Hope WOD, CrossFit Cures

Saturday, July 6 - CrossFit gyms and athletes around the world participate in a CrossFit Cures event. This year the event raised money for St. Jude's. Members performed the same WOD, called Hope, raising money for the organization in the process. CrossFit Cochise, added to this and honored a very special little boy, Brendon, who at age 5 lost his battle with brain cancer and was a St. Jude's kid. The nephew of one of our members, he loved the color orange, so we all wore orange on Saturday. CrossFit Cochise also encouraged non-members to participate, either by running or walking a 5k or sponsoring an athlete.

The WOD was a hard one. For one minute each, you preform five exercises, and then rest for 1 minute. You do this three times. Steven and I did this together at the 9 o'clock time slot and we, as always, had a great time with our friends, feeling like our workout was making a difference in the world.

Here was the breakdown: (Steven/Rebecca)
Burpees
Power Snatch 75#/55#
Box Jumps 24"/20" step-ups
Thrusters 75#/55#
Chest-to-bar Pull-ups/assisted with black band

Steven did a total of 185 repetitions  and I did 150. We were both really happy with that and totally exhausted afterwards.

         

The Girls of CrossFit

No, I'm not talking about my girlfriends, I'm talking about the workouts that are named after girls. Why? As one guy stated, "Because if you are going to end up laying on the floor after a workout, its nice to know it was named after a woman."

Here are the girl workouts, and here are my times on them. I hope to get each one in by the end of 2013 so I can improve drastically in 2014.

Keep in mind this chart is generally scaled for men, so the women's chart will be a bit lower on scaled weight.

I try to hit everything Prescribed (Rx) but on some things its just not possible yet. My goal is to get everything Rx, which will of course mean nailing the kipping pull-ups soon, and then improve rapidly on time.

I like the idea of the Just Yo' Body workouts as travel days or off days from the gym.


Mix it Up:
Jackie (May 31) 14:12; box pull-ups
Fran (May 9) 7:25; 45# Thrusters, box pull-ups
Elizabeth (June 28) 13:37, 95#; pull-ups instead of ring dips due to shoulder, green and blue bands

Nancy (June 25): 22:22, 10#; due to shoulder

Lynne (June 24)  71 reps, 85#, black band for pull-ups

Get Heavy: 
Linda (May 14) 42:49; 145# Deadlifts, 75# bench press, 85# cleans
Grace (May 1) 10:42, 75#
Isabel (May 7) 4:00, 45#

July 2013

Tomorrow starts July. I really can't believe half of 2013 is now behind us. The second half will bring lots of amazing things: kindergarten for Declan among them. Half of the summer is also behind us now. Where does time go? I've absolutely enjoyed all the good that 2013 and living in Arizona has brought to us and I can't wait to see what is coming next.

Since I ran my half-marathon in early March, running has been put on the back burner. I started weight lifting in March and Steven and I started CrossFit in May. This month, I plan to find a balance between running and CrossFit (and the rest of my life). My mileage goal for July is 30 miles. And I want to run 3 times a week.

I plan to start July off right by participating in a Virtual Run on July 4th. The proceeds will benefit The Wounded Warrior Project and I get this cool medal. This will be my 6th race of the year, which means I have 7 more until I've earned my "13 in 13" medal. Too easy.

Seems totally doable, especially because in January and February I was hitting 50 miles. But, its all about starting to get back into the rhythm and training again. I have a pretty full fall/winter race season and I'd like to be very ready to go.

I think that I can continue going to CrossFit 5-6 times a week while running 3 times a week. July is busy for us, but my work schedule isn't extreme. Even on the weeks that I do work, I only work 3 days.   We shall see how the balance goes and I will continue to tweak the number of WODs I do with the steady increase of miles as I train for my fall half-marathons. I know I can find a balance and still enjoy both.

Whole 30: Day 6

Day 6 did not go as well as planned. But I'm accepting that its ok.

Breakfast was great, scrambled eggs with sausage and a decaf coffee with almond milk. We spent the morning on chores, cleaning Declan's room and building his bunk beds. Lunch was a slight "cheat." I made the kids waffles and was so tempted. I resisted that temptation and instead had Cascadian Farms Organic Granola with almond milk.

I went to a Foundations Class at the gym and spent almost two horus working on squats. We did a lot of work on form and then did a workout.

3 Rounds for time:
25 Air Squats
20 Front Squats (45#)
10 Overhead Squats (35#)
I did it in 11:25 and boy are my legs SORE!

By the time we got home after that it was almost 4pm. I was tired, kids were tired, and so we got pizza for dinner. It was loaded with veggies which is better than nothing. I took it one step further and had some beer.

After feeling guilty for a little while  I decided that one "bad" meal a week is not the end of the world. Really, its ok. I felt great all week, and that "diet" is totally maintainable IF I let myself have some things I enjoy in moderation as well.

