An email came through from my dog agility instructor that our class on Thursday was cancelled, which meant I had a free evening. So what to do with it?
I was feeling like yoga, but my other gym wasn’t offering it until 7, so when I saw that the WOD at Man O’War CrossFit was “core” I decided to push for two classes in two days!
We warmed up with doing 5 sets of 5 reps of wall balls and ball slams. Because of my knee I didn’t go as low as you should for the wall balls, but I squatted enough to warm up the body.
AMRAP – 12 minutes
5 Dead Lifts (Rx 75/65lbs)
10 Push-Ups
15 Air Squats
Then, once the timer goes off (no rest) 800 m run
To save my knees, instead of doing the tuck jumps, I stayed flat on my back and just tucked my knees into my chest and out for 15. For the first part of the WOD I was able to get in almost 2 whole rounds (I had just started my second set of knee tucks when the timer went off).
Again, to save my knees, I didn’t go very deep in my air squats. But I did do the Rx for the dead lifts–65lbs! w00t! It was a hard ending to the WOD! I was able to get in 12 rounds (Taylor was pushing us to get at least 12), with push-ups on my knees (arms still sore from Wednesday’s workout). I had done the 13th set of dead lifts when the timer went off. The 800 m run seemed longer than it was, and my knee was a little ouchy from the workout.
Great workout–I was soaked with sweat! After we were done I did a little foam rolling on my quads, calves, and IT band (holy ow!) and stretched before heading home to take the pups on a 3-mile walk with M to enjoy the gorgeous evening (no rain–yay!).
So I’ve been a bit of a bad blogger and have been MIA lately. But, I have a good excuse! You see, on top of my regular 8-5 job, I have a second job as a volleyball ref for a bar league a couple nights a week (6 pm to midnight), plus I am a freelance writer for a few different equine magazines. Lo and behold, I had three big features all due on the same day (May 15) and other things in my personal life going on that made blogging not very important at the time. But, my articles are submitted, so I’m hoping to be back in action. (I hope you can forgive me!)
Anyway, last week I failed to blog about my class at Man O’War CrossFit, so I figured I’d combine this week’s class with last weeks.
First up, last week’s class:
Last week’s class was a trial in pride for me. We worked on push presses and trying to get 70% of our max so we could do four sets of 10, along with 10 medicine ball throws for our strength portion of the workout. I’ll be the first to admit that I have a weak upper body–a lot of women do. But I didn’t realize how weak until we started this exercise. After many attempts, I ended up doing the push presses with a 35-lb woman’s bar. (Hey, at least I have a starting point to build from!)
After the strength portion, we worked with a partner to do the WOD:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Thrusters (rx 95/64#)
Lateral bar jump
Sit-ups
For Time
Working with a partner, one did 10, you did 9, partner 8…until you hit 1, then you switched and went back up, so partner would do 1, you 2, partner 3… I did the thrusters with the 35-lb bar, but jumped over my partner’s bar that had 15-lb weights on it. Part-way through the WOD, my knee started bothering me. I figured maybe it was just doing the later bar jumps, so I tried to take it easy. Unfortunately, I think too many squats (with the thrusters) and heavy weights, plus the jumps wasn’t the best thing. Later that day, and the next day, my knee was sore, so I didn’t go back for my Friday class like originally planned.
Now, last night’s class:
Before class I contacted Taylor (coach) about my knee and how I was concerned about the strength portion: 8 reps of split squats on each leg for 5 reps. He told me not to worry, that he’d come up with something for me to do in replace of the leg stuff and to come on to class.
My strength workout? 12 reps of body weight pull-ups and chest-2-bar pull-ups, 3 sets each. (I told him I really wanted to work on my upper body strength, so he listened!) I used the wide band on my pull-ups. Those are tricky little things–you start off feeling so strong for the first couple, then quickly you’re starting to struggle to get your chest to the bar. But, I did it!
For me, I did dumbbell push presses instead of thrusters to save on my knees. Then, for those of us who couldn’t do handstand push-ups (yet), we worked off of boxes. You set your toes in the middle of the box, then got in a plank position for your push-ups. The closer you got your hands to the box, the harder it was. Also, the higher the box was, the harder the exercise was. But you didn’t want to get your body in less than a 90* angle at the hips. I used the 24″ side of the box and tried to get my hands close. But I know I’m going to need a lot more work on push-ups, period, to get the strength for HSPU!
