Warm Up

Gymnastic Movement Practice
3X5 Muscle ups

3X5HSPU


Today’s Workout:

20 minute partner workout
1 person runs 400m while teammate rows 150m and then completes AMRAP CINDY (5 Pull ups, 10 Push-ups, 15 Air-Squats) until partner returns

Score is combined total rounds + reps of Cindy

Partnered up with Teehan.  This meant that I would have little time to do my round of Cindy as he can run like the wind.

1 round plus 15

1 round plus 5

1 round plus 15

1 round plus 15

1 round 

Total of 200 reps. Paul got 229

Rest Day =Travel Day

The usual rest day travel day

Couplet for Fun

Last workout at the Sandbox. Lori, Gabriella, and Adriana were fantastic hosts!  I was looking forward to this WOD and decided to do the extra day before taking a rest day to get this one in.   The 95lbs felt a lot heavier than it should have that's for sure.  

• 5RFT
• 10Snatches 65/95
• 400M Run

14:55

Twisted AMRAP

Today we got to meet Adriana “Queen” Grassi the co-owner of Crossfit Hardcore.  Super nice and welcoming.  Todays wod was a double with a short 2 minute break between them.  They had some challenging movements with HSPU and pistols which i need to work on so that was fantastic.  I also like the doubles where you can keep the intensity high take a short break and do it again.

8 MIN AMRAP 

5 hspu 

5 pistol squats (each leg) 

5 CTB pull ups 

 

6 rounds plus 10 

 

rest 2 min 

 

8 MIN AMRAP 

20 Dubs 

10 Wall Balls
10 Burpees

 

 4 Rounds plus 16

Fast Blast

Back at the Sandbox for a fast blast
3 RFT
20 D/L 95/135
10 Burpees Box Jump
20 KB Swings 35/53

I scaled the deadlifts up to 165. I had considered going to 185 but felt that might slow me down a little too much.  Susie loved this one and absolutely smoked it.  9:26 RX plus

 In the afternoon I did a short run with my son Jack.  The kid is a huge sandbagger.  "Oh Dad Im tired can we stop and take a break, "not till we get to that stop sign" i say.  So what does he do?  Picks up the pace till he drops me.  He does this not just once but twice.    Proud of him.  Now we have to get him in a pose class.

Visit to Crossfit Hardcore "The Sandbox"

While I was waiting for Crossfit Predator to get back to me on whether they allow drops ins I went back on line to see how far away the Boca Raton Crossfit was from Hillsbororo.  On the website I discover they have just opened their 5th box in Pompona Beach 2miles from where we are.  So Susie and I made the short trek. Great new box only open about 6-8 weeks.   Super friendly group and small class size. Best of all worlds.

WOD
10 Power cleans & Jerk 95/135
5 push ups
200m Run
8 Power clean & jerk 95/135
10 push ups
400m run
6 Power Clean & Jerk 95/135
15 push ups
800m run
2 Power clean & jerk 95/13520 push ups

 11:27 RX


That afternoon I ran over to the box to see how long it would take.  Just over 15 minutes to go 2+ miles.  Got a good 4+miler in.  

End of the line

The journey is over and I am sad that its the end of the Open qualifiers for 2012.  Im not sad because I didnt qualify but Im sad because nothing makes you feel more alive or focused as when you have a goal and your really going after it with everything that you have.   Of course it  It was anxiety causing, frustrating, disappointing exhilarating, motivating, and challenging, but what in life isnt if it means something to you.   Over the course of the day I kept checking the leader board and had a list of the athletes in my head who hadnt posted yet - I was waiting for Mark Divine, Lonnie Ataman, Chris Carroll, Mike Ford, LaMonica all to post their scores knowing that they would move me out of contention.  I was curious to see if I could stay in the top 30.  In the end I ended up at 31st overall.   I was proud of where I ended, had no regrets and I know that I am better able to handle the pressure of next years qualifier.

I was still pretty sore from the days before's crack at 12.5 so just focused on stretching and some double unders.   I challenged Susie to a double under ladder which she absolutely crushed me at.   I couldnt get to 30 straight regardless of how many times I tried.   In fact she left and I spent another 15 minutes staying with it and still couldnt get the job done!

