Monday's Workout

I'm typing this on my iPhone while camped out in a hospital waiting room, so I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet tonight.

Today's 5 a.m. class feels like eons ago, but it was the highlight of an otherwise kind-of-miserable day. (There are times I wish I still worked out late at night, if only so I can end my day on a high note.)

This week, we're back to O-lifts.

Strength Skill:

• Snatch balance (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 3)

This was my first attempt at this move (a snatch progression/assistance exercise), and it showed. My technique left a lot to be desired. For one thing, I kept jerking the bar up forcefully, rather than pushing myself under the bar. And Tim kept yelling "Ninja!" at me, which is his way of signaling to me that I was landing on my toes rather than with my weight on my heels. (The problem is that I think know ninjas are super-cool, so it took me a couple reps to figure out that he was trying to tell me my form was crap. Sooner or later, CrossFit Palo Alto's going to have to publish a Tim-specific glossary of terms.)

Still, the overhead squat portion of the move felt okay, and I didn't jack up my shoulders, which is always a big plus.

I'll get the hang of this snatch balance business eventually. I currently suck at this, but that doesn't mean I don't love working on it.

Metcon:

Three rounds for time:

• 400 meter run
• 20 burpees
• 30 Abmat sit-ups

I was thisclose to catching up with the Terminator towards the end of today's WOD -- I'd gradually closed the gap as the rounds progressed, and wound up just a couple of reps behind him when he finished all three rounds. He beat me by less than five seconds. I missed my shot today -- I love bodyweight-focused metcon sessions, and they're the only ones at which I have a decent shot at finishing faster than my cyborg classmate. Once again, I gotta tip my (sweat-drenched) cap to my robot friend.

Result: 13:02