Open WOD 12.3

This is a special combo post of both the practice and official WODs or I will never ever catch up with my posts.

So here we are.  12.3 was longer and included more than one type of movement.  The work out was:

18 minute AMRAP:

• 15 box jumps (20")
• 12 push presses (75# is the standard for women)
• 9 T2B

For the practice on 3/8 I scaled this work out.  The box jumps I have a handle on now, although the standard for the Open was to gain control at the top instead of bouncing back to the ground, so that took a small mental adjustment.  Fortunately I have only really done box jumps once for real so I don't have a lot of habits ingrained yet.  One my first round I did my push presses at 45#, but I felt like my form was suffering so I stripped the weight down to 35#.  The toe-to-bar I have not yet conquered so I just pulled my knees up as usual.  I got 4 solid rounds during the practice (144 total reps).

The official judged work out was different.  Not just because of the crazy atmosphere of the competition, but because there was no scaling.  You either did it or you were disqualified.  I was ready to just register a 15 reps for the open- the entire 18 minutes were going to be my 15 box jumps and then maybe I would scale the rest and just not count it.  

But as with WOD 12.2, my awesome coach wanted to see me push myself and get just one more rep.  So we decided I would do my box jumps, then go over to the side away from the other competitors and work on my form for the push press.  During my warm up I managed a 55# push press and felt like I would not be able to do very many of them, so I was not feeling very confident as Lori set up a 65# bar for me to work on.

My heat started.  I got through my 15 box jumps- not with grace or style, but with success.  And my pants wanted to fall off, but they managed to stay up, so that was a success as well.

Then I headed over to the weight.  I managed to clean the bar into a front rack and then over my head.  I managed it twice.  And by God, we added those 10# back on to get me up to 75#.  Suddenly, my reps for the day were 16, not 15.  And I kept going.  More often than not I would fail part way through the motion and have to drop the bar (and twice I tried to lower it gently and managed to catch it on my leg.  I anticipate that it will soon be a bruise the size of my head).  Nearly every attempt was accompanied by my roar of pain and effort.  And every attempt was met with a chorus of shouts of encouragement and advice for my form from everyone around me.  I also managed to break two weight clips dropping the bar.  

I don't know how, but I finished 12 reps.  Every day at CrossFit, I accomplish something that I never thought was possible, and this is never more true than during the Open.  

As soon as I dropped the bar from my final rep, Lori ran me over to the bar to attempt my T2Bs.  I swung and kicked and swung and kicked, but alas, my rep count for the competition stayed at 27.  It looked pretty pathetic next to the other names on the board who were all in the triple digits.  But I am pretty damn proud that two months into this, I am somehow managing to haul weights like that over my head!  And I am sporting a pretty sweet bruise on my sternum as proof of all the times I racked that bar into my chest.

Now I just need to figure out toe-2-bars...

Hero WOD: Coe

Last week I was CrossFit-less thanks to a martian death flu that laid me low.  Very low.  Between my exploding sinuses, my lost voice, and my constant cough I thought that perhaps challenging my body beyond that would not be such a grand idea.  But today I was back (with a supply of kleenex just in case as well as a lingering cough)!  And it felt very very good to be back.

The box has changed in my brief hiatus- we moved in the same complex to a larger space and the new digs are awesome!  We also had some new faces this morning so that was neat too.

Today's WOD was a hero WOD.  CrossFit has a significant military following and we have a number of WODs dedicated to military, police, and firemen (and women) who have died in the line of duty.  These WODs are typically fairly brutal and this is my first time doing a hero WOD.  This is the story behind Coe: http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/007064.html

2/13/12 WOD #13 "Coe"

• Warm up: 400 m run
                  2x: 10 pass throughs
                        10 OHS (over head squats)
                        10 T2B (still not getting the bar, but I think I'm actually getting my knees up higher)
                        10 pull ups (blue band)
                        1 HS walk (hand stand walk- I just did a couple hand stands against the wall)
                 20 OHS with a 15# bar
• WOD Coe: 10 rounds for time
                     10 thrusters (15# bar)
                     10 ring push ups (I used dumb bells and my knees)
                     Time: 23:13

This was a nice detox for my system and as much as I sweated and rested between (and during) my sets, it felt great to be using my muscles again.  I only had to stop and blow my nose once.  Remind me to get some garden-style knee pads for the box- my knee caps feel like they are going to pop off during my girly push ups and I am sure that I'm not the only one!

Wherein I almost busted my face with a medicine ball

Today I was a bit late to the work out because I cleverly left my winter coat and hat in Andrew's car last night so I was searching desperately through the closet for a warm hat in case we were running outside today.  The bad news: I didn't find a hat.  The good news: we didn't run outside thanks to the 10 minute snow storm we had last night and the resultant frostiness this morning.

1/16/12 WOD #6

• Warm-up: 1000 m row
                   Two rounds each: 10 pull-ups
                                               10 sit ups
                                               10 push ups
                                               10 squats
• WOD: five rounds for time: 12 wall balls (modified in my last round)
                                            12 toe-to-bars (modified- no toe touched the bar)
                                            Time: 16:37

I managed to finish the warm up again today.  It helps that the 6 am class usually has just 3-5 of us.  I discovered that toe-to-bars are actually harder wearing my lifting gloves (and subsequently forgot them at the box).  The wall balls were difficult in that I kept almost catching the 15# medicine ball with my face and very often ended up dropping the ball instead of dropping into a proper squat with the ball in rack position.  So in my last round she just had me squat and lift a 15# dumbbell for my reps.  This was much less technically difficult and spared my face from further near-smashing.  

I also wore my new super-tight pants that make me look like an extra from Tron.  YES.

Trying on my Tron pants in Target.
Not pictured: the Tron-pants-dance.  It's totally a thing.