Saturday 03/22/2008
9:30 am
‘Helen’ Prelims
3 rounds for time:
400 m run
21 Kettlebell Swings (24 kg)
12 pull ups

12:22 min

No warm up!  Wasn’t sure if there was time before or after the heats so, to my detriment, I waited.  Nevertheless, finished the first round without stopping, then broke up 2nd round in half for Kbells and pull ups.  Then third round broke up kbells into a lot of sets and one break for pull ups. 
Pullups were fine, and kettlebells were strong, but still needs technique work.  I’ve found for pullups that I can now control the turnover speed with AFT’s kip.  If I want to breathe and relax a little more, I stay at the top longer, or exagerrate my opening from the bottom.  Conversely, if I want it faster or want to catch up, I’ll output more from the bottom and pull it in at the top.  It’s cool. 
Running was definitely my vice, and cost me much in time.  I know because Mike and I started running at the same time for round 2 and I ate his dust not 50 yards out (great job Mike.)  By round 3 it looked and felt like dead man’s shuffle. 
For finals, I really would like to break 10 minutes.  With the Zone now in place, I may even go for sub 9….

Wagner, coming in last is just part of it (I came in last for mutated ‘Michael’ by 4 minutes) but I implore you to accept that if you’re consistent here, you’ll do great.  Jonesy once told me improvement is Everything in Crossfit and he’s right.  Over time, you’ll notice you’re better at some things than others and vice versa.  The high intensity, competitive atmosphere ensures those of right character will output more than if they were solo, and that’s you!  If you notice, lots of my posts are based on fear (of myself, of bad performance, of living up to the group), and using it/overcoming it to get over the gut checks.  Becca and Andy call this moment ‘the Cliff.’  Just showing up for WODs demonstrate a tremendous act of courage because it means you know you’re going to confront your cliff again and again. 
See you around and it was great to meet you in person.

Thursday 03/20/08
7:30 pm class
Warm up
3 rounds of
10 burpees
2 dip bar walks
10 squats

WOD:  mutated ‘Michael’
800 meter run
50 arch rock
50 GHD sit up
800 meter run
50 GHD back extension
50 sit up
800 meter run
50 GHD back extension
50 sit up

27:25 min

And in the midst of this WOD arose another weakness . . . GHD situps!  For the love all things holy, those sucked.  By the end of rep 20 I was only doing 2 or so at a time.  I think Becca could tell because she only had me doing regular situps after that.  This WOD played to absolutely none of my strengths, unlike last weeks ‘Nate’, which played to all of them.  I will be the first however, to admit that I need to be doing more WODs like these.  Zoning past 90 % for 6 days prior was a great help as well.  At no point did I feel like I was going to puke or die (well, the death part maybe, but you know what I mean.)  It ‘flowed’ and I knew the whole time I was giving it everything I had.  Burch I had fun pacing you for the first round .... until the GHD situps that is.

Tuesday 03/18/2008 1700
Warm up
Crossfit default x 1
Burgener x 1
DL 135 lb x 10
PClean 135 x 6,6
Stretch

WOD:
7 rounds, not for time
Power Clean 3 reps (185 lb) 
Bench Press 3 reps (155 lb first 2 rounds, 175 last 5 rounds)
then
Back Squat 3 sets x 3 reps (135 lb, 185 lb, 225 lb)

Splits by round:
Power Clean: 2/1, 1/2, 2/1, 1/2, 2/1, 2/1, 3
Bench Press: 3, 3, 3, 3, 2/1, 3, 3

Originally planned to do Back Squat/Bench Press but the other Power Rack was taken.  Bench felt good throughout even with increased weight.  I’ve always had fast and efficient adaptation to the Bench Press. 
The Power Cleans though were KILLER HEAVY.  The minute I decided on the power/skill movement of PCleans instead of brute force deadlift/back squat is the minute I wanted to see just how much technique would deteriorate with fatigue.  I wasn’t going for time, so I wanted a weight heavy enough to be challenging for all three reps despite lots of rest.  I wanted to maintain a perfect, or closest to perfection possible, set position for every rep:  head and butt as far away from each other as possible, lumbar curve straight and tight, hips higher than knees, load up the hamstrings, scapulae in front of bar, and chest out/shoulders back ‘breaking the fingers’ torso from Dan John’s teachings, at the start of every rep.  Slowly lift till past knees, scoop, then BOOM! triple extension, jump, and land.
I also know that when it gets heavy with Oly lifts, mental focus and aggression would be key and I felt it on round 5 and 6 especially.  Of course I didn’t keep perfect form for all the Cleans, and even lost a few in the middle rounds, but just prioritizing technique with focus and aggression helped.  Got really frustrated that I couldn’t get 3 reps straight the first 6 rounds, but built up the nerve enough for round 7 and got it.  Have to wonder about that, if it was possible all along?  Or were the previous rounds just warm up?  In any case, got the back squats in at the end, but want more and heavier next time.
On the way home, I thought to myself if I had a client and saw his/her technique start deteriorating the way mine was, or if I had a trainer to tell me something about it, I would say or want something like “I want perfect technique, and I want you to be an asshole about it.  Be an asshole about your perfect technique.”  Because when you’re looking at that loaded bar on the deck, taunting you, teasing you, daring you, you get mad and angry and full of hate.  You want to crush that bar and generate enough ferocity and power to send it flying through the ceiling if you let it go.  To harness that anger with focus on technique, I think helped me get the 3/3 split at round 7.  I was angry and scared, but somehow resolutely focused, and knew it would happen.

