Training 12/27/11 "Jackie"

Sleep 8:30-4am
Sugar: Yes, you can assume so.  Butter shortbread cookies.

Training @ 8am, fasted except MaxFiber drink & coffee with creamer
PM Hike: 45 min

I was nervous going into this one.  I've never done "Jackie" before and I'm not sure what I dislike more thrusters or wall balls...which makes the rest of this week's testing somewhat comical.


"Jackie: 1k row, 50 thrusters @ 45lbs, 30 pull-ups for time.
Paced the row at around 2;07 and then a 2:09 to finish the row in 4:16.
My initial plan was to go 20, 15, 15 on the thrusters and then I received the instructions to go "AMRAP on thrusters & pull-ups".  This definitely changed my perspective when I picked up the bar and I had no idea what to expect.

I hit 20 and felt fine.  At 30 I was still feeling good, but it was as if I was waiting for the pain to set in and got scared as I approached 40.  So I put the bar down at that point although it would not have been that tough to finish the 50.  I think I was more shocked that I was feeling so good, as I was anticipating the workout to be a miserable experience.

Once I put the bar down is when it started to hurt a bit more and it took me longer then necessary to get back to it.  Finished out the 10 and made my way to the pull ups.  For these my initial game plan was three sets of 10, but the email that James sent instructed "AMRAP pull-ups and then hang on.

I hit 17 and came down.  Replaying the video I was still fine at 17, but again I'm a bit unprepared mentally for knocking out big sets of reps.  Next went 23 and then one last set into 30 to finish in 7:48.  My goal was sub 8 so I was happy.

Oddly enough I found myself looking forward to doing that workout again with the goal of hitting sub 7:30 the next time.  Coach thinks faster yet.  Looking forward to it!

Rest Day Hike 12/26/11

Sleep 7:30p-4am
Sugar you bet! There are still holiday cookies under my nose and I made a nutella cheesecake on a cookie dough crust that I never got around to eating Christmas Day.

60 minute hike with my brother-in-law, Corey and the three grand-dogs.

Training 12/25/11 Christmas DHill Sprints

Sleep: 930p-530am
Sugar:  client's homemade family recipe egg nog.  The real kiind with a kick.  Delicious.  I added some Ben & Jerry's Red Velvet Cake to it.  Yum!

Training @830am fasted except for coffee w/cream

2 mile run with 4 x 20s surges at the top of 10, 12, 14 & 16 minutes

5x 30-45s hill sprints @ 80-90% grinder effort. 3-4 min walk/jog down recovery.

followed by: 2 mile run with 4 x 20s surges again at top of 10, 12, 14 & 16 minutes.


Experience: I paid for last Sunday's hill sprints all week long with sore lower legs.  This time I decided to take the conservative approach.  I did my first one for max distance in 30s and worked to replicate it each interval.  I did and was able to in 29/30s each time while feeling powerful and able to focus on driving my knees vs last week I felt like I was just trying to hang on. 
Recovery was significantly better too able to get back down the hill sooner obviously and jog around for a minute or so before the next with 3:30 rest b/w each.  Wasn't dreading the start like last time.  I did count steps agin and was taking 94-97 steps each 30s.  


Hike: Relaxed 30-40 minute hike with the family at Max Patch. 

Training 12/24/11 Snatch

Sleep 8:15-4:15  without an alarm
Sugar: More cookies. Probably some eggnog and other beverages to follow.  Family is in town.

Training 7am
Calves are feeling normal!!  Back to the hill tomorrow!

A. Snatch - build to a tough single - rest as needed - NOT a 1RM

99lbs, 104lbsF, 104lbs, 109lbs, 114lbs F x 3  

Third attempt at 114. 

