12-05-xx:The Big Catch-Up Post!

Over a month's worth of WoDs from Elm City CrossFit

Ok, holy crap, its been over a month since I updated this thing. In rapid order, and with no record of times or accomplishments, are the WoDs I've been a part of since April 27th, my last post.


12-05-01: Running, Chelsea/Cindy, MORE Running!
WoD: For Time

• 800m Run
• *50 Pull-ups
• *100 Push-ups
• *150 Squats
• 800m Run

*done as 10 sets of 5-10-15

If you're CF savvy, you'll spot that this is a variation on either Chelsea or Cindy (both of which involve sets of 5-10-15 pull-ups, push-ups and squats. Only kicker? The bookmarking 800m runs. Needless to say, the pull-ups kicked my ass, the push-ups caught up with me, the squats were easy, and the first run was waaay easier than the second. Second one was actually harder because my arms were too shattered to help me with momentum... ugh. Slowest time of the day... whatever it was.


12-05-02: Kettlebells, Stiff-Legged Deadlifts, and sprints
WoD: 3 x 3 for time:

• 5ea SA KBS
• 10 SLDL @ ½ BW
• Crack Dash

1 minute rest between each round (so after every 3rd crack dash (means sprint to you and me...)

This started easy and got AWFUL really fast. Definitely a pain in the butt a day after a full body burner. Ugh.

12-05-04: Pull-Ups and Bear Crawls
WoD: For Time 75 Pull-ups *unbroken
*every break equal one bear crawl loop


Sheer awfulness. Used a nice heavy band, and still ultimately lost count of how many bear crawls I did. Enough that I could barely bear crawl OR do pull-ups by the end. The only band stiff enough to get me up and over the bar with ANY sort of form is the black band, which is so taut I can't actually hit full extension while standing in it: Not an option. I'm more likely to spike myself into the ceiling like a rivet with that thing!

12-05-08: Cleans and sprints
WoD: 7x 90sec to complete:

• 3 Cleans
• Crack Dash

Not a bad workout. I don't remember my clean weight, but it was heavy, but not undoable. The problem with waiting a month to actually write it up (yes, it IS in a notebook... at the gym!)

12-05-09: Rope Climbs and Double-Unders 
WoD: 15min AMRAP

• 1 Rope Climb
• 20 Double Unders

Thank god for the knotted rope. Made a bunch of ascents (maybe 8?) before having a panicky moment near the top when it felt like my grip was really giving out. Transferred over to doing 10 ring rows for the final two rounds, which was where it  became obvious that my grip WAS completely gone, as I could barely do a rep or two before sliding off the rings, just no grip left. Most of the jumping was single-unders, but I mixed in as many double-unders as I could. Might have gotten more rounds with just single-unders, but that would have reduced my rest time between climbs, so that just would have been me hitting the grip wall even faster. Likely amounts to about the same.

10 rounds, x extra ring rows


12-05-14: Front Squats, Overhead Squats and Snatches
WoD: 3x7
Front Squat @ 75%
Followed by: Heavy Singles of overhead squat or snatch

Completed every round of front squats unbroken, only had grip issues on the first set (finishing it with the silly California front squat grip I so hate and rely on sometimes). After banging those out, I opted to work on my overhead squats. After getting in several heavy singles on them, I also started to mix in the occasional snatch, but was having trouble getting fully under the bar in a full squat, so went back to the overhead squats to help myself get more comfortable in all ranges of the motion with the bar overhead.

12-05-16: Skill/Max day!
5 attempts each:

• Max Weight Dead-hang Pull-Up (no-kip)
• Max Height Box Jump
• Row 500m

This was a fun day (other than Coach Kimmie racking herself on a box jump and ending up with awful lumps on her shins. Fortunately they were merely superficial!)  Managed a deadhang pull-up with a 35# kettlebell attached. Made a few attempts to best that with the 44# 'bell and just couldn't manage it. Next time. Box jumps were another story. 24"? Easy. 30"? Easy. 36"? Easy. 40"? NOT easy... but I made it. Tried to make it to 44" but just couldn't get over the fear factor. Every attempt at that height was pathetic, with my feet not even making it over the seam of the bottom box (two boxes on their sides, one 45# plate on top), so its not like I was just missing. I was completely psyching myself out.

Rowed an ok first attempt on the 500m, and was more or less happy to leave it there. However, after the crappy attempts at the box jump, I decided to crank out another 500m, and shaved a good 10s off my time.


12-05-18: Jerks and skills
WoD: 20 Singles:
 - Jerk (front and/or back) @ 80%
Sellout: Skill work

Jerks out of a weight rack are so much more fun than off the floor... though, to mix things up, I did do a few reps as clean and jerks, just to mix it up. Jerking from behind the neck is so much infinitely easier (you don't need to move the head out of the way of the bar path, so its a simpler movement overall). Weight?

