Recently I have spent a lot of time in the car. Alot. When done right, with the right people, road trips can be pretty awesome and in my case it was.
Check it out:
Nov. 19th – Austin to Hobbs, New Mexico (7.5hrs)
Nov. 20th – Hobbs to Pagosa Springs, CO (8hrs)
Nov. 23rd – Pagosa to Austin (14hrs…in one day)
Nov. 25th – Austin to Houston (3hrs)
Nov. 28th – Houston to Austin (3hrs)
= 35 ish hours
*HUGE shout out to Rabah for driving all but 3hrs of this whole trip. Is my driving that bad? Probably so.
Dec. 11th – Austin To Dallas (3hrs)
Dec. 12th – Dallas to Austin (3hrs)
*Thank you Lou for driving both legs of this trip, especially post competition*
Coming Up:
Dec. 23rd – Austin to Beaumont (4hrs)
Dec. 27th – Beaumont to Austin (4hrs)
Road trips are great because they allow independence, stopping when we wanted, coming and going when we wanted, etc. And it allowed for Chief to go 🙂
Below are a road trip suggestions…in no particular order:
PEOPLE. This might be common sense, BUT if you don’t care for someone, being stuck in a small space with them for a few hours, probably isn’t the best idea. Don’t even do that to yourself, it will make for long awkward hours. This includes your pet.
FOOD. Don’t rely on gas stations and drive thrus to have good quality food. Pack an ice chest so you can stop a rest stops to stretch your legs or have a picnic lunch. Collapsible/soft ice chest are great (amazon.com has lots of options)…the more you eat the less space it takes up. Below are a few food items that were handy to have (no, not all have to be kept cold which is a bonus).
Water by the gallon. Having a gallon of water to refill your water bottle was awesome (I was able to do this while R drove). The gallon keeps down the trash in the car and lets you mix stuff (i.e. protein powder) easily.
Beef Jerky
Pistachios
Plantain Chips
Nuts
Boiled Eggs
Spinach
Lunch Meat
Fruit
Premade Meals (Trader Joe’s has some awesome salads but homemade ones work just as well), just don’t forget utensils and napkins.
LISTEN. If I am not sleeping and there is no music, I’m going to talk your ear off. I would suggest downloading 2 of my favorite apps.
Casts. This app is worth every penny ($5.99). With over 200,000 podcasts available you are sure to find one that fits you, but might I suggest:
Serial
Invisibilia
Seth Godin’s StartUp School
Limetown
RadioLab
Audible. BEST app you will ever download. EVER. This Amazon Company has a zillion books on file, there is surely one to fit your taste. I am over the radio so I listen to alot of books not just when driving, but doing mindless stuff (i.e. cleaning, laundry, yard care, walking Chief, etc). I would suggest doing with Audible:
Receive 30% off the price of additional audiobook purchases
Don’t like a book? Return it 🙂
Create a “wish list”. When books go on sale and they are on your wish list, they notify you.
       4. PRINT. As digital as we all are, I would suggest, if you are going somewhere new, and it’s out in         the middle of nowhere, I would suggest you print out the directions should you lose service. Store          them in your glove compartment, no one has to know.
Traveling with pets? Here is what we discovered worked best:
BED. We literally picked Chief’s bed up and put it in the back seat and it was the best decision EVER. He rides in the car really good, but this was next level.Â
WATER. Bring water for your pet. Chief has a collapsible water dish that hooks to his back pack that is used normally for hiking, but it works great for road trips because it takes up less space. Dexas Popware for Pets Collapsible Travel Cup, Small, Gray/Blue
REST STOPS. These are great if you have pets. There are open spaces and grass for them to do their business. Plus you get to stop and have a picnic from your ice chest.
Do you have anything to add? Or any good podcast? Safe travels to you!
One of the ever so popular crossfit movements also happens to be on of my favorite movements…but it can also leave you crippled, injured, or just in a lot of pain if you don’t take care of yourself before and after. So how do we approach these?
