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:

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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!

Modified Fitness Is Still Fitness

My sciatic has been acting up since Monday and hasn’t let up really. I was limping badly yesterday and even though I did my ROMWOD, foam rolled, LaCrosse-balled it, it is still pinching. I showed up to the Box this morning and didn’t have high hopes of being able to perform the WOD, but after I spoke with Coach France, we came up with a plan of attack on how to modify the WOD and still get a good workout in. The only warning she gave me was: “If it’s not feeling good, don’t push through, just do some push-ups instead.” With those modifications and that one rule, I was ready to go. Anxious, but ready! 😉

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I started modifying during the warm-up when the air squats were a bit much for me. I could feel a pinch and therefore, dropped and did push-ups instead.

As for the WOD, here’s what I did instead:

• 800m run x 1 (non stop, at an easy pace) followed by an AMRAP of
• 10 x push press @55#
• 10 burpees (no bar hop for me)

I tried my best to bounce back quickly on the turnarounds on the run, instead of taking a few walking steps, I just pushed off and bounced back into it. I managed to complete only 43 reps of this one, but I was still happy to just be moving at all!

We then had a 10-mins rest before we tackled the second part of the WOD:

• 1200m on the Airdyne (non-stop and I never let go of the handles either, pretty proud of this new feat!) followed by AMRAP of
• 10 pullups (blue and purple bands)
• 10 air squats

I completed 82 reps on this one and it felt good. I know I probably didn’t spend as much energy as everyone else, but like I said, I was sweaty, I worked hard and managed to get some fitness in, even though I had a pretty bad bum bugging me. The air squats felt good on the last part of the WOD, maybe because I was warmed up a bit?

All in all, I was pretty pleased with my work today. The pull-ups were banded perfectly and I was able to string 4 and 3 of them throughout the whole workout. I was in a good place mentally and blocked out all negative self-talk during the workout. The Airdyne was sure challenging, but when it got too much, I just closed my eyes, focused on breathing and kept going. I was truly happy to be able to move and get my heart pumping for a bit!

I am now back home, showered and ready to go to a short meeting at work. When I come back, I will try to book myself a physio appointment and see if they can give me pointers to help out with my sciatic! In the meantime, I will keep up with my ROMWOD tonight, without pushing it. After all, I have my Kitty and Cougar Throwdown comp I need to be ready for with Kathleen! Look for us , we are team Beasty Belles!

Beasting Out!

I have had a few busy days at work and have been forced to take tonight off (I have yet another eye infection and my superiors don’t want me at work 😦 ).

I got up this morning, got the little one ready for school, made sure the other one wasn’t still running a fever (she had one last night) and then got myself ready to go to Crossfit for this:

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I managed a perfect Rowl on my 2nd attempt at the warm-up and, already, I was off to a good start. Nic managed to have 2 or 3 perfect row at 100m even! That guy is unbelievable!

Skill: Trap Bar or Axle Bar Deadlift 6×3 E90S

I have missed all of these lately due to work, so I really didn’t know what weight to use. I still felt strong in the second to last set so I decided to bump my final weight by 10# instead of my usual 5# and Coach Caileigh agreed with my decision. Here is my progression:

125#-130#-135#-140#-145#-155#

WOD: Taranis 2012 Run Burpee Run

I had done this WOD RX back in 2014 and had finished with a time of 14:09,I had taken a few walking breaks and had done all my burpees granny-style, broken into sets of 10. Today, I was determined to repeat it without any walking breaks and try to do all my burpees Rx. We set out for the 1st run and  Nicole was a good rabbit for me. She ended up getting further ahead of me on the second 400m (we do an out-and-back of 400m and just repeat if the mileage is higher), but I was ok with that. I didn’t want to push too hard on the first 400m and tank out at the end.

I came in last for the burpees, but not by much. We had 5 stations of 10 burpees to go through so I set out to work. I broke my burpees into sets of 5, rested for 3 deep breaths in-between and just kept chipping at it. I was surprised to arrive at my last set not that much behind everyone else and I was still doing all my burpees Rx!

