details, details

Sat. Dec. 28:

So, I just realized I should really digest the posting on the white board before diving into the WOD.  I read this spicy little number to include a rep decline per round of wallballs ONLY.  So I stuck with 30 power cleans all the way through.  That being said, I made it all the way through some how 🙂  To include 1 rep of the AMRAP at the end.  That’s not to say it was pretty!  The third round of power cleans (which would have been doable knowing I was only to do 20!) I made it in small unbroken quantities, like 3…2…2…, to about 26.  The last 3-4 took FOREVER!  I just couldn’t seem to get the bar up.  Coach Sharon’s voice played on repeat in my head “OPEN your HIPS!!” and through some miracle, I got through.  Especially since I was feeling kinda crappy before the 17 minutes even began.

AMRAP in 17 Minutes of:
40- Wallballs      #10 – ok… these could have been heavier.  Noted.
30- Power Cleans     #55
30- Wallballs
30- Power Cleans     #75
20- Wallballs
20- Power Cleans     #85
10- Wallballs
AMRAP of Power Cleans    #85 1 rep 😀

part 2 – 100 push-ups – with no time domain on this bit, my goal was to complete all 100 without scaling.  Took a while, but succeeded.

January 1, I’m cleaning up my act.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t eat poorly as it is, but with the potential of a bikini wearing trip in February…  getting my nutrition in check can’t hurt.  Especially considering I plan to travel with my biggest critic.  Love you mom, but come on!  I like lifting heavy sh*t.  😀  It’s not my dream to have a marathon runner’s body.

mind over matter

Sometimes the hardest part of blogging is coming up with a fitting, let not totally lame, title.  Some days my post gets delayed for hours cause I draw a complete blank when it comes time to title the thing :p  Ah well.  I’m far from perfect.  😉

Today I somehow came to the conclusion that I’ve overcome the box jump hurdle in my mind.  Not saying I’m a pro.  Or that I don’t expect more crashes in the future.  For whatever reason today when it came time for the box jump portion of the WOD, I was able to talk myself down from that ledge that usually leaves me chickening out, and JUMP!  That’s my victory for today, cause otherwise I sucked.  Was totally gassed before we even got going and felt totally dehydrated.  I’ve never experienced that before and wow it sucked!  I made it to Christmas without acquiring the community cold that has been going around my little store, but this morning I felt like I may be losing that war.  Ah… working with a small team day in and day out, we share everything. 

7:30 WOD:

For Time:

30- Thrusters #115/#80   #55
30- Pullups   ring pulls
30- Power Cleans #115/#80   #55
30- Burpees
30- Push Jerks #115/#80   #55
30- Box Jumps

Time: 13:36 

Got through the thrusters alright.  Then the power cleans had my number.  I made it through the first 5 reps unbroken.  Then somehow got to 10.  Then stood there thinking “my gawd!  This could take me all day!” Got to 15… then could only manage 3 unbroken… then 2… When I finally hit 30, I had a moment of relief before realizing the next bit of self-torture was burpees.  Amazingly enough, the most enjoyable part of this little bit of crazy, was the box jumps!  Say what?!  It’s all relative I guess.  Pair anything with burpees and that anything will seem not so bad.  Even when my mind and body were completely spent too.  Have to admit… I sat on my BUTT for a minute after this one.  I know what Coach Dave would say… “only the weak animals lay down”, but DUDE!  I was DONE!

Then in to the insanity of boxing week retail chaos.  Good times! (noooo)

**Note to self…  box jump practice at work, not the greatest of ideas!

This did not end well.  Thankfully other than a bruised ego, there were no injuries.  I’m a bad manager.  :p

I love my job.  Well, 51 weeks out of the year anyway.  Boxing week is not one of them.  My crazy day is finally over 🙂  Mmmm… leftover Christmas turkey, acorn squash and Brussels are waiting for me at home 🙂

oh Christmas tree

Dec. 25

Merry Christmas everyone 🙂  Christmas brings a time to embrace traditions, spend time with family, and EAT lots of food!  Growing up, my whole family used to get together at my grandparents, but since they have all passed away it’s become ritual to spend the day in Brampton at my mom’s 🙂

