the gorilla takeover wod experience

So as you may have read previously, I volunteered over the weekend at the Gorilla Takeover that my box and another box hosted at the Portland Expo Center. During my time there I was able to watch all the WODs that the athletes had to compete in. Let's just say I did not envy them, but somewhere in the back of my head a thought popped up that maybe our coaches would torture the rest of us with the same WODs. Come Monday things at my box went back to normal and our WOD for the day was Cindy, AMRAP in 20 minutes of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats. I breathed a sigh of relief, and busted out 11 rounds, 5 pull-ups and 3 push-ups (I progressed since the last time I did it). My relief was short lived though, coming in Tuesday evening I found that we were going to experience WOD #1 from the Takeover. And it didn't end there, Wednesday we also experienced WOD #3. Needless to say, between these two days, my body is sore and I believe I'm feeling new muscles again!

The Gorilla Takeover WOD #1
500 meter row then...
21-15-9
Thrusters 95/65
Box Jumps 24/20
(TC 10:00)

The Gorilla Takeover WOD #3
4RFT
10 Alt KB Snatches 53/35
25 Yard Farmers Carry 140/100
2 Rope Climbs 15'
25 Yard Farmers Carry 140/100
(TC 10:00)

Scaled Version of WOD #3
4RFT
10 KB Swings 53/35
25 Yard Farmers Carry 100/80
2 Rope Climbs 15' or 8 Mod Rope Climbs
25 Yard Farmers Carry 100/80
(TC 10:00)

For the first WOD, I modified the thrusters and did push presses at 55# instead due to knee pain. And I did step ups instead of jumping. I finished in 10:30. For the third WOD I did the scaled version with the modified rope climbs and for the first time did my KB swings with 35#. I finished in 14:12. I am unable to raise my arms over my head. I feel wimpy and like a beast all in one! Unfortunately because my arms feel pretty worthless, I will not be attending today's class. And I'll be completely honest, I'm ok with missing WOD #4!

The Gorilla Takeover WOD #4
60 Double Unders
50 Wall Balls (10'/9') 20/14
40 Burpees
30 Weighted Sit-ups 20/14
20 Alt Pistol Squats
10 Handstand Push-ups
20 Alt Pistol Squats
30 Weighted Sit-ups 20/14
40 Burpees
50 Wall Balls (10'/9') 20/14
60 Double Unders
(TC 25:00)

So now having the opportunity to experience what the athletes did this past weekend gives me a whole new appreciation for what some people can do. Our bodies are so capable of amazing things, with the right training, nutrition, and mental preparedness... we can achieve anything. This whole experience solidifies my effort in my sugar challenge. Because if I want to be able to do what these athletes did by next year, I have to be on top of my game.

This photo was found on Pinterest.

q & a: "why do you talk about CrossFit so much?"

From time to time I've had friends, acquaintance, and strangers ask me questions related to my CrossFit experience. I give my answer, but more often than not I wish I would have had more time to think about the question before answering. So I decided to start adding the questions I get related to my CrossFit experience, everything from the fitness to the diet and everything else in between, and my answers here on my blog. So if you ever have a question, please ask by using the "contact me" form to the right of this posting. So on to the most popular question I get...

Q: "Why do you talk about CrossFit so much?" -various people

This photo was found on Pinterest.

A: Simple. I drank the Kool-aid. Ok no, seriously there was no drinking of Kool-aid- that would be bad, too much sugar! But why do I talk about it so much? Well, for one, I'm extremely excited about it. When something good, positive, rewarding, exciting, (you fill in the possible word) happens to you, you want to share it with the people you love. Right? You got that dream job. You met an incredible new person. You won the lottery. You get the picture here. This situation isn't any different. I found something that makes me happy, that makes me feel good, and in a short time has proven results with all the hard work I put into it. And yes, usually with all new things that happy feeling tends to fade and you don't really care to talk about it anymore. Unfortunately for those of you who are tired of hearing me talk about it, it has not faded. And it won't. Why? Well, its an ever evolving thing. There will always be something that I am getting better at. There will always be something I finally did that I couldn't before. There will always be a PR. There will always be new results. Why wouldn't I want to share this with you? Granted, any of you who are reading this right now must enjoy it or you wouldn't keep coming back. I can only hope that some of you will be interested in a tasting the Kool-aid. Ready for a change?

the gorilla takeover

This past weekend Aaron and I volunteered at The Gorilla Takeover, a CrossFit competition hosted by CrossFit Stumptown and CrossFit Mt. Hood. It was open to Scaled and RX, as well as Teams and Individuals. The closest thing to a competition I had ever seen was this past summer when I watched the CrossFit Games on ESPN. It was exciting to watch that, but I have been continuously told that it is a much different experience being at a competition. One of my coaches at Stumptown had commented one evening leading up to this past weekend that after witnessing a competition like this, most people who never competed will get a bug to want to compete. Now I understand what he means... but more on that later.

