Weekly workout recap – or the one where I almost vomited

With self-discipline, most anything is possible. – Theodore Roosevelt

Hi there!

It’s been quite the week of workouts. I’m actually pretty thankful to have a rest day today (rain + homework = stay inside all day) and tomorrow. My quads still need some rolling out and my shoulders, pecs, and hands (yes, hands!) are still recovering. But, I’m not complaining. That’s the best kind of sore. 🙂

Monday

I could have gone to the box on Monday. But, I went shopping with Thing 2 instead. Mother/daughter time vs WOD? Yeah, I made the right decision. 🙂

Tuesday

6pm CrossFit

On the surface, this looks like it wouldn’t be too rough. Which is why you should never just look at the surface (did you ever notice how ‘surface’ is a strange word?) or judge a book by its cover or think any workout that involves both running AND rowing and manages to throw in burpees and lasts 30. Minutes. Long. is anything BUT rough.

Of course, I’m still not running so I had to sub 10 calories on the air dyne bike.

source

The idea was to finish whatever you were doing around the 50 second mark so you would have a small amount of breathing/transition time. Coach told us most people would scale the workout and that was recommended. He even had to scale the run! Then, he also said he spent a little bit of time with his head hanging over the trash can. Oh goodie.

So, I started off pretty well but by round 4, maintaining 10 calories on both the rower and the bike was getting really, really hard to do. By round 5, I scaled down to 8-9 calories on the rower, 7-8 burpees, and 8 calories on the bike. And that’s pretty much where I stayed. And, it was quite possibly one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. I wanted to quit. For reals. Just stop and breathe. But I didn’t. Not until Coach called time, that is, and I fell off the bike and laid on the floor. And, I didn’t vomit. But I thought about it.

Wednesday

5:30am Spin Class at the Y

Because I am a glutton for punishment.

This class was so much better than the first class I went to! Got in a great leg burning workout! After the class, I went out to the floor and did a little core work – mostly planks, Russian twists with a 10lb ball, and V-ups. I definitely felt that later.

6pm CrossFit

thankfully, NOT a metcon

The snatch is one of the most difficult and complex olympic lift. Most people really struggle with it and I am definitely one of those people. BUT, I’m getting better!

Coach had us warm up with 2 rounds of 5 push ups, 5 ring dips, 5 GHD sit-ups, 5 GHD back extensions, 10 walking lunges, 5 supermans, and 5 PVC overhead squats.

That was in addition to the standard warm-up that I had already completed. OY!

I started off with just the 35# bar working on the complex. Coach really wanted us to work on our hook grip and form during this stage – it wasn’t about the weight.

The hook grip is SUPER difficult. Basically, when you wrap your hands around the bar, your thumb goes UNDER your first two fingers. So, you’re not actually holding the bar, per se; you’re more holding your thumb. This helps with control of the bar – since you’re holding your thumbs, the bar is less likely to slip out of your hands. It’s very uncomfortable until you get used to it. And I’m definitely not used to it. My hands were TORE UP and so stiff by the time we were done.

I ended up finishing the complex at 45#. Coach gave me some great critique and said that he could see that I’ve improved and that I’m really concentrating on getting it right. I struggle with speed in my hips (but, they’re a LOT faster than they used to be!) and sometimes, the bar goes too far out in front of me but I’m getting there. It’s work in progress.

For the 1 rep max of the hang snatch, I got 55#. I tried 60# but failed. A few times. That’s alright, though. Work in progress. 🙂

Thursday

6pm CrossFit

I wore my cute new grey capris!

*Note to self – don’t wear the cute grey capris to a sweat-inducing workout. Especially if you take sweating very seriously. Or you are a sweaty betty. It’s not attractive when it’s all over.*

This workout, though.

My hands were still pretty stiff from the snatch complex so I wasn’t sure how all those pull-ups were going to go. But, somehow, I managed to Rx this workout. Without ripping my hands! I finished in 18:52.

Friday

5:30am Spin Class at the Y

Why do I do this to myself? Oh yeah, glutton for punishment. Crazy. Nuckin’ futs, as my sailor likes to say.

Apparently, Fridays are the “advanced” class. Um, yeah. This workout was a beast. One of the students had a heart rate monitor and he said it showed 900-some odd calories burned. Yeah, I could see that.

Then, I did an abs circuit I found on Pinterest.

