Weekly workout recap – squats, rope climbs & running is trying to break me

Hello!!

It’s finally the weekend!

source

This week of workouts started out great but didn’t end so fabulously. I’m thankful for the weekend so I can rest.

Monday

I kicked off Monday morning with a run. 🙂

I had to go to work so I definitely needed the kickstart.

It felt really fabulous!

I opted out of CrossFit. I’m not really training for anything so I don’t need to do doubles. Besides, I’m still coming back from my injury and I’m not trying to over extend myself. 🙂

Tuesday

Since we had the day off, I decided to take advantage and get another morning run in. #winning

I’d mostly been sticking to the streets in the neighborhood right behind my house but this time, I ventured back out into the town. Felt good to run in old familiar places again!

Again, I opted out of CrossFit because I ran.

Wednesday

No running today.

Which means…

6pm CrossFit!

I was really excited about this workout because of the back squats.

The last time we worked on them was October 23rd and we were working towards our 3 rep max. I got to 115# but am pretty sure I could do more weight.

*side note – if I wasn’t recording my workouts, I would most definitely not have that information right at my fingertips! Write it down!!

After a warm up, we got down to work.  The idea was to stay at the same weight, something pretty close to your 5 rep max so the weight wouldn’t be easy and would likely still be difficult by the time you got down to the final rep.

I loaded 115# on the bar – honestly, I was thinking this might still be a “warm-up” and wanted to see how it felt. Did my 5 reps and decided that was the weight I was sticking to.

I knew my 3RM was higher than 115#!

I had some moments during these squats where my form faltered and my chest dipped forward. I really focused on making sure to drive my knees out and keep my chest up so the movement would be more fluid.

Then, we hopped on the rowers for the WOD – a 1,000m row for time.

Holy smokes, was that tough after all those squats!!

I finished in 4:06.

OH! I forgot to tell you!! During the warm-up (row, run, or bike, 15 GHD sit-ups, 15 GHD hip/back extensions, 15 pull ups, 15 ring dips), I got 4 strict pull ups in a row! PR baby!! 🙂

Thursday

Dude, it’s cold and I did NOT want to get up and go for a run. Plus, my legs were smoked from yesterday so I hit the snooze and snuggled with my fur babies a little longer. 🙂

6pm CrossFit

I almost skipped this workout.

My legs were super tired from yesterday and running and rope climbs both require legs. Well, except for the legless climbs, but still.

Seriously. I almost drove home after work instead of to the gym.

But, I went.

I was pretty nervous about all those rope climbs. It was just so many!!

I certainly don’t have legless rope climbs so I scaled those.

Hell, not too many people actually have legless rope climbs. Those things are super hard!

For each legless, I did 2 from the plank position (#2 in this video).

Finished the first part in 13:21.

After the 5 minute rest, I started the 2nd half of the workout.

I got through the first 2 rope climbs and headed out the door for the 200m run.

I should add it was FREEZING and it had started to drizzle a little. YUCK!

On the 2nd round, I got through 1 rope climb and had a HUGE raw spot on my ankle from the rub so I scaled back down to the pulling from plank position. Still did 2 pulls for each 1 climb.

I really need to learn how to do the climbs like this so there’s no rubbing. OUCH.

I finished 3 rounds and was heading out for the 4th run and my foot started to hurt.

My left foot.

The OTHER foot!! GAH!!! 😦

So, I quickly headed over to the air dyne bike and finished the last two rounds on that.

My total time was 30:21.

My foot. I don’t know. I felt it a little when I was coming back in from the 3rd run but it definitely wasn’t like what happened with my right foot.

I did drop funny off the rope on my first set of climbs but I didn’t feel anything until the 3rd run so I don’t know if it was that.

It felt more like a cramp than anything.

I could put pressure on it which was different than the last time but it definitely still hurt.

I came home, rested, and took some ibuprofen.

Friday

I had planned on either running or going to CrossFit but didn’t do either because of my foot.

It’s not swollen and I can definitely put more weight on it than I could with the stress fracture in my right foot but I still limped around the office.

Luckily, I only worked half a day so I was able to come home and just rest.

Saturday

Obviously no running today. 😦

My foot still hurts but it’s not as bad. There’s still no swelling and no real bruising. I suppose it’s possible that it’s another stress fracture (seriously, can I catch a break, please?!) but I’m not sure.

My plan is just to rest it for a few days and see how it feels.

If it gets worse, I’ll definitely be calling the doc for an appointment.

Good thing I still have the boot from the last time. Those things are interchangeable, right?

