Thursday, March 31, 2016

2016 Open Recap

Well, another CrossFit Open has come and gone. 

It's hard for me to describe the 2016 Open, it was so different from my experience last year in a number of ways. The workouts, the atmosphere, the way I viewed the entire process-all of it was different. From a performance standpoint, this wasn't my best Open. The workouts were tough for me this year and I finished 269th in the region compared to last year's 118th finish. I contributed on one workout for my team as opposed to three last year. My life completely revolved around the Open for five weeks last year and this year it was just another piece of my life. I don't want that to come off like I didn't care about it because I absolutely did, but this year I found myself with a lot more on my plate, in a good way. 

I guess if I could describe this Open I would say it was a huge learning experience. This was the first time I was able to step back from the all the craziness and see how it falls into the bigger picture. My main goal was to put forth my absolute best effort on every workout and I believe I did. Everything else was out of my hands. I came away from this Open with a new appreciation for my teammates, new goals, and a better perspective of myself. 

In my recap last year I listed my favorite moments from the Open. While I certainly had a lot of good moments this year, I want to talk more about what I learned this time around. 

Here's what I took away from the 2016 CrossFit Open


1. The Open is only five weeks out of the year, so don't let it wipe away all of your progress

You know how in Men In Black they use that device called a neuralyzer and it wipes out someone's memory? The Open can have that same effect on an athlete. For some reason we sometimes tend to let the Open completely obliterate our memory of all the progress we've made over the past year. In our minds if we don't perform well on these five random workouts we must not be as fit as we thought, right? Wrong. We don't have control over these workouts because we are not Dave Castro. All we can do is perform the workouts to the best of our ability. Last year, three out of the five workouts were completely in my wheelhouse. Handstand push ups and power cleans? Yes please. A max clean and jerk? Yep. Ring muscle ups? Nailed it. This year there was only one workout I was 100% confident I would crush and it was 16.3. It was the only workout in which I contributed a top three score. Does this mean I haven't made any progress over the past year? Does it mean I'm not as good as I thought I was? No. Even though I didn't contribute on 16.4, if it had come up last year the wall balls and row would have completely destroyed me. Even though I didn't contribute a score on 16.5 I still shaved off over a minute from my previous 2014 score. Don't base your entire worth off these five workouts. Take it as a learning experience and work on your weaknesses during the off season. Don't forget how hard you've worked in the other 47 weeks of the year. 

2. Don't obsess about what other people are doing 

Let's take a trip back in time to 2013. I had been a member of CSC for a little over a year and I decided I wanted to be on the regionals team. This automatically meant every single female in the gym was a threat to me and became my most mortal enemy, at least that's how I looked at it at the time. I was constantly comparing myself to the other females. I would obsess over their numbers, get upset if they snatched more than me, get pissed if they figured out how to do muscle ups, etc. This is actually pretty hard for me to write because I can't believe I was such an unsupportive asshole at one point in my life. The 2013 Open rolled around and I believed this was my chance to show everyone how much I deserved to be on the team. I performed well on most of the workouts but what I remember most about that year is the stress. I would stand there while the other females were doing the Open workouts, my beady little eyes darting around trying to figure out if they were going to beat me. If someone did worse than me I would secretly celebrate. If someone beat me I would get upset. I was a straight up jerk. CSC qualified a team to regionals and guess what? I was the alternate. I didn't go to regionals. Instead of focusing on my own performance and supporting my teammates I was too obsessed with beating everyone and in the end it didn't do me any good. That was the worst Open of my CrossFit career, not because of my performance but because of how I acted. I could have spent those five weeks having fun with the other members of the gym but instead I was childish and insecure. This story brings me to my point: don't obsess about other people. Worry about yourself and your performance. Come in and do YOUR best. You can't control how other people perform, you only have control over your own score. It's not worth the stress and it gets you nowhere. Getting upset because someone snatched more than you won't make you stronger. Throwing a hissy fit because someone beat you in a workout doesn't make you fitter. Put your head down and do the work, that's all there is to it. This actually leads me to my next point...

