Ev's CrossFit-ish-ness

2012-02-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

February 11, 2012

9am

A. Max Rounds Plus Reps:
6 Minutes: 30 Double-Unders & 10 Wall Balls @ 20#/14#
Rest 1 Minute
4 Minutes: 30 Double-Unders & 10 Wall Balls @ 20#/14#
Rest 1 Minute
2 Minutes: 30 Double-Unders & 10 Wall Balls @ 20#/14#

4 rounds + 4 wall balls

B. 3 Rounds of Max L-Sit Holds

I subbed 3 attempts at tuck holds: :40/:25/:17

4pm

Lake Merritt - 3.1 miles (very little elevation change)

2012-02-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

February 9, 2012

2 rounds

400 meter run

rest 2 minutes

2 rounds

200 meter run

rest 1 minute

1:39/5:37/8:36/10:35

Run time minus 5 minutes of rest 5:35

B. 5-5-5 Bench Press

95# across

I'm glad I was able to do this. Maybe I'll even get my 105# 5 rep max back.

2012-02-06T19:56:00.001-08:00

February 7, 2012

6:30pm Lake Merritt run - 1 loop

2012-02-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

February 6, 2012

A. 5-5-5 back squat

155#

B. For Time:

3 rounds

400 meter run

15 overhead squats @ 75# (subbed 65#)

13:00

2012-02-05T18:20:00.000-08:00

3.55 hill run/walk at Tilden. The hills are starting to feel less brutal. My knees, particularly the left one hurt during the run and my ankles, mostly my left as well, are sore.

2012-02-04T14:48:00.001-08:00

February 4, 2012

As Many Rounds + Reps in 20 Minutes of:
6 Thrusters 115#/75# (subbed 65#)
9 Chest to Bar Pull-ups
12 Kettlebell Swings 53#/35#

7 rounds + 6 thrusters.

Egads, this was rough. I had my first training session this morning. We didn't run much, it was more of a form clinic. I'm started to get really excited about running. Trail run in Tilden tomorrow.

2012-02-01T14:50:00.001-08:00

February 1, 2012

A. Work up to a Heavy Single in the Following Complex: 2 Push Presses + 1 Split Jerk

100# - got feedback that I re-dipped on at least one of my presses, so no dice. I went down to 95#.

B. For Time:
10 Strict Presses @ 70% 1RM Press
150 Double Unders
20 Push Presses @ 70% 1RM Press
100 Double Unders
30 Push Jerks @ 70% 1RM Press
50 Double Unders

Used 55#.

15:48 - Wow, my arches, calves and shins are sore!

2012-01-30T21:16:00.000-08:00

January 30, 2012

A. Back Squat 5RM

165#

B. For Time:
Run 400m
50 Dumbelll Front Squats 45#/30#
50 Dumbell Walking Lunges 45#/30#
Run 400m

Skipped part B. I ran 40 minutes this morning, my first time out training for a 1/2 marathon in Humboldt County on May 6. I'm running it as a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and need to raise $2400.00 by April 19. So far I've raised $425.00. Oh my goodness. I'm not sure which to me more freaked out about, the running or the fundraising. I just need to take a deep breath and get to work. I can do this.

2012-01-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

January 28, 2012

6 Rounds, 1 Minute Each of:
Kettlebell Swings 53#/35#
1 Minute Rest
Box Jumps 24#/20# (Must stand up at the top of the box)
1 Minute Rest
Burpees
1 Minute Rest

138 kb swings/114 box jumps (21" box)/75 burpees

2012-01-26T20:29:00.000-08:00

January 26, 2012

A. Front Squat 3RM, Then Take 10% Off and do 4 Reps

125#

B. 5 Rounds:
3 HEAVY Power Cleans
10 Plate-Elevated Push-ups
25 Air Squats

10:48 (95#)

My form on the cleans was pretty terrible today. Push-ups felt a little easier than last time I did them and legs were a tad sore still from the back squat and thruster day but not too terrible.

2012-01-23T19:19:00.000-08:00

January 23, 2012

A. Back Squat 5RM,
Then Take 10% Off and Do 6 Reps

165# - Awww yeah, getting it back.

B. As a 2 Person Team, 50 Thrusters @ HEAVY

85# - did total of 23 reps. My partner used dbs and did 27. Our time was 6:01. I had trouble firing the hips. I was doing something like a front squat followed by an ugly press. Ouch. I got a little better with some coaching but my form was all over the map, elbows falling and torso collapsing at the bottom and all the usual ugly little bits that happen with a bad thruster.

2012-01-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

A. Shoulder Press 5-5-5
75-75-75(x4 and tried again and got x4 again - uff)

B. For Max Reps:
Tabata Wall Balls 20#/14#
Tabata Double Unders

166 - I got 7 wall balls first round and 3-4 on average after that, a couple of times only 2. Boo :(

Did some sprints, in the rain, afterwards with a couple of CFO ladies.

400 meters - 1:44

400 meters - bailed after about 150 meters

200 meters - :54

200 meters - :55

2012-01-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

30-25-20-15-10 Power Cleans 135#/95#
5-10-15-20-25 Ring Dips (w/ Turn-out)
Then, finish with a 400m DB farmer's walk w/ 45#/30#

* Partition the reps as you see fit. Only one person working at a time. For the farmer's walk, both team members will do the 400m together with each one taking turns holding the dumbells.
Not sure what our time was. I used rx weight but did dips on a box, instead of ring dips.
I did 15,10,8,5 and 3 cleans, for a total of 41. I did a larger share of the dips, which are pretty easy on the box. Maybe I should have done modified ring dips instead.

B. Accumulate 2-3 minutes in a partner assist handstand hold.

I did 2 attempts of 30 seconds each. It was really fun!!!

2012-01-18T08:59:00.001-08:00

January 18, 2012

A. Squat Clean 2-2-2-2-2

100#

B. 7 Rounds for Time:
9 Burpees
6 Box Jumps @ 24”/20”
3 Deadlifts @ HEAVY

12:24 @ 194# DLs

2012-01-18T08:57:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2012

A. Weighted Pull-up 5-5-5

No weight added. 1 (palms out), and 4 singles (palms in). I've slid, though it's good to see I can still do some dead hangs. I'd love to get back to being able to do multiples and add some weight. Come on Mission Clean Up Diet.

B. 4 Rounds, 2 Minutes Each of:
200m Run
Max Pull-ups
1 Minute Rest Between Rounds

11-11-13-11 = 46 rx

2012-01-16T18:32:00.000-08:00

January 16, 2012

A. Backsquat 3-3-3
* Use the same weight for all three work sets

155 across, which felt kind of heavy. I kept folding over at the bottom but my depth and form were otherwise ok.

B. 5 Rounds:
5 Man Makers 45#/30# DB
12 DB Walking Lunges45#/30#

20:35

I did the man-makers on the first round with 30# and then went down to 25# dumbells for the remainder of the workout. I just wanted it to be over. In the third round, I told myself I only had to finish that round. Somehow I managed to finish all 5. Now I have a headache. I'm glad I showed up.

2012-01-15T09:42:00.000-08:00

I finally broke down and got an iPhone. This, in addition to long work hours in the past few months and declining diet habits, is a dangerous development that does not bode well for my health and fitness. I was up late, playing games, watching streaming video on the computer and eating candy. What has happened to me? What am I doing? I'm a hot mess this morning but the best I can do is to eat well and do a little exercise on my own. I'm running way too late for class and am too run down to hit a heavy workout. Tomorrow, I go to class.

2012-01-09T21:42:00.001-08:00

January 10, 2012
A. Bench Press 5-5-5
* Use the same weight for all 3 sets
95x3, 90x3, 90x3 - Wow, what a let down. I've lost some serious poundage on my bench. :(

B. For Time:
50 Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups
75 Push-ups
150 Double-unders
* 15 Min Time Limit
Got through the pull-ups, about 1/2 were chest to bar and I did them all palms in. I did 55 push-ups and then scrapped that plan and started on double-unders, of which I got 47. This was a discouraging day all around.

2012-01-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

January 9, 2012
A. Backsquat 5-5-5
* Use the same weight for all 3 sets
135#

B. "Death-By-Clean & Jerk"
1 Clean-and-Jerk in 1st Minute
2 Clean-and-Jerks in 2nd Minute
3 Clean-and-Jerks in 3rd Minute
Etc.
* Go until you can no longer get the required number of reps in the minute.
Rx'd weight = 135#/95#
5 rounds + 5 reps - I had the bar overhead but didn't have my arms locked out at the end of the 6 minutes. Doh.

I deliberately took it easy today. With all the time missed, I've lost a lot in the way of strength, stamina, etc. and it sucks way too much to take a beating and be sore for the rest of the week. I'm glad I showed up and I'm glad I was reasonable and not masochistic.

2012-01-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

January 4, 2012
5 rep max back squat
135# today. My quads are still surprisingly sore from the weekend. I didn't dare do any more weight because I felt a sharp pain, different from the usual general soreness, that got worse with squatting.

30 reps thrusters @ 65-75% of 1 rep max
10 toes to bar for each time the bar touches the ground
I really don't know what my 1 rep max is but I wasn't taking any risk with my legs being fried so I went with a safe 65#
I did the thrusters in 10-5-5-10, for a total of 30 toes to bar. I got stubborn on the last round as I didn't want to do anymore toes to bar.
6:34 rx

2011-12-31T09:03:00.001-08:00

December 31, 2011
"Murph"
For Time:
Run 1 Mile
100 Pull-Ups
200 Push-Ups
300 Squats
Run 1 Mile
65:23 rx (on cold medicine and ailing)
Christ, this is over 10 minutes longer than my best time. Sad. At least I finished. Oh, and one good thing: I did the first mile in 8:30. Yeay!