I set out for the last 400m run and I felt good, taking advantage of the downhills and slowing down significantly on the uphills, but trying to lengthen my stride as best I could. I came in last and looked at the clock and was so pumped to see my time: 12:58! I had just shaved off 1:21 from my previous PR and that was for an Rx WOD! Heck yeah!

 

New PR!

I felt so good to have not only done all the runs non-stop, but the burpees Rx as well! It made me feel like I was a real bad ass!

PR face! Happy and sweaty!

 

Am I becoming a beast?!? I sure hope so!

I came back home and was very energized by the entire workout today. Just one of those days when everything goes well in the gym and it makes me feel good about myself! I love when I push myself and gauge a WOD perfectly that it is challenging very challenging, but I still have enough in the tank to finish strong!

I went back to the walk-in clinic to get confirmation that I had yet another stye in my eye and to just keep using the antibiotic drops I had been using. Ugh. I went out and bought all new makeup to se once the infection will have cleared up as I’m suspecting that is the culprit for spreading it from eye to eye…

I came back home to a sleeping Béa and I went to pick-up Rina at the bus stop. Everybody is tired from their week and I can’t wait to relax on the couch this evening after the girls have gone to bed. Ben will be home late and it will be the perfect evening for me to catch up on my TV shows!

 

When All Else Fails, Just Do One More Rep

I came home yesterday from an absolutely exhausting shift in the NICU. I had been busy all day, missed my dinner break and was very much looking forward to putting my feet up on the couch and devouring my dinner when I got home. The girls were both asleep and I thought I was in the clear for a relaxing evening. I showered and just as I sat with my dinner, BeZU woke up crying, so I delayed (further) my dinner and went to soothe her and give her some water. When she finally calmed back down, I stuffed food in my mouth at light speed. It was 2100 and I had lunch around 1300. Once I was done inhaling my food, I numbed myself with some mindless reality TV until Ben came home. We did our usual 10mins check-in with one another before I went to bed. I slept like a rock, despite the heat wave still in full force (30-32C in our room last night), but just before I went to bed, I looked up the WOD:

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I had vivid dreams of hang power snatches and, in my dream, I could easily do 65#, something I have yet to achieve in real life. In my dream, my reps were fluid and easy and I really nailed it. I woke up and felt like today was gonna be the day I would finally surpass 60#.

Walked in the Box this morning and found beauty in the bare space:

Early morning glory

We did the warm-up and then I had to demo the hang power snatch for everyone. Once that was out of the way, I set up my bar and my weights and got ready to tackle this:

Skill: Hang power snatch + OHS 6×1 E90s

I started with 40# and worked my way up. Once I reached 50#, I could definitely tell that it was getting heavier. I slowly feared my determination to reach 65# wouldn’t be enough for today. I did 60# and although the snatch felt challenging, the OHS felt really good. I loaded my bar with 65# and waited until it was time to go. I picked up the bar, went into the hang position and had a mental blockage. I got back up, reset the bar into the hang position and just lifted it up. I landed it in the power position, but had to do a double jump to stabilize the bar overhead. Once I did, I dipped into the overhead squat and that felt really good. Could it be that after 7 months of being stuck at 60# for any kind of snatch, I had finally broken through that barrier? Just to make sure, I put the bar down, waited a few seconds and re-did one more rep of just the hang power snatch. Surprise, surprise, it wasn’t a fluke because I got the bar back up, landed it in the power position and didn’t have to do a second jump to stabilize it this time around! Woot! Woot! I was one very happy girl!

