03-31-09 Tuesday Week 9

That is a picture of pain. DB swings during Eva.

I'm now fairly certain Sven is trying to kill me. My assignment for today was to do Eva with hypoxic breathing technique (you restrict your breathing and it's supposed have a similar effect to altitude training). That didn't go so well, I tried it on the first round and I started to panic. It effed up my head so bad I almost quit -- but no. I had to finish. Damn 55 lb dumbbell swings, it was so humid and my hands were slipping. I was so anxious before starting the wod that I forgot to tape my hands and wasted a ton of time during the wod taping up my fingers since my hands were ripping open. I managed to not bleed but my hands are a mess!

Training Log
4:30PM
"Eva"
5 Rounds for time:
800 Meter Run
30 Dumbbells Swings (55 lb dumbbell)
30 Pullups

Time -- 51:32

I don't think Murph even takes me that long. It turned into a mind game after the whole breathing thing. I was pissed. To make things even more fun, it started pouring down rain as we were finishing up round 3. I, in my thin white tank, was drenched. That made it even harder to hold on to the pullup bar. The last set of pullups was mostly one at a time. Seriously. That sucked. One of my worst wods to date probably. Although, I have to say I feel slightly hardcore for having finished it at all.

Tomorrow will be better. The kids from Beach CrossFit in VA Beach are sending us a wod ... can't wait to see what kind of torture that is!! Stay tuned...

03-29-09 Sunday Week 8

This pic is not from today's FGB - but it accurately depicts the way I felt immediately afterward! I figure I owe it to all the victims of the Shana-Cam to post at least a few good ones of me laid out (this one's for you, Sheryl!)

Upon seeing Fight Gone Bad posted as the wod for today, I immediately began negotiations with my coach via g-chat. We decided that I'd use the men's weight and go all out to see what happened. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Training Log
1PM
"Fight Gone Bad" (click for an explanation)
Used the men's weight; 75 lbs Push Press, 75 lbs SDHP, except 16 lbs Wall Ball to 10' target, 20" box.
Score -- 276


I'm pretty happy with this. (PR with women's weight is 323 from November) I usually get higher numbers on the push press and sdhp but my wall-balls were up as were the box jumps. I forgot my score sheet at the gym but I got 50 box jumps my first round and 40 on the last! Thanks, Sheryl for being a good counter! You're getting pretty good at yelling at me! Big ups to Christin Street who joined us - way to go Christin, we loved having you!! (Christin's workout log)

PS - LOVING the comments!! Thanks to all!

03-28-09 Saturday Week 8

Freakin' awful. Mankillers with 30 lb dumbbells. I should be grateful I have no hole in my skull.

One of my favorite things in this world is making up a brutal wod when rest day falls on a Saturday. Today's was nothing less than wretched.

Training Log
9:30AM (M+G+W)
4 rounds for time:
10 Toes to bar hanging leg raises
15 Mankillers (30 lb dumbbells)
20 Box Jumps 24"
30 Double Unders

Time -- 24:40

For those of you who don't know, a mankiller is a particularly formidable beast. It involves a burpee and some dumbbells. Start off holding the dumbbells, when you hop the feet out do the pushups on the dumbbells, instead of hop & clap overhead, when you come up power clean and push press the DBs. It's great fun. Almost whacked myself in the head a couple of times. Arms are SPENT from yesterday's HQ wod. Relaxin' never felt so good!

PS -- I changed the comment settings, so for the peeps who were having trouble, don't give up!!

03-26-09 Friday Week 8

My good friend, Kath, took this pic.

I had the excellent occasion of working out with CrossFit badass and Super-Mom, Christin Street, this morning. We became acquainted through Facebook and have been trying to hook up for a while. Today was the day, and we had so much "fun" - we all know what fun means in CrossFit terms - that we decided to definitely do it again, maybe as a standing date. (Check out her Workout Log.)

Training Log
11AM Gymnastics
10 rounds for time:
10 Pullups
10 Ring Dips

Time -- 25:20
Christin -- 24:48 (w/asst bar dips)


I did all my pullups chest-to-bar and made sure to get full depth to lockout on all ring dips. Had to kip to get full lockout on most of the ring dips. Feeling much better today after the disaster that was yesterday! Christin rocked it - she stayed just ahead of me for most of the wod - I might have had a chance if my dips weren't one. at. a. time.


