Fence fail & (finally) my CrossFit Open recap

Hello!

Do you remember how excited I was about fence day on Tuesday?

Yeah.

Turns out they brought the wrong slats. We ordered cedar and we didn’t get it.

Thankfully, this is all that had been put up by the time we discovered it wasn’t the right wood!

Massive fail.

My poor dogs were so disappointed.

Me too when I had to get up around midnight both last night and the night before for dog potty breaks.

Seriously, what is up with that anyway? They’re not puppies!

Anyway, the correct wood has been delivered – Thing 2 called me to report the delivery! – and I’m really hopeful the guys will be out tomorrow to get it up on the frame. *fingers crossed*

So, I haven’t updated you on my workouts since last week, which included the final CrossFit Open workout 14.5 on Friday.

Holy. Mother. of. Hard.

The Rx weight for women was 65# for the thrusters. I, however, scaled down to 55# because I wanted to FINISH the workout before Saturday came around.

I finished in 23:52.

I’ll be honest.

I’ve done some seriously difficult workouts but this is the first one where I honestly felt like I wanted to quit. Of course I didn’t but I thought about it.

I lost count and forgot where I was while I was doing the 15 burpees. I knew I was a round behind one of my WODmates so I asked her what round she was on. Thank goodness she knew because I certainly didn’t want to start over!

The round of 12 was probably the hardest. I tried to do the thrusters in 3 groups of 4 but ended up grouping them into 4 groups of 3. I pretty much stuck with that grouping through the rest.

Never have I been so happy to shout “time” in my life.

I really enjoyed (mostly) the overall experience of my first CrossFit Open games.  I definitely learned a lot about myself and my abilities and what I need to work on: double unders, overhead squats, building weight on deadlifts, endurance, pull ups in general, and eventual muscle-ups.

Even though I was only able to submit an official score for 14.1, (although I did do 14.4 Rx) I’m proud of myself for tackling (and attempting to tackle Rx) these workouts. I showed up for every single one – and sometimes I was the ONLY one at my class – and I worked hard. I may have wanted to at times but I didn’t give up. There wasn’t a single thing that I told myself I couldn’t do … right now.

I know next year will be a whole new ballgame. The only place for me to go is up.  🙂

Talk to me: Did you participate in the Open this year? If not, are you considering it for next year? What was your favorite part and your least favorite part? What did you learn about yourself – physically and mentally?

– jennifer

Crossfit Open 14.4 and my weekend recap

Hello, hello!

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

I kicked off my weekend on Friday night with the CrossFit Games Open workout 14.4.

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Oof.

I wasn’t completely sure how it was all going to workout since my box only has 1 rower but, seeing as I was the only one who showed up, it didn’t matter.

Slackers.

So, I warmed up, did a little mobility, and then got to work.

The rowing wasn’t a big deal – I actually like rowing. 🙂

The toes to bar, however….

I don’t do those very well.

By the time I got into the 30s, I couldn’t even do knees to chest anymore and had resorted to more of a “knees to chair position” maneuver. Ugh. I tried really hard to get them as close to my chest as possible, I really did.

Then, wallballs.

I had a couple of “no-reps” because the stupid ball didn’t touch the wall. Frustrates me when I do that. Luckily, it was only a couple and not a huge amount.

By the time I got to the bar for the cleans (scaled to 70#), I was out of time.

So, my score is 150 reps.

But then, I did the cleans anyway. All 30 of them. Holy. Hard.

And, even though I am NO WHERE NEAR getting a muscle up and I am clearly a glutton for punishment, I still worked on those after the cleans. Mostly worked on learning the transition. Needless to say, I was pooped.

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Saturday was a beautiful day and I was really looking forward to getting out for a fabulous run.

I’ve been struggling lately when it comes to running – it’s more work than it is fun and I can’t shut my brain off – and I was really hoping for a good 10-12 miles.

But, no.

SOMEbody had to fool me into believing she got outside and would NOT respond at ALL when I called her, both inside the house and out!

I seriously looked for OVER AN HOUR and my sailor and I both drove the neighborhood (after I walked it TWICE) looking for her.

