Clock whores

Click here if you need to read the article from D.Chapman at HyperFit CrossFit in MI on what a clock whore is.

Committed to being your best sometimes means ignoring the clock. Bryce and I always talk about there's often ways to do things fast and to do things right. For me, rowing is one of those things. I could have rowed with my current technique (or lacking of) and made it under 20. Is that going to get me better in the long run...maybe, but I'm not willing to find out in the next 5 weeks. I'd rather correct it now and get faster on good form.

5:00pm
5k row 20:51.6

I committed to not going past the handle holder in "the catch" in the front, not allowing my heels to come up, and not leaning back more than 30 degrees in "the swing".

I had my computer within an arms reach and replayed this video over and over and over.


Reading a bit more on rowing and upped my strokes per minute up to 24s/m from 5000-4000m and also 2000-1000m. 3999-2001 decreased back to a comfortable 20/21s/m. Last 1000m upped it to 27s/m. Even with yesterdays glute pain, glutes and hammies were fine. The mid to upper back is a different story. Trying the whole "holding the rib cage up with the lower back is really new to me.

Watch the videos a couple of times and see what you think. My row average is about 10 sec slower but fatigue point is lower. Ok... that would make sense to any idiot (slower time/less fatigue), but that fatigue point is significantly and disproportionately much lower.


The bad thing about skill work (see previous post) is that you don't feel CrossFit exhausted.

6:20pm
for time: 100 push ups 100 squats 7:38
(HA! If I could do 100 pull ups and 100 sit ups in 3 minutes I could beat Speal...Ha ha ha! 70 pull ups in a row) Speal does Angie in 10:??

push ups 25@25, 50@108, finish at 4:46
squats 34@5:20, 67@6:29, finish at 7:38

Pain in the ass

Woke up this morning with soreness in my upper rhombs, right trap, and right glute. Didn't realize how bad the glute was until I started moving around. It's even painful to sit on...not good. It was awesome demoing a sit up today.

I'm really hoping I just overworked it and I don't have an ass strain. As funny as that sounds, that would be bad news...real bad news.

Getting there

Moved a bunch of shit today to the West Loop. Didn't get a chance to eat until about 3pm. Had 1/2 a salt-free chicken from Jewel, an apple, and a banana. Lower back was feeling a little sore from the rower but wanted to get this wod in early.

530pm

30-20-10 of
deadlifts BW (165#)
Wall balls

4:29!
Much faster than I thought I was going to finish as wall balls are not a strength of mine. I was thinking sub 6 on this. Mentally came into this one ready. Yes, unbroken is not my style. It fatigues my grip, I start to move slow, and I start to get defeated mentally. Game plan was 10s. Took short breaks enough to step back take a breath and get back at it. At the wall ball however long it took me to walk around the pillar. I'd say no longer than a true 5 second break at the very longest. The only part that fell off game plan was the 20 set where I had to go 10-5-5 just couldn't get it.

The best thing about this wod is that I didn't buckle over after I finished. I could stand and walk around. It wasn't comfortable as my glutes were on fire, but I wasn't dying. Could this endurance and diet thing be working already? We'll see...

Forced down about 4oz of chicken, couldn't bare much more and went to an apple and a banana.

7:30 worked on some parallettes HSPUs
1x6 1:30 rest (PR max was 4 before!)
1x4 1:30 rest
1x4 stop

Wanted to also do some ring dips but shoulders were cashed.

8:10pm
CFE wod 2k row 7:47.7
Joined Chris for his last 2k as he was doing a 5k. Started sprinting at 250m it was a great place for me to start my sprint, hopefully in a couple of weeks I can bump that to the 300m marker.

Back with the GP

Had a rough morning on the business side of things so hit the CFE wod from 26dec 10x repeats, 5x rest. That was rough:

10:45am

1. :45.0 rest 3:45

2. :46.7 rest 3:53

3. :47.6 rest 4:00

4. :48.4 rest 4:00

5. :49.4 rest 4:07

6. : 51.3 rest 4:17 (Tried "correct" row form, can't keep under 1:40)

7. :51.1 rest 4:15

8. :52.0 rest 4:20

9. :51.7 rest 4:19 (actual was 4:37, had to pick up a call)

10. :50.7 stop

Felt tired at the third interval. Felt wiped by the fifth. Then a little better by the 8th.

4:00pm

25 pull ups:32s 23 bfk/2reg unbroken
1:30 rest
25 pull ups:54s 9bfk+6reg,10reg

Forearms burning a bit.

