Miles and mommy time at the gym!

I have to give my littlest guy, Miles, a huge shout out for being awesome these days when I take him with me to the gym. I think I mentioned not long ago a time when I had both boys with me and they weren't being great.. But this week, with Mason back in school, I've had Miles with me by himself a couple times..and he amazes me.. It's crazy to think that I used to bring him into the gym in his stroller and he would sit there and snack the whole time.. Now he has full reign of the playroom and he does pretty darn well for a fella not yet 2 yrs old.. Today, when I peeked in a couple times, he was pulling out some of those big Lego things, which he fashioned into a tower, of sorts.. He did call me over to show me.. 'Mommy!?..where are you?!'.. I was around the corner for a minute.. But after proudly showing me and asking for a 'huggie', he went back to his playroom business. I was proud..
So anyway.. I'm sure you're wondering how Mason has been handling school after his first day of post first grade shenanigans.. Actually, he's doing well! He seems excited about his school work and did an extra activity thing at home last night so he could earn his first 'positive point' of the year.. So this week has been mostly smooth sailing with him. AND he got his package delivery today!.. I had been ordering myself lots of little workout things lately, so was receiving several packages delivered to our door..and Mason was quite jealous! So he wanted to use some of his birthday money to order something so HE could get a package.. So he did some on-line shopping in the Disney store and settled on a lovely pair of hulk pjs.. And they CAME TODAY!! He was psyched. So much so that he was not at all deterred when we found that they had sent size 6 shirt, but a size 4 pant?! I told him we could send it back and get the right size, but no way.. He was not letting those go! So.. He's squeezed into those size 4 pajama pants right now..happy as a clam.. It's actually kind of fitting, the way he's busting out of those pants..really 'hulk-esque', no?
So on to working out..
Yesterday was:

Bench press: 4 sets of 3 at 150#
Strict weighted dips: 2 reps EMOTM x 15 min, which I completed with 35# hanging from me
Romanian Deadlift: 4 sets of 4 at 165# superset with 4 sets of 10 strict TTB's

Then the workout..
10 min EMOTM
Evens: 5 MU
Odds: 20 pistols
Rest 2 min, then
10 min EMOTM
Evens: 8 thrusters(95)
Odds:15 TTB's

This workout was pretty tough, but a good one. I made my first set of MU in a set of 5, but pistols took me about :45 each round, so not really much rest there.. I think my next set of MU went 3 and 1(missed the second).. I made all the pistol rounds and only missed 2 MU, so I was pretty happy with that.. I used to scale any MU EMOTM where Mike asked for 5, I would aim for just 2, so getting 4 and 5 done in a minute was a decent improvement. Still working on it, but it's always good to acknowledge the baby steps heading in the right direction. The second set was tough.. I made all the rounds, but was out of breath and really, REALLY not wanting to start each next round as the minute hit.. But I pressed on and got it done.
I went back in later just to do the strength portion of Saturdays workout, since I'll be at a competition.. It was:
Strict press: 4 sets of 3 at 105#
Strict deficit HSPU: 5 EMOTM x 15 min.. I made 5, then 4, then stuck with 3's the rest of the time
Jumping good mornings and parallette L-sits..which after strict TTB's that morning, my abs were pretty much done with me.. So that was that.
Today I jumped ahead to Fridays workout so I can do my active recovery day leading in to the comp.. So today I did:
Front squats: 4 sets of 3 at 175#
EMOTM clean + fr sq x 15 min: 5 min each at 125/135/140
Clean DL at 195/GH raises
Workout was:
5 rounds
3 cleans (145)
20 GHDs
30' hs walk

Each round was almost exactly the same..took about 2:30, so finished right at 12:30. Not bad.. Felt like I spent most of my time on the GHDs, so lots of upside down time, but overall, I felt good! So now I just do some moving..some row/run/DU as active recovery tomorrow.. And then some competition fun! Wish us luck!

Pick up heavy things and put them down

So today was a big day for someone around here..not me.. I was feeling pretty tired and a little worn down, so I tried to heed that warning sign and take it a little easier today. But Mason started his first day as a first grader! It started off with tears at the bus stop because the bus was the wrong number?! Ohhhhhh boy.. I'm assuming things got better from there.. He said it was good, though between all of his post-school exhausted ridiculousness, we haven't gotten to talk much about his day. His dismount from the bus was rather hilarious..he was carrying all his shit..folders, papers, sweatshirt, AND his backpack and he comes out and says "I'm a mess carrying all this stuff..it doesn't fit in my backpack!". He tried out a more 'mature' look with a backpack his grandma gave him a while back.. It's a messenger bag-type thing from Matt's college/where grandma teaches, UMBC.. But I guess he couldn't fit his folders in it? I don't know, but it was cute. He really was a mess this evening.. I hope that gets better soon! Ah..school.. Here we go!
It was also a big day for Miles because he finally got up close to that bus again! He's missed that all summer, but no worries, he's making up for lost time by pointing out every single glimpse of a bus passing all day long! He's so cute.. Mason was super in to busses back in the day, too. I must be missing something because I don't get nearly as excited as Miles does when I see a bus.. But to him.. They are the coolest. He has also become obsessed with tongue clicking, though..so standards are fairly low around here..
I've stalled enough.. Obviously not much going on with me today, so let's just talk about working out! Today was:

4 sets of 3 Deadlifts at 265
EMOTM x 15- 2 strict weighted pull-ups. I started these with 26# hanging off of me (kettle bell hanging from a belt thing with a chain), but was quickly told that was too light, so increased to 35#. I maybe should have gone up to 44 because it was still pretty do-able.. Hard, but not near failure, by any means.. Next time!
4x4 push press (125/135/145/tried 155, but failed the 3rd rep, so went back to 145)/back extensions

The workout was:

12 min AMRAP
120' handstand walk
Then
10 push press(95)
10 lunges(95)
10 bar facing burpees

This was kind of a sneaky workout in that I didn't think the 95# barbell was going to be as tough to work with as it was. I don't know if it was the handstand walk, or the strength stuff before..but it caught up with me, for sure. I made the handstand walk unbroken (down, back, down the gym), so started in on the AMRAP part around 2 min. The first round I rocked the push press right in to the lunges, but after that..no such luck. I finished 4 rounds just as the 12 min expired..

That was all she wrote for the day! I had loosely planned some skill things to go back in to work on, but decided that, as tired as I was feeling, I should just take it easy. I do have a competition this weekend.. I'm not tapering for it, but I also don't want to go into it feeling extra tired and worn out, so I'm trying to keep the extra stuff to a minimum this week. So that was that! Another fine Tuesday in the books.

Deep CrossFit thoughts..

