Renegade rowing wk 3

16dec13 

This week was another good week. We focused on what our race pace was going to be on Saturday (my first indoor erg event)  

The workout 

We did the first part in sync with Nick calling the changes.  Then we practiced race starts, which are actually really awkward.  Because you have to go fast, but also doing three different lengths of stroke in the row is tricky. And doesn't feel great yet. I am working on quick hands, basically right now they are super lazy.  So on the return I get sort of fouled up in myself. It also makes you loose hella time. So that's not good either. 

My goal for the workout portion was to keep the same average split for all the pieces. I did not but got pretty close. 

I think my strokes per min were pretty good at 30. I'll probably stick to that. But split wise my goal is going to be 2:06.  Because at low 2:04. I sort of left like I was going to vomit. And then 2:07 was a bit too comfy. I mean technically the crash Bs and the race on Saturday will be all said and done in about 8 min. So we don't need to be too comfy. But I don't want to burn out in the first 500 meters. 

So I have a plan... Woohoo

Renagade Rowing wk 2

09dec13

It was another good practice at rowing this week. We had the rowers set up in a different fashion this week, essentially in 2 "boats". But that didn't matter much because we didn't warm up with the pic drill. 

The workout was 

We ended up not doing the team warm up but everything else was accomplished.  I think we skipped it because we went over the website. And how to find it. I found out I was actually in photograph in the website. 

http://renegaderowing.com

So hey, I can lift... Snatch it 

The prep

Full extension 

And kapow!

Pretty cool to actually see it cause snatchs are hard. 

Anyway, the workout was good. Though it's really hard to stay at a consistent stroke rating, but I know I'll keep working and get better. 

I like the feeling around a 30 s/m, right now the other ones are really hard. 

Week of workouts

Ok. More like two days of workouts. It's been a big week at the gym. Monday we did our 20 rep max back squats again. And I do say again because I feel like it just happened. And i think it did but maybe a month ago.  The total work out is below.  I managed 128lbs.  Which is pretty good.  Though in thinking about it I may have gone heavier the previous time.  I was hesitant to go too heavy this time because i haven't been feeling that strong lately....thank you work plague... when everyone in your office comes in sick its bound to effect you eventually.  For the rest of the workout I used a 15lb (or maybe 12lb ) kettle bell.  Turkish get ups are ridiculously complicated and i did them ridiculously slowly...finished ways after everyone else.  Though funny I found out the next day that at least one person didn't finish it so YAY me for pushing through.

Tuesdays workout (listed below) was extremely complicated and even two days later i'm feeling it.  Which is the sign of a good workout.  Snatches are probably one of the most complicated movements in Crossfit so it was great to work on them.  But consiquently its easy to hurt yourself.  Solution...do less weight.  I maxed out around 60lbs..didn't write it down...shoot.  But I did #3 with 40lbs...around.  once again don't really remember.   It was a killer, and this is the kind of thing that my speed, or lack there off, really causes issues.  Because I would finish or almost finish the round when it was time to start the next one.  Killer.  But i made it and now I have a sore bumm....WOOOHOOO.

I decided to take the next two days off...well yesterday and today mainly due to scheduling but probably a good idea regardless.  We'll see how things are tomorrow for yoga time.

Oslo Thursday

Today was a pretty basic day. First I finally made it to a Wod at crossfit Oslo. It was wicked fun and ironically almost the entire thing was conducted in English. Both of the coaches I've met at crossfit Oslo have been British and Australian so not native speakers. The one today heard me attempt Norsk and immediately answered in English. I mean it was nice because we did snatches and muscle ups. Both things that I don't know well so lots of instruction was a good thing.

The workout
2-2-2 heavy dead lifts with snatch grip.
"Amanda" 9-7-5 of snatches and muscle ups - in about 15 min

So the dead lifts were not a problem. We had done those at crossfit Boston a bunch of times so no biggie. I hadn't don't snatches in a year so that was tricky. I ended up only using the bar 15kg. Which was a bit light but even going up to 20kg was causing my form to go to shit. So wawa.. Light it was. And it was hard enough. We did a nice cool down too, which was a good thing so I can probably go tomorrow without being too sore.