Here’s a great explanation of the progression training you can do for handstand push-ups:
Taylor wanted us to finish in no more than 15 minutes. I finished in 10:33 with 15lb dumbbells (for push presses and farmer carry). I rounded up the workout with 100 full butterfly sit-ups using the ab mat, since I wanted to take it easy on my knee and not do wall balls for the day.
What’s one CrossFit exercise you’re afraid to try? I think HSPU are going to be my big fear! Haha
Just a quick post to let you know I’m still alive, just buried in work and life at the current moment.
The doctors’ appointments are piling up lately, though. I had my last physical therapy appointment last Wednesday with Ryan. We went through our usual exercises and stretches, but there still hasn’t been much improvement with my knee. I haven’t run in almost three weeks now, and it’s killing me. I’ve been waking up early every morning to walk the dogs for 30 minutes (about 2.25 miles) to get both parties exercise, and to help wear them down for when M comes home from work at 8 am and goes to sleep (they don’t understand why he doesn’t want to play with them when he comes home). Even spinning has started to bother my knee some.
At CrossFit last week (post to come), we did more squats than I figured, so my knee hurt for the next three days, causing me to be cautious and not go back on Friday like I intended. Talk about more disappointment for me.
My follow-up appointment with the sports medicine doctor isn’t until May 23. I call everyday to check if there’s been any cancellations, but, alas, so far nothing.
But now, another doctor appointment has been made. While cleaning the kitchen last week, M found an old note from my doctor dated back in February. It was the results of my last physical, saying my test came back abnormal for the second year in a row, so they wanted to refer me to a gynocologist. At first I was irritated–who sends a letter, via snail mail, with news like this?? No phone call, just a printed letter. Who knows what might have been if we had accidentally thrown the envelope away! So, after a few repeated phone calls, I now have an appointment set for mid-June. Yep…that’s the earliest I could get into that one, too. Ugh.
We won’t mention the dentist appointment this week–at least that’s just routine (fingers crossed). Same with the chiropractor appointment for both dogs before the agility trial this weekend (yep, my dogs see a chiropractor, but I’ve never had one work on me before), or the potential vet appointment for my 16-year-old cat who needs fluid removed from her lungs soon.
Ever have one of those weeks where it doesn’t just rain, but pours when it comes to appointments?
I’m sorry for the lack of posts this week. Life has taken a sharp, fast turn and it’s been crazy for me lately. I got hit with freelancing deadlines, plus an extra article that I couldn’t turn down, plus picking up some extra reffing nights for the next week or so. Needless to say, I haven’t spent much time at home and I haven’t had any time to relax or sit down to really blog. I’m hoping things will quiet down soon and I can share some things with you.
That being said, I’ve been able to squeeze in just a little bit of reading this week, so here’s some link love for you:
Finding my Blogger Identity (High Heels & Shotgun Shells): Danielle is so frank about everything she writes about. I was introduced to her blog by a friend I went to college with, and it’s great for me to keep in touch with what’s happening in agriculture and anything else. For bloggers starting out, we go into this venture with the high notion of exactly what we’re going to do and say, but things always change. We tend to forget the blogs need to be about us–who we are and how we feel–and just be us. That’s what people want to read.
Divorce (Newlyweds on a Budget): It seems like all of a sudden I’m hearing about friends and family members having marital problems. It’s scary for someone such as myself who is a newlywed of 218 days and working hard to have that happy marriage when battling differing schedules, money woes, etc., to see and hear how some couples just seem to give up instead of trying to work things out. Great point: “As individuals, we’re not happy all the time. And I think too often when we become married, we seem to blame our unhappiness on our marriage rather than look at our own issues.”
#Whats Beautiful? Recovery (Live, Travel, Eat and Run): So UnderAmour has started a new campaign with some of the FitFluential Ambassadors about what’s beautiful for women. Amalia chose her goal for the campaign to “recover strong.” It seems rather fitting, considering the struggles I’ve been having with my knee. My hope is to recover strong in time to start training for a Fall half marathon and to be able to run in the Bluegrass 10K on July 4, so this was an inspirational post for me.
On Balance (Fitting It All In): Clare hit the nail on the head with this blog post for me right now. I’m struggling to find a balance with my personal life, professional/money-making life, social life, and my exercise life at the current moment. Lately it’s been a struggle for me to have a normal day, and, as mentioned above, life has been really crazy for me with some unexpected deadlines and changes in schedules, etc. I’m an all-or-nothing type of person too, and I’ve been self-medicating through emotional eating throughout the struggle, and it shows already. It’s hard to find that balance–it’s always an ongoing project for you life. If you’ve found the key, can you share it with me?
