Fitober Fest 2012

Last weekend was CF Freedon's Fitober Fest competition. The competition consisted of 4 WODs on Saturday and 2 more on Sunday with 38 teams involved. Chris, Hannah, Tara, and myself made up team Prevail SC. We had a great time cheering on each other and our friends from the local CF community. On to the fun...

WOD 1 (Hannah & I)
8:00 AMRAP (1 athlete works at a time)
10 Thrusters (135/95)
20 Up and Over the Box Jumps (20")
= 8 rounds
- We found out prior to the competing that the Up & Over Box Jumps could actually be step up and overs which made it drastically easier. Our plan was to split it evenly until Hannah slowed down on the thrusters and/or I slowed down on the box steps. Those were probably the best thrusters sets I've ever done. I never lost my balance and kept a nice smooth motion every rep. I eventually picked up 2 extra reps per round from Hannah, while she covered me on the step ups. Looking back I think we could have squeezed out a few more reps had I done all the thrusters myself in the last round. You know what they say about hindsight :/

Overall = 8th 

WOD 2 (Chris & Tara)
3 rounds each FT:
 5 Wall Walks
 150m-ish Sand bag carry Run
= 7:32
- Chris & Tara did great on this one. They were both super fast off the wall every round, but those runs looked brutal with the sandbags. First round they both were fast on their runs, but the weight of those bags started to show on the 2nd and 3rd. I know one thing...I wouldn't have come close to their times if I had to do it.

Overall = dropped out of the Top 10 at this point

WOD 3 & 4 (Chris, Hannah, & I)
10:00 AMRAP (1 athlete works at a time, every member must perform at least 1 rep/exercise/round)
 30 Deadlifts (275/185)
 90 DUs
= 5 + 100

1:00 rest, then...

4:00 AMRAP
Ground to Overhead (135/95)
= 71
- This was by far my favorite WOD of the comp. Not because it was this super cool WOD or anything like that. We just rocked it. We had a good game plan going in. We communicated well within the WOD and kept our cool when things didn't go as planned and really worked as a team. It had a real cool vibe as we started with the Sun going down over the building and finishing under the lights. Going in Chris had 10 DLs, Hannah was gonna grab 8, and I was gonna take the last 12. We kept same rotation on the rope and never had to double up. Quick and easy transitions. Chris was having trouble dealing with my rope so his DUs were real short. Hannah was destroying the DUs. Chris kept his cool and picked up some of Hannah's reps on the deads to keep her fresh. I was able to roll through 5 rounds of 12 deads UB. The 6th round I came up 5 short and Chris recognized it and came over and cranked em out so we could keep moving. Hannah and I got back on the rope and we finished in the top ten on WOD.
 We had a quick break to prepare the bar for the G2O AMRAP. Kept the same rotation as we had on the deads. Hannah and Chris both killed it on this one. Hannah had to break Chris and I up every time we transitioned out. We all pushed it and kept a great pace. We finished in the Top 8 on this WOD too.

At the end of Day 1, we were in 8th place. 

WOD 5 (Tara, Chris, & I)
FT: (12:00 time cap, Athlete must finish all the work, before next athlete starts)
 500m Row
 20 OHS (115/75)
 20 Bar hop Burpees
= 12:00 + 10 Burpees
- Another hindsight lesson. We had Tara lead off, then Chris, then me. Tara made it through her round with UB OHSs and finished a little after the 4:00 mark. Chris jumped in and killed it on the rower, had a some balance issues on the OHSs which caused him to drop twice, but then killed himself on the burpees. I got off the rower with a little less than 1:30 remaining. I got through my OHSs UB and finished half of the burpees, which were brutal, they left my quads in shambles and I only did 10!! I don't complain about reffin' much. It's out of my control and I shouldn't worry about it, BUT this one cost us a finish I believe. There was a miscommunication with out judge about jumping over with both feet at the same time and having to land with two feet at the same time. He stated the previous, but not the later, which he no repped Chris on about 5 burpees and Tara on about 3-4. He got me on one, but I deserved it. I saw the ones he gave Chris and Tara and they were bad calls and I'll leave it at that. I say it because only about 5-6 teams finished the WOD within the time cap so those extra seconds could have really made a difference.

