Monday Not So Fun Day

I’m not entirely sure how I missed Thursday and Friday workouts last week but I did. My body just needed the rest I suppose. I had a stressful Friday and pretty much that led to binge eating all weekend. And it’s not like I dove into a gallon of ice cream, nor did I eat a whole lot but it wasn’t good either. I also decided that a garage sale was in order. So that left me on my feet all day for two days. MY FEET ARE DYING!

Walking into the BOOM Box this morning was a big debate for me. I could wait till the evening or just knock it out ASAP. NANCY was on the board! UGH. Running and OHS! I chose to knock it out this morning because it’s a big Texas Rangers game tonight and I don’t want to miss it!

Strength: Back Squat 5@65% 5@70% and 5@75%
This is the first time doing percentages with my new 1RM and it wasn’t too bad! Granted the percentages were light but doing 5’s isn’t always fun. I felt good. My hips were a little creaky but overall I was glad to put in the work.

9/30/13 WOD

MetCon: Nancy – 5 rounds of 400M run and 15 Overhead Squats
I had already showed up with the mindset to row instead of run. My shins, ankles and feet are tore up. I did do some mobility work and after Back Squats I was feeling much better. Coach T asked if I was going to run and I said I might as well. And for the first time in a long time I think I had a better time for a 400m run. 3 minutes. I know that’s not fast in any sense but I actually ran for a little bit and my shins weren’t dying. Still hurting but tolerable. It’s when I got to Overhead Squats that I fell apart. The weight is 65lbs. Not heavy at all! But after 5 reps, my right wrist was dying. It hurt to even grip the bar. So I dropped to 55lbs and it was still a NO GO. I have a hook grip on the bar and Coach told me to release that grip and to try letting the bar roll back onto my fingertips. This was a hard task. I’ve fought so hard to learn to be comfortable with a HOOK GRIP and now I’m letting it go. My brain was confused. I finally finished out the reps and went out for my next run. My wrist was in pain and I didn’t even want to walk but our time was limited and I needed to move. I did do more walking on this run but the running part was faster than my typically trot. Maybe it was the cooler air or maybe I’m finally shedding some weight. Either was I didn’t dread running near as much today. My second round of OHS was better than my first but I was at a light weight and I had just rested. Knocked out 10, then struggled with the 5. My third run was probably better than my second run but my OHS were done. I couldn’t find a happy place for my wrist. And then I DID for the last 5 reps. My goal was to get to that happy place for the 4th round. Finally, UNBROKEN. I should have gone unbroken the whole time, but that wrist o’ mine. It hurted! It was after 6am and I had to go. Today was a big ol DNF for me. Womp Womp. But I will run into Nancy again and she’ll know what I’m really made of. Time: DNF, finished 4 rounds in 25 minutes or so. Not real sure.

Barbells For Boobs
Hey, Hey, Hey…. PLEASE donate to my B4B fundraising page to support Mammograms in Action. Barbells for Boobs is a non-profit organization that provides funding to pay for breast cancer detection services as a last resort for thousands of people who don’t qualify for assistance elsewhere. Their aim is to help anyone that needs it, anywhere, whether they are male or female, no matter what their age or situation in life.

You can find my page here: HELP SAVE BOOBIES. No amount is too small. And if you aren’t able to donate at this time, please share me with your friends, co-workers, business owners, etc. Thanks in advance for your help and support.

That’s all folks!Keep on keepin on! Don’t give up! Don’t Quit! Be a healthier you. Even if you fail, get right back up and keep doing work!
And as always be AWESOME!

Focus

It’s time for me to put my game face on and focus on my eating habits. It’s time for me to put away the excuses and get back to clean eating. I’m considering competing in a competition in December. A LONG ways a way right now (even though I’ll blink and it will be here), but registration is in a month. So I need to get my shit together mentally and physically, NOW, so that I won’t feel all bleh and icky about actually signing up in October. From there I have 2 months to focus even more. So FOCUS is my primary thought in all things food. I know it will be a struggle because I’ve dug such a deep hole. And I know I won’t be perfect, but I gotta get pretty darn close!

9/2/13 HOTSHOTS 19 MEMORIAL WOD

Nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighting team tragically lost their lives on June 30, 2013 while fighting a fire in Yarnell, AZ.

If you aren’t of the CrossFit world you wouldn’t know that there are HERO WODS. These workouts are designed to serve as an “in memory” of fallen heroes. They are tough, grueling and sometimes damn near impossible to complete. The Hero WODs from CrossFit are named after heroes who have given their lives in the line of duty. Their purpose is to remind us to think outside of ourselves.

The HOTSHOTS WOD was and is a fundraiser to help support the families of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew. On Aug. 31, a huge event went down in Prescott, AZ. Many Elite Athletes showed up. The CrossFit Community in general showed up. It was an amazing thing to watch. If you are able to donate then you can do so here: https://hotshots19.crossfit.com/

We at CrossFit Boom along with many other Boxes nationwide went on to tackle the HOTSHOTS 19 MEMORIAL WOD for this past Labor Day.

Six rounds for time of:
30 Squats
135 pound Power clean, 19 reps
7 Strict Pull-ups
Run 400 meters

To be honest when I see HERO WODs I run for the hills. The workouts tend to be well over 30 minutes, often times up to an hour long. And even though I know the purpose to DO and REMEMBER, I just see PAIN. But I wasn’t going to run away from the workout! Plus it was a day off from work so I could roll in for the 9 a.m. class, which is quite nice. Way better than 5 a.m.

