Sunday, March 7, 2010

Whats Next?


Bring it on Spartan Challenge 2010!!!

FINAL EPOC WORKOUT






This was it. This was the final test of my 8 weeks I AM CROSSFIT CHALLENGE! 8 weeks went by so fast! I cannot believe it! We started with this:

I Am CrossFit E.P.O.C. from CrossFit Central on Vimeo.


Here we are 8 weeks later to put it all to the test. To test our efforts. To lay it on the line. To go against ourselves, the weight, the clock. To reach goals set 8 weeks ago. To smash goals set 8 weeks ago. To make dreams come true. We were group #2. We warmed up as normal (in our new LuLuLemon attire that we rewarded ourselves with as well as our AWESOME sports bra's Melisa had made for us that said "I AM CROSSFIT EPOC"). We were then paired with a coach. I was paired with Mike. Next we set our bars for pull ups and hang cleans. We lined up and took off. The workout was as follow (in case you forgot):
3 rounds:
400m Run
15 pull ups
7 hang cleans (level 3 95lbs)
Of course Melisa set the pace...which is a HUGE help for me because if I can keep her in sight then I consider myself doing okay. LOL! We were the first 2 in and like Travis suggested during my final measurements, I ran right to my bar and started my pull ups. He suggested that when you get done with one exercise you run straight to the next exercise and get at least one rep in. I did the first set of pull ups without a band, rounds 2 and 3 I had to use a red band ONLY because I did that the first time, ugh. I knocked out 95lbs and took off for the run. I felt good! I got through rounds 2 and 3 called time at 8:58. When I did this 8 weeks ago my time was 11:09. I beat my time by a little over 2 mins...HECK YEAH!!!
We stayed around and watched Em who just repped out everything and smashed through the workout in no time! She did soooo wonderful! After that Melisa, Pam, Jess, and myself headed to Upper Crust Bakery where Chris, Melisa's brother had us Double C cupcakes made!! OMG were they AMAZING! Since this was our cheat day (first one in 8 weeks) we had a whole day planned out and cheat wasn't going to stop at this outing. LOL! Melisa and I shared a cupcake and a coffee. Us 4 also shared a MASSIVE yet so amazing cinn roll! Our next stop was Central Market for our favorite, coffee and samples!!! We tried a vareity of stuff here...including lots of processed stuff. Since the weather was AMAZING...thank you God...we went to the farmers market off Brodie! This is something I have always wanted to do, but it has been cold and/or rainy. If you know me I'm NOT going outside in these conditions! After the samples at the farmers market, we went back to my casa and I opened a bag of peanut M&Ms that I was given during my challenge but threw in my freezer for my cheat day. Melisa and I had a few each. Next we loaded up Duke and went to Auditorium Shores to let Duker run and play with other dogs, he had a blast. On the way home we went to LuLu to see what was on sale and check Mel's giftcards! I left my wallet in the car on purpose but Duke and I went in to help Melisa pick out a new tank top...that was on sale! We finally came home and I had more m&ms and half of another cupcake. Melisa left and I got a little nap! I then picked Melisa up around 7:15pm ish and we headed to Olive Garden to help Michelle turn 43! We met Pam here and then she went with us to meet up with Rick. Since we agreed to meet up with Rick later, we had a drink and chilled with Michelle then met Rick for dinner at Matt's El Rancho. Let me start off by saying, 1 glass of wine after 8weeks of NO drinks...WOW! At Matt's we had 2 ritas and processed chips but a paleo salad that was oh so yummy! We were even joined by one of my AWESOME clients AND Jess stopped by to say hello and show us her SUPER cute boots...which we are going to have to break in soon! After a wonderful night we all headed hom and I was in bed around 11pm LOL! I LOVE IT...Saturday night and I'm in bed early! Well I actually ended up snuggling on the couch with Duker! What a GREAT way to end an awesome 8 week challenge.
I AM CROSSFIT.


FINAL EPOC weigh In

After my Thursday workout I met Travis for my weigh in. This weigh in would tell the truth. Numbers don't lie. These numbers tell how hard I worked and how well I ate. These numbers could make me or break me. Can you see why I was a little freaked out? First it was the scale, next the tape measure then the dreaded pinchers. Good thing this came after a PR on squat, that started the day off good. To my suprise the results were great! I dropped 3% body fat and 4lbs! I'll take it! As soon as I can get my sheet back from Travis, I will post the final measurments. I'm also working on getting my before and after pictures...woo hoo!

MAX LOAD WEEK = 3 PRs

This week our Tuesday workouts were max workouts. Our goal was to see how much we could lift in one rep (reminded me of powerlifting). Tuesday was Shoulder Press and Deadlift. Melisa and I paired up and we started on shoulder press...NOT push press, NO dip drive...straight up shoulder press. Ouch...and I suck at shoulder press. Warm up was a set of 10 and set of 8...work load began with a set of 5, the 3 then 3 sets of 1 reps. Mine went as followed:
Shoulder Press:
10 - 45lbs
8 - 55lbs
5 - 65lbs
3 - 75lbs
1 - 85lbs
1 - 90lbs...this was my max
1 - 95lbs....this one didn't go. stopped at my forehead and wouldn't move LOL
* I created a PR of 90lbs (last PR was 85lbs)

Deadlift:
10 - 135lbs
8 - didn't do, time was flying by
5 - 185lbs
3 - saved time by not doing this one
1- 205lbs
1 - 225lbs
1 - 250 (came right up, no worries!)
* I created a PR of 250lbs!

Later on this day, Tuesday, I did an EPOC workout:
20swings
10push ups
30swings
15 pushups
40 swings
20 push ups

I did all the push ups on my knees and I swang a 25lb dumbbell which all will agree was WAY to light but it was the Rx. To Light! I called time at 3:40.

Thursday was Squat. Squat is a mental game, there is no doubt about that. If you knew me in the past you know I FREAK OUT over squats. There was nothing different about this day LOL! I did freak out! Same rep scheme as Tuesday:
10 - 45lbs
8 - 95lbs
5 - 135lbs
3 - 185lbs
1 - 200lbs
1- 215lbs
1 - 225lbs
* 225lbs is my new PR :)!!

These 3 PRs (push press, deadlift, and squat) got me a double C sticker for my car!! HECK YEAH!!! As soon as I can, I'm going to put it on my car!! I'm proud!

Well I took Friday off because Saturday was the FINAL EPOC workout!

Kettlebell Seminar Notes

Okay here are my notes from the kettlebell seminar I attened a few weekends ago. There is no order of these notes, I just wrote at they talked LOL!

Benefits of KB: (combine with strength and flexability)
lean muscle
harder
stronger
faster
enhance abilities/crossfit

RKC = Best bell
- Find a bell that you can balance/handle (no triangle)
- Both hands can fit inside handle

Russian vs. American Swings
- Russian Swings, arms go parallel to the groud
- American swings are overhead
- American swings are used in high reps
- American swings you need to drive heels harder into ground

Programing Workouts:
- There is a specific lift time frame
- Snatch: how many reps in time frame?
- tabata: 20sec on/10sec off
- tabata: 45sec on /15 sec off
- Ladder:
1 *2 3 4 5 6
1 *2 3 4 5
1 *2 3 4
1 *2 3
1 *2
1
* = rest, 200m run, breaths, count (1-2-3 go!), etc.

