Sigh

It’s been a busy week and I’ll try to recap quickly.

Last Monday was a Civic Holiday here and we enjoyed the day at the beach with Ben’s mom who was visiting from Kingston. We hiked to Mystic Beach and had fun in the sun and sand before we headed out for the typical lunch at Mom’s Café.

Béa’s natural summer highlights! I’d kill for these!

Rina, swinging from the rope swing on the beach

Cutie pie!

Rina, wave jumping

I had only 2 days at work before I was officially on vacation and although I was counting the hours on Wednesday. Let’s be real though, I kind of clocked out mentally around 1500, even though I was working until 1930. Nothing fazed me on that day and I was happy and lighthearted to make my way to my car at the end of the day! Off for a full month and I was more than ready for some time off. I already had 2 overtime calls to come in to work tonight so far… Not gonna happen!

I’ve spent yesterday and today getting some last minute shopping and making packing lists, getting everything organized and packed for our Cuban vacation! I can now say we are 98% ready to go, with little adjustments left to be done for our carry-on luggages.

I went to the Oly class yesterday morning and I was stoked to see Ryan show up: I wasn’t absolutely certain if there actually was a class or not and I was starting to think I’d gotten up at 0500 for nothing! Here’s what we did:

High hang, low hang, full squat snatch x6 E3M

Lots of rest for these and we were to work up to 75% of our 1RM. Mine was supposed to be 48.75#, but the closest I could get to was 48.5# (not enough small plates to make it a real 75%, but close enough). I was struggling on some reps and had to repeat a few, but as I warmed up, it felt smoother towards the end.

Squat Clean, Front Squat, Split jerk x6 E3M

Again, we were supposed to only go up to 75% of our 1RM so I used 67.5# for all my reps. The split jerk was unstable at times, but I managed all my reps. I was exhausted by the end! So much rest and yet, I was done for!

 

This morning, I woke up at 0500 again and I was still tired. I’ve been going to bed a little later than usual and I could definitely feel it this morning:

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I had misread the WOD last night and thought it was only 1 round. Gulp! There was no way I could do this RX seeing as my 1RM DL is 160# and my 1RM clean is 90#. That would have been cutting it too close to exhaustion and Coach Caleb wanted us to do close to 30 reps/30 secs. Sometimes, the guy cracks me up! 😉 No way I was going to achieve that either, but I was happy that I managed some pretty stable rep scheme throughout all rounds. I did FG with the following reps:

DL @ 115#:8-8-9-8-8

Front squats @ 65#: 9-9-9-8-8

DUs:5-7-8-11-12

Sometimes, I look at my reps and feel a bit discouraged at how low they are. Then, I analyze them in a different way and I’m pretty happy with my work. For example, my reps are low on the DL, but if you tally it all, it comes up to 4715 lbs moved in 2:30. For the front squats, it comes up to 2797 lbs squatted in the same amount of time.  As for my DUs, I only managed to string 8 in a row (last round), but they felt smoother with each rounds. Funny how I can do those better when I’m more physically tired. Maybe it’s because I’m not as tensed up?

I’m ready to put a hot pack on my shoulders and real for the evening before yet another busy day tomorrow!

Beach And Birthday Love

Phew! What a fund day we had today!

It all started with a fun Beach WOD that was held by our Box at Willows Beach. The setting was so pretty. Mt. Baker was so very visible in the distance and the ocean was just lying down in front of it. I really should have taken pictures, but I was too busy having fun with my Crossfit family. My real family was also there to cheer me on as Ben and the girls played on the beach while I worked a good sweat

The WOD was a team one that consisted of this:

In teams of 2 partners, 3 rounds for time:

• 50 double KB thrusters
• 50 burpees
• 1km run

Uhm yeah! That was totally Kathleen and I when the team WOD was announced!

