Pictures as of Late

Not in much of a writing mood today. So here are a few pictures from the past week!

Milo in my face while I was trying to do some home yoga. He just doesn't understand the concept of leaving me alone while I'm either yoga-ing or working out at home. He either lies on his back under me or, in this case, stuffs his toy in my face while I'm trying to do a chaturanga. At least he's adorable!

I've been getting into the gym early (like 4am early) to run or ellipticize before I start work. I've been REALLY struggling to get myself out the door to run in the afternoons. It's just been so cold and damp! I need to get over it and be thankful that it hasn't been raining much, but for now, early morning sweat sessions have become the norm.

I got a Vitamix for Christmas and have been living it up drinking smoothies like a crazy person! This was a coconut green smoothie, or what was left of one by the time I remembered to snap a photo! I'm so excited to see what else I can make with this crazy Vitamix contraption!

For Christmas, my Stepmom got a new painting from one of her favorite artists. She replaced this one in her office with the new one, and gave the old one to meeee! My apartment is slowly starting to look like a home and I was so thankful for a big painting for the wall above my bed.

New Year's Day started off with some cuddle time on the couch with Milo. Spending the morning with the person who loves me the most was a perfect start to the year! I was SO thankful for the day off and went for a run later in the morning to celebrate. 6 easy miles, not even worrying about my pace.

Like I said, I've been having a tough time motivating myself to run, but I am always so happy once I get out there. I didn't even bother to put my contacts in yesterday because I knew the rest of the day would be mellow.

Milo and I have been walking a lot. Down the river and through the woods. Well, not really, but we pass this pretty old railroad track near Lake Union.

Happy New Year! Here's to a great 2014!

Two Day Weekend

What a great weekend! It was so nice to have two days off in a row, I can't even tell you how much calmer and more relaxed I was! 

Friday included a final trip to Core Power Yoga on my week free pass. I've really enjoyed this place. I do feel like it is more about getting in a workout than actual yoga, but I found myself loving the sweat-fest that happened each class! This Friday class was rough for me because my body was pretty sore and exhausted. Which meant Saturday was a complete rest day for me!

Saturday I took and PASSED the NASM Personal Trainer Certification exam. Thank goodness. My previous certification was WITS (World Instructor Training School), which I've always been mildly embarrassed about. Glad to have another certification under my belt! I have plans for several more in the next year including Ace Group Fitness, Les Mills Body Pump, and hopefully TRX!

I didn't feel like I was well prepared for the exam. I had studied a bit, but didn't feel like I had put everything to memory or that I could use it in a practical situation. I fully expected to have to retake the exam, and was kicking myself in the butt because it was going to cost me $200. On the way to the test, Mt. Rainier was out in full force and gave me a moment of calm that I desperately needed!

After I found out I passed the exam, my anxiety literally melted away! I spent the rest of the morning finishing up a little Christmas shopping before heading home to wrap presents! Milo helped. I also baked cookies that I planned to decorate Sunday. My sugar cookies are at least a 3 day process of making the dough and chilling it, cutting out and baking the cookies and then decorating. More on that to come.

On Sunday, I slept in until almost 7:30am, which felt GLORIOUS! (By the way, I know it's sad that 7:30 is sleeping in for me.) Milo was itching to get outside at that point.

"MY ball!"

After a slow morning, I headed out for a run. I randomly decided to wear headphones, which I haven't done while running outside in probably almost a year! It was fun, but I remembered why I like running without headphones. I missed the quiet! I spent a lot of my run being thankful. I feel like there are so many people who are injured and sick right now and I'm just so grateful to be able to continue doing what I love!

One of my co-workers hurt her MCL and is hobbling around not able to do much at all. Three of my co-workers are also sick, like been out for almost a week sick. My Dad is suffering from his up-teenth time with plantar fasciitis. My Stepmom has to tiptoe around her tight back that is prone to injury. And then I always think about those with chronic illnesses like Ali and Robyn, who fight so hard to get the chance to live their lives the way they want to live it. It must be so difficult when your body fights you and it feels like everything is against you.

