and again

I have been feeling...meh lately...I haven't been as excited about the results of my workouts or where I am with fitness or nutrition, and though I have more free time lately, I have been slow with the blogging.  I had a good Thanksgiving, we went down to Uncle Bo's house in Red Springs (nope I can't point it out on a map).  I didn't go too crazy, John went back for seconds, and I just ate all his extra broccoli salad, so I wasn't terrible, but did have a nice little sampler dessert platter.  Friday morning we did a hopper deck workout at crossfit (so we pulled a random workout from a deck of cards) In the 10 am class we pulled tabata something else, so 8 rounds of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off each of pull ups, push ups, sit ups and squats. Pull ups I struggled a bit with, but didn't feel alone in my struggles, and push ups were a joke, everything else was fine.  I went home and had a leftover plate (the best part of holidays) and maybe ate too much. 

I then went to bikram class in the afternoon. I was a bit worried, as when I stepped in the room it felt warmer than the last class... (Reminder first class I almost died, second class I did much better, this is class #3).  There are 26 poses in total.  With my back issues, there are two I just was planning to sit out anyway.  There is one, that I know I am flexible enough for, I just feel too sweaty to get a good grip, and two that involve tucking your foot into the crook of your hip, which I am both too sweaty and unflexible for.  I made it through the first 5 poses the warming poses, then got lightheaded.  Then we got to the balance poses which I enjoy, but when I would lose my balance, I would get dizzy to stand still.  I sat out for a bit, then my knees started to ache, so I layed down (as I was told my options were to sit on my knees or lay down).  The instructor came over, and seemed very concerned, but I was doing better than the girl who started crying I guess... Once we got to the poses on the ground I did much much better and got through all the postures with the exception of those I planned to sit out.  Again I am not sure how I feel about this, while I do believe the heat has amazing flexibility benefits (I noticed an improved half moon after my first class), I don't feel that great about how my body feels in the heat.  This does however make me more conscious of the amount of water I drink which is a plus, and handling the heat can only improve fitness no?  I don't however get the "yoga high" I have experienced in other classes, probably because I am so stressed about staying alive in class, so while I do like to supplement crossfit with yoga, I might do better with a different yoga discipline I have 12 more classes to figure it out. 

Saturday I was more sore than expected in the glute area... We warmed up with spiderman walks and walking lunges which hurt a bit more than expected... The lift was clean and jerks.  For some reason, my back gets irritated with cleans, where it doesn't feel as bad with snatches.  I have switched my set up for snatch so wonder if my clean needs some tweaking...  I worked up to 105, but then ran out of time.  I was dreading the wod, 21-15-9 dumbbell cleans, and 50-40-30 double unders.  I think there is nothing worse than dumbbell anything.  The rxd weight was 25, I barely looked for a second set of 25s and then decided I could scale to 15s as this would keep me moving moreso than a heavier weight.  This took me a while cause I had to fight off the Idontwannas while I did it. 

My back.  Is doing funky tight things that I worry may just be a result of my sleeping position or mattress or pillow.  I foam roll daily and could ice a bit more.  I tried to get in with the chiro but he didn't return my text messages, so I will try calling the office this week to make sure I can get in for an appointment.  I need to get this resolved before the challenge as I would dnf for sure if deads were involved.

o hello again...

It has been a while again...but this time I am just slow in posting, but not actually working out.  I will try and catch up some...but will spare you unimportant details.

11/17 Got a snatch pr of 95 whooo hooo!!! It wasn't that pretty, but I did it.  I was feeling  a bit down about being able to accomplish any of the goals I set for this year, but only 5 pounds to go and I got that one!  The wod was dumbbell push press and burpees (which mean slow for me) at least I did it rx with not that much rest.

11/18 I had a fitness modeling gig...(I like saying that)  A guy is partnering with crossfit durham to put together a rubberband system to use for traveling wods...we did a ton of squats presses and such, I was hoping to go to 615 and wod, but I didn't make it. 

