BACK ON THE PAIN TRAIN

I competed in the 1st of 4 OPT Competitions this past weekend. For us out of towners we could video tape the workouts like the video qualifiers and send them in. Next time I will try to get to Calgary to get in on the amazing team environment.

WOD 1 - FGB
My Score - 310 (click here for video)
Went in with a game plan, but the reps were just alittle bit too ambitious and it killed me in rounds 2 and 3. Only got 11 points below my PR though. Next FGB I will try to keep the 1st round the same and push harder in the other rounds to boost my score.

WOD 2 - OPT3
3RM Front Squat - 63.5kg (click here for squat)
2RM Snatch - 47.6kg (click here for snatch)
AMRAP Pullups - 43 (click here for pullups)
My Score - 154.1
The rules for this one forced me to get much more aggressive that I have been in the past. The snatch was not allowed to be pressed out so it forced me to get aggressive and drop under that weight. FELT GREAT! Pullup standard was chin must break the vertical plane of the bar, which is much more difficult to get higher number of reps because you have to use the gymnastics kip rather than the butterfly/circle kip.

WOD 3 - Rhiannon
As Many Double Unders in 10 minutes
My Score - 659 (click here for double unders)

Got back into training today after two days of rest. We did burpee log rolls and some rowing sprints. Felt great.

WORKING THROUGH THE PAIN

CF Lethbridge WOD for Tuesday, September 22:
1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Clean-Push Press-Push Jerk-Split Jerk
75#-95#-105#-115#-stopped

Worked up to a heavy 115# then stopped. I hurt my knee at work yesterday... spotting a gymnast, foot got stuck between two mats but my knee and body kept moving. It's not swollen but it sure does hurt!! It hurt to clean off the floor, but once I got the weight to the shoulders the knee felt great. Weight was limited by the push press.

The pain of the knee and the downfall of an injury at a time I feel great sucks, but got an email from Tucker yesterday asking me to join him in San Clemente, CA to help instruct the CF Gymnastics Cert there Oct 10-11. Pretty pumped about that! Two weeks later I'm also booked for Vancouver, BC for Oct 24-25 to instruct.

If you are interested in booking a gymnastic cert at your box post to comments!!

DON'T STOP

CF Lethbridge WOD for Monday, September 21
4 Rounds of:
400m Run
50 Squats
12:54

I'm not the fastest runner out there but I am getting better. This WOD just kills the legs, but you don't really feel it until you stop... hence the post title: DON'T STOP!

Freezing cold this morning at 6am... frost on the windshield. So I went to the gym prepared; mitts, toque, jogging pants, and the ipod. Probably wouldn't have lasted without all of it.

DEADLIFT

CF Lethbridge WOD for Saturday, September 20:
1-1-1-1-1-1-1 Deadlift

175-205-215-220-225-230

Was suppose to be 7 sets but I only did 6, as that 230# was a toughie to get up. Was hoping for more, but it's a 10# PR so pleased with some improvement. I think if I progressed through the weight quicker and tried 175-205-215-225... I could have gotten higher than I did. Next time...

"GRACE"

CF Lethbridge WOD for Thursday, September 17th:
"Grace"
30 Clean and Jerks for Time (95#)
4:03

First time ever doing Grace and I was thinking I'd be going much slower than that. I can't touch and go 95# clean and jerks for speed so I dropped every one. It's just too heavy on the way down to be sliding in and out of hook grip for me. Always, it's probably not a great Grace time compared to other ladies with the same goals as me, but I'm pleased with that for my first try.

"CINDY"

CF Lethbridge WOD for Wednesday, Spetember 16, 2009:
"Cindy"
AMRAP 20 minutes:
5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Squats
22 rounds + 5 pullups + 5 pushups

I didn't really have a goal in mind, I just knew I wanted to be over 20 rounds this time. The last time I attacked Cindy was a little over a year ago and got 18 rounds. So I am pleased with a 4 rounds improvement! Almost had the 23 rounds and probably could have if I pushed the last two a little bit more.

Pullups were great as always. Pushups are definately always going to be a struggle for me, but they felt good. First 8 rounds I did them unbroken and after that tried to break only once per set. Squats are a brain tease for me in that I get up and am glad to get a rest from the upper body stuff, but the legs get so jacked up as well. I have to stop in the pushups, so I try to fight through the pain of the squats, which I succeeded in.

I feel like I'm in a great spot right now both mentally and phsycially. Should start looking around for a nearby competition to test myself and prepare for the mental battle these Sectional and Regional Qualifiers will entail this year.

Hitting It Hard

Haven't posted for a while, so I thought it was time for an update.

This months we've been hitting up an achieved month (November 2005) of .com WODs. Tough to say the least, but I know how this programming is going to help push me to the next level.

Tons of PRs lately so I am pleased with how I'm doing.

Sept 2:
1-1-1-1-1-1 Snatch worked up to 110# (5# shy of tieing my PR)

Sept 4:
3 Rounds of
21 L-Pullups
6 L-Rope Climbs at 8'
20:18... Had to scale the L-pullups to the blue band. Could have done it but I'd be there all day.

Sept 5:
1-1-1-1-1 Back Squat worked up to 190#
New PR by 15# for me in that one. Took 3 tries before I successfully got up the 190#, but I wanted it bad. Hip was really feeling it afterwards. Heavy squatting is not good for my hip so usually I take it easy, but I wanted to go for it since back squats don't come up often.

Sept 6:
AMRAP 20 min
15 Push Jerks (65#)
15 Box Jumps (24")
15 Back Extensions
8 rounds + 7 push jerks

Sept 8:
50-35-30
Handstand Pushups
Pullups
17:51... HSPU felt alittle bit off today as I didn't quite have the strength to power up as fast as usual. Chipped away and got it done. Pullups were easy as always. One break in the 50, otherwise those were unbroken.

Sept 9:
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Front Squats (130#)
GHD Situps
DNF... Modified the front squats to 110#, as my 3RM is 140#. Tweaked my elbow in the first round, tried to push through but called it quits after the round of 18 reps. No need to injure myself.

Sept 10:
"RANDY"
75 Power Snatch (55#)
5:32... Broke way too early. Should be able to complete at least the first 30 unbroken next time.

Sept 13:
"FRAN"
21-15-9
Thurster (65#)
Pullup
4:01... Aiming for sub-4 and alittle disappointed that I didn't get it, but happy with a 35sec PR on my second time doing this one RQed. First time was at my level 1 cert in March of '09.

Sept 14:
1 mile run
35 Box Jumps (20")
35 GHD Situps
6 Rope Climbs at 8'
35 Slam Balls (14#)
120ft DB Walking Lunges (20#/h)
35 DB Hang Squat Cleans (20#/h)
35 Ring Dips
23:10

ANGIE

Yesterday's WOD was:
3-3-3 Clean
2k Run
3-3-3 Clean

115# for all the cleans and time for the run was 8:17, which I'm pleased about.

Then today we did:
"Angie"
For Time:
100 Pullups
100 Pushups
100 Situps
100 Squats

13:22

Felt great!! So glad I took the week off last week. I was starting to get over trained and almost bored with CrossFit. But now I'm feeling rejuvinated and excited again. Plus I'm extremely pleased with my last two workouts (even though I can't lift my arms above eye level right now).