Recovery Week & The Importance of Pushups (Workout Recap 4/8)

Monday: REST

 

Worked on choreographing a number for my musical theatre class (sat on my butt while making notes and listening to music).

 

Tuesday: CrossFit

 

 

In the 2nd round of the warmup, linked all 10 pullups!  And then curtseyed. 

 

 

Went super light and really thought about pulling under the bar.  Sometimes I hear people say they could do the form better if they had more weight.  In the words of my little friend Susanna, "Pish pish!"  If you can't get the form with light weight, going heavier will not help. 

 

 

Scaled thrusters to #45.  Still in PT for calf, so did pullups instead of box jumps and rowing in place of running.  Sand bagged the first couple rows but really busted out some reps on pullups and thrusters. 

 

 

And then got blisters.  Oops.

 

 

 

Wednesday: CrossFit

 

I was kinda sad there was an EMOM cause I usually love trying to go heavy on these.  I kept the weight light for my recovery week, which ended up being smart as my shoulder wasn't feeling great.  For the WOD, I did V-ups instead of deadlifts so I only had bodyweight movements to worry about.

 

 

Coach Jared really stressed the importance of good pushup form in class.

 

"It's the basis for all pressing movements.  You have poor mechanics on your push-up and you will have poor mechanics on OH presses, jerks, push presses, everything."

 

Standards at our box require chest to touch the ground, but for good form, your hips shouldn't really touch at all.  Unless you keep your core engaged, it is really hard not to let your hips stick up or sag down (especially as you get tired).  If you are not able to do "real" pushups yet, a good way to start is by lowering from full extension till your chest touches before your hips hit the floor.  You can then come back up with your knees down, but this way you get help from gravity while still training your body to think about proper form.

 

 

For me, having great form on my pushups means I cannot link as many reps, particularly as the WOD goes on.  But since I want to build strength and continue to improve all my lifts, I feel like it's worth having a slower time or lower score on the board in order to do every rep right.

 

 

Thursday: REST

 

Love volunteering with my musical theatre students!  They picked up the choreography for "Greased Lightning" so fast. 

Awesome beer (Blue Moon Agave Nectar Ale is my new fave) with chicken and sweet potato fries for dinner.

Finished up the day with more musical theatre madness by watching the first few episodes of SMASH with chocolate and wine.

 

Friday: REST

 

Hung out with Coach Allison and ate peanut butter frosting.  Mmm.
 

 

Saturday: CrossFit

 

We worked on squat snatches, power snatches, and overhead squats.  Took it light at first, then felt good on the EMOM, so I went up as high as #65.

For the Girl, we were doing Nicole, so I had to sub the whole workout (no running cause of my calf, and my hands and forearms were still kinda worn down).  I did max wall balls and rowing.

Afterwards I had one of the best massages of my life!  Then we went on a hike in the afternoon with Jared's family.
 

Sunday: REST

 

Slept WAY way in and had a really chill day with Jared. 

All ready for killing it next week!  Planning for a full on cycle of Wendlers with all four lifts and gonna work on speed at CrossFit.

SELF Day 10.12

Last fall, I picked up the November issue of Self Magazine on a whim at a bookstore.  I love health and fitness magazines and I especially love Julianne Hough & Footloose, so I had to have it.  A big theme of the issue was "Self Day" - taking a day off work and stress and doing things that you enjoy instead of just being busy with the "have-tos" of life.  I thought it was a killer idea and I had a great time celebrating my first Self Day on November 1st.  (Incidentally, it was the day I tried CrossFit for the first time and got hooked.  Double win!)

Now, every month or so, I try to designate one Self Day so that I can relax and get a little rejuvenated to jump back into life.  The past few weeks at work have been stressful, and I realized I was overdue for my day off!

Yesterday was a treat from the get-go.  I got to sleep in a little, and then started the day off with mobility at CrossFit.  It was my day off, but since I had to drop Jared off at work anyway, I figured I'd go in and make use of the equipment (and prevent squeezing mobility out of my day completely).  It's so peaceful to just work out stiff or tight muscles and get a little blood flowing without the pressure of a full-on workout.

Next I headed to Target to pickup a few things and ended up finding a sale on some Method products!  Yay hippie soap!  I also stuck to my list except for the soap, which at Target is a real challenge for me.

On my way home, I got a treat at Great Harvest and hit up my beloved Bellevue Library for some returns and some new reads:

Then instead of jumping into chore-mode like I normally would, I sat on the couch with a cup of tea and my raspberry cream cheese scone for some Gilmore Girls.

Unfortunately I had some "business" to take care of besides just watching Rory's bad date at Yale and Luke's first experience with "Casablanca."  I had to pick up my license tabs at the local licensing office.  It was a little frustrating but thankfully didn't take too long, and I was able to blow off the momentary cloud in anticipation of the next item on my agenda!

