5/17/2015

Team Event 6:
FFF then MMM
Men cannot start until females are finished with the entire workout
50 GHD sit ups each
50 muscle ups total
50 hang power cleans total, 135/205

24:12, I think?

Team Event 7:
Stations of:
30 calorie with deadlift hold, 205/315
30 strict HSPU with HS hold
30 toes to bar with hang from bar
50 foot overhead lunge, 105/155

complete


I am really happy with our performance on the first event, it was pretty awesome. Brandie started on the GHD sit ups, then me, then Jessie. I did all 50 pretty much unbroken, I only paused a few times to catch a breath but then kept moving. Overall, my GHD sit ups were a lot faster than last week. When I got over to the rings, I think Brandie had done 5 muscle ups? I can't remember. I took too long before jumping up there. I think I did 4 in a row then stuck with sets of three the rest of the time. There was a point when we were on the 12th muscle up that I had a slight moment of panic. I just wasn't sure how long it was going to take and 50 seemed like a very large number at the moment. We kept chipping away, Brandie and Jessie doing sets of 2 and me doing sets of 3. We wasted too much time between sets, since the rings are so high there's no possible way to steady them before jumping up there so we would just kind of stand there until they stopped moving. After the workout, we agreed that we're just going to help each other up from now on so we don't waste any time waiting for the rings to stop moving. We finished the 50 muscle ups and I started on the hang power cleans. I did 7, Jessie did 5, Brandie did 2-3. We pretty much stuck with that rep scheme until the 40th rep, then I just did 10 in a row to finish it out. We decided to do that from now on, I know if I'm on the bar at rep 40 then I can take it all the way to 50. Alex told me to "take it to the grave" every time like that, and I know I can. Overall, we finished under the time cap and I know it will only get faster the more we do it, especially with the quicker transitions between muscle ups. 

The second workout was a real DOOZ. This was pretty terrible. The order was Alex, Mark, Conner, Jessie, me, Brandie. The ladies decided to drop the bar every 8 calories, and I think that plan worked out well. The deadlift hold got really tough, not even because of the weight but because my hands felt so raw at that point. I thought my strict handstand push ups were much better than last week, I started with sets of 3 and then went down to sets of 2 around 19, then three quick singles to end it. Jessie did a good job of keeping me motivated through this part, it's easy to get discouraged on these. I did the handstand hold for Brandie, then moved over to the bar to do toes to bar with Jessie. I definitely was resting too long between sets, I should have done smaller sets but shorter rest. The hang from the bar actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, Brandie did two sets of 10 and then a set of 7/3 so it went pretty quickly. The lunge was also better than last week, I only broke once and felt much more stable throughout. It was still pretty difficult, and I also think my hands were too narrow the first half. I widened my grip for the second half and it was a bit easier, but not much. This workout wasn't breathing, it was all muscle fatigue. I don't think I can do the strict HSPU much faster than I did them today but I know I can cut down rest on the toes to bar. 

5/16/2015

AM
Team event 3:
F1 (Jessie) then M1 (Conner)
.05 mile run
50 wall balls
F2 (me) then M2 (Mark)
.04 mile run
40 wall balls
F3 (Brandie) then M3 (Alex)
.03 mile run
30 wall balls

PM
Team events 4 & 5:
1 rep max snatch, 6:00 time cap, 1:00 each
then:
6x100 foot handstand walk, 7:00 time cap

AM
15:30

PM
145 snatch
50'/50' handstand walk


Another excellent day of team training! I actually really enjoy these events. The run workout went well, although I know it will be a different story when we're on those treadmills. I felt like I was running pretty fast but I could probably kick it up even more the last 200 meters or so. I forget exactly how I broke up the wall balls but I know I broke three times and did 24 to start. Next time we do this, I want try and go unbroken. I had enough time to switch the female/male wall balls and Mark came in shortly after. I just want to make sure I finish the wall balls so Mark isn't waiting on me, I know it won't be a problem but I think if I dig deep I can just do the wall balls unbroken. I know everything is going to feel different after running on that treadmill. Merrrrrr. 

I was really happy with how the snatch event went. As we were warming up, I was feeling pretty stiff. I failed a snatch at 115 and tried not to freak out. They got easier as the weight got heavier, but it still made me nervous. I basically have one attempt and I didn't want to fail. When it was my turn, I hit 145 easily. Stephen said he might have me try for 155 so I'm going to practice that this week. The handstand walk was much faster than last week, I went 50 feet unbroken, had a very quick turnaround, then did the second 50 feet unbroken. The last 10 feet were pretty tough but I was able to make it. I think when we're at regionals and we're doing the handstand walk on the straightaway it will be much easier to go a farther distance, having to turn around at 50 feet throws off the momentum. Very happy with our performance on these events today! 

