The difference a few months makes...
Then...
And now...
PS- Did anyone see my older brother Gar in that first vid? He looks so different now compared to then!!! :) I heart him...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Rest "ladder"... get it... later? Ladder? Ha!
Ok so that was the corniest joke ever, but I was trying to come up with a title for today's WOD and I had nothing really. I'm a little bit pressed for time since I pulled the lucky dayshift card today *sigh*, but here's what today's fun looked like.
Pull-up/burpee ladders
800M run
1-10
Pull-ups
Burpees
800M run
10-1
Pull-ups
Burpees
I took off like a bat out of hell on the first run, and realized how bad that sucked when I got in the room. I went out waaaay too fast and smoked myself for a minute. I got through the first half and the second run was much much slower. The back half didn't feel too bad, and I called time at 35:40. I was hoping for a little faster, but we all know how good I am at push-ups and therefore also burpees. :P I'm a little nervous though because I tore up a bit today and tomorrow my plan is to test Fran. Jerry got some footage of me on the bar today though, so hopefully after work I'll have that to post up too. It'll be interesting to see how much my form has changed! I haven't seen me do chins (on video) since about March and in that video I was in the background... so we'll see. :P
Pull-up/burpee ladders
800M run
1-10
Pull-ups
Burpees
800M run
10-1
Pull-ups
Burpees
I took off like a bat out of hell on the first run, and realized how bad that sucked when I got in the room. I went out waaaay too fast and smoked myself for a minute. I got through the first half and the second run was much much slower. The back half didn't feel too bad, and I called time at 35:40. I was hoping for a little faster, but we all know how good I am at push-ups and therefore also burpees. :P I'm a little nervous though because I tore up a bit today and tomorrow my plan is to test Fran. Jerry got some footage of me on the bar today though, so hopefully after work I'll have that to post up too. It'll be interesting to see how much my form has changed! I haven't seen me do chins (on video) since about March and in that video I was in the background... so we'll see. :P
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
CrossFit Connections: Your dating application is here...
If CrossFit ran a dating service...
CrossFit Connections
Welcome to CrossFit Connections! Here at CrossFit Connections we want everyone to find their perfect match, who is of course, a CrossFitter, because we know that they are, if they are a legit CrossFitter, usptanding people, and can’t possibly be severely datingly handicapped. So, help us find your perfect CrossFit SO by filling out our simple questionaire. Oh, and by the way, the application process is for time. 3-2-1- GO! (This is a test and a part of the application process in itself. Don’t stress though…)
Basic Information
Last Name:
First Name:
Middle Initial:
Date of birth:
Sex: Y/N
Sex: M/F
Height:
Weight:
Eye color:
Can you provide a photocopy of your dental records? Y/N
Can you provide a photocopy of your recent (5 years worth) of tax returns? Y/N
Hometown:
Mother’s maiden name:
Would a background check bother you? Y/N
Can we speak with your parents? Y/N
Current living situation (please circle one): Alone I have a roommate or two I am stuck in the hell that is my parents’ house
How many days a week do you CrossFit?
Your General Information and Knowledge
What is your Fran time?
Without looking, name at least 5 girl workouts.
How many heroes can you list?
What is your CrossFit total?
Who founded CrossFit?*
*If you cannot answer this question, please don’t leave the questionaire with the secretay. Simply leave the facility immediately, and do it quickly because we’re going to chase after your ass for being a faux CrossFitter.
Do you attend church regularly and worship a god other than Pukie?
How much Kool-aid do you regularly keep stored in your house?
How many times have you and Pukie had the opportunity of meeting?
What is your max chin up number?
What CrossFit toys do you currently have in your car? (Circle all that apply to you)
Rings Med Ball Ab Mat Kettlebell
Dumbbells Running shoes Rope Paralettes
Do you wear gloves on Oly lifting days?*
*If you answered yes to this question, please stop the questionaire and return it to the secretary. You may then exit the facility. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
Can you provide us with a photo of at least one torn blister and at least one CF injury due to barbell, plyo box, or other assorted CF mishaps?
How many rounds can you do during Cindy?
Can you do a muscle up, handstand push up, or ring dips?
Are you currently “In the Zone?”
Do you find yourself doing things in your daily life for time or doing as many things as possible in 20 minutes? Please cite specific examples.
How many hours do you spend per day on the Main Site or your affiliate blog?
Do you have your own CrossFit blog?
Do you ACTUALLY have any interests OTHER than CrossFit?
Have you ever done a workout on your own just because you liked the name?
Have you ever kipped yourself off a bar?
Do you speak about CrossFit as if it is a real person?
How often do you mention that you spent the morning with the girls?
While at the bar, have you ever created drunken CrossFit workouts on bev naps?
Do you think you kick the WOD’s ass everyday?*
*If you answered yes to that question, mother f’er you better get your ass out of here.
Essay
For the next portion of your application, you are going to be required to write an essay. Please read the following topic and respond as you see fit.
If CrossFit were a real person and had to fight Chuck Norris, who would win?
Physical Test
After we have read your answers to our short questionaire, if we deem that you are not a faux CrossFitter, and we actually think you might make a good SO for someone, we’ll call you for your PT. But don’t worry, it’ll be a quick little workout, just so we can figure out if you lied your butt off on your application. It should only take about an hour. We’ll call you to set up your appointment.
Thank you for your application! We look forward to laughing at it and then trying to match you up.
CrossFit Connections
Welcome to CrossFit Connections! Here at CrossFit Connections we want everyone to find their perfect match, who is of course, a CrossFitter, because we know that they are, if they are a legit CrossFitter, usptanding people, and can’t possibly be severely datingly handicapped. So, help us find your perfect CrossFit SO by filling out our simple questionaire. Oh, and by the way, the application process is for time. 3-2-1- GO! (This is a test and a part of the application process in itself. Don’t stress though…)
Basic Information
Last Name:
First Name:
Middle Initial:
Date of birth:
Sex: Y/N
Sex: M/F
Height:
Weight:
Eye color:
Can you provide a photocopy of your dental records? Y/N
Can you provide a photocopy of your recent (5 years worth) of tax returns? Y/N
Hometown:
Mother’s maiden name:
Would a background check bother you? Y/N
Can we speak with your parents? Y/N
Current living situation (please circle one): Alone I have a roommate or two I am stuck in the hell that is my parents’ house
How many days a week do you CrossFit?
Your General Information and Knowledge
What is your Fran time?
Without looking, name at least 5 girl workouts.
How many heroes can you list?
What is your CrossFit total?
Who founded CrossFit?*
*If you cannot answer this question, please don’t leave the questionaire with the secretay. Simply leave the facility immediately, and do it quickly because we’re going to chase after your ass for being a faux CrossFitter.
Do you attend church regularly and worship a god other than Pukie?
How much Kool-aid do you regularly keep stored in your house?
How many times have you and Pukie had the opportunity of meeting?
What is your max chin up number?
What CrossFit toys do you currently have in your car? (Circle all that apply to you)
Rings Med Ball Ab Mat Kettlebell
Dumbbells Running shoes Rope Paralettes
Do you wear gloves on Oly lifting days?*
*If you answered yes to this question, please stop the questionaire and return it to the secretary. You may then exit the facility. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
Can you provide us with a photo of at least one torn blister and at least one CF injury due to barbell, plyo box, or other assorted CF mishaps?
How many rounds can you do during Cindy?
Can you do a muscle up, handstand push up, or ring dips?
Are you currently “In the Zone?”
Do you find yourself doing things in your daily life for time or doing as many things as possible in 20 minutes? Please cite specific examples.
How many hours do you spend per day on the Main Site or your affiliate blog?
Do you have your own CrossFit blog?
Do you ACTUALLY have any interests OTHER than CrossFit?
Have you ever done a workout on your own just because you liked the name?
Have you ever kipped yourself off a bar?
Do you speak about CrossFit as if it is a real person?
How often do you mention that you spent the morning with the girls?
While at the bar, have you ever created drunken CrossFit workouts on bev naps?
Do you think you kick the WOD’s ass everyday?*
*If you answered yes to that question, mother f’er you better get your ass out of here.
Essay
For the next portion of your application, you are going to be required to write an essay. Please read the following topic and respond as you see fit.
If CrossFit were a real person and had to fight Chuck Norris, who would win?
Physical Test
After we have read your answers to our short questionaire, if we deem that you are not a faux CrossFitter, and we actually think you might make a good SO for someone, we’ll call you for your PT. But don’t worry, it’ll be a quick little workout, just so we can figure out if you lied your butt off on your application. It should only take about an hour. We’ll call you to set up your appointment.
Thank you for your application! We look forward to laughing at it and then trying to match you up.
I know you're out there....
So it's time for one of these again... you know... the time where I encourage readers to come out of the proverbial closet. I've been noticing a lot of new cities popping up recently, with some consistancy, so this is the part where I encourage them to all leave COMMENTS or email me. (Where the F is Neshanic Station, New Jersey, and Greenville, South Carolina, I see you too! And just to call out a few others, Great Falls VA, Hopewell, VA, I think there are regularly a few Germans and Aussies in the house, Wenham, MA, and of course New York, New York. But I know who that is. Jeff... my love... I miss you too!) If you are a regular reader and you have a blog, let me know. And even if you don't, leave a comment and let me know who you are. I like to talk to new CF'ers. I know there are a few of you, and Bones dude, I'm still waiting for you to freakin' make yours. You've been awfully quiet up there in New England. :P
Basically, the more friends I have the more fun we all have. More people to harass. :) Don't feel like you can't leave comments or ask questions. A boatload of people have found me by searching for pull up and jump squat ladders this week. Do you have questions about what they are, or were you looking for a workout with them in it? ASK and ye shall receive... well information anyway! :P So, get out of the closet already! :P Oh, and today is a rest day. My rest day ramblings... oh te hehehe... they are going to be funny... or at least I think so... they'll be arriving soon... ;)
Basically, the more friends I have the more fun we all have. More people to harass. :) Don't feel like you can't leave comments or ask questions. A boatload of people have found me by searching for pull up and jump squat ladders this week. Do you have questions about what they are, or were you looking for a workout with them in it? ASK and ye shall receive... well information anyway! :P So, get out of the closet already! :P Oh, and today is a rest day. My rest day ramblings... oh te hehehe... they are going to be funny... or at least I think so... they'll be arriving soon... ;)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
More heavy work at CrossFit Old Town...
Seriously, I thought yesterday's workout was pretty wicked. Heavy chins AND heavy thrusters? Dang. Little did I know what was in store for today. What was in store in the Blue Room of pain? Oh, well, it was the SAME workout, with DIFFERENT exercises. Ow...
Today's warm-up was a progression from a deadlift to a hang squat clean, using a med ball (which I suck at BTW). After that, Jerry had us warm up our hang squat cleans because (you guessed it) we went heavy ring dips and heavy hang squat cleans. Soooo... today's fun looked like this.
Warm-up
DL with med ball
DL with shrug with med ball
Front squat with med ball
Squat clean with med ball
WOD
Workin' Heavy
Hang squat clean X5
Ring dips X5
Men's load- 155lbs
Women's load-100lbs
(Anyone else notice that these are the game weights???!?!)
This just hurt. I smashed the crap out of my collar bone so now it matches nicely with the mark I made yesterday on the underside of my chin. As the Guinness guys would say, BRILLIANT!But, but, yes there is a but. I did this sadly still with the floss for ring dips (I'd love to be able to do my own bodyweight but I'm still working on it) BUT I did do the squat cleans as RX'd. Yeah, word that's 100 lbs. And, you know what else? I hit 10 rounds again. Nope, not lying. That's 100lbsX50 reps. You know, I don't know about you, but I'll go ahead and call that a decent day. :P
Jerry said that since I was going heavy and I was in yesterday I should call it at 10 rounds. So I did. Not that I'm complaining mind you. I was ready to be done. I did 10 rounds of this in 22:10. I think I could have done more rounds, but the squat cleans are a killer. Damn 2 for 1 deals. :P Jerry took a few snapshots today... maybe if there are any good ones I'll post one up later. But I have to work dayshift today... boo hiss... not a fan of dayshift... so I should clean my smelly self up. Adrienne, I missed you this morning. I was looking forward to being able to get into your pants... ;) (No, I'm not really a perv... well yeah I am, but not in this case... read the comments from Sunday's post you silly goose.:P Sorry Adrienne, the 13 year old in me couldn't resist.... :) )
Today's warm-up was a progression from a deadlift to a hang squat clean, using a med ball (which I suck at BTW). After that, Jerry had us warm up our hang squat cleans because (you guessed it) we went heavy ring dips and heavy hang squat cleans. Soooo... today's fun looked like this.
Warm-up
DL with med ball
DL with shrug with med ball
Front squat with med ball
Squat clean with med ball
WOD
Workin' Heavy
Hang squat clean X5
Ring dips X5
Men's load- 155lbs
Women's load-100lbs
(Anyone else notice that these are the game weights???!?!)
