After a long 3-month hiatus, my knee doensn’t hurt just from thinking of squatting. So it’s time to ease myself back into shape.
Tabata:
Note to self: never take so much time off again. This sucked.
What an epic nationals! We came in seeded 8th overall, the 2nd seed in the pool of death. We had the overall 1 seed (Amp), a severely-underseeded Blackbird, and Ambiguously Grey - a team that finished 6th last year after starting out in the bottom half. Rockford, IL was very windy on Thurs and Fri, so the games were very upwind-downwind.
Our first game against Blackbird was super-close the whole way. Our D got many chances to score upwind, but we couldn’t convert any of them. Blackbird broke us twice in the first half, and was sitting pretty with the lead. In the second half, we started playing some of our stronger throwers on D, and finally got the upwind break, then the downwind break. The cap went on, and we were pulling upwind on universe point. Miraculously, we got the D and worked it all the way upwind to score the break and pull out the win 12-11.
After this amazing win, we kept rolling. We crushed AG 11-6 in a very windy second game, then faced off against Amp to earn the bye into quarters. This is the game I had been looking forward to. Amp was the 1 seed, but we had beaten them before and knew they were not invincible. We started out really strong, scoring the first 3 points. Then we quickly gave up a few breaks to let Amp close, before breaking to take half 8-6. In the second half, we broke twice more, taking the win 12-9. They showed our game on Ultiworld, which was really cool for my family. Even the Germans got to watch me play.
Winning out on Thurs earned us a bye into quarters, and the right to play only one game a day until we lost. It also put Amp on the other side of the bracket, together with Drag'n Thrust, Slow White, and Mixtape (who lost to Mischief). This means we had the easiest road to finals of any of the other teams. In quarters, we stomped Noise 15-7, sending us to semis (my first time playing in semis). There, we faced a tough Mischief team. The wind died down, but we still made a lot of mistakes (dropping the very first pull, throwing several miscued dumps, etc). We also had several great plays (including a Callahan from John G). The game was very close throughout. We started down, clawed back to take half 8-7, went down 8-9, then scored 3 breaks in a row to basically seal the deal. We ended up winning 14-11, and making the big game - finals against Slow White.
Slow is definitely the team I wanted to play against in the finals. They were very good all around, but we had proven we could beat them if we played well. I also have a lot of friends on that team, so playing against them is always fun. We started off the way we always do - by giving up a few breaks. Slow broke us 3 times in a row. We regrouped and a few points later, broke them 3 times back. They broke again at 6-5, we broke at 7-6 to take half 8-6. Being a second-half team, we were knew we had them right where we wanted them. However, tight subbing really drained our stars, and we started making mistakes. They broke us at 8-7, then again at 9s to take the lead. Finally, up 12-11, they broke us 3 times to win it 15-11. In retrospect, we definitely had the ability to win that game and I wish we had played it a bit differently. On the other hand, what’s done is done, and I’m still very happy with the outcome. I played well all weekend, improving throughout. I played my best game in the finals, throwing two assists (one a half-field breakside huck). If someone had told me on Thursday that we were gonna take 2nd place, I would have been psyched. Losing in the finals stings, but that was the only sad part of an otherwise incredible nationals.
Final stat line: 0 goals, 3 assists (2 in the finals), 1 D, 1 turnover (against Blackbird).
We’re in Pittsburgh this week, which means Rodu is on the menu. Sadly, Rob is closing the gym in a week or two. But on the plus side, I got one more workout in before he’s gone.
2 rounds of:
10min EMOM:
5@65lb, 4@75lb, 1@85lb
3 x 4min AMRAP:
2min rest between rounds (or maybe 3 min??)
2+15, 1+21, 1+23
An exciting weekend for Metro North. We won the region, beating Slow White (the top seed, and #2 in the country) 15-13 in the finals. That game was one of the cleanest and most focused games I’ve ever played. Our O line only had two turns, and only let Slow convert one of them. Our D line converted two breaks (I caught both of them :-) ), and had a chance to convert at least one more. I felt like I was completely in the zone and focused on the game. I did talk to people on the sideline, but I barely remember what I said.
