Monthly Archives: April 2011

Running back to Mr. Genovese

In 6th grade, my P.E. teacher was Mr. Genovese. I loved Mr. Genovese.  He was so nice, even to a fat girl like me.  He encouraged, but never yelled.  And he was cute.

I didn’t mind dressing out for gym.

We alternated between Health class and P.E.  I remember spending weeks in a classroom taking notes on the digestive system, then abruptly needing to dress out for gym the next week.

I don’t remember much of what we did in P.E., but I do remember having to run a mile.

I wasn’t exactly “fat” in 6th grade, but I certainly wasn’t skinny.  I played soccer, and I ran a lot in short bursts.  I also played tennis, so I ran all over the court.  But running a mile was different.  It was longer, and it was really hard for me.  But I wouldn’t let myself stop.  I dug in and focused on breathing.  One lap, two laps…. until I finished.

I actually surprised myself.  All of that soccer running must have paid off because I distinctly remember my mile time: 7:41.  I don’t think I ran it that fast ever again.

I want to run that fast again.  One day.  I used to think I could never do it, but all of the Crossfit Endurance stuff really seems to work.  Kind of like soccer, it’s about short intense bursts of speed rather than slogging miles.  I’m running 400m in about 1:47 — consistently.  Now, it’s time to clean up my form.

I showed up at Austin High’s track this evening for a special edition of the free endurance workout.  This time it was more focused on technique, rather than the workout.  Coaches Lisa and Benjamin led us.   We went over POSE and did a bunch of drills.  It was definitely geared toward newcomers to POSE, but I think I benefited.  There are a lot of things I hadn’t been clear on and I also tend to get sloppy when I tire.  There was even a workout designed for us to practice what we learned:

6 x 200m

We didn’t keep time — it was all about form.

Maybe… just maybe… I’ll run as fast as I did when Mr. Genovese was my coach.

The importance of mobility

The is Spring Cleansing Week at my gym, so that means NO CLASSES.  I’m taking advantage of this, so I have no home workouts planned.  But what’s really nice is Crossfit Central offers current clients a ton of free active recovery classes all this week.  My first one was Monday morning: Mobility.

Coach Travis Holley led the group.  Mobility, which (along with flexibility) is one of the 10 general physical skills defined by Crossfit.  It’s important for:

  • Performance
  • Preventing injuries
  • Recovering from and rehabilitating injuries
  • Ideal technique

Here’s what we went over:

  1. Ankle dorsiflexion with band distraction
    This is helpful for getting a low squat without your heels leaving the ground.
  2. Hip flexor/”couch stretch”
    For this, we stuck our knee where the floor meets the wall and straightened up.  It really sucked.
  3. 5 minute hamstring (toes on plate, then heels on plate)
    This was so great — my hamstrings were tighter than I thought!
  4. Lat stretch with band and wrist in external rotation
  5. Front rack with band and wrist in internal rotation

The magic hold time?  About 90 seconds.  And if you’re comfortable, you’re not doing it right.  They kept saying: “find the suck.”

They also quickly went over a number of strengthening exercises, after noting that stretching is great, but to really fix issues, you have to strengthen.  For example, hip flexors are tight because the glutes are weak.  And the chest is tight because the back is weak.

If you’re interested in mobility, you should check out Mobility WOD.  Kelly Starrett knows his stuff, and he has a new mobility WOD each day.  My goal is to do at least one a day.  I saw massive results from each of the exercises we practiced, particularly in the lats and front rack position.

If you can’t see change, there is no change.

 

Stroller WOD

“I’m so glad I don’t have to lift anything heavy today.”

Andy was making dinner when he said that.  We were having an early Easter dinner — just the four of us (Mads always sits at the table with us, even if she doesn’t eat the same food).  The plan was to beat the heat by eating, taking the kids to the playground, THEN doing our endurance WOD.

It seemed like a good idea in theory.

Reflecting on what actually happened, I realize we kept the kids up way too late.  Plus, I was so focused on me and MY performance, I forgot how important it is to include the kids.  They’re not just passive riders — they want to play, too.