9/2/13 HOTSHOTS 19 MEMORIAL WOD

I opted for the 85lbs Power Cleans, which I knew would get heavy halfway through, but once I committed, I was committed. I started off great. All up until the RUN. And runs walks were slow. This is where most of my time was eaten up. Every round I moved fairly well from squats to power cleans to pull ups (banded). I did all 30 airsquats for the first two rounds, but broke them up into 10’s or 15’s for the last 4 rounds. I started off in small sets for the Power Cleans, but picked up the pace the further along I got. Not sure how that actually worked for me but it did. By the last rounds I was doing 8 and 9 Unbroken before opting for smaller sets. It was the 400’s that were at a snail pace! It was bad. We only had 45 minutes of class time to complete the workout. I knew that wasn’t going to happen. There wasn’t a class afterwards, so Coach let me finish my final round. Time: 56:06

Hopefully the FOCUS on eating better will allow me to lean out, which in turn will lighten me up, which will then lead to better run times. HOPEFULLY!

9/3/13
And it’s back to the “get up before the suns up” workouts. I’m still sticking with my theory that the bars are heavier in the MORNING!

Strength: Back Squats 5@60% 3@70% 2@80% 2@90% 1@95% 1@103%
Whoa nelly! 103% That is an auto PR if I hit it. I have never seen over 100% on the board. I know I’ve been feeling strong and I know that I’ve been wanting a new 1RM and today would be the day. It was only 5lbs but it was 5lbs more than I’ve ever done. NEW 1RM at 170lbs! So it was nice. But after that 1 REP, I lost the desire to really test my 1RM. It was HEAVY this morning!

9/3/13 WOD

MetCon: For Time 15 Wall Walks, 10 T2B, 5 MU, 10 T2B, 15 Wall Walks
Oh how my brain deceived me, I thought it said WALL BALLS. And if you KNOW me at all… I would never want to do wall balls. But I’d rather throw a damn med ball than do a freakin wall walk. They make me dizzy. They are dumb and well they are dumb.

I haven’t had to do wall walks in my fluffy state, so they were even more miserable than I remembered. UGH! Needless to say it took for ever to do the first 15 and it took even more forever to do the last 15. I did Knees to Elbows instead of Toes To Bar. And I did 15 Banded Pull Ups instead of the 5 MU. Time: HORRIBLE 14:42. My shoulders hate me.

That’s all I got for y’all for this HOT HOT TEXAS TUESDAY. If you are like me and need to get back on the clean eating train… then let’s do this! Start today, start tomorrow,…. just start this week. OK? GREAT! Make today AWESOME!

Diary of a Wimpy HIP

My Hips don’t LIE. They BURN! Well just my right side.

Back in 2011 when I started my journey of better health and fitness, my lame-o right HIP started giving me issues. I thought I had injured my hip flexor but never really checked it out as it wasn’t severe pain and it was intermittent. Then CrossFit came into my life and my sad BIG HIP was just always nagging at me. It hurt sitting, it hurt standing, it was always hurting. It didn’t hurt when I was working out though at first. Then I could feel it limiting me in my squats. Coach gave me some mobility exercises but it wasn’t going away. So I went to Airrosti which was heaven on earth. They worked my whole hip/glute area. It was painful but relief at the end of my sessions. They asked if my HIP popped randomly and I said YES my whole life. Aha, they said. They asked if it just started hurting now that I’ve become super active. Of course my answer was YES. I mean the popping sometimes hurts but I wasn’t doing much by way of regular beatdowns prior to 2011 for quite some years. They told me I had an impingement. And that all of this new activity was taking it’s toll. Yay ME! I guess YOUTH is golden because I was super active all through high school and never had any problems. They said I would probably always have HIP flexiblity issues. BUT with proper stretching, foam rolling, etc I should be fine and I should be able to manage any future issues.

Of course after focusing on the stretches they gave me I was feeling much better and I was such a go getter in general with my mobility. Then I got to feeling better more often, got bored sticking with the mobility and just became reliant on the necessary post WOD mobility at the box. And guess what? All that HIP pain is creeping it’s way back in. Why oh why am I such a glutton for punishment? Why can’t I just roll out and stretch when I’m watching TV? The past several WODs at the BOOM box have brought my HIP issues back to life and now I need to focus on being better at mobility. I just need to stop being lazy and get back to it! I sure as hell could eat a tub of ice cream while sitting in front of the TV so why won’t I just get on the ground and get to it!!??!!

8/1/13 WOD
Skill: Double Unders
Easy breezy! I got these. I’m learning to pace myself and have them under control whether it be fast and knock them out or go slower and take my time. I’m not great at doing more than 50 UNBROKEN but that comes with lots of practice. And lots of practice is something I don’t do! It’s my one superpower in CrossFit and I don’t focus on extra work with DUs because I have so much more to figure out!

