Showing posts with label Push-ups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Push-ups. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Dragging ass today

9:30am - got outta bed. Decided to go to the 10am to wod, but ended up chatting with other members instead. Yep. That kinda day.

12:00pm - double char burger (prob still only about 6-8oz meat) on a lettuce wrap with guac, tomato and grilled onions. sweet potato fries.

1-4:30pm - Nap. Holy shit that's a long nap. I took a nap so long I'm not sure it even qualifies as a nap anymore. And I was still damn tired after waking up. My alarm went off to wake me at 1:45pm and I shut it off and decided to sleep as long as I needed (expecting to sleep another 30 min. whoa.). And then I woke with a stupid headache. wtf?

6:30pm - grande iced red eye with heavy cream + 1 splenda. Hoping this would cut the headache. Either that or the 2 aleve kicked it by about 7:30pm. Would've gone away faster if I'd taken advil but I knew I was gonna wod at some point so didn't want to do the advil.

7:00pm - a-coach.

7:55pm - BCAA

8:00pm - TCF Baseline WOD: 500m row, 40 air squats, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, 10 pull-ups. Time: 5:14. Happy with my row pace was good - 1:45 for the first 250m, b/w 1:50-1:55 for the remainder. Sit-ups were fast, everything else was okay. Took short 2-3 breath breaks so I could string reps as fast as possible, pullups were 3-3-4.

8:00pm - a-coach MCAP class. Super fun. Hope I can do more of these classes.

9:45pm - egg white omelette with carmelized onions, garlic, dill and chives plus a mixed green salad with red and golden beets, a T of avocado oil, 1 rounded T goat cheese, sea salt and pepper. These dinners are easily my favorite meal of the day. I really like switching my omelette times to dinner time during the week.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Angie and Helen

I'm not tracking my nutrition today. I ate well, I just don't feel like it. I'm in a weird place with nutrition right now. And I don't really feel like getting into it. I will, at some point, but I'm not really in the mood... plus I have no idea what times I ate at :)

I did Angie yesterday for the first time.

[Angie = 100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats]
Time: 23:43

I think I could do Angie again and shave some time off - I went ginger with my pull-ups, breaking them up into doubles mostly to preserve my hands since I was using the bar that tears my hands the most. I also took it easy on push-ups b/c I wasn't sure how 100 would feel so broke it into mainly doubles as well. All rests were super short 1-3 seconds at most during push/pull-ups, prob 3-5 secs on sit-ups and air squats. Felt good about limiting my rest times but would now like to limit the rest stops and hit it harder and preserve myself less. Now that I know how it feels I can hit her harder next time.

I followed that up with Helen today, even though I did her the other week.

[Helen =  3 rds: 400m run, 21 kettlebell swings @ 1 pood, 12 pull-ups]
Time: 12:01 PR!

Helen felt good, I'm still a shite slow runner but hopefully after doing more sprints this summer I can cut this time down. I super wussed out on pull-ups rarely chaining any and never chained more than 3 b/c my hands were pretty messed up from Angie. I opened up a blister in the palm of my left hand warming up, so in order to avoid opening up anymore that I started yesterday I changed my grip up and held the bar higher than usual - more in my fingers than palms, which gave me four new blisters (one that opened during the wod). Sooo, yeah my hands are pretty fucked right now. I have about ten separate places on my hands that hurt, only two requiring bandaids though, and those should be fine by tomorrow. The tender places just toughen up and the open blisters just need a day to heal so who cares if my hands look like shit and I have to take a day off lifting? I could use the forced rest anyway (if I were to take it).

I also benched twice this week. First time going for a new 1RM... ended at 127# but am pretty sure I coulda had 133# but my spotter didn't want me to drop the bar on my face... can't really be mad at that... or at least in my head I shouldn't be... but I am a little disappointed. I want to be pushed to my extreme. I don't want someone allowing me or enabling my failure. Let me fight for it! I wanna struggle. I need to struggle to hit a 1RM. Don't get me wrong... I do not blame her for me not getting it up there, I just wish she hadn't put her hands on so early. If it's coming down or if I call out for help, grab the bar, but the bar never went downward, just hovered. Hovering means I'm still fighting. Let me fight. And, I shoulda said something. I hate it when I don't speak up. But, I just wasn't comfortable enough to say anything to her about it. She makes me a little nervous about stepping on toes/corssing boundaries/etc, and she's been there coaching much longer than I've been a member there, so I just kept quiet. There's always another day, right? The second day I benched instead of going for a new 1RM, I just did a bunch of reps at lighter weights so that the next time I go for it I can get 133# without question. Previous PR was 125, so not a huge increase but feels good to hit a new PR even if it's small. New PR beats the hell outta failing a prev PR!!

Both my Helen times and Angie times landed me a space on the leaderboard at this non-CFC CrossFit, which feels good (I think my Helen time got me up there today... but I'm not 100% sure on that. Def sure on the angie time though). Makes me proud, personally. It's weird though - while I'm personally gratified by making the leaderboard, other people seem to be way more competitive about it than I am. Billy S wrote an awesome article awhile back on the CFC blog Conundrum expressing how I feel about competition... to sum it up- I wanna do my best. And I want to beat you. But, I also want YOU to do your best. And that last part... I dunno... I don't know that I think everyone here feels that same way.

Every day in the box, you come in and you work. You work with whatever the fuck you've got that day - based on what you ate, how you slept, your mood, the weather for fuck's sake. I may beat you today on the same workout you can beat me on tomorrow. That's life, dude. And, don't get me wrong, there are lots of people here who are supportive and seem geniunely happy when others do well. But there are also some who seem threatened or irritated, or even in disbelief when others hit the leaderboard and I just don't really understand that. Seriously, while it's cool to be on the leaderboard, it doesn't mean anything more than beating someone in any other workout. I can be first or last in any of the WODs throughout the week but no one gives a shit about that b/c it's not one of the 16 or so randomly chosen WODs that make up the leaderboard. You know why I did those WODs this week? Because angie was programmed (we do leaderboard WODs every wednesday), and Helen I did b/c one of my friends was coming in to do it, and I really like WOD'ing with people. I like to compete, I like to chase, I like to lead... I just like to workout. Plain and simple.

