Becca Borawski’s Blog

I was just flat out feeling feisty today, as it turns out…

9:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

Today we were working on heavy sets of three jerks.  I realized it has literally been a couple years since I have worked on heavy jerks.  The jerk is one of my favorite lifts and I used to do it much more often.  It became very apparent to me today that I was stronger than I was two years ago, but the lack of practice took a neurological and mental toll that I couldn’t overcome.

Split Jerk
3-3-3-3-3
1. 3 x 105#
2. 3 x 115#
3. 3 x 120#
4. 1 x 125#
5. 2 x 120#

After that I did some more practice back down at 95# to end on good form.

My 1RM from a couple years ago was 125# and I remember at the time thinking I could probably do like 5-10# more.  So, I know I was strong then and am stronger now, the difference is just a lack of practice.  More than once I lifted the bar off the rack, stepped back, and then stepped back in and put it down.

I also was committed to doing split jerk today, knowing that at a max weight it’s the best bet for a good lift.  But, that being said, what I’m used to doing at this point when it comes to jerks is high volume lower weight workouts and I almost always do the push jerk for efficiency of cycle time.  So, all in all today just felt weird—I love this lift and need to do it more!

10:15am – Run, On My Own

I was craving going for a run. Yes, that’s right, I said I was craving going for a run.  And please, don’t ask me what has happened to me—I have no idea either.  It’s weird and I’m just accepting it.  I now love running.

I ran for about 38 minutes – only 2 stops, once for about 30 seconds at a stop light and once at about 25 minute in for about a minute.  I felt faster today than I did on my last run and I think I ran farther, too.  I’m really enjoying just running for running’s sake, not timing or measuring, so I’m sticking with that for now.

I do try to focus on landing on the ball of my foot and standing up straight.  It’s not Pose but I am working on not abusing my body at least, so I can keep doing this.

7:00pm – Fencing Lesson

Yes, activity number three today!  I told you I was feeling feisty.  I was feeling quick with my hand/sabre in my lesson tonight.  Learned some new movements, too.  I felt like my reaction time was really quick tonight…although my right leg was really tired by this point, so oh my that lunge position starts burning after a while.

7:00pm – Fencing Class

Went to my one hour group fencing class tonight.  Feeling looser than I was yesterday and getting back into the groove.  We spent the first 20 minutes of the class on footwork and some of it is getting better and some still shorts my head out.  I feel like I’m getting better about attempting some of it during the actual live fencing part of class, though.

I felt really good towards the end of class – we were doing our round-robin-anything-goes fencing for the last twenty minutes.  I try to just keep persisting during this part of class – trying different things, getting right back into the next point if I get scored on, trying to learn and just keep going.  At one point I was paired with an older guy who’s really good and pretty feisty.  I managed to catch on to a couple of the points he was feeding to me and scored on him.  He told me good job afterward and I said, “I catch on eventually!” and he said, “No, I really mean it.  Unlike some other people here, you never stop.”  That felt really good to hear!

9:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

I wasn’t sure what today’s workout would feel like, but I do love windmills, so that part made me happy.  My hips are kind of sore from yesterday’s run, so squats weren’t as appealing as normal, but I figured I’d get through those pretty decently anyway.

For time:
150 squats
Followed by 4 rounds of:
-200 m run
-15 DB Hang power clean, push press, windmills (one dumbbell only, 25#)
-30 lateral jumps over paralette
18:20

I squatted without a ball and I think I get a little lower than necessary sometimes when I don’t use one.  The first run after the squats was HORRIBLE – I think I actually howled out loud as I tried to get out the door.

The d-bell complex was pretty fun.  I did 5 on the right, 5 on the left, 3 on the right, 2 on the left each round.  The first couple rounds I set it down between sets and then I stopped doing that on rounds 3 and 4.  I totally didn’t need to set it down.

The lateral jumps weren’t hard cardiovascularly, but accuracy became an issue.  I felt like a top slowly spinning out of control and I would have to stop so I didn’t land on the paralette!  The first round I think I did 3 sets of 10, and then each round after that I did bigger sets as I got better at it.  The last round of the workout I did 30 straight.

7:00pm – Fencing Lesson

I had all last week off from fencing because the coaches and a bunch of the younger students were away at a tournament.  My first lesson back after time off always tends to be a little rough—I get all tight and tense. Argh. It’s very unhelpful!  I learned a couple new moves, though, and generally got back in the groove, so that was cool.  Just need to work on lightening up my grip and loosening up my shoulders…not trying to muscle things!

12:00pm – CrossFit, Advanced

I was looking forward to this workout – I love anything with overhead squat/snatch type movements.  I also really liked how this was written, breaking down the snatch into elements, and then ending each round with the squat snatch.

5 Rounds for time of:
12 Snatch Grip Deadlifts (65#)
10 Hang Power Snatch
8 Snatch Balance
6 Squat Snatch
26:28

The snatch grip deadlifts were harder than I wanted them to be.  They just really put everything in your glutes and my glutes got tired after a while!  I usually broke these into sets of 7-4-1. I saved the 1 to lead into my hang power snatches.

Hang power snatch wasn’t bad at all.  I just worried after a while about my grip and didn’t want to lose the bar.  So I usually broke these into 6-3-1.  Again, the 1 leading into the snatch balance.