Movements:
- Clean
- Swings
- Snatch
- etc.

The workshop ended with the following WOD:
21-15-9
power swings
push press
blurpee

Monday, March 1, 2010

You Registered for WHAT???

I tell you what...this "I am Crossfit Challenge" has really motivated me to do get involved more and more in crossfit! Crazy enough I have registered for Sectionals. I'm really looking forward to it...in a scary nervous kinda way. LOL! I have also registered for the Affiliate Tryouts. Another thing I'm scared and nervous about. I ALSO have registered to do my final benchmark workout March 6th at 8:20am! I just wanna beat my time from when I started this...8 weeks ago...can you believe it? I can honstly say I have made lifestyle changes that I will follow. Yes I will have a cheat meal...that will prob make me sick. This cheat meal will be samples and some M&Ms! LOL I'm looking forward to see how far I have come! If you don't crossfit now...DO IT! Ask me how I can help!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

2.27.10


Today was one of the free workouts at Crossfit Central . I attended the kettlebell workout. After our warm up we played around with the bells, practicing some moves we would need in the following workout. We then lined up outside and began our workout which was as follow:
AMRAP 12 min (originally 20 mins)
10 squat cleans (single arm)
American swining with Lateral stepping (length marked off)
10 push ups

I think I completed around 7 or 8 rounds (again not a great counter) with a 12kg bell. Then we all took the bell we were swinging and we had to do a walk....with the bell overhead at all times. This isn't as easy as it sounds. If you needed to switch hands you had to stop. This wasn't easy. After we all came in from our workouts we put the bells away and did a little tabata workotu with knees to elbows and planks. This wasn't so bad. THEN because it was someones birthday...Birthday Blurpees...she turned 33. So yes, 33 blurpees. After all that I practice some pull ups at the gym, took duker to the park and had a long mucho needed nap! Life is good!


Update

2.21.10 Sunday
Well I had soem making up to do...I did one EPOC strength and one EPOC endurance today. The strength one went as followed:
4 rounds:
20 mtn climbers
20 planks w/ leg lifts
20 push ups
20 pain brushers (lifting up arms)

This was a shoulder KILLER! OUCH! I called time at 6:07 but I honestly don't think my push ups would have counted if coach was standing there counting. but maybe! The best thing about this workout is there was no equipment involved and you could do it at home.

The EPOC endurance workout went as followed:
4 rounds: Tabata lunges (20 seconds on then 10 sec off) then a 400m run

Since this day had GREAT weather I told my friend Rachael to meet me at the Bowie track and join me in on the workout. I also brought the Duke! We had a great time! Needless to say, I was SORE! LOL! I didn't keep time I just completed the workout. This was another "no equipment one" I enjoyed!

2.22.10 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!
I did this EPOC orkout with Melisa (no suprise). The workout went as followed:
3 Rounds: (m 55lbs/F 35lbs)
800m run
8 SDHP
8 front squats

We decided to use 45lbs barbells (10lb more than the rx) instead of a dumbbell. We figured it was a single dumbbell so I hope we were right. Anyways we started out on the treader. knocked out an 800m run at 9mph then ran to our barbells completed each set of 8 then back to the treaders...9.2mph then our 2 sets of 8...9.2, 2 sets of 8. This workout wasn't that bad. I called time at 13:05. I like having Melisa push me on those runs she is awesome!

2.23.10
Today was our Tuesday workout. Honestly if I could do a muscle up, this would suck but since I cannot do one we broke it down. The original workout was 30 muscles ups. HOWEVER we changed it around since (1) we are unable to hange the rings high enough for muscle ups at run tex and (2) no one in class can actually do a muscle up. After practicing a little bit of form we turned the workout into an AMRAP in 20 mins having 3 ring dips and 4 pull ups = 1 muscle up. I used the smallest band they had on my dips, but no band on the pull ups. I completed around 22ish rounds. I'm not a very good count.

2.24.10 EPOC #1 wk.7
Today's workout was called "Wolverine". Honestly I think it was my least likable workout ever in crossfit. I"m not sure why BUT it was yucky, I was not a fan. It wasn't that it was hard, it was just different. Anywho the workout went as followed:
6 rounds:
10 clean to press
20 push ups
10 sit ups
400m run

Melisa and I met at my apartment complex to do this one and it still sucked. We used 25lb dumbbells for the clean to press. We ran the 400m at 9.2mph. I"m not going to talk much about this one because nothing I have to say is positive LOL.

2.25.10
This was our Thursday workout and my ego booster! This workout left me high as a kite! The workout was:
3 rounds:
400m run
10 power clean to overhead (ground to overhead)

Honestly I'm VERY nervous about putting weight over my head, VERY nervous. However I have been working on that. Womens Rx for this was 105lbs. I was like WTF? When I saw that written on the board. After warm up we set up our bars. Coach Lisa told me to put 95lbs on the bar. I loaded the bar up as she said, but I placed 2 5lbs plates by my bar just incase I got brave. I did one rep and OHHHH BOY this was going to suck. We lined up for the 400m run since it was first. Melisa set the pace and I did what I could to keep her at least in sight (man that girl is fast!). We ran back in I did my 10 reps of ground to over head with 95lbs. Same thing for round 2. Middle of my lifts Lisa asked me if I wanted to add weight then I said no last set. Guess what I was thinking about during my whole 400m run???? she did added the weight setting my bar at 105lbs when I was on my run and I came back and knocked them out. They were not easy but I did them! I put 100+lbs over my head 10 times!!! I was on cloud 9 ALLLL day long! It was awesome! I couldn't have done it without the support of my team though!

2.26.10
I spent this day running errands ALL day...that was enough of a workout.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Update

2.10.10
ARAP in 12mins
10 deadlift (20lbs)
10 shldr press (20lbs)
10 hang cleans (see below)

Well because we have to do hang cleans at our benchmark...and we are crazy. We decided to do our hang clean wt for this workout. So we set up with our dumbbells in front of our barbell loaded with our wt to clean...95lbs. We started and grunted through this (I'm not kidding). Yes that is 20lbs in each hand...total 40#...shoot me.

I pushed through and got 7 full rounds and 10 deadlifts of the next round. ouch.

2.11.10 - Thursday

30 20 10 DB Snatch (single Arm 25#)
20 10 30 Box Jumps
10 20 20 Pull Ups

OKay it isn't as hard to read as you would think. I did 30 DB Snatches (15 each arm), 20 box jumps and 10 pull ups, then 20 snatches (10 each arm), 10 box jumps and 20 pull ups...you got the drill. The weight used for the snatches was a 25lb dumbbell. Don't get me wrong this wasn't bad but it wasn't easy. LOL! I called time at 12:50! I actually came out rip free..which is a huge suprise!

2.12-15.10 Fri-Monday

I was bad this weekend. I was out of town getting my PT Cert through a different company so I was in class from 1-9:30pm Friday, and 8-6pm on Saturday and Sunday. I was wooped and mentally drained so I didn't workout. Bad Bad Bad girl I know. To make things worse I spent Monday playing catch up nad didn't workout either. Trust me, I felt it on Tuesday. word of advice, dont' do this, don't let work get in the way of your workouts...bad idea!

