Well this has been a pretty good week!
Monday I took the day off from CrossFit, ran, and then worked the evening. Running was awful. I dragged through the entire thing. Not to mention it was SUPER windy so we ended up getting double the exercise than what we wanted. Didn't have the chance to head to the store for food so I ended up eating Boston Market for dinner. To be fair, I had a fairly good dinner. Not paleo, but it wasn't crap. Tuesday I kinda had the same crappy schedule. Woke up and was eating breakfast when I started realizing just how much I had to get done this week before a weekend of work was upon me. So in 3 and a half hours I went to the ATM, washed myself, washed the dog, and went grocery shopping. It was fairly skilled in itself let me tell ya. I had to be at work for another evening so I didn't get to food prep like I wanted to. I just ended up bringing leftovers for food. Wednesday I spent the entire day painting/cleaning Rothberg's new house. It was a day for some serious active rest. Got home well into the evening and got to work on food prepping.
I made some roasted eggplant, sweet potato and zucchini chips, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed cauliflower, and some boiled eggs. It was good to get a lot of the sides out of the way since I just end up baking a lot of my proteins. Was going to make Turkey Meatballs but I was exhausted by the end of all that, so I just prepped my food for Thursday and went to bed.
Yesterday I worked for 14 hours. Woke up at 530 so I didn't have time to eat at home. My breakfast was cottage cheese with cut up strawberries and two turkey hot dogs. I decided that while I was going to be paleo, cottage cheese makes for a good to-go meal so it's the one dairy I'm allowing. Cheese is also the only kind of dairy that I can tolerate. Go figure. My mid-morning "snack" was half of a berry muffin. I know it's not paleo, but thank goodness I had it. My partner and I decided to go do some errands and grab salads for lunch. I'd brought lunch but I wanted to get a little side salad. I got a spinach/romaine mix with artichokes, black olives, roasted red pepper, and egg, with balsamic vinagrette. Well...in the middle of all this we get a call. Yeah, "lunch" wasn't had until 430. I was about to eat my right hand. Plus I was dehydrated since I'd left my water bottle at base. Along with that I had my lunch of tuna fish wrapped in turkey bologna with a tomato on the side. It was delicious, albeit late. Dinner happened when I finally got home. I baked a pork chop and had some mashed sweet potatoes. I also took the time to prep some turkey meatballs, which are delicious. It's just ground turkey, artichokes, and onions baked together at 350 for like 20 minutes. I cheated a little and made them in a muffin tin. The recipe makes 12 decent-sized muffins.
Today I'm sitting at RIT for graduation all day...and tomorrow too. I brought turkey muffins, salad, sweet potato chips and celery to help keep me away from cheats. We'll see what happens. I've been a lot better this week than I thought I would be. I've at least been fairly consistent. 2 out of my 3 meals everyday have been paleo. Now just to get it to 3/3. I'm not complaining too much though. It's a step above where I was.
My body is not happy that I took the week off. Well, it was happy Monday and most of Tuesday, and it all went downhill from there. All my joint pains that I'd been keeping at bay came back. Not to mention I kept checking the WODs everyday and all I wanted to do was go. But all the classes were full so it's not like I could have done anything last minute. So back to the grind on Monday!
So as I'm going along, I realized I never told you guys about the reflection I did after I did my baseline and the PR board! I'mma fix that. We'll start with the reflection.
After every baseline we fill out a reflection on our accomplishments and what's holding us back from reaching our goals. Mind you, I wrote these things down at the beginning of April so there have already been some changes.
My accomplishments from January - April:
Lost 14 pounds (Paleo challenge)
Finally found a diet that works
Finished the paleo challenge
Worked out consistently and learned how to kick some ass
Learned how to take care of myself before others
Dedicated myself and learned how to push my limits
Started running again (and haven't died yet!)
What is stopping you/holding you back?
This question was hard, but I put myself. I've learned to tell the unsupportive people around me to shut their mouths. Now it's just all on me, and my inherent inability to be able to say no to the temptations of ice cream.
3 month vision, what you want to see/do in the next 3 months...
Catalyst Games!
Run a 5k
Lose 20 more pounds
Handstands
Double Unders
Keep kicking ass!
What are you going to do to attain your vision...
Workout 4x/week, run 2-3x/week
Get back on paleo
Don't settle for less in workouts
Work on movements after class
So obviously I've already accomplished some of my goals. I competed in the catalyst games and I now know how to do a handstand. I've also continued to kick ass all the time. The 5k is a work in progress. The losing a few pounds is a serious work in progress. Double unders...gah! We'll get there.
So the PR board. In April, I PR'd my back squat, my push press, and my baseline, so I got put on the gym PR board for the month which was awesome! What I didn't know was that I made it to the leader board. I'm in third place in the entire gym for my back squat and my push press. Back squat I need to add about 50 more pounds to be in the lead. For the push press I don't need to go up as much, but that movement gets harder with very small increment additions, versus back squat.
Ultimately, I didn't go into CrossFit to get on a leader board. I was loving being on the PR board though because that one truly showed my accomplishments. I'm not a huge competitive person. I compete against myself since I'm my own worst critic in the worst way possible. Other than that, I never anticipated that I'd be at the same level as some of my coaches someday. I've already decided that one day I want to be a CrossFit coach. Maybe in a couple years I may start looking into it, but it's definitely going to be a long term goal of mine. All the coaches I've met are so supportive in every way possible and they truly want you to succeed. I want to pass that on. I'm still going to be a PA, but from a fitness world point of view, I've definitely found my "calling" so to speak. It's a very cool thing.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Fun Continues!
This past week I really turned the heat up with the workouts. I went to the gym Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday; ran on Tuesday and Thursday. They came up with a new plan at the gym because of the way some people were getting scheduled for classes. If you were a person that only gets to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you got a lot of the skill work while the Monday, Wednesday, Friday people got strength. So they changed it up so it's a little more balanced.
Monday's Workout:
Skill:
3 rounds
2 min handstand work
8-12 knees to elbow, working on unbroken
1 min double-under practice
MetCon:
3 rounds
10 DB clean and jerk
10 DB goblet squats
200m run
Midline:
100 abmat sit-ups
My handstand work got quite hysterical at some points. I spent a lot of time almost getting it and then falling in a heap on the floor at the last minute. It was very graceful work lemme tell ya. With the knees to elbow, I know I'm not getting a toes to bar anytime soon so I just worked on trying to get that range of motion with my hips. It's hard work so I couldn't necessarily get them unbroken. Double unders...those damn things are pissing me off. They just haven't clicked with me yet. Kind of frustrating since I almost had them that one time a few weeks ago but I had to stop since I was getting tired. Almost wish I'd just kept going.
They're really killing us with the running lately. Luckily this MetCon only had a 200m run. Prescribed for the dumbbells was 50 pounds. I think I ended up using 40. I wanted to go prescribed again, but the problem with dumbbells is that I really start to notice how uneven my arms still are. I'm strong with a barbell but when you isolate my left arm, I'm still fairly weak. I forget what my exact time was but it put me about in the middle of the pack. I was feeling a little sluggish that day. Having a case of the Mondays. I felt a little better after doing the sit-ups. I'm getting pretty good at those. Now if only I could get rid of the pudge that's covering the muscles I'm building. Grr.
After that workout I decided I wanted to work on handstands a little more. So I gave it a few more tries and finally got it! I could even hold it for a short amount of time! I made sure to do it a few more times just to solidify it. It's actually kind of funny. Doing a wall walk into a handstand hurts so much more than actually doing the handstand. I don't know why I just didn't start handstands sooner. Don't know how soon I'll be doing push-ups though.
Tuesday I went back to the gym for the early morning workout. I decided to start going Tuesdays instead of Thursdays since it got progressively harder and harder for me to leave RITA on Thursday morning and head to the gym.
Strength:
5 x 5 bench press -- every 2 min.
MetCon:
AMRAP 15 minutes
10 pull ups
15 box jumps
20 unbroken front squat -- 5 burpees for dropping the bar
The strength was interesting. I hadn't done a single bench press in god knows how long. I partnered up with Karen, who also is about the same strength level as me. I think I finally maxed out at 95 pounds? I forget/I didn't count very well.
