Winter Break

Finals are over! I can breathe! I made it through all of my finals, and made all A's! :) I got the highest grade in my pharm class, which means I can do pharm tutoring next semester. It has been a long semester! Thank you guys for standing by me. It would have been more difficult without your love and support.

Orientation for my new job is on January 4th. :) I am not sure when I am doing my first CareFlite rideout, but that will be sometime in January as well. Like I said, it just feels like everything is falling into place!

Yesterday, I did a mile warm up, and then did CrossFit Deeps Push Press 3-3-3-3-3

Set was:
45 x 5, 50 x 3, 55 x 3, 65 x 3, 70 x 3, 75 x3, 80 x3

Almost didn't get that last one on the 80#, but I managed to lock it out! :)

Hope everyone is having a safe and happy Holiday Season! Don't eat too many cookies! :)

A Week of Firsts

Hello everyone! :) So, this has been such a great week! OK..by great I mean full of tests and my very first clinical. Monday, I had my first Assessment test. There were some I didn't know, and no matter how much I would have read, still wouldn't have remembered the answers. So, I made a B. Woo hoo. I passed. Tuesday, I had my lecture test in Clincals and Concepts (Which is pretty much the theory behind everything, like why we wash our hands.) I started taking this test, and I was like, wow, this was really easy. I made an A. :) Then, Wednesday, I had my Asssessment check off (which is where we practice the skills we learn on a partner). I did really well. The ONLY thing I forgot was to check for tongue movement. Grr.....oh well. All I have to do is ask my partner next time to stick out her tongue.

Today: My VERY first clinical! Woo hoo! OK...I wish I had some exciting story to tell you guys, but I don't. I got to check morning vitals, I gave a bed bath, and made beds. Exciting right? Not really. But my next clinical, I get to do actual work. I get to practice nursing. The good thing was, all of my patients today were really nice and were like "Do whatever you need". So that was cool that they were really nice.

Oh, something I forgot. Monday morning I went to the gym before going to class. I did the Push Press WOD. Warm up, did 10 minutes on the elliptical, then did a warm up set of 10 x 45# and got into the WOD.

3-3-3-3-3
65-75-80-85-95x 1

Kinda upset that I couldn't finish the 95# x 3. I had horrible form on the 95#, so I didn't try again. That and I knew that I had to get home and get ready for school and my test. In between each set, I did 5 knees-to-elbows. Felt good to be back in the gym. I really need to get better at going during school, I was very relaxed when I went to school. I wish I had time to come to the gym. It's just so hard getting all the reading done when I am not doing anything else.

But the difference between me and my other classmates, is that I am actually relaxing more than they are. I get 8-9 hours of sleep a night. I eat very Zone friendly, and just don't let the stress get to me! I wish I could explain this to all of my classmates. Maybe it would help them with their stress....BUT people don't listen to me! Oh well....their loss!

Gotta Push On!

WOD for 8-18-2009

Push Press (main site)
1-1-1-1-1

Cookie:
21-15-9
Push Ups
Sit Ups
Pull Ups

My workout ended up changing pretty much until I actually did it. My friend Amber and her boyfriend who does CrossFit as well, came up to the hospital at lunch. Matt and I started talking, and the plan was for him to meet me at the gym for a workout. I was actually excited. Someone to seriously CrossFit with. We had planned to meet at 7 after the Aqua Fit class. Well...he had to help Amber's grandparents move furniture, and by the time he got done, it was almost 7 and he hadn't eaten, so he asked for a raincheck. Which I will give him the rain check, but he will have some kind of burpee penatly!!

I know that CFDC had the clean and press for the WOD, but I was not feeling comfortable with my clean without having an additional person to watch my form. Hurting my back is NOT going to be beneficial to me. Especially with school starting in less than two weeks! Ahh! So, it was great that the push press was on the main site, so it's like I did part of the CFDC workout.

OK...onto the press. I couldn't remember what my 1 rep max was. So, I just went as heavy as could. Granted, it wasn't that much.

