The Morning After...The Famously Hot Showdown

Yesterday was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. The Famously Hot Showdown kicked off at 8am with the sandbag run and didn't finish up until about ten. Overall, I am incredibly proud of myself; not just of how I placed (tied for tenth--woot!), but also how I performed. Annnnd now time for a play by play:

WOD 1: SANDBAG RUN (10th)
I was pleasantly surprised with how this went. The 30# sandbag was a lot easier to handle than the other objects that I had been practicing with..AND we only ran around the stadium...not up and down the concourses. The scoring was based on time, not place, so I am unsure of how long it took me, but I think I kept a solid pace. Once I fell in my groove, my goal was just not to let anyone else pass me. I kept up with two of our male rx athletes the whole time, which made me feel pretty good...and then towards the last leg of the run, I saw one of my competitors relatively close to me, so I balls out sprinted to pass her. She didn't try to re-pass me, so I decided not to waste anymore energy and slow my roll a bit. The fact that I could sprint at the end of the race makes me think I should have ran faster, earlier, so that is something to work on for the future.

WOD 2:10 EROM HSPU/1.5 POOD FARMERS CARRY/20 GHD SIT UPS/15 C2B PULL UPS (11th)
I think this workout was the most gratifying for me. For the past three weeks I've been hardcore working on those damn handstand pushups, and today they paid off. Once again, I finished pretty middle of the pack, but I couldn't be happier with my performance. I started off with clusters of 3s and 4s with my HSPU, and while I was tempted to try to do as many as I could, I didn't want to redline on the first round...so I kept my pace and got through my ten pretty quickly. The farmers carry was no problem, and the GHDs really hurt my head more than anything (killer headache going into the workout). My plan for the c2b were to do clusters of 2s and 3s until I couldn't do any more, and then just do singles. That was very short lived, and I had to go to singles probably around the 10th or so. I'm so glad my lane was close to where all my friends were standing because their cheering really kept me going. The second round of HSPU was a little harder; I think I failed on maybe one or two...but I just took a second to gather myself and got back at it. The GHDs wore me out a little bit on this round and I had to do 10-5-5. Thennnnn I got my butt whooped by the C2B. I literally did 15 SLOW singles...but I don't think I no repped any on that round, which means while my pace was slow, it was efficient. I finished my second round with enough time to knock out 3 more HSPU, so not only did I meet my expectation/goal of finishing 2 rounds, but I exceeded it. hooray!  It's really nice to see hard work pay off.

WOD 3: THRUSTER LADDER (12th)
We had 20 minutes to complete the lift and 10 seconds to transition. My nerves game into play a little bit on this one and I actually no repped my first attempt at 105 by taking a HUGE step backwards. After I dropped it, I just stared at the bar for like an hour (probably 3 seconds), until Joey told me to try it again...and I did. Sometimes I forget how long 20 seconds actually is. I made it to 130 which is my max thus far. I was hoping I'd get 135# just from adrenaline, but even after attempting it twice, it just wasn't pressing out. After that fact, Joey told me that my cleans looked good....and a Joey compliment is probably worth 3 times the average persons' compliment..soooo booyah

WOD 4: PUSH/PULL (9th)
This was the most demoralizing workout I've ever done to date. There was a lot of drama about certain lanes being better than others...who was going when...and the fact that it was so late/dark. By the time it was my heat, I had lost a lot of my competitive drive (much like in Hilton Head), but that is not to say I didn't give it my all. The first sled push went pretty well. My pull was slow. Box jumps were solid. The second time I hit that sled, it just didn't budge. I slowly moved it, but I really don't think there is a worse feeling that throwing your entire body into and trying your hardest to move something, and it just not budging. I definitely started getting discouraged and got into my head...but I got through two rounds and then some of the last push before the 7 minute time cap. Afterwards, I couldn't catch my breath and was wheezing a little bit. I think know that it's because I hold my breath when I push the sled aka not good.

