Another Fail

Another really bad Crossfit day today. I think it's because I had it in my mind that my Dean friend would be there, since it's Tuesday, and he wasn't. And it was a totally sucky WOD, full of things I can't do (though no burpees).

WOD: 2 rounds
75 Double Unders (I did 150 singles)
15 pull ups
30 wall balls
75 Double Unders
15 toes to bar
30 kettlebell swings
My time 20 min 30 sec

Everyone else (including this woman who looks like she's about 8 months pregnant) did 25 pull ups and toes to bar and 50 wall balls and kettle bell swings. The thought of doing 100 wall balls just did me in, so I did level 1. That allowed me to finish first, and then skulk off home.  Hopefully next class will be a good one...

We had like 4 inches of snow yesterday, which was crazy because all winter we probably had like 8 inches! I had ordered seeds from this online company, and the web site said that they would send them "just as they should be planted." They came in the mail yesterday, which was just silly.

Tomorrow I have my first class with the AMC spring hiking program. I'm going to learn how to backpack without a meet-up :)

WOD Fail

It's raining out today, which I thought meant that the running WOD would automatically turn into a rowing WOD. It didn't exactly, a lot of the people ran! It was so nasty and drizzly out, and there was over a mile and a half of running. I couldn't do it, I rowed.

The WOD was this crazy thing, with defined minutes, lunges with weights, toes to bar, and pushups, plus the running (rowing). People who were faster got more rest time, I got very little. That's so wrong!  I couldn't do the lunges right, and in the end wound up doing squats. I kept forgetting how many push ups I was supposed to do (band assisted, of course) and everyone was done with their round before I even started my toes to bars.  I'm not even writing it down - I didn't really do everything or keep track.

On the upside, though, I did really row almost 2 miles (1.957 to be precise). That's an accomplishment.

I stopped at H Mart on the way home and got some very Asian, probably very fattening foods. And, a little bottle of Bourbon for the next backpacking trip, whenever it is. When I got home I found out that someone had gotten my credit card number and tried to use it at Bath and Body Works, so they cancelled my credit card. There's a new one in the mail that I should get on Monday or Tuesday. It's like the fates want me to stop shopping already!

Mt. Major Again!

Since my hike for the weekend was cancelled d/t weather, I decided that I should get out today. I was going to go to Crotched Mountain, which is only an hour and a half away, but then I decided on Mt Major because I can go to the Kittery Outlets since they are only like 15 minutes out of the way. I got some super cute pants that I'm going to wear to work at Lulu (such an addiction, but they were $45 down from $185. How could I pass that up?) And, I got some boring blue pants at a little old lady/fat people store. But, whatever, they fit and were only $30 ish. Some of my pants are in really bad shape, I have to retire them!  And I got another pair of Tom's shoes, apparently my other obsession.

Kittery closes crazy early - 6 pm! And I got started a little late, 11 am. So, I decided to go to Kittery first because I wouldn't have time after the hike. While I was there I got really hungry, and so I ate these wonderfully awful fried clam strips and french fries. Yum!  I was feeling a little gross and tired after that, and decided that I could skip the hike. Once I got in my car, though, I just got off at the exit to Mt. Major. I mean, after eating all those clams I felt like I had to!

I was a little nervous about getting such a later start, it was around 3:45 when I left the parking lot, and there were a lot of other people finishing. But I had my headlamp, and I thought I would be OK. I was really glad I went, once I got started! It was very warm out for the season, about 70 degrees, so I could hike in just a t-shirt. Once I got going I started feeling pretty good. I took the Mt. Major trail up, and it was really nice! I can see why it's so popular. I think I've only taken it down before. The uphill parts had a great view of Lake Winnipesaukee, so whenever I needed to stop and breathe, there was a good view. After all my internal "I'm too tired to hike" it only took me a little over an hour to get to the top! Once up there, there were only two other people, who were very friendly. 

I took the longer route down, and that was definitely the way to go! There are a few steeper bits, but nothing like the Mt. Major trail. Also, there's a really nice ridgeline to walk on. I love a good ridgeline with a view! Total hike time was about 3 hours, I finished well before dark. I'm really glad I did it!

Spring!

It was so nice out today I went and turned over my garden again and dug out a few more roots that I missed the first time, and then I did some planting! I don't know if it will take because the water isn't turn on yet, and I forgot to bring any, and so I didn't water them. Though, it's been pretty rainy, and it's supposed to rain, and snow (!) this weekend. Hopefully it won't kill everything. But, they do give you a lot of seeds in the package.

In other news, my bathroom light now works (yay!) and my kitchen sink isn't stopped up. Everyone came to do the work yesterday. Last night my cat Tigger peed in one of the cardboard boxes that I have out for them to play in. Cat's love it when you fix your house.

I wasn't really in the mood for crossfit today, but I went anyhow. First, we warmed up with all these running exercises, which I was last at. One I particularly hate is suicides, where you run back and forth touching lines. Everyone else was a full line ahead of me by the end :(

We did Bear Complexes next. Maybe in honor of spring and the bears waking up? I got up to 60 pounds on the last of 10. The guy in front of me was lifting like 200 pounds, and I'm not even exaggerating.

