Archive | July, 2011

Warrior Dash…kind of

31 Jul

Yesterday Ronnie and I participated in our first Warrior Dash. We registered for it months ago and I was really excited for it. Not just another 5K out on the pavement. This was through fields and woods and creeks, with obstacles like a giant pile of hay bales and cargo nets to climb across and over. And in the final stretch, fire to jump over and a giant mud pit to crawl through.

I was pretty hopeful that my CrossFit training would have me well prepared, and I’ve still been putting in a few miles per week of running, though with the heat lately it’s been indoors on a treadmill. We did get a slight break from the heat wave yesterday as it was only 90-ish, but our race time was 1:30 pm, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was still very hot!

Unfortunately, things just didn’t go real well for me. They say everyone has off days now and then, and mine just happened to hit hard yesterday. Between the heat, the terrain, and probably the fact that it was just that time of the month, I struggled through a lot of the running. The obstacles? I actually looked forward to those because they were a nice break. Especially the water obstacles! But for much of the trail running, I kept finding myself doubled over with sharp pain in my stomach – some sort of cramp or stitch. It was difficult to breathe. I got so frustrated with myself because it was as if I was terribly out of shape – I even watched visibly out of shape people passing me. The more angry I got, the harder it was to breathe and recover. It was a vicious cycle of physical and mental struggles! Luckily, the pain came and went, so I was able to pick back up my running when it would subside, but it just kind of put a damper on the event. Ronnie stayed back with me, so obviously he lost his competitive edge as well. But I was thankful and relieved to not be struggling out there by myself and have his support.

Things seemed to recover for the last part of the race and I was able to finish fairly strong. The final obstacle, the mud pit, was well worth the wait! It was a good two feet deep, of thick, mucky, mud. I fully wallowed in it, and Ronnie did a cannonball jump into it. The rinse off station after the race was a total disaster – one guy with a power hose, trying to rinse off waves of hundreds of mud-caked runners. For as big of an event this was, with all the other coordination and promotion, this part was a complete FAIL. I don’t get it. After waiting for thirty minutes in that stupid mess, we took off to find a creek. We knew it was close by since we ran through several on the course. Sure enough, behind a nearby softball field, we found one and were able to rinse off reasonably enough to function!

Overall, despite my struggles, it was a fun event. I would definitely do it again, and hopefully without issues. I am even a little sore today, so I know that even though I was pretty slow, at least I got some work in!

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Another hero

28 Jul

Tuesday night I completed my second “Hero” workout, named McGhee. It was more brutal than the first, Murph.

Thirty minutes is a long CrossFit workout. I think most often we do our intense stuff in 15 minutes or less. But this was nonstop thirty minutes of as much as we could physically get done in that time. No breaks. I used 95 lbs for the dead lift, as many real push-ups as possible (my first few rounds), then dropping to my knees for the rest, and a 16 inch tire for box jumps. As much as the “Hero” WODS are much harder and more demanding, they actually provide an extra layer of motivation by nature of what they are: honoring a fallen soldier. When you’re dripping with sweat, red-faced, panting, with aching arms and chest that don’t want to push one more rep, it takes only one moment to think about the soldier this workout honors, the sacrifices and crap that he had to go through, and all of a sudden cranking out more reps doesn’t seem so bad.

Yesterday my chest and calves were on fire! Didn’t feel the dead lifts so much, and they weren’t the hardest part of the workout, so perhaps on a high volume WOD in the future I can add a few pounds. But I was reminded of the box jumps and push-ups all day yesterday and even today! I actually just skipped the WOD yesterday in favor of a nice 2 mile run. It was a bummer because yesterday’s WOD involved pull-up skill work, which I really need to work on if I’m ever to get off the band for assistance. But, I needed the recovery.

I got on Facebook last night and saw the most refreshing post from one of our members. His story: started doing CrossFit 8 months ago in Arkansas, moved to KC and joined us when we first got going. He’s a hard worker with an awesome attitude – always friendly, outgoing and encouraging to all the other members, even while he’s sweating through the workout. Anyway, he posted last night that he did his entire workout with no assisted pull-ups for the first time ever! It’s weird I’ve only known him for two months but I was so excited and proud for him! Someone with pull-up accomplishments – someone like me! It gives me hope and inspiration to keep working toward my goal of unassisted pull-ups. I’m sure it will be awhile till I can do them in a WOD, but if I can just do a few all by myself, that would be accomplishment enough!

