Coach W10D2 - Venus (Standard)

 Venus (S), 00:23:57 PB!!! 

Second training day of week 10. I was all pumped with the results of Aphrodite (the first WOD of this week) so I wanted to try and beat my Venus PB. I did this workout while being at the beach a week ago, so I had it fresh in my memory how it was like. I knew the push-ups were (are) my weak point so my strategy was to gain time with the squats and the situps.

I think I wasn't still fully recovered from Aphrodite because I had a bit of a hard time with the squats. My quads felt tired and sort of "lazy" right away and I had to break the first series of 50 into 5 x 10 reps (when I usually can pull a 20 - 15 -15 or a 25 - 25). The sensation got better with each round but it was never completely gone. Sit ups went by with no effort, but as I anticipated, the push ups were the killers. I can do some strict push ups, but certainly not 50 of them... 4 times. I actually suffer doing 50 knee push ups so you can imagine. I set myself the following mental schedule: do 5, take 2 breaths still in push up position, do 5 more and rest my arms (lying on the floor) for 5 breaths (10 breaths max when I'm dying). Its sort of breaking the push ups into 5 x 10 reps. When I write it and read it it sounds lazy as f**k, but its what I have to do in order to finish the WOD. Its a personal goal of mine to improve substantially my upper body strength. 

With all that strategy I did manage to lower my time and get a new PB. Still no star, but I'll #trainforit

Coach W8D2 - Metis (Strength) + loose exercises

 Metis (X), *00:18:48 (PB) 

Loose Exercises (PBs)

The second and last day of training of week #8 was a special feature. Good old Metis –but the strength version, which I’m doing for the first time- plus some loose exercises: 10 pushups, 25 squats, 50 situps and 10 Froggers (also the first time I have to do loose exercises to complement a WOD… if I recall correctly).

I could “hear” the Coach saying: “You’ve got Burpees under control? That’s cute; let’s try Burpee Squat Jumps (BSJs) then!” The strength version of Metis has BSJs instead of regular Burpees, Froggers instead of Climbers and High Jumps instead of Jumps; all nice little changes to push you a bit further –and you can feel those little things add up and matter a ton!  BSJs start like regular burpees but when you go from the ground forward and up you have to first get in a squatting position with the hips below the knees and from there perform a high jump (knees above hip line) instead of the usual small jump forward and up. It was a bit challenging to modify the movement pattern I’m already used to, but once I did a few reps and got the hang of it was good.  I got tired a lot faster than with regular burpees though because, let’s face it, during regular burpees I jump just high enough to make both feet lift the ground but not any higher to save as much energy as possible.  I liked the strength version of Metis. Doing Froggers is easier for me than Climbers. I always struggle with the Climbers, keeping the hips below the knees and the shoulders, hips and knees aligned while moving one feet forzard, then the other…  I think the problem there is that I’m still short on strength in my upper body and core so I can’t keep everything tight. Jumping forward with both feet made things simpler. Also I was already doing pretty high jumps during standard Metis, so nothing much changed there. The only thing I can point out is that I think I performed particularly slowly. The adjustment to the BSJs was very noticeable and I stopped to catch my breath probably more often and for longer periods of time than I really needed to. Lately I’ve been feeling this a lot, like I’m giving in to what my mind says more than what my body says. I felt it during Aphrodite (the previous WOD) too, like physically I could have gone faster but for some (mental) reason I just didn’t. I’m going to pay more attention to that in the next WODs, to make sure I’m pushing myself into giving my all at every rep.

I did this WOD at 8 AM on a Monday, during my holidays, while my GF went to her CrossFit class because we were leaving –just the two of us- for 7 days to the beach afterwards. A lot of people train early in the morning on empty stomachs and I think that’s a terrible idea. I’m in the process of writing a post about nutrition on morning  training sessions, so there will be more explanations on why I think it’s a bad idea there. I’ve been wanting to try one of the recipes of the Nutrition Guide to make high protein snacks for these type of situations, because if you eat a whole breakfast you’d have to wait a couple of hours to digest before dropping to the floor.  In the meaning time, we bought commercial protein bars that provide 15 g of protein a piece. We ate those (they tasted a bit funny so we do not think on eating these regularly) with a small cup of coffee and then trained about a half an hour later. The coffee decided to pay me a little visit during the first round of burpees, but other than that it was all good. I didn’t feel hungry or fatigued, so it was a good call to eat that prior to the workout. After training my GF came back to the apartment and we ate a proper breakfast with fruits, a bit of bread with turkey breast and tea with milk.  Then OFF TO THE BEACH we were!

Coach W6D1 - Venus (Standard)

 Venus (S): 00:29:39 

A new week of training has started. I absolutely LOVE that after finishing each week the coach asks how it was: 1) too easy; 2) hard, but ok or 3) too hard. With that feedback, the training volume for the following week can be adjusted. It also asks if you want to change your training focus (endurance, strength or both), how many days are you planning to train and if you have any muscular limitation, to prevent injury by letting particularly sore muscles rest.

I thought last week was OK for me as a comeback to regular training. I really could not have fitted in another workout so it was overall good. I don't want to be burned out too quickly, specially at the beginning, so I'll keep the same intensity this week but I'll train 3 times instead of two (I have no soccer). I'm a bit sore but I have no real limitations, and as usual I want to keep on training endurance and strength at the same time.

The first workout this week is one I had never done before: VENUS. Named after the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility (equivalent to the Greek Aphrodite), this workout consists of four rounds of 50 Push Ups, 20 Sit Ups and 50 Squats. I feel like Venus is the most basic workout you can do since it only involves three of the "fundamental" (if you can call them that) body-weight exercises that exist. Nonetheless, workouts don't need to be fancy and elaborate to make you sweat!

Knowing myself and my absolute lack of push/pull up strength, I decided right away not to go for the star version and do Knee Push Ups. There's a saying here in Chile that goes something like "starting off like an English pure-blood horse, finishing up like a donkey". What that means is that you start with full strength, super fast but midway you burn out and fall back and can barely get through the finish line. That happened to me on the first round of Push Ups; I did around 15 super fast because they felt easy with my knees and all, and I had already started thinking I would finish up Venus in the blink of an eye when it hit me... I really really have low push up strength, and it shows! I struggled to finish that first round of 50 and the following 4 rounds I had to break the 50 into sets of 10 to be able to complete it. The sit ups were a walk in the park and the squats very manageable, so overall I think I must have spent around 18 minutes of the 30 doing my 200 push ups, BUT I DID IT! #ClapClap 

I got extra points for PB which I think is "wrong" because it's the very first time I do the workout! But hey, If you want to give me some extra points for that... To my surprise, I'm not even that sore today. Usually pain kicks in the day before and hits the highest note after 48h. Maybe tomorrow I'll say something different, but for now, I'm more than OK. I can raise both my arms and have mild chest soreness. After training I ate a piece of fish with veggies (bell pepper, zucchini and mushrooms) and a little bit of chick pea puree. It was super healthy (high on proteins and veggies, low on carbs) and super delicious. I'm ready to take on the next training session!

The Birth of Venus - Sandro Botticelli (1486)