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Monday, February 29, 2016

St. Louis, Day 2

Conference, Day 1 of 4, check!

Thank goodness for black tights! My knees are so bruised from doing those walking lunges and burpees in the parking lot at Saturday’s CrossFit session. One of the vendors came up to me earlier today and complimented me on my dress. That was a nice start to the day!

For dinner, I went with 3 of my coworkers to Maggie O'Brian's. I got the blackened chicken salad because I desperately felt like I needed some vegetables in my stomach! I noticed that the language got saltier and saltier as the alcohol flowed. There were a few f-bombs, and a part of me thought the senior director sitting with us would frown upon that, but he seemed super chill about it. o_0

The grand hall ceiling of the hotel totally reminded me of Hogwarts because it was so high and they actually played a light show, on the hour, at night. And I think it's a different show every hour too. This one happened to be focused on planets.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

St. Louis, Day 1

Whew, I made it! I slept most of the flight, per usual.

When I got to the airport, I texted my coworker to say I was at baggage claim. He was too, and then we realized we were in different terminals. I was all set to walk to the other terminal, but I saw the signs for a shuttle. I got on the shuttle and then quickly realized that the other terminal would not have been within walking distance. It was like a 5 minute drive away!

I'm glad that the two of us took the train together to the hotel because I would have been nervous to ride it by myself. The landscape was a little disheartening. I saw lots of dilapidated buildings and then new buildings but no people nearby (maybe because it was Sunday?), and then even the "Market" area near the hotel was pretty empty. Then you have to account for the interesting people on the train, which normally doesn't bother me on the Metro at home, but when I'm in a city I'm not familiar with, it makes me really nervous.

For dinner, I met up with 2 of my coworkers and we went to Lombardo's, an Italian restaurant. I had some seafood pasta, and it was super yummy, especially after a day of travelling.
If you look closely, you can see the Arch.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

CrossFit Open Games Workout 16.1 and a New Crafty Project

The day is finally here! The CrossFit Games Open have begun, something the gym has been talking about for months. The workout was released last night so I knew what I was getting myself into. It wasn't really the exercises that I was worried about. It was more the time because 20 minutes is a long time to be going all-out.
 
CrossFit Games Open 16.1 Scaled (AMRAP - Reps)
20-Minute AMRAP of:
25 Ft. Front Rack Walking Lunge, 35#
8 Bar Facing Burpees
25 Ft. Front Rack Walking Lunge, 35#
8 Jumping Pull-ups

I got through 5 complete rounds and tacked on 25 ft walking lunges and 8 burgees, 143 total reps. More fun to follow next week!

A few days ago, Jessie asked me if I would make a bunch of 3D crystal hearts for a project she wants to do with her students and linked a YouTube tutorial in her email for reference.

My first instinct was to say “But that’s not paper! This is totally outside of my comfort zone. Like in another galaxy!“ But I wanted to give it a shot before I said anything. I bought supplies after CrossFit this morning.

After a few hours, I made something resembling a heart! Hey, not too bad for the first day of trying! I will need more practice, but I’m getting somewhere.
Before
After

Friday, February 26, 2016

Happy Birthday, Julie!

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! It was a make up day, so we could do one of the lifts from this week or pick another one. I went with the bench press and added 5 lbs to what I did on Tuesday. 3 x 5 at 65 lbs.

I brought some of the cupcakes that I baked yesterday to the gym in honor of Julie's birthday. Mona also brought homemade banana bread, so yeah, good thing we got a workout in.  We left a cupcake and a mini loaf of bread and a sign for Coach Maddie as a small surprise for when she came to the gym for her morning session.

WOD: 5 rounds.
100 m row or run (I rowed because I did NOT want to run outside)
10 pistols (to bench)
7 push-ups (black and red bands)
Time: 8:25

We are doing the CrossFit Open 16.1 workout tomorrow morning, eek! It’s gonna be a tough/long one, which is probably for the best because I’m on work travel next week and won’t be able to make it to CrossFit again until next Friday. It’s weird that CrossFit was something that I once feared, but now I’m like “Nooo, I can’t make it!”

