Crossfit Chantilly Party

Crossfit Chantilly's Birthday was this past Saturday and oddly enough Dennis and I were going to be in the area to join in the festivities.  There had been lots of talk during the week that the WOD was going to be a doozey, but those rumors both intrigue and excite me all at the same time.  

It ended up being a partner WOD for time.  The last time I did a Partner WOD was in VA Beach while dropping in at a new box,  but this was the first partner WOD in Chantilly for me.  I was semi anxious to see who my partner was going to be and how I'd stack up to them.  

I showed up for the 9am which is the early class on Saturday and to my dismay there were only two other people.  A husband and wife, who I assumed would be partners, leaving the cheese, (me), standing alone.  But as luck would have it, the husband was not doing the WOD and that left myself and Kelley to be partners. 

I've never WODed with Kelley before, but I did know that she's done a few competitions, she likes to yell at people when they are doing WODs and is semi loud when doing her WODs.  I was all ok with that!  I knew I had to step up my game to keep up with her and hopefully we'd make a good team. 

3...2...1...GO

The WOD was a chipper and between the two people you had to do:

100 DU
50 Pull Ups
50 Deadlifts
50 HSPU
50 Wallballs
100 DU

Everything was going pretty smooth until the HSPUs.  This was a weakness of Kelley, which is fine, because I was able to knock out 5-7 per attempt and I didn't at all mind carrying her in that event.  Mostly because I knew once we got to Wall Balls, I would be gassed and I'm typically slow on those anyway.  Once through the HSPU, Kelley took the lead on Wall Balls which was greatly appreciated by my legs, and we closed out the WOD in just over 16 minutes.  CONSIDERABLY faster than I had thought we would have done.  

Go us!

The rest of the day was spent at the box hanging out with fellow members and trainers.  I always enjoy getting to know the members and trainers on a more personal level besides what we learn about each other at the work outs.  Thank you CFC for hosting and I can't wait until next party!

The Beach and Biking

I apologize for the lack in blogging, life tends to get away from me, but know that I do feel guilt!!

This past weekend Dennis and I decided we wanted to take Shane to Ocean City NJ where Dennis went on his very first boardwalk ride, the ladybug.  I was in agreement to such weekend activity as long as we were able to fit in some type of exercise in.  

I did some extensive research (as per normal when we travel) on which Crossfit Boxes we could visit but unfortunately no class times / locations matched up with our weekend plan, so we decided we'd bike around Philly as our exercise.

The beach was a good time.  The weather wasn't perfect, but I personally like overcast beach days over blaring hot sun.  The water was a bit cold, so swimming was very limited but Dennis and I took a nice 30 minute kid free walk down the beach together.  (our friends were watching Shane while we walked).  So even though we didn't get a Crossfit work out in, we still did something.  Shane enjoyed the sand very much!!

After the beach we walked the boardwalk where Shane went on his first rides!  Unfortunately for Dennis, the ladybug ride no longer existed and we had to settle for the boat, fire truck, and buggy cars:

The next day, we drove into Philly and promptly found a parking spot and set up our bikes and trailer.  The weather was perfect!  Much better than the day before and I was happy that we were going to be spending some of it on our bikes. 

Dennis and I had biked TO Philly once before (that was my previous longest bike ride) so we had an idea of where we were going.

Our bike started at the Rocky Steps and we took the Schuylkill River path until we got to a bridge that took us over the river and back to the steps.

It was, in retrospect, a really cool trip down memory lane for us.  We remembered our bike ride to Philly (one the I mentioned before) from Valley Forge park, about a 44 mile total trip by bike.  Then we remembered Dennis and Kyle's Philly Triathlon that they did on a section that we biked on, and then finally at the end of our bike was where I had finished my 1st Half Marathon.  

We had both also ran the Broad Street Run in Philly, and the Rothman 8k in Philly as well.  

Remembering all those specific events was really fun and I can only hope that Shane, when he gets older, will take interest in doing events like those.  

Until then, Dennis and I will continue to cart him around in this trailer like a boss.  

