Black Friday In Pictures

I lost my mind and braved the mall this afternoon. It was worth it. 25% off these Roots boots I’ve had my eye on for a while (they finally had my size!).

The cat thinks the box is quite nice!

I did not do well with my macros today. But it was worth it!

  
It’s back on track with food, and back to the gym with a killer WOD tomorrow. 

  Last time we did it, it took me almost 43 minutes. I really hope it doesn’t take that long tomorrow!

Now I need to get to bed and rest up for that wicked WOD. 

Happy weekend!  

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Countdown to Vacation!

Seems like I didn’t do so well with blog posts last week.  😦  I thought about it a few times, but then life got in the way and I did other things!

My kids are in the midst of enjoying 2 weeks up at the cottage with their Nana…so this has left hubs and I empty-nesters…and we’ve been making the most of it. Of course, when you don’t have kids to worry about, the first thing you do is…get your mind out of the gutter…the first thing I did was finally drag him to a CrossFit class!  Rory did the baseline assessment a couple of weeks ago and then initiated his 2 weeks free last Monday – on his birthday!

We went to class 3 times together last week.  The first class he was very nervous as he still didn’t know what to expect in a real class – his baseline test was done one-on-one with a coach, so this would be his first experience working out with other people around and doing the WOD.  He looked quite uncomfortable as we waited for class to start and just kept pacing around.  Once we got into class, I think he settled in quite nicely.  Coach Ernesto modified and scaled both the strength and WOD portions of the class so Rory could get a good workout in, but live to WOD another day!  At the end of class, Rory was a sweaty, exhausted mess, but admitted he liked it and finally got what I have been talking about for the last 2 years.  Once class starts, everyone works on their own thing and no one pays attention to how much or how little you lift, and they cheer and encourage you to finish the WOD. We did 2 other classes together last week and did another one yesterday.

His two weeks free is up at the end of this week and he’s got a few more workout planned.  We go on vacation next week (wohoo!), so I’m hoping when we get back, he will sign up for at least 6 months and give CrossFit a real chance.   Fingers crossed.

Aside from CrossFit class, we also enjoyed going to a movie…which we haven’t done in a long time.  I honestly don’t remember the last show we saw together in a theatre.  We went to see Trainwreck with Amy Schumer and Bill Hader.
We love Amy Schumer – her weekly show on the comedy network is hilarious!  We laughed out loud quite a few times and both really liked the movie.  It was a nice way to hang out and Rory liked that he didn’t have to lift anything heavier than a glass of coke and popcorn!  I didn’t realize that Amy Schumer wrote the script until I saw it in the credits.  She is a pretty talented chick!

This week the kids are still at the cottage and we are busying WODing, golfing, and dealing with a sick cat.  Ovie seems to have developed a cough. I took him to the vet yesterday and we have antibiotics and some other cough medicine for him. He does not enjoy getting his medicine.  It is a 2 person job where hubs wraps him in a blanket, trapping his paws, and I try to open his mouth and fire in a syringe full of meds.  It is quite a production!  Hopefully he improves quickly, otherwise we will need to do x-rays and blood work to the tune of $400!  Other than coughing once in a while, he seems otherwise unaffected.  Here he is helping me work from home today:
Tonight I’m golfing with my league and I hope we don’t melt out there!  It’s 31 Celsius, feeling like 35 with humidex (that’s 88 and 95F for my American readers!) and there is a heat warning.  We have decided we will be taking a cart tonight since it’s just too damn hot to walk, and I’m pretty sure we will be enjoying a few on course beverages.  It’s important to stay hydrated!

I will be rounding out my week with CrossFit class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Rory is going to his first class without me tonight while I’m golfing.  Not sure when else he will go to class as he golfs tomorrow and has ball on Thursday. Hopefully he can sneak out of work a bit early and come to 4:30 class with me Friday before we pack up and head out for our annual vacation week at the cottage.  Can’t wait!

These next 3 days can’t go by fast enough for me. Come on, Friday!

How’s your week looking?
Got anything fun planned for the upcoming weekend?

