A Crossfit hero workout

I'm very anxious on Wednesday evenings to check out the WOD for Thursday - moreso than any other day. Wednesdays are my heavy hill training days - leaving my posterior chain and legs depleted. So when I saw today's WOD, I knew today would be difficult. Today's WOD is a Crossfit hero workout called "Wittman". Wittman is:

7 rounds for time of:
35# KB swing, 15 reps
55# Power clean, 15 reps
15 Box jumps, 24″ box

A few months ago I changed my strategy on CF workouts. Since I want to gain strength, I'm going heavy on my workouts, so I lift the prescribed female weight (if I can), or as close as possible. Also, I want to get better at jumping to help my box jumps, jump rope and ultimately my running. So, I use the 24" box on workouts.

Keeping that in mind, I chose the prescribed weight for females for the KB swing. This was a no-brainer for me as this is a fairly easy movement and 35# is not difficult. I was able to do all rounds of the 15 reps unbroken.

For the power cleans, I went 10# shy of the prescribed weight for females (65#), which was still really heavy for me given the number of reps. These really sucked in the beginning as I was not performing one fluid movement - I was breaking into two movements which made it a lift at the top. I thought I would need to drop 10#. But then Tyler came by and corrected my form, instructing me on the one fluid movement concept. That made a world of difference. Although the weight was still at a high suck factor level, I knew I could get through 15 reps on each round (though they were broken up into sets of 5s and 10s). Given the fluidity in the form I learned, I think in the future I will increase my weight to 60#, if not 65#.

I chose the 24" box for the box jumps instead of the 20" prescribed for females. This is where I spent a lot of time standing around while the clock ticked away. I would guess I was more depleted today because of yesterday's hill training, which caused not only more leg fatigue but also caused me to hesitate more between reps for fearing of catching an edge.

I finished "Wittman" in 28:16. Ultimately I am happy with the weights I chose and the height of the box - but unhappy with how much time I waste trying to catch my breath. I want to learn to pick up the weight (or jump on the box) without trying to get another 10 breaths in before I do - it's going to suck with or without those extra breaths so why not just take 1 breath and go!

Supplement:
As always, there are many things I need to work on in addition to Crossfit and Crossfit Endurance. I supplement my morning workouts with afternoon fun. Today that fun included 5 rounds of 20 plank ball knee-ups, and 100 situps; 100 single jumps per foot; and some hip strengthening work that is just too difficult to explain.