6/17/2015

AM
6 sets easy:
:60 row
:60 FLR 
:60 airdyne
:30/side plank
:60 single unders

PM
A. Overhead squat, 4x3-4 @42x1, 2:00 rest
B. Muscle ups, 3xAMRAP (-1) unbroken, 2:00 rest
+
4 sets:
:30 row @100%
:30 rest w/feet in straps
+
3 rounds not for time:
10-12 light reverse hypers
5-10m handstand walk
:30 L-sit on parallettes accumulation 

AM
complete

PM
A. 105-115-125-135(3)
B. could not do this due to tear on my hand, subbed in 10:00 of strict MU practice
+
159m
149
143
140
+
2 rounds complete (ran out of time before I had to coach class)
10#/side on RH


Meh today was just okay. The overhead squats actually went pretty well, the tempo was definitely tough but today was actually the best my OHS have felt in a long time so I was happy about that. I almost had the fourth rep at 135 but I tipped forward coming out of the bottom and lost it. That tempo is no joke but overall these felt really solid today. 

I was pretty sad about not being able to do the sets of max unbroken muscle ups, (maybe I can do this another time when my hand isn't shredded?) I probably could have hit a PR on these today. Oh well, another time. I decided to work on strict muscle ups instead, and it did not go so well. My first four reps weren't very close, Stephen said I was pulling too slowly and not being aggressive enough turning over. The 5th attempt was probably the closest I've ever been but I still felt like my hands were in a weird position and I couldn't turn over. I am going to watch some progression videos because it's really bothering me that I can't do this. I'm making it my goal to get a strict muscle up by the end of the month, DAMMIT. Nobody makes me bleed my own blood! NOBODY.

The row sprints felt very terrible, as expected. I should have stretched my legs more before I did this, they were really tight the entire time. After this was over I was bummed out because I thought I did worse than the last time I tested this, but it turns out I actually improved. I tested this in October and my numbers were 154, 145, 140 and 139. Today they were 159, 149, 143, and 140. So not a huge improvement, but still better than last time. 

I was only able to complete 2 rounds of the NFT stuff before I had to rush out and coach class. I was definitely not recovered enough from the row sprints while I was doing this, I thought I was going to puke during the reverse hypers. 

06/16/2015

AM
24 sets:
:30 airdyne @90% aerobic
:30 airdyne @50%

PM
A. Power clean, build to a max
B. Behind-the-neck shoulder press, 3x7-10, 31x1; 2:00 rest
+
21-15-9 for time:
Deadlifts, 155
Box jumps, 20
Burpees
+
10:00 airdyne @Z1

AM
subbed in an hour nap between coaching classes due to terrible nights sleep, will make up on Thursday

PM
A. 212 (PR+2)
B. 55-65(9)-65(8)
+
7:43
+
complete


I was up most of the night with a really bad stomach ache so I didn't get much sleep before I had to wake up at 4:30. I took a nap on the couch at the gym during the time I would normally do my Z1 so I will make this up on Thursday, I wanted to make sure I felt good for my PM session. 

I was excited about the power clean PR, it's been awhile since I hit a PR on this. 212 actually wasn't very hard. I went for 215 but totally chickened out. I think I could probably hit it in the next few months. 

The behind the neck press was HARD. Oh my. I was able to get 10 reps at 55 so I went to 65, I thought I was going to hit 10 for sure but on the 9th rep I paused too long behind the neck and lost the momentum to press it up. I was only able to get 8 reps for the third set. This was tough and I'm sure I'll be seeing more of this in the future. 

I thought the deadlift/box jump workout went well, although my burpees definitely could have been faster. I broke up the deadlifts 11/10, 7/4/4, then 9 unbroken. I tried to stay moving on the box jumps and keep my transitions short but I still could have been faster on this. 

