Ben Plotnicki

AM

tttTD (sprint workout, bike/burpee/DB)

5:24 (was thinking that beating the cap was going to be tough, but i flipped a switch and didn’t really care about it), had a set up as if i had a starting line and had to run to get on a bike. First 15 was off at 33 seconds or so, burpee was done at 1:33, did a step off on that first set of 13, wanted to conserve a little because i knew the db was going to be tough. Did snatch on first devil press and just didn’t think i could keep that up, so went to c&j, in my head i had a plan to do a few, take a quick break and then get back on it, but in the heat of the action i told my self don’t let go of the db’s, even if you move slow don’t stop, i was thinking to myself if i broke then i would rest much longer than i wanted to/needed to and much longer than i think it would feel like. Not sure what time i finished the db work but first 4 reps I stepped down and then bopped off for the last 9 reps, was back on bike @ 4:33 and 5 cals in at time cap, and it was at that point my legs felt functional again and sold out for the last 10 cals. Overall pretty pleased with this workout, devils press were heavy, and even though speed per rep was slower than it needed to be i just stayed moving. And was happy that i moved pretty well on that last set of burpee

PM (long chipper)

For time

100 cal row

80 chin over bar pullups

60 wallballs @ 30lbs

40 lateral burpees over sandbag

15 sandbag ground over shoulder @ 150lbs

(walk forward every 5 reps)

22:26 – row was really good, could’ve been more aggressive but stayed in the 1300’s and off rower sub 5 for sure but don’t remember exactly. Quick transition and did sets of 12’s until 60, then did 10-5-4-1 – i was a little too wrapped up in the heat and humidity and not able to block it out enough completely to be good at suffering today. Those 60 wall balls, i don’t remember much. I know i was trying to do cluster sets as soon as i settled down a little. The burpee i did a pretty good job of getting down and off the ground quickly but was trying to conserve a little energy for that lateral jump over which felt like it took a lot of energy. Thank you for not keeping the rep scheme theme for the sandbag over shoulder. Here i wanted to try and do 1 rep every 10sec, was doing an ok job of this in chunks. But also felt i was good at getting my first rep in after walking the sandbag forward. The last 5 i just pushed it and didn’t care about strategy i just went.

6/4

AM (swim session, kick focus)

Dryland Prep

*set a 15min timer to get your body prepped and ready to swim

*dryland follow-along: https://youtu.be/qiN2E7-zXuA

+

Water Warm-up

250m Swim @ cruise

*cold, no water-warm-up

*take note of your time here
6:20ish……interputed sleep last night, but knew it was going to be that way just with some uncontrollable things going on. Nothing stressful by any means just knew there would be a disruption

+

Bodyline –> Swim Progression

2 Rounds:

25 Streamline Kick on back

Rest 10sec

25 Free Swim w/ “Overkick” (over-emphasize your kick here, slowing your stroke cadence)

Rest 10sec

50 Fist Swim (focus on grabbing water with your forearms)

Rest to recovery b/t rounds

Fist swim was awkward but see the value big time, i’m comfortable on back with kicking but i’m slow but today i was much better utilizing legs.

+

Stroke Efficiency

3 Rounds of “GOLF”

3 Sets; rest to recovery b/t sets

4 x 50 / 90sec Clock

*GOLF = stroke count + time (i.e. 30 strokes + 35sec = 65)

***compare scores to best from lalst week***

Since last week i only got in 25m for scoring i scored my stroke count but went for a turn around for 50m today. Brought my stroke rate down to about 10 on the average and 12 on the high end, kicking efficiency and power was much better today, but with that came much greater leg fatigue. Lowered time as well to right around 20 seconds the best i could tell, trying to use pool clock (it’s not digital) instead of watch since i was trying to time and track the 25m and then quickly turnaround and go for 50. 

+

Kick Development

2 Sets:

Every 50sec x 6

25 Kick w/ board holding UNDER 35sec

Rest 2-3min b/t sets

Got in 3 sets here, but legs were getting pretty toast at this point

PM

Squat clean + Jerk – 3 tough singles, no misses, rest as needed

255-265x 2 – really wanted to hit 275 today but something was just feeling off. Not sure if it was the time between the pool and the pm session, i did feel strong in the whole but felt like I struggled to create good tension in the dip and drive, which really doesn’t make sense but there was a disconnect today. 

+

Squat clean thruster – 20 reps for time @ 155lbs

2:38 – wanted to be sub 2:30 but wasn’t going to plan a rep/second strategy at all just wanted to go. I think i looked at the clock and was around 1:3 or 1:08 at 10 reps, and felt my leg drive slow down around 13 or 14.