8/1/13 WOD

MetCon: AMRAP 7 min, Up Ladder by 5 of Jumping Lunges and DU; Rest 3 minutes; Max Effort Unbroken Pull Ups
I’m feeling good about this WOD. My knee is less inflammed due to proper CLEAN eating so I even feel good about JUMPING LUNGES which when on a poor diet hurt like hell. The goal is to do 5 of each for Round 1 and increase 5 reps for each round after. So Round 2 will be 10 reps each, Round 3 will be 15 reps each and so on. It was round 3 when I was into the lunges that my HIP started to shut down on me. It was burning no matter what I did. I had to slow my roll. I had no explosion. I kept going just at a much slower pace. Fortunately I can knock DUs out so. And as long as I didn’t stop on the Jumping Lunges I felt like I would still do well.

When the 7 minutes was up we got a 3 minute rest and then it was onto max effort Pull Ups. I got my bands up there and waited for our rest to be over. My max effort was only 10 Pull Ups. I wasn’t feeling it and it showed. Final: 7 rounds + 6 Lunges + 10 Pull Ups

8/2/13
Strength: Front Squat 5@65% 4@75% 3@85% 3@90%
With my new PR weight that puts me at 95lbs, 110lbs, 125lbs and 130lbs. And amazingly I did pretty well through all the sets. The last few do get heavy but not impossible. It really does feel good to know I am getting stronger.

8/2/13 WOD

MetCon: 10 Rounds Team WOD 5 DL (275/185) 10 HR Burpees
Deadlifts YAY, Burpees BOOOO. This was a team WOD, so 1 person does a round, then your partner does a round. We had 3 folks on our team which had two of working at once. I opted for 155lbs because well my Hamstring is achy and my Hip is achy and there’s not a need for injury. I felt like the first 3 rounds of Deadlifts were smooth and quick, but my last two sets were pretty slow. As far as Burpees went, I only did OK on the first two rounds. The last three rounds I would get 5 reps easily then struggle with the last 5. Burpees are not my friend. Time: 9:50

8/5/13
Strength: Squats 6@70% 6@80% 3@90% 2@90%
I grouped up with some stronger ladies today which helps get me through all the reps mentally. As the saying goes “Iron sharpens Iron”, it helps to watch others move heavier weight. It helps me focus on my goals and that I too am capable. With time and work, I’ll get there.

8/5/13 WOD

MetCon: For time – Lunge 300ft, 400m Run and 50 Jumping Air Squats
Sigh! Lunging is not my strength. I can manage to get through them but I never enjoy them. This however, was going to kick my ass and that my friends, it did! So we go outside and Coach says we’re going to lunge around the parking lot and showed us the route we should take. THAT IS NOT 300ft Coach! And he responds, no probably more but that’s the route you’re taking. It may be 450ft. Who knows. GREAT! So lunge distance is UNDEFINED and all I know is that it’s a long ass distance. Talk about HIP being on FIRE. I wasn’t even halfway around and I was not happy. How could this suck sooo much?!? I don’t have an answer except that I need to work on that HIP mobility ASAP so lunges aren’t so brutal. Add a 400m CRAWL to that and I was just ready to call it quits. But wait, there’s more! 50 JUMPING Air Squats. Just that extra evil that I needed added to the workout. I busted out 10 and 10, then 5’s. I only took short rests in between but my overall time was so slow. Time: 14:18

That’s all for now ladies and gents. Eating clean is becoming more, eating junk is becoming LESS. Consistency at the BOOM Box is paying off! I just need to add MOBILITY back into the equation. Have a super duper TUESDAY and don’t forget to be Awesome!

The Games aka the OLYMPICS for CrossFit

If watching the CrossFit Games over the weekend just doesn’t want to make you start training and becoming a MONSTER right now I don’t know what will. (I promise I won’t bore you with my recap of the games.) And if you haven’t watched them you can log onto ESPN3 and watch recaps. Do it! NOW! But to me the CrossFit Games are a lot like when the Olympics come around and everyone is rallying for USA, wishing they had grown up their whole lives being a gymnast or track star. It’s that motivating. It’s that inspirational. Yet super defeating all at the same time! It’s all dreams for me at least. The I wish, I want, and the I could have been had I started 10 years ago!

Lindsey Valenzuela (photo: CrossFit)

I’ll be honest, I don’t know everyone’s story. I’m sure there might be someone like me out there that made it to the games, but on average, these ELITE athletes are young, fit phenoms or they were college athletes or heck even former professional athletes. I however am none of the above. Just a dreamer. But it still puts that little bit of excitement for me to want to push a little harder than just trying to be fit. To get that next PR or better finish.

Team Hack’s Pack UTE (photo: CrossFit)

Then I wake up and realize everything hurts. The muscles, tendons and ligaments aren’t youthful and immortal. I realize that I can’t even do any of the movements that these top CrossFit athletes are executing. So I drudge on, just hoping to be able to do a fraction of what they do, sometime, in the future, a long long time from now. It’s fun and I feel great but I’m not a spring chicken. I’m not a professional athlete! I joke that in 4 years I’ll be eligible for the Masters age group and maybe just maybe by then I’ll have it all down.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (photo: CrossFit)

For now I’ll just stick with trying to be a stronger me, no matter how long it takes!

