I love me some Evil Wheels, and when I say love, I mean hate..

Our WOD and strength portion were as follows:

Strength: KB Box Squats
10×3 – AHAP

Lori and I used the bigger KBs, 40lbs.

Box Squats

WOD- For Time:
30-20-10
Ring Rows
Ring Dips
Evil Wheels

Evil Wheels, yes that’s me!

I can’t believe 3 years have gone by. Yesterday I celebrated my crossfit-iversary with some family and friends, and it was perfect, really.  The journey itself is never-ending, and the lessons learned along the way are hard-earned; sometimes joyous, sometimes tearful. I never imagined I’d dedicate myself to something so fully that I’d actually transform this much. Today, in a regular moment, it doesn’t seem like a whole lot is different but when I think about it, everything about me is different!

My confidence, my self-esteem, my happiness, my body; both inside and out, my relationships with others, my enormous group of friends and family. This is all because of CrossFit. But is it really all because of CrossFit? Or is it my own doing?

The accidental meeting of my first coach, Erin when she needed decals for her brand new CF box, conveniently located steps away from our offices, completely changed my life. (Was it really accidental or totally meant to be? I’m a firm believer in everything happening for a reason…)  I had no idea then how much this sport would affect me, or change me, or motivate me, but it did. She took me in, taught me, encouraged me and coached me as much as she was able, and in a way set me free. It was from there that I found CrossFit Total Control, my home base.

Here we are. I have earned certificates, attended seminars, met some amazing people, traveled to crazy places, built a crap ton of muscle, lost a crap ton of weight, changed my diet, quit soda, learned a million and one new things about how our bodies work, improved my overall health and well-being, and changed my attitude entirely about life and love and happiness. 

I put in the work and the sweat and the tears. I created those smiles. I made the effort to just go to the damn gym. However, it’s the community, my amazing coaches, my friends, who have made it fun and worthwhile. The people who encourage me all the way to the finish, help me up off the ground, and then high five and hug me after for a job well done. It’s the feeling after a really fucking hard WOD that, hey… I just finished that! I just did that.

I love what I do. I love CrossFit. I love how I’ve changed. I never thought it would have this sort of impact on me, and really, I didn’t even know that these kinds of changes were possible. I literally wasn’t aware of them being achievable or attainable. I am still me, but a much better, improved, happier, healthier version of me.

I wish I could bottle this amazingness up and give it away, because everyone deserves to experience what hard work and dedication will do for them. But since I can’t, I will only hope that my posts, my experiences and my words  can help to encourage others. To that, I raise my delicious coffee and say, here’s to another great year. 🙂

Today was my first day back after heading out West for a few days. It felt so good to be back!

Strength: Clean and Jerk (again! Jesus)
8 min EMOM x 5 reps 70% of 1RM, all touch and go

I used 115 for this, I know for a fact! (Now I’m questioning our last C&J EMOM…. hmmmm..)

The WOD was 13.4, which was an Open WOD repeat from 2 years ago.

7 min AMRAP
3 C&J (135/95)
3 T2B
add 3 C&J and 3 T2B each round

I got through 3/3, 6/6, 9/9 and did an additional 6 reps of C&J. AWESOME. The last time I did this (for a real score) I only got through 9/9. I was pretty happy with this! If this was competition mode, I’m sure I could’ve gone faster, which is even cooler. I was able to crank out my toes 2 bar pretty easily, which is just astounding. I actually like them, I just hate how they hurt my hands. (crossfit problems). I need to suck it up. 🙂

Loved this one. Clean and Jerk!! One of my favs.

We did a 9 min EMOM of 4 touch and go reps at 70% of our 1RM. My 1RM clean and jerk is 175 (whaaat) so I worked with 135. JESUS. It was heavy. But I did it!

WOD:
For time.

10-8-6-4-2
200m Run
Front Squats (185/135)

The front squats had to be cleaned from the floor. Most girls can’t do that, so most girls couldn’t RX this WOD. I really pushed for it and made it happen! I opted to row though, because my foot has been all jacked up. I can’t seem to get away from it.

Regardless, it was amazing. I finished in 9:51.

