19.1 & 19.2

I've only been going to the gym about once per week, but I figured why not when the Open came around.  Our gym is doing a fun intramural competition and having teammates counting on me to do the WOD every week is a great way to ensure I show up!

80s Theme... what a dork.

19.1

This workout wasn't anything glamorous, just 15 minutes of straightforward work.  I don't think anybody likes wall balls, but I am pretty decent at them.  Before I started I thought I'd probably break them up 7-6-6 but the first set felt manageable at 10-9.  I decided to stick with that since I knew I'd lose a lot more time resting between sets.  It's always so hard to pick up the ball again when you're sucking wind!  I paced myself pretty well and was able to complete 5 rounds + 19 wall balls for 209 total reps.

19.2

This WOD was a repeat of 16.2 with a twist.  Back in 2016, you had to do the whole first round in 4 minutes or you were done (vs 8 minutes for the first 2 rounds).  My whole goal for that WOD was just to make it to the bar for the squat cleans and I failed miserably.  Twice.  I actually did worst my second time.  My double unders weren't great then in general and they were a total mess with the pressure of the Open.

I've actually been avoiding dubs for... about a year now, like since last year's Open when I peed my pants during the workout.  I really wasn't sure how they were going to be and I was super nervous about it.  After a lot of warming up and using the bathroom 3 times, I was ready.

I've been doing pretty well on toes to bar lately, so the 25 went fairly quickly.  My dubs were pretty great.  I was able to put some long strings together!  However, apparently I haven't been doing enough PT homework because around 35 my pelvic floor was done and I felt some leaking.

On the bright side, I was pumped when I made it to the barbell at 3:09!  Despite feeling like I'm slacking at making fitness a priority right now, I am still seeing improvements.  I moved through the 85# squat cleans as singles trying not to take huge breaks in between.  That weight isn't super heavy for me, but 15 of them added up.  I made it back to the bar for 21 T2B before the 8 minutes expired.

Shoutout to Etya for the awesome photos that night!

I felt pretty proud of this performance.  But when I went to PT on Monday, I found out my abs had regressed and I had a 2 finger separation at my belly button.  Between that and the peeing situation, I am realizing that I need to step back and make sure I am doing what's actually appropriate for my current body.  And that I really need to step up my game with my PT homework.

All worth it for this one!

19.3 is happening tomorrow!

16.5

After 16.4 wrecked my back, I took the whole week to rest up for 16.5 and it paid off.  My back felt better and better every day and when they announced the last CrossFit Open WOD on Thursday night, I knew I was going to be able to complete it.

See the movement standards here.

When I got to the gym, a few people were just finishing the workout and it looked brutal.  The thing about any "reps for time" workout is that the clock won't save you.  The only thing that will stop the pain is just finishing the work.  I knew this was going to suck, but I knew that I could do it.  I just had to keep moving.

I broke the first round up into 3 rounds of 7, the thrusters felt fine.  I took the burpees slow and steady, knowing that I needed to pace myself in general.  I was already breathing heavy when I finished the first round.  I thought my coach was crazy when she told me to break the 18 into 3 rounds of 6.  It just seemed like a lot at the time and I was thinking 5-5-4-4 sounded a lot better.  But I pushed and I did it.  The burpees felt never ending, but I just kept hopping over that bar.  The 15 round was ok, 3 sets of 5 sounded manageable after the last round of 6s.  The thrusters felt strong.  The burpees continued to suck.

I honestly can't remember how I did the set of 12... I may have done 5-4-3.  Things were getting kind of hazy at this point.  I definitely hit a wall somewhere in the 12/9 range.  Everyone kept telling me that I was almost there and it was all downhill, but I really just felt like I was dying.  I couldn't catch my breath at all during the burpees and I had a little side stitch I was trying to work through.  It was really hard to stop myself from just laying on the floor mid burpee.  My coach stayed on me, kept me moving.  I focused on using as little effort as possible to clear the bar.

But soon I was at 6 and I knew it really was almost over.  Everyone in the gym gathered around me as I was finishing and it was so encouraging!  I did all 6 thrusters unbroken and got through my 6 burpees.  And then it was only 3!  My last thrusters were super strong and 3 burpees later, sweet relief!!!!!  I finished in 22:17!

This was a repeat of 14.5, but I didn't participate in the Open in 2014.  I was in the middle of studying for an 8 hour exam and planning a wedding and I already had way too much on my plate.  I really wish that I had a score from 2 years ago to see my progress, but I do know that the thrusters in this workout felt much easier than they did in 15.5 and my legs didn't feel like jello immediately afterwards.

I Rxed all 5 of the 2016 CrossFit Open workouts and even though some were more exciting for me than others, I am very proud of my performance overall.  I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and happened to discover that I can do chest to bar pull ups!  The Open also identified some of my weakness (dubs, I'm looking at you) and emphasized the fact that I need to get back into a consistent gym schedule.  I've really only been making it to the gym about twice a week on average and I know I need to commit to more workouts and perhaps some extra time on the rower to develop my "CrossFit lungs."

March 18th marked our 3 year CF anniversary and I'm so glad I got sucked into this awesome sport!

Did you do the Open?  What did you think of 16.5?

