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!

Motivation

Some days, I feel super motivated to keep going in my journey towards being healthy. I’ve managed to keep on track with the Whole30 for the past week (my second round at it) and having 8 days off from work means I can get my workouts in easily. Not having to deal with sciatic pain is a lovely added bonus and still a welcome novelty to me.

Some days weeks, however, it is harder to find the motivation. I get stuck in a funk at times and I wonder why I put myself through all of this. What is the benefit of all this torture fitness known as Crossfit. Why did I keep waking up at 0500 for 2 whole years, paying good, hard-earned money to subject myself to workouts that are so demanding, I sometimes end up crying on the mat at the end. Nowadays, the 0500 wake-up call have been replaced by rushing through the morning routine for school for the girls, WOD at 0930, then rushing to get ready to pick up Béa from preschool, or groceries or cooking. Some days, I sit down for the first time at 5pm and I’m exhausted. Why do I suck up all of the precious energy I have and go “waste” it all on a workout? Why, you say? I’ll tell you why.

I’m tired. ALL.THE.TIME. It doesn’t matter that I get to sleep in one day a month or not. I’m the wife of a husband who travels a lot for work which means I’m “single-married” (married, but alone at home with the kids for extended periods of time) a lot.

I’m a NICU nurse and I work shift-work and have been doing so for the past 10 years. 10 years of switching between nights and days on a dime. It takes its toll on a body. More recently, I have gone into a Charge Nurse position. I love the challenges it has brought upon me, but it can be added stress at times. That also doesn’t help making me feel less tired.

I’m a mom to 2 lovely, cuddly, active little girls. They like to be on the go and we try to accommodate that as much as possible. Some days, I crave 5 mins to myself. Even if we don’t do something big, they constantly want us to be involved in their little play, which means I can’t focus on anything I’d like to be doing for myself. That’s ok though, if I have a little bit of energy left in the evening after they’ve gone to bed is when I usually try to focus on myself. If the energy is AWOL, I usually just sit and watch TV and find some other time to do MY things.

When you put all those realities of my life together, it’s only normal that I need an outlet to REALLY focus on myself: my physical, emotional and mental well-being. THAT’S why I do Crossfit. When I am there, it’s usually 1hr of my life where I only need to make minimal decisions: Will I use 55lbs or 65lbs for the WOD? Do I need my wrist wraps or not?, etc. Nobody’s life hangs in my hands and I can let out of all the emotions that have been bottled up inside my short little body. Am I exhausted at the end of a WOD? For sure! Then again, I’m always exhausted and at least, I’ve done something for myself to get in better health!

Lately, I have struggled to find the motivation to get going. Whether it’s because the PRs don’t come as easily as they used to or because I have struggled with my sciatica, I’m not sure. I was talking to Kathleen about that a few weeks ago and I was debating taking a break. It is a scary thought. I feel like I would probably get lost if I didn’t do Crossfit. Either that, or I’m afraid I would never go back and all the hard work (and money) invested in myself for the past 2 years would be a total waste. Because of those fears, I have kept going, pushed through the struggles and injury and keep telling myself things will look brighter again soon (hopefully). When I really struggle with my motivation, I like to “check-in” with myself. I did one of those “check-in” 2 days ago and it has lit up a small fire of determination to keep going:

Top is on my 1st day of Crossfit, bottom is a few days ago. 28 months in between pictures

Sure the progress could be a lot better, but like I said, I’m a wife, a mom and a nurse. My diet isn’t always the best and I workout 1-3x/week at best. Progress is progress and seeing it helps re-focus my drive.

This morning was my first day back at the Box for Oly lifting in over a month. I was debating going at all as I feel like I have to re-learn everything about my snatch and C&J as well. I decided to go in anyway with the philosophy that everyone has to start somewhere. I don’t want to make the coaches feel like they are wasting their time with me, but I also would like to move past my injury and finally get proficient at those Olympic lifts. Coach Caleb wasn’t there this morning and we had the lovely Coach Val to guide us through our session. Karen and I struggle with dropping into the squat in the snatch and Coach Val has given us some pointers to fire up our hips and drop quickly.

I was trying with an empty 35#-bar this morning and Coach Val suggested I get a training bar (10#) and put some plates on it so that I would get the proper feel of the bar. That meant I started my snatch work at a very low weight, but I was at peace with that. I got my Dynamax ball for my butt depth into the squat and got working on things.