Anyways, I'm very lucky and I try not to forget that.

And here's a random tidbit: I've been trying to grow my hair out and have been putting coconut oil in it once or twice a month. This stuff is awesome! I slather some on my hair and comb it through before I go out for a run and then I come back and wash it out. My hair ends up so silky and smooth ("Oh really fool, really! Stop looking at me swan!" - name that movie)! I'm not sure if it helps the lengthening process, but I'm sure it makes my hair healthier.

My run was great, if not a little slow. I wasn't shooting for anything, but ended up with about 6 miles.

The rest of Sunday was designated as cookie decorating time! Cookie decorating is a process for me because I might be a bit of a perfectionist about them. I ended up doing trees, holly, mittens and santa hats. I think they turned out pretty well. Although, of course, now that I'm done I've thought of ways to improve them next time. I decorated for about 6 hours and by the end, I was SO finished smelling that sugar! I'll be gifting these to my co-workers and some friends and family. Hope everyone likes them!

Onward to Monday!

Sore Legs, Running and St. Jude's Walk

Happy Friday! Finally! It has been a busy week!

After my wonderful idea of dead lifting and squatting the same day Tuesday, my life has been filled with running. My legs are STILL sore! But I not-so-secretly love that feeling.

The weather this week has been so perfect for running.

Its brisk and cold, but clear. The best running weather in my opinion. Despite the fact that I've been sleeping in two fleeces, sweatpants and wool socks, I am still going strong running in shorts! They just feel so much better than crops!

The Seattle Marathon is just a little over a week away. I am a little nervous, but mostly excited. I wish I would have gotten one more long run in, but I don't want to push it now. I'm hoping to do 10-12 miles on Sunday and I'll call it good! Hopefully I'll still survive 26.2! I read through my recap from last year, which got me pumped up. I'm hoping for a race anywhere close to how lovely last year's was!

Should I go with my watermelon look from last year?

Tomorrow morning, I'm working with another instructor at my gym to warm-up the walkers at the St. Jude's Give Thanks Walk!

The walk is downtown and I'm giving a short warm-up before its starts! Should be a fun morning, although I'm a little nervous to be onstage with a microphone! But what a great cause it is for. =)

Happy week-ending!

Holy Leg Burn

Happy hump day!

I've had some great workouts the past few days!

Monday night I set out for a run. I didn't really have any mileage in mind. I wanted to do at least 6, but since it was POURING rain, my best bet was to tell myself I only had to do three.

I absolutely LOVE running in the rain. What I do not love is having to actually get started in the rain. It's so hard to motivated when the wind is howling and the possibility of curling up on the couch is so tantalizing!

Monday, I finally got my butt out there, and it was WONDERFUL!

I ended up doing the 6 miles, and did it as a progression run. I was feeling great when I started out and decided to see how fast I could make it! I ended up averaging right around an 8 mile per hour pace and although I can't remember my exact time, I know it was close to my 10k pr!

I finished with around a 7.20 mile and felt like I was flying! It's these kinds of runs that make all the tough training worth it!

Tuesday, I was planning to run to work to teach my class and back, but I didn't really feel like running. It was cold and I knew it would be dark. The prospect of getting hit by a biker did not sound fun. So I decided to drive to the gym early and lift some heavy shit.

Heavy things that need to be lifted.

I'd already taught a class earlier that morning, but felt inspired to do some deadlifts. After I got to the gym, I decided I wanted to do deadlifts AND back squats. Um, overload much?

I warmed up on the rower for about 5 minutes and then built up to a semi-heavy 8 rep back squat and deadlift. Yes, I had to set up two separate bars. I ended up with:

105 lbs back squat
115 lbs deadlift

I did 8 reps of each for three rounds. And WHEW am I feeling it this morning! Ouchhhhh!

After that I decided to work on pull ups. I hadn't done any pull ups in weeks! I have had some issues with my wrist and hand, so grasping the pull up bar was tough.

I did 10 pull ups, deadhang until failure and then I kipped. I superset that with 5 dumbbell snatches on each arm with 25 lb. dumbbells. The lat burn feeling was awesome!

