10.14.11 - Helen

Skill: Ring Dips

"Helen"
3x:
400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings (55/35#)
12 Pull-ups

Time: 12:41
Comments: Never done this one before? I went 25# on KBs and tried the green band for pull-ups (grey band's gone missing). Had to switch after 3 pull-ups to body rows. Partially I think because my arms are just killing me right now, front and back, from earlier this week, but also because I just can't do that many green band pull-ups in a row yet. Whatev's! I made it in 3x again this week so I feel good about that.

In other news, Matt L. joined me for his first CrossFit experience. I think it was a rude awakening. He started out in front of me but on the second run I found him bent over in the alley. :) I think that might have been the longest 14 minutes of his life.

10.04.11 - Run, Wall Balls, Burpees

Double Under Practice

20 Sets of Pistols/each leg

4 Rounds for Time:

400m Run

15 2-for-1 Wall Balls/Sub 30 WBs (20/14#)

15 Burpees

Time: 21:38

Comments: Double Under's weren't mentioned on the blog. DUs, like pistols and handstands, I don't give a rat's ass I can't do. I'm still nervous about crashing down on the ball of my foot after that pain I had back when. So I turned some easy singles, and was shocked when I was able to throw in some DUs, too. I haven't attempted one in a really long time. I can usually pull one off, but I can't string them together. I even did do a couple single-double-singles in a row tho. Terry made me move from a 24" box to a bench on the pistols. I was quite enjoying the 24" box however, because rather than crashing down to it I was actually controlling the movement, just kissing the box, and standing back up. But whatever. When I couldn't get up off the bench he had me add an ab mat. It was funny because I could sort of do the left leg, but I couldn't really rise back up off the right leg. Weak right side! I will be sore from trying this tho – I think it's just currently dormant.

On to the WOD. I knew this was going to be a bad one even before I saw Emily O. finishing hers when I arrived and saw how flushed and tired she looked. She never looks flushed and tired. When I saw her outside during the run and said, How ya doin?, she responded, I've been better. She never says stuff like that. Oh well, so then they said the scale was to do 30 WBs. All along I'd been figuring I'd just do 15 regulars. That's what I stuck with (@10#). I also went to 10 burpees instead of 15. It felt wimpy but here's what I learned: I'm not a wimp – and I'm pretty smart. Even with this scale, I was still the second to the last to finish while sticking more or less with the group. Fell way behind running but with my lower numbers could sort of catch back up during WBs/burpees. 22 minutes of torture. It's been a long time since I've had a wrap-around full-torso cramp. They hurt bad.

09.27.11 - Deadlifts and Wall Balls

3-3-3-3-3 Deadlifts

Checkout:
3 Rounds of 30 Unbroken Wall Balls (30/20#)

Deadlift: 105/125/145/155/165#
Comments: Started out with a kettlebell and jump rope TABATA warm-up. Then we did some good mornings. Paired up with Peggy. I definitely could have done heavier than 165#, but did not want to push it after last week. Today was the first day since last Monday that I'm not feeling the after-effects of Freddy in my arms. For wall balls I did 4 sets of 15 unbroken at 10# and the "boy" height. This felt pretty good, too. Oh, and I ran an 800m with Wendt before the class. Whoot.

06.14.11 - HERO SMALL

Workout named after US Army Staff Sergeant Marc Small

3 Rounds for time:
1000m Row
50 Burpees
50 Box Jumps
800m Run

I took one look at this this morning and said No Way.
I know my limits and WODs with over 100 burpees cross that line.
Came up with this alternative to do on my own:

4 Rounds:
400m Run
10 Burpees
10 Air Squats
10 Push-ups
10 Sit-ups

Time: Between 20/25 minutes.
Comments: Wendt just texted and said SMALL took her 57:47, which means it would have taken me 1: 57:47... Good decision. I was able to meet Katy at the track by home for my make-shift alt., our first WOD together in just about exactly a year! Maybe even exactly! 7 weeks after giving birth and she still smoked me on the runs. This was a good, tough little workout to do on your own. When we were finished, sitting in the grass catching our breath, we laughed at the idea of doing 110 more burpees than we'd just done, and running another half mile, and rowing close to 2 miles. I think I made a good decision, but still got a decent workout in, and a good sweat. All outside!!

