Where Have I Been?

Actually I haven't been anywhere. Just lost track of updating for a week. Trying to move forward in my life so some things had to take a backseat. Not my WODS though. I was pretty consistent with that at least. Instead of boring you with everything I did last week lets just say that I have continued to make progress mentally during my workouts. I think that is the most important thing for me right now. More so then ever. My mental capacity seems to be growing and I see it transferring over to my everyday life.

CrossFit is about many things. Working out, nutrition, community, friendships, but there is also that mental toughness you can achieve. Whether you come in with it or not. In the end you can make huge gains in CrossFit and more importantly life if you open yourself up to it. I seem to be making that transition. Albeit slowly, but it's rising faster than usual.  It's up to you as an individual whether or not you can achieve this. Some people are born with it, some people need to find it.  I once had it a long time ago. It's on it's way back. I look forward to tomorrow and I haven't said that in a while.

Quick note. 12.3 sucked ass! Box jumps and I do not get along at all. Kills my lower back. I had a goal of 7 rounds, but figured I would do 6 plus. Back tightened up and I fell 7 reps short of 6 rounds. I thought about doing it again, but I chose not to because I didn't want to torture myself for another 18 minutes. 12.4 is right around the corner and it will more than make up for it.

Today's WOD...

5 x 5 Deadlifts - same weight

365#

All I gotta say is that on the 5th set that shit got heavy. Basketball and 12.4 later! Oh!  Here is our latest montage at the Craichouse...

.

This shit should inspire you!

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.

Recovered

I took a personal day off on Monday even though I really wanted to do the WOD.

Christine

Row 500

12 Deadlifts @bodyweight

21 Box Jumps

IOU

At some point I would like to sneak this in. I don't mind rowing and deadlifts are in my wheelhouse. The only issue here would be my box jumps. They are improving, but they still suck. I wanted to hit this mainly because it reminded me when I DNF'd at the Providence competition.  Tweaked my back transitioning from deads to box jumps or on a box jump. Not really sure. Mostly my pride on that one. Thank God for my boy  Bill Mello who hooked me up with an ice pack. Saved the day. I still have it if you want it back Bill.

Tuesday's WOD

Strength: 5x5 Front Squats-same weight for all sets

Skill: 20 Toes to bar between each set

185# Front Squat

Toes to Bar

Last time I did 5 reps of front squats it was, where else? Providence competition and that was at 215#. I was toying with 185# or 205#. I did a few reps of each and felt a bit tired so i chose 185#'s. Afterward I felt like I could have gone a bit heavier on the front squats, but I was happy with the weight regardless. Shit does get heavy after a while. Usually around the 4th set my wrists finally get loose which makes this movement a bit easier. 

The Toes to bar are coming along nicely. I have been able to do them for a while now. My flexibility sucks and I really shouldn't be able to do them, but my kip more than makes up for it. I tried to do the first 20 unbroken, but I lost my grip going into my 17th rep. I was pissed! The next two sets I broke up into 10's. The 4th set I broke into 5's and then I struggled a bit on my 5th set. Got them done though and as I type here 2 days later I can still feel the effects when I move or laugh. 

Wednesday's WOD

21-15-9

Row for calories

Pull ups

5:50 Rx

I actually did pretty well with this one. I kept moving the whole time. The only issue was and it was a big issue were that my hands were toast form the day before's T2B. I could barely grip the bar doing warm ups. I knew then that I was going to have a tough time. With a workout like this I would have tried to do butterfly pull ups, but with my grip issues I thought it would be best to stay with a kip instead. I just didn't have the hand strength.  

The rows were easy peasy and the first set of pull ups were done with 16 reps and 5. I was mad because I know I can do 21, but what can you do. The rest of the WOD went along like you would imagine. Was pretty happy with myself at the end even with my grip struggles. I'll just have to hold some cold beers later for recovery.

I played basketball again last night and I am really enjoying it. My shot was off a bit more than usual. I made plenty of baskets underneath, but outside... only a few. I couldn't get there early enough for the shoot around. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it! So instead I rebounded, boxed out and basically pushed people around and cleared paths for my teammates. Gotta use this strength somehow.