WODing and Golfing

So, when last we touched base, I had convinced hubby to finally try CrossFit.  Well, I’m happy to say he survived, and has agreed to try it for 2 weeks (for free) and then decide if he’s going to sign up for real.  His two weeks start next Monday (on his birthday!), and we’ve signed up for the 6:30pm class together.  I’m excited to get to workout with him, and then after class, I will take him out for a nice birthday dinner.

Before we go WOD together on Monday, we get to golf together on Saturday.  We are playing in a charity tournament with our friends Pam and Mark at Wooden Sticks…an awesome “copy cat” golf course.  It has holes from some of the top courses from around the PGA.  It should be a fun afternoon and I’m really looking forward to it.  I’m going to need to watch this video for a hole by hole run down of the course.

Speaking of golf, the weather cooperated on Tuesday and I was able to get out for my weekly EWGA league night.  We missed the week before due to torrential rain, so it was nice to get out there again.  I even managed to play a decent game, shooting a 46. I think my best before was a 49.  Between that, and shooting a decent round (99) last Sunday, my handicap has dropped!  I’m getting closer to the 2nd flight.  Not sure I will make it, but I’m making progress!
I’ve got my second round match play game next Tuesday.  Hopefully I can keep the good stuff going.  Fingers crossed!

Okay..bedtime.  I’m reading a new book and hoping to read a few chapters before I can’t hold my eyes open anymore.

Sweet dreams!  

What are you reading these days?

Motivational Monday – Get Off The Couch!

Happy Monday!
As you probably know, I’ve been doing CrossFit for a few years now….and LOVE it!  I faithfully go to class 4 times a week and would go more if I could fit it into my hectic schedule.  I love being in the gym, learning new things, lifting heavy shit, and being inspired by all the other great athletes I work out with.  The hour I spend in CrossFit class is usually one of the best hours of my day.  Then I come home from the gym and tell hubby and the kids all about it.

My kids have come to friends and family days a few times with me, and my youngest has gone to a CrossFit kids class and loved it.  Read about his first class here.  Despite asking for 2 years now, I have never been able to convince hubby to come to the gym with me.  He’s reluctant,  He says he “doesn’t want to drink the kool-aid”.  I was okay with that, so for Christmas a few years ago, I bought him all the stuff he needed to WOD at home – a rack, a barbell, 300 lbs of plates, and we already had a pull up bar, dumbbells, a treadmill, and nautilus machine.  He had everything he need to workout at home.  Except he didn’t.

I threatened him a few times that if he didn’t start using the stuff, I was going to get him a CrossFit membership.  For a few days after that, he would make an effort and head downstairs to workout when I went to the gym.  Then he would stop and assume his usual spot on the couch, watching tv and working on his laptop all night.  Not the most active thing he could be doing!  He does play slo-pitch a few times a month as a spare on a team in the local men’s league, and in the winter he plays hockey once a week with his buddies, but I think he needs to be more active…to get up off the couch and do something.

He has a birthday coming up and I’ve been mentioning the idea of a CrossFit membership as my gift to him.  He’s still not convinced he wants that, but I have finally gotten him to agree to at least give it a try.  So, tonight at 6:30 he is going to come to they gym with me and when I do my WOD with the class, he is going to have a one-on-one introductory session with Coach Ryan and do the CrossFit baseline workout.  (To read about my first visit and my Baseline test, click here). Once hubs does his Baseline, he will get 2 weeks free to try out classes and see what he thinks.  I’m hoping once he tries it he will like it as much as I do and we will get him a membership so we can go to class together and be one of those sickeningly cute CrossFit Couples!  LOL

I will let you know how it all goes.  Send positive vibes around 6:30 please! 🙂

Do you workout with your spouse or partner?  

Running Sucks

I used to run…a LOT.  When I first started blogging most of my posts were about training for half marathons, and long before I started blogging, the year I turned 40 I ran a full marathon.  So, I am no stranger to running.

Funny thing is, I never really liked it.  I did it, but I’m pretty sure I never hit that runner’s high you hear about.  Every run was a challenge.  It didn’t seem to get easier and any improvement seemed minor.  My fastest half time was 2:29:55, just under my goal of 2:30.  See here for that race recap. That half was pretty much the last time I ran any great distance.  Just after I joined CrossFit I signed up for another half and started to train.  I got 2 runs into my training schedule and finally accepted the fact that I don’t like running and decided to stop.  I sold my bib for the race to a friend and haven’t looked back.  I don’t miss it at all.

