Germantown Track

I was in visiting my folks in Memphis and took advantage of the nice weather and lack of agenda to get out on the track.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Walk/Jog to track
1 mile in 8:41
splits
2:07 (2:07)
2:18 (4:24)
2:15 (6:39)
2:02 (8:41)

I finished with a fast quarter at 1:47

Played with the shot put a little bit (16# and 126 mm).  I could send it about 6 meters (just shy of the 22 mm world record).

Walk/Jog back home

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Walk/Jog to track

3 fast quarters with 200m walk (~2:30) in between efforts

1:50
1:47
1:47

This was encouraging.  I feel like I am in a good position to close in on my 8:00 mile.  I want to follow the model of 3 runs per week (distance, tempo and speed).

Saucony Guide 13

I finally picked up a new pair of Joggers.  I opted for my old favorite the Saucony Guide 13 (size 9.5).  I was not thrilled about the color and I will be swapping them out for the blackout, but the fit was perfect as usual.

I also spent some time on the treadmill with the On Cloudflyer.  I have seen more and more people running with On shoes and they fit my feet pretty well.  They seemed less cushioned in the front foot.  I might pick up a pair down the road if they come on sale (size 9.5)

Gymnastics - Metcon

Friday, March 6, 2020

Crossfit Golden - Lucas

0700 - 3 of us

Warm Up

1 min of the following
star jumps
tabletop stretch
slam balls
banded face pulls
lunge - hamstring stretch
banded Y's
slam ball plank pass
hollow hold

Gymnastics

Take 15 minutes to rotate through practicing three gymnastics movements:
 
Movement 1 – Ring Muscle-Ups (or) Progressions
Movement 2 – L-Sit Hold Progressions
Movement 3 – Handstand Hold (or) Progressions

I chose to work on handstand push-up technique.  Lucas observed me kicking up and evaluated stabilty.  He recommended 2 sets of 4 negatives to 1 abmat.  I did 5 singles.

Coaching cue:  Work on lunging, planting hands and kicking up and scissoring with straight legs.  This body awareness and positioning will translate well into open space.

Next I chose to work on kip swings and kipping pull-ups.  I strung two together and then a couple of singles.

Metcon

Metcon (AMRAP - Reps)

Two sets for max reps:
3 Minutes of Rowing
2 Minutes of Alternating Dumbbell Snatches (50/35 lbs)
3 Minutes of Rowing
2 Minutes of Ring Dips

I scaled this to 35# DB and did ring dips

Round 1 - 35 cal - 20 DBS - 32 cal - 9 ring dips
Round 2 - 31 cal - 16 DBS - 29 cal - 9 ring dips

I liked this scaling as I rarely do strict ring dips, opting for the matador or bands. 

EMOM

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Crossfit Golden - OPEN GYM

1400

Warm Up

foam roll
mountain climbers
hamstring sweeps
bear crab rotations
jumping jacks
slow hrpu
kb goblet lunge
kb deadlift
scap push-up

Metcon WOD
Metcon (AMRAP - Reps)
Every minute, on the minute, for 30 minutes (6 sets) of:
Minute 1 – 8 Deadlifts @ 70% of 1-RM
Minute 2 – 16 Walking Lunges with Farmer’s Carry (50/35 lb DBs)
Minute 3 – 6 Bar Muscle-Ups
Minute 4 – 12 Parallette Shoot Throughs
Minute 5 – 40 Seconds of Prone Plank
43 reps per round (plank= 1 rep)

My workout was based loosely on the above WOD

Metcon

Every minute, on the minute, for 30 minutes (6 sets) of:
Minute 1 – 8 Axle Bar Deadlifts @ 165# (140# HG bumpers + 25# bar)
Minute 2 – 16 Alternating reverse lunges (unweighted)
Minute 3 – 1 rope climb
Minute 4 – 6 Parallette Shoot Throughs
Minute 5 – 30 Seconds of Prone Plank

The deadlifts got tough after going unbroken, then 5/3, I ended up doing 4/2/1/1 the last couple of rounds.

Reverse lunges were OK, but took 40-45 seconds

Rope climb all the way to the top the first 3 rounds, then halfway up

Parallette shoot through was scaled perfectly, but long rest as they only took 15 seconds

Plank was scaled well (went a full minute on the last round)

Metcon

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Crossfit Golden - Greg

1200 - 12 of us

Warm Up

i99 hip hammy

3 rounds of
20 jumping jacks
10 band pull apart
10 band shoulder press
5 scap push-up
2 wall walk up (I did 1)
10 ankle drivers

Metcon

Metcon (AMRAP - Rounds and Reps)

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 15 minutes of:
500 Meter Row
50 Double-Unders
10 Strict Handstand Push-Ups
Rest 5 minutes, and when the running clock reaches 20:00…

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 15 minutes of:
300 Run
30 Hand Release Push-Ups
20 Wall Ball Shots (20/14 lbs)

This was tough.  I felt sluggish during the warm up and that did not improve.  Grabbing the 14# wall ball, it felt like 30#.