After that we went to S and A. One of my uncle aunt combos. Actually yet are two out of three of my uncle aunts in Oslo. I think I'll be seeing the third on Saturday. We just had alittle lunch and tea and chatted for awhile. My Norwegian skills have definitely gotten worse since my summer school times but I can follow the conversation decently... Enough that I'm not completely lost most of the time, when only one person is talking. It's definitely ways harder when there is a lot of people talking.

After we left S and A I got dropped at the train to go for a walk down town / shop. In typical me fashion though I couldn't really see much I wanted. I went to the mall, Oslo city, and the Christmas outdoor market at Karl Johan's gate. It was fun to walk around and any outdoor market that sells liqueur is ok by me. I didn't drink but still felt very Christmassy.

And now I'm on the train back to Ls to warm up and have some dinner :) another great day in Oslo.

Mini crossfit and blogging fail

So I had a bunch of stuff written down but because I didn't press publish it didn't save. Damn it.

Today I finally made it to crossfit Oslo. Of course the fail part was the fact that the class I though I signed up for was at 4pm not 2pm. Damn you military time. Fortunately the very nice Australian man I talked to let me do open gym.

It's always harder to motivate myself alone which is why I tend to go to the Wods but I did. And I did a bunch of different stuff including "grace" at almost rx... Since I have no idea how heavy the bar was. But it was likely between 35 and 45 kg total weight. In 11:45. So not bad. I could have definitely done it faster but like I said hard to motivate when you're alone.

Otherwise it was a very relaxing day. Took the dog for a walk, and now off to have a cousins evening with almost all the Oslo girl cousins... Or I guess in this family you have to specify... All the first cousins :)

Let the fun times roll

Twofer

Greetings from London. Time to update about the last two days. It's been a great two days and I can't believe I only have three more on this leg of the trip.

Yesterday I started the day by sleeping in a bit. It felt good after being so exhausted from the pace that we'd been keeping up. It was a bit intense so I needed a slow day.

I went running through A s neighborhood. And got lost. I didn't bring my tube pass. Admittedly stupid cause I ended up about a mile and a half away with the only way to get was to walk and run back. So a quick 20 - 30 min run turned into a 50 min run. Oops. And the annoying part it didn't even end up being that far.

I made it back and changed to go to central London crossfit. There again I got a bit turned around. The gym door was actually a bay door so it was a bit confusing to figure out where it was. I also ended up on the wrong street. So I ended up going to the elements class a half hr later. Which meant I was a half hr behind schedule... Which meant I was late to meet S. oops... Shit happens. I got to press series myself so all good.

Once we met up again we headed to Buckingham Palace. They only change the guard every other day but not the day we went . Still cool and got to see the guys in the fluffy hats :) all worth it. We roamed around that area for awhile.. And then I decided I needed food so we grabbed a sandwich and walked some more. Around the area.

We ended up in a shopping area that was very swanky. There was a huge burberry, among other things... Not exactly the places I shop but still really fun to walk around.

We went to a very local pub for dinner. Which had really good food. Then we went back.

The next day started off with an early crossfit workout again. 8 rounds of 200 meter run, 20 kettle bell gobblet squats and 20 sit up. So I was dead after that.

Fortunately the next location I was headed too was actually close to the gym. So I walked over to the Globe theater, or the replica of it, since the real burned down. But it was really cool to see. I mean I've never been to an outdoor theater and it was cool to see what a theater replica was like.

After that I walked along the river and over the bridge to St Paul's Cathedral. It was so pretty pretty. And I went up to this place in church called the whisper gallery. It involved a large number of stairs. I also went to the crypt... Yes dead people but it was good.

I then went to get some food and make my way to Oxford circus. I was going to take the train but I actually passed a bus. So I got my double decker bus experience. Woohoo!

I walked around Carneby st and did some shopping. I really like those shops. They are very eclectic. Which I like. :)

I went home and got ready to go to the theater. Then A, F, S and I went to kiss me Kate :) awesome blossom. And such a good show.

Then it was off to bed