The thruster and burpees were 1 partner at-a-time and the run was both partners together. We started strong with the KB thrusters (2×26#) and that got heavy fast. Coach AJ said that was probably close to a 70# traditional thruster. I did my half and then moved onto the burpees. I still can’t believe I did all my burpees Rx! Who knew I could be good at burpees!?! I sure didn’t! Then we went out on the beach for the run. Rina was keeping pace with us. I was amazed at her form and stamina and also, at the fact that I could barely keep up with her. 😦 My 4 year-old is better at running than I am! Kathleen was nice enough to slllloooooooowwwwww down her pace by a lot and she stayed with me, even after I urged her to go on without me.

For our second round, Kathleen ran ahead to our KB spot and started us off strong. She looked so good doing the double KB thrusters! Fierce! I did 3 and then switched to 35# KB taters. I tried again and did 2, then switched back to KB taters. I was having some bladder issues doing the double KB thrusters, so yeah, that was fun! Not! I ploughed through the burpees though and those felt good. Kathleen’s shoulder started to bug her by the end of the thrusters and she decided to modify them on the last round. Off we went onto the beach for our second run. I was worn out, but Kathleen kept motivating me by urging me to take deep belly breath, pace my steps on my breaths and to use my “long, light legs”. I tried to imagine my legs being long and light, but had a really difficult time. Still, We took only a few breaks and went back to the KB.

Once again, Kathleen started us off strong and I just resolved to do my taters. Burpees were good and I just couldn’t believe how good I felt doing them Rx. Not only that, but since Kath had modified them to a plank burpee, I figured I’d give her shoulders a break and did 10 on my last set so she would only have one last set to do. She urged me to run to the stairs leading to the beach and I obliged. Once we made our way to the compact sand, she also suggested we run to the “first log on the beach” that was almost at our turnaround point. Had I been alone, I would have quit much before that point, but because she was by my side, I kept moving forward, one step at a time. She let me walk from the log to the rock and then we turned around. I had made up my mind to run back to the stairs and I even managed to pick up my pace! Kathleen was such a good coach. I told her many times to take off ahead of me, but she wouldn’t leave my side! Best. Partner. Ever! I made my way up the stairs and then, with Kathleen’s encouragement, I sprinted back to our KB before falling on all fours. We came in last in 37:50, but I was pretty happy with how I had done overall!

I was a bit stressed about making our way back home as I had planned a surprise birthday party for Ben’s 40th. There was no way I wouldn’t celebrate this special occasion and I had to rush back home as I had told people to come around 1215.

There was a screw-up with my food platters order and they weren’t ready when my SIL went to pick them up 😦 We had to wait an hour before they were ready for pick-up and other than that little hiccup, I think the lunch party was a success. Ben seemed genuinely surprised (he thought I had something planned at the beach) and he thanked me a bunch of times after everyone left. Now if you know my husband, you know he’s not a man of many words, so for him to be so thankful meant a lot to me! I guess I did good!

Birthday boy and his girls!

You see that cake? It was a hazelnut/chocolate cheesecake. Now, I’ve been resisting all the temptations since starting my Whole30, but today, I allowed myself to have a slice of that cake. On day 22, I made the full decision to have something non-Whole30 compliant. Will I start back my Whole30 from day one? Nope! I knew full well my husband’s birthday was in the middle of my Whole30 challenge and I had made the decision when I started it that I would have a slice of his birthday cake. I fully assume this decision and I refuse to stress about it. I will keep it going as strong as I can until I leave for Cuba in August, but until then, I feel better not having the processed stuff. Not sure I have more energy, but I sure sleep better and I seem to perform better when I do my WODs. Also, I haven’t had to rely on these since I started, and that is a huge bonus!

So long, trustee crutch!

I posted this yesterday:

Said no to Bite-size brownies in order to rock my bikini in Cuba!

I may not have abs yet, but I have nice obliques and I,m so darn proud of my traps! The slice of cake was good, but I can feel it sitting in my throat now and although I’m glad I had it, it just goes to show that this much sugar doesn’t agree with me at all! Back on the Whole30 wagon as of now! 😉 I have given some of the cheesecake away to our guests and there’s about 1/4 of it left for Ben and the girls to have if they choose to have any. As for me, I’m more than happy to go back to my meat, veggies and fruits, nuts and seeds!