Snatch 6×2 E2M: Here were my reps for this one:

30#-35#-40#-45#-50#-50#

I stayed at 50# for my last 2 rounds and had to drop the bar in-between all my reps in order to reset my form, but I managed to get it done and somewhat drop into the squat. I was happy with that. Not quite at the 90% target of my 1RM (50# was 77% of my “fake 1RM of 65# and 83% of my real 1RM of 60#), but not too bad considering I’m re-learning to move safely for my sciatic. I was glad I managed to get up that high as I was expecting to stay at 45# and just work on form.

Death by Power Cleans: It was my 1st time doing this one and since I don’t even have a 1RM at 92.5# for my C&J, I was definitely going to scale down for this one. After discussing with Coach Val, I decided on 65# and warmed up to that. Coach Val told us to aim for 10 rounds and I felt like I would probably bail out before then, but I went it anyway. I managed to go unbroken for rounds 1-7 and then things started to slow down a little after that. I had to drop the bar a few times during my round of 8, then started introducing singles into the round of 9. I was pretty pumped to complete the round of 10 and still have 15s to catch my breath before diving into the round of 11! 😉  I had to do them all as singles and there were a few reps that I caught really high in my neck, but I pushed through and squeezed in my last rep with 1s left in the round. Technically, I could have started right away on the round of 12, but I had nothing left in the tank. My for was getting wonky, my neck was catching the bar more and more and my left wrist was getting slow in the catch so I chose to stop there.

What do you get at a 5am lifting class? Bruised neck and dark circles, that’s what you get!

I came back home and jumped right back into the realities of motherhood. Béa had tried to go pee by herself. She managed to get her pants off, hoist herself onto the toilet and couldn’t figure out the toilet paper, so she called out for help. I’m just thankful she didn’t put that pile of paper in the bowl as that would have been a nice plug! 😉

See? Finding balance and purpose is what keeps me motivated! 😉

Where I’m At

Something weird happened this morning:

My alarm woke me up!

I got dressed, ate my snack and made my way to the Box. As I got there, I realized that in 5 days, I will celebrate my 2 years of doing Crossfit! I will do my recap post below because I have time to do so today, but for now, here’s what we did at the Box:

Source

WOD: Pull Popper

I had done this WOD before, back in March and I knew what to expect. I teamed up with Lara and Telsey and they suggested we use 55#!!! I told them to do a few reps with an empty bar to get the feel of it and I wasn’t going any higher than 45# (I had done 40# back in March). My teammates chose to stay at 35# and it was a smart decision! I started us off on the erg and my 1st two rounds were so strong! I kept my pace anywhere between 1:50-1:59/500m and I even saw 1:49 at one point! It scared me a little because I didn’t want to gas out. The snatches were hard and I had to break them into sets of 5 and even did some 3-2 sets thrown in there. Because we didn’t have the big bumper plates on our bars, we had to do erghop burpees. I did all mine Rx, except for one rep in my third round. That 3rd round almost did me in. I was slower on my 1st row, I wanted to quit on the snatches as well as on the burpees and the last row was slow in comparison (2:06-2:10/500m). I used my rest time to reset my mindset and switch it around. Even though I was slower on the last round, I was giving it my all and once I was done, I stepped outside in the cooler air, dropped to my hands and knees, liked that the concrete felt so cool and decided to just belly flop onto it in order to catch my breath and cool off. I was breathing so heavy, my throat still hurts. It literally took me close to an hour after I was done before the nausea subsided. I came close to Pukie the clown a few times, but managed to keep everything down. We finished in 42:49 and although it took us longer than on my previous attempt, I know that my partners gave it their all! Telsey was so freakin’ strong on the erg and Lara made the snatches look easy and flawless.

I came home, went straight to bed and cuddled next to my husband. the thought of washing my hair made me want to scream (arms over head? I don’t think so) and the calluses in my hands were burning so bad. I still can’t do a hyper-extension of my fingers as it pulls too much on the calluses. I can just walk around with claw hands for today, I’m cool with that!

True story!