I did the 500 m row, 40 double unders/round and 10 pike push-ups (5/5).  I managed 3 rounds and 15 seconds on the rower before time was called (no Hail Mary).

Five minutes was a good rest and I felt recovered.  That was not the case.

I did the 300 m run, 20 HRPU/round (5/5/3/2/2/2/1), and 20 wall ball shots with a 14# wall ball (10/5/5).  I finished 3 rounds and got out the door with 50 seconds remaining for the Hail Mary run (which took me nearly 3 minutes).

Total 6 Rounds + 1 Rep

I feel like I am continuing to get sick and should take the day off or do open gym tomorrow.

Bench Press - Metcon

Monday, March 2, 2020

Crossfit Golden - Greg/Lacey

1200 - 10 of us

Warm Up

90 seconds of the following
burpees
scorpions face down / face up
over and under the fence
scap push-ups
inch worm plus two push-ups
dumbbell floor press
quad and hamstring stretch
dumbbell Cuban press

Cuban Press - Popularized by Charles Poliquin and has nothing to do with Cuba.  It is just a made up name.

Weightlifting

Every 2 minutes, for 10 minutes (5 sets) of:
Bench Press (3 reps @ 21X1)

Take 8 minutes to build to 75% of your 1-RM, and perform all 5 sets at 75% of your 1-RM. Focus on a controlled eccentric, pause for 1 second at the chest, and then drive the bar up with as much speed as possible.

I worked out with Joe.  I built up from 45-95-115-135.  My working sets were at 135# (69% of 195# 1RM).  I was able to maintain good tempo.

Metcon

"Desire" (AMRAP - Reps)

Desire is a Crossfit Invictus benchmark workout. 

For max reps:
5 Minutes of Burpee Box Jump-Overs (24″/20″)

This is the fourth time this has been programmed at Crossfit Golden and I have had the unfortunate pleasure of making it every time.

5/21/2019 - 31 reps
8/26/2019 - 32 reps
12/23/2019 - 32 reps
3/2/2020 - 28 reps

I came out of the gate feeling sluggish and it never got better.  I had one near miss on the box and that slowed me down a little as well.

Post WOD

We had a little time so I set up a wall ball throw station.  With a target 4.5 feet off the ground and my feet tucked under 50# dumbbells, the movement felt pretty good with a 12# wall ball.  Moving up to the 20# wall ball used in the competition, things got spicy.  I could manage about 7-8 reps before having to reset.  Although it was slower, I will let the ball bounce on the floor between my legs, recover it and then start the next rep.

Golden Games 2020

March 1, 2020

Crossfit Golden hosted an in-house competition with 6 athletes in the men's Rx, 8 athletes in the men's open and 10 athletes in the lady's open.  It was my first competition and I had a lot of fun.

Workout 1 - Squat Clean Ladder - These went up to 155# and I was pleasantly surprised that my judge would help with loading plates.  I did the 75# in 2 sets.  Starting at 95#, I switched to singles. I finished the event, just under the 6 minute cap.  6th place.  This placing surprised me as well.  I move a barbell OK, but have never been good with fast reps.

Workout 2 - AMRAP pull-ups, dumbbell snatch, and dumbbell box step over.  This was tough.  I did OK on the pull-ups with fast singles. The snatch got to me and during the 1 minute breaks, I scrambled to find my elbow sleeves.  The 20" box step overs were a grind.  The open division used a 50# dumbbell and that certainly approached my upper limit.  I did 5 rounds + 2 reps.  8th place.  This placing did not surprise me.  I felt a little tweak in my right shoulder and never got into a rhythm.

Workout 3 - Sandbag run and air squats.  This was as bad as advertised.  My runs were around 3 minutes and the air squats were another 1:30 to 2:00.  I finished the 3 rounds around 15 minutes.  As planned, I walked the uphill and jogged the rest.  6th place.  This placing surprised me.  I am glad I wore joggers and the calf sleeves helped.  I also made a point of wearing gloves.  This was comfortable, but I still should have moved my hand position around.

Floater - Echo Bike - Assault Runner - Ski Erg - I paced this pretty well and probably had a little more in the tank.  I went for a combined 844 meters.  7th place.  I did the floater at 10:40 (about 20 minutes after event 2).  I might have been able to push a little harder, but I kept good form and was steady.

Those points put me 8th overall.

Jarrod (1-1-2-2 = 6)
Jon (2-3-3-4 = 12)
Ryan (3-5-1-1 = 10)
Chris (5-4-4-3 = 16)
Will (4-2-8-8 = 22)
Mark (7-7-7-5 = 26)
Sanjiv (6-8-6-7 = 27)
Nick (8-6-5-6 = 25)

I fueled up with a banana and some applesauce after the floater.  This gave me an hour to digest prior to the start of my sandbag run.

I obviously packed more than I needed, but I did a good job cooling down and warming up for each event.

The event was very well organized and the programming was exceptional as well.  The order of the events made a lot of sense as well.  Had the squat clean ladder been later in the day it would have been horrible.  There was not much downtime between events, just enough to chat with folks and feel ready to go again.

Based on this positive experience, I will likely seek out competition in the future.