Overall, we dropped to 9th and made the cut to compete in the final event...PRETTY PUMPED!!

WOD 6 (Hannah & I)
Complete FT: (14:00 Time Cap; 1 athlete works at a time)
 Each team member completes: (girl/guy order)
 6 TGUs (24k/16k)
 8 Power Cleans (185/135)
 10 Back Squats from Rack (225/185)
Then: (either athlete can do the muscle ups; both athletes must run)
 2 Muscle Ups, 300m Shuttle Run
 4 Muscle Ups, 300m Shuttle Run
 8 Muscle Ups, 300m Shuttle Run
= 14:00 + 6 Muscle Ups + 300m Shuttle Run
- I got stuck exactly where I though I would, on the Muscle Ups, but I did get 2 more than I thought I would. All the weights were easy for Hannah and I. We were the second team to the rings. Muscle Ups are pretty taxing to my elbows and shoulders so I haven't done them in I don't know how long...last Spring some time maybe. I knew I could get through the first round. I thought I was gonna struggle more in the second round, but actually didn't at all. The third round the wheels fell off. I was there for 5:00 and could only get 2 out of the 8 on the last round. I tried and tried. People were cheering and giving advice, but at some point I just couldn't pull anymore. I tried to bargain with my judge and exchange the remaining Muscle ups for some 225# clean and jerks, but he wasn't biting. So we had to leave 6 on the board when all was said and done.

Prevail SC finished 9th in the final standings and we couldn't have been happier! We had a blast competing together and hopefully opened a few eyes as we represented CF Prevail.

Personally, this was a big win for me. I competed in last year's team event with some other friends and was severely limited in what I could do because of my back injury at the time. I felt like I wasn't able to really help the team at all and actually only performed in one WOD over the weekend. What a complete 180 a year can bring. I'm a ton stronger than I was last year. My metcon has suffered, but that's more by choice and not circumstance. My back and shoulders felt great all weekend, despite the volume and loading. I was pretty beat up finally for days following the comp, but that was more because of the Muscle ups then anything else. Looking forward to seeing what another year will bring.

Two Heroes and a Drugged Surfer

Feel like I've been running on fumes lately. I've had a pretty busy past few weeks with my girls basketball season winding down and lots of things going on at home. Trying to make sure the important things in life are taking care of first so the blog has been neglected a bit. Training has been much less than I would like heading into a competition, but the intensity has been pretty good.

9.28.12

Hero WOD
"Nutts"
Complete for time:
 10 HSPUs
 15 Deadlifts (250#)
 25 Box Jumps (30")
 50 Pull Ups
 100 Wallball Shots (20#)
 200 DUs
 400m Run w/ 45# plate
= 25:54
- Terrible and left my legs tore up for about 3 days after. A Hero WOD is about the suffering and this one was definitely fitting. I was hoping for more of a 20-23:00 finish, but the wallballs destroyed me a lot more than I expected. I took a nice steady pace all the way to the wallballs and was feeling pretty good. The last 15 reps of pull ups were a struggle, but it I felt okay. Got to 35ish WBs and knew I was in for it. I had about 6-8 no reps throughout. Had to chop it up in sets of 10s. WBs had the top of my quads just on fire, but my arms felt great still so I thought I would be in good shape for DUs. Finished WBs in the 14 mins. and some change. Hoping to get out of DUs by 18...that time quickly came and went. I ripped off 40 something to start and it set my calves and lower quads on fire. Just couldn't get it together and that really disappointed me because I consider DUs one of my strengths. I've never run carrying a plate and that was pretty miserable. I still can't say that I've run carrying a plate because I pretty much walked briskly with it...not to mention that I grabbed the wrong plate and picked up the 55#er. Great community event none the less.


10.2.12

Lunchtime WOD
"Surfer on Acid" (courtesy of Ben Bergeron's Competitor's WOD)
3 rds FT:
 400m Run
 21 Burpees
= 10:41
- I hate making up my own WODs, especially ones that don't involve barbells. I do love checking out CFNE's stuff and Outlaws. I don't follow either program completely due to time restraints, but really like to do what I can when I can. Bergeron's stuff always makes me laugh because of his crazy names for his WODs. So this was the first day post "Nutts" that my legs have finally felt good enough to work on. Running and burpees both things I suck at...let's do it. My goal was to stay under or as close to 9:00. I was there all the way until the 3rd run. I left for the run at 7:15ish and thought okay I just gotta pick it up a little bit to at least stay under 10. I must have spaced out in the middle of the run because I got back at 9:46 and hit the floor as fast as I could. I lost focus and was not happy about the results on this one. I will definitely revisit this one from time to time as a benchmark.

