A CrossFit Christmas

What could you want more for a CrossFit Christmas?  New shoes? Your own 20/24/30 box? Lifetime supply of Kill Cliff (had to throw that in there for Justin)?  Guaranteed vacation time and an all-expense paid trip to the 2012 Games?  No, silly man!  CrossFit Christmas = a good throwdown against some of the top CrossFitters in the state with your new gym! 

Haley The CFMC Mascot

I had the early Christmas present of the merging of CrossFit Tuscaloosa and my new home, CrossFit Music City for the CrossFit Rampage Christmas Throwdown.  What a weekend!  Sarabeth came up from Tuscaloosa Friday night, so we had to partake in our competition ritual of dinner at either Longhorn Steakhouse or Logan’s Roadhouse.  As always - “Just bring us the meat and sweet potatoes!” And then early Saturday morning it was ON! 

In the usual competition fashion, the weather was freezing cold so as to induce Fran cough just from warming up.  I had the brilliant idea of warming up still in my warm cozy Ugg mudboots – try doing double unders in those!  By the end of the day, I had them pretty well mastered.  Next challenge will be double unders with cement blocks on your feet, because that’s what those boots feel like compared to some Frees.  Rebecca and Sarabeth both tackled the first women’s heat of WOD 2, killing their lungs with a chipper, while Bryn stayed warm and cozy inside maxing out his snatch.  Luckily (?) I was the only one of our group in Heat 2, which meant plenty of cheering from our awesome group from CFMC.  You would think your lungs can’t catch fire when it’s so cold outside  -- your thoughts would be utterly wrong.   With me still on my back dying, Chastity and Heather flew through the 3^rd heat.  

Good husbands cheer you on at competition even if just watching kills them

 - Rebecca & Trevor

A few words on these two women.  Heather has been doing CrossFit for 3 years.  She is wicked strong, and every time I see her wod I think of Annie Thorisdottir, wondering “Why does she seem like everything is so effortless?”  As Stacy has witnessed on a daily basis, I make these horrendous homicidal angry-girl faces when I’m lifting heavy.  Heather looks like she’s watching a serene rainbow over a frickin’ white sandy beach.  I thought this being her first competition, I’d finally see the aggressive “I’m going to KILL this WOD” face.  No…. it’s just another day of unicorns and puppies for her.  Chastity on the other hand, just finished our On Ramp program.  This means, she’s been CrossFitting for a grand total of 3 weeks.  You would think, oh we’ll just cheer her on and make sure she finishes each wod.  Try again ghostwriter.  More like, let’s cheer her on as she whips everyone’s butt.  To be fair, this girl is FIT.  A longtime gymnast, cheerleading coach, and fitness figure competitor -- don’t mess with this girl just because she’s sweet, bubbly, blonde and is named Chastity.  This just means you don’t realize she’s kicked your butt until she’s smiling over your corpse. 

Heather Bassett

Chastity Loper

 After the girls had finished our max snatches, and Bryn and Brandon had suffered through the Chilly Chipper, it was time to tackled Rowing Helen.  For those of you who don’t know, Helen is usually 3 rounds of 400 m run, 21 KB swings, and 12 pullups.  LOVE IT!  I can run.  I love KB swings.  And I want to get good at pullups.  But let’s take out the element I’m good at, and replace it with rowing, which I used to be good at and now sufficiently stink at.  Let’s fry my grip some more, so that while I struggle with pullups, now I can just look at the bar and pray that my grip will hold long enough for me to not fall on my ass.  And then, let’s set at 12-min time cap.  My fastest Helen with running is 12:05.  While my pullups are better, sub-12 probably isn’t going to happen.  I had been thinking about this ALL week.  Primarily because for the better part of 10 days, Rebecca had kept on me about trying Rowing Helen at the gym before this competition.  We are of two completely different mindsets – she likes to get a feel for a competition wod so she can figure out the pace and know what to expect.  I, on the other hand, think it’s going to suck no matter what, so why suffer through it more than once?  She’s also a substantially more experienced competitor than I, so maybe I should have listened.  But I didn’t, and any delusions of sub-12 flew out the window when watching Bryn and Brandon race through the wod, we realized several of the men were not finishing in sub-12.  Eek!   Lessons from Rowing Helen – 1) the men at our gym are badasses; 2) Sarabeth will always leave people with their jaw on the ground when she butterflies her pullups like she weighs less than 5 oz., 3) Chastity will do the same once she learns how to kip/butterfly – because the girl just went ahead and did strict pullups the whole wod, and 4) we’re all starting a 6-wk pullup program immediately following the holidays. 

