I Pick Things Up and Put Them Down

Oh my gosh….if I have an EVER favorite WOD from past regionals it is the 21-15-9 Deadlift / Box Jump WOD. I love it with all my little heart. In 2011 I finished 5th (4:26) and in 2013 when it was repeated I finished 5th again (3:45).  If I loved the OHS/C2B combo last week, I was in flippin heaven when 14.3 was announced. I have craved a heavy DL Open WOD for years. I just wish it had a been year I could really go for it!

Last year we learned that for a lot of people, box steps were much more efficient than box jumps. I’m a pretty good box jumper, especially at 20 inches, so stepping is pretty awkward, but it absolutely saves energy which is super smart. We tested with three athletes just after the 14.3 announcement. They averaged around 4.6 seconds slower with steps than fast jumps. We decided to encourage all of our athletes to go the step route. It seemed to work well. I’m blown away by how my calves are still sore.

Again, I did the WOD twice. The nice thing about 14.3 was that my lungs were never an issue. I still broke it up a lot and the box step ups really allowed me to control my heart rate. It was really hard to restrain myself on this one, but I did. I was basically salivating during the announcement. Each week we all try to predict what the WODs will be based on the athletes doing the demo. When they said it was Stacie Tovar, I immediately called Kody and said, “Deadlift/Box Jump”. He didn’t believe me. He was convinced it was a muscle up WOD because she always crushes those (Yes, Stacie, you are a muscle up rock star).  I was very happy when I was right. I’m never right about those things…he always is.

My first attempt took place at CFOKC on Friday. I wasn’t really sure how far I would get. The one thing I have really pulled back on since becoming pregnant is deadlifts. It is the one movement my husband was the most hesitant about…especially heavy. I haven’t deadlifted anything over 155 in a WOD in two months and that has been very limited. I was shocked at how 135# and 155# felt. Normally I go through Diane unbroken (21-15-9 DL 155#/HSPU). The fact that I had to break 155# up into 5’s was shocking and threw me a little. 185# I went to 3’s and then a few 2’s and a lot of singles with some really, really long breaks. I finished my “box jumps” before 205# at 7:33. I loaded the bar to 205# and pulled it three times. I was happy with my score. I had no reason not to be, but I was a little frustrated because I still felt OK cardiovascularly…it had just felt sooooo much heavier than I expected.

First attempt at 14.3. Thanks Monica Trosclair for this cool shot!

I knew I was going to do it again. I traveled to Tyler, Texas to visit my husband for the weekend. He is there doing some trauma work at their hospital. I visited Premier CrossFit on Monday for my second shot at 14.3. The Mr. has gotten to know a few CrossFitters at the hospital so they called the owner for me to see if I could drop in for the WOD. It turned out all their coaches were meeting at 2PM that Monday to WOD together. One thing most people probably don’t know about me and may not believe is that I am really, really shy. If I am somewhere new and I don’t know anyone I become a wall flower. I usually hang by myself until someone talks to me and makes me feel comfortable. I’m exactly opposite when I am somewhere I am comfortable. I’m usually pretty loud and probably obnoxious. Anyway, we got there and I went into my own little Ginny world for a bit. Some of the girls showed up and made me feel really comfortable. Amanda Schwartz (South Central stud athlete) and I got to chat which was cool. She has finished in the same spot as me at regionals. We both know the sting of that dreaded 4th position. A super sweet girl, Hayle, ended up being my judge. She was awesome and cheered me on. I felt right at home. Thanks for making me fee like a part of the crew!

Pre WOD “Me” time.

The game plan the second time around was to just hold onto the bar better. I did my 135# unbroken, 155# 8-7-5, 185# 3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1, 205# pull for dear life. I finished with 143, ten more reps than my previous attempt. I was thrilled! In a non pregnant world I probably would have treated each round as the round before it. I would pull much bigger sets at 185# and keep 205# at 3’s and 2’s. I like to think I would have finished 205# and gotten into the box jumps and possibly had a few attempts at 225#. I cannot wait to do this one again in a year and see what I can do!

14.3 at Premier CrossFit in Tyler, Texas.

