Jerry

Switching things up today, putting the WOD last. :)

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In all the craziness of going to the Mud Run, I didn't get to introduce you all to a new bloggy friend, Sweet Assassin.

At some point I found her blog, saw she was, a) female and b) doing CrossFit, and so I added her to the "Badass CrossFit Ladies" list in my side bar.

And then she found me, and found herself in that list! (emphasis mine)

For a second, I thought, "there's another sweet assassin?" I hit the link and it lead me right HERE. I was dumbfounded and touched. In my journey discovering my physical capabilities, meeting goals, taking big strides, seeing the changes in my body and how I approach everyday challenges, never ever have I thought myself a bad ass crossfit lady. This moniker I save for the other women that I cheer on in my box, that I marvel at in the Games, and those I meet in our growing community... but not little old me. So to see myself placed in the group by a BAD ASS CROSSFIT LADY is humbling and inspiring to keep progressing in my crossfit journey.

Crossfit keeps getting better and better.

Well, Sweet Assassin, now you know where I stand -- to me ALL my CrossFit ladies are BADASS CROSSFIT LADIES. No matter if they are scaled or Rx. No matter what opinion they have about their body, their abilities or their worthiness for that title. THEY ARE BADASS. And you absolutely are too. :)

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Even though I posted a bunch of stuff on Saturday, for some reason I forgot to talk about what I actually did on that day. Um, yeah, I am supah smart. heh

I got up early to run a 5k, while husband headed out on a half marathon.

Unfortunately I did not PR, even though I did try. Boooo! :( I would like to blame the extremely crowded start of the race, but really I just did not push myself hard enough. Fortunately for me, the race season picks up tremendously down here in the fall and winter, so there should be lots of opportunities for me to attempt to PR on the 5K distance in the near future.

Recap:

• Bridge Run 5K, February 2010 -- 27:10
• Freedom 5K, October 2010 -- 27:37

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And finally, today's WOD.

"Jerry"
1 mile run
2k row
1 mile run

Results: 27:17

Used my watch to time my first mile -- I'm happy to say it was 8:03. Yay 8 minute mile! :-D

2K row, however, was pitiful -- 9:21. Total sandbag -- I set in at a 2:20 pace and just stayed there the entire time.

Second mile was 9 minutes "ish". Had some watch issues, but no biggie, I was mostly interested in the time of my first mile anyway.

Overall my goal was to finish in less than 30 minutes, which I did. And the weird tight/cramp thing I was having in my lower right back/hip area is now alleviated, so I'm very glad I worked out today.

Due to that pain, I'm going to my first chiropractor appointment tomorrow. Hopefully it helps and doesn't hurt, like my massage I got in February that made my traps sore for a week. That sucked. Keep your fingers crossed. :)

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Time to shower and find some dinner. Nighty night. :)

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.

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! :)

Crappy 5k, Jackie

Well, Saturday we did our run, and I can't believe how much I sucked. I am so bummed, and kind of embarrassed, but I will post my results just so I can have the satisfaction of improving...

Chip time: 30:46

Gun time: 32:12

Pace: 10:22 min/mile

My Nike+ has been telling me that I'm running a nearly 9 min/mile pace, but apparently it has been lying to me. I didn't think calibration was really necessary, but now I'm seeing the error of my ways. I will hit the track on base today or tomorrow and run exactly a mile so I can get the calibration set and know exactly how slow I still am.

I just wasn't focusing during the race. My stride was short and I felt choppy. Blah. Husbeetle rocked it with an overall pace of 8:10, and he finished under 2 hours. He makes me proud. :)

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WOD was "Jackie".

For time.

• 1000m row
• 50 thrusters (45/25)
• 30 pullups

Results: 14:21 (blue band on pullups)

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Can I just say that I feel like I totally missed the boat on this workout?

The row went well, I did the first 250m pretty fast, and then settled in at about a 2:20 pace, which is normal for me.

Maybe I didn't row fast enough, because it wasn't my legs that were wobbly during the thrusters, it was my arms. I did 20-10-10-10. The last 10 were a bitch. I'm glad I chose to do 25 pounds, or I would've had to slow down a lot on those, and I was going for a fast, intense workout.

Pullups... I intended to use the white/beige band, but when I got up on the bar, I couldn't even get up for one pullup. I got down, rested, tried again, same result. So I had to waste the time of putting the blue band in place. I should've had it set up as a backup, lesson learned.

By the time I finished all my dicking around getting the pullups done, the intensity was totally gone.

I really thought I should've felt this one all over, but my legs still feel almost fresh. My arms are brutalized, though. My hand made it through OK, just a little ripping of the scabs from last week, I was really happy about that.

I'm looking forward to repeating this WOD in a month, and seeing improvement. I think if I can get my rowing down around 2:10 pace, that would rock. And of course longer sets of the thrusters, maybe two sets of 25 if I can gut it out. 10-5-5-5-5 on pullups would be awesome. We shall see.