Wednesday, October 29, 2014

A couple PRs in the gym

Where did this come from?  We've been doing some work on power snatches and power cleans with push jerks the past few Tuesdays.  Last night was a testing night on those lifts.  To be honest, I'd missed more of the sessions than I'd made, and I still had a decent night last night.

I do have to admit that I think my vacation helped me out a bit.  I had been to CrossFit 15-17 days per month for the past 6 months before October.  I think my October total will be at most 10 days.  I did put in 4 gym days last week, but only 2 the week before, 1 the week before that, and 0 the week before.  So, I'm somewhat rested, but also under-trained.

I was active while away from the gym, but spending 6 hours in a river chasing trout does not exactly elicit a training effect.  I also slept poorly on Monday night because my right shoulder was bothering me for no apparent reason.  I tend to sleep on my right side and I had a poor night of sleep and wondered if I should even try the Olympic lifts, especially going for a 1 rep max.

I had a pretty good warm-up at the gym.  We started with some dynamic stuff - mostly body weight movements, but we also did some mobility work to get the shoulders working.  By the time we were done, I'd decided to approach the first part of the workout slowly, and just see how it felt.

I started at 53# for power snatches.  Yep, that's not a typo.  I worked on some shrugs, hang pulls, and eventually hang power snatches.  Things felt OK, so I moved up to 73# and repeated the work.  Still OK, so I moved to 93#.  At this weight, I did a single hang power snatch and one power snatch.  Still OK, so one to 103#.  A single power snatch felt OK, so I moved ahead, planning just single reps at each weight.  I hit 113# just fine and went to 125.5#.  Until late summer, that would have been a PR weight, but I got 133# late in the summer.  I hit 125.5# and added 10 pounds for a new PR attempt at 135.5.  I was actually surprised at how easily I got this weight for a new PR.  From there, I moved to 138 and I got the weight overhead, but I didn't get the full arm lockout needed to call it a valid snatch.  I thought about trying again, but instead, moved on to the power clean/push jerk combos.

I started at 113, 133, and 153 - all weights I knew I could handle, and I did multiple reps at the lower weights.  My all time best clean is 195# and my best C&J is 185#.  From 153#, I moved to 163#, 173#, and then an attempt at 185.5#.  I hadn't cleaned that much in quite a while, and I wasn't sure if I could even pull that off.  I was very surprised when the weight came to my shoulders fairly easily.  The push press was a little shaky, but I got it - a second PR.  But, I still felt like I had more in me, and I moved to 188#.  This time, the clean was a bit tougher but the push jerk was smoother - another PR.  I was pretty sure I could have cleaned 200# or more, and I might have gotten over 190# overhead.  But, the second part of the workout was 100 burpees for time, so I needed to save something.

For years, I've wanted to break 10 minutes for 100 burpees.  We have guys in our gym - young, skinny guys - that can go sub-5.  I just want sub-10.  My previous time doing 100 burpees solo (I'd done it as part of a bigger workout on the 4th of July) was last July, and I'd done 11:05.  To be honest, I didn't think I had a shot at that either.  I also hate this workout because I'm always the last to finish, and everyone is encouraging me as they finish, and I feel pressured to push harder.  When I push hard on burpees, I have a tendency to go too hard and end up puking.  So, for most of the day, I'd told myself that I'd just do 80 and call it a good workout.

I did 13 in the first minute, 9 in the second minute and 8 in the third, giving me 31 for 3 minutes.  Right then, it was clear that 10 minutes was not going to happen, but I kept pushing.  By the time I started my 51st rep, 2 guys had already finished.  I muttered a bad word under my breath.  By the time I was approaching 80, almost everyone was done.  But, about rep 75, I had decided I was going to finish the 100, no matter how slow I was.

If I exclude the person who didn't really do 100 reps, by the time I did my 82nd rep, everyone else was done.  We were in a big circle in the main part of the gym, I was tired, and I had 18 reps to do solo.  I was not happy, but I just kept plugging away.  Every 2-3 reps, I'd take a short breather before I hopped back to the squat position.  I tried my best to ignore everyone else in the gym.  Just do one more.  One more.  One more.

Finally, I got there in 11:55.  I was slower than a year ago.  I'm heavier and older now, but to be honest, I was pretty happy with my time.  I know I can improve.  If I lost 30 pounds of the excess fat that I carry around, sub-10 would be automatic.

All in all it was a good night.  I've had more good days than bad days at the gym since my vacation.  I really think the rest helped my body to recover a bit, and I'm having more fun now than I have had in a while.

Next time we do 100 burpees, I'm getting sub-10.

No comments: