So I was visiting my Mom in Madison for the last week, but that didn’t stop me from working out! Her old gym (she doesn’t crossfit anymore, sad face) is called CrossFit Connex, and they are a fantastic box! They have always welcomed me with open arms and let me WOD whenever I’m in town.

I went in Thursday, which turned out to be their Rest Day, but Kief and Emily (the owners) ended up wodding in the afternoon. I got to work out with Kief and Em! That by itself was cool. We did their Wednesday WOD which was:

3 rounds
400 m run (I rowed 500m instead)
21 box jumps
7 Snatches (155/105)

I did the RX weight, too! I finished in 21 minutes, I think? It doesn’t seem like it would be that long of a WOD but it was pretty rough. And awesome.

This WOD was like Fran on crack. I wasn’t planning on RXing anything, but after my pull ups victory on Saturday, I had to go in and try to RX this one! And I did.

FUCK YES.

WOD:
4 Minute AMRAP
21 – Thrusters (95/65)
21 – Pull ups
2 Minute Rest

3 Minute AMRAP
15 – Thrusters (95/65)
15 – Pull ups
2 Minute Rest

2 Minute AMRAP
9 – Thrusters (95/65)
9 – Pull Ups

I RXed the weight. The first round I did 21 thrusters, and 11 pull ups. The second round I did 15 thrusters and 7 pull ups, and the third round I FINISHED! I did 9 and 9. So proud to have that RX next to my name. *beaming*

I fucking did it. I did this. I can do this! I am getting better.

I say it’s a day I’ll never forget.. It’s the day I did more than 1 kipping pull up.

Because it was the day after the 4th, everyone was smashed from the night before, except for literally a handful of people. Only about 10-15 people showed up to the Saturday WOD, which is unheard of, so we opted for Open Gym.  Gina decided that a Deck of Cards WOD would be fun, and I had actually just been thinking how I wanted to do one again, soooo thank you Universe, you made it happen!

We chose ball slams, box jumps, pull ups, and hang cleans for the movements. For the Jokers, we chose 20 burpees and 50 situps.

I decided that today I would use a purple band instead of a green one. I mean, come on, the highest number of reps for any of the movements was 10. NBD.

The WOD started, and it was instantly regretted by a lot of people, I think! Haha I loved it. It wasn’t until we were like, 26 cards in that I wished I had done something different instead.

Whenever an Ace was pulled, it was just 1 rep. So when that was called for pull ups, I did my one RX pull up. I could do one! Why not?

Then 2 was called for pull ups.. I was like, fuck it, let’s try this. AND I DID IT!!! I DID TWO PULL UPS! It sounds so stupid, but.. holy shit I’ve never been able to get past that! I’ve always been so afraid because I could never get past that STUPID number one. And then I did 2.

Well, the story is anti-climactic at this point, because my hands started hurting and I didn’t want to tear or rip, so I did HSPUs for most of the remainder of the pull ups. Until the last card was pulled. 4 pull ups.

I went for 1. Got it. Second one, got it. Holy shit! Let’s try the third. I GOT IT. omgomgomg.. Can I do my last one??

Everyone else had finished, and it felt like they were standing there, waiting for me to nail my 4th pull up.. it went in slow motion. I jumped up on the bar, got a good swing, and I fucking did it. 4 kipping pull ups in a row. It felt like the best day ever. My friends cheered for me, high fived, time was called, and we all wrapped it up. I started tearing up; it just made me so emotional! I held them back though, on like, 4 different occasions as we put all our stuff away. Finally, I got to the car and just broke down.

Holy shit, I just did 7 pull ups today. Life changing.

Happy girl. Here with my awesome coach, Russell Peters.

Holy Hero Loredo. This was a Hero WOD for the 4th of July. Only one WOD today, and it was at 10a. We had an incredible turnout!