40#-45#-50#-55#-60#-65# 65#

WOD: Jackita

I teamed up with Tracey and Kelsey for this one and everything that could go wrong pretty much did during this WOD. I set up the red and orange bands for my pull-ups (as well as a box to get myself onto the bar) and was planning on using 55# for the thrusters. Here were my reps:

• Thrusters: 8-6-5
• Pull-ups: 2-11-6

I started on the erg and rowed my 1 minute before going over to the thrusters. they felt good at 55# and I moved over to the rig for the pull-ups. I couldn’t do a strict pull-up with those bands, so I rushed back, switched the orange band for a blue one (the 1st band I could get my hand onto) and managed 2 reps before the minute was up. Not good 😦

I went back on the erg and I was breathing heavily. I went onto the thrusters and although I didn’t get as many reps as I did on my 1st round, it wasn’t too bad either. Back to the pull-up rig where I felt like I was sand-bagging the pull-ups as it was clearly too easy with those two bands. Oh well! That’ll teach me to look up what I did previously on the WOD instead of just winging it!

3rd round on the erg. I was wheezing pretty badly. I don’t know if it was because it was so humid this morning, but I had a sudden onset of asthma and I knew I didn’t have my inhaler with me. My last asthma episode was probably about 2 years ago and, although I have my inhaler in my work purse, it is probably long expired! I was really trying to catch my breath on the thrusters, but it took me a long time, hence the 5 reps. I moved onto the rig and, again, was trying to calm myself down. I know that the more I get into a panic about my asthma, the more I wheeze and the more constricted I get. I was just trying to calm down  and I was happy when it was all done and over with. I regulated my breath as best I could and Tracey helped me with her healing powers. I swear, she’s a unicorn in disguise: magical at Crossfit and in life! 😉 All in all, it was a pretty bad WOD for me and I did poorly compared to the previous time I had done this one, but I kept pushing through no matter what and, really, that’s all I can ask of myself.

I came home and then saw this on Facebook:

Burpee Punishment!

I forgot to put my bands AND my box away after the WOD. 1st time in 2 years that it happens, but I have been a space cadet over the past 2 days, to be honest. CFVC’s policy is a burpee punishment when you forget to put your equipment away. I videoed my punishment and posted it to FB so Coach Caleb would see that I kept my word, and then realized I had done only 28 burpees on the video so I did 2 more in the kitchen. Apparently, not only am I a space cadet, I also cannot count when doing burpees! 😉

I started my day slow and then got into the cleaning and laundry. My energy was dwindling by the time I finished and was glad to sit down for lunch a bit. Now, I can’t wait to go for nap before heading in to work tonight.

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!

 

I’m Back!

After yet another busy morning, I was lucky enough that Cindy invited me and the girls to go spend some time on her boat, swim in the lake and jump on her trampoline. The girls were so stoked about it all and Cindy even let them drive the boat! They had a blast and Béatrice even came for a little swim in the lake with us, while Rina refused categorically to get in, but she dipped her feet in from the boat though.

Rina was trying to touch the waves

BeZU was so happy and really enjoyed her time on the boat!

I don’t know how Cindy gets the energy to do this day in and day out, because after our little jaunt in and on the lake, I was ready for nap! Unfortunately, I had to go to Rina’s school for the parents info session about kindergarten. I came back home and was determined to get Béatrice to sleep early. So much so that I camped myself at the desk atop our stairs and did some computer work while she fell asleep. It works, I was able to go back downstairs around 2015. It was pretty useless though because I went to bed super early last night. There was no point in staying up as I was dozing off on the couch. I dragged myself to bed and was under the sheets at this early hour:

Yep, was in bed and it wasn’t even 2130!

I slept soundly through the night and got up at 0500 feeling refreshed and back to my usual self. I was glad to see I wasn’t sore anymore and my energy levels were back up to normal! Ready to tackle this WOD:

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The power cleans felt very familiar since we had done them just yesterday morning at Oly class. Since I was feeling back on track with my energy levels, I really wanted to push it on those and wanted to try to finish at 90#. Here were my reps:

65#-70#-75#-80#-85#-90#

I failed the second lift @90# twice so I no-repped myself on that weight and only recorded 85#. Still, it felt much better than it had yesterday! 🙂

I had read the WOD early this morning and had misread it as TTB and burpees, not burpee box jumps. It really didn’t matter since no matter what the WOD was, I was there to work hard! I went into this one with a little bit of strategy: I would try to do all rounds of hanging knee raises unbroken (still don’t have my TTB) and I would keep moving on the burpee box jumps as much as I could.