OK! Back to serious business: My 2-year anniversary at Crossfit! I can’t believe I have kept this up for so long! For the first time in my life, I have been consistently physically active. Not only that, I now plan my life around the times I can squeeze in a workout. Working out has become a priority in my life (Who am I? Really???) and it is now second nature to wake up before any other creature does in order to go sweat my little(r) butt out! (Who am I kidding, I don’t have a little butt, I squat for goodness’ sake!)

In order to keep the tradition alive, here’s is my comparison in numbers and pictures:

As you can see, I haven’t lost much weight. Really, some people lose that amount of weight just thinking about it (Ahem, my husband!). 11.4lbs is nothing. I know some other people would probably have way more dramatic results, but this is me on MY journey. I have to say, I am so freakin’ proud of where I am today: I work full-time (shift work), have two young daughters, a husband whom I adore and still manage to keep up with this madness that I’ve come to love! Plus, a total of 12.5″ of fat loss isn’t anything to spit at either! Wanna see what those numbers look like in pictures?

Here it is!

I don’t really like to look at my Day 1 pictures. Not because of my physical appearance, but look at my facial expression. You can tell that I really struggled through those pics. I was not in a good place mentally (never mind physically) and I’m pretty sure depression wasn’t too far off my radar. I’m so, so glad I walked into Crossfit VicCity on the day that I did. I may not be at my best physically, but man am I stronger mentally and emotionally. I honestly cannot see the day when I won’t want to wake up at 0500 in order to go shed some blood, sweat and tears with my second family. I’m so happy with where I’m at because even though I’m still pudgy in some areas, I am comfortable in who I am because I know what my pudgy body can accomplish. And for that reason, I will strut my stuff in my bikini in a few weeks on the Cuban beaches!

Like I said, I am stronger mentally and walk taller too. I know I can carry both my kids up the stairs at the same time and that gives me confidence that I am doing the right thing in order to be the best mom and wife I can be. Realizing that, I know I have ticked the biggest goal on my Crossfit Goal list!

What will the next 2 years will have in store for me? Stick around! I know I’m excited to find out!

Winning All Around

But really, I’ve also been losing all around. Proof in number and in pictures below:

 

In 31 days, I’ve lost 3.4lbs and lost 4.5″ overall. I’ve also lost some cellulite, some bloating and some sluggishness.

In 31 days, I’ve gained 2 guns (I’ve been waiting 2 years to see my biceps bulge and today, they’re very visible and I couldn’t be happier!), there’s a faint sighting of abs beginning to show, my back fat has decreased a lot, my shoulders are more defined and my butt has also lifted (soon, it’ll be right by my neck!)

Whole30 has done some wonderful things for me: I sleep better, I don’t crave processed foods (most days), I’ve dropped under 2:00/500m on the erg (huge for me) and I’ve created bonds with Kathleen, Telsey and Tracey who have joined and supported me through this crazy idea of doing the Whole30. Other than the 1st week, it’s been awesome and I plan on keeping it strict until July 15. That was our little group’s official end date (I started early) and I will stick by my girls through the end. Afterwards, I plan on maybe adding 1-2 cheat meals/week, but no more than that. It will be hard as I’ll be vacationing in Cuba, but I’ll try to make healthy and smart decisions about my food choices.

For the first time in years (we’re talking almost a decade here) I feel comfortable in my body. I know some parts are sagging and not as toned as they could be, but I’ve also had 2 humans take over my body for 18.5 months and I’m pretty stoked with how I look today. I have this newfound confidence and I feel like nothing can stop me. It’s onwards and upwards from here!

Kathleen was gracious enough to invite me to her garage gym (aka Jim’s Gym) for a WOD in order to get extra fitness in. I was nice to be able to have the girls play alongside us while we were working out in the sun. Here’s what we did:

Here’s what Kath had planned for us!

 

This WOD was hard for me and I used a 25# plate for it. I now know another weakness of mine is lunges with added weight. My quads and glutes were burning after this one! I finished in 9:12 and Kath was done way before me!

Following the WOD, we took some rest (I needed it!) and then did some work on the erg. Gotta work on those weaknesses!

We did 3x200m on the erg with rest of 1:30 in-between. It was closer to 2:30 rest since we were alternating between the two of us on the erg. You can see I kept my splits all below 2:00/500m for all 3 attempts, so yesterday wasn’t just a fluke! Apparently, I really have improved my fitness! Kathleen destroyed this, just like she did the WOD before. That woman is seriously fit and an inspiration, I tell you! Once we were done, Rina hopped on the erg and was trying to row so hard. She had pretty decent technique for a 4-year-old. She was complaining that she “wasn’t making any wind”. Already has a competitive side to her… I wonder where she gets this from?!?