2011-12-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

Max rep body weight squats (practice)
I did 5 @ 132# and realized this was not a good day to try this. I'm quite sore from whatever I've done in the past week.

AMRAP in 20:00
18 box jumps @ 20"
15 toes to bar
12 pull-ups
3 rounds + 3 pull-ups
Ouch. I thought I had at least 5 rounds in me but slowed down to a crawl after finishing the third round.

2011-12-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

December 28, 2011
A. 3 Sets:
Max Rep Strict Pull-ups
2 + 3 + 2 = 8 (all palms in, but multiples nonetheless)

B. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 15 Minutes:
5 Burpees
10 Deadlifts @225/155#
20 Double Unders
7 round even - but I accidentally used the women's 33# bar which means my DL was only 142#. Oops.

2011-12-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

December 23 and 24 I swam laps, one time a Sprint 8 format and the second time just 10 laps, not timed.

December 26, 2011
A. Back Squat 5-Rep Max
155# - We ran out of time so for the last round I jumped to 175# to see if I could do even one rep. One is exactly what I got.

B. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 9 Minutes:
6 Any Way Shoulder To Overhead @135#/95#
6 Barbell Walking Lunges @135/95#
4+3 jerks
I did use the 95# weight, despite hesitation. I thought it might not be feasible given how much I've been missing classes and eating not enough or all things non-paleo or both. It was hard but I managed. Only thing is now I feel like sleeping and I have light halos in my peripheral vision. Yuck.

C. 15-20 Ball-ups
I did knee-ups. I don't have the core-strength to get all the way up to the pill bug position. Not yet.

2011-12-19T20:19:00.001-08:00

December 19, 2011
A. Front Squat 3-Rep Max
125#

B. 4 Rounds:
200 Meter Run
10 Snatch Grip Deadlift @155#/105# (subbed 85#)
10 Hang Power Cleans @155#/105# (subbed 85#)
16:07
Crackers on a stick, this was hard. I've done a ton of backsliding. Time to get consistent again.

2011-12-18T09:24:00.001-08:00

Make-up (Friday's) WOD:
A. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 10 Minutes:
5 Front Squats @185#/125# (subbed 95#)
7 Ring Dips With Turnout (subbed push-ups)
6 rounds + 5 push-ups

-Rest 2 Minutes

Max Rounds Plus Reps In 7 Minutes:
5 HIGH Box Jumps (used a tall box, whatever the one is after 24")
7 Knees-to-elbows
5 rounds + 5 box jumps

-Rest 2 Minutes
Max Rounds Plus Reps In 5 Minutes:
10 Kettlebell Swings @53#/35#
10 Jumping Lunges
4 rounds + 3 swings

B. Optional Finisher:
2-3 Sets:
10 Meter plank walk with toes together on an iron plate.
Did 2 sets w/ 5 lb plate. This was a little rough on the wrists and generally rough after a workout but doable.

2011-12-17T16:45:00.001-08:00

December 17, 2011
A. 3 Rounds:
400 Meter Run With Plate @45#/35#
30 Ball Slams @20#/12#
15 Pull-ups
20:48
That plate felt mighty heavy. Pull-ups were easier today.

B. 5 Sets:
20 Meter Prowler Push @200#/135#
Ooof. Rumor has it the prowler weighs around 40#, so I guess we were pushing 175#. Whatever it was, this was rough. I did it though, all five at the women's weight.

2011-12-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

Wednesday's WOD:
A. 2 rounds for time:
7 Heavy Deadlifts
10 Strict Pull-ups
7 Heavy Deadlifts
20 Kipping Pull-ups
14:08

I did one strict pull-up and called it a day on those. Instead, I did 20 kpu for both sets. Man, it's rough coming back -- I just feel so tired and unfit. But I'm glad I showed up.

B. 1 Set:
Max Rep Ring Dips With Turnout

Skipped.

C.20-30 Tuck Crunches

Did 3 sets of 13.

2011-12-11T21:48:00.000-08:00

Strength Day Fail

I went to Tom C's strength class but realized after 5 back squats at 135# (which felt hard) that it wasn't a good day to lift. I slept nearly 12 hours and came back today to do the CFT. Sleep rocks.

CFT

Back Squat 185#

Strict Press 90#

Dead Lift 255#

530

Finisher

50 double-unders

50 sit-ups

2011-12-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

December 9, 2011

A. Clean & Jerk 1- Rep Max

115# (PR by 10#!)

B. 21,15 and 9 Reps Of:
Overhead Squats @95#/65#

Pull-ups

10:51 rx

C. 2 sets:
10-15 Ball-ups

I didn't stick around for this part, which is too bad because of been curious about the ball-up. Another time.

2011-12-06T22:10:00.000-08:00

3 rep max dead lift

235#

This felt harder today. Work's been nuts and as a result, I've been missing a lot of classes, not getting enough sleep or food. It shows.

4 rounds

200 meter sprint

rest 2:00 between rounds

3:22

2011-12-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

5 rep max bench

95 x 5 and 1 x 105

Oops. I have really slipped.

200 meter run

20-15-10

95# jerk

ring dips

24:50 rx weight but I did ring dips on my toes. This felt very heavy. Bummer.

2011-11-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

November 28, 2011

A. Split Squat 5-Rep Max

73# (5# more than 10/24/11)

B. 4 Rounds:
6 Hang Power Cleans @155#/105#
4 Power Cleans @155#/105#
2 Squat Cleans @155#/105#
15 Pull-ups

I thought I would use 95#, with a back-up plan of stripping off 5# on each side. After 4 hang power cleans, I realized it was going to have to be 85#.

14:53

15 Minute time limit on Part B

2011-11-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

Nov. 20, 2011

Strength Sunday

5 rep max back squat

165 fine, 175 failed on 4th

5 rep max dead lift

215 and it felt heavy

5 rep max bench press

95 fine, 105 failed on 4th

This is not surprising. I worked crazy hours this past week and am exhausted. Here's to getting more rest!

2011-11-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

Registered for this. Now I have to get a singlet, belt and practice, practice, practice!

2011 SPF Santa Claus Powerlifting Classic

Raw + Single ply + Multi-ply + Crossfit

Full Power & Bench Only

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Super Training Gym

2010 3rd Street

Sacramento, CA 95818

November 19, 2011

A. 5 Rounds:
15 Deadlifts @135#/95#
12 Hang Power Cleans @135#/95#
9 Front Squats @135#/95#
6 Jerks @135#/95#

Rounds 1-2 @ 95#, rounds 3-4 @ 85#

29:44

Optional Finisher:
2 Sets:
Max Rep Pseudo Planche Push-ups (fingers face your feet).

30 Minute time limit on Part A.

Did not do.

2011-11-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

A. Back Squat 5-Rep Max

175# - a 15# increase from last time!!!

B. 21, 15, 9 Reps Of:
Hang Power Cleans 135#/95#
Burpees

Nope. I started with 95# and got 4-5 reps in before realizing this was not going to happen. I just didn't have it in me to do the fast, explosive movement. I felt weak and slow. My guess is that, once again, between life stress and working out too much, I'm running myself into the ground. Bad! I switched to 75# and finished in 10:11. Oh my friggin cheese steak, I felt crappy. I knew I should have taken a rest day.

C. 2 Sets:
Tuck Crunches 15-20 Reps

10 Minute Time Limit On Part B

These were interesting to practice but I kept trying to go too fast. While I was able my abs engaged and my back pushed into the ground, I was a little spastic on the up and down movement. I got some coaching as I was finishing up and was too tired to try more. I get it now though, I think. :)

2011-11-11T22:13:00.001-08:00

Weighted pull-up practice

1 x bw + 5#

I tried +10# and failed and +7# and failed. This was not the day to try this. While I'm staying with palms out for kipping pull-ups, body weight only strict pull-ups, knees to elbows and toes to bar, for the weighted pull-ups, I'm doing palms in.

3 rep max strict press

85# - I got 1 rep at 90# but didn't feel up to trying for another rep.

5 rep max bench

105# (PR!)

Annie

50-40-30-20-10

double-unders

sit-ups

11:45

I took three rest days this week but I'm just dog tired. I think the stress of looking for a place to live is really catching up with me.

2011-11-11T08:34:00.001-08:00

"Roy" 5 Rounds:

15 Deadlifts @225#/155#

20 Box Jumps @24"/20"

25 Pull-ups

29:09 rx

I tore my hands pretty badly, in two places on the right and one place on the left. I feel stupid now. I just wanted to finish and had about 20 pull-ups to go when the first rip happened. The first shower is always a bummer but, as long as no pull-ups in the next week, I'll be fine.

2011-11-07T21:41:00.001-08:00

A. L-Seated Press 3-Rep Max

85# (got 2x90# but couldn't quite make that 3rd rep)

B. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 10 Minutes:

5 Power Cleans @155#/105#

5 Front Squats @155#/105#

5 Jerks @155#/105#

2 + 4 cleans rx

2011-11-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

A. Work up to a heavy Power Snatch Single

68#, with a little coaching. I'm still working out kinks in my form.

B. "Helen"
3 Rounds:
400 Meter Run
21 Kettlebell Swings @53#/35#
12 Pull-ups

14:43 rx - soooooo sloooooow

I deliberately ran slowly. I didn't feel well and was dreading feeling really winded and heinous. A rest day might have been smarter.

Optional Finisher:
Accumulate 3 minutes of a plank hold

1:30, 1:00 and :30. It took me 4:00 to finish, so a minute of rest divided up between the three attempts.

2011-11-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

Dead hang pull-up practice, no added weight.

For time:

14-12-10-8-6-4-2

overhead squats @ 65#

pull-ups

14:18

2011-11-04T10:52:00.001-07:00

November 4, 2011

A. Weighted Pull-up 3-Rep Max

I didn't try 3 weighted pull-ups, just strict pull-up practice. I did some negatives with palms out and tried some singles with 2.5 and then 5 pounds, with palms in. I got them. I want to work on this some more.