06/15/2015

AM
6000m row @Z1

PM
A. Back squat, build to a max for the day
B. Back squat, 1x max reps @85% of A, 30x0
+
20 sets for time:
5 unbroken CTB pull ups
+
12 sets:
:30 airdyne @90% aerobic
:30 airdyne @50%

AM
complete

PM
A. 280 (PR+10)
B. 3 reps @240
+
8:04
+
complete


Excellent day! I was not really expecting to PR my back squat, the last time I did any type of back squat I hit 235 and it felt really tough, so I went in with my expectations pretty low today. I worked up to an easy 255, then I couldn't decide if I should just jump to 275. Luckily I asked Stephen first and he told me to go to 265 then 275. I was able to hit both of those pretty easily so I went up to 280 for a 10 pound PR! Sweet. It actually didn't feel that bad, I think I could have added 5 more pounds and now I'm confident I could hit 285 another day. 

The reps at 240 were ROUGH. Jesus. The 3 second descent made it even worse. The first two reps weren't terrible but the third rep was really slow out of the bottom with a rounded back. Bleck. I knew I wasn't going to get the fourth rep but I knew I was supposed to go until failure. I wasn't even close to standing up the fourth rep. This test is pretty terrible. 

I was happy with my time on the 100 CTB pull ups and I think I could have done this under 8:00 if I didn't rip. All my CTB pull ups were butterfly and felt really good. It wasn't until the 16th set that I could feel my hands starting to rip so I started taking longer rest. On the 18th set I moved to a smoother bar to see if that would prevent my hands from ripping, but I tore anyways on the 19th set. I asked Stephen if I could just finish because the damage was already done. I ripped even more on the last set. I definitely could have done this under 8:00 if I wasn't so concerned about my hands. Next time I'll probably wear grips or tape. Oh well. I beat Conner so that's all that matters. KIDDING CONNER. 

That's a deep one

This is me trying to shower with that hand tear

6/13/2015

5:00-10:00 standing broad jump practice-no maximal attempts
+
A. Good morning, build to a tough but perfect triple, 32x1
B. DB external rotation, 1xAMRAP up t 8/side @10% of tested CGBP, 30x0
C. Powell raise, 1xAMRAP up to 8/side @10% of tested CGBP, 30x0
D. Trap 3, 1XAMRAP up tp 8/side @10% of tested CGBP, 30x0
E. Side plank, 1x max hold/side up to :90
F. Sorenson hold, 1x max hold up to 2:00
+
Not for time:
1200m moderate sled drag outdoors

complete
+
A. 125
B. R-8, L-6 w/15#
C. R-6, L-7 w/15#
D. 7 w/15#
E. :80 each side
F. 1:42
+
complete with 65# on sled 


Standing broad jump practice was alright....I am just a terrible jumper. I also need to work on the correct technique for this.

I don't think I've ever done weighted good mornings, I liked these. 

I realized I don't think I've ever done the scap tests, I figured my left side would be a little weaker on the DB external rotation but I was a little surprised I got one more rep on the left side on the powell raise. 

Side planks were alright, my stability on these has definitely improved but still needs to get better. 

The sorenson hold got tough very quickly, it was getting really hard to hold myself up in a good position. 

Sled drag was very enjoyable even though it was hot as shit outside. 

I thought today would be super boring, and it was a little bit, but it was also very productive. 

6/12/2015

AM
45:00 airdyne @Z1

PM
A. DB rear foot elevated split squat, 1x max reps/side up to 8@ .33 bwt/hand, 30x0
B. Close-grip bench press, build to a max for the day
C. CTB pull ups, 3x10-15 unbroken; rest as needed
+
3 sets for even times:
400m run
3 rope climbs
12 burpees
3:00 walk rest
+
10:00 airdyne @Z1

AM
complete

PM
A. R-8, L-7 with 45#
B. 135 (150 Fx1) 
C. 15-15-15
+
4:02
4:30
4:28
+
complete


I haven't done RFESS in awhile, I thought it went pretty well. 

I was very disappointed with the bench press, I really wanted to PR this today. I've been stuck at 145 for the past year. I hit 135 very easily so I jumped to 150 because I thought with bench press it was okay to make larger jumps. This turned out to be a bad move, and I failed 150. Merrrrr. I have accepted the fact that I will be at a 145 bench press until I die. 

