feeling good

I officially have two days down in my first week of programming for Olympic Weightlifting. I'm not as sore as I suspected I would be but we'll wait to see how I feel after Friday. Today I worked on the Snatch, it's been a very long time since I've done a regular Snatch. I went sort of light since I am not sure how much I am capable of doing. I will find out this Friday, but I am sure I will PR the Snatch and I am hoping the Front Squat too. I am feeling quite strong today.

I have also been working on my planks, and I am pleasantly surprised by how quickly I have gone up on my times. Today I accomplished a 1 min 20 sec plank, and this with something being placed on my back for about 20 of those seconds.

I am learning a lot already just from the Catalyst Athletics site alone, than you add the info I have been getting from others and it is incredible how much there is out there. My session today with Joon ended up being an hour long talk about my new objectives and goals. It was a very productive talk and it most certainly inspired me and gave me focus. I am looking forward to what is to come and to see progress!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

one on one: day thirty-seven

I'm back!!!! Today was my first session with Joon since November 18th! It has really been that long, between his schedule, my schedule, life, holidays, etc etc. we just couldn't make anything work. But today, we got back on it and you know what? I HURT! I'm still sore from Friday, Saturday, and Monday's WODs, than I add his session into the mix and every muscle in my body hates me and him. Oh and I have lovely bruises forming, it's been a while since that happened. Thanks Joon! Alright, so this is what he had in store for me today:

Warm-up-ish:
800m SkiErg
200m Row
600m SkiErg
400m Row
400m SkiErg
600m Row
200m SkiErg
800m Row

KB Complex 2 minutes:
1 Swing + 1 Clean + 1 High Pull + 1 Snatch
2x

Mission Test 5 minutes:
2 Cleans + 1 Press + 3 Front Squats

Ok, that warm up part was sheer torture as I hadn't done anything with the SkiErg in a long time. During the 800 and 600m sessions, I must've stopped a time or two trying to catch my breathe and shake my already sore body out. What a rude awakening that was for me. The KB work was fun and challenging. My hands have been bothering me lately, I have been trying to work on my grip work on the bar and trying to get my kipping movement down. So holding the KB today was a real pain, I had to chalk the hell out of the KB and my hands just to get through it. After a while the hands became the last thing on my mind as I could feel my muscles scream at me. A few times I hit myself with the KB and knew I'd be feeling that later, well I am. Bruises are forming and I am sensitive to the touch.

This evening I had Coach Tony check my body fat, that is the other thing I am getting back into. I am really disappointed that I gained all that I lost the last time plus some. I could blame the holidays all I want but no one forced the crappy shit down my throat. Thankfully I am back on track and will fix this situation, fast!

All in all, it feels good to be back. I will also be posting more often again and keeping everyone up to date with what is happening. Thank you again for all the positive feedback! <3

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

one on one: day thirty-six

I walked into the gym already feeling sore around my lats and triceps from last nights WOD. This made me nervous for what Joon had in store for me and it turned out he was planning to add to my soreness. With that classic Joon smile, he warned me that tomorrow I will be feeling this. So this is what he had me do:

Warm-up: Easy 5 min Row
Then,
8 x 1:00 min of:
     OHS 15#
     Mountain Climbers
     Farmers Carry 2 x 95#
     Dumbbell Snatches 35#
1- 14
2- 15
3- 16
4- 12
5- 15
6- 12
7- 15
8- 16
Time: 54:32

For this session the only reps that were counted were the snatches, otherwise the rest I just focused on moving the entire minute. There wasn't really a scheduled rest period but I would sometimes take my time going from one movement to the next, especially after the farmers carry where my hands began to burn pretty badly. It took me a good while to get it done, but I did it and finished it. The one movement that I struggled on and complained a lot about was the mountain climbers. Between struggling with my breathing on this movement and my legs giving out on me a lot, I hated every minute I spent on those!  I am sure I will be plenty sore tomorrow as I am already beginning to feel it now. Oh joy!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

joon, "f" you!

What?! I know what some of you may be thinking, but it's ok, Joon and I are in good terms. Today at Stumptown it is Fuck You Friday (FYF). It's a WOD that is on crack, and we push ourselves more than we normally would. After my session with Joon earlier today, he commented that if I came back in the evening to join my gym mates for the FYF WOD, I wouldn't be doing it. He had something different for me. Oh but what could that be?! So naturally, I went back and he introduced me to FYJ...

