Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Today's Beat-down

Crossfit


21 Deadlifts
50 Squats
21 Push press

15 Deadlift
50 Squats
15 Push press

9 Deadlift
50 Squats
9 Push press

For this workout, you get one bar and have to swap your weights between the deadlift and the push press.

For the deadlift, I choose what I felt was a good weight - not too light but not too heavy - 115#. But for some reason it felt unusually heavy today and I was not able to do but 1-4 in a row. For the push press, I used 65# which is pretty heavy for me, and I knew was going to be challenging - and it was! The workout took me 22:57 to complete! The deadlifts were just difficult today and I rested quite a bit. The push press was heavy, and I had a couple fails, and one 'jerk' that I had to redo. Ultimately, I just spent a lot of time standing around looking at the bar today. But that's okay - I need to work on my deadlifts and push press - and that's exactly what I got today.


Monday, June 13, 2011

It's Gonna Hurt

Killer workout for tomorrow morning!!

For time:
225 pound Deadlift, 21 reps
50 Squats
135 pound Push press, 21 reps
225 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
50 Squats
135 pound Push press, 15 reps
225 pound Deadlift, 9 reps
50 Squats
135 pound Push press, 9 reps

Monday's Crossfit - No CFE

Crossfit

Today's Crossfit workout was not one of my favorites. It was a 15 minute AMRAP of:

1 Rope Climb
10 Ring dips
20 Wall ball shots (20#10′/16#10′)

I can climb a rope so I had no modifications for that movement. I just wish there was more than 1 ascent per round. Cuz I like it ;) Of course, I had to modify the ring dips, ugh! Ring dips are a problem for me. I can do about 5 dips without a band, but not on a ring, and we're not allowed to use a band during a workout on the rings. So what I end up doing is jumping up to the top of the dip, then try slowly to lower myself. I wonder about this movement. Am I really gaining strength I need to do a full ring dip if I am only working on lowering myself? I think it would be more helpful to work with a little purple band working on both extension and flexion (there may be better terms for the movement). But...I do what I am told to do, best I can. No complaints (but I can still question ;^) And as far as the wall balls are concerned, I went a bit lighter than prescribed. I tossed the 14# to 10' target -- which was hard enough.

The workout went as I expected - I did well with the rope climb, struggled getting through 10 jumping ring dips, and tossed the wall ball one at a time, with way too many re-dos, completing 4 reps shy of 4 complete rounds. A disappointing result, but I worked on things which I need to improve. It's all good :)

Crossfit Endurance

I really liked the CFE workout for tonight but have decided to take a few more days off of CFE workout since I am only 9 days post 54+ mile run, plus serious depletion following a blooddraw only 2 days post ultra run. I am still not feeling myself so I will take a few more days, and maybe hit CFE Thursday.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Paleo Nutrition for Long Distance Athlete

A couple days ago, I responded to a question posed on paleo nutrition for the long distance athlete. I'm regurgitating the question and my response here.

The question posed was, "If you run or bike long distances, I'm hoping you can help answer a question my coworker has. (Or point us to a web link or something.)
My boss and I got her to go paleo after reading Taubes' books. She training for a 120 mile bike race at high elevation (10,000 ft and above) and she's wondering how that's going to work into the paleo lifestyle. She usually loaded up on carbs before a big ride. Is that still what she should do now? She has several 50 mile rides planned before the big event, so she's willing to experiment with different things."

My answer:

Great question! I am an endurance runner and have been eating paleo for a couple of years now. Nutrition while running was something I needed to tackle early on when I switched from the SAD to eating low carb, then to paleo. Traditional endurance "foods" never really sat well in my stomach (Gu, Power Bar, Hammer, etc), and I was making do with consuming granola bars and sometimes cliff bars which I digested better while running. Or, I would not eat at all (very bad idea).

Based on my experience with endurance events since switching to the paleo diet, I do not recommend the traditional 'carb load' the night before an event (or even long training run/ride). Including some healthy starchy carbs
(potato, maybe polished white rice, etc) with your meal the night before is great to make sure your glycogen stores aren't depleted before you start the next day, but 'loading' (big traditional pasta dinners, or carb-only meals) seems unnecessary and likely harmful.

For races, my goal is to keep my glycogen stores from getting completely depleted, to consume enough salt, and to get enough fat, protein, and potassium to keep me going. Since I don't do the commercial endurance foods, I worked with Greg to come up with a good mix for me and my needs. I shoot for
about 250-300 calories per hour. The Perkins Goo recipe (per hour) is: 1TB almond butter, 10 grams' worth of a scoop of protein powder, 1TB glucose syrup (Karo), some salt, and some water to make it your preferred texture. Mixing the banana in is good (flavor and a little fructose for liver stores), but on a bike it may be easier to drink the goo and eat about 1/2 banana. When I premixed my goo for a 12 hour event this past weekend, I mixed a big batch based on what I needed for 12 hours, then added enough water so that I could easily judge how much I needed to consume each hour, which ended up being 1/3 cup.

A really big lesson I learned firsthand at an endurance event back in March was how important to stay ahead of dehydration and glycogen depletion curves on longer events (you can get away with all sorts of goofiness if it is less than 2-3 hours, but you can seriously hurt yourself if you aren't careful in events longer than 4-5). At that event, I just wasn't feeling good so I was skipping the goo and not drinking enough water; and half-way through the race I was dehydrated and couldn't catch up. I had to stop running completely after only 9 hours because of severe
leg pain (diffuse, on every footfall, even when walking). In contrast, this past Saturday I ran another 12 hour trail run (w/ total of 54 miles) diligently drinking enough water and eating my goo every hour, and I didn't have any troubles.

The Paleo Diet for Athletes is a great resource for endurance athletes (though I am more limiting in my carb intake than is recommended in the book). I used it to better understand my needs in endurance events, and the dangers of not meeting those needs, to design a lot of the above -- the rest was basically trying things out to see what would let me perform my best.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Completely worn out!

Could it have been the 54 mile trail run? Perhaps Monday's Crossfit workout, or even Tuesday's workout? Perhaps it was the blood donation on Monday? Whatever it is -- I'm d e p l e t e d !!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Crazy Ultra-Endurance Fun, CrossFit Style!

Tammy was excited to discover that a local pack of ultra-endurance runners had set up a 12-hour event where participants try to complete as many laps as possible of a 6-mile trail right here in our foothills (Boise has a fantastic network of running/mountain-biking trails). This format lets ultrarunning crazies at different levels of development all play together: the newer crazies can do just a few laps, while more seasoned crazies can go for substantial distances, all in the same event.

As her "support crew," I was thrilled that this would be happening just a couple of miles from our house (hey, it was a loooong drive to those the two 12-hour trail races in Moab she did, awesome as they were).

And Tammy was thrilled to report that they would have a mountain-biking division. Uh, oh.

But, dear, I'm the crucial support crew for you on your crazy ultra-endurance runs! See, I need to mix your custom goo for you and reload your water and... Well, yes, I suppose you could pre-mix it the night before and manage your own water... But you're forgetting that I've only done maybe two quick rides this season. You know that with no conditioning my rear couldn't handle any kind of time in the saddle, much less 12 freaking hours! Well, yeah, I suppose I could just do a few laps to participate a bit while I cheer you and the other crazies on...

So we took my bike.

6:00am Saturday morning. They all counted down and took off while I was messing with getting my front brakes to work right, and I was able to hit the trail 15 minutes later.

It turned out to be a moderate single-track mountain-bike loop, with about 800 feet of climbing and of course 800 of downhill. Soon I was back at the trailhead to record the lap, then I headed out again going the opposite direction.

My rear wasn't complaining too badly after a few laps, so I thought I'd maybe try to work in a solid six laps over the course of the day. That seemed like a respectable amount of time/distance/elevation for the "support crew" to Represent. Besides, it was kind of fun checking in on all of the runners (especially my runner) with each pass of the course, going back and forth in alternating directions.

Soon I had been adopted as the runners' Token Biker for the day. Many asked how many laps I was going for as I passed, and I would explain that I was just there with Tammy, having a little fun, and that I would stop when she did.

