Chipper minus GHD

Tried the Gotham workout from yesterday, with one sub: 30 regular sit-ups (like abmat sit-ups but without the abmat) for the 20 GHD sit-ups. So this is what I did:

2000m row
20 press, 45# bar
20 lunges, 25# plate
30 sit-ups
20 burpees
TIME: 12:35

My row time was 7:40, not so bad, 5 seconds off my PR from two days ago -- I finished the row thinking about transitioning rather than finishing. Oh well. I think I need a day off, and that's what tomorrow will be.

Amy took some video to show me some things in my row, like how I dip my hands as if I need to keep an oar out of the water. Good habit for rowing a boat, energy waster on the erg. Another time waster in the workout: I REALLY needed to blow my nose after the row; that probably killed 5 seconds.

First 500:



Around 1000m mark:



And lunges. I need to step my foot out further:

Butterfly!

Checked out CF Performance this morning in Fairfield. It's a half hour train ride away, but may really be worth it. Ben Kelly (coach) does a lot of video-replay, which showed me some depth problems in my heavier OHS, as well as some technical issues in my kips. Another trainer there, Melissa, showed me how to build up to a butterfly pull-up by circling myself under the bar, which was cool. You make bigger and bigger circles, and then you look up and realize you're right there. In a few minutes, I was getting a few butterflies in a row and it really seemed easy.

I didn't do any timed workout, just an OHS "test" -- 3 attempts for 15 reps:
120# x 10 (F on 11th try)
105 x 15
and something very light for another 15 to improve depth.

Then just worked on pull-ups.

I feel pretty good today, though it would have been nice to get some more sleep -- just over 6 hours last night, maybe? Eating better makes me feel better. This morning I had coffee and cream pre-workout, a cherry/date/almond bar post-workout, and this awesome delicious breakfast when I got home. 2 fried eggs + salsa, 1 strip bacon, 1 avocado:

2K new best

I have been in an outrageously bad mood lately. This morning I had to be at the hospital for a three hour "electronic flowsheet training." When I got home, the latest exam scores had been posted, and I got the worst grade I've gotten on anything in over ten years. Not the end of the world, I guess, but I can be pretty hard on myself about things like that. After fifteen minutes of feeling miserable, I drank a glass of water and got on the rower. Didn't break my goal mark of 7:30, but got closer.

2000m row
Time: 7:34.9

After last night's disaster of a deadlift workout, I needed to do something short, painful, and kind of awesome. So though I'd planned a rest day, this was better.

And since I have a couple hours before I leave for the (other) hospital, here's my food for the first half of the day:
6:15
coffee with cream
2 fried eggs topped with salsa
half an avocado + salt, pepper
3 x fish oil capsule
9
coffee with cream
11:45
2 chicken drumsticks
sweet potato with butter

Bad Day at Gym

School got the best of me today. I meant to wake up early and row 2K, but instead I slept until 6:30 and didn't do anything. Then I sat in a windowless room until 4:30p, came home, ate a lot of snacks, and went to the gym feeling terrible. I've got a lot of negative thoughts in my head, and I've been disappointed with my last couple of workouts.

I deadlifted. Usually this makes me feel great, today it was just disappointing. First my knee locked up while I was warming up on the rower, maybe because I was so cold. Then I was going to do the 10-10-5-5-3-3-1-1 rep scheme of deadlifts that CF Gotham did this morning, but I think I started too ambitious and ended up failing all over the place:

Deads
185# x 10
225# x 10 (first five unbroken, adjusted hands twice for next 5)
255# x 5 (adjusted hands after 3)
255# x 3 (failed on 4)
255# x 3
275# x 1 (failed on 2)
295#F
and I didn't even attempt another single. I just felt terrible, really not able to get over bad thoughts, doubts, my knee hurting a bit. I have felt sluggish lately, partially because of all the sitting I've been doing but mostly just because my head is not in the right place. I need to fix this, soon, but tomorrow is an off day because I've got class 7-10a and then clinical at the hospital until 10p.

