2016-04-30 WOD

WARM
std warmup
clean drills

MAIN

A. For total reps, 3 minutes of each movement, with 1 min rest b/t, then 2 min of each, then 1 min of each..
{
DU
TT2
WB 20#
}
rep counts:
1. 140 40 43
2. 103 33 32
3. 82 18 22
total: 325 DU, 91 T2B, 97 Wallball
513 reps altogether

B. 21-15-9 (I modded to 15,12,9)
{
run 400m
Clean & Jerk 135#
}
time 15:07

I added

C. 3 rounds
{
1 HS Hold 30s
1 TuckBackLever
}

2016-04-29 WOD

WARM
std warmup
clean drills
thruster warmup

MAIN

A. Monthly challenge. Max unbroken thrusters 95#
I did 18. Could have done more, but shoulder was feeling a little tweaky

B. 2 position clean + jerk, work to 1RM
{
Hang Clean
Squat Clean
Push Jerk
}
95x2, 115, 135, 155, 165 175 did the clean but failed the jerk

C. Same complex as above, 10 min EMOM
5x135, 3x145, 2x155

I added

D. Tuck Back Lever
3 on rings, 5-10sec each

2016-04-28 WOD

active recovery day. Did some lifting and some skills work. nothing too heavy.

WARM
std warmup

MAIN

A. 1k row
3:55

B. Work to a heavy DL 1RM
10x135, 8x185, 6x225, 4x275, 2x315, 1x345, 2x375 (failed both)

C. 3x5 strict pullups

D. 2 skin the cat and tuck back lever on bar

E. 3 tuck back lever on rings

2016-04-27 WOD

WARM
std warmup (which I missed most of it)

MAIN

A. 30 TGU (15/side)
I went light because of shoulder issue - 16#

B. 3 rounds for time
{
60 DU
30 no-pushup burpees
15 HSPU
5 CJ (was power snatch but I modded) 115#
}
time: 17: 56 (I think - didn't write it down)

C. 3x8 Back Squat
warm 8x115
main 3x8 @ 155

I added

D. Tuck Back Lever
3x2, extending one leg 3/4 of the way on several reps. getting there.

2016-04-26 WOD

WARM
std warmup
2x
{
10 kbs
5 v-ups
}

MAIN

A. 3 rounds, not for time
{
20 GHD situps
20 OH Squats w PVC
20 Pushups
}

B. 3 rounds for time:
{
400m run
25 KBS 53# (supposed to be full overhead but I did russian because of shoulder issue)
15 T2B
}
time: 11:58

I added:

C. 3 Turkish get-ups/side (1x 26#, 2x18#)

D. 3x3 One Arm Chinup (assisted) per side

E. 3x8 GHD back extensions

2016-04-25 WOD

WARM
std warmup
clean drills
2 rounds:
{
150m row
6 thruster 45#
3 pullups
}

MAIN

A. "Jackie"
{
1000m row (~3:45)
50 thruster 45#
30 pullups
}
time: 9:12 (35 sec slower than my PR)

B. 30 squat cleans for time. Rx was 225#, but I scaled that way down to 115#
time: 7:07

I added

C. 3 rounds
{
~20s HSHold (balancing off wall as best possible)
~5s Tuck Back Lever
}

2016-04-24 Sunday Run

Little slower than last week, but that's ok, as I wasn't planning on pushing hard.

A. Run 10k.49:58, 5.00m/km

2016-04-23 WOD

WARM
std warmup
clean/DL/ppress warmup

MAIN

A. 5 round for time
{
5 Deadlift 115#
5 Power Clean 115#
5 Front Squat 115#
5 Push Press 115#
(Rx included 5 back squat after this, but skipped because of shoulder)
200m run
}
time: 11:41

6 min rest

B. 40-30-20-10 of
{
Wallball 20# (I scaled to 16#)
pullup
row for cals
}
time: 23:29
20 min cap, but I was close and decided to finish

I added:

C. 3x HSHold
20s each

2016-04-22 WOD

First day back after 2 days off due to travel

WARM

std warmup

MAIN

A. Work to a heavy 3-rep max back squat
warm: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5
main: 185x3, 215x3, 225x3, 245x3 (with a very questionable last rep

B. Work to a heavy CJ (rest of class doing Snatch, but I modded)
95x3, 115x2, 135x1, 155x1, 165x1, 185 clean but no jerk

C. 10 min EMOM
{
20 DU
1 CJ @ 70% the above ORM - I did 135#
}

I added:

