Do I even have to say anything about these?

Um... really, do I even need to come up with something pithy to describe these? I think not. I think you can just gaze upon them and soak in the glory.

For more information on these puppies, visit the the manufacturer.

Edited to add:

WOD today was tabata style in honour of the pregger CrossFitters we've got going to our gym and the fact that one of them (who is awesome) came in for a WOD on her due date. She just gave birth to 9lbs of healthy, bouncing baby boy today.

The Water Breaker
4 minutes of Tabatas (20 sec on, 10 sec off) at each station:
1. Tabata Tire Flips (2 people can flip tire back and forth)
2. Bottom Squat Hold (this means you hold the bottom squat for the 20 seconds of work; 1 point for every second of holding, -5 for standing before the buzzer)
3. Ring Rows
4. Wall Ball - 20/14lb
5. Bell Swings - 55/35lb

I managed 358 reps. Not stellar but that's okay. I don't remember ring rows being that hard... After was oly club. We did 4 sets of cleans @ 60% max from the high hang, hang and floor. I used 75lbs. After was 1 rep max jerk @ 75, 85, 95, 105, 115, 120lbs (PR!). This was followed by 3x3 clean pulls to the scarecrow position at 110 percent of max. I tried and tossed the bar into my rib cage. So, I started at 95lbs to learn the movement then went up to 105, 115 and 125lbs (my 1RM clean). After that was 3x3 snatch grip deadlifts @110% max snatch weight (85lbs... um, these were kind of silly but that's my own fault for having a terrible 1RM snatch). So, it was a great night.

Oh, and I discovered Larabars today. I kind of wish I hadn't. They are freaking delicious, while being paleo friendly. Unfortunately, they might be too delicious.

The Fittest Woman on Earth Kicks My Ass

Ha! The workout today was in honour of Tanya Wagner wining the 2009 CrossFit Games. Here she is breezing through the men's weight for this particular brand of excellent pain:

It goes as follows:

50 double unders

3 rounds of:
5 clean and jerks (135lbs/95lbs)
7 chest to bar pull ups

50 double unders

She does it in 5:31 with the men's weight. My time, using the women's rx'd weight of 95lbs? 10:04. And I felt pretty good about it. So, yes, Tanya Wagner kicked my butt.

Half way through my 30 day paleo reset and it continues to be most excellent. I am eating WAY too dang much almond butter, though. Portion control comes next month!

Catch up post

Still rocking the paleo!

The weekend was spent flitting back and forth between Potomac CrossFit and the Games Twitter accounts, the Games blog and OPT's blog to get updates on the Games. Pity about my awesome girl crush Joy Nguyen who busted herself up in the wicked evil run that started out the games and she DNF'd. I guess she will stay a mystery until next year when she will kill it. In other news CrossFit Calgary totally dominated and did awesome. Hopefully, next year, some Regina peeps will be joining them (working on it!).

Saturday was Happy Fun Ball at the park. It was happy. It was fun. It involved hucking medicine balls and sprinting! What's not to enjoy. I even scored a goal!

Sunday was a dissapointing 5k run. I was almost a minute slower than last week at 26:37. In my defense, I was feeling all kinds of bodily destruction from the 84 135lb front squats from Friday. Excuses, excuses...

Today was GREAT! We did WOD 5 from the 2009 CrossFit Games. I don't know how great it would have been after five other WODS, though! My time was 22:10. I was okay with it. After was strength club. I'm still on back squat detention, doing my 3x5's @165lbs until my left knee learns to behave and stops trying to wobble. It was better tonight but I still think I'll stay there over my holidays and start building back up when I get back. Bench was 3x5@88lbs and felt reasonable. Power cleans were funky at 3x3@105lbs. I wasn't agressively getting under the bar. I need to start doing them every week again or else I risk losing them. Squat cleans, however are just fine as I PR'd at 125lbs just a week ago. D'oh!

That's one I'll be fine with never repeating

Well, that was fun... okay, not really. I was happy that I met my goals of sub 30 and not having to scale back the weight but it was not a workout that I enjoyed.

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 of 135lb front squats and GHD sit ups

As rx'd - 27:09

This morning's Oly club was kind of a bit of a gong show. I've been all "oh, wow, I'm feeling so good, it's like I'm working out in someone else's body". Ha! Today, I got a lovely 55lb reminder to the head that I'm still me. Yeah, on one of the snatch balance attempts, I dropped under the bar, didn't lock out and konked myself in the bean with a loaded bar. All class, baby! The rest of it went well but I was swinging the bar out a bit on the 3 position snatch work. It went as follows:

- 3 position snatch (hang, knee and from the floor @ 60% x 4 - used 45lbs
- snatch balance @ 45, 55, 65lbs (this is where I started push pressing the weight instead of dropping under so that's my max)
- Romanian Deadlifts 3x 10 @ 45, 65 and 95lbs

The paleo thing continues to go well. It looks like my Team Asylum buddy Amy is joining in as of today and perhaps Telle when she's back from her powerlifting meet this weekend. Yay!

Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger

LOVED this WOD.

3 rounds for time:
30 95/65lb squat cleans
30 PLUs
800m run

As rx'd in 34:33. There's got to be something to this strict paleo business. This is the second HERO WOD in a row where I've had the fastest time for women in the gym (well, until Leah does this one Saturday, anyways!). I'm getting better times than people I usually am trailing after. Craziness!

Randy

Randy is 75 power snatches for time (75lbs for guys, 55lbs for women). LOVED this WOD. As rx'd in 6:32. FUN! Then, it was a lot of HSPU negatives. These, as well as more than one ring dip, are my big goals over the next couple of months.

30 days of strict paleo continue to go well. Off to go cook up some pork tenderloin with roasted tomatoes. Mmmm.

PR Party With Pam

5x1 Shoulder press tonight and finally broke out of the 70's and into the 80's. Managed 83lbs and failed two attempts at 85lbs. Was pretty pleased, though, as 78 is my old 1RM. Pam got 92lbs! Huge leap for her!

After was 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 of 16lb wall ball and DUs. I need to keep working on the 16lb ball because I SUCK at it. 10:45. After was strength club.

3x5 @165lb squats - knee still wanting to track in so I have to stay at that weight again next week. Boo-urns to having to use a reduced load but it is for the best.

2x5 deadlift @ 210lbs - LOVED this and again used hook grip. Have missed doing heavy deads

2x5 each arm TGU @25lbs. These didn't feel as out of control as the first time so I think I can start sneaking up the weight.

In all, a great CrossFit day. Tomorrow we tackle Randy!

10K Run and Almond Butter Lust

Almond butter is heaven on a spoon. It is going to single-handedly get me through these 30 days. I really, really feel for people with nut alergies. I've got to go put it back in the cupboard as Kurt is kind of policing nut butter consumption as that **** is pricy.

First 10k of the year at 59:54.

Found this on the onion and I enjoyed it:

Health Club Employee Stops Going to Work after Two Weeks

Tabata This

4 minute rounds of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest of pull ups, push ups, sit ups and squats. As rx'd:336 reps. I was hoping to beat Flood but it wasn't in the cards. After was 50 wall balls for time. Got roped into using the 16lb ball and my time was fairly deplorable at just shy of 6 minutes.

Afterwards, it was out to Earls and I stayed 100 percent strict paleo with a big ass spinach salad topped with prawns, scallops, strawberries, avocado and almonds. It was delish! I didn't even really miss the goat cheese I had them leave off my order.

Also, I just want my Joy Nguyen crush on the record before she goes and kicks some serious ass at the CrossFit Games, places all super high and stuff and then EVERYONE gets a girl crush on her. She was very down to earth at Qualifiers and you can tell she really gave each WOD all she had. It was inspiring to see someone perform at that level.

Nicole and 1RM at Oly Club

Nicole as rx'd: 7 rounds, 53 PLUs

Last time I did that WOD was in September (my second month at CrossFit Regina). I managed 5 rounds and 16 PLUs with the green band with that attempt. Heh! After was 1RM snatch and clean and jerks at oly club. We were being quite sticky about what constituted a lift (arms must be locked out overhead when recieving the bar in the snatch, etc) so that definitely impacted how much weight I could handle.

1RM Snatch: 75lbs (ugh)
1RM Clean and Jerk: 115lbs (I've got 120 in me)
1RM Clean: 125lbs (PR!)

30 day strict paleo is going well.

Getting back into tracking WODs

Can't guarantee I'm going to be posting anything overly exciting, but I am going to get back into posting my WODs. It's good to keep track and if I ever lost my notebook, I'd totally be screwed.

WOD - 5k Run
Today was supposed to be a rest day but Fun Bobby and Andrea from Qualifiers were into the gym and I had to run a 5k for my online fitness team this week so... well, I suck at taking rest days. Time was 25:57. Getting closer to my goal of a sub 25min 5k.

Also, I'm hitting the reset button for the next 30 days. I've never gone a full 30 days of eating nothing but healthful vittles. I'm kind of interested to see what types of foods I might have sensitivities towards. Anyone else care to join in?