CrossFit Games Open WOD 12.3 and 4 + bonus

What have I done!  Left you on the edge of your seat, waiting ever so patiently for the next episode of the 2012 CrossFit Games saga.  Well, I'm a slacker.  As much as I would like to give you a fix, it is not possible at this point to pick up where I left off.  It's been 2 weeks since the last post and so I'll just tell you how the past 2 weeks went then I'll continue on from today.  

So WOD 12.3 did not go as planned.  My plan was to get 9 rounds of box jumps, push presses, and toes-2-bar in under 18 minutes.  THWARTED!!!  Toes-2-bar turned out to be the death of me.  Box jumps were textbook.  75# push presses?  Efficient.  Struck down by the T2B time and time again!  7 times over!  My rhythm which is normally present and accounted for on this core burner, decided to sleep in.  I was only managing to pull out a few at a time before my hands would slip from the bar as if Titus had been there thinking the bar was a chew toy.  So I ended up with 6 rounds plus 29 reps.  Booo!  But, there's more.  My dear, sweet husband was there!  And he brought backup, who will remain nameless for security reasons ;-).  It was fantastic!  Words cannot express my enthusiasm at having him there to cheer me on.  And again there's more.  

I met Dawn.  She is a machine disguised as a big girl.  As we milled about waiting for a warm-up to precede the next heat, I saw her with her trigger points rollers and her balls massaging out the muscles that would be used in this day's WOD.  I did what all girls do.  I sized her up, checked her out, and dismissed her as NOT my competition.  Um, I was wrong.  A classic lesson in "judge not lest you be judged."  We happened to line up next to one another in what proved to be a battle.  The kicker?  Only I thought it was a battle.  I knew she was maybe one round ahead of me but when I discovered at the end that she was 4 rounds ahead of me, I spat!  We are the same height, so vied for the same bar.  This put a kink in my WOD but not hers.  Anyway, I later discovered that she has competed as an individual in the CrossFit Games (that means I shouldn't have even been in the same heat as her) and she has gone with a team.  Additionally, she has been interviewed by CrossFit Games!  She's FAMOUS! And I discounted her as not my competition.  Shame on me!  To wrap that up, she is super nice and we exchanged phone numbers so she can let me know when she and her other beast friends do team WODs.  I'm sure it's only because she needs a weak link, but that's okay.  I can be that for her.

Open WOD 12.4.  The box was strangely quiet with only a fraction of athletes of past weeks present.  If I have gained nothing else from this year's experience, it is that I now know very well the things I need to work on.  Yesterday was not terribly challenging for me except that it included 30 muscle-ups which are the equivalent of the snatch in gymnastics movements for crossfitters.  In other words, it's hard and the average crossfitter cannot do it or can only do a couple (Dawn got 6) reps.  I went to CrossFit Wilmington on Friday to get some instruction and to make my first ever attempt.  All I got was massive bruises on each arm and an angry blister on my hand that hurts like you know what.  I look like I've been in a domestic dispute (disclaimer:  this is not uncommon and my friends have learned to attribute any unusual bruising or blisters to this extreme sport they don't really get).  No muscle-up.  BUT, I did get some really great tips on things I can do at home in order to put the components of the movement together.  I will get them and that's final.  

So in addition to 30 muscle ups, the WOD was 150 wall balls (14# to a 9' target) and 90 double unders (that's jumping rope so that the rope goes under your feet twice with one jump) then the muscle ups in 12 minutes.  I gotta admit I'm kinda proud of the wall balls and double unders.  I completed the wall balls in 7:06 (that's a 5 minute PR, or personal record) and I was done with the double unders by just under 10 minutes.  So I had 2 minutes to attempt a muscle up.  I attempted 4 times to no avail.  I'm not beating myself up over this for I exceeded my goal of 150 wall balls in 8 minutes and that of actually getting to attempt a muscle up.  So my score on Open WOD 12.4 was 240.   Still not good enough to do any more than the Open, but enough to show me the areas that I will be ready for next year.

Now, next weekend will be quite interesting.  It is the last WOD of the Open.  Additionally, I have signed up to do March Madness there at CF Wilmington.  It is a competition and the first ever for me.  It will consist of 3 maybe 4 WODs all done in the same day.  The first WOD will be 12.5 for the Open and the rest will be spaced out throughout the day.  

Stay tuned for it will be chock full of anxiety and stress poop and WODness....

CrossFit Games Open WOD 12.2

Burpees to snatches are as ants to elephants!  This week's open WOD proved to be a bear that I like to think I killed with my bear hands.  Hear me ROAR! Well, maybe not quite, but I gave a good solid E for effort.