The MetCon was kind of fun in a sick and twisted sort of way. I love Tuesdays since it means we get Chad yelling at us. To some it may be terrifying, to others it just spurs us on some more. I had my green band for the pull ups, but everything else I did as prescribed (20" box jumps and 65 pounds for the front squats). I was kind of worried about the box jumps since Chad caught me getting my running head start and he told me to try not to since I was more likely to fall on my face as I got tired. I thought it was solid logic. The front squats I knew were going to be tough. Front squats are not my strong point and doing 20 of them was going to be rough, but I was determined that I would not be doing any burpees. Nay nay I say! In 15 minutes, I did 3 complete rounds plus 5 pull ups. My goal was 3, so I surpassed it a little bit. I was taking big breaks between the box jumps and squats since I didn't want to do any burpees. I surprised myself with the box jumps though. I actually started doing them without any kind of head start. I just jumped on the box. I don't know if I'm just getting better with jumps, but they really didn't seem that bad at all. Once I got a rhythm I just kept going. And I didn't do a single burpee!
Melissa and I went running a few hours later. It was our first day of doing Week 3, which is 2 rounds of jog a minute and a half, walk a minute and a half, jog 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes. We went about the same distance and pace that we have been doing lately. The jogging for 3 minutes part was tough, but it's about the same amount of time that it takes me to run 400m at the gym so I wasn't like really pushing myself past my limit.
Wednesday's workout was rough. It was my third day in a row, plus my body hadn't really been feeling very well all week.
Skill:
3 rounds
30-40 sec L sit
10-15 KB walking lunges
8-12 ring rows
MetCon:
EMOM 10 minutes
5 push presses
10 sit ups
Midline:
3 x 8 GHD back extensions (very slow!)
I knew I was really sluggish when the skill work came and I just was dragging through it. I did a lot better at the L sits than I thought I would. I used the dip bar so my legs wouldn't be dragging on the ground. I modified it and instead of straightening my legs, I kept them bent. I was able to hold myself up a lot longer than I thought I could. The walking lunges were terrible. My legs were so tired. Same with the ring rows.
The MetCon really pushed me past my limit. What they did with this one was that if you fell behind, your score was the number of rounds you completed within the one minute. I got 7 out of 10, which wasn't very bad at all. I was a little disappointed with the push presses because I knew I was capable of lifting more. Prescribed was 115, which I should have been able to do, but I ended up going with 95. My left shoulder hurt so badly and I just dragged my way through it. I felt awful. Probably the worst I've felt during a workout in a long time.
Afterwards, I went and talked to a chiropractor that's a member and helps us all out whenever we've got issues. I could feel this huge knot in the front of my shoulder. So he checked it out and apparently the problem was that my pec muscles were so tight that they were rubbing against my bicep tendon and irritating it. So I got told to ice, and roll with a tennis ball, and mobilize better next time. It's since gone away but that pain was terrible.
Thursday I took a "day off." And by day off I mean I just took a day off from the gym, not being active. Since I had the day completely off from work and everything else I dedicated it to trying to tackle my to-do list. Later on in the afternoon, Melissa and I went running. It was day 2 of the two rounds of minute and a half jog, minute and a half walk, 3 minute jog, 3 minute walk. I definitely feel like running is starting to get a lot easier for me. I'm still jogging, but it's a little faster and I'm not dying towards the end. It's really cool! I missed being a runner. It's also kind of nice that they're making us run during our workouts in the gym since I get a true high intensity workout with that, which is starting to transfer into when I just run.
After that I went over to Rothberg's to have spaghetti and then we ended up going on a 6 mile walk (<_<). Definitely hadn't planned on that one. It was a nice scenic route with a lot of hills. I was done by the time I got back home. It felt like another day at the gym. Not to mention, I had some serious water baby and carb baby going on. It felt like I'd put back on every single one of the 30 pounds I'd lost over the past 6 months. Felt gross. I'd spent the entire week retaining water, and then I put spaghetti on top of it. Never again.
Friday I went back to the gym, and let me tell you, I dragged just as badly as Wednesday.
Strength:
5 x 5 - 1 power snatch + 1 overhead squat
MetCon:
5 KB snatches
100 singles
7 KB snatches
100 singles
9 KB snatches
100 singles
11 KB snatches
It was a little less painful than Wednesday, but my body was not happy with me. I struggled through the snatch/overhead squat complex, only used 53 pounds even though I'm more than capable of doing more than that. It was kind of ok because I really needed to work on form anyway, but it still sucked.
The MetCon wasn't too bad. It could have been worse. I'd never done KB snatches before. It's almost the same as when you're using a barbell except you're doing it one-handed. It was a little bit awkward, especially with my left arm, but it was pretty fun. Had to use the 26 pound kettlebell since my left arm is still so much weaker on its own. One day I'll get double unders, mostly because I'm tired of having to do double the amount of singles.
The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful. I definitely found my motivation to get back on track though. My body is literally rejecting anything I give it. I don't know what it is. I give it any kind of gluten and it gets mad. Some lactose is ok, but it depends on the source. Like I can have cheese, and that's about it. I've had migraines for the past 2 days and I just feel awful. So I guess my body decided to give me its own piece of motivation. I'm going food shopping tomorrow. I think I'm going to strategize a little better this time. Instead of making the big huge meals first and then trying to scrounge up some ideas of what to eat as a side the day of, I'm going to start with the sides first. Grill up some veggies, and make a big batch of roasted cauliflower/broccoli, along with some mashed sweet potatoes. I'm hoping just making everything all at once instead of piecemealing it will keep me from guessing. I should probably start portioning things out all at once too. I might stop at Walmart and grab some of those sectioned containers so that I can portion things out and call it a day. We'll see how ambitious I get with things.
Either way I've decided to take the week off from the gym. I'll still run with Melissa a couple times, but other than that I want to take this week and focus on my eating. It became clear to me last week that if I don't do something soon I'm going to crash and burn. Plus, I've been working myself hard for the past 2 months. I can't remember the last time I took an actual break from working out, but with me pushing myself past my limits every workout, on top of running, on top of emotional stress, my poor body needs some R&R, and decent nutrition. So this week nutrition is going to be my focus, and getting myself out of this toxic hangover I've put myself in.
I can officially say I'm all caught up! Phew. Time for a (healthy) snack.
Monday's Workout:
Skill:
3 rounds
2 min handstand work
8-12 knees to elbow, working on unbroken
1 min double-under practice
MetCon:
3 rounds
10 DB clean and jerk
10 DB goblet squats
200m run
Midline:
100 abmat sit-ups
My handstand work got quite hysterical at some points. I spent a lot of time almost getting it and then falling in a heap on the floor at the last minute. It was very graceful work lemme tell ya. With the knees to elbow, I know I'm not getting a toes to bar anytime soon so I just worked on trying to get that range of motion with my hips. It's hard work so I couldn't necessarily get them unbroken. Double unders...those damn things are pissing me off. They just haven't clicked with me yet. Kind of frustrating since I almost had them that one time a few weeks ago but I had to stop since I was getting tired. Almost wish I'd just kept going.
They're really killing us with the running lately. Luckily this MetCon only had a 200m run. Prescribed for the dumbbells was 50 pounds. I think I ended up using 40. I wanted to go prescribed again, but the problem with dumbbells is that I really start to notice how uneven my arms still are. I'm strong with a barbell but when you isolate my left arm, I'm still fairly weak. I forget what my exact time was but it put me about in the middle of the pack. I was feeling a little sluggish that day. Having a case of the Mondays. I felt a little better after doing the sit-ups. I'm getting pretty good at those. Now if only I could get rid of the pudge that's covering the muscles I'm building. Grr.
After that workout I decided I wanted to work on handstands a little more. So I gave it a few more tries and finally got it! I could even hold it for a short amount of time! I made sure to do it a few more times just to solidify it. It's actually kind of funny. Doing a wall walk into a handstand hurts so much more than actually doing the handstand. I don't know why I just didn't start handstands sooner. Don't know how soon I'll be doing push-ups though.
Tuesday I went back to the gym for the early morning workout. I decided to start going Tuesdays instead of Thursdays since it got progressively harder and harder for me to leave RITA on Thursday morning and head to the gym.
Strength:
5 x 5 bench press -- every 2 min.
MetCon:
AMRAP 15 minutes
10 pull ups
15 box jumps
20 unbroken front squat -- 5 burpees for dropping the bar
The strength was interesting. I hadn't done a single bench press in god knows how long. I partnered up with Karen, who also is about the same strength level as me. I think I finally maxed out at 95 pounds? I forget/I didn't count very well.
