CrossFit Day 35 & 36

Posted on November 8, 2013 by tootallfritz

Another great week at CrossFit! Our 5am class has really been hopping for the last 4 weeks or so, I know everything is a process and we do get a great turnout ~~for 5am~~ but we’ve added some new people too! Yay!!

Day 35 – Partner Up! The good thing about having a partner is that you don’t want to let them down and work extra hard to do your best. The bad thing about having a partner is that both of you will never be amazing at everything and it bothers me when we get to a move that I really ~~suck at~~ need to improve upon, I feel like I’m letting my partner down. Fortunately, my partner was a run friend and well, she’s seen me at my worst so this workout was no big deal! LOL!

10 Wall Climbs – Each partner does half of the workout (may be broken down into small units if necessary.
20 Pull-ups – Assisted with two bands
60 lunges (in places – alternate legs)
60 Push Press
60 Sit-ups
60 Squats
4×100 meter sprints

Susan & I finished in 15:20. I totally slowed us down in a few areas, like the wall climbs and the push presses and the pull-ups. But I ran fast, hope that counts for something! Side note – CrossFit is constantly adjusted to each person’s fitness level. The other CrossFitters are always encouraging to everyone else. It doesn’t matter if I’m first or last, the support is the same. And for that, I am always grateful and it’s one of the many reason why I love CrossFit.

Day 36 – Tabatas. 8 reps at each station. 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off.
Ball Slams – 10# balls
Supermans
Step-Ups – 18″ box
** 1 Minute Rest **
Rowing
Sit-ups
Push-Ups

** Get Strong ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit Day 18 …..

Posted on September 4, 2013 by tootallfritz

Tuesday brought us a great workout with a new move, ring dips! Yay! Who loves ring dips? I do! So.Much.Fun.

EMOTM (every minute on the minute) – 20 minutes

5 ring dips
15 kettlebell swings (35#)

Two moves, seems easy right? Not sure if I’m still fatigued from the weekend but I was tired before we were half way thru! This WOD of EMOTM gives you one minute to do the first move (5 ring dips), then one minute to do the next move (15 kettlebell swings). Not a lot of thought involved and each item is preformed 10 times over the course of 20 minutes.

Ring Dips are pretty self explanatory except for the fact that we can’t do ring dips. Not even close. So we had a modification using an elastic band which helped a lot but still required a bit of strength and coordination. Initially we were a pile of mush with shaking arms but we firmed up once we figured out what was happening and although we may not have looked as smooth as this beautiful lady from Google Images, we got it done.

Kettlebell Swings. Full range of motion to 180 degrees, or directly above the head.

After the EMOTM WOD we finished things out with 4 rounds of sprint 100 meters & walk 100 meters. Nice. The temps have finally dropped and being outside is refreshing. Plus the sun was coming up as we closed out our sprints.

Everyone knows I’m a sucker for a good sunrise. Regardless of what we are doing, I try to be aware of my surroundings and find joy in the little things.

** Find the Joy ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit Day 14 …. Broken Blood Vessels

Posted on August 20, 2013 by tootallfritz

I love the always changing, constantly challenging aspects of CrossFit. I never know what to expect and that is one of the attractions for me. Oh, and the fact that I’ve been running for years ~~and years and years~~ and am currently a bit “stalled” in that aspect of my life. What to do when a road block appears? Travel in a new direction! I refuse to give up on fitness but desperately needed to freshen things up and attempt to find my lost “mojo”. In the interim, hopefully I’ll get strong and ~~kick running in the ass~~ throw down some fast times somewhere in the future.

Today was Day #14. I only go 2x a week for strength and cross training but certainly see that it can become additive and lead to an every day “habit”; however, that doesn’t fit into my time budget nor would it be productive for running and TRI training. As with everything, moderation is key!

WOD

10 Wall Climbs

We’ve done the wall climbs before, once. Not an easy feat for most of us uncoordinated mortals. I’m going to revisit the demo from CrossFit Fire below.

