Painful...simply painful!

Wednesday, Shoulder Press 1-1-1, Push Press 3-3-3, Push Jerk 5-5-5.

I've been "greasing the groove" on the shoulder press the last couple of weeks, so I was really hoping I would get a PR. My concern was that I hadn't greased in a while - had slacked off a bit due to the workouts.  So went into this, not sure how I would do.  

Shoulder Press - round 1 - 110 - got it....round 2 - 115.........got it - YAY PR!!, not the prettiest lift, but still a PR.  Then, round 3, decided, what the hell, let's get greedy!  Went for 120.  Ummm...nope - the bar said "I don't think so Greedy Gus!".  Ah well, I got the 115. 

Push press - my previous PR was 1 at 140.  The push presses were feeling a bit off.   I started at 135 got those 3, but they were not pretty at all - I wasn't putting in enough of a hip drive so ended up pressing the last bit to overhead.  Round 2 - 137, this round, I was feeling the motion a bit more - didn't feel too bad, but I don't think they were great lookin' either.  Last set, 140 - got all three, so another PR, again, albeit not the prettiest one ever!

Push Jerk - I believe my PR on these was 145 - I think that was the one I tried to drop on my head, but I'm not certain.  I was not feeling the push jerk at all - possibly because I was tired, either that or just an all out bad coordination day.  I started at 115, went to 125 - which were downright ugly.  So I went all the way back down to 95.    So, I did 'em - not my best effort by any means.

Thursday: Kettlebell Hell: Tabata intervals (20 second work, 10 second rest, 8 times) applied to Front Squats, Clean and Jerks,  Rows, and alternating floor presses.  16kg per hand.  Score is total reps.

We have not done this one in a while.  I actually, momentarily considered moving to the 20kg kettlebell for these, since, I kind of feel like I've been too comfortable with the 16kg lately.(I got a taste of the 20kg during the 10 minute one handed clean and jerks, and have been pondering it alot lately) However, upon consideration, I decided this was the WRONG workout to make a change that drastic.  I figured, I could do most of it, even if the numbers were low, but I wasn't confident about the 2 handed clean and jerks.  So, 16kg it was!  Keep in mind throughout this whole thing you are holding 2 kettlebells - AKA 35 lbs per hand.

Front Squats - total for all 8 rounds was -47 

Clean and Jerks -total for 8 rounds was -25

Upright Rows - total for 8 rounds was -49

Floor Presses - total for 8 rounds was 60

I believe these numbers are correct, but I'm not 100% sure - I know my total was 181. Ironically,  the upright rows, actually seem easier alternating (which is how we have done them previously).  I'm not certain why this would be, but they definitely felt that way while doing them.  I will admit, there were some really weak ones in that count!  Floor Press, the start position was with both arms holding the weight up (increasing the level of difficulty).  I know I started in that position, and didn't set down the Kettlebells until round 3. So I'm confident the 1st two rounds were done correctly.  I think it was probably round 3 or 4 that I set the KB's down, and when I picked 'em up, didn't think about it, and started in the down position. 

....and it was about round 5 or 6 that Jonathan saw me screwing 'em up and corrected me.  I know I did 1, 2, or maybe even 3 rounds wrong.  So, my score probably for the floor presses is a bit deceiving.

All I can say is, that I was sure glad I went with the 16kg for KB Hell, once I found out today was...duh, duh, duh.......

"The Filthy Fifty"

To some extent, I was kind of disappointed....although I don't think that's really the right word......   Here's the thing, for me at least, half of the allure of the Filthy 50 is that it doesn't come up often, so when it does, it creates a buzz and excitement that makes everyone's heart fill with dread, yet anticipation.  People go out of their way to make sure they can do it.   That excitement wasn't there, I think because it's been requested for birthday's and whatnot so much, that it's not as "special" as it once was.   I dunno - that's just my thoughts/perspective, and I could be completely hallucinating.

Anyway - even if we have done it or a versions of it, it's still a total ass kicker. ....and at 730 am, it's just that much harder.  I was the only one signed up for 73am, so I ended up in a one on one. Let me just preface this by saying, no offense intended on this, but it's the met-cons that you kind of dread one on one's.  However, Jonathan did very well, pushed when I needed it, but also knew when I was on the verge of passing out.  So, if you're in that situation...don't fear, it'll be fine.  Here's the complete play by play:

1. 50 Knee to Elbow - I decided to start with these, because I know they take me a while.  I was really trying to work on not jumping. I know I did on a couple though.