Or, not so much..
The Games have wrapped up and I must say..it was exciting and impressive. I know CF has its share of folks against it..and there's lots and lots of speculation regarding the 'cleanliness' of the athletes..but this year was cool. All the workouts tested every aspect of fitness and there really was no where to hide. I'm happy with the outcomes, as I'm always more of an 'over dog' kind of fan.. I just feel for them with all the expectations placed on them and such.. So I was happy to see good ol Rich Froning pull off an amazing comeback and win. I don't know if Camille Leblanc-Bazinet qualifies as an over OR an underdog.. She's been around for a while, so not an underdog..but it was good to see all her hard work pay off. I was also happy to see a team that I have personally been whooped by a time or two make it up on the podium.. Team Conjugate put together some good workouts at the Games and came out in second..amazing. I don't have much else to say about it, other than it was cool to see it get some live ESPN love.. Though that is also a double edged sword.. With the spotlight, also comes some negative attention.. I didn't see the whole thing, but I guess ESPN did a show focusing on some injuries that have occurred during Crossfit-related activities. All I know is that I came home to my husband being convinced, all the sudden, that I am involved in something super dangerous and that I need to be careful. Of coarse..any sport is dangerous and the advice to be careful is not unwarranted.. But let's keep in mind, my previous sports involved flips on a 4 inch wide board, running long distances on the road and in the woods, riding my bike for hours on the road, swimming in open water.. All of which can be done safely when executed properly and certain safety precautions are taken, but also, all of which carry some risk. So all I'm saying is, of coarse there is risk of injury, but I can't think of much that is worth doing that doesn't have some amount of risk to it. The key is to be informed. Surround yourself with good coaches. Do what you need to do to keep yourself safe, which may, occasionally, mean declining to participate in an event that doesn't feel safe to you. Just like I would withdraw from a race where there were dangerous weather conditions or if the race couldn't offer proper coarse safety, I would take myself out of a Crossfit competition if the workout or conditions didn't feel safe. There are a lot of competitions out there and you never know who is programming the workouts and what they might ask of you. I have personally seen events that included a 1 rep max of a lift complex that a lot of people don't practice often, and being in a competitive atmosphere, they maybe didn't use their best judgement, went for lifts they weren't capable of, and got hurt. I hate to see it. No one wants to get hurt in what should be a fun event. But it really is on that individual to make a good assessment of their abilities and do their best to keep themselves safe. Of coarse sometimes accidents just happen and things can go awry at any time, I'm just saying folks need to take responsibility and make wise choices, even when they are competing. At the end of the day..it's all just for fun. A very precious few actually are in any competition (triathlon, marathon, Crossfit, etc) to make big bucks, so we all need to put the egos aside and take care of ourselves.. No?
Good. Glad we agree.. So let's move on and talk about Sundays workout? My plan, roughly, was to do some running, some rowing, some light squats, and some cleans.. So I started with some running..basically about 2 miles with some fartlek style pick ups. Then on to those squats. I did sets of 5 increasing in weight from 105-175. I'm still working on getting comfortable dropping quickly to the bottom of the squat and bouncing out, so the higher reps and lighter weight was good for that. Then I moved on to clean and jerks, doing just 1 rep every minute.. Starting at 105 and increasing to 165, doing 2 reps at each weight. I just felt like I needed some work on those and wanted to practice good form, but also build to a decent weight.. Again, mission accomplished. Around the time I finished with those, John and I started talking about what a good workout would be for the day.. I mentioned rowing.. He wanted to work power snatch.. I tossed in sandbag carries, for good measure.. And John came up with the plan..
5 rounds
Each of us row 250m per round
Each do power snatch..5/4/3/2/1(wts for me at 110/115/120/130(previous pr)/135(pr!).. Then a bonus rep at 140 for another pr
Each run 200m w 60# sandbag (other person runs along w partner for the run.. So 200m w and 200m w/o the sandbag) per round
It took a long time, but it was a good workout..got a chance to work some weaknesses AND got to sneak in a pr or 2! We'll call it a win.

Now to Monday..spoiler alert..I asked Mike (our coach) if we had done something to piss him off to warrant the workout he programmed for us today..it was a bit of a rough one for me!

Squats- 4 sets of 3 at 85%, so 210#
Snatch + overhead squat EMOM x 15 min- 5 min at 105, 5 min at 110, and 5 at 115
Snatch Deadlift (165), 4 sets of 4/GHDs, 4 sets of 15

Workout..

7 rounds
3 power snatch (115)
9 chest to bar pull-ups
15 wallballs (20# ball!)

This took forever and it felt like it was ALL wallballs.. It had been a while sine we had used the heavier wallballs and they came back with a vengeance! Not particularly heavy..but they take a lot out of me..so maybe it is heavy? Anyway. After 19 minutes, I was done. The snatches and ctb's all went fine, but it had to break the wallballs in 9/6 after the first 2 rounds..and 7 rounds of anything is rough! So that was that..
The boys and I are having a lazy, snugly last day of summer before Mason heads back to school tomorrow.. First grade?! Miles will be pumped to get to see the bus again..but he will also miss Mason once he's gone again.. But we will make it! Now for a little rest time before I head back to the gym to work tonight..

The CrossFit Games are on!!

I'm a bit distracted this weekend because I'm super busy watching all the Games action! So far it's been a whole lot of fun to watch!..and of coarse..it all makes me want to try the workouts myself.. Which, I'm sure, as usual, would quickly show me that those folks just make it LOOK easy, but it is not, in fact, all that easy.. But I'd still like to try! We'll see..
For now, we'll stick with what my coach has planned for us..
Friday started fun..or not so much.. Every once in a while Matt hits me with a 'I need to leave early for work', which translates to me having to figure out a different time of the day to work on my fitness.. Usually I'm in and out in the wee hours before my kids even know I'm gone, but when Matt leaves early, I have to figure out a time to take them with me. This time I opted for around 7am so we could get the workout done, get Mason to camp, and then take Miles to Gymboree (and then take a rest!). It's not a huge problem to take the boys, but sometimes they are more helpful than others. This time, despite the promise of a 'do-Nit' (aka donut to most..or to everyone but Miles!) if we were able to get out of the gym in time to swing by the local pastry establishment, they were less than stellar. Lots of needing this and that..Mason may or may not have had a jump rope (loosely) around his brothers neck at some point.. All of this is typical mom stuff, but it just means we are wasting time.. So no donut.. They eventually pulled it together and I got a good workout in.. Friday looked a little something like this..

Front squats: 6 doubles at 85%, so 175#
Cleans every :30, 4 min at 125, 4 at 135, and 4 at 140#
Clean high pulls (175) and weighted glute ham raises (15#)
And on to the workout!

EMOM x 10 min
Evens
Full clean into 3 front squats (145)
Odds
50 double unders

Rest 2 min, then
Another EMOM x 10
Evens
10 weighted pistols(26#)
Odds
Single arm snatch(55#)

This workout actually went well for me and I was pretty happy with it. That snatch knocked me on my butt in a workout not long ago and pistols aren't always great for me. I can also remember not too long ago when that 145 front squat was a lot harder for me (I'm working on letting that go.. I'm on about step 5, I think), so, again, I was happy to get through it successfully. I actually had decent rest each minute throughout the workout, too..so.. Bonus! Each front squat round took about :15. Double unders took :40. Pistol rounds took about :20. Snatches took :30 each time.. So it went well.
I did head in again later, but just to get a quick row/MU workout in.. 10 min EMOM (it was an EMOM kind of day) with evens being a set of 4 MU and odds just 10 cal row. Not bad. Felt good and was glad to get the extra skill work in while Mason enjoyed some crossfit kids action.

Today is Saturday, so I went in early for a good workout. It started off with:

Strict press: 6 sets of 2 at 105
Strict weighted HSPU (I had a 28# vest..heavier than I meant to use.. Should have weighed it first!): EMOM: basically did 3 reps every minute for 12 rounds. It was supposed to be slightly more..but..weighted vest..ouch!
Good mornings and :45 L-sits (PRd my L-sit! :45 whole seconds!)
The workout was a bit of an 'odd object' kind of thing..
3 rounds
50' front rack walking lunge w 115# fat bar
10 STO w fat bar(115)
10 ground to shoulder w atlas stone(95)
200' sled push(180+sled)

It was a good workout. I finished right around 20 minutes..most of the time spent on the atlas stones.. I don't find those particularly difficult, but they just take me a bit more time, I guess..
After the workout, I grabbed a snack and put on my lifting shoes to do a little snatch work. I did about 20-30 min worth of light-ish weight (85-115) high hang/hang snatch complex work. Just focusing on good positioning, especially in the bottom..
Next up is the team workout! It was set up for teams of 3, but lucky me..there was an odd number, so I got put on a team of 2! Actually..it was pretty lucky because there was 300 cal worth of rowing and Matt, my partner for the workout, is a strong rower! The workout was..
100 cal row (Matt took the majority of this..each time..)
300 double unders (I may have done more on this..it's only fair!)
100 cal row
200 hand release push ups w feet on a weight (ouch!)
100 cal row
100 pull ups

Since 1 workout is never enough, we had some core work to do.. Again, between the 2 of us.. 5 min L-sit and 5 min plank. Good stuff!
The rest of my Saturday was spent hanging with Miles, since Matt and Mason went to the Nascar race. I guess Mason likes Kyle Bush?..you know..because he drives the car with yummy candy on it.. And they got to meet him at the race! Matt's co-worker has connections at the track, so they got to drive Kyle Bush around the track?..to where his car is? A parade? I'm not sure, but he was pumped. He told him he is his number 1 fan!..hopefully he kept the reasoning behind that support to himself.. But anyway. It was exciting for them and Miles and I had fun doing what we do best..snuggling, tickling, running..and Miles' new favorite..jumping! I think he even got some air one time..maybe.. Just a little? We're working on it..

Learning to sprint..

Wednesday! Here we go..
Started off as usual with an early workout, so we will start there. Today was:

6 sets of 2 bench press at 150#
Weighted strict dips (8kg), EMOM 4 rounds at 5 reps, 4 rds at 4 reps, and 4 sets of 3
Romanian Deadlift at 195, 3 sets of 3/strict toe to bar, 3 sets of 15

The workout was:
2 rounds
20 dumbbell thrusters (30#)
20 chest to bar pull-ups
20 burpee box jumps

This workout went fine. I paced the first round to get a feel for it and definitely had enough gas to pick it up a bit for the second round.. I think this one was walking a fine line of pushing too hard and dying off in the second round..or pacing too much.. I think I fell somewhere in the middle. I pushed hard, though probably could have done a little bit more.. Maybe. It took me 8:38 to finish and it felt like a good workout.