This time was definitely better for me. I was able to climb up to the point where I was almost all the way back to the wall, enough to lean my body on it, then take a break and walk back out. Still don’t have the sliding back down the wall (to the ground) mastered so, I bent at the midsection/butt and slid my feet down with my butt in the air. Wrong. Definitely not the proper technique but it did allow my feet to come down without feeling as if I were breaking my toes. Baby steps! I’ll get there. I do notice that I’m getting stronger in the core and had more control during the wall climbs this go around verses my previous attempt. However, I apparently spent too much time upside down because I noticed miniscule red dots on my eyelids when I returned home that I recognized as broken blood vessel (last time this happened, I had a baby to show for it, and a lot more broken blood vessels all over my face & eyelids). #Winning

Next up – 7 rounds with one minute rest between rounds. I only completed 6 rounds because time wasn’t on my side today. Had I known that traffic was so jacked up that I would be 40 minutes late to work anyhow, I would have just stayed for the last round. Live & learn, right?

10 Kettlebell Deadlifts (35#)
10 Push Press (bar only – 45#) Wowzers, these were hard for me. I was about maxed out after the third round and it was getting super tough for me. I had to be very careful about form and pushing with my legs to keep everything in line. I may not have done the best job either cuz I tweaked my back getting out of the shower after the workout and it’s REALLY sore now. But we looked super ~~badass~~ tough in the photo!

5 Burpees
10 Tire Step Ups
10 Sit-Ups
100 meter run
1 minute rest, then repeat x7

Great workout! Have you broken any blood vessels, or anything else during a workout? Tell us your most bizarre “workout” injury?

** Trying To Get Stronger ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit Day 9 & 10 ….

Posted on July 31, 2013 by tootallfritz

I’m still CrossFitting, no worries I haven’t given it up after the Ironman 70.3 Racine event. The goal behind Crossfit is to get strong. Be strong. Stay strong. That doesn’t happen overnight.

I still have one more 70.3 triathlon on my calendar at the end of August but it’s a rollover race (after Great Illini canceled last year, they gave us a free entry to the 2013 race) and I can’t quite decide if I want to do the entire 70.3 or the Olympic. Time will tell. I’m not going to worry about it too much right now because quite frankly, I need to start training for the Chicago Marathon in October. I know, everyone else is like 8 weeks into their training but not me. I’ll be doing my “first” long training run this weekend, starting gently with a 15 miler. I have multiples races, mostly half marathons, on my calendar between now and the marathon so I had to make an abbreviated marathon plan with the “finish it” not “win it” mindset. In fact, can I just run it today and move it off the calendar?

Anyhow, I took one day off of CrossFit after the Ironman 70.3 Racine. The swim in Racine beat me up so badly that I suffered a few repercussions which I normally wouldn’t experience. It took a few days to recover and I had no qualms about the need for a little downtime. I waited it out and then hit CrossFit last THUR for my 9th WOD.

CrossFit Day 9 – This baby was fun. Didn’t seem too taxing at the time but my abs were sore for 4 days after. Good reminder that results are never immediate and they do in fact take time to surface.

Kettlebell Deadlifts: 5-10-15-20-25

Sit-ups: 50-40-30-20-10

100 meter sprint between after each round

Looks like an easy one, right? Only two moves & a 100 meter sprint to equal one round, five rounds total. First round: 5 Kettlebell deadlifts, I think we used a heavier one this time, maybe a 15# bell (EDIT – it was actually a 26# kettlebell, YAY!!!). 50 sit-ups using the abmat. 100 meter sprint. I think my abs started burning around 35 sit-ups (in the first round). Yep, I’m just that weak. Then I loved the 100 meter sprint because I was able to make up a little bit of time. Second round: 10 kettlebell deadlifts, 40 sit-ups, 100 meter sprint. The total of the 5 rounds were for time. I finished in 12:26. I have no idea if this is good or bad compared to the norm because my class is a beginner class so we are all in our own little world of learning CrossFit together. Kinda nice.