Weekly Workouts: CrossFit Open 16.3 & 16.4

Hello!  I made it to the gym 3 times this past week and I didn't want to miss the chance to blog about 16.3 and 16.4, so here we go!

F - 0.9 mi with the pups + CrossFit

• WOD CrossFit Open 16.3: 7 minute AMRAP
• 10 Snatches (75/55)
• 3 Bar Muscle Ups

I had never attempted a bar muscle up before, so my expectations were pretty low, but I knew I was going to do the Rx version anyway since the 10 reps would rank me higher than any amount of scaled reps.  After getting through the 10 snatches, I attempted to get my body over the bar quite a few times, but the whole sit up portion just doesn't compute and I completed the rest of the workout with chest to bar pull ups (which are still challenging and exciting for me).

S - 2.1 mi with the dogs and Dave

S - Rest

M - CrossFit

• Strength: Back Squat 3 x 4 at 75% - I did these at 140 lbs and they were tough, but good.
• WOD: For Time (12 Minute Cap)
• 50 Calorie Row
• 40 Thrusters (95/65)
• 30 Burpees Over Bar

I was hesitant to Rx this workout because I knew the 65 lbs thrusters were going to be rough, but I also think 65 lbs thrusters are coming in one of the next two Open workouts, so I figured I should give them a dry run before Friday.  My row was slow but steady.  My friend finished when I was only half way done!  Rowing is not my favorite haha.  The thrusters were not as bad as I thought they would be.  I chipped away at them 5 at a time and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I didn't hate them.  Burpees always suck, especially when you have to clear the bar.  I had 6 or 7 burpees left when the time cap hit, so I just decided to finish.  I was done in 12:50.  My coach pushed me to Rx and I'm glad he did.

After I caught my breath a little, I started to cheer on the athletes that were still working because they started a few minutes behind us in the second heat.  I honestly didn't think much about joining one of the girls for her last few burpees since I definitely know how much it sucks to struggle through the end of a workout when everyone else is already done.  When I got home from the gym, I saw that my coach had posted this :D

• After Party: EMOM 5
• Strict Pull Ups - I did 5 pull ups each time with a red band for assistance

T - CrossFit

• Strength: EMOM 9
• Min 1-3: 2 High Hang Clean (power or full)
• Min 4-6: 1 Hang Clean (power or full)
• Min 7-9: 1 Clean (power or full)
• I got up to 110# with power cleans, my legs were way too sore to do any squatting! 
• WOD: For Time (10 Minute Cap)
• 1 Power Clean (155/105) - I used 85 lbs
• 10 Sit Ups
• 20 Double Unders

After doing so poorly on my dubs in 16.2, my only goal for this workout was to just string some together and not get overly frustrated.  My friend had me try her jump rope (because mine is on the thicker/heavier side) and tried to help me out with some tips and then my coach gave me lots of cues and actually gifted me a jump rope!  The same coach lets me use her barbell, another girl just gifted me her old lifting belt, and my lifting shoes were a gift from a previous gym member last year.  Everyone at my gym is so generous!  I know I've said it before, but the community aspect of CF is the best!  The workout went pretty well.  I was glad I didn't Rx the power cleans for the sake of my back, which has been feeling great (yay).  My dubs were ok, definitely better than both of my 16.2 attempts.  I was able to get a couple good strings and even though I still violently whipped myself more than a few times, I will call it progress.  I finished 8 rounds + 1 clean.

• After Party:
• Tabata Handstand Holds
• 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest, 4 minutes total
• These are shoulder killers! 

W - 3.0 miles with the dogs at the park

Th - 1.1 miles with the dogs

F - CrossFit

• WOD CrossFit Open 16.4: 13 minute AMRAP
• 55 Deadlifts (225/155)
• 55 Wallballs (20/14)
• 55 Calorie Row
• 55 Handstand Push Ups

Heavy deadlifts, exactly what I did NOT want in the Open.  When I got to the gym, I discussed the workout with my coach and she told me to warm up and just see how it felt.  I kept adding weight to the bar and I was shocked when I had no back pain at all.  I decided that I was going to do the Rx version at 155 lbs (scaled would've been 95) and just take my time and focus keeping perfect form.  I knew my workout was just going to be 13 minutes of as many deadlifts as I could get.

My counter for the workout was one of my coaches who is specifically very form focused and he watched every single rep.  He told me they looked great and the workout started off awesome.  155 lbs definitely isn't my max and the reps were feeling good.  I was somewhere around 20 when I felt the first twinge of pain in my back.  I took a good minute and a half break to stretch and grab some water.  When I came back to the bar, I felt a little something when I bent down to grab the bar, but the lift felt fine.  I kept cruising through the deadlifts one by one, with my coach confirming that I was still using proper technique.  With 15 seconds left, I picked up the bar for my 50th rep and felt a horrible shooting pain.  I don't know if I rushed the lift to try and get one more before the clock ran out or what... my coach said my form was the same as the rep before.  Maybe it was just the high volume.  Maybe I should've stopped when I felt the first sign of pain halfway through the workout.  Ugh!  I was in a lot of pain for the rest of the night, but I felt so proud that I was able to get 50 reps when I thought I wasn't going to be able to do any.