I did however keep up with my nutrition! I prepared all my food and labeled it with the zone blocks (I zone my paleo) using post-its and tape. Since I was staying with a friend I was able to keep things in her fridge instead of the icechest that I brought. Becky is use to me doing goofy things like this so she really didn't say anything. I did explain it to her and the reason behind it (faster stronger leaner). At my workshop, the bodybuilder dude did ask me if I was training for a show because I pulled out a labeled healthy snack. I said, "Nope, I just eat clean". That was the last he spoke to me LOL! I DID look around each day to see what these about to be Personal Trainers (if you passed yoru test) were eating and I almost felt sad for them. There were more energy drinks and bars in that room. Yes I use to be one of these people, that is why I can say this. A common snack for me would be a monster drink and/or a cliff bar. They just don't know that all they needed was to eat clean and that energy drink and/or bar wasn't really doing them any good! So sad! Those that sat at my table did ask mea bout paleo and crossfit and I told them and about my AMAZING experience with both! Hopefully I was able to impact them!

2.16.10 Tuesday
10-->1 reps
SDHP to Sprawls (M-65#/F-45#)
DB Thrusters (W-30#/M-65#)

All of these are Melisa's favorite lifts. I do have to say sprawls sure beat the heck out of burpees. The SDHP was done on a bar and the thrusters were done with deadlifts and butt on ball. I did this and called time at 7:24. You just couldn't stop. If you stopped you were done. LOL! I did my sprawls over my bar so that helped with efficiency.

2.17.10 - EPOC #2
40 manmakers (25#)

For those that don't know what a man maker is it is a sprawl with hands on 2 DB (one hand on each), push up, then a row with each arm, jump feet up still holding on to DB, Clean DB, OH Press them...that is one. Yes...ouch is correct! Melisa and I set this up at dreaded every min of it. 4 sets of 10 with random rest in between. This was FAR from easy! Infact I would be okay if I NEVER had to do these again! I called time at 13:11. That was the LONGEST 13 mins of my life. Death by manmakers...

2.18.10 - "NANCY"

5 rounds for time
15 OH Squat (65#)
400m run

Melisa saw this workout posted on the facer the night before and told me to go look at it. Weight overhead...my mental block started building. I was already nervous and it was only the night before. I have seen one to many videos of lifters dropping weight on their neck and that was that. In powerlifting we NEVER put weight over our head. I was for real scared. We warmed up and set up. Awhile back we had to do OH squats and I dropped the weight from 65 to 55 because I was scared. But then after that workout we tried 65 and kicked ourselves for not doing 65. therefore this time I loaded the bar with 65. Lisa called GO and i snatched that bar over my head and suprisingly it wasn't that bad. I did 15 and took off for the run. Finshed the first run and picked that bar back up over my head and i thought okay its about to get hard now. Same thing, knocked them out...400m run. This happened to me every time. I did this workout unbroken (meaning I didn't take a break or set the bar down in between rounds). I was shocked!!! I actually MIGHT be able to add weight to the bar next time and do a heavier OH...scary and exciting all in one! I called tiem in 15:01...nancy smancy!!

2.20.10: EPOC Team 3 Workout

We met at the Wilk Hill...if you know what this is you will understand how hard this is...better yet how much it sucks. We warmed up in the drizzly rain and did the normal CF Dynamic workout. Then we paired up with another team mate. I paired with Jess. We were instructed to run up Wilk 5 times, then backwards 3 times (working posterior chain). HOWEVER we had to carry weight with us at least 3 of the 5 times up, no weight running backwards up. Jess and I shared a 25lb dumbbell. Alot of pairs took turns carring the weight up. We however shared the weight. I might have bruises on teh sides of my leg from the weight banging BUT we made it up the hill. LOL! We would walk/jog down. We thougth we only had to do 3 weight weight but she wanted AT LEAST 3. So we did #2 w/out weight but the rest with weight (4x with weight, 1x w/out). Then we ran/jogged/walked up it backwards. Stretched and left. I then left in search of coffee and a way to kill 45mins before the Kettlebell seminar. Needless to say, my butt HURTS!!!

Okay you should be caught up except for Sunday, today. I will do that tonight after my paleo dinner with friends at Maudies!! I will also include my KB notes so you to can learn about KB...

stay tuned...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

I made "Karen" my BITCH!

Excuse the language, but I don't normally brag but I figured this one out and ROCKED it! We walked in to our 5:30am class and the workout written on the board was called "Karen" and it was 150 wall balls 14#F/20#M for time. I hate wall balls. There has to be a strategy behind this. We paired up due to a shortage of med balls. One group went then the other. Melisa and I were partners...shocker. She went first and I was 2nd. I observed and watched others and planned (typical of me). I was up. Plan = sets of 25 till finished. I kept that about 95% of the way through. I had to break the last set up into 10 reps and 15 reps. Then I dropped the ball a few times. However I called TIME in 5:19 with rx wt of 14#...HELLS YES! Take that "Karen"!!!!


Breakfast:
3oz ground bison
1c butternut squash
almond butter

Snack:
1 boiled egg
trail mix: cashews, rasins, almonds

Lunch:
3oz ground bison
1c red/yellow pepers
almond butter

snack:
1 boiled egg
1 apple
almond butter

dinner: Chicken Salad
2.7oz chicken
2 cup lettues
3 baby tomatos cut in half
1/4c carrots
lemon juice for dressing
almond butter

i'm still hungry. Clearly I didn't eat enough. ugh.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Week #5 Begins....

Today we had a GREAT workout just before Melisa had to leave for Fberg! We started off with the regular crossfit endurance workout from Saturday. This was:
9x1min on/1 min off

After our normal 1/2 mile warm up at 7mph we set the treaders for 9.5 and knocked these out noooo problem! I'm actually very shocked at the fact that I was able to still unload on melisa as we ran...i never stop talking LOL!

We then moved on to one of our EPOC Workout #3 It went like this:

21-15-9reps with (30#)
SDHP
Swings (overhead)
Burpees

This means you do all 3 exercises for 21 reps, then again for 15 then for 9. Honestly it was the burpees that kicked my butt! I called time at 5:29.

We then finished up our workout with practicing our OH squats, a few thrusters, a few hang cleans and 20 pull ups! We found a way to save our hands and still do pull ups at The Hills, SCORE!

My food log was HORRIBLE today...I soooo need to go to HEB...I didn't eat near enough...

Breakfast:
1boiled egg
1 apple
Almond Butter

Snack:
1T almond butter

Lunch:
3oz ground bison
2c roasted cauliflower
coco balls :)

Snack:
Sparkling water

Dinner:
3-4oz fish
4 cups roasted cauliflower
slasa (for the cauliflower)
coco balls!

Catch Up/Recap

Okay here are my workouts...I will start adding my food logs again starting this week...

2/2/10
Fight Gone Bad: Bench mark workouts for my T/Th Class
What you do is 1 min at each station then rest 1 min, 2 rounds

Round 1: 121 total
Push Press 19
Box Jumps 29
Sumo Dead Lift High Pull 30
Wall Ball (14#) 34
Row: concept 2 9

Round 2: 116 total
Push Press 19
Box Jumps 25
Sumo Dead Lift High Pull 25
Wall ball (14#) 35
Rower: concept 2 12

2/3/10: EPOC workout #? 7:56
You would do 20 swings, 2 sprawls, 18 swings, 4 burpees...

