This weekend Seth, our youngest child, turned 1 and since my parents (who live in Connecticut) traveled down to VA to watch the kids while we were in Iceland, we decided to travel to them to celebrate Seth's birthday.
As I blogged before, I got 16.3 out of the way Thursday night following the announcement so I didn't have to worry about only performing it once if it was something I was able to do. Dennis would do 16.3 Friday afternoon and hopefully that blog is coming soon.
We hit the road at about 3pm on Friday and arrived in Connecticut at about 10:30pm. We immediately dropped the kids off to the parentals and headed to our hotel. I was supposed to run 3 miles that morning, but I over slept (intentionally) and it was far to late to run when we got in so I chalked it up as a rest day.
Saturday morning we woke up and were heading out to do one of my favorite things to do when we travel, drop into a new CrossFit box. As you can see by the list on my blog, I've dropped in to MANY and with each WOD I take away something new. Today's Box = CrossFit Sound Beach. I was especially excited to go to this one because I miss Long Island Sound terribly and was anxious to WOD by the water. Except they moved locations and it wasn't near the water at all. hahaha. Oh well.
We had checked the website the night before and I'm not sure why I'm surprised but it was Wall Balls. Not only Wall Balls, but a version of my least favorite WOD, this one in the form of "Clean Karen." Which I will explain in a minute. It just seemed to me that since I pretty much avoid wall balls at my home box, I pay for it when I travel.
We arrived to the facitity and it was quite large! There was a lounge area in the front, a room with just rowers, lines of assault bikes, and rigs with plenty of open space. Also, two locker rooms were there and they had towel service. Oh how I miss Connecticut!
The class size was decent for a Saturday 9am class and our coach, apparently has been to the games as his name was up on display for all to see. Doug Cahill. Super jacked (and may I add attractive) guy who was very nice and very welcoming to myself and Dennis.
We started the class with 2 rounds of a 200 meter run, pigeon stretches, and scorpion stretches.
Then we huddled up to talk about the WOD.
"Clean Karen"
15 Rounds (25 Minute Time Cap)
10 Wall Balls (20/14)
1 Power Clean (205/135)
He went over the standards for the wall balls, dispensing some good advice on how to hold and receive the ball, and how to manage the reps.
The cool thing about doing this WOD, they had targets! I've never used targets for Wall Balls and I was excited to test them out.
He then went over the clean explaining that he did not want us to be failing the 1 rep, but it should be a weight that is challenging. He said we'd have some time to build up to a heavy weight (even set a 1 rep max if we wanted) and then back down to the weight we'll use in the work out about 80% of our 1 rep max. Absolutely perfect way to run a class.
In the 10 or so minutes we had to set up the equipment and find a weight Doug patrolled the class making sure people were using good form and technique and giving suggestions as needed.
I decided on 14lb Wall Ball and 105 Clean. Challenging, but manageable with all the Wall Balls I had to do. 3....2...1....Go!
The WOD wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I did 10 Wall Balls each round unbroken and only giving myself a few seconds to catch my breath to prep for the heavy clean. I couldn't believe how fast the rounds were going and I never felt just quite how I feel when doing Karen straight. My Karen time is 11:08 and this version took me 15:09, not too bad considering I added 15 heavy cleans to it. I was very very very very happy with this work out, and Hydraulic Members, don't be surprised if you see this WOD on a Saturday at some point.
After the work out we grabbed some CFSB shirts and headed to a hometown staple Stew Leonards for lunch and their must have ice cream. We stopped by to check on the kids and then headed back to the hotel for some relaxation time before the birthday party. I immediately fell alseep and after a quick nap I decided to take a quick run since I was feeling guilty I missed yesterday. I hadn't run all week and I was getting nervous for tomorrow's race.
I did a quick 2 miles on the treadmill and it actually helped my legs un-stiffen from that mornings workout. I felt confident about the next day and I'm glad I squeezed it in.
We celebrated Seth's 1st birthday with my side of the family and it was really nice seeing family I hadn't seen since Christmas. After the party, Dennis and I decided to go out for dinner without the kids (this happens pretty much never) and it was very nice to have a relaxed dinner with Dennis and then we headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we got up and then promptly headed up to the start line of my race. The morning couldn't have been more gorgeous! The race was near the water and we had plenty of time before it started to just sit and gaze at the water. It made me so happy and relaxed and of course made me sad that I no longer had access to such a place.
Finally it was time to start running and I was as ready as I was going to be! I crossed the start line, pressed play on my runkeeper and BAM, just like that, my phone decided to restart. Too late to stop now, so for the first mile I was running in silence and obviously frustrated.
I tried to navigate through my phone while running (I was NOT going to stop for this) and the best I could do was get some bizzarro radio station that was playing acoustic show tunes? Is that even a thing? In any case, I needed to just get through the race.
Without my pace reminder, I was paranoid that I was slowing down. Once I made the loop and go to 3 miles in, I found a person to "chase" and he kept me going for a while. I past the 4 mile marker and all I wanted was to be done with the race. I picked up my pace and ended it!
Dennis was waiting for me at the finish line and was practically stunned at the time I finished. The clock read 44:15 (unofficial) but nothing short of a huge Personal Record. He was incredibly happy for me and at the same time threatened that I was becoming a faster runner than him :).
We didn't have time to stick around so we promptly left to scoop up the kids and make our way to PA to see Dennis' family. I pretty much sat in the car and my legs just stiffened up immediately. This was going to be rough.
I eagerly kept checking the website to see my official results and when they populated I was pretty happy. I came in 98th overall (out of 300) and 18th out of 49 in my age group. My time was 44:05 giving me an 8:50 pace, which is pretty fast for me. Overall a huge success and another race checked off in the Year of Cardio.
I eagerly kept checking the website to see my official results and when they populated I was pretty happy. I came in 98th overall (out of 300) and 18th out of 49 in my age group. My time was 44:05 giving me an 8:50 pace, which is pretty fast for me. Overall a huge success and another race checked off in the Year of Cardio.
We got to Dennis' dad's where we had cake and did presents for Seth and then at about 7pm we headed home to VA. We walked into our house at about 10:30pm and we all pretty much just collapsed into our respective beds.
Our eating over the weekend was "ok" given the circumstances, I am sure I will see a blip on the scale, but we did our best to make good choices and we treated ourselves when given the opportunity. I'm not feeling my best today (Monday) but nothing that Dennis and I cannot quickly recover from.
The weekend was just so fun! I'm so happy that Dennis and I have embraced CrossFit (and fitness really) together and it's an interest we both share. Traveling can be hard on the waistline but there really isn't an excuse why you can't fit some fitness in here and there regardless of the type!
No comments:
Post a Comment