Snatch balance I did all 8 every time because I wasn’t going through the trouble of putting that bar down and getting it back all the way behind me again.  I just paced myself through these and tried to stay steady.  I have a goose egg on my neck from the eccentric aspect of these.  Oh my that just gets annoying.

By the time I got to snatches each round, these actually felt like the easiest thing.  I felt crisp and quick and generally solid.  As Burch commented to me, “Your snatch looks different.”

7:00pm – Fencing, Group Class

I got my own fencing jacket today! Yay for me!  I feel official now.  I have a mask, glove and jacket of my own.  (It’s also nice to not have to sweat inside somebodyelses sweaty jacket.)

I’m feeling looser and more creative when we fence for points.  My back foot decided to do weird things though and keeps coming off the ground when I get aggressive in my lunge.  Have to work on keeping it stuck back down.  My coach says I can get away with it since I’m strong but it’s not a good habit.

I do feel like I’m learning and making progress, though, and able to apply more things from my limited vocabulary.  A couple other students commented to me about me doing well, too, so that felt good!  Yay for progress.

And, YAY for a whole day without a migraine.  The clouds have broken!

7:00pm – Fencing Class

Group fencing class.  It was like a rainforest in the gym!  Ugh.  Hot and humid.  But somehow once I get going and we fence for points I don’t notice it as much.

I felt lighter on my feet tonight than normal.  Which was both good and bad, as sometimes it helped me move fast, and sometimes I ended up in really strange positions.  I scored a few good points during the last part of class, though, so I was pretty pleased with myself.

Footwork is still hard for me sometimes—I find it hard to change direction quickly enough.  I need to focus on pushing off with my back foot and really launching myself.

7:00pm – Fencing Class

I went to my group fencing class tonight.  I am feeling more confident and my instructor keeps encouraging me to be looser.  I can feel when I am that it makes a big difference.  I actually scored some points that I was very pleased with last night, too, and used some things from my private lessons.  When we fence for points I remember why I love/loved kickboxing.  I love figuring out the other person’s patterns and then using their habits against them.  Or making them think I’m always going to do the same thing and then not doing it.  That’s when it really becomes the chess match and it’s really fun.  So, the group classes have been a fun time to experiment in that way, seeing what works, seeing what doesn’t.  Of course, we’re not tabulating points like a real match, so who knows how it would all actually work out.  It continues to be a lot of fun, though, and my legs are now tired!

9:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

Today looked like an interesting workout.  I can’t do a freestanding handstand, so real hanstand walks were out of the question, but some of the substitutions to work on the skills looked interesting.

5 rounds, for time:
20 front squats (75#)
50 box runs (toes on pile of thirteen 25# plates)
16:39

The front squats were good practice for our Santa Monica Smoker challenge.  I can’t remember how many I did the first round, but on rounds 2-5 I did them in sets of 5.  I was really focused on form.  The first set always felt pretty good, coming off the handstand walk exercises, but after that it went downhill quickly.  Definitely burnt out my legs on these.

What turned out to be the hardest part of the box runs (holding a handstand piked off a box or stack of plates, then lifting one hand at a time and touching your chest) was not the balance or my shoulder strength, but my QUADS CRAMPING.  OMG.  It was really genuinely painful and the only reason I stopped during the box runs.  I did them in sets of 25-15-10 for most of the rounds, then on the last round I decided to suck it up and stop being such a baby and did 50 straight.  I just kept thinking, “it’s only pain, it’s only pain” and kept moving.  Was glad to have that part over with!

7:00pm – Fencing Lesson

My legs and shoulders were definitely tired going into this lesson, but I had a great lesson.  We worked on explosiveness and change of speed when I go to make an attack.  My coach was like, “okay, you’re fit, right?” and drove me to push off harder and faster when making my move forward.  It was good!  He also said that when I’m in the group classes I’m too controlled and precise with my movements and I need to let it be looser and go with the flow a little more.  Will work on that!

9:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

For the people who did Murph yesterday, if they showed up today, it was just mean! lol!

“Mini-Garrett”
3 rounds, for time:
75 squats
15 hand stand push ups (1 abmat)
15 chair pull ups
24:05

This is an adaptation of a Hero workout, Griff.  The full Griff has 25 handstand push ups and L-pull ups.  I was suuuuper tired today, so it was more about practice than worrying about performance.  Moving has depleted my sleep opportunities and I am looking forward to next week when I can get back on a regular schedule.

Handstand push ups I did to 1 abmat – I want to work on a lower target, because I can do a bunch of these in a row, but today was not the day.  Same for the pullups – I have done whole workouts with L-pull ups in the past, but it wasn’t happening today.  Chair pull ups were plenty hard enough!

This was a fun different workout, though, and I’d love to do it again – probably the full version!

7:00pm – Fencing Lesson

Tonight was my private lesson with my instructor.  I need to work on extending my arm and really throwing the sabre out there, whether my feet are coordinated with it or not.  This will help me get the blade to where it needs to be quicker.  My shoulder felt loose tonight, though, which is good—that makes a big difference in my performance in fencing.  Have to keep remembering to lighten up on my grip, too!

7:00pm – Fencing Class

I went to my group fencing class again tonight.  Lots of work on footwork for the first twenty minutes.  This is really good practice for me.  My shoulders were super tight today, though, and I was having a hard time relaxing them and being loose like I needed to be.

Got hit really hard a couple times and discovered that cotton jacket is not very protective after all!  Had a bunch of red marks on me after class.  That will teach me to defend properly!