Wednesday, December 28, 2011

12/28 - Christmas WOD #3 and #4

As a note - 39 degree (102 F) weather is not conducive to working out without air-conditioning so I waited out the day as much as I could and got these two done at 6:30pm on my front porch - life is good.

Made up yesterday's WOD along with today

WOD (12/27)
Max push-ups for 2 mins
1 min rest
Max sit-ups for 2 mins
1 min rest
Max squats for 2 mins
1 min rest
Max burpees for 2 mins
55/71/100/25
Score = 251

WOD (12/28)
Tabata hollow body
Tabata squats
Tabata superman
Tabata push-ups
160/86
Score = 246

I was really stoked with my squats on this one - last time we did a tabata WOD like this (a week or so ago) I was pacing myself off of Tim to keep up the speed on the squats and I think I got 141 so was hoping to match that if possible and somehow managed to keep a steady 20 squats per round which was wicked.

Bonus WOD (to even out my numbers on the Holiday Challenge WOD)
9 push-ups
29 sit-ups
40 squats
(still avoiding the burpees at all costs -ugh!)

Remaining totals:
250 push-ups
300sit-ups
0 squats
450 burpees (there will be a 100 burpees for time at some point I swear)



Tuesday, December 27, 2011

12/26 - Christmas WOD #2

WOD:
30-25-20-15-10-5
Cockroaches
Mountain climbers
4:45

After yesterdays killer leg workout this one hurt just a little but managed to get it done - on my front porch no less.  Loving this 'anywhere/anytime' WODs.  Makes you realize that there is no valid excuse to not work out... there's always time wherever you are! 

Meant to get some burpees done today but with the sore legs it didn't happen.  Ugh... soon! 

No change...
Remaining totals:
400 push-ups
400 sit-ups
300 squats
500 burpees 

Sunday, December 25, 2011

12/25 - Christmas WOD... new tradition!

Our box - Cooee Crossfit - is awesome enough to post daily WODs for us to do on our holidays and today was the first one... it was a good one.

WOD
4 rounds -
25 lunges (with hands above head)
50 squats
10:58

This hurt... my quads were pretty much done by the time I finished... it was however really awesome to head to the park in the sunshine and do a workout - it feels right given that it's 30C here - a new Christmas tradition was born today I believe...

Match and Kirst were also so kind as to put together and EPIC challenge for the course of the next 9 days...  to be completed at any time in any order you'd like... 

PLUS! There’s a bonus holiday challenge –
Over the holidays, complete…
500 push-ups
500 sit-ups
500 squats
500 burpees
You can split these up however you like over the 9-day break and any reps completed in workouts contribute to your overall total.

Today I added 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups which along with the 200 squats means I'm on my way but those burpees, oh those burpees - they're going to kill me.  On the positive side however I will endeavor to re-do my 100 burpees for time to try and beat my last go when I was in the Cook Islands.  Need a little mental preparation first though.

Remaining totals:
400 push-ups
400 sit-ups
300 squats
500 burpees

Awesome Christmas Day - did you get a workout in?

My view for today's WOD

12/24 - 12 Days of Christmas

Xmas Eve WOD
On the 12th Day of Christmas Cooee CrossFit brought to me… (drawn out of the hat, care of Lily)
One mountain climb
Two air squats
Three double-unders
Four sit-ups
Five walking lunges
Six toes to bar
Seven cockroaches
Eight pistols
Nine weighted get-ups
Ten (one) 200m run
Eleven box jumps
Twelve box dips
… work your way through, just like the song “On The 12th Day of Christmas”
23:20 (with an extra 200m run thrown in because I can't follow the song)

This was fun and I'm glad some of the potential movements stayed on the board - I'm looking at you burpees!  I got confused when I got to 11 - for some reason when I went out the door I thought I had to run 200m then do 11 box jumps then run another 200m.  I even tried to convince Tim of this (that he'd missed a 200m run - but he wasn't having any of it)... it wasn't until I was on the way back from the second 200m that I realized my mistake.  I thought maybe I'd just skip the 200m in the last round but when I got to it I decided to follow the WOD, sucked up my mistake and did it.  It was a lot of fun.

