Monthly Archives: July 2011

Our Sunday run

There are an insane number of people who run at Lady Bird Lake on the weekend — especially when I think it’s waaaaaay too hot.

Of course, I’m one of those people — so I really shouldn’t talk.

Andy and I took the kids and their respective strollers down to the trail for what has become our weekly long run.  It’s part of our preparation for the Tough Mudder.  I feel bad for Andy, who pushes the stroller with Luke.  Luke is nearly 40 pounds now.  He’s getting a bike for his upcoming birthday, so hopefully he’ll be able to ride along with us at some point.  But for now, if Andy and I want to run together, we push the kids.

I gotta say, pushing a stroller is no joke.  My arms always feel fried. And it’s not easy pushing one with soft wheels (which is what I’ve had to deal with).  So it’s actually great training for the Tough Mudder for when we have to run through mud and stuff like that.  All we have to do now is add in push ups and squats every mile or so.

We ended up running the Congress to Mopac loop — 4.79 miles @ 46:49.  This time does not include our water stop at Auditorium Shore or the 1/2 mile Andy needed to walk because his knee started hurting.  In fact, I’ve told Andy he’s out of commission for at least a week because of that pain. I hope he feels better soon.

For the love of the Games

image

Saturday turned out to be a rest day, even though I had planned an endurance WOD.
This weekend is the Crossfit Games out in California, and three of the women from Crossfit Central – my gym – are competing as individuals. A bunch of people have been watching the live stream together at Cuatro’s in West Campus, so Beth and I decided to ditch our families and be social.
I’m so glad we did because Steph and her husband Matt were there, as well as a bunch of other friends. The games were on, and we were interested, but it was also our time to “shoot the s&!t” and catch up. It was hard to leave and come back to Mommyland where my oldest had an ear infection and I had to take him to the after-hours clinic at his doctor’s office.
Sigh…
And other than the red wine and fried pickles, I managed to stay on task with nutrition. Sorta. Hey, at least the barbeque I had later that night (because it was too crazy to cook) was Ruby’s grassfed beef brisket. So delicious.
I wonder what Zach will say when he reads my food log tomorrow. Do you think I’ll get a pass because we were “watching” the Games?
Yeah. I know. I need to remember that it’s my goals that take a hit when I don’t pay attention.
Speaking of goals… I finally set some new ones.  More on that later this week.

Explosive strength

Andy planned our workout for Friday.  He said it was time to do explosive strength, and he pulled out “Never Gymless” from Ross Training.

Cover of the book Never Gymless showing author doing three different exercises.Ross Emanit is a badass.  But doing the workouts as he recommends seems even more impossible than doing RX at the gym. Whoa.

Andy modified the workout a bit, and there were plans to do several minutes of skill work with the jump rope and double unders, but it didn’t happen.  Our workouts usually happen well after dark when it’s late, and it was time to head inside.

This workout was split into two groups — the A group and the B group.  We alternated the exercises in each group so we were always moving.  It was kind of like rounds, but… well… not.

A1 Squat Cleans 4×8 (55-60-65-65)
A2 Power overs 4×10 (on cinder block)
B1 Jumping lunges 4×8
B2 Band twists 4×10

I woke up this morning really feeling it — my core!  Oh my core!

Finally feeling rested and a workout

I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m liking how I feel!

I mentioned earlier this week that I’m changing things up a bit with nutrition and workouts, and so far, so good!  Intermittent fasting has been a nice change of pace.  I eat when I’m hungry — which is usually not until dinner.  I’ve found it’s really just the routine of eating every day at the same time — I’m not really hungry at noon.

I haven’t felt as tired as before.  It could be the recent changes, or maybe just getting the crap and the sugar out, or maybe just slowing down my schedule a bit — I don’t know.  But whatever it is, I feel more rested than I have in a while.

My workouts have been better.  We took a solid week off from working out at home.  Andy has added more strength and less metabolic conditioning to our weeks.  I’ve annoyed him on more than a few occasions by questioning the plan or whining about it.  “It’s supposed to feel weird!  You’re doing something different!  When you’re body gets used to it, we’ll change it up again!”

Still, we’re doing some met-cons.  Thursday night was a met-con night. (With a little strength thrown in.)

Overhead Squat
3-3-3

I worked on form rather than weight.  Results: 65-65-65

For time:
50 burpees
40 situps
30 KB swings (1 pood)
20 ring rows
10 Handstand push ups

Time: 10:40

It was supposed to be pullups instead of ring rows, but I did NOT want to wake the baby to drag out the stool and bands.  When the baby’s up, there is no sleeping.

Image shows molecule diagram with text underneath

 

Time for a change: My meeting with the coach

I met with my coach last week to talk about how I’ve been frustrated with my training lately.

