I am owner of MICF and practice what I preach. Here is a journal of my daily workouts, diet, and experiences in the box.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Tuesday 10/28/14
Up early to lift with Mercer Island CrossFit Barball Crew! Best way to spend a birthday is workin hard with other folks who love to "rise early & lift heavy!"
Just strength today. I spend the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the birthday off.
---- Wednesday 10/29/14
Day started off good with a Double under PR in the warm up! 196... and I had more left, but I started thinking about 200 and screwed up!!
Strength
Front Squats
3x 225
2 x 235
1 x 245
3 x 235 1, F,
2 x 235
1 x 245
-
Clean every 2:00 for 20 mins
160, 160, 170, 170, 180, 180, 190, 190, 200, 200
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Jerks
1, 2 - 3x 135#
3, 4 - 2x 155#
5, 6 - 2 x 175, 185#
7, 8 - 190, 190
9, 10 - 195, 200
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WOD
Every 3:00 for 24 (8 rounds) - 400m row, 10 BJs, 1 Clean for max weight.
I messed up the first 2 rounds and waited for 5 mins...
Then, the last 3 rounds I went over the 3:00. So, it became more of an 8 rounds for time, rather than an On the Minute.
--
Every 3:00
Row 400
10 Box Jumps 30"
1 x Clean & Jerk (for max weight) you may do more than 1 rep, but only record max weight.
Round 1 I got 2 reps 1 at 165, one at 175. Rounds 2-8 1 x 185
I went over
:02 round 5 :10 round 6
:42 round 7 1:18 round 8
So, one of the earliest introductions to CrossFit, other than main site, is the infamous movie "Every Second Counts", which is a inside view of the CrossFit community, culture and most importantly the 2008 CrossFit Games. This was at a time before CF had blown up, before you could watch countless youtube videos or basically go to any athletes twitter feed and see everything they do.
It is a very interesting inside look at what it takes to be "CrossFit" and to make the Games... in 2008. The movie crescendos with a showdown of pretty awesome WODs, which, little did I know, I would end up doing, back to back.... today.
The 2008 CrossFit Games.... Minus the Hill... and compressed into 30 minutes.
against a running clock, perform the following for time:
“Chest-to-Bar Fran”
Complete rounds of 21, 15 and 9 reps of:
Thrusters (95/65 lbs)
Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups rest until 10:00, and then... Five rounds for time of:
5 Deadlifts (275/185 lbs)
10 Burpees
rest until the clock hits 20:00, and then..
30 Squat Clean & Jerks (155/100 lbs)
Well, here we go.
the s*&t show after the throwdown
I have never done C2B Fran, but my most recent Fran was 3:45. I have done the DL Burpee WOD multiple times, but several years ago and scored 3:30ish as my best time. Never done 30 C &J at 155#, especially not SQUAT cleans!
So, I was definitely intimidated and nervous going in to this one...
I paced Fran, but the thrusters have never felt so light. I got all 21, broke down the C2Bs and also the set of 15 thursters (8/7). Then the last round of 9 went pretty quick. Like I said, I paced it know I still have a long way to go.
6:01
Thinking I could knock out the DL & Burpee WOD pretty close to my old time was a mistake. The Deadlifts werent bad, but the burpees were slow after Fran. I ended up way behind and didnt have as much rest time as I wanted.
5:49.
And finally, the hardest part, the Squat clean and jerks.
Fresh, these would be hard, but after two other WODs, one of which was Fran.. this was gonna be rough.
My goal was, every minute to hit a set number, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3. Those numbers aren't anything unrealistic, but they proved to be hard to maintain.
minute 1 - 4, minute 2, I was already behind, only got 3. I was able to keep that going for a while, but then dropped to only 2 per min. I was behind and only had 3 minuets. I spent way to long running back and forth to the whiteboard counting the reps I had done to see where I was and how many more I needed to get... I ended one rep short.
When it was all said and done, I was spent.. It was hard, probably one of the hardest 30 mins of my life, but totally do-able. See when you know you have a lot more work to do, you hold back, you dont go 100% all out... maybe I should have, but I didnt.
I know I could have gone harder, I know I could have finished the 30 reps, but I didnt... Its a weird feeling to say, "I could have done better", well.. then why didn't I. If I knew over 10 minutes I could have got 1 more rep, why was my score only 29?
I guess, at times, CF can get very philosophical, I know, without a doubt its extremely mental. When it hurts, you can slow down, or push through.
