Nicole

Early Monday morning I made my second attempt at this benchmark. First attempt was a little over a year ago.

"Nicole"

AMRAP in 20 minutes:
Run 400m
Max pullups

Score is total number of pullups.

Results: 40 pullups (6 runs, 10-7-5-7-5-6)

I was pretty focused on making my runs fast and efficient, but I think with the pullups I wasn't exactly exerting my most "max" effort. Husband and I got up early to fit a workout in, and had a full day afterwards -- finishing cleaning our apartment, move out inspection, pick up car trailer, drive to our new place about 6 hours away, and start unpacking. That made it kinda hard to pour all my energy into my workout, because I knew I would need lots of energy all day.

I am sad to say that today I feel like I got hit by a truck from the waist up. OMG. My abs are sore, my elbows have a bit of tendonitis going on and let's not even talk about my shoulders. It's so funny that no matter what else you do in your time off, when you stop doing CrossFit you get soooo sore from the most benign workouts!

Husband got 87 (7 runs), and his pullups were strict, no kipping. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. He is a freakin beast. Makes me so proud to be his wife. :)

Nancy rematch

Last July I did "Nancy" as prescribed for the first time, and finished it in 26:27.

Today I took 6 minutes off my time!

"Nancy"
5 rounds:
400m run
15 overhead squats (95/65)

Results: 20:32 Rx

I think I did really well with minimizing my transition time between the runs and OHS. I could still tighten it up a bit. I also tried to run fast, but could definitely improve there. But those two elements are still where I made the improvement from last year.

All sets of OHS were unbroken except round 4. I dropped the bar at the bottom of rep #10, dropped it again on my next attempted rep, took a few seconds, then snatched the bar and got the last 6 reps. I kept telling myself the weight was only 50% of my 1RM and I should be able to hold it up all day. Seemed to work to keep me from dropping the bar. :)

Can we switch "Fran" to OHS instead of thrusters? That would be much more fun. :)

100 back squats

Seriously, that was the first part of the WOD today.

WOD 1:
100 Back Squats @ 50% of 1RM
 - Take breaks as needed
 - Score is load and # of sets needed to complete 100 total squats

Results: 80#, 3 sets (50, 35, 15)

O. M. G. That set of 50 was horrific. Followed closely by the set of 35. But I really really really wanted to finish in 3 sets, so I pushed myself pretty hard.

My most recent back squat 1RM was 155 (which lines up with my 5x3 @ 140 recently). So while I "technically" used the right load, I think I could've gone heavier...

WOD 2:
Run 400m, then rest 2 minutes.
3 rounds.
Score is slowest 400.

Results:
1st: 1:45
2nd: 1:50
3rd: 1:43

Wow, was I really wobbly during the first run! I actually felt decent on the 2nd two runs, just had to push myself more on the breathing side of things, than the "my legs hurt" side of things. But that's pretty typical for me.

Good WOD to start the week. :)

Allie

Pulled this WOD from CrossFit Camden. It's a great test of stamina and endurance.

"Allie"
400m run
20 pullups
400m run
15 wall ball shots (14#)
400m run
10 burpees
400m run
5 tire flips

Results: 11:50-ish

Felt the lung burn, so I know I pushed myself -- that was my main goal.

My previous time for this was around 14 minutes, but I think the 400m run at C2 is a bit short.

Interesting chipper, lots of questions

I envisioned this WOD taking *forever*, but it really wasn't that bad. I could improve my time on this one, but I was pretty happy with the work I did.

WOD:
4 rope climbs
50 thrusters (45/25)
400m run
50 thrusters
1 mile run

Results: 22:39 Rx; time for 1 mile: 9:32

The 4 climbs went well! I used the "standard" rope around the leg technique to go up, and then experimented with different feet placements to come back down again.


Rope Climbs from c wiss on Vimeo.

For some explanation about the different stuff I was trying, check out this video on rope climbing tips from Beastskills.com.

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Our gym is talking about having another Paleo challenge... And I'm not sure how I feel about it. At the start of our last challenge I had been eating Paleo on my own for several months, had seen excellent results in losing fat and improving performance, and was super gung-ho about getting others on board.

Then the challenge started, and all hell broke loose. Some kind of latent adolescent rebellion kicked in, and suddenly didn't want to eat Paleo because now I "had to".

And honestly, my Paleo mojo has been majorly fucked up ever since. To the point where I'm reading "The Primal Blueprint" and eating a bowl of ice cream.

Recently I read a blog post -- Is Competition Always Good? -- that was good food for thought.

[O]verall, I think this kind of competition is counterproductive. I’m not saying “don’t run a 5K” or don’t challenge yourself in a way that feels right to you. I am saying that the challenge or competition mentality, when it comes to our bodies and our health, is probably more of a distraction than a help. I think it pushes us into a more narrow definition of what’s acceptable for ourselves.