Swings: 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2
Sprawls: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20
5 40yd sprints

2/4/10: "Jen C"
Since Jen Cardella was working on powerlifting style movements we did a workout in honor of her. all I gots to say is good thing this one was NOT time. do the following WITHOUT putting the weight down:
9 deadlift
6 hang cleans
3 push Jerks

Pounds per round Rounds: 75/80/85/95/105 (prob could have done more)
I was actually impressed with myself on this one, I'm not a fan of having the weight overhead...just isn't my cup of tea. However I did it and it worked! I actually could have done more...this is my PR for sure!

2/5/10: Endurance EPOC Workout (w/ melisa)
this was run 1 mile as fast as possible, rest for half the time...repeat for 3 miles...
1/2 mi warm up
Mile #1: 7 mins (8-9mph)
Mile #2: 6:51 (9mph)
Mile #3: 6:49 (9-9.5mph)

I had a client so I couldn't cool down!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Wk. 4 EPOC workout #1

Well today we did week 4's EPOC workout #1....can you believe it is already week 4!!! WOW! I am debating on if I should take 4 week photos or get my body fat/wt tested. Before I get into that here is what the workout was:

50 lunges
400m run
50 pushups
400m run
50 dips
400m run
50 squats
400m run

This was done in 13:26...Goal was under 13:30 and we did it! Our speed on the treader was nothing under 9.0mph...FAST if you ask me! Great workout...got the heart rate up there thats for darn sure!

I haven't ate dinner yet, but so far here is my caloric intake:
Breakfast:
2 boiled eggs
2 c Strawberries
9 almonds

Snack:
2c grapes
3 almonds

Lunch: salad
4.5talipia grilled
0.5c celery
1.c strawberries
2-3c lettuce
almonds 6
1/2 avacado

snack:
2c strawberries
9 almonds

Sunday Sprints

Sunday sprints was rough. It was cold...35 felt like 28...yeah it sucked. But we got moving and got them done. here is how it went:
Total Dist: 2.55mi
total time: 31:43

These totals included:
warm up: 11:04 min

We had to do 8 sprints up hill. We ran up and walked down. I have them orgainzed as:
hill #/time/dist/pace per mi

1/23.8/354ft/5:56
2/24.1/346ft/6:08
3/24.8/343ft/6:22
4/24.5/324ft/6:40
5/25.1/339ft/6:31
6/24.7/339ft/6:23
7/23.3/335ft/6:07
8/23.8/324ft/6:29

We finished with a nice jog home of 0.7mi/6:32min/mi. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm not saying it wasn't cold...honestly I think it snowed on my way over to Melisa's casa.

Well my food log is HORRIBLE and I'm not going to even to list what I ate because it was all over the board...all paleo but raondom!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

CF Saturday

Today I took advantage of the free workouts (yes that was plural) that Crossfit Central offered. This began with an 8am workout followed by a 9am Kettlebell workout THEN an 11am olympic workshop with Big Mike. Anyways the 8am workout went as followed:

4 rounds with 1min running clock at each station:
SDHP with KB
Box Jumps
Pull Ups
Lunges with 25# plate OH

On the last round we were suppose to count our reps. I did 435. Don't ask me how much of each I did because I just counted reps. It was nice to have an old friend now CF coach, Jen Cardella, by the pull up station to push me. This workout was a good one...even being as cold as it was I still sweated and got my heart rate up!

The 9am workout was a kettlebell workout. We broke up into teams of 3 and started at a station and rotated through the stations:

push ups
KB Swings (american and or russian)
Rope
200m Run
KB SQ Clean

We had 90 seconds at each station. 2 people could work at a time on the push ups, KB swing and KB SQ Clean while one rest. Then we each had 30 seconds at the rope then all 3 ran the 200m. I think the hardest part was figuring out who was going to work when. If you were tired then you might still have to keep going because someone on your team is worse off than you. I had a great team....Chris, JDawg and KP (me)! On the last round we were instructed to count our reps. We came in 2nd with 255 total reps!

The last event was an Olympic Lift workshope. We started off with trigger point. If you haven't ever used this...OMG...it hurt! Honestly I have never used it until today. OUCH! We just did our legs and WOW...I was tight. I knew I was tight but this just proved it. I'm horrible about this but this is something I need to do almost every...at least foam roll. WOW! After the trigger point we started working with our PVC pipes on hang clean, power clean, hang power clean, snatch clean, snatch power clean and hang snatch. Talk about mouth full. We ran through the proper form a zillion times with the PVC pipes then we picked up some weights. The workshop lasted about an hour and half. I think I benefited form it especially since we have to do the hang clean for our benchmarks.

Breakfast:
2 egg whites
1.5c grapes
1T almond butter

Snack:
2c strawberries
3 almonds
Americano with a tad of steamed soy

Lunch:
Chef Salad...all paleo!

Snack:
Almond butter

Dinner: This is one of my favorite meals!
1 egg and 1 egg white
1c butternut squach (olive oil, salt and pepper to season)
1/2 avacado

WAY to many coco balls...which I told myself NO more of...I'm done with yummy coco balls...

Friday

1.29.10
This workout took place at 8:30am. After our dynamic workout we set up for the following EPOC workout #1:
2 min max crunches/situps - 74 reps
2 min rest
2 min max push ups - 76reps
2 min rest
2 mile run = 14:25
0.25mi @ 8.3
0.25mi @ 8.4
0.5mi @ 8.5
0.25mi @ 8.4
0.5mi @ 8.5
0.25mi @ 8.6

This is an Army PT Test (all levels). We did our crunches on a mat on the floor. I just went through them. It sucked but what else is new. As for the push ups I'm afraid I wasn't going low enough. I would do 5, break, 5 break, 5 break...all the way till the end then I did 1 extra. However they were all on my toes :)! The 2 mile run was fast...way faster then what I normally run. But it is good for me so I would do it again and I would go faster...especially if Melisa was right there next to me!

As for the food log on this day...I didn't do good at writing it down....

Thursday

1.28.10
I began the day with my 5:30am workout which I LOVE so much! Today went as followed:

21-15-9 (reps)
Ab Mat Crunches
OHSQ 95/65# (squatting with a bar overhead)
superman (back extensions)
Blurpees
Box Jumps (22")

This means you go through the list and do everything 21 times, then 15 times then 9 times. I did 55# for my OHSQ because I'm VERY nervous about having weight over my head. However after we were all done, Pam, Melisa and I worked on OHSQ with 65#...we so should have done 65#. My time would have been slower than 10:40 but I would have put up more weight. Oh well it is done, I know for the future. Now for my food log:
Pre Breakfast (because my alarm goes off at 4:30am)
1 boiled egg

Breakfast:
2 egg whites
1 apple
1/4 of a cantaloupe
1/2 avacado

Snack:
1 boiled egg
1/4 cantaloupe
3 almonds

Lunch:
3.2oz almond crusted chicken
2c cauliflower
1c kale
1/4c salsa

snack:
1 boiled egg
1c strawberries
6 almonds

dinner:
3.5 meat (chicken and steak)
2c lettuce
2c kale
1c strawberries
almond butter
cashews (waaaaay to many)

Wed. 1.27.10

Okay I know behind but I'm going to catch you up! Today Melisa and I did the EPOC Workout #3 (elite level) workout which was:

100 dumbell snatches for time
men 55lbs/women 35lbs

This workout was rough...typical CF workout. Dynamic warmup then we grabbed our dumbells and headed to an open area. 5 reps with one hand, 5 reps with the other...back and forth all the way to 100. At the end it was my legs that hurt, not my shoulder/back/arms/etc. I'll tell you what...my first snatch I was off balance and BAM on the back of the neck. All I could do was reset and redo the rep. When I finished in 5:50 I had a nice bruise on my right arm. Then sadly after a discussion with Lisa the next day we found out we didn't squat low enough. You snatch, full squat and stand up with the weight. The stand up is the finish position. I thought about redoing the workout and actually considered it but then I realized how much my legs hurt, WOW! LOL!

