Snatches

Today I did 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 snatches. I managed 15-20-25-30(0)-30(0)-25-25.

The 25s were fine but the 30s didn't happen due to a few things: (1) I have terrible form and nobody to watch it and give me cues; (2) a photographer from the newspaper was there trying to get a good shot, and he had a point-and-shoot digital camera, so I just wanted to get that done with and went back to 25kg. I think I'll hold off on snatching until I get back to the affiliate.

Funny story: I think this was the kid's first assignment and he told me that he thought I would know what he should photograph. Ha! Finally, he had me pretending to do a push up, and he took some shots of me doing power snatches and cleans. But he asked if I could maybe hold the bar up in mid-path. HAHAHA. NO.

Rest Day

Yeehaw, rest day. Went to Pilates, which is required if you're a member of a dance company on campus. I actually am getting way more out of it than I thought I would. Holly (instructor of pilates and director of INISH) is really into the anatomical aspect of it--keeping the lumbar curve intact and being very specific about muscles used--so I think this may be a good supplement to my CrossFit. Something to keep me a little more limber.

The interview with the paper went well. I took the reporter through the CF warmup, too; I was going to the gym after the interview and she asked if she could tag along for a few minutes. I think the article comes out Monday, so we'll see...

Ugh

I have to say, CrossFitting without an affiliate is harder than I thought it would be. Today I was trying to do the WOD from the main site, and I was looking forward to it, but it's so hard to keep going when you're doing it alone and timing it on your cell phone. I may sound whiny, but I really miss the trainers and encouragement and camaraderie. To make a long story short, I stopped mid-WOD today. Sucks.

Then I decided to not completely waste my gym trip, so I was going to do overhead squats 3-3-3-3-3. Well, after round 3, my wrists gave out (and I don't have tape), so I couldn't even finish that.

Today feels like such a failure. I am going to try and hang up my pull up bar tonight. Hopefully it works and today won't be a complete waste.

I am going strict Paleo starting tomorrow--no cheat days or anything since I still feel subpar--and I will stick to CF HQ's 3-on, 1-off schedule. We'll see how that works. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, when I will have a whole week at the affiliate.

Coach Rip DVD Starting Strength

We just finished watching the power clean and the dead lift portions of Rippetoe's Starting Strength DVD. You will not believe how absolutely useful and common sense it is. He is such a good coach. He also teaches some technique that differs from what we have learned in some pretty material ways - and what he says makes total sense. I strongly suggest you one click this right away and watch it if you don't have it.

Eurgh

I must admit that life this week has gotten in the way of my aspirations to keep strict Paleo.  Namely, after dance gets out I am ravenous and don't have the time to cook before I get my rear in gear to the library to do my reading, so that's a bummer.  When I am not Paleo I tend to get very sad because I miss how good it makes me feel.  This weekend I am going back on Paleo and hopefully pre-cooking some meals for the coming week so that I don't end up in hungry-let's-eat-carbs land again.

Seriously, right now I just feel sick to my stomach.  Blegh.

This is a device I got at city sports to help open my shoulders more. You can hang body weight to pull your shoulders back, out of their sockets, or whatever. Hurt me Rhonda. Seems to be doing some good, if pain is any measure.

9.23.09 and 9.24.09

After 3 days off on account of feeling lousy (was it the walnuts I had, some bug or what?), yesterday did Cindy; max rounds in 20 minutes of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups and 15 squats. Used blue band, and did real pushups. Did 8 rounds + pullups + pushups. There was nothing left in upper body.

Today WOD was more of the same plus more: 3 rounds of 100 foot lunge walk (10 lb overhead), 20 pullups, 25 push ups 30 sit ups for time. Used blue band but had to do pushups on knees. Time was 22.35. Still did not have total strength today.

Got some Chia seeds, started putting them in my superfood in the a.m. Yum.

Gah my legs

Yesterday and today I've had 2.5 hour long dance practices, so I am counting those as the workouts of the day.  My legs feel like jelly.

WOD - Hauling Poods of This

Rest Day

Paleo day 1 tomorrow...again.  Doing another 30 days, as just under a week of eating like I used to is making me feel like crap on a stick.

Also, thank God it's a rest day.  I am sooooooo sore.

Fran

Today I did Fran after hearing that mom and dad did it.

Boy am I out of shape as far as pull ups are concerned!  When I go, the gym is usually full of athletes doing what they think are deadlifts and squats (hint: they aren't), so I haven't been able to do pull ups in my warm up usually because there are a lot of people waiting for the bars.  Ugh.  Also, I had to correct some guys doing snatches for their team workout yesterday.  I hear "Dude, what's a snatch again?"  "Uh I think it's where you put it over your head."  And then they tried to snatch using a really narrow grip, and the bar path was all over the place.  I think they were really surprised to be corrected by a girl.

