Skills Testing Take 2

Last night was the second set of skills testing, six months after our initial test. I improved pretty much across the board, with the exception of deadlifts, which I wasn't able to handle due to my back. Hopefully when the next skills testing rolls around, I'll be back on them.

Anyway, here were my results from December:

800m run (had to be done in under 5 minutes)- 3:45 (I wanted to do sub 4, so I was happy with this)
1 RM Deadlift- 205lbs. On par with the most I ever lifted, but in June. Will be working on these.
Max consecutive ring dips (in two minutes)- HAH. Did these with blue band, 10. These are fun.
Max Double Unders (in two minutes, allowed to break up)- 35. Totally proud of this because I did 35!
Max consecutive pull ups (in two minutes)- 15 with blue band. Hands and forearms gave out before anything else

Benchmark WOD "Christine"
3 rounds
500m row
12 deadlifts (RX is bodyweight)- I used 115. At this point, my back was feeling a little tweaked and I didn't want to push it
21 box jumps

Time: 16:30


Same exact workouts this time. Results as follows:

800M run- 3:30. I'm very happy I beat my time, and by 15 seconds! Next goal is to get that closer to 3 minutes.
1 RM Deadlift- did not complete
Max consecutive ring dips (in two minutes)- 12, with the red band. Not only did I do more, but I did it with a harder band. So, score. But next will have to do no band.
Max Double Unders (in two minutes, allowed to break up)- 44. Ugh. This was a cluster. I got started a little late, the rope kept getting stuck on my feet, and then like 15 seconds before time was called my rope broke! So...kind of DU fail. At least I improved my numbers, but not by much. Would have liked to have done better. 
Max consecutive pull ups (in two minutes)- 12 with no band, kipping. I knew I could bang out at least 10 since I've done that before. Was hoping to hit the 20 mark, but oh well. Next time.

Benchmark WOD "Christine"
3 rounds
500m row
12 deadlifts (RX is bodyweight)- I used 95, which is 20 lbs less than last time. Again...didn't want to push my back
21 box jumps

Time in 15:15. Which...if I hadn't gone faster, that would have been pretty pathetic.  At this point I was really freaking tired.

Overall though, I'm pretty happy with how things went. The heat made it much harder, plus I am still trying to get back into the groove of things after vacation. But, some definite gains pretty much across the board. Next test is up on Wednesday!

I have been so neglectful!

Its been a LOOOOOONG time since I've posted anything! I feel like such a slacker. It might be because on the fitness and riding front, not much has changed. Personally though, I've taken some fun adventures. Last month took a long awaited vacation to Argentina where husband and I spent two glorious weeks eating and drinking, and taking in the sights of Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Spent much time napping, eating alfajores, and drinking cafe con leche at 5 in the evening since in Argentina time, thats really like 2 in the afternoon since nothing gets started until late. Great, great time but I really missed all my animals! Next up in Hawaii at the end of August for my 30th birthday. That will officially mark off the "pre kids" vacation plans on the bucket list.

Riding wise, still working on trying to ride Arwen well, and do it consistently. Consistency is really what I'm struggling with at this point. We have some really awesome fantastic days and rides, some not so great, and some downright crummy. The past couple weeks I've been doing lessons with trainer's assistant, and we worked quite a bit on bending, and pace and getting to the jumps on a good rhythm. It helped quite a bit, but now I just need to stop being in my head so much and being concerned about all "the steps" to get there, and just ride and feel. I think towards the end I was holding Arwen a bit too much because she started rushing a little. That is always a sign that I have too much hand (i.e. not giving through my elbows and upper back) because she won't rush when we have enough pace and/or she doesn't feel like I'm holding her face to the fence. UGH.

Fitness wise, took about 2.5 weeks off so I'm just starting to get back into the swing of things. This week is my second set of skills tests, to see where I have improved from 6 months ago. Should be interesting. I know I have made definite progress in pull ups (no more bands!) and double unders, but I haven't done much in the way of weight lifting and my back is still messed up so I doubt I'll see improvements there.

Either way, will do a more detailed and specific post later.