Ladies Day!

Made it to the gym today. It was cool because it was ALL LADIES. Even our coach today was a woman. Pretty sweet!

Anyway, I’m really glad I missed yesterday’s workout (it fell on my rest day) because it looked horrible. Today’s workout was considered a “recovery workout” because of it.

We started by working up to a heavy three movement snatch, which meant doing a hang snatch, a snatch starting from the top of the knee, and then a snatch from the ground. I worked up to 63#, trying to take it really easy because of my back. (If everything goes well, I’ll be seeing a physical therapist for my back on Monday!)

Next was our WOD. It was:

800 m run
50m broad jumps (yuck)
15 ring rows
30 russian twists (25# for ladies)
15 ring rows
50 m broad jumps
800 m run

This took me 14:52 to do. Not bad! The runs were OK. On my first run I got a cramp in my side, but my second run felt really nice, actually. It’s beautiful outside and I was really enjoying it.

The worst part about this workout (for me) was the broad jumps. They always hurt my shins (I will probably have shin splints from them tomorrow.) This time they also hurt my back quite a bit. My knees have been feeling pretty sore/weak today, so that didn’t help. I was doing tiny broad jumps the whole time, but just kept moving and doing what I could…

Ring rows were OK. I did them in sets of 5. And the Russian twists were OK although 25# is fairly heavy. We used plates and (not sure if this is cheating or not) but when I twisted the plate over my body and brought it down on the other side, it would bounce back up, so I used the bounce to grab it and twist it to the other side of me. A lot easier than muscling it up every time.

This felt like a good workout. Not too hard, not terribly easy, and just the right amount of sweat.

A Sweaty Taste of Summer

It was HOT yesterday when I went to the gym, which is lame because our gym is unairconditioned, like most places in Portland. It doesn’t normally get too hot here (hence the no AC) but it has been unseasonably warm, reaching almost 90 degrees yesterday. Which means that the gym is sweltering. Even with fans blowing and the garage doors rolled up, it’s still gross and hot in there.

Anyway, our “warm up” yesterday was ridiculous. It was 4 rounds of:

20 push ups
rest 60 seconds
20 wall balls
rest 60 seconds
20 walking lunges
rest 60 seconds

I don’t know about you, but that looks more like a workout than a warm up to me. No weight was prescribed, so I did a 10# ball for my wall balls and I used two 15# dumbbells for my walking lunges (we didn’t have to put the weight overhead, just by our sides.) This wasn’t for time, but it took about 25 minutes or so to complete.  I was in a pretty sour mood about it because I was kind of in a hurry and needed to be out of the gym on time to make it to my next appointment, and I didn’t think we’d make it through this and our workout in time. Plus our coach got stuck in traffic on the way over so we started about 5-10 minutes late.

But of course I did it anyway. It wasn’t bad. The wall balls weren’t terrible because I just took them slow. I was able to do 10-15 in a row without stopping.

The WOD was:

30 pull ups
400 m run
20 pull ups
400 m run
10 pull ups

I don’t remember how long this took me. I think it was around 12 minutes. I did my pull ups kipping which was a challenge for me. I was having trouble getting my swing going. Not initially, but the part at the end of the pull up where you push away from the bar to swing yourself into your next pull up. I got it for a couple of the sets I did, but I had a hard time with that aspect, which is kind of strange because normally it comes pretty naturally to me.

I had to do the pull ups in sets of 5 or so. It took a long time. But the runs were easy.

And I made it out in time for my next meeting after all. (Although I did skimp a bit on my rolling out/mobility stuff.) BUT I rolled out again later that night before bed.

Today my back is feeling tight, and I know deadlifts are on the schedule, so I’m not sure about that. I don’t think I feel comfortable doing deadlifts right now, but I might try to go anyway and do the other movements.

Try, Try Again

Back to the gym today. My back feels a lot better after a one day rest. I wasn’t super active yesterday, although my partner Eric and I did find time to ride our bikes to the park (3 miles roundtrip, NBD) and toss a frisbee for awhile. A long while. I forgot how much I love a good friz toss.

Anyway, I went back to the gym today, and luckily there weren’t any terribly heavy or back-straining movements. We started with our strength component, which was working up to a heavy overhead squat. I worked up to 73#. I felt like I could’ve done more, but our coach called time, so I didn’t have a chance.

Next we did our WOD, which was a 12-minute AMRAP of:

200 m sprint
10 hand release push ups
20 meter bear crawl
10 hand release push ups
20 meter bear crawl

I did 3 rounds and a 100 m run in the 12 minutes. I ran/walked the last 100 meters of the run.

