Hedgehog

To be clear, this is not the Hedgehog off the Kanc that I climbed in October, this is one further South, nearer to Concord.

I went with the Random Group of Hikers, and I have to say that the hike was pretty intense! I thought it was going to be a seven mile hike on a ridge with a small elevation gain. No. We bushwhacked for about 6 miles, and followed a trail for about one. When we bushwhacked, we followed where a trail WILL BE, at some point in the future. Not the same as a current trail!

Before the hike, we did yoga at this farm in NH. It was a beautiful studio, with a wood stove in the yoga room making it warm. The class was pretty good, an hour and 45 minutes (though the first 15 min were a little bit chanty.)

I am exhausted!

Rope climbs

I got to crossfit today and realized that I had brought the wrong pants - I had capris and #1 I haven't shaved my legs in a while and #2 we were doing rope climbs which leads to rope burn on uncovered legs. Now I have some Crossfit sox!

I remember not being able to climb the damn rope in third grade gym class, and I am no better at it now. I learned a new start method that's way better than the other one I had been doing, so now I can start and get a good 2 feet off the ground. So, during the WOD I did that 9 times. In front of a whole bunch of people. Awesome.

We did snatches for the strength. I find these to be hard. We did 3 reps, and I got up to 55 pounds. Which is where a lot of the other people started. But I did feel like I was sort of getting them right at the end.

WOD:
30-20-10
Power snatch (I lifted 35 pounds)
Burpees
Three rope climbs at the end of each set
My time: 17 min, average hb 145

That is a seriously large quantity of burpees. The first round of 30 nearly killed me. I did some of them the right way, jumping back, but more of them stepping back. I was exhausted and my toes were hurting a little. And, of course my rope climbs were just the first step of the rope climb. But I was pretty happy that I learned how to start. Even if there was a high humiliation factor.

Saturday I'm going on a yoga/hiking meet-up in NH. There was one in December when I was sick, and I was so bummed to miss it. Hopefully it will be fun!

I've walked at least 7000 steps every day so far this year! I'm hoping that I will get through the entire month of January with getting 7000+ steps a day.

"At least you're not going to hurt yourself"

All my lifts sort of look the same apparently. One of the instructors told me that we had switched the type of lift we were doing, and I was still doing the last kind. I was like, "Oh, I get a little confused sometimes." To which he replied that my mechanics were fine, and I wasn't doing anything that would hurt me. Well, there's a new standard met!

We started with strict press today, and then moved to push press. I really want to bend my knees and push during the strict presses, it's hard to just lift. I wound up getting up to 55 pounds on the strict press, and 75 on the push. 2 in a row at 55, but just one at 75. I was happy :)

WOD: 8 minutes
5 Clean and Jerk (I did 35 pounds)
10 box jumps (I used the girl sized box, but stepped)
5 rounds plus 4 lifts

WOD 2: 5 minutes
3 hang squat cleans (I did 45 pounds)
6 toes 2 bar (I did knees to chest)
6 rounds

I'm getting the swing action in the toes to bar/pullups and it's kind of fun! I can't combine that with bringing my toes to the bar, or pulling all the way up, but I can swing around like a fish 36 times without too great a problem.

I'm taking a class on Leadership for my doctorate. Because I didn't get enough on that in my MBA. Everyone else in my group wanted to meet Sunday mornings at 9:30, every week. Don't they have lives? It's only 9 weeks, so I can't complain too bitterly, and they all seemed cool and not crazy. But still!

Mt. Roberts

This was my first Real Winter Hike. I did do a couple other hikes in "winter," but this had all the true elements of winter - snow on the ground, temp of 15 degrees, and winds at about 40 mph at the top of the mountain (there's a huge storm on the east coast, blizzard in DC, flakes in Boston, and winds in NH I guess.)  It was totally awesome!

Mt. Roberts is a pretty small mountain, 2583 feet, about a 5 mile hike in total. Given the cold and the wind, we didn't take a ton of breaks, just enough time for the hikers who were slower to catch up (that's right, I was in with the fast crowd!) When we got towards the summit, it was sooo windy, it was really blowing us around. We hit the top, took a half dozen pics, and then turned around and hiked back. That's the one flaw with winter hiking, you can't sit and enjoy the view.