WOD 4 = Opal is a happy girl. Squat Cleans + Double Unders.  7 minutes of work doing two things I LOVE.  All day I looked forward to this wod.  I even considered doing it in my mudboots when I still couldn’t feel my feet after defrosting them in the car on top of the heater.  I could hug whoever at Rampage came up with this wod.  It gave our team a chance to see how their double unders have improved after doing about 3 wks of 8 rounds of 30 sec on/90 sec off double under drill several times per week.  And it gave Chastity and myself a chance to learn whether we could handle 95#.  Even with this being the 4^th wod and being tired, everyone rocked it.  

Brandon Koechlin

Me, Renee, & Sarabeth - Love CrossFit Tuscaloosa

Proof that Chastity is human

CrossFit Music City competitors

Chastity & me trying to stay warm

End story….

Except that lo and behold, Brandon and Sarabeth made it into the Top 5, which means….

Final Fantasy WOD (aka Last Man Standing)

Min 1 – 8 Deadlifts (315/205), 3/2 muscle ups

Min 2 – 8 Back Squat (225/145), 5 HSPU

Min 3 – 8 KB Swings (2/1.5 pd), 8 Lateral over-the-bar burpees

Repeat until all but 1 are dead.

This wod can be summed up by the best quote of the day.  Upon hearing what the final group had to do “I’ve never been so glad to be mediocre.” 

Results:

Men – Brandon 5^th, Bryn 24^th

Women – Sarabeth 1^st, Me 14^th, Rebecca 15^th, Chastity 16^th, Heather 17^th

So congrats!  And a special thank you to Trevor, Bill, Shaunna, Rhonda, and Elizabeth from CrossFit Music City for coming out to cheer us on.  Renee, from CrossFit Tuscaloosa/CrossFit Murfreesboro for coming and keeping me warm.  CrossFit Rampage for putting on an awesome event.

Josie & Sarabeth with their "We're awesome" trophies

Sarabeth and her CrossFit Mom

All quotes from my future ex-husband are great

You Are What You Eat - OR At Least What You Tell People You Eat

I have discovered why working professionals do not maintain a CrossFit blog.  Because when do you have time, or more realistically, the energy, to blog daily when you’re working 70+ hrs/wk, training, preparing clean food meals, sleeping (supposedly), and trying to be a good mama to your dog?  But I realized the rumor was that I had quit CrossFit and had moved into McDonald’s.  Shame on whoever started that rumor – you are more likely to run into JLo at Mickey D’s w/her boyfriend in the ball pit losing a shoe than me (ok not true – because God knows I love me a Big Mac to celebrate a competition – but then I wouldn’t have been able to make a stab at the reigning Queen of the Cougars).

I have still been diligent in my training - Stacey fixing every aspect of my technique (slowly and painfully mind you), plenty of skill drills, tackling a “5000 double unders by Christmas challenge” (which I started Sunday – Brilliant I tell you!  Brilliant!), and preparing for this Christmas Throwdown CrossFit Rampage is hosting this Saturday.  The WODs will kick my butt, I will discover that “No, a snatch does not magically become easy because everyone is watching – just ask the guys at the bar who still don’t have game just because their friends are cheering them on”, and I will have a whole new group of people with whom to share the glory that is CrossFit competing.  Christmas comes early this year in the form of a competition with my new gym.  Check it out if you’re in the area. http://crossfitrampage.com/2011/12/christmas-throwdown-wods-announced/

