MidAtlantic Regional Day 2 Event 4

Event 4 

50 back squats @ 95lbs

40 pull ups

30 shoulder to overhead @ 95lbs

50 front squats @ 65lbs

40 pull ups

30 shoulder to overhead @ 65lbs

50 OHS @ 45lbs

40 pull ups

30 shoulder to overhead @ 45lbs

22 min time limit 

On paper this was the event that I felt catered most to my strengths.  High rep, fairly light loads, lots of pull-ups.  I knew it would be uncomfortable, but felt confident that I would be able to chip away at the reps.  

On day 1 they kept the heats the same for the second event of the day as they did for the first.  I again made the mistake of assuming that this is what they would do on day two.  I was in the last heat for event three and thought the same would happen for event 4.  Corey & I had a chill afternoon.  Went to the grocery store, back to the hotel where I tried to sleep for about 90 minutes.  I never fully fell asleep but had some good resting and then visualization time when I woke up.  

We arrived back at the venue around 3:45 (thought I was competing at 5).  I got some help taping my hands from the rips after event 3 in prep for the pull-ups.  At 4:00 the first heat was already started and I began my warm up running laps around the track surrounding the competition area while watching the girls in the first heat.  I was also running by the warm up area and heat schedule table and noticed Pamela who was in the same heat for event #3.  I chatted with her to find out that they switched the order and found out that I was to start at 4:25 not 4:55.  It was about 4:10 by this point.  

I informed Corey and headed to the warm up area.  Once again I did not have a plan for my warm up plus now I'm rushed so I did some squatting, pull-ups and pressing overhead.  Plus another bathroom break.  I only ever warmed up to 85lbs for a few reps overhead and they were calling us to line up.  I felt a bit frazzled, but not overly.  

Long story short I knew the first set of 30 shoulder to overhead at 95lbs would be a critical point for me in this workout and perhaps I talked myself into that as it was just that.  I went UB but steady on the 50 BS, pull-ups were something like 20-22 and shorter sets to 40.  Headed back to the shoulder to overhead I had hoped to hit at least 10 upwards of 15 and sets of 4-6 from there.  Well, my rhythm trying to pop it off my shoulder was off and I through it down after 7.  Watching the video I was just getting into my groove at 7 and there was not any real reason I needed to throw it down other than I was frustrated.  

From here on out it was a mental battle with that voice in my head making everything seem much harder than necessary which resulted in shortening sets and lengthening rest between sets.  I pulled myself back together in the final couple of minutes when I got to the OHS at 45lbs.  I found my mantra of "one is easy" and started knocking them out.  Ended up going 30 & 20 to finish that out.  I should have ran over to the pull-up bar at that point, but to be honest I just wanted it to be over.  THere was 30s left when I got back to the bar and I finished with 13 pull-ups when time expired.  

It never occurred to me that I wouldn't finish this workout.  While I had some mental battles throughout my mental game was still far better than a year ago.  There was negative talk, but not the extreme angry why do I even bother to do this voice.  Rather I was able to have the awareness that I didn't set myself up for success in this event.  Keep learning and growing for another day...

MidAtlantic Regional Day 2 Event 3

Sleep was less than optimal after day 1.  I was a bit jazzed after the excitement of the day and although we got back to the hotel at a reasonable hour I broke some of my own "rules".  Spent about 2+ hours from about 7-9/9:30 staring at my computer screen answering emails and getting the CFA website ready for the following week.  Spending hours staring at a bright screen & then trying to wind down before bed didn't work out so well for me.  

I also made a comment to Corey about being on the wrong side of the bed before he started snoring around 9:30.  Soon thereafter I realized how wide awake I was feeling.  Tossed & turned a bit and then ended up taking 2 melatonin around 11/11:30.  Again, NOT the thing to do at that time of night.  I also woke Corey up and told him I needed my normal side of the bed back.  Soon after that I fell asleep sometime around midnight.  Corey was up around 5:30 & I kept rolling over trying to stay as asleep as possible.  I got up a bit after 6 and my eyes were burning.  I didn't freak out but I definitely finished my full caf coffee that morning.  

To the venue.  

Event 3

Complete 4 rounds of: 

10 DB snatch 70lbs

short run to end of competition floor and back 

10 min time cap. 

