Friday Fun and Cravings!!!

For the third (count it THIRD) time this week I woke up to see overhead squats. I guess someone knows how much we all dread these and yet how badly we need to work on them.

Here's what we had:

Shoulder killer.

Like yesterday, I decided to do this wod at 65lbs. Even though most of the guys were using 75lbs. Can't get stronger if you don't push yourself right? I figure if I could do Fran at 65lbs, then I should be able to do this. My goal was 15 minutes.

I didn't expect do finish any of the sets unbroken. I didn't. The most OHS I did unbroken were 10. After that it was all mostly by 5 and 6. A couple times I didn't make the lift and had to ditch. Once a got a rhythm going I could usually get to at least 5. Hint... OHS is much easier if you go down all the way. Don't short change yourself and just go part way, you're not benefitting from the lift and it will be harder.

After holding that bar up for all those reps, HSPU were not the easiest. I can usually do about 10 at a time. Ha! Today, I was averaging 5 and even that was tough. 

Unfortunately, I didn't make my goal of 15 minutes... sad face.

My time: 16:23

Oh well. Good effort.

In a Whole30 update, I am having the worst cravings today!! Every time that I pass some fast food joint, kitchen, farmers market I get a whiff of all the smells and it's driving me nuts!! Nothing specific, but just everything smells good all over the place. It's going to be a long rest of the month. 

Anyways, here's some of my food for the day.

Post-wod fuel of chicken and butternut squash.

Breakfast was a mexican quiche that I cooked last night.

Lunch from Urban Chicken. Free range roasted chicken with organic grilled veggies and salad.

Dinner was chicken stir fry that I made up off the top of my head. Tasty!

p.s. I got my bushwoman brows taken care of today by Brenda of Browtastik. If anyone is the SD area needs a recommendation let me know. She is awesome!!

Friday Fun!

Got up early to wod this morning with the 6 am crew (and I didn't even have to go to work today!). What can I say? I love those guys!

Although, I did cringe a little when I saw this:

That's a lot of running and rowing... even for two people. 

The game plan that Oscar and I made up was to start with the running. That's our weakest element, then the pull-ups to rest our legs a bit before the row. We would do the sit-ups and goblet squats last. The run we would do relay style in single lap (one lap around the block is 300m) increments. The pull-ups in sets of 5, rowing in 500m splits, sit-ups in sets of 25 and goblet squats in sets of 10. 

Naturally, that's not how it really worked out, but I think what we did ended up suiting us better. 

The run we did as planned, which went really well because you were rested after each lap and could go all out every time. Because I started the running, while I waited for Oscar to finish his last lap, I got set up for the pull-ups. When he finished, I was able to immediately start and knocked out 15, then Oscar picked it up and did what he could. I ended up doing more but I'm stronger at them then he is so it worked out. While I finished the pull-ups, he got ready for the rowing. Since he's stronger at that he pulled more of the weight for rowing. Sad face, but I'm just not a great rower. I felt kinda bad. Oh well. While he finished that, I moved over to the sit-ups and got ready, so that while Oscar was resting from the rowing, I just busted out the as many sit-ups as I could then we switched. It worked the same way for the goblet squats too.

Our end result: 36:04

We were even the first to finish! And we're not the fast people by any means. I was extremely proud of our performance. And it shows how far we both have come since starting Crossfit. It was awesome.

On a side note, check out some of the awesome surf in IB from yesterday.

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.

Mini-WOD Monday (and Friday)

Ah!!! With all the excitement happening Friday (I got promoted!! Wooo!) I forgot to post the workout. And man it was a good one.

Did your heart just sink? Did you stomach turn to knots? Did an audible "ugh" just escape your lips? 

No? Huh... well you're sadistic then. All those things happened to me and everyone else who showed up Friday morning. I thought back to the Open and 12.1. I squeaked out 86 burpees in those 7 minutes, but it was hhhaaarrrddd. Like, crawling off the floor hard. Now, I have to do 100? I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. 

Our trainer Christa had done this workout before we showed up. How motivating is that?! Just so that we really didn't have any room to complain, she did the workout balls early in the morning to prove to us it could be done. Her time: 8:57. She said that she tried doing sets of 10 reps, but knew that would be too much. She broke it down farther to sets of 5 reps. 

I set out at the beginning with that mentality: 5 reps. While I was doing the first set though, I felt too good at 5 reps to stop, so I continued to 10 reps. It took me about 20-25 seconds to finish, then I would rest about 10-15 seconds before starting again. That worked for the first few rounds, but then I started to slow down. I kept good form, no peeling off the floor this time and I was certain to finish all 10 reps unbroken for each set. That helped me. The whole time I just kept thinking "don't stop." I made it to the end. And I beat Christa.