Not much else to report! Have a good one!

Where Did the Week Go?

Whew! What a week! And there are less than two weeks until Thanksgiving!

Last I left off was Monday, the day after running 18 miles. Ouch. It took me awhile to recover from that one. I took Monday off, except for a walk with Milo. Our bodies are so crazy! I assume the only way I could run 18 miles with no build up mileage-wise was muscle memory. My body has done it before, so it just did it. My body was definitely not ready for it though, and it let me know! Oh well, it was worth it!

I was still feeling rough on Monday night (My knees! Ouch!), and knew teaching two classes Tuesday was going to be challenging on my poor body. I was right, but as usual, I loved teaching. We did some short, 3 minute intervals. I had smaller classes this week and it's always a little more challenging to keep the energy up when that happens. But I left with a big smile on my face after each class.

Our classroom!

Wednesday I was planning to take it easy, but one of our instructors had a family emergency and couldn't come in. Allison to the rescue! I actually ended up doing a great strength class. We did 45 second intervals, 15 seconds rest, and superset two exercises. The class ate it up! Here's what went down:

Wednesday evening I ran with a friend. I hadn't run with someone else in awhile and it was a refreshing change. It was super dark when we headed out and we had a long talk about safety gear, especially since we were on a trail with a lot of bikers. My friend was sporting an awesome light that I am now incredibly jealous of. I'll have to ask her where it is from!

Thursday I took Milo over to Discovery Park for a short run.

Milo ready to RUN!

I didn't wear my watch, but think we went right about 3 miles. And the little guy didn't get sick in the car! Yippee!

Hoping for a 20 miler on Sunday, but again, I'm going to go with how I feel. I know I can finish the marathon with the training I have now, so no pressure! =)

Happy weekend!

Exhausting Myself

This is exactly how I feel most days. I feel like exercise, particularly running, is the part of the day when I can be myself the most. I feel free from judgement and expectations. And I'm free to think. 

I taught two classes on Tuesday. I used the same workout for both. After teaching the first class early in the day and then working a shift at the gym, I didn't really feel like coming back at night. I was already starting to get sore from the class earlier and I didn't want to leave the comfort of home. By the time I got to class, however, I was totally ready! I had a record number of people who showed up and I loved every second. Even though I was beyond completely exhausted at the end of the class, I was in such a great mood.

I have come to LOVE teaching. I get such a great high from it. Sometimes it's the last thing I feel like doing because it takes so much energy, but once I'm done, I feel on top of the world!

Below is a version of the workout I gave my classes. After talking to someone about Body Pump classes, I was inspired to work on some tempo with my classes. We typically do things at a high intensity, and I wanted them to feel the difference between the all out and the slow burn feeling. We ended up doing a third round as well where we did a fast concentric movement and slow eccentric movement. It was tough to cue the class for the last round! So next time I do tempo work I will probably keep it easier with slow and vast variations.

Two days later I am still sore from this guy. Of course, I did it twice during the day and used the heaviest weights in the classroom (12 lbs). Let me know if you try it!

If you're in the Seattle area, you must know it's going to be a rainy, windy day. I'm hoping to brave it for an 8 miler this afternoon, but I may opt for an indoor workout and save the miles for tomorrow. Who's running in this weather that I can get some motivation from????

Back to The Trails

Hope you had a great weekend! As it is now Tuesday, I'm sure everyone is already looking forward to NEXT weekend!

I worked on Saturday, so my weekend was on Sunday. I spent the morning leisurely eating breakfast and drinking coffee with the pup. Sometimes I forget how nice it is to just take the morning to decompress.

I'd decided that I should probably get some longer runs in before the marathon. Haha, duh! I remember before my last marathon that running trails really helped. Since the Crossfit coach that I usually shadow on Sundays was out of town, I headed down to Lake Youngs in Renton to tackle the 10-mile loop.

The Lake Youngs Trail isn't my favorite, but it's hard to get lost on and there are lots of hills. You are basically running along a fence for 10 miles.

I won't say it was my best run. I needed a bathroom by the end reeeaaaalllyyy badly! But I definitely felt I could have done a lot more after my hour and a half on the trail. And I wasn't too tired at the end of the day, either!

