11-08-10: Running, Toes-to-Bars and Kettlebell Swings

Elm City CrossFit WoD for August 10th, 2011

Rule 1: Cardio. In a zombie apocalypse, I'm the first one dead. Well, maybe second or third. I do NOT live into the sequel, I tell you that much. (crossfit.com)

Knees to elbows. Showing the difference between "ok" form (top, knees coming to triceps instead of elbows, torso less horizontal) vs. "awesome" form (bottom, all issues resolved.) (crossfit.com)

Kettlebell swings. Though she's a bit *too* cut (eat a burger, dammit!), it does highlight all the core muscles needed to get the kettlebell overhead. Its NOT a shoulder raise, its a full body movement to put the momentum into the kettlebell to get it overhead, starting from the hip pop to get it moving in the first place. (Forever CrossFit)

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WoD: 3 Rounds for Time

• 10 Dumpster 2 Dumpster runs
• 20 T2B Knees to Elbows
• 10 Kettlebell Swings 55#

Sellout: 2x20
GHD hip & back extensions

Yup, totally thought I was going to die on this one.  While the running focused pretty heavily on my massive cardio weakness, the following movements didn't give me a chance to catch my breath at all. My guess is that the total distance per round was about 500m, but I'm not really sure. If it was in that range, I think I would have preferred to hit the road and just do it all in one longer run than broken into shorter distances. Not that I ever broke into a sprint, but it felt like I *should* have.

Though I was worried about doubling up on knees-to-elbows AND kettlebell swings, I just tried to keep my grip stable on both, and only had a few times where I felt the kettlebell moving in my hands. I also tried to keep my hands dry with chalk, without overdoing it and actually increasing the risk of tears. Longtime CrossFit contributor (as well as several other websites) Becca Borawski has a great article on hand care.

All in all, it was the running that killed me. I really tried to crank through the K2Es, and the kettlebells weren't *that* bad, but I was the last one back out the door going into the third round. I don't think I had a single complete run, either stopping early to walk, or walking after the turnaround to try to catch my breath. By the time I got back in to the bars to do the last round of K2Es, some people were already finishing up the kettlebell swings. I got through the last K2Es ok, but imploded on the final kettlebell swings. While I wanted to go unbroken for at least 15 reps, I crapped out at 11. 7 more got me to 18, but I had a pretty bad grip slip on that final one, so I ended up dropping and resetting. It took a few moments for me to finally stop greying out enough to grab the kettlebell and bang out the final 12 reps.

Total Time: 27:50

The back-hip extensions were just brutal, since I was already at the "lie down and let me die" stage. But I got it done in sets of 10. I'm waiting to feel those later today and tomorrow.