Tomorrow I will be hitting the CFED alt wod -- always a doozy (sp?)

PS -- All you lurkers, please say HI in comments! I keep having people tell me they read my blog all the time and I'm always surprised! Tommy is threatening to hook me up to Google Analytics!

03-26-09 Thursday Week 8

I feel so lame today. I'm almost embarrassed to post this but I'm keeping it real, so here goes. I should mention, the first shameful thing is that I had an awful lunch late in the day. I'm starting to think I'm purposely sabotageing myself. It's getting too late in the game to be doing this kind of screw up.

Training Log
5:30PM MetCon
4 Rounds, each for time:
800 Meter Run
Rest as needed between rounds.

3:07
3:25
4:22 (almost died)
3:08


Blechk. First two rest times were 3:00. That last rest was more like 10:00. I almost lost consciousness and thought I was going to lose my lunch. Clearly I need to work on recovery times. Also, it was so humid and I guess I wore the wrong socks because the balls of my feet are blistered. No PRs today (800M PR is 3:02 - still trying to break 3:00). And DANG but Georgia is effing hilly!

Sigh.

03-25-09 Wednesday Week 8

No pic tonight, not much time before I gotta get in bed so I can get up early!

Training Log
4:30PM

Front Squats 3x5

135x3
150x3
155x3
165x1
160x3 (pr)

I'll take it. Legs are still sore from Karen-Plus. I'll do more tomorrow. Today was so busy!

03-23-09 Monday Week 8

At this point I was thinking, "Just let it be over soon."

Today was technically supposed to be a rest day, but couldn't resist. Wall-balls are miserable, but I need to work on them, so what better way than to do a "Karen Plus."

Training Log
6:20PM MetCon
"Karen"
For time:
150 Wall Ball Shots (16 lb ball to a 10' target)

Time -- 11:13

Thanks, Marshall for hitting it with me (his time was 10:04 Rx'd) I'm definitely worn out from the last 2 days. I almost regret going heavy on this, it'd be nice to know if I'd have had a PR. I had a lopsided ball and the hard part was trying to keep the weight under control. I figure if I can get better at controlling a heavier ball, the 14 will be even easier to do. Hopefully, this theory will pay off. I guess we'll see.

03-22-09 Sunday Week 7

Sunday crew, making up Saturday's wod: me, Eric, (Jonathan is behind Eric doing pushups) Meeks, Spencer and Brooke.

Training Log
12:00 Noon MetCon

For time:
21 Deadlifts 155 lbs
800 Meter Run
15 Deadlifts
800 Meter Run
9 Deadlifts
800 Meter Run

Time -- 14:29

Oh, boy. Okay, I stayed ahead for the first round. I did all 21 deads unbroken and was very happy with the 800M pace. I was pretty gassed and had to catch my breath before starting the 2nd set of deads. Set of 9 was unbroken and I kicked it in on that last run. My hind-end is still quite painful after yesterday's park excursion.

03-21-09 Saturday Week 7

Pinecone Palooza Coaches wod: me, Kath, Brooke and Ann-imal hitting it hard!

We worked out for 3 months in Glenlake Park before we moved into our current box. It was a year ago March 9 that we did our very first wod in the park. We celebrated yesterday at McKoy Park with a group wod followed by a "train the trainer" wod. They were all pretty nice to us, actually, although Zeke has some real tough-love potential!

Training Log
11ish AM MetCon
Participants were assigned a single pair of dumbbells that had to go the entire distance of the wod with them. I had a pair of 25's.
For time:
Dumbbell Bear walk ~100M
15 Monkey Bar Pullups (bar was approx 2" diameter)
15 DB Thrusters
Dumbbell Walking Lunge ~100M
15 Wall Jumps (maybe 18"?)
15 Single-Arm SDHP Right Arm
15 Single-Arm SDHP Left Arm
Dumbbell Farmer Walk ~300M
15 Mule Kicks
15 Plank Row Pushups
Place DBs in tire-sled & drag sled ~50M
15 DB swings
15 Air Squats

Time -- 10:09


I got a nice little Fran-cough from that wod... and my butt was ON FIRE! It was such a fun day.