 

One more Open workout left!  I'm kind of scared they are going to make us repeat 15.5.  I'm really hoping my back feels somewhat normal by Friday.  I'm taking it super easy this week, doing lots of push aways, and spending some quality time with my heating pad... so we'll see.  

Does your gym feel like a community?

 

My February (& March) Whole30: Days 21 - 27

In the homestretch now!  Thursday is my last day, I can't believe it.

Day 21 - Tuesday 3/1/16

• Breakfast: Chai tea with a clementine
• Lunch: Leftover Grandma Barbara's Stuffed Mushrooms from Practical Paleo
• Dinner: Leftover pan fried chicken with an almond meal crust (similar to this) dipped in a quick homemade ranch (similar to this) with zucchini noodles tossed in a pesto sauce and cucumber tomato salad
• Sleep: 7.5 hours
• Workout: 2.25 mi dog walk/run + CrossFit Barbell Club
• 1000m row when I got there just for fun
• Participated in the after party with the class before:
• 4 Minute Tabata (20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest)
• Even: Handstand Hold
• Odd: Russian Twists
• Barbell Club - Jerks:
• 6x1 hold dip for 3 seconds, then come back to neutral position and do a push press, I worked up to 95
• 7x1 split jerk, then step only front foot in, rerack, and do another jerk back into full split position, I believe I only got up to 85
• 7x2 heavy split jerks, I made it up to 115.  I hadn't done heavy jerks in a while and I'm not super comfortable in the split position, but they felt great.
• Thoughts: I wasn't super hungry for bfast in the morning so I skipped it, but then I was starving in the late afternoon after eating plenty for lunch!  It sort of felt like skipping it threw me off all day.  I definitely felt the lack of caffeine from no coffee after lunch, but I pushed through and felt more energized once I left work and got outside with Carmela and Butler.

Day 22 - Wednesday 3/2/16

• Breakfast: Green tea with some apple chicken sausage and sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms, and spinach
• Lunch: Leftover pan fried chicken with an almond meal crust (similar to this) dipped in a quick homemade ranch (similar to this) with zucchini noodles tossed in a pesto sauce
• Dinner: Slow Cooker Korean Beef (recipe called for short ribs, but I used a chuck roast that I already had in the freezer) that I served with Cauliflower Fried Rice and some kimchi in a Korean "Burrito" Bowl
• Sleep: 7 hours
• Workout: I'm sore, rest day.
• Thoughts: I slept like the dead last night and didn't have too much trouble getting out of bed bright and early to prep the beef for the crockpot.  I had made the sauce ahead of time, but I broiled the meat at 6 am!  It turned out great, dinner was delicious.  Day 2 of no coffee and I was definitely feeling an afternoon slump.  I also had a slight headache when I went to bed.

Day 23 - Thursday 3/3/16

• Breakfast: Chai tea with some apple chicken sausage and sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms, and spinach
• Lunch: Leftover Slow Cooker Korean Beef with Cauliflower Fried Rice and some kimchi in a Korean "Burrito" Bowl and some super sweet raspberries 
• Dinner: Leftover pan fried chicken with an almond meal crust (similar to this) with guacamole
• Sleep: 7.5 hours
• Workout: Nope
  
• Thoughts: Thought I'd wake up and feel better, but I still had a slight headache :/  It lasted all day but was only a dull pain and never got worse.  I tried to avoid taking any meds for it since it was so minor and I wanted to see if it would pass...

Day 24 - Friday 3/4/16

• Breakfast: Lemon ginger tea and 2 clementines
• Lunch: Leftover Slow Cooker Korean Beef with Cauliflower Fried Rice and some kimchi in a Korean "Burrito" Bowl and raspberries
• Snack: Green juice from Trader Joe's (like the bitter kind that is loaded with greens and barely any fruit)
• Dinner: Left work a little early and picked up the handful of ingredients I needed to make this Leftover Roast Chicken Soup with Roasted Vegetables
• Sleep: 7 hours
• Workout: Dying on the couch
• Thoughts: I woke up in the middle of the night with a raging headache and a sore throat.  WHAT THE HECK?!  I couldn't fall back asleep for over an hour :(  I took some ibuprofen in the middle of the night and thankfully woke up without a headache.  I went to work but was feeling pretty crappy all day.  I didn't have much of an appetite so I only ate half my lunch.  I knew once I stopped moving, I was going to crash, so I forced myself to stop at Trader Joe's and make soup when I got home.  As soon as I was done, I didn't leave the couch until I went to bed.

Day 25 - Saturday 3/5/16

• Brunch: 2 mandarins and a bowl of Leftover Roast Chicken Soup with Roasted Vegetables
• Snacks: Green smoothie from Trader Joe's (different from yesterdays juice and tasted beyond sweet), a coconut cream pie Larabar and a banana
• Dinner: Ordered takeout from Outback, I got prime rib and a mix of carrots, broccoli, and zucchini.  After walking around the Flower Show all day and driving home from Philly, the last thing I wanted to do was fix dinner.  Thankfully I remembered that there's an Outback right around the corner from our house and their online ordering made it so easy for me to customize my order to be compliant.  I'm glad to have this option.

• Sleep: 12 hours!  I needed it.
• Workout: Tons of walking around the Flower Show, my legs were so exhausted
• Thoughts: I was feeling much better than the day before, but I was really struggling by the end of the Flower Show.  I'm glad I brought some snacks with me!