5/15/2015

AM
For time with Conner:
21-15-9
Partner deadlifts, 410
Syncho CTB pull ups

7:30

PM
For time with Jessie and Brandie (and the bros)
100 snatches, 55
15 rope climbs
50 thrusters, 75

complete, not sure of the total team time


AM session with Conner was good and bad. We decided to do kipping pull ups instead of butterfly and it actually ended up working really well for us, I think we're going to stick with kipping because there's a much larger chance of getting out of sync if we butterfly. I'm definitely cool with kipping because we're reducing the amount of no-reps. We started the workout and did 21 pull ups before we realized we were supposed to start with the deadlifts. Oops. We rested about 10 minutes and started over. The deadlifts were pretty bad, we weren't spread out on the bar correctly and we were resting way too long between sets. Also, Conner and I deadlift very differently (he's more controlled on the way down, I tend to bounce the bar off the ground) and I wasn't waiting for him to fully extend his hips at the top before I would start the descent, so our bar ended up doing a weird worm motion. We also weren't communicating at all during the deadlifts, I was just kind of guessing when I was supposed to put the bar down. We communicated really well on the pull ups, kipping made it easier for us to stay in rhythm and I was able to keep my eye on Conner to make sure I was hitting the bar at the same time. We stuck to sets of 3 but I know in the future we will be able to do sets of 5, our arms were fatigued from the premature set of 21 before we started over. I know if we continue to practice our deadlift and cut down the rest between sets we can shave off a bunch of time on this. 

PM session was really fun, I like this workout. We cut down the reps but we were still able to get a good idea of how the event is going to feel. Basically, we just have to go balls out on every set. Snatches were light and fast. Rope climbs were pretty quick, these have improved so much. I know they will be more tiring once we do the full workout though. The thrusters were not as bad as I thought they would be, I did a set of 7 every time but I think I could definitely do sets of 10. I need to increase my speed on these. Overall, this was a good workout. I felt like I had just enough rest to slightly recover before my turn, and I never felt like I couldn't do another set of something.

5/14/2015

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

complete

5/13/2015

AM
8 sets:
500m row @sub-2:00 pace
2:00 walk rest (5:00 after set 4)

PM
3 sets not for time:
12 glute-ham sit ups
4 unbroken muscle ups
+
A. Hang power clean, build quickly to a moderate/tough triple
+
For 10:00
evens- :20 row @game pace
odds- 3 strict handstand push ups + :10 handstand hold
+
For 10:00
evens- 5 toes to bar + :10 hang from bar
odds- 10' axle overhead walking lunge, 105

AM
1:56.4
1:55.6
1:56.5
1:56.8
1:56.9
1:57.4
1:57.4
1:57.3

PM
complete
MUs to 90" rings
+
A. 175
+
complete
+
complete


Errrrr, I have no idea what happened during the AM session. I've never done 500m repeats under 2:00 so I wasn't sure what to expect, I figured I would just do them all around 1:59. I was actually dreading this session because I was worried I wouldn't be able to hang on to a sub-2:00 pace for 8 sets. I rowed my first one at 1:56 and it wasn't terrible so I figured I would just roll with that pace and see what happened. I was shocked I was able to hold a 1:56 for the first 5 sets. It started getting pretty uncomfortable around the 6th set, at one point I actually thought I was going to puke but I just kept going. I'm really happy I was able to keep all 8 sets under 1:58! My rowing has come a long way, especially mentally. I really surprised myself on this. 

The PM session was really enjoyable. GHD sit ups started getting painful around the 8th rep on every set. Muscle ups were definitely easier today, jumping to the 90" rings wasn't as hard as it was on Sunday. I just keep thinking about how much easier muscle ups will feel once we go back to jumping to the normal height! Huzzah!

The hang cleans were really easy today, I actually should have gone heavier than 175. I'm not really sure why I stopped, I just felt like 175 was a solid place to call it. I could have done at least 185, maybe even 190? If this comes up again I will definitely go heavier. I'm not sure why I do this, in my mind I'm just like "Eh yeah this seems like a good stopping point." even if it doesn't feel heavy or tough. 

Strict handstand push ups were a lot better today and the hold wasn't bad at all. It was tough to settle in to the row pace in only :20, I usually ended up going too fast and by the time I got it down to 900, time was up. 