SkiErg, 100m Sprints, 10x (with 90 sec rest):
1) 23.3
2) 24.5
3) 23.4
4) 23.4
5) 23.7
6) 24.1
7) 24.7
8) 25.1
9) 24.9
10) 24.3

Not bad, I stayed fairly consistent but it absolutely sucked. By the end of the 10th round my arms were already feeling sore. At this Joon laughed and said, "wait until tomorrow." So again Joon, "F" you!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

one on one: day seventeen

I went to bed last night feeling pretty sore and thinking that todays session would just plain suck. Then I woke up and logged in and saw that the WOD for the day was "Fight Gone Bad" which I did once before back in July 2013. I was a little bummed because I would miss this WOD since I have other plans for this evening and figured my session with Joon would entail something else. Will it did not, in fact, as soon as Joon learned I would not be back this evening he said that todays session would be "Fight Gone Bad" and I was both excited and scared. The last time I did this WOD my rep count was 137, mind you I had only been doing CrossFit for about a month and half and it was heavily modified. Today I did the WOD, and not only did I RX it but I PR'd it by 41% and got 193 reps. I can not express how unbelievably surprised and happy I am. Joon gave me a goal of 200 reps and though I was like "sure" in my heart I didn't think I'd get that high. I just wanted to beat my old record. So here is what "Fight Gone Bad" is:

Three Rounds of (1 Minute @ Each Station):
Wall Ball 14#
Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (SDHP) 45#
Box Jumps 20"
Push Presses 45#
Row (for calories)
Rest 1 Minute
(These weights are for women)

I surprised myself with getting 21 wall balls in the first round, I moved without stopping and even got low on my squats (yay!). Joon and I believed the SDHP and push presses would be where I would excel but I found them the hardest part of this WOD. I couldn't do more than 3-5 reps at a time, and I can easily blame it on being sore or tired but I am not exactly sure why it was so hard. This whole thing sucked! I was consistent with my rowing and have definitely gotten more efficient at that. And I didn't do one step-up on the box jumps, I jumped the entire time. I'd say overall I am pretty impressed with myself and glad that Joon had me do this WOD. I know next time I will do more than 200 reps!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

one on one: day fourteen (bonus day)

This week of one on one training with Joon is slightly off. Instead of the normal Tuesday/Thursday sessions, we are doing Wednesday/Friday to accommodate my time off to allow my back to get better from my sacroiliac joint issue. But since work was a tad bit slow today, I got off early and had an impromptu session with Joon to help prepare me for my competition this coming Sunday. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by people who want to see me succeed. I don't think I would feel confident enough to even consider competing if I didn't have the support that I at home and CrossFit Stumptown. So this is what we did:

Warm-up: 3 min Row
5 Sets (2 min rest in between each set) of:
     2 Power Cleans (75#)
     4 Athletic Burpees
     10 Cal Airdyne

Sculpting:
     3 x 5-7 Dumbbell Presses
     3 x 5-7 Tricep Extension
     5 x 5 Five Sec Elevated Plank Hold, 1 Push-up

It was a short and sweet session but it sure has me feeling my arms more than I have in a long time. Feels good actually. I surprised myself with the Airdyne today and pushed myself harder towards the end, even when my quads were burning like crazy and I felt tired as hell. I worked really hard on focusing on breathing properly to limit my panic breathing. Give me something heavy to lift and I will probably do it, but ask me to breathe normally and I just can't quite get it done right. Baby steps.

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

one on one: day two

Let me begin this posting with an update on my health scare. This past Monday I posted about my Sunday evening trip to the ER with stomach pain. They had figured it wasn't my gallbladder or kidneys causing the pain and figured it was either an ulcer or acid reflux. Little did I know that later that evening I would end up back in the ER with even worse pain than the previous night. This time the doctor ordered an ultrasound to check my gallbladder and surrounding organs. They gave me another GI cocktail which didn't give me the immediate relief as the previous night. It did help reduce my pain to about a 5 but I was still dealing with the waves of pain, as well as nausea and back pain. So my gallbladder, kidney, pancreas, and liver was check out and all of them checked out fine. Still no definite answer but this time I left the ER with an RX for some pain meds. It's now been 4 days since my first ER visit and I can say I have had 3 full days of no pain. I am still taking the meds as I was told to and am trying to get in to see my PCP to get checked further, but I am thankful that I am no longer experiencing that god awful pain anymore.

Because I was still recovering this past Tuesday from Monday nights trip to the ER, I did not make my appointment with Joon for my official "day two" session. So technically this would be my day three, but well I won't really count it! Joon thoroughly kicked my arse today, and it probably wasn't fully intentional but he definitely proved to me how quickly I experience muscle fatigue. We worked on some plyometric movements and strength. Today's session most certainly was hard but felt really good. So here is what we did.

Warm-up: 500m row
Extended Warm-up:
     10 Shoulder Shrugs
     10 Cleans
     10 Strict Presses
     10 GHD Back Extensions (this was intimidating and hard for me- did not do full ROM)

3x: Athletic Burpees x3
      Jumping Lunges x6
      Plyo Side Lunges 20sec

4x4: Front Squat 65#
2x4: Power Clean 65#
3x3x3: Push Jerk 65#

5x for time: 
     100m row (26/23/22/22/21 sec)
     30 sec rest
     Medicine Ball Slams x10
     1 min rest
= 11:08

The GHD back extensions were challenging for me. First I had to get comfortable with the idea of lowering my upper body down and trusting that I wasn't going to fall. Once I got over that, well better at it, I found I couldn't even lower myself down very low before my hamstrings began to yell at me with such force. Those sucked! But the hardest thing I did today was the burpees, lunges, and side lunges routine. I had to keep moving without stopping and this is where I experienced my muscle fatigue. Primarily during the side lunges as I kept going my legs would give out on me and I was struggling lifting them up onto the platform. A couple of times I came close to tripping over myself. It's frustrating to want to push through but your body won't cooperate. I can not wait for the day that I get beyond this quick fatigue and can go for longer. The lifts were comfortable, didn't go super heavy, focused on technique. Front squats have been a challenge for a long time and I am just now getting better at them and increasing weight! And the last part of our time was fun and I worked hard on just pushing through the suck. With every round I improved my time on the 100m row, which I have to admit was unexpected. The medicine ball slams were also a challenge, but I did them and that is all I have to say about that.

