Tabata hell

I fell a little bit in love with Tabatas when Jen came out to visit and I had my first Tabata.  I really liked the intervals and having an excuse to rest briefly.  This one may have ended my love affair...

Rather than rest during the 10 second breaks, instead we held an active position before going back to the workout.  This resulted in mild agony and less reps overall because I needed to shake out whatever body part was weeping with pain during the 20 seconds of work.

4/23/12 WOD #40: Tabata Hell

• Warm up: 800 m run
                  5 straight pull ups (2x)
                  5 turkish get ups (15# each arm)
                  5 HSPU (weight rack)
                  5 jumping squats
• WOD: Tabata Hell
             Squats (rest at bottom)- 53 reps
             Push ups (rest in plank)- 60 reps
             Thrusters (rest with bar overhead)- 35# for three reps, then 15# for the rest- 34 reps
             Sit ups (rest with legs 6-12" above floor)- 64 reps
             KB swings (rest without putting the KB down)- 15#- 61 reps
             Total reps: 272

Poop.  I was hoping to break 300.

I really need to rest less.

Open WOD 12.5

THE FINAL WOD OF THE OPEN!!!

The final WOD was announced to the standard resounding bitching and moaning in the comments on Facebook (best comments: "Is bitching and complaining Paleo?" and "CrossFit: forging elite whiners").

The official work out was to be a 7 min AMRAP thrusters (65# for women) and chest-to-bar pull ups starting with 3 reps each and going up by 3 reps each round.  This was a bit daunting for someone who just graduated to the second-heaviest band on normal pull ups and who hadn't gotten a kip yet.

For the practice round on Thursday I used bands and tried very hard to work on my kip.  As such, I got less reps in practice than I would have if I had just used the blue band and not tried to touch my chest to the bar.  Instead of the prescribed OT of box jumps after the WOD was finished (short WOD means time for doing extra exercise!) Lori and I tried to work on my kip form.

My goal going into the actual judged WOD was 4 reps: I was confident I could do three thrusters and then I was hoping the adrenaline would carry me into a Hail Mary giant kip-of-awesomeness and get my sternum up to the bar.

I even got a morale bonus for the work out.  My husband and my sister-in-law (who is totally responsible for getting me into CrossFit) were there to cheer me on and that felt pretty awesome!

Long story short: I got 3 reps to submit online.  After my thrusters I had a good 6.5 minutes to work on that Hail Mary and although my kip timing improved as I kept going, I just didn't have the arm strength to carry me all the way up.  And as frustrating as it can be to try and try and continue to fail, I knew going in that my chances were slim.  I'm just not there yet.  But it has given me a new goal: I am going to freaking KILL the kip on band and pretty soon...I'll get off the band entirely.  I just need to give myself time!

Now, let us all bow our heads and reflect on this Open competition.  Or, at least, I will.  I don't know why a month and a half into CrossFit I decided to throw my hat into the games with no chance of making it past the Open.  Maybe it was an extra test for myself, or maybe just the allure of the community and the inclusiveness of the Open, or maybe it was the chance to compare scores with Jen (sister-in-law) long distance.  But I am 100% glad that I did it.  I learned a ton about myself thanks to this competition and I am stronger for it.  Here are my lessons from the Open:

1. Use the adrenaline.  Don't let it use you.  Doing my burpees I got too carried away right at first and burned out.  Not doing that again!  Ancillary lesson: I still hate burpees.
2. You can do so much more than you ever thought!  So many times during these workouts I was sure that I would fail. That certain movements or certain weights would be utterly beyond me.  And somehow I did them anyway and that is just amazing to me!
3. Rage.  Sometimes to get a weight up, you have to get angry.  And no, I am not going to tell you what my personal rage was directed towards.  Maybe if you ask me and I like you.
4. Form, Form, Form.  My wall balls would not have sucked balls (heh) nearly as much had my form been there.  It really nailed down for me how important your form is, not just to prevent injury, but to maximize your efforts.
5. Finally: I love CrossFit.  I love the community, I love the challenge, I love the pain and frustration that ends in triumph.  I love it.  And I love you guys.

Hero WOD: Coe

Last week I was CrossFit-less thanks to a martian death flu that laid me low.  Very low.  Between my exploding sinuses, my lost voice, and my constant cough I thought that perhaps challenging my body beyond that would not be such a grand idea.  But today I was back (with a supply of kleenex just in case as well as a lingering cough)!  And it felt very very good to be back.

The box has changed in my brief hiatus- we moved in the same complex to a larger space and the new digs are awesome!  We also had some new faces this morning so that was neat too.

Today's WOD was a hero WOD.  CrossFit has a significant military following and we have a number of WODs dedicated to military, police, and firemen (and women) who have died in the line of duty.  These WODs are typically fairly brutal and this is my first time doing a hero WOD.  This is the story behind Coe: http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/007064.html

2/13/12 WOD #13 "Coe"

• Warm up: 400 m run
                  2x: 10 pass throughs
                        10 OHS (over head squats)
                        10 T2B (still not getting the bar, but I think I'm actually getting my knees up higher)
                        10 pull ups (blue band)
                        1 HS walk (hand stand walk- I just did a couple hand stands against the wall)
                 20 OHS with a 15# bar
• WOD Coe: 10 rounds for time
                     10 thrusters (15# bar)
                     10 ring push ups (I used dumb bells and my knees)
                     Time: 23:13

This was a nice detox for my system and as much as I sweated and rested between (and during) my sets, it felt great to be using my muscles again.  I only had to stop and blow my nose once.  Remind me to get some garden-style knee pads for the box- my knee caps feel like they are going to pop off during my girly push ups and I am sure that I'm not the only one!

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.

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."