Elizabeth

"Elizabeth"
21-15-9
Squat cleans (135/95)
Ring dips

Results: 23:38 - 95#, band assist on dips

I really need to work on dips. Add that to the list of 20 other movements that I'm weak on. I started out with the floss, and made it to about 11, I think? Then I used two flosses together to finish out 21. Next round I started out with 1 floss, couldn't get any dips, set up 2 flosses together, did 3-4 dips, and then gave one band up to somebody who was actually moving through the WOD quickly. heh Finished up the set of 15 with the black band. Did all of 3 round with the black band.

I think while traveling I will carry my bands with me so I know what the heck I'm doing. Though really the problem was that I didn't realize I should be going in the first group. If I had I would've spent some time messing around with the bands ahead of time. Oh well!

Overall, I'm pleased with this WOD. But it makes me giggle to see that Aimee did it in 9:27. My next goal will be to do unassisted ring dips, or at least all dips with the floss. After that I hope I can go sub-20.

It's nice to add another girl to my sidebar. :)

It was also nice to get four WODs in at CF KoP. I'll miss seeing you guys until our next trip up north!

Windy run at Valley Forge

When I woke up and saw the sun shining, I immediately thought, "I need to run at Valley Forge Park".

Then I went outside with the dog, and realized it was freezing cold and windy as shit!

Too bad I already told my husband about my idea -- off to the park we went, bundled up in our cold weather gear; thank god we remembered to pack it for the trip.

As usual for wintertime running in Pennsylvania, it was miserable at the start, but once the sweating kicked in full force (after about 10 minutes) all was well. The wind kept things interesting -- the gusts were so strong it was even hard to go against them downhill. Forget about uphill -- we were crawling.

There's something about running outside, with the wind in your hair and the sunshine on your face, that makes everything feel right in the world.

Results (from Nike+): 5.08 miles in 50:25 -- 9:55 min/mile pace

Here's a map of the route we ran.

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Physically, I noticed two things about my body during this run.

One, it takes a lot to get me out of breath. I wasn't really gasping for air at any point during this run, not even on the first super-long hill heading up to the visitor's center. When I took a quick potty break around mile 4, it only took a few seconds for my breathing to completely return to normal.

Two, my legs were HURTING. Holy shit. Ow. I ran the 5 mile loop at the park many times during my 6 years living in the Philly suburbs, and this was by far the most painful attempt. I know it wasn't from going really fast -- a 10 min/mile pace is "nice and easy". I have a suspicion that it has a lot to do with living in the flat lands for the last year. All the walking and running that I've done has been on essentially flat terrain. Very boring and also not as good of a workout as hilly terrain. Maybe I can blame my crappy deadlift PR on that too? :-p

In any case, my legs were so brutalized that I had to walk up the second half of the super steep hill around the 3.5 mile mark, despite taking the shortcut through the grass. That was a first for me, I can usually run the whole route without stopping. I will conquer this route next time I'm back in PA visiting husband's family.

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Speaking of running, I'll be posting about runs a lot more in the next few weeks because we're signed up for the Critz Tybee Half Marathon. I'll be doing training runs in addition to my usual CrossFit workouts.

I love that we are the kind of couple who signs up for a race in the city where they got married as part of an anniversary trip. :)

Up early on Sunday

Despite staying up waaaaaaay too late last night (just some random insomnia, and working on fixing some stuff in the blog) I still managed to drag myself out of bed to go to the o900 WOD at CF KoP.

For time:
20 Swings, 20 Squats, 10 Pull-ups
18 Swings, 18 Squats, 9 Pull-ups
16 Swings, 16 Squats, 8 Pull-ups
14 Swings, 14 Squats, 7 Pull-ups
12 Swings, 12 Squats, 6 Pull-ups
10 Swings, 10 Squats, 5 Pull-ups
8 Swings, 8 Squats, 4 Pull-ups
6 Swings, 6 Squats, 3 Pull-ups
4 Swings, 4 Squats, 2 Pull-ups
2 Swings, 2 Squats, 1 Pull-up

Results: 23:35 -- 45# kb (which I guess is like 1.25 pood :)) and "floss" - that's the CFKoP name for the tiniest band; love it

There weren't quite enough kettlebells for everybody to get the weight they preferred, so I gave up my 35# bell to someone else and used a 45# bell. It didn't seem that it was the weight that made the swings more difficult -- the handle was just so damn fat, and hard to grip. Then again, it was probably hard to grip since it was 10 pounds heavier than I'm used to. :) I need to find myself some kettlebells with girly-sized handles...

Sometimes with my pullups, I just don't feel focused enough... I told the husband that it's like I just go all limp, like a wet noodle. But on some attempts, it's all there -- the tension builds up and explodes, and I pop myself up. I felt like I started out strong, got noodle-like, and then went back to cranking them out once the sets got shorter. I guess this is all just part of working on consistency...

--
While I was showering up, I was thinking about the movements in this workout, and realized I could've titled this post the same as yesterday. Hip extension is a crucial part of kettlebell swings, squats and kipping pullups, as well as rowing and thrusters. Then I was thinking that hip extension plays into just about everything we do in CrossFit -- that's something I learned during my introductory classes with CrossFit Camden, and dredged back up out of some forgotten corner of my mind. I love that about CF -- just about every movement that we work on helps us to get better at all the other movements. So damn synergistic. :)

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The last two days after finishing the WODs I have been trying to discuss my thoughts on the way females are portrayed in pictures in the CrossFit community and also the way women who do CrossFit have written about the changes that CrossFit creates in their bodies... So far, I don't feel that I've succeeded in communicating my point of view -- there's still some nebulous main point that is eluding me. But I will keep trying to talk and write until I come up with something coherent. And constructive. I don't want to just send a bitchy post out into the blogosphere -- I want to make a point that is actionable, or at least a point that helps me work through my own feelings...

Hip extensions galore

Another great WOD at CrossFit KoP.

5 Rounds for time of:

• 500M Row
• Barbell Thrusters, 15 reps (95#/65#)

Results: 23:58 Rx

Had some great motivation from the coaches, and from Steph, whose blog I've been reading for a few months now. She's just as awesome in person as she sounds in her writing. :) Now that I've sent her the link to this blog, I hope that motivates me to write more about the emotional / mental side to CrossFit.

I'm still hitting my wall where I can't bring myself to do oly lifts while I'm extremely out of breath... KB swings, situps, running and some other simple movement I'm cool with just pushing pushing pushing, but with the more complex movements with the barbell I need a bunch of time to breath, prep, think, stall. This is crap, though, because how can I get my intensity up if I don't just push through it? Something to keep thinking about and working on...

One thing that I love about CFKoP is how people call you on standing over the bar -- which I do a lot. When they see you leaning over and just holding the bar, breathing heavy, they get in your face and tell you to grab that thing and MOVE IT. Steph did a "3-2-1-UP!" countdown, and I've had another coach there do that same thing. Definitely something to add to my coaching arsenal once I complete the Level I cert in March.

I'm pumped that Husbeetle got some coaching on his squats. He needed to go wider in his stance, and point his feet out more to get his hips and knees in line. He did the thrusters Rx'd with 95#, and only needed a few corrections. His time was 24:57, and he did a 10 thruster set on his first round. As usual, I'm super proud. :-D

Hoping to be back in KoP at 9am tomorrow. :)

Catch up post

Sat Dec 19 - Unscheduled rest day -- that's my new "PC" expression for taking a day off outside the "3 on, 1 off" prescription. :-p

Sun Dec 20 - Drove to sister's place, no workout.

Mon Dec 21 - Drove from sister's place to parents' place, no workout.

Tue Dec 22 - CF KoP @ home WOD for the freak December snowstorm.

For time:
50-40-30-20-10
Squats
Sit-ups
Push-ups
Lunges (50R/50L)

Holy cow, this workout was really hard on the ass. My butt was still hurting on Thursday -- and that is saying something, because it takes a lot to make my lower body sore. I am even more convinced now that I need to work more lunges into my warmups and WODs.

Due to some very poor diet choices, I was very close to puking during this WOD, even though it still took me about 35 minutes, so I wasn't doing it at super-high intensity. The lunges were making me want to cry by the time I was doing 30 each leg. Craziness. I liked it!

Wed Dec 23 - CF KoP "Annie"

Results: 23:53

This WOD was a freakin' grind fest, but the important part is that it was my first unscaled lady WOD! Woot! After doing DU's a few days ago, I decided I had to make myself do DU's when the WOD at CF KoP was Annie.

If I hadn't gotten so frustrated during the set of 30 DU's my finish time probably would've been a lot closer to 20 minutes. Just another point of evidence to use to convince myself to calm the F down while I'm working out.

After Annie, we did shoulder press for 5-5-5-5-5. My results: 3 @ 75.