CTB pull ups felt GREAT. They are getting so fast and easy. I was able to do 15 unbroken butterfly each set and I was never worried about failing or slowing down. I'm excited to keep improving the cycle time on these. 

The run/rope climb workout was ehhhhhh not great. My run was consistent each time but I slowed down on the rope climbs during the second and third set, I was resting too long between climbs. Burpees were as steady as they could have been, I tried not to slow down on those. It was really just the rope climbs that suffered. This workout made me sad, I thought I was getting better at these. 

2015 Regionals Recap

It has been two weeks since we got back from the 2015 Central Regional in Minneapolis, and it was one of the coolest and best experiences of my life. I attended my first regionals competition in 2011 when it was still held in Columbus. I remember watching all the females compete and knowing I was nowhere near that level yet, but I wanted to be. My goal from that point on was to some day go to regionals, whether it was as an individual or as a team. Once I joined CSC, I realized I only wanted to go on the team because it looked like so much fun. I've always enjoyed the team aspect of competition much more than the individual side, plus all the athletes at CSC are awesome and who wouldn't want to be on a team with them? I was the alternate in 2013, and last year we didn't send a team. During the Open this year everyone worked really hard because we all wanted to send a team to regionals, and the hard work paid off. We ended up qualifying a team and BAM. We were off to Minneapolis! I was thrilled to finally get the chance to represent CSC at the Central Regional with my pals. 

We arrived in Minneapolis and checked in at the convention center where we got our athlete passes and free stuff (neck pillow! Shoes!) and also had a chance to test out the true form treadmill and check out the warm up area. 

Awkward team photo after getting our free Reebok gear

I'm not going to recap all 7 events, so in my typical writing fashion I'm going to make a list of my favorite moments from regionals and also talk about some things I learned along the way. Please enjoy. 

My favorite moments from regionals 

1. Finishing third in our heat for event 2

For those of you who don't know what the workouts were, event 2 looked like this:

We were all looking forward to this event, we knew it would be a good one for us. The males went first and had to finish all 175 snatches before the females could start on our snatches. While we were doing our snatches, the men were doing the rope climbs, then they moved on to the thrusters while we did our rope climbs, then the females finished with the thrusters. This workout was all about speed and quick transitions. Jessie, Brandie and I broke up the snatches in quick sets of 10. Once we got to the rope, that's where we started to pick up speed and pull ahead. I was first to the rope and my first transition to Brandie was pretty slow (Sorry Stephen) but we got faster after that. We were all quick up the rope and got the climbs done pretty quickly. I was first to the thrusters, then we started splitting them up 7/8/5. It wasn't until I had finished my first set of thrusters that I looked over and realized we were only one of three teams at the bar, everyone else was still on rope climbs. This is when things really got exciting. I could hear Stephen and Pat yelling from the side, telling us to keep moving and to keep our transitions fast. Brandie and I each got no-repped once or twice for not putting our head all the way through at the top of the thruster so I think that put us behind a little bit. We got to our last 15 thrusters and I started with my set of 7. I could hear Alex and Jessie telling me to just do all 15 reps but I just couldn't, I could feel my cycle time slowing down so I dumped it and Jessie finished her 8 reps. We crossed the finish mat in third place, 5 minutes under the time cap. It was such an exciting moment and it was a great way to end the first day. 

All smiles after a great finish!

