My Visit to CrossFit Montgomery County

On Saturday, I went for an intro session at CrossFit Montgomery County.  It was great.  I love the owner/coach and in the short time that I was there, realized that I have much to learn.  I will be starting their On Ramp program next week and I'm so excited to join the gym and belong to a box.  Yay! 

Bowling and Golf

Two things I haven't done in a long time.  I went bowling last night and haven't been in a few years.  I've always have this weird overhand bowling technique because I couldn't hold on to the ball.  The person that took me bowling did an amazing job of teaching me to bowl underhanded like a normal person and also teaching me how to aim much better.  I even got a 150 on one of the games, which is pretty darn good considering this isn't something to do much.  The same person took me to the driving range today.  My golf experience is comprised of: extensive mini golf playing through my life, one previous trip to the driving range and one time playing in a best ball golf tournament, during which I only go the best ball during some of the putting aspects.  Anyway, today I went and I quickly got the hang of hitting the ball.  I didn't have many misses at all and tried out a variety of clubs.  Apparently, I can hit the ball a respectable distance and I get it to go straight most of the time.  I was told that I'm ready to head out for real golf so maybe I'll get the chance to do that soon.

Running

Well, I think I may have figured out how to get around my hatred of running.  I just need to run faster!  When I had the shin splints, I always ran a 10 minute mile because I was scared of injuring myself.  This week, I did a WOD that was 400m run/5 deadlifts - 12 minute AMRAP.  I ran at a 7.5 minute mile pace and it was pretty hard for me since I don't run much.  Maybe runners wouldn't consider that fast but I did given my history of running at a 10 minute mile.  I felt so much better just to hammer it out and drive hard. Now that I did it, it makes perfect sense to me that I would like that better.  I love intensity!  I'll have to get back on the treadmill and see how fast I can really go sometime.

Rowing

I did the same rowing WOD twice this week: 500m row, 3 min rest, repeat 4 times.  Something is wrong with my rowing technique because while I get really tired and out of breath, I just can't seem to drive myself so hard that I get into that mode where I finish lying on the floor out panting in a pool of sweat.  I'll have to keep working on it.

On a Role!

I had a really stressful week last week trying to get a mountain of shit done at work, home, etc.  Being in high gear though lead me to hit the gym a lot last week to keep the stress level as low as possible.  I went to Zumba last week 5 times (Without any shin issues!  F yeah!)  I did CrossFit once a day during the week and did two WODs on Thursday.  I feel like my body did some transforming last week as everything looks tighter and stronger.  Maybe that's just me feeling good about myself after working out so much or maybe that's the real thing from working out so much.  Saturday, I went to Zumba and really hit all the explosive moves hard.  I felt so powerful and went full force the whole time.  It was great!

This morning, my WOD was the following: 12-9-6 Clean and Jerks (43 pounds); lat pulldowns (60 pounds) and triceps dips with legs on a bench and a 20-pound dumbell in between my legs - all of this for 3 rounds.  Took me 22:45 and it was tough.  I powered through it though and only stopped a couple of times on the C&Js.  I feel like I'm in beast mode these days and I'm excited for another week in beast mode.

Chin Ups!

Holy crap!  I just did 2 unassisted chin ups!  Hell yeah!  Just yesterday, I think I finally figured out how to engage my lats in the pullup motion rather than pulling from the arms and now here I am with to chin ups under my belt.  My focus on getting that first unassisted pullup has been reset.  I want it and it's mine!

Catching Up

This has been a weird week for working out.  My schedule has been all over the place, as has been the schedule of my workout partner so things have been a little sporadic.  Here's what went on this week:

Monday: Tried to do the "Barbara" WOD and gave up during the third round.  This was the first workout that didn't complete the entire time I've been doing CrossFit.  I went out the night before, got home at 4 in the morning and James was up before 6.  I now know that I cannot do CrossFit on less than two hours of sleep.  I can do it on 4 hours but not 2.  "Barbara", by the way, was 5 rounds for time of: 20 pullups, 30 pushups, 40 situps, 50 squats.

Tuesday: I honestly can't remember what I did this day.

Wednesday: The WOD was three rounds for time of 10 overhead squats (OHS) and 50 doubleunders.  I subbed 100 regular jumps for the doubleunders.  By the time I had gotten through the second hundred, I had completely peed myself.  How I love the long-term effects of childbirth!  I used the bare 45-pound bar so that I could really focus on balance and OHS technique.  Finished the workout in 4:45.

Thursday: Company event in DC.  My only exercise was trying to balance myself standing on a moving metro train for an hour while drunk.

Friday: Went to Zumba for the first time in a long time.  It felt amazing to be back.  From there, I went to the gym at work and did some snatch practice with a 9 pound pole and then did deadlifts.  I managed to lift 175 pounds using the horrible barbell that they have there and I didn't even use chalk!  That barbell has knurling that seems to have been designed specifically to rip all the skin off your palms.  I guess that barbell and I have made peace.  My callouses do hurt a little today though.

