WOD a week

It's been a really fun week at crossfit.  I know, I know...not a lot of people use the words "fun" and "crossfit" in the same sentence, but I'm going to.  I honestly enjoy almost everything we do (burpees are still Satan!) and I can sense my improvement in both form and strength, and it doesn't hurt to hear that from Coach and others in the group.

Monday:  Super Intro: for time.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this one.  Seriously hard but seriously fun. The normal intro is 500/40/30/20/10, but the super is amped up and doubled!
 - row 750m
 - 60 squats
 - 45 sit-ups
 - 30 push-ups (knees)
 - 15 pull-ups (jumping)
rest for 3 minutes and repeat.  My time, with my 3 minute rest, came to just over 25 minutes.  But my squats are getting lower, and my pull-ups seem a little easier.  Just need to work on kipping and moving up to a band before the next PR challenge in February.

Tuesday:  came today, because of Blue Rodeo on Thursday.  Today was Death by Push Press.  After a lesson on kipping and pull-ups, we did a 2 minute AMRAP of pull-ups, followed by 1 minute intervals of push press.  ie: minute 1 = 1 push press, minute 2 = 2 push press, till failure.  Once you fail on push press, back on the bars for as many unbroken pull-ups as you can do.   I managed 37 jumping pull-ups in my 2 minutes and then got half way through minute 12 (12 reps) of a 40 lb press before failure.  Then I think I got all the way up to 8 jumping pull-ups.  Shoulders took a beating (nothing Dr. Jay couldn't snap back into place on Wednesday!) but I left with a smile on my face.

Wednesday was run club, so I did a little steady run of just under 5km before a pint and chicken tacos with the gang.  Clinic starts on Tuesday, so my running will increase over the next few months leading up to Funcouver in May.

Thursday - weigh-in (down 3), followed by a heavy snowfall in Calgary, and Blue Rodeo.  BEST.CONCERT.EVER!  So nice that after 25 years, the boys can still sing and laugh and enjoy what they do for a living.  Seriously, best.concert.ever.  EVER.  Okay, maybe the Eagles were a little...nope, like the boys of Blue better!  Sweet dreams of Jim singing Try and After the Rain stayed with me all night.

Friday: thankfully my co-worker/tenant decided to help me out by shovelling the walks on Thursday, as I wasn't going to get to them till late tonight.  Even getting home from work at 4, I still only managed a brief area before heading off to crossfit.  I'll tackle them in earnest on Saturday, since I don't get to "shovel" but have to scrape!  Tonight we spent 15 minutes working on our box-jumps.  These things are totally mental and if you get in your head, you're doomed!!  For probably 5 minutes I stood and stared at the little 12" box but could not get my feet to move off Mother Earth!!  Shaking it off (and needing Coach to tell me to get out of my head) I managed to jump 12".  Then I added a flat weight for another couple of inches, and worked on that for a bit.  Finally another weight, for a total of 16".  Tried yet another, but freaked out halfway up and  landed with my feet on either side of the box...kind of wish there was video, because the sight of me landing like that while saying NOPE out loud seems pretty damn funny in my head!  But I'll take 16", thank you and slowly work my way up to the standard of 20".  It was crazy watching one guy jump 51".  Yes, FIFTY-ONE INCHES, straight up.  I'll be pleased with my 20".  After this, we moved on to RFT (reps for time) of 10 front squats (holding said barbell in on your shoulders and full squat) followed by 50 double-unders, which I still cannot do to save my life, so 150 skips for me.  Times 3 rounds.  My front squats involved a 55 pound bar, which I am proud to say I squatted well with.  30 squats and 450 skips later, and I was done in 8:02.  Yay me.  And again, a WOD I actually enjoyed doing.  Must be the endorphins.

Saturday morning was a team WOD.  Did I mention I'm up to 4x a week?  Did I mention I love this?  Teams of 4 must row a total of 5 km for time, while also doing various workouts to help reduce the time.  So, 1 member rows, 2 members do another workout (chose at least 3 of the following: 15 burpee box-jumps (hell no!), 25 medicine ball cleans, 25 KB swings, 20 pull-ups, 100 double-unders (um...no!) or 15 push press), while the fourth member rests.  For every 5 or 10 reps OVER the targeted numbers, you earned time to take off your rowing time.  So, for example my team finished the 5km in 24 minutes, but with all our push-press (55 lbs), MB cleans and KB swings, we ended up with a finish time of  just over 17 minutes.  It was great fun, as we worked together to encourage each other and push each other to press just one more or row faster.  I love to row, so did 3 rounds of 500m in total, and managed to press about 40 times in total, loads of KB swings (all in the hips) and MB cleans as well.  Again, left with a huge smile on my face.  It was a great week!

Coffee with some friends followed by an hour on the sidewalks to get rid of the snow and ice, followed by an hour walk to pick up a package at UPS and go to the bank.  Came home and had a little nap (I was tired by now) before heading down to see Les Mis (yes, AGAIN, and yay for Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman).  Still love it, still cried!!!  If you haven't seen it yet, go.  If you have...go again.

Decided to sleep in today, since it'll my last Sunday to do that until May, with the clinic starting on Tuesday.  I toyed with going snow-shoeing with a friend, but maybe next time.  My hip is out and bugging me (again, yay for Dr. Jay tomorrow) and I just wanted a lazy day at home.  Did go for an hour walk, so I got some fresh air and steps in.

Okay...time to wind down and head to bed.  Another week of fun awaits (had a peek at tomorrow's WOD...we're in for more good times.  Jumping lunges?!?!  Clapping push-ups...AROOO!!).