January 11, Day 11: the dread bodyweight movement, the push-up

Ah, push-ups. Lots of push-ups in the WOD today.

I spent about half of 2011 coming to Albany Crossfit, and the other half feeling too busy to crossfit or just making excuses to stay home.  So by the time I recommitted myself to crossfitting about six weeks ago, after Thanksgiving, I was pretty out of shape.

Nevertheless, I was determined to focus and stick to a schedule. I knew that if I crossfitted even just three times a week, my whole emotional wellbeing improved. I wanted to be not-depressed this winter. Back to crossfit I went.

And...it sucked. Everything was hard. I felt like I had little strength and no stamina. And every time I finished a WOD breathing like a fish out of water, blinking up at the florescent lights, I would say to myself, "at least you didn't stay home."

I love this picture:

It was the best of WODs, it was the worst of WODs

Coach Kim took this picture on Dec. 23 during the last round of the "Twelve Days of Christmas," a horrible workout that takes forever (well, it took me about 29 minutes, but that felt like forever). You can see Albany Crossfit's version of this WOD here. When I began the round, I felt like I had nothing left. I was nauseous, dizzy, and because I was one of the few who had not finished, I felt like everybody was watching me. I did the twelve thrusters that began the round, one at a time. After I did that last thruster, I felt for a moment that dying was preferable to finishing the round.

I turned to Kim, who was cheering me on in that wonderfully maniacal way she has of cheering, and I said, "I'm done, Kim. I'm done." I meant it. I really did. I was quitting.

And then I said some expletives to myself, and I picked up my kettlebell, and I hit the 11 swings, and then did the wall balls...and kept on going, even though I wasn't sure if I was still alive or in Crossfit Hell. (you know how it feels when you're singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and you're like, "this must be the song they sing all the time in Hell," --well, that's how this workout felt, only about a hundred times worse.)

By the time I was doing the push-ups, Coach Brett and the inspirational Rachel B. were doing them with me.    I felt like I wasn't doing anything on my own power any longer. Brett and Rachel were pulling me along, the way a cruise ship might pull a dinghy. And I finished. 

I love this picture because it shows what is hands down, the best thing about Albany Crossfit: the support and love athletes give to one another. Brett didn't need to do push-ups with me. He was coaching--he could have just stood there and told me what I was doing wrong. Instead he motivated me by getting into the fray with me. Rachel didn't need to do any more push-ups or burpees. She'd already finished the WOD. But she did them with me and somehow, through some mysterious process, transferred her energy to me. 

However, when I look at this picture, I am also chagrined by my push-up form. I knew my push-ups were bad...but that is bad. This picture helped me make the decision to participate in the 90-day challenge. I want to do good push-ups. But it's more than just wanting to look good in pictures. It's wanting a strong core that can support my body, and strong arms that can push me back up again, whenever I should find myself on the floor.

So, I had a great opportunity, to work on push-ups today. What I exercised:

• Warm-up: air squats and gassers (formerly known as suicides)
• WOD:
  I. 50 push-ups (did them on my knees, slowly, trying to keep my core tight)
  ~rest 2 minutes
  II. 20 box jumps (used an 18 inch box, but jumped, not stepped, them all)
       20 pull-ups (subbed ring rows)
       15 box jumps, 15 pull-ups, then 10 of each, then 5 of each
  ~rest 2 minutes
  III. 50 push-ups (this time followed Kevin's prescription to do them on the rings)
  18:11 (those push-ups really slowed me down!)
• Then did a lot of mobility work as a class

 What I ate:

• 9 AM: 1 c quinoa with 2 tbsp flax seeds and 1 tbsp flax oil, and a 6 oz glass of almond milk
• 11 AM: 1 medjool date and a bite of protein cashew cookie
• 1 PM: post-WOD shake: 2 handfuls spinach, 1/2 an avocado, 1 frozen banana, 1/2 c frozen blueberries, 1/4 c protein powder, 6 oz almond milk
• 2:30 PM: 1/2 c cooked kale (from yesterday's pressure-cooking experiment, which went great!) and 1/2 c cooked buckwheat--not enough protein for a post-WOD meal, but I was eating in the car and felt funny about peeling and then eating the hard-boiled eggs I had with me
• 5 PM: 2 eggs, 1/2 avocado, 1 tbsp of vegan mayo, mashed together with and spread thickly on one divine piece of toast. This, I have to say, tasted like Heaven.
• 7:30 PM: at a music party, ate 1/2 piece gluten-free bread, 1/2 turnip, 1 c cooked kale, 1/2 c barley, 1/2 c dal, 1/2 c greek yogurt, a couple handfuls of my paleo granola. Ate most of this with my fingers, since there wasn't enough silverware to go around :) SOO stuffed.