That’s no joke!

I am starting Whole 30 tomorrow, April 1 and that is no joke! This will be the fourth time I have done this! I am armed with new recipes and new goals and more excited for this one then the others! I will also have the support of others from my gym (Crossfit Portland) as many are also making the 30 day commitment.

You can find past stories on my blog about my first Whole 30 experience and also the experience of friends from the gym who did a great question and answer series with me on their own experiences.

If you ever wanted to take the plunge or even thought about doing this join us for the next month!

Post questions to comments and I will try and update the blog more frequently with answers and recipe suggestions and helpful tips to make it through the 30 days!

It is only 30 days…and it might just change your life…actually I know it WILL change your life.

3...2..1…GO!

Do you game the games?

The Crossfit games competition has started. Check out the official site if you want more information I will just give a quick summary here.

Sectionals has just started and this is the first step on the road to regionals. After qualifying for regionals you have to compete again to qualify for finals. The finals will be held in the end of July in CA.

The road to get to finals is long, especially with the new format this year. The sectional competition will take place over a 6 week period. In years past it was held over a weekend and a series of 6-7 workouts (WOD’s) was programmed over 2-3 days. This year, every Tuesday the WOD will be announced and athletes from anywhere will have the chance to complete the WOD by the end of that week, Sunday.

This format stretches the competition out over 6 weeks and also gives people the opportunity to do the WOD multiple times. With this comes the question: Do you game the games?

I think most people are planning on doing the WOD 2 times. One time to run through it and feel things out and a second time to really hit it hard and nail it. But do you do it a third time to REALLY nail it? A fourth and fifth time?

Should you keep trying the same movements and timing over and over and perfect it or should you move on and continue to train for the next challenge that is coming? We don’t usually repeat WOD’s in our regular training so why start now?

This is a hard question to answer. Less than 1 minute after my second attempt at the WOD today I said “if I only had 10 more seconds…”. The competitive side of me wants to go for it, again and again. Improve my score. Get another rep. Get another round. The practical side of me wants to focus on the next 5 weeks, keep training hard, and work on some trouble areas.

Games WOD #1 was this:

10 minute AMRAP
30 Double Unders
15 Ground to Overhead 75/55

I am happy with what I did today and feel it was a good performance. Yes, today all I needed was 10 more seconds to get the final snatches done to finish that 5^th round but next time I might not even get that far. Also I put it all on the line when I did it this time and ended with confidence and a happy heart to carry me into the next 5 WOD’s. I don’t really want to mess with that.

Yeah I don’t think I will do it again…and besides my favorite jump rope broke today so doing it again just wouldn’t be the same.

The games are coming!

The first WOD for the 2011 Crossfit games will be announced one week from today, March 15! The official site is also up!

To those training keep up the hard work and push through in these final days of preparation. Have fun with it and know that there are so many cheering for you and supporting you each time you step up to WOD during the 6 week competition!

Bigger isn’t always better!

One of the first things you develop when you start crossfit is your calluses! Unless you were doing high volume pull-ups and/or weightlifting before crossfit chances are you weren’t doing anything that would cause calluses to develop and stick around for any significant amount of time. Or at least I wasn’t!

I remember within the first few weeks of On Ramp I was like “look at what I have” to anyone who would care. It wasn’t long before I was picking at them in work meetings or in the car. I felt good about them. Heck, I felt bad a$$ for sure.

The prouder I became the more I talked about them and started to hear stories of people tearing them and the pain and impact on training that came with it. I also started to hear about caring for them and how people would file them down with a pumice stone or a little “cheese grater like shaver”. Now when I first started hearing this I thought these people were nuts. I couldn’t understand why I’d want to do anything that might make my guys smaller. Bigger was better right? More bad a$$ for sure…..right?

A year went by and I never had any problems with my calluses so I figured I was good to go. Then I got my kipping pull-up. In a few weeks I went from 1 to 6 in a row without coming off the bar and was excited. Still no issues with my calluses and again I figured I was good to go. I was wrong.

There was a WOD on a Saturday where if I had completed the entire thing as prescribed (RX) I would have done 100 pull-ups. This was the first time I did pull-ups in a WOD. I felt fine during the entire WOD through round 7. The thrusters were easy, the sprinting fine, and the pull-ups I was able to do in groups of 4 or 3 in different combination's to get the 10 in each round.

