Lucky 7

Yesterday's Squat Snatch/Pull Up WOD smoked my posterior chain. At least, I hope that's my excuse. I had planned to do a max DL today, but getting 215 off the ground felt really hard. I hope I haven't lost 30# on my 1RM deadlift in less than a month....

My brother had trouble deadlifting today, too, and we worked out together yesterday. I'm sure that we are just more smoked from that workout than we'd like to admit...

Buy In: Burgener Warm-Up, once with PVC, once with 15kg bar

Deadlift 3-3-2-2-1-1-1

185-205-215x1 hahaha, riiiiiight

Push Press 7-7-7

75-85-95

Stoked with the push press numbers. My goal was originally 85#, but after seeing my friend Lauren hit 95# yesterday, I decided I should give it a shot. I also wasn't sure how heavy I should go, what with my rib and all, but it didn't really hurt more to do 95# than it did the 45# bar.

And, great news! My rib feels 90% better. I'd like to thank Travis Irish, DC, the wonderful local chiropractor who tortured, errrr, I mean fixed me yesterday. He's an amazing chiropractor and worth his weight in gold. When I woke up this morning I was reeeaaaalllly sore, but he had warned me that I would be. I thought maybe I had back-slid a bit and was worried that I wasn't getting better.

But then, this afternoon, I didn't even realize my rib wasn't hurting until one of my athletes who was arriving for the 4:30 class, asked me how I was doing. Fine, actually! I didn't even notice! It's funny how much we take normal life for granted...

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.

I heart HSPU

This post will have to be short and sweet. I am buried up to my eyeballs in stuff to do. Meriah and I headed to the gymnastics cert this weekend in Denver, CO. It was such a good time - I had no idea I could do even half of the stuff that I ended up doing this weekend. My handstands improved tenfold. My pullups also improved, and yesterday I easily linked 10 chest-to-bar kipping pullups, and I had plenty more in me.

One of the highlights of the weekend was on Friday night. Meriah and I stayed with my good friend Nicole Gibson, who currently owns Garage 4150, and is in the process of affiliating with CrossFit HQ. We arrived in Boulder around 5 p.m., and decided to do the mainsite WOD, the CrossFit Total. I was nervous, because Nicole and Meriah both kick my butt in the total.

CrossFit Total:
Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Back Squat 185-195-205
Shoulder Press 80-85-90PR
Deadlift 230PR-235PR-245PR
Total: 540

I asked Meriah to set my bar up for me for the DL. I have a mental block against the Deadlift (which, maybe I have overcome now). I told her I'd like to start somewhere in the neighborhood of 210-220. She put 230 on the bar, and when I lifted it, I was pretty sure she had put on 210. Sneaky Meriah, tricked me into 3 consecutive PRs. I still can't believe I picked up 245#. We have video to prove it, but Nicole has to send it to me. She did send me one video, I believe it's me picking up 235#:

Jenna Deadlifts 235# from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

No more HFCS, please!

Last night I caved and had a Knob Creek and Ginger. It was my boyfriend and my anniversary (28 months thank-you-very-much) and we had to celebrate. I had planned on not drinking at all starting April, up until the games. I don't drink much, but I really don't need the extra sugar at all.

I haven't actually had any sugar in a couple of weeks, except a couple of little bites of ice cream last weekend. I could hardly sleep last night, and I really think it was the sugar. Particularly because the ginger I had on hand was Canada Dry - full of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Yuck.

So, I'm seriously laying off the sugar now. I felt H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E. this morning. Absolutely terrible. And, usually, when I wake up feeling not-so-great, a good hard workout is able to get that right out of my system. Not so today. Afterwards, for about an hour, I wouldn't go more than 10 feet away from the bathroom. I was sure Mr. Pukie would visit. But, I was spared today. No Pukie.

WOD 090402

5 Rounds for time of:
105# Hang Squat Clean
15 ft rope climb, 3 ascents

16:09

You might recognize today's WOD from the mainsite on March 14. There's a really cool video of Dutch and Dave Castro doing this WOD. Dave actually doesn't use his feet for any of the rope climbs, except the very last one. Dutch gives in after round 1 and starts to use his feet. I used my feet because I've never done this many rope climbs in one day before, so I was a little nervous. Especially because of the heavy hang squat cleans. I believe that Women are supposed to use 100#, but I really hate putting the 2.5# plates on my bar.

I would also like to point out that I beat Dutch. Just sayin'.

This WOD was really hard. My grip was so tired at the end. The cleans were really hard, too, though I did get my first 9 all in a row. That was pretty cool! I feel like my cleans are really coming along nicely...