Final Standings

Last chance push to qualify

I woke up on Saturday hoping to feel fresh and rested for my re- test of 12.5 but it was not the case. I woke up with a bad case of DOM'S in my lats and shoulders. Had some breakfast and then hit the spa gym here at the Hillsboro club to stretch out. I went through all the stretches recommended by KStarr and his side kick Carl P. I then jumped in the whirlpool tub for 15 minutes until I was sweating and everything was good and loose. Did the drive out to Crossfit affliction in Davie Florida for their 12.5 retest. I was assigned the 2nd heat which gave me a chance to watch one of their guys put up 111. Nice score.

12.5 is all about setting the right pace, not to fast to burn out but not too slow to lose precocious time. Felt good thru the round of 12. I think I made it thru in about 3 minutes. I got thru the round of 15 in 5:15. I had loads of time. Split the 18 into 3 sets of 6. Bonus got to the bar and got 3 c2b but sadly the 3rd one was at 7:01. I was psyched as I ended up at 110 reps which was an 8 rep improvement.

Couple of things to note. My best weeks were when I didn't travel all week or do a West coast redeye home. No surprise there. I also improved when I could do the WOD twice with sufficent rest between. Thursday - Saturday was ideal. Happy about my game performance and watching the scoreboard to see how it falls out for me. My calculations show that I will fall outside the top 20. No regrets. Gave it my all and fell a bit short. I'm going to miss the anxiety and adrenalin rush off the last 5 weeks.

Travel day

I had thought about doing a light workout but I was up late packing and decided I could use the rest. Flight to FLL was delayed but only slightly.

Off plan

I couldn't sleep so I changed my plan and went to the 6:30am class to do 12.5. I wish I could get this nervous energy under control. I felt good as I went through th WOD but just ran out of steam on the round of 18. I got 102 same as last year.

While I was recovering outside in the parking lot Glen came out and said you want good news or bad news? He said the good news is your stronger than last year, I said why do you say that. Because you put too much weight on the bar.

Easy run

Dennis and I tried to go to Gotham but they are still under renovation. We did a nice short run probably 3.5 miles and then I went to the gym at the W and did a long stretch.

Rest day

Rest day

Being Smart

When I saw todays workout last night I immediately thought I should scale it since my legs were so sore. I was thinking 200m runs and maybe bar power cleans.  When I woke up my legs felt decent but my forearms were in pain.  Completely weird.  

Warmup
400m run
Mobility
Burgner Warmup

Today’s Workout:

3 Rounds for time:
Run 400m
21 Pushups
12 Squat Cleans

______________________________

RX- 135/95
INT- 95/65, 15 Pushups, 9 Squat Cleans
BEG- 65/45, 10 Pushups, 5 Front Squats

So I was all over the place on this.  First just 95lbs then just power clean in the end I felt guilty not going for RX.   Bad idea.   The first set of squat cleans just killed my legs.   2nd round dropped to 95lbs.  3rd round just power cleans.  No idea on time.   

Distraction = Failure : Focus = Success

I had decided on Saturday that I needed to be in the gym in the environment I am used to do well.  I texted Jarrod and asked him I could come in after his 1x1 training session and got the green light.   When i arrived it was empty except for Jarrod.  I could set up where i was comfortable.  Jarod even asked if I wanted to put my tunes on. (Thanks Jarod) 

After a long warm up at home I just went through a few easy rounds of wall balls and tried to tune my double unders.  I have had the change to hear Tony Robbins speak a few time at company events so I clearly knew that I had put myself in the right state this time.  I was calm, I had a plan,  I knew what to do if things starting to go wrong.  What was the difference physically between Friday and today - nothing. It was all in my head.  Seems simple but somethings its the hardest thing. 

I had a plan and just needed to execute.   On 3, 2. 1knew right away  i was in the right mode. I wasnt fighting things at all.  I was able to get 7:49 on the wall balls.  So I started the Double Unders at around 8 minutes.    I was fighting it but managed to get a few big sets in to get over half way. Then disaster struck the set screw must have loosened and the rope broke.    I quickly ran over to the wall to grab one from the gym.   First one I grabbed and tried to swing was way too long.  I think it must have been Jarods!  I still remained calm.  Found another one and started back in.   Managed to finish them at the 11:15 mark.  This is all i had wanted!  A chance to get a crack at a muscle up.  By the time i got on the rings I had about 40 seconds.   I banged out 5 straight and didnt even get close on the 6th.  5 second left.  Drop down.  Try one more - but it was too late.  I was really pleased with the effort but most importantly I didnt let myself get rattled. 

