New PR and Hell in the water

Workout of the Day

WOD 1 – in the morning…

Hand Balancing

5 x 5 ring handstand pushups w/ 2 minute rest

4 x 40 foot lateral handstand walk along wall (2 each direction)

WOD 2 – in the afternoon…

Strength

Back Squat 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Weighted Chin up 1, 1, 1, 1

WOD 3 – in the evening…

Conditioning

Complete the following in 2 minutes:

50 yard swim

AMRAP meters on a C2 rower

Rest 2 minutes between rounds, repeat 3 times for total meters

Pretty incredible day today. The early morning gymnastics were fantastic—felt very comfortable upside-down on the rings and the lateral walks taxed my shoulders in a different way than walking forwards. They also made it quite clear that my right arm has far more control than my left, not that this is in any way a shocker. Just another thing to work on.

This afternoon I went to CF East Sac to do some heavy back squatting. I’d only been doing fronts for the past 3 weeks (and I suck at fronts) so I was pumped to get back to doing something I’m relatively good at. I gradually worked my way up from 335# to 405#, making every lift successfully. The last set at 405# definitely took some fight but I made it with solid depth on all reps. Huge deal considering my previous 1RM is at 425#. This gives me a ton of confidence that this number has gone up. Right afterwards I made 4 attempts at weighted singles on the chin up bar, topping out at 132#. Was 2 inches from making 141 but couldn't finish it.

Finally, the evening WOD was brutal. Brian Nabeta invited Travis and I over to Arden Hills country club for a rainy night at the pool where he trains and coaches some of the US’s brightest swimming stars of tomorrow. He is a huge resource and I couldn’t be more grateful for his time and generosity. He’s also 6’3” and a beast of a swimmer/rower. I knew that doing the above interval next to him would force me to put out maximal effort for the entire time. Read: leg cramps and dizziness after round 3.

The first 50 yards I was only a few strokes behind, hopping on the rower maybe 40 meters behind and closing that distance to 20 by the end of the 2 minutes allotted time. The second 50, immediately following a 2 minute break, was not so kind. Brian was at least 7 pulls into his row by the time I strapped in, and I was wasted and sucking for air. Still, I pulled like hell and managed to make up a little ground. The final 50 yards I felt like a drowning rhinocerous, thrashing the water and praying for the wall to reach out and save me. Luckily, he too was dying by this point and the difference between us was closer to the first round than the second. In all, I pulled 1138 total meters on the erg, a solid 120 behind his mark of 1258. Travis went into survival mode and came home with 660 for his part.

Pending the morning weather report, I should be venturing up to Auburn with Gabe and Vince from CrossFit 209 Sport tomorrow to go check out the famous Forresthill Bridge. Apparently there is a set of stairs that runs from the bridge all the way down to the ravine below, approximately 800 vertical feet. Eeker. The video below is from the afternoon squat session. Enjoy.