I can't find the link, but I also read a blog post once about a woman who started a challenge, and had it derail her from a good routine because she wasn't able to be a perfect competitor. So, if I can summarize, she had a good thing going, hitting the gym regularly, doing her thing, good results. Then the gym started a challenge -- you know the drill, start with a benchmark WOD, 6 weeks, repeat benchmark WOD. She had this grandiose plan about how she would "pump up" her current routine so that she would blow her old time away at the end of the challenge. But the pressure to be a perfect competitor completely stalled her ability to even continue what she had been doing. She stopped going to the gym completely because she wasn't able to do it perfectly, as the perfect competitor.

Hope that made sense to you guys -- I'm bummed I can't remember what blog that story came from.

Today I read a post on PaleoChix, which is the first in a series of posts about members of CrossFit Scotsdale who have participated in a Paleo Challenge. This post had a very positive outcome for the athlete.

I'm left wondering if they'll include a story that turned out badly for the athlete, like what happened with me. Where a person that had made a relaxed and gradual switch to Paleo found themself derailed by the challenge, because it created pressure to adhere to a perfect standard.

Thoughts from you all? Have you done a Paleo challenge?  If you have, did you like or dislike it? Did it help or hurt your overall efforts?

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For 2 weeks earlier this month I had the opportunity to assist with teaching swimming lessons at our pool on base, since I had just completed (and thankfully passed!) my Red Cross Water Safety Instructor course.

And you know what? I'm pretty good at helping little kids learn how to swim. Except the making them submerge when they don't want to part, I am not good at that yet. But other stuff, I'm pretty good at.

It was so fun to see the students in the 2 classes I helped with progress! They worked so hard, and learned a ton, and never gave up, and had so much fun and were so excited.

And so now I'm seriously thinking about signing up for the CrossFit Kids certification, especially because one is being held in Atlanta soon, and that's actually within driving distance for me...

Some additional inspiration came from:
 - Melli: CrossFitting Kids
 - Raw CrossFit: Imagine if you CrossFit as a kid
 - Miss Jovina

Those of you who CrossFit and have kids -- let me know your thoughts on CF Kids. Are your children already too busy with other sports to participate? Or is it something they would enjoy making time for? Would you like your kids to have class at the same time as you? Or at a different time so you can watch them and maybe participate a little bit in their class?

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CrossFit Is A Gateway Drug

I think metabolic conditioning is our “bait” – it’s the bright shiny object we use to reel them in.

 Did CrossFit draw you in with the "great sweat" workouts, and then you found yourself becoming obsessed with barbell lifts or gymnastics? This was true for me, so I'm just curious if it was true for you guys too?

Allie

I'm supposed to be doing the dishes while husband mows, but you know I had to get on here and post my WOD first, right? :)

This morning we did "Allie" -- yep, named after one of my friends from the gym. She won the honor of creating a workout to torture us all after her slam-dunk victory on the Paleo challenge during April and March. My goal was to be my time from my first attempt on this WOD.

"Allie"
Run 400m
20 pullups
Run 400m
15 wall ball shots (20#)
Run 400m
10 burpees
Run 400m
5 tire flips

Results: 14:10 -- took 37 seconds off my old time, woot!

This WOD is deceiving -- it looks simple, just run a mile with some other stuff thrown in. But if you go all out, it really gasses you! Plus the humidity was horrible this morning, though thankfully there was cloud cover to keep the sun from totally scorching us on the runs.

Pullups were accomplished as follows: 5-5-5-4-1. My goal was sets of 5, but in hindsight, that isn't enough of a challenge for me. I regularly do sets of 5 deadhangs at the pool -- with kipping in play, I should be able to bust out more like 7 or 8 in a row. But then again, at least I didn't forget how to kip like I did on Wednesday's deadlift-pullup WOD. I'll be happy with 5's for today, and go for more next time. :)

Wall balls were to the 10' mark with the 14# ball. Forgot that Allie was using the 20# ball, and that I meant to use that one too. I think I'd be OK with throwing that to the 8' line. :)

OMG, runs must've been sooooooo slow. Like I've been saying for a bazillion years, I need to hit the track and do several 400m sprints to assess where I'm at. Did you guys know that in high school I ran a sub-6-minute mile, and a 400m in the 1:40s? I was fast as shit. Right now my weight is about 15 pounds heavier, mostly due to musculature I've built in my core, back, chest, shoulders and arms, so it's gonna be a lot harder to move my mass that fast. I'd like to bring my 400's down to the 2 minute mark. Should be doable -- my most recent timed mile was around 8:30.

OK, now I will go work on the kitchen. We have been ignoring it all week and it's a total disaster. I'm going to put on my fav NPR show ever, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and hopefully that will help pass the time. :)

Ooops, I did it again

Couldn't resist the Britney lyrics for a blog title, since yet again I have slacked on posting my WODs the day I do them. :-p

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Tuesday's WOD was honestly just sad. I thought my head was in the game starting out, but then my focus just kind of whithered away, and I ended up performing really poorly. Well, you win some, you lose some. At least I had two very fast people to chase on the runs, reminding me I really need to work on my SPEED.

In 7 min: Run 800m then AMRAP deadlifts (315lbs/205)
Rest 1 min.
In 4 min: Run 400m then AMRAP thrusters (45lbs/25)
Rest 1 min.
In 2 min: Run 150m then AMRAP toes to bar

Results: 18 deadlifts (@ 135#), 23 thrusters, 6 toes to bar

See? Sad.