So im even more thrilled to be tied for 35th with Bubba Hagood!  Who would have thought that was in possible. 

Keeping things in perspective

Great post from Craig Howard who is a masters competitor who posted this on the Crossfit Masters Facebook page.  Craig thanks for letting me re-post. 

Craig Howard

I composed this for my box, but thought you might enjoy as well:

The CrossFit Comparison Games

Let’s finish this! We have two workouts left. It is likely that you have experienced a wide range of emotions from: “I can’t believe I did this!” to “Why the hell did I agree to do this?” to “I am so glad I did this!”

You have compared yourself to others in the gym, or in your age group, or against the best in the world. And, some of you may have been disappointed with your comparative results and maybe even embarrassed with so many amazing athletes posting breathtaking results. I have. But now it’s time to get real about the Open, our physical accomplishments and how we’re really doing. Let me help you put your performance into a more realistic perspective:

60,000 people chose to do the Open including you. But, it is likely that more than 1,000,000 chose to NOT do the Open. And, of course, millions more could never do the Open. You are in very rare company. And, if you finish the Open wods, you’ll be part of the original 30% who do.

Perhaps we’re just crazy. At CrossFit, when we make progress we immediately raise the bar for ourselves again. I sometimes believe that CrossFit is Latin for “I can do more.” Or, perhaps, our true human nature is manifesting itself via CrossFit. The desires to do more, to do better and, to beat others (like it or not) are genetic human traits that contributed to our evolution and success as a species. CrossFit helps open the door to our true physical nature. The Open has opened that door a little wider. Embrace your new physical self.

The anticipation and execution of the Open workouts have many parallels to the challenges we face in every day life. For many people, just attempting to do the Open workouts (in front of a crowd!) is more challenging than anything else in their lives. Normal daily life challenges suddenly seem easy when compared to what you have accomplished at the gym. The Open has improved our confidence in ourselves.

Finally, we spend a lot of time looking at the leader board comparing ourselves to our peers at the gym, or the top CF athletes. However, most of us forget to compare ourselves to “ourselves-before-CrossFit.” When you take a moment to evaluate yourself versus you-before-CrossFit, you will very likely find amazing gains in strength, endurance, overall fitness, body composition, and most importantly, your attitude.

So, as the workouts become more challenging and the loads more heavy – do not despair. Suck it up and get after it. Because you are kicking old-you’s ass. Nice work.

Forcing Recovery

I spent the day thinking and trying to do as many things that will help my body recover enough to do 12.4. As bad as my score is, it doesn't even count at this point.   Serves me right for not checking the standard before I did the WOD,  150 wall balls in the garbage.  

I have been in the pool, rolling on the foam roller, using the stick and did an Epsom salt bath, taken electroloytes and protein recovery drinks.   At this point I will aim to finish the 150 wall balls and just hope to be able to get the double unders.  As much as I would like to worry about muscle ups I dont think it will happen.   Wish me luck as I will need it.

Failure of Epic Proportions but life is still good

If I was really thinking rationally I would have waited  to do this WOD on Saturday.  It would have given me 2 nights in my own bed and an extra day to recover from X-country travel.   The problem was the desire to put this behind me was grinding on me.   I knew that I could do the 150 wall balls.  I have double- unders and although they can fall apart I was confident that If I gave myself enough time I could get through them.  I was looking ahead to the muscle ups and had high aspirations.   Well one should never look ahead as when I was doing that double-unders sucker punched me and put me out of the game.

In retrospect I made a rookie mistake and shot out of the gate with 37 wall balls in the first minute.  Not a sustainable pace for me.   Then I was all over the board.  No rhythm, no rhyme, no reason no plan.  I finished them up around 8:30.   This gave me plenty of time.

Picked up the rope and got 1 or 2 this usually happens and then I find my rhythm.  Nope.  There was a glimmer of hope and i got 15-20 at one point.  Now I was fixated on the clock and I started to tighten up and panic.   I tried harder, it got worse.  This was slipping away from me.  F**ck i think i shouted a few times knowing that the 150 wall balls was going to hurt tomorrow making a retake tougher.   Then it was over.  I didn't even want to know my score. I had fallen way short of what I though I was capable of.  I walked outside to try to pull it together but was just truly disappointed.   I know I shouldn't have taken it so hard and I know I should have stuck around the box with the gang but I couldn't.  I just wanted to get out of their and leave it all behind me.   I went home made the kids dinner and spent the evening playing Killer Bunny with Jack and Tris and all was good.