I dunno. I like this place, I do. I have just been a little miffed recently about a few things. And, I miss CFC. It'll be good to be back this weekend. I have a busy summer and lots to look forward to. I'm just, I dunno, just venting I guess.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Last Day before IF begins!

Nutrition
9:30am - two eggs, one egg white.


12:00pm – romaine lettuce with green peppers, ~6oz grilled chicken, ¼ avocado, 1 ½ T ranch dressing. Delicious and filling salad from the Stand. Yum. 16oz icea tea.


4:45pm – starving, and had to rush outta the house so grabbed 3oz no salt turkey breast + 1 oz. spicy genoa salami. 8oz iced tea.


10:45pm – 6 egg whites plus ½ cup broccoli. Not actually hungry, but want to start IF tomorrow :)
--
Workouts
--
10:00am - 45 min stretching/yoga with Jess. Very excited about this! I am atrociously inflexible.

1:00pm - Strength Set: Find 1RM Push Press. 118# push press - 10# PR!!
2:00pm - Metcon:
7 rds for time of:

6 push press @78# (unbroken)
6 double unders
6 push-ups (broke only in rd 4)

Time: 10:41.

Wanted to do the whole workout unbroken, but my double unders were getting on my nerves from the get go. WHICH was especially frustrating as I was consistently stringing sets of 10 pre-workout. Fucking double unders. In rd 1, I got 3/3/1 dus and decided that the focus of my wod was push press, so, fuck it, only the pp had to be unbroken. Of course in rds 2 and 3 I nailed all 6 dus unbroken. Push-ups were all unbroken except rd 4 which was 3/3. Originally planned this to be a 6 rd workout, but the time frame I was shooting for was 10-12 minutes with around 35-40 reps of PP, so when I finished rd 6 too early I just tagged on an extra round.

Also, I got a 90 min thai massage today. Heaven.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Week Two

Sunday 5/1/2011
Skillwork: Butterfly work!! Need to start with feet back and scoop them up without starting with a swinging motion. Need to tighten lats and core for this to be an easier movement.

WOD: 150 push-ups for time. Every break for 2 seconds or more results in a 50m sprint. Steve's creation. Time: 14:04. Good arm killer.

Monday 5/2/2011
WOD 8pm: 3 Rds: 10 BJ @ 24”, 10 KBS @ 1 pood, 10 sit-ups. Time 4:26. 1st rd of BJs unbroken but 2nd and 3rd were not. Need to get better to string BJs at a slightly uncomfortable height.

Skillwork: 8pm: Lots of rope climb instruction while A-coaching (@7pm), then 2 full-out rope climbs before my WOD. 2nd went probably 75% as fast as the first – need to get better upper body strength so that I don’t slow down until after 3rd rope climbs in a row. Then worked on butterflies for about 30 minutes. I got the legs movement down and can rep out 3 in a row though my chin isn’t over the bar. Conversely, can get 1 rep with chin over the bar, but then I drop down hard. In order to get the legs motion I am overly controlling the movement which makes it hard to get enough power to get up over the bar, and when I am going all out I am able to get the 1 rep over the bar but can’t get the rhythm. Need to work on both of these to nail the movement.

Tuesday 5/3/2011
Skillwork: 6 am: Clean bar path work. Need to get my knees coming forward on the second pull to the hang position. Worked on sets of 3 mainly, though stayed at 83# and 93# for awhile as Dan suggested form improvements. Worked @ 33#, 53#, 63#, 73#, 83#, 93#, 103# in preparation for Helen meets Grace event on Friday. Then moved on to Jerks in sets of 3 @ 53# & 63#, 2 sets of 3 @ 73#, 2 sets of 3 @ 83#, and a few singles @ 93#.

WOD 1: 7 am: Half Grace. 2:57. I expected this to take much longer. Felt good.

WOD 2 series/Personal Punishment session with Coach Dan: 8am: 3 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 x 9’ WB @ 14#. Time- 5 min-ish. 2 min rest then, 1 mile run – Time 8:20. Followed by 5x back and forth bag penalties for running too slowly of cleaning the heavy bag once, then dragging in from ladder edge to ladder edge across the box floor. Followed by 5 isometric WB pushup, clean & squat – with my left hand on the WB with right hand on the ground do a push-up then jump over and transfer hands (not rolling the ball but moving my body over the ball) so left hand is on ground and right hand on the WB and do a push-up, followed by jumping up into a squatted position, clean the WB into a full squat. Those 5 were the hardest parts I think!! I am not coordinated.

Wednesday 5/4/11
Strength set: Find 1RM Press. PR today!! 5x 33#, 3x 53, 63#, then 2 @ 73, 83#, 1 @ 88# (PR), 93f, 90.5 f, 90.5f. Could’ve hit 90.5# fresh though. Then worked Push Press @ 63, 83, 103#. Slight jerk in 2nd set of 103#.

Thursday 5/5/11
Skillwork: 12:30 pm Bikram Yoga!

Heavy Metal Strength 5pm: Front Squat 5-5-5-5-5 (ended @ 115#)

Heavy Metal WOD 5pm: 3 rounds for time of: 50m Tire Flips, 15 Front Squats 135/95#, 25 Dumbbell Snatches 35/25#, 400 m Row. Time: 24:30 Was SOOO overheated during this workout. No more bikram pre-metcons!

Friday 5/6/11
Team CF Competition - Helen Meets Grace: 8:30 pm Partner WOD 3 rds: 400m run, 21 KBS, 12 pull-ups, 30 C&J @ 95. Time: 13:42.

Saturday & Sunday 5/7 - 5/8/11
Rest days - in CHI-TOWN! CFC Anniversary Party. Thank god I wasn't tracking my nutrition on this trip. good LORD!