I have some dear friends whom I've known since the days they were born.  They're brothers and were the ring bearers in our wedding. 

The younger one's been having a rough week, so I took him out to lunch at Subway!  We've always gotten along great, and it was awesome to catch up with him - I think it made both of us feel a lot better about life.

After my lunch date, I met up with Tina (the gal I teach with) and we went over some plans for our musical theatre class.  I will get to choreograph "Greased Lighting" and I'm stoked.  Then it was time for class, and it was great to see the opening number of the show coming along so well!

I listened to the soundtrack for Wonderland and sang my little heart out in traffic on the way to pick up Jared from work.  After we got home, we decided we HAD to start in on season 4 of Castle...so Jared ran out to get it while I did some serious work on the dishes (sometimes getting chores done actually helps me relax).

We finished off the evening with turkey, roasted veggies, and two killer episodes.  Life is good.

You tell me: How do you unwind when life gets crazy?  Are you in love with the library?  What's your favorite type of scone?  Gilmore Girls or Castle?

Happy Birthday/CrossFit Games 2012

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear little blooooooggggggg!  Happy birthday toooo yoouuuu!!!


This week, TheMeghaMix turned one.


Thanks to all my readers for your interest, comments, and support.  "You...are...my biggest fan."


For those of you who are just joining us...my name is Meghan.  I have a great husband (Jared)and a desk job...and I spend my free time mixing all kinds of workouts...including a recent self-defense/karate stint.  Currently I keep busy with Crossfit (2-3x per week), racquetball (1-2x per week) running (2-3x per week), and glorious hot yoga (2-3x per week).  I eat a mostly "clean" diet which includes at least one square of uber-dark chocolate today.  I love encouraging people to find the healthy, fit lifestyle that's enjoyable and sustainable for them.

Me and my fave running buddy

Right now, we are in the middle of the 2012 CrossFit Open!  I am still not entirely sure how I got sucked into it...Jared had been planning on it for months, and he's a champ: competitive, strong, and fast.  I am not highly competitve and I'd never RX'ed at CrossFit before.  I tend to do well at things like hot yoga because I'm flexible and detail oriented, where Jared excels at Crossfit because, as I mentioned...he's strong and fast:

Elastigirl

Mr. Incredible

But the first WOD of the games was burpees.  I'm a sucker for burpees cause (shhh!) I really like pushups.  Weirdly enough, I got stoked about pushups through a summerstock-type musical early in college.  Our director said, "I am too busy to go to the gym this summer...so you guys are my workout," and would have us do as much as 50 pushups in a row.

Burpees are to me glorified pushups.  And with a little encouragement from the hubby and our CrossFit coach...I took the plunge and registered for the 2012 CrossFit Games competition.

Here are some photos from our first Open Wod!  WOD 1 was as many burpees as possible in 7 minutes.  You had to touch something 6 inches higher than your standing reach for the rep to count.  I got 73!!!

On me: headband, tank, pants - lululemon;
sports bra - Victoria's Secret;
shoes - New Balance

Our coach had us judge each other...which didn't go so well on WOD 1.  It was a good spouse challenge, though.  We realized we needed to communicate clearly beforehand about our expectations and how we would help each other most effectively...which applies pretty much to any aspect of marriage, huh?

On Jared: tee, shorts - lululemon;
compression leg warmers - Sports Authority;
shoes - Nike

Due in part to some miscommunication between us...Jared felt like he could've gotten a better score.  So we went out to Stoneway Crossfit on Saturday morning so he could retest.  This time, one of our coaches judged his reps, so I could just worry about cheering him on!

He did even better than his score the day before!  109 burpees...this dude is a beast.

Post-WOD 1 retest

The following week, we tackled WOD 2!  We didn't get to test together since Jared was out of town.  We go to Crossfit as a team when we can...

...but that isn't always possible.  Jared tested the night before he left, then retested at a box in Colorado to bump up his score (yet again).  Here's the official notes for WOD 2:

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
30 Snatch (M 75 / F 45 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 135 / F 75 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 165 / F 100 lbs)
Max Rep Snatch (M 210 / F 120 lbs)
This workout begins from the standing position. The athlete will complete all reps at the first weight before advancing to the next weight. Score is total reps completed in 10min.

I made it through 30 snatches at 45lbs, and tried to get a few at 75lbs, but it wasn't happening for me.  So I had an official score of 30, and then cranked out 18 more reps at 55lbs. 

Last Friday found us at WOD 3...this means we're already halfway through the Open!  Official description:

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of:

15 Box jumps (M 24" box / F 20" box)
12 Push press (M 115 lb / F 75 lb)
9 Toes-to-bar

You are allowed to count individual reps instead of just completed rounds.  My official score was 15, since I had to scale the weight for the push press...but I was stoked because I did 20" box jumps and toes-to-bar for the first time since starting Crossfit in the fall!  I dropped the weight to (if memory serves) 55lbs.  I completed 3 rounds, another set of box jumps, and 5 of the push presses (which could be done as push jerks) before the time was up.

