Hurricane Christine

I'm a little proud of myself again today. I've been having a relatively blue week, feeling very "meh". I wanted to work out every day, but I knew on Monday that something was off, so I gave myself some goals. I said that I'd go to CrossFit on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for sure, and give myself the option of going Tuesday and Thursday. I ended up going the three days, and working on my own Tuesday. 

I had planned on going and jumping on the WOD last night, but I ended up working late instead. It was a Tabata workout though, according to the whiteboard, and I thought I'd give it a go at home. I made stir-fry instead, and some fresh juice! 

This could have been adapted to do at home: 

8 Rounds Each (:20 on, :10 off, for a total of 4 minutes for each movement)
-Tabata Wall Ball Sit-Up: I would have modified to a weighted butterfly sit up with a 15-20lb KettleBell as I don't possess a medicine ball, strangely enough. 
-Tabata Knees to Elbow: I know this is risky on my door mounted pull-up bar, but If I do them strict without any swinging, I feel confident I won't fall off. 
-Tabata Air Squat: Squats are squats. This would have likely been painful to watch.
-Tabata Deadlift High Pulls: I leave my Oly bar at the office most nights, and doubt I could SDHP 45lbs anyway. I'd do this with the 20-25lb KettleBell. 

If I'm feeling energetic this afternoon at work, I may give some of these a go. We'll see though. There's always that high period after working out where I feel like I could pound out another WOD, but within a few hours, I'm sure I'll be regretting how hard I pushed myself with "Christine" today.  In fact, I nearly tossed my cookies! 

Warm Up:
10 Minutes
-50 Mountain Climbers
-10 Pull-Ups
-5 Burpees
-10 Jumping Squats 
-10 Lunges
-100 Flutter Kicks

Skill:
Deadlift
5-3-3-3-1 (I worked my way up to 72lbs today! Feeling good with the deadlifts.)

WOD:
"Christine" 3 Rounds for Time
-Row 500 Meters
-12 Deadlifts (Rx: Body Weight. Scaled: 1/2 BW. I did 52lbs, so 15-18lbs or so under the scaled workout. That's not too bad.)
-21 Box Jumps (Rx: 20 inches for women. I used 3x 45lb bumper plates to reduce the impact. It's shocking how quickly these steal my energy!)

Time: 13:15 

I am exceptionally proud of my time. I pounded out the deadlifts very quickly, and my form felt excellent, pulling in my hamstrings and abs, and not at all in my back, shoulders, or arms. My box jumps were slow, but the kicker here is the rowing. I was sharing a rowing machine today as there were tons of people at the box at 6 AM. I split with "M", who happens to be one of the avid CrossFitters, and quite fit. 

He was pretty quick, despite jumping on a very tall box and deadlifting approximately a metric crap-ton. He would row while I did my box jumps and deadlifts and I'd row while he completed his. Because he was so fast, I found myself really pushing hard on the rower. I usually like to keep my split-meters between 18 and 20, but I sped up a little today, since the very last thing I wanted to do was keep him waiting while I finished. I managed to keep ahead of him though, and didn't retard his time for the workout. It was kinda cool to be working like that, as it really pushed my limits (I fell off the rower at the end and died a little on the floor).  Typically, I consider the rowing to be the 'rest' period during the workouts. 

You see, I know that I've got to row slowly. The meters should come from a powerful pull, not from multiple quick pulls. The problem is, I'm not super strong yet, and so my slow pace means a leisurely 'rest' during WODs since it takes me a rather long time to complete 500 meters. I'm hoping to improve this.

Somehow less relaxing when you row yourself to nausea. 

While "Christine" isn't one of them, according to this really interesting and super helpful article from CrossFit Journal, I learned a lot about "the girls" benchmark workouts. I always assumed that like many of the Hero WODs, the girls were named for women involved in CrossFit at the beginning. Then someone else told me that they gave these workouts women's names because "If it leaves you flat on your back wondering what the Hell just happened, it deserves a woman's name". (Personally, I found that a little unnerving  as it could be misconstrued with some rape connotations.)  Then I read the article and discovered that much like naming storms, "the girls" were named alphabetically (Angie, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane, Elizabeth, Fran) for convenience. Additionally, an amended version of the above quote was also included, and I find it much less creepy: "anything that leaves you flat on your back and incapacitated only to lure you back for more at a later date certainly deserves naming."

Last night as I was lounging around on the floor in my living room (I don't have a couch), I realized that my posture is terrible. When I'm standing and moving around, I've got excellent posture, but when I sit, I hunch over really bad. I want to work on improving this. 

Today's Reason: Because I'm perfectly capable of pushing myself and not letting my friends or teammates down.