12-05-21: Wallballs, mountain climbers and crab walks
WoD: 2x 6min on: 3min off

• 3 Wallballs(20#, 10' target)
• 10 Mountain Climbers (1to1)
• 1 loop Crab Walk 

I don't remember how many rounds I completed... all I remember is that the wallballs were easy, the mountain climbers were fast, and the crab walks devastated me.


12-05-23: Bench presses and max-rep push-ups
WoD: Rounds of 5-4-3 reps, then 3s till failure (If you miss a 3, you're done!)

• Bench @ 85%
• max rep push-up

Round of 5 was easy, 4 was ok, first round of 3 totally sucked, but at that point, the push-ups really tapered off, and stopped being such a drain on the bench press. Managed 4 rounds of 3, failing on the final rep of that fourth round. I almost made it too... right up until the bar changed directions and had to be caught by the spotter (Thanks Vin!)


12-05-25: Interval kettlebell swings and box-jumps
WoD: 4x

• 1min Kettlebell Swings
• 1min Box Jumps (step down only)
• 1min Rest

My only goal was to try to maintain reps from one round to the next (count was total number of reps across both exercises each round), which I managed. I don't remember now which version of the swing I did... though it was probably the traditional/Russian swing out in front, rather than overhead. I believe about this time I read an article discussing the differences, and have started going overhead. This workout may makr the last time I did traditional swings. Ah well.


12-05-28: Memorial Day Team WoD!
WoD: For time (entire team)

• 400m weighted run 35#
• 50 squats
• 25 pull-ups
• 100m run
• 50 burpees
• 25 weighted sit-ups 35#
• 800m run 

Six 3-person teams squared off to tackle this beast of a workout, dreamed up on the spot by Coaches Vin, Bobby and Kimmie (mostly Vin and Bobby...bastards).  Every member had to to do every rep, and move from movement to movement together as a team. However, 1 person from each time could move ahead and complete the entire workout on their own, then swing back to help a struggling teammate with whatever they were chipping away at.  My team was Woody, Azaria, and myself: clearly Woody was going to be the sprinter on this one, and indeed he was. There were two things that made me excited about this one: it was my first team WoD, and it was also the first time Jen and Emma had come out to meet the crew and watch me compete. Nerves!!!

Long story short, we came in last, mostly because I got mud-stomped by the pull-ups, and Z got mud-stomped by the burpees. Woody came back around during the burpee phase, helping Z out with her final reps while I went on to sit-ups. As I struggled through them (its really hard to breath during sit-ups with a 35# plate on your chest... I felt bad for those who did it with the Rx'd 45#!), Bobby offered me the option of scaling the run to 400m, just 2x around the parking lot. I declined, and struggled through the full 800m, but was determined to complete the WoD as written (other than using a band on the pull-ups. I think I forgot to mention that... Meh.) Awesome day, and a great time was had by all!

12-05-30: Chipper Disasterpiece
WoD: For Time:

• 15 Pull-ups
• 30 Push-ups
• 45 Squats
• 2min Rest
• 9 Deadlifts @ 225#
• 9 Hand-stand Push-Ups
• 2min Rest
• 400m Run
• 15 Overhead squat 95# 
• 2min Rest
• 50 Double-Unders 150 single-unders
• 50 Sit-ups

Holy crap did this one suck. Especially two days after the Memorial Day chipper, to hit another epic full body disaster really kind of hurt! The only thing that kept it interesting was knowing that each couple/triplet was a round of one of the named workouts, so that was fun. The workout was HARD. One big upshot was doing all the weights as Rx'd easily, and even though I subbed out single for double-unders, I completed all 150 jumps unbroken. So, that was kind of awesome.

12-04-23: Running, rope climbs, and more running!

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Monday, April 23rd, 2012

In my head, I look like Herschel Walker when I run...

In reality, I get passed by this guy...

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet is just here to drive traffic to this site. Thanks Cami!

Rope climbs. NOT active rest between runs!

Seriously, find me the muscles that aren't working here. (CrossFit Games)

One reason I'm not super depressed at my hatred of long distances (for the record, a mile is NOT a long distance. I'm just an inefficient whiner, and don't think I don't know it!)

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WoD:

• 1 Mile run
• 10 Rope climbs (1 rope climb = 2 1/2 climbs = 5 pull-ups = 10 ring rows)
• 1 Mile run

Yup, running still sucks. Especially two doses of it, one after burning out on rope climbs (and subs), in the rain. Ugh. What a shitty Monday morning. I love it. ;)

First run was bad enough. I stopped to walk a little at the 800m turn-around point, but tried to stay strong the rest of the way back. Its definitely my breathing slowing me down. I just get to the point of feeling like I'm suffocating if I don't stop to walk for a few paces. Not sure yet if that's a "run more" kind of problem or a "learn to breathe better/more efficiently" kind of gig.

