Must Find Motivation!

I know it's been a while since I have updated. With my crazy schedule for the holidays along with battling this cold that won't seem to GO AWAY, I haven't been able to dedicate the time. I know some of you were wondering how the competition went.  Lets just say some of it was good.

First off, being surrounded by so many CraicHeads is incredible. I have never met such a dedicated and inspiring group. Even for ones that weren't competing who made the drive, you complete me. I love how at every competition, we are the largest and loudest group. I love it! We spread our infectious ways faster than a zombie outbreak. With a little less blood as well.

CraicHeads!

I found out what the WODS were a couple of days ahead of time. Nothing really scared me, but I knew I would have difficulty with some of the movements. This was a non-firebreather competition. Meaning the people competing are training for life. Firebreathers are the ones you see on ESPN.  They are also the ones who don’t seem to feel pain, or at least they don’t allow it to stop them, or even slow them down. After this competition the only thing I have in common with a firebreather is I don't allow the pain to stop me. We'll get to that later.

WOD 1- "The Mayflower"

21-15-9

Hang Power Cleans 95#

Lateral Burpees over the Bar

10 minute cap

6:03

25th place

An okay time. Lets put it this way, I knew I had no chance of winning this competition with this time. It had to be under 4 minutes to be able to compete. Plus, when I saw  Paul Teehan walk into the box the other day saying he was in the competition. I knew I was fighting for second place. In case you forgot, this is Paul...

Funny because the night before I was talking to the Caveman about strategy and how realistically you should be able to do this WOD in 3 minutes. Yea sure, maybe if you are an elite athlete. I might look like I might be good, but I suck harder than a pro am on her first casting couch.  I was right about the time though. Everyone who was in contention finished close to that prediction.  I knew I never had a chance when I saw burpees listed. I really knew I didn't have a chance when I went through the motions of the WOD the day before. Looking back on it maybe I shouldn't have done that. I think I mentally fucked myself by realizing I was gonna suck at this WOD before I had a chance to do it for the competition.  I called the Caveman immediately after and said, "We are fucked on the 1st WOD!"

Yes that's me sucking at Lateral Burpees!

Paul and how you are supposed to do a Lateral Burpee!

Now the 2nd WOD! Oh baby this is what I was waiting for. I get to lift heavy!

WOD 2- "Myles Standish"

 5min

5 rep max Front Squat in 25 secs (25 seconds start when bar leaves ground)

Immediately following the 5 minutes, Max jump rope passes in 90 seconds.

This is a separate scored workout.  Triple Unders= 3 points, Double Unders=2 points, Single Unders=1 point

215#  5 rep max Front Squat

146 points Jump Ropes

5th Place!!!!

I knew I was going to do well with this one. You had to power clean or squat clean the bar up before starting your reps on the front squat. I've been able to power clean 215# for a while now so I knew no matter what I was going to get at least 205#. I also knew that I would be near the top. It's not easy cleaning that much weight off the floor. I had to figure most people would have trouble with it. I game played here a little bit. I wanted to only have 3 chances before resting for the jump ropes. I knew my legs were toast from the burpees and I needed to conserve as much energy as possible.  So I went heavy right away.  I didn't want to fuck around with warm up weight and have no time left.  185# was my first attempt and then I did 205# right away.  I had plenty of time left so I was only going to attempt 215# once whether I made it or not.  Super psyched that I was able to do this. The video below is my attempt at 215#. At the end you see my left hand slip off and kind of slap me in the face. Ha! Ha! I held the bar up there for an eternity with one arm. It seemed like forever till the judge called that last rep. I was gonna be pissed if it didn't count.

I decided to do double unders for the second part of the WOD. I haven't done them in a while so my timing wasn't spot on like it has been in the past. I was doing okay for a but, but my legs were killing me. With 30 seconds left I switched to singles and my total score was 146. I was thinking afterward that if I just did singles to begin with I probably could have cranked out at least 200 points. I don't think in the end it would have mattered much. 5th place on the Front Squat is awesome!

