Consider the Ta Ta's Saved

Yesterday, I ran in the Care 4 Breast Cancer 5K Run/Walk. Overall, I felt pretty good about the race, even though I did not beat my previous time. I came in about 24:00, give or take a few seconds based on the lack of clear timing (there were no chips to measure the exact time). Regardless, my run went much smoother than my 10k debacle. My legs felt loose, despite the 30 minute delay and cold weather, and I managed to maintain a decent pace throughout. I also apparently placed second in my division, 25-29 year olds, as well as placed 12th overall. So that's cool.

I realize that I sound rather nonchalant about my second place win; I do think that it's pretty cool. I've never won anything like that before, and there were over 1000 runners present. I think though that I was more disappointed that I didn't beat my previous 23:12 PR. Regardless, win or lose, consider the ta ta's saved.

The Coolest Thing I Did Yesterday...

No, it wasn't the deadlift/burpee workout from the Games, although that was pretty sweet. I did the WOD (5 rounds for time of 5 deadlifts (70 kg) and 10 burpees) in 4:57. It was a creeper. Those burpees are killer after round two of deadlifts, and based on my wanting to lay down after only 5:00 minutes, I'd say it was fairly successful in kicking my ass. However, this was not the coolest thing I did yesterday. The coolest thing I did yesterday was teach my Aunt's five year old grandson how to do burpees.

I was downstairs cleaning up my living space (I actually taught him how to vaccum as well - whole other story though), when Connor came downstairs to pay me a visit. He was showing me how he could do jumping jacks when I asked him if he had ever done a burpee. He shook his head "no" and then I took my teaching opportunity. Here's the final result (I apologize for the sideways video... Not sure what happened...):

Although he didn't always jump up on his burpees, I'd say Connor did a pretty good job. He is five. Now all I need to get him to do is eat broccoli.

An "Ark" Sandwich

I headed to the Fort for this past weekend for another Team Saturday. Mark R., Clark and I teamed up for the following WOD:

"Team Ladders"

400 meter run
3 rounds:

• burpee ladder
• box jump ladder
• wall ball ladder

400 meter buddy run

The ladders worked like this: Clark did one burpee, Mark did one burpee and then I did one burpee. Then Clark did two burpees, Mark did two burpees and then I did two burpees. This went on until we reached six burpees. We then moved onto box jumps and wall balls and completed them in the same fashion.

Overall this WOD was great because it allowed for just enough rest to really crank out the reps. Clark and Mark definitely kept me moving. So much so that the "Ark" Sandwich (Clark and Mark rhyme, my name doesn't, you get the picture...) was right behind The Garth Show, Stacy and Super Dave the whole time. In fact, we were going head to head going into third round before The Show pulled ahead into buddy run.

Then - it was over. Even though Clark and Mark were able to carry my fat butt all the way and that we were able to finish in 24:00, we did not prevail. At least we have a cool name.

At Least it Wasn't Kalsu

This morning I woke up to complete the following evilness:

1000 meter row

5 rounds for time:

• 10 pull ups
• 15 OH squats (40/30 kg)
• 20 kettlebell swings (20/16 kg)

1000 meter row

I finished this WOD in about 29:00. I don't recall the exact time because I started 5:13 later than the first group and I couldn't remember how many seconds followed my 34 minutes. Regardless, I did finish under 30, which is good, but we can both agree that my time is far from impressive, especially with scaled OH squats.

All in all, I kind of hated (and was absolutely terrified of) this WOD. I saw Bill put it on the board last night before I left and then spent the night dreading the next morning. It was kind of a mind f*&%. It also didn't help that I was tired from all my busy-ness yesterday. I will admit, that even though I did kind of hate this workout, I was glad that I didn't have to do Kalsu.

Thirsty Thursday*

Yesterday, I was a busy day at CrossFit for me. I rowed, worked on my presses, did a makeover of "Cindy" and set a new handstand record. The entire thing made me a little thirsty, although not in the traditional way that one would think of "Thirsty Thursday." Anyhow, I digress. Here's how my Thursday at CrossFit went down:

To start off I was late getting to Fort. I arrived just as the Ladies' Class was beginning, and instead of changing quickly and jumping in, I decided to catch up on my rowing. There were three rowing WOD'S posted on the board: Tabata Rowing, 15:00 minute row at 90%, and another interval row. Since I did Tabata Rowing earlier in the week after finishing the burpees on the minute WOD (which I did terrible in by the way (rowing, not necessarily the burpees), I decided to go for the 15:00 minutes at 90%.

I grabbed my book, iPod and headed upstairs to spend some quality time with the rower. Once my feet were all strapped in and I put on my jam (a song not the sugary goodness that is jam), I was out for the long haul. I tried to focus on keeping a steady pace, particularly since I feel like my rowing ability has been less than spectacular lately, and to maintain good form. The bulk of the row went fairly well, although I did not get as many meters as I would have liked. My initial goal was 3500 meters and I tapped out at 3303.

