Spartan Shape-Up, Day 197-199:
(Week 29)
Oh BlogLand! I'm so sorry! I'm a wee bit behind the eight-ball this weekend with blogging. I am happy to say, though, that I am *not* behind the eight-ball with WODs.
It is officially the beginning of Week 29 of Spartan Shape-Up training. WOW. Every four weeks or so, when I start new tracking spreadsheets (don't judge!), I have this amazing moment where I'm like, "Holy shit. Go ME." Even if I haven't necessarily accomplished all I wanted to, or hit the goals I wanted to, I am proud of myself for sticking with it. Old Me would have fizzled out after week 2 or 3. Here we are in week *29*.... *199 DAYS*... I think that is sufficient proof that I have exiled Old Me to the far reaches of The Back of My Mind, and that I have made a lifestyle change. Not just "gone on a diet" or "toned my arms"... but really decided that things needed to change. Completely.
It was weird going grocery shopping last night, along that same vein. I'm now living alone, so I only have to worry about the food that I am actually going to eat. When I shop for those things, I literally skip whole aisles of the store, now. I should clarify; while I am not strictly on the "No Bread" sort of program now, I am keeping a pretty low- (processed) carb diet, as I just don't want it, and my body functions better this way. It's like No Bread was a carb detox! hehe... That said, I really just don't have bread in my house, there is some rice but I usually choose quinoa, and there aren't anything in the way of salty-crunchies (chips, popcorn). I do keep a large supply of nuts, sweet potato, fruits and meat and veg. I had a weird view from Old Me of New Me, as I was reaching in the case to buy Almond Milk last night... *eyebrow raise*... OH MY. What have I become? haha.... Healthier. A lot healthier.
Which reminds me! Weird little victory: Filling out the "Health Evaluation" or something for my new health insurance, I had to do the (generally dreaded) BMI. I am happy to report that I officially am classified as ...... OVERWEIGHT. Yep!!! WOO!!.... haha.... which was a huge victory, since all my life I've been "Obese". That's a pretty ugly word. "Overweight" sounded pretty good to me in comparison, indicating I've been on the right track! YEAH.
Anyway, I should get onto the WODs of late....
Day 197 was a Run Day... I didn't get up early to do it, as I've been really wiped out this week. I did, however, force myself to do it when I got home that night. So what if the run started at 8pm? While it was still a bit chilly, it was a really nice change to be able to run and stretch my legs on surfaces that were not all snowy and icy... the recent rain in these parts has really cleaned things up. It felt like I was going really fast. My GPS tracker, though, didn't seem to reflect that. I swear I had to have been going faster than this... but. It is what it is. I got out there for a solid run, whatever the stats were. MapMyRun says:
Time: 45:15 min
Distance: 4.0 mi
Ave. Pace: 11:19 min/mi
I guess you could look at that an say it is a good indication, though - I ran the whole four miles (versus the usual 3ish) at a steady pace, that is somewhere close to my usual average. Go legs!
Day 198 was a scheduled Rest Day. AHhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
Day 199 - Weekend Morning CrossFit!
So, I usually try to go to the earlier classes on the weekend, to beat the crowds, but I elected to sleep in today and get through a crowded class. In some ways, I'm glad I did today, because it was a particularly grueling WOD, and it was nice to have the group energy/support.
Our Warm-up was just a basic med ball (10#) toss with a partner: a couple minutes throwing from each side, a couple minutes front squat and throwing (like a wall ball), and a couple minutes hiking it through your legs like a football. It is just good to get your body moving.
Then, we moved onto the WOD. I took a look at the board, took a deep breath and prepared for battle. Here's what it looked like:
20 Thrusters
20 Sumo Deadlift High Pull w/Kettle bell
100 Double Unders (or 300 singles)
40 Thrusters
40 SDHP
100 Double Unders (or 300 singles)
60 Thrusters
40 SDHP
100 Double Unders (or 300 singles)
Whew. Yeah. Take a moment to look at that. You increase the reps as you get tired. THAT ought to be fun, RIGHT?! I assure you, it was.
