Crossfit

The Great Iowa Adventure (Part Two)

By Holly on June 3, 2013

So when I woke up Thursday morning all of my work was done, and now it was time to focus on Vacation Iowa. I grabbed a coffee at Starbucks and said goodbye to the our Iowa corporate office and then headed back to the hotel.

That picture was from the day before, on Thursday, however, the weather was SUPER CRAPTASTIC. But then, like an hour later — all of a sudden the weather was great. Here was the view out of my hotel room (scenic, I know) before and after I showered and got ready.

Crazy, right? Midwest weather vexes me. The difference a few minutes can make absolutely blows my mind. Luckily it the weather turned in my favor because I was about to embark on a 3 hour road trip to see AndreAnna.

It was a mostly scenic drive and I made it out there singing 80s tunes at the top of my lungs, so all in all…not a bad trip. And I was so happy to see AndreAnna! It was SO. DANG. GOOD. to catch up with a good friend over some beverages on the patio in the sun. We had a million things to talk about, she is an awesome hostess and almost immediately we decided we should go and get manicures and pedicures.

The thing I miss so much about friends far away are days like this where you just get to HANG OUT! We took full advantage and also added in some pampering! I decided right then and there, sitting in that salon chair, that I am going to do much more pampering this summer. We had a relaxing Thursday night and AndreAnna’s husband made some awesome gluten free pizzas for us to sample (WHICH WERE AMAZEBALLS) and then we turned in pretty early because we had a big Friday ahead.

Friday we were up early to get in a workout at Quad Cities CrossFit. It was a partner workout with a combo of my most favorite (Squat Cleans) and my least favorite (Toes to Bar) movements. Ha! We powered through it though, and then of course we had to get some serious breakfast. I mean OBVIOUSLY.

We headed over to The Machine Shed for breakfast, and they are not at all kidding when they say they serve cinnamon rolls THE SIZE OF YOUR HEAD. It was a super cute restaurant, and we chowed down and headed out to our next adventure.

Sadly, our next adventure was not a tractor ride — but it was even better — MASSAGES! I mean, I literally was shouting out AndreAnna’s car window “I’M NEVER LEAVING IOWA.” Manis and pedis! Tough Workouts! Delicious Food! FREAKING RIDICULOUS MASSAGES! I mean, what else does one need? (Ok, ok — maybe my dude and my dog but luckily Garrett was sending me silly photos and texts the whole week to let me know they were doing just fine back at home.)

After massages we grabbed some groceries for that evening because AndreAnna had invites some friends over and the ladies were having a Ladies Night while the gents stayed at home. We hit up Sam’s Club and managed to pick the loudest, most unruly cart in the store as well as drop an entire 6 pack of beer on the ground. We were like Laverne & Shirley, but we got out of there with some good eats and an in tact 6 pack.

When we headed home it was time for some patio drinking again (the weather was AWESOME on Friday) and then it was time to shower and put our party pants on because it was Ladies Night On The Town. We headed out to Front Street Brewery and I got to try their amazing BBQ Pork Nachos. They might LITERALLY be the best nachos I’ve ever had, and despite the fact that I try not to consume corn chips on a regular basis, I consider myself a bit of a nacho conossieur. Don’t worry, I’ve put that on my resume.

We rounded out the evening with…well, quite a few “Vodka Sodas with a Shit-ton of Lime” — which I highly recommend. They go down easy on a hot summer night and you are practically hydrating while drinking. They may, however, make you force the driver of your vehicle to pull over while you are passing the Mississippi River. I mean you guys: IT WAS A FULL MOON OVER THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER! This just seemed so novel to me. I’m a California Girl…so looking at the freaking Mississippi River just made me realize I was soooooo far from home! Far enough from home that I had to bust out the spirit fingers.

All in all, it was a very fun night with some very fun ladies:

I don’t have a lot of pictures from our adventures on Saturday, but that is probably for the best since the weather got SUPER yucky and we mostly lounged around working off our vodka sodas by playing cards and drinking more. No one needs pictures of me and my greasy ponytail playing cards, I promise. Sunday, the weather was equally icky and unfortunately Sunday was my big travel day back home — which involved another 3 hour road trip. Iowa, you are no fun to drive in when there are crazy thunderstorms! I guess it was fitting though, because had it been another beautiful day I really may never have left.