The MetCon was kind of fun in a sick and twisted sort of way. I love Tuesdays since it means we get Chad yelling at us. To some it may be terrifying, to others it just spurs us on some more. I had my green band for the pull ups, but everything else I did as prescribed (20" box jumps and 65 pounds for the front squats). I was kind of worried about the box jumps since Chad caught me getting my running head start and he told me to try not to since I was more likely to fall on my face as I got tired. I thought it was solid logic. The front squats I knew were going to be tough. Front squats are not my strong point and doing 20 of them was going to be rough, but I was determined that I would not be doing any burpees. Nay nay I say! In 15 minutes, I did 3 complete rounds plus 5 pull ups. My goal was 3, so I surpassed it a little bit. I was taking big breaks between the box jumps and squats since I didn't want to do any burpees. I surprised myself with the box jumps though. I actually started doing them without any kind of head start. I just jumped on the box. I don't know if I'm just getting better with jumps, but they really didn't seem that bad at all. Once I got a rhythm I just kept going. And I didn't do a single burpee!
Melissa and I went running a few hours later. It was our first day of doing Week 3, which is 2 rounds of jog a minute and a half, walk a minute and a half, jog 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes. We went about the same distance and pace that we have been doing lately. The jogging for 3 minutes part was tough, but it's about the same amount of time that it takes me to run 400m at the gym so I wasn't like really pushing myself past my limit.
Wednesday's workout was rough. It was my third day in a row, plus my body hadn't really been feeling very well all week.
Skill:
3 rounds
30-40 sec L sit
10-15 KB walking lunges
8-12 ring rows
MetCon:
EMOM 10 minutes
5 push presses
10 sit ups
Midline:
3 x 8 GHD back extensions (very slow!)
I knew I was really sluggish when the skill work came and I just was dragging through it. I did a lot better at the L sits than I thought I would. I used the dip bar so my legs wouldn't be dragging on the ground. I modified it and instead of straightening my legs, I kept them bent. I was able to hold myself up a lot longer than I thought I could. The walking lunges were terrible. My legs were so tired. Same with the ring rows.
The MetCon really pushed me past my limit. What they did with this one was that if you fell behind, your score was the number of rounds you completed within the one minute. I got 7 out of 10, which wasn't very bad at all. I was a little disappointed with the push presses because I knew I was capable of lifting more. Prescribed was 115, which I should have been able to do, but I ended up going with 95. My left shoulder hurt so badly and I just dragged my way through it. I felt awful. Probably the worst I've felt during a workout in a long time.
Afterwards, I went and talked to a chiropractor that's a member and helps us all out whenever we've got issues. I could feel this huge knot in the front of my shoulder. So he checked it out and apparently the problem was that my pec muscles were so tight that they were rubbing against my bicep tendon and irritating it. So I got told to ice, and roll with a tennis ball, and mobilize better next time. It's since gone away but that pain was terrible.
Thursday I took a "day off." And by day off I mean I just took a day off from the gym, not being active. Since I had the day completely off from work and everything else I dedicated it to trying to tackle my to-do list. Later on in the afternoon, Melissa and I went running. It was day 2 of the two rounds of minute and a half jog, minute and a half walk, 3 minute jog, 3 minute walk. I definitely feel like running is starting to get a lot easier for me. I'm still jogging, but it's a little faster and I'm not dying towards the end. It's really cool! I missed being a runner. It's also kind of nice that they're making us run during our workouts in the gym since I get a true high intensity workout with that, which is starting to transfer into when I just run.
After that I went over to Rothberg's to have spaghetti and then we ended up going on a 6 mile walk (<_<). Definitely hadn't planned on that one. It was a nice scenic route with a lot of hills. I was done by the time I got back home. It felt like another day at the gym. Not to mention, I had some serious water baby and carb baby going on. It felt like I'd put back on every single one of the 30 pounds I'd lost over the past 6 months. Felt gross. I'd spent the entire week retaining water, and then I put spaghetti on top of it. Never again.
Friday I went back to the gym, and let me tell you, I dragged just as badly as Wednesday.
Strength:
5 x 5 - 1 power snatch + 1 overhead squat
MetCon:
5 KB snatches
100 singles
7 KB snatches
100 singles
9 KB snatches
100 singles
11 KB snatches
It was a little less painful than Wednesday, but my body was not happy with me. I struggled through the snatch/overhead squat complex, only used 53 pounds even though I'm more than capable of doing more than that. It was kind of ok because I really needed to work on form anyway, but it still sucked.
The MetCon wasn't too bad. It could have been worse. I'd never done KB snatches before. It's almost the same as when you're using a barbell except you're doing it one-handed. It was a little bit awkward, especially with my left arm, but it was pretty fun. Had to use the 26 pound kettlebell since my left arm is still so much weaker on its own. One day I'll get double unders, mostly because I'm tired of having to do double the amount of singles.
The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful. I definitely found my motivation to get back on track though. My body is literally rejecting anything I give it. I don't know what it is. I give it any kind of gluten and it gets mad. Some lactose is ok, but it depends on the source. Like I can have cheese, and that's about it. I've had migraines for the past 2 days and I just feel awful. So I guess my body decided to give me its own piece of motivation. I'm going food shopping tomorrow. I think I'm going to strategize a little better this time. Instead of making the big huge meals first and then trying to scrounge up some ideas of what to eat as a side the day of, I'm going to start with the sides first. Grill up some veggies, and make a big batch of roasted cauliflower/broccoli, along with some mashed sweet potatoes. I'm hoping just making everything all at once instead of piecemealing it will keep me from guessing. I should probably start portioning things out all at once too. I might stop at Walmart and grab some of those sectioned containers so that I can portion things out and call it a day. We'll see how ambitious I get with things.
Either way I've decided to take the week off from the gym. I'll still run with Melissa a couple times, but other than that I want to take this week and focus on my eating. It became clear to me last week that if I don't do something soon I'm going to crash and burn. Plus, I've been working myself hard for the past 2 months. I can't remember the last time I took an actual break from working out, but with me pushing myself past my limits every workout, on top of running, on top of emotional stress, my poor body needs some R&R, and decent nutrition. So this week nutrition is going to be my focus, and getting myself out of this toxic hangover I've put myself in.
I can officially say I'm all caught up! Phew. Time for a (healthy) snack.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Always Do What the CrossFit Gods Prescribe
Last Friday was a big day for me, aside from the fact that I essentially worked out twice again.
Workout:
Strength:
15 min to establish 1 RM power clean
MetCon:
3 rounds
Run 400m
10 Thrusters
Skill:
10-15 minutes handstand work
I think it was slight irony that caused us to be doing 1 RM power cleans less than a week after the Catalyst Games. I knew 120 pounds was my limit with an axle bar so I was interested to see what it would be with a regular barbell. Well, it ended up being 125 pounds so I wasn't very far off my mark. To be fair, I tried valiantly with 135 pounds, but lost. I kept catching the bar with my ribcage since I couldn't get it up far enough. I might have had a chance if we could have squat cleaned it.
The MetCon was rough...but guess what, I did it Rx'd! The last time I did a thruster I did them with 65 pounds and beasted right through it so this time I started out with 85. Ewa saw me trying 85 and told me to put on 95 because she wanted to see how I did. Well, I could do a couple reps so it was decided I was going Rx'd for this one. I had my terrified face on. We had a 15 minute time cap. Ewa told me if I got through 2 rounds she'd be ecstatic. So that was my goal. Started off running the entire 400m, wasn't too bad. Got through the first round of thrusters without too many issues. I cut the 10 reps into reps of 5 so I could get a quick little breather in. Did the same thing with the second round. Finished the second round in about 10 minutes, so I was going at a fairly good pace although I was behind everyone else. Got started with the running of the third round and couldn't make it the whole way through. I probably ended up walking about half of it. Got back to my barbell with like 45 seconds to go on the clock. Struggled my way through 3 or 4 reps before the time was up. Well, by then I had the entire gym looking at me and cheering me on. Everyone wanted me to keep going. So I kept plugging along, getting 1 or 2 reps at a time until the 10 were done. I finished with a time of 16:28. Let me tell you, it was hard. 95 pounds after running is no easy thing. I almost vagal'd myself multiple times I was straining so hard. But, couldn't have done it without everyone around me.