Lunge, Crawl, Run

Elm City workout from yesterday:

3 rds for time:
20 walking lunges, 25# plate overhead
20m bear crawl
200m run
20m bear crawl
20 lunges, plate oh
200m run
TIME: 11:53

Wow, I felt slow. And realized I needed to clean up my diet. But then I went to an Indian restaurant for dinner, didn't really do it.

Push Jerk and Pull Up

Took a few days off . . . I guess I needed it, though by yesterday my restlessness turned a bit lethargic. Anyway, headed to Elm City CF today for their WOD. They have a warm-up of the week, which I like, and this week it includes some snatch pulls and RDLs with the bar. The WOD was untimed. I wasn't so sure about that -- usually I'm used to going either heavy or fast. But I went with it, trying to concentrate on nice push jerks and unbroken sets of ten pull ups. My first four sets were, last set broken once.

Strength work:
2 x 3 press 60% max [used 65#]
2 x 3 push press 60% max [used 95# because convenient]
2 x 3 push jerk 65% max [100#]

Then,
5 rds NFT
5 push jerks 65% max [used 100#]
immediately followed by 10 pull-ups

"bonus round"
2 x
25 GHD extensions
25 push-ups

Eating today: pretty good.
am: coffee, cream, oats, butter, pecans
noon: piece of jerky, tuna with mayo and veg, salad greens
snack 1: coffee, cream, lara bar (coconut, nuts, cocoa), orange
snack 2: fried egg, half sweet potato
dinner: chicken breast, spinach, mushrooms, 4 oz red wine
. . . ooh, and then I ate 2 cookies. Need to keep diet cleaner.

After Midnight

First, a note: I have been sort-of trying not to drink so much coffee. The past couple morning workouts I've done, I've skipped the pre- coffee (usually I drink a very small cup, with cream). Unfortunately, this has not yielded very good results. It's hard to tease out whether the workouts Monday and today were sluggish because I need more rest or because my body is used to a little caffeine in the early morning. Or (likely) both.

Anyway, Mike started the morning with a test: max reps rows to the bar. I got 14, chest didn't touch on the 15th.

Then he wrote this on the board: "Gotham After Midnight."
20 DUs
20 squats
10 box jumps
10 push-ups
5 burpees
5 pull-ups

Doesn't seem so bad, I thought. Then he wrote, "12 RDS."

Time: 38:15

Obviously this was not a short workout, but it shouldn't have taken THIS long. The worrisome thing was not that I slowed down towards the end, but that I started really slow. I felt like I was missing that shot of energy that you get hearing the "3, 2, 1, go!" My double-unders got better, not worse, in the last 4 rounds.

I don't know much about the physiology of overtraining, but I think I just didn't get much adrenalin going at the start of things. Last night I had a weird, sudden allergic reaction to being in a carpeted room: sneezing, then coughing uncontrollably, then wheezing and tightness in my chest and back, a wet cough with deep chest congestion, tachycardia, itchy palms, etc. I took benadryl, which helped a bit, and then slept a whole lot. But I wondered, might I have had this allergic reaction because I didn't have the adrenalin to balance out my normal immune response to allergens? (Thinking: "adrenalin" is epinephrine, right? and that's what you give someone with a severe allergic response, like anaphalaxis). Clearly, someone with more medical knowledge would have to answer this question.

"Rest"

This was supposed to be a rest day; I planned on doing active recovery in the morning, just a warm-up and stretching. That's sort of what I did, plus a few new warm-up skills (rope pull-ups) and then some cleans/presses. Amy and I bought some rope at the hardware store after the gym so we can practice the rope pull-ups at home.

After this little bit of lifting I felt terrible, and by the afternoon I just crashed into a wall. I was irritable, tired, sore. The weekend finally caught up with me.

Hang Power Clean - (Strict) Press
10-5-3-1-1
45-65-75-95-95

No timed WOD.