I was up and on the road early. It was so sad to leave — I wish AndreAnna and her awesome family were my next door neighbors because seriously, we had SUCH A GOOD TIME — but I had also been away from my life for 7 days and you know how that goes, right? I knew it would be good to get back home. I had to drive 3 hours back to Des Moines and then get on a little puddle jumper plane to get up to Minneapolis — eep! I don’t love tiny planes — and then from Minneapolis back to Sacramento.

When I got to Minneapolis I was pretty exhausted, but then out of nowhere they called my name at the gate upgraded me to First Class for the rest of my flight home. You guys, that like actually happens in real life! After that flight experience, I seriously I NEVER WANT TO FLY COACH AGAIN….HAHAHAHAHAHAHA uh, you know, unless I’m actually paying for it! I rolled into the Sacramento airport at about 7pm Sunday night and despite it already being a long day I was super energized when I got there. It was still light out and super hot and it just felt like home! I was so, so happy to be back reunited with Buster, then Garrett cooked me a nice dinner, and I slept soundly in my own bed for the first time in a week.

Sometimes it takes some time away to make you realize all the silly little things that you love about your life, right? I couldn’t have asked for a better time in Iowa, but I have enjoyed being back home and back to my routines over the last week and a half. It’s starting to feel like summer around here and I am marinating on some things I want to make sure I do over the next few months. A bucket list of sorts — but with much less productivity and more superficial fun!

The Great Iowa Adventure (Part One)

By Holly on May 27, 2013

Greetings! I’m back from my 7 day adventure traipsing all over Iowa and I’ve had about a day to recover, so hey — why not get right back into it. (Boy, I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.) I fully intended to blog my way through the state, but it went by so much quicker than I thought and I just never felt like pulling out my laptop — so indulge me in a little recapping, would ya?

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I started my week last Monday at 3:30 in the morning. When I booked my flight out, 6am seemed like a reasonable idea, but let me tell you, A 6AM FLIGHT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. I don’t know what I was thinking! But after about 6 hours of travel (and a nap or two) I made it to Des Moines safe and sound.

I hadn’t been there since early 2006 and while many things looked the same (airport, hotel, etc), so much seemed different – especially with respect to my life. Back in 2006, when I first started working for my company, I had to go to Des Moines for 2 weeks for training and at the time, Garrett and I had only been together for a little over 2 months so it all seemed SO DRAMATIC to have to be gone for 2! WHOLE! WEEKS! This time around I was like “Ok babe! Take care of the dog! Hope you don’t starve!” hahahaha. Well, not exactly, but you know what I’m saying, right?

After I checked into the hotel and got settled, I decided to brave it and walk over to CrossFit Primal and get in a workout. Visiting a new CrossFit gym is always so intimidating. I always expect it to be full of fire breathing Games Athletes that are going to roll their eyes at me. It NEVER is though, so I’m glad I put on my big girl (workout) pants and headed over.

I felt right at home with the instructor and the class and it was nice to feel like I had some semblance of routine even though I was on the road. I am a pretty good traveler but 7 days on the road is a long time so I wanted to keep things as normal as possible (which is why on my way home I totally stopped at Walgreens all disgusting and sweaty and bought handsoap for the hotel bathroom…because seriously? A BAR OF SOAP? Who washes their hands with A BAR OF SOAP?) Anyway, the workout was fun and I knew INSTANTLY that my legs would be feeling it the next day.

And lo and behold, they were! Which made it glaringly obvious how low the the hotel toilets were, but that is neither here nor there. Tuesday morning I woke up early after a SUPER crappy night of sleep. Tons of thunder and warnings of tornadoes kept me a little anxious all night so needless to say I didn’t squeeze in a workout before I headed into the office.

Luckily the weather was pretty nice all of Tuesday and despite not staying outside to enjoy it the day just flew by. Tuesday and Wednesday were my long days at work so I just tried to stay focused on the tasks at hand. But by Wednesday night I was ready for some vacation! I met up with blog reader Jillian for some well deserved cocktails and we had an awesome meal chatting it up like we had known each other forever. I had a real “I Love The Internet” moment!

Afterward I walked back to the hotel and got everything ready for my big road trip to Davenport the next day to hang with AndreAnna. It had been almost a year and a half since we had last hung out and I was super excited to get to her neck of the woods and see her in real life!

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about how the vacation portion of the week went down….

Relay Training Recap — Week 9

By Holly on March 31, 2013

Can we just talk about how calling this recap training for The Relay is getting embarrassing because there is no actual running happening? Yeah. I’m gonna have to reconcile that somehow soon but tonight is not that night.

