Sprinting and CF

Early sprints with Drew today, then a CF WOD in the PM.

AM Sprinting

Warmed up with air squats and walking lunges

WOD: Sprints
10 x 20yds @ :20 RI
Rest 1:00
8 x 30yds @ :30 RI
Rest 1:15
6 x 40 @ :40 RI
Rest 1:30
4 x 50 @ :50 RI

Cash out: Iguana stretch x 3

PM Crossfit

Buy-in: Burgener Warmup
Bench press 5 x 45#; 5 x 65#

WOD: "Lynne"
5 rounds
Max reps BW bench press (scaled to 85#)
Max reps Pullups (deadhang)
No time component

Rd 1 - 7 BP/9 PU
Rd 2 - 7 BP/9 PU
Rd 3 - 7 BP/7 PU
Rd 4 - 6 BP/6 PU
Rd 5 - 6 BP/5 PU

Total - 33 BP/36 PU

Cash out: 10:00 rowing (2206m)

Sprint Cycling

This is the first time I've tried a sprint cycling WOD, so I didn't really know what to expect. Guess I should have expected rubber legs, because that's exactly what I ended up with! I had planned to do 8 sprints, but a thunderstorm moved in and forced me to cut it short.

Buy-in: 3 rounds
10 squats
10 crunches
10 pushups
10 supermans

10 minutes easy spinning on bike

WOD: Cycling
4 x 1K sprints @ 2:00 RI

Times - 2:10/1:52/2:03/2:02

Cash out: easy ride home (~1 mile)

Easy Running

Early morning run with Drew today.

Buy-in: 2 rounds CFWU

WOD: Running
4:20 on/2:00 off
4:40 on/2:00 off
4:20 on/2:00 off
2:37 on

Total distance - 2.3 miles (includes walking during the rest intervals)
Total time - 21:57

Cash out: Stretching

Lazy swimming day

Dragged my butt out of bed this morning to teach a swimming lesson. Boy, I did not want to get up. I thought seriously about calling my student to tell her I couldn't make it, but that's kind of rude at 5 AM. Besides, she's paying the Y $30 per session (I get half of that) for 9 lessons AND she's been singing my praises throughout the triathlon community, so I figured the least I could do was show up on time. :p

Did a short swimming workout afterward.

Warmup - easy 400

3 x 100 IM @ :30 RI (2 drill, 1 swim)
6 x 50 @ 1:00 concentrating on SPL (8 - 8.5)

Cooldown - easy 100

Checkin' out the bike course

KAD and I went over to the Gateway area of Winston to check out the Ramblin' Rose bike course. According to the event info, the course is 8.2 miles and has several 2% - 3% grades. It runs along the Salem Creek Trail to Salem Lake and returns along the streets around through Winston-Salem State.

I had heard from several people who did the race last year that the bike course is very difficult. KAD and I rode the front half of it, out and back (I did not want her riding on the city streets) and now I'm wondering if the course has been changed. I mean, there were some minor ups and downs and a pretty decent hill as you go past the dam (near the 3.5 mile mark), but it doesn't appear to be the nightmare I've been led to believe it will be.

The run...well, it's a mile uphill and a mile downhill. I'll look forward to the second mile.

Cycling: ~7 miles, leisurely pace, not timed.

CF WOD

Buy-in: 1 round CFWU

500m rowing (2:15)

5 x deadlift, hang power clean, push jerks @ 45#

WOD: 5 rounds for time

12 x deadlifts @ 65#

9 x hang power cleans @65#

6 x push jerks @ 65#

Time - 15:45*

*Last two rounds were just deadlifts and push jerks. HPCs continue to be murder on my elbow, even after 6 months, and I just refuse to screw it up any further.

Cash out: BTB back squats

10 x 65#

8 x 75#

Swimming and CF Kids

AM - Swimming

Warmup - easy 400, 200 swim-200 drill

Main set:
3 x 100 @ :30 RI, hold +/- 5 seconds
1:30 - 1:33 - 1:32

3 x 200 @ 1:00 RI, hold +/- 5 seconds
3:04 - 3:01 - 2:58

Cool down - easy 100


PM - CF Kids WOD with KAD

Buy-in: 3 rounds
10 inch worms
20 ski jumpers

WOD: For time
Run 200m
12 rock-up squats
12 burpees
Run 200m
9 rock-up squats
9 burpees
Run 200m
6 rock-up squats
6 burpees
Run 200m

Time - 8:05

This one actually kind of sucked - the rock-ups add a whole 'nother dimension to it. And burpees always suck.

