Back on the Horse

Other than going on a run* every other day while vacationing in Hawaii, I've been laying low to give my wrist the time it needs to recover. It's still not 100 percent, but there've been signs of improvement, and I've been slowly reintroducing some light barbell work in the past week. Last Friday, I did a workout at CrossFit Palo Alto that involved overhead squats (I used an empty barbell), and yesterday, I practiced light (very light) split jerks before cranking out "Helen."

For what it's worth, the OHS workout consisted of:

• 50 reverse lunges (or jumping lunges)
• 20 overhead squats
• 20 toes to bar
• 50 reverse lunges (or jumping lunges)
• 15 overhead squats
• 15 toes to bar
• 50 reverse lunges (or jumping lunges)
• 10 overhead squats
• 10 toes to bar

It was my first workout in a couple of weeks, and I felt a bit more sluggish than usual, but was happy that I was able to get a barbell overhead without discomfort. Result: 13:03.

Yesterday's "Helen" was an eye-opener, though. Helen, as you'll recall, consists of 3 rounds of a 400-meter run, 21 kettlebell swings (24kg), and 12 pull-ups. In August of last year, I completed this workout as RXed in 10:14 -- a new PR. No such luck this time around. Instead, I finished in 11:23 -- more than a minute slower. I'd like to blame my less-than-healthy wrist, but the truth of the matter is that I'm de-conditioned right now -- I was out of breath sooner than expected and got a side-stitch for the first time in forever.

This doesn't feel good. I need to jump back into the saddle.

*One time, I went running with Michelle. Before heading out, I asked her if she wanted to grab a pair of earbuds and listen to music while we ran. She said no. "I want to talk to you while we run," my wife said. I shrugged and we began our run through Kilauea. Michelle spoke throughout our run, but the only words that came out of her mouth were: "I HATE RUNNING. I HATE RUNNING. I HATE RUNNING."

Monday's Workout

On Saturday, I hitched a ride with Kevin down to Catalyst Athletics for the gym's drop-in Olympic weightlifting class. (Much to our embarrassment, Michelle had texted Aimee Everett the night before to alert her of our plans to go lift in her gym. It's like telling Michael Jordan that you're going to be shooting hoops in his driveway.)

At Catalyst, we met up with Steph, and proceeded to snatch away for the next hour. There's about five gazillion things I need to work on before I snatch proficiently, but with helpful pointers from my friends and Coach Steve Pan (the King of Fast Food), I definitely felt like I sucked a bit less at the end of the session. Best of all, the drop-in class made me want to lift more. 

Thankfully, back at CrossFit Palo Alto on Monday, we had power cleans on the menu. As with my snatches, I really need to focus on keeping the bar close to my body during the first and second pulls. Tim pointed out that I was initiating the second pull too early, and that I was leaving the bar too far in front of my body. This, in turn, was causing me to muscle up the bar rather than using my legs to help drive it up. Not good.

Once I made these corrections, my cleans felt a lot more...well, clean. I even matched my previous PR -- though I failed to set a new one.

The metcon of the day? "Helen."

3 rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 21 kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 12 pull-ups

Even with my Achilles tendon feeling much better, my running was pathetically slow. Otherwise, I got through Helen without too much trouble, though I didn't manage to hit my goal of going unbroken on all three rounds of the swings and pull-ups.

Result: 10:14 as RXed. A one-second PR!

Monday's Workout

Let's get right to it.

Strength Skill:

• Thrusters (5-5-5-3-3)

I stuck with relatively light weights today -- I'm no Danny Nichols -- but I was happy to work on my form. It's been a half-year since we worked on thrusters as a strength skill, and I certainly need the practice. I'm feeling a little rusty. Maybe I'll spend some time this week working on thruster mobility. Then again, maybe I'll just get more sleep.

Metcon:

"Helen" -- 3 rounds for time:

• Run 400 meters
• 21 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 12 pull-ups

I hung back on the first 400-meter run, figuring I'd conserve some energy for the later rounds. Big mistake. Even though I got through all the kettlebell swings and pull-ups pretty much unbroken (until the final round, when I lost my grip on the pull-up bar with a few reps remaining), I didn't PR. We've done Helen many times before, so I should've remembered that this WOD's a relatively short one; there's no point in leaving gas in the tank.

Even worse? I've made this same mistake before.

Result: 10:15 as RXed. Faster than my previous Helen time, but slower than the first time I did it (albeit scaled). Hopefully, I'll remember to go all-out from the start next time.

Tired. Must. Go. To. Sleep.

