It's called training

There's a tendency in CrossFit to make everything about competition. I'm not talking about the Games. That is a competition. I'm talking about the WOD, whether it's MainPage, an affiliate WOD, or your own programming you're following. People follow the MainPage to compete against everyone else on the same day. On the message boards, challenges go up to compare times in a metcon taken from someone's log. In our own training, we break out our favorite workouts and try to bust them out in a few seconds less than the last time we did them; we chase new 1RMs more often than we should; or we tackle some obscene workout from a MainPage video or the Qualifiers to see where we stack up. There's nothing wrong with this by itself. As Coach says, "Men will die for points," and so the competition provides valuable motivation to push through the pain that accompanies most CF workouts - to generate the intensity needed to get the most out of our training.

The problem comes when the daily competition takes the place of intelligent training. Last fall, I took this to the Stupid Zone. Last fall, I got in a contest with some folks on the message boards to see who could first get 10 consecutive muscle ups. I got stuck at three before my efforts to Grease the Groove led to some unpleasant elbow problems. Somebody else developed their own arm problem. We called the contest off, and as far as I know, none of us has made it to 10 still.

Lately, I've been doing workouts from the Games and Qualifiers, to train the kinds of heavy metcons I'm likely to face, but also to see how prepared I am - how I stack up against top competition. When I stepped into CF Central CT tonight and saw that they had max deadlifts programmed, I had a notion to try the brutal Sunday WOD from the Great Basin Qualifiers. However, after warming up with 155# cleans, common sense got the best of me. It didn't make sense to tackle another workout that would leave me staring at the bar wondering when I'd be able to complete my next rep. I needed an intense metcon, so I decided to cut the workout in half.

The decision paid off. I pushed to my limit. I had a couple failed reps on the cleans and C2Bs; I fought off room spins for a moment during each round; and I ended up lying on the ground for a couple minutes waiting for the pain to stop. Post-WOD bliss wouldn't come for a while, but I felt great about this (even if I wouldn't have been competitive).

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Warmup
Shoulder triplet
Dynamic mobility drills
Mountain climber burpees, 5x5
Burgener w/u
15 C2B pullups

Power clean/clean couplets 95, 135, 155x4

Metcon

1,000m row
3 rounds:

5 cleans, 155#
10 C2B pullups
15 box jumps, 30"

14:21

Embrace the suck

A few days ago, somebody on the boards posted a question about how you master the mental game of CrossFit. That is, how do you dig down halfway through a brutal metocn and convince yourself to do the very thing that all your instincts are screaming at you to stop doing? There were plenty of good replies to this question, but the phrase that occurred to me (and it's one that I've never really liked) is "Embrace the suck." For some reason I never liked the sound of the phrase before, but when I thought about it I realized that it is exactly the mindset I need to push through an upleasant challenge, a particularly nasty WOD.

When you get right down to it, you need to be willing to accept discomfort, to relish that discomfort, to know that the pain you experience at the moment will bring you strength later. It won't bring you comfort. Sure, it may make the physical and psychological challenges of your day-to-day life easier to bear, but it won't make the next workout any easier. Learning to push yourself through discomfort only makes things worse. You get stronger, yes, but by pushing harder, the pain increases. It's a vicious cycle. The more you suffer, the stronger you get, the more it sucks the next time. You'll get stronger, but don't expect it to get any easier. It will just hurt that much more. To make the next step as a CF athlete, I need to learn to love that pain - to recognize it as future strength and hold onto it rather than turn away; I need to Embrace the Suck.

The cruel irony was that yesterday's workout was one of those challenges that was bound to make me question that entire philosophy. Whatever Evil Genius first decided to pair running and DLs can go fuck himself. Heavy DLs screw the back up tight and encourage the body to develop an antiPose stride, where you struggle to simply lean forward slightly. I knew that as soon as I went out for the second run, I'd be in that sort of discomfort that comes from getting your core squeezed mercilessly by itself. Fuck embracing the pain; the pain was embracing me. I knew this would be the challenge of this WOD coming into it. I knew that I had to push through, but when it comes to heavy DLs, pushing through needs to be done with a measure of caution.

