16.5 Announced, Done and Re-done!

The last workout of the 2016 CrossFit Games Open was announced on Thursday. It was a bit of a surprise, because it broke the pattern that had been observed in previous years' Opens - we have to repeat an exercise, the bar facing burpee. But it continues the tradition of repeating a workout from a previous year. 16.5 is the same as 14.5 (the last workout in the 2014 Open). The neat thing about repeating a workout like this is that many of the people who do 16.5 have a time to beat from when they did it two years ago. I wasn't doing CrossFit two years ago, so the workout is brand new to me.

WORKOUT 16.5

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
Thrusters
Bar Facing Burpees

Men use 95 lb.
Women use 65 lb.

I did the workout Friday morning, and I think I did okay. On Coach Dave's advice, I split the first two sets of thrusters in half, doing 11-10 and 9-9, then I went by feel and split the rest up 5-5-5, 6-6, 5-4, 6, and 3. For the burpees, I just kept going without pushing so hard that I couldn't handle the thrusters. I think I paced it pretty well. If I had gone out harder, I would have had to slow down and probably ended up doing smaller sets. I finished in 12:53. I'm pretty pleased with that time, but I wasn't sure it was the best I could do. Even so, this was me when I was done:

So, I did it again today. I actually ended up splitting up the thrusters more because I went out a little hard with the burpees, so my set of 18 was 6-3-3-3-3, but I did the rest of the splits the same. I pushed a little harder through the middle and at the end to shave 24 seconds off my time to get 12:29. I'm really glad that I did it again, I knew that I could have pushed harder the first time and that's exactly what I did.

As a side note, I also found out yesterday that I passed my CrossFit Level 1 test. Yay!

CrossFit Level 1 Course

I spent most of this past weekend attending a CrossFit Level 1 course at CrossFit Jääkarhu here in Austin, TX. We had two days of a combination of lectures, demonstrations, and breakout sessions to practice technique and coaching cues. The experience was fun, useful, and necessary. Assuming I passed the written test (I'll find out next week, but I think I did), I'll be able to say that I have a CrossFit Level 1 certificate, which allows me to teach CrossFit classes at an affiliate like CrossFit Cedar Park. Of course, I still have a few hours left in my internship at CrossFit Cedar Park.

Lecture topics included talking about the definition of CrossFit, the meaning of "fitness," technique and how it relates to intensity, nutrition, and programming (planning workouts). We also had demonstrations of each of the nine foundational movements of CrossFit: the press, the push press, the push jerk, the air squat, the front squat, the overhead squat, the deadlift, the sumo-deadlift high pull, and the medicine ball clean. We got the chance to work on each of these movements in smaller groups, with the staff teaching us as they would teach a beginner. Since none of us are perfect, there were ample opportunities to practice coaching each other so that we all learned how to recognize good form and also some good cues to correct poor or dangerous form.

In addition to the foundational movements, we went over thrusters (put together a front squat and a push press), kipping pull-ups, snatches, and strict muscle-ups. We used some of these exercises in a couple of short workouts, which served as practice coaching others during a real workout.

The weekend finished with a written test that I'm not allowed to say much about. I should get my official results by this Tuesday, but based on how well I think I did on the questions I'm pretty sure I passed.

16.4 Done!

This post is a little delayed because of how I spent my weekend, which will be the topic of my next post. But I completed 183 reps in 16.4 on Friday night, which I'm pretty pleased about. The deadlifts were easier than I anticipated. At just over 50% of my max, they really weren't too bad, and I broke them up into sets of something like 8-8-6-6-5-5 and some smaller sets that I don't remember after that. The wall balls were hard but doable, I think I did sets of 10-10-5-5-5-5-5-5-5. The row was great for me, I kept it fairly steady above about 900 calories/hour, and I got off the rower with more than 3.5 minutes left. I probably took 20 seconds preparing for my handstand push-ups, but then I managed a set of 4, and then a set of 6. The rest were singles with 2 failed reps for a total of 18 HSPUs.

