The Open

Oh hi! May not even remember me but yes I’m still around. To be honest, not a whole lot has changed which is good and bad at the same time I suppose. It’s Open season and my 4th time through. What a totally different experience doing it with CFC!! First, it’s a way bigger beast than CFD was just in terms of Open competitors. I think we have close to 150 athletes competing and a few with potential to make it to regionals… but everyone is so supportive 🙂  We have an in house little comp happening as well with points for team spirit and costumes, some of which there’s no way I could work out it lol!  First Open for my girl too and she’s KILLING it 😀  Recap time!

Open WOD 17.1

AMRAP 20 minutes:
10 dumbbell snatches 35lb
15 burpee box jump-overs 20″
20 dumbbell snatches
15 burpee box jump-overs
30 dumbbell snatches
15 burpee box jump-overs
40 dumbbell snatches
15 burpee box jump-overs
50 dumbbell snatches
15 burpee box jump-overs

Score – 200 Reps Rx  Tie break time – 16:31

This WOD kicked my butt HARD!! Not a good way to start Open season at ALL.  After the 20 DB snatches I couldn’t feel my legs at all.  Our couldn’t feel the ground under my feet? Maybe that’s a better description… Anyways, every box jump was an exercise in extreme concentration to not EAT IT!  It was hell, but no battle scars 🙂 (a miracle occurred)

Open WOD 17.2

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
2 rounds of:
50-ft. weighted walking lunge
16 toes-to-bars
8 power cleans
Then, 2 rounds of:
50-ft. weighted walking lunge
16 bar muscle-ups
8 power cleans

Score – 78 Reps Rx  Tie break time – 7:09 

Greatest judge for this one!!  Neil tried so hard to coach me to my first bar muscle up and believe me I tried SO hard to get it!  No dice though… added to the list of things to work on 🙂

Open WOD 17.3

Prior to 8:00, complete:
3 rounds of:
  6 chest-to-bar pull-ups
  6 squat snatches, (95 / 65 lb.)
Then, 3 rounds of:
  7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
  5 squat snatches (135 / 95 lb.)
Prior to 12:00, 3 rounds of:
   8 chest-to-bar pull-ups
  4 squat snatches (185 / 135 lb.)
Prior to 16:00, 3 rounds of:
   9 chest-to-bar pull-ups
  3 squat snatches (225 / 155 lb.)
Prior to 20:00, 3 rounds of:
  10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
  2 squat snatches (245 / 175 lb.)
Prior to 24:00, 3 rounds of:
   11 chest-to-bar pull-ups
  1 squat snatch (265 / 185 lb.)

Score – 43 Reps Rx   Tie break time – 5:02

Yes, I had almost a full 3 minutes to get 1 95lb snatch!  I tried over and over but couldn’t force the confidence to drop under the bar even though i got it to my eyebrows with every attempt.  Kinda frustrating, but…. the next day I GOT it in practice 🙂  I’ll take it.  Plus… I did get through 25 chest to bar pull-ups which was a HUGE improvement over the last time I faced them in the Open.  Double win.

Open WOD 17.4

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 13 minutes of:
55 deadlifts 155lbs
55 wall-ball shots 14lbs
55-calorie row
55 handstand push-ups

Score – 172 Reps Rx  Tie break time – 10:28

This WOD was my fave by FAR this year 😀  I mean, deadlifts are pretty much my thing and they weren’t that heavy.  To be honest, I kinda wished they were heavier cause it would have tripped people up even more.  Thankfully it was a WOD I was totally excited about cause Amanda and I got hit with the flu early in the week and I had just started eating again on Thursday and didn’t work out all week.  I actually re-did this WOD after my judge on Friday measured my HSPU line too high and no-repped all of my push-ups.  So frustrating!  I will say I loved it less the second time through cause my body just wasn’t recovered enough to go through that again, but it was totally worth it to get credit for the HSPU!!  (and I added 2 reps 😉 )

Open WOD 17.5

10 rounds for time of:
9- Thrusters 65lbs
35- Double-unders

Time – 28:10 Rx

Yucky.  Pretty much sums it up!  But WHAT?!  This kid actually pulled off 350 double unders! Yes, you read that correctly.  No idea where they came from… Also added to the list!  The funny part of this one, I pushed to get as far as I could and when the clock hit 20:00 I stopped thinking “well, I made it to round 8.  Cool”  My judge looked at me and said “are you ok?” I completely thought I was done!!  “You still have 20 minutes!!” she said and for at least a few seconds my heart totally sank!  Worst news EVER, but I picked up my rope and finished the beast.  Looking back it was probably that mistake which allowed me to finish in the time I did.  There’s always that extra push when you’re near the end of a WOD (or think you are) and I guess I kinda had a double on this time :p

untitled.