Day 7 will start me back on the Whole 30, or at least the version I've been doing.

Whole 30: Day 5 (HALFWAY DONE!)

Yes, I know the point is doing 30 days, but right now, my goal is 10. I plan to then see how I do on my own. I've been very happy so far, so I think it will be easy to keep on track. Anyway, Day 5, one full of temptations, but I stuck to my plan.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs with sausage, made by my wonderful husband. I then met the girls for some Starbucks mid-morning and succumbed to the temptation of getting the new Valenica Orange Refresher. Its definitely the most healthy drink on the menu, as its fruit and water. And, it was really good!

For lunch, I made Cold Avocado and Crab Soup. I found the recipe in my Runner's World magazine. I was hesitant as it comes out really green, but it was good! We both enjoyed it, which is good, because there are leftovers.

This afternoon we went bowling with some of Steven's co-workers. We were hungry and didn't plan well, so we had to get something there. We made the best out of it and got some sweet potato fries and a burger with avocado and bacon. I ate my half of the burger without the bun so I felt good about that.

Tonight at CrossFit was fun and challenging. I was looking forward to the workout, which involved cleans, but I wasn't looking forward to the mental breakdown I knew would come. Cleans are a very mental lift for me. Today I broke through just a little bit. The workout's name was Elizabeth and it consists of 21 reps of cleans, 21 reps of ring dips, then 15 reps of each, then 9 reps of each.

The prescribed weight is 95# for women and 135# for men. I was able to get 95# for the first 13 reps of the first round. After that I dropped down to 85#. I also wasn't able to do ring dips due to a sore rotator cuff, so I did pull-ups 15 the first round, then 10, then 5. I completed the whole workout in 13:37. Not as fast as I wanted, but respectable.

For dinner I grilled up the last of the eggplant and ate the leftover pork chops and mushrooms. It was yummy. Day 5 was good, Day 6 will be better.

Whole 30: Day 4

So, I cheated a little bit on the morning of Day 4. No, nothing food related, I cheated with the scale. I desperately wanted to know what was going on with the weight changes and I'm so glad I did! I'm down 2.6 pounds from when I started. It was definite motivation to keep on going!

I started off the day with my usual scrambled eggs and added the nitrate free sausage I had prepared the night before. I mixed up another almond milk smoothie, this time with half a banana and some strawberries.

I struggled with finding something for lunch, as it was hot and I was tired. The tuna fish and avocado from Wednesday sounded really good, so I made another serving of that.

I sliced another cantaloupe for my snack and took about 1/4 of that in for my 3pm energy boost.

I had prepared Paleo Chicken Curry a month ago and defrosted it and put it in the crock pot for dinner.

Since we took Wednesday off, we went into the gym and did the most horrible workout ever.

Bethesda
15 minutes, as many rounds as possible

25 Double Unders (ratio was 4:1 for singles)
10 Burpee to Broad Jumps

I completed only 3 rounds and all of the single jump ropes for the 4th round. This WOD was hard. My shoulder was sore on the burpees, my feet were sore from my heels and then jumping. Ugh.

BUT, I DID IT. And the part of CrossFit that applies here is practicing what you dislike or are bad at to make it your strength.

After the workout, I did 3 sets of 5 pull-ups on the green band for the first set (which takes away 65# of your body weight) and the last two sets with the green and red band (taking away a total of 90#).

I had some celery, carrots, and red peppers with a homemade avocado dip for a late night snack.

Another good day. Almost half-way through my 10 days.

Whole 30: Day 3

Today was another good day for good food. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs and salsa, which Steven carefully inspected the label on yesterday so it passed the test. I also mixed up another decaf coffee, almond milk, banana shake for my mid-morning snack.

Lunch was tuna fish and an avocado. You'd think I would soon tire of avocados, but I haven't yet. I love them in all forms.

I brought some cantaloupe for a snack but didn't get a chance to eat it until I was on the way home. Then I created a nice, colorful, healthy dinner.

Grilled pork chops with mushrooms, served with sweet potato fries and steamed broccoli. Miraculously, the children ate dinner today! And it was wonderful. And, we both have lunch ready for tomorrow.

I'm really surprised at how I'm not hungry. The reason I fail at every single diet I've tried is because I'm hungry. With this, I'm not at all. I'm usually reaching for a snack about 4pm, especially on the days I'm heading to the gym, but that's it. And, after dinner, I'm fine until the next day.

This isn't something I would want to do for the rest of my life, but it is something I could maintain most days. So, three days down, and 7 more until my 10 days are up. At that point I'll reevaluate and perhaps reintroduce some foods.

*Today was a rest day for both of us. We needed some time to heal sore shoulders, and some additional time with the kiddos this evening. It was well worth it.