March 28, 2016

16.5. A repeat of the worst workout I have ever done.

Thrusters . . . why did it have to be thrusters?

The fifth and final workout in the 2016 CrossFit Open was released on March 24th.  It was a repeat of one of the previous Open workouts.  Specifically, a repeat of 14.5.

21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Thrusters @ 95#
Bar-facing Burpees

The last time I did this workout, back during the 2014 Open, it took me 34:30.  That is 34 minutes and 30 seconds.

Let's see how long it takes me this time.

UPDATE:

I finished this workout in 23:54.  That is 10 minutes 36 seconds faster than 2014.  I'll take that.

March 25, 2016

16.4 (a.k.a torture)

Open workout 16.4 was released on March 17th.

This one is a rough one.

AMRAP in 13 minutes

55 Deadlifts @ 225#
55 Wall ball shots @ 20# to a 10' target
55 Calories on a rower
55 handstand push ups

Handstand pushups are a skill that I haven't gotten yet, but I figured I would be lucky to get to them. I thought when I first heard the workout, that I would be lucky to get done with the wall balls.  I knew the wall balls would do me in (they always do).

So, in formulating my strategy for the workout, I thought I should pace the deadlifts such that I would be "fresh" when I got to the wall balls.  Plus, I knew I couldn't do any handstand pushups, so I figured there was no rush to get through the deadlifts.

I decided I would do 5 deadlifts every 30 seconds.  This would get me done with the deadlifts at 5:30. Then I broke up the wall balls in sets of 13, 12, 10, 10, 10.  Then I would spend any remaining time on the rower.

How did it go?

It went almost perfectly to plan.  the deadlifts were pretty easy and surprisingly, the wallballs went according to plan as well.  Once I got on the rower, I just went with all I had.  I ended up getting to 52 calories on the rower.

Then I collapsed on the floor and stayed there for easily 10 minutes.  It has been a while since I went that hard on a workout.

16.3: Skills I don't really have yet (pt.2)

Workout 16.3 was released on Thursday, March 10th.

The workout is:

AMRAP in 7 minutes
10 Snatch @ 75#
3 Bar Muscle-ups

I performed the workout on Friday, March 11th.  Despite trying for the better part of 7 minutes, I still cannot do a bar muscle-up.  So my score was . . .

10

Just one more skill to add to the list of things I need to work on.

March 7, 2016

16.2: skills I don't really have yet

CrossFit Open workout 16.2 has come and gone. This week's workout included T2B(toes to bar), double unders, and squat cleans.

T2B are a recently new skill for me, and so I can't really string them together yet.  Sadly, I also learned that after 5-6 of them, then I start failing.

What was my final score on 16.2?

18

It was a real blow to the ego, but I am okay with it.  I just have to remind myself that the Open for me is just an annual assessment of my fitness.  I just need to take these scores use this as a tool to know how my training needs to be focused on the the next year.

February 29, 2016

16.1: The 2016 CrossFit Open is here

The CrossFit Games Open is here again.  This is one of my favorite times of year.

Watching the announcements.

Doing the workouts.

Judging others doing the workouts.

It's all great fun.

So let's get to it.  16.1 is:

25ft walking 95# overhead lunges
8 bar facing burpees
25ft walking 95# overhead lunges
8 Chest to bar (C2B) pull-ups

Every 5ft section of the walking lunge is worth 1 point.  Each burpee is worth 1 point.  Each pullup is worth 1 point.  So one full round is worth 26 points.

I have never been able to do a chest to bar pull-up before, but I decided I was going to do the RX version of the workout on Friday regardless.

How did it go?

I did get my first C2B pull-up on this day.  I also got 15 more.  I finished 2 complete rounds for a final score of 52.  Not world class by far, but I was super happy and excited getting my first C2B pull-ups.

We'll see what Dave Castro has in store for us in 16.2.




February 22, 2016

It's been a while . . .

It is been quite a while since I posted here.  I'm going to try to be a little more consistent, because I feel like this is a really good outlet for me to get my thoughts out (even if no one else reads it).

So, what has happened in the last year and a half?

  • CrossFit NTX has folded.  Sean was burned out and sold the box and all equipment to another one of the local boxes that was looking to expand.  So that means that I am a member of a new box, however, I still go to the same place every day.
  • I have succeeded in my quest to run an ultramarathon.  After DNFing a local 50k a couple of years in a row, I successfully finished the Bandera 100k Trail Run on Janurary, 2015.  100k is approximately 62.2 miles.
  • I have finally gotten strong enough to deadlift 400+ lbs.  That was a big milestone for me.
  • Because of the above, I have also become a member of the LiftHeavyRunLong.com 50/400 club. I am super happy about being part of this fraternity.
  • I have gotten my first kipping pull-up and am working on my first strict pull-up.
  • I have gotten my CrossFit Level 1 Trainer Certificate and am coaching 3-5 classes per week at CrossFit Denton.
  • Just last week, I climbed a rope for the first time.
And there is one other thing that I wanted to update this blog with.

For the first time in 18-20 years, my body fat percentage has dropped below 25%.  This is a really big deal. I feel like I have finally gotten my diet dialed in, and am seeing progress.

That's it for now.

Consistency

I need to be more consistent on blogging. So many thing have changed, and so many more changes are on the way. I'm not at Solar anym...