20 seconds on; 10 seconds off x distance
until completion
total distance: 2 miles

It was Easter, and Zilker Park was absolutely crazy.  There were families EVERYWHERE, with picnic sites set up that seemed more like living rooms than park areas.  Stereos were pounding, and off in the distance, a drum circle was going.  And going.  And going.  I started to wonder what exactly the drummers were high on, because it didn’t stop for the entire time we were there.

We made our way to the trail, which was busy, but since the weather was so beautiful and there was a cool breeze, I wasn’t surprised.  After we finished our first mile, Luke wanted to get out and run with us.  I was in runner mode, and I resisted.  But Andy yanked me back into mom mode with a few poignant looks.  Luke eventually jumped back in the stroller.

I didn’t do as well as I would have liked.  Pushing the stroller and trying to sprint is really hard.  It’s difficult to get up to speed quickly. We’ll revisit this one at a later date, but hopefully there will be less traffic on the trail.

In case you do sprints like this on a busy trail (with or without a stroller), here are Andy’s rules:

  • Run in really fast, in short bursts
  • Don’t stop on a hill — continue sprinting!
  • Don’t stop right in front of someone you just passed

And my rule:

  • Don’t get caught behind bikes and dog leashes.  Sprint as fast as you can to get around those people.
  • Use the stroller to your advantage.  People WILL get out of your way.

This was my last WOD before my recovery week.  All this week I’m doing active stuff, but I’m not working out.  I’ll return to my workout schedule on Saturday with one of my gym’s free community workouts (plus one at home).  Maybe I’ll see you there!

 

Popeye arms

All during Saturday night’s workout, Andy described his arms as feeling like Popeye arms.  I didn’t sweat that much, but my forearms and hands were screaming at me the entire time, too.

So here’s what I started with.  A little kettlebell warmup (devised on the fly, so it wasn’t very creative):

5 rounds
5 KB deadlift
5 swings
5 front squats

Time: 3:40 @ 1 pood

I only timed it to see how long my warmups take.  Looks like I need to go a bit longer, so I’m going to switch over to more AMRAPs.

Then Andy and I both worked on:

Push Press
3-3-2-2-1

Results: 65-70-75-80-85

A PR!  I’ve never done an 85# push press before!

3 rounds
200m farmer’s walk
25 Russian swings

I took this WOD from the Kettlebell program, and it was BRUTAL.  I chose to carry my two 25# dumbbells and swing with my 1 pood (16K) kettlebell.  The swings were the recovery, I promise you.  I’m also really glad we did this one under the cover of darkness, because we looked pretty funny walking up and down the street with weights.

Time: 17:31

We’re going to do this one again in a few weeks to test ourselves. I want to improve my grip — it will be good for all of the lifts as well as pull ups. And we all know I want to get better at pull ups.

 

WOD at sunset

The setting sun as seen from the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge.This view stopped me in my tracks Friday evening.  The setting sun over Lady Bird Lake.  I was in the middle of my run with Steph, and I just had to stop and take a picture.

I don’t often run in the evening, and it was absolutely beautiful Friday night.  There was a cool breeze and the heat of the day was fading.

I had planned to work out Friday morning.  Early.  But SOMEONE had turned the volume on my radio alarm all the way down and I didn’t hear it, so I woke up late.

At 6:30.

Yeah, I know.  Some people consider that early.

I was grateful it wasn’t a Crossfit morning.

But the sunset and weather on  Friday evening more than made up for the wrinkle in my plans.  Steph and I were running the 3 mile loop as a warmup to a WOD I had dreamed up earlier in the day.  The run was fairly fast, considering our stop in the middle for a photo, so we could get to the WOD before it got too dark.

3 rounds
20 Situps
10 DB push press
20 Tuck jumps
10 DB snatch (5 each side)

My plan was to use 2 dumbbells on the push press, but to simplify things (and to make the walk with the dumbbells to the park near Deep Eddy a little faster) we did 5 on each arm.

It was quick and fast, and my abs were screaming during those situps after yesterday’s WOD with 120.  Those tuck jumps were also no joke.

Time: 6:29 @ 20#

If you get a chance to run at sunset — do it.

Crush your leg, crush the WOD

I always wear pants.

Well… I should say that it’s rare for me to wear a skirt or dress.  It’s not that I’m against the girly thing or anything.  In fact, I love dresses and skirts.  But I rarely wear them because of how my legs look.