Stopped by the CraicHouse afterward to watch and see what WOD 12.2 was for the Opens.  This one might be in my wheelhouse. We'll discuss this later.

On a side note. TNB might be going global soon. Getting named dropped on crossfit radio tonight on the Crossfit Journal. Check it out on journal.crossfit.com   More to come.

Burpees

After my extended rest I finally hit Open WOD 12.1

7 minutes as many reps as possible

Burpees

80

So I ended up doing exactly what I thought I would do. Yes, in my mind I wanted a 100, but with the way my legs are and my lower back I wasn't really surprised with this number. It was truly 7 minutes of hell. Not a fun WOD at all. It literally crushed everybody. Even the mighty Teehan broke his cherry on this one. 

I could see why people attempted this a few times. There is always ways to improve and also game play it as well. For days I had worked out a couple of strategies and it worked, but I just couldn't get it going. In my mind I knew I could do better and I contemplated doing it again the next day. The only problem would be that my body would probably tell me to Fuck Off. Since that is a term I have grown accustomed to as of late I decided not to listen to my body this time and I dragged myself in there the next day to attempt it again.

When I walked in Johnny Deadlift asked what I was doing there.  I told him and he said that no one has ever done better the next day without rest. Gee, that was comforting. I said I might surprise ya. Inside I was regretting my decision to come in. In my head I thought that I would be lucky to hit 70 with the way I felt and past experiences watching other people attempt back to backs this week.  At that point I just decided to do it and chalked it up to extra cardio. Hey it can't hurt right?

7 minutes as many reps as possible

Burpees

83!

Oh baby! Not only did i survive, but I actually did better. Yes it's only 3 reps, but if you've done this workout those 3 reps aren't easy to get. I used a different strategy here, but basically I just wanted to keep moving as much as possible. Dare I say that I might be tempted to try this WOD from time to time?!?!?! For once I proved John wrong. It might have been my first victory over him besides drinking for time.

One final thought. I will never, ever, ever complain about burpees in a WOD again. After doing this twice 10, 20, 30 burpees in a WOD is nothing now. Thank you headquarters!

p.s. Still need to get that t-shirt made.

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....

Resting!

Wednesday night we had our second week of basketball. What a great time this is. Running up and down the court for 2 hours is such a great way to get extra work in. It is definitely helping me in regard to my pathetic limitations in regard to cardio. I actually feel really good out there. It's funny though, right after we finish my legs go numb and I walk like an 80 year old man.

I actually played extremely well. It's not the biggest court in the world and last week we played 5 on 5 and it felt like a sardine can. This week we had to play 4 on 4 and there was so much room. The game flowed better and people could get open a bit easier. I shot the ball well and really look forward to this again next week.

As far as WODS, the next day my legs were toast and the WOD had running in it and there was no way I could even move effectively to get anything out of it. REST DAY.

Then on Friday morning I woke up with a pain in my right shoulder, sort of a hitch so I thought it wise to rest again. I am working this weekend which means I'll get my functional workouts in by moving around hundreds of cases of beer, wine and liquor anyway. Hope to be back fresh for open WOD 1 next week.

After hours B-Ball activities were a blast as well.  I still don't think a certain someone can stand on their head...   :)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Yesterday's WOD... The Good!

WOD

1 Rep Max Bench Press

275#

Oh Baby! That was a 30# PR. Last time I did it I struggled with 245#.  I crushed it. To be honest I didn't think I could even do that much. Bench is not my strongest or most well liked movement. My right shoulder always starts off really tight, I was able to do more than I expected. I figured going into today that maybe, just maybe I could get 255#.  Very Happy with this. Who knows, maybe the 300 club is around the corner with this one. It also helps when you can harness that inner anger and utilize it toward your strength movements. 

Today's WOD...  The Bad!