Working Set:
45-50-55-60-65-70-75-80-85-90(f)-90-(f)

Sadness....failed at 90. Got home, and looked at my past 1 rep max, and it was like 90# back in April. So, major sadness. I think the fail from the first attempt got into my head. Or I am just weaker. I would really like to think it is the first of the two choices. Did the best I could today, and that's all I can ask for.

I hadn't planned on doing a cookie, but Matt and I were texting back and forth and he told me that I had to do this workout. So, I did. Time was slower than I would have liked. Didn't break things up too much, but I feel there was a lot of room for improvement. Abs are still wicked sore from Annie yesterday. I don't ever remember them being this sore. That just made the 21-15-9 worse. ugg...Time for my cookie was 6:50. I will attempt this again soon, and see if I improve!

Diet:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, 1/2 bagel, 1/2c yogurt, almonds
Lunch: Fajita meat and Salad
Dinner: lime chicken breast, celery, almonds, 1/2c raspberries

Hang, Squat, Press, GO!

WOD for 7-28-2009

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes:
3 Hang power cleans
3 Front squats
3 Push-press

Ok, so I modified this a little bit. I didn't have a good way to do the "every minute on the minute" as there wasn't a clock near me, nor do I have a timer that would go off every minute. So, I told myself that I will just do 20 rounds. I used the 45# bar. I would do 2 rounds, and then take a few seconds break, and then do 2 more rounds. After the 10th round, I was like, man, am I tired....I really wanted to stop when I got to round 15. But I didn't. I kept thinking about Carrie, Lindsey and Sandy yelling at me to keep going and that I had to finish so I didn't let them down. After the 12th round, some guy comes up to me and was like how many more sets do you have? I told him 8. He looked at me like I was from another planet. Hehe...

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 2 pieces of bacon, 1 scoop scrambled eggs (I hate scrambled eggs!), 6 almonds, 1/2c yogurt (sorry, I love yogurt!)
Lunch: Chicken fajitas! MMM...doctor's lounge food is really yummy! (No sour cream or cheese on my fajitas though)
Dinner: Spicy lime chicken breast cooked in olive oil, 8 almonds, 2 sticks of celery

On another note...I swore I would never watch this show, but since nothing else was really on, I watched it. The show is "More to Love". I don't plan on watching this show on a regular basis. But watching it makes me so thankful for CrossFit. There was 20 girls who were overweight. Granted, not all of them were obese. A couple of them, just needed to lose a few pounds around the middle, and they would be all set. As I am sitting here and listening to these women, I am amazed at how happy they are that they are "big and beautiful". Now, I am all about loving yourself and being happy. But are you *REALLY* happy when you are 300 pounds? Then there were some girls that were like "I've never had a date" and "I just want someone to love me for me". They were pretty much all complaining that people judge them on the way they look, and that they should have to change.....and how "big girls" need love too. Watching these obese (excuse me, curvy and voluptuous women) made me want to throw up my nice healthy (and quite tasty) dinner up.

And the guy is a bigger guy himself. He was saying that "life is too short to worry about dieting and watching calories". I don't know how exactly I feel about this statement. Life can be long and fulfilling. Yes, sometimes it starts to get frustrating when everyone is eating ice cream all the time, but they are obese and don't care what they eat. I do care. But I also don't take everything to the extreme. If I want ice cream, I will have a SMALL portion. Not the whole carton.

Not sure where this rambling is going. I know that I will never be a size 2. And I realize that I have problem areas that I am working on. I do know that eating well and working out will give you results. Seeing those women makes me want to work that much harder so I don't become one of them. Thankfully, I have got great friends and family that would NEVER let me get that far! So, Thank You guys for not allowing me to become a 488 pound person that can not fit into a CT scanner! (True story that happened at work today, might have to send him to the zoo)

Ah Push It! Push It Real Good!