I wasn't sure if I would go back for more or not.. I was pretty tired, so knew I would need a rest and then could decide from there. Our morning was uneventful and, of coarse, I felt better after some rest, so I decided we would go back for more.. I figured I could do something with muscle ups..maybe something snatchy? Then some work on front squats and cleans with my ongoing quest to make those better.. And then I had my eye on a sprint type EMOM workout that the gym had listed for Monday. So..here's what I came up with..

8 EMOM: evens 4 MU, odds 6 single arm snatch (55#).. It went well!
Then did light sets of 1 1/4 front squats and some light clean and jerks with the focus being perfect form, good bottom/upright position.. I think I achieved that goal here..
Then that workout I mentioned.. It was:
12 min EMOM
Evens
10 wallballs
30 du
Odds
12 burpees

My goal with this was to sprint each round. I've never been much of a sprinter.. Hence my ironman past.. The longer I have to catch up with people, the better! So I'm needing to work on that ability to GO and not think about how I should pace things.. Some workouts just aren't long enough to benefit us smart pacers..darn it! I finished all the evens right at :40 and the odds took :30. Overall, I think it went well! I finished off with some core..100 Russian twists(10#) and 100 abmats.
And that was all she wrote for Wednesday! Tomorrow is an active recovery kind of day, so I'll take it a little easier. I won't have time for a second workout anyway because I guess I need to go school supply shopping! I hope I can find everything.. Mason gets to meet his teacher tomorrow and see his classroom and we got a letter from his teacher saying the kids should have all their supplies so they can set up their desks! So much for shopping this weekend.. Wish me luck!

Back home. Back to work!

And by 'work', I mean having fun in the gym, of coarse. So Sunday I just did a little hill running. Not my best run ever..I got a strange blister on my instep pretty early on in the run, so that didn't help.. But the show must go on, so I finished it out and felt good, overall.
Sunday was more hangin with my parents and my sister. We had made big plans to go do things..but it just worked out better to hang around the house. The boys really don't need extravagant plans when we visit, they are just happy as long as someone plays with them! So that is what we did.
Early Monday before our flight back, of coarse I had to visit Sky's Limit CrossFit one more time.. I wasn't 100% sure I'd have time to do my workout when I got home, so I figured at least I can get a quick workout in before I go.. Monday am was:
Bench press.. We did 2 sets of 5 and 2 sets of 3; I didn't want to get too crazy, so I started at 135 and worked up to 155.. All of which went fine.
Then the workout was:
10 min AMRAP
10 clean & press (95)
300 m run

I got through 4 rounds. It was a good workout. I find it to be a good addition to my workout plans to include more 'burner' type workouts along with the higher wt/skill workouts that our programming consists of. So this fit the bill just fine.

Our flight was uneventful. Miles was super fidgety, which didn't do wonders for my motion sickness, but we managed! Almost as soon as we got home, our babysitter arrived to hang with the boys because I was heading to the gym to grab a quick workout before working/coaching for the evening. It worked out really well because I got there in enough time to get my training in AND I got to do the workout with John, and I think we both were able to push each other a bit and got a good workout out of the deal! Mondays training was:

6 sets of 2 squats at 210#
Snatch every 30 sec for 4 min; first 4 min at 70%(105), second 4 min at 75%(115), next 4 min at 80%(120). It all went well and I didn't have any misses.
Snatch extensions and weighted GHDs (14#)
Then the workout!
5 rounds
6 overhead squats(115)
15 cal row
30' handstand walk

The workout went well..seems that any time I have snatches in a workout, I miss the first one.. So I missed my first snatch into the OHS, but other than that, I didn't have any misses and full snatched into my sets of squats. Handstand walks were all unbroken, too, but with all my gymnastics background, that's not really impressive.. Finished in 12:56. So that was Monday! Coaching was fun. Kept me busy and the time always flies by!
Know what else flew by?..my sleeping time! The morning came pretty quick, but, again..show must go on! So I hit the gym early for:

6 sets of 2 Deadlift at 255#
EMOM for 12 min strict weighted pull-ups. I used just 10# and will need to increase next time.. We did 5 the first 4 min, 4 the next 4 min, and 3 the last 4 min
3 sets of 2 push press (135,145,150) and 3 sets of 15 back extensions (35)
Then the workout..
3 rounds
7 Deadlift (235)
7 bar muscle ups
Immediately into
3 rounds
20 wallballs
20 TTB's

It was a tough workout! I was surprisingly winded by all of it, but managed to do all the first 3 rounds unbroken and then stuck with 12/8 on the next 3 rounds. At times I would want to rest more, but I'd tell myself that I could just get a set of 5 in, but would end up doing more, once it got started. I think I need to do that more often.. I always aim for bigger sets, but sometimes, just getting back on the bar, or whatever it might be, even just for a few reps, is better than waiting to recover enough to get a big set. I know that's probably a very obvious statement to most..but I often forget it and need to remind myself of that! Oh, and it took me 12:04 to finish..if that matters..

Since 2 workouts are better than one, I went back in after dropping Mason off at the Y for camp. My plan was to do some MU, some squat work, and then the gyms workout for the day.. And you know what..that's just what I did! I started with 5 sets of 4 MU, and those all went well. Then I did some 1 1/4 squats at lighter weights to work on my strength in that bottom position. I finally quit holding back on the quick decent into the bottom of my squat, so that was good! I think I had been fearful of my knees.. Or maybe just my strength to get back up?.. But I went for it and I'm kind of hoping maybe this will start me on a good road toward better squats and cleans?..to be continued..
Then the workout was:
25-20-15-10-5
STO (75)
200m shuttle run after each round

Good times! Took me 7:10.. After a couple L-sit attempts, Miles and I headed home for some rest! Well..that's not true.. First Miles needed to go run a bit.. And then get a med ball out to play with.. But THEN it was time to go. Today was the first time that I had brought Miles solo to the gym in a while, so he didn't have Mason to play with. I forgot the stroller, too, so he was on his own to hang out in the play room..and he did so great. He's such a big boy these days.. I kept peeking in on him (I don't close the door.. I use a box jump box to barricade him without making it so I can't see him and vice versa..) and he would just be playing, or sitting at the table eating snacks.. So cute. He called me over for a 'huggie' a couple times, but other than that, he kept himself busy!
And that should cover it!

Kansas City, here we come!

Well, here we are in KC. Visiting my parents! This trip has been fun, too, because my older brother is moving back to town, so he is here with his family, whom we haven't seen in a really long time! Mason is extra psyched to get to hang with his grandparents AND his cousins.
Since we traveled yesterday, I planned to just stop in at the crossfit gym that I like to visit when I am in town, Sky's Limit CrossFit, and do their workout.. I made it in to the noon class and joined them for:
5 rounds
10 thrusters(75#)
10 TTB's

Rest 3 min

1 mi run
40 wallballs
40 kettle bell swings (53#)
100 du

It was a good workout, but I was not feeling quite right.. I started out ok, but just felt worse and worse until things that normally go fine felt like the hardest thing ever. I'm guessing it had to do with traveling and not eating and drinking like I normally do, but it was still frustrating. So that was that.

Today I got to sleep in til something like 7 o'clock! I woke up to both my boys' smiling faces and that is always a good thing! There was open gym today from 9-11, so I hit the gym to do my day 6 programming. I felt like it was a lighter day, but somehow wound up busy for almost the whole time. All relative, I guess! So today was:

5 sets of 4 strict press at 80%, so 100#
10 EMOM of 8 strict HSPU. This was tough! I made 6 rounds with all 8 HSPU, then 2 rounds of 7 and 2 rounds of 6.. Not too bad, but it was rough by about the 3rd or 4th round, so I was kind of happy just to get through it!
Then good mornings (55#) superset with paralette L-sits
Now the workout..

12 min AMRAP
50 TTB's
40 kettle bell swings
30 box jump overs
20 push press (95#)

I got through just 1 round + 37 TTB's. Not great.. Still feeling a little 'off', but not terrible.. Just a little gassed.. Maybe I'll be back to normal by the time I head back home?

After all that fun, I decided to make up for missing the 'active recovery' rowing from Thursday. It was supposed to be 3x1000m row, but as soon as I started rowing, I realized it was going to take a little more out of me than usual, so I opted for 4x 500m row with 1:1 work:rest ratio. It was fine. Nothing exciting about it. I still had some time (and there were other folks working out), so I decided to finish off with a nice 'stupid human trick sesh'..so I did 4 rounds of 3 strict MU and about 50' handstand walk. All in all, pretty good day of training. Not my best workout ever, but as a whole, I feel like I got some good work done. Now back to more hangin with the fam!