This workout wasn’t bad. I was able to do everything RX. It was just mostly tiring because of all the cardio. I really hate bear crawls, and they take a lot out of you. Combined with the push ups, and my arms were pretty beat.

Anyway, this wasn’t bad and probably a good workout for me to come back to. I feel good!

Daniel

Back to the gym today, despite my mopey concerns about everything. It wasn’t bad. I was nervous when I came in and saw the workout because I thought it would force me to overextend myself, but it turned out OK. Today’s workout was Daniel:

50 pull ups
400 m run
21 thrusters (I did 43#, RX was 65)
800 m run
21 thrusters
400 m run
50 pull ups

For my pull ups, I used an orange band. For the last set of 25 on my last set of 50, I used an orange and red band. These felt OK, although definitely painful, and I was the last person to finish them in the first round. I tried really hard just to go slow and steady, though, and keep up a good pace.

The runs were OK. A little bit painful for the first 400 meters, but after that I acclimated pretty well and was able to do the 800 without too much hassle. I think I may have picked up a bit of time here since I was able to pass a few people during the running parts.

I took these thrusters REALLY slowly. And I did them with an empty (45#) bar. I really didn’t want to hurt myself, and my back was hurting already from some gardening work that I did yesterday, so I went super light. They were still uncomfortable, but at least I was able to get through them without too much pain. I broke them up into three sets of 7.

I finished this workout in 24:57. The last time I did Daniel was about a month ago, and it seems like I was able to do more weight, use less assistance with the bands, and finished about a minute or so after my current time, which is kind of crazy. I think, though, about a month ago I was kind of at the top of my game and since then I’ve slid back a little bit in terms of what I’m doing at Crossfit, partly because I haven’t been able to keep up a regular schedule and partly because of my own ideas about how far and hard I should push myself.

Even though I didn’t push myself quite as hard this time around, I was still sweating like crazy and out of breath and definitely tired. My goal is to get my heart rate up, give myself a good workout, and push myself to the point where I am maintaining and potentially getting stronger without completely killing myself either. Tough, but hopefully do-able.

Second Thoughts

Back to the gym today. But first, I have to tell you that after the workouts on Sunday and Monday, I was so sore. So so so so so sore. All over my body. I couldn’t lift my arms for two days. It was not a joke, and it did not make me happy with Crossfit. I had a realization on Monday after my workout that the group setting in Crossfit is definitely one of its biggest advantages—it motivates you to come, it encourages you to push yourself, and it builds a strong relationship between you and your gym. BUT sometimes it can have the opposite effect. It can push you to finish things you know in your heart and body that you shouldn’t. To do too many reps. Put on too much weight. To push yourself past where you should be.

Which is exactly what happened to me on Monday. I pushed myself way too hard, burned my body out completely, and spent the next few days hobbling around in pain. Some people encourage this behavior—to endure painful workouts—but I don’t think I’m into it. I really don’t. And I’ve also been experiencing more and more back pain from the lifts, partly because I know I’m not doing them correctly. My back is weak and my form suffers because of it. Despite concentrating on my weak points, I am still incredibly sore in my lower back after we do lifts.

All of this, combined with the fact that my enthusiasm for Crossfit is waning, is making me seriously consider what steps I want to take with Crossfit in the future. Things I have asked myself around this: what are my goals for Crossfit, do I want to quit, what else would I want to do, should I add some other less high-impact exercise into my life, is this healthy and safe?

I don’t really know the answers yet, but wanted to write it down just to be transparent about what’s happening (and it’s my blog dammit!)

Anyway, with that in mind, I went back to the gym today. We started with a strength/skill component of 4 rounds of:

3 deadlifts
rest 45 seconds
10 ring dips
rest 45 seconds

We were supposed to add weight to our deadlifts each time, but I didn’t. I actually didn’t even complete the four rounds we were supposed to do here. I did a 95# deadlift, and it really hurt. The next time I did add weight, up to 105#, and it really REALLY hurt. So I went back down to 95#, did another 3 reps and called it good.

After that we did an 8-minute AMRAP of
30 double unders
20 box jumps (20 inches)
10 dumbbell push presses (15# each)

I completed two rounds and 13 box jumps. The double unders were OK, although I gave myself a pretty good lashing (pic below). The box jumps were kind of hard, actually, which is unusual for me. Usually they are fine, but this time I felt like I was just barely getting on top of the box, even with significant effort. The dumbbell push presses were OK.

