12.2 in the books

WOD 12.2 for the Opens...

As many reps as possible in 10 minutes

75 pound snatch, 30 reps

135 pound snatch, 30 reps

165 pound snatch, 30 reps

210 pound snatch, as many reps as possible <---Yea right!

60 reps

In my head going in I imagined 70 reps. After watching a few people on Wednesday night I quickly learned that anything over 60 would separate most people. My new goal, 62.

I have snatched 175 pounds before so 165 shouldn't be a problem. That was until I realized that after doing the first 60 reps I'd have lifted 6300 pounds already.  Yea that first one at 165 should be real easy. Actually the first rep transitioning from 75 pounds to a 135 pounds was brutal. That's a 60 pound jump. Awful!

The first 30 reps at 75 were pretty easy. I broke in up 20 5+5. I thought about going straight through, but I wanted to conserve as much energy as possible. I don't remember what my split time was, but it was pretty fast. Like I mentioned earlier, that first rep at a 135 pounds was awful. I was genuinely shocked at the weight difference at first. I managed to make my way thought 135 at a steady and consistent pace. No failed reps! I was pretty focused and I had completed my 30 reps at the 9 minute mark. That left me with just enough time to get my two reps. Well, that didn't work out the way I had hoped. 

My first rep I brought it just above my shoulders and tried to push press it up.  No way that was happening after everything I just lifted. That left me with one more chance. Pretty much the same thing happened on that one as well. My body was exhausted at that point. I had planned on split snatching my 165's, but in the heat of the moment I forgot. If I could have gotten underneath those two attempts I might have had both reps. C'est la vie. 

Coach Glen pulled me aside afterward and loved how focused I was. He was happy that the snatches didn't get into my head which it can easily get into any one's. Even some of our better CraicHeads let it creep into their heads. He was impressed that I didn't do my walking around the bar bullshit,  I didn't get angry, cry :),  no kneeling down at the bar, any of my bad WOD traits that slow my times up. We were talking about how recently I have been able to go straight through on most WODS of late. My focus seems to be there along with my cardio. Part of that is definitely basketball on Wednesday nights. Every week I can see a difference with my breathing. Also, with my ability to focus at the gym. I have been able to shut out my bad habits because I have so much shit going on in my head with my personal life. I said to Glen, "I've been dealing with so much shit, there's not enough room left in my brain to worry about the WODS." My workout should be a chance to tune everything out. Hopefully I can continue to build on this going forward.

WOD 12.1

The CrossFit Opens have started. On Wednesday night they release the workout and you have till 5pm on  that Sunday to complete it. Over 60,000 athletes have registered for the opens. This is a worldwide event that will eventually lead to the Regionals where the top 60 compete for the top 3 spots who then move on and ends with the CrossFit Games in July.

WOD

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes

BURPEES

Ugh! Are you kidding me. Quite possibly my all time worse movement. It just taxes the shit out of my legs and back I am really not looking forward to this WOD. 

A bunch of the CraicHeads decided to hit the WOD immediately on Wednesday night. There were some impressive scores over a hundred. Considering who did what I think I will throw a party if I could manage to get to 80. Look it, I know I have no chance anyway, but to be a part of Team Craic is what it's about for me. On Thursday we ran the WOD all day for those competing and not. I went to a few classes to judge and encourage. I love yelling at people. Some great scores again. On Saturday from 10 to 12pm we will be judging the WOD again. This is when I plan on hitting it. Some people have done it or will do it multiple times. My strategy is this, do it once and leave it all out there. Why torture myself for 2 to 3 more reps? I have given my legs sufficient rest I hope and have a few strategies in mind. We'll see what happens on Saturday.

Almost go time!

On a side note, I was talking with a friend of mine about the shit storm which is my life. We came up with a great t-shirt that is relevant to this workout. Trying to see if I can get it made. It is truly brilliant.

Oh, here is a link to the Games site in regard to the first workout...

CrossFit, the Opens

Staying Focused

Been a tough few days. It's been really hard to just keep my focus, but I have been trying to surround myself with as much activity as possible.  On Saturday I watched my CraicHeads compete at the Winterfest Competitions at Vagabond. As expected we represented well and took 2 podium spots. Here is a link with a team photo as well, Oh Baby! Of course I had to leave for work a bit early and missed yet another team picture... Great job by everyone! Love you guys!

