Overloaded

WOD:

25 burpees
10-8-6-4-2 front squats
10-8-6-4-2 hang cleans
25 burpees

Rx for women: 95#

I don't know why, but I walked into the gym feeling weird today. Different. Unmotivated. I've apparently got shin splints that have really been bothering me lately, so much so that I am not doing anything impact related this week per my own prescription. My tummy has been crummy for the last week, but that could have everything to do with the fact I've been doing creatine for about a week and a half. I'm not entirely sure I'm going to continue with it, but I've known several people who do get results from using it and thought it was worth a try. So far I can't say I'm having huge results, and I promise there's no pun intended there.

I used 75# today, which was a good weight for me. Challenging but not overwhelming amounts of weight. Thankfully, I did not psyche myself into thinking I needed to attempt this one as Rx'ed. I did the first set of burpees as Rx'ed with full blown push ups. The last set I did on my knees. I've seen lots of improvements in my push ups over the last month or so, which I'm proud of. Things like push ups and pull ups are my nemesis, so it's motivating to finally see some progress.

But something funny happened to me today during the weight portion of the WOD. I started crying.

For some reason, keeping my elbows up during front squats or at the bottom of squat cleans is always hard for me. I can tell I'm letting them drop, and I know better than to do it. At one point on rep 8 in the first set of hang cleans I just couldn't get the weight up. My whole body felt heavy, and the bar just wouldn't float for me. I was sweaty, hot, frustrated, and emotional. This was the second WOD I've ever done where I seriously considered walking away. In fact, I even let my mind go there about walking up to my coach, telling her I was outta there, and then getting my keys, getting in my car, and leaving.

Then I let my mind start wondering to what Coach Jodi would say if she could hear what I was thinking. She would say that what we do here at CrossFit is supposed to make us better outside the gym. Physically we will perform better when we train our bodies, and mentally we will perform better by taking the skills of focusing and motivating ourselves and others that we practice here in the box and taking that away with us. I started thinking about everything going on in my life right now. How, I asked myself, would I ever be able to handle some of the big chunks of life I've got on my plate if I can't make it through this WOD? Sure, it's hard, but it's not un-completeable. I just had to tell myself I was going to finish it, regardless of how long it took.

Just like overloading your bar can ruin your workout, or worse yet, end up in physical injury, being emotionally overloaded or having too many irons in the fire can be too much. For me, the emotional overload caught up to me today. I am packing up my family and moving several states away in a matter of weeks. I'm moving from a life of widowhood and single parenting of small children to that of a military wife (again), parenting kids who are definitely not little anymore, and hoping to add to the brood. I have said goodbye to my friends at church as of yesterday, and there are many more goodbyes yet to come. And while goodbyes are sad, in my opinion, they are also indicative of a new, untravelled road in life, one that will lead to more adventures, more precious friends, and irreplacable life experiences. I truly am excited about all the positive things that this move will bring, but right now I just need to put down the bar and cry. After I have come to terms with it, I will have to give myself a "3-2-1-GO!"

These are some of my 0830 girls. They are what keeps me going when, left to my own wiles, I would quit and walk away from a WOD. I definitely know how to push myself and go hard, but I have learned that you cannot place a price tag on sweat-forged camraderie and friends who will holler at you to believe in yourself and to keep pushing. Just looking at this picture makes me laugh out loud and cry at the same time.

Coach Jodi talked to us today about how the coaches' goals for us include not just focusing on coming and working out. They really want us to work hard while we're there and then focus on the rest of our lives, too. True, many of us -- myself included -- place a lot of emphasis on our time at CF CenTex, and maybe too much so. I'm glad I finished the WOD, because if I hadn't I would've been more upset about giving up on something that shouldn't have conquered me. But I also feel that the time I've spent up there has been well spent in the friendships I've made and learning the value of leaning on others.

Table For One in the "Smoked" Section

Holy shnikes, Batman. I am smoked this week. I participated in Warrior Dash in Forney, Texas, on Saturday. It was more of a fun run that anything, but I've never done a race or event at all, so I was super nervous. My cousin graciously ran with me and agreed before the race that she wouldn't leave me behind, so I did have a battle buddy to go through it with me. Come to find out the obstacles really weren't all that challenging, and the running part of it was broken down into manageable chunks. The hardest part was how uneven the "track" was since we were running through a pasture. I was experiencing a little pain in my legs by the end. It's kind of hard to pinpoint it. I couldn't really tell if it was my shins or my muscles along and behind them that were hurting. Either way, the running was the equivalent of a 5K, so it was a decent stretch of running -- think trail running here with tons of mud.



On Monday I pogued out and stayed in Dallas with my sister, so no workout that day. I was still tired from the hustle bustle from the weekend anyhow. But trust me, we made up for it for the rest of the week.

Tuesday, 04 MAY 10

WOD: 10 minutes of work at each station. Stations consist of 15 lb. ball slammers on your knees, prowler sprints, 10 lb. sledgehammers against a tractor tire, and tire flipping.

The key to doing the sledgehammers right was putting your hand up near the top of the tool and sliding it down to the bottom hand as you came over and down, planting your feet firmly and moving at the waist. Other than that, this was pretty easy. Just amazing how tired you can get after 10 minutes, though.

Wednesday, 05 MAY 10

WOD: 10-1 clean and jerks and 1-10 100m run for time

HA! This one kicked my butt in ways it has not been kicked since we did "Murph" back last fall. When I read this WOD, I wondered just how this was supposed to work. Let me break it down for you:

Round 1: 10 clean and jerks, run 100m
Round 2: 9 clean and jerks, run 200m
...
Round 10: 1 clean and jerk, run 1000m

As you decrease reps of C&J, you increase reps of running.

Rx for women was 95#. Personally, my clean max is 100# or so. My jerk max is somewhere around 85# or 90#. I ended up doing this, ambitiously, with 85#. What's funny is -- I DID IT! It took me a full round or so to get in my groove and work my form better but it got there. At first the feel of the weight trying to get it overhead was a little overwhelming, but I just kept getting one more and miraculously got it done. My right wrist was really giving me fits, though. This has been going on quite a little bit lately. I don't think I've hurt it, thankfully. I think it is just really weak and I've got to really watch my form so that the weakness doesn't set me up for injury. Taping it may have helped a little, but I have never messed with that before and don't know how to do that properly. One thing I know I need to work on is transitioning the grip b/w doing the cleans and the jerk portion of the movement. I know going into the jerk with my grip still poised from the clean is incorrect but due to the wrist stuff, I don't trust my wrist under the bar to bear that weight. Two days later, as I'm writing this, I can still feel where it was hurting and I could feel it during today's WOD, but we'll get to that in a minute.

By the end of this workout, we calculated that the running portion was roughly a 5K -- 3.44 miles -- and there were 55 reps of C&J. I ran another 200m with the girl who was finishing last due to some muscle issues, so I guess I went about 3.5 miles or so. Also, doing 55 reps of 85# means I lifted over 4600 total lbs of weight -- woo hoo!! I was feeling that leg crampy stuff like I had after WD, though... grrr...

The bottom line on this workout is that I pushed through uncomfortability and doubt about whether or not I could get that weight up. I don't think many women went very heavy on this workout, and but I wanted to do it as close to Rx'ed as possible and I still posted a good time. Then I proceeded to come home and sleep for two hours. :)

Posted time: 59:49

Friday, 07 MAY 10

WOD: 10 min. of kettlebell swings. Every minute on the minute, stop and do 10 push ups. Quit at the end of 10 min. or 150 reps, whichever comes first.

At first the word was that we were doing "Fran" today, which both scared and excited me at the same time. I haven't done "Fran" since last October, and I would like to see how much I have improved. Alas, they changed it up, but I know we'll be doing it again in the next week or so.