Deadlifts I pushed it -- probably should've made it to 20, but I am a form nazi on those and take my time on getting set up. Thrusters I just went into la-la land. I came in from the 400m run, and just dicked around instead of jumping on the bar. Booo to that. That's just a symptom that my head is not in the game. For toes to bar, I only did 3 before coming off the bar. My grip is stronger than that, I need to do at least 5 (minimum) before coming off.

All in all, I came to the box, did some running, got a good sweat, and left determined to do better the next day.

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The best part of Tuesday is what happened after the WOD. One of our newer members, Kamie, said she'd like to try the Rx weight of 205 at least once, just to see if she could do it. So I was like, hell yes, let's do it!

There ended up being 4 of us who stuck around for about 20 minutes taking turns on the bar. We started at 155 and worked our way up from there. I was able to share some of my knowledge about deadlift form -- including my absolute favorite setup technique from Rippetoe. Helped Jess with her "shoot up butt", Kamie with pulling the bar along her shins, and Melissa with her form on return (I feel her pain on that one, I still struggle on my return).

In the end Kamie was able to pull 195, and after she did, she did an awesome happy dance and took a little victory lap around the box. She is my kind of chick, I love her energy. :-D

Typing up this story, it sounds so mundane. Four chicks in a gym just screwing around with deadlifts. But what made me so excited about it was that there were 4 of us bad ass CrossFit ladies hanging out, getting our strong on.

So many days I've seen the guys hang around to play with the barbells after the WOD. When the ladies stick around, they are usually chatting or maybe working on their kipping swing. Both of which are great -- I love days when people hang out to talk, and I love seeing everybody working towards getting their pullups.

Those 20 minutes yesterday morning were special because the universe was telling me, yes, you DO have a tribe here. Yes, there are other chicks who get excited about testing the limits of their strength and learning how to get even stronger. It's something I've experienced in other places, but it hadn't really happened here. I can't wait to see what happens next. :)

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This morning I dialed in my focus and pushed myself, so I was happy about that.

2 rounds:
Row 500m
21 burpees

Results:  9:20-ish

 My girl Melissa rolled in at just over 7 minutes, she freakin' rocks my socks!

My first row was 2:01, the second row was approaching 2:20 -- I was too gassed to even look at the final time, but my pace on the rower display was up in the 2:20's for more pulls than I was happy with.

The burpees were just S-L-O-W. Holy cow. I was crawling up and down for some of them. But I didn't take any extended breaks, just slowed down the pace here and there to quasi-rest, so I'm happy with my effort overall.

After class I got a few of the ladies (all chicks today, woot!) to try the single-band muscle up progression setup. It really helped them to be able to focus on the skill of the transition -- both up and down -- by eliminating some of the weight in the movement. Even using a band to assist, the muscle up is still a really challenging movement, especially in terms of learning to support yourself up on the rings, and keeping the rings close to the body. Good stuff! Next time we'll set up the squat rack progression and see how people like that.

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Time to get back to an attempt to be productive on my day off. I am super sleepy so I'm not sure how that's going to turn out. :)

Long-ass WOD

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1:
pull ups
push ups
sit ups
squats
400m run

Results: 50:38

Can you say "c wiss needs to work on her running"? :)

However, c wiss rocked her pullups in comparison to where they were at 2-3 months ago, so she was happy. :)

There were only a few instances where I was doing one at a time, I tried to string at least 2 together most of the time. And I think I got them unbroken starting from 4 or 5 and down to 1. Woot!

The rest of the movements were simple, didn't rest of break sets or anything. Just struggled through the pullups and runs.

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This WOD is modified from one called "Dyer", which includes burpees, but only prescribes a 200m run... That sounds a tiny bit easier, but I don't know. I would have to try it out to compare. :)

Nancy

Drafted this the day I did the WOD, just now publishing...

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I have been obsessed with overhead squats lately. So I'm not surprised that I woke up this morning with the idea of throwing down on "Nancy". I hit the gym early, before it got too hot (it was in the high 90's today), and also waaaaaaay before my husband was even thinking about getting out of bed. :)

This benchmark was on my goals list, so good on me for finally getting it checked off. :-D

"Nancy"
5 rounds for time
400m run
15 overhead squats (95/65)

Results: 26:28, Rx

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The thing that made this WOD so full of win was doing every set of OHS *unbroken*. Hell yes!

In hindsight, it took a minute or two of rest after each run to get my breath under control, but I admit that "feats of strength" impress me more than metcon performance (fast times). So I tend to do what I need to do to be super-strong -- which usually means I sacrifice the cardio aspect of WODs so I can do heavier loads. Yes, a bias of mine, but I just get so pumped up when I am lifting heavy shit off the ground and over my head. Forgive me for indulging a bit of work on my strengths. :-D

Also of note, I snatched the bar from the ground on each round. On round 5, I snatched the bar and immediately dropped it. Then snatched it again, and got the set of 15 unbroken.

Something I learned doing this WOD -- breathing in and out while performing OHS is an art form. It reminded me of learning to breath while doing pushups.