Mandatory post-WOD’s sweaty selfie of Kathleen and I with Jim’s Gym sign in the background!

So happy to have made new friends with whom I can share a passion with and the friendships are not drama-related! Tomorrow, Telsey and I have planned to get together so the kiddos can have a play-date while we mamas can hang out! Very thankful for having all those new people in my life! Couldn’t ask for a better day to have it, really!

One Of Those Weeks

This week has been one of those weeks. You know the ones: Your workouts couldn’t have gone any better, you train hard, eat clean-ish, get some rest, spend quality time with the kiddos and make the most of it. Today is my last day off before going back to work tomorrow and I have yet another lovely day planned. Coffee with a friend all while letting the girls running in the water fountain at Uptown. Then, getting some groceries and stuff at Walmart, finishing up laundry and preparing for work tomorrow.

Already, I feel accomplished. This morning was Oly lifting class and I was mentally prepared for Clean & Jerk testing week. We kept the same pattern as we did for the Snatch last week and I was struggling a bit more with the rep scheme, but it went really well in the end. Here’s what we had to do:

• 3x@75%
• 3x@80%
• 2x@85%
• 2x@90%
• 1x@95%
• 1x@100%

Since my 1RM for the C&J is 80#, below are the weights I worked with:

I had to modify some of the weights (either rounding up or down), but it worked well. The numbers on the right are just time cues for me to start my reps at. On my 1st set at 70#, Coach Caleb came by and told me I was doing a weird jerking motion from the ground up. I needed to slow my pull from the shin to the knee in order to work that kink out. I did and managed to do all my rounds, up to 80#.

Coach Caleb told me to switch and put 25# plates on my bar, but I knew that would psych me out, so I kept the 15# and added 2×10# on each side for my test. We had 3 attempts for a 1RM and I went for 85# on my 1st attempt and nailed it. I was so excited that I dropped the bar before bringing my feet back under my shoulders. Oops! I asked Coach Caleb if he wanted me to repeat it and he said to just increase my weight on the bar.

I obliged him and went up to 90#. I was starting to fatigue and coming out of the squat was hard. I managed to do it, I jerked it (and didn’t forget about my feet) and dropped that bar to the floor! Yes! 10# PR! Apparently, I do a little nod before I throw the bar down. I guess that’s my way of acknowledging that I destroyed this weight, now I will drop it like a fly! BAM!

I then tried to go for 95#.

1st attempt: Tracey recorded my attempts. When I reviewed the video, I saw that I could totally pull it high enough, but I wasn’t committing to dropping under the bar. Sounds familiar since I struggle with the same issue on my Snatch.

2nd attempt: Same thing happened here. Pulled high enough, didn’t drop. I had a chat with myself, trying to convince me that the worst I could do would be drop on my bum, so, just commit to it already!

3rd attempt: After reviewing the video, Coach Caleb noticed I hesitated a fraction of a second on the pull before dropping into the squat. I did drop though, but I fell down, since I wasn’t fast enough. Still! I was super happy I had committed to dropping since that’s a big issue for me.

Failed 95#, but I’m gunning for triple digits!

Like I said, I may have failed at 95#, but I’m hoping to get into the triple digits this year! The perfect end to a perfect week of training. I love how supportive my Crossfit peeps are and how encouraging they are. I may not be at my ideal fitness / weight / appearance, but I feel strong as heck and I’m proud of my achievements this week. Not too shabby for someone who can only attend class 2x/week on a normal basis!

 

Fight The Suck

15.5 was announced on Thursday. Here’s what was awaiting me for the final Open 2015 workout:

My first reaction was:

Then, I saw the girls go through it (Sam, Annie and Camille) and I saw how the struggle was real for these phenomenal athletes and my confidence was slowly fading away. My initial goal was a sub 25:00 to finish. As time went on, I started thinking that a sub 30:00 would be great, then a sub 35:00 would be ok. Really, I just wanted to finish under my 14.5 score of 38:53. That would be my end goal for this one. I was getting scared beyond belief. I remembered how much 14.5 sucked and I knew 15.5 would probably be equally sucky.