I think that if I were to do the workout again, I would probably push just a little harder on the wall balls, and try to go faster on the HSPUs. Most of my HSPUs I went fairly slowly, taking my time to set up my kip because I didn't want many no-reps and because if I don't kip big enough my arms burn out quickly. I will not be redoing 16.4, since two and a half days later I'm still not fully recovered.

16.4 Announced!

I'm really excited for 16.4! Rowing is awesome for me and I think I'll do okay at the rest. My handstand push-ups have gotten a lot better lately, but I have to get there first. I have the feeling that the deadlifts will take a while because that weight is not light. I'm going to have to pace myself and do small sets if necessary. I've been struggling with wall balls lately, but that's because I've been using a 20 pound ball, so hopefully switching back to the 14 pound ball will make them seem easy.

The full workout is:

WORKOUT 16.4

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 13 minutes of:
55 deadlifts
55 wall-ball shots
55-calorie row
55 handstand push-ups

Men deadlift 225 lb. and throw 20-lb. ball to 10-ft. target
Women deadlift 155 lb. and throw 14-lb. ball to 9-ft. target

The Importance of Sleep

Sleep is very important. As the parent of two small children, I don't need a study to tell me that not getting enough sleep really sucks. But let's look at a few things we've learned from science about sleep.

Continuity Matters

In a 2014 study published in the journal Psychology and Aging (and available here) by Kristine Wilckens and co-researchers, findings showed that sleep continuity was important for executive function. Interestingly, the researchers noted that it is plausible that lower sleep continuity limits the time spent in slow-wave sleep. Their point was about cognition, but I note that slow-wave sleep is also when Human Growth Hormone is released, meaning your physical recovery suffers when your sleep is interrupted. I can confirm this anecdotally, since my sleep has been interrupted on a fairly regular basis recently by my nine month old son, and my recovery has definitely suffered.

Sleep is Important for Elite Athletes

This article from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute talks about a few different things regarding sleep and elite athletes. I am not surprised that it takes more than 30 hours without sleep to impact anaerobic performance, or that aerobic performance is affected sooner after only 24 hours without sleep. The bottom line is really that sleep is pretty important to athletic performance.

So What?

I'm mainly writing about sleep because I think it is so often overlooked and it's currently one of my biggest problems. I hear people talking about good nutrition on a fairly regular basis, but as far as sleep is concerned I mostly hear about how much coffee or other caffeine people are drinking. As the Gatorade article mentions, regularly not getting enough sleep (less than 6 hours/night) is known from other studies to disturb glucose metabolism and appetite regulation, in addition to compromising immune function, cognitive performance and mood. What this tells me is that it's hard to have good nutrition without having good sleep, because you can't even trust your body to correctly identify your level of hunger.

In my personal experience and from anecdotal evidence from other parents, eating right when you're tired is really hard. A lot of us start craving less healthy foods - in my case, chocolate and chocolate desserts like ice cream and brownies. And we eat because we're tired and we hope that maybe we're just tired because we're hungry, but it doesn't help. So as far as I'm concerned, I worry about getting enough sleep first and nutrition second. I still try to eat healthy when I'm tired, but I also give myself a break when I slip, because I'm only human and I'm doing my best to maintain a healthy relationship to food and avoid the kinds of restrictions and negative thinking that can lead to disordered eating.

Because I haven't been sleeping enough, I'm making more of an effort to go to sleep early until I've caught up on sleep a little more.

16.3 Done!

I made my goal - I got one bar muscle-up! In total today, I got three and a half bar muscle-ups, but only one was during the workout. I'm counting my no-rep during the workout as a half, because I almost had it, but I ended up kicking sideways and hitting the side pole which helped me get up - oops! I'm pretty darn pleased that I got any, considering today is the first day I've really tried to do a bar muscle-up.

Andria was kind enough to take a video of me doing my bar muscle-up, and it is not pretty. Let's just say that it took 13 seconds for me to get up there. I'm hoping that once my poor tortured hands heal up a bit I can practice some more and get a much nicer bar muscle-up and maybe get a few at a time.