I'll redo these WODs, independently out of curiosity and... at some point... back to back out of vendetta...3, 2, 1, GO!
I didnt get to do the Invictus WOD today, though it looked really good! It was all the CrossFit Games WODs from 2008! The are all sub 5 minute WODs, well, definitely sub 10 and you start the next workout every 10 mins (there are only 3)... I bet that will leave your lungs burning.
Instead, me and Jeff Evans, a fellow GRT, did a 9.5 mile ruck. I had two 20# dumbells (my bricks are out on loan) and Jeff had about 35#, plus our water and gear.
We started at 4am and the plan was to go 12 miles, or 3.5 hours. We ended up doing a lot of hills & elevation so we slowed way down... that, and this was our first time with weight on our backs in a very long time. So, we were kind of slow. Actually, mostly me, Jeff looked great.
We ended up doing about 9.5 miles in 3:15.
It was fun to Ruck around Pioneer park on Mercer Island in the cold, rain and dark for a few hours. Brings back good memories and "Good Livin".
A)
5 sets
Snatch Balance, Hang Snatch, Snatch, OHS
95, 105, 115, 125, 135.
felt good. I was pleased with this part.
B)
10 sets, 1 Front Squat, 1 Jerk
1, 2 - 155#
3, 4, - 175#
5, 6, - 190#
7, 8, - 205# fail, fail
9, 10 - did not attempt, went back to 190, then 195 then 200.
Super frustrated missing 205#. guess I know where I need work.
also, I have a lot of trouble jumping up big numbers. I felt slow for sure, but was able to get 200# once I went through 190, and 195.
C) Every 10 mins for 3x.
1,250m row
60 DUs
30 KBS 70#
15 Toes to bar
10 HSPU
5 bar muscle ups
Rd 1 - 2 m/ups short
Rd 2 - only 1000m row ( to allow more time for reps) only got 5 HSPUs
Rd 3 - 900m row, missed all HSPU
third day in a row, (like it should be) and feeling very sore and beat up. My legs feel like the weigh a ton and even warm up squats are heavy. So, today wasnt easy by any stretch, even though the % shouldn't have been very hard.
Back Squats
8 x 155#
6 x 185#
4 x 210#
2 x 240#
Jerks 1, 2, 3, @135# 3, 4, 5 @155# 5, 6, @ 170# 7, 8 @ 190# 9, 10 @ 190 - couldnt go up to 205#, didnt have the legs, speed or shoulders to do any more.
and then a spicy little AMRAP, 4 minutes... I love getting to throw it down w/ the MICF caoches, fun day!
AMRAP 4: 1 x power clean
1 x thurster
1 x S to OH
RX = 195, I used 155#, Coach Tali - 113#, Allison 103#
this was a CrossFit Invictus WOD.
-
Post WOD, to test out a Birthday WOD that we will be doing at MICF for a client this Friday, I did two rounds of what will a "happy 50th birthday" workout. It was a little to quick and easy, so Ill modify it to push everyone a little more.
3 x 205 2 x 220 1 x235 3 x 225 2 x 235 1 x 245 Fail 3 + 1 x 205 missed my 1 rep at 95%, used 260 as an estimate, but that may be more than I can actually get right now.
- Cleans every 90 seconds x1 Sets 1, 2, 3 - 165# 4, 5, 6 - 175# 7, 8 - 190# 9, 10 - 200# hit all sets
AMRAP 6
6 Hang Power clean 185 RX, I used 155#
9 Bar burpees
12 Chest to bar pull ups
2 rounds 4 reps
Rest 4:00
AMRAP 6
40 DUs
20 WB 20# -
-3 rounds 25 reps
-
the first 4 reps I did full cleans, not hang... then I remembered, the hang actually felt a lot better! Still working on getting strength back. WODs are feeling better, way less soreness, movements seem to be flowing pretty well.
10/20/14
Ken sent me this one he did in China.
It was a really good one, I was pleasantly surprised how well I did the first two, maybe 3 rounds. But the Clean & Jerks killed me.
I got all the pull ups in 4:07, that was a good felling and I was glad to have the rest time. My lats really started to ache after about 80 reps.
As soon as I started the WBs I knew it was going to be a long 80 reps... my lats and shoulders were on fire. I managed to squeeze out all the WB in 4:29.
It was the burpee BJs that really did in the shoulders. I was spent and couldnt catch my breath and my shoulders killed but I got through 40 reps.
