The End of the Open 2013

So I took two cracks at Open workout 13.5. In attempt 1, I did what a lot of people do - came out guns blazing. How'd that work out? 1 round in <90 -="" 150="" a="" in="" p="" remaining="" right="" round="" seconds.="" seconds="" the="" then........half="" tool="" what="">
But you see that over, and over again. And knowing myself - asthma, not an endurance athlete, etc... I should have been smarter.

So for the only time in 2013, I took one more shot. I went back to the drawing board. I knew I was not going to get to 90 reps, but I thought I could do 2 rounds, 60 reps. Pacing myself out of the gate and relying on my strength - powerful intervals - was the way to go. In round 1 I did 3 sets of 5 thrusters and then 5 sets of 3 chest to bar pullups. Took me a little longer than 90 seconds, but I felt strong after that. And with about 2 minutes left to work........A CrossFit Miracle.

I picked up that barbell and banged out all 15 thrusters in round 2 without dropping. Surprised myself, and certainly any one else who knows me and was paying attention. Ended up with 59 reps after my grip went. Fell off the bar in a dramatic flair.

It's nice to outperform yourself once in a while. A great way for me to end the Open.

Next up - knee surgery, and rehab. About time.

13.5 revealed

I should have just predicted a Fran wod. I had been telling people all week I thought they would pull it out again, but people dismissed it.

Goal is to get through 90 reps, but since my Fran time is more like 5 minutes, and this is chest to bar Fran I am going to predict.....


64 reps. Let you know soon.

13.5!!! See it here first.

Below is a recap the movements we have seen in the 3 Opens and the time domains:

Based on all of that - my best guess is that we will have wod >10 minutes and including*

-c2b pullups, hspu and a squat (likely a squat clean) ....

In 2011 and 2012 there twice as many wods 10 minutes or longer as those under 10 min. So I am guessing longer for 13.5. And in 2013 we have yet to have pullups - a crossfit staple, or (heavy front) squats like in 2011.3, and hspu cause this is my blog and want to see them.

Data...

2013....
week 1 - burpees, snatches 17 min
week 2 - overhead press, deadlift, box jumps  10 min
week 3 - wallball, d/u, muscle ups 12 min
week 4 - clean&jerk, toes to bar 7 min
week 5 - Pain


2012...


week 1 - burpees 7 min
week 2 - snatch ladder 10 min
week 3 - box jump, push press, t2b 18 min
week 4 - wallball, d/u, muscle ups 12 min
week 5 - thrusters, c2b pullups 7 min

And from 2011....

week 1 - snatch, double unders 10 min
week 2 - deadlifts, pushups, box jumps 15 min
week 3 - 165# sq clean thurster - 5 min
week 4 - burpees, ohs, muscle ups 10 min
week 5 - power cleans, t2b, wallball 20 min
week 6 - thrusters, c2b pullups 7 min

*I reserve the right to delete this blog post after the wod is announced and I am made a fool of....

13.1 results

I did not do nearly as well as I had hoped. I feel like I am a ton stronger than last year, and my snatch weights have reflected that. But all the burpees wore me down. Which is exactly the point. And as low as my score was (116, or only 16 snatches through at 135#) it reflects where I am. I was strong enough to do the lifts, just to tired to put them together. No misses. Lots of staring at the bar.

Surprisingly, my results were not too bad compared to other masters competitors. 60th percentile of 40+. and 70th percentile of the 45 and older (I'm pretty close).

On to week 2.

Open 2013.1

116 reps, or 16 reps of the 135# snatches. I had hoped to get through all 30, and perhaps I had time to. But I was sucking wind so badly, I just wanted it to end. A great workout, and 1 more snatch than last year. I'll take that as an improvement.

Before and after

The Open!

The 2013 Crossit Open is upon us. In 24 hours or so we will know whether we get to do another 7 minutes of burpees, wall walks, or 30 muscle ups for time. Let the bitching begin.....

All I know is that from Jan 1 - now (about 9 weeks) I have kicked it into gear and my Crossfit results have never been better. Despite one seriously bum knee, I have had PRs in deadlift x 1, deadlift x 3, clean, snatch, muscle ups, double unders, you name it. And even my metcons seem better. Or at least not as bad as they recently were. One of only 3(?) teams to finish the wod in under 20 minutes last Sat, which is just one example of how I have been able to push through a little more than before.

I thank Jerry Hill, Melissa Lopes, Kelly Fox and Grace Chung for the coaching and motivation. I am grateful to the Lunch Bunch and the entire CFOT community for tolerating me and encouraging me.

And Mike Hart. Having him at lunch bunch a few times a week is exceedingly inspirational. If he is not quitting, then there is no quitting.

