Off the Trail

Since I had to work yesterday the plan was to go on a good long hike this morning. I had scoped out which one I wanted to do. had food packed the night before and woke up early to get a good start before it got too hot. While the first one I went to was in Cuyamaca State Park and didn't allow dogs. So that was a bust. But I had a plan B. Pine Creek Wilderness. It was only about 6 miles away and was a good distance hike so I thought I was good to go. I should have known from the beginning that it was not going to be a good hike. The flies were unbearable. They weren't biting or anything they were just all in my face and flying into my nose and ear. I could stand it. But we also went the wrong way and when I finally found the right way the trail was all overgrown with poison oak and I just went through it. There was no way around it and by this point I figured that I probably already had gotten it so why not. I did reach a point were it was too much and decided to turn around. Which was a bummer because the creek had water in it and I think would have been a cool hike if it was better maintained. I am going to get a topo and check it out to see if possibly I was on a cattle trail (yeah a cattle trail in a wilderness) or actually on the trail.

I wanted to get a hike in so Max and I headed to a small piece of open space in the Cleveland that they call Miller Ranch. It is right off the 8 and it actually was really nice. More open and oak savanna habitat with big stately Englemann oaks. These are some big trees. I will try to get some pictures the next time I go and post them. It is a place that I think I could pitch a tent and just hangout and explore for a night. Pack it all into my backpack and just do an overnighter. Something to check into when the weather cools off a bit.

Max was good and tired by this point so we headed home. So I went to Coronado with Sean and Ricardo (his friend visiting from New York.) As much as I feel guilty for going to the dog beach without Max it is nice to be able to just go to the beach and not have to watch the dog and be constantly playing with him. I took a little nap on the blanket. One thing that I wanted to mentioned was that Ricardo was wearing a nice tight red speedo. It actually surprised me when I first saw it. But I was impressed with the fact that he could care less what other people at the beach might say or think. That's what he was wearing. You have to give the guy props for that.

Above is a picture I took of Max recently at the small grassy area that we go to in Kensington. He likes to roll around in the grass and throw the ball into the air. I think it is funny and he loves to do it.

Quads, hanstrings and a side of glutes!

So the last two days at the gym have been pretty leg focused. Thursday was 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 back squats and then tonight was a thruster, pull-up mix. So my legs are tired. The back squats went well. My series was 89 - 99 - 119 - 139 - 149. It is nice to see that I am squatting more then my body weight. It was tough. I have a hard time with the weight low on my back. But I know that I need it there to be able to get up from the squats.

Today was a good one. A mix of thrusters and pull-ups. This was how it worked. I pull-up the first minute, 2 thrusters the 2nd, 3 pull-ups the third, 4 thrusters the 4th and so on. so at first it really doesn't seem that hard. Until you get to round 12. The it take some pushing to make sure you get all of the thrusters in. I was able to do kipping pull-ups until the 13th round and then started to do jumping. I was able to get the round of 20 thrusters in but just could not get 22 thrusters in 1 minute. I did the math and I did over 100 thrusters today. Man that is a lot. The thing that is crazy is that thrusters are not a complex movement but it takes a lot out of you. Actually they are killer.



Not sure what my plans for the long weekend are. I have to work tomorrow and kind of want to go camping since I have Monday off. So I might head up into the mountains or maybe not. It will depend on how I feel tomorrow after work.

Balboa Park

So I have been taking Spanish Classes. My boss said that he would be willing to let me go to class during work hours so that I can become fluent in the language. In a lot of the places that I work Spanish is the primary language. It actually has been pretty eye opening. There have been times when I am in South bay and feel like I am in Mexico. People are speaking Spanish not English. Once I went into a store in Chula Vista and the guy at the counter started talking to me in Spanish. He saw the blank look on my face and then started to speak English. So I need to learn the language.

The picture above is of the Casa de Prado Theatre in Balboa Park. This is the view as I walk from my truck to the Spanish Class every Wednesday morning. The sun comes up just right and shines right on the face of the building and I think it looks really pretty. My Spanish class is held at the Natural History Museum within balboa Park. Balboa Park is in the heart of San Diego and has a mix of things within it. Anything from the San Diego Zoo, the Museum of Man or the World Beat Drum Center. You could spend days within the park and not get to everything. Plus it is a hub for all kinds of activities and events that take place during the year. So it is nice to be able to go to class here in the morning.

