Wednesday's Workout

A good day at the gym.

Strength Skill:

• Front Squats (3-3-3-1-1)

For the life of me, I couldn't remember my max front squat. It wasn't until after I was done with my sets that I found my previous PR: 205 pounds. Today, I failed to squat even 185. Not good. It goes without saying, but I need to squat more.

Thankfully, the second half of this morning's class went a little better.

Metcon:

"Annie" - for time:

• 50 double-unders
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 40 double-unders
• 40 Abmat sit-ups
• 30 double-unders
• 30 Abmat sit-ups
• 20 double-unders
• 20 Abmat sit-ups
• 10 double-unders
• 10 Abmat sit-ups

What's not to like about Annie -- especially given what a kick-ass athlete her namesake is?

My previous Annie times have ranged from 9:11 (October 10, 2011) to 12:30 (March 14, 2011), and the last time I did this workout, I took 10:20 to finish. I was determined to match or beat my previous time -- I didn't want to lose more ground today.

At the very beginning of the first round, I landed awkwardly on my left ankle and felt a twinge in my Achilles tendon. But aside from that (and a couple of rope snags), the double-unders gave me no trouble today. The sit-ups were another matter; I'm used to flying through them, but this morning, I felt unusually heavy and sluggish as I struggled to finish each set.

Despite my crappy sit-ups, I somehow managed to set a new PR on Annie today: 8:25 as RXed. I'm happy with my progress, though I suppose I should work on my sit-ups some more.

In fact, I'm eyeing my Abmat right now.

Wednesday's Workout: Shoot Me Now

Pistols and Annie -- a lethal combination.

Strength Skill:

• Pistols (5-5-3-3-1)

Still working on my left leg. I think I'm going to start from scratch, and try to move through all the progressions from my left side until it can do everything my right can do.

Metcon:

"Annie" - for time:

• 50 double-unders
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 40 double-unders
• 40 Abmat sit-ups
• 30 double-unders
• 30 Abmat sit-ups
• 20 double-unders
• 20 Abmat sit-ups
• 10 double-unders
• 10 Abmat sit-ups

Just a few months ago, I finished Annie in 9:11, and it felt great. Today? Not so much.

I wish I could blame my crappy performance on my jump rope. Before the WOD began, I pulled my Buddy Lee rope out of my gym bag and saw a big crack in the middle of the plastic cable. M's Buddy Lee rope snapped in two last week, and it looked like mine was about to do the same. I quickly wrapped some athletic tape around it and got in position for the start of the workout, but realized that my rope wouldn't unwind. It was coiled around like a curly fry.

To be perfectly honest, though, my jump rope wasn't the problem. I know this because my first, third, and final sets of double-unders went entirely smoothly. With the exception of a hitch in my step early in my first set, I went unbroken on all of those rounds.

So ultimately, the rope wasn't to blame for my frustratingly awful second and fourth sets of double-unders. For whatever reason (mental? physical?), I couldn't rip out more than a few at a time, and kept snagging my right foot on the rope. The more I tripped, the more flustered I got, and the more flustered I got, the more I tripped.

Result: 10:20 as RXed. Yup -- I lost over a minute on my Annie time.

Ugh.

Monday's Workout: Shin vs. Barbell

This blog is quickly turning into a catalog of my injuries.

For a couple of months now, my body's been in a perpetual state of disrepair. Some of my injuries have been relatively minor (e.g., a bee sting on the bottom of my foot, a gash on the back of my calf, torn hands from Mary), while others have been more of a pain in the ass (e.g., an ankle sprain, a groin pull). Finally, after many slow and frustrating weeks on the mend, I started feeling pretty damned good again. I woke up last Monday with renewed energy, and had a blast tearing through Annie.

But just when I thought I was in the clear, my body decided to revolt once again. A day or two after last Wednesday's session of deadlifts, my lower back stiffened up. I figured the soreness would go away after a couple of days, but even now, the discomfort remains.

Given my decrepitude, I decided to take it easy today. The strength skill today was Turkish Get-Ups, and I chose to stick with the 1-pood kettlebell for all but the final set -- and even then, I went only a few pounds heavier.

And then Tim wrote today's metcon on the board:

"DT" -- 5 rounds for time of:

• 12 deadlifts (155lbs / 115lbs)
• 9 hang power cleans (155lbs / 115lbs)
• 6 push jerks (155lbs / 115lbs)

"Go lighter than normal," Tim instructed. "I don't want any dropped weights." At five a.m., he reminded the class, we need to be quiet as mice, or risk incurring the wrath of the neighbors.

Frankly, I was relieved to have an (additional) excuse to go light today. I'd hoped that my back would loosen up during warm-ups, but the soreness lingered. Ninety-five pounds sounded good to me.

As the workout began, I actually felt fine. I raced through the first round unbroken, and quickly moved on to the deadlifts again. The weight was light -- even numerous reps of power cleans weren't super-difficult at 95 pounds. But I started to flag midway through the workout, and had to put down the bar (quietly) several times for mid-set breathers.

And then, at the end of the fourth round, as I lowered the weight from overhead, I lost my grip on the barbell. To keep it from clanging on the floor, I instinctively stuck out my leg. That's right: MY LEG. TO CATCH A FALLING BARBELL.

Needless to say, the barbell won, and my shin lost. (Wanna see?)

After a brief visit to the Pain Cave in my head, I finished up the final round.

Result: 8:56.

At this rate, I swear I'm going to be in a full-body cast soon unless I invest in a full-body protective suit.

Snazzy!