I'll be honest. I'm not a fan of the kettlebell. To me it seems like goofing off when you could be doing real work. This WOD didn't look very hard, and it wasn't until the last 90 seconds of it that I realized I may not actually get 150 reps. I used 1 pood and knocked out at least 25 swings before the first set of push ups. Then it got hard. It felt like I had just barely gotten back up and swinging before I had to stop again and do more stinkin' push ups! I did the first set of push ups on my toes but went to knees after that. Still, this one was just as hard for me mentally as Wednesday's WOD. I remember thinking, 'I hate this! Man, if I was doing this WOD at home, I would stop! This is BS!' And the sad fact is that, had I not been in a class with others to holler at me to keep moving or fellow athletes motivating me to keep pushing, I would've wimped out and been less of a competitor in my mind. This is a very real scenario for me, as I am moving in a month's time to a town where there is no CrossFit within a 45 minute drive of where I will live. It will be up to me to self-motivate, and quite frankly it scares me that I won't be able or willing to do it. But that's a sob story for a different day...

Thank God it's the weekend!

Posted reps: 132 with 1 pood

Chasing The Rabbit

WOD:

1600m run
30 goblet squats
1200m run
25 goblet squats
800m run
20 goblet squats
400m run
15 goblet squats

This was actually our WOD from Wednesday, but I was out of town with my daughter. I met a CrossFit couple up at the box and the wife and I did the workout and her hubby kept time for us and was our cheerleader. I love working out with this couple. They are both as sweet as the day is long, and they make an incredible team. They truly seem to enjoy being in each other's company and bring out the best in each other. When I see them together, the term "best friends" really does come to mind. The icing on the cake for me, though, is how hard they workout. She is this cute, petite little lady who is quite glamorous when she's all made up, but put some weight on a bar and she turns into a machine! I love it! She really gets me charged up. I really love working out with other women who have a little testosterone flowing through them. Her husband is this nice, friendly guy who completely takes you off guard with how much weight he can move or how fast he is. What a great team!

Thursdays are generally rest days at the box. There was really no one else there but us. Someone else came in later to work on skills, but she was mainly doing her own thing. This workout, while not being the hardest in the world, was a real grinder. It was definitely one of those where you needed to have at least one other person out there working with you. When we started off, my workout buddy and I were literally shoulder-to-shoulder for the first leg of the workout (1600m or one mile run). We finished our squats more or less at the same time, but she pulled ahead of me for the run. I knew she would, and that was fine. I was having the worst cramps in my abs. This wasn't like getting a stitch in your side. This was like muscle cramps from muscles that haven't been used in waaay too long. I was trying all my tricks of trying not to hunch over, looking forward instead of down, taking large, open-mouthed breaths of air to oxygenate, etc., but those abs were just crampy right in the middle of my body just under my ribs. Was it more of a diaphragm thing? Certainly could've been. Definitely in the right area. Who knows. I had to stop and walk several times, more times than I wanted to. But there were also times when I forced myself to run, and not just trot up and down, but try to open my stride and focus on forward movement and not up and down movement.

The whole time I was running today I was fretting about how much worse the Army Ten Miler is going to be in October, wondering why in the name of all things sane I signed up for that!?!!! Then my mind wandered to how hard it would be to do a WOD like this in the neighborhood I'm moving to this summer. I will have no choice for 6-12 months than to CF by myself in my garage, and the subdivision is very hilly. I've been trying to really get all I can out of my last months here at CF Centex, because you don't realize what a sweet set-up you've got until you haven't got it anymore.

At any rate, watching my buddy as she hopped along in front of me was motivation to keep moving. She wasn't so far ahead of me that I couldn't have caught her if I had really pushed hard, balls to the walls. I appreciated again today something that I think about often, and that is the value of having someone to chase, almost like the greyhounds chasing the mechanical rabbit at a dog race. Whether or not I catch up to or pass someone is not the point. For me, the point is to have someone to follow, thinking if they can do this I know I sure can, and not wanting them to get so far ahead of me that they lap me. Had she not been there today, I would've had no way to gage my pace and would've slowly winded down instead of trying to keep up a steady pace and put this miserable WOD behind me. Now that I think about it, I'd rather be the chaser than the chasee!

Posted time: 29:49

Don't Be A Jerk

WOD: Split jerk 1RM, 10 min. of HSPUs, 10 min. of ring rows

So, yet again, I've been back out of the gym. I'm tired and jet lagged, yet again. Ad nauseum. I am getting so tired of popping in and out of my workout routine. I went on a "business" trip out of state, didn't work out for five days, ate like a pig and drank like a fish, and I wonder why I'm worn out?!?

I am fairly certain I've strained my back somehow a few weeks ago when we were working on push press maxes. I can feel a very specific spot, somewhere around T7 or so, something that feels like a spot where I could just crack in half. It doesn't bother me at all until I'm doing things at the gym, and then it only bothers me during specific lifts or ranges of motion. I'm trying very hard to be aware of it, intentionally engage my core, and know my limits. I suspect that I have lost a lot of core strength. I think this has been happening gradually, just like my shoulders seem to have lost some strength. I can't really tell what's been going on or just what my "problem" is these days with my core and arms. I just know that things don't seem right. Considering where my back is hurting, T7 would make a lot of sense. It might be worth taking a stop into a chiropractor's office sometime soon to further investigate.

At any rate, the split jerk was a new one for me. I've done plenty of clean and jerks, so this was a little bit less work on the rest of my body. I was soooo close to 95# but just either didn't explode fast enough, get under the bar quick enough, or a combination of the two to complete the lift at 95#. I think I would be able to tell what was lacking had I seen a playback, but as I don't tape this stuff, I can't look at it objectively. I suspect it was explosion that was lacking.

The ring rows were much harder than the modified HSPUs. Again, there is a lot of core involved in the ring rows, and I think that made it the harder of the two for me. I was only able to get about 35 ring rows but got around 65 modified HSPUs.

I made a point to do some ab mat sit ups, kettlebell swings, and pull ups with the green band before I left for a little bit of skill work to make up for missing class yesterday as I was travelling. YET AGAIN I will miss tomorrow to chaperone a field trip for one of my kids but will make it up on Thursday, God willing. It looks like a doozie...

Posted Split Jerk Max: 90#

A Full Measure of Grace

After watching the affiliate team tryouts on Sunday, I have been supermotivated to push harder and go the extra mile, regardless of what my body is whining about. I will say that I refuse to ignore pain that is on the verge of injury -- I'm not that extreme. But taking breaks and stopping in the middle of an intense workout has got to stop. Today. Actually, yesterday.

It's been a long time since we did any of the named WODs, and I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about how this one would go today.

WOD: "Grace"

30 reps of squat clean and jerks, 85# Rx for women

I've really been trying to push myself to do everything as Rx'ed lately, so I was pumped to do that today. I really had to get my mind in the zone: I was trying to envision myself going through the movement, listening to my motivational, fast tempo, metal workout music. One thing about my class that is a mixed blessing is the level of intensity. On one hand, I love this group because they are awesome and supportive. No one makes you feel like you are too slow or aren't working hard enough. It's a very positive environment. On the other hand, sometimes I really need the loud, frenzied environment to help me play off the adrenaline rush. I need someone telling me to hurry and get back on that bar, or keep getting one more, or 3-2-1-GO! When I don't have that for a WOD like this, I feel heavy and slow. No good on a day when you're cashing in on your explosive power.

So I started off with 85#. I remember thinking to myself, "Geez, this feels sooo heavy!" Regardless, I did about five of them with the 85#, and let me tell ya, they weren't pretty. I really detest going down in weight during a WOD, but today was a day when I could tell that I would have to in order to complete this WOD with speed and intensity. So I did the rest at 75#, which felt much better. I still had to fight for it, and there were several times when I was as mentally tired as I was physically tired when I let my elbows point down, which dropped the bar down too low onto my chest. Thankfully my coach came over there and told me I had better get my elbows out. I just kept getting them one at a time, and for some reason, the number 30 didn't bother me so much. I was pooped at the end of the WOD, but not devastatingly so.