As for my workout today. We did Diane: 21-15-9 deadlifts and handstand push-ups. I did 135# for the deadlifts and did the HSPU from Mt. Whittney. My time was 4:57. I was able to get through the deadlifts easily without breaking up the sets. It was (once again) the HSPU that I struggled with. My quads were getting pretty tired and my shoulders and triceps were screaming as well. I had to break up all of the sets. I think that I could have done heavier weight with the deadlifts but I am glad that I went with 135#. When we do this again I might go with 155# to really get a challenge out of the deadlifts and the HSPU. I really would like to be able to do the HSPU against the wall. That will come in time. Last time I did Diane it was with 115# and HSPU and toes on a 24'' box and it took me 4:56.

As for diet. I have not been 100%. It is really important for me to make sure that I have the food I need to eat in the house or else I end up eating bad things. I have been eating a lot of carbs recently. Overall they have been healthy carbs (kashi cereal) but still things that are 30g of carbs for a one cup serving. Not something that I would usually eat because the little amount that you get it's worth the amount of carbs. But I did go shopping today and now I have a fridge full of healthy Zone foods. So tomorrow I am going to be back on it 100%. I will have to throw away the cereal tonight so that it is not even an or available for me to have.

Snatches

So we did snatches at the gym tonight. Probably the most complex move that we do at the gym. It's a tough one. For me the hardest part is pulling myself under the bar and getting into the squat position. I am strong enough to get the bar up to eye level but have a mental block when it comes to getting below it into the full squat. For some reason my mind does not think that it is a good idea to throw weight above my head and try to squat with it in the position. I don't know why. Sounds like fun to me.

So instead of going for a PR today I wanted to get in more reps so that I could really start to build the muscle memory of getting under the bar in the full squat. This meant that I did lighter weight. I was able to do 85# but dropped down to 75# to practice the movement. I like having a video to watch because it tells a lot about what I am doing. I am lifting the bar off the ground well and the pull up looks good. I don't think I came to full extension of the hips but I'm close. I need to focus on really shrugging the shoulders and then pulling myself under the bar. Practice, practice, practice.

A Suite at Petco

So last night I watched the Padres play the Diamondbacks from a suite box. You know the kind that have a lounge area with two flat screen TV's and then have two rows of seating that overlook the game and an additional flat screen to watch the replays on. The ticket was given to me from Andrew. He is one of Seans friends who won the suite at a charity silent auction. Man it was really cool. Food and drinks were not included by Andrew always seemed to be handing out drinks left and right. I got downtown early and went to the East Village Tavern to have a few beers and dinner. I sat at the bar and watched the Chargers play. I chatted with the guy sitting next to me a bit. Nice guy. His name is Shane. He kind of reminded me of Steve V. A little awkward and quirky but overall a really nice guy. I had a 22oz beer and a pint before I went to the game. For dinner I has these small steak sliders. They were toasted Hawaiian rolls with skirt steak and Gorgonzola cheese. Overall I thought they were pretty good.

Then I headed to the stadium. Picked up my tickets at will call and met up with Sean and the rest of the group at the suite. Man was it nice. While I was at the game I ate my weight in peanuts, had two more beers and a rum and coke. I figured that since this night was a once in a lifetime thing I wasn't going to not enjoy it by eating only 3 nuts (1 block fat) and only having one beer. The night was a cheat night. As I walked out of the suite around the 7th I saw that the next suite over was getting desert. I can't remember the last time I had cake so I thought why not, it's a cheat night. I found the place that had the sweets and ordered two chocolate chip cookies. Then I was able to sweet talk the nice lady to put some soft-serve ice cream on one of the cookies so that I can have an ice cream sandwich. OH MY. As I walked back to the suite people smiled at me because they saw how happy I was licking up the sides of my ice cream sandwich. It was good. Padres won in the bottom of the ninth with a walk off homerun. A great game and a really great night!

