Jerry let us know today that tomorrow is going to be a rough workout, but he wanted to come up with a way to honor the people on Flight 93, so he gave us a nice little workout today. Now, before I go any further, I think I need to clarify something from my post yesterday. I mentioned that I felt like we've been doing a lot of bodyweight work at CFOT lately, as opposed to barbell work. We've never done a lot of max stuff, at least IMHO, and I've always (well aside from the times I get the itch) been ok with that. I complain about doing bodyweight stuff, not because I disagree with Jerry's programming. The man is a hell of a lot smarter than I am when it comes to this stuff, and if he told me that jumping off the roof of my school was what I needed to progress, I would do it. I have faith in his programming and am sure that whatever he is doing, he has a reason for it. But remember, this is my blog, and one purpose that it serves is as my outlet of frustration, and believe me, I'm frustrated. I really really REALLY dislike bodyweight stuff (pushups in particular) because I'm HORRID at them. It's been a year, and still banging out 10 is challenging for me. It gets very frustrating for me. One could then argue with me that that's precisely the reason I SHOULD do more bodyweight work(and you'd be absolutely right... write that down, it doesn't happen often that someone else is right instead of me, or in addition to me rather... :P ) but regardless of what I know I SHOULD do, it doesn't make me WANT to do it. If you don't like brussel sprouts, even though you KNOW they are really good for you, you really don't want to ever eat them do you? That's kinda how I feel about pushups.
Now, one of the gifts of CF is also one of the things that causes this to be an even bigger issue for me. And that is that it brings us all into a competitive environment. I like to see my name close to the top, who doesn't? And I know that when we do stuff with mostly bodyweight, that's never going to happen, and it's a downer before I even get going. I know that this extreme hatred of bodyweight work needs to change, but it's really hard. I like my barbells, I like them a lot. Snatches, cleans, presses, squats. Love it! It's like candy for me. I love me my circuits with the barbells. I'm sure there are people out there who probably feel the exact opposite of me, and dread walking into the room and having to pick up a bar. I get that... but I'm not one of those people, and push-ups and squats are my nemesis (nemesi?). So, until I manage to defeat this beast of burden I hope you can forgive my whining.
Now, for those of you who raised an eyebrow at me yesterday, I hope this clarifies a few things. But enough of that hot mess, onward ho! So today's workout as I said was in honor of Flight 93. So, the fun looked like this:
93 Ring Dips
93 Med ball cleans (14 lbs)
93 Box jumps (4 mats)
Jerry told us we could partition this, and my first thought was sets of 10. But seeing as how I just left the band for dips a little while ago, I thought a better idea would be more rounds of a lower number. Now, you would think since I hate pushups that I would hate dips too, but for some reason, I feel like they're a good challenge for me. I feel like pushups should have been mastered long ago. But anyhoo, I settled on 6 as a nice good number. I made it through 10 rounds of 6 of each of the exercises and realized I was not going to have the time to finish as intended. I was slowing down big time. My arms were hitting fatigue, and my ROM was not as deep as it should have been. My form was also going and my elbows were flaring out and not staying close to my body. So after 60 of the dips, I went to the floss.
I did the last 5 rounds plus the missing 3 reps of each with the floss and brought this in in 38:09. Not bad I thought, but I know I got smoked later. I haven't seen the board, but I'm positive. Although I hate always hearing later how people smoked my time, I'm liking the zero dark thirty class. I'm enjoying the extra work time in the mornings, and it's allowing me to feel more calm at the beginning of the day and I'm not feeling as stressed. I'm still ridiculously busy, but I'm feeling better about things.
Now, I do have a confession to make from the workout today, and it's going to be a slightly embarassing one. Today, I totally farted when doing ring dips. I don't think anyone else heard, but I was really really embarassed. I mean, I know it's natural... it's all the tightening of the core and blah blah blah, but there's nothing like being suspended in the air and just letting one rip to make you feel a little awkward. Does this ever happen to other people or is it just me? I find it happens a lot on AbMats too... hmmmm... maybe I shouldn't admit that... now everytime we do dips and Abmats everyone else will be on one side of the room... Although, that may actually work to my advantage... more equipment for me! :P LOL. But seriously, I kinda felt like a tool. It's like that really bad tv commercial... "I see that you're flatulant in 2 languages".... "You're son rip is on line toot." Ah... nothing like corny humor... :P Alright, well work calls.... I'm hoping to be home, in bed, and on the phone with my pirate before 930... ;) Let's all cross our fingers... :)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
A feat to be proud of for sure...
Heyyyyyy... you know what I love? Inventory night. You know why? Oh yeah, because I love staying an extra hour at work just to count beer that I don't get to drink. I think that sucks quite frankly, but unfortunately since I work on Sundays, I get the fun job of counting the beer cooler. It doesn't make me happy, especially when I get home at 11.
