Sunday May 17, 2009

I thought I would sleep like a baby after Saturday's torture. Perhaps it was the ice coffee I had at 3:45 before my row, but I was pretty amped most of the night. Heading into the finals in the last position with a workout that ended with 30 snatches only 7lbs less than my present 1RM. Yikes.

I finished dead last, but worked my way through it. It was a mental barrier for me. Mostly, to not get pissed that I was last. The old me would have been cursing up a storm, and thinking how much I sucked over and over. This time, I was proud to be out there. I think I was the only one left working for something like the last 7 minutes of the workout. All the ladies gathered around the crowd cheered for every rep that I caught and pressed out to overhead. (this is NOT how you snatch for those unfamiliar).

Above you can see a video of a few of the reps.

30 reps Clean and Jerk @ 95lbs (~5-6 mintes), 400m run and 30 reps snatch at 75lbs. Overall time ~19 minutes. The cut off was 20 minutes so at least I made it!

Back at it!

Wednesday May 20, 2009:Sleep 6hrs

Strength/Skill Work:

Shoulder press 3x 56, 65, 75, 80, 85, 90(3 rep PR), 94F, 85, 85, 85lbs

L-sits (I hate) 29secs, 33, 29, 25, 26seconds

Good day back. Nothing too intense, but a good work set on the shoulder press. Gonna break into triple digits for my one rep here VERY soon! I'm finally getting through some solid work sets as well. Something I've always neglected.

Thursday May 21, 2009 Sleep 6hrs

Friday May 22, 2009 Sleep 4hrs Ouch.

1 legged box jumps 24"

30 burpee pull-ups for time from 7.5ft pull-up bar

3:40

Saturday May 23, 2009 Sleep 10 hrs

WOD

4 rounds 400m run 50 squats

10:50

CF Regional Review WOD 3

Chad Caden also from CrossFit Asheville and I after the completion of our first day.

Saturday May 16, 2009 WOD 3 (4:00pm):

Row 2,000m for time.

8:28
After the second WOD I crashed on a blanket in the grass for a solid hour. Corey went to buy more water, honey and a coffee to get me ready for the last workout. We decided honey would be the best option about 20 minutes before to give me a lift and avoid feeling weak and dizzy without filling me up causing me to want to hurl.

I didn't do a whole lot to warm-up for this one. I was set to be one of 9 to go on to tomorrow's regional assuming that I could row 2,000m in under 10 minutes. I did a 2,000m row solo back on April 25th in 8:28 so I was hoping to go under 8:15 today. However, I also had the idea of just maintaining on this workout and save a little extra energy for whatever they are going to throw at us tomorrow. I was a solid 5 minutes behind and being that not only am I short but a smaller build, rowing is NOT my forte.

Rowed 8:28 holding 2:07s for essentially every 500m. I won't complain when I equal my PR after the havoc on my body from earlier today.

They announced the workout for Sunday after the completion of the last round of men's rowing. I was hoping for like a 10k run and maybe 100 overhead squats at 65lbs. haha Anything endurance favored people?? Give me a shot for a dramatic come from behind. haha

No such luck instead...
30 clean and jerks at 95lbs
450m run (no 10k)
30 snatch at 75lbs
For time.
20 minute time limit

Glad I got my snatch up over 80lbs on Monday. Too bad it's not up over 100lbs, but I know I will be able to complete it.
I'm glad to be in the finals and looking forward to ending with a solid effort.

CF Regional Review WOD 2

Saturday May 16, 2009 WOD 2 (1:00pm)

5 rounds for time of:

7 double kettlebell thrusters (35lbs each)

11 burpees

Time 10:31

I was feeling pretty good after the first work-out. My roommate from undergrad, Dawn, and her husband were passing through Columbus from Baberton on their way to Indiana. We were able to go out to breakfast to catch up for a bit between work-outs. I felt like a freak ordering two over-easy eggs while the rest of the group chowed down on pancakes and sausage. When the waitress asked if I wanted toast I was tempted to accept to avoid looking like one of those "carb-free idiots" but hate wasting food and passed. What she didn't see was that I had eaten a pear, banana, cashews, almonds, mango, and string cheese beforehand. Oh well.

After breakfast we went back to the venue and I caught a 20 minute period of shut eye. I can't say that I slept, but I relaxed as much as possible while visualizing myself moving through the second workout. I was quite pumped as I definitely saw it as my time to move up in the standings. I don't mind thrusters and can knock out burpees for days if I need to (not that I like to:). Yes, I was a bit concerned with the fact that the thrusters were with two 35lb awkward as hell kettlebells and not a straight forward barbell or even dumbbells. I was shooting for about a 5-6 minute time.