Now, the only time I run is when it’s programmed at the gym.  Yesterday was one of those days.  The WOD was Jerry:
This was the first WOD of the summer with a lot of running in it.  There was one earlier in the spring, but my back was still bothering me, so I rowed instead.  Lots of people cherry picked and skipped it.  I must be going crazy in my old age, because I changed my schedule around so I could go to the gym and do this WOD. I’m not sure why I did that, since I know running is not a strong point for me.  I guess I did it to prove that I could.

The first mile took me 10:40. Not blazing speed by any means, but around what I was expecting.  The row started out not too badly.  I just focused on keeping my split time in a zone and keeping my strokes per minute lower rather than higher to try to conserve some energy.  That row was not fun, and my legs were screaming at me towards the end, but I finished in 9:55.4, which isn’t too bad considering the only other 2k row I did was just a row by itself and it took me 9:42.4.  The last mile run sucked HUGE!  I ran the first half mile non-stop and then walked a few paces at the turnaround just to catch my breath.  That last half mile was awful, but I knew it would be over soon and I just kept my eye on the driveway of the gym, knowing every step got me closer to being done.  In the end, I finished the WOD in 34:11.  The last mile was definitely slower, but I didn’t make note of the time I left the gym to know exactly how long it was.

I was not fast.  It was not fun.  But I finished.
My legs are very sore today.  Hopefully today’s WOD will help loosen them up.  This is what I have to look forward to tonight:
We did this one back on March 10th and I liked it.  My pistols are coming along, although I don’t think I’ve done them since then so hopefully my legs will be able to handle them after the rough week they’ve had.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to head up to Wasaga Beach and watch my fellow CFNC members compete at the UG Series Beach WOD.  The weather is supposed to be great so it should be a fun day enjoying the sun, the sand, and cheering on my friends.

Happy weekend, everyone!!!

Anyone out there dislike running as much as I do?

Motivational Monday

It’s Monday!
This week’s little bit of motivation is a little too close to home for me.

If this is true, I should be one strong chick this week.

Last week was a rough one for me at CrossFit and I had more pain that I really needed.  First, I messed up my wrist on Wednesday:

No idea what I did, but holy cow did it hurt. I had an acupunture treatment on it Thursday, rested it over the weekend, and It’s much better today.  I’m hoping I will be able to do tonight’s WOD (Elizabeth, 21-15-9 squat snatch, ring dips) without any modifications other than scaling the weight and using a band for my ring dips, which I always do.  I will play it by ear and see how it feels.  If it hurts, I will ask my coach what else I can do.

Friday, after modifying the WOD to skip the push press – doing hollow rocks instead (since I didn’t want to use my wrist that much), I ended up hurting my right foot getting off the air dyne.  The WOD was 50-40-30-20-10 push press and calories on the air dyne. I did the hollow rocks and holy crap…they killed!  I was just finished the 30 cals on the air dyne and was getting off when I got my foot jammed between the pedal and the bike.  I didn’t wait for the pedal to stop turning and missed the middle bar as I stepped off and crunch….what an awful feeling!  I could feel so many bones cracking and crunching.  OUCH!  Coach Sav said maybe this was a good place to stop and she got me some ice.  I lay with my foot up on some ab mats for a few minutes and once the pain subsided I gimped my way out of the gym.  Once I got home it was ice and elevation again:
Luckily I was taking Saturday off from the gym since my son had a hockey tournament and I couldn’t make it to class. Aside from some pretty decent bruising on the inside of my foot my the ankle/arch, the top by my toes, and the outside below the ankle it is feeling pretty good.  I’ve been putting Traumeel on it regularly and I think that helped.  I’m almost limp free.

My goal for tonight is to get out of the gym without any more injuries!

Wish me luck!

How’s Monday treating you so far?

Motivational Monday

Well, it seems I am not getting any better at posting regularly.  😦  Not sure I ever will.  Random, infrequent posts seems to be the new normal around here.  Oh well!

Here’s a quick Motivational Monday to kick off the week.