WOD for 7-15-2009

Push Press

20-20-20-20-20

First of all, this week has not gone exactly how I would have wanted it to. I missed Monday due to my doctor keeping me almost 3 hours over my scheduled shift. So, by the time I got off, I was exhausted and hungry. I know, no true reason to miss CrossFit, but I was starving and didn't think I could have given it my all. And then after work yesterday, I had to go out of town to watch my parents house and take care of the 4 dogs and all that fun junk.

So, today I went to back to my high school and did today's workout. I kinda modified it some due to not having a lighter bar to start out with. I wanted to do all 100, so here is how I broke my reps and sets down:

20 @ 45#
20 @ 50#
10 @ 50#
10@ 50#
10 @ 50#
10 @ 55#
10 @ 55#
10 @ 60#

I would have much preferred to have started off on the 33# bar and worked my way up, but after my first set at 45#, I knew it was going to be a long workout. So, the 20 at 50#, I decided to just do sets of 10. Since I was working out by myself, I decided that after each set, I would do box steps on a taller box. So, I did 100 push presses and 100 box steps. Whew...what a workout!

Something positive that I learned today, was that my mental game is stronger than I thought. It would have been so easy to just not go and do it on my own. I could have stopped anytime I wanted. While I didn't do the WOD EXACTLY as it was written, I did it in a way that I could finish and be happy with my results. Not once did I think about quitting. I just kept thinking that I had to finish, and I did, but I did it on my terms. It felt great to be back lifting weights! Can't wait to get back to the box!

Diet has been pretty good. Had a good day yesterday, with only a little cheat of ice cream that was brought in by the hospitalist group. Marble Slab...yum!

Breakfast: egg white omelet, 6 almonds
Lunch: Chicken breast, salad, and sunflower seeds

No Ifs Ands or Buts...These Kids Got Guts!

WOD for 6-7-2009

Push Press
10-10-10

Met Con:
21-15-9
Box Jumps
Push Ups
Pull Ups

So normally I blog the day after my workout, but I start school tomorrow, so I figured I would go ahead, blog now and get it out of the way. Today was a pretty low key today. Finished an 8 day working streak...man...54 hours takes a lot out of you. So, for the first half of the day I just relaxed...such a strange feeling actually.....People at work always ask me where I find the energy to go workout after working a shift, thing is, you just do it. Yeah, you are a little tired, but you go and do it. You are either tired at 5 in the morning working out, or at 5 in the afternoon. People need to stop making excuses and just get their butts in the gym and go work out. Ok...no idea where that little tandem came from.....ok, back to the WOD.

Push Press....I was really excited to do this (I must sound like a friggin' after school special....excited to do a workout? :) My upper body strength is one thing that has always been lacking. I have got really strong legs, and I just wish that I could build up my upper body as quickly as I have my lower body. I can do the Rx'd weight for girls in FGB, which is a plus in my "win" column for being able to do SOMETHING Rx'd. The trick to this workout wasn't just about strength, it was about endurance. Can you do the weight 10 times without resting?

Working Sets:
45-55-65-75x 8

I felt that starting off with the 45# was a good place since I knew that I could do 10 of those. Then we went up to 55#...still felt good with that weight. So, for the third set, we jumped to 65#. Still felt really good after the 65#, so for "fun", I tried 75#. I knew I could get it at least once. Several months ago, I did 90# once, so 75# once shouldn't have been a problem. Well, I did 75# 8 times....I ALMOST had the last 2. My arms were so tired. I will take the eight!

Then, I did a cool down with Carrie. 3 rounds: 15 glute ham sit ups, 15 back extensions.

I thought that the workout was done after that...but oh no...Spencer had a nice little Met Con for us. 21-15-9 Box jumps, push ups, pull ups....grrr...and I didn't wear tennis shoes today. So, I substituted box steps. I used the medium box for the step ups. I figured that doing step ups on the small box wouldn't do me much good. By going to the taller box it was definitely more tiring than the smaller box. Still doing knee push ups, but they are 1000X easier than when I started. I can knock out those push ups fairly quickly now. Pull ups...used the green band. I need to get back to the blue band. I can do several with the blue band, just nervous because they aren't as consistent.

