Falling Behind...

Busy, busy, busy...here's a quick recap...nothing special.

9.17.12

Strength
Press - 5 x 5 @ 80% (230 1RM)
bar(10)-95(8)-135(5) --- 185 - 185 - 185 - 185 - 185 w/ a spot
- Failed on the 5th rep of the 4th set. Charlie spotted for the 5th and I squeezed out all 5. Good work tonight.

WOD
4 x 500m Row (3:30 REST)
Damper @ 6
1:42.7/500m
29 s/m
Total Time: 6:50
- More rowing...yea me!!


9.18.12

Strength
OHS - 7 x 1
bar(10)-95(5)-135(3) --- 165 - 185 - 225 - 245 - 245 - 255 PR - 275 PR
- Very happy with 275! Running pretty low coming in and wasn't overly excited for OHS. The first crack at 245 was hilarious. I sank down into a squat and my heels came up higher and higher. I was on my toes by the time I was parallel. During that rep my shoulders loosened up some how and the next three reps were flawless. Felt so good at 275 I would have went for more, but time was out and I had to move on to the WOD.

WOD
3 rds of:
  12 Deadlifts (225#) (all UB)
  6 HSPUs (all UB)
then...
3 rds of:
  12 ball slams (30#) (UB-UB-8/4)
  6 pull ups (all UB)
= 4:44
- Great WOD! The second part really caught up to me. The ball slams seemed heavier than the stinkin' deads. Had to take a quick breather in the 3rd round and I just couldn't push through any longer. CT got me on this one by about :15...I was a little slower on those ball slams than I thought.


9.20.12

OWOD
Cleans - 7 x 3
bar progressions
135(2x3...full, hang, hang) - 185 - 225(2x3) - 245 - 265 - 265 - 265 - 265 - 275
- Pretty rough go tonight. PC was still pretty wore out from the deads two days ago. Wasn't my best work by far.

Clean Pulls - 3 x 3 @ 365
- Terrible work. Very sloppy. Attempted this too fatigued.

Right Around the Corner

Feeling well rested from the holiday weekend. Ready to get back in the gym and load up before max week. I got a CF competition about a month away so I'm going to steadily try and raise my weekly volume til then to get ready for it, but going to hold a majority of it back until after maxes next week.

School AM WOD
FT:
 50 DUs
 50 Burpees
 50 Sit Ups
 50 DUs
= 7:12
- In an effort to work on my weaknesses...burpees and sit ups seemed like a good place to start! Pushed my pace as best I could on the burpees. Got to the sit ups and my core was on fire from breathing so hard and the work already done. The DUs were basically a warm up for the burpees.

Later that day...

Strength
Back Squat - 5 x 1 @ 95% (460 1RM)
bar(10)-135(8)-185(5)-225(5)-275(5)-315(3)-365(1)-405(1) --- 440
...10 sec. Walkout @ 495#
- Felt very strong tonight! I had a lot of snap out of the bottom. Getting some good bounce and reengaging the hips well. Missed my depth on the first set so I dropped that set. Made sure I hit bottom on all the rest. Really hoping to break 500# next week or at least close the gap quite a bit. Heard about a this walkout trick a while back on lifting forum I troll, then saw Outlaw mention it again so I figured I would give it a try. Loaded 495# and stepped out of the rack and held it for a 10 sec. count and re-racked. Actually very happy with how my body felt under the load. Excited for next week!

WOD
15-12-9-6
 (squat) Cleans (135#) (5/5/3/2- lots of singles the last 3 rounds w/ a rare dbl)
 Pull Ups (UB-4/4/4-3/3/3-3/3)
= 7:23 
- Saw this the night before and thought of bumping to 155# initially, but stayed at regular weight after the back squat session. Little disappointed in this one...I really should have been sub 7 at least. Cleans are difficult for me to keep my hands on in the rack position. The breaks in the first round came from missing my re-grip. I tried a couple of times in the later rounds, but found it easier to just drop. Should have pushed the pace more here. Got off the UB round of 15 pull ups and just couldn't hang on. Fought hard to have the least amount of breaks in the rest of my pull ups. Would like to do this one again someday.