I didn’t feel anything at this point but I looked at my hands during round 7 and saw skin and blood. I wanted to bang my head on the wall. This is what everyone was talking about when they told me to be careful about my calluses and be careful if I was going to rip them. Oops, I should have listened. Why didn’t I listen?

With a big sigh and lots of frustration I thought if I ignored it and just powered though I’d be fine. I finished round 7 and made sure I didn’t show anyone my hands. I knew if anyone knew I started to rip they would want me to stop to prevent more ripping.

I started round 8 and got through the thrusters and was in the middle of my set of 10 pull-ups when I started to feel it in my hands. I looked at them and they were getting worse. I finished round 8 and then went over to my husband and showed him my hands and begged him to tape my hands up so that I could finish rounds 9 and 10. He looked at me like I was nuts. I asked him a few times, begging him to just tape me up. “Just tape my hands Brian, please I feel fine. I can finish this WOD, just get the tape!”

I asked around everyone said to stop. I didn’t want to stop. I looked at the bar to start round 9 and because we were doing thrusters without a rack I had to clean it up to start. I looked from my hands to the bar a few times and couldn’t bring myself to clean it. I stopped and it was good I didn’t go any further but in looking back I should have stopped sooner.

Oh heck in looking back I should have listened months ago and took better care of them. After all the people telling me about the cheese graters and pumice stones were more experienced and doing more high volume bar work then I was. I should have also stopped when I first noticed they were ripping. I guess I am stubborn. This shouldn't be news to anyone who knows me!

My hands took about 2 weeks to really heal, during that time I wrapped them for bar work in the gym and stayed away from the pull-up bar. It took another 2 weeks for me to get back to the pull-up bar. My pull-ups as not as strong as they were before the rip and my confidence is not there yet either. This was setback for sure, but also something that I think you have to go through and will go through at various times when training and competing.

In the weeks that followed this WOD two awesome ladies in our gym got their first pull-ups! Elizabeth jumped on the bar one day and not only did 1 kipping pull-up but did 2 and 3 in a row and multiple sets.

Tracy skipped right over the kipping pull-up and got her strict pull-up. This was awesome to watch!!

Right after I took them aside and told them that now it was time to get serious about their calluses and hand care! Trust me ladies!!!!

Some of the better tips out there can be found here (these are the quicker and easier reads on the topic of callus care...just goggle it and you can find more information, videos, and more!):

http://www.crossfittheclub.com/how-to-minimize-callus-formation-treat-ripped-calluses/

http://bodyandfuel.com/blog/2011/02/28/callus-care/

Also I found that using Burt’s Bee’s medicated lip balm on them during the healing process works wonders! Thanks Cory!!!

I still love my calluses but now I check them in meetings to be sure they aren’t getting too big!!!

(*dates on pictures are not accurate..sorry, camera/date thing wasn't set correct)

It’s not a gym it’s a community!!!

Crossfit Portland moved locations and last week was the official first workout (WOD) in the new space! The new space is much bigger and I hope it leads to more people joining the community and getting started with what is a fun and exciting journey to see what you are capable of each time you step in the gym.

When the gym was getting close to the big move day I started getting nostalgic about the old space. It was where I started! At the time it seemed like a very intimidating and scary place. I have memories from that location for sure! There is some blood and sweat that was left behind by all of us and likely some skin here and there also! Gross I know, but really pretty awesome. I reached out to the community and asked people to send me stories or memories from the old space. I thought I’d get a huge response. I was looking forward to hearing how some of the holes in the walls came about and figured there must have been some pretty awesome moments people wanted to share. I only received 1 response!!!!!

At first I was disappointed. I had envisioned making this great post with pictures from the old place and then getting it printed out and mounted so the owners could hang it up in the new space. The more I started to think about it the more I realized it doesn’t matter WHERE we do our WOD’s it just matters who we do them with. I have used the phrase “it’s not a diet it’s a lifestyle” when talking about how I eat and when I think about it “it isn’t a gym it’s a community”.

What happens in that community goes far beyond the 4 walls of any space we might occupy. It doesn’t matter if we are in the new space or the old space. I don’t show up ready to give it my all because of the 4 walls around me. I show up because of the community that is inside those walls. My friends are there and we are going to work as hard as we can and then we are going to go out for happy hour, drinks, or breakfast. The people I WOD with have become some of my closest friends. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we know how and when to push each other. The people in this community haven’t changed because the 4 walls around us are bigger and in a new location. We don’t have to pause and take note of our memories because nothing is ending. We are the same people part of the same community and still together. We just have more space now!