Corey pulled out the table and worked on my mid and low back a bit after my nap. It felt great and certainly seemed to help out. The one part about the warm-up which was particularly significant to me was when I actually gave the KB thrusters a try. I was in the practice gym and did a set with the 25lbs KBs. Not too bad. Then, I picked up the 30lb KBs and struggled just to get them up into the front rack position. From there I also worked fairly hard to thruster with them. Corey was watching from as far as he could get at the door. He was all positive for me telling me I looked strong and what not. However, what he didn't realize is that I still had to go up a total of 10lbs. I didn't even pick up the 35lbs before I went out. I didn't feel it was necessary. The 35 thrusters I had to do out there would be MORE than enough.

My judge this time was a big guy named Dan. He was pleasant and very helpful even asking how I wanted the KBs positioned in between rounds. Plus, he recorded my splits for each of the 5 rounds. (I love knowing splits and seeing where time was lost/gained.)

3,2,1...Go and again we are working. I can't remember how many thrusters I did straight but it must have been at least 4 followed by a set of 3. It took me a few rounds to really get the clean down with the KBs and I ended up essentially curling the bells up each time I had to put them down. I finished the first set of thrusters and hit the burpees.

I tried to move through relatively fast to make up ground. I finished that first round in 56 seconds (right on pace, haha) and then it hit me. I didn't feel hungry at all going into the workout, but during those burpees I started to feel weak and dizzy. Corey was right in front of me through the fence and I made eye contact thinking "oh boy, not sure if I'm gonna be able to do this." The bells were heavy and awkward as hell but I just tried to stay as focused as possible not missing any reps. I would usually get sets of two out every time I picked those suckers up and every once in awhile I would squeeze out a 3rd before dropping them. Every time I put the bells down it seemed that devil was screaming from my shoulder that I couldn't do it and that I would never make it out to the final. Once I picked them up I more easily gained focus but it's like once you drop them the last thing you want to do is pick them back up and all the negativity sneaks in.
My pace on the burpees had slowed significantly. Dan kept yelling at me to "Just drop!" to the ground rather than lowering down and doing a push-up to ensure my chest and thighs touched. I appreciated his advice but I was feeling so out of it that one time I even knocked my chin on the ground and was concerned that dropping too quickly would cause me to rock my melon on the ground.
Rounds 2 & 3 were the worst and then it seems by the 4th I started to see the light and feel hope that maybe I would finish. It helped that I could see and hear the other ladies around me all struggling as well. Although once again I felt as though I must certainly be in dead last place and kept having that feeling of wanting to press some sort of "escape" key to allow the ground to open up and I immediately disappear from the scene without having to walk past everyone to throw in the towel. Yes, I had MULTIPLE thoughts of quitting.
If this had occurred during my college years I more than likely would not have finished. Thankfully, I finally have gained a bit more patience and maturity to focus in and get the job done. It feels good to be able to put a plug in that evil devil on my shoulder. It is a constant challenge and I hope eventually I can compete with a purely positive mindset, but for now it is a big step personally.
My time was 10:31. The slowest of those who finished, but this time 1 of 9 to complete the event and have a chance to move on to Sunday's finals. All that was ahead of me was the row.

CrossFit Midwest Regional Review WOD 1

I wanted to write down some of my thoughts surrounding each work-out of this past weekend. Overall going into it I was certainly a bit nervous and anxious but definitely not anything compared to how I've felt in the past with running races. When it came time for the work-outs I felt fairly cool and collected and just went in with a "well, let's see what I've got" mindset.

Saturday May 16, 2009 WOD 1(9:00am):

21-15-9
185lb Deadlift

chest-to-bar pull-ups

Time 11:22

Thoughts: First, I found it interesting that almost exactly a year ago (May 14, 08) my 1 rep record for the deadlift was 185lbs. Thus, there is NO way that I would have completed this workout within the 15 minute time limit. My husband Corey joked that I would have been on my first set of 21 deadlifts within that time period and he's probably right. I was hoping to finish a bit faster, but I think I paced myself well. Both ladies in front and behind me pulled the first 21 deadlifts consecutively and went straight to the pull-up bar. THAT in and of itself was a bit intimidating. I will completely admit that I felt like I was going to be the last one done with that workout and had the fight the devil on my left shoulder questioning me why I thought I belonged in this kind of competition. While Sarah Dunsmore (winner of the Regional) was the lady right behind me, the girl in front of me did exactly what I was afraid of and burnt herself out on that first set of 21 to the point that I'm not sure she made it within 15 minutes. Those heavy deads were well, HEAVY!