B. OC Throwdown WOD #3 5 Rounds: 8 Bar Facing Burpees 8 Deadlifts @225#/155# 8 Toes-to-bar

12:03 rx

2011-11-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

5 rep max bench press

103# (PR!) and 2 x 105# (PR!)

5 rep max dead lift

230# (PR!)

Max rounds in 15:00

5 push-ups

10 sit-ups

15 squats

20 double-unders

8 rounds + 2 push-ups

2011-11-02T20:50:00.001-07:00

A. Jerk 1-Rep Max

120 lbs (PR!)

B. 7 Rounds:
5 Power Cleans @185#/125#
7 Clapping Push-Ups

20 Minute Time Limit On Part B.

Subbed 105#

15:50

2011-10-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

October 31, 2011

A. Back Squat 5-Rep Max

160 lbs (PR!)

B. "Get A Grip"
21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 Reps Of:
Kettlebell Swings @53#/35#
Pull-ups

13:41 rx

Check-in of first 30 days of paleo eating.

2011-10-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

If I were to measure my success with eating paleo strictly by body measurements, the results would not be terribly impressive. I measured weight, hips, waist, upper arm and upper thigh. The only change in any of these is that I have lost one and a half pounds and 3 inches from my waist, though the first two inches were in the first week and probably just my belly being relieved to be done with dairy. Sad, but true, I think my body does not tolerate dairy very well. But, we're not measuring just my body composition and measurements. The one thing that has changed considerably is my athletic performance. While I am not faster (my runs are impressively slow right now), I appear to be getting stronger. Admittedly, the following developments were well underway before I started to eat paleo. However, I think that fine-tuning my diet pushed me a little further along the path to fitness. Here's a list of some of my accomplishments in the past month. Yeay me!

2 consecutive dead hang pull-ups (palms out!)

Many hang power cleans at 95 lb in one workout.

5 x 100 and 4 x 102 bench presses

Maintained a 3 x 225 deadlift and got 2 x 235

125 lb front squat

115 lb power clean

Many 105 lb cleans in one workout.

Military press 5 x 77 lbs

Maintained 5 x 155 lb backsquat

Many 210 lb dead lifts in one workout.

2011-10-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday October 29, 2011

Max rep push-ups in 2:00 (October CFO challenge)

35 - and they were strict

My plan was to do the challenge and then do 5x5 strict press and 5x5 bench. No way. I realized when the 45# felt heavy that this was probably not going to happen. When I got 4 x 65 and was tired I decided to scrap my plan and went for a short body weight workout.

For time:

200 meter run

air squats

push-ups

Ab Mat sit-ups200 meter run

air squats

push-ups

Ab Mat sit-ups

200 meter run

air squats

push-ups

Ab Mat sit-ups

10:24

2011-10-28T21:05:00.001-07:00

For Time:

200 Meter Run With Bumper Plate @45#/35#

20 Deadlifts @135#/95#

200 Meter Run With Bumper Plate @45#/35#

20 Jerks @135#/95#

200 Meter Run With Bumper Plate @45#/35#

20 Hang Power Cleans @135#95#

200 Meter Run With Bumper Plate @45#/35#

20 Back Squats @135#/95#

18:09 rx

I stuck around for 11am Community Day workout

Group of 4

100 m run (2 people at a time)

100 hang cleans w/ 2 dumbells - I used 30#

100 m run (2 people at a time)

100 push-ups

100 m run (2 people at a time)

100 ball slams - I used 20# ball

100 m run (2 people at a time)

100 burpees

The two people not running take turns on working through the cleans, push-ups, ball slams and burpees

When everyone is done, 1 person working at a time - each person does a tire drag 100 meters. I think I used 70#.

This was fun. Tomorrow, I make up the workout from Wednesday, snatches and sprints. Though, I may do something else. My feet and ankles are tender and I don't want to aggravate further.

2011-10-27T22:00:00.001-07:00

October 28, 2011

A. Power Clean 1-Rep Max

115# (PR, I think)

B. OC Throwdown WOD #2:

For Time:

15 Squat Cleans @155#/105#

30 Pull-ups

12 Squat Cleans @155#/105#

24 Pull-ups

9 Squat Cleans @155#/105#

18 Pull-ups

17:09 with 94#

All this time, I thought the bars were 15#, 33# and 45#. Ack, some of the bars are 44#. What gives?! I wasn't sure I could finish the workout in the 20 minute time limit, so I want with 95, er, 94 pounds. My form is improving on the cleans. Yeay me.

2011-10-24T19:54:00.001-07:00

October 25, 2011

A. Bench Press 5-Rep Max

5 x 100 again but also got 3 x 102! Yeay me.

B. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 7 Minutes: 7 Burpees 10 Pull-ups

3 rounds + 7 burpees

---Rest Exactly 2 Minutes---

C. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 7 Minutes: 7 Knees-To-Elbows 10 Air Squats

6 rounds even

Today, I was deliberately dragging. I found myself unwilling to get too gassed. Interesting. This isn't like me. I guess I was tired.

2011-10-23T20:00:00.001-07:00

October 24, 2011

A. Split Squat 5-Rep Max

65# It was really hard to balance during this exercise. One foot rests on a plyo box (we used a low box) and the squat is to below parallel, with a barbell in the back squat position. I was more concerned with not falling on my face or destroying my knees than adding weight.

B. 15, 12, 9 Reps Of: Deadlift @315#/210# Handstand Push-ups

14:13

I did the deadlift weight rx but used bands for the HSPUs. This was hard.

2011-10-23T11:26:00.001-07:00

10am
5 rep max bench

100 #

I got 5 x 90 and 2 x 95, last time I tried this. I have never even gotten 5 x 95 before, so this is a nice improvement. The strength training class last week with Tom C helped a bunch and I'm sure eating better is helping too. Yeay me.

3pm Paleo Challenge Workout:

3 Rounds for Time:
Row 500m
12 Burpees
21 KB Swings @ 53#/35#

15:33 and DFL aka the slowest time of everyone doing the paleo challenge (and 99.9% of everyone that did the workout but isn't doing the challenge). Go me :)

2011-10-20T20:39:00.001-07:00

October 21, 2011

A. Back Squat 5-Rep Max

155# - same as last two times we did these. I'm pretty sure I could have done more. This felt the easiest, by far.

B. 15,12,9,6,3 Reps: Power Clean @155#/105# Ring Dips With Turnout

subbed 95# and used skinny band for ring dips

19:55

I tried 105# but it wasn't happening today. I felt strong on the back squats but when we got to part B I just didn't have it in me. Our coach got on me during the workout about my form and once I got past the embarrassment, it actually helped. He wasn't a dick about it or anything. He was really cool actually. I gave him the same shtick about how I have a really hard time with this movement, blah blah blah. He persisted for a bit and I tried to incorporate his suggestions and then, it just clicked. That was cool.

I'm wondering if I'm lagging because I've started to lose weight and it may be too fast. I was stuck at 137 +/- a couple of pounds for the first two weeks I did paleo. Then, I decided to kick my nut habit at work and I started to see changes. I'll keep an eye on it. I may have to add a little extra food or fat, maybe a late afternoon snack. I'd love to lean out but I don't want do it too fast. I have never had success with maintaining that.

2011-10-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

October 20, 2011

3 rep max deadlift

225 x3 and 235 x 2

I bailed on the last one before I even got it off the ground. I was trying to keep perfect form because last time I kept going when it didn't feel right my shoulder got screwed up. It still hurts some.

"Carrie"

200 meter run

20 pull-ups

200 meter run

20 push-ups

200 meter run

20 sit-ups

200 meter run

20 squats

200 meter run

20 burpees

14:18 rx

2011-10-20T08:19:00.001-07:00

October 19, 2011

A. 3 Sets:
Max Reps Strict Pull-ups

1 + 2 + 1 = 4 (all palms facing out) Yeay me!!!

B. OC Throwdown Qualifier WOD #1
Max Rounds Plus Reps In 10 Minutes:
75 Double Unders
50 Box Jumps @24"/20"
25 Shoulder To Overhead @105#/70#

1 round + 45 double-unders

2011-10-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

A. Clean & Jerk-work up to a heavy but NOT max single

75#

I was going for form, not weight, as my form needs work. And I didn't want to get too tired before part B.

B. "Fran"
21, 15, 9 Reps:
Thrusters @95#/65#
Pull-ups

8:58 rx

Not my best but it will do. I.really.need.to.take.a.rest.day. Ugh, it's so hard to do.

Two in a row!

2011-10-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

I got two dead hang pull-ups in a row today and they were palms in but they were spot on. I'm so excited!

4 rounds

20 meter bear crawl (30# dumbells)

15 box jumps 24"

10 dumbell burpees (30# dumbells)

17:39 rx

This was rough and I did better than I expected. I'm super tired today. Tom pointed out that today makes 7 days of working out in a row. Oops. It's so hard not to go. I'm such an addict!

2011-10-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Tom C's strength class

low bar back squat

3 warm-up sets and 3 sets of 5

I used 125# for work sets. This felt pretty different from what I usually do, which I guess is a high bar back squat. I opted for working on form, until I get comfortable with the rack position.

bench press

3 warm-up sets and 3 sets of 5

I used 85# for work sets. This felt much easier than the last time I benched.

We finished with dead hang pull-ups. I got 5 singles. I did some bicycle kicks to get the last three but I did it. I can't recall when I last did a dead hang pull-up but this is the most I've ever done in one day. Yeay.

2011-10-13T22:19:00.001-07:00

October 14, 2011

A. For Time: 15 Deadlifts @ 275#/185# 400 Meter Run 12 Deadlifts @ 275#/185# 400 Meter Run 9 Deadlifts @ 275#/185# 400 Meter Run

11:32 rx

The runs were punishing.