It was definitely a fall morning. Lots of crunchy leaves and fog. I LOVE fall running! Best season in my opinion!

Other than that, Milo and I had several good walks over the weekend.

He found a few friends at the park, both puppy labradoodles, so he was pooped by the end of the weekend. And a pooped Milo means a cuddly Milo. I may or may not have let him on the couch to cuddle. Ooops!

Yesterday was a busy day at work, and once I got done all I wanted to do was curl up at home! I did for about an hour before taking Milo out, and running to Crossfit to shadow one of my coaches.

On the agenda at Crossfit? Deadlifts and L-sits!

It was fun correcting the deadlifts. It's amazing and, quite frankly, fun to be able to see how many variations people's bodies can come up with for one movement. It definitely puts a lot of pressure on the Crossfit coach to catch incorrect form so people don't injury themselves. We had a big class last night, so I'm glad I was there to help.

After lifting, the last 10 minutes of class was an AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of the following:
3 thrusters
6 burpees
9 kettlebell swings

I think it's a general consensus that most everyone hates thrusters and burpees, so this was not a favorite workout. Sure was fun to watch people suffer through and push themselves though!

Discovery Park Loop with Milo

Yesterday marked a great day in our little family.

Milo made his first 5-mile RUN around Discovery Park!

Pooped, but adorable!

When I first got Milo, he was, let's just say: slightly de-conditioned. He had only been taken on one or two short walks a day. Obviously that had to change! We have slowly been working up to more. Like a human, I didn't want to just throw Milo into super long runs. So I built up his "training". We started with shorter walks, which turned into longer walks. Then some trail walks. And finally we started running!

YES!

I decided to try and see how he did on the full loop at Discovery yesterday and I was SO proud of him for making it all the way around! The little tyke did wonderful!

After we did the loop, I dropped off Milo at home and did a few more miles on my own. Now that I'm registered for a marathon in a month, I feel like I need to be getting in MILES! Plus it was a perfect fall day and I wasn't finished movin' my legs!

I shadowed one of my Crossfit coach friends yesterday and the workout was as follows. Since I was coaching, I didn't get to actually do it, but I can't wait to tackle it soon!

You basically start off going through the list of barbell exercises, 20 of each and every minute on the minute you have to stop and do 4 burpees. Then you continue making your way through.

Talk about motivation to go as fast as possible! The faster you go, the less burpees you do!

There was a 20 minute time limit and everyone made it through before that. None of the women used the prescribed weight, though. I'll bet some of them could have!

Aaaand just for fun:

Where Have I Been?!

I pretty much disappeared here on my blog for awhile. I'm sure anyone who was reading was wondering what the heck happened and where I went to!

Honestly, I needed a break. I was dealing with some personal issues and had to step back to figure out what is truly important to me. I've discovered some really important truths about myself in the past year or so, but for the blog, the important thing is that fitness is a passion and force in my life that I continue to love and enjoy talking about!

So I've decided to continue blogging. I will no longer be posting all my workouts and what I do everyday, but I hope to let this be an outlet and a place I can share inspiration, struggles and fitness-related topics and ideas.

Now, what the heck has been going on in the past year for me!?

Firstly, I took a little break from running. I was getting burnt-out and was having trouble remembering why I loved to run in the first place. While I didn't completely stop running, I gave my Garmin a rest and ran by feel. I stopped signing up for races, and if I did, I didn't really have a formal training plan. Despite the heat of the summer (not a fan of running in the heat), I realized that I love longer races -- half marathons and marathons -- but tend to get a little over-zealous training for them, which becomes less than fun. And trying to break a certain time takes joy away from me as well.

So what's my plan?

I recently signed up to run the Seattle Marathon on a whim.

Have I run further than 10 miles in the last few months? Nope! But I think that will be part of the fun. As for a training plan, I hope to get in one 15 mile run and a 20 mile run before the race on December 1st. Other than that, I plan to continue running what I want, when I want. I may or may not even wear my timing chip on race day, just to take away the pressure of performing a certain way.

