A Ridiculously Long Post and WOD 12.2....

     I realized that I haven't written anything here in almost a week which means that there are a bunch of training sessions to get to now.  Oops.  I'd like to say that I was super busy doing all sorts of exciting shit but, um, not so much.  I did take a pretty important test at work earlier this week so I was studying for that a bit (I aced it by the way) and I coached (or co-coached with Justin) my first couple of classes at Windy City which I actually couldn't be more excited about.  It might not be very many classes but that's just fine with me.  At this point I'm pretty much at one of two places- the firehouse or Windy City CrossFit.  Seriously...if someone wants to assassinate me those are the two places to look for me these days.  I also did the CrossFit Games Sectionals WOD 12.2 which I'll get to later.  But first...

This was training for Monday, February 27:

vertical take-offs (double-leg) w/jogging between: 5 take-offs x 6 sets; rest 2-3 minutes
+
A. snatch complex x 4 (1 power snatch + 1 overhead squat + 1 hang squat snatch + 1 snatch) ; rest 1 minute

B. hang squat clean cluster (hang above knee - use blocks if you want): 1.1.1 x 5; rest 2-3 minutes
C. press/push press/push jerk: 1.2.3 x 3; rest 2-3 minutes
+
muscle-up/ring dip @ 30X2: 1.5 x 5; rest 2 minutes

     The jumps felt good.  I worked on not landing hard with two feet before the jump and focused on stepping into each take-off.  Another one that's hard to explain but it felt right.  The gym was pretty packed when I was doing these so I did them in the hallway outside which maybe spooked a few people who were working late at some of the other businesses next door.  On the extremely remote chance that one of those people is reading this (hey- you never know)...sorry.

     A. I did the snatch complex at 45kg, 50kg, and 55kg x 2.  The very last rep was very, very ugly but I didn't miss at anything.  I worked on the explosiveness and being tight in the catch.  As a side note I managed to get my foot caught in the space between the platform and the weights when putting my weights away.  Don't ask me how I did it but I was legitimately stuck for a few seconds.  I'd like to say I was super smooth and nobody saw but, of course, that's not the case.  Fortunately I don't think people are surprised at all with me looking like a jackass around here anymore.

     B. The hang squat cleans were at 75kg.  These were a bit awkward at first because I don't use the jerk blocks very much.  Coach Cori was there and she gave me a few pointers on form and that helped tremendously.  I focused on exploding right away and being very fast under the bar.

     C.  55kg, 60kg, 65kg.  The 65kg was a 5kg shoulder press PR.  It has been a long, long time since I've even attempted a press PR so it was nice to get it, even if it was a struggle.  The push press and push jerk portion felt better than last week.  

     The muscle-up/ring dip portion went well although I ended up doing and extra rep of the dips on most sets.  What happened was, as I was lowering myself down and counting the three seconds, I repeatedly got confused as to whether I was counting rep three or second three. So I did an extra one just to make sure.  I know...I'm not expecting any invites from Mensa anytime soon.

Apparently this is what goes on in my head as I train...

     Here was training for Wednesday February 29: 

10 sets:
15 double-under
10 wall ball, 20lb
rest 30 seconds
+
10 sets:
7 burpee

7 pull-up
rest 30 seconds
+
10 sets:
run - there back there back; rest 30 seconds

     This was another MAP session and, quite frankly, another one that I was dreading.  Wall balls have always been a terrible movement for me and this was a lot of them without much rest.  This is one of those movements where tall people have a huge advantage.  For someone my size it's like someone's throwing 20lb rocks at your head.  My goal was to get all of the sets unbroken and I was successful on all but two of the sets (all of the double-unders were unbroken).  The first six sets started out strong but the last four were a bit of a struggle and my time fell off a bit.  The set times were: :34, :33, :35, :39, :36, :37, 1:03 (5+3+2), :50 (8+2), :43, :48.

     The burpee/pull-up times were:  :34, :35, :37, :38, :39, :37, :37, :37, :38, :34.  These were pretty consistent throughout.  In each round I finished the burpees then took 4-5 breaths before hitting the pull-ups.  During one of the later rounds, I think round 8, I felt a wee little bit of puke in my mouth as I went into the burpees.  If you stop reading now I'll understand...

     It turns out when Justin says "there back there back" he means from the garage door to the far wall.  About 40 meters distance (four times for 160m total).  It was a super nice day out so I did these outside which was nice considering it was technically still February.  I did the runs at about 80% effort and focused on breathing.  The times were:  : 36, :39, :37, :37, :36, :36, :36, :36, :37, :36.

    

      Wow.  This is going to be a bit of a marathon.  Tell you what...why don't you take a break, get some food, stretch out, go to the bathroom and then come back and we'll finish up.  A bit of an intermission...

     Everybody back?  Good.  Moving on...

     This was Thursday February 1.

