Leap of Faith

Jumping!This has been one long week.  I ran a 15K on Sunday.  On Tuesday, I (re)learned how to do bench presses and pulled off a 110lb backsquat (PR!).  On Thursday, I competed in round two of the CrossFit Games Open Qualifiers, and tomorrow I'm competing in the Pump and Run hosted by CrossFit Hoboken.  Craziness.

A lot of women would have to keel over before I'd have a shot at making it to regionals for the CrossFit Games, so I'm not holding my breath.  I am trying to stay in the game as long as I can, though, which means doing all the open workouts as prescribed.  Round one involved double-unders (ugh) and ground-to-overheads.  I did terribly because of the double-unders, but I did it.

Round two for ladies was a 15 minute AMRAP* of nine 100lb deadlifts, 12 hand release pushups** and 15 20" box jumps.  I like deads and I'm pretty good with pushups, but I had never done 20" before, even though that's usually the height prescribed for women.  I'm good with 18" (except for the falling and scraping my shins thing), but every single time I've faced a higher box, I've chickened out.  I'd get in front of the box and freeze. 

Last night, if I wanted to stay in the competition, I just had to do it.  So I did.  I warmed up, and then right before 3-2-1 go, I did three 20" box jumps (accompanied by a squeal and happy dance).  Then it was go time.

Those 15 minutes felt like an eternity.  Within a few rounds, I was breathing fire and spewing curses like a sailor.  The pushups were especially grueling, which surprised me.  I'm usually good with pushups.  In the last few seconds of the workout, my arms completely turned to rubber.  I could not squeeze out another rep.  In the end, I completed six rounds, nine deadlifts and seven pushups.  Naturally, I'm most psyched about finally doing 20" box jumps.

Now it's time to rest up for the Pump and Run.  More on that tomorrow!

-Gym Belle-

*As many rounds as possible

** At the bottom of the pushup, you lift your hands up.  It basically ensures that you're totally down at the bottom of the rep.

Thoughts on Sunday's 15K

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Sunday's 15K was an odd race, mostly because I was out of my routine.  For one thing, I've ran four times since New Years, and never longer than five miles.  

Also, the race started at 11:15.  The late start made me think that staying out till midnight and eating breakfast before the race would be fine.  Staying out would've worked out ok, except that I was so keyed up from the night that I really didn't sleep.  I woke up early so that I'd have time to digest.  The problem was that I didn't know what to eat.  I've cut grains out of my diet, so I opted for an omelet with lox and onions.  Six miles in, I cramped up and stayed cramped for the rest of the race.  Why didn't I just have a banana?  I don't know.  I guess the lack of sleep meant I wasn't thinking so clearly.

The weather was also wierd.  It was one of those no-win in-between temperatures.  I wore capri pants and my under armour turtle neck and was hot.  My friend who ran in less said she was freezing. 

I raced in my Inov-8 238's, which I had only worn twice before.  I also ran in my knee bands for the first time.  The shoes were great.  I blistered a tad, but it was the kind of blistering that's gone the next day.  The knee bands get annoying after a while, but they do make me feel more confident and I think that helps with speed.

I had told myself that I wasn't going to treat this as a race, but as a training run for the half I'm doing next month in Vienna.  I more or less stuck to that and finished in under 1:27.

This is where it gets interesting.  If I stuck to my average pace from the 15K for 13.1 miles, I would finish in 2 hours and 56 seconds.  You see where this is going?  I think I'm too close not to try to go sub-2 in Vienna.  I wasn't planning on really racing Vienna, and I don't know that I can beat my last half marathon time (1:57 something), but I'm starting to want to try.

I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-

The Total: The Movie 3/20/11

Untitled from Gym Belle on Vimeo.

 

Here's how today's total went:

Backsquat

• First attempt: 105 lbs
• Second attempt: 110 lbs  (fail)
• Third attempt: 110 lbs (fail)

Press

• First attempt: 55 lbs
• Second attempt: 60 lbs (PR - note the happy dance)
• Third attempt: 65 lbs (PR)

Deadlift

• First attempt: 165 lbs
• Second attempt: 175 lbs (PR)
• Third attempt: 190 lbs (PR)

Total = 360 (PR by 35 lbs (see my last Total here))

Between deadlifts numbers 2 and 3, I'm chatting while I swap out the 5 lb plates for 10s.  Look closely and you'll see that I put 10 lbs on one side and 15 lbs on the other.  Whoops!  That was awkward.  On the plus side, I was only planning on trying for 185 and I did 190.

-Gym Belle-