Lungs!

Today marked my return to the box after about 1.5 wks off, because of the cold that knocked me down! Felt really good to be back.

We started with finding our 1RM of FS.
45 x 10 to warm up
56-85-95-105-115!!!!!!!

That is a 12 # PR for me! Awesome. Haven't had a big gain in some time, so that felt really good. I think it's because I've put on a little weight, mainly muscle. So psyched!

As for the MetCon, we did 5 rounds of

1 hall sprint (two wall touches)
10 hang power cleans (53#'s)
1 hall sprint (two wall touches)
10 box jumps (20 inch box)

I did this in 13:02. Not a bad showing, but my lungs were feeling it from the recent cold, subsequently the runs were SLOW. I almost started to hack like I was at sectionals, but I controlled my breathing and it took away the cough.

Not a bad night back.

Practice on tuesday was pretty good. Got there a bit late due to work so my mojo was off. I was ready to run but not to think, consequently I was less effective than I usually am. My team won the sprint relays though, so that was fun.

I'm beginning to prepare for regionals, training, visualizing, and getting pumped!
Bryce owes me dinner if we make it to Nationals...that's motivation enough. :=)

Sectionals....

So, I played at Central Plains sectionals this weekend. It was kind of a lame tourney, with Nemesis, Dish, us, and the U of I college girls. What's worse, it was cold! And windy. The kind of cold that makes you not want to catch the frisbee because it hurts like hell when the plastic hits your bare fingers. And the kind of wind that equalizes every game, doesn't matter how good you are, the wind is better with that disc....We were also down 3big cutters and 1 awesome handler. Ouch.

I was still sick. I felt ok, had decent speed and endurance. Just my lungs were burning, and I hacked my lungs out between points. That sucked. I sounded like an 80 yr old lady who had been smoking for all 80 yrs! I learned how tough I am though, that it didn't really matter. I could still perform when I needed to.

The format was pretty shitty. Really shitty, we ended up playing the same team twice. Beating them the first time, losing the second. After they played an easy game against a college team and we played a tough game against Nemesis. We had to come back and play dish. And this time, we lost. Painful. The first game meant nothing. And that is just silly. We should have just forfeited, played the 4th place team, and come back and beat Dish. What a dumb format. We are still the better team...

Maybe it'll work out for the best at Regionals...we are advancing, this tournament was for seed....

I had a pretty good weekend. First game against dish, we beat them for the first time 9-7. Of the 9 points we scored I caught 2 scores and threw one. Nice. I was fast, and played good d. My cold wasn't affecting me too much. Second game against Nemesis, I threw one of our 4 scores. I was fast and it was nice to see that I could run with those girls. No problem. I sat out the 2nd half of that game as my lungs were burning from my flu thing, and I couldn't stop coughing, even while running. I was ready for the 3rd game though, and once again caught 2 of our 8 scores. Just wasn't enough I suppose...the game was overall slow and painful, lots of turnovers, and no real heart from the Spicy Tuna team. I knew we weren't gonna do well before the game, as the focus from the team was not really very sharp. Frustrating.

I then came home and slept for 12 hrs...the tourney plus the cough did me in!

Oh well, I hope we'll peak at regionals....I am super bummed we lost to a crappy team. But I know we are way better and I'm hoping we'll show it at regionals.

Lame...super lame.

So I seem to have contracted this cough/cold/allergy thing that's been going around. Seriously everyone I know seems to have it. So, after feeling great at CHC, I've had to take a step back and slow down. Lame. Seriously lame. I was just getting strong and fit again. And what's worse, is I have Sectionals this weekend. I'm a bit better than I was 2 days ago, but this sucks. A wise man once told me that "being sick is your body's way of telling you to slow down." I DON'T WANT TO SLOW DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!! So frustrated....

Practice

It was Glenn's birthday yesterday, so I didn't make it into the box because I was buying Oberweiss for him! But, that having been said, I'll still have made it in 3x this week, plus practice today, which I'm pretty happy with for a week that I took a few rest days on purpose!

Practice today was just mediocre. It got cut short by the thunderstorms. just when I was starting to get my legs under me. That's too bad, it was gonna be good.
Here's how it went

Approx 400m warm up run
10x 25 yard sets of plyos- high knees, butt kicks, high skips, backward shuffles, karaoke, bounds, you get the idea
10 min stretch
Throwing drills
Sushi drill (lots of throwing and cutting). Specifically I worked on my low releases and really selling my deep cut for 15 yrds so I could plant, turn, and come under. Angela gave me some feedback about this, so I worked on this specifically. I sprinted hard during this.
3 pull drill. Holy crap I played on the o-line! What???? I think the Spicy Tuna girls have turned me into a d player...I don't even like offense any more! Ha!
Started to scrimmage, and then, lightning. Boo hiss...