B. For Time: 100 Double Unders 100 Ab Mat Sit-ups

7:15 rx

My lower back started complaining during the runs and by the sit-ups it was pretty close to just going on strike. I'm going to feel this tomorrow and I have Tom C's strength class in the afternoon.

2011-10-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

Make up wod for: October 7, 2011

A. Clean 1-Rep Max

110#

B. 4 Rounds:

7 Jerks @115#/75#

14 Barbell Walking Lunges @115#/75#

7:38 rx

Strict press PR.

2011-10-11T22:32:00.001-07:00

October 12, 2011

A. Press 5-Rep Max

77# (PR) and I got 4 x 80# (also a PR)! Considering my 1 rep max is 85#, I'm pretty happy with this. I should test that 1 rep max again.

B. 4 Rounds: 6 Handstand Push-ups 12 Chest-To-Bar Pull-ups 24 Dumbbell Walking Lunges @35#/25#

Subbed pike push-ups and chin-over bar pull-ups. The walking lunges were the easiest part but my legs are gassed now.

I did not practice dead hang pull-ups after class today.

Slow and steady.

2011-10-10T22:11:00.001-07:00

October 11, 2011

A. Single Leg Deadlift 3-Rep Max

105 lbs but touched at the top each time when balancing on the right leg.

B. 800 Meter Sprint Rest 3 Minutes 400 Meter Sprint Rest 3 Minutes 200 Meter Sprint

800 in 3:27, 400 came in at 8:21 (1:54) and 200 came in at 12:11 (:50)

6:11 total

I slowed down quite a bit after the first run but considering my best 400 meter time is 1:36, this isn't too bad. This averages out to about 1:46 for every 400 meters, about 6 seconds faster on every 400 meter than one month ago.

I practiced dead hang pull-ups with skinny band (palms out, dammit). 4 sets of 3 reps is all I had. I tried also to see how many strict push-ups I could get in 2 minutes. I got 26. I got a little snaky at the end but those arms were tucked in and elbows pointing back, with chest to deck on each one. I'll keep working on this.

The jig is up , trip SNAFU and update on diet.

2011-10-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2011

A. Front Squat 3-Rep Max

125# - PR!

B. For Time: 10-8-6-4-2 Reps 20-16-12-8-4 Reps Clean & Jerk @155#/105# Knees-To-Elbows

15 minute time limit on Part B. Alternate between the C&J and KTE.

I subbed 95# and did up to 4 reps of C&J and 7 reps of KTE. Afterwards, I practiced dead-hang pull-ups with skinny band. I did 2 sets of 5 and then the coach told me I should be doing all hanging exercises palms out, e.g. pull-ups, KTEs, toes to bar, etc. I agreed and went back to do 2 sets of 3 with palms out. I have known for a while that the palms in is a bit of a cheat and even though this will cost me a lot of reps in the short run, I'll improve. I've been through this before with the palms in versus palms out thing and was wondering if anybody would bring it up. The jig is up.

Recall I was going backpacking with my sister and our respective beaus. On the morning of our departure, I called the Big Sur Ranger Station and realized that campfires were banned in the area. In retrospect, we should have stuck with our plan and gone there anyway. Instead, I scrambled to find a location that was relatively nearby, allowed dogs and didn't have a fire ban and came up with a 10-11 mile loop in the Snow Mountain Wilderness. Due to lack of information on the area (we pieced together what was available, which was not much) we ended up at the trail head very late, far too late to start hiking, and camped there. The evening was much colder than we'd anticipated and the second car was dangerously low on gas. In the morning we decided to abort our plan. The trail we had planned to hike would take us to a higher elevation with no tree cover on night two, which meant it would only get colder. Plus, everyone felt more comfortable sorting out the gas situation sooner than later. The nearest gas station was 23 miles on roads maintained only for all-terrain vehicles. The alternate route was heading back the way we came and there was a good chance that the second car would run out of gas. It was bumpy but we made it. Phew. We spent the remainder of the day wine-tasting and then headed for the ranch in Pope Valley (of prior grape harvest and concrete mixing activities). We spent the night and on Sunday we did a little hiking (sans packs)and casting in the frog pond, before heading out for some more wine tasting and eating. As backpacking trips go, this was impressively poorly planned and a resounding non-starter. We had fun anyway.

Planning food for the trip was tough. Without enough time to dehydrate food, I had to go with heavy food and nuts. I also packed a few precious treats, which are healthy "junk food" (these kale chips and these paleo macaroons and enough nuts to choke a horse). Between eating out and eating the treats first (what a surprise - not), I ended up eating a less than optimal diet for the past few days. I didn't totally blow it but I don't do well with boat loads of nuts and let's face it, cookies are cookies. They are yummy and they're no substitute for a balanced meal.

Day 4 of paleo!

2011-10-04T20:09:00.001-07:00

CFO and CF Sweatshop are having a throw-down this weekend. Info here. I signed up when I first heard about it but I realized this past week that it's the same weekend that I promised to take my sister backpacking. We are very likely going to hike the Big Sur area, possibly the Ventana Wilderness. After looking at the line-up of athletes competing for CFO, I am kind of glad I had an out. I am not ready to compete next to these folks. They're scary fit and I would hate to be the glaring weakest link. I'd be embarrassed and feel bad for letting them down. Ah well, another time. It's one more incentive to get more fit.

October 5, 2011
A. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 15 Minutes:
5 Overhead Squats @135#/95#
10 Box Jumps @24"/20"
20 Double Unders

4 rounds + 3 box jumps - subbed 75# on OHS

While it's never fun to have to scale down and even a single 95# overhead squat sounds about as feasible as finding a gold nugget in the bottom of my black coffee, I am still proud. I have never done a workout with 75# overhead squats below and I did 25 of them. Go me.

B. 3 Sets:
Max Time L-Sit

1:20

Subbed tuck holds.

My CrossFit box can kick your gym's butt, or I heart CFO.

2011-10-03T22:11:00.001-07:00

There have been a number of very cool developments in the programming at CFO since the last time I was a member, approximately two years ago. There are the obvious changes of location, staff, community, which are all good. But I've noticed that the quality of the coaching seems to be a cut above where it was before and I feel truly grateful to have an opportunity to train there. That isn't to say things weren't good before. They just seem better. I fully accept that my perspective has changed. I'm in a more positive space in my life and feel more committed, present and focused and I am sure that's coloring my experience there. Whether new or old, good, better or best, I like what's happening at CFO and I like being there. Here are some highlights of what's good.

One, I can see distinct patterns in the workouts over time. That is, certain skills repeat in approximately 1 week intervals, so we get a chance to work on something and then again, maybe in a slightly different structure, i.e. different distance, time, load, etc. This provides a chance to work on strength, skill, etc. and to mark progress. Of course, I like it that I largeley keep doing better and better. As stubborn as I am about craving the long heavy metcon, I'm gradually being sold on short and intense workouts.

Two, Thursdays are skill days. I sometimes miss class, so don't get to participate and don't have time other days but the concept is very cool. I think the trainers demonstrate and coach a skill. The recent ones have been the snatch and handstand push-ups, both pretty tricky.

Three there's a monthly challenge. This week it's strict push-ups. Each Thursday, you can attempt max reps, witnessed by a coach and the top man and woman get their names on the leader board. I don't have a chance in hell on this one but I like the challenge.

Finally, Mike recently posted a strict pull-up challenge. He's going to video folks doing these and wants to encourage as many people as possible to try, practice and aim to get strict pull-ups. For me kpus have long been a license not to even attempt strict pull-ups. I know it's lame but it's so much easier to do the stuff that you can do than the stuff that you struggle with. I know, I know. How can you ever improve if you don't work on your weaknesses. Got it.

October 4, 2011

A. Deadlift 5-Rep Max
225 again. I did 5 x 235 but my back started to round just a tad and I rested as much as 30 seconds between reps. I'm not counting it as a 5 rep max but it's pretty nice.

B. 3 Rounds:
400 Meter Sprint
Rest 3 Minutes

The alternative was 3 rounds of double-unders with 2 minutes rest between rounds. I accidentally did 4 rounds. My time was 18:37, less 6:00 rest, so 12:37. The folks I was working next to were serious badasses and all of them male. They finished at about my halfway mark. Ouch. My ankles are still feeling worked from the broad jumps on Sunday, which is why I decided to go with double-unders instead of sprints. I should have rowed.

Skills:
In keeping with the pull-up challenge, I worked on my strict pull-ups. I didn't have one. I did 5 sets of 3 with the skinny band. The third rep of sets 4 and 5 were challenging. The rest were pretty easy.

Zesty!

2011-10-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Image borrowed from Sew Paleo, yet another paleo blog.

My latest taste creation is cheese-free cesar dressing.
1 tin anchovies, juice of 1 1/2 lemons, 1 tbs approved mayo, 1 tsp almond butter, 4 fat cloves of garlic. Mince the garlic and blend in your preferred food processor/blender/etc. I suppose you could macerate the solid ingredients with a mortar & pestle and then whisk everything together, but man you're mortar would be pretty stinky after that. I opted for the almond butter and mayo for thickness. It turned out great and I didn't miss the cheese at all.

October 3, 2011

A. Back Squat 5-Rep Max

5 x 155 again but also 3 x 160 (PR, I think)

B. 4 Rounds:
5 Power Cleans @185#/125#
10 Ring Dips
15 Pull-ups

15 minute time limit on part B. Ring dips are with turnout.

Did dips on parallettes with raised feet. Pull-ups were fine. I did 105# on the cleans. I am not sure if I've ever cleaned 105# but I definitely have not done many reps. I got 3 rounds + 3 cleans.

On fasted training and starting one month of paleo eating.

