Half Murph

I am really trying to work hard at getting on track with exercise but sometimes we all slip. So on Monday I decided to do half of Murph. What is half of Murph well it is half the distance and have the reps which works out to run a half mile, 50 pull ups, 100 push ups and 150 air squats and then just for sport, a half mile run. I was able to get through it in a little over 30 minutes. I broke up the middle (pull up, push ups, and squats) into half and twice through. It was difficult until I got to the second set of air squats and I look over and there are two girls with mats out not exercising but texting. You are at the gym, how about you work out! Sometimes if you would put your phone down you can find a new friend. I felt pretty good until I had to sit at my desk all day and my back hurts. Apparently the MT that I live with/married (when you find a good MT you hold on to that MT) said something about the mayo-facial issues. Yeah I am pretty sure that was not the correct term but he is adorable and it is almost impossible to remember what technical words he says. I had to take two days off (Tuesday and Wednesday) and I was back at it today. I only ran but it was really nice.

It has been really tough trying to fit my afternoon walk in with my busy schedule but I do my best. I love being busy and I really feel like I can do some good progress in my new group. I really like what I do and I look forward to meeting my new boss face to face next week. Well I look forward to continuing my fitness and building a stronger better version of myself. Cheers and happy fitness.

-K

Covering multiple days…

So I finally got out at lunch for the first time at work. I was so excited. On Thursday I got to walk outside, in the fresh air, and it didn’t hurt at all. Thursday I walked for about 25 minutes and Friday I walked for a little over 30 minutes. Now with keeping on track for my running program I ran/walked for 25 minutes on Thursday night (I took Wednesday as a rest day) and I got about 1.7 miles. Friday I did a similar run walk for 27 minutes and I got to almost 2 miles (1.87 miles). The running program that I am doing starts simple with 1 minute of running with 2 minutes of walking during week 1 (they expect you to work out 3 times a week). On Friday I started week 2 which was 90 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking. All workouts start with 5 minutes of walking up front and they want a 5 minute codlin which I use to do something else. So Thursday I did a pushup and sit up tabata and Friday I did a plank shoulder touch with air squats, inverted hand stand holds, and dip terabit. This morning I got up early (who needs to sleep in on the weekends) and did my run followed by another terabit (air squats, push ups, sit ups, aided pistols). The biggest difference is that i went forward through the tabata once and then backwards (squats, push ups, sit ups, left pistols, right pistols, sit ups, push ups, and squats). That was great as I used the support pole in my basement to aid with the pistols. Come to find out my right leg is weaker than my left leg.

Tomorrow I am looking to do some aided pull ups at my gym and a few other things (yet to be decided). How do you plan your workouts? Do you work out better in a group or by yourself? I have also given up alcohol to see how that helps my diet. I have been pretty good in not eating gluten, dairy, or sugar. I have one cheat day which was Friday mainly because my mom sent a package with biscotti and cookies. Yeah you can’t say no to those. Great way to spend a cheat day.

Cheers,
k

K-Pac – Tuesday’s workout

So today was my first workout at home. First, I had a slight injury from running on Saturday so I took Monday off. So today’s workout, I call it K-Pac, which was made up of 25 minutes of run/walk (I did about 1.65 miles) and then one tabata (20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest 8 times) that was air squats, squats with arms over head (non-weighted overhead squat), box dips and decline push ups. It was pretty tough but I am working on getting to where I can run a 5k so I can attempt Murph (run a mile, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 air squats, mile run). Yes I know that 2 miles does not equal a 5k but my lungs are not great as I have asthma so I have to work up to 30 – 40 minutes of solid cardio. I have been scared of Murph for a while and they of course did it as part of the CrossFit Games. The women there had a hard time with finishing it so this just reinforced my fear. I will feel like a real athlete when I can attempt Murph. I also took the stretches from Coach Snow after my workout as stretching is important.

I have started a new job and I have not been able to walk at lunch but I did pace like a Jaguar in a cage. I am hoping I can get out at lunch tomorrow for a walk along the river at lunch. I try to walk about 5 or 6 miles each day but yesterday I was not able to get to 5 miles. I did ride the bus today with my husband so I didn’t get lost (anyone who knows me knows this is a real possibility).

