Progress Update and Goals

Since it’s my 1st post in the new year, I thought I’d share yet another progress update report as well as some goal for the upcoming year. I don’t do resolutions because I don’t believe in them, but goals, I can do!

What has the past 2 1/2 years of my life have looked like? Well, in numbers, it has looked like this:

 

Not much change in size and weight since my 1st Whole30, but the fact that I have maintained the progress for the past 6 months is something new for me. I have felt myself slip up from my healthy eating habits and have reeled myself back into them by doing a second round of Whole30 back in November-December and it has paid off.

In terms of what I look like now vs then, well, here it is:

My biceps have finally made an appearance and I can see a faint shadow of upper abs starting to shoe as well. The most dramatic changes remain my back and my butt and I have to say, I love all the ripples created by new muscles on my back. I may have lost “only” 11 lbs, but I know I’ve lost more fat that I have replaced with muscles and I’m very happy with where I’m at today!

In terms of goals, I have a few that I have rolled over from year to year, but the list is getting smaller now and I will focus on these 2 for a bit:

• Consistently managing at least 20 DUs in a row
• 10 TTB without getting off the rig

The Open is coming fast upon us and it’s made me realize that 2 1/2 year into my crazy fitness adventure, I shouldn’t be struggling with my DUs anymore. So I’m working on them and doing drills to prepare for the open. TTB are a consistent part of my warm-ups and my max so far is 3. Much better than 0 last year for the Open, if I do say so myself! 😉

This morning was back to school for the little ones and back to work for Ben, which meant back to the crazy morning rush of getting everybody ready and out the door in time, cleaning up the house and getting myself to Class for 0930. I was pretty excited because I saw this on the WOD website last night:

Source

I sure love me some deadlifts! Lol! I don’t know if I like deadlifting or squatting more, but those are definitely my favourite top two lifts! It shows too! I have added 80# to my back squat (from 65# to 145# last week) and 75# to my deadlift (from 85# to 160#) and 70# to my front squat (from 45# to 115#). This BabyMama’s got booty and apparently, I know how to use it!

Here’s what I did today:

Skill: Deadlift 5×5 E90s

I started at 120 and increased by 5# for every round, finishing up at 140#. Not too bad considering my 1RM deadlift is 160# (back in August 2014). I’d be curious to re-test this as I have a feeling I could maybe get heavier. 5 x 140# felt good today and it felt like I could have gone heavier on those as well.

WOD: Gritty

I was excited to see it was mostly bodyweight stuff for today, but I knew it would be a lot of work. I managed to do RX, but some people who were doing the Comp Prep still managed to beat my time. It’s all good though as I was cautious on the BJ and I managed to do all of them RX! I didn’t do any step ups. I also managed to do most of the burpees RX as well, with maybe 5-6 granny-style to catch my breath. I finished in 7:50 and I was pretty happy with that, even though that still puts me way after everyone else. After those heavy DL, my legs got sore fast and my plan of attack went out the window very quickly once I started the WOD. I really wanted to do all exercises with only a break in the middle point, but I had to take way more breaks than anticipated. It’s ok though, I’m ok with that.

I then talked to Coach Caileigh about the Open and what to do about registration. I know for a fact that I will have to miss one of the WODs because we have a planned vacation in a remote area for March break and I’m just not willing to drive for 3.5hrs in order to kill myself compete and drive back afterwards. So unless an affiliate miraculously opens up in that neck of the woods between now and February, I will score a big fat “0” for 16.4 and that is ok with me. It’s not like I’m going anywhere fast, but it’s always nice to keep track of progress!

So Close I Can Taste It

I’m tired. I have been on mommy duty by myself since Friday and I’m pooped. The girls are good, but I’m exhausted and trying to get the last-minute purchases done for the girls while I am married-single-parenting is exhausting. Thank goodness I had planned ahead and booked Nanny to the rescue for today. She came in just in time for me to go to Crossfit and since she was curious about the whole thing, we packed everybody in the car and Béa and Nanny came to watch me workout!