After my rowing extravaganza, I went downstairs, wrote my meters on the board and then waited for the seven o'clock class to start. I practiced my handstands a little bit before Bill corralled all of us in for mobility drills and then the strength workout: Presses (6-6-6).

Since the rep scheme was high and I still have troubles with my press, the weights I used looked something like this: 25-30-34.6. I was going to try to go for 37.2 (my arch nemesis in the press world), when Bill reminded me that 34.6 was close enough to 37.2 at that rep scheme and that if I added just a little bit of weight to my presses that eventually I'd break through my 37.2 roadblock. I conceded. I'm typically not one to argue, and we still had to do the metcon. As a result, I decided that it would probably be better if I saved my energy rather than ruin myself on the strength WOD.

Needless to say, I was glad with my decision. The metcon was like "Cindy" but it wasn't. Instead of being AMRAP in 20:00, it was 15:00, and instead of doing fifteen squats, we did fifteen box jumps. Since it was Cindy-like, I figured that maybe I could get through seven or eight rounds, since I was able to complete ten or so with true-Cindy.

When Bill gave us the 3-2-1-Go!, I think I was either A) Really excited or B) Really stupid. I quickly went through my first two rounds. I did my pull ups and my push ups unbroken. I was feeling good: My pull ups felt fairly strong, even if they weren't chest to bar like specified, and my push ups had good depth (Bill told me; I asked). My box jumps are once again improving (for some reason I went through this stage where I felt like I kind of sucked at box jumps), and I was just trying to continue to maintain my frenzied pace.

Then round three came. I did my pull ups and went on to my push ups. I did seven and then the true suck fest set in. I began breaking up my reps more frequently for the rest of the third round and the subsequent rounds, doing reps of three, two and even one. As a result, I was only able to complete seven full rounds, plus five pull ups and seven push ups. I was able to reach my seven-eight round goal but for some reason or another I was upset that I wasn't able to reach eight. It was those dang push ups... I tell you...

After completing the WOD, I meandered about for a little bit and then decided to work on my handstands yet again. The Show was there and asked me if I wanted him to time me. I shrugged: "Why not?" And then began my attempt to beat my previous record board time of 20.94 seconds. My first attempt was not pretty, and my second attempt was even uglier. My third attempt, however, lead to my 24 second even handstand. I guess, three times is a charm.

All in all, it was a pretty successful (and busy) Thursday, and just reading over this, I feel like I did a lot. Okay, I did kind of do a lot. Regardless, it was a decent day CrossFit-wise.

*There were no liquid carbs (beers) or paleo margaritas consumed after the completion of these WODS. Okay, I had a couple sips of a margarita. That was all though.

Long Stories, Short

CrossFit-wise, here's what has happened to me this week:

On Monday we worked on our clean and jerks before moving onto burpees on the minute. My clean and jerks my reps looked a little something like this: 45-47.2-49.6-52.4 (EPIC FAIL). I'm still having (weird... who would have thought?) trouble dropping under the bar. Trying to work the split jerk helped a little, but I was still having issues with my knees and such. As for improvement - I think I'll just have to keep practicing because I'm not really willing to eat a whole chocolate cake like Boyd did (this apparently helped him).

As soon as we finished the clean and jerks we moved on to burpees. Now, I was not one to be deceived by this workout. I remembered all too well when we did pull ups on the minute (that WOD was like the bane of my existence) and how quickly the "suck factor" entered into the picture. Oh no. I was not one to be deceived and so, my game plan was just to do as many burpees as possible. Oh, and try to beat Garth by one rep because he apparently quit during the morning class (this obviously did not work - but you can give Jennie and I credit for trying). In the end, I did fourteen rounds plus seven burpees. During round fifteen, my ankle went all haywire on me and this prevented me from cranking out a few more at the end, that and the fact that I wanted to be done.

On Tuesday, we did some deadlifts (yay!) and "Helen." For the strength portion we were to complete four, three rep sets leading up to 75% of our one rep max (100 kg for me). Well, after completing my 70, and Jennie informing me that it looked too light, I decided to complete another set at 80. It felt good and I smiled.

As for "Helen," I really wanted to beat my previous time of 11:18; however, I was not able to do so. I would like to attribute my lack of PR to the deadlifts and the 45 mile per hour wind that we had to run in. My "Helen" time was 11:34. As we can both see that is not better than 11:18, and as much as I would like to blame deadlifting and the wind, I begrudgingly admit that I just didn't get it done. Oh well, maybe next time...

Saving Ta Ta's for Time

Hey, I thought I would give a shout out to all of us CrossForters (or anyone else who may possibly read this) out there. A few of us (i.e. Garth, Audra, Matt L., Brian, Tommy Mo (maybe), I, and hopefully more) are planning on running a "Care for Breast Cancer 5k Run/Walk" in Crystal Lake on Sunday Oct 25th at Lippold Park 8:30am.

Please visit the following link to register: Care for Breast Cancer 5k Run/Walk. The registration fee is $25, I believe. Also, we may be getting some tshirts (yay for tshirts!) See the side panel for the actual design. In addition, please shoot me an email if you would like one at bjansen8@gmail.com (let me know the size if you are contacting me - they are men's American Apparel shirts) or you could order one from the widget as well. I'm assuming that the more we order the less expensive they will be. However, my guess is that they will probably amount to $20.