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I need to test 1RM on OHS -- with 15 reps at 65, I can probably beat my old 1RM at 85.

Three days at CF KoP

For some reason I've been lazy about posting my WODs this week. Time to catch up. :)

But first, shoutout to Donkey -- if you're reading, leave me a comment! Profanity welcomed! :-p

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Monday morning I drove to Philly (this week of my trip I'm staying with my in-laws) and hit up CF KoP for the 6:30 WOD. It was fun to be back and see lots of familiar faces. As a bonus Aimee was even teaching the 6:30 class -- I didn't get to see her over Christmas, as she was taking a well-deserved vacation.

We did 4 mini workouts, each 3 minutes long.

1. Wall ball - as many shots as possible above 10 foot line in 3 mins
2. Deadlift - as many reps as possible in 3 mins
3. Row - as many calories as possible in 3 mins
4. Atlas stone - as many ground to shoulder as possible in 3 mins

Results:

1. Wall ball - 32 @ 14#
2. Deadlift - 40 @ 95#
3. Row - 47 w/ regular damper (noticed some people were putting theirs on 10)
4. Atlas stones - 12 @ 60#

The Atlas stones were interesting to say the least! I have a little bruising on both collar bones, and some bad bruising on my right clavicle. Which made the front squats I did today challenging, but I'm still glad I got to try the stones. I have been intrigued by strongman stuff since they started playing "World's Strongest Man" competitions on ESPN.

Got some good feedback on row from Aimee -- only go back to 11 o'clock on the pull. I will give that a shot next time I'm rowing.

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Tuesday was a benchmark WOD, which made me nervous all day, but I was excited to WOD with Steph and Cindy.

"Nicole"
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
400m run
Max pullups

Score is total number of pullups.

Results: 36

If anyone heard a sound during my first round of pullups, that was the sound of me blowing my own mind. I did 6 freaking pullups in a row! Then squeezed out 2 more before I dropped off the bar. Holy hell!

Proof of two things. I perform better when I feel like I'm working out in a supportive environment. And I perform SO MUCH BETTER when I'm eating food that is good for me. I've been focusing on cutting out sugar and dairy for the past few days, and upping the protein, and I'm back to feeling normal, instead of feeling like shit. I love Paleo. Hoping to dial back into being grain free very soon, but I'm just taking baby steps back into it at the moment.

I wish I had written down the rounds, but I think they played out something like this: 8-7-7-6-5-3

After the amazing first round of pullups, I was sooooo wanting to get to 40, but it just didn't happen. I would've been 2 closer, but 2 of my attempts on round 6 didn't quite get chin over the bar. I'm just happy I gutted out 3 good ones that round.

PS - This is another Rx'd benchmark WOD to check off the list! Woot! :-D

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Tonight (Wednesday) was a strength day, which I was soooooooooo ready for. Haven't had a good strength day in what feels like forever.

Front squat: 3-3-3-3-3
Weighted ring dips: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Front squats were a bit challenging because of my aforementioned Atlas stone clavicle bruising. Owie! I got somebody's old tshirt out of the lost and found to pad my shoulder, and that really helped for my last three sets. Set #2 was almost a train wreck because I was so distracted by my shoulder hurting.

Results: 95-105-115-125-135

I am happy to report a new PR! My old 1RM was 125, and tonight I did 135 for 3. It was definitely a *struggle* on the way back up for each of the 3 reps, but I made it! What a great feeling! And it was cool to have a little cheering section right there with me, I felt a little bit like a CF rockstar. :-p

Next, it was on to dips. I just worked body weight dips since I can barely do a single body weight ring dip right now. First attempt I missed, then I got the next two. Then the ladies decided I needed to try a muscle up, which I totally wussed out on. My kip was just weak and I know I wasn't focused enough to do it. But I got some good feedback from Jason, and I have some things to practice.

Fourth attempt was a jumping muscle up, I went through transition by jumping and then pressed out of the bottom to do my dip. Fifth attempt was the end of another assisted muscle up, with my feet on a box in front of me. Got the sixth just on the rings, and failed on the seventh.

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All in all, fun times, and a great three days of CrossFit. Tomorrow might be a rest day -- my dog seems to have ripped off part of her dew claw, so I have to get her to the vet. Poor girl. On a happier note, SHOPPING! It's so nice to be near stores I like, even if it's only temporary. :-D

Trying to get back in the saddle

Ah, an unplanned hiatus... Those are never good.

I've gained back about 5-7 pounds, and based on pullups yesterday, I am back to sucking at those (i.e. lots of singles with 3/4 kip and 1/4 dead hang to finish).

Gah.

This past week was just about getting my ass into the gym; not about performance or skills or anything. Just showing up. Back to the basics, because I am struggling with my headspace right now.