DB snatch workout was first.  Our warm-up options were interesting with the DBs: something like 35lbs, 45lbs, 50lbs and then jumped straight to 70lbs.  For the men it went from 70 to 100lbs.  I had actually brought a 65lb DB from the gym with me as they had 50/60/70lbs at the SE regional the wk prior and I was thinking that I wanted something b/w 60& 70.  I contemplated going to get it, but the car was at least 600m away & I wasn't sure it was worth it.  My warm up was fairly successful, I had a few misses, but nothing horrible.  I had more than enough time to warm up but wasn't sure what to do.  So just kept occasionally snatching the 50 aggressively and then the 70 in the same fashion. I would probably hit 3 out of every 5 attempts at the 70 during warm up.  

I was in the final heat of this workout due to my standings after day one.  3, 2, 1…go!  I got to work steadily hitting reps, but certainly not flying through like many of the other girls in my heat.  Pamela and I were well paced finishing the first and second round at nearly the same time.  Took me about 3:30 for the first round…was thankful to be running down that floor knowing that that was all I needed to continue onto Event 4, as I had concerns I would be stuck there with the DB for 10 minutes.   

Finished 2nd of a possible 4 rounds right around 7:30 and completed another 9 reps before the 10 min cap expired.  Pamela and I had the same score.  I had a few misses in the third set (only about 1 miss per round in the 1 & 2nd round) as I was trying to pick up the pace to finish it off.  If I went back to the DB too quickly I missed the rep.  It was a fine balance of fighting the clock without missing reps.  

I had ripped the skin of my right palm and left thumb pad so we went to the drug store to get super glue & athletic tape. Then headed back to the hotel to rest.  Event 5 wouldn't happen until 5pm that night (or so I thought)... 

Mid Atlantic Regional Event #2

Event 2

2k row

50 pistols

30 hang cleans @ 135lbs

When I first saw this workout I was really bummed about the row as I do not enjoy nor yet consider myself to be stellar in rowing.  However, I was relieved after meeting with James as he pointed out that this workout is not about the row and even advised me to pace on the row "no grunt efforts".  Sweet! 

I was initially a bit unsure about the pistols as we have not done any in training once this year.  However, I am good at bodyweight exercises and we use pistols as one of the assessments pre/post manual therapy at the Stay Active Clinic.  So I do at least a couple post workout every so often.  James put them into my training the week after the OPTathlon & I gained the confidence that I would do 50 straight through.  

One of the areas I want to improve for my next competition is to plan my warm-ups or at least have some options beforehand, as that is still an area where I have uncertainty.  I thought they were going to put the top 12 from the first workout in the same heat together as they did at the SE Regionals the week before.  So I was anticipating being with the last group.  However, they kept us in the same heats as Diane and I was in the 2nd to last group.  This forced me to rush my warm up a bit.  

Corey was there and when I gave him a "what should I do?" he had me start with a 3 minute row getting faster over each minute.  I went something like 2:30 pace, 2:20 pace, sub 2:10 pace last minute.  Then got off the rower and did 5 pistols per side, then walked over and did 2 hang cleans at 135 (I had previously warmed up to 135)

He then said, "I would go through that a couple more times."  

I had no desire in rowing 3 minutes again so this time I did 3 45s intervals getting faster over each like above.  10 pistols, 1-2 hang cleans. 

Walked around and eyed the other competitors for a few minutes.  It seems that very few people warm up much at competitions.  But I know I do better after a good warm up so I went through it one more time with an even shorter row: 

3 sets of 30s row getting faster over each.  Pulled 1:50-1:55ish my last 30s.  10 pistols, 1 hang clean.  

Time to line up.  

It was somewhat comical as they would call us out and have us check in and then we would go and stand in these corrals corresponding to our assigned lane.  Lined up like race horses to make small talk with the girls next to you.  People have always been quite friendly at CF competitions, but I felt like this year the girls were friendlier than ever.  I would say this is simply due to my chilled out perspective.  more on that in a separate post.

Out onto the floor we went.  We met with our judge and demonstrated one hang clean & one or two pistols per leg.  No problem.  They turned on the rowers and we stood behind them until the ever famous, "3, 2, 1…go!"  Sit down, strap in & start pulling.  

I kept the stroke rate low (25-27) and eased.  My splits have escaped me by now but it was something like 2:07-500m, 4:20 1k and somewhere around 8;45 overall.  