Day 26 - Sunday 3/6/16

• Breakfast: The side salad I got with my Outback meal that I dressed up with some extra veggies and prosciutto
• Lunch: I was at my friend Heather's baby shower and ate some raw veggies, fruit, some pickles, and I took 2 wraps and unrolled them and just ate the ham, turkey, lettuce, and tomato inside.  I also had a chai tea as well as a cinnamon vanilla tea while I was there.  In the past shower events have been my downfall, so I'm glad I was able to stay strong around the desserts.
• Dinner: A big Mexican feast at Shayna's with a bunch of friends!  Shayna is doing the Whole30 as well, so she provided a great spread of compliant foods (with some non compliant options for our other friends).  She had pulled pork, chicken, and ground beef to make lettuce wraps with salsa, guac, tomato, and onion.  I also enjoyed some plantain chips with guac.  And for dessert I ate some mango and strawberry salsa and drank a ginger kombucha.  I was super happy I didn't have to cook and it was great to catch up with friends.
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Workout: 0.8 mi walk with the dogs + CrossFit

20 minutes... right.  I'm pretty sure only one person at my gym made it to round 3.  Only a handful made it to round 2, mostly coaches.  My goal was to get to the squat cleans... to get at least one.  And I couldn't do it.  The toes to bars took me 2 minutes and then I seriously struggled through my double unders.  I was so disappointed since I've been doing so well with them, but I just could not seem to get into a rhythm.  I couldn't do more than two or three at a time and the more I messed up, the more frustrated I got, the worse I did.  I ended up with 71 reps... I missed finishing the 50 dubs by 4 reps... 4!  Ugh.  I definitely wasn't feeling 100%.  Really, I said I was only there to get a score so I didn't end up with a big fat zero for the Open... but I knew I didn't do my best and I was really unhappy with my performance.

• Thoughts: Even though I wasn't feeling amazing, I'm glad I was able to recover from my cold so quickly and I didn't have to miss all the fun activities I had planned for the weekend.  I should've actually taken some pics today.

Day 27 - Monday 3/7/16

• Breakfast: Green tea with some apple chicken sausage and sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms, and spinach
• Lunch: Leftover Roast Chicken Soup with Roasted Vegetables and some blackberries
• Dinner: Burgers with lettuce, tomato, pickles, guac, bacon, and sweet potato fries with homemade ranch
• Sleep: 7 hours, wished it was more
• Workout: 1.7 mi with the dogs + CrossFit (16.2 take 2)
  
  I knew I could do better than my performance on Sunday and since the WOD was so short and not crazy taxing like 16.1, I decided to redo it first thing Monday morning.  I crushed the toes to bar and finished them in 1:23 beating my time from Sunday by 40 seconds.  Unfortunately I still couldn't settle into any kind of rhythm with my dubs.  I tried and tried to just take a deep breath and reset myself, but they felt off the entire time.  I actually did worse than Sunday with 67 reps and I was super upset with myself.  Great way to start a Monday....
  

• Thoughts: I'm officially one week coffee free!  I'm still getting over this cold so I can't say I feel amazing, but I don't feel like I need it. 

I owe you guys a serious photo dump from the Flower Show.  Everything was so beautiful and I took a ton of pics.  Today was kind of rough, but I'm looking forward to a week of warm temps, getting completely over this cold, and a strong finish to this Whole30!

How was your week?  Did you check out the Flower Show?  Did you cook anything delicious?

My February Whole30: Days 17 - 20

Here's a quick update since I couldn't wait to post about 16.1!

Day 17 - Friday 2/26/16

• Breakfast: Bacon Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust from the Against All Grain cookbook, coffee, and 2 clementines
• Lunch: Leftover Korean Noodle Bowl from the Against All Grain cookbook and a peach 
• Dinner: Ended up getting Chipotle for dinner because I really did not feel like cooking after the Open workout.  I will be planning better for next week.
• Sleep: 7 hours
• Workout: CrossFit Open 16.1
• 20 Minute AMRAP
• 25 ft Overhead Walking Lunges (95/65)
• 8 Bar Facing Burpees
• 25 ft Overhead Walking Lunges
• 8 Chest to Bar Pull Ups

I'm not sure how I went an entire year completely not considering that the standard pull up in the Open would be chest to bar.  I'm still trying to connect my regular kipping pull ups and that has been my focus.  I spent a few minutes attempting C2B on Monday night without much success, but didn't really think much of it until the workout was announced Thursday night with, you guessed it, chest to bar pull ups!  Since 1 Rx rep is ranked higher than any amount of scaled reps, I knew I was going to complete the beginning of the workout and then spend the remaining time trying to get my dang chest to touch that bar.  I watched a bunch of videos online on Friday but I didn't really have any expectations for myself.

Until I tried one during my warm up and I did it!!!!  At that point I started to feel less anxious and more excited.  But I still thought I wasn't going to be able to maintain the Rx standards through the 20 minutes.  I insisted on stacking my bar in a way that I could pull some weight off once I could no longer hit the C2B pull ups.