Several of the athletes at the Gorilla Takeover were from my box. I was excited to be able to support them as they competed. Watching many of the athletes from all over the Pacific Northwest was a lot of fun. What surprised me the most was seeing athletes of ALL ages and sizes. What I mean is, we had athletes as young as their early 20's up to 40+, and not all of them were toned and ripped. It goes to show you, anyone can do CrossFit, and not everyone's goal is to have a rock solid body. The goal is to be healthy and fit- and that comes in all shapes and sizes.

Carly from CrossFit Stumptown

The competition was a 2 day event. The first day consisted of WOD 1 - 3. The second day consisted of WOD 4 and then the Final WOD. All teams and individuals did WOD 1 - 4, and then the Top 10 in every division made it to the Final WOD. The first day I did a lot of running around, assisted with moving equipment around in between WOD's. For one WOD we literally had to move 25# and 45# weights back and forth between every Heat, there were over 10 Heats! Needless to say, I got a workout in without even thinking about it. We arrived close to 8 am and didn't leave until a little after 5:30 pm. The second day I didn't run around as much as the previous day, which was good, I was exhausted. It gave me more time to sit amongst the other volunteers and guests and watch the athletes compete. Some  would finish the WOD's efficiently and with very little struggle, and others struggled, some didn't finish. The one thing I noticed though, no one gave up! It didn't matter that they still had 10 more Wall Ball's before moving on to 80 Doubleunders in less than 2 minutes. Even when an athlete knew he or she wasn't going to finish before the time cap expired, they kept going until the buzzer rang. That is some dedication. What was even more inspiring to witness,  was when one athlete was left, all the others that had finished would surround him and her and motivate said athlete to keep going. There are NO egos in the CrossFit world. There is no mentality that "I am better than you." It's a community of people who care about each other, and will help each other to push when we feel like we have no more to give. Many of the men and women this weekend PR'd in their Deadlifts, they fed off the energy that surrounded them. To see the excitement of the crowd cheering on the athletes as they did incredible things- oh how inspiring it was to be there and to share in the moments!

Going back to what I stated earlier about competing. The bug bit me. I definitely became inspired and motivated to prepare myself for a future competition...

and the countdown begins

This photo was found on Pinterest.

In a matter of 8 days I will begin my sugar challenge. I have sort of started the process of slowly weaning myself off of certain things, but the real drop of all sugar will be in just one week. I am nervous, but excited for this healthy change. I know with dropping the sugar I will begin to see bigger changes in my performance with WOD's and in life in general. I have never been more motivated and focused. So whose with me?

bye bye sugar

The typical diet of a CrossFit athlete is following the Paleolithic diet (also known as the Paleo diet or Caveman diet). This consists of contemporary dishes such as fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, veggies, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts. There is no room for grains, legumes, dairy products, potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils. If you are interested in learning more about the Paleo diet, start here. I won't go into deep detail about it as I am still learning about the diet myself, and have not fully embraced it. I'll admit, there are a LOT of things I'm not willing to give up... at least not yet.

A few years back, about 6 years or so, a few co-worker and I used Lent to give something up. We agreed to forgo said addiction for 40 days and 40 nights. Some gave up cigarettes, some potatoes (of all kind), and others gave up alcohol. I chose to give up soda. The first week of this challenge was the hardest, I was a raving bitch. The headaches were constant and horrible, and the cravings were awful. But I didn't falter, I pushed through it and around week 3 I started to feel normal again. The cravings weren't as intense or as frequent. That was around the time I learned that it takes us around 21 to 28 days to form a new habit/ break an old habit. By the end of the challenge, I no longer craved soda and tasting it for the first time was not a pleasant experience. I have fallen off the soda wagon a couple of times but for the most part of the last 6 years or so I have been soda/caffeine free. The result, I felt better and lost about 15 pounds in 2 months. :)

About 4 years ago I tried going vegetarian for a month, this was not as hard as giving up the soda. What spurred me to try this was reading about how it takes our bodies anywhere from 24 to 72 hours to digest red meat. Worse, is that it's for 4 ounces (the serving size an active person should be eating, sedentary should eat less) but most Americans eat anywhere from 6 to 12 ounces a meal, and are sedentary. This means that it is taking your body about 2 to 3 days to digest that one chunk of red meat, and if you are anything like most Americans, you eat red meat 4 to 6 nights a week. That's NOT good. I had decided to start cutting back on the red meat and increase my white meat intake. But to start this, I wanted to give my body time to clean itself out. I can not express how amazingly good I felt at the end of that month. The day after that challenge I was ready to have a nice big burger, that night I was so ill. Not my brightest idea to say the least. I now only consume red meat 2 to 3 times a week, sometimes less. I consume more white meat & fish.