Hero Loredo is:
6 rounds for time of:
24 Squats
24 Push-ups
24 Walking lunge steps
Run 400 meters

I rowed instead of ran and I was quite happy with my decision! I finished in 39:06, I believe. I’d check but the scores from that day were never posted on the site. It was a rough one though! Oh man.

Hero Loredo at CrossFit Total Control. Jax Beach, FL

Today was also a bring a friend day, but I brought no friends. All my friends are at the gym already! 🙂

Dezi was my partner, love that girl!

Buddy WOD:
1000m row (we alternated every 250m)
150 wall balls (took turns doing 10 and 5, I did more wall balls, she did more running)
100 box jumps (same as above, mostly alternated every 10)
1000m run (Dezi ran 600 I ran 400, and I sprinted that shit at the end! Did my 200m in less than 30 seconds, YEAH!!!)

Finished in 20:52. My goal was to be back in the door by 21 min. I don’t think I’ve ran that fast in a long ass time. 🙂 Felt so good.

Dezi and me at CrossFit Total Control. Love this girl!

I brought a friend! I think she underestimated the intensity of crossfit, and was rather surprised by it. It was a great WOD though, but I don’t think she’ll be signing up or coming back. 🙁

I think I’m going to stop allowing people to come with me, unless they already know what to expect. People always want to know what I do, what it takes, blah blah, but when the opportunity arises to put forth the effort, there’s always an excuse, a hindrance, a reason for “why NOT”. I’m sick of the “can’ts” and quitting, so next time someone wants to try, I’m going to say “it’s really fucking awesome, but you wouldn’t be able to handle it. Sorry.”

Otherwise, it’s just a time waster, for both parties.

Anyway, the WOD:

18 min AMRAP
30 DUs (60 singles)
10 T2B
15 Slam Balls
20 burpees

I did 3 rounds plus 61. Towards the end, I sissied out on the DUs and did singles. Faster, more fitness.

Well, I’ve done a previous 1RM of 255 for my back squat, but that wasn’t since last year before we moved to our new facilities! I did that 1RM again, and it was for sure legit, and it was witnessed by others! Good enough for the board at 255.

We’ll be doing official 1RM again in the coming weeks, so I’m hoping for a higher number. Fingers crossed!

Oh Kalsu. I have done Kalsu 3 times now. Ever. Kalsu is a milestone for me, as it was the first ever WOD I did at CrossFit Total Control. So.. what is Hero Kalsu?

Kalsu

On the minute:
Complete 5 burpees and perform max rep 135 lbs thrusters on the minute. (95lbs for women)
The goal is to complete 100 total thrusters.

*At the beginning of every minute perform 5 burpees, for the rest of the minute perform as many thrusters as you can during that minute. At the beginning of the next minute perform 5 burpees and then max rep thrusters and so on until you reach 100 total thrusters.

So… My first year I did 65lbs, and dropped to 55lbs. I also dropped from 5 burpees to 2 burpees a minute. I finished in just over 31 minutes. It was bad, and I was terrified of the burpees.

Last year, I did 65lbs the whole time, and completed all 5 burpees every minute. 

This year, I thought I had 65lbs on the bar, but it was really 75lbs (whoops!) and I did all 5 burpees every minute, except for my last 4 minutes where I did 2 burpees each minute instead, because I felt like it was either that or I was gonna die, or quit, or throw up, or pass out. Now that I’m done with it, I wish I would’ve just stuck with it and done all 5. It was only 4 minutes’ worth! Come on, Alicia.

At least I had 75lbs on the bar instead! Anyway, I finished in 22:46! I am pretty happy about this! It was hot as balls, and I could make a million excuses about it, like how I usually don’t go to the 10a WOD, and it was hotter, and I wasn’t fully awake yet, blah blah blah, but yeah. I did it, that was my decision, and now my goal for next year is to RX it with 95lbs on the bar. 🙂 That’s a pretty tough PR to jump 20lbs. AND beat my time! I’ll just try to beat my time from last year at 25 minutes!

