I am back!

I haven't stopped training during the healing from partially ripping my calf muscle...just been quiet on the blog. I'm taking great care to stay properly hydrated, get lots of magnesium and rest. Also loving my Trigger Point Therapy Ultimate Body kit - keeps me mobile!

BIG NEWS!!! I participated in my first ever triathlon - a baby one...I did the swim portion (250m with a 500m run to transition) with some girlfriends from work. It was a blast! We ended up coming in 3rd out of 15 teams in our group! Amazing! I cannot wait to train more and try again :-)

Had a FUN workout today. Serious therapy for women to get their frustrations out in a way that is allowed - I LOVE hitting things hard so today's work out was perfect!

Warmup – Airdyne 5mins
1x CFWU (7 toe push ups – aiming for 20!)

Strength – Deadlift
3-3-3 @ 65kg-72.5kg-75kg – slowly working my way back to my PB of 82.5kg for 3reps
1×15 @ 50kg


WOD – “Hammer gone bad”
8lbs hammer, 10kg kettlebell – I LOVED this work out – I find hitting something so satisfying….gets all the frustrations out in a healthy way. Will’s right – it’s all about technique!

3 rounds of:
1 min 8lb sledge hammer swing (onto big fat tire)
1 min 21" box jump (step up for me with calf)
1 min 8lb sledge hammer swing
1 min 10kg Kettle Bell cleans
1 min rest

My score for each round
108+122+129 (was going for 130 damnit!) = 359 Total Score

OWWIE!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately - I partially tore my right calf muscle working out in the deep sand about 12 days ago. Thankfully it was just before a long weekend (there goes my surf trip to Denmark!) so I had some seriously dedicated icing and relax time on the couch for 5 days. I think it's helped heaps along with my homeopathics from my Naturopath, Peter Yeates from Fremantle Natural Therapies. AWESOME!

Number one lesson I have learned is to not take my mobility for granted and to put extra effort into caring for my muscle tissue!

I have recently just ordered the Trigger Point Performance Therapy Total Body Kit to help me with mine. I'm looking forward to having my mobility back soon and getting back into the swing of things. I am trying to see the injury as a landmark in my training - my first injury of this type which means I'm becoming a better athlete I reckon. Soon I'll be an even better one as I learn how to take better care of my body.

Girl's day

Today ended up being "girl's day" at Cottesloe beach this morning....just Kate and I (and of course Steve our coach!). Kate is a new mate who is an awesome athlete and really fun to work out with! After a nice warm up jog and some mobility movements on the beach here is what I was in for today.

Swim to Pylon and back, 1 rep
16kg American KB Swings, 60 reps
Swim to Pylon and back, 2 reps
16kg American KB Swings, 40 reps
Swim to Pylon and back, 3 reps
16kg American KB Swings, 20 reps

Time: 20:48min

Kate did 4 rounds matched with 80 reps. I was overcome many times with an irrational, gripping fear of what might be in the water. I know logically there is nothing to be scared of although some small part of my brain isn't listening and each and every swimming stroke was hard won against this fear...I wonder if it will ever diminish? It frustrates me that I cannot "control" it - the small shadow that lurks in my mind. Classic.

Fight Gone Bad - Cott Style

Well, I knew it had been a long time since I had done this workout..not since my fundamentals class in Nov 2008. Not sure if it's even worthy of comparison though....

“Fight Gone Bad”
3 rounds. 5 movements. 45 secs per movement. 1 min rest between
rounds.
Wall Ball, 5kg
SDHP, 16.5kg
Push Press, 16.5kg
Box Jumps, 10 inch box
Rowing
Score: 169pts

So this one was only 3 rounds. I know I'm fairly consistent with my effort so let's just assume if it was actually 5 rounds my score would have been ~ 252 points (169/3 x 5)

I was a bit bummed I had the lowest score of the group today although in comparison to my fundamentals class, I can only be happy with the results!