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Saturday, April 24

Went out of town with husband last weekend, and we hit up a little WOD I wrote up in the hotel gym. They had a cable crossover machine with pullup "handles" attached and a tile removed from the ceiling for head clearance -- that was a nice surprise. After a week off, and two weeks of eating total crap, I felt pukey the entire time. But it was very good for me to get my body moving, I'm glad that my husband has such wonderful abilities to motivate me to want to exercise. :)

5 rounds for time:
5 pullups
10 squats
10 situps
10 pushups
10 lunges (each leg)
handstand hold (20 seconds)

Results: ~22 minutes

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Tuesday, April 27

In a word, horrible. I had a bad attitude, and I was sluggish and sucked at ring dips. I hate having to use the freaking band, even the tiny one. Gotta get these ring dips conquered so I can move the fuck on.

21-15-9 for time of:
DB thrusters (35lbs/25)
ring dips
double unders

Results: ~20 minutes

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Wednesday, April 28

I used two abmats for my handstand pushups. After the total debacle the day before, where I finished about 5-10 minutes after everyone else, I decided to scale the HSPU to 10ish per round during the first round. When I got to 11, I just kept failing attempts. So I freaking moved on, and got the freaking WOD done. Not my usual style, but this week was seriously ONLY about showing up and moving.

3 rounds for time of:
15 med ball cleans (20lbs/14)
15 handstand push ups
400m run

Results: ~20 minutes

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Thursday, April 29

I coached this one in the morning, and then came back to WOD with the group that night. I'm glad I did, because the press turned out better than I expected. Plus I shared a bar with 2 dudes, and went heavier than one of them -- it's the little things that make my inner feminist happy. :-D

Press
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
75-85-90-95-95m-85-75

My first 95 went up s-l-o-w-l-y and it was ugly, but I got that bitch locked the fuck out. Booyeah! PR by 10 pounds, hollah! My second attempt at 95 unfortunately did not go anywhere -- guess I only had one in me. But I'm happy because my old PR of 85, and also 90, both went up nicely, very solid. I am convinced doing unscaled pullups is what is making all the difference in my overhead strength. There's some kind of synergy there, where gains in each area helps move the other along.

Then it was metcon time.

Complete the following for time:
1000m row
40 kettlebell swings (24k/16)
25 pull ups
20 kettlebell swings
15 pull ups

Results: 19:45 total time; 4:14 row

That is a sad 1k row time, geesh. But oh well, at least I have a bench mark now -- I didn't have a 1k time written down anywhere.

My pullups in this WOD were so damn ugly, like I said at the beginning of this post. I tore the shit out of my hands with going on and off the bar so damn much doing singles. ARGH! I wanted to punch a hole in the wall I was so angry and frustrated. This was supposed to be a metcon, not some kind of grind-it-out-WOD. Good lord... I just have to keep telling myself that this is what happens when you eat shit, gain weight and take a week off and do nothing.

Not to mention that what I ate on Thursday before the WOD was ridiculous and totally uncalled for... But bad food choices are a topic for another post another day...

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Friday, April 30

Coached at 0630, then a fellow trainer who was hanging around offered for me to do the WOD at 0830 while he coached. No problemo, I needed a kick in the ass to get my workout in today.

5 rounds for time of:
7 front squats* (155lbs/95)
150m run
*wt will come from the ground

Results:  10:04

I could've done this one faster, but overall I was OK with how I did. Did all sets of squats unbroken, though I did take time to rest between the runs and squats to make sure I had enough juice to pump out all the sqauts.

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And that brings us to today, how nice. Time to go through and put a shit ton of labels on this post and publish it...

Partnering-up on Saturday morning

We did a little partner workout this morning, and it was just what I needed. My butt and hamstrings are seriously blasted from all those deadlifts and waiter walks on Thursday, plus scrubbing all the floors in my house on Friday. Husband's sister and her boyfriend arrived last night, so the rest of today will be a beach day - yay!

WOD:
One partner works at a time. Both run the 400 together.
200 air squats
80 push press (95/65)
400m run
100 box jumps (24/20)
50 burpees

Results: Allie and I finished in about 22 minutes

Didn't even do any pullups afterwards -- not even 1. LAME. I really need to get a solid goal list written, and a game plan for post-WOD skill work. TBD...

2-a-days

It wasn't my original intention to do two WODs today, but what the hell, I did anyway. :-D

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AM WOD
 
This morning I did a makeup of yesterday's WOD between coaching the 0630 and 0830 classes. My back was just so tight yesterday, I couldn't get myself to the box to get the WOD done.

WOD: 150 kettlebell swing (32k/24) Every time you drop the kb, run 150m.

Results: 23:59 (sets of: 20-20-14-16-20-15-15-15-15)

I have to admit this one intimidated me. I feel pretty confident with the 45#/20kg bell, but the 53#/24kg bell is just BIG. After the 3rd set of swings, when I only got 14, I wanted to just cry and give up. I'm proud of myself for finishing.

And I also must admit to resting a bit too much, and wearing gloves. I had wussy grip today, ew.

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PM WOD

This WOD was created by one of my best buds at our box, Allie. She is amazing and inspires me every day. She was the winner of our Paleo challenge, and in addition to some other not-so-great prizes, she got to make up her own WOD! I think she did a great job coming up with something challenging but fun. :)

"Allie"
For time:
400m run
20 pullups
400m run
15 wall balls (20/14)
400m run
10 burpees
400m run
5 tire flips

Results: 14:49

Um... in a word -- SLOW. I came out of the gate pretty fast, but my runs were just sucking by the 3rd and 4th 400's.