I have a TON of crossfit logging to catch up on.  To the point I almost didn’t bother… until last night when I wanted to compare to the last time I did hang cleans for multiple reps in a WOD and I had nothing to compare too.  With the Halloween Havoc comp in 2 days I didn’t have a workout to get to this morning, so I drove to work in the pitch black 😐 andgot to work on catching up before my shift started.  I’m a Mac junkie, but blogging on my work PC is still the easiest method…  Not much else is new really.  Work. Eat. WOD. EAT. Sleep. Eat…  So lucky to have a girlfriend who’s completely on the same page!  Actually one little newer bit… I brought my guitar to Burlington this week cause I’ve really missed it 🙂  AND… I’m booked to start shooting at CFC in November!!  So excited to get shooting again and finally getting paid for all the hard work I put into it.  I was so worn out “crossing oceans for people who won’t jump in puddles for me”.

Wed. Oct 26:

7:00 am 5km Run @ World Gym

7:00pm @ CFC
BUY IN – Gymnastics, Every Minute for 16 Minutes
Min 1 – 5 Strict Pull-ups
Min 2 – 5 Handstand Push-ups
Min 3 – 10 Pistol Squats
Min 4 – 5 Ring Dips

WOD –
Part A – 4 Minutes:
12 Deadlifts  #65
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Front Squats
*3 Rounds
MAX reps Burpee Box Jumps

Rest 3 Minutes

Part B – 4 Minutes:
12 Deadlifts  #85
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Front Squats
*2 Rounds
MAX reps Burpee Box Jumps

Rest 3 Minutes

Part C – 4 Minutes:
12 Deadlifts  #105
9 Hang Power Cleans
6 Front Squats
*3 Rounds
MAX reps Burpee Box Jumps

Score – 43 Burpee Box Jumps, Rx

Part C was SO F#$KING HARD!!!  I totally love that we do hang cleans a sh*t ton at Connection cause they are not one of my strengths!  9 reps at 105lbs were probably totally ugly, but I went into that round aiming for 1 burpee box jump and I got through 13.  More than a little victory there!  Now 2 rest days in preparation for the comp on Saturday.

Tues. Oct 25:

7:30 am @ CFD
Row 250m/500m/1000m/500m/250m
*Rest 1 minute between rounds
Times – :50 / 1:50 / 4:12 / 1:54 / :53

7:00 pm Olympic Lifting Class @ CFC

5×5 Behind the Neck SOD press
*Increase weight each round  15-20-25-30-35

Power Snatch, 3 reps
35-40-45-50-55-60-65-70-75-*85lbs
*Only managed 1 rep @ 85, then the wheels fell off.

Snatch-grip Deadlift, find 5RM

By the time we got to the snatch-grip deadlift chunk I was DONE.  And thinking about dinner…  So tried a bunch with 55lbs but couldn’t wrap my head around the “scoop” part of the movement so I called it a day.  So much to learn 🙂

Mon. Oct 24:

BUY IN – Every minute for 7 minutes complete 3 Strict Press
*Increase weight each round 35-45-55-65-75-80-85

WOD – Lucky 7’s
7 Hang Power Cleans #75
7 Push-ups
3 Rounds

7 Push Press #75
7 Sit-ups
3 Rounds

7 Hang Power Clean + Push Jerk  #75
7 Push-ups
7 Sit-ups
3 Rounds

Time – 8:23 Rx

Kinda loved this WOD.  My forearms hated it, but whatever.  In the first portion the push-ups were a piece of cake, but in the final chunk it was all I could do to string 4 together lol!!

Fri. Oct 21:

Open WOD 12.4/13.3
AMRAP, 12 Minutes:
150 Wallballs
90 Double Unders*
30 Muscle Ups*
Score – 241 reps

*Scaled version – Double Unders=1 minute attempting + remaining reps as bar hops, Muscle Ups=2 pull-ups + 1 dip.