But that never happened.  My pull ups were super strong the entire work out.  Whenever I came back to the pull up bar I was so worried about getting no repped that I would end up doing this crazy high pull up and slamming my chest off the bar.  The lunges were hard, especially the section directly after the burpees.  Since it was such a long WOD, I knew I wanted to pace myself and I felt like I did a good job not burning out too early.  The worst part was my butt started to seriously hurt half way through, my cheeks were cramping up!  My friend Jeff counted for me and was a great coach throughout the workout.  It was so helpful.  So many people were cheering and when I finished I was just in disbelief.  I still can't believe I completed 4 rounds + 18 reps Rx!  I love the Open and I love my gym!

• Thoughts: My back felt great, huzzah!

Day 18 - Saturday 2/27/16

• Breakfast: Coffee and a banana
• Lunch: Whole30 Potluck!  I had been planning this event for a few weeks and even though we had some last minute cancellations, it ended up being a wonderful get together.  We started with chorizo stuffed dates wrapped in bacon (OMG I'm obsessed & hoping to share the recipe with you soon!) and avocados topped with bacon and a balsamic reduction, both of which I totally forgot to take pics of.  For our main course we had sun dried tomato meatballs, Asian lettuce wraps, and a chopped salad with tomato, cucumber, onion, bell peppers, and avocado.  We also sampled a bunch of different kombucha flavors with the sweetest strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.  Everything was so delicious and it was great having a bunch of my best girl friends come together for a lovely ladies lunch :) 

• Dinner: Fish taco lettuce wraps with pineapple guacamole and cabbage slaw, inspired by a recipe in Juli Bauer's Paleo Cookbook
• Sleep: 8.5 hours
• Workout: 1.1 miles with the dogs
• Thoughts: My butt is SO sore!  But my legs actually don't feel too terrible otherwise, I'm shocked.

Day 19 - Sunday 2/28/16

• Breakfast: Coffee and the last piece of the Bacon Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust from the Against All Grain cookbook
• Lunch: I made a salad and topped it with some of the Asian lettuce wrap leftovers and ate it outside in the sunshine :)
• Snacks: A clementine, a kombucha, some almond stuffed olives, and 2 leftover chorizo stuffed dates
• Dinner: Steaks seared in the cast iron pan and cucumber tomato salad
• Sleep: 8.5 hours
• Workout: 0.9 mile walk with the dogs and my dad
• Thoughts: My mom cooked a big batch of stuffed peppers while I was hanging out there and they smelled insane (but included rice and cheese).  I pretty much hung out until right when they came out of the oven and then I had to go.

Day 20 - Monday 2/29/16

• Breakfast: Leftover avocado with bacon and a balsamic reduction and coffee
• Lunch: Grandma Barbara's Stuffed Mushrooms from Practical Paleo that I made Sunday night
• Appetizer: Basically a taste of the leftover Asian lettuce wraps and the sun dried tomato meatballs from the potluck and another avocado with bacon and balsamic reduction
• Dinner: Pan fried chicken with an almond meal crust (I didn't really follow a recipe, but similar to this) served with zucchini noodles tossed in a pesto sauce
• Sleep: 7.5 hours
• Workout: 3.0 miles running and walking with the dogs at the park
• Thoughts: I actually didn't feel horrible getting out of bed on a Monday morning!  I'm considering quitting coffee for the rest of my Whole30 just to see how I feel without it.  The amount I've been drinking is so minimal and I feel great.  I cooked up a storm and made dinner for tonight, breakfast for the week, and prepped a crockpot meal for tomorrow.  Boom!

So I guess calling it my February Whole30 was kind of short sighted, since 1/3 of it will be happening in March haha.  Whoops!

How was your weekend?

15.5 & Phillies Charity 5K Race Recap

I was dreading 15.5 all day.  I'm usually finished by 7 am, but since our gym was doing a Friday Night Lights event, I had all day to contemplate the workout.

It took the pros 7 minutes and change.  I knew it was going to take me at least twice that time.  I figured I had to do the workout Rx because I knew I could, but the 65 lbs thrusters were going to be heavy!  I was right.  They felt heavy from the first one during warm up.  I kept looking around beforehand hoping one of my coaches would notice the panic on my face and tell me I should scale it (which was 45 lbs), but that didn't happen.

The workout started and I took my time on the rower.  All the advice I had read beforehand told me to pace myself rowing and save it all for the thrusters.  It probably didn't matter... the thrusters felt heavy immediately and chipping away the 27 was challenging.  The rest of the workout was pretty much a blur of trying to catch my breath on the rower and pushing through the pain on the thrusters.  My legs were burning and I was sucking wind.

During the WOD I just kept thinking of this mantra that I read earlier that day in a 15.5 mental performance tips post: I love getting to the dark place, because I know that's where the magic happens.  I'm not really sure anybody loves getting to the dark place, but I knew I was in it and knew it wouldn't end until I finished all the work.  All I can say is thank God for my CrossFit family.  I was seriously struggling, but everyone kept cheering me on and encouraging me and it helped so much!  I loved the energy in the gym all night!

Thanks for all the great photos Kate :)

16 minutes and 12 seconds later, I crashed onto the floor so happy that it was over!  15.5 was honestly one of the hardest workouts I've ever done in my life.  It was the perfect end to a mentally and physically challenging 2015 Open!  Like I said before, the Open took me out of my comfort zone and pushed me to accomplish things I didn't think were possible!  It was a great experience and while I'm glad it's over, I'll definitely be signing up next year.

