Staying in the Game

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood! However, we NEED RAIN. Texas has outrageous amounts of fires breaking out thanks to the drought. I’ve never seen it this bad before. Supposedly it was similar to this some time in the 50’s, but I wasn’t around at that time!

Today’s workout went well. Not that I did very good but I feel like I’m doing better than I had. I did the box jumps, which I had to modify to step ups for the past couple of months, and I was able to do the run each round instead of skipping it! Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my strength and endurance because of my modifications I had to do but I think that’ll increase pretty quickly now that I can really push it again.

My arms and back are sore today from yesterday’s workout! This contributed to my having to drop weight down on my Push Presses today. That and the fact that I’ve been using lighter weight to help with the breathing and have probably lost some of what I gained before.

Strength:
Front Squats
5(75#) x 5(85#) x 5(95#) x 5(95#)

WOD:
5 Rounds
10 Push Press (75# first round, 65# rest)
10 Box Jumps (small box)
10 Kettlebell Swings (25#, no 35# left)
200 Meter Run

The run was changed from going down the alley to going to the stop sign and back. I don’t think that’s 200 meters, but there was a van parked in the alley doing some work for one of the stores and was an accident waiting to happen. It took me 17:29 to complete it. Again, not great but I’m not upset with it. I felt I did what I could. My hand was bothering me some because the tears were still quite fresh. Thankfully Shane was able to tape them up some so they didn’t get too scraped up again today. They’re weeping a bit right now, but otherwise they’re not too bad.

I’m glad I have a day to recover until my next round of CrossFit. This Thursday I’m going to try to go without stopping at all during the workout. Just push push push.

Today I signed up for the 10 for Texas race on Oct. 8th. I didn’t realize it was coming up so soon! Guess I need to start getting more serious about my training. I’ve missed the past 3 weeks (2 because of traveling and 1 because of laziness). This Sunday the girls and I will be running/walking 6 miles. They’ll keep me up to speed! I can’t wait to see how my running/walking goes now that I can breathe better. Based on the run in today’s workout it will NOT be fast! I need to work on increasing my speed. I also have my marathon I’m supposed to be training for. The thought occurred to me that I should probably drop down to the 1/2 but now I’m second guessing that. We’ll see how the training progresses and the 10 miler goes! After all, I still have 3 months to get ready for it.

Oh…and my husband showed me this fun little endeavor. If it’s done well, I think it’ll be a blast! However, it has the opportunity to be really cheesy too. Check it out and tell me what you think!

Hello My Pretties!!

Whoops…it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted. Ok, let’s see if I can catch everyone up to speed!

Monday 8/23
WOD Modified due to breathing
5 Rounds:
5 Front Squats (45#)
20 Weighted Step Ups (15# Kettlebell in each hand)

Tuesday 8/24
Strength:
Clean and Jerk
3(65#)x 3(75#) x 3(85#)

WOD:
100 Push Ups
200 Squats
OMG…are you kidding me?! I was sore for days afterward! The others had to run 200 meters every time they stopped/rested. I didn’t have to.

Wednesday 8/25
Skill:
Snatch

WOD:
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, etc
Push Press (55#)
Pull Ups (Green band)
Finished round 15 and 10 push press into the next round.
The push presses were tough. My arms were quite sore from the push ups the day before. My arms were very achy over the weekend from both WODs.

Monday 8/29
Skill:
Kipping Pull Ups

WOD:
5 Rounds
3 Cleans (65#)
20 Burpees (Modified to 10)
Finished in 12:13
I could definitely do more weight on the cleans. One of my problems is estimating the right weight for me.

Tuesday 8/30
Strength:
Front Squats
5(45#)x 5(65#)x 5(75#)x 5(85#)x 5(95#)

WOD:
Tabatas
Squats (10)
Push Ups (6)
Back Extensions (7)
Abmat Sit Ups (9)
Whew…those back extensions were vicious! Glad I did those before the sit ups though. I have a love/hate relationship with Tabatas. They relatively short but it really zaps you. I fell asleep on the way home! hahaha

 

Tomorrow is my 3rd dilation. I can’t wait to be able to breathe again! Last time they were able to increase my trachea by 200%. I hope they can do the same this time. If you have no clue what I’m talking about, you can read about it here. The nerves are starting to kick in and I have a feeling I may not get much sleep tonight. I have to be at the hospital at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Surgery is at 9 and I hope to be home by 12 to get some more sleep!