B. Front Squat - 3 x 3@ 80% effort; rest 90 sec

119lbs, 129lbs, 139lbs. Felt good

C1. HAng Squat Clean TnG practice - 10 reps fast and light; rest 5 sec   All at 77lbs

C2. AMRAP strict HSPU; rest 1 min  12, 5, 5.  Blah

Training @ 10:30am
Added on a quick one.
AMRAP in 5 minutes:
7 wall balls (14# to 10')
12 GHD sit-ups
5 rounds even.  Each round included some travel time to and from target & sit-ups.   Had a dream that I was at a competition last night and unable to hit a single wall ball.  I think I'm feeling guilty for not keeping up with the 10 per day that I said I was going to start doing last week.  So this inspired that.  Wish I could say all 7 were UB each round, but not there yet.  I can hit all of them, but not so great at receiving the ball into the next rep.  All in time.

Rest Day 12/23/11

Sleep 8:30-3:30am
Sugar Holiday cookies showed up in the gym today.  My clients seem to think that I don't eat sugar and a couple asked permission if they could bring in cookies.  They obviously don't follow my blog.  Sugar is definitely my downfall.  I eat greens multiple times a day but I love me some sugar.  I usually clean it out going into competitions, but not usually for long periods.  We're about to take on a 90 day challenge at the gym.  The challenge is undefined; each individual decides for themselves.  I'm contemplating sugar and keeping alcohol.  Alcohol isn't really an issue for me anyhow.  I enjoy it on occasion, but it's easy to avoid.  TBD...

Felt good today.  Calves are probably 95% back to normal.  Finally.

Training 12/22/11 Aerobic work

Sleep: 815-4am
Sugar: chocolate covered toffee

Training @ 8:30am

5 min @ 70%:

10 lunges

10 sit ups

10 double unders

6 rnds?  Maybe 7?  First round in 40s with 3 trips to complete 10 DUs.  Pathetic.  Calves are STILL tender from Sunday's hills.  I'm going to be more intelligent on this week's hill repeats to not have a repeat of this! 

rest 3 min

5 min @ 70%:

10 step ups - 20"

5 push ups

10 back ext's

5 Rnds + 4 step ups

rest 3 min

5 min @ 70%:

Row 150 m

5 burpees

4 Rnds + 130m row.  
1. 35.6/1:58.6 pace
2. 35.9/1:59.6
3. 36.0/2:00.0
4. 35.3/1:57.6
5. 34.2/1:54.0


Felt really good today.  Calves feel better after I get warm.  I would not have decided to do any jumping without the guidance to do so, but it turned out ok.  Felt like I could have maintained this output for multiple rounds of this. Didn't really get to the point of sweating until the end of the rowing.  The rowing was the worst part, but it was definitely sustainable. 

Training 12/21/11 Push jerks + weighted pullups

Sleep: 8:15-4am

Sugar: Ben & Jerry's Caramel Sutra over some warm chocolate chip cookies. 

Long morning: Worked the PD floor from 5:30am-noon

Training @ 12:30.  Walked across the street for an Americano first.  (not decaf)
When I first saw this workout earlier this week I was excited to hit up the push jerk x 5 again after how good last week's felt. Today I did not feel so hot.  But still hit 115x5 twice so I'll take that especially when feeling sluggish.

4 sets:

TnG Push Jerk 5 tough

5 weighted chin ups tough

Airdyne 20 sec @ 100% effort

rest 4 min

+

4 sets:

10 burpees AFAP

10 heavy swings to eye level

Row 25 sec @ 100%

rest 4 min

+

75 toes to bar for time

Push jerks @ 105lbs, 110, 115, 115.  Feeling sluggish. 
Weighted pull-ups @ BW +25lbs, Bw+35lbs for last 3 sets.  
Airdyne...I figured out how to see cals on our antique.  11, 11, 12, 10
Rest ended up being 5 minutes per set.  Just couldn't find the motivation to get myself back to the bar.  


20 minutes rest.  Feeling sluggish, irritable and generally tired.  


Rnd 1: 62lbs, 112m
Rnd 2: 71lbs, 114m
Rnd 3: 71lbs, 116m
Rnd 4: 71lbs, 114m 


One good thing about the airdyne; it gets me looking forward to sitting on the rower. lol


About 10 minutes rest til T2B.  Didn't feel recovered, but Corey and I both wanted to get out of the gym for the day. 