For dinner, I headed over to my parents' house for Julie's birthday celebration. I brought RJ as well since he'll be staying there when I'm in St. Louis (he wasted no time getting on top of the refrigerator, something he only does there, thankfully). Mom made spaghetti and meatballs, at Julie's request and I brought the birthday cake that I baked yesterday. We were able to Facetime with my cousin and uncle in Taiwan during cake time, so that was cool. I got Julie a mug with dinosaurs on it. :) For someone who didn't really want anything for her birthday...when in doubt, go with dinosaurs or cats or rabbits.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

CrossFit and Baking for Julie's Birthday

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on our pull-ups this morning.

WOD:
3 x 500 m row
Cash-out: 300 m farmer carry, 26 lbs kettlebell in each hand.

After CrossFit, all I did was bake for Julie's birthday (I'm taking today and tomorrow off from work). I made chocolate chocolate chip cookies for her to take to her office. If I made a batch and she made a batch, there would be enough for everyone. I also made her chocolate birthday cake (I didn't soften the butter as much this time around, compared to when I made this cake for my birthday last week, so it wasn't as runny. Thank goodness!).

AND because I had leftover frosting, I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes, some for my coworker and some for the 6:30 AM CrossFit class tomorrow.
YUM!
Double YUM!
Don't mind the empty space. It was used for quality assurance.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Squat Clean and Jerk, Donuts and Work Frustration

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! New lift today: squat clean and jerk. 5 x 2 at 65 lbs.
WOD: 7:00 AMRAP
3, 6, 9, etc. ladder
Thrusters (55 lbs)
Knees to chest
I got through the 12s and then tacked on 5 additional thrusters at the end.

The only guy that comes to the morning session, Ryan, is leaving tomorrow for Georgia where he’ll be spending the next few months hiking the Appalachian Trail. I’m on work travel next week so my sister and Maria will have to hold down the fort.

I finally got new keys to my mailbox unit (this has been like a 3 month struggle with the postal service). I was happy to find birthday mail from last week waiting for me (thank you, Laura and co.!), along with a new credit card and gift card I was expecting.

I told myself that if I kept my cool at the post office, I could get a donut. One chocolate iced Bavarian cream, one jelly filled. Ok, so that’s two. Heh.
I worked from home in the morning and then I went to the office to get stuff printed for the meeting next week. I took another look at the poster and realized that 2 of the graphs were the same! How did everyone miss this, especially people at CDC clearance? So, I had to call my boss about that. Then, I had to send a nagging email to some of the workgroup members, requesting a spreadsheet that was due last week. There was some back and forth with one of them...him telling initially telling us that his was complete and us telling him there was stuff missing. I told him in an email AND over the phone that I was going to be taking the rest of the week off and was going to be out on Monday through Thursday next week.

"You're going to be available over email on Thursday and Friday, right?"

o_0

UM, NO. That's what being off work means.  I mean, of course, if one of the higher ups at work emailed me, of course, I would reply, but otherwise, NO. I'm going to go to the gym, bake, make cards and enjoy my time off before work travel.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Bench Press at CrossFit

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! I actually left the house a little earlier than usual because it’s Coach Arielle’s birthday today, and I wanted to allow enough time to stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for some donut holes to give to her. Coach Maddie had cookies to give to her, and Arielle’s face just lit up with joy when she walked in. And one of the older members, one of Maddie's private clients, came in with coffee with chocolate and some flowers. So cute!

Bench press day…3 x 5 at 60 lbs
WOD:
200 single unders
75 kettlebell swings (26 lbs)
50 1 arm overhead DB lunge (15 lbs)
25 pull-ups (with green and black bands)
Time: 10:02

Monday, February 22, 2016

Sumo Deadlifts and Sushi

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! It’s a new lifting cycle, and today we worked on our sumo deadlift. My 1 RM a few months ago was 175 lbs so I hope to exceed that in a few weeks. 3 x 5 at 125 lbs.

