5/23 WOD predicament

May 23 WOD

In 30 second intervals do the following between you and a partner

100x pull-ups

100x kettle bell swings 35#

100x push-ups

100x box jumps

100x double unders

400 meter run

the partner that isn't doing work holds a medicine ball over head. We used a 20# ball

Took Mary and I 22:16

My arms are so dead! after the pull-ups and KBS mixed with holding the medicine ball over head, by the time I got to push-ups, my arms were shot. But we kept on going! I was exhausted by the time we got to double unders. So heres the story on those double unders (shhh don't tell anyone, its kind of embarrassing). I was really tired, and I didn't even think that I had to pee... but, I start the double unders and oh woops, looks like I'm gunna be peeing a little bit while I do these. I could not for the life of me hold it in! Well, I was in black pants, you couldn't tell, so I finished the WOD without anyone knowing of my little predicament. I can now say that I've crossfited so hard that I've peed my pants! Is that weird that I'm kind of proud of that? I guess it goes under the same category as throwing up from working out for me. Also, I would just like to say, I'm obsessed.

Spartan Training

For those of you who don't know, I am training for a 13 mile Spartan Race. I did one last summer, an 8 mile one, on a whim. I found out about it 3 weeks before and just did it with no pre-training or anything. For this race though, I've been signed up since December and I am ready to Beast it!!! After all, it is called the Spartan Beast, right? Well ever since I started doing crossfit, my running went from 30 miles a week down to like 10-15. I just didn't have time/ the energy. So now I've been trying to incorporate my interval training with crossfit so I don't have to do a separate workout for that. Fridays WOD was perfect for that.

Before hand, to prepare myself mentally I told myself "Julia, you're mind always tells you when to rest, when to stop, when to breath and when to get some water, I want you to not listen to your mind and push your body to its limits". So I did! I don't know if its even a good time, but I got 28:20 and I was only 8 seconds behind my friend Scott who finished first. It was one of those "sucked so good" workouts, but it was also incredibly fun. But what about crossfit isn't fun? WARNING, crossfit= addictive.

May 15th WOD

Loved yesterday's WOD! You know how sometimes when you do a WOD and you just feel strong and unstoppable? Well that was yesterday. Felt great, took some needed water breaks and finished within seconds of my friend Mary who I always race.

Lets be honest though, I did not eat enough before. The last time I had eaten before the WOD was 5 hours earlier. Felt fine during, but after I almost past out! Went home and had a well needed protein smoothie. That goes to show how important fueling your body is! 

Back on Track

One of my favorite WODs in a while, sometimes you gotta pay to have fun though

I've struggled with overtraining this past month and finally got it under control last week! I knew about the importance of rest days, but with training for the Spartan Race and being addicted to Crossfit, I just wasn't letting my body heal. I noticed that running was a lot harder and not enjoyable like before. I was doing lots of Thrusters, hang squats cleans and other leg exercise and then the next day I expected my body to just run 6 miles no problem. Well I took 4 whole days off, stretched, got massages, and relaxed. It was a long 4 days, but I did it and I'm right back on track! I redid my schedule so that I have an active recovery swim day in the middle of the week and only 3 days where I do Crossfit instead of 5. And I'm working on getting my mile splits faster for my long runs.

Yesterday I had a good 8.5 mile run, first long run I've enjoyed in a month! Its relieving to know my body is progressing again.

Todays WOD:

Three rounds for time of:
225 Deadlift, 15 reps
15 Handstand push-ups
15 Pull-ups
95 pound Thruster, 15 reps

Rest days? Those are for weaklings...or not

When I first started crossfit, I really had a problem with the taking a whole day off. And I'm still not good at it, which is why I'm blogging about it, so that I can convince myself the importance of it! I'm the type of person that will kill myself for 6 days and then on sunday I'm dead and I rest, but then I start all over again on monday.

I do crossfit 4 to 5 days a week but I'm also a runner so most days I do 2 a days. I go running in the morning and do crossfit at night and on my "rest day" I do my long mileage.