I told myself, "it will definitely take me less than 5 minutes" and then I had to keep working to make that cut off. Lost the kip just over 27 rep and grip died before midsection. Here were the splits: 
15, 22, 27, 32, 37, 42, 47, 51, 55, 58, 62, 65....stopped writing.  sets of 2 & 3 into the finish from what I remember.  


4:51 overall. 


Glad to make it through this one.  Tomorrow will be more up my alley.  

Training 12/20/11 Back squat clusters

Sleep: 7:30p-4a
Sugar: handful of chocolate covered toffee pieces

Training @ 830am

20th

A. Back Squat Cluster @ 30X2; 2.2.2 x 6; rest 4 min - 15 sec b/t doubles

 145lbs, 150, 155, 160, 165, 170lbs x 2.2.1.F!  Felt great, but lost it on the last one.  I'll take it.  Progress and next time I'll get all the reps! 

B. Hang Power Clean - build to a tough single in no more than 4 sets; rest 1 min

Still feeling acutely sore in the lower legs from Sunday's hill sprints.  As such not feeling very "poppy" with the olifts.  Worked up to 143lbs in 4 sets.  5lbs within my PR while feeling less than ideal is alright with me. 

C. Clean and Jerk - tough triple on the minute for 6 min - increase weight per minute by small amounts, no fails

Rest Day 12/19/11 Mini-hike

Sleep: In bed at 6:45p, but for whatever reason was unable to fall asleep for sometime.  Last I checked it was after 8:30.  Took a couple melatonin which I have not needed in a long time. About 6 months ago I was also taking some nyquil when I felt anxious before bed so my sleep recently has been significant and a big change.  Today was the first time in a long time that when the alarm went off I was asking Corey if we had any caffeinated coffee.  We did.  I felt the pep from that during the morning and energy levels were manageable to coach the PD floor 5:30-11:30 without any other coffee after my first mug was emptied by 5:30am.  

Sugar: 1 chocolate covered toffee almond

Crazy soreness:
Woke up with crazy sore calf muscles today.  I was literally hobbling a bit to walk and Corey said they look a bit swollen. Guess I really did myself in with those hill sprints yesterday.  It's been a long time since I've done any hill sprints...maybe even college??

Afternoon hike:
Went on a 40 minute hike with Corey and the dogs at Warren Wilson.  Felt good to move and made sure to get in some backwards walking down the hills to stretch out my lower legs!

Training 12/18/11 Hill sprints & afternoon hike

Sleep: 8pm-5:30am
Sugar: 1 small glass of eggnog

Training @ 10am fasted except for coffee w/cream

2 mile run with 4 x 20s surges at the top of 10, 12, 14 & 16 minutes

6x 30-45s hill sprints @ 80-90% grinder effort. 3-4 min walk/jog down recovery.

followed by: 2 mile run with 4 x 20s surges again at top of 10, 12, 14 & 16 minutes.

Experience: It's funny being that less than a decade ago I was running 50-70 mpw and today when I saw that I had 2 miles before and after I thought, "man, that's a lot of running."  Thankfully I can still run a couple miles before and after without much mental or physical effort.  It's more the mental effort that I have to get over, but once I'm past the 5 minute mark I'm good to go.  I actually found myself wanting to go longer especially on the second 2 miles.
I ran my driveway for the hill sprints.  It's a nicely paved steep incline.  I'm not good with estimates of degrees of this particular incline so I will not attempt to guess.  None of it would be considered a "gradual" uphill though I can tell you that much and the top (or the end of these intervals as I could keep running up for a few more minutes if I wanted to run into the neighbor's drive) was the steepest most miserable part.
30-45s is quite a large range when you think about it.  The Type-A in me decided to do my first one for 40s and work to replicate that distance within the 45s window over the next 5.  I was close, but not totally successful.  I made it within about 5-10m for the majority.
By the 3rd one I was checking my clock just before 30s in and that made the last 15s seem like an eternity.  So on the 4th one I started counting strides.  This tends to be a habit of mine when I run as I like to see where my cadence is over various terrains.  I know that I average 170-180 on gradual uphills and 180-190 on flatter or downhill areas so I told myself that I couldn't check the clock until 115 steps into the 4th interval.  This got me to right around 35-40s and helped me mentally get through the last few.
Recovery: I went with 3:30 recovery for the first 4.  And the full 4 minutes for the last.  The first interval was the only one in which I was getting down with much time to spare and jogged around for about 20s or so.  The others I was mostly walking slowly (sometimes backwards) down the hill and would get to the bottom just as it was time to roll back up.  On the last one my legs were still shaking when it was time to go again.