3. Be thankful for your teammates

I could seriously write one million blog posts about how awesome and talented my CSC teammates are. I could write an entire book on Emily Deet alone. But I'll save that for another time. Every year I am blown away by my friends performances during the Open. We're all used to training together but the Open is a different beast. This is when people push themselves to the absolute limit and it's always amazing to see. "Be thankful for your teammates" has a couple different meanings. Being on a team is probably one of the coolest experiences anyone can have. It's a group of friends who are passionate about the same thing, have the same goal and want to help each other get there. There's nothing better than that. It's a built-in support group. The other great thing about a team is the fact that everyone has different strengths and everyone steps up to the plate when they need to. When 16.1 was announced I knew I probably wouldn't be contributing. I am not a "20 minute" athlete. Lucky for me, there are several other people who are 20 minute athletes. Do you think I was mad about the fact that Megan beat me by literally 70 reps on 16.1? Eff no! I was thrilled. Being aerobic is her jam. She's awesome. If my modest 201 reps was one of the top three scores, our team would not be in great shape. I would actually be extremely concerned. Be thankful when your teammates can pick up the slack when you're lacking. Be happy when you smash a workout but be humble when you don't. Give credit where credit is due. Let your teammates handle their shit. They know what they're good at and they know what their weaknesses are. I know what I'm good at and I know what my weaknesses are. We're stronger together than we are apart. It's like in Power Rangers when they have to come together to fight the monster and they form the Megazord. The Megazord wouldn't work if Billy the blue ranger decided he didn't want to be part of it, because then it would be missing a leg. Every single person is important. Am I a nerd because I made a Power Rangers reference? I think we all know the answer to that question. 

4. At the end of the day we're all just a bunch of friends working out together, so let's have fun

The Open is temporary. Regionals is temporary. The training process is ongoing and constant, so try to enjoy it. I love training. I actually get a little bummed out during the Open because I start to miss regular training. There's nothing better to me than working out in the gym shooting the shit with my best friends. It's just the coolest. Training and getting stronger is so fun to me. I love the daily process, even if it boring sometimes, because I know I'm taking steps every day to improve and get better. During the Open it's very easy for people to get caught up in the competitive nature of the sport, especially if they're gunning for a team spot among multiple talented athletes. But I hope you don't get so swept up in it that you forget to support and encourage your friends. The Open is temporary but your training partners and friends will always be there. Have fun, enjoy watching your friends fucking crush it, take everything as a learning experience and apply it to the off season. I can't imagine CSC without all the awesome people that go along with it. When it's all said and done we're all just a bunch of hilarious, fit people who enjoy lifting weights together. Don't forget to enjoy the training process and the company that comes along with it. 

I don't have any regrets about this Open. I gave 100% effort on every workout on both attempts each week. I can't ask for more than that. I'm proud of my efforts and I'm proud of my friends. As usual I want to thank my coach, Stephen, for his top notch programming and coaching. He really is the best at what he does and I don't know where I would be without him. I'm going to take what I learned and apply it to my training in the off season. I'm going to continue having fun at the gym and enjoy my training, even though I know I have a lot of burpees in my future. Hold the vision, trust the process. 

Onward. 






Tuesday, March 29, 2016

3/28/2016

30:00 easy pace of:
10 assault bike calories
3 wall walks
50m light reverse sled drag
10 ski erg calories
3 dead hang to inverted
100 50 single unders with heavy super heavy rope 

complete
70# on sled


I knew training was going to be rough today, I was feeling extremely heavy after all the pizza and ice cream I consumed over the weekend. HASHTAG NO REGRETS. 

Jump ropes with the super heavy rope got pretty tough, Heather and Jenn had a good laugh while they were watching me do it. I'm definitely looking forward to a few days of chill recovery. 


And now, a segment I like to call "Why So Serious?" It's the part of my blog where I start to talk about my thoughts and feelings. Please enjoy.




While I was coaching the Monday evening classes, Duprie was redoing 16.5. He knew he needed to shave of some time from his previous score to put himself in a better spot for the Master's Qualifier. Whenever it was time for Duprie to do burpees, Conner would hop off the assault bike and do the burpees with him to keep him on pace. I'll be honest, I actually got a bit choked up watching this. I was watching one teammate helping out another teammate because he wanted him to succeed. Conner was not doing the burpees with Duprie for selfish reasons, he didn't refuse to help him because he was afraid his score would be beaten. He did it because he's a good teammate and a good friend. While this whole thing was happening I wanted to just yell, "THIS is what sportsmanship looks like. This is what it means to be on a team"

I'm going to be honest here, because this is my blog and these are my feelings. Over the past five weeks I witnessed some really disappointing and borderline infuriating behavior from one individual directed towards our most humble and hard-working male athletes. It was actually hard to watch. People don't seem to realize that just because you contribute every single week or even get the top score on a workout, it doesn't mean you'll crush the regionals workouts. People who smash the Open don't necessarily make great Regionals athletes(not always, but sometimes) and people who destroy regionals workouts might not always perform well in the Open. This isn't true 100% of the time but it definitely happens. The workouts at regionals could be very different from the workouts in the Open. 