The county fair, y'all

I can count my visits to the fair on one hand.. Three. I've been to a fair three times. And so far, each time I've left perplexed as to what one actually DOES at the fair? I've asked many..and after they realize that I'm not joking, they all say "walk around and eat".. That's not helpful. The walking around part is frustrating because people are always in the way..or I'm in the way..either way, hardly an enjoyable walk.. And the food? I'm not saying I eat perfectly all the time. Anyone who knows my philosophy on nutrition knows that I'm all about balance..no bad foods..anything can fit into a balanced diet.. But I've wandered around all 3 of those fairs that I've attended, and I think I found one thing to eat? And it wasn't awesome.. So, again.. I just don't get it..
All of this is a long way of getting to my point of why I attended my most recent fair..to work out, of coarse! As I mentioned, our gym was taking part in a crossfit exhibition/competition last night and it was a good time! (Once we found where we were supposed to be.. Given my lack of fair experience, simply telling me "it's at the fair" means precious little to me. And my teammate, Jaclyn, was not much help, as she is equally unversed in all things fair-related..but we got there) First up was several heats of individual competitors from the four local gyms that were participating, and then it was time for each gym to send a team of four out to compete against each other. That was the part that I was involved in. The first workout was:
Teams of 4
100 Deadlift (135(male)/95(female)); while 1 female works, 1 male holds the bar, other 2 rest
50 burpees over the bar
80 STO (shoulder to overhead; same wts, same deal w 1 working, 1 holding, 2 resting)
40 burpees over the bar
60 cleans (same wts, same holds)
30 burpees

They paired up teams via coin flip, so we just needed to beat the team we were paired with, which was crossfit indy south. (We did happen to come in first overall in that one, but it didn't matter) After that workout, the two top teams moved on to the final workout. We were up agains IXF for that last workout, and they had come in a close second in that first workout, so we knew it was going to be a good match up! The final workout was:

2 pairs of 1 male/1 female. 1 pair starts, next pair begins when the first pair got through the box jumps
400m sandbag carry (60#)
50 overhead squats (135/95)
50 box jumps (24/20")
50 front rack lunges (135/95)
50 kettle bell swings (70/53

We managed to come out ahead in that one, as well, so..winners! Like I said, we had fun and I think everyone involved had a good time. I'm not sure if we lured any fair goers in to our shenanigans, though.. Oh, well. So that was that!

I had also gone in to workout earlier that morning, of coarse, so that was a long day! The workout from that morning was:
5 sets of 4 bench press at 140# (80%)
10 EMOM of 10 strict dips..yeouch! I made 8 rounds with 10 dips, but then caved in to the pain and only got 8 for the last 2 minutes
Romanian Deadlifts superset with strict toes to bar..lots of fun today! Now for the workout..
5 rounds
200m shuttle run
Max effort muscle ups

It went ok, but maybe those dips and bench wore me down a touch because my sets of 4 on the MU, which I've been hitting just fine all month, just were not there. I got 4 in my first set, but then 3's the rest of the way. Not great, but what can ya do.
So that was yesterday. As much as I wanted to sleep in a bit today after not getting home from the fair fun til 10:30 and then not getting to sleep til much later, I knew I was heading out of town this weekend, so getting in to do the workout today was just easier than trying to figure out a way to make it up.. So, early wake-up call today..no rest for the weary! Today I did:
5 sets of 4 front squats at 165#
10 EMOM 2 cleans at 125-135#
Clean extensions superset with glute-ham raises
The workout was:

Every 2 minutes:
5 front squats (145#)
10 over the bar burpees

I finished each round in exactly :56, so this went pretty well for me! I can vividly remember a workout that included 145# front squats that went terribly, so it's always nice to see some progress there.. And that is about it!
Mason made it through his first week of camp at the Y, so we signed him up for next week. So after our quick visit to KC, he will have one last week of summer and will spend that time having fun at camp! I was talking with him this morning about how big he is getting and asked him if he feels like a big boy going to camp and he answered me so honestly and said "I DO feel like a big boy". Probably doesn't exactly translate on the ol blogeroo, but it was very sweet. You'll just have to take my word for it!

Fifteen HUNDRED meters, guys..

I finally did it, guys.. I made it to the pool! I looked all of those excuses right in their stupid mouth and I said 'no'.. I'm going to get this done. It was rough at first.. My lats, or whatever, get super tight and I feel like I'm swimming backwards.. But after a bit, I started to feel better. Enjoyable, even! So that was that.. Not much. I certainly remember a time when 1500m was practically a warm up.. But for now, it will do..

This morning went pretty well, though if think my biceps almost exploded! We started off with:

5 sets of 4 Deadlifts at 80%, so 265#. I was able to do those sets unbroken, so was pleased with that.
Then was 10 min EMOM of 8 strict pull-ups per round..that was the bicep explosion part. The plan was to try to get all 8 in each minute, but if you made less, to stick with that number..make any sense? Didn't think so.. But I got all 8 for the first 8 minutes and then got 7 in the last 2 rounds.. OUCH!
Next was 4 sets of 3 push press superset with 4 sets of 20 back extensions. I did the push presses at 125/135/145/145. Went ok. Now the workout!

15 minute AMRAP

5 deficit (7") HSPU
10 weighted (26#) pistols
15 chest to bar pull ups

Little rough, but ok.. Made it through 5 rounds + 5 HSPU. Pistols were the toughest, though I'm feeling my biceps now, as I type.. So that was that!
I got a teeny tiny run in this morning because I had to drop my car off for the headlight fix.. It was a beautiful morning here..in case you wondered what the weather is like in these parts..so I almost felt like I HAD to get out and run. It felt good. Then Miles wanted to 'ride' his bike.. You know what's fun? Pushing your little guy on a trike with one of those steering things in back, so I have control..right? Except he can steer, too.. And he likes to keep things interesting and spends most of the ride jerking the handlebars back and forth going 'woah. WOAH!' It's hilarious..until it's not and you're just like, 'just go straight and let's go!' Honestly. It is hilarious..but also a little frustrating. I have a feeling that's not the last time I'll be saying that about my little guy. Once he finally gave up the swerve-fest and let me push, he literally yelled 'WHEee, whee, WHEEEeee!', all the way home..so I got to experience that!
Tomorrow we get to do a team competition/exhibition deal at the fair, so that should be fun! There's no swimming, that I know of.. But if there is, I'm totally ready!

Unnaturally schwetty

I'm no stranger to sweat.. I am, afterall, the same gal who used to do long runs in loops in the summer so I could swing by my house to change clothes because they had become so heavy with sweat that they were falling off (..too much? I thought we were in the trust tree..). So all I'm saying is, I know sweat.. But I guess it had been a while since I'd had THIS kind of sweat because things..got a little ugly. In fact, I had my husband's car (side note..why do my headlights keep burning out? And I always get pulled over when a headlight is out..at 5am..and I don't have time for that..so..husband's car) ((pps..why doesn't this thing auto-put in possessive appostrophies?..is that how you spell 'appostrophies'? It didn't correct me, but who can trust this thing anymore?!)), and I felt really, really bad about sitting my sweaty butt in his seat when I knew he was going to put his suited up butt in it as soon as I got home.. Sorry?? Anyway. So it was a hot one today and the workout was kind of rough.. It's late, so I'll just get right to it (she says after that lengthy intro..)
Today we did:
5 sets of 4 squats at 80%, so 200#. These went well and I was feeling pretty good about it!
Next was 10 min, EMOM of 2 snatch at about 80%, so I did 115# for a couple sets and then moved to 120#. This also went well and I didn't have any misses, which Mike said was what he wanted with these.. I was going to do this at 125#, which was over the written plan, but a do-able weight, but Mike mentioned that we will be increasing the percentage of these every week, so I figured I'd better save some for later!
Then some snatch extensions and GHD's..by this point I'm feeling the heat and I was getting a little light headed? Probably a combo of the upside down stuff and the heat.. Anyway, no time to concern myself with that..let's workout!
Today was:

4 rounds
8 hang power snatch (115#)
8 bar muscle ups

Took me 13:27. Felt ok, but like I said..pretty wiped out by the heat and muggy-ness and holding on to the bars with sweaty hands was a bit tough, but overall, the weight moved well and all the bar muscle ups were done in unbroken sets.. So not too bad.