2:30pm: Hiked 83 minutes with Corey and dogs on Mountain to Seas Trail along the Parkway. Generally felt good, but quite hungry along the way.  Had camelpak and made sure to hydrate throughout. Will bring snacks next time!

Training 12/17/11 Muscle-ups PR

Sleep: 8pm-5:30am.
Alcohol: almost a whole beer last night.  It was a wild Friday night.  haha
Last night and today: Sugar: chocolate PB malt balls and chocolate covered toffee.  PB chocolate chip cookie all deliciousness from Earth Fare.

A. Clean - build to a tough single - rest as needed - NOT a 1RM

133, 143, 148F, 148F, 148 with attempt at a power clean: F. Notes about this below. 

B. Front Squat - 3 x 3@ 80% effort; rest 90 sec

3 sets of 123lbs.  Felt good. 
C. HAng Power Snatch TnG practice - 10 reps fast and light; rest 45 sec x 3.  I had some ugly snatching last weekend. So today focused on: practiced with 53lbs getting that weight on the heels there and engaging the low back and bum and rhomboids, then pull up and back!  These were fun! 

 

+

for reps/time:

AMRAP Muscle Ups

25 KBS - 1.5 pd

Row 1K

Results: 6 MUs which is a new PR!  Up from 5 when I was working MUs fairly regularly back in the summer. I need to work the straight arm turn out at the bottom.  It feels like my arms are straight, but the video replay indicates otherwise.  Corey is going to focus on some manual therapy to my upper torso to help the ROM here.  

I admit that I was a bit nervous for these KBS.  I have limited experience swinging the 1.5p for full swings.  I think I did it a time or two when I was following Big Dawgs leading into Regionals last spring. My plan going in was 15 and 10.  I almost through the first full swing through the ceiling and felt great at 15 so went UB.  I told Corey later in the day that I could have done 40.  (Video of the MUs and swings to follow. )

Made my way over to the rower and my ass was pretty much burning from the start.  Ended up pulling negative splits of 2:07 and 2:04 for an 1k time of 4:11.0 and overall time for the workout of 5:56.  I didn't know what to expect going in, but overall I'm quite pleased. 

Back to what I wanted to say about the cleans.  I read all of the programming for the week when I received it earlier this week.  Going into Wednesday I was stoked for the HPC as I couldn't even remember the last time I did a single HPC.  As such, I easily hit a PR of 148lbs in the 4 attempts I had.  

Thursday I was thinking about the heavy overhead stuff and new that even after a long day I had a good chance to hit a PR there.  (Again, largely b/c it's been over a year since my last set of a heavy 5.) 

Friday I rested and knew that today I was going to be doing some light snatching and more so looming over me was the last portion with the MU attempt for reps that I was a bit unsure about and then the heavy swings and my not so favorite thing to end with, but a row.  However, I completely forgot about the clean single and front squats.  

I rolled into the gym this morning and pulled up the program on my phone.  Suddenly I remembered reading about and at the time being excited for a single clean from earlier in the week.  However, as I openly told Corey this afternoon, "I wasn't very stoked for it.  Everyone else was working out (in the midst of the Throwdown Series' 12 Days of xmas wod) so no one was watching."  

He told me to "put that in your blog".  

So there you have it.  I like to perform and I especially enjoy an audience.  

I look forward to writing about the results from Tom Rath's StrengthsFinder 2.0 that I took a couple weeks back.  It was eye-opening.  Perhaps that will make for a good Sunday morning reflection....post hill sprints!   

