Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Crossfit Day 95

December 13, Tuesday
Workout
– I’ve been gone from CF for 5 days & I’m really not feeling motivated. I didn’t get enough rest either since I just came back from Toronto last night. But I know I’ll feel better once I’m there, so here’s hoping for the best.

WOD – 4-8-12-16-20 reps of Pull Ups (red), 2 for 1 Jumping Lunges, Ring Dips for Time. My Results: 12:57 minutes. Rest 3 minutes. Run/Row 1000m For Time. My Results: 6:42 minutes.

I think the pull ups went fairly well. I didn’t burn my stomach this time, though I still have a scar mark from Bradshaw. The jumping lunges got annoying, but still were okay. The ring dips went ok. I wanted to row, but since I was the 7th person to finish, I didn’t want to have to wait another 3+ minutes until someone was done, so I went for the run instead w/ MV. It was dark & cold outside & I was wearing a tank top, but I still went out there w/ my light. I know I could have done faster, but it was dark & I really didn’t want to risk a twisted ankle. Plus I was wearing my new New Balance Minimus Train sneakers w/ Vibram soles, so I was afraid I would be extremely sore afterwards since I’m not used to running in “barefoot” technology & am trying to ease myself into running barefoot. Luckily, my legs felt okay afterwards. We ended w/ 4 min plank. I did 3 mins uninterrupted, then the last minute w/ rest in between. I was a bit slow today, but I still felt good afterwards.

Week 23 Summary

No weekend work-out.

Results – I think I’ve hit a plateau w/ my progress. Or maybe it’s because I’m no longer following the diet & I’ve been gorging on all the foods I’ve missed out on. I don’t know, I don’t feel like I’m seeing anymore results. I feel stronger, but I don’t see any physical changes. I think I need to push myself harder, but I’m finding my right arm/shoulder isn’t getting any better. My arm has been a bit painful since I’ve gotten up to Toronto, but it has subsided a bit after a few days. I am thinking I might need to add more weight to everything I do in order to see results again, but I’m afraid of aggravating my arm anymore than it already is. I think I desperately need physical therapy but I am waiting until the New Year so I can use my insurance to it’s fullest. I am getting a bit discouraged by my lack of results, but I will keep up w/ CF & work harder to see the results I want.

Crossfit Day 94

December 7, Wednesday
WOD
–5 Rounds 3 Rope Climb (15ft) (sub 1 Rope Climb & 10 Pulls Ups (red) or 9 Rope Climb from the Ground (RCG)), 10 Toes to Bars, 21 Overhead Walking Lunges (25lb), 400m Row for Time. My Results: 38:42 minutes.
Today’s WOD was incredibly difficult. I was excited about the rope climb, but quickly realized all the exercises were upper body intensive, so I was fatigued by the time I finished the first round of full rope climbs. I was 1 of only 2 people (CM) that attempted to do the full rope climbs. I was doing well for the first 2 climbs, but by the time I got to the 3rd one, I was tired & made it ¾ of the way up. I asked P for a sub so he told me to do 1 full rope climb plus 10 pull ups. I did that on my 2nd & 3rd round. By the 4th round, my arms were shot, so I went for the sub that most everyone else was doing, the 9 rope climbs starting from the ground & you pull yourself up to a standing position. Even that was difficult for me after doing all the full rope climbs. I knew I was way behind most everyone else at this point & somewhere in my head, I wanted to quit & end it after the 4th round. When I finished the 3rd round, P thought I was entering the 5th round, but no, I was only entering the 4th round. I was exhausted, but I kept myself going & finished dead last. I was ok w/ that because I was the only girl that did the rope climb & I’m pretty proud of myself for going for it & I ended up doing 5 full rope climbs. It was an excruciating painful & tiresome WOD, but I finished nonetheless!

Crossfit Day 93

December 6, Tuesday
WOD
– 10 min AMRAP - This workout is an increasing ladder rep scheme. Your first set will be 5 burpees & 10 double unders. After that you move to 10 burpees & 15 double unders, then 15 burpees & 20 double unders. You keep going until you reach 10 minutes. My Results: 30 Double Unders + 3 Burpees.
We started w/ Back Squat – 1×20. I used 83lb & it got heavy by the 10th rep. For today’s WOD, it doesn’t sound too hard but it got really tiring really fast. The burpees were a killer, like usual. I messed up pretty badly w/ the first 10 double unders & was really kicking myself for not warming up properly. I was still doing them while others were finishing their 2nd round. But I kept going & got progressively better. I finished doing 25 Burpees & 30 DUs, then started on the next 30 burpees, but only got 3 reps in before the 10 minutes was up. I’m still happy w/ the results. We finished w/ 2 x 30 Hip Extensions

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Crossfit Day 92

December 5, Monday
Workout
– Another Monday & I feel like the weekends are making me sluggish & unmotivated, but I will still go into CF. I love it too much to stop & it pushes me to do things that I normally wouldn’t want to do or even think of to do, so that’s my motivation. The foods I’ve been eating after the Nutrition Challenge isn’t agreeing w/ my stomach too well. I know I need to curb my food intake but I’m finding it difficult to go back to that lifestyle (Whole30 diet). MM. won the challenge (5.67%), but they decided to have a 2nd winner which turned out to be Mo (lost 5.5%). I’m happy for her. She lost a significant amount of weight that she needed to lose. The thing w/ these contests is that it’s hard to go by only the percentage of weight loss because some people, like me, don’t have much weight to lose to begin w/, while others do & a whole lot more of it. They don’t factor in your height & weight together, as well as how closely someone actually followed the Nutrition Challenge & the points system. But whatever, I tried my best, but I doubt I could have lost another 3.2 lbs to win the challenge. That would have been too extreme & stressful for my body to handle.

