Training & Prepping for HOH

So this post is late- I had a busy weekend! I had a good week of training though! 

Here is a recap!

Monday 8/11: I started my day with a 3 m run, in Fresno, at Woodward Park before work. It was nice to get out of the area where I normally run, and get a different view. I kept a decent pace, but I did slow down quite a bit on my last mile, and had to walk a few times. My calves have been a little tight, I need to make sure that I am taking the time to work on my mobility. With the amount of exercise that I do with short muscle contraction, I have to make a conscious effort to elongate the muscles as much as possible.
The 2nd workout for the CVT was also released! And, just like the teaser pictures had shown us there are rope climbs! I was/ am still nervous for it, but after practicing it a few times, I don't think I will do to horribly haha. My first attempt I finished the workout in 6:25- fresh.

CVT WOD #2

200 yrd Run/Carry (used a 40lb KB)

3 Rope Climbs

40 single unders

200 yrd Run/Carry

2 Rope Climbs

40 single unders

200 yrd Run/Carry

1 Rope Climb

40 single unders

200 yrd Run/Carry

Getting through those rope climbs

Tuesday 8/12: We did like 2 mini WODS, I felt like I was able to push in each workout. In the second work out we did a 8 min AMRAP- 10 pull ups,15 thrusters, and 30 double unders. I was super stoked that I was able to get my pull ups done in sets of 2 or 3, and I was able to get about 6 DU at a time! Progress!

Pretty sweet pic with Diane- Pushing through those thrusters!

tire flips

Wednesday 8/13: Well I was supposed to run, and that didn't happen, I just struggled to get out of bed, and needed the sleep. I swear by listening to your body, you wont ever regret it.
At the gym I worked on my snatches at the weight we would be using in the competition (#65lbs). Just making sure that I am as comfortable as I can be with the movement, as I can be. Then we did a quick burner of 3rds: 20 jumping lunges, 10 HSPU ( I used the box to maximize my movement, and work on my strength in that position) then 400m run. It was good, definitely felt the burn in my legs. After that I did a second run through of CVT WOD #2- I was definitely tired from the gyms workout for the day, but it was good to do it a little fatigued since it is not going to be my first workout at the competition. Even being fatigued I got a faster time (5:51) Adriana killed that workout in like 5:27, she was my motivation to push!

Thursday 8/14: Thursday was a good squat day! I was able to 3x2 at 90% (175lb) getting stronger with every week, I then did light deadlifts, I didn't want it to fatigue me to much for the upcoming week. Our METCON was one with SDHP and I hate them, it sucked, end of story haha.

Adriana and I getting SDHP's done!

Friday 8/15: I spent allllll day with my co workers prepping for our stores 3rd annual Hell of A Half. I never really understood all that went into the production of putting on a race, but now I do! There are countless hours put into every single detail you can and can't imagine to put on these types of events. I am very lucky to have been apart of such an event.

Saturday 8/16: The day of Hell of A Half, we were all up bright and early 4 am to get started on race day to get the course ready to go for runners. It is amazing to watch runners come together in their community and all have one goal, to cross that finish line. I am amazed by the finished who came in close to an hour, and amazed by those who pushed themselves to their limits and were able to complete within 4 hours. It is so cool to see what the body and mind can do.
At the store I kind of feel like the odd ball at times because, people share their opinions about how I am not really a "runner," to them I cross train, I am a crossfitter. It gets really annoying. At our race, a "crossfitter", an amazing woman, athlete, and coach at a local CF gym called Sawtooth, Tanya got 3rd place at our grueling hot half marathon. I love seeing that "people like me" can come in and kick all the "runners" butts!
After the race and clean up, I went to my moms and fell asleep, immediately. I was so exhausted, it was so nice to sleep. I then headed home to spend the evening with Garrett. We ended up heading to Fresno so I could pick up his birthday present, I was able to take the plunge and purchase him a GoPro. I hope he enjoys it. It was hard to figure out something that he wanted, and I just was on the search for something that he could use, and would love.

