A Ton of Running: CrossFit 06/06/2014

So, I mentioned in a recent post that I wanted to eventually add some running into my week, but that I wanted to establish my routine and consistency with CrossFit first. Yeah. Maybe not the best strategy as tonight as we ended up having to do sprints as part of the WOD! To add insult to injury, the class voted to run as a warm-up too. I am so not ready for this.

Anyway, Friday's posted workout:

Warm-Up:

EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) x5 Rounds
5 Burpees
10 Air Squats

What I did: Ran 600 meters (class choice). Around the block is apparently exactly 600m. I started out and the rest of the class was quickly way ahead. Like I haven't seen THAT before! But I didn't mind, because back-of-the-pack running is something that I am pretty used to, even if it's been a long time since I've run in any kind of a group setting. I set off trying to pace myself and I am proud that I made up up to the top of the slow hill at the beginning of the loop. But after that I did a walk/run thing. It was just meant to be the warm-up anyway, so I didn't need to kill myself so early in the session. The WOD does a good enough job of that without my helping it along, thank you very much. 

Barbell warm-up led by coach:

2 rounds:

5 Deadlifts (bar)
5 SDHP (sumo deadlift high pull)
5 Med Ball Cleans

What I did: Same. 

Stretching:

Samson + Hamstring
IT Band Cross-Body Stretch (with band)
Glute/Hamstring Smash (with softballs/supernova)
T-Spine Smash (with lax balls)

What I did: Same. Except I didn't do anything with "softballs", "supernova" (what the heck is that???) or lax balls.

Performance WOD:

A. Deadlift E2M x 4 Sets x 3 Reps @ 80-85% 1 RM (Translation: 3 Deadlift reps every two minutes x4 sets, weight should be 80-85% of your 1 rep maximum. So, if your Deadlift weight max for 1 rep is 100 lbs, you should do this exercise at 80-85lbs).

What I did: Same, 75lbs for the Deadlifts. The max weight I had done in my 1:1 sessions was 85lbs, but this is a very soft max. The 75 wasn't a struggle, so I'm sure I could go up a fair amount for a short rep exercise. 

B. Teams of two, for time:

8 x 100m Sprints alternating
50 Deadlifts (185lbs men / 125lbs women)
50 Push Press (95/65)
50 T2B (toes-to-bar)
8 x 100m Sprints, alternating

What I did: Coach Jen teamed with me, which was very nice of her especially as I'm sure she had already done her own WOD earlier! Plus, pairing with me is pretty much a guarantee that you will be DFL, so there is that too. 

Anyway ... I did ALL of my allotted sprints. ALL of them. I thought I was going to pass out a couple of times, but I. Did. Not. Walk. Very proud of that. Of course, you just CAN'T walk with everyone standing there watching and cheering for you, so I had to keep going. The set of sprint repeats at the end, I have to say I had slowed down quite a bit, but I kept running and even managed a bit of a kick on the last sprint. Killer. Talk about feel noodle-y at the end!

I did my half of the Deadlifts (but at 75lbs) and Push Presses (at 25lbs), so I am happy with that. For the T2B, I did leg lifts from the floor, but my upper hip area is so tight right now that this was (ironically) probably the hardest thing for me to do, physically. Poor Coach Jen had to pick up the slack for me and do more T2B to make up for it! (I'm sure she was happy about that). 

I'm feeling pretty freaking good right about now. Some thoughts:

• I did not look up the WOD before class tonight (or Tuesday). I think that is the best approach for right now. I'm afraid that I might talk myself out of going if the workout scares me!
• I really need to start running for real. Just 30 minutes of running a few times a week will make a big difference, I think. 
• I feel really good about getting in a ride (Dressage school) on Ruby on my lunch hour. When I manage to both ride and CrossFit on the same day I feel especially satisfied and well-rounded. 
• I think I should schedule a good deep-tissue sports massage. That might help loosen up the tightness I have in my upper hip/lower back. 
• I can't say enough about how wonderful all the people are at CF. Not only was the whole class cheering for everyone, but the people who were not in the class but there to work on skills or whatever all stopped what they were doing to come out and cheer for everyone during the sprints. 

I've been thinking of each CF workout as just another deposit in the bank. The more deposits I make, the more it's going to payoff.