August 25, 2023
/Lots of changes that have me not posting here. Ill play catch up a bit.
I have decided that I am going to get more serious about making it to the CrossFit Games this year. First step was to hire a Coach. I didn’t want just any Coach, I wanted one with a Masters background that was preferably a Master himself. I wanted someone that had proven that their training worked.
A while back I had Jason Grubb on the podcast. I liked Jason right away and he has certainly proven himself. Jason is a 4x CrossFit Games Age Group Champion. He is now my coach.
On day 1 I went from working out about 1:15:00 to a much higher volume of 3:45:00. The first week was pretty brutal with the volume staying right around that amount for most of the week.
He suggested that I change my schedule from m-f taking Sat and Sun off to M,T,W take Thursday off, Fri, Sat, take Sun off. I have done this now for 2 weeks and I do feel like it has made a big difference in my recovery and progress.
The Legends Online Qualifier recently released their workouts and I have been trying to qualify. What I write beyond this is intended to help anyone that may try to qualify for an online competition like the CrossFit Games or other but it may also make me sound like a complete dumbass which is the way that I have felt all week.
The workouts were released and competitors have until Sept 10 to submit scores. You can repeat them as many times as you want but once submitted it is a blind leaderboard which means that you will not be able to see what anyone else has done. The Games is different as you can see in real time how your score is holding up and repeat the ones you see are not very good.
There are 6 workouts in this competition. I have done 6 workouts to this point but only 3 of them have counted. Yep, that’s right, only 3 have counted.
You can do them in any order you want so I chose to do the last one first. It called for
9-15-21-27
row calories
Lateral burpees over the rower.
I did this one in a decent time I thought. Upon rereading the rules, I realized that many of my reps were not going to count because on the last of each of these I only stepped one foot over the rower and began rowing. That will be a no rep so I had to do this one over.
Next I did the 23.2 workout which is
Workout 23.2:
For Time (8 min cap)
9 burpee box jump over
9 shoulder to overhead
12 burpee box jump over
12 shoulder to overhead
15 burpee box jump over
15 shoulder to overhead
This one I was able ot complete with the right weight and the right rules. My score wasn’t what I had hoped but at least this one counted.
Next was the 23.4 which is
For time (14 Minute Cap) 4 Rounds
75 Double Unders
40’ Double DB Front Rack Lunge
12-9-6-3 chest to bar for my age group
I completed this one successfully and felt like I got a good score. At this point I have done 3 workouts but only 2 count.
Feeling like I had overcome my mistakes I confidently did
Workout 23.5: AMRAP in 11 minutes (3:1 work to rest X 3)
• AMRAP 3 Min
10 Cleans (weight #1) 10 TTB
rest 1 Min
AMRAP 3 Min
8 Cleans (weight #2) 8 TTB
rest 1 Min
AMRAP 3 Min
6 Cleans (weight #3) 6 TTB
This one was going ok except that I had to do it at the hottest part of the day and it was 98 degrees. I was out of the sun for the most part but it was extremely hot. I made sure that the camera was in the shade. When I finished this workout with what I thought might be a decent score I returned to the camera only to find the TEMPERATURE screen on saying that the phone had overheated…in the shade. I watched the video and it cut off almost all of my last round.
Now I have done 4 workouts with only 2 valid scores.
I decided that 23.3 would be next
23.3
Workout 23.3
15 min AMRAP
30 HSPU
30 DB Snatch
15 Cal Row
I read the rules, set up the camera as instructed and made sure that the battery was charged. Since it was morning rather than afternoon it was almost 20 degrees cooler so I felt good about the overheating issue.
I did very well on the workout and got through more than 3 rounds. Doing 90 Handstand Pushups seems good for me so I was happy with the score. The video worked and I thought I had another valid score…until I realized I used the wrong weight. I used a 35 pound DB rather than a 50. I had read the standard for the Scaled division not the Rx.
So now I have done 5 workouts and only have 2 valid scores!
This morning I repeated the first one. I have learned a little I guess as I had 2 cameras rolling even though it was in the early morning and much cooler.
I did this one to standard and shaved 21 seconds off my previous time. Now I have done 6 workouts and have 3 valid scores!
I will do another one this afternoon and then 2 tomorrow to finish.
Lessons I have learned.
Always have 2 cameras running
Always read the rules carefully and make sure someone else reads them too to make sure you are doing it right
Despite wanting to do these workouts in a one and done style, I have ALWAYS improved my score when I repeat a workout. Its not what I want to do but it does yield a better result
Hopefully this helps someone. I was so frustrated I wanted to quit but I won’t do that and Ill make it through these last 3. One of which I have not tried yet. I am not, however looking forward to another 90 handstand pushups