 

Fight Gone Bad

After my massage on Thursday, all I wanted to do was sleep the day away. I set my alarm for 0500 with the best intentions of attending the 0600 WOD on Friday, however, I woke-up at 0445, turned my alarm off on my phone and slept in until 0630. Sometimes, a BabyMama just has to choose rest.

After all that extra sleep (!), I was ready to throw down in style. I reached out to Listen Linda and asked if we could possibly get together on Saturday at Crossfit Stasis (her box) and finally throw down together. I call her Listen Linda because of this little gem of a youtube video:

Surprisingly, we were able to arrange to get together for the 0900 WOD and Listen even offered to pick me up!

All thug-like, waiting for my ride (actually enjoying 30 secs of peace in the sun)

We arrived at the Box and Listen introduced me to EVERYONE in the joint. Everybody was very friendly and welcoming, but nobody outdid Coach Bruno. This dude is the happiest go-lucky person I’ve met in a long time and he is super friendly. I felt welcome and confident in getting the warm-up done and Coach Bruno did a good job of going through the notions of the WOD. Little did I know, I had walked into my very first attempt at Fight Gone Bad

For some reason, the board at Crossfit Stasis said the Rx weight for women was 45# and that’s what Listen and I ended up using. Had we known, I’m sure we would have done 55#. Listen kicked my squatting a** and I was in awe of her form during the SDHP. She looked so strong and confident! For my part, I managed ok for a 1st time attempt with a score of 173. The wallballs threw me off because the size of the ball at Stasis is different from the one I’m used to at VicCity. I had so much fun (ok, not really during the WOD, but after it was all done, I really did!) getting to be comfortable in a new environment. I had never done SDHP before, but with Coach Bruno’s instructions, I felt confident doing them (legs slightly wider than shoulder-width, keep the bar close to the body).

It really was a unique experience getting to share such a benchmark workout with this beautiful lady. We will definitely have to repeat this experience!

Listen drove me back home and the girls were pretty much ready for Ben and I to leave them with her (they love her THAT MUCH!), but we had other plans. I had a quick shower and then we headed out to the Juan de Fuca Trail and China Beach with the girls for a fun sunny day on the beach. I took a few pics, but I have now come to the conclusion that while Rina is truly at her happy place on the beach, she doesn’t stay still long enough for me to capture that happiness in a picture! Below are my favourites from today:

There is something so powerfully beautiful about a dad and his girls!

Béa is growing up so fast!

On the way back home, we (of course) stopped by Mom’s Café in Sooke for the traditional bowl of salmon corn chowder and some crazy big slices of pie. We came back home, everybody cleaned up and cuddled on the couch watching Beauty and the Beast before we put the girls to bed. I’m secretly hoping they will be tired from their day and drift off to sleep quietly. It’s rare that Ben and I get to enjoy a quiet evening together and if we could manage one tonight, it would top off this perfect day beautifully!

Hope your Saturday was just as awesome as mine! 🙂

Sis Sesh

You know how they call a bunch of guys working out together a “bro sesh”? Well, this morning, we had a “sis sesh”. Tracey and I were the only ones who showed up for the Oly lifting class this morning. It was nice to have Coach Caleb totally focused on us. Not that he normally isn’t during the classes, but today was different. Here’s what we worked on:

Power Snatch + Hang Squat Snatch x5 E3M @ 75%

Those were hard. Coach Caleb wanted me to go to 55# (which would have been 90% for me from our testing week) since I’m not really lifting heavy yet, but once we warmed up, I was struggling for the squat snatch at 50# so he then advised me to stay at that weight for the reps. I became a little more stable in the hang squat snatch as we progressed through the reps, but I was ok with staying at that weight for all reps. I still have a hard time committing to dropping below the bar and I worked hard on that today. I think I was a little less tentative and paused less doing these today. I guess you could say I somewhat improved?

