Raspberry Stethoscope: Still at it...

Still CrossFitting, still loving it.

Jumping during the 7 minute Burpee's from open WOD 12.1

Tuesdays and Thursdays at our box is strength training day. We use the Wendler 5/3/1 method and mix it up a bit each week. Usually, Tuesday is front squats and power cleans, while Thursday consists of deadlifts and push press.

I love all of the olympic style weight lifting, so it's hard for me to pick a "favorite," per se, but if I had to choose, it would be front squats and power cleans. There is just something about squatting with that much weight on the front of your shoulders that makes you feel strong. And power cleans? Yes, you do feel powerful if done correctly.

This chick looks roughly about my height/size and she's front squatting 185lbs!

My max is...85!
She rocks.

Our coach says he "loves" to watch me lift because I have "great form. " This is nice to hear since I don't seem to have much speed or stamina during the WODs, hehe.

I am also continually working on getting stronger. I'm no where near where I want to be!

Right now, my one rep max for deadlift is officially 160 (and my body weight is approximately 120lbs), but after our Wendler program last week, we calculated that I am probably closer to 175 at this point.

Ideally, I need to be over 200lbs.

I asked our coach how I should go about setting goals, and he said it's really up to the person. He said I that I definitely have my form down, so it's all about building strength at this point. I'm not sure if it's too short of a time, but I'd like to give myself the following short-term goals.

By May 1st:

-Deadlift 200lbs

-1 unassisted pull-up

-Finish a WOD rx, and not come in last.

In general, I need to work on speed and stamina, but those will be continuous.

For running, I'm still so slow compared to everyone. BUT, I know that I do have speed in me. For instance, Saturday's WOD involved a ton of running. Here it was:

Run 200 meters forward
Run 200 meters backward
25 push ups
25 air squats
200 m overhead plate walk* 45lbs/25lbs. bumper plate
200 m run
25 slam balls 20/10lbs.
25 wall balls 20/14lbs.
200 m. run
200 m. overhead plate walk**(pick up plate you took the first time)
Finish with:

20 BURPEES

Run 400 meters

Looking at it, I didn't think it would be so tough, but man, oh man, I was dying. Carrying the overhead plate nearly killed me. I think I finished in 29 minutes, which was dead-last. Back to the whole speed thing--during the last maybe 200 meters, I GUNNED it. I ran as fast as I possibly could. It just shows that I can do it, but I just don't for some reason.

Other little things: sit-up time. I can do sit-ups just fine, but I seem to be a lot slower than everyone else. In fact, I find this odd because my core seems to be the strongest part of my body. I think I really engage my abs so much during sit-ups because they tend to seize, contract, and stay that way. It's painful!!

I also get winded fairly quick. I don't think I have such a poor cardio-respiratory system, so I'm not sure why I get out of breath so much quicker than everyone else. Or maybe everyone hides it better and pushes on through? ;)

As for pull-ups, I'm using a band now, but trying to "graduate" to a less-resistant band during WODs. I mentioned to our coach about wanting to do an unassisted pull-up, so today he had me working on a negative pull-up. This involves starting at the top of the bar with arms flexed and slowly lowering yourself down to arms extended.

I WILL GET THERE....