Linda

This is a pic from crossfit ventura's grand opening just 2 days before my challenge. Needless to say I was very pleased when I tore my callouses... made my challenge much more fun.

Linda

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

DL (265)
PC (135)
Bench (175)

Time: 2:36:52 (PR)

Yes, 2.5 hours or so. Yes, it was ridiculous. Yes it was 55 singles all the way through. Had to drop the DL to 225 and the bench to 155 at round 5 because I was consistently failing. Truly at my bodies limit.

-- My favorite quotes of the morning --

"It's his birthday so he's being an idiot"
- Nick

"You are the most disadvantaged weightlifter ever... why don't you get shorter, or bigger or something"
- Also Nick

Helen

Exhausted, but still finding full extension...


About an hour after Linda it was time to give Helen a whirl. Once I hit that first 400m I knew it was not going to be even remotely fun. Whatever muscle it is that pulls my leg off the ground to take another stride was very, very tired. Amazingly I completely demolished my old PR by 3 minutes! I believe this is almost exclusively due to Miguel and Brian who's support certainly pushed me thru the fatigue and pain.

Helen

3 rounds

400m run
21 KB swings (1.5 pood)
12 pullups

Time: 10:35 (PR)



Helen giving it to me prison sex style. I'm somebody's bitch.

Fran

Fighting through my last set of pullups on Fran. My hands hurt more than anything... although everything pretty much sucked

Next on the birthday challenge menu was Fran. I was hoping that the extra motivation of Brian, CJ, and Huff, and an amazing box would push me thru to another PR. It didn't. I was completely fatigued at this point. The 95 lb thrusters could have easily been 135 lb thrusters... speaking of which, are you sure you put the right plates on Huff?

Fran

21-15-9
thrusters (95 lbs)
pullups

Time: 9:30 or so.

About 1.5 minutes slower than my PR. I was simply dead at this point... incapable of explosive movements. My thrusters were more like front squats with a shoulder press at the end. No help from hips at this point. Shit, I was tired after the warmup... then of course we trained core after Fran with Brian and CJ on L-sits and me on L-hangs... I was doing cursive L's by the end!

400 reps to freedom

I didn't rest much between Fran and Angie. I just wanted to get things over with at this point. It was a grind but Brian and CJ helped me through. Oh, and fuck 100 pullups at the end of a birthday challenge. Did not feel good on my little handsies.

Angie

100 pullups
100 pushups
100 situps
100 squats

Time: 35:00

Close to what I was hoping for... and also the first time a completed it... so technically a PR. I'll take it.

Game Plan

I've been debating with myself about whether to try Linda first or last. I know that my chances of getting PRs on Fran and Helen are much greater if I do Linda last... but my training the last two weeks has been largely aimed at getting stronger for Linda. So I've decided an all out, fresh attempt at Linda is more important than PRs. Both would be nice. Here's how it will pan out.

Tuesday 8-26-08

9:00 AM - Linda (UCSB rec cen)
Time to beat: infinity

1:00 PM - Helen (UCSB track)
Time to beat: 13:45

5:00 PM - Fran (crossfit ventura)
Time to beat: 7:20

8:00 PM - Angie (somewhere)
Time to beat: 30:00 (speculation)

Come do a WOD with me! Especially Linda. Towards the end (or beginning as it may turn out) when I start failing feel free to give me birthday presents by pulling some DLs for me... the judges will allow it.

The Gospel of Spiering

Power Clean

3 @ 65
3 @ 95
2 @ 135
1 @ 155
1 @ 165
1 @ 175 (PR!)
1 @ 185 (PR!!)
1 @ 165
1 @ 155

Proved that I can indeed get 185 up... although it probably looked a bit like Brian as I chased it down. No more power cleans after my challenge. It's time to learn the real deal... full cleans and full snatches only. Still, I'm really thrilled to get 185 up!!!

Then, I accomplished a sub 4 minute Fran... at the girls weight. Still, it's good to know I'm at least a reasonably fit girl!

Time: about 3:45

DId everything unbroken... too bad 95 lbs is gonna hammer me into the ground (especially after Linda)

Not Quite Yet

Singles Bench

5 X 1 (185)

then attempt power clean singles... and fail. I think my body was shot from yesterdays DL.

then stairs and pushups!