Clean High Pull + Squat Clean + 2 Split Jerk E2M @ 75%

Well, I knew that my new PR for this was 90# (since I had just achieved this for 15.1A!) and that meant that my weight for today should have been 67.5#. Coach Caleb and I settled for 65#. At first, I struggled a bit with the high pull, but once I got into it, it felt a little more natural. The squat clean felt fine for all reps. Where I struggled the most was during the split jerk. For some reason that eluded me, I couldn’t find any stability in my split. Coach Caleb pinpointed my problem easily and all I had to do was widened my steps to about shoulder width. Easy enough fix and once I listened to him, I felt a lot stronger in the move.

I came home to my family slowly waking up and we all had breakfast together before Aunt Sandy came over to pick up her birthday present. I think she was happy. 😉 She had her dog Ruby with her and I was happy to see Béatrice not being as scared of Ruby as she used to be. She has been a little more comfortable around bigger dogs lately and it gives me hope for when we actually get a dog into our family. I like bigger breeds and I was a bit afraid Béatrice wouldn’t do well with a bigger dog in the house. I would totally go the rescue route if we were to adopt a dog as I don’t want to deal with puppy antics! I have enough on my plate as it is and I firmly believe that a rescue dog is the way to go for this family!

Once we were done chatting, we decided to go for a little hike to Mt. Doug with the girls and the dog in tow. Béatrice walked for a short distance before she asked to hop into the hiking back pack. I could tell she was getting tired and the terrain (slow incline, roots and rocks protruding) were getting the best of her. I strapped her into the bag, lifted her up on my shoulders and off we went! My calves were slightly screaming from yesterday’s DUs, but it was a good active recovery activity for all of us.

One of the reason I workout: Being able to carry both my girls at once!

Now, I’m just waiting for the Open 15.2 announcement to decide when I’ll be going in to do the WOD tomorrow! All in all, a very fun day, spent with lovely ladies! See… Sis sesh all the way! 🙂

Béa In A Box

I was allowed to sleep in until 0626 this morning until Rina walked into my room. The husband is away and I know how to make the best of our king-size bed to myself: Find that sweet spot in the middle that smells of my husband, bury my nose in the blankets, spread out into a star shape and doze off until one of the girls get up or until my alarm goes off! (Who am I kidding, when you have young kids, you don’t need an alarm!)

I got up, made the girls breakfast and got them ready so we could drop Rina off at preschool. I had a plan. Drop-off is at 0900 and there is a 0930 Crossfit class. I wanted to go to that class with Béatrice and see how she would behave during the class. I had extra pull-ups (the diapers, not the Crossfit move), some snacks, a stuffed monkey and an old iPhone with some games on it for her. Turns out, she was just happy sitting close-by, where she could watch me huff and puff! She behaved really well and I’m hoping to repeat the experience on Wednesday. I, on the other hand, felt gassed for some reason. Between having to care for the girls by myself and having to run errands constantly, I’m falling behind in my water consumption and I think it may be why I felt like a ton of brick today.  The people at the 0930 class were all people I didn’t know and they were patient enough to wait for me to be done with the WOD before they started to pick up their stuff. Here’s what we did:

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Skill: Front Squat 5×5 E90S

Last time I had done a set of 5×5 front squat was back in August and I had finished at 100#. I was aiming at 105#, but it just didn’t happen. I decided to try to focus on my form instead and, since I felt like I had nothing left in me, I stayed behind on my weights. Here’s what I did:

85#-90#-90#-95#-95#

I repeated both the 90# and 95# because I wasn’t happy with my butt. I have a tendency to dip forward at the bottom of the squat which, then makes me get up from the squat “stripper-style”. Not super pronounced, but I want to correct that bad habit before I start increasing my load. It was hard to focus on these as Béatrice was sitting further at the beginning and we had a false alarm about a diaper change during my warm-up. Meh! What do you expect when you bring a toddler to the Box. At least, I got moving and that’s the most important part.

