Crossfit Open 11.5

Only one more Crossfit Open workout after this. I have mixed feelings about my performance so far. On the one hand, I haven't really done many Crossfit-type workouts in the past few months. I don't have access to an Olympic-sized bar, rings, or many of the other pieces of equipment that made up the majority of these workouts. On the other hand, I've tried to keep strength training a regular part of the programming for this 50K. This might be an overstatement, as I've really only done these weekly metcons, and maybe a strength workout from strengthvillain.com. I tried to cut back on these workouts, since they've left me feeling so sore and my running workouts have really suffered as a result. Still, some strength is better than no strength and it might be the reason for my better-than-expected 800m times recently.

Crossfit Open 11.5 workout:

AMRAP 20 minutes

5 Power Cleans (145)
10 T2B
15 Wall Ball (20, 10ft)

I finished 8 full rounds and managed to squeeze in a power clean before the clock ran out. I went in the first wave, and honestly think I might have done better if I was going against one of the other guys. Hard to say for sure. Power cleans became tough in the end, and all wall balls were unbroken. What really got me was the T2B. I had no idea how to get a steady rhythm going, and every time I tried to kip, it threw off my body position and I had to start over. Very frustrating. Many other people had the same problem.

Crossfit Open-Week 3

This was the third week of the Crossfit Open workout. The workout for the week is something I'm indifferent about:

AMRAP 5 minutes:
Clean and Jerk (165)

I feel comfortable doing clean and jerks. What I mean by that is that no part of the movement hurts any joints/muscles in an unnatural way. Simply accelerate the bar off the ground, catch it, stand, and jerk overhead. I thought I had fully recovered from the squat workout on Monday, but I guess my legs were still slightly fatigued. Consequently, I had the most trouble with the front squat portion of the exercise and several people commented on my lack of leg strength being my limiting factor. But they also mentioned that it's better to have to improve on leg strength, since they noted by presses/jerks were no problem. I had set a goal of 40 reps (clean + jerk=2 reps), but fell just short, only getting 17 total reps and I had to work for that. Maybe I could have beaten that if I came back on Saturday morning for another shot, but I wanted to rest up for the Toughmudder on Sunday. Not bad overall. I think it puts me in 4th place on the team.

Crossfit Open

Week 2 of the Crossfit Open. I wish I could get more into this. I've been watching some interviews on the website and everyone seems to be attempting the weekly workouts multiple times in order to get the best score. I just don't have time for that. I think my ranking dropped a little after this workout, but I'll have to wait a few days to know for sure. I had been reading the rankings completely wrong. I originally thought that I was in first place on the Central Bucks team, but came to find out that a few guys beat me on one or both of the workouts. I don't know if I'll do too well on pure strength work, but I'm hoping pullups, running, and/or rowing will help bump up my scores.

15 Minute AMRAP

9 Deadlifts (155)
12 Pushups
15 Box Jumps

8 Rounds + 20 reps

Workout comments: I was pretty consistent on the deadlifts. I had to break only once or twice. Pushups killed me. But I was really surprised that I did so well on the box jumps. Granted, they weren't as quick as lightning, but I was still knocking out at least 10 at a stretch, with only a few seconds rest before continuing. Half of the rounds were unbroken as well. There were a couple of close calls when my foot didn't quite make it onto the box, but I recovered well without completely tearing my shin apart.

Crossfit Open

With the explosion in popularity of Crossfit and the huge influx of athletes wanting to participate in the Crossfit Games, the event organizers have created a format that I think is really interesting. In previous years, they've had to add regional qualifiers, and then sectional qualifiers in order to move on to the championships in Aromas. This year, they are adding yet another layer of selectivity for the games. 6 workouts over a 6-week period will be released and athletes will have the option of sending in home videos of themselves completing the workout, or completing it at a participating affiliate. I haven't been keeping up with metcons recently, but have kept up at least partially with strength training and running. The entry fee is 10 bucks and I could easily perform the workouts at Central Bucks Crossfit. I figured I would see what happens. The workout for Week 1 was as follows:

AMRAP 10 minutes:
30 Double Unders
15 Power Snatches (75)

I checked out the leaderboards and saw that 8 complete rounds would get me into the top 10. As always, these workouts look much easier on paper than they actually are. I completed 5 rounds, 30 DUs, and 9 snatches before the end and it was safe to say that I was hauling ass the whole time. The power snatches definitely killed me, but I was surprised at how few double unders I could finish in one stretch. I don't think my counter was doing a good job, missing 1-3 reps each set. This was aggravating, but I still couldn't string together more than 10 at a time in the later rounds. Frustrating. I left feeling drained in a way that I haven't felt in a while. Now I remember what it felt like to be doing those on a regular basis. I wish there was still an option to do this workout at Spring House, but hopefully they'll bring something similar to Malvern in the future.