Time for Met Con:
5:46

Diet for Today:
Breakfast: 2 whole wheat flax seed waffles (recipe taken from another Crossfit site, threw in several almonds), scrambled egg whites (cooked in 1tsp olive oil), 2 peaches,
Lunch: breakfast was eaten later in the morning, so no lunch for me
Dinner: chest meal! sandwich from Baker's Brothers (only ate half the bread), 1/2c baked potato soup, 9 almonds, 3 carrots, 2 strawberries
Total Water Intake: 2.5L

Flames Will Rise and Devour Me

WOD for 6-3-2009

"Fight Gone Bad"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 10 pound ball,
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 45 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, (Reps)
Push-press, 45 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

I LOVE Fight Gone Bad! Seriously! 15 minutes of pure fun and work! First time I did FGB was over the Thanksgiving break last year. I finished with 224 reps. Then, I had used the 6# ball, and 35# for the Push Press and Sumo Deadlift High Pull. Now, I am doing the press and SDHP Rx'd. Box jumps...still a different story. I did 5 regular box jumps each round, and then switched to box steps. Still, a fantastic workout. I started on wall balls, and I think that's a pretty good strategy since this is my least favorite. Just go ahead and get it out of the way.

Round 1:
Wall Balls: 24
SDHP: 16
BJ: 20
PP: 17
Row: 11

Round 2:
Wall Balls: 20
SDHP: 14
BJ: 18
PP: 16
Row: 11

Round 3:
Wall Balls: 16
SDHP: 17
BJ: 22
PP: 17
Row: 10


Total: 249..new PR! Can't wait for the next FGB!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: cheat meal, 2 biscuits and 2 pieces of bacon, 1/2c yogurt, 8 almonds
Lunch: Salad, spinach stuffed chicken, 12 almonds, 3 walnuts
Dinner: 4 slices of turkey, 5 walnuts, salad
Snack: strawberries and pecans
Total Water Intake: 2L


Currently Listening to: "Firebreather" by THRICE

You'll Make It Through, Just Keep Holding On

WOD for 5-1-2009

For time:
800m run
30 Ring Push-Ups
30 Hip Extensions
30 Dumbbell Push-Press
400m run
20 Ring Push-Ups
20 Hip Extensions
20 Dumbbell Push-Press
200m run
10 Ring Push-Ups
10 Hip Extensions
10 Dumbbell Push-Press

Holy cow! So, I saw this workout...and was like this is not going to be fun! Even though I didn't want to go, I went. I was the only girl in the class...which is cool, but then it is hard. I did parallette push ups for the sub on the first round. The hip extensions were easy! And for the push press, 20# DB. The first round was a killer! Second round...not so much...the third round...you can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I did finish the workout! It was great to have the guys cheering me on even though they finished minutes ahead of me. Koy...I really do appreciate you pushing me to get sub 20. I needed it! I am so lucky to work out with such an amazing group of people.

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, 1 apple, 6 almonds
Lunch: 4 slices of turkey, 2 tablespoons almond butter with apple slices
Dinner: 4 ounces of chicken, salad, strawberries, 12 peanuts
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "All if Forgiven" by Default

What More Do You Expect From Me

WOD for 4-8-2009


WOD #1:
Push Press: 3-3-3-3-3
800m weighted run


WOD #2:
For time:
12-9-6
Power Snatch, 115 pounds
Box Jump, 30 inch
Kettlebell Swing, 2 pood


After missing a couple of days....it feels so great to be back!! I missed is so much!! So, for my two a day workout, I did the one for 4/7 that I missed and the one for 4/8. WOD #1: Push press. My first time to see my max on push press. I think that I did well for my first time.
Reps looked like:

55-65-75-80-85-90 x 1


800m run...we all know how I hate running...no secret. But this run had to be a weighted run. I asked Koy what weight he thought I should use...(that could have been a mistake...) and he was like 60 pounds. I think my jaw hit the floor. 60 pounds? Seriously? That is almost half a person. As soon as the two weight vests were put on, I was having a hard time breathing. But I did the run. During the run I kept thinking "I don't want to get fat...because this sucks running with this much weight." I am actually glad that Koy made me do the 60 pounds. I would have never thought to put that much weight on, but I wore the vests and completed the run. This is one reason why I LOVE CFDC. The coaches and the other athletes at CFDC...we push each other.