I made it home first and was utterly dejected when I came in the house. And then little miss Molly-pants decided to come upstairs from her SERIOUSLY AMAZING hiding spot where she had CLEARLY been napping while we were frantically searching EVERYWHERE for her.

She’s been scolded and grounded. (AND I’M SO HAPPY SHE DIDN’T GET OUT AND RUN AWAY!!!)

I was so upset and relieved and stressed that I ate a donut. Okay, fine, I ate two donuts. And didn’t go run.

(I’m still a little peeved at her but she gave me some pretty good snuggles for the rest of the weekend.)

So, the upside is – in my post-donuts sugar rush, I cleaned the house and got ready for errands and date night!

Errands included buying new tires for my car! YAY!

I secretly wish I could spend that much money on new shoes for myself. Good grief!

We are also window shopping for new appliances so while we were waiting on my tires, we tooled around Lowe’s. Hm. I have expensive tastes. My kitchen upgrade is definitely going to be a slow one. 🙂

For dinner, we went to a little tavern where I had a supremely delicious chicken & apple panini with brie. Except, it wasn’t really a panini – it was more toasted on a baguette. But, it was yummy so I didn’t complain!

Sunday was Muppets Most Wanted with Thing 2 (I may or may not have eaten an entire movie theater box of Junior Mints) and grocery shopping.

I heart the Muppets. 🙂

Talk to me: Did you grow up watching the Muppet Show? Who’s your favorite Muppet? Who was your favorite guest star?

I heart Kermit. 🙂  And, I can’t narrow my favorite guest down to just one – it’s a toss up between John Denver and Carol Burnett.

– jennifer

Last week’s workouts and a new PR!

Hi there!

Happy Tuesday!

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Did you get bombarded with snow yesterday?

Thankfully, we didn’t. Oh no. We just got cold, sleet, rain, wind and blech – winter’s ugly side. I’m so over the cold.

Seriously, why isn’t it spring YET?!

And, even though the first day of Spring is officially on Thursday (HOORAY!), I’ve heard rumors that next week might be more like winter. Sheesh. Whatever happened to “in like a lion and out like a lamb?”

Anywho, I haven’t told you about last week’s CrossFit workouts! I’m not sure why but it may have had something to do with pie. 🙂

Monday’s WOD was a killer. Ascending rounds is no joke.

I had to modify the whole workout – 65# for the Hang Clean to Thrusters (although, honestly, it sure felt like 95# the more I did!), 20″ box for the burpee box jumps (um, not conking my head was more worrisome than how high I could jump – it’s a little hard to judge space when you’re in a hurry) and banded chest to bar pullups.

Honestly, I can’t remember how many rounds I got either. Stupid me didn’t take a picture of the board all week.

Wednesday was fun – and a little awkward. I felt like I was all over the place.

The transitioning was weird.

The front squats weren’t racked – we had to clean them up (which eliminated 95# as an option so I modified down to 65#) – and then we moved over to hand stand push ups (HSPU).

Um, yeah, so I don’t actually DO hand stand push ups. I modify them and do them off a box.

So, I went from squats to a box for push ups then to kettlebell swings and then to the pull up bars.

It was definitely good work but I felt like the transitioning time was too much. I lost some actual workout time. Oh well.

Again, don’t ask me how many reps I completed. That was last week. I can barely remember yesterday! 😉

Then, Friday was CrossFit Games Open Workout 14.3!

Now, as you know, my Open ended with 14.2 😦

but, I’m not a quitter so I’m still doing the workouts, just not submitting my scores.

Deadlifts.

Ooof.

Actually, I had a good time with this workout!

My PR before we left Florida was 125# so I set up my spot with weight modifications so I could work as much of the 8 minutes as possible.

I started the WOD with 95#, added 20 for 105#, added 20 for 125#, and threw another 10 on there for 135#.

AND I LIFTED IT ALL!!

I officially got through 3 rounds and 3 reps of the 135# deadlifts!

Afterwards, we were messing around a little and I threw some more weight on the bar.

And, I deadlifted 145#.

And then I did 155#.

And then I did 160#!

I tried 165# but I was spent. I barely moved it.

I can’t wait to try again when my legs/back are fresh! I know I’ve got more in me!

Talk to me: Did you set any PRs this past week? Did you try anything new?

– jennifer