After five or six hours, though, I noticed that I still felt fine -- and I wasn't slowing down at all. So naturally I started flirting with the idea of just going for it and seeing if I could really keep riding like that for the entire 12 hours and complete 12 full laps, whether or not Tammy wanted to keep going! Since I had no ultra-endurance experience or preparation, this unusual effort would also be a great test of the "ready state" that CrossFit is supposed to be giving me.

Well, apparently Tammy knows me too well! She had mixed twice as much goo as she needed the night before, just so I could fuel a very long day right along with her.

In the end, we had a great time with a nice group of folks, and we enjoyed a clean sweep of both the running and the mountain-biking divisions that day. Woo! Team Perkins brings it! :^)

I was able to ride steadily through all 12 hours, from 6:00am to 6:00pm, covering 12 laps. That's about 73 miles, and almost 20,000 vertical feet of elevation change.

More difficult in my opinion was Tammy running all 12 hours, covering 9 laps. That is just shy of 55 miles with almost 15,000 vertical feet of elevation change. On foot!

We were certainly depleted, but not disabled, and we recovered quickly. In fact, I didn't suffer any soreness to speak of, despite becoming a spontaneous ultra-endurance athlete for a day. Heading as usual to the CrossFit gym early Monday morning, we turned in decent performances, smiling through the strain because we knew it was preparing us for the next fun challenge to come our way.

(Thanks to Longrun Picture Company
for photographing everyone that day!)

Polecat Gulch 12 Hour Trail Event

On Saturday, June 4th, Greg and I participated in a 12 hour event held at Polecat Gulch trail in Boise. This particular trail is a 6 (or 6.1) mile loop. The goal was to see how many 6 mile laps you can do in 12 hours. There was a running division, a biathlon division for those that choose to mountain bike and run, and then there was the mountain bike division.

Below is a map of the Polecat Gulch trails and the elevation profile for the loop:


Greg and I arrived at the trailhead at about 5:45am. The only one at the trailhead was Dennis, the race organizer. I was a bit worried that we were the only ones participating in the event that day - thankfully I was wrong.


Despite my persistent pleas for Greg to do a run/bike event, or to do the 12 hours of mountain biking, he was just as persistent that he had no desire. He would do a couple laps, but wanted to just be there and be my support for the day. Therefore, Greg had not eaten breakfast so when his stomach began growling, he grabbed from the limited supply of food we brought for the day - a bag of potato chips made with avocado oil.


Without much preparation, I was just ready to get the 12 hour day started!


With a few minutes until 6am, a few of us gathered together for a photo - nothing formal - as you can see there are three checking or setting their Garmins. Within a few minutes, we all geared up and headed out when the event director said "Go"!


I took my iphone with me on the run for a few photos of the trail, but took very few photos.


By 6:15 (after a little bike troubles), Greg was on his bike and hitting the trails! To my surprise, after only a few laps, he decided on a goal - 1 lap per hour for the entire 12 hours!! Woo Hoo!! Thankfully, the night before I had made my own homemade goo (a mix of almond butter, protein powder, glucose, and salt), and subsequently made goo for Greg just in case he decided to bike more than a couple laps -- in fact, I made enough to last him 12 hours even though he had not planned on doing the event :)


I had not been feeling that great running Saturday, and after lap 5 (30 miles), I took an extended break for additional stretching and nutrition. I even contemplated stopping after 30 miles. But feeling refreshed after the break, I threw more water into my camelsback and headed out. I am glad I did!

Here I am coming in at Lap #8.


Feeling good, I decided to run 1 more lap.


After 12 hours of effort, I completed 54 miles. I was a bit disappointed as I was hoping to get in 10 laps, for a total of 60 miles, but it just wasn't my day. But Greg - wow - he did awesome not having prepared for this event at all! He biked 12 laps for a total of 72 miles!!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Not my workout

Crossfit

4 Rounds for time of:
200m Run
15 Push-ups
10 Deadlifts (275/225)

I did real push-ups but used caution with my shoulder, and was very happy that I was able to get through all push-ups without issue. For the deadlift, I chose 130# (was originally going to go for 140#) which was super heavy...even by the end of round 1. I was soooo slow today on this workout that most people were on deadlifts of round 2 by the time I completed my first round. Oh well, my 22:28 can only improve now, right?

For additional work, I only worked on core: slow sit-ups, and couple hundred flutter kicks.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Sick

I didn't make it to Crossfit this morning because of a terrible stomach ache from something I ate Sunday night. It was a great workout too - 800m run, 400m run backwards, 800m run, 400m run backwards. I'll have to incorporate that one into my workouts this week and see if I do better than the last time I did this workout (13:08).

But I did go on a slow run (without my garmin..bummer!) of about 6 miles. I didn't feel good going, didn't feel good doing, and felt like crap after. Not a great idea, but I was hoping I would feel better following the run.

Friday, May 6, 2011

For my birthday -- Little Method

For Crossfit today we did something called "Little Method" which is 8 Rounds of:
1 min row (max effort)
75 second rest

I wasn't really looking forward to this WOD since I absolutely hate rowing, but I was hoping to do better than I did considering I row 1k every morning I go to Crossfit. Oh well :( My distance was: 266, 269, 262, 261, 256, 250, 257, 260

I ran in the afternoon, but haven't uploaded my Garmin yet to find out the distance.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

I call it "The Beast"

Crossfit

Today's Crossfit WOD was a real doozy and certainly not in my wheelhouse!

Five rounds for time of:
15 Ring rows
30 Push-ups
15 Back squat (225/185)

On the ring rows, feet propped on 20″ plyo-box and rings set at arms length such that when you are hanging from the rings your back can touch the ground when arms are fully extended.

42:34
Rows: feet on 20″ box (2 R), floor (remainder)
Push-ups: Rx’d (took forever, but I did it!)
BSquat: 100#(2reps), 95#(remainder, 1st R), 85#(2nd R), 65#(remainder). Tweaked BS weight a bit – sore runner legs.

Later in the day...we went mountain biking for a couple hours! What a great day!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Fun Run

Today I went for a fun run of about 13 miles. I ran a little slow today but I'm not sure why. Didn't feel zippy, I guess, but had a great time out while the sun was shining. But as usual, I am having stomach pains following the run.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Crossfit

Today's WOD was kinda fun. It was a hero workout called "Moore":

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent
Run 400 meters
Max rep Handstand push-up

HSPU knees on 24″ box: 10 / 15 / 14 / 9 / 6
Row 500m instead of run

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Fun Long Run

Today I'm going out for a 26-30 mile run in the Boise foothills with friends. I haven't been running much at all lately, so I don't know how I will feel.

The run is a loop run starting out at Military Reserve where you start your climb up trail 5 (freestone), trail 6, trail 4 (curlew connection), then finally down Three Bears to Shane's, to the high trails through Military Reserve back to home base. Then, do it again!

I have my Garmin charging, and my Ipod fully loaded. I have my glucose, almond butter, protein powder mix, bananas, lots of water and a backup protein bar. I have warm clothes to start the run, and enough more warm clothes to change into if I get too wet/cold (as I plan to hang out to meet the others at the end of loop 1).

I guess the only thing left to do is go and have a good time this morning :)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Death by "Hammer"

"Hammer"

Five rounds, each for time, of:
5 Power clean, 70#
10 Front squat, 70#
5 Jerk, 70#
20 Pull-ups
Rest 90 second

Wow, that was a rough one. After round 1, I was thinking “I don’t know if I can do this”

70#

R1 0-3:34 = 3:34
R2 5:04-9:24 = 4:20
R3 10:54-15:37 = 4:43
R4 17:07-21:55 = 4:48
R5 23:25-28:21 = 4:56
Total time: 28:21

Now I need to stretch and rest in preparation for my 26-28 mile run tomorrow. I'm so excited!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Games WOD 11.5

Even though my legs are pretty darn sore from the 400 meter walking lunges and post-workout foothills run, I decided to go ahead and do the Games workout, 11.5. Greg and Bob were both going to do it and it just looked like fun!

