This morning when I woke up, I laid in bed for a little bit thinking. I thought about this book I’ve been reading. There was a paragraph that I read yesterday that really reached me. It scared me because it sounded like it might be me. The book is about the mental game of sports. It’s actually my textbook for my Psychology of Coaching class. I love this class, but that’s a different topic. This particular paragraph talks about competition and how it can go wrong if it’s used incorrectly.
“Children who have been taught to measure themselves [according to their abilities and achievements] often become adults driven by a compulsion to succeed which overshadows all else. The tragedy of this belief is not that they will fail to find the success they seek, but that they will not discover the love or even the self-respect they were led to believe will come with it. Furthermore, in their single-minded pursuit of measurable success, the development of many other human potentialities is sadly neglected. Some never find the time or inclination to appreciate the beauties of nature, to express their deepest feelings and thoughts to a loved one, or to wonder about the ultimate purpose of their existence.”
Many of you know I’m a lawyer and I recently decided to stray from the beaten path. This paragraph does a great job explaining the thoughts that were going on in my head when I made this decision. When I read this paragraph, it scared me because it’s blatant and in my face. It’s not merely thoughts or concerns in my head. And it’s so definitive: this is what these people are. I thought… “oh no… Is this me?” If so, is it too late? If this is me, can I change this thought process and view I have at this point in my life? Yes, I made a big move for myself… a huge one, and that’s a good sign, but I still do CrossFit. It would be a lie to say that my drive and work in CrossFit is not about measuring my abilities and achievements. Did I just trade one compulsion to succeed for another compulsion to succeed? Which brings me back to … is it too late to be someone different?
My workout today was Recovery.
Jerk Drills with the Trainer bar and Barbell. Then 3 sets of 10 Jerks at 30% of my max. After the Jerks, Jason and I did a Handstand Push Up Ladder from 1 to 4, 5 times. I have to admit I’m getting tired of Recovery. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I just rested most of last week because I had bronchitis. :)
I just want to get back in the gym and do some hard work damnit! I guess I’ll have to wait until 12.3…
Photo Comment: This is a picture of the front cover of the book I am reading. As a side note, the writer is a tennis coach and so he relates everything to tennis, but the book is meant to discuss the inner game of competitive sports. It’s a good read and provides a lot of insights and tools. I would definitely recommend it.
Today’s workout was my first attempt at 12.2. For those of you who don’t know that’s the second workout of the 2012 CrossFit Open.
30 Snatches at 45lbs
30 Snatches at 75lbs
30 Snatches at 100lbs
AMRAP Snatches at 120lbs
The time limit for this workout is 10 minutes. Today was my first and only attempt because I have been sick all week with bronchitis. Yep, I got bronchitis in the second week of the Open. Perfect timing. It’s been very frustrating for me. I have done everything right. I take my fish oil and lots of it! I take zinc. I take two EmergenC a day. I’ve been eating very clean, resting often and sleeping 8-10 hours a day. I hardly drink anymore and when I do it’s about two beers. So…WTF?!?! Seriously, W.T.F.
I walked into the gym this morning nervous and excited to do this workout. I wasn’t sure how the bronchitis would affect me. I was hoping not at all. I warmed up to the 100lb snatch and I hit it twice. New PR! It didn’t feel that bad. I was able to power snatch it. I felt like I might actually be able to still do well in this workout.
I got up to 60 reps. I couldn’t get the 100lbs. I was really disappointed. I know I can do better. I’m still disappointed, but I understand that sometimes things happen that you can’t control. It is what it is. So… on to the next one.
Photo Comment: This is a photo Liz took of me after last week’s Open workout. I really poured it out on that workout. I gave it everything I had and more. I definitely paid for it too. I think that workout put a dent in my immune system that I couldn’t afford. If I could go back and do it over again,… I’d probably do exactly the same. Because that’s how I roll. 