+

Clean pull x 1/Below knee hang clean pull x 2, rest 90 sec

225-245×3 – 225 speed felt crisp, smooth and fast, 245 didn’t feel as fast but positions and tension felt good, the speed was the only reason i didn’t add any more weight.

Bottoms up front squat x 1.1.1, rest 8-10 sec bt reps, 90 sec after the set x 4 sets

215-235×3 – only have access to the metal blocks so getting deeper took adding plates to my set up so this was some tweaks i had to adjust on the fly. 

+

1-arm BB farmer carry 50ft/side, tough, rest 45 sec bt arms x 4 sets/arm

95

AM

2 sets

Banded ankle dorsiflexion x 10/side

Banded ankle plantarflexion x 10/side

+

Dynamic Activation (10yds each):

Knee Hug March

Lunge to Lizard

Single Leg RDL w Toe Touch to Kick

Carioca (each side)

Side to Side Lunge

Ankle to Elbow

Butt Kicks

High Knees

Power Skip

check

+

Run 200m progressive intensity, rest walk 2 min x 2-3

check

+

800m @ 84-86%, rest 4 min

600m @ 88-90%, rest 3 min

400m @ 90-92%, rest 2 min

600m @ 88-90%, rest 3 min

800m @ 84-86%, rest 4 min

600m @ 88-90%, rest 3 min

400m @ 90-92%, rest 2 min

600m @ 88-90%, rest 3 min

800m @ 84-86%

(total 5600m)

Efforts on 400 felt strong, don’t have splits written down but was around 85-90seconds, overall time was around the 45 minute mark, forgot to hit watch to stop and get accurate amount. On several of the distances, michelle got a head start and my goal was to catch her or at least close the gap effectively. This worked very well in the beginning but do think efforts were a little outside of the target which made it a little hard on the very back end 400-600-800.

+

5 sets of bent knee hollow hold 50 sec, rest 90-120 sec bt efforts, skinny band under tension under the small of back to ensure you stay hollow

Done at home

+

Spend 5 minutes walking around barefoot on soft surface as possible

check

PM

For time

30-20-10 kipping HSPU

7-5-3 ring MU

directly into

Row 50 cals

9:12 – baby deficit on hspu, burned out triceps a little. Biggest bottleneck was in the round of 20. In 1st round tried to prepare for it a little and get comfortable with mini sets and small break. Felt it helped a little on rmu but triceps definitely felt some burning. Small sets were 8-8-8-6, 4-3 on rmu and then UB on 5 sprinted to walk for set of 10, knee I wasn’t going to be able to go straight through but wanted to push some urgency. Rings are 44ft from wall so there’s not much I can do about distance on transitions, either run/jog or use that as time for chalk and go right into next movement. 50 cals sub 2 (I think around 1:52????) held 1500 for whole first minute and thought about kicking right there but didn’t think I could hold higher than that straight at that point so got into 1600’s and 15 cals left and just settled into the 1700’s to finish.

Dryland Prep

*set a 15min timer to get your body prepped and ready to swim

*dryland follow-along: https://youtu.be/qiN2E7-zXuA

Water Prep

200 Swim, continuous, building smooth –> cruise

GOLF Baseline Testing

Every 90sec x 10 sets

50 Swim @ strong pace

*GOLF = stroke count + time (i.e. 30 strokes + 35sec = 65)

Keep in mind there are 3 ways to improve and all of them are indicative of improved swimming metrics:

(a) swim faster, same stroke counts (more speed)

(b) swim same time, lower stroke count (more efficient)

(c) swim faster, and lower stroke count (faster & more efficient — the unicorn 😉

NOTE: Record your LOWEST score and take note of your average for future use

Today was the first day that in the pool i actually felt like i knew what the fuck i was doing. I was getting good rotation from my torso, breathing didn’t feel like a chore, and actually felt rhythmic, and there were even times that i missed a breath or a position and i didn’t panic just made it up on the next few strokes……only negative today was i was in the 25m pool so i didn’t get any metrics on 50m. I chose to keep the 25m distance since i didn’t want to take away from not having an efficient kick turn, just wanted to keep building on the confidence and the momentum of the day. Strokes were 11/12, times were 21-25, i need to get more out of my kick, that’s the next challenge i plan on conquering. so lowest score in the 25m format is 32. 