Bring a Friend Day! A good WOD to post about, for sure. I was excited because one of our guys, Ivan, from Dali finally decided to come in and try it out. I was SO PROUD OF HIM!

I was hoping to get paired up with him, but Tom stuck him with Jared instead, which totally worked out. Jared was great with him!

Dezi and I became a killer team, as usual. Love her!

The WOD was:

800m Run
100 hose slams
80 OH lunges (45/25)
60 burpees
40 box jumps (24/20)
400m Run
40 box jumps
60 burpees
80 OH lunges
100 hose slams
800m Run

I rowed. Dezi did the bike thing. We finished in 31:13. We wanted to do Mens weights and box heights but we were told no. 🙁 THAT would’ve been awesome.

We were all sore the few days, but that’s the good stuff.

My first time writing 1/1/15. Crazy.  We had open gym on New Year’s Day, so I went in and took advantage.

I did 5 sets of 5 pause squats at 165, followed my 5 sets of 10 GHD sit ups. Felt so good. I’m still sore from the sit ups but that’s what I wanted. My butt isn’t sore from those squats, which means I either need to do more of them, or do them heavier, or both. Sigh.

My last WOD in Madison at CrossFit Connex. Came in around 7:30 and got started with Em and a couple other girls who were also working out.

Did some heavy squats, some snatches, some stretching, and moved into the WOD.

It was an AMRAP consisting of
deadlifts at 155
push ups
box jumps (24″)

I forget the rep count and I forget the time, but I think it was like, 14 min AMRAP and 9, 12, 15 or something.

Regardless, as always, it kicked my ass and I remember Kief coming over and checking on me after I had finished, and I said something along the lines of, now that was my kind of workout. 😀 Good times. I love that place! Thank you guys for the amazing hospitality, as always. So much love.

I went to Madison to spend time with my family for Christmas, and of course I made an effort to go in and see Kief and Em, the amazing people who own CrossFit Connex! Love those two. I ended up wodding solo with Emily on Saturday, which was amazing! And she kicked my ass.

Our WOD was the following:

21/15/9
Power Snatches/OHS/Squat Snatches (95lbs)
Burpees
Pull Ups

She’s a Regionals athlete (whaaaaat, yes she’s amazing!) So she finished all her sets unbroken in like, under 8 min. I kept going.. and kept going and kept going. I did banded pull ups for my first and second sets, and did RX kipping pull ups for my last set. I finished in 18 minutes. Holy hell, it was rough but it was awesome!

Emily Yates Bird and me! Wodding at CrossFit Connex

WOD: “CFTC 12 Days Of Christmas”

1 – 100m – Run
2 – HSPU
3 – Hang Cleans (155/115)
4 – OH Lunges (45/25)
5 – Ball Slams (30/20)
6 – AbMat Sit Ups
7 – Wall Balls (20/16)
8 – Box Jumps (24/20″)
9 – Pushups
10 – KBS (55/35)
11 – Pullups
12 – Burpees

WOD goes just like the Song. On the First Day of Christmas I did a 100m Run, On the second day of Christmas I did 2 HSPU and a 100m Run……

I LOVE THIS WOD. It is one of my favorite, all-time WODs EVER. Hands down. 

The only things I scaled were the pull ups to bang them out and the HSPUs with a 35lb plate. So awesome. So awesome! I finished in 41:08. Love this stupid WOD.

12 Days of Christmas girls!

I was wrong! Today was the day that I had the awesome massage, because THIS was an incredible WOD that I didn’t want to miss! Chuck understood how important it was for me to get this, so he rescheduled for me. I ended up having a most incredible evening.. first this insane WOD and then a wonderful, relaxing 2+ hour massage. Fantastic.

WOD was the following:

With a Running Clock for Total Reps
1 Minute ME Squat Cleans (135/95)
1 Minute ME Push Jerks (135/95)
2 Minute ME Squat Cleans (135/95)
2 Minute ME Push Jerks (135/95)
3 Minute ME Squat Cleans (135/95)
3 Minute ME Push Jerks (135/95)

YES!!!

My score was 36/54 RX. So.. I did 36 total squat cleans, and 54 total push jerks, all at 95lbs. So awesome.