Anyway, I used a 20kg bar for the thrusters and a green band for the pull ups.  Time was 8:01

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009

Today did Fran. I just tried posting on this blogger.com piece of shit but it ate my post so here goes again. 21-15-9 thrusters and pullups. Clean bar and blue band. 11:44. Your mother subbed 12 lb kettlebell swings for thrusters cause she yenked one of her legs yesterday nach hause, and she used purple and green bands for liftoff. She beat me again with amazing 11:38. See our photo from yesterday or day before on cfa site. OK I am going to see if this f****ing thing takes the post this time.

Saturday Sept 18, 2009

Today did an unnamed workout which comprised 5 rounds of 30 sit ups on ab mat and 25 rdl's (instead of ghd, since they were all occupied). Dan taught us on rdl's this morning and it made all the difference - not surrendering back, not caring that much about going down too far, the idea being to stretch the hamstrings (which it did). Your mother did the workout too and beat me on time. Time was 21:52; your mother smoked it in 21.36 and beat me!

Today did Daniel which was 50 pullups, 400m run, 21 thrusters, 800 m run, 21 thrusters, 400 m run, 50 pullups. Used green band, 35# bar. Did 27:45. This was an OK workout except I still could not walk normally from all the jump ropes on Monday. Went to see Jack today and my soleus and gastrocnemius's are still sore. Must be doing some good.

Today was one of those days where I had a headache getting out of bed and was having trouble moving around being stiff and sore from previous workouts, generally feeling lousy. First rounds of pullups could tell I was way low on energy, almost like a bug. By the first set of thrusters I was feeling more normal, but never got totally energetic. But I can say I believe that at the end of the workout I felt better, less sick, than I would have if I had not gone.

Bleh

Ugh ugh ugh I am starting back on paleo tomorrow, I feel like Crap On A Stick without it.  For serious.

No more Paleo

No more days of Paleo, and I already feel nasty and fuzzy-brained.  This is just confirmation that I am going to start another 30 days tomorrow.  Wheee.

Yesterday was front squats 3-3-3-3-3

I did (in kg): 25-30-35-40-40

The day before that I did DL 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 and established a new 1RM Deadlift: 85 kg.  Yay!

Thank goodness today is a CF HQ rest day...my glutes are killing me!

New Shoes

Paleo Day 27: Almost done

At this point in my Paleo routine, I am craving a huge pan of brownies.  I'm not sure why the beginning was easier than now is...oh well.  I was reduced to eating a potato last night because the restaurant I went to didn't really have any other vegetables.  Grr.  But I skipped the butter.  Tonight is another restaurant (going with different people), and it's an Italian and Greek place, so I may well end up eating before I go see these people.  I can't really eat pasta, so I may have no other option.  I don't really mind.

Today I forewent doing Barbara in favor of doing Linda.  Linda is 10 factorial of DL, clean, and bench press.

My stats: 

DL 35 kg

power clean 15 kg (used the only women's bar in the whole gym, but it was, in retrospect, too little weight)

bench 20 kg (up from 15 last time)

time: 15:16

So I increased my DL and bench and still decreased my time.  

I need to get an AbMat before I try any of the sit-up stuff again, the difference for me is huge.

I hear that my mom made it into CF ATL today!  Gooooooo Mooooooom!  Now we just need to get Allison into CF Buffalo and we'll be a family of CrossFitters.  Hehe...

090912 - Barbara

Did Barbara today. Before I started I could not visualize how I could do that many pullups, pushups and squats - am used to doing lots of situps. So I decided to knock it out a chunk at a time, be totally existential about it and not think about the next round, just finish this one. It was more psychological than physical in some ways, especially the part standing around between rounds for 3 minutes feeling guilty about not doing something in the middle of a workout. I used big band on pullups, and did pushups on knees; did each round in ~8 minutes something. Total time was 41:09.

Don't know who Barbara is, but after this I am not sure I want to meet up with her. Maybe a cousin of Mr. Pukie or Uncle Rhabdo.

Nancy went today and Vas showed her some things. She looked like a natural gym rat, fit right in.

Sept 11, 2009

Today was a rest day. The WOD looks pretty tough.

090910

Push press 3-3-3-3-3. Heidi, then Dan were coaching me. Also Brent gave me a few comments about sticking my butt out when I land. I did 30 Kg, constrained by shoulder range of motion issues. But did a lot of practicing on the push part off the shoulders. I did a lot of extra ones trying to work on my form and am pretty sore from it, especially my forearms. Must be doing some good.

Also, today I did not follow a school bus all the way from Howell Mill to XFit. I followed two of them.

Paleo Day 25

Today was push press 3-3-3-3-3

I did 20-25-30-35(failed)-30.

Not too bad, actually.  My shoulders are super sore today. 

I can't believe it's Paleo day 25!  I dream of a big pan of gooey brownies...ack.  5 more days!

Lastly, I really miss CF ATL.  The Williams gym is full of people bench pressing and doing squats with really bad form.