I did the toes to bar on the pull-up bar rather than the ground and although I can't quite get my toes to the bar I'm getting better than just knees to elbows - I'm about 3/4 of the way to getting them fully and I'm super excited about this new skill.  Another thing to work on in the new year!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas! (source)


Good Luck to Jack-eh! on his adventures in Canada...

12/23 - DU's and squats...

Was nice to have today off work to get in a WOD that wasn't super early... 9:30 is a wicked time and more relaxed that the other time slots (people don't typically need to rush off - except if they have Christmas shopping left to do... haha)

Strength:
3-3-3-3 back squats
30-40-50-60(PR) 

This was awesome as my previous PR was 55kg and I had no problem with the 50kg so I jumped to 60kg though slightly unsure.  Tim spotted me which really helped (he gets some credit here) - I didn't need his assistance but his voice was literally in my ear as I pushed through the reps and knowing he was there to catch me if necessary really helped with the confidence I needed - I'm super happy with this one!  Feeling stronger too!

WOD:
3 rounds -
10 OHS (30/45kg)
50 double-unders
5:07 (23kg- PR)

Again, PR on the OHS - previous best was 18kg so again, super happy...  I also love being able to rock the DU's which makes such a difference in WODs like this one.  I got the first 50 continuous (woo-hoo) then stopped once and then twice on the last two rounds.  Loved it.  Great pre-Christmas Eve WOD... I can't believe I've been doing this now for 5 months - such an improvement and loving every second of it...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

12/21...

WOD
400m run
3-6-9-12-9-6-3 sit-ups/push-ups
400m run
3-6-9-12-9-6-3 pull-ups/air squats
400m run
14:06 (knees, orange)

This was hard... I have no sprinting ability to the runs take a lot out of me and I typically only have one speed for anything 200m or greater.  Need to work on sprint repeats!  It was good however because I had Sharon on the first two runs to pace with - we push each other - starting with yesterday's 600m - when one of us falls behind we individually set our minds to keeping pace and we typically trade off on who is lagging - it's a good extra push (and one I struggled without on the last run in this WOD).

The situps and pushups were quite quick - lots of rolling over to keep them going.  I managed full sets of them all though I'm still doing pushups on my knees.

The pull-ups/squat combination was tough.  I did however only use the orange band for them doing sets of 3 at a time.  As everyone around my speed headed out the door before me I took solace in the fact that I was committed to the orange band (even though I *had* a red one beside me).  I was hoping to get out the door quite soon after Sharon so I could try and catch up/ finish with her but I was finishing my last set of 3 reps on the set of 9 when she hit the door so I knew it'd be a struggle - she had about 100m lead on me so I couldn't close.  It also made it a little bit harder to push myself on this but I tried.  It hurt.

As a note for those reading this from elsewhere - we have 4 sized bands at our box and from smallest to largest they are yellow, orange, red, blue.  You can use one or several - any combination to help you out.

AfterWOD
Tabata SDHP/Thrusters (13/20kg)
47

I only did the first 4 of 8 rounds on this as my injury from the push presses the day before started killing me - decided it wasn't worth hurting myself over and instead resorted to some rolling out of my lats/traps and pecs which is slowly starting to help.

Kirsten pointed out after as well that I need to push through my legs more (be explosive) rather than just trying to muscle it out on my arms - this applies to all the overhead lifts so I'll keep that in mind for next time.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

12/20 - Lung Burner

WOD #1
3-3-3-3-3 push press
18-28-33-35.5-36.5 (PR)

This was fun and 8.5kg higher than my previous PR! I did something weird however on the last lift that tightened up everything in my traps which is still sore today even with rolling and stretching and heating.  Ouch!