We went out and jogged a half mile when it was all said and done, and I hopped on the rower after that. I've been making a point to do some 500m sprints on the rower at the end of the day. Yesterday I logged 2:05, and today I dropped to 2:12 since I was already pretty smoked. On Monday I rowed 1150m in 5:00. Slowly but surely improvements will come.

Thank God tomorrow is a rest day!

Posted time: 10:15

This-N-That

Obviously I've neglected my blog as of late! I don't know if there's a soul left that reads this, but that's OK. This is mainly for my accountability and to shed some light for anyone out there who is CrossFittting as well or considering it.

Since I last posted, I have had tons of life going on outside of the box. My family went out of state for two weeks over the holidays (didn't work out then), I had various out of state visitors (didn't work out then), GOT MARRIED (surely didn't work out then!), and have been sick here and there. Needless to say, I have really struggled to get back into the groove and push for more improvements. Nothing is more frustrating to me that seeing myself make such great gains and backslide so quickly. Mentally it is quite defeating to realize that your max one day is a good ten pounds lighter that your personal best several months ago. I've been back at it regularly now for two or three weeks, and as Celine says, it's all coming back to me now.

Before I launch into the WODs I've been doing lately, I thought I would make public the crazy committments I have recently made. In May I will be participating in the Warrior Dash at their Texas location. I have to admit a few things:

1) I'm totally in it for the awesome viking hat.
2) I'm scared to death about being able to do some of the obstacles, and I don't know if any of my friends are in the same heat as me.
3) I've never been in any kind of race or fun run before, so the fear of the unknown is killing me!

As if that wasn't enough, I have also registered to run the Army Ten Miler in October in Washington, D.C. My husband will be running as well, albeit he will finish hours before I do! He's a great runner, despite what he may tell you. I run around an 8:50 mile or so, and you have to keep at least a 15:00 mile pace, so I think time is on my side. I have never run further than two miles at once, so I have some serious training for endurance to work on. Thankfully I have a friend who is a triathlete who said she would develop a running program for me. Now I just have to convince myself to get out there and run.

Back to CrossFit. I have made a point this week to push myself and do all the WODs as Rx'ed. Somehow I have been able to do this and survive with relatively little damage or soreness!

MONDAY, 05 APR 10

WOD: 3 rounds for time of 30 wall balls (14#) and 30 SDHPs (65#)

Posted time: 17:39

TUESDAY, 06 APR 10

WOD: 1RM (rep max) front squats, 4x10 deadhang pull-ups, 3xL-holds for max time w/ 1 min. rest between attempts.

Posted results: New PR for front squats of 120#. Back to using colored bands for pull ups -- GRRR! Best time for L-holds was 0:40. This last exercise is harder than you think!

WEDNESDAY, 07 APR 10

"SUCKFIT"

2 rounds for points, 1 min. at each station, 1 min. rest b/w each round of:

Double unders
Lateral jumps (over bars w/ weights on them)
Push press (65#)
Kettlebell swings (1 pood or 35#)
Rowing for calories

I think I ended up w/ a 30# kettlebell b/c that was all I could find. Otherwise, done as Rx'ed.

Posted points: Round 1 -- 101; Round 2 -- 94

FRIDAY, 09 APR 10

WOD: 3x400m run for time, 3xheavy prowler pushes for length of building and back

Posted time for runs: 1:43, 1:45, 1:46. This was five to ten seconds slower than my last time; however, last time we were running on a slight downhill grade the entire way. This time was partially up and downhill at times. And the last time I even had to stop so some lady in a minivan could go get her glut on at the local donut shop. Ick. :)

We did a WOD last week that LAID.ME.OUT. It was 4 rounds for time of 10 box jump burpees, 20 air squats, 50 yd. broad jumps. It was probably all the broad jumps that did me in. I could hardly walk all week. Lastly, on Friday, we had to run a mile for time. I posted 8:50, but was really hurting most of the time in my quads. I suspect that: a) had I not been sore and had lactic acid already built up in my muscles, and b) had I been drinking more water all week, I would've been closer to 8:30, but it's still a decent time to post for me.

There we go -- all caught up! We'll see how long this lasts...!

CrossFitting in Your Underwear

I'm just wondering... If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound? If you are doing the WOD at home in your bedroom or living room and no one is around, is it OK to do the WOD in your underwear? Or naked? Just wondering. ;)

Due to insane time constraints the week before I go out of town for a while, I have not been making it up to the box, but I did do "Angie" this morning. Everyone else did it yesterday. It is a perfect WOD to do at home or anywhere, really. The only equipment you need is a pull up bar or something on which to do pull ups. I don't have an ab mat, so I doubled over a really firm pillow to go under my lower back.

I haven't worked out since "Filthy Fifty". The last two days I was fairly sore, especially in my left gastrocnemus (calf muscle). But today was the day that I needed to do something physical or I was going to start sacrificing my "edge". I'm glad I made the time to do it.

Here is "Angie":

For time,

100 pull ups
100 push ups
100 sit ups
100 squats

Do each exercise in sequence, i.e., complete each exercise before moving on to the next one.

It's important that "they" point this out to CrossFitters, because we are notorious for breaking things down into easier chunks. For some of us, it's a physical thing. As in my case, any time I can break up squats into smaller sets and even interject an exercise that focuses on a different group of muscles, I will do that to save my knees. It can also serve the purpose of keeping you from reaching muscle failure. For others, they do this for mental reasons. Doing 100 pull ups may freak some people out, but if they have ten sets of 10, mixed in with other stuff, it's not such a daunting, intimidating task at which to chip away.

Overall, this isn't a bad little WOD. It's an easy one to take on the road, so to speak, and I can do all of the exercises with relative ease. The hardest thing is just trying to stretch out a muscle before it cramps up on you while still pushing to go as far and as fast as you can. To me, that was a real challenge.

Posted time: 20:31

Christmas Challenge: FILTHY FIFTY!!!

My stomach has literally been in knots all week long in preparation for this WOD. In fact, as I was standing in line waiting for my group to start, I felt like I was going to have spontaneous diahrrea. TMI, you say? Deal with it! This was an intimidating WOD, by far one of the top two hardest I've ever done. Add to that the fact that I am struggling to have the time to attend regularly over the last week due to holiday fracas and mayhem, so I probably was not at my leanest and strongest. Nonetheless, I gave 110% and can say that it is finally behind me.

So here is the breakdown of "Filthy Fifty":

For time:

50 24" box jumps
50 jumping pull ups
50 1 pood kettlebell swings
50 walking lunges
50 knees to elbows
50 push press (45#)
50 GHD back extensions
50 wall ball (20# for men, 14# for women)
50 burpees
50 double unders

We ran these in heats, each one three minutes apart. It was nice that everyone was able to work at their own speed so that you didn't have a million people just sitting around watching you suffer for God-knows-how-long. However, I would not have been able to make it through Filthy Fifty had it not been for my teammate "S" who was helping me to count and stay on task. She was a great cheerleader and motivator. I truly could not have done it without her -- my will would've given up and I would've been sorely disappointed in myself.

Hands down, the hardest exercise for me mentally was wall balls. I don't do these often, and when I do I really hate them. I started off with the 14# ball, but my forearms were so crapped out from everything else I had done up to that point that that I just couldn't get my grip on that weight, and it was throwing me around. I couldn't even toss it up remotely high enough to get one good one, so when the girl next to me finished hers, I grabbed the 10# ball and nugged them out.

Box jumps are OK for me, but it seems like I'm slow coming off the box. The surface was wet, which kinda spooked me a little bit, but I never slipped and got past them.

The jumping pull ups went well. Those are coming along nicely for me, and I might be able to get my kip thrown in there soon. I was proud of these.

Kettlebell swings went pretty well. I had to break these down into sets of ten for two reasons. One, my forearms were starting to fatigue, and two, I was starting to feel dizzy. Otherwise, these went really well, and I was able to maintain form with no problem.