So, 11.5 WOD is a 20 minute AMRAP of:
5 Power cleans (145/100) (I did 70#)
10 Toes to bar
15 Wall balls (20-10′/14-9′)

The last time I did power cleans, my max was 65#, so I wasn't expecting to be able to do the 100# power clean required to participate in the Games. I worked my way up to 70# and that was very heavy. And although that was a good weight for the workout, I should have gone maybe 5-10# heavier to make it a really heavy power clean.

I had trouble with toes to bar -- I just didn't have my kip down at all during the workout. But I got through them.

The wall balls I did 14# to 9' target. Though because there was no actual target for the 9', I just focused on getting it in between the 8' and 10' target, and if the throw was too low, it was a redo. I hate when there is not a firm target though. I loved not using a target ball under my butt because I could actually get into a deep squat, making the throw easier. And I've got a very deep squat so I do not need the target ball and don't plan on using one any more.

The result: 7R + 5PC, + 10 T2B, +8 WB. I'm okay with this number, but I should have added a bit more weight on my power clean, and I could have gone faster! I rested too much and I really did have enough in the tank at the end of the WOD.

I'm surprised that I didn't feel worse during this WOD considering the soreness in my butt and thighs from the lunge walking. After the WOD is a different story - walking up and down our stairs is difficult and my legs are stiffening up if I'm not continuously moving around. I suspect today will be a work while you stand kinda days.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A little twisted

Yesterday I twisted my left knee after the walking lunges while screwing around on the rings. I felt pretty good the rest of the day and in fact went on a short leisurely run without problems. I continued the rest of the day with a lot of stretching, walking around and standing (watching Cameron's lacrosee game). This morning I woke up to a tweaked muscle in my left leg, making walking a little difficult. I'm sure it's just an angry muscle so I'm babying it today with the usual type of treatment: ice, heat, elevate, ibuprofen. I will keep up treatment all day -- the only thing I need to do today outside the house is visit the doctor.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Walking lunges and leisurely run

The Crossfit WOD was: 400 meters walking lunges, and I did it in 10:15! That's a very improved time - the last time I did that WOD, it took me 21 minutes. So I'm very happy about that! I think I could also shave that 15 seconds off to get r' done in less than 10 minutes next time.

I've really been slacking on my Crossfit workouts and running lately. I need to get motivated to train for the next race. So today I'm going to treat myself to an enjoyable run. I will do some CFE on Thursday since I really need to start interval training again. Plus, I'm going to hang for a long run this weekend with a friend on Saturday. I think she is punching out 30 - so I will join in for that. Next week I will really gear up my CFE training and really work extra hard to include lots of heavy KB swings, Deadlifts, back squats, and rebounding box jumps into my workouts to improve my overall strength for my upcoming adventures!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Lacking motivation...lacking fitness

Today's CrossFit workout was

3 Rounds for time of:
20 Parallette Burpees
40 Double-Unders

And it totally sucked! I got so frustrated with the double-unders. The first round I was getting 5 or 7 in a row, but then the 2nd and 3rd rounds I was doing one double-under at a time!! Grrrr!!! In fact, I was so frustrated I refused to look at the clock when I was done. Dammit.

So because I am not feeling good (got some thyroid issues), I am continually frustrated with how I look, feel and perform.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

My Achin' Calves

My calves are SO sore from rebound box jumps on Sunday. So, I am not looking forward to our CrossFit WOD tomorrow morning:

“Helen”

3 Rounds for time of:
400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings 35#
12 Pull-ups

Monday, April 11, 2011

Another 21-15-9 WOD

Today's Crossfit WOD was yet another 21-15-9 WOD. But this one included

HSPU
ring dips
pushups

This is NOT one of my favorite workouts cause I have to tweak the hell out of it...and I'm just about tired of doing the 21-15-9 scheme. But...going with the flow, I modified the workout as follows:

21-15-9
HSPU - knees on 24" box
Ring dips, jumping
Push-ups, regular.

Cuz I just can't do HSPU's, I placed my knees on a 24" box, placed my hands and body close to box for more of a vertical form and landed my head slightly above my hands placement -- like a wide upside down v. These were the easy part of the workout.

For my ring dips, I jumped up into the ring dip and slowly lowered myself down in a as-much-as-possible kinda control. So when is it a good rep or bad rep? How slow must I go to be a good rep? Plus, I don't really know if this is helping me develop ring dips at all. I think allowing me to use a tiny purple band would help me get strength and confidence I need to then eventually lose the band -- just like I did with my pullups. But, oh well...

I really suck at push-ups! So I was just planning to do my normal knee push-ups which are hard too. But then I chatted with my CrossFit friend Annie who was "planning" on doing real push-ups. Well I thought to myself - "I know she's stronger than me and can do real push-ups, but I'm only going to get stronger by doing them. So if Annie's going to do man push-ups, so will I". There. Plus, I had a new hand position I was going to try out. Maybe it won't be as hard?? So, 5 reps in and I realized that this was going to be a long workout :) Slowly but surely, I struggled through the man push-ups - concentrating on getting my hips up before shoulders, and keeping my core tight with a hollow body. Annie killed it - she finished like 10 + minutes ahead of me. Come to find out, Annie switched to knee push-ups after like her first 6 or 9. :'>

This bad-boy workout took me 21:50 to finish. I am wiped!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sunday Fun

CROSSFIT

We don't normally go to the CF gym on Sundays, but Greg wanted to redo the games 11.3 workout so we skipped last day of skiing at Bogus and headed to the gym. Thankfully there was a fun WOD planned! It was:

21 Knees-to-Elbows
3 Box Jumps (20″)
18 Knees-to-Elbows
6 Box Jumps
15 Knees-to-Elbows
9 Box Jumps
12 Knees-to-Elbows
12 Box Jumps
9 Knees-to-Elbows
15 Box Jumps
6 Knees-to-Elbows
18 Box Jumps
3 Knees-to-Elbows
21 Box Jumps

On the box jump, start from on top of the box. No waiting or gathering on the ground. Athlete must land and spring back up on top of the box. One repetition is jumping off the top of the box and bounding back up on top of the box. Step-ups are not counted.

I absolutely loved this workout!! It was my first workout where I was connecting my kipping Knees to elbows; and the first time I rebounded onto a 20" box - and first time where my rest was on top of the box, not the bottom. I loved this because I don't work on rebounding, and I certainly haven't tried it on a 20" box. It's not as hard as I thought, though I am a little clumsy with my movement. I'm really looking forward to implementing these rebounding box jumps into all my box jump workouts!

Oh...this WOD took me like 11-something.

RUN

In the afternoon I took a nice leisurely run - the Hulls Gulch loop. I really concentrated on having fun, but also running in proper form and maintaining good speed.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Friday, April 8, 2011

Fool of April - Day of Skiing, Mtn Biking, Golf, Tennis, etc.

Today was a day of Fun including Crossfit, mountain biking, skiing, tennis, golf, and finally dinner! Here's how the day went:

Crossfit at 6:00 am
5 Rounds for time of:
250m Row
5 Back Squats , 65#
Because of time (I needed to leave by 6:50), I only did 4 rounds. It felt great, but should have done the final round since I had a good 10 minutes to spare! And I should have gone heavier on the backsquat -- 65# was really light!

Mountain Biking at 7:30 am
Mountain biked up 8th to connect to the reverse corals trail until we hit the trailhead for Bob's trail. Then we headed down Bob's. Bob's was fun but definitely had some muddy sections, several high level water crossings and one area of wash-way. I thought I would be cold on this trip but I had hand warmers in my hand, and continually wiggled my toes -- which remained cold but not painfully cold. Overall it was a great ride - our 1st ride of the season.

Skiing at 9:00 am
We headed up the hill at 9, and were skiing shortly after 10. The snow wasn't the best..well, it really wasn't very good. The group we were with kept going down groomer runs...but Sandra and I found some powder to ski in since we both really had groomed runs ;0 Before heading down the hill for tennis, we had a quick snack at the Lodge.

Tennis at 2:00 pm
Played doubles tennis at Crane Creek. I'm not a tennis player but my teammates were very helpful and impressed with my tenacity of hitting the ball. I really enjoyed the game, learning rules.