Anyway, overall, I feel ambiguously about Crossfit right now, but hopefully it will all become clear soon. I should probably start by talking with my coaches about some of my concerns. My fear about that is that they’re going to try and convince me to keep doing it whether or not it truly is the best choice for me. There’s a lot to consider in terms of how I want to move forward with my body. Can I continue doing Crossfit and be better about scaling to my own needs? I hope so…

Ouch.

Made it to the gym again today.

We started by finding our 3 rep max for our clean and jerk. I worked up to 100#.

Next was the WOD, which was 5 rounds of:

5 down and backs (running from one end of the gym to the other)
10 front squats (I did 65, RX was 95)
15 shoulders to overhead

OK this hurt. This hurt A LOT. This hurt to the point where I really really really wanted to stop. The running was fine, NBD. But the front squats were pretty much excruciating. I experienced the phenomenon that happens when I actually feel like I’m getting better at them throughout the workout, but especially the first couple of rounds I felt like I was going to die. I took them SO SLOWLY, which I don’t think makes them any easier.

Then of course the shoulders to overhead were pretty terrible. 15 reps is a lot. I broke it up into two rounds: one round of 8, and then another round of 7. For my last set I had to break it up into three sets of 5 otherwise I didn’t think it would be physically possible for me. It was truly a struggle. I finished in 22:25.

It’s been about half an hour since I finished the workout, and my arms are still shaking. My body is completely beat. I started today already pretty sore from yesterday’s workout. In addition to exhausting my muscles, this workout was also really hard on my wrists, and I am still consistently struggling to get the right form on my cleans, which always irritate my back, which is now feeling pretty sore. Ugh.

So I guess it’s a good thing that I’m going to be out of the gym for a couple of days. I’m heading up to Mt. Hood to see my partner. I’ll be back on Thursday, maybe in time for Crossfit, maybe not. But in the meantime, hopefully I can get some sauna and massage time out of the deal.

Angie

Wow, it has been a long time since I’ve been able to make it into the gym. And in the meantime, I haven’t been very active. I was traveling for work and then once I got back, my schedule was kind of crazy and I just haven’t had the time. And my body is feeling it. I’ve been more lethargic and stiff than I ever am when I’m doing Crossfit regularly.

Anyway, first day back and what’s our workout? Angie.

100 pull ups
100 push ups
100 sit ups
100 squats

This is one of these workouts that looks a lot worse than it actually is. Or, at least, 100 pull ups and 100 push ups are pretty bad, but the rest goes rather quickly. I think it looks more intimidating at first because normally everything’s broken up into rounds, so we end up doing 100+ reps of a movement but you don’t necessarily see it written out that way (AKA 7 rounds of 15 push ups doesn’t seem as intimidating, but it’s actually 105 reps.) ANYWAY.

I started my pull ups with an orange band. I was good right out of the gate but it started getting hard pretty quickly. Mostly my hands were getting torn up. The bar is vindictive – if you don’t spend enough time with it on a regular basis it tears you up before you can be friends again. For my last 15 pull ups, I grabbed another thin red band to help me out. It took me over 9 minutes for the pull ups.

After that it was REALLY hard to transition to push ups. I didn’t even try to do “real” push ups. I did them all on my knees. I could through them pretty quickly, but my forearms were so full of blood and kind of numb from the pull ups that it just felt strange. But I busted these out in sets of 10 and then sets of 5 towards the end.

And then it was on to sit ups, which I rocked out pretty hard. I did 40, took a quick break, then just tried to slow and steady work my way through the remaining 60. These weren’t too bad.

The squats were the easiest, I think. I did them slow and steady. I didn’t try to bust them out quickly, just up and down, up and down. I don’t think I even needed to rest because I was doing them at such a steady pace. And eventually they were done!

I finished this in 22:43. Not bad! But I’m sure I’m going to feel it tomorrow.

Elizabeth

Today was Sunday, so it was a benchmark workout. We did Elizabeth, which is

21-15-9
power cleans (95 was RX for women, I did 65)
ring dips (I did mine modified)

I did this workout in 9:20. The last time I did this workout (that I can find a record of) was June 3, 2012. My time was 10:59 using 63# and modified ring dips, although I suppose it doesn’t matter too much since I’m not doing RX weight. Anyway, it’s good to see improvement.

This wasn’t too bad. I went pretty light for my power clean weight to focus on my form and lo and behold, when I was done, my back wasn’t killing me (yay!) Also, I modified my ring dips pretty heavily. They are really hard for me, and our coaches aren’t letting us do banded ring dips anymore, so I had to do them on my toes.