Oh What a Day

WOD:

5 Rounds

10 Front Squats (55#)

15 Box Jumps (mod to step up)

25 Air Squats

Finished in 22:14

Cut off time was 25 minutes, so at least I finished. I couldn’t breath today, add that with front squats where the bar is pushing on my neck and you get a crappy workout. I started with 65# but dropped down to 55# in round 2. I did 5 box jumps and ended up modifying those to step ups. In the first round I was already having problems breathing. There was a lot of stopping to catch my breath. My front squats in rounds 3-5 became shallow squats too. No, I didn’t get the depth. The lower I went the more the bar pushed on my throat because I couldn’t keep my elbows up to where the bar would rest on my shoulders. Shane made the comment “I’ll take that any day, all day long.” I think he was happy I was moving instead of standing there sucking air. Everyone cheered me on, which was nice. I’m so thankful our gym is supportive. Not once have I heard a snide comment made toward anyone there. We all do the best we can and try to support the others the best we can. The best I can tell, this seems to be par for the course for all CrossFit gyms which is outstanding!

August 23rd can’t come soon enough. I’ll be able to schedule my dilation so I can breathe again!

Day 2 of no artificial sweeteners – done!
My eating was pretty spot on today too. So day 2 of Primal/Paleo done as well.

Don’t Poke the Bear

WOD:

The Bear Complex:
5 Rounds of 7 reps (55#)
Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Press

Every time you set the bar down between reps you had to do 3 burpees. You can rest as long as needed between rounds.

Today’s WOD wasn’t timed, but I think I finished around 20 minutes. All I have to say is ouch. That was hard. I definitely have bruises on the back of my neck from dropping the bar too heavily to go into the back squats. I also know my squats weren’t probably deep enough toward the last couple of rounds. My front squats really suffer when I get tired and I’m pretty sure that’s because my elbows drop which makes me want to lean forward instead of stay on my heels. That’s definitely something I need to work on. The good news? I didn’t have to do 1 burpee! Yes…

It was 100 degrees here today and I felt quite overheated between the last few rounds. We need a fan just to get air circulation in the gym. I rested more than I cared to between rounds but I did not want to have to put the bar down to do burpees. I think I was the last one done, or at least close to last, but that’s ok.

Yesterday was my weigh in day. I didn’t post the results because I got lazy and was a little miffed at myself. This month is my first gain in the 5 months I’ve been working hard.

	4/20/2011	5/25/2011
Body Fat Weight:	69.1 lbs	73.3 lbs
Body Fat %:	35.3%	36.3%
Body H20:	47.1%	46.4%
Bone Mass:	6.9%	6.9%

This really didn’t take me by surprised since I spent all month making poor food choices for the most part. But, it is what it is. I’m not going to dwell on it, especially since I’ve had my eating back under control since Monday. By next month, I should be back down to the 190’s. I’m hoping to be in the 180’s by the time I hit the beach at the end of July. Then, when I get back from there I’ll have two weeks before my marathon training starts. Eek!

Get It, Girl!

5 Rounds:
15 Front Squats (65#)
10 Knees to Elbows
60 Jump Rope

Owwwww…ch. Today’s workout was tough. I wasn’t sure how much weight to use on the front Squats but 45# was too light so I upped it to 65#. My last couple of rounds of front squats were hard. I wasn’t going as low as I was to begin with, but I didn’t drop the weight.

Now, the jump ropes were not fun! My feet started cramping on the last two rounds. I have a feeling my calves are going to hurt tomorrow! I finished in 15:35. Shane came up to me and asked if I was mad at him, I told him no but I guess I looked pissed when I finished. He then told me “just think you can tell your husband you beat a 14 year old and was doing more weight too!” LOL…not sure that’s something to brag about! This was the same kid from yesterday asking how we were able to lift that much weight. Hahaha…hear me roar!