WOD #2
600m run/row
21 box jumps (20/24″)
21 burpees
400m run/row
15 box jumps
15 burpees
200m run/row
9 box jumps
9 burpees
14:16 Rx

Horrible, horrible, horrible.  That's the only description required for this lung burner.  There was no 'rest' piece of this WOD.  Horrible.  BUT... I got it done which is what it's all about.  My legs really felt dead during the burpees as a result of the box jumps but did it... some days that enough.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Glut Killers...

The photo below clearly depicts the glut killers we did in yesterday's warmup... if you don't believe me give it a try yourself focusing on slowly moving the back foot towards the leading foot - across the box and back the other way.  Ouch!

Source - Cooee Crossfit

Monday, December 19, 2011

12/19... KB's and DU's and Burpees oh my!

Warm-up
Pretty standard warm up but today Match had us using a band under our feet to walk sideways across the box, pushing against it with the leading foot and resisting it to slowly move your trailing foot together again - glut KILLER - no joke - both sides, both ways and this was just the warm-up...

WOD #1
10-10-10-10
Deadlift
30-40-50-55

This was deceiving - the weight felt good until about rep 6 or 7 and suddenly it seemed impossible - from zero to full on... could really start to feel it in my lower back on the last two sets but happy with where I got to.

WOD #2
5 Rounds
10/10 KB circles (10 each direction)
15 DU's
5/5 KB push-ups (one hand on the KB, one on ground... 5 each arm)
5 burpees
80(?)m KB carry
15:12 - 16kg KB

This was a solid WOD.  Lots of variety but killer on the arms.  The KB circles were pretty standard and except for the first set I nailed the DU's (no breaks in the last 4 rounds).  The push-ups were an interesting twist and harder than usual and the burpees just sucked.  I know that 5 doesn't seem like much but at that moment - horrible (though that could just be my huge dislike of all things burpee).  The KB carry was just about toughing it out - trying to go fast without really bouncing the KB, finding some grip that was somewhat *not* awkward... I much prefer the farmer carry because at least you're balanced on both sides though there's very little ability to adjust your grip.

This was one of those days where I know full on that every part of me is going to have a hard time getting out of bed tomorrow...  but overall, a fun day at the box including the newest little addition - Murphy... the new puppy - much smaller than I anticipated which makes him just a tiny little bit cute...

Saturday Surfski Session...

Becoming a weekly habit now with the nice weather and (slightly increased) confidence for me to get out on my ski at least once on a weekend - Christmas morning surfski session? Definitely...

This past weekend was another great outing in that I managed to stay upright and venture beyond my normal turnaround point - I still stuck to the river and close to shore but went from East Freo to Stirling Bridge - around the piling - and back... my shoulder was starting to get a little sore at the turnaround so I didn't venture any further than back to where I was parked. 

I love being on my ski - when I am it's my sole focus - no time for my mind to wander elsewhere except perhaps brief thoughts of MJ and Shane who have both provided me with tips to my new adventures.  I think by the time I left Vancouver I could paddle my outrigger and think of many wonderous things but if I do in my ski I'm swimming... lesson learned.

A few other lessons I learned/ focused on this weekend as well - skills learned from both crossfit and yoga - is to a) not have death grip on my paddle which I often tend to do when in a bunch of messy water and trying to balance - tension is *not* good... and speaking of tension b) relaxing my face (thanks yoga) because this is a clear indicator of when my body is tensing up/ resisting what it needs to do - a little relaxation and I can easily let the water move under me and c) relax my shoulders - shoulder blades down and back (again yoga) rather than scrunched up towards me ears... those three little things really help me with my stability and flow...  I do feel stronger, quite stable until I see the wake from all the boats - messy water - and it gives me pause, I hesitate and brace rather than feeling strong and paddling right through which would help with my stability but baby steps right?

Friday, December 16, 2011

12/15 - Tabata's...

WOD #1
400m KB farmers carry – 5 KB push-up penalty every time you put it down
16kg (didn't put them down at all)

This one became a purely mental test of strength by the end - there was a 5 pushup penalty to be done immediately upon putting the KB's down...  I didn't want to do this as I was sure I wouldn't pick them up again.  At the start I would alternate between a regular grip and just having them hang from my hooked fingers to rest my forearms but towards the end I couldn't do this anymore - once I got to 100m left I was thinking about how angry Match would be if I dropped the KB's on the concrete so I just decided I wasn't going to and tried to shift them around to relax my forearms as much as possible.

