I dropped it, no point wasting reps. I let the others go, Brandon and I shared a bar and Linda and Kiza shared one.  Brandon did his first full set, then I put 185# on.  I was sure I'd get under it and then the squats would be easy. Which is exactly what happened.

I waited for the others to make subsequent attempts.  Brandon was apparently satisfied with his effort so after humming and hawing I put 215# on the bar. Hey, if I got under it I was gold, if I missed. No biggie, at least I tried.

There was no way.  I tried twice, and just couldn't commit. So in frustration I peeled the 5# plates and tried again right away at 205#.  Boom! I was stunned, I got under it seemingly effortlessly.  Hit my 6 more squats and was pretty happy.

This, I think, inspired Brandon try more and he got it too.  Even Linda got in on the action and got within 5# of her clean PR. I lost count how many times she tried to clean either 145# or 140#, it was clear she was determined to get under one of those weights.  When she got under 140#, the squats were a snap. Like me, her squat is way more than her clean.

Kiza's first attempt was so close to her 1 rep max clean, the cost/benefit of going for more just wasn't there.  Made more sense to save herself for the next workout.

Our team total was 585#.  Not too shabby.

This was hard but no lasting effect, so we were ready for another event. Once again with so many athletes there was no room to go right away.  So we waited and recovered while the next wave of athletes to had a go.

Since we had the rower out and the last wave was doing all different workouts, we did event 7, the 30s.

I went first,  30 deadlifts at 135# went fairly quickly, not very taxing.  The 30 calorie row started to get winded.

Then the fun started.  30 overhead squats, thankfully only 65#.  These went surprisingly well.  I made it to 26 unbroken.  I wanted to be under 5:00 but when I dropped, a quick glance at the clock revealed that it wasn't going to happen, 5:06, grr. So I picked it back up and did my last 4 reps, finishing in 5:31.

Can't be disappointed with that.  However this put a target on my back.  Not for Brandon, he knew he'd struggle with the OHS.  And what a struggle it was.  Much like when I watch Sylvie tackle that horrible rowing thruster workout in the Open, it was inspiring to watch such dogged determination. Every rep was a fight, and he fought and won, 30 times.  Kiza however was hell bent on beating me. Granted her bars were lighter. Of course she did beat my time with a 5:18. And Linda smoked it, her deadlifts are ridiculously fast.  She finished her leg in 4:17, giving us a total of 23:52.

We were all ready to stay until 4:00-4:30 and get another one done when we realized the gym actually closed at 3:00. Hmm. So we had to make plans to come back tomorrow.  Oh well, a good night's sleep might not be such a bad thing.

Crossfit Team Series part 1, Saturday, September 12th

Kiza and I disagree with how hard this event was.

Maybe I'm a wimp, or maybe I just worked harder!

We had four events, most people spread it over two days, but since one of the events was a wash for our team, we figured we could manage three in one day and not have to come in on Sunday.

We started with the workout we couldn't really do, Event 4.  Linda can't do pull ups.  Well, as it was explained to me, Linda would have a hard time making 5 pull ups.

The workout was a 20 minute AMRAP of Thrusters and pull ups, first male/female pair do 5 thruster/5 pull ups, next pair does 10 of each, then 15... alternating increasing by 5 each round.

So my plan was have Linda and Brandon to 5 thrusters, then take all the time in the world to get through 5 pull ups, even with 5 minutes left, Kiza and I could get through the second round of 10 reps, then Linda and Brandon could do 15 thrusters, Brandon could do his 15 pull ups, and Linda could try for one or two more.

That would give us a score of 105 to 107 reps. And Linda would only have to do 5 pull ups (plus whatever she could muster at the end).

The reality was Linda had trouble with one pull up.  After several minutes of trying, she managed 1 rep and was struggling.  So we aborted that plan.

New plan, Kiza and I start, 5 reps of each, then Brandon and Linda do the thrusters, Brandon does his pull ups, Linda tries for one, WOD ends when Brandon is done, no point tiring out Linda, we still had 3 more WODs to do.

This gave us 50, and we weren't fatigued.