Jared and I judged each other on WOD 3, and our communication and teamwork improved a ton since WOD 1.  Go team!

They will be announcing WOD 4 tomorrow evening.  I'll be sure to keep you posted on how we do...hopefully I'll remember to officially record my score this time.  (I forgot with WOD 3.  Oops.)

You tell me:  Are you competing in the 2012 CrossFit Games?  Any scores or milestones so far you are particularly proud of? 

Daily Dilemma - I Don't Want to Sacrifice My Feet on Date Night

I used to wear heels all the time...but now that I work out like crazy I have started to be much more aware of my body and how the heels mess up my spine (particularly, putting added strain and pressure on my lower back).  So most days I stick with sandals and flats and sneakers.

But you can't always wear sneakers on date night...or can you?

Jacket - lululemon,
top - Express,
skirt - Express,
socks and running shoes - Nike

 Fancy bobby pin from my wedding...

Program from the show

Seriously, give it a try sometime.  Makes strolling around before and after the performance a lot less painful and a lot more romantic.

May Madness

Food is a huge part of my life...shocking, right?

Jared made these ricotta crepe-things
with lingon-berry sauce.  Wow.



Eating dinner on our patio for the first time!!!




Pasta and kale...healthy and tasty!

Theatre kinda creeps in a lot, too.



He brought me flowers!  (And doughnut holds for the kids)

Taryn from Have Kitchen, Will Feed

Bowing...it took like 20 minutes to organize this...lol.

Jared got me organic flowers.  Love it!

Jared flowers

Flowers from "my kids"



Kettlebell Sunshine/Musical Madness

Howdy folks.  Miss MIA is hopefully back in business.  I've got some killer excuses for my recent silence.  Want to hear?  Oh, good!!!

1.  Sunshine.

Here in the Pacific NW, what kind of fitness blogger would I be if during a busy but sunny week, I stayed inside to blog about my food and my clothes AND DIDN'T WORKOUT IN THE SUN???  A preposterous imposter kind of fitness blogger.  That's what kind.

Included in my sunshine exultations:

I took an hour+ walk to meet the hubby for dinner out.  He was coming from work and obviously could have picked me up.  But THE SUN WAS SHINING.  And I wanted to wear shorts since I can't wear them to work.

Shorts: Target, shoes (which you can't see): Nike, black tank: Gap, tunic: Papaya (the hubby picked it out), zip-up: lululemon (also from the hubby)



And here's my cute sweat-avoiding hair!

Walking an hour for this date was WAY worth it (besides the fact that the walk itself was delightful...phoned a dear friend and bemoaned the state of modern pop literature):

Steamers in Kirkland 

.

Unbeatable service, esp for an order-at-the-counter place.  The gal kept checking on us and finally brought us soup as a "so sorry your food is a little slow in coming."  Very impressive!

Fish tacos

Scallops

Hot date

I finally did this full-body kettlebell workout from Shape: 

You can use a bench for the planks and box jumps in this workout: 

Seriously...2x through takes about 20-25 minutes.  I only have a 10lb kettlebell and this kicked my butt.  I had to improvise a little on the farmer carry since I only have one...and I don't own a medicine ball so I improvised some ab work on the last step of the workout.  (Now I totally want a heavier 'bell!)

Had lunch with a dear friend at the park:

Whole grain...awesome excuse to eat fishies.

My turquoise on navy on turqoise...

Bekah with her healthy water

2. Musical Theatre.

You may think this has nothing to do with eating well or sweating hard.  But here's how it ties in...this week found me striving to keep up with my healthy food and my workout regimen.  I had to be a little flexible, but somehow God got me through it.  I got in all my weight-training and some good cardio and yoga...there was one day where I only squeezed in 5 minutes of abs, but 5 minutes of working out is ALWAYS better than nothing. 

If you are like me, you have perfectionistic tendencies, and you do great with staying fit...until you "fall off the bandwagon" a teensy bit.  Then you get frustrated/discouraged/etc. and decide if you can't do it right, it's basically hopeless anyway.  This is the difference between goals and lifestyle.  Ultimately you have to see fitness and health as simply a lifestyle, realize it won't always be perfect, and do what you can to work it into the everyday chaos of life.

Enough soapboxing...

Set at Seussical

My buddy Carson...known this dude his whole life

He played Jojo and rocked the show!

I swung through Trader Joe's on my way to the show!

And here are "my" kids at last night's 5 hour dress rehearsal.  You better believe I packed a ton of healthy food ahead of time on Monday since I knew I'd be starved.

It's a revue about a show within a show.  Think Chorus Line.

It's going to be a great show...I'm very proud of all their hard work, particularly on some of the dance numbers!  A huge privilege to be back helping the director for this class.  If you don't hear from me tomorrow, I'll be off cheering these kids on!