--> This week I didn't really stick to my goals of 7-10 min metcons and laying low. Fail. I did, however, cut back and not workout 10 times this week, which when I get really excited about working out is actually quite difficult for me. So, that's a win. Next week I'll be back to two-a-days and awesome punishment, but the following week I really need to get in more of the short time domains.


Week One - Heavy Week

Monday 4/25/2011 Metcon: Team WOD. Each team member rows 800m, while the other members do DUs, hollow rocks, plank holds (for seconds), & mountain climbers (both legs count as 1 rep). My total score 440.

Skillwork: Stringing TTB work. Need bigger kip, almost out of control to string these. Snatch progressions up to 55#. Worked on bar path mostly and shoulder mobility.

Tuesday 4/26/2011
Strength Set: Push Jerk 5-5-5 @40/50/60% 1RM. Accidentally used men’s bar, so thought I was lifting at the %ages, but actually was up about 10% using 65#, 75#, and 85#. Then, metcon was 2 WODs back to back with 1 min rest in b/w.

Metcon: WOD A: 30 DU, 10 Push press @ 55#, 10 HSPU (8 min cap). Again with the wrong bar so worked @ 65#... 1 min rest… WOD B: 200 m sprint, 10 BJ @ 24”, 10 air squats. WOD A completed 2 rds + some DUs, WOD B completed in 8:30 or so.
Skillwork: Skin the Cat work with Coach Dan. Need to focus on tightening lats (shove shoulders back to start the movement) and get a stronger core. Need to do GHDs and other ancillary skills work to improve.

Wednesday 4/27/2011
Activity: Surfing! Love that Stacy came to visit and made me do stuff :) 2.5 hrs

WOD: Cindy! 12 rds

Thursday 4/28/2011
Metcon@ 9am: 15 min AMRAP of 200m row, 10 SDHP @65#, 200m sprint, 10 KBS @ 1 pood, 20 sit-ups. 3 or so rounds. I think.
Heavy Metal WOD(s) @5pm:
1) 10 mins to find your 1RM OHS. 105#! PR!! (Stacy said my depth was good during this portion of the afternoon, but in later rounds struggled really bad to hit depth so unsure if I really hit this PR or not).
2) 5 Rds for time: 3 OHS @ 95#, 25m burpee broad jump. This was atrocious. Couldn’t find the bottom of my OHS so this really ended up being a few burpee broad jump sessions and a bunch of trying to get to the bottom of the squat.
3) 25 min AMRAP: thruster @ 95#, 1 wall climb with 50# sandbag, 7 burpee 24” box jump onto and overs, 1 wall climb with 50# sandbag, 7 KBS @ 1.5 pood. This was kinda a mess b/c there were so many of us waiting for wall climbs or boxes that it’s hard to say b/c I went out of order so frequently. Probably was in b/w 2-3 rounds.

Friday 4/29/2011
WOD: 10-1 exchange Body Complex Progression (air squat, push-up, sit-up, superman, jumping knee tuck) & Squat Clean @ 95# plus sprint 100m in b/w each round. Time 25:58. I was DYING towards the end of this wod. I could really feel that I had worked out so much this week and was simply exhausted by the time I got into this. Was fighting to finish without even wanting to finish by the end.

WOD: Running! 4.1 miles in 47:49.4

Saturday 4/30/2011
Rest Day.

-->by thursday and friday I was REALLY feeling burnt out. thursday evening after we worked OHS and moved on to the metcon the metcon felt atrocious, and friday i was fighting so hard to get up 95# cleans - way harder than normally necessary. i know that this new workout plan is heavy and maybe even a little crazy but i think it'll be good for me to learn to really fight through a week. so... we'll stick with this for a few weeks and then i'll either continue on or try something new.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Back at it

Monday 12/14/10. Back in VA for the holidays!

Nutrition:
2 eggs + 1 egg white
2 c. coffee w/ half and half + 2 sugars, ~8 oz. gyro meat, one bite of pita, prob 1/4 c tzasiki (yogurt) sauce, small greek salad, w/ greek/italian dressing
pre-workout: 2 oz (?) Carl Buddig sliced turkey breast
post: 100 cal vanilla muscle milk
scrambled egg whites (3 or 4 eggs maybe?) with 2 % cheddar

Workout @ Gold Medal Graplling:
3 Rds of 1:30 each interval:
stairs
keg/hammer slam (keg rd 1, hammer rd 2, keg rd 3)
21" tire jumps
25# dumbbell cleans
push-ups
sit-ups
rest

That was tiring and got a good sweat going. Didn't track reps just tried to block out the world and pushed myself. Prob could've pushed harder if I had a counter or could've tracked and compared my reps round by round. Did most of the push-ups on my knees b/c I was aiming at 45 per interval, but did a few full-out in rd 3 (aafter being called out for being a girl). Then, worked on DLs.

DL @ 95#x5 - 135x5 - 185x3 - 205x3 - 225x2 - 245x1

Finished out with 10 sets of 5 kipping pull-ups.

I dunno if I'm gonna keep tracking my nutrition. It was necessary when I first started to keep myself accountable, but now I'm accustomed to eatng this way and really only cheat prob once a week with something I feel bad about. I also decided to switch to a more primal than paleo approach as I allow myself dairy, and occassionally sea salt.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Seriously though. I'm not a runner.

For someone who isn't a runner I sure run a lot recently. It clears my head, and I've had a lot of shit on my mind recreantly and it gives me 30 minutes or a hour or more where all I can think about is man I wish I were doing something else (just kidding).

Actually I don't know what I think about when I run. I think about a million different things, it's almost like dreaming. My mind goes all over the place, and when I'm done I feel completely drained and have no clear memory of what went through my head during the run. When you spend too much time during the day thinking about things, this is the perfect way to put it all away. I also feel like it helps control my emotions- if I'm feeling sad or stressed before the run I feel like I somehow run all the emotions out of my system.