So, the first part of this was choosing the appropriate weight for the Thrusters. I was a little nervous... this WOD looked long and evil. I can move a lot of weight, but how much could I do over that amount of time?! I put two 10# plates on my 20# bar, initially... and then as I waited for everyone else to get situated, I rethought that. EFF safe. I did more than that with our evil "Fran" WOD the other day... granted it was a shorter period of time... but, WHATEVER. Why play it safe? The worst that was going to happen was that I would fail the rep and have to lower the weight. Okay. I put on my I'm-Not-Scared! pants and traded up my weights. Total on the Thruster, 50#. Looking around the class (particularly the women), 50# was a really respectable weight. I don't generally gauge myself that way, but sometimes it is nice to know you are not completely over your head, you know?
I did have the heaviest (of the women) kettlebell in the class - a whopping 25#. I should've, in hindsight, gone heavier with that. I did the SDHP's with relative ease.
Okay, so after set up dilemma's the clock started. Begin the WOD. The instructor reminded everyone to concentrate on our form, not the clock, as this *should* take us a while.
I started pumping out the Thrusters. No problemo. Ten in a row, quick pause in rack position to fix my hands and up and down for ten more. 20, Check!... Onto the kettlebell. No problem! ... bust out 300 singles on the jump rope. Okay, that sucked a little bit, but I was still going pretty strong.
Another 10 Thrusters down... slightly longer pause.... insert a bit of a groan/grunt as I pushed out 10 more. Down went the bar. Okay. 20 in a row was a good push, right? Just had to get out 20 more...
... as it turns out, 40 Thrusters is a lot. You know what's worse? 60 Thrusters. You know it's bad when your KB Sumo Deadlift HighPulls become a "rest" time. After the first 5-10 into the last set of 60 Thrusters, I had put the bar down, and I was definitely fatigued and eyeing it with that "Arrrghhh.. how did you get so HEAVY" look. But then I looked in front of me, at my fellow CF'er, Bill.
You see, I place myself strategically in crowded CF classes. I put myself near the "serious" people. When I see middle aged women that are afraid to lift the 20# bar, much less swing a kettle bell, I applaud their efforts and the fact they're in the gym (you gotta start somewhere!), but then I go place myself next to the Bill's of the class. I need a little more role-modeling sometimes:
Bill had weight on his bar that looked to be in the neighborhood of 95# (which was the prescribed weight for men), and a Kettlebell that looked like a cannon ball with a handle. No joke, it was huge. I have no idea how much that bad boy weighed. In short, Bill is a BEAST at CF. But he's human. He scowls. He gets angry at his weights, he pushes himself. He swears under his breath. hahaha.
As we were all sort of somewhere in those last sets of 60 reps, I was looking down at my bar, pondering how I was going to put that thing over my head like 55 more times. Then I looked over at Bill, equally sweaty, panting similarly and then he pushed HIS damn bar up 5 more times, then put it down. HE had beasted through a few more. Inspiration! Motivation! RAWR! I picked my bar up, gritted my teeth and got my Spartan on. I WOULD complete this set. As it turned out, I ended up doing it about 5 reps at a time, with breaks in rack position each 5, and a drop of my bar every 10. But, I completed it and got even complimented on my excellent form by the instructor. I feel like if you just got complimented on your form, after 100+ Thrusters, you're doing something right!
So, needless to say, the moment I got to yell "time!" indicating I was done, after I had hopped over that last jump rope turn, was a WONDERFUL moment. I was tired. But satisfied.
I had tackled a weight I wasn't sure if I could handle. Handled it. Completed ALL the reps, as directed.
Not. Dead. Yet. (Much to the contrary, actually.)
WAHAHA. With that, BlogLand, I leave you. Time for sleep, so I can hit up another CF tomorrow morning... and I think perhaps a Long Run (with a buddy!) in the afternoon. YAY!
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