positivity

Yesterday I was a little off kilter.  I'm sure those of you that read noticed that.  For that I apologize slightly.  But as Coach Paul said, everyone is allowed an off day or three.  I've had my share of those lately.  Today was not one of those days, however.  Coach Paul would be proud.

Last night I awoke from the worst dream I've had in quite a while.  It was three a.m., and I was wide awake.  I've often read that if you can stay awake for at least one minute before attempting sleep again, you're less likely to fall back into the same dream.  So I got out of bed, and walked to get a glass of water.  Upon my return to bed I tossed and turned until about five this morning.  Sigh.

Once again, my alarm clock woke me up.  I'm considering changing my anthem at this point.  As fitting as "Turn My Swag On" is, it's almost quite frightening to wake up to.  Suppose I'll choose something more soothing from now on.  I'm quite pleasant in the morning normally, today was going to be tough though, due to my lack of sleep.

In getting ready, I realize my mistake in packing a lot of my clothes.  As of last week I packed over half of my gym attire due to the fact that I was supposed to move last weekend.  They are now neatly piled in a suitcase and I don't want to disturb them, so I am running low.  Laundry will need to be done tonight.  For once though, I matched at the gym.  This rarely happens unless I lay my clothes out the night before.  Today, I was donned in pink attire, my fave.  Yes, sometimes I am girly.

On the way to the gym, a thousand things run through my mind.  My post from yesterday, the awfulness that was Monday, and all the disappointment that has surrounded me lately, okay, maybe that's three.  It's at this point I decide that today was going to be a fun day in the gym.  No frustration, no disappointment.  Again, Coach Paul would be proud.

Upon arriving to the box, I see that KK is there, and ready to work out with the 715 class.  Yippee!!!  Jeff also arrives, and I'm excited to see him as he is about to be gone for another week.  I think I'm going to need to fix this.  Mobility work this morning hurts.  Mainly my ass, because of lunges yesterday.  I wince as I roll out, but have to smile inside because I love lunges, and shamefully I kind of dig the pain in all the right places, knowing it's working.

Here's the plan for today.

A. Oly Drills

               1 power snatch every 30 seconds for 5 minutes

               1 clean and jerk every 30 seconds for 5 minutes

               (use 50% of 1RM for each movement)

B. AMRAP 8

               10 pistols (alternating legs)

               30 double unders (attempts count)

C. 15-20 minutes partner work

               60 meter heavy sled pull

               20 heavy russian twists

Now, I don't have a 1 RM really for snatch.  It's always something that been a tad tricky for me.  Michael Kelley says I have weird shoulders, maybe that's why.  Something about holding the bar in overhead squat position, or in snatch position, it just bothers me.  I'm working on it. 

For snatch, I use just the 33# bar.  I really want to focus on the movement.  It's during this drill that I realize that I'm not making as much noise as the others during the movement.  I'm fairly quiet.  This reminds me that Michael Kelley used to say that I wasn't dropping fast or far enough.  I need to spread my feet I believe.  Focusing on form with light weight, can sometimes be just as good a workout as focusing on weight while trusting your form.  When concentrating on form, you imagine every section of the movement, at least I do, and then still feel silly because so much is going on in your head that you might not realize if you're doing it correctly.  Hey, at least it felt ok.  That's probably that distraction problem kicking in again.

Next was clean and jerks.  I L O V E split jerks, and that's exactly what we get to do today.  I don't know why I love split jerks so much, but just always have.  Funny thing is, to me it should be a harder movement than a snatch from the looks, but it's sooooo much easier.  Maybe I'm wrong.  I throw 10# plates on each side of my bar, and off for clean and jerks.  These are fun.  The movement takes longer to execute than the snatch, so the rest time is less, and it makes it more fun.  During this time, Michael Kelley is experimenting with the music.  His selection today has us slightly baffled.  But then again, he is Michael Kelley.  None of us should be too surprised by anything.  Back to the point, clean and jerks felt great!

Once we clean up our equipment, it was time for the AMRAP.  This AMRAP isn't truly about how many rounds you can speed through, but it's more of a skill AMRAP.  This is to focus on the movement, not the speed.  Pistols are difficult, and as we set out our targets, I find that my right leg is much more proficient than my left, so I get a 35# plate and put underneath the wall ball I've chosen as my target.  It's at this time that I get to bring out my new shiny jump rope.  In true NCSU fan fashion, I have grey handles and a red rope.  I heart my rope.  This will be my first time using it.

AMRAP starts, and off we go.  Goal is to do ten pistols, five on each leg.  Then thirty double unders.  For today, attempts count.  It's great they do, because I had several "attempts" that were just that, and attempt.  However, on several rounds, I was able to do six to seven unbroken, and aside from whipping my arms, legs, and ass constantly with my missed attempts, double unders felt good today.  Even with the whips and misses, I have to smile at the temporary battle wounds they leave.  I know I'll get better, and I'm suddenly very thankful I wore pants.  The pistols weren't so bad either.  I think I ended up doing five rounds or so, told you, we really weren't keeping count. 

Michael Kelley then paired me up with Jo, which is very exciting.  I quite like Johanna.  We decided to put a 45# plate on the sled to start off, and use a 25# plate for russian twists.  Jo starts off inside with twists while I start on the sled.  We start pulling forward down for 30 meters, and then the same way back.  Then Jo and I trade off and it's off to russian twists.  After both of our first sets of sled pulls, we both agree that we should add the 15# weight we brought out just in case.  Boy was this quite the undertaking seeing as how I was now to pull backward the entire 60 meters.  O U C H.  My legs were screaming at me at this point.  The third sled pull I went forward first, then backward, again, not fun going backward.  Then Jo gives the fantastic idea to get the backward out of the way the way down, so on the way back you're forward, genius.  Fourth sled pull and I take her advice.

In the midst of sled pulls and russian twists, I'm reminded how hood KK is.  She's quite the skilled rapper, and it quite offsets her squeaky clean, white girl, college student image.  I LOVE it.

We completed four rounds, to put us right at the end of class time.  Today was an immensely fun WOD.  It was constantly moving, and different, and to have so much work to do after a skill AMRAP was fun.  It's amazing how light I feel after sled pulls.  Considering that Jo and I were pulling 60# and the sled I think weighs 11# or so, I felt quite accomplished.  Pistols are getting better, double unders are slowly improving, and I got to do split jerks.  That's quite the full fun filled day today!  Oh, and MK and KK gave me high fives. 

Level up, and Lemon out.