After that was done, I went home to rest for a little bit before running a couple hours later. I don't know what it was about it, but I ran even faster that day. I think going from running 400m to running a minute and a half was so much of a relief to my legs that they just decided to work a little harder. We went 2.12 miles. The program says I was running at a 6:35 min/mile pace. Now I find that hard to believe. If anything, I would say we were somewhere in the 9 minute range. But who knows.
Now the weekend was what really killed the whole nutrition thing. I'd gone food shopping a couple days before but just didn't have the chance to meal prep as much as I wanted to. I was scheduled to have a true EMS weekend. Training class for two days straight, with an evening shift in between. Well that schedule got entirely FUBAR'd. Went to the training class, ate crappy food, got out early, went to Imagine, ate more crappy snack food. Then signed off my evening shift so I could go to the bar and have crappy bar food. The next morning, had bagels and then crappy Chinese food for dinner. Literally, I spent an entire weekend just eating crap. I've realized that part of it has to do with me not being at the gym. I sat back and thought about it as I was stuffing my face and realized that I'm a much more healthy eater on days that I work out. I'm not perfect, but I'm a lot better than when I have these EMS marathons.
I've become a real Pinterest fanatic as of late. Mostly for the purpose of finding motivational things. I found this one picture that basically says that cheating on a diet sets your goals back by 1 week. I need to print that out and tack it everywhere I have free wall space. I don't know what's going on with myself but damn do I need to get back on that wagon. Why is this so difficult?! It's not like it's something I've never done before in my life! Ugh!
Anywho, I'm finally almost caught up with this thing! Hopefully I can get it back to where I'm posting once a day so I can post recipes and everything while I'm at it.
Workout:
Strength:
15 min to establish 1 RM power clean
MetCon:
3 rounds
Run 400m
10 Thrusters
Skill:
10-15 minutes handstand work
I think it was slight irony that caused us to be doing 1 RM power cleans less than a week after the Catalyst Games. I knew 120 pounds was my limit with an axle bar so I was interested to see what it would be with a regular barbell. Well, it ended up being 125 pounds so I wasn't very far off my mark. To be fair, I tried valiantly with 135 pounds, but lost. I kept catching the bar with my ribcage since I couldn't get it up far enough. I might have had a chance if we could have squat cleaned it.
The MetCon was rough...but guess what, I did it Rx'd! The last time I did a thruster I did them with 65 pounds and beasted right through it so this time I started out with 85. Ewa saw me trying 85 and told me to put on 95 because she wanted to see how I did. Well, I could do a couple reps so it was decided I was going Rx'd for this one. I had my terrified face on. We had a 15 minute time cap. Ewa told me if I got through 2 rounds she'd be ecstatic. So that was my goal. Started off running the entire 400m, wasn't too bad. Got through the first round of thrusters without too many issues. I cut the 10 reps into reps of 5 so I could get a quick little breather in. Did the same thing with the second round. Finished the second round in about 10 minutes, so I was going at a fairly good pace although I was behind everyone else. Got started with the running of the third round and couldn't make it the whole way through. I probably ended up walking about half of it. Got back to my barbell with like 45 seconds to go on the clock. Struggled my way through 3 or 4 reps before the time was up. Well, by then I had the entire gym looking at me and cheering me on. Everyone wanted me to keep going. So I kept plugging along, getting 1 or 2 reps at a time until the 10 were done. I finished with a time of 16:28. Let me tell you, it was hard. 95 pounds after running is no easy thing. I almost vagal'd myself multiple times I was straining so hard. But, couldn't have done it without everyone around me.
After that was done, I went home to rest for a little bit before running a couple hours later. I don't know what it was about it, but I ran even faster that day. I think going from running 400m to running a minute and a half was so much of a relief to my legs that they just decided to work a little harder. We went 2.12 miles. The program says I was running at a 6:35 min/mile pace. Now I find that hard to believe. If anything, I would say we were somewhere in the 9 minute range. But who knows.
Now the weekend was what really killed the whole nutrition thing. I'd gone food shopping a couple days before but just didn't have the chance to meal prep as much as I wanted to. I was scheduled to have a true EMS weekend. Training class for two days straight, with an evening shift in between. Well that schedule got entirely FUBAR'd. Went to the training class, ate crappy food, got out early, went to Imagine, ate more crappy snack food. Then signed off my evening shift so I could go to the bar and have crappy bar food. The next morning, had bagels and then crappy Chinese food for dinner. Literally, I spent an entire weekend just eating crap. I've realized that part of it has to do with me not being at the gym. I sat back and thought about it as I was stuffing my face and realized that I'm a much more healthy eater on days that I work out. I'm not perfect, but I'm a lot better than when I have these EMS marathons.
I've become a real Pinterest fanatic as of late. Mostly for the purpose of finding motivational things. I found this one picture that basically says that cheating on a diet sets your goals back by 1 week. I need to print that out and tack it everywhere I have free wall space. I don't know what's going on with myself but damn do I need to get back on that wagon. Why is this so difficult?! It's not like it's something I've never done before in my life! Ugh!
Anywho, I'm finally almost caught up with this thing! Hopefully I can get it back to where I'm posting once a day so I can post recipes and everything while I'm at it.
Someone Needs to Invent CrossFit Depends
The week after the Catalyst Games I pretty much continued shredding my poor muscles, but it ended up working out for the best!
I went to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and then ran on Tuesday and Friday.
Monday's Workout:
Strength:
15 min to establish a 1 RM back squat
MetCon:
Run 400m
50 Hang Power Cleans -- 5 burpees for every drop
Run 400m
So two months ago my 1 RM for back squat was 135 pounds. That was before we did all those weeks of 20 rep back squats and it was essentially just at the beginning of the Paleo Challenge. So I was expecting obviously that number would go up. I partnered up with someone who was essentially brand new so we spent a lotta time building up from really light weights and getting in a couple reps at a time before we really started kicking it up a notch. Well she hit about 100 pounds and had enough. I wasn't even close to tired. I hit about 150 and said "Eventually I'll have to quit." I finally reached my limit at 213 pounds. I'll leave you to do the math but that's a HUGE jump from what my original PR was. HUGE!
The downside to tiring myself out doing the strength portion was that I now needed to get through the MetCon of running and hang power cleans. Hang power cleans are kind of a weaker subject for me just because I don't get that extra power from getting off the ground. Also means it puts more pressure on your quads. The prescribed weight for the cleans was 95 pounds. So they wanted us to go heavy AND do 50 reps. Lolz. The name of the game was to do the 50 reps without dropping the bar or else you had to do 5 burpees. I forget what weight I used, I think it was 65 because 50 cleans was just going to kill me. This was also the first week that we started doing a significant amount of running so I knew in the back of my head that was going to kill me as well. I ran the first 400m without stopping in about 3 minutes. Came back in and started getting through sets of 10 before I had to drop the bar. As I got tired I had to drop down to sets of 5. Either way, I did a good amount of burpees in the time it took me to get to 50 reps. Went back outside and ran another 400m. Tried to run the whole thing but I think I ended up walking for about 100m. I forget what my time was. It wasn't the greatest but I wasn't dead last so I couldn't complain too badly.
Went running on Tuesday. We were on Day 2 of Week 2, so it was minute and a half jog, 2 minute walk alternating. We went 2.05 miles at a pace of 10:11 min/mile. I was feeling alright afterwards. It hurt less than the first time, but it was definitely tiring.
Wednesday's Workout:
Strength:
15 minutes to establish a 1 RM stone to shoulder
MetCon:
EMOM - 12 minutes
10 ring rows
10 push ups
10 air squats
Midline:
8 GHD back extensions
25 abmat sit-ups
Apparently it was the week for 1 RM's and EMOM's. For the stone to shoulders we were supposed to be using the atlas stones which are essentially balls of concrete of varying weights. The problem that I have with them is that they don't gradually go up in weight. You'll use one stone, and the next one will be 40 pounds heavier. So it actually doesn't take very long to establish a 1 RM unless you're borderline and keep giving it a few tries. I partnered up with Robyn again since we're good about pushing each other and are at about the same strength level. We started off with a relatively light stone. The trick with the stone to shoulder is to do it in two steps. The first step, you essentially hug the stone while picking it up and nestling it into your hip so you end up in kind of a sitting position. The second step involves popping your hips forward as your arms guide the stone up to your shoulder. The important thing is to not try and bicep curl it. So we started off light, no big deal. It got harder very quickly though. We hit the 95 pound stone and our forearms were already getting shredded. The problem when you're a girl with short little arms is that as the stones get heavier and bigger, you rely on your forearms to stabilize it as you're lifting it. Well, these are stones of concrete so you literally rip up your forearms. Plus the damn things were getting so heavy that we ended up having to pee right in the middle of it. Stupid atlas and his damn stones.
