Fran Taught Me a Few Lessons Today

I met Fran at the gym today.  If you haven't been introduced to Fran, let me do the pleasure of telling you who she is:

"Fran"
21-15-9 of
95 lb Thrusters
Pull-ups

Fran is one of the CrossFit Benchmarks and is a brutal one.  I finished the workout in 4:30, however I needed to start doing jumping pull-ups during the round of 15.  Fran taught me a couple of lessons today.

1. I really need to work on my pull-ups.  I definitely need to improve my kipping pull-up, but I think more importantly, pull-ups at 260 lbs get hard and I don't have the stamina for it.  One more piece of motivation to shed some weight.

2. The positive lesson.  Lifting is my strength in the WODs and my stamina is getting much better.  In this and other WODs that I've done this week, I have been able to handle the lifting elements well.  My stamina from previous weeks is much improved.  My struggle are the bodyweight exercises like pull-ups, handstand push-ups, dips, etc.  The good thing is that all of those will improve with a combination of increased strength and weight loss.

For motivation here's a video of some CrossFitters taking on the WOD.  I apologize for the very mild language.  It's PG-13, don't worry.

I thought I was going to be funny and post a picture of Fran Drescher in this post, but found that LAX Crossfit had already done it...I guess I'm not original.

Two Great Days of CrossFit

I started off my week with two great CrossFit workouts.  Here's what my Monday and Tuesday looked like.

Monday - "Nancy" in 20 minutes (benchmark WOD)
5 rounds for time of:
400 meter run
95 lb overhead squats - 15 reps

Tuesday - 23:50
5 rounds for time of:
135 lb overhead squats, 5 reps
10 toes to bars
40 lb dumbbell hang squat clean, 15 reps
20 double unders

Both workouts were awesome and I've got a lot of work to do, but I felt great throughout both of them.  Can you believe that there are some people who do Tuesday's workout in sub 10 minutes?  That is absolutely nuts, and I'm jealous.

Benchmarks From this Past Week or Two

In a recent post, I wrote about how progress motivates me and the importance of benchmarks.  I made a goal to do a "benchmark" Crossfit workout each week.  It's been good to do a couple of Crossfit workouts mixed with the other things that we've been doing in the gym.

It's been a lot of fun to do and track the benchmark workouts.  I've also done a few variations on the workouts as well and they've been great.  Here is a list of the workouts I've done and my results for each of them.

"Cindy"
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 squats
I was able to complete 19 rounds and 6 squats.

"Annie"
Double-Unders and Sit-Ups
50-40-30-20-10 reps; for time
Neither are strengths of mine.  I completed the workout in 13:25

"Jeremy" - This isn't a benchmark workout, but definitely one that I'm going to come back to and compare times in the future.
21-15-9 reps of:
Overhead squats at 95lbs
Burpees
I do not heart burpees.  I completed the workout in 6:51

Variation on "Annie"
Double-Unders, Squats and Push-Ups
50-40-30-20-10 reps; for time
I completed the workout in 12:57.  Much better time than my traditional "Annie".  It's probably due to a good rhythm with the rope, and that I'm much better at squats and push ups than sit ups.

Saturday's Metcon
There's no name for this one, but I did this metcon this morning.  It was brutal and I did not perform well.  Here's what the workout called for -
Four rounds for time of:
15 burpees
10 wide push-ups
10 narrow push-ups
14 lunge jumps (7 both leg)
15 V-ups
10 pull-ups
10 halos
I completed the workout in 28:07.  Not a very good time at all.  I don't heart burpees, v-ups or tackling this type of a metcon alone.

Exhausted after a Metcon

These benchmark workouts have been great.  They don't take long, but man do I get a burn and work up a sweat.  They are great workouts for my type of schedule.  I look forward to tackling a few more benchmark workouts over the next few weeks.  I especially look forward to coming back to these in a couple of months and seeing how I perform.  Ideally, I should do better, right? :-)

It must be the business person in me, but I anticipate an amazing feeling of accomplishment when/if I crush these times/performances.  Because these are all firsts for me, these times serve as baselines to crush in the future!  Wish me luck.

Check out more of my benchmarks.

Set Some Benchmarks. That'll Keep You Going.

I made a return to CrossFit this week.  We've been doing some great workouts for the last few weeks, however I simply felt like I needed to do a couple of Crossfit workouts to get motivated again.  I made a decision that I'm going to try and do one of the "Benchmark Girl" Crossfit Workouts each week (mixed in with the other workouts we're doing).

If you're not familiar with the Benchmark Girls, let me introduce you to them.  They are a group of gals who will absolutely kick your butt, so don't mess with them.

In all seriousness though, they are a set of Crossfit workouts that are meant to be basic benchmarks for you to track progress with.  Take a look at some of them.  If I'm not mistaken, Angie was my first ever CrossFit workout, and boy did it gas me.  I wish I could remember my time...well not really :-)!

From the FAQ on CrossFit.com

Also from the FAQ on CrossFit.com

So on Thursday I did Cindy.  I did 19 rounds and got to 6 squats.  I'm going to admit that around rounds 13 or 14 I needed to start doing jumping pull-ups (that is a major improvement from 5 months ago).

There is something about benchmarks that motivate me.  When I realize what my baseline is, and I am able to come back and improve against that baseline, I feel a great sense of accomplishment.  I'm hoping that in a few months, my times and results for each of these workouts will improve.

Having something to work towards and against...now that's enough motivation for me to keep going.