After that workout we practiced some hang cleans because we have to do them for the benchmark workout. They went as followed:
5 @ 65#
5 @ 75#
5 @ 85#
5 @ 95# (my weight for the benchmark)

these didn't feel to bad. I was pretty impressed with them actually! I think I will be able to improve my benchmark time.

Well since I haven't been doing this I decided to give start putting my food log on here if I can remember. You can't have one without the other if you want to make improvements. You have to have nurition AND exercise. As most you know I have been following a paleo style of eating. So far so good. According to Melisa day 29th will be a habit. I started on Jan. 8th. Okay here it goes (FYI I REALLY need to go to HEB):
Breakfast:
1 egg
1 apple
almond butter

Snack:
1 apple dipped in almond butter

Lunch: Jason's Deli with the parents
I ate salad bar with all paleo stuff

Snack:
mixed nuts

Dinner:
almond crusted fish
2c veggies

Then I introduced mom to paleo coco balls: which I ate to many.
1.5c pitted dates
2c slivered almonds (or walnuts)
3-4T of all natural coco
I added pro power
I have also added goji (sp?) berries!
about 4-6oz of water

Put it all in the food processer, roll into balls and enjoy!
Okay so that was a BAD example of how to eat paleo....better next time!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Tuesday 1.26.10

This workout was interesting. I had to modify one part of it but before I go into that the workout is as follows:
5 rounds for time
400m run
12 HSPU (Handstand Push Ups)
10 K to E (knee to elbow)

This means after our warm up we began our workout. This was a perfect workout for Melisa and Me...she pushed me during the run and then I pushed her during the weights! I don't like to modify my workouts but I had to on this the handstand push ups. Since I cannot do the full deal I did the modify version for me with my knees on the box to create a handstand push ups. ugh. The best part was I was hauling it in for the last 400m (thank goodness) and I could hear Melisa coming up. She was POUNDING some pavement, so I tried to pound harder...nope LOL! Her and her little bad ass self passed me. LOL! I ran in finished the workout in 15:50!

I went on to teach a Pedal n' Pump class where I only participated in the cycle class then coach the "pump" part. Made for a good day!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Short and Sweet

Due to our upcoming workouts this week, we decided to take it easy today. The weather is BEAUTIFUL!!! Therefore Duke and I met Melisa at townlake and did the 3.??mile loop (I'm not sure what it is). To our suprise when we got done we both thought "humm that was fast" prob because there was alot of distractions going on. Or we are making progress and we just flew through it. I discovered that Duker doesn't like bikes or strollers with runners...interesting! I came home and took a quick nap now up doing housework because the parents are coming tomorrow! Tomorrow will be another 5:30am-er...can't wait!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

"Gaudy 'n Grace" stays paleo!




Saturday morning Melisa and I got up had a nice clean paleo breakfast (eggs, fruit, paleo muffin, bacon...yummm). We got ready and headed to my church, Wesley UMC, to attend a ladies luncheon called "Gaudy in Grace", guest speaker Marty Sholars who was WONDERFUL! If you ever get a chance to go see her, DO IT! To make this luncheon happen ladies of the church offered to decorate and host tables where they could invite their friends to sit at their table. Lunch was served by Wesley Men who did an AMAZING job. We sat at my mom and Nancy's table which was decorated Mardi Gras...and it was AWESOME! They went over the top in "gaudy". As Nancy said it was border line gaudy and trashy. I LOVED it! They did a great job a promoting the event which was a success! Top right is a picture of Melisa, Mom and Me...yes she did wear that thing on her head and her boa the whole time and a pair of mardi gras glasses and beads. Next to it is a picture of Melisa and me wearing our table decorations they provided. Anyways...the luncheon was our our newest and hardest challenge. As you can see above this is what we were served, Turkey keish (HUGE slice), salad with feta and grapes. Oh and don't forget the cheesecake pie. This picture really doesn't do it justice, it looked good. It doesn't have the smell or the people around you eating with smiles on their faces. Thank goodness Melisa threw 2 boiled eggs in my purse. The boiled eggs were added for protein since we were not eating the turkey keish. We pushed the keish aside and text my dad who was a server and asked him to bring us more salad. He brought us more salad and grapes! This worked! We were able to eat paleo and like 5% zone (thanks the the feta which is more of a protein than a fat). Remember we did allow ourself 10% zone for situations like this. We finished our salad and believe it or not the pie didn't even tempt us! CRAZY...I NEVER turn down pie! LOL! We enjoyed our lunch and didn't even cheat! PERFECT! That was a tough challenge but we accepted it and won!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Friday Evening

Well Friday after I got off Melisa and I headed to Beaumont to visit my parents so we could attend a church luncheon on Saturday. Since Melisa and I are smart we brought food with us. On our car ride down there we packed:
boiled eggs
turkey
cantalope (sp?)
Paleo Muffins
Paleo CoCo balls
Almonds
THANKD GOODNESS we had these items with us! We were able to snack without having to stop at a gas station and pray for something paleo. Well we both have strong love for chips and salsa. Thinking of ways to help solve this craving WITHOUT cheating melisa read some where to get Kale (something I have never ate) and put it on a cookie sheet 350 for 15 mins and it should take the place of chips. So Friday night, before our tour of Beaumont via Daddy, we spent some time trying to turn Kale into chips (please see pic above). While it turned out "crunchy" it didn't replace chips, but it wasn't that bad and we dipped it into salsa. It was tolerable BUT it wasn't chips.

As for dinner that night, lucky for me I have WONDERFUL parents who support me during this crazy 8 weeks of my life. They prepared us a very good paleo meal. We had 'bobs with chicken and beef and peppers. Then mom prepared this salad with fresh veggies and man was it yummy...i went back for seconds AND took the meat home with me! Ask, find and get support for this if you should decide to go paleo. It makes a world of a difference! A huge thanks to my parents for helping keep us paleo this weekend!

Friday's Workout

Its official, I'm crazy! Technically I didn't have to be at work till 9:30am. Where was I at 5:30am, on a treader trying to keep up with Melisa. This is becoming a common thing...trying to keep up with Melisa, I love it! Since we were traveling to Beaumont this weekend we needed to get a workout in at some point. Therefore we settled with a modified version of an endurance workout. Modified meaning we had to cut the rest time in half because we were in a hurry. Therefore our workout went as the following (we it says "off" we went back to 7mph):
400m warmup @7mph
5min at 8.3mph
2.5min off
4 min at 8.6mph
2 min off
3 min at 8.6mph
1 min off
2 min at 8.8mph
1 min off
1 min at 9.0mph
1 min off
400 m cool down at 7mph

It was good little endurance workout, nice way to start the day! It ended up totalling 3.25 miles, not to shabby. After that I went to the 6am class where Melisa had us do a varity of different exercise including our EPOC WOD #3, even though we didn't have to do it since we did the others we took it on. The workout went as followed:
3 Rounds for time:
30 double unders (or 60 singles, I did the singles)
15 squats
10 push ups (I did mine on my knees)
I knocked it out in 3:22...wam,bam thank you mam. Got the heart rate up there too! I stayed around for a little bit more then headed for the showers and to take care of some work business. before my 9:30am client! This was a great way to end my week! However, my inner quads (aka adductors) are super sore....