Toes to bar were fast and easy but the hold got tough near the end. I've never liked hanging from the bar. Overhead lunges were SO much easier today for multiple reasons- I was wearing knee sleeves, wrist wraps, and a belt. The axle was also loaded to the correct weight today (hehe.....oops). Overall a very solid day. 

5/12/2015

A1. Snatch, 1-1-1; 2:00 rest
A2. Handstand walk, 3x50'; 2:00 rest
B. CTB pull ups, 9x5 unbroken, begin a set every :60
+
3 sets:
400m run hard
20 wall balls, 14 to 10'
3:00 walk rest

A1. 145-145-145
A2. complete, unbroken all sets
B. complete
+
2:30
2:45
2:47


Excellent day! Snatches were extremely easy, I worked up to 145 pretty quickly and had no misses. Also, snatching with the men's bar is getting easier already. Handstand walk was much faster than Saturday. I took off my knee sleeves and lifting shoes each time because I'll most likely do that at regionals, unless told otherwise. 

CTB pull ups were fine, I switched between butterfly and kipping every other set because I'm not sure what type of pull up I'll have to do at regionals with my partner. Kipping was just so slow, I haven't really done more than 1-2 at a time lately and it was taking twice as long as the butterfly pull ups. I'll keep working on the kipping pull ups just in case. Also, the first two sets of butterfly pull ups were bothering my left shoulder pretty badly, but after a few sets it was fine. I guess I just didn't warm it up enough? 

The run workout wasn't enjoyable. No sir. By the third run I was really tired, and I'm not really sure what happened between my first and second set to cause that much of a time difference. I think I rested too long before picking up the wall ball on the second and third sets because my runs were all about the same. All wall balls were unbroken and surprisingly easy, it's amazing how much those have improved over the last year. 

5/10/2015

AM
For time:
50 glute-ham sit ups
15 muscle ups to 90" rings
15 hang power cleans, 135

PM
For times (get after movement):
30 row calories
30 strict handstand push ups, palms within a 34x24 box & hips cannot touch the wall
30 toes to bar
50' axle overhead walking lunge, 105

AM
8:18

PM
14:26
accidentally did the axle lunges with 110, oops


Oh my. Today was painful. 

The muscle up workout was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Glute ham sit ups were done in 2:20, definitely too slow. I did 27 then basically did sets of 5-10 until I got to 50. I was pretty dizzy when I got the rings, I think I rested at least :30 before jumping up there. My head was still a little foggy during the first set of MUs, it was a weird feeling doing those right after the GHDs. The height of the rings was interesting, it definitely took more energy to jump up there and I had to make sure I kipped right away or else I would lose momentum. I broke up the muscle ups 4/4/3/2/2. I was definitely resting too long between sets but I wanted to make sure I could get at least two, since the rings were so high I didn't think I could do quick singles and I didn't want to keep jumping up there. Hang cleans were pretty easy, broken up 7/4/4 with short rest between sets. 

The second piece was pretty terrible. I kept the row around 1000 cal but Stephen said we're going to row slower than that from now on, so that's good. The strict handstand push ups took FOREVER. This was the worst they have been in quite awhile. I started with 5, then 4, then went down to 3s, 2s, then the last 6 reps were singles. I probably should have started with smaller sets. I was resting a really long time between sets and by the end every rep was a struggle. I hope this was just an off day for these. The toes to bar actually went pretty quickly. The axle lunge was the worst! That was really hard. I failed the clean the first time. I cleaned it easily the second time but the lunges were really difficult, my shoulders and core were shot so it was really hard to stabilize the bar overhead. I also wasn't wearing a belt or knee sleeves, I'm going to wear those from now on. I dropped the bar about halfway through. I was really shaky and my feet were all over the place. I was pretty bummed about how long it took me to do this workout, especially the strict HSPU. I'm hoping with practice all these movements will get better. It also didn't help that I had accidentally loaded the bar to 110 instead of 105, OOPS.

I need to get my mind right over these few weeks of training. I feel like everything that comes out of my mouth recently is a complaint about something, whether it's the height of the rings or the GHD sit ups or the fact that we have to snatch with a men's bar. I just need to accept the fact that these are the standards, and the only thing I can do is practice them so they become easy. If Stephen had given me these workouts in my regular day-to-day programming and told me to jump to 90" rings, I would have thought it was a little odd but I still would have done it without complaint, so I'm not sure why all of a sudden I'm whining about the regionals standards. It makes me look like I'm not thankful to be going to regionals, and I am very thankful. I know I'm lucky to even have a spot on the team. So from now on, no more complaining. I'm just going to do the work and have fun with my team, because no one wants to be on a team with a turd.