Battle of the Barbells

ok! There's been some ups and downs around here these days, as far as training and such.. We just finished up a cycle of training that was more weightlifting focused.. And I feel like it went pretty well and I made some strong improvements..but yet.. On the fun stuff.. The numbers that you reallyreallyreally want to see go up.. Nothin. I was under the 160# snatch, which would have been a 5# PR, but I got stuck in the bottom, for some reason, and lost it standing up. Darn it.. I did manage to ugly squat myself to a 10# improvement on the back squat. I have GOT to improve my form and strength there, but I was hell bent on lifting more weight, form be damned, so that's what I did.. Lucky for me, I think my coach may have foreseen this need for improved form and strength in the squat, because so far, the new cycle has included 1 1/4 squats, which are great for working that trouble spot! Day 2 of the 'max out week' brought me a new power clean PR of 180 and I think a push press of 170, so that day was going well.. Then I knew I was going to miss my day 6 because of a competition that weekend (more on that in a minute!), so I went back into the gym later that morning and maxed my overhead squat at 195 and hit a snatch balance at 160# (should be ready for that 160 snatch now!).. So I was feeling good! That all came to a screeching halt on Wednesday..my birthday! I wanted so badly to have a PR day..but it just wasn't meant to be. No PR for my clean and jerk and front squats felt awful, too. It was a mobility day on Thursday, so I think I stretched for almost 2 hrs.. Felt pretty good, but Friday wasn't exactly great, either.. I just went in for a couple easier lifts that day, though, because I was leaving that afternoon to head down to Tennessee for a competition! It was time for Battle of the Barbells!
A little while back, after Granite Games, I was trying to figure out my next move and what my next goal would be.. I set my sights on Wodapalooza, which is an individual comp I did another online qualifier for and will compete at in January, but I needed something else to prepare me.. In walks Battle of the Barbells! This comp was run/programmed by a gal I met and competed with at Granite Games, so I knew it would be worth the 5hr drive. The comp was 2 days worth of fun and as the first couple workouts were released, I knew I was in for a challenge! I won't go into all the details of all the workouts.. I'm sure, if you're curious, they're probably posted on the comp website or Facebook page.. Or the gym, Murfreesboro CrossFit, page.. It's out there somewhere.. But when I saw that the pre-announced events included defecit HSPU, 53# single arm kb snatch.. I knew it was going to be a good weekend. Honestly, I really enjoyed the workouts. I was sore and tired from them, but nothing a day of rest couldn't fix.. I was back to normal and back to training by Tuesday. I thought the workouts offered a good variety of movements in challenging ways.. Some classic stuff (Isabel), some endurance-ish stuff, some 'pick up heavy things' stuff.. And even some random challenges, like the broad jump, which I am now specifically training for daily (it was my worst event, despite my feeling fairly confident in my jumping abilities.. Oops! Dang it). All in all, it was a well programmed event and I highly recommend the event to anyone within a 5hr drive! Coming away from the event, I had some things I was pleased with.. Like handling the clean+2 front squat+ jerk ladder relatively well (made it through 185).. I hadn't done Isabel in a very long time, so I was pretty happy with my 2:13, even though it could have been a little faster if I hadn't dropped that darn rep.. But, anyway.. I was happy with how I moved through the kb snatches, which have long been a nemesis of mine.. I was pleased with my ability to push to a true place of pain, especially in the chest to bar/front squat/burpee workout, where I had to push hard to finally win an event.. Oh, man, it hurt, though! But it felt good to compete. And I was happy with the first part of the final, where I did 26 unbroken push jerks at 105#, which also happened to be my second event win of the weekend.. What was I disappointed in? Well. I mentioned the jumps.. I think that was partly just a lack of focus, but also, clearly a weakness.. My biggest disappointment was my darn muscle ups, again. The final event had sets of 5 MU in each of the 5 rounds, and after just a couple sets of connecting 2 or 3, I lost my rhythm and was relegated to singles. I think part of this problem is fatigue.. I can definitely say my arms were tired by this point in the weekend, but I need to figure out a way to still make it work.. Some of the problem, I think, is mental, and that part I have to overcome.. I let it get in my head as soon as things aren't perfect and I just don't fight hard enough. I fight hard for so many other things, I need to find a way to just grind through those less-than-perfect looking muscle ups. Sometimes I think I expect it to feel easy, and then I psych myself out when it feels hard. I'm definitely going to continue to work to figure this thing out, because it's going to come up in every comp that I do. I only had 1 day of MU training this week.. It went alright.. Sets of 2/3/4.. I was going to do more work on them, but other days I was too sore from dips or whatever else we had going on.. Anyway, though, it was a really fun weekend and I enjoyed working out with all the athletes out there! It was a tight race for the podium and, despite not outright winning many individual events, my consistency paid off and I wound up on top of the podium. Everyone there, from the event directors, judges, ALL the other athletes..everyone was so nice and supportive and just made for an excellent environment, which, to me, ranks up there with the programming, as far as reasons I would return and recommend this comp to others. Huge thank you to Murfreesboro CrossFit and everyone involved in putting on the Battle of the Barbells!