I did my usual solo warm-up and then I went onto the rig to try some TTB. I managed the usual 2 and went for an extra one and managed this one as well! I got greedy and tried for a 4th, but no luck. Still, a PR during the warm-up was nice! I teased Rob about it on Facebook (we have a bet as to whom will get to 10 TTB first. Although, now that I think of it, I don’t think we’ve ever established what the winner gets… Rob, if you’re reading, I say bragging rights!) and then moved onto the team warm-up:

Source

I teamed up with Marie who recently graduated from the OnRamp and since we’re about the same height, I figured it would take us similar time to get through the erg.

 

Skill: Back Squat 5×3 E90s

I was trying to PR on this one and go for 140#. It would have been a 5# PR. It didn’t happen, but I was close and considering I was still feeling my new depth at the bottom of the squat, it felt REALLY good. I felt strong, more able to keep my chest up and didn’t feel like I was “butt-stripping” getting out of the squat. Here was my progression:

120#-125#-130#-135#-140# (managed 1 rep and bailed coming out of my 2nd).

I think there was a lot happening for me on these:

1. I was seeing stars coming up from my 1st rep @ 140# and I didn’t take a long enough pause to breathe and recoup at the top
2. I was in my head a lot. I knew that if I managed to do this today, I was literally 5# away from my bodyweight back squat and I’ve been chasing this one for close to 2 years now. My heart was pumping fast and I could tell I was in a hyper mode.

I may not have PR’d my 5×3 and I don’t have a 1RM, but I’m confident that 140# was an amazing 1RM for me! The fact that I felt so good and strong during my reps gave me a ton of confidence. Also, being able to bail out of the lift safely made me feel good too. It’s nice to know that I not only have the technique to do my lifts in a safe manner, but I also have the knowledge to get out of them if I can’t complete a rep.

WOD: 4 Hundred

I paired up with Marie again and even though she was doing the FG+, I firmly believe that we both were working equally hard at it. I decided to try this one RX and it did not disappoint! I started us off on the wallballs because, well, in all honesty, I just wanted to get them done and over with! Lol! We broke them up in sets of 10 and I then had to break my sets into 2×5, pretty early in the game. Marie was doing squats while holding the med ball because of shoulder issues, which meant that she was done a lot quicker for her sets and I had less time to recover. She was nice enough to get us started on the push-ups and surprisingly to me, I was really struggling through those. We both did them all RX and Marie was so strong and straight throughout them all, I was super impressed! We split them up into sets of 5.

I took over for the reverse lunges and I was apprehensive about those as any split movement is usually what gives me sciatic pain. I tried my best to brace my deep abdominals and so far, *knocks on wood*, no butt pain! We split those up into 10s and got through them fairly quick.

I started us off for the Plates ground to overhead and it was my 1st time using the 25# plate for those. They felt really strong. It felt like I was really able to keep the plate close to my body and really use my hips to get it overhead. There were two reps towards the end where I struggled to get the plate to actually touched the ground, but even if we finished last, I felt really good about our work today.

Once I was done, I clean dup quickly in the bathroom and BeZU, Nanny and I were off to hit the stores. I managed to find one item on the girls’ Santa list and I was happy with that. I hid my purchases in the trunk and Béa was none the wiser.

After lunch, we came back home where I finished laundry and relaxed a bit on the couch. We then went to pick-up Rina at themes stop and we trooped everyone to a smaller mall where I was hoping to get the girls’ picture taken with Santa.  I had scoped the hours ahead of time and I knew the big guy was supposed to be there until 5pm. To my surprise, there was nobody in line when we got there. I forked out the $14 for one 5×7 pic (not without some grumbling) and approached the jolly red dude. Béatrice was scared to death and wanted nothing to do with him. She kept hiding behind my legs and I could feel her little body shaking against my leg. I asked Santa if I could sit next to him to warm her up to him and once he said it was fine, she climbed on my lap. I tried to get her to sit on his lap: No. I tried to get her to sit next to him: No. I tried to get her to stand in front of here sister (who was, by then, telling Santa everything she wanted for Christmas): No. In the end, I decided it was going to be a family picture and I got in there with the girls. After all, I wanted them both to have their picture taken, but I wasn’t gonna hang around there forever!