Next we did events 1, 2 and 3, in that order.

Event 1 was for time, girls once through together, then boys.
- 100 single skips each
- 75 calories on the rower  (shared however you like)
- 50 box step ups (shard however you like).

Plan fell apart at the row.  Skips are skips, but the plan was the first rower to go longer then start the steps ups while second rower recovered from a shorter row.

We had to break up the row more than just once.  So we just went until we go too fatigued to be effective and switched.  Boys and girls had the same issue.

I gave Brandon the secret to rowing for calories, slowing down the stroke rate and allowing the flywheel to slow down a bit before pulling really hard.

We did this one in 15:17, and were a bit winded, but not too bad.

Event 2 was the Grace ladder, basically alternating shared Grace, 5 reps at a time then switch, after 30 reps, switch pairs. Girls went first and split Grace at 65#, in 5 rep increments, then boys at 95#.  Round two girls weight went up to 75#, boys to 115#.  Third round got real, girls at 85# and boys at 135#. Brandon struggle locking it out at this weight, he was 3 reps shy of finishing the round.  We scored 177 reps in the 15 minutes allowed.

This was taxing.  I was pretty tired after that.  But we still had one to go.

Event 3: 30 minute cap, for time: Girl/boy pairs 80-60-40 of
- hand release push ups while other pair does a deadlift hold of 270#
- partner deadlifts  270# (one side has 90# the other 135#, so 2 plates on one, 3 on the other).

First round went pretty well,  we were fairly fresh and grip hadn't been tested yet.  Kiza and I held the 270# barbell at the waist while Brandon and Linda alternated 10 push ups each twice through for 40 reps, then we switched.

The dead lifts were hard with a partner. Because Kiza is shorter, she took a wider grip and I had to take a narrower one, my position was not great and my back started to bug me from the get go. But we managed, we alternated at 10 reps, 4 sets per pair.

This made round two harder, grip was starting to tire, I had to figure out my breathing, and my back was getting sore.  So we held the bar again, somehow managed to hold long enough for Brandon and Linda to get through their 30 push ups.

The push ups were the easiest part! We were pretty solid despite the problems I was having and finished in 16:15.

Can wait for the scores to be validated to see how we did.

Sunday came around, and I was really glad we weren't going back.  I was also really glad I wasn't running 23km like Kiza!

16:15

Strength log for Monday, August 17th

Time was tight and I didn't have most of my equipment, so I rushed to the Y and did some deadlifts and neutral grip pull ups since both have been rather neglected lately.

Worked up the deadlift to 275# then went to do the math using 355# as 1 rep max.

75% would be 265#, and 80% is 285#.  Since I'd already passed 265# I went with 285#.

Now 80% would normallly be 3 sets of 5, but 5 reps wasn't feeling great. So I decide to swap it and do 5 sets of 3.  The only problem is that 5 sets of 3 is normally done at 85% not 80%, according to my old program, but since it's been neglected of late, I felt justified in my choice.

I did super sets with 5 sets of 5 pull ups.

Good workout.  Seb totally saved me with his chalk.  It was so humid, the bar was slipping out of my hands during the warm up.

Team Sauvé does Isabelle's birthday WOD Fest

Packed up the kids at 9:30 and headed to Physics Crossfit for the Annual Pic-Nick and WOD fest for Isabelle's birthday.

It was a great day, with plenty of PRs and plenty of great and silly costumes.

We got into the first wave, since Kiza had a Spartan Race in the afternoon with her co-workers. (yes, she is that crazy).

The WOD had three parts.  10 minutes to establish a 1 rep max power clean. Clarisse just failed at 125# and had to settle for 115#.  Kiza got her PR at 130# and I barely made my PR at 205#.  Pretty good.

Then we had 2:00 rest before starting the killer part:
12 minute AMRAP of synchronized:
 - 9 dead lifts  95#/65#
 - 7 hang cleans
 - 5 burpee box jumps.

All movements were done in pairs as 1 team member rested, so someone had to go twice in a row (which sucked).

Partners had to be locked out at the top together. So a faster lifter or burpee box jumper had to wait at the top for the other person to lock out before starting the next rep.

