Good Morning from Albuquerque

I can't believe it's July! I've had a wonderful relaxing week with lots of walking, a rest from CrossFit, and healthy food.

Sorry I've been so scarce, but I find the lap top impossible to type on comfortably.

On Tuesday, we went to Bandelier National Monument where the cliff dwelling pueblos are located. It was something that I had studied in grad school and never thought I'd see. I can't even describe how incredible it felt to be able to climb up the ladders easily and hike along narrow paths which I wouldn't have been able to squeeze through even if I had gotten to them 10 years ago. Another benefit of fitness!

Have a good one,

Mel

I'm jealous that you are in ABQ

We went to Bandelier a couple years ago. We climbed some of the smaller ladders but I am a scaredy cat and didn't go up the big ones (I remember at least one that was 20 feet high?)

Are you guys going to go to Tent Rocks? I really loved Tent rocks, it is about half way in between Santa Fe.

Yesterday at CF, we went over olympic lifting so I learned the snatch and the clean. I'm a little sore from the clean in terms of where the bones are near my neck. The good news is that my front squat rack position is getting better but I still hate it

Tomorrow is the last day of our class and he said we are going to do some strong man stuff and then a workout which wraps everything up. I imagine its going to be hard

Ahem... where is everyone?!

I have to share this! I finished my OnRamp class tonight (3 weeks long). On the first day, we did this workout:
200 m run
15-12-9
squats
pushups
ring rows
then 200 m run at the end
It took me 11:30 the first time.

Today we did it again, it took me 6:52 !!

How in the **** did I cut off over 4 minutes off my time?

Yay Nelie!! Isn't it amazing how quickly we can progress? Are you staying with CF?

I've been plugging away with my exercises. I can sure feel my legs as this has been a heavy lower body week. It's all good.

I like Bandelier! Hope you have safe travels, Mel.

Nelie, did you improve your snatch?

Hi Pat!

My abs are sore. That is all.....

Not much for me here, DH took my gym away from me To paint & re carpet, sell, and move out of this condo and get a house!! So no squat rack, bar, plates, etc. Can't go to a gym b/c no gym will accept a 4 week old into childcare.

Any recommended dumbbell routines? I can keep the bowflex adjustables...

How heavy are your dumbbells? Sumo squats, step ups, walking lunges, split squat jumps, one -legged deadlifts (feel free to do on a Bosu ball). Push presses, chest presses (do on an exercise ball) Have you ever incorporated a dumbbell row into a pushup? Do a push up but with your hands holding the dumbbells pressed to the floor (do this on carpet for dumbbell stability) WHen you are pushed up in a plank, pull one of the dumbbells into a row, replace it to the floor, do another push up, and then dumbbell row with the other arm.

I'm telling you stuff but I think you know more about weights than I do.

Also, no rush.....take it easy (sorry, that's me being a mom)

Oh, I did those push-ups a couple of sessions ago - they're killers! I can't do the actual push-up on the DB as it hurts my wrists too much, so I do the pushup, then pick up the DB and do the twisting part. T pushup with weights

It's cloudy and raining and cool here - I'll being doing cardio indoors, along with an UBWO. Happy 4th to my USA friends!

I've had a killer gym week.

First, I finally got up the nerve to run outside and shaved 10 minutes off my 5K! So Nelie, yeah...how do we do that? LOL!

Second, my personal trainer killed me with 160 squats. I didn't feel it at the time...but ouch for the next few days.

Third, I did a body plus abs class today in which we did "walking planks". Anyone ever done those? Basically we got into a plank position. From there we came up first on one hand, then the other (into a push up position), then one hand at a time back to plank. We did 16 of those!

It's been a good week at the gym. I finished it up with a Saturday morning filled with one hour of body plus abs followed by 45 minutes of the most intense Spin class to date. (I think all the teachers are expecting us to be bad this holiday weekend. )

I haven't had a great workout week this week, but I did get back on the horse with a FB workout from stumptuous and some exercise bike. Peachtree Road Race tomorrow. Once I recover from that I am back to the serious schedule.

Sounds like you guys are doing great!

I hate those T pushups with dumbells... Owza...

Good fourth everyone!

Happy 4th of July!

Nelie- That's a HUGE improvement in conditioning!

I did strongman Xfit yesterday which completely wiped me out. I was like a cartoon character at the end, trying to pull a weighted tire. My legs were moving, but neither the tire nor me were going anywhere I tried to stay for the regular WOD after that. but only made it through the strength lift that we do before the WOD. I ended my last set of thrusters by smacking myself in the head with a 95 pd barbell and decided I'd be better off going home than risking more damage. Today was R&R Tomorrow I need to really get back in the Xfit groove. The rest has been good for me, but I need another real workout (that doesn't involve a lump on the head!)