7/26/13
Strength: Front squats 3rm
PR in the house for 3RM! Woooo! So we warmed up for a few rounds then got to business. I was feeling pretty good the whole way and finally got to 135lbs. This is my 1RM. 3 reps and I would be happy, happy, happy! And BOOM I hit it. So why not jump to 145lbs? It would be icing on the cake. But then I got nervous! This shit is gonna be heavy. I got under the bar and went to work. One didn’t seem so bad. I got this! 2nd one felt a little heavy but manageable. Number 3 was a NO GO. I got stuck and had to bail on it. DANG IT! I was so close to 3RM at 145lbs! I am, however, happy that I hit a new PR of 145lbs. That’s at 2 reps too folks! I’m excited for a new 1RM!

7/26/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 rounds of 400m Run, 100ft Yoke push, 3 Power Cleans 225/135, Rest 90 seconds between rounds
The only thing I like about this MetCon is the Power Cleans and the RX weight is above and beyond my max so I’m not even happy about those now. RUNNING and YOKE PUSH… double ick! My runs were mostly a trot/walk. And I hadn’t even ever pushed the Yoke on my own for that kind of distance. I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to do the workout. But I had a strategy. There’s a slight incline in the parking lot so I figured I’d make sure I’d come around so I would have to push the YOKE downhill. Hoping it would be easier. And my first time around it worked out. And although it sucked donkey balls, I survived. Got through my cleans (105lbs) and went back out for my run. Turns out my plan was ruined. With everyone else out running me the YOKE wasn’t in position for me to push it downhill so I had to push it up the incline! That’s what I get for trying to manipulate the situation. Total FAIL! I still got the YOKE going but my calves were on FIRE. I had to stop several times and thought I might die. It was a fight to the end on the 2nd and 3rd Yoke pushes. But the 105lbs weren’t so bad. Maybe this extra layer of fluff I’m carrying is helping. Time: 23:06

7/27/13 Community WOD
I don’t know why I keep showing up for these things! I get all excited because I do have fun in the end but I feel bad for my teammates, seriously! This WOD was no exception. We got into groups of 3 before we knew what was in store. As soon as it was broken down I wanted to sneak out and go back home. I apologized immediately for my suckiness and I’m pretty sure no one would want to pair up with me anymore!

3 rounds of Running around the complex (distance unknown, maybe 1000m), 75 Wall Balls, 75 strict Pull Ups

We all had to do the run, then we could split up the Wall Balls and Pull Ups. If only we could have split up the run. My team probably had to wait a good 3-4 minutes on me to just finish the Run. We tried splitting everything else up evenly. The problem with our team is that no one has a strict Pull Up. And we couldn’t use bands. So guess what? We pretty much had to lift each other up to get the movement completed. That’s a lot of lifting for all of us! We were smoked and I was feeling like a complete loser due to my running. Time: 43:00 something.

Maybe this Saturday I won’t be dragging the team down

7/28/13
Strength: Squats 8@65% 6@75% 4@85% 4@90%
Mondays I typically feel a little weak and the weight always feels a LOT heavy. But today I felt good under the bar. Maybe all of this consistency is finally paying off. Don’t get me wrong I KNOW it is paying off but I can see it and feel it now. So hitting those percentages and weights weren’t so bad and dreadful. Definitely a confidence booster, especially after that brutal Saturday showing.

7/29/13 WOD

MetCon: 75 HSPU Every time you drop you must run 400 m 20 minute cap. (the mod is 125 push-ups)
Well, well, well… Coach must be crazy or something. Or he just saw too many HSPU in the games. Handstand Push Ups are a reachable goal but I seriously need to drop some LBS off this body o’ mine. Once upon a time I could do a couple of Kipping HSPUs but now it’s just a laughable goal. I went with Push Ups. But guess what? I’m only good at Hand Release Push Ups. Where my whole body touches the ground. And this WOD had us doing regular Push Ups. Where my legs can’t touch the ground at all. That’s a whole new story and although once upon a time I could do a handful of regular Push Ups, it appears that I’ve lost it. I didn’t even manage to get 6 push ups before I failed and had to run 400m. UGH! All my squat confidence is now wittled down to nothing. The only upside is that I finally ran a 400 without stopping. But only that first one. All the rest were trot/walks. I struggled so bad with getting those push ups in. We had a 20 minute time cap to complete 150 and well I only completed 33. FAIL. I gotta work on those short range push ups now!

That’s all my recap for now. Can you believe it’s almost August? Holy crap! Where did this year go? It’s definitely been an off year for me. I’m trying to tighten everything up so I can finish 2013 strong but it’s flying by and my tightening is moving slower than I had hoped! I just gotta keep pushing and not look back! I encourage you to do the same. Today is as good as any day to start something new. Challenge yourself! Make a plan to come out to the BOOM Box this Saturday. I promise my feelings won’t get hurt if you don’t want to be part of my team. Just show up and have some fun! Eat Clean, Do Work and Be Awesome!

Let the Games Begin (and other stuff)

Can’t believe the CrossFit Games are here for 2013. Where did the year go? The best of the best are at it again and they get to start off with Swimming and Muscle Ups. I’m not a good swimmer and I sure as hell can’t do a MU. I can only look forward to maybe being able to compete in the MASTERS a few years from now. EVEN THEN, I would have to start seriously training now and eating like a champ. So far away from that idea though!

The athletes competing this week are AMAZEBALLS. I’m looking forward to the rest of the events to see how everyone pairs up. I’m especially interested in what women will rise to the top. It’s some tough competition out there. I’m rooting for Lindsey Valenzuela! She is insanely AWESOME!

