Be A Bond Girl

PODCASTS!

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Sandy

I wonder if this is going to work.

Starting back in like . . . OMG 2008 . . . I had a number of podcasts related to my book – then podcasting fell to the wayside for a while. I think my last podcast was in around 2010.

I’d like to get them back into iTunes, because (IMHO) they’re great.

I paid a guy and I think they are now back in iTunes. At least – ~I~ see them. Do you?

Go to iTunes, put in “Bond Girl” or “Fempowerment” (I think either of those work) and see if you see them?

The problem is that a few of them dealt with sex, and so ALL of them got marked “explicit.” I think that’s funny when they deal with closet reorganization (no, I don’t mean coming OUT of the closet, I mean CLOTHES in the closet….LOL) – but so it goes. Apparently the one thing that wouldn’t “regenerate” was how long each one was. But at least it seems like they’re “there.” But I’m curious if you see them?

Failing Doesn’t Make You A Failure, But…

Posted on March 7, 2014January 17, 2026 by Sandy

…quitting makes you a quitter.

So, another blog post related to the Crossfit Games. (Enough already!)

This morning I couldn’t sleep, so read a blog post and responded to it. At length. Before coffee. With typos. Then I went off to do the Crossfit Games 14.2 workout.

Well, not really. I went to Crossfit, was UNABLE to do the 14.2 workout, and did the scaled workout.

One of the main reasons I couldn’t even get 1 in the actual Open workout is that it was Overhead Squats and then Pullups.

Who knows, a fairy might have sprinkled dust to me to get a pullup (unlikely), but the OHS were first – and I can’t squat.

Since it was quite early early when I got up, I curiously Googled this issue. HERE is a great article about it, HERE is a video about Overhead Squats (which presume you can DO a squat).

The blog I responded to railed about people “feeling like failures” for not doing the Open workout, and then rhapsodized about how that’s “not what this is all about.” As I said in my Comment to the post, well, NO, that’s NOT what it’s all about.

If you don’t do the workout, you get a 0. If you get a 0, you are off the Leaderboard. You have failed. But failing doesn’t MAKE YOU A FAILURE.

QUITTING, however, DOES make you a quitter.

As I have said in a previous post, I walk a very, very thin balancing act between the whole “failing/quitting” thing. For the past 20 years, I have balanced extremely well (thank you) – mainly because I don’t get into things that are so far outside my abilities that they are out of sight. Sure, I did an Ironman. But I did know how to swim, to run, and to bike. When I started, I had a bike from the 80s, and couldn’t run 3 blocks. But as I had a year, I actually KNEW that it was POSSIBLE to train up to the Ironman. And I did.

I listened to the “siren song” of a bunch of folks I follow in the Crossfit area online, and signed up for the Open. I’m not quite sure WHAT I was thinking. I have discussed this ad nauseum before.

I really didn’t want to QUIT doing Crossfit WHEN (not if!) I couldn’t progress in the Open. I do know that this is my modus operandi. And so, the day before 14.1, I was REALLY UPSET at myself for signing up.

FOR THE OPEN.

I wasn’t upset that I would “feel like a failure,” I didn’t “feel like a failure,” I am doing the best I can. But I was upset I would push myself over the edge by failing to get something on the Leaderboard, and then quit/shut down.

The nice part is that, in this area at least, I’ve discovered I’m not a quitter 😉

Wait, weren’t we talking about squats?

Last night, I was talking to Herbert about the whole “squatting thing” and he made me try to get down into a third world squat. I can NOT do it without toppling over backwards. He found this the funniest thing he’s ever seen (thanks hon!) No, seriously, there he was squatting like an Aborigine and I’m falling backwards like one of those weighted clowns or a Weeble.

I’ve always thought it’s just my ass. I have a HUGE ass. I figured it was weighting me down. In actual fact, now that I’ve watched videos about it, it’s more likely caused by a lifetime’s worth of not only doing all my work in a chair (or lying on a sofa – like now!) but also tucking my “butt in” for umpteen-zillion times after someone’s said “DANG, your butt is so BIG! I mean it is so ROUND” (Yeah, HERE is my theme song, guys). By tilting your butt under, you’ve got a “butt wink” – which disengages your glutes/hamstrings in favor of your quads. This is what you’re doing every time, as my mother CONSTANTLY would say to me, you’re scolded to “tuck your tail in.”

So what happened today at the box? Well Bo (who was coaching) of COURSE knows that I can’t get a squat on. I can’t even bring my thighbone from standing to 45 degrees without going up on tiptoe. So I would be off the Leaderboard for the Open. But HONESTLY, what the HELL was I doing signing up?!? He and I talked it out – I wound up doing the OHS with the 10 pound “swirly bar” and jumping the pull-ups. For some reason he likes jumping pullups better than banded ones – banded ones are harder for me frankly, because they use my arms more, but Ya Do What Bo Says 😉

I paired up with Heather – finally got her name (she doesn’t look a THING like a Heather). She’s the gal who told Margo she didn’t “want to get bulky, like her” and purposely does half of every workout, won’t do double unders, etc. She wound up actually making it THROUGH the 16 rep round (if you know 14.2, you know what I’m talking about) but with about 15 seconds on the clock she stopped her last pullup at 15, so that she wouldn’t “have to keep going.” She was the only person in the box – Rx or Scaled – to make it out of the 14s and she would have made it through the 16s had she not pulled up. The reason we paired up was that she grabbed the 10 pound (swirly) bar, though I KNOW she could have done the orange bar, because I’ve seen her work out. And she wouldn’t give it up, so I was sort of thinking I was going to have to do the workout with the PVC pipe. But then Bo paired us all up to judge/coach/yell for each other, since we didn’t need a “real” Open judge, since we were not doing the Rx – which meant we shared the bar.

Her form was really amazing. She can squat all the way down – the only thing I had to remind her was to keep looking straight, because every time she’d look down, her arms would shift forward. When she does jumping pullups, she gets a whole kip in, and she can jump herself basically an entire head up and over the bar.

When it came to me, Bo put my heels up on 5kg plates, to try to give me a bit of an edge in the squat. I started with too narrow of a grip, and was having a Hell of a time watching my shoulder, watching my knees, blah blah. By the end of the round of 10s I had quite a wide grip, and realized that the reason Bo always has me do these with the bands is that you need to “pull out” on the bar (as you MUST do on a band) to stabilize yourself. That was interesting.

I still can’t squat more than just bending my knees. One of the things us Scalers got to do was to discuss with our judges what we wanted a “No Rep” to be. In other words, did you really want to be No Repped for not getting your butt below your knee crease? Heather and I both decided that ANY “dip” of the legs as long as the bar was “overhead” was fine by us.

Funniest part was that by the 2nd and 3rd round, I just rested the bar on my head. I obviously had to have a super wide grip to do that and still have my arms straight – which I did. My hands were literally at the very very end of the bar. But there was no way that I could support the bar any other way than resting on the top of my head. Moreover, a couple of times, I went to do a little squat (think like a perfunctory curtsey – no self-respecting person would call these “squats”) and I could feel my bad (right) shoulder starting to roll out of the socket. That’s that WHOA WHOA WHOA feeling – after that I didn’t even try to do the move without having the bar on my head (laugh). Man am I glad no one was videoing 😉

I did the jumping pullups in various ways – chin ups, one hand forward one hand back (surprisingly easier), regular hands in pullup position. I wound up getting 141reps total – so all of the first round (10s), all the second round (12s) and then not quite all of the third round (14s – I got part of the last pullups).

I had fun, but I really could absolutely KICK myself for ACTUALLY “signing up for the Open.” The good thing that came out of it? Not sure I would have gone to Crossfit on the Big Island otherwise, which was the BEST experience. I learned a LOT there and also feel pretty sure that without the coaching I got while doing 14.1, I wouldn’t have done as well as I did. I mean, come on, I got 30 double unders and 5 PR cleans – that’s awesome. So from the “every cloud has a silver lining” side of things, that was a HUGE silver lining.

