This Fight Went Very Bad.....

I started out strong, on target in the first round. But the wall was HOT, and the medicine ball was HOT (burning fingers even), and despite good fluid intake all morning I think I was dehydrated.




In the second round I was dizzy and knew something was wrong. My first DNF. So embarressed. So dissapointed with myself.



I cooled down under the tent with water & ice. Then went back about 45 min later but this time at half-pace.



Kept to my plan for taking it easy (maybe too easy?) and only scored 188 . But I finished!



I did this in support of our military, active & reserve, retired & veterans, healthy & wounded, and in honor of those no longer with us. Too many are affected by this war on terror. I hope we can finish the job and get the rest of our troops HOME!

Thank you again to all who supported me, inspired me, and pushed me. I LOVE YOU.

Hero WOD: Hermanson

Today's Tier 2 WOD will be a Hero WOD.

This WOD is in honor of Adam Hermanson, who was killed in Iraq September
1, 2009 while serving with the United States Air Force. He was a beginner
CrossFitter and a personal friend of CFLV member, Ash Nemetz. Scott Pugh also knew him.

“Hermanson”
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 rep rounds of:
Burpee
Wall Ball (20#/14)
Ring Dip
Box Jump (24”/20”)
*In between every round, 50m walking lunge with 45#/25#.

It's going to be tough, but it's in memory of someone special to members of CFLV.

-----------

Okay, we did it. Sort of. After 3 rounds even the trainer (Joe) agreed that 50m weighted lunges was too much. He gave us the choice of 50m no weight, or 25m with the weight. So the last 6 sets I did the 25m weighted. That's 1 lunge per meter for me. 9 rounds of those lunges. I did bench dip (with my feet on the 12" box) because I don't play with the rings any more (my shoulder). And the tire I used for the box jump turns out to be 22" (but I find it easier than jumping on the 20" box - go figure).

I got a little dizzy in the middle. But pushed through with a finish time of 40:41. Took about an hour to recover. Now it's been 3 hours and my butt muscles are feeling it. Wonder how I'll feel in the morning.

Lifting a cold diet Sprite now in Adam's name. We'll see you next year, and I promise I won't cry during the lunges.

CrossFit on Vacation: Arlington Heights, IL

It's nice to find CrossFit Affiliates when traveling. I'm north of Chicago this weekend and found Elite Athletic Development (EAD) in Arlington Heights, IL.

Friday noon was working on strength/form on back squats (3 reps @ 125# for the third set). Then 10 minutes of sit-ups, jumping pull-ups and double-unders (completed 8 + 2/3rds rounds).

Saturday morning was 3 rounds of 30 wall balls (16#) and 30 hang squat snatch (35#). Exhausted (20:31).



Nice group of folks.

They have a strict on-time policy; the whole group does 5 burpees for every minute someone is late. Everyone goes through the posted dynamic warm-up before the trainer starts working with us. There was no PVC pipe range of motion work these two days. It's been interesting seeing how other places CrossFit. But it's tough when the trainer doesn't know your strengths/weaknesses. I miss my trainers and workout buddies back home.

Fight Gone Bad

1 minute for each exercise: Wall-ball, 14 pound ball 8 ft target (Reps), Sumo deadlift high-pull 55 pounds (Reps), Box Jump, 18″ box (Reps), Push-press 55 pounds (Reps), Row (Calories). Three rounds with 1 minute rest in between rounds.



First time was in January, score 219.


Second time was in April, thought I'd do better but only 221.


Reviewed my scores and saw how I blew myself out in the first round and had nothing left. So I set some goals for each exercise looking for a 225 or better.

Third time in June, score 252!

End result is still the same - exhaustion.

Still Doing CrossFit

Next month it will be one year since I attended my first CrossFit workout.

What is CrossFit?

CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.

Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.

The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.

While in Balad it started as a way to augment my weight loss. Then it became a personal challenge to do a pull-up (which I did on 28 June). After coming home I tried to do it myself at the regular gym (following the daily workout on CrossFit.com) but sometimes there wasn't the right equipment, or no way to time it properly.

A month later I found CrossFitLasVegas with trainers that helped me learn proper lifting technique and scaled workouts for success, safety and effectiveness. I also found a supportive community.

All of our workouts can be tracked on BeyondTheWhiteboard so progress can be measured. Every week I find myself doing something a little faster, a little stronger, or even just a little easier. The first time I did "Murph" it took 1 hour 23 minutes (using a treadmill for the running and a blue band for the pull-ups). A couple of weeks ago we did this WOD at CFLV. New time to beat: 51:59 (pull-ups with the red band, running outside. Pushups were not regulation but they will be the next time).



While in Balad my max effort on Deadlift was 155#. In January this year I lifted 180# and last week I did 2 sets of 5 lifts at 135# with 1 set at 145#.

Oh, and the original goal of weight loss? Definately seeing the difference. I hadn't felt comfortable in a bikini in YEARS.