This just hurt. I smashed the crap out of my collar bone so now it matches nicely with the mark I made yesterday on the underside of my chin. As the Guinness guys would say, BRILLIANT!But, but, yes there is a but. I did this sadly still with the floss for ring dips (I'd love to be able to do my own bodyweight but I'm still working on it) BUT I did do the squat cleans as RX'd. Yeah, word that's 100 lbs. And, you know what else? I hit 10 rounds again. Nope, not lying. That's 100lbsX50 reps. You know, I don't know about you, but I'll go ahead and call that a decent day. :P
Jerry said that since I was going heavy and I was in yesterday I should call it at 10 rounds. So I did. Not that I'm complaining mind you. I was ready to be done. I did 10 rounds of this in 22:10. I think I could have done more rounds, but the squat cleans are a killer. Damn 2 for 1 deals. :P Jerry took a few snapshots today... maybe if there are any good ones I'll post one up later. But I have to work dayshift today... boo hiss... not a fan of dayshift... so I should clean my smelly self up. Adrienne, I missed you this morning. I was looking forward to being able to get into your pants... ;) (No, I'm not really a perv... well yeah I am, but not in this case... read the comments from Sunday's post you silly goose.:P Sorry Adrienne, the 13 year old in me couldn't resist.... :) )
Monday, July 28, 2008
Heavy thrusters, heavy chins...
What a dynamic duo that turned out to be! Nothing like going for some heavy thrusters straight into a set of heavy weighted chins. Daaaaaaaaannng! So we did our own warm-up today, which was a little different, but an interesting way to start off the workout. Hers's what the warm-up looked like.
Warm-up
100 jumping jacks
20 second Sampson stretch
10 pass throughs with pvc
15 OHS
30 second hallow rock
repeat only OHS and hallow rock 3 times
After that warm-up, we got right into some good fun and warmed up some thrusters. I did a set of 5X55, then jumped up to the prescribed weight for the circuit today which was 85 lbs. Nope, I didn't stutter. Women's prescribed thruster weight was 85lbs. For serial! I know right!? We also were to warm up a heavy set of chins. I didn't do too many because my hand ripped yesterday, but it's in a semi out of the way area so I was at least ok today. But the circuit looked like this.
AMRAP in 20 minutes
Heavy thruster X 5
Heavy chin X 5
Women thruster 85 lbs
Women chins 20lbs
I went Rx'd today. Jerry asked where I was at 18:00 and when I said 9 rounds he said he was going to "Let" me finish 10 rounds. Gee... thanks. Just what I needed... :P So, I finished 10 rounds of this insanity in 21:10. I could have probably done 1 more round. He told everyone to go for 22:00. But I was gassed. The worst thing was taking on and off the weight vest. It really slowed me down. But, one time I didn't hook it and it smacked my chin. I now have a big red welt on the bottom of my chin. So dead sexy I can't even tell you how awesome I look. :P Oi... Gots to hit bed though... workin' dayshift tomorrow after closin tonight and I need to get me some CrossFit in the am... yum! I love CrossFit for breakfast! :) Tehe... :)
Warm-up
100 jumping jacks
20 second Sampson stretch
10 pass throughs with pvc
15 OHS
30 second hallow rock
repeat only OHS and hallow rock 3 times
After that warm-up, we got right into some good fun and warmed up some thrusters. I did a set of 5X55, then jumped up to the prescribed weight for the circuit today which was 85 lbs. Nope, I didn't stutter. Women's prescribed thruster weight was 85lbs. For serial! I know right!? We also were to warm up a heavy set of chins. I didn't do too many because my hand ripped yesterday, but it's in a semi out of the way area so I was at least ok today. But the circuit looked like this.
AMRAP in 20 minutes
Heavy thruster X 5
Heavy chin X 5
Women thruster 85 lbs
Women chins 20lbs
I went Rx'd today. Jerry asked where I was at 18:00 and when I said 9 rounds he said he was going to "Let" me finish 10 rounds. Gee... thanks. Just what I needed... :P So, I finished 10 rounds of this insanity in 21:10. I could have probably done 1 more round. He told everyone to go for 22:00. But I was gassed. The worst thing was taking on and off the weight vest. It really slowed me down. But, one time I didn't hook it and it smacked my chin. I now have a big red welt on the bottom of my chin. So dead sexy I can't even tell you how awesome I look. :P Oi... Gots to hit bed though... workin' dayshift tomorrow after closin tonight and I need to get me some CrossFit in the am... yum! I love CrossFit for breakfast! :) Tehe... :)
Sunday, July 27, 2008
It was bound to happen... or I was hoping it was bound to happen...
I was wandering around Old Town tonight because I didn't have to work, so on the way back uptown to check my schedule at work I decided to slip into Ann Taylor Loft, since it was right there, and they had a big sign that said 'Sale'. Damnit. Those bastards know I can't resist a sale.
So I went in, and I saw a couple things I like, picked them up in my size and headed for the dressing room. Well, I tried on the shirts first, and then went to try on the pants, and was a little perplexed. They didn't fit. So I tried on the shorts, and the skirt, and the other pants I brought in with me. They didn't fit either. So, I went out and did something that was unthinkable. I looked for a smaller size. I couldn't find all the clothes in a smaller size, but found a few, and headed back into the dressing room, and you know what? The smaller size fit. It FIT! THEY FREAKIN' FIT! I have not been a size 8 since I was 16 years old! That's 10 years! Now, had it been just 1 pair of pants or shorts, I could chalk it up to a bigger sizing or the cut of the pants, but I can't deny several pieces of clothes. I also can't deny it, because back in mid April, I went to that same store and bought some shorts. I bought a pair of striped Bermuda shorts in a size 12. I like my clothes a little loose (years of being the fat girl will give you that complex where you don't want anything touching your skin) and the 12 was a little loose.
Well, I haven't been able to wear those shorts. They fall off. I found the same pair on clearance in a size 10. They didn't fit either. I put on the 8, and they fit, and there is actually even a little room. I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't. In the middle of the dressing room I nearly started to cry. But I was the last person in the store and I was holding up the cleaning process so I got my stuff together and left.
To the girl who has always been overweight and who has always had weight issues... you can't possibly imagine what that moment felt like. Only with CrossFit would I have found this success... I'm hoping that despite my semi-destructive emotional eating this weekend, I can continue to progress...
And as a late addition... this has got to be quite possibly the funniest picture I've ever taken. As an impulse buy, I purchased a pair of aviators on my way out of Ann Taylor since I broke my sunglasses on the way to New York. Haha...
So I went in, and I saw a couple things I like, picked them up in my size and headed for the dressing room. Well, I tried on the shirts first, and then went to try on the pants, and was a little perplexed. They didn't fit. So I tried on the shorts, and the skirt, and the other pants I brought in with me. They didn't fit either. So, I went out and did something that was unthinkable. I looked for a smaller size. I couldn't find all the clothes in a smaller size, but found a few, and headed back into the dressing room, and you know what? The smaller size fit. It FIT! THEY FREAKIN' FIT! I have not been a size 8 since I was 16 years old! That's 10 years! Now, had it been just 1 pair of pants or shorts, I could chalk it up to a bigger sizing or the cut of the pants, but I can't deny several pieces of clothes. I also can't deny it, because back in mid April, I went to that same store and bought some shorts. I bought a pair of striped Bermuda shorts in a size 12. I like my clothes a little loose (years of being the fat girl will give you that complex where you don't want anything touching your skin) and the 12 was a little loose.
Well, I haven't been able to wear those shorts. They fall off. I found the same pair on clearance in a size 10. They didn't fit either. I put on the 8, and they fit, and there is actually even a little room. I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't. In the middle of the dressing room I nearly started to cry. But I was the last person in the store and I was holding up the cleaning process so I got my stuff together and left.
To the girl who has always been overweight and who has always had weight issues... you can't possibly imagine what that moment felt like. Only with CrossFit would I have found this success... I'm hoping that despite my semi-destructive emotional eating this weekend, I can continue to progress...
And as a late addition... this has got to be quite possibly the funniest picture I've ever taken. As an impulse buy, I purchased a pair of aviators on my way out of Ann Taylor since I broke my sunglasses on the way to New York. Haha...
Team challenge and a new space!!!
So today I jumped back into the CrossFit ring after a few days of serious rest. I'm not kidding. When I say serious rest, I mean serious. The most strenuous thing I did was carry my laundry basket down the stairs. I've slept, I've ate, played on my computer, and watched a lot of tv. Not the most exciting of weekends, but you know what... I'm seriously ok with that right now. I think I've probably had a little TOO much excitement lately and it's worn me down. It's been nice to get some small projects done around the house. You know, dishes, laundry, plantscaping... I call it plantscaping cause I don't really have land... just a bunch of potted plants. My morning glories were waaaay out of control and with the recent humidity the aphids have returned to eat my roses. So, all in all, I was a nerd this weekend, but I'm now a well rested nerd. :P
So this morning I was feeling ready to go when CrossFit time came around. It was team challenge day. Sorry, no repeats of the men v. women... although that would have been seriously wicked and I'm waiting for that rematch to crop up. Today was just separated into teams. Our team had 5 people so we had a few more reps than the other teams, but it was a fun way to get our workout in. I bought new running shoes yesterday at Pacers and boy was I glad today. The running in Evak really got me. I had rotated in so much that I actually had a slight bruise on my ankle. Not good... so I saw the cute boy (he was very cute) at Pacers and had him help me out with my sneaks. I went back to Brooks, and I think that definitely helped this morning. As I have discovered, shoes do count! So, today's fun looked like this...
As a team you must complete the following
Everyone must do the run
After that only 2 people may work per exercise (3 for us cause we had 5)
800 meter run
100 chins (150 for us)
150 pushups (200 for us)
200 ab mat situps (250 for us)
250 squats (300 for us)
* side note, I think these numbers may be off... I'll check the post when Jerry puts it up and make corrections
Can I just say, I smoked the first 800 meter run today? Only problem is, after doing all the stuff in the Blue Room, the second 800 I was dragging. I need to find a way to still run well even when I can't breathe after all the upstairs stuff. The shoes helped a LOT today and I could feel my form being corrected which was good. No more rolling in. However, I can definitely tell that I haven't been doing my runs lately. I was wiped. I think I really need to make that a priority. I need to get that back. I'm two months out from the race now, so volume is uber important. Oh yeah, if you're a recent reader and aren't up to speed, I'm trying to run a half marathon. The only problem with this whole brilliant idea of mine, is that I really stink at running. No pun intended, but it is my achilles heel. :P So anyhoo, running running running.
On an uber exciting note today, but somewhat sad, Jerry announced that we will be leaving the Blue Room. I'll miss our home, BUT it's for a very good reason. CFOT has, after a long search on Jerry's part, found its own home! :) How exctiting! I know this will undoubtably bring about numerous new forms of pain and torture, er, I mean, fun and excitement, but I can't wait. We'll have ceilings high enough for rope climbs, room for plenty of C-2 rowers, room for more weights and RACKS! and also some fixed pull up bars. I will have to relearn to kip all over again. I'm sure that with all the new things we'll be able to do, we'll all feel like rookies again! :) I'm looking forward to it. :) The space has no roll door, :(, BUT, it is over 3000 square feet, which will be great for us. I'm so excited for Jerry and for all of us. It's really going to be great. We'll have to come up with a new nickname for our facility... hmmm... something for me to work on until we move in... ;)
So this morning I was feeling ready to go when CrossFit time came around. It was team challenge day. Sorry, no repeats of the men v. women... although that would have been seriously wicked and I'm waiting for that rematch to crop up. Today was just separated into teams. Our team had 5 people so we had a few more reps than the other teams, but it was a fun way to get our workout in. I bought new running shoes yesterday at Pacers and boy was I glad today. The running in Evak really got me. I had rotated in so much that I actually had a slight bruise on my ankle. Not good... so I saw the cute boy (he was very cute) at Pacers and had him help me out with my sneaks. I went back to Brooks, and I think that definitely helped this morning. As I have discovered, shoes do count! So, today's fun looked like this...
As a team you must complete the following
Everyone must do the run
After that only 2 people may work per exercise (3 for us cause we had 5)
800 meter run
100 chins (150 for us)
150 pushups (200 for us)
200 ab mat situps (250 for us)
250 squats (300 for us)
* side note, I think these numbers may be off... I'll check the post when Jerry puts it up and make corrections
Can I just say, I smoked the first 800 meter run today? Only problem is, after doing all the stuff in the Blue Room, the second 800 I was dragging. I need to find a way to still run well even when I can't breathe after all the upstairs stuff. The shoes helped a LOT today and I could feel my form being corrected which was good. No more rolling in. However, I can definitely tell that I haven't been doing my runs lately. I was wiped. I think I really need to make that a priority. I need to get that back. I'm two months out from the race now, so volume is uber important. Oh yeah, if you're a recent reader and aren't up to speed, I'm trying to run a half marathon. The only problem with this whole brilliant idea of mine, is that I really stink at running. No pun intended, but it is my achilles heel. :P So anyhoo, running running running.
On an uber exciting note today, but somewhat sad, Jerry announced that we will be leaving the Blue Room. I'll miss our home, BUT it's for a very good reason. CFOT has, after a long search on Jerry's part, found its own home! :) How exctiting! I know this will undoubtably bring about numerous new forms of pain and torture, er, I mean, fun and excitement, but I can't wait. We'll have ceilings high enough for rope climbs, room for plenty of C-2 rowers, room for more weights and RACKS! and also some fixed pull up bars. I will have to relearn to kip all over again. I'm sure that with all the new things we'll be able to do, we'll all feel like rookies again! :) I'm looking forward to it. :) The space has no roll door, :(, BUT, it is over 3000 square feet, which will be great for us. I'm so excited for Jerry and for all of us. It's really going to be great. We'll have to come up with a new nickname for our facility... hmmm... something for me to work on until we move in... ;)
Saturday, July 26, 2008
This, too, shall pass...