The downside is how ridiculously upset I was before doing 14.1. I HATE being embarrassed, signing up for things through peer pressure, etc. Also, I feel as if I was “that girl” that I personally hate in the Crossfit arena – the girl who says she “has to be more fit to do this.” I hear this time and TIME again from friends who I KNOW could benefit from doing Crossfit – if they would just start! The thing is, that’s not what this was, at all. So I was upset I had somehow made it sound like that. (Yeah, I was just upset.)

What it was is jumping into the deep end when I basically can’t swim a lap without a noodle. Setting myself up.

I know now that what I want to do is set up some personal sessions with Sera (because I have 2 coming to me) and do the whole “1 rep max” thing. Now I understand that I HAVE to know that, because it’s how WODs are really structured. If it says that a snatch is supposed to be (let’s say) 65 pounds, you can go up to the coach and say “how heavy is that supposed to be?” and s/he will say to you “it should be pretty much your 1 rep max” OR “it should be about 75% of your 1 rep max” or whatever. That makes scaling not just a hit and miss thing. I didn’t “get” that until I actually heard folks doing it in Hawaii. Duh! Not sure how I missed that, but of COURSE it makes sense.

I also haven’t ever really kept track of my times in Hero or Girls WODs, etc. either – because I’m scaling SO mightily. I figure if I get the 1 rep max thing knocked out, then I can scale “appropriately” (if that makes sense), and keep track.

Which is the Virgo/Year of the Ox/Lawyerly thing to do 😉

14.1 v 14.2 – “I can’t do that anyway”

Posted on March 6, 2014December 3, 2014 by Sandy

You know, at some point I will catch up and talk about Hawaii, post photos (including those from 14.1), etc. But right now it’s time to discuss my feelings about 14.2.

Crossfit Open 14.2 involves Overhead Squats and Chest-To-Bar pullups. It doesn’t matter what the workout is – it has rounds over time, some rests, etc. – because it doesn’t really matter to me.

Why? Today (interestingly enough!) I TRIED a squat move, and I even tried a pullup. Granted I was trying a front squat, but I still don’t have the action in my “posterior chain” to do a squat without holding onto a vertical. Coach Bill was working with me – our (A) today was actually supposed to be 5×5 front squats, I wound up doing 5×5 push presses (with the red KG bar, which is a PR for me), then 10 squats with Bill watching me and working with me on form. Yes, holding onto the vertical.

Coach Bill says that because I’ve mainly been a long distance runner for the past few years, my body and brain have “disconnected” with respect to some movements. When I get even somewhat low in a squat, my tail tucks under, and my body uses my quads to get me down there instead of my hamstrings/glutes. When he put his hand on my lower back to keep my butt “pushed out” when I was practicing, I literally had to climb myself hand-over-hand back up the vertical, because I didn’t have any “push” from that position. He explained that I just had to re-learn this movement.

It’s frustrating, because I thought I was FINALLY getting a LITTLE closer to being able to do a squat without holding on (it’s been five months, after all), but though now my knees are in the right place, my chest is up, I’m actually back on my heels and pushing “out” on my feet (the “tearing paper with your feet” thing that Coach Anthony talks about), I’m still not there yet. Feels like being back at square one – back months ago when hand-to-hand climbing up the vertical was my squat “way of life.”

We also had jumping pullups in the warmup, and because I was curious, I tried about 15 different ways to get a chest-to-bar pullup. I also tried toes-to-bar, because I was fairly certain one of the two would come up. Coach Bo was there, and he said no, that they wouldn’t get those into the Open until at best the 3rd week, because they’re harder and he guessed that HQ would want folks to be able to move on to at LEAST week three. He guessed box jumps, because last year, you could “do anything to get yourself over the box” which he demonstrated by putting one knee up, one elbow, then the other knee, etc. (Pretty hilarious.)

Anyway – so with 14.2 being Overhead Squats BEFORE you can get to Chest-To-Bar, I’m actually very philosophical, “easy” in my mind with being “out” of the Open. It would have been the same thing had the “floor to overhead” move from 14.1 been BEFORE the DoubleUnders – I knew that weight was physically beyond me, so I would have been “at peace” with not moving on/being out.

And yes, I am “out” of the Open. If you don’t log any number, you can’t move on to the next workout. Oh of COURSE you can MOVE ON to the next workout – anyone can “do the workout.” But you are locked off the leaderboard. This is sort of a bummer, in that NEXT year, it’d be nice to have a bit more than 30 (my double unders from 14.1), but hey, so it goes.

The thing that got me upset last week was that I’ve been practicing Double Unders for about a straight month (through GiveIt100.com) and would do one every now and again like unicorns – they’d pop up, but with no rhyme or reason as to WHY I would get one then and then not get them for weeks nad weeks. I was really afraid that I wouldn’t get even 1, even though I HAD had a few show up in the past. Sort of the “bad day” thing.

However, my “PR” for an Overhead Squat is to squat with a band – not even a bar. And I can’t get my butt below my knees, either. Just not (yet) possible without holding onto the vertical. As for the Chest-To-Bar pullups, who knows? One MIGHT visit me tomorrow at the workout, could happen, UNLIKELY but could happen. The thing is, that the Chest-To-Bar is AFTER the Overhead Squats. And those are a complete no-go.

I talked to Bo (we were talking about what 14.2 “might be”) and apparently how “we” do it is that everyone is paired up, so that you judge (and cheer) for someone, then they do it for you. So I’ll go tomorrow at my usual (9:00 a.m.) WOD, but I’m not quite sure what will happen. I’d love it if Coach Bill did 14.2 with us (he sometimes shows up to the 9:00 WOD), because he knows what I actually can’t do (especially after we discussed my Marine Corps injuries, etc. today when he was trying to help me with the squats and dips – that was another part of the WOD today – rings dips, so that’s the shoulder). Not sure that’ll happen, but I can wish!

We have a BIG Open “leaderboard” on the wall – and Karen was saying that given their numbers, we might field a team (or two!) to the Regionals. I asked her if my score was weighing them down (that would REALLY suck) and she said as she understood it, an individual can’t “hurt” you, so no. The scores are all in the 300s and high 200s. The one before my 30 is 125 😉

Anyway – so now (on Twitter) my “cast of characters” is saying I’m “not out” of the Open and chastising me for what I said last week. The difference is, this time I AM out (physically) – so I’m not particularly upset about it. I was SO upset last week, now, I’m just philosophical. I did something I was not ready to do, I was upset about it BECAUSE I knew it was a silly thing to have done at this stage in the game. With so many of the moves not actually possible for me (as I detailed in the previous blog), I did something outside mY ‘better judgment’ because I felt peer pressure. I wasn’t upset that “I might get a zero,” I was upset I had set myself up. I “knew better” than to be in this position.

So I’ll go tomorrow, and we’ll see what happens! Obviously, I’ll judge first if that’s how they do it – then I’ll just do a workout as much as I can. But I also won’t do something that is not possible, or where I might REALLY hurt myself, just to “see if I can.” If the chest-to-bar pullups were first, I might imagine getting SOMETHING on the board, because that MIGHT be physically possible (once upon a time, I could do pullups, 30 years ago). But OHS? Nope!

And so it goes! 😉

OH AND – caught up (almost!) with Amazing Race last night – learnings:
1. TAKE THE METRO IF YOU CAN. Man, folks really wasted time trying to get cabs. They were in China – good to know 😉
2. If someone is trying to tell you how long something is going to take you, GET CLEAR on what they are saying. The Cowboys went from first to last because they thought someone was saying something was “5 minutes” away when he was saying it was “FIFTY minutes” – and by car!
3. Don’t just run into anyone on the street and try to get them to help you. I think that was a huge learning – folks kept trying to just “ask anyone” and “just anyone” didn’t speak English. I would generally say to start with a hotel, or even a shopkeeper.
4. KEEP TRACK OF YOUR BAG! I had to turn it off right as one of the teams realized that the gal – who had been ASKED if she “had the bag” of the guy – and she SAID YES – had left it behind. AWFUL! I don’t know what’s going to happen – wish I could sneak in some more minutes but not possible right now (did watch the 14.2 competition on YouTube though… 🙂 )
5. At one point, the twins were neck-and-neck with the country singers for last place. They ran up to the road block, and it was obvious that teams were getting out of the (ferris wheel) cars and going on their way to the next clue. The country singers got into a car where the team was obviously “on their way” (successful). The twins just jumped into the first one that opened. Now, this could have gone badly – in other words, the clue could have been something you had to TAKE WITH YOU, in which case the country singers would have been out of luck and would have had to have waited for an entire (SLOW SLOW SLOW) round of the wheel to jump into another car. However, presuming that the clue was “stuck to” the car (as it was), getting into one that a successful team was leaving jumped them in front of the twins, who had to get into another car to find that clue (and were ultimately eliminated).