WOD:
20 Box Jumps (I did steps)
20 Power Cleans (I lifted 45 pounds)
15 Box Jumps (steps)
15 shoulder to overhead
25 squats
15 shoulder to overhead
15 Box Jumps (steps)
20 Power Cleans
20 Box Jumps (steps)
My time: 13:18

My heart rate got up to 175 at the end, which I think is pretty high. I could feel it beating.  According to Livestrong that's a little higher than my max heart rate should be. But I seem to have survived.

I was going to go on a backpack trip this weekend, but it's supposed to be freezing raining out and it looks like it will be canceled. Tomorrow is supposed to be the other nice day of the week, gonna look for a mountain to climb!

Lafayette

Today I hiked Lafayette, which is a pretty big mountain, 5249 feet tall, the 12th tallest of the mountains in NH! It's a popular one because it's not too far from Boston, it took me 2 hours to get there. Kind of a long drive, but still do-able in a day, with a long hike in the middle. To make the drive less boring I got the CD for Hamilton (yeah, I know, listening to Broadway musicals. But whatever. It was good!) and of course Lafayette was a friend of Hamilton so it worked out well as a theme kind of deal.

It was really nice out today, and I almost didn't pack an extra jacket and my gaiters, but then I just threw them in for the heck of it. As soon as I got into Franconia Notch, though, there was a low hanging cloud over everything. I was a little nervous, cause that's where I was hiking. I was glad I had my gaiters! You can see the clouds below us in the picture.

The hike was long and a lot of up hill, not surprisingly. There were an unfortunate number of ice falls on the trail, which I really disliked on the way down.  I was going so slow and I tried to get everyone to pass me, but they just refused. One woman on the hike is an ER nurse, and she actually walked me across the first really scary part. Then I decided I had to stop being such a wimp. But, I was really tired by that point, and so it make me pretty anxious.

Other than that, it was an awesome hike! Really pretty in the woods, there was snow on the ground and trees, and some crystals in the air that were catching the light. There's an AMC hut on the way up, and we stopped there for lunch. I totally want to stay there in the summer! The top was really nice, good view and great to sit and eat more :)

Total hike distance, according to the signs, was 2.7 miles to the hut and another 1.1 miles to the top. Total 7.6 miles, 3500 feet elevation gain - which doesn't seem like that much when you just write it there, but when you are hiking up hill for 3+ hours with snow and ice on the trail, really seems like a lot!  I'm beat!!

(on the trail)

My Place is Falling Apart!

In addition to needing to fix the bathroom light, I now have a plugged up kitchen sink. I didn't notice it getting slower draining, but today I ran the disposal, and when I finished it spit up water. It was a particular bummer because I had just started the dishwasher, and the dishwasher drains through the sink. I tried all the super unclogging tricks - ice cubes in the disposal and baking soda and vinegar, but no luck. Fortunately (I hope), one of my neighbors is buddies with a plumber who will hopefully not charge me an arm an a leg to unclog it. Maybe I can get the plumber and the electrician on the same day?

I was a little sore still from Tuesday's WOD, and climbing yesterday, but tomorrow they are having another of their opens, and Saturday I'm planning on a hike, so I went to crossfit today.

WOD:
1 round of:
100 double unders (I did singles)
50 squats
25 push presses (I lifted 35 pounds)
2 rounds of:
60 double unders (singles)
30 squats
15 push presses
3 rounds of:
40 double unders (singles)
20 squats
10 push presses
My time: 17 min 50 sec

Although I can only manage to do one double under at a time, and then sometimes I can't keep jumping after, I was able to do 100 single jumpropes (is that a verb?) without stopping. I got to 55 on one round of 60, but all the other rounds I did unbroken!

Before we did the WOD we did presses and push presses, which are lifts that I kind of like, especially push presses. I lifted 50 pounds on presses and 70 on push presses.

As I was typing this, I heard my sink bubble. When I went into the kitchen to see what's up, there was crap coming out of it, and I could hear my neighbor's disposal. Which I think means it's a building problem, not a unit one. And then the management company has to take care of it! (Fingers crossed) The sink drained and is working fine now, but I don't know if this is one of those things that you can ignore and it will go away....

Roxanne!

We started class with a "warm-up" where we jogged in a big circle while the coach played the song Roxanne, and every time that Sting said "Roxanne" we had to drop and do a burpee. I hate Roxanne, whoever she is.

We also practiced handstands on the wall. One of the coaches showed us how to gently kick up to a handstand. And I scared myself by getting my legs way up and almost actually doing one.

WOD:
40 Bar Facing Burpees (YUCK!)
40 calories rowing
30 wallballs
30 calories rowing
20 toes to bar (I got my toes up about 3 times)
20 calories rowing
10 clean and jerk (I lifted 45 pounds)
10 calories rowing
my time 20 min and 5 sec

It was a big enough group that they divided us in half - everyone got a partner and then partners started on opposite things (my partner started with rowing. I wanted to get the burpees over with.) I finished and I saw my partner standing around, and so I went over and said "nice job" and gave him a fist bump. And he was like "I'm not done yet."  OOOOPS!