It turned out much better than I thought and at least both girls are smiling. I look like an exhausted, sweaty mom (because I am), but I couldn’t care less!

Once we were done, I went to get the envelope with the picture and noticed there was another sheet in there. At first I thought it was an order sheet to order extras, but when I took it out, I saw this:

Rina, handing Santa a drawing she had done

I was so unaware that the photographer had taken this one and I was really touched that she had included it in the envelope. I thanked her profusely and we all went on our merry way home, where we had dinner, I bathed everyone, made lunches for tomorrow, took my work clothes out and now, I’m about to make myself a cup of broth with my hot water bottle on my back and do my version of #NetflixandChill which is #Netflixandbroth 🙂

 

When You PR Your Bad Day!

Got woken up by Rina slapping me in the face at 0500! Slept in until 0600, feeling exhausted after two challenging days at work. I am currently transitioning into a new position and assuming my new role has proven to be testing. I think I’m doing ok though, it’s just different to step from bedside nursing after 10 years to assume a more managerial position.

Got the little ones ready for school and got ready for the Box. On my way downstairs with the empty laundry baskets, I was telling Béa to be careful in the staircase and missed the last step myself. Baskets went flying, I caught myself just in time and only have a small bruise on my wrist. Seriously universe? I also got a speeding ticket on the way in to Crossfit so that was awesome… NOT. The officer was a bit of a douche so I stopped talking when he told me I wasn’t driving safely after I told him I had seen my speedometer at 60km/h. Seriously, Dude…

I didn’t have time to warm up as well as I wanted to, but I figured the anger from the speeding ticket and adrenaline rushing through my body would do the rest. Plus, Rob was there, so I felt obliged to work on my TTB. I got 2! New PR!

Source

Skill: 1 Hang Clean + 2 front squats x 5 E90s

I was thinking of going up to 90# on those. I know I can squat that weight, but the hang clean would be challenging. Here’s what my reps looked like:

70#-75#-80#-85#-95#

That’s right! I thought, screw it! Get all the anger out and try at 95#. I knew I could do 90#, but I wanted to try to push myself. The hang clean wasn’t pretty at all, but I managed to catch it and then, it was all a matter of doing my 2 squats. Heck yeah! I felt good after that.

WOD: Helen

I had done this one back in April and had used the blue and purple bands for the pull-ups, but the 26#KB. I was a little confused today. I thought we had to do 4 rounds so I used the 35#KB, but the red and blue bands for the pull-ups. My runs felt really slow and I couldn’t believe it when I came back in from my 3rd run and everyone was done. I thought I still had one more round to do. Coach AJ was cheering me on and I mentioned I still had another round to go. She corrected me and confirmed it was only 3 rounds, not 4, and apparently, my face lit up like Christmas had come early!

I finished in 16:38 with a new PR (to me). Looking back, I should have used the blue and purple bands today as well because I was doing C2B. Oh well! I did increase the KB and I really wanted to break them into 11-10 for all sets, but  I just didn’t have it in me on the second round. I did 11-5-5  and on my 3rd round I did 11-6-4.

That’s it for me, I have to go cuddle with Béa before I head in to work for the night!

 

When Your Cheat Meals Cheat You!

Artsy shot I took of the sunrise on our condensation-filled bedroom window this morning

Alright everyone, enough with the artistic distractions. It’s confession time:

My eating hasn’t been on point for the past two weeks and I can definitely feel it in my performance / energy level. I have had pasta, bread and dairy, increasingly more over the past week and it showed up today.