So knowing that I have given things up successfully and survived to tell about it, I have decided to put myself up to another challenge. I read a great posting on one of my favorite blogs, The Box Magazine, about refined sugar- "Grinding Against the Sugar Monster". Out of all the things I have curbed in my daily diet, sugar is my biggest weakness. Some days I am strong enough to avoid it and substitute it with someone healthier but most times I give in. It is probably the biggest hinderance in my diet and training. I have goals I am working towards and I want to be as successful as I can be, but the one thing slowing my body down is the refined sugar. So I have decided that starting on November 1st I will cut out all alcohol and refined sugar through the end of the year. On December 1st I will reintroduce wine & beer in moderation. This will probably be one of the hardest challenges I put myself through, more than the soda challenge. My hope is that when 2014 rolls around, I will no longer crave sugar and can do without. I'd like to continue to change my daily diet to a healthier one so that my body is in optimal running condition.

There are many things that are fine in moderation, such as alcohol, dark chocolate, etc etc. The problem with the American mass, we don't do anything in moderation. We consume, and consume, and consume, and then wake up one day wondering why we are riddled with illness and disease. I refuse to allow myself to reach that point. I want to start off 2014 on the right foot!

So who else is up for the challenge? I dare you to join me...

This photo was found on Pinterest.

to push or to stop

Tonight was probably the first time I came close to crying during a WOD. Not because it hurt or I was tired, which both were very much true, but because I was struggling with a physical and mental battle in finishing. My mind said I could do it, just do it. My body, not so much. Here's the thing, regardless what activity you do, it's good to push yourself. You are never going to excel or proceed to the next level of your training or sport if you don't push yourself. But knowing when to push and when to back off is key. My legs are strong, I can do lunges. My knees on the other hand have been a source of some pain lately. I've been given several theories of what is going on. I'm working on them. Sure my Quads were burning, that sort of pain I can muster through. The sort of pain I was feeling in my knees ran deeper. I struggled with how far to push myself before I backing off. We had to do 7 rounds tonight, I only completed 5 rounds. Not my proudest moment. But it's a matter of only doing 5 rounds and resting up, or doing 7 rounds and possibly injuring myself. Remember to always pay attention to your body, it will always tell you when to stop. Time to ice and rest...

and onward I go

I can not express how happy I am to be a functional person again. It still amazes me that a common cold can knock someone off their game in the degree that it does. It took me 2 weeks to completely recover, though I still have a very mild cough, it no longer inhibits me from doing things. Yay! But what does all of this mean? Ohhhh, what it means is that after not working out for almost 2 weeks, I am now experiencing muscle soreness like a newbie. Ok, maybe not that badly but my Quads were certainly feeling it. I attempted to return to CF Stumptown last Thursday and successfully finished the class but felt like crap afterwards. Decided to not go Friday as I had been wheezing all day, which was a bummer since the class did the "300" WOD! I returned this past Monday and got to experience the Rich Froning's "Sally Up" Challenge. Oh. My. Goodness. I think someone pissed Tony off enough that he felt that he had to torture us. What the challenge entails is a particular movement that you follow along to Moby's "Sally Up" song which runs almost 4 minutes long. At my box our challenge was doing the Push-up Challenge rest for 2 minutes then do the Back Squat Challenge. But that's not all. For every time we took an unscheduled rest (meaning not going down when told to or going up when not told to) you had to add 5 Burpee's at the end of our total challenge, with a maximum of 50. But so you can completely understand what the challenges are, I found a couple of video's of people doing what we had to do... please watch.

Push-up Challenge

Back Squat Challenge

Needless to say, after attempting these two challenges the majority of the classes had to then do 50 Burpee's. And if you know me at all, and have been following me regularly, you know I detest Burpee's. I, sadly, had to do 50 of them. Whimper. 

down with the sickness

If you're a Disturbed fan, you probably started singing the song after reading the title to this posting... you're welcome! If you have no clue what I am talking about, move on...

So I haven't been to a CF class since last week Tuesday. I caught whatever bug Aaron brought home and was suffering from. All attempts in avoiding the bug were pointless, I still got sick. I'm out of the worse of it, I'm actually functioning well but my energy level is still not 100%. Climbing the stairs into my home is an exhausting experiencing. And lets not forget the rawness of my throat from all the coughing, it's terrible. The last time I took this much time off of CF was after a spider bite on my calf became infected and I was ordered to stay off my feet from my doctor. And trust me, that was no exaggeration. This is mental torture for me. I miss the coaches, the friends, the challenge, and the feeling a sense of accomplishment that I survived a WOD. I'm think I probably won't make it back in until Monday of next week. Sigh.