Today's workout:
Run 1.2 miles up/down hills... More downhill on the way out (approx 13 min)
20 situps
20 leg raises
Run 1.2 miles up/down hills... More uphill on the way back (approx 15 min)
4 rds: 5 pushups w/ 10 sec rest in b/w each rd
<2-3 min rest>
2 rds: 2 super steep hill sprints

The path I chose was only 1.2 miles (I got a bit turned around... Surprise) before it ended so once i got back to my starting point I just didn't have enough sunlight or the desire to run another 30 minutes back and forth the same path, so i figured I'd exhaust myself with super steep hill sprints. That did the trick!!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ten Days in VA

If I don't track nutrition and workouts while I'm in VA this ten days is gonna be a disaster.

Monday:
5:30 am - 2 eggs, sauteed rainbow chard.

6 am WOD - 10 min AMRAP of 5 Pull-ups, 7 Push-ups, 9 Squats. 12 rds + 6 push-ups. All unbroken pullups and squats. First 6 rds pushups unbroken, then 4/3, 4/3, then 3s/2s/1s for the last few rds. Then, 3x10 reverse hypers @ 20#, 3x10 GHDs.

1:30 pm - 5 chips and guacamole. 3 cups coffee with whole milk. Approx. 3 eggs w/ chorizo, jalepenos, onions, tomatoes.

9:30 pm - approx. 4 oz. steak skewers. tomatoes on lettuce... does NOT constitute a salad... but that's what they gave me. I ordered a glass of tequila on the rocks at a honky tonk VA bar... I got weird look, and then a shot glass with tequila and ice.  So, trying to learn form the past experience I ordered a double... they gave me a glass of tequila on the rocks. When I finished that they simply brought me another. Welcome back to VA.

Friday, March 19, 2010

A-Team... what what?!

Super excited to have made the CFC Affiliate Team and to be competing at Regionals. I had lots of goals for where I wanted to be and what I wanted to improve on and now they've just gotten completely restructured and the time table moved up substantially. In addition to the below goals I just want to improve my pacing on the row and on my runs. I want to be able to sprint my ass off and not crash. Overall, I just wanna get better.

I just barely made this A-Team. In fact, I kinda didn't make it - I'm first alternate, but since our #2 girl can't make it to Regionals, I'm in. I'm proud of earning this opportunity and am going to work my ass off to show that I earned my spot on this team and that I belong on the team. I'm a competitor and I'm not gonna let up, I'm gonna work as hard as possible over these next few months and I'm gonna be ready to compete at Regionals. I'm gonna be more than ready. Seriously. I can't fucking wait.

Box jumps @ 20” x 50 reps unbroken
Clean and Jerk – 125# 1RM
Double-unders – 100 reps in 2 minutes (not necessarily unbroken)
HSPU – 3 unbroken reps, no abmat
Muscle-up - 1 kipping and/or strict
OH squat – 110# 1RM
Pull-ups - 25 unbroken (kipping) on the Big Boy Bar
Push-ups – 25 unbroken
Ring dips - 10 unbroken
Run 1 mile Sub-9 min
Snatch – 1RM 90#
Wall Ball - 3 x 20 reps @ 14#, 60 sec rest in b/w rds. Unbroken or under 60 sec per round.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Last week and Level I Cert!!

So, it's kinda been awhile. I know. After sectionals I got super busy with work and lost some of the energy I was putting into CrossFit. I was tired and while I didn't wanna take a break from working out, but my workouts weren't impressive, and blogging just stopped all together. My apartment is a disaster. It looks like a bomb exploded. I can be messy and disorganized but this is beyond compare. And that's how I know I'm floundering and need something. Some kind of change.

Last week I flew to VA Monday morning and was there until I flew to LA on Friday morning. I worked out Monday evening, Tuesday morning, skipped Weds b/c the WOD there was running (I didn't wanna pay $20 to run so I thought I'd take a rest day and get back at it Thursday). Thursday the gym I was working out at was closed (oops) and I was going to take off work early and work out but I had an awful day at work, stayed four hours later than I anticipated and had dinner plans so had to skip working out that day. Friday I got into LA mid-afternoon and saw some of my favorite friends in the world. Planned to leave LA around 6, get to my hotel and work out, but dinner ran late and since I never see those friends I decided to forgo my workout to spend more time with them.

Saturday morning I tried to get up early and workout in the hotel "gym" - so sad. I ran on the treadmill (did I mention it was POURING down rain??) for about 1 1/4 miles switching back and forth b/w sprinting and running and jogging. I also set the treadmill to adjust the hill randomly (though it was less random and more like steadily going up throughout the run which was fine). I did 10 push-ups and my arms were exhausted! I thought you've got to be kidding me...

In retrospect, non-paleo eating DOES affect my workouts and my overall level of energy. I was EXHAUSTED on Saturday during my early morning workout.

Thursday night I ate a delicious but non-paleo dinner prepared by a friend of my sister's (pan friend and breaded fish, salad with goat cheese, carrots and string beans) on Thursday and a shit ton of alcohol that night - no mixers of course, but wine, sparkling rose, and a bunch of straight liquor. I know I shouldn't have but the week I'd had was long and exhausting and the day I had was HORRENDOUS ("I wanna quit my job" horrendous) so I cheated.

Friday I was good - ate paleo all day and even brought steak and sauteed swiss chard on the plane so I wouldn't have to eat bad plan food. I allowed myself two glasses of tequila, and then planned on calling it a night and then the waiter brought the table a gift - creme brulee and this chocolate fudgey mousse cake. I do not have that kind of self-control, so I definitely ate some of both of them. Damn it. I did feel bad about that one. Especially since I hadn't worked out the day before and knew I wasn't working out that night since it was already so late and I had an hour drive ahead of me.

Saturday and Sunday I ate well (though breakfast wasn't so great Sat - ate the "buffet" breakfast food - eggs, piece of sausage, & some hashbrowns, 1 c. coffee with coconut milk & 1 t. sugar. I thought they had a person cooking breakfast not a buffet, which is why I didn't plan anything for breakfast. Lunch was 4 oz. no-salt turkey, peppers, and sunbutter. Dinner was halibut with steamed spinach and a tomato/cucumber/red onion salad. I asked for no salt on my dinner and I think they doubled the salt instead... it tasted super salty. I need to plan ahead better for breakfast when I got on trips. Sunday breakfast was much better - eggs, peppers, and 1 c. coffee with coconut milk & 1 t. sugar. Lunch was 4 oz. no-salt turkey, peppers, and 1 T. sunbutter. Snack around 5:30 was 2 oz. turkey and some peppers. Dinner was a burger (no bun, cheese or anything non-paleo) with bacon and avocado and a small side salad with oil and vinegar. No drinks.

