Happy 2nd CrossFit Birthday to me!

May is always a crazy month for me as a professor and a student. It occurred to me as I as laying on the floor at Rocktown CrossFit that somewhere along the way this month was my 2nd CrossFit birthday! I remember having written a blog post celebrating my one year CrossFit birthday!

CrossFit has continued to be a big part of my life over the past year. In August Josh and I made the move to Harrisonburg. To say I was nervous about moving to a new CrossFit is an understatement. I was pretty convinced that I couldn’t be as happy away from my CrossFit Lynchburg family. The biggest challenge I faced initially was the big shift in the programming between the Lynchburg box and Rocktown’s box. Lynchburg had a much bigger emphasis on olympic lifts in strength and in the workouts. Rocktown emphasized cardio and gymnastic movements a lot more. So, in a lot of ways I felt like I was going back to square 1 in that I struggled and fought for every workout. It shocked my system and humbled me all the more.

BUT! I kept on going back because I found community! I found people who are funny, crazy, spirited and hard working. Who wouldn’t want to spend a few hours a week with people like that! My coach Lauren did an excellent job of making me feel welcome and getting to know me. She and Nate set a great tone for the gym. The word family is used often by our box members and the feeling is pretty mutual all the way around! When you endure things like these workouts together you get to see the absolute best and worst of people!

I did my first CrossFit event – partner workout with my best partner and encouragement in fitness – my sister!

I attended first my CrossFit competition this year and photographed athletes from Rocktown. It was a BLAST! It brought together two of my favorite things and magic happened. I am very excited about the opportunity that I had to give photographs to people of them doing something that is really unique!

Another big change this year for me was that I signed up and competed in the CrossFit open! I knew that it might be possible that I wouldn’t have the opportunity in the future so I committed. It was quite a journey. I was very anxious and nervous at the beginning but I performed better than I thought I would. I completed every workout to the best of my ability. I even finished the very last workout when I had all but talked myself out of even trying. I thought it would take me 40 minutes to complete and I did it in 27:52. I could not have done it without my friends cheering me on rep after rep. They wouldn’t let me stop and so, I didn’t!

Here are some photos that Josh took of me over the course of the open!

 

This next one is especially important because I didn’t have any toes to bar before this event and I did FIVE! There was a lot of cheering!

 

One of the best things I did in my post from last year was talk about the things I couldn’t do and the things I was able to do as of writing that post. So here is round 2!

I couldn’t do a pull up on the pull up bar, I had to use the rings.
I have graduated to the  pull up bar with big gray band, the blue band, the green band (each band gets smaller so that it’s providing less assistance with the pull up!

I got so close to doing an unassisted pull up. I did one successfully with the smallest band!

I couldn’t do a proper push-up
 I can now do 10 with full range of motion (hand release at the bottom) without needing to lay in a pile on the floor!

I can do 10 with full range of motion, on my toes! It may be slow but I can do it!

I couldn’t squat well, couldn’t even get paralell (think getting your butt lower than your knees in a squat position)
I have improved a lot, I can get to parallel (even with 150 lbs on my back) and sometimes below parallel!

I can get to parallel with 215 lbs on my back!

I couldn’t do more than one double under (jumprope goes under you twice as you jump)
Double unders – In a recent training day I did 8 in a row!
I have done 27 in a row! I don’t revert to singles in a workout unless it’s a particularly terrible double under day.

I couldn’t lift anything more than the barbell over my head
Both my snatch and my clean personal records are over 70 lbs!
My snatch is up to 90 lbs and my clean is 120!

I couldn’t do the prescribed weight/interval/time for any of the workouts 
I have done the prescribed weights/intervals  in about 25% of my last 10 workouts!
In all of the workouts there is at least one, sometimes two things I can do at the prescribed weight/interval/time. Only once in the past four months have I not finished a workout in the time cap.

I couldn’t swing a 25 lb kettle bell in a workout
I can do 20 reps unbroken with a 35lb kettle bell!
I can do 35 reps unbroken with a 35 lb kettle bell!

I couldn’t do wall balls with more than 7 lb ball 
I’ve used a 16 lb ball in a workout!
I can do 32 unbroken wall balls at 14 lbs.

I couldn’t run a mile in under 11 minutes
I recently ran one in 9 minutes with 150 movements between halves!
I haven’t tested this recently but I did complete a workout where we ran 1.75 miles and I finished under the time cap. (Thanks a lot Ivy!)

My one rep max numbers have been jumping a lot! over the past year:

My front squat was 160 in Jan and is now 175
My deadlift was 255 lbs in December and is 305 lbs now
My backsquat was at 205 in July and is up to 215 lbs now

This year I also got up on the wall in a handstand position!

This year I did five toes to bar in a workout!

I know it’s a privilege to get to work out at a CrossFit gym two to three times a week. I fully appreciate the wonderful opportunity I have and soak it up every chance I get. Thank you to the two boxes that I’ve called home! I am so grateful for you both!