I’m feeling more and more comfortable with being pregnant. I still have a lot of days when it is really strange and I get frustrated with what I cannot do. Then I remember how cool it is that I can still do so many awesome things! Yesterday during our class WOD at CFOKC we did muscle ups. A sweet friend of mine, Mindi (just had her second child), came up to me immediately after I finished and told me how awesome it was that I was doing muscle ups at almost 16 weeks pregnant! Instead of being depressed that they felt awful, slow and much harder than I wished, she snapped me back to reality that I am doing muscle ups at 16 weeks pregnant. Sweet. I’m trying this thing where I use more positive self talk when I talk to myself about how I look, how my body is changing and how I feel in general. It can be hard, but it is helping!

Im currently sitting in 167th in the region and 1920th in the world. A far cry from the numbers I am used to, but they are numbers I am very proud of! I just want to keep doing my best as the me I am now. I’ve loved competing with my gym each week. I’m actually getting very sad it is almost over.

I’m super excited to see what tonight’s 14.4 announcement is! Chip away!

Open Week 2

Two weeks of the Open down and three to go! Tonight the third WOD will be revealed. I’m pretty excited.

First, I have to say this is my absolute FAVORITE Open WOD to date! Not necessarily in practice (because it hurts), but in concept. I love these two movements, I love the work to rest ratio component and I love that it just flat out sucks. I wish with my whole heart I could have gone after this one “as me”, but as me + 1 was still pretty fun.

I knew my chest to bar pull ups were out of practice, but I didn’t realize how much. I’ve been working strict pull ups to keep my strength up and I’ve been doing regular butterfly and kipping pull ups a few days a week. I have done chest to bar probably twice since I found out I was preggo over ten weeks ago. That is a long time to not work that type of movement, especially as your body mass changes and your strength starts to decrease. Ugh. Last year during 13.5 (Chest to Bar and Thrusters) I had really just gotten the butterfly down. I could hold them in sets of five for a bit. At HOA this year I did an unbroken set of 20 Chest to Bar after a hideous front rack walking lunge. Believe me, it is something I had been working on. I’m so mad at myself for letting them go the way I have.

This is me during 13.5 having the time of my life butterflying C2B!

Regardless, this WOD was going to be fun. I would have loved to get through the 16’s, but not many girls in our region got that far. This WOD worked in my favor in the beginning as well because I knew I was going to get rest. I wasn’t going to have to push it too hard through the first two rounds. Baby K was happy about that!

I did the WOD on Friday morning in-between two of our morning classes. I was shocked at how many people stuck around to watch me. There is something about that visual that gives me chills. The support everyone receives at CrossFit OKC during the Open, regardless of who they are, is pretty cool. I know it would be easy for people to write me off this year and not be too concerned with my scores, but they all stayed and they all cheered. It makes me a little emotional to think about…mainly because I’m a raging ball of hormones, but it still makes my heart happy. I love those people and all the support they have given me as I try to still be involved.

The first set of tens went fine. I did five and five on my pull ups. Looking back, I probably should have done shorter sets. I had a ton of time and I didn’t realize how fast I was gonna lose my butterfly. The round of 12’s I did 5-4-3, 5-4-3 on my pull ups. I still had over a minute to rest. I took a lot of time between the OHS and beginning the pull ups. I was focused on keeping my heart rate down and not burning out.

The rounds of 14 hated me. It was so sad. I went to singles my last few reps of my first set of 14. I finished the 14’s with two seconds to spare. Drew was judging me. I looked at the clock, said a not very polite word, giggled and said, “I’m gonna rest for a bit”. I waited a full minute before picking up the bar to start my 16s. I finished with 173 reps. I was really happy with the score because I knew I did what I could. I knew I couldn’t have expected much more out of my pull ups because I haven’t been doing them. I was really happy to be done.

The problem with me doing the WODs early in the week is that I have a lot of time to think about what I think I could have done different. This would be OK if I was a normal me right now, but I’m not. Of course I would have done a million things different if I wasn’t growing human. I wouldn’t have sat there for a minute in my round of 16s before starting…that’s for sure. I almost redid the WOD. Not for my own score (I’m getting over worrying about the number), but because I wanted to get some more points for our team. The intelligent person in me won out this week and I didn’t redo the WOD. My hands were pretty happy with my decision.