I walked into the Box and felt like I hadn’t been there for 2 weeks. That’s how low my energy level was. Again, I didn’t have high expectations about the skills or the WOD for that matter because I already felt so drained…

I had Béatrice with me and I was a little worried about being able to focus on my stuff with her there, but the Coach AJ parted the skies and brought out the big box of giant Legos! Combined with her snacks, I had a happy, content kid and I was able to really focus on the work to do! Yay for Coach AJ! 🙂

While I was warming up, I managed a very good TTB, followed closely by an almost successful 2nd rep. Rob Black, I’m definitely coming for you! (Rob and I have a friendly competition going: 1st one to manage 10 TTB consecutively. He’s been cheating lots by doing lots of Team comps, so I don’t feel bad at all at practicing my TTB!)

Source

Skill: Back Squat 3×10 E2M

I had gone up to 100# last time on these and managed to get a little higher today with a last set at 105#. My reps were: 95#-100#-105#. The last set was hard, but I tried to keep my chest up as best I could and really keep my knees out as well on the up. I think I managed ok.

WOD: Flash

It was all women except for Mike today and I felt bad for him because we all started talking about bladder leakage and well, he couldn’t really relate, could he? To keep with the topic, I received this email yesterday. My heart always sinks when I get this email from my period-tacking app. Maybe I should just remove the app, but then, how would I track my cycle?

Worst email ever…

Ok, back to Crossfit

This looked like it was going to be easy on paper, but man, it did me in. My quads were pretty beat up from the squats and I had nothing in me. I have been trying to up my weights during the WODs to 65# (I used to do 55# all the time) and I’m not sure if it’s because I was using that weight or because of my less-than-desired nutrition, but I did not do very well on this one, at all! Here were my times for each rounds:

1:41 – 2:00 – 2:11 – 2:11

After my second round, Coach AJ told me to start again at the 5min mark so I could get some rest. It was a blow on the ego for sure, but I had a cutie who kept smiling at me and kept cheering me on with her enthusiastic “Go Maman!, Go maman! so I really didn’t have any other choices than to smile back and pick up the darn barbell back up. Ugh! Kids! Can’t fail in front of them and certainly cannot give up either, because what would I be teaching them then?!?

That’s exactly what I did, I picked up the barbell and managed through my 3rd round. Thank God Coach AJ was there to tell me to pick it back up. I’m honestly not sure I would have otherwise. That was such a hard WOD for me. 3 round wasn’t better so I took until 8mins to rest and then picked it back up for the last round. It was ugly, but I finished it and added my best and worst rounds for a total of 3:52. Before the WOD started, we were joking that I could easily bring this WOD to 10-mins, even though there was a time cap of 8min. See Coach AJ, I told you I would do this one in 10 mins! Lol! Who’s part of the special Crossfit class now?!? I am!

I cleaned up after Béatrice and came back home, ready for a shower.

Sweaty and tired, but yet, I still have to entertain this little munchkin!

Once I was done with the shower, it was time to go get Rina new running shoes as well as a mattress cover for Béatrice’s new mattress. She has now graduated to a big girl bed and we have new furniture for her room as well. I’ve been cleaning bed sheets, etc and my legs still haven’t fully recovered from the skill/WOD. I am very much looking forward to sitting on the couch and not doing anything after the girls have gone to bed. Until then, I mother on and plan on cleaning up that diet of mine (aka working on paleo)! Lol!

 

Beast Mode!

I got up early today to get Rina ready for school and as soon as she got up, she came to our bedroom for a muscle flexing throwdown. That’s her new thing lately, she flexes and show me her big muscles. I think she puts as much tension in her face as she does in her biceps! It kills me every time!

So intense… Beast Mode!

I cropped out the pic in order to avoid child nudity and what you can’t see in the background is my husband in bed, half awake with a look on his face that says “What the …”! also priceless!

We made it to the bus stop in time, but I swear, that bus gets there earlier and earlier everyday! I ran some quick errands and came back home to get ready for the WOD:

I warmed up and decided to try a TTB on the rig. Something magical happened! I managed one rep on my 1st attempt! After 2 years, I could finally √ that one off my goal list! I was so freaking happy, I may have done a cartwheel! I tried to get a second one and it didn’t happen, but still I was pumped!

