Often wrong, sometimes badass

Snatch and snatch again!

2012-03-02T06:01:00.005-08:00

Attempted the 12.2 Open WOD today:

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
30 Snatch (M 75 / F 45 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 135 / F 75 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 165 / F 100 lbs)
Max Rep Snatch (M 210 / F 120 lbs)

And got 30 snatches at 45# and 2 at 75#, with a LOT of botched attempts at 75#. For a total of 32.

I went into it being all "Oh, I'm just hoping to get 31." (Imagine that said in a really high faux girly voice.)

Fuck that. I wanted 60.

I'm going to try again on Saturday or Sunday, and maybe warm up to 75# before I do it for real. I don't think I'll get 60, but it would kick ass to get 40 or so.

***

I don't know if anyone reads this besides the friends and family I know about, but if there's any of you out there who haven't heard, I have some non-exercise related good news.

This fall, I applied to grad school for creative writing. I applied to 15 grad schools. I have heard from 6 of them and gotten into 4 of those.

To borrow Nerd Fitness's locution, I am leveling up this year.

BTW, Nerd Fitness has a nice post on Crossfit this week: A Beginners' Guide to Crossfit. Makes me feel like a bad ass just to read it.

Snatch!

2012-03-01T05:58:00.003-08:00

I have heard every single snatch joke there is . . . and found all of them funny. Because I'm 12!

Find your 1 rep max on the power snatch. Complete 3 x 5 power snatch at 80% of your 1 rep max.

I got up to 73# for the 1RM, although not without a lot of false starts. Then did:

5x63#
5x63#
3x68# + 2x63#

And then I did burpees until I died

2012-02-27T06:01:00.003-08:00

Saturday I felt like crap.

Sunday I still felt like crap, but I needed to do the Crossfit Open workout, and so I did.

7 minutes of burpees

I wanted 70. I think if I did it again I could get 70. I got 67.

Today was a crazy team workout.

In TEAMS OF THREE:

A: In 15 minutes, complete as many rounds as possible of the following:
135/95 Power Cleans x 3 reps
Push-Ups x 6 reps
24″ Box Jumps x 9 reps

Rest exactly five minutes, and then:

B: In 15 minutes, complete as many rounds as possible of the following:
Pull-Ups x 5 reps
Burpees x 10

My team got 24 + 3 cleans for A and 20 + 5 pullups for B.

I did 73# cleans, knee pushups, and an 16-18" jump. For the pullups I used the black band.

I'm getting less scared of team work outs. That was quite hard, especially during part B. After each burpee set, I thought I might pass out, but did not.

Good morning! Good morning!

2012-02-24T05:59:00.002-08:00

I'm feeling fairly crappy this morning, but I still PRed, so that was nice:

Good morning – 30% (of back squat) x 8 x 3
Back squat – 87% x 3 x 5

I did the Good mornings at 43#. Whev.

Back Squat:
3 x 83#
3 x 113#
3 x 123#
3 x 133#
3 x 143#

143# is a 3-rep PR by 7#.

Weak Pullups

2012-02-22T06:14:00.000-08:00

A guy at the box had this hilarious T-shirt: WWJD: What WOD Jesus Do, with the big guy squatting and grimacing on the back. Awesome.

Today's WOD:

A: Push press = Cluster @ 5RM (4×2 w/10sec) x 5

B: For time, 21-15-9 reps of:
Pullups
Burpees

A:
4 x 2 x 43#
4 x 2 x 53#
4 x 2 x 53#
4 x 2 x 53#
4 x 2 x 53#

B:
Started with the black band, but people lapped me on the 21 pullups. IDK what happened unless my shoulders were really gassed from the push presses. I thought I could do a lot more unbroken on the black band than I was able to do in this WOD. After the first round I added a green band and finished at 8:07. The burpees felt good, though.

I have traps!

2012-02-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

Today's WOD:

Hang snatch – 75% x 2 x 4
Jerk 84% x 2 x 4

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've actually done any kind of snatch that wasn't in a WOD, rather than any of the helper moves. This is actually much less terrifying than a snatch balance. I did some overhead squats to warm up because balancing the bar overhead is the scariest part of the snatch. Then I did something like:

2 x 33
2 x 37
2 x 43
2 x 47
2 x 53
2 x 53

Jerks were weird after doing them yesterday. I wasn't as strong on this as on the C&J yesterday, but with all these Olympic lifts, I'm much more concerned with form than PR. Dropping a bar on my leg is a lot more terrifying than not PRing one day.

2 x 53
2 x 63
2 x 73
2 x 73

I also ran there and back and we warmed up with an 800m run. So that's a lot of running in the past two days. My calves are a little tight but not too bad. Maybe ready for a running WOD next time one comes up.

Yesterday I was checking myself out in the mirror . . . as one does . . . and noticed that my traps are definitely standing up above my shoulders. Woo! I've been noticing my triceps getting bigger and my thighs getting bigger, but this is the first time I've noticed anything changing about my shoulders.

Clean and Jerk

2012-02-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

Today's WOD was working up to a heavy C&J. I did a split jerk for the first time.

I never got more than 83# on the bar, but I did it several times until I felt really stable with it. C&J is all about technique and attention. When half my attention was on the guy next to me and whether he would make his C&J, I couldn't do it at all; when I visualized doing it right, it was fine.

I also ran there and back.

On the minute

2012-02-17T09:07:00.001-08:00

A: Turkish get-ups

B: Every minute, on the minute, for 20 minutes, perform:
3 Power Cleans
6 Kettlebell Swings (32/24kg)

A: Did a few with my shoe for practice, but my knee hurts a lot from lunges yesterday, so none with weight.

B: Used 63# and a 12kg KB, which was probably too easy, but my pulled lat still pings from cleans, and I couldn't find the 16kg KB I wanted to use.

They profit from your pain

2012-02-16T06:54:00.001-08:00

Lunges and push presses, two horrible tastes that taste horrible together!

A: Snatch deadlift – 110% (of snatch) x 4 x 5

B: 4 rounds for time of the following:
20 Overhead Lunges with a 45#/25# Plate
20 Push presses at 95#/65#

A: 83 x 4
103 x 4
103 x 4
103 x 4
103 x 4

B: Ugh. My push presses are still really weak from my pulled back, so I started at 48# and then had to go down to 33#. /o\

11:31 with 25#/33#

***

This is a really important blog post from Chris McDougal of Born to Run fame: Why is running form controversial? Because your pain is worth a lot of money.

Replace "running form" with "paleo diet" or any kind of high-organic, high(er) fat, whole food diet, and you could say the same thing. The big diet and food industries are very invested in selling people diets that don't work, because then they can sell it to them again. It's easier to manufacture "low fat" or even "low carb" than to make huge profit margins on people eating real food. Low fat was a special boon to the food industry because people eating low fat will tend to eat more volume, and one of the difficulties the food industry has is inelastic demand.

Or replace "running form" with "most diets". Most low-calorie, low-fat diets don't work to make people either more healthy or thinner in the long run. There haven't even been reliable studies to show that making a fat person thin makes them healthier, irrespective of how they get there, but there have been plenty of studies showing that weight cycling is dangerous and unhealthy. The famous "losing just 10% of your weight makes you healthier" study was done by studying people who ate lots of vegetables and got lots of exercise. Even those who did not lose weight on the study were healthier at the end. The diet industry is huge, because your pain and hunger is worth a lot of money.

Any time any study is billed as "controversial" that's a keyword telling you to look for the money. Controversial in news story often means "something a lot of people disagree with because their paycheck depends on them disagreeing."

A lifting Valentine

2012-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

Today was push jerks and back squats:

Jerk – 82% x 2 x 4
Back squat – 88% x 3, find max

For the Jerks, I did push jerks:

3x45
3x65
2x85
2x75
2x85
2x85
2x75
2x75

On my last set of 85, I almost fell over backwards, so I decided to take it back down.

Squats I did:

3x85
3x105
3x115
3x125
3x135

Which is a PR by 20#. The most I've ever squatted before was 115. \o/

I feeeeeeeeeeel good

2012-02-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the WOD was floor presses, then 30 muscle ups for time, and since I am a master of muscle ups . . .

Hahahahah.

Yeah.

So we did the floor presses which felt weird, but whev. I maxed at 73x5, which wasn't too heavy but did feel unsteady.

The scaling for muscle ups was weird--30 jumping muscle ups and 30 pull ups. I did 20 of the jumping muscle ups and then moved to banded dips with the blue band. The jumping muscle ups both didn't feel like enough work and were scaring me--I don't have a ton of shoulder stability. I didn't really worry about time, and did it more as a strength workout than anything else.

Today was a fun WOD:

Four sets for max reps of:
45 seconds of Weight Plate Burpees (45/25# plate)
45 seconds of Rest
45 seconds of Anchored Sit-Ups
45 seconds of Rest

This was my first Rxed workout ever. I did:

9 burpees
29 situps
8 burpees
27 situps
8 burpees
27 situps
8 burpees
30 situps

For a total of 146. I really wanted to get to 150, but that was damn close, and I was right in the middle of the pack with the rest of the class.