"Coach, I can’t take a rest day, I saw we were doing (insert really-sexy-looking-cool-workout-that-just-can’t-be-missed here) and I HAD to come.”  OR “Sure, I took a rest day, a rest day from CrossFit that is, and I went for a 3 hour mountain bike ride instead!”" But insert a 13 mile run instead of the bike ride and I'm pretty sure this has come out of my mouth before!

In an article I read, it said it pretty flatt out "If you don't take rest days, you cannot progress"

Man, did that give me a good slap across the face. Crossfit is all about improvement. Thats why I do it! Because I can feel my body getting stronger everyday, my 1 rep max gets better, my times are faster, I can do more pull-ups, more push-ups, cleans are getting easier and I can feel the change its having on my body!

So to be told that if I don't rest, I cannot progress really helped me realize its importance. Crossfits rule is 3 days on 1 day off. Say hello to my new motto!

From the article:

"Physiologically, rest allows the body to learn from and adapt to the recent physical stress, repair muscles, rebuild, and be stronger and better adapted for the next physical challenge (in our case, a workout).  In CrossFit we believe in relative intensity and work to dial in our athletes’ workouts to an intensity level that hovers in the “hard but doable” realm.  The result is an adaptation that continuously tips the athlete toward stronger, more skilled, faster, you get the point.  But the CRAZY PART is that this adaptation takes place during the rest and recovery phase, not during the workout! Too much intensity or too little recovery blunts the adaptation creating an athlete that is headed toward plateau rather than continuous improvement."


"As athletes (and not just CrossFit athletes) we constantly chase performance and for many, appearance too.  We’ll do anything for a better run time, a faster Fran, or a heavier deadlift.  Change my diet?  Sure, tell me what I can and can’t eat.  Buy the right shoes?  Sure, where do I pay?  Take a day off?  NO WAY."


Even if you aren't a crossfiter, if the level of your workout is intense on a day to day basis, make sure you give your body the right amount of rest! Its important to let your muscle heal so your body can get rejuvenate itself so that it can get stronger!


Here's a link to the article where I got most of my information. Check it out! Theres other juice that I didn't share on here.

Eat Clean, Train Dirty

Hello all! I hope you guys are all familiar with the phrase "30% gym, 70% diet", thats right people, what you eat is so very important. You can't just workout and eat whatever you want and expect to reach your optimum health. When you get done with a grueling workout, when you go home, don't you just want to eat tons of fruits and veggies? It just feels good, and you feel good. As you go on throughout the day, sometimes you forget just how good it made you feel. When you fuel your body with fruits, veggies, whole grains and leans meats, your body loves you and you love you! I'm lucky enough to be rooming with two other health nuts so we try to eat the freshest stuff. I'd like to share every once in a while the foods we enjoy daily!

Vegetable Turkey Wrap: Tomatoes, Alfalfa sprouts, spinach, turkey and vegenaise on Multi-grain flat bread with Flaxseed.

Its also great with cucumber and avocado! But you can add any other vegetable you'd enjoy. Another thing my roommates and I enjoy is the wheatgrass we have growing in our apartment! Can't wait to add that to our smoothies and even have wheatgrass shots! Wheatgrass is said to help aid in detoxification of the body and cancer prevention. It is also said to be highly concentrated in nutrients. That a teaspoon of wheatgrass powder has the same benefits as a whole serving of spinach. Sounds excellent to me!

Have an excellent and healthy day! Eat clean and train dirty, your body will thank-you.

Win the first battle of each day

That would be waking up! My coach had a friend that always said, if you conquer the first mental battle (waking up after that alarm goes off no matter how early), then its easier to win other battles throughout the day. Battles about eating right, about working out, about feeling good about yourself, about getting along with others, and so on. We all face battles everyday, lets conquer that first one and conquer the day! When your alarm goes off, get up! Face the day and #makeitcount as Nike would say.

I needed this motivation today. When my alarm went off at 5:45, I was really close to sleeping through practice, I did not want to get up. But I did, we had a great practice, I'm happy with myself, and I got motivated. Make today count!