T minus 13 days

I can't believe the Games are less than 2 weeks away. I've been so busy lately, I've been neglecting my blog. That, and now I'm working out alone most of the time, so I don't have any good photos to post.

Thursday, 090625

WOD: Modified "Nate"

AMRAP in 20 minutes of:

2 Muscle Ups
2 HSPU (to the floor!)
8 KB swings, 1.5 pood

I got 9 rounds, almost on the dot. I would have probably gone for another muscle up, but I tore my wrist open on round 9. Ouch, that hurts.

Friday: Rest

Saturday:

Warm-Up: Not much, I was feeling rushed. My brother was back in town and we were going to workout together. I have started doing a much longer warm up than I used to do, and Justin just kind of waits for 321go, and then he's good to go.

WOD:

30 Pullups
50 Double Unders
21 Thrusters, 75#
50 Double Unders
21 Hang Power Cleans, 75#
50 Double Unders
21 Overhead Squats, 75#
50 Double Unders
30 Pullups

12:48

My legs were pretty toast after this. They were like jello! I didn't realize how hard it was until much later, going up and down the stairs, my legs were shaky. Great WOD. Try it, let me know how it goes!

Today 090628

Warm Up:

• Row 1000m in about 4:50
• Dynamic mobility work

Skill work:

• Clean Pulls 5-5-5-5-5
• 115-125-135-145-155
• Clean, 125#, 4 singles. 2 squat cleans, 2 power cleans
• Snatch Pulls 5-5-5-5-5
• 85-85-95-105-115
• Snach, 95#, 4 singles. 2 power snatches, 1 split snatch, 1 squat snatch

WOD: Death by Rowing

• Row 1 calorie the first minute, 2 calories the 2nd minute, etc, continuing until you cannot row the required number of calories in the minute.
• I got 14 rounds, and 13 calories in the 15th round.
  
• That was hard.

Afterwards, Sammy and Mikey helped me stretch:

Everyone needs a Coach

It's true.

I decided that I needed to hire a coach in order to prepare for the Games. On the one hand, I don't have any expectations for myself at the games, as far as doing well. I'd love to finish in the top half, but I also am just so stoked to be going, even if I get DFL, it won't matter. I'm just happy to be among the top 75 CF athletes in the first place.

So, Chris, my coach, has cooked up some nasty workouts for me. He's great - very thorough. Obviously willing to attack my weaknesses. I love it. I haven't posted for a couple of days, so here goes. One of the things I need to work on is documenting my warmups and cool downs, as well as any Buy In that I might do.

Sunday:

Warm Up

• 1k Row in 4:40, nice n easy
• Mobility work - I did the Catalyst Athletics Warmup
• Shoulder Mobility

Buy In: Push Press 3-3-3. Keep it at 85% of max and above. If I don't know my max, go for it after 3 heavy sets.

• Warm up: 35x5x2, 65x5, 85x2
  
• Work sets: 105, 110, 110
• 1RM attempt: got to 120, failed 125. I think it's in my head.

WOD:

• AMRAP in 10 minutes of:
• 7 Wallball
  
• 7 Burpees

10 rounds + 7 WB + 4 burpees. 14# wallball, target bottomed at 10'. Brutal.

Post Wod: STRETCH and foam roll!!!

Monday:
Warm Up:

• Jump rope for 4 minutes. Practice double unders. Never got more than 9 in a row today :(
• Dynamic Mobility - Catalyst Athletics warmup again. Love it.
• Shoulder Mobility - tight shoulders/pecs
• Burgener WU - once through with PVC only

Buy In: Snatch. Light sets of 5, don't drop the bar.

• 35x5 hang power snatch
• 45x5 power snatch
• 55x5 2 power snatch, 3 squat snatch
• 65x5 full snatch

WOD:

2 Power Cleans, 65# (no dropping bar!!!)
20 Pushups
4 Cleans
18 Pushups
6 Cleans
16 Pushups
8 Cleans
14 Pushups
10 Cleans
12 Pushups
12 Cleans
10 Pushups
14 Cleans
8 Pushups
16 Cleans
6 Pushups
18 Cleans
4 Pushups
20 Cleans
2 Pushups

13:13

Hardest part was the pushups. My shoulders were toast from yesterday. I reached muscle failure way before I felt I should have on the pushups. Frustrating. Cleans were good, but I felt like I didn't start doing them efficiently until the last round or 2. I thought this WOD would take more than 15 minutes.

Post WOD: Stretch and foam roll again. My legs are TIGHT!