We did well. Even kissed Kiza at the top of the box jump.  The hardest part was changing the weights for one of the bars, adding and removing 30# depending on if I was in the mix or if it was Kiza and Clarisse.

No idea how many rounds we got.

Then another 2:00 rest before headed out for a 2km run (likely more than 2km) which we finished in 14:09

Then Kiza took off to be a Spartan while I kept score for the runners on the subsequent waves and Clarisse kept an eye on the kids.

After some great food we headed home shortly after 2:00 where I plopped the kids down in front of a movie and had a nap, thinking how glad I was that I wasn't doing a Spartan Race.

Progress update.

New  Power Clean PR. 

Strength:
Bench: 230# November 19, 2014 (up from 225#)
Dead Lift: 365# September 17, 2014 (up from 355#)
Press: 145# September 9, 2014 (up from 140#)
Back Squat: 315# March 2, 2015 (up from 305#)
Front Squat: 275# February 26, 2015 (up from 265#)
Overhead squat: 145# February 19, 2015 (up from 125#x4)

Power:
Power Clean: 205# July 4, 2015 (up from 195#)
Power snatch:  140# Dec 5, 2014 (up from 125#)
Push Press: 185# Sept 15, 2014 (up from 175#)
Clean: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 191#)
Jerk: 205#  Dec 13, 2014 (up from 185#)
Snatch: 145# Apr 23, 2015 (up from 135#)
Clean and Jerk: 205# Dec 13, 2014 (up from 175#)

Crossfit log for Friday, July 3rd

I set my clock 15 minutes fast.  This helps me get out the door on time.

The key to the success of this strategy is that I genuinely forget that I've set it that way.

So when I fell asleep immediately after my alarm went off, and woke with a start at 5:18, jumping out of bed, hastily dressing and quickly descending the stairs, it was to discover that it was in fact 5:05am and I still had plenty of time to make my coffee (thank goodness for Keurig - yes I know I'm an environmental heathen, it's my guilty pleasure, sorry) and OJ with supplements and get to the gym before 5:30.

We did a variation of last weeks light squats and dumbbell press.

5 sets of 6 back squats at 50% of max, just like last week.  I did 155#.  Working with Kamil who did 135#, we just added and removed some 10s as the case dictated.

Then we did the dumbbell press. Last week I stuggled with 50# for 5 sets of 3, this week was 5 sets of 5, so 50# was not a likely choice, the next weight down is 35#,  so I started with that, which was too easy, so the second set I tried 50#, made 4 reps, couldn't get the fifth up.  Did 35# for the third set, and notice Mike was doing them with a bit of a split in his legs. Thought that might help, so I tried d50# again, with legs split.  Nope.  Got 3.  So I finished off with the 35# dumbbells and was happy with that mix.

The WOD was a partner gasser.  Worked with Kamil again.  Partner B rests while partner A works, then switch. Alternating full rounds for 16 minutes of:
- 100ft farmer carry with 24kg kettle bells
- 8 handstand push ups
- 8 box jump overs.

Farmer carry was a breeze.  Handstand push ups were to be fast and unbroken, scale accordingly, so I use 2 abmats, but round 3 I felt like that was too much scaling, so I shed 1 abmat, round 4 too, round 5 I struggled through 6 reps, and finally added the abmat back for the last 2 and kept it for round six.

Box jump overs I did sideways and was pretty quick.  We managed 12 rounds, so 6 each and Kamil did the farmer carry and 2 push ups. Not bad.

Heart rate was up there.

Crossfit log for Tueday, April 21st

Seems like forever since I went to Crossfit.

Good workout this morning.

Started with split jerks from the rack.  Quite a bit of volume.

Did 3x3 @ 70%, 1x3 @ 75% and 2x3 @ 80%

Did 145#, 155# and 165#.  Worked with Kamil, whose number were 10# heavier for each, but opted to use my weight.

Started to get hard at the end, after all the volume.

The workout was a 16 minute AMRAP partner WOD of :
- 10 power snatch (135#, scaled too much to 95#)
- 400m row
- 80 double unders
- 20 box jump overs

Work with Kamil for this too. 

We hummed and hawed over the weight for the snatches, when he suggested women's Rx, I was all over that.  It was a good weight in as much as it made the workout enjoyable, but we went unbroken for 3 rounds and likely should have done 115#.

So we split everything half and half, except the double unders.  So he did 5 snatches and i did 5, he rowed 200m and I rowed 200m. First round he did 80 double unders unbroken, it made sense.

We did the box jump overs follow-the-leader style which worked really well.

Second round I ended up starting so go to the double unders first and took like 4 or 5 tries to get through 40 reps, then Kamil finished them off.

3 round was like 2nd.   Round 4 I did 6 snatches because I felt bad about the double unders and with like a minute left I started the row and really worked hard to get through my 200m. 

Stupidly, I stopped with 15 seconds to go because I was done my 200m!  Duh.  Poor Kamil then tried to strap into the rower with like 10 seconds to go.  He should've slapped me!

I was spent, that last bit of row nearly killed me.

Crossfit log for Saturday, July 5th

Come to Coach Isabelle's birthday throw down they said, It'll be fun they said.

Ha.

Two torturous WODs later and I think Kevin said it best.  I am dead, my body just doesn't know it yet.

First WOD I affectionately call "DT was a pussy".

Seemed harmless enough until we saw the first heat try it. Coach had to drop a round before the end as teams were dying.

Teams of 2, for time:
2 rounds of DT  155# Rx 135# scalled
2 lengths of the field sled pull
4 rounds of DT
2 lengths sled pull
4 rounds of DT (originally 6)
2 lengths sled pull

The field was about 50m long, the sled had 70# on it for scaled (90# for Rx)
So essentially each team member did DT plus 3 50m sled pulls.

Horrible.  My shoulders were so sore.  I partnered with Mitch and he carried me through it.  We never even looked at our time.  It was a blur of pain and fatigue.

WOD 2 was hard but not as hard as the first.

14 minute AMRAP
-Share 1000m row (800m scaled) while partner holds 110# axle in front rack.
-Share Isabelle (30 snatches for time 95# (Rx was 135#)
-share 60 wall balls (Rx was 80 reps)
-Alternate farmer carries with 16kg kettle bells 70m  (35m and back)

Score was number of lengths (35m) of farmer carries
We got 9.5, no idea how we stacked up.

My row was really strong.  Mitch confused me by saying he had done only 400m (I was sure we had to do 1000m so I figured I had 600m to do.  I went all out, holding 1:37-1:38 / 500m pace, I clued in that I also had only 400, thankfully before getting that far, I yelled to Mitch to confirm I was only doing 400, and he ask where are you 380m! Already?  So yeah, I was pretty fast.

Mitch is way, way better at the snatch than I am, even at 95#. He was doing 5 or 6 reps for my 3. But together we made quick work of the snatches and I took off with the wall balls.  Did 10, passed it off, Mitch did 10, I did 15, he managed another 10, I did 11 leaving the last 4 for him as I got ready for the farmer carries.

I felt I contributed more on WOD 2.

Kiza was partnered with Yvana, one of Caleb's classmates. They did quite well.  I hope they post the results. We couldn't stay because Dexter was getting overtired and we had guest coming over for supper.

So naturally after all that work I mowed the lawn and ran to the grocery store before bbqing some hamburgers and drinking wine while watching kids swim and play in the back yard.

Long day.  But a good day nonetheless.

Crossfit Brockville's 3rd annual Team Challenge Report.

Today I feel normal.  Yesterday I felt old. Saturday I almost felt like an athlete.

The Team Challenge hosted by Crossfit Brockville is a 3 WOD marathon that spanned 6 hours on a sunny Saturday on the shores of the St Lawrence seaway.

I had put my name on the board as a spare, if anyone needed a guy for the scaled division, I'd put myself out there.

Well the three other that did the same thing decide (with some prodding from Kiza) to put a team together and added my name to the list, so I was in.

I have been nervous for about three days, as the reality settled in. This is not the same as a race or a triathlon. There's more prep. More nutrition. More equipment. More uncertainty. I did my best to ignore the nerves and bring a ton of water and a variety of nutrition options.