Where I hit a bit of a speed bump is in my eating.  I realized that not posting it, I was more likely to cheat.  Sure I still wrote everything down, but for my eyes only.  And what my eyes have seen is not appropriate for the public.  I know food journals are boring and mundane, especially without photo evidence that clean food can be delicious.  When you find a food blog of clean eats, let me know because I’m pretty sure everything on foodporndaily.com is on the “don’t touch it if your great-grandmother made it especially for you right before she moved into the hospice and promised that eating it would help you find the cure for cancer” list.  Of particular predicament for me is this one picture of a Short Rib Sandwich Oozing with Melted Jack Cheese on Country Bread with Arugula and Sweet Red Onion, and because at the moment I favor justice over mercy, here’s the link - http://foodporndaily.com/pictures/short-rib-sandwich-oozing-with-melted-jack-cheese-on-country-bread-with-arugula-and-sweet-red-onions/ . 

But I digress.  Food journals are boring.  No one cares that I ate Greek Yogurt and berries and resisted the ooey gooey temptation of a grilled cheese sandwich.  Which is why I stopped including them.  But it is also what allowed me to sneak in handful after handful of honey roasted peanuts on Sunday while buried in financial spreadsheet models, and then scolding Rhett Butler for eating a whole canister.  Doesn’t he know that he’s already a bit of a heifer lately, so stealing snacks is probably an unwise decision? So alas, I must return to logging what I ate – but I will attempt in the future to at least make it interesting with pictures – maybe I will have more success as a food blogger than for CrossFit.

AM Training (6:00am):

Warm-Up

3 Rounds:

250 m row

2x 30 sec Saigon Stretch for Time

10 Air Squats

20 sec. DeadHang from Pullup Bar

10 Shoulder Pass throughs

10 Jumping squats

10 pullups

10 GHD back extensions

15 Butterfly Situps

Work up to heavier front squat

WOD

5 x 3 Front Squat @ 85% max, 70-75% for those competing on Saturday (95# - yay for me)

50 double unders in between sets if you're me and trying to catch up to Bryn on this 5000 DU challenge

I include the warm ups for 2 reasons - 1)  To demonstrate how you can quiet the whiney "but I don't get a good sweat on when we just do strength!" pansies and 2) To give ideas for friends who do the same warm up everyday regardless of what the wod is.

PM Training - TBD

Eating:

Post-WOD(7:30 am): Body Fortress whey protein

Breakfast (8:00 am – guess who was running late to work): ½ oz pecans, 1 c. blackberries, Fage Greek yogurt w/honey

Lunch (11:30 am): 4 oz turkey kielbasa (no longer tastes like hot dog when spiced w/cumin, chili powder, garlic, and cayenne) on 2 whole grain tortillas w/sautéed bell pepper, onion, avocado, and a mini-babybel cheese

Snack (2:30pm): Starbucks Grande 3x vanilla latte – wasn’t going to stay away for too long on this one

I Want My Pony!

I am genuinely beginning to understand the toll that my body is paying these days from work/no sleep/plenty of stress.  Today was supposed to be Day 1 of Week 2 of "Let's get Opal's pullups to Rockstar Level" (ok not Rolling Stones rockstar, more like Nickelback rockstar).  So you can imagine I was actually thrilled to see at 6 am that the WOD was none other than that evil biotch "Barbara".  100 pullups + 150 pushups + 200 situps + 250 squats.  Bring it on!  What I didn't account for was my hands.  Wha wha whaaaa.  :(


AM Training (6:00am)


So here's how Barbara bent me over


Round 1 - 8 pullups, ok hands, hurt, but let's go! + 3 pullups, what the heck! + 1 pullup, umm geez louisa may my hands just don't want to hold on + 4 pullups, string of profanities, + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1


Finally! On to those pushups.  Got through the rest of Round one in a gloriously sad - 6:18.  But let's shake it off.  I've got 3 minutes rest. Check out those hands - not bleeding, Good.  Massage them out a bit.  Forearms ok.  tick tick tick...oh crap those 3 minutes are gone!