D. 3 rounds
{
12 GHD situp
1 5 second tuck back lever

2016-04-19 WOD

WARM
std warmup
2x5 deadlift 135#
2x5 pullups
2x5 wallball 16#

MAIN

A. 3 rounds, not for time
{
40 DU
16 pistols (8/leg)
12 T2B
}

B. 5 min AMRAP
{
8 deadlift 185# (Rx was 255)
16 wallball 16# (Rx was 20#)
}
3 rounds + 8 DL = 80 reps

3 min rest

C. 5 min AMRAP
{
8 C2B pullups
16 KBS 53# (Rx was 70#)
}
3 rounds even

3 min rest

D. 5 min AMRAP
{
Burpee box jump 24"
}
40 reps

I added

E. Tuck Back Lever
3x2s each
1x5s

2016-04-18 WOD

WARM

std warmup
3 rounds
{
10 Goblet squats 35#
10 v-ups
}
Clean drills

MAIN

A. One mile run for time
time: 5:38 (7 second PR! despite being sore from 6mi run yesterday)

Wait exactly 5 min

B. 3 rounds for time, 10 min cap
{
20 dips
15 chinups
10 Power Cleans 135#
}
I managed 2 rounds before running out of time

C. 5x3 weighted pullups
2 rounds 35#
2 rounds 40#
1 round 50#, 2 reps, then failed 3rd

I added

D. 3 HS Hold, for balance

2016-04-17 Sunday Run

Set a PR on my 10k today. Just missed sub-45 min, which has been a goal for a while.

A. Run 10.00. 45:07. 4:31min/km

2016-04-16 WOD

WARM
std warmup
100m run

MAIN

A. 9-6-3
{
Front Squat 225# (I scaled to 135#)
BarMU (I subbed pullups + pushups)
}
time: 2:46 - Went really fast, all sets unbroken, so probably should have gone heavier on the squats

B. 10-9-8....1 HSPU
2 legless rope climbs between each round of HSPU
15 min cap
I got through the round of 5 (so 10+9+8+7+6+5 = 45 HSPU) but only did 1 round of 2 rope climbs, the other 4 rounds were 1 climb each, and they started at ~12', but were probably 9-10' in the last few

2016-04-15 WOD

WARM
std warmup
40 wallball passes

MAIN

A. AMRAP 15
{
50 DU
10 Burpees
5 thrusters 135# (I scaled to 115#)
}
4 rounds + 61 (50+10+1 thruster)

B. Benchpress 5x10, AHAP
superset w 10 strict pullups
5 rounds
{
10 115# (scaled because of my shoulder)
7 strict pullups (5+2)
}

I added:

C. 5x8 GHD Situps

Q1 Goals Check

Little late in doing this, as we're 2 weeks into Q2.

Here are the goals I laid out for the year:

1. Get my diet back on track and get back down to the 10% body fat range. I've fallen off the wagon past 3 months or so. - I was on again, off again. It's better, but needs consistency.
2. 115 snatch - but a full squat snatch with proper form. Haven't worked on this at all due to shoulder issues.
3. 200# CJ. Hit a 200# clean, so I'm getting closer.
4. 400# deadlift. not on track, and last heavy DL we did, I came 30# short of my last PR.
5. Put in 500km of running over the course of the year. Only put in about 100k in the first quarter, so off track, but not by too much. Need to step it up now that the weather's improving.
6. Do 3 events that require training for (the open and 2 others). Just finished the Open, so 1 down, 2 to go.
7. Improve my standing in the open. Done, but just barely.
8. Spend dedicated time on mobility. 15 minutes, 4x week. Not on track at all.
9. Work on a handstand progression, to get either a free standing HS for 20s, or a 10' HS walk. Doing practice, but not much progress.
10. Muscle-up virtuosity: Get to a fluid, strict MU with really solid form. Was making progress here, but hurt my shoulder and likely have been set back.
11. Bonus: One arm chin-up. Doing progressions, but not much noted progress.