2011-09-30T20:45:00.001-07:00

Friday night, for the second week in a row, I had trouble sleeping. This week wasn't nearly as bad as last week but I was up until 3am. Saturday morning arrived and I couldn't bring myself to go go class. Sunday, I woke up at 9am, grabbed a cup of black coffee and went in to to the workout from the day before. I loved this. I felt strong and I think I may be able to graduate to 1 Ab Mat on the HSPUs in the foreseeable future.

October 1, 2011

10am at CFO
A. 10 Rounds: 5 Handstand Push-ups 7 Pull-ups 10 Broad Jumps @6'/4'

21:15 - modified HSPU to 2 Ab Mats (approximately 5"?)

B. 5 Sets: 20 Meter Prowler Push @115#/75#

Rest as needed between sets for Part B.

Part B was harder than it sounded but it was fun to use the prowler; I've only ever done this once before, about three years ago. I did the first set without stopping but slowed down to a crawl at the end. The remaining sets I did in two tries.

6:30 pm at Gold's
No, I'm not going back to Gold's. When I signed up, I had to pay for the first and last month so I have membership until the end of October. Tom and I went in; he rowed and I did Sprint 8 on the elliptical. I contemplated doing this on the treadmill but my ankles are sore from the broad jumps this morning. Aye aye aye.

Three things about my food:
First, I have transitioned over a number of years from a terrible diet to eating 30:30:40 diet (aka Zone) to cutting out grains and sugar and now finally reached a point where I am ready, willing and able to cut all the dairy. The two instances of daily dairy for me have been cream in my coffee and yogurt for breakfast. I tried the coconut creamer but it didn't work for me. I'm going to start drinking it black. As for breakfast, I can eat any leftovers for breakfast, just as I do for lunch. Yogurt has been a lazy habit and I am bored with it anyway. Besides, it upsets my stomach. I'm so beyond ready to kick my daily morning ritual.

Second, I think I'm going to start logging again but not as part of the daily log. I'm doing a summary of Sunday's cooking (Tom eat most leftovers for most meals throughout the week, with the big cooking day being Sunday) with an update at the end of the week of how the week went, any additions to my meals and any rants/raves/glowing testimony/whatever else that comes up. See the side bar on the upper right of this page.

And third, working out in a fasted state went very well today and I feel fantastic. I think that and sprinting are two of the recommendations that Mark Sisson lists on tips to burning fat. See this article and this article, respectively.

2011-09-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

from River City Physical Culture

Part A:

1 rep max clean and jerk

105#

I'm trying to work on my form. With a little coaching 95# went from feeling awkward to pretty easy. After 105#, I had a little time so went for 110#. I think I need to be more explosive in the extension and quick reverse to get under the bar. My attempts were a little under-powered.

Part B:

75 power snatches for time 75#/55#

10:56

I used the rx weight but had to go slow. Weirdly, the limiting factor was my lower back was killing me. It didn't feel heavy and I wasn't too winded but the muscular burning was a little rough. I'll get better.

Part C:

3 x tuck hold

Total time: 1:18

I'm improving! This is a brand new skill for me and I've only done these once before. The first attempt was 40 seconds, 10 seconds longer than the last time I did these.

2011-09-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

A. Turkish Get-up 1-Rep Max

45# dumbbell

B. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 15 Minutes:
5 Squat Snatch @ 115#/75#
10 Pull-ups
15 Kettle Bell Swings @ 53#/35#

4 rounds + 4 snatches

I used 35# for the snatches. My lower back was killing me and I have tons of work to do on my form. I.must.rest.tomorrow. I feel worked.

One dog, hold the bun, please.

2011-09-26T21:15:00.001-07:00

Stolen from Chrisswhaleblogspot.com

I swear, I looked at this post and I'm pretty sure I thought, "Ack! Bread!" before I even got to the "Oh, what a cute doggie," reaction.

In other news, I found this article posted on the CFO site useful: The mental side of training. I definitely have a lot of negative internal dialogue and often sell myself short. I try to work on being more positive daily.

A. Deadlift 3-Rep Max

225#
I heard Mike say at some point that this could easily be 20# more than 5 rep max. Not for me today. I tried 235# and got all three reps but the last one was "minus-one," per Mike. S'okay. Next time. My shoulder blade, or under my shoulder blade, has been bugging me and I wanted to be super safe today. Injuries are not worth the momentary foolish pride of lifting too heavy. Never.

B. 3 Rounds:

10, 2-Fer-1 Wall Ball @ 20#/14#

30 Double Unders

Yeah...no. I didn't even try doing the 2-fer. I did straight wall balls and missed the target by as much as several inches. My form was pretty bad, catching it every which way but right and so on.

5:15 - the only part that was rx was that I used a 14# ball and did the double-unders :)
Oh, one most excellent thing to report on double-unders, I somehow lost the donkey kick recently. I'm not sure if it was using the light ropes at CFO or just that I am using a slightly longer rope but it's sweet. I can't quite believe it!

C. For Time:

50 Knees-To-Elbows

This was much easier than I anticipated and I even made up all the reps where I missed my elbow.

5:16 rx!

Failure to maintain a perfect lumbar position for part A will constitute a missed lift.

For the wall ball's, you must perform an air squat after releasing the ball from your hands and before catching it and going into the next rep.

Less is more.

2011-09-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

My new running shoes.

I like that these are light. I knew, of course, that a minimalist shoe would mean lack of support and this is a little silly, considering I have the most fallen arches imaginable. We'll see how it goes. I wore them for the warm-up, switched to my lifting shoes for the back squats and then forgot to switch back for part B. Running in my lifting shoes was laughable. My feet sounded a little like horse hoofs and I felt like a lethargic cow running. Nice.

A. Back Squat 5-Rep Max

155 lbs

This may be a PR. Not sure.

B. 4 Rounds:
7 Clean & Jerks @ 155#/105#
200 Meter Run

15 Minute Time Limit On Part B.

I subbed 95#

13:58

I've come to the conclusion that I'm Oly-phobic. It does not make sense that I can deadlift 5 x 215 (and 4 x 225!) and have so much trouble cleaning and jerking 95#. A super inspiring woman, who I must outweigh by 20-30 lbs, used the rx weight and came in at 13:11. Christ. I need to step up my game. I really think I need coaching on my Olympic lifts.

I tried to do a 150 double-unders as a finisher. No dice. I did 20 and called it a day. I was pooped and I'm trying to keep in mind that I'm after short, intense workouts and good diet. Slogging through long workouts at a lower intensity is not going to get me the strength gains and fat loss I really want. I really want to believe that less is more. I'm trying to be patient. I'm tired of feeling fat.

Well, hello there handsome!

2011-09-24T04:42:00.000-07:00

10am
This was meant to be done in a teams of 4:
Pull-ups
200 Lateral Jumps 30"/24"
250 Double Unders
5 Minutes Of Tuck Holds
2 people working at a time, except on tuck holds, 1 person working at a time. Complete movements in order.

I did 25% of the first three exercises all the way through, i.e. 38 pull-ups, 50 lateral jumps, 63 double-unders and then the same thing again, for a total of 76 pull-ups, 100 lateral jumps and 126 double-unders . I ended at 23 minutes and change. I walked outside, got some air and wandered back in. I looked at the board and only then realized that I had forgotten about the tuck holds. Duh. 2.5 minutes of tuck holds took me to 33 minutes and changed, including the wandering around and scratching my ass part. The lateral jumps weren't too bad and I found my groove with the double-unders. I feel like if I could just build up cardiovascular endurance I could fly through both of these. I've gotten pretty darn slow at pull-ups, probably because I need to practice more but also because I'm heavy (137 lbs).

After class I got together with an old friend and got to meet her new baby. He's a dreamboat. I am in love!

5pm
Sprint 8 on hills (uphill sprint, downhill walk)
This felt a lot easier than last time. I gave myself a longer runway before the hill and got to the top +/- one or two seconds. My Gymboss timer and I had a misunderstanding so I accidentally skipped the last sprint Oops.

I'm trying to incorporate sprints into my regular routine for a number of reasons. For one, I'm damn slow and I want to improve but my ulterior motive is I've been doing some reading on the effects of sprinting on metabolism and I would love to lean out. I hope this works, as I feel like my diet is pretty good and I'm getting regular exercise but I'm still holding on to that extra girth in the middle.

2011-09-22T21:37:00.001-07:00

A. Overhead Squat 3-Rep Max

85#

I tried for 90# but was gassed today and just couldn't stabilize to even attempt the squat. Another day.

B. For Time:
30 Thrusters @95#/65#
25 Ring Push-ups With Turnout
20 Barbell Walking Lunges @95#/65#
15 Hang Power Cleans @95#/65#

13:10 - I didn't have to sub anything, which is nice. The push-ups took me ages; they were the hardest part by a long shot.

2011-09-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

CFO is doing skills day on Thursday. Last week was handstand push-ups and this week was snatch. I missed both. I just didn't want to, though I seriously need the practice on both. I did this instead:

Helen:
3 rounds
400 m run
21 1 pood kb swing
12 pull-up
15:56
Ouch. This is 3:15 slower than my PR. Running is still proving to be really hard. I'm sloooooooow. Pull-ups didn't feel terrible and I did the first two sets of kettlbell swings unbroken. The last set was 14, then 7.

2011-09-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

September 21, 2011

A. 400 Meter Sprint
Rest 3 Minutes
400 Meter Sprint
Rest 3 Mintes
200 Meter Sprint
Rest 3 Minutes
200 Meter Sprint

Total time, minus rests: 5:07, a little better than last week for the same distance. I started the last sprint a little late, so maybe about 30 seconds faster? I'll take it.

B. Teams Of 2 Complete:
100 Toes To Bar

1 Person Working At A Time For Part B

I got mostly legit reps but did about 30-35 total. My partner did knee raises instead and did most of the work. I'm happy to report that I can do toes to bar. I had no idea. Good.

