She's Back!

Sunday, July 19;

My week of self-imposed time off is over!! Thank freaking G-d. I seriously have been wanting to lift cars, because I've missed working out so badly. I did hit one workout in the blue room on Wednesday, but I felt so horrible about it. I was hurting and out of shape... working through some serious pain and cramping. I knew I wouldn't be able to come in to the blue room to join the usual Sunday morning workout, so I decided I'd hit up the park workout with Crossfit Potomac.

I was a little bummed to find out Jen (the co-owner, and my long time crossfit buddy, and partner in shoulder pain) wouldn't be there, but once I've made up my mind there's no changing it. They hold workouts really close to my house which is prett awesome. It's on an outdoor track at this high school. There was a pretty decent crowd. I always like to see how I stack up to athletes that I don't regularly workout with. I kind of know generally where I sit in the blue room Crossfit community, but it's always a good test of my ability when I have to go up against strangers. Often, it's really humbling.. also, often I love to see that the Crossfit mentality translates to its athletes no matter what affiliate they are with.

What I saw Saturday were some really eager Crossfitters, some hard core athletes and a lot of heart! I love it. Oh.. and I also came up with a much needed new t-shirt logo.. check it out on the right. -->

I was really excited to see my good, old buddy Pat show up during the warm-up (in classic Pat style.. and yes, his hair was a mess!)

For the workout we had to team up in groups of 4. I stayed close to my roots.. sticking with Pat. I knew together that we would be a force to be reckoned with! The guys standing next to us looked like some decent fire breathers so we welcomed them to creat a brutally, tough group of four.

Workout:

Group work: Complete as a group.. only one person doing an exercise at one time

400 meter run

400 squats

300 situps

200 pushups

100 dumbell swings

400 meter run

We started out going clockwise until a person failed at their exercise and then we rotated. This was a pretty efficient way to go about things. We also kept pretty decent track of our numbers.. another key to doing group work.

I knew I could bang out squats and swings, so I stuck to doing those and some situps as well. I contributed about 20 pushups.. They are definitely not my strength any longer, but I was happy that I was able to do full out pushups (not on my knees). My shoulder wasn't bothering me. I think I'll stick to doing full out pushups even if it slows me down. I have the ability to do them, so why not? Good to know.

Also, I should mention that our team was filled with fire breathers! We smoked through this workout in 14:03 (the first to finish!). You all know how I love that. I hope to hit more park workouts. I had a great time. Maybe next time Jenn will join!

Wonderful Wakeup Call

Wednesday, June 18

It's been a few days since I've updated this thing. I guess my whole balancing work/personal/school life is cutting into some of my former activities (mainly updating this thing). Anyway, this is long overdue.

Monday's workout was a little tough for me. It started out well but once the workout start my shoulder went on a revolt. We started with cleans. I've been able to work up to some decent clean weights, but I'm still not where I used to be. Pre injury I was able to clean 110, but I'm probably maxing out around 90lbs maybe 100lbs if I'm focused. The deal was to workup to a heavy 5 rep max. I could complete 5 reps at 80lbs, which I was happy with. I bailed out of the 90lb max rep test at rep number 3. I forget that I just don't have the strength I used to have pre-injury. I'll have to workup to it. Slow progress I guess.

Then the WOD started. I should have known better. The movements.. Hang Squat Power cleans, Pullups and pushups. Am I serious?? What was I thinking? I limited the pullups to just 5, but seriously everything hurt. I knew after the first round that this was not a good idea. I stupidly went through 4 more rounds before finally calling it. I've called a workout once before in the blue room. It was the last day I worked out on my shoulder. After that I went into a 3 month heavy, left arm lifting hiatus. That one I called because of unbelievable pain. This time I learned. I had noticeable pain, so I said to myself, "self, this is stupid." Then I stopped. Way to learn from past mistakes!

Monday, June 16;

Workup:
Heavy barbell cleans
35lb x5, 55lb x5, 65lb x5, 75lb x5, 85lb x5, 95lb x 3

Workout:
AMRAP in 15 minutes
7 Hang Squat Power Cleans
5 Pullups
11 Pushups

5 rounds

100 situps with the Abmat

This post was titled "Wonderful Wakeup Call" and I'll explain why now. Since the whole shoulder rehab thing started I've woken up with shoulder pain. It's not horrible, it's just noticeable. It usually goes away after I move around a bit. (For the record, I am 26.. I shouldn't be having body pains yet!!!) This morning.. I went through the usual wakeup routine. Alarm goes off at 4:45am. I hit snooze about 10 times. Then the second alarm goes off on the other side of the room and I get out of bed to turn it off. Trust me, this is an improvement. There was a point when I was using 3 alarms. One of which was battery operated in case the power went out. Obsessive much?

I rolled out of bed and realized my shoulder did not hurt. Not only did it not hurt, but I had been able to sleep on it all night and it still didn't hurt. I was thrilled! I got out of bed and once I got to CFOT I was even more pumped when Jerry said that our workout wouldn't be shoulder intensive. SWEET! Bringing on the squats.

Workout:
For time:
400 meter run
50 squats
400 meter run
50 squats
400 meter run
50 squats
400 meter run
50 squats

Total: 11:05

25 ring dips (I got on the pink band today!!)
100 Abmat situps w/ 10 pound ball
no time.. just practice

Sparticus at Christmas 2007 trying to steal food. Typical!

On a sad note, we had to put my cat Sparticus to sleep this morning. He was a ripe ole 19 years old. He was a great guy, and he'll be missed.