2. 50 Double Unders - I actually dreamt about these last night.  I can't remember a whole lot about it, but I do know that when I was doing my DU's, I jumped up, and was twirling the rope speedily.  When I jumped, it was as if I was floating in the up position, and having to push my legs down, to tap the floor gently to get the DU's.  I got 21 in a row that way.  That must have been when my magical floating dust was blown away. Back to reality - I definitely did not live the dream.  I tried - but it just didn't happen.  These took a bit.

3. Wall Ball - I did 15, then 7, then 8, then the last 20 in 2 sets of 10.

4. Kettlebell swings - 12kg - YAY! only 12kg.  Did these nonstop - made  up for some lost time, but couldn't breathe when done.

5. Box Jumps 20" - SLOW!  I was completely out of breathe, so it took a while to get the gusto up to jump that high.  Bounciness is not in my genes...wait, I should say bounciness in the legs is not in my genes.  Ask any of my family members!  It takes quite the effort to get that high, and I land in a full squat position, making me have to stand upright.  Basically, my box jumps are the equivalent of 50 highjumps, and 50 squats (without the down part).

6. Push Press 35# - I did 25, 15, then the last 10.  Should have been able to get 'em all at once, but I was getting a bit tired (understatement!!)

7.  Back Extensions - Not sure how I broke these up, but I did them until my hamstrings cramped.  

8. Walking Lunges - note to self - do these earlier!! I can normally get in a good 20-25 without having to stop...not so much today.  These ended up being pretty slow, at least in my head, not nearly as fast as they have been in the past.

9. Jumping  Pullups - old habits!  I cannot do jumping pullups without pausing and making sure I have enough in me to get over the bar.....or at least semi close to getting over the bar.  Most of these were done as singles.  Jonathan would try to get me to do 2 at a time, but the second one would be absolutely pathetic.  Not sure what my issue is on these, but a LARGE amount of time was spent on them!  By the end of, I could not feel my arms much at all.

10. Burpees - Whoever created these monsters is the spawn of the devil!  All I'm gonna say.

There was a 50  minute time cutoff.  I got through everything but the last 13 of the burpees in that timeframe.  I finished those off, and for completion, my time was 52:11.    End result, I cut off about 2 minutes from the last time I actually completed this one, and I did it in the black.  HOWEVER....realistically, my burpee form sucked! So, I would say the black was actually gray. Would I have been able to do this without Jonathan pushing me??......yes, but it would have taken me another 20 minutes.  To say I was in Burpee Hell would be an apt description.  There were a couple times J would say 1-2-3 go, my brain would be with him, thinking "GO BODY GO! YOU CAN DO IT!"  My body, however, would go on strike.  It didn't move - sat there looking all stupid, telling my brain to "go screw itself, the body ain't moving until it's good and ready!"  Yes - my head was a completely separate entity than my body by the end...that is the power of this torture called burpee.  

Thanks Jonathan for pushing me and not letting me stop or pause forever!

10 stations....1 drained chicka!

Today was a tough day....I went to the gym but I was just tired.  Completely mentally and emotionally drained.  I learned about a friend that suffered a tragedy last night, and it was just an all around tough day at work.  So, going to the gym, I was drained.  Just not really feeling spunky and full of gusto.  Tonight was Filthy 50 done stations style.  2 rounds. We got there and it was just Patty and I.  Uh oh, that's never a good thing with stations.  To make matters a tiny bit worse, Rich was going to stay and help coach. Oh crap! That means one on one training for a stations workout.  This is gonna hurt.  

1. Box Jumps 20' - I started on these, and it actually wasn't so bad - although with the one on one situation, I had to land square in the middle of the box.

2. Knee to Elbow - These are starting to be like pullups - slow and deliberate.  Oh - coaching correction on this one was tip my hips up more on the lift.

3. Walking Lunges - I must say, I nailed these - wait - no not quite, had to keep my weight on the heel.  Almost forgot that one!!

4. Jumping pullups - Again, slow and deliberate.  Apparently I  jump in one position, land in another and have to reset, rather than just jumping again.  I tried it that way, just landing and jumping,  and it was wonky! So, I'm assuming when I do these, something is awry causing me to land funky.