CROSSFIT:
1. Push Press – did this with the red bar today. We had to do 5x5s (as I mentioned above) – the red bar was HEAVY but I did it. Not sure I could go up – MAYBE, but not much.
2. Left my (climbing) rope outside! Upset! We had a ton of rain while I was gone, sure hope that it will dry out and not rot. Grrrr!
3. Squat – need to think “sway back” or “duck back” to engage glutes/hamstrings. It’s not what it will ultimately be, but exaggerate it for now, to get brain/body to work together.
4. Dip – did with the green and the red band. Not sure why I’m doing worse – used to just do it with the green band (on the stationary parallel bars, not the rings). Also wasn’t really able to extend all the way down and up – somehow losing strength there. If it’s not one thing it’s the other 😉

When NOT to do the Crossfit Open… Alea iacta est

Posted on February 28, 2014December 3, 2014 by Sandy

You know, I actually know myself pretty well – having been with myself 50+ years now.

And when you know yourself, it’s best to LISTEN to yourself.

I have joined the “Crossfit Community,” now about 5 months ago. Seems amazing it can be that long, since I still can’t do most of the movements required by the sport. Oh sure – I’m doing WAY BETTER than at the beginning – but there are 15 moves that are “generally” in the Crossfit Open, and how they stack up for me:

“Non-Bar” Moves:
Double Unders: I have had ONE “magical” day when I was able to do double unders (one at at time, mind you). The stars aligned or something. I have been doing this as a GiveIt100.com project, and I’m up to Day 25 or so, doing them EVERY day, and I have had ONE day when I could do one.

Box Jumps: I’d have to jump on (surprise!) a box. I can jump on 2 plates stacked up. Not a chance on a box. I’d kill myself 😉

Burpees/Pushups: When I started, the doctor said NO WAY I was NOT to do these. Now, I am checked out to do them, so that’s at least something. I of course have my special flop down on the ground, rest on my forehead, go back up method, but i can get a few done.

Pullups/Muscle Ups/etc.: Still doing this with the black (80 pound) resistance band and a box.

Toes-To-Bar: I can BARELY hang there and get my knees up into a sitting position.

Wall Balls: Can’t squat low enough to get a rep counted, though I imagine I could get ONE if I had like 10 minutes. The “ball” part I’m fine at.

“Bar” Moves:
Deadlift: I can do this YAY ME.
Clean: I’m doing better at this actually, but I can’t do the weight that the Open would be for – then again, I could probably get one though it wouldn’t be pretty.
Anything that uses a squat: Nope. Can’t go low enough by FAR – can’t squat lower than about 45 degrees with my thighbone without holding on. So any “squat” move (front/back/overhead) is a no-can-do for a rep that would count.
Press moves – I might be able to do one, but not sure I could do it at weight. I’m still doing most of these with a 10 pound bar, except squat ones where I do it with a band, because I can’t both try to squat and try to watch my shoulder.

So there you have it. Now, because I like the idea of being “one of the girls” (NEVER having been “one of the girls”), I listened to a Crossfit Community that I’ve joined online, and paid my $20 to do the Open. Everyone in our box is doing it as well, but that isn’t really the deal – they were SHOCKED that I signed up (probably because they have SEEN me do this stuff).

First workout came out yesterday – two moves I can’t do, basically. It’s 10 minutes to get as many rounds of 30 Double Unders and I think it was 10 snatches (floor to overhead) at 45 pounds as you can.

Yesterday, after absorbing this, I tried double unders (in the condo) for 300 times – no joy. I DID get TWO of them when I did my daily Double Unders (or, shall we say, “whipping myself”) down at the spa (did I mention I’m in Hawaii? So I have to do the Open workout at a “foreign” gym?), so I actually know it’s POSSIBLE with the rope I have (got one measured and fitted to me at the last competition I photographed), but I don’t think I’ll let on I have a rope when I go into the box.

I was REALLY UPSET last night. Not that I “can’t do Double Unders,” it’s hit and miss for a lot of people. No. Because I let myself get “talked into something” that I had a gut feeling was stupid for me, in that it would likely be upsetting. More because I’m doing this at a foreign box, so presuming I get a “zero” (you can’t advance to the next week if you don’t get at least 1), I return to my box and though I will of course DO the Open workouts on Friday (because that’s what you do), I will be already wiped off the leaderboard.

My husband has NEVER seen me try something that I don’t even have a BIT of the possibility of success with. Example – when I did the Ironman, I knew I could run, ride and swim – just not that far. And I had a year to get it done. Which I did. He doesn’t know what to do with me, and I feel bad about that, too.

He even pulled up a ton of YouTube videos on Double Unders, trying to figure out how to help. He finally said it’s obviously “a zen thing” and just to try to get into that mindset. Poor guy.

The last time I tried to do something to be “one of the gang” was grammar school. I SWORE that I wouldn’t do it again. And I also swore that if I did something physical (never been a physical kinda girl, always much more mental…or….couch potato…) that I would KNOW that I could do at least what was required.

Why? Because I’m a quitter. I remember trying to learn how to ski, and as I obviously seemed to be doing well enough, being taken up to a slope too much for me. Instead of making the class wait while I did it, I actually MADE THE TEACHER LEAVE ME. Yes, really! Imagine! I think she sent the ski patrol up (wow, this is SO long ago, imagine the liability concerns now LOL) because they showed up to “help me down” and I convinced THEM to leave me, too. A pretty convincing young adult I was, then.

So now it’s time to get dressed, make coffee, and go get a Double Under.

But if you’re a person like me – if any of this rings true to you – and you happen to read this blog, I’d suggest NOT to sign up for the Open. It will blow your confidence in anything that you “can” do in Crossfit (if the WOD that comes out of the roulette wheel isn’t those moves), and you will say to yourself “I’m an adult, I don’t have to do this” and you’ll QUIT.

Even though you really like Crossfit.

So, save your $20, do it next year when you’re closer to being able to do what’s required – but don’t listen to the siren song of everyone saying “it’s just $20,” “oh, it’s fun,” “they’ll be doing that WOD anyway on Fridays, why not?” and go buy a few lattes with the money.

I’ll let you know if I get that Double Under . . .

================

I did wind up getting the Double Unders – the WOD (did I say this?) was 10 minute AMRAP of 30 Double Unders then 15 55 pound snatches. Coach Andy of Crossfit Pohaku set me up with both a judge AND a coach (who was suuuuper cute, always helpful LOL). He also went through three different jump ropes (including mine) until he found “the right one” for me. The coach literally watched everything I did, and his patter went basically “Faster wrists! Higher! That one caught the back of your feet! Good, you got one leg over, this time both, Higher! Faster! Higher! Faster! Tuck! Jump! Yes, ONE!….” The judge was funny – she was counting the times that I got ONE leg over so at one point the coach said “how many is she at?” (I was at 11) and she said “26” just as I said “11.” I knew I was right, so I started counting out loud when I would get all the way over the rope.

On the snatch there was not a prayer I would get it overhead (best snatch I have done is like 10 pounds) but I did get it cleaned like 5 times – which is 10 pounds heavier than I’ve done the clean. I said I was done at about 8 or 9 minutes, because I wasn’t going to get the snatch.