2. The muscle up/hang clean event on day 3

The first event on day 3 looked like this:

The females went first, and the first male could not start on the GHD sit ups until the females had finished the entire workout. This basically meant the event came down to how fast the chicks could cycle through muscle ups and heavy hang power cleans. I was excited for this event because muscle ups and HPC are two of my favorite movements. We had practiced this workout a few times and had finished under the time cap, so we knew we would do well on this one. I was the first female on the GHD sit ups and they went surprisingly well, in practice I had always come off the GHD machine really dizzy and disoriented but this time I didn't feel nearly as bad. I was able to knock out 8 muscle ups before Brandie finished her GHDs and came over to help me. I think we were at 18 or 20 when Jessie came over, and from there we just cycled through one person right after the other. Whenever I would come off the rings, Brandie would be right behind me and Jessie would help her up. We just stayed in that rotation and kept our transitions fast. I fatigued on the muscle ups faster than I thought, I was down to singles sooner than I wanted to be, but we just kept moving. I was first to the bar on the hang power cleans and when I picked it up it felt heavy as shit. I was actually pretty surprised. We broke up the HPC 7/5/3 until the last 10 reps, Brandie did 1 and I was able to finish out the last 9. I was so proud of us on this workout, we communicated really well throughout the muscle ups and we moved the weight quickly on the hang power cleans. It was really fun getting to stand on the finish mat with Jessie and Brandie, cheering on the guys while they finished. They crushed it, and we came in 5th in our heat. A lot of teams in our heat didn't even finish under the time cap, so I was really proud of our performance. This was a good day to start off the last day. 

3. Hanging out with my team in Minneapolis 

This doesn't really have to do with the competition, it's just one of my favorite things about the entire trip in general. It definitely would have been more convenient for regionals to be in Cincinnati or Columbus like it has been in the past few years, and it would have been a lot cheaper as well. But now we were in a different city together, and after the competition ended each day we would all get lunch and then hang out. It was really fun walking around Minneapolis with everyone and getting to spend so much extra time with my team was really cool. I think if regionals had been in Cincinnati, we would have just gone home after each day was over. Instead, we basically did everything together, and I think it made the trip a lot more fun. I laughed so much during those three days and I really enjoyed spending time outside of the gym with my teammates. We went to some cool restaurants, walked around Minneapolis, and went swimming at the YMCA. Also, I can say with confidence that we've all been bonded for life after the things we witnessed in that sauna.

Team trip to Whole Foods

Minneapolis is neat!

And now, an open letter to the unamused treadmill judge

If any of you watched the first event on day 2 (the treadmill/wall ball workout), you probably remember this guy:

He is just NOT AMUSED

Dear unamused judge in lane 10,

Judging by the look on your face, I can tell you were not thrilled about having to stand there for four minutes while I ran on the treadmill at a literal snails pace. I'm sorry you didn't get to judge one of the other 9 female runners who were all 5'9", blonde, and were actually good at running. If we're thinking about it in Lord of the Rings terms, they were all Galadriel the elf queen and I was Frodo the hobbit. But I really tried my best, and that's all that matters. I hope I can come back next year and entertain you with my improved running skills. 

Your friend

Chels

Things I took away from regionals

1. I have improved a lot but I have a long way to go

I know I have really improved over the past year. If these events had come up one year ago, I wouldn't have been able to string muscle ups together, I wouldn't be able to do strict handstand push ups, I wouldn't be snatching 145, and my rope climbs would have been extremely slow. I have come a long way in just one year, but I still have a ways to go. There are still a lot of things I need to work on, and the treadmill/wall ball event was a glaring weakness. It took me almost 4 minutes to do 50 wall balls, and that just can't happen. I'm able to move quickly when it's short bursts of moving the barbell or gymnastics movements, but I need to be able to grind through shitty work when I'm by myself on the floor. The wall ball event was a perfect example of how I still need to improve on sucking it up and pushing through the pain. It was a terrible feeling to look up and see Conner standing on the treadmill, waiting for me to finish. I never want that to happen again. I know this event was just one of many, and I'm very proud of my performance on everything else. I'm looking forward to continuing to work on my weaknesses while also improving my strengths. 

