The Special CFW Christmas Present

The workouts-

Thursday, December 23
5 Rounds
12 barbell lunges 73#
250 m row
60 yd farmer's walk 25# plates
Time-

Friday, December 24
Cut off time of 25 minutes
Randy
1000 m row
50 thrusters 33#
30 pull ups (BB)
Grace/Isabel mashup
10 rounds
3 snatches 53#
3 clean and jerks 65#
Cindy
5 pull ups (BB)
10 push ups
15 squats
Rounds-2

And the combination of these two wods gave me a fabulous Christmas present as the soreness was in its prime for the 25th.

Two New PR's

Front Squat-
new 1 rep max
208
213-missed

Yeah! Happy to feel like I have really made progress on this lift and super happy to break 200.

Snatch, max
93#

Clean and Jerk, max
went from 103 to 123
failed at 123 about 5 times
dropped down to 113, got it
then 118, got it
tried 123 again, failing 3 times. Each miss had the bar at my neck, but I wasn't getting under it fast enough, and then...
Finally! 123# for a new PR

Then I tried 128 about 500 times and missed it, still pulling it pretty high, and getting close to being under it, but just missing it, again and again and again. :)

Keeping my eyes off the scale

I know that reading some one's workout log is very uninteresting, and it is honestly fairly uninteresting to write it out as well. That, coupled with some extra busyness, has made keeping up with this blog a lower priority.

So I am going to aim to write about something, anything, even a little thing, that is somehow related to fitness and health at least a couple times a week.

First up: another reminder to not be a slave to the scale.

This article was posted by Dr. Michale Eades-Weight in Hollywood. You know the type of article-the history of models moving from curvy to stick thin. And then this article provides some examples of a possible move back to the more curvy model.

But this is what really struck me-

"The average American woman wears a size 14. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), she’s also 5'3", weighs 164.7 pounds, and has a 37-inch waist..."

This was once again a needed reminder for me to not be obsessed with the scale. It is very easy for me to get discouraged or frustrated with my current weight, even while I am thrilled with all the weight I have lost. Sometimes I just wish that I was little and light.

But then I know that I don't really want to be little and light because I also really like being strong. I just want to be a little lighter, a little littler.

But why did that quote that stand out to me? It struck me because I am still 20 pounds heavier than the average American woman. 20 pounds heavier. That is the part that still doesn't sit well with me. But then the rest of the story starts to sink in-I am a size 10 and my waist is 4 inches smaller than this average woman, that one who is lighter than me.

So I am reminded that I can't live by the scale. I just have to keep on doing the right things-eating well, exercising, and sleeping enough. I just keep on and the changes keep happening, even if that scale isn't moving very quickly.

And I still plan to lose those 20 pounds.

Rest, what rest!?!

Front Squat
133x3x3
143x3x2

WOD
3 rounds
1 min ball slams 25# 30/28/27
30 sec. rest

1 min burpees 12/11/10

30 sec. rest
1 min cal. row 12/13/14
1 min rest

This was a lot of work. The 30 sec of rest was just enough to catch your breath a teeny-tiny bit while you got ready for the next exercise.

A Ridiculous Amount of Catching Up

November 27, 2010
SNPP 73x3x5

WOD
5 Rounds
6 snatch balance 43#
16 lateral hurdles 12"
10 KBS 35#
Time: 8:02

Loved the snatch balances in this one, and I didn't love the hurdles, but I was able to do them even though I was sure I wouldn't be able to.

November 28, 2010
Muscle Snatch 48x3x3

Front Squat
83x3
113x1
143x1
163x1
183x1
195x1 (PR!!) Yeah, super happy to get this one!

Butcher Sprints
2 rounds with 35# plates

Side Bends
1x10 35#
2x10 45#

November 29, 2010
Power Snatch
53x2
63x2
68.5x1x5

WOD
40 Squats
15 push ups
8 hang power cleans 73#
Time: 6:27

Hmmm, I failed to write down the number of rounds. I must have been still a little fuzzy brained.

GHD sit-ups
3x15

November 30, 2010
Front Squat
153x2x4

WOD
5 rounds
1 min max burpees
1 min rest

14/14/14/13/14=69

Certainly a wod that plays to my strengths. Burpees are fabulous, and this was just one great fabulous fest.
My two goals for this wod:
1. make every burpee an honest burpee with jumps down into the push up/flop on the floor and jumps back up from the floor. I wanted to have no burpees that included using my knees to ease my way down and up. Goal met. I was incredibly tempted to muddle some of those burpees, but I really wanted to cement the new pattern in my brain.
2. I wanted to never drop below 14 in a minute. Goal not met. And I tried really, really hard to get 15 on the last round and just.could.not.do.it!

December 2, 2010
Front Squat
worked up to-
163x1
173x1

The 173 was of questionable depth. Time for some super honest blog confession. Green tea right before the class+a lifting belt+front squats=a recipe for possible bladder control problems. It is true. This is my super honest confession of the year. I didn't really feel like dealing with it, so I just didn't go quite below parallel.

Thanksgiving Chief, year 2

Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2010

Front Squat + Jerk

63x2+1

83x2+1

93x2+1

103x1+1

113x1+1

WOD

partner Chief with Sam Y

3 Rounds

AMRAP in 5 min

3 Power Cleans 83#

6 push ups

9 squats

1 min rest between rounds

Partners alternate the Chief sequence and while one is working, the other holds the plank position

7+7 squats/7+5 squats/7 +2 squats

Try as I might, I could never get that last round finished! I loved, loved, loved this partner Chief. I almost didn't come to the Thanksgiving class when the memories of last year's Chief WOD came flooding back. But of course, I am very glad I made it in. I told my sister on the way in that if we had to do the running partner Chief, we'd have to be together and she would get to run 600m rounds while I ran 200. Then when I got home, I went back and read my entry from that wod.

Way back then I was still slightly overwhelmed by the shear eliteness of Cliff and Golden, so there was a lot of pressure from being the way, way, way slowest person in that wod. Ah the memories... And a year later, I still whine about running, and I am still often the slowest person in the wod. Now being slow doesn't bother me as much, and I am ever so slightly better at running, slightly being the operative word.

And then I went home and finished all of the preparations for our Thanksgiving feast. I am often asked if I cheat, so here is some photographic evidence of my cheat day-

The paleo foods-

Turkey, one smoked and one roasted

Sweet Potatoes

Paleo Stuffing

Brussel Sprouts

Green Beans with Bacon

pumpkin bars

Apps: vegetables, fruit, mini sausages

The non-paleo foods-

Cranberry sauce

gravy (thickened with potato starch and no one noticed the difference)

Cauliflower squash with asiago cheese

real, traditional mashed white potatoes

gluten free biscuit

whipped cream on my paleo bars

Apps-jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon, artichoke jalapeno dip, m&ms

And wine and gluten-free beer

Ouch!

Back Squat
228.5 x2x3

3 box jumps between each set

The squats were kind of off tonight-rolling onto my toes, dropping too fast, feeling like they were heavy...but sometimes you just charge ahead and get the work done.

WOD
5 rounds
15 yd suitcase lunge 30# DBs
15 yd resisted run (with Anna)

Last time I did this wod with 20# DBs. This is also the first time in a long time that I have done resisted runs with my own sister. If you want to work less, it is certainly preferable to partner with someone not related to you. Non-relations (Black-hearted Kyle excepted) tend to be concerned about not resisting TOO hard, and might even be worried about breaking you. My own sister apparently had very little concern for this.

I can feel the effects of this wod very, very definitely. Apparently I have still not adapted to the combination of back squats, weighted lunges and resisted runs.