Cash out: Shot baskets for 20 minutes

Vacation's over, back on your head!

Took the last week off for vacation. We went to the mountains for a couple of days and hiked and rafted and did all those outdoors-y kinds of things, then spent a day at Carowinds riding the roller coasters. Well, Son and I rode the roller coasters - Hubby gets queasy on them and KAD is still a little afraid of them. All in all, it was a fun week full of great activities and horrible (if wonderful-tasting) food.

Went back to the triathlon training today with a bike-run brick workout:

Cycling: MapMyRun.com - General Road Cycling: General Road Cycling on 07/23/2009

Shared via AddThis

Distance - 7.05 miles

Time - 28:03

Avg speed - 15.1 mph

Running: MapMyRun.com - Brick Workout: Brick Run on 07/23/2009

Shared via AddThis

Distance - 1.28 miles

Time - 13:28 (includes transition)

Avg Pace - 10:30/mile

I was pleased with the cycling - that's the first time I've averaged 15 mph for an entire course, which is the pace I'd like to maintain for the triathlon. The running...well, there's definitely room for improvement there.

Sprints make me hurt

When it comes to generating DOMS, nothing seems to work better than sprints. No matter how short or how few, the act of running sprints makes me sore like nothing else.

This morning's WOD was an extremely scaled-down version of a workout that Number One Son's soccer coach has them do during off-season conditioning. It is called the SPX Sprint series. As Rx'd, it looks like this:

20 x 20 yds @ :15 RI

18 x 40 yds @ :20 RI

16 x 60 yds @ :30 RI

14 x 80 yds @ :45 RI

10 x 120 yds @ 1:00 RI

2:00 rest between sets

Normally I'll do this as "SPX Lite," which is the same distances but only half the reps. But because Hubby didn't think he could even do half, we did what I will call "SPX Featherweight."

Buy-in: Bike ride to the Y, ~1 mile

800 meters of jogging

WOD: "SPX Featherweight"

10 x 10 yds @ :10 RI

8 x 20 yds @ :20 RI

6 x 30 yds @ :30 RI

4 x 40 yds @ 40 RI

Cash out: Bike ride home ~ 1 mile

I figured Hubby would smoke me - he was a sprinter in high school, one of the top-ranked 100m runners in the state. But by the time we got to the 40s, I was running him down in the last 5-10 yards of the sprint. I know he's gonna feel it bad tomorrow, at least in his legs. Today, I think he's just feeling it in his ego. Hopefully this will spur him to keep working to get back in shape.

And yeah, I have DOMS. My quads and hip flexors are saying very unkind things to me right now. I suspect they'll be even more vocal tomorrow morning.

"Nancy" Day

Another first for me today - Nancy.

Buy-in: Bike ride to Y (~1 mile)

Coach Boz warmup

Burgerner warmup

WOD: "Nancy" (Pack scale)

5 rounds for time of:

400m run (done on dreadmill @ 1% grade)

15 OHS (35#)

Time - 15:45

Splits - 3:09/3:10/3:07/3:06/3:13

The main change needed for this is heavier OHS's. Because I haven't done weighted OHS's often, I wanted to stay conservative with the weight. 35# was too easy, though.

Frustration with the treadmill abounds. The Y will not allow me to leave it running (safety), and it just takes too damn long to get the thing up to a good speed (7.5 min/mile pace). Between transition time and getting the treadmill up to speed, all of my runs took at least 2:15. For many other lifts (thrusters, presses, front squats, etc), I will take dumbbells and go to the upstairs track. But the OHS doesn't really seem to lend itself as well to a DB substition. The whole lift is different with DBs. Maybe I can sneak an Oly bar out of the weight room...

Cash out: Pullups 6-5-4-3-2-1 Worked my kip, which actually seems to be okay if I'm trying to go fast and I don't really think about it.

Muscle-up transitions.

The CFT Implosion continues....

My CFT continues to go downhill. I don't know if that's because I've been doing more endurance training and less lifting, or because I've been trying to work my form when I do lift and have backed off some on the weight. Either way, it's frustrating.