WOD: Wobble Bobble

I did this one FG with the red and purple bands. The wallballs are still killing me. I love to hate wallballs. I know they must have a purpose of some sort and we’re supposed to work on our weaknesses, but I still suck at them and I still dislike them very much. I used the 14# ball for them and on my 3rd round, I was seriously wondering how I was going to finish the round and do another one. One of the boys started cheering me on and said:

Think of all the gains! GAINS!

That made me laugh and I just kept plucking at them. I caught the ball so many times with my neck and chest, I came home with a huge black line of grime and sweat in my trachea. Super attractive, lemme tell you! (Why doesn’t anybody tell me these things before I leave the Box? I guess that’s one drawback to not having mirrors plastered all over the place)! I still had 20 pull-ups to finish off. I tried o do sets of 5 and I managed to do that, except for the last ones that I had to break into 3 & 2. I finished well after everybody else at 16:23, but at least, I finished. I wanted to quit so many times during thee wallballs that I honestly don’t care that I’m dead last. I’m just proud that I finished at all.

I then picked up Béatrice (with all her gear), rushed home to shower the wallaby grime away, switched a load of laundry, start my spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight in the slow cooker and left again to go get Rina at pre-school. We then ran some errands, grabbed lunch and came back home. My cousin was on a business trip from Ontario and I had the pleasure of his company for dinner. It was short, but it was nice to catch up with him. I always cherish these little visits, it’s nice to catch up with family and have grown-up conversations once-in-a-while! 😉

Alright, enough blogging, time for this Mama to put her feet up and relax on the couch!

 

New Traditions

We celebrated Christmas yesterday morning by having breakfast with my in-laws (eggs, sausages and coffee) and then, we all sat in the living room and opened up presents. I have to admit I had so much fun watching the girls opening up their presents. There truly is something magical about re-discovering Christmas though the eyes of a child. I was just as happy as Rina when she opened up the box containing her purple unicorn and to see Béatrice kissing her own pink unicorn was priceless:

Full of love!

After the gift opening, we took everyone for a walk to the closest playground for some fun in the chilly Christmas day:

Her gorgeous brow eyes!

Rosy cheeks from the crisp air!

She kept singing: “Up in the sky!” when I was pushing her on the swing!

No snow for us, but plenty of dead leaves on the ground for Christmas

I would have posted some pics of Rina, but she was making a grumpy face on all the shots I took of her yesterday 😦

We were also able to live some of the Christmas magic as I was able to convince Ben to go walk downtown Victoria to go see the Christmas lights in action at the Parliament. You see, my wonderful husband doesn’t like it when we do non-physical family activities, so I had a bit of convincing to do, but with the help of my in-laws, we all packed up in two cars and headed downtown. It was perfect! Seeing as it was December 25 and around 4-5pm, there was barely anybody in the streets, making it easy to find parking and take wonderful pictures of the deserted streets. Below are some of my favourite shots I took:

The Parliament is on the left, blurry on purpose

Some of the Parliament buildings, all lit up.

The Empress Hotel from the Inner Harbour

The Inner Harbour

Christmas day sunset on the Inner Harbour

The moon, the Parliament and the Inner Harbour

Merry Christmas!

This morning, I was able to lounge in bed for a bit before I had a hearty breakfast and headed out for the Box for this:

Skills: Back Squat 6×3 E2M

I paired up with Tracey for these. My last PR for these were at 110#. I was going for 115#, but my math being what it is, I ended up my 6th round at 120# and even though my last rep was hard and I struggled to come out from the bottom, I managed to do it! Yay! A 10# PR on a 3-rep isn’t too shabby! The amazing Tracey managed 150#!!! I was in awe! She made it look easy too! Something to aspire to, fo’ sho’!

