Catching up!

A little behind on the postings, but a lot has gone on in the interim. This past Saturday I competed in the CrossFit Central Women's Challenge, with teammates, Alexis Michie and Pam Gagot. We came in third overall, out of 28 teams, not bad! We won both of our heats, which was awesome! It was fun to compete, but I'm exhausted today. I've never had to work so hard in my life. I can say, unequivocally, that my teammates kicked some serious butt, and it if it wasn't for their energy and enthusiasm, I would have never made it! Thanks ladies! Our WODs were as follows:

WOD 1: 2 mile trail run with
50 clapping push-ups
100 kettlebell high pulls to sprawl (15lbs/16kg)
25 medball rainbows
3 nutrition questions. Can't remember our time though!

WOD 2: 75 deadlifts @ 135lbs
75 box jumps (20 in. box)
93 ground to overhead (65lbs)
75 burpees
50 pull-ups
400m sandbag sprint

We finished in 17:43. Whew!

Last weeks' Oly lifting went well, lots of pull practice, and worked a lot on cleans. I'm enjoying the work, but still trying to get used to using kilograms and not pounds! I guess it's better that I don't know how much I'm lifting until after I'm done. That way I can't mentally back out of a lift before I do it. I haven't been lifting crazy heavy weight though, I know, but I feel like things are really coming along.

WODs for last week were:

3 rounds/15 min cut off/95#
10 front squats
5 muscle ups (red band assisted)
10 push press

This was the first time I had ever attempted 95lbs in any kind of overhead capacity. It was a push press PR for me, but JDP laughed and said, "Um, it's not really a PR if you do it 10 times," so I guess I need to see what my one rep max is now! :o) I managed to get through 1 full round + 5 muscle ups + 7 push press. Even though I didn't finish, it felt good to know I RX'd the weight in this WOD. Props to Jess Clark, because she also did 95lbs, and we held each other accountable. Props to JDP, because he stuck to us like glue, and made sure we kept our form, and didn't hurt ourselves.

20 min cut off/RX weight 35# DB (I used 25#)
45 toes to bar
30 DB floor presses
50' DB lunges
30 renegade rows
45 toes to bar

I DNF'd this one, made it thru 17 toes to bar at the end.

Overall it was a good week. I look forward to spending the day on my couch, and doing as little as possible!

No more hatin'

I'm through. I'm done being a hater. It takes too much energy to worry about what other people are doing or thinking. I'm just going to take responsibility for my actions, my words, and not let what other people think get to me.

I realized why I'm so miserable a lot of the time, finally...I'm too busy trying to be better than someone else, too busy trying to keep up with others, too busy wondering if people like me, or what they think. Too busy being jealous of the people I should be empowering or cheering on, too busy being stupid!

So I'm done! I'm going to use my energy for better things, like finishing WODs, improving my lifts, cheering my fellow crossfitters, uplifting people instead of dragging them down. Life's too short for bullshit.

Time to use my powers for good and not evil! :)

WOD 8/12/10

3 rounds/20 minutes/M 1.5 pood/F 1 pood

400m row

21 Toes to bar

21 KB clean to press (16kg)

Needless to say, I DNF'd this one as well, *sigh*. But, I made it through 2 rounds + 16 toes to bar in the 20 minute time limit. I managed 3 sets of 7 in the first round, but by round 2 it was 7 sets of 3. Oh well, I tried to keep moving! I didn't attempt the 1 pood KB clean this time around, because my left arm is so much weaker than my right. I need to do some strength training to get the left up to snuff. I only tore one spot on my left hand, so I'm grateful for that too. I managed to figure out how to kip with the toes to bar, and that helped a lot. My abs are already sore today, and I can only imagine how they're going to feel on day two, lol! Lifting tonight and tomorrow should be interesting...

WOD 8/10/10

"Elizabeth"

21-15-9

Cleans

Ring dips

M135/F95

We unfortunately had a 12 minute cutoff. I know I would have finished if we had the original 15 minute time limit, but oh well. I used 85lbs, and a red band for the ring dips, made it through 21-15 + 7 cleans. IT WAS HOT AS F*CK too, but that's just me whining. ;o)

Turning a corner?

