Almost time

Today was the last big workout day before I begin my taper and rest up for the Qualifiers. The workouts at the Qualifiers are as follows:

WOD #1
3 Rounds for time of:
8 Deadlifts, 300#/195#
400m Run

WOD #2
3 Rounds for time of:
10 Chest to Bar Pullups
10 Front Squats, 165#/105#
10 Burpees

My comments: These look really good. Heavy, but good. It's a little weird that they are both 3 rounds, but at least one is a couplet and one is a triplet. My initial reaction was that these are going to be really short, and they might be for some people. I think the weight is heavy enough though that it will really slow things down.

Today, I had planned on deadlifting, and then when the WODs were announced yesterday, I decided I definitely needed to deadlift. Last time I deadlifted, it didn't go so well. More than anything, today, I needed a confidence booster. I just needed to know that I hadn't lost all my deadlift strength.

WOD 090511

Buy In: 3 sets of 5 HSPU with red band.

Deadlift

• 175x5
• 195x8 Yay! I can do it!

Metcon.
Thanks (I think) to Shana Alverson for this WOD. Oops, I used the wrong weight.

5 Rounds for time of:
5 Squat Cleans, 105#
7 Burpees
9 Chest-to-bar Pullups

8:50

Meh. I had hoped for faster. I wasn't feeling super good today, and I thought about not even doing a metcon. I maybe shouldn't have, but I guess in light of that, my time wasn't too bad. Shana did this in 7:44 with 100# squat cleans. I watched her video and I notice she doesn't let go of the bar between cleans. I do, and my bar bounces all over the frickin' place. I really need to try just holding onto it. I rest too much.

Cash Out: Massage. Thanks Nicole Snow!

My throat hurts. I think I might be coming down with my boyfriend's cold. Bastard. (just kidding).

Yikes

Two WODs in 13 hours. That was rough. I guess it's good though - it'll help prepare me for the qualifiers. Just under 3 weeks to go. I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty stiff and sore, particularly my hip flexors. I almost decided to do Fran, but decided against it with hips like that. I had planned on doing the DL/Burpee WOD from the 2008 CF Games, and I stuck with my original plan.

Buy-In: HSPU, 3 sets of 5 with the red band.

5 Rounds for time of:
185# Deadlift, 5 reps
10 Burpees

4:43

Cash-Out: Lay on floor, get trampled by dogs, try not to die.

Compare to:
12/15/08 6:53
July 2008 8:something

Very stoked with this time. Especially because the bar felt unusually heavy. I'm not stoked that the bar felt heavy, of course, but I'm happy that I was able to put down a good time in spite of that. I know that my body just needs a bit more rest. Last week was a rough week with too little rest and way too much work.

This morning I tackled the "Filthy Fifty". I did this last October in 28:55, so I was really hoping for a time around 26 or so. But, from the word "go" everything felt heavy, or hard, or impossible. Even the box jumps, which I would normally fly though, took me almost 3 minutes. My right ankle was really hurting (it's been a nagging injury for sometime now...I need to figure out what's going on with that), but I just felt like I had no hops today. The jumping pullups were hard, so were the kettlebell swings (even though they were light!). Everything. was. hard.

Filthy Fifty:

For time:
50 Box jump, 20 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, .75 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 35 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 14 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

32:17

The absolute worst part was the double unders. I got to the double unders in under 28 minutes. So, not a terrible time considering how I felt, but not good either. I guess you could say I was a little discouraged. I shouldn't have worn my watch. I kept checking it, and getting more frustrated. I just couldn't do double unders today. Then I started crying. It was awful.

The most frustrating thing was that yesterday I just finally got my double unders on my new jump rope. I did 3 sets of 20, easy. And THEN, after the WOD today, I grabbed the slighty longer jumprope and knocked out 10 double unders, no problem. Why couldn't I just have done that in the WOD?

So, now, if I qualify for the games and get to fill out the questionnaire about my favorite and least favorite WODs, at least now I have an answer for least favorite. I could never decide before, but now I know for sure. I hate the filthy fifty.

Oh! Let me leave you with some entertainment. This video is most decidedly NOT WFS. Turn off the volume and you'll be okay. The soundtrack is "Starfuckers, Inc." by Nine Inch Nails.

Deadlift/Burpee WOD from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

And I thought Fran was bad

Woke up with a terrible sore throat this morning. I had planned on working out between 6:30 and 9 (not for the entire time, but in that time frame!) but ate breakfast, then decided to come home and take a nap before the 9 a.m. class. To my surprise, I fell asleep almost immediately upon laying down, which I can almost never do so early in the morning (it was about 7 a.m.). I slept so hard, that between the time my alarm went off the first time at 8:20, and the second time at 8:25, I had an entire second dream.

I decided to work out this evening with Meriah. I had been working on greasing the groove all day for HSPU - and I actually got my first static HSPU! My brother and good friend Lauren were spotting me, but they didn't help at all! I think I must have had a lot more confidence with 2 spotters, so I went for it. I got a total of 5 or 6 HSPU today, static. I also spent some time doing sets of 2 with the purple band, which I think will help me A LOT.

Anyway, here's the workout:

Front Squat 3-3-3

• 45x5x2
• 75x5
• 95x3
• 135x1
• 140x3
• 150x3
• 160x3

I think I had more in me. But, my recent 1RM is only 165 (all time 1RM is 198 aka 90kg) so I thought this was a pretty good showing. I'll go for 170 next week, and then my Strength Bias cycle is over and it's time to go for a 1RM again!

Skill work: Ring Dips. I did 2 sets of 5. It feels good to have these sort of back. My left shoulder is still kind of bugging me, but not bad. After seeing that the qualifiers happening this weekend had both HSPU AND Ring Dips, I am a little worried. Time to get to some serious work!

Metcon:

21-15-9 Reps for time of:
65# Thrusters
Burpees

6:15

Very, very happy with this. Makes me think that sub 4-minute Fran is possible after all. My goal was to do all my thrusters unbroken, but there was no way I was doing more than the 1st set unbroken. My shoulders were toast from those Burpees. I felt slow in the burpees, but I tried to keep moving. I need to get faster in these.

I think I am eating a little too much. I haven't been doing very well with keeping accurate track of calories. I am going to start measuring again. Not "dieting", per se, but at least keeping accurate track. It's hard to do, but I at least need to be doing my best. I think I have been eating too much in general. I feel....big. Too big. Hard to say. I wish I could see myself from the outside.

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!