Get Up... Turkish that is

Wrapped up the week with some old and some new.

The old was Wendler Week 1 Cycle 2 for Deadlift. My training max has increased by 10.

5 @ 65%
5 @ 75%
5+ @ 85%

I hit 10 reps at 85% (114 lbs)

The new (to me) was 20 minutes of Turkish Get Up (we used Barbells instead of Kettlebells)

Barbells add another factor into the mix because not only are you lifting the heavy weight, but you also have to balance it since the weight isn't concentrated in the middle like with the KB. We were working to find our 1RM (had to be the same for both arms). Since I was new to this, I worked on getting form down with a PVC pipe, then a wooden dowl, then a metal bar, then finally the training bar with 10 pounds on it. I managed to get 22 lbs with both arms and could have gone more but I was getting tired and needed to foam roll my legs and get over to Baker for my Chiropractor appt.

Brandon (ony of my trainers) gave it a whirl with an alternative to barbells and kettlebells... a human :)

Hope you all have a great long weekend!

Whip it Good

Today was quite a busy day for me with work and meetings and an important lunch followed by more work and back to Dr. Ryan for another adjustment. Fortunately, I had Crossfit to start me off right.

Strength: Strict Press - Week 1, Cycle 2
5 @ 65% 33
5 @ 75% 36
5 @ 85% 41

I suck at strict press. It's just one of those things where the movement is so isolated, all I want to do is add a push in to make it a bit easier. Alas, no push or jerk. Just press. and feel the burn.

For Volume we did something new to me today:

3 x 15 GHDSU (Glute, Hamstring Developer Situps)
* 50 double unders after each set

I of course did the singles but then became hellbent on trying to hit a double under. Thank goodness for my Trainer Brandon. He stood there with me and coached me through it, adjusting my rope and giving me tips and encouraging me along the way. He didn't give up on me and oh yeah, I HIT ONE!!!!! I could have cried I was so excited. Now that I've hit one, I am determined to nail them. Soon! I'm going to pick up my own rope soon so I don't have to keep trying to find the right one at the box, and I'll probably need to invest in some arm guards or wear long sleeves. My forearms look like I had it out with a weed whacker. It's all good though- because I WON :)

12 hours after the workout and my core is letting me know that it worked hard this morning.

Bazinga!

Fail Blog

My new shirt bought at Regionals. It makes me happy :)


Oof, I'm a bad blogger.

I did go back to the Chiropractor last week. And we didn't go through my stays just yet. There is a Separate appointment for that scheduled this week. I did, however, get my first adjustment. I was a bit of a pansy thinking it was going to hurt but it really didn't at all. The noises that my bones made was loud and cringe-worthy. I actually can't wait to go back on Wednesday. I felt so much relief for a few days but I can feel my neck and shoulders tensing up again.

Crossfit on Friday was the last day of reload for cycle 1 of Wendler.
Close Grip Bench
5 @ 40% 22
5 @ 50% 28
5 @ 60% 33

Then we had a second strength session practicing our overhead squats. We were supposed to hit 6 sets of 3. I was a big fat fail and just practiced squatting, no overhead, no bar, nothing. Then my IT band and right hip were bugging me so I foam rolled till I couldn't take it anymore. Foam rolling is one of the worst and most painful things to do in the entire world. But yet Dr. Ryan tells me I've got to do it pretty much daily to get my muscles to loosen up!

Took the weekend off and headed back to Crossfit on Monday morning. We started cycle 2 for Wendler with Back Squats. My 1rm was 98 and I used 90% of that as my training max for cycle 1. As we move into cycle 2, you add 10 lbs to you training max for legs and 5 lbs for arms and that becomes your new base number. So my new training max is what my 1rm used to be!

Back Squat
5 @ 65% 63
5 @ 75% 73
5+ @ 85% 83

Rather than doing as many as I could, I did my last 5 and stopped. I wasn't feeling very strong and although I could have done more I didn't want to tempt fate while working through injury.

Part 2 of Mondays workout was EMOTM (every minute on the minute) of 2 hang squat cleans for 10 minutes. I loaded up my bar to 45lbs. And set to work. I didn't want to compromise form for weight and still got a good workout with the 45s.

The whole30 challenge started yesterday and I'm not in. I'll clean up my eating but I won't go that strict. I'm sure it works but it's just not for me.

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Paleo for the first time

Today was a day of firsts.

Dr. Ryan (who owns Crossfit Cornerstone) is also a kick ass chiropractor. I've talked with him a couple of times before and this week we got to talking about my knee which lead to my hips and my posture and so on. I decided to go ahead and schedule an appt and get checked out today. As we thought, it appears that my hips are misaligned and could potentially be causing some of my knee and back pain. We took some xrays of my hips, neck, and spine and I go back tomorrow to see how the xrays looked. Before I left though, I got hooked up to a machine that pulsed electricity through my knee and stimulated my sciatic nerve. Also an ultrasound on the inside of my knee to hopefully help out with the inflamation and swellling. I'm excited to learn more about what is going on with my body and how everything is connected.

I also made a trip to Jungle Jims and completed the healthiest shopping trip I've ever gone on. I bought a metric ton of produce and picked up some paleo supplies so that I could cook tonight. On the menu was Paleo Orange Chicken and Fried Rice from Health-bent.com

I was worried that I wouldn't like it and would need to finish off the bag of Doritos afterwards but surprisingly enough, it was pretty good! I made a huge mess in the kitchen but it cleaned up easily and I have leftovers for probably 2-3 more meals. I think I may have liked it better had I used chicken breast instead of thighs. The chili-garlic sauce was spicy but super delicious! My oranges unfortunately weren't that sweet so I added a little bit of honey to the sauce. It was still good but I feel like it could have been more "orange-y." Overall it was a success.



The box is hosting a challenge that starts on Monday. It's 30 days of eating using the whole30 plan. I don't think I'm quite down for that to go cold turkey, but I'm definitely up for cleaning up my eating. All the hard work just to fuel myself with crap is starting to get to me and I know that is the missing piece. I'm not sure that Paleo is for me and likely not whole30 because that is even more strict. I'll find the right balance for me.

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Make-up and De-load

I headed back to Crossfit last night to make up Week 3 of Wendler for Close Grip Bench and Deadlift. I didn't do the WOD, which I wasn't all that dissapointed about. Burpee Box Jumps, T2B, Hang Snatches, and Running? No thanks. I thought I would just do my warmup and Wendler and be done. (rowed my fastest 1200m in warmup ever! 5:42- I was super stoked.)

Seneca had other plans for me though and my own WOD was 2000m row for time. Not bad, not great. I was tired!

I can't even imagine doing thrusters and cleans after that! (AKA WOD 2 from Regionals)

Today was deload for Deadlift- a much appreciated decrease in weight. I was really tired last night. Like in bed at 9:30 tired. Getting out of bed was rough but I was awake and just needed to peel myself out from under the covers. I will be curious to see my improvement when we retest for 1 rep max. I'm hopeful to see a good number!

The Metcon made me hate life. Nothing like a good wall ball to make you feel unfit. I used the 15lb wall ball and did banded pullups. I was the last one to finish- 13:52. I rested. a lot. and had to do an extra 3 pullups at the end because I wasn't getting my chin up to the bar. UGH. No reps are the worst!

Oh yeah, over the weekend while Jen (in the middle) was repping Cornerstone at Regionals- 2 walls were torn down at the box... Looks super spacious now!

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VooDoo Band it!

I returned to the gym today after 3 days off ready to work. Seneca was back and ready to "voodoo" my knee. I warmed up and then headed over ready for the pain.

Flossing, or Voodoo banding, or whatever you want to call it, is wrapping a tight band around whatever limb (elbow, knee, shoulder, etc.) and then performing some full range reps, and then testing again after removing the band.

I'm sure I'm making a ton of sense. Here is a video of Kelly Starett doing it:

Please note, my legs are neither as large, or as white as his.

Seneca wrapped below my knee, and then above.
It. was. tight.
and painful.

One of the other people in the gym were like.... um you're cutting off her circulation???

But amazingly enough, my crunchy knee was no longer crunchy after we took the band off. I'll see how I feel throughout the day, I can feel my heartbeat above my knee sometimes- ha. But I'm pretty sure we will  be doing it again and on both knees. The pain was worth it from what I can tell.

I didn't take a snapshot of the WOD but it was
Strength: deload week for Back Squats and Strict Press. 5 reps of each at 40%, 50% and 60%
Metcon: 7 Min AMRAP- 30 Kettlebell Swings and 15 burpees

I only managed to get 1 full round and then made it to 3 burpees when the timer went off. I was spent and crashed to the floor.

All in all a great Monday workout and I look forward to feeling improvement in my knee!

Tabata and Birthdays

I went to the Thursday workout last week because I knew I would be missing Friday because I went to the Crossfit Regionals instead. For skill work, I went ahead and made up my back squat week 3 and then was ready for the rest of the WOD- Tabata situps and jumping lunges. Instead of lunges, I did more squats. Only Jen had me do them West Side instead. Wider stance, driving knees out and then engaging the hammies more instead of the quads. Reminder- Tabata is 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds rest. Repeat 8 times. So 4 minutes of abmat situps and then 4 minutes of squats. Your score was the total number you did. I came in with a 134. Last of course.

The weekend was filled with all things Twins. I can't believe the littles are 5 this year! Here are a couple of my favorite shots from Saturday:

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Crossfit regionals - central east

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Partner up WOD

Wendler Deadlift- Went back to week 2 since I was behind.
Warmup: 2x5 @ 68, 1x3 @ 83
Work: 3 @ 70% (88), 3 @ 80% (100), 3+ @90% (112)

I completed 10 reps at 90%. I don't mind deadlift. I feel stronger and like lower body workouts. The worst part about deadlifts for me is the hook grip. You hook your thumb around the bar and wrap your fingers over it. It just feels weird to me.

The metcon was a partner WOD. Fran and I partnered up and set to work. It was a 10 min AMRAP. Alternating 400m Run (300m for me to scale for the knee) and Burpees. While your partner does one, you do the other. Keep switching for 10 minutes. Your score was the total number of burpees that you did between the 2 of you. I started with the Burpees so that I would be fresh since I'm much worse at them than Fran. My first set was 25, then headed out to run and came back to 57 from Fran, I brought us up to 78, then Fran rocked out to 114 while I ran, We finished with 122 total. I felt good during the WOD. The endurance ones are always a challenge for me but I felt like I held my own pretty well and contributed to the team.

I'll need to hit up the WOD tomorrow too since I've got Fri-Sat-Sun off for travelling north to celebrate my lovelies fifth birthday! Expect lots and lots of pictures. My camera is charged and ready!!!

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Monday WOD and weekend wrapup

Today's WOD was week 3 of Wendler- Strict Press. Rest for the legs. Good.

Working from my training max of 43, I set to work. Ended with 8 reps of 40. I'll take it. Part 2 of the workout was pullups. (banded for me) Your score was your highest reps you could do out of five times, resting in between. My highest ended up being my first go. 10.

I didn't feel strong today, could have been because of the long long weekend of fun. After the WOD on Friday, I rushed home and got ready, packed up my stuff and headed to the office. The CEO was making a visit and I wanted to sit in on a business update. Then later had a leadership webinar to attend. Rounding out the day was driving up north to see the family and then a little further north on Saturday for a housewarming/cinco de mayo/derby party. The Mr. had been in NYC all week for work... again. So I made the drive solo. Seeing the fam was great, the kids are awesome (and having a bday party- 5!- next week) We hung out Friday night and then Saturday morning post golf, we went to lunch before heading to Cleveland.

My boys, aren't they cute?!

After lunch we drove up to Avon to see our friend's new house and party. Unfortunately I didn't pick the winning horse from the hat (Go Hansen!) but still had a good time during the most exciting 2 minutes in sports. Got to see good friends, saw the super!moon and ate way too much taco dip. Fortunately for me I didn't drink much (hooray for no hangover sunday!) but was super tired since we bought the Mayweather/Cotto fight and stayed up to watch. Then the 4.5 hour drive home, grocery shopping, and getting ready for the week.

I may be tired but my WOD is done and now it's time to work.