Husbeetle came along, which I was super excited about. And he loved it, which led to even more excitement. It makes me happy when we can enjoy working out together. And it justifies my obsession with CF KoP, because he now shares my opinion that it's the most awesome gym ever. :)

Thur Dec 24 - 5K

We felt like running on Christmas Eve, especially since our legs were still sore from all the lunges on Tuesday and needed to be loosened up, so off we went despite the snow everywhere. I didn't have any slips at all, but my pace definitely suffered since I had to walk over lots of nasty spots, especially crossing streets. It was fun to run up and down hills! We don't get to do that at Camp Swampy.

Results: 3.25 miles in 32:53, according to my Nike+ sensor

Fri Dec 25 - Rest day. Merry Christmas! :)

Strange night

Tonight was one of those nights I just did the workout to complete it. It was a test of mental strength -- the finish time was just an afterthought.

Chipper:

• 1000m row
• 50 pull ups
• 25 kettle swings (24k/16)
• 25 double unders
• 20 kettle swings
• 20 double unders
• 15 kettle swings
• 15 double unders

Results: 27:15 -- 4 unassisted kipping pullups, rest on tiny band; 16kg kb; all DUs- WOOT!

My row was fantastic, just over 4 minutes. My brain intended to write down my finish time on the board, but what I wrote down was my last pace measurement? WTF? I have no idea. So I wrote "2:04" on the whiteboard. Wonder what the coach thought of that? hehe

I was very happy that I did all double unders. Those are one of my "I can't" movements, but I think I really did well with them tonight. I need to work on doing consecutive double unders now that I'm pretty good at doing them by ones.

Pullups were pretty great when I remind myself how far I've come. Yeah, they took me alot longer, but I am ::thisclose:: to doing them all unassisted. I can't wait for the day when I can do WODs with pullups Rx. That will make me so proud. And Fran Rx. That will blow my mind.

Blah to K2Es

That would knees to elbows.

They are my new nemesis. The thing that makes me cry. Lovely.

Finished today's workout in 18 minutes and change. Horrible. I was half-way there to full-out crying from the first set of K2E's til the end. I have just been overwhelmed by the crappy state of my life today, and it bled over into my workout. I hate when that happens...


3 rounds for time:

• 30 wall ball shots (20lbs/14)
• 30 sit ups
• 15 kettle swings (24k/16)
• 15 knees to elbows

Working on front squats

Strength

Front squat: 8-8-6-6-4-4

Results: 85-95-100-100-100-100

Metcon: 3 rounds for time.

• 15 box jumps (20'')
• 7 handstand push ups
• 5 burpees

Results: 6:29 (feet over barbell for HSPU)

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Considering how much crappy food I've eaten in the last 2-3 days, I'm not surprised I dumped 105 on my first set of 6, and then just stuck with 100 for the rest of the strength stuff. It just wasn't my day. I also forgot to take off my shoes, and my knee was feeling a little "tweaky" after the first 3 sets. Better once I went barefoot.

Metcon was meh. Was nice to do only 5 burpees, after that other brutal workout with back squats and burpees.

Did some frogstand/headstand work, and some kipping pullups after my GHD situps and stretching. Kips are coming along. When I'm not feeling that "middle of a WOD" intensity, that seems to be when I can't quite kip my chin all the way up to the bar. I ended up doing a few half-kip and half-deadhang, and some dead hangs with the white band.

Lift, pull, run

WOD:  3 rounds for time of:

• 15 deadlifts (225lbs/135)
• 15 weighted pull ups (40lbs/20)
• 400m run

Results:  29:48 -- 135 deadlifts, mixture of kip and band pullups

The approach for pullups was to attempt kipping pullups at the start of each round, do as many of those as possible, then switch to the tiniest band. Yeah, the one that literally looks like a rubber band. It seems like it wouldn't help when you look at it, but it totally does. Guess that means I'm "thisclose" to switching completely to kipping pullups.

Anyway, round 1 I did 1 pullup, round 2 I did 4, and round 3 I did 3, I think. Not to bad. :)

The slowness of my finish time was due to the deadlifts. Since I'm still in a learning phase with those, I'm not really gutting them out yet. I can't seem to dig deep and get one more, because I just end up rounding my back and that's just shit. So, slow and steady until my form is flawless, then I'll speed things up. 

Not sure how my runs were -- I need to run my own watch on those to keep a handle on whether or not I'm working up to my potential there.

Overall, good day.

Bad attitude at the base gym

Something about working out at the base gym just throws me off my game... I don't know what it is.

Today I was able to do most of my stuff away from mirrors, and we were the only 2 people in the weight room area for most of the time, so it was something other than mirrors and crowds tonight...

The lack of a simple free-standing pullup bar and a few boxes to step on is one big frustration. Having to jump up to grab the two-handle grip thingy on a cable-crossover machine/rack to do knees to elbows was very fucking annoying.

And as I was struggling to do them, after feeling like I was really getting better at them on Tuesday in Charlotte, I just felt like a failure. I was thinking to myself how much I still suck at some of the movements that I practice.

I had some tears of frustration welling up in my eyes.

I know by now that the first thing that brings on those tears is a bad fucking attitude. A "can't do" attitude. Hate talk directed at myself.

STOP.

Instead, be aggressive. Focus. Attack. CONQUER.

Overcome.

Remember why you do this.

--
Courtesy of Crossfit Ballantyne.

WOD: For time. 2 rounds.

• 20 KB Swings (1.5/1)
• 20 Knees to Elbows
• 20 Wall Balls (20/14)
• 20 Box Jumps (24"/20")
• 50 Double Unders skipped these, forgot my rope at home, the ones at the gym suck
• 250m Row

Results:  who knows, I didn't end up timing myself

Wouldn't you know that the 1 other person in the gym working out, and not playing basketball, was on the 1 available rowing machine for 30 minutes, right while I was trying to do this WOD? Seriously, it was just a bad night like that. I did a 500m row at the end instead.

Cheered myself up when it was all over by doing an awesome frog stand to hand stand in the stretching area. Booyeah. I intend to impress my family with those once I get home for Christmas. :-p

Row, row, row

WOD: Row 5000m for time.

Results:  22:38

Hollah! I thought this was a great time for me, and I was very happy with it. It's something I think I can still improve upon, but it will be a process of slowing shaving off seconds over time. I really gave this one my all. I grunted on like 80% of the pulls! hehe Hope I didn't scare away the new girl who was doing her first workout after the 3 "intro" sessions.

And she smokes their asses!

I'm in a freaking awesome mood because I totally blew away all the times on the whiteboard at the gym tonight. And I think I really motivated the 3 other ladies in there, because they did awesome too.

Great night!

WOD:

7 rounds for time.

• 12 kettle swings (24k/16)
• 9 box jumps 24"
• 100m overhead waiters walk (45lb plate/25)

Results:  23 or 24 minutes-ish. Best time on the board prior was 27-28 range, with most in the mid-30's. Woot!

This WOD definitely played up to my strengths. I love box jumps (I have since I did plyometrics for high school track) and I love kettlebell swings. And my secret time-saving weapon on the waiters walk is to jog a little bit. It makes everybody else crazy when I do that, heh. :)

Ultimate CrossFit

Today I took my second CrossFit "field trip" with a drop-in visit to Ultimate CrossFit, located in Charlotte, NC.

The facility was awesome, tons of pullup stations, barbells and plates. And they had a mural of Kool-Aid Man busting through the wall holding a kettlebell overhead with one arm. Awesome!

All the CrossFitters in attendance were totally welcoming and friendly, as were the coaches. I love a gym with a good positive attitude. I was also digging the hip-hop vibe of the music. It was the first time I got to hear one of the songs on my own CrossFit playlist in the gym -- "Tambourine", Eve.

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Strength:

Back squat 3-3-1-1

85-95-115-135-145 (did 1 extra 1rep)

WOD:

AMRAP in 15 minutes:

• 10 box jumps (24/20)
• 10 DB walking lunges (35/25 db in each hand)
• 10 knees to elbows

Results: 5 rounds

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Is it OK that I am still squee-ing a little from getting compliments on my squats? I love hearing that I am a "strong squatter". :-p

That was  PR on back squats, again. I seem to PR each time I try them. I think it's just a matter of the fact that this is only the 4th time I've done back squats. Now that I see my potential, next time I'm supposed to go heavy I will really go for it. Kind wish I would've gone for 1 rep at my body weight (155), but it's all good. My legs were plenty tired after the metcon!

Ah, the metcon. As requested, I tried to do the "quicker" version of the box jump where you jump down rather than step down. And as I kind of expected, I got a bit uncoordinated in my quest for speed, and totally smashed my shin. Doh. Oh well, it isn't really that bad, and I think it made me look like a badass. heh

Annie on a Friday

Still staying off the shoulder -- Annie seemed like a good one for that. Did it at home in my living/dining room, and scared the crap out of my dog. :)

My single-unders were kinda sucking. Maybe the differing beats of my music I had playing was messing me up? Who knows.