The MetCon was just shy of freaking awful. It was essentially taking me the full minute to do all 30 reps so by the time I finished the full round it was time to go back for more. The thing about this one was that if it took you more than a minute to finish 30 reps, you had to continue on into the next minute and then rest until you were caught up with everyone. So I ended up doing 9 rounds instead of 12 since I got behind a couple of times. Still...that sucked. I gotta work on my ring rows, I'm not very strong with them.
Thursday was a day off since I was feeling a little fried. I think it was mostly because I had to work...I can't remember.
That week I started making even more of an effort to stay Paleo. I was doing fairly well. I wasn't strict, but at least 2 of my meals each day were Paleo. It's definitely a step above where I have been for the past month. It's still proving to be so hard for me to get back on it. I want to be back on it so badly I just don't know what's stopping me. I haven't necessarily fallen off the wagon but I definitely have one foot off of it. So frustrating. I was so strong a couple months ago and then I let it go. I'll get back on it at some point. Either that or my body will give out and I won't have a choice. Who knows.
I'm posting Friday separately since it was a pretty big day!
I went to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and then ran on Tuesday and Friday.
Monday's Workout:
Strength:
15 min to establish a 1 RM back squat
MetCon:
Run 400m
50 Hang Power Cleans -- 5 burpees for every drop
Run 400m
So two months ago my 1 RM for back squat was 135 pounds. That was before we did all those weeks of 20 rep back squats and it was essentially just at the beginning of the Paleo Challenge. So I was expecting obviously that number would go up. I partnered up with someone who was essentially brand new so we spent a lotta time building up from really light weights and getting in a couple reps at a time before we really started kicking it up a notch. Well she hit about 100 pounds and had enough. I wasn't even close to tired. I hit about 150 and said "Eventually I'll have to quit." I finally reached my limit at 213 pounds. I'll leave you to do the math but that's a HUGE jump from what my original PR was. HUGE!
The downside to tiring myself out doing the strength portion was that I now needed to get through the MetCon of running and hang power cleans. Hang power cleans are kind of a weaker subject for me just because I don't get that extra power from getting off the ground. Also means it puts more pressure on your quads. The prescribed weight for the cleans was 95 pounds. So they wanted us to go heavy AND do 50 reps. Lolz. The name of the game was to do the 50 reps without dropping the bar or else you had to do 5 burpees. I forget what weight I used, I think it was 65 because 50 cleans was just going to kill me. This was also the first week that we started doing a significant amount of running so I knew in the back of my head that was going to kill me as well. I ran the first 400m without stopping in about 3 minutes. Came back in and started getting through sets of 10 before I had to drop the bar. As I got tired I had to drop down to sets of 5. Either way, I did a good amount of burpees in the time it took me to get to 50 reps. Went back outside and ran another 400m. Tried to run the whole thing but I think I ended up walking for about 100m. I forget what my time was. It wasn't the greatest but I wasn't dead last so I couldn't complain too badly.
Went running on Tuesday. We were on Day 2 of Week 2, so it was minute and a half jog, 2 minute walk alternating. We went 2.05 miles at a pace of 10:11 min/mile. I was feeling alright afterwards. It hurt less than the first time, but it was definitely tiring.
Wednesday's Workout:
Strength:
15 minutes to establish a 1 RM stone to shoulder
MetCon:
EMOM - 12 minutes
10 ring rows
10 push ups
10 air squats
Midline:
8 GHD back extensions
25 abmat sit-ups
Apparently it was the week for 1 RM's and EMOM's. For the stone to shoulders we were supposed to be using the atlas stones which are essentially balls of concrete of varying weights. The problem that I have with them is that they don't gradually go up in weight. You'll use one stone, and the next one will be 40 pounds heavier. So it actually doesn't take very long to establish a 1 RM unless you're borderline and keep giving it a few tries. I partnered up with Robyn again since we're good about pushing each other and are at about the same strength level. We started off with a relatively light stone. The trick with the stone to shoulder is to do it in two steps. The first step, you essentially hug the stone while picking it up and nestling it into your hip so you end up in kind of a sitting position. The second step involves popping your hips forward as your arms guide the stone up to your shoulder. The important thing is to not try and bicep curl it. So we started off light, no big deal. It got harder very quickly though. We hit the 95 pound stone and our forearms were already getting shredded. The problem when you're a girl with short little arms is that as the stones get heavier and bigger, you rely on your forearms to stabilize it as you're lifting it. Well, these are stones of concrete so you literally rip up your forearms. Plus the damn things were getting so heavy that we ended up having to pee right in the middle of it. Stupid atlas and his damn stones.
The MetCon was just shy of freaking awful. It was essentially taking me the full minute to do all 30 reps so by the time I finished the full round it was time to go back for more. The thing about this one was that if it took you more than a minute to finish 30 reps, you had to continue on into the next minute and then rest until you were caught up with everyone. So I ended up doing 9 rounds instead of 12 since I got behind a couple of times. Still...that sucked. I gotta work on my ring rows, I'm not very strong with them.
Thursday was a day off since I was feeling a little fried. I think it was mostly because I had to work...I can't remember.
That week I started making even more of an effort to stay Paleo. I was doing fairly well. I wasn't strict, but at least 2 of my meals each day were Paleo. It's definitely a step above where I have been for the past month. It's still proving to be so hard for me to get back on it. I want to be back on it so badly I just don't know what's stopping me. I haven't necessarily fallen off the wagon but I definitely have one foot off of it. So frustrating. I was so strong a couple months ago and then I let it go. I'll get back on it at some point. Either that or my body will give out and I won't have a choice. Who knows.
I'm posting Friday separately since it was a pretty big day!
Catalyst Games 2013 - Pick That $hit Up!
April 27th, 2013...the Catalyst Games...eek
So the Catalyst Games were created last year as a charity event in memory of Kade O'Brien and benefits the Kade Project that works with local youth and the men and women that are working overseas defending our country.
My playground for the day:
The layout of the competition had 4 divisions: Men's and Women's modified, and Men's and Women's Rx. Each division had about 60 athletes. I was in the modified division. We started off SUPER early in the morning. Athlete check-in was at 7:30, with the competition starting right at 9. I got there and noticed that the place was packed with people already. Teams literally came from everywhere. I think every Rochester box was represented as well as boxes from Syracuse and Buffalo. I signed in and they told me I would be in heat #5. I was handed a bag and a t-shirt and told to go warm up or entertain myself for an hour and a half. There weren't a lot of people from our gym competing but there was still a good amount, so we kind of hung out with each other and got nice and warmed up...and I say warmed up figuratively because it was about 40 degrees outside. The nice little weather man promised me that it would get up to 75 degrees sometime during the day.
In this competition, there were 2 WODs plus a final WOD. Everyone was supposed to do the first 2 and the top 10 from each division went on to the finals. I wasn't expecting myself to get into the finals by any means. I told myself that as long as I didn't come in dead last, I would be just as proud of myself.
The first WOD was our endurance WOD:
2 min max cal row
...rest 1 min...
2 min kettlebell swings
...rest 1 min...
2 min burpee up and over box jumps
...rest 1 min...
2 min DB ground to overhead, alternating arms
They started off with the Women's MOD division. For the row, they told us we could set the damper at whatever we wanted, the caveat being that the less resistance you use, the less calories you're going to get out of it. They used 35# kettlebells, 20 inch boxes, and 30# dumbbells. The weights were borderline "easy" for me since they were lower than the weights I'd been using recently, but the thing is, I'd be using them for two minutes (<_<). The box jumps I was a little nervous about but they told us we could step up onto the boxes so that calmed my heart rate a little more. The way they were going to get through the heats was that the first heat would go, and once they finished the rowing, the next heat would take their place until all the heats had gone through each station. I was in the 5th heat, so I got to sit and stew and worry. My judge was also a Boomtown member so we got to commiserate a little. She asked me if I'd be ok with her yelling encouraging things at me. My response? "Whatever keeps me from stopping, go right ahead."