My original plan was to row 2:05-2:10 but I kept dropping down to 2:13-2:16 and would hear all my negative thoughts sink in like old habit.  I remember at one point thinking, "Well, here I go again.  I'm not going to get through this.  At least it will be over in 17 minutes."  

But then I would shut it out and refocus.  James had told me that my word for this workout was, "intent" I knew I just needed to get through the row and get to those pistols.  

Girls starting getting off the rowers just over 8 minutes.  There was maybe one more girl rowing when I got off.  Pamela Gagnon was in the position beside me and got off the rower just before me.  She was the only person I could see during my pistols so it became my focus to not stop and move faster than her.  I quickly found my groove on the pistols and just focused on breathing and staying efficient throughout.  

When I finished I turned to head to my bar and realized I was the first person done with the pistols although Pamela was right behind me headed to the bar.  At this point i turned my back on her and faced the rest of the field.  I picked up the bar & knocked out 5.  It felt good, but I wasn't able to replicate that again.  Went 3 on the next set or two and a bunch of doubles from there.  I specifically remember being at 18 and thinking 6 sets of 2.  You can do this  Each set started to get a bit harder  With one set of two to go.  I got the first one and thought, "just one more".  I caught that last one forward on my shoulders and low but I was determined to stand that sucker up and I did.  (Corey got a bit too excited and missed that last rep on video.  :))  Sprint maybe 15m to the opposite side of the floor and it was done.  

I had thought I won my heat but round out later that another girl finished just before me.  It's so hard to know what is going on out there.   It's all really a blur.  

This was my favorite workout this year.  I almost gave up on myself, but stuck it out and worked for it at the end.  

Like I do with all my workouts I have looked back and wondered if I could have gone faster.  I feel like I could have rested less between the sets of hang cleans, but at the same time I think the fact that I had to dig for my last rep shows that I was working right at my threshold.  My max (although hasn't been tested recently) is just under 150 (I think 147/148 for a hang squat clean) and I do not have any recollection of ever doing a HPC of more than 135.  So this load was 90% or more of my max.  With the video replay I figured out that this  was 30 reps of 90+% in ~4:25.   

Learnings: 

Stay positive & stick to the plan with less worry!

Keep getting stronger!   

Mid Atlantic Regional Event 1: "Diane"

Sleep Pretty good.  Feeling chill but excited.  Was in hotel around 6p and probably fell asleep around 9p and woke up at 4:50am.  Stayed up at that point.  Did some visualizing for the first event.

Ate 1 hard boiled egg and the white of a second.  1 banana.  Max-fiber supplement drink and vitamins per usual (Max-energy, VMG).  Had Starbucks coffee with cream but barely touched it.

Although I've been CFing for over 5 years now I'm a bit non-traditional is that I do not regularly do the "named WODs".  As such, I've never done the workout "Diane" before.

Diane
21-15-9
Deadlifts (155lbs)
Handstand push-ups
for time.



 I will visualize events by starting my stop watch and closing my eyes only to hit stop when I'm done moving through the whole thing.  Sometimes I'll journal about it afterwards.  This morning I did just that.  I visualized 3:49 with all DLs UB & fast & HSPUs UB but steady.

In reality I breezed through the DLs and went UB on the 21 & 15 HSPU but then hit a wall on the set of 9.  Came down after 5 on the last set.  Went back up to finish and failed on the 9th.  Took another attempt at the 9th without coming off the wall, but didn't make it.  Came down, shook out my arms and went back up to finish.  Took me 40s to complete the last 4 reps.

My judge told me my time: 3:48 and I immediately laughed remember the 3:49 from the morning visualization.

I had a solid warm up...focused on being quick on DLs and went up and did a few at 175lbs in attempt to help 155lbs feel even lighter.  Didn't do a ton of HSPUs, but practiced the transition a few times.

I have never felt so relaxed and at ease going into a workout.  I knew I would do what I could and that would be that.  In the past I'd have all this worry over the what ifs.  This was a good new feeling.

Learnings: Get faster at HSPUs not only in real life, but need to start seeing myself doing them faster as well!  :)  Would like to gain strength/confidence to knock these out strict.
Also, learn to use the full range allowed on the HSPU standard.  Corey pointed out to me that I had my hands a couple inches inside the border while those that were knocking them out faster than me had wider hand position and thus shortening their range.