Annie:

For time, 50-40-30-20-10 of:

• double unders
• situps

Result: 15:29 -- subbed x5 single-unders for double-unders (i.e. 250, 200, etc)

Running with balls

Yeah, the workout today looked as goofy as that title sounds.

WOD: For time.

3 rounds:

• 400m run with med ball (20/14lb)
• 20 overhead squats (95/65)

Results: 17:??

I substituted front squats for the OHS, and did 75# to try to make it "fair". I think the substitution was pretty good because I finished just 20 or 30 seconds faster than the two people who work out at 630, and that's typical.

The mood in the gym today was just very "eh". No one was encouraging anyone else, several people had iPods and headphones. And that just made me feel really grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I am in love with the community aspect of CrossFit, and crave that experience at our gym. It just isn't there on some days.

I worked on my frog stand and head stand after the workout. Then two people were doing hand stands and hand stand pushups after I cleared out from the mat. And that pissed me off because I'm not there with that skill yet. ARGHHHHHH!!! Yet another goal -- stop comparing yourself to others so much!

Working on deadlifts

Tonight at the gym the prescribed workout was press, push press and push jerk. Since I'd really like to get rid of this damn pain in my shoulder / back / rib, I opted to work on my deadlift instead.

Started at 95 and progressed up to 175. Started out with 5 reps, then moved down to 3. Got a PR by virtue of the fact that this is the first time I've ever worked on heavy deadlifts.

By the time I hit 175, my back was rounding, and I requested some assistance. After the coaches watched a lift, they determined I was set up too far back -- or, not far enough over the bar, if that's more clear. That was making it hard for me to engage my hamstrings.

--

I definitely need to get more comfortable with this movement. I'm thinking about adding it to my long list of things I want to work on every day... frog stands, kipping pullups, overhead squats, double unders. I need to make a more structured plan of attack for my weaknesses...

--

After two days of Celebrex, my shoulder is feeling much better. However, it seems to wear off overnight... so I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning...

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Based on today's workout, my projected CrossFit Total would be 355.

Low-key Monday

Picked up a workout from CrossFit Champions for today. Husbeetle was off work, so we went to the Camp Swampy gym together.

Have I mentioned that I hate working out there? I feel like people are constantly staring at me, not to mention I can see them looking at me in the mirror. Plus, I hate the damn Gravitron.

And I can see myself in the mirror. My arms looked freaking huge. Ew. Back to my happy place tomorrow -- no mirrors, no staring, plus free-standing pullup bars. Excellent.

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WOD:

For time. Begin with jump rope, end with run, all the rest in any order.

300 Jump Rope (first)

30 Push Press (m:35s,f:25s)

30 Pull-ups

30 Sit-ups (ab-mat)

30 KB Swings (m:55lb,f:35lb)

30 Push-ups

30 1-Arm DB Snatch (m:30lb,f:20lb) (15 each arm)

Run 400 meters (last)

--

Did not do this for time, just did it to get it done. Did 45lb push press, no small bars at the base gym. And 25lb db snatch.

For the run, we went to the track and ran a mile. I was feeling super-pukey after the workout (most likely due to the Chik-Fil-A waffle fries I ate at lunchtime, bad decision) and the run really helped me feel better. It was a good time for me, 8:27 according to my Nike+. My last lap was awesome.

--

Wednesday I'll be getting a box with my 3 new resistance bands, plus two jump ropes for LT and I. Now we just need to get to work building our free-standing pullup bar so we can do more stuff at home. Once we have that, I'm definitely getting some rings.

Grace

Knocked out another girl this morning!

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Grace: 30 clean and jerks for time. 135lb/85lb

Results: 4:45

--

Spoke to the coach beforehand about seeing the scaled weight as 95 on a few other places online, but she insisted 85 was the "correct" weight, so I just did 85. After more research online, I'm convinced it really is 95, so that's what I'll be doing next time I attempt this WOD.

I taped up my hands, and threw gloves on top of that. It felt weird and tight beforehand, but once I got into it, I felt fine.

I think my time rocked because I had such a great setup. My sister came to the gym to count reps for me, so I didn't have to be thinking about that at all. And also we had our "extra" trainer there this AM, and he stood right by me keeping me moving quick the whole time. He also fixed my clips for me several times, since they were sliding around.

Our female coach only beat me by 20 seconds. :)

AWESOME WORKOUT.

Ripping up my hands with Eva

Well, I have a new girl to add to my list over there in the sidebar. Our after-holiday workout today was "Eva".

5 rounds, for time, of:

• 800m run
• 30 kb swings (32k/24k)
• 30 pullups

Results: 56:16 -- 16k kb, white band for pullups

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This one was fun! I talked my husband into coming with me, and that was definitely motivating. And the CrossFit gods smiled down upon me, and I wasn't the last one to finish! One of the guys finished after me. If I had used a 24k kettlebell, that would've been me...

My runs felt AWESOME. I love to run, and I'm finally getting good at it again. I was very happy we ran out the front door and skipped the god-damn rocky driveway in the back of the building. Nothing pisses me off more than trying to run back there. It just throws off my focus.

My right hand started ripping open around pullup 20 of the 4th set, got worse during the 5th set, and the left hand opened up in the 20's of the 5th set. There are 150 total pullups in this WOD. Tough on the hands. I was pumped that I stuck with the white band the entire time, and didn't have to go down to the blue band. Woot!

Grace tomorrow if I wake up early enough!

Are you being served?

We did "waiter's walk" as part of the WOD this morning, so I felt inspired to make up a fun title for this post. :)

WOD:

For time:

• 25 GHD sit ups
• 150m overhead waiters walk (45lb/25 plate)
• 25 wall ball shots (20lbs/14)
• 150m overhead waiters walk
• 25 box jumps (24")
• 150m overhead waiters walk
• 400m run

Results: 12:14

Totally could've smoked this one harder, though I did beat everybody else by at least 2 minutes. GHD situps are hard to do fast when all you've done to warm up is a 500 meter row. I really need to figure out my own warmup -- I think that's key for getting more out of the WODs, and getting faster times. I also took breaks in the wall balls where I could've pushed through. And I only jogged a little bit with the waiter's walks, though I could've done much more of that. This is one I could alter and then do at the base gym, though, so maybe I'll try it again with Husbeetle one of these days.

I was actually at the 6:30 class, and it was enjoyable. The gym owners' pastor comes in at that time, and an awesome outspoken running grandma too. They rock. There was a younger woman there this morning as well who I think has just started coming -- she seemed nice, though she did the iPod with headphones thing during the workout. Will have to get her name next time I see her. I overheard a conversation she had with the trainer about no kids, a husband and a dog, so it sounds like we have some things in common. :)

She's got legs, and she knows how to use them

I predict this will be the week of sore legs. Which is a good thing! That's where I need the most work right now. I've got a pretty nice burn going from my run last night and then back squats this morning. Hopefully the workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday keep the momentum going.

--

WOD:

AMRAP* in 20 minutes:

• 25 burpees
• 15 backsquats (bodyweight)

Results: 4 rounds + 3 burpees (75lb backsquats)

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I did this workout in my socks.

This is my 3rd time doing back squats in a workout -- I enjoy them more each time I try them. I'm getting much more stable and comfortable in holding the bar in that position. And today I dumped weight for the first time while doing one -- I just let it roll down my back at the bottom of the squat. Wasn't that bad. I'm going to go for it next we go for a 1RM on this one.

Interesting observation -- it was my arm strength that seemed to be the point of failure, especially since the burpees were killing my arms.

After we finished the WOD, I did sets of 3 reps at 85-90-95-100. Wow, 100 felt so damn HEAVY! Hopefully I can keep losing some weight so that it will be easier for me to achieve a bodyweight back squat. :)

Thoughts on burpees -- I have a new approach for these. One, keep the head up and looking forward. This seems to help me stay tense and focused. Two, when bringing the feet back in, get the back straight, and then jump up. I noticed that I was bringing my feet in far enough to be on all fours, but with my back kind of parallel to the ground. This made it harder to jump up. I think now my back and legs are strong enough to get back into a "tuck" position after the pushup. Getting back into "tuck" position really helped me do the burpees faster and more efficiently. Third, stay focused during the jump. I tend to just flail into the jump and clap. I think I lose a lot of energy and focus when I do that. (burpee video if you have no idea what i'm talking about)

I'm happy with 4 rounds -- my goal was at least 3 complete rounds. I'd like to repeat this one in the future and see how I do with heavier back squats. I'd love to stay at 4 rounds but squat something massive, like over 100. That would rock.

