3/31/2015

1600m light sled drag outdoors, alternate forward & backward as desired

complete


Today was the perfect day for a sled drag! I used 80 pounds for the first 800 meters but dropped to 60 for the second half because my legs were not having it, I was still very sore from 15.5. Also, this might have been the most stressful sled drag of my life seeing as every semi truck in Cincinnati decided to drive down the street between 4:15-5:00. But the weather was nice and it was a good recovery day. 

3/30/2015 (15.5- Second attempt)

AM
10:00 airdyne very easy
+
10:00 thruster mobility prep
+
10 sets:
:30 airdyne @high aerobic effort
:30 rest

PM
15.5 re-do

AM
complete
+
complete
+
complete

PM
9:51 (0:10 faster than Friday)


Going into this workout today, I was pretty nervous. I was dreading it because I knew how bad it was going to hurt and I knew I was going to have to experience that same pain again. I didn't want to go through all of it and do worse. Luckily, that didn't happen. I stuck with the plan and shaved off 10 seconds from my previous time.

I decided to break up the thrusters differently this time. On Friday I broke them up 12/9/6, 9/7/5, 7/4/4 then unbroken. Today I went 9/9/9, 7/7/7, 5/5/5 and then did all 9 unbroken for the last set. I think that was a much better plan for me mentally, the sets didn't seem as big so I just kept thinking "okay I just have to do 7, I can do 7." I kept the row at the exact same pace as Friday, 975-1000 cal/hour. During the 27 cal row I couldn't find a steady pace, it was all over the place and that made me nervous. I thought the workout was already going downhill, but I was able to control it more on the other sets. 

There was still a point in this workout where I wanted to stop. I sat down on the rower for the set of 15 calories and had an inner dialogue with myself as I was rowing. I thought about how even though I was redoing this workout, I most likely wouldn't contribute a score because Heather was smashing it, so why was I even doing it? I thought about how angry I would be if I did worse than my time on Friday. There was a moment where I was just angry at the world in general for no reason other than the fact that I was in a lot of pain. Then my dad said "I believe in you" and that pushed me to keep going. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry because I really needed it at that exact moment. So I pushed the negative thoughts out of my head, decided to quit being a little bitch, and kept going.

I ended up going :10 faster than Friday. To some people that might not seem like a huge improvement, but I'm happy with it. I gave it everything I had. I definitely recovered faster than I did the first time, probably because my body wasn't in complete shock. It still hurt like hell and laid me out on the ground for several minutes after I was done. I really think I gave it my best effort. The Open was fun but I'm ready to get back to normal training! 

All smiles because WE'RE DONE!!!

3/28/2015

For 15:00
1st minute: :30 row easy
2nd minute: :30 airdyne easy
3rd minute: 3-5 strict fat bar pull ups
+
Not for time:
20 alternating KB turkish get ups
+
1 set:
:60 airdyne increasing effort every :15 so that last :15 is all out

complete
5 pull ups each set
+
complete w/35# KB
+
complete


I was glad today was on the lighter side, I felt really exhausted and sore from 15.5. I enjoyed the EMOM, the strict pull ups were super easy. 

TGUs took forever. The 35# KB felt liked it weight 100 pounds today.

I did the airdyne sprint on Augustus since Betty was being used, it was fine until I reach the last :15 and went all out, then the pedal started catching and it slowed me down a bit. Next time I'll just wait until Betty is available. 

3/27/2015 (15.5- First attempt)

15.5
+
10:00 airdyne @Z1
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

15.5- 10:01
+
complete
+
complete


There are no words to describe how bad 15.5 felt. Holy shit. That was fucking terrible. 

When this one was announced, I was pretty indifferent. I knew it was going to hurt but I didn't think it would hurt THAT badly. This one isn't super great for me, I'm not a huge fan of thrusters. Stephen and I decided that my game plan was to keep the calories between 975-1000 cal/hour on the row and break up the thrusters 12/9/6, 9/7/5, 8/7 and then go unbroken on the last set. On the 27 and 21 calories I was able to hold my pace but on 15 and 9 it definitely slowed down. It wasn't a drastic change but it was slower than my goal pace. I was able to stick with the plan on the thrusters for the 27 and 21, but once I got to the set of 15 I hit a wall. I broke them up 7/4/4 and I was resting way too much between sets. I definitely need to cut down rest time between sets when I redo it on Monday. The last set of 9 thrusters felt like the walls were closing in and my body was going to explode. It was so awful.

