Spectacular fails

Warm-up:
dynamic stretching

5-5-5-5-3-2-2-2-1 low-bar back squat (2x45, 95, 135, 185, 225, 245, 265, 275[f] )

5x5 power clean (95, 2x115, 2x135)
5x5 heaving snatch balance (45, 2x55, 2x65)

"Death by 10 meters"
Crossfit Centurion WOD 092409
With a continuously running clock, sprint ten meters the first minute, 20 meters (down and back) the second, thirty the third, and so on and so forth until you are unable to complete the number of 10 meter down and back efforts required for the round.
subbed 1/2 length of basketball court (47 ft ~ 14m)
8 rounds

Just getting back to the gym after a whirlwind couple of weeks, including a boomerang trip to the West coast for essentially a one day stay. I'm planning to shift from a Starting Strength program to more of a crossfit strength bias-type program, integrating lifting with more regular metcon work - my aerobic capacity has really been suffering. Went for low reps today to see where my squat strength is. Felt great, actually, until the very last single. Should have gotten it up, espcially since the 2x265 went up smoothly, but the bar started drifting backwards as I lowered. Amazing how quickly a system can transition from in control to being totally lost - pretty spectacular dump, actually...

Drilled a bit of the oly lifts just to get back into rhythm. Power cleans felt really good, though I did manage to clock myself on the chin with the 115# bar - that's going to leave a scar, I'm sure. A bit woozy after that one, felt a bit like this guy. Don't know if it's a mental hurdle putting on the big plates, but I was more apprehensive about 135# than I should have been - went up well, can move up next time. Worked the snatch balance for the first time, and it's like a revelation. Suddenly I can feel the active, downward pulling into the bottom of the snatch. Great exercise.

Finished it off with some sprinting. Should have gone to 9 or 10 rounds, but I was totally gassed. Meh.

Travel note:

If you're ever in LA, I recommend stopping by Wurstkuche in downtown. It's off of little Tokyo in a formerly industrial neighborhood that's starting to bloom with galleries and the other trappings of gentrification. The place, situated in a renovated loft-like warehouse space, really serves only three things: sausage, fries, and beer. But man, those are some good sausages - I went with an item from their "exotic" list: rattlesnake and rabbit with jalepeno (!) but don't think I could have chosen poorly, given the options. Thanks to Eugene and LoLo for dragging me out of Pasadena for the late night snacking, as well as for advice re: climbing around LA (apparently the answer is, emphatically, Bishop).