Also, WE'RE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM. All of us. Every single person from CSC that signs up for the Open is part of the team. Every single person has the ability to contribute, depending on the workout. The Open is not a "me against them" situation, it's a "CSC against the region" situation. So the fact that I kept hearing someone tell our nicest, best athletes that they should plan on having the second and third best scores, and that calculations were being done to ensure they would be beaten by one rep, that's just insane to me. These are your teammates, your training partners, your friends. I can't imagine walking up to Emily or Megan and telling them I was going to redo the workout just to beat them by one rep or one second. I can't picture those words even coming out of my mouth. They are my teammates and best friends, and I want them to succeed. I want them to do better than me! If I'm contributing on a 20 minute workout then I would be scared for our team. I know when I'm going to do well and when I won't. We're all in this together and it's crazy to me that someone would actually hope people do worse just so they have a better chance at a top score. Regionals is a TEAM event and from what I saw, that was just completely lost. 

If you've gone up to one of your fellow athletes and told them you're going to redo the workout to try and beat them by one rep, you're doing it wrong. A good teammate will ask you your score not because they want to try and beat it, but because they hope you did well. A good teammate will support you and encourage you. A good teammate will do 84 burpees with you when you ask them if it means it will help you. At the end of the day, we're all just a group of friends working out together, and I really hope everyone remembers that. 

Monday, March 28, 2016

3/27/2016

30:00 easy aerobic work

40:00 hike @Ault Park w/Heather

Spring is here!

3/26/2016

A. Hang power clean, build quickly to a crisp triple 
+
For time w/a partner @easy effort- only 1 working @ a time:
80 toes to bar
1600m row
240 double unders
80 kettlebell swings
800m run
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

A. 165
+
17:38 w/Main Street Deet
+
complete


Came to the gym feeling extremely sore this morning. Lats, shoulders, legs, you name it. It all hurt. 

It felt good to do heavy cleans, although I know 165 is pretty pathetic for a triple. This was as much as I could muster today. 

It was really fun doing the partner workout with Emily. We traded sets of five on the toes to bar, traded 400s on the row, sixty on the double unders, ten on the kettlebell, and 200s on the run. This was one of my favorite class partner workouts we've done so far. 

3/25/2016

AM
16.5 movement prep

PM
16.5

AM
complete

PM
13:24 (1:10 faster than 2014)


The final Open workout is finally here! Honestly, I was really bummed there weren't ring muscle ups in 16.5. I really thought there would be muscle ups and/or a max lift of some sort. But alas, it was another aerobic workout with burpees. I decided to go into this with a good attitude and a goal of beating my time from 2014. 

I broke up the thrusters into sets of two. 11/10, 10/8, 8/7, 6/6, 5/4, then the 6 and 3 were unbroken. I actually felt really good all the way through the set of 15. I was trying to focus on breathing and staying steady on the burpees. I could hear Jenn telling me to keep breathing and I was thinking to myself, "I'm actually doing really well on this!" and then the set of 12 hit. I totally hit a wall on the set of twelve burpees, they slowed down so much. The set of nine thrusters wasn't too slow, I know I probably rested too much between the set of five and four but the nine burpees were SOOOOO SLOW. I couldn't imagine finishing these, it seemed like they were going to last forever. I should have picked up speed on the set of 6 but I slowed down even more. I was able to kick it into gear for the final three burpees. This hurt just as much as I remember it, if not a little more this time around. 

I know this is not a stellar score, but I'm happy with it. I took over a minute off my previous time, so that's a huge improvement. I won't be redoing this again. There's no way I'll contribute on this workout and I'm happy with this time, even if it isn't competitive. I feel good about being one and done on this one. 

It's hard to believe the Open is already over. This Open was so.....weird. And different. It was the complete opposite from last year in both the workouts and atmosphere. Overall, I'm happy with my performance. I only contributed one week, but it was the week I knew I would contribute. The workouts just weren't good for me this year and I've accepted that. I know what I have to work on for next season and my plan is still the same: have fun with my training and work hard as usual. I'll be writing a much longer blog post in the next week about my overall Open experience, but for now I'll say I'm glad it's over and I'm ready to get back to normal training. It's always a good learning experience and I always love seeing my friends crush it. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. 

3/24/2016

10:00 bike @Z1
+
10 sets:
:30 bike @high aerobic effort- sprint the last :15 of the last set
:30 bike easy
+
10:00 bike @Z1

complete
+
complete
+
complete 

3/23/2016

AM
30:00 airdyne @Z1
+
15:00 mobility 

PM
A. Squat snatch, build quickly to a single @80-90% 1RM
+
3:00 @90%
1 muscle up
3 thrusters, 85
2 muscle ups
6 thrusters, 85
3 muscle ups
9 thrusters, 85
and so on...
+
:60 rest
+
3:00 @90%
box jumps w/step down
+
:60 rest
+
3:00 to build to a tough (not max) overhead squat triple from the ground

AM
complete
+
complete

PM
A. 145
+
40 reps
+
50 box jumps
+
145


Snatching wasn't great today, I was still really tight from 16.4 on Monday. Lower back and hamstrings were still really sore. I was able to build to 145 in three lifts but it wasn't the prettiest snatch I've ever done. 

