Life Changes

Wednesday, May 28;

In honor of my big life change.. I decided to take today off from Crossfit. No WOD for the body, but the mind has another thing coming. I start Grad school tonight at Johns Hopkins. I'm going for my Masters in Government with a Communications concentration. Basically, I'm going back to school, so I can be a better C-SPAN employee. Yay Democracy!.. I'm just as geeky about C-SPAN as I am about Crossfit, but I'm getting off of track.

Sometimes in our lives we have to change paths. It's something we should do to continue our growth as a person. Some people make changes because they are unhappy about the way their lives are going. Others change because they want to make life better than it already is. I've been wanting to go back to school for about 2 years now. I looked into graduate programs when I was living in Connecticut, but the thought of staying there for more than 2 years made me want to tear my eyeballs out.

I moved down to DC to start work at C-SPAN with the intention of going back to school. I started studying for the GRE's more than a year ago. I hit a little study wall block last July and August, but climbed back on the saddle and buckled down for some serious math and vocab memorization in September. I took the test last November and did pretty well. I had all my school applications done by the middle of January. Johns Hopkins said they wanted me.. I said I wanted them and now here I am. Ready to take the leap.

I have thought about how this new added stress may affect my workout routine as well as my social life. Honestly, I'm not quite sure. I know I'll make it work with a little bit of sacrifice. It's been great to see Melanie, Elyse, Craig and a whole lot of other Crossfitters who have been able to find the balance between working, working out and schooling. I hope I'll be able to see a good amount of the blue room over the next few years. I can't imagine not making time for something that has been so awesome.

Just say "NO"

Tuesday, May 27;

Sometimes it's just better to say "no." This blog post will also include a story about D.A.R.E., but let me first get through my point about today's WOD. I knew today would be a beast workout, but I didn't know what it was going to be. After eating loads of potato salad, chips, burgers and strawberry shortcake (all of which I enjoyed very, very much) I waddled myself into the blue room to discover Jerry's prescription for pain.

There it was.. hundreds of pullups.. maybe not hundreds.. but a freakin' ton of pullups. I knew immediately, that I wouldn't be doing that.. I also knew I wouldn't be doing the same number of ring rows. My shoulder has been feeling really strange over the past few days.. not so much painful, but more like it's going to pop out of socket at any moment.

We started with overhead bar work (another one of my no-goes). I remembered I can always work up from PVC pipe to very light weights overhead. That's just what I did. I won't be scaring small children with the amount of weight I'm lifting, but I feel like I'm rehabilitating more than I'm damaging. Bring on the fractional plates.. ARGH.

Then I made my own workout which involved a lot of running and strengthening with some low reps of bodyweight movements.

Warmup:
3xPress - 3xPush Press - 3xPress Jerk
PVC pipe, 2lbs, 5lbs, 7lbs, 10lbs (does this look silly to anyone else??)

Workout:
4 Rounds for time:
6 ring rows
9 knee pushups
12 squats
800 Meter run
Total: 27:57

Okay, the D.A.R.E. story as promised. When I was in fifth grade our school held a D.A.R.E. essay contest. We had to write what we learned from the program, or something like that. I wrote a beautiful piece about drugs and how I'd never do them and how much DARE had changed my life (I was 9).. We waited for weeks while our schools DARE rep, read diligently through our 5th grade essays. I was sure he'd pick mine, but when the moment of truth came he announced Jacklyn Creasy's name and not mine. I was devastated.. not nearly as devastated as I was when I lost the race for 5th grade Vice President to my best friend. Fifth grade was a tough year for me. I did a lot of "Survival of the Fitting."

I digress.. anyway. Jacklyn got to get up in front of the whole school and read her essay out loud. What a load of sappy crap. Mine was better. I guess you win some and you lose some. Jerk!

I know this has nothing to do with Crossfit, but I thought I should do something drug-prevention related due to this postings title.

I start Crossfit at 6am tomorrow.. that's because I'm also starting Grad school tomorrow at Johns Hopkins. What.. I like to lift big things and I'm smart??!! That's crazy!

Deadlifts and Cottage Cheese Gone Bad

Thursday, May 22;

We worked on deadlift form today. The setup of the workout was great, because it gave us the opportunity to start light, work on form and then go heavier. I came in to work with the 6 am on form. I don't think there was much coaching needed, but I love giving minor tweaks that could make a huge difference. I got some really good information from the cert, and I was more than happy to pass it around.