I was of course ECSTATIC that I got the Double Unders. But that doesn’t change what I said above. I did have one experience that made me laugh – got back to the hotel (H was at breakfast, so met him at Ulu) and I asked him what he had thought when I sent him the text I had gotten the Double Unders. He said he’d been practicing all sorts of phrases because he was terrified I would be the grumpy crying wreck I’d been the day before. 😉 Then I was talking a bit about how the Pohaku owner had given me a coach, etc. and the bartender (we were eating at the bar) zeroed in on us and came over and said “I don’t want to interrupt but, are you talking about 14.1?” I laughed out loud. This is what “all the Crossfit folks” have said about the Open – that it gives you something like your Fran time, etc. to discuss. He was going to be doing it Saturday, at the other box on this side of the island doing the Open. (The one that didn’t return my calls or emails when I wrote – he said he was going to “take the owner down” about that – ha ha)

I’ll post photos that Dana (other owner of Pohaku) took – but what a great, great box. I would have to say that in my very limited experience of Crossfit boxes (3 in Marin and now this one) that this was the best Crossfit box I have ever, ever been to. Fantastic group warm up, mobility work, really caring owner/coach, etc.

SO, I guess that signing up for the Open – which made me go search this box out – which was a WONDERFUL experience might have evened itself out.

Day 168 (February 20): People are funny….

Posted on February 20, 2014January 17, 2026 by Sandy

So, as all you (non-existent LOL) readers know, I started at my Crossfit box via a Groupon.

Well – kind of. I had tried Crossfit out before heading off to my final marathon of the season last year (in Vienna in May), but HATED the way I was treated (at another box). However, as I had really vetted Crossfit out before that experience, I was FAIRLY sure that Crossfit was for me – and that it was LIKELY that all Crossfit boxes would not be the same (and certainly, that all Crossfit coaches wouldn’t be the same, people being what they are. I’d had one coach only.).

So, on September 9th, after coming back from Europe and also committing to get on The Amazing Race, I started at my current Crossfit box on a $100 for 20 sessions Groupon. This seemed like a total steal, a great way to give Crossfit “another chance,” and also gave me the ability to go to a box where I knew NO ONE. I’ve written all about my reasons for that HERE.

Anyway – so here I am, 5 (five! I thought it was three! LOL) months later, still at it, not at Rx by any stretch, but steady. And I do love it!

I had mentioned to the owner of our box that I thought – given all the people I’d talked to over the holidays and New Year’s (plus the fact I have the Newsletter column in the Ross Valley Mom’s Group, Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc.) – that I could get him a better “turn-out” than that Groupon. With a coupon like that, as you likely know, the vendor gets a bit less than 1/2 of the $ that is taken in on a deal like that – so for every $100 he got a bit less than $50. I told him that I thought I could do better – and we agreed that I’d get credit towards private lessons instead of cash. (I didn’t want cash, I wanted some private lessons.)

I cannot tell you HOW MANY people I spoke to since making that deal. The all said that they were out of shape, looking for something that doesn’t take a ton of time, etc. SCORES of people. (I went to a lot of holiday parties this year.)

Generally, I would mention Crossfit, then they would then mention an urban myth about Crossfit. “I heard that if you do Crossfit, you’ll have a man’s hook arm trailing after your car on a dark night when you get home”; “I heard that if you do Crossfit someone will put your poodle in the micowave”; “I’ve heard that if you do Crossfit, you’ll went 10 free iPads if you pass this on to all your friends”…whoops, not that one…

Then I would dispel the urban myth about Crossfit.

Then I would tell them about the “deal” I had made with the owner of my “Crossfit gym” – that they could get 20 sessions for $100 (usually $25 EACH). That NO, not everyone there was in their 20s. Or “already fit” (that was a HUGE “heel-digger” – “I’m too out of shape to get in shape.” Whaaaaaaat?)

I NOT ONLY personally told about two dozen people about this to their face, but also sent out a “blast” on Facebook, Twitter, and also via Evite to about 300 people, all “hand picked” from my “Friends and Family” list, who MIGHT do Crossfit (or SHOULD do Crossfit).

Now, for each person that actually pays, I get $25 towards a private training session. I just found out yesterday that Sera charges $50 per session (she’s the newest personal trainer at the box so the least expensive – but also the one I want given the current week’s PR’s). So that means for every 2 people that do the deal, I get a private lesson with Sera.

I have actually HEARD from now a dozen people (a DOZEN!) who SAID that they have signed up to do it.

But today, when I mentioned it to the owner of our box (trying to figure out when I can schedule the private lessons), he said that four have actually done it.

Mind you, I don’t really CARE – though I am super duper happy that I will have two personal sessions with Sera. I want to do the “1 rep max” thing that Jen has talked about in WineToWeightlifting, but we have never had a “session” at the box figuring this out – or, if they have, it’s probably been at the Oly time or on weekends, which I can’t make.

So I don’t personally have a “stake” in the folks who said that they would (or had!) done the deal. Except, of course, sort of my “reputation” in a way – since I told the owner that I was sure (I mean SURE!) that given all the folks who SAID that they were out of shape, needed something like this, etc. that I could get at LEAST a dozen to sign up for it, just to at least give Crossfit a try.

This morning, I sent an email to the owner of the box, saying that I was pretty amazed at how few had taken me up on the deal. His email back:

We often get a lot of people very interested, but the final step of getting them to commit and come in is tougher. This is why so many in our country are out of shape. People love to talk about being fit, but most are unwilling to do what it takes.

I remember a long, long time ago when my heavy then-secretary (who is “Italian American,” meaning that her father was Italian) explained to me that it was “impossible” for her to give up spaghetti, pizza, lasagne, etc. to lose weight, because she was “Italian.” Even my “intellectual” comments about how in reality (in Italy) folks don’t eat like Italian-Americans eat didn’t cut it. She was adamant that it was was “the way it was” . . . but she just “couldn’t figure out” how she, her husband, her kids, her sisters, her mother (but not her father!!!) were all so heavy.

Not quite sure what prompted this post, I guess it was that email from the owner of the box. He’s pretty philosophical about this. I’m astounded. This is his “job” – so he’s “seen it all before.” But it just doesn’t compute for me. Is it because I’m a Virgo, Year of the Ox, “what you see is what you get”-type of person? If I tell someone I AM going to do something – I do it!

Okay well, enough of that. Did I mention that I can barely walk? It’s funny. The Double Unders 2 days ago have caused my calves to basically seize up like rocks. I am trying to walk by not lifting my feet off the ground (Laugh).

YESTERDAY’S WOD:

(A) 4 RFT
400M Run
20 Sumo Deadlift High Pull 1/.75P

(B) “Diane”
21-15-9
Deadlift 102/70KG
Handstand Push Up

(A) I did this at Rx (0.75 pood being the orange kettlebell). The frustrating part is that Catalina – who CONSTANTLY b*tches about how she “doesn’t want to get bulky” (and even SAID TO MARGO – in Spanish, though Margo then told me – that “she doesn’t want to have legs like [Margo]” – !!!!) did it at Rx as well and beat the PANTS off of me. She usually does everything at exactly half the Rx because of this “bulky” thing. But she finished SO MUCH faster than I did that I literally had the entire final 20 SDHPs to do and she was done and resting! (I did the 9:00a.m. WOD, where only Catalina and I did this (A) – everyone else did a different (A) that was harder, but we were all doing the same (B) and (C). Which meant that the entire box had to wait for me through 20 SDHPs – not that it was a big deal, really, but a little embarrassing)

(B) I actually WROTE DOWN my time because of course this is one of The Girls and I’d like to start keeping track. I have managed, in the intervening day, to lose the piece of paper. Pfffft. Anyway, I obviously didn’t do the HSPUs, but I DID do kneeling pushups. This is a BIG DEAL for me, since I haven’t EVER done pushups due to the shoulder issues. Bill worked on them with me a few days back (Monday?) and helped me to do them in 2 pieces – down, then up. Which of course makes people laugh since most of the time I’m lying on the floor with my forehead and chest on the mat. No matter, it’s working fine by me.