Now that the weather in Canada is getting colder, Hero Fridays have changed to Open WOD Fridays.  To get everyone prepped and ready for the Open in a few months we’re doing past Open WODs which translates to reliving the horrors of Opens past.  When 15.5/16.5 reappears I might need therapy.

Thurs Oct 20:

BUY IN – 5×5 Bench Press    95-100-110-115-110

WOD – 3 Rounds, 3 minutes each:
250m Row
15 Deadlifts  #65
10 Hang Cleans  #65
5 Front Squats  #65
MAX reps Burpees

Rest 3 minutes between rounds

Score – 54 Burpees Rx

Wed Oct 19:

BUY IN – Every minute for 8 minutes complete 1 Snatch-grip Deadlift + 1 Hang Snatch + 1 Squat Snatch
*Increase weight each round  55-60-65*-70*-75*  *2 rounds
WOD – For time, *21-15-9:
*Overhead Squats #65
*Toes to Bar
400m Run
Time – 14:14 Rx

My shoulder just might be recovering 🙂  Toes to bar felt awesome today!  Plowed through all of the OHS unbroken as well.

Tues Oct 18:

BUY IN – Every 90 seconds for 15 minutes complete 1 Push Press + 1 Push Jerk + 1 Split Jerk
*Increase weight each round  35-45-55-65-75-85-95-100-105-110

WOD – AMRAP, 8 minutes:
Clean and Jerks  #95
Bar hop Burpees
2-4-6-8-10-12…

Score – 60 reps

Mon Oct 17:

BUY IN – Every 2 minutes for 12 minutes complete 4 unbroken Deadlifts

WOD – AMRAP, 12 minutes:
6 jumping Chest to Bar Pull-ups
12 Box Jumps 20″
18 Sumo Deadlift High Pull #35
Score – 5 Rounds +11 reps

when it falls into place

First off, this year will be the year of concerts and new experiences it seems.  I have tickets to more concerts in 2016 than I think I’ve been to in my life time, and that’s including Sharon Lois and Braham…  Well, close anyways.  And for the most part, they are for people or groups I never would have imagined I would go see.  This past weekend I saw Garth Brooks, and although I would never consider myself a country music kind of girl, it was such an amazing show!!  We got there a little early and found our seats way up in the 200 level.  Soon a woman parked herself next to Amanda and asked if we liked our seats.  Um… what?  “Would 2nd row be better?” was her next question.  Heck yeah!!  It happened!

Below my photographic standards a bit, but for an old dude the guy moves pretty quick!!  And I totally love how the digital age has converted the old “lighters in the air” ritual.  Looks so magical 🙂  Anyways, what a great show and a LATE night!  Pretty sure I saw 4am, and not in the time-to-get-up sense.  Thank god I had Sunday off 😮 but a nap still would have been appreciated today.

Mon. Mar. 28: Sunshine and rainbows

Night and day really is the best way to describe my 16.5 experience.  As mad as I was at myself on Friday for giving up, today was a totally different story even after a crazy weekend.  Also out of my comfort zone – Amanda saw the reality of my 6am workout routine which starts with the shocking 4:30am alarm clock.  Followed by the 4:40am “no seriously!  Get UP!” 2nd alarm.  Just in case.  Lucky for me, she seemed unfazed.  One thing I did do right to prep for my second chance at this little treat of a WOD was drink a crap-ton of water over the weekend (as per Coach Dave’s recommendation).

Open Workout 16.5

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
Thrusters
Burpees
 Women use 65lb

Score – 15:59 Rx

Boo-ya!  (Insert happy dance) I stepped up to the bar this morning alongside a fellow CFD friend.  He asked me before we began – “do you have a goal in mind?”  “Yes!  Don’t die!  And finish it.”  He liked the don’t die part, but truth of the matter… I went into this round with a game plan.  Smaller sets, and just keep moving.  The 21’s were 3×7, 18’s 3×6, 15’s 3×5, etc. until the 6’s and 3’s which were at unbroken set each.  I thought I took my time.  I thought I was resting for longer than I should have, but I just wanted to survive.  And not trip over the bar.  At the end, I realized I actually did pretty awesome!  My previous time to compare to was 22:23.  6 1/2 minutes faster!  Boo-ya!