2016-04-14 WOD

Active recovery day. Did some rowing and some skills work

WARM

std warmup
3 rounds
{
10 v-ups
10 banded thrusters
}


MAIN

A. Row 2k
8 min even

B. CJ work
5x45, 3x75, 3x95, 3x115, 2x135, 2x155
cleaned 2x175 (didn't attempt the jerk, shoulder was acting up), 1x185

C. Tuck Back Lever
3x2s each

D. One Arm Chinup (assisted)
3x2/arm

E. 4x HS Hold
trying to descend in pike position

2016 Crossfit Open Post-Mortem

We finished up the Crossfit Open for 2016 a couple weeks back, and I've been waiting till I had a bit of spare time to write up my post-mortem on the event and my performance. My main goal in doing these is (a) to understand if I'm improving as planned, (b) to understand whether I have particular weaknesses I should work on, and (c) think about whether there is anything different I should do when approaching individual workouts in a competition.

About the Open

For a more detailed account of what the event is about, see my summary from last year.

In brief, it's a massive online competition, consisting of five workouts over five weeks. Each workout results in competitors getting a score based on their rank in that workout. Their overall rank in the event is based on the total of those five scores.

In addition to an overall ranking, athletes over 40 (and uner 18) are ranked in divisions specific to their age.

My goals for 2016 Open were:

• Finish ahead of 80% of the field in the 45-49 age group
• Do all the workouts Rx (and I expect them to get harder)
• Be prepared for more of the advanced movements in the Rx workouts: MU's (15.3 will almost certainly come back), HSPU, BarMU, Pistols, etc. 
• Also, the weights will go up. I consider myself lucky there wasn't an event with a 135# snatch. I'd better get that down by next year. 
• Have a better level of knowledge of my ability with some of the advanced movements to form a better game plan. e.g. If they had a wod that was "AMRAP MUs in 10 minutes", I should have an estimate that isn't too far out. today I have no idea what it would be.

I hit the first goal, finishing ahead of 81.6% of field of 45-59 year olds world wide. Caveat: if I look only at the NW region, I missed that number slightly. So I improved some, but may also have been helped by an influx of newer crossfitters in other regions where CF is less established.

I hit the second goal, as wells the third (though this was fuzzy). I hit the 135# snatch in prep for point 4, and as I expected, weights got heavier (e.g. DL's in 16.4 - more on this later).

I think I hit the fifth goal as well, with the exception of 16.4. Again more on this later. I think I had a good plan going in but didn't plan well.

Stats and Ranking for 2016

Here's this year's version of the table and graphs I showed last year. Bottom line: slight improvement over 2015, despite a very poor finish on 16.4

Here are some charts that give a visual representation. A represents the percentage of people that ranked ahead of me, B represents those that finished all 5 workouts and that I ranked ahead of. C represents those that finished at least 1 workout, but didn't complete all 5.

The top chart shows that I improved my standing among the men across all age groups (good), stayed flat vs the 40-44 group (not great, but OK, given that I'm ~5 years older than the average of this group), In the NW, I *slightly* improved vs 45-59, but did so a bit better across all regions (last chart).

A General Observation:

I made this point last year:

As the sport grows and the number of participants in the open grows, there is a general trend that your rank becomes increasingly dependent not on how well you do on all the workouts, but on the extent to which you don't do poorly on any single workout. As the leaderboard crowds, a poor showing on one wod can drop you dozens or hundreds of spots. The elite folk get this, but it's true across the board. I like this trend, as it rewards those that are overall well-rounded, but it's important to be aware of I think.

Last year, this worked out to my benefit. I was able to do MUs, and people that beat me on 4 workouts, but couldn't do the MU workout (and thus went scaled), it cost them and they ended up ranking below me.

This year, this was serving me well through the first 3 workouts, and I was trending toward the top 10% - which was super surprising to me. However, the fourth workout I tanked on, and it ended up costing me dearly due to this phenomenon.

Individual Workouts

Open 16.1

This one was a 20 min amrap of 25' OH Lunge with a 95# bar, 8 bar-facing burpees, another 25' OH Lunge w 95# bar, and then 8 C2B pullups. A fair number of people scaled because of lacking C2B, or because 95# was too much for them. I've had a problematic shoulder for anything in the snatch position, so I targeted 5 rounds, but knew that there was a risk my shoulder would give out and I'd get 2 rounds. I got 5 rounds, plus a length of lunges and one burpee, so 6 reps beyond my estimate. Acceptable performance but really happy that I was able to estimate it well.

Open 16.2

This one was a pedal-to-the-metal workout where getting the required work done in 4 minutes earned you another 4 minute extension and an increased weight. Movements were 25 T2B, 50 DU, and then 15 cleans at 135#, second round would see the cleans go to 13 reps at 185 and so on.

