The Animal Within - Alycia's Log

[Alycia McGinley]

Hello!
I'm (relatively) new to Crossfit. A little history --

For many, many, years, I "worked out" by jogging 3 miles, or doing some light dumbell workouts and 30 min on the eliptical. Needless to say, boring and non-effective..plus i NEVER actually felt like going to the gym.

In December 07, a friend convinced me to run the Broad Street Run (10miles). I trained alone and ran it in May08. Shortly thereafter, I was signed up for longer distance runs (philly marathon, 1/2 marathon), assuming that long distance running was the push I needed toward ultimate health/weight control/body confidence.

One day, about 8 miles into a 10 mile run, I felt an excruciating pain in my foot. Plantar Fasciitis!! wooo! After a few weeks of the "I can't run no more" blues, I listened to Justin's advice, and began Crossfitting.

To clarify, I belong to a regular gym, and I try to do the wod's or random workouts, 3 days on, one day off. When I can, I go to Crossfit Tribe in Cherry Hill, NJ. They have a well-trained staff and a very tight-knit group of motivated "animals" like me! I'm SO grateful for the limited opportunities I have to work out with them. So far my goals have been to learn proper form on my heavy and olympic lifts.

Some stat's I've accrued since August, when I started Crossfit:

Deadlift PR - 135
Squat - 115 ( I have to re-do this one, with newly-learned correct form from Crossfit Tribe's Erin).

Fight Gone Bad: 283

Current "Cindy":
13 1/2 rounds. Assisted pull-ups,regular push-ups, bodyweight squats.

Currently, I'm waiting, not so patiently, to finally work out regularly at Crossfit Tribe
Until then... here are my workouts!

[Erin Davidson]

Hi. Um. So. Are you dating anyone? Because you seem pretty awesome...


YAAAAAAAAAY ALYCIA. CROSSFIT TRIBE TAKES OVER THE WORLD!

[Alix Clark]

I see your number of acolytes is growing Erin. Nice.

[Alycia McGinley]

When I run, I like to do LSD. Not the fun kind. The boring kind. Long..Slow..Distaaaannncceee. However- Crossfit and crossfit endurance no longer allow me to jog for 2 hours and call myself fit =(

What I did today was neither fun, nor boring. It was brutal.

Recently, I decided to try out my once-injured feet and see if I could begin to run again. I can. yay! So I've been doing variations of HIIT and Tabata runs, and I thought I had seen the hardest parts of sprinting and running. Until, that is, today.

5min running at fastest pace I can hold for 5 min. rest for that amount of time. Repeat with 4min, 3min, 2min, 1 min. with corresponding rests in between.

5:00=.70miles
4:00=.58miles
3:00=.46 miles
2:00=.30 miles
1:00 = between .1 and .20

I did this workout on a treadmill, which had it's pro's and con's.

PRO
I was forced to run at a steady pace ( no slowing down!). I couldnt have done that well with willpower alone.

CON
I started from walking to running at the top of each interval, so my numbers aren't exactly accurate. Looking back, I should have kept the treadmill running while resting, or added about 7-10secs onto each interval.

Thats it for today!

[Alycia McGinley]

Rest day - tomorrow is Rock Climbing with Crossfit Tribe!

[Alycia McGinley]

Saturday, November 22nd

Rock Climbing 10-1pm with Crossfit Tribe.
My chest was still a little sore from Thursday's "Cindy" (which I didnt realize until I grabbed onto the first foothold) but once I started climbing, it felt great.
My grip needs work, which I've realized before when practicing heavy lifts.
Other than that, it was a great time!



http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...kClimbing2.jpg

[Alycia McGinley]

Sunday, November 23rd

Practiced back squats for form: With Justin watching my form, I did a few rounds of 5x75# back squats. I tried to bump up to 95# but my chest fell forward to much, so I went back down to 75. i'll continue to practice at 75-85#for a while.

Then I did the CF Mainpage WOD, but I omitted the rope climb. I was going to sub with Pull Ups, but tomorrow is my 3x8 unassisted pull up day (i'm working toward a full 10 unassisted), so I didnt want to wear myself out for that.

Three rounds for time of:
21 Knees to elbows
30# Dumbbell swing, 21 reps
21 Push-ups
20 inch Box jump, 21 reps
21 Back extension
Walking lunge, 75 steps

Time - 28:07 min.

It was really tough!! Just as hard as FGB and almost as bad as Filthly Fifty.
My legs weren't nearly as weak during the 2nd and 3rd rounds of lunges and box jumps as I thought. Pushups were fine. Knees to elbows really wore me out. Dumbbell swings were good - I could've probably done 35# instead of 30. Lunges were tough - I havent done them in a while.

Can't wait to try this one again after a few more months of training.

[Alyson Terranova]

Originally Posted by Alycia Alves

Sunday, November 23rd

Practiced back squats for form: With Justin watching my form, I did a few rounds of 5x75# back squats. I tried to bump up to 95# but my chest fell forward to much, so I went back down to 75. i'll continue to practice at 75-85#for a while.

Then I did the CF Mainpage WOD, but I omitted the rope climb. I was going to sub with Pull Ups, but tomorrow is my 3x8 unassisted pull up day (i'm working toward a full 10 unassisted), so I didnt want to wear myself out for that.

Three rounds for time of:
21 Knees to elbows
30# Dumbbell swing, 21 reps
21 Push-ups
20 inch Box jump, 21 reps
21 Back extension
Walking lunge, 75 steps

Time - 28:07 min.

It was really tough!! Just as hard as FGB and almost as bad as Filthly Fifty.
My legs weren't nearly as weak during the 2nd and 3rd rounds of lunges and box jumps as I thought. Pushups were fine. Knees to elbows really wore me out. Dumbbell swings were good - I could've probably done 35# instead of 30. Lunges were tough - I havent done them in a while.

Can't wait to try this one again after a few more months of training.

Today was fun huh Nice job with the workout today...it was definitely hard. The knees to elbows were tough...it was those and the push-ups on the 3rd round that were killer. Glad to have made it through though!

Good luck with your pull-ups tomorrow! I'm jealous, can't wait to get one let alone 8!

[Alycia McGinley]

Today i took it pretty easy - my glutes and legs were killin me from yesterday's 225 lunges and 63 box jumps.....weeee.

I'm trying for 10 dead hang pull ups by doing some incrementally harder sets each week. Last week I tried 3 pull ups x 7 sets ( 90 sec rest in between sets).
On sets 5, 6, and 7, I couldnt quite get to the top on the last pullup ( i hung in the pull up position, kicking slightly, until it got too embarassing, then I jumped down. boo). So I have to repeat that week until its perfect.

Today I did the same program, and I got all but the last pull up on sets 6 and 7. Still, not perfect, but almost! I think next Tuesday will be the day. I can feel it.

I also practiced Shoulder Press with 45 and 55#, for practice on my form. I did a few sets of 5 at each weight.

Then I came home and ate the best lentil,chicken and sausage soup. mmmm.

[Alycia McGinley]

Wednesday, November 26th.

Tabata Row = 799...sooo close to 800!!

It felt good, I'm jittery now (5 min after). I don't usually row, cept to warm up, or when it pops up in a WOD, so I'm happy with this.

I did it in my living room, as opposed to the gym, which worked out well b/c I could concentrate, and I didnt worry about how I looked while doing it.

I'll try this again in 6 months and see how I've progressed.

PS - Legs and butt are STILL sore from all of those lunges and box jumps on Sunday! ohh foam roller. do your job better, please.

Happy Thanksgiving