After that we worked on our goats. I did some pushups and pull ups. I was able to do four pullups with a green band and a blue band together, which is slightly harder than the black band, so things are improving there.

I also ran the mile to the box and the mile back, which felt okay. I'm still going to wait to do a running WOD until my calf is 100% better.

Tonight I'm making a paleo feast: roast carrot soup, crab and avocado salad, seared braised pork belly with tzatziki, and will post about it later. Stay tuned also for my Filosophy of Fat (Philosophy of Phat).

Skate with Tarragon en Papaillote

2012-02-09T08:43:00.000-08:00

Despite the frou frou name it is both easy and cheap.

Ingredients:
1/3-1/2 lb Skate Fish per person dining
1/2 inch ginger root, chopped
Fresh Tarragon
Mirin (Japanese Cooking Wine)
Sesame Oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400. Put a large piece of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet with the edges folded up. Put half the ginger root, half the tarragon leaves, a generous splash of mirin and sesame oil, and some salt and pepper on the aluminum foil. Place the fish on top, near the center, somewhat overlapping is fine. Put the other half of the ginger root and tarragon on top, splash with mirin and sesame oil, and more salt and pepper. Put another piece of aluminum foil over the top and tightly fold the edges of both pieces together to make a foil package for the fish and all ingredients. Put in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove and let rest for 3 minute before opening. There will be yummy juices in the foil packet which you can serve over the fish or its accompaniments. Serving ideas: steamed bok choi and rice.

Hail

2012-02-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

Today's WOD:

“The Chief”

Max rounds in three minutes of:
135/95# Power Cleans x 3
Push-Ups x 6
Air Squats x 9

I'm a moron, so I thought it was Hanging Power Cleans, and did it with 53#. I have trouble getting under the bar with more from a hang position.

But with the pulled muscle in my back, the hang is less hard on it than a full power clean.

20 rounds + 3 HPC + 3 knee pushups @ 53#

The Me in Team

2012-02-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

In teams of 4, complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of the following:
Deadlift (225/155#)
Push Press (95/65#)
Row (for calories)
(By the end, teams must complete a minimum of 200 calories on the rower. Only one person at a time at a station, so one person rests at any time.)

This was fun, and I will tell you why:

(a) All exercises that don't make me want to kill myself
(b) We were in teams with people of similar abilities

(Dear Crossfit gods, aka coaches, please don't pair me with someone super strong and fast ever again. I just feel terrible about myself, and they have a too-easy workout. It is good for testing my mental toughness though.)

My team did 103# deadlifts and 53# push presses. Our final tally was 645 reps + calories.

My push press is in a sorry state from my pulled lat, not that I was good at it before, but I held my own on the deadlift and rowing. Good day.

Getting Back (squat) on the Horse

2012-02-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

Today's WOD:

Hang snatch (above knee) – 70% x 3 x 4

3x43
3x43
3x47
3x47

Form started falling apart at the end.

Back squat – 86% x 4 x 5

4x83
4x103
4x103
4x113
4x113

Probably could have gone a little heavier, but since I messed up my back last time I did back squats, it was good to feel totally solid on these.

Josh

2012-02-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

Saturday I chose to do the Hero WOD rather than the regular WOD because my calf is still not happy about anything involving jumping, and the regular WOD also had kettlebell swings, which I did on Thursday.

Josh:

For time:
95 pound Overhead squat, 21 reps
42 Pull-ups
95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps
30 Pull-ups
95 pound Overhead squat, 9 reps
18 Pull-ups

Plus we did 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 pushups and IDEK, shoulder extentions? Wall slides without the wall? Something for the cash out. I did knee push ups.

I did Josh with 33# and ring rows. My grip gave out more than anything else. Next time I do a WOD with overhead squats, I'm definitely going up to 43#. 33# felt pretty easy. My muscles were giving out more than I was out of breath. 9:00

She's back, baby

2012-02-02T06:02:00.000-08:00

Back to Crossfit after 11 days off, letting my back recover and then getting over a cold. Today we did:

A: 2-position clean (floor, knee) – 70% x 2 x 5

B: Complete 3 rounds for time of the following:
5 Deadlifts @ 275#/180#
10 Goblet Squats @ 32kg/24kg
15 Kettlebell Swings @ 32kg/24kg

This was a good day to come back to, since it's all stuff I like. I kept it light. After failing with 73# on the cleans, I did the sets with 63#. My clean form is terrible. I hope to do some focused work on that. I was feeling my back during those.

For B I did 103# deadlifts, 12kg KB in 4:40. I definitely went light, and I'm glad I did. It felt good. My abs were still very tired on the last round of kettlebell swings.

***

I've been thinking about how not to get injured, and thinking about humility. I'm self-deprecating, but I'm not humble. I'm not grateful that I can go to the box and do even this, and I should be. Following Dana's injury at It's Always Going to be Heavy makes me grateful to be a beginner, grateful that my injury was pretty minor.

I'm probably never going to get better than the bottom third of a Crossfit class, at least if I'm comparing myself to men and women. I'm not really built for it--huge strength-to-weight ratios and explosive movements don't come naturally to a 6-foot tall woman. I'm temperamentally suited to endurance, but don't really have the body for that either.

So why am I doing Crossfit? I'm doing it because I like a challenge. I like, in retrospect, when I push myself to a point of mental failure. I find something out about myself, even if I don't like it. I do need to remember that mental failure is like muscle failure. It takes some time to regroup, to let those fibers heal so I can try again.

I'm doing it because I like feeling strong. I feel capable when I'm strong. I'm less likely to get injured in day-to-day life. I feel better. I feel, in some ways, like a kid again, because if I want to run and jump and skip and go on the monkey bars, I can.

I'm doing it because I want to be able to drop everything and go hiking in the mountains in Patagonia and not have my fitness level be what holds me back.

One of the things I really liked about yoga was learning to meet myself on the mat every day where I was that day, whether stronger or weaker than the day before, respect where I was and work with that. Some days were better than others. And doing the same sequence every day made me very aware of that.

Crossfit has so much variation that it's harder to do that, but still important. It's when I'm not aware of myself that I get injured.

I'm hoping to work with a trainer over the next month and set some concrete goals to work toward. I need real, reasonable goals with real, reasonable milestones, to keep myself from feeling like my goal should be to be perfect at everything. Perfection is not a reasonable goal, and it leads to me coming to the box too often and hurting myself.

Yep, injured

2012-01-23T14:18:00.000-08:00

The muscle pull in my back is worse than I thought it was, since I can't really lift up my left arm. Based on my current injuries (back and calf), here are some things I won't be doing for a while:

* Any heavy lifts--I just can't trust my stabilizing muscles right now, although maybe I could do a deadlift
* Any presses, including any kind of pushups
* Running
* Jumping
* Sit ups

That's most of Crossfit. I can still do air squats and lunges, though. And probably row. Maybe I should put my membership on hold while I recover.

I hurt my calf because I don't have a good barometer for when I'm pushing myself too hard, but the back was just a mistake. I'd like to learn some valuable lesson from it, but I'm not sure there is one.

Win some lose some

2012-01-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

Today was a pure lifting day at CFNYC, which I never want to miss. We did:

Snatch pull – 5 x 5 @ 96%
Back squat – 2 x 5 @ 75%, 4 x 5 @ 80%

I did 5x53 5x73 5x73 5x73 5x73 5x73 on the Snatch Pull. My calf is still hurting from yesterday so I didn't want to go heavier.

Then for the back squat I did:

5x95
5x105
5x105
5x115
5x115
5x115

Considering that 113 was my previous 3-rep max, this was great to get.

Unfortunately while putting the bar back on the rack I tweaked a muscle in my back, and I'm having trouble putting my arm above my head on that side. Between that and my calf, I think I'm going to take the next two days off and go fairly easy next week, 3 days on instead of 5.

Mental Toughness

2012-01-20T05:43:00.000-08:00

Moneyball was such a great movie, and one of my favorite lines from Billy Beane is "I hate losing. I hate losing even more than I like winnning. And that's a problem."

I think one aspect of mental toughness is the ability to get into a hard situation, sucking air, someone depending on you and/or giving you instructions, and not freak out, not panic, not get upset. I am really terrible at that aspect.

Well, maybe there are a few other aspects of mental toughness. Dedication. Showing up when you're scared. I can do those things. I can wake up early and go to Crossfit 5 times a week. (The hard part is not going every day.) And I can show up even when I'm scared of the workout. But sometimes showing up isn't enough. Sometimes I am scared of the workout and when I show up it is still a lot worse than I thought it would be.

When I get to a certain level of out of breath, I feel like I'm having a panic attack, which sets off a vicious cycle of breathing even harder and panicking more. It's worse if I have observers. Even more so if I'm partnered with someone. My Crossfit intro workout back in October was a partner workout. With jump rope. I never wanted to come back again.

So a long partner workout, especially with someone who is a lot better than me, is a test of my mental toughness that so far, I fail. A long partner workout where I injure myself is about the worst thing I can imagine. Welcome to today.

