Monday, June 09, 2008
The Great-Tailed Grackle

Warm-up:
3x
10 push-ups
10 good mornings
10 sit-ups

Workout:
21-15-9
Thrusters (20# dumbbells)
Chair sits (seconds)
Push press (20# dumbbells)
OH lunges (15# dumbbells)

About 15 minutes

So, I decided to name all of my workouts after the creature that I see that day (I really look forward to the Ocelot and the Jaguar!).  The grackles were everywhere, and have quite an amusing call, so I named this one in their honor.

I’m staying at a hotel for a night, so that I can spend all of tomorrow driving down to Hopkins – which I understand was flooded out by the storm last week, which may make the drive challenging.

But no more challenging than The Grackle!  The hotel actually had a small weight room, so I figured I’d use them while I can.  Unfortunately, they lacked air conditioning… or ventilation of any kind.  Bikram Crossfit!  I decided to make it a quick warm-up (I was warm enough!) and not to worry about time, since working out in 90+ degree heat PLUS an equivalent scale of humidity made for a sufficiently difficult workout just moving.

I lost about 5 pounds of fluids, probably equal amounts of sweat and blood from the nasty mosquitoes.  I remember now why I didn’t care for Belize City.  I’d forgotten about the mosquitoes the size of my head… sadly, they obviously remember me fondly.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Warm-up
3x

Workout:
1RM Shoulder Press
5-3-2-2-1-1-1
#45,55,60,65,70(m),70,72.5,75(m)

2 Rounds
10 Ring Rows
10 Pushpress #55
10 Burpees
10 Knees to Elbows

Rats.  Only got to 72.5, which was very disappointing.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Warmup:

1000m row
3x
10 pull-ups (purple band)
15 good mornings
20 sit-ups

Workout:
4x:
7x
5 jump shrugs (32#) + 2 front squats (32#)

20 step-ups (20” box)
15 pushups

Time:  19:09

My last workout at PF for a while!  Fortunately, Becca made it a good one… she suggested between 15-35 pounds for me, so I went with 32.  I was totally up for trying the jump shrugs, but there was no way I was going to try to jump rope yet (my calf is still not quite ready).  She suggested box step-ups instead of the jump rope.  While I’m in Belize, I *will* try to jump rope, but it’s going to be a scary thing.  Amazing how such a simple item as a jump rope can cause such fear in an adult (or at least someone who closely resembles one).  I finished first, which was pleasant.
Now, how to bottle that combination of everything that makes PF into something that I can do on my own?

Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Warmup:
3x
10 push-ups
15 arch rocks
20 hollow thumps

Workout:
5x
10 burpees
15 wall squats
20 situps

Time:  33:01

My first CrossFit workout on my own!  It was quite fun, as I evidently surprised the people on the treadmills in the workout room.  Hotel treadmill walkers are not accustomed to people in the fitness room *sweating*, much less muttering nasty things under their breath.  The sad part was that I had no one to blame for this workout – it was my own idea, based upon the small area that I had.  *sigh*

Note to self:  Must find way to blame future workouts on SOMEONE, otherwise who will I swear about?  Hmmmm…

Sunday, June 1, 2008
I have absolutely no recollection of this one.  I know I wrote it down.  That’s the problem with hotel-living; things end up on small pieces of paper, or accidentally put in a box, or on-line somewhere, or in my day planner, or....  *sigh* I’m sure I’ll find it at some point.

Saturday, May 31, 2008
Warmup:
1500m row

3x
10 wall squats
10 pull-ups (black/green)
10 sit-ups
15 arch rocks

And then some horrific workout that I can’t even remember because I was so incredibly exhausted from packing and moving and the aerobic activity of trying to get the movers to actually MOVE and mentally restraining myself from causing them bodily harm so that when I took a break and tried to workout I couldn’t even do overhead squats without falling on my butt which was even more frustrating and it was all the stupid MOVERS’ fault because they were probably back at the house flinging my breakables in the air while I was trying to focus on the workout which was hard because the image of these guys kept coming into my head because they were SUPPOSED to be finished on Friday, but they’re only halfway done, which means they’ll be moving tomorrow too, which is bad because I had planned to finish up the house repairs tomorrow and now I can’t, but I’m supposed to be doing the WORKOUT and paying attention to that instead of picturing myself dancing happily on their broken and bleeding bodies.