Rest Days And Travel Days

Wednesday was a rest day and a travel day.   I took the red eye home Wednesday evening.  Usually I am asleep before we even take off.  For some reason I was having a hard time falling asleep.  When I did fall asleep it was only for a couple of hours and then I was wide awake.  Not good at all as I had a full day of meetings and I was covering for Susie who was away at a board meeting in Pittsburgh.

Hotel Woding

Hotel gym left me with limited options today.

Strength Dumbell Front Squats
10 reps with 35lbs DB
10 reps with 40lbs DB
10 reps with 45lbs DB
10 reps with 50lbs DB

Annie 50-40-30-20-10
of Double Unders
Situps

7:21 - couldnt for the life of me get any rythym on the double unders



3 Rounds
15 Lunges with 45lbs plate
5 HSPU
15 Lunges wih 45lb plate
5 Pushups

I had planned on doing 5 rounds but i had to call off the dogs as my triceps and shoulders are still shot.

Active Recovery

Flew out to HMB on Sunday.  With the time change it was damn dark when I met my colleague Dave Dempsey for a run.   HMB is a beautiful place to run as you are right along a high bluff on the ocean.  We didnt chance running the trail side since it was so dark, and stuck to the golf cart path on the golf course.   Nice 35 minute run followed by mobility work.  Shoulders and triceps are sore.

12.3 Redux

Im sitting in 37th place.  

Less than 24 hours to recover and a Craic get together at my house (at least i didnt drink) probably didnt set me up for success but I wanted to take one more shot at 12.3.  I decided that the steps down were way to slow for me and that I wasted a lot of time watching the box.  I was tight on time as I had an afternoon flight to SF so no time messing around.

Susie was my judge and I had my splits.  The plan was to keep going unless I fell behind my splits from yesterday.   Made it out of the gate no problem.   Box jumps went better but my shoulders were fried and even jerking the weights was much more difficult.  I had to break it up a lot more.   I made it through 5 rounds ahead of schedule but after my 6 round I had fallen close to a minute off the pace I needed to improve so I called it a day.  Good training session nonetheless.

Crossfit Open Workout 12.3

When I got up this morning my legs still felt tapped out.  Absolutely no spring in them at all.  I strongly considered waiting to do the WOD on Sunday but decided that I would be way to anxious to wait one more day.  Derek Mohamed had given me some good advice.  "Pace the box jumps. I actually did jump up step down the whole way. If you do it fast it's a quick cycle time and you can rest there. Do push jerks not push presses. This will save your arms and keep your metcon Under control. The wod is NOT about cycle time on movements. It's about big sets and fast transitions. Don't rest between stations."  I followed that except for the last bit which I missed.  I had a couple long pauses between stations.

Here is how it went.

Workout 12.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of:

15 Box jumps (M 24" box / F 20" box)
12 Push press (M 115 lb / F 75 lb)
9 Toes-to-bar


I just need that time back in the 7th round to get some box jumps


288

Round	Elapsed Time	Round Time
1	1:39	1:39
2	3:30	1:50
3	6:00	2:30
4	8:16	2:16
5	10:30	2:14
6	12:37	2:07
7	15:45	3:08
8	18:00	2:15

Light Stretching

My legs are still beat from Tuesday and Wednesdays WODs.   Just dont have any kick. Did some mobility work at the box.  Anxious about 12.3

Rest Day - Travel Day

Late flight back from Chicago. Spent the majority of the week in NJ before doing a day trip to Chicago.

Crossfit March Madness

Its anxious Wednesday.   Everyone is poised at their laptops at 8pm EST hitting the refresh button to find out what the next wod will.   As much as I would love to have done 1 or 2 more reps of either of the movements I feel like I have given an honest effort.  This is crossfit's version of March Madness and right now I am a bubble team as I'm sitting in 25th place just outside of the qualifiers.  Im hoping I have a good run in the conference tournament (the next 3 wods).  

Crossfit Annex

Another new box added to my list of new crossfit gyms I have visited.  The gym is run by Mickey Brueckner, who started the box after working as a member of the Pro Advantage Training Systems team. The gym is a performance training center which also has crossfit classes. 

Skill Work: BB Snatch

4 rounds of 3 at 95lbs focused on skill

Then,
15:00 AMRAP:
4 Thursters 115#
6 Toes to Bar
25 Double Unders

Nice to have a lot of space to do warm-ups and the wods.  We did a ton of inch worms during a good warm-up/

 The WOD was great. The rep counts for the first two movements were not to much as to blow you out.  It came down to whether you had your double unders flowing or not.