--

*AMRAP = as many rounds as possible

Sunday Run-day

Husbeetle and I went running this afternoon for our PT.

If I am to believe my Nike+, my stats were:

• 4.25 miles
• 38 minutes
• 8:57 min/mile pace

Not too bad, I was happy. Per usual, my shoulder felt fine during the run, but is aching a little now that I'm sitting at the computer. I don't get this.

Tomorrow we're doing the main site WOD from Saturday. Get ready for some PAIN in the legs!

Garage gym

We both needed to PT really badly, so we did a simple workout in the garage.

WOD: For time, 10-9-8 . . . 3-2-1-2-3 . . . 8-9-10

• Squats
• Pushups
• Situps

Results: 18: 26

My shoulder felt fine... Which is so frustrating. It gets to hurting so badly when I'm laying down, or moving my chin to my chest, yet I did that whole workout without feeling so much as a twinge. Well, until I lay down flat on the mat to do my stretches, then it was killing me.

I'm starting to think it's a freaking internal injury or something! WTF?

Since rest hasn't made it go away, fuck it, I'm done resting, I'm just going to do a run and pushups tomorrow, and then Monday it's back to regularly scheduled CrossFit. Though I may lay off the kipping pullups and go back to working on deadhangs with the blue band. Next goal is deadhangs with the white band, and then of course deadhangs without any bands. Then I'll start thinking about working on the kip again.

--

Husbeetle did a slight variation on what I did.

For time, 10 to 1 to 10 of:

• pullups
• pushups
• squats
• knees to elbows

Jackie - 2nd round

WOD:

For time:

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

Results: 10:19

Previous results: 14:14 according to the spreadsheet in the gym, 14:21 according to what I wrote down

It looks like I brought my time down quite a bit, but a big part of my first time was switching from one band to the other in the middle of everything. I thought I could use the white band, but couldn't get any pullups with it, so I had to switch to the blue. I had the blue set up and ready to go this time.

That said, I know my row was faster. Also, I was able to do big sets of thrusters: 25-10-15. I was pretty freaking proud of those, let me tell you.

Gross moment of the day: I spit into the front of my sports bra 3 times. I just had to spit! And I had nowhere else to do it! This is why I have to go to a CrossFit gym where no one cares instead of a "nice" gym. :-D

--

I worked on my headstands after the WOD. Right now I start off in "tripod" position, with hands and forehead on the mat, and knees balanced on my elbows. Then I work on slowly raising my legs and keeping balanced. I got up into a full headstand today, with my legs straight, which rocked. I'm doing a ton better with these. I did a few self-spotted handstand pushups after that. And finally I did 3 kipping pullup attempts, and on my last one I just about got chin up to the bar in one fluid motion! Woot! I need to start attempting dead hangs as well -- I'm good on the 2nd half of the motion, but not sure I can get started from a hang with just my arms and shoulders.

Sqauttin' on Sunday

I wanted to try out the "cheesy" barbell we got from LT's mom's garage, so I looked up a workout with overhead squats for today.

WOD: Nancy

Five rounds for time.

• Run 400m
• 15 overhead squats (95/65)

Results: 18:24, 35lb OHS

--

My run might not have been 400m. It was more than 200m, at the least. I need to measure out a route of 400m from the bottom of my driveway.

The floor of my garage isn't quite flat, so I did the squats at the bottom of my driveway. Hope the neighbors were amused! I'm very glad that I live on a cul-de-sac. :)

Unfortunately I mentioned to my husband that today he could finish that workout he couldn't complete two weeks ago. He's still sick, and shouldn't be doing a grinder type of WOD like that. ::facepalm::

Back in the saddle on Saturday

Back from my day off, and feeling good. :)

Since Husbeetle had to go in to work this morning, I went to the 9:30am workout at the gym. Normally on the weekends I do something with him in the afternoon, but he ran before going to work.

--

WOD:

Complete the following exercises using a deck of cards. For aces, do double the number of the exercise you just completed.

• Spades = Squats
• Hearts = star jumps
• Diamonds = Push Ups
• Clubs = Sit Ups

This was pretty fun, we didn't do it for time, just did it as a group. I wanted to do all the pushups on my toes, but we got several diamonds in a row, and I had to drop to my knees or everybody would've had to wait for me to do them one at a time. The star jumps are freakin' killer! Those things make my quads burn. They're like a cruel variant of jump squats...

Should definitely add a deck of cards to my little "travel WOD" kit. I think Husbeetle would enjoy going all-out on this for time.

--

Today was pretty memorable because after my warm up, I jumped on the bar to work on my kipping swing, and got my first kipping pullup! After that first one, I immediately did another just to see if I really could do it. Woot!

I'm so happy that I still had one more left in me for Husbeetle to catch on video this afternoon at the pullup bars outside his office. Here's the kind of poor quality video

It looks pretty sloppy, I don't achieve chin-over-bar in one fluid motion, but I yank it up!

I still haven't achieved "do a dead hang pullup". I'm making it my goal to do that by Christmas. I think one month of working my kips without the band, and working my dead hangs with the band, along with all the other WODs I'll be doing, should get me there.

--
A few more thoughts on achieving goals...

I tend to build my goals up in my head, and make them into these monsters that only a Herculean effort could attain.

But the truth is, most of my goals follow naturally from very simple things, like getting my butt to the gym every day, and giving it my best.

When I completed my first sprint triathlon, which was a "big deal" goal for me, it was actually a huge let down. I guess I thought I would have some kind of epiphany just by swimming, biking and running in succession for 2 hours on a Sunday morning? I was also bummed to be there alone with no one to share the experience with.

Today when I kipped 3/4 of the way to the bar, and than "spasmed" myself up the last 1/4 (watch the video, you'll see what I mean :-p), I was totally stoked! And I was also totally stoked that everybody else seemed to just be doing their own thing, talking, warming up, whatever -- not even paying a bit of attention to me.

I enjoyed my little private triumph, giggled at how awkward it must've looked, and then jumped back up to try again. No fanfare needed.

I'm over having epiphanies, or getting attention, or whatever, for achieving my goals. It should just make you feel good inside, not let down.

I know I'm kind of contradicting myself by posting this, and saying "yay me, look at my video". But hey, it's my blog, and I am the embodiment of contradictions, so you'll just have to deal with it. :-p

PS - Sorry for the closeup of my boob at the end of the video! I guess that's what you get when you make my husband the camera man. :-p

Needed a rest day, worked out anyway...

Ugh, I wish I had taken a day off today... It was my fourth day in a row, and I'm beat down.

WOD:

Row 2000m for time

rest, then...

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for time of:

• power clean (95lbs/65)
• ohs (95lbs/65)

Results:

Row: 8:51

PC & OHS: 17:37 (65, 45)

--

I didn't PR on the row today. Boo. I need to row "fresh" one of these days, and see how it goes. My PR was after a hang power snatch session at CrossfitKoP. I think I didn't go into this with quite the right attitude -- a little more "OMG I'm dying" was probably in order. I know I will get less than 1/2 that in my 1000k for Jackie next week.

I'm happy with how I did in the 2nd part of the workout. I thought 45 was a good weight since 55 is my PR 1RM. Cleans were cake. I had to put down the bar during the long sets of OHS's, but by 7 I was able to do them straight through.

Gotta go shower, movie at 7:05 with hubby. :)

Running in the rain

WOD:

400m run

50 push ups

400m run

50 squats

400m run

25 burpees

400m run

Results: 20:03

--

Why the fuck was this so slow??? Seriously... Sometimes I just don't get my results from these workouts. I was way slower than a bunch of the other ladies at my gym. So disappointing.

Did 25 pushups on my feet, did 25 on my knees. Squats were steady, maybe 2-3 pauses. Burpees were steady-ish, made it 8 or 9 on my toes before I started hitting the deck on the pushups.

Didn't want to go today, since I was feeling shitty earlier, and Husbeetle has some kind of cold/flu, but I did so that I could take tomorrow off "legit" -- three days on, one day off.

SO DONE for today. Out.

Crossfit is better after naps

Husbeetle was off work early today, so we napped. Well-deserved since we woke up at 3:30 to get him out the door by 4 for his hike at 5. I even stayed awake after making him his eggs. Craziness!

WOD:

Push jerk: 3-3-3-3-3 75% of max

Metcon: 5 rounds

• 10 kettle swings (24k/16)
• 7 tire jumps (jump in/jump out)
• 5 pull ups

Results:

Push jerk: 65-85-95-95-105m-95-100m

Metcon: 9:43

--

OK, for the record, I know I did way to many sets of push jerks, plus I didn't do what I was supposed to do, with sticking with 75% of max. Oh well. :) Looks like 95 is definitely my 3RM on that movement, though, considering I missed 105 and 100.