PC Work
3 rds:
1:00 Chinese Arch
25 Sit ups

Strength P.M.
Front Squat - 5 x 5; heavy as possible
bar(8) - 135(5) - 185(5) - 225(5) --- 300
- Pretty brutal on some beat up legs. After the first set I really thought I bit off more than I could chew. I made it through though, but it was definitely tough.


10.3.12

Strength
Split Stance Press - 3 x 5; heavy as possible
bar(8) - 95(5) - 135(5) --- 155 - 165 - 175
- solid work...nothing special

Hero WOD
"D.T."
5rds FT:
 12 Deadlifts (155#)
  9  Hang Power Cleans (155#)
  6  Push Jerks (155#)
= 8:18
- Another gut check! The rest of the gym did this one on Monday. CT & Charlie put up some good scores and had me worried if I could match them...honestly. I was pretty anxious about this one. It's a heavier WOD, it's one I've never done before, and there's a lot of back work. I was two rounds in at 2:00. Then my grip started to go on the deads. I was holding on to the bar as long as I could for the hangs. It actually flew out of my hands 3 times during the WOD. At some point in the 3rd round I had a moment of panic and really thought I might not be able to finish this WOD. I shut the voice up quickly though and got back to work. If it wasn't for Chris yelling in my ear I wouldn't have gotten the time I got, which beat him by a mere 3 seconds. Good training partners are invaluable.

Time to rest up and get er' done this weekend at Fitober Fest!!

Lots of Running & Heavy Deads

Took advantage of a some great Fall weather and jumped outside for some extra conditioning earlier in the day. Got some more of that great weather later at Prevail. Hamstrings are feeling it today.

Morning Conditioning
100m Sprints x 16 (1:00 REST)
1st half: 15.6 - 15.5 - 15.6 - 16.9 - 16.3 - 17.7 - 16.9 - 18.4
2nd half: 17.6 - 17.4 - 17.4 - 18.2 - 17.3 - 18.6 - 18.3 - 20.2
- Whew!! This was a lot rougher than expected, but very needed. I enjoy some good sprint work, but I forgot how rough they were. Got through the first 6 and thought maybe 10 was god enough. Got to 10 and thought...eh....only 6 more. Got to 4 and started thinking about stopping. Repeat same thought at 3.  At 2 left I was hurting and goal at this point was to stay below :20...failed on my last rep. My last year playing JUCO ball in 2001 this was our Fall conditioning test to get pads. I believe we had to make each one in under 15 or less. Oh what a decade will do!!

Hurdle Jumps - 6 hurdles x 4


Strength (PM)
Deadlifts - 20 mins. to est. 5RM
Clean Grip
bar(8) - 135(8) - 185 - 225 - 275 - 315 - 365
Trad. Grip
405
- Wanted to use the clean grip for all sets, but I couldn't bear the pain in my thumb any longer after 365. 5 reps was just too long to hold on to the bar for. 405# was good enough for me.

WOD
400m Run
  15 Pwr Cleans (115#)
400m Run
  12 Pwr Cleans
400m Run
  9 Pwr Cleans
400m Run
  6 Pwr Cleans
= 10:34
- All cleans were UB. Weight was easy. Never even thought of breaking up the sets. I thought about going up to 135, but was worried about my back being too fatigued from deads and the extra running to keep it together. I was wrong. Regret not going heavier. Think I still would have gone UB all the way through. Live and learn.

Cash Out
strict GH Raises - 4 x 6
GHD Sit Ups - 1 x 10

FGB

Finally did it! A year ago I hurt my back, prepping for FGB, being an idiot on SDHPs. I'm a lot stronger and smarter because of it. We hosted FGB at CF Prevail and invited the crew from CF Huntley to come join us. It was a great atmosphere with some good people.

