CrossFit Open WOD 13.5 (Workout Recap Week of 4/1)

Monday: Back Squat/Bench Press Retest

 

Came into the gym feeling like I needed a nap.  Got some encouragement from Jared's boss who told me sometimes those are the best PR days.  Got in a solid warmup, then got to work on my back squat and bench press.

 

Previous 1RM Back Squat (I go to hips below parallel): #175

New 1RM Back Squat: #185

Previous 1RM Bench Press: #90

New 1RM Bench Press: #100

 

I was sooo pumped! 

 

If you are looking to build strength, check out the Wendler's lifting cycle. 

 

I generally don't have time for all four lifts (back squat, bench press, deadlift, strict overhead press) in one cycle, so I do deadlift and press one cycle and then back squat and bench press the following cycle.

 

Tuesday: CrossFit

 

Just me and the 6am guys.  New 2 minute challenge?  Knees to Elbows.  Coach Jared told us to be really strict on these.  Most of us got low scores, but room to improve!  I find these harder than toes to bar, actually.

 

 

Really fun WOD - love a chance to work on my handstand pushups! 

 

 

Used a band for ring dips and scaled the kettlebell swings to #26.  This one got tough FAST. 

 



 

Wednesday: CrossFit

 

Worked on my freestanding handstands during the warmup.

 

 

Holy crap this WOD was a doozy.   Made myself try the RX weights even though they scared me.  Really tried to push myself on the runs and not just use them as recovery.  Gave myself a time goal of 23:00 and squeaked it in!

 

 

 

Totally love my Reebok CrossFit Nanos 2.0 - I wear them everywhere!

 

 

Sweaty but proud.

 

 

Thursday: Rest

 

I was sore after the thrusters and probably also just from watching the live 13.5 announcement (go Camille!!!)

 

Friday: 13.5 (Chest-to-Bar Fran)

 

 

My mental game was the best on the WOD of all five of the 2013 workouts.

 

I was really glad I had RX'ed Wednesday's WOD, because I knew if I could do the #75 thrusters, #65 would be a piece of cake. 

 

I had worried about chest to bar pullups a little until I heard reverse grip was allowed, and I was inspired by my girl Amy who got her first SEVEN chest to bar pullups on Wednesday.

 

I also knew there was no way I'd have to do more than 4 minutes, so I felt really confident I could work my hardest for a short time.

 

I always hate thrusters but I head during the live Open announcement that thrusters are a great movement for small people.  I am small, so I decided I was going to rock thrusters from now on and not make excuses.

 

I did about 30 minutes of mobility and then a fairly brief warmup.  I rowed a little and tried some chest to bar pullups with the reverse grip.  I loaded a bar with #45 and did a few reps, then did a few reps at #75 so that #65 would hopefully feel light when I started the WOD.

 

It worked.

 

I linked my first 12 thrusters and felt really strong.  I picked up the bar again and finished my last three - I wanted to leave a ton of time for the pullups. 

I linked my first three chest to bar pullups, and then the next three.  After that, it was ones and twos with a couple no reps where my chest didn't make it to the bar.  But I kept getting up without taking too long to rest.

When I finished, there was still time on the clock to start another round.  I ran back to my bar.  Thnakfully it had rotated so I could no longer see the clock.  All I had to do was keep doing as many thrusters as I could until I heard the timer beep.  I got ten before it went off!

 

 

 

Yeah, I know it's a no rep

We got to have dinner and drinks and hang out and chill with the Mercer Island CrossFit crew.  Stayed out way too late, but it was awesome to celebrate the end of the Open!

 

Saturday: Team WOD

 

Dragged myself out of bed cause I knew moving would be a good idea after Fran.  Plus I got to WOD with my Team Neon buddy Heidi!

 

I started physical therapy for my calf and am taking it easy on certain movements.  I subbed in rowing for running and step-ups for the box jumps.  We really pushed it on this one and had a ton of fun! 

 

 

Enjoyed a killer dinner of homemade fish tacos with Jared - protein!!!  (Okay, and wine.)

 

 

Sunday: Rest

 

 

Christmas Week 2012

Merry Christmas!  What a whirlwind of a week!

Friday was my first trip back to the box after over a week off.  Brutal WOD to come back to...the 12 Days of Christmas!

I RX'ed (except the handstand pushups, which I did to 2 #15 plates) but man I thought I was gonna die.  I spent probably half the WOD standing around and breathing hard and sweating.  I got so mad during the wall balls (I kept missing reps) that I kicked the ball.  That'll show it.

Jess B. was my hero!  She was my WOD buddy and kept encouraging me to keep pushing when it got tough.  Love working out with this chick.

 

Yeah, 37:21.  Yikes.  Honestly, I could have done a lot better.  My mental game sucked on this one.  I kept telling myself I couldn't do it and that it was too hard...not helpful.  Also Jared said I need to work on the catch and release for my wall balls - it should help me if I can improve consistency.

Saturday morning I hit up the Olympic lifting class with my fave, Coach Jared.  Every time I go to this class I feel like I learn a TON!  It's usually a very small class and we get extra time to go over technique for our lifts.  So much fun.  For the WOD, my mental game was way better!  Every time I had to rest, I gave myself a count of 8 and got right back into it.  I was so proud of myself!

Sunday we did parking team at church, and then had Jared's sister and her husband over for lunch...and then saw the Hobbit with them!  So fun - although we were up front and my eyes hurt and that night I dreamed I was going blind.

Monday (Christmas Eve) Jared had to work at 6, so we got up at 4:30 like a typical Monday.  I went and did my Wendler W1 lifts.  I decided to do another cycle of dumbbell rows and dumbbell overhead presses.  They're not as glamorous as deadlifts and backsquats, but I've seen a lot of payoff in how they affect my pullups, lifts, and handstand pushups, so I decided to keep at it.