Anatomy lesson…Lets look at the lower leg…your “calf muscle” is actually 2 different muscles (soleus and gastrocnemius). Something else you should be aware of is your achilles tendon.
Notice that these muscles are not very big. So it wouldn’t take a lot of reps to cause injury. Therefore proper warm up is crucial.
When you perform a jump (of any kind really) this what happens:
Phase 1 – Adopt a mid-foot balance, lean forward, lengthen spine, begin to swing arms backwards
Phase 2 – Continue the forward bend, storing elastic tension in your posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings), coiling your body down into the earth like a spring ready to jump
Phase 3 – You begin leg drive, pressing feet into the ground/initial surface as arms start to swing forward.
Phase 4 – You extend/open your hips forcefully, allowing knees and ankles to fully extend for extra power generation (think core to extremity).
Phase 5 – You consciously pull yourself to your target through the air. Even after the force generation is complete, you need to actively control your movement.
Phase 6 – You reach for your target with your feet, and ensure good posture for landing.
Phase 7 – (for crossfitters doing box jumps) – for the rep to count you must finish with open hips and straight legs.
How do we speed this up? How can we “land and stand” on top of the box with open hips and straight knees and still make reps count? Easy, we rebound off the ground making our “rest” be on top of the box.
Eccentric & Concentric.
“During an eccentric contraction (lengthening contraction), the muscle elongates while under tension due to an opposing force greater than the muscle generates.” (wikipedia). Think of this as “stretching” the muscle. Specifically to the calf muscles, when you stand on a curb/step and lower your heel past the step/curb. You are stretching your muscles, creating distance between the origin and insertion of muscle. Phases 1-3.
“A concentric contraction or shortening contractionis a type of muscle contraction in which the muscles shorten while generating force. This occurs when the force generated by the muscle exceeds the load opposing its contraction.” (wikipedia) This action allows you to lift weight, or in a box jump case, get off the initial objected (the ground) onto the desired platform, (the box). Phase 4-7.
Safety First.
If “jumping” is new to you, first make sure you have a solid air squat jump. Can you load your posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) properly? Are you comfortable landing? Practice first by performing a jump from the bottom of your air squat. If that is comfortable, practice jumping over “lines/cracks” on the floor then move into jumping on to objects such as bumper plates on the ground then low boxes working your way up (mentally and physically) to the higher boxes that would be considered “RX”.
If the reps are high then you should make sure your ankles are exceptionally warm. You might even want to consider jumping up on the box and stepping down to prevent injury.
Mobility.
If you look at your WOD…whether it be The Open or just written on your whiteboard in your local box (or home gym)…and you see box jumps, mobilizing your calf/achilles area should be #1 on your list.
Nice Try. You made your appearance on Feb. 5th, 2014 in the form of crazy medical term; “in situ”.  While you did progress over the following months, you didn’t keep me from the sport I love, crossfit. Heck I even placed 4th in my region in 2014, the best I have ever done. However, in May 2015 you grew and stomped my dream of placing at Regionals and going to the Games. Because of you my training slowed down. My metcon took a huge leap backwards. My strength suffered. I became soft. You cost me a lot of tears, time, money, and stress. You caused a lot of worry amongst my family and friends. You even took away my ability to give birth to a child of my own.
I’m sorry cancer, but I’m stronger than you. I am a warrior. I am a fighter. The results of my PET scan on Feb. 5th,2015 and the verbal confirmation from my Radiologist confirmed that I’m in remission and finally rid of you. We are OVER. Now watch me rebuild!
This past weekend I headed up to Oklahoma City to compete with a good friend, Reid in Koda Crossfit’s Cupids Revenge…Kodamania. First off, hats off to an AWESOME theme…the costumes were great (no we didn’t dress up…Reid is lame…kidding). They had the competition area set up like a wrestling ring…marking off the area with red tape. It was great!
This was my 1st time at Koda Crossfit…fantastic facility (I even took some pointers back to my box…i.e. lockers) and great people. I felt very welcomed. We checked in shortly after I landed…picking up our awesome banana yellow super soft jackets…which I wore today! Dinner was sweet potato fries and burgers, then it was early to bed for early to rise.