Golf at 3:30 pm
Played 9 holes of golf at Crane Creek at 3:30. I've had a few lessons, but am unfamiliar with the rules of the game and am very unskilled as I've barely played since the lessons I took well over 10 years ago. Had a great time. Loved to drive the ball; wasn't good at and didn't like putting.

Watching my son Coach Lacrosse game!! 6:30 pm. Cameron is a coach of Timberline JV Lacrosse. After golf, I picked up Greg (w/o changing clothes), then headed out to watch his game in Meridian -- in very cold weather :( Brrr..... They lost the game, but it was a very good game and Cameron learned a lot as a coach. I loved watching him being a coach!

Dinner
After the game, we returned (again without changing clothes) to the country club for dinner, drinks and desert. Yum. But extremely expsensive.

Finally home by 11ish. Time to shower and rest :)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Doing "Diane"

For today's Crossfit workout we did “Diane” which is

21-15-9 reps of:
Deadlift (heavy)
Handstand push-ups

Time: 12-something (I forgot my time)

I decided to go with 120# which is heavy enough for doing a total of 45 reps! And in comparison to a previous workout I did with high reps of deadlifts, I actually felt stronger today. I took fewer breaks and was able to link 5 and 6 at first, then down to 3 and 2 reps in the "15" round, and down to 2 and 1 in the "9" round. I probably should have done 125# though.

Shoulder workouts are not my strength and HSPU are not my thing. So my wimpy self decided to try the whole workout doing the handstand pushups with piked with toes on a 24" box and full extension. Well..that didn't work out so well. I ended up doing 7 with toes on box because I just could not release my shoulders to hit my head on the ground. That was frustrating. So I switched over to knees on box and worked on proper, as knees on box HSPU are too easy.

On the way home I decided to include in my warm up or cool down:
- Light deadlifts to work on form. I think if I do this for a month, then my form will be automatic and then I just have to worry about weight.
- HSPU with knees on box to increase strength and work on form, followed by 5 HSPU with toes on box.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Hike day

I told myself I would take 2 weeks off running following the Ultra; but I'm really itching to run. But to keep myself in line, I've been walking/hiking around the Boise foothills. So today I went for an 1-1/2 hour hike during lunch, and then I went hiking with my sister tonight for another 1-1/2 hours in the rain. My sister is a fast walker/hiker so it's a real treat to go with someone who is serious about getting out and getting a workout.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Pull-ups and Dips...Yay (sigh)

120 pull-ups
120 dips (60 tiny purple, 60 small red band)

25:43

Monday, April 4, 2011

Feeling Strong

Today at Crossfit, our workout was a 12 minute AMRAP of:
20 Lunge to Step up 20"
7 Sumo Deadlift High Pull 45#

I managed to get 8 rounds + 2 step ups which was fairly decent. I'm happy with my rounds. I'm happy to be feeling more energetic in the workouts. And...more importantly, I am taking my coach very seriously -- meaning, I am giving 100% (or very close) to the WOD. I did not take breaks. I did not break my box lunge/steps, or my SDHPs. I did not stop to take a sip of water. I did not concern myself with how others were doing on the WOD. My transition times were minimal. I just kept my head down and did.

My goal is to keep giving 100% to the WOD, pushing myself to new limits.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Rest Day

Nothing to post about.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Saturday Fun

We headed up to Bogus Basin this morning for our Saturday ski day. Alas, it was raining on our way up the hill....and then we got to the top lodge, it was still raining! Big drops! So we turned around and headed down the hill.

We decided to head over to the CrossFit gym to join in their open gym. I didn't do the workout of the day, I came up with one of my own:

11 minute AMRAP
15 35# KB swings
15 double unders
15 strictish pushups

I didn't document how many rounds I did, but it was a good workout!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Friday Fun

Modified recovery WOD
4 R of
25 squats
20 pull-ups
15 dips

Didn’t track the time

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Front Squats

today's workout was a run, clean and jerk workout which I really didn't want to join in the fun for a run....so I did the following modified workout:


1RM front squat 95
45# 3reps on the minute for 20 minutes

The workout was supposed be heavier - like 85# but my right thigh muscle got tweaked. It was strange and didn't lighten up. So, I did the workout using just 45# and basically doing the motion.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Recovery WOD

The workout was the 21-15-9 of 100# DL and OHS workout, which I am not prepared to do. Instead, coach recommended I do:

9 rounds of:
5 100# DL
5 45# OHS

Ultimately I did just 5 reps shy of deadlifts and overhead squats as the others did doing the WOD of 21-15-9, but just in a slower, non-competitive way.

I didn’t track time.

Monday, March 28, 2011

1st WOD Post-Ultra Run

For my first workout following the Ultra, I did:

Five rounds for time of:
15 Medicine ball cleans 14#
15 Wall ball shots 14# to 8' target

Results: 9:47

I was apprehensive about this WOD because of the squats! But once I got started, it felt good. I felt strong and energetic. My breathing was heavy, but I did pretty darn good in general - and good for our gym! We have some killer CF'ers there and my time was competitive. Yay! So, I am very happy with these results! After the WOD, was a different story.

Following the WOD, my leg muscles tightened, walking was difficult and I was exhausted!! I was sore for the rest of the day.

Friday, March 25, 2011

So today we traveled to Moab. We hit some seriously snowy weather entering Salt Lake City and it stayed steady heavy snow and rain until we got about 20 miles out of Moab. I was really worried Moab would be covered with snow. But as we entered...it was rainy but warmer and no sign of snow!

Tomorrow's forecast is 58 degrees, mostly sunny in the morning, and mostly cloudy in the afternoon, to 98% cloudy around later afternoon/early evening (just when I'm finishing up the race). So the weather will be good for the run and my plan is for very short transitions so that I won't have time to get cold, especially in the later laps.

Tonight we had dinner at Zacs. Returned to the hotel and jumped in the hot tub for a bit to loosen up. Took a shower upon returning to the room then Greg helped out by giving me yet another back and neck massage. Still trying to loosen up my hip and the massages really help.

Will report back tomorrow night.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Slow run day

So today is the last day I will run before the race. I went for a leisurely run. My hip was bugging me a little bit so I didn't want to push it.

I also was lucky that my PT had an opening today and I was able to get in to see her. My psoas was more painful today than Tuesday! She said my psoas isn't tight so it might be that it's irritated with what we did to it on Tuesday. She worked on my low back which was still tight (but definitely better than Tuesday) and my piriformis.

I'm feeling better but I'm worried about my hip. I will manage my hip and run the race and do the best I can. I'm stronger than last year but I've run a lot less this year than last so...who knows. Right now, I'm just really looking forward to running and have the best day I can :)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Massage

My wonderful husband is helping in my healing -- he gave me a great massage tonight! I'm feeling better than I have in weeks....though I can still feel my psoas muscle. I'm hoping it will calm down and not bother me at all for the next few days...and especially on race day!

And now I'm hanging out catching up on emails and drinking a diet soda out of a wine glass. I gave up alcohol almost two weeks ago in preparation for the race - though I did have a glass of wine Saturday evening with dinner.

4 Days before the race

Tightness Update: Since yesterday's PT manipulation, I have continued with gentle stretching, heating and icing of my psoas, back and shoulders. Last night I was not awakened by pain in my hip - just the need to pee :) So, perhaps I'm healing...???

So, I was feeling better going into CrossFit this morning. It's usually our day off but since we will be taking Thursday off, and because the workout was so nicely designed for me to do with my upcoming race, we decided to go.

The workout was designed by Tyler and was
15 minute AMRAP of:
10 KB Swings 35#
12 Box Jumps, 12"
15 Sit-ups

I would have preferred a 16" box but there was none available, so I jumped on the 12" box. And I used the prescribed female weight for the KB swing - which is not a heavy weight.

I completed 12 rounds + 8 situps (just 7 shy of 13 rounds!)

The rest of today is a stretching day for me. Still working to get and keep that psoas muscle happy as well as keep my back and shoulders twisty and stretchy.