Food:
(no early coffee!)
8:30
-coffee/cream, scrambled eggs, ham/turkey bacon, leftover veggies
the rest of the day, snacked on some beef jerky and almonds and coffee, but had no appetite
8:30
-broccoli
-2 hard boiled eggs
-sweet potato with butter

Eating Lately

Ay. Because I've been busy, the food journaling has suffered. And guess what . . . so has the quality of eating. Had dessert and a little bread after the Challenge, then yesterday ate a steak burrito (including most of the tortilla) at lunch. I needed a lot of calories, but I think I could have picked better things to eat. Anyway, I've got to get back on track. Even if I can't post EVERYTHING I eat in detail.

Another thing: next time I compete I need to bring more quick sugar. Saturday was a little experiment with whole foods on game day, and it didn't go so well (very low energy by event 4). So I'll invest in some Gatorade powder once again. I'll also see if I can nab a bunch of honey packets -- that would be a quick sugar-shot that is actually found in nature. Plus I think they might be freely distributed at Starbucks or McDonalds.

Strongman Seminar

Yesterday I went to Rob Orlando's Strongman Seminar at Hybrid Athletics. Awesome.

I learned way too much to summarize here, but a couple of things really stuck. One was the hard-and-fast idea -- Mike has been telling me this for a while, but I realized I need to get faster with my movements. Another thing I realized is that if I want to compete (and I do), I need to teach my body to wake up quicker -- I'm going to need to do difficult workouts without overcomp work on each motion. This was something that hurt me a little on Saturday. Watching those 75# snatches, I see how slow and awkward the motion looks. There was a ton of technical stuff I learned, too, about shouldering the stone, cleaning the log, continental cleaning the fat bar, etc etc.


(Thanks Casey Geraghty for taking this photo!)

Here are some of the highlights:
-shouldered a 150# stone
-flipped the 650# tire a couple of times, but couldn't get two flips in a row
-continental-cleaned 175# on the fat bar
-cleaned the 10" log with 135#, couldn't press it
-carried the yoke heavier than Saturday
-dragged the tire with the harness, not sure of weight

A lot of fun, and I've got to try to make it back there soon for a "Heavy Friday."

Hybrid Challenge

Late post from Saturday:

Placed 2d in the Hybrid Winter Challenge. Great learning experience: realized how much harder I can work, saw some areas to improve (stone lift, quick calories, turning on-off-on-off). Also met a lot of great people in the CF community.

Event 1: 5 rds for time
30 double unders
7 clapping push-ups
TIME: 3:15

Event 2: Press Medley (115# barbell, #65 dbs x 2, 44# kbs, 90# stone, 100# plate)
TIME: 0:58


Event 3: 3 minutes, max reps 140# back squat
REPS: 59


Event 4: 5 minute AMRAP
400# tire flip x 4
75# snatch x 5
RDS: 5 + 3 flips


Event 5: "Conveyor Belt"
Yoke carry, farmer's walk, stones over bar, deadlifts, tire drag, and one burpee
TIME: 2:46

(Thanks Ken Davis aka Dad for the video clips!)

Back to school

School is back in full force, so these blogs will get a little slim. Last night was my first clinical at the psych unit: a lot more sitting around and talking, a lot less "work" in the physical sense. Today will be a day off (Challege is tomorrow), but yesterday I got in to CF Gotham for this:

-snatch practice (45, 65, 75#)
-7 minutes tabata style 75# snatches and push-ups, total reps: 100

Food yesterday was pretty good, but a lot of coffee.

Bad eating --> bad results

The past couple days I've come home from school with a crazy, ravenous appetite. I go from snack to snack totally unsatisfied. Maybe it's part stress-eating, maybe hormonal, or maybe also that I need more of something in my diet. I thought about what that could be and imagined eating a tablespoon of olive oil, so maybe it's fat. I'm also pretty dehydrated. Whatever it is, it isn't good and feels a bit out of control.

Anyway, I wasn't even going to blog what I ate -- it was a lot to type out, and not all good things. But it's there, below. After I ate a handful of cereal and a spoonful of vanilla ice cream the craving for those things went away, but I got sleepy and sluggish and watched tv lying on the couch. That's something I never do in the afternoon. Then my workout felt crappy. Stiff, achey, etc.