Went home, played with Max a bit and then went to bed. Around 3am my stomach decided that it was pissed. It was not happy with the amount of fat (my weight in peanuts) and the carbs (the beer) that I had eaten all night. I could not sleep. I had a really bad stomach ache! I spent some time in the restroom and was paying the price. If I hadn't parked in the no parking zone after 8am I don't think I would have went to work. My stomach still does not fill right and all day I've felt icky. I've read posts about people who are on the Zone and then have a cheat meal and feel so bad the next day they decide that it is not worth cheating. I thought they were crazy.....until today. I feel horrible. I know that when I go to the gym this evening I am going to be off and feel like crawling into a ball on the rubber mats! Maybe I'll post a picture of that!

Weekend Update

Overall had a really good weekend. Saturday I had to work from 8 - 3 but hung out with two of my co-workers and got to know them better. It was a fun day. After work I had to get home, get max some exercises, shower and then head over to Coronado for Mike W. 30th B-day BBQ. The plan was to meet at their house, eat some pulled pork sandwiches and then head downtown to a dueling piano bar. We ended up just staying on the island and playing Wii. Oh man is that game fun. I had a hard time learning how to play the baseball game but I was good at bowling. I can see how people can play it and work up a good sweat. Again one of those things you want to know someone who has it so you can play it here and there but you don't really want one at your house because you know you would end up spending a lot of time playing.

Sunday Sean and I went on a hike. We were trying to find Boden Canyon but never got there. We ended up doing another trail. It was hot and we got a lot concerned about max so we backtracked and hung out in the San Ysabel River. Not much of a river this time of year but it was a good 10 degrees cooler in the creek bed and max was able to cool off and dig in the mud. It was fun. It was nice to go on a hike with Sean. he seemed like he enjoyed it and would be interested in going on more in the future. So that will be nice.

Sunday night I had a football game at 5pm. We killed them. We have a really fun team and the guys on the team are fast. It really like to watch them run. They are quick and can make cuts and plays that still surprise me. Kevin played ball at Iowa and ran track so he is really good. Plus he is an overall nice guy so that's cool.

Today I went to the 9am class to workout because tonight I am headed to a Padres game. The women in the class are fun and sure do have a lot of kids! The thing that I do like about the class is that it is mostly women and strong women who want to be strong. They really push themselves to go hard and not rest. I do think that there is a slight increase in intensity level in that class compared to the 5pm. I am not really sure why but I do feel it.

The WOD was 3 rounds: 400m run, 50 squats, 25 pull-ups. I was able to do it prescribed without ripping my hands. That was the huge success for the day. No tearing! Time was 20:02. Not bad. Still need to get more of those pull-ups in a row instead of breaking them up. I also need to work on pushing away from the bar when I get to the top. Really too much to have to think about when I am that tired. I really did push myself on the run and that felt good!

Weak shoulders!

I really need to work on my upper body strength. It is so frustrating sometimes. I barely can shoulder press 85# over head. Frustrating! It totally makes sense though. Weak shoulder, means not great in terms of pull-ups, and push-ups. Once I can engage my legs all bets are off and I can get a lot more weight overhead. I think the next time I am able to get to one of the Saturday workouts I will make sure that I do something that really focuses on shoulders.

WOD
Shoulder Press 1 - 1- 1 - 1- 1
Push Press 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3
Push Jerk 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5

My numbers were low because I really wanted to dial in on my technique rather then try to but a lot of weight overhead.

SP - 65 - 70 - 75 - 80 - 85
PP - 75 - 80 - 85 - 95(2) - 95(3)
PJ - 85 - 95 - 100 - 105 - 110

I missed Fran!

So yesterday I missed the dreaded workout Fran. I had to work up in Carlsbad yesterday and I thought that I had given myself enough time to get back to Coronado by 5pm if I left by 4:00pm but I was wrong. Dreaded California traffic. It took me an hour and a half to go the 40 miles. Gotta love it. The best part was that there was no accident or garbage in the road. There was just too many people on the freeway. Crazy really. If I had known that I would miss the workout I would have just stayed in Carlsbad and done a workout at one of the CrossFits in Oceanside. That would have been fun. It is always cool to go to other gyms to see what people do and what the gym looks like. Every gym is different but they all have a lot of the same features.

