September 9, 2017 – Week 4, Day 3

5 Minutes Concept 2 Rower

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx15

One Leg Leaning Calf Raises
BWx15/15

Regular Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Sumo Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Squat Therapy (16” Box)
BWx15

Hip Airplanes (supported)
BWx7/7

Band Rows w/Biceps Stretch
MMBx20/20 seconds
MMBx20/20 seconds

Push-ups
BWx15

Yoke/I-Beam Farmer’s Walk Medleys
y-300x100’ in 11.16 seconds
400x30’/125x30’ in 11.13 seconds
500x30’/200x30’ in 12.51 seconds
600x30’/250x30’ in 13.62 seconds
700x60’/300x60’ in 26.27 seconds

Sandbag Rows
100x10
175x8
255x6 PR+5lbs & 1 rep

H-Stone Carry (off platform, turns at 60’)
300x327’9” PR+23’7”
350x267’6” PR+23’2”
400x214’ PR+19’

Sled Drags
355x204’3” in 70 seconds

Stretching

Comments: My butt was dragging this week. Even with it only being a four day work week it was exhausting and I was tired. I really had no idea what to expect this final session for the week since I was essentially doing a remake of last week to get training to line up for the rest of this cycle to hopefully maximize recovery and consolidate stressors. Had quite a few aches and pains from this week. Like everywhere. Leery about stuff in the SI joint area on the injured side. But the weather was nice out so that meant I didn’t have to worry about rain. A guy I’ve only known from social media, Brandon Sanders, showed up at the gym. His enthusiasm is contagious so I hope he starts training out here regularly. Warmed up on the rower. Felt a little tougher than usual but that was fine. I think it was more so with my legs being sore. Calf work was okay and the box touches for both styles were good. Squat therapy was really good. Wasn’t expecting that with the aches. Hip airplanes were pretty good as well. Band rows and stretching followed. Easy and not nearly as much tightness in the shoulders. Set of push-ups to finish things up. Easiest they have felt so far but still not at the level of effort I think they should be at yet. First item of the day was yoke and farmer’s walk medleys. This was going to be real interesting since I just did heavy yoke work last week. First set was with just the yoke and it was for a long run. Not bad. Then on to using the farmer’s handles in the mix. Medley for Nats is going to be 60’ each way but no need to beat myself up with doing the full distance in my warming up sets to the big set. So half the distance to get good at accelerating and working on the transition between the implements. The transition is tricky trying to get out from under the yoke to the farmer’s handles. The best method for the yoke dismount for me is to “shove it” forward and duck under the yoke as it slides forward so that I can just turn to the side to get to the farmer’s handles rather than have to walk around when the yoke stops. I felt good with yoke warming up and the farmer’s didn’t feel like anything until the second to last set and that was only the pick as the weight felt like nothing in my hands. The last set was not fun. Full course length with a little over 80% contest weight on the yoke and 90% of the farmer’s weight. For whatever reason, the yoke pick didn’t feel right, like the weight was too far out in front of me. I took me three attempts to get it to feel good enough to actually break it off the ground and go. Perhaps this weight is too heavy for me to go right from the start into a run. I know I noticed this last cycle when I was using 550lbs for short runs as part of the EOMOM workouts. I may have to stand up fully and then go with this kind of weight. I felt slow on that run down with the yoke. Like one leg was behind the other playing catch-up. But I finished with no drops and on to the farmer’s handles. This is the most I’ve used on the I-beam ones. I felt good at the start but as I went, I was getting fatiguing the handles were bumping into my thighs. I ended up slowing down to keep from knocking the weight out of my hands. Finished with no drops. This was tough but I feel the contest weights will be doable in a few weeks as long as I continue to recover from session to session. Sandbag rows after that. I took my time with these as my lower body was smoked from the medley work. Wasn’t sure what to expect since I just did these last week. I dropped the weights I was going to use for the working up sets as I didn’t want to be taking away from the top set which was to be an attempt to beat my best from last time. Light set was light and medium set was a little harder than I would have liked. So color me surprised when the heavy set reps felt smooth and better than last week. I honestly had to check to make sure I was using the right sandbag after that set. So halfway through this tough workout. Then there has halt to all activities as someone going for a PR single on front squats had their leg go. Such a loud popping sound. I and another person helped him get to his car and his lady friend drove him to the hospital. So that happened. But I had to do more stuff. Husafel stone again. I was legitimately dreading this. I hate failing and not beating previous bests and I had not yet healed from all the bruising from last week’s session. Outside with it this time since it was nice. First run I was surprised how well I was moving with it and how light it felt (once I got it secured). And I ended up beating my distance from last week by a good margin. Not as much of an increase from session one to session two but still a bit jump. Big bruise already forming on my arm. Second run was much the same. Almost the same increasing in distance from last time with this weight. Blood is seeping from my arm after that set. Got one more set. This didn’t feel as nightmarishly heavy in my lap as it did last time. Again another improvement. Last week’s distance on the top set would have placed my 12th at Nats last year whereas this week’s would be 6th. So this will be a good event for me if this keeps up. But now I got some more bruises. Last item of the day was a max distance sled drag. Weight didn’t matter, just needed to work the entire time limit of 70 seconds. While the weight didn’t matter, I needed to have enough weight where I didn’t go too far into the neighboring parking lot. I got the weight just right I think. I was going a little slow at the start but tried moving faster. Near the end, my glutes and legs were not willing to work with me but I kept moving the entire time. That was a gut buster. Put away stuff and drove home to stretch and then go out for good food. Sleep came to me quick after getting home and taking some ibuprofen.