Managed to rip one of my calluses doing this though after all the pull-ups the day before it wasn't surprising... sadly though it still really hurt.

I'm not sure where I went to during this WOD but it was some other place mentally - just believing I could do it - ignoring the pain and moving forward, not stopping.  It was different and awesome and really helped set me up for the next WOD...

WOD #2
Tabata hollow-body
Tabata squats
Tabata superman
Tabata push-ups
Tabata double/single-unders
141 squats/ 85 pushups/ 167 DU's

No rest between each Tabata.

I was beside Tim for this WOD and it really pushed me.  I managed to keep my legs up for all 8 of the hollow-bodies which is a first for me - I did bend them on the last four or so but still kept them elevated and went to another place mentally - just breathing through it (yoga) and focusing on the engaged muscles and using more of my core (not just specific muscles) to spread the work - when I focused on them I could engage different groups which was quite cool.

On the squats I was matching Tim (and he went fast!) - I was motivated to just keep up - and I did even when he pushed even faster on the 5th set.  It was fun - I snuck in one more rep than him when he had a brief pause in the last round and he wasn't happy about it... the battle was one from there on out (all in good fun!).

Superman's were fine, again focusing on the engaged muscle groups and relaxing my shoulders down and back rather than having them creep up to my ears which is wasted tension.  Again, breathing through these sets really helped keep me focused to get through the 20 seconds.

Pushups... horrible - especially after the supermans.  I did them from my knees and tried to keep a solid pace - 20 in the first round then 15 and from then on I was just hoping to get 10ish per round which I did mostly until the end.

Double Unders... Tim knew this was where he would catch me though I did try and put up a good fight - haha!  He told me after he was worried a bit after the first two rounds where I went unbroken right along with him but in the third round I struggled - I kept stumbling and then just gave up to give myself a bit of an extra breather before going hard again.  I managed in total 167 which kicked my previous PR of 115...  I was only behind Jack by 6 (which makes me wish I'd not struggled so much in round 3)... came 3rd overall for the day on this one which I'm super happy about given the amount of work I've been putting into consistency.  It was hard though - my shoulders were screaming after the pushups but got through it.

I really enjoyed today's WOD... took me to a different place mentally and really allowed me to focus on the muscles being used and breathing which was a good change of pace.

Also... weighed myself for the first time in two months (hadn't seen much change on the scale previously even though close were getting looser)... turns out I'm down 8 lbs (3.6kg)... and I'm feeling a lot stronger... I'll take them both!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

12/14

WOD
5 rounds -
4 hanging squat cleans (35/50kg)
8 pistols
12 pull-ups
12:59 (28kg squat cleans, orange band for pistols and pull-ups*)

This was a fun WOD though my hands started to pay the price... I was excited about the pull-ups as just the day before I'd linked my first two unassisted pull-ups.  The initial goal was to try and get the first 6 of the WOD unassisted but after the second one I knew it wasn't going to happen.  Instead I attempted an unassisted pull-up at the start of every set which I got for the first three rounds - tried for rounds 4 and 5 but failed (no-rep).  Was fun to at least try and I think this helped even if I wasn't getting full reps - I'm starting to figure out what it feels like.

My hands definitely paid the price again - didn't rip any calluses but I could feel them about it - lots of care needed...