Before the finals, we had a few close games with 7X and Wildcard. I played fairly well in those too, though I had one or two turns on Sat and missed some D opportunities.
14min EMOM:
Cleans: 2@75lb, 2@95lb, 2@115lb, 1@125lb
Box Jumps: 2@20“, 2@24”, 3@30“
3 Rounds for Time:
Rest 2:00 between rounds. Target time for each round is 1:45-2:15. If you’re way over that, drop weight or box height.
My rounds: 2:04, 2:05, 2:02 with a 100lb clean.
Practice 3-6 Saturday and 10-1 Sunday. Worked on a lot of things, talked about mental toughness, played lots of slap cup.
As far as ultimate goes, I did not play that well. A lot of turns - rushed throws, bad decisions, just not there mentally. I need to focus on taking an extra second before every throw, even the easy ones. It may feel slow, but I think it will up my percentage. And NO HUCKS unless its obviously the right throw.
Off the field, I killed it at slap cup.
16min EMOM:
Odd Minutes: 3 Deadlift @ 165,185,185,195,215,215,225,235lb
Even Minutes: 5 Weighted Pull-ups (or eccentric ring rows) @ 10,5@0,2@rows
6:00 AMRAP
I did 6 full rounds, finishing with 18 RKBS and 12 pullups
4 rounds of:
For time, with an 8min cap:
The RX weight is 95lb. I started off with 85lb, but dropped down to 75lb about 3 squats in. Even with that, I was 4 squats short of finishing in the 8min cap. I attribute this to some combination of going hard in the first half of the workout, and not eating that well the last few days.
Spent a good amount of time rolling my glutes, IT bands and calves. Also stretched my legs and back.
I stayed with Miriam on Sunday night after Pro Flight, and she invited me to play goalty with her team. At first I thought I’d be too tired and sore to play, but I decided to come out and see how it went. I ended up playing the whole time and had a blast. The people were fun and we had the right number of subs - enough to feel fresh but not too many to stand around a lot. I’m still learning goalty, so I made a bunch of mistakes, but I did mack a disc for a goal and throw a Rochester for a goal that was dropped. Overall I noticed that people have a tendency to all hang out in and around the goal, which makes scoring extra hard. I think more discipline to stay away from the arch would create more space and make scoring easier.
6 games across 2 days. We didn’t have many players, and lost some to injury as the weekend went on, so I got a lot of reps. I tried out KT tape for my knee, and am happy to report that it did not bother me at all on Saturday and only hurt a little on Sunday (whether this correlation implies any causation or not, I still don’t know). I had more turns and less Ds this weekend than I did in Colorado, but I also had to handle more since Lucas wasn’t there and Liz is out for the season. I esp played poorly against Amp and Drag'n Thrust, with several turns in each game that were caused by rushing a throw - my main problem area. If we converted just a few more breaks, we could have won those games (or at least kept them competitive).
I threw the longest huck for a goal of my life - an 80-yard endzone-to-endzone huck to Mari. To be fair my mark was slow to get set so I had a wide-open backhand, but it’s still a nice achievement.
4 Rounds for Time:
Rest 3:00 after each round.
My times: 1:52, 2:02, 2:05, 1:55
The rope climbs were tough but pretty fun. I burned my shin pretty hard on the first round. After that I found a wrist wrap and wrapped that around my ankle. This really helped me from tearing up my shin any further, and let me come down faster on the climb down.
CrossFit Games Open 12.1 (AMRAP - Reps)
AMRAP in 7min of burpees. On each burpee, touch a target 6" above your reach.
Got through 55 burpees . I really focused on pace and breathing, but still came out a little too fast. I could have probably gotten more if I tried harder to go slow in the first round. Then again, I was pretty beat from the first part of the workout, and I’m pretty weak on pushups in general.
4 rounds of:
4 4-min Rounds (for reps):
Each round, do 3 sets of :20 on, :40 off of a movement. Then rest 1:00. Score is total reps for each movement.