My time: 8:40

I was dead at the end. D.E.A.D. dead.

Now, on to today. It's the first Monday of the month which means... Mini-WOD Day!!!

Here's what we had.

When I walked into the box, I was hoping that I misread the 50 and it was actually 25 or something. Nope. 50 reps. 

With that confirmed, I um... *cough* may have instantly lost 15 lbs. Haha. I wanted to be able to get to 50 and as soon as I felt the 105 lbs I loaded up, I knew it wasn't going to happen at 120 lbs. Maybe, but I do have to get to work by a certain time. Can't stay there all morning doing individual squats. I experimented with both high bar and low bar back squats. I actually thought that I felt a little stronger with low bar, but I found it a little harder to balance. I probably did 60/40 high bar/low bar. That part of the WOD took about 17 minutes to get through.

Then I had to tackle the HSPU. I did it with one mat and sets of 10. A couple times I got off balance and accidentally pushed myself off the wall. Whoops. It was hard, but I made it. Sooner or later I'm gonna have to figure out kipping these. I've seen videos but can't seem to get myself to attempt it.

Lastly, the row was the row. I worked on form and keeping my stroke count low compared to the time. Okay... not my best time, but definitely better form rather than just hauling all out and wasting energy.

All in all, it took me about 35 minutes to finish the whole WOD, but that was with little rest between the different exercises. 

Hope that everyone has a great week!

Back in the Box

Didn't go into the box yesterday cause I was so sore. Then I got guilt tripped by Oscar. Sorry!!!

Woke up this morning, still sore, but decided to go in. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad? Ha! It wasn't a WOD that I would consider difficult... no running, just rowing, but yeah, it still hurt. At least I put some weight on the bar.

I pressed 65lbs, which normally is a moderate weight for me. Today, it felt like it was 100lbs. For reals, I had to take some deep breaths and after the first round I had to break the set into 10 and 5. The best part about this WOD was the box jumps. For some reason, I am starting to really like box jumps. Idunno, I'm weird like that or something. 

My time: 13:41

Sorry for the pretty blah post, I'm tired and sore still. The good news is that I've got a few more pictures from Murph. I'll post those soon!

Mini-WOD Monday (again)

It was such a beautiful weekend here! I spent most of the weekend outside. Took Hoku to the park on Saturday, that was a lot of fun but she hates her collar and harness and just moped around most of the time at the park. Then on Sunday, got some good sun time in at the beach. It's just not the same as Hawaii though. I miss the non-kelpy beaches of home.

After all the gorgeousness, it was time to get back to work today...

At first glance, I thought it looked pretty fun. Burpee pull-ups though? What about the vertically challenged of us? Ok, fine. I'll grab a box.

The first WOD went without any major hitches. I loaded up 85# for the front squats. It was doable, but keeping them unbroken was a kick in the butt. By the last set, it took pretty much everything I had to get the last rep up. The burpee pull-ups I wasn't a fan of. I thought it was awkward to do a burpee then get on a box and do a pull-up. There was just no way that I could reach the bar from the floor. So sad, I know. Too bad there's no getting over the shortness, I'm pretty confident that I've stopped growing.

**I'm just going to add in here that while 4 minutes seems like a long rest, it goes by so FAST!** 

Before I knew it, I was having to start the next WOD. I choose the 25# kettlebell and the 15# bag. I felt like the 15# bag was a little light, but that's 75 bag slams when everything is over. I stuck with my choice. The kb push press were definitely a lot easier with my right arm than my left, I expected that. They actually turned into more push jerk by the end when I was getting tired. The OH lunges sucked as usual. The bag slams were blah. I still prefer the ball, my forearms were getting tired of gripping the bag each time that I had to pick it up. Not a favorite.

Rowing was ok. I averaged 26 seconds for each round. While I was aiming for the fastest time that I could get, I was also trying to ensure that I was using an efficient stroke. Wildly pulling at the rig is not going to help me any. I was pretty happy with my performance. It's kinda funny, the 30 seconds of rest is longer than it takes you to row 100m, I def enjoyed that rest.

My total time: 29:28

I'd say that was a good start to the week. Bring on the holiday weekend!!! Woo! 

Have you signed up for Murph yet? Get it done!

On a side note, some shots from my weekend.

Started things off with a paleo carnitas burrito. 

At the park.

Hoku practicing her tragic, moping face.

Perfect tanning weather. 

Mile a Minute

More like mile in 8 minutes and some change.

I'll get right to it. This is what I woke up to.

