Becca Borawski’s Blog

12:00pm – CrossFit, Advanced

This week was another Fight Gone Bad variation, leading us up to the real event on September 25th.  This week we partnered up in teams!

“Fight Gone Double-Team”
In this version of “Fight Gone Bad”, work with a partner and complete the traditional FGB workout with the following exceptions:
- 90 seconds per movement / station (rounds will be 7:30, with a 1 minute rest between each round )
- Only 1 person may be working at a time
- Accumulate as many reps/calories as possible together with your partner

Wall Ball – 14# – Scores: 39, 24, 22
Sumo Deadlift High Pull – 55# – Scores: 47, 23, 23
Box Jumps – 20” – Scores: 40, 19, 20
Push Press – 55# – Scores: 46, 21, 15
Rowing (calories) – Scores: 25, 14, 22

Total Score: 400

Since we had an odd number in class, I volunteered to go on my own so none of the students would have to be partner-less.  We tried on the first round to have me shadow one of the other partnerships, but it didn’t really work out very well, so on the second and third round I did my own thing.  So, basically I worked in spurts on round one and then worked throughout for 90 second intervals on rounds two and three.  90 seconds gets to be a long time! lol!  But that’s why my score looks so wacky, too.

And while we’re at it, if you can donate even a couple dollars to the Fight Gone Bad event, it WILL make a difference!

12:00pm – Run On My Own + CrossFit, All Levels (Cookie Only)

Today was one of the heavy back squat days for Wendler and since I’m totally off schedule on that, I decided to use it as a chance to get one of my weekly runs in.  I ran for 30 minutes and felt REALLY good.  I felt fast and worked on some Pose elements.  I wasn’t any faster on my route, which was a little frustrating, but I also picked the hottest part of the day to run.  So I think it probably evens out.

After my 30 minute run I joined the CrossFit class for the “cookie” at the end of the workout.

15-12-9
Burpees
Dead Hang Pull Ups (mini band)
Pistols
10:20

This was my first time doing burpees again and they were fine.  Pull ups were supposed to be weighted, but I’m not totally back up to speed on these so I did dead hang with the mini band.  Pistols I always love, so that part was awesome.

9:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

This workout today was a good mix of exercises and a short but hefty dose of intensity.  This was my first workout doing the full weights again AND I did a push up from my toes during warm up.  Wahoo.

As many rounds as possible in 7 minutes:
5 Squat Snatch (65#)
10 Wall Ball (14#)
45 Double Unders
Score: 2 rounds + 5 snatches + 3 wall ball (128 reps)

We spent a long time warming up on the snatches, so I was able to get real comfortable with the weight and the movement again.  It’s probably my favorite of the olympic lifts, so it was nice to have some time to practice.

On wall ball, I wasn’t too excited about catching the ball yet, so I threw it and let it drop each time. Definitely slower, but more prudent right now!

Double unders just hurt my mind.  It’s like I have nothing else to think about but how unpleasant they are.  I did the first set of 45 straight through.  The second round I stopped at 25 for no good reason and then did 20 more.  Not a win on the mental toughness front today.

Tried to hustle between stations and keep moving on this one!

Those of you who read this blog entry back in June, know that I recently realized just how much I missed being around the sport of MMA. It was a big part of my life for a number of years…and then I took a break for a few years. I got obsessed with CrossFit, got a little tired of traveling, and just needed a break.

Well, I didn’t even know it, but I REALLY missed it.

So now, I’m back! I’ve been catching up with old friends and hitting some of the events again. Recently, due to the world being a small place and a student of mine working for K-Swiss, I wound up at a K-Swiss launch party in Venice where Urijah Faber was present. (If you haven’t seen the Kenny Powers/Urijah Tubes commercials, you MUST!).

This past week I ventured out to Vegas for the second time this year and to my first MMA show since Pride was last in Vegas. Yes, that’s right, my last MMA show was the now defunct Pride!  This time I was at the WEC 50 show, though.  I used to go to every WEC show when they were still up in Lemoore, CA.  This was my first time at one of their events since they were purchased by Zuffa and moved to Vegas.  It was great to run into so many old friends and be at a live event again.  It really is one of my favorite places to be. (And who wouldn’t be pleased at being seated next to Jake Shields??)

More MMA announcements on the horizon – really exciting stuff coming up for me soon!

10:00am – IndoRow, at Revolution

Back to my normal hour of IndoRow – the 10am Sunday class, led by Chris T.  Jay is one of the other firebreathers in this class and I always know it’ll push me to go hard if I sit next to him, which I did today.  Still getting my lungs back, so I knew this wasn’t going to be a “fun” class today, but it felt really good in a horrible way.

I don’t remember all the specifics about the waves we did.  I remember the first was 13 minutes and there was a lot of medium pressure, but we started and ended with some long sections of full pressure, which was hard.  We also did a 6 minute and a 5 1/2 minute wave I think.  It’s all a blur.  Usually I’m better at remembering all this and committing it to memory between the waves.   I think I lost focus due to the extreme cotton mouth happening between waves today.

I do very much remember ending the class with a 500m sprint.  Which made me very unhappy.  I hate 500’s.  Nowhere to slack off and hide!  You’re just committed to 2 minutes of total unpleasantness.  BUT, this is also why rowing and running is great for me—getting okay with being miserable.  Working on mental toughness!