Now, I have to try and figure out the WHY. I wasn’t wearing my running shoes – I was wearing my CrossFit shoes (Inov-8) and those don’t have the same support. They’re not old by any stretch – maybe 5 months? – but maybe that’s the issue. I eat pretty well and take calcium and vitamin D supplements as recommended by orthopedists. Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of early osteoporosis.

Talk to me: How did your week of workouts go?

– jennifer

50k training – week 6 recap

Hello!

So, week 6 of my training is in the books!

It was definitely a tough week and I’m looking forward to scaling back a little next week. I’ve actually got a middle of the week rest day next week!

Anyway, here’s how it all went down.

MONDAY

Monday morning sunrise at the track!

Speed work at the track. I had 2 x 1200m (3/4 mile) in 5:27 and 4 x 800m (1/2 mile) in 3:34 to do. Apparently, the geese had a party at the track this past weekend because there was goose poop EVERYWHERE!! Gross!

I warmed up with a slow mile and got to work. My 1200m times were 5:21 and 5:27. Not too bad. Especially since I was dodging goose poop. Seriously, there were spots on the track that were just covered so I was kinda weaving around them. Ugh. But, at least I wasn’t dodging the actual geese like I was last Monday!

My 800m times were 3:26, 3:31, 3:34, 3:40. I finished 2 and was tired but kept on pushing. The last 2 were definitely tough. It was a little muggy – we’re supposed to get thunderstorms today – and I felt a little like I was running through water. Blech. Also, I’m not sure what it was but I felt a little something in my left hip. You know, the one that was injured before? I didn’t feel a strain or a pull or anything like that – I was just kind of aware of it, if that makes any sense. That’s why my 4^th 800m was off the mark. It took almost a full lap before I stopped feeling it. I’m not really sure what’s going on but I’m definitely going to be paying attention to it. I don’t want an injury. Not one little bit.

TUESDAY

6pm CrossFit, no running.

I was really looking forward to tonight’s workout. Coach sends out a newsletter each Sunday with the WODs for the week so we can (plan to skip on days that suck) prepare for the week. Tonight was 3×5 deadlifts and then Tabata row. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for the Tabata workout – I know what Tabata is but there weren’t specified rounds or time listed.

For the deadlifts, I did a staggered warm-up with 65#, 105#, and 125#. Then, I got down to business. My weights were 155#, 165#, and 175#. Whoop! Since they were 5 reps each round, those are all PRs for me. I might have been able to go a little higher (maybe 185#) but I really wanted good, solid form and I definitely got that. I was pleased with that! Of course, one of the other girls in my group is wicked strong and her top was 225#! She made it look so easy that she darn near had me convinced that I could do it!

The Tabata row turned out to be a 4 minute activity, rowing for calories. Tabata is 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest. That ended up being 8 rounds. Because we were doing such short bursts, we pushed the resistance level up past where we would normally sit for a longer row. I ended up knocking out 47 calories! Some of the guys were up in the 70s – that’s crazy!

WEDNESDAY

Tempo run! I had 5 miles at 8:12 pace on my schedule. Which, honestly, I thought was a little weird. No prescribed warm up and cool down? Guess that was up to me? So, I did some warm up in my driveway (high knees, leg swings, squats, quad stretches, Samson stretch, etc.) and headed down the road.

Okay, is it just me or is everybody a little sad that the sunrise is starting to get later and later? I’m not ready yet! Don’t get me wrong, I love fall temperatures but I was kind of enjoying watching the sunrise on my morning tempo runs. Now, the sun is still technically “in bed” by the time I’m done. Sigh.

So, I didn’t make my pace for the first mile – ran it in 8:42 – but I guess I needed a little more warm up than I thought. The next 4 miles were 8:10, 7:51, 7:57, and 8:12. I finished it off with about a quarter mile cool down just to get back to my house. Phew, those sub-8:00 miles were quick! And unnecessary! I try not to look at my watch all the time because I don’t want to focus on the “how much I have left” part of a run but clearly, I need to pay more attention to my pace. The final mile at 8:12 felt much harder than it really needed to because I had ran too fast on the 2 miles before it. Bah!

Me and my stubby little pigtails. lol

6pm CrossFit – Barbara – holy Hell.

And that’s supposed to be a benchmark workout?!?! Yikes!

Coach said we should only take about 45 minutes to complete the workout and if we thought we were going to need 50 minutes or more, that we should scale down to 4 rounds or wherever we were at that time.

For the pull ups, I kipped the first two rounds. The bar was so sticky! I’m used to sweating so much that I slide right off but not tonight. I grabbed chalk to help prevent me from ripping because I was stuck to the bar but chalk can also dry up excess moisture and make you stick to the bar. Double edged sword! Anyway, in round 3 I went to the purple band for my pull ups because my right hand was threatening to rip and I didn’t want that.

