I wish I could find a video that included more of OPT's speech at the start of Regionals. He talked a lot about leaving it all on the floor at the competition. I've been thinking a lot about that this weekend. I think to be really happy with how I do down in California, I'm going to have to leave it all on the floor. But it's not going to be just what I do down there that weekend. It's also what I'm doing here beforehand.
With Regionals, I worked recovery pretty hard. I prioritized rest, my diet was spot on for a good chunk of it and I'm so happy with how I did. I did all I could to do as well as I could when I was there and that's all you can ask of yourself. And it paid off with faster body weight movements, better run times and that helped my team. For sectionals, I can't say that. While I busted my ass on the training, looking back at the other aspects of preparation, things weren't anywhere close to ideal. While it provided valuable information that I can use to better plan for next year, a part of me is still a bit disapointed that I didn't really go all out with nutrition, rest and recovery. Lately, while I've been doing well with the training, I know I haven't been trying as hard as I can with keeping the nutrition in line. I mean, it hasn't been bad, but it hasn't been as good as it can be, either.
For the Affiliate Cup, I don't want to second guess what I did to prepare. I want to know I left it all on the floor. So it's ON.
Also, did you hear the news about breakfast? Not so high and mighty now, are you breakfast?
General enthusiast of sweaty activities. Cave girl foodie. This is a blog about that. And sometimes cats.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Next up, HSPUs and 95lb snatches for reps...
Got my first muscle up last night. Could only snag the one. Will try for two on Friday. This was after 3x210lb back squats - something I wasn't feeling too confident about given all the cardio madness. It was a good night in the gym all around.
Also, 5k in vibrams may be a bit too much of a jump. My left foot is a cranky biotch today.
Also, 5k in vibrams may be a bit too much of a jump. My left foot is a cranky biotch today.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sex-ay!
My inner douchbag is coming out. This morning, I woke up with a soul patch. It's awesome. I may have taken a wall ball to the face yesterday and, combined with my newfound ability to bruise like a mofo at the mearest hint of a touch, I now have a purple and red bruise in the middle of my chin.
It goes really well with the bruise on my collar bone and legs from the hang power cleans yesterday as well as the gashes on my shin from failed box jumps and the rope burn on the top of my foot. Kurt says I look like a very fit heroin addict.
Too much fish oil (I need some grass fed meat stat so I can drop my dose down) combined with hard training and general clumsiness... *sigh*
In other news, I almost got a muscle up last night. Must work on keeping arms in tight to the body. Trying again tomorrow.
(Author's soul patch may not quite resemble photo.)
It goes really well with the bruise on my collar bone and legs from the hang power cleans yesterday as well as the gashes on my shin from failed box jumps and the rope burn on the top of my foot. Kurt says I look like a very fit heroin addict.
Too much fish oil (I need some grass fed meat stat so I can drop my dose down) combined with hard training and general clumsiness... *sigh*
In other news, I almost got a muscle up last night. Must work on keeping arms in tight to the body. Trying again tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Hey, it's Dystonia Awareness Week!
Pretty much everyone who reads my blog knows me so also knows what dystonia is but I thought I'd put something up about Dystonia Awareness Week, anyways. This common neurological disorder negatively impacts something most of us take for granted every day... the ability to move.
National Geographic is airing an episode of Extraordinary Humans that talks about dystonia. Here is a preview.
I am stupidly lucky. I maybe have a few days a month where I am symptomatic. I go from being able to bust my butt in the gym to not being able to do up my bra without help (seriously, there's something about figuring out how to get that little clasp together that gets me every stinking time... so annoying). There are many others with dystonia who are symptomatic every waking moment. Personally, I don't know how they do it. As Dunn said in the preview, dystonia is the most annoying thing EVER. It's like your body turns into a recalcitrant toddler having a temper tantrum. You tell it to do one thing, it does another. Then there is the fatigue and fog and the feeling of being trapped.
Treatment options for dystonia suck. We've got Botox (yep, we're to blame for the development of the drug that has immobilized the faces of half of Hollywood) and a bucketful of antiParkinsons meds that sort of work but not really (don't get me started on side effects - my memory has never come back properly post Artane) and there's always the super fun option of deep brain stimulation (hey, lets drill a hole in your skull!). We're kind of the red headed stepchild of the disorders when it comes to research dollars so a donation to the DMRF (DMRF Canada, DMRF US) would be awesome. That or you could just be understanding the next time you see someone moving in an odd way down the street. One of the hardest things about dystonia is how isolating it is. Part of that is logistics (it isn't so easy to get around) but mostly it's how we're treated when we're out and about while symptomatic. I think if more people knew what dystonia looked like, we'd feel more comfortable being seen that way.