Anyway, this workout was fine. Quick. Mostly I was just really tired and it was hard for me to make it to the gym, but I’m glad I made it in because I’m going to be going out of town for a couple of days, so I won’t make it back in until Thursday at the earliest. Ick.

Plank Out

Today we started with benchpresses. I started at 35# and worked up to 85#. I did 6 of them.

Next we did our WOD, which was 5 rounds of:

20 ring rows (I did mine modified)
40 double unders
60 second FLR (forward leaning rest)

This was tough. Ring rows suck, and 20 is a lot of reps to do in a row. Ugh. I modified them by putting my feet on the floor instead of a box and going from there. I had to move up quite a bit by the end of my 5 rounds to make it happen, and I took it pretty slow, usually doing 5-7 at a time.

Double unders weren’t terrible. Luckily I am pretty proficient at them, so I was able to bust through them pretty quickly. Most of the people in my class couldn’t do them, so this is where I was able to kind of speed ahead of everyone. I didn’t do great, though – I tended to do about 7-10 before messing up, which isn’t awesome for me.

The 60 second FLRs were torturous. A FLR is basically holding a plank position for 60 seconds on the rings. We didn’t have to do the 60 seconds unbroken though thank god. I mostly did them for 20 seconds at a time. I know that doesn’t sound like much but that was seriously all I could handle. This is so hard for me! The person next to me was able to do his all in one go, or broken up into 30/30 or 40/20. Crazy!

This took me 24:35 to complete. I didn’t feel great during this workout. Since last night my stomach has felt a little bit off. Mostly just full of liquid. I think I drank a little too much wine last night, and I tried to counteract it by drinking a bunch of water before I went to bed. I didn’t feel hungover at all when I got up, but I have felt slightly off all day. Then I drank a bunch of tea before the gym, and I could feel everything sloshing around in there. I was pretty nauseous by the end of the workout. Which was a shame because there was a paleo food cart outside my gym today!

Even though I felt pretty terrible, I stopped and got a salad anyway. Paleo is pretty meat heavy and I’m a vegetarian, so I wasn’t sure they would have anything for me, but they did! I got a broccoli and kale salad with avocados, cashews, apples, cucumbers, and tomatoes. OMG. It was seriously SO GOOD. And I am not a huge salad person. It was sweet and salty and creamy and DELICIOUS. I also got a hibiscus lime tea that was amazing. If you are in Portland, the name of the truck is called Knuckle Dragger. They are just starting out, so check their Twitter feed to find out where they’ll be.

Knuckle Dragger hibiscus tea and broccoli and kale salad. SO YUMMY

Oh, and one more thing – I think my body has recovered mostly from my first three days in a row back at Crossfit. I was seriously so sore yesterday it was kind of crazy. Eric massaged me a bunch, and I went to a meditative yoga session at the ashram near my house, which was also pretty therapeutic and helped me stretch out. I am really loving yoga and hoping to add it into my regular practice.

Getting Into the Routine

Today was my second day in a row at the gym in AWHILE. Woot!

We started with our 5-3-1 program (we’re still on this thing?!). Today was back squats. I started at 50# and worked up to 125#. For my 1+ at 125, I did 5 reps. This was pretty tough for me, and I almost failed on my first rep. Eek.

Next was our WOD. It was 3 rounds of:

20 wall balls (14# for women)
15 KB swings (35# for women)
10 burpee pull ups

I did this RX in terms of weights but I’m hesitant to say I RXed it because I’m not sure my wall balls were considered all RX (didn’t hit the target a couple of times and not sure I really broke parallel with my squat a few of the reps.)

This workout was tougher than it looked. The wall balls of course were hard for me. The first set I was able to do about 12 before I started taking breaks. The second set, I broke it up until sets willy nilly, and then the last set I pushed myself to do 4 sets of 5 reps. I usually do my wall balls with a 10# ball, but pushed myself to do a 14# ball, which felt VERY heavy.

KB swings were OK. They get my heart rate up, and it was a little bit hard on my back after all those back squats, but mostly they were fine.

The burpee pull ups were exhausting and kind of deceptive because it sounds like it’s all one movement, but really it’s two. A burpee and then a pull up. You were supposed to jump up after your burpee, grab the bar, and continue pulling up for a pull up, but I couldn’t do it that way. I had to kip my pull ups. So I would do a burpee, jump up, grab the bar, swing, and then pull up, drop down, repeat. Exhausting.

I finished this workout in 12:46. Which wasn’t terrible but definitely not fast either.