Totally did a hand stand

The WOD had nothing to do with hand stands today, although the warm up did.  But I am still pretty proud.  And yes, the hand stand was against a wall, but I remain proud since while all the blood was rushing to my brain I could hear my classmates in the midst of their own warm ups say, "Is that her first hand stand?  Awesome!"  I love my class and I love CrossFit.

For reasons unknown to me, today's entire work out (warm up included) made me feel like I had the stomach flu.  I didn't meet Mr. Pukey, but starting about five minutes in I was drenched in that cold sweat that often precedes vomiting.  Uncomfortable to say the least.  And it didn't stop.  I spent the entire work out wanting to dump water on myself a-la flash dance.  Only without it being in any way alluring.

1/30/12 WOD #11:

• Warm up: 10 stairs
                  500 m row
                  10 m bear crawl
                  10 m crab walk
                  10 m hand stand walk (or, in my case, "Hey!  I did a hand stand!  Woo!")
                  10 m duck walk
                  10 pull ups
                  10 squats
                 (all those tens after the row were supposed to be done three times.  I called it good at once through so we could get going on the WOD itself.)
• WOD #11: 7 rounds for time: 7 front squats (35#)
                                                7 chest-to-bar (scaled to straight pull ups with the blue band)
                                                Time: 14:57

We had to modify my squats today because I am flexible enough that I go way too far down and then have trouble getting my ass back up (literally).  So Lori had me squat to a medi ball today.  She also had us make the first front squat of each set into a clean (I have been practicing my triple extension every time I open up our darn garage door.  Boo-yah).  

Another discovery today: my tron pants have a zipper pocked in the back of the waistline that is just perfect for keeping my wedding rings in when I am doing work outs that involve pull ups.  How nifty is that?

Turns out I can't climb rope yet

Today's work out was another short one.  Short enough that we had to do an OT work out: rope skills.  And the answer is that I have none.  For some reason I found it impossible to "stand up" on the rope.  And even though my feet never made it more than 6 inches off the floor, my hands hurt.  Actually, bizarrely, the tip of my middle finger hurts and I have no explanation for that...

1/25/12 WOD #10:

• Warm up: 500 m row
                  10x pass throughs
                  10x press (with 15# barbell)
                  Lunge down the box and back
• WOD #10.1: Max unbroken wall balls
                       Reps: 6
• WOD #10.2: 3 rounds for reps
                       3 minutes: max kettle bell jerks (15#)
                                       400 m row
                                      (15 burpee penalty for unfinished rows)
                       3 minute rest
                       Reps: 13/8/11, no penalty

This was a work out of strategy.  We noted our time for 400 m during the warm up so we could stop doing jerks in time to bang out the row without going over 3 minutes.  Because NO ONE wants to do burpees.  Ever.  I started my jerks with 8# dumb bells but did that way too quickly so I got bumped up to the 15# kettle bells.  My second round reps were low because I was holding them wrong at the outset and the coach had to run over and adjust my hands.  Actually, my second round was apparently cursed because my rowing machine malfunctioned so I just did squats while she fixed it.  But the moral of the story for me is that I did not have to do burpees.  I came in for my 400 m just under the 3 minute mark each time that I actually did a row.  Thank God.

Pull ups = ouchie hands

Today's work out was not as mentally or physically intense as Thursday's with the Burpees of Doom.  Thank God.  If it was like that every day I would be questioning my sanity!  Not to say today's work out wasn't a challenge...but unlike Thursday, I wasn't fervently praying to pass out so that the work out could be over.

1/23/12 WOD #9

• Warm up: 1000 m row
                  10 squats
                  10 push ups
                  10 sit ups
                  10 kettle bells (10#)
                   5 pull ups
• WOD: 7 rounds for time: 7 dead lifts (55#)
                                         7 pull ups (blue band)
             Time: 12:44

Milestone: pull ups with a band instead of jumping up from a box!

