Looking for Big Me

Practice Front Lever progressions for 20 minutes.

5 Rounds for time:

185 lb Shoulder to Overhead anyhow, 5 reps

10 Burpees

I need to work on my technique with the press progression into the jerk. My strength is in my legs, my upper body def. needs attention. Knowing this I shied away from going heavy heavy. I stayed at at doable weight, only because I have trouble controlling the bar bringing it back to my shoulders. I def. have the strength  to push press the bar; all 5 rounds the bar was getting pretty, so much so that I didn't have to jerk it... Does that makes sense? I had enough strength to jump it up so high that I didn't have to drop my body underneath it. But every time I brought it back down from that solid finish it almost killed me each time. Sooooooo my conclusion is to work on my presses, all of them, get strong and have more control of the bar so I can go heavier in met-cons not be slowed down by my lack of control. 

The burpees were burpees. 

I'm happy with my time. I felt I went hard the entire time, intensity was high. I needed to let out all the shit that was swirling inside of me in the WOD. It kinda helped. I'm glad I showed up. 

Advent

CrossFit Games Open 11.2

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 15 minutes of:

155/100 pound Deadlift, 9 reps

12 Push-ups

15 Box jumps, 24" box

My head has been in a funk all day. I came into the box feeling very robotic and apathetic. I went into the WOD with absolutely no strategy. 2 mins before the 3-2-1-GO, I walked up to the whiteboard to see what the average score was and came to a quick goal of 5 rounds. 

I did scale the push-ups to banded PUs. And I used an 18" box. Not sure why, but that last 2" is really difficult for me to overcome. Something to work on. I did the RX'd DL weight of 100#s, which is my body weight. 

The DLs were def the "rest." The push ups were easy to start but by round 3, I was definitely feeling the burn.  It wasn't but a couple months ago when Diso pointed out that my arms were really wide when I did push ups, and he instructed me to bring my arms in closer to my body and I really resisted against it, it felt weird and it made me use muscles that I never used before. Fast forward to today, and I was mindful to make sure my arms/elbows were tight against my body. By that round 3, I found myself feeling the urge to actually want to bring my arms in even closer. I think I may be cured of my poor push up form :D yayaya!

It was minute 10 when I started round 5, so at that point I upped my goal to 6 rounds. I was very pleased that I got to both. 

So much to consider. So much to be excited about. I must get clear on my objectives. Actually, fuck objectives, let's focus on happiness. 

Thrust is still a dirty word to me

Thruster 3-3-3-3-3-3-3

PRs abound! I've gained significant strength since my last attempt at 1RM Thruster in October where I PR'd at 65#s. When I got to 55# it felt easy. So I jumped to 65#s; it didn't feel easy, but not heavy either. So that was a 3RM PR. My first attempt at 70#s I failed, because of form, not because of strength. I took a quick break from the barbell, and went in for my 2nd attempt. I finally got the timing down... cause that's what makes heavy load lifts successful, making sure you're pressing at the right time as your hip explodes open. All 3 felt good, I was def. in control of the bar. 

75#s seemed daunting. I had a a first attempt, at which I failed. Took a break. Went in and kept all those things in mind, keep the bar close to me, trying not to be forward on the balls of me feet coming out of the squat, pressing at the right time of "explosion" and finish strong. And I went, and I got it, but it was ugly. #2, I already knew at the bottom of my squat that I didn't take the time to reset, I didn't inhale fully or "brace" myself, so I think my core was soft. I also think that I didn't press at the right time so energy from my hip opening didn't transfer. I got the bar about 1" over my head and my arms just failed. 

I called it a day. 

It was good. I'm a bit stronger. A bit closer to doing that bitch, Fran, prescribed. How can I complain?   

Catching up

For time:

75 Squats

50 Pull-ups (25 for me)

20 Ring dips (10 reps)

50 Squats

35 Pull-ups (18 reps)

15 Ring dips (8 reps)

25 Squats

20 Pull-ups (10 reps)

10 Ring dips (5 reps)

When I saw this the other night on Main Page, I was completely intimidated by the high number of reps in this WOD. Diso suggested I cut the PUs and Dips in half but keep the same amount of squats. 

I did put up a band on the bar, in case I needed assistance since it was still a decent amount of reps even cut in half. I did not end up having to use the band and did all the pull ups unassisted. 

