Hybrid Strongman Recap

That was FUN.

I started off my first competition ever by meeting up with the rest of team CFCC at Hybrid in Stamford, CT, around 8am. We weighed in, drank coffee, ate primal pacs (ok, well, I ate a primal pac - those things are GOOD), and did some general people-watching while we warmed up.

(Let me tell you...there were definitely some great people to watch. Everyone was ridiculously strong, but...yeah. Sometimes people take themselves real seriously. And sometimes they wear Tapout gear and use epic amounts of chalk for things that I didn't realize chalk could be used for...like front squats. But whatever.)

I was all suited up with my new tiger knee socks, hoping they'd help me PR my clean & jerk.

Things started off very promptly, and I was pumped for the first event. I was in the women's middleweight class - 131-155lbs. First event was a "carrying medley:" 50' farmers' carry (125lbs each hand/250lb total), 50'' keg carry (125lb), 50" backwards tire drag (90lb). Don't let the relatively light weight of the tire fool you - that shit was TOUGH. This event was in the 50% or so of the day that I felt confident about, and I loved it.

YEAH KEG.

There was a 90-second time cap - my back hit the wall in the tire drag around 1:12. In retrospect, I wish I'd run with the farmer's carry, since I definitely think I could have - but that's for next year.

Next up - yoke walk. My yoke was loaded with 320lbs. 90 seconds to get max distance.

It wasn't that heavy, but I felt a really sharp pinch in between a couple of vertebrae near the top of my spine/base of my neck. I'm not familiar with yoke walking at all, and I have no sense of whether that was an uncomfortable-but-not-serious pain, or a sign of possible injury, so I voluntarily backed out after my first 50' walk. I tried varying my setup per a teammate's recommendation, but the neck pinch was still there, so I left it alone after that. I do this shit for fun - I'm not going to risk real injury. Since I was very unsure of this in general, I consider it a success.

Third event was Atlas stones. As I mentioned last week, I trained with stones ranging up to 115 and 135lbs. I got the 115lb stone up to my shoulder easily, but could NOT MOVE the 135lb stone. So, the 130lb stone I needed to move for Hybrid was about a 50-50. Either the adrenaline would kick in, and that 5lbs would make a difference and I'd get it up (probably for reps)...or I'd struggle mightily and not budge it.

I stared that fucker down HARD.

And tried and tried and tried to get it up...and didn't move it.

My no-rep was not unexpected so it didn't get me down. Our fabulous coach Erin bought a bunch of stone molds while we were there, so you better believe I'm going to get that 130lb stone...and the 145lb stone...real soon.

Next up was the press medley - 60 seconds to get five implements ground-to-overhead however you could. I faced up with an 85lb sandbag, a 65lb dumbbell, a 105lb axel/fat bar, a 115lb log, and a 145lb barbell. Of these, I was confident about the 65lb dumbbell and knew I stood a solid chance at the sandbag, the axel and maybe the log. The barbell was 27lbs over my max clean & jerk - hence my prayers to the tiger-sock-god.

Turns out I should have asked my socks to help me get under that sandbag. I spent the entire 60 seconds trying to get it over my head. Motherfucker.

Finally, it was time for the front squat ladder. AMRAP in three minutes, racking after every round - i.e. - 1, rack, 1-2-rerack, 1-2-3-rerack, etc. My bar was 125lbs, and even though that's a pretty significant percentage of my max to date (155lbs), I felt real good about this.

And bam. Even though I gave up my belt halfway through to share with a teammate, which ate up a little time, I still got through 5 rounds + 4 reps, for a total of 19 125lb front squats. Not too shabby.

The CFCC team, post-competition and pre-stuffing our faces with beer and french fries:

Thanks to PhillyGuy and Erin for the pics of me looking strong and generally beastmode.

And then we drove home and I slept forever. Didn't wake up until almost 8:30 this morning - a solid hour later than I usually sleep. Hamstrings were REAL sore, my quads were all kinds of jacked up with scrapes and bruises, and my shoulders were bruised from the yoke...but I didn't feel like total death.

PhillyGuy and I started our day slowly and fabulously. We ate take-out eggs from Famous Fourth Street (my omelet was the size of my head and stuffed with veggies - I added some smoked salmon for extra protein), watched Kevin James standup, and played scrabble.

And then it was back at it. Off to CFCC for some really light oly (clean & jerk only, focusing way more on form than weight and never getting above 93lbs), followed by my seven-minute AMRAP burpees for the open.

I could swear I did more, but my official score is 75. When my judge called out 50, I wanted to cry - I thought I was at 60, and I was feeling really good...but it wouldn't be the first time I screwed up counting. That was kind of a gut-check. But 75 isn't anything to sneeze at - particularly since I did it the day after Hybrid.

Next on the agenda: training up for the South Philly Rumble team competition at Crossfit South Philly. Go team!

So Much

to post about (sort of). So little time (totally).

I have a bunch of great stuff backed up, like the amazing lamb shanks I made last week from "Make it Paleo," which I picked up when Bill and Hayley from the Primal Palate joined us at CFCC for our Halloween party/WOD.

And this weekend's Rittenhouse Run, where I did a bunch of double-unders and turkish get-ups in public, in 30-degree weather, while wearing red lululemon shorts and green knee socks (this is seriously a fabulous combination of a lot of the things that make people want to punch crossfitters, I think).