My time came and let me tell you, going into a competition with a heart rate that's already at least 100 sucks. I got through the rowing pretty well. It usually takes me about 2 minutes to get 500m. I set my damper a little higher than I usually do so I could get some extra calories out of it, which ended up being 39. I did 40-something kettlebell swings, 12 burpee box jumps (not surprised), and 29 ground to overheads. For endurance work at my level, I really ripped through it...and promptly died afterwards.
After that I watched the other divisions go through. Obviously the stations increased in weight as the divisions went along. I watched some of the Women's Rx division and holy crap the weights they were using. Some of those women were hell'a fierce! I was honestly shocked to watch even the Rx divisions get steam rolled by the WOD. For them, the weights probably weren't anything different than what they were used to, but just the fact that people had to do it for 2 minutes at a time really got to all of us. It was kind of relieving to see I wasn't the only one that struggled with it. Whoever said 2 minutes isn't a long time clearly never did CrossFit.
We got a little downtime after the first WOD so they could get everything set up for the second one.
WOD #2:
Heavy Jump Rope & Axle Clean Ladder
1 min. to complete 20 jumps and clean the axle bar once, moving up in weights. If you fail to clean a weight, do deadlifts until the time is up for partial points
So I'd never used a heavy jump rope before. I'd say it weighs about 20 pounds. It's basically just a jumprope that's a little thicker and they use a heavier metal braid. The big thing with those is that you have to plan your jump just right or else you end up whacking yourself in the shins. It wasn't a speed contest to see how fast you could get 20 jumps, as long as you did it. The kind of "test" with this WOD was to keep yourself from tiring out doing the jump rope. With something that heavy, you really have to make sure that you're not using your entire arm to try and get the rope up and over your head. I found that if I gripped the handle close to the rope I didn't have to deal with as much shock absorption so I could swing it a little more evenly and not get tired. The axle cleans were what made the whole thing interesting. The part that made it a "ladder" was that you started off at one weight. Finish the jump roping and clean the bar once. Next you move on to the next station which is jump roping again, and cleaning a 10 pound heavier bar, and you just keep moving down the line. You had the choice of either squat cleaning or power cleaning, whatever worked best. If you fail to clean a bar, you were supposed to deadlift for the rest of the minute and then you were done.
They took Men's and Women's MOD division first. There were 8 total stations, women's weight started at 50# and ended at 120#. I knew in the back of my head that my 3 RM for power cleans was 103#, but that was with a regular barbell, not an axle. If you remember, axle barbells are wider and don't have any rotating parts so it's up to you to manipulate everything. So I started off going down the line. Jump roping was actually kind of fun with the heavier rope and the first 3 or 4 cleans were fairly easy. I think I had just finished the 80# clean when I looked ahead of me and all the girls that were ahead of me were gone, defeated by whatever weight they had gotten to. I had people behind me, but there were a ton of eyes on me at that point. I looked back at what I was doing and a bunch of our guys were just standing in the crowd yelling encouragement at me. Literally. Day made. So, I kept going. 90#...starting to get a little heavy. 100#...wondering if I can hold out. 110#...did it in one try but teetered a bit at the top. I had one left, so close. 120#...nope. Tried it twice, got it up to about my collar bone which was about the point where I was supposed to be able to get my body under it, but it was just too heavy for me to manipulate. I think I ended up getting in about 16 deadlifts before the minute was up. I was a little disappointed, but in the end, it was a lot further than I could have dreamed of getting.
This is me trying the 120# bar, just before I failed. Pretty epic nonetheless.
Honestly the best part of the day had to be getting cheered on by everyone. In the past 4 months, I've definitely gotten to know a lot of the people in our gym and we've all started becoming friends. It's probably been the best part of all of this. They definitely get props for being part of my motivation and pushing me to get through WODs or add on another 5 pounds or keep trying until I get something. Love them all to pieces.
We had some down time while the judges got our scores together. Looking at the preliminary scoreboard, I was in 37th place out of 52 after the first WOD. I couldn't complain. It was a lot better than I thought I'd do! After that, they only did enough scores to figure out who the top 10 were. I obviously didn't make it to the finals, but I was so excited to see that Jason, Erik, Holly, Christina, and Meg all had.
Final WOD:
7 min AMRAP
20 deadlifts
10 handstand push-ups (or hand release push-ups for modified)
While I'm good at deadlifts, I was so relieved I didn't have to do that one. They started with Women's MOD and it was brutal to even watch, but the women gave it their all! Actually, every division gave it their all. Everyone must have been exhausted from the earlier events, plus by that time it was hot out! But I was so proud of the people from our gym that made it. Most of us had gone through the Paleo Challenge together so there was kind of a sense of solidarity in getting to cheer everyone on.
A couple days later I found out my final standing...25th out of 52. I was just so amazed. I wasn't expecting miracles, or to be the top 10 or anything like that. Heck, I didn't even expect to be in the top 50%, but I made it! For my first competition, I was pretty damn proud of myself. Now that just makes me want to compete more!
Moving forward from the games, I've realized that I still could use some work on my endurance. It's decent now that I've worked at it for a few months, but it's still no match for my strength. I can do strength stuff all day no problem. Endurance kills me. I feel like once I balance those two out I will truly be able to beast through WODs...Rx'd!
So that was my day at the Catalyst Games. It was the hardest, most fulfilling, and emotional thing I've ever done. Everything I've done in the past 4 months...including crying, peeling the callouses off my hands, standing in the shower for 10 extra minutes just trying to soothe sore muscles, and trying to be a source of motivation to people who cheer me on when I need it, came down to a couple of hours and 2 WODs. I've got a ways to go, but I really needed it to show myself what this is all about.
Ok before I keep blubbering like an idiot, I'm going to leave you guys at that.
So the Catalyst Games were created last year as a charity event in memory of Kade O'Brien and benefits the Kade Project that works with local youth and the men and women that are working overseas defending our country.
My playground for the day:
The layout of the competition had 4 divisions: Men's and Women's modified, and Men's and Women's Rx. Each division had about 60 athletes. I was in the modified division. We started off SUPER early in the morning. Athlete check-in was at 7:30, with the competition starting right at 9. I got there and noticed that the place was packed with people already. Teams literally came from everywhere. I think every Rochester box was represented as well as boxes from Syracuse and Buffalo. I signed in and they told me I would be in heat #5. I was handed a bag and a t-shirt and told to go warm up or entertain myself for an hour and a half. There weren't a lot of people from our gym competing but there was still a good amount, so we kind of hung out with each other and got nice and warmed up...and I say warmed up figuratively because it was about 40 degrees outside. The nice little weather man promised me that it would get up to 75 degrees sometime during the day.
In this competition, there were 2 WODs plus a final WOD. Everyone was supposed to do the first 2 and the top 10 from each division went on to the finals. I wasn't expecting myself to get into the finals by any means. I told myself that as long as I didn't come in dead last, I would be just as proud of myself.
The first WOD was our endurance WOD:
2 min max cal row
...rest 1 min...
2 min kettlebell swings
...rest 1 min...
2 min burpee up and over box jumps
...rest 1 min...
2 min DB ground to overhead, alternating arms
They started off with the Women's MOD division. For the row, they told us we could set the damper at whatever we wanted, the caveat being that the less resistance you use, the less calories you're going to get out of it. They used 35# kettlebells, 20 inch boxes, and 30# dumbbells. The weights were borderline "easy" for me since they were lower than the weights I'd been using recently, but the thing is, I'd be using them for two minutes (<_<). The box jumps I was a little nervous about but they told us we could step up onto the boxes so that calmed my heart rate a little more. The way they were going to get through the heats was that the first heat would go, and once they finished the rowing, the next heat would take their place until all the heats had gone through each station. I was in the 5th heat, so I got to sit and stew and worry. My judge was also a Boomtown member so we got to commiserate a little. She asked me if I'd be ok with her yelling encouraging things at me. My response? "Whatever keeps me from stopping, go right ahead."
My time came and let me tell you, going into a competition with a heart rate that's already at least 100 sucks. I got through the rowing pretty well. It usually takes me about 2 minutes to get 500m. I set my damper a little higher than I usually do so I could get some extra calories out of it, which ended up being 39. I did 40-something kettlebell swings, 12 burpee box jumps (not surprised), and 29 ground to overheads. For endurance work at my level, I really ripped through it...and promptly died afterwards.
