Fitness Editor Blog

Y’know it was only on Saturday morning when I woke up with aching arms that I realised we had done pull-ups three times last week at CrossFit. And when your upper body strength is a negligible as mine, that’s a lot of upper-body working out for one week!

Fortunately it’s starting to pay off and while I’m a long way off being able to do more than my current one pull-up at a time (can I have a hell-yeah!), the practice is doing no harm. I’m also hoping for some killer arm muscles just to sweeten the deal *a girl can dream*.

I did not make the Cape Summer Trail race this weekend in Elgin due to a *ahem* faulty alarm.

Racefail.

I am really bummed about it too because it looked beautiful and not TOO technical - unlike the ones at Silvermine last January which involved more scrambling over huge boulders and balancing precariously on single-track down-hills that make my knees go weak and my stomach churn. On the plus side I did realise that I really don’t have a good head for heights, which is always a good thing to know.

I did make up for it by going for a run along the beachfront however. And given the gale-force winds that I was running into for the first few km’s it turned out to be one helluva workout. Naturally the wind died down substantially as soon as I turned to head back because that’s just the way my luck goes. Still, it was a nice run and every little bit helps.

Won’t make the same mistake this weekend, the race is also in Elgin which is quite far but worth the drive.

Here are some pics from the Graceful Cindy Challenge at CrossFit which started last week. It’s an 8-week challenge so here’s hoping I can beat my time from last week (9:56).

 The final times for the challenge contestants at the beginning of the challenge….. As you can see some of the hardcore ladies and guys at CCF are RIDICULOUSLY strong and fast…

 Push-ups – still nowhere near making it onto my list of ‘Awesome things to do with your arms”

Me doing a squat – you have no idea how monumental this picture is because me and squatting have a LONG and ferocious history… we go together like oil and water. So the fact that I’m actually DOING one here is HUGE people. Nothing short of awesome if I don’t say so myself!

Check out the rest of the pics here at the CCF Facebook page.

BTW, if you’re one of the many wearing Power Balance bracelets in the hope it helps… I’ve got bad news for you  Check out Dr Ross Tucker’s article here. The science doesn’t lie… the people do though.

It’s barely January and already CrossFit is kicking off with another challenge. No cobwebs gathering here!

Monday was the start of the ‘Graceful Cindy’ challenge which consisted of the following workout:

• 2-4-6-8-10 Clean and Jerks (I did beginners so with a 14kg bar and weights. Easy at first but harder by the 5^th round)
• 1 Round of “Cindy”- 5 Pull ups, 10 Push ups, 15 Squats after each set (beginners – jumping pull-ups)

Holy. Cow.

It was exhausting. But fun, believe it or not.

I was tempted to do the intermediate challenge with a heavier bar and weights but apart from the fact that I don’t think I would have made the 15 minute cut-off time or even the 5^th round, it took all of last week for my legs to recover from the walking lunges and overhead squats so I couldn’t run for a week.

As it is this challenge was tiring, those jumping pull-ups are just ridiculous. They LOOK easy, but after the 10th one you’re staring down the barrel of a very long gun.

They make the push-ups hard too because your arms are already tired from the clean and jerks and jumping pull-ups.

Then come the squats… and by now your heart is pumping so hard all you can think about is finishing. I was lucky enough to have Kathryn as my partner and she’s an amazing cheerleader…. whenever I’m paired with her I feel like I could do the whole workout twice!  

Fortunately I manage to stop myself before suck craziness takes control.

I also made it back to spinning this week, however it was a bit of an anti-climax as I started it off with the French chic (I don’t know her name and she’s French – or sounds French – so gimme a break) because I never know what the hell she’s saying. Her music pumps loud and occasionally she’ll mumble something, and then all I hear is “… and GO!”

So I make up my own workout. Just easier all round!

The swimming isn’t going so great, still having a bit of an issue with a leaky goggle. I have now tried 2 pairs of goggles and I suspect it might be either my eye socket that’s a bit wonky and won’t let the goggle suction on hard enough to stop water filling it – OR, but some extreme twist of unlikely fate, I happen to have TWO pairs of wonky goggles. What are the chances?

Don’t answer that…

Anyhoo, the quest to get my swimming to look a bit more graceful and less frog-like continues. Wonky goggles and all…

The Cape Summer Trail Series starts this week and although my first race is only on Sunday I didn’t want to strain myself too much during the week either.

Have you entered the Two Oceans Half or Full Marathon or Cape Argus Cycle Race? We have some cool articles for you to indulge in if you have, check them out here and here.

What are your training goals for this year? You tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine!

Dunno ’bout you guys, but I definitely think this holiday was WAY too short. Surely the transition from one year to the next should be a little more gentle?

ANYhoo, it’s all over now and while I did try my best to keep up the exercising, the extreme heat here in Cape Town over the last week really hampered things a bit.

Hubby and I did however get our new bicycles and he also got me some awesome goodies to go with it for Xmas, such as a fancy-ass computer thingy-ma-bob that tells me how fast I’m going (lesson learned here: DON’T look down at it while you’re hurtling downhill on a jeep track with loose rock and sand), how many calories I burned (which is actually distressing – in one instance an hour and a half ride only killed 500 calories… which is about a coke right? So sad..) and other funky stuff.

The one ride we did at Koeberg with a very kind and patient friend who showed us how everything worked, was done last week Tuesday. If you live in Cape Town you’ll know that last week Tuesday was a sweltering 38 degrees. Not ideal conditions for a ride around a nature reserve buzzing with mozzies and flies….. oooooh the flies, I hate them so much! Sit on animal dung and then come sit on my face *shudder* it’s horrific.

 Anyhoo, here’s a pic of my new bike, a Schwinn Mesa Sport. Very pretty red and white and with everything a girl could ask for sans an aircon and fly swatter. Pretty huh?

 Other than that I spent time at the gym swimming, went running early in the morning before the sun realised it was supposed to be slowly killing us,and doing relaxing things like Pilates and Yoga. Things that didn’t necessarily work up too much of a sweat but were just enough to feed those pesky fitness fairies.

In-between that I went to my baby brother’s wedding (was FAB thanks for asking) and did a lot of this:

And this:

This morning however, it was back to CrossFit and while it wasn’t any of my favourite things (Hang Cleans… they just feel weird) and a workout of walking lunges with overhead squats, my legs feel like jelly today. You’d swear I’d done nothing the past two weeks, but I think those walking lunges took the last little bit of energy I had and showed it the finger.

Anyhoo, we’re all back to normal now and I’ve signed up for three of the Cape Summer Trail Series trail runs (two weekend ones and on Wednesday one) so I’m looking forward to those. I have also got a new list of running races which I’m going to attempt in the lead-up to the Two Oceans Half Marathon in April.

However, check out this competition that Cape CrossFit is holding to see who is the fittest person in Cape Town. Should be very interesting to see who will enter and who will win. I shall be on the cheering side of the bench though, maybe next year….