3/13/2015

15.3
AMRAP in 14:00
7 muscle ups
50 wall balls, 14 to 9
100 double unders
+
10:00 airdyne @Z1
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

15.3- 330 (11:44 tie break)
+
complete
+
complete


This was by far my favorite open workout I've ever done. Wow. What a difference a week can make eh? When muscle ups were announced as the first movement for 15.3, I was so excited. I wanted to redeem myself from last week and muscle ups are a strong movement for me, so I wanted to do really well. 

I don't think this workout could have gone any better. I started with 4/3 on the muscle ups, then went to doubles for the second and third round. I broke up the wall balls into sets of 10, I tried to keep the rest short between sets but they got pretty nasty on the second round. I basically used the double unders as recovery. I tried to keep them relaxed so I could get my breathing under control, but the second set felt like it lasted forever. I think I had about 2:00 when I got back to the rings for my third set of muscle ups. My main goal was to get back to the wall balls, and after I finished the muscle ups I had about :20 left. I ran over to the ball and Stephen told me to keep doing wall balls until he told me to stop. I was able to get 9 reps before time ran out. 

I am so happy with how I performed on this. My muscle ups felt great, I was never worried about failing and I was happy I was able to string them together even though I was breathing really hard. I stuck to my plan of 10 wall balls at a time even though there were a few points where I wanted to put it down. I tried to just stay calm and relaxed throughout the whole thing. Having Stephen as my judge makes all the difference in the world. I basically just turn off my brain, I let him do the thinking for me and he tells me what to do and when to do it. He was able to keep me really calm during the entire workout. I felt like I was pushing really hard on this, it was definitely a max effort. If I did it again I don't think I could really do any better. This was one of those times where everything just came together and it all went according to plan. It was a nice confidence boost after last week. Two more weeks to go!

Muscle ups with my fit friend Conner

3/12/2015

5 sets:
3:00 airdyne very easy
3:00 mobility work of choice

complete

3/11/2015

AM
3 sets @easy pace:
2:00 ski erg
2:00 airdyne
2:00 row
2:00 airdyne

PM
A. Pistols, 3x:30 alternating, :60 rest
+
1 set:
:60 squat clean to overhead, 120
+
For time:
30 row calories
20 box jumps w/step down, 20
10 muscle ups
20 burpees
30 row calories, very high effort
+
:90 rest
+
AMRAP in :90
Double unders

AM
complete

PM
A. 15-14-17
+
10
+
8:08
+
130


Today was fun but also tiring. I really enjoyed everything today but I was extremely sore, worse than Tuesday. I guess from 15.2 still? 

Pistols were really fast today and felt really good. I had my lifters on since I was going to do the squat clean piece right after so I think that helped me keep my balance a lot better than my nanos. If pistols come up in the Open, I'm going to have to wear my lifting shoes. They were just so much better and more stable than when I'm in nanos. Also, I still have to hold my right foot when I do pistols on my left leg, but I don't have to hold my left foot when I do them on the right. I still need to work on the left leg, holding my foot wastes too much time. Glad these are getting faster though.

I was disappointed with the squat clean to overhead piece. I should have done more than 10. The first 7 felt really easy, and then I hit a wall. My legs felt like they were covered in concrete, when I would come up out of the squat clean I could barely move them. I was basically shoulder pressing the last three because I couldn't get my legs to move for a push jerk. 

The row calorie workout was a real DOOZ. Seriously, this was tough. I was happy I got to do this one with Austin. I was pacing the first 30 row calories off of what he was doing, that way I didn't start out too slow. When I got to the box jumps, my legs were so heavy. I don't know if they are still sore from 15.2 or what's going on, but the box jumps were really tough. My legs felt like they weighed 1000 pounds. I was disappointed with my muscle ups today, I thought I would do an easy 5/5 (classic) but I ended up doing 4/3/2/1 with too much rest between sets. I was breathing pretty hard and they just felt "off" today. I was catching them pretty low in the dip, which I don't normally do. I think I'm also getting used to doing them on the new rig set up. They just didn't feel good today. Burpees were probably slower than they should have been. The last 30 row calories fucking hurt, I was tasting blood during the last 10 calories. 

The double unders were really tough after that workout. My shoulders were fried and I was breathing really hard. I was able to knock out 54 before I tripped, then I think I stopped (on purpose) somewhere around 90? And then I finished it out to 130 before time ran out. I was going pretty slow on these, I didn't want to completely fry myself in the first :30 and then have nothing left. Austin said he also paced the double unders slower than he normally does, so I'm glad I did the same thing. 

Overall, I was happy with training today. I was glad to get back to doing muscle ups and I'm happy my pistols are improving. I just wish I didn't feel so heavy and sore. Hoping to see some muscle ups this week for 15.3, IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? 

3/10/2015

5000m row @Z1, off every 5:00 for :40 front leaning rest on rings
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

complete
+
complete


For some reason the row felt like it lasted forever. I was glad to have a lighter day though, I was still tired from 15.2

After mobility I decided to test out some muscle ups since I haven't done any in about four weeks. I wanted to see how it would feel on my hand. I did 6 easy sets of 3 strung together each time, they felt great! There was no pain in my hand, I had it taped and I'll probably keep taping it through the open just to be safe, but all sets of muscle ups were really easy and pain-free. Huzzah! 