The Safe Word is "Banana"

This past Saturday I encountered a new spin on an old favorite: Red Rover. When I was a kid, I used to love playing Red Rover. As a result, you can image my excitement (or fear) when I saw the following posted on the board:

In teams of 3, AMRAP in 20:00:

Person A does 10 burpees

Person B does 10 kettle bell swings

Person C sprints 50 meters

One point is awarded for every successful sprint. The sprinter cannot run until both the burpees and the KB swings have been completed. Person C can only switch tasks with A or B when standing next to them. (KB swings and Burpees were set up at either end of the parking lot.)

Bill divided up the teams. I was placed with Brian and Matt (L.). As Matt went to set up some kettlebells, Brian and I were discussing strategy. I suggested that we come up with a code word for when we were either done with our reps or when we wanted to switch movements. Brian immediately came back with a scene from Family Guy and suggested the word "banana." Although I do not watch Family Guy, I figured I could work with that. It was much more original than holding up your arm to indicate that you were done with your reps, which is actually what we ended up doing... Which is fine, really it is... Boring... But it worked... Anyway....

The WOD went relatively quick. I started out at the kettlebells and stayed there for nine rounds before sprinting to the other end to start burpees. After that my poor counting skills came back to haunt me, so I simply focused on finishing my ten burpees as soon as possible until the boys wanted me to sprint back to complete more kettlebell swings. I would tell you how many burpees and how many kettlebell swings I did but I wasn't paying that close attention (remember the lack of counting skills?). I did, however, only complete four sprints in those twenty minutes.

In the end, Team Safe Word "Banana" completed 27 rounds. Unfortunately, two other teams also completed 27 rounds. As a result, Bill called for sudden death. One, ten kettlebell/burpee/sprint to the end of the driveway.

Once again, I was sent to complete kettlebell swings, while Matt did burpees (he is a burpee machine) and Brian ran (hello Señor Lightening). I did the kettlebell swings fairly quickly and then Brian and I waited for Matt to complete the burpees. We looked on as Tommy Mo cranked out his burpees just a little ahead of Matt and waited for the signal (the raised hand... ugh). Regardless, Matt's hand shot up within due time and Brian darted to the other end of the driveway, leaving everyone else trailing behind him.

As soon as he reached the other end of the drive, I threw up my hands, victorious, and yelled: "Banana!" I'm not sure if either of my teammates heard me, but it just felt right.

A Brian Pyramid: Congrats on your first win, Brian.

Another One Bites the Dust

For some reason or another I had an aching for some Queen this morning. I think my longing stemmed from the fact that it is the end of the week (finally) and I did crank out a WOD early this morning. As a result, here is "Another One Bite's the Dust" for your viewing and listening pleasure.

Today, I somehow managed to get my butt out of bed early enough to make it to the 5:30 am class. While I do enjoy working out in the morning (the GYG is always interesting and Zach always offers great advice), I often feel bad because I seem to be incapable of making it to the Fort on time. I would like to blame my parents but that is another story entirely in itself and not really fair either. I digress though. Regardless of my tardiness, I was able to join in the morning festivities.

I started with a brief 300 meter row to warm up before moving on to the morning's strength workout:

Presses

3-3-3-3

25-30-35-39.6 (Epic Fail)

For some reason or another, I continue to have trouble with my presses. I've been stuck at 37 forever and can't seem to get past it. Now, I realize since I am still feeling the side effects of "Angie" (b&^%h) and haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep may have something to do with it, but it's still frustrating and I feel like those are excuses rather than the real reason. In any case, after my epic fail, Zach had me do a max rep of presses at 25 kg. I did 20, halfway got to 21 and then put the bar down. I felt cashed, as I should have, and as Zach reminded me after I waited a minute and tried to rep more out only to fail.

It was successful though in that I was given another way to try and improve my presses so that I can finally break that 37 barrier. And as I went to set up for the metcon, I felt more confident and aware of what I needed to do in order to improve.

The metcon we did today consisted of the following:

• 10 Cleans (60 kg/40 kg)
• 50 Sit ups
• 8 Cleans
• 40 Sit ups
• 6 Cleans
• 30 Sit ups
• 4 Cleans
• 20 Sit ups
• 2 Cleans
• 10 Sit ups

I did the workout at the prescribed women's weight (40 kg) and finished in a little over eleven minutes. I was shooting for sub-eleven; however, seeing how cleans and I are not BFF's, I was incapable of doing so. My quads were wrecked after doing the first five (The first five! I'm blaming Angie...) and then I kept worrying about my form.

I want to be better at cleans (like really, really want to be better at cleans). However, I think I'm just going to have to practice them before and/or after class in order to really get that form down, so that I can (hopefully) crush WODs like this in the future.

Anyhow, it's another week down, another WOD down, and it's on to Team Saturday tomorrow.