Today's workout:

In teams of two, complete this 30-minute AMRAP:
400 Meter Run
30 Box Jumps (24″/20″)
30 Wall Ball Shots (20#/14#)
Team members will alternate tasks, with only one member working at any one time.

Last week when I was doing sprints I felt something pop painfully in my calf. Today I did the first run and felt it again. And I still did the first round of box jumps, which was probably a mistake. It was probably a good move to admit that I was having a problem. Coach Sara switched me to 24" box steps and rowing, so at least I didn't have to scratch.

My partner and I did 5 rounds + 1 run + 3 box steps. And I failed, very much, to exhibit the sort of mental toughness that I would like to.

But the only thing I hate worse than failing is giving up, so here is the plan to address my lack of mental toughness:

1. Don't run or jump for one month. February 20, I will try running again and see how it goes. This has nothing to do with mental toughness, but I need to do it anyway.
2. Conquer wall balls. In the next month I will do Karen twice, once with 10# and once with 14#.
3. In the next month do at least two chipper workouts, longer than 20 minutes. I'm confident in my ability to handle a 20 minute AMRAP, or something that takes up to 20 minutes. Beyond that, I am not.
4. Do any partnered workout that comes up, because they are so likely to push me to panic faster than a workout I'm doing on my own.

Lots of Lifts

2012-01-19T09:42:00.000-08:00

Well, if only one person wants my workouts posted here (hi J!) I will do it.

Tuedsay:

A: Snatch balance – 2 x 3 @ 70%, 2 x 3 @ 75%, 3 @ 80%

I practiced first doing over head squats with an empty bar, and that really helped. I did 3x33#, 3x33#, 3x43#, 3x43# and I did not drop the bar on myself this time, which is a great improvement over last time.

B:
Three rounds for time of:
10 Deadlifts
30 GHD sit-ups

I did this with 103# for the dead lifts and kind of bent-knee v-sits rather than GHD sit-ups in 6:15

Wednesday:

I love big lifting days.

2-position clean (floor, mid-thigh) – 2 @ 75%, 2 @ 80%
Front squat – 5 @ 75%, 2 x 4 @, 80%, 2 x 3 @ 85%

For cleans I did 2 @ each position at 65# and at 75#, with a bunch of false starts. I love the cleans from the floor, but I seem to have a mental block about hanging cleans, and have trouble getting under them. Practice will help, I'm sure.

Front Squat:
5x63 4x73 4x83 3x93 3x103

103 was my one-rep max not too long ago, and my 5-rep max was 85 just this past weekend, so this feels like good Front Squat progress.

Slutty Calamari

2012-01-19T06:28:00.000-08:00

Since I'm already posting my workouts at Beyond The Whiteboard and at the Crossfit NYC blog, I'm not sure how much sense it makes to keep posting them here.

This past weekend when I went home to Ithaca, my mom had the brilliant idea of using calamari rings to substitute for pasta. And I had the brilliant idea of putting puttanesca sauce on it. Here is the recipe. "Puttanesca" means "in the style of prostitutes", hence slutty.

Slutty Calamari

Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
5 cloves garlic, grated, for a total of 3T garlic
1 small tin anchovies
1/4 t cracked red pepper
20 Kalamata Olives, chopped
3 T capers
1 28-oz can whole tomatoes
1.25 lbs calamari

Saute the garlic for a minute or so in your fat of choice (I used light olive oil). Add the anchovies and break them up with your spatula. Add the cracked red pepper and saute for another minute. Add the olives and capers. Break up the tomatoes with your hands and add them. Simmer for ten minutes or so while preparing and cooking the calamari.

Cut the calamari into rings about 1/3 of a inch thick. Heat some oil in a wok or other pan until it is smoking. Add the calamari and cook just until it starts to "bounce" a little in the pan. This shouldn't take more than a minute or two. Do not overcook the calamari. You can err on the side of undercooking it, as the residual heat will finish the cooking.

Mix the sauce and calamari and a bowl and serve immediately.

Nate + Roasted Carrot Soup

2012-01-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

Day off for MLK day today which means . . . lots of cooking. Stay tuned tomorrow for Pear Braised Pork Belly. Today is Roast Carrot Soup.

Today's workout:

"Nate":

20 min AMRAP of

2 Muscle-ups
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 Kettlebell swings @ 32kg/24kg

I subbed 3 banded pullups and 3 box dips for every one muscle up. I also subbed regular pushups for handstand pushups. I totally suck at those. They have actually gotten worse since I stopped doing Ashtanga Yoga and started doing Crossfit. Perhaps I will add a few Ashtanga sessions back to my weekly schedule.

And I used an 8kg Kettlebell. I tried to find a 12kg, but apparently there are not many of them in the gym. Oh well.

Results: 9 rounds + 6 pullups + 6 dips + 4 pushups

Roast Carrot Soup

This soup grew out of a day when I had too many carrots, aging chicken stock, and lots of garlic confit*, but was so tasty, I wanted to make it again.

(I am a terrible food stylist, and it's gonna look like orange mush no matter how good you are.)

Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 4 as a starter

Ingredients:
1 lb carrots
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves roasted or confitted* garlic
4 cups chicken stock
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 425. Peel carrots. Cut them into pinky-sized pieces for roasting. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out on a cookie sheet.

Roast for 10 minutes, stir, roast for another 10-12 minutes until soft and browned in a few places.

Heat olive oil and roasted/confitted garlic in a soup pot. Saute onion until starting to brown. Add chicken stock and roasted carrots, bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes.

Let cool until just warm, not hot. Puree in blender or food processor. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Reheat to serve.

*Garlic confit is a fantastic thing to have on hand, but kind of a pain to make. You'll end up with a bunch of really tender garlic in garlic-flavored olive oil, which is great to cook with. It's worth the time if you cook a lot.

Ingredients
10 bulbs of garlic
About 2 cups olive oil

Preheat oven to 225. Peel every clove of garlic. (This is where it gets annoying. Watching TV is recommended.) Put the garlic in a glass pan (I like to use a loaf pan). Cover completely with olive oil. Put in oven and cook until garlic is tender to a fork, about 2 hours.

Crossfitting in Ithaca

2012-01-16T05:10:00.001-08:00

I went up to Ithaca this weekend to visit my family. Since I started Crossfit, every time I go up there, my sister and I do a workout together.

This was the first time we did it at Island rather than Ultimate Athletics. UA is an MMA gym, so it's well set up for Crossfit. Island is a lot more conventional (read: crowded with machines). It was strange to try to do a WOD there. Even though it's a huge, nice gym, the bar bell area only has a few squat racks, and it's really hard to find space to do a WOD. I can't even imagine doing FGB there.

We did Over Head Squats because I really wanted to work on them. I think if I can feel more comfortable doing an OHS, I won't drop my weight when doing Snatch Balances. Which are on tap tomorrow at CrossfitNYC, so I can test that theory. I can also test that theory by sticking with a 33lb bar.

5x28
5x33
5x38
5x43
5x48

Then we did Front Squats, and I did:

5x45
5x65
5x75
5x80
5x85

My one rep max is 103, so I guess that's good.

Then we did Mad Dog, which is 3 rounds for time of 500m row, 21 thrusters. Because the ergs were far away from the barbells, we did dumbell thrusters. I did 10# each hand. My time was 11:36.

Sprints

2012-01-13T06:06:00.000-08:00

As the hilarious and asinine EPIC of beastmodal domains suggests, I've been trying to incorporate sprints into my weekly workout rotation.

Today I warmed up by running about a mile, and then planned to do 8x150m sprints.

All was going pretty well until on sprint 7, I felt a painful pop in my calf.

So it was 7x150m, and hopefully it will feel better enough by next Friday to make it 8.

Math is hard, Barbie!

2012-01-12T05:43:00.000-08:00

I have a degree in Materials Science and Engineering. I was a mathelete in high school. I've taken 400-level math classes in differential equations.

And yet, I can never properly add up the weight on a bar.

Today's workout:

A: Deadlift – 6 @ 65%; 5 @ 70%, 5 @ 75%, 2 x 3 @ 80%

I thought I maxed out at 143#, but I started with 83# and added 20# on each set. Which means that my max was 163#, which beats my former 1-rep max by 10#.

6 x 83
5 x 103
5 x 123
3 x 143
3 x 163

B: 3 rounds for time:
15 45#/35# Overhead Lunges each side
15 Toes to Bar

7:09 with a 10# plate and hanging knee raises.

Paleo Inspiration

2012-01-11T05:55:00.000-08:00

CrossfitNYC is doing a 30 days of Paleo thing, and I'm going along for the ride. I love cooking Paleo in the winter because of all the yummy slow cooked meats I can make (stay tuned for braised pork belly on Monday), and I think I'll like it in the summer because of fresh salads and grilled fish.

I wanted to post a recipe today, but what I had for dinner last night doesn't really require a recipe: sea scallops wrapped in bacon, salad with olive oil and vinegar and roast sweet potato slices. The main trick with the sea scallops is to cook the bacon first, because it takes much more time to cook than the sea scallops.

