Open WOD 12.1

To catch up a little...

I recovered from my collarbone sprain completely and was starting to get after it 100% in my weights class, when I sprained my ankle in track practice. That was about three weeks ago, and right now most of the swelling has gone down and I can walk on it, but not run and jump. I did the Open workout at Crossfit Anywhere this morning and got 62. It was weird because where I normally work out, our rubber floors are painted so when we're doing burpees, we can just slide our feet back. Not only was this not the case at cf anywhere, but when I kicked my legs back, they were landing on the mat that covers that one section of the gym. After a few reps I couldn't bring kick leg up in one try, so I eventually resorted to stepping up pretty high with the injured leg, since I have limited ankle mobility, and then stepping up and jumping with my good leg. I would most certainly get a better score if I repeated the workout, but I really don't feel up to it and it wouldn't be enough to improve the team score. Afterwards, my friend and I headed over to US Cryotherapy in Roseville. It wasn't half as bad as I expected, usually I'm a total weenie when it comes to cold, but this was very tolerable. Jury is still out on how much it will help my ankle, but it was a pretty enjoyable experience and most certainly preferably to an ice bath.

So I definitely suck at posting regularly, so I will give myself the simple restrictions of only having to post once a week, and I don't have to post everything, every day. Perhaps this will help me maintain some consistency.

Pain

So I won't be able to be doing very much training right now because I just sprained my ankle... It hurts like hell right now as I write this. Which means I get to work on push ups and handstands, haha. I really hope it's just sprained and that I didn't tear a tendon, but we'll see. My mom is being a bitch(yes I have no problem disrespecting my mom over the internet, if you knew the situation you might understand) and not taking me to the doctor, so I have to wait for my dad to get home from work. Yay... I'll keep you guys updated on the diagnosis.

Integrity.

I know I still have to post about the workouts this week, and I'll probably get to that tomorrow because tonight I'll be cheering on our basketball team, go cougars! Anyways...

I posted this in my teacher's blog, and I'm also going to post it here, but with a little backstory since not many people read this :)

I was initially bummed that my third period "weights" class got cancelled, but I was consoled by the fact that I would be in the fourth period "PE 4" class, which is "weights" but with primarily the varsity baseball and softball teams. I've never had so many female athletes to compete with in this class, so I was pretty excited. So we start going through the girls, Angie, Barbara, Cindy, etc. And starting with Angie, I noticed that some people, softball girls especially are posting some unbelievable times. I'll gave them the benefit of the doubt, but today I'm sure that at least some of them were cheating. Today we did Cindy, and I got 15 rounds going unbroken on everything, with minimal rest. I actually watched some of them resting in the middle of their sets while I was doing air squats. And then when time was up, the softball girls go to the board and somehow ten girls got the same score of 20, some said 21. Now I know some of them are capable of that, but definitely not all of them. Hence this post, which I've copied from Facebook.

I want to say a little something about integrity. I'm not calling out anyone in particular, but I am 100% positive that some people have knowingly posted incorrect scores. Whether it's doing less reps, less range of motion, or purposely miscounting, it's simply not okay. When you cheat, you're cheating Mr. Ellis who puts a lot of time into this class and who wants to see actual improvement, you're cheating your coaches, you're cheating your peers by not "competing" fairly, and you're cheating yourself most of all, physically and morally.

This is my fifth time in this class, and I can assure you that there is no better feeling than beating your own score on a workout. We have had kids come through here who couldn't do a single pull up, or even a single air squat, and they always improve tremendously. They improve because they don't really care that they get to write the best score on the board, they improve because they try their hardest, regardless of the outcome. They do every rep with full range of motion, they are the ones who keep on working out even when the time runs out. These people have integrity.

I really want the best for you guys, and I want you to get all that you can out of this class. If you're someone who has cheated, I really hope that you'll read this and change your ways. However, if you read this and think that I don't know what I'm talking about, or perhaps you don't care, then I can promise you that you will have a rude awakening next week when we start doing the benchmark workouts, and especially during our final, Fight Gone Bad. These workouts have consistently shown who's really doing the work in the class, and who's improving. That's all folks.

For further reading, here is an excellent article on character by Blair Morrison, a Del Campo alumnus and CrossFit badass who is currently ranked fifth in the world. http://crossfitmobile.blogspot.com/2010/06/fitness-is.html

Back in Business

Last Friday was a really good day. Right now I'm in fourth period "PE 4," which has a few advanced students from the "weight training" classes with a bunch of varsity baseball and softball players. So I have a lot more athletic females in my class than I ever have, and along with preparing for the Open, healing completely, and the upcoming track season, this semester will be very challenging.

3 rounds for time:
21/15/9
Pull Ups
Sit Ups
Burpees

Last Friday had a lot of burpees and pull ups, which have challenged my collarbone in the past. However, I felt fantastic and completed the WOD with minimal rest and ZERO PAIN. My collarbone didn't even hurt afterward. I am very hopeful for these upcoming weeks, though this week wil certainly be much harder. Today we have the Benchmark WOD Angie, which is always guaranteed to leave me sore everywhere. And we'll probably be doing Barbara, Chelsea and even Death By Burpees this week. I'll let you know how Angie goes if I don't pass out when I get home :)

Progress?

Last Wednesday we did a workout called Blair, max reps of push press. I've had an interesting history with this workout to say the least... The first time I did this workout, I thought that 45# would be a good weight. I hadn't been working out for very long, and my rotator cuff was still in recovery. But I ended up getting over 200 reps, thanks to my cheering friends who urged me on when I wanted to let go at 100(many expletives were involved). So the next time I did the workout, I used 65#. I got 30 reps, but then my friend got 31 reps, so of course I did the workout again and got 32 reps. Obviously, still not a max effort, but close. This time, I used 65 again and got 27 reps on my second try. The first try I started out too slow, and the second time I started out too quickly, but it wasn't worth a third try. Part of me was disappointed that I didn't get/beat the best score of the day for a female with 65# (35 reps I believe). Competition seems to drive me more than anything else, the chance to prove to myself and others that I'm the best. However, I need to remember that this phase of training isn't about competing, it's about healing. So I'm satisfied that I got just 5 reps less of my previous effort. After the workout, I got this strong feeling that I should do some handstand holds, so I did. I did three sets of 30 second holds. And it felt great :) I was shaking a lot towards the end, and I could feel that the workout and the holds were taxing my core. As an added bonus, my collarbone barely hurt afterwards. Progress :)

Update

Friday was DC challenge, where the PE classes are split into teams and they compete against each other and all that fun stuff. This time I opted out and instead helped set up and judge the competition a bit, while studying for a test next period.

Today I'm feeling a little down on myself, a little doubtful. At least my sister is back from Stanford for the week. Hopefully this feeling will disappear by tomorrow morning.... I mean this morning lol. Whenever I wake up...
In the meantime, I would like to introduce you to the fluffiest and cutest kitten you will ever see:

Because cute kittens make everything better :)

Rest

Congrats Reebok Crossfit for their Guinness World Record for 3D Street Art!