"Coffee Is For Closers"

     The title of this post, a quote from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, is pretty fitting for my training the last few days.  Especially Tuesday's which looked like this:

SERIES 1

back squat: 90-95% x 2 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy

+
depth jump over hurdle: 8-8; rest 4 minutes (drop from 16" box)
+
airdyne - 8-10 minutes easy
+
SERIES 2

back squat: 90-95% x 2 x 2; rest 3-4 minutes
+
airdyne - 4-6 minutes easy

+
depth jump over hurdle: 8-8; rest 4 minutes (drop from 16" box)

+
3 sets:
12 glute ham raise

15 ghd sit-up
rest 2 minutes

     If this looks familiar it's because it is.  I did this two weeks ago (and wrote about it here) with great success.  This time...not so much.  Everything felt incredibly heavy today.  The back squats were still 112 kg and set 1 was tough but complete.  On the second set I got the first rep and then failed at the second.  I think it's the first time I've failed at a back squat in probably 6 months and, let me tell you, that shit instantly gets in your head.  And the best part was I had 6 minutes of airdyne, an entire jump series and then another 8 minutes of mindless airdyne pedaling to think about it!  It was during this second airdyne space-out that the quote that serves as the title of this post came into my head.  

     I think one of the hardest things to do is visualize success immediately after a failure.  I actually thought of closers in baseball and how mentally grueling that job must be.  If you fail one day and blow a lead or a game, you have no choice but to put it behind you and move on.  Don't get me wrong- sometimes they do this- but then they all get ready to pitch again the next day.  Some blow it more than others (LaTroy Hawkins blew so many saves for the Cubs from 2004-2005 that he has his own Urban Dictionary entry) but they all lose some.  Here's Mitch Williams blowing a save in the 2003 World Series.  One of the most famous home runs in baseball history was given up by future Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley.  The best World Series that I've ever seen, the 2001 Series between the Yankees and the Diamondbacks, was practically a clinic in blowing saves with the game 7 losing pitcher being none other than Mariano Rivera.

     The point is that I had just completely eaten it on a lift that I've done several times before and I had to go out and hit it again- 4 more times.  Sure, I could have just gone down in weight, but that would have felt like turning a small failure into a big one and then the terrorists win (there's a lot at stake with my back squats).  Since I've drawn this out long enough I'll just tell you...I succeeded in the final 2 sets of squats.  The depth wasn't as far as my usual squat but, fortunately, I squat deep enough that there's about a 3" margin of error and they were still legit.

     The celebration looked like this:

     

     Series 1 of the jumps were 34" x 8 and 36" x 8 with Series 2 at 36" x 8 x 2.  I missed a few of these, mostly because by big ass hit the bar on the way down but I made up all of the reps.  I've come to the conclusion that these have to be done without thinking about them.  I remembered again to do the assistance work as well (I think that's two in a row!).

     This was today's training:

     

A. bench press @ 60%: max x 3; rest 90 seconds

B1. ctb pull-up: 12-15 x 4; rest 20 seconds
B2. ring row off box: 8-8-8 x 3; rest 2 minutes
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for time: 15-12-9
kb snatch (each arm), 24kg
ring dip

     This is a 5% increase in the bench press from what I did last week with the anticipated drop in max reps coming along with it.  

     

     A. 57kg: 22, 10, 6.  I felt fine with all of these efforts but especially the last set which, as you can imagine, is the worst.  I managed to squeeze out an extra rep (and even tried for one more) after I had hit the wall.  I think I definitely left it all out there on these sets.  

     B1. 12 (butterfly), 12 (butterfly), 12 (9 butterfly + 3 kip), 12 (8 butterfly + 4 kip)

     B2. 8, 8, 4+2+1+1.

     These were tough, as I expected.  To save my shoulder a bit I only went for 12 pull-ups each set.  The second set looks deceiving...I did all 12 butterfly, but I did them in two groups.  I hung there for a second but managed to re-start my butterfly motion as opposed to just switching to a straight kip like I have done previously (and did in the final two sets).  

     The couplet at the end was miserable.  It took me 10:11.  It probably should have taken me half that time but I missed several kb snatches in the left arm and that slowed me down a lot.  I was also way more out of breath than I should be for this as well.  If this is any indication then I'm way more screwed than I thought for the Open, which starts next week.  Seriously...my participation in The CrossFit Games this year should be sponsored by FEMA because it's going to be a complete disaster. (get it?)