Okay, truth time. I’m one of those people who complains about not being strong enough and  not being fast enough. I have a laundry list of goals, and things I want to improve on, but I have yet to zone in on one and accomplish it. On my goal list I have 10 kipping pull ups crossed out, but truth is, I only got that once. I haven’t been able to  do 10 without dropping off the bar since. So back it goes to my list, along with a 200# deadlift.

Beyond that, I  look at the goals I have up on that list and the stretching, nope haven’t been doing that. The ab tabatas? I do those when I go to TCF but haven’t been doing them at ECCF because we normally do a stretching routine after the workout (which is great) and then the coaches have to jet, I don’t like to hold anyone up and then I’m unmotivated when I get back to my house. And I’ve realized the more important tabata I should be doing is arm strength and glute strength. I’m nowhere near strong enough to get my handstand push up with the shape my shoulders and arms are in. My core has gotten stronger, I’m most hindered by my shoulder flexibility and arm strength.

But what have I been doing? Nothing to help myself. I’m still going too light in workouts: take a look at the last couple of days:

(Thursday)- I wimped out and didn’t do the WOD at TCF in the morning and had to fly home at night. Can’t get stronger if I don’t work out!

I did manage to snap this from my flight though, so there’s a bright side to the travel, right?

Friday:

Morning:

4×800 on the track, warmed up in the pouring rain, luckily it cleared up just for the 800 repeats.

3:15

3:15

3:16

3:08

These felt good, morning track workouts are always tougher for me than in the evening. We went out too fast on almost all of these and had to reel in the time on the second lap. I blame myself for bad pacing, I should know better, especially since I know Corinna has issues with track pacing. She can pace the hell out of long distance stuff though (which is something I envy).

Evening, before the BBQ:

So the WOD looked great, I totally thought I could Rx, but then I went over to the bar and did the movement. My form was awful especially with rounding my back. I said outloud, I could probably do this weight but it will be slow and ugly. Melinda politely advised me against it, and so I did this:

Afterwards I realized that I really should have gone for 55; 45 was probably too easy. It makes me mad that I didn’t switch it up and push myself more. My time was good and my box jumps I’m super strict about, but not getting close to Rx bothers me.

Saturday was a ton of fun, and I actually did push myself more than I expected:

December and I shared a 45# bar for the push press, I’m officially always using the 35# in workouts now, and I only used the smallest band for pull-ups on a set that we had to 10. It was in teams of 3, but Melinda  joined our group and paired with me to do the exercises. Thank goodness. It was nice to have someone to pace with. We ended up only getting ONE card for situps. We did a lot of pullups and push presses. I almost wish I had tracked it!

This workout showed me that I’m getting so much closer to not NEEDing a band for pull-ups. My kips have gotten much better with help from Melinda who always emphasizes to me the importance of my hips, while Michael stresses the use of my shoulders (my tick-tocks have been looking better and better), combined I’m going to get more pull-ups, less band usage.

I didn’t run again all weekend. I wanted to go 8 miles yesterday but we woke up late, and didn’t make it a priority. We did sign up for an 8k on Friday though, so this week will have plenty of running in it.

Finally, here was today’s workout. Wallballs still have me suffering and ring dips feel like a forever far away goal.

I Rxed the weight, but the height on the wall balls wasn’t 10ft and for my rings dips I used the red and the purple band. My arms are killing, so I know I worked hard, but again, maybe I should have pushed myself to just use the purple. Or to always hit the 10 ft spot for the wall balls. 14# is still heavy for me, but I feel like I’ve got to keep trying with it.

I know I’m being hard on myself, but if I’m not, who will be? I want to get better, faster and stronger. I know not to sacrifice form for speed, and I know it sometimes just takes time to get better. There are so many things to focus on when it comes to crossfit, so many different movements, that’s why I’ll know I’ll never get bored, but it’s a little bit crazy to think I’ll never be satisfied either. (but in reality I’ve never been satisfied for long with my running PRs either, I should be used to this).

What are the things you’re trying to accomplish with your fitness these days? Are you your biggest critic?

 

Related posts: