CrossFit – Sentinel2Sentinel

A little Granny shuffle today

Finally, the spirit of running, well the spirit of the Granny shuffle, kicked in as I made my way around one of my walking routes. It felt amazing. Since my foot drama I have come back with a 100k row and a jumprope challenge and a barely shuffle twenty feet on Monday’s walk.

For the last few weeks I have been pushing my Wall Ball (my little Charlie R. in his stroller) for a mile plus walk, gradually increasing my walking speed but today something just took over and I started the real granny shuffle. It was a bit of a shock.

Then my mind kicked in telling me to start some run/walk intervals for time when all of a sudden my mind took over and I started shuffling, not wanting to walk. (It may have happened because I was so close to home and I wanted to be done already.) And as I shuffled those old feelings of thinking I am a runner popped into my mind.

I am back. Shuffling, but I am really back. Time to break out the PWR Sandbag and take that shuffle to the next level.

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NOOOO! Event 5: 1 LB DU MAX

Oh my gosh. Years ago, like way more than twenty, I could jump rope fairly well. I could one foot, two foot, run up and downhill while jumping, criss-cross, boxer step, and alternate feet jumping, heel touch, jack jump, and sissor jump too. Now, I am happy to just keep the rope turning after years of inactivity.

In 2014, when I started at 26.2 CrossFit, jumping rope well again became my goal. Here I am four years later and I still stink at it, in my mind. What is worse is I still have never done a proper double under. Honestly, I am happy if I can string 30 consecutive jumps together with a speed rope. Granted, I had three, yes 1 – 2 – 3, foot injuries this year so that has slowed my progress down but that is no excuse.

This year I discovered CrossRope. Picking up the Limited Edition Heavy Set and falling in love with it (having not yet jumped with Brunhilda – rolling my eyes) I ordered the complete serious of ropes with an extra set of handles. And finally, over all of my injuries, I have made it through this, my first Jump Rope Performance Challenge, except for….

Tomorrow’s dreaded double under event. And with a one pound rope!

I will work to get that double under tomorrow. Yes. YES I WILL!

Even if my max is one, at least I will be done. I will never quit. I will do my very best at Guns Out CrossFit.

#TeamMe #TeamBooGah #GoFightWin #TeamGunsOutCrossFit

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#LOGHLNeverDieWeJustModify

Oh my goodness. It has been a wild couple of days with Irma and the debris around my house and the tree on my roof and organizing clean up. But it is all good because today was CrossRope‘s Jump Rope Performance Challenge Day 1: 1000 jumps with a half pound rope.

I did it. It took me forever. I did not die.

Yes. Yes it was as much a stress reliever WoD as it was a stressor to keep going and get it done. The rope kept getting caught under my shoes. I tried jumping without the shoes but it was a little painful to step on it when I missed a turn. It was seriously painful when I whacked my toes with that heavy duty sucker. Finally it was just wiser to put them back on.

No. No I will not video myself jumping. No. I will not post my time.

Nevertheless, I will press forward with this JRPChallenge. I will keep on jumping, doing the very best I can as my little old gray-haired lady self, for my kind never die; we just modify.

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Making a shift in thinking, again.

It has been a year of midday to late afternoon and some evening WoD’s for me since moving to Alabama. It has been, well, not bad. I am definitely more a morning workout kind of person and that is better for me.

Today I started back jumping rope. It felt so fantastic. It was around 9 or so in the morning, 250 jumps timed, taking me about three minutes to complete the task. For me, that was great. I was elated and my feet were happy.

I am thankful to my Coach Charles for working with me so I have a way to work back into a routine after all of the goofy drama with my broken toe, my blistered feet and ripped toenail this year, plus the bout with bronchitis before that.

Yeah Baby. I’m working my way back to you, Guns Out CrossFit!

P.S. Now that is serious business WoD music for the Granny Nanny!

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Update: Dogs Days of Summer almost over

Today was the last day to get all of my meters in for Week 3:30k of the Dog Days of Summer Challenge 2017. Tomorrow begins Week 4:40k and the thought of muffing up on completing this week’s challenge was weighing on my mind over the weekend for on Saturday, after I finished my last 2,000 meters, I thought I had shorted myself by 1,000 meters. Therefore, the plan was to take advantage of such a short row and to finish off the week by way of 30 seconds rowing followed by 30 seconds of rest for 10 rounds.

Being alone and without music was the nicest part of my row. It was great to feel my heartbeat, to feel my pulse elevate and to hear me regulate and control my breathing for each stroke. I could huff and puff and grunt all I wanted through each round. And I was spectacular at challenging myself, round after round, staying focused. (Well, at least it felt that way in my own mind.)

Setting the lever to 8, then launching off of each round with a quarter, a half, a three-quarter pull followed by ten regular pulls seemed a brilliant strategy. The goal was to maintain a reasonable number of strokes per minute (SPM) to maintain at minimum 100 meters in thirty seconds per round and then row all out on the last round.