So today I impressed myself by actually doing pull ups instead of standing on a box and jumping/pulling so my chin went above the bar.  Thank God for uber stretchy bands...still definite progress though!  Lori also said she was very pleased with my progress on the pull ups and will be working with me as we continue to help me develop a kip up since at this point I am doing them as a dead hang (apparently that is more work).  She also said she is going to increase the weight on my dead lifts next time as I was getting through them too easily.

I am honestly considering going to the 6 am class 4 days a week.  Does that mean I'm crazy? Or have I drunk the koolaid?  Or maybe it is that I really like my tiny group of regulars in the 6 am class and all the scary-strong people in the other classes intimidate me....could go either way, really.

Burpee knees

Burpee knees.  Apparently I lead with Lefty when I collapse on the ground.  Who knew?

Mental Battle

Today's WOD almost didn't happen.  It has been snowing steadily here in the Palm Springs of Washington for the past two days and the roads are not awesome.  But I decided to tough out the roads and go to the 11 o'clock class.  I know if I start skipping classes, I won't stop.

Class was led by a different coach as Lori was MIA at an emergency dental appointment.  This coach is a vet assistant at a different clinic, so that was pretty neat!  Of course, as the work out progressed I hated her a little bit.  But only because she kept me going when I wanted to lay on the ground and sob!

1/19/12 WOD #8

• Warm up: 500 m row
                  20 burpees
                  5 pull ups
                  DNF remaining warm up
• WOD: 100 dumb bell thrusters (started with 8#, then 5#, and ultimately finished with just plain squats)
              5 burpees at the top of each minute
              Time: 23 minutes

For those of you keeping track, that means I did approximately 23 sets of burpees.  Although I know I skipped some sets.  This WOD became both a physical challenge and a mental challenge.  Because you may start out strong with the thrusters, but then you get into a rhythm and immediately have to stop and do some burpees.  And the burpees start taking longer.  And then all you have time to do between burpees is just 2 thrusters or squats.  And then you can't breath.  And then you realize that at the rate you are doing the burpees (which are taking longer and longer and becoming less "burpee" and more "collapsing on the ground, then slowly dragging yourself up to standing and doing a tiny hop") then all you will ever be doing is burpees for the rest of your life because you are going straight from one set of burpees into the next with no thrusters or squats in between.  And the coach was yelling "DOWN!  UP!  GIVE ME 2 SQUATS!  10 SECONDS REST AND THEN MORE BURPEES!  COME ON!"

Everyone finished and I was wheezing and dry-sobbing my way through more burpees when I realized that there was still one guy doing the work out too.  He told me afterwards that he quit mid-way through the work out and declared a DNF for the day.  But then he saw me "killing it" (I maintain it was more of "being killed by it") and decided if I could do it, so could he.  So he kept going too.

Angie

Today's WOD was one of the Benchmark girls.  These are work outs that everyone in CrossFit centers across the country do, and they are done intermittently through the year so you are able to track your progress as you go.  And so today I conquered: Angie.

1/18/12 WOD #7:

• Warm up: 1000 m row
                  DNF remainder of warm up
• WOD: Angie
             100 Pull ups (box)
             100 Push ups (girl style)
             100 Sit ups
             100 Squats
             Time: 34:06

This actually was not as bad as it could have been namely because my first official WOD of the year was a mile run, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, and 100 squats.  So I had basically done most of this work out at my least in shape point and I am already seeing an improvement.  For instance: I did not nearly pass out during this work out.  So victory there.  Once again, I was the last finisher.  Today a very tall marine who finished the WOD first and unmodified (I think...we encourage each other but we are also all in our own little worlds of pain during the work out) was counting down my last squats with Lori (the coach) and each time I finished a set of 10 with obvious effort, I heard him say, "YES!"  I also heard him comment, "Look how far down she goes.  That's awesome!"

Also awesome: my tron pants.  Just saying.  