"Cindy" Thursday

Above is a pic of our class with Coach Lisa AFTER we took on Cindy!
Well Thursday, January, 21st, 2010 we took on "Cindy". Lisa said "cindy" is a workout that when you attend Crossfit conference people "whats your Cindy time?". It is a rough workout, ask anyone who has been brave enough to take on Cindy. "Cindy" contains the following:

AMRAP in 20mins:

5 pull ups

10 push ups

15 squats
While this might sound easy...WRONG!! It was rough! Tuesday I had heard that Thursday we were going to be doing MORE pull ups. We did 125 pulls ups on Tuesday. Ouch. On Wednesday night I went to Walgreens looking for an ankle wrap (which I found none, apparently everyone in ATX has a hurt ankle because I was unable to find them at other stores, the search continues tomorrow) and came home with tape. I made myself what I thought was going to be a reusable grip to tape to my hands to prevent them from tearing up more. Well since my hands were bloody afterwards, so were my grips, so I no longer can use them. Any who...we arrived that morning to workout. Did our normal warm up and started to set up for Cindy. Since Lisa is so determined to get us off band for pull ups she said only boxes, no bands. So here is where I want to take a brief second to say CONGRATS to my kick ass friend Melisa who did not use a band! Take that Cindy! And we began. I thought 5 pull ups easy knock them out, struggle through push ups (which I suck at, still do them on my knees unless we are warming up. Come On, Chest to ground isn't that easy), and fly through squats back to the bar. OHHHH that lasted one round. Pull ups quickly became sets of 2-2-1, then 1-1-1-1-1 LOL! It wasn't my back giving out on me it was my stupid hands and the bloody rips. Lisa said aim for 15 rounds, I managed to squeeze out 17 rounds plus 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 3 squats. I'll take it!

My picture above is from my blackberry that was taken by melisa after we got our normal Tuesday Thursday HEB coffee, we are celebs there. It is a picture of my hands after pull ups Tuesday and Thursday. The picture doesn't really show how nasty they are which is prob a good thing but you get the just of it!


Cindy, you are a bitch but I'll take you on ANY day of the week...


Friday, January 22, 2010

Wednesday's Workout

Well I met Melisa on the treader at 8:30am Wednesday morning. We wanted to do some cardio as well our EPOC Workout #2. And we were off. Below is our workout (there was only incline when stated, other times we ran at 0% incline)

800m warm up @ 7mph
800m (7% incline) @ 7mph
800 m @ 8mph
400m (7% incline) at 7mph
400m @ 8mph
800m cool down @ 7mph

This took us 25minutes and it was tough! Those hills are a killer but having long speedy legs Melisa next to me help pushed me! I don't remember hills being this hard outside? Wonder why the change. Normally outside is harder for me versus inside treader workouts. I know alot of y'all are thinking, why so much on a treadmill? Well one is because we have a short amount of time and if we can squeeze in a workout like this between clients then why not. I can promise you I wouldn't go that fast (that is fast for me) if I didn't have her next to me! Oh well it was done and we did it on our own!

Since time got cut short because I had to teach my spin class, I had to do my EPOC workout #2 later on that day, alone. Let me tell you, working out alone isn't as fun as having a buddy. ESPECIALLY when you have been working out with a group. On top of that I'm clearly suppose to workout in the morning, LOL. The workout was:

5 rounds for time:
10 squat cleans (25lbs)
5x20yd sprints

Where on earth am I going to get 25lbs and 20 yards? Thank goodness my facility has a basketball court...and a tape measure. Honestly, I don't know what was worse the workout or carrying the weights down to the basketball court (those that work/workout at the Hills can only understand this). 10 cleans, then down and back 5 times...10 cleans down and back 5 times...repeat 3 more times. I'm not a sprinter so my sprints were not favored. However I finished in 8:30 flat. Working out alone isn't fun! GET A BUDDY! You will be WAY more successful!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hand Ripping Tuesday

Well Tuesday was the normal 5:30am workout! Since I wanted to be prepared I brought with me my "gripper" for my hand to prevent me from ripping my hands any more. HA! The workout was:
5 rounds for time:
10 front squats
25 pull ups

We did our warm-up (shoes were awesome) then set up our bars and boxes for pull ups. I loaded 80lbs into my bar for front squats and found me a spot on the bars. I taped my right hand and was ready to go. 10 front squats done on to pull ups. I did a few then went down to doing 2-3 drop and reset. This was doing great until round 3 when my hands just started falling apart. There were rips and blood. I would do a set of pull ups then add another piece of tape. Another set up pull ups add tape. Finally my hands were hurting so bad I jumped on the box for 20, my hands hated me. Needless to say I made it through the workout in 14:52 and bloody hands. One of those hurt so good kinda things. However I am reminded of this workout when I wash my hair, hands, put lotion on, grap a weight, grap anything...pretty much all the freakin' time! LOL!

Monday's Workout

Okay so I'm playing catch up...i know...After I taught at 6am I met Melisa at 8am for the CF Endurance workout as well as our EPOC Workout #1 from the sheets that were given to us for this week. The endurance workout was 200m sprints (I suck at sprints, bad) with a rest in between. The rest in between was double what it took you to do the 200 in (i.e. if it took you 45 seconds to do the 200, you rest for 1:30 inbetween). Our workout went as the following:
800m warmup
Sprints 1-4 were at a speed of 6:40/mi
Sprints 5-8 were at a pace of 6:40-6:18/mi
800m cool down

This was tough BUT I don't think near as tough as the 3mi for time workout...WOW! We used 0.15 as our "200" but I think the actual count on the treader is 0.12. 0.15 was just much easier to add. We shorted our breaks a little, meaning they were not near as long as there were suppose to be, but that is okay.

Now for workout #1, like always following the elite. This one was TOUGH! AMRAP 12min of:
3 shoulder press (20lbs)
6 Broad Jumps
9 Back Extensions (aka supermans)
Now which of those 3 exercies do you think was tough? Freakin' back extensions liked to killed us! We were able to get 20 rounds in to the second of 12 minutes. I was wooped! We did the shoulder press, 3 hops one way turn around 3 hops the other, flop (not kidding) on a mat for back extensions/supermans. It was an interesting combo to say the least! LOL!

I wore my new tennis shoes for this workout and it they are AWESOME!!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Weekend In Houston...NO CHEAT!!

