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...