So no matter how well I do in the Open, I feel good. I have put in work, and had good results. How good, remains to be seen.

3,2,1.... Go

3.4 m/u, hspu and clean burpee metcon

Emon x 10 alternating. 3/15.

Cleans at 185 for 7 min. 3 rds + 1

Sat 3.1

4 rds of fun with Pete. 20 snatch 95#, 30 t2b, 40 burpees.

2/27 muscle ups and a metcon

Emom x 7. 3 each for 4, then 2 each.

16 min of fun.

2/26 - Strict Press x5

166.5!!

Mon 2/25

Emom x 7. 3 PS 115, the max du. 179 total. 50, 30, .20... 19 the lowest.

Rest 7 min

Emom x 7. DL x 6@205. Then max burpees. Total 50. Easy then really tough.

Sat 2/23 - partner wod

5 rds sharing 20 power cleans, 20 FS or DL. The 20 partner push-ups each. Fun!! 21:47

Not lean, but kinda mean as we head to the 2013 Open. 171# - heavy.

Aerobic tests

Part of Adam's project. Did 9 times through of.

8 hang cleans 125#
8 hspu
20-25 d/u
4 min rest.

At first 50 sec. Then 36-39.

Crushed.

2/21-Snatch 155#!

Then Isabel in 6:41.

A crusher

750m row
5 rds of
25 wallball and 5 muscle ups
750m row

22:47.

So looking at this wod, I was scared to death. I had rowed 4,000m last night, and given my 5'7" stature, I hate wall balls. 25 muscle ups is no cake walk either.

But it all came together. Melissa tore up the initial row and never slowed down, but I tried hard to stay within a round of her. That helped. Taking the wod one round at a time was the other key. Nothing else I could do.

I am just happy to finish within 30 minute time cap.

And now I am sore and a little broken down.

Mon 2/18 - 3, 6min wods

6 minutes each - 3 min break. 


A. 5 reps - 185# Power cleans/hspu - 4rds + 2.
B. 10 reps - 185# DL/Abmats - 6 rds.
C. 10 and 30 reps - Muscle Up to dips/double unders - 5.5 rounds.

rx called for hang squat cleans. I did a few in warmup with 95 and 135. Felt good. Really good. But I am following doctors orders anyway. I am happy to know that if a moderately heavy squat shows up in the open, I can try it. 

But once again - any time I can hit a wod, get some work in, and not get hurt is a good day 

Dear blog ... I'm fat

Well, well, well. In all the hoopla of finally getting a 225# clean and a 400# deadlift, I omit to report on the fact that my diet is crappy, and I'm >170 for the first time in years.

Carrying some extra size may help me with strength, but the body weight and gymnastics movements have suffered. A lot.

Open starts in 2 weeks. I'm screwed.

Rest

Sat/sun off. Very, very sore from 5 straight days.

Hspu for 8 min. 10min met con

Set a goal of 12. Based on Jerry's 11. 5 easy rounds. Then some struggle. Last few were tough.

Row/wb/du/wb/run. 10:39. Nice weather at least.

Cleans 2/14

First up- 10 sets of 3 reps from the hang. 145/155/165/185-------165. Got a little heavy after a while. Had some misses. But I was aggressive.

Then - 14 reps. 135/145. Grip killer.

Tuesday 2/13 - Open prep

A 10 minute amrap. Goal was to keep working despite the extreme discomfort and heavy breathing. I am learning to keep going. Getting better. Endurance wods really help with this.

I ended up slugging through 30 burpees the second time around, and was able to move on. Just kept moving.

Sat wod

Worked with Garry Gunder on this Sat partner wod. Cleans, thrusters and burpees. Glad to get a Sat wod in.

5 weeks in to 2013 I have made my goal of 4 wods a week - plus a few endurance wods. That is despite an extreme travel schedule.

Do work.

400# Deadlift!!!

Amazing to think that after 4 years of Crossfitting, I can still get stronger. While my form may be a little better, I really felt stronger the other day.

I used Jerry's percentage progression as shown below, and set it for 400. The last lift was not ideal, but legit.

Below is the lift progression based on 50%, 65, 75, 85, 93 and 100% of your target.

And my lucky striped-pink socks that I had to wear. Left my gym socks at home.

Snatch, then a metcon

Although I cannot / do not squat snatch. Every time snatch comes up in a wod I try hard to improve my form, without much regard to the weight. An oddly enough, weights that used to scare me or feel really heavy no longer do. A 95# power snatch for 10 reps feels easy. 115# doable. And 135# for a few reps - not a problem. Compared to even last year when 135# was my 1 rep max - with a press out.