I used to think they were fat.  I was embarrassed.  Over the past two years the size of my legs is no longer what bugs me.  It’s the bruises.  It’s the scrapes.  It’s the scars.  I bang up my legs on a weekly basis WITHOUT FAIL.  Sometimes I don’t even notice until days later.

Today I noticed.

We worked on an unfamiliar lift this morning — the snatch grip deadlift.  It felt awkward.  And on top of it.  It was hot.  Zach warned us we probably wouldn’t be able to lift as much as we usually deadlift because of the mechanics of the lift.

Snatch Grip Deadlift
2-2-2-2-2

Results: 95-115-125-135-145

I got the first rep of that 145# round, but I ran into trouble on the second.  My hands were sweaty, and I needed to chalk them, but we were in a hurry to finish, so I forged ahead.  I lifted up and had the bar almost all the way up when my right hand slipped and the bar fell.

It hit my knee, which I was trying to pull out of the way.  It left a scrape, and I hopped around trying to shake it off.  Zach had seen, and he questioned me about it, but I assured him I was fine.  I was more embarrassed than anything.  My knee stung — but I could still put weight on it.

I’m glad I kept going, because I think it helped.  Although it caused even more nasty bruises on my wrists and forearms.

For time:
400m run
30 KB cleans (M 2 pood / W 1.5 pood)
60 GHD situps
30 KB cleans
400m run

Time: 13:07 @ 1 pood

I probably would not have bruised up my arms so bad if my form were better on those cleans.  And I don’t even want to see what my lower back looks like, because instead of GHD situps we did ab mat situps — 120 of them.

I didn’t start to feel real pain until I got home and everything started to stiffen up.  I iced my knee, but I didn’t notice my arms until Andy spotted them at lunch and winced.

Well, now I’m starting to get annoyed with myself for complaining so much. All in all, I’m really happy with how this workout went, despite the marks it left on me.  What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger, right?

400m repeats

For the first time — since before I got pregnant with Mads — I showed up at the track for one of the free Endurance workouts.  Unlike the last time I showed up at the track, it wasn’t cold and dark.  It was sunny and sweltering.

96 degrees.

And I had just done “Fran” that morning.  What was I thinking?

Maybe the heat had affected me.  Or my friends.  Beth and Steph went with me, and this is what we did with about 5 other Crossfitters:

4 rounds
400m run
50 squats

The goal was to go hard on the run and use the squats as recovery.  Coach Benjamin, who is part of Crossfit Central’s Endurance program, said we should aim to keep each 400 under 2 minutes and within 10 seconds of each other.

My first 400 was 1:49, but I don’t know what the rest were.  I don’t have a watch and it was HOT.  I’m sure they weren’t within 10 seconds of that.  I have no idea how long the entire WOD took, but I was really sweaty afterward.  It felt good to be be over, but in the end, it was good to be back at the track.

When I got home, I FEASTED on the frittata Andy had made for dinner and some salad.  I was sooooooo hungry.  And I wondered whether I would be able to drag myself out of bed in the morning to do the home WOD I had planned.

Guess what.  I didn’t.  Maybe tonight.

“Fran” revisited

Carey and Crystal WOD December 5, 2008 from SICFIT on Vimeo.

I love that video.  Two of the most inspiring women I know are in it, and when I saw this video for the first time, way back when I started Crossfitting, I simultaneously thought — “I want to be like them” and “I’ll never be like them.”

Fortunately, I now know that I can be whatever the hell I want to be, and I CAN be strong and fast if I want to.

It just takes some work.

The WOD for Tuesday was “Fran.”  Again.  We did this WOD back on March 8.  Tuesday was our test.  Had we improved?  Had I improved?  In March, I set a goal for myself — use the RX weight of 65# and a purple band or no band.

I didn’t chicken out.

“Fran”
21-15-9
Thrusters (M 95# / W 65#)
Pull ups

I DID NOT FINISH. (I hate not finishing.)  But I CHALLENGED MYSELF.  And not because Zach fussed at the class about how we should be challenging ourselves (which he did).

There were times when I would drop the bar and scream “FUCK!” And pant.  And drip.  And then I would gasp and grab the bar again.

“5 more.”

“2 more.”

