I truly believe Crossfit has improved my running. Since Reach the Beach, I’ve gone for 1 maybe 2 runs, aside from any running that may be incorporated into the workout that day in Crossfit.
Instead of running, I’ve been WODing…4-5 times a week, and I love it.
(taken from our Crossfit facebook page) That's me in front in case you couldn’t tell.
So then 4th of July rolls around and I register for a local 5k that is 5 min from my house and a bunch of people from Crossfit are running as well!
The 4th turned out to be a pretty warm day. Brian was running too and we decided just to take it easy and see how it goes. The heat usually doesn’t bode well for me.
A few minutes after we started I see that we’re keeping a fairly fast pace (for me) and I’m worried about crapping out later.
Let’s just say I was shocked that we maintained a good pace the whole time! We stopped twice at each of the water stations, but just kept trucking…and I ended up with a new PR!!
28:26!!!! My previous 5k PR was a couple years ago at 29:10, and since then I usually hover around 30 minutes. I can NOT believe I maintained that pace in that heat! I was so pumped!!
Some of my fellow crossfitters after the race!
Looking forward to more races :)
So yeah Crossfit is awesome, I love it.
I love being able to see the results each week…especially the lifting. I’m really loving the Olympic lifts as well as the power lifts. I guess its in my genes…my dad used to be a competitive power lifter. I have photos I need to scan in…they are awesome from his lifting days back in the 70’s/80’s!
We recently started a Fran cycle at Crossfit. We tested our Fran time, and from there we are going to do lots of workouts focused on improving those skills, and then re-test in about 6 weeks!
Fran is a well known benchmark workout…every crossfitter wants to know their “Fran time”.
(me, Post Fran…loving me new Lulu top!!)
Its a quick workout, 21 reps, 15 reps, then 9 reps of thrusters (65lb for women) and pull-ups.
Since this is supposed to be a quicker workout we found our maximum 1 rep thruster (which is a front squat with the bar, and as you stand up you “thrust” the bar up overhead)…. and then used 50% of our 1 rep max.
The point is, you don't want to use such a heavy weight that it slows you down too much. Our coach didn’t want anyone over the 6-8 min mark.
I used a 45lb bar, and body rows. We didn’t use band assisted pull-ups this time…if you couldn’t do unassisted pull-ups you did ring rows or body rows.
My time was 5:52.
Looking forward to testing it again!
And even thought I can’t really do unassisted pull-ups for a workout yet… I did get THREE kipping pull-ups in a row!! Booya!
I guess that I’m just excited that in just over 7 months of Crossfit, I am able to see myself improving. It’s definitely motivation to keep on going!
So there’s my little fitness update for you :)
What keeps you motivated??