05.14.11 - ABTA 5k

Saturday Marcia and I ran the American Brain Tumor Association's Path to Progress 5k. I didn't do so hot and I'd like to blame the weather. These were not my personal optimal conditions. I am definitely NOT a runner (at all!) and in fact this was the furthest distance I've run since about this time last year (when I was in way better shape). Compared to running in t-shirts and shorts a year ago, I had on a t-shirt, thermal, and a fleece. The wind was intense. It was freezing cold and damp, though luckily not raining. I didn't really warm up and I felt heavy and lethargic the entire time.

Besides having to stop to re-tie BOTH shoes, I did run the whole time, which was a goal for me. But I was about two minutes slower than last year. I recovered pretty quickly upon finishing, but strained something behind my right knee, and left ankle. Not bad but uncomfortable for a couple days. My hips also bothered me a little more, and believe it or not, so did my shoulders, as they bounced along for 30+ minutes, still sore from Wednesday's bench pressing. But, I did it, and that's what counts.

Time: 34:06 (10:59/mile - under 11 minutes! Yay!)

Marcia beat me by over a minute at 33:03. Nice Marsh!!

05.10.11 - PR Mania!

5-5-5-5-5 Front Squats

5 tall box jumps in between sets. Rest 2 min.

30-20-10

Box Jumps (24/20")

Kettlebell Swings (45/35#)

500m Row (400m Run)

5RM Front Squat: 95#

Time: 16:09

Comments: After stretching we did a mini-tabata warm-up (KBs and squats) that I liked. I used 12" box* and 20# KB. Tried to hold a 2 min. 500 and fell apart at about 450 meters, sliding to around 2.14 average. It was hot as hell in there. Did the 20s and then decided maybe outside (with some wind) would feel better. Nope. It was like a sauna. I could barely move my feet/legs running? I'm going to blame it on the sudden body-shocking heat wave. Planned on going back to the row for round 3, but even the awful run felt "easier" than that first row. I think my legs hurt the most today and I'm going to blame the squats. My 1RM is 110# so those numbers seem pretty decent for 5RM. Progression went 65/75/80/85/95#.

*I'm sick of mentioning it so for the last time, I'm scaling all jumping indefinitely for fear of re-injuring my foot which continues to act up every once in a while. Sorry for all posts wimpy in the jumping department.

05.05.11 - Boot Camp

Well yesterday was my first ACF Boot Camp. Ryan promised we'd be sore today and yep, he was right. Like all my CrossFit experiences, it was awful and wonderful.

Warm-up:

20 slow-motion squats (exploding jumps out of last 10)

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 French Push-ups

800m group "catch-up" run

WOD:

In groups of 3 people, rotating exercises, 10x –

1 Runs 300m

1 Holds plank

1 Air squats

Comments: This whole thing took about an hour. The French push-ups hurt. My legs turned to jelly on the warm-up run, and I was seriously huffing and puffing. I started with the squats for my group and did 22 on the first round. After the first run, about half the squatting time turned to recovery time and I went to somewhere between 12 and 17 squats each round. My planks, usually still in recovery, were not so hot. I think I held more of a pike position than a plank one. Whatever – I could still barely breath and I was gearing up for the next run during those. I'm sure I was the slowest runner out there. This was a hard work out for me with all the running, but after a really sedentary week of Skills WODs, it felt great to barely be able to breath and sweat my ass off. Outside no less.

04.07.11 - CFE

4 Rounds:

400m Run
10 Body Rows
15 Sit-ups
20 Thrusters (45/35#)

Time: 19:34
Comments: I only did 3 rounds and substituted 500m rows for the running. Thought it would be better for my foot but my foot still felt "weird". Felt good to get back in the gym after 3 days of utter slacking. Got a good dinner out last night though so that was worth it. Tomorrow's WOD #3 is gonna be hell.

03.17.11 - Make Up

Today's CFE WOD

4 rounds for time of:

1000/750/500/250 Row

10 KTE

20 Kettlebell Swings (55/35#)

30 Air Squats

MAKE-UP WOD (Tuesday)
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Shuttle Runs
Dumbbell Split Jerks

Time: 20:17
Comments: Chose to make up the Tuesday I had to skip instead of doing the CFE. I added 5 push-ups after the jerks after Todd said this was a Dumb WOD and Too Easy. Whatever! I was still sweating like mad and a 20 min. WOD is not bad. Used 15# dumbbells and knees on push-ups. The treat was sticking around to watch some of the competitors in the CF Open Competition. I love watching the best of them bust their asses, and I even got choked up a couple times! Very moving to see people giving it their all.

