Swimmy

I coached 0830 class this morning, then had to run off to the pool to help teach lessons at 1000, so no WOD for me. Since it's a gazillion degrees (heat index over 100) here in the Georgia swamp, I decided to do a workout entirely in the pool. Plus I needed to practice my strokes.

2 rounds:

• 100yd front crawl
• 100yd breaststroke
• 100yd back crawl
• 100yd sidestroke
• 100yd elementary backstroke

I rested as little as possible between strokes, and not at all within each 100.

To finish up I did 50 flutter kick, 50 breaststroke kick, 50 dolphin kick and 50 butterfly. My 'fly wasn't too bad today! I need to practice it more often.

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Question for you guys. If you're doing a workout with multiple runs of the same distance, do you care at all what your times on each run are?

I coached a very "grinder" WOD today, and instead of just standing there making inane comments while people were trying to grind out their burpees, I timed their 400m runs. I missed a couple people heading out and coming in, but got a lot of times for them to see.

Personally, I love any and all metrics, and would've appreciated this. Just curious what you all think -- a worthwhile endeavor, or just something that was distracting me from providing coaching to my athletes?


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10 ways to be a better CrossFitter -- Lisbeth Darsh

I recommit to practicing #3 approximately once a day, or more.

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Pistols -- Beastskills

Don't we all want to be better at these (or learn to do them, in my case) after watching the CrossFit Games?

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Via my friend Stephanie Vincent:

This explains the “factual reasons” I choose not to eat grains: Whole grains, Wholesome Goodness?

This explains the "emotional reasons" why: Radical Hate Loss via Paleo

Steph is also a Bas Ass Bitch. :)

Why can I not be just satisfied with doing CrossFit 3 times week- scaling everything forever? I could still have fun. I would still maintain health. I could resign myself to the idea that my body was neglected for way to long to be able to improve much more than it has. I’m healthy, I am strong….isn’t that good enough?

Sometimes I wish it could be that way. I see other people happy that
way, but I am a different animal. I am passionate, intense and courageous. Sure new experiences and lofty goals rise fear inside me, but I find I am the kind of person that is willing to stare fear right in the face, grounded in its polar opposite...LOVE.

Clap, my ass!

Today's WOD involved the following.

4 rounds for time:
25 lunge steps
15 clapping push ups
150m run

Results: 15:01

Other times were more in the 11-13 minute range, so I wasn't that far off. But still significant enough for my 0830 ladies to comment on it. I think my time was affected by me doing the WOD alone between coaching the 0630 and 0830 classes. But it was mostly affected by how annoying I found the clapping pushups.

I put an "Rx" by my name on the board, but I'm not so sure I fully deserved it... My claps were more like "fling your hands towards each other and if they touch at all, it counts". There was definitely a lack of actual sound being produced by round 4.

This was my first attempt at clapping pushups, and I'm not sure I'll be too motivated to try them again anytime soon. Just very annoying. Reminded me of my days at CrossFit Philly doing pledge pushups and being super-annoyed by them. :)

We did some plank holds after class, which I enjoyed. I'd like to do those more. Some of the athletes aren't quite getting the GHD situp technique, so I'm hesitant to have them do that after class too often, but everybody (me included) always needs core work. Tomorrow I might hit them with handstand holds and wall sits, depending on what the WOD ends up being -- I'm coaching, but I still have to wait for the owner to post it later tonight.

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My friend Sara recently began training a fellow military wife just with the equipment she had available, and now Jenn has gone out and joined a local affiliate and is loving it! I had to share her latest "progress" post with you all, because I love her reflections on how CrossFit has had a positive impact on her day-to-day life.

That's one of the cornerstones of CrossFit that I think tends to be overlooked -- it's a general physical preparedness program that gets you ready for the known and unknowable challenges that life throws at you. It's not just firefighters carrying people out of burning buildings -- it's also yard work, putting a suitcase into an overhead bin, squatting to get laundry out of the dryer or carrying that huge sack of dog food on your shoulder.

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As promised a few days ago, in honor of kelsalynn signing up to attend a CF Level I cert, here's a collection of links about Level I cert experiences.

• CrossFit Journal: Level 1 Cert Experience
• kd
• Erin
• Sara
• Cindy

Also, I'll throw in a link to the Level I Training Guide, which is basically a bad-ass compendium of the best CF Journal articles on the basics of CrossFit. Love it. 