So yesterday I was hungry! Usually if I am working out or doing something and not thinking about food then it really doesn't bother me. But since I was sitting in the car and didn't get in a workout my stomach was letting me know. But I didn't cheat! I went to my football game at 6pm and that bought me some time. I usually like to eat between 7:30 - 8:00pm. So by the time I got home from the game I was back on schedule. I found this cool blog that Crossfit Santa Cruz Central has that gives a lot of recipe's. I am going to plan out my meals and then go shopping. http://cfscceat.blogspot.com/

Right now I am tyring to eat everything that I have in the fridge and cupboards before I go shopping. I think I spend A LOT of money at the store just buying things here and there when I want something instead of using the things that I have already. So I made a pack to try to use everything before I go shopping. Somethings will be impossible to go without but it is actually kind of a challenge to myself to get creative!

Here's the Gym

So this is it. CrossFit Coronado. I spend a lot of time here. In this old garage on the island. That's exactly what it is. An old garage that was gutted, added some rubber mats, pull-up bars, and some equipment. Put it all together and you have a CrossFit gym. You don't really need a whole lot more then that. But it is amazing how such a little space can cause so much pain. Go figure.

WOD was "Cindy" - 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats

Was able to do it prescribed for the first time. I have done it before at Recreate Fitness but had to do jumping pull-up and then did it before at CrossFit Chula Vista in January and did assisted band pull-ups and push-ups from ky knees. I know that when I did it in Portland I was able to get 12 rounds in. So know doing it prescibed I was able to get 11. Pull-ups are getting better. I now need to work on stringing more in a row instead of breaking them up. Push-ups still suck. For the first 2 rounds I was able to go 10 straight. Then for the next 5 rounds it went 5 - 3 - 2 or 4 - 2 - 2 - 2. I really tried to get as many as possible for the first set and then break the rest up as needed without ever going to failure. But overall this puts me at a good point to be able to judge progress in the future. So that's exciting.

I wonder what tomorrow might bring. Maybe a strength day.

Full Squat Clean

I thought I would put this picture up from the CrossFit Games. This is Simon. I met him while at the games. A great guy and a stellar competitor. He pretty much does the WOD from the main site in his garage, comes to the games, sleeps in his rental vehicle and finishes in top 20! Impressive. He is doing the last workout of the competition...full squat clean and jerk with 155#. That was the mens weight. The women had 100#. The fastest men finished 30 reps in under 3 min. That's nutts! I like this picture a lot because Simon has really good form. Weight on his heels, elbows high and torso straight up. When you are doing this much weight your form has to be dialed or you won't be able to get the weight where you need it to go. Plus he does not have weightlifting shoes on!

So today's workout was.... "Sage's Revenge" - as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

10 ring push-ups

10 Hang Squat Cleans 75#

10 Hollow Rocks (4 count)

I did prescribed and was able to get 6 rounds in plus 10 hang squat cleans. I really like squat cleans. I really like them because I am good at them. 75# was not heavy for me. I was able to get in the set of 10 each time without putting the bar down or taking any rest. What killed me in this workout were the hollow rocks. YUCK. My back is going to be sore tomorrow. Also the ring push-ups. Those were tough and by round 3 I was breaking them up into sets of 3 or 2. Not fun. But I really like this sort of workout because it is a mix of something that I am good at and somethings that I need to work on. This way I get a little positive reinforcement from the squat cleans and then some horrible pains from the push-ups and hollow rocks. A little good and a little bad. But at least it is not all bad!

Diet was good today. I pretty much stick to the Zone during the week and weekend days. Weekend night are hit and miss. I think I am eating too many carbs. Even following the Zone block system I think it might still be too much. I think I will do a little research tomorrow on-line and see what I can find. I have heard that some people do cut back the amount of carbs while on the Zone but I want to know why and how much do they cut back. I would say the majority (80%) of my carbs come from fruit. I know it says eat meat and veggies but during the summer in California the fruit is just so tasty. Something to ponder!

It's a pretty rough life!

