Late!

Busy day.  Just now getting around to blogging.  And it's gonna be short...just super busy.


5 Rounds for time of:
7 Muscle ups  15 Kettlebell swings  35#
21 Burpees

My time:   20:10

I modified this one today...most people subbed pull ups and dips for the muscle up but I'm having some odd pain issues and pull ups hurt in the specific spot where I'm having pain.  So, I did KBS instead.  Giving this pain a couple more weeks and then I might consider going to a doctor.  I'm sure it's just old age and wear and tear.

Strength today was front squats:

rep scheme:  5-3-2-2-1-1-1
my loads: 65-85-95-105-115-125-135

Way Too Light!

2-4-6-8-10 rep rounds for time of:

Hang power clean
Push jerk
(Men 205 lbs, Women 135 lbs or use 70% of 1RM for jerk)

My time:  4:03 - scaled to 75#

I totally missed the mark on choosing a weight today.  If I did 70% of my 1RM I would've used 95 lbs.  I was thinking 75 would give me a good challenge.  But I went through the entire 2-4-6 rounds before putting the bar down.  Um, yeah, just a little too easy.  95 would've been a perfectly challenging weight.  I do have to say, it was pretty fun to blast through a workout that fast.

Strength today was 5 sets of pp-pp-pp-pj at varying percentages of 1RM
my loads:   65-75-80-85-95

"Nicole"

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

400 Meter run
Max rep pull-ups

My rounds: 5 + 200m run
My reps:  36 pull ups

Okay, so I sucked at the pull up part of this today. It's been a while since I really put any heart or dedication into my pull ups, and that um "paid off" here, obviously.  I'll start being more dedicated.  I swear. 

Before that, I did set an awesome new PR on the strength today.  We had 20 minutes to set a 1 rep max on back squat.  Initially I thought I might just go light, but then decided to go for it. I needed a PR. 

My loads: 5-5-5-3-2-2-1-1 @ 65-85-105-125-145-165-185-215 (PR!)

JT-ish

Today the prescribed WOD was JT, but I modified it because of some pain I'm having lately, specifically when I do dips (and a few other moves).  Really I couldn't define it - was it shoulder?  Was it neck muscles?  I did some poking around up there, and located the exact spot from where the pain originates.  With my vast knowledge of Google, I've diagnosed it as a strain of the pectoralis major at the clavicular head. Sounds fancy, huh?  Basically, where the pectoral muscle attaches at the head of the collar bone, it hurts and is sore to the touch.  Apparently I just need to do some stretches and some trigger point massage and I'll be fine.

And if any of you readers are doctors, you can laugh at me, or confirm my diagnosis.  Either way, doesn't matter.  :)

"JT"

21-15 & 9 rep rounds for time of:

Handstand push-ups
Ring dips
Push-ups

My time:  11:56 - modified

I did HSPU with 2 abmats, but instead of dips I did ring rows, because the dip is where I was feeling the above mentioned pain/strain.  And for the push ups, I did hand release and really concentrated on staying super strict.  I think my push ups are getting way better. Thanks, in part, to this ab challenge I'm doing at home.  The plank holds really are getting tough!

Strength today was 50' walking lunges with a barbell - 4 rds
my loads:  35-55-55-55

Monday Mdness

Fun workout this morning.  I was sore all weekend, and hurting.  And, as per usual, working out makes me feel better.  How the heck does that work?? 

My husband and I have, over the past 48 hours or so, gone from thinking we were going to buy a travel trailer, to finding out our shop is just inches too short to store the one we wanted.  And then we went through all the mental gymnastics of storing one outdoors, winterizing, de-winterizing, loading, unloading, cleaning, covering, uncovering, etc., to the point it was starting to sound like work - a lot of work. And we made the decision not to buy one. Now we feel like we're thousands of dollars ahead, and we'll just go rent a cabin somewhere when we decide to go camping.  Guess we were bored this weekend.  Ha!!