KTE is when my forearms really started being unhappy with me. I almost balked and did the modified ones, but I am very glad that I didn't. I did the true KTE for the full 50 reps. I was doing 3-2-3-2 to get my sets of 10. It was a slow, painful process, but they got done.

Push press was difficult. Good, but difficult. Again, I almost grabbed the 35# bar, but had I done that, I would not have been pushing myself and would've been feeling guilty afterwards. My regular coach was there to help, and she kept me moving 5 reps at a time. It always seems like the hardest ones to do are reps 20-35, but after that you are downhill.

GHD back extensions are easy for me. I had really wanted to make up time here, but my hamstrings kept threatening to cramp up hard, so I was doing 5 at a time and 3 towards the end. Unexpectedly harder than I had planned.

Burpees whipped my butt. Yet another sweet friend came over there to cheer me on, along with S and my coach. She even offered to knock out 10 for me, but I told her that I had to do all of them. Wouldn't have been able to live with myself had I not done each and every one. But I tell you, it was so motivational to have her right there next to me working on those God-forsaken burpees! I felt myself on the verge of passing out with the burpees, so I rested between sets of 10. These suckers felt like they took a long time to do, almost as bad as wall balls.

Lastly, I knocked out my double unders like no one's business. I've really improved in these over the last month or so. The only problem was the bladder factor. The times I stopped and started again was in order to prevent a very unsightly problem thanks to the fact that I have "mommy bladder" after having had kids. Those of you with this medical condition know exactly what I'm talking about -- I won't gross out the men with the gory details. You're welcome!

After we had all finished, we schlepped out to my coach's house for a paleo meal of steak kabobs and grilled veggies. They treated everyone to carriage rides through town as well, so it was a true holiday event. We had such a blast! And it was really neat to get to visit with the folks in all the other classes. We truly have a dedicated group of athletes and coaches at this gym, and we all come from various walks of life. It's been a lot of fun getting to know everyone and to see the camraderie that is emerging through pushing ourselves and each other.

As for tomorrow, we've got another "biggie" coming up. No rest for the weary, right? That's OK, because at CrossFit Centex we are all truly FORGING ELITE FITNESS!

Posted time: 47:30

Working Out After A Holiday Sucks!

I absolutely hate getting back into the swing of things after having an interruption in my usual schedule. It's hard to wake up in the morning, your eating habits suffer, and it's just hard to get your "edge" back. Nonetheless, it's times like these when you need to seriously monitor what holiday goodies you're gorging on and also make a point not to let your fitness routine suffer too much. That being said, let's do a little recap...

Tuesday, 24 NOV 09

WOD: Four rounds for time of 50 walking lunges, 50 squats, 400m run

Any WOD that has me doing walking lunges is automatically going to be a painful one in the long run. I don't know if it is lack of strength in my knees, weak heads on my quads, both, or none of those reasons, but these really lay me out for days later. Combining those with squats is pretty much torture for me. I had extreme difficulty walking, going up and down stairs or inclines, and bending my legs for the next three days. And honestly, when I did the math, the work I had done was significant: a total of 200 lunges, 200 squats, and a mile run when it was all said and done -- almost the equivalent of half a "Murph". No wonder it was so hard! To top it off, I finished didn't just finish last -- it seemed to take forever to complete it. Really, it took me half as long to do this WOD as it did for me to complete "Murph", so perhaps mathematically I was right where I needed to be...? Who knows? The bottom line was I pushed through it and didn't fudge on any of the reps, and I lived to fight another day. And eat turkey two days later.

Posted time: 28:43

Monday, 30 NOV 09

Warm Up: "Centex Warm-Up"
Skill Work: Speed drills
WOD: AMRAP in 15 minutes of 5 dumbbell snatches/arm, 10 ring dips, 100m sprint

So the coaches have designed a new warm up for us to do upon arrival at the box to allow us to warm up on our own. They want us to do 2-3 rounds (as time allows) of the following, 15-20 reps/each:

20-30 sec Samson stretch (think Warrior III)
Overhead squats w/ PVC
Ab mat sit ups
Pull ups
Back extensions
Dips
20m inch worms
20m forward/backward bear crawls

This warm up isn't extremely difficult, but it is time consuming. I feel like it takes me as long to do the warm up as it does to do the WOD. I'd rather take a little less time on the warm up and see some time programmed in for stretching at the end of a WOD. I also don't like feeling ragged out by the time I'm starting a WOD, which after this warm up and skill work, some times I feel like I don't have my full amount of strength left for the WOD. I'm sure it just feels this way since it's new, but it just seems like the time at the gym is taking longer and longer some days. Not always a bad thing, though.

The speed drills were not my favorite. It was hopping around back and forth for 20-30 seconds on some dots going side to side, front to back, and diagonally. I'm just not a speedy girl. I can do these, but I'm no speed demon. Just seemed like time I'd rather spend working on my lifts or the WOD. Again, I know I need to do these things and work on these skills. Aren't the ones that annoy us the most the areas of weakness on which we need to focus, after all?

I used the 25# dumbbell for my one armed snatches. It seemed like a lot of weight to me, but I used 20# last time (although I can't believe I didn't blog about that one! Grrr!!) and was able to move the weight just fine. I will say that my shoulders were popping some and seemed weak, but I chalked that up to having too much time off for the holidays. The WOD to which I am referring when I used 20# was about a month ago, so I felt it was reasonable to increase my weight.

The ring dips were not working for me, so I decided up front to modify that and do regular dips off the boxes. I will say here that, next time I'm doing dips, I want to do them off the side of the tractor tire because I needed a wider base for my hands.

Overall, I surprised myself on how many rounds I was able to do. I know I need to build up to doing the dips from the rings, but this was an appropriate challenge for me today.

Posted rounds: 8 rounds completed, 8 of 10 dumbbell snatches completed in round 9

Tuesday, 01 DEC 09

Warm up: "Centex Warm Up"
Skill work: Turkish get-up, pistols, floor press
WOD: Five rounds of five 80% max squat cleans, 20 double-unders

One of our coaches at the gym is getting his kettlebell certification this weekend, and he was there to conduct our skill work today. He's a college kid, sports science major, who is an amazing athlete and always kind and positive. He walked us through the steps of the turkish get-ups, which was much easier than I thought. Given, when I tried it, I was only using a 15# dumbbell, but after a couple of reps my motions were fairly smooth for a beginner. I can see how this could be a real punisher for core as well as arms. You start off lying flat on your back with one arm holding the weight straight up in the air, elbow locked out. The other arm is extended straight out at the shoulder. First, you bend your leg that is on the same side of your body as the arm holding the weight, placing your foot to the floor. You start to lift your torso up on the extended arm, leaning over at an angle. Once you are secure, you slip your foot underneath you so that you can get up on that knee, with the other foot supporting you that was already on the floor. Carefully, you stand up, keeping that arm fully extended and locked out up above your head the entire time. To complete the turkish get-up, you go back down to the floor, just reversing the steps you used to get up. One trip up and one trip down is one rep. I know it may sound really complex, but it's really pretty simple. To watch video clips, you can go to the main CrossFit website.

I need to work on my pistols (one-legged squats) to strengthen my quads and knees, but good grief -- these were hard! And to top it off, isolating the movement on one leg at a time made me realize just how weak those weak spots are for me. Needless to say, I was ready to move on. :)

The floor press really was harder than it looked. Basically, you are keeping your elbows pinned in as much as possible as you raise your dumbbell or kettlebell diagonally in the air above your body. Imagine yourself lying flat on your back, holding weight in both hands with your elbows bent at your sides. You would raise your right arm and shoulder until your arm is fully extended and your shoulder is completely up off the floor, reaching across your body. Bring it back down, repeat on the other side. It's one thing lifting the weight up -- it's another to bring it down! It takes a lot of control to keep good form here.