Usually I'm not sore from CF until the next day, but my legs were really hurting immediately afterwards.  We all went out to a local sports bar for dinner, but when I got home I quickly popped some ibuprofen and covered my thighs in icyhot.  I woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble getting back to sleep because my legs were just aching.  When I woke up in the morning, it hurt to walk.  Between that and the 30 degree temps outside, I really contemplated trying to convince Dave to just skip the race.

But I knew I'd hate myself and I'd never be able to wear the nice tech T race shirt because I would just feel like a big liar in it lol.

We left our house around 6:30 am.  There was no traffic, so we cruised down 76 and parked a little after 7.  It was cold, so we hung out in the car until 7:30.  The race was very well organized.  They had a ton of porta pottys so I didn't have to wait in a long line, which is a race day win!  The announcements were loud and clear, so we knew what was going on and where to line up.  We settled in between the 9 and 10 min/mi pace markers and did some stretching.  Did I mention my legs were sore?

At 8 am, the race started and we were off!  The beginning was a little crowded.  It's always a little bit of scramble trying to dodge people and get into the groove.  My quads were on fire immediately and as we passed some people walking during the first mile, I was thinking that it would've felt pretty good (and also that I hate when people suck at lining up based on their pace).  We ran past the Fanatic and soon we were in FDR park and headed into mile 2.

The path was a bit more narrow in the park, but the further we got into the race, the less everyone was trying to pass.  At the halfway point, they were handing out water, but I knew if I stopped at all, I wasn't going to get my legs to begin again.  I realized we had been following a couple for a little while, so I made it my goal to stay with them.  I tried to zone out and just concentrate on them.  My legs felt awful and I was definitely winded.  I was so cold before the race began but now I was wishing I could ditch some of my layers.  I just kept thinking this will all be over soon enough.

We finished mile 2 and soon we were leaving the park.  As we headed back onto Broad Street, I could hear the announcer at the finish line.  As we rounded the corner, the finish line was in view!  We left our pacing couple behind and started to push.  Right after we finished mile 3, I saw a guy go off to the side and thought that's weird we're so close... until he started tossing his cookies.  The last little bit of the race was so tough, that 0.1 felt so long.

Crossing the finish line was the sweetest relief!  Our official time was 30:06.  While I didn't have any goals for this race other than to just survive, Dave wanted to finish in under 30 minutes.  My running app said we ran 3.22 miles (instead of 3.1), so I'm still counting it as a win!  We both only did 2 training runs beforehand and our legs were smoked already, so I was quite impressed with our performance.

Negative splits, for the win!  We grabbed our medals, some water, bananas, and soft pretzels, and made our way to the field entrance for our cool down lap around the warning track.  It was pretty neat being down on the field!

We snapped some pics and took in the sights, but soon I was cold and ready to get out of there.  We hobbled up the stairs out of the stadium (cruel!) and headed to the car.  We grabbed some cheesesteaks (at 9 am, breakfast of champions lol) and headed home!

Now it's Tuesday (Happy Birthday Mom <3) and it still hurts to walk!  Hopefully my legs will feel normal at some point this week....

15.3, 2 Miles on the Trail, & 15.4

I knew a workout with double unders (click the links to see some short demo videos of the movements) was coming up in the Open and I was dreading it!  I can barely do them and when I do it's one at a time with some singles in between which takes forever.  I've connected two in a row a handful of times, but recently I feel like I'm actually getting worse at them.  And when I miss, I whip myself with my speed rope and it sucks!  They are extremely frustrating and the more frustrated I get, the worse they get.

Enter 15.3 last Friday.  The workout was announced: a 14 minute AMRAP of 7 muscle ups, 50 wallballs, and 100 dubs.  Muscle ups are an advanced CrossFit movement and I do not have them.  So I was saved by the muscle ups!  I had no choice but to scale which was 50 wallballs and 200 single unders.  And I got a 10 lbs medicine ball instead of the 14.

This workout was a test of endurance.  The wallballs made me winded and my thighs started burning.  Jumping rope was my rest period, but my calves were feeling the burn too.  I got through the first two rounds and had a few minutes left.  I broke most of my wallballs into sets of 5-7, but I really wanted to get through the last round so I pushed hard and did them in sets of 10.  I finished the wallballs and whipped through 78 singles before time was called and I dropped to the ground to catch my breath.

In 14 minutes I did 150 wallballs and 478 single unders!  And then I forgot the enter my score into the website before the deadline.  Big time womp :(

I skipped CrossFit in the beginning of this week to give my back a break (and to enjoy St. Paddy's Day).  I went for my first run (in possibly 9 months) with Dave on Monday night to shake my legs out for a 5K we're running next weekend.  It was my first run on the trail near our house!  When Dave mentioned that he wanted to run the 5K under a 10 min/mi pace I laughed out loud and told him I'd meet him at the finish line.  I did not think that was a realistic goal for me, but then we ran 2 miles and I felt great.  We did the first mile in 10:08 and the second in 9:17!  Considering I ran my fastest 5K at a 9:15 pace, I was kind of shocked that I was able to run that fast without any training.  I guess all those grueling long WODs have been keeping me in shape after all.  Apparently running uses some different muscles in my legs though because they were sore for days!  I'm going to try to get another run or two in to prep for the race, but we will be facing our last Open workout the night before, so I'm not sure how great my legs will feel that morning.  Either way it will be fun.  The race is the Phillies Charity 5K and our cool down lap will be around the warning track of Citizens Bank Park!