After the WOD we did some ring rows and static ring holds which were hard when my arms were tired - hard to get my arms fully locked out but Kirsten reminded me that I need to focus on pushing down and not allowing my shoulders to come up to my ears... 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

12/13

WOD #1
5-5-5-5-5 front squat
30-40-45

Only did three rounds as I was struggling to keep my elbows high with my sore shoulders and didn't want to push it.  I did another set of 3 reps as well at 40kg with my heels on two 5kg plates which made a huge difference to the feel (better)... I can see the benefit of oly lifting shoes for sure - especially compared to my nike frees which are horrible for lifting

WOD #2
10 min AMRAP
16 KB thrusters
16 thigh slaps
16 bumper jumps
5/44 - 16kg KB (squats), 40 bumper (2 stacked 20kg's)

This was fun - again, I substituted squats for the thrusters as the rotation with the KB is hard on my shoulders but this was still a challenge - it's hard to find a comfortable way to hold onto the KB while squatting.  It also took a bit to really work into the flow of the bumper jumps - onto in, in front of, back onto, back behind = 1 rep but near the end I was stringing them together a little more seamlessly.  Was really trying to finish the 6th round (missed it by 4 bumper jumps).

Afterwards I was working on my pull-ups again - trying to connect the kipping now and I managed two - awesome progress - yay for more skills!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

12/12 - "Isabel"

Benchmark WOD: “Isabel”
30 snatches for time (45/60kg)
3:55 (28kg)

Was a little scared of this one when I saw it on the board as I don't have much practice doing snatches and it's a little intimidating throwing a heavy weight straight overhead.  I also recalled doing "Grace" last week ("Isabel's" sister) and how hard that was on my shoulders.

I wasn't sure what weight to load up - Match said it all just depends/ no correlation to the weight for "Grace" so I loaded it up the same - 28kg - and tried a few practice reps.  It felt heavy.  I did two consecutive reps and assumed that for the WOD I'd be doing single reps - that's how it felt.  I actually thought about dropping the weight down but Tim saw me from across the room and gave me a little nod that told me I could do it...  he gave me a few pointers about focusing on keeping the bar close to my body and not throwing it behind me and encouraged me that I could do it - even if it was one rep at a time.  Thanks Tim - I needed it!

Once the beeping of the clock counted down...  3,2,1... we were off and the adrenaline started flowing through me - I banged out the first 5 reps straight, no problems.  I then went with reps of 3 for a bit, a few twos.  Somewhere in there I also got out another 4 or 5 straight (it all became a blur) - the only thing I know is that it 'felt' easy... as long as I had good form, committed to the movement and flung it over head getting locked out as quick as possible I knew I was good.  Once or twice I didn't quite get locked out but because of the weight was able to push it up.  I know that I can go heavier on this - realized it when I was done though it felt easier once the "pressure" was on... now I know for next time and I know there will be a next time.

Note - I'm totally paying the price for this today - in the very small muscles on the front of my shoulders (delts?)...  It's the source of all my shoulder problems actually so I'm frantically icing and hoping some rolling helps it go away tonight because I don't want to have to pull way back in order to prevent this...ugh! 

WOD #2
10 min AMRAP of burpees
sprint 100m on the minute, every minute
52 burpees

I suck at burpees, this is a fact.  I knew that going into this WOD I made a game of it - pushing me harder on the sprint portions... I didn't try and bust out the last burpee, instead I was first out the door - my goal being to not let anyone catch me on the sprint... it for the most part worked.  Around rep 7 or 8 I heard Zaki right behind me at the turnaround say to himself and James to try and catch me so I went harder - as did he - he caught me just before heading back inside the box.  All good fun.  My goal was 50 burpees so I managed that - it was so hard with having time after the sprints and trying to get your breathing slowed down to not die... good times.

Afterwards I did TWO unassisted pull-ups with my chin fully over the bar even hanging up there on the first one for a bit so Jack could see... it felt awesome.  I'm all over this... feeling stronger everyday!

Monday, December 12, 2011

DOMS day two...

Definitely have some good ol' Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) from doing so many double unders on Saturday in my barefeet (lesson learned? most definitely not)

My calves are screaming today - definitely not helped by the work heals... oh well.  I got better and I'll take that with a little side of soreness anyday...

Sunday Surfski Session...