We had to split our class into 2 heats and I was selected to be in the 1st heat. I managed to stick to my strategy for the hanging knee raises and took very minimal breaks atop the box during the burpee box jumps. I even slowed a few reps to “granny-style burpees” in order to catch my breath, but as soon as I could somewhat breathe better, I went back to jumping them. It sure paid off in the end since I didn’t finish last for once and looked at the clock when it displayed 7:30. I had to look at my little white board to make sure I didn’t skip a round or something, it seemed so unnatural for me to be done so early! I think even Coach Caleb was a bit surprised as he came around to give me a “Nice work today!” 🙂 Yeah, it felt pretty awesome to feel like I was finally back to myself!

I came back home and made myself a hearty breakfast of ground beef (tex-mex seasoned), grilled zucchini, an egg and an apple. I did some accounting for the house and now, I’m ready to spend another sunny day with my little family!

I will choose the gym any day (except when I’m actually working at the hospital!) 😉

A Newbie No Longer

Today is a holiday in BC and that meant only 2 classes at Crossfit. We were a large group for the 0930 class, but it was a team WOD and I was pretty pumped about the work to accomplish.

 

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I teamed up with a bunch of strong women with small feet so we wouldn’t fiddle with the erg (Alli, Bridget and Megan) and we got ready to tackle this stuff! I started us off on the thrusters. Man! Do I love working on the bar! Thrusters, especially! It’s a lift that comes easy to me, for some reason. I finished off with a 3RM of 85#. I had never done a 3RM before for the thrusters, but it’s a definite 15# PR from my 5×5 Squat Clean Thrusters. I started off by cleaning them from the floor, but I moved onto the rack at 75#. I felt proud as punch when we were done with these! Bridget killed it with 115#, Alli finished with 85# as well and Megan got 80#

After we were done our 4-mins rest, I started us off on the erg. I was trying to keep track of my calories for each interval, but I gave up after my second round. I know I got 13 and 15 cals for the 1st 2 rounds.

After yet another 4-mins rest, we moved on to the burpees. As much as I used to hate them when I first started Crossfit, they have now become one of my favourite move to do! I challenged myself by making sure I would touch the pull-up bar on every rep and managed 15 of them in my 1-minute. Not bad, considering everybody else on my team did the same, except for Megan who got 16! I felt so good after this WOD. I know I’m not at my peak performance yet, but I think I’m getting there. Tracey and I talked about the WOD when it was all done and she said that: “Someone who gets a 3RM Thrusters of 85# can no longer call themselves a newbie.” I guess I can’t hide behind that excuse anymore!

Coach AJ (who has come back to us recently) even said that I had gotten so much stronger since she had left. It was nice to hear and it made my proud of my hard work!

After I was done beaming, I made my way to the grocery store. I had forgotten to bring a change of clothes and was going around in my short shorts and my tank top. Yeah, let’s just say Crossfit attire outside the Box attracts some pretty marked glares! I passed a guy who gave me a nod and a smile after he stared at my shorts, then my Crossfit shoes. He was wearing a Crossfit shirt as well, so I smiled back! Crossfitters everywhere unite!

I’m so happy that I get the week off and will be able to go to the Box 4 times this week. This truly is my drug! I love Crossfit and I love me some barbell work! Proof is this love gush on Instagram!

When DNF = PR

I haven’t blogged in a bit because I needed some time off. I’m back now and I have some catching up to do!