6 rounds

Sprint up stairs at harder stadium
10 pushups

No time on this one. Just gave it my all every trip up.

dream not of today

DL triples

4 X 3 (250)
1 X 2 (250) ... because my form was going to shit at this point

Then,

1,2,3,4 reps right arm DB power snatch
4,3,2,1 reps left arm DB power snatch

Rest for several hours. Then,

3 rounds for time

10 KB swings (1.5 pood)
10 burpees

Time: 3:45

Short duration means all out straight thru to the end. Need to get used to these sorts of volleys for a good Fran and Helen time.

Good Solid Fun

6 X 3 power clean (135)
7 X 3 bench press (165)

then

3 rounds for time

250m row
7 thrusters (95)

time: About 8 minutes... gym clock.

Then I play pace car for Brian.

run 400m - last 400 of his 800
run 800m - last 800 of his 1600

Congratulations on your birthday challenge Brian! It was a remarkable effort.

We have a rock wall

fancy that - Climb "continuously" for 15 minutes

then

8 X 3 DL (135)

Dynamic effort. Light and fast.

then

30 20 10 5

pushups
pullups
back extensions
KTE

Time: 16:05

Circuit felt endurance-y. I need to get some good pukie metcon training for my challenge. Maybe rowing... thrusters... wall ball?

Truckin' Along

Warmup

3 rounds

5 DL (135)
10 pushups
5 PC (95)
10 pushups

WOD

Max rounds in 20 minutes

5 GHD situps
run 400m
10 pullups
run 400m
15 squats

Score 4 + 10 GHD situps

The good news is that all reps were unbroken. Did a few extra GHD situps at he end because I had a little extra time but not enough for the run.

Mental

Warmup

15 deadlifts (95)
10 hang power cleans (95)
20 pushups

I know, this is a shit warmup.

Singles power clean (videos coming)

95
115
135
155
165
165
185 f



165 - PR



185 - fail

I think I can get 175... hell, after seeing the video I think I can get 185. Alas, 175 is not possible with my weights.

Bench Press

10 (45)
7 (95)
5 (135)
2 (165)
185
195
205f
205f

205 2nd time around was a bad idea, I knew I wouldn't get it. Should have gone for 200.

Rest and Plan

Going to spend the day recovering from a long, yet less than ideal, three days of training. I'm going to hit 2 WODs a day starting tomorrow. One will be handcrafted by Brian to make me stronger and more prepared for Linda. The other will be strictly metcon and is completely up to me to invent. I think lots of pullups, pushups, thrusters, and kettle bell swings are in order... of course running might not be a bad idea provided that I can do it without hurting myself.

Stay tuned... I have less than 2 weeks to make this happen.

Keeping it on the DL

Deadlift

5 X 135
3 X 185
1 X 225
1 X 245
1 X 275
1 X 295
1 X 265 (this was going to be a triple until I picked it up)

3 X 225
3 X 225
3 X 225
3 X 225

Notes: triples at 78% body weight. 295 is my previous PR for a single. At least I tied it. I feel like I have been hungry the last few times I have made it in the gym. I need to work on my diet and my scheduling.

Came home, ate something, rocked some tabata intervals:

pushups - 10 10 10 10 10 8 8 7
squats - 15 15 15 15 15 14 15 15
shoulder press (45) - 16 15 11 9 8 7 7 7
situps - 12 10 10 11 11 12 11 11

Good fun

Why Linda is a bad idea

10 sets of
bench single - 175
DL single - 265

Time - 15 minutes

Ignoring the cleans, this projects to a 2.5 hour Linda... assuming my back doesn't break first. As CJ pointed out, at least it will be fun(ny) to watch.