Well apparently, in my glorious state of being when I got home, I managed to change my Sunday CF alarm to my Monday CF alarm... except, I set my clock for the PM!!!! Noooooooo!!!! So, this was an even bigger problem than usual because today was the start of the zero dark thirty class! The funny thing is, I woke up sans alarm, and in my fuzzy state rolled over and saw the clock. It said 45, which I assumed could only be 4:45 since that's what time I meant to get up, so I strolled to the bathroom not realizing that my clock really read 5:45 (my clock is set 1/2 hour fast) Not thinking that since it's a half hour fast, it should have also read 5:15 which would have really been 4:45. Apparently I can't do math that early... So, when I hit my phone and realized it was already 5:17, I went into attack mode and I flew. I kid you not. I was dressed and out of the house by 5:19 and I was at CrossFit by 5:29 and walked in the door as Jerry was yelling 3-2-1 Go! Now, I think that in and of itself is pretty impressive. :P Thankfully that was, because my numbers today weren't. I really don't like bodyweight stuff... really I don't. I'm so slow on it even when I try to go fast, and now that I'm having to slow down my squats and get my butt back on every one, I'm even slower than the molasses I was before. RAWR! I know I shouldn't complain... I'm sure there are people who read my blog and go, I would kill to have her numbers and I wish she'd stop whining.
I know, I should, but the thing is, I'm a slight bit of a perfectionist and I really like to be able to do well at everything. When a workout comes up where I can't get my name pretty high up on the board, I get a little antsy. I'm competitive to a fault. I know. We're working on that. But patience is not something they sell at Tarzhay remember? (and yes you have to read it the way I spelled it because that's how I say it with a bad French accent! :P ) So anyway, I don't know what to do, my push ups aren't getting any better, and I don't know how to improve on body weight stuff. What else can I do? I've already lost 22 lbs. Eesh and ugh.
On a more positive note, the school year is, not going great, but it is going better than last year for me. Hopefully once the initial 3-4 weeks of school are over and done and the kids finally start to settle into routines, I will start to feel more confident, and will be able to shake this monkey. As a sophomore teacher with 3rd grade, the problem I now face is looking at all the stuff I did last year, and either throwing it out the window completely and going "Why the crap did I think this was a good lesson?" or just finding ways to make things I have, really really good. Like I said, bit of a perfectionist, but hopefully having a base to build upon will allow me to shake some of this stress and get my blog back to being the fun and ridiculous place to come visit that it normally is! :P I know you all miss my random fortune cookie blogs.... I'm not sure if I can top the dancing hamster though... speaking of school... I'm still here... so I need to get stuff done and go home...
The feast is mine! Yikes, and away! :) Until next time....
Oh so hey... how about I post that whole workout thing? Good night Irene!!!!
5 rounds or 30 minutes
20 Chins
30 Push-ups
40 Abmats (yay for doing 100 of these for time yesterday as extra work! RAWR!)
50 Squats
I got 3.25 rounds in today. Everybody else got 4.25..... :(
Well apparently, in my glorious state of being when I got home, I managed to change my Sunday CF alarm to my Monday CF alarm... except, I set my clock for the PM!!!! Noooooooo!!!! So, this was an even bigger problem than usual because today was the start of the zero dark thirty class! The funny thing is, I woke up sans alarm, and in my fuzzy state rolled over and saw the clock. It said 45, which I assumed could only be 4:45 since that's what time I meant to get up, so I strolled to the bathroom not realizing that my clock really read 5:45 (my clock is set 1/2 hour fast) Not thinking that since it's a half hour fast, it should have also read 5:15 which would have really been 4:45. Apparently I can't do math that early... So, when I hit my phone and realized it was already 5:17, I went into attack mode and I flew. I kid you not. I was dressed and out of the house by 5:19 and I was at CrossFit by 5:29 and walked in the door as Jerry was yelling 3-2-1 Go! Now, I think that in and of itself is pretty impressive. :P Thankfully that was, because my numbers today weren't. I really don't like bodyweight stuff... really I don't. I'm so slow on it even when I try to go fast, and now that I'm having to slow down my squats and get my butt back on every one, I'm even slower than the molasses I was before. RAWR! I know I shouldn't complain... I'm sure there are people who read my blog and go, I would kill to have her numbers and I wish she'd stop whining.
I know, I should, but the thing is, I'm a slight bit of a perfectionist and I really like to be able to do well at everything. When a workout comes up where I can't get my name pretty high up on the board, I get a little antsy. I'm competitive to a fault. I know. We're working on that. But patience is not something they sell at Tarzhay remember? (and yes you have to read it the way I spelled it because that's how I say it with a bad French accent! :P ) So anyway, I don't know what to do, my push ups aren't getting any better, and I don't know how to improve on body weight stuff. What else can I do? I've already lost 22 lbs. Eesh and ugh.
