The rest of the week went well - felt really smooth and quick on amrap training to prep me for the Open.  I was feeling tired mid - week.  Partly due to work and of course family.  Always too much stress there to deal with.  The Open was released Thursday and of course my worst fear - DUs. I have been working on them every day and for some fucking reason - I still can't get them.  In 2011 I got 229.  I would love to hit that again. Looking to do 14.1 on Sunday right now.

Like Brandon said it is only 1 workout of 9.  Get it done and move on.

Week of 2/24:  Open starts this week - dam I am pumped up.

AM: did some strict pull up work, DU practice and wall ball.  Then some ez/hard rowing.

PM: Snatch work - focused on form work with 95 and 115.

Followed with rounds of 5 HSPUs for 6 rounds.  These are going well finally

Then:
21 Pull Ups
9 Thrusters
15 PU
15 Thr
9 PU
21 thru
 Finished in 5:05.  The last 21 thrusters killed me.  All the pull ups were unbroken until the last round.

Took a 12min rest and then did:

3 rounds:
- 17 power cleans @115
- 27 burpees
- 12 T2B

Was 10:14 - felt really strong all the way through.  This session really pumped me up for Thursday

So last week the end of the week went well.  I was some what tired from the mid week amraps but still felt good.  Trained easy on Friday to flush out the legs.  Then on Saturday went to Brandon's for the comp workout.

1.  Max Thruster: got 175 easy.  Yet failed at 180.  Too slow mid way through.

2. Did 5min of squat cleans and jerks.  This was an open event in 2011.  I used the masters weight of 135.  I ended up with 27.  I did go out way too fast with 9 the first minute.

3. 20min Cap
- 10 C2B Pull Ups
- 1000m Row
- 20 HSPUs
- 20 Power Cleans @135
- 30 Pull Ups
- 30 Burpees
- 40 Box Jumps @20
- 40 T2B

I ended up 18:36.  very steady all the way.  I did struggle with the T2B - my grip gave out.

All in all a great day.

Sunday - some mobility work.

Monday Training:
I started with a back squat warm up.  Then slowly built up to a one rep heavy max - I stopped at at 260 for 1 rep.  Then I worked on mu push press - I worked with 135 for sets of 7-10.

Later in the day I workout at Crossfit 321.  I worked on squat cleans - moderate weight.  Then rounds of 10 wallballs on the 9ft mark - that was very different since I have been working on a 10ft mark.  I also worked on MUs and DUs.  My f-ing MUs really piss me off.  Will work some more this weekend.

Then I followed with on a 15min clock:
50 S2O @75
60 Bar Burpees
70 KBS
100 DUs(i got 82 of these)
 was finished with the KBS around 12min.  Way too much time with the DUs.

I then added in 5 x 1000m rowing on 3min rest - legs were tired so I kept a 3 damper setting and held 1:51 - 1:53.

Tuesday was completely off since I was at my son's state swim meet.

Wednesday
1. Snatch 3 reps heavyI got 125 - ugly though.  I did try 3 TnG - got 120.

2. Front Squats - 155 for max reps - 2 rounds on 10min rest.  16 for the first round and then 15 for the second.

3.  EMOM 8:
Odds - HSPUs(averaged 3-4)
Evens - Strict Pull ups- held 6-8

4. AMRAP 8:
- 7 TnG Power Cleans @95
- 9 burpees
- 11 Cals AD

I got 5 rounds plus 3 power cleans

Rest 3min

AMRAP 8:
- 10 Deads @115
- 10 Box Jumps
- 10 Cals AD
I got 6 rounds plus 20 reps.

Rest 3min

8min AD
I was tired- got 125 cals

I recovered quickly and am ready for Thursday.

One week to go - Open time.

Sunday a planned day off - spent the day clearing snow from my driveway along with sanding so oil can be delivered Monday morning.  I call it active recovery.  I am ready to go for the next week of training.  Two weeks and I am getting nervous.

So this morning my legs were pretty sore from all the trusters I did on Friday.  I spent some time rolling out and then followed with some rowing and AD work.  I also included some pull up and ring dip work as well.  The rowing was broken into short segments followed by more rolling out.  On a few 250s I saw 1:30.  That felt great.  The AD as always seems to kick my ass- did some alternating hard/ez repeats.