Source

Skill: (Widowmaker) Back Squat 1×20

I had been texting with Kathleen and she strongly recommended I used 85# for these, even though I was planning on using 78#. Whaddyaknow! Apparently, friends know me better than I know myself since it felt like I sandbagged it a little. I think I could have gone up to 87.5# or even 90#. The last 2 reps were a bit more of a struggle, but otherwise, it was good.

As for the WOD itself, it was a no score one, but I kept a tally of my reps & cals/rounds and here’s what I ended up scaling down to:

• Ring rows: 8-7-7-9
• walking lunges with KB (26#): 11-11-12-13
• L-sits (instead of strict TTB): 7-8-8-8
• Row (cals): 7-7-7-8
• HSPU (from box): 7-8-8-4

On my last round of the HSPU, I didn’t position my hands properly and wasted a lot of time trying to get a rep in, to finally reposition my hands and get going. Oh well, I’ve been on a high ever since I’ve come back home. To look back and reminisce about how frustrated I was 2 years ago to not be able to roll my back on the foam roller because I had no abdominal strength whatsoever, to now finally getting my 1st TTB and doing L-sits is pretty amazing to me. I love how I keep getting stronger and fitter with time by doing Crossfit. I’m so glad I’ve finally found what works for me AND I love doing it and breaking my own limits day in and day out!

I came back home and did some housewifey stuff (food prep for the week, laundry, watched Frozen with Béa and sang the songs with her!, welcomed Rina back from the school bus, you know, the usual!)

Now, I plan on putting the hot water bottle on my back and trying to schedule a chiro appointment (my sciatic has been bugging me for a bit) and see if that could help!

 

Making Progress

I got to “sleep in” this morning until 0600 and went to the 0700 WOD.

When I got there, Zeke was running his class which meant the Box was open and I got more time to warm-up and work on some stuff. The rings were down and I managed to get them high enough to work on my TTB (toes-to-bar). Jessica showed up and she gave me some pointers to work on (mainly, engaging my lats and starting from the back position in order to use the swing aka kip motion as momentum).

Below is what a TTB should look like from the pull-up bar:

Source

I went on the rings and tried to apply her tips. I surprised myself on the first rep when my toes actually touched the rings! First time ever I managed to get my toes up that way since I started Crossfit 21 months ago! I tried a few more times with one more successful rep before I took a little rest. I then went on to the pull-up bar and it was a little harder since I don’t touch the ground at the beginning of my TTB. That means I have to really engage my lats and shoulders to kip myself backwards and forwards in the movement in order to swing my toes up. I didn’t manage a successful rep, but came close. I was pretty happy with having been able to do some on the rings though! 🙂

I warmed-up some more on the Airdyne and then went to work on my pistols down to the bench. I did 10 reps total (5/leg) and it felt good. It was a good indicator as to where to position my ankle on the squat down. Once I was done with my “personal warm-up” it was time for class to begin.

Source

Skill: Deadlift 5 reps, Handstand Pushups 5 reps, alternating E90s x 4 rounds

We were to start with the DL x 5 for the first 90s, then move onto the HSPU for the next 90s. Once that was done, it was 1 round and we were to repeat for 4 rounds. I warmed up my DL at 105# and that’s where I was planning on staying at and really working on keeping that bar touching my legs on the up AND down, but Coach Caleb came by and told me I should go up to 115#. I was a good student and added 2×5# on each side of my bar. For the HSPU, I used 2×5# plates and a yoga block. I tried to remove 1×5# plate on round 2 & 3, but had to put it back on for the last 2 rounds.

WOD: “A Few Minutes with Cindy”

I wasn’t sure what to use for scaling the pull-ups so I grabbed a red and orange bands and went to set up on the bar. I tried one rep with the red band only and managed a rep! I figured I’d leave it at the red band for the WOD and kept the orange band ready to go, but on the side. I knew my reps would be low for the pull-ups, but at least, I would be using less resistance.