(Thanks to CFCC and Mike Mackintosh for the pic! Which I stole. Without permission.)

BUT since it is December 20 (HOLYCRAPITISDECEMBER20!!!!) and I have a lot (a LOT) of crap to finish this week, I will just leave you with some workout logging and promises to make more fun posts later on.

Saturday December 10 - little WOD named "faceplant" to get me moving before Mama PhillyGirl's wedding. AMRAP 5 minute row for calories, 4 minutes of squat cleans (155/105), 3 minutes handstand pushups, 2 minutes box jumps, 1 minute kettlebell swings (1.5/1p). Scaled with 95lb squat cleans (and WOW those are a WHOLE LOT HARDER after rowing like crazy for five minutes) and regular push ups (by the way, I rep these "for real" now!). Score: 138, though I suspect it may have been a bit higher since I found myself very uncertain of my rep count on at LEAST three different occasions during the workout.

Sunday December 11: intro to oly. Didn't drop a bar on my foot this time (woo!). Snatch: 53x2 (hey where's your pull?), 53x2 (what third pull?), 53F/53, 58x2 (OH, right, PULL UNDER), 58x2, 58x2 (landed super high, but whatever), 63x1 (muscled up, dumped at top), 63x1. Clean & jerk: focusing on that goddamn third pull and putting my feet where they belong in the jerk. 63x2, 73x2+2j, 73x2+2j, 83x2, 93x1, 98x1, 103x1. Some pull up work - 2 unassisted chins, ALMOST one unassisted pronated pull up.

Monday December 12: back squats, peak of 5. 75-85-105-115-125-135-145. Dear body: why do you insist on folding in half when you squat? Metcon: 2 rounds, AMRAP 2 minutes each of back squat (185/135), burpees to plate, row for calories. 11/28/25/4/26/26 = 120 total, as RX'ed.

Tuesday December 13: weighted pronated pull up, peak of 3. Last time I did this was over the summer and woo boy have I improved. At that point, peaked at average band + 7.5 (maybe 10). This time - average band, average + 7.5, light band, light + 7.5. Metcon: Angie (100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 100 squats). I did half-Angie using a light band and otherwise RX'ed. CRAPFEST, those push ups killed me - took me more than 8 minutes to complete the push ups, but glad I chose to do them legit. 20:34.

Thursday December 15: I am putting this in here because I am so sad. I've been looking SO FORWARD to deadlifting...but Wednesday night I gave Cosmo a rib bone and let's just say it was too rich for his blood. SO, instead of deadlifting for 5 on Thursday night, I washed my dog. And all of his bedding. And fed him pepto-bismol.

Friday December 16: Strict press, peak of 5. Um, I have gotten a WHOLE LOT STRONGER. Previous max, from the last CF Total back in August, was 75 - and that was a true max, since I failed at 80. This time: 45-55-65-70, and then 75 for FOUR. Yes, I did my previous max for a set of four, and came SO CLOSE to getting it for five. BAM. Metcon: 3 rounds for time of 250m row and short loop run, with option of subbing 30 double-unders for short loop run. I foolishly chose the double-unders since I haven't run on my foot since busting it. BAD choice. Would have been faster for me to walk the short loop. 11:05 (everyone else finished in like...6 minutes. and cheered my on during my last round of jumping rope. wherein I subbed 90 singles because I did not want to be there until midnight).

Saturday: couple pull ups, followed by a brutal partner WOD. 3 rounds of 50 wallballs (20/14), 50 overhead squats (95/65), and 50 pull ups. Each round for time, rest between rounds as needed. Mel and I went RX'ed, except that I used a light band for the pull ups. 10:38, 10:31, 10:38. Um, and during the third round I sort of dropped a barbell on my face. I...I just have no excuse.

Sunday: Rittenhouse Run. Will explain later.

Monday: some pre-class pull ups (3 or 4 with mixed grip, 1 pronated with some serious kicking). back squat, peak of 3. 85, 105, 125, 145, 155 (baaaaaaaah). 155 didn't count, because while I did get the weight up and down, I did that thing where I fold in half and then on the third one didn't get anywhere near the right depth. Metcon was fun: 5 rounds for time of 5 back squats with 50% of your peak set, 60' bear crawl, 10 russian kettlebell swings (2/1.5p). 6:20, as RX'ed (73 pounds), immediately collapsed on to the floor next to my bar afterwards.

And now I leave you with a picture of my dogs, sharing a dog bed that I set up next to me in the kitchen while I was working. They were great officemates.



Tell me a funny story.

Not Done AWing

yeah, okay. totally not done with yesterday's session of attention whoring.

SO. Last night was sumo deadlifts for a peak of 3, followed by a heavy-deadlift-and-metcon burpee.



I'm not as strong with sumo deadlifts as I am with conventional deadlifts, and I could feel it in my form - back rounding some, letting the bar drift out, that kind of thing. That, plus I'm still feeling a little "meh" from being sick earlier this week. So - 135, 135, 155, 155, 175, 195, 205.

This is where having a coach really makes a difference. Erin had me repeat all kinds of sets that I otherwise would have considered too light and "fine" - and at the end, when it started to get pretty heavy and I thought I was done, she was the one who said "I think you have 205 in you." And duh, I did.