Yesterday was a hike in the morning and the beach in the afternoon . Today was a nice walk in the morning to the coffee shop, flag football at 10am, then hike with the dog in Tecolote Canyon. Head home to clean the house a bit and then concert in the park in Coronado. Pretty rough. I took this picture on Friday. Kensington is the little community I live in. The sign for the city is right on Adams and is the main drag through town. The library, coffee shop, Burger Lounge and other shops are right on this road. Max and I walk past this sign at least three times a week. I like the old school charm of it. It is neon pink at night and actually says "sington" due to blown out lights. Whatever.

Weekend eating went as usual. Saturday stuck to the Zone and all day Sunday as well. Concert in the Park is my cheat meal and it usually means a ton of carbs! Crackers, beer, yummy garlic spread and some lemon bars goodness! Oh it was so good and now my belly is so full. But it was so good!

As Sunday night comes to a close I look forward to Monday but at the same tme I don't look forward to Monday. Work is good and I have some fun projects that I need to work on. Brian will be out of the office all week so that means I will have the office to myself. Which is nice. Maybe bring Max to work once or twice.

It's always a little scary to think about what Monday might have in store for us at the gym. You really never know. The last two Mondays have been strength days. I don't think we will get one of those. There are rumors about Fran making an apperance but I think Andy really wants to be there to see us do her and I guess he is out of town. So I'm not sure. Classes have been a bit on the thin side so maybe something not too bad to get people back to the gym. Or a "sage" workout since her birthday was last week. This is what I think about Sunday night. Not so much the other days of the week but mostly on Sunday.

Then at work tomorrow I turn on the computer, sit at my desk and the first thing I check is the WOD. I don't open my work email or check the phone for messages. I go to the gyms website and see whats waiting for me at 5pm. I read the workout. Usually one of the following comes out of my mouth.....

That's going to suck!

You have got to be kidding me?

I think Andy is out to kill us!

Is he nutts?

Sweet strength day!
I should go back to bed!

I pay to do this?

Then I think about all day. I check the website and see other people's times both in the morning class and then around 11am for the afternoon class and then usually again around 2pm to see if anyone else has posted. Based on the times and what people are writting I can tell just how bad it is going to be.

So now it's off to bed to read a bit. Can't wait to see what the workout for tomorrow is. The best thing about it is, I know that there are other people in the gym (not to name names!) who do the same things I do when they get to work or on a computer come Monday. You know who you are!

Hiking and then the Beach

Max and I went for a hike this morning at Sycamore Canyon Open Space. We got an early start to the day because I was planning on going to the beach without him in the afternoon and wanted to make sure that he got some exercise. Out of the house by 7am. I don't even get out of the house by 7am for work. Headed north to Poway and a bit east. It was a nice hike. About 5 miles. Had some really cool areas along the way. The placed burned in the 2003 Cedar fire and it was nice to see things growing back. A lot of work has been done to plant the riparian areas and they have been plnting some oak trees. Definitely a place that I would go back to. Pretty open and not much shade. Was getting hot by 9:30am. Max was hot and tired by the end of the hike. Mission accomplished.

Friday at the gym was a day for deadlifts. We were not going for max rep but sets of 3. I'm not sure exactly how mine went but my last set was just 2 of 229. That was good. Kind of a low key Friday which I was fine with. Priscella, Brigid and Mike M. all went for PR's and got them. That was really cool to see. That is one of the things that I like about the gym. You get to watch people get stronger and achieve things that they never thought that hey could do. From people who are going for max weight on a snatch to those who finally can do 10 push-ups not on their knees.

Spent the afternoon at the beach with Mike and Priscella. Had a good time. As I was sitting on the beach I found myself still surprised that I live here. People come to San Diego from all over the world and I live here. I can come to the beach anytime and the sun and good weather is something we get everyday. Blows my mind sometimes. The ocean was a nice 74 degrees and the waves were pretty big due to a tropical storm off-shore. Did a little body surfing, sun tanning and smashball. Not a bad Saturday. Going to chill and watch a movie tonight!

Raccoons

So a change of pace for this blog. I think we have raccoons that are coming into the house at night. Yeah Raccoons in the house in San Diego!