Several things have also been happening on the Crossfit front.

I also took a little break from Crossfit. After taking classes 5 times a week for a good 8 months, I had again, forgot what I loved about it. I didn't quit all together, but only took classes here and there.

It may come as a surprise, then, that I have become a Level-1 Crossfit Trainer! While I wasn't all gung-ho about Crossfitting for myself, I have always believed that Crossfit is the best way to get in general peak physical shape. I also think there is gold in the community aspect of Crossfit, but that's a talk for another day! Going through the weekend certification course, I completely renewed my love for this sport!

There are so many things to love about it, but for me, my favorite part is the heavy lifting. I was never much of a lifter and knew next to nothing about it, despite being a personal trainer. Now I have a love and passion for heavy back squats and deadlifts!

Along the same lines, Crossfit has taught me that it isn't about what your body looks like, but what it can do. That it's more important for me to beat everyone in a workout than it is to look a certain way. Crossfit box's tend to not have mirrors, so the only comparison is with effort. What an awesome lesson!

Currently, I am shadowing several of my coaches to learn how to become a great instructor. While I already teach classes at work, I don't know a lot about how to recongnize faults and how to correct them in the powerlifting movements. Shadowing has been a great asset to help me learn to spot things!

In completely unrelated news, I have a new love in my life: Milo!

Milo is an English creme golden retriever. He is a little over a year old, so he is still a puppy but full of cuddles.

I adopted my furry buddy at the end of August and we have become fast best buddies! I may be slightly obsessed with him, so he will obviously be making frequent visits to the blog.

I'm still personal training and leading classes at a gym in Seattle, which I have come to love. I'm very lucky that the gym I work at is like a little supportive community, so going to work each day is enjoyable (despite the fact that it's usually 4am).

Thanks for reading! Have a great Wednesday!

Weekend Workouts

Happy Monday to all! I hope everyone had a great weekend. 

I enjoyed some running, per usual. Sunday I even managed to average at 7:59 pace for 4 miles. That's pretty speedy for me! I think Sundays tend to be my speediest day of the week because I tend to run later in the morning, so I'm all woken up and fed, etc. If only I could manage that for every run instead of the 4am slug fest currently happening! 

I didn't make it to Crossfit on Friday (because I wanted to go Sunday), but I did my own shoulder workout. I made a ladder of push ups and shoulder presses and went through it as fast as I could.

I enjoyed this workout, and my shoulders were certainly burning by the end of it! Once you get past the reps of 10, it's all downhill!

My Crossfit class on Sunday was fun. We ended up working on split jerks. Odd name, but it is essentially a shoulder press where you come into a lunge at the end of the movement. We worked sets of 3. My last set was 32 kilograms. 

Our workout was short, but sweet. 

5 rounds of 5 pull ups, 7 burpees, 9 kettlebell swings. I did all the pull ups without a band, and they kept getting better as I went through each round. 

I finished in 5.35. Short and sweet!

Another fun thing this weekend was this quote on one of my tea bags. I am obsessed with tea and have a cup after lunch and dinner almost every day.

I loved this simple phrase. Our entire being working in harmony. 

Ignore my ugly thumbnail and focus on the quote =)

Have a great Monday!

Runs, Squats and Cookies

How is it Thursday already? This week is flying by! I've been MIA on the blog since Monday, but there has been a lot going on!

As usual, I've been running. I've been doing my usual 5 mile loop in the mornings except for yesterday when I met a friend out at Discovery Park for a trail loop. It felt good to get my lungs burning going up the billion stairs there! I always find it to be a miracle when I can get up all of them without stopping. Although it does seem to keep getting easier =)

We ended up with about 4 slower miles. We kept a super relaxed pace, which was nice since I was feeling pretty beat up!

And because I am a crazy person, I got up super early on my day off yesterday to fit in a yoga class at my favorite studio.

I was feeling pretty lethargic for most of the class, so I just took the flows nice and easy. I am still feeling sore from sprinting last Friday (I think sprinting was what did it), and I can't begin to tell you how great pigeon pose felt. Sure, it hurt while I was in it, but wooof! Once I got out, my hips were finally feeling back to normal!