And, for your viewing pleasure...here is a video of my recent 3-Rep Deadlift PR. I look like a tank. Let's just say that's not my best angle.

Jenna Deadlift 215x3 from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

There's 2 kinds of people in this world...

Those who, when doing "Karen", walk away from the ball. And then there's those who don't. I think you can tell a lot about somebody by which category they fall into.

Today is a glorious rest day. I don't know what I would be able to accomplish today, if it weren't. Yesterday just about finished me off.

WOD 090331

Buy In:
Push Jerk @ 45# and 75#. I feel much stronger/more stable/better on these when I don't actually leave the ground.

Deadlift 3-3-3

• 95x5x2
• 135x5
• 165x2
• 185x1
• 205x3
• 215x3 PR, so I stopped here

Deadlift 12-9-6 @ 155#. This felt relatively easy, but I could really feel it in my ass.

"Karen" 150 Wallball shots for time. 14# ball, target centered at 10.5 feet. 9:32

(When I put up our wallball targets, I thought they were supposed to be bottomed at 10 feet, not centered. Oops.)

Anyway, I am stoked with this time. I thought for sure it would take me 15 minutes. I made my boyfriend stand there and yell at me whenever I put the ball down. I never took more than 5 breaths between sets, so even though I only did sets of 3-5 for most of it, I didn't rest very much. I had some trouble counting, but if anything I think I might have done too many. I finished a lot closer to Meriah than I thought I would, so I second guessed my counting. I guess I was just "on it" yesterday.

I apologize for my really long, sometimes boring videos. I am working on getting an editing software that works for me - one that I can use to fast forward, and do slow-motion, etc. I'm not very good at this "creative" thing, and I am pressed for time. I use my videos to analyze my movement and my attitude. Like, in the following video, notice how with each rep of the Clean and Jerk, I am jerking with my arms more and more. Also, I notice how I tend to hop forward under the jerk, and my legs tend to split, too. All this tells me that my jerk needs some serious work. Here it is:

Jenna does 100# squat C&J, 30 reps for time. LONG video, unedited from Jenna Rettenmayer on Vimeo.

"Miranda"

Today's workout was courtesy of Miranda, some other girl (I forget who), and Ben. Sort of. Saturday at the training seminar with Dutch, we had to make up workouts. The workouts were supposed to be triplets that would take 7-9 minutes. All I can say is that Miranda is evil (in a good way).

Warm-Up

• 500m Row
• OHS with PVC
• pushups

Back Squat 5-5-5

• 45x5x2
• 75x5
• 95x5
• 125x3
• 145x1
• 150x5
• 160x5
• 170x5 (recent PR)

It seemed to take me forever to warm up today. I did so many warm-up sets I was afraid I would wear myself down for the actual work sets. 145# seemed heavy, and 150x5 was hard, but do-able. 160x5 was really hard, and I was really nervous about doing 170 for a set of 5. I missed my 3rd rep on 170, as in I had to have my spotter help just a bit. I didn't get my hips underneath me and my torso was falling forward. But, I recovered and did 3 more reps to get the set of 5. Those last 3 reps felt the absolute easiest of the whole day. Amazing!

Metcon:

"Miranda"
3 Rounds for time:
10 Deadlifts, 165#
400m Run
20 Pushups

9:41

The Rx'd workout was actually at 175#, and with pullups instead of pushups. Everyone's hands are all torn up from yesterday, so we opted to do pushups instead. Also, I chose 165# because I wasn't sure I would be able to get through the first round of DL at 175# unbroken. I have never done a WOD with more than 10 reps of DL at any more than 155#, so this was a big step for me!

Skill Work:
HSPU

• 2 HSPU to 1 abmat, no kip
• 3 HSPU to 1 abmat, no kip
• 3 HSPU to floor, with kip

I can't believe how these are coming along. I'm so proud of myself! Not to sound full of myself, but I have never had any appreciable upper body strength, and for a year my attempts at HSPU were nothing short of pathetic. It just goes to show you that if you put your mind to something, you can achieve it!

Okay, now for the boring diet stuff. Well, I don't think it's boring, but I think most people do! Food, yesterday:

• Calories: 1736
• Protein: 99 g (23.5%)
• Carbs: 68 g (16%)
• Fat: 113 g (60.5%)

Wow, really low. No wonder I was so hungry. I have been trying to stick with 11P/7C/34F (in the block system). Yesterday night though, I was so hungry immediately after dinner that I added in a 1 block snack. Very hungry today, and now I see why!