The Cat Skinned My Shoulder

Ouch. Well in an attempt to be cool and do a Gymnastics WOD I tried the "skin the cat" on the newly hung rings. I lack the necessary core strength to pull my legs in and rotate backwards, so I clumsily swung my legs up and got in the inverted position, and then fell backwards without control while hanging on. The rings were at muscle up height (much too tall for my stature) and when my feet hit the deck my right shoulder popped a bit. Damn.

WOD:
5min Double Under work using Carl Paoli's scales

Strict Press: 3-3-3-1-1

75-80-85(1) My shoulder started to kill me. This hurt my pride.

15min AMRAP:
5x HSPU (scaled with thick green and black bands)
10x burpees
400m run

4 solid rounds

Sprints of death

Warm up:
1000m run up the bridge on Granada and back

POSE running drill work

WOD: 4 rounds:
~350m sprint around the gardens for time
then 20x 30# kettlebell swings
rest 2-3min

51 sec
53 sec
52.9 sec
50 sec

POSE technique was good for the first 100m, then around the first right turn the arm pump was difficult to maintain so the heel strike came back. Brought it back towards the end of the final straightaway and turn.

Clean the floor

Well, I took the opportunity to gauge where I am now compared to where I was in October via the Clean. In October I was failing at squat cleaning 125#. So when 7x3 cleans came up I got excited. The workout when down like this...

75-85-95-105-115(1)- Frustration. Frustration. Attempts at picking up 115# again, then failing, then trying to PR with 120# and 125# and failing.

The bar was traveling high enough, I just wasn't getting low enough. But I'm glad I'm hitting numbers like I was. PR's are in my very near future! I definitely need to work my front squats though.

A little behind

Alright, so let's catch up for this week...

Tuesday: attempted deadlifts, but I was super sore in my glutes from Pistols on Monday, so needless today it was a mock rest day.
5x3:
125-135-155-195-FAIL @ 215

Wednesday: run day!

15:00: CFE WOD. I messed up the first part of the ladder and forgot to take a minute off. Whoops! So it went: 1 min on, 50 sec off, down to 10 sec off, then back up the ladder. Did it behind the soccer field at Riddle and made use of the steep hill for some of the sprints. Once again, pain for my glutes.

18:00: CFE Strength and Conditioning WOD. (It said double unders or sit ups, so we opted for sit ups at EOB Crossfit. Hurray for more core conditioning!)

For time:
50 sit ups
5 Clean and Jerk (135/95# - I scaled to 85#)
40 sit ups
5 C&J
30 sit ups
5 C&J
20 sit ups
5 C&J
10 sit ups
5 C&J

9:23

That thing was awesome! I thought it would take me forever to complete, but I watched MK blaze through it as Rx in 8 something minutes so I did my best to catch her. The C&Js were pretty comfortable. 100# is definitely in my range of capability for a max. The wod was a mix of pretty split jerks, some ugly push jerks, and some awkward not-a lot-of-split jerks.

Pistols at your head

Well Monday... you're always a ton of fun. Did another CFE strength WOD. These 12 min AMRAPs are going to be the death of me.

Warm up 2x:
5 pull ups (strict first round)
10 sit ups
15 squats

Then:
12 min AMRAP:
10x 2/1.5 pood Kettlebell swings
10x pistols (5 each leg, scaled with rings for assisted balance)

Rest 5 minutes

Then:
6 minutes continuous, on every minute:
1min Hollow Rocks
1min Toes to Bar

6 solid rounds for the AMRAP
5-5-6 Toes to bar

Cool down: soccer and bowling with the little man! Chased him all over the yard trying to wear him out and it ended up being just the opposite. Love that little guy.

Holy moly those hollow rocks really hurt! Worked on my Double Unders before I started the WOD. MK did some video and I think I'm going to be able to piece together what I'm missing for them now that I can see what I'm doing wrong. MK also did some great coaching to help me with my pistols. I'm feeling stronger and lighter every day! Gotta keep pushing the cravings aside and keep my eyes on the prize.

Paleo = Results!

Well, the results for the week are in and...

I have lost 6lbs since my first weigh-in exactly 7 days ago!

This is probably partially due to Jason threatening to throw me through a wall and/or have God himself save me from his wrath if I gained any weight. Ha. He knows the notion of physical harm is a good motivator for me. The terms of our agreement are: I step on the scale without knowing what I weigh and he just tells me how much weight I've lost until I weigh less than 149. The max weight for my height is 145 and the goal weight is 135, however J-Man said that I'm "really, really close to 149" so next week I just may be in the 140's again for the first time without retarded binge dieting in over a year and a half!!

Yesterday was the Nuclear Winter Challenge with MK and it was awesome to watch her compete. I definitely didn't mind sitting on the sidelines and not competing in this one. It has inspired me to work harder to get better for my goals. She's an awesome athlete and has serious mental fortitude! I can't wait to be in the garage this week working with her to get both of us better.

MK- thanks for being my rock. Watching you yesterday really made me appreciate your friendship and made me so glad I held on through those dark days.

Bring on the new week!

I'm a Jerk

A WHOLE WEEK OF WORKOUTS COMPLETE! Wow! 5 days straight of getting sweaty. I feel amazing! This was my first Crossfit Endurance Strength & Conditioning WOD. Good times followed.

W/U:
5 min double unders
2x:
5 strict pull ups (on purple band, pronated wide grip) <-- These felt easy. Going down to the uber thin band next time
10 push ups
15 squats

Then:
5x5 Jerk
65-70-75-85-95

Then:
12 min AMRAP
5 Jerk 115/85#
5 Front Squat 115/85#
12 Lateral bar jumps
12 push ups

3 rounds + 5 squats

After the second round I wanted to die. My jerks were ugly too, even before the WOD started. A lot of press outs. My first three sets of 5 Jerks were entirely too light. 95# felt heavy but doable. I tried doing the jerk without splitting in the beginning, but I ended up alternating throughout the WOD and the sets of 5. I'm going to slow down and focus on technique from now on.