Fight Gone Bad “Beach Style” – Championship Edition
5 movements
1 min per movement
5 rounds
1 min rest between rounds
Record number of reps performed for each movement, each round, then total them at the end.

Movements:
1. Split Jumps - (then went to just lunges to focus on technique)
2. 16kg Torsion Bar Push Press
3. 12kg KB Front Squat (these suckers killed me!)
4. Push ups (inclined straight leg)
5. 12kg KB Swing - Overhead - think this is the American style? Strangely these were my "make up time and points" part!

Score: 442 points

Finisher:
Full Tier Climb, 3 rounds

November 2008 = 252 points
January 2010 = 442 points! Wooohoooo!

Highlights Last week

I remembered I could climb things and we swam with sharks! (well, not too closely thank goodness).

Wednesday was the day of my very first ocean swim! I've been in the ocean plenty of times before but this was different. Goggles on. Head down. Doing freestyle! ...and freaking out I could see the bottom and that every single shadow or the seagrass that drifted across my face was a SHARK! whew...There was actually an official shark warning and some of the northern beaches had been closed the day before due to several 3m tiger and hammerhead sharks lurking around feeding on schools of fish.

Here's the pylon at low tide - our swim was at high tide. I actually really enjoyed this workout.

I did 3 rounds instead of 5
Cottesloe Beach
5 rounds for time of:
Run from Cottesloe Surf Club to the water
Swim 50m (Pylon is 25m marker)
Run to the grassed tiers, climb all tiers
Run back to the starting point

Time: 13:42min

Finished off with some sun salutation yoga moves in the evening as I was still having troubles walking from Monday's workout!

Friday's workout involved no water...all on land and running the unfortunately short but weirdly long 800m distance.

For time:
Run, 800m
Then complete 4 rounds of:
Pull ups, 10 reps
Push ups, 20 reps
Sit ups, 30 reps
Air Squats, 40 reps
Then:
Run, 800m

Time: 27:43min for 3 rounds

I lived off a Choco-Banana Paleo bread in the mornings before the work out and have to say the recipe was a hit! The rest of my meals were paleo during the day with lots of chicken, beef sausages and fish for protein. Good week!

1st outdoor session 2010

We trained at Cottesloe beach this morning! Anyone not been to Western Australia it's a beautiful spot where the walking trail is up on a cliff that overlooks the beach and the ocean. Magic!

Today's workout was the first I've done in 3 weeks and as Steve mentioned during the training- yes, I'm guilty of a bit of carb loading over the holidays! Paleo and Xmas treats didn't really jive too well this year! Didn't vomit though so I was happy about that!

I trained with two other gals today as my "partners" and the boys did their thing together. Here it is:

“Partnered Beach Ladders”
For Time:
16kg Torsion Bar Thrusters: 1-10-1 reps (this means 1-2-3-4..and so on to 10 and then back down to one...10-9-8-)
Soft Sand Run, 200m
Push Up: 1-10-1 reps
Soft Sand Run 200m

Finisher:
Death by 10m in soft sand

The girls group finished in just over 20 mins and my death by 10m in soft sand was 7 rounds. Good benchmark for later in the year.

Apparently we'll be doing some swimming too so I'm a bit thrilled/scared at that as I've never really done ocean swimming before! Great session today and thanks to my training partners. The plan is to train outdoors for most of the summer ~ 3 months and then head back into the gym.

I love the feel of sand between my toes! Woot!

My favorite Paleo Video

Thank you to the creator!

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone!

It's been several months (almost 4 to be exact) since I posted my last news - I have been slowly working through my health issues - mainly a parasite invasion of my guts that apparently has been there for A LONG time and re-balancing and strengthening my systems so I can keep the parasites from re-establishing themselves. Eeew. It's very shocking to hear how communal they are - I am a bit naive so I was surprised! (I think it's an Aussie thing where it's much more accepted to talk about worms than it is in North America?!).