5. Wall Ball - 16# - HEY! - I think these were all good.  I don't recall any corrections.  Woo hoo!

6. Kettlebell swings - 12kg - I think these were fine too - I've been feeling the swing groove of these lately, not sure why, but when I do them, I'm going higher and standing taller in the top position -at least I feel like I am.

7. Double Unders - no love here.   I don't think I landed a single one.  I have to be the right amount of tired to do these, and I think my lack of oxygen killed my coordination.

8. Push Press -35# - Again, my biggest issue with these is lack of oxygen, and they are so light, that I tend to try to just overhead press them rather than push press. 

9.  Back Extensions - got through alot of them then...HELLO CRAMPAGE!! ZOWIE!  Overall, no real corrections, except towards the end - then I had to do "full range".

10. Burpees - Yeah - sucky way to end.  I had to make sure my position on the pushup was correct.

By the time I hit push press in round 2 - I was almost wondering if I might be on the verge of vomit, I was lacking so much oxygen.  Now, that didn't happen, I think in reality I would probably pass out before going that route, (BLECH, not a fan of the vomit comet, haven't visited that one in years, and soberly....probably decades!).

I'm kind of surprised that the lunges didn't bother me - my right knee has been a bit funky the last couple of days.  If I had to guess, I think when I tried to run the other night when my back was getting all knotted up,  I must have had a funky gait.  I can't quite pinpoint when it hurts, sometimes it's when it's bent....and yet squatting, not a problem. So...it's a funky thing.

Round 1 - I got 157, Round 2 - 150 for a total of 307. About 50 higher than last time. I'm happy with that, especially with my energy level coming in.

Now - after my little pullup hissy fit yesterday, I've tasked both Rich and Jonathan with their sole mission for the weekend.....find out why the hell I can't get over the silly bar!!  Their goal - get me my pullup by next week.  No small feat there!!  HA!   Oh well, I think I'm about to get desperate on this front.  Stress, makes pullups essential to my well being.  The more stressed I am during the day, at work, etc, the more vital it is for me to actually be able to do these.

I think I'm a bit of a nutcase.

Lizzy turns a Turkish 50.

Another couple day - I'm slackin' bad!

Wednesday

Elizabeth - 21/15/9   Cleans/Ring Dips.  Again, Cleaning - not my favorite, but like the snatches with Randy, if I do enough of them that I'm tired, apparently they look ok.  Strangely enough form gets better the more tired I am.  Less thinking that way.  This one is a bit of a burner - much more so than you would think at first glance.  First of all, the Cleans were full squat cleans.  So you're throwing the bar up, catching it in the low front squat position, then standing up with it.  I only did these at 75#, this is one that I've never done before, so I wasn't really certain where to go.  Ironically the dips were the easy part.  The caveat though is that they were on the bars and with foot assist.   I can do one or two dips with decent range of motion (I wouldn't classify it as full by any means!), but need the foot assist for more.    Overall, I actually, surprisingly kind of liked this one.  I finished last, time was 13:03, and I believe I was the only girl doing more than 50 lbs in my group.

Filthy 50 done in stations - 2 rounds.  I have to admit, I think I like this version.  Although, in reality, to get close to the brutality of true F-50, we would probably need to add in at least one more round, but probably 2.   I did this one as prescribed I think......

I question the KTE's primarily because I know with pullups, when you put your feet down, there's always that bit of a jump that you don't even realize that you're getting - so I can't imagine it being different with KTE's.   I tried not to jump, but I can't be certain because my feet did stop on the box.  So, the jump or actually more of a push, may still be there..so, I don't know if I'm black, or just a dark shade of gray.

- knees-to-elbows - this is my questionable one....
- push press (35#)
- back extensions
- wallballs (16#)
- burpees - HATE THEM!!!  PURE MISERY!
- double-unders
- box jumps (20")
- jumping pullups
- kettlebell swings (12 kg) - I'm a nimrod, I did the 16kg - didn't even realize I did it wrong until today when Patty mentioned it!
- walking lunges

I screwed up my counting on the 2nd round - so I estimated - but on the low end.  End result was 257 ish....  Not my best performance, but that's ok.  

