Thanksgiving Chief, year 2

Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2010

Front Squat + Jerk

63x2+1

83x2+1

93x2+1

103x1+1

113x1+1

WOD

partner Chief with Sam Y

3 Rounds

AMRAP in 5 min

3 Power Cleans 83#

6 push ups

9 squats

1 min rest between rounds

Partners alternate the Chief sequence and while one is working, the other holds the plank position

7+7 squats/7+5 squats/7 +2 squats

Try as I might, I could never get that last round finished! I loved, loved, loved this partner Chief. I almost didn't come to the Thanksgiving class when the memories of last year's Chief WOD came flooding back. But of course, I am very glad I made it in. I told my sister on the way in that if we had to do the running partner Chief, we'd have to be together and she would get to run 600m rounds while I ran 200. Then when I got home, I went back and read my entry from that wod.

Way back then I was still slightly overwhelmed by the shear eliteness of Cliff and Golden, so there was a lot of pressure from being the way, way, way slowest person in that wod. Ah the memories... And a year later, I still whine about running, and I am still often the slowest person in the wod. Now being slow doesn't bother me as much, and I am ever so slightly better at running, slightly being the operative word.

And then I went home and finished all of the preparations for our Thanksgiving feast. I am often asked if I cheat, so here is some photographic evidence of my cheat day-

The paleo foods-

Turkey, one smoked and one roasted

Sweet Potatoes

Paleo Stuffing

Brussel Sprouts

Green Beans with Bacon

pumpkin bars

Apps: vegetables, fruit, mini sausages

The non-paleo foods-

Cranberry sauce

gravy (thickened with potato starch and no one noticed the difference)

Cauliflower squash with asiago cheese

real, traditional mashed white potatoes

gluten free biscuit

whipped cream on my paleo bars

Apps-jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon, artichoke jalapeno dip, m&ms

And wine and gluten-free beer

Ouch!

Back Squat
228.5 x2x3

3 box jumps between each set

The squats were kind of off tonight-rolling onto my toes, dropping too fast, feeling like they were heavy...but sometimes you just charge ahead and get the work done.

WOD
5 rounds
15 yd suitcase lunge 30# DBs
15 yd resisted run (with Anna)

Last time I did this wod with 20# DBs. This is also the first time in a long time that I have done resisted runs with my own sister. If you want to work less, it is certainly preferable to partner with someone not related to you. Non-relations (Black-hearted Kyle excepted) tend to be concerned about not resisting TOO hard, and might even be worried about breaking you. My own sister apparently had very little concern for this.

I can feel the effects of this wod very, very definitely. Apparently I have still not adapted to the combination of back squats, weighted lunges and resisted runs.

Thanksgiving Cooking-Paleo Pumpkin Pie Squares

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Squares

Ingredients:
Nut crust
1/2 a cup of pecans, chopped up as finely as possible
1 cup of almond flour
one squirt of honey
a dash of salt
4 tablespoons of coconut oil

Filling
1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree (make sure you purchase pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling that is pre sweetened)
3 eggs whisked
roughly 1/8 cup of honey
3/4 cup of full fat coconut milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees for the crust.

Mix all of the ingredients together for the crust and then press into a 9x9 baking dish lined with parchment paper. Bake until light brown. For me, this took 10 minutes, but it could take anywhere between 8-20 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven.

Combine all of the ingredients for the filling and pour on top of the nut crust. Lower the oven temp to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. When finished, the middle will still be wobbly, but the edges will be set. Remove the pumpkin bars from the oven and let come to room temperature, at least 45 minutes. The pumpkin will solidify as it cools. Cut into bars and serve!

Mini Goals

Hang Power Clean + Power Clean
88.5x2x4

Got them all done, but they didn't really feel that remarkable.

WOD
3 rounds
200 m run
21 kettlebell swings 35#
12 burpees

Time:

So here are my wod reflections tonight-
I am trying to remember to set myself mini-goals, (as was presented in the goal-setting workshop) for the wods. I have been taking breaks during the wod far too often lately, so this is one of my personal self-corrections.

I ran the whole time I was outside on the runs-the whole time, even at the turn around.

I kept all the KBS unbroken.

