Fun Week at the Box

I already posted about Monday's WOD, but had not had time to post about Wednesday and Friday's yet. We've done a lot of running around enjoying spring break, getting haircuts, playing with friends, shopping...not blogging.

Wednesday's WOD was strange, but good. It was a couplet of 25 toes-to-bar (TTB), or knees as high as you can get them, paired with 50 double-unders or 150 singles, AMRAP in 20 minutes. I find TTB to be one of the most difficult moves so far, as I have yet to master what is known as "kipping"--that forward and backward rocking motion that gives the body momentum while hanging from the bar. By the end of the WOD, however, with that number of TTBs, I was getting the feel for it. After the met-con portion of the WOD, we were supposed to rest 5 minutes, then work on our 1 rep max clean and jerk. Initially I was thinking that there was no way I would have the strength to do that after 20 minutes of all that other stuff, but I found that I absolutely could, and added another 5 pounds to my PR while I was at it!

WOD Score: 5 rounds + 17 singles
C & J PR: 95#

Friday's WOD was 13.4, the 4th WOD of the CF Games Open. It was fast and furious--an ascending ladder by 3's of C&J paired with TTB. You can watch the pros tackle it here. Mine didn't look that pretty, I'm sure, but I gave it everything I had and crushed it to the best of my ability.

13.4 Score: 69 using 55#

After a great week of successful WODs, PRs and learning skills, it was great fun to go to the box Friday night with one of my BFFs and cheer on the CrossFit Woodbridge folks in our own open competition. I have gone every week so far, and it is loads of fun to support the people that I actually work out with and cheer them on as they compete against each other. Maybe next year? We'll see...

Dead Lift PR, 5-month Anniversary!

Today is my 5-month anniversary with CF. It's turning out to be a very stable relationship that I expect to become long-term.

I came home from my WOD today and told my son to guess how much weight I had dead lifted. He guessed 100#. Um, no, that would be a little low...so he kept guessing until he got to 175 and then I informed him that it was actually 180#! "Wow, Mom. So that was basically like dead lifting Dad," was his comment! Yes, yes it was, but it was probably a little easier to hold on to the bar than it would have been to get a hold of arms and legs and...that would have just been awkward, especially for his first visit to the box.

And there is the other big news! My dear husband joined me today for my WOD. I'm sure he thinks it nearly killed him, but he's still upright and breathing, so I know he'll be okay. It was so fun having him there to suffer work out with me.

Here was the WOD:
3x3x3x3 dead lifts (goal was 3 rep max)
I got a PR at 180#

Then 5 rounds for time:
10 dead lifts
10 burpees
time: 9:30

We won't discuss which member of the household won the WOD. That would just be mean.

13.3 Wall Ball Hell

Friday is the day that I normally go to the box. On Wednesday evening I watched the head-to-head competition of 13.3 for the CrossFit Open. It looked awful. I knew I was going to have to do that on Friday.

13.3
12 minutes
150 wall balls
90 double unders
30 muscle ups

Well, just looking at the description it is obvious that I am not going to be doing much on this WOD, but will require some major scaling. I scaled. I did 120 wall balls using a light ball in 12 minutes. Granted I know that the WODs are written for those in the top tier of competition and the rest of us punies claw our way through the 12 minutes of hell, so I'm not really complaining. I am really okay with what I can do, namely because my friend just told me that I really must buy new jeans because mine are now too baggy on me and I need to remedy that. CF and I are doing just fine, but I digress...

I had come to the conclusion that my wall balls were shoddy. I was iffy on hitting the target, resulting in too many no reps, I was not doing a full squat, I was catching and stopping, and for the life of me I could not get in a rhythm with this move. However this time (thanks to 13.3), something really clicked, and I got that rhythm. I expect to really improve my time and efficiency on the next WOD that uses them.

Yay! New jeans!

Super-Chipper

I never really knew what a chipper WOD was until today. Now I have experienced not just a "chipper" but a "super-chipper." The implication is that there are a list of different exercises and you have to just "chip away at them" and at the end you feel as though you've been through a wood-chipper. Yes. Yes I did. But I'm still standing. I've listed Rx (i.e. what the standard would be), and what I was able to do is in parentheses.

Today's WOD:
40 KB swings Rx 35# (20 lbs)
40 double unders (120 singles)
30 thrusters Rx 55# (35 lbs)(ugh!)
30 pull ups
20 hang power snatches Rx 55# (35 lbs)
20 goblet squats Rx 35# (20)
10 toes to bar (knee raises)
10 hand stand push ups

Time: 20:23

The part that made it a "super" chipper is that every move was to be done in an unbroken sequence. If you stopped, dropped, or fell off, there was a 3 burpee penalty. I did my share of burpees, but not an unbearable amount.