Do you ever have those days where every single thing you try to do in an effort to be productive ends up foiled? And then, in your failed attempts at productivity, you actually end up creating MORE WORK for yourself? Yes, well that is how today has gone. And how this week has gone actually. And how this training plan is going.

I am not feeling positive about this, if you can’t tell. If you have a pep talk inside of you, I am ALL EARS.

Anyway, here are my workout breakdowns this week:

Monday
LIFT

5 Rounds
1 Shoulder Press
3 Push Press
5 Push Jerk
(45, 55, 65, 75, 85 lbs)

METCON

AMRAP in 4 minutes:
10 jumping pull-ups
200 m run
Rest 1 minute

AMRAP in 4 minutes:
10 ground release push-ups
250 m row
Rest 1 minute

AMRAP in 4 minutes:
10 toes to bar
35 double-unders

Overall Score: 7 rounds

*This was my day to do a double workout and I flaked and took a nap instead. Yep, just being honest.

Tuesday

SKILL

Spend 10 minutes working on your pistol squats or ps progressions – Hey, guess what? I don’t even need 10 minutes to show you how bad I am at pistols. UGH

METCON
800 m run, then
5 Rounds of:
5 HSPU
10 hang power cleans (95lbs)

then run 800 m

Time: 16:48. This workout was awful and I loved it.

Wednesday

Rest day if you are testing 13.4 the next day. And apparently this was right where this week went downhill.

Thursday

I tested 13.4 and I already told you how CRAPTACULAR that went. On top of completely failing to do Toes to Bar AGAIN, I ripped my hands open which royally sucked.

Friday

Nancy was on the menu at the gym, which for some strange reason is my FAVORITE workout. My hands were totally screwed up but I decided scale the weight and see if I could do it anyway.

5 Rounds for Time
Run 400 m
15 Overhead Squats (65lbs)

I did the first round at 65lbs and then realized my form was all crappy because I was holding the bar funny with my ripped up hands. I scaled to 45lbs, but mentally my heart just wasn’t in it. My hands hurt, plus it was just me and 3 super speedy dudes doing the workout together which was just enough to make me feel like I was failing at life. (Spoiler Alert: I was not. I was just being melodramatic. But melodramatic at high intensity does not a pleasant workout make.) I finished the workout in 21:45, which is like 2 minutes slower than my old PR (and my old PR is lifting 20 lbs heavier!) so I was basically annoyed.

Saturday and Sunday

We were supposed to be driving to Monterey to see my family and celebrate my cousin Sara’s 30th birthday; however, on Friday my Grandma was checked into the hospital for digestive stuff. I woke up on Saturday feeling stressed, defeated and bummed and also in EXCRUTIATING PAIN from a pinched joint capsule in my neck, which I’m sure was caused by 1 part stress, 1 part exhaustion and 1 part crappy overhead squat form. I’m super lucky that my uncle is a retired chiropractor so he hooked me up with some 911 adjustment, but I was basically immobile most of the day. I woke up this morning feeling slightly better, though still not 100%.

Obviously there was no running or exercising or enjoying life at all really. There was lots of icing, eating ibuprofen and lying supine. Needless to say this, uh, “training week” hasn’t been a high five for the log books. I hope next week has good stuff in store.

Fun Things To Read On A Friday

By Holly on March 29, 2013

If you need a visual of how I feel after this week, here you go! I can’t even believe I made it to Friday, frankly and I am ready for the weekend! I get to see my family this weekend at my cousin’s 30th birthday party and then it’s back to the grind for another busy week next week. I guess I will sleep in April.

As for last night’s Open Workout 13.4 — well that did not go well AT ALL.
Last year it was Workout 12.3 of the CrossFit Games Open where I ran in to a movement that I just couldn’t do: Toes to Bar. My score included all of my reps up until that movement, but nothing I did afterward counted. It frustrated the hell out of me and I made it my MISSION to figure out how to do them.

Toes to Bar and I have a long and sordid history. I spent the entire year trying to figure out how some people make it look so easy and yet, for me, it feels the hardest thing ever. Then on one random November day, I finally did one. And it was the best feeling EVER! And it felt so natural, like “How has it taken so long to do this? THIS is how you do this.”

And then I was never been able to consistently do them again! So needless to say I wasn’t that happy to see them show up in last night’s workout but I was determined to give it a shot.