Rip It!

Strength:
Front Squats

Last time I PR’d with 105#, this time I PR’d with 115#!

WOD:

3 Rounds
30 Overhead Squats (45#)
10 Pull Ups (black band)
200 Meter Run

Finished in about 15-17 mins. Don’t know the official time.

Today’s workout was hard, hard, hard for me. My stabilization muscles aren’t very strong and that was evident with how much my arms were wobbling. On the last round Shane was spotting me because I was having some problems. It was just me, Michelle and Cortni working out. Shane had us try the weight out then made the comment that if we needed to go down in weight to do it at that time instead of in the middle of the workout. Michelle and Cortni can do 45# without too much trouble – me on the other hand…. I was using one of the new bars which Michelle said she had trouble with it being slick. She was right, my hands were slipping. Shane came over and asked if my hands were slipping so I said yes.

“You want another bar?”
“mphfmphfyeesssmphf”
“The same weight?”
“yeeeeeess”

He could tell I was struggling on the first round but I did not want to drop down to the 35#. While I was slow, I’m still happy that I was able to push through it and finish with what I started.

Butt Kicking

Yep…that’s what it was. The WOD looked relatively tame, but it wasn’t.

WOD:
3 Rounds
2 Minutes Each
Front Squats (55#)
Box Jumps (12″)
1 Minute Rest

At the end all of my reps were added up for each round. The point was to get the highest number possible. The picture says it all…I didn’t do very well:

The front squats were rough the first round. My back started getting tired and it was hard to keep correct form. The last round was torture. The box jumps sucked, as usual! Since my breathing is getting bad again it’s even harder to push through. My body isn’t getting enough oxygen to push as hard as I was pushing before. I’m trying to cut out all nightshades to see if that will help minimize the inflammation in my throat. I hope it works!

I finished the day up with 30 GHD Sit Ups. These were tough too since I made sure I went all the way back so I could touch the floor with my hand then all the way back up.

New Strokes

Tuesday brought an interesting day, as far as the workouts go. Alaina told Michelle and I that our workout today was going to incorporate a lot of running, but thankfully that is tomorrow’s workout and not today’s!

We started practicing Clean Squats for our skill. We just used a 45# bar so it wasn’t for max weight. I kept hitting my collarbone. The problem must be my inability to get my elbows up high enough or fast enough to rest the bar on. That is definitely a weakness I need to work on.

The WOD was a little different in that it was all strength. We focused on the Front Squats with increasing weight. Each time we went down a round in reps we were supposed to go up with weight. Each round’s reps were repeated twice. Weight as follows: 2 rds of 8 (45#), 2 rds of 6 (55#), 2 rds of 4 (1 @ 65#, 1 @ 85#), 2 rds of 2 (95#), 2 rds of 1 (105#). Michelle maxed at 125#. Awesome. I had a tough time getting back up with the 105# so I called it good there. I regret that now. I think I may have been able to go up one more, and Michelle was trying to encourage me to try the weight but I talked myself out of it. Next time I’ll go until I have to dump the weight. I really enjoyed the workout. I was able to push the weight instead of just doing numerous reps. Some of the guys were doing up to 300#…crazy!

Since Shane didn’t feel like we got our money’s worth, he had us finished the day off with 35 Goblet Squats (25#), then 8 rounds of 10 GHB Sit Ups and 10 Knees to Elbows. I definitely think I got my money’s worth! As I type this I can already feel spots that are going to be sore starting tomorrow!

How was your workout?

Like Breathing Through a Straw

Today was a good day overall…until CrossFit. My Tracheal Stenosis was acting up today. Unfortunately, it was quite inflamed/swollen so as we started pushing the cardio I was basically breathing through a small tube. I can’t explain exactly how it makes me feel. First, I get tired quickly from the lack of oxygen but worse than that is the embarrassment. For those people who don’t know about my condition I come across as being extremely out of shape with all of my huffing and puffing. I have to stop to try to catch my breath, which makes me feel like I’m slacking. I just don’t know what to do to make it better between dilations.