WOD: 9:00 AMRAP
10 burpee box jumps (20 inch)
30 wall balls (8 lbs)
I got through 2 complete rounds and then did 7 wall balls at the end. Whew! Ok, now for the last week in the office before heading out for work travel.

Thanks, RJ, rub it in. Have a nice nap or two.

Me, after work: I am NOT moving from this cozy bed. This morning’s workout was tough.

*ring ring* (caller ID says it’s Mom)

“Tina, there’s sushi at the house if you want some.”

Ok, I’ll be over in a little bit.

Heh.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Brunch with the MPH Girls and CVS Haul

When I was looking up the restaurant that we normally go to for brunch (of course, I had to look at the menu and drool over my options), I found out that it closed!  Jenny quickly made another suggestion, so when I looked that restaurant up, one of the food options was a "cinnamon roll as big as ya head."  Oh, yes, let's do it.  We got one for the table to share and I got an omelet for myself.
I took a CVS survey the other day, and as compensation, they gave me $10 in Extra Care Bucks. I also had a $3 of $15 makeup, $5 of $25 purchase, and $6 of $30 coupon to use too, so this entire shopping trip cost me a little over $12. Oh, and I also got $5 back in Extra Care Bucks too. The Mike and Ikes are for Julie. My current powder and gel liner are about to run out, so the Maybelline deal came in real handy. Mwah ha ha.
Apparently, my butt made the perfect perch to sit on while watching whatever was going on outside.

Friday, February 19, 2016

1 RM Back Squat PR at CrossFit

I worked on an annual report for our federal partners today, so boring! Leftover chocolate birthday cake = breakfast of champions, right?

6:30 PM CrossFit, check! Test week: 1RM for back squat. I was able to do 145 lbs (for reference, my previous 1RM was 135 and my form was not so good). Yay! Gold star for me!

WOD: “Jackie”
1000 m row
50 thrusters (35 lbs)
30 pull-ups (with green and black resistance bands)
Time: 11:50

Tonight’s coach was a new one. I’m not so sure about him. He seemed kinda wooden and didn’t posses the enthusiasm/encouragement the other coaches do. I guess he needs to warm up to us and vice versa. If he’s expecting a bunch of super serious hardcore competitive athletes, he came to the wrong gym. This is not to say that we don’t work hard…there’s just a lot more laughter and energy than what I experienced tonight. I talked to Eileen after class, and she said she didn't really like him either. He seemed to be more rush-y rather than motivating.

The other thing I didn't like about the class was the other guy in the class. He kept telling the husband of the husband and wife team in the class before, "Don't let her win." Who the heck cares if she wins?! He had the gall to remind me to add the weight of the bar to my total. Uh, yes. This is not my first class, mkay? Why don't you be quiet and do the workout?

Afterwards, I went to my parents’ house and inhaled the last helping of beef noodle soup.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy birthday to me! :)

First order of business, sleep in.  Well, really, I woke up at 5 AM to feed RJ and then I went back to bed for a few hours. The big thing that I did today was get my hair cut and highlighted. And then I went to 5:15 PM CrossFit and 6:30 PM spin class. I received several birthday messages throughout the day from fellow CrossFit gym members and then again when I went to class. That was a really cool feeling.

We worked on our max time for holding our wall walks (38 second hold) and tuck holds (42 second hold).
5:00 EMOM:
5 shoulder to overhead (60 lbs) + 40 single unders
5:00 EMOM:
5 power cleans (60 lbs) + 40 single unders
After spin class, I went to my parents’ house and ate my birthday request dinner of Mom’s beef noodle soup with my parents, sister, cousin, aunt and uncle.

I brought the chocolate cake that I made last night to share with everyone, and it was a big hit, so I’ll make it again when I celebrate with friends in a few weeks.

When I blew out the candle, my uncle was still setting up his phone to take a picture so we had to relight it so he could capture the moment. That’s the story behind the picture of us all laughing. Oh, and that’s the birthday card my sister drew, featuring RJ. It was a good day! :D

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

1 RM Hang Squat Snatch and Birthday Cake Baking

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! Test week: hang squat snatches. We aimed for our 1 RM. After a few failed attempts (one almost had me landing on my butt), I got 50 lbs. I’ll need a lot more practice before being able to add more weight.