I totally jacked up the metcon. I did 10 jumps in the tire instead of 7 - DOH! Up until round 5 when the guys that were finished started counting for me. When they yelled "2 more" after I finished 5, I realized what happened. Hilarious. :)

Pullups on the white band are awesome, I am flying up over the bar. But when I tried a "naked" kipping pullup during my warmup, I couldn't get up. I think it's time to get back into those dead hangs -- I haven't been strict about doing them recently. And also I should work on just my kipping swing without any bands -- I know the band inhibits the forward movement at the bottom of the kip.

Off to walk the dog for my final cooldown.

Hotel room Crossfit, Monday morning Crossfit

Yes, you can even do CrossFit in a decent-sized hotel room!

I felt like a slug on Friday because I slept in and skipped my normal morning walk and 8:30am Crossfit. The workout looked really crazy, and I wanted to be able to walk in my high heels that night for the ball.

So when I found myself in my hotel room getting ready to take a shower and get ready, I decided to do a little quickie just to get the heart pumping and muscles moving.

WOD: 10-9-8-7-6... of:

• squats
• pushups
• situps

Result: 7:21

Cooldown / Skill Work: Walking around in heels at the ball. :-p

--

This morning I was soooooo tired -- we didn't get home from our flight until nearly 1am. And then after my morning walk I had some digestive issues from all the crap that I ate this weekend. Which is why I was such a wuss on the strength part of the workout.

WOD:

Strength: back squat 4-4-4-4-4

Metcon: AMRAP in 10 min

• 12 power snatch (75lbs/45)
• 10 push ups

Results:

Back squat: 45-55-65-75-85

Metcon: 5 rounds

--

Obviously I didn't do much with the back squats. I got some better coaching on how to hold the bar than last time, though, and also took off my shoes to improve my heel contact with the ground. I'll go heavier next time.

I think I need to take kd's advice and subscribe to the journal. I need help on squats. When I do heavy loads with the upper body, or with Olympic lifts, I can get into it. But when I squat heavy loads, I feel like I don't know where to concentrate the power, if that makes sense.

The metcon was decent... my heartrate didn't get all that high, even though I kept a pretty steady pace the whole 10 minutes. But my quads were freakin' burning. I think I'm gonna have sore legs tomorrow.

We did knees to elbows for our cooldown, and I was amazed to find out that I can nearly do an actual, honest-to-goodness K2E! Yowzers! I am amazed at how strong my abs and back have gotten in the last 2 months of CrossFitting. Time to get my ass on the track on base and time a mile run...

Pullups

It is very important to me to master this movement, and eliminate my need for bands to assist me. So I did some research, and found there are some ways I can improve my approach.

Right now I have been kipping with a band, but my reading stresses the importance of developing the strength to do a dead-hang pullup before putting a lot of stress on the shoulder by kipping (swinging, using momentum to help propel you up and over the bar).

Some highlights.

Got Pull-Up?

Keep working on your pull-ups, but make any kipping related work secondary to your dead hang efforts.

Got Pull-Up? Part Two

Dial it back and work on dead-hang. Engage the back. Drive elbows down. Look up and over the bar, eyes on target. Chest to bar, get full range of motion.

"Grease the groove" Work on it a little bit all the time, but never work to failure. Commitment to doing this over a long period of time will pay off. As far as negative pullups are concerned (lowering yourself slowly from the bar), the author only did a single negative per workout, on the final rep of the set. These are a high cost and can get you into muscle failure (which should be avoided).

Switch up on grips. Become comfortable in all grips. I've been very overhead-centric. Time to work on mixed-grip and underhand as well.

Somewhat interesting, not my fav of the links I found.

Really interesting comparison of resistance bands and how much they assist pull-ups. Need to measure the bands at my gym to see what a good combo would be.

Discussion of using bands to assist in the Affiliate blog.

Easy day at the gym, thank god

This morning I felt like I got hit by a truck when I got out of bed. Very very sore. I have learned my lesson and will never leave the gym without stretching again. Going shopping at Target and the grocery store in flat flip flops with no support was probably a bad idea as well...

Amazingly someone had a longer time than me yesterday, and they didn't even do the ring dips, just did bench dips! I am shocked.

--

Overhead squats -- 5-5-5-5-5 (working sets)

Metcon: 20-15-10-5

• Clapping pushups
• Slam balls
• 20'' box jumps

Results:

OHS -- 25-35-45-50-55

Metcon -- 9:11 ("toes" pushups)

--

We weren't supposed to go for a PR on the OHSs, just do working sets and focus on form. My heels were lifting up a little as I came up out of the squat, so I need to work on keeping the bar back until I get more upright.

This has increased my desire to get some new flat-soled shoes to use for lifting. I did a bunch of reading on the Crossfit boards the other day, and I think I'm sold on getting some indoor soccer shoes, like Addidas Sambas. With less heel cushioning, I should be able to drive my heels down in the ground more on squats, deadlifts, all the Oly lifts that start from the ground. And a soccer shoes should allow me to wear them for shorter running workouts as well.

For the metcon, I decided to skip the claps, and just attempt to do all the pushups on my toes instead of doing clapping pushups on my knees. I did all but 4 of the pushups on my toes, so that rocked. Gotta keep working on those for sure

Worked on double unders after the workout, and actually managed to get a couple. I'm starting to get the hang of how to flip the rope with my wrists, and also keeping my arms at my sides as I jump up. My biggest challenge for these seems like it will be conditioning -- I just get out of breath really fast.

Tomorrow AM will be my last day this week, and then I'm out of town on Saturday and Sunday, so those will be my rest days. But on Sunday I'll do a brisk walk up the giant hill my parents live on -- that's always good for a deep burn in the good old butt. :)

Loooooong time

Um, I think I kinda forgot the "for time" portion while doing today's workout? Maybe because I was the only one in the gym for the 8:30 class? When I got done my time just freaking cracked me up, because both times from the 6:30am class were in the 20's.

--

3 rounds for time of:

• 400m run
• 45 deadlifts (135lbs/85)
• 25 ring dips

Results: 42:10 -- 85lb deadlifts, ring dips with smallest assist band

--

I took a lot of rest in my first and third set of deadlifts -- I think that killed my time more than having to do a lot of the ring dips in sets of 1.

As I was finishing up my first set of deadlifts, my back was killing me. The second set felt awesome, I got in the zone. Then the third I just felt like my form was all over the place, though my back wasn't as tight as the first set, so I think my form had improved.

But at least I got my wish from yesterday to work on my legs!

This is my second time doing ring dips with the bands (1st time), and I'm definitely getting better.

Glad I banged this thing out in the morning, lots of errands to do today.

--

One more thought. I rowed 750m today in my warmup, and kept my pace right around 2:10, which was awesome. I can't wait to see how I can do on the 1000m row on Jackie. I'm also anxious to do another 2k row and improve my time on that benchmark.

Squat C&J plus some tabata

WOD:

squat clean & jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Tabata:

• pullups
• situps

Results:

55-75-85-90-95-100-105-110m

3 pullups on worst set -- 10 on best

10 situps on worst set -- 14 on best

--

Yet again I was left feeling that I need to focus more on leg strength in future workouts. My arms, shoulders, back and core have all been getting better and better. But when I got "stuck" in the squat position on my 110 squat clean & jerk today, I realized my legs are now my sticking point.

A new topic for me to read up about...

Sunday sweat in the garage

Warm-up -- light jog around the neighborhood.

WOD (from main site 091031)

For time:

25 Squats

25 Push-ups

25 Pull-ups

25 Sit-ups

50 Squats

50 Push-ups

50 Pull-ups

50 Sit-ups

75 Squats

75 Push-ups

75 Pull-ups

75 Sit-ups

--

Husband picked this one for our at-home Sunday afternoon workout. He wasn't feeling well, threw up after his jog, did his first set of squats and pushups, and then yacked again and was down for the count. I tended to him between sets / during rests, so I didn't record my time for this one. I also had to skip my final set up 75 pullups because he was laying in the hallway where my pullup bar was set up. He's better, just resting now. His stomach has issues with exercise sometimes.

The squats felt better and better as I went on. Makes me think I need to do a lot more air squats in my day-to-day workouts. Now that my arms / upper body has gotten to a decent point in strength, it's time to really challenge myself and get super sore in upper and lower body.

The pushups were a little less horrible than I was expecting. My practice is starting to pay off. Gotta keep at it on my knees and get back to doing them on my toes soon.

I subbed jumping pullups as I don't have any bands at home. But we are talking about building a free-standing pullup bar soon, so hopefully my home gym will be expanding in the near future...