03-19-09 Thursday Week 7

Funny hair in this pic. Apparently, in photos it appears red, when, in fact, it is pink.

This week is Week 7 since I started this whole business of thinking I might be a contender to merely qualify for the CF Games. I've been trying to stick to the strength bias program but have had some setbacks with the shoulder. Normally, on week 7 you'd take a light week or even a rest week, I think. But, since I had to skip some of the lifting, I'm still going to hit it hard this week and probably next and then see how I feel before it's almost go time.

Training Log
4:15 PM Metcon

As Many Rounds As Possible in 20 minutes of:
20 Double Unders
10 Pullups
5 Ring Dips
*WOD courtesty BGI Fit.

Total -- 13 Rounds + 10 Double Unders


I made a phone call to my friends at BGI Fit in Florida before hitting this wod. I always go MUCH harder when I have a rabbit and what better rabbits than two of my sheroes, Jenni Orr (aka Jelli) and Dana Lynch. I got Tommy on the phone who told me that Jelli did 11 rounds, and alternated rounds of ring dips with rounds of straight bar dips. I decided to do the same thing. He also told me she's been focusing on ROM, which I love, so for my dips I made sure to go to armpit depth each rep and force the lockout at the top. I pretty much had to do them one at a time, but was saved by the double unders which I can do very efficiently. It's one of my better moves (I can do 20 in under 10 secs.) Thanks, you kids at BGI, for a GREAT workout!

03-18-09 Wednesday Week 7

Thanks to Sven and this guy (that's Mike Burgener) I have a new jerk PR!

Today, I was a little hungry when I left my house. I was going to go straight into working out so I packed a snack and decided to eat afterward (of course did not have time to, but it's the thought that counts.) I think that little bit of hunger gave me an edge. I only did the focus lift today, split jerks and hit a big PR. Very exciting. I felt strong like I could have gone heavier but I had a gym full of people ready to workout just milling around so I called it a day.

Training Log
4:45 PM

Split Jerk
1-1-1-1-1-1-1
105
115
125
135
145 PR
155 PR
165 PR!!

Yippee!!! This is especially exciting since I've been having all those shoulder issues. It feels really good now! I'm overusing the exclamation point. No more. Time for bed so I can get up at 4:30AM ... ugh.

03-17-09 Tuesday Week 7

I have nothing nice to say about rope climbs.

About 4 weeks left before the competition. I'm already nervous. When I think about hearing "3, 2, 1... GO!" at the starting line, I get butterflies. I need to get over that, fast.

Training Log
4:30PM Metcon

5 Rounds for time:
9 Hang Squat Cleans (110 lbs)
3 15-ft Rope Ascents (I used my legs, fo sho)

Time -- 29:42
Patrick's time -- 34:28 (w/135 lb cleans and many legless rope climbs!)



That was rough. I made plans to do this with Patrick last night before Murph came up. I wasn't sure which one would have felt worse!

03-15-09 Sunday Week 6

That's me on the left and Drew on the right.

Today, Jonathan and I stopped at CrossFit Hyperformance in Savannah on our way back to Atlanta from St. Simons. I was proud of myself because it would have been really easy to talk myself out of a workout since we were so "busy traveling." I'm so glad we stopped, though. Drew is one of the friendliest CFers I've ever met and a fantastic athlete. He's getting ready to go to the qualifiers, too, so we met for an off-hours wod. I forgot to note his time, so, Drew, if you're reading - post your time to comments. (I know he finished before I did!)

Training Log
1:30 PM MetCon
15 Rounds for time:
2 Muscle-ups
5 Power Snatches (65 lbs)

Time -- 20:21

Drew did a version of J.T. with a 500 M (?) row after each round.


I'm pretty freakin' stoked that my shoulder made it through all those muscle-ups and snatches with no issues. I did, however, rip my wrist open. Diet was definitely sidetracked this weekend, with wedding cake, alcoholic reception beverages and travel food. I have no excuses other than it's easy for your resolve to waver when you can use the phrase, "I'm on vacation!" Better this week!

03-14-09 Saturday Week 6

You gotta make do with what you got...