On a more positive note, the school year is, not going great, but it is going better than last year for me. Hopefully once the initial 3-4 weeks of school are over and done and the kids finally start to settle into routines, I will start to feel more confident, and will be able to shake this monkey. As a sophomore teacher with 3rd grade, the problem I now face is looking at all the stuff I did last year, and either throwing it out the window completely and going "Why the crap did I think this was a good lesson?" or just finding ways to make things I have, really really good. Like I said, bit of a perfectionist, but hopefully having a base to build upon will allow me to shake some of this stress and get my blog back to being the fun and ridiculous place to come visit that it normally is! :P I know you all miss my random fortune cookie blogs.... I'm not sure if I can top the dancing hamster though... speaking of school... I'm still here... so I need to get stuff done and go home...
The feast is mine! Yikes, and away! :) Until next time....
Oh so hey... how about I post that whole workout thing? Good night Irene!!!!
5 rounds or 30 minutes
20 Chins
30 Push-ups
40 Abmats (yay for doing 100 of these for time yesterday as extra work! RAWR!)
50 Squats
I got 3.25 rounds in today. Everybody else got 4.25..... :(
Sunday, September 7, 2008
A great weekend... and a "Fight Gone Bad"
This weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. I didn't really stress about school work, I didn't really do much of anything, except watch movies and football, cook, bake (or rather, observe the baking), and enjoy the good company of my weekend visitor. I was very, correction, am very sad that my visitor had to go, but hope that maybe sometime soon my visitor will come back for another visit. Especially if he's going to cook me dinner again and bake me another cake! :) Yes, it was a good weekend....until... dun dun dun.... we walked into the Blue Room of pain this morning. And to what but my wondering eyes did appear on the white board? Well, I'll tell you what, it sure as heck wasn't Saint Nick and 8 reindeer. My initial reaction to the white board today was "Oh f*ck".
I haven't done FGB since last fall when we hit it in September. Back then, I was still VERY new to CrossFit, wasn't doing prescribed weights, and was still trying to wrap my head around the whole CF thing. We prepped FGB every weekend during our weekend class, so by the end of September, I felt pretty confident with the weights and movements. We also didn't have row back then because we didn't have enough rowers, so we subbed row for 15 lb db thrusters. Seriously? Yeah. Dead serious.
Me during FBG last September
Now, I know some of you are probably going, so what? Well, it's a lot harder metcon wise to row for cals, and it's a lot easier to amass more points when you're repping DB thrusters than it is with row. So overall, today's performance was much MUCH harder. After all the weeks of prep for FGB, I finally finished with I believe a 202 performance. Today, thanks to Leslie's help, I was able to hit 266. It was great for her and I to work together because where I'm weak, she's strong, and we wound up with almost identical scores. She had 268. Talk about close! But aside from that, I'd also like to talk about improvement. Going up in reps alone would be great, kinda like with Murph last week, but going up in weights, AND reps feels pretty good. I'd love to hit 300, but that's going to take one hell of a performance and strategy by me to do.
FGB looks like this (for those who have never done it)
1:00 Per station
Clock never stops
1:00 rest after exercises
3 rounds
AMRAP 1 point per rep
Wall Ball (14 lbs)
High Pull (52 lbs)
Box Jump
Push Press (55 lbs)
Row
Talk about an improvement. I went from 35 lb push presses to 55, 35 lb high pull to 52, and 15 lb thrusters to rows, and last year, we didn't do wall ball, we subbed chins! It felt good to hit that, but we'll see if after the next few weeks I can inch my score up a bit. I tanked on Wall Ball after the rower. We started at one place, but Jerry made us rotate one station each round, so for two rounds I went directly to wall ball after the rower, which surprisingly, I was able to maintain strong calories each round. So, we'll see. I felt pretty awful afterwards, but I think my cake might cheer me up! ;) Starting tomorrow, I'm back 100% in the zone....
I haven't done FGB since last fall when we hit it in September. Back then, I was still VERY new to CrossFit, wasn't doing prescribed weights, and was still trying to wrap my head around the whole CF thing. We prepped FGB every weekend during our weekend class, so by the end of September, I felt pretty confident with the weights and movements. We also didn't have row back then because we didn't have enough rowers, so we subbed row for 15 lb db thrusters. Seriously? Yeah. Dead serious.
Me during FBG last September
Now, I know some of you are probably going, so what? Well, it's a lot harder metcon wise to row for cals, and it's a lot easier to amass more points when you're repping DB thrusters than it is with row. So overall, today's performance was much MUCH harder. After all the weeks of prep for FGB, I finally finished with I believe a 202 performance. Today, thanks to Leslie's help, I was able to hit 266. It was great for her and I to work together because where I'm weak, she's strong, and we wound up with almost identical scores. She had 268. Talk about close! But aside from that, I'd also like to talk about improvement. Going up in reps alone would be great, kinda like with Murph last week, but going up in weights, AND reps feels pretty good. I'd love to hit 300, but that's going to take one hell of a performance and strategy by me to do.