Over the last few days, I know my blog posts have not been the most chipper and upbeat things in the world. They have been a far cry from my upbeat posts about my favorite tissues and steamer bags, or even my posts about fortune cookies. :P But, as they say, this, too, shall pass.
I've been doing a lot of thinking... I know, imagine that, but really I have. Deadlift day really messed with my head, and Evak was just about as brutal as anything I think I've done. Neither of those should have set me back the way they did. Mentally I just haven't had my head around CrossFit this week. I know that part of that reason is, as everyone has said, that I just need to rest, because let's be frank. Ever since the end of school, I haven't stopped. If I wasn't working, I was traveling, and I haven't taken any real time to just sit down. And with working most nights, I haven't been sleeping as long as I should either. Not to mention, on the man front, this week brought more drama with same said gentleman as before. After a few what I thought were sincere apologies about the botched weekend two weeks ago, I kept in touch, and even offered to trek another 4 hours back to PA this weekend to see him. Needless to say, I'm at my computer and in my house, so you can guess how that offer turned out.
Rejection is never easy on anyone, and especially not twice in a two week period. Soooo... yeah. And I'll admit that it's been weighing on my mind. We are human, and as much as we know we shouldn't, when something happens we play the "What did I do wrong?" game, or the "What is wrong with me?" game, and neither of these is good for your head. And of course if you're the typical female, this is usually followed by a period of time in which you want to eat lots of things that are deep friend and smothered in chocolate, or house an entire thing of Ben and Jerry's. I have managed to refrain from both, although I did dip into some Maggie Moo's today. Damnit. If you happen to be a guy... eh... usually you're not phased at all, and if you are, it's usually resolved with a few beers and a bad hangover. (Sorry, my recent experience is making me a little bit stereotypical, and cynical)
I will hopefully be in the Blue Room tomorrow and be back on my way to having my head screwed on straight. This negative Nancy mood will hopefully be on its way out by then and I'll be able to deliver some solid work. Two days off will hopefully help... no work today or tomorrow and no travel plans.... I may go to bed soon. Yeah, that's right. I may go to bed at 700. Word.... that would be awesome. :)
I've been doing a lot of thinking... I know, imagine that, but really I have. Deadlift day really messed with my head, and Evak was just about as brutal as anything I think I've done. Neither of those should have set me back the way they did. Mentally I just haven't had my head around CrossFit this week. I know that part of that reason is, as everyone has said, that I just need to rest, because let's be frank. Ever since the end of school, I haven't stopped. If I wasn't working, I was traveling, and I haven't taken any real time to just sit down. And with working most nights, I haven't been sleeping as long as I should either. Not to mention, on the man front, this week brought more drama with same said gentleman as before. After a few what I thought were sincere apologies about the botched weekend two weeks ago, I kept in touch, and even offered to trek another 4 hours back to PA this weekend to see him. Needless to say, I'm at my computer and in my house, so you can guess how that offer turned out.
Rejection is never easy on anyone, and especially not twice in a two week period. Soooo... yeah. And I'll admit that it's been weighing on my mind. We are human, and as much as we know we shouldn't, when something happens we play the "What did I do wrong?" game, or the "What is wrong with me?" game, and neither of these is good for your head. And of course if you're the typical female, this is usually followed by a period of time in which you want to eat lots of things that are deep friend and smothered in chocolate, or house an entire thing of Ben and Jerry's. I have managed to refrain from both, although I did dip into some Maggie Moo's today. Damnit. If you happen to be a guy... eh... usually you're not phased at all, and if you are, it's usually resolved with a few beers and a bad hangover. (Sorry, my recent experience is making me a little bit stereotypical, and cynical)
I will hopefully be in the Blue Room tomorrow and be back on my way to having my head screwed on straight. This negative Nancy mood will hopefully be on its way out by then and I'll be able to deliver some solid work. Two days off will hopefully help... no work today or tomorrow and no travel plans.... I may go to bed soon. Yeah, that's right. I may go to bed at 700. Word.... that would be awesome. :)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The hardest fight I'll ever face in CrossFit...
The hardest fight I'll ever face in CrossFit has nothing to do with a chin up bar. Furthermore it has nothing to do with a weight vest, a kettlebell, a barbell or a dumbbell. It has nothing to do with how fast I do something, how much weight I move, or how many reps I can do. The hardest fight I'll ever fight is not with Nancy, Kelly, Eva, Cindy, Fran, Murph, Badger, Daniel, or Jason. The hardest fight I will ever fight in CrossFit is with myself.
After yesterday's debaucle with the deadlifts, my head has not been where it should be. I've been agonizing and dwelling over what happened, when what I really should have done is just let it go. I was determined to wake up today with a better attitude and kick the workout's ass to show just how tough I really am. But we all know that CrossFit is it's own beast in the fact that rarely do we ever get to kick a workout's ass. It is most often, and I'll even say 95% of the time, the other way around. Jerry sent us an email to let us know that today wasn't quite an epic, but it was going to be a long workout. I debated about going, but felt I needed to go. When I saw the workout, I really wished I had stayed in bed. It didn't look fun at all. Jerry has the ability to put together some of the worst workouts I have ever seen. Today's Mepic as I'm calling it, was a blend of Eva T. and Kelly. The workout looked like this.
Evak
3 rounds for time
1000 M run
25 wall ball
25 pull ups
25 box jumps
25 kb swings (men 70, women 50)
Out the gate, my running didn't feel too bad, and I felt encouraged that maybe I would be able to do this in a decent time, and would be able to feel good about the work I put in today. But as soon as I came back and grabbed a chin up bar, I almost cried. My hands are a wreck. I have so many calluses and blisters, that gripping anything right now is painful. I broke the chins into small sets, and that utterly defeated feeling started all over again. The wall balls and jumps didn't feel too bad, but swings were hard too. I've just gotten used to the 45 overhead, and so 50 seemed really ambitious, especially since holding the bell hurt so much. After finishing round 1, the idea of quitting after 2 rounds began to creep up on me. Jerry wrote 2 rounds as the "express" workout for people who needed to get to work, or who needed to scale back. Although I am working day shift today, I did not need to leave for work, and theoretically should no longer need to scale reps. But I wanted out. I wanted to stop. In the worst way.
After round 2, I did just that. I stopped. I went to the bathroom, started to tear up, and walked back to the room and put on my little jacket. I sat down and drank some water, and felt like the world's biggest Nancy. My brain was raging against my body, and although not a single person could see it, there was a war raging in my head that would rival any battle anyone has ever witnessed. My brain was screaming, my body was screaming back. And in a situation like that, which one do you listen to? The pull up bars, the kb swings, the wall balls... none of them had anything to do with this fight. It was me, fighting against myself. A long time ago I wrote a blog when we hit Badger for the first time about finding the will to go on. When everything in your body wants to collapse and give in, when you don't want to pick up another dumbbell, when you don't want to do another rep, when you don't want to run another lap. How do you find that will to go on?
I didn't want to go on today, but something inside my head said "You WILL finish this workout whether it takes you another 5 minutes or 50." And so I stood up, took off my little jacket, and put my sneakers back on and started round 3. You can say I cheated because I stopped for about a solid 5-6 minutes, but the bottom line is that despite whatever initially stopped me, something made me move again, and I'm DAMN proud of myself for doing that. Websters defines persevering as persisting in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement. In my head there was a lot of that at the time, but I persevered. One step, one rep at a time. Because believe me, there were times when I was crying on the chin up bar this morning and doing one rep at a time, but I was not going to quit. I was finishing the workout. I was doing 3 rounds because I knew I should, and because I knew despite the pain that I could. Fighting against myself is harder than any workout I have ever done. It is the hardest fight of all, and the hardest fight to win. But the benefits of winning this fight, surpass anything I've ever felt after just completing a workout.
I got myself up off my ass to start round 3, but I'm not going to say I did it alone. My adoptive older brother, Gar, and Keturah stayed by me through the last 4 exercises and helped me get it done. I could go on and on about the two of them, and how great they are, but that would make this post even a lot longer. I love working out with Gar because he has that older brother instinct and seems to understand me and my brain very well. I love working out with Keturah because she always is around to put a boot up my ass when I start to be a Nancy. Without the two of them today, I still would have finished, but not nearly as fast. They're the best, and they helped me win my fight. I'm glad I went back for round 3. I'm glad I defeated myself.
After yesterday's debaucle with the deadlifts, my head has not been where it should be. I've been agonizing and dwelling over what happened, when what I really should have done is just let it go. I was determined to wake up today with a better attitude and kick the workout's ass to show just how tough I really am. But we all know that CrossFit is it's own beast in the fact that rarely do we ever get to kick a workout's ass. It is most often, and I'll even say 95% of the time, the other way around. Jerry sent us an email to let us know that today wasn't quite an epic, but it was going to be a long workout. I debated about going, but felt I needed to go. When I saw the workout, I really wished I had stayed in bed. It didn't look fun at all. Jerry has the ability to put together some of the worst workouts I have ever seen. Today's Mepic as I'm calling it, was a blend of Eva T. and Kelly. The workout looked like this.
Evak
3 rounds for time
1000 M run
25 wall ball
25 pull ups
25 box jumps
25 kb swings (men 70, women 50)
Out the gate, my running didn't feel too bad, and I felt encouraged that maybe I would be able to do this in a decent time, and would be able to feel good about the work I put in today. But as soon as I came back and grabbed a chin up bar, I almost cried. My hands are a wreck. I have so many calluses and blisters, that gripping anything right now is painful. I broke the chins into small sets, and that utterly defeated feeling started all over again. The wall balls and jumps didn't feel too bad, but swings were hard too. I've just gotten used to the 45 overhead, and so 50 seemed really ambitious, especially since holding the bell hurt so much. After finishing round 1, the idea of quitting after 2 rounds began to creep up on me. Jerry wrote 2 rounds as the "express" workout for people who needed to get to work, or who needed to scale back. Although I am working day shift today, I did not need to leave for work, and theoretically should no longer need to scale reps. But I wanted out. I wanted to stop. In the worst way.
After round 2, I did just that. I stopped. I went to the bathroom, started to tear up, and walked back to the room and put on my little jacket. I sat down and drank some water, and felt like the world's biggest Nancy. My brain was raging against my body, and although not a single person could see it, there was a war raging in my head that would rival any battle anyone has ever witnessed. My brain was screaming, my body was screaming back. And in a situation like that, which one do you listen to? The pull up bars, the kb swings, the wall balls... none of them had anything to do with this fight. It was me, fighting against myself. A long time ago I wrote a blog when we hit Badger for the first time about finding the will to go on. When everything in your body wants to collapse and give in, when you don't want to pick up another dumbbell, when you don't want to do another rep, when you don't want to run another lap. How do you find that will to go on?
I didn't want to go on today, but something inside my head said "You WILL finish this workout whether it takes you another 5 minutes or 50." And so I stood up, took off my little jacket, and put my sneakers back on and started round 3. You can say I cheated because I stopped for about a solid 5-6 minutes, but the bottom line is that despite whatever initially stopped me, something made me move again, and I'm DAMN proud of myself for doing that. Websters defines persevering as persisting in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement. In my head there was a lot of that at the time, but I persevered. One step, one rep at a time. Because believe me, there were times when I was crying on the chin up bar this morning and doing one rep at a time, but I was not going to quit. I was finishing the workout. I was doing 3 rounds because I knew I should, and because I knew despite the pain that I could. Fighting against myself is harder than any workout I have ever done. It is the hardest fight of all, and the hardest fight to win. But the benefits of winning this fight, surpass anything I've ever felt after just completing a workout.
I got myself up off my ass to start round 3, but I'm not going to say I did it alone. My adoptive older brother, Gar, and Keturah stayed by me through the last 4 exercises and helped me get it done. I could go on and on about the two of them, and how great they are, but that would make this post even a lot longer. I love working out with Gar because he has that older brother instinct and seems to understand me and my brain very well. I love working out with Keturah because she always is around to put a boot up my ass when I start to be a Nancy. Without the two of them today, I still would have finished, but not nearly as fast. They're the best, and they helped me win my fight. I'm glad I went back for round 3. I'm glad I defeated myself.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Sophomore slump...
It seems that despite the awesome day I had the other day, I was doomed to have a sophomore slump today. Today was deadlifts. I rounded out at 195 and Jerry made me drop the weight. Jerry has NEVER told me to drop a weight. I'm a little bit meticulous when it comes to form and I try very hard to make sure that it is on point, but today, apparently it was just not to be. I hit my old PR and Jerry made me put it down.
After that, I was shot. Mentally that just f'd with me in the worst way. Jerry told me to drop to 80% and do a few reps and I couldn't. I just could not focus to save my life. I was so concerned with rounding out that I didn't want to pick up another bar. We were working on some ring dips in between sets of deadlifts, and I felt weak on those too. It just sucked. Afterwards we hit a short circuit that was a little smoker. So overall, today's fun looked like this.