Anyway - I have only been training 2x a week and have just taken 3 weeks off over the holiday period. I have been drooling over the Crossfit games posters (both men and womens photos) and dreaming of having similar set of abs and thighs as some of those wonderfully powerful women! I'm excited about 2010, nutrition, diet and most of all training!

Looking back at 2009 and where I started at:


late November - fundamentals class
December - one on one training with Jason
January
Deadlift (3RM) - 44kg
Frontsquat (5RM) - 25kg
Backsquat (5RM) - 24kg
Press (3RM) - 22.5kg
Overhead Squat (3RM) - 15.5kg
Ring Dips - struggling to get 2 on blue band
Pull Ups - same on purple band


NOW - at the start of 2010~~~~
Deadlift (3RM) - 82.5kg
Front squat (5RM) - 47.5kg
Backsquat (5RM) - 40kg (3RM 50kg)
Ring dips - no prob on blue band - now on red
Pull ups - working on red band

Have also completed the Crossfit endurance training and can run a 5km in 36mins (used to be about 45mins before) and completed a 30 day paleo challenge (after which I PBed my deadlifts!)
My favorite paleo breakfast!
Almonds, 1/2 an avocado, salsa (yummy organic) and turkey slices with an apple


Crossfit Endurance Running Certification with Carl


And I have kicked the parasites butt as well as lost about 10 cm on my waist and about 10lbs on the scales (but obviously added quite a bit of weight re: muscle).

Check out these pipes! (Visiting Storm on Rottnest!)


Will do my best to keep the blog updated a little more regularly and am back on paleo again and will post some meals as reference.

Happy New Year to you all and Train Hard!

A slow down for healing

I'm here...I haven't been training that much as I've been dealing with some health issues.

I had my regular yearly tests made earlier this year and they showed I was anemic. I spent a few months thinking about why that might be (all the while taking high iron pills thinking, is this really the right way to go about fixing my iron problem?) - I have a good diet and eat plenty of foods high in iron....what's the deal!?

So I went to a very good naturopath who also is a Crossfitter and we uncovered some of the issues as to the cause of my low iron. I've been working on solving them since I returned back from Canada - It's like peeling an onion - slowly working through the layers of it all .... sometimes they are pretty yucky feeling layers!

So I've slowed my training down to 1-2x a week and I am walking, doing yoga and trying to get a day in a week at the indoor rock climbing gym. And trying to get a lot of sleep because boy is healing hard work!!!

I'm Baaaaack!

Hey all,

I am back in Perth and raring to go....I think I'll see you later this week!

I managed to get one workout in at Crossfit Brisbane so many thanks to all the friendly faces there! It was great to meet you all and I enjoyed the workout.







One of the face might be friendlier than you think....Do you recognise him?



I met Sharif from Australia's Biggest Loser! It was great to see him in person and so inspiring to know that Crossfit had such an impact on his life.

Takin' a break

I'll be back once I hit Aussie soil. Ended up with a bit of a bug (no swine flu!) so I'm resting so I'll be good and ready to rock and roll once I'm back!

Many hellos to all in Perth!

Plank Rotations, Agility Ladders, Mountain climbers oh my!

Have had a busy week with a day trip to Whistler, visiting with friends and family and attending a wedding on Saturday. Was fantastic!

Hit the gym again on Sunday and today and I'm HURTIN'....learned a new one from Kelly, one of the coaches at Vancouver Crossfit called plank rotations. You hold a plank pose on your elbows for 1 min, then rotate to one elbow, keeping your shoulder blades in-line and arm above your body, also in a straight line. Facing down, left side and right side is one rotation. We did 5 and it hurts to laugh today! Oh god does it hurt.....yeah for stabilisers!

We also practiced deadlifts both days and I received some tweaking on my technique. It's so interesting to see the evolution of technique and how it can deny or allow you those jumps in weight. Fallguy, my brother gave me some feedback about my pullups as well and I find them easier already! Look out unassisted pullup! I'm coming to get you!!!!