Sat. Mar. 26: The dark side of the moon

Time to take a lesson from some encouragement I offered a friend earlier this week.  Was talking with DK and he was venting his frustration at having a crappy squat day even though his head was in the right place to crush it.  “Everyone has off days, and there are so many factors that could have been setting you up to NOT succeed.

How has everything else been lately?  Sleep?  Nutrition?  Water?  Stress?  Life?  Don’t beat yourself up over ONE bad day!  Next time will be different. – Me.

Friday I was in his shoes.  Went to the box first thing looking to complete a nasty little WOD that I know all too well.  My only real expectation for myself was to beat the time I got last time through.  Shouldn’t have been too hard considering I was still new to crossfit in 2014.  I’m stronger now and smarter too.  I know what my rhythm is and how to pace a longer workout.  Friday everything went wrong.  FIRST Open WOD ever for me where I’ve given up completely.  Got through the 21’s, 18 thrusters, and like 5 burpees – then told Coach Dave (my judge) “I’m DONE!”  Another grinder of a workout and another chance for me to shine, but it wasn’t in the cards.  Dave told me a few times “control it McDowell!  Use your LEGS!” but it was as if I had none to use.  The numbness effed with my head in this one big time and I couldn’t fight through it.

home stretch

To whom it may concern,

PLEASE let Coach Dave be wrong!  PLEASE let there not be thrusters in 16.5.  please??

Regards, Kate.

I think it was 2 weeks ago that I went to the box on a Thursday morning planning to just stretch and roll out and got suckered into an “aggressive flush” (as designated by Coach Dave.  Don’t think too hard about that or it gets weird.)  Yup.  Did I learn my lesson?  Apparently not cause I went in today with pretty much the same intention and ended with the same result.  That my friends is insanity, by definition.  The only differentiator today was I didn’t hold back and pace myself cause it was a partner WOD.  Went HARD out of the gate, like 1:35-1:40 split time (dumb. even 250m at a time I can’t sprint for 3km), crashed and burned just after the half-way point then got my sh*t together and found my pace.

Thurs. Mar. 24:

For Time:
In Teams of 2,  Row 6000m
*Every 1000m completed as a team:
30- Wallballs #20
2- Rope Climbs
*Partition as needed*
*Must switch athletes every 250m completed on the rower*

Can’t tell you what our time was, but the last time I looked at the clock during our final row it said 33 something… so I know it was more than that lol!  Another new experience – rope climbing with still numb calves and feet.  Quite possibly the weirdest yet and my inner thighs and knees are not overly impressed with how tightly they had to squeeze the rope, but tough.  Oh!  And the 20lb wallball SUCKS!  Thank god this workout wasn’t judged, cause I’m pretty sure even though I jumped hard for every rep I still missed the line often.

Like previous years, this is the time I’m ready for the Open to be over.  One WOD stands between getting back to my regularly scheduled program and I fully anticipate it to be a rough one.  Unlike previous years, my regularly scheduled program will most likely see a re-vamp after tomorrow.  Summer is coming.  Shorts, and tank tops and beach weather… and some races with my chick.  Running has already resurfaced in my life and is about to take up a more significant part in my story soon.  If only it would stop with the icy, wintery sh*t outside already cause I can’t wait to get back on the trails.

roll with it

Thank you crossfit.  More to the point, thank you Crossfit Division for inspiring me to give it another chance forever ago now.  Today I proved to myself just how far I’ve come and reaffirmed a big part of WHY I do this.  It’s been a week now since most of my hands, forearms and legs from the knee down have been numb, yet I still kinda killed 16.4.  Don’t get me wrong, it was mutual, but still happy with the determination I dug up to get through this bitch of a WOD despite all the self-doubt swimming around in my head.  I will admit, I went against my game plan for this year’s Open a little… I was nervous going into today.  Biggest fear was probably not being able to catch the wallball.  Oh and I dreaded the push-ups (rightfully so).  I had more than one coach mention to me “this is YOUR WOD!” and they were totally right.  The weight was light, and I dig a grinder.  But the game was different.  Thankfully my lungs kept it together and the annoying cough didn’t resurface till I got to work.  Thankfully the time I spent last week figuring out how to work with the whole numbness thing paid off.  Thankfully the WOD didn’t involve skipping or box jumps!  (That’s a big one)  My coordination isn’t the greatest right now.