I’ve got a killer workout ahead of me tonight at CrossFit:
I have never done Angie before.  On paper, it looks wicked.  I’m pretty sure I will be doing Ring Rows in place of the pull-ups, and that even sounds killer! But, I will just tackle this beast one rep at a time and hope for the best.

Angie doesn’t scare me!  (Well, maybe a little :))

Happy Monday, peeps!  Here’s to a great week ahead.

The Friday Five

Happy Friday!  Let’s get right to it!

1.  I have been a very bad blogger lately.  By the time I get home from work, eat dinner, do a few things around the house, go to CrossFit, come home and shower, I have zero energy or motivation to write a blog post.  Plus, I really haven’t had that much to say lately.  My life is rather dull, I’m afraid!

2.  I have also fallen so far behind in the Photo101 course.  I was doing alright the first week, and then the wheels fell off.  Ideally, you are to take a new photo each day that relates to the prompts.  Well, by the time I get home from work, it’s dark…which makes it difficult to take decent pictures.  I think I am going to cheat and this weekend look back through all the pics I’ve taken and see if I can find some that relate to the prompts we’ve been given that I have missed:  connect, landmark, natural world, warmth, mystery, pop of colour, architecture, moment, swarm and landscape.

3.  My hands are so sore!  I wasn’t feeling the greatest on Monday (had a headache all day), so I cancelled my CrossFit class and switched to Tuesday night instead.  Well, Tuesday’s workout was a tough one!  Strength wasn’t too bad – ring rows (since I still can’t do an unassisted strict pull-up :()  and GHD sit-ups.  The MetCon is where things got fun:
I did the beginner lever, since it was going to add up to 60 pull-ups, which is more than I have ever done RX in a WOD (I did 45 once!).  I also used a band on a rack for the push-ups, since 60 RX push-ups was unlikely.  Things were going along well – if you define well as exhausting – until the last set of pull-ups when my hands ripped on rep 54.  I ended up doing the last 6 reps as ring rows because my hands hurt so much.  I can’t remember what my time was – I really need to get better and putting my workouts into my MyWOD app!  I went home, took the loose skin off my tears and coated them with polysporin.

Wednesday night’s WOD had toes to bar in both the strength and metcon.  We also did deadlifts in the strength work, and just holding the bar hurt my hands – not just the torn spots, but my calluses at the base of my fingers as well.  In the end I asked for a substitute for the T2B in the metcon (which was 20-15-10-5 DB squat cleans, T2B, box jumps).  I just couldn’t take the pain.  Instead my coach game me candlesticks.  I only learned after the WOD what they were…lying on my back on the floor, holding the rig, pike up legs and then reach them up the rig as high as you can get them…basically like this:
My hands are still sore and there are more pull-ups in today’s WOD…I think I will do the beginner ring rows again and try to let my hands heal.

To help prevent this from happening again, I ordered a pair of Natural Grip wraps.  I have had my eye on them for a while, but finally broke down and ordered a pair.  It will be the best $17 I ever spent if they work like they say they do.  Natural Grips were recently featured on Shark Tank and they got a deal!!!

4.  I got some new CrossFit kicks!  Reebok has a Friend’s and Family 40% off sale last weekend and I picked up some new Nano 4s.  Aren’t they pretty!
I also got some lifters…but they haven’t been shipped yet.  Can’t wait for those to arrive!

5.  It’s only 2 weeks until I go to Arizona for the EWGA Cup.  I really should get out to a golf dome or simulator some time in the next little while.  I will have been 3 months since I’ve played golf when the competition starts and that can’t lead to good things.  Hopefully it will work out I can get out once here before I go and we have a practice round scheduled the Friday before the competition starts, so hopefully I will remember how to swing a club!

 

Happy weekend!

Got any big plans?  

So Many Pull-ups!

I went to CrossFit last night for the first time since the weekend.  I was planning to go on Tuesday, but I was just not feeling it.  I was tired and had some stuff that needed to get done at home.  Plus, Tuesday is usually a day off from CrossFit for me, and I decided that even though I wasn’t there on Monday, since the gym was close for Thanksgiving, I would stick to my usual routine and take Tuesday as a CrossFit rest day.