Sunday WOD: 5 rounds for time
300m row
10 mountain climbers
5 box jumps

Time: 11:10min (was proud of this as it was only 2:20min behind my bro)

Today we did agility ladders - doin' fancy footwork basically. I shouldn't have gone with my brother as he and the guy beside him started pretending doing the jig! I got the giggles and quality went WAY down! More practice on deadlifts today and I smashed by 3 rep max (previous 72.5kg) today by lifting 79.5kg!

WOD: AMRAP in 10 mins
Double unders - 60 reps

A far cry from Fallguy at 406!!! I think these will be my next goal... miss you all in Perth!

Crossfit Vancouver cures Jet Lag

Hey there! I'm writing to you from West Vancouver and we landed safely last night in Vancouver. I managed to get about 7hrs of sleep last night which is more than I expected. Got up this morning and was feeling a bit "wobbly" in the head, stomach and legs after traveling for more than 24hrs the day before. Nothing like a good Crossfit workout to fix things!

Here is my brother Fallguy and I at Crossfit Vancouver's new location.


So after getting the grand tour and meeting our coach for the session, Popeye (who had a large rottweiler following him around the whole time!) we got down to business:

Warm UP: 400m jog, timed 400m ball run (12lbs) 2:32min (sorry we are in lbs now!)
Strength: deadlifts - worked up to 115lbs (~52kg) worked on my technique

WOD: "Christine" 3 rounds for time of:
500m row
12 Body weight deadlifts (I stuck with the 52kg)
21 box jumps






By the end of round one, my bro informed me I was looking a little "green around the eyes"! I was feeling a bit woozy, but I made it through....sort of....we both threw up!


Hahahaha - Just kidding! (it's water!)

Time: 18:53min

Cross Fit Total

We did a Cross Fit Total workout at The Cell last night. I didn't have a lot of expectations so I didn't have a goal in mind. Considering I was REALLY out of shape 6 months ago and hadn't been working out regularly since early 2008, I am really proud of my performance! Based on my body weight, I'm about 10-12kg off of the "Intermediate" Benchmark! Wwwooot!

Back Squat - 60kg/65/70x (got the 70kg on a second try but it doesn't count)
Press - 33.5kg/35/37.5x
Deadlift - 80kg/85/90 Personal Best!

Total = 190kg or 418lbs

Here is a Deadlift Sequence - Jason thanks for correcting my technique. It makes all the difference in the world!




I'll be on the road for the next 5.5 weeks and will be visiting Crossfit Vancouver as well as hopefully Brisbane and Gold Coast. I'll also be doing a few workouts on my own in my small hometown so stay tuned for how creative I can get to find somewhere to do pullups!

Row Row Row your boat

This week has been the first stormy week in Perth for the season and Friday it rained so hard that the storm drain wouldn't empty the parking lot water for quite awhile.

The workout of the day went from running to rowing for cardio. I think we would have been bruised if we had gone outside! It was pelting!

WOD - 3 rounds for time (scaled down from 75 squats, 50 situps and 25 burpees)
800m row (instead of run)
50 squats
30 situps
10 burpees

Time: 23:54 mins

The Workouts that Made me Cry

Workout 1

Press 5-5-5
26/27.5/28.5kg

WOD
Run 200m
15 Pullups (Red band)
20kg Thrusters 15 reps
Row 250m
15 Pullups (Blue band)
20kg Thrusters 15 reps
Run 200m
15 Pullups (Blue band)
20kg Thrusters 15 reps
Row 250m
15 Pullups (Blue band)
20kg Thrusters 15 reps

Time: 18:32min

Work Out 2
Front Squat 5-5-5
35/40/42.5

WOD
5 rounds for time of:
45kg Dead Lift 10 rep
18" box jumps 21 reps

Time: 14:29min

maybe in six months from now, I will do these again and have improved on my cardio...will keep you posted

Blood, Sweat and now Tears

When I was young, I remember running with my gym class and always being at the back of the class, even as young as 10 years old. I was never good at running but I always pushed myself hard and many times, I'd start to hyper-ventilate just to keep up with the other kids. I was embarrassed I couldn't run as well as they could. I'm sure hyper-ventilation on its own isn't so bad....it's they sense of panic for not being able to breathe that is the worst part of the experience!