The muscle up/thruster workout was tough, thrusters felt really heavy. Muscle ups were easy as usual but I was resting too much during the transition between thrusters/MUs. 

Box jumps were not great, my lower back was totally blown up for this. I know this is a pretty pathetic number but I tried to stay moving. Everything was just so tight.

The overhead squat was hard, although I should have started heavier. I did one set at 125 and one set at 145. I wish I would have started at 130 or 135 and gone to 150. 

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

3/22/2016

AM
30:00 bike @Z1

PM
A. Bear crawl, 5x10' forward + 10' backward slow and controlled; :60 rest
B. Reverse hyper, 3x7-10 tough; :90 rest
+
5 sets:
4 alternating pistols- deep and controlled throughout
500m row @85%- high but sustainable effort within & across all sets
2:00 walk rest
+
Crossover Symmetry recovery
+
10:00 assault bike cool-down

AM
complete

PM
A. complete
B. complete, 90#/side
+
(these are just the row times, not including pistols)
2:04.8
2:03.3
2:03.6
2:02.1
2:03.5
+
DNS
+
complete
10:00 @Chels pace
then an extra 10:00 @Conner pace 


Oh my. I am very sore. Hamstrings and glutes were really tight today. 

I wore my lifting shoes and knee sleeves for the pistols. Honestly, if pistols come up in the Open I'll probably have to wear both of those. I'm much faster and more efficient with pistols when I have my lifters and knee sleeves on. The rows hurt a lot, not aerobically but physically. My lower body was really tight from the 16.4 redo yesterday. My lower back was still sore and I wasn't getting any power in my legs for the row, hence the slower times this week. This was legitimately my 85% today. 

Ended up not getting to the COS, it was occupied so I hopped on the assault bike and accidentally forgot about it. 

As I was doing my assault bike cool-down, Conner was also sitting on an assault bike and asked me what my watts were at the moment. I was pedaling at a glacial 71 watts. Conner said I should probably be closer to 130-150 watts when I'm doing any Z1 on the assault bike. Since I was almost done with my 10:00, I decided to add on an extra 10:00 at the pace he recommended. I got a lot more out of it and I was actually working instead of sitting there slowly pedaling while I dick around on my phone. He said I should feel like I'm running an easy 5k and that I need to make the most of my Z1 time. He was totally right and I really appreciated his advice, especially after my previous blog post about my goals. Good looking out, Conner. I have definitely lost sight of how important my Z1 sessions are, and the Open reminded me how much work I still have to do aerobically. No more zombie-pedaling while staring at my phone. 

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

3/21/2016

AM
16.4 movement prep

PM
16.4.2
+
3 rounds not for time:
5-10/side heavy 1-arm DB rows
10 glute-ham sit ups
10 unweighted hip extensions

AM
complete

PM
203 (+2 from Friday)
+
DNS, totally forgot. 


Happy with my 16.4 redo. I decided to break up the deadlifts 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-3 and this turned out to be a really good decision. It was better for me mentally because I really had no idea where I was, I just knew how many I had to do for the next set. The deadlifts flew by. I also felt much better physically, my lower back wasn't as blown up and I wasn't as fatigued when I got to the wall balls. I tried to rest less on wall balls, I did sets of 10 and then 8/7. I think the row was a bit slower than Friday, my tie break time was exactly the same. I started out with a set of 5 handstand push ups, then 5, 4, 3s, 2s. I felt a bit better going into the HSPU today but they were still just really tough. Lower back was starting to light up every time I brought my knees down to kip and my shoulders were so tired. I was happy to get two more reps and not do worse. At one point I looked at the clock and thought "there's no fucking way I am going to do WORSE on this workout." I managed to squeak out an extra two reps before time ran out. 

I really felt like I couldn't have done any better today, I don't think I would go back and change anything. I just need to work on practicing handstand push ups under fatigue like that. I'm happy with my deadlifts, wall balls, and row. Mentally, I was much more "in it" today than I was Friday. I truly think I gave my best effort today and that's all I can do. 