Sunday was for surfski... for the first time in a long time... and I enjoyed it.  It took me a while to figure out where I wanted to go - where I wouldn't be afraid of the water, of the wind.  I ended up just in East Freo where my canoe club paddles from - both pros and cons to this location - there is a lot of shore to stick close to to temper my fear of falling in and being unable to remount but there is also a ton of boat traffic, more that I remembered though that makes sense given that now it is summer.

Often I would set myself up to handle the wake, heading straight down it or right into it but a few times I challenged myself by trying to ride it sideways a bit, figuring out where that point was.  I almost fell in once - that tipping point where it could go either way - boat on it's side on my left, paddle bracing right , leaning on it.  And after a precarious few seconds I was upright again, balanced.  Saved.  Dry.  It felt good to have that skill, practice from many days spent surfing my outrigger.  A tiny bit more confidence to add to the pile.

I felt really strong while paddling, core engaged, firm plant and pull, arms straight.  It comes from Crossfit, this strength and stability - I can feel the difference and I love it.  It's a lot more tiring though than outrigger - twice as many strokes... I was still a little tipsy at times though with the secondary stability in my boat I managed to stay upright playing around a bit with the boat wake at different angles, figuring out how to surf.  The one thing I love about the ski over the outrigger is the ability to quickly jump on waves (a few quick strokes and you're on), much more power than paddling only on one side. 

The bonus was that I wasn't afraid this time.  The last time I was out I remember how terrified I was of the water, of everything about it and it's taken me quite some time to get over it.  I think it stems from that one time I struggled in the wind and waves to remount... the fear.  This time it was gone - I still fought strongly against falling in but I wasn't immobilized, tense with the fear of it all.  Perhaps it was because it's warmer, or that there were so many people around, I was close to shore.  Any number of things but each one allowing me to gain a little bit more confidence in my abilities so that one day I don't even have to think about it, it's just a natural movement.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Saturday WOD... on my front porch

Saturday afternoon quick WOD's... just me, my skipping rope, yoga mat and my front porch… who needs a gym?

"Annie"
50,40,30,20,10
DU's
situps
8:25

Slower than my previous attempt because I struggled on the 50 du's.  Was steady on the sit-ups but really need to work on the speed of them if I'm to drop any significant amount of time off of this WOD.

Mini* "Flight Simulator"
5-10-15-20-25-30-25-20-15-10-5
unbroken** DU's
10:27

*Full "Flight Simulator" goes up by 5's to 50 continuous DU's
**unbroken DU's for the number of reps then come to a complete stop and restart for the next set.

Was flawless up til the first 20 then struggled on 25 getting 17 and 22 before managing the 25.  Same for the 30, made about 5 attempts including getting as close as 28 before finally nailing them consistently.  This really adds to the frustration and you have to fight the urge to just give up - especially given that I was on my own.  Was pretty solid after getting the second set of 25 with only a few stuff ups.  I like this and it's a quick little bit of cardio that can easily be thrown in whenever/ wherever.

Feel like I accomplished a little something this Saturday (rather than just lying on the beach) after this workout though it was quick.  Fun!

Friday, December 9, 2011

12/8 - "Grace"

Today we got it on with "Grace"... it was my first time with her and while fun I know if my shoulder hadn't been hurting I could have done better.

WOD:  Benchmark “Grace”
30 clean press/jerk for time (45/60kg)
3:49 (28kg)

The weight was light for me - but still my shoulder was hurting - and I figured it was best not to push it, no need to be broken for an extended period of time.  I managed to clean and press all the reps without much struggle (set of 10 then 4 sets of 5) but I'm feeling it today.  Glad I have a massage appointment already scheduled.

WOD # 2:
2 min KB swings – score = KB x reps
51 reps x 16kg KB = 816

HUGE improvement over my last attempt at this WOD - I got 720 (45 x 16kg) which I'm really happy about.  I initially considered using the 20kg KB which I have been using more lately in WOD's but thought using the 16kg would give me a better comparison from previous attempts and I'm not sure I could consistently swing the 20kg for the entire 2 minutes.  Perhaps next time!  As it was, I put the 16kg KB down once after 30 reps (I remember before struggling to get 20 solid reps - loving the improvements I'm seeing)...  managed to pick it back up quite quickly too. 