—————————

Rest to full reocvery

—————————

Kick Testing

100y Kick time trial w/ board

Not enough time

Cool-down

10min “”social kick”” w/ board (social kick = casual, conversational pace)

Not enough time

AM (replace running here due to sat volume)

3 min echo bike nasal breathing only

2 min echo bike inhale through nose, exhale through mouth

1 min echo bike, regular breathing, allow intensity throughout to be dictated by breathing comfort

done

+

Echo bike 90 sec progressive intensity, faster every 30 sec

rest walk 2:30 x 3

Done – unfortunately i do not have access to an echo bike, don’t know any gyms close by that have one either. But will keep looking into it as i know this will be important to get some exposure on one

+

Echo bike 15 cals @ 330-375 watts

Echo bike 12 cals @ 400-450 watts

Echo bike 9 cals @ 500+ watts (push this, short of full sprint but make it hurt)

rest walk 3 min x 4 sets

2:00-2:00-2:05-2:08 – tried to get out of the 700’s on the 9 cals but just couldn’t tap into enough power to get there. But still pushed the pace the best i could

+

2-3x through

Banded high to low wood chops from half kneeling x 8/side, squeeze through obliques

1-arm tough farmer carry 50ft/side, rest 15 sec bt arms (can use a KB or farmer handle)

Posterior sling march x 12-16 alternating steps, fight to stay square throughout

1-arm KB drag throughs from front plank x 10 alternating reps

Love the posterior slang march…..95 pounds on the carry, might have been a little too tough but was able to grind through, having actual handles helps a buch. 

+

Echo bike 9 cals @ 500+ watts

Echo bike 12 cals @ 400-450 watts

Echo bike 15 cals @ 330-375 watts

rest walk 3 min x 4 sets

1:52-1:54-1:52-1:56 – this one hurt WAY more than the first one. But it was more trying to hold the 330-375 pace for that rough minute. 

PM

3 sets

2 min working window, 2 min rest

20 GHD situps

AMRAP ring MU in remaining time

10-8-7 – did not move ghd to a super close proximity to rings, about a 8 sec transition so tried to move that a little quicker, definitely felt the abs on the rings a little on 2nd set, but definitely on 3rd set. GHD also slowed down ever so slight on the 3rd set but volume of 60 reps total and 20 at a time felt pretty good today. 

+

3 sets

2 min working window, 2 min rest

75ft HSW

AMRAP Drag rope or heavy cable DU’s in remaining time

(scout rope – couldn’t find zeus rope at gym) – 70-53-72 – on the last set I think i did a really good job of as soon as i passed the 25ft mark, i came down and went right back up….never had the confidence to push that aggressively stay that close to the line and go right back up

+

3 sets, 

2 min working window, 2 min rest

3 rope climbs to 15ft

AMRAP row cals in remaining time

15-19-17 – today the ascent was much improved and even minimal discomfort in the elbow, i did a pretty good job of leveraging good position with the lean. But my descent is still shit.

+

Every 5 min x 4 sets

Bike erg 2k @ high aerobic effort

Forgot to mark times but was sub 4 each round…..aerobic effort was fine my legs were just done at this point and it was harder to manage that

5/28

tttTD

For time:

20 OHS @ 135lbs

15 squat snatch @ 175lbs

10 power clean and jerk @ 205lbs

5 squat cleans @ 255lbs

11:13 – the only part I struggled with really was the squat snatch. It was more of my shoulder discomfort and being able to get consistently get in a good position. Power clean and jerk fired up the elbows for the first 2 reps but then found a groove. The squat cleans were fun as it took about 1 minute to do the first 2 reps but the last 3 reps got those completed in about 35 seconds

+

EMOM x 20-25 (CF movement capture)

Min 1 – 14-17 wallballs

Min 2 – 12-15 toes to bar

Min 3 – 13-16 row cals

Min 4 – 12-15 kHSPU

Min 5 – rest, actively on bike

(start at lower end of rep range, add 1 rep/round for each movement)

25 minutes total minutes. Pushed the row and tried to stay in the 1500’s, and that made the hspu a little harder than probably normally would’ve

5/29 (in Knox, lower equipment)

TTT gait prep

+

Run 550m with weight vest, directly into

Run 550m unloaded

rest walk 4 min

Run 550m unloaded, directly into

Run 550m with weight vest

rest walk 4 min x 2

(4400m total for the day, assuming there is a place midway on your natural loop that you can dump the vest and continue on)

Running felt solid today. This was also a good experience for a few things, making sure weight vest is tight and secure that it doesn’t effect my running. It was also good practice to transition out of the vest to get into the unvested run. 

+

2 sets

15 sandbag ground over shoulder

100m swim across inlet

30 burpees on far side

100m swim back across inlet

rest to full recovery between. use this as sighting practice in open water, try to stay on a true course without spending extra time treading water and finding bearings. if this distance is too aggressive in this format, remove the extra 100m at the end, and do 3 sets of sandbag/swim/burpee, burpee/swim/sandbag, sandbag/swim/burpee.