Training 12/15/11 Push jerk 5 rep PR

Sleep: 730p-4a

Sugar: Chocolate covered toffee almonds and small bit of cookie dough. 

Sore throat came back last night.  It's mild, but that annoying feeling with the associated drainage in the back of my throat.  Drinking lots of water and tea.  Allowed myself a bit of a break on the efforts today with this in mind.

Coached PD floor 530am-11:30. Busy morning with 3 new which takes a significant more energy. 

Training @ noon.  Bit tough for motivation.  Gym was empty and Corey was ready to go home, but I got it done. 

3 sets:

Push Jerk 5 tough

Airdyne 25 sec @ 100% effort (Probably more like 95-97%) 

rest 4 min

+

Push Press 5 tough

Row 25 sec @ 100%   (Probably more like 95-97%) 

rest 4 min

+

FLR on rings - 180 sec

Push jerks: 100lbs, 110lbs, 120lbs x 5.  Which is a 5 rep PR by 5lbs.  Did 115lbs sometime in 2010 as I remember being at the old gym.  Legs were shaky off airdyne and the 4 minutes felt fast even on the first round.  With that in mind the 120x 5 felt great!  Plus it's bodyweight so that's always fun.  

Push-press: 95lbs 116m, 105lbs 118m, 110lbs 120m (video should upload later).  I asked Corey if I should go up 5 or 10lbs for the last set and he said, "5lbs & keep your head in".  I have the tendency to "chicken-neck" at the top and then I complain about my neck bothering me.  haha To my knowledge this is also a 5 rep PR, but I rarely push-press.  


FLR: 70s, 45s, 45s, 30s. 1 min rest b/w sets. 

Training 12/14/11 HPC PR

Sleep: 730p-4a
Sugar: 1 slice of pecan pie from 12 Bones with couple scoops of yesterday's leftover ice cream on top.  Yum!

14th

A. Back Squat Cluster @ 30X2; 2.2.2 x 6; rest 4 min - 15 sec b/t doubles

Messed this up with only 4 sets.  Drat!  I'll learn to follow directions one of these weeks. 

150lbs, 155lbs, 160lbs, 165lbs.  Tough! 

B. Hang Power Clean - build to a tough single in no more than 4 sets; rest 1 min

123lbs, 133lbs, 143lbs, 148lbs PR.  But I have not attempted a max on this in longer than I can remember. 

+

3 sets:

20 unbroken chin ups

20 burpees AFAP

rest walk 3 min b/t sets

1:13, 1:18, 1:24
Burpees AFAP did not feel very fast.  No "pop" off the ground. Video of round two.  

Active Rest Days 12/12 & 12/13/11

Sleep: 8pm-4am, 730pm-4am
Sugar: None on Monday, Tuesday: Ultimate Ice Cream (Gingerbread & Salted Caramel in a waffle cone)

We're being spoiled with great weather with highs in the mid-upper 60s each day.  So I was happy to get outside and be active on my rest days.

Overall feeling good but still dealing with some drainage and a mild cough.

Monday: 1 hr hike with dogs at Warren Wilson.

Tuesday: 40 minutes of hauling and stacking wood.  Carry wood about 40m, stack it and run back.  About half of the pile in the picture was already there.

Corey had lasik surgery this afternoon so he went downstairs to rest when we came home.  He came upstairs and I had the pile stacked to nearly above my head and there was a fire in the wood stove and stuffed peppers in the oven.  He says to me, "Alright, so this is what two rest days gets us?!"

Construction Series Part 2

Sleep 10p-6:30am
Throat felt much improved upon waking today, but energy levels still feeling a bit low.
Road back from Durham with a couple from my gym after the whole drama of me losing my ignition key yesterday.  As such, I was on their schedule and we left at 8 rather than my solo plan of 6am to get back to the gym and do the workout with the small crew at CFA.

Low back still improving, but continue to be aware of it.
Event 1:
Max power snatch + 1 set UB C2B pull-ups
97lbs/44kgs.  Hit a 102lbs snatch, but too deep.  Missed twice trying to stay shallow.  Been awhile since I snatched and I'm back to my old habit of jumping forward.  It was quite ugly.
25 C2B pull-ups.  Wasn't feeling too jazzed here, but got it done.



