BIRTHDAY BLOG

4:00pm @ RNCF

3 x Skill Work:

10 x Deficit HSPU

10 x Toes to Bar

10 x DB Snatch 

NOTES: Some of the HSPU felt great, some didn't. The placement of the PVCs really make a difference. I warmed up with DB a couple different weights: 30, 35, 40, 50, 55. These are actually in Regionals. At 50# for women. 100 of them.  In a row. Wow. 

OH Squat

Find a 3RM (from the rack)

3 x 85

3 x 105

3 x 120

3 x 130

3 x 140

3 x 150

3 x 155 (PR!!!!) 

NOTES: There is a 3RM ladder in Regionals. The women can start at either 85-135-155-or 175. I was SO PUMPED to get 155 three times. The last time I tested this lift, which was a long time ago, my ONE rep was only 125. It's nice to see the hard work pay off in such a sort period of time. 

Clean and Jerk

1 x 155

1 x 165

1 x 175

1 x 185

1 x 200 (Just the clean!) (PR!!!!) 

NOTES: My cleans didn't actually feel that great in the beginning. But, once I set my shoulders and really focused, I was able to pull up the 200 on the first try!!!! So now I've done a 200# clean and a 200# jerk, but not together. Next step, string these boys into one, nice Clean and Jerk! 

Rest 5 minutes. 

4 Minutes:

2 x Clean and Jerk (95) every 15 seconds. 

NOTES: This was hard, but I was able to stay on pace the whole time. I actually strung the two together really well. Right when the I locked out the jerk, I took it right to the ground. 

Rest 10ish minutes. 

2011 Games Event 7:

3 Rounds:

30 DU

10 OH Squats (95)

   Then

3 Rounds:

10 HSPU

40ft Sled Push (90# - scaled from like 200+)

TIME: 9:13

NOTES: I did the whole WOD in the alley. That was an experience. One dude started taking pictures and then another old man tried to talk to me and Andy mid-HSPU. I really bummed that I had to scale the sled so heavily. I'm not trying to make any excuses, but I just couldn't get any grip on the sidewalk. Once the sled got moving, it wasn't that bad. The slowest time at the Games in this was 13:30+. So, not too shabby. 

Post-CrossFit:

23

Today marks the day I have spent twenty three years on this beautiful earth. Happy Birthday to Me. 

And how did I celebrate, you might ask?  Well I celebrated by taking a three hour written exam. That was thrilling. 

After I settled down from the wonderfulness of what some like to call a Law School Final, Allie and I went and bought birthday cupcakes from Sprinkles.  Great life choice. 

  

And then, I came home from CrossFit to this juicy surprise gift from my wonderful family. Thank you Mom, Dad, and Kelly! You guys are the best. 

Cheers to one final done, Sprinkles cupcakes, 200# Power Clean, Fruit Bouquet, Italian personal pan pizza, and 23 years of a wonderful life :)

(I'm allowed to make multiple cheers on my birthday because it's my official Diva Day) 

30 Minute Clock

3:00pm @ RNCF

3 x Skill Work
10 x BF Pull Ups
3 x Skin the Cat
5 x Sots Press

NOTES: It's so weird how these BF Pull Ups can either feel so good or so bad.

Squat Snatch
2 x 65
2 x 85
1 x 105
1 x 115
1 x 125
1 x 135 (fail, fail, SUCCESS!)
1 x 142 (fail, fail, fail)

NOTES: I almost had the 142 on the last pull, it just got a little bit too far in front of me. I'm glad I got up 135 today. It's not that the weight feel to heavy, I just need to correct my awful form. That's the project for the summer - deconstruct and rebuild from the ground up.

I LOVE CrossFit pictures! I also love messing with screen shoting the videos I take at the gym. How awesome is that picture where I'm literally floating in midair!? Isn't it cool how you can pull 135# that high off the ground, while jumping in the air.

Class WOD:
On a 30:00 Clock
At 0:00
  3 Rounds:
10 Front Squats (95)
20 Pull Ups
(4:19)

At 10:00
  3 Rounds:
15 Hang Power Cleans (95)
15 Box Jumps (24")
(4:31)

At 20:00
20 Burpee Bar Hops
30 Shoulder to OH (95)
400m Run
(5:39)

TIME: 25:39
NOTES: I thought that this was going to suck a lot worse than it did. My conditioning really paid off on this WOD. Because I'm used to stringing a lot of WODs together, this wasn't anything new to me. It's good to know that I'm well conditioned and I'm able to recover quickly.

Rest 15 minutes

Back Squat
3 x 125
1 x 175
1 x 195
2 x 215

NOTES: I wanted to see how my legs held up with heavy squats after this WOD. I was glad that I got 215 twice. It's definitely a totally different feeling doing these squats after a long workout, instead of doing it at the beginning.