The hike itself was really nice, only a couple of really steep parts, a really pretty pine forest to walk through, some fun exposed ridges that were super windy. I really liked being out in the winter hiking - it's easier with the snow because you don't have to pick your way around all the rocks. Also, it's easier on the knees :)

I wore a ton of layers - my Athleta running tights with the extra wind protection on front, then another pair of Athleta pants. Gore Tex gaiters that I just bought, LL Bean winter hiking boots, thick wool socks, my ninja hoodie, a thin North Face Fleece, a down vest and then my down puff. As I got up higher I added my new wind jacket from Columbia and a turtle fleece for around my neck. Plus my wool hat. And, thick gloves that I got at the LL Bean outlet along with the boots. I was feeling like the new boots, gloves and gaiters were a bit of an extravagance (which they were), but they sure made the hike better. I wasn't cold at all!  I did look like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Woman, so no pic of me, but some of the rest of the hike:

The view from one of the lookouts

The top :)

Horse farm near the bottom!

Very Confusing WOD

I finished the WOD, and I still don't totally know what it was. First we did clean and jerks every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. I got up to 65 pounds. It was an Oly thing (which I have no idea what that means), but you weren't supposed to lift your max weight. Because we came back to the clean and jerk at the end after the WOD.

WOD (I guess): 12 minutes
15 toes to bar (I did knees to chest)
10 deadlifts
5 snatches
I did 4 rounds plus 3 t2b (or k2c)

I only lifted 45 pounds in the deadlift, but that was because that was all I could reasonably do in snatches.

Once we finished the 12 minute WOD we had 6 minutes to lift our max in clean and jerks. I did 80 pounds, which I felt OK about, until this one guy was saying he did 3x that much and thought he should have gotten a little more.

There's a mammoth blizzard coming east today-tomorrow. But it's going to be south of me. Which is a little disappointing on one hand, because a little snow on a Sat would be nice. But I'm scheduled for a hike tomorrow, so that will be nice too hopefully :)

Real Burpees!

I was watching some of the people in the class before me doing burpees and I was like, "they aren't actually jumping that hard on their toes. Maybe I could do real burpees instead of just stepping back." They were in the WOD today - and so I did a few practice ones, and in fact I could do them! I think when I did them - or tried to do them - before I didn't have my hands in the right place. I was putting them right next to my shoulders where they weren't helping at all. But if they are more at boob level, they soften the impact. ROAR!

Today was "bring a friend day." Which of course I didn't bring a friend, I barely brought me. I woke up late and wasn't going to go, but then decided to drag my lazy butt off the couch and go. All the "friends" looked in pretty good shape, I think they just wanted a free class. But, they made the WOD a partner thing so friends could work together.  I wound up with this chick who ditched me so fast for weight lifting, but then turned out to be cool anyhow.

We started with back squats and I did 100 pounds 3 times!! I was excited! Yes, all the guys did like twice that.

WOD:  15 minutes AMRAP
5 Burpees (I did real burpees and they felt good!)
6 Thrusters (I did 35 pounds)
7 Box Jumps (I stepped on the lower box)
One partner does the entire thing, then the other.
We each did 7 rounds! Well, I was 3 box steps short, but after it was done I did the last three steps.

Average hr: 135 max hr: 164

That's 35 real burpees for the WOD, plus I did a few before to see if I could do them. Go me! :)

Yesterday I went on a Meetup hike in the Fells. It was about 2 hours on the Rock Circuit Trail. We kept a pretty good pace for most of it, but there were like 20 of us. So, any time there was a rocky part to go up or down it was really slow d/t the bottle neck effect. The leader got kind of frustrated with the slower people in the back and at the end took us back on a fire road instead of completing the trail. So I decided it didn't count as a blogable hike. Short and we didn't even finish the trail! But it was about 9000 steps and my hr averaged around 120, so I guess it still merits mention.

We had our first snow today, like 3 inches. Sat we are supposed to get like 8-12 inches!

Totally Not Last!

There were three people in my class today who were brand new to crossfit, so for once I was not last!!  It rocked my world!  Fourth from last! Go me :)

We started with push press and push jerk, which of course I had no idea of which they were. I didn't have time to google at work today, but they turned out to be ones that I like OK. I lifter 60 pounds on my heaviest push press and 70 pounds on my heaviest push jerk. We did sets of 2 on presses and 3 on jerks, and I was pretty impressed with myself. Until I saw that I was behind the next lowest person by like 20 pounds. Wah.

WOD: 27-21-15-9
Calories on the rower
Thrusters (I did 35 pounds)
time: 14:02  Average HB 132
But my heart rate was at 163-171 for the second half.

I don't know if my heart sped up for the second half, or if the hr sensor was making better contact with my wrist.

I had to cancel my weekend backpack trip. We're supposed to have a Nor'easter on Saturday, and I just can't think of any reason that I should be going backpacking during it. Even if it's supposed to move fast (that would be the Nor'easter moving fast, not me!). Sounds windy and cold.

