Elizabeth

"Elizabeth"
21-15-9
Squat cleans (135/95)
Ring dips

Results: 23:38 - 95#, band assist on dips

I really need to work on dips. Add that to the list of 20 other movements that I'm weak on. I started out with the floss, and made it to about 11, I think? Then I used two flosses together to finish out 21. Next round I started out with 1 floss, couldn't get any dips, set up 2 flosses together, did 3-4 dips, and then gave one band up to somebody who was actually moving through the WOD quickly. heh Finished up the set of 15 with the black band. Did all of 3 round with the black band.

I think while traveling I will carry my bands with me so I know what the heck I'm doing. Though really the problem was that I didn't realize I should be going in the first group. If I had I would've spent some time messing around with the bands ahead of time. Oh well!

Overall, I'm pleased with this WOD. But it makes me giggle to see that Aimee did it in 9:27. My next goal will be to do unassisted ring dips, or at least all dips with the floss. After that I hope I can go sub-20.

It's nice to add another girl to my sidebar. :)

It was also nice to get four WODs in at CF KoP. I'll miss seeing you guys until our next trip up north!

Windy run at Valley Forge

When I woke up and saw the sun shining, I immediately thought, "I need to run at Valley Forge Park".

Then I went outside with the dog, and realized it was freezing cold and windy as shit!

Too bad I already told my husband about my idea -- off to the park we went, bundled up in our cold weather gear; thank god we remembered to pack it for the trip.

As usual for wintertime running in Pennsylvania, it was miserable at the start, but once the sweating kicked in full force (after about 10 minutes) all was well. The wind kept things interesting -- the gusts were so strong it was even hard to go against them downhill. Forget about uphill -- we were crawling.

There's something about running outside, with the wind in your hair and the sunshine on your face, that makes everything feel right in the world.

Results (from Nike+): 5.08 miles in 50:25 -- 9:55 min/mile pace

Here's a map of the route we ran.

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Physically, I noticed two things about my body during this run.

One, it takes a lot to get me out of breath. I wasn't really gasping for air at any point during this run, not even on the first super-long hill heading up to the visitor's center. When I took a quick potty break around mile 4, it only took a few seconds for my breathing to completely return to normal.

Two, my legs were HURTING. Holy shit. Ow. I ran the 5 mile loop at the park many times during my 6 years living in the Philly suburbs, and this was by far the most painful attempt. I know it wasn't from going really fast -- a 10 min/mile pace is "nice and easy". I have a suspicion that it has a lot to do with living in the flat lands for the last year. All the walking and running that I've done has been on essentially flat terrain. Very boring and also not as good of a workout as hilly terrain. Maybe I can blame my crappy deadlift PR on that too? :-p

In any case, my legs were so brutalized that I had to walk up the second half of the super steep hill around the 3.5 mile mark, despite taking the shortcut through the grass. That was a first for me, I can usually run the whole route without stopping. I will conquer this route next time I'm back in PA visiting husband's family.

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Speaking of running, I'll be posting about runs a lot more in the next few weeks because we're signed up for the Critz Tybee Half Marathon. I'll be doing training runs in addition to my usual CrossFit workouts.

I love that we are the kind of couple who signs up for a race in the city where they got married as part of an anniversary trip. :)

Up early on Sunday

Despite staying up waaaaaaay too late last night (just some random insomnia, and working on fixing some stuff in the blog) I still managed to drag myself out of bed to go to the o900 WOD at CF KoP.

For time:
20 Swings, 20 Squats, 10 Pull-ups
18 Swings, 18 Squats, 9 Pull-ups
16 Swings, 16 Squats, 8 Pull-ups
14 Swings, 14 Squats, 7 Pull-ups
12 Swings, 12 Squats, 6 Pull-ups
10 Swings, 10 Squats, 5 Pull-ups
8 Swings, 8 Squats, 4 Pull-ups
6 Swings, 6 Squats, 3 Pull-ups
4 Swings, 4 Squats, 2 Pull-ups
2 Swings, 2 Squats, 1 Pull-up

Results: 23:35 -- 45# kb (which I guess is like 1.25 pood :)) and "floss" - that's the CFKoP name for the tiniest band; love it

There weren't quite enough kettlebells for everybody to get the weight they preferred, so I gave up my 35# bell to someone else and used a 45# bell. It didn't seem that it was the weight that made the swings more difficult -- the handle was just so damn fat, and hard to grip. Then again, it was probably hard to grip since it was 10 pounds heavier than I'm used to. :) I need to find myself some kettlebells with girly-sized handles...