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The way ya make me feel

21 Jul

Starting this entry with a little Michael Jackson:

“the way ya make me feel…you knock me off my feet…”

Yeah, how does CrossFit make me feel? So many things…

Strong.
More confident.
Better than yesterday.
Better than lots of other people who haven’t yet discovered this and are still bored on the elliptical machine
Like a student.
Like a baby learning to crawl and walk.
Like a bada$$.
Sore.
Tired.
Sweaty.
Like a man.
Productive.
Functional.
Sexy.
Like a woman. A strong woman.
Capable.
Nervous.
Excited.
Competitive.
Like an athlete.
Vulnerable.
Open.
Like making new friends.
Camaraderie.
Hopeful.
Healthy.
Made to last.
Motivated.
Worthwhile.
Part of something very special.

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Movin’ on up

18 Jul

Tonight was my first workout back up at Ronnie’s gym, which felt good. I wasn’t able to workout up there last week due to various inconveniences, so I was all by my lonesome at my work gym. In some cases it was better; I was grumpy last week so it was good to not be around people and just be sweating my anger out in peace and quiet. But I missed the group dynamic, and was longing to get back up there with my classmates.

The WOD tonight involved overhead squats, pull-ups, and box jumps, two of those being favorites of mine (I only tolerate box jumps). Last time I did overhead squats was in combination with barbell snatches, so my shoulders were pretty well shot. I used 45 pound bar for the snatch but couldn’t maintain it immediately afterward on the squats, so I had to move to a lighter weight. I actually don’t know what I was using – Ronnie slid a couple 10 pound plates on some PVC pipe since all the 29 pound barbells were taken. It may have only been twenty on that day, but I know I’ve done 29 before.

Anyway, they had me practice with the 29 pound bar and apparently it looked too easy, and we didn’t have enough of those for all us girls, so they moved me to the 45 pound bar. Practiced a few and thought – let’s give it a go, I’ll probably fall over and make an a$$ of myself, but at least I’m trying to improve. Then onto the pull-ups – I’ve been using the green rubber band for assistance, but with tonight’s class there weren’t enough, so I had to try the lighter blue band. I can do those, but have only done a few in a non-workout setting. Completing the higher reps on that would be a challenge, but how will I ever reach my goal of doing unassisted pull-ups this year if I don’t try with less assistance? Finally, the box jumps. I’ve been jumping on one of the tires, which is around 16 – 18 inches. I got put on the 20 inch box tonight. I’ve done that in one workout, and it was really tough. Two inches makes all the difference.

So each movement on the WOD I would be performing at a higher level than I had previously. It would be rough. But I soldiered through, only easing up some of the pull-up reps with the green band when the girl next to me would finish faster with that set and I was struggling through with the blue band. I stayed with the box jump height and 45 pound overhead squat, only losing the bar and falling forward one time. I picked it back up and finished. My time for the workout was competitive with most, and I actually beat Ronnie by a few seconds, which has never, ever happened. Even if he was doing 115 pound overhead squats, 30 inch box jumps, and real pull-ups. It’s all relative, right?

The WOD, for the record:

5 rounds of 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 reps of each of the following, for time:
Overhead squats
Pull-ups
Box jumps

Followed by one set of 50 sit-ups

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From a baby to a man

14 Jul

It’s funny the various thoughts that run through my mind in the middle of a workout. Some people can space out during a workout, but not me. I think it gets my mind going at warp speed. I can’t help it, I’m a thinker! I should back up a bit.

Ronnie was explaining to me the technical difference and reasoning for the following three similar moves: strict press, push press, and push jerk. I “get” the push press and how you can have more power by the short mini-squat/dip in the hips used to help pop the bar up overhead. Without that, the bar has no momentum, so the “strict” press is just pure and simple strength from the shoulders. So then the push jerk is the most powerful of the three, because not only do you get to do the dip and thrust with the hips to help the bar up, but you also get to do a little hop while you straighten your arms overhead. He said that if your technique is correct, theoretically your push press should be a decent percentage of weight higher than your typical strict press weight, and the push jerk should be another percentage higher than the push press.

Blah blah blah. My strict press 3 rep max is 70 lbs I believe. So that means my push press should be more, and my push jerk should be even more. Well today was my first day trying push jerks, so obviously I’m not going to max out. But believe me, I tried it with 60 lbs for the first round (7 reps), and had to drop to 50 lbs for the remaining four rounds. The math doesn’t really workout, and I think I should be doing way more than 50 lbs if this is supposed to be my strongest type of press, technically. In my defense, there were other moves in the workout (7 squat cleans just prior to the push jerks), so my shoulders were also getting taxed in other ways.

