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