TODAY’S WOD:

(A) Push Press 5 x 2
(B) Front Squat 5 x 2
(C) 8 Min AMRAP
15 Wall Ball
30 Double Under
OR – CONDITIONING
(A) 5 Rounds 45 Sec On 45 Sec Off
Row For Cal
Push Press 40/30
(B) 8 Min AMRAP
15 Wall Ball
6 Burpee

If I go at 3:30 that’s the first workout. I have to go at 6:30p.m. to get the Conditioning workout. I’ll likely do 3:30 if I go at all – not meant that I’m bailing, but I have to do the GiveIt100.c0m stuff today (I’m behind) plus I will go Friday morning – then we’re off to Hawaii. The house is a disaster, just not sure whether I want to break up the day at 3:30. It’s 11:00 now, we’ll see. I have a LOT to do today so we’ll see.

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CROSSFIT WEIGHT MAXES:

Deadlift: red bar (15 kg) plus 2 10ks 2 5k for a total of 45kg. I have to go back and see if I have done better than that. I thought I could do 55kg – um, no. I went back in my “Crossfit Weight Maxes” list (I’m glad I started tagging these) and that’s my max so far.

Pushups: Did them kneeling on the ab mat, how Bill showed me. Elbow “insides” facing each other, going down slowly until I can’t support myself, flop (laugh). As I go down, elbows in to sides, and they will “naturally” tuck back so that at the “lying on the floor” part, the “elbow insides” are facing forward. Palms between shoulders and chest. Weight pressed on outside heel of hand (so not the thumb side). To go back up, TRY to just reverse that. For me right now, it’s more like an “alley-oop” using my back and glutes more than my triceps. Just keep at it.

Back Squats: I have in back posts that I had done this with a LOT more weight than I did with Sera the other day. I think that just means I was doing it wrong. As Sera so prosaically told me (laugh) I do a “stripper squat” – meaning I push my butt out and am using my quads, not my glutes. If I do it right, I can’t even do it with weight. This will be something I work on in a private lesson.

“Diane”: So, doing Diane at 45k and scaling the pushups mightily, somewhere I have a piece of paper saying what my time is. If I find it, I’ll put it here.

Day 166 (February 18) – PR in cleans and double unders!

Posted on February 19, 2014January 17, 2026 by Sandy

Who-hoo!!!

I’ve been doing the GiveIt100.com “100 days to greatness” (as it were) for Double Unders, Handstands, and Rope Climbs. (I think you can find me if you look under the “Fitness” ones – or maybe search for Fempowerment (my user ID) or my name? Not sure how that works.)

Yesterday, I posted the video in Double Unders, and basically said that I’ve signed up for a Double Under clinic that goes “from beginner to expert” and I was afraid (seriously, upsettingly) that I would be the ONLY person not to get a Double Under.

Because H was supposed to stay in the city for a dinner (he wound up feeling too crappy to do it – he came back from Europe with a bad cold which he had BETTER NOT share with me!), I did the 3:30 WOD. Seraphina was coaching. I think that it’s supposed to be Bo – and it might be that this was one of her first coaching experiences because Bo was there, but then left once the WOD got underway, and then returned at the end. I”m not sure when Sera got her Coaching Cert, but she’s not far out of high school.

She was REALLY good! GREAT cues.

The WOD was:

6 Min EMOM (every minute on the minute)
5 Touch and Go Power Clean @ 70%

Back Squat 5 x 2

For Time
800M Run
100 Double Unders
400M Run
100 Double Unders

On the clean, I decided to do it “way heavier” than I ever had – I had only done the “swirly bar” which is either 10 or 15 pounds – so I decided to go up even past the orange (10k or 22 lbs) to the red bar (15 k or 33 lbs). Sera saw that, and said “I think you can do 25k” [55 lbs.] – and I just didn’t argue. That was great – she has done WODs with me and has watched me do WODs (she’s usually at the 9:00 a.m., but finishing her workout not starting), so she had some concept of what I can do. I thought – what the heck? I decided not to complain about it or say “What?!?!! That’s 300% more than I’ve ever done!” I was able to do it, so there you go 😉 As usual, REALLY have to work on form: keeping bar in to legs, “arms hanging like chains on the bar, the hips/shoulders do the work” (I didn’t have a problem with that but that was the biggest cue she kept on folks about as they bent their arms on the pull); SHRUG HARD it gives you at least another inch; “fast elbows.”

On the back squat, I was as usual a hot mess. Anything that involves squatting low with weight is a non-starter for me. I just don’t have the “mechanics.” Let’s face it – I still do WarmUp squats holding onto the Vertical.

Now, I say that, but at yoga on Monday, for the first time EVER (in over 20 years of doing bikram) on the 3rd “Awkward Pose” (Utkatasana) I went from being only able to go down like 3 inches (leaving me embarrassingly standing where all the others are at the ground) to – on the ground! Yes really I actually wound up all the way down. Whaaaat? (I also was able to get my foot to stay up on my leg in “Half Lotus Tree pose” plus was able to reach down and over, touching the ground.)

But back to the WOD. On the back squats, I tried it with just the red bar and a short box behind me, box wasn’t high enough, did the medium box on the point. Sera said that the way I was trying to “get up” wasn’t engaging the right muscles, so she had me put my feet way under the bar on the rack and then try to “stand up to” my feet. I just couldn’t move off the box. Frustrating.

Then, the Run/Double Under combo. I had told Sera I was doing the Double Unders as one of my GiveIt100.com projects, and still hadn’t gotten it. So I wanted to know how many single unders I’d need to do for the WOD.

The interesting thing (like her just saying “Oh, you can do a clean at this weight”) was that she said “No, I know you’ve been practicing, but that’s not how we’re going to do this. You can do 50, but every time you TRY a double under, it will count, even if you don’t make it. That’s what you should be doing. Not giving up and doing a ton of single unders – you need to keep doing and doing and doing the double unders. So you only have to do 50 each time, and you can count if you do NOT make it as a rep, but no single unders.”

Well, that did not make me very happy. Again, generally if I have Bill, Bo, Anthony they just tell me what to do with the single unders – they also would have been probably ECSTATIC I was doing the clean with the red v. the swirly bar. So that was an interesting experience. But I also know that Sera knows what I can do, because I know she’s watched me in months worth of WODs, if only peripherally.

We all did the first run, then I started at the double unders. By 24 “misses,” I honestly was thinking “How am I going to explain the whip marks on my ass?” I could feel a welt starting where I would wind up whipping myself when the wire rope sort of “wound around” the back of my thigh each time I didn’t make it. Then – I made it. I was so surprised, I didn’t actually say anything at first. I just stood there. I figured it might be a total fluke and, in fact, I might have not really done it. Like, that hypothetical that you learned in high school Physics, that all objects (and humans) are really more space than they are cells, so if you hit a desk hard enough, and the cells all lined up, that your hand could pass right through the desk? (That one made for at least a month of folks surreptitiously hitting their desks intently.) ANYWAY – so I was thinking that MAYBE all the cells of the speed rope and all the cells of my shins actually lined up for a nanosecond, and in reality, the rope had passed right THROUGH my leg.

Either that, or I’d try to do another and my feet would just fall off and I’d discover that I’d cut myself through like a cheese wire.

But then, at count 28, I did another. Sera was watching me this time, and so I whooped it up and called it. My first Double Under, in my whole life! (Okay Okay so we all know it was really my SECOND but I like to think of that as “Double Under Zero.”)

It took me a LOT LONGER than anyone else to finish the WOD. Put it this way – the next session was starting, and I was still racking up my 50 Double Unders on the 2nd round. The nicest part was that Jimmy (who happened to be at that WOD) actually STAYED with me. That felt great. I was really honored he’d just sit there and cheer me on. I was very laser-focused on getting the dang thing done, but I heard him call out and as it was about 8 minutes after everyone had already packed up, it nearly brought tears to my eyes. I like that our box isn’t really a big ra-ra box – when someone does something like that, it’s huge.

After I was finished, Bo was back watching the folks doing the warm-up for the next session, and I ran out to my car and then made him video me doing a Double Under. He thought that was hilarious – of course, just about ANYTHING I do is pretty hilarious. I’m this “blumfy” (my mother’s word – meaning you have bits that seem to have different gravity than the rest of your body, yes, that would be my stomach) 50+ year old with a big oversized man’s T-shirt and board shorts, and he’s, like, Arrow, and can do things that defy gravity while eating a donut and coaching someone on the side. But he finds me amusing (smile) and he did do the video, and I did do another double under ON video – so it’s all on tape!