And one of the bestest ways you can recognize Dystonia Awareness Week? The next time you're in the middle of a WOD (for any non CrossFitters, that's what we call a workout) and you want to die or are getting frustrated or you're not happy with your performance or whatever. Remember that it's just cool that you can do this stuff. It's just good, plain FUN!
National Geographic is airing an episode of Extraordinary Humans that talks about dystonia. Here is a preview.
I am stupidly lucky. I maybe have a few days a month where I am symptomatic. I go from being able to bust my butt in the gym to not being able to do up my bra without help (seriously, there's something about figuring out how to get that little clasp together that gets me every stinking time... so annoying). There are many others with dystonia who are symptomatic every waking moment. Personally, I don't know how they do it. As Dunn said in the preview, dystonia is the most annoying thing EVER. It's like your body turns into a recalcitrant toddler having a temper tantrum. You tell it to do one thing, it does another. Then there is the fatigue and fog and the feeling of being trapped.
Treatment options for dystonia suck. We've got Botox (yep, we're to blame for the development of the drug that has immobilized the faces of half of Hollywood) and a bucketful of antiParkinsons meds that sort of work but not really (don't get me started on side effects - my memory has never come back properly post Artane) and there's always the super fun option of deep brain stimulation (hey, lets drill a hole in your skull!). We're kind of the red headed stepchild of the disorders when it comes to research dollars so a donation to the DMRF (DMRF Canada, DMRF US) would be awesome. That or you could just be understanding the next time you see someone moving in an odd way down the street. One of the hardest things about dystonia is how isolating it is. Part of that is logistics (it isn't so easy to get around) but mostly it's how we're treated when we're out and about while symptomatic. I think if more people knew what dystonia looked like, we'd feel more comfortable being seen that way.
And one of the bestest ways you can recognize Dystonia Awareness Week? The next time you're in the middle of a WOD (for any non CrossFitters, that's what we call a workout) and you want to die or are getting frustrated or you're not happy with your performance or whatever. Remember that it's just cool that you can do this stuff. It's just good, plain FUN!
Friday, June 04, 2010
Sweet merciful crap! CFR made it to the 2010 Games!
For us affiliate team peeps, the workload was a lot lighter than in individual competition and I found I was way less nervous. It was so good knowing that I was out there with three other team members and two more were cheering from the sidelines. I just had to go hard with light weight in short bursts, which is so different from my comfort zone of longer, heavier and being able to just keep going. The toughest time for me was WOD 2 and watching the team kick serious ass without me! And they did kick some serious ass, coming in third with gorgeous, consistent cleans and ring dips.
(CrossFit Regina’s Affiliate Team... love this pic of Julie's)
So, now that we’ve earned a spot to the 2010 Games with a 5th place finish for all of Canada
I’m doing another quick lean out for the next four weeks to see if I can snag a muscle up or HSPU with another 8lbs off my frame. What I managed to drop between sectionals and regionals made a big difference in the amount of speed I could toss into bodyweight movements. Burpees suck way less and things like pull ups and ring dips have taken a nice, big jump. Like, a few months ago, I could manage ring dips in a WOD in singles with lots of rest in between. Here I am post Isabel and 3x400m sprints. It's not a PR but I'm happy with eight consecutive for shits and giggles while fatigued.
I’m also just going to throw myself into some of the accessory work on the oly lifts to try and fix some issues with my triple extension. Gotta finish that shrug hard to get the bar going up instead of out in front.
Then there’s just being hyper critical of what I’m doing, where I’m wasting time and then tweaking to get things faster. For example, there was way too much time with the bar in the rack position between the clean and jerk on the Okotoks tire flip WOD the other day. Sometimes in the middle of workouts, I just kind of get into what I’m doing and let myself go and I need to work to keep myself more present in what’s going on and pushing even harder.
For the games themselves, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I want some hard, heavy crazy WODs to tear into (and some muscle ups for Robin). At the end of the last WOD, OPT came up and told us that we’re a STRONG gym. And we are. It would be fun to break that out and show what we can do in a heavy metcon. But we’re also a pretty balanced team with any number of our members with speed, skill and, despite rumours to the contrary, decent cardio too.
I’m really looking forward to going down to see what it’s like at the Games. And I’m even more excited to share that experience with my awesome team mates!
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