Crossfit Games 2013 Bound & Marcus Filly Coach!

It official, I finished 16th in the world in the Crossfit Open 140k+ competitors and 7,700 of them in my age division 40-44.  I will be going to the Crossfit Games this year!    Today is also the first day in 7 years I have ever received custom programming and I am honored to have Marcus Filly as my coach.  A seasoned and well respected athlete in the Crossfit community.  I feel if I didn't make this decision, this chapter in my life would not end with a full effort, full victory finish, no matter how hard I push at the games or what place I finish.  I'm hoping he will help me discover more of myself in hopes it will allow me to become a better athlete and person in general.  

 

It's my boys 13th year birthday today so it's a very big day.  Eating at 8:30pm and celebrating late tonight.

 

Here we go... 

 

Pre: External rotation, powell raise, Trap 3 raise (8/8/8 w/15#, shoulders felt smoked after doing these) - http://optimumperformancetraining.blogspot.com/2009/10/day-3145.html

 

A: For Time @ 90%

1k Row

30 Clean and Jerks 135#

30 Burpee Pull Ups (8' Bar)

1k Row

 

Time: 15:58 (3:43, 3:42, 4:27, 4:05)

Row 1:50,

CJ 5/3/3/1's: 90% on this felt a little uncomfortable.  Wasn't sure if I should do all singles or multiples.  Did a little of both.

Burpees: Big jump to strict pull-ups early, later switched to jump and standard kip.  Tough to feel 90% here because they were kind of uncomfortable.

Row 2:00m pace: Got wind back around 550 meters and started pulling 1:53-1:55 again.

 

+ rest 10mins (Took about 15 minutes to warm up Snatch Technique)

 

EMOM x 12

Odd - 5 TnG Power Snatch 135#

Even - 3 Muscle Ups

 

EMOM x 12

Odd - 8 Thrusters 95#

Even - 10 T2B

 

All Unbroken, last 2 rounds of snatches, MU's and T2B got pretty tough.  This was rough tonight.

Shoulder Pain: 5

 

A: x2 PC @ 75% (225#) of max (300#) OTM for 12 min

B: FS worked up to 150kg (330#) - Didn't push this too far.  Need to get comfortable with heavy squatting after the last 5 weeks of lightweight movements.

Crossfit Open Week 4-5 Recap

The open is complete and has been the biggest fight of my life.  I'm still waiting for the final results but the standings are looking positive.

13.4: C&J/T2B: 100 reps on this WOD.  The C&J got uncomfortable and I cut down on my TnG early on.  I did this WOD a few times but do not recall my initial score.  The thing that held me back here were the T2B.  When they go south, they go quick.  Something I have to fix in the future and work with for the time being.  

13.5: Thrusters/C2B: 141 reps - I was sitting 21st place going into 13.5.  My first run on Thursday was balls out from the get go with no pace and I nearly put myself in a coma for 135 reps.  Took a few days to even consider re-considering a redo.  By Sunday, I knew I had to give it another go or all would have been lost had I missed the cutoff.  A well thought out repeat resulted in a 141 which moved me up to 16th place.  Had I not repeated, I would have ended up in 22nd place, missing the games by 2 spots of the 7800 people. 

This Crossfit Open has been the most difficult Crossfit challenge of my life.   Through perseverance, it is now one of the most memorable Crossfit moments of my life! 

Crossfit Open Week 1-3 Recap

So it has been a while since I've updated the blog.  I kind of got side tracked with a regular training cycle as I'm trying to adapt on the fly as the open unfolds.  This years open has been the roughest mental battle of anything I think i have ever done.  I've finished 17th place at regionals 3 years straight as a 38/39/40 year old.  Then the bomb drops when I'm 42 with a games category for 40-44 year olds.  The fact there are 7600 competitors in this division world wide is enough to blow ones mind.  6 years of training and you finally get a shot.   With that aside, the pressure has been immense.  Immense enough I did 13.1 3 times in 4 days and got well into the 165#'s each time.  Long story short, it has been a battle but hanging in there and giving it all I have under the circumstances of a shoulder impingement that has been plaguing me for 9 months now.

Worldwide placement with 7,600 athletes in my division after the first 3 weeks:

13.1: 165 reps - 32nd place

13.2: 295 reps - 34th place - Here is the WOD I really screwed up on.  I thought I was Annie going into this and BJ'd all reps which got me 281 but wasn't even close to what I needed.  Problem was that I really jacked up my calf for the remaining 4 days.  I had to modify strategy to step up however a smart combination of steps/jumps from the start would have rendered me a 300+ and left me with two legs I could stand on.  I could barely walk when I did it again and hit 295.  Biggest mistake of the open right here.

13.3 260 reps - 22nd place - Two spots out from the top 20 spot at this point but there are only 20-30 points separating me from 10th place so I'm still in the game as long as some of those guys have bigger weaknesses than I do in the other movements and domains to come.  I am consistent but will it be enough?  We will see.

Two more to go.  As of the last several days, I have been able to take care of the calf issue by getting in some deep tissue work on the swollen section of tissue.  Feeling much better and ready for 13.4 and .5.  I'm hoping we will see C2B and some heavy weight in 12.5.  Let's see how the small competitors deal with regional weights.  Fingers crossed.

AM:

Airdyne 30 seconds @85%
Airdyne 30 seonds @50%
x30
(increase avg watt from last week)

AM: Held 85+ RPM

Hit this one up at Crossfit Unbroken with Hathcock.  Good times.

A. Squat snatch; build to a tough single in 4 attempts
B. Hang squat clean; build to a max
+
3 min amrap:
3 thrusters 165/95
3 Muscle ups
rest 3 min
6 min amrap:
14 unbroken wall balls
7 unbroken chin ups

-

A: 235# - hit this in 5 reps I stead of 4. Solid
B: 305# - this may be a pr for hang. Not sure but it is within 10# either way.
Metcon:
4 rounds - wasn't digging heavy thrusters. Didn't want 5
+
7 rounds - uncomfortable but not bad. Have another round or two in me on a good day.

Today James released the top 3 male/female winners of the OPT Big Dawg Challenge 2013.  My cardio capacity is better than it ever has been.  Without that, a top 3 placement would not been possible!  

Top 3 men: 107 athletes with complete scores, 148 registered.
1. Brent Maier
2. Dan Felling
3. Todd Nief

Top 3 women: 38 athletes with complete scores, 48 registered.
1. Sarah Pierce
2. Jenny Davis
3. Lisa Rendic

AM:

AM
Airdyne 30 seconds @85%
Airdyne 30 seonds @50%
x30
(increase avg watt from last week)

-

AM:
Done: Held 85+ rpm. 620c