June 5 - Grace

I've been frazzled all day. My mind can't seem to stay focused.

That's not the best way to start a WOD.

Today's WOD is "Grace." Grace is a single round of 30 clean and jerks, as fast as you can knock them out.

The clean & jerk is one of my favorite exercises. I know. I have issues. But despite being one of my favorites, I've struggled to get this one up to the prescribed level. When we did this WOD back in February, I was 10 lbs below the prescribed weight. So today I decided to just go for it. I knew my time would suffer, but I was determined to do at least ONE WOD as prescribed.

So I loaded up my bar to 95# (this is the women's prescribed weight - guys have to suffer with an additional 40 lbs) and had Wonder Dad start the timer.

I got ONE REP done, ONE, when I realized I my flighty brain had made a HUGE mistake. I was wearing the wrong shoes. I had put on a pair of running shoes to pick up Wonder Boy shortly before we started this evening and I never even thought about changing them while getting ready.

Wonder Dad, being the incredible workout buddy that he is, ran to the closet to get my super shoes (my Innov-8 F-Lite 185s). And there's another advantage to working out in the garage! If we had been at the gym I would have just had to bite the bullet and finish as-is.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm sure (so get used to it), but these shoes have made such a HUGE difference in my workouts. In the running shoes, I had trouble pushing the weight through my heels. In fact, I kept rocking forward onto my toes, especially during the Jerk portion of the exercise. And in the the 4 or 5 reps I did while Wonder Dad ran to get my shoes, my feet already started to ache. I had kicked off the shoes and was just in my bare feet after the 2nd rep, but even that doesn't feel quite like wearing the shoes. They offer just the right amount of support without throwing my balance off.

So ... with all of that said, I managed to do the full 30 reps at the prescribed weight of 95# in just over 7 minutes (7:06.9, to be exact). And once I got the right shoes, I felt fairly good doing it. It was hot (Texas in June, what more can I say?). And I was totally spent at the end, as usual. But at least I had enough gas left in my tank to finish out with 30 Knees to Elbows and 5 pistols on each leg (band assisted again, but felt better than the last time).

So I guess I am going to call this WOD a success. :+)

Feb 25 - WOD

Today's WOD is called "Grace." And "Grace" is where you do 30 clean and jerk repetitions in as little time as possible.

This is especially difficult following yesterday's WOD where we did all of those push presses. But we pushed through it anway.

My time today was around 4 minutes and 45 seconds. I think it was a little bit quicker than that, but honestly, I forgot to write it down before Wonder Dad started his set and so I just don't remember fully. I *know* it was under that time though by at least a few seconds. So that is what I am recording for today. I set my weight at 80 lbs. This is still a bit below the prescribed weight of 95 lbs for women. But I'm getting closer. I'll just keep adding a few pounds each time we try it.

I skipped out on the planks and ab work again today. My shoulder has really been achy as of late and holding that position is not easy when my shoulder is complaining like that. I am hoping to get back on track tomorrow, but after all of these cleans, I wouldn't lay money on it.