Earlier today I got to see someone else get their first bar muscle-up and it's really exhilarating when you get to experience that. There were also a number of really solid performances by the other athletes at CrossFit Cedar Park. It's such a great community with a good atmosphere, it's a lot of fun cheering everyone on.

16.3 Announced

This week's Open workout is as follows:

WORKOUT 16.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 7 minutes of:
10 power snatches
3 bar muscle-ups

Men use 75 lb.
Women use 55 lb.

It's another workout that's going to be very difficult for me, because I've never done a bar muscle-up. However, I have been working on ring muscle-ups and as I found out two weeks ago I can do a bunch of chest to bar pull-ups, so with any luck and a little practice maybe I can get one or more bar muscle-ups by Monday.

Regardless, I am excited to see my friends and fellow CrossFitters do this workout. It should be a lot of fun.

16.2 Redo and PRs

I did try doing 16.2 again. Looking at it positively, well, I got one more rep than my first try. I may try to do it again just for fun in a few weeks or months once I've got my double-unders down. While practicing this morning, I did get a new PR - I got 14 consecutive double-unders. If only I'd have been able to do that during the actual WOD.

Speaking of PRs, I got another PR during my regular workout today. I did a squat snatch at 135 pounds! My previous best was 120 pounds and it wasn't a full squat snatch, it was more a messy power snatch.

Ready For Some "Light Reading"

I just purchased some books to help me learn some anatomy so I can be a better trainer. I've never actually taken any classes on human anatomy, so I thought that I should probably study muscles and everything that holds us all together. Hopefully my studies will make me a more knowledgeable and effective trainer and athlete.

The first book is Strength Training Anatomy, 3rd Edition Having glanced through it, it mostly shows which muscles are used in a number of isolation exercises - the kind we mostly avoid in CrossFit. However, it has very good diagrams showing exactly which muscles are worked for each exercise, and it does cover a number of exercises that we do use in CrossFit, like push-ups, deadlifts, squats, etc. It also covers some stretches and injuries to watch out for. I look forward to reading through it in more detail.

The second and third books are Netter's Anatomy Coloring Book: with Student Consult Access, 2e (Netter Basic Science) and Atlas of Human Anatomy (International Edition) (6th Edition). I asked Amanda, the Physical Therapist I've been shadowing, for a recommendation for an anatomy book and she recommended Netter. Then my head coach Dave said that the coloring book was a good way to cement the knowledge, so I got that too. I've only had a chance to glance over the books so far, but I think they're exactly what I need to learn what I need to know.

I'll share more once I've actually read through these books, but it might take me a little while.

16.2 Done

I attempted to do the 16.2 workout yesterday, but I am both pleased and disappointed in my performance. I got 71 reps, which is 25 toes-to-bar and 46 double-unders. I was pleased to get so many doubles, but disappointed that my score was so dismal in the grand scheme of things. My toes-to-bar went pretty well, I was able to get I think 10 in my first set, then 5, then 3, then singles to finish it out. But the double-unders happened in sets of 1-5 and it just took too long. My doubles are actually improving, and I got a PR yesterday of 7 consecutive double-unders, but they're not anywhere near where they'd need to be to do well in a workout like this. I am most likely going to attempt to do 16.2 again on Monday just to see if I can get past the first four minutes.

16.2 Announced

My husband and kids watched the announcement for 16.2 with me tonight.  This is going to be a very difficult workout for me because I'm not particularly strong on toes-to-bar and I'm not at all good at double-unders. I'm a little disappointed, because I'd love to do some heavy squat cleans. But unless my double-unders improve drastically by Monday, I'll have a hard enough time just getting past the four minute mark. I do think that this will be a very good workout for some of my fellow MAD athletes at CrossFit Cedar Park, so I look forward to seeing them compete.

My daughter Zoe seemed to like watching the double-unders, because she quickly started imitating them:


The full workout is:

WORKOUT 16.2

Beginning on a 4-minute clock, complete as many reps as possible of:
  25 toes-to-bars
  50 double-unders
  15 squat cleans, 135 / 85 lb.

If completed before 4 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
  25 toes-to-bars
  50 double-unders
  13 squat cleans, 185 / 115 lb.