2 Lesson Tuesday

1.  My Over Head Squats need work.  My previous 1 rep max is 75lbs and today I couldn't do more than 55lbs.  These were from the ground (which doesn't phase me a bit bc I love Snatching and I can snatch a good amount of weight) but after getting the bar above my head, I would just stand there frozen.  I did a squat at 55lbs and then tried 65lbs and was just stuck.  While standing there with a bar over my head, Shawn did finally notice my creepy over extending elbows that only show while doing OHS :)

2. Ring Dips are hard.  I've been on the band for RDs for years now.  In fact, before today, I had NEVER even attempted to do a real ring dip.  So I figured, what the hell.  I set up, jumped up, lowered down....and was stuck.  Really really hard movement.  But when I use the band, its too easy and more fun than anything.  So during the WOD and going forward, my RDs will not have a band and I will do negatives until I can do them RX'd.  Someday!!

The first part of the core was GHD raises, which is one of my least favorites, so I skipped it and did my weighted sit ups.  Those take me so freaking long but as long as I keep moving, I can usually get the 2 sets done in time.  

Warm Up:
200 meter run
2 Rounds:
20 Dislocates
20 Arm Circles
20 Bear Hugs
20 Leg Swings
10 Air Squats
5 Ring Rows

Mobility
Counter Stretch or squat mobility

WOD:
12 minutes to complete 5×3 Overhead Squats (55#)

AMRAP in 9 minutes:
15 Ring Dips
30 Double Unders

4+9

Ring Dip Negatives

Core/Strength:

B. 2×50 Weighted Anchored Sit-ups (25#)

Monday Funday

I wasn't thrilled to see running in the WOD today especially after the 5k on Saturday but I suppose there was nothing I could do about it.  I already knew that I'd be doing the WOD RX'd it was just a matter of how fast I would get through the rounds.

The first set of dead lifts the entire class finished at the same time.  Just imagine hearing 5 bars dropping at the same time, it was pretty comical.  We all headed out for the run (except for Martha who was rowing instead) where Brittney took the lead, Shawn and myself were neck and neck, and Jae was bringing up the rear.

As far as the push ups went, it was hard to tell how fast people were going so it was pretty much a hope you don't fall behind thing.  Round two Brittney held onto her lead and Shawn and myself were still very close.  I followed him out to the run, later accused of drafting, but hey whatever works!

The third round I believe is where I got ahead of Shawn, most likely on the dead lifts, and I was done in 10:29.  Brit had me my more than a minute, and Shawn was close to me, but ended about 20 seconds after me. 

I felt like it was quick WOD (pretty much a sprint) and the only time I rested was between the push ups, laying on the ground in my own face sweat.  I did all the dead lifts unbroken and I didn't walk during the run.  

I'm also trying to take the core work more seriously.  It's very interesting changing boxes as much as I have.  I got used to a certain way things were done.  Strength, WOD, every so often Cash Out.

Now I have to get used to the group Warm Up, Mobility, WOD, Core.  

The Core today was GHD Bench Press, which is super hard!  Basically imagine doing a bench press without a bench under you and using your abs to keep yourself up.  So the first time I used the PVC and thought I was going to die.  I then moved on to the 15lb bar and then today I used the 25lb bar.  Movement is no JOKE! 

Warm Up:
2 minutes jump rope
2 Rounds:
20 Walking Windmills
20 Leg Swings
10 Walking Lunges
10 Dislocates
10 Bear Hugs
5 Inch Worms

Mobility
Hamstring mobility

WOD:
4 Rounds:
15 Deadlifts (105#)
200 meter run
15 Hand Release Push-Ups

Core/Strength:
3×8 GHD Bench Press  (25#)

Courtney and Kyle's Wedding Day 5K

With the Royalty drop in and Rehearsal Dinner done, that left the main event, Kyle and Courtney's wedding!  And in true fashion, the first thing on the agenda was, to run a 5k.  Yup, you heard me right.  This bride-to-be wanted to get her run on hours BEFORE she said I do.  (Courtney is ad avid runner so this was not really a HUGE surprise to anybody).  

Since Dennis and I are pretty active people and most of all good sports, we 100% felt required to participate and showed up to the start line alone with about 35 other people.  I had to laugh because there were some serious runners down to the groom's brother wearing basketball shoes.  The whole event was pretty cute, the start line was at the Starbucks that they went on their first date at and the finish line was at the church they were to be wed later that day.  

With Courtney being, well Courtney, she was bouncing around handing out Wedding Day 5k shirts:

 and once everybody was present, we sand the national anthem:

Dennis and I had talked a LITTLE about strategy.  Me saying "that I didn't really care and if I made it to the end it would be a win" and Dennis saying "I want to PR this run!" we were clearly on different pages.  Then right at the last minute Dennis goes, "let's run this together."  Awesome.