Fight Gone Bad
3 rounds for reps:
1:00 Wall Balls (20#)   (26-21-21)
1:00 SDHPs (75#)   (20-17-15)
1:00 Box Jumps (20")   (35-30-23)
1:00 Push Press (75#)   (30-25-20)
1:00 Row for Cals   (16-11-13)
1:00 REST
= 323
- That was as tough as advertised. This being my first time I really had no goal, no expectations. The only thing going through my mind was be smart. Wall balls never got as bad as I thought they would. SDHPs were more like clean pulls. I was popping em off my hip and just tried to keep a steady pace. Box jumps fell apart in the third round. Push press was rough in the first round. I couldn't find a steady groove and was fumbling all around. I'm short...rowing sucks...enough said.

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.

A Year Already

CF Prevail Anniversary WOD!!! Crazy...can't believe the gym has been open for a year already! I've watched a lot come and some go. I've shared some great times under the bar and some lows. I've been blessed that Prevail has given me the opportunity to not just WOD with others, but do life with others. It still amazes me how sweating together can bond people together.  I've always had a hard time selling the price of Crossfit. I still think to the motivated individual it can be easily be done for less at home. The one thing priceless about Crossfit is the community! Your "Box" community is worth every penny. Yes, coaching and programming is worth it too, but in this day and age, it can easily be substituted through cheaper means. The "box" community can not! The bond that you create with those you sweat with throughout the year can't be found on the internet...I don't care how big your social media network is. Overtime, we share more than sweat. Anyone and everyone you talk to has that "story" of how Crossfit has helped change them...truth is it's the community that you discover helped them in some way or another.

Anniversary WOD
12:00 AMRAP
 250m Row
 12 KB Swings (53#)
 12 Box Jumps (24")
 12 Wall Balls (20#)
= 4 + 267
- Great group to WOD with on this one. Bobby, CT, Alex, Brandon, Kir, and Milica were all in on this one. The WOD was great. Reps were just enough to stay moving and think about breaking, but short enough to still fight through it. The way the WOD was set up had a nice vibe to it too. The lead changed hands I don't know how many times. Great partners, solid push!! Great way to celebrate the year!

Are You Fitter Than a 6th Grader?

9/13/12
Another game day, which means another missed day at the gym. Put my students through a WOD for fitness day so I decided to see how I measured up to their whiteboard.

School WOD
 3 rds for reps:
 1:00 DUs (I had 5 of 140ish students able to do DUs in the WOD, the rest did SUs)
 1:00 Sit Ups
 1:00 Wall Balls (12#..heaviest one we got)
 1:00 REST
= 392
- I took 2nd of the 6 for those who did DUs. I had a 6th grade girl gymnast, who whipped out 30 UB the other day when I introduced DUs in warm ups, beat me by 3 reps. Being a 60# gymnast...her sit ups were much faster than mine :( My DUs struggled in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. I got 90 something in the first round, but only managed to get in the 70s the last two. The wall balls are deceiving. The ball is just light enough to keep you moving for a long time and to really bring on that lactic burn. Proud of the effort my kids gave today on this one. Not everyone's technique was perfect, but the effort all around was outstanding! Looking forward to introducing more throughout the rest of the year.


9/14/12
 End of the week is here and I'm excited for the weekend. CF Prevail Anniversary WOD on Saturday and relax for the rest of the 3 day weekend. Need to get some OH maxes at the gym tonight...looking forward to it!

Strength
Press - est. a new 1RM
bar(10)-95(8)-135(3) - 155 - 185 - 205 - 215 - 230 PR
- Always happy with a 5# PR on OH work. Steady progress...I love it!
Push Press - est. a new 1RM
225 - 255 - 275 - 300 PR
- Haven't maxed in this one in over a year. My last PR was at 275, but I've been using 300 as a training max this whole cycle. So I was happy I was able to hit 300#! My buddy J is at 305#, so I gave 310# a shot twice and just couldn't do it...next time!!

1st FAIL @ 310#

WOD 

4 rds FT:

 5 Ring Dips

 10 Ring Rows

 15 HR Push Ups

= 4:33 (Bonus 5th round = 6:29)

- Breezed through until the 4th round. Ring dips started to fail and push ups were rough! Wanted to WOD a little longer so I added one more round. 

Cash Out

2 x 10 T2B 

 - UB on both sets. Had a real nice kip going. Again, extra core work and strict work paying off.