Off day but not a rest day

Conference call at 6am to start the day, followed by a 4 hour meeting, a 2.5 hr car ride and then a flight home from Chicago to Boston.   I slept on the plane but not long enough.  Im feeling so tired that I cant sleep. Absolutely crazy. 

Tired

Not a great workout by any stretch.   Ran with Dennis.  We tried to find a way to get into this huge park in Rosemont near the hotel and only got muddy and wet feet.   Less than 3 miles and then a crappy lifting workout.   5x5 Deadlifts with 50lbers  and then Front Squats 3x5 at 90.   Should have just taken a rest day.

Run and Manmaker

Dennis, Christina and I got up and ran a quick 5k.   Fairly easy pace.   Then we hit the gym to do a wod of 30 manmakers for time.    I used 35 lbs vs 40lbs but it didnt make much of a difference.  Completely brutal.   Not sure of my time

Dumbell WOD

So the plan was to run this morning with a couple of my colleagues.   Woke up to rain and when I got outside it was pouring and I didnt pack my running jacket.  Totally bummed out until Dennis appeared who had gotten in late and hadnt committed to run with us.  He said lets hit the gym for a wod so i was ready to go.

1 Mile run warmup. - 7:40.  Started slow and ended up doing the last 400 at 6:30 pace.   I hadnt been sore at all until today.  My chest was just a little tight.

Chris King joined us and we had a 3 person class.

Dumbell WOD - you choose the weight.   I used 45lbs dumbells
5 Rounds

7 Deadlifts
7 Squat Cleans
7 Push Presses
7 Burpees

Absolutely brutal.   I was crushed after the first round but slogged thru it.  I hope these kind of WODS make me stronger,

Total Time
round 1 - 1:24
round 2 - 2:18
round 3 - 2:49
round 4 & 5 6:29
13:02 I think this is right.

Rest Day

A true rest day.   A full day of meetings and dinner but was in my hotel room by 9:30am

Day 2 Garage Games

Quiet before the Painstorm

Today went a little bit better than yesterday. 

5.   ”The Chipper”
20 Toes through Rings
30 Thrusters (95, 65)
40 Burpees to Target
50 Box Jumps (24, 20)
 
The chipper completely sucked.   Felt dizzy before it even started.  I think I had a dozen no reps as well.   All my own doing and legit.  Beat the cutoff by 30 seconds - nothing good to say 9:30

4.  “Row/Sandbag”
5 Rounds for time of:
Descending Row (500-400-300-200-100 meters)
30/20 Push ups
100 meter Sandbag Carry
Descending Double unders (50-40-30-20-10)

This event went better for me but still not very good.  18:30.  Competitive scores were 2+ minutes faster.  

Fundamental issue - need to run through the movements.  I think its great when it is programmed into the weeks WOD.   The guys at CFNE felt very prepared by going thru them.  That said it would have not made a huge difference in my performance.

Probably my last competition for awhile.

Garage Games Day 1 - Hosted by CFNE

This should be subtitled - getting my Sh*t Together

I think I did a good job not obsessing about the Garage Games during the week so I could avoid last weekends John McEnroe behavior.   I had decided to use this competition as a way to gauge my fitness and be very aware of my reactions and thoughts if I hit a rough spot during the competition.

Well it didnt take long to have my spirits be tested.   Since I had such a long delay between the athlete check in and my first heat I decided to hit the floater.   I was feeling pretty good and had a decent warm-up and the judge was an old roommate and friend Mike Piispanen!  Everything seemed tilted in a positive direction.    First sledge push - not so bad, tire jumps - one no rep but all good, the between runs good.   Last sled push - epic fail.   I was up high on the sled too high.  Got it off the ground but no forward momentum,  again - nothing, starting to panic as the clock in my head goes into hyper drive.  Final time 52.  EPIC Fail.    At that point I realized there was nothing I could do to change it.  Kept my head up,  didnt bitch and moan and put it all in the rear view mirror.



Next up the one that I had trained for the least and had a movement that I can do but certainly not excel at.
2.  “OHS/MU”
A.  Establish a 1 rep max Overhead Squat in 3 minutes
B.  Complete as many reps as possible of Muscle ups (Scaled: Pull ups) in 3 minutes
1 point will be awarded for every pound on the OHS and 5 points will be awarded for every muscle up completed.  Your score is the total of both.

I got a nice warmup and confidence builder down at Warrens warehouse gym.  I was able to put up 185 and felt confident I could get that.   Next curveball - I missed them call my heat- they were slighlty ahead of schedule and I had to jump in to the next group.   Good test would I freak out or would I remain calm and focus on the task at hand.  I was a little concerned about starting too heavy so I went 135, then 165 and got those pretty easily.   Next I did 185 - got it.  Now Im confident but time is running down quickly.   Big error on my part was weight management,  4 guys sharing weights - I should have thought about that and was stuck weighting for 5's or 10's as i didnt have time for a double swap.   I get 2 10's with 30 seconds to go.  20 seconds rack, front adjust to my back and run out of time. Bummer. but still 10lb pr.   Next on to muscle-ups.   They are going better than expected.    I knock off 5 and jump off then a few more and then I die on the vine.  I cant even get singles.  I got 7.  If someone had asked me if I would be satisfied with 185 and 9 before the event I would have said yes.  Sitting here now I really would have liked 205 and 10.   I will adjust my thinking and swap disappointment with a plan for next time.
The other thing I have become acutely aware of is how you feel about your performance and then how you feel about it after comparing it to everyone elses.  I am trying to get it in my head that I am not being true to myself doing that.  Im better to ask - did I compete hard?  did I do my best?, did I give it my all?   Those are the right questions for reflection.  I think i did way better on that front today.

Last Event
“The Lark”
3 Rounds for time of:
16 Power Cleans (Rx:155/105) (Scaled: 115, 80)
600 meter Run

14:14

Coach John was in my heat and I knew that If I could stay close to him that might be a good strategy to do well.    I was very happy to have my judge be Christian Rodriguez! A class act and super supportive  I just tried to stay very focused on my reps, in fact someone asked me my rep strategy and I had no idea what it was.  Probably a good thing.  This is one event that when I do the comparison get bummed out.  I going to allow me to do that for 2 minutes. Okay over.  Moving on.   Nice job by my teammates - they were complete monsters.