Monday I woke at a friends place and was able to cook again. Lovely. I had 1 egg, 2 oz. no-salt turkey and some peppers, 8 oz. coffee with coconut milk. No sugar. I'm quitting refined sugar for real. 4 oz. carne asada from Whole Foods plus 4 oz. kale with mushrooms and red peppers and olive oil, plus 8 oz coconut water. For dinner I had 4 more oz. carne asada from another Whole Foods, 1 T. cashew butter, and 5 oz. collard greens prepared with orange juice and raisins. I wanted to work out (specifically run sprints) Monday night after I got home from the airport but my body was still pretty sore from the weekend workouts and drills, so I was convinced to take the day as a rest day since I'd have a qualifying wod for the A-team the following day and should be fresh for that.

Saturday and Sunday I was at my Level I Certification. Amazing weekend. Learned so much about proper form and learned not only to better my own form but how to teach better form and how to correct improper form. Also got to hang out with some fantastic CFers. Loved the people I met who were getting theirs certs as well as the super impressive instructor roster including Pat Barber, Jason Khalipa, and Jolie Gentry (who is pregnant and still has better form than probably anyone I know) and Stephane Rochet and Andrew Thompson - the list goes on. I had an amazing time, and got a lot out of the cert both individually and as a coach-in-training! Individually, I was told my pull-ups are super strong, got my squats significantly improved, sped up my Fran time by 45 sec and went Rx'd for the 1st time. As far as learning to be a better coach, I learned form MUCH better, got to see faults and how to correct those faults, and learned what I believe to be the most important lesson - technique needs to get better before intensity should. I can't be afraid to tell someone to drop weight if I think their form isn't good enough to support that weight. If I don't do that for an athlete I'm coaching, I'm doing them a disservice.

Sat wods: tabata air squats, drills on DL/SDHP/MedBallCleans, Squat/FS/OHS, Press/PP/PushJerk, Fran
Sun wods: Muscle-up work, pull-up work, Snatch work, Team wod: 1 person at each of these stations for (I think) 12 mins: 1 pood KBS, push-ups, run, rest. Score is total # of KBS+pushups amongst entire team.

PS my new Fran time is 7:12!!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Aim for the Moon. If you miss, you'll still be amongst the stars

Rest Day today. A for real one too - no workout OR volleyball!!

Proving Ground Goal - to be achieved by 10/15/2010:
Complete WOD 1 from the MidWestern Sectionals with a Top Thirty qualifying time. That means in 12:43 or better.

And, here are the rest of my 2010 goals. The rest of these goals I want to have achieved by 12/31/2010:

Back Squat - 185# x 10 reps unbroken
Bench Press – 125# 1RM
Box jumps @ 20” x 50 reps unbroken
Clean and Jerk – 135# 1RM
Deadlift – 250# x 5 reps unbroken
Double-unders – 100 reps in 2 minutes (not necessarily unbroken)
FGB - 300 points or more
Fran - sub-4 min
Front Squat – 165# 1RM
HSPU – 10 unbroken reps, no abmat
Muscle-up - 1 kipping
Muscle-up - 1 strict
OH squat – 80# x 10 unbroken reps
Pull-ups - 35 unbroken (kipping)
Push-ups – 30 unbroken
Ring dips - 10 unbroken
Run 1 mile Sub-9 min
Run 400m Sub-1:35 min
Run 8K Sub-48 min
Skin the Cat on the bar
Snatch – 1RM 90#

Some of these goals will be tough as hell to achieve (10 OHS reps @ my current 1RM? On my worst lift? wtf?!), while others I'm much closer to so think I'll be able to achieve them relatively soon (My current Bench is 110# so 125# seems more than reasonable to achieve soon). But, I wanted to set goals for myself in as many areas as possible so that I know not only where I stand today but where I want to be. I am going to try and review these goals on a ~monthly(ish) basis to track my progress and to see what areas I am neglecting so that I can in fact reach as many of these goals as possible... hopefully all of them :) I'll have to sit down and work out a plan to reach each of them (just stating them won't make them happen)... I'll post as I have more stuff ironed out. 
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Nutrition
9:00 am - 1 egg; 2oz no salt turkey; 5 oz rainbow chard + spinach; "cereal" 1/8 c. coconut milk with a schlook of coconut water, pinch coconut flakes, ~6 walnut halves, ~5 pecans, 12 fresh blueberries. Mmmmm.

11:15 am - coffee with 1 1/2 t. raw sugar and 1/8 c. coconut milk

3:00 pm - 3 oz. halibut; 8 oz salad (lettuce, a handful of sauteed rhutabagas, 17 blueberries, pinch of coconut flakes, ~3 crushed walnut halves, ~1 1/2 T. wild maine blueberry dressing). Not bad, though I'm so sick of these damn rhutabagas. SUCH a strong flavor. I'm never cooking up two of them at the same time again. One would've been plenty.

9:45 pm - 1/4 c. mint galactica coconut milk ice cream (while cooking dinner)

10:15 pm - 4 oz. grass-fed grilled beef shoulder (delicious and tender); 6 oz. parsnips baked with coconut oil; 1 t. almond butter and 1 t. macadamia nut butter with 10 blueberries.

11:15 pm - 2 T. sunbutter. I TRIED to give it up. I tried.