03/16/2008 Sunday 10:30 am class
21 - 15 - 9 Team up (cannot move on unless all in team are finished)
Pull ups
Box jump (32”)
Burpee
Push Press (35 lb db)
Sit ups
18:27 min
Dawn named us the ‘fire breathers’ but all I wanted to do was live up to the name.  Mike, Vala (I think that’s how it’s spelled), Damien, and me, with Vala and me jumping the 32”.  The box jump to burpee to push press transition was killer, but got all 21 pull ups with the AFT kip and felt great.  It was an honor actually, to workout with that team.  I asked Dawn afterwards what I had to do to get to Level 2 and she told me I was ready…

03/17/2008 Monday 5:30 pm class
First Level 2/3 class.  I was so stoked and nervous and excited and intimidated as all hell.  Ever have I wondered what it would take to get here, and here I was, about to dive in with the likes of Jonesy and Burch and Chris. 
Warm up
1200 m run
3 rounds of
15 OH squats (PVC)
10 pull ups
10 no momentum Abmat situps
10 arch rocks
Just like yesterday, all I wanted was to keep up with these cats, to prove I was worthy of being here and I was scared as shit.  But I also knew if there was any workout that I could keep up with them in, it was tonights:

“Nate”
AMRAP in 20 min:
2 Muscle ups
4 Handstand Push ups
8 Kettlebell swings (32 kg)

8 rounds + 8 swings, 2 muscle ups

Had to start with the Kbell swings cuz Jonesy and I were sharing the 32 kg and rings.  Kipped the last 2 handstand push ups of round 8, all muscle ups were full extension on bottom, locked out at top, no kips.  The Kettlebell swings, however, were U-G-L-Y.  Enough power was generated to get it overhead but man did I not know what the fuck I was doing:  rounded shoulders and foward lean and everything.  It didn’t get better until, I think, round 6 where Jonesy coached me to keep the chest up at the bottom.  Had a good, long talk with the Burch afterwards (thanks Burch), then went home and watched all 6 videos of Jeff Martones Kettlebell swing cert.

I guess March 14th was the day to go to PF.  It seemed no one escaped the agony of that WOD.  I salute you all.  As for me, every Friday my buddy from ValleyCrossfit and I do a different ‘girl’ but today was the one I had been dreading for weeks:

Nancy
5 rounds for time of:
400 m run
15 reps Overhead Squat 95 lb.

I had wanted a sub 25 minutes.

Run/OH squat splits (in minutes): 
1:40/4:30
6:28/9:14
11:25/13:48
16:15/18:54
21:07/23:39

We all have that thing we don’t want to see come out of the hopper.  Mine is running (and for some odd reason, knees to elbows.)  But 3 days in the Zone, as close as I can come with Journal #15, and without a food scale, made all the difference.  Recovery time, mental engagement, and intensity output, even with running in Nancy whilst cursing every step and every second, was all available and firing away.  It sucked to be sure, and I wanted to die, and collapsed at the end, but I bedrock know that were it not for the Zone, I may have been 1 to 2 minutes slower.

Wednesday March 12, 2008
1120

Warm up:
jump rope
Crossfit default x 1
Stretch
DL 135 x 10
PClean 135 x 6
BPress 135 x 5

WOD: 5 rounds of
Power Clean, 5 reps (bodyweight) 
Bench Press, 5 reps (bodyweight)

Splits: 5,5 - 4/1,4/1 - 5, 3/2 - 3/1/1, 3/2 - 5, 5

Got this workout from the archives.  Didn’t specify time or weight stipulations so I decided to treat it like a sprint workout halfway through (i.e. blow through both PClean and Bench without stopping then rest lots.)  The fourth set was obviously gut check, and I couldn’t get riled up enough to complete it.  But not so for the fifth set, muhaha!