A Little Competitive Inspiration...

I didn't feel exceptionally great yesterday at work. The soreness finally subsiding from previous work, my legs were still feeling a little heavy. Yesterday was the first day of basketball practice so I felt a little worn down as I headed into the gym. Original plan was to just do some heavy Jerk doubles and clean pulls and call it a night, but my iphone supplied a lot of fuel for the ride. I had a great conversation with my coach back home and as we hung up I got a text from my buddy at CF Freedom. He PR'd on his clean yesterday at 325#. I was absolutely thrilled for him. J is strong as an ox. I always love hearing about his numbers. I typically don't let his numbers bother me too much because I know how strong he is, but when it comes to the lifts...not gonna lie...it bothered me quite a bit as I thought about it. My cleans have been feeling good lately so I decided I would warm up and see where the weight took me tonight....

OWOD
Clean - work up to a heavy single
bar progressions
135(3)-165(3)-185(3)-225(3) --- 255 - 265 - 275 - 290 - 300 - 310 - 325 PR - 335 PR - 345
- Warmed up and stretched out a bit and I actually felt pretty loose. Got into a nice sweat on bar progressions. By the time I got to 225# I was feeling really good. Built up rather slow from 255 - 275, but I could tell I wasn't gonna have a whole lot of juice tonight so I made some bigger jumps than I typically do. I hit 310 easy. I had to get 325 at least so I went straight there and it came up easy...a ton easier than 320 did in July. I jumped to 335 to put the nail in the coffin and it felt great. I was extremely happy about it, especially with how easy it felt. I loaded 345 up and took a half ass attempt at it, but was just too stoked about hitting 335 to make it happen. 335 put me back on top between J and I...it won't keep there for long, but it'll do for now!!
  The drills I have been working on have really been helping out. The confidence stepping up to heavy weights has been huge. Clear thoughts going on under the bar in my technique. I still need to be a little more patient in getting tall before my second pull, but it's getting better.

335# Clean

Jerk - 7 x 2; heavy as possible
135(3)-155(3) --- 225 - 275 - 285 - 275 - 285
- This wasn't very focused work. Three people rotating on the box for jerks. My jerk has felt real off lately. I really need to take the weight off and work some drills. I have too much head movement going on right now. Caught myself in the throat real good at the end of Summer...I think that might still be fresh in my head or something. 285 felt really heavy. Gonna have to put more work in so I can keep up with my clean now!

Almost Had Him...

Woke up this morning expecting my back to be pretty stiff and was pleasantly surprised...it felt the best it's been in weeks! I've had this nagging nerve tightness in the middle of my left hamstring. I barely felt it at all today. Pretty stoked about that. Quads are still pretty sore and tender from Team WOD on Satruday. Other than that...pretty excited to get after it today.

Warm Up w/ DUs...hit 152 UB!!!

Strength
Press - 2 @ 80% EMOTM x 10
bar(10)-95(8)-135(5)-155(2) --- 185

then...

Weighted Ring Dips - 3 x 5
26# --- 35#-45#-45#
- Goal was to knock the double out in :07 or less (lift off to re-rack). I wanted to be fast all the way through. Every round was good with a little too much struggle on the 10th...fatigue started to set in. Ring dips were good. Need to start heavier next time.