Yesterday while I was cooking dinner Sean mentioned that he thinks raccoons are back into the garage. He know this because Keo's dog food was pulled down from the shelf and they tried to get in it. Raccoons are smart little guys and since we do leave the garage open at night I thought good for them. Way to be resourceful.

Well at night we leave the back doors (there french doors) open and have the front window open so that we can have a nice breeze through the house. It cools things off really nicely. Well this morning I went into the kitchen to make my lunch and I found an egg shell on the floor. I thought that was a little weird but reallt didn't think much about it since Sean and Joe made cupcakes last night (which took every ounce of will power not to eat one). I figured that it probably feel out of the bag when he was taking something to the trash. But then I saw that the catch basin for George Foremen that had all of the good grease from their burgers was on the floor and cleaned pretty spotless. I sleep with the door closed so Max could not be the culprit so the conclusion that I come to in raccoons. RACCOONS! Yikes

No I know everyone has seen the Great Outdoors with John Candy. What a classic! But that was all that I could think of this morning. The raccoons talking to each other about how dumb it is that we leave the doors open. Here is how the rest of the story will work. I will talk to Sean about it tonight. We will close the doors. The raccoons will crawl through the window that doesn't have a screen and then mock us because we thought just closing the door would solve the problem. I'll keep everyone posted on how this turns out. I will be sleeping with my bedroom door shut every night that's for sure!

As for the WOD. 5 rounds 21 push jerk 65#, 15 KTE, 9 pull-ups Time: 24:07

Kind of hard to get motivated for the workout. There were only four of us at class and both Mike W. and I were not really feeling it. Especially this is a workout that totally focuses on the areas where I am weal. Upper body, shoulder, lats and abs. Yuck. There are times that I feel like Andy is making the workouts just to make me angry. Mike had a spanich smoothie (yuck) in the belly that was talking to him and I was just off. I had to work early on Thursday and went to bed kind of late so it could have been a lack of enough sleep for me. We'll see how I feel today now that my schedule is back on track.

Fitness Test

So I had an appointment with the doc today to get what they call a fit test. It is a series of test that I do to measure VO2 Max, body fat, lean muscle, strength and flexibility.

This is what I found out. My VO2 is stellar. It actually took quite a long time to even get my heart rate up to the range in which the doctor starts the test. Resting heart rate was 45 and I needed to get in between 110 - 150. Took a little work on the treadmill but not bad. VO2 = 149

Total weight: 145. Body fat: 17.4% BMI: 22 Lean muscle: 120 lbs. Flexibility was really good. Did the old school sit and reach method but with a new fancy machine. Kind of cool. Still probably would not be able to beat my hyper flexible friend Stephanie Hart but maybe a good run for her money!

For strength they just had me do a pseudo bicep curl to measure strength. I don't really agree that this is a way to measure total body strength and not just bicep strength but okay. This is where I scored the lowest. I could have told you that was going to happen based on the fact that my upper body is not as strong as the rest of my body. So my bicep strength ranking was good and not in the excellent column.

So they said that my body age is 18 compared to my actually chronological age of 28. I don't know exactly what that means but I have a print out that i can read that will give me the details. The physical therapist was very impressed and said it was refreshing to have someone come in and do better then she expects. Plus from the looks at the clientele at the hospital I think she deals with mostly obese women.

How this relates to Crossfit. So since I now know that I have 120lbs of lean muscle mass I can calculate how many blocks I should be eating in a day. 120 lean muscle X .7 activity level = 84 divided by 7 put me right at 12. So I am going to change things up a bit. I am going to go 3 - 1 - 3 - 1 - 3 - 1. So my morning snack just got smaller. We'll see how that feels. I am going to start with this and do it for two weeks and see how my body feels with the decrease in calories.

I don't really know where I want my body fat to be. Most of the top performing females in CrossFit (based on Robb Wolf) are between 12 - 14% body fat. I think I would like to shoot for 15%. Overall right now I am no where near the level of the top performing females in CrossFit. But I think I could potentially get there if I really stuck to the diet. (As I am typing this I am eating some of those nasty tortilla chips that I will never bring into my own house!) Plus I love the shape that my body has been taking since doing CrossFit full time. Someone at the gym said I have nice Abs! I told him that was the best compliment that I have ever received.