Yesterday’s work out was Cross Fit Total:
Max Back Squat
Max Press
Max Dead lift
The score is the total of all three lifts divided by body weight. The whole time I was doing this workout, and for the rest of the day after, I was reminded of a commercial that’s been on TV lately for a gym (One that is not as awesome as CrossFit Costa Mesa!). It has a guy giving a tour of the gym to a “meat head” who speaks with a Germanish accent saying: “I pick things up, I put them doowwwn.” I couldn’t help but say that in my head over and over again in the workout and all day. Not because I found it motivating! Just because I think it’s funny and it happened to be true today [yesterday now]. And because I like to talk in an accent sometimes.
I was unsure about doing this workout. My hip has been a little shifty lately and it’s really uncomfortable. I don’t want to move around too much (which is just not realistic) because I’m worried it will come out of place. But I did it and it actually went pretty well. I got a 7 lb PR on my back squat and broke the 200 lb mark; and a 4lb PR on my press, which puts me at 98 lbs. So close to 100! I didn’t PR on my dead lift and I was definitely disappointed. I warmed up to 243 and felt my hip shift out of place, so I just stopped. So no PR on my dead lift today. Next time I guess…
After group I did my supplemental work for the day.
1-4 ladder 2 x MUs (jumping)
Core: Crosswalk with Med ball push
Ice and 20 minutes of meditation
I added the ice bath. It felt good today. I know I should be doing it everyday, but it gets pretty hard to work up the courage to get in that very cold tub of ice. I was avoiding it all week even though I needed it. I’m glad I got it in finally because I felt much better after.
So week 1 of 2012 is done. On to week 2!
Here’s a picture of some prosciutto wrapped asparagus, which I made today. It turned out really good. Even better then I was expecting!
Today I did a little workout with Derek and Lindsay, and by “little” I mean really hard. I think it’s a hero workout: Nutts. It goes something like this:
10 Handstand Push Ups
15 Deadlifts at 205lbs
25 box jump (24in box)
50 pull ups
100 Wall Balls
200 Double Unders
400 meter run with a 25 lb plate
Steve noted that we should try to get this done in under 19 minutes. I was no where close.
We did the handstand push ups game style with plates and all. I struggled through those but got them done one at a time. The 15 deadlifts at 205 lbs were really tough for me. By the time I got to the box jump my legs felt pretty tired. I took them one at a time and on jump number four I did not quite make it up on the box. I’m not sure how this happened but I ended up on my shins on top of the box holding on to the opposite edge so I would not slip off the back of the box onto my butt. That s**t hurt.
I had to take a few minutes to gather myself, but I finished the workout in 38:19, which I don’t think is very good considering I was shooting for under 19 minutes! And now I walk with a limp. Awesome.
After Nutts I did my second workout for the day: 30 minutes on the airdyne at 65% Heart rate. It was a good cool down.
Tomorrow is a rest day, and I’m definitely going to need it. I might even have to do an ice bath. Good thing we have those at our gym!