2011-09-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

A. Bench Press 5-Rep Max

90# x 5 was easy. I tried 95# and got two reps. I think I've been stuck at 95# x 2 for a long time.

B. 5 Rounds:
7 Deadlifts @ 80-85% Of 5-Rep Max
10 Ring Dips

I went with 80% of 215, so 171. The deads were easy. The dips were impossible. I did a few with the skinny band and then demoted myself to the medium band. I did these in sets of ones, twos and threes. This was super humbling but I know one more thing I need work on.

15-Minute Time Limit On Part B

2011-09-18T19:47:00.001-07:00

September 19, 2011

A. Front Squat 3-Rep Max
115#
This might be a PR but I don't recall the last time I did a 3 rep max. I found this, from about 3 years ago and it looks like I failed on the 3rd rep at the same weight. Has it been that long? I felt like I could have done more but we ran out of time.

B. Teams of 3 complete:
75 Pull-ups
75 Hang Squat Cleans @155#/105#
75 Kettlebell Twists

1 person working at a time. Complete movements in order. Pull-ups are chin over bar.
We went with 75# for our group. I think I could have done more weight. We split the hang squat cleans evenly, I lost track of how many pull-ups we each did but I'm pretty sure I did at least 25. I did not pull my weight on the kb twists. I did 10 and before I knew it we were done. Oops. The pull-ups weren't too terrible.

Working on weaknesses.

2011-09-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today was a rest day aka open gym at CFO, so I decided to work on some of the most obvious weaknesses that I've become aware of since returning to CFO, namely wall ball and sprints. I did Karen, which is 150 wall balls for time (14# ball to 10 foot target). My time was 24:10, nearly twice as long as my PR in December 2008. Yikes.

In the afternoon, I did Sprint 8 on hills. This is basically a 1 1/2 minute to 2 minute warm-up, followed by eight intervals of 30 seconds of sprinting and 1:30 of rest. This worked out pretty well on the hill I chose, though not perfectly. I got to the top with about 3 seconds to spare and could have gone harder. I walked back down during the rest and had about 30 seconds to spare at the bottom. This also doubles as a dog outing at one of Ollie's favorite places, Mountain View cemertery. Tom plays fetch with the dog nearby while I do this fun little insanity. I think I should start a little farther down the hill and go harder. This was a good start.

2011-09-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

"Fight Gone Bad!"

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. When you have completed each of the five stations, you are given a minute of rest before repeating the round of five stations in five minutes. This workout will be run in 3 rounds. The stations are as follows:

1. Wall Ball Shots: 20#/14# ball. 10 ft target. Scored by reps.

2. Sumo Deadlift High Pull @ 75#/55#. Scored by reps.

3. Box Jump: 20" box. Scored by reps.

4. Push Press @ 75#/55#. Scored by reps.

5. Row. Scored by calories.

I didn't keep my score sheet. My total score was 194, 37 points down from my PR. I've got a lot of work to do, especially with the wall balls. On the rows I got around 10 calories each time. On everything else, except for the wall balls, I got between 15 and 20. On the wall balls I got 4 reps the first two times and 5 reps the last round. Oh dear. I'll be practicing wall balls.

Fa-fa-fa-FRIDAY!

2011-09-15T21:31:00.001-07:00

A. Take 15 minutes to find a Max Height Box Jump

33 1/2"

B. For Time (10 minute time limit):
200 Meter Run
10 Dumbbell Thrusters @45#/30#
30 Dumbbell Walking Lunges @45#/30#
60 Double Unders

6:20

Oh no. I just read this. I thought it was 50 double-unders. Oh well. Next time.

C. Accumulate 1,2 or 3 Minutes of Tuck Holds in as few sets as possible.

2:00 - took me 10 sets. Ouch but his isn't something I've ever done and I know I'll improve with practice.

Rest Day and Favorite Recipes

2011-09-15T19:11:00.001-07:00

This one is for my sister from another mother, Alicia. I love you, sweetie. You can do it!

These are our top ten favorites. Apologies to the vegetarians. This is clearly meat-centric, I realize. Funny, I used to think meat was gross.

To make it to the top ten recipes have to be delicious (duh), contain only whole foods and contain no grains or dairy (my requirement) and relatively easy to prepare. Here's the list, Letterman stylie:

10. green beans ala Ev's mom
Par-boil green beans. Whisk egg whites until stiff then fold in yellows. Dredge the now cool beans in egg mixture and then almond meal. Pan-fry in a little oil --you don't need a lot. Serve with homemade tomato sauce.

9. roast cauliflower and asparagus
Toss florets and spears in olive oil and salt. Cook cauliflower for 15 minutes in 500 F oven on cookie sheet. Put asparagus in at around 10 minute mark, on seperate cookie sheet, .

8. sweet potatoes Anna
This is a simple recipe we found in the NYT cookbook. This looks deceptively bland in text but it's really quite good. I make an exception to the no dairy rule on this one but we use a lot less butter than the recipe calls for because we found the dish is better that way. With the full amount it's a little greasy. The thyme should be fresh and the coarse salt is somehow a lot better than standard table salt. Taking the cover off at the right time is key to getting potatoes that are not overcooked and also allows time for browning.

7. pan-fried brussels sprouts with bacon
Halve small sprouts and quarter large ones. Cook a few slices of bacon until crisp and set aside. Add diced onions and cook until golden (not brown) and add sprouts. Cook until they're bright green and still crunchy. Overcooking sprouts is tragic. Don't do it! Add citrus zest (lemon, orange or grapfruit are all good) and a little of the fruit juice and toasted coarsely chopped walnuts when it's done. The fattiness of the bacon, sweet/tart of the fruit and the toasty goodness of the nuts make this dish pretty amazing.

6. beef and sausage meatballs with a simple homemade tomato sauce
This is a 50/50 mix. We like the bulk spicy pork sausage from Whole Foods. The beef is Prather Ranch (20% fat). We add eggs and almond meal and sometimes sauteed and cooled mirepoix -- finely chopped onion, carrot, celery. I find that the trick with meatballs is to make sure they're not overly wet and to make lots of small meatballs. I cook them in a pan and they really don't need extra oil; they're quite fatty. Try not to crowd them so they get good browning and they don't simmer in any water they may release as they cook. The tomato sauce is just tomatoes cooked for about 1 hour on the stovetop. I like to cook them in chicken stock. Some salt and pepper to taste and your favorite herbs finish it off. Add herbs at the end to retain their flavor, otherwise the flavor cooks out. I also add garlic toward the end. It will cook a little in the residual heat but added early it tends to cook out.

5. brussels sprouts with spicy pork sausage cherry tomatoes and rosemary
This is a "paleo variant of a NYT recipe," Tom says. Cook the sausage and set aside. Sautee onions in the fat and add the halved (for the small sprouts) or quartered (for the large sprouts) brussels sprouts. Add tomatoes in the last 15 minutes, along with the rosemary and garlic and continue cooking until the tomatoes start breaking down. Tom likes to add olives. This dish is salty to begin with, especially with the olives. If you need to add salt, taste it when it's done and add as needed.

4. (fast and cheap version) coq au vin
We had this on a cheat day and I served it with cheesy creamy polenta. I know, it's corn but it's yum! I used a couple of legs and giblets. The chicken liver and neck cook down to make a very hearty, rich sauce.

3. Tom's beef bourguignon or just Sunday roast
Both recipes came from the NYT cookbook. The former comes in a fast or slow version. The slow version is not ideal for two reasons: 1) lots of pearl onions to peel and 2) though most of the time is not active preparation time, it still requires that you be home for the whole cooking period. I'm not one to leave the oven on overnight; it makes me a little nervous. Like the coq au vin, you can use decent red table wine and where we live there are lots of affordable options.

2. pan-seared and then baked duck leg with port and cherry reduction - served with bok choy
The duck leg with bok choy part is based on a recipe found in The Primal Blueprint Cookbook by Mark Sisson. We seared the legs and then braised them in the oven. The bok choy we stir-fried separately. What really made this was the stock and (you guessed it) port reduction with sulfur-free, unsweetened dried nectarines. Man we love this stuff.

1. Tom's pork shoulder roast
I think this is the right recipe but we don't brine the pork. Pork shoulder (or pork butt) is amazingly inexpensive. I'm a little amused that this cut of pork is referred to as shoulder or butt, interchangeably. I guess on a pig there is little difference. I like to think there is a huge difference between my butt and shoulder. If not, I'm in big trouble. There are several things that really make this. One, the cut is fatty and browns nicely. Two, Tom does a nice spice rub before cooking the pork. Start with room temperature meat. We serve this with a fruit and port reduction. I don't follow a recipe for this. Simmer fresh or dried stone fruit in wine or port. Play around with the fruit and wine combos until you find something you really like. We don't have any hard and fast rules about portions on this and find that dried nectarines or dried cherries and port are very good. I put this at the top of the list with no hesitation. This is amazing.

2011-09-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

A. Deadlift 5-Rep Max

185-205-215-225 (failed on 5th attempt)

Nice. I like this. What is not nice is that despite feeling like I had good form, that last rep seems to have done something odd to a muscle beneath my left scapula. Rest day tomorrow, no matter what.

B. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 5 Minutes:
7 Hang Power Cleans @ 155#/105#
3 Push Jerks @ 155#/105#

I subbed 85# and got 3 rounds and 5 cleans

-Rest Exactly 3 Minutes-

C. Max Rounds Plus Reps In 5 Minutes:
7 Kettlebell Swings @ 53#/35#
5 Box Jumps @ 24"/20"

5 rounds + 5 swings

I was grateful for a dead lift day. Being able to do the one thing I'm good at was nice. I am handling the humility thing pretty well I think. I accept that I'm not quite where I want to be in a lot of respects and am committed to working hard but once in a while it's nice to do well. Yeah for long monkey arms! I swear that is key to dead lifts being relatively easy. I'm only 5'3" but have crazy long arms and legs. Yes!