Event 2:
15-10-5
Squat cleans 95lbs
Ring dips
6:35

Low back a bit bothersome to control bar down so dropped each rep from top.  As a result moved pretty damn slow through these.  Was feeling quite unmotivated the entire time, but just wanted to get it done.
Ring dips felt easy, but again not feeling super motivated.   Broken up as follows: 15: 5 sets of 3. 10: 3, 3, 2, 2. 5: 4, 1

Event 3:
In 27 minutes complete a 5k row and max rep burpees.
Opted out.  I know myself well enough to determine when I'm being a mental wimp and when my body is just feeling run down.  When it's the latter I don't feel the need to prove anything.  Although I hate the feeling of doing something incomplete.  There will be other days.

Time for rest!

Light training 12/10/11 200m Cut-downs

Sleep: 10p-4:30am
Sugar: none
Energy: Lowest today than it's been in a long time.  To bed too late last night after driving into Durham and woke up like clockwork with some work that I needed to get a jump on before the weekend started.  So falling back asleep didn't happen.
Throat started getting sore yesterday evening and is still so today with some drainage in the back of my throat.  Glands are are moderately swollen.  Drinking lots of water and eating well.

Back still a bit tight, but feeling much improved.

Light training: 6am
Had about 20 minutes before I needed to jump in the shower.
Headed out for a run, as I was unable to do the assigned workout with no access to available gym space before the competition today.
4 minutes into the run I came upon a track and decided to put it to use.
4 minutes of sprint drills and emphasis on hip mobility.
Then 4x 200m cut downs with ~75s walking rest b/w each. Perceived effort of 80%.
42s, 40s, 39s, 35.96s
Felt good.  200m is one of my favorite interval training distances.  Just enough to get to dig a bit, but not too miserable.  :)

Later in the day my back felt a bit stiffer when running around the competition.  Been trying to stretch out hip flexors throughout the day.

Also an annoying level of stress today.  I lost the ignition key to my car while in Durham and will have to leave it there until we get another made, as it was our only copy.  Spent a couple hours in the afternoon walking the 600m or so between my car and the gym tracing my steps hoping to find it.  No such luck.  Sigh.

12/9/11 Rest Day

Sleep: 7p-4a
Sugar: none

Low back still feeling a bit tight.  Drove 4 hours to Durham to help out with the Carolina Fitness Challenge tomorrow.

A video that finally uploaded from 11/29/11. This is with 45lbs.

Training 12/6/11-12/8/11

6th:

Sleep: 7:30p-4am

Sugar: small glass eggnog
Training @ 8am
A. back squat cluster @ 20X1; 2.2.2 x 4; rest 3 min 150, 150, 155, 160. Felt good. 
B. clean grip DL x 1/power clean x 1/clean x 1/jerk x 1; rest 1 min x 5 - increase load per set so only last 1 is tough. 108lbs, 113, 118 (last w/push jerk), 123, 133lbs. Felt good. 

C. BB split squat @ 30X0; 4-6/leg x 2; rest 1 min b/t legs. 6x63lbs, 6x73lbs B



D. FLR on rings - 180 sec total 65s, 35s, 30s, 25s, 25s. 1 min rest b/w sets. 

7th:
Sleep: 7p-4a
Sugar: none
Training @ 11am
5 sets @ 95%:
15 unbroken chin ups
10 burpees
25 double unders
Row 150 m
rest 5 min walking
Chins/burpees and DUs were UB for all sets.  Burpees were where I made up most time on early/later sets. Pull-ups felt especially good with BF kip getting more efficient.  I was doing a double kick for the kip and am starting to get more effortless with it. Rows were 34.1-35. 
1. 1:45
2. 1:57 
3. 1;58 rower turned off. 
4. 1:48
5. 1:48


8th:
Sleep: 9:30p-5am.  Yesterday was long day at gym.  There at open, CF kids in afternoon & coached last CFA class in evening.  Stayed at friend's house in town to avoid drive back to country. Energy feeling good today considering. 
5 sets @ 100%:
5 TnG clean grip DL tough but powerful
prowler push light load for 15 sec fast!
walk rest 5 min b/t sets
Set weights as follows: 185lbs, 195lbs, 205lbs, (low back a bit tight following this prowler push), 205lbs (video), 205lbs.  