The first 75 squats felt like forever! I was the last to finish of my heat. It was a little discouraging, being that I"m the shortest and my squat should be the most "energy efficient" compared to everyone else. 

I was able to do 10 pull ups in a row, then broke them up in sets of 5.  The ring dips were tough. I initially used the thin 1/2" red band, but went to muscle failure and moved up to the white 1" band during the last round of dips. 

With my scaling down, I believe I was able to keep the intensity up. I'm happy with my time. 

My shoulders are pretty sore. I did do the thorough shoulder warm up, which I think definitely did me good; I'm injury free :)

I've fallen behind

21-15-9 reps of:

225 pound Deadlift

135 pound Overhead squat

This was tough. It kicked my ass!!

Both 115# and 50#s is 60% of 1RM for both my dead lift and overhead squat respectively. 

There was a point mid 15 rep round where I just started to burped continuously non-stop, which is my equivalent to a pukie. It was mostly my wrists that were suffering during the OHSs, but my legs and core felt solid throughout the WOD.

When I called time I fell flat on my stomach and my whole body felt like it was throbbing like a heartbeat. During the cool down everyone was quiet and Zeb said it was like we were the walking dead---- ZOMBIES!!

This WOD was my 4th straight workout, and pretty much killed my legs going into the weekend which was my Kids Cert. Go to Littlest Giant to see what that was all about. 

Onto the next one. 

The need to be (a)ROUSED

Five rounds for time of:

15 Medicine ball cleans, 20 lb ball

15 Wall ball shots, 20 lb ball

I used a 12# ball for my cleans and 6# for the wall ball.  I'm very satisfied with my time. I never looked at the clock. After I called time, my legs just felt like jello. 

I have ADD right now and cannot concentrate on thinking what to write. I know I liked this WOD. I liked it last  night when it first posted. It sucked. More than I thought it would . I had a feeling of hopelessness at the end of round 2. I was so grateful at the beginning of round 5 that the end was in sight that it gave me a little push to suck it up and finish. 

Kids Cert this weekend. Still haven't booked my accommodations for Saturday. My former procrastinator self shows rears it ugly head every once and awhile. I'm excited to feed my brain. 

That's it. Tomorrow is dead lift and overhead squat. I love both. But not sure if my body will be on board. 

I feel very sleepy and relaxed. 

Say it with me, "Bee-Brahms"

For time:

70 Burpees

60 Sit-ups

50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood

40 Pull-ups

30 Handstand push-ups

Since this was yesterday's WOD, I had already heard the murmurings of everyone's take on it: arms are blasted and wrecked by the time you get to the HSPUs, regardless of what kind of progression you use. Even my Wondergirl, Courtneyrose, had to scale way back from box HSPUs to tri-pod. Knowing this, I went into it realistically. 

The burpees were not bad. I mean, by #55 I was feeling it in my triceps and my shoulders. Every time I threw myself on the ground for the 2nd half of 70, I did a little upchuck in my mouth. I believe I did all 70 in under 5mins. The sit ups I broke up into 10s. I did take a decent rest between sets, but they felt like they went by fast. I also broke up the KB swings in sets of 10. I used 3/4pood (26.5#s). My last 2 sets of 10, I was feeling tired and my form was starting to be compromised. I felt myself not controlling the KB at the top, at times being overextended.  As well, there were times where I felt I was loosing my neutral back (core was going soft) and dipping my chest too far forward on the downswing. Makes sense since I just did 60 sit ups, my abs were going out on me. 

The pull ups were a joke. I did one kipping pull up and my arms were cooked. I got a 1" band and broke it up in sets of 10. It was really difficult, even with the band. My forearms were not happy post KB swings. I was really tired and kipping was becoming harder and harder. It felt like this movement took the longest for me, I don't know if that's the truth but it seemed like it. 

Onto the HSPUs, in which I did the tri-pod. I did 3 and rolled onto my head. I couldn't believe I had to do 27 more. It was with a lot of groaning and moaning that I did 3 at a time. I started HSPUs at 16:09 and called time at 20:44. That's a big chunk of time to spend on 30 reps. My arms were soooooo screaming after every rep. It took all my energy to get my arms locked out. It was brutal. 

After I called time, I collapsed in a heap and laid there for awhile since my arms could not support my weight to get upright. 

I went to the board and saw that my time was perfectly "average." I was saying to Thomas that being average in Crossfit is pretty fuckin' phenomenal, so I'm happy with being average among such great athletes at my box. 

Achilles is a-killin' me

I ran the LA Big 5K Saturday morning with 5000 other people. I arrived to Dodger Stadium before the sun. The ground was wet and slick, and the air was crisp and biting. While I was discouraged to wear my New Balance Minimus for the race, I did, only owning them for less than 16 hours. I did wear socks with them.

The race started a bit late, and they weren't very organized overall in herding the large crowd in the right direction. I started off in a decent pace. I estimated that I jogged the first mile of the race. I started to walk on our first of 3 hills. It burned the hell out of my ass. At the top of the ascent, I picked up my jog again as the trail started to wind down. There was only one water break on the route, which I did not stop for, at the half way mark. 

A few hundred meters from there, on flat pavement, I started to feel the discomfort in my feet. This is where the friendly voices come into my head of not wearing my new Minimus' to this thing. Every time the ball of my foot would strike the ground I felt pain in certain pressure points. It took a lot of concentration to try to disburse my weight over more areas of my foot, but it seemed to slow me down... I had no more "spring" in my running bounce. 

I approached the 2nd hill and was relieved that I got to walk. I could feel the blood rushing into my feet. 

The last mile was mostly flat, save the hill that is the entrance back into Dodger Stadium  parking lot. I jog that last leg... when you come over the crest of the last hill and you see your last 600 meters, you get this burst of energy and run as fast as your tank of energy allows; in my case, not so fast. 

This is what they give you when you cross the finish line:

I'm not too obsessed with my finishing time. That wasn't/isn't the point of me running the 5K. My goal, as I stated in my previous post is to get over the loathing I have for running. I intend to do more 5Ks, hopefully on a monthly basis, to learn more about my body mechanics and mindset while I run. 

Maybe down the road I'll keep track of my times in a more competitive manner. For now, I'll state as more of a starting point- 41:23, which is 13 min mile. 

I went into the box last night with every intention to do the WOD since it seemed like a pretty awesome chipper. I wasn't able to do it though, so I believe I'll be attempting it tonight. Hopefully my achilles will be not as tight as they have been the past few days. 

Let me just be upfront

I hate running. Therefore, I signed up for a 5K. Hating something takes so much energy, and I'm fuckin' tired. So, I need to make amends with this hate by just doing it.

I went to the box today and had no idea how to "prepare" for tomorrow morning. I mean, do you prepare? It's only 3 miles. I have purposefully avoided WODs that contained any running in them since the beginning. (GOsh, this has turn into a confessional) So, I figured I would come into the box and run. I didn't have a plan. I thought, just run.

I ran 2-800 meters.

So I'm running about 11:15 mile, which would put me at about 34 min finish time. I really want to come in around 30 mins, but I highly doubt I will magically start running a 10 min, esp. since I've been avoiding running this entire time. 

Truly though, doing this 5K is the first small goal of getting over my hate, regardless of what time I come in at tomorrow morning. I think it would be good goal to just run as much as possible, walk if absolutely necessary. 

SaSQUATch 2.0

Overhead Squat 1-1-1-1-1

Front Squat 1-1-1-1-1

Back Squat 1-1-1-1-1

I am riding on the wings of love (only the 2 of us together flying high, on the wings of love!!!).... I am sooooo proud and happy and excited to have beat my old overhead squat PR by 10#s. Mostly because 75#s felt easy. I was sooooo tempted to attempt 80#s, but Rico suggested I don't and save it for a day when my legs are completely rested. I'd probably have to set myself up by having the bar overhead and I step into it, vs. having to jerk the bar from behind my neck, cause 75#s was pretty difficult to get overhead. 

I can't even write about my Front Squat or my Back Squat. I mean, both were valiant efforts, but no PRs. 

I really am psyched about my OH squat. Just cause I know about the the hurdles I had to get over to get to this point: flexibility, mid-stability, etc, etc... I mean, there is a picture I have on FB of me having trouble squatting the 15# bar overhead, and wondering if I'd ever be able to doing anything heavier. And, of course, knowing that 50% of the lift is all mid-line... that I've really gotten to a place where my core is truly solid and I "trust" it. If you only knew what that really means. It's crazy. I will try my best to explain to my mother how much this lift is dependent on abs; if she gets it, then she too will probably feel as I do. But maybe only her. Nate might understand, but I'm not sure how much he cares.