WOD
4 rounds FT:
  5 Squat Cleans (135#)
  400m Run (odd rds) - 400m Row (even rds)
= 9:50
- We had a good friendly competition tonight between Charlie, Chris, and myself and Hannah too (since she beat Charlie). The cleans were in my favor, the runs were in Chris's, and the rows were in Charlie's. Looking back we should have bet burpees on this one! All three of us got off the cleans in the 1st rd about the same time. Chris pulled ahead on the run. I closed the gap on the cleans. He was about 50m in front of me off the rower. He tricked me on the 3rd set of cleans. He dropped the bar on his last two reps. Going into the last run my plan now was to make sure I just stay close enough to pull ahead on the cleans. That little sucker got back to the bar and ripped off 5 UB...little slower pace than his earlier rounds...but still UB! I was able to catch up and was right behind him going up the stairs to the rowers. He wound up finishing :11 ahead of me. I had some technical errors starting the rower up. I'm sure I still would have lost because his pace was faster than mine, but it would have been by a few seconds not eleven. Good times...Hannah and Charlie finished seconds apart as well. 

Rough Morning

Been feeling a little tight, but good energy wise. I got some running work in yesterday and woke up early for an Oly session today. Getting my body moving early in the morning is proving to be pretty difficult.

6.21.12
Endurance WOD
200m x 10 (:90 REST)
*keep splits within 2-3 seconds
Runs 1-5 = :39-:42
Runs 6-10 = :40-:41
- This started off as a mess. I really wanted to get on a track to do this WOD so I wouldn't have to deal with any sharp turns or down and back business., but it didn't work out that way. I took a tour of 3 local high schools and arrived at each one to find the PE classes or football programs using them or it was under construction. After all that, I ran at home. Recovered well between runs. Solid effort.


6.22.12

OWOD
Snatch - 20:00 to establish a 1RM
bar progressions
115(3)-135(3)-155-175-185- 195 - 195 - 195 - 195
 5:00 REST
Power Clean & Push Jerk - 20:00 establish a 1RM
135 - 185 - 225 - 245 - 275
- Late night at the drive in made for a rough morning. Visited my buddy down at TIU for this session. I remember the equipment being in slightly better shape and I'll leave it at that. It was different and that was probably good. I've gotten pretty comfortable lifting at Prevail and using the same equipment all the time.  I think it was good mentally just to adapt to a different place and equipment. I had a poor attitude from the beginning and that carried over into my lifting. Cashed in my chips early.


 WOD
50 DUs   [UB]
10 Cleans (135#)   [UB]  
40 DUs   [1 MISS]
8 Cleans (145#)   [5-3]
30 DUs   [3 MISSES]
6 Cleans (155#)   [3-3]
20 DUs   [1 MISS]
4 Cleans (165#)   [UB]
10 DUs    [UB]
2 Cleans (175#)   [UB]
 = 6:35
- Frustrated about this morning's Oly session I snuck in to Prevail this afternoon to do yesterday's WOD. Heard some times from friend's and wanted to see what I could do with it. The clean ladder was supposed to start at 115# and end at 155#, but I felt that was too light for me, plus I'd rather just start with a plate on the bar.
  Transitions were fast. I used clips for the round of 10 only. Lost my grip on the bar in the round of 8. Dropped the bar in the round of 6...legs were starting to burn!! Had some misses on the rope, but it never took me long to get it together again and start swinging. I was pretty winded after the first two rounds. Happy with this one. Definitely allowed me to get some frustration out!

Cash Out
GH Raise - 3 x 8
Hip Exten. - 3 x 10 (25#)

Pound by Pound...

Yea buddy! Despite the crappy night of sleep last night because of a daughter who refused to sleep in her own bed, I feel great. If I wasn't in-season right now I probably would have slept in, but that's not an option right now. Plus I would have missed the return of my buddy, Adam, and clean singles...that would have put a bad taste in my mouth all day.

I had quite the mental battle on the way to DP. The sissy part of me wanted to piss and moan about the crappy night of sleep and take it easy on the cleans convincing myself it might be the "safe thing" to do. The other part of me was screaming at the sissy to shut the heck up so we could do some darn work today! About half way to the gym, the Bear won...decision was made one way or another to go above 300 today...serious thoughts about 315! So as the saying goes "Honey Badger don't give a s@%t!"