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When kd went to her cert, I finally took out my notes and wrote down my "I wish I knew this ahead of time" thoughts from my cert. No, I still haven't written down an account of my whole weekend, I'm sad to say. I think at this point it's been so long ago that I wouldn't have much insight, other than the following:

• Brainstorm questions and write them down ahead of time; it's hard to think of them on the fly during the Q&A sessions. When you're reading the material, write questions on a separate page that you can reference during the Q&A sessions. On the drive home after my cert I remembered I wanted to ask about the importance of shoe choice. (All the Level 2 trainers wore "regular" athletic shoes, btw)
• There is a short break after each of the small group sessions where you learn/practice the 9 foundational movements. Use that time to take notes on how your Level II instructor worked with your group, what cues they used, their progressions, and whatever struck you as awesome/helpful/whatever. I especially wished I had done this after doing the press series -- strict press, push press, push jerk. Chuck Carswell did an awesome job teaching the push jerk, and by the next day I couldn't remember the specifics. Same thing with Justin Berg teaching snatch.
• Saturday PM or Sunday AM re-read your notes from the prior day to see if you have any questions for the wrap-up Q&A session on Sunday. When I re-read my notes on Monday I found some questions, but that wasn't as helpful as it would have been to find them before the cert ended. 

My final piece of advice is to practice your tabata squats prior to attending, just so you're legs are ready for the break out sessions. Even though I was CrossFitting 5-6 times a week leading up to my cert, I was still really sore after day 1's practice sessions, and even more so after day 2. I believe working on my tabatas helped me to be sore, but not immobilized. :)

Keeping up the momentum

Wouldn't you know that as soon as I get determined to start posting WODs again, I get sick and am unable to WOD?

The virus from hell has got me people. And I say "hell" because I talk a lot, and I have lost the use of my voice for the past 2 days.

However, in an interesting development, I think that's what motivated me to blog my entire WOD backlog yesterday -- if I can't talk out loud, then I can at least "talk" here. :)

All this aside, I do have some links and information I've been saving to share. So I'm going to do that instead of WOD post to try to keep my blogging momentum going. :)

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First, a shout out to Albany CrossFit! I have been subscribed to their WOD blog for a few months now, so of course when they asked for comments from readers I chimed in to say "THANK YOU!". Cause I love their multi-level scaling options -- it's really a great hands-on example of how WODs should be scaled, both up and down, and they are awesome for sharing their knowledge with the Internets.

And guess what they did? They linked to my blog! Too fun! Thanks again guys (and gals) of ACF -- I will most definitely be dropping in for a WOD next time I'm up north visiting my friend at Cornell. :)

For those who don't live near a CF box, or want to try to start CrossFitting at home, I would definitely recommend the ACF WODs over the main site WODs. Yes, there's the BrandX scaling for main site, but when I was a CF newbie looking at the BrandX boards they succeeded more at making me feel intimidated, rather than convincing me that CF was something I was capable of doing by way of scaling.

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Next, I've added a few links to my "Blogs" list in the sidebar, and also updated the title to: "Bad Ass CrossFit Ladies". Much more appropriate. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not subscribed to all of those blogs; I keep my feed reader to a minimum of "must reads" otherwise I spend 3 hours a day over there. Anyway, back to my point. Anytime I come across a woman blogging about doing CrossFit, I always add her to my list. As my friend Andrea pointed out in a comment yesterday, there aren't a whole lot of women posting results to the main site, and it can be hard to find women who are at your level to compare yourself to. So if you're looking for CrossFit ladies who blog, check out the list!

If you feel like the WOD results that I post are at the "level" that you're looking to read about, definitely check out Angie's blog. With her dedication the last few months, she is blowing me away in the areas of gymnastics and strength. Way to go girl, you are one of my role models. :-D

And if you need inspiration to keep doing CF even without a box nearby, go visit Erin or KD -- they both manage while living overseas, so no more excuses. :)

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During my little hiatus, I had some interesting interactions with my father in regards to my training.

First, he was flat-out disturbed that I wanted to purchase a 45# kettlebell. This conversation happened on the phone -- he saw some kb's for sale at a local store, and was calling to tell me the price.