No news isn't always good news

In this case, though, no news is an indicator of total laziness on my part. I had good intentions to post something non-workout related, non-injury related, and just plain happy, to show my readers (all 3 of them) that I hadn't lost all hope.

But, I got busy.

I do have great news, however! I was able to workout today. In fact, I had a great workout. I have a little bit of pain during pretty much all movements, BUT it was not very much pain. Except ring dips. Supporting myself at the top of the rings is not gonna happen for a while. Cross your fingers and hope there are no ring dips/muscle ups at my qualifiers!

Buy In: Handstand Pushups. Three sets of 5 with the red band.

WOD:
21-15-9 reps for time of:
65# Squat Snatch
Chest-to-bar Pullups

10:29

Thank you Jeff Tucker. My chest-to-bar pullups are soooo much better now, after learning so much at the gymnastics cert. My rib hurts a little on the forward (chest-open) swing, but it's barely noticeable during the workout. It doesn't hurt as bad as my arms do :) I didn't feel any pain at all in my rib during the squat snatches.

I had a hard time getting the intensity up today. The 5 days off was hard. Mentally, it's hard to push yourself very hard when you get out of the habit of doing so. Also, I had no real competition. I mean, I worked out with my brother, but I was pretty sure he would beat me. I also worked out with Loni, who was doing a scaled Elizabeth. I actually pushed pretty hard to try to beat her (she beat me by 2 seconds - great job Loni! If only I had done my last 9 pullups all in a row...) but it's just not the same when someone is doing a totally different workout. Or, maybe I just tell myself that. Who knows.

I am really happy with this time though, because it would have gotten me 6th place in WOD #4 at the Mid-Atlantic qualifier. AND, I know I could have gone faster/harder with the adrenaline of a competition. That's really reassuring for me :)

AND, here's a video of my awesome boyfriend front squatting 305#. Nice.

Ben Front Squats 305# from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

Success, failure, and lessons learned

Yesterday I competed in my first-ever Weightlifting competition. What a blast! The atmosphere was very encouraging, and fun, and very competetive. I only had 1 female to compete against, and she was in a different weight class (even though we are only 4 pounds difference in size!) and I pretty much knew ahead of time she was going to beat me. See, she had been training the olympic lifts at least weekly for several months. I have gone for 2 max snatch attempts and 2 C&J attempts each since last July.

I usually get really, really nervous in front of a crowd, so I started my lifts conservatively. I started with a 45kg Snatch, which I have never, ever missed before. I got it! Not only that, but it felt EASY. Something about being on the spot makes the bar feel 10kg lighter. I went up to a 50kg snatch, which is a bit trickier, and something I have only done once. I got that, as well, so I decided to go up to 55kg, which would be a PR. Much to my surprise, I got it over my head as well! But, I think I was so shocked by that fact, that I lost my concentration, and I missed the lift. AND, I missed it to the back. Usually when the weight gets heavy, I lose it to the front, because I get scared and don't get under it. Even though I missed 55kg, I am really pleased with my snatching.

Then, for the Clean and Jerk. I started out at 60kg, which was easy. My goal for the day was 65kg, but I decided to make that on my second attempt. I got it, and that was a PR. I was feeling tough, so I went for 70kg. I got the clean, which was a PR for the clean. I went for the jerk, and I missed it. Honestly, I think I've got that jerk. I think, again, I just didn't believe that I could do it.

I can't wait to go for another max Snatch and Clean and Jerk. I also can't wait to do another weightlifting meet. I learned that I don't get as nervous in front of a crowd as I had thought I would. I also learned to maybe not be quite so conservative with my starting weights. In both cases, I was wishing I had another attempt. I am confident that with another try for both weights, I could have gotten them. That would have given me 10kg more in my total! AND, more PRs!

No news and big news

Another busy day, but today marked the end of the really busy streak. Now it's back to normal...

I was so incredibly sore this morning from yesterday's rest day, err, squats and trail run. I decided to tackle the 100 Inverted Burpees for time. I had heard from others that it wasn't necessarily a very hard WOD, so it sounded like the perfect thing to loosen me up.

7:30 a.m., WOD 090422 Part 1

100 Inverted Burpees, for time.

12:25

I didn't kip to standing, because I can't really, but I did roll onto both feet. I also used a wall, because I thought it would take me too long to do free standing handstands. My kick-up to the wall was nice and smooth and I made sure to keep a fairly decent handstand the whole time.

Then, 1 nap for time. 1 hour :) Actually, it was a pretty lousy nap. It's all I had time for - back to the office for some more computer work.

7:30 p.m., WOD 090422 Part 2

Snatch, figure out what weight to start with for meet on Saturday.