 

Dude, this was NO joke. I couldn’t do all 6 rounds. I did 4 rounds and couldn’t do any more. I couldn’t do all the movements for 30 seconds – the V-sits, bicycle crunches, and tummy tucks kicked my butt. My abs were on FIRE. It was awesome!

Talk to me: How long did it take for you to get comfortable with the hook grip? What core workouts are your least (or most) favorite? Are wall balls the worst thing ever?

– jennifer

Weekly Workout Recap – setting new PRs

Hello, hello!

Happy Saturday! Do you have Monday off? 🙂

So, I’m out of the boot and I’m not sick (although, I still have a little congestion hanging around and there’s a dry spot in my nose that gets very painful sometimes. ugh. tmi?) and I was really motivated to get some good workouts in this week. Time to get back in the saddle!

Monday

I started Monday morning off with a cycling class (we were on Spin bikes, I guess it wasn’t called Spin because….?) at the Y.

I didn’t take a picture of the room because I didn’t bring my phone in there. I wasn’t sure what protocol was and I didn’t want to do something wrong and get yelled at. 🙂

It’s been a couple of years since I took a spin class but it felt pretty nice to be back on the bike. I was really looking forward to a good workout!

Except, I didn’t really get one. I mean, I got an okay workout but it wasn’t as dynamic and fun as I had hoped. The Monday instructor is apparently ‘not a morning person’ (as stated by one of the other riders. I’m sorry, who teaches a 5:30AM spin class and isn’t a morning person? Isn’t it almost a requirement?!) and she most certainly wasn’t peppy. I guess she had started a learning series the week before and this Monday was working on climbs – mostly seated – and cadence. I was a little bored. It’s an hour long class – that’s a long time to be actively doing stuff and still be bored.

I’m going to check out a couple of the other instructors (on other days, of course) and see how they are.

6pm CrossFit

It has been quite some time since I’ve done the “Total” workout and I was really, really, REALLY looking forward to it. ESPECIALLY since I’m not in the boot! I know I’ve made strength gains and I wanted to see where I’m at.

Basically, in this workout, you warm up and then you get 3 attempts at your 1 Rep Max of that lift and then you move on to the next. It’s not “add weight on in the smallest increments possible, starting really low, and go until you can’t anymore.” You have to be aware (and this is why my Journal Menu Wod book is so helpful!) of what your previous weights were and start somewhere near there so you can build appropriately.

I HIT PRs in 2 of my lifts!!!!!

And, to be fair, I PRd my press last week so I wasn’t expecting to set a new one this week.  My previous PR at back squat was 125#. Whoop! A 20# PR!!! And, that’s legitimately my 1RM because I was halfway in the ‘up’ part of the squat and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. I had to really push myself. I was so proud when I got it back up!!!

I wish I knew what my 1RM of deadlift used to be but I think it was around 180-185#. Honestly, it’s probably in one of these entries but I don’t have it written down and, yes, I’m too lazy to search. 🙂  But, I can tell you I have never lifted more than 200# until Monday and I hit 205#!!!

So, the reason why it’s called CrossFit Total is because your score is the total of all your weights. So, mine was 425. (I know that it looks like I’m the weakest link but these numbers are excellent for me. And, Lauren and Theresa are bad ass chicks, so there’s that.) Based on my weight class, I fall in between intermediate and advanced on the ranking chart.  I’ll take that!

Tuesday

6pm CrossFit

Yes, they called this workout “Helen”-ish. It should have been called “Hell-ish.” Oof.

Helen is a benchmark WOD and is 3 rounds, for time, of 400m run, 21 kb swings, and 12 pull-ups. I last did Helen in October (was in between boots and able to run!) and scored 13:13.

“Helen”-ish was designed to be an interval workout and was to be scaled, if necessary. Coach wanted each athlete to be able to complete at least 2 rounds and if your previous Helen time was not 12:00 or less, you had to scale.

I am not yet ready to run so I rowed and Coach scaled me down to 300m and do the rest as prescribed. I did all 21 KB swings at 35# but, when I got to the pull-ups, could only get 9 done. So, I made the decision to stick with 9 and go from there.

I completed 4 rounds and was on my 5th pull up in round 5 when my 4 minutes were up. So, my score was 4 rounds.

Man, all those swings and pull ups were so HARD after all the pulling on the rower!

Wednesday

My arms/shoulders needed a break so I took a rest day. I had planned on going to an AM spin class but we had an “ice storm” and I wasn’t sure what the roads were going to be like. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I could have gone but better safe than sorry, right?!