We went to the beach for the weekend, and while I brought workout clothing, no actual working out aside from jumping photos took place.

11/21 Front squats were pretty terrible,  I stayed conservative in weight because I still had some funky things going on with my back, (and my crazy chiropractor didn't return my texts).  The wod was 6 rounds, 8 kb snatches, 8 burpees.  I used 25 pounds, but kept it moving the whole time. 

11/22 Worked on snatches which did not go that well, stayed at 75 for the most part.  The wod: 5 rounds, 5 deadlifts, 10 toes to bar.  Deadlifts were supposed to be 75% of your 1 rep max, which would be 191 based on my 1RM of 255...which hasn't happened since.  I was thinking about 155...but my back told me to do 155.  (geez I pray for no deads in the challenge).  You would also think that since toes to bar caused me to dnf last year in the challenge I would have those (and handstand pushups from the charlottesville challenge)  down... but oh well, I got a good number of them but can't say that they were all rx...the last one took me three attempts...and finished in a solid 12:56, 3 minutes behind everyone else.

FAIL

So this morning I set my alarm at 5:30 and 7:00 so I could give myself the option of 615 or 830...and guess which I chose.  I actually did get out of bed at 7 am though, and did some productive things. As I was moving around I had a little lower back tightness, but shrugged it off.  In the car I felt it more, and thought about turning around to head home and be more productive, but I trudged on.  Ashley led us through a rough kettlebell warm up with lunges and swings and pulls. We then worked on clean and jerk.  I was working pretty slowly, so only got to 95 by the time we got cut off, but didn't feel like I could max out today anyway, so I was okay with it.  The wod I wasn't too excited about, as I watched crazy Navy diver Eric complete the first round of it in 2 something without resting...and he did it harder.  It was 30 Kettlebell swings (I dropped in weight for back's purposes), 25 wall balls (gross) and 20 pull ups, 3 rounds.  Theo and I talked beforehand about me not taking too much time, and I told him the pull ups would slow me down...he said something like baloney, and then we left it at that.  When we started the wod, I broke the first set of kettlebell swings into two, and the wall balls into a lot...then the pull ups took a long time... then the second round I broke even more.  Everyone else was finishing up...so I stopped.  It took me longer than most people did three rounds, and I just was not in the mood to truck through a round by myself...not my day.

run lift!

Yesterday I came up with an exercise and diet plan for the week...and day 1 is going well so far. We are going to the beach this weekend, so I would like to be able to work out each day until then so I don't have to worry about it over the weekend.  This morning that meant waking up at 6:15.  This is typically hard for me, as I don't like to give myself tough love, and if I wake up and don't feel like coming, I let myself sleep in.  Some way I figured out that no one likes to wake up this early so I just need to suck it up and go.

I woke up without the alarm this morning aka I don't sleep well and this was just one waking up point during the night.  I layed in bed for a while thinking about not going, but ultimately got my fatty out of bed.  I was a bit tardy, but made it in by 6:20 (baby steps here).   We worked on hand stand push ups.  I worked mostly from the box but did a few from the wall at Lori's suggestion.  I like to kick up to the wall (cause it is fun) but cannot get my head to the ground, so I tried working from the box, but I can't do that very well either.  But Lori's head gets almost to the floor working from the wall so I will do whatever she says....  The wod was then as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of run 400m and 5 deadlifts.  The rx weight was 85% of your 1RM which for me is about 216.  I would have probably used 185/195, but today my back was tight, in a bad bad way, so I used 95 after starting to warm up with Lori.  We decided that I should do 10 reps instead of 5 because I was working lighter, but with my back, 5 was plenty.  I got through 4 rounds, and then made it out the door with 50 seconds to go to run my last round, and was able to finish a 200m.  Slightly a pr? 

