Reis Baron - Athlete

OK so lets chat for a second about this.  There's a web site on this planet that actually refers to me as an athlete. Fine so it says that about anyone who ponies up the 10 bucks to register, but we need to contemplate how historical it is for me to enter ANYTHING as an athlete.  Not since little league could it remotely have been said without it being some sort of joke.

Well here I am world!! I'm Reis Baron and I'm registered for the 2011 Crossfit Games.  Do I expect to end up in Carson at the Home Depot Center this summer?  Not at all...but at the encouragement of Crossfit NYC I'll be representing my affiliate team each week for the next couple of months, as I'm judged on weekly workouts and my times are submitted for regional rankings.   Each week the top three results for each affiliate counts towards our score in the "Affiliate Cup".  The top affiliates nationwide will compete at the Games.

So today's WOD was the first competition workout.  I must've refreshed the Games website 50 times before finally going to bed after midnight.  I woke up at my usual time of 4:00 to discover that it was just about as bad as you could imagine.

CrossFit Games Open 11.1
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
30 Double-unders
15 Power snatches
The Power snatch loads are as follows:
Men and Masters Men 45-49, 50-54: 75lbs/35kg
Women and Masters Women 45-54: 55lbs/25kg
Masters Men 55-59, 60+: 65lbs/30kg
Masters Women 55-59, 60+: 45lbs/20kg

Doubleunders and snatches.  It's like Crossfiit HQ had a meeting and said "Oh...Reis is competing?! Well, let's make sure this one is extra shitty with a side of 'fuck you'."  But hey, who was I to complain?  After all I'm an athlete, right?

Sara paired up with me, which at first and afterward was a great idea, but during the workout it would prove to shave me down to the remnants of my soul.  I subbed tuck jumps for double-unders and since we were able to sub clean & jerks for the snatches I sensed that I would switch to those pretty early in the game.  As it turned out I didn't realize how right I was...

3...2...1...GO!  I was off and, uh, jumping!  Man are those damn jumps tough.  I could feel my quads slamming into the ground with every rep.  When time came to pick up the bar I knew I would only crank out a couple of snatches before switching, and on rep 3 I did exactly that.  13 clean & jerks later, with Sara's encouragement, I was off to round 2.  Somehow I finished that round, doing 5 jumps at a time and only a couple of clean & jerks at a time.  It was the 3rd round where it started to get real interesting.  I remember at some point Sara announced that there were 4 minutes left and I was in sheer agony, literally capable of crying at any second knowing that we were only 60% done.  I was in so much pain and there was so much to go.  Sara all but pulled every rep out of me in the 3rd round.  It was insane.  I was completely cooked, and somehow I found these pockets of energy and kept jumping, and getting ahold of the bar.  Before I knew it three round were done and I somehow cranked out 11 more jumps.  With 3 seconds left I hit the ground, completely finished and spent beyond any level of exhaustion I've experienced at Crossfit yet.  It was fucking BRUTAL.  Worst.  WOD.  EVER.

ever.

See you tomorrow... :)

Snatched from the Jaws of Pain...

If I wake up very sore I've learned to just get my body moving and I'll be alright .  A couple of times the pain has cost me a day at Crossfit.  But I've learned that by the time I get to the Black Box it's almost three hours after I wake, and I'm likely favored to power through a workout without much trouble.  If a metcon was on the schedule today that would have been very questionable.  The only way I was getting through today was the fact that it was all skillwork...a nice chill day where we focus on the ill-named but ever-powerful "Snatch".

A nice visual breakdown of the Snatch

I was happy to get some weight on the bar and see where I stood with this exercise.  I don't remember doing a straight-up power snatch (from the floor)...several times we went over the muscle snatch (starting from the bar at mid-thigh) and we did snatch balances a couple of times in the past (or maybe once in NYC and once in Morristown). 

Warmup:
Pullup Attempt (got 1/2 way up with thickest band several times...this is HUGE for me)
30 Kettle Bell Swings (16 kg)
20 Ring Rows
10 GHD Situps
5 mins Double-Under practice

Snatch:
6-7 warmups with bar (45 lb)
65 lbs (x3)
85 lbs (x3)
105 lbs (x3)

I'm pretty sure the WOD called for seven rounds of one rep, but I really wanted to get comfortable with the exercise, and Sara was more concerned with that than adhering to the exact number.  She had a lot of helpful comments, and she mentioned that my snatch form was better than my cleans.  I felt good with the weight, and I feel like if I pushed heavier it would be borderline.  I didn't want to get so heavy that I compromised the form of the exercise (or bring myself any additional pain).  It gets meaningless when you do that, even though it's the most common thing I see in other types of gyms.

Either way another productive skill day in the books, and I'll have a solid reference point next time we revisit the snatch.  The soreness from yesterday's madness didn't slow me down at all, but you can bet there's some solid rest coming up this weekend before I attack next week's Crossfit schedule.

Peace...

Going "Nutts"

I saw yesterday's WOD online and memories of "Filthy Friday" popped into my head:

"Nutts"

For time:
10 Handstand push-ups
250 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
25 Box jumps, 30 inch box
50 Pull-ups
100 Wallball shots, 20 pounds, 10'
200 Double-unders
Run 400 meters with a 45lb plate

With all of the shoulder press skill days last week and back squats last Friday, I was ready for a serious  metcon.  Problem was this was yesterday's WOD...and CF NYC hadn't posted the Monday WOD yet.  So I look to see what's in store for us in the Crossfit main site (NYC abides by the national site's WODs), and lo and behold we were scheduled to do back squats the same as last Friday, five sets of three.  I remember this guy Elliot from the class before me doing a previous day's WOD sometime last month, which I thought was very cool.  But I wouldn't imagine I'd break off from the pack to do it myself so soon after that.