And can I just say the wussy hands factor came into play majorly in how long it took me to do my pullups. I was back down to sets of 2 and 3. BOOOOOOOOO. I know it was my 2nd WOD, but seriously! I need to be doing a minimum of 3 pullups every time I get on the bar.

Coming soon -- tire flips video. Our tire is only ~100#'s, so it's not that hard to flip, but it still *looks* badass. :-D

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With WODs covered, here are some links I've seen the last day or two. The first one I'd really like your comments on.

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Lisbeth yet again provides some very meaty food for thought, this time the subject is females scaling pushups, a topic that I have actually spent a lot of time thinking about and researching. This, to me, is a breath of fresh air. I have a hatred of knee-pushups.

Get Off Your Knees

"Do tire push-ups, bench push-ups, ring push-ups, wall push-ups. If you don’t have real honest-to-God, chest-to-deck push-ups, then do whatever you have to do in order to get the push-ups done. Tire, rings, wall. But NEVER knee push-ups. 

Seriously. Simply decide that you would rather eat glass than ever go to your knees again."

Post thoughts to comments. How did your own pushups progress? Do you think putting down your knees to scale, rather than changing the angle, hampered your progress to "the real deal"?

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Stop Being Content and Become Great

"No matter what happens in life or in your training, if you live outside your comfort zone then nothing can knock you off your game.  Sure things might knock you back a step or two, but you are the type of person in which problems and other negative things just bounce right off of because you are used to being outside your comfort level."

I really need to cultivate this type of thing in my life, because I definitely get too set in my ways, and too upset when things suddenly change.

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I haven't been gainfully employed in over 1 year now, and that still feels really... strange. Reading this article about what "work" really means was good for me. It's hard to uncouple your self-esteem from job performance and salary, and instead derive self-worth from things you accomplish on your own.

Some quotes:

"My definition of work now is that it’s an activity which is undertaken for a productive outcome."

"This turns work into something more like a state of mind than a set of particular activities."

"Work isn’t a place which I go to, or a certain portion of the day; it’s the meaningful stuff which I do, the contributions which I make in the world."

Saturday at the track

Friday was just a blah day, no WOD. Consider that my rest day after all the swimming stuff I've been doing.

Saturday our freaking cable was broken, so instead of watching awesome college basketball games (Go Butler!), we hit the track and gym on base for a workout.

Originally we were going to repeat Dyer, but decided to do a vacation WOD we originally did at my old house in Pennsylvania. 

"Hannah"
4 rounds for time:
400m run
20 burpees

Results:  15:23

My last 2 runs were getting slow, but I felt good because I hardly rested at all before or during burpees, and my lungs were burning.

After that we headed into the base gym and husband talked me into doing 10-9-8... of pullups and situps. So did that, but not for time.

Then he did some squats and pushups while I did about 2:30 total time in handstand hold. I need to keep kicking up against the wall every day now that I can do it, so I can get really comfortable. I did a negative handstand pushup at the end of each 30-45 second hold. I spotted husband on doing some HSPUs after that, he's gonna start working on them as well.

Helen

Well, I can check this one off my 1Q10 goal list now.

Today we tackled Helen, and I beat her down! Beat my old PR by over 3 minutes!

"Helen"

3 rounds for time:
400m run
21 kettlebell swings (24kg/16kg)
12 pullups

Results:  13:09

Runs were decent - it helped that I was at the back of the pack chasing a bunch of really fast people. Made me feel like I was going slow and couldn't slack off.

Swings were excellent -- all unbroken. Only thing I could change here would be to rest less, grab the bell and start swinging faster after completing the run.

Pullups were great. Even though I only got one set of 5, I was still putting at least 2 or 3 together, and only did a couple singles. Today I also instituted a new practice of mounting the bar by jumping from the ground. I feel like I use climbing up on the box as a way to waste time. Since I'm definitely tall enough to jump up to the bar, that is how I'll be getting up there from now on. I also think it helps my grip to grab with both hands at once, instead of one hand at a time like I do when I use the box.

Overall I'm really happy with this WOD!

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One other note about goals -- I can check off the "1 unassisted ring dip" as well! After coaching the 0830 class, I was just messing around on the rings and did an unassisted dip! Hollah!

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Also, tonight I wore my new shoes. Nike Lunar Trainers.

I got these as a shoe to wear when I run long distances, and as a transition shoe between the super-stabilizing shoes I wore previously, and my super-low-support shoes I have been wearing in the last few weeks.

To illustrate:

Nike Air Structure Triax

Equivalent of my New Balance shoes:

Enough talk about shoes -- time for a shower and a dinner date with my husband! :)

25's Chipper

WOD:

Complete the following for time:

25 GHD hip extentions
400m run
25 double unders
25 suitcase deadlift left (40lb/25 dumbbell)
150m run
25 suitcase deadlift right (40lb/25 dumbbell)
25 knees to elbows
25 ring dips
25 ball slams 
25 kettle bell sumo deadlift high pull (24k/16)
25 ab mat sit ups

Results:  19:59 -- skinny band for ring dips

I can't say I really put "all out" effort into this one... Honestly, chipper-style WODs with a gazillion exercises kind of annoy me, I would rather focus on 2 or 3 movements.