I tried not to “fly and die,” as Josh would say, and went hard but controlled in the beginning.  For the middle third of the sprint I got in sync with Jay’s stroke rate and really felt like I was flying there.  After a while he picked it up even further though and I can’t handle a stroke rate upwards of 35 without compromising form/efficiency beyond what’s acceptable to me, so I stayed put.  In the end, I did the 500 in 1:48.  Not bad at the end of an hour of rowing!

7:15am – CrossFit, Instructor Training Program

Magner was the Kahuna today and for some strange reason decided to inflict a version of Fight Gone Bad on us! So not cool!

Actually, it did end up being a pretty cool workout, but we don’t need to tell him that. It was the same time structure and scoring structure as Fight Gone Bad, but with entirely different exercises. He did a good job of picking exercises and with how he ordered them, too.

“Fight Gone Strong”

With a continuously running clock, complete three 5 minute rounds, switching between movements every minute during each round. Take 1 minute of rest between rounds. Your score is the total number of reps/calories completed during the entire 17-minute workout.

Double Unders (beaded rope) – 41, 40, 40
Deadlift (95#) – 15, 13, 12
Jumping Slam Ball (10#) – 17, 17, 17
Bench Press (45#) – 22, 22, 18
Front Squats (65#) – 14, 12, 12

Total Score: 312

During the warmup for class, I decided to try a push up on my knees. When I tried this last week I was pretty sure my sternum almost exploded, but today I just went right down and did it. What a nice surprise! So then I tried bench press and that was fine, too! Yay! Will probably do push ups on my knees for another week and then I’ll be back to my toes. I’ve never been so excited about push ups before. LOL

This workout today highlighted my lack of cardio still. Argh. Double Unders were killing me. I did the lightest weight class since I haven’t deadlifted or squatted heavy lately and even though I COULD do the higher weight class, I decided it wouldn’t be smart and it was better to ease in and avoid injury. I am getting smarter in my old age…a little bit.

Jumping slam ball, however, are just silly. I vote from now on that we do slam ball, with an optional jump, not a mandatory jump. There is no reason for me to jump off the ground in order to move 10# around. It’s a good thing Shirley, who was my scorekeeper,  has a sense of humor and tolerated my grumblings each round on these.

10:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

Today was supposed to be a version of Fight Gone Bad where you went for one max set on each movement, each minute, but since I did a lower weight class last week, I decided to to regular FGB today at my normal weight class, class B.

“Fight Gone Bad”

With a continuously running clock, complete three 5 minute rounds, switching between movements every minute during each round. Take 1 minute of rest between rounds. Your score is the total number of reps/calories completed during the entire 17-minute workout.

Wall Ball – 14# – Scores: 15, 15, 16
Sumo Deadlift High Pull – 55# – Scores: 14, 15, 16
Box Jumps – 20” – Scores: 15, 16, 17
Push Press – 55# – Scores: 12, 13, 15
Rowing (calories) – Scores: 11, 12, 15

Total Score: 217

Not the greatest but also not bad for my first time at full weights and pacing it a little bit.  I am also committing myself to making more of a general effort at this workout this year.  It’s really not one of my favorites and I let it get to my head and generally just don’t try very hard on it.  So, the goal this year is to practice some mental toughness and go at it like other things I used to hate and now love, like rowing and running, and see if I can have an FGB breakthrough.

10:00am – Pose Lesson

Today Andy and I met with a Pose running coach, named Daniel, who gave us both lessons.  I worked with him for about half an hour.  He said I had a lot of the basic elements, but he worked with me on my “pull” of my feet.  I was kicking out behind me too much instead of pulling straight up.  We did some drills standing in place – hopping drills and footwork drills – and he also had me run back and forth across the room a few dozen times.  He gave me some tips on my lean, also.  So, I will work on remembering these things while I’m out on my next run – I find I can do Pose for short distances alright, but at longer distances it gets harder.  I am going to keep working on this!

8:30am – Run, On My Own

I went out for a run again today, and despite being tired and low on sleep, I felt pretty good once I got going.  I felt faster the whole time and lo-and-behold when I finished the same loop I had done last week, I was two minutes faster.  That was nice to see.  I don’t know how long the loop is, I should Garmin it or Google it or something, but last week it took me 31 minutes and this week it took me 29.  Getting my lungs back!

7:00am – CrossFit, All Levels

Ready to move some weights around!  We did this workout back in April, and coincidentally, I scaled it that time, too, as I was just coming back off of being sick.  I like doing chippers – then if it’s a movement I don’t like, I never have to revisit it.  Someday I’d like to do this one for realsies.

30 Overhead Squats (52#)
30 Chest-to-Bar Pull Ups (purple band)
30 Power Snatch (52#)
30 GHD Sit-Ups
30 Sumo Deadilft High Pull (52#)
30 Squats
30 Kettlebell Swings (16kg)
17:50

Everything is feeling better, as far as feeling comfortable doing the movements and feeling stronger.  OH Squats required a range of flexibility I hadn’t yet explored, but it was okay.  I scaled it to 52# instead of the rx’d 65#, so that helped.  In the original workout there were toes-to-bar, but I still can’t do those, so I swapped them out for GHD sit-ups.  All in all, a good workout!