I scaled each and every push up down to my knees. I was really working on form – keeping my elbows in rather than out – and I knew doing 120-150 push ups was going to hurt. The girl next to me used a band to help keep her elbows in. I may have to start doing that!

I had no problems with the sit ups or the air squats. There were just so many of them!

I finished 4 rounds in 42:08 and stopped there. We had mandatory 3 minute rest between rounds which would put me at 45:00 and I knew I wasn’t going to finish the 5^th round in 5 minutes to keep it under 50:00 total. Oof.

THURSDAY

6pm CrossFit, no running

Let me tell you something. Yesterday’s workout – Barbara? Yeah, she hurts. My pecs and my abs got progressively sore as the day went on. Oh my goodness. By the time I got to CrossFit, changing out of my work clothes was a little bit of a challenge. Haha!

So, we started off with finding our 1RM snatch. There were only 3 (!) of us in class tonight – guess I wasn’t the only one hurting but hey, I didn’t stay home! – and we had 30 minutes so I definitely had plenty of time to work on my form. I started with just the 35# bar and eventually added 10# for 45#. I’m definitely getting better with it but I still need work. I am not fluid going down into the squat with the weight over my head. I have a little bit of a pause but it’s far better than it used to be. Then, I took the weight up to 55# to see if I could do it and I couldn’t really. My OHS form was faltering a fair amount. Coach suggested I go back down in weight and work on my form. So, I did. I did plenty at 45#. 🙂

Then, the WOD was 15 minutes (for quality, not time) of 2 snatch, 5 strict toes to bar, 5 pistols (each leg).

You know what? Strict toes to bar are HARD and throw in the fact that my abs are sore from Barbara and they get even HARDER. Plus, my grip was shot from all the pull ups. Thank goodness it was only 5!!

I wasn’t counting rounds so I don’t know how many I ended up with. I talked with Coach afterward about my form on the snatch and he said I was doing pretty well – hitting below parallel each time and my form with holding the weight overhead was really good. I just need to work on my fluidity and flexibility. These are all good things!

FRIDAY

Rest Day. Thank God.

My pecs and abs are still really sore and I’m tired. And it’s raining. And, it’s supposed to rain/thunderstorm all weekend. Especially tomorrow morning. When I have a 20-miler on the schedule. I’ll run in the rain all day long but I don’t play with thunderstorms. At present, I’m honestly considering just bagging the run altogether and resting my body/hip/groin area. I have guilt, though.

SATURDAY

Well, I rested.

I debated all day and even into the night.

Even in the middle of the night at a 2am potty break (oh. sorry. TMI?), I was still arguing with myself about whether or not I should run.

Of course, it was POURING outside at that time so that helped me reiterate to myself that my decision was a good one.

It’s still early in my training and missing a training run, albeit a long one, isn’t going to kill me.  Running long and not allowing a potential injury to rest and recover might, though. Well, at least it would kill my running – not me literally. 🙂

So, that’s how it all ended up. And honestly, I slept until 7:30 this morning and I NEVER do that. Clearly, I needed the rest.

Now, it’s time to look forward to week 7!

Talk to me: How difficult is it for you to miss a scheduled training run? Do you argue with yourself or is that just me?

– jennifer

50k training – week 3 recap

Hi there!

Happy weekend!

So, week 3 of my 16 week training plan for the 50k is in the books. Thank goodness!

It was a long week – a good one but tough, too.

Monday

I had track work on my schedule but I had to be at work by 6:45am so that didn’t happen. Such is life when you work at the Commonwealth’s Attorneys Office and last weekend was a 3 day holiday (read: drinking) weekend. It was all hands on deck for picking up the arrest warrants, creating and entering the cases, and getting things ready for court that morning. Good times.

I would have (maybe … okay, probably not) made it up after work but I also had CrossFit on the schedule.

Before you freak out about the doubles, I only have them one or two times a week (pretty much alternating weeks) so it’s not like I’m going crazy with the working out. 🙂

So, for Monday’s workout at CrossFit, we started with 20 minutes to find our double cluster max. Basically, how heavy we could do 2 squat clean thrusters (hence: cluster) in a row.

Mine was 85#. That’s actually a PR for me too! I tried 95# but I could only sorta get one squat clean and the thruster part just didn’t happen.

Then, the WOD was 3 rounds for time of 10 thrusters and 20 toes to bar.

I opted for 55# as my scaled weight and finished in 10:22.

Tuesday

Just CrossFit today.

We started off with a 10 minute EMOM (every minute on the minute) workout.