Warm-up
50% of max X 5
60% of max X 5
80% of max X 3
Max X 1
WOD
10 rounds or 15 minutes
7 Pull-ups
7 Burpees
My time on the WOD was 12:49. It didn't feel too bad actually. The burpees, for me, were actually pretty fast. I'm not a speed demon, so the fact that I was one of the first to call time was actually a little out of the ordinary. Of course, I then got smoked by Mel, Danny, Jack, Joel, and Andrea, but eh, I got it done.
I know this is going to sound off for me, and it feels off to say, but I'm having a little trouble in the Blue Room these last few days. I don't know what it is, but I feel, out of it, sort of disconnected. I don't mean from the workouts, just from the people. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I definitely have sort of been feeling like a loner lately. I don't know why, or how to correct it, but I just feel... I don't know.... Off is the only way I can put it really. I'm having trouble finding the words for it. I don't know if it's just because I've been bouncing around between classes or if it's because I've been out of town a lot the last few weeks, but I don't like it. I just kinda feel like I have somehow missed out on a lot and I feel like I can't talk to people. I just wish I knew how to fix that feeling....
Here's to hoping tomorrow is a much better day... cause this one sucked.
After that, I was shot. Mentally that just f'd with me in the worst way. Jerry told me to drop to 80% and do a few reps and I couldn't. I just could not focus to save my life. I was so concerned with rounding out that I didn't want to pick up another bar. We were working on some ring dips in between sets of deadlifts, and I felt weak on those too. It just sucked. Afterwards we hit a short circuit that was a little smoker. So overall, today's fun looked like this.
Warm-up
50% of max X 5
60% of max X 5
80% of max X 3
Max X 1
WOD
10 rounds or 15 minutes
7 Pull-ups
7 Burpees
My time on the WOD was 12:49. It didn't feel too bad actually. The burpees, for me, were actually pretty fast. I'm not a speed demon, so the fact that I was one of the first to call time was actually a little out of the ordinary. Of course, I then got smoked by Mel, Danny, Jack, Joel, and Andrea, but eh, I got it done.
I know this is going to sound off for me, and it feels off to say, but I'm having a little trouble in the Blue Room these last few days. I don't know what it is, but I feel, out of it, sort of disconnected. I don't mean from the workouts, just from the people. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I definitely have sort of been feeling like a loner lately. I don't know why, or how to correct it, but I just feel... I don't know.... Off is the only way I can put it really. I'm having trouble finding the words for it. I don't know if it's just because I've been bouncing around between classes or if it's because I've been out of town a lot the last few weeks, but I don't like it. I just kinda feel like I have somehow missed out on a lot and I feel like I can't talk to people. I just wish I knew how to fix that feeling....
Here's to hoping tomorrow is a much better day... cause this one sucked.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Now additional thoughts and comments...
As much fun as I had in NYC this weekend, it really felt good to be back in the Blue Room. There is just something about being with my own affiliate which just feels right, and no offense to the Black Box, but it just feels more like home. Team 0730 was very quiet this morning with just Dianne and I representing, but I think we did a pretty good job. Dianne was working on her front squat form and she's come a long way. In a few more weeks she'll be picking up the 85. :)
Today's workout was a little bit different for us, because it was untimed.
This WOD was
5 rounds untimed
Max front squats (95lbs-prescribed was 85)
Max weighted chins, l-sits, deadhangs, or progressions
The video was the first round only
The rounds looked like this on the squats
Round 1- 20
Round 2- 13
Round 3- 10 (lost my rack)
Round 4- 15
Round 5- 17
Total 75
For the chins today, I used a 12 lb weight vest to start, then a 10 lb dumbbell, and then for the last few, just my bodyweight. I'm not sure how many chins I actually hit, but they felt GOOD. I know that this post today may sound cocky, but I was damn proud of my work today. I was (I think) the only person to go 95 for all 5 rounds, and considering that I just hit my first deadhang last week, and have now used weight in two different workouts, I think that's pretty freakin' awesome. My strength is definitely improving. I wish I could say the same about my speed, but eh, one thing at a time. I seriously just felt like a beast today. Do you ever have those days? Those days where you just feel like you could lift 8,000 lbs and take on the world and that nothing can possibly hurt you? I kinda had a day like that today. Coming out of the Blue Room, I felt pretty badass. I don't know why badass and not just proud of the accomplishment, but I seriously wanted a set of Ray Bans and some form of weapon just to look as tough as I felt. I have never in my life been able to do a deadhang chin. To be able to lift my bodyweight was HUGE for me. I don't know if anyone quite understands.
But after doing all those squats, plus all those chins, I felt kinda like a rockstar. It was just a good feeling. But then, I decided to see how fast I could do a 500 meter row. Not that 75 front squats and weighted chins weren't enough, I went for the extra work. Woo boy. I felt that row. I went balls to the wall and rowed in a 1:51. The last 150 meters my pace was 1:46 and then it slipped. I got tired and couldn't hold it. I was so close to breaking 1:50! But for doing this after the workout, I'll take it! It was funny though, because I'm not a very vocal person when I workout. I may grunt a little here and there, but I'm not someone who needs to talk to herself every set or every rep. During that row, I was VERY VERY vocal. I wish I could have had a video of that. I probably both looked and sounded like a crazed individual. I bet it was kind of funny. :P
It was great to be back today, and I'm not sure if I'll make it in tomorrow seeing as how I'm just now eating my dinner that I ordered at work, and I just got home. So we'll see if I make it for team 0600, or any team for that matter. We'll see. But, on a positive note, Dell is sending me a new computer, AND I have fallen madly in love with Jeff Yan. (Apparently he is a wicked chick magnet) Yup.. the week is looking up.... ;)
Thing I forgot from NYC:Part 1, plus NYC Parts 2 and 3...
Ok, so I forgot to mention in part 1 of my NYC trip details, that I also managed to hail a cab in NYC. For a minute, I felt so Carrie Bradshaw! :P LOL. I know that sounds like a joke to you guys, but if you know me well enough, you know and understand that I drive EVERYWHERE so taking a bus/train/hailing my own cab is actually a little bit special. It's sort of out of my comfort zone, which I realize in truth makes me a total retard. Ok, but here are some pictures from day 1 and my trip to the box.
I have to say that Day 1 in NYC was a lot of fun. The show and going to the box were great, but Day 2 was pretty cool too. My sister and I walked down into Soho and then into Chinatown, which was an experience all in itself. I have never been so thoroughly harassed in my entire life. Seriously, there were some seriously sketch people following us down the street telling us to come to their cars and buy Gucci handbags. It was a little bit entertaining at first, but by the time the fourth person followed me down the street, I got a little annoyed. After that, we walked back up the street to head to Lombardi's for some true New York Style pizza. It was quite good actually. Tanya, I'm sorry to say that I liked the New York pizza better than Chicago. :P After that we rested up for the big game... :) Oh that's right. The LA Galaxy VS. the New York Redbulls. Talk about delightful corporate sponsorship but whatever. The game was awesome! It was a really good game, and of course, even better since Mr. David Fairman, er, I mean Beckham was in town. When we get married he's going to take my name.... ;) The game wound up at 2-2 because LA scored in the 91st minutes. Freakin' stoppage time. Grrrr... After that we showered (again) because it was so stinkin' hot in NYC this weekend, and then hit the Telephone Bar for a late dinner. It was cool. I know you're all wondering why I don't have any drunken pics to share, but seriously, I didn't want another pic like the one Tanya got to take in Chicago. :P We did tailgate a little bit at the game, but I was sure to behave myself. :) Not to mention, the Zone doesn't allow you to drink a whole lot.
Since I had to travel back yesterday, we didn't have much on the agenda, but I got to meet up with Jeff and have brunch, which was tons of fun. He's a lot of fun to be around. I have also learned that Jeff apparently likes bacon. ;) After that my sis and I had some mani pedis before putting me back on the bus. Now, the only sucky part about this weekend was that on my way back yesterday, my computer, which is only 5 days old stopped working right. So I called Dell, and spent 3 hours on the phone with them only to have them tell me that I needed to reinstall my drivers. Are you kidding? On a brand new computer? They're getting that piece of crap back and I'm not paying a cent until they fix it. Jerks. Anyway, New York was fun, but it's nice to be back. There's a vid of me from this morning during the workout, and I'll be sure to blog about it when Jerry gets it up so I can steal it. :)
I have to say that Day 1 in NYC was a lot of fun. The show and going to the box were great, but Day 2 was pretty cool too. My sister and I walked down into Soho and then into Chinatown, which was an experience all in itself. I have never been so thoroughly harassed in my entire life. Seriously, there were some seriously sketch people following us down the street telling us to come to their cars and buy Gucci handbags. It was a little bit entertaining at first, but by the time the fourth person followed me down the street, I got a little annoyed. After that, we walked back up the street to head to Lombardi's for some true New York Style pizza. It was quite good actually. Tanya, I'm sorry to say that I liked the New York pizza better than Chicago. :P After that we rested up for the big game... :) Oh that's right. The LA Galaxy VS. the New York Redbulls. Talk about delightful corporate sponsorship but whatever. The game was awesome! It was a really good game, and of course, even better since Mr. David Fairman, er, I mean Beckham was in town. When we get married he's going to take my name.... ;) The game wound up at 2-2 because LA scored in the 91st minutes. Freakin' stoppage time. Grrrr... After that we showered (again) because it was so stinkin' hot in NYC this weekend, and then hit the Telephone Bar for a late dinner. It was cool. I know you're all wondering why I don't have any drunken pics to share, but seriously, I didn't want another pic like the one Tanya got to take in Chicago. :P We did tailgate a little bit at the game, but I was sure to behave myself. :) Not to mention, the Zone doesn't allow you to drink a whole lot.
Since I had to travel back yesterday, we didn't have much on the agenda, but I got to meet up with Jeff and have brunch, which was tons of fun. He's a lot of fun to be around. I have also learned that Jeff apparently likes bacon. ;) After that my sis and I had some mani pedis before putting me back on the bus. Now, the only sucky part about this weekend was that on my way back yesterday, my computer, which is only 5 days old stopped working right. So I called Dell, and spent 3 hours on the phone with them only to have them tell me that I needed to reinstall my drivers. Are you kidding? On a brand new computer? They're getting that piece of crap back and I'm not paying a cent until they fix it. Jerks. Anyway, New York was fun, but it's nice to be back. There's a vid of me from this morning during the workout, and I'll be sure to blog about it when Jerry gets it up so I can steal it. :)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
NYC:Part 1
I was totally bummed on Wednesday when Jerry sent out the email telling us that we were doing Fran yesterday. I wanted to have an opportunity to hit her and see where my time was. I had this marked for a test on week 3 of my challenge, but nevertheless, wanted a chance to try my hand early. But it was not to be since I am visiting NYC! :)
Today is day 2 in the city for me. I arrived by bus (an hour and a half late mind you!) to NYC on Thursday night. Aside from the issue that held us up for an hour (something about a sick bus driver and needing to carry a bus driver to the other bus and blah blah blah and we sat in DELAWARE for an hour!) the ride was great. I highly recommend the Bolt Bus. It's cheap if you buy in early, very spacious, and equipped with Wi-Fi (so you can write ridiculous blogs on the way to New York :P) and also computer jacks so you can watch movies etc. It's really a nice way to ride to New York. It's actually cheaper than the train if you buy early, and YOU don't have to try to navigate the Manhattan traffic!!! Double bonus!
My first stop in New York was a pizerria. No really, I know, what about the Zone right? Well, smarty, the bus drop was at the pizzeria. :P So, after that I was going to try to meet up with Keith (CrossFit Viruosity) for a drink when I got into town, but since we were so stinking late, he said he would try EXTRA hard to get out of bed and come work out with me instead on Friday. As I have learned, Keith, much like Garfield, is not a big fan of mornings. ;) So, my first night in NYC, I crashed. :P
I got up early yesterday morning (which was actually sleeping IN for me) and headed out to the Manhattan Box to see Elise and Keith, who managed to make it out of bed to see me, and give me a great big bear hug. I heart hugs! :) I didn't get to see Allison because she was running the 1230 class yesterday, and my silly self forgot to email Jeff back and tell him I was going for sure (I'm sorry Jeff! I heart you!) but I may pop in tomorrow for another workout before I go home. But, I did get to see Elise and Keith, and when my camera cord is present and accounted for (it's currently resting safely in its box back home) I'll upload the cute photos that we took. :)
As for the WOD, dude, I was such a Nancy yesterday. Only getting 4 hours of sleep and that stinking bus ride, combined with the STILL sore body from Grindy and the jumping lunges on Wednesday made me too out of it to do much. The mainsite WOD was just deadhang pullups yesterday, so after a little warm-up (which PS, in which I did a set of 10 straight chest to deck push ups! That was a goal for me awhile back that I still had not broken!) we set to work. Now, I just hit my first deadhang chin with Danny on Tuesday. That wasn't my first good one or what have you, that was my first EVER. So I was going to just work the deadhang and use my bodyweight as my "weight". I consider my weight (I weigh a lot) to be sufficient. But, I think Keith is kinda like Jerry in some respects as a trainer. He doesn't push really really hard to make you do things, but he kinda makes these little suggestions and kind of tricks you. Because as I was standing on the box (their bars are too tall for a vertically challenged person like me) Keith goes, now all you're going to do is put your feet like this, and then put this weight here, and put your other foot here and you're good to go. And before I knew it, Keith had put 10 lbs in between my feet. Well, when you're already on the box and people are waiting for your real estate, you don't want to look like a Nancy and argue about the weight that someone just put between your feet.