Backtracking a little, Monday afternoon, I did my usual squatting session with my Crossfit coaches. For my 3 sets of 5 backsquats, I went up to 62 kilos, up 2 from the 60 I squatted last week. Since I am training a linear progression, I get to go up by 2 kilos every week. It's going to be fun to have a new PR each week, but I just hope I can hang on and keep squatting heavier!

We did a nice, shorter workout at CrossFit last night. Thank goodness, because I was TIRED!

We went through this twice, and tried to keep the same time for both rounds. I suspected I was going to have a tough time hitting the same pace for the second round through, but I ended up being faster than I was for the first round. Typical. I feel like it usually takes me awhile to warm up, so I need to remember I'm better at 2nd and 3rd rounds than firsts. Such an endurance athlete. Intensity is not my strength. But I suppose I'll keep working at it =)

And finally, I baked some chocolate chip cookies for a co-worker for his birthday. I used to bake ALL THE TIME. I even had a baking blog. But, when I switched it to blogger from self-hosting, all my photos disappeared. Which, of course, ticked me off, so I stopped posting.

Chocolate Chip Cookies for the win!

I loved baking, though, and for whatever reason, when I moved back to Seattle, I stopped. I forgot how much I enjoy it. And seeing people's faces when I bring them goodies is always priceless! =)

How Are My Legs Not Dead?

Happy Tuesday!

I lifted again with my a few of my Crossfit trainers yesterday, which was only slightly nutty. Good thing I knew what I was getting myself into this time!

We started with about an hour of warm up drills with the barbell. Some deadlifts and some snatch pulls (just the beginning of the snatch movement). My coach says all the warm-ups are to get our nervous system firing. I tried to think of that every time I snapped my hips forward.

Kapow! Wake up, system!

Then we worked up to 3 sets of 5 back squats. I used 60 kilos. I was told we are following a linear training system. So every week I will add 2 kilos for 3 sets of 5. I guess it's called linear since I'm adding the same amount each week.

After that, we did squats using what I now know is called a safety squat bar.

Safety Squat Bar Source

I feel so silly using this thing, but it really changes the feeling of the squat! Your core definitely has to become more involved! It's nice to have the padding over the back of the bar, though, so it isn't digging into your back.

Again, we super-set sets of 7 safety bar squats with 7 split lunges on each leg. I used 30 pound dumbbells for the split lunges. We did that for 3 rounds.

Holy moly, why do lunges make my legs burn so much?! I loooove it!

And then we headed over to what we are now calling Satan's Tricycle.

This. Thing. Hurts!!!

We did 3 30-second sprint intervals on it and I thought my legs were going to come off! My legs were like Jello afterwards, too. We had to take a walk around the block to flush them out!

I'm really enjoying lifting with my coaches. I'm not sure where it is going, but for now, I am learning so much and maybe my stronger legs will help my running!

This morning I expected to wake up with either lead legs or just super sore legs. And I'm feeling neither! I guess that walk around the block after doing intervals was the ticket, because I'm feeling great today!

My work schedule is a little wonky on Tuesdays, so I took to the treadmill at the gym this morning. I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to play it today, but I knew I was going to have to do some sort of speed workout if I had any hope of staying on the belt.

I ended up doing 800s. Most of them were around a 7:40 min/mile pace. I jogged for a quarter mile between them. I ended up with 5 miles in 40.2 minutes. Felt great to run fast!

I hope your Tuesday if off to a great start!

Scooter Bowling

I hope everyone had a great weekend! 

I'll begin on Friday at Crossfit. It was a beautiful day, so I begged our coach to let us run outside. And he obliged!

We started with shoulder presses first, though. 5 sets of 3 presses, adding weight each time. I got to 30 kilos for my final round, but could only get 2 reps in. For the fourth set, we took half of our max to failure (as many rounds as you can do). I dropped down to 15 kilos and did 27 reps. Grrr! Shoulders of steel!