FGB looks like this (for those who have never done it)
1:00 Per station
Clock never stops
1:00 rest after exercises
3 rounds
AMRAP 1 point per rep
Wall Ball (14 lbs)
High Pull (52 lbs)
Box Jump
Push Press (55 lbs)
Row
Talk about an improvement. I went from 35 lb push presses to 55, 35 lb high pull to 52, and 15 lb thrusters to rows, and last year, we didn't do wall ball, we subbed chins! It felt good to hit that, but we'll see if after the next few weeks I can inch my score up a bit. I tanked on Wall Ball after the rower. We started at one place, but Jerry made us rotate one station each round, so for two rounds I went directly to wall ball after the rower, which surprisingly, I was able to maintain strong calories each round. So, we'll see. I felt pretty awful afterwards, but I think my cake might cheer me up! ;) Starting tomorrow, I'm back 100% in the zone....
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Friday's workout and the top ten reasons to take a rest day...
Despite everyone's encouragement to take some time off, I rolled out of bed yesterday and headed off to CrossFit like the good little lemming that I am. :P Yesterday's workout was another metcon workout, with mostly bodyweight. I have to say before I go any further, that I heart Jerry. He has done a world of wonders for me, and has showed me an entirely new world of fitness, BUT I'm not a big fan of all the metcom/bodyweight stuff we've been doing lately. A.) We've all learned about my drafthorse like tendencies, I can't sprint, but I can pace like a mofo. B.) We all also have learned how much I really like to throw things around. It's hard to throw things around when we're doing bodyweight stuff, unless I want to throw myself around...hmmmm...not so much. But, since I'm a good little lemming, I jumped off the cliff and did the workout. BTW, if you are not familiar with lemmings and don't quite understand my references, here's a quick little blurb for you. Lemmings are creatures who follow others, and don't ever question things. They will repeatedly do the same activities over and over, and will actually follow others to their untimely death.
Now, do I think I am a follower going to my death? Well, let's be frank. Sometimes after a CF workout I do feel like death, but mostly I'm referring to the part where the little lemmings keep following the same routine. I am a person who appreciates and thrives on routine. Anyhoo, I wobbled off to CF yesterday morning and hit our WOD which was on the main site no too long ago. Friday's fun looked like this:
For time
30 HSPU (again had to sub- 4 shrugs per 1 HSPU, 15 rounds of 4)
40 Chins
50 KB swings (35)
60 Abmat sit-ups
70 Burpees
I brought this one in in 23:30, the second fastest time on the class. I got smoked by the later folks, but it was the first time I felt like I was really able to push myself in 2 weeks. I broke the KB swings into 25 and then sets of 10 or 15. I did the abmats straight, and hit the burpees mostly in sets of 3-5 but didn't take much rest. It actually felt pretty good for the first time in what feels like forever. The chins felt pretty weak, we haven't been hitting them too much lately, but I was still able to do them pretty quickly, just in smaller sets. So overall, not too bad a day, but I hope we get back to throwing heavy things around soon, and doing more chins.
Now, I am taking today as a rest day... I think it necessary, I have company... ;) Company that will be joining me tomorrow morning at CFOT. So, today is a good day to be fat, happy and enjoy life for a hot minute. But just in case there were others of you who are looking to take a rest day, but really need a reason (rest alone doesn't seem good enough) I have created my top ten list of reasons to take a rest day. Feel free to use them!
10. It's raining, and as we all know, I am made of sugar and if I leave my house I will surely melt. Terrible... far better to stay indoors.
9. I am allergic to daylight. If daylight touches my skin, I will break out in hives, turn purple, and will be begin to sing "I'm a little teapot" without ceasing. Horrid, horrid stuff. Best if I just stay home.
8. There has been a sudden outbreak of alligator sightings in the neighborhood. I'm rather fond of my legs, therefore it is best if I keep to the house today. Yes, best.
7. Area 51 has just reporting alien sightings. Apparently, when they attack, you're stunned with some kind of a "laser" which contols your mind. You are forced to go to a globogym and do large numbers of tricep kickbacks, lat pull downs, and leg curls. HOW TRAGIC! Better to keep away from the aliens.
6. Rumor has it that the killer bees are migrating from Mexico. I've heard they don't like blondes. How discriminatory! I should stay away from them too. Best to rest and stay home.
5. The Food Network is having a "Yan Can Cook" marathon. I don't know how to cook very well, and my flambe usually turns out looking more like charrede (or charred... yeah I just made that word up) so I think it best to take a rest day and stay home and learn from Yan. I need to get me an edumacation.