The double 100m was too much in this format, a couple of things, not sure if just being in open water or the mixed format but i had a harder time kicking, and being out of breath struggled to keep the head down in the water to reduce drag. Also divinig into water took my goggles off the first time so that was a good thing to pay extra attention. Sandbag over shoulder in the first round but our poor little old wooden dock sounded like it wouldn’t be able to take another round of the sand bag slamming into it. So went bear hug squats and did 3 sets, changing order each set per your recco.

AM (Lifting)

Squat clean ladder for time

5 reps @ 205lbs

4 reps @ 225lbs

3 reps @ 245lbs

2 reps @ 265lbs

1 rep @ 285lbs

7:43 – did this in the garage at home so i was limited on plates and space. Would love to do this one with multiple barbells set up. Plate limitations, only have 3 pairs of 10’s so i had to start at 205, deload the 35’s and add 45’s so that took the bulk of the time, after that just adding the 10’s kept it a little crisper. Missed 285 on my first attempt, didn’t stay over the bar long enough and easily smoked it on the 2nd attempt. Don’t remember exact specifics, but roughly 20sec apart on the 3 reps @ 245, 30sec apart @ 265, i think i finished that barbell mid 5’s, first attempt @ 285 was @ 6:30ish

+

Push press – 4 sets of find a 4RM for the day, no more than 2 min rest between sets

210 – 205 was very sloppy and almost didn’t go for one more increase but cleaned it up a little 

+

Snatch grip deadlifts x 4-5, rest 2 min x 5 (straps ok, reset at floor no TNG)

255 – no straps as they were in the car in the shop so i stayed same across and hit for 5 reps.

PM (CF tester, odd-er objects)

For time:

21 kipping deficit HSPU @ 4in

90 Drag Rope DU’s (or heavier cable)

21 sandbag ground over shoulder @ 150lbs

6:57 – 4.5 in deficit on hspu, these actually felt really good today. I just wanted to go for it and see what happened. The bigger set made me want to rest longer than I needed, but was happy that I got 11 to start. Timing on the kip felt good. Didn’t try to press too early. Scout rope so I had a little advantage on DU, was still at home waiting on car to be fixed. Got 7 sandbag in first minute and slowed down after that. Biggest win was when I was 4 reps away I tried to push my pace unlike some times when I just try not to get too uncomfortable.

Dryland Prep

*set a 15min timer to get your body prepped and ready to swim

*I want you to get into a consistent routine since MOST CF events do not allow you in the water to warm-up prior to the event

*dryland follow-along: https://youtu.be/qiN2E7-zXuA

This was really good, and will be super valuable moving forward!

Water Prep

100 Swim @ easy

+

2 x 50 / 30sec rest @ smooth

+

4 x 25 / 15sec rest @ cruise

*goal here is to gradually progress your speed / intensity up so that you’re hitting the final 4 x 25’s at your 300 TT target pace / effort

Currently at this moment, i struggle to consistently shift gears of speeds. It will happen but consistency from one time to the next is not there yet

+

Baseline Testing

300y Time Trial baseline test

So i really should’ve converted the yards distance from meters before i started. But we have a long way to go here. But with this being a baseline test, there is only one way to go up becuase it can’t get much worse. It was in the 7:03 range i believe. I just don’t trust myself continuing with freestyle for more than 100m at a time, and not even really over 50m. I was semi comfortable with 50m freestyle than 50m back stroke, but my back stroke shoulder mobility is a struggle to get much out of my arms. The only positive from today is I did not have to resort to a doggie paddle. My biggest problem is staying in a freestyle stroke as soon as i get tired and struggle to breath and then i lose streamline position and feet and hips drop. We actually have a neighbor who is a collegiate triathlete and works at the pool so I’m going to see if i can recruit her to assist in teaching me and priotitizing the skills and drills to work on. I can see some things that i need to do, which is much different from  3-4 years ago. I want to get better at this so bad. I do see that swimming twice a week will be huge. 

+

Cool-down

10min “social kick” w/ board (social kick = casual, conversational pace)

I only have 45 minutes allowed in the pool so I only had time for a few minutes here.