Given that my PR wasn't much beyond 185#, my goal was to get the second round done and get a few cleans done.

I did the workout twice. First time I got 89 reps. Was trying on purpose to cut it close to the time cap, miscalculated, frantically tried to make the 4 min cut, and dropped the bar on one rep, just missing it.

Second time I fared better. Got through the second round of T2B and DU's with about 20s to spare. Missed 2 rushed attempts at a 185 clean. Could have made 1 if I'd taken my time a bit. that 1 rep would have boosted me 300 spots on that one workout, and 50 on the overall leaderboard (a half a percentage point but still).

Open 16.3

This one was pretty good for me 7 min AMRAP of 10 75# snatches and 3 BarMU. I got 5 reps short of 5 rounds. My goal was to get over 4 rounds, so I was pleased with it.

Open 16.4

Still mad about this one. Big chipper: 13 min time cap, in which to get 55 deadlifts at 225(!), 55 wallball 20#, 55 cal row, and then 55 HSPU. Continue to repeat if possible, but most humans will never get through that full list (21 people out of 10,000 in my age group started round 2).

Anyhow, My goal was to get to HSPU (165 reps) and get a couple in. Maybe 170 total. I came off a week of work travel, eating crappy (mistake 1), slightly hung-over (mistake 2) drove from the airport, barely warmed up(mistake 3), and jumped into it.

And I paid the price. It WRECKED ME. I barely remember the wallballs, other that getting a hit in the face by a couple. I had a pretty good rally on the row, but still came up w 146 reps, 19 reps short of the 165 goal.

I went on vacation the next day, and found a box i could re-do it at 2 days later, but my back was SMOKED from the deadlifts, so I didn't bother.

If there's a lesson here, is that a couple days of bad eating can really have an impact, and you need to have a fallback plan.

At some point I will go back and redo this one to see how far off I was in my estimate, but I'll wait till I'm feeling ready to retry.

Open 16.5

This was a repeat of 14.5 a tough grind of 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 couplet of 95# thrusters and bar-facing burpees. In 2014 I did it in 21:35. This time my first attempt I did it in 19:49. I told myself I didn't need to redo it if I got under 20 min, but then was still seething about 16.4, so went in on Sunday and did it and got 18:07 - mostly due to better pacing, but also having my judge yell at me helped.

Learnings:

• 16.4 was a learning lesson for me. Not just that a few days of bad eating, etc, can screw up your performance, but that you have to be humble, realize this, and adjust your plan going in. If you try to stick to your original plan you can really screw yourself.
• Also on 16.4, warm up sufficiently. If you don't have time, make time, or don't do the work out. Not worth being messed up for 4 days.
• 16.5 was a reminder that pacing matters, and that you have more in you than you know. Find a motivator to keep grinding, whether that's split time goals written on the wall, or a coach to yell at you, or whatever.

Goals for 2017 Open

• Improve my standing over 2016. Certainly top 20% for my age group... dare I say top 15%?
• Have a plan going into each workout - not just a rough idea, but a plan, a stretch goal, a fallback, etc.
• work on weak areas that are likely to be in masters workouts: MUs, pistols, 135# snatches, cleans at 185#, even 225#. 285# DLs.

2016-04-13 WOD

WARM
std warmup (though I was late for it)

MAIN

A. Skill work. 3 rounds, not for time
{
1 legless rope climb (I just went to ~12')
40 DU
12 T2B
}

B. 20 min emom
{
even minutes:
5 Deadlift 185# (Rx was 225)
5 box jumps 30"
odd minutes
100m run
3 barMU (I scaled to 5 pullups due to my shoulder issues)
}

I added

C. 3x2 Tuck Back Lever
~3-5sec hold on each

D. 3x30s HSHold

2016-04-11 WOD

Shoulder still messed up from Saturday, so scaled the WOD somewhat, and didn't do "vestivities" (b-day today).

WARM
std warmup
did some lateral shoulder flexionk w band

MAIN

A. EMOM 8
{
3 Power Cleans (was power snatches) 75#
3 Front Squats (was OH Squats) 75#
}

B. 3 rounds, each for time
{
Row 20 cal
5 power cleans 155# (I did 95#)
5 box jumps 30"
}
time: 1:37, 1:40, 1:38

2016-04-09 WOD

Bit of a monster workout today. Had to scale the second part of it, and then injured myself on the third part and had to call it a day.

