Fitness: 3RM
Set a 3 rep max in 3 attempts or less.
Performance: Power Snatch 80% x 2 x 5
Based off this week’s heaviest single.
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e6/6
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Every 4 Minutes for 5 Rounds:
250m Row
12 Push Press 115/75
Score times for each round.
Joy M.’s perfect front rack position
Memorial Day Musings
CFSBKer and author Jen Percy recently published a book called Demon Camp: A Soldier’s Exorcism. Last winter, before I (Kate R.) knew Jen was a member at the gym, I pre-ordered her book after reading a stunning excerpt of it in Harper’s magazine called “Voice in the Night.” Not only did I feel gut-punched by the beauty of her writing, but I knew what she was writing about was incredibly important. Demon Camp finally arrived at my apartment in January only a few days after it was published and I couldn’t put it down. I’ve already told a number of you to read it, and on the day before “Murph” and Memorial Day, it seems even more relevant.
Jen was introduced to CrossFit by a veteran and came to understand it as a scared space where military and civilian worlds tend to overlap. Below is our third and last installment of the Memorial Day Musings series, in which Jen shares a bit about her book and what compelled her to write it.
I started writing this book thinking a great deal about American post-war amnesia, a kind of collective forgetting that takes place when atrocity is over. Here’s a quote by an American psychiatrist named Abram Kardiner, author of The Traumatic Neurosis of War:
“The subject of neurotic disturbances consequent upon war has, in the past 25 years, been submitted to a good deal of capriciousness in public interest and psychiatric whims. The public does not sustain its interest, which was very great after World War I, and neither does psychiatry. Hence these conditions are not subject to continuous study.”
The quote is from 1941 yet the sentiment is evergreen. My book is, in many ways, a product of my longing to feel implicated in our foreign wars (these are wars that have gone on my entire adult life), but I also wanted to think about why this kind of forgetting happens. I followed Sgt. Caleb Daniels, a machine gunner on his way to save Marcus Luttrell, Mike Murphy, and two other SEALs stranded in the mountains of the Hindu Kush on June 28, 2005 when, last minute, Daniels was kicked off the flight. Their rescue chopper was hit by an RPG and all of his friends burned alive.
At home, in Georgia, Daniels saw the charred bodies of his friends in his room at night. He was also stalked by something he called the Black Thing, and the Black Thing wanted him to die. His dead friends wanted to save him. The apparitions created a kind of dialectic that’s common to those who have survived traumatic experiences. Daniels’ case was extreme. He spoke in signs and symbols, the language of dreams. The question that haunted him: should I live with terrible memories or annihilate them completely?
To learn more about Jen, visit her website. Purchase Demon Camp at your local bookstore or online.
“Murph” WOD and BBQ is TOMORROW
Are you ready for tomorrow?! The gym will be open starting at 7:15am. We’ll start grilling around 11:00am and be done around 3pm… maybe. There will be no evening classes. Please be ready to go at the time you signed up for. That means you’ll need to get there early and warm-up on your own. Here is a good mobility|WOD to check out if you’re not sure what to do. The gym will provide beer and meat for all who attend. If you can bring a side dish, it would be much appreciated!
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Do People Want to Know Where Their Food Comes From? The Atlantic
Why Don’t We All Have Cancer? Vsauce
Noon class
Deadlift (since I missed my 5/3/1 this week)
255×5
305×5
350×10
Still hitting predetermined reps on these, sans belt.
WOD Rx'd
Goaded McD into doing it with me. After he pulled 1:25 splits and finished in 1:08 I decided to see how close I could get to that.
Best 1:11
Worst 1:38 where I foolishly bailed after 8.
This gave me the shakes for a bit.
10am with Fox and Ro
Partnered with Everett for the deadlifts. Worked up to a heavy 3RM at 325#. This was my previous 1RM PR so looking forward to the next 1RM test to see what that has grown to.
Partnered with Samir for the WOD which I did at 95#. 60 seemed like a lot of reps for the day before Murph so I wanted to be conservative. Rows were all under a 1:40pace the whole way. Fastest round was 1:34. Slowest was 1:58.
8 am with the Foxes. I got up to 220# on the deadlifts. It was heavy, but I probably have some room to add a bit of weight, which according to Fox is the sweet spot.
The WOD, which I did @ 75#, was fun. Best round was 1:51, worst was 2:01. By the end my shoulders were feeling it. We'll see how I feel about that tomorrow.
9am with Fox^2. Deadlift: 275×3 290×2 300×2 (missed third rep – which would have been a 3 rep PR). Should have gone straight to 300 from 275. Going to try to get 300×3 at open gym sometime soon.
WOD @85 pounds which was about right. Fastest round 1:44, slowest 2:25.
Was just outside. Nice to know what 80 degrees feels like again!
1pm Group Class
Deadlift
Did 330×3 then 350×2 which I was pleased with, but I think had I spaced out my warm-ups and jumps better I would have hit my 350×3
Did the WOD Rx'd
Each row was about :55-:59 and all the Thursters were unbroken at 115lbs
Thanks to Jen for contributing to the blog. I had no idea she was such a literary TFBA as I've come to learn!
Then I peer pressured Melo, Noah and Kate R to row a 5K with me outside.
20:51.1
I intended to row this as an easy recovery piece but kept my discomfort at about 85% or so, meaning I was rowing about 2:00-2:05 splits for the majority of it then cranked it on the last 500m. Not an all out effort but still more potent than I intended.
Some of the other guys decided to break every 500m for a sip of beer..
Power Snatch 78x2x5. Beginning to restore some confidence.
5 Rnds of 4min each:
250m row (:59-1:03)
12 push presses @73 (2 sets unbroken but they took about the same amount of time as the broken ones)
Work time ranged from 2:18-2:25. Kept it at a manageable pace and avoided any strain overhead.
Cool down lap. Handstands on the way home.
Makeup from yesterday:
Subbed pressing for the C&J, 73x3x5.
Front squat, 120x4x4, 125x4x4. Tough but no belt and no bailing. My arbitrary 1RM of 140 is too low but I'm glad I did this cycle at that because I finally feel like I've nailed my form.
Deadlifted 145x3x5, focusing on breathing and keeping my shoulders back. I can't go higher than this without compromising my position. Still tough for me organize but I think I'm getting there. Have I mentioned that breathing well is helping me with my lifts? In this case, taking a full breath and bracing helped me feel more of an engagement and strength from my lower core that I hadn't experienced before.
Mixed in a bodyweight one-legged deadlift (the name a PT gave it?) with my shoulders set back and hands behind my head, sets of 5 each leg between my deadlift sets. Focused on taking a breath before each one and using that to help me stabilize my core. Band pull-aparts in there too.
Post ITA fun, 5K sunny row in 23 flat. I would like to point out that I did not need to be pressured into this. I didn't go as hard as David to spare my shoulder/arm and because, well, 10K is far. Amazing to be in the sun!
Also, I know I say it above, but Demon Camp is one of the best books I've read this year. Check it out!