Nothing special about today. Oh yeah, except for my 2 minute PR on Fran! Today was the 3rd WOD-off in the series of Alec, Lindsay and I (actually the 2nd for me but I’ll call it the 3rd counting Lindsay and Alec’s WOD-off last week without me). I didn’t choose Fran but I agreed to it. I was sold by the argument that it would be shorter then the 10 minute AMRAP that was scheduled for the group today. Turns out it was way shorter then the 10 minute AMRAP! Only 4 minutes and 35 seconds. Boom! Although now I have a cough that won’t go away and a headache I can’t get rid of. …It was totally worth it. You can check out the video here: http://vimeo.com/33058475
Fran was my second workout of the day. Fran is 21-15-9 of Thrusters (65#) and pull ups. The first workout was the following:
box jump (high box – games standard)
bulgarian split squat @ 30# DB’s
Glute ham raise
side to side push up (knees)
bent-over row (BOR) @ 65#
lateral HSPU (10ea) walk
along the wall (I just transferred my weight from side to side. I can’t handstand walk yet)
chin up (kip)
side bridge 45″ ea. side
3×10 ea. – rest 60 sec. between rounds
The split squats were tough. I was supposed to do 40lb DBs but I decided to try 35s. I made it through one set and it wasn’t pretty. For the second and third set I went down to 30s. As I was doing my Bulgarian split squats today I was thinking about how much I dislike these things but yet I still make my cross country athletes at UCI do them. I guess I’m just mean like that. The truth is that I think they are a really great exercise, just tough and painful. For those of you who do not know what a bulgarian split squat is, it looks a little something like this: 
Last weekend I competed in my fourth CrossFit competition and I had a lot of fun. I was excited for every event. I felt good this time around. I felt ready. At the last event I placed 47th out of about 100 intermediate girls. This time around my goal was to finish top 40. Well, it turns out I finished 10th! I also hit a 20lb PR on my clean. My last max was in August, so I was definitely not expecting that. It’s always nice to achieve a goal that you weren’t expecting. Not as stressful and way more fun.
The second event was my favorite. Two minutes to do as many reps at 45lbs of lifting the weight shoulder to overhead any way you want. I went with a push pressy jerk. That’s what I like to call it. Well, … I just made that up now, but I’m liking the name so far. :) I wasn’t sure how the shoulder to overheads would go. It’s a lift that I’m not too bad at and at 45 lbs I was thinking I should shoot for 75-100. I got 83. 
Not bad. It was good enough to get 2nd for that workout, and I was happy with that. When I heard that first got 85 reps, I was a little bummed I didn’t get two more reps. Two more reps!! After the shoulder to overheads, we got a 2 minute break and then 2 minutes to carry a yoke as far as possible. It looks like a squat rack that you carry on your shoulders and walk with. I think I placed 10th in that part.
The last workout was three rounds of a 1.5K bike ride on what was basically a spin bike and 10 snatches at 65 lbs. My goal was to get all 10 snatches in a row without dropping the bar. I felt like I moved through the snatches pretty fast. The hard part for me was pushing the bike. I ended up with a time of 10:31. I finished 30th in that workout. I knew it would be my weakest, but 30 isn’t too bad.
My 10th place overall finish is much better then my goal of top 40. How can I not be happy with that?
There was no rest for me after NLI, but in all last week was a good week for me. On Sunday I did Grace. I beat my previous time by over 6 minutes. Yes, 6 minutes. Tuesday I PRed on my back squat. 198 baby! Almost at 200! I also PRed on my press by 11lbs. And, I won a taco on Friday in a little healthy competition of double unders and sit ups. It was delicious! Here’s the link to the video in case you missed it:
http://vimeo.com/32354787
Now I’m looking forward and continuing to work hard. I hope I can keep improving. I also hope I survive.
This week has gone by so fast. In my last blog I talked about the 3rd qualifier WOD and how I would be going for a second attempt. Well, I did it on Sunday. It did not go as planned. I knew the toes to bar were where I was losing it, so my plan was to push those a little harder and see if I could get my time under 9 minutes. I also broke down my bar facing burpees so that I was taking the least amount of steps possible. Every second counts, right?!
I was off to a good start. My burpees were exactly the correct amount of steps. No rest between burpees and dead lifts. The dead lifts were unbroken. Then came the toes to bar. My plan was to push them. Cut down on the rest and just go, which was pretty much all I could think or hear in my head. I kept a pretty good pace until the end of the fourth round. I was on pace to beat my previous time by at least 30 seconds. But by the time I got to the bar for my fourth round of toes to bar, my body had no more toes to bar to give. I just kept missing. My mind kept telling my body to “GO!!!!!” …but it really just resulted in more misses. When I walked to the bar on the fifth round, my time was already past 9 minutes. I knew it was over and that last set of toes to bar wasn’t my all. I just got them done at my own pace.