KB swings and clean and presses - two of my FAVORITE crossfit movements.  Great day!

"Grace" - source

















Afterwards I had to pull a Dukes of Hazard style move (climb in through the open window) to get into my car because some jerk parked both illegally (in front of an emergency exit) and a foot from my car making me unable to open my door enough to get it...

Thursday, December 8, 2011

12/7

Fun little warm up today... did some stretches/ movements with the PVC pipes before going for the usual 400m jog.  When we got back into the box we played a little 'around the world' game... basically one at a time we took the 3kg med ball and had to throw it over every bar on our pull-up bars - I think there are 12 with one being quite high (our new climbing ropes hang off of it) so that was pretty hard - after I failed about 10 times to get it over this high bar Match gave me the 'trick' move of granny throwing it backwards over my head - it still I think took me a few tries.  Tons of fun... 

WOD # 1:
Strict pull-up practice

We played around with pull-ups focusing more on slow lowering rather than the pulling up motion.  It was nice to work on a skill without dealing with time or reps.  Using the reverse muscle groups too was also good.  Afterwards we had another group 'game' where we had to hang from the pullup bar (straight arms) for 2 minutes - for every fall off the bar (by any of the four of us) we accumulated a burpee as 'punishment' and at the end had to do all the burpees in unison for the rep to count.  We had 7 in total which wasn't too bad and since you're focused on timing they were over before we knew it.

I liked this challenge as a group because we were essentially working as a team.  You didn't want to fall off because of the others and we all had to do the burpees together which also led to team work.  Nice change of dynamic that reminded me a lot of basketball practices in high school and having to run laps for every free throw missed by the team. 

WOD # 2:
15 min AMRAP
200m run
10 OHS (30/55kg)
10 sit-ups
7/2 (18kg OHS)


This was a good WOD - challenging but good.  The OHS were tough - I found in the later rounds (doing sets of 5) that my wrists were the limiting factor and not entirely my legs or arms.  Need to do more handstand walking apparently.  I was happy with the number of rounds I got - managed to finish the 200m on round 8 and *just* get one OHS done.  Was good.

I liked the change up today - added a little spark and a bit more energy into what we come there to do.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

12/6...

Another good workout tonight... I enjoyed it though still struggled with the heat and wanting to vomit when it was over - don't like the feeling of lightheadedness...

WOD #1
3-3-3-3-3 snatch grip deadlift
40-50-60-62.5-65(PR)

This was the first time I did snatch grip deadlifts so all lifts were a PR but I'm pretty happy with the final result.  Match noted before the WOD that we would do less with this grip than with the standard deadlifts on Monday so I was pretty happy with how close I got the two - I think maybe I could have pushed harder on the standard deadlifts now however I was really feeling them in my lower back.  I think you're forced to have better technique with the snatch grip (having to get lower to get the grip) which helped me get a higher weight.  Need to remember this next time doing any deadlifts.

WOD #2
15-12-9-6-3-6-9-12-15
Double-unders
Push-ups
Cockroaches
6:50 (du's, knees)

I was racing the boys on this one.  I could see Pete and Tim was to my left.  I was matching Tim pretty good from the start and was keeping up with Pete because of the longer sets of double unders.  I managed to do all my double unders unbroken (stumbled on the second set of nine before even getting one rep out) which I loved.  It made such a difference to this workout - it's how I managed to pass Pete in the end too.  Tim struggled on the last few sets of pushups so I jumped ahead.  It was fun to play right along side the big boys in this WOD as they kill me in everything else most days... I did however only do the push-ups from my knees.  I have to work on my strict push-ups but it still seems so hard from my knees most days.  

WOD #3
300m row
30 med ball jumps
4:07

This WOD sucked.  The row wasn't too bad but the jumping was.  I don't have the ability to 'bounce' when I'm jumping, the elastic strength to just keep going so the pausing after each jump and resetting really slows me down as did my inability to breath - definite lung burner but got it done.