I've never been a fan of DLs in a metcon. Maximizing power output is too easily done at the expense of proper form and loss of form on heavy DLs is a recipe for injury. However, after working the DL almost weekly for over a year, I've got the form locked in pretty well and can tell when I'm starting to slip. If Coach G. is going to program DLs on the mainpage with regularity and they're thus likely to show up at the Qualifiers, I need to figure out a way to get efficient at doing them with solid form. I'm not sure I didn't err on the side of caution yesterday (breaking the DLs into sets of 2 and 3 for the most part), but it was a good effort toward pushing through the discomfort and keep putting out the work I know I can produce. As I get accustomed to this particular flavor of pain, I hope I can up my power output on workouts like this. (Of course, there are many flavors of suck I need to learn to embrace more fully, but that's where that Constantly Varied bit comes in. More on programming soon.)

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Warmup
Agility drills
Barbell TGU x 3 each
OHS 45x15

Skill work
Muscle up progressions
4 MU singles

Finally getting the hang of this as a controlled movement. Hope to give the 30 MU for time WOD a go before the Qualifiers.

Metcon
3 rounds:

Run 400m
10 DL, 260# (1.5 x BW)
20 Box jumps 30"

19:07

Spring is in the air

Was on my way out to the Y to meet Johnny, but as soon as I stepped out the door I knew that plan would be a mistake. Around here, the first warm weather in March means the beginning of mud season - nothing so glorious as a proper spring. There are no flowers busting out (although the crocuses should show soon now); there are no girls in short skirts; and the yard and hiking trails are a veritable quagmire. Even my garage still had a coat of ice, but that had thinned (down from 4-inches in February) and softened enough that I could rip a floor mat free and set it out in the sun. A quick call was made to John to change plans to a driveway workout, where we could enjoy the first day of temps in the upper 50s since at least November.

It took a while to sweep things out and reassemble the equipment that had been scattered about from a winter of working out elsewhere, and with the sun beating down on us my kids hanging around, the day didn't have any sense of urgency. In the end, it took us almost 2.5 hours to get in our workout (not counting the requisite porch-sitting, post-workout malt beverage). As much as I love winter, it's hard to argue with days like this. The Spring air even brought out my inner city schoolgirl double-dutch skills, as I PR'd on double unders on my first attempt, after months of no progress whatsoever.

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Warmup
Jump rope 5:00 - 21 consecutive DUs (PR, previous best 13)
Star-pattern squat sequence 35x2 each
Shoulder mobility drills

Skill work
Push press 45x5, 95x5, 125x5

(looking better; John gave me a nice cue that helped with form, although I don't think I was generating as much power as possible)

Heavy stuff
Deadlift 125x5, 185x3, 235x2, 285x1, 305x1, 310x3, 325x3, 340x3 (new 3RM)
250 x 12-9-6 with 1:00 break between sets

Last rep of heavy sets and endurance sets were getting into uglyville, although the very last one was probably more laziness than lack of stamina. Here's the heavy set. Not beyond acceptable, but it's definitely time to drop weight and work sets of five for a while.



Metcon
AMRAP 10:

3 power cleans, 155#
6 box jumps, 30"
9 C2B pullups

6 rounds plus two PCs

Got this metcon from Elizabeth Terris and her San Diego affiliate. It really puts a demand on explosiveness. I loved it. The chest-to-bar modification was consistent with that theme but it slowed things down considerably. I could probably generate a muh bigger metcon hit with standard pullups (or a better pullup bar, where I could string the C2Bs together reliably). Still, I felt it. Great to be back in the home gym.

Gone Skiing

Haven't been in the gym for almost a week. Landed a big job last Thursday, and all semblance of normalcy has disappeared from my life and training. As an added bonus, it's a fast burn project with a completion date about a week after the Games qualifiers. Ah well, it sure gives me a reason to stay on top of my stuff. However, if this first week is any indication, my training is bound to suffer.