3-2-1-Go!

I managed the following reps on my pull-ups: 6-8-8-6

and a total reps for each round: 58-56-59-61

For a total score of 234! Not to bad! I made up some ground in the air squats since my pull-ups were so low and I think I averaged 14-20 HRPU per rounds.

Overall, I was super happy with the work I’ve put in today! Managed a few ring TTB and pull-ups with the red band only!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go be a mom and feed my kiddos some lunch! 😉

PR Day And A Date Night

I had a hard time falling asleep last night after I saw which WOD was awaiting for us in the morning. I was wondering how I should tackle it and was anxious to see if I had gotten any stronger at it. I woke up before my alarm went off and it’s a good thing too because I had forgotten to turn it on!

During my own warm-up, I tried to do TTB on my own, but they still elude me. I really wanted to try them on the rings, but I couldn’t reach any of the rings and it would have taken me too long to set them up for my height. Better luck next time! Here’s what we did:

Source

Skill: Back Squat 5×5 E2M

If you remember, we have done these just last week, but the interval was E90S. I don’t know if it was the longer rest period, but I felt much better doing them today. I even managed a new PR at 110#. I was pacing myself better and even though the last set was hard, I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out like I did last week!  Below are my reps:

90#-95#-100#-105#-110#

WOD: Jackie

The last time I tackled this one was back in February 2014 and I had finished in 13:10 with the following scaling:

• 1000m row
• 50 thrusters at 35#
• 30 pull-ups with red and blue bands

Here’s what I did today:

• 1000m row
• 50 thrusters at 45#
• 30 pull-ups with red and purple bands

We had to have 3 heats for this one because we are limited to 6 ergs and I chose to go in the 3rd heat since I’m so fast on the erg (NOT!)

I was actually impressed with my time on the erg. I finished the 1000m in 4:49 which is pretty good for me considering my very recent 1000m PR was 4:29.0 just earlier this week. I was just trying to keep my pace between 2:25-2:30/500m. Not surprisingly, I was the last one to get off the erg and move onto the thrusters. I felt good doing these and I tried my best to break them into sets of 5, rest the bar on my hips or on my back, then go for 5 more, but more often than not, my second set of 5 had to be broken down into 3 & 2 and then I would drop the bar on the floor.

Then it was on to the rig for the pull-ups. When I first got on the rig, I did 5, then 4 and then kept my sets at 3 reps. It took me a while, but I finished in 14:31 and even though I took longer, it’s a new PR for me since I increased the bar weight to Rx and decreased the resistance in the bands I used. Karen was a huge motivator and she was even holding the block of chalk up for me so I wouldn’t have to get off my box to chalk up (Thanks so much Karen, it saved me some precious seconds!) and Linda was cheering me on. When I was done, Linda said I looked really strong on the pull-ups and I probably could have gone even lower with the bands. I guess I’ll have to try next time! 😉

Now, I’m off to get my hair cut and then, the hubster and I have a date tonight! It feels like it’s been months since we’ve spent some alone time together and I’m very much looking forward to a nice, hot, uninterrupted meal with my love followed by some strolling around downtown! 🙂

Poop Galore

*If you get offended by the word poop or a discussion about poop, you might want to skip reading this one*

Poop. Poop everywhere. Potty training Béatrice and a 5 month-old pup means you clean up a lot of poop and pee. Add to that your job field (NICU RN) and, sometimes, I feel like my days revolve around poop and pee. My patients often pee in their beds, which means having to change linens frequently. Béatrice poops and pees her pants on average once a day, which means hosing her down in the bathtub, rinsing out her clothes and cleaning up the tub. Duke has his good and bad days. Today isn’t a good one. I’ve had to clean 4 different spots on the carpet upstairs. Why can’t he do his business on the hardwood floor downstairs??? Bleh, I’m done with this sh**ty day.