9 rounds plus 2 Toes to bars.  I really wanted 10 rounds but struggled with double unders in round 9.



 

Hotel WOD

I had wanted to go to CrossfitAnnex but for some reason my 5am alarm never went off.  Woke up at 6am so I was relegated to a hotel wod.   Got a good warm up and decided to copy crossfit Annex wod as close as possible,   We didn't have chains to do weighted ring pushups.  So Dennis Mahoney and I focused on the wod and added the air squats. 

For time:
1000m Row
50 Pull Ups
75 Push Ups
100 Sit Ups
150 Air Squats

On paper this looked good but it was much harder than I expected.  I struggled on the pullups which i thought i would blow thru.   Pushups had to be broken into smaller chunks.   I lost count on situps and had to practically start over when I was counting in the 70's which i thought couldnt be right. 

finished in 21:43

Rest Day/Travel Day

Up at 4am to get to NJ for work.   A forced rest day.  This should have been a strength day. 

12.2 and Tabata

I have been obsessing about whether I should make a second attempt at the WOD from the minute i finished until about 7:30pm tonight when logistically it was no longer possible.   Freddy Comacho had a great post regarding 12.2 take a read here Thoughts on 12.2 - Crossfit One World.   I decided to not do it twice in the end because it took a lot out of me and I didnt think that hitting it the next day would position me for improving.  

Susie and I went over to Craic and watched the athletes get after it again today.  The intensity is always high and everyone gives it their very best.   I think when qualifying is over we need to drop the weights and have the same focus on getting better technically.   I know that I have not put the effort in until this year to really improve my efficiency.  I was too caught up in chasing RX and just muscling thru the WODS.  I really wish I wouldnt have done that.   It is what it is. I share that not in regret but so others can learn through my stupidity. 

Todays workout was a blast.  Susie and I did it together on the other end of the gym while the 12.2 retests were going on.   A triple Tabata is hard enough but I made it harder by leaving the 1 minute breaks between movements out when Susie went.  Since it was my mistake I felt obligated to do it that way as well. 

Consistency is good

Tabata
Push Press
Situp
Kettlebell swing

8 rounds of each movement consisting of 20 secs on 10 secs off.

You will complete 8 rounds of push press, then 8 rounds of sit-ups, then 8 rounds of kettlebell swings.

Score = lowest number achieved for each exercise.

______________________________

RX- 45/25 , 53/35
INT- 35/15 , 44/25
BEG- 20/12 kb for pp ,35/20kb for kbs


Total of 36 reps

Workout 12.2

Workout 12.2

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

30 Snatch (M 75 / F 45 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 135 / F 75 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 165 / F 100 lbs)
Max Rep Snatch (M 210 / F 120 lbs)
This workout begins from the standing position. The athlete will complete all reps at the first weight before advancing to the next weight. Score is total reps completed in 10min.

I hit a good pace and got through the first 30 in about 2 minutes.   I then banged out 5 at a time at 135 and left myself with 2 minutes to see what I could do at 165lbs.   Failed on the first one.  Didnt get under it enough to push it out.   Managed to get 4.   65 was my goal so not bad. 

Red Eye and XRAY

Thursday night red-eye.  Booked late so stuck in a middle seat in the back of the plane.  Bad karma seat as well 13b.   The good news is that the folks sitting to my left and right were good seat mates.  I was able to sleep the majority of the flight. 

I took up Dr. Jack Daly's offer to Xray my finger.  I wanted to make sure there wasnt any bone chips floating around.  Here is the xray.  As you can see its broken.  Jack's brother who is also a Dr. said wow you really crushed it.   Jack told me to rub some dirt on it and get after it, which is exactly what I will do.

West Coast

Tuesday was a rest day. I really wanted to go in and do the front squat strength workout but I was planning on doing the WOD2 on wednesday so that didnt make any sense.    On Wednesday I had to fly to SF and for some reason the trip took the stuffing out of me.  I landed and went right into meetings for a few hours.  I had the time carved out to get to Lalanne but felt that hitting WOD 2 being so tired was a bad idea.  

Considered working out at 6am on  Thursday but decided to hold off.   If we werent in the middle of the Opens i wouldnt have thought twice.  That is the challenge of the opens in terms of messing up training,