WOD: - 4:00 max wall balls (8 lbs). Every time you had to take a break from the WB, you had to do 10 burpees
- 1:00 rest
- 4:00 max KBS (26 lbs). Every break = 10 burpees
I ended up with 45 wall balls and 50 kettlebell swings.

My coworker, Michelle, was so nice to take me out to lunch today. We went to Cava and got rice bowls. She also handed me some birthday art that her kid, my banana pudding sous chef, made for me. I have it hanging up in my cube now along with a thank you card she made. Aw, so sweet!

I tackled my birthday cake tonight after watching Arrow. It's a 2-layered chocolate cake from Add a Pinch. The cake part was easy. I feel like frosting was too runny, but I made it work. I figured my family would be willing guinea pigs and then if it goes well, I'll make it again when Robyn and Meg come over to celebrate me and Meg's birthdays at the end of the month. I felt like I was in some sort of cartoon. The top layer was slightly sliding off the bottom layer because of the icing, so I had to stick a chopstick (and later on, a plastic knife) to make sure that the cake didn't come apart overnight.
Apparently, the green thing that looks like a fish is supposed to be a heart.
Grains and greens bowl with falafel.
We'll see how this tastes tomorrow!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Weird Weather Day and Push Press 1RM

The morning CrossFit session was cancelled due to the icy roads. Thank goodness for OPM’s unscheduled telework option today!
The morning was already a success because I put the final touches on a poster presentation, and my boss sent it off to our federal partners for review and clearance. And I also figured out my flight plans for a June work meeting. Direct flight to an inconvenient airport (BWI) or 1-stop flight to a convenient airport (DCA)? I went with the second one.

What a weird weather day! Ice, then lots of rain, and then sunshine (?!). There was a new food place that was doing their opening today with free lunch and dinner, but even that was enticing enough for me to venture out in the rain.

Anyhoo, 5:15 PM CrossFit, check! It’s test week! We did push presses today. Last week, I did 3 x 5 at 85 lbs. My 1RM from a few months ago was 90 lbs. I loaded up 105 lbs for my 1RM and was able to get it above my head, but then the coach told me it was really a push jerk. By then, my arms didn’t have anymore gas in the tank to redo it. Oh well! At least I’m getting somewhere!

WOD: 30-20-10 DB snatches (20 lbs) and box jumps (20 inches). After all that’s done, 50 sit-ups. Time: 10:58.

And then I went to 6:30 PM spin class because my legs still had some energy. Whew!

Monday, February 15, 2016

A Gross Weather Day Off!

I want a redo! The weather today was gross...like snowy and icy. I was basically forced to stay inside all day and not risk getting in a car accident. There was a Valentine's Day partner WOD at CrossFit, but I ended up not going. What bad timing because it's also test week (today was pull-ups). I'll have to make sure that I make it to the other classes this week so that I can see how far I can get with my 1 RM with the other lifts.

I made a card though. That was the most productive thing I did all day!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan, Blackbird
Stamp: Hero Arts- Envelope
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Other: American Crafts- Botanique 

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day!

9:30 AM spin class, check! I was going to go to the 8:30 AM class, but all the bikes were reserved. That's okay though because the 9:30 AM class is an hour, as opposed to 45 minutes. I needed the longer class to burn off some of what I ate yesterday at the anniversary party! When I put my stuff near my bike, the person who had the bike in front of me for the previous class told me that she was taking an intro CrossFit class this week (not at my box, but another one). She had asked me about CrossFit a few months ago, so I'm glad to hear that she's taking the plunge...at least dipping her toe in the pool.  Ha ha.

There was a new person sitting in the bike next to me. I told her before the class started that she should get a towel. She went through the whole class without water and a towel (?!). Sigh. She also thought the class was going to be only 45 minutes. Oops!

