tabata

After going to crossfit and doing a hike over the weekend, I've been a total bum all week. The only exercise I did was last night I went for a walk around the block to get my steps. Turns out our mayor is canvassing because of the upcoming election, so I got to meet him in person. I was like "oh yes, I'm voting for you!" and he was like "great, then I won't keep you" which I think = "great, then I won't waste my time talking to you."  Haha, whatever. I like him. He's fiery!

I put my second crossfit off until today - I was going to go yesterday but there was so much running.  Today was all tabata and lifting, much better. We started with clean and jerks, every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. You did 2 cleans and one jerk, and I got up to 75 pounds! I was happy with myself!

WOD: on for 40 sec, rest for 20 sec; four rounds at each station and then rotate
Toes to bar - I started with t2b and then switched to sit ups, my total 63
kettle bell swings - I used the smallest and did 60
arydyne bike - 20 calories though I had technical difficulties with the timer at first
shoulders to overhead - I lifted 35 pounds 50 times

One of my neighbors got a puppy, he's so cute!  I want a puppy, but I don't think the cats would like it.

Sort of RX!

I'm pretty psyched because it's Sunday and I've already done crossfit once this week! Today's WOD didn't look so bad, lots of rowing, which I like. And I only went once last week, which is lame.  I got there a couple minutes late, so I missed a tiny bit of the warm up, but there was still enough time to torture myself with planks and hollow rocks.

For strength we did thrusters in sets of 3. I got up to 60 pounds, which I was satisfied with. Especially after the hike yesterday, which was killer on the calves.

WOD:
750 meters rowing

3 rounds:
15 toes to bar
30 sit ups

750 meters rowing
my time 15 min 56 sec

Level 1 was 500 meters of rowing, which I thought I would do if I was last by a long shot. But when I got to 500 meters there were still plenty of people on the rowers, so I did the full thing!  Of course, my toes didn't touch the bar, so it's not technically like I did the full, unscaled workout. But, whatever.

On Friday night I checked my work email (because apparently I have no life) and my boss emailed me and this woman who had been doing some consulting for us to say that we wouldn't be able to pay her anymore. First, WTF, you're going to email that to someone? That seems a little cold. And second, WTF, we aren't going to have someone new in the fall! We don't even have a job description posted yet. So, I guess I will be doing all the things that this woman who was consulting did last year. My boss is totally awesome and I think the world of her, but she sucks at transition.

Welch Dicky

I took a break from my usual hiking routine and did a non-400 footer with a friend! Radical!  Fall is coming and they are saying that this will be one of the best fall foliage years in a while based on how the summer was - we decided to go up to NH for a hike. Welch Dicky is one that I've done a few times before, but I love. It's a loop hike with two mountains, four good view points, really pretty valleys, and tons of slab. It's so fun to hike - there's a lot of walking on rock, and one point where the trail goes between two rocks. The whole thing is only 4.4 miles, so it's also not as long as what I'm used to.

Since it was such a beautiful day, and since it's such a nice hike on not too hard a mountain, it was crazy busy. A little too superhighway ish for me, which was the one down side. It seemed like a lot of the hikers were just going up to the first view point, a mile hike, and then coming back. So after that it was a little less crowded, and on the way down it was just me and my friend, which was nice. We could hear the wind, and the acorns dropping.

The first time I met my friend Karen was on a hike with a meet-up group. When we stopped hiking for a break, she pulled out this container of fresh figs to eat. Meanwhile, I was eating a giant pb&j, and in my head was thinking "who the #$%^ brings figs on a hike?"  For this hike she had dried figs and a kale salad. But I've become accustomed to it now :)

Anyhow, it was a really good hike, nice day, I didn't have to drive, and the views were wonderful. It was nice hiking with her, and I should work on getting over my thing about hiking with others. I'll put it on my list of things that I should work on...

Interim

I guess I'm back in the routine of crossfit again. Which is to say I was going to go yesterday and then didn't, so I went today. I had thoughts of not going today also, but I'm planning on going hiking on Saturday, so that didn't leave me with a lot of options.

We had a lot of wall balls in the WOD today, and started by warming up with medicine ball drills. They were kind of fun actually. We played catch and I didn't drop the thing!  Next was front squats for our strength. I tried to skulk off to my own spot to lift, but someone came over and asked to join me, so of course I had to be all happy about it. I asked her if she was going to lift a lot and she was all "no, not a lot..." Turns out her goal weight was 150!  Um, clearly we define "no, not a lot..." differently.