02.15.11 - HSPUs

4 x Max Rep Handstand Push-ups

10 rounds of:
10 x 10m Shuttle Run
10 KB Swings (55/35#)
10 Push-ups

Max Rep HSPU: 8-8-6 (only did 3, knees on a box to vertical)
Time: 19:43
Comments: Used 20# KB. Knees for push-ups but my arms started to lose it around round 6, which compromised my full range of motion. I couldn't get as low as I should have. Push-ups scared me the most but I definitely liked this workout. Surprisingly. At least, I was able to keep moving pretty well without stopping too much. That felt good.

09.08.10 - On the Minute

2 x 10 Power Clean on 1 Min @ 90% 1RM

20-16-12-8-4 Pull-up
4-8-12-16-20 Kettlebell Swing (55/35#)

200 Meter Row after each round of pull-up/KB

Cleans: 70#
Time: 15:33
Comments: Didn't go up to 90% on the cleans. Couldn't remember what my 1RM was, but knew that number was long ago regardless. 70#? Probably could have done 75, but we'll have to see what's not working tomorrow when I wake up. Used a grey band on the pull-ups. I can't remember the last time I did a pull-up. The first two were great and it went immediately downhill from there. Thought about doing jumping pull-ups at one point, but stuck it out with some really crappy reps. KBs used a 25#. I had nothing to give the rows really.

Oh yeah, we did an additional 800m run as part of the warm-up. I was the last one in and class had re-started by the time I got my PVC pipe. Awesome!

08.24.10 - Hook It

5-5-5-5-5 Deadlift Reps for Max using Hook Grip

AMRAP in 15 minutes:

100m Shuttle Run
20 Wall Balls (20/14#)
20 Sit-ups

Deadlift: 55-85-105-125-135#
Rounds: 4 2/3
Comments: This WOD did not kill me but I did not kill myself to beat it either. Used an 8# ball! We did this coaches warm-up thing where we had to hold a 10# plate arms straight ahead at parallel, in not-quite parallel squat 1 min, 45 sec, 30 sec while our partner offered resistance pressing on the weight. That plus 100 wall balls and I'm not sure I'll be walking normally again this week. It's the squatting that really kills me which is why I scaled my ball weight so much. 93 sit-ups total. SLOW transitions – put my abmat on the other side of the gym.

06.20.10 - Warrior Dash.

5k Run with:

Climbing over junk yard cars,
Hopping over huge wooden spools,
Walking a plank over ravine,
Crawling thru tunnels,
Hopping over wooden walls,
Running thru a swamp,
Up a muddy hill,
Over a 15 ft. hay bale hill,
Over a 12 ft cargo net wall,
Trail mounds in a field of hills,
Jumping lines of fire,
and into the muddy pool under strings of barbed wire.

Time: 40:45
Comments: I don't know what to say. Supposedly this thing had 17,000 people over the two days, and 500 participants in each heat. It was crazy. I went very slowly, fearing injury on the route, but I made it.

06.14.10 - 300 Results

3-3-3-3-3 Weighted* Pull-ups

3 Rounds of:

500m Row
21 Burpees
400m Run

Time: 23:33
Comments: All day long I didn't want to go to this one. I didn't even sign-up until 4:30. I guess I'm glad I went? But I'm not going to lie, this was a tough one. I think I could legitimately count 3 blue band pull-ups. I don't think I've ever used a blue band before, so that's a plus. I "took it easy" on the row because the burpees were next, and then "took it easy" on the run, because I was DYING from the burpees. Burpees. Man they suck. You really do just have to keep going because stopping and starting is so awful, but keeping on going is just brutal. I really think I may have actually seen sweat flying off me and hitting the floor. Also as I was running, two girls walking a dog were passing on the sidewalk. They stopped to look in the windows. As I passed by them again on the way back they turned around and said to me, You guys are hard core! You just jump right back on the rower!? My response (gasping): Yes. It's horrible!