15 Minute AMRAP

5 Pull Ups

10 Burpees

15 Front Squats @ 75#

5 rounds + 20 reps

SUCK!  I knew going in that my burpees would be the problem. Pull ups were fine and the front squats were fine after I got my right wrist loose, but those fucking burpees!  Johnny Deadlift taught us a new technique on the burpees. I actually found it a bit easier on my legs which helped me immensely, but my back started to get tight and that was it. I slowed down big time and as a result my front squats suffered. I can front squat a ton of weight so 75#'s is nothing, but with my back telling me to Fuck Off again it crippled my score. It's too bad though. I honestly think I can get 7 rounds plus here. Maybe someday, but not anytime soon.

Monday's WOD...  The Ugly!

3 Rounds for time

10 Deadlifts @ 275#'s

50 Double Unders

8 minutes maybe...

What the Fuck! Double Unders!  Let's see, during warm up I pretty averaged 41/42 in a row just to get warm. Heck, even the first round I did over 40. That God Damn second round. It literally took me three or four times to get one. For some reason it got into my head big time and basically I ruined the WOD from a mental standpoint. I know I shouldn't let it get into my head, but it ran wild. I don't know how long that second set of DU's took, but it destroyed my time. I should have had this WOD done in under 6 minutes. Man was I pissed. When they re on they are on and when they are bad, Oh Baby they are bad.  Next time fuckers... I am sure I'll see them in the Opens during the next few weeks. Joy!

The Deadlifts weren't an issue. All 3 sets unbroken. The prescribed weight was 225#, but John had me bump it up to 275#. 

With everything that is going on with my life, getting into the CraicHouse has helped me forget and set aside everything when I'm there. For that one hour a day it lets me just lose myself in the WOD regardless of the results. Who really cares. It's about being intense and pushing your limits. Being around friends and lifting heavy shit is great therapy. Till next time.

B-Ball tonight. Should be fun! 

Friday Exhaustion

I was completely gassed and fried from this weeks workouts and events, (basketball) that I wasn't even sure I would go to the Friday's class. Somehow I managed to drag my ass in there regardless. I was extremely glad that I went on Friday. I had such a great WOD.

WOD

8 minutes to complete

1000 meter Row

and in the remaining minutes

AMRAP Clean & Jerks @ 135#

30 reps!

What? Holy Shit! I couldn't believe it. I basically did "Grace" for the WOD. "Grace" is a WOD, 30 Clean & Jerks for time. My PR was 4:10 in the past.  Pete was there when I showed up and he said I looked like I needed a cane. Ha Ha I was hobbling. Somehow though when that time started I was able to focus.

My plan on the row was to get it done in under 4 minutes so I could have 4 minutes for the C&J's. I really took my time with it so I wouldn't gas myself out and I actually stepped off the rower @ 3:40. Not too shabby and a bit faster than I thought. Unfortunately in my head though I had that 4 minute mark FLASHING and I waited to that time to start my C&J's.  Idiot! I actually think I started the movement around 4:05. That was the last number I saw before 7:59 when I repped my 30th rep! Woo-Hoo.  

Rico had put up 26 reps and J-Bone 25 reps. My goal was to come close to them, but holy shit. I am not sure of my exact start time, but if you do some quick math off my "I Think" numbers my "Grace" time would have been 3:54. 16 seconds faster than my best time. 

I was talking with Jack later, he unfortunately beat my score by one rep.  :(  and we are both super psyched to do "Grace" again. I can only imagine what my time would be if I didn't have to row a 1000 meters before hand. Can't wait now!

So glad I came in.

"To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping."

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.

Work Capacity Wednesday

Welcome to another edition of Work Capacity Wednesday! Brought to you live from CrossFit Craic!

This WOD was pre-recorded

7 Minute AMRAP

7 Toes to Bar

7 Wall Balls 20#

7 rounds + 5 reps

When I saw this one on the site I was excited yet hesitant. Last time I did Toes to Bar I tweaked one of my flabs. It hurt to laugh for a few days. Plus wall balls...Ugh! These things tend to kill me more times than not. I don't know what it is. 