One thing I've been working on is bringing my hips up higher, so my scapula is directly over the center of my foot. This has helped with the extra extension in my lower back. I can also focus on pulling my shoulder blades back in, which is good for my shoulder. Check it out in the picture above. Compare that to the starting position from a picture taken of an old squat.

Warmup:

Deadlift technique

65lbx5, 85lbx5, 105lbx5, 125lbx5, 145lbx5

Workout:

AMRAP in 20 minutes or 10 rounds
6 ring rows

9 pushups

12 Right arm Dumbell snatches
Total: 17:50

Also, I had to do some thinking on my feet today. I brought in breakfast like always. Last week I started doing the oatmeal/cottage cheese mix last week. This week I decided to take Andrea's suggestion and use ricotta cheese, which tastes so much yummier! I grabbed my little ziplock container out of the fridge and put it in my bag and headed off to work.

The day was going well. "Coaching" and early morning workout were great. Drive to work was easy. Shower and shave.. check.. check.. Got into work on time, and filled up my coffee mug for my second dose of the morning. Finally, it was time to feed my ravaged stomach. So I got out my 1 cup of strawberries and my oatmeal. I sunk my spoon in and opened wide. I noticed a slightly sour smell, but shoved it in anyways. Then the oatmeal hit my tongue and I swallowed. The smell was nothing compared to the taste. I sniffed the container again and realized.. this was not ricotta cheese mixed in with my oatmeal.. it was the COTTAGE CHEESE from last week's breakfast batch!! Oh goodness! I quickly took a swig, and then another of my coffee. Shut the container and ate my strawberries.

One thing Crossfitters do very well is think on their feet (I don't really know if that's a true statement, but it sounded good.) After my morning meeting I went downstairs to our convenience store and bougth an apple and three boiled eggs. I used the eggs and a little bit of packet mayo to make egg salad for what I'm thinking is sufficiently close to a 3 block meal.

In case you were wondering.. I did not get sick!

Taking a Moment

Wednesday, May 21;

Today had the makings of being a great workout. I had a little pentup frustration about something that had happened earlier in the week, and usually Crossfit is the safest and most effective way for me to release some stress.

You can see Steven in the back ground. He's kicking my butt.

We were doing a running workout today. It was one we had done last fall, and I remembered liking it. I was totally focused and ready to cook off some steam. I went through round 1 like a blaze of fury, round 2 was similar.. until I hit the middle of the run. My whole body started cramping up. It went from my lower back straight through to my abs.. then headed down to my legs. By the time I got back to the Wall Ball/Jumping Weighted squat station I was dying. I did something that I rarely do. I stopped!!! It must have been a 30 second pause.. just dead still, waiting for my cramping to calm down. Once I felt like I could work through the pain, I banged out 20 jumping squats then moved on to KB swings. Then, the same thing. I couldn't move. After another 30 seconds or so I started working again. Until I finished my swings and went for my final round of running. It was brutal.

Warmup:
Slow 400 meter run

Workout:
50 Weighted Jumping Squats
50 KB swings (American) 35lb
800 meter run

35 Weighted Jumping Squats
35 KB swings (American) 35lb
800 meter run

20 Weighted Jumping Squats
20 KB swings (American) 35lb
800 meter run

Total: 21:51

You Can Cry, but You Can't Quit

Tuesday, May 20;

Some of you may recognize this slogan from Crossfit Pentagon. I tend to love it! I had a moment yesterday that reminded me of it. Yesterday was my final stint with my physical therapist. Now you may think that I would have been thrilled about this. Unfortunately, I'm not at all. Going to my physical therapist was a good way for me to force myself to slow down, and it was a really good check on my progress. I treated my physical therapy kind of as a security blanket, but now I'm not going and its a little scary being on my own.

I'm sitting there at the physical therapist. I had done my like bike workout that warms my shoulders up and I was waiting for the next thing. I had already told my therapist that my shoulder has been bothering me the past few days. I've been waking up from the pain.. yada yada. Anyway, she looks at me and asks me if there was something wrong. Before I know it I have big tears welling up in my eyes. Now, many of you who know me know that I'm not a big crier. Like I've said before.. whatever happened to survival of the fittest? You may be asking yourself why were you crying?? Funny, because I was asking myself the same exact question.