Sorry for the lack of posts lately–it’s been a crazy busy week. And even though the Kentucky Derby was five days ago, I wanted to share some of the photos I took with my iPhone of that long, rainy, but always amazing day.
(BTW, Orb was the winner, and I bet on him–yay! I ended up leaving Churchill Downs earning money after betting, instead of losing it all like I normally do!)
Churchill Downs grandstand from the backside
Churchill Downs grandstand from the final turn of the track on a gloomy day.
THe field breaks from the gate for the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, the race before the Kentucky Derby
The 139th Kentucky Derby, Presented by Yum! Brands (mouthful, huh?)
Just some of the cameras used on the starting gate for the Derby. We have one there.
Chad Harmon, one of our magazine’s photographers. He was keeping the camera dry in the rain (I joke and say no one taught him not to play in plastic bags).
Through these gates will pass a champion. (The starting gate)
I rocked the green “Gumby suit” with my navy blue polka dot wellies for my Derby attire.
Eventual Kentucky Derby winner Orb warms up before the race.
Friday night’s workout is brought to you by Man O’War CrossFit, and Taylor decided we needed to end the week with a bang.
(I forgot to take a photo of the WOD on the board–that’s how worn out I was from the workout!)
After our warm-up, Taylor went through teaching us about snatches, cleans, and overhead squats. I am such a stickler for making sure I’m doing all of the movements right I get to thinking too much, so when it was coming to the cleans, my head was too much in the game and I’d lose focus and momentum just to get the 35-lb bar over my head. I was thinking about how coach was saying we need to keep the bar close to us, but yet I wasn’t feeling it close to me. Then he said that was OK–use the momentum and it’ll get the bar up. After taking a few moments to get my head right, I tried it and had no problems.
Then we went through front squats, first learning the movement, then starting to work on our one-rep max. Unfortunately I was afraid to really push myself on that max because of my knee bothering me. I worked slowly on finding the right weight, first with 15-lb plates, then 25-lb plates on my 35-lb bar. Taylor noticed I wasn’t getting my butt down past parallel, so I worked with it some, making sure my knee wasn’t tweaking. I decided to just try to add 5 more pounds, so I had a total of 90-lbs for my front squat max. I hated that I wasn’t pushing myself as hard as the others in my class, but I also wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything too horrible to my knee. But, 90-lbs gives me something to work on, once I know my knee can handle it.
After we found our one rep max, it was time for what Taylor called:
“Hundreds of Fun”
100 push-ups
100 air squats
100 sit-ups
*Every 2 minutes, do 5 burpees
For time
I start out doing full push-ups for about 15 (woohoo!), then put my knees on the sit-up pads and got to work. Taylor kept an eye on the clock and told us when it was time for burpees. He warned us about those first burpees after doing the pushups, and he was right! Your arms did not want to catch you–I think I heard someone’s face smack into the floor. Those first sets of burpees made you want to push through the push-ups just to get done with using your arms.
The air squats weren’t as difficult as I thought they’d be and I breezed through those pretty quickly. Then came the full sit-ups. Those took a lot longer than I thought they would. I didn’t want to do any more burpees, but when I got to 96, Taylor yelled i was time for burpees. Blast! Five burpees later, I did 4 more butterfly sit-ups and I was finished. Total time: 14:39 Total burpees: 35
After catching my breath, I started to work on my wall balls for the May challenge. With the 14-lb medicine ball, I did 67. I was able to add 30 more due to my 1.5 hours of “physical activity outside of the gym” (for every 30 minutes we spend doing physical activity outside the gym, we got to add 10 wall balls) from my agility class last night. So it was a total of 97 wall balls tonight, for a week total of 157.
It was a great workout, that ended with a relaxing walk with the dogs in the park to celebrate the end of the week!
I have to admit, I think this workout would be good to do at home.
Happy Derby Day!!! While you’re reading this, I’m currently hustling all around Churchill Downs working with photographers for the 139th Kentucky Derby. Hopefully the sun is shining on “My Old Kentucky Home” and all 20 horses cross the finish line in good shape. (And I hope you’re able to watch the race–check out your local NBC affiliate for times!)