So here’s the question for all of you, what music do you listen to when you work out? I am always looking for good music to workout to. Pandora channels, actual songs, which ever. Happy workouts and cheers!
-k

It’s been a while

I know it has been a while since I have posted so let me fill you in on what has happened. First, my laptop died. It was a quick death and the funeral service was small with family attending where they all remembered the time they downloaded, screamed at it, and made up. It will be resting with other laptops that came before it. It has been followed with a different platform. I used Carbonite on the device so I am hoping that I can try to get my photos back. I am hoping that it all goes well as that was a lot of photos and videos.
Next, I got married. Yep that’s right some poor guy now has to spend the rest of his life with me. He is accepting sympathy cards. It was very nice and small which was perfect. I do not like the standard weddings where everyone treats the bride like a princess. I am not a princess and I do not have misconceptions of marriage. Anyways, it was very nice with great food and great family.
Another issue that came up, a family member got some bad news as far as health and so I wanted to spend time with her to make sure she was ok. All is well as I have a family of warriors so of course she made it through. That whole experience really just reinforced my idea of trying to make myself healthy to do the most I can to try to fend off medical issues.
Finally, I got a new job. WHAT!?! Yeah and here is the bad news, apparently there are no CrossFit gyms out in the area where I will be working despite the fact that Regionals was held there. Yeah I know, crazy! I have to find a way to continue with my training and build my own programs. I will miss all the people that I workout with and I look forward to seeing them at a few gatherings. The box I go to was the first one I had ever been to and I hate to leave but it is 45 minutes from my house and in the wrong direction for my new job. I will miss the people I work with but I also hope to see them at a few events that are coming up and keeping up with them on Facebook.
So what am I going to do for a workout? So glad you asked (you did ask right), I am going to be building my own workout program and building my own gym at home. I have a box for box jumps, a rope, and of course I have my treadmill. It will be tough as I have to be held accountable. I am going to try to post every day what I did for a workout if you want to follow along and I can be accountable. I want to be clear, I am not a trainer, I am not a professional athlete, I have no background in training other than what I had when I was younger. I will be starting at the beginning of August and until then it will be prep work.
Here is the question I have for all of you; I am looking for a good place for equipment that is not too pricey but has the quality. I don’t want to spend $800 on a set that I might not be able to use half of it. At some point I want to get a bar and bumpers but I have some clean-up work in my basement. I am hoping to get started on that maybe this weekend on cleaning up to give me space. The two biggest challenges I have is to keep motivated and space indoors for when winter comes (yeah it is New England after all). I have a basement but it is not tall as my husband does hit his head on some of it.
Well here is to a new adventure in fitness! Cheers!
-K Pac

Week 22 – On Pause

So there was an interesting thing that happened on Sunday. There was a wild ninja that broke into my house and I attacked him before he got to the baby kittens. No that’s not true. There was a circus in town and their bear had escaped and was terrorizing my neighborhood and as the wanna-be-superhero I sprung into action before the trash was bear handled. That’s not true either. I really wish it was something as exciting as a ninja bear or I was attending the open call for America’s Next Top Superhero but in actuality I caught the edge of the step and fell the rest of the way down the stairs. All in all I have a “spring” in my step. Yes that is right, I sprung my foot and am currently out of commission when it comes to CrossFit but I am just too stubborn to really stop exercising. I am currently working on an upper body workout that allows me to not use my foot but still workout. I was told that I might be out of commission for 6 to 8 weeks but as the all famous Tony Hawk once said “You are going to have to fight me”. I cannot just sit still anymore.

The big goal for this week and next is to focus on the healthy eating and build the upper body strengthen. This will allow me to get strong without putting the stress on the ligaments in my foot. I will continue to post and keep you updated on my progress including pictures and stats. Also, I am working on trying my heart rate monitor (HRM) from polar again to track my progress.

Week 19 and 20 – How Do You Become Successful?

In order to successful you have to fail. There are starts and stops for anyone who is successful. It’s a drive. Sadly, I missed last week because I was working on becoming a stronger photographer and advancing that part of my life. I did not take a week off from the box I just focused on something else for a little bit. One of the great things about CrossFit is it gives you time with your thoughts. Yeah CrossFit allows you to stop and think about what you want to do and who you want to be. It allows you to see that sometimes you make choices and sometimes those choices make you. Sometimes the path you take is not the path taken but it is your path. I have seen that I cannot just feed one part of myself I have to feed and nurture the whole self. That includes my artistic side. That side with the creations, images, and greatness. So in short, a thousand apologies for missing a week. Here is what happened last week and this week. I have decided to focus on my photography in my time away from work. It has to be a priority as it is a huge part of who I am. I spent a good part of last weekend taking photos and I will post some as soon as I can. I also want to take more photos of athletes.