I got up early to go do this:

Source

I had a chat with Coach Caleb about my progress. If you’ve been reading lately, I’ve been kind of doubting my progress and abilities to do certain things at the Box, mainly TTB and pull-ups. I feel like I should at least be able to do 1 rep of these unassisted, but I can’t so I’ve been feeling a bit defeated lately. After talking to Coach Caleb, he feels I’m doing good considering where I started from, the frequency of my attendance and where I’m at in my fat loss. He says I just need to work on double crunches, ring rows, push-ups and such and the TTB and pull-ups will come along as I develop more strength and, hopefully, lose more fat. That made me feel a little better about the whole thing, but it doesn’t mean I’m just going to sit back and relax, I’m going to try my best to put in the time and effort into these goals, I’ll just have to do it on my own, at the playground when I go with the girls. I can rarely stay after the WOD classes as I have to go straight home and help Ben out with the girls and our morning routine, so I’ll have to make it work somehow. Here are some goals I really want to work on for the next following months:

• unassisted pull-ups
• TTB
• unassisted pistol squats
• double unders
• HSPU Rx (without the use of yoga blocks)

Yeah, that will require a lot of work, but I am also very stubborn and determined, so unless there is poop to deal with, I will be working on these! 😉

Skill: Hang Power Snatch 6×3 E90S

I did those at 45# because I really wanted to concentrate on dropping below the bar more than I’m used to and keeping the bar close to my body. I think I managed ok. I felt like I was dropping lower under the bar and it made the lift a tiny bit easier, so I’d say it’s progress.

WOD: Calorow

I teamed up with Tracey and Linda for this one. They are serious Beasts when it comes to the erg. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them, but I set a personal goals to keep my average above 900 cals/500m throughout. I started strong with going close to 1100cals/500m, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain that for all rounds, so I dialled it back a bit on the 2nd round and managed to remain fairly consistent throughout the WOD. I dipped a few times below my goal of 900 cals, but always managed to pull back a little stronger and aim for my goal. We finished with a total of 294 cals in 18 minutes. I was a sweaty mess after that one and hurried on home to do my mom thing.

I have found this workout on the stayfitmom.com website and I plan on doing it sometime over the weekend.

Source

I’m not sure if I should attempt it on Friday after my last night shift or on Sunday, post 15.5… Do I try to do it Friday and risk being sore for Saturday, when I plan on doing 15.5? So many questions, so much strategy!

I also found this on Instagram and it made me laugh!

https://instagram.com/p/0qOEXvtDRF/

 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go rescue my puppy who has been invaded!

Let’s see how many children and puppy we can fit in a medium crate!

Poor Duke has been invaded!

 

 

Yeah Baby!

After 10 days of being a single parent, I was really looking forward to my husband coming home tonight. Of course, I woke up with a cold sore on my lip so celebrating with a kiss will have to wait just a little longer. Also, I realized when I woke up that I am working a night shift tonight and I will leave the house before my husband gets here, so technically, I will have to wait until tomorrow morning to catch a glimpse of him before I head to bed. Meh!

Anyway, I got up this morning and hurried to make breakfast, clean the house and do the laundry so I could go to the Box and tackle 15.1. That’s right! If you’re not into Crossfit, let me remind you that the Crossfit Open 2015 has officially begun and the 1st workout has been released last Thursday. Here’s what it consists of:

I did not do the Rx version since I do not have my TTB yet. Scaled it was for me. I would do hanging knee raises from the rig and the weight on my bar was 55#. I didn’t have a judge going into the workout today, but I figured I could always ask someone at the Box to judge me once I got there.

I warmed up a bit by myself and then I took a bar to one corner of the gym and warmed up my snatches, deadlifts, and clean & jerks at 55#. The snatches were the hardest, but I could manage them. I had a plan to split all my hanging knee raises into 8 & 7 for all the rounds. Now, I was on the lookout for a judge. I felt super start struck when I asked Lindsay to be my judge. She is an amazing athlete and she usually competes in the Regionals. She is super friendly, but I felt like who was I to ask her to be my judge? She accepted readily and she actually gave me pointers throughout the workout which helped out a lot.