After the WOD I staggered out to my car, brushed off the accumulated inches of snow, and drove very very slowly home.  Winter has finally come.  Halfway through January.  *eyeroll*

Wherein I almost busted my face with a medicine ball

Today I was a bit late to the work out because I cleverly left my winter coat and hat in Andrew's car last night so I was searching desperately through the closet for a warm hat in case we were running outside today.  The bad news: I didn't find a hat.  The good news: we didn't run outside thanks to the 10 minute snow storm we had last night and the resultant frostiness this morning.

1/16/12 WOD #6

• Warm-up: 1000 m row
                   Two rounds each: 10 pull-ups
                                               10 sit ups
                                               10 push ups
                                               10 squats
• WOD: five rounds for time: 12 wall balls (modified in my last round)
                                            12 toe-to-bars (modified- no toe touched the bar)
                                            Time: 16:37

I managed to finish the warm up again today.  It helps that the 6 am class usually has just 3-5 of us.  I discovered that toe-to-bars are actually harder wearing my lifting gloves (and subsequently forgot them at the box).  The wall balls were difficult in that I kept almost catching the 15# medicine ball with my face and very often ended up dropping the ball instead of dropping into a proper squat with the ball in rack position.  So in my last round she just had me squat and lift a 15# dumbbell for my reps.  This was much less technically difficult and spared my face from further near-smashing.  

I also wore my new super-tight pants that make me look like an extra from Tron.  YES.

Trying on my Tron pants in Target.
Not pictured: the Tron-pants-dance.  It's totally a thing.

I hate jumping lunges

The last time I did jumping lunges, I bruised the crap out of my knees.  Literally black and blue.  Today, I think I ma have pulled my quad.  Or at least strained it somewhat.  This was my first Saturday at CrossFit and it was packed.  I met a bunch of new people and loved again how much camaraderie there is in the box.

1/14/12 WOD #5:

• Warm-up: 400 meter run
  50 meter each: High Kicks
                         Lunges
                         Broad Jumps
                         Lateral Lunges
                         Butt Kickers (DNF- honestly didn't see it on the board)
  2x: 10 squats, 10 sit ups, 10 pull ups (didn't do the pull-ups and only finished one round.  Whoops)
• WOD: 3 rounds for time: 400 meter barbell run (15#)  (ran a bit, walked most)
                                         20 thrusters (15#)
                                         20 jumping lunges (stopped the jumping so much)
                                         20 box jumps (step ups actually)
                                         Time: 31:21

Yeah, I didn't finish today's warm-up.  But I DID finish the WOD.  My right quad hurts like hell so I am currently icing it.  Unfortunately it was sharp pain rather than the good burning.  Hence much of the not-so-much jumping during the second two rounds of the WOD.  I will have to take it easy on Monday but I will still go back.  I have also decided that when I start my second month I will get me a CrossFit shirt.  I like the one that says, "That isn't sweat.  It's my body crying."

A new beginning

For my new year's resolutions, I didn't go with the standard "Don't be such a fatty fat" this year.  Instead, inspired by my sister-in-law, I declared that I would try CrossFit.  And I decided to give myself a month rather than committing to a full year.  Little goals here, people.  So I am going to be logging my work outs and progress here.  If I only do a month, it will be a very short blog.  But I am hopeful that I will keep on pushing!

I'll go back and log my first few work outs as well as my starting numbers in a later post...this one is starting rather mid-stream with my 4th WOD.

1/11/12 WOD #4:

• Warm-up: 400 meter run
                   10 sets of stairs
                   1000 meter row
                   2 sets each: 10 good-mornings (15#)
                                      10 squats
                                      10 grass-hoppers
• WOD: 10 sets for time: 15 dead lifts (35#)
                                      15 hand-release push ups (girl style)
                                      TIME: 23:30

This was a tough one and I honestly did not think I would be able to complete all 10 sets (or at least complete them in time to come back home and shower before work).  Push ups suck.  Also, it was so cold on the run that I had tears streaming down my face by the end- not crying, just reaction to the cold!  

MILESTONE: my first time completing a warm up!