Four Men & a Lady

This past Saturday Pete, Matt L., Garth, Tom and I (along with the coaches) all woke up a little earlier to compete in a three WOD extravaganza in order to help us prepare for sectionals. Bill took the three workouts for the day from a competition that had been done earlier in Utah. The workouts looked a little like this:

WOD #1
For time:

500 m row
440 m run

TIME: 3:57

WOD #2
For total reps:

:90 clean and jerks (35 kg)
:30 rest
:90 ring dip push ups
:30 rest
:90 front squat (35 kg)
:30 rest
:90 burpees

TOTAL REPS: 65

WOD #3
For time:

440 meter run
10 deadlifts (65 kg)
20 box jumps (24")
30 kettle bell swings
40 wall ball shots (14#)
50 meters of OH walking lungs (10 kg)
400 meter run

TIME: 12:52

Overall, it was a great experience. Although I wish another female would have been there, it was great to workout with the guys. They're uber competitive and really pushed me to do better. (I was only disappointed that I wasn't able to show them all up in the last WOD when I was in the lead for a good ten seconds. ) All in all though, I did okay. When Bill calculated the final numbers I would have finished eleventh overall out the the 27; moreover, if I hadn't messed up on my final run (I was so excited I was in first place I forgot to run around the cone), I probably would have finished somewhere around sixth place, which is kind of exciting.

I'm not a player; I just crush alot... (Part 2)

Us with the Chamber and the big scissors before the WOD. Congrats guys!

If you read my previous post, you know that I did two named WOD's this past week: Nancy and Helen. While my Nancy experience was not as exciting as I hoped, my time with Helen proved to be well spent.

I went to the Fort Wednesday morning to attend a special moment in CrossFit Fire history: The Chamber of Commerce was coming to the Fort to officially welcome Bill and Jennie's business to the community. It was a celebration of sorts, for all of us (We love you guys!) and to celebrate (and impress the hell out of the Chamber members), a group of us were going to do a workout.

Originally, we were going to do a WOD that included seven rounds of body rows, push presses and something else (I don't know what it was - I didn't do it); however, after seeing the turnout (there were about ten or so of us), Bill decided that we were going to do Helen instead.

Helen

3 rounds for time:

• 400 meter run


• 21 kettlebell swings (16 kg)


• 12 pull ups

Immediately, I was nervous and excited. I held the Fort record with a time of 11:18 and was now put in the position to defend my spot. Regardless, I kept my nerves in check, promised myself that I would beat my old PR, and then focused on channeling those nerves into the workout.

Once everyone and everything was set up, we lined up at the edge of the building to begin the first run. Bill called the 3-2-1-Go! and I was off.

My first run felt exceptionally strong. I was the second one back into the Fort right behind Pete and cranked out my kettlebell swings. I finished them unbroken and then moved onto my pull ups. Surprisingly, I was able to complete eight in a row before I needed to drop off the bar. I then quickly did the remaining four and turned to my second run.

Although my second run wasn't as strong as my first, I still felt okay with it. I knew I was making good time and as I re-entered the Fort for my second set of kettlebell swings, I felt even more confident about beating my old PR. When I got to my pull ups, I had to break them up more than the previous round, which slowed me down a bit; however, I still able to complete them and then set off on my third round.

Overall, my third round was continuation of the second. I completed my run, did all my kettlebell swings unbroken and then broke up my pull ups, finishing my last three one at a time. But when I dropped off the bar my final pull up and fell to the floor, sucking air, I felt great. Really freakin' tired but great, and when Bill called out 10:29, I was both amazed and elated. I beat my old PR by almost a minute. I crushed Helen like I didn't crush Nancy.

After everyone completed the WOD, I was sitting there writing in my book, still excited about my time and particularly about my pull ups. For those of you who know me and my struggle with pull ups, then you know its been a long and trying war (and unfortunately, the pull ups have won more battles than I have); however, that seems to be changing. Who's the bitch now, pull ups?

I'm not a player; I just crush a lot... (Part 1)

I was quite the player this week. I did two of the Nasty Girl WOD's: On Tuesday, I did "Nancy"; on Wednesday, "Helen."

Nancy

5 rounds for time:

• 400 meter run


• 15 OH squats (30kg)

16:17 (at 25 kg)

When I arrived at the Fort on Tuesday, I had every intention of doing Nancy prescribed. Sure, my OH squats are not my strongest lift, but I figured I could make up time on the 400 meter run. I practiced a few with just the fifteen kilo bar and then then brought out two five kilo plates to test it out at 25 before moving up to thirty. As I practiced my OH squats, Bill wandered over to my lifting space under the loft. He watched me intently, taking note of my form, as I held the weight overhead and then squatted beneath it. After completing a few reps, I set the bar down and anxiously waited for the assessment. Bill would determine whether or not I was ready to move up to the prescribed weight.

"Your OH squats are getting better," he told me.

Heck yes! I thought, trying to contain my excitement. I was going to be able to do this WOD prescribed my second time ever doing it and at forty pounds heavier.

" But -"

Dammit, the voice in my head grumbled. There had to be a "but."

"... your knees are still shaky sometimes. I wouldn't do more weight than that."

"Okay," I responded dutifully as I watched my prescribed Nancy dream shift itself back into the "undone" column on my mental Nasty Girl Rx'd checklist. Bill knew better than I did.

Who was I to argue? So I set myself up, promising that even if I didn't get to do the WOD prescribed, I was at least going to crush it.

And (kind of (okay, not really)) crush it, I did. I say "kind of" and then "not really" because obviously I would have liked to do better and I can admit that my time was not that impressive. I am slow at OH squats because I'm preoccupied with my stupid knees and I wasn't able to make up that much extra time on my runs.

What was good was that I was almost able to do all of my OH squats unbroken. I crushed that dream too when I dropped the bar with two reps left on my last round. (Two stinkin' reps). Luckily though I was able to get back on the bar quickly and crank out the last two before my time crept any further.

Overall though, I was able to practice some good OH squats without dropping the bar on my head (yay) and was able to keep Stacy on pace, who did do the WOD prescribed and now holds the women's record at the Fort (atta baby!). So all was not lost - and unbeknownst to me, I would be able to prove myself on Wednesday and to a group of spectators, nonetheless.

And I'm Back...

For those of you who used to read my blog (I use past tense because I've been absent for awhile), I'm going to attempt to get back to your regularly scheduled blogging. As I mentioned before in passing that school has a tendency to take over my life. To be frank, not much has changed; however, with the semester winding down and my brain continually on the fritz, I am planning (and hoping) that getting back to my blog will help me maintain a sense of balance in my hectic life.

OK. So enough with the blah blah blah about school and back to what really matters: CrossFit. This week so far I have deadlifted, power cleaned, front squated, push pressed, and done more ring dips than a person cares to do in single day. Add tall box jumps, sit ups, running and body rows to the mix and you've got an amalgam of three days worth of WOD's.

Strength-wise, my power cleans and push presses are coming along nicely, especially my power cleans. I'm feeling much better about my cleaning ability, and I am determined to make myself love (and crush) them. Front squats - eh, not so much. I have trouble driving up with my elbows. On the other end of the spectrum, in the metcon area, my box jumps, runs, body rows and sit ups are still relatively strong and feel that, in many ways, they are improving, which is all I can ask.

Everything aside, I'm excited about where I'm going CrossFit-wise and hope that I am able to frequent my lovely blogger space more often. Also, the next time I get some time off, I promise to post something more witty.

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.

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...