The odd minutes were 5 strict pull-ups (you had the full minute to get the 5 done and then you rested until the even minute). I used the purple band.

The even minutes were 30 second hollow holds. Oh, hello abs!

Then, the WOD was “the Ghost” – 6 rounds of 1 minute calorie row (count calories burned), 1 minute burpees (count the burpees), 1 minute double unders or attempts (count how many you did) and one minute of rest. (Um, hello, that’s basically 6 minutes of burpees!)

I knocked out 217 total! I really, really suck at double unders but Coach wasn’t letting us do singles instead. She said that we’ll never learn to do double unders if we always do singles so we were doing attempts. I got a few each round – maybe 5 or 6 so I’m pretty stoked about that. I definitely need to work on those some more though.

Wednesday

Just CrossFit today.

We did heavy Isabel.

The CrossFit “girl” WODs are benchmark WODs. You do them to see where you are, what you need work on, and then, how you’ve improved.

Isabel is 30 snatches.

Coach wanted us to do squat snatches instead and go heavy, making the workout slower and more intense than regular old already intense Isabel.

Of course, I can’t go heavy because my overhead squat is atrocious. I stuck with 45#.

Coach had me power snatch (like in regular Isabel) and then reset and do my overhead squat because I am a big awkward mess.

I can’t remember how long it took me but I was working hard!

The good news is based on the power snatch, I know I can do more than 45#! Just have to really work on that overhead squat.

Dear hips and ankles, gonna need you to work with me and get a little more flexible, please. Thanks! Love, me.

Thursday

Tempo run!

Had 7 miles on the schedule.

1 mile warm up @ 9:30 pace, 5 miles @ 8:27 pace, and 1 mile cool down @ 9:30 pace.

Except, when I got out there, I forgot it was 8:27 and thought it was 8:30 instead. Oops. I blame early + no coffee.

My tempo miles were 8:29, 8:26, 8:32, 8:34, 8:32.

I cut my cool down mile a little short because, honestly, I just ended up back at my house sooner than I expected and I didn’t want to run down the street and turn around and come back or do laps in my yard like a dog. Besides, I had to get ready for work. #lazy 🙂

No CrossFit today.

Friday

Just CrossFit today.

We started with 20 minutes to find our one rep max of the push jerk.

I PR’d with 105#!!!! AND, I almost got 115# but I just wasn’t getting my body down underneath the bar. But, I’m almost there!!

Then, the WOD was 30 muscle ups for time.

Except, I don’t even have 1 muscle up.

So, scaling for that was 3:1 with pull-ups and ring dips.

That means 3 pull-ups and 3 ring dips per 1 muscle up.

If you can do math, you know that’s 90 pull-ups and 90 ring dips. UGH!

I planned on kipping all of my pull-ups but I set up a band just in case. 90 pull-ups and 90 ring dips is a lot of shoulder work! I have to use a band for the ring dips – not quite there yet with those.

I was moving along quite nicely – broke them down into 9 rounds of 10 until pull-up number 56 when my hand ripped. 😦

I tried to kip a couple more but couldn’t so I had to do the rest banded. I struggled to hold onto the bar because my hand hurt so it really slowed me down.

I can’t remember my time but it was probably 24-25 minutes.

Thank goodness I don’t have CrossFit again until Tuesday! My hand needs the time to heal.

Saturday

Long run!

I had 17 miles at 9:34 pace.

Man, that run was tough.

Yeah, the 9:34 pace didn’t happen. My legs were tired and a little heavy feeling. I had to stop twice to take off my shoe and massage the ball of my left foot. (I have metatarsalgia and boy, did it decide to flare up. Massaging really helps.) I was drenched when I got home – looked like I had gone for a swim instead of a run. Something chafed my back the entire way – not sure if it was my sports bra strap or my Nathan Race Vest or a combination of the two since the vest had somehow gotten loosened where my phone pocket is – and now I have an really painful spot on my back. I drank darn near a liter of water while I was out there but still ended up dehydrated. And, I only went 16 miles. And that was only by sheer will because I was ready to stop at 14 miles.

I finished in 2:42.22 with an average pace of 10:09/mile.

I felt like crap, got woozy in the shower, had to turn off the water and sit down for a bit. My sailor brought me some chocolate milk and that helped some. Luckily, I kept it down and I could finish the shower! I ate a little, drank a TON of water and some IN Refresh electrolyte replenisher and I took about an hour nap. Whew!

Thank goodness that week is over!

Next week, I have a 20-miler on Saturday and a rest day on Friday. Hopefully, that will help me be more prepared for that long run. I definitely don’t want to be dehydrated again.

Talk to me: What did your week of workouts look like? Are you training for anything? 

 

– jennifer