Dad: I picked up that one you said you wanted. And it was heavy.
Me: It's fine Dad, I use a 35# one all the time.
Dad: It just seemed really heavy. [dramatic pause]
Me: Yes I know, it's fine.
Dad: OK, well I just don't want you to hurt yourself...

*sigh*

The more disturbing conversation happened a couple days later.

Dad: You don't want to get too muscular, because when you stop exercising the muscle will turn into fat.*
Me: Dad, hold on, muscle doesn't turn into fat. As you lose muscle mass, your metabolism decreases and your store more of the calories you eat as fat.
Dad: Well, you just don't want to get too muscular, that's all, it doesn't look right.
Me: Do you think I am at that point?
Dad: Maybe getting close to it.
Me: Well, I don't care what you think about my appearance, I'm happy with it and my husband is happy with it and his opinion is the only one I care about.
Sis: [[quickly breaks in with small talk to diffuse the situation]]

*WTF? "When you stop exercising" -- as if it's a phase? Way to make negative predictions about the end of my healthy habits dad!



I'll admit that I kind of pushed this one along, by asking that loaded question "am I close", but I just couldn't stop myself. I wanted to know if he really felt the way I thought he did. And he does.

So yeah, great conversation, huh? I can't believe this is the same man who attended nearly every soccer game I played in during high school, and made a trip to DC to watch me run the Marine Corps Marathon 10K twice. Where in his brain is this CrossFit thing different? And as for commenting on my body composition, it would've been more appropriate for him to express concern about the 20# of fat I put on last summer, than to be critical of lean muscle mass that I've gained! Argh!

I probably wouldn't have blogged about this (I did tweet it right after it happened) if I hadn't read this article from Gubernatrix this morning: Femininity and Muscle.

You know how sometimes you have this great idea bouncing around in your head, but you just feel like you can't quite get it out, and then someone wiser than you says exactly what you wanted to say? That's how I feel about Gubernatrix and Lisbeth Darsh. I think they are secretly related.

Anyway, that article is awesome. And so is this companion piece, The toning problem.

I have another post in my drafts also on this subject that I might post while I'm still out sick from WODs. We shall see.

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For now I must eat lunch and get back to studying. I've got the last sessions of my Red Cross Water Safety Instructor this weekend. I'm learning to teach swimming lessons and water safety. :)

WOD-ing with ThomASS

I'm visiting one of my best friends right now, in the town where we both did our undergrad degrees. He's graduating with his PhD this weekend, and I am so damn proud of him. :)

He did a quick vacation WOD with me yesterday.

10 rounds:
10 pushups
10 situps
10 squats

We didn't time ourselves, but we were sweaty and breathing hard, and he said he's feeling it in his arms a bit today. I definitely convinced him that simple workouts done for time can be pretty effective. :)

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Today I finally dragged myself off the couch around 7 (we had some drinks last night, so it was a *very* lazy day) and did a ramped-down version of this killer WOD.

5 rounds:
10 dumbbell hang squat cleans
10 dumbbell push presses
10 dumbbell front squats
10 man makers

Results: ~27 minutes

I used my 12# dumbbells, which was a lot easier than the 20 pounders I used last time I attempted the full version of this one. But still a good workout. Those man makers are a freaking arm-killer!

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Erin is certified! And I really need to finish the write-up of my cert...

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Why Can't You?


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And in a similar vein -- But what CAN I do?


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This is a great explanation of why I need to get started with a new list of goals. And a plan to achieve them...


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Top 10 intermediate mistakes

#10. Taking yourself too seriously. I get it, this Crossfit stuff is awesome and fun. However, in the end it is about working out. You aren’t good enough to get mad. Maintain some perspective on the whole thing. Your family, your religion, your country… these are things to take seriously.

If you don’t enjoy the journey, you’re in it for the wrong reasons.

Bonus: #11. Newsflash: You probably aren’t going to make it to Aromas. Neither am I. Here is the weird part- it doesn’t really matter. Honestly, it is a little anti-climactic. You have to love  training and working hard for its own sake, not for the sake of some competition you probably aren’t going to make.

I added the italics. Lately CrossFit hasn't been fun for me. And reading this reminded me that it should be. And if it's not, something needs to change. I'm working on it.

Cindy and Diane

I meant to blog yesterday, but just didn't get around to it.

On Thursday we did Cindy.