Today was Mason's first day of summer camp at the Y! He was so excited.. We had to make a stop at the docs first to get his annual check up, but then he was off! He had fun..lots of running, swimming, sporting.. He said they were outside the whole day, which he didn't love..and I knew he wouldn't.. But hopefully he'll get used to it? Or at least be able to distract himself with the fun games and such.. But so far, so good!
Then I went back to the gym for a quick workout.. Did the gym's workout of:

5 rounds
20 unbroken wallballs
30 unbroken double unders

It went fine. Finished in 6:40.
Also did the core work, so 50 abmats, 50 v-ups, 50 row boats.

Then I got to coach! Always fun.. Even got to do an on-ramp (intro sessions) for a new fella that will hopefully be joining our motley crew! So now..rest up for another early start.. And that is all!

Max week complete..

So today had some good points..some not as good points.. But all in all, it was a good day of training. I started with my final max attempt for the week..the strict press..and it was a no-go. Stuck at 120# for now. The strict press is a tough one, because 115# felt super easy, so I thought a pr was going to happen.. But that 120# was a major struggle and that was all I had in me. So that was that. Sure doesn't take long to find a press max! Next was tabata strict handstand push-ups..whew! Not sure if I was feeling all the hspu's from yesterday (oh, yeah..I did the gym's workout the night before and it included 4 rounds of ME (max effort) hspu's and I may or may not have done over 100 hspu's.. Maybe.. Not a good plan before shoulder press max day?  I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're saying to me.. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me!), but those tabatas were rough! I managed to start with 6.. Then 5.. Then a couple 4's..but finished off with just 3 in the rounds.. After some jumping good mornings (not sure I'm doing those right? But my hammies are sore..so..I guess?) and 5 attempts at paralette l-sits (still not good at those), it was time to work out! Today was:

15 ring muscle ups
1000m row
15 bar muscle ups
1000m run

Took me 14 minutes.. Not bad. I was most looking forward to timing my 15 muscle ups. They went pretty well.. Not as big of sets as I would like, but I didn't miss any and was able to finish in just over 3 min. The row was fine; took 4:20, so I reckon a 2:10 average..so fast! (Not at all..but I'm working on it) after the row, my arms were a bit sore, so the bar muscle ups were a bit tougher than usual.. I did 10 and 5, mostly because I was slipping and I didn't want to rip my hands.. So that went fine.. Finish off with my lightning fast run..and that was that. We were supposed to do 3 ME handstand walks 2 min after that workout, but I forgot..remembered later when I saw JD start them, so I went over to do 3 x 50ft (the length of the gym. I wasn't feeling the pirouettes today.. Need to get back to working more on those).
I suppose maybe I was a little tired by then? I planned to do some snatching and maybe some jerks before the team workout started, but those weren't going so well.. I did some high hang/full snatch EMOM stuff, but after just a few wt increases, I just wasn't hitting them well.. I cut my losses and decided to eat a lil something before the team workout started. JD and I got to come up with the plan for the day and we came up with:

Warm up
1000m Indian run where 1 person has a 14# med ball to pass off when they reach the front of the line.

Partner workout
1 person does 200m farmers carry while partner planks, then switch
1 person does 100m lunges while partner does single arm snatches, switch
1 person does 400m backwards run while partner single arm clean and jerks, switch
Both partners burpee broad jump 50m

Pretty good! I liked it, anyway..but I guess I'm easy to please..

In other news, I guess we weren't the only folks taking on King Kong yesterday and it turns out I didn't over scale it at all because some videos popped up online showing people finishing at or under 2 minutes?!..so there's that.. Good to know. Ugh. You guys. I have so, so much work to do.. So much.. It's a good thing I enjoy the work!

Case in point..here's my current maxes:
Clean and jerk: still 175#
Snatch: 150#
Deadlift: 295#
Bench press: 175#.. Samesies with my clean!..how cute..
Back squat: 245#
Front squat: 205#
Strict press: 120#

The boys are having kind of a 'guy day'.. Got donuts, went to the park, ate pizza, Mason and Matt went golfing, to the grocery store (sometimes I contribute to the plan making part of guy day!). So, that's good. We did manage to move our KC visit up a week and will be heading that way on Friday! And we signed Mason up for his very first week of summer camp?! He's so excited and I hope it goes well. It's a baseball theme this week (at the Y), so he should enjoy it. AND he gets to swim every day, so I KNOW he will love that. I'm hoping to get a good workout in tomorrow morning, then work, then maybe meet the boys for a swim at the Y? We'll see about that part.. You may recall that a theme this week has been 'I'm totally gonna go swim today!'.. Only to then report that it didn't happen..so.. One last chance for this week! I'm totally gonna go swim tomorrow..

King Kong...lite

Like, if King Kong had an annoying, pesky side kick? Does King Kong have a Robin? 'Cause if so, that would be my workout from today. Today was front squat and clean max time, and I was really hoping to get some new numbers there.. I started with front squat and was able to get a new max of 205#, which is up 10#.. And it wasn't too ugly! It wasn't perfect, like when I watch some people front squat huge amounts and they bounce right up with chests high and just a hint of struggle.. Not quite like that, but I've done uglier front squats, so I was feeling pretty good!.. Key word, 'was'.. Cleans were just not moving right today and I'm kind of bummed about it. I know that we aren't in a weightlifting focused cycle right now, so haven't been doing the volume of cleans and snatches that we have done in the past, but I've been feeling so strong lately and just thought it would translate.. No luck. Even my current max, 175#, didn't exactly feel easy.. Well, looks like I need to work on the clean more..along with continuing to get stronger.. It will hopefully, one day, all come together. But that day was not today, friends..
I was low on time, so no time for sulking.. Today's workout was set to be rough. I knew looking at it, that I would have to scale it a bit, but I may have toned it down too much because it took me under 10 minutes.. As written, the workout, named 'King kong', was supposed to include Deadlifts at 345# and cleans at 185#. Neither of those things are possible for me right now, so I picked a weight that would be challenging, but obviously something I could pick up.. I did..

King Kong lite

3 rounds
1 Deadlift (265)
2 muscle ups
3 cleans (160)
4 handstand push-ups

Like I said..maybe cut the weights a tick too much.. It wasn't super easy, or anything..but not a struggle worthy of the title 'King kong'. So. That was that. I plan to do a second little something in a bit here before Mason does his crossfit kids class. Poor fella has been complaining of random pains in his legs and arms, which I assume is an effect of growing about 3 or 4 inches in the past few weeks.. But, the show must go on! He doesn't complain all the time, and seems mostly ok.. But finds times, usually when he doesn't want to do something, to remember that he hurts.. Kids..
Speaking of, I wanted to list a few things that my boys do right now that are cute, so I can look back and go..oh, yeah.. I remember when they were sweet! So I'm going to call it my 'favorite things'..and here goes..
Miles right now does a lot of silly things..here's my faves..
He says 'got it!' Very enthusiastically any time he does something or reaches something.. An example, putting on a shirt..head through the hole..'got it!'..arm in the hole..'got it!'..and so on. It's fun.
He also does a 'sing song-y' 'tang too' (thank you) when you help him with something or get him something he wanted.
He's insanely sweet and gives great hugs. He also loves to rub my arm or pat my back when he hugs me.
He gets a wonderful, crazy, cheesy grin over the smallest things.
If there is a snack he really wants, he makes sure to ask extra sweetly and gets really high at the end..'a cookiiiiiiieeeee!'

And some of Mason's sweet things at the age of 6..
He uses 'either ways' in place of 'anyways' and, I'm not sure why, but I find it hilarious. I tried to explain the difference, but didn't get anywhere.
He also uses 'for' where most folks would use 'so'? Like, 'we need to go to the store, for we can get some snacks'.. It's not necessarily wrong? But it's different and cute.
He knows WAY too much about baseball. And nascar. And monster jam. Things I always swore my boys wouldn't be interested in, but there ya go! You can't really control those things, I guess!
He always knows how to say something sweet and smile and make all the arguments and fits and everything else just fade away. He's a smart, sweet kid..just trying to figure out what is right and wrong and what he can get away with.. We will figure it out together, my man. I just know we will..

 And now for a list of my least favorite things:.. Just kidding! Not that I don't have that list, but it would be kind of awful of me to put it out there! Nobody wants to remember those things. Let's focus on the good, shall we?!

Chest Day!

