Benchmark Day

Workout of the Day

AM – WOD 1:

Run 5K for time

PM – WOD 2:

Grace

30 clean and jerks for time (135 #)

After a hell of a weekend in Lake Tahoe for my friend Dustin’s bachelor party (during which I was the designated driver) I was ready to test myself today. It’s been awhile since I’ve done any benchmark WODs and I was kind of curious to see where I am.

The run was especially important to give my ankles one last test before the weekend. I actually don’t think I’ve ever timed myself on a 5K before, but I figured getting under 20 would be a good goal. Right away I was encouraged by how good my ankles felt. Really there was no major pain at all (so excited!!!). I did the first 400 meters in 1:24 and was hoping to hold that pace. Unfortunately this did not happen. By the end of the first 1600 I had already dropped to 1:30 and by 3200 I was holding steady around 1:33. By far the most difficult part was regulating my breath. I ran on a flat course and there was some cross wind at times, but my legs and back never really wore out. As I hit 4600 meters the clock read 17:36, meaning if I picked things up I could get finished under 19 minutes. It’s amazing how much extra you have left when you know you’re about to be finished. I opened up my stride and kicked the entire final 400, finishing in 18:59. Gotta feel good about that not having run much the past 5 months.

This afternoon I took on Grace for only the second time in my life. I borrowed my boy John’s weights and headed over to a local park where there was a decent size dirt patch for me to use as a lifting platform. The original plan was to incorporate some rope climbing afterwards, but I couldn’t find a tree that would do the job. I started the clock and did 10 repetitions in the first 30 seconds. I dropped the bar, took a few breaths, then did 10 more. The second set was much more difficult but I the clock only read 1:06. From there I did 3 consecutive and the rest singles, stopping the clock at 1:50, :13 better than my previous best. Stoked.

Today has me feeling really confident about my level at the moment. Combined with the 225 lb snatch I did last Friday at CrossFit East Sac, I’m riding a series of PR’s that could not come at a better time. The next few days will be very light, possibly some rowing or swimming to stay loose but nothing too intense. Mostly just tying up loose ends for the big trip and screen-printing the next batch of Anywherefit t-shirts.

Below is a link to the pre-Games interview with me and 2 other competitors on the CrossFit Journal.

http://library.crossfit.com/free/video/CFJ_AF_Map11.mov