Monday's Workout: Annie

Despite not getting enough sleep last night (as usual), it’s been weeks since I last walked into the gym feeling as good as I did this morning. As much as I hated missing class (and Nicole!) on Friday, taking a breather was just what I needed to recharge my batteries.

Strength Skill:

• Turkish Get-Ups (1-2-3 on each side)

It’s been a year since we last practiced kettlebell TGUs in class, and I have to admit that this movement’s more challenging than I remembered. I stuck with a light weight today (1 pood), and focused on re-familiarizing myself with the proper form. For the most part, I did fine -- but I do need to work on resisting the impulse to plant my hand behind me when I’m on my way back down to the floor.

Metcon:

“Annie” - for time:

• 50 double-unders
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 40 double-unders
• 40 Abmat sit-ups
• 30 double-unders
• 30 Abmat sit-ups
• 20 double-unders
• 20 Abmat sit-ups
• 10 double-unders
• 10 Abmat sit-ups

For once, I was excited to see a double-under workout on the whiteboard. It’s been over a month since I was last able to crank out a double-under WOD, and I’ve been antsy to get back on the horse. And while we’d done Annie in class a couple of times before, this was my first opportunity to try it again after watching the WOD’s namesake, Annie Sakamoto, kick some ass at this year’s NorCal Regionals and the CrossFit Games. My previous Annie time was 12:12, and I knew I could do better.

Ironically, my nagging ankle issues ended up improving my double-under form. Normally, I tend to jump high and stomp down forcefully during double-unders, needlessly expending exhausting myself in my efforts to clear the rope. But with a tender left ankle that can’t sustain hard impacts, I was forced to keep my jumps small and controlled. Using less energy meant that I could settle into a more consistent rhythm, and I was able to get through the rope-jumping fairly quickly (for me, anyway).

Visualization also helped. In my mind, I replayed videos of CrossFit Games athletes doing double-unders with their feet barely leaving the ground. And thirty feet in front of me at the gym, I could also see Kyle -- our resident double-under fiend -- lightly bouncing up and down as his rope whipped around him. I did my best to keep up with him, and though I didn't succeed, I PR'ed by three minutes. Not a bad way to start the week!

Result: 9:11 as RXed.

Wednesday's Workout: Highs & Lows

Today's morning workout started off great, but ended on a frustrating note.

Strength Skill:

• Front Squats (3 sets of 3, 2 sets of 1)

My front squats felt GREAT today, especially after Tim suggested that I move my feet closer together for more stability. It helped me stay tight, and I reached a new PR (205lbs -- about 1.5X my bodyweight). I think I have more in the tank -- let's see if I can go even heavier next week.

Metcon:

"Annie":

50-40-30-20-10 of

• Double Unders
• Abmat Sit-Ups

The last time we did "Annie," my time was 12:30; at the time, I hadn't yet figured out how to string together more than a couple of double-unders at a time. But since then, I've managed to whip through plenty of unbroken double-unders in WODs, so I figured I'd absolutely murder my previous time. Before class today, I warmed up with some double-unders, and had no problems cranking out a dozen or more at a time. They felt fine. My goal was to go sub-10 minutes on Annie.

Didn't happen. At all.

My first round of double-unders were an unmitigated disaster. For whatever reason, I couldn't bust out more than 3 or 4 reps before getting myself tangled in the rope. And the harder I tried to force it, the more frustrated I got -- and the harder it was to get into any kind of rhythm. As my impatience took over, my suckage got even suckier. Getting through my first set of double-unders took FOREVER.

The sit-ups were fine. But then it was back to more double-unders. And my second round with the jump rope -- while slightly better than the first -- wasn't exactly pretty, either.

Thankfully, I made up some time during the third round. Maybe it's because I finally settled into a groove, or perhaps I was looser 'cause I was tired, but I got through the third set of double-unders pretty much unbroken. But it was too little, too late.

Result: 12:12 as RXed. Better than last time, but not good enough. My goal is to one day finish Annie within spitting distance of Kyle, who killed this workout in 8:23 this morning. Sick, right?

Monday's Workout

For the first time in over a week, I woke up feeling halfway decent. My throat is still scratchy and I'm not yet 100 percent, but my energy levels are good, and I'm not dripping mucous all over the place. No reason not to hit the gym.

Strength Skill:

• Snatches (2 sets of 3, 3 sets of 1)

I'm finally putting some decent weight on the bar, but my form is subpar. I keep having to remind myself to be aggressive with this lift, and to get under the bar quickly. Of the Olympic lifts I've practiced, this is clearly the one that needs the most work (along with overhead squats).

Metcon:

"Annie" - for time:

• 50 double-unders
• 50 Abmat sit-ups
• 40 double-unders
• 40 Abmat sit-ups
• 30 double-unders
• 30 Abmat sit-ups
• 20 double-unders
• 20 Abmat sit-ups
• 10 double-unders
• 10 Abmat sit-ups

Chris Spealler can do Annie in four and half minutes. Sadly, I can't.

My double-unders are the rate-limiting step. I'm still adding single-unders between each double-under, which: (1) slows me down significantly (it's essentially doubling the number of jumps I have to do), and (2) exhausts me.

I found the sit-ups to be more challenging than usual today. I'm not sure if it was because the double-unders (and single-unders) had winded me, or if it was because I kept coughing up a lung. Either way, my abs hurt. And my butt, too. I hope I didn't give myself an Abmat ass-crack rash.

Result: 12:30 as RXed. My gut tells me I can reduce this by a good chunk of time once I figure out how to eliminate all the unnecessary single-unders from my double-under sets. Okay -- new goal: String together 10 double-unders without doing any single-unders in-between. I'm giving myself until the end of April to achieve this.

My calves are going to hate me.