After that I watched the other divisions go through. Obviously the stations increased in weight as the divisions went along. I watched some of the Women's Rx division and holy crap the weights they were using. Some of those women were hell'a fierce! I was honestly shocked to watch even the Rx divisions get steam rolled by the WOD. For them, the weights probably weren't anything different than what they were used to, but just the fact that people had to do it for 2 minutes at a time really got to all of us. It was kind of relieving to see I wasn't the only one that struggled with it. Whoever said 2 minutes isn't a long time clearly never did CrossFit.
We got a little downtime after the first WOD so they could get everything set up for the second one.
WOD #2:
Heavy Jump Rope & Axle Clean Ladder
1 min. to complete 20 jumps and clean the axle bar once, moving up in weights. If you fail to clean a weight, do deadlifts until the time is up for partial points
So I'd never used a heavy jump rope before. I'd say it weighs about 20 pounds. It's basically just a jumprope that's a little thicker and they use a heavier metal braid. The big thing with those is that you have to plan your jump just right or else you end up whacking yourself in the shins. It wasn't a speed contest to see how fast you could get 20 jumps, as long as you did it. The kind of "test" with this WOD was to keep yourself from tiring out doing the jump rope. With something that heavy, you really have to make sure that you're not using your entire arm to try and get the rope up and over your head. I found that if I gripped the handle close to the rope I didn't have to deal with as much shock absorption so I could swing it a little more evenly and not get tired. The axle cleans were what made the whole thing interesting. The part that made it a "ladder" was that you started off at one weight. Finish the jump roping and clean the bar once. Next you move on to the next station which is jump roping again, and cleaning a 10 pound heavier bar, and you just keep moving down the line. You had the choice of either squat cleaning or power cleaning, whatever worked best. If you fail to clean a bar, you were supposed to deadlift for the rest of the minute and then you were done.
They took Men's and Women's MOD division first. There were 8 total stations, women's weight started at 50# and ended at 120#. I knew in the back of my head that my 3 RM for power cleans was 103#, but that was with a regular barbell, not an axle. If you remember, axle barbells are wider and don't have any rotating parts so it's up to you to manipulate everything. So I started off going down the line. Jump roping was actually kind of fun with the heavier rope and the first 3 or 4 cleans were fairly easy. I think I had just finished the 80# clean when I looked ahead of me and all the girls that were ahead of me were gone, defeated by whatever weight they had gotten to. I had people behind me, but there were a ton of eyes on me at that point. I looked back at what I was doing and a bunch of our guys were just standing in the crowd yelling encouragement at me. Literally. Day made. So, I kept going. 90#...starting to get a little heavy. 100#...wondering if I can hold out. 110#...did it in one try but teetered a bit at the top. I had one left, so close. 120#...nope. Tried it twice, got it up to about my collar bone which was about the point where I was supposed to be able to get my body under it, but it was just too heavy for me to manipulate. I think I ended up getting in about 16 deadlifts before the minute was up. I was a little disappointed, but in the end, it was a lot further than I could have dreamed of getting.
This is me trying the 120# bar, just before I failed. Pretty epic nonetheless.
Honestly the best part of the day had to be getting cheered on by everyone. In the past 4 months, I've definitely gotten to know a lot of the people in our gym and we've all started becoming friends. It's probably been the best part of all of this. They definitely get props for being part of my motivation and pushing me to get through WODs or add on another 5 pounds or keep trying until I get something. Love them all to pieces.
We had some down time while the judges got our scores together. Looking at the preliminary scoreboard, I was in 37th place out of 52 after the first WOD. I couldn't complain. It was a lot better than I thought I'd do! After that, they only did enough scores to figure out who the top 10 were. I obviously didn't make it to the finals, but I was so excited to see that Jason, Erik, Holly, Christina, and Meg all had.
Final WOD:
7 min AMRAP
20 deadlifts
10 handstand push-ups (or hand release push-ups for modified)
While I'm good at deadlifts, I was so relieved I didn't have to do that one. They started with Women's MOD and it was brutal to even watch, but the women gave it their all! Actually, every division gave it their all. Everyone must have been exhausted from the earlier events, plus by that time it was hot out! But I was so proud of the people from our gym that made it. Most of us had gone through the Paleo Challenge together so there was kind of a sense of solidarity in getting to cheer everyone on.
A couple days later I found out my final standing...25th out of 52. I was just so amazed. I wasn't expecting miracles, or to be the top 10 or anything like that. Heck, I didn't even expect to be in the top 50%, but I made it! For my first competition, I was pretty damn proud of myself. Now that just makes me want to compete more!
Moving forward from the games, I've realized that I still could use some work on my endurance. It's decent now that I've worked at it for a few months, but it's still no match for my strength. I can do strength stuff all day no problem. Endurance kills me. I feel like once I balance those two out I will truly be able to beast through WODs...Rx'd!
So that was my day at the Catalyst Games. It was the hardest, most fulfilling, and emotional thing I've ever done. Everything I've done in the past 4 months...including crying, peeling the callouses off my hands, standing in the shower for 10 extra minutes just trying to soothe sore muscles, and trying to be a source of motivation to people who cheer me on when I need it, came down to a couple of hours and 2 WODs. I've got a ways to go, but I really needed it to show myself what this is all about.
Ok before I keep blubbering like an idiot, I'm going to leave you guys at that.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Catalyst Games Prep Week
The week leading up to the Catalyst Games I was a super wreck. They started posting movement standard videos on Monday: Double-unders, deadlifts, burpee box jumps, power cleans, dumbbell ground to overhead lifts, kettlebell swings, and a couple other ones. They told us that some variation of that list would be included in the Catalyst Games. Yeah...I was not feeling confident. Burpee box jumps and double unders...nay nay.
I tried to plan my week semi-wisely so that I'd be ready for the games. I worked out at the gym Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I ran with Melissa on Tuesday and Wednesday. In retrospect, I didn't really take it easy on myself that week...
Monday's workout:
Strength:
1 x 20 back squat Max Effort
Tire flips
MetCon:
7 Min AMRAP
7 DB thrusters (30#)
14 pull-ups
The strength portion I definitely disappointed myself on. I used 105 pounds, but I definitely could have gone higher. I felt challenged but not challenged to the point where my body was considering failing. Oh well. The tire flipping was so much fun! You end up getting into a squat position practically hugging the tire, and then driving up with your legs until it flips over. I ended up using the 300 pound tire. It sounds like a lot, but it really wasn't that bad.
The MetCon was somewhat brutal. I ended up getting through 2 full rounds plus all the thrusters in the 3rd round. The pull-ups really slowed me down. Eventually I'll be able to do a higher volume of them.
Tuesday was running day. It was our last day of the first week...finally! It was alternating 1 min. jog and 1 min. walk. It still felt fairly easy for me since it wasn't a whole lot compared to what crossfit does to me. The GPS tracker said we did 2.04 miles at a 10:07 min/mile pace. Not too shabby. I don't know if the GPS is entirely accurate. It measures your pace the whole time and records your pace while you're jogging.
Wednesday's Workout:
Strength:
7 x 1 push press
MetCon:
6 min. AMRAP
6 KB swings
4 handstand push-ups (or wall walks)
2 pull-ups
Midline:
4 rounds
10 BB good mornings
50 abmat sit-ups
For the strength I paired up with another woman named Robyn. I'd seen her around but we hadn't talked much. We're both at about the same strength level so we figured we'd get it done together. My 1 RM for push press is now 125 pounds! Remember back when I said I had no arm strength? Yeah...right...about that.
The MetCon was terrible. Prescribed for the kettlebell swings was 53 pounds. I decided to go with the 44 pound, which was a first for me. They told us to go heavy so I did. The part that really sucked was the handstand part. I still can't do a handstand, let alone a push-up so they told us to do wall walks. Wall walks are much slower of a movement than a handstand push-up, so I feel like I kind of got the short end of the straw with that one. Pull-ups I used my standard green band. I ended up finishing 4 + 10 rounds, which all things considered wasn't too shabby!
The midline part sucked! 200 sit-ups...good god. I was thankful that they prescribed it though. I could use some core work.
So because I'm crazy, I ended up running on Wednesday as well...2 hours after the gym. No bueno. The workout was Week 2, Day 1, so it was alternating 1 1/2 minute jog, 2 minute walk. My legs were fried after this. My heart was still keeping up just fine and I didn't feel like I was losing speed or anything, I just hurt afterwards. We ended up doing 2.11 miles at a 10:10 min/mile pace. Little slower, but still not bad.
