Friday, July 31, 2009

Crate, crate...................


The travel crates for the girls arrived today. Now we will work on getting them used to them before they fly out at the end of Sept.

Kiwi seems to like hers!
Quiet day otherwise. Donna has had her massage permit approved so she had her first paying client at East Sac today.
Donna and the girls in the shade.
The logo on my new CrossFit NorCal T.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

CrossFit Tourists for a day......

We spent today being hosted at a couple of great CrossFit facilities in Northern California.

First stop was Level 10 CrossFit in Oroville, where we were introduced to the owner Santos Reyes by Coach B's friend Veronica Carpenter. We chatted with Santos about how his place works, while his dog Bently and the girls hung out and made friends. Bently is part pug so they got along well.
Level 10 CF. Donna and Santos share experiences

Bently and the Girls

Then we headed north to Chico to CrossFit NorCal home of Robb Wolf and Nicki Violetti. They have been in this game a long time so are a wealth of knowledge on how to do things right the first time. We watched a couple of classes and picked their brains for a few hours before loading the girls back in the car for the drive home.
Yes, this place is big - 6000 sqft!

Adult playground out back. Nicki, Robb, MaD and the Girls
We liked the separate O Lifting area :-)

Ralph, can you build us some of these?
Thanks to Santos, Nicki and Robb for the time, advice and willingness to share your experiences, we really appreciate it.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Dips and Squats

Back to CFES this morning for a variation on one of the Affiliate Cup workouts from this years CF Games. At the Games it was Over Head Squats and Pull Ups, at East Sac the pull ups were replaced by Ring Dips.

With a 20 Minute Time Constraint Perform 3 Sets of Each:
3 Rep Max Overhead Squat
Max Set Ring Dip
Your score will be the total of the weight of your best successful 3 rep max OHS and all the reps from all 3 sets of dips. So if your best 3 rep OHS is 135# and you get 10, 8, and 6 on your dips, your score will be 135+10+8+6=159.

Matt: 197 - 155# OHS 42 Ring Dips

Donna: 109 - 85# OHS 24 Ring Push Ups - After the timer stopped Donna set a new 3RM PR of 95# :-)

Then it was off to the vet to see what can be done for Gingers allergies. Turns out, quite a bit so she has been, shampooed, had her ears cleaned out and is on new meds. We hope it helps her and us sleep tonight.
Tomorrow we head north to visit to CrossFit NorCal.

Better late than never....................

Sorry I was a bit slow posting this one.

We spent most of yesterday at CF East Sac.

The morning workout was, 3 Rounds For Time:
3 Deadlifts 275/185 Sprint 100m
3 Deadlifts 275/185 Sprint 100m
3 Deadlifts 275/185 Sprint 100m
3 Deadlifts 275/185Sprint 100m
Rest 1:00;
Matt: 235# 9:08
Donna: 165# 11:49

Then it was back in the afternoon, so I could take Paige through the Snatch progressions and Donna could work on some Clean and Jerk technique practice with Travis.

After Paige had the Snatch basics down, she hit the morning Deadlift/Sprint workout with 63# in 11:30.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Oh I wish I were a Hooters Tank Top.................

We took Paige to Hooters last night.

The food was alright, but we got some funny looks because the burger buns didn't get eaten though. At least you can order their wings "naked", that is not breaded, so we were somewhat paleo.

After we got home, Donna was chatting to Coach B and he put us in contact with Veronica Carpenter an Olympic Weightlifter who will be assisting at the Tommy Kono Open Olympic Weightlifting Competition and Clinic here in Sacramento on Aug 8 and 9. We are planning to meet Veronica on Wednesday on our way to CrossFit NorCal. We are also planning on attending the clinic and competition in a couple of weeks, as it is not something we are likely to see anytime soon in NZ.


Today, after breakfast, we headed to the river with the girls, a much nicer spot than we tried last week.
Then we had a lazy afternoon on the couch!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Birthday girls!

Today is Paige and Gingers birthday! Happy Birthday to you both!


The girls in the middle of the warm up
We headed to CrossFit East Sacramento for the 8:30am class. That way Donna could workout before taking Paige through some of the fundamental CrossFit exercises prior to her starting a months membership at CFES.

Press, Push Press, Push Jerk

I helped coach and provided a few gymnastics pointers for some of the crew who are adding Hand Stand Push Ups in as a finisher after their workouts.

Donna's CFES workout, 3 Rounds For Max Load:
Strict Press 5 Reps, Push Press 5 Reps, Push Jerk 5 Reps
Max load: 70#
Then do the following in teams of 3 -As Many Double Unders as Possible In 20 Minutes:
1) Row 250m
2) Double Under
3) Rest
*One teammate starts at each station. When the rower finishes 250m they rotate to Double Unders, Double Unders rotates to rest and rest rotates to row. The team score will be the total number of double unders completed in 20 minutes.
Team score: 293

I hit the 7 of Spades from the Hopper Deck. For Time: Row 1000m (I subbed 800m run) followed by 21-15-9 135# Front Squat and Back Extensions. My time: 9:08. Great workout as usual from the hopper deck, legs felt like jelly in round two.

After running through fundamentals, Paige hit a modified "Helen" 3 Rounds for time: Run 400m, 21 Kettlebell Swings 18kg, 12 Jumping Pull Ups 10:45.

Tonight we head to "Hooters" for dinner, watch out wings here we come.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Time to give it a rest....................


Kiwi helps to clean up at the gym

So it looks like those 3 heavy days in a row at the beginning of the week, combined with the little niggle that 100+ 1.5 pood Kettlebell swings put in my shoulder last Saturday have come together.