Recipe for crying:

A pinch of Lack of sleep

1 Cup of frustration

1 TBS of pain

1 TBS of other stuff going on

1.5 Cups of being a girl

Directions: Mix together for one 3 block meal of tears.

My therapist sees that I'm a wreck, so she says, "We don't have to finish this. You can go if you need." Of course, this pisses me off, which doesn't help and makes me want to stay and finish even more. She realizes finally that I'm stubborn, and I'm not going anywhere. She gives me my 3lb weights and we continue.

This reminds me of my old dancing days.. I danced for 8 years when I was a teenager (ballet, tap, jazz... yada yada). I also did competitive dancing with our dance school's jazz company and competition teams. One year we did a Batman theme for one of our jazz dances. We had to audition to dance in the number. Once we had been selected, we then had to audition for specific characters... the role of Batman was for the strong technical dancers, the role of Vicki Vale was for the leggy sex pots (yes we were in high school) who were also technically strong and flexible, and then the role of the joker was for the strong hip hop dancers a.k.a the larger girls in the group. I'm sure you all know that I was hoping for the Vicky Vale part.

The choreographer called us all in for the first class and handed out our roles.. devastation.. I was a Batman! That also meant that I had to wear a batman full plastic face mask and a cape. Sweet! (note very heavy sarcasm here!)

After the big announcement, our teacher took us through the warmup and then began teaching us the dance. I cried silently through the whole warmup.. while cursing my parents for being so short. Then I wiped up my stupid, girl tears and started learning my dance which consisted of tons of turns, leaps and other pretty cool "trick" moves. All in all it worked out well. Let's hope I can say the same thing for my shoulder.

The Crossfit Shake

Monday, May 19;

You've heard of the protein shake, the shimmy shake, the harlem shake, but have you heard of the Crossfit shake? It's that "I can't feel my arm" feeling you get after an intense workout. You've worked a part of your body out to a point where it's so afraid of you it's shaking. Okay, maybe you call it muscle fatigue, but I call it the Crossfit shake. If you're a die hard Crossfitter you know it well. It keeps you at your Crossfit gym a little bit longer. You wait there until you regain the feeling in your hands so you can safely drive home. Or maybe you collapse on the floor or in a chair after a workout until you think your legs can once again support the weight of your body. It makes it difficult to soap up your hair in the shower, to hold the hair dryer and forget putting on eyeliner!!

Well, that's what I felt after yesterday's class. It was setup like a Fight Gone Bad with only 3 stations and going 5 rounds for time. There was enough rest time built in that you could literally go crazy with the put out for three minutes and then rest. A perfect mixture for the Crossfit shake! Saturday's bike ride and last week's work have brought back some old pain in the shoulder, so I'm staying off of it for now. That means my right arm suffered the brunt of yesterday's abusive workout.

Workout:

Front Squat work:
workup to front squat for 5 reps: 75lb x 5
(I'm working on technique and keeping the butt down on the way up, so I stopped at 75lbs)

Max effort of 65lb front squat: 65lb x 30

FGB style - AMRAP for 5 rounds:
1 min. R arm Push Press
1 min. Box Jumps
1 min. R arm KB High Pull
1 min. Rest

Total reps: 424

I've also been working on my KB High Pull technique. At the Cert I kept getting corrected for swinging the KB instead of pulling it straight up and dropping it straight down. You can see it in this video. Notice the arch the bell takes in a lot of the swings. Jack has a really nice high pull. He uses his strong hip power to drive the KB straight up and then comes all the way back down to the ground. My technique is kind of funky. It's different doing the High pull with just one arm on the Kettlebell, or maybe I'm just going too fast. Notice the position of my elbow. It's a little low for my liking. Ideally it should be higher than the bell. Oh Crossfit.. you always give me things to work on! If we were in high school, you'd be be my 11th grade Science teacher.

