11/28 WOD

"Linda"

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet:

Deadlift: 1 1/2 body weight
Bench press: body weight
Clean: 3/4 body weight

Set up three bars and storm through for time.

Okay, I thought this Linda chick was only supposed to show up like once per year. Again already? Crap. At least I get to re-post the Linda Carter Wonder Woman photo again... Rrrrrrrowrrrrrrrr. I remember how much this one crushed me on 8/12/09. 41:25 and it took me like 4 days to recover.

This time I had taken some time off for Thanksgiving. Very little to no activity and ate like a mad man. So I come home to this. Well, I know that I can do it, but should I scale it this time since I have been off? Nope, as a matter of fact, upped the weight a little bit:

DL - 242.5#
BP - 161.5#
SC - 121.5#

BW around 158ish.

Felt pretty good on the first round of 10. But it was all downhill after that. But that being said I still PR'ed big time - 36:51. Moved almost 29,000 lbs. Oh I was crushed though. Was on the floor in fetal position for a long time then barely had the energy to get up on my hands and knees. Will feel this one for awhile, I guarantee that. I'm wondering if I reached the point of doing more harm than good... Time for some serious recovery time.

11/25 WOD

400 meter Walking lunge

Post time and number of steps to comments.

Well, walked 18 holes of golf carrying a 40# bag or so. Played the worst round of golf in over 10 years. Makes pounding a stake into the ground seem easy... :)

11/24 WOD

Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

No access to weights so did handstand pushups instead. Pretty weak effort really.

5-7-6

11/22 WOD

Complete as many rounds as possible in twenty minutes of:
25 Burpees
Body weight back squat, 15 reps

Well, thought I would do okay on this one but those squats felt heavy. 160#. Burpees always suck and I made sure to touch the ceiling in my garage on every jump (6"-8") so legit burpees.

3 full rounds and 25 burpees. Had about 16 secs left but there was no way I was getting back under that bar.

Rest/travel day here I come...

11/21 WOD

For time:
21 Handstand push-ups
400 meter Run
21 Weighted pull-ups
15 Handstand push-ups
400 meter Run
15 Weighted Pull-ups
9 Handstand Push-ups
400 meter Run
9 Weighted Pull-ups

Okay, pre-workout meal was a full rack of babyback ribs from Chili's, so expectations weren't super high for this one. Scaled to my "cheater" HSPU's where I use my squat rack maxed out in height. I'm vertical, but grab the bar with the heels of my shoe so I utilize some pulling with the legs. Still really tough. Would've taken way too long to try to do them against the wall. Ran on the treadmill at maxed out speed 9.5mph-10.0mph. Did weighted pull-ups with 20# vest.

15:20

11/20 WOD

Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Well, it was PR week this week, so decided it was going to happen here. I skipped the 11/18 WOD, Elizabeth, after Angie/Fran PR's. I really needed that extra rest. I'm sure that helped me to my new DL PR of 374!!! Previous 364. So exciting. Getting closer to 400...

309-333-344-354-364-374-380(F)

The last rep was a futile effort. There was no way that was going up. I really felt that 374 and was super happy. Was going to just not even attempt it but then I thought, "what if?" No way. Next time!

11/17 WOD

"Fran"

Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

Strangely again excited about this WOD. Haven't done it since July, so was excited to see what type of progress I'd made. Previous best was 8:08. Was hoping to hit right around 7 minutes this time. Did some warming up and that 95# thruster felt really heavy. I thought to myself, "no effing way am I going to have that good of a time". Oh ye of little faith...

5:43!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy chit - another crushing PR. 2:25 off my PR. Smashing baby yeah!!! (but I was in the fetal position for a good 10 minutes afterward and still felt funny 30+ minutes later). Great couple of results though the last two days. Maybe that sub-5 minute Fran is attainable...

11/16 WOD

"Angie"

For time:
100 Pull-ups
100 Push-ups
100 Sit-ups
100 Squats

Oddly enough I was excited to give Angie a shot again. This time though I strategized to see how I could improve my time. For the pull-ups, I calculated that if I did 10 pull-ups every 54 seconds, I would hit 9 mins. Previous best time for pull-ups was 9:48. I'd take that. And I did them in 8:44! No real other strategy for the remaining, but did my best to minimize breaks. Previous times were:

27:48 (3/16)
22:47 (4/19)
22:51 (9/26)

I crushed it this time - 20:20!!! Almost a 2.5 min improvement! Totally stoked. I improved in every category except for the dang situps. I was actually 21 seconds worse than my best situp effort. Had I tied my previous situp best I would've come in at 19:59, a number I thought that was near impossible for me. Next time I will go with 10 pullups every 50 seconds...

8:44 pullups
4:27 pushups
4:59 situps
2:10 squats

11/14 WOD

Five rounds for time of:
95 pound Push-jerk, 15 reps
15 L pull-ups

Hate to push Eva's photo down, but have to keep moving forward. Well, more disappointment after last night's disappointment. Different kind of disappointment though so I funneled that energy into tonight's workout. Wanted to skip it but decided I needed to make up for last night.

L pull-ups were slightly bent knees but otherwise pretty solid. Not sure if I went down far enough but pretty close if not full ROM.