I had the luxury of having resident owner and local celebrity Johnny Deadlift for my judge.  I had no wiggle room with reps. He is a no repping machine. Actually I was only no repped a total of 3 times. 2 for T2B and 1 wall ball.  John actually miscounted 1 rep for me, but I didn't really care. I need the extra work regardless. Plus since these work capacity wednesdays are set up in the style of competitions so I can't sit there and argue with a judge over one rep. Just do it again until they say it's good.  

I was hoping I could do 8 rounds. The T2B got to me toward the end and I ended up doing singles. Who knew though that I was able to use the wall balls as recovery though.  I rather enjoyed them.

Tonight is the first night of Basketball with the CraicHeads. I am looking forward to it. Should be fun.

So wish I could grow a Fro

Shoulder Press

Tuesdays' WOD was the following...

Establish a 1 Rep Max Shoulder Press

175#

Shoulder Press, quite possibly the most boring of movements out there. Yet it needs to be done and I actually don't mind it as much. I enjoy these 1 rep max heavy days. I'm usually pretty good at them and to be honest I like the rest, especially after last week.  

I was happy with 175. I actually planned and thought I could do 185 and I almost had it. I had it about halfway up and seemed to hold it there for ever. I thought my biceps were going to burst. I tried one more time, but I had nothing left in the tank after that struggle. I even dropped done to 180, but by then my arms were toast and I couldn't even lift it off the rack. I definitely think I can do 180 and maybe 185 soon. 

File this under as... Rest Day

This is what my arms felt like afterward.  Hi Dad!

SQUATS AGAIN!

Okay, I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't worried about toasting my legs again for the week when I saw the WOD for today.

1 Rep Max Back Squat

325#

Oh Baby! That's definitely a PR.  I was nervous that I might have trouble hitting 300 again after last week, but I knew I had to try. Figured it would be less reps since we only have to do 1 rep at a time and I should be fine. 

Here's how my reps went:

135# 

185#

225#

285#

305#

315#

325#

At 305# I knew I had 10 more pounds in me. I wanted to match my friend Johnny D @ 315#. Surprisingly this weight wasn't as hard as I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, that shit is heavy and I definitely felt it afterward, but I knew I could do more.  325 was the benchmark. Johnny Deadlift was nice enough to video my last attempt. My chest comes forward a bit, but I got it. Super psyched!

I pray my legs don't go junky on me. Really looking forward to this week's worth of WODS.

Open WOD 1 revisited

Actually this WOD has just been visited. I was never able to do it last year because I lacked the ability to do double unders. Fortunately I am able to now participate in some big boy WODS because I have DU skills. Feels good, but can still be frustrating as well.

10 Minute AMRAP

30 Double Unders

15 Power Snatch

4 Rounds plus 4 Reps

I actually thought I could have done better. My legs were completely toast from the back and front squats the day before . It was extremely hard to focus when every time I jumped my legs screamed at me. I really wanted to and thought I could have gotten 5 rounds.  Maybe with fresher legs I could have. I might try to sneak this one in again down the road.

I took the rest of the week off because my legs got worse. I could barely get out of bed the next day after this WOD. I really hate my legs sometimes. I knew that after doing heavy squats that this might be a problem. Oh well, a new week begins soon.

I could sure use these sometimes

300 Club

Yesterday's WOD had me tired before I even came in.

3rep Max Back Squat

establish in 15 minutes

300#

5 min Rest

3rep Max Front Squat

establish in 15 minutes

245#

I wasn't really feeling it. John kept asking me what I was shooting for, but I really had no idea. My response was "I'll wait and see how it feels." Well guess it felt better than I thought.  I hit 300# on my back squat. For some reason I didn't have any recorded back squats listed in my book, but I knew that it wasn't 300. I was pretty psyched about it.  That's a PR Baby!

I was equally happy with my 3rep max Front Squat, 245#. I guess that's a PR as well since I don't think we have done a 3rep Max on that movement before. My 1rep Max was @ 265#.  I'd be interested to a see where that would be now.

I felt like I might have had more in the tank, but after going pretty heavy with the Back Squats earlier I didn't have enough juice left in my legs. The issue always seems to be wrist flexibility. After a while they tend to get loose, but man do they hurt sometimes.