AM

2 sets

Banded ankle dorsiflexion x 10/side

Banded ankle plantarflexion x 10/side

+

Dynamic Activation (10yds each):

Knee Hug March

Lunge to Lizard

Single Leg RDL w Toe Touch to Kick

Carioca (each side)

Side to Side Lunge

Ankle to Elbow

Butt Kicks

High Knees

Power Skip

+

Run 200m progressive intensity, rest walk 2 min x 2-3

+

600m @ 88%, rest 3 min

400m @ 91%, rest 2 min

200m @ 95%, rest 1 min

400m @ 92%, rest 2 min

600m @ 89%, rest 3 min

400m @ 91%, rest 2 min

200m @ 95%, rest 1 min

400m @ 92%, rest 2 min

600m @ 88%

(total 3800m)

Total working time including rest – 15:34 – this is based on watch, which i know in the past has a few metrics off, but at least it’s a number. Didn’t really get splits. And it was hard as shit to hit that 400 @ 92% coming off a 200 at 95%. Felt some mechanical breakdowns around 2200m-2400, i’m sure that is more the perceived effort, temperature on the track (which felt like against the wind and uphill both ways). None of the issues in the past with hamstring tendon or anything so happy about that 

+

5 sets of bent knee hollow hold 45 sec, rest 90-120 sec bt efforts, skinny band under tension under the small of back to ensure you stay hollow

done

+

Spend 5 minutes walking around barefoot on soft surface as possible

done

PM

E2MOM x 8 sets (4 of each)

Odd sets – 90 sec row @ 1300-1400 cal/hr

Even sets – 90 sec AMRAP of (3 ring MU + 6 OHS @ 115lbs)

Amrap – 2+3 – 2 – 2+1, 2 – going for the 3 muscle ups in the first set made that row a grind that i dipped in and out of the 1300/s, never went below 1276, and each time i dipped into the 1200’s i was back in the 1300’s the next stroke.the 3rd and 4th set were hard as shit to maintain that pace. 4th set knowing it was the last one was the only saving grace there.

+ (rest 4-5 min)

E2MOM x 8 sets (4 of each)

Odd sets – 90 sec bike @ 300-330 watts

Even sets – 90 sec AMRAP of (5 bar MU + 10 deadlifts @ 185lbs)

Bike – solid on all efforts – i think it was because i knew the fan from the bike would help cool me off. 1+7 – 1+ 5 – 1 +3 – 1 + 2 – by this point i was mentally done, and my hands were hurting and i was turning into a little bitch.

+ (rest 6-8 min)

3 rounds for time

20 GHD situps

20 alternating pistols

20 GHD hip extensions

20 HR pushups

11:16

It is that time of year already that I am going to have to keep some gatorade handy during a session, my energy felt so so in the pm, but it was as much my body temp that I felt hard to push through. I know I will adapt to the feeling that it got really hot all of the sudden, so i will have to keep fighting and pushing and forcing myself to get uncomfortable.

AM

tttTD (thruster/RMU)

There was some good and some bad today……i wanted to go earlier than normal. I do think there will be some value in hitting workouts at times of the day that i’m not used to. So hitting this early I had to get jazzed up a little earlier, eat lighter as i wasn’t going to sacrifice sleep just to get in earlier. Warm up was decent, was way too conservative on thruster. RMU was 5/3 first round – 4/4/4 on 2nd set, rested a bit too much here. 3rd set – i made a super fast transition to get the first 3 reps in, then another quick 3, but going for a 4th rep i did the good ol’ flying through the rings trick, no harm done other than a bit of a freak out, but had a short memory there. When i had 7 reps left my plan was do to 3, then 2 fast 2’s, it almost worked, as my first 2 i rushed it too quick and only got a single, but with that, i didn’t force it, dropped down and then went up fairly quickly. 15:17 was overall time, i could’ve definitely pushed the pace as muscle ups are feeling much better than i anticipated them feeling in that volume. Once again too conservative in thruster but was trying to go that route to keep the muscle ups clean and crisp. 

PM (lifting tech and pulling str)

A – Power snatch x 3 TNG + Hang Power Snatch x 3 TNG + OHS x 3 reps for speed – new complex every 3 min x 4 (build from last week) – 115

125-135-145×2 – speed was not as fast as i needed it to be at 145, hang felt much better than last week

B – Power clean x 3 TNG + Front squat x 3 for speed + Push press x 3 TNG at shoulders, new complex every 3 min x 4 (build from last week) – 155

165-175-185-195 – push press @ 195 was a grind but all others felt good

C – Hang squat snatch – 1 rep every 60 sec @ 155-165lbs x 6-8

165 x 6

D – BTN split jerk from rack – 1 rep every 60 sec @ 195-205 x 6-8

205 x 8

E – Clean grip floating RDL from 3-4 in riser x 4 reps, rest 2 min x 4 sets (straps ok)

235-255×3

F – GHD hip extensions – accumulate 75 for the day with a focus on hamstrings and butt squeeze at top

Did all the first half at home and then drove to the gym to hit this, did this in sets of 15