14 weeks pregnant and I finished 106th in the region on this WOD. I’m now 222nd in the region after two weeks. I cut my ranking in half this week. Hooray! I’m now a day or two shy of being 15 weeks pregnant. I’m ready to get some burpees and push ups out of the way before the belly starts to pop out! I would like a week or two before muscle ups show up in a WOD. I have only done them twice since I found out was pregnant and one of those times was Tuesday. They did not go so well compared to what I’m normally able to do. I know it isn’t because I’m worse at anything, it is just because I haven’t been doing a lot of those things and that is OK.

I want to thank each of you that has commented on Facebook, the blog, messaged me or texted me over the last two weeks. It seems silly to say that I have needed the support, but I have and I wish each of you could see the smile on my face when I read your kind and supportive words. No one can really prepare you for how different pregnancy makes you feel physically and emotionally. To everyone that has done this before, cheers to you. All you mamas out there that stay busying working and work hard to stay healthy are amazing examples to people like me. Thank you.

Lastly, a big HOORAY to my awesome K2DHR2 teammates for crushing 14.2. It has been a struggle watching my team go through the Open without me and knowing I won’t get to be on the floor with them in Chicago this year. You guys are amazing athletes and I’m really excited to see what you do this year. I love you awesome nerds. And I cried a little typing that…the end.

Onto the next week!

Open Week One…Well Hello, Pride.

The Open is here! The Open is here! For all you CrossFitters out that you know this can be a fun, crazy and weird couple of weeks. Typically after week one we get most of the jitters out and then it is business as usual.  Watching the leader board so far after this first week, I have a feeling this year may be a little more interesting than years past!

I made the decision to do the Open even though I am pregnant for lots of reasons. I’m pregnant, not injured. I can still do a lot of things like I normally do, just slower. I know there are things I may not be able to do by the time they show up and I also know I won’t be able to go through  the WODs with my normal intensity. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t participate! I preach it to our members all the time, just be part of the community. Do your best and that is all that you can ask of yourself. That is what I am going to do!

Another reason I decided to do the Open this year is because our gym made the decision to try to qualify two teams for regionals. We have so many phenomenal athletes at CFOKC. If I can help one of our teams at all during the Open, I want to be able to do that. I know I won’t be a “factor” this year, but I still want to be a part of the team. It helps me feel connected to what is going on and motivates me.

I will not lie, I went into the first week thinking I could still put up a fairly decent, maybe even semi competitive score.  In the last three years I have finished 3rd, 4th and 6th in the Open. After week one, I am sitting in 433rd. I have said that number out loud to myself about fifteen times today. It stings a little bit. I know that seems silly, but I’m going to be brutally honest. Even though I’m growing a human, it is a little hard see all those names in front of mine. I have nothing to prove, I just really love to compete. The competitor in me is screaming. The realistic, logical, smart individual in me is saying, “Good job, GK. You did what you could do and Baby K is happy”. I need to listen to that girl.

I did 14.1 twice. I haven’t done an Open WOD twice since the first year of the Open. The last two years they have all been one and done. When this WOD was announced in 2011 I did it three-time. Three. My husband says it was four…it was probably four. It was awful. I never improved very much and it made me very angry every single time. To this day, I refer to this WOD as my least favorite Open WOD of all time. I was super excited to see it again, except not at all.

I wore a heart rate monitor. I’m trying to be really good and listen to my doctor and keep my heart rate as close to 140 as possible. The funny thing is that even when it shoots to about 140 I feel fine. It is hard to judge what is too much and when I could push a little more. I spent a lot of time during my first go looking at my watch, taking deep breaths and answering math problems. My husband sat next to me and just started saying, “Ginny, what’s 3 x 3?” I would snatch and yell, “9!”. He proceeded up the multiplication table and would try to throw me off every now and then. The goal was to keep me conversational. It worked. I finished with 266, well under my 302 from 2011. My goal was to hit 300 so both of our teams would have three girls over that 300 mark. I had so much left in me it was ridiculous.

