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)

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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*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.

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Husbeetle did a slight variation on what I did.

For time, 10 to 1 to 10 of:

• pullups
• pushups
• squats
• knees to elbows