As far as I go, I’m still struggling with Don’t STUFF your face with junk issue. When I eat a good meal, it’s good and full of all good things. And when I eat a bad meal, it’s not just bad, it’s the worst. I’m still showing up to BOOM and putting in work. Definitely not outtraining a bad diet. But still pushing myself. I just wish I was pushing myself in the right direction with food

7/18/13
Strength: Sled pull around the building
There was quite a few of us so instead of Sled Pulls, I got to push the YOKE for an unknown LONG distance with a partner. Nicole and I pushed our happy little hearts out. It sucked. My hamstrings and calves were dying!

7/18/13 WOD

MetCon: AMRAP 10 min 30 DU 15 Power Snatches 75/45
This totally whipped my butt. I had a hard time getting my Double Unders in a good rhythm so I had a lot of unnecessary rests. The Power Snatches weren’t difficult but after 15 then going into DU’s my shoulders were just fatigued. I had high hope for a better score but I didn’t pull through. Final: 4 Rounds + 30 DUs RX

7/20/13 Community WOD
Oh wonderful Community WOD day. I keep showing up for these beatdowns. I should just sleep in! JOKES! By the way, if you are nearby you should totally come and have some fun with us! It’s FREE!

So we worked on Max Box Jumps and well I have troubles with 30″ and higher. And for the day that wasn’t even going to happen. It’s not fun trying to get an extra 30lbs up on that box.

As for the WOD, we partnered up in teams of 2. Coach told us one person would hang from the bar while the other person did Thrusters FOR FIVE MINUTES. When the one person dropped from the bar you would switch out. Leah (my teammate) and I decided to save our hands and just do sets of 10 for Thrusters and switch out. This was probably a good idea cause I’m not sure I would have held on to the bar much longer than that. We probably lost reps but again, it sounded better for the good ol hands. WE didn’t know what the next challenge would be until about 30 seconds before the 5 minutes was up. YIKES. So it turns out to be Handstand Holds and Burpees! Oh Lordy! Breathing hard and being upside down sucks! And that’s what happens when you pair Burpees with Handstands. This was by far the weakest moment. Again we went 10 reps before switching out. Our transistion was much slower during those 5 minutes. For the final 5 minutes, we did Overhead Barbell Holds and Air Squats. This was probably the better of the 3 movements. Only cause I can bust Air Squats out. We started off strong then started breaking it up into smaller sets. The time seemed to fly on the last 5 minutes. Overall we had 277 reps. I think the burpees really slowed us down the most. Still a lot of work in 15 minutes!

7/22/13
Strength: Squats 8@65% 8@70% 6@80% 6@85%
Again with the high rep Squatting. It’s good for me I know. But for some reason it always feels heavier on Mondays!!!

7/22/13 WOD

MetCon: 20 min AMRAP 100 Push Up buy in; 10 Thruster 10 C2B
Say what???!!?? 20 min AMRAP and 100 Push Ups to kick it off! Yowsers! So I started off with 20, then 10s, then 5s, then 2’s and 3’s. I didn’t even look at the clock to see how long it took me. I just know it took forever. I really wasn’t sure how Thrusters would be now that my shoulders were wasted. I honestly was too tired to even care! I did 5 and 5 then moved on the banded pull ups. I moved through the first round fairly quickly then ran out of gas. I stayed with the 5 and 5 for the next two rounds. Then switched to 5, 3, 2 and added a band to my pull ups. It was a struggle at the end. Final 4 rounds + 7 Thrusters

7/23/13
ME yoke Zercher
I had no idea what this was and once I saw the demonstration, I was like NO WAY!

I probably had the same pain face!

So one of our smaller girls managed to pick the Yoke Up and carry it so I knew for sure I could as least get the job done. I had no idea how taxing it would on my forearms and well EVERYTHING! Now it was time to add weight and I thought for sure I couldn’t barely hold 175lbs of the YOKE on it’s own. Now add 50lbs? Geesh! I tried and I got it up. Walked about 2 feet then I was done. I couldn’t get it back up and moving. At least I tried and had some success.

MetCon: 4 rounds of 25 DU, 30 KB clean&jerk 53/35lb, 200m run
Double Unders easy. 30 Kettle Bell Clean & Jerks with 35lbs = NOT EASY! 200m RUN = WALK.

There are two 24lb KB and the rest are 35lb, 53lb or heavier. I got stuck with 35lbs. And boy did it suck/hurt. As soon as one of the other ladies was done with their 24lb KB I ran over and scaled down. So much better! Only problem is I already killed my arms from the heavier KB and I have bruises to prove it!

Just the beginning. OUCHY!

So painful. I stayed doing sets of 5 or 10. Only sets of 5 when I was using the heavier weight but sometimes sets of 10 with the lighter weight. I don’t think Coach was too happy about my back and forth but I feel like it all equalled out in the end. The runs were walks at best. My last run was a trot the whole way in. Thanks Andy for keeping me motivated! Time 24:21.

7/23/13 WOD

Whew, that’s a lot of work put in over the past few days. Looking forward to more. Remember to keep moving. Send me happy and positive thoughts in regards to eating CLEAN cause right now I suck at it! And dont’ forget to be AWESOME today!

BuZZy Buzzy BEEE!