65-85power-85power-85-100-100-100-110f

Not happy with that 110 fail, but even 85 felt really heavy today. I was feeling exhausted, like I shouldn't even be lifting. I got 100 pretty easily 3 times, so I'm thinking 45kg would be a good starting weight for Saturday. I was hoping to go up to 50kg after that, and then maybe 52.5 or 55 after that. 55kg would be a PR, but I know I have it in me.

Clean and Jerk, go for a 1 rep max

95-105-115-125f-125-130PR-135PR-140f-140PR

Even 125 was a PR since I opened up Bridger CrossFit. I've got video....but I'll save that for a rest day :)

Tomorrow: "Angie" I was hoping to tackle her when I felt fresh. Hopefully I can still get a good time tomorrow. If not, I'll at least die trying...

The Snatch and "Helen"

The next 10 days are going to be absolute chaos. Meriah is out of town for 10 days, I have several training meetings set up to get MindBody Online up and running, I'm getting a haircut, I have to go buy food to keep up with my Paleo Diet....the list goes on and on. I'm definitely NOT looking forward to getting up at 5 a.m. for the next 5 days straight....but, I love my 5:30 a.m. clients so it's always a really good morning, once the coffee is made.

This morning I held a Nutrition clinic for my "I Am CrossFit" Challenge members. It went over really well, and all 4 participants are going to do the Paleo Diet for the next 6 weeks! Even my Mom and my Aunt have jumped onboard. I can't believe it!

I got home around 12 from the morning's festivities, and proceeded to sleep until 1:40. I was really tired! And, I can really sleep on this Paleo Diet!

WOD 090419 (tomorrow is our older dog's 7 year birthday! Happy Birthday Sam!)

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1
65-85-105f-105-105-115fx4-115PR-120f(a lot)

Yay, a PR!!!

Metcon:

"Helen"
3 Rounds for time of:
400m Run
21 KB swings
12 Pullups

8:14 (PR by 1:11)

I am really pleased with this. My goal was 8:35. My secondary goal was to do the whole thing unbroken, which I did. I almost stopped on the last set of pullups, but I decided I would rather fall off the pullup bar than voluntarily let go.

Overall, a very good day. I would say this Paleo thing is working for me :)

115# Snatch from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

I'm going to do WHAT? In front of an audience?

I don't know what in the world I was thinking, but I signed up for a Weightlifting meet next weekend. It's being held at CrossFit 4800. Yes, our local rivals/competition. They extended an olive branch. I grabbed it. How could I not? I mean, I just set a 10# Clean PR, which brings me to a total of 20 pounds MORE than I could ever clean when I was at CF4800, being coached by world-class coach Steve Gough and former Olympian Mike Karchut.

Of course, then, I realized my Jerk isn't up to par. And, unfortunately, it's the Clean and Jerk. I decided to add some Split Jerk as a Buy-In to the WOD.

I also realize that I haven't gone for a heavy Snatch since my 110# PR that I set in February, when I was motivated by Dutch to do so. That will have to wait. Until Sunday.

Here's the latest workout:

WOD 090416

Buy-In: Split Jerk technique work. Go heavy, but not too heavy.

35-85-95-105-115-125-130PR

Good enough for me.

Metcon:
5 Rounds for time of:
95# Thrusters, 5 Reps
10 Box Jumps, 24" box

5:39

That beat my boyfriend by 4 seconds. Yes, I am proud of that one. Same size box. 35# less than my bodyweight, 65# less than his. 95# Thrusters have never felt so easy.

Cash-Out: Muscle up practice, strict transition work. I suck at these now. I keep going through one arm first at a time. That's no good. I am going to take a break from the kipping muscle ups for a while and just get my form back. I might even make a rule that I need to get a strict muscle up before I do any more kipping ones. Still thinking about that....

Here's a video of my 130# Jerk PR. It's a crappy Jerk. I need to take more video and jerk more, and maybe I will be able to fix my form. My goal for the weightlifting meet is a 65kg C&J and 53kg Snatch. That would be sick.

Jenna puts 130# overhead from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

Back in the saddle again

After 2 days off and 1 short little Metcon yesterday, I woke up this morning feeling awesome. Actually, when I went to bed last night I noticed that I was looking (feeling) strong, and refreshed, and just HOT. I feel okay saying that, because I'm usually the type that goes around pinching her possibly-imaginary fat rolls and critiquing every little thing that is wrong with me. But, it's amazing what some sleep/rest/food can do for my attitude.