And then she said something crazy - that I should do the metcon RX'ed.

OK, look. My conventional DL max is 230. Doing five sets of five at 185 seemed a little daunting on its own, let alone alternating them with burpees with no rest. I was thinking I'd do it at 155 or 165, but RX'ed...so I said I'd think about it. And while I was busy "thinking about it" she had already put an asterisk next to my name on the whiteboard...so...yeah. Not going to say no now.



And WHAT THE FUCK HOLY SHIT I DID IT. It was really tough - after the first set of 5 I couldn't rep them anymore, so I was doing 1 or 2, then dropping the bar. And it took me 8 minutes even (most people, appropriately scaled, finished between 3:30 and 4:30ish). But...I was one of two women to do the metcon RX'ed the entire day. The other was Cassie, who is pretty much my lifting idol, has a max DL 110 pounds OVER mine, and killed my time by three freakin' minutes.

I'll take that ANY DAY. (Of course, I was so fried afterwards that gymnastics was a complete joke. I tried handstand walking and either couldn't get it up (heh) or would get up and then collapse. Rolling pistols weren't super-successful either. But I think metcons like today's are crucial to my short-term goal of hitting 250 for my max by the end of 2011.

And now it's Friday, which means it's steak night. AND it's a rare casual day at work, which means I'm in jeans. (I could add a little piece here about how I'm in jeans I haven't been able to fit into pretty much since I bought them in the fall of 2009, but that seems unnecessary. Oh well.) Happy weekend all!

PhillyGirlAWs

Balance, yo.



Carrot sticks and 77% dark chocolate courtesy of Sook Hee's Produce in the Comcast Center. Side of to-do list courtesy of life.

I've had a really good couple of weeks, fitness-wise. First, let me start with an unapologetic, attention-whore, self-congratulating remark: I CAN TOTALLY TELL I'M LEANING OUT BECAUSE MY GODDAMN PANTS FIT BETTER.

And really, it's so much more obnoxious than that. Because today I am wearing a pair of chinos I bought late last spring, when I'd dropped some el bees doing P90X. I regained said el bees during a period of baking obsession last fall (which I am sure is a complete and total coincidence, and not in any way causally related). Thus, these chinos, while wearable, were definitely bordering on uncomfortably snug.

THEY ARE LOOSE. Not like, too big loose, but comfortably loose. And every time I put them on, I'm like "haha YAAAAY my pants are loose!" But that's not it. Legitimately, all day long, I think to myself "heh...heh...these pants fit AWESOME." When I stand up, when I sit back down, when I lean over to put shoes on, when I walk downstairs to buy carrot sticks and chocolate.

So, you know, that's good stuff. But I'm getting stronger, too. This week's recaps:

- Friday: Lynne. I benched for the first time since at least 2007 or 2008. Back then, I was doing (I think) 65 or 75lbs for sets of eight. Friday, I used 90lbs for the metcon, which was 5 rounds of max bench presses followed by max pull ups. I thought I took a picture of my sets, but I guess not - can't recall with total accuracy, but I did something like 7/11, 7/11, 7/10, 6/10 and 5/9 - with 90lbs and the average band.

- Sunday: gymnastics. Muscle-up work. Once I get a pull up, I think these will start to come together for me. Metcon was redonk.



I started getting sick this weekend, and I could really feel my weakness in the handstand holds. Normally I can do 60 seconds without too much of a problem, but after the first round on Sunday my shoulders started to collapse between 40 and 45 seconds each time. That meant 4 broken handstands, which meant a cashout of 40 burpees. I did them in sets of 10 and knocked them out in about 3 minutes, which is SIGNIFICANT improvement over that time I did 50 burpees in 4:05 and legitimately thought I was going to pass out afterwards.



(AW moment: post-metcon, while I was regaining my composure, Sammy told me she noticed how my body composition was changing. The words "your back looks ripped" may have come up. AW AW AW AW. )

I took Monday off from the gym and spent the night on the couch drinking broth and playing scrabble. It helped my recovery tremendously.

Tuesday - ring dips, peak set of 3. I'm still using bands to assist but am getting stronger. Light band - 1/2 light band (one strap only) - mini band - 1/2 mini (complete fail) - 1/2 mini (one rep, then fail). Metcon: 3 rounds of 1min max ring dips (LB), 1 min ring rows strong arm, 1 min ring rows weak arm, 1 min row for calories, 1 min rest. Score: 151 (total reps + total calories). Not too shabby. Stayed for gymnastics; worked on kipping pull ups and kipping for handstand pushups. Between the metcon and my cold, I was definitely feeling fatigued, but my kip is getting better. I will throw a goddamn party when I get my first bodyweight pull up.

Wednesday - sandbags, double-unders. Goal: get a sandbag off the ground and overhead any way you can. 40-50-60-70 (couple attempts). Sandbags are awkward to clean and not easy to control overhead - both times I did the 70lb bag, it fell backwards off my hands at the top, since I couldn't keep a grip on it when cleaning. Metcon was awesome: 5 rounds for time of 35 DU's (I scaled to 10) and short loop run. I finished in 14:59. Runs felt strong, and by the end I was stringing DU's together "unbroken" (meaning "without stomping on the rope or getting the rope stuck in my hair," not "DU after DU after DU without fail or interruption") with singles in between. Wish I'd thought of that in the beginning - I would have shaved off a BUNCH of time.