*sigh*

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Workout:
5 rounds 15#/20# dumbbells

Walking lunges/chest press
28/20
20/20
20/20
20/20
25/21

Total:  101/113

I’m going to guess that my weights were a little too low, since I was doing too many reps at the end.  (I was fighting for each one, mind you, but still got the total.) The problem with doing more reps is that there just isn’t the same amount of rest time, since I had to keep up with everyone else so that we could rotate through the equipment properly.  ARGH!  However, unreasonable though it may be, I’m trying always to recuperate quickly enough to finish as strongly as I started.  Kind of the “Tabata mentality”.

As for finishing strong, who knew that my last days in LA would be so tough!  Sheesh, I haven’t even had time to post my workouts, although I am writing them down, so that someday (soon!), I’ll be able to update the rest of them.  The movers will be at the house tomorrow (a day early – yikes!) to pack everything up.  This is so weird… after all of these years of working my fanny off (alas, not literally – that’s what CF is for!), it’s really strange to get up in the morning and not have “work stuff” to do. 

Wow.  This post was mostly a waste of electronic trees.  Move along, folks, nothing to see here… Hopefully my next post will be more interesting/entertaining/enlightening… or, at least, grammatically correct.  Right now, I’ll settle for the latter, since my brain is clearly still out doing some last-minute partying in LA without me.  (*sigh* This is what happens when you get old – no one wants to bother with your body anymore; they just want what is in the brain.  It’s a tragedy, really… I miss the good ol’ “no, really!  I’m shallow and superficial and I really only want you for your body” days…)

Yikes.  Not sure where in the recesses of my mind THAT came from.  Of all the things I’ve lost, I think I miss my brain the most.  I hope to find it again during retirement.  I hope it’s not rusty…

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Warmup:
1000m row

3x
10 push-ups (toes, knees, fingertips/knees, due to a non-functioning wrist)
15 arch rocks
15 hollow rocks
20 walking lunges

Workout
Tabata’ing:

Rows (calories) 4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 = 4
Pull-ups 8-6-6-6-4-4-4-4-=4
Kettlebell swings (yellow) 8-8-8-7-7-7-7-7=7
Thrusters (12# dumbbells) 8-7-7-7-7-7-7-7=7
Anchored sit-ups 9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9=9

Total:  31

Okay, you know you’re getting old when you injure yourself *sleeping*.  Really.  I now have to wrap my ankle, my wrist and my neck at night to make sure I don’t get into weird positions that cause them to hurt more in the morning.  Any more injuries and I’ll just figure out how the ancient Egyptians wrapped their mummies and sleep that way.  *crossly* If people didn’t get so upset about my sleeping upside down hanging from the rafters, the way we USED to, it wouldn’t be a problem.  Ah, the good ol’ days… before that silly Bram guy got us all in trouble.

So, Tabata’ing today!  Much fun!  I was pretty pleased with my consistency, except for the pull-ups.  I planned to do 6, but the first set seemed so easy.  Yeah.  That little fallacy didn’t last.  I should have stuck with 6…. If nothing else, it would have made the drop to 4 so much less painful.

I’m amusing myself by conjugating “tabata”, because CLEARLY it needs to be used as a verb.  I tabata, you tabata, he/she tabatas…

Then I got to come home and haul out 50+ pound potted plants, carry a set of patio furniture out and various other weight-lifting activities.  Nothing like a little extra workout after a Tabata!  (Hmmmm…now THERE it’s a noun.  What would the plural be?  Tabatas?  Tabatae, if it’s Latin?  Tabati, if it’s Romance-language-based?  Ah, yet another fun thing to ruminate on in my soon-to-be copious spare time… How can people ask what I’ll be doing to fill up my time in my retirement?  I’ll be BUSY on such important topics as this! Tabata conjugation, mummy wrapping – the list is truly endless!)