Check Out:
4 x 20 Hollow Rocks
4 x 5 Good Mornings

NOTES: Hollow rocks are super easy now. I am not a fan of good mornings. My right hamstring has actually been twitching all day, and the good mornings did not help this at all.

Tomorrow is my birthday. And I get to celebrate 23 years by taking a Law School final exam at 9am. Yay. 

Wish me luck!

Cheers to Cinderella!

Cinco de Mayo

Feliz Cinco de Mayo mis amigos! 

No CrossFit today. But, it was a day full of practice Contracts exams, studying at the beach, and mango margs.

Cheers to guacamole!

2012 CrossFit Games Chipper

11:30am @ RNCF

3 x Skill Work
3 x Weighted Strict Pull-Ups
20 sec L-Sit
HS Walk

NOTES: These pull-ups fell pretty easy with the 5lbs. I think it's time to add a couple pounds next time. L-sits still suck. It's also really hard to do HS walks when there are a lot of people in your way.

Power Snatch:
3 x 65
2 x 85
2 x 105
1 x 115
1 x 120
1 x 125
1 x 130

NOTES: I stopped after 130 because I wasn't feeling too strong with these today. My body is still pretty beat up from yesterday, and my elbows were feeling a little funky, so I cut myself off at 130. I'm still pretty proud of that lift.

2012 CF Games Chipper:
10 OH Squat (105)
10 Box Jump Overs (20")
10 Thrusters (Fat Bar 95)
10 Power Cleans (125)
10 Toes to Bar
10 Burpee Muscle Ups
10 Toes to Bar
10 Power Cleans
10 Thrusters
10 Box Jump Overs
10 OH Squats

TIME: 12:25
NOTES: I just watched the girls do this on TV a couple nights ago. I watched J.F. rock this WOD out in under 8:00. I have a lot more respect for that time now that I've done it. I got done with my first T2B at 3:32. I got off the rings just under 8:00. And then it took me about 4:30 to finish up after the MUs. I did both sets of my OH Squats UB, which was tough - it helped that Andy was yelling at me at the end. The box jump overs were the rest. The thrusters weren't too bad once I started engaging my hips. I went 6-4 for both sets. I did all my power cleans in both sets as singles.  I probably could have strung a couple together, but I didn't want to blast my grip for the MUs and the OH squats. The toes to bar were actually pretty hard today because my abs are on fire from the GHDs yesterday. I think I did like 6-4 and then 4-3-3. That's pitiful. The burpess MUs weren't that bad. I probably didn't need to rest as much as I did. I didn't no rep at all, so that was good. I was pretty impressed with my performance. It was a great, heavy WOD. I just wanted to get under the 15min time cap. And I did :)

And, I just took a peak at the Games' results. Out of the 36 women that got to participate in the Chipper, my time would have been enough for me to place 29th. The slowest time was 15:52. That's cool.  Sometimes I feel like those women in the Games are unbeatable, but apparently they aren't.

Rest 25 minutes

3 Rounds:
50M Sled Push (Sled + 50lb)
100M Farmer's Carry (50lb DB in each hand)

TIME: 12:30
NOTES: I did this with Andy in the alley at RNCF. This was actually way more challenging than I thought it would be. My legs were pretty smoked from the WOD, so my quads and my calves blew up super fast on the sled. I broke up the farmer's walk into 50/50; 30/20/30/20; 30/20/50. I pretty much used every ounce of energy in my finger tips to get that last 50m UB.




Cheers to three loads of laundry!

TWO HUNDRED POUND JERK

5pm @ RNCF

3 x Skill Work
5 x KB Sots Press
10 x KB Snatch (35)
10 x Squat w/ Band

NOTES: The snatches felt kind of weird on my elbow today. I have no idea why.

Jerk
Off the Blocks.
6 x 85
4 x 115
1 x 135
1 x 155
1 x 175
1 x 185 (PR!)
1 x 190 (PR!!!) 
1 x 200 (HUGE PR!!!!!)

NOTES: Words cannot describe my elated joy resulting from this magical lift. Andy was working with me all day to keep my chest up, and not let the bar slide down. Finally, on my third attempt at 200# I finally got it right, and 200# just floated above my head like a feather. A very heavy feather. I could tell right when I dipped that I was going to stick this lift. It feels so great to work really hard in the gym everyday and see the results. Ohhhhh yeahhhh!

Back Squat
3 x 125
1 x 175
1 x 205
1 x 215
1 x 230
1 x 240 (PR!)

NOTES: I think I was still on a crazy adrenaline high after the jerks, that the back squats felt easy. I just PRed my back squat at 235# yesterday, but I increased that to 240# today. I probably could have even squeezed a couple more pounds, but I called it quits just for safe measures. Andy took a video of me (kinda). He captured the last part of my squat.

240# Back Squat

Clean and Jerk Practice:

15 UB (65)

12 UB (75)

9 UB (85)

NOTES: I went way way way too light on this. It pretty much just became an aerobic exercise. I just tried to pull it as quick as possible. If I did this again, I would probably start with at least 100# on the 15. I pretty much screwed this up. My bad. 