Came in from the run pretty chuffed out, but hit the knotted rope and made it to the top. I know I was pretty tight going up and coming down, concerned about what effect my wet sneakers were having on gripping the rope. I swapped in the subs here and there, doing two sets of ring rows and one set of pull-ups, but realized pretty quickly that those were even more work than the freaking rope! Only problem with that was that I couldn't really recover my breath all that well between climbs, and I did NOT want to hit the rope so fatigued I just ended up falling off Jesus' front porch (thanks Vin for the awesome visual!). Steady as she goes...

I headed out the door, several minutes behind the rest of the class, telling Vin I was just going to do the offered 800m substitute for the full mile. A few minutes later, I passed what should have been my turnaround point, not realizing my mistake. By the time I did, the rest of the athletes were in sight coming back towards me... and I didn't want to turn around just randomly. That would look like giving up! So, resigned to my fate, I decided to do the full mile. Granted, more of it was done walking this time, but I tried to finish the last 200m as strong as I could, picking up the pace and really trying to make a race (with myself) out of it.

Yup, running still sucks.

Total time: 36:56

12-03-14: Rope climbs and running

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

WOD: Open Athletes: 10 min AMRAP

• 1 Rope Climb
• 200m Run

Not too bad. I used the knotted rope, and was averaging one ascent and a run in about the 90-100 second mark. Originally, the workout was designed to be 8 minutes, but we were given the option to add in a bit more if we wanted it. I took the opportunity to rack up one more rope climb, ending with just about 15 seconds to spare. 

Total rounds, reps: 4 rounds, 1 extra rope climb

After that, I worked on the footwork needed to climb the regular, non-knotted rope. I was a little surprised at how uncomfortable that is on the feet and legs, though I guess its only to be expected. Everyone always makes it look so "easy."  More work will be needed before I graduate to the big boy rope, I guess.

12-02-01: Floor press, plank holds, and rope climbs

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Floor press. Surprising how much these can tend to suck...

They still suck.

Googling "plank exercise" will come up with lots of people doing them on their elbows. While still a good core exercise, it doesn't translate over to functional fitness nearly as well, as part of the point is to be able to translate that core strength out to the extremities. Just sayin'.

Tell me there's a single muscle she's not using. Seriously.

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• WoD: 10-8-6-4-2
  
  • Floor Press @ 70% of Max (145#)
  • 60sec Plank Hold
• Sellout:
  
  • 2 x 3 Rope Climbs

Heeeeeey, more upper body destruction! Awesometastic! (As a middle-aged former soccer player, I actually kinda like knocking the ever living crap out of my weak upper-body!) 70% of a one rep max should be good for 12 reps, so 10 is easy enough. And it was... it was the first 60 second plank that truly kicked the ever-living crap out of me. Then, to immediately turn around and start banging out more reps of the floor press... argh. Argh argh argh....

Total time: 7:47

For the sell-out, it was time to hit the ropes a few times. Twice, we had to make 3 ascents in a row, or at least try. I am now more or less proficient at making it all the way up to the ceiling, pretty awesome. The first set, I ended up crapping out halfway up the rope on my third ascent, so call it 2.5 ascents. For the second set, I couldn't even get the third attempt going. Call that one two and the thought did NOT count!

11-12-22: Rope climbs, pull-ups, bear crawls

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Thursday, December 22, 2011

Rope-climbs: Of course, these bad-asses aren't using knotted ropes, which makes it even MORE impressive. Next time there's a skill day, I need to work on the footwork needed to climb this style of rope. (Costa Mesa CrossFit)

I don't smile at the top of pull-ups. There's not enough time. (crossfit.com)

Bear crawls. Holy incredible suckage!! These are just awfultastic. (Flatirons CrossFit)

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Buy-in: 15 min
 - Rope Climb
WoD: 10 min AMRAP
 - 3 Pull-ups
 - Bear Crawl

Ah, rope climbs. For the first time, I was the "experienced" climber on the knotted rope, trying to help coach a few other athletes through the process of 'jumping' up the rope from knot to knot. For myself, I managed 6-7 total climbs, all the way up to the new bells up at the rafters. So that felt pretty good. After that, the suckage set in.

If you're me, you haven't done bear crawls in... ever? So, while I was able to do unassisted pull-ups (I can handle small rep schemes without requiring a band-assist) for the rounds I completed, I was getting utterly *destrominated* by the bear crawls. Like being on hands and knees, except on your feet, which loads the weight a WHOLE lot more onto the upper body. Big time fun when that upper body has just climbed a rope repeatedly and then did a few pull-ups.


Final tally: 7 rounds and 2 pull-ups.