The pull ups were just as challenging.  I used two purple.  It was muggy.  I was sweaty.  My hands would slip.  I hoped I could keep pulling.

Results: 2 rounds @ 65#

My shoulders and arms felt swollen afterward.  Huge.  Could I be developing some upper body strength?  Finally?  The girl who used to think that putting heavy dishes in the upper cabinets was hard?

Next time… gonna finish “Fran.”

“There she goes!”

There is constant construction in my neighborhood.  Houses are old, and sometimes the owners die and homes are renovated or razed when new owners take over.

There’s a house up the street that’s been under renovation for months. I think the woman that owned it moved into a nursing home or died.  I feel bad that I never met her, but I never saw her outside.

In January or February there was a port-o-potty in front of the house.  It’s gone now, but every time I pass the house I think about that port-o-potty and how my friend Beth ducked into it during a warmup 400m run from my house.  “Did you just use that port-o-potty?”  “Yeah.”  “You know I have a bathroom at my house…” “I know, but I’ve already used it twice…”

I laugh every time I remember that.

There were workmen in front of the house Monday morning.  They were sitting in their trucks, waiting for the foreman or contractor, I assume.  They stared at me as I made my way to the telephone pole and back on the first leg of my endurance workout (which I had skipped on Sunday).  I felt a little uneasy running by — like I was being judged.  I nearly called off the whole WOD.  But I gave myself a hard kick in the pants and told myself to suck it up and finish.  It didn’t matter that I was putting on a show.  Hell — it would be a GOOD-LOOKING show, and I should be proud.

As I ran back to my house on round 6, I heard one of them say “there she goes!”  I laughed.  I HAD put on a good show.

Here was my workout:

6 rounds
400m repeats
(rest 2 minutes between rounds)

OK — so I did modify it a little.  The original was 8 rounds — but I didn’t want to run by the workmen THAT many times.  And the rest was only supposed to be the amount of time it took you to run the previous interval (which was about 1:47 for me) but logistically, it was easier to set the clock to 2 min.

Times: 1:47-1:43-1:46-1:47-1:47-1:48

All under 2 minutes!  Yay!  And that wasn’t all.  I warmed up with a mini met-con and some strength work:

5min AMRAP
9 sprawl
6 KB Russian twist (1 pood — each side)
3 KB press from ground

Results: 4 rounds + 7 sprawl

This was a great WOD, and it can easily be turned into a longer met-com.  Andy made it a 12min AMRAP, changing the presses to 3 one-armed on each side.

Love my kettlebell!

Then, I tested my shoulder press strength:

Shoulder Press
3-3-3-3-3

Results: 50-60-70(only got 2)-70(only got 1)-65

Check it out — I got 2 at 70#.  That means it’s not my 1 rep max anymore!  I can’t wait for Crossfit Total in June — I will be smashing some PR’s!

Free time

I have spent most of the past 24 hours wondering what to do with my time.  Free time.  Something I rarely have, and because of that, I have forgotten what to do with it.

Luke and Andy are camping.  That means Mads and I had two nights and an entire day to ourselves.

I racked my brain over what to do with my young’un.  Ultimately we decided to stay home so she could explore and practice moving around (she’s trying to learn how to crawl).

It was a very slow day.

I did have an hour while she was napping to squeeze a workout in.

Warmup:
5 rounds
5 KB Deadlift (1 pood)
5 Russian KB swings
5 KB Press

Strength:
Clean 3×3

Results: 65-85-85

I decided to do the strength workout we never got to on Thursday.  I ended up dropping the bar on the second set, so I didn’t count it, and I decided to repeat the weight on set 3.  That time my form and control was much better.

Met-con:
4 rounds
30 Situps
20 Pull ups
10 DB Hang power cleans

Time: 14:31 @ 25#

I wasted at least 30 seconds trying to fix my band on the pull up bar during the first round.  It stretched out and then I was too far from the bar.  Oh well.

My arms were toast following this.  Thank goodness it’s a running day tomorrow.  (Wow — did I just write that?)

In the meantime, baby girl is asleep.  I’m wide awake.  So I guess I’ll have to think of something to do on my own.  I’m soooo not good at this.  What the hell did I do when I was single?  Oh yeah — TV.  ALL THE TTIME.

Things really have changed.