I signed up for AMC's spring backpack course. There are 5 lectures and then a bunch of trips that you can go on. I want to try a little more backpacking. I think I'm ready for it, and it would allow me to go further north - less driving in one day because you aren't going there and back. Hopefully it will be good! It starts in April, so it's still a little while...

Tabata Mash

Finally I was in a group with people doing NY resolutions at Crossfit! Hooray!! They were dying and I was doing sit ups. Sadly, it was a Tabata sort of deal where everyone goes and stops at the same time, so there was no "last." And I was feeling too tired to really feel smug.

We started with front squats and I did 90 pounds!! Twice. With a break in between. My 90's were wobbly and not that low, but I did one at 85 pounds that felt really solid. I think that's 15 pounds more than the last time I really remember doing front squats. Of course the guys were doing 200 pounds or something.

The Tabata workout was four different rounds, for each you had 8 reps and each rep was 20 sec on and 10 sec rest. So, each activity was 4 minutes, with a minute break in between. Then you moved on to the next. Your total score is the number of reps from your worst round of each.

WOD:
Double Unders (I just jumped rope) - lowest was 30, which was my first one. Also the last. In between I did have some pretty good rounds where I stopped counting around 40 or so.
Front Squats - I lifted 35 pounds - lowest was 6. First round I did 8, then 7 then the rest were 6.
Sit ups - lowest was 10. I did 11 the first 4, 10 the second 4.
Kettle bell swings - I did 10 every time. With the smallest kettle bell.
Total Score: 56 average HR 136

My heart rate was highest during the squats and lowest during sit-ups. I don't know if that's how it should be? Seems like jumping rope is more aerobic.

I don't know how I feel about this Tabata stuff, or if I believe in it, but it was a pretty OK WOD.

MidState Trail, Wachusett Meadow to Barre Falls Dam

I've actually hiked on the Mid State Trail before, from Wachusett Meadow to Crow Hill. So now I've done Crow Hill to Barre Falls Dam. Only thing is I have no idea how far that is! The Mid State trail crosses MA. Not surprisingly, it goes through the middle of the state, North/South. The entire trail is 92 miles, and I believe I've now hiked about 22 of it. I could do the whole trail!

Today's hike was supposed to be at 9:30, but some bozo (i.e. me) was a half hour late. The directions really sucked, and I put the road into the GPS, and got to a Barre Falls Dam, but it wasn't the correct one. I finally figured out that I had to keep going straight on this sketchy, dirt, snow covered road to get to the correct spot. I was scared in my little Honda Civic. I got to the parking place just as the group was about to leave!

It's a pretty flat hike. Some rolling hills, some ups, some downs, some walking on roads when you aren't allowed on private property. It had just snowed, so I got to use my micro spikes again - totally awesome! My feet must be just the right size for them, because I can put mine on and take them off a lot easier than everyone else. Lots of streams and pine forest, a few water crossings. It was a good hike!  I was totally "in the zone" for most of it, even when my feet and legs were killing at the end.

The hike was advertised as "almost 10 miles." According to my fitbit, we went about 12 miles. I pushed the button to count heart rate and calories and all for the trek, but something went wrong and it didn't work. I looked at it at about 2 hours and everything was fine. But then a little later it wasn't computing the workout. I wonder if there's a time limit on it? It wound up being a pretty long hike, we started at about 10:30 and finished at about 4. There were a few breaks to layer and de-layer, put on and take off microspikes, and one slightly longer pause to eat a little, but mostly we hiked the entire time! Probably almost 5 hours. And, though it was just rolling hilly, I looked at my fitbit a few times and my pulse was at like 140. Other times it was like 110, but probably mostly in that range.

Next weekend I'm signed up for a backpack trip, camping overnight. It's supposed to be really cold, so I'm not sure if I'll wimp out - it's only a 3 mile hike in, so I could bring lots of stuff. But still...

Tufts

Today was a Local Area Network or LAN meeting. It was at Tufts Medical/Dental school, and was actually pretty awesome! There was a panel of admissions deans who talked about what they would like to hear about in the letters that we write. I took a ton of notes. Then there was networking, which I suck at, so I sat with someone who I kind of knew. There was another presentation, and then a tour of the medical and dental schools! I love touring the schools. I learned that the dental students practice their first shots of Novocain on each other. They must have like a two week window where everyone walks around thinking they are drooling. Anyhow, the meeting finished early, and so I was able to go to the 4:00 crossfit.

We started with deadlifts. We did 2 lifts at a time, I got up to 145 pounds. But I lifted it 4 times!

WOD: 3 rounds
Row 500 meters
15 thrusters - I did 35 pounds
21 pull-ups
my time 19:49 average hr 121 bpm

I forgot to set my fitbit to time the workout, so it recorded a little after. I did 7 pull ups, with a band, that weren't that bad. The other 56 were not that good. For the last 21 I used 2 bands, and I still had to take a break!