Sunday 8/17:  Sunday is the day of rest. And it was for me. I
have really slacked on my running this week. Being a woman, training for the Central Valley Throwdown and working long hours took its tole on me. It was nice to sort-of sleep in, lay in bed, watch TV, and work a few hours at the store. It's a new week, and I will get back on track with my running :)

--Here is a picture of our awesome shirts we had printed for CVT, I am so pumped for 13 of us to rock these tanks/tees and show what CrossFit Reedley is all about! James always does an awesome job on all the shirts that I have ever seen! I will always recommend/go to him if I am in need for screen printing!

JMI Studio - jmiscreeningstudio@hotmail.com for inquires!

--and on a side note, here is my newest picture of inspiration ;)

Alessandra Pichelli is an amazing athlete, I would kill to move as fast, be as strong, and have a booty and legs like hers! 

Alessandra Pichelli- Crossfit Games 2014
Image Credit goes to diffracted_photos on IG

Inspiration and Training

Hello again!
I am getting this post out a little late, I have been a little busy, and just didn't make time to reflect on the past week.
Over all I had a good week of training, and well living haha...

To start this past week 7/25-7/27 were the Crossfit Games- 3 days of intenense workouts, watching amazing athletes fight for a spot on the podium naming them "the fittest on earth." In 2011, this was the start of my love for CrossFit, when I first saw the games on ESPN I knew that it was something that I would love, and something I needed to start doing. I always get butterflies watching the athletes compete, watching them hit new PR's, watching them push through plateaus, and of course the smiles, fist pumps and congratulations from all the athletes after each event. Kara Webb, an athlete that I have had my eyes on (mostly because this is Garrett's CrossFit girl friend haha, I have to keep an eye on the competition ;) ) was in first for the first couple of days, then she sadly has been dealing with some nerve issues, and one of the workouts just aggravated it more so, and she withdrew. UGH! I wanted her to win so bad! She was doing do good! I mean she hit a 250lb OH squat! Camille Leblanc Bazinett ended up taking the title of the fittest woman on earth. She is an amazing athlete, she has worked hard, and it is awesome to see that pay off. For the men, well we all thought Rich Froning was out of it, that he wouldn't take the games this year, but of course, he won, Mr. 4-peat. haha They say he isn't coming back but I hope he does, he is an amazing athlete. But, on the other hand I want to see some of the young guns, who showed they were not messing around this year, fight for that title against Rich, because otherwise, for a few years all that will be said is "oh, its because Rich want there."

"Fittest Man & Woman On Earth"
Photo courtesy of Box Life Magazine

Now back to reality of my not so hard week of training compared to these games athletes haha...
Monday (7/28) marked the start of my half marathon training, and uuuugggggghhhh! That's all I have to say haha! There are currently a few fires burning in our area, which makes breathing in the central valley harder, and even harder when running! Other than struggling to breath while running, I have been struggling to get up early enough so the air quality and heat wouldn't affect me as bad, it is just so hard. I get up early on Tues/Thurs for my spin/circuit class, so on the other days when I can sleep in, I like to! I did end up wearing my Garmin, haha. Mondays run was my first run, it was hot, the air was bad, and I was way to eager when I started my run. I went out way to hard, and wanted to die at the end of my 3 miles haha. Wednesday and Friday I made sure to pace myself a little better and was able to keep a consistent pace without killing myself. Sunday was supposed to be a long run of 4 miles, but I just wasn't feeling it and decided to skip it. I know, I know, I can't do that, so this week I am not going to skip it haha. For my first week of runs I am excited that I got out for 3/4 of my runs, and felt decent about them.

I also continued my CrossFit training throughout the week,but I decided to take Tuesday as a rest day.
Monday- was modification of a CrossFit games workout of the 21-15-9 complex, and it was killer. I was so pumped that I was able to do pull ups through out the workout, and every rep counted.
Wednesday- we did a nasty combination of 200m run, box jumps, and push press. Adriana, Diane, and I all went Rx'd at 75lbs. It was super tough, I didn't know if I was going to be able to hand with the weight but was glad I attempted, and completed it.