My family and seven of our friends rented a ski condo for the weekend. This is one of those things you plan months in advance and hope the weather works out. With ski conditions the best they'd been in years on Tuesday, we were hopeful, but Friday's rain and the weekend refreeze did us in. Still, the sun was shining Saturday and we could see Mount Washington clear as a bell from Sugarbush, about 80 miles away. Knowing what the day was going to be like, a bunch of us broke out the files and sharpening stones the night before and got our skis ready for the formica skiing surface. The order of the day was scary fast skiing on the sunny side of the mountain, not a great workout, but definitely some solid technique practice, since losing an edge at those speeds in those conditions would likely mean a trip to the emergency room. It was good fun, but one day of it was enough. The rest of the time was spent relaxing, eating well, eating not so well, and bulding a pile of bottles for the redemption center.

Had plans to make amends with some backcountry skiing in the foot of snow that fell overnight when I got home, but work and a sick family kept me closer to home yesterday. Today, I finally got back into the gym, courtesy of CF Central CT's convenient location near the office I was visiting today and tomorrow. They had a max DL day going, but some guys were following the CFSB, so they had no issue with me following my own programming and hitting the mini-metcon they also had programmed.

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Warmup
Jump rope 3:00, 7 consecutive DUs
Shoulder triplet mobility drill
TGU-Windmill drill 20K x 3
10 pullups
10-sec static hold
10 dips

Skillwork

2:00 handstand practice - a couple stable 5-second holds

Heavy Stuff

Deadlift 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 275x1, 305x3, 320x3, 335x3 (new 3RM), 250x20 (PR)

Metcon

3 rounds:

10 burpees, Burgener-style
20 box jumps, 20"

5:01

Deadlifts felt remarkably easy, considering the double PBs. I guess hitting DLs after 6 days off leaves a lot more in the tank than a day after 20 box squats. Metcon was weird with the strict burpees, especially after the deadlifts. Ended up being more about muscular fatigue (and missed box jumps) than by the lungs. Good to get back after it.

Good Clean Fun

There's something about the olympic lifts that is just plain fun. A weight rests on the floor, you pull, and bang, it's suddenly racked or overhead. Of the oly lifts, the clean is easily my favorite. I'm better at it than the overhead lifts, and I get to put more weight on the bar.

I didn't have a lot of time at the gym last night and I came in feeling a little lackluster because of the late hour, but as soon as I hit that first pull from the ground, I knew I was in PR territory. When you're on a good day, it's not time to be shy about your loads. My old PR was 200, but in each case I was tired from hours of previous work. Tonight I decided I'd pull 215 (1.25 x BW).

I forgot the camera yet again. I promise to bring it next time out, so the blog isn't so dull. I especially wanted videos of my cleans, so I could check form. Like I said, next time.

Warmup
Jump rope 3:00, 5 consecutive DUs

(It's a rhythm thing. I can jump and spin the rope fast enough, but I can't seem to break through. Maybe I need to give this a good solid 15 minutes some day.)

Hip mobility drills
Burgener warmup (cleans)

Heavy metal
Hang squat clean 45x5, 95x3, 115x3
Clean 135x3, 155x2, 175x2, 185, 195, 200, 205, 210 (PR)

I took two halfhearted attempts at 215, but after a tough catch at 210, my shoulder hurt a tiny bit and I chickened out. It was purely mental. The first attempt was two pulls, but I didn't give it enough to have a good hope of getting under it, and I skipped the 3rd pull. The 2nd attempt was a deadlift. Oly lifts are technical and fast, and they go wrong just as quickly. Add a couple of pounds or lose a tiny bit of mental or physical strength and they go south in a hurry.

This was my first go at heavy squat cleans in over two months. I'd done heavy hang power cleans, some tall cleans, some DB squat cleans and an Elizabeth since then, but the bar was way easier to move yesterday. I love CrossFit. With a good mix of general strength and mobility work and a little skill practice, you still improve at things that you aren't directly working. Like I said, that was fun. I'll hit these again in a couple of weeks.

Had a metcon planned for ages - 50 in the Clip, which is 50 95# burpee C&Js, but after the push presses yesterday and with more overhead work tomorrow, I had to come up with something else.

Metcon
AMRAP 10 minutes:

5 Squat cleans, 135#

10 pushups
15 box jumps, 20"

5 rounds even

This could use more pushups, more weight on the cleans, and maybe fewer box jumps. It was a quad burner like this, but the metcon hit wasn't as much as I'd hoped.