Another Fran, another PR

Well, Thursday's workout was Fran. When I first learned this, I have to admit that my first reaction was fear. I mean, my lower back is feeling it from deadlifts on Monday, while my quads and pecs were really, really sore from Tabata Something else. I don't like the fact that my first response was to think about excuses for a poor performance, but it was. I then proceeded to chide myself, that everyone here have done the same workouts and experiencing the same thing. Fran in this context shouldn't be used to test you at your optimal rest/recovery, it should test how strong you are while you're doing the WOD's 5-6 times a week. So after telling myself that, I became less and less concerned with the aches and pains my body was experiencing.

I tried to make it to the 9am class, but I was a little too late, only Melissa was there. She mentioned how people have posted some good times, and I said I figured to get a new pr, like a sub 10. She responded with something like, "Oh I think you'll do much better then that." Her comment reminded me that I shouldn't look at Fran as something that will reveal how weak I am, but I should get excited because it demonstrates how strong I am. I'm still not used to thinking of myself as strong (at least in the upper body). When I was warming up at the 5pm class, Chriss commented, unprovoked, that he's noticed I've gotten a lot stronger, and thought I had a sub 9 Fran in me. Earlier this week, when Stacey got back from her six week work detail, she commented that I've gotten a lot faster; Chriss, coming back from an equally long work trip, comments that I've gotten a lot stronger. This is why I joined Crossfit. Well, not to be complimented, but to become faster, stronger, an elite athlete. Ok, so I'm starting to get into a more positive attitude in approaching Fran.

The First round of thrusters was tough, but I felt strong and I only put the bar down once, maybe twice. The pull ups were tough, but I felt like I pushed myself pretty hard. I decided to use the tape grips Crossfit Virtuosity talks about, and I think they did a great job of making it easier on my hands, allowing me to focus on my lats than my hands. Jerry talked about how he doesn't want to see phantom tags, but wanted to see actual contact with our neck/chin/chest with the bar. Although I didn't make contact a couple of times, he also commented if it's clear that your head is way above the bar, contact isn't necessarily needed. This standard really doesn't make it harder for me, it requires more lat strength, but it's the core that gives me difficulty.

The second and third rounds were brutal, and I started feeling light-headed, but I never really felt like I wanted to give up, unlike my first attempt at Fran. During my last round of thrusters, Jerry walked over and told me that I needed to take a deep breath and use that core tension to power the bar up. Unfortunately, I was gasping for air at the time, and holding a big breath of air was proving really difficult. Also, when I had only three more to go, Jerry was like, "Ok just knock out two." I don't know why, but whenever someone gives me a goal that is short of what is needed, I get a strong drive to prove them wrong. So, I responded by finishing up the three without lowering the bar. The last one was really ugly, basically the bar stopped about 3/4 of distance it needed to go, so I ended up strict pressing the bar up into active shoulder, and I imagine it wasn't pretty. The last nine pull ups were surprisingly difficult, I had to bang out the last two one at a time.

After I was done, I just simply collapsed. I tried to yell out time, but just couldn't, although I remember trying to make a T with my hands as I fell to the ground. Although I glimpsed the clock when I went down, it was just for a second. But I didn't care what the time was, I was just happy it was over. I also became a little worried because my hands went numb, like my wrists to my fingers felt like pins and needles. Eventually I got up and then realized I never really heard/knew my time. Mellisa, Matt, and Jack all said 10:5X, and that jarred my memory into 10:55. So after four months and ten days, I lowered my Fran time by 4:38. It's also funny to note that I forgot/was too tired to write up my time on the whiteboard. I mean, fran is the mother of all benchmarks. When two crossfitters meet for the first time, they never talk about their badger or murph time. Inevitably fran comes up within the first five minutes. Regardless, I forgot to post, but I definitely didn't forget the time.

Here's a graph of my Fran times, each one was done Rx'd so they are directly comparable:

This feels like a really big victory. I've been looking for quantifiable proof that coming in to CFOT all this time, eating strict zone for such a long time. Something that will show all of this work hasn't been in vain. This week has been fantastic with people's unprompted comments on how I've improved, and now this. As Jerry pointed out, my first fran was about 20 (19:43) min, my second was around 15 (15:33) min, and now it's around 10 (10:55) min. Can't wait for the next fran, since that's when I'll get my first 5 fran.

Onion skin ( PR!) and yesterday's workout

Guess I'll start off with yesterday's workout:

three rounds for time of:
21 Knees to elbows
21 Kettlebell swing
21 Push-ups
21 Rope Pullups
21 Box jump
21 Good Mornings
150 ft Walking Lunge

My time was 52:02, not the quickest time by any means. I knew this was going to be a tough one because of the rope pull ups. They simply tore up my forearm muscles, the last set I was knocking them out only one at a time. Everything else seemed pretty easy meaning I didn't have to break up a set. Ever since we did Helen, I now know I can do 21 kb swings without stopping. Knowing that, I've been able to push through those times when I want to rest. As I'm finding out how strong I've become, I'm getting better and better at pushing myself even more (more on that later).