Our workout was:

5 rounds, alternating with partner:

200 meter run

6 pull ups

10 kettlebell swings

I was being wimpy and used a band for the pull ups, but I really should have tried doing them without assistance. I had fun, though, and it felt nice to stretch my legs on such a short run!

Saturday I got in a nice run in the morning before working all day.

And Sunday, funday, started out with a Crossfit workout. One of our friends was going, and he didn't know anyone, so I decided to go so he would have a friend. We ended up doing a workout that I really enjoyed, although it was almost the same thing I had done on Friday. This time, however, no pull ups, and no partner to work with.

5 rounds:

3 cleans

9 kettlebell swings

200 meter run

I really didn't work very hard at all because I knew I was heading out for a run afterwards. I only used 27 kilos for the cleans, and a lighter kettlebell. I still had fun, though!

Afterwards, I headed out with Beth to meet Ultramarathoner Jess at Discovery Park for a short run on the trails.

The run was nothing spectacular, and my stomach was sort of upset the whole time. We finished 4.33 miles in 44 minutes, going super slow and just enjoying hanging out.

Because we are crazy beasts, we headed BACK to the Crossfit gym to fool around. There weren't any classes, so the gym was empty. Of course, that means trouble =)

Beth and I ended up playing scooter bowling, which was great fun!

Beth goes in for the kill!

 We set up foam rollers as "pins" and then hopped on scooters to knock them down.

Bowl me up!

 Haha, SO much fun! I wasn't in the mood to do anything workout related by this point, so after bowling I worked on back hip circles on the pull up bar. Back hip circles are an old gymnastics move and have nothing to do with Crossfit, so if you have no clue what I am talking about, here's a video!

I went to go see Zero Dark Thirty Sunday afternoon as well. Has anyone scene this? What did you think? I enjoyed it a lot, the story was great and the main character's journey was interesting to watch develop. It was definitely a stressful 2 hours though!

Have a great Monday!

Crossfit Benchmarks

I had a great day off yesterday! Finally. I taught so many extra classes last week, I felt like I was on a never-ending work streak for awhile.

I had grand illusions of sleeping in, but my body naturally woke up around 5:30am. That's just disgusting. I was so frustrated with myself that I laid in bed with my eyes closed for another hour before I finally gave in.  Sigh.

I started my day off with a run around Lake Union with my friend Jess. She is running a 100 mile race in a few weeks, so she is on taper time. We had a great 6 mile run that really flew by! It was sprinkling/showering for most of the run, but I have to say I hardly noticed it. It was good to a) be running in the daylight and b) have a friend to run with. My usual runs at 4 am are conducive to neither option.

We had grand discussions for after her race about doing speed work together. Maybe if I have a friend, I'll actually do it! I refueled after my run with another Picky Bar. This time it was "Lauren's Mega Nuts" flavor. I really love these bars. They are quite delicious. It's still a toss up whether I love these or Lara bars more.

I rallied for my evening Crossfit class.

We started off doing 4 sets of 8 bent over rows. I got up to 30 kilos for my last set, but probably should have used more weight.

Our workout included some benchmark Crossfit ladies! Our box hardly ever does benchmark workouts. While I think I would get bored of them quickly, it's nice to see where you're at sometimes. Case in point, our coach had about 7 or 8 of the ladies on the board for us to choose 2 from, and I think I had only done one of them before!

I chose "Grace" and "Diane" for my two workouts.

Grace is simple enough: 30 clean and jerks. I didn't get up to rx (women = 95 lbs.), but I did do 65 kilos for the entire thing, which was tough for me.

"Diane" is 21-15-9 reps of deadlift and handstand pushups. For the deadlift, I used 55 kilos. And the handstand pushups I did on the wall over some stacked abmats.

After Mondays leg extravaganza, the deadlifts were a bit rough, but I made it through!

I didn't get my times for either, but both were around 8 minutes. My new goal is to get to rx on both of these!

If you do Crossfit, what are your favorite benchmark workouts? I think mine is "Helen" (3 rounds: 400 meter run, 21 kettlebell swings, 12 pullups). I love the running aspect, obviously, and I'm anxious for the day that I can do all the pullups without a band.