Clearly not enjoying the push press

runnnnnnnin

Jumpin on the box! 

Cheering on Adriana, she didn't want to go RX'd , but she did and she killed it! 

Thursday- this was such an awesome day! In my last post I did say that I wanted to attempt 225lbs for my deadlifts the following week, well I attempted and succeed! Over all I was really pleased with my strength exercises that day, I was strong with my back squats at 165lbs, and was able to keep my torso up and shoulders back, and I was able to hit 3x3 225# deadlifts!

Friday- I didn't do any strength, Diane, Sarah and I decided to work on movements that may be in the Central Valley Throw down. 

Garrett came up with the worst workout EVER.

10 wall balls -1 Rope climb

20 wall balls -2 Rope climb

30 wall balls -3 Rope climb

40 wall balls -4 Rope climb

50 wall balls -5 Rope climb

It was definitely challenging, it got into my head a little bit. I am nervous if we will have to, and how many rope climbs we will have to do, these were tough after working on all those wall balls. I am continuing to work on my weaknesses, so hopefully they are as strong as they can be for the CVT. 

Working On Getting Up That Rope

Saturday- I caught up on some strength that I missed through out the week. I was stoked that I was able to get some heavy front pause squats, the heaviest I have done through out this cycle, 3x2 @ 125lb with a 3 second pause. 

The workout for the gym was killer. It was HEAVY, like heavy. RX'd was 95lbs. 

9-7-5

power clean

STOH

2 min rest:

4rds

200m run

12 Front Squat

6 Bar Over Burpees

clearing enjoying these squats

I knew it was going to be tough, but it was a whole lot tougher than I thought that it would be...

I struggled, but was glad to complete a the weight prescribed. 

It was a goal this week to be able to complete as many workouts as possible with prescribed weight, to push as hard, and as fast as I could with each workout, and I am continuing with that push into this week. 

Over all I am pleased with this past week. I hit goal markers that I didn't know I could. I am so thankful with for the gym and the motivation from all of the members. Excited for another week of training! 

Workouts and My Newest Obsessions

Dead lifts (#185) during "Diane" -7/21

Workouts at Anvil, were just as challenging this week as ever. We did enough deadlifts and wall balls to last me at least a month! haha Last week, we did deadlifts as a part of our strength (like we will continue to do for the next couple of weeks) I was really excited that for 4x5 I was able to pull 205, this week I did 5x4 at 210! AHH, so excited, and I am no where near as sore as I was after last weeks! I am hoping to get 220 for this upcoming weeks lifts, fingers crossed I am feeling strong enough. I am hesitant just because we did A LOT of deadlifts this week. Monday (7/21) was Diane's birthday, so we did the "girl" Diane, I'm not sure it that is the best way to reference that, but I have deleted and retyped and nothing better is coming to mind haha.

HSPU- or more of my bun touched and I was good.. haha -7/21

(The Girls are a series of workouts that crossfit has created, and are named after women... ie: diane, grace, karen ect) Diane is originally 21-15-9 of Hand Stand Push Ups, and Deadlifts. At the gym we changed it up a little 15-12-9-6-3 of those exercises, except to be able to complete the workout, I did deadlifts at 185 lbs and  HSPU I did a rep scheme of 10-8-6-4-2.

Wednesday (7/23) we did a circuit style workout with wall balls, and basically what it comes down to is that I hate wall balls, I have gotten better at them, but I still hate them. After my workout I went up to Turlock to visit with my Grandma for a few hours. i love being able to spend time with her. I know I should do it more because I am only an hour and a half drive or train ride from her. 

7/23

7/23

I wasn't able to make it to CrossFit Valkommen, but an acquaintance through the gym/crossfit had a tragic event happen to her and her family. Her nephew, of only 5 months passed away from SIDS. Being that many don't prepare for funeral services at such a young age, the gym put on a free workout, where we could come together and raise funds for the family. If you would like, and are able to donate to the families funds, here is the link For Levi.