Back squats and metcon

WOD:

Back squat -- 5-5-5-5-5 working sets

Metcon: 4 rounds for time

• 6 handstand push ups
• 8 power snatch (95lbs/65)
• 12 star jumps

Results:

Back squat: 55-65-70-75-80

Metcon: 13:09 (55lb power snatch)

--

I took it easy on the back squats for two reasons. One, I haven't actually done that movement in a workout before. And two, it was sets of five. The method of holding the bar felt very awkward to me. I will be doing some research into proper form for that movement.

Side note: I would really like to take an Olympic lifting certification.

Metcon was kind of a grinder. The star jumps killed me, my quads were just giving out as I squatted down to do the next jump. Ack. I rested a little bit too much on the power snatches as well, even though I scaled the weight down a bit so I could get the heart racing with a faster pace.

But I hate to rush myself when I'm doing Oly movements. I don't like to just throw the bar around in a rush to get done, I feel like I'm gonna hurt my back and develop bad habits.

I applied a lot of what I learned my second night at Crossfit KoP, and I was once again glad I had the chance to train with Aimee there. A "tune-up" session, or sessions, with her is definitely on my Christmas list. Side note: It's fun to feel the bar fly up when you get all the little things right on an attempt. :)

Popped out a few pullups post-workout, but not a whole bunch because I was running out of time. Next week I need to get more squeezed in to prep for the Jackie re-test coming up in Nov.

Kip, throw, dip

WOD:

For time: 21-15-9

• pull ups
• wall ball shots (20lbs/14)
• ring dips

Results: 21:50 (I think? I might have the # of minutes wrong, it may have been 20...)

Scaled pullups by using the beige (smallest) band. Scaled ring dips by using beige band.

--

This was my first attempt at ring dips. It went a lot better than I thought. Honestly these dips felt more natural than putting my palms on the side of a bench and my feet up on another bench. I will always do these on the rings from now on. I had to break down to sets of 1 for much of the workout, but it is what it is. I'll gain stamina and get more comfortable with the movement over time.

My pullups kicked total ass today. I have been improving my kip and I think that is making all the difference. I can't wait to do Jackie again in a few weeks and see how I've improved from last time. I wasted a lot of time dicking around with the resistance bands on that workout, not to mention I couldn't do many pullups in a row.

Wallballs lacked leg power, until the end when my arms were too tired to take the lead and finally let my legs do the work. I already knew I needed work on these, this was a good learning moment.

Repost: Paleo-riffic!

Ok, that title is only fun if you say it out loud, and laugh because it sounds so much like "Paleolithic".

Yes, I am a dork, and my jokes are usually only funny to me. :)

Aaaaaaaaaaanyway...

What I'm trying to write a post about is my current endeavor to change the way I eat.

If you mingle in CrossFit circles or blogs long enough, inevitably you will hear about the Paleo / Paleolithic / Primal / Cave Man diet.

In a nutshell:

Plants (vegetables, fruits, seeds and herbs) and animals (meat, fish, fowl, and eggs) should represent the entire composition of your diet.

- Mark Sisson, The Primal Blueprint, 2009

What's different about this style of eating (I hate the word "diet", it makes me think of starvation and grapefruit...) is that it's not necessarily one that people seek out to lose weight. Most people who switch to eating Paleo do so because they want to improve their health, well-being, performance, etc.

For me, the most intriguing thing about Paleo is that it can help you discover whether or not you are sensitive to dairy (lactose) or gluten.

Sorry, but I'm about to go TMI.

I've had issues with digestive upset / diarrhea ever since I can remember. I came to realize as I got older that my "normal BM" was not the same "normal" as others. If I had ever gone to the doctor about it, I might have been diagnosed with IBS (inflammatory bowel syndrome). During particularly stressful times in college, I definitely thought I had IBS.

It is really freakin' annoying. And gross. And annoying.

'Nuff said. You get it.

At some point during college I noticed I had particularly acute reactions to eating milk with cereal, and sometimes from ice cream. So I eliminated milk and switched to soy milk for my cereal, and tried to cut down on ice cream. Those changes helped a little, but the general trend of digestive issues continued.

I've primarily initiated this change to find out how my body feels without any dairy and without gluten (wheat / grains).

I made my decision to try Paleo just before I left on my road trip. It's hard to make that type of change while on the road, and while I was eating carefully and mindfully while away from home, I didn't succeed in cutting out all dairy and grains.

What I immediately noticed was that anytime I did eat anything in those two categories, a digestive upset clearly followed. And when I was successful in avoiding those foods, things were OK in that department.

The biggest thing I learned from those slip-ups is that dairy clearly is not a friend to my digestive system. So, at this point I'm fairly certain that I'm lactose intolerant. I kind of already knew that, from my previous diet changes, but I guess I was in denial. I love cheese! And I will probably eat cheese in the future, just with the knowledge that it will make me sick after the fact. Which is a lot like most kinds of alcohol, so that's not so different, right? :-p

I'm still not sure about whether or not I'm sensitive to gluten. I want to stay strictly on the Paleo diet for a full 30 days before I experiment with eating anything in the grains category. During my first few weeks, any grains that I ate were always paired with dairy as well, so I didn't get a truly clear picture of the effect grain was having on my digestive system.

--

All that said, I have been feeling great since I got back from my trip a week ago today. Some of it I have chalked up to the energizing factor of visiting so many friends and family while I was away. But something tells me what I've been eating is a factor as well.

Obviously the improvements in my digestive system must be from the new diet. That is irrefutable. This is a freakin' life-changer people. Amazing. I am so happy about this.

But one other thing I know for sure is that I have lost weight. Between October 7th and October 27th I lost 3 pounds. That is huge for me, because even with going to CrossFit I have been hovering around the same weight for nearly a month. What is crazy about this is that I was primarily on the road, and not working out very consistently or intensely during those 20 days. (PS - Yes, this means that I did weigh myself after that post earlier this week about dreading it.)

Which is why I'm kind of amazed that I'm kicking so much ass in the gym. Today I did a set of 11 pullups in a row with the smallest resistance band. That was while completing the first round of a workout that included sets of 21, 15 and 9 pullups. I thought by the time I got near the end that I would have to switch to the middle band, which provides more assistance, but I didn't . That made me feel freakin' awesome. And I completed all the ring dips with the smallest assistance band as well. I had a slow time due to the dips taking forever, but I was still pumped. I haven't felt this kind of mental energy about athletics since my high school soccer days, or maybe my running days just around the time I met LT when I brought my mile time down near 8 minutes.

Anyway, that kind of got off topic -- the point is, I feel good.

And what I love is that I didn't make the choice to do this because I want to weigh a certain number of pounds, or because I want my upper arms to stop jiggling (don't get me wrong, I do want that!). I'm doing it because it's what is healthiest for my body.

In a way I feel lucky that I have these sensitivities / allergies - it's a built-in incentive to fuel my body optimally. It's a motivating factor that won't change with the season or with my pants size.

--

In closing, I just want to say that this isn't just a "crazy" diet for those "crazy people who do CrossFit". This diet would've benefited me at any point up until now, CrossFit or not. It just so happens that the CrossFit community is a primary source of information / anecdotes about this style of eating, and that's how I was informed about it.

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. You may not like the idea of CrossFit, and you may have no desire to try it, which I totally understand. But I think a diet like Paleo still deserves your consideration, especially if you are like me and have even an inkling that you might have some undiagnosed food allergies.

There are so many other cool health benefits to Paleo, but I will leave those to the experts (hellooooo keeping blood insulin levels from spiking for one!). This is just an account of my experience so far. If you want more in-depth information, this post is a good jumping-off point: Getting Started: A Brief Guide to Paleo / Primal Living.

Happy eating!

Man makers

Was kind of a boring class this morning. My normal 8:30am workout buddy comes in the afternoon on Wednesdays, and I was the only one there. Blah. Oh well, at least I got my workout done for today. :)

--

WOD

3 rounds for time:

• 400m run
• 10 DB man-makers (35lbs/25)
• 20 sit ups

Results: 27:14, as Rx'd

--

See video demonstrating man-makers below. They are kind of a burpee variant. This week is really making me see that I need to make pushup work more of a priority -- that is really holding me back from good times on some workouts.

And OMG my 3rd run was soooooo sloooooow. Holy cow. This lady needs to do some major work on her cardiovascular fitness. It's really lame that I can power clean 125, but I'm slogging along so badly on the fast-paced workouts.

Overhead strength

WOD:

push press -- 5-5-5-5-5

Metcon: 3 rounds for time:

• 10 pull ups
• 10 push ups
• 150m sprint

Results:

push press -- 65 - 75 - 85 - 90 85 - 85

Metcon: 6:12 ??

--

My brain is gone, I have no idea what my time was for the metcon. I think just over 6 minutes? Or was it under 5? Whatever... Needed to run faster and do the pushups faster. I'm getting better on the pullups -- I did an unbroken set of 10 in the first round. My kip is coming along, though I'm back to using the blue band instead of the white. Based on a bunch of research I did, it is better for me to build up more shoulder strength before I really start kipping in earnest.

