Super fun!

It's bedtime already... but I really enjoyed the wod this morning, so I need to make sure I record it.

Here's what got me excited last night when I saw it:

Isn't that just awesome looking?

I thought so! Even though I have said many times before that I hate rowing. I do hate it, but if it's less than 2000 meters, then I feel like it's doable at a decent pace for me. My only gripe from this was that male and female Rx weight was 45lbs. I mean, come on guys... if I can have to get 45lbs up 50 times, you should do at least 65lbs! <end rant> I still love my fellow dudes anyways.

The row was a little weird for me today. The first 200m felt like nothing, but the last 300m of both 500m splits felt like it took FOREVER. I was able to keep about a 2:05/500m pace for the whole distance while keeping my stroke count around 24 s/m. I was happy with that, still the last girl off the rower though. Grr!! What else can I do? Any tips? Seriously! I'm like the world's worst rower!

Moving on, I had made the decision beforehand to split the 50 thrusters into sets of 10. That seemed doable. I had a tiny inkling in the beginning to just keep going and push it out. I'm glad I thought better than that. I would have died doing that. 45lbs isn't a lot of weight, but those last 10 reps felt like 100lbs!

By the time I got to the pullups, both my arms and legs felt like jello. And like I said a couple days ago, I'm not using bands for pull-ups anymore. With my arms already like jello, I really wish that I had a band. I had to really concentrate on my kipping form to keep the rhythm and get all the way over the bar each time. JLaw is like a hawk watching and she WILL no rep you if you don't get over. I broke those into sets of 5.

My goal before this was finishing in under 12 minutes. How'd I do?

11:40 Rx

Just squeaked it in there!

On a side note, a couple weeks ago I finally caved and got a pair of the Reebok OLY Lifters. Then this week they come out with the ones you can design yourself. I have the worst timing ever. Whatever, I like my charged green ones.

Oh man, Oh man

When I first started CF a few months back, I didn't think thrusters were that bad. I may have even enjoyed them. Now, I realize that is probably because I was doing them with very little weight and once you add on the weight, they are not so enjoyable.

On the other hand, I kind of enjoy box jumps now. Weird.

It wasn't really the time cap that got me (you had to do all the reps required within the minute), it was tiredness. I could clean the bar up fine and for all but the last round, I completed my reps within 35 seconds unbroken. Once I got through with 7 reps, I knew I was going to have problems. 

I was tired. 

I resolved to door the next round in sets of 4. That worked out but it took my almost the whole minute to get all the reps done. I knew I was done after that. By the time I could even pick the bar back up, the round was halfway over.

My score: 8 reps/min max @ 7:51

On a side note, a couple more shots from Murph.

Pre-Murph

Post-Murph

Where I live, you can surf 50ft from the shore.

Friday Fun (a little late)

Sorry for all the missed posts lately. It's been a crazy week around here. I didn't feel so well on Tuesday but was hoping that it was just allergies. After taking some zyrtec and realizing that didn't help at all and feeling pretty crappy later watching Totem, I resounded that I was indeed getting sick. Ugh, I hate being sick. I especially hate being sick while watching something as awesome as Cirque du Soleil. I stayed home sick on Wednesday and took Thursday off from CrossFit as well in order to kick this cold. Luckily, it worked and I was back at the box yesterday morning.

Here's what welcomed me back.

At the box, we just started something new, which I think is an awesome idea. In our Foundations classes, there are 3 WODs that we use at the end of each. Now, we've worked those WODs back into our programming and are using them as benchmarks. Sounds like a great idea to me. 

I decided to use this as training for when I eventually have to do Fran. After the warmups, I loaded up 65lb and got ready to start. 

For some reason, I always forget that thrusters are much harder than push press. It was doable, but I couldn't finish any of the sets unbroken. I had to go by fives in order to keep good form. The box jumps were actually my best part of this WOD. I had a good rhythm that I was able to keep up the whole time. The run portion was, well, a run. Like any other. Mostly I used it as an opportunity to catch my breath before getting back to thrusters. 

My time: 13:00 

That's actually 27 seconds slower than when I did this in Foundations, but considering that I did this in Foundations with just the 23lb bar... I'd say this is still an improvement. Looking forward to doing this again in the future and seeing how I fare.

On a side note, here's some shots from the week.

Push press on Tuesday.

The show was amazing! Can't wait to see another one.

This little pup keeps me pretty busy too. She likes getting into trouble. 

My Poor Knees

Most of the time when I run, my knees bother me. Today, I knew it was going to happen. Quite a bit of running and because I was tired, I did not have the best running form either... I was mostly trying to get the hell back in the door the quickest way possible. Needless to say, by the time lunch rolled around, just getting out of my desk chair sucked. Then I remembered that I hadn't taken my daily dose of fish oil yet.

A couple of swallows and two hours later... ahhhh. Much better.


Back to the real stuff, here's what started off my pain today.

Have I mentioned before that I hate running? I have and if you haven't been keeping up... I despise running. I have short legs, they don't go fast and they don't like when I try to get them to go faster.