Now that we're all nice and tired, let's do our WOD! Haha... just kidding...

I have not done a WOD using any kind of lift in quite a while and only recently found my power clean max when I was just working on this and that at the gym. I started off doing the squat cleans with 75# and was really having to work to get it up. I think I would've been fine had I been able to simply power clean it, but adding the squat was what added difficulty for me. Also, as per usual, coming off the rack with the weight torqued my shoulders something fierce. I completely the first round with 75#, but when I came back for round two, I only rep'ed out two when I made the decision to back off the weight. I was just too much for me today, and I was getting emotional and frustrated. So I completed this WOD with 65#.

I will say, however, that my double-unders have improved a lot. I can now get up to 10 at a time. And even when it would've been easy to fudge these if I messed up before the last rep, I made a point to go back and get each individual double-under until I had done 20 true double-unders.

We didn't keep time on this; or at least, I was so frustrated with myself that I didn't want to know how long it took. I don't know if I finished last or not. That didn't really matter to me. I'm just proud of myself for maintaining form, getting good depth in my squats, getting every single double-under, and not quitting or crying when I really, reeeaallly wanted to. There's no crying in CrossFit!!!

Just Stoppin' By To Say Hello

It's been a rather unusual week for me, and I know I haven't posted this week. I will get around to that tomorrow, hopefully. Some of us are going to do a sand bag run up a hill tomorrow, and for once I might have the opportunity to go. I will definitely report in if I go!

P.S. -- Did work on my power cleans after the WOD to find my new max. Successfully power cleaned 95# twice.

"What Did We Do Wednesday?", "Thank God for Rest" Thursday, and Feet-A-Flyin' Friday

Holy cats -- where has this week gone?!? Amidst all of the things I have (or haven't) had going on, I've completely forgotten to check in here on the blog! Let's get down to it...

Wednesday, 11 NOV 09

WOD: "Tabata This" -- exercises include ring dips, windshield wipers, handstand push ups, burpees
Challenge: Five rounds of 20 ab mat sit ups and 15 KTE

Tabatas as a general rule don't bother me at all. Twenty seconds of movement followed by ten seconds of rest for eight rounds per exercise really isn't the end of the world. Except for when your arms are so sore that you had trouble getting dressed that day and almost had to come to the gym without a bra on. You know, little things.

None of us are able to do ring dips, so we substituted this with doing dips off the side of the tractor tire with our feet up on boxes. We also had to modify the HSPUs by doing them off the side of the tire. Both of these were excruciating and terrible. Normally I can crank out dips with no problem, but those kettlebell swings from Monday were still wreaking havoc on my deltoids. The modified HSPUs weren't really bad until the last three rounds, which sucked at an unreasonable level. Burpees pretty much suck no matter what. You suffer through them like a yearly physical -- you know you have to do them, and sooner or later they'll be over with and you can go back to the rest of your day.

I will say, however, that I enjoyed the windshield wipers. OK, envision holding a 45# bar by one end, and the other end is resting at an angle on the center opening of a 45# bumper weight. The bar doesn't actually go into the center; it just pivots there. The goal here was to bring the bar down on one side of your body to approximately hip height, then twist your body to the other side as you bring the bar back up and over to the other hip. Repeat this a kajillion times, and you've got a windshield wiper.

Next, true to form, just because we had done a WOD didn't necessarily mean that we were done. As if a tabata for core wasn't enough, we did five more rounds of core, not keeping our time. Ab mat sit ups aren't that big a deal, and thankfully neither are KTE anymore. I was able to rep several out at a time but still need to work on that.

Tabata scores: (keep in mind that the score you have to keep is the lowest number you did)

Modified ring dips: 8
Windshield wipers: 19
Modified HSPUs: 5
Burpees: 8

Thursday, 12 NOV 09

REST DAY!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

On a serious note, I really wanted to get up to the gym to do the CF Football "Grace" and had something come up for my daughter that needed to take priority over my gym time. That being said, I was really glad on Friday morning that I had taken another rest day to let my arms recover. I can always do this WOD at another time or on my own. In fact, I need to figure out something to do Saturday morning, and this might be a fun option.

A side note about rest: there is a time when you push through a little stiffness or soreness, and there is also a time when you listen to your body and rest. It's different for each person, but there are times when I know that every cell in my body is crying out to simply be still. There is a such thing as overtraining, and when you reach that point, you are really running yourself down. Personally I would rather take another day to rest and be able to come out of the gate hard the following day than be sucking it up during the warm up, much less the WOD. You just have to listen to your body and discern when it really does need rest and when it's just being whiny.

Friday, 13 NOV 09

"I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights." -- Habbakuk 3:18-19

WOD: Seven rounds of: 200m sprint, 10 air squats, 10 burpees

Speaking of feet like a deer...

It was damp and chilly out when we started, but by the time we finished I was ready to strip down and roll in the cold, wet grass. We headed over to the middle school football practice field (so the stripping down would be HIGHLY discouraged here, haha!) and did our WOD over there. I don't think I have had to run on wet grass early in the morning since I was in co-ed P.E. in middle school, come to think of it. I forgot how messy it can be but how good the grass smells, too.

I think I have figured out the point at which running for me stops being a sprint and transitions into a longer distance. I was out of the gate fast on the first 100m of the run for at least the first five rounds, but there was just something different about coming back across the field. I felt heavier and slower, and even the breeze I created by running seemed to be resistance I was working against on that last 100m.

I am SOOOO proud to report that I was able to do all 70 air squats without a SINGLE BIT of knee pain! It was amazing. I couldn't believe it as I was flying through those suckers at how good my knees felt and how fast I was able to move. THIS is how air squats should always be. Awesome!

Burpees... well, that's a different story. Remember how I compared them to a yearly physical on Wednesday? Yeah, well, my sentiments about these has not changed. Still don't like 'em, still have to do 'em. Oh well. What are you gonna do?!?

In closing, I'm not sure why, but we didn't time this WOD. And when it was all said and done, none of us could really venture an accurate guess on how long it took. All I know is that we left that wet, grassy field exhausted but proud of our efforts, which is worth all the burpees in the world to me.

I See A Pattern Emerging Here...

Warm up: 400m run, 200 single jumps w/ jump rope, 20 double unders
WOD: Three power cleans every minute/on the minute for 10 minutes
Core: Five rounds of 20 ab mat sit ups, 15 jack knives, 10 double count bicycles
Challenge: AMRAP in 10 minutes of 250m row, 50 jumps w/ jump rope, 25 overhead squats w/ PVCs

Am I the only one who sees a pattern emerging here of doing everything in threes?!? Seriously, this is KILLING ME! But in a good way, I promise. In fact, I noticed that I have lost two dress sizes and am at a weight that I haven't been at in two and a half years. The difference between me now and me two and a half years ago is that my BMI was about 34% then, and my BMI is approx. 24-25% now. Huge difference, huh?!? You can actually see my obliques and the outline of my abs, as well as most of the muscles in my legs. Doing CF at least four times a week, in addition to eating along the lines of Paleo or The Zone, is really paying off. Sweet!

At any rate, my double unders are really coming along. Just last week I could only do one at a time. Today I was up to doing four at a time. There is hope for me yet! We will be doing "Filthy Fifty" as a box for our Christmas event, and double unders is one of the exercises we have to perform for that WOD. Jumping rope is something that I think adults blow off as a playground activity for kids, but it really is difficult and requires speed and coordination.

Let me just tell you in case you didn't know: I freakin' LOVE power cleans. Even better if they don't involve squats, but I don't mind those too much either. We were supposed to be using 80% of our max. My max at last count was 90#. I started off at 75# but quickly moved up to 85#. I really need to find my new power clean max, because the 85# was really comfortable today. I was so pumped! Finally something that I'm good at and finish first when we're doing it. Plus my coach used 85#, and I consider her someone that I chase after, too. Making good progress!! Hooty hoo!!