Yesterday afternoon, after a very successful rest time for the whole crew here, I made a last minute decision to hit the gym for a quick second workout before going to teach tumbling. I'm glad we went! It was a successful sweat-fest and it felt good.. I got right to work on a set of 10 MU for time, which I worked on a LOT building up to the release of the regional workouts for this year. Mike had set a goal for me to be able to do 10 MU in 2 min, which I laughed at the idea that I could make that.. And with my first attempts taking more like 4 or 5 minutes, it was looking pretty dismal. I think the fastest I got at that time was around 2:45 or so.. But yesterday I competed a set of 4/4/2 in just 1:30! I was excited.. No one was there to care, so I just silently celebrated..and then moved on.. I decided to do the gym's workout for the day, which was:

15,12,9,6,3
STO (95#)
Pull-ups

It went well and I finished in 3:32.

So since I had about 15 min left before I needed to get ready to go coach, I thought it would be fun to do the workout from yesterday, too! I had the pleasure of watching people push through that workout all afternoon while I worked, so I just wanted to give it a try. It fit my plan for wanting some squats, cardio, double-unders, and some core.. It was

5 rounds
10 burpees
20 wallballs
30 ab mats
40 double unders

Again, not too bad and I finished in about 15:30.

Since I had added that second workout, I should have known my motivation for the pool would decline.. I was suited up and went out to swim after I was done teaching, but the only 2 swim lanes had about 6 people each and it just didn't look like fun. I'm sure I could have battled it out and maybe some would have finished and opened up the lanes a bit more, but I just didn't have the patience for that.. Never fear, though.. I have 2 other thoughts on when I can do some swimming.. Either early tomorrow, since Matt has to get to work early, making a JoCo trip impossible, but I could squeeze in a quick swim.. OR, I could run tomorrow and try to hit the pool some time on Friday.. So a swim is still in the plans.. Here's hoping I can get it done.

Today was bench max day.. Hence the title 'chest day'.. Plus we did tabata strict dips and I consider those to be 'chesty'.. I maxed my bench at 175#. I don't have much of a reference for that, other than in January when we were prepping for GLI (Great Lakes Invitational..a pretty big, local comp), I think I maxed at 160? Then we did those tabata strict dips and they went a little something like 5 for the first sets, then held on to 4's for the rest. Knocked out some Romanian Deadlifts at 200#, then 5 sets of 10 strict toes to bar.. And now let's workout!

20 min AMRAP (as many reps as possible)
5 push jerk (135#)
10 pistols
15 ctb's (chest to bar pull-ups)
20 box jumps (24")

It was ok.. I finished 5 rounds + 7 ctb's. I had set an arbitrary goal of finishing 5 rounds, so I guess I did that. I was happy with how the movements all went. That was the first time I had been able to jerk 135# in unbroken/no pause sets like that.. I feel like I could have pushed my pace a little more..there was a lot of 'hands on the knees', which I try not to let myself do.. But it felt like I was going hard? I just know myself and when the hands go on the knees, I'm not pushing as hard as I could.. But that was that. Very exciting stuff, I know.. On a side note, I did try to get to bed earlier.. I shut everything down around 9:30, left baseball on the TV (sure to lull anyone to sleep, yes?).. But I had a bit of a hard time falling asleep.. At least it's a start, right? On another side note, I'm an idiot and planned a trip to visit my family in KC in the end of July and planned to return..on Mason's first day of first grade? Oops. Looks like we need to change that flight! I'm so nailing this whole responsible mom thing

Super Tired and Deadlift maxes

Every night I tell myself I have to start getting to bed earlier.. And every night I get caught up in some show and wind up being up 'til 11. That might not sound late, or be late if I slept til 6 or 7 like a normal person, but 4am comes way too quick and then I'm a slug the rest of the day. I can usually rally and feel fine, but I guess after a few days..it catches up.. Last night it was a captivating mix of The Bachelorette..which I'm sporadic, at best, at watching, so I really should have just turned it off.. I can't believe she sent Marcus home, by the way?! That was the only home date I caught, but I thought we didn't like Nick? Is she going to end up with a dud.. Damnit.. I hope not.. And then they got the news about the loss of a fella that had been on the show?? That was truly awful and I felt so bad for them.. Not really sure how to successfully transition from that, but did you catch Ninja Warrior?! That was the other thing keeping me awake.. Those cannon balls, or whatever.. And the guy cherry dropped off?!..good times. As you can see, I'm easily distracted from sleep..
I got to coach at the gym yesterday while the boys stayed home with a babysitter. It was a lot of fun!..for everyone, I think.. I got in a quick second workout before I started my coaching duties. I decided I wanted to do 15 muscle ups in as few sets as possible, so I started with that.. I got it done in a set of 4/3/4/4, so we are getting better! For regionals this year, I had 15 to do and it took me about 4 minutes and my sets were more like a 3, maybe a couple 2's..and then singles til I was done so I wouldn't miss any more (if I missed 3, I was done.. I missed 2?!.. No pressure! Side note, I oddly never really was worried that I would miss a third, though I should have been.. But it never really crossed my mind. Strange, kind of..). So, anyway..the set of 15 yesterday was a big improvement in the last 2 months, so I'm happy with that. Still a long way to go, but I'll take gradual improvement every time.
Next I had decided that I wanted to work on high volume, light weight barbell work, which can be a weakness of mine.. And I also wanted some more double under work.. So after some thinking, I remembered the first open workout from this year, which fit the bill quite nicely. It was, I think, a 9 min?..AMRAP of 15 snatches (55#) and 30 double unders.. I didn't want quite the volume that 9 min would have given me, since this was my second workout of the day AND we are doing maxes this week.. So I decided on 5 rounds of that couplet..and it was still plenty rough! After that, I got to work on coaching others!
So then this morning we maxed our Deadlift, which is not my favorite thing to do and I hadn't done it in a loooooong time.. I settled for 295#, because I could tell things would get ugly if I went much beyond that.. We did tabata strict pull ups after that, which means work for :20, rest for :10, repeat for 8 rounds.. I managed 6 in my first set..then 5.. Then I hung on to 4 for each of the remaining rounds and called it good. Next up was max push press! I pretty much knew where this one was going and quickly worked up to 155# and stopped there.. Just some weighted back extensions (35#) and then time for the workout!

3 rounds
15 Deadlift (155#)
15 strict handstand push-ups
500m row ( it was pouring and lightning out..and I don't do lightning, so the 400m run had to turn in to a row.. Made it a ton harder, in my opinion, but at least I didn't get soaked and/or zapped by a bolt of lightning!)

Not too bad, but the row slowed me down a tick.. Took me 13:30; did all DL and HSPU unbroken, so I guess that is the 'win' in that one!

And now.. Home with my boys, who are both in need of a bath! About to take care of that.. Sweaty summer boys be stinky! I'm the kind of tired where I fall asleep any time I sit down, so I think we will have family rest time here after baths. Tonight I teach tumbling and then I'm hoping to get out to the pool for a quick dip.. Maybe some laps.. Try to remember how to swim.. We will see! Rumor 'round town (via not subtle at all hints on the face books) is that there will be a swim at Granite Games, so I'd like to get maybe some of my swim form back, so I can hopefully fare well on that. Should be fine, right? Maybe I'll get to wear my wetsuit..'cause crossfitters need a few more accessories! (Do they come in neon? Can I put a funny phrase..preferably including, but not limited to, inappropriate innuendo that may or may not make any sense in the context? Perfect.. Probably only need it once? Great.. Then I'll just take 5!.. But one more thing, do they make booty short wetsuits?)
And with that.. I bid you adieu!

Feeling good..then quickly humbled

Crossfit has this amazing ability to lift you up, and then just as quickly, knock you back down a peg or two..thousand..
Today, as I mentioned, was the start of a max out week, and I got off to a pretty good start. Up for today was squats and snatches. I was able to hit 245# for my squat max today, which is up 15# from the last max that I remember doing.. Not bad! Snatches felt good today, too. I worked my way up to match my max at 145# with just 1 miss. Still felt good, so went for 150# and hit it solid on the first attempt. I had to drop to rock bottom to get it, but it went up relatively easy..so 5# pr! I made 1 attempt at 155#, but sometimes you can just tell when a wt isn't quite there yet, so I just cut my losses and moved on to snatch extensions.
After some Weighted GHDs (sit-ups..used a 14# med ball), it was time for the workout.. It looked ok to me on paper..as usual.. Probably a sure sign that it will not go well.. So it was a 12 minute EMOM (every minute on the minute) with evens being 15 wallballs (14# med ball to 10' target) and 30 double unders, odds were 3 power snatch at 80% (I went a little over and did 125#). Well..usually an EMOM gives some designated short, but regular rest times.. Not this time! From the first minute, I barely finished in time.. Meaning even fresh and unbroken, the wallballs and du were tough to complete in the minute.. So then you quickly move to snatches.. Which went fine, it was just hard to catch up once you're barely making the minutes.. So basically, it was a good workout and the intention was to make me push a decent pace with decent volume and move quicker through heavier snatches.. Mission accomplished! Even though I technically 'failed' at this workout, since I didn't make all the rounds in the minute, I still feel alright with how it went because I was able to move that 125# bar pretty well! even when I was tired and rushed. Plus, as Mike, my coach, pointed out..it was a new shoe pr, since that was the first time I had snatched that wt in non-weightlifting shoes! I know a lot of folks do a lot of their lifting in non-weightlifting shoes, but I'm a big fan of using proper equipment for the task at hand.. But sometimes the workout calls for it, so I guess it's good to know I can do it? Anyway..that's my day so far!