The plan Corey and I had was to pull until I started to slow. At that point rest. Put the bar down, take a few steps away and come right back. The idea was to not completely wipe myself out trying to muscle out too many and not be able to do any in the rounds of 15 and 9. It really worked well for me. I pulled 5, rested and then started pulling in sets of 2 and 3. During the 15s and 9s I continued that 2-3 with an occasional single.

The pull-ups were my strong suit, and I made up some ground on people there for sure. It is evident that many do not do chest to bar pullups on a regular basis. Every since they required chest to bar at the Games last year that's literally all I've done. At first it was really hard and now it's no big deal. I make all my clients strive for chest to bar as well. Sometimes I know they hate me for it, but it will get them more prepared for the muscle-up as well.

After those 21 pull-ups I came off the bar and saw from my judge's clock we were at 5 minutes so I felt far more confident from then on out. Just move through and finish with something left over for the other work-outs to come. This sweet lady named Heather was my judge for this first workout. I dont' remember much after that first round except for her encouragement and positive voice. It made a big difference as I was in the back corner and couldn't really hear Corey or Laura too often. Although I particularly remember making eye contact during some of my rest periods during that first set of 21. I recall thinking, "Help me, here." haha

12 ladies finished this first work-out. I had the 10th fastest time. They take 10 to the finals on Sunday so I was where I needed to be at this point to get into the finals.

Tuesday May 12, 2009 Sleep: 5.5hrs, 20 min nap

Deadhang Pull-ups (7,5)

Strength/Skill work:Thrusters 5x 75, 88, 2x98, 1x103, 1x111, 116F

Just some light weight sets to feel a bit of a load without wearing me down.

WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:

~200m run (longer than shorter but probably pretty accurate. Uphill out, downhill back)

10 single arm dumbbell push-press

5 chest-to-bar pull-ups

7 rounds + ~120m run

Time to focus on getting some stinkin' sleep. Wednesday and Thursday either my dogs will not be spoiled and get their afternoon trip to the park or my husband will do it solo so I can get some more sleep. The work-outs are said to be posted tomorrow (today wednesday the 13th). C'mon Rogue update your page! Curious competitors are anxious to know the tasks that lie ahead.

Weekend Zzzs & another Snatch PR

Saturday May 9, 2009 Sleep: 9 glorious hours

Did the warm-up with the class which included 9 consecutive deadhang movements.

Played around with a little tumbling but other than that rest, rest, rest.

Sunday May 10, 2009 Sleep: 8hrs

Active Rest Day with a two hour hike (see pics) with friends who were in town from NY. The hike wasn't challenging but I was exhausted before we started. Goal of the week...lots o' sleep

No pull-ups it seems I am a day ahead anyhow.

Monday May 11, 2009 Sleep: 7.5hrs no nap

Hitting a bunch of drills to include double and single leg broad jumps as well as some bounding today to demo the warm-up for 3 classes.

10 (6,4) pull-ups in a.m. and a couple sets of 10-15 push-ups and squats

Strength/skill work: 8pm

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

45lbs, 65, 75, 79, 84F, 84F, 84F, 82.5F(used the 15kg bar with 10kg bumpers and 2 1/4lb plates), 82.5F, 82.5!! PR(Laura even caught it on video below.), 84F, 84F enough.

Although it may appear that this session would be quite frustrating recording all those failed attempts, but they were solid attempts. I kept getting it over head but unable to stand up with it. Until FINALLY I did. When I did these a week ago Sunday I couldn't even get 84 to my eyes (mostly because I'm a headcase and knew how much was on the bar). Now, I'm close to standing up with 84. Triple digits in the snatch before the year is out! It was a solid session. I was mentally in a MUCH better place than last week.

The Jerk

For those times when water fails you rest assured there is now a "Dry Mouth Spray" on the market. Experience "Instant Moisture". Oh, the things they feel the need for in our society.

(Yes, I actually saw this in an Asheville grocery store and just so happened to have my camera in my purse.)

Friday May 8, 2009 Sleep: 6hrs, no nap. Really dropped the ball with my efforts to get more sleep this week. There has been a lot going on and I have a presentation to give this coming Tuesday for this business class I'm taking. I don't feel horrible, but keeping my training as smart as possible. Next week I KNOW I need to squeeze in some extra sleep.

