guts

i was standing there, watching the faces of all those around me who had already done the workout - the third workout from the 2012 crossfit games - father jimmy, marsala, kat, to-nay - anxiously waiting for kane to take get set up. 3,2,1, go ... incredible how we all feel his pain, how we scream for him to push harder, how we all want him to turn off the bad thoughts that make him want to rest, how we all want him to finish. the look in his eyes mirrors those of all the rest of us who went before him and not one person left before the clock reached 18 minutes. what a feeling. you don't get this in any other gym. THIS is why i love crossfit bolton.

i did mine on friday night, with the mighty one keeping track, and toni working along side of me. the 15 box jumps weren't so bad, other than they gassed me a little. i was able to do each round unbroken.

the 12 push press at 75lbs was the hardest. that was a lot of weight for me, and by the end, i was only able to put up 3 or 4 reps at a time. and i almost felt like barfing on the first few right after the box jumps.

and finally, the 9 toes to bar were pretty good, other than the last few rounds were i almost slipped off cuz my hands were all sweaty (and my forearms were burning ...).

after 18 minutes, i had managed to get in 6 complete rounds, plus an extra 15 box jumps and 8 push press. i was fucked! that was probably the hardest workout i'd ever done in terms of effort. i just lay on the floor in a heap for a couple of minutes, and let my heart rate return to normal. i was really happy with my score, as i was hoping for 6 rounds!

super fab shot of thomas doing his muscle-ups ...

and of course - friday night club!

oh ya, got this email from the mighty one regarding my next personal thrashing session ...

choo choo here comes the pain train choo choo

You.
Me.
Pain.

Wednesday at 4.

*sigh*

2012 crossfit games - workout 3

after an icy/muddy run in palgrave today, i went into bolton for my weekly beating/leadville training session with the mighty one. first of all, we did deadlifts - up to 190lbs - as a warm-up. then the mighty one set up 4 bars - 95, 135, 155 and 185lbs - along the center of the box. i had to lift the first one for 10 reps, and in the time remaining in the minute, do burpees (again, i'd already done my fucking burpees for the day). the second bar was for 5, third 3 and fourth 1 - again, doing burpees for the remainder of the minute. after one round, he switched the 'in between exercise' to squat jumps, then burpees, then squat jumps again, for a total of 16 minutes. good gawd, after 76 MORE burpees, and 80 squat jumps, never mind all the deadlifts, i thought my legs were going to explode!!

i gave toni a quick hug, and wished her luck, as the mighty one was going to make her try it next ... may the force be with you girl !!!

wednesday was just a sweet day, as i threw on the shorts and a t-shirt and pounded out a few seizure repeats on centerville creek! no coach spaff - they weren't fun !!!! and then i went into bolton for a class with father jimmy. we were trying our one rep max front squat, and i was quite happy to hit a personal best of 150 ! and then, dah dah dah dah dah dah (music from jaws), we got our third workout for the 2012 crossfit games. marsala and i had been shitting our pants, hoping it wouldn't be muscle -ups (we'd be screwed). so i gave an extra loud holler when i checked my computer at 8:01 ...



Workout 12.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of:

15 Box jumps (M 24" box / F 20" box)
12 Push press (M 115 lb / F 75 lb)
9 Toes-to-bar

wahoo! i can do all 3 of these! don't get me wrong, it will TOTALLY suck, but at least i can do it!

wednesday i ran through albion and spotted this dude up in the trees - he sure was making a fuss over something! dunc says he's the one who attacks mountain bikers in the spring ...

monday was a 'recovery run' day, so me and dunc did an 'easy' hour in hockley - when is it EVER easy running in hockley ....

total beauty of a day though ...

and finally, after crossfit last sunday, i did a lazy 90 minutes in palgrave.

kool! i want a pugsley snow bike .....

great great week of running and crossfit!

crossfit games 2012 - workout 2 - in the bag

well, some of them weren't very pretty, but i got it done. i had attempted the workout on friday, but was doubting my ability to snatch 75lbs. as a result, i dicked around with the first 30 reps at 45lbs. marsala was counting for me - she had crushed her 75's - and persuaded me to try one. holy krap - i did it! but by then, there wasn't a lot of time left on the clock, so i only managed 12, for a total of 42.

i went back in today and got warmed up for a second attempt.

i know, i know - i bent my arms too early - we're going to engrave that on my tombstone!

the top of the rep ...

and so, with the mighty one hollering at me, and trying to correct my form, i completed my last rep with about 3 seconds to spare. yahoo! that brought my score up to 60 total! so i am currently tied for 28th in this workout, and 56th overall.

yesterday i dragged dunc out with me for almost 3 hours on the bruce. the trail was a bit slushy, and it was windy as snot, but overall conditions were pretty good! we got in about 23k and i felt fine, but i think dunc was kinda broken. i was actually supposed to do a snowshoe race in vermont, but conditions down there weren't overly appealing - +5 and a 90% chance of rain. ewwwww! so me and everhard opted to stay home.

love the way the snow is placed on the trees ...

me and marsala after my first attempt on friday - thanks girl - you are awesome!!

oh ya!

after my snatch workout, i did a group wod, consisting of 300 sit-ups, 225 squats, and (fuck me) 75 burpees - these were ON TOP of the 21 i'd already done for the burpee challenge!!!

great group shot - as always!

and i finally got around to getting a tattoo in honor of losing my virginity at haliburton last september. i had heard great things about this guy shawn, originally a wildlife artist, who had opened shop in bolton. i took in a photo, and my belt buckle, and lucked out with an appointment the next day at sakred skinz tattoo studio!

what a great guy! and his artwork is incredible.

now i'm a baby when it comes to this stuff, but i barely felt a thing.

the finished product - a little more realistic than the logo, but i love it. and i love the fact that he still managed to work in the face in the middle of the wolf. thanks shawn!