Skill WOD:

75 DU

10 Wall Walks

25 GHD Sit-Ups

10 Wall Walks

75 DU

TIME: 8ish min

NOTES: This time is not accurate at all. I had to fight off a full class while doing this WOD. I got stopped up a ton of times. The wall walks were pretty brutal.  I did 5-3-2 for each set and was smoked by the 10th rep. The GHDs felt awful like usual. I need to work on these a lot more and a lot more often. 

1 Mile Run @ RNCF

TIME: 7:35

Rest 5 minutes

660m Run @ RNCF

TIME: 2:45 

NOTES: I wish I could have run this on the track so I could have gotten an actual time for this. I ended up having to dodge a lot of business persons, babies, and dogs. My shins actually flared up really bad on this run. It was pretty painful. So I cut the last run short and just tried to finish hard. My legs were pretty smoked by the time I got to this. 

Overall a great day in the gym. I'm so blessed to have such great encouragement from everyone at the box! 

Also, Andy deserves a special shout out. His programming is amazing! I can't wait to see where I'm going to be at this time next year! It's going to be an exciting journey. 

Cheers to TWO HUNDRED POUND JERK!  

Bullet Proof Vest (kinda)

6pm @ RNCF

3 x Skill Work
2 x Rope Climbs
10 x BF Pull Up
10 x TU

NOTES: My rope climbs felt the best they ever have! I was excited about this.

Power Clean
5 x 85
3 x 125
1 x 155
1 x 175
1 x 185
4 x 195 (fail, fail, fail, fail)

NOTES: I'm glad I got 185 today, but I wish I could have got that 195. I actually put 200# on the bar and totally freaked out. I had to take 5# off in order to get my head back. I was pretty close on a couple of the reps.  I just need to work on my elbow flexibility   I'm catching the bar pretty low on my chest and it's bothering my wrists. But, no worries, Andy already showed me a couple different tips and tricks to solve this problem.

2012 Games Clean Ladder:
140-150-160-170-180-190 (fail)
45sec to change weight and transition between lifts

NOTES: I actually caught 190 in a pretty good position, but I couldn't stand it up. I'll take 180 for now.

Back Squat
1 x 140
1 x 175
1 x 200
1 x 210
1 x 220
1 x 235 (PR!!!!)

And this is what 235# looks like. Pretty sweet, huh. 

NOTES: I hadn't back squatted for a couple days, and I was really excited to try and PR this. I put on a belt today for my 220 and 235 reps, which felt great. I'm excited to keep moving heavy weight.

Rest 10 minutes

5 Rounds:
(All performed with weighted vest: 11.6lbs)
250m Row
10 Squat Clean Thrusters (65)
15 Burpees
Rest 3 minutes

TIME: 27:35
NOTES: In my spiffy weighted vest, I felt like I could fight crime and/or stop a bullet.

Although I admired the aesthetics of it, I severely underestimated the power of the vest. Vest = hard to breathe. I actually did all my 'squat clean' thrusters without activating my hips. So essentially I did a bunch of squats with a reverse curl into a shoulder press. My legs were pretty smoked, so it made more sense for me to tax my shoulders/arms and save my legs for the rowing the burpees. The burpees were awful with the vest.

Round	Rowing Split	Round Split
1	0:58.2	2:34
2	1:02.3	3:08
3	1:02.6	3:27
4	1:01.8	3:14
5	1:02.1	3:09

Rest 15 minutes

New Skill WOD:
20-16-12-8-4
  Butterfly Pull-Ups
10-8-6-4-2
  Triple Unders

TIME: 7:30
NOTES: This was a fun WOD.  I'm glad Andy threw this in at the end of a long day. The deeper I got into the WOD, the easier the butterfly pull ups were. I was actually able to link 10+ together. I also linked 8+ triple unders together.

Check Out
4 x 1min Planks
3 x 10 GHD Sit-Ups




Cheers to last day of first-year law school classes!

Games on the Tele

Wednesday.  Day of rest.

The 2012 CrossFit Games were on TV tonight. Needless to say, I lost all productivity between the hours of 8:00 - 10:00pm.

It's so crazy inspiring to watch these ladies throwdown.

What's even more crazy is that I'm doing those workouts, too.

They actually showed the 2012 Chipper tonight, which is what I'm programmed to do this Saturday.  Don't worry, I was taking good notes.

How awesome would that be to get an invite to the CrossFit Games!?

Hey, a girl can dream.

I am literaly still in shock that I get to compete with these women at the 

North Central Regional.  

Deborah Cordner Carson

  

Elizabeth Akinwale (who trains right here in Chicago!)

Stacie Tovar

Who knows, maybe one day some random person will post a picture of me as their CrossFit inspiration?  Slightly creepy, but still really cool.

Cheers to tears of joy!