I watched others suffer and die around me, and I thought, shit.. I finished in under 23 minutes, and people were still going at 39 minutes. (40 min time cap!) I definitely could have suffered more and worked harder. That is my goal for next year.

Kalsu is special to me though. It was my first WOD at CFTC, as I mentioned before. I felt like I had entered Big Girl CrossFit that day. Seems like so long ago, a different world, a different me. I am stronger and faster now, but not as strong or as fast as I’d like to be. I can do it. I have one year, I need to keep going. Get better, be better, work harder, eat more wisely.

I went at 10a because I decided to also go to yoga yesterday too. Mat was teaching the 5:45p happy hour class, meaning there would be music playing! And those are my favorite classes. Mat and Eddie always, hands down, play the best music. I know what to expect with them, and I can trust that I can flow well to the songs those two play. When I go to other teachers’ happy hour classes, I just.. I never connect with the music and my focus ends up being on the songs, and how I don’t like them, and how aggravating it is to be stuck in a hot room with a bunch of people with a song blasting that you don’t like. And you can’t leave! So yeah, I’m picky about my happy hour music and teachers. 🙂

It felt good to go. It has been over a month since I’ve been to yoga! I have been happy with my decision to step back from it, but that is another post. I was happy to be practicing with Mat, and listening to his great music (he played the Radio Retaliation album, which coincidentally, is an album I’ll listen to if I practice yoga at home.)

I had my friend Joe on one side, and my friend Susan on the other, and it was very welcoming and warm and fuzzy feeling to have them near me. 🙂 That is all!

Happy and aggravated about Kalsu. Next year will be better, and harder, and even more awesome. EXCITED TO START YEAR THREE AT CFTC!!!!

Good lord, what is happening to me? RXed another WOD, so awesome! It was the following:

WOD: 9 Minute Ladder

5 – Wall Balls (20/16)
2 – Box Jumps (30/24)
*Add two box jumps each round.

I got through my 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and then did my 5 wall balls and 11 box jumps on my would be 8th round, so. 7 + 16 was my final score. AWESOME!

I loved that one. I prefer 24″ box jumps, I feel like I land them better. I don’t know why.

Also, I need to be adding an amino acid update here soon! Trials, errors, what I like, don’t like, what works, what does nothing, what keeps me up at night. I will work on this soon, I promise!

I took yesterday (25th off) and intended on going today (26th) but with it being Dave’s birthday (birthday dinner at Ruth’s Chris!) and getting held up at the office because I wanted to finish some things, it just didn’t happen.

Tomorrow is Kalsu, which is my inaugural CFTC WOD. I’ll just say I’m resting up for Kalsu. 🙂  

Well, all day, as in for the 13 minutes that the WOD lasted, but STILL. I RXed it! Happy. And goddamn it, I will boast about it every chance I get!

I hadn’t been since last week, and I was READY. My hands are finally feeling and looking better, and I was ready for this WOD. I was like, psh. Easy. Cleans? S2O? pshhhhhhhhhhh.. the lunges were the only thing I was a bit sketchy on, not because I couldn’t do them, but because they hurt my entire body during the process. Not a bad hurt, but a holy shit this bar is heavy and omg does my knee really have to touch the ground? and holy hell, I can’t stand back up right now with this weight, and HOW MANY MORE OF THESE DO I HAVE TO DO?????

Yeah. So here was the WOD:

13 Minute AMRAP

6 – Hang Power Cleans (135/95)
9 – S2OH (135/95)
12 – Back Rack Lunges (135/95)

And Dezi and I RXed it!!! I ended up completing 4 + 15, which is pretty good! I was a little disappointed, seeing as how Lauren (amazing) got 7+9 or whatever, but then Gina got 5+9, and I thought, okay.. that’s not too far off from what I got! So I was happy with my score. Weeeeee!

Happy day at CrossFit Total Control!

As I posted on Facebook earlier, “never underestimate the power of a really great workout with awesome friends.”