Warm-up

Line drills with "quick feet" work

12 overhead squats with PVC and push-ups

26 deadhang pull-ups to meet my "buy-in" for Matt's Pull-up Challenge

Mobility work for hips and shoulders

Strength/skill work:

Push Jerk 5x44lbs, 65lbs, 75lbs, 88lbs, 98lbs, 104lbs x 4, 104lbs x 5, 110lbs x4 F on 5th

It was stupid that I didn't get the 5th on that last one. Lack of focus. I was going to re-do it but I started using the back rack position today in prep for the regionals next week. I saw this done in a video of another regional where they had to do multiple overhead lifts. It is easier to avoid the temptation to put the bar down while holding in the back rack position (so as if you were about to back squat) than the more traditional front rack. However, the re-rack between reps can be punishing when I don't get the my scapulas "back and down" fast enough in order to best absorb that weight on my traps. So, while it is easier in some regards it is more challenging in others.

Moving a bigger bell...

Wednesday May 6, 2009: Sleep 7hrs, no nap

CFE Row: 2pm

3 rounds of

5 seconds on 10 seconds off,

20 seconds on, 10 seconds off,

10 seconds on, 10 seconds off,

30 seconds on, 10 seconds off,

25 seconds on, 10 seconds off,

15 seconds on, 10 seconds off
This is the version I did which is slightly different from the version written on the site, but still works for the same amount of time per round.

Distances after each round were

1) 538m

2) 1075m (537m)

3) 1617m (542m)

Strength/Skill Work (6:30pm)
Overhead Squat: 5x45, 75, 85 and 4x95 failed on 5 moved onto DL

Deadlift 5x132, 3x176, 1x196, 206, 220, 230F, 230F

It's been quite awhile since I pulled over 200 for anything (months actually) so I wanted to at least match my PR. It may be 225 I'm not sure to be honest and wasn't writing down back in Jan when I hit it. Until I do it again, 220 it is.

WOD: 3 rounds of 1 minute max burpees immediately followed by 30 kettlebell swings (45lbs) 30 sit-ups. The next round starts at the start of the 4th minute. So, the 2nd starts at 8 minutes. The last round in completed for overall time.

Burpees: 23/19/16 Overall time 19:23This was the first time I have used the 45lb KB. It felt good. I did 20 straight the last two rounds. I could definitely swing the 53lb or whatever the 1.5 pood is if I needed to.

Thursday May 7, 2009: Sleep 6hrs, closed my eyes for a 10 minute nap. Man, I didn't want to get up.

WOD

3 rounds of
50 double unders

10 handstand push-ups

8:42

Those double unders kill me. However, I can do upwards of 10-15 at a time. Two weeks ago I couldn't do 3. All in time, all in time. At least my fear of them coming up at regionals has forced me to work on them. Oh, how it is easy to focus on our strengths.

10 minutes in time

The above picture is centered one my main work-out partners, Laura. She will be coming to the regionals with me as support and next year we are going to get her to the regionals working towards her own spot at the 2010 Games!! She is motivating and supportive. I love working with her everyday.

Monday May 4, 2009 Sleep: 7hrs, no nap
Unplanned rest day. Didn't get the workout in before my evening class and by the time that was over around 7:45 I was done. I tried a few front squats around 85lbs and called it a day. Honestly, I was content with it too. I mean obviously I'd like to get in a workout but I'd much rather listen to my body at this point.

Tuesday May 5, 2009 Sleep: 9 straight hrs! This felt great, but it was one of the fastest 9 hours of sleep I've had. I definitely could have slept close to 12 if time allowed.

Strength/skill sets: Thruster-jerks 5x 75lbs, 88lbs, 95lbs, 100lbs, 105lbs
This is a new movement for me that I wanted to give a try. Some of the regionals recently have had full squat clean to overhead anyway you can get it. So, thruster is faster at getting the bar overhead push it overhead straight out of the squat rather than standing with it, resetting the feet and redipping to put it overhead. However, the jerk (when you use the legs to accelerate the wght overhead and then catch with bent legs or on the re-dip) saves energy over catching it in a fully extended thruster. Any non-crossfitters here are probably more than lost. But I've never done it and wanted to practice the technique. It felt good and I enjoyed it. I could have gone heavier, but it was the weight with which I was doing my work-out so I decided to just get started with it.

WOD: Max reps in 10 minutes of muscle-ups and power cleans at 105lbs. Must complete at least 10 of each.
I did muscle-ups first and then went back and forth as the numbers show...

