Crossfit - Elizabeth

I was supposed to go to the garage gym at 6, but when hubby woke me up I told him I was too sore and would work out in the weight room in the rock gym. It felt good to sleep in a little.

I hadn't climbed in weeks. The last time was before Christmas so I made plans to meet a climbing partner at the rock gym this morning. At the gym, I did as much of the Crossfit warmup as I could with the equipment they had. (And my sore muscles would allow.) I substituted as needed. I did two rounds, then gave the WOD a shot. Okay, I attempted it. Sort of. For two rounds. And didn't bother timing it.

The workout, Elizabeth, consisted of:

3 rounds (Buttercups version):
15-12-9
Dumbbell cleans
Bench Dips

I had watched the videos on how to do cleans last night. Luckily the rock gym had a lighter bar that I could use. They weren't hard, but because of that I wondered whether I was doing them right or not.

I'd never done a bench dip so I watched a video on how to do those, too. Ouch! They hurt so bad. I could barely do any. I'm sure my form was horrible.

When my partner arrived, I had her watch me do the cleans. She corrected something (keeping the bar closer to my body), but in general I was doing okay with the movement. But I need to work on whatever muscles you need to use for the bench dips. Those things are so hard.

Once I was finished, we hit the wall.

Climbing was so much fun though I felt as if I'd gone backwards in my skill level. I was climbing 5.8 and 5.9s in December. I went back to 5.7s today and was struggling a little. My instincts felt off and my movements clunky though I made it to the top of those routes.

I tried a 5.8 that is my nemesis at the gym. There's one part that I just can't get past. Today was no exception. I was closer this time, but just couldn't do it. There's really no hold and it's a bit awkward. It was really discouraging.

My instructor, Caroline, was there today. My partner and I were talking about what we'd climbed. I mentioned the red route. She made a face and told me to never get on the route again. That it was a bad 5.8. That one of the holds should not be on a 5.8. She made me feel so much better.

I saw one of the guys from my climbing forum and met his wife right before I attempted the nemesis climb. When I went to say goodbye to them later, his wife told me not to do that climb again. She'd climbed it after me and said it was horrible. Not worth the effort. This made me feel even better.

My partner still wants me to try it again on Tuesday. I don't know after two experienced climbers told me not to. I'll have to see how I feel next week.

I also bumped into another person from the climbing forum who I'd met at the Climbing Cutie's Ice Fest in September. She was the one who finally convinced me that Crossfit would be a good thing for this out-of-shape mom/writer. We've emailed a few times, and it was great to see her again. She's really nice and super supportive about my doing Crossfit. One of her comments to me back in October led to a little, I guess you'd call it, a wager. When I finally do a 2000m row, I owe her a drink!

The kids have their final swim meet of the season. Due to our vacation, they will both miss the Championship meets for their age groups. Kind of a bummer, but there's always next year. I better get busy and make sure they're ready to go.

Hope your Saturday is going well! What have you done or are doing today?