11-18-11: Rope Climbs and Overhead Squats

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday November 18th, 2011

Rope climb. Basically, I dare you to find a single muscle not in use. One of the reasons rope climbs work so well. (crossfit.com)

Overhead squats. Yet another entire body blaster destruction tool of devastation. I hope that didn't sound too negative... (crossfit.com)

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Buy-in:

• 5 x Rope Climb*

*Protect your legs
Strength: 7-6-5-4-3-3

• Overhead Squat 2x85%, 2x87%, 2x1x90%

I MADE IT TO THE TOP OF THE ROPE! Yeah, you read that right, I got my butt all the way up the rope... repeatedly!  In total honesty, I did it on the first attempt, just to prove I could. The next two... I chickened out. Seriously, I just felt like I would fall if I went all the way up again. For the final two attempts, I decided such chickensh*t behavior was unacceptable, and went all the way up. For the final rep, I didn't just reach the metal buckle on the rope, I actually hit the rafter the rope is attached to, and made it down pretty easily, too. I think for the next time there's a skill day, I need to start working on the un-knotted rope, with all the necessary leg and foot skills that will entail. However, if the next time ropes come up in a WoD requiring speed, the knotted rope, and me at the top of it, will be the standard. Bring it.

Overhead squats were the usual struggle. After a warm-up set at 45#, I promptly threw two 25# plates on the bar, knowing from the last time I did heavier OHS, I actually did better with some weight on the bar. At 95#, the weight felt nearly comfortable... for holding a weight overhead and squatting to depth. Not the most comfortable thing at the best of times. On my first work-set (105#), I was asked to demo correctly dumping the bar... so I had most of the class watching me. Of course, the first 6 reps were ok, I struggled with the 7th, then dumped the bar from overhead with straight-arms in front, stepping back from its descent, and lightly controlling it to the floor. The rest of the workout was pretty standard, with me struggling to keep my weight from shifting forward, "into" my quads as it were. Not good, and on my final rep at 115#, my pre-occupation with trying to keep it from happening resulted in me missing that rep (and safely dumping the bar forward.)

But who gives a crap?! I made it to the top of the Flying Spaghetti Monster-damned rope! w00t!!!

What I had stuck in my head ever since. ;)

11-11-09: Birthday Bash!

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Chuck Norris doesn't blow out birthday candles. They surrender their flames willingly.

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WoD: 10min AMRAP

• 20 Wallballs 20/16
• 1 Rope Climb

Sell-out: 5 Rounds For Time

• 5 Deadhang Pull-Ups (DHPU) (Blue Band)
• 10 Barbell Curls 65#
• 15 Stiff-Legged Dead Lifts (SLDL)

Did more on my 35th birthday than I've done on the 34 before all combined... but probably not as much as my mother did on my actual day of birth!  Not a bad workout, and I even made it *almost* all the way to the top of the rope. Definitely up an extra knot or two. To the top next time, I swear!

WoD: 4 rounds.

The "sell-out" ended up actually being the harder part of the workout. I used 65# on the bar for both movements, though it was an option to add and remove weight between them. Meh. I figured that for 75 SLDLs, a lighter weight would be just fine. To judge by the fact that I was sore for about 4 days after, I think I made the right choice. Turns out, the main issue was with my grip. After hammering it with the wall-balls (especially the catches) and rope climbs, adding in pull-ups and curls, I started getting shooting pains in my forearms. Not very fun! So, every time I broke in the later sets, it was to keep from dropping the bar completely out of control.

Total time: 13:41

11-10-14: Rope climbs and wall-balls

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, October 14th, 2011

Annie Sakamoto and Amanda Allen rocking the rope climb at the 2011 CrossFit Games. (crossfit.com)

Wall-balls. Use a full body extension to power a med-ball up to the target. If we didn't have to squat to full depth, these would be easy for us tall guys (thanks for pointing that out, Drywall. I used to like these... As it is... stupid standards.) (crossfit.com)

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WoD: 20min or 300 points

• 1 Rope climb
• Wall-balls till broken 20#/10ft

Score is total rope climbs + wall-balls = 154


This would be my first time climbing ropes since elementary school. It turns out, I'm still afraid of heights! (Well, I already knew that, and really, its not the height so much as the terror of falling....).  Instead of a full rope climb (15-20'), I completed 2 2/3rd attempts on the knotted rope (where the rope is tied into knots every 4-5'... much easier to climb!).  Definitely at the hairy end of my comfort zone, height wise, but I'm hoping that as I get used to the work and bored with only going up part way, I'll eventually push on to the next knot, then the next, then the ceiling. Baby steps out the door, baby steps down the stairs...


Thought this workout was never going to end. Kept track of score just in the off hope that I would finish early. Hah. 20 minutes later, I had amassed 154 points, and learned a new way to rest with the wall-ball in the bottom of the squat, where I didn't have to actually hold the ball off the floor, but had it cradled in my legs and arms. Much easier than standing there holding it against your diaphragm wondering why its so hard to breathe...