I did a lot better than I thought I would, am so glad I made the change to RX, and am truly humbled by the support and kind words from all of my friends and fellow athletes. I'm looking forward to doing more competitions in the future, but right now I'm looking forward to taking it easy for the next week or so..

tomorrow...

sooooo I'd thought I'd have a lot more to say about my upcoming competition, but I literally have nothing to say right now. It's been a roller coaster of emotions this week, but right now I'm feeling pretty calm..and plan on keeping it that way. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say on the matter later, bur right now, I got nada

hump day

D-Day is almost here and today was my last workout.
WOD
30min on Airdyne @ 50%
Every 5mins Complete -
:10sec L-sit
20 Unbroken DU
1 Rope Climb
This was a good workout and actually made my quads feel better, so I'm happy. After that, I did a few EROM HSPU....and then attempted (and completed) one on TWO 45 pound plates. ballin'

I'm really up and down right now when it comes to stress and excitement levels, so I'm just going to ignore it for the time being. CCF posted the following "values" on their page today and I like them...so I'm re-posting them...


Many of our athletes are competing this Saturday in The Famously Hot Showdown. Others are taking their personal time to Volunteer. We hope that all CCF athletes strive to be "better than yesterday" everyday:

-Commitment- enthusiasm to do your best.
-All-Out Effort- from start to finish regardless of where you place or your score.
-Discipline-to control your emotions, thoughts, and to focus on the task(s) at hand
-Sportsmanship- "Leave your ego at the door". Cheer on your competition.
-Courage- to face adversity and do your best.
-Individual- work towards your own goals regardless of those around you.
-Compassion-to encourage and sympathize with your fellow athletes.

Win or lose this weekend, we want all of our athletes to have fun, try their best, and represent what ‪#‎CarolinaCrossFit‬ is about.

"Winning is overemphasized. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war." - Al McGuire


and I'm done

basket case

I think I was a little too calm yesterday, because I'm am a freaking basket case of nerves today. I had a minor panic attack while watching the bachelorette...so I switched from hulu to youtube and put some inspirational videos on lock:

Rocky....

 Camille...

a little bit of everyone...

Had an OK workout today. Came in and did some heavy thrusters (got up to 125)..then thought about doing the programmed WOD but ended up just doing the met con and the end (15-12-9 DL @ 135, box jumps @ 20 and wall balls with a 20# slam ball). Afterwards (and before for that matter) my legs and butt felt toasted. I rolled out and mobilized for a while, and waddled out of the gym. I'm def taking thurs/fri off as mobility days; considering taking tomorrow off too.

T-6 days

Got some good work done in the gym today. Walked in feeling anxious, but walked out feeling a lot calmer. I still struggle with the fear of looking bad or coming in last, but I need to focus on the fact that while this is a competition, and I am competing against other people, the biggest competition is me against myself. Dorothy really said it best, when she was giving me advice on which divisionI should compete in.

 I think you have to decide are you willing to take the risk and be okay with Where you land if you do RX. Will you be devastated or will you get through it and be thrilled you just accomplished a WOD you knew could be difficult? I think you could do it if you don't allow your head to get in the way and you fight for it. It really is a personal choice and you have to decide what you will be happy with.....Compete at RX and know you are challenging yourself on every level and be HAPPY where you land..or...do scale, bust butt and be confident in yourself.

 and what Brian said:

You should do it Rx. You won't win, but you'll be more excited, people will care more (few people really care what goes on in scaled), and it kind of represents, to me, the exact thing you're training for. You work your ass off, and this is the test of that effort. Take the real test and see how you do

 They're both right. This is what I've been training for. And if progress is what I'm being "judged" on, I've already gotten first place. Three weeks ago, when I decided to make the switch to RX, I couldn't even do one HSPU on a 45# plate. Now I can do about 7 unbroken. My chest to bar pull ups were iffy at best, and now I can do three good ones..hop off the bar..and get back on. Today when I did 10 c2b/10 HSPU, I had to break them up into twos and threes...but that wasn't because I couldn't do more...I just don't want to run out of gas during the first round of the workout.  I'm feeling pretty good right about now. After I did my skill work, I did (some of) the programmed WOD. I would have done it all, but halfway through the weighted pull ups, I busted a ginormous blister...and really didn't want mutilate my hand before this weekend. womp.