And I did give it a shot. But let’s just sum it up by saying it did not go well. Score the workout: 3 reps, a fragile ego, and super messed up hands.

Obviously, I NEED some fun things to read to distract me from my (physical and mental) misery.

*If I was a person who enjoyed decorating things I would buy every single print from this Etsy Shop. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Maybe the impulse will turn me into a decorating person.

*Interesting perspective on love languages, compromise and how relationships probably shouldn’t be measured by how Facebook-worthy they are.

*Even though I hate the use of the word FurKid and do not consider my dog a child equivalent, I related so much to this post. Maybe I will be able to do this kid thing after all.

*I want to do this workout immediately.

*This post about Healthy Integrity really resonated with me:

You live with health integrity when you truly own your journey, when you realize it’s yours and yours alone. You stop living the old blame game and buying into the false dichotomies, the pedantic guilt trips, the bullsh** marketing messages, the cultural labels, the past-imposed limitations and identities. There’s a real freedom in that decision. It doesn’t matter whether you’re at the beginning of your journey with a hundred pounds to lose and a collection of lifestyle conditions to beat or if you’re at your ideal weight and healthy but want to know what it is to thrive in new ways. It’s your journey, and from here on out, you get to define it. You don’t make the rules of physiology, but you do get to design the vision you will live out each day.

*Best advice I’ve ever read on How To Find Purpose and Motivation.

*And while we’re feeling warm and fuzzy: 9 New Ways To Practice Gratitude.

*Garrett can not comprehend the amount of bobby pins he finds ALL OVER THE PLACE. This week, I sent him a link to this.

*Lessons For Creatives From the World’s Biggest Rappers. I mean, it’s basically everything one needs to know.

*******

Have a great weekend, friends!

Relay Training Recap – Week 8

By Holly on March 24, 2013

HOLLA! Things are getting back to normal! This week I logged 6 workouts (and even a few that had me running) with no knee pain at all. ::::knocks wood:::: I think we are through the worst of it! I also tried something new at the beginning of the week that I think will be helpful moving forward over the next couple of weeks. DOUBLE DAYS! HA…let me tell you about it.

MONDAY
I woke up and worked out at 6am Monday morning, which reminded me how much I LOVE morning workouts! It was as follows:

LIFT
Overhead Squat: 3-3-3-3-3 (75-85-95-105-115lbs)

METCON

3 Rounds for Time
400 m Run
25 KB Swings (35lbs)
50 Air Squats

Finished in 16:47.

Then, because I wanted to start thinking about what it will feel like to run on tired legs (and this was DEFINITELY a leg tiring workout) I went back at 5pm and did the workout again after sitting at my desk all day at work.

It definitely affected my lifting — in the afternoon session I only lifted 65-75-85-95-95 lbs. But I was surprised that during the metcon portion I was only slightly slower….physically. I finished the second one in 17:53, so about an extra minute. But let me tell you, MENTALLY, that shit was rough. So I think it’s going to be a good idea to do that a bit in the coming weeks, just to prepare myself.

TUESDAY

STRENGTH
Weighted Pull-Ups + Ring Dips (I worked on strict pull ups and dips with the band.) I had another very vivid dream about doing a pull up a few nights before. Unfortunately it didn’t manifest in the gym.

METCON

“Annie”
50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Situps

I was aiming for under 8:47, since that was my previous PR. Unfortunately I got caught up on my double unders during the 40 round which really slowed me down. I finished in 9:47. Super Boo.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday’s are mandatory rest days at the gym if you are testing the Open WOD on Thursday, so I was happy to oblige.

THURSDAY

13.3! I already covered how I performed but let me just underscore again what a GOOD WORKOUT this is!!! It’s only 12 minutes, but man it is a killer! I almost wanted to do it again!

FRIDAY

I planned to workout this morning but I woke up and was really tired. Miraculously I wasn’t sore from 13.3, but I was super sleepy when my alarm went off so I just went back to bed! Friday afternoon I was doing happy hour at work with my team so I didn’t end up working out at all, which was fine.

SATURDAY

Rest and Relaxation Day!

SUNDAY

Logged a very easy 2 miler with the pooch and Garrett at the park. It was gorgeous, there were tons of people and dogs out and Buster loved it. Then we came home and Garrett and I did a face off of 100 Kettlebell swings for time with our 53 lb Kettlebell. Garrett won. grumblegrumbegrumble But only by 25 seconds!