4. I've been kidnapped by a pirate and he won't let me workout today.
3. I'm attempting to learn wizardry. In attempting to make myself disappear, I accidentally made one of my hands disappear. Can't do deadlifts or box jumps with one hand... yes, better to take a rest day until I can right myself.
2. Like a good little lemming I jumped off the cliff... it's only a few broken bones... I've got a few others intact, but still, best to take a rest day.
1. Penn State is playing today and they're actually on cable and not the Big Ten Network. Best to stay in and support my boys! You're my boy Blue! :)
Tehehe... hope you enjoyed! :)
Now, do I think I am a follower going to my death? Well, let's be frank. Sometimes after a CF workout I do feel like death, but mostly I'm referring to the part where the little lemmings keep following the same routine. I am a person who appreciates and thrives on routine. Anyhoo, I wobbled off to CF yesterday morning and hit our WOD which was on the main site no too long ago. Friday's fun looked like this:
For time
30 HSPU (again had to sub- 4 shrugs per 1 HSPU, 15 rounds of 4)
40 Chins
50 KB swings (35)
60 Abmat sit-ups
70 Burpees
I brought this one in in 23:30, the second fastest time on the class. I got smoked by the later folks, but it was the first time I felt like I was really able to push myself in 2 weeks. I broke the KB swings into 25 and then sets of 10 or 15. I did the abmats straight, and hit the burpees mostly in sets of 3-5 but didn't take much rest. It actually felt pretty good for the first time in what feels like forever. The chins felt pretty weak, we haven't been hitting them too much lately, but I was still able to do them pretty quickly, just in smaller sets. So overall, not too bad a day, but I hope we get back to throwing heavy things around soon, and doing more chins.
Now, I am taking today as a rest day... I think it necessary, I have company... ;) Company that will be joining me tomorrow morning at CFOT. So, today is a good day to be fat, happy and enjoy life for a hot minute. But just in case there were others of you who are looking to take a rest day, but really need a reason (rest alone doesn't seem good enough) I have created my top ten list of reasons to take a rest day. Feel free to use them!
10. It's raining, and as we all know, I am made of sugar and if I leave my house I will surely melt. Terrible... far better to stay indoors.
9. I am allergic to daylight. If daylight touches my skin, I will break out in hives, turn purple, and will be begin to sing "I'm a little teapot" without ceasing. Horrid, horrid stuff. Best if I just stay home.
8. There has been a sudden outbreak of alligator sightings in the neighborhood. I'm rather fond of my legs, therefore it is best if I keep to the house today. Yes, best.
7. Area 51 has just reporting alien sightings. Apparently, when they attack, you're stunned with some kind of a "laser" which contols your mind. You are forced to go to a globogym and do large numbers of tricep kickbacks, lat pull downs, and leg curls. HOW TRAGIC! Better to keep away from the aliens.
6. Rumor has it that the killer bees are migrating from Mexico. I've heard they don't like blondes. How discriminatory! I should stay away from them too. Best to rest and stay home.
5. The Food Network is having a "Yan Can Cook" marathon. I don't know how to cook very well, and my flambe usually turns out looking more like charrede (or charred... yeah I just made that word up) so I think it best to take a rest day and stay home and learn from Yan. I need to get me an edumacation.
4. I've been kidnapped by a pirate and he won't let me workout today.
3. I'm attempting to learn wizardry. In attempting to make myself disappear, I accidentally made one of my hands disappear. Can't do deadlifts or box jumps with one hand... yes, better to take a rest day until I can right myself.
2. Like a good little lemming I jumped off the cliff... it's only a few broken bones... I've got a few others intact, but still, best to take a rest day.
1. Penn State is playing today and they're actually on cable and not the Big Ten Network. Best to stay in and support my boys! You're my boy Blue! :)
Tehehe... hope you enjoyed! :)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Uncle?
It's a well known fact that I have a very hard time taking rest days from CrossFit. I have been called (on more than one ocassion) psycho, and I've been told, (on more than one ocassion) that I need to give my body a break before it freaks out on me and goes into overload mode.
Since school has been back in session, my schedule has completely flip-flopped from the schedule I was keeping over the summer. Over the summer I was working primarily nights, and after waking up at my normal CrossFit time, I was always able to go back for a nap if I needed to. Now, I'm awake at my usual time, awake straight on through the day, and going constantly. To say that my body is in shock is probably a slight understatement. It doesn't quite know what to do with itself at this point.