So... I did it. In fact, I did it once, then repeated it a few times. And then he put a KB between my feet. A 17 lb KB. Now, to date (thanks to my header OFF the Zone wagon) I have lost about 17 lbs. It was 19, but the end of school plus too much cheating brought a little bit of that back. But regardless, to date, the amount of weight that Keith put between my feet is everything I lost. On my first attempt, my chin just maybe eeked over the bar. It was very close. On the second attempt, I coudn't get it over. I got stuck being about dead level with the bar. After one more try, which was even lower, I went back to the 10 for the final round and just eeked that one over. So all in all, my weights went 10-10-10-17-17(f?)-17(f)-10. Now, I know that my cheesy weighted deadhang pullups don't hold a candle to what some people did in Fran yesterday, but it felt good to do that WOD. It's not a workout even a few weeks ago I would have even thought to attempt. I was surprised for the second time this week by my own strength. After that, Elise had brought in some maniacal ab workout she wanted to do, so Jacinto (yup met him too and he's wicked cool) decided we should all do it. It was supposed to be 5 round for time. Elise apparently smoked a little too much, and for once I listened to my aching and tired body and scaled to 3 rounds. It was
25 KB swings (not sure of the weight, we don't use the metric system! But it felt like the 36)
25 Abmat sits
25 Back extensions (I subbed "Good Mornings")
25 KTE
This was my first time with the Good Mornings, and I'm not a fan. They were akward and uncomfortable on my insanely tight hamstrings. (See, told you I was being a Nancy yesterday!)
And it's funny to me, the amount of people I have heard already during this 12 week challenge, who have already broken their goals. So many of us aren't really aware of how strong or how powerful we are. Some of us don't realize how far we've come! In week 1 of the challenge, I can think of at least 5 people who now have to rewrite their goals. While it's awesome that it happened so early, I think it is interesting how many of us didn't think some of our goals were really that close. That they were that possible. Sometimes I think that truly the only thing holding us back in some of our goals is just our mind. That being said, my muscle up progression is going to get a lot of work this week. Before I thought it was my strength holding me back. I know now I'm strong enough. Now I need to get the form down. Danny are you listening?! :P
After the workout, Elise and I grabbed a cup of coffee before she headed off for her own fun weekend. I met my sis at her office later in the afternoon and we had lunch at Mickey Mantle's and then took a nap before we hit a show last night. PS, we saw Passing Strange, and it was wonderful. I was very much raised a Rogers and Hammerstein type girl, so I'm used to big sets and lots of props and big costumes. This show didn't have all that. What this show did have, was a very realistic plot about a man looking for "the real" in life. Something, God knows, I have spent the better part of the last year trying to find. Making decisions about life and love and trying to find out what is right for me. Who is me? It was funny to see it played out the way it was, but it was a great show I thought. The music was AMAZING and the narrator has a one of a kind voice that it just terrific. I would highly recommend it. We had to walk through Times Square after the show and can I just say, Holy Insanity Batman! I was on sensory overload from the minute we walked up. There is so much neon in that place! But, nonetheless, it was cool to see it.
I'm still trying to stick in the Zone, although there was rice in my dinner last night so it was probably a little carb heavy, and there was waaay too much butter on my lunch so I'm sure that was fat heavy. I'm trying Jerry! Today the sister and I are off to do some touristy stuff so it should be fun. We're also going to be attending a soccer game this evening! And oh yes, that's correct. A one Mr. David Beckham will be in town. ;) Even if he is just some soccer player, well, he's a damned good looking one and I'm going to enjoy staring at him. :) (not that I'll really be THAT close, but you know what I mean. :P It's true love... he just doesn't know it yet.... ;)
Thursday, July 17, 2008
An interview...
"Katie is a dedicated CrossFitter who enjoys her workouts and the CrossFit community. She is the leader of the Katie Kult and has been known to write a blog or two. She used to swim and play soccer, loves to write, eat chocolate and watch sappy Jane Austen movies. In her free time, she likes to plot her eventual take over of the internet, and write some nasty CrossFit workouts to make herself do. She is a very unique individual and today I had the opportunity to sit down with her on the bus and ask her a couple of questions for our little magazine called 'Mindless Ramblings'."
Katie: "Hi, Katie. How are you today?"
Katie: "I'm great! I'm pretty stoked actually. I'm headed out of town for the weekend."
Katie: "Well that sounds awesome. Where are you going Katie?"
Katie: "Well, since you got on the bus with me, I assumed you were aware that we were headed to New York City."
Katie: "New York City? Huh... well this should be fun!"
Katie: "Yeah it should be. I'm really stoked actually. I'm going to be working out with the Black Box Manhattan tomorrow morning and meeting a whole bunch of cool people."
Katie: "Oh really? Like who?"
Katie: "Well Allison of the Black Box, Keith of CrossFit Virtuosity, Jeff of the Black Blox, and I'm hoping to see my good fried Elise, who used to be at CFOT but is in NYC for the summer."
Katie: "Wow. It sounds like you have a whole busy weekend planned. Tell me Katie, wasn't it the Black Box who originally picked up on some of your writing?"
Katie: "Yeah it was. Awhile back I had actually written a blog about a guy who I was talking to who told me he could kill CF workouts. Thanks to CrossFit, I kicked him to the curb and didn't waste any more time on him. Keith found it and Allison posted it. They're really cool and I'm looking forward to seeing them."
Katie: "So tell me Katie, cause your readers are dying to know, whatever happened to that guy? Did he ever contact you again?"
Katie: "Actually, after I deleted him from my Gmail account, he emailed me and tried to chat with me a few more times. I thought maybe I had been too hasty, but after one or two more convos I knew I was right."
Katie: "So tell me then Katie, are you still single?"
Katie: "Oh geez. That question? Ok... well... after I captioned his photo, Jeff from the Black Box fell madly in love with me (who wouldn't) and he kept calling me and professing his never ending love for me, but I thought it was just too soon for all that. So, it just didn't work out. There is a guy now in PA would I'd love to see, but I'm not sure, short of me hitting him over the head with something large and heavy, that he's going to pick up on the fact that I'm really intersted. So, yes, technically I am single."
Katie: "Hmmm. I see. Very interesting. So tell me Katie, what do you look for in a man?"
Katie: "Ok, now you're stretching. We're not going there."
Katie: "Well ok, that's fine. But just tell me this, if he had a humpback and some minimal disfiguration would you date him?"
Katie: "Next question."
Katie: "Fair enough. Now, Katie, the Black Box isn't the only affiliate who's found your sense of humor interesting. The CrossFit main page posted up an article of yours. You gave us your CrossFit story. Is there an update to that story?"
Katie: "Well, I've been meaning to blog about that actually, but just haven't gotten to it yet, but yeah. There are some updates. CrossFit has done so much for me that putting everything down would simply take forever, but for starters I guess I could say that CrossFit got me to fly. I'd never flown until the week after I wrote that blog, and CrossFit got me on a plane to go visit my blog friend Tanya in Chicago and work out at Windy City CrossFit. It also got me to run my first 5K, and train for my first half marathon. It's gotten me to lose 17 lbs total (there was a little gain back at the end of school) and maintain a fairly healthy Zone lifestyle. CrossFit has gotten me to set goals and stick with them. CrossFit's gotten me to deadlift nearly 200lbs, earn my first dead hang pull up, do 24 chins, clean 120 lbs, strict press 85, and do a whole host of things I never would have thought possible. Really, it's changed my life for the better."
Katie: "That's awesome. What would you do if you ever had to give up CrossFit?"
Katie: "Cry. A lot."
Katie: "Do you have any CrossFit goals now?"
Katie: "Well, in the next year I'd like to become more educated about the movements of CrossFit, the body in terms of the muscles and their relation to each other, and become a certified level 1 trainer. I'd love to work with beginning CrossFitters. I think that would be a great way for me to use my teaching background and mesh it with CrossFit."
Katie: "Hmmm, if I joined your beginners class would you make me do Miami Vice?"
Katie: *laughing* "Not right away, but maybe if you stuck around for awhile. I will say though that it may be someone's "Funishment" workout though."
Katie: "I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds painful. So now Katie, your readers also want to know, how often do you have to shave your legs?"
Katie: "What? What the hell kind of question is that?
Katie: "Well, inquiring minds want to know."
Katie: "Are you kidding? Alright, well whenever I have to I guess. I mean, I'm not a fan. It annoys me, but our society is apparently not very fond of hair on the body. Although funny story. When I used to swim, we would stop shaving partway through the season. Usually about December."
Katie: "Ok, that seems kind of gross."
Katie: "Well, there was a logic behind it."
Katie: "Such as?"
Katie: "Well, the theory is that as you train with all that excess hair, it acts as drag, in the same way our multiple swim suits did. You qualify for your big meet with all of it there, then the day of the meet you shave it all off and get your tightest racing suit and go to town. It's actually been proven to have very little pysiological affects, but I think the psychological one is huge."
Katie: "Intersting story, Katie. You're of course just full of those. So Katie, next question. In a fight between Xena and Chuck Norris, who would win?"
Katie: "Honestly, is that even worth asking? It's Chuck Norris. Dude he has the Total Gym, and the roundhouse kick. He'd roundhouse kick Xena before she could burst his ear drums with her piercing war cry and then it'd be all over."
Katie: "Fair enough. Well, Katie we're getting to the end of our time together."
Katie: "We are? Funny, we're no where near New York yet."
Katie: "True, but I just can't talk to you anymore. You're driving me nuts."
Katie: "Oh, ok fair enough, but you picked the questions."
Katie: "So, Katie, any last thoughts you'd like to share with your readers?
Katie: "Hmmmm... Drink the Kool-aid. Train hard, and REST LATER!"
Katie: "There you have it folks, inspiring words from... well, a very UNIQUE individual."
***DISCLAIMER
"Mindless Ramblings" is not a known magazine. Jeff did not really call Katie and profess his undying love. Katie just thought he would get a kick out of being mentioned on her blog again, but then again... maybe he won't. Keith and Allison really are cool. And yes, Katie realizes that writing insane blogs where herself interviews...herself... is slightly crazy... but Katie also realizes that it's a long bus ride to New York and she needs to entertain herself since she's not driving. Katie says, thank God Al Gore invented pants and the internet. And thank God the Bolt Bus has comfy leather seats and a Wi-Fi.
See you folks in New York. ;)
Katie: "Hi, Katie. How are you today?"
Katie: "I'm great! I'm pretty stoked actually. I'm headed out of town for the weekend."
Katie: "Well that sounds awesome. Where are you going Katie?"
Katie: "Well, since you got on the bus with me, I assumed you were aware that we were headed to New York City."
Katie: "New York City? Huh... well this should be fun!"
Katie: "Yeah it should be. I'm really stoked actually. I'm going to be working out with the Black Box Manhattan tomorrow morning and meeting a whole bunch of cool people."
Katie: "Oh really? Like who?"
Katie: "Well Allison of the Black Box, Keith of CrossFit Virtuosity, Jeff of the Black Blox, and I'm hoping to see my good fried Elise, who used to be at CFOT but is in NYC for the summer."
Katie: "Wow. It sounds like you have a whole busy weekend planned. Tell me Katie, wasn't it the Black Box who originally picked up on some of your writing?"
Katie: "Yeah it was. Awhile back I had actually written a blog about a guy who I was talking to who told me he could kill CF workouts. Thanks to CrossFit, I kicked him to the curb and didn't waste any more time on him. Keith found it and Allison posted it. They're really cool and I'm looking forward to seeing them."
Katie: "So tell me Katie, cause your readers are dying to know, whatever happened to that guy? Did he ever contact you again?"
Katie: "Actually, after I deleted him from my Gmail account, he emailed me and tried to chat with me a few more times. I thought maybe I had been too hasty, but after one or two more convos I knew I was right."
Katie: "So tell me then Katie, are you still single?"
Katie: "Oh geez. That question? Ok... well... after I captioned his photo, Jeff from the Black Box fell madly in love with me (who wouldn't) and he kept calling me and professing his never ending love for me, but I thought it was just too soon for all that. So, it just didn't work out. There is a guy now in PA would I'd love to see, but I'm not sure, short of me hitting him over the head with something large and heavy, that he's going to pick up on the fact that I'm really intersted. So, yes, technically I am single."
Katie: "Hmmm. I see. Very interesting. So tell me Katie, what do you look for in a man?"
Katie: "Ok, now you're stretching. We're not going there."
Katie: "Well ok, that's fine. But just tell me this, if he had a humpback and some minimal disfiguration would you date him?"
Katie: "Next question."
Katie: "Fair enough. Now, Katie, the Black Box isn't the only affiliate who's found your sense of humor interesting. The CrossFit main page posted up an article of yours. You gave us your CrossFit story. Is there an update to that story?"