******

This is the first week in more than a month that my body has just felt like my own. It’s performed when I pushed it and just generally felt really good. I want to keep up that momentum this week and maybe increase the running…so that’s the unofficial plan!

Fun Things To Read On A Friday

By Holly on March 15, 2013

Woo hoo! It’s Friday! Which means not only is it the weekend, but another CrossFit Games Open Workout is in the books. I had a friend ask me to explain the Open because it was kind of confusing, so in case you are also confused, here is the scoop:

Every year there is an annual competition within CrossFit to determine the Fittest Man and Woman (ON EARTH! HAHA) It’s held in the summer, but to get there you first have to start in the Open. Anyone worldwide can set up a profile and participate, and it consists of doing 1 workout each week for 5 weeks (that are a secret until each Wednesday night at 5pm) at their home gyms and then submitting their scores online. (They have to be validated by your judge, so it’s not just willy nilly internet lies! lol) The highest scores move on to the Regional competition which is a big event, and then those winners move on to The CrossFit Games. Make sense?

For someone like me…well, I’m NOT going to the Games. Most regular people aren’t. But those are JUST the people who should be competing. It’s hard to explain, but everyone gets really excited and into it and it’s a really awesome time at the gym because it brings the whole community together since we are all attempting the same feat every week for a month. Most people pushing extra hard and many achieve new personal records during this time of year so it’s inspiring to watch.

It’s fun to speculate about the workouts, try your best, and see how you stack up not only in your own gym but against athletes around the world. I HIGHLY recommend participating even if you aren’t someone who is destined to get to the games. One of our coaches wrote a great post the other day about CrossFit in general, but I think the idea is relevant to the Games Workouts as well — it makes the whole thing feel like a Team Sport. Good Times!

So that’s what Garrett and I are spending our Thursday nights doing for the next 3 weeks so I thought I should explain in case you were like, “What is she talking about every Friday morning?” Anyway, enough talking, shall we get on with the links already? I think we shall!

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*First, can we talk about this Google Reader Crisis! How can they take it away….WAH! Ah, well, instead of pouting, check out Katy Widrick’s advice on using Feedly as an alternative. I actually really like the look of Feedly, so hopefully I will get used to it as a replacement.

*I feel like I’ve seen the idea of “Being Brave” tossed around so much on the internet this year that, for me, it was kind of losing meaning. But I’ll tell you what, when I read Kathleen’s take I thought she really nailed it.

*Caity’s 2013 Hair Trends made me want to have a whole new head of hair. Your hair is probably awesome already though, so head over and check out some fun inspiration!

*You know what sounds like WORST JOB EVER: This job. Fascinating article though.

*Speaking of fascinating, here is a person I think is fascinating interviewing a person I think is fascinating. I mean, it’s like exponential fascination. Recipe for success!

*Can we talk about the Fear of Missing Out for a minute? Oh wait, let’s not. Because now that I am 34 and a bit more settled with myself, I’ll tell you what, I wholeheartedly agree with this.

*So what are you guys up to this weekend? I’m thinking about spending equal amounts of time outdoors and lounging on my couch. If you’re doing the latter, maybe check out of few of these: 82 Best Comedies Currently Streaming on Netflix.

*Or if you’re kind of in a movie mood but would rather just curl up with a good read, have a little look-see at The Oral History of Pulp Fiction. LOVED this.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ALL!

Looking Backward Won’t Propel You Forward

By Holly on March 7, 2013

Well, your finger crossing worked! No box jumps in the first CrossFit Games Open workout. Hooray! Here’s what I’m up against:

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 17 minutes of:
40 Burpees
45 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
100 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
120 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

While I’m super happy it’s not box jumps, I have to say I’m not that thrilled with all the burpees — especially since there were 70 at the end of our workout on Tuesday. YIKES!

But I’m happy that I can even participate, and this year that is a win. I’ve been thinking a lot about this year vs. last year recently. At least once a day actually, thanks to Timehop. I have a love/hate relationship with that app. You are probably using it too, but in case you aren’t it’s an app that gives you a daily update of what you were doing a year ago based on your facebook/twitter feeds. Sometimes it is awesome and makes me think back on good times and get all warm and fuzzy.

On the flip side, sometimes I read what I was doing a year ago and I think, “Man, my life looks very different right now.” And then I kind of miss my old life. I had that feeling the other day when my timehop linked to my tweet about this post which coincidentally, was the day I made my CrossFit Games Competitor Profile last year.