After the ice storm a few days ago, my mom had mentioned Brampton had been hit really hard.  Nothing could have prepared me for just how bad!  Driving along my childhood street last night was like driving along the path of a tornado.  Many people on the street still don’t have power.  Trees are down everywhere.  It’s sad 😦

my backyard 😦

Today is one of the hardest days of the year to avoid temptations…  There are cookies everywhere and stuffing and gravy…  but thankfully LOTS of veggies and of course turkey.  Plus I brought along some of my own Paleo Gingerbread and Chocolate Coconut balls 🙂

Dec. 26

Ok, I’m not going to lie and say I was completely disciplined yesterday.  I kind of caved a few times in the form of heavenly nut-covered cheese log… and candy cane ice cream.  😮  Whatever, it was GOOD!  I justified the cheese log by eating it on a slice of zucchini instead of a cracker, but still so non-Paleo friendly.  It was Christmas.  Now it’s over and I’m back on the band wagon.

Hope Santa was good to everyone 🙂  I got some:

which I’m excited about testing out!  I’ve heard nothing but good things 🙂  Three days off from the box would normally hurt my brain, but it’s been a busy 3 days!  Today being the busiest retail insanity of the year.  Now that Christmas is all said and done, the excitement is building by the minute for the gift that more than makes up for the year I got a toboggan seat cushion as a gift from my dad.  I was 9.  And less than impressed.  But this one is going to be a day to remember 🙂

daddy daughter day 🙂

kick it

Mother nature unleashed her wrath on Saturday night/Sunday morning in the form of a wicked ice storm for Southern Ontario.  Tree branches came down under the weight everywhere and took out the power for many areas.  I was about to head out Sunday morning for my 10:00am WOD when I too lost power at my apartment.  It was out for 5 1/2 hours but thankfully came on just in time for my family Christmas at my place!  And what better way to spend a morning without power than a partner WOD at Crossfit Division!  Coach Sharon even commented that when she heard a newscaster recommend that if you didn’t absolutely have to drive somewhere to STAY HOME, of course meant the Box would be PACKED.  Haha Crossfit crazy, ya we’ve all got a bit of that.   I think I even was moderately successful with the double unders 🙂

Had a nice day with my dad and sisters which included our totally un-tradiontional cauliflower crust pizza dinner complete with a big spinach salad.

HEAVEN. nuff said.

Only downside… everything still smells like pizza.  Even my crossfit clothes seemed to carry the smell this morning.  It was kinda gross.

This morning was the last WOD before the holiday break.  It was a GOOD one 😀  Good as in hard, but leaving behind a sense of accomplishment when it was over.  I’m celebrating today 🙂  Today’s warmup included 7, 5, 3, 3, 3 rounds of toes 2 bar and box jumps.  OH YA!!  This kid did the ENTIRE warm-up without scaling the toes 2 bar!  WOO HOO!  Annnd… not once did I step up onto the box, including during the WOD.  😀  Want to know the crazy part?  The deadlifts were the hard part!  I usually love deadlifts.  Weird.

For Time: 21-15-9
Toes- to- Bar
Box Jumps 24/20- Games standards
Deadlifts #225/#155   #135

Don’t remember my actual time, but even though I was dead last, it was sub-10 minutes.  Still on cloud nine from the toes 2 bar and box jumps.  Even dead last couldn’t erase the happy.

proud of “you”