Um and also PhillyGuy got Sophie a new toy. It's a stuffed hedgehog.



Or her doppelganger. Whatever.

GBAAAST

Can you call this "fusion?"



Part imitation-PF Chang-lettuce wrap, part taco.



Chicken, corn, mushrooms, onions, and a whole lot of cumin and chili powder. With a salsa blanket, chillin' in little romaine lettuce boats. These were quite messy to eat, but tasty nonetheless.



With a side of Scrabble. PhillyGuy and I play at least a couple times a week. He always seems to get 7-letter words. I get GBAAAST. Quite unfair.

Yesterday, I went with a bunch of CFCC'ers to the grand opening of a new crossfit affiliate in south Jersey - Crossfit 1Force. They're down in Deptford, near where I went to college. Naturally, I took a bunch of pictures, and naturally, I put them all on my laptop and deleted them from my phone...BUT didn't upload them to picasa, so now that I'm posting from work, I'm SOL. Oh well.

Anyway - 1Force. is. AWESOME. The space is amazing - a high-ceiling warehouse/garage style setup with a massive floor. They have shiny new equipment, a pull up bar with varying heights, a buttload of bars and stacks and stacks and stacks of plates. AND they let us play around with everything and led us in a killer 9/11-themed metcon, AND then we got to watch our coaches and some incredibly strong members do the official 9/11 throwdown workout. AND AND AND we had a paleo feast afterwards, with ribs and chicken and pork and copious amounts of Frank's Red Hot.

As we used to say on the Knot (yes, I frequented that website when planning my wedding oh-so-long ago), TPIWWP (this post is worthless without pictures). I know, I know. So let's just recap the rest of my workouts from this week, huh?

After I left off the other day:

- Thursday - KB skillwork and front squats for a peak set of 3. My form is slowly improving, but I seriously need to focus on doing things RIGHT instead of just being like, "ok imma lift some weight now." 65-85-85-100-110 (!). For a set of three, 110 is a 5lb PR for me. I've done 115 for two but failed every time I've attempted it for three. Soooooo I'll take it. Metcon: Tabata american KB swings. Went RX'ed at 1 pood; 85. The high score of the day was 118 and I seriously do NOT get it.

Stayed for gymnastics. More muscle-up work - GOD this highlights how weak my upper body is compared to my lower body. I have got to work harder on this. I suppose I need to get pull ups first, huh? I did this metcon also, because it seemed fun AND to get the extra muscle-up practice. AMRAP in 15 minutes of 4 jumping muscle- ups, 5 tuck ups, 10 rocking hollows. I did 7 rounds even. I also learned that my body simply does not know how to do a tuck jump unless I do it cheerleading style with the arms and everything. I am sure I looked amazing and not like a jackass AT ALL.

Friday: some brief(ish) skillwork on the good morning and the ab wheel rollout. Which was just fantastic because my abs were quite sore from the 70 rocking hollows I did on Thursday night. Metcon: 3 rounds for time of 600m run (twice around the short loop), 50 good mornings (25lbs), 25 ab wheel rollouts. I scaled the rollouts with some band support, which made all the difference in the world, but sweet jebus did they hurt anyway. My goal was to finish in 21 minutes, but I made it in 21:24...which was sort of frustrating, because I had WAY too much gas left in my tank at the end of the third run. Bah.

Sunday: 9/11 tribute WOD at Crossfit 1Force. AMRAP in 9:11 of 9 DLs (225/155), 11 wallballs (20/14), 9 bar-facing burpees, 11 dumbbell thrusters (35/20), 9 wallball slams (20/14), 11 parallel jumps over bar (1 each side = 1 rep). I went RX'ed on all but the DL's, which I scaled to 135 at the advice of Erin. I completed 1 round + 40 reps, or through the thrusters in the second round. I was SHOCKED at how tough the thrusters were, and how many times I missed reps on the wallballs (by not hitting the wall at all - so, so embarassing).

Make This Chicken

I know it's not really much to look at, but this chicken is fucking delicious.



And it's so, so simple.

Make this rub:

2.5-ish tsp. salt
4 tsp. paprika
1.5-ish tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp. thyme
1.5 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper

(adapted from this recipe. I decreased the salt and increased everything else to make a little less than double the amount in the original post. as with most rubs, you can screw around with the proportions to taste.)

(also, please note that I do not, in any way, endorse that forum's reference to "the Neanderthin diet." seriously??)

Pour the rub and a buttload of chicken thighs into a large ziplock bag. Mix it around to coat. I used about 15 chicken thighs and everything fit nicely into a gallon size freezer bag. Let the entire mess sit and marinate overnight.

In the morning, dump into a crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours (I think 6 would have been sufficient, but my crockpot is not flexible and forces me to choose between high for 6, which I think may have dried it out, and low for 8, which was completely fine). You don't need to add any liquid, since the thighs are much juicier than breasts and will produce more than enough in cooking to keep everything nice and moist.

Once this is cooked, give it a stir with a spoon and watch it shred to pieces. Per the original recipe inspiration, this rub would be amazing on a whole roast chicken, though I think I would steer clear of crockpotting a whole chicken (I like the skin to be a little crispy). I used boneless chicken thighs, but I bet bone-in would deepen the flavor. I would NOT substitute chicken breasts - if you are scared of the fattier cuts of chicken and insist on using breasts, grill them instead, or add some kind of liquid (orange juice maybe?).