WOD
-c2b skill work
-HSPU skill work
-3x: 10 c2b + 10 EROM HSPU
**I started doing the programmed WOD, but then my blister erupted, so I ended up doing
-5 back squat @2.0.1 60% of 1rm; rest 30sec (115#) X 6
-BB on back reverse lunge; 7-8/leg; x3; rest 3mins (75, 85, 85)
-3x15 GHD sit ups  

weekend things

this weekend (with the except of having to work at 7am...blergh), I tried to take it easy, get my mind right, and do some work around the house.
SATURDAY
I wasn't able to do 31 heroes due to work, but I was able to make it to the gym Saturday and work on some sled pulls/pushes and HSPU. I'm really pleased with how my EROM HSPU have come along. 3 weeks ago, I could barely squeeze out one...and now I can do about 5 unbroken. I think for the competition, I'm going to do sets of 2 and 3, just so I don't get burn out...but we'll see. Sledwise, I think my performance is going to depend on if we load up the sleds with weight or not. The sled itsself weighs about 90 pounds (i think?). The naked sled was a piece of cake to push and pull, but I doubt that's going to be the case. With a 45# plate, pushing it is still easy, but the hand over hand speedy pulling will be very tough. The sled PLUS 90 pounds will be ok for the push, but I really don't think I'll be able to pull it. Fingers crossed.
SUNDAY
very productive day of cleaning. got a lot done around the house and took some time to think about the competition coming up. This is going to be (another) crazy week of work, so I also ran out and bought some snacks for the upcoming competition. eek. getting close!

Foodwise, I ate a lot this weekend (circa 2000 cals/day). It was all healthy though, so hopefully I got some good fuel in my body!

no suzanne, I don't want help with my oly lifts..

..SAID NO ONE EVER. Had to work at the high school at 0700 which was miserable, but I was out of there and in the gym by noon which was not so miserable.
I started on my 10 minute 3-2-1 EROM HSPU ladder...knocked out a few reps (yay) and then got distracted discussing technique with Suzanne, so I didn't really keep count...or do it for the ten minutes. I then did some singles...and then did 5 unbroken. yiiii elite! THEN I did the programmed WOD, and let me tell you, 135# cleans felt way heavier than they should today..AND the c2b/dip mod for muscle ups wore me out...cut to a field trip to the brand new lululemon showroom + starbucks...return to the gym for work on thrusters and snatches. Suzanne and I did a mock thruster ladder; I got up to a pretty solid 130, but could not put up 135. Suzanne got like 175. It was sick. THEN Bradley and I worked on snatching with some solid coaching from Suzanne--it felt like 3 hours, not sure really how long we spent, but I have huge bruises on my hip bones that make it nearly impossible to wear pants. Bright side: I feel like I really cleaned up my technique. The max I snatched was 85#, but strength wasn't the primary focus, so I'm ok with that.

 awkward hip bruises ~6 hours post-snatch sesh

the monstrosities they grew into the next day..

WOD

HSPU skill work

+

programmed WOD:

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for Time: (11:07)

Muscle-Ups (or 3 C2B/3 Dips per 1 MU)

Power Clean 225/135

+

Rest 5min

+

7min AMRAP Ladder

1 Burpee

1 Wall Ball 20/14 10′/9′ Target

2 Burpee

2 Wall Balls

3, 4, 5, Etc.

(got to 10 burpees, 5 wall balls)

 +

Thruster work

snatch-a-palooza

Ate a lot today, even though I'm still dealing with some stomach issues...

Meal 1
Crock Pot Breakfast Pie, 0.8 serving(s)
Meal 2
Quest Nutrition - Quest Bar - Strawberry Cheesecake (Net Carbs), 1 bar (60g)
Crispy Green - Crispy Asian Pears (Freeze-Dried), 1 bag
Meal 3**various snacks between my workouts
Bsn - Syntha-6 Chocolate Cake Batter Protein, 1 Rounded Scoop
Bananas - Raw, 1 medium (7" to 7-7/8" long)
Apples - Raw, with skin, 1 medium (2-3/4" dia) (approx 3 per lb)
Meal 4
Hillshire Farms - Smoked Thin Sliced Low Sodium Ham, 3.5 oz
Chocolate Chip Protein Muffin, 1 serving(s)
Trader Joe's - Kohser Dill Pickles, 3 oz
Meal 5
Bsn - Syntha-6 Isolate - Vanilla Ice Cream, 1 scoop (38g)
Eggs - White only, raw, 0.25 cup
Peaches - Raw, 1 small (2" dia) (approx 5 per lb)
Coconut Secret - Raw Coconut Flour , 1 Tbsp (14g)
Meal 6
Promax - Pro Series Triple Chocolate Crisp Bar, 45 g