I also don’t like getting up at 5am to attend the 06:00 WOD, but I did it.
This was an evil WOD for me. I got three rounds and six bar squat hops, but I really hated the running. Also a 43k back squat which I was pretty happy with, given it’s five years since I squatted with weights. I’ve got a feeling that my PB was 62k, so that’s what I’m going to aim for. Crossfit Decennia has a new roof light – it’s very spiffy, but by the end of this I was too exhausted to look up much.
So it seems I really am doing this again. Drop in sessions only this time … and not more than once a fortnight, so I’ll be training on my own between WODs. Saturday was a partner WOD and it was just as evil as I remember partner WODs being. For me there’s always a fear that I’m letting my partner down (it’s their bad luck to be paired with the slowest, oldest and weakest member of the box) and that can push me too hard and lead to injury. Still – it was good to be running like a beetroot-faced maniac, up and down a major commuter road, in the blazing sun … that’s what Crossfit’s all about!
That’s me on the left, with my inestimable WOD partner (front right) and her amazing life partner (back right) who’s just been invited to participate in a Commonwealth weightlifting competition!
So … a requested recipe.
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups mixed seeds (choose from chia, poppy, flax, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin)
Pinch salt
Optional – cardamon or cinnamon.
Line a 20 cm tin with lightly oiled greaseproof paper and preheat your oven to 160C.
Mix the seeds and coconut together and then stir in the honey (I heat my honey for about 30 seconds in the microwave to make it more liquid), the salt and any spices you’re using. Press firmly into the tin. It doesn’t look too exciting at this point. My version today contained flaked almonds – I just used a quarter cup less seeds and added a quarter cup almonds. I also use chopped pistachios or hazelnuts just to change the taste from time to time.
Bake for between 35 and 45 minutes, checking every few minutes once you reach the 35 minute point, to ensure it doesn’t burn. Take out of the oven and leave to cool COMPLETELY. It should become crisp and solid and it looks much better.
Turn out of the tin onto a chopping board and slice into small pieces.
With Reverend Jennifer Sanders, renewing our vows at Reebok Crossfit Connect
T-Shirts, guns and fun! Team Sexton (and Prokop) at our vow renewal WOD
In speaking to our celebrant before the day somebody claimed one of us was ‘bossy’ – looks like it’s both of us, actually.
Tony’s shoe and sock fetishes in all their joint glory
Yesterday was our 30th Wedding Anniversary. And the first time I’ve ever wodded three times in a single day!
One reason I haven’t posted here recently is we’ve been very wrapped up in some big things: Tony’s cancer treatment, planning our pearl anniversary … and one other big thing that I’m not talking abut yet. Anyway, plenty of training has been going on, but blogging about it has not.
We held our anniversary celebrations at CrossFit Connect. It began with a vow renewal, led by the Reverend Jennifer Sanders. Some parts of it we knew about, some came as a complete surprise to us. During the ceremony we went for a paddle on the beach while our guests built a structure out of giant Jenga bricks on which they had written messages for us. At one point I cried, and at another point Tony cried, which caught him out totally!
We dashed home to drop off our dog Rebus, who is quite old and only able to cope with limited amounts of excitement (I know how he feels on both counts!) and to change into our new anniversary T-shirts, then we came back to the box to WOD. Six teams of three took part in our anniversary WOD, the first part of which was a 1984 (the year we got married) row, with each team member rowing 300 metres at a stretch.
The second WOD – a 15 minute AMRAP, could have been designed to reveal my incapacities – 5 (the day we got married) GTOH were no problem, 10 (the month we got married) metres of broad jumps were actually not too bad, I could see how much progress I’ve made in just over two years, because I had to have a special broad jump lesson from coach Barney two years ago, just to understand how to attempt the movement, but 30 (the number of years we’ve been married) wall balls were absolute torment. Catching is one area that I haven’t improved in and it’s so mentally exhausting to try and work out how to throw and catch a medicine ball that I was wiped out by the end of that particular horror. What made it even nastier was that as one team member did the WOD, another got to rest but the third had to hold plank position!
What neither Tony nor I had been expecting until the WODs were written on the board was that we would have to take part in the final, whether we made the cut or not! In fact our team was in fourth place apparently (I didn’t have the energy to check the board) but on we went to the final WOD with the first two teams.
The last WOD was 10 thrusters and 30 kettle bell swings. The way we had to do it was one thruster each, while the other two team members held their bars racked in the front position, then ten Russian kettle bell swings each while the other two members held their kettle bells.