"Cindy"
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Results: 7 rounds + 5 pullups

I think I did one set of 2 pullups. The rest were singles. And despite my practice session on Tuesday where I kipped over the bar, probably only 20% of the pullups I did for Cindy were "one pull". The rest were those really slow, tortured, double-pull trainwrecks.

Back in early March I did a partner version of Cindy, and did 5 or 6 rounds where I did all 5 pullups in a row. Depressing.

Though I guess I should remind myself that I had to first progress in order to regress... And maybe I'm learning something that will help me coach others through this kind of thing...

If anyone puts 7 rounds up on our PR board, I'm going to erase it. It's fucking embarrassing...

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Today's WOD was Diane.

"Diane"
21-15-9
Deadlift (225/145)
Handstand pushups

Results: 20:22





Did HSPU with 2 AbMats. That feels a little shallow, even though I go to failure so quickly. It will be time to drop down to 1 mat soon.

I am really proud of how far I've come with handstands. I can kick up into one with no problem now, and it definitely used to be a skill where I was a total disaster. I'd like to learn how to kip, because I think I would need that in order to get my head to the ground, or to do them on plates or paralettes like in competition.

I considered doing 155 deadlifts, but could barely do 145, so I left it alone. My back tightened up a tiny bit on these -- my form wasn't as good as it could have been. And my deadlift return is still a total trainwreck. At least the setup seems to be solid now, and the pull.

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Video from CrossFit Portland. I feel like I've put this one in a post before, but it's all good, cause it's worth watching again.


A tribute to women of CrossFit Portland from CrossFit Portland on Vimeo.

Oly lift combo

Considering my love of the Olympic lifts, this morning's WOD should've been something I banged through quickly and with enthusiasm.

Instead, it was like freaking pulling teeth.

My intuition is that I ate crap and did 2 WODs yesterday, and that did not do me any favors. Barely any protein, so my recovery was probably sucky. And I didn't sleep well, despite being tired, and that is always a bad sign.

WOD:
Using the same barbell for all movements - 95#/65#
5 rounds for time:
3 power snatch
7 OHS
3 squat clean
7 push press

Results: 11:39

This should've been more in the range of 10 minutes, which is right around where Mandy finished it Rx. No other females did this Rx -- the OHS are the limiting factor.

There was so much resting and pacing and bullshit in my performance of this WOD. If I want to see results, I need to bring more INTENSITY and focus to my WODs. Yes, it's good that I got out there and participated, but to see improvements I need to put the effort in. And improvements are what keeps me motivated to stay on this CF journey.

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Remember Kallista Pappas? I know I definitely remember watching her video from the 30 100# C&J for time event at the 2008 games. Just happened to come across her again in my web travels, and wanted to share. Definitely a badass CrossFit chick. Also, she is a blogger.

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This Rx Skills Checklist is kinda neat. Some of them I know I could definitely do, the heavy lifts, but the body weight stuff I am still lacking. Sadly, I can't currently do 25 chest-to-deck pushups in a row. I am thinking my next set of goals I write down will be body weight focused...

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This post is awesome and epic -- Things I Hate About CrossFit, Part Deux

I am most in agreement about how ridiculous it is when CrossFit HQ de-affiliates / fires people like Robb Wolf and Melissa Urban/Whole 9. So much for inclusiveness!

WOD at Ultimate

On my way home from visiting my sister, I joined in on a noon WOD at Ultimate CrossFit. It was good to be back! Especially since I got to catch up with Mie on her new endeavors in Oly lifting.

Deadlift 3-3-3

145 - 175 x2 - 170

My low back is aching, so I'm thinking I didn't do so well on form... Seems like if I go a week without doing longer sets of deads, I go back to being really really shaky on form. Yikes. Time to incorporate into a weekly post WOD cool down...

Metcon
21-15-9
Sumo Deadlift High Pull (95/65)
Box Jump (24/20)
Kettlebell Swings (1.5/1)

Results: 8:13

Not too bad, considering the crap I've been putting into my mouth. Yikes.

Coaching tomorrow and Friday, we'll see what I get in for WODs. I'm thinking I should get back in the pool tomorrow or Friday, so I don't lose the conditioning that I built up over my 3 weeks of swim and lifeguarding classes.

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I've been reading Katie's blog for a while, and you should all head over to her place and read this post.