Workout:

3x3 presses: 85, 85, 90#

Then 4 rds for time:
400m run
50 squats
Time: 10:18

My last time for that wod was 9:35, but I wasn't sure about the timing because it was on the wall clock of the gym. Thus, I may have done it faster that time; it's equally possible that I did it faster today. My back got really tight during the sprints and I ran out of energy. My first 400 was 1:20 and they got much slower after that.

Food:
breakfast: coffee with cream (big cup), 2.5 eggs scrambled, 2 strips bacon
snack: almonds
lunch: turkey-pumpkin chili, an orange, coffee with cream
snacks: 2 spoons almond butter, piece of beef jerky, sweet potato with butter, another orange, tea with cream
bad snacks: handful of "shredded spoonful" cereal, spoonful of ice cream
dinner: grilled chicken breast, asparagus in olive oil, salad (greens, tomatoes, ginger dressing)

5x5, Challenge Practice

Last night I dreamed I did 10 butterfly pull-ups in a row. It was the kind of thing you wake up from thinking it's real, feeling accomplished. So it was a bit of a let down to get into the gym and realize how difficult they are. Kipping comes easier now, after working on the swinging bar in "the Crypt." Butterfly and chest-to-bar, those are my new pull-up skills to work.

Yesterday: Off
Sleep last night: 5.5 hours or so, not really enough.

Workout today:

5 x 5 deadlift, 225#
Notes: I warmed up to this with two sets of 5 at 135 and 185#. What surprised me was how easy it is now to warm up to a weight that used to seem very heavy. My first set at 225# was broken for a second between reps 4 and 5 so I could readjust my grip; after that I used a half-reverse grip.

Then, I ran through one of the possible bodyweight workouts for the Hybrid Winter Challenge:
5 rds for time
7 clapping push-ups (chest to ground, then clap)
30 double unders
TIME: 4:35
Room to improve. Messed up double unders a few times, and had some muscle fatigue by the third round of push-ups. Knowing it's only 35 of them, I should crank right through if this comes up in the challenge.

Food today:
breakfast: coffee + cream, oats + butter
snack: lara bar (cherries + pecans)
lunch: salad with chicken breast and dressing, two fried eggs
snack: many almonds, piece of beef jerky, coffee with cream
dinner: a little turkey chili i was cooking for tomorrow, sweet potato with butter, Emergen-C

Total

At Gotham this morning we did CrossFit Total. After a late-ish holiday party last night, I woke up feeling tired and congested and on the train to the gym, my cough started up pretty bad. So when I got there, the first thing I did was think about something one of my teammates said before the national championships: "Today, it doesn't matter how you feel." It was some of the best pre-game advice I ever heard, and it really stuck with me. It really doesn't matter if you got a good night's sleep or if you feel energetic -- it's too late to think about that kind of stuff, you just have to do what you can do. In the end, I didn't make quite as big gains in the squat and the press as I wanted to, though I did PR by 5 lbs in both. My 100# press attempt was very unfocused; I'm confident I will get that soon. The deadlift, I was pretty happy with, a new personal best by 10#. Mental focus and aggressiveness, that's what I need to take into every single heavy lift.

Weights:
back squat: 250#
press: 95#
deadlift: 310#
TOTAL: 655#

That's a 30# improvement over last time (July 17). Tomorrow will be a day off because it's time to get over this cold!

Food:
7:15
-coffee with cream
11:30
-handful of almonds
12
-coffee with cream
-2 scrambled eggs + a little grated cheese
-oats with a little butter, handful of pecans
afternoon/evening
-pumpkin/turkey chili
-almonds
-tea with milk
-green beans in olive oil
-tapioca

Split Jerk

Morning workout: jerks. I got pretty heavy, but as Mike pointed out, I need to make these better to go heavier. Next time will work to perfect reps at a lighter weight before adding on plates. Still, felt good. I'd only done split jerks once before, and when I checked, my previous PR was a whopping . . . 83 lbs!