Open WOD 16.4

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 13 minutes of:
55 deadlifts
55 wall-ball shots
55-calorie row
55 hand release push-ups

Women deadlift 95 lb. and throw 10-lb. ball to 9-ft. target

Score – 231

I can’t think of another crossfit moment where I’ve felt so close to barfing after a WOD.  My legs gave up and I sat on the floor for what felt like forever, but I survived.  Coach Dave asked before the WOD “what’s your goal McDowell?” I couldn’t come up with a response at the time, but all said and done whatever it was I think I crushed it.  I got through a full round and back to the deadlifts.  I didn’t catch a wallball with my face.  And although I’m pretty sure I back-talked some profanity when Dave encouraged me to keep my split time above 900, I was happy with my row.  I survived  🙂  MS messed with the wrong girl 😉

fill in the gaps

Ok, it’s been a while. Well, not that long I guess although all day I’ve been convinced today is Friday. Still adjusting to Sport Chek being a Tuesday gig maybe, or could be the mental fog daylight savings always seems to cause. Monday I wanted to kill my phone at 4:30am… Then yesterday I woke up with a sore throat.  The morning was ok, killed the morning WOD (except the double unders, but I’ll get back to that), got in an 8k run before work that felt easy and comfortable, but by probably 3pm I felt like a truck ran me over.  WTF?! Bad timing!! In bed early and felt much better this morning… Except for my voice!  “You sound like a DUDE!” Said DK.  Thanks! Lol. Left work early and haven’t left my couch since, except to warm up some soup I stashed in the freezer the last time I made crockpot chicken soup. Good call on my part 😉

I might need to backtrack a whole bunch here and fill in some gaps.  Otherwise my randomness could make even less sense than usual.  Around the middle of January I came to the point where I was just DONE with Tecfidera (MS drugs).  The reaction I had to it every day for the past year and a half finally pushed me beyond my breaking point.  So I stopped taking it.  Since then, every day I’ve been thankful that everything seems to be great.  For a long time I’ve wanted to know if the healthy lifestyle I live could possibly be enough that I don’t need the drugs anymore and there’s really only one way to find out.  Near the end of my life with a dose of the Tecfidera twice daily, I’d wake up every day feeling good, take the morning dose and feel ill for the next 8-10 hours, start feeling good again just in time to take the second dose and feel sick until bed time.  Friends used to tease me for going to bed before 10, but if you felt like you had the flu every day you might too! I couldn’t take it anymore.  I’m sure my neurologist will beat me up about it at my next appointment, but it’s the life I have to live.  Anyways, after almost 2 months drug-free I woke up Sunday with limited feeling in my hands.  I mean they still work, I just can’t feel when I’m touching or holding something.  I’ve dropped my phone so many times Otterbox deserves my gratitude for the fact it still works.  Monday morning I also added minimal feeling in my legs from the knees down.  See where I’m going with this yet? Tuesday’s WOD had double unders in it and Coach Dave suggested spending 90 seconds practicing DU for those who didn’t have them (aka ME).  Generally I would, but Tuesday I couldn’t manage more than 2-3 single skips without tripping and that’s usually my jam.  Ah well, you can’t win ’em all.  Thankfully there’s so much more to crossfit than double unders.  And we’ve already seen skipping in the Open. And I can still run 🙂

 

pick it up

I may have hit rock bottom.  Might be at the breaking point I’ve been needing for a while to actually make some real changes.  NEVER do I want to have the thoughts of “oh god!  Please not the sit-down-fat!” when cuddling with my chick.  It’s dumb and awful.  It’s a road I’ve been down before and will go down again unless someone can remove that part of my brain that creates these thoughts… Hey MS!  Time for you to step up and help me out for once?  You’ve effed with useful parts of my mind, how about putting your powers to something good for a change?