Sometimes with my pullups, I just don't feel focused enough... I told the husband that it's like I just go all limp, like a wet noodle. But on some attempts, it's all there -- the tension builds up and explodes, and I pop myself up. I felt like I started out strong, got noodle-like, and then went back to cranking them out once the sets got shorter. I guess this is all just part of working on consistency...

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While I was showering up, I was thinking about the movements in this workout, and realized I could've titled this post the same as yesterday. Hip extension is a crucial part of kettlebell swings, squats and kipping pullups, as well as rowing and thrusters. Then I was thinking that hip extension plays into just about everything we do in CrossFit -- that's something I learned during my introductory classes with CrossFit Camden, and dredged back up out of some forgotten corner of my mind. I love that about CF -- just about every movement that we work on helps us to get better at all the other movements. So damn synergistic. :)

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The last two days after finishing the WODs I have been trying to discuss my thoughts on the way females are portrayed in pictures in the CrossFit community and also the way women who do CrossFit have written about the changes that CrossFit creates in their bodies... So far, I don't feel that I've succeeded in communicating my point of view -- there's still some nebulous main point that is eluding me. But I will keep trying to talk and write until I come up with something coherent. And constructive. I don't want to just send a bitchy post out into the blogosphere -- I want to make a point that is actionable, or at least a point that helps me work through my own feelings...

Hip extensions galore

Another great WOD at CrossFit KoP.

5 Rounds for time of:

• 500M Row
• Barbell Thrusters, 15 reps (95#/65#)

Results: 23:58 Rx

Had some great motivation from the coaches, and from Steph, whose blog I've been reading for a few months now. She's just as awesome in person as she sounds in her writing. :) Now that I've sent her the link to this blog, I hope that motivates me to write more about the emotional / mental side to CrossFit.

I'm still hitting my wall where I can't bring myself to do oly lifts while I'm extremely out of breath... KB swings, situps, running and some other simple movement I'm cool with just pushing pushing pushing, but with the more complex movements with the barbell I need a bunch of time to breath, prep, think, stall. This is crap, though, because how can I get my intensity up if I don't just push through it? Something to keep thinking about and working on...

One thing that I love about CFKoP is how people call you on standing over the bar -- which I do a lot. When they see you leaning over and just holding the bar, breathing heavy, they get in your face and tell you to grab that thing and MOVE IT. Steph did a "3-2-1-UP!" countdown, and I've had another coach there do that same thing. Definitely something to add to my coaching arsenal once I complete the Level I cert in March.

I'm pumped that Husbeetle got some coaching on his squats. He needed to go wider in his stance, and point his feet out more to get his hips and knees in line. He did the thrusters Rx'd with 95#, and only needed a few corrections. His time was 24:57, and he did a 10 thruster set on his first round. As usual, I'm super proud. :-D

Hoping to be back in KoP at 9am tomorrow. :)

Catch up post

Sat Dec 19 - Unscheduled rest day -- that's my new "PC" expression for taking a day off outside the "3 on, 1 off" prescription. :-p

Sun Dec 20 - Drove to sister's place, no workout.

Mon Dec 21 - Drove from sister's place to parents' place, no workout.

Tue Dec 22 - CF KoP @ home WOD for the freak December snowstorm.

For time:
50-40-30-20-10
Squats
Sit-ups
Push-ups
Lunges (50R/50L)

Holy cow, this workout was really hard on the ass. My butt was still hurting on Thursday -- and that is saying something, because it takes a lot to make my lower body sore. I am even more convinced now that I need to work more lunges into my warmups and WODs.