This is the most painful workout I've done in a very long time, I think the only other workout that compares to this one is the OPT row/KB/burpee test. It took me a solid hour to recover. Jesus. I figured I would end up around 10:00 but Stephen said I need to be faster than that. When I redo it on Monday I'm not going to change anything on the row, but I'm going to break up the thrusters 9/9/9, 7/7/7, 5/5/5 and go unbroken on the last 9. I also need to rest less between sets of thrusters. I'm dreading doing this workout again. On the plus side, I know how painful it is so I know what to expect. On the down side, since I do know how bad it's going to feel I'm afraid I won't want to push as hard. But I'm just going to have to go there again.

Trying to process what just happened

3/26/2015

20:00 airdyne very easy
+
10:00 mobility work 

complete

3/25/2015

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

PM
A. Thruster gauntlet, 1 every :60 starting @65 and adding 10 every :60
+
For time @95%
30 thrusters, 65
30 bar-facing burpees
+
2:00 rest
+
For reps:
:60 alternating pistols
:60 row calories @95%

AM
complete

PM
A.165 (175 F)
+
3:38
+
24 pistols
16 calories


The thruster gauntlet was fun, I always enjoy a good gauntlet. Everything felt really good, 165 ties my PR and was very easy. I thought I had 175 for a split second but I wasn't able to press it out. I think I could have hit 170 for sure but I wanted to stick to the program and go up by 10 pounds. The PR will happen another day!

The thruster/burpee workout was not as terrible as I thought it would be. At first I thought the thrusters were going to be the shitty part but the burpees actually ended up being the worst part for sure. The thrusters weren't that bad, 30 is just enough to be able to go unbroken before it really starts to get painful. I went way too slow on the burpees, I started out at a pretty steady pace but I slowed down a lot. As I was doing the burpees I thought to myself "I feel like I'm going really slow" but I felt like I couldnt' move any faster. I also hate wearing my lifting shoes doing burpees because it makes my feet feel like they weigh 500 pounds but I had to wear them for the pistols. I definitely should have pushed it more on the burpees. 

My legs were pretty tired on the pistols, I was hoping to get closer to 30 reps. Stephen said they looked faster than usual so that's good. I still have to hold my leg when I go down on the left foot, I need to break that habit because it's slowing me down. The row sucked so much. I think I did a total of :45 of rowing after transition time/pulling down my knee sleeves. It hurt real bad, my legs were fried. I wish I would have performed better today. 

3/24/2015

3 rounds not for time:
10 strict pull ups
:30 L-sit accumulation
+
3000m row @Z1
+
10:00 mobility work of choice

complete
+
complete
+
complete


Usually in my blog I write about how the workout or training day made me feel (plus the occasional recap). Today, I want to write about my feelings in general. It's the last week of the Open and the stress is starting to hit me. This pressure is coming from no one but myself. So far, the Open has been surprisingly fun and stress-free. Everyone has pushed really hard but has kept an extremely positive attitude the entire time. Going into the Open this year, we knew we would have to work hard for a spot at regionals, and that's what we're doing. We're all working really hard and it has been awesome to be part of this dedicated community. 

A few of us were chatting with Stephen today about what the last workout could possibly be (30 bar muscle ups for time? Just kidding, I wish). It was mentioned that the female scores this year on our team are just not as strong as the men's scores, and it's true. This is not to say that our females haven't been working hard and kicking ass, because we have. But the men this year are just on another level, and our female scores haven't always matched the male scores through the Open. This is not really news to anyone, it's just a fact.

Once we went about our business, there was an offhand comment made to me suggesting the conversation we just had about the level of the female scores was meant to be directed at me. I'm not sure if it was a joke or not, but it bothered me the entire rest of my training session. I was already feeling pretty deflated about my poor performance on 15.4 yesterday, and whether it was meant as a joke or not, it made me feel pretty bad. I thought about it the rest of the night, and it caused me to reflect on my performance through these past four weeks. 

I'm very proud of what I've done during this Open season. This is without a doubt the best I have ever performed in the Open. I want CSC to send a team to regionals just as badly as everyone else, and regardless of the outcome I'm still proud of myself and I'm also very proud of every athlete at CSC. If we don't make it to regionals, it certainly wasn't for lack of trying. I watched Austin and Alex do pull ups until their hands were bleeding, I watched Eric completely crush 15.3, and there was a handful of us who repeated 15.4 three times. If CSC doesn't make it to regionals, it's not anyone's fault and there's no one to blame. We have all pushed ourselves extremely hard and will continue to do so during the final stretch. 

This was a catalyst for me to reflect on the past few weeks. We have one week left and I couldn't be more proud of myself and all my friends. Stephen has done an excellent job of preparing us and coaching us through every workout. We have all supported each other and cheered for each other and I'm thankful to be part of this group of athletes.