Anyway...back to CrossFit:

WOD
12-9-6-3 rep rounds for time of:

Front squat (Men 185 lbs, Women 125 lbs)
Burpee pull-ups

My time:  9:20, scaled to 105#

Glad I scaled this one.  I was able to do the squats unbroken, and keep the intensity up the entire workout.  Good times!  ;)

The strength today was...well...I screwed it up.  I was one of those people who fails to pay attention when Breck is talking.  Usually I'm front and center, listening intently.  But today I just kinda goofed it all up.  I think it was supposed to be something like:

2 squat cleans + 2 front squats at 70%
repeat
2 squat cleans + 2 front squats at 75%
repeat
and blah blah...something got lost in there and I just did 5 sets instead of repeating weights

My weights:  85-95-105-115-125(?)

I'll pay better attention tomorrow.  Now that I have all that travel trailer stuff off my mind. 

TGIF!!

I stayed home and rowed today.  Now, before anyone starts calling me out for cherry-picking my workouts, I had already planned this as an "active rest" day.  And then, when I found out the planned WOD was FRAN I quite joyfully celebrated the beauty of such a great coincidence!  Take that, Fran!  Ha ha ha!!

5k Row = 23:40.3

Sadly this falls just about 8 seconds short of my PR for a 5k row.  I need to post my PR near the rower so I can be more motivated next time.  I mean...two hard pulls would've made the difference here. 

Ready for a couple of rest days.

TGIF y'all!

Thursday - Part 2 (Girls Night)

CFJ hosted the Tulsa Area CrossFit Girls Night Out tonight.  Just like the last one I attended, I was amazed at the number of women who showed up - all age groups, all skill levels.  It was a super fun night, and we had a really big group of ladies from Jenks.  The workout was quick and easy.

Nicole did a great job of pulling it all together. 

Here are just a few pics from the evening.  Obviously, an iPhone isn't the best camera for capturing action during a workout...too much blur!

Jo and B - college buddies

B showing Jo how it's done.  :)

Blurry Box Jumps - Brooke and Grace from CrossFit Eclipse

Brooke and Rene from Eclipse

Jennifer flying through her box jumps!

Some of the beautiful CFJ ladies.

Jennifer earning her beer.

Julie and I enjoying a cool drink.

Nicole Berry

 

Thursday - Part 1

5 Two minute rounds of:

7 Push jerks (Men 165 lbs, Women 115 lbs)
Max double unders with remaining time
Rest 1 minute b/w rounds.

My double unders:  21/21/35/31/34 - total of 142
Used 85# for PJ

Fun workout.  No way I want to do this one with 115.  I am able to do the jerks unbroken at 85#.  I tried this once before with 115, and ended up dropping weight in the second round.  Today I just started with 85 and kept it.  I also tried my new "speed rope".  Not a big fan just yet.  It's so much lighter than my good ol' Buddy Lee rope.  I switched back to the Buddy Lee on round 3.  Notice the difference in my numbers?  Yeah...   I'll have to take the speed rope home and practice with it.  Or give it away.  :)

Strength today was Push Jerk (from the rack)
Rep Scheme:   5-3-2-2-1-1-1
My loads: 65-75-85-95-105-110-125

Wasn't feeling super strong, but Jennifer L. lifted with me and she pushed me to do more than I wanted. That last lift at 125 felt surprisingly good!

Making CrossFit Work for You!

It is so easy to get caught up on the whole "prescribed" thing, and I admit, I push myself to go Rx as often as possible.  Heck, it's a big ego boost to be able to do a WOD as Rx, and occasionally keep up with the big dogs, or should I say, the young pups.  I mean, I'm 50 years old, and on the rare occasion I can go Rx and maybe out perform or at least get close to beating someone 20 years younger - it's an amazing feeling!

But, I also know my body and I know when I need to back off just a little.  Lately I've been scaling weights and reps to suit how I'm feeling that day (tendonitis is killing me lately), and still be able to maintain the intensity of a workout.  I'm still getting a great workout, but I don't feel totally beat down afterward. 

Basically, I'm making CrossFit work for me!  And there's absolutely no shame in that.  Make it work for you - you're paying for it!!

And with that being said, I scaled the WOD today.  Actually, I scaled the scaled version, even further!  ;)

5 Rounds for time of:

30 Overhead walking lunge steps (Men 45 lb plate, Women 25 lb plate)
7 Muscle ups
Substitute 10-15 Ring dips or bar dips or 7 Chest to bar burpee pull-ups for muscle ups.

