Clean and Jerks - ooof!

Being Christmas time and all, there were a few days that CFOT was closed. The last work out was on Wed at 9am, which I could not make due to work. Not wanting to wait until Sunday for my next work out, I decided to head over to the Crossfit/Jiu Jistsu facility in Loudon with a friend who CFs there.

After messing around a bit with the stationary bar (can get a chin in, but can't put them together), I decided to hit a work out I had missed in the blue room: 15-12-9, clean and jerks, touch and go - cannot let go of the bar. I saw that Katie had done 75lbs, and knowing how strong she is, I went for 65lbs. Boy was that exhausting! I think I rested a bit too much in the rack position, but I made it through each round without letting go of the bar!

Shoulders were really sore the next day, and today (Sunday), when I happily headed back to the blue room. Well, happy until I saw the work out:

Father Time
5 rounds
10 clean and jerks
30 ab mat sit-ups
400 meter run

46:11

Do your Grace weight - which for me is 85lbs. I was the only girl in to go this heavy (all the fire breathers must still be on vacation), and I think I also had one of the slowest times! I really wanted to go for 75lbs, but I'm really glad that Jerry didn't let me drop down. I almost tweaked my lower back a couple of times - just losing core tension - but I feel fine now. I may have been doing one clean and jerk at a time, but damnit, I finished! :-) Blain KILLED this work out, which was awesome.

Now my shoulders are even more sore! Time to lay off the overhead work for a couple of days..

Grace!

So - I was just looking through some of my old posts on my blog. (Yes, I'm procrastinating at work - it's the holidays!)

I came across this post on 10/24/08. My time on Grace at 85lbs was 9:24 (pictured above).

The next time I hit Grace was here on 12/11/08, as part of CFOT's first challenge. Less than two months later, my time was 7:05!

Less than two months between the work outs and over 2 minutes faster!!

I feel like I've already won the challenge. I'm so excited to see this massive difference!!!

Not quite Murph, Deads, and Front Squats

Today Jerry presented us with Murph. I'm still gun-shy about running outside, so I asked if I could sub a row. Jerry suggested that I just hit the 5-10-15 instead.

I got in 15 rounds of the 5-10-15 before I had to leave for work (36:22). The pull-ups and squats were fine, but the push-ups were killing me, I was only getting 2-3 at a time. I'm wishing I had done the express version (3-6-9), because I'm pretty sure I could have gotten in 20 rounds before I had to leave, and in the end it would have been more reps. I guess I got in a good work out, but I'm a bit dissapointed with my output today. One of these days I'll hit Murph Rx

Loved yesterday, though! I was working from home, so I came in to the 5:00 class coached by Andrea. The main circuit was Deadlifts (145lbs w) and Turkish Get-ups (25lbs w). 15-12-9-6-3. I finished in just under 18 minutes. TGUs are always slow for me, but I kept a good pace on the DLs. I haven't masted touch and go yet - my core still needs to get stronger and my breathing better for that, but what I was doing felt good just the same. 25lbs TGUs are fairly heavy for me - a couple of times I almost lost the bell - but I got through them! Afterwards I hit 3 rounds of 20 box jumps and 40 ab-mat situps. Was intending to do 5 rounds, but I kind of just stopped after 3. It was odd - still shaking my head about that one.

Sunday was a lot of fun as well - front squats 3-3-3-3-3. I worked in with Leslie and her husband (who's name escapes me at the moment!). I don't think I'd hit max 3's before on the front squat, so I wasn't sure what to shoot for. I ended up maxing out with 110. I went for 115, but was only able to get one rep in. Once again - it's my core that's holding me back! (Well, that and my form) I think I can actually clean more than I can squat (or it's very close), which is NOT the way it should be! Nothing to do but keep working it, right?

Grace and much more!

Let's see if I can give a recap of the past week so far at CFOT!

Sunday was the start of our challenge, and we hit Grace. 30 clean and jerks for time. As prescribed, was 85lbs for women - which is what I decided to go for. There was the option of going lighter or heavier (100lbs!).

I believe I finished in just over 7 minutes. I was pretty happy with my performance - I didn't miss any of the jerks, and while some of my cleans from the floor felt a bit ugly (got some nice bruises on the collarbone when the bar crashed down on me), I hit them all and Jerry praised my form (Yay!). When I was on rep 20 I saw Katie curled up on the floor (she did 100lbs) - she finished in under 5 minutes! Crazy strong!

I'm not going to be running outside in the cold again until I'm fully healthy. I feel fine, but I still have a bit of a cough and a runny nose. I got REALLY sick the evening after a run outside, and the next time I ran outside it made my cough a lot worse. So - I'll be rowing until I'm 100%.

Apparently, though, I need to watch my form on the row. The other day we hit a workout that was originally 800m run, 30 front squats (65lbs w), 30 box jumps: 3 rounds for time. I rowed 1000m instead of the run. I was rounding my back way too much on the row, not keep my spine straight, which I didn't notice until I got to the front squats. I was struggling because my back felt off - not fun! I got through 2 rounds and recorded my time, as I didn't have time to finish a 3rd round and get the work on time. I did my third row though - mainly to practice keeping my spine straight!

Today was a good day - the workout as Rx was 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 ab-mat situps, 50 squats; 3min rest between intervals, 5 intervals total.

When I looked at that, I knew I wouldn't be able to get in 5 intervals and leave on time to get to work. Mainly because of the push-ups. So I opted for the express: 12 pull-ups, 18 push-ups, 24 ab mat situps, 30 squats; 2 min rest between intervals. I finished all the intervals in 4-6minutes, getting slower as the rounds went on!

The push-ups were my nemesis today! I could only get 2-3 in at a time, and even then, I had trouble holding the plank. Jerry had me pull my elbows in closer to engage more of my triceps, but I'm weak here, so it just got harder! I'm going to keep working it, but it's disheartening to hardly do any push-ups with the proper form by the second round! Ah well - nothing to do but keep working it, right?

Not CF related

Okay, so this is not Crossfit related - but it is me-related.

I work for this animal shelter, and it's WONDERFUL! If you have some free time, please consider voting!

Tackling the Strict Press

Today we worked one of my weaknesses - shoulder strength.

After a warmup consisting of hollow rocks, shoulder dislocates, good mornings, knees to elbows, and burpees we moved on to 7 sets of 1's of the strict press. I worked in with Leslie and Grace.

This is how it went for me:

65
70 - miss
70 - miss
67
68
70
71 - yay!!!!

I think I actually could've hit 72 or 73 if I'd had more time. I was SO excited when I finally got 70lbs - not to mention 71lbs! It was all about my form - on my misses I was arching my back too much, letting the bar get away from me. I did a better job of pushing my head forward (I think) when I finally hit it.

Seriously excited! Also just plain thrilled to be back in the blue room - I was pretty sick for way too long. Yay for FINALLY being healthy again!