Anywho, I’ve said this before but maybe this time I mean business.  Maybe this time I’ll stop starring longingly at the abs I can see in the mirror from just the right angle and actually get my shit together.  Summer is coming… I want to wear shorts and strappy tank tops and the odd bikini and feel good about it.  Amanda and I have talked about doing a few runs this summer, starting with a 10k in April.  That’s SOON!  And she’s speedy!  I need to up my game to get ready for the run and ball hockey starts soon.  So my game plan is to tackle both of these goals together.  I’ve already started running again, now I just need to banish almond butter from my home.  There are way worse things, I know this is how it has to be.  I’m still doing the Whole Life Challenge, but haven’t cared about it at ALL this time around.  Haven’t been cheating, but that doesn’t matter.

My different approach to The Open this year is making for a much more enjoyable experience.  I don’t stress leading up to the announcement to the point I wasn’t even upset last night when I couldn’t get the internet to work so I could watch it.  I sleep like any other night, I don’t eat any different than normal, and I workout like any other week.  It’s pretty chill, and it’s FUN!  Score 🙂  Plus a little added bonus… I’m actually doing pretty well.  Was top female in the scaled division at CFD for 16.1 😀  16.2 I wasn’t as spectacular, but I’m still happy with how this time around feels.

Fri. Mar. 11:

Workout 16.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 7 minutes of:
10 power snatches
 5 jumping chest-to-bar pull-ups

Men use 45 lb.
Women use 35 lb.

Result – 104 reps

Not beating myself up after this little sprint, although I underestimated it a bit.  OMG my FOREARMS are ruined!  Grip strength is completely gone to the point I’ve had to hold my coffee with 2 hands today to prevent a catastrophe.  I never do chest to bar pull-ups, like ever.  Can’t even get my chest to touch the bar with palms facing outwards, so attacked these palms in.  Once the time ran out, my forearms looked like a snake that had swallowed a softball and screamed bloody murder.  However, I was entirely grateful when the WOD was announced and didn’t include any squats.  My legs are tired from this week… got an 8k run in Wednesday and somehow got tricked into a 35 minute row for calories yesterday, with a side of burpees after I went to the box just to mobilize and stretch 😉

Fri. Mar. 4:

Workout 16.2

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 4, 8, 12, 16 or 20 minutes of:
25 knee raises
50 single-unders
15 squat cleans*

Begin with a 4 minute time cap. If 1 round is completed in under 4 minutes extend time to 8 minutes. If 2 rounds are completed in under 8 minutes extend time to 12 minutes. Etc., adding 4 minutes per round completed for up to 20 minutes.

*1st round, 15 reps at 55 lb.
2nd round, 13 reps, 75 lb.
3rd round, 11 reps, 95 lb.
4th round, 9 reps, 115 lb.
5th round, 7 reps, 135 lb.

Result – 339 reps

I will admit I did beat myself up a little after completing this one.  I flew through the first 2 rounds, good pace through the third, then stepped up to the 115lb bar with a whole 4 minutes remaining and couldn’t get ONE little rep!  Once I blocked out all the voices outside and inside my head, I did manage to get under the bar twice but was too far forward to stand it up.  4 minutes… 0 reps.  Thankfully I’ve had the best judge for all of my WODs.  The person who always seems to be able to read the nasty things I’m saying to myself inside my own mind and snap me out of it.  I was mad at myself for what I didn’t do, but was completely forgetting all that I DID.  “Honestly, I expected you to struggle with the 11 reps at 95lbs.  You breezed through those!” she said.  Touche!  Also a little perspective… 115 is my 1RM.

a different approach

Back to old bad habits when it comes to wordpress… Posts are drafted, but never making it beyond the drafting phase.  You’ll have to just trust me that it’s probably best that some of the crap I write stays that way.  Some days I’m just scattered and can’t come up with a logical order of putting my thoughts into type.  Others I’m full-on venting and often not very nice.  Those are better kept just to myself 😉  And venting about your JOB on the internet just doesn’t seem smart at all.

Anyways, aside from that life is GREAT 😀  I did it after all.  I signed up for The Open.  I’m sure no one really expected any different, but skipping it this year did cross my mind.  So far I’ve stuck to my plan to just treat the WODs as just another workout.

Fri. Feb. 26:

Workout 16.1.

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 20 minutes of:
25-ft. walking lunge (front rack)
8 burpees
25-ft. walking lunge (front rack)
8 chest-to-bar pull-ups

Men lunge 45 lb.
Women lunge 35 lb.