7/24

My double under were soooo good! 7/23

Thursday(7/24) we did more heavy deadlifts, thats when I hit 210 5x4! We also did a killer Ground to overhead workout. I tried to push through this workout, when I wanted to stop, I tried to keep moving, it was tough. I am glad I was able to the workout at the RX'd weight of 95#, especially after doing heavy DL.

Adriana & Diane finishing strong

Hello, Again.

Well, I decided I can't commit time to blogging at the moment. Maybe someday, sometime, but right now, I am busy with school and working out. Story of my life. I want to try (again) and post about things that are happening with my life, my adventures, goals, failures, and triumphs. And, while doing so, if you can relate to me, you laugh, smile, or I inspire you, then I am doing exactly what I inteded to do. 

Currently, I have been running. 

Some runs are really good, and others I can not wait until they are over. A friend ask me how I run, that she could never do that. I though about that question, and I answered with this, "there is something about running and not having to stop, to run by the river, or be able to look at the mountains, and know that you can go as far as you'd like. I get the feeling that I did when I would swim continuous laps, I get lost in the moment, listening, looking and smelling all the things that are around me." ( sometimes the views and smells are not pleasant haha) 

To clarify, I am not running a crazy amount, or putting in tons of miles (yet). I am probably running 10-15 miles a week. I will run a couple 3 mile runs, and a 5-6 mile run through the week. I am still nursing a sprained ankle that I got towards the end of January. Seriously, spraining something is THE worst! I would have rather broken it, because then I know I could cast it, let the bone heal, and be back at it, after some therapy and strengthening. With a sprain, it is a guessing game on when it will be better, and just do what I can on the days that it feels good. 

For Christmas, I asked for gift cards so I could get a  Garmin 620,  it was my motivation to get back to training, and a tool to help me reach my goal of running a half-marathon under 2 hours, I am waiting for Nike to announce their raffle/lottery entry for the NWM in San Francisco, in October, this is where I am hoping to reach this goal! Garmin has a few different models, depending on your budget, or what you are looking to do with your training. I love that they sync up with Strava, which is a free running app,  unless you wanted to go premium, but the basic does all that I want/need it to, Strava can be used with iPhone or Android. When you use the app, or log in online you will see a dashboard where you can see friends activity, runs and achievements, and can give them kudos! I love it! 

Other than trying to run at least 3 times a week, I have been doing my CrossFit workouts. The CrossFit OPEN recently finished, I did not sign up for it, I didn't want to spend $20 for to compare myself to others, and see what I couldn't do. Although, now, looking back, I wish I would have. I no longer see it as what I cant do and why should I pay for that? I see it as what I need to work on (even though I knew I would find weaknesses, no matter what).
 I can do handstands!------------------>
Through out the OPEN I got down two movements that I have had told myself I couldn't do, way to go positivity right? I can do single pull ups, working on getting kipping pull ups now! I also learned hand stand push ups,with a plate, I can't quite go down to the ground haha! I am just glad I conquered my fear of being upside down!

After doing the best that I could do with the 5 workouts, looking back I am most proud of my performance on 14.3 and 14.5... They were two workouts that I could do, I felt that they complimented my strengths in different ways. 14.3 was physical strength, getting through 17 reps at 185 dead lifts, and still feeling strong after was something I didnt think that I could achieve.
<--- (these are pics from 14.5, thrusters and burpees for time!)
With 14.5 I was surprised how fast I pushed through the thrusters and burpees. I think that my endurance from running really helped with this workout. I finished in 15:49. Personally, what I learned from the OPEN is that my biggest competition is myself, I need to stop focusing on what everyone else is doing, dig deep, and do the best that I can do.

Other than that, I am staying busy with work and school, but here are a few of my personal tips that I would give to someone who is trying to get back into their normal workout routine after an injury, time off, or a loss of motivation: Take it easy, do what you can, and no matter how sore or tired you are the next day, try to get up and move around. Push that lactic acid around, don't let it hold you back! and drink TONS of water, that always helps!

                                                      Thanks for reading,
                                                         xoxo,


                                                         Tori