Friday ended up being a rest day. We tried to stop in for a workout at CF Savannah but they were closed (I should have called first, duh!). So, Saturday, at Epworth By the Sea in St. Simon's (we are here for Rae's wedding) I convinced the crew to do a wod with me. They loved it. Luckily, PatC carries dumbbells and jumpropes around in her truck, my kinda girl, and we came up with the following wod.

Training Log
1:30PM MetCon
3 Rounds for time:
200 M sprint
15 Burpees
15 Air Squats
200 M sprint
15 double unders
15 DB Push Press (25's)

Time: ~13:00 (Sheryl had the watch and was on the other side of the field when I finished!)
Sheryl & Pat ~ 19:00


It was a good little wod. Just what I needed to not feel like a slack ass for taking anOTHER day off! Tomorrow, we are going to try to hit up CF Hyperformance in Savannah on the way home for a wod.

03-11-09 Wednesday Week 6

I must have been moving too fast for the camera to keep up!

It was back to the doc today for another check-in on the arm. It's been consistently improving (and gets even better when I rest it) so I've been hitting it pretty hard. I left out the lift tonight, deadlifts, since I am still sore from 55 reps at 200 lbs on Saturday! I might do them tomorrow if the soreness is gone.

Training Log

6:30 PM Metcon
15 Rounds for time:
5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Squats

Time -- 18:25

7:40 PM Skills
3 rounds ( did not time this)
100 Meter Walk w/ 65lbs locked out overhead
20 GHD Situps


I was disappointed in my time on the metcon. All my pullups were unbroken and I did the last couple of sets chest to bar. I should have done them all that way. The squats were largely unbroken, it was the stupid pushups that killed me. Not sure if my pushers are all still fried from all those pushups on Sunday... more likely it's just that I need to work on them more.

03-10-09 Tuesday Week 6

Fun with dumbbells...

I decided that it makes more sense to take Monday off than Sunday so I made today Day 1 for Week 6. So Thursday and Mondays will be rest days instead of Wednesdays and Sundays. Yesterday was a lovely rest day in the "spring" weather that is sunny and highs in the 80's!! The shoulder has been feeling great so I decided to get back on my strength bias program and I'll modify as needed.

Training Log
3:45 PM Focus Lift
Back Squat 5x3
190 x 3
200 x 3
205 x 3
All 3 sets were PRs so I switched the last two sets:
175 x5
150 x 10 (whew!)

5:20 PM MetCon
3 Rounds for time:
10 Dumbbell Clean & Jerk (25 lb DBs)
10 Box Jump Burpees (20")
10 Dumbbell Swings (35 lbs)

Time -- 7:41

Skills practice: Ran 1 mile using strict POSE form. (not for time)


My shoulder felt a little tweakish during the back squats and I was really noticing some tightness in my elbow during the pressing. I have an appointment with the doc tomorrow and I'm sure he'll yell at me for not taking it easier like I should be. At least I got those PRs in before I get reprimanded!

03-08-09 Sunday Week 5

Locale of today's wod: Stone Mountain. That's Ben Davis on the left, me on the right.

So Ben Davis from No Excuses Athletics in Suwanee has agreed to help me with motivation in trying to train hard for the qualifiers. He suggested we do some training at Stone Mountain and the weather was so perfect today we met there around 6PM. The "WOD" was all his creation.

Training Log
6PM WOD
Today's workout was not for time as neither of us remembered to bring any sort of timing device whatsoever. See that hill? Had to go up it 5 times. The 1st, 3rd and 5th time up... had to "sprint" (Sprint being in quotations because I felt like it was scarcely a sprint.) The 2nd and 4th time up... had to "broad jump" up the hill. (Broad jump in quotes... yeah. Same reason "sprint" was in quotes.) Each time at the bottom of the hill and at the top of the hill 30 squats and 20 pushups.
Well, the first round I did 20 pushups and then started to worry about the shoulder so changed it to 10. Ben stayed with the 30/20 rep scheme. By the end of the wod I had done 300 squats and 125 pushups. Ben did 300 squats and 200 pushups. OH! Forgot to mention that all of this followed having "run" up the mountain in the first place. After all that we looked like a couple of baby deer trying to get back down the mountain.

Today was my 4th day in a row, which I hope makes up for the fact that I did NOT workout Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Tomorrow, glorious rest day.

03-07-09 Saturday Week 5

Two photos of me and Tommy doing "Linda" today, smashed together. (It was Jonathan's idea and handiwork...)