I went to Crossfit on Saturday and brought my two lovely ladies with me since Ben was out of town. Here’s what I did:

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Skill: Back Squat 6×3 E90S

I was really hoping to go up to 130# on these, but my body had other plans in mind. I managed to do the round at 120#, then went up to 125#, managed one very ugly rep and had nothing left for the other two. I decided to rest (this was my 5th set) and try again on the last set. Again, I managed the 1st rep, and couldn’t get out of the bottom on the second rep. I bailed out and dropped the bar. 125# was my previous PR and I had to settle for 120# on Saturday since my body just couldn’t do 125#. That means I’m 25# away from a bodyweight back squat. Something to work on this year! Rina and Béa were cheering me on with some “Go Mommy!” and “You’re doing so good Mom!”, it was pretty cute to hear them cheer me on!

WOD: 1K row

The last time I attempted this one, I finished in 4:38.4. I knew I wasn’t gonna improve drastically on this one, but I was hoping to drop below 4:30. I managed to barely do just that with a final time of 4:29.0. Just made it! Rowing is miserable when you’re short and although it was a tough one, it wasn’t as tough as I anticipated. I just stuck to my game plan and it worked!

Ben was coming home last night and I was very much looking forward to seeing him. Even better was the fact that I got the night off from work, so that meant that not only would I get to see my man in the evening, I also get 7 days off from work! I slept well during the day after my night at work and got a good night sleep once I went to bed. I felt good when I woke up this morning for this WOD:

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WOD: The Incredibles

The previous 2 times I had attempted this one, I had done FG with a 10# and less reps of everything as well as only 600m runs. Today, I was in the mood to try it Rx. I knew I probably wouldn’t finish in the time cap, but I was willing to try my best. We set out and I had a few goals I set for myself:

• run the 800m non-stop on each rounds
• break the wallballs into sets of 5 reps, but not break the form while I do them
• do the box jumps in 2×10

That’s it. We set out and even though misery loves company, I was quickly left in the dust, trailing behind everybody on the run. The sidewalk where we run the 800m in an out-and-back goes on an incline for the first 400m, getting progressively more pronounced on the last 200m up. I could really feel it and although I slowed down to a crawling pace, I managed to not stop moving. The first set of wallballs went according to plan and I had to pause a bit for my box jumps, so my strategy didn’t work for those, but I managed to keep proper form on the burpees. I set out for the second run.

It was brutal, my legs were done and my hip flexors were protesting heavily. The last 200m up the hill were laughable I was so slow, but again, I didn’t stop moving. I came back inside and went on to the wall balls where my plan worked somewhat. Some reps I had to break into smaller sets, but I managed to do all 25. I then moved onto he box jumps and managed to stick to my plan this time around. I broke the burpees into sets of 5 and managed most of them true-to-form. I looked at the time and it was past 21:00 when I set out for my 3rd round of running. I was spent, my hip flexors were furious and if I thought my legs were tired on the second round, it was nothing compared to this one. I kept crawling my way uphill and Tracey came out to run the last 400m with me (Thanks Tracey!). Coach Caleb was waiting for me outside and cheered me on to finish strong. I went back to the wall and started on the wallballs. I managed 22 before the 30-min time cap rang through. Even though I didn’t finish it this time around, I still consider this a PR since I attempted it RX. It was way harder to run the 800m stretches than I had anticipated, but I managed to “run” all 3 rounds without stopping. Also, I used a heavier wallball and did 10 more reps/round of them, as well as 5 more reps of box jumps/rounds and 10 more burpees/rounds.

It truly is amazing to me to see my progress. Yes, it’s slow, but I am not nor will I ever be an athlete. I am a mom who just wants to keep pushing myself and I did just that today. When I’m by myself and I get in my zone, I find myself thinking about the silliest of things. Today, I was wearing shorts and I was amazed at seeing my quads whenever I looked down on the running intervals. I have quads! Visible ones! I couldn’t see them a year ago! I also couldn’t do that many burpees true-to-form until very recently. Yes, I still resorted to doing some granny-style, but whenever I would catch my breath and feel somewhat recovered, I went back to doing them Rx. Celebrate the small victories, focus on the positive and keep being impressed by your progress, that’s the only way to go about it!