Friday, January 22, 2010

And calling it a night

Bench Press 5-5-5+
(1RM +5) @ 67#, 78#, 88# (x8 reps)

3x Max push ups (60 sec rest)

17-12-12

Metcon:
21-15-9
SDHP (@ 40% of 1RM press = 34#)
Push Press (@ 34#)
then
Row 500M


Today's workout was tough. Tougher than I expected. I got through all unbroken (had to repeat 2 reps, 1 push press and 1 SDHP - thanks for counting Jonny) but was GASSED. Got into the row and just couldn't turn it on. I kept pulling but I just couldn't force myself to my usual pace. I stayed around 2:05 for the first 300 or so, then the last 200m were just a bear, and I pulled around 2:10-2:15. At about 110m left I actually took a second in b/w pulls, breathed, and thought I might not finish this, I might not be able to. I ended at 4:47, not a bad time, but exhausted. My legs KILLED.


I just finished dinner, and it's midnight. I'm taking a long bath with epsom salts and calling it a night.
--
Nutrition
10:15 am - ~3 eggs, ~1/4 avocado, ~3 strips bacon. 2 cups coffee with 3 t. (total) brown sugar (I asked for raw sugar and the waiter brought me brown... it was cute, he tried... so I used it. Not bad.)

1pm - 3 oz. grd turkey, 4 oz. sauteed kale + yellow peppers + eggplant, 3 oz. portabellas all sauteed together with fresh garlic and 1 t. white truffel oil. 1 t. coconut cream

4:30 pm - 1 T. sunbutter

5:30 pm {Pre-wod] - 3 oz. catfish, coconut water, 2 1/2 T. sunbutter (MAN was I craving it)

8:00pm [Post-wod] - 4 oz. catfish, coconut water

11pm - 1 1/2 oz. goat loin chop, 6 oz. sunchokes and kohlrabi, lightly dressed with olive oil, black pepper and teensy tiny bit of sea salt (SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. BETTER THAN BAKED POTATOES!!!!), 1 1/2 t. sunbutter

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sundays are niiice

8:15am - 1 egg, 2oz. grd turkey, coconut water


11:30(ish)am [During skills work] - 4 1/2 oz. turkey jerky plus coconut water.
I did skills work & a wod today from about 10 am- 12:30pm and during skills work I got hungry and wasn't feeling as strong as usual in my strength work so got some protein in.

12:00(ish)pm [Post-wod] - 1 1/2 oz. turkey jerky plus coconut water.


2:30pm - Chamomile tea w/ 1 t. honey. Large green salad with mixed greens, roasted red peppers, green onions, avocado, 6-8 oz. chicken breast and vinaigrette.


8:30pm - 4 oz. macademia crusted catfish plus large mixed greens salad with yellow peppers, mushrooms, 1/2 c. blueberries, white truffel oil, 3 t. cherry/strawberry/blackberry/blueberry preserves (organic, no sugar added) and Chocolate tea with coconut milk, and a few pieces dark chocolate chunks (about a thumb's worth).


11:15pm - one more chocolate tea with coconut milk. And a t. of raw sugar. Mmmm.

 --
Today was a fantastic skills/workout day and I left feeling AMAZING. I still haven't gotten my grip back, but I was able to string 9 together with a switch-grip, so that was improvement. Next time I work on stringing together pull-ups I'm gonna tape my hands and see if that will lessen the grip pain and allow me to get back into longer sets of pull-ups. I worked on overhead squats at low weights to focus on lock out and depth for awhile, saw small improvements. Need to remember to stretch wrists each day. Worked on HSPUs, alternating working on controlled negatives to the ground and push-ups with 2 abmats. Did 3 rds of 5 Wall Ball @ 20# aimed at and sometimes hitting the red line, then 1 or 2 rds 10 WB @ 14#  nailing the red line each time (had to re-do 3 missed reps- 1 in 1st rd, 2 in 2nd). Worked on double-unders for awhile. I haven't done these in, what, a month? Struggled stringing more than 3 together (PR is 6), but was able to work on these calmly, without frustration. That was a first for me. THEN, after I thought I was all done, I re-did the baseline. Hadn't done this since I started (orig time was a whopping 9:53).


Baseline wod:
500m row, 40 squats, 30 situps, 20 pushups, 10 pull ups

Kept the row under 2:00 almost the full 500m, went above 3-4 times throughout the wod (I never stayed above that time though for more than 1 pull) maxing out with a slowest speed of 2:06. Rudy said elite girls time is sub 2:00. I almost peed myself. I thought I was crap at rowing! In fact, I may have jumped up and down after leaving the box and screamed "Rudy said elite! He said ELITE!" at my car. May have. I'm not admitting anything. The wod felt great and I was thrilled to have almost cut my time in half (58% improvement).
Time: 5:24.


It was nice to feel so strong today. It was nice to work on skills I wanted to improve and see improvement. It was surprisingly nice to accept that I couldn't improve my double-unders today, and know that I have tomorrow and the next day, etc. to work on them. Today was a great day. Plus, Amy and I went to Lululemon and I'm down another size.

I did, however, struggle at the end of the day with food cravings. I was craving chocolate and bad things like whoa. Amy and I walked around Whole Foods (WF) and I bought some chocolate tea and coconut milk to have a light cheat (though I as sleepy and craving a MAJOR cheat). It did the trick.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

I don't really have a title for today's blog

Nutrition
9:30am - 1 egg, 2 oz. grd. turkey, 1/4 of a red pepper. Surprisingly good. Was prepared not to like it. Didn't remember to add any fat in, so ate 2 macadamias after I finished breakfast.

10am - Attempted coffee +  hemp milk. Yuck. Tasted like soy milk, except not as good. And I don't like soy milk, so this is not a compliment. I will just go back to not having dairy or any dairy substitute. I've made it this far. Sigh.