My time:  16:41, scaled to 5 burpee pull-ups per round


I'm pretty sore from Monday & Tuesday, and these lunges are going to compound that even further.  Some odd part of me kind of enjoys being sore. I know that's probably some mental condition, for which I should seek help.  This was a fun workout, but took way longer than I thought it would.  I started out being able to do 15 lunges before resting, and toward the end I was breaking them up into more manageable chunks of 5 or 7 or sometimes 3.  

Strength: 

4 rounds

30 seconds to do 5 deadlifts
30 seconds to do 7 TTB
30 seconds to do 4 hang power cleans
30 seconds to do 7 TTB
30 seconds to do 3 front squats
30 seconds to do 7 TTB
30 seconds to do 2 shoulder to overhead
30 seconds to do 7 TTB
30 seconds to do 1 clean & Jerk

Just to be clear, scaling is vastly different than sandbagging...which I did on the strength today.  For some reason I thought it was just one round and so I broke down my bar and put away my weights after one round.  (Also I was only doing sets of 3 TTB).  When I figured it out (saw everyone else still working)  I was too lazy to re-load my bar, so I just worked on Toes to Bar, and visited with B. 

"The Chief"

Max rounds in 3 minutes of:

3 Power cleans (Men 135 lbs, Women 95 lbs)
6 Push-ups
9 Squats
Rest 1 minute. Repeat for a total of 5 cycles.

My total reps:  204, Rx

1 – 3 rds
2 – 2 rds + 3 cleans
3 – 2 rds
4 – 2 rds
5 – 2 rds + 3 cleans

This is the first time I've done this one.  Think it's been posted about 3 times, but I've always been gone, or in the first instance (2008) I wasn't at CFJ yet.   It was actually kind of fun.  I enjoy power cleans, and this was a good chance to work on "touch & go" sets of 3.  The push-ups, however, killed my time.  I knew they would - being one of my biggest weaknesses.  I did maintain strict form on every single rep though, and so, even though my score is kind of low, I'm pleased with my effort.

Kind of a light crowd this morning at  5 am.  Guess maybe the cold weather kept people in their nice warm beds.  :)

Strength today was power cleans  7 sets of 2 each

my loads:  55-65-75-85-95-105-110

Karabel...sorta

“Karabel”

10 Rounds for time of:

3 Squat Snatches (Men 135 lbs, Women 85 lbs)
15 Wall ball shots (Men 20 lb ball, Women 14 lb ball)

My time:  16:29 - Modified

Scaled to 55# on snatches and 10# and 10 reps per round of wall ball, and managed to keep the intensity pretty high.  Very few rest breaks, and only for a few seconds each. We had a 20 minute time limit and I just wanted to beat that, which I did.

Strength today was squat snatch.  I think we were supposed to do 10 singles. 

I did something like: 35-45-55-60-65-65-70-70

(Not 10 lifts, but my form was breaking down).

Fight Gone Bad

Three rounds of:

Wall-ball, (Men 20 pound ball, Women 14 pound ball) 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, (Men 75 pounds, Women 55 pounds) (Reps)
Box Jump, 20″ box (Reps)
Push-press, (Men 75 pounds, Women 55 pounds) (Reps)
Row (Calories)

My total:  222 (5 reps off my PR)

row: 11-10-10
wb: 15-11-13
sdhp: 15-13-14
bx: 19-18-18
PP: 20-17-18
 
I love this workout.  Not so much while I'm actually doing the workout, but in theory I love it.  It's always a fun challenge to see if you can keep up the same intensity each round.  But, somewhere mid-round 2 I always want to just lay down.  I think I actually said this out loud today in the middle of round 2.  But I pushed onward and finished it.  And damn it, I should've pushed harder and got 5 or 6 more reps. Story of my life

Think I'm staying home tomorrow and rowing a 5k.  That'll buy me an extra half hour of sleep.

~Peace!