Due to some very poor diet choices, I was very close to puking during this WOD, even though it still took me about 35 minutes, so I wasn't doing it at super-high intensity. The lunges were making me want to cry by the time I was doing 30 each leg. Craziness. I liked it!

Wed Dec 23 - CF KoP "Annie"

Results: 23:53

This WOD was a freakin' grind fest, but the important part is that it was my first unscaled lady WOD! Woot! After doing DU's a few days ago, I decided I had to make myself do DU's when the WOD at CF KoP was Annie.

If I hadn't gotten so frustrated during the set of 30 DU's my finish time probably would've been a lot closer to 20 minutes. Just another point of evidence to use to convince myself to calm the F down while I'm working out.

After Annie, we did shoulder press for 5-5-5-5-5. My results: 3 @ 75.

Husbeetle came along, which I was super excited about. And he loved it, which led to even more excitement. It makes me happy when we can enjoy working out together. And it justifies my obsession with CF KoP, because he now shares my opinion that it's the most awesome gym ever. :)

Thur Dec 24 - 5K

We felt like running on Christmas Eve, especially since our legs were still sore from all the lunges on Tuesday and needed to be loosened up, so off we went despite the snow everywhere. I didn't have any slips at all, but my pace definitely suffered since I had to walk over lots of nasty spots, especially crossing streets. It was fun to run up and down hills! We don't get to do that at Camp Swampy.

Results: 3.25 miles in 32:53, according to my Nike+ sensor

Fri Dec 25 - Rest day. Merry Christmas! :)

Strange night

Tonight was one of those nights I just did the workout to complete it. It was a test of mental strength -- the finish time was just an afterthought.

Chipper:

• 1000m row
• 50 pull ups
• 25 kettle swings (24k/16)
• 25 double unders
• 20 kettle swings
• 20 double unders
• 15 kettle swings
• 15 double unders

Results: 27:15 -- 4 unassisted kipping pullups, rest on tiny band; 16kg kb; all DUs- WOOT!

My row was fantastic, just over 4 minutes. My brain intended to write down my finish time on the board, but what I wrote down was my last pace measurement? WTF? I have no idea. So I wrote "2:04" on the whiteboard. Wonder what the coach thought of that? hehe

I was very happy that I did all double unders. Those are one of my "I can't" movements, but I think I really did well with them tonight. I need to work on doing consecutive double unders now that I'm pretty good at doing them by ones.

Pullups were pretty great when I remind myself how far I've come. Yeah, they took me alot longer, but I am ::thisclose:: to doing them all unassisted. I can't wait for the day when I can do WODs with pullups Rx. That will make me so proud. And Fran Rx. That will blow my mind.

Blah to K2Es

That would knees to elbows.

They are my new nemesis. The thing that makes me cry. Lovely.

Finished today's workout in 18 minutes and change. Horrible. I was half-way there to full-out crying from the first set of K2E's til the end. I have just been overwhelmed by the crappy state of my life today, and it bled over into my workout. I hate when that happens...


3 rounds for time:

• 30 wall ball shots (20lbs/14)
• 30 sit ups
• 15 kettle swings (24k/16)
• 15 knees to elbows

Working on front squats

Strength

Front squat: 8-8-6-6-4-4

Results: 85-95-100-100-100-100

Metcon: 3 rounds for time.

• 15 box jumps (20'')
• 7 handstand push ups
• 5 burpees

Results: 6:29 (feet over barbell for HSPU)

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Considering how much crappy food I've eaten in the last 2-3 days, I'm not surprised I dumped 105 on my first set of 6, and then just stuck with 100 for the rest of the strength stuff. It just wasn't my day. I also forgot to take off my shoes, and my knee was feeling a little "tweaky" after the first 3 sets. Better once I went barefoot.

Metcon was meh. Was nice to do only 5 burpees, after that other brutal workout with back squats and burpees.