We drove down to Brockville early Saturday morning and got registered.  We mingled with the other Physics teams that were there.

We were in the 4th heat, so we got to see many other teams do the workouts first, which helped us plan our strategy.

The first WOD of the day was what I would call an ice-breaker.  It was bit ridiculous, and had many laughing at first, but it quickly got hard and the laughing stopped well before the end.

WOD 1:
- 50m burpee broad jumps (all team members together)
once all members are finished each member does:

- 15 front squats with the slosh pipe
- run 50m with the slosh pipe. (picture a large 8 foot long pvc drain pipe filled with 40# of water and gravel)

The burpee broad jumps were way harder then I expected, and looked ridiculous. Looked like the biggest game of leap frog ever.  I was last to finish on my team and was completely winded. So much so I was unable to do the slosh pipe first. Once I caught my breath, Natasha had already started. The slosh pipe was manageable for the guys, Maks and I could squat it even if it was lop sided, but the girl didn't have the upper body stability. It was really rough on them.

We did okay, 15th out of 28, can't complain.

We had about an hour to rest and rehydrate and recover. Kiza and the kids arrived at this point. The kids were wearing superhero costumes and had made a sign that said "GO GO GO Papa" and the names of our team members.  They were a big hit with the crowd.

It was good to have them there. I know it was a ton of work of Kiza, but having a personal cheer squad was wonderful.

WOD 2 was about an hour later:
within 10 minutes, each member does one of the following in this order:
- 1 rep max overhead squat
- 2 rep max shoulder to over head
- 3 rep max hang clean
- 4 rep max front squat

at the 10 minute mark, 3 minute AMRAP one member at a time:
- toes to bar

We worked out that our best scenario was Natasha on the OHS, Maks on the STO, Yvana on the cleans and me on the front squats.


Nat managed a 115#, which is my PR, and neither of the other two could squat over head.  Maks nailed 165#, jumped too much to  185# and missed the second rep, went back to 175#, but was too fatigued, and missed the second rep again. I couldn't have done any better.   Yvana has an injured knee, so the cleans were her only real option, and she nailed a PB for 3 reps at 135#.

I quickly hit 185#, just to make sure we had a number and immediately did 205# after that.  We still had just under 2:00 left, so I hummed and hawed a bit and decided to go for 225#, 10# shy of my PR.

I totally nailed it.  That was my finest moment of the day.  Followed closely by the the 12 toes to bar I did immediately after. More then double the number I have ever strung together before!

I think we finished 10th and 12th for those two events.  The first part worked out really well, it was our best finish of the day and our only top 10 placing.

Time to rest again, and pee (a lot, because I drank a lot) and cheer on our other teams before heading in to the brutal 3rd WOD.

WOD 3 had a 20 minute time cap, I don't think anyone finished.
Paired up men followed by pair up women had to first do the following:
- 40 dead lifts, 185# men, 135# women
- 40 power cleans, 115# men, 95# women
- 40 thrusters, 95# men, 65# women.
share the work as desired between the men and between the women.

After both sets of partners finished part one, one of the four members could start the first of two couplets:
- 50 double unders (or 250 singles)
- 40 box jump overs.
then
-30 pull ups
-30 hand release push ups

but the next person couldn't start until the person ahead had started the next couplet and couldn't start the second couplet until the person ahead had finished the event.

It was brutal, I severely underestimated the box jumps and decide to go first. But I got caught up in the stupid double unders, which had been going really well lately, so that caught me by surprise.

Nat started the double unders as I did the pull ups in 10, 10, 5, and 5 and was into the box jumps as I started the push ups when time ran out.

We finished 25th in this event.

I was so tired at the end of the day, it reminded me of Ironman.

It was nice to be part of a team.  I felt I really contributed to the team, especially the first two events. I felt I let them down a bit on the last one. But I did the best I could.

I'm glad I did this.  Physics won the prize for the most teams with 5. We scored a Pendlay barbell. Sweet.

I may even do this kind of thing again. Just not anytime soon.