I left the gym feeling good and then later in the day I was just annoyed. Why did it bother me so much that I hadn’t hit that number? It was just a pride thing. I knew that. I was smart during the WOD. I was 13 weeks pregnant. What did I really expect to happen? I decided to do it again because I knew I had a little more in me and could still stay in my safe range for Baby K. That is and will continue to be my absolute priority. No number is worth risking my child. I did the WOD a second time with my good friend Monica. We both wanted 300. We were rep for rep most of the WOD. My husband paced me and still asked me math questions. I was delighted to get 301! I felt fine afterwards. I was breathing like I had been throughout any other workout I had done while pregnant. I felt like I found a very good balance.

I want to continue to be smart and enjoy the Open. Everyone at CFOKC has been really supportive of my participating in the Open. I got this wonderful text from a friend at the gym who came to cheer us on Saturday even though she had already completed the WOD the day before.

Hey Lady! You did awesome this morning. I know it is hard for you to not just kill a WOD, but I love how you are aware and are taking extra care of yourself and that sweet baby girl.

There was more, but I won’t share all of it. It made my heart so happy and was such a good reminder to keep my head where it needs to be. P.S. I still don’t know I’m having a girl, I just call the tiny human a she.

Onward and upward! Like I said, CFOKC has two teams this year. One team is sitting in 20th and one in 70th. All of our athletes are really excited and enjoying themselves. I love seeing everyone so motivated and ready to work. This is why the Open is fun. This is why I want to be a part of it again this year. This is why I will continue to show up each week and do my best and be 100% happy with what I’m able to do.

I’m almost 14 weeks pregnant now and I will be 17 weeks pregnant by the end of the Open. I can’t even believe it. I feel so blessed that everything is going so well and I’m still able to do what I love to do. Here is to a great 14.2 week for everyone! Have fun and be awesome!

 

Hey Colorado, Heyyy

I’m playing in Keystone, Colorado this week. We had this trip planned way before the gummy bear made her presence known. Don’t worry, I got the full blessing from my awesome doctor before I came. She told me to “take it easy” which means I’m restricted to greens and blues and lots of breaks. It is kind of torturous.

I have been skiing once or twice a year almost every year of my life since I was five. That is twenty six years. I ski everything and love it with all my heart. There is nothing quite like cruising down the mountains with music in your ears just taking in all the beauty and awesomeness around you. I still get to enjoy that part, just not all the powder, bumps and super sweet steep stuff.

Good news is, today went awesome. I only fell once walking to the gondola. It was special. I say all of this because I’m really having to come to terms with all the changes my body is going through and I am having to make to be sure I’m healthy and safe.

Last week was rough for me. I was frustrated at the gym. I see all these great things people are doing and everyone prepping for The Open and the regional. It makes my heart ache. I already miss lifting and pushing myself to really cool places.

I have to fall in love with my new body and everything that is happening to it. Right now I look in the mirror and I hardly recognize myself. Sure, I’m being a little dramatic, but honest. I don’t look very different yet, but I feel very different.

Today on the mountain I felt so tired. Baby K did a number on me! Maybe the brownie I had with lunch didn’t help.

I traded in the usual post slope hot tub and beer for a not very heated pool and bottle of water. I was mad about not being able to be in the hot tub so I went into the fitness center and did dumbbell curls and presses while my dad and cousin enjoyed the awesome weather.

I may sound down. I’m not. I don’t always adapt well to change. Today was more eye opening than I thought it would be about the real changes that are happening to me. Yikes.

I’m still feeling really good. I’m excited to almost be through my first trimester. I’m very much looking forward to the rumored burst of energy I will have soon. Bring it on!

Surprise! A New Chapter Begins!

December 29th the Mr. and I got some pretty exciting, shocking and all around crazy news. I’m pregnant! Yes, I’m currently growing a human. We made the big “announcement” this past weekend and now I get to talk all about it. I’m thrilled!