First of all I want to send out a HUGE congrats to my Daddy for completing the Houston Marathon 5K plus some, Aunt Barbara for completing her first half marathon in her goal of sub 3 and Uncle James for completing his first FULL marathon in his goal time of under 6 hours! I am VERY lucky to have such an AMAZING active family! Next year = no chasers!!!
Friday I worked all morning then jumped in the car and headed to Houston. I had my luggage, Duke's luggage and my food packed, I was NOT going to cheat or fail this weekend. I was invited to a Rockets game by my good friend Tony (his blog only has one entry so I'm not going to even try to link his here, LOL). I met him at his casa at 6pm and we went to the game. We walked into the Toyota Center and BAM...all the smells of food was amazing. Since I am strong, I walked passed every hotdog, pretzel, nacho booth and didn't stray. Since Tony is awesome we had passes to go down below the stands to a bar and watch the players run out...IN FRONT OF US!! Here the crew ordered drinks...and I ordered a water. This was hard. Who doesn't want an "adult beverage" while watching a sporting event. They were serving food, but we decided to wait till the half to order. Well the half came and we went back to the bar only to find out they stop serving food...aghhh!! I was starving HOWEVER when you make the decision to go paleo you must always be prepared...and carry food. Lucky for me I had made 2 paleo pancakes and put them in my purse. When the 2nd half started we went back to our seats and pulled out my pancakes and filled my hunger craving! The 2nd half came and went but I had survived without cheating at a sport event!! Well the crew wanted to out afterwards. We went to a bistro where there were a zillion of beers you could mix and match. I ordered a water with lemon and was just fine until I realized I was hungry. Crap. I had no paleo pancakes and there was no way 3 almonds, another item in my purse, was going to fix this. I got a menu and ordered a grilled chicken salad that was all paleo! Hey, I can go out and pass up beer and have a salad and have just as much fun. I got home late...if you know me, I like to be in bed early...but it was good to see old friends and NOT CHEAT!!! :) If you look close at the pic above, you can see my pancakes in my purse ;)

Saturday was the Expo/packet pick up. I got up got ready knowing that there would be MANY samples, and there was, I put in a zone 1 block snack (blueberries, boiled egg and 3 cashews) in my purse. We walked and shopped walked and shopped for many hours. Enough to stir up a stomach growl. FYI...I got a great deal on a new pair of asics and lulu shorts! So where to eat...more like whats my next challenge. After we left the expo, we decided to eat at Logans. Easy...Anything and Everything salad. I was even able to ignore the rolls that were screaming "eat me"...and we ALL know how good their rolls are! With all stomachs full we headed home to get off our feet and take a nap! Since it was the night before the runners were in need of carbs (which i'm beginning to think and learn is just a myth and you need something different). The pasta place was closed so we went to the "deli" of central market and the runners got pasta and I got a salad! Score...another day of not cheating! Life is good!
Sunday was the marathon! Day started early at 4am! We were up and getting ready. Once again I bundled up and packed my purse wtih food! Breakfast for me was paleo muffin and butternut squash YUM! Since I had nuts and paleo muffins in my purse I was able to avoid the bagles when we stopped for coffee and get rid of any hugar that occurs. After all runners crossed the finish line (I'm so proud!! ) We headed out for lunch. They wanted pizza which left me with salad....again. I'm beginning to get sick of salads but they keep me from cheating so I'll tolerate them and that makes me happy! I ate, showered and packed and headed back to ATX stopping to have dinner with the boy, Debra and Marc. Since lights were out on the block where Texas Roadhouse was we went to saltgrass. They have an excellent chicken and veggie dish with side salad. I made a happy plate and headed back to ATX!
This means I made it through the whole weekend in Houston without cheating! This was an awesome feeling! Congrats again to my amazing family...looking forward to 2011 events!



























Thursday, January 14, 2010

5:30am-ers

Well it was better than what I thought. Here was our workout for this morning (out to the side are my personal notes and weights)

20min Time Limit:
50 box jumps
100 push ups (all on knees chest to ground)
50 snatches (25/arm 15#)
50 press (25/arm 15#)
50 sprawl/DL (15#...prob should have done more)
100 squats (body weight butt on ball)
50 Double unders (or 100 singles...I did the singles)

Finished: 19:28

I quickly learned, if you stop it only gets worse. Alot of sets were broken up into 5 reps with short breaks only to let my muscles "regroup". As sad as it sounds, this workout was actually kinda fun...crazy I know. I do have to thank Melisa for pushing me. I was going at La-te-Da pace then Melisa started repping out those sprawl/DLs like they were no bodys business and so I figured la-te-da pace wasn't going to do it. After thanking her after the workout I discovered she apparently was pushing everyone...typical of Melisa, making everyone want to do their best! LOL! Any ways it was a good hard workout. The workout was a good one and I highly suggest you give it a try! Let me know how it turns out!

P.S. No HR Monitor...I wish I had it though...this will pass...

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Listen To Your Body

Well my workout buddy/good friend Melisa has approached me with a challenge...no HR Monitor for the next 8 weeks. Crazy I know, but she has a good point. How many times have you busted it working out super hard just to look down and find out you didn't burn that many calories...this has happened to me numerous of times. Instead of getting frustrated and letting it ruin your day or your body (by over training just to burn X amount of calories) why not put it away and listen to your body? I will still wear the watch but not the strap. Wish me luck....Polar F6 I will miss you...see you in 8 weeks!

Today's Workout

Yep it is already done. EPOC Workout #2 is complete! This workout consisted of the following:

4 rounds for time:
10 thrusters (25lbs, each hand)
10 blurpee

Melisa, Pam and myself gathered equipment and found a spot in the gym where we could fit. We did the normal workout then figured out who was going where for thrusters and blurpees. The last thing you want to do is get hit with a flying dumbbell. Pam our lovely counter started her watch and we were off. 25s were HEAVY, but if you stopped it was worse. My moto for this one: the faster you go the quicker you are done. something about putting weight over my head dosen't excite me! LOL! Finished in 4:37...under 5mins...HELLS YES! Thank you Pam and Melisa for pushing me, y'all are AMAZING!

Now off to teach spin...

Tuesday CF Workout

Today's workout was rough, not one of my better ones...but still a good one. We all arrived at 5:30am, did our nomral warm up and got set up for our workout:

400m run
21-15-9
box Jumps
Swings (20lbs, each hand)

This means you run 400m then do 21 box jumps and 21 swings, 400m run then 15 box jumps and 15 swings, 400m run 9 box jumps and 9 swings. If you are thinking ouch...then you are correct! Melisa really helped me get through this! I don't know if I was sore or the fact that I was starving but this was rough. Finish time was 10:33. I'm okay with that, for now. 8 weeks not so much. After we cooled down, Melisa and I did 10 kipping pull ups because I owed her! We concluded our workout with a trip to the Westlake HEB where we are celebs...and turned down soy milk which they already put out for us.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

1st Additional Workouts

Melisa tried to kill me...she is a GREAT workout partner! Sunday night we recieved an email with all the workouts we were suppose to attemt that week in addition to our normal crossfit workouts. These are 3 workouts and 1 endurance workout. After quickly planning our workout we began. We decided to take on the Endurance WOD first....3 miles for time. Because of the weather and our location we jumped on 2 of the better treaders at our gym and off we went.
0.5mi warm up, 3 mile for time, 0.5mi cool down. I did my 3 miles in 21:30m. This was a PR for me!!! WOW, a PR on my first workout...not to bad! Melisa is such a great motivator her time was 20:58 which is faster than 7 min/mi...she is FAST. The endurance workout of the week was done! Next we decided to take on one of the other workouts. As we headed down to the basketball court to mark 100ft we bumped into Pam (if she had a blog I would link it) who was doing the same thing. (Pam is a wonderful lady that I work with. She is in great shape and started crossfitting a few months ago. She is also suffering through the EPOC). We marked off 100ft on the court. Our workout was as followed for time:
100ft lunges
50 situps
100ft lunges
40 sit ups
100ft lunges
30 sit ups
100ft lunges
20 sit ups
100ft lunges
10 sit ups
Even though we just ran 3 miles we finished in 7:58...under 8 mins! Not to shappy...anxious to see how we perform at the end! This was a great workout and I was done before 8:30am that morning...it was awesome but I'm sore!!!!