Front Squats 5-4-3-2-1
I started my round of 5 by lifting 65 pounds, which was fine. I went up to 85 for 4 squats, then 90 for three. For two I did 95 and for my round of one I did 100!  I did the 100 twice because I wasn't totally happy with what I had done the first time. I wasn't completely happy with the second lift either. But 95 I did well.

WOD:
in 5 minutes
20 toes to bar (I scaled from 30)
20 wall balls
row - I did 20 calories
rest 2 minutes

in 5 minutes
30 wall balls
20 cal row
toes to bar - I did 5, but there was an interference because the bar in the spot that I got was wet and I was sliding off more than usual.
rest 2 minutes

in 5 minutes
30 cal row
15 toes to bar (I scaled from 20)
wall balls - I did 11

I think my abs and squat muscles are going to be killing me tomorrow!

Today I found out that I am going to be offered a position as Interim Director, and we are hiring someone to work below me!!  I'm a little excited, and a little wanting to throw up (literally on that one, I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't breath because I had stomach acid in my throat. Yuck.) The best thing about this is that we are hiring someone who will do the administrative crap that I hate so much. And, I may not need to interview for the director position if they decide they want me in the role. It's kind of stressful not knowing what's going on, and it's been stressful because my boss has kind of checked out so I've gotten more work to do (and I already was feeling a little overwhelmed.)

Slightly less painful day at crossfit

Today at Crossfit I went to my regular class time. Let's call it "Dean Stalking Class," which is to say the time when my admissions buddy works out. He was there, but late, so took the next class. Which is a bummer, but on the other hand we ran, so he didn't need to be reminded of how slow I am. Today was slightly less painful than the last two workouts, though still grim.

We started with back squats and I got up to 115 pounds, for a set of two. I felt OK about that, though the women I was lifting with were lifting like 180.  Then there were two WODS:

8 minute AMRAP:
10 shoulders to overhead (I lifted 35 pounds)
200 meter run
I did 4 sets

rest 4 minutes

8 minute AMRAP:
10 overhead squats (I lifted 35 pounds)
50 jumps/jump rope
I did 4 sets + 5 squats

Today in the Biology faculty meeting they announced that my boss is taking on her new role, and leaving my office. So now it's officially OUT THERE. She sent in a job description to the Vice Provost to have posted. They have to interview me for the position (if they decide to). I might have to buy new clothes. Maybe I can find something for an interview and my nephew's wedding in Nov?

Back to Crossfit

Vacations really over - I went back to crossfit on Friday. It was such a discouraging workout that apparently I didn't feel like blogging about it. Today wasn't much more stellar. Six weeks off really does lead to a decline in muscle.

Today we did deadlifts, 4 sets of 5. I got up to 105 pounds, which was OK I guess, but I've definitely lifted more.

WOD: 15-12-9-12-15
kettlebell swings (I used the second smallest for the first set, then the smallest)
box jumps (I jumped like 5 times in total, mostly stepped, even though I had a foam box)
toes to bar (these were just sad)
my time: 14 min

On Friday the workout wasn't that different, though different lifting:
4 sets of 5 strict presses (I got up to 50 pounds)
4 sets of 3 push presses (I got up to 70 pounds)

WOD: 3 rounds
15 back squats (I lifted 45 pounds)
20 toes to bar (again, sad)
25 kettlebell swings (I used the smallest)
my time 12:52

No word yet on what they will be doing with my office. My boss is writing up this proposal that has us having 2 full time people with a "full time staff director" and not expanding our budget. I'm a little worried about the lack of budget increase because if I have to talk to deans and such I need a raise.  And they aren't going to be paying the new person that much, which is a little sad because there are a bunch of people around campus who I was thinking about stealing, but I wouldn't be able to with the salary. No one's going to take a pay cut, I don't think. Oh, sigh.