It's not that hard for me to stay Paleo, but it is hard for me to cut out some of the Paleo treats to get lean. I don't like feeling hungry and deprived, and I don't enjoy limiting my fruit intake. But I'm trying. Today I brought sweet potatoes with cinnamon to have a few bites of after lunch rather than my customary fruit. We'll see how that works.

I also struggle to find the motivation to get really lean. My goals for any diet and exercise program are:

1. Feel good
2. Get stronger/better/more skilled (which is a big component of #1)
3. Be healthy

and as a distant 4th, look good.

I already look pretty good, and I can only make so many positive changes to my body through diet and exercise. I am tall, extremely pale, and have an athletic (not skinny) build, and pretty happy about that. Any changes I can make to that through diet and exercise are going to be fairly minimal.

Sometimes Paleo feels a little limiting, sometimes I don't want meat + veg for a meal, but there are a lot of great inspirations online whenever I feel stuck. Some of my favorites:

Mark's Daily Apple -- Mark Sisson is the man behind Primal eating, which is similar to Paleo, and actually closer to what I do. Primal also allows high fat dairy for people who tolerate it, and encourages more organ meats. Mark does some recipes but actually talks more about the whole Primal lifestyle.

Civilized Caveman -- lots of recipes

Health-Bent -- these guys also have amazing recipes and share my love for slow cooked meats. Try their molasses coffee ribs. I made truly embarrassing noises the first time I made them.

Life as a Plate -- I'm a huge fan of this blogger. She's a friend of a friend who has had real life success with Paleo eating and Crossfit. She's lost weight, gained muscle, looks amazing, and manages to raise kids and keep up this great-looking blog.

NutsOnline.com -- this is a great source for all things nutty. They have a nice selection of nut flours, and a huge variety of whole nuts. Their site and brand has a fun, casual, family feel and whenever I order something in New York, it shows up the next day.

Big Lifts

2012-01-10T05:44:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day since I got back from Sri Lanka that I actually slept until my alarm. \o/ Woke up at 5:00am then fell back asleep until 6:10am.

I probably should have taken a rest day today, but I really wanted to do the big lifts on tap at CrossfitNYC.

Jerk – 5 x 3 @ 75%
Back squat – 6 @ 65%, 6 @ 70%, 6 @ 75%, 2 x 5 @ 80%

For the Jerk we did a Press Jerk, and I did:

55-65-75-75-failed on 85

The Back Squat was a little disappointing because my previous 5-rep max was 113, but . . .

75-85-95-105-105

105 was hard and I didn't feel like I could go higher.

Definitely a rest day tomorrow. I've been on for 3 days straight, which I don't do that often even when I'm not jet lagged. And tomorrow has a max height box jump, which after a week where I hit myself in the chin with a PVC and dropped a bar on my leg, I'm not eager to see how I can injure myself doing box jumps.

Ow

2012-01-09T05:55:00.001-08:00

Still trying and failing to recover from jet lag.

Sunday was good:

Clean & jerk: 3 @ 70%, 2 @ 75%, 2 x 1 @80%, 1 @ 75%, 1 @ 80%
Snatch shrug: 5 x 8 @ 105% (of snatch)

I did 63-73-83-73-83 for the C&J and 93# for the snatch shrug.

Today was painful.

A: Snatch balance – 2 x 3 @ 65%, 3 @ 70%, 2 x 3 @ 75%

B: 20-15-10-5 reps for time:
Pullups
95#/65# Push Press

A: had trouble with 45#, went to 33# and was okay, then fell over doing 43# and dropped it on my shin. Which is still painful an hour later. I'm feeling like I want to get confident on an overhead squat before doing much with the snatch balance.

B: Gray band for pullups, 43# for press, 9:04

How to De-Stank Vibrams

2012-01-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

I got back from an amazing 17-day trip to India and Sri Lanka on Thursday night, and on Friday, went to my first Crossfit class in 17 days. It wasn't a terribly hard workout, but it was very hard for me, because being extremely jet lagged, and having not eaten right during that time, I got dizzy very quickly.

Still, good to be back to Crossfitting!

A: 3-position Snatch – 2 @ 65%, 3 @ 70%

Did this second, and didn't adhere to the rep scheme very much, but I did feel much more comfortable with the snatch at 33# and 43# when we were done, so that's good. If I really *think* about the shrug and pulling the bar close to my body, the rest flows. I'm glad there's more snatching on tap this week. I love these Olympic lifts, because when they work, they feel magical.

B: Three rounds for time of:
30 Wallball Shots (20#/14#)
20 GHD Sit-ups

Did this with a 10# ball and toes to bar rather than GHD situps. Or in my case, raising my knees above parallel which is as close as I get to TTBs. 10:20. I wasn't going all out, just trying to get back in the swing of things.

The wallballs actually felt pretty decent. Maybe there's a chance for me not to hate them.

***

I pack very lightly when I travel. Checking baggage sucks, and you can always get laundry done, so the only pair of shoes I brought to India and Sri Lanka was a pair of Vibram Five Fingers.

They were great. I could walk everywhere, scramble over rocks, or walk down the street. They helped a foot problem I've been having, plus the locals thought they were the craziest thing they'd ever seen. Even more crazy than me being a pale, six-foot-tall red head, and they thought that was pretty crazy.

But by the end of the trip, they were STANK. Here's a little bit of how they got so nasty:

Riding an elephant.

Floating down a river in Sri Lanka.

Oh yeah, and leaving them wet in my bag for 24 hours. They were so nasty I gave them a cursory washing in the lounge in London on the way home, but they still needed a lot of work.

Thankfully, de-stanking them wasn't so hard:

Step 1: Soak in hot water with plenty of dish soap for a couple hours
Step 2: Rinse
Step 3: Soak with about 1/2 cup of baking soda for 1/2 hour
Step 4: Rinse
Step 5: Let dry

Now they smell perfectly inoffensive, just in time for me to re-stank them at the box all over again.

Happy Hannukah

2011-12-20T06:03:00.000-08:00

Well! That was violently awful!

“Judah Maccabee”
8 Rounds of 8 Reps of:
Hang Power Clean (95/65#)
Front Squat (95/65#)
Push Press (95/65#)
Burpees
Pull-ups
Dips
Box Jumps (20″)
Sit-ups

I started with 43# and quickly went to 33#, although it wasn't the weight that was the problem, it was my aerobic capacity. I did 12" box jumps, parallette dips and gray banded pull ups.

We were allowed to scale it to 6 rounds. In the middle of 6, I started to feel super dizzy and pukey. I got through 6 with a bunch of rest, and did 7, and then it was over 40 minutes and time to clean up, so my time for 7 rounds was 41:26.

On the one hand, I'm bummed I didn't make it to 8 rounds. On the other hand, I desperately wanted to quit (also puke and cry) after 6 rounds, and I made it to 7. Win/Lose.

Technical Challenges

2011-12-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, we did "Amanda":

Black Box:
9-, 7-, 5-reps of:
Muscle-Ups (Sub 2-for-1 Muscle-Up Progressions)
Squat Snatches at 95#/65#

Subbing 2 gray banded pullups and 2 box dips for every muscle up, and doing 33# Squat Snatches, I got 10:07. It felt like good scaling. The pullups felt great. The first 10 were easy, then it got hard, but I never fell below 3 at a time. I don't think I'll have to do jumping pullups in a workout again. 33# was the right weight to practice squats, since that is such a technical move. It is really hard for me to coordinate all the parts of it at once.

Did yoga on Sunday, about which the less said, the better. It was the weirdest yoga class I've ever been to, and that includes Kundalini,

Took today off because of stomach issues, and some joint pain.

I'm trying to figure out what I'll do for fitness while I'm traveling for the next few weeks in South Asia. I hope the jump rope I ordered comes in time, and there are a lot of travel WODs I can do. I will probably take the first week off, though, and let my body recover from this last two month push. I pretty much haven't had a day without pain since I started Crossfit. I'm not complaining, mind--I like muscle pain. But it's probably a good idea to unstress my body for a little bit.

Death by Thrusters

2011-12-16T05:54:00.000-08:00

We did a bunch of fun warm ups today. Row 500 meters--I was under a 2:00 pace for almost the whole time. Then lots of mobility, including cartwheels. I'm sure I looked like a derp, but it was really fun.

“Death by Thruster”
With a 95#/65# barbell, do one thruster on the first minute, two on the second minute, etc.

Did 43#, 10# heavier than the last time I did Fran. Got to 9 rounds plus 9 more. Really 9.5.

Then did 20 pullups, in sets of 3, on the green band plus the blue band. I'm definitely getting stronger at these. New resolution: work the pull-ups every time I'm in the box.

200 Air Squats

2011-12-14T05:53:00.001-08:00

Was originally planning on running today, but now my feet are killing me along with the sore hip flexors. My body is just a barrel of laughs right now.

A: Overhead squat 3-3-3-3-3 @ 80% of your 1 rep max

43-53-43-43-43

My shoulders do not like this one, but I bet if I get good at it, it will be great for them because it requires so much stabilization.