2011-09-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

bacon wrapped figs
from www.everydaypaleo.com

These look amazing. I think I'll make them this weekend.

A. Rack Jerk 1-Rep Max
95#
I lost track of how many attempts, maybe 5-6. I warmed up with empty bar, tried 65#, jumped to my last 1RM and stayed there. I had trouble with this lift but tried the split leg version and am getting the hang of it.

B. "Yard Birds"
Teams Of 2 Complete Max Rounds in 15 Minutes:
1 Squat Snatch+2 Overhead Squats+10 Meter Snatch Grip Overhead Walk @95#/65#

1 person working at a time.
If bar is dropped during the walk, anyway back to overhead to complete the round.
I was in a team of 3 and went with 50#. All three of us managed to lose track of the number of rounds. We think it was between 25 and 30. The squat snatch practice was good, the squats were not terrible to execute, except that my wrists hurt.

Little fish, big pond.

2011-09-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

So, tell me Ev, how's it to be back at CFO?
Well, I suck and it's awesome.
Really? How does that work?
Well, I realize just how much I have to work on but rather than feeling discouraged and bummed out I am excited. I need a challenge and I am poised to make lots of gains. This is great!*

5-5-5-5-5
95-135-135-135-135
I could not have gone heavier. While I wasn't in danger of not making all five reps, my form was starting to fall apart. Depth was good but I tend to fold over on the last couple of reps.

600m sprint
3 minute rest
400m sprint
3 minute rest
200m sprint
5:31
This works out to an average of 1:50:30 per 400 meters. Ouch. I took off on the first 600 and I was flying until I hit around 200 meters. Ha ha ha. I tapered off a little, then more, then slowed down to a crawl. Man. I was huffing, puffing and just felt very silly. I've got my work cut out for me.

*Great, unless of course I find that I suck a lot at a lot of stuff, in which case it's going to be a little devastating, but I'll deal.

Make-up WOD

2011-09-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

I slept in today so didn't make it to class. I made up a modified version of this, yesterday's WOD at CFO:
Teams Of 2 Complete 4 Rounds:
20 Clean and Jerk @ 155#/105#
50 Ab Mat Sit-ups
Run 400 Meters

Since it was just me, I did:
10 clean and jerk @ 85#
200 single jump-rope skips
50 sit-ups
32:17
I cannot leave my weights racked and expect them to be there when I come back from a 400m run, for obvious reasons, so I jump rope. As I've mentioned before, I don't think jumping rope is a good sub for running but I am not sure what other exercise to sub. I am not sure if I've ever cleaned and jerked 105# but this was not a good time to use that weight. I normally would have subbed 95#, the weight for Grace, but I was feeling pretty under-powered and hellacious. I don't know if I am fighting a bug or what. I struggled through this as it was. I'm glad I showed up. Sadly, I didn't get into a groove or have much of a post-workout blissed out feeling. I just felt tired and sore.

Yoga and sleep

2011-09-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

I'm returning to CrossFit Oakland, after a long absence. I think I'll be more diligent with a regularly scheduled workout and being part of a community. There are a lot of new faces there, which is cool; it's nice to see how the business has grown. The space is brand new and I have only done one workout there, so I'm sure there will be a period of getting used to the new environment. Funny thing, I felt a little self-conscious doing the WOD the day I dropped in. My form kind of sucked, I fumbled, I felt very off. The folks I worked with were very nice, the usual at a CF box. You'd think that going from a globo gym where I get strange looks all the time for doing stuff that nobody else does to a place where everybody is in the same boat, very supportive and doesn't generally care what I'm doing because they're busy doing their own work would result in the opposite feeling. I'll get over it. I'm shy by nature and coming in feels a little like the first day of school or being the new kid. I know it's all in my head. I'll be fine.

On Saturday morning, I attended this seminar: "Getting the Most from Your CrossFit Training" w/ Mike Minium and then did a little grocery shopping at the very conveniently located Berkeley Bowl East, which is a 5 minute walk away.

I did the 2pm Vinyasa flow class at YttP. I didn't recognize the instructor. She was cool but the pace was too slow and I didn't feel quite fulfilled. I meant to hit the globo afterwards but felt very tired and like I was coming down with a bug, so I went home and watched a lot of streaming Netflix. I slept tons this weekend, 13 hours on Friday night and 11 hours on Saturday night. There's definitely something up with me. I call adrenal fatigue. This time (and for some time) it's not over-training but life stress. I put off resuming the job search until after my parents' mortgage issues were sorted out, since I was heavily involved in the process and it took a toll on me, not only in time but in upset. Well, that's over. They're staying in their home. Hurrah. As for resuming my search, I'm standing on the edge of the cold pool and looking at it thinking, "Oh, that's going to be cold..." This is the classic place where I get stuck. I have to just jump in. The longer I delay, the longer I stay stuck. And if I try and fail, at least I will have tried. If I don't try, I'll fail by default.

2011-09-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

I had no creative bone in my body today so went with what CFO had on the menu. They do far better programming than I do anyway and I do like deadlifts!

A. Deadlift 5-Rep Max
215# and today I felt like I could have done more but after three attempts, I wanted to get to part B and get going. It had already been a very long day.

B. Max Rounds Plus Reps in 12 Minutes:
5 Dumbbell Renegade Row @ 45#/30#
10 Dumbbell Walking Lunges @ 45#/30#
20 Double-Unders
3 rounds even. I lost count and thought for a second maybe I'd done four but not likely. The time was at 8 minutes and change after the first round and I know I didn't get faster. None of this felt terrible but the double-unders were awkward. I don't like to do them in my lifting shoes but I left my lightweight Pumas at home. Also, I recently broke another rope so had to use what they had at the gym.

Drop-in at CFO

2011-09-06T21:49:00.001-07:00

A: rack jerk (what in the world?!) 1 rep max
I went by CFO to pick up my box of beef and decided to stay for a class. Despite generally sucking, I was reminded of what I miss about working out at a CF box.

Part A:
95#
So this is a push-jerk, starting from a high squat rack position and pretty difficult. After adjusting the pony tail, I got into it, but found it generally intimidating.

Part B:
7 rounds for time
7 hang power snatch @ 65#
7 lateral jumps over 24" bar
12:56
This was hard. The jumps were pretty easy, once I got over the mental part. The snatches? Well, after doing 3 or 4 reps poorly (I kept having to press out at the top and the amount of press was increasing with each rep), I went with clean and jerk. Sounds light, right? Yeah, about that. I did not have my game face on or any other kind of game today. I did what I could. Humbling doesn't begin to describe this but...IT WAS FUN!

2011-09-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

We're back. I took my L1 written exam, a new requirement since I got certified. Since we had a long weekend, a added on a couple of days and turned it into a road trip to visit friends in Portland and Seattle. The test was pretty easy, though there were a couple of oddly worded questions that I'm not sure whether or not I answered correctly. They toss 5 questions out, at random, so the best you score you can get is 45 and you have to get 35 to pass. I'd be surprised if I didn,t, but you never know. We spent a lot of time driving and eating and none exercising. I went back to the gym to do this little number and felt truly hideous. My time shows. I didn't care. I felt seriously nauseous and couldn't go any faster between the overhead squats and double-unders, starting in the second round. Yuck.

15 overhead squats with 45# bar at the top of each round with rounds consisting of:
50-40-30-20-10
double-unders
sit-ups
25:00
Ouch.

2011-08-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

5 rounds
200 Meter run (subbed 200 single skips)
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pull 65#
10 Thrusters 65#
27 minutes and change, though I don't recall anything about the change.
This was a killer after the heavy thrusters yesterday but it didn't suck. Also, I don't know if I've ever done 65# sumos and was happy to discover that they weren't all that bad. I remember the first time I ever did a 55# kettlebell sumo deadlift high pull and I thought that was pretty awful. It's nice that I'm stronger, even if I have gotten fluffier than I like.

About food:
I haven't been logging because it bores me to tears. I'm eating smaller portions, less often and trying not to be a total food nazi. I have a little half & half in my coffee each morning and yogurt for breakfast. Yes, still. I made a semi-paleo banana bread over the weekend. It was pretty much almond flour, eggs, mashed banana but we had too many bananas and not enough almond flour so we added 3/4 cup of pastry flour to the pan. Compared to the usual 2 cups + that is in your typical banana bread recipe, I would say that's not too bad, even though I mostly avoid wheat. What else. I haven't had a Diet Coke in at least a week, though I can't recall when exactly I had the last one. I am still eating way too many nuts, though less than I was previously.

"Do one thing everyday that scares you." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

2011-08-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

I saw this on CFO's site and was horrified and compelled. I tried it. It was not as bad as I thought it might be. Strangely, I didn't feel pukie, just really winded. By comparison, the man-maker/knees to elbows workout I did the other day had the excellent perk of providing a near perpetual near-pukie sensation. Oh joy.

10 thrusters 95#
50 double-unders
8 thrusters 95#
40 double-unders
6 thrusters 95#
30 double-unders
4 thrusters 95@
20 double-unders
2 thrusters 95#
10 double-unders
17:00
The good news is I have only ever tried to do 95# thrusters once before, a little over 2 years ago and I bailed on that workout. I did it!!!

And then...I went to a hip-hop class. I am usually leaving on a Monday or Thursday, roughly when they are holding this class and have been walking by and watching these folks get their groove on, trying to work up the moxie to just walk in there and try it, for months. Well, I was not the most uncoordinated person in the room but maybe in the top five. :) But it was fun and I would do it again!

Getting my ducks in a row.