WOD: Baseline

This one is a basic one for our Box. I had first done it at the beginning of my On-Ramp program and finished in 7:55, using the black (widest) band and doing knee push-ups. The last time I did it was at the end of my On-Ramp program and I had done it in 6:55, using the black band and doing my HRPU from my knees. We had to separate into two heats today and I was part of the second one. I took two short breaks during the air squats (one after 10 reps, just to catch my breath, the other after 25 reps, to stretch my hip flexors a bit) and managed to do all the sit-ups unbroken. I was struggling through the push-ups, but I managed to do them all full HRPU, no knee push-ups for me, no siree! 😉 I then moved onto the pull-ups and they were hard. I broke them into 3-3-2-2. I finished in 7:35. Smack between my 2 previous times, but really, this was a PR for me as well, considering I did all my HRPU Rx and used way smaller bands for my pull-ups! A good day of hard work! 🙂 When the girls wake up from their nap, we will be going out to buy our new sectional for our living room! I’m so thrilled to say that I will finally be rid of our futon! It has served us well over the years, but at 36-years-old, I am ready for a REAL couch in my life! 🙂

I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday season! Mine just keeps getting better and better!

Feeling Slightly Buck!

After the Skills Plus class yesterday, I made sure to fuel up properly for the rest of the day so that I would have energy for today’s WOD. For some reason, the WODs have been tougher over the past month so I always make sure to keep my nutrition and hydration in check as much as I can. I’m also looking into getting some meals delivered to my house that I would just need to warm up and would fit into my macros. I’ll keep you posted if and when I go with the delivery service.

Here’s what we did today:

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No skills on the board as we just warmed up appropriately for the WOD.

WOD: Buckshot

We had to split the class in 2 as there was 17 of us at the 0600 class. I was happy I got selected to start with the 2nd AMRAP as I thought I would struggle more with the Thrusters than the Hang power cleans. Turns out, the struggle was pretty much equal! 😉

I decided to go with the FG because I still don’t have my TTB and 65# felt like a lot to do the thrusters with. I loaded my bar with 55#  and planned to do hanging knee raises. Off we go! I managed to finish 4 full rounds and did 2 thrusters into the 5th round for a total of 98 reps. I was just glad I managed to not trip on the box jumps over! I was wearing my wrist wraps that I bought on Etsy, from BravoWraps. I have the Turquoise skulls like the ones in the picture below and I really like them. I like that they are well made, easy to wash, easy to adjust (tighten or loosen with just a twist of the fabric) and I’ve gotten a few compliments on them whenever I wear them for Skill Plus class or during the regular classes. I find they help a lot for the snatch, the thrusters and my HSPU! Check them out, they are not super expensive and she has tons of different models available.

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For the 1st AMRAP, we were to keep the same weight on the bar and I stuck to 55#. The hang power cleans proved to be harder than I originally thought. I kept trying to get my hook grip on and had a hard time hanging onto the bar. My index fingers barely make it over the bar and on top of my thumbs and then, I’m so focused on that I don’t know what to do with the rest of my fingers! #crossfitterproblem! I managed to get 4 full sets and the timer stopped after while I was completing my 2nd barhop burpee from the 5th set for a total of 73 reps (I didn’t count the 2nd burpee). I lied down for about 5 seconds on the floor before I picked myself up onto all fours. I hate lying down after a WOD. I feel like if I lied down, the WOD has won over me and until I RX all my WODs, there is no reason for me to lie down after a WOD! #stubborn. I was pretty happy with my final score of 171. Not quite up there with all the people doing the Rx, but no super far behind either. I came home and just before I entered the shower, I noticed my chin was all black. I guess you can say I went totally flat for the burpees. So flat, that I got my chin on the ground for every rep and picked up the dirt from the black mats on the floor! Ha! Can’t say I didn’t do my burpees according to form! 🙂

We still have some errands to run today and Rina is suffering from her 2nd bout of Hand, Food and Mouth disease in about 2 months. She is under the weather so I think that once we are done with our errands, we will cocoon up on the couch and be mellow for the rest of the weekend. I’m back to work Monday and have to work a few shifts before I get to celebrate Christmas with our little family and my in-laws! Yay!

Crossfit, Sparkling Toes and Hot Water Bottles With Friends = Perfect Day

I have been waiting for Saturday since I got off work on Thursday morning. Why you ask? Well, duh, Crossfit is why!