B: For time:
80 squats
95#/65# Push press, 10 reps
60 squats
95#/65# Push press, 20 reps
40 squats
95#/65# Push press, 30 reps
20 squats

Used 33# and did it in 12:16. I bet I could have gone faster on this one. I was scared that my legs would give out entirely, but I banged out that last 20 leik whoa.

Deadlift PR

2011-12-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

A: Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1 @ 85% of your 1 rep max

83-103-123-143-153-153

153 is a PR. Bodyweight, I can see you from here.

B: “Hari”
Complete the following for time:
21 L-pull-ups
100 double-unders
15 L-pull-ups
50 double-unders
9 L-pull-ups
25 double-unders

Subbed 60-30-10 parallette jumps for the double-unders. Used the black band for pullups, which meant I went to failure a few times. 10:10

My right hip flexor is really hurting today, I think from the squats yesterday, so I may take tomorrow off, since I want to run Wednesday and running with a messed up hip flexor is not a good plan.

Better than a poke in the eye

2011-12-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

A: Dumbbell rows 5-5-5

16x5-25x5-25x5-36x5-36x5-36x5-36x5

That's in each hand. At 36 I had to switch to doing one armed, leaning on a box, not two at a time.

B: “Just Nine Minutes”
With a 95#/65# barbell, complete three sets for max reps of:
60 seconds of Hang Power Cleans (elbows must come all the way around and hips must open fully at the top for rep to count)
60 seconds of Front Squats
60 seconds of Push Presses
60 seconds of rest

I did a total of 115 movements with 43#.

That breaks down to

HPC: 20-14-13
FS: 15-11-11
PP: 11-10-10

And I hit myself in the head with the bar on the first round of Push Presses. That'll teach me to tuck my chin back.

This afternoon I'm doing some cooking:

* Frittata for the week: leftover smoked pork rib meat, red onion, broccoli, sundried tomatoes, fresh rosemary and thyme

For dinner tonight:
* Cornish game hen with sweet potatoes and red onions
* Steamed artichoke
* Brussels sprouts en papilliote with bacon
* Paleo cranberry upside down cake

I'll post the cake recipe if it comes out well. The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

I've been having trouble making myself want to stay Paleo right now, so I'm indulging a bit with Paleo treats. It will be easier to be leaner in the New Year, when everyone else is into self-denial. And easier still in the spring when warm weather makes me want to eat fresh, raw things all the time.

Luuuuuuuuuunges

2011-12-09T05:47:00.001-08:00

A: Snatch 1-1-1-1-1 @ 85% of your 1 rep max

It all hangs on the form. I did 33-43-failed on 48-33x3-43-43-48-48. This is a fun movement.

B: 5 rounds for time:
100 foot walking lunge
10 handstand push-ups

How do people lunge fast? My legs didn't want to move on this one. 12:46 with 3 wall walks subbed in for the handstand push-ups.

I feel totally inept at wall walks, and feel like I'm cheating when I get into the position and can't move. And then my feet kept slipping down the wall.

I'll do plenty of lunges when I'm on vacation in India.

Running in the Rain

2011-12-07T06:11:00.000-08:00

Went to the NYC Endurance running class with Lisa this morning at 6:30 and we ran in the rain and dark of Madison Square Park.

I'd like to do the Sparta Sprint in Tuxedo, NY in June. At that point I will have been doing Crossfit for a little over 6 months. It will be a good test of everything I've been learning.

I also want to do this because I used to love running, the longer the better. I could run a ten minute mile once, or eight times in a row, long and slow and steady. And I buy the Born to Run argument for persistence hunting. It makes sense.

I get the case against cardio but I've always been built for distance. I was a distance swimmer, I loved distance running. I don't want to get up to that mileage again--for one thing, I don't have the time--but I'd like to take advantage of one of my strengths, when I feel like I have so many weaknesses.

Things I like, am good at, and/or have natural aptitude for	Things That Need Work
Getting up early to work out
Endurance	Speed
Rowing	Running
Sit ups	Toes to bar
Dips	Pull-ups
Kettlebell swings	Pushups
Clean and jerks	Squat cleans
Deadlifts	Lunges
Back squats	Front squats
	Thrusters
	Presses
	Wall balls
	Box jumps
	Hand stand anything
	L-sits
	Pistols
	etc.

Today's workout involved some form drills and then 10 x 30 second sprints, with 2 minutes rest. Harder than it sounds. Like many things, it was more fun to do with company. I definitely push myself harder with other people around.

Bleah

2011-12-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

Ugh, I stayed out too late and drank too much last night and totally suffered for it today. There is no reason why the Squat Cleans should have been so hard, except for the drinking, the not sleeping, and the fact that I am not confident in my front rack position.

A. Plank holds

I need to drop my butt a little.

B. “Chunky Style” (Compare to 110921.)

As Many Rounds As Possible in 12 Minutes of:
10 95#/65# Squat Cleans (Post Elements: 75#/53#)
10 Ring Dips (Post Elements: Bar Dips)

Started with 53#, went to 33#, because I couldn't clean the 53, which must be because of the drinking, because I was happy doing Grace with 53#. Did parallette dips which are way too easy.

Did 5 rounds even, with a break for instruction because my form was shitty. Bleah. I'm trying not to let the fact that I'm angry at myself ruin my day.

Lessons Learned: don't have anything to drink after 5pm if you're going to work out before noon the next day. Don't have more than one drink after 5pm if you're going to workout after noon the next day. Practice front squats as often as possible. We often warm up with PVC overhead squats. Maybe I'll warm up with 33# front squats.

I like Situps

2011-12-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today's workout:

A. Three Rounds
10 Jane Fondas
Rest 60″
5 Deadlifts @ 85% of your 1 rep max
Rest 60″

5 x 83#
5 x 103#
5 x 123#
5 x 123#
5 x 128#
5 x 128#

Making some progress here, although it seems weird that my 5x deadlift is so close to my 5x back squat.

B. For time:
25 Sit-ups
1 Muscle-up
20 Sit-ups
2 Muscle-ups
15 Sit-ups
3 Muscle-ups
10 Sit-ups
4 Muscle-ups
5 Sit-ups
5 Muscle-ups

6:38 subbing 2 black-band pullups and 2 box dips for each Muscle Up. That also felt good, because I like sit-ups and I'm very fast at box dips. I still need to find something harder that I can do for dips. I can only do one or two bar dips, so it's not a good sub in a WOD, and banded ring dips are just as hard. Maybe banded dips between boxes? That would be a hard station to set up.

My pull-ups got pretty sucky at the end of ten.

This is the first time I've been faster (or at least noticed myself being faster) than anyone with the same scaling as me. Sweet.

Probably a rest tomorrow. Although I really want to go in and do the front squats on tap for Monday, I've gone the last 3 days.

Body Comp

2011-12-04T05:16:00.000-08:00

Huh, well it looks like I've gained weight since starting Crossfit and Paleo about a month ago. Just a little, but the scale's never said 178.8 before. I'm not sure I like that. The way my jeans have been feeling, it's all in the thighs.

I'm doing this to get stronger and faster, and also hopefully look better, not to get my weight down--I know how much more muscle weighs than fat, but . . . wah, I don't want to see the north side of 180. I've never been there.

I'm gonna take stock so I can at least track the changes. And after I get back from India in January, I may further restrict my Paleo diet. I eat a ton of fruit right now, and a certain amount of dairy, chocolate, honey, agave syrup, alcohol, and starchy vegetables. It's made the transition easier, but has not helped with any weight loss.

Height: 5' 11.5"
Weight: 178.8 lbs
Thigh circumference (standing, widest part): 24"
Hips: 41.5"
Waist: 31.5"
Bust: 40"
Upper arm, btw. delt and tricep: 12"

I'll do this again when I get back in January, and then again after a month of eating clean. (Hahah, just thinking about restricting makes me hungry. Shut up, stomach.)

Yesterday's workout:

A. Three Rounds:
5 Press @ 85%
Rest 60″
5 Wall Slides
Rest 60″

I did:
5 x 33#
5 x 43#
5 x 53#
5 x 58#
5 x 58#

That last rep got very close to failure, so I feel like I did that one right.

B. 7 Rounds for time:
7 OH Lunges Each Side, 45# Plate
7 Burpees

Ugh, I was not good at this, and I don't think I put in quite enough effort. I did it with a 10# plate, which was plenty heavy, and finished in 11:58.

Skills

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Today was a pretty easy workout day, and yesterday I rested, so I am starting not to hurt. My calves have been killing me all week from Eva on Sunday and then a bunch of jumping WODs early in the week.

A. 5 Rounds:
5 Barbell Rows
Thoracic Mobility (Ball or Roller)

Tried with 73lbs, but 53 allowed me to keep my form right.

B. Find 1 rep max on Clean Drop

Got up to 73. I didn't get out a rack to try to get higher, and 73 was enough that I was having trouble cleaning it.

These are good skills to learn, and I'm sure my body could use the break. After a rest day, I actually slept well last night for the first time in ages, and I was nice and hungry yesterday, which I haven't been that much lately.