I got up at 0630 to go walk the Duke and although it was early to get up for on a day off, it was nice. We walked up to the reservoir and since it was so early, there was nobody there and I was able to let him off leash so he could run to his little heart’s content! He still has the puppy run and trips over his legs, so I had a few good laughs with him.

We came back home, I showered and had a lazy breakfast. I was sure the class was starting at 0930 this morning, but I checked the website just to be safe. Good thing I did because class was starting in 30 mins (0900, not 0930). I gobbled the rest of my breakfast and got going. I paired up with Megan and she would go first and would judge me in the second heat. Megan did awesome and it was empowering yet intimidating to see her accomplish her goal for each rounds of thrusters.

Then it was my turn. My breakfast resurfaced in my throat and stayed there for the entire WOD. I got on the erg and was aiming at around 900cals/500m for that round. I managed to keep that up and moved onto the thrusters.

Wearing my “Two Peas In A WOD” tank with the hopes that Krista (my other pea) would somehow give me some of her strength.

I had set out a goal of 7-5-5-5-5 for the first round of thrusters. Yeah no. I dropped that goal quickly. I broke everything into rounds of 3 for all the rounds. Which made the suck last this much longer.

Already have my “hurt face” on… It was still early in the WOD as I’m still wearing my tank top…

Back to the erg for a row of 21cals. I managed to keep everything around 900cals/500m for that one as well and even though it was hard, I felt like this was my recovery. Onto the thrusters I went. I tried my best to do more than 3 reps in a row, but I just couldn’t keep it up. Rounds of 3 reps and I managed to squat clean my 1st rep on almost all rounds. And then, the WOD broke me. I was trying my best not to have an emotional breakdown, but the sobs just came out and the tears flowed out.

Back on the erg for 15 more calories. For the first 10 calories, I was just trying to control the sobs and my breathing.  I fought to keep my strokes above 800cals/500m. I kept thinking of my darling girls and how I was doing this so I can be a better mom for them. It was already hard enough, I needed to get my breathing back under control in order to keep going. I think I managed to do so before stepping off the erg and it took all my mental fortitude not to break down again as I made my way to the thrusters. I just wanted to rest and recover a little longer before going back to that damn bar. No such luck. I broke the 15 in sets of 3 again and there was one set where I just couldn’t get that bar on my shoulders. I dropped it back, got my breath under control, picked it up again and kept fighting for every rep. For the remainder of the Thrusters, I kept thinking about my mom, who fought through 2 bouts of breast cancer and chemo weekly for almost 8 months. The pain I was feeling was nothing compared to all the struggles she has gone through. I just needed to suck it up and keep going.

Pain. Plain and simple, all over my face. Also, abs are making their first appearance in over a decade. This is good!

Back to the erg for the final 9 calories-row. I tried to maintain my strokes above 750cals/500m. I just want more time to recover. I don’t want to go back to the thrusters. NO. MORE. THRUSTERS. PLEASE!

I broke them into sets of 3 again and finished dead last. Didn’t even care about my final time, I just broke down in tears, yet again. I literally left it all on the floor. Megan came by and told me I crushed my 30 mins goal. I looked up at my time on that little piece of paper and saw the magic number:

23:09.

I had done it and not only had I crushed my goal of finishing under my 14.5 time, I had also crushed my original goal of sub 25:00. Am I happy with my score? Yes and no. I really wish I hadn’t broken down like I did, but I still managed to push through and finished under my goal time.

Krista texted me just as I was finishing the WOD and she wanted to see my post-WOD face. Here’s the pic I sent her:

Not a pretty face, but then again, nothing was pretty about 15.5!

 

The 2015 Crossfit Open Games are now officially over for me. All I need now is to wait until next Tuesday to see where I finish up in the rankings. I hope I’ll finish better than last year but only time will tell.

The inside of my shorts. I don’t know that I destroyed 15.5, but I finished and that’s all I wanted in the end!

 

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!

