The Last of the Open/CrossFit Endurance

The End of the 2012 CrossFit Games Open

Go team!  Us after Open WOD 12.4

Many thanks for all the congratulations I've received this week on my newfound inch! 

While I'm not laboring under any misconception that further bicep curls will propel me to NBA heights, I'm really quite pleased and almost amused.  If I had know at age 13 the effect of good health on a person's stature, I would have started working out long ago!

My 5' 2" self (and my taller half) have now officially completed our first CrossFit Games. 

So nice to have a built-in workout buddy!

I have to say that my favorite of the 5 workouts was WOD 4:  

Workout 12 . 4

MEN - includes Masters Men up to 54 years old

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (20lbs to 10' target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

WOMEN - includes Masters Women up to 54 years old

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (14lbs to 9' target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

One of my least favorite CrossFit exercises has always been wall balls.  I dread them, in part, because I tend to end up with a medicine ball falling smack into my face.  I usually use a 10lb ball for whatever workout we are doing on a given day at the box.

Somehow, with the comraderie of having the hubby there and our friend Joel judging my reps and cheering me on, I managed to get through 90 wallballs with the 14lb ball.  I was so proud of myself!  (And this was less than 30 minutes after running 5k to get to the box from work!.)

Jared was a total beast and made it through some of the muscle-ups before our time ran out:

The best part is, I no longer dread wall balls.  I know that the odds of Coach Corey coming up with a 90+ wall ball WOD are very slim, so I feel like after WOD 12.4, I can do anything!

I'm so glad I let Jared and Coach Corey talk me into the CrossFit Games Open this year.  It pushed me to try things I normally wouldn't (toes to bar, the 20" box, 14lb wall balls), got me even more involved with the CrossFit community (cheering on folks at our box and our sister box in Stoneway), and gave our marriage another challenge (communicating about no-reps and expectations for a WOD SO applies to real life).

Next year, my goal is to RX every Open WOD movement.  This year, there were some where I had a very low score or no score at all because I couldn't handle the weight (WOD 3), or couldn't do unassisted pull-ups (WOD 5) or double-unders (WOD 4).  (Almost wrote double undies...I guess wise if you expect to soil your pants mid-WOD?) 

I realize it might take me more than a year to get to muscle-ups...but at least I have something to strive for! 

CrossFit Endurance

Obviously since the Open is over, we are on to the next big event on the health-and-fitness horizon.  (Well, for Jared, baseball season is starting up, and he's got his first triathlon of the year on Sunday - wish him luck!)  But for me, it's the Portland Rock'N'Roll Half Marathon in May.

I have done 2 half marathons to date...one in Kirkland and one in Bend, OR.  I used the Fitness magazine training plan for both - great resource.  It incorporates speedwork, long runs, rest days, cross-training, and recovery runs.  However, it has the trainee running 4-5 days per week.  And unlike Ali On The Run, it is not my workout-of-workouts-favorite-way-to-sweat. 

Training + helping to fight Crohn's

Currently, I run 1-3 days a week...emphasis on the 1.  I focus more on hot yoga and CrossFit, and of course, my weekly racquetball dates with my dad and friends at the J.

Because, like all y'all, I have a busy schedule as it is, I couldn't add in my go-to training plan without cutting a lot of box jumps and downward dogs out of my life.  Which I don't want to do.

CrossFit is addictive, people!

And so, either out of laziness or craziness (or a generous combination of the two?) I decided I would try CrossFit Endurance and toss traditional training out the window. 

This means, in my case, I'll keep coming to our box for the "strength and conditioning" piece of the training, 3 x per week, and then I'll pick an endurance WOD to do 3 x per week. 

And I get to keep hot yoga and racquetball and the shred of sanity to which I still cling.

All pumped for yoga and sanity!

I am feeling pretty stoked about this plan.  I am a spreadsheets, plans, and rules kinda gal.  In previous training I have stressed out if I couldn't follow the training schedule precisely.  Now, I have no precise training schedule to stress about!  (Although I'm a champion at manufacturing stress, so never fear.  Freakouts will ensue at random but consistent intervals.)  I just have 6 workouts to get in each week, and I can even do 2 on the same day if need be, provided they are at least 3 hours apart.

Last night, I dragged my butt out of the office and went to run in the gorgeous weather at the park.  I jogged the 5 minutes down as a warm-up, and commenced my first official CFE WOD.  And thought I might die.

Here's part of an email to a friend who asked about my run since I don't have any photos of my near-death expeience.

"It was SO HARD!!!  Not counting jogging to and from the park...I ran a grand 9 minutes.  The workout was 1 minute at 95% effort followed by a minute of rest...times 9.  The first set was like, 'Oh, this isn't so bad' but by the end I was dying!!!  Nice to have it only take 18 minutes, though..."

Since I am blogging today, you will be happily assured I did not die.  The workout was UNBELIEVABLY hard for running a grand total of 9 minutes.  But boy did they convince me that you will be ready for a half marathon with these WODs.  I can run 5 miles and not feel as beat as I did last night.  And that would take me close to an hour.

Here's to saving time and sweating hard.  Happy Tuesday!!!


You tell me: Are you training for anything in particular?  Or taking a well-deserved break?  Ever tried CrossFit Endurance?  Tips?  Warnings? Amazing PR success-stories?