Secretly Awesome

2011-11-29T13:37:00.001-08:00

One of the coolest aspects of trying new things is finding out what you're secretly awesome at. Because I'm super flexible, I think I have the opportunity to become awesome at squats. Because I'm tall, I may soon be not-so-secretly awesome at rowing. Or maybe secretly awesome is the wrong term--maybe it's just secretly capable, learning that some days you can lift ten more pounds than you thought you could.

You know what I am not awesome at, secretly or otherwise? Jumping.

Today's workout:

A. Bulgarian split squat 5-5-5

I did bodyweight twice, then added 10 lbs. It takes some balance, and my quads were killing me after yesterday's squats.

B.Seven rounds of  35 Double-unders,  1 Snatch
One snatch attempt per round. Post time and total of all successful snatches to comments. Do not count missed reps.

Those of us who can't do double-unders were doing parallette jumps. Some of us, namely me, couldn't even do parallette jumps after the first round. So I had to jump over my bar. Slowly. I should do every jumping WOD for the rest of time, or at least until I get some height and speed.

Snatched with 43#, missed the second snatch. 12:10, 248 total lbs snatched.

After feeling strong and badass yesterday, today I feel weak and slow. Tomorrow I'm definitely resting. This is the first week I'm trying to do 2 days on, 1 day off, so even though I would like to Tabata Something Else with everyone, tomorrow I will Tabata Nothing.

***

Inspired by Fit and Feminist and Man Bicep, a list of things I think are important for developing a healthy lifestyle:

1. Get your head straight. It's a paradox, but it is easiest to improve at anything when you accept yourself. In fact, it's hard to make any meaningful changes without taking stock of where you are, accepting it, not blaming yourself for it. You can plan realistic steps to improve only when you know where you are right now, the good and the bad. This is a hard one for everyone, and definitely very hard for me. Hating yourself and beating yourself up may make for small gains for a little while, but not lasting ones that feel right, and probably not gains that you will enjoy. It might even be that you have to spend some time just learning to accept yourself rather than trying to make fitness or health gains. That's okay. Those gains will still be available to you when you're ready.

A part of that is accepting the path you took to get here. You can't do anything about it, so you might as well. Everything you did, even if it was eating an entire cake last night, or years of binge eating, not exercising, were things you did because they seemed like the best choice to you at the time. Forgive yourself, accept that you were doing the best you could, and look for ways to do even better.

My most recent fitness journey started 3 years ago with realizing I was depressed, and trying to find ways to deal with it. One way that was yoga. I beat myself up when I couldn't get into certain positions. When I started I could barely hold downward facing dog for 2 breaths.

Now after 3 years of yoga and the acceptance that teaches, I'm doing Crossfit, and loving the challenges rather than hating myself for not being able to do everything perfectly. Three years of yoga helped me get here. It's possible yoga is no longer right for me, but it's not that it was wrong ever to do it.

2. Find healthy things to do that you love and can do regularly. Figure what motivates you, and make sure you give yourself whatever it is. This takes a lot of self-knowledge and observation. I ran a lot in my 20s, trying to lose weight and get in shape to run even longer distances. I had a lot of body-hate but I would sometimes feel this burst of amazing self-worth when I realized how far I could run. For a moment I would care less about what my body looked like, and instead be thrilled that I could run 8 miles in a row. That was how I learned that my abilities motivated me more positively than my looks. Because it was something I could measure.

I also know that I need goals, and need to be trying to "level up" from where I am to be happy. That desire led me to Ashtanga and now to Crossfit. (Although leveling up is what motivates me, it doesn't motivate everyone. My mom has had a very similar exercise routine for the last 20 years. I don't think she has particular goals besides sweating and feeling good, but it works for her. The best exercise program is one you can stick to, even if it's not the very best by some objective measure. Do I think she should do some more weight training for her bone-density? Yes. But she needs to do what works for her.)

You may find new sources of motivation along the way. I never thought community was something that motivated me (introverted loners unite!) but I love the community at Crossfit, and now that's a huge motivation--getting to see and interact with the awesome folks at CrossfitNYC whenever I go to class.

3. Get up again. I love baseball, and I think one of the best lessons it has for life is that you can fail a lot and still be successful. Even the best baseball players "fail" 70% of the time when they're at bat. It's important to learn from failure, not to get rattled by it, and to try again, as soon as possible. You learn more from failing than succeeding. In fact, Nerd Fitness likes to remind us to fail often. If you're not failing often, you're not growing.

4. Get educated and then experiment on yourself. I'm with Man Bicep on this. Read, experiment and do what feels right. Most recently I learned about Paleo and Weight-lifting and learned that eating big, the way I like to eat, was actually the most healthy. I think the healthy choices also feel right. Not that I don't sometimes want (and have!) some fresh baked bread or steaming pasta, but I can tell that it is not the most healthy choice for me because it doesn't feel as right for my body as eating Paleo. This is the first time I've changed my diet that's felt like that. I think our bodies know what they need, and if we're in the right head-space to give it them, they will reward us. The best part of Paleo for me is for the first time in my adulthood, I don't want a glass of wine to wind down at the end of the day. I can have one, and it's nice, but I don't feel like it's necessary. That's what feeling right feels like to me.

5. Add before you subtract. I hate feeling deprived (it feels like punishment, which contradicts #1 for me), so calorie-cutting diets have never worked for me. Adding healthy foods to my diet that make me want less healthy foods works for me. When I add exercise I love to my life, I have less time and energy for the things that matter less, and so they go away. Add things you love to your life, and make time for them by cutting out the things that you love less.

Squat Heaven

2011-11-29T05:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I barely slept at all last night, but I feel better after a good workout.

A. Back squat 5-5-5 at 85% of your 1 rep max

B. 3 Rounds for time of the following:
10 Weighted jump squats at approximately 25% of your 1 rep max on the back squat
25 kettlebell swings, 24kg/16kg
[Add five burpees at the end for each time you break the KB swing sets]

For A, I got:

5 x 53
5 x 73
5 x 93
5 x 103
5 x 113

That last was definitely a PR. I'm thrilled that I got that. I don't know what my 1-rep max is for back squats, but I want to find out soon. I bet I can make body weight on back squats pretty soon.

I did B with 33# bar and 12kg kettlebell. The 12kg kettlebell was hard during Eva on Sunday, and it was hard here. I got 5:49, including 5 burpees at the end because my last round had a break. I am not a naturally fast person. Completion, and not taking breaks is the first goal, but after that I need to work on my speed. Hopefully the jumping squats will help with my box jumps.

Eva, You Magnificent Wench

2011-11-27T09:29:00.000-08:00

After a couple workouts of feeling like I didn't scale appropriately, made it too easy for myself, I think I scaled Eva perfectly.

I did 3 rounds rather than 5, of:

800m run
30 12-kg KB swings
30 jumping pullups

34:00

It was very hard, but I succeeded in my personal goal, which was to run the whole way, and even when it was the slowest of trots, I never walked. I had a good high a couple minutes after finishing. I came close to puking but never quite got there. I love kettlebell swings. I did these in sets of 19-11, 16-14 and 12-9-9. Pullups I broke down to 5 rounds of 6. All in all, good scaling, hard effort, I'm sure my traps will be sore tomorrow.

I'll keep my sweet Eva at 3 rounds until I can do that in under 30 minutes, then add a 4th.

I still suck at running WODs, but each time I do one, it gets a little easier to keep running.

Fight Gone Ithaca

2011-11-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

Quick update before I go to Crossfit this morning and get my ass kicked by Eva.

I visited Ithaca for Thanksgiving, and on Friday my sister and I did Fight Gone Bad. I never did it before, so I may have gone too easy on the scaling. She did the SDLHP and Presses with 53#, I did 37#. She did Wall Balls with #14, I did with #10.

My totals were:
Row: 18-15-14
Wall Ball: 13-9-8
SDLHP: 17-16-13
20" Box Jump (Step): 18-17-19
Push Press: 14-14-15
Totals: 80-71-69
Grand Total: 220

It was hard enough, but I wasn't sore the next day. Lessons learned:
* I am getting stronger and it's time to step it up
* I need to get my 20" box jump. I've never done box jumps in a WOD before, and didn't really this time. I would like to do that. Right now I'm only comfortable with 12" box jumps.
* Next time I do Karen, I'll use at least a 10# ball. Next time I do other kinds of Wall Balls, less than 150, I'll use a 14#.
* I need to practice SDLHPs. I've never done them before and my form was for crap.

I liked FGB much more than Karen, because no matter how much you're suffering with a given exercise, it will be over quickly.

That was decidedly non-badass

2011-11-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

Today's frittata is smoked salmon, capers, onions, dill and roasted garlic. My office loooooooooooves me.

When I woke up this morning and looked at today's workout, I almost decided to go to yoga instead, especially after seeing that tomorrow's contains even more squats.

A. Find your one-rep max on the weighted pull-up

B. “Karen”

For time:
150 Wallball shots, 20#/14# ball

My one-rep max is somewhere between the black and green bands over my foot. With the black I can do 3. With the green I can do 0. With any other combination of bands it is either 0 or more than 1.