Here’s a smattering of some good reads from this week:
To You, Love Me (The Lean Green Bean Blog): Lindsay actually posted this archived blogpost in her Bean Bytes on Monday, and even though it’s an older post, it’s perfect for how I’m feeling right now. Right now I’m so frustrated with my body in many ways, but everyone needs reminders about what’s good about their body and that it’s not always about the number on the scale or how you think you look in your clothes. Plus is has a killer circuit workout at the end to try!
What I Learned Hanging out with Jillian Michaels (RunLadyLike): I’m uber envious of Jesica right now! I’d love to go see Jillian Michaels during her “Maximizing Your Health” tour, but the closest she comes to Lexington is Indianapolis, and I wasn’t able to go because of work. I love watching Jillian on TBL, but I’ve also enjoyed her workout videos and book. I love this quote: Failure is an integral part of learning to be better.
What Happened When I Stopped Exercising (Running With Spoons): Amanda tackles exercise addiction, and after reading her blog post it makes me wonder if I have a little bit of that going on. She talks about how her life has changed, for the better, when she stopped focusing on formal exercising.
What blog posts have made you think or inspire you this week?
(BTW, my Derby picks: Oxbow, Will Take Charge, Orb, and Goldencents. Though that might change by betting time. I’ll let you know!)
Wednesday morning I went to my fourth physical therapy appointment. I went into the appointment with a list of concerns: my knee wasn’t better (in fact I felt that it was worse than when I started PT), and my right heel/Achilles tendon almost paralyzed me in pain last week.
Last Friday I really wanted to go for a run, so I did a 3.75 mile loop around where I work and my old neighborhood. The run felt great–I didn’t push myself and ran around 9:00-9:10 miles. I felt like I could go for longer, but I was afraid of pushing myself too much. I stretched, went home to shower and then tackle the night’s festivities of a cookout with friends and bowling with the hubs and his co-workers.
Through the night my knee was a little sore. But the scary thing was my right heel/achilles tendon starting hurting so badly when I walked. It was hard for me to lift my leg just to walk, so I’d basically drag it behind me. No clue what that’s about, so I brought it up to my PT, Ryan, on Wednesday. His main concern was that my knee wasn’t any better, but he did say I should talk to a sports medicine doctor about my heel/achilles–it might be because of my heel spur.
We started my PT session with a strength test, to make sure I’d been doing my exercises to strengthen my quads, since that was supposed to help my knee feel better. I’d improved greatly, and even lengthened my quad muscle in my left leg by 3 inches (it’s now only 2-3 inches from heel to butt!). So I’ve improved in that respect, but it feels like my knee is getting worse.
For example, I can’t cross my right leg over my left knee for very long–it feels like I’m pushing down on the knee cap and it starts to ache. Tuesday, while reffing volleyball, it ached depending on how I held my legs. I can’t stay in a deep squat position for very long, or else it starts to hurt.
CrossFit sees you doing a lot of squats and lunges. I’m not able to get the proper form for all of the exercises, which isn’t good.
Last night, at agility class, I wasn’t running my best, mostly because I was scared about my knee. My instructor noticed, and so did LaMesa, and it affected our courses greatly. I pushed any negative thoughts behind me, and pushed through one last course run and it was great…but my knee didn’t feel so great. After the long hour-drive home, I hit the Ibuprofen and wrapped my knee in ice for 25 minutes before bed.
It’s frustrating to me that I can’t run. The weather has been gorgeous. My goal after the Run the Bluegrass was to keep my mileage up so I could easily tackle any next race I wanted, and now I’m only running 3-4 miles once a week (compared to 11 + long runs a week while I was training). Whenever I do get the chance to start training again, I’ll be starting back at mile 1, and that hurts! I’ve also gained about 5 pounds in the month of no running and battling being mildly depressed because of the sudden stop.
I scheduled a follow-up appointment with the sports medicine doctor for the earliest I could get in–May 23. whomp whomp :-/ I have one more PT appointment with Ryan next week before I decide to take a break from that until I hear from the doctor. I’m hoping I can try to get in a little earlier–May 23 seems so far away!
So how do you battle frustrations that stop you from doing what you love?
After the past couple of crazy days at work, I needed to get some movement going. Usually that means going for a long run, but since I’m still not able to run, I luckily still had Man O’War CrossFit to hit!