Total time - 15:33

Breakdown by rounds - 1:39, 2:26, 4:06, 3:41, 3:41

Ooh boy tired after that effort. But felt much better than last night. Looking forward to tomorrow's rest day (of course I'll be grouting an entire shower so not sure how much rest I'll get... :) )

11/13 WOD

"Eva"

Five rounds for time of:
Run 800 meters
2 pood Kettlebell swing, 30 reps
30 Pull-ups

Oh fok, not Eva! Well, I think the week off prior, poor sleep all week, the travel, etc. conspired against me. I knew this was one of the toughest WODs I've ever done and I think mentally I couldn't muster it. Last time I paced myself and got through in 53:19 (scaled the KB swings to 1.5 pood).

This time I felt like hell and abandoned (sounds better than quit) after two rounds. 19:53 (800m's were like 3:17 and 3:24 on the treadmill). I was actually ahead of my pace of last time by 1:17. Dang, now that I know that I wish I had fought through the pain. Next time I will not let her beat me down.

11/12 WOD

Clean and Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Seems as though when I take a short break I come back to a heavy lifting WOD. Oh well, it is what it is. Haven't done this one before so wasn't sure where to start.

CFWUx2, 65x4, 90x4 warmup

Okay, felt ready to go, but form not so sure of.

120, 132, 142, 147, 152, 162, 172

I think on the last two they had some pressing at the end to get the weight up. But I did get it overhead so that was cool. Struggled a bit in the hole but managed to get out of it. I'll definitely start heavier next time.

Business Trip Hiatus

Well, decided to take a little time off since I was traveling. But couldn't sit completely still so did 5x5 handstand pushups last night. Definitely ready to get back at it!

11/6 WOD

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
65 pound Power snatch, 12 reps
10 Push-ups

A new one for me. Looked somewhat tame, but as was the case, when it looks easy, it will crush you. Found myself needing to take breaks periodically. The power snatch is an aggressive move that requires some output. Good fun.

11 full rounds + 11 power snatches

11/5 WOD

With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able.

Use as many sets each minute as needed.

So after the 150 pullup fun, I had some high expectations for this one. Last time on 8/13 I did:

8 rounds + 7 additional pull-ups. 43 total pull-ups.

So I had a nice target to shoot for. And I smashed it! So exciting!!!

10 full rounds (dead hang pullups) + rounds 11 & 12 doing my pseudo-kip + 11 more in round 13. Dayamn. 55 dead hangers and 34 kippers for a total of 89. Nice. I am happy. :)

11/4 WOD

"CrossFit Total"

Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

I love and really dislike this WOD... I love being able to see if I have improved. I really dislike the suffering involved. Although better than a metcon, I am always "all in" on the deadlift. And that usually wipes me.

Last time, did:

Back Squat - 254
Shoulder Press - 132
Deadlift - 354
Total - 740

This time, did:

Back Squat - 250
Shoulder Press - 133 (PR)
Deadlift - 364 (PR)
Total - 747 (PR)

So sweet, a new PR! I thought the DL was 360, turns out it was 364! I'll take it. I failed at 260# on the back squat, I think my feet are too far apart when I'm squatting. Probably could go a little heavier on the shoulder press now too - used the "suicide" grip and was much more explosive in my push (making sure not to use the body at all). So Next time definitely should be able to crack the 750 mark. That is 4.75X my body weight so edging ever slightly closer to the 5X body weight goal.

Progression notes:

BS - warmup 44x8, 133x4, 210x1; 230, 250, 260(F)
SP - warmup 44x8, 75x4; 122, 127, 133(PR)
DL - warmup 132x8, 220x4; 330 (this rep was brutally ugly, thought it was going to be a bad night), 345, 364(PR)

11/2 WOD

Four rounds, each for time of:
800 meter run

Rest as needed between efforts.

Have hardly run at all lately, not too thrilled about running. But after yesterday's evil WOD, there was no way I was going to do any strength/lifting related WOD, as the body is starting to feel the after-effects of 150 pullups. So why not, subject myself to the evil 800's.

Decided to run on the treadmill as it is just more convenient. Problem is I can outsprint the highest speed on it (10.2MPH) so my times were actually slower on the treadmill than on the street. Here are my splits with 4 minute breaks:

3:22 - 3:14 - 3:14 - 3:12

Glad I finished strong. Still way slower than my last effort on 8/10. Definitely didn't feel like I was going to puke or pass out like last time:

2:41(PR) - 2:58 - 2:56 - 2:49

11/1 WOD

For time:
25 Squats
25 Push-ups
25 Pull-ups
25 Sit-ups
50 Squats
50 Push-ups
50 Pull-ups
50 Sit-ups
75 Squats
75 Push-ups
75 Pull-ups
75 Sit-ups

Now whoever devised this workout is just plain evil. For a lot of people, a 3/4 Angie (100 of each pullups, pushups, situps, squats) is a tough workout. Well, how about a nice warmup of a 3/4 Angie for the 3/4 Angie? Brutality I tell you.

Needless to say most of the pullups were my full body dry heave attempt at kipping pullups. I mixed in a set of 10 chinups too at one point. Just ugliness. Oh and for good measure I bashed my chin on the way down on one pullup. I think around 120 or so. Thank gawd that one is over... 37:43