If completed before 8 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
  25 toes-to-bars
  50 double-unders
  11 squat cleans, 225 / 145 lb.

If completed before 12 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
  25 toes-to-bars
  50 double-unders
  9 squat cleans, 275 / 175 lb.

If completed before 16 minutes, add 4 minutes to the clock and proceed to:
  25 toes-to-bars
  50 double-unders
  7 squat cleans, 315 / 205 lb.

Stop at 20 minutes.

Making Progress

Today so far has been much better than the past few. I had my usual oatmeal with butter for breakfast, but at 9:30 I also had some bacon and cheesy eggs with milk and applesauce (I added the applesauce because I was still hungry). The workout was a little easier than the past few days, but I could tell that my body was also better fueled.

As part of the warm-up we were supposed to do some handstand walks, which I haven't been able to do. For the first two rounds I just practiced shoulder taps on the wall, but for the third round I worked on doing actual handstand walks. It took a lot of tries, but I got several steps a few times, and I think my new record is about 5 feet. I'm pretty happy with that progress.

We also did a long "3MOM" (EMOM is every minute on the minute, a 3MOM is one exercise the first minute, another the second, and another the third, repeated). Some nice quick barbell rows, then handstand push-ups and double unders. My handstand push-ups are also getting better, I was able to do 4 or 5 each time, and I'm getting more comfortable doing them and going unbroken. I'm also making progress on my double unders. I've switched back to a heavier rope and I was able to get three double unders in a row several times. If I just keep practicing, I think I'll be much more comfortable with doubles soon.

Eating and Cheating

Right now I'm failing badly at eating better. I keep falling prey to my main weaknesses: healthier foods are not my favorite foods, and when I'm tired and/or stressed I crave chocolate. When I don't plan ahead 100% of my food, I end up turning to whatever is convenient and appeals to me, which isn't necessarily the amount or kind of food I should be eating.

My son seems to be going through a growth spurt, since he keeps waking up in the middle of the night being hungry. So I've been extra tired lately due to insufficient sleep and long workouts, which means I've been eating chocolate and other unhealthy foods. And I even recognize when I'm eating the chocolate that I'm only eating it because I'm tired and stressed, but it's hard to eat anything else once I get to that point.

I've also been having a lot of trouble eating enough prior to my workouts at 10:30am, and I'm pretty sure that part of this is that I have the tendency when trying to "eat healthier" that I will undereat if I can't find something healthy to eat. For example, this morning I had a bowl of steel cut oats with some butter (no sugar!), and a glass of milk around 7am. Around 9, I had some cottage cheese with blueberries, and another glass of milk. And at 11:30, I bonked during a workout that should have taken 10-15 minutes and instead I finished in 21:26 after modifying it to be easier. I was eating relatively healthy foods, but in quantities that were way too small for the kind of workouts I'm doing now.

Broken down into Zone blocks, the food I ate today was approximately:

Food	Carbs	Fat	Protein
Steel cut oats	4
Milk	1		1
Butter		4
Cottage Cheese			1
Blueberries	1
Milk	1		1
Whey Protein			4
Milk	1.5		1.5
Blueberries	1
Tortilla	4
Ham (3oz)			3
Cheddar cheese		5	2
Peanuts		4
Pasta bake w/cheese and sausage	3	1	2
Cheerios	2
Milk	1		1
Whey Protein			3
Totals:	18.5	14	15.5

Pre-workout, I only had 7 blocks of carbs, 4 of fat, and 3 of protein. Clearly this wasn't enough, so I'm going to try to eat some eggs with cheese tomorrow before my workout for some more fat and protein. I'm going to have to come up with a rotation though, because although I've managed to eat oatmeal daily for a while now, I don't like eggs enough to eat them every day.

Taking a quick look at the rest of the food I ate today, I realize that I didn't manage any vegetables aside from the small quantity of spinach in my pasta bake. Oops! That bowl of cheerios with protein was my second dinner, eaten in a hurry in a bit of a stupor while trying to get the kids to eat dinner. I knew I needed to eat, and that's what I came up with. Definitely need to plan that out better.