Do Two Goats Make A Right?

When I saw this workout posted I wasn't exactly rushing to get into the CraicHouse to do it.

"Nancy"

5 Rounds

400 meter run

15 Overhead Squats @95#

19:27

Let's see, running and overhead squats. Two of my worst Goats. A "Goat" once again is any exercise or movement you dislike doing or like doing but are weak at, or both. Yep. I suck at running and I really suck at OHS. Not to long ago I would have "conveniently" skipped this WOD, but since I am hell bent on getting better at everything I knew I couldn't resort to my old ways.

Sometimes when I run my legs just kill for days afterward. My recovery time can take forever and it does affect future WODS which really pisses me off. To be fair though I have been getting somewhat better with my running. I am still trying to find that happy running pace that won't crush me when I transition into my other movements. It's getting there.... slowly.

Now OHS! Ha Ha Ha Man do I hate these things. Not too long ago I could barely do them with a PVC pipe.  I was embarrassed that I was so bad at them. So what did I do? I avoided them for months. Well, that didn't work out so well.  After watching some of the CraicsHeads crush their overhead squats while competing at the Garage Games I became determined to improve them. The path is long and hard, but doable of course. I sucked hardcore at Double Unders and now I can rock them pretty much anytime I want.  I did not do this WOD as Rx though. I had to drop the weight down to 75# so I would be able to manage the weight and be able to string together my reps.  It actually worked out well.  By looking at other people's times I knew my goal would be to finish in 20 minutes.  I was happy with my time.  It was also pouring out. Cold rain. That sucked. 

Looking forward to the Halloween WOD tomorrow along with the Halloween Craic party.
Should be fun.

Energy Levels

Today I went to a 5:30pm class for the first time in a long time. I prefer the noon class where my energy levels seem to be at it's highest. It's funny how your body can get use to a certain time. I don't know if it's more physical than mental, but I look at it like this. There are morning people and there are nocturnal people like myself. There are people that thrive at all times of the day. Everyone is different. I used to feel great around the 5:30 to 6:30pm class, but I trained my body and mind to an afternoon mentality. Can you see where I am going with this???

I am looking for any excuse to why I wasn't better than I was at today's WOD.

3 rounds for time

200 meter run

15 Kettle Bell Swings 70#

15 Push Ups

15 Pull Ups

11:50 Rx

Who knows? Maybe it's because I expected to do better. Maybe it was because I saw the run as only 200 meters and figured it wouldn't crush me. GOAT! Maybe it's because I had to work out next to Paul T.  Maybe it was because I didn't get enough sleep. Maybe it was because the moon wasn't aligned with Pluto. Maybe it was because I stepped on that ant earlier and it gave me bad karma... 

It really doesn't matter what it was. I just didn't have it today. You know what? That's okay. You can't be a rock star every time you come out.  Not like that happens to me too often anyway. I did everything Rx. My time wasn't really that bad. Just disappointing to me, but I did it regardless of how I was feeling and that's okay.  Everything is a gain. I gained confidence in myself knowing that I can still be there without that extra something and if it was simply because my energy levels weren't there than that's fine. I will crush this WOD next time around.

P.S. I heard someone is going to the Halloween Party as TNB. I think that's fantastic. 

P.P.S. I still need a costume!

I should buy this!

Unintentional Rest Day

There is always an excuse to not workout.

The key is to find the reason why.

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.

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.

Mental blocks need to be Broken to become the Unbroken!

I've been pretty sore for the last few days. As always my shoulders are tight, but I keep plugging away regardless and I continue to show improvement everyday. Today's WOD looked simple in theory, but I learned a while ago that WODS that look easy usually kick your ass.

5 Rounds for time

20 Kettle Bell Swings 53#

20 Wall Balls 20#

15 minute time cap

Rx is weight, but also Unbroken

Unbroken. Ugh! Meaning that every 20 reps of the two movements above have to be done unbroken. Can't split them up. Cant's drop it at 17 reps. Well you can, but then it doesn't become an Rx workout unless you start that set all over again. No way am I doing extra reps if I don't have to. It's funny because Sara C and I were discussing before class that sometimes we have to get past that mental hurdle of stopping short of your goal because you just feel the need to. Sometimes I call it being mentally numb. Ok I will shoot for 15 reps and then see if I can finish. Well that doesn't work sometimes because there are times you hit 15 and stop just because. You get to that point and you get mentally numb and stop. You really don't know why, but you just do it. You become numb to your surrounding and tend to feel enclosed in your own box. It's a weird feeling for me. Fuck that! You gotta just keep going. It's only 5 more reps. Sometimes you just can't because you're not physically there or your skill work on a certain movement isn't so great, but at this point for myself I am and I shouldn't really have too many excuses.