Buy-in: 2 rounds CFWU

WOD: Crossfit Total (body weight = 123)

Back squat - 135#

Press - 70#

Deadlift - 175#

Crossfit Total = 380

My last CFT was 405. The only lift I didn't regress on this time was the back squat, but I'm still 10# under my best 1RM even on that.

Progressions:

Back squat

Warmup sets:

• 8 x 45#
• 5 x 65#
• 3 x 95#
• 3 x 115#

Work sets:

• 1 x 125#
• 1 x 135#
• 1 x 145# (fail)

Lost my balance on the 145# attempt. I came forward onto my toes while ascending and lost my balance when I tried to adjust. This resulted in a rather loud and spectacular dumping of the bar. Oh well, that's why you lift in a rack.

Presses

Warmup sets:

• 3 x 45#
• 3 x 55#

Work sets:

• 1 x 65#
• 1 x 75# (fail)
• 1 x 70# (barely)

Deadlifts

Warmup sets:

• 5 x 115#
• 3 x 135#

Work sets:

• 1 x 155#
• 1 x 175#
• 1 x 205# (fail)
• 1 x 200# (fail)

I was probably a little too ambitious on these, trying to jump from 175# to 205#. I got the 205 off the floor, but just barely. The 200 attempt got to just below my knees, but I could feel my back rounding and dumped it. By that point I was too tired to make an attempt at 195# and I'm not sure I could have done it anyway. So a 20# drop on the deadlift for this CFT.

Cash out: Max reps deadhang pullups - 10

PM WOD: Bike ride with Hubby

Distance - 4.47 miles

Time - 21:00

Avg speed - 12.77 mph

And more CFE...

I really wanted to go running today. I also wanted to sleep in. So I did both. Unfortunately, this meant that it was already pushing 90 degrees when I finally hit the road in my running shoes...July and August in NC are pretty hard to match for heat and humidity.

Buy in: 2 rounds CFWU minus pullups, with 10 walking lunges added to each round.

WOD: CFE running

5:00 on/2:oo off for 2.5 miles (walked during 'off' times)

1st run ~.65 mi

2nd run ~.73 mi

3rd run ~ .65 mi

4th run (1:58) ~.24 mi

Total distance - 2.5 miles

Total time - 22:58

Cash out: Pushups and situps with KAD (didn't keep count)

Total distance

CFE Bike intervals

This was my first time doing intervals on my bike. Well, let me caveat that: this was my first doing intervals on real bike, on the road, as opposed to a stationary bike in the gym. Hubby went with me (I still haven't convinced him to try CF WODs, but I'm working on him slowly).

Buy-in: Easy ride to the start point (~1.7 miles)

WOD: 4 rounds

4:00 on/2:00 off

Hold distances as consistent as possible

Round 1 - 1.04 mi

Round 2 - 1.03 mi

Round 3 - .75 mi (mostly uphill)

Round 4 - 1.32 (mostly downhill)

Cash out: Easy ride home (~1 mile) Not really easy, since about 3/4 of it was uphill.

I am going to get my ass handed to me on the bike part of the triathlon....

Major modification

Went back to the main page today after a couple of days off. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to go about training for the triathlon next month. I don't have the time for 2-a-days (doing main page WOD and the CFE WOD), and I'm wondering if alternating between between the main page and CFE daily is going to give me everything I need. Not to mention that I've pretty much neglected swimming since the City Meet - that's a calculated risk though, since the swim is by far my strongest event. Based on last year's results, I'm going to be one of the first women out of pool. Then I'm going to get smoked on the bike leg. :p

Anyway, I jumped back to the main page today, with a major modification because I couldn't get to the Y.

Buy-in: 2 rounds CFWU - no pullups, bench dips

WOD: 21-18-15-12-9-6-3

Front squats (subbed 25# goblet squats with a KB)

GHD situps (subbed pseudo-GHDs done on an ab ball with my feet hooked under the couch)

Time - 5:23

I could tell I haven't done squats of any weight for quite a while - my butt and hanstrings were crying about halfway through the WOD.

Cash out: Headstand/frog stand/handstand practice with KAD.

More Running with Hubby

So far, so good. Hubby continues to tolerate me dragging him out of bed in the early morn to go running. We're still doing interval runs as he builds his endurance, but his pace is getting a little faster. I'm encouraging him to try shorter intervals at a faster pace, because I think that will help him get back into shape more quickly than trying to slog along for 10-12 minutes at a time.