So that's the scoop yo! I think in 3 - 6 months if I am sticking with the diet and continuing to CrossFit schedule 5 on 2 off or 3 on 1 off I will do this again and see if there have been any changes to overall composition. Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen!

Thruster and Burpees

Last night I looked up torture in the dictionary and this was what I found:
1a: anguish of body or mind, 1b: something that causes agony or pain
2: the infliction of intense pain

I think if you were develop the CrossFit Coronado definition of torture it would be the above and:
3. doing thrusters and burpees in the same workout

I mean seriously, that is just slightly on the sadistic side. So for Tuesday the workout was
3 Rounds - 21 thrusters, 21 back squats, 21 burpees , 21 pull-ups

So I decided to go heavy on the thrusters and back squats (75#) so that I can get stronger on my squats but also my upper body from the thrusters. This meant that burpees killed me and were by far the hardest part of the workout. No matter how you many burpees you do they suck every time! As for the pull-ups I did 7 kip, 14 jump, 7 kip, 14 jump and 10 kip, 11 jump. I feel like if I could do 10 on the last round I should have been able to do more then 7 on the first two rounds. I think I need to push myself harder on pull-ups. I just worry about ripping up my hands. Overall I was pretty spent when finished but I felt good. Time: 27:28

When ever I have a good workout the rest of the evening feels good. So went home and did the usual. Walk the dog, cook dinner, do the dishes, did some laundry and Spanish class homework. In bed by 11:00. Not a bad day!

I made one of the recipes from the performance menu page for dinner. I think it was called sauteed zucchini. Very good and you get a lot of zucchini for just one block of carbs (if you break the reciepe into two servings). I am going to see what other recipes on the site I might try. I have been sneaking a few tortilla chips here and there from the kitchen. BAD. Note: When I have my own place never bring tortilla chips into the house!

I've squatted and can't stand up!

Today was full squat cleans. Which I like because I feel like my form is pretty good and when I do it it feels good. Especially on those lifts when it just clicks. Those are the best. Today went 3-3-1-1-1-1 trying to get a new PR on last set of 1. I warmed up with a set of 3 at 45 and another 3 at 65. Then for the workout I went 65, 75, 89, 99, 116, 121. I thought that I would throw on another 5 pounds just to see what 126# felt like. I was able to get it to my shoulders drop to the full squat but could not stand. I was stuck. There was no way that I was going to stand. I just hung out at the bottom for a bit had a little giggle (because I knew it wasn't going to happen) and then ditched the bar. I got the clean now I just need the squat. I checked and my max front squat is 133#. So I should be able to get that. Next time.

Ate my snack a little early today because I was feeling hungry after lunch. Usually I try for 3:15ish but today it was more like 2:45pm. Don't know why. I was worried that I would not have the energy for the workout but I really don't think it made a difference.


Dinner tonight:
Protein: 2oz talapia, 1.5 oz feta
Carbs: 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 1 1/4 cup broccoli, 3 handfuls of salad mix, 1/2 cup mushrooms
Fat: 3 tbsp Avocado
Kind of boring but ready to eat in about 15 minutes. Quick and dirty!



Below is a picture of my cool ninja shoes. That's what Andy calls them. I really like them so far. They are comfortable and better on my feet then just going barefooted. Took a bit of getting used to but I think they are money! Also a photo of some weights. I like weights.

Olympics

So I have just spent the last 2 hours watching the mens 62K and the womens 53K weightlifting competition. Kind of addicted? Nah!

I can't believe the weight that some of the women are throwing over their head. Almost twice body weight. That's nutts. I mean really. Just to watch them pull the bar up and then get down into the full squat and stand. It is just mind blowing. You can't appreciate what it is like until you have tried it. Makes me want to go to the gym and do some snatches!

So the weekend went well. Diet stayed strong during the day on both Saturday and Sunday. Went out with Jess and Kristen on Saturday. Had 3 beers and some shrimp and swordfish tacos. Sunday was salad, cucuous, cheese and crackers oh and with some turkey pepperoni. Not bad decisions overall but definitely not in the zone. I don't feel like I made horrible decisions this weekend so we'll see how I feel at the gym this week.