January 9th - Benchmark Challenge

I woke up this morning and put on as many layers as possible, no joke. It was 20 degree weather and I was headed out to take on the first benchmark challenge of the EPOC Challenge. Since when do I like workingout in the cold...never! I picked up Melisa and headed north. We arrived and checked in then we were shoved into a line for pictures. I'm not talking head shot I'm talking strip down to your sports bra and smile, ouch. It was a good thing for me I was wearing my "muffin top" running pants because I didn't want the camera to miss my love handles, ugh. Don't worry I have already been in contact with the photographer about getting that pic so I can post it...i'm a brave woman to post these.

After recovering from that we bundled back up and headed out for the normal crossfit warm up:
10 Reps 2x:
squats
push ups
rotations

Dynamic Warm Up: cone to cone (10yds down and back):
high knees
butt kicks
punter kicks
lung with Rotation
400m run

Lucky for us Zach was leading warm up, we got to do 25 blurpees. Even though these are horrible they did warm us up. After the warm up we were briefed over the workout then instructed to set up our bar for hang cleans. The workout was as 3 rounds of the following:
400m run
15 pull ups
7 hang cleans

However we had a cut off at 12 mins...thank goodness. I put a box under the pull up bar as well as attached a red band as a back up. Then I loaded my bar...thanks to lisa and melisa pushing me I agreed to take on the level 3 using 95lbs as my hang clean weight. I stripped down to running tights, gloves, a tank, long sleep shirt and sweat shirt and a neck thingy and lined up to begin the first 400. We took off. I finished the run and began my kipping pull ups and OMG was that bar cold!!! WOW! I think holding on to that cold bar was harder than the actual exercise! I finished 15 kipping pull ups and quickly moved on to hangcleans. To my suprise 95lbs wasn't that heavy....then again I couldn't feel my fingers or my toes. Back out for the 2nd 400m, in for pull ups which I used the band on because I was unable to grip the bar tight enough to pull my body weight up. Finished through 7 more hang cleans...then back out for the last run. I was numb. I couldn't feel a DARN thing. 15 band pull ups, 7 hang cleans...then screamed TIME with everything I had...11:09, I'll take it!

I have NEVER felt pain in my fingers like that...never! I didn't know what to think or how to get them warm...in a way it was sort of scary! After gaining enough feeling to add my layers back on Melisa and I got in the car and headed back to her house where her mom was preparing us a wonderful paleo breakfast....fresh fruit, beef patties, eggs, and butternut squash and coffee (duh)! After breakfast, I headed home to spend time with my amazing puppy, Duke!

January 8th, 2010 - Goal Setting and EPOC Seminar

Friday January 8th, 2010 was the kick off to our 8 week challenge. During this meeting we recieved our Tshirt (see 1st post) then attended our seminar. Here we sat with our teams and listen as Jeremy Thiel and Kary Kepler motivated us to set goals. It was an interesting meeting. We set not only our goals for this challenge BUT life goals. Kary encouraged us to keep a journal of our life. I'm horrible at this and plus you cannot read my handwriting, so maybe this can be my journal. We also learned a little about EPOC and our body's reaction...again not going into many details here because there is an awesome link that explains everything much better than I can.

Prior to this meeting I had the every so dreadful body assessment. During this assessment Travis took my body weight, body fat (using pinchers), measurments of my calf, quad, waist, hips bust, shoulders, neck, and arms (am I leaving anything out?). The results were horrible. Well I got my baseline for sure. I must shrink these numbers.

After this meeting Jess, Melisa, Melisa's Mom Becky, and me went to Central Market for our "last supper"...the cobber with dressing. While even though I can remove toppings from this salad and make it paleo I will miss the feta cheese and dressing (thats all we would have to remove right Melisa?) which just adds so much to the salad.

Then in bed because we had to take on our first benchmark workout in the morning...in 20 degree weather, yikes!

The Beginning...

Eat meat and vegatables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not boy fat. Practice and train major lifts: deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinatiosn and patters as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.


Yep that sums it up, fitness in 100 words or less. This was written on the back of the shirt that was handed to me last Friday night at the EPOC 2010 Goal Setting Meeting. I will adapt these principles strickly for the next 8 weeks and hopefully for the rest of my life. I will train hard, eat clean and see results.

Before I go into explaining all this crazy talk, let me back up to June 2009 when I made a VERY wise decision and joined Crossfit ...life changing experience. With an amazing, woman and athlete whom I'm very lucky to have as one of my cloest friends, Melisa, we started T/Th 6:30am CF Bootcamp at Jack and Adams. Lisa would put us through workouts that would leave us, as I like to say "hurt so good". Each workout was a new challenging experience which I craved; how much faster can I go? How much harder can I push myself? These thoughts and questions lead me to taking Elements (3 sessions that explain the concepts and proper lifting technique of a variety of exercies). This was my ticket to "indoor". In July Melisa and I moved to indoor classes, and became 2 of the first participants to take on the T/Th 5:30am (huge difference from 6:30am) at the Runtex location; we were even lucky enough to keep Lisa as a coach! These workouts are different than the boot camp ones and allow us to do numerous more exercises. Within 3-4 months of being indoor I was able to do a kipping pull-up (scroll down); and still can. I cannot even beging to list the strength improvements I have seen. We have a great 5:30am group. Rumor has it we are the most motivated, high intensity class at the Runtex location!

Now lets jump ahead to January 2010 when I decided to become a part of this crazy 8 week challenge that I am looking forward to... I AM CROSSFIT E.P.O.C. Challenge. Just to brief you, I am one of 150 crossfitters participating. We all have been split up in to groups and those into teams, I am Team 3. We are challenged with food logging, following Paleo way of eating, then adding additional workouts to our already crossfit workouts. My direct coach is Travis (who also was a great addition to our indoor class for a few months), and my other team coachs are Mike and Jen, both amazing! My team and coaches will offer me support and guidance as I take on the next 8 weeks...and no doubt after that. These people are already in addtion to my friends, family, current crossfit coach, Lisa, as well as my 5:30am-ers. How lucky am I?

I bet you are all wondering what on earth EPOC is, right? Well it stands Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption, mainly what is your body doing post workout? To prevent me from writing a loooong paragraph here, just check out the link!

Finally, for the reason of writing/starting this blog. I am asking for support from you. Thanks to my love of foods such as m&ms, chips n salsa, etc and the way margaritas, wine and vodka (not as a combo) taste....this isn't going to be easy for me. Please don't hold back any reminders of why I'm doing this challenge or the results I hope to see. Please encourage me to do just one more round of exercises or to pick up the bar and make it move. Please feel free to give me "a look" when I complain about anything, because this challenge is my choice and I do want results. I will use this blog to update you on what I'm doing and how I feel as I take on these next 8 weeks and possibly make these lifestyle changes.