Six weeks down!

Today was a really hard workout for me.  I had looked at the WOD before I got there and wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it.  My arms and legs were already tired from the other workouts this week and 150 wall balls sounded impossible!  The warm up was a 200m run, several body rows, ring dips (I did push ups), and wall squats with another 200m run at the end.  Then we had 20 minutes to get our 1RM clean and jerk.  I was surprised with myself because I did 100 pounds!!!  We had a 3 minute rest before we started "Karen" (150 wall balls) for time.  I used a 6 pound medicine for this. My mind really wasn't in this today because I really didn't think I was going to be able to finish this workout.  I thought this before I even started it and as we got closer to starting it I started to dread it even more.  I did ok for the first 20, but after that I struggled.  I had to take several breaks over the course of the 150.  My arch in my foot was killing me so much that I ended up taking off my shoes about half way through.  My knees were hurting almost the entire time but I wasn't going to let them stop me (I mean they hurt most days anyway)!  At 92 wall balls I really had a mental break where I thought I wasn't going to finish.  I told myself that if I made it to 100 I was doing good.  This is why I go to Crossfit---there were about five or six people crowded around me telling me that I could do it.  I kept telling them that I wasn't sure I was going to finish.  Not one of them would hear of it!  They kept telling me to just take it in small steps, so I went in reps of seven.  Slowly I made it to the 150 mark.  On the last set of seven I just concentrated on several of the people cheering me on that were counting down those final wall balls for me! I finished in 15:39!  I can't believe I actually did it!!!!  If I had just been doing this by myself of at a regular gym I would have never finished!  I heard one of the guys telling me it was mind over matter, and I knew he was right, because my mind just wanted to quit!  I was tired and sore after I finished but the feeling of accomplishment from doing a 100 pound clean and jerk and 150 wall balls made it ALL worth it! I am so truly blessed to have found Crossfit2l2q!

My arms are SOOO tired!

I thought I was going to be really sore from the two workouts yesterday, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too bad!  The black cherry I've been taking is really working!  The workout tonight was tough though. The warm up was a 500m row and two rounds of 5 body rows, 10 push ups, and 20 walking lunges. My knee hurt a little on the walking lunges but it wasn't too bad. Then we had 20 minutes to get our 1RM in snatches. I struggled a bit because, for some reason, I don't want to use my legs...I only use my arms. By the end I was doing pretty good and lifted 85#. I felt pretty good about that weight :) Then we started the regular WOD: 3 rounds of 1 minute max row, 1 minute max hand stand push ups (I just did regular push ups), 1 minute max row again, 1 minute max chest to bar (I did body rows), and finally one minute of rest. After the first round I thought my arms were completely dead. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do anything else! But, Travis, James, and Charles were there to make sure none of us gave up. They were pushing until the last second. At the end all I could hear was James saying I had 5 more seconds of body rows and I could do 2 more...and I did it!  If I was working out on my own I would have quit after the first round (or maybe before that) but having people there to push me got me to the end!
One more day of workout this week and then I'm off to see my family at the beach!  I am planning on working out while I am there though. I'm  going to try and get my sister to join me for a workout too!

Two workouts today!

I was off from work today for Columbus Day.  Because I will be missing Thursdays WOD to go out of town I thought today would be a good day to make up the workout. I went to the 11:45am class and did the regular WOD and then went back at 4:15 for another WOD.
 In the morning class I felt really good about my performance. It started out with a 400m run.  This was the first time I have been able to run the whole thing!  It felt awesome to be able to finally do that!  I came back in and started three rounds of five body rows, ten burpees, and fifteen air squats. I was tired after all that but that was just the warm up!  We did some stretches and started the strength part of the WOD. It was five reps of five back squats. I ended up doing 115#! The regular workout was three rounds of ten power snatches and fifteen lateral "over the box" jumps (I did lateral step overs instead of the jumps) for time. I did 55# in the power snatches today (I am still struggling with this lift). I finished in 5:45. Not too bad.
When I asked Travis if I could come back this afternoon he told me I couldn't do the same WOD because overdoing it is the way you get hurt. He said that he would come up with an exercise for me to do. I did a 400m row to start off. Then I started the WOD:10 minute AMRAP of ten knees to elbows and twenty sit ups. This was tough!  He had told me he was going to come up with a workout to work my core...and he did!  I ended up doing 4.5 rounds in the ten minutes. It felt more like 20 rounds though. Then I did 1000m row for time. I didn't do too bad on this even though I did have to pause a few times. I ended finishing in 5:56.
I feel really good about today. The bad days that I have are so worth going through to have the really good ones!  I did some stuff today that I never thought I'd be able to do like run 400m without stopping or back squat 115#!  I'm glad that I decided to do the extra WOD today because it just shows me that I am stronger than what I think.

Just being really honest...