Happy Happy Tuesday y’all! If it’s not happy, I hope it gets better for you out there. Before I get to my BOOM Box recap I just wanted to be a quick source of tell it like it is for all of you thinking about leading a healthier lifestyle whether you’re just thinking about it or off and on like I’ve been lately. So it’s also a pop in the head for me, ha! It’s a roller coaster folks but once you ride the roller coaster a few times it’s predictable right? The initial excitement fades away. This means two things to me… YOU GET THE HANG OF IT and learn that it’s not all that bad. OR YOU GET BORED and are ready to MOVE ON …. FORWARD I HOPE. Either way, it takes time to discipline yourself.

It takes time to get consistent. Don’t let little shortcomings get you down. I can’t stress how important it is for everyone to take steps towards a healthier life. EATING CLEAN is the best thing you could do for yourself. Getting past the first 2 weeks of withdrawls will be anywhere from hellish to oh that wasn’t too bad. Making time to do the prep work for meals is WORK. Quit being LAZY! YES it’s that freakin simple! QUIT BEING LAZY! 80% of all you do in effort to be healthy is about NUTRITION. Yes you should move and be active but if that’s what is holding you back then just look at the math. EIGHTY PERCENT of it comes from what you put in your mouth folks. It’s simple.

I’m sure many of the peoples out there are tired of me checking in on Facebook…. oh look she’s at that CrossFit Boom place again. Oh there she is blogging about her workout. WTH did she cook this time. In the same turn I’M SICK OF READING ABOUT PEOPLE’s migraines, head colds, coughs, flu symptoms, sick kids, etc. I know it happens. I know there are people out there with conditions that are beyond their control and I’m not addressing those folks. I’m not saying my kids don’t get a bug every now and then but I can guarantee you that my family and I are not brought down week in and week out with sickness and I would bet a butt ton of money it’s because we are ACTIVE and we EAT pretty CLEAN! We don’t live off of boxed and bagged processed junk. I say junk becuase it’s not food, it’s JUNK. Again we aren’t perfect but it’s not even that I’m tired of reading about people complaining. I’m tired that people don’t do anything about it. They just layer on the feel good meds till whatever sickness passes. Those feel good meds are doing a number of BAD things to your insides. Over time your insides can’t handle it and then you have bigger issues to deal with. Pair that with poor nutrition and your body doesn’t heal. WOW, I get so fired up I just get lost in my thoughts. Take care of YOU! Please! It’s all you have.

Today’s WOD
Even though it was a little warmer this morning it felt more COLD than yesterday! I was not happy but it’s hard to be happy at 5am. I was a little excited for the workout though. LOTS OF CLEANS. I love me some Power Cleans!

Skill/Strength: 3,3,3,3,3 Power Cleans
Well I feel I am best at Power Cleans when it comes to the BAR. So it’s a good morning. The goal in the sets of 3 is to have a HEAVY goal for the last set. So we need to start out heavy too. For me that’s starting around 85lbs with a goal of 105lbs. I’m pretty sure my PR is 100 and it was ugly but don’t quote me on that. Just trying to set a good goal. I managed really well at 85, 90 and 95lbs. I get to my 4th set of 100 and I get it up but it’s a miss for the 2nd rep. NO biggie, I have one more attempt. After a little extra rest I attack the bar get it up, go for the 2nd rep and it’s a NO GO Ah well. At least I got it up twice! Maybe next time. Who would of thunk it… I can clean 100lbs without dying! I was feeling pretty AWESOME at this point. One day 100lbs will be a joke and I’ll be pushing for much grander numbers, but for now I’m happy with where I am at. I need to build that confidence of dropping under the bar!

10/30/12 WOD

MetCon: 4 rounds of 400m run, 12 Power Cleans (85lbs), 2 minute rest
More Power Cleans, and I’m still in a happy place. Internally I was torn between doing 85lbs or dropping the weight because 12 reps x 4 is A LOT …. in my head, but externally I just stuck with the weight and was going to do it come hell or highwater. You should all know I suck at running by now. I hate it with a great passion. Running is not for me but it’s part of the MetCon so I do it. It took me 2 minutes to run the 400. So far I’ve been pretty consistent. Get back to the bar and it seems to take forever for me to get focused. The cold makes my nose run, I’m a mess. My first round of 12 was sloppy and ugly. Coach broke it down for me in my 2 minute rest, thank goodness for rest and I just played the movement in my head for the rest of my 2 minutes. Off to run again. I felt I ran a little better this time around but I can’t recall my time. I got back and focused on dropping under the bar and having the bar land on my shoulders and I did do much better. I was really trying to do the Cleans UNBROKEN but I failed at 7 reps and had to pick it back up. The 2 minute rest was really beneficial because I don’t think I would make it running. My 3rd run felt even a little better than the 2nd run. It was amazing, but I don’t think I was any faster! For my 3rd set of Cleans I got to 8 or 9 reps then dropped the bar. I just couldn’t hold on to it. My 4th run was SLLLOWWWW. I took off at 16:05 and returned at 18:43 or something like that. I knew I had to make up for it on the Cleans and low and behold I did them UNBROKEN. Time: 19:31. If I could only run better!!!!

Food NOTE: I baked a pumpkin last night. Didn’t have time or energy to puree it, but hopefully I’ll get creative tonight. Stay Tuned!
Have an AWESOME day. I sure am gonna try! Here’s a little video of what’s been living in my house, NOW FINALLY getting removed. Bee AWESOME!