K2Es weren't that bad -- but I allowed myself to use some momentum to get started so I could get my legs the whole way up. My sumo deadlift highpulls with the KB felt odd -- like I just wasn't doing it right? Had fun with knocking out my double unders nice and quick. :-D

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Words of wisdom from Lisbeth Darsh of CF Waterton: Listening Ears. Something I am working on, and need to do better with.

Press & metcon, redemption, Be More

We did strength + metcon today. And MaryAnn from the pool / Rec Center came, which is awesome. She is my first recruit to the box! I'll be working with her on my lifeguard training prep class as well as the "real" class. I might also do Water Safety Instructor with her, just to round it all out. Gotta work on finally learning the butterfly for that, though. Anway, back to CrossFit!

strength
press
5-4-3-2-1-1

Results: 65-70-75-80-85-90m


I'm not surprised that I missed on 90, and I'm very happy that I matched my current PR of 85. If we had some 1 or 2 pound weights to add, I'd like to try to find a middle spot between 85 and 90...

metcon
2 rounds for time of:
400m run
30 sit ups
30 push ups

Results:  10:48

Um, yeah... I was happy with my runs, OK with my situps, and freaking annoyed with my pushups. To get them *good*, they are S-L-O-W. Bummer. I was ahead of everyone after the 2nd run, and then got beat by a good 2 minutes. With knee pushups I would've smoked everybody, but that's not going to help me in the long run. I just get tired of having such slow times sometimes... On a day like Monday where we did rope climbs and stuff, it doesn't bother me. But for the simple stuff, like pushups and pullups and ring dips, I just get angry that I'm not stronger and faster...

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I was talking to my friend and her husband about CrossFit this weekend, and said that women tend to lack confidence when they start CrossFit because they've spent their lives viewing their body as an adversary, and not as a tool that they can use for their benefit. I really liked that idea as soon as I'd said it. It sums up how we hate our bodies despite all the things they make possible for us -- it is just so wrong, on every level...

Then today I read a post by Cindy where she's talking about redemtion, and I loved this paragraph:

I look at CrossFit as a redemptive act as I am slowly undoing all the years of fear, poor habits and self-loathing every time I complete a WOD.

Fear, poor habits and self-loathing. That just completely sums up my body image experience in my life so far... When I think of my 16-year-old self doing 2.5 hours of track practice every day after school, barely eating 500-600 calories for breakfast and lunch, and willing my body to get smaller, smaller, smaller when it was already absolutely tiny at 130 pounds...

Wow. I am so grateful that I've come so far, and have learned so much. I hope as part of my redemption that I can get involved with teenage girls who are in a similar situation, and teach them about nutrition, about athletic bodies, about disordered eating and how to recognize it in yourself and fix it. Think about the kind of athletic success I could've had with some nutritional counseling and someone to talk me through my horrible ideas about how I should fuel my body and how I viewed my body...

I will continue to redeem myself so that maybe I will have the ability to help others in the future.

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I had to throw in a link to this post/article, though it is awesome enough to merit its own post.

We do not do enough to honor ourselves

We bend over backwards for approval and pats on the head from our bosses, spouses, siblings, parents, coaches, friends, and teachers. We strive with hideous effort to say “look at me look at me! I’m here! I exist and that’s a good thing!”

Often, we have no sense of identity beyond what we are worth to another person. That is not the mindset of a confident, healthy  individual. That is the mindset of a weaker person expecting to be dominated by another. Perhaps even thinking that that is what they deserve.

Chilly Tuesday morning, fitness education update

I was feeling stiff and sore when I woke up, but husband is off work early this afternoon, so I needed to get a WOD in for my 3rd day. Did this WOD at the 0830 with two of my fav CF peeps -- Allie and Paul, so that made it better. :)

WOD:
3 rounds for time:
400m run
20 power snatch (70/50)
15 ring dips

Results:  22:?? -- can't remember my exact time

Didn't have as much intensity today as I did yesterday -- I think I used it all up on Fran. :) However, I do think my runs were decent. I still need to hit up the track for some legit 400m sprints. Note to self -- go on a day it's not super-windy and 30 degrees. :)

Rings dips were frustrating... I couldn't even do 5 in-a-row to start like I usually can... But my shoulder is a bit tweaked from the 10 minutes of HSPU the other day, so that might be affecting me. On Sunday I tried to do tabata pushups after my tabata squats, and just collapsed after 2 rounds. Seems like it's a tiny bit of tendonitis. Time to go heavy on the ibuprofen, and lay off the shoulder exercises for the rest of the week. Thrusters and pulups last night didn't feel bad, but they probably didn't help...

Snatches felt solid. I'd like to try some heavy snatches and snatch balances soon -- I haven't ever done those, so I'd just like to get a feel for them.

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Blogger totally lost my update I just typed up... Argh! Here's a quicker and shorter version.