To give you an idea of quantity, fifteen chicken thighs was about 4.5 pounds total, and yielded enough pulled chicken for PhillyGuy and I to have nice big bowls for dinner last night, PLUS leftovers for three days' worth of lunches for me.

I cannot say it enough. This chicken is fucking delicious.

Recent post-total Crossfit workouts:

- Monday: Sandy Fran. 21-15-9 of thrusters and pull ups. This is a classic Crossfit benchmark workout typically done with a barbell. Instead, we used giant canvas bags of sand. I used a 40lb sandbag and the "average" band. To say that it is awkward to clean a sandbag from the floor is a vast understatement. Also, to say I suck at pull ups is similarly a vast understatement. 13:40 (to give you perspective, a good Fran time is under 5:00. Plenty of people finished Sandy Fran in under 7-8 minutes on Monday). My thrusters were actually fine, once I got the bag up, but after my first five pull ups, I could not string together more than 2-3 at a time. My last three reps took me an entire minute. GAH.

- Wednesday: Christine. Another benchmark workout, and I could not be less thrilled to share my name with her. 3 rounds, for time, of 500m row, 10 deadlifts with 50% max (115), and 21 box jumps (20"). At 18:19, I was the last to finish in my heat by a good couple of minutes and I do not think I could have finished a second sooner. I hate Christine for the same reason I hate racing 5Ks: you need to sprint the ENTIRE time and you never get to hit your stride.

that's what she said

A little mid-Irene blogging.

The dogs don't like severe weather. When I got back from the gym this morning you'd have thought they hadn't seen me in months.

Speaking of which. Oh, crossfit: my suck list is long.

TWSS.

But seriously. I mentioned when I first started at CFCC that crossfit is humbling. Very, very humbling. There are a few things I'm decent at - deadlifts, handstands, some other gymnastics stuff. And there are a bunch of things I'm solid at - squatting (at least I think so - it's been a while since I've really squatted), turkish getups, most other basic lifts.

But the list of things that I'm just NOT good at - or at least not good at yet - is so, SO long.

Burpees (they kill me and they kill me FAST). ROWING (oh my GOD i am so inefficient and uncoordinated). Ring work. Pull ups (I can rep 5 unbroken with a light + mini band...only 3 or 4 without the mini band...and if we're doing them in a metcon I still use the average band). Broad jumps - oh god, these are awful for me. We had a metcon that involved 60' broad jumps and it seriously took me like, 20 jumps to get across each time. And pushups - PUSHUPS! I did like, 4 billion pushups every week for over a year. Little did I know that I was doing them way wrong. Now I do them right and I do them on my knees. And what the hell happened to my running? (Hint: since I started crossfitting I haven't run one time unless it was in a metcon. That is likely why the short run, which was so easy the first time I did it in the onramp, now whoops my ass.)

Le sigh.

As embarassing as it is to be at the bottom of the group - I told Liz on Friday that my only goal was to not have the shortest recorded broad jump of the day, and I BARELY made it - it's nice to have so many areas to improve in. My wrist and forearm strength has increased substantially since I started, which in turn has helped my pullups, other bar work and ring work.

But still. My suck list is long.

This week's workouts (which were designed to let us taper for the Crossfit Total, which has now been pushed forward a week due to hurricane):

Monday: conventional deadlift, very light peak of 1. 115-135-155-185-185. Metcon: for time - 100 meter row, 5 strict pullups, 10 american KB swings, 5 strict pullups, 10 american KBS, 5 strict pullups, 100meter row. 5:27 (1pood/average band).

Tuesday: back squat, v. light peak of 2. 65-85-95-95-95 (WOMP WOMP WOMP. my form sucked). Metcon: 60' burpee sprint ladder, up to 8 burpees. 2:46. Stuck around for gymnastics; worked on handstand walking, and added "rope climb" to my suck list.

Thursday: general work on press, sumo deadlift high pull and front squat, in preparation for the metcon: with about 75% of your max press, 5 rounds for time of 3 strict press, 5 sumo deadlift high pulls and 7 front squats. 6:07 with 60lbs - had to push press the last two rounds. Stayed for gymnastics. worked on rolls (front and back) and ring support.

Friday: broad jump, 4 attempts. 75" (I don't want to talk about it). Metcon: tabata wallball slams for power, 14lb.

Saturday: gymnastics. Bridge ups, kickovers and freestanding handstands. 5 attempts and all I could do was a 2 second hold - but the best time of the day was 5 seconds, so yeah. My bridges are good, but my shoulders are so weak I can't press up with my feet on a box - I need a ton of assistance. Metcon was brutal but fun: 5 rounds for time of 10 handstand kickups to the wall, 10 toes to bar, 10 bridgeups and 10 rocking hollows. This felt strong, even though my toes to bar were more like knees to chest - next time i'm going to try to actually get my toes to the bar, since so far I've just assumed that I can't. 17:21. shoulders fried.

Wrestling

This week's training was a nice balance of "shit I'm good at" and "shit I'm not that good at."