One of the things that made me realize I have to focus on myself is last week we had a few really hard workouts. I remember laying on the floor next to my friend Jackie. I was so exhausted that I just lay down and threw my arms over my head. Something amazing happened; half of my arm touched the floor. This is huge as when I started this adventure only my fingertips would touch the mat. The next day we had a set of overhead squat which was one of the biggest weaknesses I found in the CrossFit Open. I could not do overhead squats because of my shoulder mobility due to sitting at a desk all day since I was 22. Who would have thought that sitting at a desk can really hurt your back and shoulders? I have been working on trying to get it better but this was not an easy task as scar tissue had to be broken up in my shoulders and I had to stretch the muscles every day. I got to overhead squat day and the trainer said “Let’s warm up and get set up to the WOD”. I happened to have a 15 lb bar out and I took all the weight off and I just thought, let’s do this. I pushed the bar up and squatted down (my arms are strong enough to hold a 15 lb bar even if it shoots way out in front). I got my shoulders locked out and squat I did. The trainer looked over at me and said “When did that happen?” to which I just replied “Just now”. I decided not to push it too hard so I just stayed with the empty bar. This made me think, what else have I been telling myself that I can’t do that but in reality I just need to stretch and work on it every day. What have you been telling yourself that you cannot do? Is that really something you can’t do or is it just your mind saying you are too weak?

Week 18 – What Is the Cost of Sitting on Your Ass?

So I have been very upset that I have only lost 10 lbs over the past few months. There was the argument that I had with the bathroom scale, the steamy discussions with the bar of soap in the shower (what the hell is that? Oh right I have one on the other side so it must be ok as no one has twin tumors), and the odd winded talks with the dog in the backyard asking him if I look fat (FYI, he is a true gay man and just tilts his head as if to say “I love you no matter what size you are”). One of the ladies in my class has lost 20 lbs in a few months time. I love that she was able to lose weight and super proud. I had to stop myself today while doing plyo ski jumps and think I could not do some of these things in the prior month. My recovery time from cardio is much smaller (usually I can get it together in about 3 to 6 deep breathes). I do still get annoyed when I have not lost a lot weight but then again I didn’t gain this weight in 4 months. I am just a little down today but I will go home, have a nice healthy dinner, go to bed, and wake up to start over. It is a day by day effort and some days I am up and feel great but other days I am down but those down days pass. I just have to look at the price tag on being healthy. That price tag is work, dedication, and commitment to a goal. I have put my goals in place to push myself and they started small but they are getting bigger. There is more time before I get to the goal and I think that is part of my frustration. I have to keep going and remember that the path to greatness is paved in failure. Sometimes you have to fake being great until you just become great. So I stand in a Wonder Woman stance and hope that one day I can be as strong as Wonder Woman.

Time at the box this week has been awesome. We have been doing a few workouts that are similar to what we did before so you can track how much you have improved. I feel like I have gotten faster and faster at different things. The first thing I noticed that I am getting faster at is my jump ropes. I am consistently doing about 2 for every second which means in a 2 minute window I can do over 150. I even got 2 double unders in a row.

Cheers to all my friends and followers out there and here’s hoping I can fake it until I make it…

Week 17 – Is Today Dodgeball Day?

This past week was tough. I was tired, had a bunch of stuff to try and get through this week at home and on top of everything else, my partner (the stabilizing factor in my life) had to leave on a business trip. The last time he left I was attacked by flour, had a cat escape, and a few other odd things. The cats never go out the front door but Fred just decided “Well the tall chap is no longer here and I can’t take it so I must go out into the world and find him” (yes I believe my cat is British). I am still unclear as to why the flour attacked me but that feud has continued from that point forward. So before he left I was told I could not go into the basement for fear a ceiling tile will fall on my head (would not be the first time), food processer is off limits as is open fire (this has been a long standing agreement between him and my mother), and minimal time in the pantry. Of course because of my job I am always finding loop holes and I had to cook dinner. Seeing as how I am only 5’4, on a good day, cooking in my kitchen involves gymnastics. I had decided to try a Mongolian Beef recipe which called for a crock-pot on the top shelf which required a modified muscle up and a dismount. I managed that task pretty well and nothing weird happened like the fridge falling on me so I thought I was good to try to use a knife. All in all, this week was pretty much injury free, dismounts were AWESOME (sure the Russian judge might have given me a 5.7 but hey), and I got to eat all the foods that my partner hates. I did try to cut out candy with a few false starts early in the week but so far, 4 days without candy. I am also on my third week without wheat. I have started this week pretty well as I have my protein packs that taste like Mounds candy bars. The weather here has been horrible (rain almost every day) and it makes me just want to curl up on my sofa with the dog and sleep.