 

 

Becoming That Girl

I read something on Facebook last night and it rang true to me. It was an article originally written by Wine to Weightlifting about the Crossfit girls wearing booty shorts. You can read it here. I remember clearly before I decided to join my beloved Box, I was talking to my brother and his girlfriend. They had done Crossfit and I was still on the fence about it. I was chatting with my brother’s girlfriend and I remember clearly saying something along those lines:

I don’t care if I don’t ever lose weight and if I don’t get buffed. All I want is to be healthier and stronger. I know I will never strut around the gym in my booty shorts and my sports bra and I honestly don’t care about that, I just want to be a good model for my daughters and be able to keep up with my family.

Cue this pic:

The above pic was taken last fall during my Crossfit in-house competition. That’s right… I’m in my sports bra and my running shorts! Yes, there are cellulite and muffin top galore also being displayed in this picture, but what I see when I look at that pic are strong arms, strong back and perfect form during the American Kettle Bell swing. I may not be completely comfortable in my skin yet, but I also know that, when it comes to my Box, nobody will ever shame me for having a flabby belly or cellulite. The people that surround me at the Box are supportive and make me feel like I can really be me when I’m there. It truly is a safe place to be and maybe that’s why I love Crossfit so much. I don’t know if I’ve grown more confident or maybe it’s just that I’m comfortable in this place where there are no mirrors for me to focus on my dangling skin, but I feel strong when I’m there. I feel like I belong and in this world of digitally retouched media, it’s nice to belong within a group of real people. In the pic above, I’m wearing running shorts. I also have 1 pair of true booty shorts, but I’ve never had the guts to wear them other than when I’m cleaning the house. Maybe this year will be the year, who knows?

I had the night off last night (unpaid, but I’ll take it after the crazy few weeks we’ve had!) and that meant I could go workout this morning. I had booked Nanny to watch the girls and they all came along with me.

Source

Skill: 8 rounds of 3 power cleans + 2 thrusters E90S

I had a hard time sticking to those. I guess I could blame it on the Oly classes, but I couldn’t just do the power clean, I kept doing the squat clean. Lol! I’ve been brainwashed! Here were my screwed-up reps:

45-50-55-60-65-70-75-75

I stayed at 75# for the last two rounds. I was struggling for the power cleans and I didn’t want my form to go wonky. The thrusters felt good though, I think I could have gone heavier on those.

WOD: HAM Sandwich

Coach Cam explained that HAM meant Hard as Motherfu**er and he sure as hell wasn’t lying! OMG this WOD was tough, but fun at the same time. We were to keep the same weight on the bar that we used on our last rep of the skill so that meant 75# for me today. I felt good. The sun was finally out, the weather was getting warmer, Coach Zeke commented on how I was “melting away” (thanks for noticing all the hard work coach!) and I was in a bubbly mood. Funny how last year, at around the same period, I was questioning myself as to why I was doing Crossfit. I think I was in a slump and was not happy with my progress and therefore, debating if I should stick to it or not. Boy, am I glad I stuck with it! This year, I’m in a  completely different place and I’m pretty happy about who I am at the moment!

OK, back to the WOD. I was going for the FG seeing as I still don’t quite have my DUs. Here were my modifications:

• 5 DUs + 15 single skips
• 10 bar hop burpees
• 8 deadlifts at 75#

I managed 4 full rounds and got to 7 burpees into the 5th round. I was really trying to do most of my burpees true to form, but I had to sneak a few in granny-style. It took a bit of math skills to add my score:

4 rounds of 38 reps + 27 (DUs + 7 burpees) + 75# on the bar = 254 total score!

Once I was done, Nanny came back with the girls (she took them to play at the playground inside the close-by McDonald’s) and Rina wanted to try a few hanging knee raises off the rig. She managed 2 and then Béatrice wanted to do the same. I love having my girls at the Box with me. Stretching while getting cuddles, tickles and kisses is the best!

 

Year End Accountability: Progress Update

It’s been a while since my last Progress Update post and I wanted to do one for the end of the year. I’ve been doing Crossfit now for 17 months and although my body shape hasn’t changed all that much, my body has become so much stronger in all facets of my fitness. I lift heavier than I ever have in my life, I can now run short intervals (800m during WODs) without taking any walking breaks, I do my box jumps regularly from a 20″ box (and occasionally from a 24″) I can now do pull-ups from the red and purple bands (I used to need the black one). I have achieved  and even surpassed a goal this year: deadlifting my body weight (155#, I have since done 160#).

