Very Bad Day

All along I've been hoping that this was some sort of mistake and they wouldn't actually swear in DT, but it really happened today. I spent two hours on the Boston Common in what was possibly the lamest political protest ever. I took the day off for it, which I don't mind because I get a bizillion days off and can never use them all, but I kind of wish I just held out for the one tomorrow. I did get a good sign idea - this guy had a sign that was about building a wall, but it was a wall of hearts.  Which was cool. I did a poster that says "Building Our Wall" and drew bricks, and in each brick is a symbol for a group we like - women, muslims, black lives matter, etc. And instead of an O in Our, I put a red heart :)  When I went to Target to buy poster board they were almost totally out, all that was left was red and green. And this heavier stuff that was white on one side and shiny silver on the other side. I went for the heavier, non-bendy stuff with the silver on the back. I figured everyone would be out. I hope I don't regret it, I'm planning to walk a couple miles to get to the common, it would be easier to roll it up.

After the protest I didn't really feel like crossfit, but I still had one time left this week, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going tomorrow, so I dragged myself there.  No rowing for once, there were wall balls and rope jumping.

WOD: 14 minute AMRAP
10 ring rows
10 ring dips (I used bands)
25 wall balls
100 jumps on the jump rope
I did 3 rounds

The real athletes were doing these crazy muscle ups, or strict pull-ups if they couldn't do them. And 50 wall balls. Still, I did 75 wall balls, plus 30 in the warm up, which is a lot!

After we did hang cleans, 10 in a row without putting the weight down.  I did 50 pounds.  My right knee was a little sore when I was bending it, so I didn't try more weight, I might have been able to do a little more.

I'm at least a little excited about tomorrow. They are saying that Boston is supposed to be second in size to DC!

Triple WOD

I've been so wrapped up in this stupid class that I'm taking and trying to figure out what to do for my research that I forgot to blog yesterday! I was going to look at the difference in acceptance rates between male and female students, but once I crunched the numbers it turned out that, although it seemed like they were pretty different, they weren't statistically significant. Boo.  So, I had to shift focus. I like the idea of looking at mindset theory and how it impacts admission. And, I was thinking about a conversation that I had with a student recently, where she wanted to know why she couldn't be paid for her community service. After all, doctors are paid to help people. And it got me thinking about how different student's service experiences are, and wondering if that made an impact on their acceptance - not just if they did it, but their mindset in believing they could learn from it. IDK. Still needs a lot of work. It's kind of swimming around in my head still.

Anyhow, Tuesday I was at Crossfit, where there was a three part WOD!  First, we started with hollow rocks, doing 20 this week. I can do 20. Probably can do 30. Not sure about more than that...

WOD #1 -
30 clean and jerks
I lifted 50 pounds
my time 5 min 8 sec

WOD #2 -
max count pull ups
this is just mean after all those clean and jerks.

WOD #3 -
1000 meter row
my time 5 min 13 sec

I've been doing a lot of rowing lately, I feel like I'm getting better at it. I almost feel like I'm in a real boat on the Charles.

Mt. Wachusett

I went on a winter hike yesterday with a couple new friends from climbing. Lesson #1, don't hike with anyone who runs marathons. Lesson #2, I am still a wimp.

Mt. Wachusett is a pretty small mountain, which is a really good thing. One of the women who I was hiking with, as I mentioned, runs marathons. She hikes fast. I still do not. By the end I gave up on trying to keep up and decided to just hike my own hike. And, I remembered why I usually hike alone.  The two women are both very nice, but I didn't get my usual nature fix because there was a lot of talking, and I was all stressed about keeping up.

It was seriously icy out, much of the hike was fine with microspikes, but a couple times I wished a little bit for ice crampons. I'm not sure if I would have done any better with them, but I'm considering getting some so I can get back out there in the next couple months. Even if it's just once or twice this winter, they are durable so I would have them for many years to come. And I don't want to hike way up in NH without them.

I'm finally in my research classes for my doctorate. I've noticed that the ideas come better when I'm not just sitting on my couch trying to force them. I went for a walk earlier today and made some progress on what I want to be doing. But, it's slow. I guess I have to do some more hiking. Like, the entire AT. I wonder how reliable the internet connection will be there? :)

I got nothing for subject

Today's WOD didn't look that hard, but of course these are always the most difficult. For once there was no rowing involved, just push ups, pull ups, sit ups and squats. I was looking at it, trying to decide if I should plan to go, and was like "can't really do push ups or pull ups, but there are more sit ups and squats." Sold!