At least I'm trying to, turn a corner that is. I've been in a funk for the past month or so, and I'm slowly dragging myself out of it. I haven't been enjoying my crossfitting or lifting classes, but I feel like that's all about to change. I've signed up for the Women's Challenge at CrossFit Central, with two amazing athletes, Pam and Alexis. We're collectively known as "Shock-n-Awe", and ready to kick some ass at the challenge! Pam and Alexis will definitely make me bring my A+ game, and I won't let them down.

I had to leave Sicfit Austin recently, due to financial reasons, but I'm still doing my Oly lifting. I've got a new coach at Woodward CrossFit, Oleg Kechko (Former Olympian, World Champion, and Arnold Classic winner). After 2 sessions with Oleg, I have a renewed respect for Oly lifting, and I'm learning a lot of new and different things. I've been introduced to training straps, they're wrist straps that you use to attach yourself to the barbell. Never used them before, but I've become a fan. They're great for learning your pulls. I also bought some deadlift socks, because my shins are black and blue!!!

I'm looking forward to the end of the summer heat, and hope with the start of fall, I'll be back on track, loving my lifting, crossfitting, and get back to the running. Can't wait to run some 5 and 10K races, and to get back to my long runs that I'm missing so much now.

Happy Anniversary CrossFit

Today marks my one year anniversary of CrossFit. 365 days ago, Chris Hartwell gave me a PVC pipe, and made me squat, and squat, and squat some more. I remember the elements class like it was yesterday. I remember giving Chris a heart attack when I was learning jumping pull-ups, and I jumped, missed the box, and landed square on my chest. I'm not sure who it scared more, me or him, but I was fine, earned my first bruises and scrapes, and moved on.

Lance Cantu was my Level One coach. I still wasn't sure if I liked CrossFit or not, about two weeks into the class. I remember posting on Facebook, "Oh CrossFit, will I ever truly love you?" I didn't get it, but every time I asked Lance if we were doing this workout for time, he would just smile, and tell me, "yes, Karen, for time." I think it took me a month before I figured out that in CrossFit, everything's for time. I remember watching the "real" CrossFitters, in the "real" classes, and thinking, "holy shit, there's no way in hell I'm going to be ready for that class." Lance had to literally kick me out of Level One after my second month, and I was terrified.

After personal training sessions with Lance in the fall of 2009, and with Zach more recently, the I Am Challenge, and now the Spartan 300 Challenge, I can say that I am a CrossFitter. I love this shit. I love my affiliate, CrossFit Central (and holla to SICFIT!!), and I will do this until my body gives out. I love the people I've met, and the coaches and classmates who have pushed me to do just a little bit more, pushed me outside of my comfort zone, and made me stronger than I could ever have imagined. I have finally found "my people." I finally feel like I belong to something bigger. That I belong, period.

365 days ago these words were not even a part of my vocabulary, WOD, paleo, kipping pull-up, muscle up, hand-stand push-up, overhead squat, thruster, and my love, deadlift! 365 days ago I was a different human being. That 40-year old woman wouldn't even begin to recognize the 41-year old staring back at her today. And to CrossFit, I say thank you.

Cuz I'm a girl?

I had the bright idea of trying to include other people in my suffering, and much to my chagrin, it worked. I decided that I need to work on my push-ups, so I can crank them out faster at the final Spartan benchmark WOD on June 26th, so I invited others to join me in this 20-day challenge. The only problem is, is that NOW I HAVE TO DO 50 PUSH-UPS A DAY FOR THE NEXT 20 DAYS!!!! Or else...

I felt good about this idea of mine, until I invited the boys on my Spartan team to join us girls in our quest for push-up greatness. Forgetting, of course, that men (for general intents and purposes) have greater upper body strength than we women do (for the most part). And, they're usually better at push-ups. (Ladies, don't get all excited, I said usually) Well, after they sent me their times for their 50 push-ups, clearly they don't need any help in this department. They sent in times ranging from 1:02 to :49, are you kidding me? Up to this point, I've been hoping to get them done in under 5 minutes! Sub-minute? WTF, How?

So, I made my first attempt at greatness this morning, fresh out of bed, raring to go, OMG 25 push-ups barely, in a minute, and I had already started the "sets of 3 or 4". Boo! So disgusted with my performance that I quit right there, vowing to do them again this afternoon.

...And...they're done. 50 push-ups in 4:42. Major suckage, but there's only one way to go, and that's towards improvement! I can't compare myself to the guys right now, and I won't say it's because I'm a girl. I'm just not there yet. Talk to me in 20 days.