Training Into Regionals

1-May
A. Snatch; build to a tough single (not a 1rm)
93, 103, 108, 108, 113, 113, 118, 118, 118lbs.  116 was my old PR and 118 felt GREAT today! 

B. DB snatch practice 55-70# (26 total reps maximum with 70# DB), jog
200m after every 6 reps

Hit 70lbs on my second and third set! Stoked! 


 
C1. TnG DL 155 x5 reps x3; rest 0 sec
C2. 5 HSPU x3; rest 2 min
Done!  Felt good!

2-May
A1. Front squat 65# x10 reps x2; rest 10 seconds
A2. Shoulder to OH x10 45# x2; rest 10 seconds
A3. 2 muscle ups x2; rest 3 min
B1. Back Squat 3x3; rest 10 seconds
B2. 10 unbroken chin ups x3; rest 2:30
Done! 

3-May

The venue!  

OFF-easy hike 90 minutes at Prince William State Park in VA.  Felt good to get out of the car and shake out the legs.  

4-May
Game day!

5-May
Game day!

6-May
Sunday!

7-OFF

Week Following OPTathlon

View from plane approaching AVL!

Birdseye view near fav hiking spot. 

Dug myself a hole by not getting much sleep following the Opthalon as my friend and I went out for dinner and then I ended up getting up at 5am to take the train to the airport.  Slept 5-6 hrs.  
However, the rest of the week I coached less at the gym and no early mornings so I was sleeping 9-11 hours each night.  


24-Apr PM
Didn't get this email regarding training until later in the morning.  Prior to receiving the email I did 10 min Airdyne @ Z1 (78 cals) 
My motivation was super low and was feeling quite fatigued and run down.  But gave this workout a go around 1pm. A. Snatch 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1; rest 3 min (20 double unders prior to each
heavy set)
Started at 83lbs after warm up.  83x2, 93x2, 98x2. 103lbsx1, 108lbs F, 108lbs F.  Was playing around with split snatch and wasn't feeling it.  Felt super emotional and even more fatigued.  Decided to call it a day.  I think this may be the first time since starting to work with James in Nov that I didn't finish a workout.  However, I think it was for the best. 


B. TnG hang power clean 5, 5, 3, 3, 2, 2; rest 3 min   Did not complete
C1. 3 TnG heavy DL x3; rest 10 seconds  Did not complete
C2. Amrap muscle ups unbroken x3; rest 3 min  Did not complete 

25-Apr
AM
3 sets @ high effort:
20 back squat unbroken 95#
15 chin ups
Run 200m
4 snatch/arm 70# DB
Rest 8 min bw sets actively
Energy better today. 
Set 1: 7:45 3-4 attempts @ 65# all which were failed.  Went down to 60lbs after 2 minutes of attempts. 
Set 2: 4:22 no misses @ 60lbs
Set 3: 3:56 no misses @ 60lbs.  
Trying not to freak out about the 70lbs I'll have to do in a couple weeks.  Used DB split snatch today.  Unsure about what to do going forward. 
 


PM
3 sets @high effort:
15 shoulder to OH 95#
10 toes to bar
10 burpee box jumps 24"
Row sprint 250m
10 pistols/side
Rest 8 min bw sets actively
Was feeling fatigued so opted to do two sets to get some overhead and pistol practice when fatigued. 



Set 1: 4:13
Set 2: 4:00


26-Apr
OFF

27-Apr PM
at CF Del Ray Beach.  Here for Kate Carson in the SE Regional!A. Back squat 10 reps x5 95#; rest 90 sec
B. Muscle ups 2 unbroken on the minute for 5 minutes (stop if you fail
and work on mechanics for 10 minutes... build confidence!)
C. Farmers walk 100m for time 70#/hand x3; rest 2:30
52, 47, 47
28-Apr
3 rounds for time:
7 DL 155#
7 HSPU
1:29
 
Rest 90 min   Ended up being 20 minutes 

For time:
15 back squat 95#
15 chin ups
10 shoulder to OH 95#
15 front squat 65#
15 chin ups
10 shoulder to OH 65#
15 OH squats 65#
15 chin ups
10 shoulder to OH 45#
5:40
29-Apr - no gym
5 min z1 run
+
Run 1 min 90% aer
Run 1 min 50% aer
x8
+
5 min z1 run
Done.  Had some left lateral ankle twinges particularly the first five minutes.  
30-Apr
OFF

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!