Did some frogstand/headstand work, and some kipping pullups after my GHD situps and stretching. Kips are coming along. When I'm not feeling that "middle of a WOD" intensity, that seems to be when I can't quite kip my chin all the way up to the bar. I ended up doing a few half-kip and half-deadhang, and some dead hangs with the white band.

Lift, pull, run

WOD:  3 rounds for time of:

• 15 deadlifts (225lbs/135)
• 15 weighted pull ups (40lbs/20)
• 400m run

Results:  29:48 -- 135 deadlifts, mixture of kip and band pullups

The approach for pullups was to attempt kipping pullups at the start of each round, do as many of those as possible, then switch to the tiniest band. Yeah, the one that literally looks like a rubber band. It seems like it wouldn't help when you look at it, but it totally does. Guess that means I'm "thisclose" to switching completely to kipping pullups.

Anyway, round 1 I did 1 pullup, round 2 I did 4, and round 3 I did 3, I think. Not to bad. :)

The slowness of my finish time was due to the deadlifts. Since I'm still in a learning phase with those, I'm not really gutting them out yet. I can't seem to dig deep and get one more, because I just end up rounding my back and that's just shit. So, slow and steady until my form is flawless, then I'll speed things up. 

Not sure how my runs were -- I need to run my own watch on those to keep a handle on whether or not I'm working up to my potential there.

Overall, good day.

Bad attitude at the base gym

Something about working out at the base gym just throws me off my game... I don't know what it is.

Today I was able to do most of my stuff away from mirrors, and we were the only 2 people in the weight room area for most of the time, so it was something other than mirrors and crowds tonight...

The lack of a simple free-standing pullup bar and a few boxes to step on is one big frustration. Having to jump up to grab the two-handle grip thingy on a cable-crossover machine/rack to do knees to elbows was very fucking annoying.

And as I was struggling to do them, after feeling like I was really getting better at them on Tuesday in Charlotte, I just felt like a failure. I was thinking to myself how much I still suck at some of the movements that I practice.

I had some tears of frustration welling up in my eyes.

I know by now that the first thing that brings on those tears is a bad fucking attitude. A "can't do" attitude. Hate talk directed at myself.

STOP.

Instead, be aggressive. Focus. Attack. CONQUER.

Overcome.

Remember why you do this.

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Courtesy of Crossfit Ballantyne.

WOD: For time. 2 rounds.

• 20 KB Swings (1.5/1)
• 20 Knees to Elbows
• 20 Wall Balls (20/14)
• 20 Box Jumps (24"/20")
• 50 Double Unders skipped these, forgot my rope at home, the ones at the gym suck
• 250m Row

Results:  who knows, I didn't end up timing myself

Wouldn't you know that the 1 other person in the gym working out, and not playing basketball, was on the 1 available rowing machine for 30 minutes, right while I was trying to do this WOD? Seriously, it was just a bad night like that. I did a 500m row at the end instead.

Cheered myself up when it was all over by doing an awesome frog stand to hand stand in the stretching area. Booyeah. I intend to impress my family with those once I get home for Christmas. :-p

Row, row, row

WOD: Row 5000m for time.

Results:  22:38

Hollah! I thought this was a great time for me, and I was very happy with it. It's something I think I can still improve upon, but it will be a process of slowing shaving off seconds over time. I really gave this one my all. I grunted on like 80% of the pulls! hehe Hope I didn't scare away the new girl who was doing her first workout after the 3 "intro" sessions.

And she smokes their asses!

I'm in a freaking awesome mood because I totally blew away all the times on the whiteboard at the gym tonight. And I think I really motivated the 3 other ladies in there, because they did awesome too.

Great night!

WOD:

7 rounds for time.

• 12 kettle swings (24k/16)
• 9 box jumps 24"
• 100m overhead waiters walk (45lb plate/25)

Results:  23 or 24 minutes-ish. Best time on the board prior was 27-28 range, with most in the mid-30's. Woot!