That meant yesterday’s class was my first one in 4 days.  I was a bit nervous since I haven’t been feeling the best in classes lately.  I’ve been feeling like I’m stalled and not making any progress….and I hate that. 

Last night’s workout was:

My back has been a little sore – I tweaked it at my first hockey game of the season picking up my bag after our game – so I haven’t been going too heavy on deadlifts lately.  I’ve just been focussing on good form and not stressing my back.  It’s getting better, but I don’t want to push it. 

For the MetCon last night, I used 85# for the deadlifts.  I probably could have done heavier, but didn’t want to risk it.  The part I was more concerned about was the pull-ups.  I haven’t been doing very well with them lately.  I’ve been needing to use a band after only a few reps.  Not good. 

When it came time to set up our stations for the WOD I grabbed a couple of black bands and got them ready on the bar for my pull-ups.  I tried a few unassisted kipping pull-ups and they felt okay, but I wasn’t sure how many I would be able to do in total.

When it came time for the WOD, I did my deadlifts without too much difficulty and then headed to the rig.  I hopped up and did 4 pull-ups (without the bands) and they felt okay.  I dropped and took a short rest and then hopped back up.  In the end I did the 21 reps all without a band!  I was exhausted but super pumped.  I don’t remember the last time I did more than 5 pull-ups without a band, so this was great.  I used the 400m run around the building to recover a bit and then back to the barbell for 15 more deadlifts.  For the 15 pull-ups, I actually moved the bands completely out of the way and just tackled them kipping 3 or 4 at a time.  I couldn’t believe that I was actually doing them RX.  Insane!  Another 400m run and then the final set.  Deadlifts were no problem and then it was back to the pull-ups.  Only 9, done in 3 sets of 3. They were not fast, but they were solid.  One last 400m run and I was done. 

Once again I was last in the class to finish, and based on times I saw on the board, the slowest person of the day….but I don’t care…

I DID 45 RX PULL-UPS!!!  Woohoo!

Tonight I’ve got hockey, so won’t be going to CrossFit.  I’ll be back at it tomorrow, when I see the has more pull-ups in it – chest to bar this time.  I can’t do C2B yet, but hopefully I will be able to keep it going and do kipping RX again.  Fingers crossed.

Does accomplishing something at the gym make you as ridiculously happy as it makes me?

Motivational Monday

Happy Monday, Peeps!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I know I did!

Saturday:  cruise with hubby and my son.  Hubs on his motorcycle and the kid and me in our Miata…lots of fun.  We had lunch in Beaverton and then headed over to take a look at the Kirkfield Lift Lock.

Saturday afternoon spontaneous blender drink party!

Sunday:  menu planning from my new cookbook the Paleo Kitchen (I did go pick up a copy at Costco and got Practical Paleo too!)  Can’t wait to eat this week!  So many great recipes!!!

Today’s Motivational Monday has to do with running.  If you’ve been following along since the beginning, you will know that I used to run…a lot. Then I discovered CrossFit and finally admitted to myself that I don’t like running, so gave it up.  The only running I do now is whatever we do for warm up (usually 2 laps around the gym building) and occasionally in a WOD. Well, tonight’s WOD has running.  We do this MetCon after doing the strength WOD of overhead squats and GHD sit-ups:

I don’t cherry pick my workouts, so even though I won’t have fun, and it will be hard, I will do it.  We did a mile run on Saturday’s WOD too.  That was a 2 part WOD with Part 1 being 3 rounds for time of 400m run, 20 T2B, 10 back  squats…then rest 10 minutes and in a 10 minute window complete a 1 mile run and as many air squats as possible with whatever was left in the 10 minutes. Since my previous fastest mile was 10:31, I was pretty sure I wasn’t getting to the squats.  Well, when my 10 minute rest time was up I headed out the door and just did my best.  I ended up finishing my mile in exactly 10 minutes!!!  I didn’t have time for the squats, but I didn’t care.  I took 30 seconds off my mile time and I was ecstatic!  Now, tonight I get to run that mile twice and hopefully can keep that 10 minute pace and maybe even beat it.  Regardless, I will just be happy to finish and know that …

I won’t beat myself up when I am the last one done my mile.  I will just be happy I survived!

What’s your fastest mile?