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Warm-up
500m row row (legs)
400m row (back)
300m row (arms)
500m row (everything)

3x
5 dips (purple band on knees)
10 Ab-mat crunches
15 Ab-mat supermans

Workout
4x
2 shoulder presses
10 v-sit medicine ball twists (14#)
15 OH squats
30 second chair sit on parallettes

Short version:  I sucked.
Longer version:  I totally, completely and emphatically sucked.

However, it’s actually all part of my sneaky strategy.  I intend to run myself into the ground in these next two weeks by not sleeping or eating, by changing my schedule randomly and other horrid things.  In this fashion, I will have deteriorated to such an extent by the time I leave that my baseline will be measured with a calendar.  That means that I am *guaranteed* phenomenal improvement in the first month, since I have pretty much nowhere to go but up!  I’ll come back for my baseline in significantly better shape, simply because I’ll be able to FUNCTION.  Oh, heck, for a stretch goal, I might even be able to - get this - count to TEN!  By myself!

*proudly* Yep, I’ve got this thing all figured out.  These next two weeks will be GREAT!  I’ll see just how bad I can get.  Isn’t it nice to have goals?

Wednesday May 21, 2008

Warm Up
1500m Row

3X
10 Pull-Ups (1 black, 1 mini-green)
10 Squats
10 walking lunges
10 sit-ups

Workout
AMRAP in 20 minutes
1 power clean
2 front squats
3 shoulder presses
4 back squats

35# - 19 reps

I *loved* this workout, mostly because it didn’t involve counting any higher than 4. That sort of advanced mathematical calculation seems to be beyond me at this crazy point in my life. (My undergraduate alma mater wants its engineering degree back.) Last time I tried counting during workout it went something like this:

Me: “...9, 10, 11...”
JJ: “Uh, Cindy?”
Me: “Yes? 12, 13...”
JJ: “You only have to do 10.”
Me (blankly): “Doesn’t 10 come somewhere after 13?”

Becca even took pity on me and counted every rep, so that I didn’t even have to count to 2. Yay!  I take back all of the nasty thoughts I had about her during the previous workouts.  Well, most of them.  Some of them she still deserved.  *grin*

I was just 4 squats away from that 20th rep, though… darn it.

Sunday, May 18

Warm-up
1500m row

3x
10 push-ups (from toes)
15 Ab-mat situps
20 walking lunges

Workout:
4x
500m row
10 pull-ups (2 black bands)
15 Back extensions
20 overhead walking lunges (10# dumbbells)

Time:  Still a sucky 33+ minutes, but much of it on those horrid lunges.

A much, MUCH better showing today.  After assessing yesterday’s pathetic performance, I decided to cut myself some slack.  This is something that I’m more than willing to do for everyone ELSE, but, of course, never for myself. 

Evidently, I’m mortal, too.  The shock of this yesterday was almost enough to make me throw up my hands in despair, quit my job, and move someplace like Belize where no one will know about my abject failure.

Oh, wait.  I already decided to do that.

So, deciding that the overall stress of everything, combined with the lack of food and sleep was, in fact, an allowable excuse to have ONE bad day, I approached today with a much cheerier attitude. 

At the very start, the rowing started to come together.  Perhaps breaking everything down again yesterday let me focus on the individual pieces, instead of working on all of it at once.  Or, the fact that I still have an IQ roughly 50 points lower than normal made me *stop thinking* and *just row*.  (Gee, perhaps the “Just Row” on the menu is some sort of subtle dig at those of us who over-intellectualize?  Hmmmm…)

Dropped down to two black bands, and had no problem doing the pull-ups. Of course, this was rounded out by the OH walking lunges, so the day was not perfect.

However, as I sat down to write this, a gray fox strolled across my backyard, drank from the bird bath, and sauntered out again.  I dub today the “Day of the Puppy”.  Puppies make me happy.  This one’s for you, King Bliss.