In the meantime, 15.4 is in the books!

When I saw 125 lbs cleans (which is the PR I hit in 15.1a) and handstand push-ups (which I do not usually Rx since I put extra mats under my head), I immediately thought ok I'm scaling, until I got to the gym and my coach was like nope!  My coaches have encouraged everyone to push themselves and see how much they can grow in the Open.  And the way it is scored, any Rx workout, even if you only get 1 rep, beats a scaled workout.  So I loaded up my bar to warm up and see if I could actually lift that weight today.  Max cleans are so mental for me, I lift the bar up where it's basically high enough to catch it... and then I lose confidence and bail.  After a quick freak out, I got it together and cleaned 125 and knew I had to Rx it.

The first 3 handstand push-ups were no problem.  When I came over to my barbell, I was definitely playing mental games.  I bailed a few times and then boom, the first clean went up no problem.  The next two were fine!  I went over to do the 6 HSPU and they were definitely harder.  I did them one or two at a time and before I knew it I was headed back for more cleans.  I wasn't even sure I'd make it this far!  I mixed in a few more head case moments, but I got all 3 cleans and was headed back to the wall!  I busted out 5 messy, but legit HSPU before the 8 minutes were up for 20 reps total.  I guess it's safe to say that I can Rx HSPU and 125 lbs is not my one rep max for cleans!  So pumped!!!!

Thanks for the video Amanda!

When I signed up for the Open, I didn't really understand the point.  I know I'm not headed to Regionals.  I knew I wasn't going to have all the movements in the workouts (I'm looking at you muscle ups).  I thought, what's the big deal anyway?  I signed up because my coach told me to, it was only $20, and everybody was doing it.  But now, I get it!  After each Open workout, I felt like I left it all out there.  I pushed myself, felt the support of my teammates and coaches, and accomplished things I didn't think I was capable of!

And now, I was supposed to be headed to yoga to get my zen on, but I decided to hibernate since we have a few inches of snow and it's still coming.  Happy first day of spring indeed!

Fifteen Point Two

Another week, another Open Workout!  15.2 was a repeat of 14.2 from last year, but between the PE (the 8 hour exam I took in April) and our wedding, the open was just too much so I didn't participate.

I definitely don't have chest-to-bar pull-ups, so it was a no brainer for me to do this one scaled!

Unlike last week, I didn't have any anxiety going into this workout.  My pull-ups have been getting really strong lately.  The scaled division was also a lighter overhead squat (for women 45 lbs instead of 65 lbs) and less reps per round (start at 6 vs 10).  The only thing I was mildly concerned about was that I had already torn my hand earlier in the week doing pull-ups, so I figured I was probably just going to bleed everywhere.  Fortunately my friend Jeremy had a similar situation and he taped me up!  It still hurt throughout the pull-ups, but it was so much better than it could have been.

I finished the first round of work with over a minute of rest before the next time slot.  The next 3 minutes were a little harder, but I still had some rest before the 6 minute mark.  In the 10 rep section I was feeling pretty winded.  I wasn't sure I was going to finish before the 9 minute mark, but I whipped out those last 10 pull-ups and finished just in time... just in time to start the next round!  This was definitely going to be my last round, so I knew I only had to endure 3 more minutes.

Shout out to Coach Jules for always taking sweet pictures!  Maybe next
time she won't wait until the last round when everyone is dying ;)

I felt strong through the overhead squats.  The pull ups were a struggle, but everyone was cheering me on.  I finished the first set of 12 and had 1 minute left.  I did all 12 of my overhead squats without a break and ran over to do 2 more pull-ups before time ran out!  I did a total of 134 reps in 12 minutes!

This time last year I could barely do a pull-up and yesterday I did 62 of them!  Progress :)  Today is a lazy day!  We had a nice family brunch this morning and we don't have much on our agenda for the rest of the day except doggie snuggles, living room yoga, and a sushi date.

Happy weekend everyone!

Highlights from My Week

Do people still celebrate dating anniversaries after they get married?  We did.  That gorgeous bouquet above is from my sweetie!  Dave and I celebrated 5 years of dating by heading into the city for a Sunday funday last weekend.  After almost killing ourselves trying to conquer a completely iced over pedestrian bridge at the train station, we cruised into the city and our first stop was Fado's Irish Pub for a boozy brunch with Michelle and Alex.  The mimosas and bloody marys were bottomless, the food was rich, and the (still drunk from last night?) soccer fans were very entertaining.  Unfortunately my camera randomly stopped working mid brunch without anything happening to it :/

 

After that we headed to the Wells Fargo Center and actually got to watch the Flyers win a great game!  Last time we went to a game, it seemed as if the team forgot to show up, so this was a treat.

When we left the stadium, it was almost 50 degrees which felt like t-shirt weather!  We finished up our time in the city by grabbing a bite to eat at Victory in Xfinity Live and finishing our drinks outside in the sun.