So I emailed myself the WOD (scaled of course) in case Kevin was cool with my doing "Nutts" instead of more back squats.  I was psyched when Kevin was completely cool with it, so I went about setting up my stations.  Here's what I scaled to:

10 Pike Pushups
185 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
25 Step-ups, 24 inch box
35 Ring Rows
70 Wallball shots, 20 pounds, 10'
120 Double-unders
Run 400 meters with a 25lb plate

I could have tried the box jumps, as my knee has improved, but I'd rather not get back to where I was so quickly.  I decided to do step-ups, but in retrospect I should have done at least 10 of the box jumps to just try and get back into it.  Next time I'll push myself more.  Frankly the step-ups were pretty damn tough toward the end...two feet high is no joke...

While I've maxed higher than 185 on the deadlifts, I haven't done 15 in a row before, so I played that one cautiously as well.  I got through the ring rows quicker than any set I've done yet...I can feel the strength building.  I really want to do pullups!  Wall balls were super-tough, but I did them 10 at a time, and before I knew it I was done.  I did 120 single-unders, about 5-10 at a time, with the longest stretch being 18. After 120 though I felt like I should do more since it called for doubles, so I asked Kevin and he said to work on doubles.  I spent a few minutes trying, and someone gave me some solid pointers, but it just wasn't happening today.  I grabbed the weight and ran out the door to finish it off.  Coming back up the stairs was a bit of a kick in the balls to finish off the WOD, but I made it, and it felt great.

24:36

Was this WOD tough?  Absolutely...was I COMPLETELY spent the way I was after Filthy Friday?  No.  But I'm happy I was able to do this WOD, and I look forward to the next metcon.

I can feel the progress...good stuff!

Press Your Luck

I like when the main Crossfit site says "rest day" because it's always a "skill day" at the Black Box. We always focus on a particular exercise or a family of them, and really nail down the form so we can use them efficiently in future WODs.

Warmup:
10 PVC Shoulder dislocates
10 PVC shoulder rolls
20 walking lunges (with twisting to opp side)
10 GHD situps
10 hip extensions
10 pullups (sub ring rows)
2 mins double unders (sub singles)

Today's WOD was the shoulder press.  Five sets of five reps.  I've done a bunch of push press so far, but it's amazing how different an exercise the shoulder press is because you're not creating momentum from your hips to get the weight up.  You just get the bar above your head, lock out and repeat.  Check out this video of the shoulder press, push press, and push jerk observed side by side.

I started with a good test weight, since these were my first shoulder presses.  95 lbs. felt good, and I knew I could do a bit more.  Here are my stats:

Reps    Weight
5          95
5          115
3          125
5          105
5          115

We did a "cash out" of 30-20-10 double-unders and situps.  I'm still nowhere near getting a double under, so I did twice the RX'ed number of single-unders.  I counted up to 18 at a time that I'm able to do, which buries the max of two I was able to do just over a month ago.  Anyway I got through the cashout in 6:35...

Solid WOD to ease back into Crossfit after a much-needed weekend rest for my aching muscles.

Filthy Friday Crushes My Soul

OK...so here's the WOD as RX'ed:
http://crossfitnyc.com/2010/12/filthy-friday.html

For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

I scaled to "Dirty 30" (i.e. 30 reps of everything vs. 50). I had no intention of doing jumping pullups at all, but Sara had me on the box doing them in no time. I was excited to have a WOD with kettle bell swings, as we didn't even do these during Elements. Since my knee is still bruised and a little tender, I scaled to step-ups for the box jumps.

I cruised through the first three exercises like I actually had business being there. I was surprising myself with my pace. Wall balls WERE my favorite exercise, but today, with them smack in the middle of the WOD, they tore me down hard...by the time I got to the burpees I hit the wall. But rep by rep Sara was on me hard to finish. Somehow I found a way, and before I knew it I was done. 35:15!

This is truly an incredible experience. I am so psyched that I'm actually finishing these workouts. I cut a new hole in my belt yesterday, and I'm officially one shirt size smaller. It's the only way I'm measuring my progress. I still haven't stepped on a scale since I started. I just need to keep plugging away...

The knee shows signs of improvement...I'll still wear the brace next week, and I'll keep it to three WODs, or maybe see how I feel by next Friday...I don't want to push too hard, but this Crossfit experience is damn exciting.

word.

WOD 2010-11-22

Warmup:
20 lunges (forgot name - opposite of spiderman)
10 Overhead PVC Squats
20 double unders (sub singles)
10 chest to bar pullups (sub ring rows)
10 pushups (knees)
10 GHD situps

WOD:  AMRAP Push Press (I did a ton at 65 lb. - didn't want to push weight while getting form down)

feelin it...

WOD 2010-11-19

Warmup:
10 Kettle Bell Swings
10 PVC Overhead Squats
10 25lb weighted situps
10 pullup (scaled to ring rows)
also practiced w the jump rope

WOD (amrap 15 mins):
5 Deadlifts (135 was good for me)
10 Wall Ball
15 Double Unders (I just did 30 singles)

4 rounds plus a set of wall ball in 15 mins...not horrific, but at least a reference point for next time.