Am suppose to drive to Branden's Sunday but this snow will force me to change my plans.  I will shot for next weekend.

Two weeks in counting until the Open.

So Wednesday I did lots of steady state rowing with some build ups as well.  Worked on varying the rate the entire time.  Followed with weighted pull ups = rounds of 3 at 35lbs.  Worked on CTB.  Then did 10 rounds of:
- 10 cals AD
- 10 burps
- 10 cals erg
That hit some what hard around round 5-6.

Thursday was a total rest day.  I was tired - along with a crazy day at school.  Ate lots of food and relaxed.

Friday:  Started warming up for a 10rm TnG squat clean.  Legs felt heavy(also 4 hours of clearing snow this morning).  My final round was at 150.  Felt great the 1st 6 reps.  I got the last 4 but my HR was so high.  Then rested and worked on a 10rm push jerk.  Got to 130 for 10 unbroken.  I did attempt 140 - got 6 there but back got tight from hyper extending, so I stopped.  Very happy with both of those.

Later I did:
20 Thrusters @95(went unbroken)
10 T2B
20 Thrusters @115(rounds of 5)
20 T2B
20 thrusters @135(rounds or 1 and 2)
30 T2B

That was rugged for sure especially the 135lb.  T2B round of 20, got to 10 and then had to break.

Followed with a AMRAP 10- had to sub out wallballs(left mine at school- today was a snow day).
15 KBS
10 Cals AD
5 C and J @135
I got 4 full rounds plus 18 reps

Very solid day of training.  Looking forward to Sunday

So over the weekend I competed in a 2 person team master's event.  We had to compete down with the younger master's athletes.  Just missed finals by 1 point = a great day no matter what.  I did get a new squat clean PR - 205lbs.  That was a 15lb PR.

Sunday was spent doing mobility and recovery.  On Monday still some what sore from the weekend.  Training was average today.

Tuesday I did 13.2 over again.  Last year I did 248 reps in 10min using the Open weights(115) with a 24in box.  Yesterday I used 115 with a 20in box and got 275 reps.  I felt pretty good - and would love to see how I would do with 95lbs which was the 55 plus weight last year.

Looking forward to the open very - very much.

So I adjusted the training plan some since I am competing on Saturday.  I started Thursday with a 5RM back squat - ended up with 255lbs for 5.  A new PR for me even with tired legs.  I did struggle with my shoulder press work especially when it gets heavy.  I tend to not focus enough and re-dip.  In late December I got a 4RM at 180 with a fat bar.  Can't get that again as of late.  I ended with some max thruster work - capped at 175.  Had really tired legs.

Today may be a wash for training.  My oldest son(a senior)is swimming in the southern Maine champs today.  Then Saturday and 2 person masters Crossfit event.

Dam I am really bad at keeping my blog up to date.  Training has been going great to date.  Tow weeks ago I was down some training wise due to a sinus infection.  The past 8 days have been 100% back with mostly doubles every day.  This coming weekend I have a 2 person master's event.  My teammate is another 55 plus guy, Paul Caron.  We will have to step down to the 45-54 crew since there are no other 55 plus teams.  Fine with me for sure.

Yesterday got a new PR of 2 TnG squat cleans - 185.  Finally feeling good with that.  The open is just a few weeks away.  I just want that to start up and then the final Games push in late April with the 4 events.

Will attempt to log in a few times each week from now on.

So it is now 2014 and the Open starts Feb 27th.  New this year will be 4 additional workouts that will be released on April 18.  So the pressure starts to develop.  I am so much more confident that in the past.  I love Brandon training as it has brought me to a new level.

As far as 2013 - the month of December went very well even with the holidays.  I ended the year doing a 2 person team event.  A total of 5 events.  I teamed up with Chris Roman(41yr old master).  We won 2 events, 2nd in two and 9th in the floater.  Over all we felt great - walked away with over a 40 point victory and cash as well.

Now I need to update my blog on a regular basis.  Some things I will focus on:

1.  Diet
2.  ROM in my shoulders
3.  HSPUs, MUs, DUs
4.  Oly lifting

I feel my met con ability is very good and that will help for the Open.  But Games will be more about heavier weights.

Friday Jan 10th off to work with Brandon.