3 2 2 2 2 1 Total Muscle-ups 12

5 5 5 5 10 19 Total Power cleans 49

Total reps: 61

I just found out that Candace Hamilton (pictured below) of CrossFit Oakland was the winner of this work-out at the NorCal Regional this past weekend with 101 reps! Incredible!

Mental Set-back then Snatch PR

Saturday May 2, 2009: Sleep 7.5hrs, 3.5hr nap

As I believe I've mentioned in earlier posts I had told myself that I wasn't going to go to the CF regionals this year as my life can be quite hectic between my husband and I in our first 6 months of business for two separate businesses. However, here I talked about the change of events which now has me competing in the regionals. When I signed up I knew I was going to show up and compete but more than anything I wanted to just keep my training focused yet relaxed and go have fun. Well, Saturday I had a bit of a set back.

You see, I have a history of being quite a headcase regarding training and competing. I was a collegiate distance runner for Kent State University from 2000-2004 and ended up quitting the team with eligibility left in cross-country and track for 2005. You can read more about my youth athletic experience here but mostly I was by no means ever tagged as a "natural talent" growing up and through much of high school. However, by my senior year I had trained consistently enough that I was winning races and earned a college scholarship.
Long story short I became wrapped up in the idea that "more is better" for training and spent much of my collegiate career battling injuries and left in the pool or riding the elliptical machine like a maniac. When I was healthy enough to race I would get myself so worked up that I had to prove myself that by the end of it all would run faster in practice than competitions and completely break down pretty much having anxiety attacks and screaming negative things about myself out loud in the middle of 5 and 10k track races. I was an embarrassment not only to myself but most importantly to my team. Thankfully I do have some positive memories from those times, but in the end my perspective was completely warped and I didn't know what else to do but walk away. I spent my last 3 semesters of college living the more "typical college life" and while I've completed a marathon, half-ironman and some dinky road races since I haven't taken part in any "serious" competition since; particularly not any at which I had a shot to do well.

Recently some of the compulsiveness started to sneak back in. As you may have read my training has been fairly lax over the past few months and yet I continue to improve week after week. (Oh, the beauty of CrossFit training.) However, especially since I'm trying to focus my training towards skills I have only recently started doing consistently (muscle-ups and double-unders) as well as adding in some heavier stuff since a distance running background doesn't exactly prepare you for heavy anything, the majority of my workouts are done on my own. On days that you've been up since 4:45am and coached at 6,7,8, and 9am, stayed through 1pm for open gym and back in the evening for more classes talking yourself up to train can sometimes be a challenge. I love CrossFit and I love to train, but I am human and sometimes lack personal motivation. When this happens I tend to get frustrated at myself and it can be a downward spiral.

Saturday after putting on the morning workout I wasn't feeling up to working out myself so I told my husband Corey that we'd come back later. Well, I went home and slept for nearly 4 hours that afternoon. When I woke up I cleaned the apt and kept fighting to find motivation to get back in the gym. I never did. Instead, I completely melted down and took much of my personal frustration out on Corey. I yelled at him for not being more supportive and motivating me when I feel lazy. (He is MORE than supportive of all I do and was unable to read my mind to know my lack of motivation, as I expected of him. I'm sure other significant others out there are nodding their heads at this point.) I also got mad at him for not giving me more guidance with my training even though, 1) Again, I never asked and 2) I have been doing my own programming as well as the gym's for quite awhile now.
In the end, we had a good discussion and I got a lot off my chest that I had been internalizing. I never did workout, but I went in Sunday with a much fresher perspective. It's now Wednesday that I'm catching up on this and I can say that I've been in a much better place since.

Sunday May 3, 2009: Sleep 8.5hrs
Strength/Skill Work: Snatch Didn't keep exact track of weight/reps at each but started at 45 and worked up to 79lbs. This is a 4lbs PR. I hit this weight 3-5 times. Then went up to 84lbs. I had about 5 misses here. I'm a head case. I snatched 79lbs easy every time, but I couldn't get my head wrapped around the 84lbs to put it overhead. Next time...

WOD:
5 rounds of
185lbs deadlift, 3 reps
20 double unders
5:39

Felt solid. Need to hit some heavy deads this week.


One of the blogs I follow, Rizzzzo's World, had a pretty cool post about athletes having a good support system. I can't emphasize enough how supportive my husband, co-owners and clients of CrossFit Asheville oh and my old trainees back in NY. (I haven't forgotten about y'all and miss you much!) Even though my family doesn't really understand this whole CrossFit thing they are great. My mom and sister are both coming to the regionals so they will get a true taste of all the CF madness. I can't wait to hear what they have to say about it all. haha Looking forward to it and thank you to all!