Fun Workout!

Today was actually a lot of fun.. Started out with sleeping in all the way to almost 6! I didn't quite make it to the alarm.. That's what happens when most mornings start in the 4 o'clock hour! So I packed up my things for working out and working at the gym.. First came some gym clean-up, but then it was time for the real work! I had a lot of ideas for what I wanted to do.. Legs. Core. Cardio-ish. And some skill work.. All in about an hour..
Started off with some 1 1/4 squats to work on better positioning.. Just did doubles every 45s, increasing wt every 3 sets, for 10 minutes.. I keep it light with these, so went 105/115/125/135/155.
Next up, my friend Nicci came to join me! She was on our regional team this year and is dealing with some shoulder injury stuff, so I told her we would stick with legs and core..things I need to work on anyway, so it all works out.
First up, I had a terrible plan to work on my sled pushing.. It's a good idea because I'm terrible at them, but also an awful idea because..sled pushes are awful! So my plan was to do an 'every minute' deal, doing about 100ft sled push on even minutes and then 5 air squats and a 100m 'sprint' on the odd minutes.. I think we made about 8 rounds? So 4 total sled pushes each.. I plan to keep doing this workout, or something similar, on Sundays when we didn't have any sled pushes on other days in the week.. Maybe I'll improve on it?
So that was rough..
Then while Nicci did her squats, I worked on my muscle ups and the single arm snatches that crushed me earlier this week..turns out I CAN do those damn snatches just fine, I just stunk at them on Monday? Who knows why that happens.. But I did another 'every minute' deal; evens were a set of 4 muscle ups and odds were 6 snatches. Each minute went the same..took just under 20 seconds, so had no trouble getting 8 rounds of that. This was good because not only did I work on a weakness with the single arm snatches (with a 55# dumbbell), but this was the first time I made 4 sets of 4 muscle ups! I've been on a mission to increase my sets of muscle ups for a few weeks..or months?.. Probably forever, but definitely more focused on it lately.. Last month I made sets of 3 my regular thing, so this month I'm making sets of 4 the new norm..so far..yay! So that was that..
Then we moved on to 4 rounds of 200 m sandbag run (60#), 10 box jumps. Nothing too crazy, just moving.
And finally.. A partner row/l-sit workout..1 person rows a 100m sprint while the other holds an l-sit, switch, repeat..until you've each done 10 rounds. It was good! Again, not too crazy and totally do-able, but I actually can feel my abs a bit now, so maybe it was a pretty good workout? Anyway. We had fun and I hope we can do it again soon!
After I got done working out and working at the gym, we all went out to check out some bunk beds for Miles! We decided that bunk beds would be a good plan for his next bed, so we will make that transition pretty soon! Probably some time around his birthday..should be interesting.. Miles has been a pretty easy 'go to bed' kid for a while, but lately he's been a little..demanding? More books. More sitting in the chair. Needs his blanket. Wants to look at the book.. Not that book.. Yes, that book.. It goes on and on. Not sure how or why this started, but probably need to get a handle on this soon! We actually try not to succumb to all his requests and just stick with our usual bedtime routine, so we should be able to get him back on track.. Thinking maybe it had something to do with family being in town and probably catering more to his adorable requests?..which include hard to resist requests for 'huggies', kisses, play time, etc.. Oh, well.. Like I said, we'll get him back on the straight and narrow! (Right.. I totally played with him and then went back in for an extra hug tonight.. One giant sucker over here..) Other than that, just the usual summer fun! Mason has been doing so well with riding his bike this summer and he loves it! We took his training wheels off..last spring maybe? With little success and even less interest.. But somehow he just got right on and took off this summer?! And that's about it for us.. No big plans yet for this week.. Major goal is to get Mason signed up for a week of camp at the Y. I want him to give it a try, but something tells me it may be a bit much for him.. We will see. We are actually going to visit my family in KC in a couple weeks and then school starts, so not really much time left..
It's a max out week at the gym.. So wish me luck!

Officially Not a Runner..

Kind of makes me sad to say, but I guess I knew it was the truth.. Just a bit sad to make it official. And I mean 'official'. The running gods came yesterday and took my runners card away..hauled it off in their 'we are runners, look at us go' mobile.. So it's done.
 I attempted a 5k run yesterday, which was actually enjoyable and made me think maybe I should spend more time out there gettin my run on.. But I was only able to squeak out a 23 minute and change 5k. Now, I haven't done any research to back this up, but something tells me that's a bit slower than I used to be.. It's ok. I guess the win in it was that I felt good and solid and like I could hold that pace pretty easily.. Trouble was that I don't appear to have a faster gear? Maybe it just didn't activate yesterday.. Anyway. That was my workout for yesterday. I enjoyed it, but was a little bummed to not be able to go faster. Maybe I should work on it?
 Today is Saturday, which is kind of my marathon morning of workouts. I did my 'day 6' from my comp workouts, which was shoulder-palooza. Started with strict press.. 5 singles at 95%, so 115#. Then I got to try max effort sets of..wait for it..strict deficit handstand push-ups?! They went fine. Except for maybe the fact that i almost passed out after the first set. Too much breath holding and upside down exerting! I set up the paralettes and made about a 6 or 7 inch deficit and repped out..3!.. Womp womp.. 3 isn't bad.. It's a start and not an easy trick, for sure.. 5 sets of those. Then 'good mornings'..indeed! And then some paralette l-sits, which I'm awful at. Finally time for the workout!..more shoulders..

 25-20-15-10-5
Shoulder to overhead (95#)
Kettle bell swings (53#)
 200m run after each round.

 Ouch! Not too awful after the first 2 rounds were done, but my arms were feeling the burn.. Took me about 14 min. Then I did some snatch work. Nothing heavy, just working on positioning and hopefully getting ready to build up to a new pr next week? Hopefully? I've been stuck at 145# for a while, so it would be nice to move on.. I worked on high hang, hang, full snatch; 3 sets of that complex at 85/95/105/115. And then?.. Team workout! It was fun today, I thought.. Teams of 3 and we did team variations of Karen, Annie, Jackie, and grace.. With an extra run at the end for good measure. And that's it! 

Yesterday was the fourth, so we got to head over to a friends house to catch up and hang out a bit. Mason suited up and hung out in the lake while Miles tried to convince me that he should swim in the lake, too! Not so much, little fella.. Soon. So he got to check out the dogs, throw rocks in the lake, eat cookies.. All the other good stuff! Today we have begun the search for a cool bunk bed for Miles' birthday! Wish us luck on that one.. He will be going straight from crib to this new bunk bed..which I'm sure will go flawlessly! And that's about it! I have some fun ideas for a good leg/lung/core burner to do tomorrow. Sundays I go to the gym for a little workin out and a little coaching. I get to hang out and coach during open gym, which is always a good time! I hope some folks come out to join me! I'm kind of excited to have a normal Sunday back and not have to do any video taping for my online competition that I did.. I did an online qualifier for a big competition coming up in September.. The Granite Games! I really enjoyed the workouts and doing the qualifier stuff, but like I said, glad to be done with all the video taping and worrying about the leaderboard and such. I wound up doing pretty ok in the qualifier and finished in 13th place, which was good enough to rank myself in the 'elite' category. I'm excited about the chance to really push myself against some top ranked crossfit gals, but it will be a tough challenge, for sure! Which is why I'm working so hard on my skills and weaknesses, doing 2-a-days, etc..building up for September! Before that comp, I have a partner comp in August, which I'll be pairing up with Jaclyn for that one.. So lots of things to look forward to this summer and fall. Ah, yes..and working on that 5k, too!..of coarse..

Let's DO This!!