There's one week left of the Open. Honestly, it's going much faster than last year. I'm already looking forward to getting back to regular training so I can start working on my weaknesses. I have a lot of goals that have started to form over the past few weeks. There are still the same ones as usual- continue to work on aerobic capacity, faster transitions during longer workouts, etc. But there are also new ones- increase grip strength, increase core strength, work on more skillwork under fatigue, tweak nutrition quite a bit, better recovery. But I think my biggest goal right now is to start going dark in my training. The feeling of shutting everything off, making it hurt- I don't do that in training. I never push myself to the point of going dark and getting stupid. Then when the Open rolls around, I have a hard time tapping into that feeling because I rarely ever experience it. I shy away from the pain instead of just being like, "hello darkness, my old friend." Next year, I don't want this feeling to be anything new to me. I want to have experienced it several times before then. I need to go into the pain cave more during training. That is my biggest takeaway from this Open so far. 

Also, I completely forgot to do the three rounds NFT. I vaguely remember Stephen saying something about it as I rolled around on the floor recovering from 16.4 but it immediately left my brain. Then I got distracted talking to Austin and Devin, and then I went to Red Tree, then I came back and checked my email and saw I had other shit to do but by then it was too late. Oops. 

Sunday, March 20, 2016

3/20/2016

30:00 assault bike @Z1
+
15:00 mobility

complete


It was fun watching Alex do 16.4 today, it got me fired up for my redo tomorrow. 

3/19/2016

30:00 assault bike @Z1
+
20:00 mobility

complete @CF Continuity 

3/18/2016

AM
16.4 movement prep

PM

16.4 

AM
complete

PM
201


Yowza. This was a rough one.

I really underestimated this one a lot. I'm pretty good at heavy deadlifts and I didn't think they would really factor in much to the rest of the workout. I was very wrong. I did sets of five the whole way and finished around 2:30 I believe. Wall balls were broken up 10/10/10/10/7/8 with way too much rest in between sets. I tried to start pulling on the rower as soon as possible, I was holding between 850-950 cal/hr for the row. The row felt like it lasted forever, this was pretty terrible. I finished the row at 9:18 and by the time I got to the handstand push ups my lower back was blown up. I started out with a set of 11 which was a huge mistake, the rest of the reps after that felt like garbage. I was shocked how quickly my handstand push ups fell apart. I thought I was going to crush this part since my handstand push ups have been so awesome lately, but everything hurt. I was breathing hard, my lower back was lit up, my shoulders were fatigued, etc. This was horrible. I managed to get 37 hspu before time ran out, which was pretty disappointing. 

When I redo this, I'm going to break up the deadlifts 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-3. I think this will be better for me mentally knowing I don't have to do a bunch of sets of five. I can definitely shave off time on the wall balls, I'm going to immediately start out with a set of five and then do tens with limited rest between sets. I can't change much on the row, this was about as good as it's going to get. I'm going to just stick with small sets on the handstand push ups (duh). I'm going to start out with a set of five and go from there. 

3/17/2016

10:00 bike @Z1
+
10 sets:
:30 bike @ high aerobic effort
:30 bike easy
+
10:00 bike @Z1

complete 
+
complete
+
complete 

Thursday, March 17, 2016

3/16/2016

AM
30:00 airdyne @Z1
+
15:00 mobility 

PM
A. 1 squat snatch + 2 overhead squats, build quickly to a tough set
B. Muscle ups, 5:00 EMOM- you pick the reps but keep it easy
+
3:00 @90%
10 handstand push ups
10 box jumps w/step down, 20
+
5:00 rest
+
For time @90%
21 wall balls, 14 to 9
9 deadlifts, 155
15 wall balls, 14 to 9
9 deadlifts, 155
9 wall balls, 14 to 9
9 deadlifts, 155

AM
complete

PM
A. 160 (accidentally misread my programming and thought it was only 1 additional OHS instead of 2, sorry Stevo)
B. complete, 2 MUs every minute
+
3 rounds + 2 HSPU
+
2:30


Snatches were feeling kind of  heavy today, they were better last week. I went 115-125-140-150-160. The rep at 150 was crisp as hell, it was by far the best snatch of the day. I failed 160 twice (both out in front) before I hit it a third time. When I looked at my programming I thought it said 1 snatch + 1 overhead squat, so that's what I did. Sorry Stevo. Although I probably could have managed one more OHS at 160. 

Muscle ups were very easy, I really hope ring MUs still show up in the Open. 

The handstand push up piece was okay, I was trying to be very deliberate about locking out my arms on every rep. All sets of HSPU were unbroken. Fuckin box jumps man. I'm not a jumper. I think box jumps are becoming one of my least favorite movements. Step ups are fine, but my box jumps are just so slow and awkward. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for handstand push ups to show up in the Open. 