After an introduction to sweet potato pancakes we arrived at Koda for an 8:30am briefing and got warm to go at 10am (heat 3). First WOD…
15 minute Partner AMRAP – Alternating Movements
7 BB burpees
7 power snatches (135/83)
Row 200m
Reid started on the burpees…I snatched…he rowed…I burpeed…he snatched…I rowed…You get the point. This went on for 15mins. We got 10.5 rounds…maybe it was 11.5…whatever it was…it put us in 10th place…needless to say we had some ground to make up.
Still standing post WOD 1
WOD 2 was better…I like cleans!
Power Clean and Close Grip Bench Press Ladder.
Men: (185-315)
Women: (103-183)
** must make both lifts for score… single lifts for tie breaker
Long story short…I got a 10# PR on my bench press (new PR is 165) and I cleared the clean ladder. Reid cleared the ladder on bench press and got 285# power clean…however he has #295. We made up some much needed ground with this one. We also discovered who we had to “chase” for WOD 3 in order to qualify for the finals.
We survived WOD 2
WOD Three – Heavy Fran: 15-12-9
Thruster (135/83)
Chest To Bar Pull Ups
Men complete workout first, women second
AGHH! C2B are not my favorite…however thrusters are! After Reid finished his round…I went. My C2B were not great BUT we called time well before the team we were trying to beat. We are going to the finals!!
Final Workout:
Top 6 Teams 1000m Run 40 Deadlifts – 315/203
Top 4 Teams: 20 Muscle Ups
Finish on Podium
We all lined up on the road…about 10yds apart I might add…and took off…After the 1000m of running with a rope, we finished 6th and sadly didn’t make the cut off for the last WOD (I blame my slow ass on the 800m run)…which I would have killed the deadlifts…totally my wheelhouse.
All in all it was a great comp with a great friend. Good times and good discussion and like always no matter how big or small the competition is you ALWAYS learn something. Below are a few of my learning lessons.
I need to get stronger.
I need to get my ass on the track and run more sprints.
I don’t need as much food for competition as I think I do.
I don’t need half the gear I bring to competitions.
Vertical pulls are still my weakness.
PRing is fun!
Thank you Koda Crossfit for putting on a great competition and thank you Reid for being a great partner and great friend! Next time we win…until then its back to the blacktop!
Time to REBUILD. There is no doubt I lost a lot during treatment, a lot. I trained a few times a week at the beginning of treatment, however the effects (fatigue and a lot of it) of my treatment modalities are cumulative. This means things caught up with me. By the time brachytherapy came into the picture I was lucky to get in the gym 1x/wk and it was ugly. I would recover from one treatment just in time to have another treatment. I gave all my energy to coaching my athletes and don’t regret that for a second.
I am now back in the gym giving it everything I have. My training partners, Jess & Ingrid, Â are very patient and understanding. My strength is coming back faster than my lungs/metcon which is really hard for me because I love metcons and I wasn’t to horrible at them. One good hard workout will knock me on my a$$. I am also working with Ben House of Train Adapt Evolve in making sure I come back at a good pace.
Since I did go through menopause (radiation induced menopause) I just got the contact of a natural path out in California to help with my hormones. With out a good night’s sleep I quickly become a raging BITCH!
As far as competitions. Do I want to get back to competing? You betcha! Â But I know I have to start slow and keep repeating,” it will come back”. This past November I participated in a challenged called Everyday Warrior. This non profit gives funds to crossfitters who have been diagnosed with cancer (all types)! Brittany, the founder, was one of the ladies whose stories I read during my late night searches. You can read about my experience with that HERE.
I have signed up to compete in All Cities Open this year (in a few weeks actually), a competition that I have competed in for a few years, even taken the podium a few times. I’m going to give it my all, there is no doubt about that and I know it is going to be rough. I’m just going to be happy to be back on the playing field with my fellow competitors.
I will continue to train, fight and rebuild. I understand that I have aways to go, but I still plan on competing in The Open.