WARM
std warmup
200m run

MAIN

Three "girls" today, doing the full reps of each, but trading off with a partner, one of you is working while the other is resting

A. "Fran" - 21-15-9 of
{
thruster 95#
pullups
}
time: 11:18 (assuming equal time, that's 5:39 working time each)

2 min rest

B. "Elizabeth" 21-15-9 of
{
Cleans 135# (we scaled this to 10-6-3 reps at 135#)
Ring dips (did 21-15-9)
}
time: 14:15

2 min rest

C. "Amanda" - 9-7-5 of
{
Muscle Ups
Snatches 135#
}
On this part, I hit 2 musle-ups, and the second one, caught it too low and pulled something in my shoulder, so that was it for me for a day (or a week? month? we'll see)

2016-04-08 WOD

WARM
std warmup
clean drills
400m run

MAIN

A. Work to a heavy CJ (doh! Just did this yesterday on my own)
5x95, 3x115, 3x135, 2x155, 1x175, 1x185 (cleaned, failed the jerk)

B. 12 min amrap
{
3 CJ 185# (I scaled to 155#)
10 pullups
6 HSPU
}
4 rounds plus one CJ = 77 reps

C. Benchpress 10-7-5-3-1 at increasing weight
warm: 5x95
main: 10x115#, 7x135#, 5x155, 3x165, 1x175

2016-04-07 WOD

active recovery day

WARM
std warmup
3 x 250m row

MAIN

A. MU Work
2x5 scap pulls
2x5 kip swings
2x5 strict pullups
2x3 strict C2B pullups
3x1 strict BarMU

B. HS Holds
3x 20s or so

C. CJ practice (full clean)
warm: 5x45, 5x95, 3x115
main: 3x135, 2x155, 1x175

2016-04-06 WOD

Choice of a couple named workouts today. Kelly or RJ. I chose RJ and scaled it as I did last time, beating my time by a few minutes

WARM

std warmup

10 pushups

40 wallball passes

MAIN

A. "RJ" - 5 rounds for time

{

800m run

3 rope climbs 15' (Rx was 5 climbs)

50 pushups

}

time: 43:54 (PR of 3:36 less than my previous 47:30)

2016-04-05 WOD

WARM
std warmup
250m row
clean drills

MAIN

A. 5k row for time.
time: 20:38 (PR, I guess, as I never noted it before)

B. Work to a heavy CJ in 20 min (rest of group did snatches, I subbed CJ)
warm: 5x45, 5x95,
main: 3x135, 2x155, 2x175, 1x185. 1x195 cleaned, but failed jerk, 1x190 cleaned, but failed jerk

2016-04-04 WOD

WARM
std warmup
2x5 pushups
5 burpees
5 pullups
3x250m row

MAIN

A. Work to a heavy bench press
warm: 10x45, 5x95
main: 5x135, 5x155, 3x185, 1x205 (tied PR), 1x215 (fail, should have gone 210)

B. 3x10 dips

C. 3x8 chinups (superset from w above)

D. For time
{
1000m row
100 DU
800m run
}
time: 10:14

2016-04-03 Sunday Run

A. Run 9.76km, 45:46, 4:41 pace

2016-04-02 WOD

WARM
std warmup
Snatch drills
clean drills

MAIN

A. For time:
{
21 OH Squat 95# ( I scaled and did 75#)
21 strict pullups (I managed to do all strict, 15's and 9's too)
400m run
15 OH Squat 75#
15 strict pullups
400m run

9 OH Squat 75#
9 strict pullups
400m run

}

time:14:11

B: 4 rounds for time:

{

8 cleans (I scaled reps and did 6/round) 135#

6 HSPU

4 BarMU

}

time: 15:55

2016-04-01 WOD

WARM
std warmup
200m run

MAIN

A. Work to a heavy 1RM deadlift
warm: 2x5x95, 5x135, 5x185,
main: 3x225, 2x275, 1x315, 1x345, 1x365 (fail), 1x355(fail)

B. Partner wod
{
100 Ball Slams 20# (50 each)
150 Medball situps (75 each)
100 Weighted pullups (did 25 weigthed each, then 25 unweighted at end of workout)
150 Medball cleans 20# (75 each)
100 medball burpees 20# (50 each)
}