So many things went through my mind…

1. Oh my gosh I’m going to be responsible for another human life!
2. Oh crap, I’m not going to be able to compete this year.
3. How cool, I get to have a mini me! (It’s a girl, I know it…I only refer to the tiny human as a she right now).
4. I’m going to get fat. (I’m being honest…I think about it a lot).
5. I’m never going to be the same again.
6. Awesome. I get to be a soccer mom and take orange slices to games in five years.

Ok, so let’s be real. Finding out you’re pregnant is a really crazy thing. If you haven’t experienced it before just trust me. The Mr. and I always knew we wanted kids. It is really important to me to have a family. For those who don’t know, I’m adopted. I don’t know a single living thing that I am biologically related to. Having something that is a part of me has always been something I wanted and felt like I needed. I also want to adopt at some point. That is also really important to me because I have the best family in the world and I want to be that for someone like me! All that said, I’m finally going to be the mom at the age of 32. Oh. My. Gosh.

I plan to blog about my pregnancy and all the good and the bad that goes with it. I’m excited to share my experience as I TRY to stay super healthy, fit, happy, sane, etc. So far here is the skinny…

I’m almost ten weeks along which means I’m getting close to being through the first trimester. Hooray! We had an ultrasound and heard the heartbeat. People asked me if I cried….I really just giggled. How crazy to hear something beating 160 BPM inside you?!?!? She is working hard. Luckily, I feel great. I’m exhausted, but great. I haven’t been sick (knock on wood), but I’m pretty worthless after 3PM. I now take naps. I have napped more in the last five weeks than I probably have in my entire life. This is a big deal. I make fun of The Mr. for taking naps, now I don’t know if I would make it through the day without one!

My ultimate goal is to stay super healthy and be smart. I don’t need or want to be one of those CrossFit moms that needs to do crazy stuff while I’m pregnant. I plan to continue to workout, but I am already modifying like crazy (for me). No more handstands. It is so hard to watch people do them. I just want to walk on my hands one more time so I know I can do it. I’ve already had dreams about kicking up onto the wall and not being able to support my body weight in a handstand hold. What the heck?

Right now, I monitor my heart rate and breathing more than anything. I take planned 30 second breaks after rounds in my WODs. I’m so glad people know now. Before I think they all thought I was getting super lazy. Psych! I discovered I had a stress fracture in my right food about mid December. I was in a boot for almost four weeks. The boot was a good distraction once I found out I was pregnant because it limited what I could do just enough that it wasn’t super obvious something else was going on. Well played tiny foot bones, well played. The last few weeks I’ve just been saying that I was still taking it easy on my foot. I hated lying about it.

I’m doing extra cardio interval training on the airdyne, rower and yes…the elliptical. I just don’t get the same benefit from CrossFit WODs that I did before because I’ve taken my intensity down so much. While I plan to continue to be in class all nine months, I know I will need to do some other things to stay moving!

I’m signed up for the Open, but obviously won’t be competing at the North Central Regional in Chicago this year. It is bitter sweet. I feel like I had to actually mourn a little bit when I realized I wouldn’t get to compete this year. There were some tears. I love competing at regionals almost as much as anything else I have ever done. I’ve been to regionals the last five years. It is a good time for a little physical and mental break. I plan to be back for 2015 and I’m excited for the challenge post pregnancy!

So, my goal is to post at least once a week so I can stay accountable for my nutrition, workouts and state of mind. I hope I can be a good resource for other future CrossFit moms and I hope I can learn a lot from those of you who have already been through a pregnancy. It’s pretty cool to have such a supportive group around me. I have lots of great mom examples at CrossFit OKC and outside the gym. I’m one lucky lady! I’m also pretty excited that our tiny human is going to have such a great extended family right away…and lots of babysitters.

Until next time! Happy training.

The Open Two Weeks In…

Two weeks of The Open are complete. To say that it has gone as I expected would be a total lie. The first workout was a complete catastrophe for me. I despise power snatches with all my heart and soul. Not one of my strongest movements…obviously. I finished the first week with more points in my worldwide score than I had total last year. I finished the first week 48th in my region. Talk about a blow to my ego/confidence. I also had bronchitis….that was fun. #noexcuses I was just plain lackluster.