I’ve been amazed by just how much the accomplishments and lessons learned in the box have shaped me as a person.  Not just talking the “she squats bro” booty or quads that could crush walnuts, but mentally too.  Last night Crossfit Division had their annual Holiday “parrrrrtay”.  I had been looking forward to it, but also secretly dreading the event.  The dress code for this one was considered pretty formal, which is so far out of the comfort zone of this kid that I seriously contemplated not going at all.  “cocktail dresses ladies!” was mentioned in the advertisement for the event at the box.  Fat chance!  I haven’t worn a dress since prom.  300 burpees would intimidate me less.  I decided yesterday that there could be another “lesson” behind this one.  Since starting in the Elements program way back in July, Coach Sharon and Coach Jenna talked a lot about stepping out of your comfort zone as the only way to get better.  So after work, I went to the mall (yes, on December 20!  Eek!) and pretty much walked in to H&M and asked the sales girl to girly me up.  It was not a fun experience.  I’m just not that kind of girl.  But I bought some new clothes and shoes and headed home to get ready.  Tried everything on in front of my mirror and wanted to cry.  This year I’m stronger than ever and loving every minute I spend at the box, but looking at the reflection of my size 8 (snugly) butt and quads, when last year i was slipping easily into a size 4, was hard on the psyche.  Once again, I considered bailing on the party.  Thankfully I got my sh*t together.  Re-folded the new clothes neatly and put them back in the bag to be returned to the store.  I decided maybe I could accept that the comfort zone lesson would be learned another day.  The lesson I learned yesterday instead was be yourself, and be proud of that.  Reminded myself that a big part of what I love about Crossfit Division is that were are all individuals.  We all share a common appreciation of kicking our own butts every day, but we are all different and accepted for who we are.  🙂  I did go to the party.  No glitter or sequence.  No dress or heels.  Nothing fancy at all really, but some nice black dress pants, a dress shirt and a comfortable pair of black shoes.  The one thing I did wear from my mall adventure was a shiny new necklace, and I felt great.  Photos to follow…  Had an awesome time!  🙂   I am so grateful to be a part of such a great community of people #boxlove

calm before the storm

So, after taking a rest day on Tuesday and missing what sounded like a crazy but awesome WOD, here’s what was posted for Wednesday:

Come in and enjoy this spicy little beauty we crafted up for your mid-week mystery WOD. Prep those lungs! Filled with both Thrills and Chills! – Dress accordingly, as we will be outside today 🙂

Oh goody.  I don’t like surprises, but I’m getting better at dealing with them.  Since there are no morning classes offered on Wednesdays, I headed right from work for the 5:15 class.  The WOD was awesome 😀 and had a whole bunch of parts:

part 1: 12 minute OTM

odd minute – row, even minute – wallballs — round 1 x15, round 2 x16, round 3 x17, etc…

part 2: 1.5km run.  outside.  in the snow.  and darkness.

part 3: chest press complex, 3 rounds

3 presses, 30 second hold at top, 3 presses, 30 second hold at top, 3 presses, 30 second hold at top

rest 2-3 minutes between rounds, increase weight   55lb, 65lb, 75lb

part 4: 100 bar bicep curls  35lb

bonus – 100 lunges

MAN did it feel great to be back after my day off 🙂

Then today was another day of surprises.  The posted WOD was fight gone bad.  I was a little surprised to see this one again since we just did it a few weekends ago at Toys 4 Tots.  Fooled again!  Instead the WOD was:

Filthy Fifty

50 Box jump, 20 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, green tape
50 Walking Lunges
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 35 pounds
50 Back extensions 50 Wall ball shots, 10 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

Time: 24 minutes FLAT.  Take THAT burpees.  Post WOD, Coach Dave always asks “what did you like about the workout?” and “what did you find challenging?”  If ALL of this sh*t isn’t challenging, I think you’re doing something wrong.  It’s not meant to get easier, cause when it sucks less, we just push ourselves harder.  Isn’t that the whole point?  I was proud of myself that I jumped the box jump portion 😀  I quite nearly ate it at one point, but laughed as I saved myself and stuck the landing 🙂  Double unders are still my nemesis, but knees to elbows went far better than they used to.  The abmats were set out for anyone who coulcn’t complete them, but I didn’t give in to that temptation today 🙂

Post WOD the chaos of my last few free hours of Christmas prep had me running around a little crazy-like.  At least we have come to a mutual decission that Christmas dinner this year will be Paleo cauliflower-crust pizzas and a big salad.  Not very tradional, but neither are we  😉  Seems a little ironic that I consider going to the box the “calm” part of my day lately.  By the time I got to work, I was ready for a nap!  HAHA!!  Not likely when ya work in retail in December!  After sleeping crappy last night (like, I was wide awake at 4am again) I’m going to sleep like a BABY tonight!  🙂

time to recharge

Monday Dec 16

Made it to the box for my usual 7:30am WOD.  Read the recipe on the site last night and thought “sounds alright”…  Wrong.  It was harder than I expected, but felt great when it was all said and done 🙂

Strength:

muscle-up transition practice

pre-WOD:

8 minute OTM – 10 toes2bar, 20 double unders

WOD:

3 Rounds for time:
500m Row
12- Burpees
21- Box Jumps, 24/20 – games standards.

After leaving the box the real chaos began.  A week left till Christmas and I still have people to shop for and a whole lot of working between now and then.  After running around until 5pm, I hit a total wall!  Hadn’t factored food or water into my day and I was running on fumes.  Dumb.  Headed home to grab a bite to eat and flopped on my couch, never to return to my pre-Christmas frenzy.  Sigh.  My body said enough is enough.  And, I listened.  I like to think I’m invincible, but at times I have to remember that I live a great life despite a critical illness because I pay attention when my body tells me to take it easy.  Most of the time anyway.