Katie: "Well, I've been meaning to blog about that actually, but just haven't gotten to it yet, but yeah. There are some updates. CrossFit has done so much for me that putting everything down would simply take forever, but for starters I guess I could say that CrossFit got me to fly. I'd never flown until the week after I wrote that blog, and CrossFit got me on a plane to go visit my blog friend Tanya in Chicago and work out at Windy City CrossFit. It also got me to run my first 5K, and train for my first half marathon. It's gotten me to lose 17 lbs total (there was a little gain back at the end of school) and maintain a fairly healthy Zone lifestyle. CrossFit has gotten me to set goals and stick with them. CrossFit's gotten me to deadlift nearly 200lbs, earn my first dead hang pull up, do 24 chins, clean 120 lbs, strict press 85, and do a whole host of things I never would have thought possible. Really, it's changed my life for the better."
Katie: "That's awesome. What would you do if you ever had to give up CrossFit?"
Katie: "Cry. A lot."
Katie: "Do you have any CrossFit goals now?"
Katie: "Well, in the next year I'd like to become more educated about the movements of CrossFit, the body in terms of the muscles and their relation to each other, and become a certified level 1 trainer. I'd love to work with beginning CrossFitters. I think that would be a great way for me to use my teaching background and mesh it with CrossFit."
Katie: "Hmmm, if I joined your beginners class would you make me do Miami Vice?"
Katie: *laughing* "Not right away, but maybe if you stuck around for awhile. I will say though that it may be someone's "Funishment" workout though."
Katie: "I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds painful. So now Katie, your readers also want to know, how often do you have to shave your legs?"
Katie: "What? What the hell kind of question is that?
Katie: "Well, inquiring minds want to know."
Katie: "Are you kidding? Alright, well whenever I have to I guess. I mean, I'm not a fan. It annoys me, but our society is apparently not very fond of hair on the body. Although funny story. When I used to swim, we would stop shaving partway through the season. Usually about December."
Katie: "Ok, that seems kind of gross."
Katie: "Well, there was a logic behind it."
Katie: "Such as?"
Katie: "Well, the theory is that as you train with all that excess hair, it acts as drag, in the same way our multiple swim suits did. You qualify for your big meet with all of it there, then the day of the meet you shave it all off and get your tightest racing suit and go to town. It's actually been proven to have very little pysiological affects, but I think the psychological one is huge."
Katie: "Intersting story, Katie. You're of course just full of those. So Katie, next question. In a fight between Xena and Chuck Norris, who would win?"
Katie: "Honestly, is that even worth asking? It's Chuck Norris. Dude he has the Total Gym, and the roundhouse kick. He'd roundhouse kick Xena before she could burst his ear drums with her piercing war cry and then it'd be all over."
Katie: "Fair enough. Well, Katie we're getting to the end of our time together."
Katie: "We are? Funny, we're no where near New York yet."
Katie: "True, but I just can't talk to you anymore. You're driving me nuts."
Katie: "Oh, ok fair enough, but you picked the questions."
Katie: "So, Katie, any last thoughts you'd like to share with your readers?
Katie: "Hmmmm... Drink the Kool-aid. Train hard, and REST LATER!"
Katie: "There you have it folks, inspiring words from... well, a very UNIQUE individual."
***DISCLAIMER
"Mindless Ramblings" is not a known magazine. Jeff did not really call Katie and profess his undying love. Katie just thought he would get a kick out of being mentioned on her blog again, but then again... maybe he won't. Keith and Allison really are cool. And yes, Katie realizes that writing insane blogs where herself interviews...herself... is slightly crazy... but Katie also realizes that it's a long bus ride to New York and she needs to entertain herself since she's not driving. Katie says, thank God Al Gore invented pants and the internet. And thank God the Bolt Bus has comfy leather seats and a Wi-Fi.
See you folks in New York. ;)
"I'm gonna come at you like a spider monkey!"
If you've never seen this movie, well, you're not missing the year's best drama, but it was pretty crude and comical. But, I love the line that Walker, or is it Texas Ranger?, spits out about going at someone like a Spider Monkey. I think it's just a great way of saying you're going to go absolutely nuts on someone. Now, why did I use it as a title to a blog post? C'mon, you should know me well enough by now to know that eventually I'll get around to explaining my logic. :)
Last week, CrossFit.com posted up a piece from an article written by Captain Picker of the United States Navy. This piece garnered over 600 comments on the main site, and not very many of them happy with the good captain. With just a few words, the Captain had managed to enrage a community, many of whom are brothers and sisters in arms. After reading the comments, I have to say I was pretty peeved myself. It seemed as if the captain really didn't know much about CrossFit at all, and how much it has already helped hundreds and thousands of soldiers, who are currently IN or have been in harm's way. It bothered me a lot that he made such blanket statements about the program such as, well it causes injury. Without proper form and attention to performance, ANY exercise program can potentially cause injury. Furthermore, he made the statement that CrossFit is an "off the shelf program". The good captain obviously missed the memo the CrossFit is anything but based on the fact that it is scaled and tailored to each individual's athletic abilities.
Now, I'm not trying to set up an argument about whether the captain was right or wrong or just plain uneducated. That point has been debated and rehashed on the main site literally hundreds of times. But what I thought was so interesting was the way that the CrossFit community went at him like a spider monkey. We flew into attack mode. So, it made me kind of stop and think. I'll admit that I posted something in our own personal affiliate forum in which I said I hope his email box was flooded since CF.com posted his email, but afterwards I felt a little guilty for saying that. The guy does have a job to do, and I'm sure 800 emails probably doesn't make anyone's day, but still. I didn't attack him and call him all sorts of names like many on the main site did, and it almost shocked me how angry some of the people who responded were. So, my restful ramblings today... why do we get so defensive about CrossFit when their is dissention?
Again, I'll admit, when I saw the person last week searching for "Why CrossFit sucks", I really had a strong urge to smack that person up alongside the head. But why? Why do we suddenly seem to resort to the most primal and basic of instincts when people have a single negative word to say about what we do? Well, I think that it has a lot to do with paternal instincts. I think whether we realize it or not, we all sort of treat CrossFit like it was one of our own children. The desire to protect it is strong. We love CrossFit because of what it has done for each and every one of us and know its potential. We therefore believe in it and want to watch it grow and prosper. We don't ever want to see it struggle or be put down. Much like a child, we know it will face trials and tribulations, but even as much as parents want to let their children learn, they fight with the same idea to protect and never let their children be hurt in any way.
We don't want ANYONE to hurt CrossFit. We don't want people to have negative things to say. We take CrossFit to heart because of what it has done for so many of us. Look at all the testimonials that are posted everyday about what this program has done, whether it is phsyically or mentally and emotionally. Is it any wonder that when someone insults it, we get a little defensive? If you have been a loyal reader, you know what CrossFit has done for me, or even if you jumped to me from the affiliate blog two months back you know. It pains me that there are people out there that don't want that same experience. Their lives could be better, if only they would try. But, the thing that we as CrossFit parents need to remember and realize, is that people fear the unknown. Think of how afraid you were the first time you did a full fledged workout. Think of how afraid you were the first time you saw a hero workout posted on your board. Fear. Some people face fear and have a determined will to defeat it and not let fear cage them into a life full of safety. Others are controlled by it and will never dare to take a risk that could lead to them being hurt in any way, whether emotionally or physically. For some people fear is a motivating factor. For others, it's a hindering one.
Many of the people out there who look at this program fear change. They are afraid of what they don't know and can't comprehend and understand. They can't understand why people would want to push so hard that it may make them sick. They can't understand why people would want to subject themselves to exercises that hurt so much. To them, all I can say is that it's their loss. They don't understand how much more confidence and strength they could have. But that's ok, all the more for me! :)
Now, will everyone in the world learn to love CrossFit? No. That is doubtful. So what we as CrossFit parents need to realize is that we can't always fight the school bully for our kid. CrossFit will stand up for itself. The power of CrossFit will shine through. Just like kids, CrossFit will take care of itself. What we as parents need to do, is take a step back and stop going at people like spider monkeys, otherwise, we're going to be the crazy parents in the parking lot picking up their kids. I read a great quote the other day, but can't remember where. But the gist of the quote was to do your work, and step back. I think that that is the best thing I've ever heard. Hit your workouts hard, hit the Zone hard. Then step back. Let the people in the navy wonder why the army and marine are always kicking their asses. Let the dude in the next cubical wonder why you've lost 20 lbs. Let the girl down the hall be jealous of the great legs that you've gotten from all those lunges and box jumps and squats. Your work speaks for itself. You don't need to speak for it. The work of this community is the same. The power of this community will speak without saying a word. All you need to do is answer the questions when they finally come.
I understand that many may still feel angry with the good captain even after reading this. But here's just one final thought. Stop to think for one second that his words are a great thing for CrossFit. "What?!?" you say. How so? Well, think of it this way. When there is dissention, most often, this breeds discussion. If his words got people to discuss CrossFit, and start taking a look at it, can this be a bad thing?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
When you're on... you're on...
And when you're not... you look like I did this morning. Slouchy and very tired, and somewhat cranky. One might even say for the first part of the day I had my cranky pants on (as shown above). My body was screaming for more sleep this morning, but I know that with the traveling this weekend I'm going to miss Sunday, and my run on Saturday, so I needed to get another workout in. I knew we would be working on HSPU's too, and I wanted to get some work in on those. But that was sort of a stupid thought since I was so sore from doing Grindy on Monday. Today definitely qualifies as a day that I get points in the good column cause I showed up.
In the fore front of my mind are all the goals that I have set for the 12 week challenge. Yesterday showed me that my strength has come further than I thought, but that I still have a lot of work to go if I want to meet those goals. I also need to get my butt in gear for this marathon. Yikes! With the traveling and the end of school, my running has been slacking. But yesterday's run too showed me that I'm still pretty good at holding a pace. Problem is, Jerry didn't want me to hold a pace. :P But I guess I'm just concerned that I'm not going to hit those goals in the 12 week time frame. I know that at some point they will come. That I'm not too worried about. But I'm worried that I won't meet them in the 12 week period, and then my teammates will suffer because of me.
I'm doing pretty well with the Zone goal. All meals have been dead on, or pretty close. Work is hard for me because I need to eat, but I can't control the ingredients, so I try to make do with the best I can. I usually order a salad with grilled chicken and use the dressing for my fat, or I order a grilled chicken sandwich with no bun, eat some cucumber salad, and a small side salad with dressing for fat and I'm pretty close. I even went out last night and ordered Fah Eata My Weeds, which was a salad with fajita stuff on top. I ate the greens and veggies and chicken and used a little sour cream on the stuff for fat. So, not perfect, but it was pretty darn close. The problem area for me has been, and I'm sure will continue to be, snacking in between meals. It's so hard to walk by the bin of chips at work and not eat any. Not to mention, people just keep having food around! There is always candy or something else just floating around the restaurant. It's definitely going to be a challenge.
I fear the Zone goal, almost more than the Fran or chins goal. I don't know why, but I do. But hopefully I'll be able to stay on track and keep working out hard and smart. I really think that's the key. This morning wasn't so smart on my part. I really should have backed off, but me and my lovely Irish/Scotch/German stubborness don't know how to do that sometimes. It gets me in trouble a bit. In truth, the workout this morning didn't take me THAT much longer than most, but it still felt pretty bad, and I'm sure I looked terrible. But here's what the fun looked like.
Buy In-
25 L-sit chins (or progression)
25 HSPUs (or progression)
Then, once you've bought in...
2 Rounds for time
25 Jumping lunges (W20 M30)
25 KB swings overhead (45)
25 Wall ball (12)
25 Box jumps (4 steps!)
25 Jumping pull-ups
25 Burpees (with clap)
Jerry told us to call time after we had finished the buy in because some people were really taking the time to work on the L-sits and HSPUs because they are a 12 week goal. I was just too sore to do those quickly so my first part took me 17:00. Then I jumped into the circuit. The KB swings felt pretty good. They have been a bear with the 45 in the recent past but today they went overhead with little problem. I had to break the set, which I wasn't happy about, but aside from that they were good. The burpees are what hurt me though. I just couldn't push through today. The push ups were excruciating. But, again, points cause I did them all. In total, the whole thing took me 42:55, which if you subtract the 17 initial minutes, means that I did the circuit in 25:55. So, that's not too shabby for 300 reps of work. I'll take it. Just wish it would have been faster.
I need a nap... and I smell again... so I'm going to shower and take a nap. I've earned it this week....
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I never knew there was chicken in this!
I don't know if you remember this shtick from Campbell's a few years back, but there was a Campbell's soup commercial where there was a little boy, sitting at the end of the table by his brothers. The idea was that the soup was passed to the brothers before him, but by the time he got the soup, there was so much chicken in it, that he even got some and all that was left was not broth. The surprise was clear as he delivered his "Hey! I never knew there was chicken in this!" line. Now, what in the crizzap does this have to do with my day today? Well, much like this boy, I was pleasantly surprised today.
Jerry ran a different format today, and gave everyone a quick circuit, and then time to work on form, or work towards their 12 week goals. Our quick circuit was a 1.68 mile run today. This was good for me because I haven't been doing much running at all lately. But, although my time was pretty consistant for me, 15:12 (a rough 10 minute mile) Jerry wanted us to sprint. I don't think though that Jerry understands that I can't sprint. I can't. Really. It's just not in my nature. So I'll be happy with the 15:12 and take it as more training for October.