I question the sanity sometimes of doing OH squat/Power gymnastics Monday night only to arise butt early Tuesday morning and go to Crossfit. 
7:00 am
Warm up
1200 m run
3 rounds of
5 dead hang pull ups (L sit overhand first round, L sit underhand second round, strict third round)
10 Samson Lunges
10 Wall squats

WOD:
AMRAP in 20 minutes
21 double unders
15 box jump (26”)
9 burpees
2 rope climb

4 rounds

Barely!  When Dawn wrote Samson lunges, pullups, wall squats for warm up, I thought it would hurt like hell cuz I worked those movements the night before.  On the contrary, I felt warm, flexible, and stronger, as if the night before actually contributed to output.  Double unders need obvious work because I was only doing them 2 to 4 at a time if that.  But during the 4th round, when I was beyond caring and had nothing to prove, my sets were 8,10,2,1.  Relaxation?... Release of ego?... Got lucky with the rope climbs though.
Thanks to Eric, Leo, Elissa, Sarah, Dawn for cheering me on.  When Dawn called 3 minutes left and I was gassing on the damn box jumps of the 4th round, I thought, ‘no f#cking way.’ But it just kept coming, I wasn’t ready to call it, and I could keep going.  The pounding music faded out.  I could hear nothing.  See nothing.  Just the box to finish the jumps.  Just the black, rubber padded deck for burpees and the crew screaming at me.  Somehow I didn’t even have to split up the burpees like I was for the previous rounds.  Then Dawn called 10 seconds left and all I had to do was the 2 damn rope climbs.  I did them no legs from standing the first round and she challenged me to L sits.  So I did them for the second round.  For the third round she challenged me to do it L sit from sitting, so I did for the second climb of that round.  But I WANTED to make the 4th round.  You can understand that can’t you?  I WANTED 4 ROUNDS, and I knew there was a chance I wouldn’t make it if I L-sat the 2 rope climbs.  I surrendered a silent apology to you as I climbed arms only but without the L sit, once, then twice, and collapsed.  But you told us before we dove in, that although it will be more of a skill practice thing because of the double under and ropes, we would still get a good ass beating and we did.  I did.  For next time, because Andy gets on me about this too, I will stick with Lsits from the bottom as ‘my’ rope climb…

Monday night
Weight room and gymnasium are right next to each other.  This was a focus night with LOTS of rest between everything.

5’8”/27/155
Warm up: Crossfit default x 1, Burgener x 1, lots of stretching
DL 135 x 5
PClean 135 x 5
WOD:  Overhead Squat 3-3-3-3-3-3-3

65 x 3 (snatched to overhead)
75 x 3 (snatched to overhead)
95 x 3 (snatched to overhead)
105 x 3 (snatched to overhead)
115 x 3 (from rack)
125 x 3 (from rack)
135 x 3 (from rack)
Rope Climb 20’  3 sets from standing, 3 sets from sitting, all no legs
Standing -
6:00 sec (9 strides)
5:17 sec (8 strides)
5:49 sec (8 1/4 strides)
Sitting -
7:12 sec (12 strides)
7:00 sec (11 strides)
6:50 sec (11 strides)
Rings -
3 rounds of:  Muscle up to L sit to handstand, then 3 handstand push ups while still on rings.
3 rounds of:  Kip up to Iron Cross down/up holds (of course I couldn’t go all the way down but getting close.)
Paralletes: 3 rounds of L sit to handstand hold (needed spot)
Handstand pushups on deck, nose to ground 6, 4.

Felt f*cking great today.  Sure, lats are burning from Angie but nowhere near the debilitation from prelims.  First day where breakfast and lunch were as close to my Zone prescription as possible without scale or cup measurements. 
The difference in GPP that Crossfit/PF has made for me is both profound and liberating.  Had a conversation last week with the cousin’s BF before Angie finals and he asked if we held mock Angie WODs during the 8 weeks to measure progress.  I told him that simply in training the way we train, and doing what we do (varied functional movements performed at high intensities), we ARE in fact training for Angie, and, I argued, would produce results superior to our times had we only trained in those prescribed movements.  It never really occured to me that this is the greatest way to train for the fitness goals of any program, and that we were all living and loving it, until I told him.  The results of finals validated this.  Hahahaha!  I love my life.