Round 2 - 3 pullups, screw it! taking off these tape grips.  I swear they're just in the way anyway + 1 pullup, Seriously!? Seriously!? + 1 + 1....you see where this is going?  I get through those 20 pullups, though I know I no repped at least the last 4.  I felt as though the second my hands grasped the bar, they took on a mind of their own to let go.  Got through the pushups, situps, squats.  And came to the devastating realization that....


Somedays you just don't have it.  You can want it all you want, just like the 5 year old wanting the pony even more than she ever wanted Malibu Barbie WITH pink convertible WITH moving wheels - but that doesn't mean you're getting it.  


But luckily for me I'm stubborn.  And I learn lessons the hard way.  So lo and behold - 


PM Training (6:30 pm)


Since I missed yesterday's WOD I thought "I'm going to tackle it this afternoon - hands be damned!"


WOD
3 Rounds
5 Power Cleans (75)
7 Front Squats (75)
9 Pullups


Yes, pullups.  Forget this morning.  I put salve on my hands during the day, I massaged them, I'm rested, It's only 27 pullups.  Just like the 5 year old really thinks she can get the pony, this lawyer really thinks she can rationalize her hands better.  


EPIC FAIL!  3 pullups in, rationalization turned into realization that reality is going to have to set in - Opal, my dear, you are not doing pullups today.  


So I switched over to the double-under drill I had given a few people at the gym to do and decided I was just going to have to give it my all during Oly Class


Double Under Drill - 8 Rounds of 30 sec on, 90 sec off.


Score: 430


Oly Class


Squat Snatch 3-3-2-[2-2-2-2] (just the training bar.  still working on that darn technique Stacey keeps badgering me about)
Split Jerk 3-2-2-[2-2-2-2] (85#)
Back Squat 5-3-2-[5-5-5] (115#)


I'll admit, I'm going to have to take a breath and try not to be discouraged.  I had been counting on the pullup improvements to get me through the decreased weight while Stacey tweaks my form.  And today that did not happen.  So today - no pony.  BUT I can shake it off and realize that I did get the Malibu Barbie WITH pink convertible WITH working wheels.

12.05.2011

AM Training (6:00 am)

Warm Up

500 m row
2x10 sec saigon stretch
2x50 mountain climbers
50 m walking lunges
15 Goblet Squat
500 m row

WOD

15 Back Squat @ 65% 1 RM
50 m OH walking lunges (45/25)
300 m row
12 Back Squat @ 65% 1 RM
50 m OH walking lunges (45/25)
300 m row
9 Back Squat @ 65% 1 RM
50 m OH walking lunges (45/25)
300 m row

Score: 14:41 (100# - not 65% of my 1RM but I’ve scaled back the weights lately while I start this Oly-lift class to really focus on my form)

PM Training (7:00 pm)

Oly Lift Class
Squat Clean 3-3-3 [3-3-3-3] - 85#
Push Press 3-3-3 [3-3-3-3] - 55#
Front Squat 5-3-3 [3-3-3] - 100#

Skill Work
Pullups - 12 min amrap, 30 sec rest every time I came off the bar

Score: 50

Pretty happy that my pullups are definitely getting better - consistently getting between 3-8 in a row.  Stacey and I were talking about how it’s a mental struggle for me to be scaling back so much on weight.  I could muscle through multiple reps at 105 for power cleans, so why only do 85# for squat clean?  But he reminded me how important it was to focus on the technique - to really get solid in my form so I don’t plateau.  Solid foundation, solid form, solid lift, all lead to solid improvement.  I guess that’s part of why my skill work is so important to me.  I can see the progress I’m making there.  50 pullups is more than the 48 I did last week.  It definitely felt better too.  I got at least 3 pullups on every set - but I took more than the 30 sec. rest because my hands were hurting so bad.