2. It's very important to trust your training 

As we were warming up for the snatch event, everything was feeling really good. I hit my opener (145) three times and it was feeling excellent. Then Jessie and I hopped in with another group and I failed 140. This one missed rep completely shook my confidence. As we were waiting in the corral I was talking to Alex and asked him what I should do if I failed 145. Should I take off the 15s and just snatch 115 so I can at least get in a score? Alex looked at me and said, "Why are you talking about failing lifts? Have you hit it in practice? Then just make the fucking lift." and he was right. I snapped out of it right then and my nerves went away. Why was I questioning myself right before we were about to step out on the competition floor? I had hit 145 in practice every single time and had never missed. At this point I could snatch it in my sleep. So why all of a sudden was I letting one bad rep in warm up freak me out? After that, my attitude completely changed. I went out and snatched 145 easily because I knew I had done it in practice one million times and I knew I was capable of doing it. Regionals is all about trusting your training. We put in the work, we put in the practice, and now it was time to go show what we could do. Regionals isn't the time or place for self-doubt, it's the time to trust all the training you've been doing for the past year. 

Regionals was one of the best experiences I've ever had. I can't even really put into words how cool it was to be out on the floor competing with my friends in that type of atmosphere, and I am so thankful I got to be part of it. 

Jessie, Mark, Conner, Brandie, Alex- thank you for being the best team. I really couldn't have imagined a better team to share in my first regionals experience. You guys are all incredible athletes and great people. I think what's really cool about our team is that when it comes down to it, we're all good friends. We enjoy each other's company, laugh a lot, and have a genuine respect for one another. It was an honor to compete and represent CSC with all of you. 

Stephen- Thanks for being the best coach, as usual. I didn't actually think my goal of going to regionals would happen but you made it come true. Your programming and coaching have made me a better athlete than I really thought was possible. You're the best, and when I discovered your love of cheese my respect for you grew even more. 

Dad-thanks for making sure I was able to get to regionals and cheering for me the whole weekend. And mom, for cheering from home!

Now it's the off-season, and it's time to set some new goals. Competing at regionals made me realize I want to go back, and I want to just completely dominate. I'm going to take the next year to really improve my weaknesses and my mental toughness. A lot can happen in a year, and I'm going to continue to work hard, focus on my training, trust my coach, and have fun training with my friends. This year has already been so amazing, I'm excited to see what the next season will bring. 

Onward

6/10/2015

AM
6 sets easy:
:60 row
:60 front leaning rest on ground
:60 airdyne
:30/side plank
:60 single unders

PM
A. Shoulder press, build to a max
+
2015 Regionals Individual Event 7 

AM
complete

PM
A. 100 (105 Fx2)
+
3:06
**note: I thought this was only four barbells from weights 115-135-155-175. I just looked and it's actually five barbells from weights 135-145-155-165-175. So I started too light and used one less barbell. Eff.


I really enjoyed the AM session, came over to CSC instead of doing it at Lebanon, much more of a relaxed atmosphere at CSC. 

The PM session did not start out very well. I was not in the right mindset when I got there due to some stuff that had happened right before I got to the gym so I was already mentally out of my training session. The shoulder press went pretty poorly, I was only able to press 100. I thought for sure I would be able to PR this today or at least match it (110). 100 was easy but 105 barely came off my shoulders. This was frustrating. 

The muscle up/clean ladder was really enjoyable and fun. Muscle ups felt pretty good, I started off with 7. I think I could have done a few more but for some reason I was just swinging all over the place and it was hard to turn myself over by the 7th rep because the rings were way out in front of me. After that I did 3/3/2, with a bit too much rest in between sets. I finished the muscle ups in a little over 2:00. All the cleans were pretty easy, I really only had to stop and take a few breaths before 175. I caught it lower than usual and it caught me a bit off guard but I still stood it up fairly easily. HOWEVER: I just double checked this workout on the regionals sight and it turns out I messed up the clean ladder. In my mind I really thought the bars went 115-135-155-175, when in fact they're 135-145-155-165-175. So not only did I completely miss a bar, I started way too light. This is frustrating because I thought my time was pretty solid, but now I realize I did 4 bars instead of 5 and the first one wasn't at the correct weight. Ehhh dammit. I was not mentally in it today. Hoping this weekend turns out some better training results.