1pm - Whole Foods buffet leftovers - 4 oz turkey fajitas (meat + peppers+onions), 3 T. guacamole (yum!),  and 5 oz. kale salad with shittake mushrooms, tomato, cucumbers and red onion w/ fresh squeezed lemon

1:30pm hot tea with 1 t. honey and 2 T. sunbutter

5:45/6pm [Pre-wod] - 4 oz imitation crab meat, 2 T. sunbutter, ~2 blocks coconut water

8:30ish [Post-wod] - 2 block coconut water. That was it. ::sigh:: (I forgot the tuna sashimi I had gotten for post-wod today. oops)

9:45pm - 4 oz tuna sashimi, 6 oz. red chard + dandelion greens + red peppers sauteed in ~1 1/2 T. grapeseed oil

I bought grd turkey for the first time and cooked it up today with some sage, rosemary, garlic, and nutmeg. I didn't use any oil or enough spices (also I should have mixed the spices in while it was raw to really develop the flavor of the spices into the meat, but I hadn't yet decided what to put in it), so it's okay, but not great by itself. Amazingly delicious with an over easy egg on top.
--
Worked on getting comfortable throwing myself against the wall for HSPUs and controlled negatives to the floor (no mat). Finally getting comfortable finding the floor without crashing and screaming (sort of. I screamed once. It's hard!!). Also, Megan pointed out that I'm too far from the wall, and that I'm actually doing HSPUs to the 2nd mat, not the 3rd because my head is so far from the wall... which means I can ditch the 3rd mat and move on to only 2!! Progress, again :) Now, if I could only string more than 4 together...



Barbara Lite tonight. 3 rds: 20 pull-ups 30 push-ups 40 sit-ups 50 squats, with 3 min rest in b/w each round. Total time: 22:07, 1st rd was 5:01, 2nd was 5:40, and the 3rd was 5:26.


It was exhausting and I don't think I could've gone any faster tonight, and won't improve on this metcon until A) i get my technique down for pull-ups, and B) I can string together more push-ups. I struggled stringing my pull-ups (still not used to the new grip but am trying to work it out) and was only able to get 10 in a row (in both rd 1 and 3) before coming off. The push-ups I did full-out and FUCK was there a lot of them! The last 4 push-ups in the 3rd round were singles, but I was pleased to not have to resort to singles until then. I started each rd with at least 5 in a row, I think I got 7 or 8 in rd 1. I mainly did 4s and 3s, but towards the end of each rd I broke into 2s.


Sit-ups were unbroken in rds 1 and 2, but the 3rd rd I broke for a second at 20 and thought to myself THIS SHIT WILL NEVER END, before quickly getting back into it. They were slower than I would have liked them to be in the 2nd rd. Squats were disappointing in the the 1st and 2nd rds as I should have pushed harder knowing I had a three minute rest so close and not broken them (they did not need to be broken at all). Didn't break the 3rd rd of squats because Chris kept saying over and over not to, plus I wanted to beat Heather... which I did not do. Next time. Thanks, Chris, for demanding that I not break in my last rd.


Left the box feeling great and super pumped, though I'm not sure about what. But, hey, I'll take it!!


Also, I haven't weighed myself since I moved to my new apt (I left the scale at my old place and have yet to retrieve it). I have done so every morning since June, and it's weird to think tomorrow will be one whole week without weighing myself. Kinda weird. I think I miss it. Every morning I think, Hmm, I wonder if i weight more/less/or the same as yesterday. That may actually be enough of a reason to actually go pick up some of my shit this weekend.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Weekend workouts

Saturday 1/9/10

Bench Press 3-3-3+
70%/80%/90% of 1RM+5 (1RM = 110)
73/83/93# (x3 reps, failed on 4th)


Metcon (from NorCal CF Games Qualifier):
500 M Row
30 burpees (subbed 30 knee push-ups + 30 overhead lunges)
10 shoulder to overhead (95#)

I kept pace with my heat on the row, but finished did OH lunges and knee push-ups (I did these on my knees as Bryce instructed so that I would speed through them, not due to muscle fatigue/failure or b/c I was a wuss) before anyone else finished their burpees, so got to the bar for shoulder to overhead first. These took longer than I expected or wanted them to take, but Coach said to wait and not lift the weight until I was ready and committed. This is the first time I've ever been given that instruction in a WOD, so I took it seriously and took more breaths than usual. The jerks were broken 3-2-2(+1 fail)-2(+1 fail)-1. I was glad I did Rx'd, though it took a bit longer than I wanted it to. Finished about 6:52. I don't remember the exact time but I finished just after Megan and I am pretty sure it was sub 7. I'd like to do this wod again after I get my stitches out with burpees to gauge my time better. If I do it again I'd like to break the shoulder to overhead less, but it may be worse after burpees - who knows.


Sunday 1/10/10 (Active Rest Day) BEGIN PALEO CHALLENGE



Today begins the Paleo Challenge. I'd like to say I ate well today, but not really. I'm going to start tracking my food in this blog too.



9am - 2 eggs, 4 bites jicama/blood orange/jalapeno salad


10:30-1:30 pm - Drank coconut water (about 1/4 liter) while listening to the Paleo Challenge intro and then doing skills work



2:15pm - Whole Foods!!! The buffet there is amazing and today I fully appreciated it. 4-5 oz. pulled turkey+red peppers+onions (fajita meat); plus 10-12 oz of: kale salad, zuchini, squash, artichoke hearts, whole garlic cloves, cucumber+tomato salad. Delicious.


4:30pm - 3 t. sunbutter + 1 t. forestberry preserves (lots of berries plus very little sugar)


9:30pm - 3 oz halibut, 4-5 oz eggplant and yellow peppers sauteed in water + a little grapeseed oil

The problems with what I ate today are: 
-breakfast/pre-workout: no fat, not enough carbs. Also not close enough to my workout.
-no post-wod meal
-By lunch I was starving so ate more than I usually eat. Also, it was delicious. 
-no protein in my snack, which I justified at the time because i ate extra protein at lunch... but i know better. Also, too much fat, though most meals I lack fat so maybe once a day having too much fat is okay? probably only if it's pre-wod though and I'm doing a long/extreme workout.


Skills work:


Talked to Jonny about my grip for pull-ups. I'm over-gripping and gripping lower in my hand than he does (which is why i tear so often and so badly). Need to work on releasing a bit once I have my chin above the bar. The changed grip makes it tougher to string stuff together but I think that's just until I get used to it.