Time for weighted run: 6:46



WOD #2:
After recovering from the 'oh so much fun' weighted run, I got ready for the next WOD. Snatch...what can I say about this lift. Still my least favorite. I feel like I look funny while doing this lift. Still having some problems pulling every little detail together, but I think overall, it's getting better. Still using the little box for the box jumps. But I am not doing box step ups which is great. I may try to see if I can do the medium box jump next month. We'll see. And tonight was the first workout that I increased weight on the KB swing! 35#! Surprisingly...the extra weight wasn't that bad. This was a fun workout! (More like this please!)


Time: 6:30



On a side note, it appears that my resting heart rate has decreased. Before CFDC, my heart rate normally ran in the 70s. Now, it is ranges in the 50s. Which is great! This means that my heart is getting stronger. With a low heart rate (Bradycardia) in athletes, the heart can pump blood and use oxygen more efficiently and that is a good thing! The ventricular muscle contraction generates a greater force and doesn't need to contract as many times in order to get the blood through the body. (More beats=more contractions of the heart.)



Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 1/4 scoop scrambled eggs (blah), 3 pieces of bacon, 4 almonds, 3 strawberries
Lunch: Which Which-club (turkey, ham, bacon) with lettuce, tomato, and cucumbers. Only ate half of the wheat bread
Dinner: 3 baked chicken strips, salad
Snack: strawberries, blackberries, 7 pecans
Total Water Intake: 2.5L



Currently Listening to: "Nothing Left To Burn" by Lovers and Liars

Here At The Top of The World

WOD for 3-25-2009

"Tabata Fight Gone Bad"
Complete 8 Tabata intervals (20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest) for each of the following:

Wall-Ball
Sumo-Deadlift-High-Pull
Box Jump
Push-Press
Row (calories)

WOW! This was an amazing workout! I loved it!! (Yeah...it does kinda suck in the middle of it...but oh well!) Workouts like this is why I continue to love coming to CrossFit every day. Granted, I loved "Fight Gone Bad" any way, but this might even be more fun! (If that is possible.)

I had some positive things on this workout. For the first time, I did a weight as prescribed! For the girls, the Rx weight was 45# for both Push-Press and Sumo-Deadlift-High-Pull. I managed to do both weights without a lot of difficulty! It is a great feeling that I am getting better, and seeing progress by being able to do some things Rx'd.

Box jumps are getting better. I am still using the small box. I started getting a shin splint during warm up....not fun...let me tell you! So, for the box jumps, I alternated between box jumps and step ups. Next time though....full Rx'd! No Subs (well, still might be using the small box, but for sure no step ups!)

Numbers for Tabata Fight Gone Bad:
Wall Ball: 63 using the 10# ball (Rx'd...last time I did FGB I used the 6#)
Push Press: 56 with 45# (Rx'd...last time I used 35#)
Box Jumps: 66 (1/2 jumps & 1/2 step ups)
Sumo-Deadlift-High-Pull: 60 (Rx'd...last I used 35#)
Row: 45
Total: 290

Ok, I did want to break 300 on this, but I will take the smaller victory by using the prescribed weight...one thing at time right?

Diet for Yesterday:
Breakfast: egg white omelet and bacon
Lunch: salad with baken chicken
Dinner: 3 slices of turkey, 7 almonds
Snack: blood orange, strawberries, blackberries, a few peanuts, 2 slices of turkey
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "Cold Cash and Colder Hearts" by Thrice