My week started out fairly uneventful, but on Tuesday there was some action!  I left work a little early to head to the chiropractor before cheer practice, but while I was cruising up 476 I heard an awful noise.  I crossed 3 lanes to get into the shoulder and just as I was coming to a stop, the entire tread ripped off my tire!  Forget getting a flat, my whole tire basically flew off!  I didn't even know that could happen!  Thank God I was able to pull over when I did because I did not bend my rim.  I am also so thankful that I wasn't in the 2 lane construction zone with no shoulder that was only a few miles up the road.  And I was lucky it was a rear tire because when that happens to a front tire, apparently it's a lot more dicey.  My knight in shining armor came to save me with the help of a police man and service truck to give us some cover.  It was pretty nerve wracking watching Dave change my tire while people whizzed by him doing 70 miles per hour.  Public service announcement: PLEASE change lanes if you see someone stuck on the side of the road, especially if they are squatting down 2' from the edge of your lane.  I immediately drove to Creamery Tire and was in and out.  They are the best.  I was even able to still squeeze in a session at my chiropractor where they tried a new technique on my back.  I'll have to post more about that when I figure out what it's actually called.

On Thursday I took a long lunch and went to check out a local farmer's market called Super Gigante with a coworker.  I picked up a ton of cheap produce and what I'm really excited about is finding lots of organ meats and bones!  I've dabbled in making bone broth from whole chickens or random leftover thigh bones, but I've been wanting to try to make beef broth.  I also know how nutritious organ meats are but when I finally got up the nerve to even think about trying them, I couldn't find any in the few conventional grocery stores I looked in.  I plan on sneaking some liver into dinner sometime in the near future.  These burgers are 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 liver, and 1/3 bacon.  With that kind of bacon ratio, how bad could they be?  I've also been checking out these garlic chicken livers, very simple and the recipe has so many glowing reviews.  I'm not telling Dave lol.

This week also marked the beginning of the 2015 CrossFit Open!  When they posted the first workout (+ a bonus workout) I was feeling kind of anxious.

My recorded max snatch is 80 lbs and although I know my real max is higher than that (just haven't had the chance to really try it), 75 lbs snatches sounded heavy!  I was also intimidated by the toes to bar (which is exactly what it sounds like: hang from a bar, swing toes up to bar).  I didn't think I could really do them.  I have the kipping motion down but my toes don't usually make it anywhere near the bar.  This is the first year there's a scaled division and the scaled WOD was 55 lbs for women with hanging knee raises instead of T2B.  I really wasn't sure if I should Rx or scale.

I was also nervous about my linger back issues.  Lighter weight deadlifts are supposed to be connected (as opposed to just dropping the weight every time), which isn't always great for my back.  And let's not forget maxing out a clean and jerk after a grueling WOD!  That was really my biggest worry.  My back has been touch and go with cleans and for some reason my forearm was hurting last week too.  And to top it all off, I really didn't get enough sleep this week.

When I got to the gym at 6 am, I was itching to ask my coach for advice.  She asked to see my T2B and some snatches (and offered me her personal barbell to use) and recommended that I Rx it.  I agreed that I should, but it immediately made me super nervous!  We went in 2 heats and I had to go first because I needed to get it over with so I could stop stressing.

The workout went great!  The T2B were hard and slowed me down since I was doing them one or two at a time, but I did them!  The deadlifts were the easy part.  The snatches were definitely heavy and I struggled on a few of them, but I'm so glad my coach pushed me to Rx.  It was definitely the right choice.  And using her bar was nice too, it's made for women so it has a smaller diameter which helped me grip it.  This WOD was all about grip and it definitely made a difference.  I got through 3 rounds + 3 T2B but after the 9 minutes were up, it was time to max out!

After our workouts, I'm typically laying on the floor for a bit before I can even sit up and grab a drink... NOT maxing out an olympic lift!  We had 6 minutes to work up to our max, so it was a little bit of a puzzle to add enough weight at a time to not waste your energy doing a bunch of non max reps vs. adding too much weight at a time and not being able to do it.  I put too much on my bar during one of my jumps, couldn't do it, and immediately ripped off 10 lbs.  Apparently I get really mental during max cleans and I bailed a few times on what I thought might be my max for the day.  I didn't count the plates while this was going on, I couldn't waste the time or mental capacity, so I really didn't know how much I was lifting.  After a few bails, everyone in the gym was sending lots of encouragement my way and I told myself I could do it.  And then I did!  The jerk was a little bit of a struggle but I muscled it up there.  I tried to add another 5 lbs on the bar in the last 30 seconds, but I couldn't get through my mental crap.  When I added up the weight, I realized I lifted 125 lbs for a 5 lbs PR!  I'm still not really comfortable dropping into a full squat when I'm cleaning or jumping into a split when I jerk, both of which would put me lower when I catch the bar, so I wouldn't have to lift it as high allowing me to lift more weight.  So I think I still have a lot of room to grow on my maxes.  Also my back didn't hurt at all during the workout :)

This weekend has been whirlwind of fun events including an epic fajita feast with some of my coworkers and a fun day in the city that involved helping our friend propose to her girlfriend!  It was awesome but I'm glad our Sunday will be filled with church, family, and rest.

What was the highlight of your week?