I have to look at it with a positive outlook, maybe I got the sickness out of the way for the winter?

a one year project

Since May I have been taking a monthly photo, anterior & lateral views, of myself to keep a photographic log of my progress with CF. I didn't really put much thought into it, just did it as I thought it would be cool to see a before and after. But after a little chat with Aaron, I decided with his help, to take a photo every night that I go do CF for one year. This way at the end of that time frame, when I put all the photos in chronological order and have it play back to me, I can actually see a moving image of how my body has changed. So we started this project on Oct. 1st, 2013 and it will end on Oct. 1st, 2014. At that time, I will post the time lapse of the photos for all to see.

Another project that will probably take a little longer than a year, hopefully not to much longer, is going back to school. My goal is to go to PCC and get into the Fitness Technology program, with the possibility of attending PSU afterwards to work on my Bachelors. The PSU part is a maybe, but the year program at PCC is definitely a desire. My end goal is to work on getting my Level 1 Certification in CrossFit and become a Coach. Granted, I don't want to become a Coach until I have achieved success for myself. But I am well on my way...

whoa! these muscles are getting stronger...

Last night's WOD wasn't anything spectacular. We've certainly done harder and more intense WOD's before. But it was one of those nights where we'd get through it quickly and capable of doing the majority of it with minimal modifications. What was unexpected was how much I'd be able to notice how much I have improved. I would have never imagined the simplicity of this WOD would help me gauge where I am after 3+ months of grinding it out. So you understand what I mean, we had to do this: Strength first, Tuesday nights are dedicated to the Press. I am happy to announce that I was able to Press more #'s than last week! And then the WOD was AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 12 minutes of 12 T2B (toes to bar), 12 HRPU (hand release push-ups), and 12 Air Squats. That is all. It's something just about anyone can do.

I haven't got the core strength quite yet to do a true T2B, my modification is facing a wall and raising my feet as high as I can. I typically pick a spot (or hole) on the wall and aim my feet at that. I try to do this particular exercise at the same bar each time so that I can gauge how much higher I am getting than the previous time. Last night I was feeling a tad bit under the weather, and as I arrived to class I contemplated turning around and heading home instead. But I decided to grind it out, and my coach, Tony, said to just take it easy- so I intended to. The problem with CF WOD's are, no matter how much you try to just focus on yourself and do what you can do, you always look to your neighbor or someone else near by and want to stay pace or go faster then them. I don't know if this is necessarily true with everyone, but it is for me. Maybe it's my competitive nature. Anyway, I tried to keep pace with the girl next to me (which so happens she and I have a mutual friend outside of CF). When doing the T2B I found that the spot I kept hitting on the wall was about an inch higher than the last spot I hit the previous time we'd done T2B. You don't understand what a big deal this is for me. My feet are literally reaching above my waist, no longer parallel. I almost jumped off and did a victory lap over this! And to add to my excitement, I was able to do 6 or more at a time before stopping for a rest. Another feat!

Moving on to the HRPU, I found myself being one of the first people moving on to this move. Don't be fooled, I'm in no way stronger and faster then my CF companions. Having done a MOD for my T2B allowed me to move forward quicker. The rest soon caught up and either stayed paced or passed me. I am unable to do a proper push-up. It's something I have been working on for some time now and it's slow going. I do what they call "girl" push-ups, where instead of being on my toes, I am on my knees. Doing HRPU this way is still fairly hard though. To do a proper push-up you keep your back straight, not allowing any sway in your back or you butt to lift higher. I can do this without going all the way down to the floor, as I am still not strong enough to lift myself completely back up. But with HRPU, you are required to go all the way down to the floor, release your hands off the floor, and then lift yourself back up. Eek! Unfortunately for me, there is some slight sway back in my movement. I'm working on it.

And then on to the last movement, the lovely Air Squats. When I first started CF, my squats were extremely weak. A true squat would have your thighs going below parallel with the floor, I was doing above parallel. In CF you'll quickly learn that in many of the exercises you do, there is some form of squatting almost always. Seriously. In the beginning I hated this, my Quads were always sore and my knees constantly hurt. (Later I learned I need to stretch more afterwards, and now the Foam Roller and I have become best friends.) Anyway, I noticed my squats were improving when we worked on our Back Squats. And most recently when I did a 140# Back Squat and found that I went below parallel I was shocked (and wanted to do backflips... and if I knew how to, I would've). So last night, when it was time to grind out the Air Squats, I found that I busted out all 12 squats without stopping for a rest (like I had in previous WOD's) and I was doing them pretty quickly. When I was back to my T2B, I again was one of the first ones to be up there.

I find that I am beginning to keep pace with some of the stronger CrossFitters, even the ones that do the WOD's RX (prescription, opposed to MOD, which is modified). My movements are becoming more fluid and stronger. I feel stronger. And all this in a little over 3 months. :) So for those who are curious, I finished my WOD in 6 rounds + 5 T2B in 12 minutes. I had one round more than the average round! Now just to master the PU and T2B...