But, despite the exhaustion and the seemingly endless mounds of work that come with the beginning of the school year and just being a teacher in general, I can't stay away. I know that everyone thinks I'm going to wind up hurting myself, but I just can't avoid CrossFit. See, CrossFit is like my shrink. No matter what is going on in my life, and believe me, there have been times when it's a lot, I can go talk to CrossFit. But here's the thing, CrossFit doesn't psychoanalyze me, it doesn't give me crap and talk back, it doesn't tell me I'm a failure at life and that I'll never amount to much. It doesn't tell me that I have issues I need to work on and that I'm needy. It simply tells me that I need to suck it up and get over it, and then it kicks my ass. Plain and simple. And for the 45 minutes that I'm there, I'm not thinking of lesson plans or IEP's or to-do lists, or papers I need to copy or more things that I need to buy for my class with money out of my own pocket. CrossFit and I have a great relationship, and it's hard to have a day where I don't see it.
I know that the science is against me on all fronts on this one, but here's the thing. When I get stressed, I eat a lot. I am a type A- emotional eater. I know I need exercise more than ever then. I also know that being stressed introduces a lot of extra toxins into your body and I feel like the exercise is necessary to keep them at bay. I know that many trainers would agree that I need to back off and rest, but the question is, should I really cry uncle?
I know that if you've had younger siblings you've played that game, or you maybe may have called it mercy instead. Or perhaps if you WERE the younger sibling, you had a great understanding of this game as well, being that you were usually the one who was being pressured to cry uncle. If you are unfamiliar with this game and reference, allow me to explain the basics of this classic childhood game. :P Basically, you use a variety of painful techniques to force your "opponent" into crying uncle or mercy. When they did, then you had to let go.
I feel like my life is trying to make me cry uncle with CrossFit right now. I really want to take a week off and sleep in a bit, but I really feel like that would just crush me and make things worse. I think CrossFit is the only kind of stress relief I have right now that does me any amount of good. I keep thinking that soon my body will adjust, but man, I really don't know how long that will take. I am crashing off the Zone at every turn because my body is craving things like mad, which is very different from when I was in school in the spring. I'm not sure if it's a result of the increase in my stress level or what, but I need to find a way to flatline myself and keep steady.
So I guess the bottom line is, when should an athlete cry uncle? If it is keeping them healthy (if at nothing else, mentally) should they continue to push through exhaustion and fatigue? Or at all costs to one's health, ie mentally, should they stop and take a rest week? I personally would think that the mental positives would outweight the physical negatives to continuing, but I'm not a trainer, nor am I an expert, so really I don't know. But what I do know is that I feel like poop.
Today's WOD was:
4 rounds
500 M row
Keep track of row times
inbetween work ring dips
I'm not going to lie, the rower was more than enough for me today. I could only do 2 or 3 ring dips at a time. I was pretty happy that in my first 500 I tied the class record at 1:45.9. However, I discovered that Stacey took the record back solo within about 15 minutes of that ocurring. Yay. Lesson plans are calling and so is my room which is a train wreck! Gotta love 8 year olds...
Since school has been back in session, my schedule has completely flip-flopped from the schedule I was keeping over the summer. Over the summer I was working primarily nights, and after waking up at my normal CrossFit time, I was always able to go back for a nap if I needed to. Now, I'm awake at my usual time, awake straight on through the day, and going constantly. To say that my body is in shock is probably a slight understatement. It doesn't quite know what to do with itself at this point.
But, despite the exhaustion and the seemingly endless mounds of work that come with the beginning of the school year and just being a teacher in general, I can't stay away. I know that everyone thinks I'm going to wind up hurting myself, but I just can't avoid CrossFit. See, CrossFit is like my shrink. No matter what is going on in my life, and believe me, there have been times when it's a lot, I can go talk to CrossFit. But here's the thing, CrossFit doesn't psychoanalyze me, it doesn't give me crap and talk back, it doesn't tell me I'm a failure at life and that I'll never amount to much. It doesn't tell me that I have issues I need to work on and that I'm needy. It simply tells me that I need to suck it up and get over it, and then it kicks my ass. Plain and simple. And for the 45 minutes that I'm there, I'm not thinking of lesson plans or IEP's or to-do lists, or papers I need to copy or more things that I need to buy for my class with money out of my own pocket. CrossFit and I have a great relationship, and it's hard to have a day where I don't see it.
I know that the science is against me on all fronts on this one, but here's the thing. When I get stressed, I eat a lot. I am a type A- emotional eater. I know I need exercise more than ever then. I also know that being stressed introduces a lot of extra toxins into your body and I feel like the exercise is necessary to keep them at bay. I know that many trainers would agree that I need to back off and rest, but the question is, should I really cry uncle?
I know that if you've had younger siblings you've played that game, or you maybe may have called it mercy instead. Or perhaps if you WERE the younger sibling, you had a great understanding of this game as well, being that you were usually the one who was being pressured to cry uncle. If you are unfamiliar with this game and reference, allow me to explain the basics of this classic childhood game. :P Basically, you use a variety of painful techniques to force your "opponent" into crying uncle or mercy. When they did, then you had to let go.