Split Jerk Weights:
5 x 45, 65, 45#
3 x 65, 75, 85, 95
1 x 105, 115, 125, 135, 145, 155, 160, 165, 170
Failed twice attempting 175. Soon.

Still, a PR by 87# (to be fair, didn't do singles last time).

Food:
5:15
-coffee with cream (small)
9
-coffee with cream (big)
-2.5 eggs scrambled in olive oil with yellow pepper, onion, tomato
1:30 (home for lunch, cooked!)
-piece of halibut cooked in oil, vegetable broth
-greens with "goddess" dressing
-handful of walnuts and pecans
-tea with cream
2:30
-tbsp. almond butter
7-11
Outrageous holiday party dinner. Not sure I can list everything I ate, but I'll try:
-mug of hot, alcoholic/spiced apple cider
-many bacon-wrapped water chestnuts
-shrimp + marinara sauce
-cracker + cream cheese, jalapeno jelly
-glass of red wine
-piece of roast beef
-green beans cooked with bacon, onions
-salad + balsamic dressing
-cupcake
-berries with whipped cream

Tire

Evening WOD at Hybrid Athletics.

First, three rounds for time:
90 second jump rope for reps
90 second box jump to bench for reps
TOTAL REPS: 823
(note: double-unders the first round, singles afterward because they were much faster)

Then, three rounds for time (resting between rds):
90 second tire flip, 400# tire
REPS: 7/9/10

This was great practice for the Winter Challenge next Saturday: one event will be a 5 minute AMRAP of 4 tire flips (400#) and 5 snatches (75#). I'll figure out how fast I can do the five snatches so I have a mental goal going into the event.

Finished with some work getting the stones overhead: succeeded with 61# and 90# several times, failed with 112# but I'm close and I was very tired by that point. Also, after many attempts, flipped the 650# tire. That was pretty crazy. I didn't know if I was going to get it or not. It took so long to get the tire off the ground, and I had my eyes squeezed closed. Everyone was shouting encouragement, "Just keep moving forward!" and stuff like that. Pretty cool. I don't think I've ever succeeded at something like that before, where it was so difficult I genuinely didn't know that I could do it.

Food:
breakfast
-coffee with cream x 2
-oats with almond butter, strawberries
lunch
-2.5 eggs scrambled with tomatoes, red pepper, broccoli, onion (cooked in olive oil)
-2.5 chicken sausages
snack
-4 strawberries
-handful of almonds
-tea with cream
dinner
-salad greens with chicken breast, yellow peppers, carrot, "goddess" dressing

Max Snatch + 15-12-9-5

Worked out at Elm City CrossFit tonight. I really like the coaches there, and it's good to get some new perspectives/teaching points on technique. Vin video'd one of my lighter (75# or so) snatches to show me how I was bending my arms early and how I could improve my posture from the starting position. That was cool, instant slow-mo replay. (Also, thanks to Vin Lindsley for the photo!)

The workout:

10 minutes to achieve max snatch
Results:
105# (full squat)
110# (power, PR)

Then,
15-12-9-5 reps of
Overhead squat, 95#
Dead-hang pull-up
Time: 7:50

The pull-ups killed me. So did snatching that 95# by the end (OHS were off the floor, not out of the rack). But I was glad I went heavier rather than lighter (women's Rx weight was 63#).

Food:
breakfast:
-coffee with cream
-oatmeal with butter, pecans, cinnamon
lunch:
-chicken breast
-spinach (olive oil)
-tea with cream
-handful of almonds
4:30 snack:
-5 pinapple slices
-handful of almonds
7:00 snack:
-sample of salad + salmon at trader joes
dinner:
-spring mix salad + grape tomatoes, a hard-boiled egg, chicken leftovers, ginger-sesame dressing
-few strawberries
-handful of almonds

Little Killer Croc

Workout:

30-second pull-up ladder: 5 rds completed, failed on 6
immediately followed by
30-second push-up ladder, starting with 7 and failing on 12

then, modified (much easier version) of "killer croc."
6 rds for time:
-6 x 40# sandbag clean and dump
-6 x burpees
Time: 4:15

For fun, lifted the "killer croc" sandbag and dumped it a few times . . . a little instruction from Hybrid Athletics goes a long way. I'm excited for that Strongman seminar in two weeks.