Today - Wod A. 10 minutes - 2 reps per minute from the hang. I started at 95 and worked to 120#. Felt good.

Wod B. 3 times through 10 reps each of 135# push press, burpee and 80# kbs. Went mostly unbroken. A little breathing on the burpees.

What's the point, anyway?

The point of a blog is that you can be a little more expressive than a 140 character tweet; more than a snappy FB post.

And the point of Crossfit is to be as fit as you can be. Fitter than you can get at a globo gym, fitter than having a personal trainer.

And the point of a Crossfit Blog? Everyone has a different slant.  Drywall is funny as well.  http://www.talkinfit.com . Outlaw mixes his O-lift slanted programming with insightful fitness babble. http://outlawcoach.wordpress.com. And me, who knows what I do.

And every Crossfitter has has a different reason for hitting the wods, and they can change over time.

So what am I doing sweating, bleeding, aching, limping around for. As I approach my 4 year anniversary of Crossfit, I thought it would be a good time to reflect.

When I first joined CF, I made huge strides very quickly. Lost over 30 pounds. Got stronger. Got a little faster, and learned a ton about mobility and nutrition. Then sometime into it, I either tore, or re-tore (sp?) my right ACL. And ever since, my knee has been a swollen mess with severely limited mobility.  Two cortisone shots later squatting below parallel is kind of out of the question.

But despite the fact that just about every Crossfit movement is based on a squat, I carry on. I know that my quality of life is better now and hopefullt for many years to come. Being strong has benefits in every day life. Being conditioned as well. And better nutrition and mobility hopefully will keep me lean and active for years, which is at this point - all I can hope for.

More rambling later.

OPT Assessment

A while back I signed up to go through the assessment process that Adam Murphy was running. Having someone else judge, score and critique your movements is always a plus. This process seems to be quite in depth as evidenced by not being able to finish it today's session in 45 minutes. And in fact, the assessments felt like a bit of a workout.

Snatch complex and max reps

Warmup of 2,000m row. Very slow pace. Some mobility wod work. 

A. Power snatch/not squat snatch. 95, 95, 115,115,125,125,135.


 B. 95# for 9/10/12. 
More of a grip challenge.

More importantly, first wod with my new black nano 2.0's. I like. I like them a lot. 

Lucky 7s

First up, I warmed up and did my CFOTe wods. 1,500m row to warmup. Some stretching. Then:

750m row x3. Pace about 2:00. Rest/stretch about 3 minutes after each. I did not want to tire myself out too much, since I did this immediately prior to the regular wod. But I was definitely warmed up after these intervals.

Wod 1 - 7 min amrap of 10 box jumps (24") and 5 hspu. I did 7 rounds plus 4 reps. Scaled from 30" box to 24"as I still fear jumping down and what it will do to my knee. So stepping down limits me to about a 24"box. This wod felt good. I did not get too tired.

Rest 7 min

Wod 2 - 10 kbs with 53# ( subbed for 75# thrusters, again out of knee cation) and 5 toes to bar. 6 rounds even. I did tire at the end of this and only got 2 rounds in the final 3 minutes, after being on a 1 round per minute pace.

I feel like my knee limits almost any wod I do. But the reality is I have no ACL and severe swelling and arthritis in my right knee. Squatting bothers it. And my doc told me not to. So for once, I am taking his advice. Likely looking at surgery in a few months to see if they can remove some floating loose bodies in my knee and reduce some of the swelling. Wish I could do everything, but I can't. Getting older is a slap in the face. Have to face up to some depressing realities some times. Have to push it when I can, which makes my 225# clean PR yesterday all that much sweeter.

225

A 225# Power Clean is a pretty big bench mark. Kind of like back in the days of "whatta ya' bench". Anything less than 225# was not big league.

So after nearly 4 years of crossfitting, and after a year plus of being stuck somewhere between 215# and 220# - today was my day. Subbing out 1 rep of Power Cleans (Missed from yesterday's wod) for today's back squats (which I cannot do anymore) I worked 95/135/155/175/195/205/215 3 misses at 225 and then finally 225#.

Despite the misses, I felt strong and the lifts were pretty easy. The final lift landed comfortably on my shoulders without me anywhere near a full squat. So obviously no that I am past this mental hurdle, bigger #s are on the way.

#2013 is a new year.


p.s. 15 sets of 5 unbroken ctb pullups. A struggle to finish at 11:19. After 10 sets, I was losing power and it got real tough.

2013

So Jeremy Moss asked me to take the blog off the cinder blocks in the yard, and get it going again.

Can do. Work is busier than in the past, but frankly - keeping a wod narrative is smart. And I have missed having records.

First wod recap coming up shortly.