Crossfit + Tequila = Nicole Feels Feeeeeelings

This past Saturday marked the first ever Crossfit competition held at our box.  The In-House event put 20 men and 20 women toe to toe for two events, with the top 10 advancing to the third event.

As I have severe performance anxiety issues and no desire for anyone to ever WATCH me while I work out, I didn’t compete.  I also, thankfully, wasn’t judging, which meant that I got to simply go and cheer for all our awesome athletes.

Going into Saturday, I didn’t really realize how many of our folks I actually know.  I’ve bounced around to several of the classes, and as a result, I think I knew and had worked out with and had conversations with all but three of the athletes competing.  It made for a fun time as a spectator, as it didn’t matter where I was, I was screaming my face off for someone.

If there is one thing I can say about this weekend, it’s that this shit is inspiring.  I watched 40 people do a burpee/air squat AMRAP that made me want to vomit BEFORE I had the tequila.  For every single one of them, when the judges yelled “:90 seconds left” they found a new gear.  It was from amazing to flat awe inspiring.

During the second workout, all the competitors rowed, completed double unders and then worked towards a max clean and jerk with the remaining time.  I don’t know how many PR’s were set, but I’m certain it was many.  I watched some serious strength in our women, the top competitor hitting 165 lbs.  I witnessed some of the most inspiring girls I know battle the shit out of getting that bar overhead for their jerk, and so many triumphs when they just wouldn’t quit.

Not to be outdone, the guys rocked so hard.  Admittedly, by this point I was more than a few drinks in, but it was no less awesome to see them throwing 200+ pounds over head.  Their form was flawless, and it was incredible to see something that I know to be so difficult look so effortless.

In the break between the second and final workouts, tailgating ensued and friends were made.  Of all the things I love about Crossfit, it’s the community I love the most.  I shared tequila, new friends shared their tents.  The competitors were combinations of nervous and excited, those who knew they had made top 10 relaxing for the final competition and those who were unsure twitching until the results were posted.

The final WOD was a monster of a chipper.  Several of the competitors knew they didn’t have some of the skills required to finish, but it didn’t matter.  Like with all things Crossfit, you do as much as you physically can and you just keep trying until time runs out.  The workout was a 50-40-30-20-10 rep scheme with a 200m run between each.  Wall balls, box jumps, toes to bar, heavy snatches and muscle ups in a time cap.

It didn’t matter where they were in the workout, I have never EVER seen such a tremendous effort.  The women literally gave me goose bumps the entire time.  Ladies who had never done a single toes to bar worked the hell out of the set until time ran out.  Someone who didn’t believe they had a snatch at that weight nailed one before the cap.  Over and over again I saw boundaries broken and it nearly brought tears to my eyes to see women that I admire so much do things that even they didn’t believe were possible.

The men were no different, and just as inspiring.  Every one did work.  It came down to the muscle ups for the guys.  A few even finished the workout, but not without some missed reps, some pain, and some serious desire to overcome.

When it was all said and done I think even we the spectators were exhausted.  The winners were elated, but let’s face it, every one of them who came out on Saturday won something.

If any of them have ever thought “I want to inspire someone,” well, you reached your goal with me this weekend.

9.30.2013

After coming to our in-house competition this weekend I was SO motivated this morning I think I jumped out of bed at 5:30 a.m. to go to the 6 a.m. class.

Ok, maybe I wasn’t THAT peppy as I’m still nursing my hangover from SATURDAY after the competition, but I was pretty pumped to get in there today and do work.  I’ll post separately about how amazing the event was this weekend, but suffice it to say here that I am more motivated than ever after watching our amazing peeps throw down, set  PRs, and do some serious work this weekend.

Warm Up:  The usual.  My body felt so heavy at first, but once I got about half way thru it was like my head cleared and everything just loosened up instantly.  Amazing.

SWOD:  Tall Cleans 4×3
1×5 muscle cleans @33
1×5 front squats @ 33
1×3 tall clean @ 33
1×3 tall clean @ 43
3×3 tall clean @ 53

These felt really good today.  I felt like my elbows were really fast, and I felt really comfortable at the base of my squat.  My last set I was bouncing a little bit too much getting under the bar, but I think it was fatigue at that point.

WOD:  4 RFT
Clock set to 3 minutes
200 m run (row)
with remaining time bike/jump rope/ski/burpee (basically do another form of cardio)
1 minute rest

No score, goal was just to keep moving.

This was AWESOME!  I admit, I’m kind of a cardio queen.  Not that I’m FAST by any stretch, but I would rather go at a steady pace with cardio for a looooooooong time over “redlining” it any day of the week. That’s my comfort zone, and this WOD was very much in my comfort zone… so I pushed myself out of it a bit.

On the rower I made myself keep an under 2:00 pace on every 200, which for me was pretty fast.  I was breathing heavy at the end of each of those.