That’s enough for now…I’m very very excited. He and I talked about the Open – he’s a little concerned for me, since apparently you have to get at least ONE as a score or you can’t advance to the next workout – you’re locked out. He said that the 2nd year they really blew it, doing something super heavy on like Week 2 and it eliminated over 40% of the field. He of course knows there is a lot that I just can’t do – box jumps at height, pullups, anything involving a squat (laugh)…but he said my strategy should be to just get ONE of whatever it is, JUST ONE, to stay on the board. So that’s my Open strategy 😉

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clean: 15k bar (red) plus 2 5k plates – total of 25k

double unders: 50 total including “whips” (laugh) x 2 – they were all “single double unders” and some were misses, but hell, I did’em!

Day 162 (February 14th)

Posted on February 14, 2014December 3, 2014 by Sandy

Today’s workout:

8 Rounds 20 Sec On 40 Sec Off
Row For Cal

5 Rounds 3 Min On 1 Min Off
5 Pull Up
10 DB Snatch 50/35lb

We put the ergs outside because (though foggy) it was super nice outside and felt cooped up to be rowing facing the roll-up doors! I wish I’d had my cell phone to have Bo take a photo of all of us across. Susanna and I were next to one another and were competitive together, which was actually a lot of fun. I got to 53 I want to say – I forget – something like that. I came in 2nd to someone down the line, forget who.

It’s always so funny when you’re rowing your BUTT off and at the end, you have “burned” like a tiny fistful of calories. Cracks me up.

Susanna actually wanted to run (she doesn’t like rowing as much and she’s a crack runner), but then Margo said to her, “Oh, what, like this…” (running in place super fast) “One calorie….two calories….” Cracked me up.

The (B) was a killer. I’m still on the black band for the pullups, and even at that I could barely get 3 15s (5 pullups/10 snatches) before they called time each round. I did get 4 extra in the first round and 1 extra in the last, for a total of 15 full rounds, plus 5. I did the snatches with the 10 pound dumbbell, and I think I could go up to 12 if we have them. Still not sure my shoulder could take 15. It’s interesting that my LEFT shoulder seems to be having the “give up at the top” issue these days – and it’s my “good” shoulder. (That’s the shoulder that sort of collapsed at the top of the kettlebell swing the other day, where I had to do a “rodeo rope move” to stop it from falling on my head. Slick.)

Came home and H called from Vienna for Valentine’s – now I’m lonely ;-( I still have to finish his birthday project, and I SO DO NOT WANT TO DO IT! (laugh!) I can’t remember if I mentioned what it is – cataloging and tagging our wine cellar. I only have 60 bottles to go (I counted!) but I am SO over it! 🙂

Basically now like 2-3 years ago, I put all our wine into CellarTracker.com – but then we never checked any wine OUT when we drank it, and didn’t REALLY have a way to know “what was where” in the cellar. I opened CellarTracker a month or so ago – and it said we had 800 bottles! (Uh, no. 400 maybe, but 800, no.) The thing I realized was that there was an immensely high likelihood that stuff we’d put “down” (in the back of the cellar – it’s one long wall so “towards the door” is drink now, “towards the back” is “put down) was now PAST its prime drinking age. I didn’t REALLY want to find out, but I thought I not only had to tag them all (with actual neck tags that corresponded to the CellarTracker), but also I had to re-order the cellar so that all the wines were in their “drink by” year order.

(I might have written about this already – can’t remember)

Anyway – so there is a whole section that is (SIGH) “drink by 2006” – it goes up from there – but about 2/3 of the cellar is between 2006-2014. We have ONE rack that’s 2015 on.

Of course the funniest part is that we gave up alcohol (for dietary/cleansing reasons) on January 2nd – we said we’d do it for a month, but starting in February we have cut it back t just a bottle of champagne a week.

So we either have to start doing our “roulette wine give-away” like we have done before, or something – maybe a BIG BIG party. (Laugh!)

I’m procrastinating on this and on doing my GiveIt100 films for today, too. I think if I can get up off the couch and out from under the cat (smile) I will knock off at LEAST like 1/3 of the cellar, and the GiveIt100 films. Just gotta dislodge the cat. And oh, that couch suck.

🙂 Now off to see if I can figure out how to get my old podcasts back listed on iTunes….

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CROSSFIT WEIGHT MAXES:
Dumb bell Snatch: doing this with 10s. Move up to 12s if there is such a thing. If not, see what the kettlebell weights are (they are kilograms, so there might be more of an “in-betweener” weight using a KB)

Pullups: Still on the black band. Need to BRING MY BAG INTO the box – had my flatter-bottomed CF shoes in my bag in the car, which is what I really needed for the whole WOD (rowing included), but I was just too lazy to go back out and get them. Also need to take the sweat headband off my rearview mirror and bring it in! The past two days I have been basically blinded by sweat. (This has got to be a good thing though.)

Erg: Definitely working on the stomp and then the pullback. It’s a LOT easier to get the foot pullback if you don’t have to get OUT of the erg and do something else, because you can cinch the strap down tight.

I was 2nd in the rowing today, and I was close to Ashley’s reps in the (B) – she did 16 I did 15+5. I think that’s also a way to keep track of if I need to move up in weights – see where I am compared to the “big boys and girls.” In other words, if they are doing 10 and I’m doing 15, even if their weights are twice or even three times mine, I have to up my weight because one “should” be getting closer to 10 (if that makes sense). So I’m going to start paying attention to that. Usually I’m WAY behind – for example, when we did Jack the other day which was 60 bar-facing-burpees, 30 pullups, 30 <something> and I got 50 burpees PERIOD, whereas the “big boys and girls” got a couple reps of the whole set. But today I realized when it’s something like the (B) we did today, that I need to not only look at the weights from the standpoint of “how I felt” doing them, but ALSO how I’m “comparing” to the Rx’ers.

Day 161 (February 13) – Not That Kind Of Poi

Posted on February 13, 2014January 17, 2026 by Sandy

SO last night Moddie and I went to a fire dance “training class” at Temple of Poi in San Francisco. It was pretty hilarious. Basically you’re twirling around these weighted bags, “practicing” moves. (We didn’t use fire – God forbid! – if you do that you have to be wearing “fire clothing” and, of course, be way better than we were.)

The thing that kept coming to mind was old gangster movies, where the “bad guy” takes a tube sock with something to weight it down in the toe, and beats the other guy senseless.

Yeah, that was pretty much us.

It’s definitely super cool if you “get it” – there are wonderful photos of what fire dancing (using poi) look like – we learned the “Butterfly,” different circles, overhead, turning your body a different way than you were spinning the poi, spinning one poi forward and one back. That was a definite “rubbing the tummy and patting the head” move – which unbelievably enough, I got right away.

Moddie and I have decided that WHEN we are on TAR, between the two of us, if we can figure out the clues at all, I am the representative fire dancer. (And, of course, I still gotta eat the bugs.)

I think maybe I did pretty well because I’ve been using the speed balls in my quest to get a double under. (If you haven’t seen this ridiculousness, I’m posting that, trying to rope climb, and trying to do a handstand on GiveIt100.com, HERE is the link to my particular page there.) I think also maybe the fact that I wasn’t really “thinking about it,” I made my mind blank and just did what she said to do with my hands. It was actually really fun – I went in with the preconceived notion that I would suck and I DEFINITELY did not suck.

The only thing that gave me trouble was when we were doing fast, large circles – my right shoulder just was not “fast enough” to keep the poi spinning without falling. You have to keep it going at a certain speed, or it doesn’t stay straight. It reminded me of when I was driving cattle in Australia, and the drovers would make billy tea (HERE is a video).

Thank goodness the smaller circles are really all about the wrist (like double unders) or I would have been screwed from the start.

CROSSFIT: Today was with Coach Russ – who I actually have never been coached by. He owns the box with Roger, and is an ex-gymnast like Roger. Where Roger is the tall lean type, Russ is more the MaryLou Retton type. I went today at 9:00 and did the regular WOD because H is gone – usually of course I do T and Th at 6:30 p.m. because that’s when H can go.