I read through it and realized that so many things look different now. I am no longer working out on that schedule. My work schedule has made it practically impossible to workout in the mornings these days, so that workout efficiency isn’t possible. I’m also working out less. I’m not lifting as heavy as I was last year and well, I STILL have that 40lbs to lose. When I reviewed that post the other day it kind of bummed me out.

But I’ve thought about it and thought about it some more and talked myself into the idea that viewing life as a singular snapshot doesn’t always reveal the complexities of daily routines. And likewise, sometimes when we work on many goals at once our efficacy changes. What it takes to get to ALL of our goals isn’t just easily cross-off-able lines on a black and white list. I have spent the last year traveling and busting my tail at work to get a promotion. A promotion that was a bit of a financial game changer for my little (and hopefully soon to be growing) family. That was a purposeful decision and it took sacrifice. Part of what I sacrificed was how much weight I can snatch, you know?

Was it worth it? HELL YES. Do I still fret over things like that when I’m in the gym though? YOU KNOW IT. But I also think I’m getting ready to let that go. And I think letting that go will actually help me feel a greater appreciation for where I am presently. And where I am in the present IS A REALLY GREAT PLACE TO BE.

We’ve all seen this quote floating around on the internet and I know it is a common touchstone for people when they are feeling envy of others. But I also think it is important to acknowledge that when you compare versions of yourself you are also doing a disservice. Life is not lived in a vacuum. The variables of today are not the variables of yesterday. The only constant is change, right? And as long as I’m evaluating, adapting and acting — I am succeeding.

And let this be your little daily reminder that no matter where you were a year ago, you are succeeding too.

Relay Training Recap – Week Three

By Holly on February 18, 2013

Well, last week was a bit anticlimactic. My knee is still bugging me…sometimes. GRR. I’m icing the hell out of it and I’ve made an appointment to see someone this week. Maybe I’ll talk more about that afterwards, but just know that this week I kept it easy. I did no running (well..kinda, you’ll see) and scaled my workouts accordingly at the gym.

Monday
Is it weird that Monday is starting to feel like a good rest day? I don’t know, I usually feel completely pumped to get in the gym on Mondays but lately it’s just felt better to ease into the week. Probably because work has been so nuts! We’ll see how that evolves.

Tuesday

STRENGTH

Overhead Squat: 5 x 3 (65, 75, 85, 95, 105 lbs)

METCON

“Death by Clean” (95lbs) — I completed 11 rounds. Bowed out on number 12. OOF!

1 rep in the first minute, 2 reps in the second minute, 3 reps in the third, etc until you cannot complete the required amount of work within the minute.

BUYOUT

4 x 100 m sled pulls (bodyweight)*
*rest as needed between rounds

I actually ended up running 400 m sprints instead of doing sled pulls to test out how my knee felt and OHMYGOD it was NOT GOOD. Ugh. Iced it ALOT afterward. This was the day I decided it was time to involve a professional.

Wednesday
I worked out today because it was something I could scale and didn’t involve running.

STRENGTH

Romanian Deadlift: 3-3-3-3-3 (95, 115, 135, 155, 175)

Hey-O…these were fun and new. So…weird feeling. It’s funny how it’s a similar movement but feels so different. I moved much less weight than I normally deadlift but it felt so HEAVY!

METCON

9-6-3:

Thruster (65 lbs)
Box Jumps (24 in box) I scaled to step ups bc my knee was BUGGING me
Ground Release Push-Ups

Run 800m (I rowed 1000m bc of the knee)

3-6-9:

Power Snatch (65 lbs)
Toes 2 Bar — (scaled to knees to elbows)

I was bummed today that my knee was feeling so crappy so I tried to really be careful of it. It doesn’t hurt AT ALL when I’m doing squatty things, but running and jumping are no-gos. UGH. Going to rest tomorrow. Death by cleans this week really did my upper body good, and now my lower body has had enough. BOO.

Thursday

REST

Friday

Can’t stay away. The Lumberjack 20 called my name. I decided to *try* and run and actually my knee felt fine the whole way through.

20 Deadlifts (185lbs)
Run 400m
20 KB swings (53lbs)
Run 400m
20 Overhead Squats (75lbs)
Run 400m
20 Burpees
Run 400m
20 Pullups (Chest to Bar) – scaled with band
Run 400m
20 Box jumps (20″) scaled to step ups for my knee
Run 400m
20 DB Squat Cleans (25lbs each) scaled to 20lbs because SERIOUSLY
Run 400m

Saturday

Weird. I got up today and felt like I had gotten hit by a truck. A lumber truck seems more accurate. Rest, ahem.

