Games prep?

I mentioned in an earlier post that I registered for the regional qualifier (Canada East) of the CrossFit Games. The plan was to learn more about CrossFit and maybe a little about myself. I knew and still know that I’ll encounter a workout where I’ll have to scale, while I can keep up in the met-con department and have decent body weight strength the reality is I’m still building my strength. If a workout comes out that require X number of squat cleans at 155 lbs… well I’m just going to have to scale. And I’m ok with that. I like being competitive but I’ve only been CrossFitting since September 2008.

2009 CrossFit Games - Canada East

So, have I been taking the games lightly? Nope. I registered and I’m going. Did I have a plan? I sure did. My plan was to show up everyday. That’s right just show up at my affiliate every day there was a class that week. I was confident this approach would work for me as our head trainer does an excellent job in CrossFit programming. Further one of our trainers (Mike) registered as well so he added extra motivation working up to the games.

Me, Dixon and Dave going for max Pull-ups

While the progress has been going well, I did have two set backs. First I changed my diet slightly. I was at 18 Blocks at 2 X Fat. This was working well for me, though the recommendation for my height and body weight is 14 Blocks. I initially started with 14 Blocks but after a few weeks and bonking during a workout someone told me to up my blocks and double my fat. I did and presto! Instantly better.

However, in my quest for learning, several sources stated that I was eating too much. The old saying “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” rang through my head, plus our grocery bill was getting a bit high. Down to 16 Blocks I went, long story short it just wasn’t the same for me. My strength went down, I wasn’t recovering enough from workouts and I felt a bit slower during some of the met-con workouts.

Secondly an old injury in my right knee came back, it was manageable with some ice for a while but it took some of the fire out of my belly. Then I popped a joint in my back after going too heavy on a Deadlift. F*ck!

What was going on? A friend said “Ummm… maybe you’re overtraining?” Damn, I was. Five workouts a week is great but would four be that bad if it helped in the recovery department?

It’s all part of your capacity though, you have the capacity to push yourself beyond your expected limits. Do you have the capacity to stop, reevaluate what you are doing and change to a strategy that may not appear to be logical or beneficial.

I didn’t have that capacity last week. In fact I deviated from my plan of five workouts a week and added two extra. It looked like this:

Monday, April 13:
Workout #1
15-12-9
Clean and Jerk
Handstand push up

Workout #2

Tuesday, April 14

Wednesday, April 15
(That was the first time I really tried the snatch, it went well and I tried a scaled (65 lbs) Isabel (.MOV) after progression)

Thursday, April 16
Rest Day- Yay!

Friday, April 17

Saturday, April 18
Workout #1
5 KM Road Race (a personal best, time : 23:02)

Workout #2

Sunday, April 19
Rest Day – Thank Jebus.

Recovery is another post and topic onto itself but today, with two weeks left before the games, I decided as part of my preparation for the games I’d implement some extra rest and recovery. I’m already doing well. I went to bed early on a Saturday night (last night). And tomorrow? Well, I’m just going to try really hard and not show up tomorrow.