Easter Saturday

I started my weekend with an unexpected night off from work and that made it the best night ever because it meant I could tag along with Ben and the girls for the Easter Egg Hunt he had registered them for!

I woke up early this morning and walked up to the reservoir with my trusted Duke to watch the sun rise above the clouds:

It seemed like the park had put on its Easter colour scheme to celebrate for tomorrow:

Nature does it best! Purple and yellow flowers for Easter

I came back home, cleaned up and made breakfast before we headed on out for the girl Easter Egg Hunt organized by the Rec Centre. Béa called the bunny “the Monster Bunny” so I’m not sure she was impressed with the whole thing, but I think they had fun chasing the few eggs left around:

We then went around to get some dog food and had lunch. When we came back home, it was time for the girls to nap and while Ben was taking care of the lawn and the compost, I finally came around to doing the Burpees and Double Unders workout from StayFitMom. I had to take a few breaks for the rounds of 25 and 20 burpees and I have to admit that the rounds of 50 and 40 DUs took me quite a long time with A LOT of single reps mixed in with even more whipping of the legs/butt/arms/shins in-between. I did, however, manage to string 8 DUs in a row (once) and a few 7 and 6 in a row as well, which is a new PR for me! 🙂

My cheat sheet hanging outside so I wouldn’t lose track of where I was in the WOD.

When all was said and done, it took me 24:17 to finish it all. Here’s what I looked like after:

Yep! I’m pooped!

Now the girls are up, eating candy (bedtime should be fun… NOT) and I have to go wash up before dinnertime. Hop you all have a fun-filled Happy Easter!

 

 

Feels So Good

I was finally able to go to the Box this morning and it felt so good to be back in my happy place after an exhausting set at work. I even warmed-up on the death bike Airdyne, willingly! I also worked on my DUs and to my amazement, I strung 4 in a row! Go me! It’s not much, but it’s twice as much as my previous PR! I swear, I should be somewhat good to go for the Open!

Once we were fully warmed up, I got ready for this:

Source

Skill: power clean + hang power clean + thruster EMOM x 10.
I started at 55#x5, but it felt like I was sandbagging it. I upped it to 60#x2 and upped it again to 65#x3. That felt good for the cleans, but challenging for the thrusters.

WOD: Twintrix

WOD 1: I scaled this one with red and blue CTB. I managed 4 full rounds + 6 burpees before the 6 mins were up. I was doing jumps over box burpees before Coach Caleb set me straight and said they were just burpee box jumps. Oops! I corrected my reps and kept on going. It was tough, but I was surprised at how little “granny” burpees I was doing. Most of my reps were full ones and I was pretty happy with that improvement!  We then had 2 mins to switch stations and try to catch our breaths.

 

WOD 2: I did this one Rx (wallballs at 14# and RKBS at 35#) and paid the price for it. Those wallballs are so hard for me. I’m still struggling through them and I may have dropped an F-bomb at some point. I was doing them single and couldn’t seem to catch the ball. I would have to reset it on the floor before picking it back up and wasted so much energy doing so. Still, I managed 3 full rounds + 5 RKBS for a grand total of 89 points for this WOD.

I came back home to have breakfast, shower, throw some laundry in the machine and headed on out to get my hair done. It feels good to get pampered once in a while. I took advantage of being by myself downtown to go pick up my new necklace

My Unicorn In The Forest

Here’s the description that came with it:

This handcrafted talisman necklace features a unicorn, which is a mythical creature with healing powers that is said to be fierce yet good, selfless yet solitary but always mysteriously beautiful.

I thought it was a good representation of the woman I am: healing powers (NICU RN), fierce yet good (Crossfitter mom), selfless yet solitary (I give so much to my family, but I still relish those quiet stolen moments for myself and for knitting).

The girls love it just because it displays a unicorn! 🙂

I came back home and made a fresh batch of egg muffins for breakfast tomorrow. They smell so good, it’s very hard to resist eating them now!

I will now sit and relax a bit before I fold the laundry! Just another typical day at home with my girls, but to me, those are the best days!