A week of not much work

Yesterday was open gym and I thought about skipping it since I was still nice and tired from not sleeping much at all for the 5 nights before, but I do love open gym and I wanted to make up my back squat 1RM.

Back Squat 275x1


And then last Tuesday's Wod-
July 19
Push Jerks 5x2x93#

WOD 3 rounds
9 DL
6 hang power cleans
3 jerks
400 m run
Time-felt like an eternity, but was something closer to 11 something.

Several people were talking about subs with Chris before this wod, so I tried to just slip in my own sub note-"Oh, yeah, I am going to row too, ok?"

It didn't work...I ran.

the good and the bad

Open Gym
Back Squats
7x3 at 185#

400 m run with 3 min rest
x3

Weighted Box Jumps
16 in box
25# DB
5x3

I knew I needed to run. I knew I needed to do some box jumps. I wasn't sure what else I should do, so I wandered around for a little bit. My quads were still a little sore, so I suddenly knew what I needed to do! Squat. As hard as it was to start and as much as my legs complained during that first set, I knew that my legs would feel back to normal after I was done. And it worked.

Doing squats on a day that I run and jump is also good for my morale. You can't just do what you struggle with or it gets pretty tedious!

Sticking with It

Deadlifts 5x2 at 215#

WOD
3 rounds
10 thrusters 85#
10 burpees
Time-6:

The last time I did this wod was a loooong time ago, but it is always reassuring to see improvement, and this time I did it without a rack.

I am also glad that I went ahead and wrote down that I was planning on this being a good week. Sometimes stating/writing intentions and goals gives me the extra push I need to do the work. Before we started this wod, I had a mental battle for at least 10 minutes-Should I rx it or not? How long would this take me if I rx'd it? Would it be worth it? Did I really care? Could I think of any good reason to not use 85#? But remembering that I intended to really focus on my work and push myself this week helped me make the decision to put the 85# on the bar and to commit to this wod.

Then 2 min rest followed by 30 DU attempts.
I got zero DUs today. Bleh.

Then running-
200m/1min rest x3

Then good mornings-
7x3
103#

I was too lazy to post last week.

But even if I had, it just would have been stuff like-
Wow! Clearly the squat clean thruster is the coolest move, because we did a lot of them last week. Who likes those things? The truth is this-thrusters are not good, no one likes them. Squat clean thrusters are even more not good, everyone hates them.

And all of my workouts last week were really taxing after being sick, and I felt like a weakling, and I went home totally spent after each class. It was hard.

I have determined that this week will be different.

I am going to be mentally prepared to work hard.
I am going to eat enough food.
I am going to get some more sleep.

Monday, Day 1 of my week of fabulous training
100 m row sprints x4
Totally forgot to note my time on the first two...
sprint 3= :21
sprint 4= :20.5
Almost makes me want to try an all out, record-board sprint

Front Squat
125x2
145x2
165x2
180x2
195 fail

WOD
100 KBS 35#
3 burpees for every rest
Time-5:41

I will admit that this one really surprised me. I was pretty sure that I was going to KILL the 35# kettlebell swings.

I wanted to be done, like really, really done around 60. The only way to finish this one strongly was for me to just stop thinking and swing at an even controlled pace. Not thinking about how many I had done versus how many were left, or how tired I was getting, or how much harder this was than I had expected. I just.had.to.do.it

I was going to try for 50/50. I knew that was a lofty goal, but I usually aim for the opposite, like telling myself to just do sets of 10. So I managed to keep to 37/37/26, but my burpees were kind of leisurely, to say the least.

Then I ran
400m, rest
200m, rest
100m, rest
100m, rest

GHD
3x10
Side Bends
2x10 44#

And then I had a frozen yogurt...
It was delicious and the company was pretty great too.

Reason #231 to Avoid Running

I now get Prevention Magazine for some reason. I have no idea why I am now receiving it, and can only figure that word got out somehow that I care a lot about prevention. But anyway, there are sometimes these little nuggets of helpful and amusing advice:

On the topic of Good Skin
"The repeated jarring of high-impact cardio like running can weaken collagen and lead to sagging. So until a 'face bra' is invented, I'll stick to cycling and the elliptical machine." (from a leading dermatologist)

There you go, proof enough that running is bad, bad, bad. Who wants to run at the expense of sagging skin? Not me! But I can also tell you that I won't ever be wearing a face bra.

Now back to lesson planning...

Firecracker 5k

I did the 5k this morning, and it was so, so, so much better than last year! Not only did I run more and walk a lot less, I felt a whole lot better doing it. It was pretty horrible even finishing last year, and my knees, hips and shins all hurt. I finished the race and was totally spent.

This year I felt so much more comfortable during the whole race, nothing hurt, I recovered so much faster, and was able to party the rest of the day. I took about 7 minutes off my time (this sounds like a lot, but this is very doable when you have the vast room for improvement that I do!)