My goal was to do it unbroken. I decided right before we started that I was going to use the whole 15 minutes to accomplish this. Now I know I could have gone out there and blasted through the first 2 to 3 rounds, but I know what would have happened to me. I would have gassed myself out and I would not have had the strength to continue the sets unbroken. Plus it would have fucked with me mentally. I've been trying to set a consistent pace lately to help stop my over gassing of WODS. It seems to be working as of late and I'm not too concerned if I am using most of the allotted time. Just get it done.

I felt really good about myself after this WOD. I accomplished my goal of doing it Rx unbroken. It wasn't easy towards the end. The last two sets of wall balls around the 14/15 rep mark my shoulders reminded me how much they hate me sometimes. They were screaming. I was really happy with my wall balls for once though. I felt that I had good depth on all of them and I'm slowly starting to enjoy them. Who knew... The kettle bells weren't too difficult. My hip drive was on point. My only issue towards the end was that my hands were getting sore so it made it difficult for me to hold on.  I have been known to almost drop the bell on my head a few times. Overall I was really happy with my time today. Gonna get after it tomorrow again.

14:13 Rx Unbroken

That Little Extra Kick

Today's WOD was a 5 rep max Push Press. Strength days are fun and more my style. I usually walk away feeling good about myself and towards the top of the board. I know that my one rep max was 205#, but that was a long time ago. I feel like we have done a 5 rep max set before, but I had changed notebooks a while back and I didn't transfer a lot of things over. I looked at the board and scanned for that one name....... TapeFactory.

Tapefactory's weight was 185# for 5 reps. Realistically I thought I could match it. I was paired up with Afghani Steve and we went right into it.

95# for 5
115# for 5
135# for 5
155# for 5
175# for 5
186# for 4

I was so close. I did the old 1/2 pound plate trick to get him by one pound again. Unfortunately it didn't work out for me this time. My last 2 reps, 4/5 felt more like a shoulder press at that point. A third of the way up on my 5th rep I could feel my lower back straining so I just dropped the weight. I actually think I can make this weight. Normally I would have warmed up with my 1st set @ 135#, but Afghani Steve is relatively new to the movement so we made sure we worked up slowly so we could get his form down. Next time.

Right after our strength workout we had a quick WOD.

21-15-9

Push Press @95 Rx

Box Jumps 24' Rx

5 min time cap

Box jumps... We don't get along very well. The push presses at this weight was light, but a little more difficult then I expected after lifting heavy earlier. I had two goals in mind with this quick burner.

A) To finish under 5 minutes

B) To do all my Box Jumps without any step downs.

Time 4:44

I did all my box jumps without doing any step downs and I was happy about that. I did my first two rounds in 4 minutes so I knew I had plenty of time to finish. Funny, because John totally called me out on that.  Yea I could have finished a bit quicker, but my knees were killing me from the jumping. I gave myself just enough time to finish. My box jumps are improving, but it's still a huge goat for me.  A "Goat" is any exercise or movement you dislike doing or like doing but are weak at, or both. All of the above for me on that movement.

I hung around for a bit afterward and was poking around for a little extra work. Glen came up with 100 Toes to Bars for time. Sure why not. I then threw in a cash out of a 100 Double Unders. What the hell was I thinking? I was able to convince Afghani Steve to join in and then Catdoggg jumped in at that point. Afghani Steve and Catdoggg modified the workout, but I was going straight after Glen on this one. Glen and I talked and we figured 10 rounds of ten. How hard could it be? Ha Ha Ha. Right after 20 reps we both knew this was gonna suck. At one point we both stopped and looked at each other and smiled. We were only at 40 and 41 reps. Fortunately for Glen a client walked in and he had to stop. I could see him smiling as he dropped off the bar and walked by me because he knew he didn't have to finish. I continued through though and although it was not easy I did find a rhythm that made it a little less evil.  My split time before I had to cash out with the Double Unders was 100 Toes to Bars  @12:27. It then took me 4:10 to do a 100 Double Unders. I was gassed. 16:37 overall. Not too bad of a time for something that was on the fly. I had a lot of fun with it even though it was pretty tough.

Until tomorrow.