4/10 to 4/13

I've had some computer issues and thus have been offline a few days. Everything is back to normal now. The last few days have looked like this:

4/9 - see post for training; food was high carb.

4/10 - rest; cheat food day

4/11 - rest; low carb

4/12 - 45 minute easy run; medium carb

4/13 - 'Open' WOD 11.4, followed by a metcon; high carb

The WOD was as follows:

AMRAP in 10 minutes:
60 Face to Bar Burpees
30 OH Squats @ 120 lb
10 Muscle-ups

I had the 11.4 workout planned out in my head. I had a strategy going in and stuck to it. I had a consistent pace for the burpees, I did them in about 4 minutes. These did not tax me a huge amount. I wanted to do the OH squats 10/10/10; ended up being 10/6/4/5/5 (lots of snatches, which sucked a lot of energy out of me). I got to the muscle-ups with 2 1/2 minutes left. Now this is literally exactly where I wanted to be time wise. Having said that, I will also say this: overhead squats are my biggest athletic deficiency. I had no idea my shoulders would be so wasted after those OH squats. I can't remember the last time I've missed a muscle up. I walked up to the rings and could not get 1 rep in 2 1/2 minutes. This is discouraging to say the least.

Overall I'm not as nearly as frustrated as I was with the first 'Open' WOD. Today I went hard and could physically not perform; it was not some mental psyche-out. This WOD in itself was a victory for me because a year ago I couldn't OH Squat 120 lb once, let alone 30 reps during an AMRAP. I've been sneaking by performing well (by my standards) so far in the 2011 Crossfit Open, but this workout exposed 2 of my weaknesses:

1. Overhead Squats in general
2. Muscle-ups while in the red zone

This is great that the Open exposed these weaknesses. It really gives me direction in where my future programming should go and what I need to do to compete a high level in the future. I have years, if not decades, of Crossfit ahead of me. The 2011 Open has been a great experience and I'm excited to continue my training. I'm going to have a huge emphasis on Oly Lifts/OH Squats in the coming years.

Overall I'm happy with my performance. I'm stronger, leaner, more athletic and fit than I've ever been in my life. Even if I'm not elite by Crossfit standards, I've made more progress in my life than anyone I know. I've got a ton of more progress to make and I'm loving every second of it. I'm loving this journey through fitness. Everyday is the best day of my life, because everyday I wake up is the 'fittest' day of my life.

About 15 minutes after the 11.4 WOD I did:

For time:
10,9,8...1 225 lb Deadlift
1,2,3,...10 Dead-hang Pull-ups
-20 Double-unders after each set

My time was 14.40. The pull-ups around and after round 7 were difficult. The dead-lifts were extremely easy (I want to do this again with 315 / kipping pull-ups, that would be a solid WOD). The double-unders came fairly easy, I missed about 10 reps overall, all during the second half of the WOD. Solid workout, excited for tomorrow.