My goals for today was to complete at least 3 rounds of 15.1 and try to PR my Clean & Jerk by 5# for 15.1A. I managed to do just that and more! I finished 4 full rounds + 13 hanging knee raises for a total of 133 reps for 15.1 and I also managed 90# on my clean & jerk on 15.1A, which was a 10# PR from 10 days ago! I tried 95# twice, but I was trying to power clean it and didn’t think of trying to squat cleaning it instead. I managed to get the bar up, but I wasn’t fast enough to get under the bar. Oh well, I’m still super happy of what I achieved today! Now, I’m looking forward to my nap before heading into work tonight. 🙂

Not Up To Par, But Still Pushing

Been single parenting for 6 days. Only 4 more to go. Last night was still sub-optimal for sleep, but it was way better than the previous one. I went to bed at 2100, read until 2115 and was probably asleep by 2120. I was beyond exhausted. BeZU has the bad habit of waking up at 11pm (way past my bedtime) and trying to sneak her way into my bed. Sorry buddy, not on my watch! I rocked her, gave her a sip of water and then told her she had to go back to sleep in her bed because Maman was tired. She didn’t appreciate that and cried for about 5 minutes before she fell silent. Good.

Then, Rina had a nightmare at 0130 and I went to comfort her. She was afraid of the dark so I left her bedroom door open. They both joined me into bed at 0600. I was up at 0630 to shower and make them breakfast before we all headed on out to drop Rina off at pre-school followed by Crossfit for me. Béa was the perfect little angel and didn’t disturb me too much. She was actually better behaved than she had been on Monday. Still, it was a little frustrating being at the Box today, here’s why:

Source

I couldn’t find my previous weight for this so I was attempting to do 65# on my last rep. It didn’t happen. My first few reps went ok. I did 45#-50#-55# without too much issue. I then tried 1 rep at 60# and that was wonky as heck. I tried for a second rep at 60# and I ended up pressing it more than anything else. I unloaded my bar back down to 55# and finished the last round better. I felt disappointed about this, but when I came back home, I looked up my result and saw that my previous weight was 45#. 10# PR today it was! So why am I still disappointed that I couldn’t get 60#??? Because I know I have done 60# for my hang power snatch, just not 5×3 E90S. Meh! 

WOD: ToeRow

There were 6 of us today and when it was time to get into teams, the boys got together and that meant that us girls were together as well. I was with Michelle and Lennea. Each of us would be doing a different version of TG/FG. I was going for FG1+ I guess with the following modifications:

3 rounds of : 

• 300m row
• 12 strict HSPU down to 2 yoga blocks
• 12 hanging knee raises

I attempted 1 rep of a TTB and I was really close! Maybe it will happen during the Open?!? I also almost got 5 DUs in a row. I normally trip on the 4th, but I managed a 4th without tripping and didn’t get the 5th. Soon! Back to the WOD. On my last row, I had a really bad pinch/cramp in the left part of my neck. I was almost done rowing so I just grabbed the bar with my right hand, kept rowing and pinched my neck with my left hand. My left trap is pretty tense, I will roll it when the girls go for nap and will apply heat after. We finished with a time of 14:05 and I was happy to be done. It just felt like it wasn’t a good day, even though it wasn’t a bad day either.

Tonight, I’m going out for dinner with the girls from work. I think I deserve to dress up a little and go have some fun. Nanny will come and sleep over so I can go to my Oly class in the morning. I even called the restaurant ahead to make sure there were gluten-free/dairy-free options for dinner so that I wouldn’t fall off my meal plan for today (today is only meat and veggies, maybe that’s why I felt so weak?!?) I will stick to drinking water with lemon and will be home relatively early considering I have to wake up at 0500 for my Oly class! Now, I just have to figure out what I’ll wear in order to be presentable, yet comfortable! 😉