Parental panic

This has likely been the most terrifying experience of my entire life.

I've lived through four children with a variety of ailments including, but not limited to croup, asthma, bloody lips, kidney infections, strep, ear infections, vomiting, diarrhea and then some.

I've thankfully never had to call 911. Until today.

Delilah was up half the night throwing up, so I stayed home with her, since Kiza was leaving for an overnight trip to Toronto.

We watched some television and she slept a lot which wasn't surprising since she slept very little over night. 

As I was about to start making supper, she was waking up slowly when I heard her fall to the floor. When I went to see if she was okay I found her still on the floor, her head tilted strait up, eyes blinking rapidly, fists clenched, breathing erratically. 

She was having a seizure.

I picked her up and cradled her in my arms and tried to get her attention, but she wasn't there. Her eyes were open but she was unresponsive. 

Even after the seizure passed and her breathing stabilized I couldn't get her to talk. If I asked if she could hear me, she's nod, but that was the extent of her communication abilities. 

Start panic mode. I knew I should call 911, but what about Dex and Clarisse? I called my dearest friend Christyne to see if she could be on stand by if I needed her. Then I called emergency services and waited for an ambulance to arrive. All the while Delilah is still unresponsive.

I began shouting instructions to Clarisse and kept trying to get Delilah to talk.

It wasn't until the paramedics had attached a bunch of medical devices that I finally got a single word response to a question.

The plan was for me to follow the van, but as I frantically tried to pack snacks and whatnot, one of the medics came back to say she wasn't coping well and I should ride with them. 

So now I'm not even sure how I'll get home. In my panic I completely forgot to bring Deliliah's glasses, boot and coat.

By the time we got to the hospital she was almost back to normal.  So I felt really bad that Kiza cut her trip short and flew back almost as soon as she landed. But being a mother, she had no choice but to come back. Although this solved my ride home problem. 

Luckily for Kiza, the doctor showed up minutes after she arrived in our room, so no 3 hour wait for her.

Febrile seizures are benign, but man they are scary. She is completely fine now, sleeping soundly in her bed. Ordeal over. My adrenalin is just coming down now I think.

I didn't know they were benign, so I'm think I handled things fairly well.  Although there was no hesitation when the paramedics said we were going to the children's hospital, I don't think a hospital visit was entirely necessary.

Strength and mobility log for Tuesday, January 21st

At the Y today I decided to do ring rows. I was having trouble with the chest to bar pull ups this morning and muscle ups are not even on my radar, both would benefit from better pull to chest strength.  Plus, everything else is sore.

They don't technically have rings, so I used the TRX system. 

I started with my feet anchored 24" from the wall and did 3 sets of 8, making sure to bring my hands all the way to my ribs, bringing them as far back as I could.  I finally missed making contact with my ribs on the last rep of the last set. Perfect.

Next I anchored my feet 12" from the wall and did 3 sets of 5.  Same deal, but I had no problem making contact for all the reps.

Finally my feet against the wall I did 3 sets of 3 without issue. I may have to add some weight, like a vest or a plate on my chest.

I was going to do some mobility, but Dave was going some broad jumping and explosive drills so I asked him if we wanted to do some box jumps.  Had a great time, working up the height and working through the fear and mental game to.  

Physically he had no problem, he is so powerful, even when we got up to 36", but from 36" through to 39" where he ended up stopping, you could see the mental workout he was going through to convince himself to jump. He didn't miss a single one.  Which is good and bad, there's something to be said for set backs early on, which creates more respect of the movement.

At least he now has a number to try and beat.

I didn't him my max of 42"  (my goal is 46"), but it was fun nonetheless.

After that I worked on ankle flexibility and called it a day.

L’orgueil à l’automne

When I was in grade twelve, many, many moons ago, I had a poetry assignment.  I went to a French high school, and although I had been going to French school since grade one and could speak it fluently, I didn't really consider my self a French person until that year. 

That year I had discovered French culture, music, comedy, and really bonded with my friends via that culture. I think that's also when I really started to think in French, rather than translate my English thoughts in real time. Needless to say, I never truly mastered grammar and spelling in French, but for the first time, I was French.