I must admit
I can't explain
Any of these thoughts racing
Through my brain

It's true
Baby I'm howlin' for you

time to warm up my snatch muscles ...

the second workout of the 2012 crossfit games came out last night. snatches - jeezus - not my best lift, and i will definitely have trouble doing them with my gimpy shoulder ...

Workout 12.2

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:

30 Snatch (M 75 / F 45 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 135 / F 75 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 165 / F 100 lbs)
Max Rep Snatch (M 210 / F 120 lbs)

In the Snatch, the barbell goes directly from the ground

to overhead in one motion without stopping at the shoulders.

i don't expect a great score on this one, but i'll give it a shot. so far, after workout 1, the dreaded 7 minute burpee thrashing, i am tied for 100th with 12 other women in the 50-54 age category! there are 572 of us! ahahaha!!

did a bunch of heavy deadlifts with the mighty one yesterday, followed by some walking lunges - weighted down with 85lbs - and 100 lunge jumps. owwww! and because i'm a sucker for punishment, i agreed to meet the adorable matt ef in palgrave for an 'easy' hour+ on trail afterwards. he warmed up by carrying a big log up and down one of the hills for 25 minutes. and you think i'm insane ... it was all i could do to keep up to him, but we had a blast!! thanks matt!

as always, friday night club was great!! lots of great people doing lots of great stuff! love crossfit bolton!

saw this awhile back and finally got around to posting it ...

and good grief! my fave little redheaded nephew decided it was time for another hair cut, so back to 'beaners' ...

i wonder how long he'll stick with THIS one ...

today is day 20 of the 115 royal burpee challenge. everyone is doing an incredible job! i am especially proud of sarah, who had never done a burpee up until 20 days ago ...

oh, and a free training session to the first person who gets me THIS shirt !

BURPEES SUCK !!!

are you f*cking kidding me ...

so wednesday came and a bunch of us at crossfit bolton who had signed up for the 2012 crossfit games were anxiously awaiting the first workout. once i got rid of the girls at ghetto, i dashed upstairs to my trusty computer, clicked on the site and read the following ...

i repeat, 'are you fucking kidding me!!!' burpees - my least favorite exercise! and as if i wasn't already doing the gawd-awful things for our 115 royal burpee challenge! arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! AND it wasn't just a burpee like i normally do - as in jump up randomly and clap - but i had to touch, with both hands, an object 6' above my outstretched fingertips! for gawd sakes! i went in to the club on thursday, and had father jimmy set me up. 'okay kendra, you have to hit your chest on the ground, and then jump up and hit the rings - every time - or they don't count'. a bunch of my friends were there cheering me on - lisa, jay, lori, kane - hiiiiiiiiiiiii kane - and andy and jess. lisa made sure one of my favorite songs was playing - 'outta your mind' by lil jon and lmfao - as father jimmy set the clock to zero. 3,2,1, go ... and i was off! stoopid burpees!

hilarious shot of my pants sliding off my arse - sorry guys!

so as i hit the rings for the last time, and tumbled to the ground, my final count was 86. i'm really happy with that - and no, i don't want to try again!! big big thanks to father jimmy and all my amazing friends who cheered me on !!

and CHECK THIS OUT !!! ahahaha! my favorite redheaded nephew got his hair done again - this time forgoing the 'wolf look' for a more 'punk rock' style! note that he's decorating cookies WITHOUT me!

i LOVE this kid !!!!!

i dragged moose out with me thursday afternoon for some hill repeats on the dingle! traction was great and we stomped around, up and down for about 90 minutes!

it was a beauty of a day for sure ...

taking a breather at the top of k2 ...

quinn's turn for some hills ...

whose ears are bigger ...

and finally, my thoughts (and a really big hug) go out to derrick's wife sara, who lost her beloved neeka this week. may you always see those little white clouds my friend.

rest in peace little white dog ...

no brownies for me ...

just LOOK who was at friday night club last week - KANE - hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii kane!!

and i was partnered up with my fave awesome chick lisa for some ring dips and double unders!

great group! we all kicked ass !!!

we had a bit of snow saturday, so i was able to sneak out on the dions around 5 for an hour of stomping in palgrave.

i figured it was one of the last/only chances i would have before heading to vermont next week!

sunday i made the trek south of 7 again (i'm a pro at this now) to go running with the pylons. we did a different route that included the escarpment up behind kelso. if you look real close you might see digger.

i'm the little blue speck to the left ...

conditions were a little icy, and i didn't have the cascrews, so i was even slower than usual. i think cy was done an hour before me - good gawd! and the captain was pretty fast too. digger 'almost' got lost a few times, but i managed to reel him back on track. didn't get a finishing shot, as the guys were pretty much changed and in the car waiting by the time i got in! hell, it was almost 4 and a half hours! and the krapper was, one of the guys had brought homemade brownies - ARGH - i'm on this stoopid 6 week challenge, so i couldn't have one! now THAT just about killed me!

kool shot of a log along the trail ...

and finally, we're up to day 11 of the burpee challenge!

i have to laugh when someone says it's going to suck when we get to 30 - it sucks at ONE in my opinion!!!