Fun day at the box!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

12/5 - it's been a while...

After monday, tuesday and wednesday of Crossfit last week I was exhausted - probably also due to jetlag and overall fatigue.  I took thursday, friday and saturday off (rest days) and did a nice calm 90 minutes of yoga on sunday (which killed my hamstrings it seems).  Beth did a yoga and brunch session for us Cooee folk and it was a lot of fun - we even got to do partner 'wheels' (back bridges) and handstands.  The we sat around a big table and ate amazing food for a few hours.  Quite enjoyable.  Perfect sunday.

I'm struggling right now with the balance between rest and working out - listening to my body.  And on top of that I think I need some changes to my diet now that my body is changing and the weather is heating up.  I lack an appetite in the heat so while I'm generally eating quality food I'm pretty sure I'm just not getting enough of it.  Vicious cycle.  More to come about this in another post though, on to last nights WOD.

WOD #1
7-5-5-3-3
Deadlifts
40-50-60-65(PR)-70(PR)

New 3RM PR of 70kg!  Was aiming to be amongst the 'big' girls today who'd already posted 70kg from the morning sessions and I did it.  I really liked using the reverse grip and I did it right from the start to be used to it once I got to the heavier weights.

WOD #2
3-6-9-12-9-6-3
Thrusters (30/45kg)
Burpee bar hops
KB swings (20/32kg)
14:58 (18kg bar/ 20kg KB)

Match gave us a 15 minute cut-off for this one so I just snuck in under the wire with him and Gordo on either side of me pushing me through the last round of burpees and swings.  It was hard.  It really hurt.  I almost cried and I almost puked.  Fun.  I started off fairly strong but faded quite quickly especially on the thrusters and burpees.  KB swings are still my favorite and it was nice that I managed to get through the entire WOD with the 20kg (blue) even though the 16kg (yellow) was sitting right beside me.  The biggest struggle with the blue was the first rep - I could easily muscle up the 16kg but it's much harder with the 20kg so I had to take a little bit of a back swing before starting though one round I didn't and called no rep on myself as it didn't get high enough (and made me feel like I'd wasted a lot of effort).

I'm going to try for 4 days this week (as was the failed plan last week) but I will be listening to my body as well and also trying to eat more so that I have the energy necessary.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Lovenotes for the holidays...

Lululemon has come out with some holiday 'lovenotes' that you can send from their site: http://lululemon.com/lovenote/

Two of my favorites are:


Thursday, December 1, 2011

11/29... doing 'Annie' again

WOD #1 
Sprint for time
200m forward
100m backward
100m forward
100m backward
300m forward
4:04

I crossfit because I dislike running very, very much so this WOD really sucked especially since my legs are just.so.tired.still.  I don't know how or why but alas.  I did it.  The 100m backwards legs were hard - totally different muscle group than normally gets worked and man did I feel it.  Then the transition to forwards again - jello legs!  It was nice to be out in the sunshine though around the back of the building getting this done.

WOD #2
“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10
Double-unders
Sit-ups
8:17 (PR by 36 seconds!)

I was both excited and terrified to do this WOD again especially since I'd just done it for the first time last Saturday (4 days before).  I rocked the double unders the last go round so I knew that it'd be a hard time to beat if I didn't do that again and put a lot of pressure on myself.  I think this pressure resulted in me tripping up on the 50 reps a few times (rather than just once last time) but my DU's are definitely getting faster and overall more consistent with the speed rope so I was still able to fly through.  The sit-ups killed.  Third day straight of solid ab work - those muscles are rock hard under there somewhere - haha - one day...  Still managed to PR which was solid, I'm hoping to add this WOD as a more regular feature in my workouts (can be done anytime/ anywhere) and to hopefully get my time below 7:30...

WOD #3
Tabata Squat

Yup, singular - S-Q-U-A-T... one squat - slowly lowering for 10 seconds, slowly straightening for 10 seconds... ouch!  The last four we did as OHS with a PVC bar overhead - my arms were shaking like jello, it was quite funny.