and I am still alive

I left off with not wanting to runrowrun on Thursday.  My plan before knowing the workout was to hit up 6:15 am, as I had a meeting in Raleigh, then do the endurance wod that evening.  With the endurance wod cancelled, and my poor sleep the night before, I skipped 615 with plans to go in the evening.  (What I should have done is gone to 615 then Body Jammed in the evening but that is another story).  That morning I decided that Dunkin Donuts was the appropriate way to start off my day with two doughnuts, but yet coffee black.  We had training from 9:30 until 1, when we got lunch.  I did pretty well there, steamed veggies and fish, but then ate a nice fat slice of chocolate cake, I don't know why maybe because it was free?  By the time I got back to Durham I had a nice little sugar induced headache.  I took a little nappy, with plans to runrowrun at 5.  Sleep monster hit me hard, and then finally I woke up with time to make it to 6pm.  I battled myself for a bit, still had a headache, but knew working out would make it go away, it was dark so I didn't want to run outside, but I wouldn't be alone.  Finally I made myself go.  I decided that the best route was 8 200m runs, it just seemed easiest, but really the turning around slows you down.  I had a goal of finishing sub 30minutes.  The first mile I got in just shy of my 10 minute goal at 10:03, the row I finished in a little over 10 minutes, and then the last run took me a while as my total time was somewhere around 33:10.  The second mile I split up into 2 400s and 4 200s.  The last stretch down the hill I was able to sprint, which I know is a mental thing of feeling done, but I have yet to figure out how to use some of that stored energy earlier. 

Friday again I did not sleep that great, and woke up early for 615, took a little snooze and then ended up letting myself sleep until 8:30.  I decided to check out Bikram again, and this time made sure to be super hydrated.  I don't know if it was me, or how hydrated I was, or the fact that there were less people in the room, but it didn't seem as warm as me even stepping into the room.  I set up my mat closer to the door so I could sneak out if I wanted, but it also put me in eye line of the instructor, so she was able to see me to correct my mistakes, and offer suggestions when I couldn't quite get into a pose.  This class went much better as I made it through 24 or so out of 26 poses.  I don't think this is something I will want to do everyday, but maybe a once a week.  I was planning to still go to crossfit that evening, but hubsters didn't want to, and I wanted to hang out with him.  I also found out that he has a Friday afternoon ritual at Nantucket Grill, he gets a chicken sandwich, cheese fries and a slice of cake (usually a half slice for himself).  We normally eat a regular dinner on Friday nights as well, so I don't know how he is not obese but I am admittedly a bit jealous.

hi.

So I have had one heck of a fitness weekend.  Saturday I came in for the Lumberjack wod, which honors the soldiers killed at Fort Hood so you know it is rough...

Lumberjack wod
20 Deadlift (275/185)
Run 400m
20 Kettlebell swings (70/52)
run 400m
20 overhead squats (115/75)
run 400 m
20 burpees
run 400m
20 chest to bar pull ups
run 400m
20 box jumps
run 400m
20 dumbbell squat cleans
run 400m

The last time I did this wod, it was cold and rainy (December 5 2009).  Again this time it was cold and rainy, and I had a bit of a sniffle.  The last time I managed Rx weights for everything, but did it in 58:15.  This time I did it in 42.30 but couldn't manage rx nothin... I did deads with 165, KB I think I had a 35, I just used the kettlebell that was out from the class before, OHS I had to drop to 65, I couldn't pull my chest to the bar except with a band and I dropped to 200 m runs...I wasn't too proud of this performance...but at least I did it.

Sunday's wod involved wall balls and double unders.  I was super slow on that wod as well.  Theo gave me a talking to beforehand about how I should be killing this wod, and I thought I could but I had no wind.  Part of it was mental, part was the lack of wind...I tried to make up the front squats I missed after, but wasn't feeling it. 

Then I decided to try my Bikram class...  I am not really sure what I was expecting...but really you are doing yoga in a sauna, and I hate saunas.  Out of 26 poses I think I managed maybe 10... I was waiting for the poses on the ground, but then it was stomach poses and thought I might puke. It was a bit embarrassing as people that looked to be less healthy than me were managing  I paid for 15 classes, so I will try one or two more times but will strategically place my mat close to the door so if I need to leave I can.  I also found that people were not as nice there as crossfitters, or even the globo gym where I work.  No one seemed to care when I laid on the locker room floor to prevent passing out or vomiting, or when I sat on the floor in the lobby for 15 minutes before leaving, but what can you expect. I was out of commission for the rest of the night.

