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."

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!

My Kind of Day

Oh Baby! I saw today's WOD and I was psyched. I really love heavy lifting days. I do well with them and they always make me feel good about myself and today was no different.

Skill/Strength: Squat Clean

15 mins to work to a heavy single

 205#

Strength: Front Squat 1-1-1-1-1

The weight of your first Front Squat should equal your heaviest Squat Clean

15min cap

 265#

I knew that my squat clean would fall somewhere between 205# and 215#.  My 1 rep max is still at 215#. I am still chasing that elusive 225# mark. With only 15 minutes to work I knew I wouldn't have time to attempt a PR.  205# at the 15 minute mark.  I was right where I thought I would be. What was great about it was that I shared a bar with Dork and Jack.  I love lifting with those guys because they motivate me to another level. We all have our strengths, but when it comes to lifting heavy it helps to have these Manimals with ya. 

Front Squats. I made sure I stretched out my wrists well beforehand. In the past I have either forgotten or started too late. With my flexibility still not there yet, it can become quite painful without proper stretching.  My last 1 rep max front squat was 245# I PR'd it by 20#!  265#!  Oh Baby!  I was super happy. Dork and I kept pushing each other and that helped me a great deal. We both attempted 275# a few times, but failed halfway. Oh well. I really can't complain too much. Overall one of my best days in weeks. Feel motivated again.

Dork

What Has Two Thumbs and Overtrains?

This guy!

I've been working really hard lately and this week was no exception. I am starting to see some pretty good results and I gotta tell ya, it's getting extremely addictive. So I took Johnny Deadlift's advice and decided to take Friday off. I usually take the weekend off anyway, but the extra day is much needed. I hit the CraicHouse pretty hard all week, but Thursday was crazy. I basically did four workouts in two and a half hours.

Strength Work 

Establish a 1 rep Power Clean in 15 minutes

215#

My previous one rep max on the Power Clean is actually 215# so I am not too surprised here. The difference was that I only had 15 minutes to establish this and strip the bar down. Previously I think I spent around 45 minutes to get to that same weight. After a few warm ups I cleaned 215# in around 9 minutes. It felt pretty light which gave me visions of a PR(personal record) I put on 225# and went for it. For some reason I started to over think the movement and I could tell that I wasn't jumping enough. I tried 225# twice and failed. I think I can achieve this weight if I had more time. 

We then hit a quick WOD right after this.

21-15-9

Power Cleans 95#

Burpees Lateral jump over the Bar

 10 min Time Cap

7:23

My time was a little slower than I would like. With the extra work of late and my continued hatred of burpees I mentally checked out in round two. I did however blast through my last 9 burpees. Mostly because I just wanted to finish. If I only did that earlier. I need to figure that out.

I was getting ready to leave when Jack walked in. He mentioned that he was looking to grab some lunch, but John and Glen needed to workout first.  Jack decided to join in, which made me join in as well as the Catdoggg.

3 round for time 

10 OHS 

50 Double Unders

6:42

Not a bad time. I love the fact that I can now do double unders in a WOD. Everyone scaled appropriately and we all finished around the same time. It was hard, but really fun. I was getting ready to leave again and I heard some mumbling about another workout. Maybe doing Friday's today or something. Catdoggg left, smart girl. Jack yells out Angie! I hear an okay and I join in. Oh Shit! Angie...

100 Pull Ups

100 Push Ups

100 Sit Ups

100 Air Squats

27:55

I should have left with Catdoggg, but I'm not one to back down. So we get into it. The 100 pull ups were tough. I felt like they were never going to end. I wish I could have butterflied them but I have been having some issues with my shoulder and that movement lately so I just kipped the whole time. It was exhausting. If I was fresher I could have been faster of course. The push ups weren't too bad. I almost caught up to Glen on those, but when I hit 85 he finished and I lost my motivation for a bit and the last 15 took forever. 100 sit ups were next and I cranked the first 50 out quick. The other 50... Not so much.  They sucked! Between our regular WODS and those extra 100 Toes to Bar I did the other day my flabs were toast! Air Squats, a 100 of them. Not one of my favorite movements, but I wanted to bust through them as fast as I could. Halfway through both my legs cramped up badly. It hurt, a lot! I felt like I was at the Tough Mudder again.  My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes and make the board which I did. I was happy, but in pain and extremely exhausted.  John said to me that I better not come in the next day and be stupid. I said I needed the work on thrusters and I wanted to be like him minus the funny accent. He said, "If you wanna be like me bro, then do what I do and rest."  Gotta do what the doctor ordered.  Plus to tell you the truth I could barely move the next day.

This was how I felt.