215#

Paul crushing it at 245#  Bastard!

Now the dreaded 3rd WOD! Looks pretty straightforward on paper.

WOD 3- "Squanto's Revenge"

Run 300 meters

5 rounds

9 Deadlift @185#
12 Box Jumps @24 inches

15 Wall Balls @20# with a 10 foot target

Run 300 meters

20 minute time cap

DNF

(Did Not Finish)

I can run 300 meters without gassing myself so I didn't mind that.

Girls always run faster than me.

Deadlifts are right in my wheelhouse, especially at that weight.  

Oh Baby! My favorite movement.

Box Jumps, Uh Oh! I knew at some point these were going to kill me and slow me down immensely. 

This is in reference to any WOD with Box Jumps. Notice no picture of me here...

Wall Balls, only 15 at a time. I can do those. I knew they would be tough toward the end, but doable. 

Obviously before my back said FUCK YOU!

I was hoping to fall into the 13 to 15 minute category time wise. Oh Boy was I way off.  At some point during my second round of Box Jumps something happened to my lower back.  Not really sure, but I was in pain. Badly. True to Tony No Bread fashion I kept going. I could barely stand up on the box to complete my reps. Wall Balls became super painful as my range of motion became non-existent and the Deadlifts just hurt. At this point I was in my own world. My back was killing me and I couldn't hear anyone or anything except my judge. I vaguely heard Mike Power saying something about not being stupid, but as we discussed later no one was going tell me to stop and no one would have stopped if the positions were reversed.  In some fucked up way I still thought I could finish in time. I believe I ended up being 9 Wall Ball reps and the last 300 meter run from finishing.  I don't know what hurt more at that point. My back or my pride. TNB let out a little cry after that one. 

In the end I wasn't really happy. I mean I pretty much knew where I would finish with each WOD. I have enough experience in the past year to know what my strengths and weaknesses are.  No real surprises. Just the fact that I couldn't finish that last WOD. I was so mad and disappointed. I actually felt like I let the CraicHouse down.  I hurt my back and I feel like I was kicked in the balls. I am having a really hard time getting motivated again. It's now been almost a week since I have worked out. Partly because of my back, but also because I am mentally handicapped because of my finish.  I know there were some highlights in there for me. The 2nd WOD finishing 5th and the fact that I never quit. Still doesn't make me feel any better though.

On another note the CraicHouse kicked some serious ass! Of course Paul Teehan came in 1st Place in Men's Rx, but we also had Sara McEvoy win the Woman's Rx with Shazam coming in 3rd and in the battle of The Yardhouse, Ed came in 2nd over Daniels in 3rd in the Men's Scaled division.  Here is CrossFit Providence's Recap. The CraicHeads were all over the standings. I am very proud of everyone and would like to thank our coaches John, Glen, Sara and Jarrod for making us better physically and mentally everyday. If it wasn't for you guys we wouldn't be able to crush all of these other CrossFit Boxes!

Till next time....

Teehan showing off the goods. This picture depresses me! Ha Ha

Kick That Goat!

If he did CrossFit he could kick it harder!

Strength workout today! Yea! I love these days. Oh Shit! Squat snatches and a 1 rep max OverHead Squats. Um, maybe I should pass...

Skill/Strength: Squat Snatch

 65#

 

Strength: OverHead Squat 1-1-1-1-1

 

135# PR!!!

In the past I totally would have skipped this workout and by the look of the board today, it looked like a few of my fellow CraicHeads did. I have said it before and I'll say it again, but I'm not going to get any better at something if I keep avoiding it.  Especially one of my biggest Goats, OverHead Squats. 

 

I look at it as voting. I have had heated arguments with people about politics and candidates and at the end of the conversation I continually find out that most of these people don't vote. Shut the F up! Your opinion doesn't matter to me.  Just like I can't feel compelled to cry about not being able to do a movement if I never put any effort into it. I can't complain about if I don't do it.  So now that I went today, let me complain....  :)

Squat Snatches... Oh man I had a tough time with them. I just can't get my head into the movement. I don't know if it's my limited range of motion or just a fear of sucking at something.  I only worked up to 65# because I just wanted to work the movement. I didn't do very well.  I have a new Goat now. JOY! Add it to the list.

