The week after the Catalyst Games I pretty much continued shredding my poor muscles, but it ended up working out for the best!
I went to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and then ran on Tuesday and Friday.
Monday's Workout:
Strength:
15 min to establish a 1 RM back squat
MetCon:
Run 400m
50 Hang Power Cleans -- 5 burpees for every drop
Run 400m
So two months ago my 1 RM for back squat was 135 pounds. That was before we did all those weeks of 20 rep back squats and it was essentially just at the beginning of the Paleo Challenge. So I was expecting obviously that number would go up. I partnered up with someone who was essentially brand new so we spent a lotta time building up from really light weights and getting in a couple reps at a time before we really started kicking it up a notch. Well she hit about 100 pounds and had enough. I wasn't even close to tired. I hit about 150 and said "Eventually I'll have to quit." I finally reached my limit at 213 pounds. I'll leave you to do the math but that's a HUGE jump from what my original PR was. HUGE!
The downside to tiring myself out doing the strength portion was that I now needed to get through the MetCon of running and hang power cleans. Hang power cleans are kind of a weaker subject for me just because I don't get that extra power from getting off the ground. Also means it puts more pressure on your quads. The prescribed weight for the cleans was 95 pounds. So they wanted us to go heavy AND do 50 reps. Lolz. The name of the game was to do the 50 reps without dropping the bar or else you had to do 5 burpees. I forget what weight I used, I think it was 65 because 50 cleans was just going to kill me. This was also the first week that we started doing a significant amount of running so I knew in the back of my head that was going to kill me as well. I ran the first 400m without stopping in about 3 minutes. Came back in and started getting through sets of 10 before I had to drop the bar. As I got tired I had to drop down to sets of 5. Either way, I did a good amount of burpees in the time it took me to get to 50 reps. Went back outside and ran another 400m. Tried to run the whole thing but I think I ended up walking for about 100m. I forget what my time was. It wasn't the greatest but I wasn't dead last so I couldn't complain too badly.
Went running on Tuesday. We were on Day 2 of Week 2, so it was minute and a half jog, 2 minute walk alternating. We went 2.05 miles at a pace of 10:11 min/mile. I was feeling alright afterwards. It hurt less than the first time, but it was definitely tiring.
Wednesday's Workout:
Strength:
15 minutes to establish a 1 RM stone to shoulder
MetCon:
EMOM - 12 minutes
10 ring rows
10 push ups
10 air squats
Midline:
8 GHD back extensions
25 abmat sit-ups
Apparently it was the week for 1 RM's and EMOM's. For the stone to shoulders we were supposed to be using the atlas stones which are essentially balls of concrete of varying weights. The problem that I have with them is that they don't gradually go up in weight. You'll use one stone, and the next one will be 40 pounds heavier. So it actually doesn't take very long to establish a 1 RM unless you're borderline and keep giving it a few tries. I partnered up with Robyn again since we're good about pushing each other and are at about the same strength level. We started off with a relatively light stone. The trick with the stone to shoulder is to do it in two steps. The first step, you essentially hug the stone while picking it up and nestling it into your hip so you end up in kind of a sitting position. The second step involves popping your hips forward as your arms guide the stone up to your shoulder. The important thing is to not try and bicep curl it. So we started off light, no big deal. It got harder very quickly though. We hit the 95 pound stone and our forearms were already getting shredded. The problem when you're a girl with short little arms is that as the stones get heavier and bigger, you rely on your forearms to stabilize it as you're lifting it. Well, these are stones of concrete so you literally rip up your forearms. Plus the damn things were getting so heavy that we ended up having to pee right in the middle of it. Stupid atlas and his damn stones.
The MetCon was just shy of freaking awful. It was essentially taking me the full minute to do all 30 reps so by the time I finished the full round it was time to go back for more. The thing about this one was that if it took you more than a minute to finish 30 reps, you had to continue on into the next minute and then rest until you were caught up with everyone. So I ended up doing 9 rounds instead of 12 since I got behind a couple of times. Still...that sucked. I gotta work on my ring rows, I'm not very strong with them.
Thursday was a day off since I was feeling a little fried. I think it was mostly because I had to work...I can't remember.
That week I started making even more of an effort to stay Paleo. I was doing fairly well. I wasn't strict, but at least 2 of my meals each day were Paleo. It's definitely a step above where I have been for the past month. It's still proving to be so hard for me to get back on it. I want to be back on it so badly I just don't know what's stopping me. I haven't necessarily fallen off the wagon but I definitely have one foot off of it. So frustrating. I was so strong a couple months ago and then I let it go. I'll get back on it at some point. Either that or my body will give out and I won't have a choice. Who knows.
I'm posting Friday separately since it was a pretty big day!
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