I had a goal of actually jumping down and up for every burpee (instead of kind of stepping down) but I didn't make this one. My first burpee on rounds 2 and 3 were definitely more step and less jump, and I think I threw in a few other fakes a couple of times.

Dip, Drive

Front Squats
150x3x5

Chipping away at the front squat goal with a defined progression...little by little, week by week. My front squat is disproportionately low in comparison to my back squat, so I this is clearly a weakness that I need to chip away at.

WOD
3 rounds
200 m run
10 cleans 83#
10 front squats
10 shoulder to overhead

Time-18:14

Yep, that one took me 18 minutes and it felt like it was a really, really long 18 minutes. Jason graciously allowed me to scale the runs down from the 400 meters. That would have killed me or I would have had to scale the weight way down. So I was very, very happy with this compromise and really feel like it worked well for me.

The shoulder to overheads were not fun. I was just feeling super off and my regular jerks were very uncomfortable. I think that was because my timing was off. If you don't actually do it right, the dip of your legs provides no help and then the only way to get the bar up is to press it. That gets old really quickly! So I had to just stick with split jerks which are slower.

Thrusters, yeah!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Clean Deadlift
153x3x3

WOD
3 rounds
in 2:30 minutes
Row 200 m
10 Thrusters 83#
Max Rep Pull Ups-ring
12/7/9
1 min rest between rounds

The thrusters were really hard. They were the kind of hard that really make you regret loading the bar with that weight with single plates since i spent the first round wishing I could just strip off 10#. They were the kind of hard that make you think about shorting reps, and that's what I spent the second round thinking about. But they were the kind of hard that you know you can tackle, when you reach that last round and realize that the end is in sight and actually very possible.

And then after all of that, Kevin convinced me to run butcher sprints. I am weak and would have given up after 1 sprint, but I made it through 4, thanks to some encouragement.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Mental Game

11/15/2010

Press 3x5
78#

Who can mess up what is probably the simplest lift ever?!? I can! Every single time, too! But I did get it done.

WOD
60 KBS 45#
40 Burpees
20 K2E
Time: 9:12

I certainly don't look forward to these high rep, single round wods, but I know they offer a unique training element so I like them anyway.

If this wod was broken up into 5 rounds of 12/8/4, it would be so different! It is this long string of hard things that so changes the mental side of the workout! I still break the work up into smaller sets in my mind, meeting those mental goals sometimes, and giving up on them at other times, but even when I tell myself to just get 10 done, I know that right after that, I'll still have another 10, and then another 10...

Since the gym has the new butcher, Kyle just had to throw in sprints with that thing as our finisher. This time we only had 50# on there, but on my last sprint, Golden was thoughtful enough to push back on the sled, all in the interest of improving my personal fitness.

The Butcher

Back Squats
220x3x3
with 3 box jumps between each set

WOD
Butcher Sprints 90#
30 yd high bar+ 30 yd low bar x4

That butcher is a nasty piece of equipment, no doubt about it. The distance with the higher bars was tolerable, but the low bar was brutal. It was brutal on the quads, brutal on the lungs, and a test of my ability to just keep moving even when my body was telling me to please stop.

Last Week

Tuesday 11/9/2010

Snatch Balance
Max for the Day-93#

WOD
Time: 7:14

Thursday 11/11/2010
Front Squat
143x3x5
(skipped the box jumps so I could move faster and be able to do the wod with the class :)

WOD
45 sec on/15 sec transition
sled pull and back pedal (120 yds)
KBS 45#
Sandbag cleans 25#
Sandbag lunges
Push Press 63#
K2E

Finish with 30 yd with the Butcher

Now I have a new FS goal

Front Squat
Heavy single
83
123
153
163
173
195-not quite deep enough

I am now going to be aiming for the 200# front squat. It is so close I can taste it.

WOD
compare to 4/24/2010
4 rounds
1 min max Box Jumps 20"
30 sec cross chops 35# (alternate sides each round)
30 sec push ups
*45 sec rest

I didn't write my numbers down during the wod, so these are kind of rough, but I know that I did at least these numbers each round
Box Jumps 22/20/22/20
Cross Chops 20/20/20/20
Push Ups 13/10/10/10

Yep, a push up wimp. But I did use the 20 in box this time instead of the 16 I used in April!