A. front squat w/chains: 4-4-4; rest 3 minutes (sets across - same weight)

B. incline bench press w/chains: 4-4-4; rest 3 minutes (sets across - same weight)
+
weighted pull-up (20lb vest) - max 1-3 ladders in 7 minutes
+
handstand wall run: 60 total steps - rest as needed (quality over speed)

     A. 80kg + chains.  These were pretty tough but I was able to stay tight and focus on driving up and keeping the elbows high.

     B. 55kg + chains.  My left shoulder was pretty sore on this one so the weight felt a little heavy but I got all of the reps relatively easily with no sticking point.

     I did 8 rounds + 1 pull-up for the weighted pull-up part.  This was mostly a question of muscle fatigue and a few of the third reps were a bit questionable.  I think it works out to about 49 pull-ups. 

     I skipped the handstand wall runs because my shoulders were killing me at this point.  I've never tried those so I'm hoping I get another chance at some point but I didn't think it was a good idea to do them today.  

     Here was my training for Saturday March 3:

4 sets:
C2 row - 250m @ 95%; rest 4 minutes
+
4 sets:
airdyne - 45 seconds @ 95%; rest 4 minutes
+
3 sets:
10 power clean, 95lb
10 burpee
rest 4 minutes

     The rows generally felt very good.  The rower has a "pace boat" that you can use to keep you on track as you go.  I set up the boat for a 1:40/500m pace and I was just hoping not to get lapped by it.  Instead I kept up really well and even beat it for all of these sets.  In your face pace boat!!!  The times were:  50.1 sec (1:36 pace), 49.7 sec (1:37 pace), 50.2 sec (1:38 pace), 50.5 sec (1:38 pace).  I set the damper at 4 which, after some experimenting, seems like a good place for me.  My wind felt fully recovered between rows but my arms were still slightly fatigued going into each set.

     The airdyne bike might be the most evil invention since the rack.  Especially if you are sprinting on it for longer than 20 seconds.  In my case I had to endure for :45 seconds which feels horrible.  I swear time stops on this thing.  The first set I kept between 85-90 rpm for the whole time.  That was as good as it got.  The last three sets started between 85-90 and ended somewhere around 75-78 rpm (this still represented 95% effort though- it was legitimately all I could do).  The lactic acid in my legs was almost unbearable and I could hardly walk for a bit afterwards.  Fortunately for me I wasn't done yet...

     The power cleans and burpees felt surprisingly ok after the airdyne torture.  Each set was exactly :43 seconds long.  The cleans felt very good and light and I pushed through the burpees as fast as possible.

     CrossFit, in all of their infinite wisdom, came up with this for WOD 12.2 of the CrossFit Games Sectionals:

 Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:

75 pound Snatch, 30 reps

135 pound Snatch, 30 reps

165 pound Snatch, 30 reps

210 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

     Ugh.  I'm not even sure where to begin with my thoughts on this one.  What's the main issue here: is it the fact that the snatch is an incredibly technical lift that, at heavy weights, is designed to measure strength and power, not endurance?  Or is it the fact that of the 60,000+ people competing in the Open this year a large percentage of them will not have mastered the snatch at these weights and will now be completely discouraged (a fact they will discover only after giving CF their $20 entry fee)?  Or is it the fact that this is a great case for weight classes in CrossFit competitions (it's a hell of a lot easier for a big guy to endure 7 minutes of burpees than it is for a smaller person to snatch his body weight or more for 30+ times).  Or is it the shoulder injuries that this puts many people at risk for?  

     For me, the biggest issue was the potential for shoulder injury.  I've been nursing inflamed bicep tendons in both shoulders for a few weeks now and I was really nervous about making things worse with this.  I was back and forth all week about whether or not I would even do this workout.  In the end I decided that, if I didn't, I would feel like a huge quitter and I might regret taking myself out of the game this early.  I know that I wouldn't be able, mentally, to just do the sets of 75lb and then stop, that I would have to move forward.  My most recent 1RM snatch is 70kg (154lbs) and that was in August so, while the 165 seemed a bit out of reach, the 135 was definitely in my range and something I hit regularly.  Just maybe not 30 of them.  (For the record 30 snatches at 135lb is "Isabel". I definitely wouldn't warm up for "Isabel" with 30 reps at 75 lbs beforehand.  But I guess that's the point here...)

     So I decided to go for it but to listen to my body.  At the first sign of shoulder discomfort I was going to pull the plug.  Luckily my body held up pretty well throughout this and I was able to work the whole time.  I knocked out the 75lb snatches in 3 sets of 10 and then did singles for the 135s.  I focused on set up and form each time and tried to stay tight and do legit snatches for each rep, both for efficiency (I didn't want to have a bunch of failures and waste energy) as well as for safety.  In the end I managed 51 total reps (30 at 75lb and 21 at 135).  I'm generally pretty happy with that.

     Here's a video of Behdad Salimi setting the world record in the snatch at 214kg: 

     It's impressive...but can he do it 30 times?