Monday: turkish getup (12kg kettlebell; meh), 50 burpees for time (4:05 - meh)

Tuesday: conventional deadlift, set of three (95, 115, 125, 145, 165, 165 - getting heavier!); tabata box jumps (20# box, not that many jumps - I think 58)

Wednesday: broad jump (77.5" - not so hot); AMRAP in 10 minutes of 60' broad jump, 30 second handstand hold (7 rounds exactly)

Friday: front squat, set of three (75, 95, 105, 115 (failed on third), 85, 85); tabata squats (139)

Things I am decent at: deadlifts, tabata squats, handstand holds. Things I am not great at: broad jump, doing lots of burpees without resting in between, front squat. I suspect I'll be OK at turkish getups next time. But holy shit - between the (really ugly) box jumps and the (less ugly but it takes a million of them to get me 60') broad jumps and the (much better but still brutal) tabata squats, my quads are raging this week.

I'm hitting up my first gymnastics class today. We're scheduled to work on "rolls" (forward? backward? who knows - either way I'm going to have to work my ass off to stand up at the end instead of getting stuck) and freestanding handstands. Which I think I'll be okay at. I'm looking forward to starting to work on handstand pushups, because that seems like a pretty sweet party trick.

Yesterday, PhillyGuy and I trashed our old, sorry-looking shag rug and replaced it with this gorgeous silk oriental-style rug my mom gave us. That involved a lot of rearranging of furniture, and a lot of vacuuming.

The dogs don't really like when we move furniture around, and they REALLY don't trust the vacuum.

But they do like the rug.

It's a great surface for wrestling.

And taking a break.

I know it may be lame, but I love my little dogs.

Barefoot Metcon

Today was my first-ever team/partner metcon at CFCC. On the board:

In teams of 3, for time:

- 50 handstand pushups (if no HSPU, assisted HSPU or regular pushups)

- 100 deadlifts (225/135)

- 150 pullups

- 200 box jumps (24"/20")

Reps could be split up any way we wanted, but only one person could work at a time, and each exercise had to be completed before we moved on to the next task.

There was six teams. One went completely Rx'ed, four went "as Rx'ed as possible," and then my little beginner team went super-scaled. Regular pushups, 75lb deadlifts, and we used a band from the start to assist our pull ups.

I had started the day feeling awfully pleased with myself, because PhillyGuy and I managed to get up and out of the house with enough time to hit Costco, Target, Wegmans AND Starbucks and still have me at CFCC by 11:45. I felt slightly less self-congratulatory when I realized I forgot a headband.

I did the metcon barefoot, which actually wasn't that bad. I was a little wigged out at first doing barefoot box jumps, but I quickly got over it and got into a decent groove.

Since I'm strongest at deadlifting, I did 50 while my two teammates did 25 each. We started the pullups with the plan of doing splits of 10 each, but I quickly realized that was beyond my capabilities. Leila rocked the pullups, knocking out at least 10 at a time, while Tina and I kicked in 5-7 each for our turns. A little more than halfway through, we had to add a second resistance band, which made the last chunk of pull ups much easier.

All together, we did it in just over 23 minutes. Even with our crazy scaling, I was dripping with sweat by the end. My hair was soaked with sweat and probably spraying whoever was unfortunate enough to be nearby, since I had nothing to contain it. My forearms were seizing up. My shins are tender and will likely be bruised by the end of the day. And my feet - well, they're filthy.

But holy crap that was fun. I think I'll show up on Sundays more often.

When I got home, I wasn't starving, but I was very aware that it was almost 2pm and all I'd consumed all day was two iced coffees and a pecan pie larabar. I chugged a coconut water while making myself some bacon and eggs.

Three eggs, seasoned with Traders Joes 21 Seasoning Salute and scrambled, covered with salsa. Hard to see are the two slices of bacon I tore into pieces and tossed under the eggs. Not pictured is the last of my (very oxidized) guacamole that I mostly ate with a fork, but sort of topped my eggs with.

I just might spend the next 45 minutes or so joining Sophie in my bed.

...but before I do, quick recap of this week's workouts:

- Monday - front squats at CFCC. Peak set was 85lbs for three. Metcon: five sets, for time, of 5 front squats at 50% of weight from skillwork, followed by 100ft sprints. Time: 6:23, squatting 45lb bar.

- Tuesday - kettlebell swings and strict presses. 60lbs for three - nasty form. Skipped the metcon because I tweaked something in my left hip flexor between Sunday's hot yoga, Monday's squats and Tuesday's KB swings, so I took a lacrosse ball to it while I watched everyone else do three rounds of single-armed KB presses, american KB swings and double-unders.

- Wednesday - deadlifts and "neural recharge." Easy sets of 1 - I worked up to 135. I aspire to pull at LEAST 200lbs for my max by the end of the summer...let's see if I can get there in a month. Metcon - 6 sets of single-armed medball throws. 30 seconds weak arm, 30 seconds strong arm, 30 seconds rest. I used a 15-lb ball.

- Saturday - hot yoga. Tough and frustrating but still felt good afterwards.

- Sunday - partner workout at CFCC. 23:something, super-scaled, and we earned every second of it.

I'm really liking this whole CrossFit business. I picked up a jumprope for $5 at Target this morning to practice (read: attempt) double-unders.

Steak Night

Friday night in my house is frequently steak night.