Anyway, instead of an evening CrossFit class, I took half a day off work and went and help unload equipment at a new CrossFit box. Where I’m going to start going. 🙂

That counts as a workout, right? 🙂

Thursday

6pm CrossFit

30 muscle ups.

Yeah, right.

I don’t even have 1 muscle up yet!

So, obviously, I scaled the workout.

I did option 3 because my hands were still pretty sore from Tuesday. Plus, ring rows help with the pulling aspect that helps in the muscle up transition from pulling to throwing yourself through the rings. I finished in 11:00.

The part I liked the best about this workout was we did muscle up practice and skill work before. So, I worked on my kip (swinging on the rings and trying to bring my hips up to touch the rings) and then I worked on the transition on a low set of rings. That’s seriously the hardest part!

Friday

Rest day!

I had the day off (YAY!) and had homework to do, housecleaning to get done, got my hair did, and went grocery shopping.

Phew!

Saturday

Back at the new box helping out. Pictures later! You can always follow me on Instagram if you want pictures faster than that! 🙂

Talk to me: How was your week of workouts? 🙂

– jennifer

Heavy lifting, ice and snow, and how is that even allowed?! (TOL #2)

Hi there!

Happy Thursday!

What makes it even happier is it’s my Friday! Whoop, whoop! Gotta love a 4 day weekend!

And nope, I didn’t have to take any time off to make that happen! No sireebob. The Commonwealth of Virginia celebrates both Lee-Jackson Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. #winning

So, I’ve been at my CrossFit box since May and I love it out there.  It’s a bit of a hike and I have to pay tolls to go through some tunnels but I’ve made some friends and have been hitting some PRs (stay tuned for Saturday’s recap!!), so the whole time suck has been worth it to me.

Until 2 coaches that I really, really, REALLY like left. 😦

To open their own CrossFit box. (in case you didn’t know, box = gym in CrossFit lingo)

And, I recently learned that it’s practically right next door to where my sailor works. And HALF the distance I was travelling before.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

I thought about changing boxes, and then I stressed about it, and then I tried to think reasonably about it. I was riddled with guilt for even THINKING about changing.

But, once the rational part of my brain took over, the whole thing just makes sense.  I’ll be able to do morning WODs before work which allows me to have my evenings back for making dinner and, now, doing homework. Which is a priority. And, if I decide to do a double, the new box is just a hop, skip, and a jump from my office so I’ll be able to make an earlier class and get home earlier afterward. Makes so much sense! So, they can count me present when they finally open their doors (like, maybe in 2 weeks!!!). 🙂

Well, yesterday, they got equipment delivered and asked for help unloading the truck, etc. So, that’s what I did.  My first workout at the new box. 😉  And, I’ve committed to helping out this weekend, too. I’m really excited!!

pretty sure coach said it was 5 tons of stuff. yes, TONS.

So, as indicated above, I live in Virginia. But, where I am, it’s pretty moderate, as far as weather is concerned. We’ve gotten snow before so it’s not a shocker when it happens. I mean, it’s not like I live in San Diego and everyone flips out when it rains. Snow, sleet, ice – it’s all happened here before.

Well, the whole place went bat shit crazy on Tuesday because there was a little ice storm. I mean, I get the school closures and all that because a lot of this area is rural and those roads don’t often get pretreated, are narrow and dangerous, etc and kids can’t be standing outside for EVER in the sleet waiting for a bus to come slipping and sliding down the hill. Too dangerous. But, I was watching the news and there were reporters out in the streets like they were Jim Cantore. For less than an inch of ice. And people were sending in pictures of inch-long icicles hanging from their porch lights, etc. Seriously people. It was not the snowpocalypse.

I play Words with Friends. Pretty regularly, as a matter of fact. I’m kind of a scrabble nerd and I just love words. I have games going with 5 people right now. And, I’m getting whupped in a couple of them. Seriously, the luck of the letter draw is not always in my favor.

Anyway, in a previous game, a friend was flabbergasted when the game would not accept ribeye as a word. In fact, I know you can’t see it but, there’s a red squiggly line under the word ribeye in this post. But, unless you’re a vegetarian, you’ve probably eaten a ribeye steak. So, legitimate word, right? No.

But, last night, another friend played this –

Hardly seems fair, doesn’t it?

And yes, I do have all consonants. And 2 of them are Vs. Nice.

Talk to me: Have you ever made snow ice cream? When was the last time?

Thanks, Amanda, at Running With Spoons, for hosting Thinking Out Loud Thursdays!

– jennifer