The quick core torture was not something I saw coming up, and it was a real crap out. Sometimes I feel like core doesn't get addressed as often but you are definitely using your core for most of what we do, so it kind of works out even in the wash, as they say. We've been intentionally throwing in some core so that we can reap some overall benefits from it, and I think we'll see some payoff next month with "Filthy Fifty". The jack knives were pretty merciless, the sit ups were a real grind, but I was definitely able to make up time with the bicycles. This is where I am so glad I've done pilates for the last couple of years. I feel like I have an edge over some when it comes to core, but I still have LOTS of room for improvement. Our coach started the clock after we started (maybe 0:15 later). The clock said exactly 10:00 when I finished my five rounds, so I guess my time was about 10:15.

When we heard we had to do the AMRAP after the other TWO WODs, there was much groaning going on. Good grief! But we pressed through it and really gave it our best. I got in 3 full rounds and had completed the rowing for round four and was getting up to grab a jumprope when our coach called time.

I'm still trying to keep my blinders on and only focus on myself. There are some areas in which I have a loooong way to go (still need to work on my pull ups, etc.), but there are many areas in which I'm doing pretty good. I feel great, I think I'm looking pretty good, and I just cannot get over where I am now compared to where I was a couple of years ago. If any of you are considering making some kind of effort in the gym, just get out there and do it! You don't have to be doing CrossFit to be doing yourself some good. Start taking care of your body from the inside out -- get moving and watch what you're putting in your mouth. You owe it to yourself, first and foremost. I saw a show today about a girl who is a raw foodist (I thought she was a fruit loop, honestly), but she said that taking care of yourself and eating well is a way to love yourself. What a great perspective -- exercise and eating well is actually a way to show yourself that you love and are willing to care for yourself just as you would your kids, your spouse, your family and friends. Don't you deserve that?!?

Power cleans: 75# x2 rounds, 85# x 8 rounds
Core: 10:15, approx.
AMRAP: 3 1/2 roounds

Ten Rounds of Torture

Warm up: 400m run, double unders, 10 buddy pull ups
WOD: Team relay -- 10 rounds for time of: Sprint 30m, 10 box jumps, sprint 30m, 15 kettlebell swings
Challenge: Tabata core -- sit ups, supermans, plank, hip pockets

After a weekend of being out of town and not watching what I ate, I really wasn't feeling extremely fit but knew I needed to get into the gym. Hard. I just needed a little extra self-punishment -- lucky me! That was just what was on the board for the WOD.

We had an unusually large group this morning. Some of the early morning gals were there, and we had a guy that puts up with our girly conversation long enough to workout with us some days. It was nice that it worked out to have some extra people there this morning since we were doing the WOD as team relays.

Once again, I finished last. This is getting to be a bit of a pattern for me, one that I don't like and with which I am not comfortable. However, I know I pushed myself hard this morning and didn't slack off, so I can't be too disappointed. I could've sprinted faster on the second sprint of each round, but I used the highest box for the box jumps and completed the range of motion correctly each time. I also kept moving during the kettlebell swings, my least favorite part of the WOD. At one point during the kettlebell swings, I noticed how my abs were engaging during the swinging and lifting motion, so I know my body was working hard.

My partner was one of the girls that I "chase" during most WODs. It cracks me up: she has this endearing personality and warm laugh, but you give her a "3-2-1-GO!" and she turns into a machine! This girl makes really hard moves look easy. She is really strong and fast, and her endurance is off the charts. She gives me something to work toward for sure, but I also just enjoy chatting with her and the other girls at the end of the WOD.

Someone -- I don't know who -- got a bright idea of doing a Tabata core WOD, so five of us got down and did Tabata sit ups, supermans, plank (which technically is sphinx), and hip pockets. I was a little tired during the sit ups, but I maintained consistency during the Tabata stuff. (Everyone else got at least two or three minutes of recovery at the end of their WOD that I didn't have before starting the second one, since I finished last.) While I couldn't believe at the time that I actually sat down to do the Tabata, I was glad when I finished that I had taken the time.

I'm really having to look at myself and stay focused on just myself these days. Everyone is working at their own levels, and in CrossFit, you are competing against yourself and no one else. That's hard to remember as you are starting off a WOD and you are having lots of knee pain and having to start off slowly instead of coming hard out of the gate like everyone else. As my boyfriend pointed out last night, the person I was two years ago likely couldn't hang with the person I am now, athletically speaking. I may never be as fast as some people in the class, and I'll never deadlift the same as most of the guys, but the most I can do is my personal best. That has got to be success.

Posted time: 31:08

Triple Threat Tuesday

Warm up: 400m run, walking lunges, frog jumps, 40 jumping jacks, 30 squats, 20 push ups
WOD: 6 tire jammers - 25 jumping pull ups - 6 TJ - 25 JPPs - 6 TJ - 25 JPPs - 6 TJs - 25 JPPs - 6 TJs
Challenge: Team relays of 4 rounds of 200m rowing sprints and jog around two buildings

My legs are so sore -- I feel like I've done three separate WODs today. Thankfully my stupid knees held out on me! Actually, everything we did today felt like it was doing my quads and knees a lot of good, strangely enough. Even the walking lunges felt like they were stretching the sore muscles out and helping to strengthen the area, which isn't how they usually feel. Maybe this is exactly what I needed to be doing to work past the soreness and do some much-needed strengthening of this problem spot.

At any rate, we were all wondering what tire jammers were. We knew that it involved the 45# bar and the big tractor tire but we still had trouble envisioning what we were supposed to do. No one could've known ahead of time just how challenging this movement was going to be -- simple yet downright hard.

So here's what a tire jammer was: You take a 45# bar and put a bumper weight on one end. I used a 45# weight. That is the end you hold onto. The other end is pushed up against the side of the tire as it rests on the floor. You are basically pushing the bar up and down, making it look like a lever -- almost as if you are trying to pry it up off the floor. On our coach's count, we all went down into a squat, holding the bar on our shoulder facing the tire. When she told us to come back up, we had to come up as explosively through our legs as we could and push the bar up until our arms were straight. Each round we did this six times, slllooowwlllyyy. Ugh. By the last two rounds, I was really exhausted but still able to come up fast. I was proud of myself because it was 90# total I was toting around and going down into a good, deep squat. And my knees behaved for the whole thing!

The pull ups were on our own. For the most part I was breaking these up into groups of fives. I noticed how my arms are getting a little bit stronger and used to the kipping motion coming up to and leaving the bar. If I can just build up my arm strength, I'll have that kipping pull up in no time. That will definitely be a hallmark moment for me.

Just when we were so exhausted that we could hardly lower ourselves to sit down without falling, our coach announces that we had a rowing challenge to complete before we could call it a day. Had we been able to summon up the energy, we would've looked at her like she had lost her mind. Instead, we all pried our creaking bones up and waddled to the rowers.

As your teammate did their rowing and running, you got to sit still and recover. Thank God for recovery time! My partner was really strong at the rowing and got us ahead a little bit. The other team was really working hard, too. For the first time since I have started CF, I was ahead of one of the girls on the other team. In her defense, her partner and I are closer as far as endurance or speed goes, but just knowing that she was chasing me and not the other way around for once really made me feel lighter as I was running.

I won't be able to attend class tomorrow, but I definitely feel like I made up for my absence with everything we did today! They are doing sprints tomorrow, so I might do some sprints here at home on my street or even try another 5K here in the neighborhood. We'll see. Either way, I'm just glad I survived the butt whooping today!

Knees, My Old Nemesis, and Recap of Friday

I've been a little distracted over the last week. It's been crazy busy at my house: my boyfriend has been in town, I had to bake Halloween treats every day last week for my son's preschool, and let's not even go there about Halloween prep and madness. I completely forgot to blog about last Friday -- I have slept since then -- but it's worth covering quickly. Then I'll debrief today's WOD.