I did Karen with a 6# ball in 12:00. I was going to do it with 14#, but then a 6# was left sitting there. A 10# probably would have been best. I wanted to go light so I could make sure my form was dialed in before my sister and I do Fight Gone Bad together on the Friday after Thanksgiving. And it was decent--I got full range of motion squats the whole way, although eventually I couldn't hold the ball up in front of my face.

I'm disappointed in myself because I know I could have worked harder. I could have pushed it more. I was embarrassed when people came over to cheer me because I didn't merit it. Next time I won't pace myself so much in the beginning, because I don't think it helped me at the end.

Bleah. I guess the only thing to do is work harder tomorrow.

Links of interest:
* While I generally wouldn't want OJ for breakfast because (a) don't want the sugar rush and (b) it barely resembles real orange juice when it gets to you unless it is freshly squeezed that moment, I am definitely down with the sentiment: Eat what tastes good: Broccoli doesn't lose its nutrients just because you put butter on it.
* Life As A Plate is a Paleo/Crossfit blogger that a friend introduced me to. She's got a good looking recipe for Paleo Roasted Garlic Zucchini Hummus for your non-legume hummus needs.

Chicken Paprikash + I love C&Js

2011-11-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

This morning's workout was:

Three rounds for time of:
10 Muscle-ups
135#/95# Clean and Jerk, 15 reps

I subbed 10 jumping pull ups and 10 box dips for the muscle-ups. I need to find some good dip progressions. Box dips aren't quite hard enough. Maybe banded.

And Clean and Jerks! I did them with my Grace weight: 53#. I loved those even when I was doing them badly, but this time I watched some people and figured out how to get the bar from floor to shoulders in one movement. Damn, that felt awesome. I can't wait to do Grace again with more weight.

Time for the workout was 11:49, working in with a partner

I did three back bends afterward, since all my Crossfit is making those suffer. They felt really good and very deep since my muscles were so warm.

***

My current favorite smoothie is:

1 frozen banana
a scattering of frozen wild blueberries
1 T almond butter
enough Raw Cashew Milk to make it blend

The wild blueberries are so much better than regular frozen

***

One of my favorite recipes growing up was Chicken Paprikash from a Betty Crocker International cookbook my mom had. I don't have that recipe, but I make a similar one from Soups and Stews by America's Test Kitchen. Today I made a Paleo version.

Chicken Paprikash
3 lbs chicken leg parts (drumsticks and thighs)
fat of choice
1 large onion, halved and sliced thin
1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 large green bell pepper, cut into strips
4 tablespoons paprika (it's great if 1-2 of these is smoked paprika, but all smoked paprika will be overwhelming)
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon arrowroot, coconut or chestnut flour (or regular flour if you are not paleo)
14-28 oz canned tomatoes, diced, or if you're lazy like me, squeezed to a pulp in your fingers, plus juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup sour cream (or leave out if going dairy-free)

Heat up your fat of choice in a large dutch oven or chef's pan. Brown all the chicken parts, in batches if need be. Set aside. Saute the onion until softened. Add green and red peppers and cook until onion is browned. Stir in spices and flour, cook for a minute or so until fragrant. Add the wine and mix in. Add the tomatoes, chicken and any juices that have leaked out of the chicken. Cover and simmer all together for a minimum of 30 minutes, and up to 1.5 hours. (I like the chicken falling off the bone.) Add salt to taste. You can add more water or some chicken stock if it doesn't seem soupy enough. The chicken pieces should be just barely covered.

Optional: Take 1/4 cup of sauce and mix in sour cream, then put the mixture back into the Chicken Paprikash and stir to combine. Serve over starch of choice--dumplings below recommended!

Dumplings
1 cup flour (use 1/4 cup chestnut or coconut flour plus 3/4 cup almond flour if making Paleo, or skip dumplings)
2 eggs
pinch salt
water

Add flour, eggs and salt to a mixing bowl. Whisk until combined. Add water until the dough's consistency is like a thick pancake batter and will drip off a mixing spoon in big glops. (That's a technical term.)

Here is a picture of the texture for reference:

Bring a big pot of water to boil. Drip big glops of the dough into the water, making sure not to glop them on top of each other. When they rise to the surface, let them cook for 3-4 minutes more, then scoop them out of the water. Repeat until all the dough is gone.

Serve the Paprikash over the dumplings.

The limits of evangelism

2011-11-19T11:37:00.001-08:00

Well, I got my husband to do the beginners Crossfit workout at The Black Box today. Someday he might forgive me. Today is not that day.

I also hated my first workout, all of 6 weeks ago, although that wasn't because of the intensity. It was a team workout, with one person jumping rope, one person doing kettlebell swings, and one person doing burpees. And I sucked at jumping rope. I still suck at jumping rope, but sometimes I can get up to 30 jumps in a row. Not that morning. That morning I couldn't jump at all, and that made my teammates have to do more of their motions, and I almost broke down crying with frustration. I was never going to do Crossfit again.

That night I signed up for the Elements class, although I still haven't done a team workout since then. The idea of letting down a team I'm on is still . . . challenging.

Apparently this has been a deloading week, which is why the workouts have been a little easier. It was a 2000 meter row for time today. I've never done a timed row, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It really is all in the leg explosiveness, huh? I did 8:48. Started out with a 2:05 pace, which crept up to 2:20 during the 3rd 500, but I got it back down to 2:10 during the last 500. Better next time!

We also did a ton of mobility and stretching work, which I kind of like because 2 years of yoga have made me very good at it, but mostly it's not doing that much for me because I am so flexible. I couldn't even feel some of the stretches. I need to get stronger much more than I need this.

Did some banded pullups. With the biggest band around my foot, I did 10-6-6-6. Maybe I can do Cindy banded next time.

Tonight I'm making Smashed Plantains, Pulled Pork Spareribs with Coffee Molasses BBQ sauce and some Roasted Broccoli.

Some interesting links:

A team of Crossfitters are going to row across the Arctic Ocean and are looking for a 4th
Crossfit Jewelry! Who doesn't want a kettlebell charm necklace?

Sweet Potato Hash

2011-11-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

I am super impressed with CrossfitNYC for posting this link today: http://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/it-gets-better/ about fat children and bullying. Crossfit can be a fat-phobic place, and I really appreciated that.

***

I did Ashtanga this morning for the first time in a week. A head cold, combined with a drink last night, combined with too much time off and I felt very sluggish and earthbound.

***

I made Smoked Salmon Hash last night, which is not precisely Paleo, but is very tasty and very fast. It is adapted from a recipe in Restaurant Favorites by America's Test Kitchen, the main adaptation being more smoked salmon per person, and using sweet potato rather than regular potato. And the potato preparation is a little different too.

If you can find them, smoked salmon "tips" are often less expensive than buying whole, sliced smoked salmon, and since this is going to be in chunks anyway, there's no reason to pay more.

Per person:

1/2-3/4 cup cooked sweet potato
3-4oz smoked salmon, sliced
A tablespoons of each of the following: red onion, capers, grainy mustard, horseradish, sour cream
Butter

Mix everything except the sweet potato and butter together in a bowl. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a frying pan. Make a cake of the sweet potato and cook until it is nice and brown on one side. You can brown the other side, but I'm usually pretty impatient at this point. Break up the cake, add the smoked salmon mixture, and mix over the heat until the salmon is heated through. Put on a plate and eat. NOM.

You could use a different fat and leave out the sour cream if you wanted it dairy free. A dash of coconut milk could probably substitute as well.

Exploit the Raw

2011-11-16T14:07:00.001-08:00

Today's WOD:

A.
Press 5-5-5 @ 70% of 1 rep max. My one rep max is 68.
I did:
5x45
5x55
1x65
5x55

B.
Max distance handstand walk (or handstand progressions as needed)
Max time L-sit (or L-sit progressions as needed)

We actually did some open gym time. I practiced handstands, but my right shoulder started to give out and I decided not to push it. Then I did some pullup practice. Then some L-sit practice. Nothing to write home about. I kinda wish I'd done a Metcon to help me kick this cold.

***

Raw food vegans and Paleo eaters don't have much in common, right?

Not so! Raw foodies stay far away from grains and legumes since they have to be cooked. Plenty of raw recipes, except those containing sprouted grains, are Paleo friendly and a great way to add more fruits, vegetables and nuts in interesting combinations to your diet.

As a Paleo eater, raw food vegans are probably not going to be big fans of you, but that doesn't mean you can't steal some of their awesome recipes to make your dietary life a little more interesting.

Here is a recipe for Nori rolls with vegetables and Cashew butter from Choosing Raw, just to showcase one.

I've done a couple raw food "cleanses" from Organic Avenue, and they've made me feel amazing, probably because I was eating so little grain. I didn't have as much energy as I do on Paleo, but I discovered some great things like Kale, Dandelion and Hemp Cream Salad, Chia Seed Pudding, and all kinds of amazing fruit and nut smoothies.

A raw recipe I learned that I use often is often is raw cashew milk. It's great in smoothies, is the best "milk" for frittatas (even better than half and half), good in soups, and isn't even half bad in coffee.