Monday, March 21, 2011

CountDown to Moab...or not?

Not sure what happened or what to do about it. Once again, my hip is giving me trouble - it's the psoas muscle. I've been stretching it out in so many ways, getting it massaged, ice/heat, and now lathered up with stinky TigerBalm and IcyHot on my hip - yowza that's some powerful stuff on it's own - but in combination it's lethal...and now, so am I ;) I am scheduled to see the physical therapist tomorrow but it's really not much time to get this under control and I'm not hopeful of getting it resolved before the race this Saturday.

So, if my hip isn't feeling better by tomorrow, I'm pulling the plug on the race. I'm hurting, extremely irritated, completely stressed and now I'm downright angry that just a couple weeks before the race, this happens. I'm already feeling extremely physically unprepared for the race, but now to have the psoas muscle bothering me so close to race day is stressing the hell out of me. I'm just not spending hundreds of dollars and two full days of driving on a race that I *might* be able to run. It's just not worth it.

Monday Squats

Crossfit

Today we did a strength workout that I really like. It's

Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Front squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps
Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 reps

I did:
OHS: 65-70-75-80-85-90(fx3)
FS: 95-100-105-110
BS: 115-120--125-127.5

Only 1 PR of only 2.5 pounds on the back squat since November 9, 2010.

Endurance:

2 minutes on/1 minute off x 5 rounds.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Migraine

I had a migraine headache and felt like crap all day today. No skiing, no running, no nothing. In fact, I believe I slept more hours when I was awake.

Friday, March 18, 2011

It's a Wall Ball, Pull-up Kinda Day.

Crossfit

Seven rounds for time of:
10 Wallball shots (14# to 10')
10 Pull-ups

I, of course, kipped my pull-ups though I'm pretty happy that I was doing 7-9 pull-ups in a row before jumping off the bar. There was 1 round that I was thinking of jumping off at 5, but I don't think I did...I think I held on until 6 then jumped off. All other rounds I held out until 7-8 or 9.

On the wall balls, I did the 14# wall ball to 10′ target which I had not done before. I've thrown the 16# ball to the 8' target, and a 12# ball to 10' target, but that extra 2# added a little more pain to the WOD. I ended up doing so many redos because of so many missed reps. Either the WB would end up under the R, or I would throw it high enough but it would not hit the friggin wall. Very frustrating. I even growled out loud in the gym when I missed 5 WB throws in a row! I was averaging at least 1/1 ratio of missed reps in rounds 1-4. Then, Tyler gave me some pointers which helped out tremendously. But for example of how bad this was - in round 7, I only had 6 missed reps total - and that was the fewest missed reps I had in a round!! Yeah...so...that's how that went.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Two Weeks from Moab

It is less than two weeks now until Moab. I'm very nervous and wish I had a month or so to train for this race. I feel a stint with staph infection and little bit of stress related depression has made training more of a struggle - especially at a time when I should have amped up my strength training, intensified my intervals, and just been overall more focused.

Since I'm signed up for the race, I've decided to tighten up the few things: 1) I'm eliminating alcohol; 2) Consistently taking vitamins; 3) eliminating the cheat dairy I love - such as blue cheese; 4) seriously decrease my intake of starchy carbs; 5) Increase stretching! I want my left hip to be solid this year. Hopefully these small tweaks will help in my overall performance on race day.

Crossfit

Today at Crossfit, the WOD was to find 1 rep max of behind the neck Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1.

I reached 87.5, but I could have increased that by 5 or 10 pounds if I had continued working on 1 RM instead of moving on to do the fun AMRAP - which was:

5 OHS (95 /65 )
5 burpees over pirallettes with 3 pushups each set
5 box jump (36"/27")

I chose to use 65# for OHS, real pushups for the burpees, and a wimpy 24" box for the box jumps (I'm bummed I didn't at least try the 27" box!) Because of the 3 pushups per burpee, it was difficult to hold the weight for the OHS. I ended up doing 4 rounds + OHS + burpees.

Crossfit Endurance

Interval training today will be 30/90 sec x 8. I was going to go up something steep but because by back side hurts sooo very much from Saturday's fun (Tabata up, lunge down, tabata up, lunge quarter-way down) I did my intervals on a dirt road with very little elevation gain - though there was some. My times are interesting (and keep in mind how badly my butt hurts right now so my times are not spectacular!):

1 - Speed 7.5, Pace 7:58 *Slowest
2 - Speed 9.0, Pace 6:41
3 - Speed 8.6, Pace 6:57
4 - Speed 8.8, Pace 6:49
5 - Speed 9.1, Pace 6:33
6 - Speed 9.6, Pace 6:16 ** Fastest
7 - Speed 9.2, Pace 6:29
8 - Speed 9.5, Pace 6:19

My best times were in the second half of the workout. For me, I'm usually best in the middle of the workout so I expected my best times to be in rounds 3-6 or 3-7.

Extras:

250 single leg jump ropes
1k row
90 GHD situps

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Rest Day

It's a rest day :)

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Saturday Ski Day and Tabata Run

Today was a ski day, but it sucked :( Last week was excellent skiing - with a lot of great fluffy snow. But this week its been so warm that the snow is melting and then freezing - making it not so much fun to ski on. So Greg and I skied for only a few hours, enjoyed wonderful bloody mary's by Zach at Pioneer Lodge, then went home.

In the afternoon, I did one set of tabata's up 8th street, with lunge walking down to where I began the tabata's; then a second set of tabata's up 8th street, with only about 100-200 meters of lunge walking down hill because I ran out of time and my legs felt like spaghetti. It was a great workout - and I might try it again on Tuesday!

Friday, March 11, 2011

It's a Jerky, Burpee Day!!

CrossFit

For Crossfit today, we had a really fun workout!

First, I had to determine my 1 rep max for my Squat Clean and Jerk. My previous 1RM was 75#, so I knew I was aiming for 80# or 85#. I ended up getting only 80# :( I think I could have increased the weight because the jerk part (which is usually the hardest for me), was easier than the squat. Odd.

The workout includes Squat Clean and Jerks at 85% of 80# = 68#. Rounding up, I put 70# on my bar.

So, here is what we did today:

21 Burpees
1 Squat Clean and Jerk with 70# (85% 1 RM)
18 Burpees
1 Squat Clean and Jerk
15 Burpees
1 Squat Clean and Jerk
12 Burpees
1 Squat Clean and Jerk
9 Burpees
1 Squat Clean and Jerk
6 Burpees
1 Squat Clean and Jerk
3 Burpees
1 Squat Clean and Jerk

My results: 7:49

Crossfit Endurance

Hmmmm...not sure yet.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Continuous Pull-Ups, and Snowboarding

With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute… continuing as long as you are able.

Use as many sets each minute as needed.

Results: I'm fairly positive I got 13 rounds in...because then I tried to do 12 (since I thought we were supposed to taper down), then 11, and then I gave up. Of course I didn't reach my goal on the descending pull-ups of 12 then 11, I got something like 7 then 8, then saw Greg and Angie stop - so I stopped figuring they weren't doing the descending pull-ups.


Then, I went up to Bogus Basin to get back on my snowboard after a couple years. I ended up going down the bunny hill a few times until I remembered how to turn, then went on the bunny hill using the lift, and then I dropped off the bunny hill (though using the same lift) onto one of the green runs on the front - it's a bit steeper and more challenging. I feel like I lost all my snowboarding skills I learned :(

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Hill Training run

Today was my hill training run.

On Wednesdays, I run from our house to Military Reserve by way of Elephants trail. It takes me approximately 15 minutes to run via some fun trails in the Reserve, to Military Reserve Connection trail. From the trailhead, I run up Military Reserve Connection to Crestline to the farthest trail dropping down onto Kestrel. I run down Kestrel to the trail sign. And then I run back. That's one loop. Some days I run this loop four times, sometimes I run it five times.

Today I ran the hill only four times, then spent about a half hour running around in military reserve. Total, I ran 13-1/2 miles, with elevation gain of 2,881. Not a good pace...but oh well.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Day of Sprinting!

