Tuesday, August 4, 2015

8/1/2015- Gemini Games

Brandie and I competed in the Gemini Games today, and we killed it. It was awesome. 

We were confident going in that we were going to do well, and our goal was to make the podium. GOAL ACHIEVED. But first, a quick recap of the events. 

Event 1- Back squat ladder
6:00 Time cap
Women start at 95#. Each partner performs three back squats and then adds 20#. Keep adding until time runs out/you fail a rep.

Placement overall- 10th

I was excited for this event, I love a good ladder. Brandie and I had to do a bit of math before the workout started, I thought we were just going to be stacking tens (classic) but they had two pairs of tens, a pair of fives, 2.5s, a couple pairs of 45s and a pair of 25s. Before the event we made sure to run through the order of adding/subtracting the weight so we knew exactly what was going on when it was go time. I went first, then Brandie did her reps and added/took off weight (I would have helped, but one partner had to always be at the start line, sorry buddy!). We both hit 215 for three reps! It was easy and fun.




Event 2- Max pull ups
Partners have 3:00 to do one max set of pull ups each. Once you drop off the bar, you're done. 

Placement overall- 2nd

We had one minute between the back squat ladder and the pull ups. I went first and really screwed the pooch on this one. The judge asked me if I had my pull up bar picked out and I told her which one I was using, my mistake was not asking the other teams around me which bars THEY were using. It was just sort of every man for himself. I jumped up on my bar but at the same time a girl from another team jumped up to the bar perpendicular to mine. We started our butterfly pull ups at the same time and were basically kicking each other every rep, it was extremely distracting and I felt like I wasn't able to kip as much as I normally do. After 10 reps I stopped and shuffled down a bit but at that point I had been hanging for too long and my grip was getting tired. I managed to get 12 more reps before I had to drop off the bar with a measly 22 pull ups. LAME. Brandie went next and crushed it with 41 pull ups. She carried us on this one. 




Event 3- Climbing Chief
AMRAP in 15:00
3 power cleans (85-95-105-110-115-125-135)
6 hand release push ups
9 air squats
Weight increases every 5 rounds
Partners alternate rounds

Placement overall- 3rd

I was actually looking forward to this workout the most. During the briefing they told us partners don't have to alternate every round but Brandie and I decided that would be the most efficient plan, and it definitely was. We had an excellent transition system. After the first partner did the cleans, the other partner would roll the bar back and stand directly in front of it. As soon as partner 1 was done with the air squats, she would tag partner 2 while walking to the right of the bar as partner 1 stepped over the bar to begin the power cleans. One person was always working. When it was time to change weights, partner 1 would take the clips off and as soon as partner 2 was done with air squats she would grab the weights and we would both put them on. EFFICIENCY. Our goal was to get to 135 and we did. We moved extremely well during this event. The only confusing part was keeping track of when the weight was supposed to go up, the rounds were flying by so quickly it was hard to remember what round we were on. I kept asking Brandie during her push ups if we would be adding weight the next round. Overall we kept moving and had great transitions. 

Event 4- 6-5-4-3-2-1 AMRAPS
On a running clock:
6:00 AMRAP of 1 stone over shoulder (75#) & 1 wall climb
5:00 AMRAP of row cals
4:00 AMRAP of hang power snatches (65#)
3:00 AMRAP of burpee box jump overs
2:00 AMRAP of overhead squats (65#)
1:00 AMRAP of shuttle run (10m down/back)
one person working at a time

Placement overall- 2nd

Brandie and I definitely did not go into this workout in the best of moods. After the climbing chief event the heats were switched around so the top 5 teams went last, which meant we had to wait for almost four hours before we did the descending AMRAP event. By the time it was our turn to compete it was 4:00 PM, we were tired from being in the sun all day and sort of just wanted the day to be over. We were in fourth place sitting a few points out of third. We wanted to get on the podium so we knew we had to just stay moving the entire time, someone always had to be working. The stone over shoulder/wall climb event was actually pretty enjoyable, hopping over the wall was fun. Since the clock never stopped running between AMRAPS, one partner always had to be ready at the next station. I started the row and we rotated between 15 cals each. As soon as the 5:00 was over, I started on the hang snatches. Apparently our cycle speed was much faster than the other teams, that's what Heather and Pat told me. My hands tore pretty badly during the hang snatches, we had a really rusty bar and every time I turned the bar over it would rip my hands more and more. The burpee box jump overs were definitely the worst part. We broke these up in sets of 2 each. The gravel was really hot and it was pretty painful to stick my freshly torn hands on the searing hot gravel. Yeeeesh. I was moving pretty slowly at this point, but we always stayed moving. Brandie started on the overhead squats and KILLED IT, she knocked out a set of 20 in a row, I did 13, she did about 13-15 and I did 10 before time ran out. Pat said our cycle time on the OHS were much faster than the other teams. By the time we got to the shuttle run, I wanted to throw up. The run was more of a wobbly jog, our legs were smoked and we were drained from being in the sun. When this event was over we both collapsed in the grass. 

I thought we did a great job on this event. Our transitions were quick and one person was always accumulating reps at all times. Apparently our cycle speed was pretty awesome too. The last two events of this competition were all about putting your head down and just grinding through the work. Usually I'm not very good at that, but I can tell I'm getting better. When I started to breathe hard I would tell myself not to panic and to keep moving. Brandie and I always had great communication and never left the other one hanging. 





When it was all said and done, we ended up on the podium in third place! We were both very surprised, it was impossible to tell how many reps the other teams were accumulating during the last event so we had no idea if we had scored enough points to bump us up to third. A second place finish in the last event was enough, and we clinched third place. 




I am so proud of our performance during this competition. We had a plan for every event and stuck to it. We never stopped moving, we were there for each other, and we just did the work. We also got to watch Duprie compete, I met Brandie's friends from OTR, and our CSC buds came to cheer us on.  It was a great day. Now it's time to get ready for the Tri-State Throwdown this weekend with Alex, Brandie, and Conner. Onward!















7/31/2015

AM
30:00 airdyne @Z1, off every 5 for 5 box jumps w/step down

PM
A. Power snatch, build to a single @85% of 1RM
B. DB bench press, 3x3-4, 20x1; 2:00 rest
+
10:00-20:00 very easy movement prep for tomorrow
+
8 sets:
:30 airdyne @very high aerobic effort
:30 airdyne @50%

AM
complete

PM
A. complete @130
B. 45-50-55(2)
+
complete
+
complete


Enjoyed the box jumps during the AM session. 

Power snatch was super easy, it took about four minutes to build up to 130. I went 105-125-130. These are getting really crisp.

DB bench press was alright. It's always the first rep that's really difficult, then the other three aren't as bad. I was only able to get two reps at 55. 

Comp prep with Brandie was cool, we worked on transitions with the bar, pull ups, and figured out a plan for breaking up the reps between the two of us. 


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