It’s a lot easier for me to just haul myself to Crossfit 5 days a week at 9 a.m. I know everyone there, and I like that time. It’s been interesting, since I thought I would drop Mondays, since I am trying to actually USE the free yoga I get for work trade and at LEAST do bikram on Monday at 1:30. One day a week seems pitiful since I’m giving them all those work trade hours but it’s better than NONE!

But last week I did Crossfit AND Bikram (and work trade) and though I was tired, I felt great. (This week I was doing the wine sorting thing all Monday, for H’s birthday.) Also, often I don’t make Friday morning, because I’m so tired from doing the WOD on Thursday night. Which is a bummer.

SO I”m thinking of MAYBE just doing the 9 a.m. class “standard” and then going to the box with H on T and Th at 6:30 but NOT doing the WOD – doing mobility or something.

The T and Th 9:00 a.m. WOD is the “regular” WOD, whereas the T and Th 6:30 p.m. is the “Conditioning” WOD. So if they are DIFFERENT, I could theoretically do both – I just think that’s a little cray-cray 😉

Today’s WOD:

Front Squat 5 x 3 @ 13X1 (I did this with the FIFTEEN pound swirly bar – Russ told me it’s not 10 it’s 15 – !!) – still having a real issue with my shoulder and the hand position with the front squat. Russ had me “cross my arms over” in front of the bar – which helped a LOT and helped me to try to concentrate on keeping my knees from coming forward. Still doing it with the lowest box behind me (Russ turned it so the “point” was towards me – gave me more room for my legs – smart) – think I can do without. Did do whatever we did yesterday (laugh) without the “save” box.

“JACK”
20 Min AMRAP
10 Push Press 52/34KG (I did the 15 kg orange bar so that’s a PB for me I’ve only done the swirly bar)
10 KBS 1.5/1P (I did the orange KB)
10 Box Jump 24/20″ (I did 2-25k plates PLUS 1-5k plate – so that’s a PB for me)

I managed 7 rounds and 24 then I just lay on the floor with steam coming off my body (no lie, I was right by the garage rollups and it was a little chilly outside).

Russ gave me some good tips I have to remember:
1. Put the 5′ plate UNDER the bigger plates. Otherwise if you toe it accidentally it can move (did that once and nearly tripped in the box jump).
2. Think “ears” with the push press (as in he wanted to “see our ears” in front of the bar). That’s the same sort of cue that they use in yoga and I get that one.
3. OMG I stopped the kettlebell at the top by accident and nearly conked myself in the head!!! If you are going to rest and break a set, don’t even THINK about it until the kettlebell is on the way DOWN! OMG! (I had to do this like “rodeo move” out and under my arm to keep the kettlebell from just coming straight down on the top of my head. SLICK.)
4. When talking about the way that Shari presses (looking to Heaven) – it DOES keep your chest out. HOWEVER, when you go overhead, if you are looking up, you’re less likely to “seat” your arms back into your shoulder sockets so that you’re supported by your scapula. I did find that looking up helped me to get the bar up though. Maybe it was just the praying that went with it.

That’s it for today – still have to do my double-under practice, rope climb practice, and handstand practice for the day and then about 50 billion chores. Also REALLY need to finish H’s birthday present of tagging all the wine in the cellar. Only have 60 bottles left but I’m allergic to the chore now LOL! Maybe tomorrow . . .

It’s been a while! Day 160 (Feb 12)

Posted on February 12, 2014December 3, 2014 by Sandy

I’ve had so many things going, that the blog has fallen by the wayside – sorry about that, non-existent readers! 🙂

One thing I want to do is to try to figure out how to “re-link” the website to iTunes. I have a ton of podcasts that I did now years ago that were tied to my book (I want to say I stopped in 2010??? WOW that was a long time ago), and I’d like to get those back in play. I’m not so smart when it comes to “such things” and I asked Raja (my web designer) to see if he could do it, but unfortunately somehow he’s blocked from doing it from India, so I’m stuck.

Be that as it may, Moddie and I are doing our FIRE DANCING class tonight! I have the handheld video recorder all juiced up. This should be funny.

Yesterday worked out with the 9:00 class, since H is in Basel this week. It’s all the same cast of characters as M-W-F 9:00 as I surmised. Amanda coached, which was GREAT! I had my iTouch so when the 3rd part of the WOD was tabata situps, I was able to give her my Tabata Songs to use. I like it when I can help 😉 The best part is that she really liked it – I’m not sure she’d even known there were specific downloadable Tabata songs (with the count) on iTunes. The ones I use are HERE. I have “House” with the coach and “Metal” with the coach (that seems to be the one folks like the best).

Felt REALLY strong in the workout yesterday. It might be because on the chest-to-bar part (where of course I’m using the big fat black band!) I was on facing bars to Karen, who is immensely inspiring. I pretty much pay attention to myself in the WOD (“laser focus” – though I do have a little of the “Sister Shari praying to Heaven” going on too LOL) – but in my “general” vision I had Karen doing her chest-to-bars while I was doing it. I wanna be there!

I’ve been contemplating staying doing the 9:00 WOD and then also going and doing 6:30pm with H T and Th. NO, not NOW (laugh) – but say in a month.

Oh – that reminds me – a random guy I met at a booth at Moxie Madness had been to the Crossfit I was thinking of visiting in Hawaii and he said they “run on island time” – so the fact they haven’t emailed me back, etc. is probably just par for the course – but to definitely do it. (Do the WOD, get the T-shirt LOL)

I didn’t work out on Monday because I had hired a TaskRabbit to help me re-organize downstairs, as a present for H for his birthday. It was WAY WAY too expensive because I didn’t know enough to put like a per-hour time on it (e.g., she bid $X, but I should have said “the lesser of” $X or $Y/hour for hours worked). I wound up having to do it with her the entire day (just left to do my work trade – didn’t do Crossfit, didn’t do yoga) and we still did not finish. Frustrating as it was not inexpensive – and she had SAID that she could get it all done herself (without me). The thing is, she’d come up from Sunnyvale so when she asked if she should “come back” to help me finish, I just felt too bad to “make” her do that – that’s ridiculous on my part, that shouldn’t have mattered. Ah well lesson learned!

As I typed the fact I’ve been at the whole TAR thing for 160 days (2 more weeks it’s over HALF a YEAR), I get a little bummed. HOWEVER, I know I have really progressed, and that I’m not as “scared” to do things that would have flipped me out before I started. I was SO careful with my shoulder, knees, etc. and was always still hurting them. I can thank the coaches and the way our box is run that I am WAY more confident about the fact that THIS time I think I am doing things in a way that will BUILD them, not work for a while then ultimately thrash them.

I can’t quite remember where in the “days” I started doing Crossfit. I think it was pretty close to the beginning. However, I also know that I’ve had a few big periods off – the Holidays going into my eye surgery being a HUGE long period. I am still toting around a barrelful of extra body fat that’s frustrating, though I’m trying to address it – likely now too far over to the “fat side” – need to re-set that. Have been SO much better to my body (as has H!) that I/we have been in years – though I’m having a glass of wine at night when he’s gone (what can I say? My client with the vineyard sent a bottle and it is – well, WAS – MARVELOUS cab!). I think I need to add hiking, something like that back in – today there is running in the WOD, but I need to get out and do more, I think, outside, especially hiking-esque.

Did I mentioned Moddie and I are going to go do beginner fire dancing tonight – and the Aquatic Park open water Sunday morning at 0-dark-00? Yeah, we’re just collecting video selfies for WHEN The Amazing Race calls… 😉

Here are yesterday’s workout, and today’s:
Pull Up 5 x 2 (I did the first 2 with the black band then the next 4 with the green. OMG. H=A=R=D! How does ANYONE lift their doggone body weight???)