I'm back from house-sitting in Buford and having family time with nieces and nephews under the age of 4. Fort Bragg Dave was in town and met me and Tommy at the gym. He set a new PR in the Clean and Jerk (235 lbs) while Tommy and I did "Linda." Thanks for coaching us, Dave!

Training Log
4PM WOD
"Linda"
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet:
Deadlift 1.5 x Bodyweight
Bench Press Bodyweight**
Squat Clean .75 x Bodyweight
Set up 3 bars and storm through for time.

**We don't have benches so both of us did declined pushups (feet on 20" box to shift more load forward) on parallettes to get extra ROM.

Shana used 200 lbs for the deadlift, 100 lbs for the squat cleans.
Time -- 25:45 (last did this exact wod 9-10-08 in 40:02 so pretty big PR!!)

Tommy used 225 lbs for the deadlift, 115 lbs for the squat cleans.
Time -- 31:06


I gotta say that I am now convinced my doctor is a miracle worker. My left arm is feeling SO good! I can hardly believe it. If you are in the Atlanta area and have issues, you should definitely look up Dr. Sadri at First Choice Healthcare (shout-out to Tom, too!)

03-06-09 Friday Week 5

Working out at Town Center Park in Suwanee with the kids from No Excuses Athletics. (L-R Shana, Sanjeeda, Pat, Liz)

I'm house-sitting in Buford through tomorrow so I decided to visit our friends at No Excuses Athletics. They are some really good CrossFit neighbors (even though they're OTP!) and let me drop by for a workout. I got my butt kicked by Ben and a particularly nasty wod. Check it out.

Training Log
12:30PM Metcon
For time:
Run 1 Mile
50 Dumbbell Thrusters (used a pair of 20's)
40 Kettle Swings (used a 35 lb kettlebell)
30 Situps
20 Burpees
Run 1 Mile

Time -- 26:16

Thanks to Pat, Liz and Sanjeeda for being great workout pals and Ben for pushing me so hard!
That last mile was a killer. It was nice and sunny and warm outside and I've gotten so used to this cold weather. The heat of spring and summer will be an adjustment! Shoulder/elbow/arm is holding up nicely. It's still bruised from the treatments from Mon and Wed and I'll be interested to see how it does through the weekend.

03-05-09 Thursday Week 5

L-pullups in June. Spencer looks as miserable as I felt! Imagine hot-yoga, but not yoga - CrossFit! Probably shouldn't wear gray shirts in the summer...

So, I'd love to lie and say that my internet was down and that is why I haven't posted in 3 days. But, I'm an honest girl - and I honestly took THREE DAYS OFF!! I'm stressing about this... and I'm sure I will pay but it was back to the grind today. The weirdness going on in my left arm is making it a challenge to find workouts that it will tolerate. Still, it is feeling a jillion times better and continues to improve - thank goodness!

Training Log
8:00PM (gotta fit it in when I can...) MetCon
HQ WOD from 2/26
Walking lunge 100 ft.
21 Pull-ups
21 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
18 Pull-ups
18 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
15 Pull-ups
15 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
12 Pull-ups
12 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
9 Pull-ups
9 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge 100 ft.
6 Pull-ups
6 Sit-ups

Shana -- 11:43
Tommy -- 10:54

In other news, I did 100 unbroken double-unders during my warm-up! It took me 59 seconds. I was SO excited!! It pretty much had me laid out like a mini-metcon! hahaha

03-01-09 Sunday Week 4

Look how puny my arms were before CrossFit!! (photo from my former life as a rock star!)

Shoulder has held all weekend and now my elbow feels funny. The snow started falling out of the sky like someone was dumping a pillowcase full of feathers onto Decatur! Opted to do an indoor version of Helen!

Training Log
12 Noon Metcon
"Jumping Helen"
3 Rounds for time:
50 Double Unders
21 Dumbbell Swings (35 lbs)
12 Pullups

Time -- 7:28


I hope I can keep posting consistently . A tree fell on a power/cable line right outside our house yesterday in the snow storm. Our power is back but I'll have internet only at the gym until Wednesday at the earliest. Hopefully, we'll get it back soon! No blogging or email from home!! What's a girl to do!?