*Weighted. Haha. I did see one guy in my class put a 75# dumbbell between his legs and complete 3 pull-ups. Also quite enjoyed the guy who had kettlebells hanging off his feet. Nice!

06.02.10 - Time Trial

Run 1 Mile for time.

Then 10 Rounds of:

10 Deadlifts (185/135#)
10 Burpees

Mile Time: 8:32
MetCon Time: 23:30
Comments: First timed mile since high school. 8:32 is 17 seconds over the Presidential Fitness qualifying time for a 17-year old high school girl. My pipe dream was to make it under that, but I was surprised I wasn't TOO far off? Did only 85# on the dead lift because I knew the burpees would kick my ass. Yep. They did. It was SO HOT down there too. I have to thank my class though, for cheering for me at the end while I died finishing. Bummed tonight is the only night I can make it in this week. But that was a good one.

10.29.10 - WS Tower Trot

10K (6.2 miles)

Time: 1:12.59
Comments: Katy and I both ran a 10k this weekend. I would have Never. Ever. In a million years. Even considered signing up for one. Ever. Before. In My Life. But after last week's 5k, and after agreeing to do another one yesterday, (only to find out the 5k started an hour later than the 10K at the on-site registration), I thought, What the hell? Let's do the 10k at 8:30 instead. I CAN NOT believe I have zero repercussions from this event. I am SLIGHTLY sore in the hips and ankles. This is nothing compared to the way I feel after any given Monday at the gym. I am also 100% confident that without my previous 6-7 months of CrossFit work outs, this accomplishment would have been an impossible reality. It is the furthest I have ever ran in my life! I SUCK at running! I told people afterward that it didn't really compare to a CrossFit workout in discomfort level. Not even close. It took a lot longer, but was just easy-breezy in comparison.

I averaged under 11:45-min miles. This seriously blows me away. PR in that it's the longest I've ever run. By far.

05.25.10 - T-shirt Winner!

1-1-1-1-1 Snatch for Max

Run 200m
20 Kettlebell Swings (55/35#)

4x on a 3:30 Interval

Snatch Max: 80#
Comments: I would have bet money I'd done a Snatch for Max at this point, but was surprised to see I didn't have one recorded. So 80? That's 25# over a weight I used in a WOD a couple weeks ago, and now I have a baseline. Had about 2 min rest between intervals and used 25# KB. Sprinting the run hurt my left thigh and my calves also hurt after, so did some stretching before we left. Katy suggested maybe we're too "old" to really sprint a run. I gave her the hairy eyeball (our birthdays are both within a week) but I also think she might be right!

In other news: I "won" the t-shirt competition, but question whether I really "competed" with anyone!

05.22.10 - ABTA 5K

Time: 32:56

Comments: What a pleasure to run this morning and not totally die doing so! Under an 11 min pace no less. I shocked myself mostly in that I was barely even winded and recovered almost immediately upon finishing. Super fun, and awesome to see some old friends from Junior High I haven't seen in over a decade. Makes me want to sign up for the Tower Trot next weekend.

Not so CrossFit, but a result of...

05.19.10 - Hump Day

3 Rounds of:

800m Run
1000m Row

Time: 31:10
Comments: This was exactly what it looks like. Lots of running and rowing. I really stink at running. Especially on my toes as my calves are STILL killing me from Monday. Boo Hoo.

May 22, 2010 - ABTA 5k

Anyone interested in running a 5k for a good cause?

One of my oldest friends has been suffering from the effects of a brain tumor for several years. If any of you are preparing for other races, maybe you'd be interested in practicing through this event? Here are some details, but email me (hillaryweber [at] gmail.com) if you have any questions.

It's $30 to register. ($40 on race day, online registration closes Wed, May 19)
You can run or walk.
Saturday, May 22.
@ Soldier Field.
8:30 am start time.
More information: www.pathtoprogress.org.

The American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) is a 37-year old organization that helps support patients and families dealing with this disease as it works to find a cure.

This event is pretty low key. People walking bring strollers, dogs, etc. and tend to walk in "groups" so the walk is pretty slow. Runners go off ahead of walkers. This is my 3rd year participating, and I've signed up to run (yikes!) for the first time.

I think that's about it?