On a side note, I had the burning desire to go for a run this evening! I haven't felt that way in too long, but because I'm still ramping up to increased volume I'm forcing myself to rest. I'll save that run for another rainy day.

MKs competing in Crossfit Evolution's Nuclear Winter Challenge tomorrow. It's going to be a lot of fun!

Feels like July in January

Well I didn't want to, but I wanted to, so I did it. I hit a 3.5 mile run in the afternoon after my morning class in the heat. Afterwards I felt like a million bucks! Tiny thoughts of shortening my run, or just doing hill sprints crept into my mind, but they were easily drowned out by angry tunes on the iPhone. I'm going to try to make this a routine for my Tuesday and Thursday breaks between classes.

So far if you include the 2 mile walk and sprints from yesterday I've covered 13.25 miles this week. 7 more to go and I'll hit 20! Definitely going to have to keep this going for the next few weeks.

5 rounds of what?

This one left me on the floor for 15 minutes afterwards. I completely forgot how horrible burpees are...

5 rounds:
400m run
20 burpees
15 sit ups

25:39

Mainsite called for 15 bent over dumbbell rows, but MK and I did that yesterday (ironically enough, since she had just said that mainsite never calls for exercises like that) so she decided to rip up our core and do sit ups. And I thought they'd be easy...

I also discovered I like asparagus! Hurray! Another veggie to add to my arsenal :) and I ate my first plain avocado - delish!

Snatch back

Whew... This was my first Crossfit football WOD and I loved it!

Warmed up with a few pull ups, stretching, then:

8x2 Power Snatch
3x max effort dumbbell rows per arm. Done at 55#

Then: 2 mile walk with weight. Did it with 40# (This is the heaviest load I've ever carried and it felt good so I'm going to have to bump it up)

The walk/hike was awesome. Really builds VO2 max when you talk and walk/run at the same time. This was excellent work for my hikes.

See picture for weights. I'm JJ

Rain, rain...

AM WOD: 7 mile trail run in the pouring rain. This hurt so much. Really brought out my running weaknesses, but I'm glad I hit the full 7 miles instead of shortening it- hey, might as well dive into increasing my running work capacity!

PM WOD:
w/u: 2x:
10 kipping pull ups
5 dead hang pull ups
10 push ups
10 OHS
(all pull ups done with purple band)

Then:
5x max strict pull ups on the band
3 - 2 - 5 - 2 wide grip -3 wide grip

Then:
Snatch work at 75#

Shuttle, shuttle, shuffle

Finally woke up early on a Saturday! My main source of motivation is I told my roommate he must use any means necessary to get my typically lazy butt out of bed, so every night I go to sleep anticipating being awakened by flying through the air from my warm bed to the cold hard floor. It's been pretty effective in getting me up early so he doesn't have the opportunity to strike.

3 rounds ~100m shuttle run. 3 suicides every 100m. After completing the suicide run, the other runner of our three member crew did their sprints while the remaining two did max effort squats, burpees or flutter kicks (my fave. I can do those all day)

Cool down: chasing the coolest 4 year old around the park! Sprinting, racing and more suicides. Good times!

Starting to feel/see results from being a good paleo girl. I finished my first head of lettuce today. It was the first time I didn't have to throw a large chunk away because it went bad before I could eat it. Progress!

There aren't enough veggies in the world

This WOD hurt. Hit my head on the pull up bar and push pressed the bar straight into my chin. The WOD was scaled from 95-65#.


Squat clean work up: got up to 95# but it turned into a power clean. Super annoying because I was failing at 120# in October. But hey, it feels good to be back on track and identifying weaknesses.


"Christina"
In memory of the AZ shooting victims
WOD by CF Tuscon

AMRAP in 20 min
9 pull ups
9 squat cleans (65#)
9 KB swings (1 pood)
9 toes to bar
9 push press (65#)
9 burpees


2 rnds + 5 T2B


Paleo/Zone was pretty successful today, other than the fact that eating 13 blocks a day with veggies as my only carb is impossible on my stomach, jaw and budget. It's cool though, I'll drop it to 10 blocks the first two weeks and then will ramp it up as I get more work capacity. 

Let's try this again

Ok so when I made this, I had no idea the following 60 days would be the craziest, most emotional times of my young adult life. So needless to say, nothing went according to plan and all fitness and nutrition goals went out the window. But now things have slowed down and I'm finally at a place where I can refocus. So let's begin.

WOD: 5x5 back squat with ring dip attempts in between
85-125-135-140(4 reps, bottomed out on 5)-125

This was a real eye opener, I'm glad I suggested it. In May I was doing 145# and had 165# in October so squatting strength is definitely a new focus. (What's the point of having thunder thighs if they're weak?)

For recovery I made the roomie and I dinner. I used my Mom's lemon pepper chicken stir fry recipe with yellow squash, zucchini squash, some red and yellow peppers, and onion cooked in olive oil and lots of lemon pepper seasoning. Years past my attempts always left the veggies soggy :( This time around was perfection! I managed to stuff my roommate full with just one serving and was barely able to eat half of my plate as well. We both felt instantly re-energized and detoxed from our holiday garbage food. Definitely going to make this a frequent meal since it's high on the veggies, which is something I never seem to get enough of. (We used 4 chicken breasts, 1 each zucchini and yellow squash, roughly 1/4 red and yellow peppers, and roughly 1/4 of a white onion with McCormick Lemon Pepper seasoning.)

Tomorrow starts Zone/Paleo!