Usually my legs are toast for days after I do heavy squats. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Actually it's the day after tomorrow I am worried about.  That's when I usually feels the worse.  

P.S.  Thanks for crushing my weight Teehan.  Bastard!!!  

My CrossFit Relationship

BackRoom WOD Part 2

WOD

"RANDY"

75 Power Snatches @75#

6:48 Rx

I had a pretty busy day planned today and I knew I was going to have trouble getting into the CraicHouse. I tried to make arrangements with John to see if I could come in at another time. Unfortunately we couldn't make any times work. Ballbag! I really wanted to hit this one. Then a miracle happened.  John and Glen swung by after they were done at Craic with 2 plates and clips for the bar Glen left behind from a few days ago.  It was 7:31 at night and it was on like Donkey Kong!

Malcomb warm up. One beer and go time! Who needs to get loose?

I didn't have any clothes with me so I did it in my jeans which felt a bit awkward. Of course halfway through I pulled a Teehan. If there is one thing in CrossFit that I am getting better at at a furious rate is the Teehan Pull Off! 

I gotta tell ya, this one was tougher than I thought. First off it was later at night as opposed to my peak time of afternoon. Secondly, I had zero room for movement. Well, I had just enough room for the range of motion I needed. There was no moving around or dropping of the bar uncontrollably. Inches either way and I would be banging into something. My space was limited, which could work for me or not.

 I have a habit of kneeling down and resting in front of the bar. It usually means I am mentally dogging it as opposed to resting. Glen always calls me out on this and did so before we even started. Everyone was on a tight schedule and Glen clearly stated that if I knelt down at anytime he is just walking out. He is also keeping the time and had to leave within 9 minutes of the workout. Lets just say that there was no room for fucking around.

I banged out the first 25 right off the bat. Glen kept saying you're not stopping till you hit 25. Sometimes when I have number in my head I cut myself short of potentially maybe doing more than that target goal. Did that make sense? I actually felt like I should have gone to failure and then started again. Who the hell knows? I suck at most of these things so who am I to game play on movements I am not efficient enough to wipe my ass with.

Regardless, I gave 100% in that moment and I cannot thank Glen and John enough their friendship and their desire to make me better. Friendships aside, their devotion pays more dividends then they probably will ever know.  You're a fool not to become a part of this family! 

Here are some videos of my rather sloooow "Randy"  It was kind of funny. John sent me the vids and I responded back with mucho appreciato <--- TNBlish  It was funny. I said to John, "Well even though I suck, at least I look good."  He responded with a new TNB motto...

"Look better while sucking!"  Ha Ha  My own self deprecating humor got the best of me here.

B.C. is now B.T. <-- cryptic! I was looking good till I realized I was working out!

Can't we do deadlifts again?

Me Getting Strong

If there is one thing that I always excelled at right away when I came to CrossFit it was lifting heavy shit. Throwing around hundreds of cases a week at my work has probably help build build that foundation. Almost out of the gate I was rather shocked at the amount of weight I could throw around. I never really lifted when I was younger and when I saw Olympic movements on TV it was always intimidating. Plus they make that shit look easy. By no means am I the next Louie Simmons, I prefer to have a neck.

I'm gonna hire him to crush Teehan

Today's WOD:

5 Rounds for time:

5 Bench Press

5 Deadlift

Increase Weight each Set

Rest as Needed Between Sets

BP 225 / DL 375

Oh Baby! I felt strong today. I don't know if it was because of the extra rest or the aligning of the planets, but I had it today. I knew that my 5 rep max on the bench would be at 225.  I have done that rep scheme twice recently and I always struggle with the 5th rep at that weight. This time I had no problem. Probably could have gone a bit heavier, but I wasn't sure. Next time I will attempt to establish a new 5 rep PR.

My Deadlifts felt incredibly strong. I played around on the board trying to figure out my sets with the weight. I came up with 2 plans depending upon how strong I felt after the 2nd set. My main goal was to take the board. Sorry Johnny D.  I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out where my 5 rep max would lie. My 10 rep max was @315# but that was a while ago. When I finished @375# I knew I had more in me. I am thinking that I might have been able to hit 395# if not real close to it. I told John afterward that I could have PR'd my 1 rep max that night. 425# I wanted to try, but after 25 reps and a lack of time I really couldn't. I just hope I feel this way again soon so I can attempt it.  