We all say The Open doesn’t really matter because when you get to regionals it all shakes out and everything falls into place. However, we are all lying if we say we don’t think about it just a little bit. Maybe some of us more than others. I am still going into each week with the game plan to do the WOD only once. There is way too much to perfect to spend time redoing WODs!

Week two felt like a complete 180. I wasn’t sick (hooray) and I had a lot of FUN doing the WOD. Being able to breathe sure makes a big difference. I was very pleased with my score. It was a fun little WOD. I almost wish it had been a bit longer. The interesting thing this year is the allowance of step ups for the box jumps. We had multiple people at our gym who repeated the WOD and were significantly faster doing step ups. I jumped the entire WOD. My calves still ache. I’m not sure how much more stepping would have given me, if any, but it was fun to watch everyone improve so much the second time around!

Going into week three and primarily regionals I’m trying to stay focused on my ultimate goal…going to The Games. Each year before The Open I tell myself as long as I can be in the top 15 doing the WODs once I should be pleased with where I am. So far I feel like I’m exactly where I need to be, but I still have a lot of work ahead of me.

I’m trying to be as honest as I can be with myself about how I’m feeling. This year has been a struggle. A lot of inner monologue pep talks are taking place. It is nice reading about other athletes and how much of a struggle it can be sometimes for us to all be 100% positive with ourselves all the time. It makes me feel not as out-of-place.

The fact is, you have to believe in what you are capable of and the goals you have laid out to be successful. There is no room for second guessing. I believe in myself. I know what I’m capable of and I’m looking forward to the rest of this craziness. It is just about to get fun.

Change of Pace

This week was especially challenging for my inner peace. I forgot how annoying it is to be limited in what I am able to do with my body. My left arm is just aching to pick up a weight. I have never wanted to pick up a barbell and Olympic lift so much in my entire life. It has only been eight days and I’m going stir crazy.

The change of pace has been nice in a few ways. I’ve been running…and liking it. This week I have been on a grand total of….drum roll please….three runs! Now, don’t get too excited. None of them amounted to more than about 2.2 miles at a time, but it is more than I’ve done in a long while.

Today our gym WOD was “Loredo”. Six rounds for time of 24 squats, 24 push up, 24 walking lunges and 400 M run. It was nice that I could do everything except the push ups. I decided to alternate between KB snatches and KB push press each round with my “good” arm. My time was 23:46. This was more of a lung burner than anything else. I love that feeling of telling myself to just keep moving. My 400’s felt better than they have in months! My pace was very steady and my stride stayed long. I’m digging this running thing.

Monday I get to start trying some light overhead work and then I will go from there. My hope is that this is just a nagging overuse bout and the time off will cure me of all ills. I know there is a possibility it could be more serious and require a longer “break” or other measures. I’ve seen a professional and I’m following orders. I don’t want to do anything to ruin me for The Open and more importantly, Regionals. Keeping my eye on the prize. Long term outweighs short-term.

 

Enjoying the Ride

The year is ending. 2013 is almost here and everyone is talking about resolutions and goals. I’ve already started to have the talk with myself about how I’m going to better myself in the new year. I have to get my diet back in check, run more, blah blah blah.  I know that without a doubt that I will do all of those things and more. However, I have one really big end all be all goal/resolution/just gotta do it thing in mind.

 Have fun.

Sounds corny, right?

2012 was an amazing and admittedly a very hard year for me. Training was brutal. I worked myself about as hard as anyone could and felt like I still came up short. I tried to not feel let down, but I’m human. The progress I made from 2011 to 2012 was in one word, awesome. However, there were still things that I didn’t accomplish this past season that drive me today. I kept saying, “Do I really want to put myself through that again?” Yes. Yes I do. I still get a sick feeling in my stomach every now and then.

This year I have decided to tell stress to suck it. Yup, that is what I said.  I forget to be proud of what has been and how far I have come when all I do is worry about what will happen in the future. I’m still striving to get on that podium come May, but this year I’m going to enjoy the ride.

I’ve been so inspired by some of our new members at CrossFit OKC. I see the excitement they have every day about being in the gym and making themselves better versions of themselves.  They truly enjoy working hard and they celebrate their milestones. It puts a smile on my face!