Monday we did turkish get ups and "chopped up fran".  I weighed myself that morning and was still down the two pounds of water weight I lost the previous day, so knew I wasn't hydrated much.  Turkish get ups were fine, I stayed relatively light, I had  a little kettlebell, but it was unmarked, so I hope it was 20 lbs, but don't know that it was.  The wod was 5 rounds of 9 thrusters and 9 pull ups with 2 minutes rest between. My fastest round was 1:11, which was the first round.  After that I freaked myself out and couldn't string together pull ups or keep it together and my slowest round was 2 minutes.  All in all, my total fran time would have been 7 something, which is still faster than my actual fran time, so I guess I am happy?

Today's strength work was cleans.  I am in need of a chiropractic adjustment, and my back is super super tight.  I was hoping to pr my clean, but with my back issues, I stayed at 85 for my working weight.  The wod was 21-15-9 power cleans and knees to elbows.  I used 65 because of my back, and switched to hang cleans on the 15 round.  I couldn't manage any knees to elbows today...none...my knees not once touched.  I decided I need to do a "BODYWEIGHT BONANZA" between now and the challenge, as that and my wind  make a large percentage of my weaknesses.  I haven't quite decided how it will happen, but I am focusing on lowering bodyweight, and then improving bodyweight exercises...going for ring dips, pull ups, push ups, knees to elbow, toes to bar etc...

I thought it hilarious as I talk about improving my wind and such, and though I was hoping to go to 615 tomorrow morning and come back for endurance that evening, I contemplated skipping after seeing tomorrows wod. Run 1 mile, row 2000m run 1 mile.  This is about my worst nightmare.  No part of me wants to do this, but I guess I need to suck it up.

argh.

reallly November??

So the beginning of November has not gone exactly as planned in terms of being all gung-ho and "in training".  Monday I most certainly had a case of them, and when the alarm went off to go to crossfit at 8:30, I decided I needed more sleep.  I did however do running tabata intervals on the treadmill at a slightly faster than normal pace, and then got my bottom handed to me in power yoga.  When I walked in I was told it was an ashtanga class...which to me means nothing, but in reality it was a continuous flow involving several down dogs which killed my shoulders, chatarangas which I resorted to knees, and then strechy things in directions my body no longer goes. 

Tuesday I started on the path to crossfit, but then was so embarrassed about how late I was, that I turned around and went home. I intended then to be productive, but then watched episodes of the office until it was time for work.  I also decided to reward myself for voting by going to Five Guys (yes my inner fat girl works that way). 

Wednesday's CrossfitDurham workout involved bodyweight stuff...in all its glory.  I decided to check out Local, as they were doing Isabel, and snatch 1RM.  This was actually a good workout day.  I wish it was a good eating day as well, as I decided BLTs were in order, and thought it should be the day I discover Moon Pies.  I got a 2 # PR at 85 cause I used a 45# bar instead of the 33... (hooray me). We then did Isabel which was a pr just cause I have never done it.  It is 30 snatches (power).  I completed the workout in 3:10, with 65#.  Hope to soon make my way up to the Rx 95 but that is not in my near future.

This morning I woke up with sore traps and an overwhelming desire to skip and watch the office in the rain...but I went. We worked on clean and jerks which I did conservatively and foam rolled in the middle.  The wod involved 8 rounds of 30 sledgehammer swings.  The hardest part was getting into a rhythm with the swing, once I did that, it was fun just to swing it and hit the tire hard. I completed all my reps and avoided the "bonus burpees". 

I (finally) have a weekend off, so I plan to work out, do my running, and possibly start the bikram classes I bought through one of those sites, we shall see what gets done.