Monday's WOD...

10 minute AMRAP

10 Power Cleans @135#

10 Ring Dips

5 + 6 reps

What can I say about this? I wish I could have just power cleaned the whole time. Ring Dips are a goat for me, but I have to say that I definitely improved from times past.  They fatigue the shit out of me pretty quickly. I was happy that I was able to do 50 of them. Might not seem much but trust me go try them. 

The problem is that if I did bar dips to substitute I could have done a million of them and I wouldn't have gotten the work I needed. As far as the power cleans go they were great. I never really had an issue with them at all. At one point I started doing single reps so I could try to save some strength for the ring dips. That really didn't matter though. Those 6 reps at the end were consecutive and I think if I pushed myself a bit harder I could have done better sets with the power cleans. Who Knows?

Uh oh. Tomorrow is Overhead Squats! 

Stay Tuned....

Deadlifts!

I knew ahead of time that Thursday's WOD was going to be 1 rep max deadlift. I was super psyched about this because it has been a long time since I had 1 repped this movement. I was dying to know where I would be at this point since I have improved in so many areas, but first of all let me discuss B-Ball.

11 CraicHeads showed up to play basketball last night. I gotta tell ya, we have some serious B-Ball players at Craic. Sic! By far I was the worst one out there I felt. My shot was fine and I hit a bunch of them. I was surprised actually considering I haven't shot a basketball in years. In terms of playing, I felt like I was running around with my head cut off. Everyone else were calling out plays and setting picks as I just hoped I could sneak in a shot when someone lost the ball or threw it at me. I pretty much tried to be as annoying as possible on defense and I think I did a pretty good job. Overall I had a blast and I think I held my own. It was a great cardio workout. Running up and down that court was grueling, but without Craic in my life I would have passed out within the first 15 minutes. Excited to go again.

WOD

1 Rep Max

Deadlift

435#

My legs were fried from basketball and I didn't feel a 100% for the WOD. I really wanted to crush my previous 1 rep max, 425.  I am happy that I went higher though. I actually think I could have gotten a bit more, but Dork and I decided to jump up to 455 from 425 and it got in my head and I couldn't lift it. By the time I went back down my body was gassed and 435 was a bit of a struggle.  I was talking with Caveman Steve and then later with Pete. I was 30 plus pounds heavier when I lifted 425, so gaining an extra 10 pounds on my PR at my new weight is actually very good. I am lifting twice my bodyweight and that's no joke no matter what. Me likey. 

Don't know if I'll workout tomorrow. I am exhausted.

Here is a video of Max lifting 500#'s. What a beast. You can see me goofing in the beginning of the vid.

Have Barbell. Will Travel

I saw today's WOD and was somewhat excited to do it.

3 Rounds for Max reps

1 minute each station

Air Squats

Push Press 45#

Sit ups

Ball Slams 

Rest 1 minute between rounds

These are the type of WODS that I need to help improve my speed. I am cardio challenged and anything that doesn't allow me to rest too long in between movements and sets is hugely beneficial for me. I should do Fight Gone Bad style workouts more frequently. 

Unfortunately I had some issues today trying to get to the CraicHouse.  I couldn't make the noon class like I prefer so I decided to sign up for the 6:30pm class. Hoping that I could sneak out of work for an hour. It is literally only 2 minutes away from work so it really couldn't be anymore convenient, but little did I know that it could be....

Because of the holiday I had an overflow of salesweasels at my store today. Those who played hooky on Monday where seriously interfering with my ability to crush WODS today so now I wasn't going to be able to make the box at all. I settled in at work and starting sampling some potential future products. I remembered something about Caveman Steve telling me a story about how he signed up for a 6:30 class and he was glad he did because he was the only one there. I knew that Glen was pulling doubles for the past week while John was on vacation and I didn't want to make him stay any longer than he needed to.  I texted him  the following.

Me:  I signed up for the 6:30 but all these salesmen keep coming in so I can't make it. Drop off a 45# bar later and a ball and I can do it tonight.  :) 

Glen: Are you drunk or serious?