My lovely husband left for the cold Calgary on Thursday and that meant I couldn’t go to my beloved 0600 class on Friday as there was no way I would have gotten the girls ready in time for Crossfit and then manage the mayhem to get Rina in time for preschool. BUT! There’s a huge but (and I’m not talking about my back side here) in this story and my husband was caring enough to book the Nanny for this morning so I could go to Crossfit and get to my pedicure (paid for by the love of my life!) without having to drag the girls with me. 🙂

The class was huge (16 or 17 of us showed up) and I ran into Victoria and Bonnie! Here’s what we did:

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Skill: HSPU practice

We were to do 4-6 reps of progressive HSPU followed by 8-10 ring rows x 6 sets. I managed to get down to 2×5# plates + 1 yoga block on my 5th rep, but I could only muster 2 reps that low before I just crumbled down onto my shoulders. I tried again for the next set, but could only do 1 rep. I was done! I did 8 ring rows for each rounds.

WOD: DL

That was a quick powerful one. I paired up with Georgia (she must be all of 13 years old and kicked my butt royally, but in a good way!) and let her go in the first heat. She destroyed it, doing the FG2 in 4:07. She’s small, but mighty! I tried my best to imitate her, but my old and overweight body just couldn’t do it. I finished in 6:40 for the same category (DL @ 95# and full box jumps for all rounds). Not a bad feat if I do say so myself and I probably would have taken longer had I not been trying to keep up with this little powerhouse!

Then, I rushed home, showered and took off for my pedicure. That foot rub was heavenly and it’s always nice when I have sparkly purple toes! My husband truly knows the way to my heart!

Purple Perfection!

I came back home and had a lovely visit with Victoria! We were both sore and sat hot packs and hot water bottles like the sore Crossfitters we are while catching up and chatting. It was a nice visit and broke the monotony of just me with the girls! 🙂 Now, of course, Rina and Béatrice also want their toenails painted so I will oblige before we go play outside! 😉

 

 

New Gear Review and PRs All Around!

When I head outside early in the morning to go to the Box, my first instinct is to look up to the sky. This morning, as I looked up, I clearly saw the Big Dipper… at 0530… in the city. That’s how dark it was. The sky was full of stars and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Unbeknownst to me, I would be out of the Box with the sun barely just starting to rise on the horizon. Autumn has officially arrived!

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Warm-up: I managed to string 4x DUs in a row today! Wahoo!

Skill: Hang Power Snatch + OHS

I started low with these, but manage to PR by 10# when I was done. My last rep at 60# was ugly for the Hang Power Snatch, but very decent for the OHS. My reps were: 35#-40#-45#-50#-55#-60#

WOD: Row 2K

That’s right… 2K! I chose to go in the second heat because I knew I’d be slow and didn’t want to hold back anybody who had to go to work early. I thought for sure I would be around 15:00 for this one as I couldn’t remember what my 1K time was. I know I’m usually slow at rowing and I’m only 5’1″ so that’s a double whammy! Here was my strategy for this WOD:

• I started slow for the 1st 750m, trying to maintain around 2:35 split.
• From 750m to 1000m, I tried to up it to 2:30.
• from 1000m to 1500m, I was aiming for 2:20, but often fell back to 2:25
• from 1500m to 1750m, I was trying to maintain 2:15, but it was hard to maintain at times
• from 1750m to 2000m, I tried to go below 2:10, which is pretty fast for me in the shortest distances. It was hard, but my head was in the right place and I just kept fighting for it. This was all mental and I went in with a fighter strategy / mantra and it seemed to work. I was able to keep my split low and I finished in 9:36.1! I was so happy to be sub 10:00!

Earlier last month, Fabletics finally became available in Canada and I signed up for it, not expecting it to be anything out of the ordinary. For my 1st order, I ended up ordering 3 pairs of capris, a t-shirt, a tank top and a cowl. Everything fits beautifully and I’m keeping it all. I haven’t updated my capris for working out since before we moved from Montreal (over 6 years ago) and it is time for me to spoil myself with a new wardrobe, now that I’m feeling more comfortable in my new body. I’ve worked hard for it and I’m proud of it!

