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 **