Hi Eliana!!

Mel, worst I've done yet is knocked myself on the head with a 30 lb DB, I can't imagine taking a 95 lb bb to the head. Hope the noggin is okay!

Nelie, way to go crushing the baseline workout! Woot! So glad you are enjoying the CF gym, and found a good trainer!

Just a flyby, but wanted to see what you ladies were up to, and give a to all. We had a survey about the new classes at our gym, and I wasn't the only one having trouble fitting in skills practice, so they changed it up. Now, they're posting a warm-up for those who don't have their own plan, but basically now I can show up as early as needed, do my own warm-up with skills practice, then at 15 after the hour, the classes will start with the skill transfer exercises, then wod, then stretching/cooldown...so, no more double warm-ups for me...woot!

Gotta run. Just one workout today at my gym, and I was supposed to leave about 5 minutes ago. (zoom!)

We are busy doing some summer cleaning here so the house is in a bit of disorder. I don't have homework due next week so hopefully between today (although still some homework to do today) and this week and next weekend, things will be put in order.

Today was our July 4 WOD and I knew it was going to be hard, when I talked to the trainer on Friday he was thinking about Murph but posted this morning that it wouldn't be Murph.

Instead we showed up and he said it was a mystery workout, so first thing up was run a mile and the next portion of the workout would be on the board. So running is my nemesis and he actually came and pulled 3 of us that were last back in just short of a mile (100 feet short? something like that) Then pullups were up but because I was one of the last runners and the setup time/room for my pull downs, I didn't do any. We also weren't told the timeframe in which we had so it was basically do an exercise until we were told stop. After the workout was over, we were told the interval time. Next up, burpees were revealed, I ended up doing 11 within the 2 minute timeframe. Then wall balls were revealed and I did 23 in 3:30 minutes. Then a 400m run with a plate, I ran with a 10 lb plate and I think my time was 3:26. Then we were told to do KB sumo dead lift high pulls as the last exercise. I did about 30 with a 12kg KB (not sure of time frame).

Then after all that, we were told to go run another mile. Now I have to say I haven't run a mile in over a year so running over 2 miles in 1 day (between the first mile, the 400m plate run and the second mile) is huge for me. I started running with lots of walking intervals, mostly walking actually although at the end I ran most of the way.

My normal run time around my neighborhood varies between 14:30 to 15 minute mile (very slow). My first (almost) mile today took me 10:06 which I could barely believe. My second mile at the end was 15 minutes which again after being exhausted and mostly walking, I was surprised. Oh and the reason I walked most of the last mile wasn't because my legs or my lungs couldn't go but my stomach was threatening to bring up whatever was in my stomach which was just liquid. So I figured with my queasiness, I'd let my stomach win out

I also don't have exact times/intervals because I started a notebook but I left it at the gym. I did write everything down.

Ha! Hi! I guess I never noticed this thread before and thought I'd just jump in.

Nelie, that workout sounds killer! I'm really impressed with your stamina!

I had my best Spin ever this morning! I was out too late with fireworks to get to my 5:45 class so I went to the 9:15 class instead. She killed us! Everyone was saying the class was triple its normal size, probably because everyone was doing what I did. I recognize a couple other 5:45ers as well.

Following Spin class, my eight year old wanted to go on a bike ride. Um...it's 95 degrees outside with ridiculous humidity. Last year I wouldn't have walked outside to get the mail on a day like today! But today...I piled our bikes into the car and drove to a bike trail. We drove around a pond several times, did the parcors course together (sort of), and then played on the playground together a while before biking back to the car. Awesome!

And after dinner, I think I have convinced DH to attempt a two mile walk tonight for ice cream. (4 miles round trip) We have to cross one dangerous intersection with the kids, but I think we can do it. It will be our first time walking.

Today's plan calls for a LBWO, which I was going to do this morning, but I took a look at the sky and forecast, I'm opting for mowing the grass before it gets soaked once again (it's rained 5 of the last 6 days!). I'll go to the gym this afternoon!

Nelie - you are making great progress quickly. I heard rumors that our gym is trying to hire a CF instructor, though how'd they'd do a class is beyond me. They have machines shoved into every possible space. Even the free weight room has several (plus a Smith and 2 squat cages, innumerable plate holders and 5 benches!) It's hard to pick up a barbell without hitting something - esp the walls - which are all covered in mirrors - or the windows.