Catalyst Games Prep Week

The week leading up to the Catalyst Games I was a super wreck. They started posting movement standard videos on Monday: Double-unders, deadlifts, burpee box jumps, power cleans, dumbbell ground to overhead lifts, kettlebell swings, and a couple other ones. They told us that some variation of that list would be included in the Catalyst Games. Yeah...I was not feeling confident. Burpee box jumps and double unders...nay nay.

I tried to plan my week semi-wisely so that I'd be ready for the games. I worked out at the gym Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I ran with Melissa on Tuesday and Wednesday. In retrospect, I didn't really take it easy on myself that week...

Monday's workout:

Strength:
1 x 20 back squat Max Effort
Tire flips

MetCon:
7 Min AMRAP
7 DB thrusters (30#)
14 pull-ups

The strength portion I definitely disappointed myself on. I used 105 pounds, but I definitely could have gone higher. I felt challenged but not challenged to the point where my body was considering failing. Oh well. The tire flipping was so much fun! You end up getting into a squat position practically hugging the tire, and then driving up with your legs until it flips over. I ended up using the 300 pound tire. It sounds like a lot, but it really wasn't that bad.

The MetCon was somewhat brutal. I ended up getting through 2 full rounds plus all the thrusters in the 3rd round. The pull-ups really slowed me down. Eventually I'll be able to do a higher volume of them.

Tuesday was running day. It was our last day of the first week...finally! It was alternating 1 min. jog and 1 min. walk. It still felt fairly easy for me since it wasn't a whole lot compared to what crossfit does to me. The GPS tracker said we did 2.04 miles at a 10:07 min/mile pace. Not too shabby. I don't know if the GPS is entirely accurate. It measures your pace the whole time and records your pace while you're jogging.

Wednesday's Workout:

Strength:
7 x 1 push press

MetCon:
6 min. AMRAP
6 KB swings
4 handstand push-ups (or wall walks)
2 pull-ups

Midline:
4 rounds
10 BB good mornings
50 abmat sit-ups

For the strength I paired up with another woman named Robyn. I'd seen her around but we hadn't talked much. We're both at about the same strength level so we figured we'd get it done together. My 1 RM for push press is now 125 pounds! Remember back when I said I had no arm strength? Yeah...right...about that.

The MetCon was terrible. Prescribed for the kettlebell swings was 53 pounds. I decided to go with the 44 pound, which was a first for me. They told us to go heavy so I did. The part that really sucked was the handstand part. I still can't do a handstand, let alone a push-up so they told us to do wall walks. Wall walks are much slower of a movement than a handstand push-up, so I feel like I kind of got the short end of the straw with that one. Pull-ups I used my standard green band. I ended up finishing 4 + 10 rounds, which all things considered wasn't too shabby!

The midline part sucked! 200 sit-ups...good god. I was thankful that they prescribed it though. I could use some core work.

So because I'm crazy, I ended up running on Wednesday as well...2 hours after the gym. No bueno. The workout was Week 2, Day 1, so it was alternating 1 1/2 minute jog, 2 minute walk. My legs were fried after this. My heart was still keeping up just fine and I didn't feel like I was losing speed or anything, I just hurt afterwards. We ended up doing 2.11 miles at a 10:10 min/mile pace. Little slower, but still not bad.

Thursday I went back for even more torture!

Thursday's workout:

Skill:
8-10 candlestick rolls
12-15 GHD sit-ups
10-15 empty BB OH squats, holding for 3 seconds at the bottom

MetCon:
EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) -- 15 minutes
1 Squat Clean each minute working to a max weight
...then...
10 min. endurance work

Candlestick rolls are kind of funky little buggers. The whole point of a candlestick roll is to not use your hands. So you start in a standing position, then sit backwards until you're sitting on the ground. Then you use a little momentum so put yourself into a laying position. Using that momentum you're supposed to roll back up to a standing position. I can't do them to save my life...still need my damn hands haha! GHD sit-ups are something I'm still getting used to. They're the next difficulty in progression after the abmat sit-ups. Now I'm at a stage where I can rip through 20-30 abmat sit-ups at one time so the next step for me would be to master GHD sit-ups. The thing to get used to with the GHD is that you're going to feel your hip flexors engaging. Now the part that really sucks about that is if you've spent a lot of time that week in a squatting position, because they will be sore and you won't even know it until you get on the GHD. The first 3-4 reps you're going to be like "Aren't these supposed to be helping my abs?"...don't worry, all will be answered in due time (AKA 10 reps). The overhead squats were a nice thing to do for a change. I'm stronger than I used to be in an overhead position, but it was nice to just take a little time to really be able to focus on it.

The MetCon didn't feel like your normal everyday MetCon...even though it was 15 minutes long. Now I'm sure you all know my feelings on squat cleans, but after doing this MetCon I am definitely much more confident with them. It was 15 minutes, 1 rep every minute, working up to a 1 RM. I'd never done a 1 RM for squat clean so I was a little apprehensive and excited at the same time. I started out at like 53 pounds, AKA super light for me. Went up in teeny increments for the first couple minutes, then stayed at the same weight for a couple rounds to work on form, then I just ripped through the last 4 rounds. My 1 RM for a squat clean is 113 pounds. Not too shabby at all. It's about comparable to what I'm able to power clean.

Friday I took the day off of working out to try and prepare for the Catalyst Games as much as possible. I had an awesome breakfast of Margie's paleo style...sweet potato homefries, steak, and 2 eggs over easy. Omg so much noms. I even took the night off of RIT so I could catch as many z's as possible, even though I still ended up going to bed at like midnight.

Yes, yes I know, I'm a horrible blogger since this is like weeks late at this point. I'm trying to get caught up I swear! Life literally has blown up in the past few weeks (also doesn't help that I have crappy internet). I have a to-do list about a mile long that I've been trying to chip away at for the past week and it's awful. I'm hoping things will calm down with the end of the school year but with all the RITA projects I gotta do over the summer, that seems highly unlikely.

Catalyst Games post coming right up!!