This WOD definitely played up to my strengths. I love box jumps (I have since I did plyometrics for high school track) and I love kettlebell swings. And my secret time-saving weapon on the waiters walk is to jog a little bit. It makes everybody else crazy when I do that, heh. :)

Ultimate CrossFit

Today I took my second CrossFit "field trip" with a drop-in visit to Ultimate CrossFit, located in Charlotte, NC.

The facility was awesome, tons of pullup stations, barbells and plates. And they had a mural of Kool-Aid Man busting through the wall holding a kettlebell overhead with one arm. Awesome!

All the CrossFitters in attendance were totally welcoming and friendly, as were the coaches. I love a gym with a good positive attitude. I was also digging the hip-hop vibe of the music. It was the first time I got to hear one of the songs on my own CrossFit playlist in the gym -- "Tambourine", Eve.

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Strength:

Back squat 3-3-1-1

85-95-115-135-145 (did 1 extra 1rep)

WOD:

AMRAP in 15 minutes:

• 10 box jumps (24/20)
• 10 DB walking lunges (35/25 db in each hand)
• 10 knees to elbows

Results: 5 rounds

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Is it OK that I am still squee-ing a little from getting compliments on my squats? I love hearing that I am a "strong squatter". :-p

That was  PR on back squats, again. I seem to PR each time I try them. I think it's just a matter of the fact that this is only the 4th time I've done back squats. Now that I see my potential, next time I'm supposed to go heavy I will really go for it. Kind wish I would've gone for 1 rep at my body weight (155), but it's all good. My legs were plenty tired after the metcon!

Ah, the metcon. As requested, I tried to do the "quicker" version of the box jump where you jump down rather than step down. And as I kind of expected, I got a bit uncoordinated in my quest for speed, and totally smashed my shin. Doh. Oh well, it isn't really that bad, and I think it made me look like a badass. heh

Annie on a Friday

Still staying off the shoulder -- Annie seemed like a good one for that. Did it at home in my living/dining room, and scared the crap out of my dog. :)

My single-unders were kinda sucking. Maybe the differing beats of my music I had playing was messing me up? Who knows.

Annie:

For time, 50-40-30-20-10 of:

• double unders
• situps

Result: 15:29 -- subbed x5 single-unders for double-unders (i.e. 250, 200, etc)

Running with balls

Yeah, the workout today looked as goofy as that title sounds.

WOD: For time.

3 rounds:

• 400m run with med ball (20/14lb)
• 20 overhead squats (95/65)

Results: 17:??

I substituted front squats for the OHS, and did 75# to try to make it "fair". I think the substitution was pretty good because I finished just 20 or 30 seconds faster than the two people who work out at 630, and that's typical.

The mood in the gym today was just very "eh". No one was encouraging anyone else, several people had iPods and headphones. And that just made me feel really grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I am in love with the community aspect of CrossFit, and crave that experience at our gym. It just isn't there on some days.

I worked on my frog stand and head stand after the workout. Then two people were doing hand stands and hand stand pushups after I cleared out from the mat. And that pissed me off because I'm not there with that skill yet. ARGHHHHHH!!! Yet another goal -- stop comparing yourself to others so much!

Working on deadlifts

Tonight at the gym the prescribed workout was press, push press and push jerk. Since I'd really like to get rid of this damn pain in my shoulder / back / rib, I opted to work on my deadlift instead.

Started at 95 and progressed up to 175. Started out with 5 reps, then moved down to 3. Got a PR by virtue of the fact that this is the first time I've ever worked on heavy deadlifts.

By the time I hit 175, my back was rounding, and I requested some assistance. After the coaches watched a lift, they determined I was set up too far back -- or, not far enough over the bar, if that's more clear. That was making it hard for me to engage my hamstrings.

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I definitely need to get more comfortable with this movement. I'm thinking about adding it to my long list of things I want to work on every day... frog stands, kipping pullups, overhead squats, double unders. I need to make a more structured plan of attack for my weaknesses...

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After two days of Celebrex, my shoulder is feeling much better. However, it seems to wear off overnight... so I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning...

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Based on today's workout, my projected CrossFit Total would be 355.