I thought the wall ball piece went pretty well, I think 2:30 is a decent time for this? I have no idea. Everything was unbroken. Lower back was lit up after this was over, I think I'm still sore from all the snatches Monday.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

3/15/2016

AM
30:00 bike @Z1

PM
A. Bear crawl, 5x10' forward + 10' backward slow & controlled; :60 rest
B. Reverse hyper, 3x9-12; :90 rest
+
5 sets:
500m row @85%- high but sustainable effort within & across all sets
2:00 walk rest
+
Crossover Symmetry recovery
+
10:00 assault bike cool-down

AM
complete

PM
A. complete
B. complete, 70#/side
+
2:01.3
2:01.0
2:01.8
2:00.8
2:00.7
+
complete
+
complete


Pretty chill day. My lower back was definitely more sore today than it was after the first 16.3 attempt. 

Rows were pretty good, the last one got a little tough at the end. 

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

3/14/2016

AM
16.3 movement prep

PM
16.3.2
+
5 sets:
2-3 moderate back squats, 20x1
:60 rest
6 kipping handstand push ups
:60 rest
+
10 sets:
:30 assault bike @90% aerobic 
:30 assault bike @50%

AM
complete

PM
98 (+10 reps from Friday)
+
complete w/125# 
+
complete


HUZZAH! WHAT A DAY!

I am SO HAPPY with my 16.3 redo. YAY! First of all, thank you Stephen for lowering the bar so we could just jump right to it, that made a huge difference. 

Going into this workout I was pretty confident I could do better. Also, I've done worse my past two redos so I was determined to improve today. Everything just felt so much better today, it was crazy. I broke up the snatches 5/5 every round and opened my hands at the top, I think that definitely saved a bit of grip. My bar muscle ups were unbroken through the first four or five rounds? I can't remember. But I was able to string them together much easier than Friday, they felt so good today! During the workout I actually couldn't believe how easy they were. Grip was fatigued but not nearly as much as the first time. Stephen definitely pushed me to hang on to my pace and go faster at the end. I don't know if I could have done anything differently, I'm pretty proud of that performance. I needed this, and it put me in a better mindset going into the last two weeks of the Open. 

It was also awesome watching everyone else improve as well. Brandie killed it. Emily killed it. Megan killed it. Duprie killed it. The list goes on. A solid day all around. 

Let me just say this: back squats felt terrible. My lower back was blown up from all the snatches. I was going to do 125 as a warm up set but I just stuck with that weight for all 5 sets because my back was really fatigued and tight. Handstand push ups were rough the first few rounds but got better as I went along. 



The forearm pump is real

Sunday, March 13, 2016

3/13/2016

30:00 easy aerobic work of choice
+
15:00 mobility 

complete


Fun day at the gym with the bros. 

3/12/2016

A. Back squat, build to a tough double
B. Handstand push ups, 7x7, begin a set every :60
+
Class partner work (row, double unders, wall balls) @80%
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

A. 245
B. complete
+
complete w/Main Street Deet (that's my new nickname for Emily that I just made up) 584 reps
+
complete


Good day! Surprisingly sore from yesterday. 

I was actually pretty happy with the 245 back squat double, I didn't think I would get very high on this today since I was pretty sore. Nice. 

Handstand push ups were okay, arms and shoulders were tired from yesterday. I also need to watch my lockout at the top, since I was trying to go so fast I could feel my arms not fully locking out on a few, and then Stephen told me I needed to make sure I was locking out so I definitely need to be careful. I'll probably slow down the reps just a bit so I can make sure all of them are legit, I don't want to get in the habit of doing bad reps. 

Partner workout was fun but long. Emily and I split up the row calories 25/25/25/25 on the first round and then 20/25 on the second round (can you guess who was rowing the 20?). Double unders were 50/50 and wall balls were split up in sets of 15. My lats were extremely sore by the end, especially on the wall balls. 

3/11/2016

AM
16.3 movement prep

PM
16.3

AM
complete

PM
88 reps (3 bar MUs short of 7 rounds)


FINALLY. My week is here. 

I was really excited when 16.3 was announced because I love bar muscle ups and snatches. I knew this one was going to be all grip.

I definitely started out a bit too slow on the snatches. I did 10 unbroken for the first two sets I think? and then I switched to 5/5. Bar muscle ups were unbroken for the first two or three sets and then I switched to 2/1. My grip was really fatigued and I was worried about failing the third bar muscle up. This was definitely all grip, I was breathing hard but it was nothing compared to the past two weeks. I did the last set of snatches 10 touch and go but only had about ten seconds to get one more bar muscle up and I knew I wouldn't be able to do it. When I redo on Monday, I'm going to open my hands at the top of each snatch to try and save my grip. I'm also going to try and do my bar muscle ups unbroken as long as I can and definitely push the rest on those. I really want to get close to 100 reps. This is probably one of my top 3 favorite Open workouts of all time. 