Crossfit

Today's Crossfit Workout was:

Ten rounds, each for time of:
100 meter Sprint
Rest 90 seconds

However, the track was kind of slippery at 6:00 am, so Tyler assigned shuttle-runs back at the gym. So I did:

10 rounds of:
- 10m shuttle run, 5 lengths
- 90 seconds rest

my splits: 15, 15, 14, 14, 17(?), 14, 15, 15, 14, 15

I'm not sure what happened with the 17 there -- I must have done the math wrong because I could not have been that much slower than the other rounds.

Crossfit Endurance

I was going to do the mornings workout this afternoon for CFE, but I wanted a little longer sprints and I also wanted to include some hill. So, I did:

10 rounds of:
200 meter sprints uphill (25% gradient, with 54 feet elevation gain each round)
90 seconds rest (between first five), 180 second rest (between final four)

1- 1:03
2- 1:00
3- 1:02
4- 1:05
5- 1:05
6- 1:04
7- 1:02
8- 1:04
9- 1:05
10- 1:12

As you can see, the last round was a rough one :) I was seriously happy when these were over!

Monday, March 7, 2011

A Bear

Today's CrossFit Workout:

7 – 5 – 3
Bear Complex (135/95)
250m Row
Handstand Push-ups

Results: 11:23 w/ 55# Bar and box HSPU w/ lousy form. Ugh.

After the WOD, I did 100 GHD situps - struggling to strengthen my core before the run. Though if it's not strong now, I doubt I will build anything up in the next three weeks.

CrossFit Endurance: Nasty rain and snow today. So in lieu of CFE today, I'm going to do more jumping and some weight vest squats. Fun fun.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Cameron's Birthday..and a rest day

It's Cameron's birthday today - he's 22!!! Happy Birthday Cameron!!!

And, it's my rest day - though I feel I don't deserve it. This week I've been so busy with work, CASA, and a tummy bug that I feel like suck a slacker. Hope this week wont hurt my performance :(

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Best SKi day ever!!!

Lots of snow at Bogus Basin -- and we had the best tree powder ski day!!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Making Progres on Upper Body - Woo Hoo!

So today's CF workout was hard...very hard! It was:

Five rounds for time of:
Back squat, 20 reps (135#/95#)
Handstand walk 20 yards

I scaled it, of course! I did an 85# back squat (there were going to be 100 of them!), although I maybe should have pushed it a bit and gone for 95#. I can not do handstand walking - and the scaling was to do 60 wall hand stand walks per round. I had only ever tried handstand walks a couple of times for a few reps and only with bands! And thankfully my coach really wasn't giving another option other than the handstand walks. So after crawling up the wall and making a couple attempts I thought I would give it a go - totally thinking there is no way I'm going to complete the workout.

But complete it I did! t took me 35:28 but I'm thrilled! The squats really hurt and I ended up breaking them up into sets of 5, but I tried to stay true to form on each rep. And the handstand walks....well, I hate being upside down and my upper body strength isn't good so I didn't have high hopes of getting completing this part of the workout. But I was able to do my first 20 in each round without breaking them; then the next 20-40 were sets of 10 or 12, but the last set of on round 5 was broken into 6/4. My wrists just killed me and my form needs improvement, but overall thrilled with completing this WOD. It showed me that I am making some real progress on my upper body strength, coordination, and conquering my fear of being upside down :)

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sit-ups, squats and burpees

3 rounds for time of:
50 Situps
30 Squats
20 Burpees over a parallette

Time: 13-something

Very disappointed with my time on this WOD. I do well at situps, squats and burpees so I should have killed at this WOD but for some reason no gas in the tank, and I miscounted on my first round of both the situps and burpees! Not my day!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Today's 2 hour hill training run - failed

So today I went out for my weekly Wednesday 2 hour hill training run. Unfortunately I had a terrible stomach bug -- and I ended up returning home after merely 1 hour of running, and only getting in 1324 in elevation work.

Getting worried with all the training delays.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

McCluskey

Crossfit

For Crossfit today, we did "McCluskey" which is 3 rounds of:

9 Muscle-ups
15 Burpee pull-ups
21 Pull-ups
Run 800 meters

If you’ve got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

Since I can't do muscle-ups, I did the substitution which was 15 dips, and I used a tiny purple band (but ultimately lacked the depth for full ROM, and should have gone with a red band instead to get that full ROM).

As far as the weight vest, I decided on 7#, but in all the bustle of getting geared up for the WOD, I did not weigh my vest after pulling out a number of the sandbags. I ended up doing the WOD in a 6# vest.

My results: 40:54 w/ 6# vest

Monday, February 28, 2011

Monday Fun

Crossfit

WOD: Hang power snatch 3-3-3-3-3 reps

I did okay, but should have been able to pull off bigger numbers. 45-50-55-55-60(f)-60(f) If we had more time, I would have gotten the 60#. I became unfocused when others in the gym started to set up for the bonus WOD of:

5 rounds for time:
- 3 hang power cleans (35#)
- 6 pullups
- 9 frog-leap box jumps (20″)

Results: 5:19

Crossfit Endurance

30 seconds on/1:00 rest x 8. Used the hill by elephants perch. Nice elevation.

Extra

1000 jump rope, single unders

125 single leg jumps, right

125 single leg jumps, left


Sunday, February 27, 2011

Rest Day

Wheh...it's a rest day :) though I did go for a 1.5 hour hike/run with a friend who is getting back to running after a series of unfortunate injuries and a very recent arthroscopic surgery.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Saturday Ski Day

Today was a great ski day at Bogus Basin! Lots of fun powder to play in -- though we did not play for long. Just a couple hours.

For my extra work today, I did:
5, 1 minute front planks
3, 1 minute right side planks
2, 1 minute left side planks

300+ single foot jumps. Left foot is weaker and I have trouble jumping. So I will focus more on my left than my right.

1000 single both foot jumps :)

Friday, February 25, 2011

Max Back Squats

Crossfit WOD

85-95-105-110-115
need to work on reaching back far enough w/ hips

Wod @ 85#: 2 back squat on the minute for 10 minutes, exploding from the bottom of the squat.

Crossfit Endurance: Nothing today. I have 3 meetings spread out during the day.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Fun Crossfit WOD

What I did for Crossfit today:

Row 1K
20# Dumbbell snatch, 50 reps
Row 750m
20# Dumbbell snatch, 35 reps
Row 500m
20# Dumbbell snatch, 20 reps

My results: 21:05

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Today's 2 hour hill training run

Today, it's my 2 hour hill training run. Since I've been kinda lazy lately, I'm going to work real hard and push through today. I'm sore from Monday's workout (Cindy) but it's mostly upper body (from pushups and pullups) and quads (from squats). It may be challenging but I have got to focus on my pace and mental strength. Will post results.

Ran 2 hours, with 2252 elevation gain, little over 10 miles. Trails were muddy and I ended up walking around a couple muddy sections several times. Wish the trails were cooperating.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tuesday Deadlift

Today was 3-3-3-3-3 deadlifts.

My numbers were not impressive:
115
125
135
140
145(f)
135

I would like to get up to 165 for this WOD! That's my new goal. I'm super impressed with some of the girls in my gym who are about my size and can lift 190-215, 3RM!!! Wow!

No intervals today. No extra work today. Feeling fatigued - though I really need to get my butt in gear! This is the time I should be really working hard and I feel as if I'm not doing everything I can to prepare for this race. Lazy.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Cindy and Skiing

“Cindy”
AMRAP, 20 minutes:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats
Total: 17 rounds, knee pushups
Next time I will try to do as many rounds doing real push ups as possible before switching over to knee pushups.

Then we went skiing. No interval training today. Will that hurt me for my run...I doubt it. We had a ton of fun and worked hard in that wonderful fluffy snow :)

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Rest Day

Today is a rest day. Not that I really deserve one this week but it feels good to take it! Tomorrow is a CrossFit and ski day : )

Saturday, February 19, 2011

It's a SKI DAY!!