In the last week, I've had two times at The Cell where I've pushed myself hard enough to reach that panic stage. The point at which my chest starts to close up and I begin to panic because I cannot breathe. I can now add "tears" to the list of the old mantra of "blood, sweat and tears" because I have cried on both sessions this week. Once with each of the coaches, Stef and Jason (thought I'd make it even!).

Strangely, it wasn't as embarrassing as I thought it would be, mostly thanks to the amazing acceptance, understanding and support Stef and Jason give. I always feel so ugly crying, not unattractive but vulnerable where this part of me that is tortured, twisted, squished up, and soul-wrenching surfaces. That what it feels like on the inside - like I'm allowing this part of me to show - a place where I'm deeply vulnerable.

Surprisingly, what comes up from my depths behind it once it's surfaced is a fire, a determination and something that feels like what you might experience while watching a life grow - like those time-lapsed videos of seeds growing. Almost a detached form of awe.

Fran vs. Fran

Fran has finally come back into my life - 5 months after my first go!

I did my first Fran workout in December for part of my fundamental training. It was HUGELY scaled (thank god or else I would have seriously been crippled!).

December Fran was:
15-10-5
6.5kg thrusters (most likely not anywhere near below vertical!)
12-8-6
Pullups (purple band)
Time: 7:14min

April 09 Fran was:
21-15-9
20kg Thrusters (way better form now! Thanks Jason! hate those medicine balls but they work!)
Pullups (red band)
Time: 7:26min

I was disappointed as I was trying for 7:14mins....I tried, Jason yelled..cannot be too disappointed though. I'm really pleased to move from the purple band to the red and complete the work out. Yeah!

The Week it Was

Last week I felt better than ever after taking the previous week off (except for one workout). I was beating myself up a little about it but I listened to my body and it said, I need a break!

I did my first TABATA workout, I had a personal best for my back squats and I did my very first full, as prescribed workout!! It was a big break through week and I feel it was largely because I listened to my body, back with a vengeance after a good break!

April 14/09
Back Squat: 5-5-5 45/50/52.5kg

WOD: 3 rounds of time of
Run 800m
Squats - 75 reps
Sit ups - 50 reps


time: 29:45min (!yeah!)

April 15/09
WOD:
1000m row
50 pull ups (blue band)
100 Push ups (knees)
150 squats
1000m row

time: 27.05 mins


April 18/09
TABATA 8x 20sec work/10 sec rest (2min rest between rounds)
12kg Kettle Bell Swings - 12
15kg Push Press - 6
24 inch tire jump - 8
Burpees - 3
Rowing (calories) - 4
total score: 33

Emotional Pain Today

Today was a really tough day. I haven't trained for 5 days and haven't been getting enough protein in my body the last few days. I've been feeling mentally exhausted...full moon? Crazy work schedule? Who knows but I sure felt it today during my workout. I fought for every single repetition and strangely, found myself fighting to keep control over my emotions! I felt like crying pretty much the whole workout....has this happened to anyone else out there? I would be fine once I was doing the movement but as soon as I transitioned between movements, I would feel the uncomfortable lump in my throat and would be fighting to stay in control of my emotions. I was determined not to cry!

WOD
AMRAP in 20 mins
35 kg Backsquat - 5 rep
5kg Wall ball - 10 rep
12kg Kettle Bell Swings - 15 rep

I liked this off of Crossfit Vancouver's website.