It's funny how an almost 2 hr practice with pretty consistent activity, and a decent amount of sprinting doesn't feel like enough. Does that mean I wasn't intense enough? Crossfitters I think, would say that I didn't work hard enough. In my heart, I think that I could turn it up a notch. However, the flip side becomes burning out too quick at a practice, after all, the last hour is usually where all the sprinting counts, which we didn't get to.

Here's my pledge. I will turn it up for the 1st 2 hrs of every practice, so that by the last hour, I am spent. Like hurting, legs painful, lungs winded, SPENT. And then I will push through that last hour of pain, exceed any limits that I had previously placed on myself. And push. At least until regionals. It'll only make me better. I'll learn how to cut and throw tired, I'll learn how to get open by being smart, and I'll learn how to play d even when I don't want to.

Then, I'll rest and be ready. I want to do well at regionals. I want to kill it. I want to crush, and after Sunday at CHC, I think we have a shot. I really do. I'm dreaming of Sarasota. I will do everything I can between then and now to make that happen. And if it doesn't, I will know that I went down fighting....

Consistency

Rudy today gently reminded me how important consistency is. I have been pulled in many different directions, with work and ultimate, and have not been as consistent with getting to the box. And I have seen my performance suffer at crossfit. I am not losing ground, but have not made as many gains as certainly I could. So, I promise to do a better job with this, and to make it in at least 3-4x a week while in season, and a whole lot more when I'm not....

Rudy also gently told me to suck it up today! It was just what I needed. My body was shredded from the tournament, and so I was looking for an excuse to ease up on myself. Thank you Rudy, for not letting me. And then I watched Donna struggle through the same WOD, and I realized that I hadn't pushed hard enough. The weight I chose was way too light. Watching her was so immensely inspiring! I have always said that crossfit is about the struggle, I haven't been struggling enough recently...So I stuck around and worked out with the team, and didn't let up. Once again, what I needed to do.

I learned a big lesson today. From Rudy and Donna. Suck it up. Struggle. I'll live and come out stronger for it. No fear. And no letting up. Thanks guys.

Press: Not feeling it at all! Arms super tired, don''t know from what. 45-53x5

The WOD
21-15-9
FS and burpees. 55#'s. Too easy. FS unbroken, burpees pretty close to unbroken...
6:10 or so

WOD #2
Partner WOD
20 Rounds total of

10 power wall balls (10#'s)
Broad jump
5 burpees
Broad jump
5 burpees
Broad jump
10 air squats

Glad I stuck around. I pushed past my limits on this one, what I should have done on the first one....
Lesson learned.

Don't call it a come back!

I've been here for years...

I haven't played ultimate competitively since 2003, the last time I went to Club Nationals. After 6 seasons off, I thought coming back would be a disaster. Turns out, I am faster, stronger, and have more endurance than I ever did, thanks to CFC.

This weekend I played at CHC. Saturday was easy for us, with the exception of the Nemesis game. We gave up on this one before we started which was frustrating! Sunday though was a new day, and we lost to the team that went head to head with Nemesis by 1 point. For the first time, this team showed some fight, some heart, some fire. Overall we placed 6th, and I think we will peak at the right time. I look forward to seeing Nemesis again, b/c I think we'll give them a run for their money!

I had a great weekend. I was fast, caught or assisted 25% of the team's scores, and had NO FEAR. Defensively, I was a monster. No one touched the disc with me on them. I layed out, got up, and did it all over again. I never stopped sprinting. I even caught a few high discs, with 3 x 5'8" and over girls closing in on me....

I never felt fearless with ultimate before. I suppose it happened because I knew that the foundation I had spent building over the last year was so strong, no one was going to beat me. No one was going to outrun or outjump or outsquat me. I gained a new mental toughness...my heart told me to bust ass, because I'd be fine after one point out on the sideline. Which I was. I finally became that player that performed well, gave everything I had during every point, and with a couple minutes of rest, could do it all over again. I didn't have to pace it....

I couldn't even do that as a 23 yr old....

And I got a great tan. It's good to be back.

Thank you Rudy, Bryce, Alex, Liz, Jonny, Zach, Anthony, Mandie, Alison, Kerry and all the coaches at CFC. Thank you to all the athletes that have made me better. I look forward to more....Bring It!

I'm back tomorrow after 3 rest days, as my body is trashed. Looking forward to the burpee, FS wod, and FGB on sunday!