KB swings don't always play nice

run 400m (1:08, 1:20 1:25) - can somebody check these times for me?
kettlebell swing, 1.5 pood, max reps (25, 30, 24) - and also these numbers
rest 5:00
3 rounds

Another Day

1) Weighted box jumps - doubles @ 10 20 25 30 35

2) Shoulder press - singles @ 95 115 125 130 135f

200m run
40 push-ups
200m run
30 push-ups
200m run
20 push-ups
200m run
10 push-ups
time : 8:02

Working on it

Warmup with DL triples @

135
185
205

and then a BIG jump and a double

255

Work:

5 X 5 DL @ 235




triple @ 205



double @ 255

Notes: Last 5 X 5 was at 225 with dead-stops every rep. This time I moved fluidly from rep to rep. It was much easier.

Birthday Challenge

I now have a birthday challenge.

The Date: Monday, August 25

The Challenge: 4 girls in one 1 day

The girls:

(1) Linda
(2) Fran
(3) Helen
(4) Barbara

Goals:

(1) Live
(2) Don't hurt myself
(3) Get PR's on all girls

Scores to beat:
(1) ???
(2) 7:20
(3) 13:45
(4) ???

I'm worried about Linda. 55 reps of anything at heavy weights worries me... but just how heavy are we talking?

My current max efforts are at about these weights:

DL: 290
Bench: 190
Clean: 145

If I maintain weight at 175 then Linda as Rx'd is:

DL: 262.5
Bench: 175
Clean: 131.25

I can move these weights... but 55 times!? This isn't going to be pretty.

Damn it Ken

As many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:

10 reps 65 pound Thruster
10 Pullups

Score: 10 rounds. Maybe 11... I had the distinct feeling during my workout that I neglected to record one of my rounds. Probably just wishful thinking. I don't know if Ken knows but I always try to beat his scores on the WODs. Ken is a fit guy... and he always seems to beat me! He got 10 rounds + 10 thrusters. Not only did he beat me, but he says it wasn't his best. Well, it wasn't mine either... I hope. Ken, I will defeat you.

3 Bars of Death

I had my first date with Linda tonight. I vastly overestimated how of her I could handle and ended up cutting it way short. Sorry Linda, I'll do better next time.

Linda:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet:
Deadlift: 1 1/2 bodyweight
Bench Press: bodyweight
Clean: 3/4 boyweight

My version of this incredible woman

10-7-4-1
Deadlift: 225 205 185 185
Bench Press: 155 155 155 155
Clean: 3/4 boyweight: 135 115 115 115

Time: 20 minutes.

I cut it short and scaled it fora number of reasons. Mainly just not feeling it... my knee was just a little tweaked and I know better at this point than to push it when it's yelling at me. Also, in the middle of a bench set some tools took over my other bars. By the time I noticed they already had half the weight off of them. What made it worse was that these tools were doing weighted "pullups" before they jacked my bars. Their pullups of course consisted of hopping slightly off the ground and then pulling as hard as they can to get their foreheads to the bar. Awesome range of motion guys. What a couple of cock smokers.

It's all genetics

Saturday workouts are always a blast. Plus there are so many new faces popping up... I love it! Today's workout didn't disappoint.

8 rounds

Burpees 30 sec
DB DL's (45 lbs) 30 sec
rest 30 sec

Score:

20 20 18 17 17 16 16 20

total = 144

There were some pretty high scores being thrown out every round... maybe I need to justify my low numbers? You see, I have long legs and short arms which makes me inherently bad at DL. It means I have to move the weight more distance to complete a rep... so technically, I'm doing more work per rep than a person with shorter legs and longer arms. So, the logical suggestion is... who the hell cares? Evidently there is an interesting article in the new crossfit journal relating to this issue. After I read it I'll comment on it... but for now, I feel like I don't give a shit what body type I am or you are. Lets just throw down and have some damn fun! I had a great time with everybody today...

thanks to all

Helen

Not quite what I had in mind but my right elbow was feeling tweaked on the muscle-up warmups... fortunately, Helen was free for the evening.

Warmup:

run 400m

15 10 5

power clean (95 lbs)
pushups

Helen:

3 rounds

400m run
21 KB swing (1.5 pood)
12 pullups

time: 13:45

I feel like I can do much better. I was very tired before the workout and I waited too long to eat today which always throws off my energy levels. I've done this workout once before but didn't record my time. It was pretty close to what I got today. No matter, I will be ready next time and I will destroy this time.