4/22/12 Optathlon 2.0 April 22, 2012

Sleep 9p-5a with the help of some sleep aid.


Event 1 7am
10 min to max C&J
143lbs, 153lbs, 158lbs, 163lbs PR! 168lbs (power clean, but no jerk), 168lbs again power clean PR, but missed the jerk today.

 I did a really good job of turning off what was on the bar.  In that I often get a bit caught up with, "Oh my, 158lbs.  This is going to be heavy."  Or, "163lbs...I've never done this before."  I knew what I was opening at and then if that felt good I knew I was going up 10lbs and from there I just kept adding 2.5lbs to each side.  I didn't even have to tell myself not to think about the weight.  I just didn't allow my mind to go there.  I felt very in the moment and it was a great experience.  168lbs is a 10lb power clean PR.  Gotta keep brining up that back squat!
Watching the slo-mo video I see that I need to work on my breathing for the jerk.  I knew it was why I lost the first one at 168 as I immediately felt my abdomen give way.  However, it seems I'm letting go of my breath too soon in the lifts.  Particularly evident at 158lbs.  Will give me a new area to focus.
Weighed in at 121lbs (117lbs at Optathalon 1.0 with 155lbs as best lift & PR at time) which is 4 lbs heavier than the fall, but my lift was up 8 lbs so I'll take it.

Event 2
Standing triple jump
Best jump today: 19'7"
Best jump Opthalon 1.0: 20'11"
Not totally sure what to account for this.  I made a point to do some bounding and triple jump practice every few weeks or so, but quite possible that I was doing more plymoetric centered warm ups last summer.  I was definitely doing more single leg strength work last summer/fall so that may also play a role.

Event 3
2x500m row with 90s rest on rower
Row #1) 1:56.9
Row #2) 1:58.5
Opthalon 1.0
Row #1) 1:54.9
Row #2) 1:56.1

Ick.  Worse here too.  I account this to my lack of mental focus around the row.  I just didn't prep myself for it enough and it's easy to let go.  I also attacked more from the start in the fall and this time I tried pacing around 1:54-1:56 from the start and I still ended up falling off.  So, it seems that attacking and hanging on may be a better approach for me.
Watching the video I see that I am bending my arms with every pull.  Corey was not in Chicago to see any of it in person, but after seeing the video I asked him if I normally look like that when I row as I'm regularly telling others not to bend their arms in the pull.  He said no so why I did it on both intervals here is beyond me.  I'll have awareness around it next time!

Event 4
"Jackie"
1k row
50 thrusters @ 15kg (33lbs)
30 pullups
for time.

This is the workout that changes from Opthalon to Opthalon.  In the fall the circuit workout was one of my worse being that my conditioning was poor going into the competition.  However, this time around my conditioning is much better and it showed today.
I did Jackie once before back in December.  At that point I rowed a 4:16 1k, had a 45lb bar for thrusters and did 40/10 then went something like 17/6/7.
Today I paced on the row 2:09/2:15 for 4:24 although I didn't have to pace quite so much.  My goal was 50 UB thrusters & hence why I paced so much on row, but they ended up feeling easy.  On the pull-ups I didn't chalk before going to the bar (or chalk the bar in advance as Mizar advised me to do in the future) and came down at 10.  Hustled over to the chalk and was back in about 8s to knock out the final 20 and finish in 6:50.  Definitely surprised myself with the last 20 pull-ups.  I just kept focusing on one more, one more, one more and think I could have knocked out even moore.
My goal was sub 7:30 so I was pretty stoked to go sub 7 and feel so good.  I'd like to do this workout in sub 6:30 with a 45lb bar.  How will I do that?  Faster row (4:10) UB thrusters ~1:30 and have about 30s left for pull-ups should give a sub 6:30 with transitions.

Event 5
Reverse shot toss
Best: 8.62m or 28' 3"
Best at Opthalon 1.0: 25'

I would attribute the 3' improvement to the fact that I have practiced the trajectory of the reverse shot about 3-5x over the past couple of months.  In the fall I felt like I had no idea when to release so I felt more comfortable with it this time.  In time I'd like to get over 30'

Event 6
3k run
Time: 12:02.2
Time at Opthalon 1.0: 12:13.0

My goal was sub 11:59 today so I fell short of that, but it felt like a great run nonethless.  I knew I needed to run 1:36/400m or 6:24/mile and went out right on pace for the first lap.  By the second I was already 3s slow.  There was a nasty headwind on the back straight away & I was starting to think that this wasn't going to be my day to better last year's time, as that "suck" feeling is bound to set in soon.

Went through the mile at 6:36 - way off (12:20 pace for 3k). At this point my brain clicked off the watch & into the race.  I had about 5 guys spread out in front of me so I decided to see how many I could run down.  This was the best decision I could have made.
I started picking off a couple per lap over the final 3.5 laps and kept picking up the pace & surprising myself with how good I was feeling.  With about 600m to go it was down to one guy roughly 50m ahead.  To be honest I was struggling in my head with my mind wanting to be content with 2nd place and cruise in rather than going after him for first.  The doubts crept in that he'd kick if I worked to catch him & I never fully committed.  Despite my lack of commitment I finished 4s back with a bit more in the tank.  Good learning.

My running legs are coming back.  It's been close to a decade since I felt so good at the end of a race.  Gets me excited to hit a couple 5ks this summer and will look to go 11:40/11:45 with better conditions in San Diego this fall! This will still be well off my all time 3k/3200m time (11:05 for 3200m) but really I'm a completely different athlete these days.

Final result: Opthalon 2.0 score: 5726 for 1st place
Final result Opthalon 1.0 5246 (1st place then 5639-Lisa Rendic who was not in Chicago this spring, but will more than likely be back to San Diego in the fall.  She is a great lady & I look forward to competing with her again!)


Onward!