Saturday I went to the beach and had fun with Max and Noah. Today I spent the afternoon by the pool, got some sun and then had a football game. Relaxed at concert in the park with Jess to end the weekend. This week should be a fun one!

Snatches and some Shopping

I don't think that will have the time to post tomorrow so I wanted to get it done tonight. Plus it looks like it will be me and Will Farrell as Anchorman tonight since I have to be at work by 7:30am tomorrow. Oh the weekend work begins!


Felt a wee bit hungry here and there throughout the day but nothing major. Still dong the 3-2-3-1-3-1 for blocks. So far so good. The game has just started. I got a long road to go.


The workout went well. Max weight of snatches 3-3-1-1-1-1. I went 65-75-80-85-90-95(F). 90 is a new PR! I really need to work on pulling myself under the bar and getting into the full squat. I have the same issue when doing the push jerk. I need to get down under the bar. The weight is not the issue.....and that makes it even more frustrating. Dutch was at the gym today and it was a pretty amazing to watch how he gets all the way down to the full squat to get the weight. Andy still beat him and I think got a PR. It is really fun to watch the top athletes get some. That will be me one day!

On another note I went shopping at Whole Foods (I know it cost a pretty penny but the food is good quality.) I decided to take a picture of the food I bought. I think the only thing in this photo that is high in fat would be the peanut butter. The rest meat, veggies and fruit with some string cheese and the feta. Not what my cart would have looked like 6 months ago. Then again I don't quite look like I did 6 months ago!

Legs are tired!

My legs want to stay in bed this morning! They are tight and sore from the squats on Thursday and the the double unders and jumping pull-up's yesterday. Yesterday's workout was a fun one that I got pretty good...

5 rounds
40 ab mat sit-ups
30 double unders
20 pull up's
Times were: 4:21 kip, 5:04 kip, 3:33 10 kip, 10 jump, 2:37 jump, 2:40 jump
* When doing just jumping compared to kipping the workout totally changes. My heart rate remained high going from double-unders to jumping pull-up's and my legs fatigued. When doing kipping I felt like it was more of grip/wrist strength and arms from double-unders that were tired. Interesting. Something to consider when programming a workout.

I was never the first one to finish the sit-ups (usually behind by 5 - 7) but was able to get the 30 double-unders in and be the first at the pull-up bar. My double-unders have really improved. I think it is due to the ninja shoes! Pull-ups are still my nemasis but we are slowly working on the battle. In time young Padawan!

Stuck with the meal plan yesterday and to be totally honest I felt like I was constanly eating all day. A snack here, lunch, another snack dinner, snack. I felt like I ate a lot. Was never hungry or stomache never growled. I wonder if 13 blocks is maybe too much food. I reallt don't know how many blocks I should be eating. I am going with what Andy said and I think he kind of knows what he is talking about. So we'll stick with it awhile and watch my weight and energy level. This morning I got on the scale and was 142lbs. Now on to day 2!

Gonna hit it hard and go from there

This blog is more for me then it is for others. I want a way to keep track of my WOD's, diet, health and well being. If family and friends are interested in reading then great but it's more for me!

Yesterday I met with Andy at the gym and chatted a bit about diet and my overall training. I made it clear that I love what CrossFit has done for my overall health and I feel like I am in the best shape of my life. we talked about the possibility of competing in the Games next year. Just saying that scares me because the women at the games were in AMAZING shape and it will require me to go hard and push myself a lot more to get to that point. Plus there are going to be a lot more women hitting next year. So we'll see about that.

As for diet...we mixed things up a bit. I am going to get 13 blocks in a day but change the way I get it. Eating a little more frequently. So a typical day is going to be 3 block breakfast (around 7:30 - 8:00am) a 2 block snack (around 10:30 - 11:00am) 3 block lunch (1:30 - 2:00pm) a 1 block snack before I workout (4:00-4:30pm) a 3 block dinner (7:30 - 8:30pm) and a 1 block snack before I go to bed (10:00 - 10:30pm). That should equal 13!

We'll see how it goes. I am going to keep track of what I eat in my notebook but I will post WOD's here and how I feel.