Happy Monday everyone!

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Flight Simulator... CRASH AND BURN

I decided to go see the doctor on Thursday after work. My knee had been still really bothering me enough that I was convinced it wasn't soreness after 10 days and the junky feeling and tenderness made me feel bad enough to go ge it looked at. (Sidenote: I don't think I'll ever go back to that practice again. I had an awful customer service experience with the on call doc. Rude. Rude. Rude.) They took some xrays and worked on my knee for a little bit. I do have a slight flare up of bursitis again. Similar to when I started running 2 years ago and went too hard too fast. Luckily fixable but not so good that apparently having the same thing happen with similar but different activities means I'm likely prone to it. After the doc looked at my scans, he told me that I have patellafemoral syndrome. Basically, my kneecap is tilted and it's just the way that I'm made. Also means that the grinding that I feel and the pressure with steps and movements is because the tilt causes the kneecap to grind a bit more than free-float like it should. I got some meds and more flector patches and I don't know that I'll keep taking them. Fish oil and mobility WODs are in my future. I did go back to the WOD on Friday anyway because everything can be scaled and I still felt like I could go.

Then I told my trainer I hated him after we got finished with the WOD :) (Joking! sort of.)



Strength was the back squat. Now with my knee, we used a talled box (the gray one) for me to squat to so that I wasn't going deeper than 90* and I scaled back to week 2 instead of week 3 and tried to hit the minimum but no more. Max-39 x 3. Good enough.

Then the reason for the hate. We did a "flight simulator."

Continuous double unders (or continuous single unders)
10-20-30-40-50-40-30-20-10 (30-60-90-120-150-120-90-60-30)

You had to complete each set of continuous jumps before you could move on, once you finished a number, you didn't have to revisit but you had to be continous. Meaning if you were on your 150 set and you did 147 and slipped up, congrats on your 147 but start back over at 1.  It turned out to be quite mental. I lost completely. That's why you see the big fat DNF listed. There was a 20 minute cap and no matter what I did, I could not get past 60. It was an off day. Plus at this point, my knee was really bothering me so I kept trying for 14 minutes before I got pissed and threw in the towel. I don't like that I didn't finish a WOD but I knew that I still had 90-120-150-120-90-60-30 to go and wouldn't finish and I really didn't want to jack my knee up any more with the jumping. Call it a day and move on.

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Cool as ice

Back to the box today. As much as I wanted to stay cuddled in bed under the covers, I didn't want to regret not going like I did earlier this week.

Working our way through Wendler week 2, today was close grip bench.

Warmup 2x5, 1x3 (33lb)
Work Sets:
3 @ 70% - 39
3 @ 80% - 44
3+ @ 90% - 50

I did 10. probably only 9 because my second to last one was barely completed.

Post strength was a metcon.
For time:
9-6-3
Clean & Jerk
Front Squats

I used a 33lb bar and a med ball to squat to. 3:42 later I was soaking wet and glad to be done. It still amazes me that short workouts can get that much out of you.

Came home for the post workout protein and ice.



Luckily it is like a million degrees outside so having half my body covered in ice and gel packs wasn't such an awful idea.

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Nancy

I did make it to the WOD on Saturday prior to heading out for the wedding. Nancy visited us today and she totally kicked my ass.

5 Rounds for time
400m Run
15 Overhead Squats (guys at 95, girls at 65)

I knew I would be scaling the weight and attempted a few with the 33 bar only to almost fall over a lose my balance. I dropped to the 15 bar and should have added some weight to it but kept on. I also scaled the running at the last minute to 300m runs instead of the 400. I was completely spent afterwards so I was happy about that. less than 20 minutes to completely exert yourself and get a great workout. I'll take it.

Unfortunately, I think my knee would like to give it back. I swear I am falling apart. Between the wrist and the knee it's like my right side is going on strike. I rounded out Saturday with dancing my heart out instead of resting and then took Sunday and yesterday off. I may go to the late WOD today (Tuesday) but I'm icing my knee and checked the WOD which includes more box jumps. I may go and just work on Wendler if I can. I need to make up some of my lifts and take it easy on the pounding. We shall see.

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