Today was my free day to do whatever fun active activity I like! And, since it's snowing out -- Greg and I packed the car and went up skiing at Bogus Basin. Lots of fluffy white snow and perfect between-the-tree runs :) Given the lack of snow fall, we've been skiing a lot of groomed runs, which are b o r i n g, and the fluffy powder was exactly what I wanted.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Kelly - Another named CF WOD

“Kelly”

5 rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
30 Box jump, 24 " box
30 Wall ball shots, 12# to 10' target

Results: It took me a disappointing 40:30. This was my first time doing this WOD so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Now I know - it seriously sucks, and I seriously struggled through it.

The run was the only part that I felt pretty good about. 400 meters isn't long and I felt like I kept a fairly good pace throughout the WOD.

After the run, I was faced with jumping on a 24" box. I, of course, stood around trying to catch my breath and convince myself to jump on the box. I spent so much time between each jump - it was bad...very, very bad. What I learned after the WOD was I should: step up or jump up on the box immediately after the run, if tired step-up on the box until ready to jump again, and step down as an alternative to jumping down. I suspect if I use these recommendations I will gain some time.

As for the wall balls, I really don't suck at this movement but today I could not find a rhythm! I seriously struggled with these today - I would do 1 or 2 at a time then stand around before finally picking up the ball again. I would repeat this until I reached 30. It felt very chaotic.

Crossfit Endurance:

I decided that even though I did a longer workout this morning, I was in real need for longer interval training. I decided on 1250 meter sprints x 5 w/ 3 minute rest:

1- 7:16, with 96 ft gain
2- 5:51, with 109 ft gain
3- 6:19, with 124 ft gain
4- 5:54, with 86 ft gain
5- 6:12, with 153 ft gain

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Annie

Crossfit

Today at Crossfit we did a workout called “Annie”. It seems fairly easy and simple. Annie is

50-40-30-20 and 10 rep rounds of:
Double-unders
Sit-ups

I've done this workout numerous times in the past - and so it is nice to see a steady improvement!

5-18-10: My first time at Annie. I was still just learning the double unders. My notes from the workout said, "My time really stinks because I don’t link my DUs. But by the end of the WOD, I was beginning to link the DUs with singles in between – doing 4 and 5 in a row! Woo Hoo!" My time: 13:51.

8-13-10: My next Annie workout. I was still struggling with double unders, but I was doing 1 single in between every one 1 double. My time had improved slightly to 12:58.

2-17-11: Today's Annie workout was much improved!! Not doing any singles during the workout except for the 2 or 3 I did before starting the double unders. I was actually linking 4s, 5s, 6s, and 7s together. Once in awhile I linked fewer but that only happened a couple times. I'm happy with my performance today. Today, I did Annie in 8:47!! Next time, I'm shooting for sub-8 minutes!

Preworkout fun: 1,000 meter row, KB training including trying american swing with 53#KB, rope climbs from floor, ring dips (working towards muscle ups!), push-ups (just cuz I suck at'em!)


Endurance

Tabata's! 20:10x8 up 8th street. I compared my times with those on January 31st. However, the big difference is that I started in a different location. On 1/31, I climbed 98, whereas today I gained 172. That's double the elevation (though not much elevation, period). Fastest speed today was 8.7 w/ 6:53 pace w/ zero gain, compared to 1/31 where I had a 9.4 at 6:22 w/ a gain of 10. Bummer! My slowest pace today was (an embarrassing number as I seriously lacked energy for this 20 seconds) 12:40 w/ elevation gain of 35 -- this on my 7th run and I was super tired; compared to a pace of 10:11 with 19 elevation on 1/31. I thought I ran stronger today than the 31st....but I'm not comparing apples to apples so I can't really tell. I am shocked by the 12:40 pace though -- wondering if Ms. Garmin got it wrong or if I was seriously as slow as a turtle for those 20 seconds. I mean...that's really really slow!

Additional Work post CFE

For my additional work, I did 100 single leg jumps on each side, total 200. Then I did 500 single unders. Planned to do 1000, but my feet were feeling sore so I stopped at 500. Also quickly did 5 front planks, 2 planks on r, 2 on left x 1 minute each. 20 push-ups, 20 1 legged squats and tried working on rocking hollow - which I really suck at :(

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Wednesday rest day

I didn't do well on yesterday's training run - seriously ran out of energy. Only ran about an hour + for my 2 hour training run -- and walked the hills which is completely not like me! I've been fatigued, back ache, had difficulty catching my breath, and have a constant low grade headache. While fatigue may be cause by just a very little bit of over-training, the remainder I believe are a result of the antibiotic. So...today I'm taking what I believe to be a well-deserved rest day!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tuesday Crossfit and Training Run

Today's Crossfit was a lot of fun!

21-15-9, for time:
Box Jumps 20″
Pull-ups
KB Swings 53
Push-ups

I didn't do great, just okay. Results: 10:18 w/ modifications
20″ box
Pull-ups (1st 12 in a row)
53# kb, russian (unbroken)
push-ups (1st 5 real, rest knee)
*Plan to work on full ROM of 53# KB swings, and need to work on real push ups!

CFE
I went to run my 2 hour hill training run today for Crossfit Endurance. I only made it to 1 hour, 24 minutes! I ran extremely slow and was exhausted with any elevation. I ended up walking quite a bit, and ran up all the hills - which is unusual for me - I love hills! I decided to go home instead of slugging through the run. Sad.

Additional Training
Walked around with a weight vest on. Walked up and down our stairs 12 times, and did 125 squats.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Slight deviation in training

Today's Crossfit WOD was fun!

Five rounds of:
5 Dumbbell deadlifts
5 Dumbbell hang cleans
5 Dumbbell push presses
5 Dumbbell squats

I'm feeling a bit fatigued and a little sick from the antibiotic I'm currently taking for a potential staph infection (see Saturday's post), so this was a great workout for me. I didn't need a lot of energy -- something I have less of since starting this medication.

I'm not very strong but thought I would be able to increase my weight, ending at 40#. Boy was I wrong. I started at 15#, and the most I was able to successfully lift was 30#. I tried twice to lift 35# and was able to deadlift and hang clean the weight but could not push press 35# overhead. My attempts went like this: 15-20-25-30-35f-35f-30.

Endurance:
Today is supposed to be an endurance day, however I may change up my week as weather forecast is rain all day Wednesday. Plus, I ran Hulls twice yesterday, instead of my normal rest day. If I do my hill training tomorrow, I should give my legs a rest today and avoid CFE - though I need to add it later in the week.

Extra work:
I worry about my core and hips for the ultra run. I felt a little muscle irritation in my left hip during yesterday's run. So, I will spend time this afternoon working my core, hip and doing a little 1 legged jumping.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Running Hulls Gulch on medication

Saturday's are my days to do whatever - ski, bike, run, Crossfit. No training - just fun! But since I was at the doctors, I missed out.

I was warned the medication I'm now taking will interfere with my workouts - but my thought is that I eat extremely healthy and am in great shape, so it is likely not to affect me as it does the every day average joe.

So, today I ran Hulls Gulch - twice!! I didn't have my Garmin on so I'm bummed that I don't have my time documented. But today was so beautiful out and I miss running Hulls (it's been a bit mucky). I felt okay on the first trip and decided to run a second loop. Actually, I planned to run Hulls and Sidewinder but Sidewinder looked pretty muddy so I decided to keep going but was not tired when I finished. Plus I wanted to be outside, so I went on a second loop. Fatigue set in fairly quickly for the second loop and I also felt irritation of my left hip muscle. Once home, I got some protein in me (egg drop soup with crab!) but soon felt overwhelmingly fatigued and ill. My legs were sore, my stomach upset, my head pounding, I layed on the couch trying to recover. I was pretty done for the remainder of the day. I'm not sure if it's just that I'm not in great shape right now, or over trained, or the medication, or a combination of it all - but yesterday was not good and I don't want a repeat of it.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Infectious

Well I spent about 4 hours today going to, being seen by and undergoing treatment from various physicians for a potential staph infection in my hand as a result of a heavy hand workout from Crossfit on Friday.

As you can see from my self-portrait, my hands got pretty torn up after the CrossFit WOD. My right hand had a lot of blisters, but only one blister that popped. My right hand looked bad but felt good. My left hand, however had 2 popped blood blisters and a large tear from a blister on my ring finger. My left hand looked and felt horrible!