Me: Serious. Not drunk yet.

And who shows up at my store with a 45# bar and a 20# med ball, Glen, Coach Condor and Pete.  Oh shit! What did I just get myself into?

It seems at home.

After having a brief chat and a quick quality control session it was time to get to work. I knew going in that my kryptonite would be air squats. My legs suck and when I have to do a ton of air squats my knees start to kill me. I am not fan. The push presses shouldn't be too bad early on. 45# doesn't seem like much but I know with history that that shit is gonna get heavy at some point. Sit ups, should be fine and slam balls will hurt later. 


1st round 156 reps


2nd round 128 reps


3rd round 121 reps

=405 reps


I was right, my knees started to hate me. This time though I could feel them in the other rounds doing sit ups. That definitely affected me more than I thought because sit ups I can usually breeze through. Push presses were exactly as I thought. That shit got heavy toward the end.  Halfway through I had to pull a Teehan and take my shirt off. I was dying. 


This is exactly what I needed! I really can't thank Glen enough along with Coach Dizzle and Pete for showing up and making my night. This just proves to show how much of a community we are and what we are willing to do for each other. Although I was miserable at the end I was glad I accomplished it. At 9pm after sampling tequila, wine and beer. Who knows how many reps I could have gotten clean, sober and at noontime. 


Here are some videos The Condor took.


This is Glen's demonstration of Slam Balls. Priceless! By the way, Pete is a born Quality Control Expert!

Glen yells at me. If you listen I believe you hear me telling him to F off around the 8 second mark! Ha Ha

This video is only great because around the 10 to 12 second mark someone knocked a beer over. You can hear it and see me look to my left. 

This is me doing my best Teehan impression minus the chiseled body, natural good looks and speed. Bastard!

The aftermath. Miserable while everyone else enjoys a beverage. Caveman Steve randomly stopped by towards the end and was able to watch the final round of carnage.

I'm still trying to figure out if they really stopped by for my benefit or for a beer. Maybe a bit of both, but in the end we were all happy. Well everyone was happy. I was miserable. They did leave the bar behind. Do I smell future back room WODS....

CrossFit Florian

Last Saturday I went over to CrossFit Florian for their Grand Opening.  I was hesitate with my back still being pretty tender. I knew it wouldn't be easy when I saw the WOD.

3 Rounds

21 Box Jumps

15 Thrusters @95#

9 Pull ups

I don't remember my time maybe 10 minutes

I knew I would have some issues with my back with those fucking box jumps mixed in with thrusters. My thought process was to move as fast as I can before the pain would seep in. That worked out well for one round at least. Ha Ha

I burned through the 1st round pretty quickly. Everything was unbroken. About 5 or so jumps into my second round of box jumps I could feel my back getting angry with me. I slowed it way down, but that didn't seem to help. When I finally got to my thrusters I had to switch my weight halfway through so I could finish. Once again people were telling me I should have gone lighter because of my back, but per usual I did not listen. I wanted to impress my friends at their opening. I have come a long way, but as it goes to show I have an even longer way to go. On another note the pull ups were fun. I decided to do butterfly's so I could show off. Unbroken on all of those.  Too bad it wasn't a pull up WOD. I would have dominated. Well, maybe done okay...

Bill and Beau's place is great. Great energy and a fantastic atmosphere. It was so great to be around so many positive and like minded people. I loved hanging out with my fellow CraicHeads and seeing former members for the first time in a while. The highlight of the day was watching Johnny Deadlift vs Paul Teehan battle each other in the final WOD.  Until they ripped their shirts off it wasn't official. Oh Baby!

Congrats to Bill and Beau on the opening of their box. I wish them nothing but success and can't wait to go against them in the years to come. Big shout out to all the the CraicHeads, Florians and future Crossfitters who participated in the event. It was a tough WOD which made those after beers oh that much more enjoyable. Stay thirsty my friends.

Here are some pics from the day.

Me, Jack, Paul, Sean and Thom. Jack always laughs in the face of WODS!

Hey Box! F U!

Bill watching me struggle. I need blue Inov-8's!

John and Paul after what they do best!