On the fourth set of push presses, I got 90 up once, and then dumped on rep 2. So I just went back to 85 and did two sets with that to finish. Though I think maybe I should've tried 90 again. I just didn't use enough butt when I dumped it -- it was on its way up, and I just couldn't straighten my arms. But I can at least bump my push press 1 rep PR up to 90, from 85. Woot! :)

Throwing heavy weights around

Today's WOD was a good one. I'm overall very proud of what I accomplished. I can't believe how strong I am getting! I love it!

--

WOD:

power clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Metcon*: 4 rounds

• 15 box jumps 20"
• 15 kettle swings (24kg / 16)

Results:

Power clean: 85 - 95 - 105 - 115 - 120 - 125 - 130 (attempted, but couldn't get it up)

WOOT! I felt like I was *truly* a CrossFitter today as I loaded 5 more pounds and 5 more pounds. I even garnered a little cheering section of a couple guys from the 4pm class. Good times in the gym. :)

Metcon: 7:42 Rx

I did awesome among the women who performed this as prescribed. I think I could've manned-up and done all sets of the swings unbroken. I broke the first set into 10 and 5. But all in all, great!

*Metcon = metabolic conditioning; in other words, a part of the workout specifically meant to be very high intensity

--

While I'm feeling stronger and faster in the gym, I'm avoiding weighing myself. I just don't want to know...

Sometimes I get so discouraged when I see the scale, and see that the number hasn't moved. That disappointment about my weight diminishes my pride in the athletic improvements that I've made in the gym.

It's like my brain says: "Well, it's all well and good you rowed 2k in under 9 minutes, but you still don't fit back in your jeans, nee-ner-nee-ner-neeeeee-neeeeerrrrrr."

I really don't want to perpetuate an attitude that all that matters is my weight, or an attitude that getting stronger and fitter is not as important as being thin.

But at the same time, one way to see if I'm doing the right thing with my diet is to check in with the scale.

Steamy Friday afternoon

Ick, it got hot today!

I worked out at 4pm because this AM I was attending Jane Wayne Day on base. I got a little warm-up there -- we did a modified version of the CFT. That stands for "combat fitness test". We did the "movement under fire" portion of the test. Scroll to the bottom of this article for a graphic. Husband wasn't there, he was in charge of a different station, so I drug and fireman carried a Marine who was about the same weight as him, 170lbs. Damn that 20 yard drag was freaking hard! Fireman carry was much easier in comparison. I was surprised at how well I could do that, my legs are definitely getting strong. :)

--

WOD:

4 rounds for time:

• 21 sumo deadlift high pull (95lbs/65)
• 15 hang cleans (95lbs/65)
• 9 cal row

Results: 21:03 RX weights

--

I'm not a big fan of rowing for calories. It's just weird. Maybe if the calories were shown in decimal increments, but they just go 1-2-3... Kind of annoying to see 8 and be waiting for it to suddenly flip to 9. I felt like it distracted me from just rowing well.

I probably could've done bigger sets, but after the first round, I pretty much stuck with sets of 5 for the hang cleans and the SDHPs. I was really dreading doing 65lb SDHPs before the workout started, but it wasn't that bad. Maybe it wasn't that bad because I only did 5 at a time? I dunno. :)

I do have to say that I hate that no matter what, after almost every workout, I'm still left feeling a little disappointed in myself. But my time was really good for RX weight, I did great. I need to start focusing on feeling satisfied with my performance. Being a perfectionist has some good results, but mostly it just makes you feel guilty or not good enough.

Blackjack

I got back in time to attend my Camp Swampy gym at 5pm, so I did their WOD.

WOD:

For time.

Start with 20 push ups and 1 sit up. Each round reduce 1 push up and add 1 sit up until you reach 1 push up and 20 sit ups.

Results: 26:?? (I have a bad memory for my times even though I check them as I walk out the gym door)

--

Even though I had a really slow time compared to others, I felt that I was really getting in the full range of motion on my pushups and situps, so I was OK with it.

I will push the envelope a little more on the pushups next time. My issue today was that when I would try to go for 2 or 3 in a row, I would crap out at the bottom, and then "waste" the downward movement effort. So I was doing them 1 at a time, and then pushing back into a child's pose kind of position to take the pressure off my arms.

This will be a good workout to use as a benchmark as I improve my pushups. I wonder if one day I will be able to do the whole thing with "real" pushups, instead of on my knees. That would kick so much ass. :)

--

For cool down, it was "work on something you suck at". So I did some pullups on the small band, overhead squats (worked up to 55lbs, woot!) and I worked on my headstand with my knees on my elbows. I have no idea what that's called, but it's the starting point I'm going from for handstand pushups. From that position, I'm working on raising my legs into the air and holding them straight up with no support. Then I'll move on to working on handstands against the wall, and then actually doing the "push up" part. :)

--

Video that I really liked from CrossFit Portland.

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

Vacation WOD in NC

Fell back asleep this AM when I was supposed to work out, so I had to fit in a quickie before getting my niece and nephew off the bus this afternoon. Tried to incorporate a warm-up into the workout by starting with low reps.

--

WOD:

For time. Each round increase reps by 5: 5-10-15-20-25

Squats

Push Ups

Alternating reverse lunges

Sit Ups

DB Push Presses (12lb dbs)

Results: 17:32, and sweaty :)

--

Heading home from my journey tomorrow AM. I think I'll do a run when I get back.

Filthy Fifty - DNF

*wham*

That was the sound of me hitting the floor during my workout yesterday, in the midst of a set of 50 walking lunges.

The coach took one look at me, and made me lay down on the ground with a cold bottle of water behind my neck. It seems my crappy diet (and resulting digestive mayhem) had come back to bite me in the butt -- I was definitely dehydrated. Instead of being bright pink, my face was pale. And I could feel my heart beating way too hard. Yuck.

I started back up at a slower pace after my rest, but unfortunately I had quite a bit of the WOD left to complete, and I ended up not finishing. But it's all good. I'm still glad that I made the effort to go to the gym on my way out of town. It's going to be a challenge to get any workouts in while I'm visiting my parents this weekend.

--

WOD: Filthy Fifty

• 50 Box jump, 25/21 inch box
• 50 Jumping pull-ups
• 50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood/1/2pood
• Walking Lunge, 50 steps
• 50 Knees to elbows
• 50 Push press, 45/35 pounds
• 50 Back extensions
• 50 Wall ball shots, 20/14 pound ball
• 50 Burpees
• 50 Double unders

Results: DNF

In other words -- Did Not Finish. Specifically, I stopped at about 35 wall balls, and the clock was pretty close to 40 minutes. Still a good workout, my legs (and especially calves) are sore today.

My setup: 21 inch box, 35lb KB, 35lb for push press, 14lb med ball

--

They posted a pic of me on the CFKoP site, and it's totally unflattering. But I have so few CF pics of myself that I'm posting it any way. :)

Vacation WODs from 2008

I knew I had posted some WODs from my vacation with Husbeetle last summer, but I just came across them today. Maybe I can use some of them at my parents' house this weekend.

CrossFit KoP visit - part duex

After pigging out with a friend on Tuesday night, I decided I had to hit up the gym on Wednesday, so I drove back from her place and just barely made it in time for the 6:30pm workout at CF KoP. Definitely worth it. Can I say again that I love love love the coaching at this box? Totally a great example that I would love to follow one day, if I ever coach CF.

Anyway, back to the workout recap...

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WOD

Hang Power Snatch

3-3-2-2-1-1

2000M Row

Results: 45-55-60-65 and 8:52

--

I got a kick out of working on the hang power snatch. I realized from last Wednesday that the "hang" variants of the lifts are much more challenging in terms of using the power of your lower body. It's easy to get that hip extension in while coming from the ground. But when it's just a quick opening of the hips, it makes things a lot more difficult.

My form issues with the snatch were all over the place. On some I wasn't really shrugging and getting my elbows up and back, I was just immediately trying to drop under the bar. Probably very hilarious to watch. This also led to a lack of hip extension, and a crappy jump, which is a chronic problem of mine.

--

My row was an improvement over my last 2K, which I distinctly remember was 9:17. I am getting better at bringing my split time (right term?) down closer to 2:00. That seemed to be the ultimate goal of the other people at CFKoP, which would mean an 8:00 2k. Definitely my new goal.

I thought I kind of didn't try as hard as I could have on the row because I was thinking too much about form? It was weird. Maybe for one of my Sunday afternoon workouts when I'm back at home I'll attempt to 2k row again and really go all out.

CrossFit KoP visit

I checked out CrossFit KoP tonight, and it rocked. Why the heck couldn't they open before I moved away? It would have been a 5 minute drive from my house. Or it would've been a perfect stop on the way home from work. Gah!