However, last night I had difficulty sleeping partly because I had restless legs, and partly because I could not get in a position that made my right hand feel better. Yep - my right hand!

When I woke, I took a good look at my right palm (just under the middle finger) and noticed the blister in the palm of my hand had filled with liquid. There was also redness and swelling from the blister up to the middle finger - about 1 inch in length. I pressed down on the blister and out came pus. Uh-oh, it's infected.




We contacted Greg's brother, Dr. Ed Perkins, who was able to see my wound via skype, and referred us to a Nampa physician, Dr. Richard Augustus. Dr. Augustus diagnosed a staph infection, though a culture will determine the exact type of bacteria located in the wound, and prescribed Bactrim. I will be on the antibiotic for 10 days. I hear some of the side affects include fatigue :( I'm in great shape and eat well so I hope fatigue will not be so bad as to interrupt my training.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Holy Cats!

Greg and I slept in this morning, so we missed our 6am class, but made it to the 7am CrossFit class. Today is a mainsite rest day, so Tyler designed the WOD:

3 sets of 4 Rounds for time of:
7 Deadlift (135/95)
7 Knees-to-Elbows
7 Pull-ups

Rest 2 minutes between sets

I did this WOD as prescribed. My deadlift was 95# which was a good weight, but got pretty darn heavy pretty darn fast. I was doing 2-3 DLs at a time. Knees to elbows I did using my new kipping technique which allows me to do them pretty fast but it's harder on your hands. Plus, I need more development in my lats to consistently get my knees to my elbows. Half were to my elbows, half were to my chest. I also stunk on pull-ups which I was doing 2-3 at a time. My results:

6:20
7:25
9:57
total with breaks 27:42

(Compared to Angie in our class who rocked it: 5:24, 6:27, 6:20 for a total time of 22:11. Amazingly consistent and fast!)

My hands were very tender and sore even before this workout. So just jumping on the bar each round was seriously not fun. I would hang out in front of or underneath the bar trying to convince myself to grab the bar and GO. Just touching the bar hurt. I was aware early on that my sore hands were likely to get blisters and if I was lucky, they would not tear during the workout. I tried to baby them between reps/rounds, but ended up with huge tears on my left hand, blood blisters, and just plain old blisters.

Good WOD. Tough on hands.

Of note - I do so much better when I find a corner of the gym where I am by myself, and can focus on just my workout. No distractions. Today I had Greg behind me and a new girl in front of me who was doing a different workout. I found this very distracting and did not get into my zone - a place where I can blank out everything and everyone around me - where I concentrate on just counting my reps - where I can focus on form. My zone is where I work best and perform best. I have to figure out a way to find my zone despite where I am located in the gym. Why am I so scattered when others are around me? Why do I waste time watching others when I should just be doing my workout? This is definitely something to work on because there isn't always going to be a corner available just for me :)

CFE Workout:

So instead of 3x800 meters (which I was thinking of doing this morning) I did 4 x 5 minutes with 3 minute rest between. Rounds 1 and 3 have a slight decline in elevation while rounds 2 and 4 have slight incline. I'm unhappy with the distance covered in 5 minutes:

1- .70
2-.57
3- .71
4- .60


Thursday, February 10, 2011

A Crossfit hero workout

I'm very anxious on Wednesday evenings to check out the WOD for Thursday - moreso than any other day. Wednesdays are my heavy hill training days - leaving my posterior chain and legs depleted. So when I saw today's WOD, I knew today would be difficult. Today's WOD is a Crossfit hero workout called "Wittman". Wittman is:

7 rounds for time of:
35# KB swing, 15 reps
55# Power clean, 15 reps
15 Box jumps, 24″ box

A few months ago I changed my strategy on CF workouts. Since I want to gain strength, I'm going heavy on my workouts, so I lift the prescribed female weight (if I can), or as close as possible. Also, I want to get better at jumping to help my box jumps, jump rope and ultimately my running. So, I use the 24" box on workouts.

Keeping that in mind, I chose the prescribed weight for females for the KB swing. This was a no-brainer for me as this is a fairly easy movement and 35# is not difficult. I was able to do all rounds of the 15 reps unbroken.

For the power cleans, I went 10# shy of the prescribed weight for females (65#), which was still really heavy for me given the number of reps. These really sucked in the beginning as I was not performing one fluid movement - I was breaking into two movements which made it a lift at the top. I thought I would need to drop 10#. But then Tyler came by and corrected my form, instructing me on the one fluid movement concept. That made a world of difference. Although the weight was still at a high suck factor level, I knew I could get through 15 reps on each round (though they were broken up into sets of 5s and 10s). Given the fluidity in the form I learned, I think in the future I will increase my weight to 60#, if not 65#.

I chose the 24" box for the box jumps instead of the 20" prescribed for females. This is where I spent a lot of time standing around while the clock ticked away. I would guess I was more depleted today because of yesterday's hill training, which caused not only more leg fatigue but also caused me to hesitate more between reps for fearing of catching an edge.

I finished "Wittman" in 28:16. Ultimately I am happy with the weights I chose and the height of the box - but unhappy with how much time I waste trying to catch my breath. I want to learn to pick up the weight (or jump on the box) without trying to get another 10 breaths in before I do - it's going to suck with or without those extra breaths so why not just take 1 breath and go!

Supplement:
As always, there are many things I need to work on in addition to Crossfit and Crossfit Endurance. I supplement my morning workouts with afternoon fun. Today that fun included 5 rounds of 20 plank ball knee-ups, and 100 situps; 100 single jumps per foot; and some hip strengthening work that is just too difficult to explain.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Crossfit WOD: HSPU, toes to ring and ball cleans

Today's Crossfit WOD was an interesting one:

20 minute AMRAP
5 pirallette handstand pushups
10 toes to rings
15 medicine ball cleans

Mods: I can't do HSPU, let alone on pirallettes! So, I modified the HSPU by placing my toes on a 24" box and angling down for HSPU. I tried this technique once before, but this is the first time I performed this motion in a workout. Prior, I did knees on box which is easier. So...I am making progress. I was able to do the toes to rings but with a big swing, and I was on rings in front of a bunch of weights which was distracting when I hit. The medicine ball cleans were fun - and I did those with a 16# ball - the prescribed weight for females.

My results: 5 rounds + HSPU + toes to rings + 2 cleans

For my extra work today, I am: wearing a 20# weight vest around the house for a few hours while cleaning house, walking around, sitting here writing posts. Also planned for the day is more jump roping (to beat up my feet) and some 24" box jumps.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Monday's Core, CF, CFE

On Mondays, I do both the Crossfit WOD, and Endurance work. I like to use the workouts listed on the Crossfit Endurance website, but don't follow the days when they are posted.

Crossfit WOD:


5 Rounds for time of:
30 Double-Unders
25 Sit-ups
20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls #45
16:51

Note: DUs took too long. I did one single between every DU. Cant string together yet. SDHPs were heavier than expected but I am trying to do as many of the WODs as prescribed. So, I was a little slower but doing the heavier weight will help me in the long run, I hope.

Endurance:

For my endurance work, I wanted to do more of a tabata type run but have done too many tabata's lately (20:10x8). A variance on this is one that was posted on CFE a few months ago and which I did in December. It is 30:30x15 (30 seconds on, 30 seconds off x 15 rounds). I thought I could compare today's CFE with the last one but apparently I did this CFE on the same loop - but in the opposite direction. Ugh.
Results (best/worst): 14th lap 5:53 pace, 10.2 speed, and .08 distance. Worst was (of course) my 1st lap which was 8:40 pace, 6.9 speed and .06 distance.

Extra:

Core: I also worked on my core today which I really need to be more diligent about. I did only 5, 1 minute front planks, 5, 1 minute right sided planks, and 5 1 minute left sided planks. No breaking of time which was really hard. My goad was 10 front planks, but was completely exhausted after 5! I also attempted the rocking cradle which I am still amazed that I cannot do! Jump: 250 single jump rope jumps on each foot.