And for the first time in my life, I am SURE that I am made of pretty tough stuff and I already KNOW that my team is. For the girl who two years ago was overweight and couldn't do a pull-up or a push-up to get 18th place in the DC/WVA/VA sectionals shows just how powerful CrossFit (and this community) is... and to that I can really only say one thing.... Hooah!

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War on fat needs to be turned into a war on carbohydrates. Let's see what the 2010 nutrition guidelines do to help our country get healthier -- if anything...

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Are you giving it your all?

Includes this classic Glassman quote: "Optimizing fitness is a product of regular workouts whose intensity is only briefly sustainable."

I'm wondering if a statement like this is too harsh to throw up on our box's whiteboard: "If you are not progressing at a fairly substantial clip month over month, it’s most likely the intensity that you are bringing day after day that is to blame.  Up the intensity and the results will come."

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HSPU tips -- I'll definitely be implementing several things from this article.

Rest day hodge-podge

Cool article about women in CrossFit, and how they can become more competitive. Some of the statements made about women are a bit stereotypical, but I think they're still valid for enough women that it's not over the top.

I love this enough that I want to put the main points here:

• Embrace your competitive nature
• Challenge your definition of beauty
• Nourish your body
• Track your progress
• Train with the guys

That site is great, but the URL makes it hard to share links with lots of people, since it's so offensive... Dayum.

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A few thoughts on eating Paleo that I like. Here are two slightly edited quotes:

"Eating without regards to hunger, satiety and fullness, eating just because you can without regard to a block prescription, is a recipe for disaster."

"What is working for me may not work for everyone, which is why I love the expression Your Mileage May Vary.  It is so wonderfully vague!  What that means is that Paleo has no rules.  Paleo is indeed very freeing.  It forces introspection, experimentation and adaptation. Goals factor into what constitutes YOUR perfect Paleo."

 Working hard to find MY perfect Paleo. It has been a challenge so far, but I know it will make a huge difference in the rest of my life once I figure it out.

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Train the mind as well as the body, and make winning a habit. Zach Even-Esh posts cool stuff. Which I now find cause I'm doing Twitter.

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I am dying to sign up for a CrossFit Endurance certification, and I just saw an announcement about one in my local area... Now to talk to husband about spending yet more $$$ on my CrossFit stuff...

This new urge probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm thinking about signing up for an Olympic distance triathlon sometime this summer or fall. Olympic (or intermediate) is the next step up from sprint distance -- 1.5 km (~1 mi) swim, 40 km (~25 mi) bike, 10 km (~6 mi) run. Instead of spending money on a cert, I probably should spend it on a bike with a frame that actually fits me.

My biggest reason for trying the next "level" is that I want to swim longer. My 2005 sprint tri I swam for 13:47, and in 2007 I swam for 18:43. I need more time in the water, cause that's where I kick ass. :-D

PS - I did the Philly Women's Triathlon (sprint distance) twice. It rocked. Hence I'm leaning towards the fall tri because it's a women-only event.

PS2 -  Why Swimming is Different from CF Journal. I'm so excited to be getting back into swimming. Can't wait to see how my upper-body strength gains will translate in the pool.

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Did some searching and found a bit of information about the accreditation process that is underway for CrossFit certifications. The biggest impact it has on the community is the introduction of a 50 question test as part of Level I. There's a study guide linked from the FilFest page, which I have read -- it is an awesome compilation of some of the best CF Journal articles.

• CrossFit message board thread discussing test
• FilFest test registration FAQ

Resting on Thursday

Today is a rest day, and I really need it! Starting yesterday I was having some wicked delayed-onset muscle soreness in my shoulders -- assuming that was from going up and down the rope on Monday.

Today won't be a complete day off, though -- I'm on the hook to clean the house up for a visit from husband's mom this weekend. We're excited, it's her first time visiting since we moved down here a year ago.

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Great quote today from CrossFit KoP:

"Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it." - Goethe

Reminded me of another quote that I absolutely love:

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action." - Frank Tibolt

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Yesterday I attempted to roast a spaghetti squash, and even cooked up a big pot of sauce in anticipation of some spaghetti-like goodness.

The spaghetti squash came out on top this time -- even after an hour roasting in the oven, the squash strands ("noodles") were still kinda crunchy. Not exactly what I had in mind, since I am a big fan of overcooked noodles. I'm not really sure if I did it correctly, and I just don't like it, or if I did it incorrectly and that's why it was horrible?