BUT, what was occurring in my racing mind as the workout progressed, was that the weight just doesn’t matter. Not now. Not for new things I’m learning. I am just a baby, like an actual infant when it comes to lifting like this. I am starting from scratch. Up until this realization today, I had thought that with my varied atheltic/fitness background and experience with lifting some weights, I had some little leg up, and that I was further along in my strength development than the average, never-entered-a-gym-before person. But I don’t. These last few weeks are the first time I’ve ever even attemped some of these moves, much less tried to text my max and then grow from there. It’s silly to be calculating the weight I “should” be at. I just need to learn! I need to soak it all up, focus on technique, challenge myself, and watch my strength grow after all that. I’m really like a baby – an army crawling baby, watching it’s older brothers and sisters walk and getting jealous of them, when I have barely just begun to crawl.

BUT, then my mind switches gears, as halfway through my workout of Olympic lifting techniques, I’m grunting with exertion as I’m trying to power this barbell around, sweating, huffing, being very un-ladylike (and un-babylike for that matter), and this big guy walks in and starts his workout. I’m at my work gym by the way, not at Ronnie’s. The guy grabs his notebook and begins doing his shoulder shrugs, bicep curls, and back flies. Low intensity, slow and steady, not a drop of sweat. And here’s little me, a few feet away, physically fighting my way through these old school, manly Olympic lifts with a barbell. I’m sure it would have been a sight to see.

After my mental adventure during my physical activity, I left the gym feeling pretty dang empowered today. I might be just starting out, with the strength of a baby, but I can do any lift a man can, and probably more lifts than most men. YEAH.

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Crazy game of poker

6 Jul

I was both looking forward to and dreading today’s workout. I was feeling pretty good; not too sore or tight from yesterday’s workout, but when Ronnie posted the WOD last night, it was something else. It is named “deck of cards” and actually involves turning every card in the deck to determine the workout. And because of that, every group that does the workout throughout the day has a slightly different experience, assuming the deck is shuffled between classes. So how it works: each suit represents a different move. For today, we did burpees, push-ups (ring dips for those that are skilled enough), box jumps, and hang cleans or kettle bell swings. So for example, hearts = burpees. Diamonds = box jumps. Then the number on the card represented how many of that move we had to do right then. Face cards were 10, and Ace was 11. We had to get through all 52 cards. Oh, and there was one joker, which represented a 1 minute rest.

It took our group something like 35 minutes to complete, which is much much longer than the WOD’s we’re used to. At one point we had to do some 30 burpee’s in a row based on the way the cards fell. But I guess that isn’t so bad, b/c when Ronnie completed the workout earlier today, he had fifty something burpee’s in a row and almost puked. He said that was the closest he’s come to puking in a workout for a long time. When it makes the boss pukey, you know it’s rough! It was pretty hellish but awesome all at the same time. I felt slightly pukey toward the last few cards but at that point knew it was almost over. After resting on the pavement outside for several minutes after the workout, I got up to go refill my water bottle and had to focus and breathe very deeply to keep from passing out. I haven’t been that light-headed and nearly faint after a workout either.

There were a ton of people who showed up for the WOD today, for all the class times, despite it’s intimidating description and even more intimidating reality. But that’s where the fun is – the shared sweat and pain, but also the creativity in the workout format. We don’t just go in, do 3 sets of 10 of bicep curls, tricep extensions, and squats. We never know what we’re gonna get or how the cards will fall when it comes to CrossFit.

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Squat love

5 Jul

I love squats. Air squats, heavy squats for max, and everything in between. I once did 300 air squats in a single workout (“Murph”), and I probably could’ve done more. Yes they burn, but in all the right places. Yes they make my heart race, but there’s nothing like this perfectly functional resistance move to give me cardio benefits while at the same time shaping my legs and booty.

And what about all the different kinds of squats? There’s the typical “back squat” with a barbell resting across your upper back and shoulders. This is of course my strongest squat, and the one I feel most confident. But then there is the “front squat,” which is new to me but I am loving the way it feels. The bar is held in front, resting on the shelf created by the front of my shoulders with my elbows out in front of me. Definitely takes a bit of getting used to but it forces me to be incredibly conscious of my posture, and makes me notice the muscles building in my shoulders as they prop up the bar. I like noticing new muscles!

Finally, the overhead squat. This I’ve also only done a few times, but as it is with squats, I love it. Not sure if it will always be the case, but one of the things I love about it is the insane amount of focus I must maintain to do it correctly. You can’t half-a$$ this one, it just won’t work and the bar will fall. Or you will. It’s posture, and core, and a full body coordinated movement. I dig it. I have only done it holding thirty pounds overhead, which is next to nothing, but I want to see this weight go up, for sure. My legs can squat far more than that, just have to get the shoulders and core to cooperate!

So give me squats – lots of ’em. I’ll never complain when I see squats in a workout. I might complain afterward when I am sore and can barely walk, but I’ll take it back quickly, because it’s my favorite kind of pain!

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