I still have many goals to achieve, but I feel like it will come in due time. I try to keep my eating habits as clean as possible and monitor my food intake as much as I can, but I know that working night shifts is playing a very disturbing trick on my hormonal system and that’s probably why I haven’t been able to lose as much fat as I’d like. Proof was, not too long ago, I was off work for 14 days and managed to lose albs without making any changes in my lifestyle. Again, all in due time and if it doesn’t happen, I will just be content with what my body can do in the meantime. I have learned to accept that I may never have the body shape I’d like to have, but I will celebrate every little success in the meantime! Focus on the positive, let go of the negative!

Alright! Enough talking. Here are my stats:

My numbers from Day 1 to today.

My biceps have gotten bigger, but I’m fairly confident it’s muscle, so I’m not at all upset about that gain. As you can see, my weight is fairly similar and that’s why I don’t focus on that number anymore, but rather, on my accomplishments!

Progress in pictures

My waist has shrunk, I finally have muscles in my legs (quads and hamstrings), my bum has lifted and perked up, I’ve lost some belly fat, my shoulders and arms are more defined. I have a little excess loose skin on my back, but there’s not much I can do about it all. If you had seen what I could do 17 months ago at the Box compared to what I can do today, you would know I have been working my little heart out day in and day out. Really, what more could I ask for? I am a work in progress, made of failures and accomplishments. I am happier, more confident and so so much stronger. My daughters talk about Crossfit on a daily basis, I am teaching them about maintaining a healthy lifestyle by example, which, in my book, is positive parenting. I am not where I want to be, but seeing these pictures puts everything in perspective. Once you’ve been heavier, it’s hard not to look in the mirror and still see the old fat self, even though, that person is not as fat as they used to be. Looking at these pictures, I am very proud of where I am today.

These pictures reflect 17 months of waking up at 0500 2-3x/week, working a full-time job of 12-hrs day and night shifts, while being a mom to a 2 and 4-year old and a wife. It could probably be better, but, like I said, I choose to focus on the positive and I’m happy with these results! I never make New Year’s resolution, but I’ll make a wish that I can keep my positive outlook on life and keep the momentum going that I have for the year to come! Here’s to celebrating many more PRs in the new year!

Embrace The Suck!

Not much to say this morning other than it was another cold morning heading in to the Box for my workout:

Source

http://crossfitviccity.com/size-and-strength

Skill: HSPU+ rope climb

I finally managed to get 1 kipping HSPU from the yoga block + 3×2.5# plates. I was so excited that I got out of my handstand and wasn’t able to get back to it afterwards since my shoulders were getting tired. I’m just glad I finally managed to do one though as it was very elusive to me before today. I credit Tracey and her wonderful advice to push towards the ceiling with my feet! 🙂 I tried a regular rope climb, but even with my long sock, I wasn’t able to tolerate the pain on the scabs remaining on my shins. I did lying down ones instead.

WOD: Triow

Kevin was back and he needed to do the Airdyne instead of the rowing since he’s still recovering from surgery. Tracey was also doing Aridyne because her shoulder was bothering her so I offered to be their 3rd partner for the WOD on the death bike Airdyne. That’s right, I actually volunteered for the Airdyne. I guess I was all about embracing the suck or something. Marika also offered to team up with us so we then split up into two teams of 2  (I was with Kevin) and made up an imaginary 3rd partner. We ended up adding an extra rest period for each round to make up for our missing partner. Here’s what we had to do distance-wise on the ‘dyne:

• 0.35 x3 (each partner)
• 0.75
• 0.35 x3 (each partner)
• 0.75

Coach Caleb had given us the wrong distance for the first interval so we all ended up doing 0.45 instead of 0.35. Bleh! My goal for today was to simply not stop and not take my hands from the handles. I just wanted to keep pushing for each interval and I managed to do so! During the struggle, I would just close my eyes, focus on the music and try to keep up the cadence to the rhythm of the music. It worked!  We had to come up with team names and the theme was Galactic Warriors. I suggested and Schwinners (Schwinn is the brand of the death bike) of the Universe and Kevin agreed. We finished in 36:42. It was a long one and I was glad it was over! I guess I’m slowly getting fitter since I didn’t stop at all during the intervals, just like I can now run (very slowly albeit, but run nonetheless) all the intervals when running is involved! Yay. Slowly getting there!

I am very much looking forward to tomorrow’s Skills Plus class and see what’s in store for us!