It was fun, we didn’t win and this morning I know what it feels like to do three WODs in a day but I have pre-doms apprehension for tomorrow – I’m pretty certain I’m going to ache in places I can’t foam roll!
Then we had an amazing barbecue, organised and cooked by coach/chef Barney. There was more paleo cake than I have ever seen in one place before and some amazing paleo bread, both of which were provided by guests.
One of the most interesting things about the day, for us, was watching our non-CrossFit friends and family having their first exposure to CrossFit – they seemed to get the idea of teamwork and commitment which we’d hoped would be conveyed by that part of the day.
During the ceremony, Reverend Jennifer had asked us to read out 12 words that she had identified during our planning meetings as being key to our relationship:
1. commitment
2. companionship
3. honesty
4. partnership
5. communication
6. perseverance
7. teamwork
8. love
9. living life
10. willingness
11. action
12. trust.
For us, marriage, CrossFit, life in general … most of what we do is designed to help us focus on these twelve values. We couldn’t have had such an amazing day without the help of many, many people who gave their time, energy and talents to support us. So we’d like to thank:
CrossFit Connect owners David and Holly for allowing us to hold our day in the box – without that generosity we couldn’t have had such an amazing celebration
Reverend Jennifer Sanders for working so hard to craft a day that really made us happy, thoughtful and overwhelmed by turns
Mum for putting together my bouquet
Ronak for turning up early to help us set up and getting very wet feet going down to the beach to get our emergency sea water supply
Coaches David, Barney and Marta for being part of our day – designing WODs and in Marta’s case, being the third person in our team
Coach Barney for being an MC on the day and catering an amazing barbecue
Peta for being an MC on the day
Linc for designing our awesome T-shirt graphic and creating our cake avatars
Sandra for cake-making and being the world’s henchest flower girl
Oni for cake-making
Ian for the word boards
Michelle and Jason for taking photographs throughout the day – we haven’t seen any pictures yet but we know they’ll be awesome
All the CrossFitters who took part in our WODS – we were honoured to be working out with such a great bunch of people
All the judges who volunteered, or were roped in, on the day
Everybody who came along to participate or watch, especially those who brought kids and dogs – our invitation said ‘children and dogs preferred’ and we were delighted to have loads of both!
There were also people who couldn’t be with us on the day, but were very much in our thoughts: Bunny, Vannoy and Karen (aka George), far away geographically but close to our hearts, and Phil (Duracell) and Martin, both unable to be with us for medical reasons and both sorely missed.
It’s been a demanding and rewarding few months designing the anniversary celebration and it was a remarkable experience to live it. We consider ourselves fortunate beyond belief to have found each other, to have made it this far together, and to have discovered CrossFit!
Yesterday was my birthday and I didn’t have a birthday WOD. It was a deliberate choice, because Tony wouldn’t have been able to WOD with me, which he did last year and that felt a bit unkind to him. Mind you, he didn’t WOD with me the previous year … he was still being dubious about CrossFit then!
Anyway, instead of a WOD I had an AMBAP (as many breakfasts as possible) and I managed three – coffee and chocolates, sweet potato fritatta and then churros and chocolate sauce. Not bad going, if I say so myself.
The other reason I didn’t have a birthday WOD was I’d wodded three times in the last seven days and that’s my limit – more than that and I’m really pushing injury risk. Monday I went down to lift and do mobility and the WOD just looked like so much fun I did it anyway (am I the only person who’s response to burpees is ‘yes please’?), and Wednesday the box did Rankel.
I opted for the Fitness level:
I love deadlifts as well as burpees so I chose to work at my 70% of 1rm although I knew it would slow me down. That’s 50 kilos on the bar, which is actually my bodyweight, so it required good form. I chose a 12 kilo kettlebell as I knew I’d be struggling to keep technique on the deadlifts, I didn’t need to add any back strain that could cause me to round my shoulders.
There’s something quite disgusting about trying to run after heavy deadlifts, a horrible feeling of your lower body not cooperating with brain commands – I’ve heard other people comment on this and it makes me smile to myself because that’s what a lot of CrossFit feels like to me, impaired neural networks cause that feeling quite often, so it’s great to know that sometimes when I get it, other people are getting it too!
I got six rounds flat. Really happy with that result.
Tony starts training again next week, in time for our Pearl Anniversay WOD – that should be a lot of fun!
All about Weald allotments
My journey.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Under pressure from friends an account of my fight against lymphoma
Journey of Strength
Thoughts from a small woman trying to be tough in a big world
a sad attempt to be slightly less hopeless at cross fit
So you won't forget about me
Our life out in the open
Tips, hints and recipes for growing, storing and cooking your own food
journey since 1989...