Friday, 30 OCT 09

Warm up: Buddy pull ups, kipping practice
WOD: Max deadlift, max shoulder press

The pull ups were mainly to build strength and practice getting our kipping motion down. Thankfully my boyfriend was there to help me, strong guy that he is, but he's also got a lot of CrossFit experience and has given me some great tips toward building up to a full kipping pull up. I know I should be working on these every time I walk in/out of the gym, but geez -- they are such a pain! But nonetheless, they are coming along slowly but surely.

I am proud to say that this was a fun day. As usual, I love heavy weight days. I blew right past my max deadlift from last time and probably could've gotten farther, but I could feel my form suffering to the point that I could've put myself at risk for hurting my back. I'm completely unwilling to hurt myself and have to take time off to recover if it can be helped. It's true that as you add more and more weight that your form might suffer a little bit, but I was sufficiently pleased with my new max and wanted to live to fight another day, as the saying goes.

The max press was the real challenge for me. It's so tempting to dip and drive to get that bar up over your head instead of just pressing straight up from your shoulders. I needed a little spotting but eventually got that weight up. This is just a hard one for me, plain and simple.

Max deadlift: 190 lbs.; attempted 195 but failed.
Max shoulder press: 75 lbs.

Monday, 02 NOV 09

Warm up: 400m run, butt kickers, high knees, high knee cross overs, walking push ups
WOD: For time, 40-30-20-10 goblet squats with 20 ball sit ups between each set of squats.
Challenge: Team 1000m row

Isn't it a bad sign when you're exhausted after the warm up that the WOD is only going to be even worse?!? That's kinda how I felt today. I felt a little off kilter but for the most part was ready to rock-n-roll.

When I saw today's WOD, I thought, Oh nice, something to work on intensity and go fast but not so hard that I'm hurting afterwards. HA! I couldn't have been more wrong!! Today was another really hard day on my knees. I could've moved so much faster had I not had such sharp, piercing pain in my knees. My muscles were burning well the whole time, but certainly nothing that I couldn't push through. It was the sheer pain associated with my knees that made me want to be sick. Today was actually one of two days where I thought I might be in real danger of injuring my knees. Thankfully I feel a lot better now, but I need to find the motrin soon.

The goblet squats weren't hard form-wise. I wanted to go heavy and just keep a steady pace. For my knees, going fast (Tabata-style) is no good, but keeping in constant motion is about as much intensity as I can handle on them. I chose a 35# dumbbell and racked it up. I was able to keep moving in sets of ten for the most part, sometimes in fives.

I was really surprised to see just how much my quads were involved in the ball sit ups. The emphasis on core wasn't bad at all, but it was how my legs were engaging getting down to the mat and then getting back up on my feet that liked to have killed me. I was able to keep doing those in sets of tens and then fives, too.

I had to pause between movements and stretch my quads. This helped some, but I just wish there was something I could do to better lengthen those muscles and tendons when they're warmed up and moving. That would make a huge difference. I know I need to do more workouts and movements that strengthen this area for me. It's really frustrating to feel like I could be doing more "if only..."

Something else that was getting to me was being the last one done today. We had a couple of new girls in class today, which was lots of fun. It's exciting to see more people get involved, especially women. But I'm tellin' ya -- these girls may have only been doing CF for a week or so, but they are strong and swift to begin with! Talk about a challenge to which I need to rise up! As much as I enjoy the motivation of seeing others to "chase after," it is hard to feel like I'm working as hard as I can but have this stupid situation going on with my knees. All I can tell myself is that I kept moving, worked as hard as I could, and will beat my time the next time we do this. The only person I'm really competing with here is ME!

Posted time: 18:07

P.S. -- Brandy, did you ever finish Elements??? :)

Is That A Hemi?!?

Warm up: 400m sprint, 50 air squats, 400m sprint, 50 sit ups

WOD : push a truck, 10 burpees, push a truck, 15 star jumps, push a truck, 20 box jumps, push a truck, 25 air squats

Good grief! This was a crazy WOD, and it happened to be on my 33rd birthday. The warm up was significant enough for me -- I had been working on box jumps yesterday evening and my good ol' left knee was already hurting. I was able to jump on the tallest box + two 45 lb bumpers, but I was paying for it.

My boyfriend got to work out with us today, which was fun but didn't end up helping me out because he was paired with someone else. He's a big dude -- the kind you want on your team when brute speed is called for! At any rate, I got to work with one of the new girls in the class. She and another girl got to do this as their first CF WOD. How's that for jumping into it?! They did great. They're both already really strong and fast, so they'll be at the top of the group in no time.

Overall, this was a fun workout. Lots of functional movement covered by this WOD, and we really had to power through the quads. As I mentioned, mine were already burning from the warm up, so I felt pretty smoked afterwards but recovered quickly.

No posted time -- just good clean fun!

-- Mobilelly Yours, GGG

FRAN FRIDAY!!!

Warm up: 500m row, 10 push ups, 30 air squats, high knees, butt kicks, grapevines, 30 jumping jacks
WOD: "Fran" -- For time, 21-15-9 thrusters and pull ups

I have had butterflies in my stomach for a week over this one. "Fran" is a benchmark WOD for all CrossFitters, and CrossFit Centex is even having an event tonight to get a whole bunch of people together to do "Fran". I was more than a little intimidated by the thought of doing this at such a beginner's level around lots of people, mainly guys, who are virtual power houses. So, I met with my regular group this morning and we knocked it out.

It was 45 degrees when I woke up today, so I dressed for colder weather, put my hair in funky braids and a beanie, and set off. When I got to the box, we were all a little jittery but excited to be doing "Fran." I got to have two coaches talking and motivating me through this that I normally don't get to work out with, so that was lots of fun. One of them really snapped my focus where it needed to be. He asked me what my plan was for rest, and then said that he would be holding me accountable to it. If I started to go past that time, he was gonna be on me to get moving. That one thought right there really kept me moving.

Dare I say it -- I've done harder WODs. Not that this wasn't hard, incredibly hypoxic, and exhilarating all at once. For me, with the weight I used and the fact that I've been babying my knees for the last couple of days, the thrusters were manageable, and pull ups are not near as scary as they used to be, even though I'm still doing them assisted. But the thruster movement itself was not the hardest movement to perform. I think the hardest thing I've done so far was the hang squat cleans from Monday. They were completely brutal. Given, I didn't do "Fran" as prescribed -- I did it scaled -- but for my first WOD, it was appropriate weight, I think.

I think that the combination of good coaching and mental focus is what really helped me plug through today. The male coaches have a different way of pushing than my female coach, and every now and then it's nice to switch them up just to hear how they motivate in different ways. And the "zone" I've been able to get into mentally with some of the other WODs proved to be helpful today. All I know is that I felt electrified at the end of it and insanely surprised at my time.

I DID IT!

Posted time: 5:56 with 45# and assisted pull ups

5K Day

WOD: 5K followed by 30 KTE, 30 GH extensions, 30 sit ups

Today was another mind check for me, albeit a much easier task to complete. If you read the posts on Friday and Monday, you have a clue as to how important your mental game is when coming up to your own personal wall. I have a real fear of long distance running -- does 3.2 miles count as long distance? -- so my stomach was in knots by the time I arrived at the gym this morning. I've never even desired to attempt a long run after getting out of ROTC, and I'm definitely not one of these people whose bucket list has any sort of running feat anywhere on it. Alas, someone else programmed this to be the WOD, so I had to do it.

It had been pouring down rain and dark as I drive the kids to school. On the one hand, I thought, "Great! We'll just have to do something else -- GEE DARN." Then I had a terrible realization: if we weren't able to run the 5K, we would most likely have to row it on the rowing machine. "NOOOO!!!" screamed my knees. "We took all we could, Captain -- we cannot take any more!" Luckily the weather broke just long enough to get the run out of the way, and then the bottom dropped out when we came back to the gym to finish up.