My sunshine is fading

As this month carries on, the sun stays with us a little less. I seriously get into a funk when the days begin to get shorter. I know I’m not whiny enough as it is, right? 😛 But soon enough it will be pitch black by 5:30pm and I’ll feel like I need to hibernate. It’s part of it, this happens every year and every year I look forward to those spring days when time springs forward. But for now I have to watch the sunshine fade away a little bit sooner each day. I feel less productive when the sun is not out till 9pm. That feeling has already crept in. Am I the only one that thinks this way? The upside is that I really want to go to bed earlier. Hopefully I’ll get some extra sleep!

This morning wasn’t hard to get up but my left eye was throbbing. Not sure from what but I considered staying home, unsure if the ache in my eyeball would disappear. Thank goodness it did by the time I got to the BOOM Box.

Skill/Strength: 5 x 3 Deadlift @ 85% of 1 RM = 155lbs actually 157.25 so we rounded down to 155. Warming up to this weight was smooth and easy. I jumped from 125lbs to 155lbs and I went from oh this is good to OH that was more than I anticipated. But it was only that first set that I felt that. The rest of the sets felt good. Coached chimed in saying I probably should have gone up to 160lbs then. I mean it wasn’t EASY but at the same time I didn’t realize that I probably should have pushed myself a little more and jumped up in weight. That’s where I don’t think forward enough. I should if I want to get better but I’m not wired that way to say, hhmm, maybe I should jump up that extra 5 pounds. Maybe because it’s 5am and my brain isn’t fully functioning. Hell my body surely isn’t fully functioning but I still feel good. I’m still moving some weight.

10/9/12 WOD

MetCon: 2 rounds of 2 minutes for 400m run 2 minutes KB swings, 1 minute rest
I seriously was thinking I will not make that 400m run in 2 minutes or less. IMPOSSIBLE. I suck at running, I suck at running more so in the cooler weather. But my first run I managed to complete in 1:45 (I THINK). It took me a minute to gain my composure and time was already ticking into my KB Swing timeframe. I knew I would have to hold on to that kettle bell the whole time and I I was doing good, 20 seconds to go and I had to let it go or drop it on my foot so I stopped for a couple of seconds but got back going to get an extra few reps. 62 reps for that first 2 minutes. The 1 minute rest was SHORT then it was back to the run. I kept telling myself you gotta make 2 minutes, you gotta make 2 minutes. I have no relevance of time when running, it always feels like forever but I managed to make it back in 1:55! But that didn’t give me much time to catch my breath. I didn’t start KB swings right away, maybe 20 seconds into my 2 minutes. This time I stopped a few times. Only getting 62. In the picture above my flash got in the way. And I was too unobservant at the time to notice. So total was 114, not 11 😀

The 21-Day Sugar Detox Days 8 & 9
Let’s just say I’m surviving. Moods are fine despite it being that time of the month… TMI? Eh who cares! But it explains the blah attitude. Better than angry attitude. I think overall I’m dealing well. Maybe all that weekend binging helped! Who knows. I keep neglecting to add that extra fat that I know I need in my meals, so I did add some avocado to my eggs and bacon this morning and wow I’m full. It wasn’t even a lot. Keep on keepin on… one day at a time.

That’s all for my Tuesday report. Also don’t forget I’m raising money for Barbells For Boobs. Please support this great cause. The link is in the sidebar to the right if you would like to donate. Thanks y’all and dont forget to BE AWESOME!

TGIF!

We made it to Friday – WHOOHOOO! And I’m so ready for a beautiful weekend full of the Boom Box and kiddo football! Which by the way if you are local (DFW) then come on out to our 9 a.m. Community WOD at CrossFit Boom! It’s a big ol’ ball of fun (pssst… it’s free too)!

This morning’s WOD only had the MetCon so I knew it wasn’t going to be purty. I figured we’d do mobility which is exactly what we did and it was exactly what I needed. After yesterdays Negative Pull Up Hangs, Ring Dips and Power Cleans my upper body was spent. I blame mostly the pull up hangs. Those were brutal.

So our whiteboard agenda this morning was: 9 Shoulder to Overhead, 15 burpees, 6 STOH, 15 burpees, 3 STOH, 15 burpees. As Heavy As Possible and UNBROKEN! Penalties for putting bar down ended up being: Take 10lbs off bar, repeat set unbroken, add 400m run at end of workout. You had to complete an unbroken set before moving on.

9/21/12 WOD

So it was suggested I give it a go at 85lbs. Fair enough, that’s heavy for me! We could push press or push jerk or whatever we needed to do to get the weight up. I did a mix of push press and push jerk as well as muscling it up like a loonball. I warmed my up to 85lbs and was ready to go. I DID complete the set of 9 and struggled through burpees. I rested a lil bit longer than I probably should have but I really didn’t want to fail at 6 reps. And sure enough I don’t think it would have mattered. I struggled on the 3rd rep and just felt I couldn’t get 3 more in. I racked my bar, dropped to 75lbs and fought through 6 reps. I really slowed down with the burpees but came back strong to do my 3 reps. I felt pretty good on those and I didn’t rush through the burpees but I didn’t drag ass either. Time: 6:46, then run, booooo running. Fortunately I only dropped the bar once.