Today was Turkish Get ups for weight.  1/1/1/1/1    I did Barbell:

45 - ok

65 -ok - probably too big of a jump.  failed miserably at this.  Although it probably didn't help that when I was attempting the "getup" part, I kind of tooted, which made me giggle.  It wasn't a quaint little girly toot either - it was full blown noise making man toot.   Patty and Grace swear they didn't hear it, but I'm not sure I believe that!!  Anyway, once that took place it was all over, not a chance in hell was this happening.  Eventually I tried the right side, and again, the getup part was a struggle. I did some weird rocking thing before I got the silly thing up.  Ah well. Better days.

55 - ok - bit wobbly.

55 - better...

55 - I think this was better yet.

Not my best night  - or my best week overall.  But it's been a stressful week at work, and in reality, I know I need to take some time off.  Under normal circumstances that would be an extra day or two, but with Hawaii coming up in a week, I'll just wait for that.

Filthy Front Squats at 50???

As most people know, front squats are not my favorite.  Its the whole resting the bar on your shoulders thing.  It's a very funky position to be in, and because the weight is in front and uptop, it kind of makes you feel like you suddenly grew a pair of 135 lb boobs.  Yesterday we Front Squats 5/5/5/5/5 - for weight.  I started low and worked up - 95/115/135/145/150.

The 150 - was once again - not so pretty.  I'm doing something funky on my squats when I break parallel - I rarely had knee pain/issues at all until I started going lower, now- it's there - not crippling, and as I'm doing anything squat related it doesn't hurt, but the next day or so, I feel it, and hear it.  So, I know my knees go wonky at a certain weight - with the front squats, it seems to be 145-150ish.  My plan is to kind of keep track of that and try to stop being so knock kneed! 

The other thing I need to learn:  how and when to dump a bar.  It's very strange - I hit a point on the 150 front squat that I needed to dump.  Well, rather than letting it fall all willy-nilly, I ended  up carefully sitting back till it stopped moving - then once I determined that I had no other option, I let it drop.   I think I need to work on my comfort level of just letting the bar fly when necessary - I think I'm hitting a point that I'm starting to scare the hell out of anyone watching me - and that's not good!!

Onto today's Filthy 50 fun.  I wasn't really sure how I was going to do going into this.  I think my body is fighting something right now, and with everyone sick at work around me, this is a very good possibility.  I, however, refuse to get sick - it shall be beaten.  End result - not sure if I was really feeling 100% ready to go.  But I actually did far better than expected - go figure!

I started on the Knees to Elbows - and damn if I didn't get in 10-15 or so that I can honestly say that I don't think I put much jump in them.  Holy crap!!  That kind of shocked the hell out of me!  But YAY!  The rest of them, rather jumpy.  Finished these far faster than last time.  Next was double unders.  I was an idiot with these tonight - I don't think I ever connected more than 2 - OY!  Not that I'm a double under queen, in fact, earlier this week I did the best I had ever done and connected on 5. So really - not a pro at these by any means!  Then onto burpees. These still took  me forever - like a good 10-15 minutes, but considering that when I did them last time, they take at least 20 minutes, I'll take it.    After burpees, onto walking lunges.  I don't recommend these two in a row.  LEG BURN!!  So these weren't quite as quick as they should have been.  Next jumping pullups in the red bands, low bar then onto kettlebell swings.  Wallball came next, as usual I did them in sets of 10.  They seemed harder than I remembered them being last time..??  After that onto back extensions then push press.  Push press at 35# - normally - not a problem, but I must say, I was downright wimpy with them tonight.  They taxed the crap out of me - could be that it was really my final thing.  But really - 35#???  It shouldn't have been that hard!  Time was called at the end of push press - so my official score/time was 40:48, no box jumps.

There's a strange phenomenon that has taken over my mind and body since starting crossfit - I may not be quick, it may not count, but I need to try to complete.  So, after time was called I quietly went over to the box to do my box jumps.  I say quietly because I didn't say anything, however, me jumping on the box made some very large WHOMP/WHOMP/WHOMP sounds.  I was jumping on the 16" box rather than the 20" so that I could finish before Doug and Allie finished their warmup.  I got through these- not fast, but not super duper slow.  My unofficial time for completion was 46:54.  Overall performance - could have done better, could have done worse - pretty middle of the road.  Endurance  - that's my issue!   

Now, I'll just sit back and wait for that "oh so special" soreness to set in - you know the one - only the Filthy 50 can hand it out!