WOD: Running

4:00 on/2:00 off

5:00 on/2:00 off

5:00 on/2:00 off

2:30 on

Total distance - ~2.25 miles

Badger is a bugger...

Tough hero WOD, and entirely appropriate as we celebrate our nation's birth (yeah, I know I'm running a few days behind the main page). This is the first time I've seen Badger come up, and I scaled it heavily.

Buy-in: Burgerner warm-up

3 reps bear complex, 45#

WOD: "Badger" (puppy scale)

3 rounds for time

20 squat cleans (35#)

20 pullups

400m run

Time - 19:43

I was happy to get this one under 20 minutes, especially since I'm fighting a chest cold and could hear the rattle in my breathing. The runs especially sucked this time. Managed to do full squat cleans only about 75% of the time. The rest were either power cleans or pseudo-squat cleans. Pullups were kind of pseudo-kipping, with jumping the last round.

Cash out: Tetherball with KAD, about 20 minutes.

Longest bike ride so far

Hubby and I went out this morning on our bikes to get in a longer ride. The Ramblin Rose triathlon has a nine-mile bike ride, so we chose a route that was 9.5 miles. Rolling terrain with a couple of decently long hills (longest climb was about 1.7 miles).

Distance - 9.5 miles

Time - 44:06

Avg speed - 12.8 mph

My legs were dead afterwards, but this speed isn't going to cut it for the triathlon. Last year, most of the bike times were in the mid-30s. The swim event isn't long enough for me to get a 10:00 head start. :p I know my bike (a $125 hybrid from Sports Authority) doesn't help, but I'm going to have to get better at this.

As Hubby gets back into condition, it will help push me more. Right now, he can push me on the flats, but he can't hang on the hills.

First try at "Randy"...first try at snatches, for that matter

I've been putting it off and putting it off. I've been Crossfitting for over a year, and until now I've made no real attempt at one of the foundational movements - the overhead squat. Well, caveat that. Until now, I've made no attempt to do it with anything other than a dowel or broomstick, or outside of the CFWU.

Until now, I've also made no attempt at one of the major lifts - the snatch. Honestly, I've just been afraid of it. Afraid of trying to take a weight directly from the floor to overhead. Afraid of hurting my elbow. Afraid of hurting my back. Just basically letting fear dictate.

I finally decided, "F*** that. I'm not really a CFer until I can do these." So today, in a frenzy of overachievement, I did both of these movements.

Buy-in: Burgener warm-up

OHS:

10 x dowel

3 x 5 x 35#

Pressing snatch balance:

10 x dowel

5 x 35#

Power snatch 10 x dowel

WOD: "Randy" (Pack scale)

50 reps power snatch, 35#

Time - 7:32

This actually felt pretty good. Of course, the weight was light and I really don't have a clue what my form was like. I tried to keep the points from the Burgerner warm-up in mind - shrug, high elbows, jump under the bar, etc.

Cash out: L-sit hold - :20

30 x pseudo-GHD situps

Running + 603 WOD

Two workouts today - early AM running with Hubby and a late lifting WOD.

Running w/Drew:

10:00 on/2:00 off

7:00 on/1:00 off

3:00 on

Distance - ~2.3 miles

Crossfit:

Buy-in: 500m row - 2:19

Power clean work:

3 x 45#

3 x 45#

3 x 65#

WOD: Deadlifts 3 x 5 @ 70%

Warm-up sets:

• 5 x 95#
• 5 x 115#

Work sets: 3 x 5 @ 135#

Metcon: AMRAP in 10:00

Renegade Man-Makers (15# DBs)

Reps - 35

Because the deadlifts were not heavy, the intention was to really work the form. I played with my set-up some, trying to drop my hips and retract my shoulder blades. Because I have relatively long femurs, the angle between my thighs and torso is a little smaller than normal. Anyway, here is a comparison of my previous setup, my new setup and the setup shown in Starting Strength.

The new setup didn't feel quite as strong. Not sure if that was just because it's new and I need to form a new muscle memory. I had trouble getting my hips and chest to rise together - my hips want to come up first. My hips will come up to the point of my old setup, then my chest starts moving and they rise together from there. I was aware of it, I could feel it happening, but could not get it completely fixed.

Cash out: 25 hanging leg lifts