9,9,8 thrusters, 28,32,32 twists, 16,4+26,0+46 pushups+taps, 3,6,6 v ups.
Went on a 3-day, 2-night hike in the mountains by Mestia, Georgia. The plan was to hike up to the Guli pass (Гульба), look over the edge, then come down. But we started our hikes fairly late both days, so we missed the summit by about an hour or two (had to turn back in order to make it down in time). I’d never been on an all-out hike like this. We carried all our food and gear with us. We camped on the glacier both nights (first night on the rocks embedded in the ice, second night on the snow/ice itself). We used helmets, crampons, harnesses, and ice picks. It was pretty intense, but a lot of fun. The views were magnificent and the camaraderie was really gratifying. Plus it was great to see my dad and his friends relive the good old days of “extreme hiking”, and to meet the next generation of explorers.
By the time we came down on day 3, I was thoroughly exhausted. I hadn’t slept well for 3 nights (due to the cold, the snoring tentmates, and the late-night partying). The descent was pretty challenging, and since I got down first, I went back twice to help the rest of the crew with their packs. On the upside, my knee hurt a lot less than I expected. Maybe I need to reevaluate what triggers my tendonitis.
Two days of ultimate at 6000ft. Actually, the altitude didn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. I felt fine the whole time. We did bring a full roster, which helped keep everyone fresh and well-rested.
On the whole, a solid weekend for the team. We lost in the finals and played some games closer than we should have (e.g. Platypi, Blackbird). But we also had a lot of good moments and some strong comebacks. Our D was especially solid, digging us out of holes a few times.
Personally, I ended the weekend with a +3 on my score-o-meter (Ds minus turns). My only turn was my first throw of the tourney - a dump to Lucas that I threw a bit too hard and too wide for him to get to. I think this might be my highest score in a few years. I must be getting old. I even called a timeout once.
Off the field, this was one of the best tourneys we’ve had. Hanging out with Squeege and others in CO was great. The highlight was our 2-hour-long game of Crazy Grapes in Squeege’s pool. I also went motown dancing, explored downtown Denver, celebrated Kerry’s birthday, played Dominion, and watched lots of people catch lots of Pokemon.
Played about an hour of mini. It was brutal. I had to lie down and rest after every 1-2 points. Hope the tourney isn’t all like this.
Got up to 125lb for the presses, 5lb for the twists. I’d never done twists with the bar before, and didn’t really have time to do many.
For Time (8min Cap):
I finished in 6:40 . The push presses killed me, even though I scaled down from 75lb. I did the twists really fast (nonstop) and crushed the air bike in 40 seconds, but struggled on the presses. At the end I was doing 2 or 3 at a time, dropping the bar to my waist, then cleaning it back up and doing a few more. It was rough.
After the WOD, I went straight to summer league. I’m glad I did that, because we didn’t get to play much - games got rained out right before halftime. It really sucked, because our team was only playing with 6 players at a time (we only had 2 women) and we were up 5-3 when the games got called. If only we’d played a few points, we could have earned a win playing 6 v 7. On the plus side, I got to go home early :-)
Helen
3 Rounds for time of:
13:12 total time
15 minutes of Push Press. Work up to a heavy triple.
I maxed out at 3@145lb . I got 2@155lb on the following set but missed the 3rd rep :-(
6min EMOM: 6 Box Jumps at a challenging height.
I started at 30in but bumped up to 33in after the second set. I was finishing all 6 in about 20 seconds each time.
3min AMRAP:
I got through exactly 7 rounds in 3min.
After a 3min rest, we did…
Same as WOD 1, but in reverse. Start where you finished the first WOD (that’s 7 reps of each for me) and work your way down. The goal is to finish everything from WOD 1 in 3 minutes.
I managed to do this WOD even faster than the first one. Finished in 2:50 , 10 seconds to spare.
This was a fun workout.
Pretty easy summer league game. It was quite windy and they had a lot of trouble with our zone. I spent most of thet time covering and being covered by Brendan, a captain of Colt. He did a good job making me work hard to get open, which is exactly the kind of thing that’s usually missing in summer league. Glad I came to this game.