Other stuff: I got my weightlifting shoes this week and I love them!  I need to get to Bally's on a day when I've rested well the day before and try them out by lifting heavy.  Also, I ordered a women's 15kg barbell yesterday from Rogue Fitness.  I'm hoping I can get my hands around it better since the bar diameter is a little smaller.  It's a used one from one of the CrossFit Regionals games so I feel like it's going to come with some awesome energy since it's been lifted by some of the strongest, badass women in the world.

Shin Splint Success and Today's Workout

I had the ultimate test of my shin splints last night - hours of dancing in heels.  That has always been the easiest way for me to completely screw up my shins for days afterwards.  However, I went out dancing last night and my shins didn't bother me at all today.  I went to PT earlier and my therapist said that my shins felt great.  It seems like I'm all better.  Now it's time to carefully step up my workout routine.

Today's workout was this:

Front squats: 1 heavy, 10 light, 1 heavy, 20 light, 1 heavy, 30 light.  I did 85 pounds for the heavy and 45 for the light.  The last 30 were pretty difficult.  I'm not sure what my PR is on front squats but I don't think that I have ever front squatted 85 pounds before.  Maybe next week I'll be able to work up to my heaviest weight.  I'm guessing I can do at least 100 pounds.

After the WOD, I did deadlifts up to about 90% of max.  I did 5 reps each of 115-125-135-145-155-155-160.  160 was my PR just a few weeks ago so it's pretty amazing that I did all those 155s and then 5 160s.  I'm getting strong!  Yay!

Shin Splint Update and Today's WOD

I went to PT yesterday afternoon and two separate therapists now feel like my shins are on track.  I'm supposed to run a few miles and see how they hold up.  I was going to do that at the gym this morning but the treadmill is so boring that I really cannot make myself run that far.  I did 1/2 mile.  That's all I can take on a treadmill.  Plus, I'm going dancing tonight so if my shins hurt, I won't know if it's from running or dancing in heels.  I'll do the run over the weekend on a trail somewhere where running is more exciting and I can go much further without getting bored.

Today's WOD was funny:

3 rounds for time (which I did in approximately 15 mintues):

50 pound dumbbell Waiter walk, 100 meters, Right arm (I did 30 for the first round on the right arm only and then switched to 25 pounds for the rest of the workout.)

30 GHD sit-ups (I did regular situps since there's no GHD at Bally's.)

50 pound dumbbell Waiter walk, 100 meters, Left arm

30 back extensions


Keeping that dumbell up over your head is hard as hell!  My shoulders will definitely be sore tomorrow but this was great practice for the "Hold you Wood" obstacle in the Tough Mudder.

Filthy 50

I went to the gym yesterday afternoon and did the Filthy 50.  It took me 40:53 to do it but I stopped a whole bunch of times because I was literally on the verge of puking up my lunch almost the whole time.  After having puked following a workout last week that I did after breakfast, I now know that I need a whole lot of time after eating before doing any crazy workouts.  I haven't had this problem with Zumba but I guess CrossFit is a whole different ballgame.  It's good that I'm finding out now about how food affects my workout so I can incorporate that into my meal strategy for the Tough Mudder.  The Filthy 50 definitely left me sore.  Here is what it's composed of:

50 Box jump, 24 inch box (I did 12 inches.)
50 Jumping pull-ups

50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood (I did 18 pounds.)

Walking Lunge, 50 steps

50 Knees to elbows

50 Push press, 45 pounds (I did 30 pounds.)

50 Back extensions

50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball (I did 10 pounds.)

50 Burpees

50 Double unders (I did 100 regular jumps.)

Deadlifts - New PR!

Yesterday, our workout included 5 sets of 3 reps of deadlifts.  Last week, I finally achieved a new PR of 160 so today's plan was to work up to about 3 reps of 155 pounds.  When I got to 155, I felt like I still had more in me so I tried 160 and got three reps of that too.  Holy crap!  I switched to single reps after that and finished off with a new PR of 175!!!!!!!  Woo hooo!  I think I could even have gone to 185 if I weren't so tired and in a rush to get to a meeting.  Soon, I'll try again and see how high I can go.  I'm so close to my 200 pound goal!

Today, we did 5 sets of 3 reps of push presses.  I did something really weird to my neck (aggrivated an old problem) and stopped temporarily.  I finished off at one rep of 70 pounds, which is a PR for push presses - 5 pounds over last time.  Then, due to my neck pain, I decided not to do the WOD we had planned and choose to see how many air squats I can do in 20 minutes, which was 512 of them.  I could have kept going after that.  Now I'm wondering how many I can do in total with unlimited time.