Wednesday’s WOD was a tough one that was timed. After a quick warmup, Taylor walked us through the different movements of the day’s workouts. We went over cleans, which I learned last week, but then also push presses, thrusters, and toes to bar. At first we used PVC pipe (great learning tool) and then we got our bars. It’s taking me a while to get the hang of the movements of the cleans, push press, and thrusters, but I think I’ll get it the next time. (I’m not keeping the bar close enough to my body.)
Then came time for the WOD:
We were being timed. For the push presses, thrusters, and cleans, I just used an empty 35-lb bar. I didn’t mind, because I really want to get the movements down correctly before I add weight. There a couple of others using just the bar, so I didn’t feel too weak.
WOD
Cleans x30
Toes to Bar x30 (or knees to arm pit or knees to chest)
Box Jumps x30
Push Press x30
Double Unders x30 (or 90 singles)
Thrusters x15
Pull-ups x15
100 m walking lunges w/15-lb plate above head
I finished in 14:40, the first of the group. I was able to do all 30 cleans without taking a break, but I broke up the knees to chest in 3 sets of 10. I could have done the full-height box for the box jumps, but I didn’t want to risk my knee so I jumped the lower box.
Because I didn’t feel confident in my performance with the jump-ups last week, Taylor let me use a rubber band to start working on my pull-ups. That made a huge difference, and woo! After 12 I was struggling! But I did all 15 without stopping.
I did 90 singles–I watched Taylor and Tara do double-unders and I have no clue how they can do that so fast! Wow! I have a lot to work towards.
The walking lunges were hard–I had already done 36 earlier in the day in physical therapy (twisting lunges, not with a 15-lb plate, but still).
Needless to say, it was a butt kicker! I worked with Tara a little on my form for cleans and push presses and she showed me how to come down correctly. Then we worked on my form for wall balls–this month’s challenge is 1,000 wall balls in the month of May. I belted out 60 with a 10-lb ball while working on my form. Thanks, Tara!
Afterwards I rushed home to take the pups on a 2.75 mile walk in the park and soak up the gorgeous spring weather we’re finally having!
Happy puppies that have missed their mom so far this week.
Then M and I made dinner–he grilled a couple of burgers while I made roasted sweet potato chips and guacamole (with tortilla chips) for dinner to celebrate the weather.
Loving making my own guac now!
Just two more days before the Kentucky Derby! Are you following the action? One of the sites I work with, BloodHorse.com, has all the info you need…check it out! I’ll post my picks Friday.
I asked my FPP, Jessica to do a write-up review of the different items I sent her for the April Foodie Pen Pal. I was excited to hear how she liked the different items. Take it away, Jessica!
Hello! My name is Jessica, and I was lucky enough to be paired up with Megan this month for Foodie Pen Pals! Megan was an excellent partner and gave me a TON of goodies in my package! Here’s a quick run down of what I received:
The box of goodies sent to Jessica.
Archer Farms Blueberry Nut trail mix: This stuff is divine. I have tried their other trail mixes before, but not this one – and I think this might actually be my favorite. Megan really listened when I said I was looking for healthy snack items, and this really fit the bill.
Archer Farms Chocolate Chunk Hazelnut Biscotti Granola: Okay, I totally devoured this before I could even eat it with a spoon and milk, as it shows in the picture on the package. Great idea for someone who has a sweet tooth like me, yet this has 30g of whole grain and lots of fiber!
The Ginger People Ginger Chews: These were totally new to me. I have never heard of anything like them! I was honestly a bit hesitant to try them (I know, I’m a wimp) but I love them, truly! They are great for afternoons in the office or for my evening driving commute.
Trader Joe’s Roasted Coconut Chips: Megan can read my mind, I swear. I saw these at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and I don’t know why I didn’t buy them, because I was totally salivating just looking at them. I was shocked when I saw them in my box! Needless to say, they are already gone, and are a wonderful sweet snack after a meal.
Trader Joe’s Fruit Chews: I hadn’t had these since childhood, and they brought back so many good memories! They are yummy, yet make me still feel healthy while eating them. :)
Kentucky’s Bourbon Brittle: I couldn’t even get a picture of this – that’s how fast it was devoured! My parents were visiting when I opened this package, and they both dove for this! (Huge Bourbon fans!) I let them split it, and they couldn’t get enough! :)
Overall, I am so happy and lucky to have had Megan prepare my Foodie Pen Pals package this month! It’s been great to “meet” you Megan, and I can’t thank you enough! You definitely have a new blog reader in me!
Thanks, Jessica! I’m so happy you loved everything, and now you’ve talked me into trying the coconut chips from TJ’s!