As you already know, the WOD is announced at 5p.m. PST (that's 8 my time) on Wednesday night.  On Tuesday night I'm anxiously waiting so I don't sleep.  On Wednesday night, after the undisclosed has been disclosed, my mind races to make a game plan, to create a realistic expectation, to plan a goal, to wish for something different, to convince myself that I can actually do this.  I don't sleep that night either.  Since I had clinical this past week on the day after the WOD release, I decided sleep might be more important and didn't even unhibernate any computer or access FB or really use any technology in my house (this is because I have crossfit staring me in the face at every twist and turn, so at 5:01p.m. the newly released WOD is on everybody's keyboard) until after rising at 4:15a.m. on Thursday. And the WOD is....

wait for it....

AMRAP 10" (that stands for as many reps as possible in 10 minutes) of:

30 snatches (45#)

30 snatches (75#)

30 snatches (100#)

max reps snatches (120#)

You have to proceed through this sequence as listed and when the clock stops, you stop!  

HOLY SNATCH BATMAN!!!  That is the most ridiculous WOD ever imagined.  Let me clarify.  The snatch is an olympic lift and widely considered to be the most technically difficult of all lifts.  It entails moving weight from the floor to overhead in one single motion, no stops in between.  I am very uncomfortable with this lift.  I don't feel efficient at it or strong or even like I do it right.  What's more, I haven't done a single snatch since November because I had tennis elbow which makes any pulling movement painful and quite impossible as it largely affects your ability to grip.  Additionally, I was having knee pain for awhile and thus, no big weight movements since October.  Strangely, however, my anxiety was not extreme.  I knew I wouldn't get much passed a couple 100# snatches, if that, simply because the strength for that movement isn't there.  On the other hand, perhaps, the anxiety of having to face my first day of clinical in 6 months trumped any CrossFit fears possible. 

This week was shaping up to be quite different from burpee hell week.  For one, I practiced the burpee WOD prior to actually competing for it.  This week, I knew I would not be able to do a run-through of snatches, simply because it would make me as sore as an abdominal surgery patient and you never want to go into a competition sore from a previous workout.  The long grueling clinical day came to an end and my resolve to at least work some a few snatches was waning.  I knew that if I didn't work it today, I would have no snatch practice prior to compteting.  And alas, an inkling of self-discipline lit a tiny flame and I went to the gym anyway.  After a short warm-up and a little waiting as is always the case in a globo gym, my focus shifted from handstand holds to the looming squat rack where color coded bumper plates rested benignly on pegs.  Anticipation builds as I look at the 45lb bar and visualize 25s, 35s on each end.  If I stand there long enough those plates will become feathers....wait, reality!  The thing is, there is no satisfaction in glaring at weights; I can't will them onto the bar; they don't float to somewhere above my head.  "Ok, fine, let's do this and get outta here!"  I do some reps with just the bar and feel good, so I add 20lbs.  Still good, though a little shaky.  Add 10lbs (75) and more shaky but still pull it out for 3 or 4 reps.  The 85lb set proved to be a mess.  I landed the first one but since I didn't want to call 85 a 1 rep max, I went for a few more only to fail the next 2.    I tweaked my positioning and concentrated on pulling the bar back and up instead of just up.  BAM!  Got it!  With the tweaks, 90, 95, and 100lb reps can easily.  That's already a personal record (PR) (my PR is 95).  So I pretend Chris is with me and I hear him saying "that was easy! Do 105!"  So I load the bar with 105lbs.  Now this number in itself makes me feel like a weakling (I know, you think I'm crazy) because it is my weakest movement.  I'm stronger in everything else, so relatively speaking, it's weak.  Nonetheless, it will be a feat if I land it and can stand up.  Two attempts landed but couldn't stand up.  Third time's a charm.  BAM!  Solid, clean snatch at 105lbs!  I'm done.  I have not practiced 60-90 snatches in 10 minutes, but I have practiced snatches and I can go home happy with a new PR to post.

Saturday comes fast.  On a typical competition morning I rise with anxiety and the urge to defecate (I know that gross, but true).  This morning was exceptional.  Not only did I have to poop early, my stomach was upside down with nerves.  I didn't even feel like eating, which NEVER happens.  I ate my 2 block meal (2 blocks because it's lighter than a full meal and I did not want to meet Pukie the Clown today) anyway and felt better.  A decently long telephone convo with my CrossFit BFF was comforting, motivating, and inspiring.  She did the WOD earlier in the week and got 61, so she gave me her insight as to how to game it and I set a goal of 65 knowing that the extra 5 reps in the 100lb set would help my ranking significantly.

I normally think people who rant about talking on the phone and driving are just jealous because they can't multi-task.  I apparently can't multi-task either....