WOD: 5 rounds, 35 minutes hard cap
20 pull ups (I used bands)
30 push ups (I used bands)
40 sit ups
50 squats
rest 3 minutes (I rested 2 min 45 sec)

I only got through 4 rounds. Didn't know it was a hard cap. Coach must have realized that he needed to get the next class going and he would be way over if he didn't stop us. I was a little sad because I think I could have done one more round and a little happy because I didn't have to :)

I went climbing yesterday and tried a couple 5.10's at Boston Rock Gym. I wasn't completely successful on them, but I was glad that I was at least trying them again. I've been climbing a lot more lately, coinciding with not hiking as much... My arms are killing me!

55 Deadlifts

I saw today's WOD and I wasn't at all confident about it, but yesterday had 55 burpee box jumps in it, so I had skipped it. So, today I really needed to get there. We started with hollow rocks, they are doing their hollow rock challenge - 10 this week, which I can do. Next week is 20, also do-able, and probably 30 as well. Beyond that, though, I may need to choose a different night than Tuesday.

WOD: 13 minutes max
55 dead lifts (I lifted 95 pounds)
55 wall balls
55 calories on the rower
55 handstand pushups
I did the deadlifts, wall balls, and 42 calories on the rower.

When I first saw the WOD I was like "I can't do one handstand pushup!" but then I realized that I probably wouldn't get to them. And, of course, I didn't. 55 is a lot of deadlifts, but I actually did them. I think my legs and abs will be killing me tomorrow.

After the WOD there was a "cashout" of 3000 meters of rowing with a partner. We were an odd number, so I didn't have a partner and just rowed about 2500 meters by myself (I rowed for 14 minutes. There was a 3 minute row in the warm up, plus the WOD made 30 minutes of active working out. Method to my madness.)

The "blizzard" wound up being only about 4 or 5 inches of snow. A decent cover, but not enough for snow shoeing.

First snow of the season

We're getting our first snow storm today!  It's pretty exciting since it's on a Saturday and everything will be good to go for work on Monday. I'm cozy on my couch now.  I wasn't sure if there was time for crossfit this morning, the sky had that impending storm look, but the weather dude said you wanted to be off the road by noon. So, I went to the 10:30 class. There were only four of us, I guess everyone else decided against it :)  It had started snowing when I left, but it wasn't sticking to the roads yet by the time I got home, so definitely glad I went.

WOD: 4 rounds
500 meter row
10 front squats (I did 45 pounds)
100 jumps on the jumprope (or 50 doubles)
10 pull ups
rest 1 minute
my time: 23 minutes, 33 seconds

I did all four sets of jump roping without stopping, pretty impressed with myself for that!  And, the first three rounds of front squats. The last round I broke up into 5 and 5.

Yesterday for work I got to visit U Mass Medical School for a local area network advising meeting. Some of the meeting was kind of so-so, especially the start where they were in theory having people talk about  best practices in their office, but if fact it wound up being people marketing programs that they want us to get our students to do. At lunch one of the medical school admissions directors who was there was talking about visiting the area, and so I invited him to come visit Northeastern and he actually said he would!  Go me!!  After the conference-y part, we got a tour of the school, and one of my former students was one of my tour guides. It was pretty cool! And then I met 3 former students for coffee. A good event, and very social for me.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe I've been blogging about my exercise for 5 years now! Well, four years, two months, but during five calendar years. This last year was the most posts, now that I am recording hiking and crossfit. I'm glad I started tracking them, I definitely can't remember all of the hikes I've done without the blog.

For NYE I went to yoga again. I did the two hour class from 11 pm until midnight. This year they had a gong and bowl playing dude who did a thing at the end during shivasana. Gonging isn't really my thing, but it was fine. Better than going to some party and feeling like I should be having more fun than I'm having. The class was a really good class this year, I was tired at the end, but not totally warn out. New Years Day I went for a little walk in the fells, on the blue trail. It was nice. I had thought the trail was more like a road, but it got narrower after the junction where I usually turn off. Today I went climbing at Brooklyn Boulders (I have 13 punches left in my punch pass and they expire April 1. I'm determined to get the most out of them).  Then, I went to crossfit. Because it's still a holiday, they didn't have the easy class, so I wound up in a class with the real athletes who were going like crazy. Hopefully later this week/next week there will be people with their New Years resolutions and I will feel like Superwoman.

Speaking of Superwoman, we started with Supermans. I'm pretty sure my stomach will hurt tomorrow, and I didn't do the exercises that well.

Then, deadlifts.  I'm pretty psyched because I lifted MORE than my weight!!  I lifted 165 pounds 6 times! I think that might be a new personal record for me - or PR as we crossfitters call it.  The WOD was more rowing, which of course I like. It's been a lot of rowing lately, though.

WOD: 5 rounds
250 meter row
10 shoulders to overhead lifts (I lifted 45 pounds)
50 double unders (I did singles)
my time: 14 min 22 sec

I emailed my boss and was like "can I take Tuesday off too?"  I don't think I'm ready to go back. But Wednesday I'm gonna have to go back to work - it's going to be tough.