Sunday

Rest. This week was rough. On my body and my ego. I miss running.

Workout Total: 3
CrossFit Workouts: 3
Running Workouts: 0, except for the 2 miles in Lumberjack 20
Double Days: 0

Relay Training Recap- Week Two

By Holly on February 11, 2013

Monday
Skipped this workout at the gym because I was feeling SO BEAT after work (why? no idea) But I was bummed because it was one of my favorites that hardly ever gets programmed: “Bear Complex”

We’ll talk more about it later because I vowed to do it later on in the week if the opportunity arose and it did!

Tuesday
Hit the gym!

Strength:
Bench Press 5-5-3-3-3
(65, 75, 85, 95, 100 —- hooooo boy were my shoulders sore from Saturday’s Snatches! I felt old and crotchety doing this. Note to self: shoulder mobility, work on it!)

Metcon:

15 Min AMRAP
400m run
10 clapping pushups (I did scaled pushups)
8 Snatches (75lbs)

Completed 3 Rounds

After this workout though my knee was feeling kind of tender. And for no identifiable reason. BOO

Wednesday
My knee HURT this morning. It doesn’t hurt running or squatting or anything like that, but just walking around, it’s just tender right below my kneecap. Dr. Google says I’m dying. Not really. But then again I haven’t really consulted Dr. Google for fear that it will make me crazy. I’m foam rolling the quads/hams and icing like it’s my religion.

Thursday

My plan was to hit the gym, but I had to travel to Sonoma for work all day and by the time I got home it was too late. I could have run but I was BEAT and my knee was a tiny bit sore still. Funny how so much windshield time can make you exhausted but you are only just sitting down.

Friday

STRENGTH
Snatch
3-3-1-1-1 (65, 75, 85, 90, 95)
Snatch Pull
2-2-2-2-2 (95 for all reps)

METCON
Buy In:
50 Double Unders

3 Rounds of
5 HSPU – (scaled)
10 Burpee Pull Ups (scaled to burpess + banded pull ups)
200m run

Buy Out:
100 Double Unders

That was fun. And sort of awful since I hate burpees and pull ups and it took me a few minutes to get my double under rhythm which mean my ass was COVERED in welts afterward. But fun!

I decided on Friday night that I wanted to try running on my knee. Garrett and I headed out after CrossFit to a hilly street by our house. We did a slow one mile warmup and then did 10 hill repeats up this crappy hill that I can’t even fully run up yet (NEW GOAL! GET UP THE HILL!) It was good practice. And also awful. First double day. Knee felt fine running. Afterward, still sore when I walk.

Saturday

I vowed to do Monday’s Bear Complex so I headed in to open gym to get some lifting in. The Bear Complex is fun, but pretty tough. This is what it looks like. A quick synopsis from Mel, since she also wrote about it this week coincidentally:

…it’s a workout made up of 5 rounds of a barbell series (a.k.a., “complex”) that includes 7 reps of the following:
power clean — front squat — push press — back squat — push press

You do that SEVEN times to make up one round — and you do five rounds. If you’re doing it as RX’d.

HOLY CRAP that was hard. I did all 5 rounds with a 75lb barbell and my arms were JELLO at the end.

Sunday

I had a run on the schedule but my knee (at this point MY GOD DAMN GOOD FOR NOTHING KNEE) was still sore and that started to make me worried. I skipped my run and stayed home and did a cooking wod. Also a Kettlebell Century Challenge (aka 100 Kettlebell Swings for time) with our 53 lb kettlebell. That was no slouch of a workout, but I would have rather run.

Workout Total: 4
CrossFit Workouts: 4 (3 in the gym // 1 at home)
Running Workouts: 1
Double Days: 1

And that was the week! Kind of disappointing, but it wasn’t like I was sitting home on the couch, so. Hopefully I’ll figure out what’s going on with my knee and be able to get in some good runs this week.

Golden Gate Relay Training Plan + Week One Recap

By Holly on February 7, 2013

So I finally made a training plan for The Relay. Last week was my first week of twelve and guess what? I DIDN’T EVEN STICK TO IT! We are clearly starting off with a bang here.