+
About 45 minutes following DL/prowler, as I got caught up coaching the floor. 
5 sets:
Airdyne 25 sec max effort
rest 3:35 x 4
Done and my legs felt like lead after.  Blah. 

Training 12/5/11 Sprints in the Pool

Sleep: 8p-4am Great energy all day. No caffeine
Sugar: 2-3 chocolate covered toffee almonds, 1 large slice of pizza leftover from yesterday.  Tasted better than yesterday.  Not sure the last time we had pizza before this wkend. Definitely not since I started this blog.

Training @ 2pm
Swim - 5 min warm up drills
+
dive in, swim 25 m free @ 100%
rest 45 sec walk back to start x 6
+
50 m free @ 100% dive in
rest active 3 min x 5
+
5 min continuous easy swim cool down


Results: 
I should have YouTubed some warm up swim drills to do, as I got in the water & was unable to recall minimal from the Beginner Swimming class I took at the U of Akron in 1999.  All I did remember was one drill where your lead arm stays in front of your head until the trail arm meets it.  I did that for about 50m and then practiced a couple dive in starts as I was also clueless about how to go about it.  Definitely wished I had watched some competitive footage before I went to the pool.  I'll know for next time.  I kept feeling like I was diving a bit too deep and I was definitely smacking the water pretty good.  
My timing system worked like this: Started my watch and dove in at the 10s mark.  I'd hit the wall and look at the watch that was still running.  So, not the most accurate, but it gives us an idea.  I just prefer more exactness. :) 
25m results/number of breaths
1. 16/3-5
2. 16/3
3. 16/3
4. 16/2
5. 15/16 3
6. 16/ 3 
By the time I rested 45s, got out of the pool and noted my splits/breaths which I was trying to limit somewhat I was essentially started about the top of every 2 minutes. or about 1:45 total rest. Felt mostly recovered each time. 


50m results....breaths were about every 5 strokes first couple then fighting myself to limit to every 3 strokes. 
1. 35
2. 37
3. 37
4. 36/37
5. 37
Whew!  That was tough.  That last set I had one stroke where my fingers didn't fully get out of the water as I was reaching for the next stroke.  Who knows what I looked like, but it didn't feel all that pretty.   
There was a guy in the lane next to me doing slow laps with a pull-buoy between his legs which took me back to my early days in the pool when I messed myself up running.  This is how I spent the majority of the time I have been in a pool.  As such, I don't feel like I really know how to propel with my lower half and feel like it's mostly upper body pulling.  For what that's worth. 

Rest Day 12/4/11

Sleep: 9p-5:30a (no alarm)
Sugar: 1 small salted caramel cupcake from Short Street Bakery. 1 large slice of pizza

Walked 60 minutes with Corey & the dogs on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Training 12/3/11 Back squats, C&J, Clean thrusters

Sleep 8:30-5:30
Sugar: none at this point
Training 7-8am
A. Back Squat - take up to a tough double in a few sets
B. Back Squat - build to a tough single in a few sets
C. Clean and Jerk - build to a tough double with perfect form in a few sets
+
3 sets:
5 squat clean thrusters tough
10 burpee jumping chin ups AFAP - 7 foot bar
rest 4 min actively


After Wednesday's deadlift post I received the following email with the subject, "Clarification" 
build to a tough single = keep all sets perfect under form, and feeling like you are pulling any weight off the ground or squatting it well, this builds confidence and reps in the higher intensity zone WITHOUT fails and PR attempts, goal is to get only a few hits at a tough weight as the exercise usually is new for the template

build to a tough single in a few sets = same as above, except the build is fast and nasty, like bang, bang, bang, done, in and out, no thoughts on weight used