The Knees to elbows were fun the first two rounds, but I was really feeling it the last round, wanted to kip so bad! The box jumps were really, really short, so I only needed to use my calf muscles to launch myself up there, so I was pretty damn fast since I never had to step off; I would just jump off, land, and then jump back up. Push ups sucked as usual, and now that I think about it I had to break them up each set, SO ANNOYING! Ah well, with time it will come I suppose. The good mornings were a little tricky, I've felt a bit of a strain on my back last week, and I tried to pay close attention to my lower back so as to not aggrevate it again. This exercise really forces me to open up my hips, which I imagine is a good thing. The lunges were no biggie, but next time I'll try to do them faster.

Today we did "Onion Skin"

5 rounds
max reps strict press (Rx'd at 85)
max pullups

Last time I did this was August 18th, where I did 48 reps with 75 lbs and 54 chins. Today was somewhat better, here's how I performed:

Pull ups: 27, 13, 3, 16, 10 = 69
Strict @ 85: 12, 8, 8, 6, 4 = 38

For the strict press, my reps went down by ten, but the weight went up by ten. On the last one I also hit my head, and although it wasn't hard it did through off my focus.

For the pull ups, I went for a PR, and lo and behold I got it. I'm thinking I'm going to start trying to meet the crossfit standard and always go chest to bar. I mean, it is the standard, and it will get me stronger, right? I'm thinking about waiting until we move into the new place with fixed bars, but I might not wait. ...My bigest problem is getting a good grip on the bar. I think I don't place my hand high enough on the bar, because it really feels like there are eight pebbles being jammed into my hand, and the pain really is a distraction. For example, on the third round I did three, but just had to let go because of the pain in my hands. I don't have any torn calluses, it's simply... pain.

Moving on, I'd like to point out that every time I've attempted a PR this past week or so, I've hit it. It really helps to have a goal, and to know full well your prevous score. That is really starting to provide me with motivation. It's simply been very tough for me to remember my previous performances, but when I do, I notice I do that much better. Now that I'm noticing this and have found my motivation, I think I will really start seeing some results.

Mildly insane today with a PR

Ok, we had two options, option A:

10 rounds for time
12 deck-squat slam balls
12 chins
12 burpees

And here is option B, the "psycho" version:

5 rounds for time
25 inverted burpees
25 pull ups
25 burpees

I really want to improve my handstand, so when I learned that an inverted burpee is a deck-squat to a handstand, I decided to do the psycho version. This was tough, as expected. I had trouble getting active shoulder when I try the hand stand. However, near the end I think I started to get it; I know I nailed it once because Jerry spotted me doing it correctly and gave some much inspiring applause. Here's a picture from crossfit.com to demonstrate an inverted burpee:


The high point, other than that moment, was during the first round I got 23 pull ups in a row, a new pr and a 7 rep increase from two months ago. During the third round my anterior deltoids started feeling numb with burpees, but this was to be expected since my shoulder strength needs a lot of improvement.

After the third round, my left knee really started to hurt from it not tracking correctly when performing the deck-squat. I couldn't figure out how to fix it, and knee pain scares me, so I just did 25 Hand stands instead. Without the squat part, this became pretty easy, and I think I started to really get it. Lanette advised that I try jumping into a handstand. Well, not jumping exactly, more like a mini-hop. I tried it once, but it was a little too foreign for me to try out in the middle of such a workout. For those of you like me interested in learning how to progress to the freestanding handstand pushup, here is a great website that teaches you how to get progress to ful freestanding handstand.

I ended up doing 4 rounds in 61:23, with the nerfing of the inverse burbee for the last round. I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm glad that I tried, and I would've done a fifth round if the next class hadn't started.

Max power clean

Well today was max power clean, we warmed up and then tried 1 rep 7 times. I got up to 185, but it wasn't pretty. Although I've never found my max before, the heaviest I've hang cleaned before today is 150 lbs three times about a month ago. Can't really compare the results, but I definitely think it's an improvement, and I know I can go heavier.

My technique wasn't perfect, I was having some difficulty with keeping my stance, not moving my feet. I also think I started too light today, but now that I have an idea of how strong I am I'll be better able to push myself.

We also had a gasser afterwards, it felt good:
10 minutes AMRAP
7 med ball squat cleans 20# ball
7 push ups

Think I got 13 rounds in, maybe 12. Jerry kept telling me to lower my hips, so I think I was trying to use my back on the light weight. I think after a while I got my hips down, and I really tried to emphasize the hip extension to shrug, resulting in a weightless med ball.

Today reminded me of how important it is to know my personal records, so I've decided to post them here now. Now I know that almost none of them are actual 1 rep max, but that's because I've yet to find out. If I've forgotten any exercise let me know.

front squat
150 (3 rep max) done on 9/13/2008

hang power clean
185 (1 rep max) done on 11/10/2008

squat clean
90 (30 times w/ Badger) done on 11/70/08

clean and jerk
165 (1 rep max) done on 10/30/2008

deadlift
265 lbs (strained my back on this one) done on 7/13/2008

overhead snatch
95 (5 rep max) done on 9/26/2008

ring dips
5 reps 9/17/2008

pull ups
16 reps 9/6/2008

Strict press
95 9/3/2008

Jerry also talked to me about one more thing that's affecting my technique: my confidence. To be honest, I'm simply not used to being this strong. It's a little tough wrapping my mind around the fact that what was once tough might be easy. I just need to get aggressive, to take that weight and make it mine, to own it.