Oh Baby! OHS not my favorite movement, but I have been making an effort to work on them and I think it payed off today.  1 rep max, 135# Never in a million years would I have thought I could ever do this. With my junky shoulders and mental blocks I would have been happy to continue to use the bar, but what good would that do? I had written down that my 1 rep max was 125# before, but I know that I didn't get my butt down toward the ground on that. Since that's the case 95# was my 1 rep max. I crushed it! It felt really good to get it done. Johnny Deadlift was nice enough to take a video of my PR. 

 

Check it out!

P.S. Bite me Ray!  <--- New TapeFactory for a few movements.

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun.

WOD 1 and WOD 2

I was looking forward to today's WOD or should I say WODS.  They both looked easy, but if there is one thing you learn real quick with CrossFit is that no workout is ever easy.

WOD 1
10 min amrap
5 Pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

9 rounds + 4 reps

Rest 5 mins

WOD 2
10 min amrap
Run 200
10 KB swings 70

4 rounds + 1 run

 

Both WODS are pretty basic and are simple. This is more about pacing for myself and not about strength. My focus was on being consistent. The problem is that I get so bored mentally with these type of WODS. They seem so repetitive to me that I tend to lose focus which in turn makes me lose count and I just wait for the time to finish.  WOD 1 is only half of a benchmark workout called "Cindy" which is 20 minutes total of the same movements.  I would need a professional counter and Johnny Deadlift holding a bamboo stick whacking me every so often to keep me motivated.

WOD 2 I had nothing in the tank for. My legs where just jello from the air squats. I literally saw an old man on a lark drive past me on one of my runs. The KB swings were  a nice break. Those were pretty easy for me. I really need to work on my running. It's getting to a point where I am starting to mentally fuck myself even before I begin.

I need to buy this shirt!

Strong yet Weak

Today's WOD looked simple enough on paper, but as some of us know that when it comes to CrossFit nothing is as easy as it seems.

21-15-9

Deadlifts @225#

Ring Dips

12 minute Cap

6:51 Rx

Not a bad time when compared to the board. I was one of the few that did it Rx and that's mostly because my Deadlifts are definitely a strength for me.  Blasted through the first 21 straight through, broke up the 15 @ 10 and 5 and finished the last 9 straight. My reasoning with breaking up the 15 was to save some strength with the ring dips. I really don't know if it helped. Ring Dips do not like me.

I knew going into this workout that the ring dips would kill me. Bar dips are too easy for me so I couldn't scale down. Plus, I need the work regardless. It's not that I don't have the strength. I know it has more to do with my stabilizer muscles and maybe a little bit with my shoulders. My plan was to break up the first 21 in 10/6/5 which actually worked out. After I was done with that round I immediately knew that I was screwed going into the next two rounds. I have dabbled with kips on my ring dips before, but I am nowhere efficient enough for those yet.  I was setting a good pace before that second round of ring dips.  It became singles pretty quickly. I gave myself a bunch of no reps as I wasn't going down far enough and then locking out at the top on others. My arms were toast afterwards. If I work on these a little bit more I definitely feel like I could get my time down around 5 minutes or under.  Another one to revisit at a later time.

If you have noticed lately I've started to link the movements of the workouts and some of the terminology. I did this because a few of my friends who read this blog don't CrossFit and it was confusing to some of them. Part of the reason I started this blog was to help win a challenge, but it has become more than that. As I've continued this process it has helped me in numerous ways with chronicling my WODS and motivating me to go each day. I also noticed that it has helped or maybe inspired others to work harder or even start to think about changing their lives. If this blog helps one person to get off their ass and make a change then I have done more than I ever expected with this. That would make all of this even more rewarding.