And not just steak - it's the best night ever, because I get to sit on my couch in sweatpants, eat steak AND watch Ghost Adventures on the travel network.

(Side note: does anyone else watch that show? What is the DEAL with Zack Bagans? He looks like the skinny nerd from high school who read a book on how to be awesome, but can't quite get the execution right. He's kind of jacked, but he carries it awkwardly, and OMG OMG THOSE SHIRTS I CANNOT LIVE.)

I had a couple of sweet potatoes to use up, so I made some "fries." I sliced them up lazy-style, into rounds:

And gave them a bath in olive oil, chili powder, cinnamon, paprika, cayenne pepper and kosher salt.

I baked/roasted them for about 20 minutes at 425, along with some broccoli, while PhillyGuy manned the grill.

I LOVE STEAK NIGHT.

As a second bonus, PhillyGuy spent some time in Gettysburg yesterday, so he was able to replenish our (pathetic little) fruit supply. This week's treats included a buttload of cherries...

...some super-fat blackberries...

and a bunch of peaches.

All of which I dumped into a bowl for breakfast this morning along with a giant dollop of almond butter.

CrossFit Update:

So, I finished my six On-Ramp classes, and last night was my first "big girl" CrossFit session. Here's a recap of the skills I picked up in On-Ramp:

- Overhead squats (no weight yet) - metcon involved one-armed overhead squats and burpees

- Russian kettlebell swings - metcon involved KB swings and goblet squats

- One-armed KB press, double-unders (disclaimer: I have not actually 'picked up" this skill yet, and have yet to really do a double-under) - metcon involved presses and single-unders

- Pullups (WOMP WOMP WOMP) - metcon involved tabata pullups, pushups and air squats

- DEADLIFTS - metcon involved short runs and deadlifts

- more deadlifts (no weight) and broad jumps - metcon involved broad jumps and medball slams

Last night's session focused on the back squat. Since it was my first time squatting with anything besides, well, nothing or a broomstick, the focus was mainly on form. I did probably five or six sets of 5 squats, building up to 85 pounds. I could have gone heavier if I wasn't so sloppy...yet another reason to work on my abs.

Metcon was three sets of AMRAP in 60 seconds of back squats, pushups and knees to elbows. Squats were definitely my strength in this - I got to use only the bar, and was able to do close to 30 squats in the first round and still managed to do more than 20 squats each of in the second and third. Pushups were OK, but it should come as no surprise that my weak point was knees to elbows. MY GRIP STRENGTH BLOWS.

I'm probably going to hit up this morning's on ramp class - I'm not limited to onramps anymore, but they're working on handstand and handstand pushups, both of which I'm eager to learn. In the meantime, I've been googling "how to build grip strength" and let me tell you, I've found some fascinating contraptions out there.

Happy Saturday!

REDEMPTION

thank god.

I was up early(ish) yesterday, and had plenty of time before crossfit to make breakfast. Of course, I didn't have much in the way of, you know, breakfast food. I knew I wanted eggs.

Delicious, over-easy eggs.

I improvised while the eggs were frying and ended up heating up the last of a rotisserie chicken I had pulled apart over the last week, dumping the eggs on top, pouring on a bunch of corn and black bean salsa, and mixing everything together.

At the last minute, I threw a handful of grape tomatoes on the side and called it good.

So, my fifth On Ramp class was at 11am yesterday. I was feeling a little disheartened after Thursday's pullup disaster, so I was happy to see that the WOD focused on a couple of (what I thought were) my strengths: short runs and deadlifts. My legs are definitely stronger than my upper body.

And halfway through the skillwork, I got to hear the eight most beautiful words in the english language:

"You're gonna be really good at this lift."

Skillwork was to build up to an easy set of three deadlifts, and then take it down by half for the WOD. We started to run out of time, but based on how my last three at 95lbs felt, I think I'd have been easily able to do 135lbs for the easy set of three. My form was good and I felt strong - which was so, SO refreshing after hanging there helplessly like a fish on the pullup bar the other day.

WOD was fabulous. Three rounds for time of "the short run" - a loop around the block that I estimate to be about .17~ish miles (not sure - definitely more than a tenth but less than a quarter mile) followed by 10 deadlifts. I lifted 95lbs for the WOD. Looking back, I could probably have pushed myself more on the runs - my hamstrings were burning on the last two - but I finished sweating and feeling good in 6:07.

Post-crossfit refreshment:

I felt completely redeemed in that class and I can't wait to go back. Yay crossfit.

Like the other night, I came home starving and craving something cool and refreshing. I threw together a quick salad with the last of what I had in the fridge - cucumber, tomatoes, olives and peppers, with some feta cheese.

Topped with my last two salmon burgers. Time to go back to Costco.

How's your weekend?

Humbling

Let me tell you what I liked and hated most about Thursday's class at CFCC.

Ho.Lee.Shit. It was humbling.

See, I decided to check out crossfit because it seemed fun. Lots of emphasis on functional movements, heavy weights and short, intense spurts of hard freakin' work. And I felt like, hey, I'll be good at this! Maybe not number one immediately, but I'll be good at this - I'm naturally kinda strong and I'm in decent shape.

On Tuesday, our focus was on double-unders (which I knew I was not going to be good at - coordination, she is not my strong suit), and one-armed shoulder presses (which I know I am OK at). I felt strong through the shoulder presses in the WOD, and - blessedly - was able to jump rope - at least the single-unders - without looking like a complete moron. I was happy.