I was only planning to lift on Monday, but Sunday evening Jess texted me to ask if I was gonna WOD on Christmas Eve...so I said I'd hit the 9:45 class with her.  The perk of lifting at 6 is you can go home, do chores, and wrap presents before coming back for CrossFit!
 

 

The WOD was "Frandy" - a mix of Fran and Cindy. 

There were a ton of people at the class, my forearms were bugging me a little, and I didn't want to have to lose my cute hat to WOD...so I scooted into the court across the hall and subbed out the thrusters for wall balls (to work on my catch and release) and the pullups for handstand pushups to plates.  Jess and I both said we'd shoot for 10 rounds in the 20 minute time cap.

It was harder than I expected to do the regular pushups - Jared explained that it was because I was doing 3 pushing movements in a row.  But I finally got the kip on my handstand pushups!  I was so excited!  Plus I tied with Jess for 9 rounds and 7 reps.

Poor Jared ripped up his hand on his WOD...bar muscle-ups on a textured bar = no bueno.

But we were both still glad to have started out the day at the gym.  Go Team Matson!

We showered at home and loaded up the sleigh to head to Jared's mom's for Christmas Eve!  Jared and Michelle made some incredible food, including butternut squash soup and cherry vanilla rum bread pudding.

 

 

 

We opened presents, played games, and later had a gift exchange with some of the rest of the family.  It was a really fun and relaxing day!

Christmas was spent at my folks.  McDevitt Christmas requires a breakfast of sticky buns and pineapple.

 

 

 

After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed over to open presents.  My mom and dad got each other snowshoes!

My mom and I took a walk in the afternoon, and we all caught some of the Heat/Thunder game.  More good food was followed by a hilarious family screening of Despicable Me, complete with Jared's Tom and Jerry drinks.

Wednesday was goal time for me.  I only have a few days left to finish my "end of 2012 goals", so I needed to get in the box and get after it!  I had "open gym" all to myself, and after warming up and doing 15 minutes of mobility, I went to work on my full range of motion handstand pushup! 

I started with some box pushups to get warmed up, and then went for gold.  It didn't go so well.

I shook out, grabbed a #15 plate and did one to the plate.  It went great, so I figured I could try again.

Success!  I was SO proud and excited!  Not only will kipping help me go faster, but now I can start RXing more workouts - so many times I was RXing everything except the handstand pushups.  Watch out, WODs!

After one success I was ready to beat another goal: a sub-10 minute "Diane" with the handstand pushups to one #15 plate.

It was ugly.  The last two times I've done Diane, I used #135.  For some reason, I thought #135 was the RX weight, but apparently the girls RX weight is actually #155.  I was expecting to blow through the deadlifts and slow down on the handstand pushups, but that was not the case.  I linked the first 10 deadlifts but went to fewer and fewer reps at a time.  My form also wasn't good (my back is so sore today) and then the handstand pushups were killer.  By 9:59, I had done 21 deadlifts, 21 handstand pushups, and 14 deadlifts.  I was only about two thirds done with the WOD.

The good news is that even though I didn't reach that particular goal, I can tell I've REALLY improved.  I'm keeping this goal on my list for the next quarter.  And my folks got me the CrossFit Nanos for Christmas, so this coming year I know I'm really gonna tear it up at the box!


You tell me: How was your Christmas/Hanukkah/Etc.?  Any year-end goals you're squeezing in?  Eat anything really killer?

Are You Havin' Any Fun?

This week I saw a great video of my favorite CrossFit athlete, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet. 

Source

In the video, she talks about having fun with the sport, even in the midst of competition or a really tough workout.

Yesterday morning I went in to the box and asked Coach Corey if I could do some strength and skill work, and he said to me, "Sure, do whatever you need to.  Have fun!"

Have fun.

When I first started CrossFit, I thought it was a blast.  I really looked forward to coming to every workout and seeing what the WOD was.

I've had a rough patch or two where I needed an attitude adjustment or motivation to get into the box.

Since I've started getting more serious about CrossFit, I've gotten SERIOUS.  "I have to nail this lift, I have to work my skills, I have to focus on form."  "Is this a WOD I can do quickly with RX?  Am I going to be competitive today with anyone else, or just me?"  "Will I be able to achieve my end of year goals???"

And I have forgotten a little bit that this is supposed to be fun.

Havin' fun with my girls for my birthday WOD!

I am stoked for rope climbs on the programming tonight.  I used to do these as a kid because they were FUN.  I got my first one recently and hope to get all four tonight with a big smile on my face!  My goal for the WOD tonight is to have a good time while doing it.  Period.


Speaking of fun...Jared and I have been following along with Tina's 24 Days of Togetherness! 

 

Tuesday night we drew "Go out for a cocktail." But since Jared makes great drinks, we decided to hit up the store for ingredients and make our own at home.

Jared was in heaven at BevMo - he wanted to buy one of everything!

 

 

 

This bottle was just under $2,000!!!

I cheated a little and told Jared one of the activities coming up was to try a holiday themed beer together, so we got it on Tuesday to save for the day we draw that slip!

We went with the Lump of Coal Stout - can't wait to try it.

We came home and Jared mixed up our gingerbread cocktails.

 

They were very sweet, but really good and Christmas-y!  Plus it was fun to make a date night out of the experience of shopping together. 

Wednesday night we were supposed to get a photo together.  For all the pictures I'm snapping, I almost never get the two of us, so it was nice to have an excuse.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Don't forget to check back in Saturday and Sunday for mobility suggestions.