Then we were surprised by a plank contest. First time for us to plank in class, see a demo pic below. We were supposed to hold it as long as possible and the winner would get a prize. I think I was first out but did hold my plank for 45 seconds, which for me is good. I can already see that I’m getting stronger, even though this was only class #9 for me. The winners held their planks for over 4 minutes. OMGosh, that is so not my reality but it was inspiring to watch. Great job, guys!!!

CrossFit Day 10 – This was yesterday. We started off with an intro to the Push Press which was super intimidating. Check out this lady doing it at Grove CrossFit.

Fortunately we didn’t have to add any weight today. It was hard enough sans weights. We just practiced the technique and did a few reps with the bar. I think we did 5 rounds of 5 reps each. Sounds easy but I realized shortly after we finished that my arms were already “fatigued” which didn’t do me any favors in the Tabatas.

After the “intro” to the Push Press, we moved right into a Tabatas. According to the TabataTraining blog:

Tabata Training lasts 4 minutes and has 8 intervals in total lasting 20 seconds. Within those 20 seconds however, you are going all out. Make sure you use a weight where you can successfully go all out for all 8 intervals. Also make sure the exercises aren’t too hard and aren’t too easy. The exercises should hard enough so it makes you sweat and breath during a interval, however easy enough so you can last the whole Tabata session.

We’ve done Tabatas before but the exercises within the circuit change depending on the WOD. For WOD #10, we had ball slams, push-ups, lunges, butterfly sit-ups & kettlebell deadlifts. We stayed at one station for the entire 4 minutes, which equaled 8 sets of the same exercise (back to back without rotating to the next). 20 seconds on (as many reps as possible in 20 seconds), then a 10 second rest, repeat until all 8 sets are complete, then rotate to the next station.

I’m still feeling this today. Amazing how such seemingly easy moves can leave me remembering the workout for days to come. That’s alright. I’m getting stronger. One day at a time. Big things to come. I need to be stronger.

** Don’t Be Afraid to Work on YOUR Weakness ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **

CrossFit ….. Day 8

Posted on July 18, 2013 by tootallfritz

Thursday brought my 8th day at CrossFit. Did you think I’d last this long? I certainly didn’t know when I went to that first class but I am LOVING it. I am loving it so much that I should have technically stayed home and rested for Ironman 70.3 Racine but I went to CrossFit anyhow. Yep, I love it. I love that it’s something different. I love that I never know what to expect. I love that it’s fun. I love that it’s challenging. I love that my friends get up before the sun to go with me at 5am. I love that it kick starts my day and gives me loads of energy!

I may or may not have emailed the instructor ~~whining~~ concerned about Thursday’s unknown WOD and fearing that it might be too much for me since I’m so close to the Racine race. He may or may not have taken that into account when he planned the WOD for our 5am class. We’ll never know but I was happy to see the looks of it on the board and the fact that it looked manageable.

3 Rounds – 1 minute per station – No rest, just rotate to the next station.

Kettlebell deadlifts, Push-ups, Ring Rows (I’m really liking these, is that sick?), Box Jumps & Sit-ups with knees out. Rest.

100 meter sprints (x5)

I did much better on the kettlebell deadlifts this go around. I stayed focused on staring straight ahead and not looking down at the kettlebell. My form was better. I felt better. Am I getting stronger? Who knows but I’m going to say yes because that’s what I want to believe!

The push-ups, ring rows, box jumps were all standard. I did ~~wuss out~~ use the small box for the box jumps so as to not tax myself too badly before the race. I also have jacked up hamstrings so no need to irritate them more than necessary. The sit-ups had an added twist this time, not to make them harder just different. We sat on the floor in butterfly position, then did our sit-up with open legs and came up and touched our feet each time. Not difficult, just different. And we always use the abmat so that really saves my back.

After three rounds of those 5 stations, we then took a brief rest and went out to the parking lot to do 100 meter sprints (x5). The first one was rough, as usual, but then my hamstrings loosened up and the last 4 were fun! Sprinting is way better than marathoning!!! What have I been thinking?? Photo source: CrossFit West out of Santa Cruz.