Strength
Cleans 1-1-1-1-1@70-77-85-93-100--101%
bar (5 pos.) - 135 (5 pos.) - 165(3) - 195(2) --- 215 - 235 - 255 - 280 -305 PR!!!!!
- Warm up was great! Rolled out on the foam roller right before getting on the bar and that definitely helped a lot. Going through 5 position cleans have been pretty crucial to me lately. They really help groove in my lift off, which is where I generally struggle the most. If my lift off is good, everything else seems to fall into place.
- Everything was feeling pretty light. Got to 280 no problem. I was running out of time at this point and was very tempted to go for 310-315. My buddy through the gauntlet down last week with his 305 and I hate being tied for anything. The jump was just too big for me to be comfortable with though. So I went for the tie at 305. NAILED IT!! I knew right when I passed my knees it was money all the way. Caught flat, unlike the 300 a few weeks ago, and finished with an easy squat. I wish I had more time today...315 is so doable! But like Coach Burg says...one PR a day is enough...bummed because I didn't get any video of it though.
- Pound by pound I'm climbing back to what I used to be...chasing my tail is pretty darn fun game to play!!

WOD
Tabata Row (cals) = 70 (damper @ 10)
Tabata Thrusters (45lbs) = 81
= 151
- I was pretty stoked from the clean PR so I could really care less about what the WOD was at this point. The energy from that definitely helped push me through the WOD.
- GOAL was to try and carry a number all eight rounds. On the row it was 10, but I fell behind on that during the last 3 rounds. I was doing great up til that point. On the Thrusters I wanted to stay at 10 again. I just wanted to find a pace that I could do without stopping during the work interval. I figured this would be great practice for the next time we do "Jackie".
- Cannons and I were left on the ground in a quad explosion was the last buzzer sounded.
- AWESOME WAY TO START THE DAY!!

Cash Out
3 x unbroken T2B = 12-9-6
- my kip for these is just pitiful. Need to work on flexibility and continue to work on core strength on the rings. I'm getting better, but still not where I want to be.

Extra Credit
Double Unders
3 x 2:00 WORK / 1:00 REST
135 - 152 - 117 = 404
- Did this on my lunch break. Legs were still felt like lead weights for the first round. Got into a better groove in the 2nd. By the third, my shoulders were burning and so were my quads again. Left me breathing a lot heavier than I thought it would.

Boosters!

Oh the things I do to myself! Got to bed late last night. Laid down in bed around 11:40ish and my wrist was throbbing. I meant to ice it earlier, but got caught up with the kids and forgot. So I grabbed an ice pack and threw it on and wrapped an ace bandage around it to keep it their. I fell asleep with it on and woke about 4ish with all my fingers looking like mini corn dogs. I unwrapped it in the dark and went back to bed for another 30-40 minutes before I got up for DP.

Insert side note: About 3 weeks ago, I iced the same wrist before I went to bed, but I wrapped the pack around the entire wrist. In doing this I froze a nerve in my hand. So for the last 3 weeks I have been experiencing a "pins & needles" type feeling on the top side of my right thumb and index finger and directly over said nerve in my wrist. Everyday I get a little more feeling to it, but it's still not gone. I find it kind of amusing to play with nerve at times actually when I'm bored.

We had another lively Friday crew at the DP this morning which makes it a little easier to get after it.

Strength
Cleans 3-3-3-3-3@63-70-77-85-93%
bar (5 pos.) - 135 - 165 ---190 - 210 - 230 - 255 - 280 (2)
- Jumped on the platform a good 10 minutes before everyone else so I had a little more time to work through my sets. Timing was much better. I didn't feel as rushed. I was on my last set as most people were cleaning up and getting ready to start the WOD.
- Focusing on a much better bar path from lift off and active wrists as I go through today's sets. Pretty motivated after watching a buddy of mine PR his power clean last night.