The C&J is where the wheels fell off. I did 1 at 155# and went down to 125#. I finshed with 20 reps.
the row was just a gut check, I pushed hard and almost got it done, 1173 meters
4:07, 4:29, 40 reps, 20 reps @125#, 1,173meters
really like how hard that one was, we'll see how bad I hurt tomorrow!
I went to StoneWay CFto work with Scott, as usual. I have been lifting heavy and feeling very good about where I am at strength wise.
That said, I have not pulled 225# in a year and a half. That was before my knee surgery and before entering in to Seattle Fire Dept recruit school in Feb 2013. Its taken quite a while to get back to where I left off, and I still wasnt sure I had made it all the way back yet.
Today, 4/21,we spent time building up to a heavy Clean & Jerk. 1 rep every 90 seconds until failure.
This video is a few of my lifts, 195, 205 and 215# fail. I have NEVER clean & jerked 215#. In the past, I have done each one separately but not together.
Not every day is a PR day. I have been learning this lesson and I am becoming ok with knowing that not every day in the gym will go well, or even if it does go well, it might not be a PR. That is OK! and I am starting to understand what it means to take what you can get and come back later to try and reach that goal.
Monday 4/28, PR Day
Today, things went well. Like I said before, my life time PR Clean is 225#, here is that video, pretty ugly lift.
So, for today the WOD was prescribed as follows:
Against a 15:00 running clock, complete,
Row 1k
1 RM Clean & Jerk
-
I took the row easy and was off the rower in 4:01.
I started with 185#, then hit 205# and went right in to 215#. Youtube 215# C&J PR
I got that with surprising easy! After last week missing 215#, I was pumped to hit it and have some room left in the tank.
So, with plenty of time left on the clock, I attempted to get under 225# for the first time in at least a year and a half.
Not only did I pop out of the hole, I hit 225, twice! No jerk, but that's ok, I have never felt so good moving that kind of weight around. The difference in the old 225 from the first video and the 2 reps from today are night and day difference.
I think one huge learning lesson is to TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET. Dont beat yourself up over the missed rep, accept the PR and the fact you did more today than you have before. Sure you missed a lift, but you also had a PR and then a double at 225. Accept the good and build on that... dont dwell on the bad.
After all this Scott and I knocked out a grueling partner WOD that pushed our shoulders to failure.
After three hard days of either double WODs or Hero WODs, it was a much needed rest day. Camel back mountain was about a 15 minute drive away, so we headed up early in the day to get in some active recovery.
The hike started at 1600' and was a pretty gradual path to start out. At about 2400' it got pretty steep and even a few parts where you had to scramble on the rocks to get to the next part of the trail.
Once on top, you had a great 360 degree view of all Scottsdale.
Rest day and active recovery, complete.
Thursday 4/17
Last day of WODs in AZ. Brady had a "great" idea of what to do for our am WOD. Yoke walk and farmers carry... partner style, switching off as needed. I thought it sounded kinda easy, but I had never done that before so I thought sure, what the heck.
We decided on an empty yoke, the set up is 190#, so its not nothing. We used 53# KBs for the farmers carry. OH and one last detail... we are going 1 mile. One full mile.
WOD Farmer carry 53#s
Yoke Walk 190#
1 mile, for time
The first round went good, we walked about 200' maybe more. I was on the yoke and felt great, but as we switched and I grabbed the kettlebells I realized how wrong I had been about this WOD. The yoke sits right on top of your traps and you have to use your delts to keep the yoke from slipping off. As soon as I picked up the KB and started walking I felt my traps engage to hold the weight and my delts and traps start burning with pain. I started to doubt if we could make it a mile with all this junk.
We tried to hold on as long as possible before making the change. But each round got shorter and shorter. There was no easy way to move, everything hurt and the rest didn't seem to relive the pain at all.
Once we made the half way point, I knew there was nothing to do but grid it out.
With about a quarter mile or so left, we found out that going for 20 seconds and then doing a quick switch was far more effective than going as long as we could holding on to the KBs.
We shuffled back into the drive way at 23:05. Like I said, WAY harder than expected.
-
With bradys pull up rig in the back yard, we decided on an impromptu final WOD. Swimming and pull ups, very similar to the workout last year in the CrossFit Games.