Good day. With no TapeFactory anymore and Teehan as a no show I had the board. Dave C put up a strong number as well @345# Sic!  All I could think of was I was in a Conan the Barbarian Movie. This scene kept running through my head.

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....

Yuck

So today I finally made it back into the box. It has been over a week.  11 days to be exact. That is an eternity for me.  Besides when I tweaked my back this has been the longest layoff I've had besides those multiple years leading into CrossFit when I became a manatee.

I wish I was this cute

I knew coming in today my ass would be handed to me a bit. My cardio sucks anyway so with the extra time off I knew I could potentially be miserable. I haven't exactly been taking care of myself too well as of late. I haven't been able to get enough sleep. My diet has been shit. I'm not eating bad, but more of a lack of eating. I could tell something was up. My body has been in slow motion as of late and I feel like I have lost some muscle. I had to get my ass back in there. I blame Johnny Deadlift for going on vacation. Hey, I gotta blame somebody. He always lights a fire under my ass!

Don't Fart

Todays' WOD,

Row 250m

21 Box Jumps 24in

21 KB Swings 53#

Row 250m

15 Box Jumps 

15 KB Swings

Row 250m

9 Box Jumps

9 KB Swings

Row 250m

13:34

I started off well, but somewhere between my first 21 KB Swings and my 2nd Row I got wicked dizzy. I wouldn't say I was seeing stars, but I felt like I was gonna pass out. I think the lack of care toward my body caught up to me today. I also forgot my water bottle so I had to go into the bathroom and drink from the faucet. That didn't help much.  I got the sweaty pale look going on. It sucked. A WOD that I realistically should have finished within 10 minutes took longer than anyone. I was hugely disappointed, but wasn't surprised. These layoffs tend to do more harm to me than good. I felt like I got punched in the face. 

This was how I felt.

Tomorrow is another day.

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!

Last Week's Recap

 11/11/30

I had a tough time getting back into it last week after that competition. Yes my back was still tender, but emotionally I will admit that I was bagging it a bit. I was joking around about my pussification with Johnny Deadlift. I wasn't serious about anything, but there was definitely a moment where I thought I was done with it. It sucks when you know you should be better, but your body just isn't there yet. I told him I was having a tough time focusing again. He showed me no mercy and called me out on it.  He told me to get my ass into the gym. Listen to him and he'll take care of the rest, but he can't help me if I don't come in. He's right. I am too far along to just quit. Christ I am Tony No Bread! What kind of an example would I be if I did that? He was right. Next WOD... I'm there!

Oh Shit! Box Jumps. Of course....

WOD
10 mins to complete
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Pullups
Box jumps -pause at the top
 

Rest 3mins then
 

10mins to complete
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
KB swing 53#

Situps

6:35 WOD 1

4:24 WOD 2

Total: 10:59 Rx 

Really???  Box Jumps on my first WOD back? My back isn't fully recovered yet and I was hesitate to come in and do this one, but I had to get my ass back in there. No excuses. Just take the Box Jumps slow. That's exactly what I did. 

How this WOD works is you do 10 Pullups then 10 Box Jumps. Then 9 and 9 and 8 and 8 and so on. My only focus on the first WOD besides not destroying my back anymore was to do all of the pull ups unbroken.  Unbroken! Yea Baby! The pull ups weren't hard, but sometimes I lose focus and just drop off the bar for no apparent reason. I needed to stay focused which I did. Now the box jumps started to hurt a bit toward round 7. I just took my time with them and I finished with an okay time. 6:35.

I knew I would fly through the second WOD. Kettlebell swings and sit ups are not a problem for me. I was able to transition between the both pretty well. As I got closer to the end I went beastmode and finsihed, had a cigarette, milked the cow and brushed my teeth by the time anyone else finished. 4:24.