Oh well, at least if I ever move back, I'll know there's a terrific gym to workout at. Plus I can hit them up when visiting Husbeetle's family, though it's kind of a pain in the ass to drive there from his mom's house.

--

WOD:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Clean and Jerks (75#/115#)

KB Swings (scale according to level)

Pull-ups

Results: 24:14; 65# C&Js, 16kg (35#) KB, medium band pullups

--

Really felt my cardio deficiencies on this workout. I need to just push myself more, but then my form suffers alot when I try to push through and not rest. I am at a loss... My strength is increasing much faster than my cardio-vascular fitness. Bah.

The main coach at KoP, Aimee, rocked this. We did about 10 minutes of coaching on the C&J movement between the warm-up and the WOD. Awesome. Got some truly welcome feedback on my C&J form.

First, I was not fully extending my hips before catching the bar. Need to work on the deadlift-shrug portion, and make sure I have the whole range of motion in my hips before I bring the elbows around to rack the bar. Also, my head is not neutral. I tend to tilt my head really far back. Odd, huh? Guess that explains why I have a sore neck pretty often. Definitely two things I can work on and improve. That's why I did 65# and not 75# as Rx'd. Stayed lighter to really focus on form. And according to Aimee and her assistants, I did improve as the workout progressed, so I'm really happy with that.

Overall it felt great, and I'm so relieved to have gotten a great workout in while on vacation. We'll see if I can squeeze in another 6:30pm class the day after tomorrow. It all depends on when I travel, and what time I get back to the area. I'm making an extra-special side trip tomorrow. :)

Quickie WOD

Friday ended up being a rest day as well, I know, boo to me, but I did do a quick workout on Saturday.

For warm-up I did a 10-12 minute run.

WOD: As many rounds as you can in 20 minutes:

10 Push-ups

15 Squats

20 Sit-ups

Results: Completed 8 rounds, plus some pushups.

This was really an easy day. Not exactly what I need to be doing to get my Jackie time down next month when we repeat. Plus I took off Sunday, and I'm not seeing a good chance of doing anything today. Eeek. I'm at least going to try to do some sit-ups and push-ups, maybe 10-10 for 10 minutes or something like that. Gah. Going on vacation really F's things up...

Fall break WOD list

Gonna use this post to link to workouts I find online that I can do while I'm away on my "fall break".

Crossfit Champions

• Squats, push-ups, pull-ups
• Variety, can accomodate most w/ vaca equipment
• Pull-ups, push ups, swimmers, sit-ups
• Filthy 50, can do most
• AMRAP thrusters, pullups
• Lunges, KB swings, push-ups

"Vacay" Fran -- 21-15-9 of thrusters and jumping pullups

TBD...

Some oly lifts, yay!

"Oly" is slang for "Olympic" -- I picked that up somewhere in my perusal of Crossfit blogs the past week. I like. :)

WOD:

AMRAP 8min of:

• 5 Clean and Jerk (135 lbs/95)
• 7 ring dips

3 min rest

AMRAP 4min of:

• 5 hang power cleans (135lbs/95)
• 7 handstand push ups

Results: 3 rounds (85lbs; bench and box for dips) and 1 3/4 (85lbs, ankles over bar for HSPU)

**AMRAP stands for "as many rounds as possible".

--

Wow, this workout was deceptive... I thought I would be throwing the bar up a lot faster than I did, after my first 5 C&Js I was sooooo out of breath, damn! And I was just barely able to get up the HPCs, after the jump my feet were sooo wide. It almost would've been easier to catch in a squat.

But it felt good, I'd like to do this one again sometime. And I'm happy that I learned another way to modify HSPUs. Put a bar on a squat rack, hook your feet over and hang upside down, and try to get as vertical as you can. I was really just bending my elbows a bit and then locking back out, but it's a start. I think at this point I'm going to be as excited about getting a true HSPU as I am about getting a true dead hang pullup.

--

This is my last workout in the gym for a while, I'm leaving today on my trip up north. I'm going to do my best to keep working out while I'm on the road, but I do find it challenging to "program" for myself. I think if I was ever a coach or affiliate owner, I would offer "vacation programming" packages to my clients as part of their regular monthly fee. This month I paid for the whole thing, not knowing how long I'd be gone. It would just be nice to still feel like I was getting my $$$$'s worth. And given a set of equipment available, it seems to me they could come up with 5-7 workouts for me to do easily. They are the experts!

I'm taking along my 12lb dumbbells for DB hang squat cleans, thrusters, push presses, front squats, DB swings. I can borrow a broom here or there to keep working on my form for OHS and snatch. And then I've got my in-the-doorway pullup bar that I can use for jumping pullups and maybe some work on negatives. My big focus will be pushups, I'm so damn weak on those. I had worked on them a while back, and got better, but now I'm sucking again. Gotta put some time and effort into that, 2 weeks is enough time to make some decent improvements.

Nancy

Today we did "Nancy".

5 rounds for time of:

• 400 meter run
• Overhead squat (OHS), 15 reps (95/65)

Results: 19:56, 30lbs on OHS

--

In hindsight, I maybe could have gone 5lbs heavier on the OHS, up to 35. But I was wary because last time I did OHS in a workout, I tried to use the 45lb bar, and I went over backwards onto my ass at least 3 times, maybe 4. Not pretty. So I worked up from the 15lb bar, and stopped when I felt like it was a good weight for 15 reps.

After the workout was finished I wanted to see how heavy I could go, so I worked up by 5lb increments doing 3-5 squats at each weight. When I hit 50 I felt like that was my upper limit, so next workout I plan to use the 45lb bar and master that weight before moving up any more. Good times.

My runs were kinda sucky. Blah.

--

Me and two new chicks at the gym worked on hand stands after the cool down. I made a total ass out of myself slamming into the wall and falling onto my head twice. After that I stuck with working on a head stand, and lifting my legs up from there. I'm going to stick with that til I've mastered it, and then try again on the hand stand position. I'm starting from the very bottom on this skill, so it's good that I'm getting started. :) Hopefully all the strength that I'm gaining in my upper body and abs will help speed up my progress.

Still no "naked" pullups, I'm gonna give it another go tomorrow AM. I know I have at least one band-less kipping pullup in me, if I can do 96 with bands!

Crappy 5k, Jackie

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

Chip time: 30:46

Gun time: 32:12

Pace: 10:22 min/mile

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

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

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WOD was "Jackie".

For time.

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

Results: 14:21 (blue band on pullups)

--

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crossfit cripple

Oh yes, that is me today.

I skipped yesterday because I was super sore. But then today I told myself, "Self, if you go and do the workout it will loosen you up, and you'll feel better."

Um, yeah, so not true.

My armpits hurt. I had no idea I had so many muscles in my armpit area. And my chest muscles hurt. Not to mention my scabbed over hands are now cracking open. Tuesday is still wreaking havoc on my body. Ack.

--

WOD:

3 rounds for time

• 500m row
• 25 kettle bell swings (24k/16)
• 25 double unders (substitute 125 regular jump ropes)

Result: 20:48 (did regular jump ropes)

--

Obviously this workout shows that I need to learn to do double-unders. Need to find some videos on learning that.

I felt like total ass swinging the kettlebell, and usually I really enjoy that movement. Maybe it was just a lot heavier than I've done in a while? Most likely. It felt like it was 50 pounds, and I thought it was just going to fly out of my hands. My form sucked, I couldn't get my hips to snap because my grip just felt so tenuous. Stopped to rest a lot. Definitely a workout to try again in a few weeks and see how I've improved.

--

Tomorrow I'm running a 5k, and Husbeetle is running a half-marathon. He's such a sexy beast, and I love him for it. We'll do a 1/2 together sometime soon. :)

Kelly "Lite"

WOD: Kelly "Lite"

3 rounds ("regular" Kelly is 5 rounds)

• 400m run
• 30 box jumps 24"
• 30 wall ball shots (20lbs/14)

Results: 29:36 as RX'd

--

I pushed myself by using the 24'' box, and the 14lb med ball -- lots of the chicks at the gym today scaled down to 10lb ball, blah to that (but hell no to the 20lb'er). I also tried to use the 8' line on the wall, instead of the lower line for women. I honestly think the lower line is kind of a cop-out when the weight is already scaled down.

But at the same time, I think I could've pushed myself harder on the runs, and also on the wall balls. I wasn't keeping up any kind of rhythm with them, just doing random sets of 2, 3, 4, 5. I'd like to blame yesterday's total shoulder annihilation, but I just wasn't focusing and pushing myself. I'll do better on those next time.

My box jumps kicked total fucking ass. I was feeling good about being the only chick at 5pm or 6pm jumping the 24'' box. I think at least 2 of those ladies were selling themselves short, and could've done awesome on 24'', but did 20''.