This is one of those days when I come home from a WOD feeling great about what I am doing, even if it does hurt to raise my coffee cup to my mouth. I may not be the fastest or strongest, but I am consistently getting better. I love the people I am getting to know at the box, and I love finishing just a bit faster and having the chance to cheer other people on a bit. I have come to the point that I really can't imagine what I felt like before CF...I just know it wasn't good. I look forward to the future being stronger, fitter, and even healthier. Hard WODs are just part of the process.

WLC Check-in, and a New Favorite

All right, I know it's been a while since I last blogged, and I think I've lost a few WODs in there somewhere...I have been working out consistently these last weeks--I just haven't had a chance to think about writing anything down!

I've been plugging along with the Whole Life Challenge (WLC) though I manage to lose a point or two every day. The best thing I have gained from it is having a benchmark to compare my current lifestyle to. I have admit that I am pretty pleased. The way we are currently eating is very clean, our lifestyle seems very healthy--not too strict, not undisciplined, very low stress. I tend to lose a point when my willpower gives up as I prep dinner and want that chilled glass of wine with my husband who just walked in from work. I also have a tendency to forget the stretching and / or ten minutes of exercise each day that I am off from CF. Once I forgot my supplements (not bad!) and the biggest struggle was in the first two weeks--the water challenge! I found it very difficult to drink nearly a gallon of water every day. I lost a lot of points there. The sweets and dairy haven't been any problem, but I do really miss cheese and yogurt.

Thor's Daughter

But all that aside, today I wanted to be sure to go down on record as saying that today's WOD (13.2) may be my favorite yet. I had a little help along the way--Annie Thorisdottir (translated her last name literally means "Thor's Daughter," a.k.a. "Iceland Annie") who is the two-time CF games champ went head to head with Lindsey Valenzuela (6th place in last year's games) and positively crushed it! It was great to see her do it, and know what the best in the world can do. You can watch the televised WOD here. If you don't have time to watch it, the final score was 361 reps to Annie, 335 reps to Lindsey. Smoked it! Some are saying "no rep" to Annie's deadlifts, but I say, "Let's see you do it."

The WOD is called 13.2 (13 = 2013 and .2 = second week of CF open)
5 shoulder to overhead (75#)
10 deadlifts
15 box jumps (20")
Masters Rx weight was 65#, but I'm not quite there. I tried out 60#, but knew I would have to take rests if I did 60. I may have been able to lift 55#, but never mind... I used 50# because I really wanted to keep moving, and I did step-ups in lieu of box jumps to preserve my pace.

score: 185 total reps (6 rounds + 5)

When I was done I was pooped (still am this afternoon!) but met my goal of at least five rounds and then some!

Tuesday 3/5

Today's WOD:

5 rounds for time

30 second deadlift hold (@125# - realized later that I could have done more)

12 weighted lunges

12 box jumps (step-ups) 

Time 10:32

Don't Shoot!

I am still stuck on Wednesday. Today is Friday. Yesterday was Thursday, but I feel as though it was Wednesday, perhaps even more so. On Wednesday we did the 400 m walking lunges, and I seriously hurt as badly as I did after my very first WOD, at least in my lower body. Thankfully I have full use of my arms and torso. How can you gauge that, you are asking? I mean, how do you compare pain to pain? I have a simple benchmark, and it may be TMI, but the truth is I cannot sit down on the toilet without holding on to something for support and whining in pain. My quads and hamstrings hurt that much, and this is how I felt for a week after my first CF workout.

My friend Rachel (the same one who dragged me to CF in the first place) managed to convince me that it would be better to exercise yesterday as well, or we would be even more stiff. I'm starting to doubt her logic. Even so, it was a weightlifting day, 1RM clean and jerk and this is one that I have really wanted to do again, so I went in spite of my legs. I was happy to know that I was not the only one suffering, and that everyone at the box who did Wednesday's WOD is pretty much in the same boat. Today's WOD involved 150 Wall Balls. I'm afraid I chose to stay home this time...I just couldn't face that amount of leg work on top of what I'm dealing with.

About yesterday's WOD:
1 RM clean and jerk
I PR'ed (that means obtained my personal record) at 90#! I was so happy with that. So, so pleased.

About stiff legs, specifically quads, hams and glutes, here's a little tip: bear crawling up and down the stairs takes pressure off the quads and makes taking the stairs more "bearable."