I will be trying the spaghetti squash experiment again, irregardless, because I think for me finding "substitute" foods will go a loooooong way in helping me stay on track and avoid dosing myself with gluten.

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Yesterday was also completely gluten-free, but I was still sick this morning... I think I'll need to go another few days without gluten before I see healing in my gut.

I'm anxious to return to the world of healthy BM's, because once I do, I'm going to start taking some supplements.

After listening to the first 6 episodes of the Paleolithic Solution Podcast, put out by Robb Wolf and Andy Deas, I've really become convinced that I need to add their 3 recommended supplements:

• fish oil (7250mg / day)
• vitamin D
• magnesium

I've procured some sources for the above, but I don't want to waste my money by taking them while my gut is still irritated, and my body won't be able to absorb them. So, we wait...

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Some recent online purchases:

• GymBoss Timer -- one for me, and one for my sis
• Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Rippetoe and Kilgore
• Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe and Kilgore

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I have been described as inspiring! Thanks Melli! That is so damn cool! Between this linky love, and my new peep at the gym (Melissa) saying she wants to be like me after rope climb day, I am feeling the freaking love. :-D

And this is an awesome quote about finally mastering the kipping pullup -- "A whole new world of Crossfitting feels like it has opened up to me. It feels like freedom." I know exactly how you feel Catherine!

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.

Bridge Run, rest day and rope climbs

It has been a busy weekend and Monday!

Saturday I was up bright and early to run across a big-ass bridge, and it was really fun! The weather finally did what it's supposed to at this southern latitude, and we had a really beautiful, sunny and warm morning. Unfortunately I was dressed for the weather we've been getting for the last 2 months, so I was way too hot. Oh well. I still had a *great* race.

Little known fact about me -- I love running up hill. Don't know why, but I do. Probably because I'm really good at it. Or because I'm from Pennsylvania, and hills are how we roll. But either way, this run was made for me. The part I didn't like? The downhill. Just put tons of stress on my ankles -- I have no idea how to POSE downhill. Time for some additional studying. Oh yeah, and I wore my flat shoes for the first time on a long run. :)

Official chip time:  27:10, which is a pace of 8:46, and placed me 8th out of 25 in my age group

Woot!


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Sunday was a much-needed rest day. Oddly my legs had been sore all week, but on Sunday they felt awesome. Maybe they were just really anxious for the race. :-p

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This morning's WOD made me very nervous when I read it last night... Which means you know it's gonna be a battle in the gym...

WOD
5 rounds for time:
9 hang squat cleans (155/95)
3 ascents, legless rope climb

Results:  41:10; 85# cleans, standard rope climbs

A leg-less ascent of the rope might be in my future, but it is not in the realm of possibility right now. While I may have the physical strength necessary, I'm too damn scared to even try it! Climbing the rope with hands and feet together literally makes my heart race. And it's not just from the exertion -- it's like this anxious fear thing and I get all shaky.

The great outcome of doing this WOD is that with each climb, that fear response lessened. After a climb in round 3 or 4 or 5, I would feel my heart beating fast, but it was from the exertion. I wasn't so afraid that I was completely jacked up. I guess the easiest explanation is that I overcame fear by doing the thing that I feared. How freaking powerful is that experience? For me, hugely powerful.

I allowed myself a lot of mental prep time and rest time in this WOD because of fear of falling off the rope - hence the 40 minute finish. But now I know for sure what I'm physically capable of, so I will push myself harder next time to just jump on there and GO, no stopping to think and prep.

I'm glad I downgraded the hang squat cleans because I barely had enough grip left in my forearms to do 85#, I'm not sure how 95# would've panned out. And also, heavy hang cleans wasn't where I was focused today. It was all about climbing the rope.

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I found Leah VanHoose's "Why I CrossFit" through a random link on Twitter posted by crossfitnews, and then saw that she's a finalist for Survivor. If she makes it on the show, I might watch it for the first time! Ah, the power of the CrossFit community. :)

Here's here video. To vote for her, go here.

Crossfit Apex

I was reading through some articles on the CrossFit Games, and then meandered over to the home gym of the 1st place female competitor, Crossfit Apex. What I love about this site is that they post a picture of their whiteboard at the end of the day, so you can see the different loads and times of their athletes. Love it! Much easier to digest then reading through the comment on the main site.

The only downside is that their main web page has that damn FeedJit widget. That thing still pisses me off...