Back Squat Love

Ah, good ol' back squats.  I was plenty happy to be doing back squats today.  I love the days when the WOD is more strength focused than cardio.  Which probably means I really need to work more on my cardio.  I know.  ;)


WOD

21-15-9 Rep rounds for time of:

Back squats (Men 135 lbs, Women 95 lbs)
Toes to bar

My time:  8:10 Rx

Normally I would wuss out and go from a rack on this, because I hate cleaning the bar and then taking it to my back.  More specifically I hate the taking it to my back part.  It scares me.  But I managed okay and went Rx on this one - from the ground.  I did all the back squats unbroken - yay me!  Toes to bar were not too awful, though my kip seems to be just completely gone these days.    I was proud of my time today and super excited that I did something Rx for a change! It's been a while.

Strength today was, of course, back squats!

Rep scheme:  5-3-2-2-1-1-1
My loads:  85-105-115-135-155-175-185

All my lifts felt pretty good once I got past the sound of my knees cracking.  Yuck.  Sounded like bubble wrap popping.  On my lift at 175# I noticed I leaned slightly forward on the way back up.  Such a bad habit and a good way to get hurt.  But I'm fine.

"Grace"

For time:

30 Clean & Jerk (Men 135 lbs, Women 95 lbs)

My time:  4:13, w/75#

You know, this has always been my favorite, and I still love it.  I just didn't love the fact that I have tendonitis and I'm sore and tired.  Ha!  I chose 75# so I could go fast today and I actually set myself a little PR for this weight.  I need to work back up to doing 95# and see if I can go this fast.  There's really no reason I shouldn't be able to get there again.

Our "cool-down" after grace was even minutes pull ups and odd minutes dips.  Or something like that.  I did 3 kipping most rounds and a couple rounds of strict. Dips were jumping and negatives.

Strength was clean & jerk 5 sets of 3 touch & go
my loads:  55-65-75-85-95

Happy Monday!

With a 20 minute time cap, try to complete for time:

4 Rope climbs
40 Hand release push-ups
3 Rope climbs
30 Hand release push-ups
2 Rope climbs
20 Hand release push-ups
1 Rope climb
10 Hand release push-ups

My time:  17:41 - modified

My first rope climb was uneventful.  The second one I lost my foot-hold at the top, and scared myself half to death.  I descended rather rapidly, thankful for my gloves.  The next climbs were maybe half way up the rope, due to my newly regained fear of falling.  On the remaining rounds I did 1/2 to 3/4 climbs.  My last climb was about 1 foot from the beam.  Just have to be sure to lock in my feet and not freak out when I lose it...and always hang on tight.  Ha ha!!

Our strength today was another WOD, really.

20 minutes
Even minutes do 6 OHS
Odd minutes do 12 deadlifts
I chose 55 lbs for my weight, and it was plenty.  I was able to get super deep in my squats, and not break my wrists trying.

Tomorrow is Grace.  Yikes!

TGIF!

B told me yesterday that today's WOD would be awful.  But really, I had no idea!  I saw this posted, and wanted to go back to sleep.  Since I'd been awake for 30 minutes, anyway (bah!) I decided to get up and go push myself through it. Running isn't that awful.  Is it?

With a 35 minute time cap:

Run 1600 meters
Rest 3 minutes
Run 1200 meters
Rest 2 minutes
Run 800 meters
Rest 1 minute
Run 400 meters

With the remaining time, do as many rounds as possible of:

5 Deadlifts (Men 275 lbs, Women 185 lbs)
10 Burpees

My total run time:  32:00
My rounds:  1 round + 5 burpees

I felt like I was running in a nightmare today - super slow, no matter how hard I tried to go faster.  I'm just glad I wasn't running from zombies or something.  They would've caught me today.  My left ankle was killing me at the start, but it finally went numb, or maybe it loosened up.  I couldn't tell which.  Either way, it stopped hurting. 

By the time I got to my bar and took off my jacket, I had about 2:40 left on the clock.  I figured I might get in two rounds, but I came up just short of that by 5 reps.  It didn't really break my heart though.  I'm done for the week, and ready for some rest!!

Strength:  deadlift
rep scheme:  3-3-3-3-3
my loads:  105-135-155-175-185

TGIF!