Monday's Workout

After waking up sore from head to toe (thanks, MovNat!) and a throbbing left sole (thanks, bumblebee sting!), I thought twice before hauling my butt out of bed for the 5 a.m. class at CrossFit Palo Alto. But who am I kidding? I can't stay away.

Strength Skill:

• Overhead Squats (5-3-3-1-1)

After playing around with asymmetrically-loaded weights (a.k.a. big-ass rocks) yesterday, it felt good to hoist a perfectly balanced barbell overhead and just squat. But I didn't press my luck shooting for a new PR today. Just like last week, Kyle and I got up to 105 pounds; next week, we can try for more.

(I keep forgetting to ask Tim about the new rep scheme. I like it, though.)

Metcon:

"Helen" - 3 rounds for time:

• 400-meter run
• 21 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg / 16kg)
• 12 pull-ups

I love Helen, and I wish I wasn't feeling like crap this morning during the WOD. The pull-ups felt great after the overhead squats loosened up my shoulders, and the kettlebell swings were fine -- I did 'em all unbroken -- but my running was painfully slow. I'd like to pin the blame on the swollen bee sting on the bottom of my foot, but the sad truth is that I'm an awfully slow runner regardless.

Result: 10:28 as RXed -- a half-minute slower than my last encounter with Helen. Crap.

Wednesday's Workout

Another good one today.

Strength Skill:

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

I'm inching closer to a bodyweight overhead squat, but I'm still struggling with my balance. My lower body's positioned properly now, but I'm still having difficulty keeping my chest and head up the entire time. I had to dump the barbell a few times as the weights increased (though weirdly enough, after throwing even more plates on, I was able to successfully squat a heavier bar).

Metcon:

"Helen" -- 3 rounds for time:

• 400-meter run
• 21 overhead kettlebell swings (using a 53-pound kettlebell)
• 12 pull-ups

Helen ain't no joke. When we did Helen back in October, I finished in 11:25, mostly due to the fact that I tried to conserve energy during the running portions of the WOD. I also allowed myself brief breaks to catch my breath between the swings and the pull-ups. Today, I was determined to go balls-out, taking no breaks if at all possible, and see if I could crush my previous time. "Rest later," I kept telling myself. "This'll be over soon."

And it was. A lot sooner than the last time around, anyway.

Result: 9:59 -- almost a minute and a half faster than my previous attempt.

In retrospect, I probably could/should have run even faster (especially during the first round), and I wasn't happy about losing my grip on the pull-up bar three times during the final round (my hands and forearms were burning, and I'm a wuss), but otherwise, I kept the pedal to the metal. I know I'm not exactly setting the world on fire (like some people) with my Helen time, but if we had a Sub-10 Club at our box, I'd actually qualify (albeit by the skin of my teeth)!

Wednesday's Workout

Strength Skill:

• Front Squats

I'm getting much better at keeping my elbows up -- way up! -- in rack position, which was a huge problem for me early on.

It's weird. I haven't done yoga for ages, and my stretching is limited to warming up for my CrossFit classes, but my shoulder mobility has improved significantly. I'd like to chalk it up to doing some Mobility WODs, but frankly, I haven't been able to keep up with Kelly Starrett's daily videos. (Talk about prolific -- that guy's produced a ridiculous amount of content -- for free! -- in just a couple of months.)

Metcon:



"Helen" -- 3 rounds for time:

• 400 meter run
• 21 overhead kettlebell swings (24kg, or for us dumb Americans whose heads explode at the mere mention of the metric system, 53 pounds)
• 12 pull-ups

Result: 11:25. I'm disappointed -- I should have (and could have) run faster, but stupidly tried to conserve energy. Kettlebell swings and pull-ups, though, don't take much out of me, and I really didn't need to pace myself. I should have gone balls-out, but I didn't, and for that, I'm kicking myself.

Wednesday's Workout

We practiced front squats this morning, which gives me an opportunity to test my progress since late June, when we last focused on this move. I can already feel that my form is much improved -- I'm squatting deeper, and able to drive more forcefully from the "hole." The next step: Increasing the amount of weight I can squat.

Today's metcon: Double-Under Helen.

3 rounds for time:

• 50 Double-Unders
• 21 Kettlebell Swings
• 12 Pull-Ups

It took me a whopping 16:18 to finish, mostly because I stumbled aplenty during the double-unders. Before today, I'd never been able to crank out more than a half-dozen of 'em, but I decided I wasn't going to scale the workout by substituting single-unders -- even if it took me an hour to finish all 150 double-unders. Thankfully, I got into a groove, and was able to string together several long, unbroken stretches of double-unders. But it was a shitload of work because for every double-under I did, I probably did another three or four single-unders just to get into the proper rhythm.

Still: It was fun.