Round 1 I did the bike, and decided I didn’t want to do that again, as for me that was really easy.  I do a lot of cycling, and can go pretty long and hard without getting winded.

Round 2 I did soft “box” runs, up and down on one of the soft 8 inch mats.  About half way thru my right achillies reminded me that any sort of jumping on it makes it hurt so bad I want to puke, so it turned into a run up run up run down step down with the cranky foot.  Can’t do that again.

Round 3 bikes and ski machines were taken, so I just started doing burpees.  I figured, I hate the movement, it’s all cardio, it doesn’t hurt my foot, and therefore it serves the purpose of the WOD.  I did the same for round 4 and was comfortably uncomfortable, and happy I had chosen to do them.

Yay burpees!

Don’t ask the question if you don’t want the answer

I found my third ever gray hair while getting ready for work this morning.  After a gasp, some “oh my God-ing” and a firm rip with the tweezers, that little bugger was no more.

Hubs just sat there laughing at me the entire time.  I turn 30 in less than a month so really, three gray hairs total isn’t so bad.  When he turned 30 he already had his sexy gray patch happening, and also had a little gray dispersed in his chest hair too.

Notice I said sexy.  For guys it’s sexy.

During our warm up at Crossfit the other day, Lickable-abs, Coach Shifu, Coach, and Holy-Crap-I’ve-Got-A-Cute-Baby were all talking about going gray.  I had never noticed it before in any of them, but yeah, they all have a few.  And they are all still ridiculously good looking.

Me?  Well I’ve never dyed my hair in my entire life… ok minus the purple wash out stuff in high school.  But I can guarantee you, when I get to the point where there are more than a few stray grays, I’ll be counting on an army of hair care professionals to cover that shit up.   Go ahead, call me vain, I am.  I don’t deny it.

But this whole traumatizing experience brought me to a question this morning that I’m just not sure about.  Frankly, I’m not sure I actually want to know, but because I can’t resist, I have to ask.

Hair on your head goes gray.  Check.

Hubs chest hair has a little gray, so it’s safe to assume that will happen too.  Check.

What about hair in… other places?  I mean yes, I shave off every bit of it… but with hubs should I be prepared that eventually the fluffy frame for the beans and frank will start to turn gray?

Oh my God I bet the answer is yes.

It’s yes isn’t it?

9.27.2013

6 a.m. and the weather was amazing!  Living in Florida we totally consider it Fall when it drops out of the 80s.  This morning when I left for CF it was 72, and it felt spectacular.

Warm Up:  The usual stuff.  Took some time with the foam roller today as my legs are pretty darn sore. 

Mobility:  T-spine with double LAX balls and pec roll out with a softball.  For the record, my boobs are too big to use a LAX ball for the pec roll out.  I end up mashing them into the ground and not getting anything worthwhile accomplished.  Remember that for next time.

SWOD:  Press 4×6
1×10 @ 33 warm up
2×6@53
1×4@63
1×2@53
1×6@53

Ah the press.  My love/hate relationship with this movement never ends.  I’m pretty strong over head, and if I could just PUSH IT so much more weight goes up.

But no matter.  Today was a focus on form.  I thought I had 63 but it ended up being too much.  I should have tried 58 on the last set, but as our WOD had more overhead I decided that my shoulders didn’t deserve that much punishment.  I’m pleased with this effort.  The longer sets are definitely harder for me.

WOD:  Grace- 30 Clean and Jerks for time

Time: 6:something @ 53 lbs

So as long as I don’t have to squat, I love cleans.  I’ve actually been looking forward to doing this workout again, as last time we did it I was three days out of a cast for a broken hand and had to use the 15 lbs dumbells because I couldn’t yet grip a bar.

I wanted to go heavier on this today, but I also didn’t want the WOD taking me 15 minutes, so I stuck with a weight that I knew I could do multiple reps touch and go.

This went really smooth through the first 20.  After that, it started to feel heavier, and I was REALLY feeling it in my lungs.  I had to take a few breaks just to take a few deep breaths.  Weird.

The last 3 reps were tough, but I tried to just concentrate on my form as much as possible.

The last rep, I knew it was going to be heavy overhead after all the press work and 29 jerks before it, so once I completed the clean I gave myself a breath, a deep dip and drove the bar as hard as I could towards the ceiling.

Too bad I totally forgot to MOVE MY HEAD OUT OF THE WAY before I did that.

I knocked myself in the chin so hard I saw stars and almost fell over.

To my credit, I had so much power behind the jerk that even with my noggin getting in the way I STILL managed to lock the bar out overhead and finish that last rep.

At the moment though, I’m black and blue, have a knot the size of about a ping pong ball on my chin, AND I broke the skin.

I kinda look like Quagmire from Family Guy.

Giggity.