PM WOD
2-4-6-8-10 Lap swim
20-16-12-8-4 Pull ups
Brady was really good in the water, he is a strong swimmer, I knew if I wanted to beat him I would have to do it on the pull ups. He finished in 10:15
My sets of pull ups went fast. But the swim.... I know I'm not a great swimmer, but when I can slow down and focus on my breathing, I can do ok.
Well, when I can't breath, I cant get my head in the water so I swim with my head up. Extremely efficient and slow.
I linked 14/6, and then got 12/4 and then unbroken, but the last set of 10 laps, that is what did me in. I climbed out of the pool and did my last 4 pull ups, time - 10:46.
So, I have a WHOLE new respect for the Games WOD last year with swimming and muscle ups. That one must have been awful!
It was a fun day of new workouts I had never attempted before. Im glad we got to try both of them, as painful as the both were. Can't wait until the next week of vacations WODs to see what other stuff we can come up with.
The whole crew, Allison, Jess, Brady and I, headed over to CrossFit Infinite Strength which is a huge gym with pretty much every piece of equipment you can think of. They have a super nice facility and more space than an MICF'er would know what to do with!
Allison and Jess did the "competition" WOD, which is a workout set up for their elite athletes. Brady and I decided to do the CrossFit.com (main site) workout of the day.
8 minutes to complete: 1-mile run 315-lb. deadlifts, max reps Then, 10 minutes to complete: 1-mile run 225-lb. power cleans, max reps Then, 12 minutes to complete: 1-mile run 135-lb. overhead squats, max reps
Do not rest between rounds. Post run times and reps completed for each exercise to comments.
This was just what we needed, a long, heavy WOD to battle through... and it was very well balanced for both Brady (the heavy stuff) and me (the running). After a short warm up we set the clock and the door for our two 800m loops.
The first mile was quick, 5:50, and the deadlifts were easier than expected, but going back out on the run was awful.
the pace was much slower on run 2, and I scaled the power cleans to 205#. Those were very difficult and I only pulled off 8 reps. Brady made the 225# look easy.
The final run I tried to put as much distance between myself and Brady as possible. I came in well ahead of him and went to work on the OHS @ 135#. I got two sets of 8 and my shoulders were burning. I saw Brady break after a short set and I knew I could get a good lead if I pushed it.
After it was all said and done, I have 30 reps, Brady had 20.
That was a great WOD, part heavy, part fast. The perfect choice for us to go head to head on.
Time for some more strength training at CrossFit Bankson,.
Starting off the day with 8 sets of Clean & Jerks, I started with 75% (155#) and added from there. The weight moved fast and felt good. I go heavier than I expected but kept adding the weight as long as it was going up!
After the strength, we decided on a short spicy met-con of rowing, yoke carry and DUs
WOD
3 rounds
250m row
80' yoke 370#
30 DUs
-
I was able to pull ahead of Brady right there at the end, 7:00 to 7:08. Good one, the heavy yoke along with the fast high speed components was a fun pairing.
We landed in AZ, and made a short drive to Scottsdale to spend a week with our good friends Brady & Jess. Its a little bit hotter and flatter than we are use to but its a nice change of scenery from the grey, cold seattle weather.
The week will include multiple CrossFit WODs, visit to CrossFit Infinite Strength, some hiking, swimming, and some good cocktails by the pool of course!
Brady has build up quite a nice garage gym and we plan to get in a lot of the workouts right there in the garage.
Sundays first WOD started with some strength training. Back Squats, Ever Minute on the Minute 3 reps, for 8 sets. I used 85% of my 1 RM which is 260#. This is part of my strength program but I have never done it on the minute before. So, I was pretty skeptical that I'd be able to pull off this weight every minute. Usually I take plenty of rest time between sets. Things went great. I felt good, and got all the sets, on the minute. After the last set we rested until the minute ended and did 50 burpees. The strength stuff was in Bradys wheel house, but now we were on my turf. As soon as the last burpee was done, we took off for a 1 mile run.
Our legs felt like lead... lungs got burning pretty good too. We got back collapsed in the usually CrossFit recovery position and called it good... for now.
We took a break for an couple hours and then it was back to it. We did a short fast WOD, 21-15-9 Deadlifts and Box jumps, 225# & 24" Watch
Brady edged out a victory in this one... but the week has many more opportunities for me to even up the score!
Day one, done. It feels great to be on vacation and still getting in WODs, inface, more that I do when at home! I can already tell I'm gonna be feeling these tomorrow.