3/10/2016

10:00 bike @Z1
+
10 sets:
:30 bike @high aerobic effort
:30 bike easy
+
10:00 bike @Z1

complete
+
complete
+
complete
+
lots of mobility 

Thursday, March 10, 2016

3/9/2016

AM
30:00 airdyne @Z1
+
15:00 mobility 

PM
A. Overhead squat, build quickly to a moderate triple from the ground
+
3:00 @90%
3 muscle ups
6 assault bike calories
+
5:00 rest
+
For time @90%
30 row calories
30 box jumps w/step down, 20
30 wall balls, 14 to 9

AM
complete

PM
A. 155
+
3 rounds
+
4:31


Really happy with the overhead squat triple from the ground (video). I told Stephen I remember practicing this for regionals three years ago and I could barely squeak out 115 for three reps (and I had to clean it). This is a nice improvement. I also tried a new setup for my snatch and it worked really well, I'm going to keep practicing it. I tried to make relatively big jumps, I went 105-125-145-155 and had no misses. Very good day of lifting. 

Muscle ups felt good today, three unbroken every set. I had about 10 seconds after I finished the third round of assault bike calories so I wasn't able to get another muscle up.

The second piece went about how I expected, I started out rowing 1200 cal/hr but ended up around 1030. Meh. I should have held that first pace the whole time. The box jumps were reaaaaal slow. My legs were really tired. Also, I hate box jumps. I'm much more efficient when I can step up. Wall balls were unbroken so that was cool. 

Overall a solid day. 

3/8/2016

AM
30:00 bike @Z1

PM
A. Bear crawl, 5x10' forward + 10' backward slow & controlled, :60 rest
B. Handstand push ups, 3x max (-5) kipping, :60 rest
+
Every 2:00 for 12:00 (3 sets of each):
1st: 1 round of DT @105
2nd: 20 row calories
+
crossover symmetry recovery
+
10:00 assault bike cool-down

AM
complete

PM
A. complete
B. 29-20-19
+
complete
+
complete
+
DNS


Good day, definitely still sore from the 16.2 redo. Handstand push ups weren't as easy as they were on Saturday, I still managed to get a decent amount of unbroken reps but they were harder today. My arms and shoulders were blown up afterwards. 

The DT/row piece was tougher than I thought it would be. The first two sets of DT were pretty easy but my forearms were really tight on the third set and the shoulder to overhead got pretty tough. I was holding about 1200 cal/hr on the row and was finishing in a little over a minute. It was fun doing this with Addison, I was finishing before her on DT and she was finishing before me on the row. Classic pals with different strengths. 

Ran out of time before I could do the assault bike cool-down. 

Fun day training with my buddy Addison! 

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

3/7/2016

AM
16.2 movement prep

PM
16.2 redo 

AM
complete

PM
258 (1 rep less than Friday)


Well. That was the worst. 

I went into my redo today with a lot of confidence. I had a new plan for the toes to bar and I was going to move faster through the cleans so I could have a shot at the 175 bar. I knew if I could get to the bar, I could clean it. 

WRONG. 

This started hurting almost immediately. Toes to bar were broken up 5/5/3/3/3/3 and then maybe singles after that? I tripped up twice on the first set of double unders. The cleans at 85 were okay but I think they were a bit slower than Friday. When I got back to the second set of toes to bar I was already done. My grip was completely shot, I got about ten reps in and my forearms were blown up. I felt like I could barely hang on to the bar. I tripped up AGAIN on the double unders and the 115 cleans felt like absolute garbage. These were so much harder than they were on Friday, it was shocking. Again, I wasn't sure if I was going to even make it through these cleans before time ran out. Somehow I did and I went back for another set of toes to bar. These were awful. My grip was so done at this point, I was doing singles but they were slow and I felt like I was going to slip off the bar. This was terrible. I did the 50 double unders unbroken (finally) but I failed my first clean at 145. This completely shook my confidence and I was mentally out of it at that point. I somehow managed to get five cleans before time ran out but they were all a struggle. Heather told me she had never seen me do so many ugly cleans before. 

Everything about this redo felt so much worse than it did on Friday. My grip was shot, I could barely stand up the cleans, and I kept tripping up on my double unders. I was so sure I was going to make it to the 175 bar, but even if I did there's no way I would have been able to clean it. Not today. 

This was me after my redo today:




This was so disappointing. I cried for a solid ten minutes after this was over (sorry Heather). I really wanted to make it to the next round, and I was trying. I could hear the urgency in Stephen and Heather's voices but I just couldn't do it. This is the second week in a row I've disappointed myself. 