I told him all about how I feel like I’ve been losing ground since the I AM Challenge — how my running feels slower, my strength feels like it’s fading, and how in general, I just don’t think things are going well.

Zach listened and he asked lots of questions.  How much have I been training?  What have I been eating? What do I think the problem could be? Then he offered his advice: change the routine; get out the junk and clean up my nutrition.

It’s advice I readily accepted, and we started to formulate a plan.  My Crossfit workouts won’t change right away.  Soon I hope to move into his Olympic lifting class. In the meantime, Andy and I are changing our home workout routine to be less focused on met-cons and do more traditional strength.

I also asked Zach to help hold me accountable for my diet.  I’m sending him my food logs once a week.  I’m already making changes.  And I’m giving intermittent fasting a try.  I know there’s no single way to do it, so I’m experimenting.  IF has numerous health benefits, according to this article from Mark’s Daily Apple.  Andy’s been doing it frequently for some time.  And now that breastfeeding is slowing down, my appetite has decreased dramatically.  I’m hoping — at a minimum — IF will help me key into to my body’s hunger signals again, because I’m gotten so used to eating a lot of food on a schedule, that I’m eating even when I’m not hungry.

So there you have it.  Change in the works.  We’ll see what happens, right?

It’s already a little weird.  All Andy and I did was strength Wednesday night.  It felt weird, like I needed to do more, even though my arms and legs are tired.

Shoulder Press 3×10
Ring Rows 3×7
Deadlift 3×10

Results:
Shoulder Press: 45-50-55
Deadlift: 95-95-115
(Ring rows completed directly under rings with knees bent)

Benchmark: Slower time but more weight

Sometimes these benchmark workouts simultaneously frustrate and excite me.

[singlepic id=150 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Today was “CC Flyers.” Class was D.E.A.D.  Six people showed up. (I would never dream of not showing up, but then again, I’m kind of weird. I showed up the day before Mads was born.)

CC Flyers
3 rounds
400m run
21 Box jumps
12 Overhead squats (M 95# / W 65#)

We did overhead squats last week, so I decided that I would try the same weight again — 65#. RX.  It was a struggle for me, but I felt much stronger than last week.  It was like I KNEW that I could do it, so I just DID it.  Did I have a mental conversation with myself? Absolutely.  What Cindy workout wouldn’t be complete without a running dialog in my head?

Me: This is hard.

Other me: Yep.  Keep going.

Me: Really hard.

Other me: Keep going.  You may not finish, but you gotta keep going.

Me: I really want to finish.  I finished with 55# last time.

Other me: But you want to be strong.  And to get stronger you have to move heavy things. You’re not Gweneth Paltrow.

Me: They’re going to cut me off soon.

Other me: Keep going, dammit!

[singlepic id=149 w=320 h=240 float=right]Big thanks to my friend Steph who cheered me on (and finished, by the way) as I was doing those last box jumps.  It kept me from taking a bunch of breaks. And big thanks to Coach Zach who offered to take pictures of me during the WODs so I could post on my blog.

Last time we did this benchmark (May 3), my time was 14:49 @ 55#. Today:

Time: Completed 2 rounds + run + 19 box jumps RX

Next time — I plan to finish.

Andy is no running buddy

I was sitting at the kitchen table tonight, marking on the dry erase boards we keep on the fridge with our schedules and menu for the week (I’m endlessly anal if you haven’t noticed), when Andy sat down and said very seriously:

“Cindy, I don’t think I’m a good running buddy for you.”

Duh. Did he really just come to that conclusion?

“I run better when I’m setting my own pace,” he told me.

I smiled and answered, “I know, hon. But we’re training for the Tough Mudder.”

We had planned to work out on Saturday, but we were both so exhausted that we slept in, and by the time the kids were in bed it was super late and the temp still felt like 105 degrees outside.  (Plus Mads was still slightly fussy and restless for hours.)

Andy sitting on a wall, while Luke stands next to Mads in the yellow jogging stroller.So we agreed to run with the strollers on Sunday.  We got to the trail earlier this time, but it was still incredibly hot.  Mads fell asleep on our way to Auditorium Shores.  Along the way, Luke loudly pointed out all sorts of observations, all of which were interesting.  But since our culture frowns upon making comments about people within earshot, we got a lot of looks until we had a talk with Luke about what was socially acceptable in our culture.

Andy must have been dehydrated for most of the run, because he kept needing to stop and walk during our run, which looped from Mopac to the Congress Bridge at back.

Cindy poses at the Roberta Crenshaw trailhead at Lady Bird LakeBut still, it was a nice morning, even if it was close to 100 degrees.  I was wearing my new Lulu shorts and sports bra, and lamenting the fact that I had no top to go with my new clothes when Andy pointed out I could just run without a short.  Heck!  About half of the women on the trail do that.  I’m usually so conservative when it comes to my wardrobe that I shun stuff like that, but this time, I decided to take off my shirt and run the rest of the way in my bra.