I am officially tired and sore. Tomorrow is a holiday and I do not have to work- yay! There is only one WOD tomorrow at CFST but I think I will pass on the WOD and enjoy sleeping in. I'm sure I will be plenty sore tomorrow. :)

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

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...

oh the pain! oh the frustration!

So yesterday was my first day back to work since I hurt my ankle. I wrapped it, took some Ibuprofen, and wore supportive shoes. The first half of the day seem to go by just fine, very little limping was going on. At some point I took a moment to sit down and look at my ankle, an area of my heel wasn't wrapped and I noticed that it started to bruise. When lunch time came around I asked one of the chiropractors I work with if he could look at my ankle and give me his professional opinion. When I unwrapped it, I was shocked by how much bruising had occurred in the few hours I had worked! He palpated my ankle and foot, and we discovered that I had pitted edema (a form of swelling), and that my ROM has decreased quite a bit. The majority of the area doesn't hurt to the touch, but in certain areas I could gauge eyes out! He determined that the likeliness that anything is broken is slim, especially since I'm moving about just fine. But he's afraid that I may have a dislocation or two, not the ankle bone itself (the joint where the leg and foot connect) but among the little bones in my foot. He can't do any adjustments until the swelling goes down, and because he's afraid he may loose a limb or two- LOL. So in the meantime, he said that I need to ice it often, keep it elevated as often as I can (and when I sleep) and try not to be on it all that much. He proceeded to adjust my lower back (as that is a whole other mess) and I went home for lunch, iced my ankle, elevated it, and took some Ibuprofen. (I'm blessed with a 2 hour lunch break) After lunch, he had the other CA do therapy on my ankle, she electric/ultrasound therapy, it helps with swelling. This was the first time I had this done and it was quite interesting, the tingling feeling tickled at first but after a while it just numbed the area. My foot felt great for a few hours, but by the end of the day all I wanted to do was get off of my feet. By the end of the any day, my ankle/foot aches, throbs, and my hips are just flat out tired. This is how my foot looked this afternoon:

It's hard to see in the photo, but it's my right ankle, you can barely see the lateral malleolus (ankle bone that sticks out), and what's left of the bruising in the lower part of my foot. There is some swelling still in the medial (inside) part of my foot too but that has decreased quite a bit too. I can wiggle my toes with no problems now, and move my foot around (slowly) with barely any discomfort. Standing for a few minutes is fine, but prolonged weight on that foot is no good. Walking is possible, but with a limp and becomes quite tiresome. As of right now the throbbing has begun, I will need to ice it again before heading to bed. 

So what does all of this mean for my running? Well, I'm told that I should wait at least 2 weeks before attempting it. I think it's silly to even think I would even try at this moment. But once the swelling is gone, and we've adjusted (if need be) the joints that may be dislocated, I can begin walking/running. I will probably need to keep it wrapped for support for about 4 weeks, but afterwards I will need to not keep it wrapped to help strengthen the ligaments again. Thats about 6 to 8 weeks before I'll be back in the game, ugh, far too long for my liking, but I will do what I have to. I will keep you all posted on the progress of my healing. If anyone got any tips, feel free to throw them my way...

out of order

Went on my first camping trip with friends for my 32nd birthday. Wasn't sure exactly what to expect, I was full of excitement and was quite nervous. I knew that there was no way I would be sleeping out in the wilderness, intoxicated most of the time, without coming back unscathed. I just didn't imagine I'd come back with a severely swollen right ankle...

It happened the first day there, not sure exactly what I did, but I must've stepped down funny. One minute I'm walking, the next I'm on the ground laughing through the pain. That whole night I felt nothing, and was walking around just fine. Next morning, it was hurting pretty bad. Standing up from my tent was one of the hardest things I think I had to do in a long time. Thankfully my friend, Krystle, came prepared with a first aid kit and I was able to take some Ibuprofen! I iced and elevated my ankle a few times a day, but refused to just sit there and do nothing. I know nothing is broken, but the swelling in the above photo is at its worse. I'm walking funny, so now my right hip is sore. Today I stayed off of it for the majority of the day, kept it elevated, and took Ibuprofen. I go back to work tomorrow, so this will be interesting. As for running? Well that obviously is put on hold, which is very frustrating. There's a 5k I want to do in August, and I really need to get some miles in. Send me some healing vibes everyone, I could really use it...