Saturday, May 17

Warm-up
500m row row (legs)
400m row (back)
300m row (arms)
500m row (everything)

3x
5 dips
10 rollovers
20 walking lunges

Workout:
4x
4 shoulder presses
15 GH sit-ups
20 1-legged squats

This was just a completely horrible workout day for me.  Having watched everyone doing a fantastic job of the Helen, you’d *think* I would have been inspired.  Alas, not the case.

I should have known, even before I left, that my brain was turned off.  I couldn’t get dressed.  I put on my top, which started rolling itself up as I put it over my head, taking my hair with it.  It was completely tied up.  Given the cavalier attitude about clothes at PF I figured that I might be able to get away with it during workout, but how would I explain driving semi-topless if I got stopped by the police?  It wouldn’t be easy. 

Finally got that handled.  I’m not even going to ATTEMPT to describe the whole 5-fingers thing.  Let’s just say that, at some point, I gave up and resorted to regular shoes. 

As for my workout, I’m just going to hope that the whole pathetic thing will just be a distant memory very soon.  Not a good workout showing.  Bah.

Wednesday, May 15
Warmup:
1500 m row
3x:
10 pull-ups (purple band)
10 squats

Workout:
Max reps push presses (15# d-bells) - 40
3x
400 m row
15 deadlifts (85#)

Max reps push presses - 36

Time:  17:47

My last workout before I retire!  I fully expect that next week will see a new, revitalized me.  Suddenly, all of these exercises will seem ridiculously easy and I will breeze through each and every workout.

Right.  Look, it is *my* fantasy, and I’d really appreciate not having my happy little bubble burst, if you don’t mind.  Reality is overrated.  I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy.

At the very least, I would hope that my nasty thoughts about Becca (particularly after she’s said, “Yes!  That looks like a good weight for you, Cindy” and I’m fighting just to get the last few in each set - obviously we have differing definitions of what a “good” weight is) will diminish.  Pleasant, charitable thoughts will flow through my mind.  No longer will I glare evilly through the tangled, sweaty mess of my hair; I will be smiling and happy to be working out with such fantastic people, and my beaming, beatific face will be an inspiration to all.

HAHAHAHA!  Yeah.  Not gonna happen.  Sounded pretty good there for a minute, though.

Sunday, May 11
Warmup:
1500 m row
3x:
5 push-ups (from toes!)
15 arch-rocks
20 walking lunges

Workout:
21-15-9
OH Squats (22# bar)
Pull-ups (purple band)
Kettle bell swings (yellow band)
V-sit medicine ball twists (12#)

Time:  17:57

10 slingshots
50 one-footed medicine ball catches

Hint of the Day:  Never, EVER show any signs of weaknesses to those who are creating the workout.  Because I GUARANTEE they will spend an inordinate amount of time focusing *just on that weak spot*.  If you have (hypothetically speaking) strained your calf, and you have (hypothetically speaking) much weaker muscles on the right (hypothetically speaking) side, the workout will, without a doubt, be skewed to that hypothetically bad right leg.  Even when there isn’t really a good way to emphasize this hypothetical right side weakness, they will devise evil, wicked ways of adapting a perfectly pleasant, innocent exercise (for hypothetical purposes, let’s call them “medicine ball catches”) and make you stand on just the one hypothetically bad leg.

*brightening up* On the other hand (leg?), I spent my last formal staff meeting today entirely balanced on my right foot, in order to strengthen my not-so-hypothetically weak right leg.  It is interesting to note that NOT ONE member of my staff asked why I was standing on one leg.  That is either a reflection of them or me… I’m not sure which I prefer.

Saturday, May 10
Warmup:
1500 m row
3x:
10 push-ups with stability roll
15 ab-mat situps
20 walking lunges

Workout:
4x
6 shoulder presses (60#)
6 pistols (each side)

20 slingshots

This was one hour of pure, unadulterated agony.  The workout itself was bad enough, but I had no energy at all.  Evidently, along with the “not sleeping” thing, I’m now “not eating”.  I forgot to eat on Friday.  Not “oh, I ate bad food”, but… didn’t eat.  You gotta ask yourself, what kind of special stupid do you have to be to forget to eat?!?

So, sweating and swearing, I made it through four rounds.  Somehow.  But it was all totally worth it afterward.