3/9/2015 (15.2-Second attempt)

AM

15:00 airdyne @Z1

+

15:00 mobility & brief warm up for 15.2

PM

15.2

+

10:00 airdyne Z1

AM

complete

PM

139 (+7 reps from Friday, +26 reps from last year)

+

complete

Effffffffffff. This was definitely not the score I wanted on 15.2. I went in with a whole different plan but I still came up 5 pull ups short of getting to the 16s. My breathing felt a lot better this time but my forearms and grip were just shot by the time I got to the second round of pull ups in the 14s. My overhead squats were faster out of the bottom and I thought my transitions were pretty quick, I just don't think I could go any faster by the end. I had nothing left in my arms, I even failed a few CTB pull ups. I can't remember the last time I actually failed a CTB. I was pretty disappointed that I still didn't make it out of the 14s, but I really don't think there was a lot more I could have done, I was moving as fast as I could. Heather and Austin both said it looked like I was moving well throughout the whole thing, I just couldn't hold on to the pull up bar anymore. On the plus side, I didn't drop the bar during the OHS this time. And at least I didn't do worse the second time like I did last year. And it's 26 more reps from last year, so I guess that's not too bad. I'm still not happy with it, but it's over and done. I will just have to do my best to crush 15.3. 

3/7/2015

For 10:00
evens: 10-15 box jumps w/step down, 20
odds: 5-10 handstand push ups- will adjust if wrist is an issue
+
For 10:00
evens: 10 row cals hard
odds: 30-50 double unders
+
1 set:
:90 airdyne increasing effort every :30 so that last :30 is near all out

complete
15 box jumps/10 HSPU each set
+
complete
50 double unders each set
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complete


I needed today to be a good training day, and it was. I was really excited to finally see some handstand push ups, and my hand didn't bother me at all! I went with 15 box jumps each time to prepare for those possibly coming up in the open. 10 handstand push ups each time, hand felt fine and they were fast every set. I'm getting a lot less fatigued on these which is good. 

Row cal/double under EMOM was pretty tiring. I did 50 double unders each time, I only tripped up once. I was breathing pretty hard by the time this was over.

The :90 airdyne was a lot harder than I thought it would be, I was lactic for awhile after this was done. I don't know how many calories I got on this, Betty was being used so I went with Cornelius. 

Today was a solid day, I was very happy with how everything felt. 

3/6/2015 (15.2-First attempt)

AM

24 sets:

:30 airdyne easy

:30 airdyne even easier

+

15.2 movement prep

PM

15.2

From 0:00-3:00

2 rounds of 

10 overhead squats, 65

10 CTB pull ups

From 3:00-6:00

2 rounds of

12 overhead squats

12 CTB pull ups

etc.....

+

10:00 airdyne @Z1

+

10:00 mobility work of choice

AM

complete

PM

15.2- 132

+

complete

+

complete

15.2....otherwise known as the Tale of the Littlest B

Let me just start by saying that when 15.2 was announced, my heart sank. 14.2 was by far my worst workout of the Open last year. Overhead squats have always been one of my weakest movements and I knew how much it was going to hurt. I tried to turn my attitude around because my chest to bar pull ups have drastically improved since last year, but I was still dreading it. 

Everything basically just went to shit right away. My first sets of overhead squats were pretty slow and they only got slower as the workout went on. I started my pull ups with 4/4/2 for the first set and maybe 3/3/2/2 for the second set? I can't remember. All I know is that I paced the pull ups completely wrong. I should have trusted myself more on the pull ups, my CTBs have gotten so much stronger over the past year and I can butterfly them easily, but I switched to kipping in the second set of 10. There was really no reason for me to do that, I just thought it was a good move. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. I should have just kept going with bigger sets of butterfly pull ups. By the time I got to the set of 12 pull ups I think I was down to singles. I had moved over to the bar with the gymnastics mat underneath it, but it was too low. I was using way too much grip strength to grab the bar and pull myself up, it would have been faster to stick with sets of 3 butterfly pull ups. I was also resting way too long between singles. When the set of 14 overhead squats came around, I was hurting. My shoulders were shot at this point, I could barely hold up the bar overhead. It was all I could do to do the first set of 14 OHS unbroken. I dropped the bar once in the second set and only got 2 pull ups before time ran out. My shoulders and arms were just completely fucked. 

I was so extremely disappointed when this was over. There's no reason for me to be happy or content with this score. It's 19 more reps than I got last year, but 132 is lower than the score I am capable of getting. I watched all my friends completely crush this, and I wanted to be able to say I had also done well. This is the hard part about the open. It's hard keeping one poor performance from completely derailing my sense of accomplishment and progress over the past year. I know overhead squats are one of my worst movements and I know not every workout is going to be good for me, but I also know I'm capable of much more than this. 

I felt better after talking strategy with Stephen today. Here are the things I'm going to change for Monday:

• stand on the jerk blocks for the CTB pull ups instead of the mat, that way I'm at the correct height and my grip won't get fatigued
• start the pull ups with singles and switch to larger sets of butterfly CTBs in the later sets
• faster out of the bottom in the overhead squats
• try a more narrow grip for the overhead squats to try and save my shoulders (I know that there's only so much I can do for these, I'm going to have to basically rely on my pull ups to get me through)
• have Stephen judge me
• go by myself or away from other people. I went right next to Heather and I was way too concerned about what she was doing. I would start to panic when she pulled ahead on the overhead squats and it took me out of the right mindset. If I go with someone else, I need to probably go a few bars over so I don't pay attention to what they're doing 
• don't be a lil B and don't be afraid to hurt 

I know I can make it through the round of 14 if I just push. All I want is to get through the round of 14 so I can prove to myself that I can do it. 15.2 will not get the best of me!