Our strength workout was 3 rounds of 20 GHB Sit Ups and 20 Back Extensions. I’m still not able to loosen up enough to extend back past a 90 degree angle on the sit ups. That’s something that I need to work on.

I’ve been doing the 100 push ups challenge the past couple of weeks and I think it’s helping. Part of our warm up was 10 push ups which went pretty good for me! Tomorrow is my last day for this week’s challenges. We also did some pull ups which I’m still struggling with, even with the black band. The last part of the warm up was 5 burpees. I was able to hop out and back in for all of them (both rounds) which thrilled me. I wasn’t able to do that many before without stepping back.

The WOD was 3 rounds for time of a 400 meter weighted (15#) run, 12 Front Squats (45#),12 Box Jumps, and 12 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls. That run did me in. It was all downhill from there. In fact, I just had to do a fast walk for the last 2 runs because I couldn’t catch my breath. The front squats weren’t too bad on my elbows. I have a hard time keeping my elbows up. Apparently, I was having a tough time getting low enough on my squats. I think that was because I was concentrating on my arms too much. The box jumps are getting better. I had a couple of mishaps where I didn’t make it to the top but hit the edge of the box. Thankfully I didn’t face plant! The sumo deadlift high pulls were ok. On my last round Shane was pushing me to finish my last 6 without putting the bar down. I really wanted to because I was really sucking air, but I pushed through and made it. I was whimpering at the end! Finished in 18:53. I crashed on the floor for a bit to catch my breath afterward. Tears were wanting to fall, but there was no point in it. My emotions were running high, I was torn down and embarrassed.

My throat started closing up like this last month and I was afraid my stenosis was getting worse again but then it went back to what it was like after my last dilation. I’m hoping this is the same thing, that my throat will open back up and I’ll be ok. Sunday is the big race, so I’m hoping I can breathe well then too.

Oh, That’s Not So Bad

Shane was out of town today so Scott took over our class for the night. I was a bit nervous because I hadn’t worked out with Scott before and he seems much more intense than Shane, being that he’s a police officer I can see where that intensity comes from. Michelle and I walked in and saw the WOD was 10 rounds of 15 Front Squats and Push Ups. I said “oh, that doesn’t look so bad.” Well, I should have just kept my mouth shut.

The strength portion was Deadlifts. I was excited to see that because I’ve been wanting to do them again. This time I got up to 115#s when Scott called it quits. I think I may have been able to go up one more time, but that was probably it. We’ll find out next time!

I started the front squats with the 45# bar. It started getting heavy during round 2 and I was having some issues keeping my elbows up high enough to shelf the bar so Scott switched out the bar for the 35# bar. That was a little upsetting, but I’ll get there. We were supposed to squat down to the medicine ball, which I did fine for the first 5 rounds but then started squatting low but I didn’t feel the medicine ball so I wasn’t squatting low enough. In hindsight, I should have slowed down and made sure I touched the ball but I felt like I was getting pretty low. Scott didn’t gripe at me, so hopefully that means I was getting low enough. I started the push ups doing “competition style” push ups (go to the ground, lift your hands, and push back up) but after 2 or 3 rounds, I was getting sloppy with getting back up so I started doing modified push ups. I ended up finishing in 22:30.

Source: crossfittroy.com

After we were done we spent 5 minutes doing ab work. OMG…that was tough. 5 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot, but it kills when you don’t have but a couple of breaks. Alaina, Michelle, and I stayed a little longer afterward to work on pull ups. Michelle almost got a full kipping pull up! I tried just a normal pull up with the black band (strongest band) but I couldn’t get very high. Of course, I don’t think I moved much at all!! Needless to say, it was very humbling.

So….I’ve come up with some new goals. Goal for February: Run a mile. I want to be able to run well during our WODs and I think if I could run a mile at about a 13-14 minute mile (at least) then I’d be able to do better on the running WODs. Goal for March: Do 1 pull up with the black band. Goal for April: Be able to do a handstand for 1 minute. Goal for May: Do 10 regulation push ups in a row. More goals to come!