2011-08-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday
1 hour Vinyasa yoga class at YttP in Berkeley
This was excellent! Man, was I ever overdue for yoga and this was a very good class, just the right amount of vigorous. I felt very calm and good afterwards.

Sunday
Hill sprints 5 x 200 meters in the morning. Rest was walking back down the hill.
Later Hill run for about 1 mile and swimming in frog pond. Tom had to go water the vineyards at a friends' place in Pope Valley and we made a day of it. He threw in some duck decoys that were lying around to see Ollie's reaction. It was a bark fest and pretty funny. We made a game of throwing the ducks in different parts of the pond and since Ollie was more afraid of them than anything and probably couldn't retrieve them if he tried, I retrieved them, for time of course. Good fun was had by all.

2011-08-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

About two months ago, I did this in 44:08:
Man Makers (L arm+R arm=1 rep) - I used 2 x 20# dumbells
Burpee Pull ups
K2E
10 • 9 • 8 • 7 • 6• 5 • 4 • 3 • 2 • 1
Advanced • Intermediate • Foundational

Today, I did less work. For each set, the man-makers were broken up into all push-ups and rows, followed by thrusters, followed by burpees, followed by knees-to-elbows. It took me 58 minutes and 55 seconds. Sweet Jesus. I felt like puking at the end of each round of burpees and those are the only portions I was able to string together. I had a lot of rests and a huge desire to quit, over and over again. Again, not showing up and neglecting my diet results in gradual but serious erosion of performance in terms of strength, speed and stamina. I have been having tremendous difficulty with being diligent and committed to my health and fitness lately. I need to get into the right frame of mind. I'm worth it.

Sunday and Monday

2011-08-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Ollie and I followed Tom to Pope Valley, to water a friends' vineyards. This took up a good portion of the day so I worked in a little run up their long driveway. It was a good mile up and several hours later all the way down. The up part was much more hideous but in a very satisfying way. The down part was a mistake. My knees can't take that kind of impact. They were stiff later and I worried I might have another several days of ouch, like I did after our last backpacking trip. Fortunately, they're fine today. A touch of shin splints but that is no problem.

5 rounds
40 double-unders
30 box jumps ~20"
20 kb swings 1 pood
32:20
Slow is definitely a theme with me lately. I have to get more consistent. The good news is I'm not over-training, which used to be a bit of an issue. Now, if I can just stick to a schedule, or at the very list commit to a certain number of days per week. Tomorrow, I won't likely have time to go to the gym as we're heading down to a winery in Saratoga to see Garrison Keillor do his Prairie Home Companion Show. Yee haw!

Food Log
8:30 am coffee w/ half & half
10 am raw fennel, carrots, celery, cherries, cherry tomatoes, 1 tangerine, herbal tea
12pm mixed nuts, soda water
2pm oxtail stew w/ brussels sprouts
4pm mixed nuts, soda water
9:30 pm grapefruit

2011-08-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

Nancy-ish
15 OHS @ 65#
200 single jump-rope skips
29:00
Oof! This is the longest this has ever taken me to do this. I tried to warm up with bar dips and barbell bench presses but my pecs were still sore from push-ups. I can tell I've lapsed on work-outs because a number of things have gotten harder, e.g. my wrists were killing me on the overhead squats and I just couldn't string together more than 20-30 skips at a time. Oy vey. It pays to be diligent.

Food Log
8-9am nursed a thermos of coffee w/ half & half
10 am raw fennel and cherry tomatoes, yogurt w/ fruit and nuts
1pm pork sausage and brussels sprouts w/ tomatoes
3pm nuts, soda water (no Diet Coke - hurray!)
6pm Balance bar and grapefruit
9pm pan-fried trout and stir-fry of dino kale, savoy cabbage, carrot, red bell pepper, onion w/ garlic and sesame oil
I feel like I ate a lot today but none of it was terrible so no harm, no foul.

Oops.

2011-08-16T21:23:00.001-07:00

5 rounds
10 dead lifts @ 185#
20 push-ups
14:16 - last time was 12:44, so this was not a PR after all.

Annie
50-40--30-20-10
double-unders
sit-ups
10:50
Meh.

Food Log
8am coffee w/ half & half
9am raw fennel/carrots/cherry tomatoes, plum
10am yogurt w/ nuts and dried fruit (no sulfur dioxide) and fresh strawberries
12pm mixed nuts, soda water (plain)
3pm lamb stew w/ zucchini and carrots
8pm coconut water - about 16 oz
9pm grapefruit
Didn't eat enough but wasn't hungry. Tomorrow.

We're back.

2011-08-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Ollie above the middle falls on Canyon Creek Trail.

Tom, Ollie and I were backpacking in the Trinity Alps Wilderness this week. This time we used a base camp and did most of the week's hiking with light packs. However, the series of trails we used was all uphill one way, so we descended daily to our camp. The downhills were a killer on my knees and on the last day we hiked 4 miles back with heavy packs, which rendered my knees nearly crippled, with a lot of stiffness, limited range of motion and some soreness. We've been back two days now and my knees are just starting to feel normal. I don't think I'll do any weighted squats this week, at least not for a few days. The only other injury was a BB shot sized bruise and welt on my belly. Creek fishing results in lots of snags, I learned. While that was a frustrating lesson the real lesson was to be careful about positioning the pole so that when you pull to un-snag the hook/lure/weights, whatever is on your line. In case the line does not snap, whatever the object is will, upon release, snap back and may very well hit you.

We got the grocery shopping and laundry out of the way early so today is mainly cooking for the week, cleaning up and getting back to the gym. We're also headed to my mom and dad's, for dad's birthday. My parents finally got their mortgage loan modification approved, so we have double reason to celebrate. What a relief!

WOD circa 5pm TBD...turned into not at all. We just didn't get back in town with enough time to make it to the gym before it closed. Ah well, tomorrow. Really. Tomorrow.

Food Log
coffee w/ half & half, veggie frittata (about 2 eggs) and 2 slices bacon
short ribs, steak, chicken, grilled zucchini, asparagus, cake, salt water taffy, Diet Cola
bit of sausage, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, 1/2 apple w/ almond butter
1 bottle joint juice, splash of white wine (two sips)
I won on no booze at dad's birthday but had a little when we got back and made this week's food. I lost on cake and then candy we picked up on the coast. Oy. I have a headache. I have been drinking the Joint Juice since we got back, since my knees were a wreck. No idea how effective this stuff is or if it even matters if one has a hereditary and degenerative condition, as I suspect I do, but I have most of a case of it and it can't hurt...I think, anyway. I have been diluting it with water as it made me a little queasy when I drank it last.

2011-08-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

FRANNIE (AGAIN)
FRANNIE (aka Fran meets Annie)
21 thrusters 65#
21 pull-ups
50 double-unders
50 sit-ups
15 thrusters 65#
15 pull-ups
40 double-unders
40 sit-ups
9 thrusters 65#
9 pull-ups
30 double-unders
30 sit-ups
20 double-unders
20 sit-ups
10 double-unders
10 sit-ups
29:00
Ouch. I picked up an extra 5:09, since last time. :(

2011-07-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

A very worthy cheat snack. Oh man, so good!

5 rounds
10 dead lifts at 185#
20 push-ups
12:44 (3:24 off my last time!)

Annie
50-40-30-20-10
double-unders
sit-ups
12:08
Meh. I just wanted to do a little more, after the lifting. The first set was a disaster. I got better, as I went. Funny how that happens sometimes.

Food
8:30am coffee w/ hafn'
10am 2 small tangerines
1pm 2 eggs, chicken apple sausage, salad greens, 1 slice toast w/ butter and jelly (oops), sip of OJ
4pm kale/seaweed salad, 1/2 of very small pork bun from Chairman Bao truck at Treasure Island Flea Market, coconut water (we discovered it contained sugar but were parched, so we drank it)
8pm coconut water, tangerine
9:30pm fresh mozz w/ basil and tomatoes, pan fried trout

2011-07-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

So, this is my first day back in a looooong time. Food has been a disaster and I haven't had it in me to go to the gym. I've been a little bit of a train wreck. I showed up today with the mindset that I was going for a passing grade. No expectations of anything spectacular. Just. Show. Up. I warm up with some bar dips and bench presses and then begin a "how many rounds in 20:00." I'm in the middle of 24kg kettlebell swings when a very nice woman walks up to me. I'm sucking wind like a chain-smoker and she asks "Is that hard?" I move the right side of my earbuds aside and chat with her, briefly. I say, "Yes, but you could start with a lighter weight. I pantomime the movement and say, "It's all in the hips." She asks, "Is that how you got those legs?" I pause. I'm feeling way fat these days and I think of a polite response. It comes out like this (smiling), "I'm built like a tank." I laugh a little and say, "And I do a lot of squats, er, with the barbell." I simulate the hand position. She has no idea what I'm talking about. She says, "I just started working out. Tell me what to do!" She is smiling, she's perky, she's adorable. I want to throw a kettlebell at her or, at the very least, roar like a bear and charge at her, just to scare her off. I don't even try to be polite. I say, "I'm in the middle of a workout right now. I don't have time. Good luck!" I smile and give her a little wave as my blessing, thinking, "Hire me and I'll train you, chick-a-poo." She'll have better luck with the muscle-bound dudes and pretty much most of the dudes, I suspect. She'll be fine. She might even work out. I'm glad I went. It was a little rough, clueless chick aside even, but I passed.

Warm-up
2 rounds
10 bar dips
15 bench press w/ 2 x 30# dumbells

AMRAP in 20:00
5 pull-ups
10 kb swings w/ 25kg
15 double-unders
7 rounds even

Food Log
We are not going to discuss that but I had a lovely dinner that Tom prepared while I was at the gym. He made pork chops (lean cuts today), crunchy salad greens with a simple vinegar and olive oil and bits of salami and swiss cheese and some sauteed veggies. I washed it down with a little coconut juice.