This was a good one! On paper, it looks much easier than it is.. Ohh push ups and wall balls, pshh no big deal! Yeah right.

We started off with 5 x 5 bench presses. We ran out of time so the highest we got to was 105, which even at 5 reps was still pretty light for me. I’m sure I could’ve gone considerably heavier. Maybe next time. 🙂

The WOD was:
40-30-20-10
Push Ups
Wall Balls (20/16#)

15 min time cap

I finished in 14:20. Was pretty brutal! by 10 min, I had gotten through the 40 and 30, so the rest was all downhill. Eeek. Rough. My quads and biceps and triceps and armpits/pecs are a little sore today. 😉

AND… I’m going to be an idiot and attempt to run a mile in less than 12 min. Something I haven’t done in awhile, and I haven’t ran since we got back from Orlando, when I injured my foot. Not so sure it’s the smartest idea, but, I really want to give it a shot. I know everyone will be cherry picking today because it’s a 1 mile run. I’m also the slowest runner ever, so I kind of don’t want everyone to be done while I’m still finishing my last 400m around the block. Sigh.

We’ll see. 

So awesome! Our classes were so big we didn’t have enough spaces to write everyone’s name down on the board.. I love that. 🙂

Our WOD yesterday was a good one!
3 Rounds
1 min Max Effort Hose Slams
1 min ME Box Jumps
1 min ME Thrusters (45lbs RX for everyone)
1 min ME cal row
1 min rest

I ended up doing 95, 97, 98 reps, for a total of 290, which supposedly was pretty good, looking at everyone elses scores! YEAH I’ll take it! That was definitely my kind of WOD. 1 min ME at a time, hahah The key was to kill it on the hose slams. I did at least 65 reps each one, and then tried to get 10 or more of everything else. Good stuff. 

So… my foot was feeling pretty awesome, my left foot. I didn’t do the 400m run, but I rowed instead. BUT.. I was brave enough to try out the box jumps, which were surprisingly okay! However.. my RIGHT foot is now being an asshole, and I have no idea how to even begin describing it, except it feels like there’s a growth on my bone below my 2nd toe (my ‘pointer toe’? index toe’?) Whenever I step on it or put pressure on it, there’s this excruciating sharp pain shooting up to the top of my foot from the bottom. It’s like a marble is literally stuck in the bones on my foot, and unlike the other foot, any sort of pressure is NOT therapeutic, it makes it worse.

A day later, being on my feet all day working, cutting and transferring did not help one bit. It’s worse than ever. It didn’t start from the box jumps, it’s been bugging me for a couple days but this morning was the kicker. It feels inflamed now and when I stay off of it, I feel like this heat searing through the ball of my foot. I can’t pinpoint any one thing that would’ve caused it or started it, but walking around on the edge of my foot and heel today to baby it certainly didn’t help the rest of my right foot’s anatomy.

I tried wrapping it, I took 2 Aleve.. and now I’m sitting here with it propped up. Goddamn it. I don’t even know how to search for it. All foot stuff comes back as plantar fasciitis.

Sigh… I’m getting too old for this shit. I JUST WANT TO FEEL GOOD!

We did Hero DT in honor of Veterans Day, which is pretty awesome! I love that we do memorial WODs on such spectacular days to honor people who have served and/or died in the line of duty. It makes it more powerful to finish the workout, at least I think so.

WOD:

Hero “DT”

5 Rounds
12 Deadlifts (155/115)
9 Hang Cleans (155/115)
6 Push Jerks (155/115)

So the RX weight is 115, but for whatever reason our coaches decided to make 105 RX weight for the girls and 115 RX+. Last year we did DT on my Dad’s would-be 70th birthday and I used 75lbs, which looking back sounds so easy and light. I wrote that I “didn’t want to kill my shoulders” and now that I’ve completed DT with 105lbs, I can understand my rationale back then, 217 Days of Crossfit ago. 🙂

So.. this year, I did 105lbs, again, which was made RX for our gym, and I finished in 11:35. I was totally psyched about this. It was hard, painful, my hands hurt from the newer Rogue bar I used (genius, Alicia) and when I finished the 2nd round, I thought, Jesus Christ, I have 3 more rounds.. And then I remembered what it was for and why I was doing it, and shut up and pushed on.

No broken skin, no tears, no rips, no blood, no blisters. I survived! My traps looked and felt amazing afterwards too! Fortunately, they’re not so sore anymore as I write this, because I have a hot date with 6a Power Yoga here in 30 min, and Down Dog would wreck me if my traps weren’t feeling it.

Happy with my accomplishments. 🙂 Have an awesome day!

So… we went to a giant sign show in Orlando that’s one of the biggest in the industry, and in the process, ended up walking over 20 miles over the course of 2 days. I decided my New Balance WR20s would be perfect for the occasion.

They are mostly flat shoes with a tiny little arch support that you can see in the picture below. They are by no means filled with arch support, which is why I love these shoes so much for CrossFit. Meaning, I enjoy wearing them for a few hours at a time for working out..

Not for walking 100 miles on concrete.

So yeah. My feet were actually pretty good, considering all the walking in flat shoes. My arches have really developed and strengthened since I switched to flat shoes over a year ago for CrossFit, and now the only shoes I wear with arch support are my Birkenstocks, which I wear for everything else. (work, weddings, shopping, you name it. I even have Birkenstock boots for when it’s cold out..)