I went to the grocery store next door after class to get some flowers for my aunt and uncle for their anniversary. I thought about buying some for myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. (When I went to drop the flowers off later, they happened to be having beef noodle soup for lunch. “Tina, would you like some?” Sure! I'm not going to turn that down!)

I went to another grocery store to get some cake donuts for my sister (ok, and some chocolate iced Bavarian cream ones for myself ), and there was a huge flower display in the front. I had a “F this! Treat yo'self” moment. It’s Valentine’s Day, and my birthday in a few days, why not? So I picked out 2 sets, one dark pink and one yellow. Now they are in a vase in the entryway.
I got cleaned up from the gym after I got home and took a nap with RJ hogging the middle of the bed, as usual. Now I'm waiting for the delivery guy to show up with my Indian food and I'll catch up on the Arrow episode that I missed this past week because I fell sleep on the couch.  Heh.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Happy Anniversary, Uncle and Aunt!

OMG, I had some weird dreams last night. I dreamt that I was in school, taking a physics test and I didn’t know any of the answers! Wow, was that stressful. I’m so glad I woke up!

Most of today was spent with my family as we celebrated my uncle and aunt’s 50th wedding anniversary. My uncle narrated a slideshow of their life together, which was heartwarming and funny at the same time. There was also singing and karaoke. It was fun to hang out with my cousins too. My mom is one out of 7 kids, so I have a lot of cousins on my mom's side of the family. 10/16 of us second generation-ers made it to the party.

The food was great too! My favorites were the chicken and the tiramisu.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Pull-Ups and Poster Presentation

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We were waiting on one more person before getting the warm-up started. I said the first thing that came to mind. “Do we know them?” Everyone laughed, and I realized that it sounded kinda clique-ish. Oops. Heh. What I meant was "Is this a new person who's coming in for a trial class?" Is #nofilterfriday a thing?

WOD:
21-15-9-6-3
Push Press (60 lbs)
Wall Ball (8 lbs)
Time: 6:27.

UGH, this poster presentation for work is like the bane of my existence lately! A part of me was happy that I could telework so I could put my head on the table to muffle my frustration, but another part of me wished that I was at the office so that I could work off a bigger screen. Julie gave me some of the corn chowder that she made for the office Soup-er Bowl (har har). She IMed me later to tell me that she won (she won the office chili competition a few months ago too!).
Julie and my cousins went out to dinner tonight, but I stayed back. After working on the poster presentation all day and feeling sore from class, I was worn out. :P

Monday, February 8, 2016

Push Presses and New Liquid Lipstick

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on our push presses. I went with the weight I did on Saturday since I had to stop midway during the third set, rerack, rest and continue. Today went much more smoothly and I was able to do the last set without reracking. 3 x 5 at 85 lbs.

WOD, 5 rounds for time:
5 overhead plate step-ups per leg (15 lbs)
10 plate burpees
Time: 10:00

Oh, and I did my nails last night.
Reggie had a $5 coupon for a nearby Cuban-Latin restaurant so I tagged along when he went to get lunch. The restaurant was nice to let us both use the coupon. He got the chicken tacos, and I got a rice bowl with pork (the meals also included a side dish too). Yum! So much better than Chipotle: cheaper without the risk of sickness.

My Sephora order came in today: Stila all day liquid lipstick in Ricco (a very dark brick red. We’ll see how this formula compares to the Sephora cream lip stain) and a purse spray version of Gucci Guilty. This is my second bottle (Tube? What do you even call it?)...maybe I should just spring for a full sized version next time.
We're supposed to get some snow tomorrow...1-3 inches I think. It doesn't sound like a lot, but we got maybe an inch the Wednesday before Snowzilla a few weeks ago and everything was a mess. I took my work computer home just in case I have the option to telework. I do NOT want to be sitting in morning traffic!

Sunday, February 7, 2016

One Year's Worth of Progress

I took the picture below a year ago today, February 7, 2015. All I could think of was "That's it. No more." I took the second picture first thing this morning before going to spin class. I'd like to think of it as "before" and "in progress" pictures.
 