9.26.2013

Another p.m. class for me.  The sun finally came out today after three days of non stop rain, so it’s bright and sunny and feels like a steam room.  Gotta love Florida.

Before Class:  5 wall walks, working every time to get my hands one step closer than before.  The 5^th one was ugly, but otherwise I made a little progress.

Warm Up:  The usual with coach Shifu.  Seems like we’re all a little sore today.  As a side note, I don’t know how or why, but walking lunges TOTALLY just clicked for me today.  I didn’t fall over once, my back knee lightly tapped the ground, my knees stayed out… is it possible that I just woke up and figured out how to do these?

Mobility:  Triceps mashing.  OUCH.  I’ve never done that before.  I think I’m going to have to do it every day because it hurts so good.

SWOD: Front Squats 5×5
1×10 @ 33
1×5 @ 53
1×5@63
1×4@ 73- failed last rep
2×5@ 63

So I did “Sally” during my lunch break, and my quads were very aware of it.  As a result, I kept feeling like I was getting stuck in the hole on my squats.  I should have had 73, and probably even 83 for a set of 5 no problem, but I just didn’t today.

Which is ok.  Not every day is a PR.  But the girl I was partnered with is one of the newer graduates and she was AWESOME!  She got to 103 and I’m not sure she even realized how much she was lifting until I told her.  It’s always great to see the look on someone’s face when they realize how much they just squatted.  Fun times.

WOD:
1 shuttle run (row for 5 cals)
5 slam balls
2 shuttle run (row for 10 cals)
10 slam balls
3 shuttle run (row for 15 cals)
15 slam balls
4 shuttle run (row for 20 cals)
20 slam balls

Time: 8:something? w/20 lbs ball

This was so. Much. Fun.  The only thing that kinda sucked was that everyone was shuttle running outside and I was rowing by myself inside, which meant I was on my own for motivation with this workout.

I love rowing (minus the NASTY blister I have on my hand right now from it), and I actually really like slam balls too.

By the end of this workout my quads were SCREAMING and I was pretty much completely gassed.  Luckily, that was right as everyone was finishing up and coming back inside.  I got a little cheering crew for my last 5 reps, and I needed it by that point.

Fun fun WOD.  I honestly wasn’t even *that* upset that I couldn’t run.

Sally Can Suck It

 

I must be a glutton for punishment, because when a friend of mine linked me to this video, I knew I had to try this workout.

I guess I should have considered that Jason Khalipa and Miranda Oldroyd practically collapse at the end, so for me, it might be a bit challenging.

Heck, I DID consider that.  Which is why for my first round I did it without any weight.

Air squats people.

And by the end of the song, I decided.  Sally is not a nice girl.  Sally is a down and up slut.  And she can suck it.

Watch the video, then try the workout.  Rules are simple.  Down is down.  Up is up.  Rx 135/95.

Let me know how you do.

9.25.2013

Hit the 5:30 p.m. class.  Yay for going after work and not just skipping all together!  It’s possible that Coach calling us out on facebook again today hit home for me and was what solidified my coming in.

Warm Up:  The usual.  Coach Shifu was leading the class today, which always results in some great conversation and commentary.  He recently went skydiving and the beard (seriously kids, JUST like Shifu’s) made for an interesting video.

Mobility:  Foam rolling, T spine with LX ball, hip mobility with green band.

The hip stuff was… er… hilarious.  I mean, it was a good stretch and I got the point, but it’s always interesting to rub your lady bits all up on a band, and then “switch” with someone who does the same.

Man I hope they soak those things in sanitizer at least once a week.

WOD:
3 RFT
400m run (or 500m row)
21 KB swings
12 ring dips

Time: 14:45 with row, 25 lb bell and green band on dip station

I can officially say, I like WOD’s with rowing.  As painful at my foot injury is, its nice that my alternate activity is something that I enjoy and don’t completely suck at.  I’m actually positive that I row 500m faster than I would run 400.

This was a challenge, and I was last to finish in the class, but it all felt great.  My form stayed good throughout (I tend to get a little sloppy with my swings when I get tiered), so I was happy with that.

The only note to myself- I need the green band if I use the rings, but if I use a dip station I can definitely use a blue one instead.  The dips were almost too easy until the last rep or two of every set.

I left last night without remembering my goals that I set up earlier this week, so I didn’t work on either skill.  Doh!  I will not make that mistake again, I won’t achieve them if I don’t work on them!

It’s as romantic as two women punching eachother in the face

Which anniversary is the one where you’re supposed to give blood?

For hubs and I, it will be this one.  I mean, it won’t be MY blood.  Others will be sacrificing it in our honor.  We’ll be like, Roman emperors or something.  I’ll have to work on my accent.  And my toga.

But I digress.