This week in training, well as stated above I was tired all week long. Even when I went to the box I was tired. Friday was a fun day (I felt like I was in middle school and we got to play dodge ball on Friday). We had a challenge of how fast can you row 500 meters and you have 3 tries. Of course I got my best time on the first effort (2:00 flat) but I got close on the third time with 2:03. I did not go to the gym this weekend as we had a baseball game for the boy (first one I have seen him play since he was in high school and he is now a senior). We also got rain free days on Saturday and Sunday so I wanted to spend some time with dog out in the yard. By Thursday and Friday I felt like I had more energy. Today I was tired again but I did not get to sleep until almost 11pm. Here is hoping that this week will be nicer for weather so I can start building out my vegetable garden outdoors instead of in the greenhouse. I also have a few items for the yard where I can use my newly found muscles (maybe push the stone fence back in place and maybe some clean up of the side yard).

Until next time, happy lifting…

Week 16 – Failing is good…

This was a tough week. I am still gluten free and will be decreasing my dairy intake. I have set a challenge for myself, 6 weeks on an altered Paleo diet. I feel better without gluten in my diet and I am hoping that it will make me stronger. I have found that last week I really enjoyed spending time and taking pictures with Coach Keidy and I think I can get better at it but I feel like I am at a good starting point. Here are a few words of encouragement that I hear over and over in my head this week. Surround yourself with great people because they will push you to be great. This was clear when we were running this past week and I see these fighters that I call friends being stronger than me and pushing me to be greater than I think I can be. I see greatness in all my ladies and they push me to be better than I was yesterday. Sometimes I get to return the favor and push them to see the greatness in themselves (you must find your inner Wonder Woman). The second set of words of encouragement is this; if you cannot grow then you cannot become your best and if you are not your best then how can you really be happy. It will be a tough journey to grow, it hurts and it is hard work but if it was easy then everyone would do it. Life is about being uncomfortable with where you are. If you get comfortable you stop growing and you have stopped pushing yourself. Life is about failing. If you are scared of failing you will not become the best you can be. Failing means you pushed yourself to the edge. You become a fighter when you fail and you get up. Fail and then fail again and then again and again. It happens to the best of us. The strongest person I know failed. She failed over and over again but the reason she is so strong is because she got up every time she failed. Think of your Wonder Woman. Guess what, they were where you are right now. They all started. They all failed. I don’t know who they are but I know they failed. When you get up from that failure you learn about yourself. You see what you can do and where you can go, maybe not today but work. Do your assignment. Do your work. In that moment when you no longer fail, that’s the greatest feeling of them all. That’s what success feels like.

Now the work. Ugh, this was a tough week. I tried to give up a few times but I pushed through it and I feel awesome that I finished. I got shin splints which I get at the beginning of any running program but I iced my legs and I got lucky that the workout on Thursday really stretched my legs with the wall balls. I blazed through them because it felt amazing to stretch my legs. I see that I am getting stronger and it feels great. I am so close to a kipping pull-up that it angers me (like Marvin the Martian kind of anger). I will be working on these this weekend again at the regular gym. I am hoping to enter the battle of the sexes at the box to see who is stronger. The workouts this week also included so many burpees with different jumps (burpee star jumps or burpee pull-ups) that it was horrible. I am pretty sure burpees are a torture movement that they use to make prisoners talk. I mean I was willing to tell coach anything she wanted to know.

Until next week, keep up the good work and may the WOD’s be in your favor…

Week 15 – Where Do I Fit?

This week was interesting. We did a 2 one rep max days (this is where you find the max weight you can lift and can either make you feel like Wonder Woman or a kid). I love these as I usually feel pretty strong afterwards then I make the mistake of looking around. I suddenly realize the ladies I workout with are the understudies for Wonder Woman, Cat Woman, and possibly Bat Girl. Wonder Woman (a.k.a. Nurse Jackie) got a PR (personal record) for her front squat and Bat Girl (Heather B, yes like the Spice Girls but better) always amazes me with her progress. Yes I know it is like Stan Lee’s nightmare in my head where everyone is a super hero but you have to be your own hero. You can’t wait for someone else to come along and be your hero. That is what CrossFit is about, be your own competition.

This coming week I am focusing on my eating behaviors (again I know) and trying to bring my lunch every day. I find when I do this I eat better and I don’t snack as much. We have a guy that is like a mini mart and has all kinds of bad stuff that is super tasty. I am also going to try and take some fitness shots of my coach and one of the biggest super hero’s I know, Miss Keidy! Yeah she has agreed to be my test subject as I try out fitness/athlete photography. If all works out I can try to expand to other athlete’s. I love my macro photography but I am trying to figure out where I really fit in the photography world. I am hoping that the two things I love to do can intersect. If you have ever seen a CrossFit athlete (check out Lindy Barber or Camille Leblanc-Bazinet) you can see how this is a unique photo challenge. Hopefully I can capture the fun and excitement that Keidy brings to the CrossFit community.

Here’s hoping that next week will bring healthy eating and some great photos! Cheers…