“Why haven’t I been doing this all along?!”

Eff if I know, Andy told me.

Results: 00:001:59

When I got home, I decided to add some strength work on top of the run.  Andy started “breakfast”, while Luke and I went outside.  Here’s what I did:

Shoulder Press 3×3
55-65-70
Ring Rows 3×5
Front squat
65-75-85
Good mornings
65-70-75

Exercise guidelines for… babies?

The British government is telling its citizens that kids under 5 who can walk should be active 3 hours a day.  And experts want the U.S. government to come up with dietary guidelines for kids from birth to 2.

It’s true!  Read the ABC News story.

SIGH.

This is what we’ve come to as a society.  It makes me mad.  It makes me shake my head.

I’ve spent some time around kids — my own and others.  They want to move.  They love it.  My Luke and his friends are constantly in motion.  Luke spends his days running through the house, doing flips on the couch, performing plays, staging dances, doing gymnastics….

He’ll be 5 soon.  It’s always been this way.

Mads isn’t much different.  In fact, I would argue she’s more active.  She can’t even walk, but we give her free access to nearly everywhere, gating off only some rooms, rather than confining her to a playpen.  She’s everywhere.  She crawls and pulls up on furniture.  She rolls around. It seems like as soon as she could move, she did.  No sitting around for my girl!

I just don’t believe in cooping up my kids in swings or cribs or stuff like that.  It’s just a choice I made.  It certainly makes it harder for me to do chores or work, but HEY!  It’s pretty fun to sit back and watch the action.

How did it get to the point where kids, who naturally want to move and run and jump and play, lose that natural desire and governments have to come out with guidelines for parents?  Are kids getting cues from the adults, who seem to be growing larger and larger every year?  Texas’ obesity rate was 31% in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  It’s a very sobering statistic.

I’m happy my kids and their friends are active.  In fact, I just signed Luke up for Crossfit Kids.  He starts in just a couple of weeks.  He’s so excited!

But what about the kids that don’t have that?  What can we do to help the kids who aren’t active, who are obese or on their way to obese, and who face a dire future?

Well, there are a number of programs right here in Austin designed to address the issue.  But I think, in addition to supporting those groups, I’ll lead by example.  I’ll let me kids play and run and jump.  I’ll take them on walks and explore.  I will do my best not to coop them up.

Here’s the ABC News video, in case you’re interested:

Word of advice: Manage your calluses

I got beat up a little this morning.

The workout beat the hell out of me. I went home torn, bleeding, and covered in welts.  Of course, it’s really all my own fault.

  • I never wear socks, so when we do deadlifts I always drag the bar up and down my bare shins.
  • I haven’t mastered the kettlebell clean, so when the weight comes up it slaps the back of my wrist.
  • I didn’t manage my calluses, so when it came time for kettlebell cleans and pullups, my hands were just asking to be ripped.

Cindy displays her hands for the cameraThat lovely look on my face is me being mad at myself for not taking care of my hands.  I didn’t finish the workout in part because it was so painful to complete the pullups.

Sumo Deadlift
2-2-2-2-2

Results: 95-135-145-155-165

On a positive note — I was much stronger with these today than I was the last time, when I scratched at 160.

3 rounds
15 KB Clean – Right arm (M 2 pood / W 1.5 pood)
15 KB Clean – Left arm
35 pullups

Completed 2 rounds in 12 minutes @ 1 pood (2 purple bands)

I neglected my hands for too long.  I’ll be laying on the Aquafor for a while.  But you don’t have to.  Here are some good resources to make sure you don’t rip ‘em.

Another meeting with “Nancy”

Time to test myself again with round two of another Crossfit girl WOD!

“Nancy” came back for a visit Tuesday.  The last time we did this workout was in May.  I checked my log to see how I did.  I only just barely finished, coming in at 20:00 at 55#.

I decided before class that I would use 55# again and see if I could lower my time.

Then I came back from the warmup run, dripping in sweat, and Zach looked at me and said, “You gonna do this RX?”

“I can try.” Figures.  All it takes is one word from coach.  Yep.  I tried this one RX.

I can’t remember EVER doing a 65# overhead squat before.  EVER.  If I have, it was during a strength WOD.  Not during a met-con.  And NOT for 15 reps.

I felt like I was sucking wind on round 1.  I was too slow getting going on the squats.  I struggled, and I fell way behind where I should have been.  On the other hand — it was a significantly heavier weight.

Needless to say, I did not finish this one in the 20 minutes.  I should have done better, but I’m happy I was able to do the weight.  The next time there’s overhead squats in a WOD, I guess I know what I’m doing!

“Nancy”
5 rounds
400m run
15 Overhead squats (M 95# / W 65#)

Completed 3 rounds + run+ 5 OHS RX