WOD –Run 900m 21-15-9 Kettlebell Swing (53/35), Ring Dips, Wall Balls (20/14 6), Run 900m For Time. My Results: 19:22 minutes.

It’s a bit chilly out so I wore a sweatshirt w/ a hood to go for the run. Right before the WOD, CM was telling R that they would need to catch up w/ me on the run. I was flattered that they think I’m a fast running, but I pointed out that D is so much faster. But it was nice to hear anyway. I was behind the boys & D on the run, but I kept a good steady pace. After the 900m run, I was hot, so the sweatshirt went off for the rest of the WOD. The KB swings went okay, but the ring dips really took a toll on my shoulders. And going into the Wall Balls afterwards wasn’t so pleasant. The ring dips got me each time & I started lagging behind. On the last 900m run, I saw CM not too far in front of me (100 ft or so), but I was not able to catch up, or maybe I didn’t push myself hard enough to catch up. I still finished in a decent time, but I wished I had pushed myself a little harder on the last 300m of the run. Oh well, next time. We finished w/ 1 x Max Rep GHD Sit Ups (Goal – 25-50) – I ended up doing 28 maximum.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Week 22 Summary

No weekend work-out.

Results – I don’t see any changes this week. I feel like I’ve gotten plumper since the Nutrition Challenge is over, but I think it’s all in my head. I’ve incorporated everything back into my diet, but I am definitely trying harder not to eat too much carbohydrates. I do eat desserts though without remorse. I am trying to keep away from buying bagged potato chips since I’ve been without them for over 56 days now. I’ve opted to bake my own sweet potato or taro chips since they are healthier & I know exactly what goes into my own chips. I’ve noticed getting food coma more now but that’s because I’m added carbs back into my diet. This weekend was the CF Xmas party, but I had to miss it due to another Xmas party I’ve already said I would attend. It’s a bummer I missed it but I still had a good time at the Xmas party I did end up attending.

Crossfit Day 91

December 1, Thursday
Workout
– Not sure what I’ll be doing today. Maybe practice some Back Squats & Double Unders. Or do a missed WOD, but I don’t feel like doing anything too strenuous.

WOD – 100 Singles, 60 Jumping Lunges, 45 Ring Rows, 30 Abmat Sit-ups, 15 Box Push Ups, 30 Burpees, 45 Push-Ups (knee), 60 Air Squats, 100 Singles for Time. My Results: 16:57 minutes.

There was a WOD that someone had done on the white board, so I decided to do it w/ Mo. My arms were still sore from doing “Bradshaw” on Wednesday, so we opted to remove the pull-up element & sub in sit-ups. The single jump rope is super easy for me. The Jumping lunges eventually takes a toll on you. The Ring Rows was gruesome. I had to rest after every 2 or so. The sit ups went find, but the box push ups were slow for me since my arms were already shot. Like usual, I dread the burpees & the push-ups. The air squats were okay but halfway through my legs were really feeling it. At least we ended w/ the singles because I breezed through those as well. I did them in about 30 seconds. I tried to practice some back squats afterwards, but my shoulders were super sore (from pull ups) that I wasn’t able to do them anymore. I practiced hand stands w/ Mo as well & I was finally able to get up & stay up for about 30 seconds on my own! I had to keep my hands further away from the wall to get more leverage to stay up. Yippee!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Crossfit Day 90


rudie2shoes vs kipping pull-ups (red band)
Winner: kipping pull-ups
(now I need to switch to the purple band so the line on my tummy will be 1/2 the size of the red band) :(


November 30, Wednesday

Workout
– I’ve been up reading The Hunger Games, so I haven’t slept as much as I would like. This reading this is not doing me any good, so I’m tired today. I only have myself to blame. Anyway, We’ve done double unders for the past 2 days & we have to do more today. My abs feel a bit sore from Monday’s WOD, but otherwise, I feel pretty good. I feel like the WODs are more challenging now than when I first started CF, so that’s a good thing. I definitely feel stronger.

WOD –”Bradshaw” – 10 Rounds 3 HSPU (modified Box Push Ups), 6 Deadlifts (modified using 88lb KB), 12 Pull-Ups (red), 24 Double Unders for Time. My Results: 29:27 minutes.

I practiced my deadlift & felt something funny going on w/ my left knee/shin area. I asked trainer & he said it’s probably because we have a bursa there & it might be inflamed. So instead of using the bars for deadlifts, I used the 88lb KB to do them, which didn’t cause me any pain. Thank goodness, I really didn’t want to hurt myself any more than I’ve already had. The 1st round is always easy. The box push ups & KB deadlifts went fine. I even did 12 kipping pull ups in a row w/ the red band. My double unders got progressively better as the WOD went along. My pull ups got progressively worse after the 5th round. I started noticing the red rubber band was causing friction against my stomach & it started hurting. Now I have a stomach rash from the pull ups. :-( 10 rounds was a killer though because the WOD seemed to not want to end. By the last double unders, I looked at the clock. It was at 29:12 minutes & I wanted to come in under 30 minutes, so I went at it w/ the double unders. I finished the 24 in 15 seconds w/o missing one! Whoo hoo! I practiced more double unders afterwards, but I was too exhausted by then to keep them going to try to attain my 50 double unders in a row goal.