I had a big day planned - including one of the toughest metcons I can think of, that I have been pushing back for weeks at a time. On top of that, I had a 3RM back squat planned that would shatter my recent 1RM. Plus, I decided I would start the day with some snatching. I plan to attack "Isabel" soon, so I have to get ready for her. (Isabel is 30 reps for time of 135# Snatch - we use 85# at our gym, currently, but I'd like to do it with 95#)

Buy-In:

Burgener warm-up
Snatch

• 35# - some hang power and hang squat snatches. Feeling good today.
• 65# - a few singles. This felt good
• 85# - didn't feel quite as good, but still not as heavy as 85# usually feels.
  
• 105# - failed 2 reps (didn't even try to get under the first, didn't get my head through on the second, but nailed the 3rd).

I'm really pleased with that. 105# was my 1RM snatch up until March 1. Of course, you can see the video of my 110# snatch here. Actually, my old 1RM was 48kg, which is closer to 106#. Whatever. This is only my second near-max Snatch attempt since last July.

Then, I moved onto the back squat. Today, I focused on keeping a wider stance when I squat. Whenever I Clean and Jerk, or Snatch, I always land with a sorta wide stance. Not too wide, but sorta wide. Clearly, that's the way my body wants to squat. Warming up, it felt good.

Back Squat 3-3-3

• 45x5x2
• 95x5
• 135x2
• 165x3
• 180x3 (recent 1RM AND 3RM PR)
  
• 190x1 (recent 1RM PR)
  

So, I have no excuses for not getting that 190x3. That first rep felt easy, so I think I kinda let down my guard, so to speak. I think I didn't approach reps 2 and 3 with the same sort of intensity. It's a fine line we must walk in our heads. If you think for a second "I can't do this" then, you won't. But, if you are too confident and think "this is easy" you might not try hard enough to get a rep that is heavy. You have to think "this is really, really hard, but I can do it!" and then you can do it. You have to be ready to attack that bar - to not let the bar defeat you. In this case, the bar defeated me.

But, I'll show that bar. Next time, I'm getting 195 for 3!!!

Metcon
"Heavy Squat Grace"
100# Squat Clean and Jerk, 30 reps for time:

8:18

Only sort of pleased with that time. My goal was under 10, so I got my goal. But, I was also hoping to be a bit faster. My lower back was smoked from those goblet squats, so the front squat was the hardest part of this WOD. I also suck at push jerk, so that was really hard, and my form wasn't that great. I am going to attack the push jerk for a few weeks - work that sucker until 100# feels easy. I'm just not great with weight overhead. Look for a fun video of this WOD in a couple of days :)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some videos of me squattin':

090330 Back Squat 180x3 from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

090330 Back Squat 190x1 (3 rep attempt) from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

Get back on the bar and snatch it

Okay, as promised, here is the video of my OHS/burpee WOD, in which I was brought to both tears and a temper tantrum. Actually, it was in the reverse order. Tantrum first, then tears.

I'm not proud of it. In fact, I'm pretty embarrassed. For one, I forgot the camera was on. For another, I had group of people watching including some good friends/clients. I did this WOD during our "open gym" hour on Sunday, and I was hoping to just kind of blend in and hopefully nobody would be paying attention. For some reason, they were all watching.

But, I decided to post this video anyway, because I'm sure that every one of us has felt this way during a workout, or a race, or something. I usually stay pretty calm during workouts, but I was super tired before this workout, and I think I was just a little vulnerable. This will be a lesson to me that I should 1) Rest More, and 2) Not try to do a skill-intensive WOD if I am tired but am working out anyway. Oh yeah, and 3) Make sure I don't have an audience if I am trying to concentrate during a WOD. As you can see, when I turn away from the camera, I didn't really appreciate having an audience. I guess I might have to get used to it if I am going to compete in the games qualifiers!

Oh yeah, this video is really long. I ran out of time to edit properly, and I also don't have a fast-forward function in my video editing software. I'll have to find something new. The tantrum happens in round 5. This video is really long, but if you have 10 minutes to kill....go for it.

OHS/burpee WOD looonggggg video from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

Mmmmm, coconut!

It never really got sunny but I did my afternoon Metcon anyway:

7 Rounds for time of:
65# Hang Power Snatch, 5 reps
7 Knees to elbows
9 Burpees

11:00

I was pretty hungry for this. I hadn't really eaten since 10 a.m., except for delicious bite of homemade coconut milk ice cream that I made. I got an ice cream maker for my birthday (Thank You Meriah!!!). (I think maybe she is trying to sabotage me?!?!???) The inaugural dish was chocolate coconut ice-milk, I shall call it, because there is no cream. However, I'm positive it is more than 12% fat, so legally it is ice-cream. Whatever.