All of my posts on here are honest, but today I almost didn't post because I thought it might be too negative. I decided to post because no one has all good days and I do want to be able to look back on this day and learn from it. That said, I felt like I had a pretty bad day today. I rowed 400m for the first part of warm up. I did 3 rounds of 3 body rows, 6 step ups, and 9 overhead squats. The first part of workout was 7 power snatches with a minute rest in between. I did 55#, but I'm pretty sure I could have done more. I'm not sure why I didn't add more weight. Maybe I was just scared I wouldn't be able to do it. Next was the main part of workout. We paired up, Kesha was my partner. We did 20m of overhead walking lunges and then a 4 minute max row. Kesha went first and she did really well. Then I started, and even after the second walking lunge I was frustrated!  My arms hurt from carrying the 25# weight above my head and my knee was hurting. Seriously??  This is the end of week 5 and my body acts like it is week one!  I didn't want to let Kesha down because she had given it all she had. Half way through I couldn't hold the weight above me anymore so I just held it at my chest for the rest of the time. Each step got harder because my knee was hurting. I wasn't going to quit. I was already doing a modified version of the lunge because I wasn't putting my knee all the way to the ground. I made it through the lunges and started rowing. I'm not sure what happened but about a minute in I started breathing REALLY heavy. I got Kesha to get my inhaler (thank goodness I had brought it). I took a puff and started back. I know people say "well at least you didn't quit", but I was and am pissed about how I did. I finished the row (792m). Kesha was great the entire time. She kept telling me that I was doing good. I told her that I was sorry but she wasn't mad or frustrated with me. I think I was madder and more frustrated with myself than anyone else. Why doesn't my body want to get better?  When I got home I topped off the night by stepping on a scale...I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't help myself. Well, I have lost two pounds!  I shouldn't have gotten on the scale. I know that I do feel better than I did before I started Crossfit, but I just wish the numbers reflected that. I did cry a little just out of frustration. I'm not planning on quitting Crossfit at all!  I'm just MAD!  Monday will be better.

Sled pushing is hard

I am not a morning person, but I did go to the 5:30am workout today.  On Wednesday's I have a Bible Study at night so if I am going to workout I have to go in the morning.  Today was a tough one.  My left knee had started hurting in the last reps from yesterday's workout, but I didn't think much about it because it hurts most days.  It was still hurting this morning so I did a 400m row instead of the run for the warmup.  We did some agility exercises in the warmup and I was ok except for the duck walk.  We did some stretches---which were pretty painful today, and then started the workout.  The workout was five rounds of  20m sled pushes (down and back) and 200m medicine ball sprints with a 3 min. rest in between rounds.  Travis told me I could just go to the road and back instead of the 200m.  My knee started really hurting during the first  sled push and run.  I did the second sled push and I really didn't feel like I could go on.  My knee was KILLING me.  Travis walked with me to the road and back.  The whole time he was telling me how good I was doing.  I told him I was sorry and he said that I had nothing to be sorry about--it is an injury.  As I was walking back I could hear Mary and Heather telling me I was doing a good job.  Travis told me I could do a 150m sprint on the row machine and then walk to the road and back instead of the regular routine.  I finished the rounds, not happy with my performance, but glad I didn't just quit.  We came in and finished up by doing 3 rounds of 9 toes to bar (or knees to elbow for me), L sits, and 21 abmat situps.  Today was a tough day but these are the situations when I know exactly why I keep coming back to Crossfit each day.  I am getting stronger each day, and I have support when I am struggling through a WOD.  While I was rowing I had Charles, James, and Travis telling me that I was doing good, and at the end I had the people that had done the WOD telling me that I did good (when they actually did the real workout).  I am really sore, but I will get some rest tonight and will be back at it tomorrow!

"The Chief" is a hard workout!

"The Chief" was our workout tonight, and it was tough!  We warmed up and then did the strength part of our workout. This part was a dead lift every minute on the minute for ten minutes. You go up in weight each lift, and I ended with 95# (not that bad). I was already a little tired from the dead lifts when we started the regular workout. It was five rounds of 3minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of 3 power cleans, 6 push ups, and 9 squats with a 1 minute break in between rounds!  I did 65# on the power cleans. Travis had told me to do 55# but I messed up when I was putting the weights on and by the time Travis told me I just really didn't feel like changing the weights. The power clean is something that I struggled a lot with last Thursday and when I heard what we were doing I wasn't too excited. Travis looked at me right before the first round and told me to have a good attitude about it. That brought me back to the right place because I knew that if I had the same attitude about it today that I did last week I was going to have a bad workout. I ended up doing much better on the lifts tonight. I'm not going to lie though, even by the second round I wasn't sure I was going to make it all five rounds. Travis and Charles were there the whole time to encourage all of us as we were trying to dig deep to finish. As I was leaving the box tonight I thought about the fact that I tell myself that "I can't" do a lot of things before I even try. I'm going to try really hard to phase that phrase out of my vocabulary. I know it will be hard because I have been telling myself those words for years, but Crossfit has taught me that "I can" do a lot of things I never thought I would be able to do. I'm really sore tonight, but it was worth it!

Tough but good night

I went into Crossfit tonight knowing that the WOD was going to be tough, but I was excited to see how much I could do. I was tired after the warmup of kettle bell swings, walking lunges with weights, and kettle bell squats!  The next part was front squats and push presses. We got to partner up (I like it when we get to work with buddies), and Katherine was my buddy. We did seven rounds of front squats and push presses and went up in weight almost every time. James was there to make sure we were getting the most out of the workout by adding weight (even though we didn't really want to sometimes). We finished by push pressing 85#!  I was pretty impressed with myself but James said that was too easy and I could have gone up more in weight! Haha Then came the workout...4 rounds of 15 Thrusters and a 400m run (I rowed 200m instead of the run). Katherine and I lifted the 45# bar for the Thrusters. That was heavy enough because by the 4th round I wasn't sure I was going to be able to lift it once let alone 15 times!  The thing at Crossfit is that even when you don't think you can do anymore there are people there to assure you can.  I like working with Katherine because she is a really good source of support. We cheered each other on during the workout even though we were both tired. While she was doing her last 400m run I was starting my last 15 thrusters. I wasn't really sure if I was going to make it through them because I was so tired. Travis and James were there the whole time encouraging me. Because of them I almost got through all fifteen without pausing once!  I am sore and I am tired, but I feel like I accomplished a lot today!