Jason Carlson, CF Freedom, treatin' 305# like it's baby weight!

- All sets felt great. 85% felt much lighter than it did the week before during 5s. First rep of 280 flew up as did the second, but upon receiving the second and starting the squat I busted ass as I stood it up. Had to put on the boosters to get that one up I guess. Stepped back a minute to gain my composure and went at it again for the third rep, but got stapled at the bottom because I couldn't keep myself together. 

- Progress has definitely got me excited for singles next week!

WOD

4 rounds of:

5 Burpee Box Jumps (24')

10 Pull Ups

15 OH Walking Lunges (45#)

= 6:02

- I needed a WOD like this one. I love wear and tear on the legs. I tried to pace myself once again and did a little better this time. Still trying to figure out what is too much and what is not. 

- Kept moving during the BBJs. No stops just kept plugging along. 

- Most proud of the fact I did all pull ups unbroken and no missed reps. Had plenty of pull in grip strength through the entire WOD. 

- I had one break in the 4th round at rep 9...other than that it was all unbroken. 

- Solid WOD. Really caught up to me and I was blown out at the end. 

Cash Out

ME 500m Row = 1:36.6

- I'm short and I hate rowing!! There I said it!! Trying horribly to learn to keep my stroke cadence down. I held 1:32ish I believe for the first 250 and then saw it drift back to 1:38ish. My buddy Fain pushed me back up to the 1:32ish pace for the last 100 meters. Now my legs are really shot!!

Dead Legs!

Took a hot shower before I went to bed and I slept like a baby through the night. Woke up feeling good for the most part. Back was pretty stiff, but some serious DOMS in my legs, specifically my butt! That's the price you pay for heavy deep squats though. I figure they would loosen up a little bit after I got moving. Everyone was pretty slow moving this morning, so I was glad to see I wasn't the only one.

Strength 
Cleans 5-5-5-5-5@55-63-70-77-85%
Bar(8) - 135(5) --- 165 - 190 - 210 - 230 - 255
- It was extremely difficult to get loose and don't really think I ever achieved "looseness". I was starting to run out of time and I knew 5 x 5 would get pretty long and grueling so I kicked in gear. The first 2-3 sets were pretty light, but just fatiguing. Form felt good, for the exception of my left heel (ankle) not staying down. The fourth set got rough. Had no problem keeping my back set or any winking or folding that I could tell during any of the sets, but my back was starting to fatigue pretty fast. The final set was a brute. I was starting to feel pretty week in my pull. On the 3rd/4th rep I was slow with my elbows and felt my right elbow just miss my knee at the bottom (add sigh of relief). Refocused for the fifth rep. Felt good on the catch, but the squat up was hard.
-Overall, solid work. Despite the stiffness and heavy feeling I had in my legs, I felt quick under the bar on most of the reps and that's an area I need to focus on. I wish we had some pulling boxes around. 
--An ice bath may be in my future soon.

Fifth set of 5 @ 255lbs (85% of 1RM)

WOD

8:00 AMRAP

  5 HSPU

  7 Hang Power Cleans (115#)

  10  Box Jumps 24"

= 5 rounds 

- Don't know whether to call myself lazy or smart on this one, but either way I'm disappointed. 

-- I didn't answer the bell on this one. My legs were toast already and my back was tightening. I just couldn't get mentally prepared for this one. 

-I took a slow and steady pace on the HSPUs with an abmat. This is the first time doing them since hurting my shoulder back in December. Strict ones were tough so I went to a nice easy kip and it definitely helped take the pressure off. Slight discomfort, but doable. I was very pleased with the progress of my shoulder. 

- All sets were unbroken. Just went nice and slow again, not to aggravate my back and have another spasm incident. 

- Had nothing to give to box jumps. This is where I was done. Tried to bound up and down and it just wasn't happening. Kept a solid pace, but just wasn't as fast as usual. 

Gonna rest up and get after it at the end of the week.