So back to this poetry assignment. I don't remember what the parameters of the assignment were, but I decided to write a fable, about the origins of autumn. 

The deadline arrived and I wasn't finish, but I felt I was on to something pretty good, so for the first time in my academic career, I went to my teacher, M. Yves Lalonde and begged for an extension, I told him I was on to something and just needed a bit more time to finish it up.  In my mind asking this was a huge deal. To my utter surprise said "no problem". 

So with a bit of help from my good friend Mario, I worked out the last of the rhymes and made it all fit. 

I'd never gotten an A on anything in French before. This was my crowning achievement, my opus of French creative writing.  M. Lalonde even entered my work in a poetry contest and I won first prize. 

I haven't thought about this in a long long time, I'm a bit surprise at how emotional I'm feeling dredging up these memories.  

I ran into M. Lalonde's daughter Janick recently, our kids attend the same school (and it turns out, her husband works with Kiza, small world!). I guess that brought back these memories.

Anyway. I lost all my hard copies in the fire, and I've searched every hard drive and flash drive I own, and can't find soft copy anywhere.  So from memory I rewrote the entire piece. It's amazing how the human mind can remember word for word something from so long ago.  I did change a few things that had been nagging me with the original, but 99.9% of it is exactly what I wrote 25 years ago.

Special thanks to Suzanne Bourgoin for providing correction of my (thankfully few) mistakes in my rewritten copy.

So here it is, for posterity, sorry for those of you who don't read French, you  are missing quite a treat if I do say so myself.
 

L’orgueil à l’automne

par James Sauvé

Au début des temps sous le ciel bleu

Vivait un arbre orgueilleux

Qui par son orgueil

Dit un jour au soleil

Mon grand ami, mon cher monsieur

Tout seul là-haut dans les cieux

Une faveur pour moi pourriez-vous faire

Que de changer la couleur de mes feuilles ordinaires.

Je règlerai cette dette au plutôt

Le soleil répondit sans même dire un mot

À la chaleur de ses rayons il fit peu à peu

Changer les feuilles à la couleur du feu

Jaune, rouge et orange,

Cela paraissait bien étrange

Mais le tronc était très heureux

De ce cadeau envoyé des cieux

Alors, peu après vient donc le jour

Ou le soleil désire une faveur à son tour

Pourriez-vous offrir à ces oiseaux fatigués

Un refuge en votre feuillage velouté

Demanda le soleil, en étant très poli

Mais l’arrogant refuse: “Je suis bien trop joli”!

"Ces déplorables vagabonds de l’air,

Imbéciles de l’atmosphère,

Ne sont pas digne de s’y percher"

Le soleil, trahi, était très insulté

Il alla donc visiter le vent

Qui disciplina  l'arbre insolent

Il convoqua un grand mistral

Et s’empara de ses pétales

Le soleil s’adressa à l’arbustre vaincu

Debout seul, laid et nu

Vous n'avez pas respecté votre parole d'honneur

Pour satisfaire votre propre bonheur

Votre châtiment est alors décidé

Vous revivrez à chaque année

La transition de votre feuillage verdoyant

Au rouge, au jaune et ensuite au néant

Amis évitez une telle bévue

À parole donnée, promesse tenue.

Crossfit log for Saturday, May 26th

Today I went to the new box in town, Crossfit Forits, for the free WOD, since Physics was closed.

The day after the fire, I ran into Crossfit Games competitor Nat Connors, at Walmart of all places. We chatted a bit and she said she was going to the free WOD, so I said I'd join her.

It was good. Mostly beginners and one or two experienced crossfitter that had brought friends to try it.

It was a 20 min AMRAP,
5 chest to bar pull ups
10 wall balls 20#
15 kettle bell swings 24kg

I paced myself to 8 rounds plus 3 pull up. Not bad.

Nat had brought some toys for the kids

Crossfit log for Saturday, May 19th

Today was BEASTMODE!

I wasn't going to go, but after qualifying for Regionals with L'Usine Crossfit Ottawa Team, poor Nat Connors was complaining that no one would want to partner with her in the Saturday Team WOD.