I'm trying to stay positive. I know this is only the second week, and a lot of my bad movements are already out of the way. Handstand push ups and muscle ups have to be coming. I also have to remind myself the Open does not define me as an athlete or a person. I am putting a lot of pressure on myself since I did well last year and I feel like I am supposed to contribute every week. I don't have any control over the workouts so I just have to learn what I can from this Open and use it for my training over the next year. 


3/6/2016

30:00 assault bike @Z1
+
15:00 mobility 

complete 

3/5/2016

A. Snatch pull, 6x1 @1RM snatch; begin a rep every :90
B. Handstand push ups, 1x max unbroken (-5)
+
Partner work w/class @80% effort- keep everything very aerobic
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

A. complete @165
B. 35
+
subbed 3 rounds:
1000m row
15 KB swings, 35
10 hand-release push ups
+
complete


Snatch pulls were very easy. 

35 is definitely the biggest set of unbroken handstand push ups I've ever done. They were fast too, I wish I would have timed them but the first 30 were flying. I slowed down a bit on the last five and then I was starting to rest on my head so I figured I should just come off the wall since I was supposed to stop five reps from possible failure. I really hope these come up in the Open because if I'm being honest I'm fucking crushing these lately. 

I ended up not doing the class workout since so many people were doing 16.2 and I wanted to watch. I just did some rowing, KB swings and hand-release ups to get in some aerobic work. 

3/4/2016

AM
16.2 movement prep

PM
16.2

AM
complete

PM
259


I wasn't sure how 16.2 was going to go for me. I'm not good at large sets of toes to bar and my core fatigues quickly on those but I'm very good at heavy squat cleans. I broke up the first set of toes to bar in sets of 5. I tripped up a few times on the double unders which was annoying. The cleans at 85 were no problem but I was definitely breathing hard by the time I got back to the bar. I started with a set of 5 and then it was down to twos and threes, and they were slow. I was resting a lot between sets. The cleans at 115 were surprisingly tough, at one point I actually wasn't sure if I was going to finish them in time. I was definitely resting too much here. When I got back to the bar for the next set of toes to bar I was so tired. I was doing singles and each one was at a snail's pace. I would do one single, take my hands off the bar, bend over, and wait for Heather to tell me to go. This was way too slow and way too much time wasted. When I got to the cleans at 145 I only had a little over a minute. I somehow managed to get six cleans before time ran out but they were shockingly hard. When I redo this I'm going to break up the toes to bar earlier and move faster on the cleans at 85 and 115. 

3/3/2016

10:00 bike @Z1
+
10 sets:
:30 bike @high aerobic effort
:30 bike easy
+
10:00 bike @Z1

complete
+
complete
+
complete 

3/2/2016

AM
30:00 airdyne @Z1
+
15:00 mobility 

PM
A. Snatch, build quickly to a tough single
B. Back squat, build quickly to a moderate single
+
For time @95%
30 handstand push ups
20 deadlifts, 155
10 assault bike calories
+
10:00 rest
+
For time @95%
500m row
+
10:00 assault bike @Z1

AM
complete

PM
A. 160
B. 245
+
2:35
+
1:49.4
+
complete


Snatches were not the best today, I basically have no idea what I'm doing with my set up anymore. Every snatch felt different. After the Open is over I'm going to schedule a session with Chelsea Kyle to work on snatch set up, I know I'm starting with my butt way too high and I need a fix a few other things. I wasn't sure how high I would get today on snatches, the warm up sets felt heavy. I worked through 125 and 135 relatively easily but failed the first rep at 145 and 155 (both out in front). The second attempt at 155 was actually pretty crisp so I decided to go for 160 and hit it very easily. I took a few steps forward but it was fast overhead and I was fast out of the bottom. Just waiting for that 170 snatch any day now...

Back squats felt really tough today, 245 was slow so I called it there. My legs were toast.

The HSPU piece was too slow. My handstand push ups started out really fast but I could tell the cycle speed was slowing down so I came off the wall at 20. When I kicked back up on the wall my arms were really fatigued so I had to break up the last 10 reps 6/4. Ugh. Deadlifts were surprisingly hard, my hamstrings were blown up (I'm guessing from 16.1?) and I had to break these up 12/8. This is lame, I should be able to do 20 deadlifts at 155 unbroken. Assault bike calories were as fast as I could go. This time was definitely too slow. 

The 500m row SUCKED. I wasn't fully recovered from the first part so this was really tough. I tried my best to keep it under 1:50, I was running on fumes by the end. Yeeeeesh. I was lactic as hell when this was over. 

Today was tough but I enjoyed it. 

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