Since I'm already helping to coach at CF Camden, and I'm scheduled to get my CF Level I Trainer certification in March (1 month to go, woot!), I decided that I need to get moving fully in the direction of learning to be the best trainer that I can.

As of yesterday, I am officially enrolled in 3 certification classes through ISSA (International Sports Sciences Association).

1. Personal Trainer Certification
2. Fitness / Exercise Therapist Certification
3. Senior Fitness Certification

I'm really, really lucky because as a military spouse I have access to a tuition reimbursement program for training in portable career fields, which includes fitness careers. That's what is making it possible for me to take these classes, and I am so grateful that I have the time to devote to completing them right now. 

In addition to taking those courses, I'm also signed up for a Lifeguard Training course at our local rec center. That will include training in first aid, CPR and AED. I think it will just help me be a more well-rounded coach, and also give me confidence that I can deal with any health/safety issues that might arise. I'd also like to look into teaching a water aerobics course on base, since that is something they don't have right now. And hopefully I can make some money lifeguarding if I can't find any paying gigs for training. :)

The next year is looking super-bright, I'm so excited to be learning and trying so many new things. :)

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Great "what is CrossFit" summary to give your friends and family, from CrossFit Coastal, whose box I would love to visit someday, so I can meet TStorm, a fellow badass military spouse. :-D

Thursday with Allie

I coached the 0830 class this morning, but it was just my friend Allie and I, so we did the WOD together. Very nice surprise for a day when I was having a hard time getting motivated. :)

We did two shorter WODs today.

#1 -- 5 rounds for time of:
5 deadlifts (275lbs/165)
10 burpees

rest ~4 min...

#2 -- 2 rounds for time of:
400m run
40 kb swings (24k/16)

#1 -- 12:13, with 145

Deadlifts are probably my weakest lift at the moment, and 165 is only 20 off of my 1RM, so I decided to scale down and try to work on form and get more comfortable with the movement. I only had one attempt where I really started to roll my back, and I immediately dropped the bar when I felt it -- I had barely reached my knee. Burpees I did a lot slower than I am capable of, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the pushups felt. That used to be the part of the burpee that would kill me. Now it's my legs (quads) that get fatigued and slow me down. It's nice to feel like I'm improving. On the pushups I really focused on chest-to-ground to make sure I wasn't sagging like I did Tuesday.

#2 -- 10:18 Rx

First 400m -- the watch said 2:11 when I came in. I really need to hit the track and time some 400's to see how slow I really am... This was my first running WOD with my flat shoes, and I felt pretty good. I wear them all the time now to get my feet used to them -- now I just need to find a POSE coach.

I rested waaaay too much in this WOD. First set of swings was 30+10. Second set was 20+10+10. My arms got super tired for some reason. As usual I just freaking hate how the handle feels -- my pinkies don't fit, and then I don't know what the hell to do with them.

Running in circles

Since I missed the Mud Run training at the box yesterday due to my makeup WOD taking an hour (OMG!), today husband and I did our own version of the "Dyer" WOD that Joe put everybody through. It's supposed to be a team WOD, but we just did it individually. We also had to skip the pullups because there isn't a pullup bar near the track. Boooooo for Navy bases. A Marine base would've had a dozen.

"Dyer"

For time:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
pushups
situps
squats
400m run to finish each round

Result:  28:12

I think I was running kinda slow. Yikes.

But I found it easy to get all of my pushups in a row, and on my toes with good range of motion -- woot! Just a little work on pushups goes a long way.

That convinces me to get pushups into all of my warmups when I'm coaching WODs. I read in a CF Journal article (need to find the exact source) that body weight / gymnastics exercises are tolerated at much higher reps than weightlifting exercises. And it's also true that the more you do them, the better you get at them.

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On the way home from the gym I was talking to husband about how strong I am getting. It wasn't that long ago that I was frustrated going to the base gym because I didn't have my own bands, and couldn't do pullups there. This time I found a great spot to do my pullups -- on a squat rack, just had to remove the bar. And I got up there and kipped -- and muscled up the last couple inches -- 30 pullups to finish out my workout.

It made me feel really proud to be in there doing pullups -- you don't often see women able to do them. Many guys in there use the Gravitron.

During our conversation, husband made a good point -- it makes sense that I'm progressing so rapidly, when you consider that 2 1/2 months ago, I was basically wearing a 20lb weight vest.

As of today, I've lost 18.6 pounds since I started doing weigh-ins in August, which coincided with me re-starting at CF Camden. About 1 month into being back to CrossFit I started eating Paleo. I credit Paleo and 3-on-1-off WODs with how quickly I've been able to take weight off -- I even lost 4 pounds over the Christmas holidays when I wasn't even at home.

I'm no longer focused on weight loss, since I fit back into my clothes again, but it seems to still be coming off. I'm interested to see where I end up. I'm also curious if my PR's in some of the Olympic lifts will suffer if my weight drops -- from things I've read, a higher bodyweight seems to help translate into heavier lifts for things like deadlifts and squats. We shall see!

It's just a really nice feeling to look back and see how far I've come in just a short time. And in another 2 months I'll officially be CrossFit Level I certified! Hollah! :-D