It was great having a series of short rows. It has been a long time since having to merely row 1k in a day. It was really wonderful to row in silence and alone as previously mentioned. But the best part was realizing that I had already met my 30k for the week when I stopped to think things through. I forgot all I had to do was look at the Dog Days 2017 board to see they had tracked and categorized each week’s row for me. (Gibbs-slap my own head with my Crew Stop rowing glove on.) FullSizeRender

Turns out I did not need to row that last 1,000 meters. I rowed them simply because I wanted to and now I am securely over what is needed to complete this week’s requirement.

Now on to formulate tomorrow’s 40k strategy!

#TeamEmJoKim #TeamGunsOutCrossFit

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Pratville Swolemate 2017 Games

It was a fantastic day today. The Honey-do and I had a lot of running around today and it was a hot one! I need to get this posted before midnight so just a quick little notation. Shoot… it’s after midnight, darn it!

We were able to make it up to Prattville to see Four Teams from Guns Out CrossFit compete in the Swolemate 2017. It was brutal for the teams in this sultry, Alabama heat! It was 94F with a RealFeel of 113F at 56% humidity and that was at 4-5 p.m. in Montgomery so imagine it was pretty close to that 30 mintues up the road, in the Stadium, in the full sun.

Anyway, we got up to the games about 7 and it was still in the mid-90s. Brutal. But there they all were powering through the next two events.

I was sorry we had to leave before the last two events but my mates were looking pretty awesome.

174/365 … on day 175 darn it! Missed it by that much… 8 mins.

Need a boost?

Yesterday was a bit of a let down even though I had a lot to be thankful for. Today was only a little better thanks to a posting by my Coach on the GOCF Facebook page about the SQUAT MAGIC.

“Master the king of exercises and give your bum a boost with Squat Magic!”

Yeah.

No.

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Rowing information for my teammates

When I first started at 26.2 CrossFit my coaches had me row more than run. Yeah. I was that bad at running. And when I first started rowing, I was that bad at rowing but I took to it right away, never giving up and here I am today, a rowing fool at Guns Out CrossFit.

Over the last few weeks some of my teammates have asked me about my rowing. Here is some basic information that I return to again and again to help me improve my rowing.

Concept 2 is the first go to for beginning at the beginning. I go there a lot to read and reread. Be sure to check out all of the links under the TRAINING section.
Angela Hart is my favorite go to on YouTube. I watch her videos over and over again. She explains things in a really great way that work for my brain. Her explanation about the DAMPER SETTINGS being similar to the gears on a bike was really helpful and I still experiment with settings depending upon what I want to accomplish in a Rowing WoD.

Please be encouraged to truly take your time with the Concept 2 site first. Sign up for the LogBook at the top of the page. You can keep track of your training there, online.

Too often, I forget to use the log book unless it is for an Online Challenges or any row where I can get a ranking, like today. That said, please note #ImNotLast!

Good Luck and Great Rowing!

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Fourteen Minutes? Who did that?

I set the machine for a one hour and fifteen minute row. Well, I thought I set it for that length of time until viewing the details at the end of the row. Evidently I need to wear my glasses when setting my plans in the future.

My goal was to experiment with a rowing strategy for the upcoming 2017 Summer Solstice Challenge by Concept 2. By adding the 97 meters to make it a half-marathon, it will be a new personal record for me.

My times were a bit sluggish today. I have been experimenting with rowing at different times during the day while building up endurance for the distance. Where I lost time fiddling with my iPhone, trying to get the music straightened out after I rowed the first 6k, made the biggest difference in my strokes per minute.

It was not a bad row overall. It ended up being rather revelatory and encouraging in spite of the one minute loss in programming time and the iPhone music mishap.

I will not make those same errors again. Well, I will make a good faith effort to not do them again.

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My little CrossRope Ahaaa…

Screen Shot 2017-06-08 at 8.08.25 PM This week I have been excited to use my CrossRope collection. Double Unders were part of the Monday and Wednesday Guns Out Crossfit WoD’s so I used the 1/2 lb rope for it is not yet possible for me to do a double under. Opting to do singles with that heavier rope allowed me to jump the required reps versus doing double the jumps as Single Unders with a speed rope.

Today I used the CrossRope App to do the Burn Fat 1 set for 6 mins with the prescribed ropes. Using the 1/4 pound Agility rope was really a shift for me. It made me feel like I was a remedial jump roper after having used the 1/2 pounder on Monday. The 1 pound Intensity was less of a problem though my rhythm was a little off.

The thing that clicked in my brain during today’s short workout was how the heavier ropes were definitely a great way to start my CrossRope fitness journey. Even though today was a bit of a challenge changing handles in a short period of time, it was great trying to get my timing figured out with the different weighted ropes. I know, with practice, those DU’s will happen as I learn to focus on how to best adapt then control my turning and jumping speeds.

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