So yesterday I had time over to make an attempt at 15.1 Rx. I felt recovered from Friday’s scaled attempt and had planned on working out at 16:30 anyways.

I get to the Box, and warm up. Due to a miss-communication between me and the manager, I wound up having to wait 30 min extra, but I was able to judge two others. I had now seen four different people do the Rx and three others do the scaled. After doing my own scaled, I realized quickly that going from 38kg to 52kg was not going to be an issue, but going from hanging knee raises to toes-to-bars was going to be my Achilles heal.

With friends doing 96, 87 and 55 reps I felt that 90 reps in 9 minutes was a reasonable goal. If i could manage 30 reps every 3 minutes I would be ok. Even if I told myself to do the toes-to-bar as 3x 5 to save my hands, I did the first 15 unbroken. jumped down, grabbed the bar and did 10 dead lifts quickly, and then straight into snatches. In an attempt to save hand strength i released the bar from above my head to the ground, but lost time by having to re-grip the bar every time. The first round in 2:15! Great 45 seconds extra!

Starting the second round I am starting to think 3 rounds should be cake. In the second round I do go to 3x 5 reps. But my abs are weaker than I realized and 3x 5 turns into 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1,1. But I feel strong going back to the bar. I get the 10 dead lifts out of the way, and then start the snatches again. The first two go up no problem, but for the remaining three I take a slightly longer pause. I started to get worried I would not get the bar above my shoulders on the first movement. I finish round two in just over 3 minutes. So now I have just over 3 minutes to finish a third round.

From the beginning I go straight into 2 reps and then drop down. It’s frustrating that this time I am able to hold the bar and my body up, but my abs/core is not strong enough to get my toes up. around the 8th rep, I switch to singles and start to go faster. I get to dead lifts and have just over one minute remaining. I get the 10 dead lifts done and throw up the first snatch with not rest, thinking I might run out of time and that one rep could be a big difference in placement. I quickly get up number 2, and see that I have time for 3, and then 4, but time ran out before I could re-grip and throw up number 5. Stopped with 89 reps. Not bad for a rookie.

Going over to 15.1A, I had it in my head that I had done 72kg on Friday. And today my forearms were not as effected after 15.1. So I clean and jerk 52kg just to get a verified rep in. Then I go straight to 70kg, no need to waist energy with 60kg. I get it up, but it was not pretty. With plenty of time I load 75kg. I got it up no problem! But again it was not pretty. So I load 77.5kg and wait out the clock for one last attempt at 14:30. I am not explosive enough to get the weight to my head, and I am not confident in my lower back enough to drop under the bar to catch it in a over head squat position. Failed! But a new PB at 75kg makes my happy. So my 15.1 Rx score was 89 reps + 75kg.

My ranking after 15.1 & 15.1A is not impressive compared to all the amazing people at my box, but here are my world and Europe rankings:
Men World 99,844 & Europe 11,420
Masters 40-44 World 10,130 & Europe 853

So now I have three days to rest and wait and see what 15.2 will be.

Yoga vs Running
It’s funny, if you had asked me last year at this time if I would be doing yoga I would have said, no it’s not for me. But as of today I have more time a yoga mat than I do in my running shoes.Yoga is fun, but is not a replacement. I will keep doing yoga on sundays the days that it is offered, but I really need to get my head in the game and start running when I can.