Sorry Key - Stacey's becoming the new checklist voice in my head (geez louisa may you should have been in my head for front squats :P ).  Guess that means you need to make a trip to Nashville and coach me through another competition.

Eating

Pre-WOD (5:45 am) - Advocare Spark
Post-WOD (7:00 am) - Body Fortress Whey Protein
Breakfast (8:00 am) - Fage Greek Yogurt w/blueberry & acai, 1/2 oz pecans
Snack (11:30 am) - apple
Lunch (1:00 pm) - 2 c. steamed broccoli w/parmesan, salad of mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, red onion, mushrooms, & hard-boiled egg w/ Greek vinegarette
Post-WOD (9:00 pm) - Body Fortress Whey Protein
Dinner (10:30 pm) - 2 c. sauteed zucchini w/4 oz turkey kielbasa

Finally getting in some more clean calories.  Still not quite enough (need about another 400 calories), but it’s progress.  Brought an entire bag of apples to work to keep there.  Tomorrow I have to remember to go ahead and bring in a bag of almonds too to have some protein and fat with my carbs. 

Another note - turkey kielbasa tastes like a hot dog.  Unless...you put a ton of cayenne pepper on it.  Then it tastes like a cayenne pepper covered hot dog.

12.03.2011

Welcome back to CrossFit Tuscaloosa WOD! – aka I hate Maxwell :P

50 Wall Balls (20/14)

40 Burpees

30 KB Swings (53/35)

20 Box jumps (24”/20”)

10 HSPU

20 Box Jumps (24”/20”)

30 KB Swings (53/35)

40 Burpees

50 Wall Balls (20/14)

Score: 21:35 (3 abmat HSPU/14/35/20”)

This WOD was particularly painful.  I have this problem with overheating.  If I get too hot during a WOD and sweat away all my fluids, I have a very short window between dehydrated & too hot to heat cramps and passed out.  Well this WOD definitely put me into the heat cramps phase.  Luckily (or unluckily) this has happened enough times that I know that I have to cool down asap – so I got to the bathroom splashing cold water on my face and laying down on the cold tile to cool down as fast as I could.  One of my CFT family members , Crystal, was kind enough to run and grab me some cold water to chug down to cool down and rehydrate.  It took about 15 minutes but I finally felt better.

Eating

You don’t want to know – Max tried to kill me at CrossFit then Sarabeth and I went on a carb breakfast suicide attempt.  Gotta love those cheat meals  :P

12.02.2011

Training (6:00am)

Warm-Up

500 m row

3 rounds “Cindy”

500 m row

WOD

300 double unders for time

5 burpees on the minute every minute until you finish

Score: 7:43

(talked to Drew Saturday night about this and he was definitely as disappointed as me – will be tackling this again soon shooting for a sub-4)

Eating

Post-WOD Breakfast (7:00am) – ham and onion omelette

Lunch (11:30am) – 6 oz pork chop, medium sweet potato

Snack (5:30 pm) – fage greek yogurt w/1/2 oz pecans

Dinner (9:00 pm) - @ Dodiyos w/ Luan – raw  oysers, short ribs w/tourlou, red wine, bread w/feta butter

                                                          a

12.01.2011

Training (6:30 pm):

Warm-up

10 Rounds:

10 sec. hollow body hold

10 sec superman

1 seal walk

WOD

15 Turkish Getups (Right)

30 KB Swings

15 Left-Arm OH Squat

30 KB Swings

15 Right-Arm OH Squat

30 KB Swings

15 Turkish Getups (Left)

Score: 14:49 (25# KB)

Grip is SHOT from yesterday’s pullups.

Eating:

Breakfast (7:00am) – ham and onion omelette

Lunch (11:30 am) - @ J. Alexander’s ahi tuna salad w/side of spaghetti squash

Pre-WOD (5:30 pm) – Fage Greek Yogurt w/cherry pomegranate and ½ oz pecans

Dinner (8:00 pm) – 2 fish tacos made w/6 oz. tilapia, spicy green chili salsa