Open WOD #4

Saturday…time to tackle the Open WOD 11.4. The WOD was a 10:00 AMRAP of 60 bar facing burpees, 30 OHS (40k), and 10 muscle ups. When I first found out about the metcon I laughed…and thought – muscle ups? Really? C’mon HQ…help a girl out here & gimmie a movement I can at least do! But I also thought, hey…kinda cool that I can hopefully try for my VERY first muscle up. The morning was VERY rushed as I had to get my brother to the high school for baseball practice and then be back in just a couple of hours to pick him up again. That meant I needed to get to the Fort right away, warm up and prepare for the WOD. I was the first athlete to start the WOD. Jennie was counting for me and she helped me keep moving. My burpees were PAINFULLY SLOW after the 2^nd minute. I’m pretty sure it took me 6:20 just finish all 60. By the time I got to the bar for the OHS my shoulders were trashed. I could barely snatch the bar overhead. I really had a hard time keeping my shoulders activated and balanced. Four reps were the most I ever even strung together. As the clock counted down getting closer and closer to 10:00 my body just weakened. I struggled to get the bar up over head, but managed to squeeze out a few more reps. I ended with a total of 74 reps. I was really hoping to get all 30 OHS but I wasn’t anticipating the extreme fatigue that was going to set in. I was sorely disappointed in my score, but not my efforts. I really gave it all I had. Stability just was not on my side today. : (

I was still pretty sore on Monday but knew I still needed to get in a good workout; even if I needed to scale the WOD today. The metcon was 3 rounds for time of: 350m row, 25 kettlebell swings (16), 10 handstand push-ups (blue/blue). My rows were pretty quick and the kettle bell swings were unbroken except the last round, 15-10 (my hands were slippery). The handstand pushups were what slowed me down. I went down in bands (I usually use green/green) and it was a significant difference and was quite difficult for me. Overall, I was happy I challenged myself though. The only way I’ll get stronger at HSPU’s is if I keep challenging my upper body strength. I completed this WOD in 13:26. Before the metcon we worked behind the neck snatch grip push presses again. We worked up to a single rep max. I topped out at 55k, but only because we ran out of time. I think I have a little more in me…we’ll see in a few weeks! : )

Tuesday’s strength was the snatch. We were working our way up to a single rep max. I worked at 31-35-38-42-46 and ended at 50k. I failed 50k 3 times again this week. I’m getting the bar overhead, but when I’m at the bottom of my squat I lose my balance because the bar is too far out in front. Ugh, the same issues with all of my overhead movements right now…strange! The WOD was 5 rounds: 1:00 to complete 20 wall ball shots1:00 to complete 15 pull-ups.  I initially wanted to scale because I knew my pull-ups are slow and I might not complete all of them in the allotted time. But Bill informed me that if I ran out of time during the WOD I could just make them up after. So I went ahead and attempted the WOD as Rxd. The first

round I was able to complete the prescribed reps. The second round I didn't get all the pull-ups in. Then progressively the last 3 rounds became VERY difficult to complete. I ended up having to “make up” 10 wall ball shots, and 18 pull-ups.  While I was making up my pull-ups after class I tore my hand open pretty badly. I hope it heals before Saturday!

Thursday’s strength was the shoulder press. We worked up to a single rep max, which I was excited for because I was looking for a new PR. I warmed up with 31-35-37-40. I topped out at 42k. It was a struggle to get up, but I was happy it finally got overhead and locked out because it was a 2k PR! The WOD was a 5:00 AMRAP of 5 power cleans (45k), 10 T2B, and 15 wall balls (14), 5:00 rest, 5:00 AMRAP of 5 box jumps (24”), 10 kettle bell swings, and 15 ball slams (20#). The first half of the WOD greatly resembles 11.5. So this will be a nice little taste of what we’ll encounter on Saturday morning. Because my hand is still tore I decided to skip the T2B in the first AMRAP so I didn’t split it open more. The cleans felt heavy but doable and the wall balls definitely fatigued my quads pretty quickly. I ended up getting 3+5 rounds in the first AMRAP and then 3+13 rounds in the second. All of my swings were unbroken but my ball slams were SLOW. The Rxd height for the box jumps was 20” for the ladies but I wasn’t fast enough in grabbing my equipment so I was suck with a 24” box. I actually was excited to get back on the 24”…it had been too long!