The capris are all wonderful quality, thick, but not too thick and soft and they all pass the “squat test”, meaning, they don’t go see through when you squat deep! I like that at 5’1″, they are still capris, even on my short person! They do fall off a bit when you do high impact activities and I found out quickly doing DUs and burpees in the warm-up today.

As for the tank top, I put it through the test this morning at the WOD. It has a built-in bra that offers medium support. Although it looks nice, it is definitely not a bra I will wear for high impact WODs. I will probably keep this one for around the house or for chasing the girls!

Here are the pictures of the outfits I’m keeping:

Capris I wore today

The tank top with built-in bra

Super cozy outfit for lounging around!

I came back home after the WOD and went to run some errands before setting out to cook lunch. I had a friend coming over and even though Rina isn’t feeling well (fever and sores in her mouth, I guess it’s her turn to have hand/foot/mouth disease), it was a very lovely lunch with great company!

Tomorrow, I plan on cooking for the potluck on Sunday. Not only am I participating in my 1st Crossfit competition, it’s also a potluck! Gotta make sure to fuel these athletes! 😉

No Burpees Were Done Today!

I looked up the WOD last night and shared it with my husband and his reactions was:

Well, that doesn’t look like much fun!

I was very determined to give it my best shot and after my alarm woke me up (1st time I’m not awake before my alarm in 2 weeks – Score!), I was ready to face this one head on!

Training Monday – Tuesday

 

Warm-up:  2 rounds – 20 jumping jacks, 10 double crunch

 

Mobility: 2 min stations

• Foam roll upper back
• Lacrosse ball shoulders
• Samson Stretch 1min/side

 

Skill:  Ring Row 5 x 8, increasing difficulty each set, E2M

 

WOD:  Bataan

With a single KB, you will walk 900m (9th pole).  At each pole, you will perform 8 goblet squats with the KB.  If you put the KB down at any point, 10 burpees.

As you walk, rotate through these carries, switching every pole:

• Offset Rack (both sides)
• Suitcase Carry (both sides)
• Front Rack
• Back Rack

I suggest you go lighter as opposed to heavier with the KB so that you can maintain proper posture and survive the trip without putting the KB down.  Max weight – 35/53

TG:  Scale distance to 400m

FG:  Scale distance to 600m

Source

Mobility: I absolutely love this new mobility module we have started a few weeks back. It teaches me new tools I can definitely use at home to improve on when I have a minute or two! I also worked on my planks doing 45s and 35s.

Skill: I finally managed to bring my feet right under the rings for the ring rows. They were definitely challenging and everybody else managed to either go further ahead than the rings or have their feet on boxes, but it was my 1st time being even with the rings so I was thrilled to be able to get them! 🙂

WOD: This looked easy and simple enough, but we all know that usually means we’re gonna get the bang for our bucks! This WOD was to honour the people who fought and lost their lives in the Bataan Death March. I took a 18# KB and went on my merry way. I managed to do all 900m without dropping the KB once which meant no burpees for me! It was tough. I could definitely feel those 144 KB goblin squats (I actually ended up doing 152 because I did a set of 8 at the end of my last 100m walk which we weren’t supposed to do I guess… Way to go overachiever)! You know it’s been a good WOD when you have a hard time just standing still in the shower upon returning home! 😉

We were then very fortunate to have Tracey come over to help us out with some packing. We managed to pack up most of the kitchen (keeping only things we’ll need for the next 19 days) and same with the bathroom. We only have to pack our clothes next, and sort through the girls’ toys, purge them and pack the rest.

As we are packing up this apartment, I reflect on everything we have been through here. We went from being engaged to married here. This is where we first brought our daughters home to from the hospital. We have grown closer as a couple, we became parents, we have evolved over the past 4 years. Although it hasn’t always been easy, we made it through and managed to save enough for a house.

Some things I will definitely not miss though:

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