I don't even like running 600m, it's no secret that I don't like running nearly a mile even more. That's what was up for us this morning. 

At least there wasn't another run tacked on to the end of the wod like the last time.

Pretty straightforward today. I focused on my running form and breathing much more this time. I don't know if it was that or just that I'm getting back into better shape, but...

I made it back in the door in 8:19.

That's a full 1:40 faster than the last time I ran that distance. That was on March 24. Hmmmm... guess this CrossFit thing is working.

There was the row afterwards, however I have my PFA (physical fitness assessment) this week and my quads are still sore from Friday so I decided to take it easy. I rowed an easy 1000m.

Of course, once I get to work, I find that the test is rescheduled to the following week. Great.

On a side note... here's some shots from my weekend.

Finally summer weather! I busted out the shorts.

Yummy paleo breakfast of sweet potato hash, bacon, and eggs.

And a not quite so paleo dinner. Mussels and shmrip on a spicy red sauce. Homemade goodness.


This little angel is Hoku and she comes home on Friday. Can't contain my excitement.
Check out her blog Put a Corgi In It and follow her on twitter @HokuBear

Mini-WOD Monday

I'm pretty sure that I dreamed about CrossFit this weekend, so I was ready to go this morning. When I saw the WOD, I even thought, "hey, this looks like fun."

Well, that was until I woke up enough and realized that those were overhead squats... my least favorite lift. Ever. I just don't like them. Weird, because I love snatch and snatch balance and everything snatch related, but I really hate OHS. Huh, gotta 'em sometime I guess. 

The class was pretty full this morning thanks to a couple Foundations graduates (yay! congrats!) and a couple of drop ins (welcome!). I ended up starting with the row/run to alleviate overcrowding with the OHS. I felt good for the first round, but the second run, my legs just didn't want to start moving. I finally got them moving on the last half of the lap (the downhill portion). I was on the floor when that part was over. 

Next up was the OHS. I feel like I shortchanged myself a bit, because I didn't go very heavy. Once again, psyching myself out. Started too light and ended up not reaching my full potential. Didn't want to keep going though because there were still kettlebell swings to get through. Huh, are the more reason to figure out my 1RM on OHS. Sucks though, because that means I'll actually have to do them. 

The pushups/kbs were last. You could break it up any way you wanted. At first, I figured I'd break it into sets of ten. By the time I started I figured I would get as many kbs as a could and go from there. That's how it went. Not bad. I was happy with my time too and the fact that I moved up weight for the kb (1 pood! yeah!). 

Here's my WOD: 

Run/Row: 4:54 

OHS: 33#x3; 53#x3; 63#x3x3; 68#x3 

KBS/Pushup: 3:32 

Not a bad start to the week. And on a side note, some shots from my weekend.

  Primal portobello mushroom pizza! You gotta have a little cheese every now and then.

Primal burger yumminess for dinner. Recipe from Health Bent

Breakfast this morning, I love me some hash!

My sis putting up a 55# snatch at CF Waipio. So proud of you!!!

Friday Fun

My theory is now confirmed. Every other Friday at the box is a partner WOD day. Not that I'm complaining... I like partner WODs.

Except when they include something that I consider a weakness. Which today of course, did. Rowing.

I'm not a super fast rower. I would like to be, but I'm not. I'm only 5'0 on a good day. I just don't have the pull that everyone else does. Not for lack of trying, I am constantly working on my form (I've watched all the videos from CF Journal and gotten tips from people at my box), but I'm not there yet. Granted, I am better than when I started. I row much more efficiently now, but I know there's more in me.

Here's what we had.



Row and run. Great. I hope that Hillary doesn't shoot me for taking so long ;)

I opted to row first because I know I'm the weaker one at it. I kept a decent pace... 2:11/500m @ ~28 spm. My fastest 500m is 2:09 so I was happy with this. Took a bit to push out that last 200m but got the work done. Hillary cheered me on as well, which helped.

The run wasn't anything horrible, at least no super stinky odors emanating from the homeless dude that camps out by the box entrance. One time I ran by and almost gagged it was so bad. I would hold my breath, but I can't afford not to breath during any sort of running activity.

Back inside for my turn at man makers and KTE. We opted for the 12# dumbells since essentially it was only 10 total man makers. Tough, but doable.

KTE? huh... not my favorite. These I did one at a time, but was able to get my knees up every time. I need to work on kipping this.

Beforehand, we decided that we would split up the plank into 30 sec intervals a person. If you've ever done plank, you know that 30 seconds can seem like forever! Hillary was still rowing so I started the plank and knocked out a min and a half (thank goodness we could change positions!).

Our time: 17:25

Now it's time for the weekend!