Soak 1/2 cup raw cashews in water for 1-2 hours
Drain and blend (in your Vitamix) with 2 cups of water,
Some salt and
A drop of agave syrup or Stevia to taste

Must be used within 3 days or it will get NASTY.

Raw recipes are best in cooler months, so look forward to those when the weather warms up again. For now I will be concentrating more on big bone-in roasts and braises.

Walking like an old lady

2011-11-16T05:20:00.000-08:00

Oh air squats, the perfect prescription to make you walk like an old (non-Crossfitting) person. I never walk slower than when I walk home after doing air squats. Or in this case:

10 rounds of:
1 minute, as many rounds as possible, of “Cindy” (i.e., 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats)
1 minute of rest

When resuming the work each time, pick up from where you left off the last time.

I got 9 rounds and 5 pull-ups in. Jumping pull-ups, knee push ups. The rest gave me good practice in recovering from being really out of breath. And it did seem to help kick my cold's ass.

(My mom has this theory that exercise helps get rid of a mild cold because you raise your body temperature, give yourself a mild fever and burn it out. IDK if it has any basis in fact, but I feel better than I did yesterday, so I'll take it.)

***

This morning I went to a physical therapist to get some shoulder exercises, and she gave me some ones that feel like they might help. First order of business: sit up straight at work.

***

Last night I made some breakfast food for the week: Carrot Date Pecan Paleo Muffins and Leek Sausage Frittata. I'll post the muffin recipe once I tweak it a little bit (it came out too salty), but here are MY THOUGHTS on frittatas:

They are so good for using up little bits of leftover vegetables and meat before they go bad. I made a great one last night. I've made, I think, four frittatas now. The base is always the sameish--sauted onions, 8 eggs + 1/4 cup milkish substance.

I've tried coconut milk--too coconut-y. I used 1/2 & 1/2 once because I had some extra for my coffee (I am not 100% off dairy), and it didn't make the frittata lofty enough. My most recent version had homemade cashew milk, which worked the best. Last night I had some left-over sour cream which worked well.

Some frittata fillings: 1 onion, 1 zucchini, several fresh tomatoes, leftover brisket

Or: 1 red onion, leftover cauliflower, sundried tomatoes, lamb breakfast sausage, fresh basil

Or: 5 leeks, lamb breakfast sausage, sun dried tomatoes, basil

Preheat the oven to 350. Saute the non-egg, non-dairy filling ingredients, except any fresh herbs, in plenty of fat, in an oven safe pan. Last night I used the fat that rendered off my weekend short ribs. Add plenty of salt and pepper. Whisk the eggs and milk-like ingredient together. Sprinkle on any fresh herbs. Pour the egg over top and cook on the stove until the edges just start to set, then pop it in the oven for 10-20 minutes, however long it takes until the center is set.

Well I guess this Paleo thing works

2011-11-15T05:22:00.001-08:00

Well, I guess this Paleo thing works. I'm back from a weekend in Savannah for a wedding having drank too much and having made some detours off of Paleo, and not sleeping enough. We got back at 1am last night, and I woke up with a nasty sore throat.

I'm trying to look on the good side of this, which is as education in the ways of Paleo, but right now I'm just annoyed to be feeling like this. We got in too late for me to go to Crossfit in the morning, but I'm going to go this afternoon if I possibly can and see if a nice shot of Metcon will help burn this thing out.

Also dosing with vitamins and hot tea.

This is making me worried about going to India for two and a half weeks over Christmas. I love how Paleo makes me feel, but I think it is making me more sensitive to wheat and alcohol. At least combined with drinking and not enough sleep.

Shoulder Problems

2011-11-11T05:36:00.001-08:00

I've been doing Ashtanga Yoga for two years, which is a very shoulder-intensive workout, and in that time I've injured my shoulder twice. Today while doing Ashtanga, my shoulder felt weak, so I didn't do the full workout or all the chaturangas.

When I started Crossfit, it seemed like it might help my shoulder by making everything stronger, not just the muscles I use to go through the Ashtanga sequence. Right now, though, after doing Fran on Tuesday, it seems like both Ashtanga and Crossfit are conspiring to weaken my shoulder further.

The plan:
1. Totally avoid anything shoulder related for the next three days
2. Scale my Ashtanga sessions to have fewer Chaturangas
3. Scale Crossfit workouts more. I'm going to need to talk to the coaches about alternate exercises sometimes, depending on how my shoulder feels. Maybe ring rows sometimes rather than pull ups.
4. Mobility work with a lacrosse ball
5. Massage/accupuncture

I think it really was the thrusters of Fran that put me over the edge, but the zillions of pull ups and push ups in Crossfit will make recovery go slower.

Sigh. I hate injuries. They always make me feel like I'm crashing back to earth. Being limited by strength is one thing, something I feel like I can get over. Being limited by injury makes me feel much more helpless.

Some fun things from the CrossfitNYC Blog recently:

1. Coach Will doing a 2:50 Fran. Be very impressed.

2. One of the athletes talking about his Crossfit journey on his one year anniversary. Inspirational!

Deadlifts for time?

2011-11-10T06:05:00.000-08:00

Not sure what we're calling today's WOD, since it hasn't been posted at the CrossfitNYC blog yet. Horrors!

3 rounds for time of:
10 Deadlifts (Rx for women was 135, I did 83)
400m run
21 pullups

Time: 17:05

83# turned out to be good for deadlifts. I'm not wild about doing deadlifts for time. I think my form was not good. My back will tell me tomorrow, I'm sure. I managed to run the entire time, did not stop to walk, which was a first. I think I handled the pullups reasonably well. Now I can do about 10 with the biggest band around my knee. So I did those ten and then went to jumping for the rest of the WOD.

Next time I'll set up my pullup station better, so I can start each round with some banded before going to jumping, and at some point I should be able to do 21 banded.

Interesting article I found today: Should we be doing shorter metcons? from Robb Wolf's blog. I'm only crossfitting 3-4 times a week now, trying to avoid my natural tendency to push myself too hard and get injured, but because I go at 7am, sometimes the heavy lifts get cut so we can fit in two heats of the WOD, so maybe I'll try to do more weekend workouts with time for heavy lifting.

Why Ashtanga?

2010-07-25T10:47:00.001-07:00

I found Ashtanga because I wanted a morning class. That is the short version; all the rest is commentary. (Sorry, Hillel!)

I first started trying out yoga classes about a year and a half ago. I was dealing with depression, and thought that maybe the self-accepting, peaceful aspects of yoga could help me. I started by taking classes at my local gym. The teachers were good, but the vinyasa system was too hard for me. I did a lot of aerobic exercise, but not much strength training, and staying in downward facing dog for any length of time was more than my shoulders could take.

Also, I was prone to bursting into tears, especially in heart opening poses like bridge (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana). My arms weren't nearly strong enough for bridge, and that failure upset me. Yoga could push me one of two ways during that time--either it would break through the armor of depression and let out all the painful emotions the depression was hiding or it would frustrate me further.

It was hard, and I didn't want it to be hard. I wanted to be cradled by yoga, the way I had been by some hatha classes in college. I took one gentle yoga class at the now closed East West Yoga, but found it a little too gentle. Then a friend recommended Integral Yoga. Level I Integral Yoga hatha classes are very restoring. Still, after a few of those, I craved the tired relaxation that comes from the end of a vigorous vinyasa class.

I took a beginners' four week class at Joschi Body Bodega, which was wonderful, and began looking for a regular morning class, which is when I found Mysore Ashtanga at the Shala.

I started by trying a led ashtanga class, which was incredibly challenging, although inspirational. I'd never seen so many skilled yoga students doing these difficult poses. I couldn't even do chaturanga, but the teacher said I should check out the Mysore class.

Mysore Ashtanga classes are quiet places. The student shows up and works through the sequence, which is the same every day, until she gets to the last pose she has been taught. The teacher may then give her another pose, or she may go do her finishing poses then, which also get longer as she works longer.

My first day I got through Prasarita Padottanasana. The next few weeks I'd get a new pose every day I went, which slowed to one a week, and now it is perhaps a new pose a month. My latest pose is Bhujapidasana, which is quite difficult enough to last me for a few months.

The sequence is the same every time, and yet it is my favorite yoga class I've ever taken. I like that the sequence is the same. I like that the students work at our own pace, with some instructor assistance, but it feels very independent. I like that I know how well I'm doing, not by the fact that I'm getting another pose, but by how deep I am getting into a posture, how much strength I have. Now I can do chaturanga, and it still gives me joy to have that new strength.

When I took Vinyasa classes, I felt like the sequences varied so much that I couldn't measure my progress. I also felt dependent on the teacher to tell me what to do and lead me through sequences I couldn't construct myself. Now I can travel and do Ashtanga self practice and not lose ground when I return.

People have called Ashtanga the yoga for "Type As", and maybe it is, but I think it frees Type As by giving us a yardstick for acheivement, which is what we want, and then, with that uncertainty removed, lets us work at our own pace. The sameness of it allows me to see my progress and also clearly identify what is blocking my progress.