So I took one for the team. I love teaming up with Nat, I never ever work as hard as with her, and today was no exception. We did Women's Rx (red) for her benefit, and it was at the limits of my capabilities.

What a workout.

4 rounds one team member works at a time.
-10 ground to over head 105#, sprint 60m (each member in turn)
-10 toes to bar, sprint 60m (no wimping out with knees to elbows on Nat's team!)
-10 dead lifts 175#, sprint 60m (Nat is really fast at these so not much break for me)

By round three I was thinking I bit off more than I could chew, but systematically, I pushed through, with Nat yelling at me the whole way to hurry! Two in a row, don't stop, don't think about it just do it!!! It was nuts. But I worked harder than ever before.

Halo in place for 2 days!

Man date

Had supper with my buddy Dave yesterday at Stella in the market. It was good to catch up.

The take home was that I need a new job. He was clearly a happier man no longer working at PCO.

Putting out fires continuously for 15-20 years takes it's toll on a guy. And I've been feeling the strain for a while now.

The Filet Mignon was delicious, as was the Pinot. The company was the best.

P.S. I totally guessed the age of the one and a half month old baby at the next table.

Crossfit log for Tuesday, February 21st: First aid day

So last week's long run left me with pain in my arch of my left foot and this weeks long run left me with pain in either my Adductor Magnus or my Gracilis.

I rolled my foot on a ball last week and that helped. I haven't done anything yet about the adductor pain. But at Crossfit this morning squatting, burpees and box jumps I had no issues.

I'll see how running is today at lunch, and then do some stretching to see how it feels.

Slight oversight at the Crossfit gym, they had no first aid kit. I guess that's a testament to the lack of injuries they've seen.

Luckily I had mine in the car. Jodie wrecked on the box jumps and took a good chunk out of her shin.

Doc James to the rescue.

She'll live.

Workout:
Strength: clean and jerk
3 rounds increasing weight
-3 cleans,1 jerk
-1 clean, 3 jerks
Started at 75# added 4kg each round

WOD: 10 min cap
6 rounds off 1+2, 1+2+3,...1+2+3+4+5+6+7
1- 3 pill-ups
2- 6 burpees
3- 9 sit-ups
4- 12 box jumps (30")
5- 15 double under
6- 18 kettle bell swings
7- 21

Made it to round 5 and too the double unders of round 6.

Beer Mile!

Today's WOD:

4 rounds for time
-drink a beer
-run 400m

Official rules can be found here.
Colour me impressed Dave B.

Much like the last beer mile with my buddy David Grant , I was slower drinking the first beer than DB and my buddy Chris, and once again ego kicked to try and catch the leaders. Although my mind was saying, take it easy, you'll catch them on the second beer.

Well apparently not, Dave just ripped through beer #2 and I was out of breath from trying to catch up. Even Chris got out of T2 before me.

I kept them close during lap 2, but tried to dial it down so I wouldn't be so out of breath and hopefully drink my way closer to first place, but still Dave was out of T3 before I even started my beer. I finally caught up to Chris on lap 3, had dropped Al and knew there was no way I'd catch Dave, although he was running pretty slow on his final lap, I knew I couldn't drink fast enough to catch him.

When I left T4 Irongirl yelled out 8:20, so I knew sub 9:00 was out of the question, but knowing I had no beer to drink I turned it on for the last lap, I wish I had taken splits. I'll try and upload my Garmin data and figure them out.

9:47 is still a PB, and my first legit distance (first was a short track, second was a "Garmin measured" trail). The Garmin Walk with Delilah and Dexter measured 410m, the extra 10m will be attributed to Garmin inaccuracy.

It was a great event, it was nice to have 4 runners, there were 2 no-shows and Rick bailed due to a sore back, which was too bad, 7 runners would've been so cool. Next time perhaps.

It sure was a wicked buzz all afternoon!

Thanks racers for coming out! Thanks fans and spectators for cheering us along, and laughing at us. Thanks Rick for the great photos.

Thanks especially to Kiza for your help and patience. You're the best.