Biking with Cars (aka Survival of the Fittest)

Saturday, May 17;

Headed down to Williamsburg, VA to visit family and celebrate Mother's Day with my mom and grandmother. I brought my bike because I knew it would be beautiful and there are some really nice areas to bike down there. My mom had mapped out the whole ride. She used to do road biking, (she did the AIDS ride from North Carolina to DC a few years ago. How awesome!) so I trusted her ability to set out a safe and road bike friendly trek. (mistake #1)

I arrived early Saturday morning, and got the directions from my grandfather. He promised that it would be a nice easy ride. I'd be driving with cars, but the speed limit was fairly low. He also promised that the entire trek would be paved. (mistake #2.. listening to grandfather). I figure now may be a good time to explain why I am the way I am. I was not babied as a child. I had to take care of myself. Feed and cook for myself. Wake myself up in time to get to elementary school. Walk myself to elementary school. Let myself into the house after school.. yada yada. My uncle's favorite saying is, "what ever happened to survival of the fittest?" I truly live by that. I have a tendency to think that if I can't kick someone else's ass, then they'll kick mine. It's a survival mechanism that I've developed over the years. This being said.. sometimes I feel like my family is testing me to make sure my survival skills are still sharp as a tac. Bastards!

Back to my bike ride... I headed out around noon. I was supposed to meet my mom in Yorktown a little before 2pm. It's about a 20 mile ride (my longest to date.. I just got the bike about a month ago). Clipping in and out has become second nature now, and I haven't fallen in a few weeks. I'm gaining balance and getting faster. The ride was going well until I got out on the main road. It was my first foray into riding the bike with cars speeding by me at speeds that would kill me instantly. I felt safe because there was a nice shoulder to ride on, but that warm, safe feeling didn't last too long. In fact it vanished the second I realized I would have to bike past highway entrances and exits. See, I was riding on a major route that run's through Williamsburg and is the main way to get onto Intersate 64 as well as other heavily traveled highways in central Virginia. My mom and grandfather's words echoed in my head, "oh, you'll be safe.. this is an easy ride." Thanks guys. I made it past the ramps and felt safe until I saw the big orange signs ahead.. "No Right Shoulder Ahead." The thought echoed in my head, "Who thought this was a good idea? Let's send the biking novice out on the highway and then make sure she's riding next to cars going 75mph. That'll be fun for her."

I made it through okay... obviously, since I'm writing this. The next portion of the trip was the road that runs along the James River and runs into Yorktown. This is where the, "all the roads are paved, right?" comes into play. I took the turn to head to Yorktown and saw it.. the road that I would be 14 miles on was paved indeed.. paved with ROCKS!!! I hit it .. swore at my family.. and then thanked G-d that my bike is the sweetest bike ever. I have a Zertz system that obsorbs shock.. lots of shock. If not, today I would have been making an appointment with the lady doctor to make sure I still have the ability to bear children. I also was happy that I had my heavily padded biking shorts on. My who-ha is writing thank you cards tonight after work.

Despite the rocky terrain.. the ride was beautiful. It was about 80 degrees out and sunny. I was riding along the river. People were happy. I was happy. Up ahead of me, I noticed a nice little pull off point that I could walk down to the water. I had enough time to stop, so I pulled over and decided to walk down through the marsh, with my bike and my biking shoes.

Now, I said I was tough.. but I never claimed to be smart! Walking through the marsh I was reminded of a scene from The Never Ending Story (I think this is my second reference to the movie since I've been blogging). It's the scene where Atreyou is trying to encourage his horse Artax to keep pushing through the mud.. and Artax is sinking in.. and Atreyou is begging him to hurry up. Despite all the prodding the horse ends up dying a sad, slow death in the swamp. Well, I guess my little run in with the mud wasn't as depressing. I did learn that the next time I want to go gallavanting through mud I should shoulder my bike and take my freaking shoes off! I made it out of the sludge safely, and figured I should get going.

I ended up meeting my mom in Yorktown. I was a little sunburnt, but I felt good. My ride was all in all a success.

Lessons Learned:
Don't take your bike into the mud. If you do.. put it on your shoulder and take your biking shoes off.

Wear sunscreen (I obviously didn't learn last time)

Map out the bike ride for yourself.. your family may be trying to kill you.

Driving with cars is scary. Driving with motorcyclists is MUCH scarier.

Driving with 50 motorcyclists is the scariest thing ever.

Porto-potties being hauled on a flatbed are also pretty scary.. but they don't smell.