And then I saw that pull-ups were on the schedule for Thursday. And I'm like, PSHHH. I can't do a bodyweight pull-up (yet), but I've worked up to one or two in a row with only 20 or 30lbs counterweight on the assisted pullup machine in our gym, and I regularly do anywhere from 6-8 sets of 8-12 pullups each with a 50 or 60lb counterweight at least once a week. So I figured I'd be solid through this class, and I was excited.

And then it was time for class. And I couldn't even hang from the bar with my palms facing in - my grip strength sucks, and my wrists were killing me. So I had to "hang" with one foot on the box.

And then I did some pullups. And I had to use a resistance band to assist me, which was OK. I came pretty close to getting a solid pullup with a "mini" band, which made me pretty happy. And then it was time for the WOD.

We did tabata work. For the uninitiated (like me), that is interval work: twenty seconds of balls-to-the-wall work, followed by ten seconds of rest. We repeated eight times each for a total of three rounds of different moves. So, eight times twenty seconds of all of the pushups you can do. Eight times twenty seconds of all of the pullups you can do. And then eight times twenty seconds of all of the (unweighted) squats you can do.

For my first pullup interval, I was like - this is cake. I did, I don't know, maybe seven or eight pullups that round. And then my grip started to fail - REAL bad. I could barely eke out three pullups each round after that - not because my back couldn't handle it, but because my wrists and forearms were killing me. I failed halfway up for what feels like a thousand pullups each round.

And here's the thing - most of the other people in my class don't suck at pullups. And I didn't think I sucked at pullups. I expected to be right up in there with the rest of them. And I wasn't. I don't suck, but the way that I've been training so far has really hidden the extent of my weaknesses.

Thankfully, the next on-ramp class has us scheduled to work on deadlifts. I am hoping and praying that my legs are as strong as I think they are, and that I'm able to redeem myself a little bit.

All this to say - holy shit. Crossfit is awesome. I do like it and I'm glad I joined - both because it's straight up fun, and because it's bringing me down to earth in terms of what my actual abilities are.

That, and I can't wait to get a real pullup.

Kettlebells 1, Chrissey 0

One of the reasons I love my job is that, once in a while, when I've been busting my butt or have had a particularly brutal stretch, my boss insists that I take a day off.

So, here I am, sitting on my couch at 10am in my sweats with my dogs. I'm getting ready to get out and get my hair cut, nails done, and maybe pick up some stuff at the Fourth of July sales. This is totally worth the nuttiness of this month.

I got to make eggs this morning, since I didn't have anywhere to be:

Scrambled eggs with red/orange/yellow peppers, portobello mushrooms, grape tomatoes, turkey lunch meat, salsa and plain greek yogurt.

Last night's skill work at crossfit was Russian kettlebell swings. They're supposed to look like this:

When I got there, I was assigned a 12kg kettlebell. That's the smallest, lightest weight they have. All of the girls in the class got 12kg bells; the guys got 16kgs. I looked at that little thing on the ground and I was like "PSHHHH, that's going to be way too light. This is going to be easy."

False. I'm super uncoordinated, so it took most of the skillwork period and half the metcon to figure out exactly how to put together the swing and the hip thrust. I'm still not really sure what my legs are supposed to be doing in the bottom of the swing. And because my abs are pretty weak, I arch my back a TON at the top of the swing. Which means my lower back freakin' HURTS this morning.

Metcon was five rounds of as many reps as possible ("AMRAP") in 1 minute each of kettlebell swings, goblet squats, and then rest...blissful rest. So, swing like a mofo for 60 seconds, squat like a mofo for 60 seconds, and rest for 60 seconds...and then do it four more times.

My rep count was good (218 reps total, including both swings and squats, for all five rounds), but my form for the swings BLEW until the last couple of rounds. Which is probably why I was able to do so many. Squats were my stronger move - my legs are pretty diesel. But my grip strength SUCKS, and by the second or third round I had to put the kettlebell down a few times to shake out my wrists and hands.

Once again, 14 minutes of "real work," and I was pouring sweat and ready to collapse. This crossfit thing is no joke. I definitely need to work on my abs - my back strength is OK, but my abs are much, much weaker. Looks like I know what I'll be doing on my non-class days.

Time to get out and enjoy my day of freedom! Happy holiday weekend!

Camera Dump

I misplaced my memory card reader at some point between vacation and now. As a result, I've had a lot of iPhone pictures on here, and a lot of pictures building up on my (real) camera. Still no sign of the reader, but I did track down the data transfer cord that came with the camera.

And, yeah. Lots of pictures.

Like from when we climbed a lighthouse in the Outer Banks.










And when PhillyGuy and I took the pups to cheer on runners (and bloggers) at Broad Street.






Cosmo wasn't the biggest fan of the crowds.



Sophie wasn't the biggest fan of the walk. A two-mile round trip is a little much for those short little legs.



"Oh ma. I quit."

Still weeding through these pictures. I wonder what else I'm going to find on here.



Looking forward to my second CrossFit class tonight. According to the website, tonight's skillwork is Russian kettlebell swings. I'm pretty pumped, even though my legs are STILL sore from squatting a piece of PVC pipe the other night.