Originally planned on doing 1x10 muscle ups but didn't pan out that way.
Pull ups wore the shit out of me
1x4 muscle up. failed on 5th
1x4 muscle up. didn't even attempt a 5th because the fourth was already loose.

First wod in a long time with the GP.

Metcon
4 Rounds, 45s on 15s off of: burpee, kb swing 70#, row cal
rd1: 20,15,13
rd2: 14,15,12
rd3: 12,15,10
rd4: 12,14,14
total: 166

Not the best total on this one but pretty satisfied on how my metcon is coming along. It's only been 4-5 days but things are coming along pretty damn nicely.

Overworked

Man, my entire back is sore from that damn rower yesterday, but that's not the overworked that I'm talking about. Today I spent a lot of my time in the West Loop. Thankfully Mandie was there to help me out. It helps just to have someone there to support the mission sometimes. Today's mission: Get the damn pull up bar mounted and stable. DONE! Also got two of the racks and a back ext together.

I was thinking about doing 50 pull ups and 50 ring dips but Chris talked me into doing the OHS/pull up workout.

6pm
5Rds 5 OHS/10 Pull ups
4:45

Did these in my canvas chucks (the ones I never tie) and the first snatch felt extremely unstable and I figured since this part is slightly harder than usual, let's make the pull ups harder too. Chris also said he had left over energy after he finished, so I went to CTB pull ups. Only strung together first set... WEAK SAUCE! Also had to go with power snatches because too unstable in a full snatch, damn dependence on those oly shoes. Metcon and grip still failing me. Nice little forearm burn and have a slight twinge in my right trap/neck. Warm-up next time!

Dedication

For that which I lack in discipline, I will make up in dedication to my goal.

I was pretty worn out today. If it wasn't for an email with my closest competitor Mango, I probably would of put today's WOD off. Mango texts "Get in there. Time to buckle down...no excuses."

Alright Mango, I'm coming for you...no excuses. my new look at dedication:

7:45pm

CFE WOD 4x5 min intervals with 3min recovery in between rounds.

Interval 1: 1281m (sprinted out 1:00)

Interval 2: 1238m (sprinted out 1:30)

Interval 3: 1232m (sprinted out 1:30)

Interval 4: 1240m (sprinted out 2:00)

Worked on row form. What I think is correct form definitely helps out delaying fatigue, however I can't keep the pace lower than 2:05-2:10.

Christmas day

A little surprised on how beat up I was feeling from "Jackie" but first WOD in 4 days.

11:30am

200m row 35.5s

CFE WOD 9:00 on the C2 2251m
Had a really hard time on this one because I'm good at pacing distance but not time. I hit the 8:00 at about 80% then hit the last minute as hard as possible. I could have started the sprint at -1:30

3x5 GHR (setting 7 on the GHD) 1:30 rest

3x5 Back ext (setting 15 on GHD) 1:30 rest

2x 20 pull ups (1st 20 regular kipping, second 12 butterfly 8 reg)

3 Rds 10 burpees, 20 sit ups, 30 dbl-unders 4:42 had some issues with the dbl-unders (I think my Buddy Lee is too short dammit!).

Training begins

As I told everyone, I love competing but hate training.

The game plan is to improve metcon. I'm laying off of strength work (until I correct sleep/stress/nutrition) because it takes me too long to recover and I think my strength is at a decent enough level.

Day one of training:

11am

"Jackie" 7:35 1000m 3:51, thrusters 25-10-15, pull ups 17 straight.

115# snatch to 10x overhead squats x3

1x5 muscle-ups

"Kill Chris"

Many people get into this "Oh, I'm just competing with myself" thing. BULLSHIT! Self improvement/getting better everyday and beating your own previous times is great, but it's not competition.

Read this definition from dictionary.com. Competition is defined as a "rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common, usually resulting in a victor and a loser but not necessarily involving the destruction of the latter."

I don't care if you plan on battling 1 or 50, but you need at least two to tango. So I'm not the type of person that looks at the entire pack ahead of me. I look at someone who's in my site and do what I have to do to beat them...then the next, and the next...

So on to "Kill Chris". Chris is my competitor that I chose to focus on first. We are similar in max strength. He has better strength endurance, his metcon times are about :30-1:30 ahead of me. I've got him on gymnastics movements. He is mentally tougher on everyday wods, but this is competition. I will tweak things out as we go along.



Mango I'm coming for you!