When we got home Friday evening, I was excited to WOD on Saturday with the group, which would consist of 400m runs, DUs, push ups and bear crawls. All was great til my first 400m run I felt a sharp pain in my arch on my left foot. I forced myself to keep going (stupid) but my feet have been hurting in varying degrees dating way back to my spinning days (Pre Crossfit!) so.. whatevs. “Just push through it, you can deal with it later. Everyone will think you’re being fat and lazy.”

This is probably one of the worst arch injuries I’ve had so far. The only other time that I REALLY remember it being bad was last year around Christmastime, where I had aggravated it by doing resisted running and box jumps and DUs. Any sort of excessive jumping where my foot is overextended is what irritates it and causes issues for it. The thing is, it doesn’t hurt while I’m doing whatever it is, it’ll just hurt later. I guess inflamed tendons and things, and then the tightness that travels up my ankles and calves/soleus, as well. (I always try to work the latter out with the kettlebell stretch)

So.. what did I do? Nothing. For 2 weeks. No Crossfit anyway. I mean, I did a workout here and there, but.. it was nothing impressive. Only olympic lifting, really. Thankfully I have been doing more Power Yoga, which has been my saving grace, mentally and physically. It has helped to clear my head on terrible days, and it’s kept me active and focused on my fitness when I’ve been unable to do other things.

The problem is, I didn’t really get any better. I sat at my desk and rolled my foot on my lacrosse ball over and over and over… for hours every night, hoping it would help relieve the tension and inflammation in my arch. It felt good, it hurt, it was a good hurt, and then I’d get up and there’d be pain all over again. I resorted to wearing my Birks around the house (awful, since I’m barefoot queen..) just to have that extra arch support and comfort.

Finally, I texted Chuck and asked if he could get me in. He was aware of the foot pain I was having, as I had told him about what had happened 2 weeks ago when I had seen him last. He was able to get me in last night for a 2 hour appointment, and immediately got to work on my foot. I hated him for it! He spent an hour working on my left foot alone, and then worked out a lot of the tension in my calf and ankle, as well. (It ended up being closer to 2 1/2 hours, I’m a mess.)

That massage combined with my voodoo band compression therapy that I did on my foot the night before, and then my calf last night and again today, has basically healed and fixed my foot. It’s really amazing.

This video demonstrates what I did with the voodoo band on my calf.

So… now that I’ve done that, all that’s left is this minor, residual soreness, (probably from it being rolled on for the last 2 weeks incessantly) but yeah. Anyone who is skeptical of therapy by way of massage therapy, a lacrosse ball and a voodoo band for foot pain, knee pain, ankle, calf whatever pain, needs to just try it. Sometimes those muscles just need to be worked on and the inflammation pushed out. I’d probably still be sitting her miserable that I couldn’t do anything. SO happy that it’s feeling better!

I got my voodoo bands from Rogue Fitness, and I keep one in my gym bag and one at home. I also have a foam roller and a lacrosse ball at home. 🙂 Take care of yourself, people!

I didn’t WOD but I dressed up for it! How cute am I?

Liz is so tiny compared to me!

Our 5:30p group!

Counting and organizing all the new Fall 2013 Hoodies!

Yup. Rocking my red Lululemon crops. They weren’t nearly as obnoxious as I thought.. well, I mean they were, but they looked better than I thought they would. 🙂 Happy me.

Strength:1RM Snatch (I did NOT PR..)I ended up getting 115. My PR is 135, or something. Bleh.

WOD:
5 Minute EMOM

2 Snatches @ 85% Only One attempt at each lift

-Then with no rest-

2 Minute AMRAP

ME Snatches @ 85%

Score is total Number of Snatches.

Did 15 snatches for the WOD. That was a good one.

Strength: Find a 1RM Bench Press

WOD: 3 Rounds

1 Minute Max Effort Row for Calories

1 Minute Max Effort Wall Balls (20/16)

1 Minute Max Effort Pull Ups

1 Minute Rest

 I got 145 on the bench, (not a PR) and 117 on the WOD.

I don’t remember the details, just that it was a partner WOD, involved Bear Crawls, DUs and running.

I ended up running 3? 4? 400m runs, but on the first one, my left foot and arch instantly started hurting, BADLY. Sharp pains and cramping is what it felt like. Stupid. After walking 20+ miles at the trade show the previous two days, I should’ve known better than to run like it was no big deal.

The DUs I actually GOT and MASTERED.. Thanks to our awesome coach Derek who taught me the right way to do them!! 🙂 BEAMING.

Today we had a 10 minute Kalsu, thankfully, and not the full 100 thrusters for time. (awful.) As an FYI, Kalsu was my very first WOD at CFTC over a year ago, and I never really look forward to doing that one, although I’ll never forget it. 🙂 

Today we worked on:
Skill: 30 Muscle Ups for Time

L1- C2B Pull ups/Ring Dips (1:1)

L2- Ring Rows/Ring Dips (2:1)

I did the L2, and finished in 5:09.

WOD: 10 Minute AMRAP

Max Thrusters (115/75) (Rx plus 135/95)

*Stop and Perform 5 Burpees Every Minute on the Minute starting at 0:00*

(Kalsu limited to only 10min, wod number 5 at Iron Curtain Competition this weekend at CrossFit Evolution.

I did the 10 min Kalsu and got through 31 thrusters, which I was pretty happy with! I even used the RX weight, which was important to me. My goal was around 30-35 reps, so that was good. I even did the 5 burpees each minute, although I did take one minute’s rest to catch my breath.

Man, if I just take a little bit of time to catch my breath, I can jump back into it and go so much harder. It’s like fresh air, a fresh start, and I’m really able to push myself more. I like that, although I wish my endurance was better. I’m working on it, very slowly.