Tomorrow I'm going on a 10 mile hike in my winter boots. It's supposed to be a pretty flat hike. I hope it won't suck.

No Chance for Smugness

There were no NY resolution people today at Crossfit, except that there is this new class for NY resolutioners that meets twice a week for the month, so I guess they were there. But, the class was at 7 and I did the 5:30, so I didn't get to see them and feel smug. And, in today's L1/L2 class I was still pretty much last. I just have to accept it.

They're having a Hallow Rocker challenge. Today we did 10, they are adding 10 a week for the next 10 weeks. Ouch. I could do 10, probably even 20, but...  In March I will dying.

Today we started with a complex lifting EMOM for 10 min:
Power clean
Front squat
Split jerk
my max: 70 pounds

Of course I had to google all the lifts before I went, and I still didn't totally remember what they were during the workout. I had to watch someone else. I did remember from last week that I can front squat 70 pounds.

WOD: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Squat clean (I lifted 45 pounds)
Double unders x5 (I just jumped rope x10)
17 minutes, average hr 148 bpm, 13 minutes in peek cardio zone.

I couldn't remember if this lift was the white/light lift, so I did a 15 pound barbell with 10 and 5 pound weights on each end. That way if it was too much, I could just take the 5's off, not change the whole thing. It was heavy for me, but I did OK.

Today was the first day back at work. It was KILLER getting up. At 9 I made myself get out of bed and go, I was thinking about working from home, but I knew I actually had to get stuff done. And, it had been over two weeks since I was there. At least I could wear jeans, and no one cared that I was an hour late - I really do love my job!

Mt. Major

I did my first winter hike today, Mt. Major, which I had done before in the summer/fall. As I was looking at my fitbit numbers, I was like "why don't I keep track of these hikes too?" I mean, a lot of people try to do the 4,000 footers in NH, or the "52 with a view," maybe one day I will be inspired, and will want to know what I did. This is becoming much less of a running blog, and more of an exercise blog. Fortunately The Lazy Cretins is perfect for that, but maybe I should change some of the other deets.

Anyhow, my first time hiking with microspikes and it was AWESOME! Usually hiking in NH you have to worry about rocks and tripping over things, etc, but with the snow that was less of a problem. And, with the microspikes I didn't slide around. The only tricky part was going down a steep and rocky area - always a little hard for me - I butt scooted. I really liked winter hiking way more than expected! Fewer noisy people, and it that nice peaceful that you get with the snow. Mt. Major is a really nice hike, not too high or hard, and great views. It was a little harder doing the winter hiking, but all and all a good first time out.

Next weekend I'm signed up for a 10 mile hike with a meet-up. I have to decide if the winter boots are broken in enough for it. Today's hike was only 4 miles and I was feeling it at the end, but next weekend's will be flatter.

Happy New Year!

For New Years I treated myself to a Fitbit Charge HR. My old flex was giving me an error message every time I synced it, so I figured that was a sign of its impending demise, plus I just wanted one. The new fitbit has a watch in it, you can see how many steps you've taken on the display instead of having to sync it, it also tells calories burned, distance, and floors climbed. And, of course, there's the heart monitor, which is supposed to be pretty accurate. Such a fun new toy!

Once again I celebrated NYE with a two hour yoga class ending at midnight. It's a very zen way to start the new year. It was pretty warm out, so I was able to try the fitbit activity monitor for the first time - it correctly recorded my walks there and back, though it didn't record any increase in activity for yoga (which I think is just wrong.) At the start of the WOD today I set the activity tracker (because it has one) to record the entire workout - super convenient because now I know how long my workout was - and it recorded my heart rate and calories for the entire workout. It was a killer!

WOD:
Run 400 meters
20 Box jumps (I used one green stool because I was sharing equipment with a woman who chose it, and that was cool with me)
16 Burpees
Run 400 meters
20 Toes to Bar (I did knee ups. I felt like I got a little core in there.)
16 Burpees
Run 400 meters
20 Wall balls
16 Burpees
Run 400 meters
20 Pullups (I did 10 with a green band and 10 with a green and red band.)
16 Burpees
Run 400 meters
20 Kettlebell swings (I used the smallest one, same reason as with the box jumps)
16 Burpees
My time: 33 minutes, 22 in "peak zone," 8 in cardio, average BPM 154.

The highest my heart rate got was 168, which kind of surprised me since I thought it was going like 180. I guess it's not that far off...

Can't wait for all the people with New Year's resolutions to come and be slower than me! (watch, they will all be better.)