Crossfit South Philly!

Phew - what a month this has been! I travelled 3 weekends in a row, and although I've had a great time, I've missed out on WAY too many days in the blue room.

This past week I travelled to Philly and her suburbs for 6 days. As I stayed in Center City for a few nights, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to work out with Jerry's old crew - South Philly represent!

So, in the middle of my vacation, I got up at 5am to work out in a place that I had never been before, with people I had never met (but had heard good things about). I was a bit apprehensive, as I was not sure what to expect. On top of that, we had eaten at a fantastic restaurant the night before, and I had consumed a good deal of chocolate!

The cab ride over didn't help, as the driver kept repeating the intersection I had given him over and over again, like he didn't know where he was going! When I asked him if he needed me to call for directions, his response was "Neh, I know where I'm going, but you can call if you want" - and then he went back to repeating the intersection again and again.

Luckily - I made it without incident, and was soon greated by a great group of people! Everyone was really nice and welcoming - made me feel right at home.

For our warmup we did some sprints, squats, and burpees (ick!). Then we got into it - team games with a deck of cards. I was so excited to do a workout that I was familar with! We did sit-ups, burpees, push-press, bench dips, slam ball, KB swings, KB sumo high pull, and thrusters. Although no one can replace Jerry, Wil was a great coach!

I had a lot of fun - and I highly recommend checking out CF South Philly if you're ever in town!

Although, I must say, I am REALLY happy to be back!

A quick followup!

So - I did the circuit the class hit on Thursday: 7 Front Squats, 7 Pull-ups, 7 Dips: AMRAP in 20min.

Although in the warmup I had built up to 5 reps of 85lb, I used a 75lb weight. Although I tried, there wasn't enough room to kip on the pull-up machine (thanks for the suggestion Adrienne!), so I set it at 50lbs for both the pull-ups and dips. This was a good weight for me - as I could only get 2-4 in at a time.

However, there was someone else also using the pull-up machine - so I had to work in with her, and start and stop my watch a lot. Annoying - lost a lot of intensity that way. In the end, I got in 5 and 2/3 rounds. I finished up my dips after that - but since I had grandfathered in the last 2 pull-ups, I didn't count them for the circuit.

I'm out of town this weekend, but I will be back at the 7:30 class on Monday!! I can't wait!

Miss you all!

The Quickening...

This week has been a bad one for me with Crossfit - I only made it into the Blue Room once, on Monday. I've been missing out for various reasons (late night helping a friend move, early meeting, feeling feverish), but I've been trying to keep up with the workouts. This was the second time I missed The Quickening, so I decided to hit it in my gym at work. Used 20lb dumbbells for the push press, and a 45lb dumbbell for the high pull. My workout was fraught with a couple of problems:

First of all, treadmills suck for sprints. It took a full 38 seconds for the treadmill to go from 0mph to 7.5mph. Yay for wasted time and intensity? I tried to adjust my final times to compenstate (subtracted 1:15 from each). So - instead of 14:48 and 11:34, I estimated that it would have taken me 13:33 and 10:19. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to find out what my REAL score would be one of these days!

Secondly - this was the type of dumbbell I used:

Which led to this (picture taken today, workout done yesterday):

OUCH. I guess these are bruises, although I've never seen red bruises before. These are quite swollen, which you can't see in the picture. Attractive, no?

I saw that the workout I missed this morning (courtesy of Katie's blog) was working on the front squat, and then a circuit of front squats, pull-ups, and dips. Even though I'm not feeling my best, I think I can handle a strength circuit. Of course - this is what I have to work with for pull-ups and dips:

Which is SO not the same as doing kipping pull-ups and ring dips, but I suppose it's what I'm stuck with when I don't make it into the blue room!! Not sure how much weight I should use on these - maybe 50lbs? Any suggestions? I know I can't dip my full weight (using the pink band, where I can get maybe 2 in a row), and I definitely can't do a dead-hang pull-up yet. Advice welcome!

On my own....

Oversleeping seems to be a theme on here! Normally, I set my alarm for 5:15, so I can hit the snooze button until 5:45/6:00. Alas, this morning, I woke up and my clock said 6:45. Shit!!!

I decided to use my itty bitty gym at work for more than a shower, and was pleased with the results.

2mile run: 18:06 - just over a 9minute/mile pace. Before I started Crossfit, 12min + was the norm

Squat Cleans: 105lb - the maximum I could get the barbell to! Not sure if this is a PR, but I think it is. It wasn't pretty, but I got it!

Tabata:
Push ups: 5
Sit ups: 11
Squats: 13

A definite improvement from the last time I overslept!