Chocolate Coconut Ice-Milk
3 cups Coconut Milk (I use Thai Kitchen - the best! This is almost 2 cans. I just happened to have 1.75 cans open)
2/3 ish cup Cocoa Powder (I used Dagoba)
2/3 ish cup sugar (next time I will use Agave Nectar. I just didn't have any)
a bit of Pure Vanilla Extract

Precise, I know. It's the chemist in me ;)

I put it all in a blender, blended, poured into the pre-frozen ice cream machine, and viola! Dessert! It is done when it reaches a nice soft-serve consistency. I put it in the freezer to harden it up a bit, but I really prefer it when it is fresh.

Enjoy!

Change of pace

I spent last week in Park City, UT, skiing (yes, skiing. It's the only time I've been to Utah in the spring without my mountain bike.) Wow, what a change of pace. No waking up at 4:20 a.m.. Not to mention that on Monday I was mountain biking in 60 degree weather, and on Wednesday I was skiing in, well, actually, it was about 40 degree weather.

The snow was awful, but the skiing was still pretty fun.

The highlight of my vacation included my trips to CrossFit Park City where I had the pleasure of being coached by Chris Spealler. If you are ever near Park City, his gym is worth the visit. It's a cool gym with an even cooler coach. I managed to get in 3 WODs while I was down in Utah.

WOD 090225
CrossFit PC WOD:

5 Rounds for time of:

• 3 Rounds Cindy (1 round = 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats)
• 5 Clean and Jerks, heavy (I used 95#)

22:59

Skiing: 15,600 vertical feet

WOD 090226
Skiing: 18,200 vertical feet

WOD 090227
CrossFit Park City WOD:
100 ft walking lunges
21 pullups
21 situps
100 ft walking lunges
18 pullups
18 situps
100 ft walking lunges
15 pullups
15 situps
100 ft walking lunges
12 pullups
12 situps
100 ft walking lunges
9 pullups
9 situps
100 ft walking lunges
6 pullups
6 situps

13:05

Skiing: 20,000 vertical feet

Saturday, Ben and I attended the Dutch Lowy training seminar. It was a great experience. Dutch is a great guy. He's super friendly, funny, engaging, smart, and a good speaker, too. We learned about programming (good versus bad workouts), training (intangibles and responsibilities of being a trainer), and other random things. Chris went over the 9 movements that we are responsible for being able to train people at for the Level 2 cert. THEN, I had to teach the Overhead Squat to my peers, with no warning, and in front of Spealler and Dutch. I completely idolize those guys, so needless to say, it was an intimidating experience to perform in front of them and be critiqued afterward.

I feel like I did terrible, but I know that I never do as poorly as I think I do. I know what mistakes I made. I know what I need to work on. Overall, I am glad that Chris made me get up (first, might I add) and teach a movement. I am bummed because if I hadn't been so nervous I think I would have done a lot better and been more impressive. But, I can't change the past, so I have to just learn what I can from the experience and hope that Chris is a grader at my Level 2 cert so I get another chance to WOW him :)

We made up a WOD based on our least-favorite exercises. Lucky for me, though, I happen to LIKE the exercises that were the most-commonly hated. I didn't think it was that bad.

WOD 090228

5 Rounds for time:
12 OHS, 55#
7 Burpee Box Jumps, 20" box

6:32

Very happy with that. When I snatched the barbell to get ready to squat, it felt amazing. I hadn't had a snatch that felt that good in a LONG time. Dutch actually commented at the end of the day. He told me I should lift more. At first I thought he was saying I wasn't very strong, so I started to explain how I was starting the CFSB program in hopes to get stronger. He said "No, i mean, you should lift more. I saw you snatch the bar during the workout. It looked great!" (um, probably not his exact words. I was a little starstruck). I decided that on Sunday I would snatch if I got home early enough.

Sunday
WOD 090301

Snatch!

65 - a bunch of times
85 - a few times
90 - fail about 5 times
85 - once more
90 - nailed it once
95 - nailed it
100 - nailed it
105 - failed about a million times, including the one time I dropped it on my back. ouch.
100 - once more
105 - nailed it (old PR)
110 - nailed it (PR)
115 - scared of it. Plenty of height, just need to commit.

I just happened to have the camera out for this lift:


Jenna Snatches 110 -woot! from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

I fell off the diet bandwagon while I was on vacation. Not too bad, but I am excited to be back at it!

I also used my new programming skills to program in some very exciting workouts for the next 2 weeks. I can't wait!