2 sets (Pull-ups 45 sec on/45 sec off): Got 10/13.
2 sets (Static hold pull-ups: chin/eye/head 20 sec on/20 sec off). Switched back and forth b/w palms toward me and away from me. Palms towards me KILLED my biceps. Never done those before. 1st set: 1st 20sec easy, 2nd 20sec burned like crazy from the palms away grip, 3rd 20 sec starting sliding down away from the height I should've been holding at. 2nd set: 1st 20 sec hard b/c I used the palms away grip but manageable, 2nd 20 sec started slipping downward at 15 sec, 3rd 20 sec started slipping at 12 and dropped at 15 sec.


Worked HSPUs. Didn't feel good on these today, this is the second time recently I've struggled on these more so than usual which is annoying. Strung together a max of 4 with 3 abmats.


Worked on Wall Ball form. 3 sets of 10 (rest in b/w). 1st set 14# unbroken to the red! Landed every one!! COUNT THAT JONNY!! 2nd set had to more to the wooden beam, and was nervous about throwing the ball through the hole, so switched to 12#, all 10 unbroken! 3rd set, disaster. Well, not disaster but frustrating. 6 unbroken, failed 3, got 2, failed 1, got 3. Not sure if I was tired or what caused the disappointing third round. And who was around watching my third round? Jonny darling. Of course. Why he wasn't around when I was nailing them?!



Worked with Amy on throwing myself against the wall for HSPUs. I have a hitch in my form (just like in wall ball) where I lose all my power. I'm not sure why in multiple movements I stop myself from using my full body strength and resort to only using arms- it's dumb. I think I worked through the hitch with Amy, but I guess we'll see if I can do it tomorrow sans hitch.


Had a stuffy nose all day today. Got worse after dinner. Took stinging nettle and quercitin - hope that helps so i can avoid cold medicine. Also, I think I might have a fever. Chicago winters are going to be the death of me. Going to bed early tonight (it's 11pm now), so expect 8-8 1/2 hrs of rest. Hopefully that plus 2 aleve will clear the fever/sick feeling and I'll be better tomorrow.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Two great days of work!

Last night's WOD:

5 rounds of:
125m row
20 push ups
20 squats

9:57. The 125m row was a sub for 20 double unders, but the row felt like a good substitute. Was aiming for b/w 9-10 mins, so was pleased with the time. Felt like I pushed myself and went as fast as I could have throughout the metcon. Did the row the way Rudy showed me to do it. Felt MUCH better then usual rowing. Did 5 full out push-ups each round and the following 15 on my knees. Didn't game the push-ups but did them until I couldn't do them anymore in every round. Squats faster then I've ever done before (was practically jumping) and I really focused on the hip popping each time. When I ever get the do box jumps again I think that focused hip extension will help with those. Also, come to think of it, that should help all my olympic lifts as well since I sometimes shorten the hip extension on my pulls.


Yesterday I left the box feeling fantastic. It was a great workout and I felt really strong and confident leaving.

Today was an equally good day. I've been struggling with Overhead Squats since I started and have never been able to get into the bottom and stay there. Over the holidays I took a broom and practiced staying the in bottom. I Snatch Balanced the broom and then held in the bottom of the squat for 30 sec (rested 1 min ) x 10 reps. By the end I felt so much more comfortable! So, this morning I came in, grabbed a PVC and did the same Snatch Bal and stay there progression- 15 sec on, 30 off X 4 sets, 30 sec on for the 5th set and moved on to actual weight.

Then I Hang power snatched, and dropped down into an OHS at:

33# x3
43# x3
50#x3
55#x3
60# -failed 3 or 4 times, then got 1 rep
65#x3
70# -failed 1, then got 1 rep.


It didn't feel like it was the heaviest I could go, but I had been working for about an hour and wanted to keep today's work light so stopped there. That's easily a 30# PR from my prev 1RM in OHS. About fucking time.


Talked to Bryce about supplemental work to add into my training after the workout. Am excited to start working those in.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Special K Chocolate

Last night was a good workout.

Power Clean 3-3-3+ @ 70%/80%/90% of (1RM+5) (1RM is 105)
Used 79/89/99 (x15 reps)



Bryce told me to aim for about 15 reps and I'm wondering if after I hit 15 if my body relaxed a bit and that why I failed on 16. Not sure.


3 x max L-Sit (parallete, ring, pull-up bar) 1 min rest

I've done 1 L-sit ever before so I didn't expect these to go too well. Also, I forgot to write these down... but my 1st r rds were 20 sec, not sure the last one it was either 20/25 seconds.

10 min AMRAP:
3 Back squats (108#)
12 knee push-ups
9 American kettlebell swings (55#)



I thought the BS were supposed to be done at 60% of 1RM, but it was supposed to be 65%... so should've done 114#. I wanted to go heavier than neceesary so chose 60% of my 1RM+10, but that was only 108#. I didn't feel super gassed during the wod (I subbed out burpees- no jumping till my stitches are out- for 2xknee pushups), but the 55# KBS is just a damn killer. It's so fucking heavy. All BS were unbroken and were the easiest part of the metcon. The push-ups were unbroken in rds 1-4, but in the 5th and 6th rds I broke them 6-6. The KBS were atrociously heavy, got 5-4 in the first 3 rds, 4-3-3 (yeah I did an extra rep my math sucks) in the 4th, and then the last 2 rds I think 3-3-3. At some point Bryce called out that my BS weren't low enough so I re-did one set of them.


After the metcon I was gonna see if I could power clean 108 but decided against it. I mean, the bar was already set up from my BS... but I thought better of it. I was tired, and thought that going for 1RM when tired is probably not the best idea.


My nutrition has been good since I got back from Christmas, which is why I rarely post about it. I even tried having fish and coconut water as my post-wod meal yesterday, though think I may go for raw fish next time, the flavor was just too much for post-wod. Last night for dinner though... I'd had a long and shitty day at work and after heavy ass KBS I decided I had earned a cheat meal. I had a big giant bowl of Special K Chocolate cereal for dinner. Milk and grains. Delicious.

This morning I am extra sore. I can still feel the jerks from Monday and the KBS from last night. I miss my heating pad.