In closing…I’m back. I will be blogging regularly (I hope). In full disclosure, I’ve been battling a nagging shoulder the last few weeks. As of last week, I have become the one arm wonder again. Frustrating, but challenging in a good way as well. I should be off the DL in a few weeks (fingers crossed!).

In honor of the end of the year, I leave you with a few fun moments from 2012 in pictures! Here is to a happy, healthy new year for all!

I became a Lululemon Ambassador this summer!

Fun in Chicago for the 2012 CrossFit North Central Regional.

I competed in my very first outdoor sprint tri! 

My first big team competition with CrossFit OKC! We took 3rd at HOA4. 

 

P.S. I do have actual goals. This is not a cop-out post. I plan on bringing it hard-core in 2013. I’m just going to have way more fun than everyone else as I do it. 

Here We Go

There are roughly 47 days until regionals. A lot can happen in 47 days. I plan on getting a lot better during these next 47. These next two months are going to be so much fun. The Open is over and everyone is focused on regionals. Our team members are working themselves into the ground. There is a great energy among everyone. I love seeing it.

CrossFit OKC is officially sending one team and two individuals to regionals. Too cool! It is exciting to think that this is my fourth year to compete. Of course, the first year I had no idea what I was doing. My max clean and jerk was 105# and I had to do that 30 times in the first WOD. Sheesh.

This year my focus is to go into regionals fearing nothing. Honestly, I feel pretty darn good about that right now. Obviously there are lots of things to improve upon, but I’m not worried about not being able to do anything. It is a good feeling.

My body looks like I have been used and abused. I feel like I need rest days now just from my bruises and tears to heal…not my muscles. Let me tell you, it is very hard to dress for a wedding when your legs and chest look like someone has taken a sledgehammer to them.

I officially finished The Open in 3rd…which of course doesn’t mean much. The thing, however, that I’m very happy with is that I did everything once and I kept the focus on my training. My goal was to be in the top ten taking this approach. I knew if I did that I was on the right track. When you do what you know how to do and you stay calm things just take care of themselves.

Outlaw

This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Heath, Texas for the Outlaw Training Camp. I was surrounded by amazing athletes the entire weekend and I got a lot of great instruction as well.

Friday night was a lifting session. Due to fabulous Dallas traffic I walked in about thirty minutes late as the group was in the middle of snatching. We snatched and clean and jerked. I still have a lot to work on with both movements. After just a few cues here and there, however, I could feel a big difference. I caught 140 overhead in the snatch and lost it standing up. I’m always slightly forward. Extremely frustrating, but I know by perfecting that I’m going to see my numbers jump big time. That would have been a five-pound PR. I did PR my clean and jerk at 175. I have cleaned 175 and jerked 175, but never together. My jerk still needs a lot of work, but they showed me some really helpful things that are going to make a big difference.

Saturday morning we started off with the last workout of The Open. I got to witness some pretty impressive scores go up. My motivation to nail the chest to bar butterfly is at an all time high. We went through two more wods that day. I walked away from Saturday with a good idea of some things to work on, which is exactly what I wanted to get out of the weekend. Motivation!

Sunday was started off back squatting. I love squatting. However, I do some things incorrectly. I’m excited to fix those flaws and see my strength increase even more. Post squatting we did some gymnastics work. Handstand holds, walks, shoulder touches and muscle ups. I’m trying to work on fading back into my muscle up rather than resisting into the dip. I did it a couple of times fairly well, but it feels very different. It is going to take a lot of work, but I know it will be a helpful thing to be able to do. We finished off with a gymnastics WOD of hspu’s, muscle ups and rowing. I was happy to move through the last wod very well. I have never considered any of those movements strengths of mine, but I felt really strong in all of them. Funny how working on your weaknesses actually makes you better. 🙂

Minus the nasty rope burns on my right leg, I feel sore, but great. I learned so much this weekend and I think it gave me a really good boost going into the next two months before regionals! A big thanks to Rudy, Laura, CrossFit Heath and the rest of the Outlaw crew for  putting on such a great weekend!