Food note: Been eating like crap, not all the time but been letting our busy days/sad days bring me down. I finally let the tired set in and I just didn’t want to put forth the effort to prepare foods and cook them. I’m back on it once I get some good food shopping in. Overall I don’t feel a negative effect so much in my workouts but I feel it in my waistline! How sucky is that?!? Work so hard at being good month after month, then 1 week of crap and bam you physically feel like poo. Hopefully it’s more a bloating thing than a bad weight gain.

Hope your Friday is FABULOUS! and be AWESOME!! Come to the Boom Box tomorrow!

Yup, It’s Definitely A Monday

I’m feeling it on all fronts today and I’ll not bore you with it all. Instead I’ll tell you how proud I am of some of my BOOM BOX Buddies for competing this weekend at the Texas Barbell Massacre at GSX CrossFit in Fort Worth. Way to go Triston, Sherry, Kenny and Josh! Y’all did great and I hope y’all had fun!

So let’s get on with it and tell you how the BOOM Box went this morning.

Skill/Strength: Frankenstein Squat Heavy 3
I’ve never done this before and although I had a good idea of what it would be I wasn’t prepared for how awkward it would be. It’s a Front Squat with your arms extended in front of you instead of your hands being on the bar.

If you struggle with bending forward on your Front Squat then this is good work. I feared adding weight because with the bar only at a whopping 35lbs it gets your throat pretty good. I still feel like my esophagus is bent. I ended up working up to 105lbs and hitting 3 reps. We were out of time but I feel that I could have at least got to 115lbs. But not too sure, that 105 got heavy pretty quick.

9/17/12 WOD

MetCon: 2 rounds of 50 KB Swings (1 Pood), 30 Burpees, Red Gate Sprint, Rest 2 minutes
I felt pretty good on the first round of KB Swings and Burpees. Ok I lied, I felt pretty good only on the KB Swings. Managed to do those unbroken and pretty much sucked at burpees. I then further sucked on my run. The RED GATE sprint is abouta 1000m hellish run, maybe 1200m, not too sure. And again for me, not so much a SPRINT. I have no clue when I took off for my run but I fared better than I normally do on longer runs. I had a little mantra of “I’m a runner, I’m a runner” going on. I’m not a runner though and it was hard to lie to myself but I survived. I returned at 11:30. By Round 2 I was just a sad pathetic loser. I let every thought that popped up in my head slow me down. By the time I got to the run, I was done! I had mentally given up. My runner mantra was lost on the side of the road somewhere. I came back with a finished time of 27: 54. Booooooo! Tomorrow I come back with a vengeance, hahaha, errrr, I hope!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. And I truly wish your Monday is way better than mine! I’m trying here to be AWESOME but I may need some of you to pick up my slack! Thanks!

More Kool-Aid Please!

Today is the first time in a long time that I forgot to take a picture of the whiteboard! But I can tell you I think I did alright. Only time will tell. I don’t think being the first class in the AM will ever give me the upperhand but sometimes I do get a good leap on the rest of the day.

Skill/Strength: 3 rounds MAX Pull Ups. So I still can’t do a pull up and instead of using bands, coach had us do negative pull ups. That’s where you jump and hold your chin over the bar for as long as possible then as you fatigue slowly lower yourself down until you can no longer hang on. I SUCK AT THIS COMPLETELY! We had to do this 15 times. I did it just “OK” maybe 3 times. It pisses me off so bad but I know until I start hanging on the pull up bar 24/7 this movement is probably going to be the thorn in my side for quite some time

This kid is way TOUGHER than me!

MetCon: 10 MINUTES of 400m run, Max KB (1POOD) Swings-Russian, 400m run. The key to today’s WOD was to know how long it would take you to run the second 400m. If you left too early then you don’t BENEFIT from the workout of pushing yourself. But if you left to LATE then you would get docked 1 KB Swing for every second you go over 10 minutes! I know I didn’t want my work taken away and I know I didn’t want to look like a scared-y cat slacker. I took off on my first run and at a normal pace for me, got back around 1:48 and started my KB swings. I did as many as I could unbroken. Then just broke them down in smaller sets the best I could. Took off for my last run and returned at 9:50! How’s that for good timing!!! The KB swings are what counted for the day. I managed 125. Yay fun!

Jonas and I hope to do a park WOD this evening. I’ll be better prepared for this evening’s workout. Tuesday’s was just a fly by the seat of pants, lets make up stuff workout. I look forward to racing against my kiddo again. He’s a fighter which in turn will help me fight harder!

In other news:
Already checked in with Lahaina CrossFit and we’re ready to do work there next week! I’m excited as I’ve only visited one other box in my 10 months of being a part of this AWESOME community. And the one I did visit was for Barbells for Boobs so it was a good size event not a drop in. I’m sure it will be a good time and I’m excited! Seriously, who says that? Who says they are excited to drop in at another box? CrossFit Junkies! That’s who!

Y’all have a great Thursday! Eat Clean, Train Dirty, Be AWESOME!!!

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

Run

Monday Not So Fun Day

Focus

Diary of a Wimpy HIP

The Games aka the OLYMPICS for CrossFit

Let the Games Begin (and other stuff)

BuZZy Buzzy BEEE!

My sunshine is fading

TGIF!

Yup, It’s Definitely A Monday

More Kool-Aid Please!

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