I am officially the proud owner of two tickets to UFC 168 in VEGAS!   The fight is on December 28, which happens to be our wedding anniversary.  We have long wanted to go to Vegas for the New Year, and when the Weidman vs Silva and Rousey vs Tate fights were announced, it was the deciding factor.

How cool is my husband that, rather than buy me jewelry, I get sweat and combat.

I live a very charmed life.

That’s what I get for putting my bum in the air

I’m pretty sure I got hit on at Globo Gym today.  That, or he was hitting on my hot friend Blondie and I just happened to get lumped into his flirtatious mix.

I’ve been married for 10 years.  Unless they bang me over the head with a club and drag me off to their cave, it’s unlikely I’ll realize when I’m being flirted with until well after the fact unless they’re being pretty darn blatant about it.

So yeah, it’s safe to say, we got hit on.

Blondie and I were getting our lunchtime sweat on and the dude made a comment about how he kept watching us because we had “such great form,” or something like that.

Mind you, half of what we were doing involved being bent over with our bums in the air, so yeah, I’m sure it was our form he was watching.

I’m naturally a pretty confident person so the comment didn’t phase me all that much, but I have to admit for the rest of our workout I was aware of where this dude was, and was more conscious of not making girly grunt noises than usual.

I can’t remember the last time I felt this way working out.  I actually felt self conscious.

When I think back to my fitness routine pre-Crossfit, I honestly don’t think I ever went in the “boys” section of the gym.  I might have used a handful of the weight machines, but usually got my exercise fix with cardio.  When I started Crossfit, I remember having to be shown everything.  Something as simple as how to rack the weights, use the collars, remove the weight plates or even how to carry the barbell were simply things I didn’t know.

The amazing thing is, I learned from the people around me.  Not only that, but not once was I made to feel stupid or made to feel like the dude (or girl) showing me had anything but friendly intentions.

While we may joke and say not so appropriate things to each other now that I know everyone much better, I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever been hit on at Crossfit.

And I love that.

I feel like every day I’m a part of my Crossfit community is a day that I discover something new I love about it.  This is so much more than just exercise, and something as silly as a flirty guy at the regular gym reminds me why I love leaving my “ego at the door and sweat on the floor” every day with people who are in it for the same thing I am… to just be better.

Goal 1: Set some goals

After a week off, I went back to my beloved Crossfit today.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it.  I would also be lying if I said that I had done nothing but lay around lazily and be a slob.

Yes, I was a week out of the box, but I still rode and lifted weights at a “normal gym” and actually really enjoyed the routine.  It was fun doing push/pull/legs days and being one of the only girls in the weight room.  It was exciting doing my own programming.  I even surprised myself by sticking some stuff in there that I hate (burpees and plank rows anyone?)

I didn’t take the week off on purpose, but in hindsight I’m really glad I did.  It’s amazing what we learn about ourselves when we’re not even trying.

Coach sent me a text on Saturday telling me my CF family missed me and that I needed to come back to the box and keep working towards my goals.  Great motivation.  When I arrived bleary eyed and not in the mood to talk to ANYONE this morning he came over and welcomed me back.

Then, in his total “dude” language he said something pretty profound.  “You told me what you goals are six months ago and I’m here to help hold you accountable.  I’m here to help you achieve them.”

Half asleep and crabby I’m pretty sure I snapped at him that I didn’t need a lecture and told him to bug me some other time.

But now, hours later and fully conscious, his comment is really with me.  I think everyone struggles with lapses in motivation, which is why goal setting is so important.  You might not want to get out of bed, or show up and do work that day, but you will always ALWAYS want to achieve your short and long term goals.

So what are mine?

Um, I must have had some right?  If coach knows what they are then surely they exist.  But in my unmotivated of late state, I don’t really remember what they are.

Lose weight of course, always first and foremost for me, but to be successful I probably need to put more thought into it than that.  And I’m sure there’s some performance related ones out there somewhere…

And now it’s clear to all of us, I don’t really have any goals.  I know I’ve blogged from time to time about improving on certain skills and whatnot, but I’ve never actually done much with it.

The time for that is over.  So I introduce you to… da da da daaaaaa… the newly added “Goals”  page here on the site.  It will be ever changing for certain, but I will spend some time today populating it with short and long term goals, action steps and timelines.

So hold me accountable!  Cheer me on!  And like my amazing coach, feel free to remind me when my actions aren’t exactly supporting the goals that I’ve committed to reaching.

**Note- Yeah, there’s going to be weightloss stuff on there.  Please spare me any lectures about “ignoring the number on the scale.”  I get it, I really do.  But at this point, I have weight to lose.  Sure, if I lose 10 pounds and love everything about the size and shape of my body I might decide that I don’t want to achieve the full goal I’ve set, but let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.  I have a pretty good idea of what my body looks like at many different weights, and I’m taking into account the fact that I have significantly more muscle than I ever have before.