Donna tried working her massage magic but it is still seriously sore and may need a few days rest.

Donna hit the wod at CFES, Hang Power Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 and maxed out at 68#.

I stayed with a body weight only workout and did 4 Rounds for Time: Run 400m/50 squats in 11:08.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Rest Day :-)


Today was a rest day for us. I am hurting from 3 days of heavy overhead work so we headed to the gym and Donna worked her magic on me and Justin.

Then it was back home to hang out by the pool and enjoy a great dinner.

Lemon/Basil Chicken, Avocado, Spinach, Feta and Bacon

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Is it rest day yet?


The girls have already decided it is!

We are both feeling the effects of our 3 days of workouts so far this week and are seriously looking forward to our rest day tomorrow.

Today's lovely pairing from CFES was, For Time:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Hang Power Clean 135/95
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Toes To Bar
*Alternate between hang power cleans and toes to bar

Matt: 11:29 as Rx
Donna: 14:41 73#

We also sorted out some dates for some future activities at CrossFit East Sacramento

MaD Skillz Workshops

Brought to you by MaD Crossfit

Workshops run 8:00-10:00 AM and will conclude with a WOD
*Free to members
*$35 for non-members

Saturday Aug. 1st - Running Skillz
Saturday Aug. 15th - Olympic Lifting Skillz
Saturday Sep. 5th - Kettlebell Skillz
.
CrossFit East Sac are taking part in Fight Gone Bad this year. We did this last year in Boston and would do it again this year, but on Sep 26 we will be winging our way to New Zealand. Please support the worthy causes that the Fight Gone Bad fundraiser will benefit, Athletes For A Cause Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Wounded Warriors Project, which lends support to wounded vets and their families. Click on the banner below.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

OMG he is trying to kill us.............

We woke this morning and checked to CFES site. The workout of the day was:
5 Rounds For Time:
5 Thrusters 155/105
10 Box Jump 36"/28"
20 Double Unders

The title of today's post was my immediate thought. But being the CrossFit masochists that we are we packed up the girls and headed in for the 9am class.

Funnily enough there were not to many in attendance, just us and Chris, so Justin joined in on the workout while Travis did a great job of coaching us through it.

Matt as Rx: 20:21
Donna: 19:41 with 95# and 20" Box Jumps :-) first time doing 95# Thrusters!
Chris as Rx: 14:14
Justin as Rx: 9:09!!!

Double Unders suck for me and the rest was just as unpleasant as it first looked early in the morning. We headed home to drown our sorrows in more coffee and roll out on the foam roller and Trigger Point ball.

This afternoon we took Paige to the DMV for her first attempt at the California drivers test, we will be back there sometime soon for a repeat, before we start car shopping with her. It was an interesting place to people watch, as some of those American stereotypes have more than a grain of truth to them "for real" or should that be "fo reel".

The girls live in hope that Donna will drop food on them

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Monday already?


Donna hits the Power Snatches
Today's workout at CrossFit East Sac, 15-10-5 For Time:
Power Snatch 135/95
Muscle Up or Sub 2 Pull Ups/ 2 Dips for each MU.
Burpee
Matt: 16:28 115# the rest as Rx
Donna: 22:54 53# Pull Ups and Dips
This one was tough, glad I went with a lower weight, I am feeling all the kettlebell swings and med ball cleans from Saturday.
Then it was off to jump through more hoops for Donna's California Massage Licence. More finger prints, this time with the Sacramento Police Department. She should be good to begin massaging clients in a couple of days.
In the meantime I jumped on the table at East Sac so she could practice and get an idea of what else she needs in her massage room.
The rest of the day I spent looking at immigration paperwork and putting some of our training notes in order, stunning stuff I know.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Sunday at the river


Is that a wading hippo? No just Kiwi cooling off

We had a pretty quiet day. Donna wanted to trail run so we headed to the nearby river trails. She ran while the girls and I paddled in the water.

The area we went to is not well maintained, so I think in future we will travel a little farther to the area Paige showed us yesterday.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Saturday morning in the park.


I joined the morning crew at the CFES workout in the park this morning.

We were in the park due to the Women's Street Survival Semiar at CFES. Paige attended so Donna had some running around to do this morning.

"The McKinleyappolis 200"
In Teams of 3 For Time:
Run 1 Lap Around McKinley Park 1300m
200 Medicine Ball Cleans 20/12
200 Box Jumps 24"/18"
200 KB Swing 53/35
Run 1 Lap Around McKinley Park 1300m

*The team does not have to run together and may divide the reps on the exercises any way they see fit. The teams time will be recorded when the last teammate finishes the run. Slower runners may want to take off early while the rest other teammates finish the reps.

My team the "Winded Hobbits" finished in 37:05.

This was a great start to the day, after that we joined Paige for lunch and then headed home to catch up on chores.

After some discussions this morning it looks like the first workshop we run at East Sac will be a pose running one :-)
The girls like the rental couch almost as much as the one in Sheffield

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Friday - Heavy Deads!


Deadlift workout at the games last weekend.

We managed to make it to the 9am class at East Sac today. The workout was the CrossFit Games 2009 Event 2 (modified) - The Deadlift. Deadlift every 30 seconds adding 10# to the bar each rep. Men's Rx starts at 315 and women's Rx starts at 185. You will be paired with a partner who will add 10# to the bar every 30 seconds until you can no longer complete the rep.

Donna: 235#
Matt: 385#

Neither of us made our 1 rep PR's but this is a very different way of hitting heavy deadlifts. Great stuff!

Tonight we watched Man on Wire, a documentary about a French wire walker who walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Great movie, well worth seeing.