New Name, New Blog

Hi all,

My blog will now be located at:

http://jennadodge.blogspot.com

Much easier to spell! See you there!

Big News!

It's been a while since I have posted last. Not much has been going on. Actually, that's not true at all. Here's what I've been doing:

• Aug 22/23 I went to the CrossFit Kids Cert. We affiliated with CrossFit Kids and started our Kids program in September. What a blast!
  
• The Montana State Games were held at Bridger CrossFit (yep, my gym!) on August 29. It was great! The event went down without a hitch. It was a long day, but very fun.
• I went to the CrossFit Level 2 certification in Vancouver, BC on Sept 9 and 10. Ben and I were supposed to go mountain biking in Whistler for a few days before that, but he had passport trouble, so I went alone, and I didn't go mountain biking. I passed the Level 2, with the high score of the day, actually! We had a 25% pass rate at our cert....so it was pretty hard! It was really fun, and I met a lot of cool people, and saw one of my old buddies, Jordan Glasser from CrossFit Whistler.
• Finally, Ben proposed on September 12! We are getting married on New Year's Eve. I have been so busy with the gym, with starting the Kids program, with preparing to travel a lot in October, and now, planning a wedding! Ohhh, it's going to be busy and fun!

Back from the dead

I apologize to all my loyal fans (who probably aren't so loyal anymore!). After the Games, I just didn't feel like doing much of anything. It's hard to describe how much that whole event took out of me. Mentally, emotionally, physically....I am just drained.

Mentally, because it took so much effort and focus to train, and I had been training really, really hard since Feb 1. I had cooked meals ahead of time, placed them in tupperware, microwaved eggs at the gym, etc, etc, for months. I had skipped out on mountain bike rides, and fun nights out. I had devoted my whole life to training for this one event, outside of my work, which is, well, training.

Emotionally...I was so let down. I had looked forward to this event for so long, but after the 2nd workout, I knew that I pretty much had no chance. And, with the row/sledge event, it ceased to be fun. And WOD #5....I cried in the first AND last rounds. I just didn't even want to be there. I kept looking at Ben and Justin, wondering if they could read my mind. I tried to transmit to them my feelings, through my eyes. I begged Ben to just let me quit, but being the good supporter he is, he smiled at me to let me know I would be okay.

Physically....well, obviously, 5 workouts in 1 day is hard. Really hard. The first one was hard. They just got worse after that. My splitting headache didn't help matters, either.

Anyway, I took a month off to recover. Not OFF, but I rested a fair amount. I find it hard to motivate when I don't have a goal in mind. Ben reminded me that the Ridge Run was something I could be training for.....

Ah yes, the Ridge Run. That was this past weekend. I quit after 10.5 miles. My IT band was wrecked. It wasn't worth the pain to me.

I did have some fun in the past month, including going to my best friend's wedding. Jennah and Nate were married in Buena Vista on August 8. Here is a photo:
Aww, what a cute couple.

Ahhh, more later. I am swamped!

5 down, 0 to go

I survived the whole first day of WODs! The sandbag hill run didn't treat me as well as I had hoped, but I maintained my position in 33rd place.

The row/stake hammer/row workout was horrible. I got off the rower in 2nd to last place, but it was close of course because it was only a 500m. I had a hard time getting the stake started...it fell out 3 times. I think I had a tough piece of ground because I was hitting that damn stake so hard and it wasn't moving more than half an inch each time, where other people's were moving several inches. That workout moved me to 44th place, but that was good enough to do the 5th workout.

The 5th workout was 3 rounds for time of: 30 wallball and 30 hang squat snatches, but each snatch had to start below knee, but not on ground. I was 21 snatches away from making the cutoff. It wouldn't be so bad if that weren't the 5th WOD of the day.

I'm pretty sure that I won't be in the top 16 and therefore competing tomorrow. That's ok. I'm just glad it's over.

3 down, 2 to go

I finished up the deadlifts. I only got to 235, which was good for 62nd place in that event. That put me at a tie for 33rd with 68 points. There are a lot of ties at this point so it's hard to say, really....I am middle of the pack at this point. I just finished the sandbag hill sprint. I got 4th in my heat, and ben said it looked like a fast heat, but he might just be being nice :)

The next event, the row/stake hammer/ row event starts next. Hopefully my Montana wood-chopping background helps me there.

Run results

I think I got 6th in the run! That means I start 6th from last in the DL event....wish me luck! We're lining up now.

I just hope I make all 5

First of all, it was just announced that Day 1 of the CrossFit games will consist of 5 workouts. AND, that after the first 2 workouts, the bottom 10 athletes will be eliminated. Again after the 3rd and 4th workouts. And, only the top 16 athletes will get to compete on Sunday. I hope to make it through Day 1.

Thanks to Shana for stopping by and calling me out. I'm such a slacker on my blog. I've been really busy lately, and I guess I feel like my workouts haven't been that awesome.

One of the things I've been busy doing is training Bill. Bill is a visiting CrossFitter from Miami University in Cincinnati Ohio. I think he's having a good time. So far, we've gotten him his first muscle up, a PR in the Snatch, a 10# PR in the Clean and Jerk today. Hmmm, what else? Here's Bill doing a 160# C&J today:

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Wow, it's been over a week since I updated my blog! I did take 3 days off last week, which partially explains why I haven't updated much. Let's see....what have I done this week....

Friday:
DL 3-3-3

195-205-215

4x400m Run, 2 minutes rest:
1:16, 1:15, 1:15, 1:13 all of those were a PR.

Yesterday, 090705:

"Spealler Made Me Do It"
10 Rounds for time of:
200m Run
8 KB swings, 1.5 pood
5 Push Jerks, 105#

23:24

I am wrecked today from this WOD. Holy crap.

Today:
21-15-9 reps for time of:
125# Deadlift
Chest-to-Bar Pullups

5:22

Lower back was toast after yesterday...My intensity was definitely lacking on today's WOD. I am sore today!