Now my natural pace is slow and I left it up to Dennis to either stay with me or not.  I could tell that he was really fighting back to just run ahead of me but he decided to slow down his pace and chat it up.  Which is probably the most annoying thing in the world for me when running.  

I did get a good laugh at the woman that ran about 400 meters, stopped and announced that "Yeah, I'm done running" followed by the girl in front of us that b lined it into the Philly Pretzel factory store after about 10 minutes of running.  Now obviously this was a "fun run" but really people?

The roads were not closed and to my delight we were crossing a railroad that just so happened to have a train going through, all I could say in my mind was safety first, I must stop and let the train pass (and get a good couple minutes rest while I was at it) but noooooooooooooooo daredevil Dennis dashed in front of the train and I stupidly followed.  Side note: the train was literally moving at 1mph.  

As much as I was annoyed at Dennis during the run, he didn't let me walk, he tried to catch me when I tripped and almost fell, and he was super proud of me when we crossed the finish line with a time of about 29 minutes.  One of my better 5k times.  

Besides some very light running at Crossfit, I haven't done much of any running before this, so the fact that I did what I did made me happy.

The run was a success even though the bride to be was a little upset she finished 3rd (seriously who didn't let her win?) the rest of the day went on without a hitch. 

After the 5k, we relaxed, played mini golf, and then watched two of our friends get married.

Congratulations you two, enjoy the honeymoon!!

Crossfit Royalty

This weekend Dennis was in one of our good friend's wedding and we weren't going to miss out on an opportunity to visit a new box while traveling.  This has almost been a game to me.  Once my travel plans are finalized, I find the nearest Crossfit, creep their schedule, and see which WODs would work.  The last time I did this was in Virginia Beach when I did a drop in at North End Crossfit.  Dennis and I had done our research and we planned on visiting Crossfit Royalty at 6am on Friday morning.  Yay!!

And we'll never be roooooooooooyals (royalsssssssssss)

Happy to add another T-shirt to the collection and name to my growing roster on the right side of the blog, I eagerly waiting for them to post their WOD for Friday.  As I visitor in a new box I feel extra pressure to represent my home box (Crossfit Chantilly) as a good Crossfitter and I want to be able to not only do the WODs, but do them well.  

and then this happened:

Pefecto!  The strength was to work on cleans and the WOD was a triplet of  Cleans, Ring Dips, and Box Jumps.  All things I was comfortable doing!  

The strength was interesting as I had never done Cleans with a pause in the middle.  I worked my way up to 100lbs and failed at 110.  Apparently I was getting the bar up to my chin basically, but my mind got the best of me and wasn't communicating to my body that I could get under the bar quick enough to complete the move. Something I will need to / want to work on.  

I decided to stick with 100lb clean for the WOD, as the dude said it should be heavy (which it was).  Even though it was only 1 rep per round, I did fail a couple times, which made me feel good about the weight.  

After 8 Minutes of work I was happy with my score and Dennis was happy with his as well.

The over all feel of the gym was great.  The people were nice, the trainer was helpful, and the facility itself was large, clean, and well, Crossfitty!  

The rest of the day was pretty solid.  I took Shane for a 30 minute walk which he obviously enjoyed:

and then we spent a good amount of time in the pool:

And then Dennis and I were off to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner!

4th of July Gettysburg Bike Ride

With no major 4th of July plans, Dennis and I thought it would be a good / fun idea to figure out our next biking adventure.  In an attempt to be patriotic, we decided on biking around Gettysburg.  On the website there was a 19 mile 3 loop trail that we were planning on doing.  

Easy enough right?  WRONG!!

The only "loop" we did (more than three times) was around a dead end, circle-ish parking lot trying to find the freaking trail.  Any how enjoyable was that? Well.  I was obviously mad that Dennis didn't print out the instructions before hand, it was hot, we were towing Shane, on bikes on top of any husband/wife "we are lost" situation.  

Even Shane was feeling the pressure!

But once we did finally get on the path, it was a VERY enjoyable ride.  

We knew that it wasn't going to be for time or for miles, so we took our time stopping and looking at all the historic status and look outs which made for a very nice 4th of July.