Crossfit Day 25

I woke up 11 minutes before the alarm went off this morning. I thought about getting up, but I stayed in bed, even though my feet were cold.

Like I'm going to get up any earlier than I have to on a Monday.

I don't know if I'd be able to get up every day at 5am and go workout like am I right now. I guess, theoretically, I'd get used to it. But, even though I'm going to miss doing the workouts, I'm going to enjoy the heck out of sleeping to my normal time of quarter to 6 next week.

Today's WOD looked really hard, until I noticed it was supposed to be partnered:

20 Min AMRAP*
- 10 Wallball shots (20/14#)
- 10 box jumps (24/20″)
- 10 Shoulder to Overhead (95/65#)

*Paleo Challenge participants – Only 1 partner works at a time while the other rests. The reps may be broken up between partners using any variation you’d like.

My gym is doing a "Paleo Challenge" which, from what I have gathered, involves going on the paleo diet for 2 months while doing Crossfit, and it is supposed to help you build muscle really fast. Or something. I am not going to be joining in on this particular challenge. Mostly because there's no way I could get my husband to start cooking paleo...

The skill portion of the class was partnered deadlifts - just like deadlifts, only you stand next to someone and you both lift the same bar at the same time, presumably with a higher weight than either of you could manage alone. I think that I was not able to communicate effectively with my partner, possibly because they kept saying that they had the flu. And I was like, really? Then why, oh why, are you here sharing your germs and impeding your own recovery? But I only asked that once. And I didn't get an answer.

Anywho, um, yes, workout stuff. So, my partner tended to let the weight drop quicker than I was ready for, and I got a minor pulled muscle in my back. Enough that I didn't do any more deadlifts, but I was able for the WOD. It still hurts a bit, but I'm rubbing it and sitting on an exercise ball, which helps keep me in good posture.

I ended up partnering with the same person for the WOD. We got a 10 pound wall ball and set up a barbell for 45 pounds for our shoulder presses. I proposed that we alternate exercise by sets, so that one of us was always going on to the next set of 10 - since there were 3 different exercises, that would allow us to each do every exercise, every 2 rounds. I started with the wall balls, and when I finished my 10, they did 10 step ups on the box (another post-traumatic box sufferer), I did 10 shoulder presses, then they did 10 wall balls, etc...

There were two sets of shoulder presses that my partner was unable to complete (because the flu!). I finished out those sets before starting my wall balls, because it didn't matter how we split the reps, just that they all got done. Because we were a team, and because I was perfectly happy to get a little more workout in. Together, we finished 13 rounds and 1 rep.

And even though I was sweating and breathing heavily, I didn't feel like I had worked out as hard as I could. I felt disappointed, just a tiny bit. But it's about patience. I did do a good workout. I pushed and I improved on my wall ball technique. I tried to help my partner out by encouraging better form on front racking the barbell between shoulder press reps. I shouted encouragement.

But I didn't have to bring out that primal yell to get through today's workout, and I think that's what I missed. I like using my outdoor voice, especially indoors. And I don't get to do it nearly often enough.

So I'll go harder tomorrow.

Oh, and the weather has finally conspired to give me a dry, non-sub-freezing day, so after all that, I rode my bike the 2 miles to work. I haven't done that since before I started doing Crossfit. I felt like there was a difference in the way that I biked. Moving the pedals felt easier, but I also felt better able to push through the burn in my quads to maintain a good pace. And did they ever burn... I guess I worked out pretty hard this morning after all.