South Kinsman

I came back from vacation all zen and "first world problems, it's all good!" which lasted for a day. I took Monday off from work to recover from jet lag. Tuesday I went through my email, organized my to-do list for the rest of the week to prepare for the new year, and got the most urgent things done. Wednesday my boss was back at work too, and at 11 or so she told me she's accepted a new role at the university!!!  Tragic!  I'm so sad. Being a scientist, her delivery was like this, "I've accepted a new role at the university and I think you should be promoted to my job. I'm meeting with the vice provost at 3. Can I tell him you will accept the position?"  That is NOT enough warning to give a person because #1 I'm distraught that she's leaving and #2 don't really want her job (which she knows).  I said I needed to think about it, and that I knew it was what was good for my career and what I should do, it's just that I didn't particularly want to. And she said, it was kind of like eating my vegetables, it would be good for me.  And for the next three hours she popped up every few minutes saying "vegetables?" until I agreed that she could present "problem and solution" at the same time. So, we will see what the Vice Provosts think. They may decide to keep a faculty person in the role.

Needless to say, with this change coming, I was all stressed out and needed a hike. Saturday was the clear winner for this weekend for hiking - it's Labor Day (a year from Owl's Head!) but with rain predicted for Sunday and traffic for Monday, and beautiful weather for Sat, I decided to go for it!  I chose the Kinsmans because I had done North Kinsman with the egg salad sandwich people, but not South because we had to turn back. Even though we were .9 mile away. It's a 10 mile hike, with a 2 hour drive, and it is very pretty, so I was eager to do it!

I was so slow on the hike, but at the same time it was a pretty easy one. I just wasn't moving with any speed. The way up didn't seem hard at all. Probably because I was moving at a snail's pace. There's an AMC hut at Lonesome Lake, which is about 1.5 miles into the hike. I was able to stop and use the bathroom and have a snack. Then I headed back out the Fishin' Jimmy Trail (cool trail name!) The trail itself is pretty fun, there's a lot of exposed rock and slab, some stairs built into the rock, a few rickety ladders, some pretty mossy areas, and some long-ish flat areas that are welcomed. The last time I hiked it I had a full pack, so this time seemed much easier. It took a total of 4 hours to get to the top. By the time I got up there I was starving, and sat on the ledge at the viewpoint for lunch.

I spent a good half hour eating, sitting on the warm rock and basking in the sun before heading back onto the trail to South Kinsman. It's only .9 mile to South Kinsman and, as always, I loved the ridgeline. It was a little shorter ridgeline, so there was a lot of up and down, but good stuff. The top of South had a good view, but there were trees blocking it if you sat down. I was trying to find a good place to sit, with something of a view and a place to rest my back, when I noticed the cairn had a built in chair! So, that's where I sat for a snack and rest. 

I finished eating and it was getting a bit later, about 2 ish, so I knew I needed to be headed back to get down before dark. The way back for South to North was actually easier, and I practiced working with gravity, but not really successfully. My right knee and ankle were stiff for some reason (old age?) which made the going slow. I stopped briefly again on the ledge at North, just because it's so great. While I was sitting there these two teenagers from the Congo got there, they were just adorable. They loved the view and were so psyched. They were wearing perfectly clean, pressed track uniforms. And I'm pretty sure they had no idea what they were doing. On the way down I discovered they were with a group, but the rest of the group didn't summit.

Near the top of Kinsman there was what seemed like a thru hiker sitting on a tarp by a trail junction, totally high. Another hiker sat down and they were chatting, as I went by I heard him say, "I'm so bomber on the downhills, man." Apparently hiking on pot is a thing now?

On the way down I had to stop and get water, I was pretty much out, which is a bad idea. I stopped at Kinsman Pond, which is a little out of the way, but so pretty! 

I was even slower the rest of the way down, I was finally getting tired and my feet hurt. I started getting really hungry and wanted to eat this powerbar that was in my backpack, and to pee. But then I thought I would wait to get to the hut. Eventually I decided I was just too hungry, and sat on a rock and ate. About 15 min after that I got to the hut. Of course.

After the hut it was pretty quick hiking down, it's just 1.5 miles, and there are a bunch of sections without rocks. Even I was able to pick up the pace. It was starting to get dark and I wanted to get out before I needed a headlamp. Which I did. As I was walking back to my car I noticed that I could see my breath in the air. Fall is coming. It was really a nice day and an awesome hike. Definitely one that I would do again. Not too crowded, even though it was Labor Day weekend, the steep uphills were well spaced with flats, there was nice scenery, and a great view! Way better than the Owl last year :)