Score – 264

Slow and steady and UNBROKEN was my goal.  Success!  Although I still thought I possibly might barf by the end…  Not a technically difficult workout, just loooong.  It’s Monday as I’m typing this and my BUTT is just about recovered.  Each group of 25′ lunges took me 10 reps to complete.  200+ lunges?! My butt has every reason to be still a little bitter about the whole thing.

I took a few of my lieu days from December’s workaholic session to spend a weekend with Amanda 🙂  Went from 16.1 home for a quick shower and breakfast, then out for a day of snowboarding.  Coach Sharon later mentioned to me that it was nice to see I wasn’t as anxious going into an Open WOD this time around.  That’s cause I was more nervous about getting on my board for the first time in like forever than a few lunges, pull-ups and burpees!  It was great though 🙂  My legs held out.  After a few shaky runs I got my sh*t together and was right back in the game!  Amanda and I had been joking leading up to our snowboard day that if we broke ourselves, at least we’d have the weekend to recover!  No need 😉 can’t wait to get out again!

I’ve been a good food influence on my girl too 🙂  We made omelets with broccoli, asparagus and zucchini for breakfasts and chicken or salmon (same veggies) for dinners.  Only used 1 indulgence token over the 3 days in the form of a little goat cheese on my salad 🙂  So worth it.  SO GOOD!

—————————————————————–

Mon. Feb. 29:

Back to reality this morning.  Back to the box for 6am and back to work.  Sigh… 😉

 Teams of 2, AMRAP 20 Minutes:
3 Calorie Row, 3 Hand-Release Pushups, 3 Dumbbell Snatches (50/35)  #30
6 Calorie Row, 3 Hand-Release Pushups, 6 Dumbbell Snatches (50/35)  #30
9 Calorie Row, 3 Hand-Release Pushups, 9 Dumbbell Snatches (50/35)  #30

Partner 1 completes the round of three reps of each movement, then Partner 2 does the same.
The team alternates in this fashion for the 20 minutes, adding 3 repetitions to each movement per round.

Haven’t done a partner WOD with SP in a while 🙂  The snatches got tough as the reps climbed, but I was happy with how I was able to maintain a good pace on the row throughout.  Kept the split above 1,300 cal/?? 😀  Certainly jacked up the heart rate a bit!!

Calm before the storm

Thurs. Feb. 11

For the first time in a while, today I woke up in a better frame of mind than I’ve been in. I decided to work from home yesterday cause I had to complete my employee reviews and needed a quiet space to focus and get them done. Since my work got rid of district managers, it seems a lot of the work load they took care of has been passed down to the store mangers and my plate is so full sometimes I’m not sure where to begin. That’s something I struggle with. Putting things in order… Anyways, I’m happy with the progress I made yesterday on the reviews, and I got in a good snowy walk with Yuko at “lunch” and formed a plan for the conversations I need to have with my staff. Bonus – the blanket of fresh snow covering the trails yesterday made for a gorgeous walk 🙂 then today we woke up to -17 degrees, so thank god we got before that showed up!

Backtrack for a minute to the “putting things in order” thing. I’ve got so much going on in my head right now… Stuff I want to blog about cause it might help me make some sense of it all, but again I don’t know where to start.

Yuko heads to Dog Guides University Tuesday for the Autism Assistance program.  I couldn’t be happier! Well, unless he fails and gets to come home.  Then I really couldn’t be happier, but I don’t see that happening.  He’s just too awesome for words.  Also not the reason I signed up for this.  #makepeoplebetter

Should I sign up for the Open?  I’ve kinda sucked at crossfit lately.  My head isn’t 100% in it at the moment.  And DK took some pics of Yuko and I where I noticed how BIG my butt is.  But I like squatting heavy… And I like almond butter.  The struggle is real.

I need a career change, but what do I want to do?  When will it be ther straw that breaks the camel’s back?  I feel backed into a corner at my job sometimes.  Pretty sure the HR twat doesn’t like me for some reason.  Although she doesn’t like dogs.  Those kind of people can’t be trusted!  Vegetarians are on that list too.