"Badger"

I did the CrossFit Hero WOD (workout of the day) called "Badger" today.  It consists of three rounds of the following:

30 squat cleans (I did 45 pounds)
30 pullups (60 pound assist)
Run 800 meters (1/2 mile)

I did the whole thing in 39:56 and it was a very good workout.  Not full on brutal but it was sweaty and hard as hell.  I feel like I'm back in action after feeling out of shape last week.  Yesterday, I went to Zumba and didn't feel tired at all and then I got through Badger today with my usual committment to drive myself as hard as I can. 

I ordered pullup bands this weekend.  I can't wait for them to come so that I can get off the stupid assist machine and onto working through something that better emulates an unassisted pullup.  My goal is to get an unassisted pullup done by my birthday in September so that I can RX Fran on that day.  I have to work on my 65 pound thrusters too!

I'm out of shape!

I've been working out for the last few weeks without my CrossFit partner, Pete.  In his absence, I have been having a hard time getting myself to do the MetCon workouts.  I'm just falling more and more in love with the barbell and seem to gravitate towards it at the gym and have been focusing on heavy lifting.  Further, until this week, work and physical therapy and being distracted by the guy I'm seeing has made it hard for me to get to Zumba.  So today, having Pete finally back in the gym with me, I made sure to include MetCon in today's program which was:

1-1-1-1-1 Squat of choice (I did overhead squats up to 65 pounds)
3-3-3-3-3 Bench press (I did 50-55-60-65-65)

AMRAP for 15 minutes:
9 deadlifts (95 pounds)
12 CrossFit Games pushups
15 12" box jumps
(completed 6 rounds + 6 deadlifts)

250 airsquats (completed in 9 minutes)

The AMRAP part was so hard!  Sweat flying everywhere and totally out of breath!  I felt so out of shape.  I'm definitely feeling the impact of my lack of metabolic conditioning lately.  I can't let that slide again!  I was a great workout though.  My whole body is still feeling it hours later!

Some New PRs!

A few weeks ago I did a workout that included heavy deadlifts and heavy squats.  I got a new personal record (PR) on the deadlifts (155 pounds) and then wasn't able to go above my previous PR for back squats (which was 125).  Rather than be happy about the deadlifts, I walked away a little discouraged about the squats.  This incident really began to affect me as started to doubt myself every time that I tried to get a new PR on pretty much any type of lift.  Yesterday I went to the gym to lift for the first time in a week (was on a business trip last week).  I figured that I should do back squats but decided to focus only on moderately heavy lifts, doing 3-3-3-3-3.  As I started to add on more weight, I decided to drop down to one rep per weight and keep increasing.  Next thing I knew, I hit 125, then 130 and finally 135 for a new PR that was 10 pounds more than the last.  Finally!  I can't even describe the joy!  A new PR, which was also the first time I lifted more than my body weight on a back squat and the first time I got to use the 45 pound plates!  I followed this up with a new PR for jerks, reaching the 75 pounds that I couldn't quite get the week before last when I hit 70 pounds.  Today, I hit the gym again for a first-time 70 pound clean and 160 pound deadlift (as opposed to the 155 pound lift from a few weeks ago).  The amazing part in all of this is not that I am physically stronger, it is that I broke myself free from a cycle of self-doubt.  I should know not to doubt myself.  I should now that a small setback or one bad day should not be carried forward into other activities.  I am very good at not letting others get me down, hold me back or make me doubt myself.  I need to work on not letting myself get me down, hold me back or make me doubt myself.  The accomplishments of the last couple of days in the gym will help me towards that.

Ouch!

I am in so much pain from yesterday's workout.  I'm sure this morning's workout didn't do anything to help either.  My abs, inner thighs, chest, shoulders, biceps and forearms are in major pain.  This evening, it was hard to even carry an empty basket at the grocery store.  This is great though because I know that I worked my body hard and that's exactly what I try for every time I workout.

Today's workout consisted of:

1 km row
30 push presses at 45 pounds
1 km row

Time to finish: 15:35

This was my first time rowing.  I liked it a lot - much more than running.

Murph

Today I did one of the longest CrossFit workouts, Murph.  The workout consists of:

1 mile run
100 pullups (55 pound assist)
200 pushups
300 squats
1 mile run

Time to complete: 48:45

This was definitely challenging.  I broke the whole thing up into sets of 5-10-20 pullups, pushups and squats for most of the workout and then got a little creative at the end.  Right around the 6th and 7th rep, I was really starting to wonder what the hell I had gotten myself into.  However, I know that I always hit that point in a hard workout so I just stuck with it.  I think this is the point where most people (including myself up until the last few months) would have felt done and stopped the workout.  Now that I know how to push myself though, I just powered through that hump that seems to occur right when you are about a third of the way through a workout.  I feel so great that I did this workout.  I kept going and didn't stop.  That last mile was such a relief and such a hellish experience at the same time.  My arms hurt and I'm exhausted but I also feel very proud and invigorated having completed this latest challenge.