Getting the Work Done

11/4/2010
Jerk
113x2x5
hold each split position for 2 sec

So I'll just go ahead and admit that bringing the bar back down for the 2nd lift was a big pain. I was so lazy that every once in awhile I just dropped it after the 2nd lift and got Danny to clean it back up for me. But as far as the actual lifts go, I tried to work on my landing position, making sure I was not doing the tight-rope spilt. I think this improved. Now punching up with active shoulders, I think improved a little bit, but I don't think Kyle agrees. That is why it is good to have a coach-to be nice and honest with you!

WOD
400 m row
21-15-9
DB snatches 25# (each arm, yes 21 each arm for the 1st round!)
push ups
400 m row
Time-11:15

I will get better at push ups. I will.

11/5/2010
Back Squat
213x3x5
with 3 box jumps between each set

Then I did a gob more box jumps, just because I love them so much. Or because I am supposed to be working on jumping high and landing softly, or something like that, and it is taking me some extra special time to figure out how to do that.

Side Bends
3x10 each side 35# KB

Yes! Who doesn't love to sculpt that waistline. These were a breeze, in fact I felt like I could just keep doing them, and doing them, until my head got tired of tipping over so many times.

But then I could feel them the next day, and the next day, and I can still feel them today.

11/6/2010
HPS + PSnatch
53
63
68
73
78x2x2
83x2x2
the 83 went like this-1st HPS fail, made the PS, second HPS made, second PS fail. So I had to PS that bar again. I am going to get totally comfortable with 83, sometime...

PClean and Jerk
73
83
93
103
113x1x5 (miss x2)

I was supposed to focus on a speedy turnover. Instead I had the slow-mo turnover. I knew I was slow. I knew I was pulling the bar plenty high enough every single time. I knew that if I just whipped those elbows around and stuck those hips back, I'd get it. But what my brain knew, my body refused to do.

Slow Death by Burpees

Front Squat
133x3x5
super set 3 box jumps

The front squats were no problemo, but this notion that I am supposed to jump up onto the box, like the 2nd pull of a clean is so far alluding me...This is one of the great things about all of this-I get to the point that I can jump on a box (yeah me!) and then I get to learn a new way to jump onto the box.

Golden decided to work in with my bar, and then he decided to ramp up my training a bit-jumping all over the place, making a lot of noise all in an effort to teach me focus and concentration. It is fabulous to have so many people looking out for me. It is this going the extra mile to help another person that makes me really appreciate CFWSC so very, very much.

WOD
teams of 3 (with Joanna and Julie)
Each member completes-
500 m row sprint
10 burpees
then each completes-
300 m row sprint
20 burpees
then-
100 m row sprint
30 burpees

I kept my first split time under 2:00, my second under 1:56, and my third under 1:52. I went into the wod knowing that I really, really needed to work hard to keep the rows sprints, not slowing down in an effort to "prepare" for the burpees. I have come to realize that there is no preparing for the burpees. They are just nasty at any time.

In fact I am quite sore today and I attribute that solidly to the burpees. There is no question in my mind that it was the many burpees on Sat followed by the many burpees on Tuesday that led to this discomfort. There is no way that the halting sndl, front squats, bear complex, or cleans have anything to do with my tight knees. It is all burpees.

The Bear

Hang Snatch + Snatch
53, 63, 68, 73, 78

WOD
Bear Complex
7 rounds
1 power clean
1 front squat
1 push press
1 back squat
1 behind the neck press

7 rounds with 63# not a problem

7 rounds with 73# a little bit of a problem, as in I really had to work at keeping myself moving, not stopping, and just really trying to NOT rest at any point

7 rounds with 83# well...
I probably wouldn't have attempted this if Kevin hadn't loaded my bar
It was during this round that I missed during the 4th round. I rested waaaaay too long on that front squat rack, so then I just dropped the bar after the push press. I knew that I was honestly out at that point.
Kevin also goaded me into finishing the 7 rounds, even though it was a miss. So I finished the the last 4 rounds just so I wouldn't feel bad about myself after I left.

A wod like this is always a good one since it really tests my mental determination. I need all the help I can get when it comes to being mentally committed to a wod...:)