I made up some serious time here which helped my overall time @ 10:59.  Besides my back being a bit sore. I felt pretty good after this one. It was good to get that first WOD over with and to tell my psyche to go fuck itself!  Again...

12/1/30

This one didn't look so bad. Ha Ha 

WOD
Row Your Wallballs Off
 

Row 500m
25 Wallballs
100 Double unders
25 Wallballs
Row 500

10:40 Rx

Oh the joys of rowing. Actually the last time I rowed I felt pretty good afterward. Good as in barely able to breath and flopping on the floor good, but nothing was sore afterward. Bonus!  The 1st 500m row went exactly as I planned. I took it easy and finish around 1:40. Unfortunately the second 500m row killed me! My knees swelled up and I think I added another 15 seconds to my original time. My knees and thighs were on fire for hours after. I don't think the swelling went down til the next day. I never know what's going to happen with me and the mighty rows. Less swelling would be nice though.

I was worried about the wall balls here. I wasn't sure if they would affect my back or not. Especially when the day before where those Box Jumps reignited that burning feeling in my lower back. I ended up having no real issue with these. I went unbroken on the first 25 and I think I almost went unbroken on the second 25. No pain!  

Double Unders. I felt those would hopefully seperate me from the group. Not! I had a tough time finding a rhythm early on. It was extremely frustrating. By the time I reached 50 I was pissed. It took way too long for me to get there. The second 50 I crushed. 35 and then 15 I believe. I should have had that done in a minute tops! I think I need to put a little extra time back into the DU's again. Just so I can stay comfortable with them on a consistent basis.

Overall this WOD was hard. I couldn't believe how gassed I was halfway through. Even though it crushed me it felt good as well. Trying to stay consistent here. Next time I will blow through those double unders and finish under 10 minutes. 

12/2/30

My schedule wasn't really working for me today. I texted Mr. Deadlift to see if he was around in the afternoon so I could sneak in. That didn't work so he suggested 10am. That also didn't work. Shit, I really wanted to keep this going.  Finally he just texted me, "Make Time!"

I don't know if that last text had a subconscious affect on me or not, but for some reason that may never be understood, I woke up at 5am. I tried to fall back asleep, but that was a no go. I walked around the house like zombie, trying to figure out what to do. I looked at the clock. Do you know what it said?

Make Time!

I quickly ate something, played with my son real quick and left for Glen's 6:30am class. I walked into the middle of the 5:30am's WOD and Glen just pointed to me to spot The Condor. He looks up at me on the bench and the first thing he said was, "Is that TNB? It's like seeing Santa Claus!"  Ha Ha  Lets just say that I rarely go to any early morning classes.  Afterward, Glen brings me over to the 6:30am group and introduces me.

Glen: "This is Tony No Bread. You probably won't ever see him this early ever again."

TNB: "Hi"

Glen: "Did you pull an all-nighter?"

TNB: "Not this time."

The WOD....

WOD
4 rounds – each scored separately
Max rep bench press in 1 min @ 100#'s
Sprint 400m
10 burpees

score = reps/time

post best and worst round

This WOD was brutal! I underestimated how difficult this would be.  My times for the rounds are the following. My best is is green and my worst is in red. Pretty easy to figure out.

1. 43 reps and 3:24
2. 26 reps and 3:44
3. 24 reps and 3:40
4. 21 reps and 4:05 

When I came in after my first run I could barely lift myself off the ground for my first burpee. My arms were toast form the first 43 reps. WTF did I get myself into here? I actually thought I could do more than 43 on the first set. I was flying. I think I had 30 in 30 seconds, but all of a sudden it went to shit real quick. That got heavy! I was wondering why everyone needed a spot. It's only a 100 pounds.  Geez...

As usual my runs sucked ass. Like I had on cement shoes. My times weren't that bad, but if I could ever get that leg transplant I would be all set. Fun WOD, but my chest was sore for days afterward. Glen even made us do a 5th round for shits and giggles.  Thank Glen.

By the way, I love you guys and I love Glen, but you can keep your Craic O'Dawn classes to yourselves. Way too early for me. My ass was dragging later at work. I still need a nap!