Alrighty.. Let's just get right to it, shall we?? Looks like I haven't checked in since last November.. I perused the last entry and it was a super read, if you care to look over it! Highly recommended reading, for sure.. So I think we can officially call this a 'CrossFit Blog', at this point. Not a whole lot of triathloning or even running left in my life these days, but that's completely a choice I have made and feel great about. I've slowly decided.. kind of without really 'deciding', that my goals for the moment all lie within achieving new things in CrossFit. I feel like it is a really good fit for me at this time, and I just want to see how much longer I can train this way and continue to see improvements. My body happens to be handling the volume, lifting, etc quite well, so...why stop? Especially when I enjoy it so much. I know this may sound silly, but I get excited to go to the gym.. I look forward to seeing what the workouts will be for the week and then look forward to getting in to the gym to see how it all plays out. I have felt that before, so I know I have this crazy capability for loving..well..pain??.. Pushing myself?? But right now my focus is on making the most out of this crossfit thing! So since November? Too much to cover everything, probably.. I should have blogged about the Open.. and Regionals.. And the other competitions I've done.. That's my hope for re-starting up this gig. That I can do a better job of logging how those things go through this year. I've always used this Blog as my way to remember the activities we do and family things.. So I need to get back to that. I'll just hit the highlights.. So we went to Regionals again! It was fun.. A great experience. I learned a lot and was proud of how I did and how our team did. We had high expectations and I guess we fell short of those, which is a little disappointing, but it really only makes sense to move on from that..ya know? We all worked hard and did our best. We didn't have any major issues.. the workouts just simply didn't suit all of our team members, so ultimately we just weren't ready for the 'next level'.. That 'next level' being the CrossFit Games, of coarse.. Like I said.. We had some high expectations! And honestly, I feel like we are on the right path.. Our coaching is on point. We just need to have a crew that is ready to put in the work all year.. Oh, and the fortune of everyone staying healthy in the process, too.. So we shall see, yes? Only time will tell.. This year, so far, (and I'm counting the 'new year' as being post regionals building up to the next Open season, which is in February.. I, for sure, am elbows deep into my crossfit nerd-dom) I have done an individual competition, which was a first for me.. It was a smaller competition up near Ft. Wayne, IN. I'm not honestly sure how I chose it as my first individual comp.. I think it caught my eye because it was about the time I wanted to compete and I knew someone from our gym that had done one of their comps before, so I figured it would be a good fit? I managed to talk a couple friends into joining me, so I had Jaclyn (who was on our Regionals team) and Nick (who has also been on our regional team) to keep me company through the day! I was especially excited to learn that the first workout would be a ridiculously short swim to a pretty short run.. Perfect, right?! Well... the swim, which was probably 60-80-ish meters?..in a stupid small little puddle of a pond. I'm pretty sure it was more goose poop than it was water.. Oh, man.. Let's just say I canNOT believe I agreed to swim in that.. But I was already 'in', so I just tried not to think about the filth and just focus on the task at hand..which was to GET THE HELL OUT OF THE FILTH!!! It wasn't really a long enough swim to separate out the 'good' from the 'ok' swimmers.. I suppose any 'not so good' swimmers were probably left back a bit, but most of us were just kind of clawing through poop to the other side.. Where we would get to put on our shoes and move on to a 1.3mi run. 1.3?! Yup.. Anyway. I have no idea what place I was in out of the water.. it didn't matter because the whole thing was the workout, so there wasn't a time for the swim..or a place.. But I was a quick second out on to the run, which I was able to take over first pretty quickly and then just held on.. So a first place on that one! Next was a deadlift/box jump over ladder.. it went fine.. I wound up getting the 285# bar up just fine (3 reps at each wt), but 305# was a big NOPE! I had no idea what to expect there, because I don't usually max out my deadlift.. Not a fan of max effort DL given the fact that most folks nearly break their backs when they make that attempt. We'll say I stick with a maximal 'good form' effort on that one.. The next workout was a chipper, of sorts.. 80 double unders, 60 kettle bell swings, 40 over the bar burpees, and 20 shoulder to overhead (95#). I was able to plow through that pretty quickly.. 6 minutes and something? I think? So took another 'W' on that. The finals included some interesting 'skills testing'.. throwing a med ball, jumping for distance, and tire flipping.. I think I lost focus a bit there and didn't do so hot in a couple of those.. That's where the lesson part of the day came in.. If you want to win/do well, you have to take every part on the competition seriously and try your best.. Even if the event/skill makes you feel silly and you just want to joke around about it.. It could end up costing you the whole deal. So anyway, we did those and then had one last workout.. In the heat and the sun.. Did I mention this was all outside? That was a new one for me! I have quite the tan lines as a souvenir..they are special, indeed! So the last workout was a 1500m row, which I was proud of how I held my pace.. I've been working quite a bit on that!.. Then 30 hang snatch (75#) and 30 thrusters (75#)..which weren't heavy, but the snatch was hard to hold on to with Men's bars and the thrusters were.. thrusters..which are always pretty rough.. Then, to cap it off.. one of my other weaknesses, which I'm not sure why it's a weakness? I like to think my grip is decent, but maybe not? It was a farmers carry! and it was a long one.. I got to carry those 35# dumbbells forEVER! But we got it done.. I came in second on that one and was able to wrap up the overall win, which was great! A good start at my attempts at seeing how flying solo could go. Leaving Team??! Not necessarily. I've always been focused on going with my team to Regionals and I still enjoy Team competitions and, if we have a team ready to go for Regionals and I could be a contributing part of that team? I'd love to do it. We will just have to see how the year plays out; who stays healthy; who is around and ready for the Open and Regionals come game time. For now, I just focus on making myself as strong as I can and as good a competitor as I can be..whether that be for a team or as an individual.. At this point it doesn't really matter.. Just getting better at anything and everything will prepare me well for either. I have some other competition things going on that I'll hopefully write about another time.. Some things I'm focused on and training for.. I plan to talk more specifically about my training, in case anyone reading.. mostly me.. is interested in that kind of thing.. My family?? Really. You guys are too sweet for asking.. Mason just turned 6?!! He finished up Kindergarten and is anxiously awaiting the start of first grade, which, apparantly is highlighted by not having your mom walk you to the bus stop?? Who makes these rules?? We'll see how that goes.. Miles is coming up to the 2 year mark pretty quickly. He's a hilarious little guy. Talking a LOT. Getting in to everything. All that good stuff. Matt is good.. His running has taken a bit of a hit, but I think for a good reason.. He got a big promotion and has been working truly ridiculous hours, but is doing well with it, so I guess it all balances out. He has set his sights on a fall half marathon again, so I imagine running will pick up again at some point. I think that's all we'll do for now! I'll mention my training for today, to end on a 'doesn't everyone want to know all about ME?!' note.. today was focused on front squats, if I had to guess.. started with 5x1 front squats at 95% of my 1 rep max (which is currently 195#, so did 190# today..felt good!) then some sets of cleans..did 125#, 135#, 150# and 160# (current max is 180#, I think? I know I've hit 175 and pretty sure I hit 180 at some point.. it's been a while since we maxed that..) Next up was Clean High Pulls.. yay? I actually like them, but not very exciting, I suppose.. Then Glute/Ham Raises, which are always a treat! To add to the excitement, we went ahead and made these a 'slow decent' kind of deal.. so take 5 seconds to lower down, then come back up.. The workout was 12 minutes of: 1 Muscle Up, 1 Front Squat (145#) 2 MU, 2 FS 3 MU, 3 FS etc.. until time runs out I finished the round of 6's and made it through 5 of the 7 MU, which I will call a success, since both movements are things I have been working on and both felt good and moved well today.. I'll take it! Since I'm focusing on improving things and doing lots of crossfit, I've been doing '2-a-days' and going back in to work on another lift, or a skill, and usually doing the gym's workout for the day.. So, I went back in later (with the boys.. they have fun at the gym and Mason was actually pouting as we left because he wasn't able to do a work out for himself, since the gym was too crowded for him to get in there and mess around) and worked on jerks.. I did doubles, focusing on good form, from 85#-155#. Then backed down to 125# and did 1 split jerk every 30s for 5 minutes to continue to work on perfect form and footwork.. Then I did the gym's workout, which was: 4 rounds of 10 snatch (65#), 15 toes to bar; *after rd 1 and 3, do 20 box jump *after rd 2 and 4, do 20 calorie row It took me a little over 10 minutes and was a good opportunity to push my pace, work on unbroken sets of lighter barbell movements, and continue to work on that darn row! Finished it off with some core work of 3 sets of 15 hollow rocks and 3 sets of 15 arch rocks. Good day! Tomorrow is kind of an easy recovery day with just a 5k run on the plan.. Happy 4th!