Considering I didn't start seriously lifting until July 1, I'm really proud of myself for the progress I've made. I don't think it'd be proper to post these two pictures without mentioning what has transpired between the two pictures.
  • Lots and lots of sweating, grunting, grimacing, exhales of exhaustion, soreness, etc.
  • Not being able to make it through a full set, reracking or putting the weight down, stamping down on self doubt, taking a deep breath and trying again. 
  • Waking up at 5:30 AM to go to CrossFit several times a week. Sometimes there would be two-a-days: spin and Crush60 or spin and CrossFit.
  • Doing exercises that I had never done before with people I've never met before. Well, it turns out that nothing builds camaraderie like a really intense Leg Day or WOD.
  • Discovering that I have physical strength that I never knew I had in me, i.e. I can lift 100 lbs over my head and sumo deadlift and regular deadlift more than my bodyweight.
  • Revisiting clothes that hadn't fit before because they were too tight, but now they don't fit quite right because they are too loose.
  • Building the confidence to try something different with my work look every once in a while: curling my hair, dramatic eye makeup, dark lipstick, etc
Thanks to everyone that has sent an encouraging message (text, email, comment, etc.)! I appreciate the love and support!

I can't wait to revisit this post in 2017.  :)

Saturday, February 6, 2016

CrossFit, Craft Time with Tina, and Lunar New Year Dinner

9:30 AM CrossFit, check! Many of us commiserated on how tough TH night’s workout was. I worked on my push presses, 3 x 5 at 85 lbs. For reference, my one rep max was 90 lbs a few months ago. 

WOD, 10:00 AMRAP. CrossFit Games Open workout 11.5 cut in half (10:00 instead of 20:00)
5 Power Cleans (55 lbs)
10 Toes to Bar (I did knees to chest)
15 Wall Balls (8 lbs)
I got through 5 rounds.

I went to the mall earlier today. While I was at Target, I saw a bunch of notebooks on clearance and I just happened to need one for work, as my current one is getting down to the last sheets of paper. Hmm...Hello Kitty or kraft with blue chevron. My first instinct was to grab for the Hello Kitty one, but I figured the other one would be more work appropriate, ha ha.

My coworker asked me if I wanted to do a Valentine's Day session with her kid and 6 of her kid's friends (for reference, I did a session with D and her friend Z a few weeks ago). Of course, I said yes! I had a feeling that this would be a fun (and funny) experience. The kids were sooo excited to see each other and were very good about sharing supplies with one another. After about an hour of stamping, coloring, etc. they gravitated towards D's toy room, which was fine by me, hah. Wow, all that energy, whew! I'm glad that the parents stayed around to help with this craft session because I would have no idea how to handle 7 rambunctious 4-year olds at the same time. D gave me a big hug and one of her temporary tattoos as I was leaving. It's a pair of cherries...with glitter.  Obviously, badass material there.
After saying goodbye to D and her friends, I went to my parents' house to hang out before going to my aunt and uncle's house for the Lunar New Year dinner. My favorite dish, as always, was the sticky rice stuffed duck. I only ate one of the dumplings that I made earlier this week. I’ve made so many of them the past few months, I’m kinda tired of them.

(Horrified gasp)

I can’t believe I said that. I didn’t think it was possible to even have that thought!

Friday, February 5, 2016

Busy Telework Day

Fridays are supposed to be a little more relaxed in my book, but it didn't quite go that way. My boss told me that she talked to the fellow's supervisor this morning about the poor state of the poster she sent over a few days ago and the supervisor wants to use this experience as a learning opportunity and give the fellow a chance to rewrite some of the stuff in the poster.

Ok, but can't you use some other incident as a learning opportunity and not one that involves a time crunch and other people?! I was somewhat embarrassed at the whine I let out when I talked to my boss on the phone about this. "Whyyyy??? We don't have time for thisss!" She totally understood where I was coming from, but since these federal partners give us money, we have to play nice.

I worked on my draft of the poster some more, hoping that it'll save me some time in the long run with formatting, worked on a progress report, took a conference call and then listened to the conference call recording to make sure I was catching everything in the notes. BLAH.