I miss running… Is the answer – get a treadmill, or join World Gym?  Almost broke myself running on the icy trails last week.  Picture a freshly zamboni’d ice rink, with a dusting of fluffy fresh snow, and lots of hills… Yup, that happened.  I skied down a few spots on my running shoes, slipped and Yuko caught me once, then ended up on my knees and threw in the towel.  I think World Gym is the answer.  I miss running, and shorts and tank tops weather is coming eventually.  The big butt dog pics also helped me make the commitment to myself to snack on veggies more and stop eating nuts and my fav oats, banana, almond butter, protein powder mix, cause that can’t be helping.  Although I won’t perfect it over night… I crushed like half a bag of snap peas while doing my reviews yesterday.  SO good! And better than a bag of nuts or chips I s’pose.

I’m on the list for another puppy March 22.  Is that what I want to do? This is a tough one.  Yuko has just become a part of my rhythm over the past 11 months.  I’d have to go through the baby stages again, but at the same time a puppy sleeps more.  I have moments of thinking how nice it will be to go to the grocery store without a dog, but then I have 10 times as many thinking about all he’s given me 🙂 At the moment, I’m leaning in favour of doing this again but it changes a few times a day.  I have a different life than I had when I brought Yuko home.  I have a girlfriend in a different city that I like spending time with.

in motion

The wheels are constantly in motion, but sometimes nothing comes from it all.  In terms of my blog dedication, this has certainly been the case over the last month.  I’ve got some little victories to note, and some mental turbulence that has played a part in my writer’s drought.  In a general sense, I write a lot when I’m sad or angry and also a fair amount (generally with more pictures 🙂 ) when I’m happy or excited.  When I’m tired or bored, the random literary chaos tends to dry up a bit.  However, at the moment my world is a combination of all of the above.

The 2015 Crossfit Games Open is DONE.  Second time around for me, and in a general sense I’m quite happy with myself for how I performed.

15.1/15.1a –  178 reps / #105

AMRAP was decent.  Felt like the scaled option was possibly a little over-scaled with the knee raises… until my first no-rep.  Yup.  Very few no-reps came my way this year and most of them were from one of the simplest movements.  For the 1RM clean and jerk, I didn’t get a new PR but I DID match my current one.  Not too shabby.

15.2 – 51 reps

My one 2015 Open WOD that I’m not proud of.  My very first pull-up was a mess and things careened downhill from there.  Overhead squats were solid, but my workout ended at the 6:00 mark.  At least I could be happy my hands didn’t rip, but

15.3 – 770 reps

5th overall @ CFD (scaled)  I could leave out the little detail that my legs were destroyed till probably Tues. after, but that’s all part of the experience I suppose.

15.4 – 81 reps

While I wasn’t over-the-moon excited with my result, I was ok.  There were a few moments in this little WOD where I wasn’t sure if I was about to barf or pass out, but then I’d glance at my judge and realize I really couldn’t do that to her.  So the only choice was to just keep moving.  Friday night I had tickets to the Kitchener Ranges hockey game but by like 5 pm I was feeling nauseous and exhausted.  😦  By Saturday evening I couldn’t fully extend or bend my arms.  Like they just wouldn’t move and hurt to try.  15.4 may have shown me a mild case of Rhabdo.  Took things easier than normal for the week  and scaled anything that involved locking out the old arms and recovered.

15.5 – 10:49 

Matched one of my idols!  😀  <–ok, she did Rx, but still!!  Huge win in my mind 🙂  This WOD was a mental grinder for sure!  Although I was happy with my time on this one, it’s one I am considering attempting again.  My only regret with this one, and the only reason I would consider putting myself through this torture again, is the mental game.  I was in the midst of my 15 calorie row and in the deepest, darkest place when Coach Sharon snapped me out of my little self-destruct mindset.  “KATE!  Stop being so hard on yourself!  You’re doing really well!  Be POSITIVE!” she said.  Wow! My frame of mind rerouted immediately and the entire workout changed.  It was kind of awesome.  I’d like to try 15.5 again just to see what could happen if I focused on that the whole way through.

Yesterday Yuko managed to tear a hole in his bed.  Then I came into the office to this:

 

There was green fluff everywhere LOL!  But I couldn’t bring myself to stop him right away.  He was having way too much fun, and you just can’t get mad at that FACE.  Especially with green fluff hanging from his chin…