Summer in the City

I wound up doing crossfit only once last week. On the other hand, I went climbing three times. My plan was to go to crossfit after climbing on Saturday, but it was 92 degrees and humid out, and the WOD had over a mile of running, and was a partner workout. I just couldn't bring myself to do it! I bet it was like 100 degrees in the box. Today, I didn't want to go, but I had no excuse. It's only in the mid-80's. And, I want to do a long hike next weekend, so I have to get my crossfits done.

We started with push jerks. I was able to get a little higher than push presses - 75 pounds 4 times. But then that was way too much and I bobbled. I went back down to 70 pounds for the last set.

WOD: score = total moves + calories on bike
3 minutes: sit ups
2 minutes: goblet lunges (I used the smallest kettle bell)
1 minute: assault bike
1 minute rest
3 minutes: goblet lunges
2 minutes: assault bike
1 minute: sit ups
1 minute rest
3 minutes: assault bike
2 minutes: sit ups
1 minute: goblet lunges
my score: 275

The goblet lunges are what killed me. My legs felt like jello by the end. For some reason I have this image of Harry Potter in my head for goblet lunges - maybe it's because of The Goblet of Fire? Legs are on fire doing the lunges. I hate them!

Saturday is my birthday! I will be entering into my 50th year. Wow. I'm planning Owl's Head. Given my obsession with it, and uncertainty that I can actually do it, it seems like a good challenge to myself. I'm suspicious that I will question my judgement at least once on the hike. Of course, if it's 95 degrees, I'm going to revise.

Meh

Today was a kind of frustrating crossfit day because I was the only girl in the class, and we were doing sets of presses and push presses. And of course the guys got all of the weight thingees, so I didn't get one for myself. Why are women like that?? Guys don't have a problem going for the thingees. Anyhow, I had to share one with a guy who was lifting way more than me, which was not really fun, and made me a little sad (because we weren't even using the same barbell, for heaven sake!)  Anyhow, I guess I should check my ego at the door, and also my girl-y manners.

We did four sets of three on strict press and push press. I started at 35 pounds, then 45, 55 and 60. For push presses I did 60, 65 and 70. I really wanted to do 75, and I did once! But then that was it, it was too heavy.

WOD:
2000 meter row
20 clean and jerks (I did 45 pounds)
my time: 14:52, 10 min of which was rowing

I have my first almost ripe tomato from the garden this year! I was getting nervous that something would come eat it, so I picked it. I'm gonna let it ripen for a couple more days in the kitchen and then, salad time!

Partner WOD

I hate partner WODS because then I have to slow someone down and feel all bad about it. But, I'd only been once this week and it's Saturday, so I sucked it up and went. We had the super-intense chick for class, the one who is sad that she didn't get to climb the rope in gym. Her warm ups are harder than the WOD I think. I missed the first part where everyone ran a loop (1/3 mile) - I was all "is it just two people in class today?" and she looked at me like I was a little bit of an idiot. Ya, missed that, but it was OK. After the loop, we did different things across the box - toe touches, bear crawls, lunges, burpees, and three sets of suicides. Then we did a tabata stomach workout that I need but didn't enjoy.

WOD: Everyone works at once, alternating activities when the running/rowing partner finishes
2 rounds
Partner 1 (that's me): Burpees = I did 9 the first round, 12 the second (yuck)
Partner 2 (another Cindy!): Fireman's carry, 100 meters
2 rounds
Partner 1: kettlebell swings (I used the lightest and did 25 the first round and 27 the second)
Partner 2: run 200 meters
2 rounds
Partner 1: Pull ups (I used a band and did 13 the first round and 15 the second)
Partner 2: row 250 meters
Our time: 18 min

Other Cindy is also old and slow. She wears full makeup to crossfit, which I just don't get. Anyhow, she didn't care that I didn't do a lot of burpees and I didn't care that she didn't do a lot of kettle bell swings. So there you have it.

I went climbing again on Thursday. This week I wound up with a kind of smelly partner, which I wasn't crazy about. Next week I may climb twice, Wed and Thurs, but we'll see if that's realistic, esp with the crossfit schedule...

Deadlifted more than my weight!!

I definitely overdid it on the Flume/Liberty hike. I got a migraine on Sunday and wasn't really feeling well on Monday. Even though I was feeling kind of crappy on Monday, it was July 4 and so I had to go to the fireworks. I mean, what's the point in living in 500 square feet 3 miles away from nationally televised fireworks if you don't go?  Might as well live in Schenectady and have a house. I regretted it on Tuesday, though, because I was feeling like crap, and then I decided to stay home today. I still got work done, but I also got to sleep in more and chill out. By evening I was feeling better and decided that the WOD actually didn't look too bad, and so I should go do it.

First we did deadlifts. We were supposed to do five sets of three, but I started really light and needed to lift more to get higher. I started at like 65 pounds, and then added 20 more, then another 10, and so on, all the way up to 165!!  I lifted 165 three times, it was heavy. But I was pretty happy with myself :)

WOD: Unbroken - 3 sets
20 kettlebell swings (I used the second lightest)
40 double unders (I did 80 singles)
20 thrusters (I lifted 35 pounds)
Sets are meant to be done unbroken. If you break the set up, you have to either start again or run 100 meters.  I did the kettle bell swings clean every time. The jump roping I did the first and third fine. The second I got tripped up on like the 5th jump, and so I started again. The thrusters I couldn't do clean even once. The first time I thought I would try to, but I got to 11 and knew I couldn't make it, so I ran the 100 meters. The other two times I split it up into 10 and 10, with a planned run in the middle.

My time: 14 min 8 sec. I wasn't last at all! But only because there were two people who were totally new to crossfit.

Flume Slide to Flume and Liberty

With a name like Flume, how can you not want to climb this mountain?! I did two 4000 footers today, Flume and Liberty are both on the list. They are a little over a mile apart, connected by a ridgeline. As soon as I saw the pics of the Flume slide trail, I knew I wanted to do it. It follows an avalanche/rock slide trail and there are some parts that are basically climbing. So fun! And, it kicked my butt.

I got a late start, which was stupid. I slept until 9 and left at about 9:30. By the time I started the hike it was noon. The entire lot at the Flume visitor center was full! I had to park on the side of the lot near a curb. But, I probably saw like a dozen people on the hike, only two on the slide trail, and they were going down.  Anyhow, the hike starts and ends with .9 mile on a bike path. Once you turn into the woods you start going up, but just a little. In fact, the first couple of miles were pretty chill. Then you get to the start of the slide... At first it's just smallish boulders. But then it gets pretty rock climbing like. I think if I didn't climb I wouldn't have liked it at all. It was probably like a 5.2 rock climbing, but the rocks were frequently wet. It wasn't that exposed, which was good, though there were a few times when I look down and though "I better not slip here." It was also pretty relentless. The mile of the slide took me like an hour. I had to stop a few times to breathe. The view from up top was awesome! You could only see in one direction, but that was OK. It was super windy, and there where more avalanche scars; it made me feel a little wobbly legged. I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich and some very delicious cherries.

At the top I realized I was pretty low on water, I had packed a little less than two liters, and only had about a half liter left! Like I said, it was a tough hike. Fortunately, I had my water filter, but it was a little ways to the next water source (Liberty Spring).  Also, I was a little worried about the time, because it was like 4 by the time I got to the top, and I still had over a mile to the top of Liberty and then 3 miles down, plus the mile on the bike path. The egg salad sandwich people would have been disappointed.

The hike from Flume to Liberty was pretty nice. There was a lot of down, and then a lot of up again. The view from Liberty was amazing! 360 viewing, and I had it pretty much to myself :) I've seen pics of it crowded up there, but I guess everyone had already left since it was after 5. I sat up top and admired the view for a while. Then I headed down. I stopped at Liberty spring and filled my water bladder. It was so nice there - it's a back country camp site, with a spring and tent platforms. The Liberty Spring Trail is also the AT, so I guess there may be through hikers there soon.

On the way down I worked on trusting my feet and picking up the pace. I think I'm improving, though I still have a ways to go. There was a long, intense part going down, with lots of rocks on the trail. Then there was about a mile that was more gradual and less rocky, and I felt like was flying down it. It's a good thing it was so easy in that part, because it was getting kind of dark by the time I got to the bike trail. The last .9 mile back on the path was easy and killer at the same time. My feet were killing me, and so it was hard. But, it was so easy to just walk on a path!

Total distance is 9.8 miles, total time was 8 1/2 hours. But I did stop some to eat and admire the view!

After note on this one - I forgot at the time, but as I was starting up this guy passed me and asked for directions to Lafayette. He pulled out a ROAD map and was like "I brought the wrong one." Yeah, you did buddy. He needs egg salad sandwiching!

Lumberjack 20

Today was a hero WOD, named for a group of crossfitters from Lumberjack Crossfit who were killed by a terrorist at Ft. Hood. They must have been a pretty hard core group, because the workout kicked my butt!

WOD:
20 Deadlifts (I lifted 95 pounds)
400 meter run
20 kettle bell swings (I used the second smallest!)
400 meter run
20 squats (meant to be OH squats, but those hurt my shoulder. I lifted 45 pounds)
400 meter run
20 burpees (yuck)
400 meter run
20 pull-ups (I used a band but felt OK about my kipping swing)
400 meter run
20 box jumps (I stepped)
400 meter run
20 dumb bell squat cleans (I used the smallest)
400 meter run
My time: 34 min 10 sec

We ran 400 meters in the warm up, so in total there was about 2 miles of running for the day!

After there were some reps from Reebok with samples of the not-yet-released crossfit shoes. Some of the guys who tried them on said they were awesome. I'm not getting more, though. I kind of don't really like mine (I wore my running shoes today). They also had some delicious food - a salad with brussel sprouts, beets, squash and cheese (and kale, but ewww). I have to think about trying new salad ideas - it was so good!  And they had burgers. Yum.

After I went to the garden and weeded my plot and around the borders. This one woman there has these amazing raspberry bushes and she lets us have as many as we want! She was there today and so I felt like I could really eat them like a pig because she was egging me on.  I have a bunch of tomatoes this year, the sungolds are starting to get ripe!  And, so far, the cucumber and mini pumpkins are growing well/knock wood. I got powdery mildew resistant plants.