Given the tough workout yesterday and the somewhat stressful work day...I decided to take a rest day today. Zzzz.
Oh, look, good lighting. :)

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Pull-ups and a Messed Up Poster Presentation

6:00 PM CrossFit, check! I showed up to the gym and Ryan, the only guy who comes to the morning sessions, was sweating and red in the face and breathing hard. Shoot. This is going to be bad. I can't back out because the coaches already saw me AND I told Maria I would work out with her.

We worked on our pull-ups, and then the WOD was the CrossFit Games Open workout 14.5 for time.
21 Thrusters (45 lbs)
21 Bar Facing Burpees
18 Thrusters (I had to go down to 40 lbs)
18 Bar Facing Burpees
15 Thrusters
15 Bar Facing Burpees
(Decrease by 3 for each set…the last set being 3 thrusters and 3 bar facing burpees)
Time: 24:00 Whew!

I'm so proud of Maria for staying at 45 lbs for the workout. We stayed afterwards and stretched while she told me about her background interview (she had to do one as part of the process to move to Mexico with her husband).

My boss texted me while I was at CrossFit. "Do you have a minute?" AHHH, what happened? Is someone in trouble?  Am I in trouble?  What's going on??

Apparently the CDC fellow messed up on our poster that we have to present at the end of the month. I got the email from her yesterday, but since I was out, I hadn't had a chance to look at it yet (read: I didn't want to and I was scared of what shape the poster was in). We had agreed months ago that we'd have a good draft by early February. But NOOOO. When I got back from Christmas break, I find out that this fellow had not only not worked on the poster, but was out for the whole month of December. WTF?! I would have done the poster myself if I knew that was going to be the case!  My boss wants to have a conversation with the fellow's supervisor on Friday.

When I got home, I saw some of the corrections that my boss sent over and opened the attachment in the fellow's email.  UGH, I didn't even look at the content. The formatting was all wrong. I decided to create my own draft of the poster. The fellow can still send me content and I can just drop it into the text boxes. Grrr...if you want something done, do it yourself!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Back Squats and Carrot Cake

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on our back squats today. 3 x 5 at 110 lbs.

WOD, for time. 8:00 cap.
100 kettlebell swings (26 lbs)
50 sit-ups
25 goblet squats (26 lbs)
My final time was 7:27.

I took the day off to do some food preparation for Saturday’s family dinner, but I ended up doing all of that last night. Because of the dreary weather, it was a crafty day inside after running some errands. It's also my aunt's birthday so after dinner, I went to my cousin's house to eat the caked for her. YUM!

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Wall-walks and L-sits at CrossFit and Dumpling Party of One

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on our wall-walks and L-sits (I did tuck holds), 20 seconds and 25 seconds hold respectively.

Partner WOD:
800m row
max power cleans (65 lbs)
600m row
max push jerk (60 lbs)
400m row max
front squats (55 lbs)

Partner B power cleans until Partner A finishes the 800 m row, and then switch, etc. The coach referred to me and Julie as a clique because we just always assume that we'll be each other's partners for these partner WODs. In retrospect, we should probably switch partners every so often to put the pressure on. No matter how much I suck at the WOD, Julie's still suck with me and she'll let me know exactly what she thinks. It's not the same when your partner's someone you're not related to.
Googlemaps indicated that traffic to the other gym was backed up so instead of going to spin, I made dumplings to prepare for Saturday's Lunar New Year dinner. I planned to take the day off on Wednesday to do this food prep since not much is going on at the office on WED, but now I have all day to do whatever I want! :)

Monday, February 1, 2016

Hang Squat Snatches at CrossFit

6:30 AM CrossFit, check. We worked our hang squat snatches, and I did so much better than when I did them on Friday. 5 x 2 at 40 lbs.

WOD, 4 rounds, 2:00 AMRAP each.
8 Pull-ups (with resistance bands)
max double unders (I did many more in a row than I thought I would!)
1:00 Rest

The weather has warmed up considerably, so the snow is quickly melting. Thank goodness!