Thursday I went back for even more torture!
Thursday's workout:
Skill:
8-10 candlestick rolls
12-15 GHD sit-ups
10-15 empty BB OH squats, holding for 3 seconds at the bottom
MetCon:
EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) -- 15 minutes
1 Squat Clean each minute working to a max weight
...then...
10 min. endurance work
Candlestick rolls are kind of funky little buggers. The whole point of a candlestick roll is to not use your hands. So you start in a standing position, then sit backwards until you're sitting on the ground. Then you use a little momentum so put yourself into a laying position. Using that momentum you're supposed to roll back up to a standing position. I can't do them to save my life...still need my damn hands haha! GHD sit-ups are something I'm still getting used to. They're the next difficulty in progression after the abmat sit-ups. Now I'm at a stage where I can rip through 20-30 abmat sit-ups at one time so the next step for me would be to master GHD sit-ups. The thing to get used to with the GHD is that you're going to feel your hip flexors engaging. Now the part that really sucks about that is if you've spent a lot of time that week in a squatting position, because they will be sore and you won't even know it until you get on the GHD. The first 3-4 reps you're going to be like "Aren't these supposed to be helping my abs?"...don't worry, all will be answered in due time (AKA 10 reps). The overhead squats were a nice thing to do for a change. I'm stronger than I used to be in an overhead position, but it was nice to just take a little time to really be able to focus on it.
The MetCon didn't feel like your normal everyday MetCon...even though it was 15 minutes long. Now I'm sure you all know my feelings on squat cleans, but after doing this MetCon I am definitely much more confident with them. It was 15 minutes, 1 rep every minute, working up to a 1 RM. I'd never done a 1 RM for squat clean so I was a little apprehensive and excited at the same time. I started out at like 53 pounds, AKA super light for me. Went up in teeny increments for the first couple minutes, then stayed at the same weight for a couple rounds to work on form, then I just ripped through the last 4 rounds. My 1 RM for a squat clean is 113 pounds. Not too shabby at all. It's about comparable to what I'm able to power clean.
Friday I took the day off of working out to try and prepare for the Catalyst Games as much as possible. I had an awesome breakfast of Margie's paleo style...sweet potato homefries, steak, and 2 eggs over easy. Omg so much noms. I even took the night off of RIT so I could catch as many z's as possible, even though I still ended up going to bed at like midnight.
Yes, yes I know, I'm a horrible blogger since this is like weeks late at this point. I'm trying to get caught up I swear! Life literally has blown up in the past few weeks (also doesn't help that I have crappy internet). I have a to-do list about a mile long that I've been trying to chip away at for the past week and it's awful. I'm hoping things will calm down with the end of the school year but with all the RITA projects I gotta do over the summer, that seems highly unlikely.
Catalyst Games post coming right up!!
I tried to plan my week semi-wisely so that I'd be ready for the games. I worked out at the gym Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I ran with Melissa on Tuesday and Wednesday. In retrospect, I didn't really take it easy on myself that week...
Monday's workout:
Strength:
1 x 20 back squat Max Effort
Tire flips
MetCon:
7 Min AMRAP
7 DB thrusters (30#)
14 pull-ups
The strength portion I definitely disappointed myself on. I used 105 pounds, but I definitely could have gone higher. I felt challenged but not challenged to the point where my body was considering failing. Oh well. The tire flipping was so much fun! You end up getting into a squat position practically hugging the tire, and then driving up with your legs until it flips over. I ended up using the 300 pound tire. It sounds like a lot, but it really wasn't that bad.
The MetCon was somewhat brutal. I ended up getting through 2 full rounds plus all the thrusters in the 3rd round. The pull-ups really slowed me down. Eventually I'll be able to do a higher volume of them.
Tuesday was running day. It was our last day of the first week...finally! It was alternating 1 min. jog and 1 min. walk. It still felt fairly easy for me since it wasn't a whole lot compared to what crossfit does to me. The GPS tracker said we did 2.04 miles at a 10:07 min/mile pace. Not too shabby. I don't know if the GPS is entirely accurate. It measures your pace the whole time and records your pace while you're jogging.
Wednesday's Workout:
Strength:
7 x 1 push press
MetCon:
6 min. AMRAP
6 KB swings
4 handstand push-ups (or wall walks)
2 pull-ups
Midline:
4 rounds
10 BB good mornings
50 abmat sit-ups
For the strength I paired up with another woman named Robyn. I'd seen her around but we hadn't talked much. We're both at about the same strength level so we figured we'd get it done together. My 1 RM for push press is now 125 pounds! Remember back when I said I had no arm strength? Yeah...right...about that.
The MetCon was terrible. Prescribed for the kettlebell swings was 53 pounds. I decided to go with the 44 pound, which was a first for me. They told us to go heavy so I did. The part that really sucked was the handstand part. I still can't do a handstand, let alone a push-up so they told us to do wall walks. Wall walks are much slower of a movement than a handstand push-up, so I feel like I kind of got the short end of the straw with that one. Pull-ups I used my standard green band. I ended up finishing 4 + 10 rounds, which all things considered wasn't too shabby!
The midline part sucked! 200 sit-ups...good god. I was thankful that they prescribed it though. I could use some core work.
So because I'm crazy, I ended up running on Wednesday as well...2 hours after the gym. No bueno. The workout was Week 2, Day 1, so it was alternating 1 1/2 minute jog, 2 minute walk. My legs were fried after this. My heart was still keeping up just fine and I didn't feel like I was losing speed or anything, I just hurt afterwards. We ended up doing 2.11 miles at a 10:10 min/mile pace. Little slower, but still not bad.
Thursday I went back for even more torture!
Thursday's workout:
Skill:
8-10 candlestick rolls
12-15 GHD sit-ups
10-15 empty BB OH squats, holding for 3 seconds at the bottom
MetCon:
EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) -- 15 minutes
1 Squat Clean each minute working to a max weight
...then...
10 min. endurance work
Candlestick rolls are kind of funky little buggers. The whole point of a candlestick roll is to not use your hands. So you start in a standing position, then sit backwards until you're sitting on the ground. Then you use a little momentum so put yourself into a laying position. Using that momentum you're supposed to roll back up to a standing position. I can't do them to save my life...still need my damn hands haha! GHD sit-ups are something I'm still getting used to. They're the next difficulty in progression after the abmat sit-ups. Now I'm at a stage where I can rip through 20-30 abmat sit-ups at one time so the next step for me would be to master GHD sit-ups. The thing to get used to with the GHD is that you're going to feel your hip flexors engaging. Now the part that really sucks about that is if you've spent a lot of time that week in a squatting position, because they will be sore and you won't even know it until you get on the GHD. The first 3-4 reps you're going to be like "Aren't these supposed to be helping my abs?"...don't worry, all will be answered in due time (AKA 10 reps). The overhead squats were a nice thing to do for a change. I'm stronger than I used to be in an overhead position, but it was nice to just take a little time to really be able to focus on it.
The MetCon didn't feel like your normal everyday MetCon...even though it was 15 minutes long. Now I'm sure you all know my feelings on squat cleans, but after doing this MetCon I am definitely much more confident with them. It was 15 minutes, 1 rep every minute, working up to a 1 RM. I'd never done a 1 RM for squat clean so I was a little apprehensive and excited at the same time. I started out at like 53 pounds, AKA super light for me. Went up in teeny increments for the first couple minutes, then stayed at the same weight for a couple rounds to work on form, then I just ripped through the last 4 rounds. My 1 RM for a squat clean is 113 pounds. Not too shabby at all. It's about comparable to what I'm able to power clean.
Friday I took the day off of working out to try and prepare for the Catalyst Games as much as possible. I had an awesome breakfast of Margie's paleo style...sweet potato homefries, steak, and 2 eggs over easy. Omg so much noms. I even took the night off of RIT so I could catch as many z's as possible, even though I still ended up going to bed at like midnight.
Yes, yes I know, I'm a horrible blogger since this is like weeks late at this point. I'm trying to get caught up I swear! Life literally has blown up in the past few weeks (also doesn't help that I have crappy internet). I have a to-do list about a mile long that I've been trying to chip away at for the past week and it's awful. I'm hoping things will calm down with the end of the school year but with all the RITA projects I gotta do over the summer, that seems highly unlikely.
Catalyst Games post coming right up!!
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