I feel like my life is trying to make me cry uncle with CrossFit right now. I really want to take a week off and sleep in a bit, but I really feel like that would just crush me and make things worse. I think CrossFit is the only kind of stress relief I have right now that does me any amount of good. I keep thinking that soon my body will adjust, but man, I really don't know how long that will take. I am crashing off the Zone at every turn because my body is craving things like mad, which is very different from when I was in school in the spring. I'm not sure if it's a result of the increase in my stress level or what, but I need to find a way to flatline myself and keep steady.
So I guess the bottom line is, when should an athlete cry uncle? If it is keeping them healthy (if at nothing else, mentally) should they continue to push through exhaustion and fatigue? Or at all costs to one's health, ie mentally, should they stop and take a rest week? I personally would think that the mental positives would outweight the physical negatives to continuing, but I'm not a trainer, nor am I an expert, so really I don't know. But what I do know is that I feel like poop.
Today's WOD was:
4 rounds
500 M row
Keep track of row times
inbetween work ring dips
I'm not going to lie, the rower was more than enough for me today. I could only do 2 or 3 ring dips at a time. I was pretty happy that in my first 500 I tied the class record at 1:45.9. However, I discovered that Stacey took the record back solo within about 15 minutes of that ocurring. Yay. Lesson plans are calling and so is my room which is a train wreck! Gotta love 8 year olds...
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Strict press and strict chins...
Today's circuit was easy, in terms of understanding.
5 rounds
5 strict press
5 strict chins (weighted if possible)
At each station we had 1:30 to get our 5 reps in. Then we had :30 seconds for transitions. I tried to start the day at 75 but, we haven't been doing much strength work lately and my form was rough. I was arching my back and had really poor form. I also started with a 10 lb weight vest. By round 2 my strict dropped to 65, although I kept the vest for another round. By round 3, I kept the strict at 65, and took off the vest. It was just too much and I'm way too weak. I finished rounds 4 and 5 with the same weights. Now, what was interesting was how Jerry found the totals for this one. Take your strict weight, times 5 (reps per round) then times 5 again (number of rounds) and get your strict total. Then take your body weight, plus weight used from the chiins and mulitply by 5 (reps in round) and then by 5 again (number of rounds). This gives you your chin total. Then add together for your overall total.
Basically, today it paid NOT to be a skinny minny. My overall total today was 5,675. Not nearly as high as it should be. School and my new schedule are really taking a toll. I feel awful because I feel like I'm making excuses, but the truth is, I really feel awful. I haven't had a workout where I felt good in two weeks. I didn't want to admit it, but I nearly quit on Murph. Fatigue, exhaustion, stress... everything caught back up to me in 1 week. 1. What the hell am I going to do in 3 weeks? 4? 35 weeks? All I know is that I seriously feel like poo, and it's really bugging me that I can't keep up with everything and everyone. I know I've not been leaving comments and reading blogs and checking in and harassing and I'm sorry. But I've been going for 18 hours straight today, and something just has to give. :(
Hopefully this week, I will come up with thought provoking blog... or at least a more upbeat one... :(
5 rounds
5 strict press
5 strict chins (weighted if possible)
At each station we had 1:30 to get our 5 reps in. Then we had :30 seconds for transitions. I tried to start the day at 75 but, we haven't been doing much strength work lately and my form was rough. I was arching my back and had really poor form. I also started with a 10 lb weight vest. By round 2 my strict dropped to 65, although I kept the vest for another round. By round 3, I kept the strict at 65, and took off the vest. It was just too much and I'm way too weak. I finished rounds 4 and 5 with the same weights. Now, what was interesting was how Jerry found the totals for this one. Take your strict weight, times 5 (reps per round) then times 5 again (number of rounds) and get your strict total. Then take your body weight, plus weight used from the chiins and mulitply by 5 (reps in round) and then by 5 again (number of rounds). This gives you your chin total. Then add together for your overall total.
Basically, today it paid NOT to be a skinny minny. My overall total today was 5,675. Not nearly as high as it should be. School and my new schedule are really taking a toll. I feel awful because I feel like I'm making excuses, but the truth is, I really feel awful. I haven't had a workout where I felt good in two weeks. I didn't want to admit it, but I nearly quit on Murph. Fatigue, exhaustion, stress... everything caught back up to me in 1 week. 1. What the hell am I going to do in 3 weeks? 4? 35 weeks? All I know is that I seriously feel like poo, and it's really bugging me that I can't keep up with everything and everyone. I know I've not been leaving comments and reading blogs and checking in and harassing and I'm sorry. But I've been going for 18 hours straight today, and something just has to give. :(
Hopefully this week, I will come up with thought provoking blog... or at least a more upbeat one... :(
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
I get dirty on the first day of school...