Amazingly, since a couple months ago when I started all this, I can know keep up with the pack for the most part. Makes me feel a teeny bit better about myself. Yeah, I have self esteem issues.

Running aside, there were also those nasty 20 thrusters to deal with. In true form, once again I was over thinking.

"45# is too light, but 63# might be too heavy."

That's what was going through my head since I saw the board this morning. 45# seemed so light, but the reps did total out to 60, which is a lot. What do I do?

Set up the midget bar with 15s? Nope. I set up 63# and then brought over an empty 45# bar too, just in case.

That, in the end was what saved my butt. After running and trying to be somewhat quick about things, 63# was not gonna happen for all 20 reps each round. I knew it. 

Here's how it did turn out:

1st round: 63#x10; 45#x10

2nd round: 63#x5; 45#x15

3rd round: 63#x10; 45#x10

I don't know what happened during the second round. I think I tried to make up some time by dropping to the lower weight earlier. Not that it made a huge difference. By the time I got back from the last run, I'm pretty sure I just said fk it and did more of the heavy weight. 

This workout led me to one conclusion, when Fran eventually arrives (and she will someday), it's not going to be pretty. 

Total time: 20:20

On a side note... dinner tonight was some grilled deliciousness. Since the clouds decided to hold off on dumping the impending rain storm, I managed to squeeze this meal in before it gets nasty.

Meat!!! I think I'm in heaven.

And these tasty treats: grilled bacon jalapeño poppers.

Walking funny today... go figure

As yesterday progressed, I really started to feel those squats. I definitely felt them when I woke up this morning. And then guess what?

BAM! This showed up.



I knew my legs would not appreciate this WOD, basically one long (relatively) torture session of the same motion. Great.

Last week, I had a 2RM of 90# thrusters. So to do them in a metcon, I figured out 65% of that, which equals 58.5. Ok, sounds doable... so I grab a midget bar (23#) and throw a pair of 15# bumpers on. I wussed out and didn't add the last 5# to make it an even 58#. Thank god!

I got through the first 20 thrusters okay. They were hard, but I managed to pump out all 20 unbroken. I knew, though, that would not be happening in the next sets.

The wall balls were a different story. More along the lines of do some. Do some more. Do some more. Almost there. Finished.

Then back to thrusters. I was so tired at the end of the first round that I didn't even rack the bar. So now I had to clean it off the floor. Not horrible just... blah. I did the second and third round of these in sets of five.

And let me tell you... the last set of thrusters was HARD. For reals.

My time: 8:39

I was one of the last few people to finish. Which I think sucks, except for that I was one of the only girls to use any sort of weight that pushed my limits. I'm glad I did. It's helping me grow and realize that I am stronger than I think.

Needless to say, I am now walking funny because my quads, hamstrings, and hip flexors are all sore. Oh well, at least I can say that I did something today. I lifted heavy weights. How bout you?

Since CF and Paleo are pretty much taking over my life... I don't really post a lot on my personal blog. Eh. I like this one much better. I thought I would start sharing some photos of my day with whoever (if anyone) reads this thing.

*All pics are mine and usually taken with my phone using instagram... you can tell the ones that I take with my dslr, they're much nicer looking*


Today's lunch: sweet potato hash and chicken sausage from Costco.


Sausage cooking last night in some leftover bacon fat


Last night's dinner: seafood stew from Everyday Paleo. Mmm


Also with dinner, the recipe of the week from CFEV. Bacon wrapped, almond-stuffed dates.

Scared? Me?

Um... yeah, a little today actually.

This picture came to mind.

Here's today's WOD (sorry, I forgot to take a picture):

Thrusters 2-2-2-2-2
Go heavier each time with plenty of rest in between

I don't know what it is about thrusters that just makes me feel a little shaky. I get excited about every other lift, except really this one. I think it's because I have too much time at the top to think about what I'm doing and what is (in theory) supposed to happen.

Squat down. Press overhead.

Seems simple enough, right? Except that while I'm standing there at the top waiting to start the squat, I'm thinking all these things. "What if I get stuck at the bottom? What if I don't use my momentum to get the weight up? My wrists hurt, my shoulders ache." Ggggaaaahhhh!!!! I drive myself nuts sometimes. Eventually, I would get over my fear, take a deep breath and bust out a rep.

It wasn't always pretty. I meant to go until failure and with Laura coaching today, there wasn't another option. (She's always convinced that I can lift more, which is a good thing because usually she's right). My final two reps were at 90#. It went up once, but not the second time and I had to ditch the bar. After her encouragement, I took a rest and finally pushed that last rep out.

I'm not gonna lie, every time I walked up to the bar for another round, I was scared. My shoulders still ached from the push presses earlier this week and I had lashed myself pretty good practicing double unders during warmup. Seriously, I looked in the mirror afterwards and my behind is not pretty.

Ultimately though, I learned to not listen to the voice of fear. I didn't get to 95# like I wanted to, but that's ok. I'm impressed with what I got up. Maybe later this week, I'll try 95# again after my arms have had some rest.

Until then, I'll be washing my hair upside down until I can lift my arms over my head again.