Was in dreamland by 9:00pm, and slept until 6:00am!  Woke up feeling refreshed and ready to roll 🙂  Made sure to take the time to bring food today too!

what the snatch?!

Yesterday I rested.  And caught up on TV shows.  Not that I have many that I follow, but Biggest Loser and Grey’s Anatomy I find entertaining and for very different reasons.  Biggest Loser I think I like because of the psychological journey these people go through each season to figure out what has gotten the to their extremely over-weightness.  That part has often had me thinking that a trainer or coach would be something I would find enjoyable as a profession…  And Jillian Michaels is nice to look at.  Watching Bob’s team go through their crossfit-ish workouts leaves me all pumped up to go crush it at the box.  But that was last night.  This morning, my brain said “pffft… you figure it out!” to my body it seems.  During the pre-WOD snatch, Coach Sharon told me to focus on opening my HIPS (cause I haven’t heard that 10,000 times before).  But my head couldn’t figure out the simplest of things today.  So we scaled.  Went from Power squat snatch to hang squat snatch.  All with the little “training wheels” plates on the bar.  Then first round of the WOD, I landed flat on my butt.  So more scaling.  Went from hang squat snatch to hang snatch.  Thankfully I was able to make that happen, cause the only degree of scaling that remained was put the bar away and go home!  Sigh.  Today wasn’t my day, but I didn’t give up.

Pre-WOD: OTM, 5 miutes

Snatch sequence – 1 squat snatch, 3 over-head squats (I think?  can’t really remember)

For Time: 10*8*6*4*2*
Squat Snatches #115/#80
*= 50 Double Unders after every set of snatches* – got in a few doubles I think?

Post-WOD: 3 rounds 10 rounds (cause I didn’t squat at ALL during the WOD)

1 power squat clean, 1 front squat (hold at bottom 3 seconds), 1 push jerk

100 lunges

Funny thing was… I had a very productive morning before heading to the box.  Made breakfast for post WOD, packed my lunch for today, tossed my spinach and kale in the old Magic Bullet for my pre-WOD “lawn clippings”, even stuck a pork butt in the slow cooker for eattings on the weekend.  Oh!  Last night I had a Paleo-bake-shop FAIL.  Tried out a new recipe for Paleo ginger snaps that came out like little flavorless disks of compressed sawdust.  The recipe hunt continues…  Time/energy permitting, I may give a Paleo Snickerdoodles one a shot tonight.  I miss ginger cookies… although, I really don’t need them but Tim Horton’s and their damn Ginger Molasses cookies try to call my name every time I go in.

no foolin’

Today I’m more or less on top of my game 🙂  Sadly, this is partially because my store is not overly busy, but it’s -20 out with the wind chill and been blizzarding since this morning.  If I wasn’t at work, I wouldn’t be out shopping either!  Wednesday is usually a day off for me from the box, but since I thought I was working both jobs tomorrow, I figured I could squeeze in a noon WOD today.  The details posted on the website last night had me suspicious.  Tuesday is often the day of the week that an enjoyable sounding workout is posted, but we all arive to the box only to learn SURPRISE!  “Expect the unexpected” says Coach Dave as we learn it’s a totally different WOD.  So…. when yesterday turned out to be as posted, and today’s WOD looked like the kind no one would cherry pick their way out of, I figured today would be the ??? day for the week.  Wrong again :p  No fooling once again.  Maybe tomorrow?

Warm-up – OTM, 10 minutes:

Odd minute – 1 clean and jerk, 2 push jerk

Even minute – 4 box jump-overs

WOD – 5 Round for time:

5- Push Jerks, #155/#105    #75

10- Box Jump Overs, 24/20

Result: 5:10  Ok, so I only did the jump-overs in the warm-up and first round of the WOD.  Then I switched to jump up, and over.  The old legs were wobbly and I knew I had to make it to work in one piece after.