All morning long today, all I could keep thinking about is that scene from "Finding Nemo" where he keeps banging himself into his dad and yelling, "First day of school! First day of school!" I don't know why, but maybe I heard that phrase so many times it felt like I was having it drilled into my head. :P
Today is, was, the first day of school. I will admit that I woke up after having nightmares about my class. I dreamt that my PM class wouldn't listen, and they were all standing on their chairs throwing paper and bouncy balls at the walls. Don't ask, I really don't know where that came from but eh, that was how I awoke today. Anyway, despite my horrific nightmares, I woke up and headed off like the good little lemming that I am to CF.
I almost, and I mean ALMOST, turned around and left when I saw what the board said. Now, I'm not a wuss. Not by any stretch of the means, but when I saw the white board I just about teared up. After Murph, I'm having some trouble. I'm sore, I hurt, I don't want to workout. But yet, Jerry was determined to make me do the "Filthy Fifty." Oh yes, I did indeed do the Rx'd version of the Filthy Fifty today. On my first day of school, Jerry made me get Filthy. Sometimes, I don't like Jerry very much. :(
Our version of the Filthy Fifty looked like this:
50 Knees to elbows
50 KB high pulls
50 Dumbbell thrusters (15lb)
50 Burpees
50 Dumbbell push press (15lb)
50 Double unders (I subbed 150 singles)
50 Box Jumps
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 KB swings (35 lb)
50 Walking lunges (each leg)
We did this back in April, but it was a different version. It was more metcon and not much weighted stuff at all. I did that one in 37:09. This one I did in 38:32. The burpees felt bad. Very very bad. My shoulders are still on fire from Murph. I just couldn't do the push-ups. The burpees alone probably took 5-6 minutes. Not a horrid time, just didn't feel good. It'd be nice to feel good in the blue room again. I haven't felt good since I went back to work.
On a happy note this weekend, Michigan and Virginia Tech lost and Penn State won! :) Yay! :) I'm looking forward to college football this weekend and the end of my first week.
I'm crashing off the Zone big time. I need to get my schedule situated and get my butt back on track before it blows up like a balloon. One of my students brought me brownies today. Where is that sticktoitiveness I had in May when I took that stuff to the teachers lounge? I ate them... all... and they were good. I had pizza and ice cream last night too... if there is a Zone hell, the throne is reserved for me...
As a side note, I just went to the bathroom and realized that I actually put my underwear on inside out today and just realized it. Yeah, it's been that kind of day... good night Irene... Hopefully I'll make it home before 9 tonight. :(
Today is, was, the first day of school. I will admit that I woke up after having nightmares about my class. I dreamt that my PM class wouldn't listen, and they were all standing on their chairs throwing paper and bouncy balls at the walls. Don't ask, I really don't know where that came from but eh, that was how I awoke today. Anyway, despite my horrific nightmares, I woke up and headed off like the good little lemming that I am to CF.
I almost, and I mean ALMOST, turned around and left when I saw what the board said. Now, I'm not a wuss. Not by any stretch of the means, but when I saw the white board I just about teared up. After Murph, I'm having some trouble. I'm sore, I hurt, I don't want to workout. But yet, Jerry was determined to make me do the "Filthy Fifty." Oh yes, I did indeed do the Rx'd version of the Filthy Fifty today. On my first day of school, Jerry made me get Filthy. Sometimes, I don't like Jerry very much. :(
Our version of the Filthy Fifty looked like this:
50 Knees to elbows
50 KB high pulls
50 Dumbbell thrusters (15lb)
50 Burpees
50 Dumbbell push press (15lb)
50 Double unders (I subbed 150 singles)
50 Box Jumps
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 KB swings (35 lb)
50 Walking lunges (each leg)
We did this back in April, but it was a different version. It was more metcon and not much weighted stuff at all. I did that one in 37:09. This one I did in 38:32. The burpees felt bad. Very very bad. My shoulders are still on fire from Murph. I just couldn't do the push-ups. The burpees alone probably took 5-6 minutes. Not a horrid time, just didn't feel good. It'd be nice to feel good in the blue room again. I haven't felt good since I went back to work.
On a happy note this weekend, Michigan and Virginia Tech lost and Penn State won! :) Yay! :) I'm looking forward to college football this weekend and the end of my first week.
I'm crashing off the Zone big time. I need to get my schedule situated and get my butt back on track before it blows up like a balloon. One of my students brought me brownies today. Where is that sticktoitiveness I had in May when I took that stuff to the teachers lounge? I ate them... all... and they were good. I had pizza and ice cream last night too... if there is a Zone hell, the throne is reserved for me...
As a side note, I just went to the bathroom and realized that I actually put my underwear on inside out today and just realized it. Yeah, it's been that kind of day... good night Irene... Hopefully I'll make it home before 9 tonight. :(
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