On Being a CrossFit Newbie

A little over a month ago I completed (barely) my first Spartan Sprint obstacle course race. I knew that I was completely unprepared for it both the running and strength aspects. I hadn't been to the gym in months and had only been using our home gym occasionally. I hadn't been training for my runs or preparing for the Bataan Memorial Death March like I should have been...yet I decided to run the race. After miserably failing (on my own) at the monkey bars, log hop, traverse wall and rope climb I decided that I needed to do something to build up my upper (as well as lower) body strength. I had been thinking about trying CrossFit for a while but had just never gotten around to it. Finally, the Sunday prior to the Bataan Memorial Death March I attended a CrossFit Fundamentals class on base for most of the late morning/early afternoon. 

My Spartan Race partner in crime (SRPIC) and my husband went with me to the fundamentals class so that they could start doing CrossFit as well. Now, mind you, I'll be 49 years old this year and the hubs will be 50...however, my SRPIC is just barely 20 years old! I had read on the Spartan Chicks Facebook page how one girl described her upper body strength as that of a T-Rex...that's me too. Absolutely no upper body strength so I already knew that the day was not going to be any picnic. 

The class was scheduled to be 5 hours but because there were only 6 of us in it we managed to finish in about 4 hours. We got the basic instruction regarding form and safety in: rowing, air squats, front squats, overhead squats, push ups, sit ups, med ball clean, kettle ball swings, box jumps and clean lifts in about 1-1½ hour increments that were broken up by short workout of the days (WODs) that utilized the exercises that we had worked on. By the end of the session we did the final WOD which for us newbies would be considered a "chipper" workout (multiple movements at a high volume...for us anyway). This is what it looked like:

For Time:

• 50 push ups
• 40 box jumps
• 30 AbMat sit ups
• 20 wall ball cleans
• 10 overhead squats
• 10 burpees

Now for someone who has been regularly working out this probably doesn't seem like much for for two people close to 50 who haven't been in the gym regularly in months this was a killer. For me, the push ups were certainly the worst. I'm not even sure I got to 50 because I actually lost count and just kept going until the instructor told me to move on in the workout. Both the hubs and I were the last to finish. I don't even know how long it took us but we just kept going until we finished. I finished a bit before the old man so I went through some of his last exercises with him just to cheer/egg him on. We all got our fundamentals certification making us "legal" to attend the regularly scheduled workouts that the gym offers. 

Since I was going to be doing my first full marathon at the Bataan Memorial Death March the following Sunday, I opted out of attending any workouts the following week but after a 2 day post race recovery my SRPIC and I headed out for our first official workout. He had heard that it was going to be an active recovery day which I was thankful for because my feet, ankles and hips were a bit sore still from the marathon. When the WOD was posted it looked like this:

• 1600 meter row or run (I opted for the row)
• 5 x 5 weighted pull ups
• 100 push ups
• 100 AbMat sit ups
• 100 air squats
• 5-8 minute plank

My first instinct was to run...seriously, this was an active recovery WOD?!?! But I stayed and I did it although I did have to break up the push ups/sit ups/air squats into 10-20 reps a piece to get through them all...like I said, upper body strength of a T-Rex!! The only exercise that I really kinda wimped out on were the pull ups because we hadn't covered them in the fundamentals class so one of the leaders (a friend of my SRPIC) showed us how to do some beginner band assisted pull ups...it was pretty ugly! ;) I'm sure that it'll come with time and practice. 

I was supposed to join my SRPIC for another workout the next day but between being sore in my upper arms/shoulders, 20-50 mph wind gusts (the CombatFit Pad on base is open air...no walls at all) and allergies kicking my butt I wimped out and took a real rest day. I'm taking a second rest day today because we are traveling to do The Color Run 5K tomorrow and I really don't want to be exhausted or in pain since I really want to have some fun...as long as the wind cooperates. 

I'll try to begin doing 2-3 workouts each week for the next couple of weeks just for what little training I can get in before Super Spartan in Nevada on April 6th. I'll struggle through that as much as I need to and possibly through Military Spartan Sprint in Colorado in May, but I'm really hoping that the functional movements in CrossFit will help my upper body strength and coordination for some of the obstacles at Spartan Beast - Utah and Tough Mudder - Tahoe Fall.

So, as someone nearly half a century old just getting into Crossfit how do I feel about it? Well, it is fun! It's hard and I don't have the cleanest of mouths when I get tired, but I do enjoy it. It pushes me to go past what I think are my limits and doing more, something that for some reason this year I've embraced. It's just gonna take me a while to get to the point where I'm totally comfortable with it and to learn all the movements without having to start from the beginning. But I think that once I get the hang of it, I'll be one of the many that get addicted and hopefully I'll remain injury free so that I can continue it on a long term basis past this crazy year of obstacle course racing.

Personalized shirt that I want to have printed for a little fun...
maybe one each for CrossFit, Spartan Race and Tough Mudder...
just change the wording?!? LOL!