Now, one thing I realized. I hate the Nike+ running shoes. For flat feeted people like me, they are horrible even with insoles. They role too much to the outside, which is exactly where my pressure isn't supposed to be. I think it's what's been hurting my running lately, because you know what, I didn't have any of the pain that I do know before I bought those shoes. I had the pain of my old ones wearing out, but not like this. I need to buy the old kind again. Sorry Nike, but screw you. Going back to the Brooks as soon as I am financially able. Shoes matter people! shoes matter...
After the run, I was walking barefoot through the parking lot because I couldn't stand my shoes, and was contemplating what to work on. I decided today would be a good day to keep working on my muscle up progression. I am going to get one. It's going to happen. I need to master the break in the middle though. That's what is hurting me. I'm physically strong enough to go from a dead hang and get my chest to the rings, but not physically strong enough to break through and over them. But here's where my pleasant surprise came in. As I was talking with Danny, I said I was amazed that I could get to the rings, but couldn't do a strict pull up. Danny was quizzical and said, "You can't? Let's see." So I went to the bar, completely expecting to not be able to do it, and guess what! I hit a strict chin. No kip, nothing! I have NEVER in my entire life been able to do a strict chin. Never. I was totally stoked. It means that my strength has actually gotten to the point where I can lift my own body weight. I realize that I was only doing them one at a time, but still. That for me was huge. Body weight exercises are a serious weakness for me, and to hit that chin today was enough to shock me, but also make me want to do a happy dance.
So all in all... another good day in the Blue Room. Also, I'm stoked to see so many new readers from different parts, especially Peru. Jaime is really working hard to try to spread CrossFit, and talking with him has just been really cool. I hope you all have a chance to go check out CrossFit Peru and say hi!
Well, after being at work all day today (yup, pulled the lucky day shift card today) I'm off to shower since I smell! :) Lovely.... :P
Jerry ran a different format today, and gave everyone a quick circuit, and then time to work on form, or work towards their 12 week goals. Our quick circuit was a 1.68 mile run today. This was good for me because I haven't been doing much running at all lately. But, although my time was pretty consistant for me, 15:12 (a rough 10 minute mile) Jerry wanted us to sprint. I don't think though that Jerry understands that I can't sprint. I can't. Really. It's just not in my nature. So I'll be happy with the 15:12 and take it as more training for October.
Now, one thing I realized. I hate the Nike+ running shoes. For flat feeted people like me, they are horrible even with insoles. They role too much to the outside, which is exactly where my pressure isn't supposed to be. I think it's what's been hurting my running lately, because you know what, I didn't have any of the pain that I do know before I bought those shoes. I had the pain of my old ones wearing out, but not like this. I need to buy the old kind again. Sorry Nike, but screw you. Going back to the Brooks as soon as I am financially able. Shoes matter people! shoes matter...
After the run, I was walking barefoot through the parking lot because I couldn't stand my shoes, and was contemplating what to work on. I decided today would be a good day to keep working on my muscle up progression. I am going to get one. It's going to happen. I need to master the break in the middle though. That's what is hurting me. I'm physically strong enough to go from a dead hang and get my chest to the rings, but not physically strong enough to break through and over them. But here's where my pleasant surprise came in. As I was talking with Danny, I said I was amazed that I could get to the rings, but couldn't do a strict pull up. Danny was quizzical and said, "You can't? Let's see." So I went to the bar, completely expecting to not be able to do it, and guess what! I hit a strict chin. No kip, nothing! I have NEVER in my entire life been able to do a strict chin. Never. I was totally stoked. It means that my strength has actually gotten to the point where I can lift my own body weight. I realize that I was only doing them one at a time, but still. That for me was huge. Body weight exercises are a serious weakness for me, and to hit that chin today was enough to shock me, but also make me want to do a happy dance.
So all in all... another good day in the Blue Room. Also, I'm stoked to see so many new readers from different parts, especially Peru. Jaime is really working hard to try to spread CrossFit, and talking with him has just been really cool. I hope you all have a chance to go check out CrossFit Peru and say hi!
Well, after being at work all day today (yup, pulled the lucky day shift card today) I'm off to shower since I smell! :) Lovely.... :P
So cool...
I just wanted to post this up and say a special "thank you" to Jaime at CrossFit Peru. He's translated some of my ramblings into Spanish and is sharing my story, as well as all of our CrossFit stories, with the people in Peru. I think it's just wicked cool!
Muchas gracias por todo su trabajo Jaime! Los articulos son excellentes! (Y los fotografias tambien... ;) pero eso es porque son de mi.... ;) jajajajaja)
To see all of Jaime's work, go check out CrossFit Peru.
CrossFit Peru
Muchas gracias por todo su trabajo Jaime! Los articulos son excellentes! (Y los fotografias tambien... ;) pero eso es porque son de mi.... ;) jajajajaja)
To see all of Jaime's work, go check out CrossFit Peru.
CrossFit Peru
Monday, July 14, 2008
Another go round with Grindy, why I need the Zone, and I join the 12 week challenge...
I've been out of town since Thursday, and packed with every intention of working out at home, but for once I listened to what my body was saying and took some rest. I was exhausted. Since the end of school, I really haven't stopped. I had a week of class, and then went straight into my 11 day run at work. So, this week, I began to crash. The days off at home were great. I got to see my grandfather and he was having a good day. It was great to see him have one of those. It struck me though, when he asked about my teaching and said how proud he was of me. I can't really describe it, but it hit me hard. He's been through so much and still thinks about things like that. It just amazes me. But nevertheless, it felt great to be back in the Blue Room this morning. Thanks to beer inventory last night I wasn't awake and vertical at my usual 0600 time, but I made it in for the 730 class.
I heard barbells the second I walked up the stairs and was excited because I thought we would be throwing heavy weights around. But, I was a little disappointed to learn that instead we were hitting "Grindy" for another go. We hit Grindy back in April and on that day I went Rx'd weight, but didn't yet have the strength to do all the push-ups to standard. My time was 29:33 Today, I went Rx'd weight AND did all the push-ups to standard. :) So that in and of itself was a marked improvement. I felt like I was smoking through the first round and actually kept up pretty well with Andrea, who is a freakin' firebreather if there ever was one. But on round 2, she smoked me because the push-ups held me up. I suck at push-ups. I really felt my lack of push-up strength today. I could have done this 2-3 minutes faster if I wouldn't have wasted so much time on them I feel. But overall, I was pretty happy to be back and I brought this one in in 25:36, nearly 4 minutes off my previous time. So that was pretty exciting for me.
After class, we were talking about the 12 week challenge that Jerry is running for us. We are on teams, and each member is working towards their own goals. If any member doesn't meet their goal or benchmark towards their goal on their test week, then the whole group pulls a "Funishment" workout. Well, because of my traveling, and the goals that I have for myself, I wasn't sure it was going to be a good idea for me to join. My goals are a little challenging to measure but I think I've found a way. My one main goal, especially after the cabin party this weekend, is to stay strict on the Zone for 12 weeks. This is going to definitely be challenging. But, I went home for the Cabin party and 2 things happened. 1, I gave myself a free pass at the party, and completely overate. My body did not know what to do with the extra food or sugar. I wound up waking up at 130 to throw up. It was not a fun time, and was definitely a learning experience. I need the Zone. I need to make sure that I keep myself healthy, and don't wind up the way I was or worse. The second thing that happened while I was home, was that I realized something. While I was home, I was in the grocery store, and Wal-Mart and couldn't believe what I saw. The AVERAGE person that I was seeing, was probably at least 15-20 lbs overweight. It was mind boggling. I don't notice it as much down here, and I can't explain the difference between here and home, unless maybe it's just accessibility to programs and information, but whatever the difference, it was astonishing. I was watching people put things in their cart, and I was seriously appalled. I wanted to yell at them! I wanted to stop them and save them from themselves, but it's kinda like the situation the other day on the main site with the good captain. If people are uninformed, there is little you can do or say until they decide to pay attention. I don't want to look like the people I saw. I am going to do my damndest to stay on the Zone strict for the next 12 weeks and stop eating the way I have been for the last week or so.
My other two goals are goals that I've had, but have not yet met. My second goal is my sub 10:00 Fran. I have missed Fran the last two times we hit her, but my old time is 11:39. I've broken the time and weeks down to try to make gains every 3 weeks. So we'll see how well things happen. My other goal is the 30 chins. My goal is to increase my max by 2 every 4 weeks. Right now I'm at 24. I need 6 more. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can do this. I don't want my team to have to have some "Funishment"!
One last fun note today. Jaime of CrossFit Peru emailed me to ask if he could translate and publish some of my work on their site. Now I'll be bilingual! :) He is trying to spread the good word of CrossFit to the people of his country. Jaime said that the idea of functional fitness has not yet caught up with the people in Peru. He wants to try to use my writing to help encourage the idea that women can be strong and beautiful, (one of my main topics last week), and encourage them to try CrossFit! He also wants to encourage "normal" people to try CrossFit and thinks that hearing from a "normal" person would be helpful. I think it's awesome that he is trying so hard to share the Kool-aid. I hope that whatever he takes off of here will help and I wish him the best! :)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Bienvenido a Peru!
I found out through my Feedburner that I have an email subscriber! :) My very first one... :) So I have a very special message for the folks at CrossFit Peru!
Bienvenido! Estoy feliz que me descubieron! Espero que les gustan mis escritos! Muchas gracias para leyendo! Lo siento por mi gramatica mala. Mi espanol es un poquito oxidado..... :( Vi tu pagina y es fantastico. Tienen un grupo grande a tu gimnasio? Por favor, te siente libre dejar tus pensimientos para mi! (Y tambien, te siente libre corregir mi gramatica y mi "spanglish"). :) Bienvendio a la communidad de CrossFit!
Bienvenido! Estoy feliz que me descubieron! Espero que les gustan mis escritos! Muchas gracias para leyendo! Lo siento por mi gramatica mala. Mi espanol es un poquito oxidado..... :( Vi tu pagina y es fantastico. Tienen un grupo grande a tu gimnasio? Por favor, te siente libre dejar tus pensimientos para mi! (Y tambien, te siente libre corregir mi gramatica y mi "spanglish"). :) Bienvendio a la communidad de CrossFit!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Strong is beautiful right?
So what do you do when you don't feel strong or beautiful and you feel like the biggest idiot this side of 7 counties?
Restful ramblings: Why do I CrossFit?
Oi, I took a rest day today. After the beginning of this week, I was due! So, since it is a rest day, I must entertain you, bemuse you, or annoy the pants off of you with some restful ramblings. (Do you like how I found a way to use alliteration this time??!?! :) )
You know what's really cool about blogging? (Besides the fact that I get to say whatever I want and people read it!) The fact that with modern technology I can know the locations of the people reading my blog, and I also know where they came from on the internet, and, if they came through a search, I can also see what they searched for, and thus found me. Pretty cool huh? Sometimes this produces many interesting results. I'm not sure why it came up on me, but someone was searching for "Will the Stairmaster give me a big butt?" and somehow wound up on my blog. It kind of cracked me up. But I instantly thought of a post I had recently read off the affilitate blog about how women are afraid of picking up heavier weights and bulking up. Then I kinda got a little huffy with the woman to think that this woman was more concerned with her appearance than health, but that's a whole other blog post and I digress. The one that really sent me a little over the edge was the person who was searching for "Why CrossFit sucks". No, you read that right. He wanted to know why CrossFit sucks.
Now, I don't know if said person ever found ANY information pertaining to that topic, but I'm willing to bet that if he did, it was written by someone who tried CrossFit for the first time, didn't scale appropriately or accordingly, and thus got their ever loving butt whooped. I became a little bit enraged that this unknown individual even dared to insinuate that CrossFit is anything but a wonderful program. It made me wonder what even possessed someone (who very clearly must not have ANY testicular fortitude) to try to do CrossFit. And this of course got me to thinking, "Why do I CrossFit?"
As I sat and thought for a moment about why I do what I do, I realized something. Over the last few weeks/months as I have progressed, I have lost site of what I am doing this for, and I think now is a great opportunity to remind myself, and perhaps jog the memories of others. I have been very hard on myself regarding my Zoning, my weights, and my progression in general, and I don't know why. Thinking back on my original reasoning for joining CrossFit, my self-deprecation doesn't make any sense... goals change for sure, but I lost sight completely of what CrossFit is doing for me, and I think it's something I need to keep more fixed in my mind.
With the completion of the CrossFit games, it's easy to sit and think that "Man, I really want to work out like those guys." But the reality is, that for most of us, that is an ideal that just won't happen. Why? Why is that not in the cards for most of us? Because. When we joined CrossFit, we did it for a different reason. I know that when I first picked up my very first thruster, or KB swing, or band for my chins, I wasn't thinking that CrossFit was going to make me the most elite athlete out there and I was going to be able to complete amazing feats and compete in the games. I didn't pick up those weights because I wanted CrossFit and training to become my life like many of those athletes. I picked up those weights because I wanted a change.