The weather was ideal for running this morning: 65 degrees, a light drizzle, and a light breeze. That made a huge difference for me. Running in hot weather really kills me, so I felt lucky to be doing this in the fall. Traffic had subsided, I had a great playlist on the iPod, and all the external factors were checked off.

I wish I had made it further than I did before I stopped jogging to walk. I probably made it at least a mile before I stopped. Had I been running next to someone, this would still have happened but perhaps just a little later. My coach talked about several different strategies for approaching a longer run, as in goals to set for yourself before you start. For some, the goal was to improve their time; for others, it was simply to complete the run at all, and still others had goals somewhere between these two extremes. For me, I was rather intimidated by the term "5K" and the concept of how far that was. My walking/jogging is normally done on a treadmill, so I really didn't know what to expect, and I wanted to be realistic. My goal was to run as much as possible, walk only when necessary, and walk fast with active arms when I did have to walk. And also to finish without puking. :)

One of the things you learn to utilize early on in CrossFit is planned rest. This is a situation where you have to stop what you're doing and recover a little bit before you can get moving again. However, rather than just waiting around to feel better, your muscles to quit aching, your pulse to slow down too much, etc., you tell yourself how long you will rest, count down in your head, and then get moving. Basically, you have a contingency plan that keeps you from hurting yourself or allows you to rest but doesn't allow you to quit or lose momentum. I utilized planned rest on this run. The last mile I really took in intervals. I tried to run longer than I was allowing myself to rest, and before the last "home stretch," I made a point to walk, breathe deeply and slowly to really oxygenate my muscles, put the iPod on a Nickleback song, and bring it on home. This strategy worked really well! Lastly, my coach ran the last 200m with me, challenging me to keep on her heels and then really lengthen my stride and increase my speed at the end. It was such a great feeling to finally be done!

The crazy cool thing is that I didn't even feel tired at the end of the run. I had some of those cramps in my abdomen that come when you haven't run in a long time, but other than that, the rest of my body felt like it could've kept going. My leg muscles were warm and revved up, not cramping, and I wasn't so winded or nauseated that I couldn't speak. Dare I say -- I actually enjoyed this run today?!? Had I been in a little bit better situation with my breathing/cardio, I really think I could've run the whole thing and not needed to walk. Perhaps that will be my goal for the next time we do this WOD.

Once we got back to the box, we cranked out the additional exercises, not keeping track of time or anything. They were easy enough, but after 15 reps on the GHD, I could tell my hamstrings were really tight and needed to be stretched. All in all, a great day. And I even rewarded myself with a protein smoothie from Smoothie Ds.

Posted time: 34:33


-- Mobilelly Yours, GGG

House of Pain

Warm up: 400m run, various calisthenics, dumbbell snatches, practice hanging squat cleans with PVC
WOD: 5 rounds for time of 15 hanging squat cleans, 30 push ups

Did I mention that I'm a big, whiny baby? Did I also mention how badly my knees and shoulders have been hurting lately? I was in the house of pain today like I've never been before, and I promise I'm not telling you about it to complain. It just is what it is.

I've been really sucking it up lately with knee pain, and mentally I've really been fighting to complete the last two WODs. Tomorrow's WOD will likely be one of the hardest I've ever done, and then on Wednesday I "get to" run a 5K and then come back to the box for a few more exercises. We're supposed to be having a "Fran Friday" this week, and I'm planning on attending, but even as I sit here typing this, I can feel the swelling starting in my knees. It is just not looking good.

My coach started me off with 65# for the hanging squat cleans. This weight should not have been a problem for me -- I've worked with this much weight many times before. I simply could not get it up high enough to get underneath it, and even when I did attempt to get underneath it, I just couldn't get there fast enough. I tried and failed five or six times, then she moved me down to 55#, which is how I completed the WOD.

I was so frustrated. I really had to fight even to complete this with 55#. At one point I was so fired up and frustrated that I was willing myself not to cry. (Think Tom Hanks yelling, "There's no crying! There's no crying in baseball!") There is no crying in CrossFit, so get your butt moving, woman.

With each time I went down, my left knee felt like it had a needle hanging out of it that dug in a little deeper with each movement. Once I had stood the weight up and was dropping it down to get another rep, the movement of bringing the bar down made my shoulders feel like they were being ripped off, or at least stretched in opposite directions by some sadistic machine you think of in castle basements.

Most days, when I'm feeling stiff and in a little pain, it wears off after the first two rounds and I find my rhythm and can stick with it. I did finally find a rhythm, but each beat was marked with the staccato of shooting pain in my knees and shoulders. It just never gave way. This was the second WOD that I felt sure, during the first round, I would not be finishing.

The push ups were easy, and I tried to crank those out and make up time there. I wanted to finish under 30:00 again today, but honestly, I was surprised that I actually made it through this one. There was no wave of proud relief. Only frustration at what had happened with my body and how far I had allowed my mind to go in attempting to derail my workout. I've been beating myself up about it all day, and I just don't know what to do with it.

I can tell you this much -- if it hadn't been for my coach, today would've been short and painless for me. I would've packed up and walked out the door. She really put up with a butt load of my bellyaching and kept me moving, kept me up to get one more rep. Watching the other girls made me wonder how they were doing this without near as much anguish as me, but I was the second one to finish out of four, so I guess my results weren't that bad.

This week is going to be one of the toughest ever for me in CF. I've really got to take care of those knees and tell my inner demon to kiss off. I've got Fran at the end of the week, and I've got to git 'er dun.

Posted time: 28:40 with 55#

Hamburger Buns (Again)

Warm up: 400m jog, various calisthenics
WOD: 5 rounds for time of sprints, prowler pushes, walking weighted lunges, 25 squats, 10 box jumps

First of all, I just want to vent. I had a great post written and tried to post it from my iPhone app, and it kept posting to my other blog, One More Thing. After deleting and retrying several times, it became my latest victim to the hungry internet monster. Damn you, Cyberspace!!!

I'll do my best to try and remember all the points I made in the original post. The BLUF (bottom line up front) was that it was hard and mentally had me hurting. It is amazing how much the mind can play tricks on us, and I can definitely see how overcoming mind blocks in the gym can help us to overcoming them in the rest of our daily lives.

Warm up was pretty uneventful. I only wish I could say that for the rest of the morning! The sprints, back and forth the length of the building, weren't the worst, but pushing the prowler was definitely no fun. Pushing this big metal monster across the pavement was about like trying to push a car across the parking lot that has no wheels, just metal grating on cement. I felt like Samson after Delilah had cut his hair -- powerless to move this heavy thing in front of me.

The walking weighted lunges were by far the most painful part. Lunges hurt my knees worse than almost anything I've ever done. I had to walk the length of the building like this, holding a 25# bumper weight over my head, stop at the end of the 18-step stretchg (not that I was counting, right?!?), do 25 squats holding the weight, and then come back to the starting point. Pure torture, plain and simple.

The last part was the box jumps. This was easy work for me, so I tried desperately to make up time here. I was using the tallest box this time, and I really want to add a bumper to the box next time for a bit of a challenge.

I mentioned earlier about how this WOD blew my mind. The physical pain brought on by today's WOD was nothing compared to the defeat my psyche was cooking up in my little blonde head. I've been having quite a few issues with joints as of late, and nothing puts me into self-defeat mode faster than joint pain. Halfway through the first round, I was already telling myself there was no way I'd make it through this one. My quads were already burning, and my knees were screaming, too. Somehow, about halfway through round three, I could see the end of the tunnel and knew I would finish. By the end of the last round, I was trying to go as fast as I safely could in order to finish under 30:00, which I did by a hair.

After working strength and doing heavy lifts so much recently, we really did need to work on some other things, things at which I really do suck and need to challenge myself. My coach is great to keep us moving and motivated. She's always reminding us that WOD like this one will yield growth, strength, and change for us. I know she's right. I look over at the other girls, fighting for it, too, and they keep me going.

Posted time: 28:44