090909

Today it was four rounds for time of 20 pullups, 100' lunges carrying dumbbells (10lb), 30 x 24" box jumps. I had seen this on the HQ site last night and was praying to Jah all night long that CFA would put up a different workout. But when I got to the gym and saw the whiteboard, I just stared and tried to stoke up. Even though last Friday I had trashed my quads to the point of spasming (sp?) doing weighted lunges and they still had some recovering to do. On pullups I did blue bands first set, then back to green the next 3 sets. Had trouble getting up on the box for even the first try, so I knew that was going to have to go one at a time - finally got the hang of swinging my arms so I could do 4 and 5 at a time. Literally the whole workout was to do one movement at a time and work hard at not thinking about the next one, just doing this one. This one was a beast, it was definitely not no joke. As Dan called it, a beat-down.

Jennifer, Leah and that tall guy with the braces who said "It ain't no joke" both said to tell you hi and that they miss you. Leah was really happy to hear that you are coming back Thanksgiving - she says it will be here in no time and that she looks forward to it.

090908

This morning I followed a school bus all the way from Howell Mill to the driveway of XFit. But it was good, because I was rooting down to some dub music all the way, Sunshine Dub from Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad - old school reggae from Rochester NY. Anyway the workout was 10 rounds of: 5 pull ups, 5 push ups, 10 sit ups, 10 squats for time. I used a blue band today and also did real pushups. Time was 15:04. On the way home followed an old beat up Lincoln cruiser who finally turned off, but it was OK bks I was saying thanks to Jah all the way that the w/o was over.

Paleo Day 20

My life has gotten easier now that I have figured out that 1 Larabar = 3 blocks.  Yum.  This might especially help on the road tomorrow / Monday / Tuesday.  I will be taking those days off from exercise, obviously, since I will be in the car the whole time.  Can't wait to get my pull up bar set up in my room.  I will be kipping away at all hours of the night.

Friday, 090904

Today we did a workout that sounded easy. 50 lunges with a dumbell overhead held by one arm locked out. 50 situps. 4 rounds. I had no trouble with the situps, but the lunges were hurting me after about 15 of them in the first set. By the fourth set my upper quads were twinging when I came up (the trailing leg quad). It was more odd than anything else. So with 16 left to go I broke it with the last set of situps, and then came back to finish off the lunges, quads firing away like someone was sticking cattle prods into them. They have been sore all day, though I have been walking around to try to stretch them out. Crazy. Might have had something to do with the rounds of chips/guac, 3 (4?) scoops of Nancy's vanilla ice cream, or 2 pieces of lemon cake I had at Dante study last night. Actually now that I think about it, I would trade twinging quad-lunges for Nancy's vanilla ice cream any day, worth the pain and more.

Paleo Day 19

Cripes!  I am basically 2/3 of the way done with my 30 Day Paleo Endeavor.  I am going to have a cheat meal (ooooh!  dairy!) and then probably start in on another 30 days.  I just like the way I feel.  I don't get random energy drops; I like taking the guesswork out of mealtime; I like the built in snacks.

Today is a CF HQ rest day, but CF ATL prescribed some sort of beastly-looking WOD involving lunge steps and situps.  I opted to do back squats, since I haven't done those and wanted to try them before I leave.  Tomorrow is my last day at the affiliate...tear...

Back squats 5-5-5-5-5

20-30-40-45-45 (kg)

Did the squats without a med ball today (for height reference).  I was kind of happy about that, as I need to know where the bottom is on my own without a med ball.  Nevertheless, Dan said that I was on the verge of not going down deep enough.  This is where having lifting buddies up at college will help.

Paleo Day 18: best day ever...

...to take a rest day, as today's WOD is a 5k.  Which is further than I have ever run continuously in my life.  

I am enjoying the rest, especially as I have a nasty bruise on my thumb from my hook grip (forgot to tape for Elizabeth!).

Tomorrow is my second to last WOD with my affiliate, and I am very upset about that.  I am pulling together a CF group up at Williams.  There are a few people who have done it and a few more who want to start, so at least I'll have someone to work out with.  It's really too bad that the gym is so badly set up for crossfitting, though.

Well, this just gives me more incentive to get certified in the late winter and then possibly demand money ( = space, equipment) from my school because we are affiliated.

Paleo Day 17

I can't believe I'm already more than halfway through the 30 days of Paleo.  I am feeling (and looking) great.  This is definitely something that I will be continuing past the 30 days.

Monday's WOD was deadlifts!  My favorite.  

2-2-2-2-2-2-2 (although I only did 2-2-2-2-2)

with 60-65-70-75-75

Tuesday's was pure torture:

row 1000m

21 thrusters (men's bar = 20 kg = 45#)

21 pull ups (green band for assistance)

row 750m

15 thrusters

15 pull ups

row 500m

9 thrusters

9 pull ups

My time for that one was 26:56.  Good lord, I was happy to be done with that one.  This workout magically taught me to kip, though.  For the last set of pull ups, I had 6 left and just wanted to be done, so I told myself that I wasn't coming off the bar, and so I didn't.  I just kipped.  Coooooool.

Today's was:

21-15-9

cleans (I did 25 kg power cleans)

ring dips (used the bars instead, used green + purple bands)

Aaaaaand I am very glad that tomorrow is a rest day!