8 Min AMRAP
3-6-9-12-15-18…
Squat Clean & Jerk 50/35KG (I did the 10 pound swirly bar)
Chest 2 Bar Pull Up (I did with the black band) – got through 3 rounds plus 12 squat/clean/jerks

Tabata Sit Up

Today:
4 RFT
400M Run
5 Shoulder Press

10 Min AMRAP
60 Bar Facing Burpees
30 Front Squat
30 Pull Up

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CROSSFIT NOTES:
I’m getting WAY BETTER with the whole squat/clean/jerk thing – the squat being the operative part. In the s/c/j what you need to do is to do the “Jump boost” to get the bar to your shoulders (clean), then you squat down, then you push it up overhead out of the squat. I have been REALLY scared to do a “deep squat” because of knee issues and all that jazz. I’ve mainly put a box behind me, because the idea of bailing is SUPER scary to me too – this way if my knees give out, I just am “sitting down.” Today I didn’t use the box, and really concentrated on getting the squat DOWN. I felt really powerful doing that and the chest-to-bar round (not that it didn’t suck, mind you LOL). I have to remember that though I’m doing it with the 10 pound swirly bar and I’m watching ALL the other girls doing it at or close to Rx (35kg or 77 pounds), that I am doing MY best.

On today’s workout, I was able to do the “unassisted” (whatever they call “not using your legs”) shoulder presses with the 10 lb bar. I felt strong doing that and Anthony said I had good form. The run sucked for some reason. Then on the (B) portion I did 50 burpees then lay on the floor after time was called and couldn’t get up (laugh!) I just jumped over the bar on the ground, but I did do FULL burpees – doc had cleared my shoulder – so they were “real” burpees that would count as Rx, just not “jumping” up and down (instead, walking my feet up and down). Makes me realize just how much of “machines” the Cave Grrls were at Moxie Madness!

Moxie Madness – The Cave Crossfit Marin Team Rocks It!

Posted on February 10, 2014December 3, 2014 by Sandy

This is Sandy, The Cave mascot and inveterate Crossfit scaler. I thought I’d do a quick writeup about The Cave Grrrrls awesome showing in San Jose at Moxie Madness!

The drive down to San Jose was really “Event Zero” on Sunday. The rain deluged Marin, and was coming down so hard it was difficult to even see the “Botts’ Dots” on the road. But after Oakland – poof! – all rain disappeared! San Jose was completely dry, and except for a bit of “hide the Convention Center,” everyone arrived safe and sound.

Ashley was up first in Event #1/Masters. It was an (A) (B) round, 20 minutes total time:

(A)-1 2 minute AMRAP – hang snatches 85# (rest a minute)
(A)-2 2 minute AMRAP – hang to shoulder 95# (rest a minute)
(A)-3 2 minute AMRAP hang shoulder to overhead 115# (rest a minute)
then
(B) 4 rounds for max reps: (1) 30sec Pullups, (2) 30sec box jumps, (3) 30sec KB snatches (30 sec rest in between)

Each part was scored separately, counting as 1/6th of the total WOD-1 score.

Ashley was warming up when I arrived, and Shari noted that the event used Men’s Bars, which had them worried about grip. I compared my Man Hands to Shari and Ashley’s – once again finding something that has bothered me in “real life” (big glutes, anyone?) to be a serious asset in CrossfitLand. Their hands spanned just shy of my middle knuckle. Wow. Go girls! Hang on!

It was interesting to watch the judges for the competition. Ashley had what to my untrained eye seemed to be the best of the bunch, as her first judge. He not only went through the moves with her when other athletes were a little slow getting into the arena, but seemed to be a friendly, coaching kinda guy.

Ashley of course had come with notes, pound-to-kilo conversions, etc. typed out and ready. If I ever go into battle, I want General Read at my strategy table. There was only one nascent “judge arguing” moment when she was no-repped on the hang shoulder to overhead (from the ground, it had to have three clean pieces – hang – shoulder – overhead). As you can see from this photo, it all ended well. (And General Read even came off the floor saying, “I did NOT argue!”)

In the 6 parts, she came in 3-3-2-2-1-1 and it was announced she was in 2nd at the end of WOD 1.

_IGP5962 — Sister Shari communing with the Heavens

Shari was up next. In the “Open,” (A) was the same, but instead of straight pullups, (B) was first chinups, then pull ups, then chest to bar, then bar muscle ups. Sister Shari’s “praying to God” style did her well; the extra adrenaline of actually finally being on the floor had her in 7th after A-1. In the 6 parts, she came in 7-16-20-20-27-11.

She and Seraphina both wisely sat out the Muscle-Ups in the final part of (B) – Shari using the final portion of the WOD to power out the kettlebell snatches, Sera to box jump like the Duracell bunny.

Serafina’s group was last. Her support committee (Mom and Sister) cheering her on, she came in 11-4-20-28-31-3, really smoking the hang to shoulder. Sera was a bit more interested in what was going on in other arenas during the (A) round (hey, it was an MMA/Crossfit/etc. competition – there was a lot going on!), and her Mom shouted herself hoarse with “Focus! Focus! Focus!” During the (B) round, when the competitors were closer to the audience, Sera didn’t get that chance!

Event 2 was a 15 minute time cap on:
30 back squats (85# masters, 95# open)
50 bar facing burpees
25 front squats
40 bar facing burpees
20 overhead squats
30 bar facing burpees

General Read was once again a Crossfit machine in Heat 2; her burpee “twirl in the air” technique – and of course lift strategy – getting her into 1st place by a couple of points.

As an aside, the Teens were in Heat 1 – it was amazing watching one gal who was MAYBE 115 pounds soaking wet. (Teens was won by a gal from Ross Crossfit – yay Marin!)

please...God? one more? — please…God? one more?

Sister Shari had a good showing, her burpee technique slow and steady. She had the one judge who seemed like he would rather be almost anywhere but there – frustrating to watch. The other judges were uniformly helpful, but at one point when Shari was no-repped for an OHS then had to chase the bar down and roll it back (the other judges – whether allowed or not – were all helping roll back or backstop the bars) I thought she might just let the bar roll across the room and be done with it. But she persevered and ended the round in 17th place.

Serafina had a few “let me just lie here” moments with the burpees (us Peanut Gallery folks yelling “Get Up!” “Lie Down!”), but her bar work was amazing, especially the overhead squats. Wow! She rocketed to 15th place in the Open.

The final Event was a 12 minute AMRAP of:
10 deadlifts (135# masters/155# Open)
20 double unders
60 yard suicide (6 times back and forth, 10 yards a time)
15 DL, 30 DU, 60 suicide
20 DL, 40 DU, 60 suicide
25 DL, 50 DU, 60 suicide
30 DL, 60 DU, 60 suicide…
(you get the picture).

Ashley came to the floor in first by a few points. The nerve-wracking part was that the announcer knew it, too, and so was constantly pointing out to the audience (and Ashley) where she was vis-a-vis the other gal. After the 2nd round, the 2nd place gal had pulled into 1st. She was just as much a machine as Ashley. But then in the 3rd round, she lost her double-unders and couldn’t get them back. Ashley, who is not only leading the charge for a double under clinic at the box but also constantly worries about them, was, quite honestly, amazing. By only having 2 breaks in her 50 DU set, she cemented her place in first. Shari and I were so nervous every time she hit the rope (because of her aversion to double unders) that we held our breath and didn’t even call our her name, for fear of breaking her concentration. Watching Ashley in her nearly unbroken 50 DU set vis-a-vis the “then in first place” gal only getting 1 or 2 off before tangling her feet in her rope was a wonder to behold. Shari and I found ourselves murmuring “OhMyGod, OhMyGod, OhMyGod…” over and over! In the end, I believe Ashley got through the 30DL set through the suicides (not quite sure, we were cheering too loud when the MC pronounced her as a “lock for first”).

Rich LeFurgy was kind enough to put up with me texting him “blow by blow” reports, as he was the only box participant for whom I had a cell phone number (thanks Rich!)

Shari was a force in her Event, pulling herself up to ultimately finish in 15th place. I unfortunately had to leave before Serafina’s competition (had to get my husband to the airport), but she did great, taking 18th in the Open!

Not as amusing a write-up as Martin’s – but I hope that gives you the “spirit” of the competition! All the photos can be found HERE: culled down from over 600 to about 200 😉