I was kinda excited after the Toys 4 Tots event last Saturday cause generally speaking, I’m the photographer of pretty much any event in my life and have very few pics of myself doing anything.  Other than the awkward selfies, don’t try to pretend you haven’t taken those too.  So I eagerly awaited the posting of the Fight Gone Bad pics.  When they were finally posted yesterday, my excitement faded.  The photographer did a great job!  Lots of people have great action shots.  I look like a fool :p  Not his fault, I’m just naturally awkward I guess.  A good reminder to stay behind the camera in the future 😉

get comfortable with uncomfortable

 

 

I’m celebrating a little today 🙂  This is my 200th post on playlifeoutloud 🙂  That’s a LOT of random useless ramblings kids.  I’ve grown a lot since the early days.  This blog has seen the start of my Paleo journey, the start of my time at Crossfit Division both of which are huge components of who I am.  It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses over the last nearly two years, and it probably won’t in the years to come either.  But the events in our life are all a part of what makes us who we are 🙂

Monday Dec 9:

The temptation was heavy this morning to “cherry pick” and avoid a workout I didn’t feel overly confident about.  Plus, last night I was up way past my bedtime with my work Christmas bowling party and the 5:30am wake-up to get my butt out the door to my 7:30 class was less appealing than usual.  But I decided to suck it up, and I’m really glad I did 🙂  See, I don’t like being upside-down.  Handstand holds are not one of my favs, and handstand push-ups scare the crap out of me.  Too many concussions growing up make the possibility (or probability) of landing on my head pretty unwelcome.  Yet, the scaled version of pike push-ups with feet on a box went really well 🙂

Warm-up – OTM, 10 rounds: 10 wall balls

AMRAP in 15 Minutes:
6- Handstand Pushups
12- Kettlebell Swings 32kg/24kg
200m Row

Result – 7 rounds 🙂  I’m getting used to pushing through the suck.  Learning that I can still function while dizzy.  It translates well into real life considering balance has been one of my MS struggles in the past.  I figure if I can pop up from upside-down (ish) pike push-ups, get my shit together, and swing a kettlebell over my head, I can do anything!  :p

Tuesday Dec  10:

Was a little bummed that my 7:30 class was again cancelled today, but even though I signed up for the 9:15 one, I decided to see if I could make the 6:00am spot work instead.  Coach Jenna posted a quote:

“I think that sometimes being uncomfortable is the only way to keep you from settling” -Andrea Ager

So, while it wasn’t a big change from the norm, I figured why not step out of my little comfort zone a little.  I liked it 🙂  I have energy and focus early in the morning… and if I wait till 9:15, then my head is already spinning in way to many directions to concentrate as well as it should.  Plus I got to see the sunrise on the way home from the box, instead of the way there 🙂

This morning was a whole lot of snatch.  Usually not a movement I feel a lot of confidence in doing, but today felt good.  Of course, I was the kid using just the 45lb bar for the WOD, but whatever.  I’m not bothered.  I was also the 2nd person of 12 finished.  Tried 3 squat snatch in the warm-up with 55lbs, but Coach Dave advised to scale down.  (That had been my plan 😉 )

2 Rounds For Time:
12- Overhead Squats, #135/#95
12- Burpees
9- Power Snatches, #135/#95
9- Burpee Box Jumps, 20″
6- Squat Snatches, #135/#95
6- Burpee Chest to Bar Pull-ups

Result – 12:00  🙂  early on, I had a minute or two of “this BLOWS.  I could have stayed in bed.”  but I got over it and actually enjoyed this one.  First round, I took the first burpee box jump as a burpee step-up, but then convinced myself to stop being a pansy and jumped the rest.  If nothing else, that was my victory for today 🙂

6:00am WOD = home before 8:00 = lots of time for cooking/food prep for the rest of my week.  Being December and seeing as I work in retail (both jobs!) my next day off might not be until Christmas day.  After a few days of my fridge being empty, it’s really time I get my sh*t together before I starve :p  Dear Paleo, I love you.  But the inability to grab something quick when times get busy makes life challenging…  ’nuff rambling.  Time to cook.