Before CrossFit, I was having a hard time walking up stairs, or picking up boxes and other heavy objects without feeling winded and tired. Even though I was swimming in a masters program, I felt weak. I felt sluggish. I hated how much my appearance had changed, and I knew that if I continued at my current rate of weight gain, it would not take long until I had a pretty serious issue. I joined CrossFit because I was sick of Globo gyms telling me that kick backs and pull downs were going to help me with any of the problems I was having. I joined CrossFit because I wanted to live. I want a life where I am not confined by my lack of strength or my body composition. I want a life in which I know that I am healthy and strong, and will live, God willing, to see the day that I get married and have kids of my own. I want a quality of life that enables me to do everything that I want to do. I don't want to be hindered by others ideals of what beauty or fitness are. I joined CrossFit because it's going to make me, and keep me healthy. I didn't join CrossFit because I want my ass to look great in pants. I didn't join CrossFit because I want to be a firebreather. I didn't join CrossFit so I could look at men shirtless in the gym (although gentlemen, that's not a bad thought... work on that for me...). I joined because I had a desire to do something different. I had a desire to better myself in a way that would be lasting and not fleeting as so many stints to the globo gym have been in the past.
CrossFit has given me all of this and more. It has given me all those goals, and many I never thought possible. I can walk stairs, lift boxes, run miles, hoist weights... CrossFit has given me all of that. Not only that, but CrossFit has given me a support system and community of amazing people who have allowed me to become the stronger and healthier person I am now. Amdist the games and standard changes it's easy to forget that we're here, not to be firebreathers, but to be athletes with goals. It's easy to forget that we've made progress and that that progress is worth celebrating. Often times we look at these athletes and compare ourselves to them, wondering why we can't life that much or move that fast. But we can't forget that we are not they, and that we came for a different reason. We need to remember that we have all grown stronger, and healthier because of CrossFit. I joined CrossFit because it gave me my life back. What about you?
You know what's really cool about blogging? (Besides the fact that I get to say whatever I want and people read it!) The fact that with modern technology I can know the locations of the people reading my blog, and I also know where they came from on the internet, and, if they came through a search, I can also see what they searched for, and thus found me. Pretty cool huh? Sometimes this produces many interesting results. I'm not sure why it came up on me, but someone was searching for "Will the Stairmaster give me a big butt?" and somehow wound up on my blog. It kind of cracked me up. But I instantly thought of a post I had recently read off the affilitate blog about how women are afraid of picking up heavier weights and bulking up. Then I kinda got a little huffy with the woman to think that this woman was more concerned with her appearance than health, but that's a whole other blog post and I digress. The one that really sent me a little over the edge was the person who was searching for "Why CrossFit sucks". No, you read that right. He wanted to know why CrossFit sucks.
Now, I don't know if said person ever found ANY information pertaining to that topic, but I'm willing to bet that if he did, it was written by someone who tried CrossFit for the first time, didn't scale appropriately or accordingly, and thus got their ever loving butt whooped. I became a little bit enraged that this unknown individual even dared to insinuate that CrossFit is anything but a wonderful program. It made me wonder what even possessed someone (who very clearly must not have ANY testicular fortitude) to try to do CrossFit. And this of course got me to thinking, "Why do I CrossFit?"
As I sat and thought for a moment about why I do what I do, I realized something. Over the last few weeks/months as I have progressed, I have lost site of what I am doing this for, and I think now is a great opportunity to remind myself, and perhaps jog the memories of others. I have been very hard on myself regarding my Zoning, my weights, and my progression in general, and I don't know why. Thinking back on my original reasoning for joining CrossFit, my self-deprecation doesn't make any sense... goals change for sure, but I lost sight completely of what CrossFit is doing for me, and I think it's something I need to keep more fixed in my mind.
With the completion of the CrossFit games, it's easy to sit and think that "Man, I really want to work out like those guys." But the reality is, that for most of us, that is an ideal that just won't happen. Why? Why is that not in the cards for most of us? Because. When we joined CrossFit, we did it for a different reason. I know that when I first picked up my very first thruster, or KB swing, or band for my chins, I wasn't thinking that CrossFit was going to make me the most elite athlete out there and I was going to be able to complete amazing feats and compete in the games. I didn't pick up those weights because I wanted CrossFit and training to become my life like many of those athletes. I picked up those weights because I wanted a change.
Before CrossFit, I was having a hard time walking up stairs, or picking up boxes and other heavy objects without feeling winded and tired. Even though I was swimming in a masters program, I felt weak. I felt sluggish. I hated how much my appearance had changed, and I knew that if I continued at my current rate of weight gain, it would not take long until I had a pretty serious issue. I joined CrossFit because I was sick of Globo gyms telling me that kick backs and pull downs were going to help me with any of the problems I was having. I joined CrossFit because I wanted to live. I want a life where I am not confined by my lack of strength or my body composition. I want a life in which I know that I am healthy and strong, and will live, God willing, to see the day that I get married and have kids of my own. I want a quality of life that enables me to do everything that I want to do. I don't want to be hindered by others ideals of what beauty or fitness are. I joined CrossFit because it's going to make me, and keep me healthy. I didn't join CrossFit because I want my ass to look great in pants. I didn't join CrossFit because I want to be a firebreather. I didn't join CrossFit so I could look at men shirtless in the gym (although gentlemen, that's not a bad thought... work on that for me...). I joined because I had a desire to do something different. I had a desire to better myself in a way that would be lasting and not fleeting as so many stints to the globo gym have been in the past.
CrossFit has given me all of this and more. It has given me all those goals, and many I never thought possible. I can walk stairs, lift boxes, run miles, hoist weights... CrossFit has given me all of that. Not only that, but CrossFit has given me a support system and community of amazing people who have allowed me to become the stronger and healthier person I am now. Amdist the games and standard changes it's easy to forget that we're here, not to be firebreathers, but to be athletes with goals. It's easy to forget that we've made progress and that that progress is worth celebrating. Often times we look at these athletes and compare ourselves to them, wondering why we can't life that much or move that fast. But we can't forget that we are not they, and that we came for a different reason. We need to remember that we have all grown stronger, and healthier because of CrossFit. I joined CrossFit because it gave me my life back. What about you?
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
I hurt all over...
So, if you've been reading my blog, you know we've done some doozies this week. We kicked it off on Sunday with the 5 rounds of deadlifts, cleans, front squats, and clean and jerks. Then Monday was the pull-up/jump squat ladder, followed by the PR deadlifts yesterday. We've had a busy week! My legs were already sore, but Jerry did me in with his doozy today. I think this out to have been some sort of named workout. This HURT. So now, my legs and my arms are sore. Hence the title, I really do hurt all over! Today's fun, or funishment as Jerry likes to say looked like this:
WOD
For time
800 Meter run
30 clean and presses (55lbs)
30 chins
800 Meter run
25 clean and presses
25 chins
800 Meter run
20 clean and presses
20 chins
You know, the first round of this was actually pretty speedy for me. I wasn't that far behind on the run, and my speed through the cleans and chins, actually put me out the door first before everyone. But that didn't last long. Steven and Leslie are AWESOME runners and soon streaked past me. My running today seemed attrocious and my legs felt like dead weight. I really tried to open up my stride, but by round 3 I really couldn't. I felt good on the presses and chins though. I didn't waste too much time resting. I've been pretty good about that this week. I was able to do the clean and presses in pretty big chunks, which definitely helped me power through them. The chins took me a little longer because I couldn't do big sets after all the cleans and presses. I was a little fried, but overall kept mostly to sets of 4-6. So, all in all, not a bad day in the Blue Room, except that now I can't move. Ouch. :P Oh, my time on this one was 32:35.
As an aside, I'm still bitter about my craptastic fortune cookie.
I will also be in PA for a few days... oh but don't worry... I'm sure I'll be updating and perhaps even stirring up trouble at my local globo gym. :) Hehehe...
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Fortune cookie foul up...
Ok, so tonight I did a bad thing. In the words of Chris Issak, "Baby did a bad bad thing." So, I caved and ordered Chinese food. Now before you go balls to the wall and yell at me, understand that since I've gone on the Zone, I've only ordered Chinese food a handful of times. Before Zoning, I used to call the Chinese place and they had my order and my address memorized. I was also awarded preferential customer status. While I can not prove said status, I do believe the fact that they were at my door within 15 minutes of me ordering my food everytime supports my theory. I highly doubt that other people routinely got service that was that speedy. But back on track here. I actually ordered a decently Zone meal. I did order Chicken and Veggies. I did not order anything deep fried and smothered in sauce. I ate too much of the rice, but the entree was ok. But here's the thing, usually the best thing about ordering Chinese food is the good, yummy, and prophetic fortune cookie at the end. So I ate my dinner, and happily hopped downstairs to go see what my fortune said, and I went from happy to steaming in 10 seconds. I got the worst fortune EVER! Seriously! It wasn't even a fortune. It was a big load of disappointing crap. It was so inaccurate it wasn't even funny. You know what my fortune said?
"You love sports, horses, and gambling, but not in excess."
WHAT? First off, that's not even a fortune! What the hell!? Secondly, I don't like horses and I don't gamble! WTF? I'm seriously disappointed in the people who write the fortune cookies. How could they seriously foul up my fortune that badly? I hope that they know they're going to be getting a strongly worded letter regarding the crappiness of their fortune telling capabilities. Even the bad fortunes you can usually add "in bed" to and then they become funny and ok. This one makes absolutely no sense if you add "in bed". "You love sports, horses and gambling but not in excess... in bed." Seriously. Who gambles in bed? I'm perturbed. Damn fortune cookie people ruined my night!!! >:-0
A deadlift PR and a whole day off...
It's been 12 days since I had a day all to myself, and I was going to go to the zoo today, but I honestly don't feel up for moving. Seriously. I have one ice pack on my shoulder, one on my wrist... I feel like a broken down jalopy! And seriously, I started this post 4 hours ago, and then fell asleep. Wow. I am one exciting girl let me tell you... :P There goes my idea to go to the zoo today! But I only got 4 hours of sleep last night because of the crappiness that was work, so I needed the added sleep. Seriously, we had no food runner last night or bus boy, so after all those freakin' squats yesterday, what happened? I wound up running about 50 some odd sets of stairs. My legs hurt so bad. And of course, since we were short staffed we got busy, and we had to put people on the third floor, which made more running. And of course since we were short staffed people took it out on me and tipped me like crap because food took awhile and because I wasn't be attentive. Well, it's hard to be attentive when you're doing the jobs of 3 people!!!!!! RAWR!!!! Seriously, I'm really starting to hate my job. And if you guys go to restaurants, please please please, don't ever take the faults of the kitchen or short staffing on the server. That's not fair. If they suck and screw everything up, that's one thing, but if they're generally pleasant and attentive, tip them accordingly. $15 on $130 is NOT accordingly, contrary to belief!!!! RAWR again! Ok, enough. I'll stop complaining.... but I was really mad last night.
Back to today.... well. I almost cried when Jerry posted today's workout. Deadlift work. My legs were still shakey from Sunday and from all the squats yesterday but as Jerry said, "That's what rest days are for, and if you come in, better be prepared to work." Well, very true. Should have slept and taken the rest day today. :P But, Jerry wanted us to work up to a heavy single today, so I did. I managed to PR at 195. That's the best I've ever pulled by over 45 pounds. That's quite a bit. But, at 185 and 195 I started to lose a little core tension. The round wasn't huge, it was realatively small, but still, it was there. So I didn't even try 200, but I'd like to hit over that. I think that'd be pretty sweet. I do need to change my grip though. A while back with the cleans, Jerry told me I should work on the hook grip when pulling heavy. The same is true with the deads, I need to change up my grip. I need to work the over/under. I pulled heavy today with just the over for both hands. That was hard. I had a rough time getting tension on the bar with the double over. Well after hitting the heavy deads, Jerry gave us a short conditioning circuit to work through. So, the fun today looked like this:
Warm-up
*20 minutes*
Work up to a heavy deadlife single
75X5
95X5
115X3
135X1
155X1
175X1
185X1
195X1
WOD
AMRAP in 20 minutes
15 wall ball sit-ups (12 lbs)
12 push ups
9 KB swings
I finished exactly 7 rounds of this. I don't know or understand though how it is possible for me to deadlift 200 lbs and STILL not be able to do push-ups. I feel seriously retarded. They really slowed me today. I was fine through the swings and wall balls I was actually flying but I would get to the push ups and each set was taking like 2 1/2-3 minutes. Talk about a ball buster. Eesh! :P Well, my proverbial balls, since I don't really have any. :P The good news is though that I've really focused in my energy on my KB swings and am now going overhead with the 45. That was hard for me for whatever reason. I think at one point today I did pick up the 50 put they look so much like the 45 I'm not really sure. Next time we do a low circuit with the 45 I'll look into the 52. :P Tehe...
After the circuit, I hung out and watched the 645 class go at it, and I'm going back to my previous statement from last week, the ladies of CFOT are strong and beautiful. In total, we had 4 women pull 195 today and we had 1 pull 185. You sure you want to mess with us? ;P After that, I played a little bit with the muscle up work. I was doing a few jumping ones and locking them out up top which felt cool, so now I need to work on the bottom part. Danny was really helping but I was pretty fried. The muscle up is probably about 3 months away. I suspect that the 30 chins is about another month away. Both are going to come, but they are going to take a little more time. I am feeling a little weak, so I need some more time. It will happen though. I have all the faith. :)
So no zoo today, but I'm maxin and relaxin. Very important today. :)
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