1RM = take as long as you want and as many sets as you want to test the system out, fails are expected but no more than 2 in a row


As such, I clearly did not follow these guidelines going into Wednesday's DL & as such I was feeling it in the posterior particularly some low back soreness & probably fatigue today.  I definitely noticed it a bit in the squats today & so will not be torn up over the numbers.  
Results:
The whole concept of "no thoughts on weight used" is next to impossible for me if I'm loading the bar.  I used to be able to fool myself when I used our kg plates, but being that I spend my day glancing at the bars of clients & quickly determining their loads it's just not doable for myself these days.  As such, I had Amber load the bar for me today.  I just told her how many reps I wanted to do and she put it on.  The bad part here is that I don't know what I did on my build up entirely.  I only know the attempts & the final weights for the double, single & miss. 
A. Back Squat - take up to a tough double in a few sets: 5x83lbs, 3x123ish, 2x153ish, 2x173 (video). 

B. Back Squat - build to a tough single in a few sets 1x183lbs, F @ 188lbs 


C. Clean and Jerk - build to a tough double with perfect form in a few sets A few push jerks @ 103lbs then I took "a few" to be 3 sets so went with: 2x123lbs, 2x133lbs, 2x143lbs.  The second clean was not perfect & that is what I'm mumbling in the video before the jerk.  Probably heavier than would have been recommended, but I was antsy to do something that I LOVE....Olifts!  First time C&J since the OPTathlon 1.0 where I hit a PR of 155lbs. 



3 sets:
5 squat clean thrusters tough  (I end up jerking most of my thrusters which maybe was not the goal?) 
10 burpee jumping chin ups AFAP - 7 foot bar
rest 4 min actively
Rnd 1: 103lbs 90s
Rnd 2: 113lbs 90s
Rnd 3: 118lbs 98s.  Caught the 4th clean up high on my throat which sucked & then totally missed the hip drive coming out of the 5th & it ended up being a clean, push-jerk.  
Burpee pull-ups were good.  I didn't feel like I was moving super fast, but didn't feel like I could get down much faster.  Have limited experience with these guys. Last time I remember doing them when I was at CF Del Ray Beach & it would have been a higher bar that I had to add a kip into each pull-up.  Today I was able to catch it much higher & finished with a deadhang for the most part. 

Rest Day 12/2/11 Short MAP Run

Sleep 7p-4a
Sugar couple chocolate covered toffee almonds

Took the muts to the WWC trails we used to frequent prior to our recent move to the country west of town. I didn't have much time and wanted to burn off some of their energy.  So I did 20 sets of 30s easy run (Z1-2), 30s walk.  Felt good.

Training 12/1/11 Clean-grip Deadlift 1RM

Sleep: 7:30p-4a
Sugar: handful of chocolate covered toffee almonds & 1 delicious PB chocolate chip cookie from Earth Fare

Training @8am
A. Clean Grip DL - build to a tough single


Warm-up sets of: 10x45, 8x95, 6x135, 5x165, 3x205, 3x205 (again b/c I got distracted coaching & a bit cold), 1x225, 1x240, 1x250, F@260, F@260 Both moved off the floor but I gave up on them early.  After the 2nd miss Corey said some along the lines of, "Pull hard for 5s before you let go."  I went down to 255 and hit it.  Much harder than 250 as that flew off the ground for me.  Definitely a clean grip PR.  I'm not sure if I've pulled more than 225 with this grip before.  My deadlift PR is 260 with mixed grip so I'm definitely pleased with today. 



B1. KBS russian heavy x 8; rest 10 sec
B2. 10 burpees AFAP; rest 2 min x 3
32kg, 38kg, 38kg Intended to go up to our heaviest bell of 40kg last round & then I got distracted & forgot to change bells.  Felt strong nonetheless. 
11am
C. FLR on rings - 120 sec total   62s, 58s with 1 min rest b/w attempts
D. Static hold in rings - 90 sec total. 40s, 30s, 20s with 1 min rest b/w attempts.  HARD!