I wasn’t too upset about the whole thing and I was surprised about how I felt. Maybe it was because I know I gave it all I had to give at that moment. I probably pushed too hard too fast and ended up hitting the wall. But at least I pushed it. At least I didn’t play it safe.
I submitted my better time and it turns out it was good enough! I qualified to compete in the OC Throwdown. All that for nothing!
Today’s workout was the last of the qualifier WODs for the OC Throwdown. Thank goodness! I’m not a fan of these workouts because they don’t fit into my training schedule and the workouts we already have planned out. Here’s the workout:
8 Bar facing Burpees
8 Deadlifts at 155lb
8 Toes to Bar
My time was 9:05. My goal was to get under 10 minutes. Toes to bar are my nemesis. I did them for the first time in the OC Throwdown in 2010. If I remember correctly, the workout was 7 rounds of 5 Thrusters and 10 toes to bar. Each round the Thruster would go up in weight. I don’t recall how many rounds I made it through. Possibly three. I came to a point in the workout where my toes could no longer make it to the bar. It was as if there was a force field that my feet could not pass. I wasn’t too upset about it. After all, when I had tried toes to bar the day before that same competition, I could not even get one. So getting 30 of them only 12 hours later was pretty good. 
Now I can do toes to bar but only one at a time. I can’t seem to string those suckers together! I’m working on it. sigh…. After I finished the workout today, I realized that my time of 9:05 just isn’t going to cut it and it may knock me out of the top 100. It may be that I can’t do much better then 9:05 and I’ll be out of the top 100 either way, but if I don’t give it one more try, I’ll never know! So… I will likely be doing this workout again some time this week. Look out!
My second workout today was 2 x 30 Overhead Squats and Push Press at 45 lbs. It took me about 10 minutes to complete. I liked this one. These are two movements that I’m not bad at, and I can string together well. And it’s always a bonus when a strength workout is less then 10 minutes!
Today was an impromptu recovery day for me. 
1,000m row
20 Turkish Get Ups at 15lbs
5 x through
This was a nice relaxing workout. I put my headphones on and just thought about things. I thought about a lot of things, but mostly I thought about how grateful I am for days like today. I walked in the gym today and spent 30 minutes sitting with friends and just talking and laughing. It wasn’t that long ago that I’d walk into the gym with a limited amount of time to get my workout done because I had to get back to work and I had to bill at least 8 hours. Everyday it was a race against the clock. It’s nice to not always be in a rush. It’s nice to be able to “waste” time unexpectedly and just hang out. I am definitely grateful for days like these.
Today I did the second qualifier WOD of the OC Throw down and I am so excited that it’s over. When I walked in the gym I was thinking of all the reasons why today was not a good day to do this work out. I was tired and my knee was hurting. That’s all I could come up with. The truth is I think I was a lot more nervous then I wanted to admit. I tried my best to rationalize why today was not a good day for this WOD, but Steve thought I should give a try to see how it went. So, I gathered myself up and I started my warm up. Once I was warm, I was ready to get it done. I’m glad Steve didn’t let me get away with pushing it out. Here’s the workout:
15 Squat Cleans 105lbs
30 pull-ups
12 Squat Cleans 105lbs
24 pull-ups
9 Squat Cleans 105lbs
18 pull-ups
20-minute time cap
105lbs is about 80% of my max, which is pretty heavy to do 36 reps of. I wasn’t sure how close I was going to get to that 20-minute time cap but I was hoping I’d finish. I called time and I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved to be done with a workout. 13:12! Not too shabby! While I was really happy that I did the work out and that I did it today, I am definitely not doing that one again!
After the workout, I did a little rehab on my knee. I rolled out my legs for about 15 minutes, took some fish oil and ibuprofen, and then iced my knee for 20 minutes three times with 40 minutes off in between. Rehab is necessary when there’s heavy squat cleans involved!