Angie
100 pullups 8:59 min
100 pushups 16:19 min
100 situps 21:30 min
100 squats 25:28,
baseline 33:32
8:04 minutes improvement

Had a buddy from Valley Crossfit there to take the splits.  Burch, remember when you asked me at the end about improvements and I said situps?  That wasn’t right, not entirely.  Stupor, lack of retrospection, want of introspection, exhaustion, and robbed IQ from Angie gave me that answer only. 
The truth is my recovery time across the board was improved.  I was taking rests neither as often nor as long, and was outputting more reps per attempt between rests, but screw me if I could tell that that’s what was really happening.  I Have AFT’s kip but only for the first 20 or 30, then it dies.  Not sure whether to just pursue it until more reps come, or to incorporate another style for use after exhaustion.  Metcon and kipping, I discerned from prelims, were my only vices here, and the new time showed obvious metcon improvement.

Woke up at 6am sore as shit from Linda yesterday, and Crossfit the day before that, and wrestled with it for 20 minutes. I lay in bed, moving and stretching my shoulders and legs, and feeling the residual burn and lacticity.  ‘We should do this,’ I say, ‘We should make schedule and do it.’  Hating, burning, laughing, my body argues the point with me.  We go back and forth forever.  At 6:20 I take control, burst out of bed, and speed over to Santa Monica to make 7 o’clock, praying and begging the whole time, ‘Please, let this be right.  Please, let this not be a mistake.  Angie is this Saturday, if I get injured today…. Please, let me do this.’
    I make it on time, barely, and start the usual 2 laps.  After the 1st lap, my legs are toast, I slow down, and people pass me.  My body laughs at me, taunts me, ‘You fairy, you’re gonna die today.’  I make it to warm up:

3 rounds:
10 push ups
10 ball cleans (20 lb)
15 sit ups

Ball Cleans, F*ck.  I almost pass out at the thought of more f*cking cleans.  The Brood Mare, Linda, left my back, traps, chest, and legs just this side of crippled.  It only takes 4 reps of ball cleans to figure out my legs are all but gone.  20 lbs never felt so heavy.  They shake uncontrollably during stretching.  Resigned, I wait like a dog for the WOD.  I don’t care.  Give it to me.  I can take it.  I can take it. . . .

8 rounds for time:
5 1 arm kettlebell swings
5 1 arm kettlebell cleans
5 1 arm kettlebell press
10 pull ups
10 dips

Thank god!  I’ve always been curious about kbells, curious if I could do ring dips in a WOD, and I did no pullups yesterday.  Pullups are all I have here, in this place where one and all are highly motivated, metabolically accelerated, immeasurably courageous.  I see no servicemen, just regular people trying to get some and do good with themselves, who see the value in Crossfit and want it.  I like them.  I respect them.  I am honored to be here and work out with them.
    In this moment, when we are good and warm and ready, I decide to go for it.  In picking up the ball one handed and the mat in the other, there’s a twinge in my back that reminds me of where my body is, reminds me of what Linda did to me, and I acutely panic.  But it’s too late.  It’s too late.  Becca calls it and we dive into oblivion.

The kbells are fun, but in the first round of ring dips, Becca tells me I need to go lower, and how I only went like a third of the way down the first set.  I ask her for a critique and go crazy low.  She says it’s good, I felt it, and move on.  My body laughs and calls me a moron, but I ignore it.  That would be the last time I listened to it.
    The fourth set was gut check set, when I don’t want to be here anymore, I don’t want to do this anymore, I’m sorry for anything and everything I’ve ever done to be here right now in this moment.  Let this end.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry for doing Linda yesterday, I’m sorry for deciding to come today.  I’m sorry for lost puppies, and sunsets, and hunger, and babies, and you next to me, and suffering and misery.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  I’m losing my mind.  I’m losing my mind.
    It came out of nowhere at set 5.  Strength, joy, calm.  A second wind.  For no reason that makes any sense, I’m not in despair, and I’m not tired.  I’M NOT TIRED.  Metabolically, sure.  But not in the head or the heart where it all takes place.  The crushing weight of selft pity, doubt, and grief . . . it’s like it was never there.  The voice is as clear and crisp and sharp as the cool morning breeze, as ancient as Time:  ‘Finish it.’  This was the real voice, the one who took control in the morning, who did not pass go.  I can do this.  I pace with Dawn.  She’s just a blur in my eyes, she’s moving so fast, but I pace with her and finish it:  23:07 minutes.
    The floor rushes to greet me as I collapse, helpless.  I feel for my spine to make sure it’s still there, make sure my vertebrae haven’t popped and cracked and strayed too far away from each other.  I know for damn sure where my heart and lungs are.  After gassing and writhing on the deck for what feels like days, mind, body, and soul rise up as one and head towards the sun (or was it the door?)  Everyone congratulates each other and goes about their lives.  There’s nothing on me that doesn’t hurt.  With arms and legs that can barely move, joints creaking and burning with the promise of pain to come, I leave with them.