No pain, no gain - right?

Bruises are sexy, eh? The ones on my thighs are from hang power cleans (dropping the bar down back into the hang), and the ones on my shins are from deadlifts. Our workout today went a little something like this:

15 Deadlifts
12 Hang Power Cleans
9 Front Squats
6 Push Jerks
85lbs
5 rounds for time
28:33

I must say - I really enjoyed this work out. It was extremely hard, I could only get 3-4 front squats at a time, and 2-3 jerks (which I didn't lock out a majority of the time), but I still loved it. I predicted my death in the beginning, but shut up when Katie told me that I should either shut it or scale down. It was the jerks that intimidated me - but damnit, I got through the work out! I must say, there's something extremely satisfying about throwing around heavy barbells. I much prefer workouts like this to the met-con circuits! I hope we hit this one again! Jerry, are you listening? ;-)


Nope - not tired at all!

Badger Badger Badger....

As I was running today, I got this song stuck in my head:


Don't watch for TOO long, temporary insanity may insue.

So - for the second time this week (thanks Andrea!) we hit a Hero's workout. It went a little something like this:

Badger
30 Hang Squat Cleans (65lb women, 95lb men)
30 Chins
800 meter run
3 rounds for time

Last time I hit Badger was April 6th - and as I was quite intimidated, I scaled it to 20 reps instead of 30 (although I kept the 65lbs), and finished it in 40:53.

Two and a half months later, I went as Rx - and finished in 48:52. My chins are so much stronger than they used to be, and I think I've gotten stronger on my hang squat cleans as well!

In the past - I would look at a workout, and even if I thought I could do it Rx, I would sometimes still scale. I would focus way too much in how long I thought it would take me.

No longer! From now on (unless getting to work on time is a factor), if I am strong enough to go Rx, I'm going for it. Screw my final time. How else am I going to get stronger or faster? I'm nowhere near the strongest or fastest of our crew, but one thing I CAN do is keep chipping away at something. The mentality of worrying about my final time has been holding me back - but not anymore.

This is a shout-out to McCall for inspiring me in this direction with her performance on Angie!

Daniel

Today, with Andrea as our coach, we hit Daniel - a hero's workout:

50 chins
400 meter run
21 Thrusters
800 meter run
20 Thrusters
400 meter run
50 chins

40:42 - as prescribed - 65lb Thrusters!!

I must say - Andrea is a wonderful coach, and she worked with the mixed skill levels in the 9am class very well. She also didn't give me a choice about going Rx - I was prepared to do 55lbs (as I had done 55lb clean and push press x15 5 rounds yesterday) - but I'm glad she pushed me! The Thrusters were my weak spot - as I was only doing 2-3 at a time. Chins are getting stronger for me - yesterday I hit a PR of 9chins in a row (following Katie's amazing 24!), and instead of doing 1-2 at a time like I used to, I'm now doing 3 at a time. Of course - doing 100 chins takes a toll:

Yup - my first blood blister. I'm both proud and a bit grossed out! It will heal though!

Also - I've been meaning to give Jessica a shout out for a while for how she gutted through Angie with bleeding hands. She just wouldn't stop! Here are some pictures:

Notice the gloves on her hands!
Ouch!

Yup... Angie was a fun day....

Quick Update

I've been meaning to post about Angie - complete with pictures and shout-outs, but before I do, I wanted to make a brief update.

I'm really excited to say that today I was able to move from the pink band to the floss for ring dips! I can only get about 3 at a time, but it's definitely improvement. One step closer to joining the muscle-up club!!!

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!