That girl (Amy Scott) is on fire!

Have I been too lazy, too bored, or too disinterested to blog? I’ll let you decided.

I had every intention of resting this past Friday, but, as I’ve mentioned repeatedly (and boringly), once I’m awake I’m WIDE awake. I was wide awake at 4:15am. I considered watching an episode of “Friday Night Lights”, but knew I’d spend the rest of the day angry that Connie Britton never won that Emmy she so very much deserved.

Nikki led Friday morning’s session, and the strength focus was on the clean. I haven’t yet regained all of my strength in shoulders, and I was only able to manage a full squat clean @125#. On the positive side, I was able to clean. Yeah! There is also no doubt that I’m squatting below parallel. Nikki noticed that I pulled just a “hair too soon”. I watched the recording. Damn, girl, you were right!

Conditioning
21-15-9
Power cleans
HSPUs

The Rx weight was 135#. Ha! I settled on 105#. Cleans went reasonably well. I completed the round of 21 in reps of 15 & 6. HSPUs did not go well. I completed 5 & 2, and then walked very far away from the wall to get a box. I attempted 1 more rep, and my shoulders just wouldn’t cooperate. Uhm, I really shoulda rested. Common sense prevailed, and I completed all remaining reps with feet on 30” box. I completed the round of 15 power cleans in reps of 8, 4, & 3 and the round of 9 unbroken. My time was 7:41. Boo.

I coached the 5 and 6pm sessions at CFD Friday evening, and had a wonderful time doing so. There was a full house at both sessions! I enjoy coaching OHS, and as there were quite a few novices present, this gave me an opportunity to hone and improve my coaching skills.

I rested Saturday! I did, however, coach the 9 & 10am sessions as well as the 11am Community WOD at CFD. Again, there were many athletes at both of the regular sessions. The WOD was “Cindy”, one of my favorite benchmark WODs! Joshua, a visitor from California, completed 23 rounds and a few reps. What I’m trying to say is that no one came close to my 26 rounds + 2 reps. (Rona, work on making squats deeper. Liz, work on explosive pushups. Your squats are marvelous. Amy Scott, work on looking less spectacular when working out, as it’s hard for me to pay attention to anyone but you.) I hadn’t coached a Community WOD in months, and I had forgotten just how much I enjoy doing so. There were about 30 athletes present, and the workout was OTM for 15 minutes: 3 burpees, 5 box jumps, and 7 KB swings. It was a deceptively challenging and difficult workout.

Uhm, yeah, so I coached at CFD again today. Dave. Dave…. Dave? I worked out with me, myself, and I at 9.

Strength
Front Squats
3-3-3-3-3
I completed reps @ 135, 155, 175, 185, & 195, 95% of 1RM. Lifts felt – and looked – solid.

Today was one of those days when I wished that my coach had programmed a different metcon, because this one was a bitch. Yeah, I programmed the metcon.

Conditioning
10-min AMRAP
1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1…
Deadlift, 185#
FS, 145#
Box jump, 36”
BS, 145#

I can’t recall ever doing a workout that went up and down this way. I thought it was going to be much easier than it actually was. I hadn’t completed high box jumps in a long time, and I could tell. I often missed the first rep and landed with my feet outside of the plates and on the box. Dammit. The sequence of deadlifting, front squatting, jumping, and back squatting was brutal. I completed 17 rounds + 2 dls & 2 fs, i.e., 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2 + 4 reps. That’s 70 dls and fs and 68 box jumps and bs. In ten minutes. Grueling. Gruel. Ing. Gru. El. Ing.

There were 12 at the 10am and 20 at the 11am sessions. Wow! I led athletes through what I hoped was a meaningful, albeit painful, warmup. Folks then attempted to establish front squat 1RM, and many did just that. Bill, Brock, and Chad lifted very heavy weights. I was just as proud of those who lifted lighter weights and still achieved personal bests. Congratulations to (among far too many for me to remember) Amey, Amy, Rona, Camillia (who thought she couldn’t break double digits) and Rosa. Rosa completed a front squat and said, “That’s a PR.” I said, “No, it’s not. It looked too easy. Put some more weight on the bar.” She did, and once again had a successful rep. She said, “That’s a PR.” I once again said, “No, it’s not. Put some more weight on the bar.” She eventually bested her previous PR by 30 pounds! Well done, Rosa!

The conditioning was every 5 minutes for 25 minutes complete 15 KB swings (52/35) and run 400m. The slowest time for any round was the score. Amy Scott got significantly faster each round. Rosa, once again, stole the show, as she completed rounds in 2:04, 2:04, 2:04, 2:04, and 2:04. That’s consistency. I enjoy coaching metcons that include running, as it gives me an opportunity to run with the athletes, and I did so each and every of the 10 rounds.

I’ve spent much time at CFS, and Jeff has been a tremendous help. We work well together in that he reads the instructions to me as I assemble the equipment. We put together both of the GHD machines and one of the rowers. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that we can open by March 1.

A request, if you please. If you’re an athlete that I’ve coached in the recent past, provide honest feedback. What do I do well? What could I do better? I promise I won’t share your comments with anyone, and I assure you that my feelings aren’t easily hurt.

Michael Kelley visited the box. That is all.