Finished with "Practice Makes" with my little bro, not for time.
45# bar, 5-4-3-2-1 reps of back squat, front squat, OHS, press, push press, push jerk, DL, SDHP, hang power clean.

Food:
5:15
-coffee with cream
9:30
-coffee with cream
-3 eggs scrambled with ham, red pepper, onion, grated cheese
3:30
-piece of buffalo jerky
-spoonful almond butter
5
-tea with cream
-2 pieces bacon
-another spoonful almond butter
9:30
-chicken and spinach
-cup chicken broth

More Cleans!

Cleans last night (didn't get kicked out of the gym!!), then more cleans at Gotham this morning. Began with power cleans, 5 times 105# and 115#, and we ran out of time for the last set. Then this WOD:

10 minute AMRAP:
5 x 10-point burpees
10 x sit-ups
15 x squats
Rounds: 8 + burpees

Then, more cleans work. A few clean complexes with 63#. Then a second WOD:

3 rds for time:
5 x 95# power clean
5 x 95# power clean and jerk
5 x 95# push jerk
Time: 5:54

Super slow time, but I was pleased that I kept good form (high elbows) throughout.

Food:
5:15
-coffee with cream
11:30
-3 eggs, 3 slices ham
-1/2 cup walnuts
1
-coffee with cream
-spoonful almond butter
-handful of cashews
-2 turkey meatballs
7: dinner at a fancy restaurant!
-glass of beer
-squash soup
-biscuit, butter
-cod with mushrooms
-half an order bread pudding
-coffee, milk

Cleans, D-Us

Hang Cleans:
3 x 95
3 x 105
3 x 115
3 x 125
3 x 135
1 x 140 (lost grip, think I can manage weight for 3 reps next time)

then, for time:
500 double unders
22:12

The first 100 went pretty quick, downhill from there. Or uphill, as in battle. Finished with 25 HSPU negatives, not on plates because we were at the track.

Food:
scrambled eggs and bacon
2 x coffee with cream
a little leftover veggie/tofu stirfry + 1 shrimp
almond butter (2 spoonfuls?)
buffalo burger + onions, mushrooms, 1 oz cheddar
2 x Emergen-C

New Year, Presses

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day: lots of late dancing and a day off. Eating was good, though.

Today: Press workout CF Gotham did on the 28th, with a slightly different warm-up . . .
-2 rds CF warmup, then
-Press:
5 x 45#, 65
3 x 80#, 85, 90

-65# Press/Push Press/Push Jerk (continuous, max reps with bar racked)
TOTAL REPS: 45
Breakdown: 16/26/3
Disappointing, I switched to push jerks too early . . .

Finished with a successful attempt at 95# press, new PR?*

[NOTE 1/7/10: DON'T COUNT THIS PR, bar maybe not 45#?]

I didn't do HSPUs today . . . tomorrow will start back up with negatives on plates, at least 25 a day. And, because I'm having fun with a hand-me-down Flip camera, here's Amy starting her presses.



Food today:
-coffee with cream
-oats with walnuts, cream, butter, cinnamon
-spoonful of almond butter
-couple pieces of beef jerky
-hardboiled egg
-spoonful of peanut butter
-tofu and shrimp stir-fry with vegetables
-emergen-C x 2

Kettlebells

Thursday Workout:
Kettlebell work, then . . .
Max reps kb snatch in 10 minutes
141 reps with 16kg
(note: moved feet after 120)

Food:
I'm posting late, so this won't be detailed . . .
-coffee with cream
-scrambled eggs with vegetables
-steak
-broccoli and green beans
-nuts
-shrimp
-piece of apple tart
-more coffee, cream
-two glasses wine, two glasses champagne
-cheese
-cookies