In my defense though, I was sick at the beginning of last week and well, that just sort of screwed everything up. This week is a new week, however, and while I’m still not following it *exactly* to a tee, I am making progress and getting in the groove. So I thought I would share what my plan is for the next 12 weeks.

Training Plan

I made this plan with a few things in mind:

*I am not running this race for a time, I am just running to finish
*My legs are flat, but I want to train running hills to improve my pace
*I want to continue CrossFitting 3x per week, at least
*I want to run 2-3x per week, at least
*At least 1 run per week will be a longer run. Endurance is actually a strength, and by the end I want to be back to feeling pretty comfortable running about 8-9 miles at a time. (My longest leg on race day is 6 miles.)
*I want to improve my stamina. Running for a long time is not a struggle for me. Running fast for a long time is. So speed/stamina work will be on my mind. (Hello, hills.)
*I want to get comfortable with the schedule of 3 hard back to back workouts within a short time frame (24-36 hours) to mimic sore race legs/conditions. My Friday/Saturday workouts (double days) are mapped out to help me with that.

And with that, my loose schedule for the next 3 months:

Monday – CrossFit
Tuesday – CrossFit
Wednesday – Rest or Speed Run/Hill Work (3-4 miles at a pace that is hard for me)
Thursday – Rest or Run (depending on what Mon/Tues look like at the box I’ll rest on one of these days and run on one of these days)
Friday – AM treadmill run before work (yuck), PM CrossFit
Saturday – Longer Run
Sunday – REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST.

Here is how that shook out last week.

Week One Training

Moving forward, I thought I’d share these updates on Sundays. If you are completely uninterested you can skip it, I won’t mind. Or if you’d like to follow in more real time I am tracking them on Daily Mile. For me, knowing that I will be posting these and answering to the internet (Hey, that’s YOU) will help keep me accountable over the next few months. If it’s not useful for you, just walk right on by.

Monday
I spent this evening laying on my couch wanting to die after being at work all day. Making dinner felt like a major effort. No workouts for me!

Tuesday
I felt about 90% on this day but skipped the workout just in case. I was bummed, but it was the right decision.

Wednesday
For the Strength portion we worked on Weighted Pull Ups but since I’m still using a band I worked on banded negatives. Then I did some banded pull ups just for giggles. What was awesome is that I used a smaller band (less help) and just felt like I could do a million. I NEVER feel that way. It’s amazing what difference fat loss makes when doing pull ups. Being 14lbs lighter helped IMMENSELY. The metcon portion of the workout was a pretty freaking hard chipper:

15 calorie row
50 m bear crawl
13 thrusters (65 lbs)
13 box jump overs
13 deadlifts (135 lbs)
13 wall balls (14 lbs)
13 ring dips (I did banded dips)
Then you work your way back down the ladder.
There was a 15 minute time cap and I missed finishing by FOUR CALORIES in the row. Bummer. Good workout though.

Thursday
I should have run and flaked. But I was SUPER SORE from the day before. Totally used my early week sickness as an excuse. Was just being lazy.

Friday
Got up to run before work, per the plan but then read that the Friday night workout was the Filthy Fifty. I need to ease into these double day workouts and there is nothing easy about the Filthy Fifty. So I opted not to run. Friday night I did this:
50 Box jump (20 inch box)
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings (26 lbs)
50 Walking Lunges
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press (33 lbs)
50 Back extensions
50 Wall balls (14 lbs)
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

OOF. That is a brutal workout. Was glad I didn’t run.

Saturday
Met with my running buddies and did a track workout that included sprinting, running some hill repeats and running bleachers. It was a GREAT workout and really fun. Then spent an hour at open gym working on Cleans and Snatches. Lots of heavy lifting. Then GHD sit up work. Really enjoyed myself.

Sunday – REST!

Workout Total: 4
CrossFit Workouts: 3
Running Workouts: 1
Double Days: 0

The Great Iowa Adventure (Part Two)

The Great Iowa Adventure (Part One)

Relay Training Recap — Week 9

Fun Things To Read On A Friday

Relay Training Recap – Week 8

Fun Things To Read On A Friday

Looking Backward Won’t Propel You Forward

Relay Training Recap – Week Three

Relay Training Recap- Week Two

Golden Gate Relay Training Plan + Week One Recap

Training Plan

Week One Training

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Training Plan

Week One Training

Oh Hey!

Pictures I’ve Taken

Some Stuff I Write About

More Organized Stuff I Write About

Looking For Something Specific?

What I’m Pinning

Archives

Posts